Timecurse by Tom Becker

Author:Tom Becker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic
Published: 2012-01-12T05:00:00+00:00

15

The Docklands Light Railway train moved sinuously through the grey London morning, following a winding path around the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf. Every change of points, every stop and start was computerized; there were no drivers on the DLR. They were ghost trains. In his seat at the front of the lead carriage, Jonathan watched through drizzle-splattered windows as the track unfolded out in front of him. He was used to tube trains charging blindly through the Underground – this felt as though he were at the controls of some sort of giant computer game.

Jonathan nudged his dad and pointed ahead.

“We’re nearly there,” he said. “That’s Greenwich.”

Alain didn’t reply, merely shifting uncomfortably in his seat. He had been quiet all morning. They had risen early, taking a carriage across Darkside to Rookwood Maps and Globes, a cluttered shop whose enterprising owner, Carmen, charged people for use of the crossing point that ran beneath the floor. Carnegie had reluctantly handed over several coins before leading them down the passageway that came out on a dirty side alley off Oxford Street. Although his dad hadn’t said anything, Jonathan had seen his grimace of pain as they stepped over the boundary, and knew that Darkside’s poisonous atmosphere had taken its toll on him. The years he had spent in the rotten borough had permanently damaged Alain’s health – without Darkside blood in his veins, Jonathan wasn’t sure how many more crossings his dad could take.

Back in modern London, the electronic cacophony of the city jarring Jonathan’s ears, they hastened down the Central Line from Oxford Circus to Bank, where they had caught the DLR. The change in atmosphere didn’t appear to have helped Alain – even now, his forehead glistened with sweat, and his jawline was taut with tension.

“Are you all right?” Jonathan asked.

His dad nodded. “Fine,” he replied tersely. “How’s Elias?”

Jonathan looked behind them to see the wereman lazily picking at his teeth with a long fingernail, oblivious to the discomfort of the businessman hemmed in next to him. With his battered suit and bewhiskered cheeks, Carnegie looked like a cross between an eccentric artist and a down-and-out.

“Looks OK to me,” Jonathan reported. “As long as he’s not on a bus, he’s fine. Are you sure we’re going to the right place?”

“If we’re talking about the Josiah Bartlemas I knew, we’ll find him at the Greenwich Observatory. Remember the name we saw on the plans Harry found?”

Jonathan’s brow furrowed. “The Chronos Wheel?”

“Right. Well, that was the most famous invention of Wilbur Bartlemas, who just happened to be Josiah’s grand father. Wilbur was the Astronomer Royal at the observatory a hundred years ago, and was renowned for his inventions to do with watches and timekeeping.”

“What was so special about the Chronos Wheel, then?”

Alain laughed. “It didn’t work.”

“Eh?”

“More than that, no one had any idea what it was supposed to do. Wilbur refused to demonstrate it to anyone. Not even Josiah knew how it worked, though he spent years trying to work it out.

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