Before the Storm Read online

  ‘I didn’t need no convincin’ about that,’ said Barry. ‘Oi, there’s the train, we’d better run.’

  People who had not been on the beach were now running in that direction and pointing excitedly at the cloud of steam and water that was towering over the bay. Those who had been on the beach, however, were running inland, and advising everyone else to do so. Nobody paid any attention to Emily, Daniel and Barry. Why should they? thought Daniel. How could three schoolchildren possibly cause an explosion of that size? We would need a gun as big as a steam train to do that … or something worse.

  Having returned to North Brighton Station, Emily shepherded the boys in to see BC.

  ‘They are convinced,’ declared Emily, gesturing to Daniel and Barry.

  ‘Agree, then,’ replied BC.

  Daniel did not understand all that was going on, but it was clear that his sister had negotiated something with BC. It was equally clear that Barry and he were to be involved.

  ‘BC will now declare his mission profile in courtly English,’ Emily explained. ‘Do not laugh. Speaking as we do is a very difficult thing for BC.’

  Although he was lying on his side on a parcel sorting shelf, to Daniel BC still had the charisma of a ballroom jammed full of generals. He spent some moments looking awkward, however. Courtly English was clearly not to be spoken casually, wherever he came from.

  ‘All of you are British?’ he asked softly, although his voice had all the menace of the safety catch on one of Mr Lang’s guns clicking free.

  ‘Yes,’ replied Emily. Daniel nodded.

  ‘Am I?’ hissed Barry to Daniel.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Er, yeah,’ Barry finally declared. ‘That is, yes.’

  ‘Good, because you are required to perform active military service for the British Empire,’ continued BC, and Daniel suddenly realised that his English was flawless. ‘It is a British Empire that does not exist yet, and if we are successful it will never exist. Do you all agree?’

  With Emily in possession of a weapon that could probably take on the entire British Navy with a pretty good chance of winning, plus his most recently acquired scientific textbook, no doubt with a bookmark on page thirty-seven, Daniel felt that he had no choice whatsoever. He and Barry glanced at each other, then said ’Yes’ together.

  BC’s eyes turned to Emily. ‘Well?’ he asked.

  ‘If you agree to take the benzothoractine, then yes,’ she answered.

  ‘I do agree,’ replied BC. ‘I am forced to trust your judgement in this matter.’ He looked to the others. ‘I am very weak, and FoxS3 says I must rest for the next seven days. Within the next week the new Australian parliament opens, however, so as you know I have been compelled to appoint a deputy battle commander. Emily Lang is my appointee as Deputy Battle Commander of this crew.’

  ‘Blimey, just what are we?’ asked Barry.

  Fox flinched at the breach of discipline, but BC waved him silent.

  ‘SYS-IK. Special Youth Service Infiltration Killer crew.’

  ‘Killer?’ gasped Barry. ‘Ya mean we has to give coves the big push?’

  ‘We have the functions of infiltration, espionage, sabotage and assassination. Are there any more questions?’

  ‘Why did you choose me as deputy?’ asked Emily.

  ‘You have initiative and intelligence, cope well with stress, think quickly and can plan ahead.’

  ‘But why not appoint Fox?’

  ‘Fox has been conditioned not to lead. Are there more questions? No? Good, I shall call the seats. I am Liore-BC, and my status is casualty. Emily-DBC is Deputy Battle Commander until I return to active duty, and is also EmilyS4 in stroke. FoxS3 is the cybertech, medical, and infiltration expert, and his assessments are never wrong. DanS2, Daniel, you are brave, but require discipline. Look to FoxS3 as a mentor. You could be a good decoy, but remember that decoys are the first to die.’

  Daniel swallowed, then shivered. Heroics were all very well, but not if real danger was involved.

  BC’s eyes moved on. ‘BarryS1, you are a cunning, resourceful and skilled infiltrator. In the days to come we may depend on you a great deal. Your place is bow, but you will be called BarryS1.’

  ‘Er, you got the right Barry?’ laughed Barry nervously, glancing around.

  ‘Would all other Barrys present please raise their hands?’ asked Emily.

  ‘Could you please explain, I do not understand,’ said BC.

  ‘Joke, reduction of tension, for purpose of,’ said Emily, mocking battle standard.

  ‘Ah, thank you. Now Barry, Emily tells me that you can be less than honest sometimes. Never be dishonest with me. Understand? If you betray us, I shall kill you myself.’

  Barry shivered, and Emily went very pale. For some moments Daniel thought that his bladder might fail him. Here was someone who not only killed, he probably did it quite often. BC was definitely not one of those decent, cheery heroes in British adventure novels who always gave the villains a sporting chance. If it came to that, BC was a lot more frightening than even the villains in British adventure novels, yet Daniel felt curiously anxious to have his approval. BC was somehow larger than life, even though there was something distinctly cold and predatory about him.

  ‘Now then, are all of you comfortable with your places?’ asked BC.

  Nobody was inclined to cross him, least of all Daniel.

  ‘I shall now explain the mission profile,’ BC continued, then allowed a long pause for emphasis. ‘Long ago, in the year 1901, in the month of May, there was a huge gathering of the courtly and political leaders in Australia, in this very city of Melbourne.’

  ‘But it’s 1901 now,’ said Barry. ‘I’m pretty sure it’s May, too.’

  ‘It’s still April,’ said Emily.

  ‘Patience Barry, just listen and concentrate,’ said BC. ‘Concentrate, as if your life depends on it.’

  ‘Which it probably does,’ whispered Daniel, elbowing Barry.

  ‘The leaders were here to celebrate the Australian colonies joining together as a single nation,’ BC went on. ‘The biggest, grandest ceremony of all was the opening of the first Australian parliament in the Exhibition Buildings. Do you all know about that?’

  ‘Sorta,’ mumbled Barry.

  ‘I know all about that from school,’ declared Daniel. ‘Father is always saying what a stupid idea Federation is, and how it should be stopped or the British Empire will be ruined, but I think it will be good for Australia.’

  ‘But … but none of that has happened as yet,’ said Emily. ‘Parliament opens next week, yet you talk about it like it’s in the past.’

  ‘Have you not guessed as yet, Emily-DBC?’ asked BC with the slightest suggestion of a smile. ‘Fox and I are from the future. The weapon in your knitting bag will not even be invented for another ninety years.’

  Judging from the expression on her face, Daniel decided that Emily had not guessed as much. Barry scratched his head, and made it clear that the concept of time travel was a long way beyond his own imagination as well. Daniel, on the other hand, had recently read a story about time travel, and was familiar with the idea.

  ‘Did you build a time machine, like in the story Mr Wells wrote?’ asked Daniel.

  ‘The difference between the Wells story and real time travel is greater than the difference between a paper boat and an ocean liner, but the principle is the same,’ replied BC. ‘FoxS3 and I are from early in the twenty-first century.’

  BC allowed them some moments to absorb this. Emily looked either confused, or sceptical, or astounded, or perhaps all three. Barry looked absolutely blank.

  Forget true or false, thought Daniel. Why are they here?

  ‘So, why come back?’ he asked.

  ‘Because of the opening of parliament. All the most important people in the country, and many from Britain, were gathered under the one roof, but moments before the first Australian parliament was declared in session, a series of explosions brought down that entire roof. The c
asualties were terrible. Only one in three who were inside was alive by the dawn of the next day. The police who sifted through the rubble found pieces of German military equipment, and their investigations soon uncovered a German conspiracy in the artistic community of Melbourne. Germans posing as artists had hidden explosives in the roof of the Exhibition Buildings, and detonated them to kill everyone. It was a conspiracy to destroy the leadership of Australia, so that hidden warships and troops in Germany’s New Guinea colony could invade and take over.’

  ‘You … you mean we shall be invaded?’ gasped Emily.

  ‘Do not worry, the Germans did not invade Australia,’ BC said. ‘But what happened was unimaginably worse. Nearly every British warship that could be mustered was ordered to steam to Australia to stop the invasion. The greatest imperial fleet in history arrived, but there were no German ships to be found. They then invaded the German colony in New Guinea. There were no warships there, either.’

  ‘So they all went home?’ asked Daniel.

  ‘No. The Germans now declared war on Britain over the attack on their colony. Because all the British ships were on the other side of the world, Britain was much weakened when the Germans attacked.’

  ‘You mean the Germans won?’ asked Daniel, incredulous.

  ‘Yes. The British fleet was rushed back with all possible speed, but they arrived in poor condition after having to steam to the ends of the earth and back with no rest. Suffice to say that the Battle of Portsmouth was a close-fought and savage engagement, but the Germans won. The British fleet was scattered, but luckily only one ship in ten was actually sunk, so it was gradually regrouped. The royal family and most of parliament had been whisked away to Canada early in the invasion, so we had both ships and leaders, even if we did not have Britain. Melbourne was established as the new capital of the British Empire.’

  ‘Oh, so that was good for Australia?’ ventured Emily.

  ‘No. International relations have been rather disastrous ever since. There has been a serious war every three or four years for a century, and five of those have been what we call world wars. The whole of the Earth either builds weapons or fights with them. All of the best careers are in the army, navy, air force, and space service.’

  ‘Air force? Space service?’ asked Daniel.

  ‘They are like the navy, except that they have metal birds that drop bombs on enemy cities, and which duel with each other in the skies. The world has been strip-mined for a century; the smoke that the factories make is warming the very Earth itself; the polar caps are melting; the sea is rising, and the land is strewn with smashed war machines and graveyards. It is a nightmare, it really is.’

  ‘It sounds very bad,’ said Emily, barely able to understand what he had just said, and hoping that her reply was appropriate.

  ‘The world of my time is on the brink of catastrophe, yet everyone is trying their best to tip it over the edge.’

  ‘So Fox and you deserted, and fled into the past?’ asked Emily, trying to come to terms with the strange story.

  ‘We did not desert,’ said BC firmly. ‘We … had a mission.’

  ‘I know, I saw it!’ Emily suddenly burst out, remembering the vision from Fox’s cinema machine. ‘Fox had a, um, camera thing. I turned it on by accident.’

  The expression on BC’s face reminded Emily of a mother tiger confronted with a particularly stupid poodle yapping at one of her cubs.

  ‘What did you see?’ he asked in a level, flat voice.

  ‘Oh, you and other young people fighting very courageously. You were fighting grown-ups, and were terribly brave. I saw you shot. It must have hurt so much, but you didn’t even cry.’

  ‘Cry?’ said BC.

  ‘Girls do it,’ said Daniel, who was getting tired of Emily dominating BC’s story.

  BC shook his head, and seemed to be having trouble gathering his thoughts.

  ‘We all have a duty to the Empire,’ he continued. ‘For the entire twentieth century the British Empire has been trying to take Britain back from the Germans. When we are not actually having wars, our scientists compete with the German scientists. Australia put a man in space in 1950, then formed the Royal Space Service and put manned bombers into orbit. The Germans then developed a terrible weapon called the atomic bomb. A single such bomb can destroy a city. Next they put them on rockets that could reach anywhere on earth in a half-hour. Our spies stole the secret and we learned to make atomic bombs too, and … well, that was World War Five. Munich, Bonn, Adelaide, and Capetown were destroyed, but fortunately both sides had only a few atomic bombs each at that time. By 2000, they had built thousands, however, and could have destroyed the entire world about a hundred times over. The talk was that Australia would launch World War Six on the one hundredth anniversary of Germany’s attack on Britain. Someone had to do something, or else the world would be destroyed.’

  ‘I cannot imagine anything worse than those terrible bombs,’ said Emily.

  ‘There is. Australian scientists invented a time machine. Using it, they planned to send atomic bombs into the past, to destroy German cities with no warning, and before anti-missile systems had been invented. My crew had just won a very important boat race, the most important race of the season in the Empire. Our reward was to be given a part in guarding the time machine as we sent the bombs back in time. Because we were the best of the cadets in the whole empire, we were allowed to be guards so that we could be part of history. As soon as I found out what the time machine was supposed to do … well, I had a meeting with the crew. We decided to betray our position of trust, and to destroy the time machine before it destroyed the world. My crew, my cadet SYS-IK, attacked the core of the time travel installation. We were nearly wiped out, but we got all the way in and armed a bomb with a timer to destroy it.’

  ‘Could they build another?’ asked Emily.

  ‘Nothing is more certain. That is why there was a second part to our plan. If any of us got to the inner chamber, where the controls were located, we were to escape back into the past, to April 1901. If we can stop the original bombing of the first Australian parliament, that terrible century of war will never have happened.’

  ‘Blimey, why didn’t the govyment coves send someone official-like back to here, like, to do what yer doin’?’ asked Barry.

  ‘Because their whole world is built on war. They want to win wars, not prevent them. Besides, if they change the distant past, the future they live in will cease to exist.’

  ‘But they would still do that by sending bombs into the past,’ said Daniel.

  ‘The generals were going to target 1980, a year when they were already born. Their new selves would then live in a world where Britain had defeated Germany and ruled the world.’

  ‘But then surely you and Fox will cease to exist if you stop the bombing of parliament,’ Emily pointed out.

  ‘That is indeed a risk, but being a soldier is a risky business, Emily-DBC. FoxS3 and I are traitors. A century in the future we are the most hated people in the English-speaking world. Please, seven of our crewmates have died for this cause, and Fox and I have disgraced ourselves. Do not let those sacrifices be wasted. Help us as we try to stop our future ever existing.’

  BC now filled in some of the background detail in the story of the atrocity that had not yet happened. From the perspective of BC and Fox, history had been quite specific about the conspiracy to bomb Melbourne’s Exhibition Buildings, indeed it had been the best researched event in the history of the British Empire. Bombs had been placed around the ceiling by German agents who had posed as painters in the Melbourne artistic community for several months. Having been granted access to the roof in order to take photographs and make sketches, they had planted carefully concealed charges, then detonated them as parliament was about to open. Although the conspirators were never caught, a search of their lodgings revealed maps, diagrams, and letters of instruction written in German.

  The addresses of the conspirators were history, and Fox knew th
em from memory. On the second night after he and BC had arrived from the future, Fox had burgled all five addresses. He found nothing but neatly folded clothes, painting supplies, and a few sketches and watercolours. On the other hand, everything was covered in a thin layer of dust. The rooms were clearly being used as a facade while the conspirators did their work somewhere else.

  There were even stranger discoveries to come, however. When Fox had stolen into the Exhibition Buildings and climbed into the recesses and walkways of the roof supports, he had found no trace of explosives. This was quite perplexing. A century in the future, every child was taught that bombs had been planted in the roof weeks before parliament’s opening. As far as Fox could tell, the future seemed to have changed already.

  Little was known of the conspirators. From what BC said, it was clear that all that he and Fox had to cling to was that people with German names had rented the five rooms in St Kilda, and that German artists had been circulating in the nearby cafés. Clearly these cafés were their only hope of catching the conspirators, so they would have to be watched.

  Because he was the most adult-looking of the crew, BC thought that Fox was a natural choice to monitor the cafés. On the other hand, his speech and accent would attract attention, and he was unfamiliar with the manners and mannerisms of Melbourne in 1901. This rather limited his usefulness as a spy. Finally Barry seemed to decide that he had grasped enough of the situation to make constructive suggestions.

  ‘Er, BC mate, I don’t follow most of wot ya said, but ya really reckon there’s foreigners attackin’ the country?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘An’ ya reckon yer from what hasn’t happened?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘But that isn’t anywhere. It’s from ’ere, except it’s gonna happen. You can’t come from ’ere if yer already ’ere.’

  ‘Barry, imagine you were to sleep for a hundred years in your bed. Would you feel as if you had travelled into the future when you woke up?’

  ‘Yeah … I see, like that Van Wrinkle cove?’

  ‘Van Winkle,’ said Emily.