Shell Shocked (The Cosmic Carapace, #1) (21 page)

“An hour?” Spencer looked at Becky. He wasn’t sure an hour was going to be enough. They had arranged to meet Nebwett back at Ingress to connect his Vibobbler which they had used to return Lisa, to the one they were planning on bringing back from the palace. They had no idea where Garsh would have kept his, or even if he had more than one, but it didn’t matter. According to Nebwett, they only needed two to make this work. Either way, he didn’t see they had much choice.

“Ok, an hour. We’ll need to find something that Garsh left here first, we’ll need an hour from after we find what we’re looking for.” The Queen chortled, leaning back in her seat before shouting to the two men who stood by the door.

“Bring in the device!” One of the men opened the oak door to the chamber and vanished through the opening, returning a few moments later with another Vibobbler. Spencer turned from the device back to the Queen.

“How did you know we’d need it?”

“Your friend told me where to find it, and that if you were to have a chance of sorting this mess out you would need it. Last thing he said. Now, your hour has started.”

––––––––

S
pencer and Becky shot through the main gates and into the street outside, Spencer holding the tortoise, Becky the Vibobbler.

“How long will it take us to run to Ingress from here?” He knew she could out run him easily, he was just wondering how long it would take him to catch up, and if he’d make it in time.

“Too long,” she replied. “A cab will get stuck in traffic too.” We’ll have to take the Overground.” She squinted into the light of the setting sun at the high wires which crisscrossed the city carrying the brass carriages of the Overground. “Let’s go.”

~~~~

M
r Pall had always been a man who believed in adaptation. Admittedly, this had usually been others adapting to circumstances he had imposed. For instance, he had often given people the chance to adapt to a life with a lot less money than before they met him, sometimes, even a lot less life. He also knew the value of adapting himself though, and when he had seen that the real Queen appeared to be back and that her men would follow her orders no matter what, it had been time to change tack.

He had made his escape well enough, a few guards had followed him, but he’d been able to lose two of them and kill the third. They would have expected him to run at this point, but he had other plans. He had seen what the device Garsh had could do, and the power he could have by travelling across worlds. If he could retrieve it from the palace, he could have anything he wanted.

He had set up a watch on the main gates, trying to get a feel for the new security setup around the place. It seemed pretty lax, he was pretty sure he could gain access in some way or another at nightfall. He was waiting now in a tiny alley which fed off of the main concourse, bathed in shadows. It was with no small amount of surprise that he saw two people emerge from the gate at a run, holding the very thing he craved.

~~~~

B
ecky leapt up the metal stairs like she was at least eighty five percent helium. He lumbered behind her carrying the tortoise awkwardly, trying not to strike it against the iron railings which lined the ascent. At the top, a large platform opened out on either side of them. The ceiling had a series of square chucks out of it, which ran to the far wall and out over the city, carriages swooped in from behind them and landed heavily for a moment, allowing passengers to board, before taking off over the edge. One was arriving as they did, and Becky raced over to it.

“This will take us most of the way, then we’ll need to change for two more stops before Ingress,” she shouted back over her shoulder as she ran. Spencer didn’t answer, preferring to save his breath for more pressing matters, like not passing out on the platform floor. They reached the carriage and stepped on behind a queue of old men wearing all white and carrying what seemed to be handbags.

“Where you going then Miss?” A conductor had appeared from nowhere to stand in front of Becky, a large and heavy looking box slung around his neck on a worn leather strap.

“Two to Elephant and Castle please,” she said, handing him some coins. He passed her two tickets and waddled off to the group of old men.

“Let’s hope Nebwett is all set up and ready to go. I doubt the Queen will get to us as soon as the hour is up, but we probably won’t have long.” She walked over to the back window which was, as all the others were, covered in grime and smoke from the city below. Spencer joined her and looked out as the carriage lurched away from the platform and out over the city. As they left, he saw a man dash up to the edge of the platform and stare at their carriage as it rose. He seemed to stare straight at Spencer, which, given the man’s face, was not a pleasant experience. He looked away and tried to take in the scenery. The city sprawled below in a haphazard manner, like someone had shaken a giant handful of buildings and poured them into a space that was slightly too small for them. Becky broke the silence.

“I’m coming with you you know.” He sighed, he had expected this. Nebwett’s plan required three people, and he had planned on those three being made up of himself, Nebwett and Spangler. Spangler wasn’t an option now, and he had no idea how many of the others would have made it back to Ingress.

“I guess there is no point in me arguing with you?” he asked, smiling at her.

“None,” she answered, giving a smile back that almost made Spencer drop the tortoise. He looked back out of the window and then rapidly turned his back to it and faced the old men. The carriage was high now, nauseatingly high, and swinging in the wind in a way that was making his stomach try and venture out of his mouth. He tried to distract himself.

“What are these guys all about then?” He nodded at them.

“Bowling,” Becky answered, turning to look with him. She didn’t seem fazed by the height at all, but then, he wasn’t surprised. “It’s pretty much the national pastime around here, well, that and the horse racing. One of the men nearest them seemed to hear their conversation and moved towards them.

“Want to know about the old bowling eh?”

“Er...” Spencer replied helpfully, then after looking back out of the window and seeing the view again, made a decision. “Yes, yes I do.” Becky raised her eyebrows at him, but he needed the distraction. The old man’s eyes lit up as he launched into a series of stories from his exploits on the bowling alley.

~~~~

M
r Pall had arrived just moments too late to jump on the same carriage as the two people who had left the palace, but it didn’t matter. Now that they were on here, he could watch them from a distance and see exactly where they got off. He already had an idea though, the big house where he had sent men in, to gather up the tortoises. He hadn't known why Garsh had wanted the creatures, but he’d realised the house was special in some way from the way his former employer had spoken. The conductor in his carriage was standing as far away from him as possible, despite them being the only two in the thing. He hadn’t even had the nerve to ask him to buy a ticket. Normally they announced the stations as they approached them, but he had said nothing. The man and woman he was following hadn’t got off yet, but if they were going to the big house he’d visited, it would be soon.

“What’s the next stop?” he asked the conductor out of the side of his mouth as he watched the other carriage, like a lion watching a zebra.

“I..I..It’s Elephant and Castle Mister..” the man blustered. Mr Pall squinted out of the window at the small crowd which was filtering off of the carriage in front. The little group filtered out onto the platform and he saw the two figures he was following in between a small group in all white.

~~~~

N
ebwett stood back and looked at the what he had put together. The device he had made stood at one end of a long table. It was connected to a series of wires and brass tubes which ran along the stained wooden surface.

“What does it do?” the twins asked in unison. They were stood along the edge of the table alongside Albert.

“I’m ‘oping it will create a feedback loop what will go frew all the universes and break all the machines like this that there is.” There was a moment of silence while they unravelled this sentence in their minds. Albert caught up first.

“What happens to the people operating it? Where do they end up?”

“I’m not sure, but we’re gonna use a tortoise, so ‘ee might take us to where Miss Ness and Mr Blake are from.”

“Might?...” Albert raised an eyebrow.

“Well there might be a little issue around time...”

~~~~

N
ot only was the old man still talking, he had now roped in a few friends to the task as well. By happy coincidence, they were all getting the same connection, switching lines to move up towards the park where Ingress sat. Becky and Spencer were hemmed in against the railing of the platform by the men, all enthusiastically pointing out the finer points of bowling when a man pushed through the crowd and stood in front of them. He lifted his right arm in front of him and made a twisting motion with his wrist. A blade shot out underneath his hand and he raised it in front of him menacingly.

“Allo, I’m Mr Pall and you’re gonna give me that Miss, before something nasty ‘appens.” Becky looked down at the device in his hands and back up at the man. She paused for a moment, then swung the Vibobbler up towards Pall’s face. He saw it coming, and swerved his body backwards from the waist up, avoiding her, but sending himself off balance. Becky darted to the side, running full pelt into one of the old bowling players. Spencer, remained frozen to the spot, but as Pall recovered his balance and launched forward after Becky, he snapped out of it. He looked around desperately for some sort of weapon, but couldn’t see anything. Pall and Becky were now locked in a chase across the platform, she was heading to the stairs on the right but darted left at the last minute, turning back around towards the opposite side to where Spencer stood with the group of men.

One of the men nudged him and he turned angrily towards him, annoyed he was being bothered while Becky was running for her life.

“These might be handy?” The man said, holding out the large leather handbag he carried. Spencer was about to swear loudly at the old fool, when he looked at the bag, it's zip open, and saw what was inside.

~~~~

“W
hat do you mean, time?” Albert asked. Nebwett made a noise like air being let slowly out of a balloon.

“Well I fink it could cause a bit of... time dilation.” There was a heavy silence in which everybody other than Nebwett tried to work out what he meant, and also how he knew these things. He clearly wasn’t Norbert.

There was a crack of thunder from outside and rain began to beat against the high windows which displayed the city below through a grey mist.

~~~~

S
pencer reached into the bag the old man held out and pulled a large, heavy bowling ball from it. Becky and Pall were still in chase around the edge of the platform. He pushed through the old men and took aim. He’d been ten pin bowling before, but he’d been awful at it, he was trying hard not to think about that. He held the tortoise under his left arm and steadied himself. He watched the two figures running, trying to judge their speed so that he could aim ahead of them which would hopefully allow the ball to reach the other side of the platform just as Pall got there. He released the ball and realised that he had hopelessly misjudged the trajectory. It spun and bounced awkwardly across the uneven surface of the platform and headed straight for Becky. She saw it at the last minute and leapt over it, landing back to the floor in a full run, shouting loudly as she did so.

“Spencer!” He turned to the group of men who were tutting and shaking their heads.

“Couldn’t give us a hand could you?”

“Right lads! Line up! This is gonna be like the time we had that ruckus with the Lang Street Bowl's Club!” There was some dark murmuring at the mention of this name, but all of the men formed an orderly line. Spencer jumped to the side to get out of the firing line. He looked up to see Becky reaching the far corner of the platform.

“Becky!” he shouted. “Run to me!” She arced her run back round and headed towards him. He could see that Pall was tiring, Becky seemed to have limitless energy, she wasn’t even breathing heavily yet.

“Now!” he shouted to the line of men who, as one, gracefully bent to one knee and released a line of the heavy bowls towards the oncoming Becky. When they were a few feet in front of her, she leapt high above them. At first, Spencer thought she had misjudged it, that she would land on top of them as she fell. He should have known better. She landed deftly the other side of them and continued running. He heard a noise from behind and turned to see their carriage coming into the station. Looking back, Pall had attempted to leap the oncoming balls as well, but had landed more awkwardly than Becky, falling to one knee.

The carriage screeched in behind them, it’s metal grinding against the landing buffers. Becky ran straight past Spencer, grabbing his arm as she did so, pulling him towards the opening doors. They reached it and jumped in. Spencer looked back out at the platform and saw Pall on his feet again and running towards them.