Paradox Bound: A Novel by Clines Peter

Author:Clines, Peter [Clines, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780553418330
Publisher: Crown/Archetype
Published: 2017-09-26T04:00:00+00:00

23

Eli stepped from his guest room. Harry had left him an hour ago, after they’d recited the Chain back and forth a hundred or so times. Then he’d stretched back out on his bed and…

Stared at the ceiling.

He flexed his toes on the carpet of the narrow hall. Bare feet still seemed luxurious. Even having an untucked, half-unbuttoned shirt felt refreshing.

He hooked his thumbs into his pockets and wandered back to the dining room. The lights had been dimmed. He hadn’t seen John Henry since dinner. The train seemed huge and sprawling for one person, and Eli wondered what kind of hours their host kept when he had the train to himself.

“Can’t sleep?”

Eli jumped and looked over his shoulder.

The man himself sat in one of the chairs in the corner. He’d removed his coat and loosened his tie again. A book sat in his lap where he’d lowered it.

“You scared the hell out of me,” said Eli.

John bowed his head. “Apologies, my friend.” He kept his voice pitched low and quiet. “Is there something wrong with your room?”

Eli shook his head. “No, it’s wonderful. This whole train’s amazing. And not just because I’ve been sleeping on dirt and blankets for a couple of days.”

“I’m pleased to hear it.”

“What about you? Keeping an eye on us?”

John shook his head. “Harry’s one of the few people I completely trust with the Steel Bucephalus. And she trusts you.”

“How do you know?”

“Because you’re traveling with her. That woman doesn’t let anyone into Eleanor for a second longer than they have to be there.”

Eli shrugged.

“So,” John said, gesturing at the chair across from him, “what brings you out and about at such a late hour, Eli Teague?”

He sat down. “Every time I start to nod off,” he said, “I remember where I am. And when I am. Or when I could be, I guess?”

“We’re in the summer of 2033,” said John. “This particular branch of track has been abandoned for a while at this point. It’s a nice seven-year stretch of history where I can park the Bucephalus at night.”

Eli bit his lip. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course. You’re a guest.”

Eli patted out a quick drum solo on the arm of the chair.

“I’m not a genie, Eli, and I don’t have much of a temper. You don’t have to worry about how you phrase it.”

“You and Harry, you’ve both traveled back and forth a lot.”

“Tens of thousands of miles, each of us.”

“The length of American history?”

John nodded. “Slightly more for her. As I’ve said, I’m limited by the tracks.”

“Why only three hundred years?”

John raised his bushy eyebrows. His pleasant smile dimmed just enough to notice.

“I get that you want simpler machines,” said Eli. “Things you can fix yourself with local resources. That makes sense. But nobody has a…an antimatter battery or a Mr. Fusion or something. And both of you talk about history as, well, a set block of years. That you can only go so far forward. And everybody she’s mentioned to me, all the searchers…it seems like they’re almost all from the past or the present.

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