Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London (39 page)

“Of course, Johnny,” said Sol. “I look forward to it.”

“OK—the rest of you should get a good night's sleep,” said Johnny. He needed somewhere to release the cornicula worm, but he couldn't tell anyone about it. “I'll just take the dogs out around the block.” Before anyone could say anything, Johnny got to his feet and called Bentley and Rusty after him. They left the strategy room, walked along the corridor and arrived at the antigrav lifts. Bentley carried straight on inside, hovering in mid-air while the lift waited for instruction, but Rusty backed away, uncertain. Johnny picked her up and carried her in. Instead of going straight to the ground-level exit, Johnny nipped into his quarters to change and to collect the doughnut-shaped present Bram
had given him on Melania. Then, with the two dogs in tow, he continued on down to the revolving doors and stepped out of the ship, across the paving stones and into the London night.

The air was still and the sky clear, but in the heart of the city there were no stars to be seen. Johnny wondered what was happening “up there” and where his other self and Clara had got to. He walked over to the Jubilee, hoping this time he'd picked the right taxi, and let the two dogs into the back.

Johnny walked around to the driver's door and sat down in the front seat. He thought about Halader House in Castle Dudbury and the shuttle began to move. He thought “shields on”; inside the shuttle nothing happened, but the response from the little ship penetrated Johnny's mind and he knew there were CCTV cameras tracking them along the street. Johnny sensed it as soon as the shuttle was clear, and at that moment everything around him shimmered and disappeared. As they rose into the air, the Jubilee's sensors became Johnny's eyes and ears, so that Rusty's barking right behind him merged with all the other background noise.

Johnny left the Jubilee outside Castle Dudbury station and slipped into Halader House unnoticed. With both dogs curled up asleep underneath his bed by the radiator, Johnny took out the gift from the Emperor. The blue glow coming from the cornicula worm within was speeding around the inside of the torus, lighting up the sloping walls of the bedroom. Johnny stared at it wondering how he was meant to let the worm out, and as he did so the container began to unfold. For a fleeting moment he saw the brilliant electric blue glow of the worm, so bright it nearly blinded him, but it shrank rapidly before his eyes and disappeared into nothingness.

Johnny wondered how long it would take the worm to
burrow through the fabric of space and time and reach Bram on Melania. He lay down on his bed just for a moment, lights flashing behind his eyes, turning his thoughts to the trip to Neptune and wondering if he was really going to see his father tomorrow.

Johnny was back on Galaxia, sitting underneath the kanefor tree with Bram shouting at him, clearly trying to tell him something important.

“Johnny … Johnny Mackintosh—wake up!”

Johnny opened his eyes. He was in the bedroom of Halader House, but floating in mid-air in front of him, at exactly the point where he had released the cornicula worm the night before, was Bram Khari's smiling face.

“Bram,” said Johnny. “Excellent.”

“Finally,” said Bram. “I have been shouting for rather a long time.” The Emperor's eyes were twinkling. Johnny hoped they couldn't see beyond him to the dirty boots on the floor of his very untidy bedroom. “I am truly intrigued,” Bram continued. “After waiting millennia, you visit me twice the same day. Here you are, sending me a worm from my very own nursery. I can only assume I shall provide you with it at a later date and that your time-traveling adventures were not solely confined to Atlantis?”

“We've sort of been jumping around a bit,” said Johnny. “I think this is as close to the right time as we'll get.”

“I take it you have returned to Earth?” said Bram. “How is everyone?”

“OK,” Johnny replied. “Sol's shields aren't working and I wish you hadn't left Gronack on board.”

“
Chancellor
Gronack, Johnny. Thank you for the reminder—Atlantis was so long ago I'd almost forgotten. The phasmeer had to leave with you on the Spirit of London because it was there with you in Atlantis. In fact, between you and me, that's the only reason I gave it the job in the first place—very questionable references if I remember. However, now you are home I will make arrangements to … relieve you of your undoubted burden.”

“Thanks,” said Johnny. “We're going to Neptune today.”

“Ah—the eighth planet,” Bram replied. “An interesting choice. Wouldn't Saturn be a more spectacular place for a first visit?”

“No—it's the krun.” said Johnny. I think they have my dad there—and a friend.'

Bram's face turned serious. “Then you be careful, Johnny. The krun are not to be taken lightly. There are powerful forces behind them.”

“I've done all right before, haven't I?” Johnny responded.

“You have undoubted talents, but I knew you would survive Atlantis because it had already happened. Now the timeline is intact and not even I can foresee your future.”

“But you're the Emperor. I thought you knew everything.”

Bram smiled. “When you are as old as I—when you have made as many mistakes—you will realize how little you truly know. Yes, I am the Emperor. I am the Law. The day may come when you will know what that means.”

“I don't understand,” said Johnny.

“Because I was being unforgivably serious,” Bram replied. “I must apologize. However sincerely I ask you to be careful, I am sure you will take the risks that are the preserve of the young. So instead, let me ask you one very important question.”

“What is it?” Johnny asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and sitting attentively on the edge of the bed.

“I need to know what would a young Earth boy, who had been traveling for more than a day without any food, most want to eat when he arrived here?”

“Sticky toffee pudding,” Johnny replied without thinking. “It's my favorite.”

“Then you shall have it. I believe you are arriving any moment.”

“What? You mean that was me I saw?” Johnny asked, remembering the floating head on his arrival at the Imperial Palace.

“Indeed that
is
you,” Bram replied, smiling. “I must go and welcome you.”

“Say hello to the Diaquant,” said Johnny. “And thank her for everything.”

“I regret she is no longer here,” Bram replied.

He was still smiling, but Johnny thought it was the first time he'd seen the Emperor look really sad. Before he could be sure, the Emperor's face popped out of existence leaving Johnny staring instead at the poster of the International Space Station on the far wall of his bedroom. There was a swirling, glinting cloud above his head, like dust sparkling in a stream of sunlight, and Johnny got the feeling that if he stuck his head there he'd be watching himself and Clara devouring their first meal at the Imperial Palace. Footsteps were coming up the stairs. The trapdoor to Johnny's bedroom opened and in came Miss Harutunian, carrying a tray piled high with bacon sandwiches which she placed on the table beside his bed.

“Special treat,” she said. “I think it's best you keep out of the dining room today.” She winked and Johnny smiled at the thought of Mr. Wilkins taking Johnny's return out on the Halader House food. “And I heard you won,” she continued.

The smell of the bacon was irresistible and Johnny reached past his social worker and stuffed the top sandwich into his mouth, only remembering to say thank you once his mouth was full.

Sniffing the food, Bentley emerged from underneath Johnny's bed looking hopefully at Miss Harutunian for a bacon sandwich. The social worker jumped.

“You found Bentley,” she said to Johnny. “How?”

“Er … it was the police,” said Johnny, improvising wildly and hoping Rusty would stay out of sight. “They put out an all points bulletin and found him nearly straightaway. Then they brought him to the footy.”

“That was quick,” said Miss Harutunian, eyeing Johnny a little suspiciously. “Well, you start getting ready for school—I'm sure you can't wait to talk to everyone about the match.”

“Course,” said Johnny through a mouthful of food.

Miss Harutunian turned toward the door but Johnny called after her. “Whole team's staying over at Dave's after school tonight—to celebrate. Is it OK if I go?” He put on his most innocent smile and concentrated hard on not going red.

Miss Harutunian thought for a moment. “Mrs. Irvine really won't like you leaving the home right now … but I won't tell her if you don't—just this once. I guess you deserve it.” She smiled at Johnny, opened the trapdoor and, with a little difficulty, exited down the spiral stairs.

Takeoff was a complicated business. Normally a ship powered by a dark energy drive like the Spirit of London would fly effortlessly through conventional space before folding, which took place well away from any large gravitational fields. But because it wouldn't really do to have the London Gherkin lift off unexpectedly into the air, only for a carbon copy to appear where it had just been, the plican was being asked to take them as far as it could toward Neptune directly from the Earth's surface. In addition it had to make sure it didn't remove any extra pieces from its surroundings, like a stray paving slab or a surprised pigeon.

It would be a delicate operation, so Clara remained on the bridge. Johnny, Alf and, very reluctantly, Bentley and Rusty, took refuge in the gel pods that emerged from the floor, waiting for the Spirit of London to wink out of existence while the real London Gherkin winked into it from out of hyperspace, taking the ship's place a nanosecond or two later.

Once inside the gel pods Johnny, blown up like a rubber glove, hardly felt a thing and was surprised when Sol told him the fold was over. Quickly he deflated to normal proportions as the goo oozed out of his mouth and drained from the chamber. Briefly he let himself enjoy the tickling sensation as the remaining gel was vacuumed up off him before he opened the doors, still grinning, and stepped out onto the bridge, taking his place in the captain's chair. Bentley emerged, shaking his shaggy coat clean of orange goo, as though he'd just come out of the sea. Johnny looked at the instruments beside him—everything seemed fine. “Where are we?” he asked.

“Our position is approximately 17,297.465 95 light seconds from your Sun and 16.226 21 degrees below the plane of the solar system. If I may say so, it was a magnificent fold,” Sol replied.

“Can you tell it ‘well done'?” Johnny asked Clara, gesturing at the plican.

“When it wakes up,” said Clara. “It's resting now.”

“You should do the same,” Johnny told her, aware of what would be coming soon. As Clara left the bridge, Johnny swiveled to face forward and asked Sol, “How soon till we reach Neptune?”

“Computing … estimated time of arrival at one-half light speed is 1 hour, 54 minutes and 57.1628 seconds.”

The other pods opened and Alf and a frightened Rusty joined Johnny and Bentley on the bridge. It had been Alf's idea to position themselves so unusually in space. The Sun and all
the planets were in the same two-dimensional plane as each other. Apparently most species, including Johnny and hopefully the krun, thought in fewer dimensions and would have expected any journey to Neptune from Earth to take place in a relatively straight line. The Spirit of London would be approaching Neptune from below—everyone hoped this would give them an element of surprise. Sol was busy scanning the planet for evidence that the krun really did have a base there. She projected an image of the planet, deep blue splashed across with white cirrus clouds, onto the viewscreen and highlighted the position of two moons.

“Well I never,” said Alf, looking at the pink ball that was Triton. “Unless I am very much mistaken there is something most unusual about that satellite.”