Face?’
‘Ha ha ha, ha ha ha,’ laughed Abel Darkwater, ‘so youremember a thing or two after all, do you? Well, I will tell you as much as you will tell me: nothing! Now, go back to your filthy underground bog, and take the child with you. You will spare me the expense of feeding her.’
Micah and Balthazar did not speak. They shuffled out of the door and down the stairs as though they had been broken by something heavy and evil. Silver followed them, not knowing what she should do. Abel Darkwater stood at the top of the stairs watching them go.
She turned round. ‘Where is Mrs Rokabye?
‘Mrs Rokabye is at the theatre. She has gone to see
The Lion King
. Sniveller has taken her. She quite grew to like Sniveller when she discovered he is a poisoner by profession. You remember Sniveller, don’t you, Micah – although you knew him as the White Lead Man in those days?’
Micah did not reply.
‘Doesn’t she care about me at all?’ asked Silver, who knew Mrs Rokabye was bad, but had held out a faint hope that she was not all bad.
‘Of course she does,’ said Abel Darkwater cheerfully. ‘We all do, very much, but it would have been a pity to waste the tickets.’
He turned and went back into his study and closed the door.
As soon as the three of them were back down in the tunnel, Gabriel, waiting for them patiently, could see that things had gone very badly, but he did not break the oath of silence.They rode back on the Petrol Ponies, and parked them without speaking.
Only when he was back in the warm circle of the Chamber, with a bottle of something strong-smelling to drink, did Micah speak.
‘Certain it is that he has not discovered that pin, that hand of the clock.’
‘Then where is it?’ demanded Silver.
‘That I know not,’ said Micah.
‘But what can we do now? Shall we go back to Tanglewreck?’
‘I know not,’ said Micah. ‘I must dwell on this awhile, but there is something I know.’ He paused to light his pipe. ‘Someone else has knowledge of the Timekeeper. Someone who thy mother and father and sister met with on the day you tell us of, the day they were journeying to Abel Darkwater.’
‘How do you know?’ asked Silver.
‘They vanished, yea. The Timekeeper vanished, yea. The one man who has sought it for centuries has lost it once more. Someone else must be nearby.’
‘But who?’ wondered Silver.
The Committee
Regalia Mason liked to be early to meetings; it was an interesting way of making others feel uncomfortable. If the most important person in the room is early, even those who are on time feel as though they are late.
It amused Regalia Mason to manipulate someone’s idea of Time in these small ways. Soon she intended to be manipulating Time in much bigger ways too.
She was reading through the notes supplied by the Committee. Since the first Time Tornado had hit London Bridge and the school bus had disappeared, there had been a number of other incidents, and in all of them the pattern seemed to be the same; Time stood still, then jerked forward at terrific speed. There had been seven sightings of a Woolly Mammoth on the banks of the Thames, and yesterday, as well as the disappearance of several buildings and cars and people, certain artefacts from the past had been found in the street.
She made a note on her pad. ‘Time is coming forward, coming towards us. We are not going back in Time.’
The advisors were coming into the room. She knew some of them; the Astronomer Royal, Sir Martin Rees. The Cambridge Professor of Cosmology, Stephen Hawking; thequantum physicist, Roger Penrose; the neuroscientist, Susan Greenfield, always elegant in her short skirts and long boots – Regalia Mason made a note of the boots. Then there were two members of the Government, and a senior civil servant everyone knew as Sir Bertie. A last-minute addition was a man from MI5, whose name was a secret, and who suspected that the whole thing had something to do with the Chinese.
There
‘Ha ha ha, ha ha ha,’ laughed Abel Darkwater, ‘so youremember a thing or two after all, do you? Well, I will tell you as much as you will tell me: nothing! Now, go back to your filthy underground bog, and take the child with you. You will spare me the expense of feeding her.’
Micah and Balthazar did not speak. They shuffled out of the door and down the stairs as though they had been broken by something heavy and evil. Silver followed them, not knowing what she should do. Abel Darkwater stood at the top of the stairs watching them go.
She turned round. ‘Where is Mrs Rokabye?
‘Mrs Rokabye is at the theatre. She has gone to see
The Lion King
. Sniveller has taken her. She quite grew to like Sniveller when she discovered he is a poisoner by profession. You remember Sniveller, don’t you, Micah – although you knew him as the White Lead Man in those days?’
Micah did not reply.
‘Doesn’t she care about me at all?’ asked Silver, who knew Mrs Rokabye was bad, but had held out a faint hope that she was not all bad.
‘Of course she does,’ said Abel Darkwater cheerfully. ‘We all do, very much, but it would have been a pity to waste the tickets.’
He turned and went back into his study and closed the door.
As soon as the three of them were back down in the tunnel, Gabriel, waiting for them patiently, could see that things had gone very badly, but he did not break the oath of silence.They rode back on the Petrol Ponies, and parked them without speaking.
Only when he was back in the warm circle of the Chamber, with a bottle of something strong-smelling to drink, did Micah speak.
‘Certain it is that he has not discovered that pin, that hand of the clock.’
‘Then where is it?’ demanded Silver.
‘That I know not,’ said Micah.
‘But what can we do now? Shall we go back to Tanglewreck?’
‘I know not,’ said Micah. ‘I must dwell on this awhile, but there is something I know.’ He paused to light his pipe. ‘Someone else has knowledge of the Timekeeper. Someone who thy mother and father and sister met with on the day you tell us of, the day they were journeying to Abel Darkwater.’
‘How do you know?’ asked Silver.
‘They vanished, yea. The Timekeeper vanished, yea. The one man who has sought it for centuries has lost it once more. Someone else must be nearby.’
‘But who?’ wondered Silver.
The Committee
Regalia Mason liked to be early to meetings; it was an interesting way of making others feel uncomfortable. If the most important person in the room is early, even those who are on time feel as though they are late.
It amused Regalia Mason to manipulate someone’s idea of Time in these small ways. Soon she intended to be manipulating Time in much bigger ways too.
She was reading through the notes supplied by the Committee. Since the first Time Tornado had hit London Bridge and the school bus had disappeared, there had been a number of other incidents, and in all of them the pattern seemed to be the same; Time stood still, then jerked forward at terrific speed. There had been seven sightings of a Woolly Mammoth on the banks of the Thames, and yesterday, as well as the disappearance of several buildings and cars and people, certain artefacts from the past had been found in the street.
She made a note on her pad. ‘Time is coming forward, coming towards us. We are not going back in Time.’
The advisors were coming into the room. She knew some of them; the Astronomer Royal, Sir Martin Rees. The Cambridge Professor of Cosmology, Stephen Hawking; thequantum physicist, Roger Penrose; the neuroscientist, Susan Greenfield, always elegant in her short skirts and long boots – Regalia Mason made a note of the boots. Then there were two members of the Government, and a senior civil servant everyone knew as Sir Bertie. A last-minute addition was a man from MI5, whose name was a secret, and who suspected that the whole thing had something to do with the Chinese.
There
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