Hexad: The Factory (Time Travel Thriller) Book 1 (3 page)

"Okay you got it."

Dale went off to make breakfast, thankful to have something to keep himself busy. He absolutely hated waiting around: if the postman was ten minutes late he got edgy. He couldn't imagine just hanging around all day, or maybe even for months or years, waiting for things to make more sense and for something to actually happen.

He turned on the oven and then busied himself getting everything ready. It was almost impossible to concentrate though; he simply couldn't get the word Hexad out of his mind.

Why the hell would I make this so hard for myself? Stupid.

"Dale! What are you doing?"

"Eh? What? Oh." Dale realized he was just about to put the sausages in the oven still in the pack. His mind really wasn't working properly. "Oops. Sorry."

"Yeah well, I don't want my sausages to taste of burned plastic, thank you very much. Here, let me do it." Amanda came over to help, taking the pack from Dale.

"Okay, you sort them out. I'll go get the eggs."

"Okay. Check that they've got water will you?"

"Sure, no problem." Dale went out into the garden and walked to the far corner where the chicken coop was, sited within a small penned area for the birds. They'd ended up with four, even though they originally only intended to get two, so it meant they ate eggs most days. After checking they were fine for water and feed Dale gathered up the eggs and made his way back to the house, birds calling to each other from hedges, the robin hopping about in front of him expectantly.

He saw the squirrel leaping from tree to tree and wondered if it would ever just bugger off so he wouldn't have to spend so much on feed all the time.

"Shit!" Dale dropped the eggs that were held in front of him in cupped hands, and began running back to the house. "Gotta get Amanda. This doesn't look good."

They lived in a small end of terrace, their first home together, bought for cash after Amanda's dad had died and left everything to her, her mum having passed away when she was young. The garden wrapped around the side and rear with a small area at the front from where Dale saw two very serious looking individuals marching down the street towards him — it was obvious they were coming to their home, why else would there be two men with the weirdest outfits on he'd ever seen and clearly not looking to try to sell them double glazing?

Dale ran into the kitchen as the men stopped at the gate to the front garden and discussed something. One of them looked at his wrist, then they both disappeared.

"Amanda, Amanda, we've got to go, things have got crazy finally, and—"

Damn, too late. Here we go then.

Amanda was staring at him wide-eyed. The two men were in the kitchen, one of them peering suspiciously at the hash browns on a tray ready to go in the oven, the other had her in a choke hold, his thin shirt so dark it was sucking the light out of the sunny kitchen. Both were covered head to toe in similar fabric and they had matching long black hair so straight it hung down their backs like a pair of ironing boards.

"We were early," said the man by the oven, turning a hash brown over in his hand, totally nonplussed.

"Hey, what the hell? You were just at the gate."

"Like I said, we were early, so we came back a little later."

"That's three Marshall, let's hope we have the right ones," said the man holding Amanda, staring at something Dale couldn't quite see. "Careful. Hold still." Amanda was struggling wildly, fear sheening her face with sweat.

"Look guys, I don't know what you—"

The man not holding Amanda reached out and put a hand onto Dale's arm.

Nothing made sense. The world began to fall away until nothing remained, not even emptiness. Dale experienced a feeling he'd never even known existed as his reality, what he took for granted, was revealed to be nothing but a lie, a thin layer that wrapped around the true nature of the Universe. It was as if everything that ever was and ever could be, in infinite possibilities, each layered on top of the other, but not on top, inside, part of the same thing, all happened at the same time — the whole history of everything past and future until the end of his life all happened at once and none of it made any sense whatsoever.

Timelines, that's what this is. Stuff that could happen, or has, or will. Ugh.

Dale blacked out as the world parted. He, Amanda, and the two men slipped between the cracks in time and disappeared.

Confusion

Time Unknown

"Is it them?"

"How would I know? I'm just following orders, just like you are. Mine."

"Yes sir. But what if it isn't them? What if it's the other them?"

"Well, there are countless 'thems' aren't there? Just like there are endless versions of you and me, but I don't know that it matters. Not for this reality anyway. The one we weave our way through."

"How do we know? When will we find out?"

"Soon. Won't be long now."

The men went quiet. All Dale could hear was the sound of his own heart stuttering, and Amanda's quiet whimpering next to him. He didn't speak, for some reason it just didn't seem like now was the time to say anything. He held his breath, worried that breathing would break something and he'd be lost to himself forever.

Briiiiiiiiiiiing, bring. Briiiiiiiiiiiiing, bring.

"Hello?..."

"Yes sir, I have them here..."

"Okay, I understand... Right away, back to where we got them?... Yes, I know."

Dale heard a click, like a phone flipping shut. What the hell was going on?

The man obviously in charge of the other spoke. "It's not them, not the right ones. Seems they already have it, they know. So we have to put them back."

"But, does it matter? Surely we have them now, that's the most important thing?"

"I have my orders. And come on, how many times do I have to go through this? It doesn't work like that. It's not the them we know, it's the ones that just got the message, not the ones that... you know?"

"So that's it? We're done?"

"For now, our Hexad is over. It's just them. You ready?"

"Ready."

Dale felt the world collapse around him once more, reality splitting open at the seams.

What the hell is happening?

~~~

Present Day

The hash browns were still on the tray, the sausages still had ten minutes to go according to the oven timer, and the fridge door was still open, beeping angrily as the cold air escaped. There was a pack of butter on the posh tiles Dale had balked at them buying, but was eventually convinced by Amanda that they were a worthwhile investment. How tiles could be an investment he still didn't know.

"You okay?" asked Dale, moving fast over to Amanda, hugging her tightly.

"Um, I think so. What on earth was that all about? Did we just do it? Time travel?" Amanda was decidedly not looking her usually well-manicured self. Her hair was messy, which was unheard of, she was sweaty, and she was physically shaking. Dale could feel it as he hugged her again.

He whispered in her ear, "Yup, we just did it. But god knows what that was all about. The wrong us? And who were those guys?"

Amanda lifted her head from his shoulder. "Looks like that wasn't the end to it. We have another visitor. Um, hello."

Dale felt his insides tighten as he released Amanda and turned. She had been greeting the man that was in their kitchen who was staring at the hash browns.

What's with these people and the bloody breakfast?

"I think we need to have a little chat," said the slender man in a rather stylish, definitely sixties-retro pinstripe suit, a fedora on his head that he took off to reveal shoulder length brown hair. He had eyes that seemed to take in more than physical appearance as he looked into Dale's soul and found it wanting.

"Um, cup of coffee?" offered Dale.

May as well be polite, might mean he doesn't just grab us and do something weird.

"Coffee? Oh my, I can't tell you how nice that would be. It's been ages. Sugar?" asked the man hopefully.

"Sure, want milk?"

"Oh no, absolutely not. It comes out of a cow's udder, you do know that, right?"

"Um, yeah."

Dale put the kettle on.

Introductions

Present Day

"You two have been rather naughty, you do know that, don't you?" The man sipped his coffee, face lighting up like he hadn't drunk it for years. "Ah, it's been years. Just the thing after a pint to clear the head."

Guess I was right.

"Naughty, what do you mean? Look, what's all this about? And we were just... well, taken by two men, then we were back here." Amanda was turning the oven off, sausages only half cooked. Breakfast would have to wait, if they ever managed to get it.

"Ah, so they got you already then? Doesn't surprise me."

"Who got us? What for? And how about we rewind this a bit. Who the hell are you?"

"Oh dear, I do apologize, where are my manners. I'm Tellan. And you are Dale and Amanda, I know that already."

"Okay Tellan, suppose you tell us just what the hell is going on? Why are you here? Who were those men? And would you mind telling us a little about this time travel thing we seem to be caught up in? Oh, and if people are out to try to kill us? You know, just the basics," said Dale sarcastically. He tried not to show it but basically he was scared witless and really wished he hadn't drunk so much that they'd come up with such a crazy conjecture in the first place. He rather fancied just having his breakfast and slobbing out in the garden if he was honest. Mow the lawn with the piece of junk he regretted buying just because it was cheap.

Amanda leaned forward eagerly, clearly as keen to understand what was happening as him, which was totally expected. Dale just wished they'd had the chance to talk a little about what had happened before the madness escalated.

The novelty of time travel was quickly wearing off; Dale knew this was only the start.

"Now, let me see," said Tellan, fiddling with his hat, lifting it on and off the table. "It's not going to be that easy to explain really. I've been at this a long time and—"

"How long?" interrupted Amanda.

"Let's just say a long time and leave it at that for now." Tellan put his hat down carefully, each movement fluid, controlled and precise, then stared at it as if daring it to try to escape. Once happy the hat wasn't going anywhere he resumed. "I know that this will be confusing for you, assuming, of course, that I am in the right timeline and what I was told by you is actually happening here? Hmm." Tellan looked at each of them in turn, expectantly.

What does he want to know? We should keep quiet until he tells us what this is really all about.

"You mean that we dug up a message from ourselves about the Hexad, got nabbed by two guys, they chatted to someone on the phone then we magically appeared back here like nothing had happened?" said Amanda.

Damn! So much for keeping our cards close to our chest.

Dale stared at Amanda accusingly, but she just mouthed a silent, and entirely innocent 'What?' before turning her full attention back to the strange man in their kitchen.

"Yes, that exactly," said Tellan, brightening. "Well, at least it seems that what you told me just before I left was actually true." He held up a hand to stop any interruptions. "Yes, I just left you both, the future yous, or different yous maybe, it gets so terribly confusing. This isn't really my thing to be honest, all this jumping about, only six goes for each Hexad, terrible business really." He held up his hand again.

Well, this is not the most sedate of mornings I've ever had.

"Now, do please listen closely and be patient while I tell you what I am allowed to." Tellan wiggled in his chair a little, as if the bare wood could be made to readjust itself to make him more comfortable, then smiled, seemingly happy. "The story goes, what you told me at any rate, is that ten years from now you get drunk and come up with this wild idea that if time travel were possible then it would be you two that discovered it, that you would get up in the morning, go out into your garden, dig a hole in the flowerbed that borders the fields to the east, and there you would find a number of devices, Hexads to be precise, and that you would then have the ability to travel in time."

"Hang on, but we won't do that will we? I mean, um... we did something like that last night, then this morning we found a message telling us, well, not much really, but it proved that we'd traveled back through time. Now you're saying that in the future we will do it again and find these Hexads, whatever they are? No way."

"Exactly," said Tellan, keeping a careful eye on his hat. "You won't, and that's because you stupidly came back and buried the tin with the note. You've caused a real headache. One minute I was there, happily living my life, and the next everything was different. My roses were planted in different places, I was sat in a different chair, and, well, just as inconvenient, some of the people I had grown really rather fond of had never even been born. Obviously it gets more complicated than that, much more, but this is enough to deal with for now I think."

"Um, Tellan, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Sorry, please tell us something that makes sense." Amanda was looking as confused as Dale felt.

"You changed the future of countless universes by popping back in time after you found the Hexads and leaving the note. The way you told it to me was that you two, the two here now, found the note, so you had no choice but to make sure that you had the note, so that what happens next can happen. The problem is that when you did that you changed everything, as in my universe this didn't happen. It is ten years until you have your drunken conversation then dig them up the next day. And when you changed things by writing this note then all the possible futures changed. I say futures, but really they are all the past for me, but for you they are the futures. And with multiple futures created by jumping through time it means you are both responsible for the creation of new universes. It's a real headache if I am honest. Does that make sense?"