The Terminus (26 page)

At Swiss Cottage they emerged from the Underground and
began to walk down the hill. Not ten metres ahead, with his back to them, was
Gary O’Driscoll.

“GARY!” yelled Mike.

His friend turned and glanced briefly without stopping. His
face, hard and older…
so
much older… showed no emotion.

“GARY?”

Mike let go of Cathy’s hand and ran on ahead. He touched
his friend’s arm.

“Hey, Gary, this is Cathy. I rescued her from the clutches
of Blinker.”

“Clutches? Blinker?” the other queried, his voice distant.

“Gary, he’s a shit! An insignificant shit! Getting what he
deserves this very minute. Well, in two hundred years’ time… sort of.”

Gary’s eyes blinked. Mike saw a pain so great that when
Cathy got cold shouldered he’d misinterpreted his friend’s disinterest as
uncaring hardness; in Gary’s eyes were things Mike simply didn’t understand but
he knew the pain was beyond anything he’d yet encountered.

Gary stopped and spoke:

“You saw her, didn’t you? In the Hatcheries.”

“The
Terminus
, Gary. We were in the Terminus. Hiding
beside a thing the size of…”

Gary, ignoring Mike, continued on more quickly down the
hill towards West Hampstead. Mike ran again to catch up and Cathy hurried
after. Gary made no further mention of Beetie and Mike felt he should refrain
from telling him the truth concerning God’s revelation… and what Arthry was
going to do to her, the little bitch, let alone Teeth’s ultimate threat. Gary
would ask in his own time. Perhaps
anger
with Beetie rather than sorrow
now fogged his mind. To augment this by disclosing the girl’s betrayal might
cause the boy to flip altogether and do something unbelievably stupid. Mike
always feared for Gary’s unpredictability.

“We must hurry,” Gary said. “Your tracksuit! They’ll
recognise you. The police are already waiting to arrest Seamus O’Malley at his
bedside as soon as he’s fully awake. He was wearing
my
tracksuit. We’ve
really messed things up, Mike.”

“Seamus O’Malley? Who the hell…?”

“An Irishman we… rather,
I
found on Hampstead Heath.
Pissed as a newt. He thought… oh, never mind what the bugger thought! We
swapped clothes and he got knifed and left for dead by one of Teeth’s spies.
They reckoned he was me in disguise, I guess. But the police think he was in on
the theft. You and me, we got caught on security camera when we nicked the
Pentatron tablet. Not so clever, eh?”

He looked at his friend.

“Don’t bloody blame me, Gary. I went through hell, too.
Poor Cathy, as well. You could at least say ‘hello’ to her. Be a little bit
civil.”

A transient smile flickered Gary’s lips for Cathy’s
benefit.

“Sorry, Cathy! Expect Mike’s told you what an arsehole I
can be.”

“Arse… hole?”

“Mike… you explain.”

“Not true! I’d never have risked my life for you if you
were only an arsehole, Gary.”

Gary stopped.

“I got you caught up in this sordid business! Right? Put
you through hell, like you said, and nearly got poor Seamus killed, and… and…”
He went quiet and took off again. “If not an arsehole, a shit! The stuff that
comes out of an arsehole!”

“I’ve got
Cathy
! Rescued her from those prehistoric
rat-faced sugar daddies. Worth going through any crap for! I should
thank
you,
Gary. Yeah! Thanks, Gary! Thanks for helping me meet up with Cathy. She’s
getting better by the minute now the damned drug Blinker stuck her with is
beginning to wear off.”

“Blinker too? With Arthry? Thought as much!” Gary remarked,
his tone flat.

The mention of Arthry’s name sent a shiver down Mike’s
spine. How the hell was he going tell Gary when he was like this? Pushed to the
limit Gary would become detached, as if he no longer had any interest in the
outside world, but Mike knew this to be the calm before the storm. Inside he’d
be seething but unreachable. The flatter he appeared the worse the
explosion.  Avoiding the topic of Beetie was Mike’s only option. He tried
to amuse his friend with the story of Danny being kissed in front of his
team-mates in Regents Park.

“Don’t think he’ll ever live this one down! Can’t wait to
see the pictures the girls took of him getting smackers from the lads. Told ’em
to post the photos on Facebook. Had it coming, the brainless bully. You’d have
been proud of your old mate, Gary.”

Gary merely stared fixedly ahead. Of course, Mike made no
mention of his humiliation following a gentlemanly attempt to explain his
changed circumstance to Veronica, and they walked on without a further word
spoken. Back home, Gary’s parents hadn’t yet returned from the B & B, so
they sat in silence in the sitting room until Mike could no longer bear the
tension.

“You’re gonna have to let go, Gary!” he said at last.
Oh
shit,
he thought, when Gary’s eyes flashed at him, and for once in his life
he regretted having opened his mouth. “When God returns to the Terminus with
his stuff… the force he’s sure he can extract from dark energy… they’ll be
offsky,” he continued, hoping the matter-of-fact monotone of his voice might
stave off the explosion. “Whoosh! The whole lot of ’em. End of the story! Gotta
be realistic, mate.”

“Amazing!”

Mike stared at Gary. Was that
all
his friend could
say? Amazing? No mention of Beetie! He’d half expected to find himself scraping
bits of Gary off the ceiling after telling him it was over.

“Offsky to flipping Paradise Planet!” Mike re-affirmed.
“Bloody great space-craft called the Belindaron. It’ll take no time, they
reckon. Those bleeding…”

Mike halted. Gary was smiling.

Christ, he’s gone and completely flipped. Total and utter
‘flippation’! Lost forever!

“Don’t you understand, Mike? It’s like the time-specs… same
thing…”

“Yeah… erm…
what
?”

“Obvious! Been trying to work out how those specs work ever
since I first picked them up. Kind of guessed harnessing dark energy might
somehow be involved. And making use of time-space wormholes. Got to hand it to
God. Bloody clever to actually
achieve
the impossible!”

“Gary…?”

“I mean… to apply one set of rules of physics to another
makes no mathematical sense, but he’s done it. Or gonna do it. Funny, ay, how
at the same time the future has and hasn’t happened. Your space-craft… the Belindaron…
has perhaps already arrived in paradise… in hell… whatever, but the Terminus
hasn’t been built. We’re still here in the dark ages and… and… she…
she
’
s
not yet born. Doesn’t exist.”

Gary was looking at the floor.

“Gary! There’s something you’ve gotta know.”

“
DON
’T!”

Gary
glanced sharply at his friend, his eyes afire.

“I can’t hide the truth any longer. Beetie… she… oh,
Christ, I dunno how to put this… she’s having God’s baby, the filthy bastard. I
wanted to kill the bugger using my own bare hands, honest, but… well, I was
lucky to escape with my life and Cathy.”

Gary’s eyes glazed over. Mike waited.

“You’re wrong! Can’t be! Not God! He’s her step-father, for
Christ’s sake!”

Mike felt so sorry for Gary he was tempted to ask Cathy to hug
his friend. After all, how does one boy comfort another? He squirmed at the
memory of kissing Danny Bryan. The worst moment of his life… though bloody
worth it!

“It’s the truth, I’m afraid,” he assured his friend.

“What Redfor said about God not wanting to take Beetie home
from the Hatcheries, being afraid of his own feelings because she was so like
his wife… her mother... made no sense to me, but if he felt that way why…? Oh
shit
,
Mike! Did
I
bring this on? Make way for God by...?”

“Gary… there’s nothing more any of us can do!”

“Did he force her?”

Mike remembered Beetie calling out ‘it’s not like that’
after he’d threatened God, just before he and Cathy returned to the present.

“Gary, I… I don’t think so. She was a willing party. Sorry
mate!”

Gary drew a deep breath.

“So you still have the specs?”

Mike nodded.

“I’ll kill him.
Kill
God. I’ve got to. Myself! Only
then can I get on with my life, Mike.”

“Is there any point? I mean it’s already happened… in the
future. He’s a sneaky bastard, too. Chances are
you’d
end up dead, not
him! They’re
all
mixed up in this, anyway… that crazy idea of pissing
off to some Paradise Planet!”

“I’ll kill him, but there’s something I must do first. Make
up for what I did to Seamus O’Malley.
Afterwards
I can kill God. Give me
the time-specs. I’m returning to the Royal Free. In a week or so. Taking him to
Dublin. Giving him back his self-respect and the lady he loves.
And
his
little girl. It’s the least I can do. Make someone happy, ay?”

“Another thing you should know, Gary. About Beetie. They’re
punishing her for running off with you. She’s getting a flogging… or going to
get one. From Arthry.”

Mike hoped this might help assuage his friend’s anger with
Beetie for allowing a dirty old man to make her pregnant.

“I’ll kill
him
, too. If it’s the last thing I do, I
swear I’ll kill anyone who even
thinks
about harming her!”

Bugger! I was hoping to destroy the frigging specs,
thought Mike.

“Meanwhile, make yourselves at home,” said Gary. “My
parents should be back any time…” and he left for the hospital with the
time-specs.

“Cup of tea?” Mike asked Cathy when he’d gone.

The girl remained mute. They were sitting together, quietly
drinking tea like an elderly married couple, when Mike heard the door open.

He’s back,
the boy
thought.
Seen sense at last
.

Mr and Mrs O’Driscoll walked into the room. For a few
moments they stood in shocked silence, gaping at the strange-looking boy in a
shiny red tracksuit and the pretty, dark-haired, bare-foot girl in a white
dress, sitting side-by-side on the settee.

“Mike? Oh, thank God you’re okay! Dressed funny… but okay!”

Mrs O’Driscoll came forward and kissed Mike on the cheek.

“What about your friend? Aren’t you going to introduce me?”

“Oh, sorry! Cathy... my girlfriend. Cathy, this is Mr and
Mrs O’Driscoll.”

“Hello, Cathy.”

“Hello, Mr and Mrs O’Driscoll.”

“You never told us you had a girlfriend, Mike. I’m so
pleased for you. Is Gary in the kitchen?”

“He… well, he’s gone back to the hospital. Some Irish guy
who…”

“We know. Terrible business! I do wish you weren’t both
mixed up in this. Did you tell your parents you’re back, Mike? They were going
spare this morning when you hadn’t come home last night.”

“Yeah, well it’s like this, Mrs O’Driscoll. Cathy here, I
sort of rescued her…”

“He’s so brave! I love Mike!” interrupted Cathy.

Mike patted the girl’s hand.

“Couldn’t let ’em take her away. You’ve no idea what they
get up to in the future. And they have no telephones. Wasn’t able to call Mum
and Dad. Weird, ay? No phones. Like going
back
in time rather than
forwards. You know…”

“Mike?”

“Mmmm?”

“Mike, just call them.
Please
? One day you’ll be a
parent yourself.”

Sitting beside Cathy, the thought excited Mike. He stroked
her hand then left to use the phone in the hallway.... and bumped into Redfor,
alone and obviously reluctant to enter the sitting room.

“You? What the bloody hell are you doing lurking around?
Want your rotten old tracksuit back, eh?”

“Mike, I must find Gary. Met his parents again outside.
Thought he’d be here, but overheard what you said. Could be anywhere now with
the time-specs.”

Mike closed the door behind him. He didn’t want Cathy to
hear him being angry.

“Yeah! Bloody anywhere, but you know what? I’m praying
he’ll find God, and if
he
doesn’t kill the bastard,
I
will.”

“God told me about your little outburst in the Terminus,
but you’ve got everything wrong, you know.”

“Oh, I don’t think so! No excuse for that sort of shit,
step-father or not! I’ll tell you another thing, too! I’m not sorry about Beetie
getting flogged either. She and God have really mucked up my friend between
them. I admit he’s not a people sort of guy, Gary, the poor mad swot, but she
meant everything to him. He loved her, Redfor. Loved a cheap tart… and he’s a
good bloke, is Gary! What d’you make of that, ay?”

“I wish I could explain, Mike, but I can’t. God’s given me
very strict instructions not to.”