The Map of Time (11 page)

As soon as he received their news, Gilliam Murray set sail for Africa. He joined the two explorers in the Reed People’s village, where, like doubting Thomas plunging his fingers into Christ’s wounds after he had risen from the dead, he made his way to the razed city of London in the year 2000. He spent many months with the Reed People, although he could not really be sure exactly how many, as he spent extensive periods exploring the pink plain in order to verify the truth of Kaufman and Austin’s claims. Just as they had described in their telegrams, in that sunless world watches stopped ticking, razors became superfluous, and in general, nothing appeared to mark the passage of time. Consequently, he concluded that incredible though it might seem, the moments he spent in there were like a hiatus from his life, a temporary suspension of his inexorable journey towards death. He realized this was not his imagination playing tricks on him when he returned to the village and the puppy he had taken with him ran to join its siblings: they had all come from the same litter but now the others were grown dogs. Gilliam had not needed to take a single shave during his exploration of the plain, but Eternal, the puppy, was a far more spectacular manifestation of the absence of time in the other world. He also deduced that the holes did not lead to other universes as he had first believed, but to different times in a world that was none other than his own. The pink plain was outside the time continuum, outside time, the arena where man’s life took place alongside that of the plants and other animals. And the beings inhabiting that world, Tremanquai’s Reed People, knew how to break out of the time continuum by creating holes in it, openings that enabled man to travel in time, to cross from one era to another. This realization filled Gilliam with excitement and dread. He had made the greatest discovery in the history of mankind: he had discovered what was underneath the world, what was behind reality. He had discovered the fourth dimension.

How strange life was, he thought. He had started out trying to find the source of the Nile and ended up discovering a secret passage that led to the year 2000. But that was how all the greatest discoveries were made. Was the voyage of the Beagle not prompted by spurious financial and strategic interests? The discoveries resulting from it would have been far less interesting had a young naturalist perceptive enough to notice the variations between finches” beaks not been on board. And yet, the story of natural selection would go on to revolutionize the world. His discovery of the fourth dimension had happened in a similarly random way.

But what use was there in discovering something if you could not share it with the rest of the world? Gilliam wanted to take Londoners to the year 2000 so that they could see with their own eyes what the future held for them. The question was, how? He could not possibly take boatloads of city dwellers to a native village in the heart of Africa, where the Reed People were living.

The only answer was to move the hole to London. Was that possible? He did not know, but he lost nothing by trying. Leaving Kaufman and Austin to guard the Reed People, Murray returned to London, where he had a cast-iron box the size of a room built.

Together with a thousand bottles of whiskey, he took it back with him to the village, where he planned to strike a bargain that would change people’s perception of the known world. Drunk as lords, the Reed People consented to his whim of singing their magic chants inside the sinister box. Once the hole had materialised, he herded them out and closed the heavy doors behind them.

The three men then waited until the last of the Reed People had succumbed to the effects of the whiskey before setting off home.

It was an arduous journey, and only when the enormous box was on the ship at Zanzibar did Gilliam begin to breathe more easily. Even so, he barely slept a wink during the passage home. He spent almost the entire time up on deck, gazing lovingly at the fateful box which so upset the other passengers, and wondering whether it was not in fact empty. Could one really steal the hole? His eagerness to know the answer to that question gnawed away at him, making the return journey seem interminable. He could hardly believe it when at last they docked at Liverpool. As soon as he reached his offices, he opened the box in complete secret.

The hole was still there! They had successfully stolen it! The next step was to show it to his father.

“What the devil is this?” exclaimed Sebastian Murray, when he saw the hole shimmering inside the box.

“This is what drove Oliver Tremanquai mad, father,” Gilliam replied, pronouncing the explorer’s name with affection. “So, take care.” His father turned pale. Nevertheless, he accompanied his son through the hole and traveled into the future, to a demolished London where humans hid in the ruins like rats. Once he had got over the shock, father and son agreed they must make this discovery known to the world. And what better way to do this than to turn the hole into a business: taking people to see the year 2000 would bring in enough money to cover the cost of the journeys themselves and to fund further exploration of the fourth dimension. They proceeded to map out a secure route to the hole into the future, eliminating any dangers, setting up lookout posts and smoothing out the road so that a tramcar with thirty seats could cross it easily. Sadly, his father did not live long enough to see Murray’s Time Travel open its doors to the public, but Gilliam consoled himself with the thought that at least he had seen the future beyond his own death.

9

Once he had finished telling his story, Murray fell silent and looked expectantly at his two visitors. Andrew assumed he was hoping for some kind of response from him, but had no idea what to say.

He felt embarrassed. Everything his host had told them was no more believable to him than an adventure story. That pink plain seemed about as real to him as Lilliput, the South Sea Island inhabited by little people where Lemuel Gulliver had been shipwrecked. From the stupefied smile on Charles’s face however, he assumed his cousin did believe it. After all, he had traveled to the year 2000, what did it matter whether it was by crossing a pink plain where time had stopped? “And now, gentlemen, if you would kindly follow me, I’ll show you something only a few trusted people are allowed to see,” Gilliam declared, resuming the sort of guided tour of his commodious office.

With Eternal continually running round his master, the three men walked across to another wall. A small collection of photographs awaited them, and what was probably another map, although this was concealed behind a red silk curtain. Andrew was surprised to discover that the photographs had been taken in the fourth dimension, although they might easily have been taken in any desert since cameras were apparently unable to record the color of this or any other world. He had to use his imagination, then, to see the white smear of sand as pink.

The majority of the photographs documented routine moments during the expedition: Gilliam and two other men, presumably Kaufman and Austin, putting up tents, drinking coffee during a pause, lighting a fire, posing in front of the phantom mountains, almost entirely obscured by thick fog. It all looked too normal.

Only one of the photographs made Andrew really feel he was contemplating an alien world. In it Kaufman (who was short and fat) and Austin (who was tall and thin) stood smiling exaggeratedly, hats tilted to the side of their heads, rifles hanging from their shoulders, and one boot resting on the massive head of a fairy-tale dragon, which lay dead on the sand like a hunting trophy. Andrew was about to lean towards the photograph and take a closer look at the amorphous lump, when an awful screeching noise made him start. Beside him, Gilliam was pulling on a gold cord which drew back the silk curtain, revealing what was behind it.

“Rest assured, gentlemen, you will find no other map like it anywhere in England,” he declared, swelling with pride. “It is an exact replica of the drawing in the Reed People’s cave, expanded, naturally, after our subsequent explorations.” What the puppet theater curtain uncovered looked more like a drawing by a child with an active imagination than a map. The color pink predominated, of course, representing the plain, with the mountains in the middle. But the shadowy peaks were not the only geological feature depicted on the map. In the right-hand corner, for example, was a squiggly line, presumably a river, and close by it a light-green patch, possibly a forest or meadow. Andrew could not help feeling that these everyday symbols, used in maps charting the world he lived in, were incongruous with what was supposed to be a map of the fourth dimension. But the most striking thing about the drawing was the gold dots peppering the plain, evidently meant to symbolize the holes. Two of these—the entrance to the year 2000, and the one now in Murray’s possession— were linked by a thin red line, which must represent the route taken by the time-traveling tramcar.

“As you can see, there are many holes, but we still have no idea where they lead. Does one of them go back to the autumn of 1888? Who knows? It is certainly possible,” said Gilliam, staring significantly at Andrew. “Kaufman and Austin are trying to reach the one nearest the entrance to the year 2000, but they still haven’t found a way of circumnavigating the herd of beasts grazing in the valley right in front of it.” While Andrew and Charles studied the map, Gilliam knelt down and began stroking the dog.

“Ah, the fourth dimension. What mysteries it holds,” he mused. “All I know is our candle never burns down in there, to use a poetic turn of phrase. Eternal only looks one, but he was born four years ago. And I suppose that must be his actual age— unless the long periods spent on the plain, where time seems to leave no mark, are of no matter. Eternal was with me while I carried out my studies in Africa, and since we came back to London, he sleeps next to me every night inside the hole. I did not name him that for nothing, gentlemen, and while I can I’ll do everything in my power to honor his name.” Andrew could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine when his and the dog’s eyes met.

“What is that building supposed to be?” asked Charles, pointing to an image of a castle close to the mountains.

“Ah, that,” Gilliam said, uneasily. “That’s Her Majesty’s palace.” “The Queen has a palace in the fourth dimension?” asked Charles, astonished.

“That’s right, Mr. Winslow. Let us call it a thank-you present for her generous contribution to our expeditions,” Gilliam paused for a moment, unsure whether he should go on. At last he added: “Ever since we organized a private journey to the year 2000 for the Queen and her entourage, she has shown great interest in the laws governing the fourth dimension and, well … she made it known to us that she would like a private residence to be put at her disposal on the plain, where she could spend time when her duties allowed, as one does at a spa. She has been going there for some months now, which makes me think her reign will be a long one …” he said, making no attempt to conceal his irritation at having been forced to make this concession, while he no doubt had to be content to spend his nights in a wretched tent with Eternal. “But that doesn’t concern me. All I want is to be left alone. The Empire wishes to conquer the moon. Let it … But the future is mine!” He closed the little curtain and led them back to his desk. He invited them to take a seat, and himself sat in his armchair, while Eternal (the dog who would outlive mankind, excepting Gilliam, the Queen, and the lucky employees at her palace outside the time continuum) slumped at his feet.

“Well, gentlemen, I hope I’ve answered your question about why we are only able to take you to May 20 in the year 2000, where all you will see is the most decisive battle in human history,” he said, ironically, after he had taken his seat.

Andrew snorted. None of that interested him in the slightest, at least while he was unable to experience anything other than pain. He was back at square one, it seemed. He would have to go ahead with his suicide plan as soon as Charles’s back was turned.

The man had to sleep sometime.

“So, there’s no way of traveling back to the year 1888?” said his cousin, apparently unwilling to give up.

“I imagine it wouldn’t be a problem if you had a time machine,” replied Gilliam, shrugging his shoulders.

“We’ll just have to hope science will invent one soon,” Charles said ruefully, patting his cousin’s knee and rising from his chair.

“It’s just possible one has already been invented, gentlemen,” Gilliam blurted out.

Charles swiveled round to face him.

“What do you mean?” “Hm, it’s just a suspicion …” Murray replied, “but when our company first started, there was someone who vehemently opposed it. He insisted time travel was too dangerous, that it had to be taken slowly. I always suspected he said this because he had a time machine and wanted to experiment with it before making it public. Or perhaps he wanted to keep it to himself, to become the only master of time.” “Who are you talking about?” asked Andrew.

Gilliam sat back in his chair, a smug grin on his face.

“Why, Mr. Wells, of course,” he replied.

“But, whatever gave you that idea?” asked Charles. “In his novel Wells only writes about journeying into the future. He doesn’t even envisage the possibility of going back in time.” “That’s exactly my point, Mr. Winslow. Just imagine, gentlemen, if somebody were to build a time machine, the most important invention in the history of humanity. Given its incredible potential, they would have no choice but to keep it secret, to prevent it from falling into the hands of some unscrupulous individual who might use it for their own ends. But would they be able to resist the temptation of divulging their secret to the world? A novel would be the perfect way of making their invention known without anyone ever suspecting it was anything but pure fiction.

Don’t you agree? Or if vanity doesn’t convince you as a motive, then what if they weren’t trying to satisfy their ego at all? What if The Time Machine were merely a decoy, a message in a bottle cast into the sea, a cry for help to somebody who might know how to interpret it? Who knows? Anyway, gentlemen, Wells did contemplate the possibility of going back in time, and with the aim of changing it, moreover, which I imagine is what motivates you, Mr. Harrington.” Andrew jumped, as if he had been discovered committing a crime. Gilliam smiled at him wryly then rifled through one of his desk drawers. Finally, he pulled out a copy of Science Schools Journal dating from 1888 and threw it on the table. The title on the cover of the dog-eared edition was The Chronic Argonauts, by H. G. Wells. He handed it to Andrew, asking him to take good care of it, as it was a rare copy.

“Exactly eight years ago, as a young man having recently arrived in London and ready to conquer the world, Wells published a serial novel entitled The Chronic Argonauts. The main character was a scientist called Moses Nebogipfel, who traveled back in time to commit a murder. Perhaps Wells considered he had over-stepped himself, and when he recycled the idea for his novel, he eliminated the journeys into the past, perhaps so as not to give his readers ideas. In any case, he decided to concentrate solely on traveling into the future. He made his protagonist a far more upright character than Nebogipfel, as you know, and never actually mentions his name in the novel. Perhaps Wells could not resist this gesture.” Andrew and Charles stared at one another, then at Murray, who was scribbling something in a notebook.

“Here is Wells’s address,” he said, holding out a scrap of paper to Andrew. “You have nothing to lose by seeing whether my suspicions are well founded or not.”