The Tea Machine (27 page)

Millicent’s stifled sob brought Hubert out of his dark tale.

“Are you saying we all died?” Sangfroid said, flatly. “No one got out? Not even Weena?”

“No one.” Hubert shook his head. “It was a terrible thing to see.”

“I’ll bet.” Sangfroid was not amused.

“So basically, left to their own devices, Gallo and Sangfroid die, and the squid don’t manage to save Weena.” Millicent scrabbled about her person for a handkerchief. A rose scented hankie was thrust into her hand. She dabbed at her eyes and blew her nose fiercely, then stiffened on realizing Millicent2 had provided the exquisitely tatted square of lace. She composed herself quickly, and with a murmur that was almost a thank you but not quite, she tucked the stained scrap into her rope belt to launder later.

“Are you suggesting they only survive if we intervene?” She turned to Hubert.

“I’m suggesting they may only exist because Sophia intervened,” he said.

“Note how it’s always about them and what they do,” Sangfroid told Gallo. “They have to be at the centre of everything.”

“I remember drawing fire into the far corner to let Travis get the techies out.” Gallo offered. “It was stupid thing to do. Makes sense I didn’t make it.” She shrugged. “What were you doing before Millicent arrived?”

“I was gonna make a run for the Kappa exit,” Sangfroid said.

“And as I pointed out at the time, a huge squid was guarding it. I made her climb around it using the bulwarks,” Millicent said. “I told her she wouldn’t stand a chance running for the exit. And obviously you didn’t.” Millicent addressed this final part to Sangfroid, satisfied with this proof that her logic had been flawless. “Once I arrived, you both survived long past the point where you got yourselves killed through ridiculous decision making.”

“When she came,” Sangfroid nodded towards Millicent, “we got out of the hanger and found you in the corridor checking out weapons.”

“Yeah. I ran too, after my gun jammed,” she said. “There was a helluva commotion on the far side of the hanger. It took the squid’s attention was off me, and I got the hell out.”

“How serendipitous. I wonder what caused that diversion.” Millicent2’s dulcet tones glued Sangfroid’s attention to her.

Millicent seethed.

“I suspect there are optimum time points for interacting with another timeline,” Millicent2 continued. “And, as you found out in Rome, others when it’s downright dangerous.”

“Precisely,” said Hubert. He seemed pleased with this conclusion. “Optimum time points where we can skew probable outcomes into a more favourable direction.” Anticipating the question already forming on Sangfroid’s lips, he added, “In other words, places where we can fix the odds.” His face darkened in warning. “Extremely dangerous places. And that’s where I’m sending you.”

CHAPTER 27

The door opened, and Edna
entered. The lamplight bounced off the high curve of her bronzed forehead.

“Supper is served.” She creaked into an ungraceful curtsey.

“I was unsure if you’d have an appetite after your adventures, but I had Cook coddle some eggs and set out a selection of cold cuts just in case,” Hubert explained.

Sangfroid and Gallo were out the door in an instant, almost knocking the Edna machine sideways in their haste.

“Are you sure you aren’t in some way responsible for these household automatons, Hubert?” Millicent asked as she and her brother followed more sedately. “It would be so like you.”

“No. Not at all,” he answered. “It is a normal convention for this era. I find it fascinating, though. Granted, I did take Edna apart for a good look. Cook, too. It was most interesting.”

“Hubert. I forbid you to dissemble the servants,” Millicent scolded. “It’s unsavoury.”

“But the research has to be done,” Millicent2 said in Hubert’s defence. “We need to ascertain what has happened here and how these creatures operate.”

They followed Sangfroid and Gallo into the dining room where the sideboard was laid out with a light buffet.

“Our servants are safe. They are fully automated.” Hubert warmed to his theme. “In that they are all machine with no living parts. But the cities working populous,” he indicated the nightmarish world beyond the house, “are part human, part mechanical. I suspect the fully automated servant is a luxury and the steam powered worker, or hybrid as Gallo puts it, are the common-place industrial models.”

“You should be safe enough.” Gallo bit into a chicken thigh, then continued with a full mouth. “But I can’t speak for the rest of the city. There’s a possible meltdown situation here.”

Millicent2 moved to where Millicent stood by the buffet and murmured, “I need to talk to you. Perhaps later, in private.” She helped herself to several cold cuts, a slice of quiche, and a hefty spoonful of piccalilli.

Millicent studied the generous helping on her companion’s plate. “My, what a robust appetite you have.” She picked out a few morsels for her own plate. “Are there food shortages in your time?” she asked with fabricated concern.

“No. I just enjoy my food,” Millicent2 answered with a smile. “It must be reassuring for you to realize you finally fill out.” She spread Ardennes pâté on a finger of bread and butter and paused to say, “Oh, and don’t worry, you get hips, too,” before popping the lot into her mouth. She picked up her plate and glided away like a well-oiled serpent. Millicent’s hard stare bore holes in her counterpart’s back, but to no discernible effect.

“Hey.” Sangfroid ambled over, a cheery smile on her face and an over-filled plate in her hand. “Glad to see you two getting along.” She glanced down at Millicent’s modest supper plate. “You’ll need more than that to keep your strength up.”

“Oh, shut up.” Millicent stomped off to eat alone.

“So, Prof, what’s the plan to get Sophia back?” Gallo asked anxiously. “We’ll need to get going soon. She’s been on her own too long. It could be dangerous, even if she is a goddess.” She was filling her pockets with bread rolls and drumsticks. A bottle of wine disappeared into the copious inner pocket of her uniform jacket.

“Hey, it’s not a picnic.” Sangfroid frowned at Gallo’s squirreling of food.

“You saw the muck we had to eat last time.” Gallo’s brow darkened.

Sangfroid hesitated, then began to fill her own pockets. “At least you got muck. I was as starved as that elephant.”

“Poor Aphrodite.” Millicent re-joined them, scowling at their bulging pockets.

“Yeah. I wonder what happened to her,” Sangfroid said.

“Chow for the big cats,” Gallo said bluntly. “Not that she had much on her in the first case. More like a bag o’ bones, poor old cow.”

“I can reset the time machine to let you travel to Sophia’s expected co-ordinates.” Hubert brought the conversation back on track. “And recalibrate to within a few days either side.”

“A few days,” Sangfroid exclaimed.

“It’s the best I can do given I wasn’t there at the outset to take accurate notes,” Hubert replied. “And I have a suspicion that time has a different acceleration rate in other timelines than it does here. You said you spent a full night in the arena cells but in reality you were gone for several weeks.”

“You said you had her co-ordinates?” Millicent was anxious. “How far into the past did she go to build a religious cult?”

“Very far. Hers was the original destination in the machine. You all piled in afterwards and missed her drop off point by a several hundred years,” Hubert explained.

“How careless of us.” Millicent knew she was being snide, but really, Sophia was more than a nuisance. A sudden thought occurred. “Where is Weena? The house seems empty without a gargantuan tentacle coiled around it.”

“Weena is safe. This is not a good timeline for her to be in. What if someone were to find her and tinker with her biology? I have no wish to see a semi-automated Colossal space squid,” Hubert answered.

“A semi-automated Colossal space squid as opposed to a wholly organic one,” Millicent said dryly. “It bears no thinking about. But where is she now?”

“She’s in our original timeline of 1862. In Loch Ness, no less,” Hubert said, smugly.

“Oh Hubert, what a brilliant place to hide her.” Millicent’s congratulations made him smile broadly. “She shall become a cryptid! It is all too clever.”

“Yeah. Great fun. Can we rescue Sophia now?” Gallo’s impatience was growing.

“I was never happy leaving her behind,” Sangfroid said, morosely.

“We never leave a soldier down,” Gallo confirmed their space marine creed. “Unless she’s dead, then nobody wants her anyway. And we don’t know she’s dead yet,” she added a little anxiously.

“No, we damned well don’t!” Sangfroid sounded determined.

“I hope she’s not dead.” Millicent felt guilty. She had not been as worried for her soon to be sister-in-law as she should have. She had assumed godhood would provide Sophia with protection, but that assumption could be wrong. After all, many ancient peoples sacrificed their gods, and who was to say Sophia hadn’t manifested herself to one of those tribes? She could even now be neck deep in some huge cannibal cooking pot. Millicent’s guilt bubbled to the surface along with the imagined stew.

“I hope she’s still out there trumpeting away angrily.” Sangfroid had a distant look in her eyes.

“I’d like to think she is,” Millicent reassured her, then after the faintest hesitation said crossly. “You’re talking about that elephant, aren’t you.”

Sangfroid looked at her in surprise as if she would be talking about anything other than Aphrodite.

Gallo glared. “Hey!” she said. “I was manacled to your frock, and I looked out for her, even when an entire automated zoo was trying to eat her face off. The least you can do is help me find Sophia.”

“I am
not
a frock.” Millicent ground her teeth. “I am more than a frock.”

“I should hope so.” Millicent2 regarded the grimy tunic Millicent was wearing. “More than
that
frock at least, but I suppose this rag is fitting for the destination.”

“So, let us begin our rescue.” Again Hubert tried to herd everybody back onto the topic. “Follow me, please.” He took command and made his way back to the laboratory. “No time like the present,” he joked over his shoulder. “Depending, of course, on where the present happens to be.” And his smile dropped away.

CHAPTER 28

Millicent2 turned towards her study
rather than Hubert’s laboratory. Sangfroid hung back, then followed her.

“You’re not going with us?” She hesitated at the study doorway.

“No. It’s not my place to go. I belong elsewhere and need to get back,” Millicent2 answered.

“Exactly how far into the future do you belong?”

She smiled. “What a curious question. What thought is behind it?”

Sangfroid came farther into the room, and trying to look casual, picked up a geological knick-knack from a side table. “Just interested.” She shrugged, and idly tossed the weighty rock from hand to hand. “What’s this?” she asked pausing to examine the odd shaped stone.

“Fossilized mammoth dung.” Millicent2 gently removed the rare specimen. “A Christmas gift from Hubert.” She set it safely on the mantelpiece. “Tell me, what are you worried about?”

“It’s just that…it’s just…” She composed her thoughts. “Am I dead or alive where you come from?” she demanded. “I’m getting bored with this being killed then not killed then killed again thing. It sort of…well, sort of…”

“Kills the romance?” she proffered.

“I’m not sure if the romance is alive and kicking in the first place.” Sangfroid grew sullen. “I’m not sure of anything anymore.”

“Do you want to go home?”

Sangfroid’s broodiness intensified. “What’s home?” She snorted. “If it’s the Quintus Prime and the Space Corps, then it looks like I’m toast anyway.” She rounded on Millicent2. “Look, it’s hard to be romantic when you’ve been told you’re dead. It’s not much of a future to offer a girl.”

“Oh, Sangfroid.” She reached to cup her flushed cheek in her cool palm. “There will always be a small corner of time for us.”

“For us?” Sangfroid echoed. “There’s an us?” They stood looking at each other for a moment. “I knew you were going to say that. Everything about you is so déjà vu,” Sangfroid murmured. “All this time-jumping has pulverized my head. It’s hard to know what’s real anymore, so I try to follow my gut, but that only confuses things more.”

“If you feel it, then it is probably real. Trust your gut.”

“Am I going to lose you?” she asked bluntly. “That’s what scares me most. And I’m a frontline marine, so not many things do.”

“I can’t tell you that. Time is fluid, things change, and there’s much I don’t understand either,” she said. “I can only suggest you do what I do, and go with your feelings. Like this.” And she stood on tiptoe and kissed Sangfroid full on the mouth.

Sangfroid started as if lazered, then sank into the kiss as if it was the most natural thing in the world to taste the plump softness of Millicent’s lips and to feel the delicious yield of her body against her own. Sangfroid tightened her arms around her, drowning in the intoxication, and would have inadvertently squeezed the last ounce of breath out of her but for Millicent2 gently pushing her away. Reluctantly, she broke the kiss but kept her hands clamped on Millicent2’s waist. She couldn’t let her go, sure the loss of connection would break her into little pieces.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” she said, “but I’ve missed you so much.”

“Missed me? So I’m with you in your own timeline?” Sangfroid was delighted. She lowered her head and breathed in the scent of Millicent2’s hair.

“Until I get back there, I really have no idea.” Millicent2’s answer was cryptic, and before Sangfroid could question her further, Gallo’s bellow came rolling down the hall.

“Sangfroid! Move it! We’re all ready to go here.”

“You’d better go before Gallo explodes like the mother of Vesuvius all over Hubert’s laboratory.” She stepped out of Sangfroid’s clasp. “Everything is so fragile at the moment.” She pressed her fingers to Sangfroid’s lips, staunching the flood of questions. “Time has run out for me here. You’ll have to trust me; we are meant to be together. I can tell you no more than that.”

“But we’re together now, right?” she asked again. “Somewhere, somehow?”

Millicent2 tapped the breastbone over Sangfroid’s heart, and smiled. “Always. Time is merely an inconvenient circumstance.”

“Where the hell has Millicent gone now?” Gallo’s voice thundered. “Anyone would think this was a spa day and not a bleedin’ rescue mission.”

“Go. If you don’t, then there will be no future to squabble over.” Millicent2 shooed her away.

“On my way,” Sangfroid called to Gallo, and with a lingering look, allowed herself to be ushered out of the room. The door swung shut behind her, only to swing slowly back open a moment later. Millicent stood in the doorway quivering with indignation.

“I saw your embrace,” she said coldly to Millicent2.

“Delectable wasn’t it.”

Millicent coloured brightly. “You knew very well I could see you, yet you deliberately continued your vile seduction. You are a brazen, heartless, hussy.”

“
That
is going in the book.” Millicent2 promptly pulled a small, well-used notebook from her reticule and proceeded to scribble in it while Millicent looked on in outrage.

“But I jest.” Millicent2 stopped scribbling and riffled the pages of the notebook. “I keep calibrations in mine, not other people’s profanities. This book holds the three-dimensional waypoints of every place I have ever visited. Latitude, longitude, and time-span disparity.”

Millicent looked blankly at the book, then said, “You kissed her.”

“Of course I did.” Millicent2 gave a well-worn sigh. “She’s a big, kissable brute.”

Millicent glowered. “You had no right. You can’t go leaping about in time kissing…people.”

“Kissing
your
people, I think you mean?” Millicent2 raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that better than leaping about in time and killing them?” Then she added, “It’s just so hard to resist, especially when she’s all brand new and squeaky clean.” A dreamy look came to her eye that Millicent didn’t like at all. She gathered herself into a ball of seething hauteur and scrabbled for the moral high ground.

“You better not have filled her head with romantic twaddle and…and all that kissing nonsense. She’s hard enough to handle.”

“Surely you can’t blame me for making the most of it,” Millicent2 drawled. “Soon she may not even exist.”

“What do you mean?”

“Sangfroid and Gallo are destined to die in their own timeline, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, you know you can’t stop it. And neither do they belong here. They exist because of an anomaly that you created when you first started Hubert’s machine. You, my dear, are like the chicken and the egg.” Millicent2 stared intently at her. “So now they are going back to rescue Sophia and, in doing so, ultimately seal their fate and the fate of their great race. No deity, no steam power, no future.” She let Millicent absorb this for a moment, before continuing, “If Sophia’s influence on the ancient world succeeds, then they die in battle on the Amoebas. You cannot change that. And if there is no Goddess Looselea, then they may not even exist at all. Did you not think of that? How damned brave they are?”

“Yes. Of course I have considered it,” Millicent said quietly. She was at a loss as to what to do. “What I am also considering is your place in all of this. What have you to offer asides from excessive confusion and loose lips?”

“Why, have you not realised? I am here to help you. You have to find out how all this started. How did you end up in the time machine in the first place?”

“I was trying to dis-embroil my parasol from the mechanism. Hubert was very free with my summer accessories.”

“No. Think back. The machine was in gear, the great disc was spinning and steam filled the air, what happen next?”

“I was pushed!” Millicent said, with equal measures of anger and puzzlement.

“Exactly. And you need to find out who and why. You are approaching a pivotal point in time, my dear. A dangerous waypoint. A crossroads where entire destinies can fly off into multiple directions. One false step and you can create conditions where you yourself could fail to exist. Someone forced you into that first false step. I came here to direct you, you must trust me. I am you, I am your future, your destination.”

“I’d as soon crawl through the sewers of London in a perpetual loop if you are my destination.” Millicent was affronted. “You are loose and abandoned and far too flirtatious for your own good. I mean, kissing at a time like this. I could never be you. I have no idea what bizarre future you hail from, but looking out these windows, I can believe a suitable aberration exists somewhere for a woman like you.”

Millicent2 looked her squarely in the eye. “You can stop this self-deprecation right now,” she said. “You are going on a very dangerous journey, so I advise you to listen to me,
carefully,
as I’ve not much time left.”

Millicent gawped. Before her stood a cold, iron-willed woman, with determination wrapped around her like steel bands. The light dimmed in the little study room until there was nothing but gloom, and they were haloed in the centre of it.

“When you find Sophia, an event will happen that will fundamentally change everyone’s lives,” Millicent2 said. “You will have to make a decision then and there, and you will have to be brave.” The room sparked with energy. It fizzed along Millicent’s skin, raising the fine hair on her forearms. She knew what this was. A time portal opening up around them.

“Millicent.” Sangfroid was calling. Her voice rang up the hallway.

“If Sophia starts her religion there is no turning back.” Millicent2 was speaking rapidly, but her voice sounded faint and percussive, as if she spoke from far away. “When you see the tea, you’ll know.” The air began to stir, brushing across their faces, ruffling tendrils of hair. Sangfroid’s footsteps drew closer.

“What tea? What are you talking about?” Millicent said. Her throat felt tight. She had to force the words out. Millicent2 oscillated before her eyes, weaving in and out of focus.

“The decision is yours,” Millicent2 said. “Only yours.”

“Millicent.” Sangfroid stepped into the study. “What the Hades are you doing? We have to go.”

“I was just…” Her words trailed away. She was alone. Millicent2 had gone.

Wordlessly, she followed Sangfroid out into the hallway, churning over Millicent2’s last words before any could be forgotten.
A pivotal time point. A dangerous crossroads. Only your decision.
Anxiety clawed at her. She had no idea what Millicent2 had meant. She was obviously referring to Sophia and the tea religion. That was the anomaly they were heading straight for.

The churning drone of the time machine came down the hall towards her. The gas wall-lights spluttered in the draught stirred up by the whir of the huge disc. Light shone from Hubert’s open laboratory door and laid an oblong of yellow across the parquet flooring. She followed Sangfroid towards it as if in a dream. None of it felt welcoming.