And the Rest Is History(6)

I sighed, reached for my hat, and wrapped a scarf around my neck to keep out the sand. Donning sunglasses, I pulled out a small backpack, stuffed it with a water flask, a pair of binoculars and a compass, and heaved it over my shoulder.

I took one last look at the console. I’d activated the proximity alerts and nothing had gone off. As far as I knew, I was the only person around for a thousand miles. Possibly a slight exaggeration, but that was how it felt. Time to earn my very inadequate pay.

I opened the door, flinched in the bright, white heat, and stepped outside. Careful to stand in the shade of the pod, I looked around. The landscape remained empty. Hot and still. I waited. An occasional stiff wind would gust sand in my face, and then subside, and we would be back to hot and still again.

I contemplated climbing onto the roof for a better look around, but it occurred to me that the lone rock over there would make a better vantage point. It was only a couple of hundred yards away. Even I couldn’t get lost. Ramming down my hat, I set off, listening to the sound of my feet crunch on coarse sand as I trudged towards the outcrop, the only thing worth looking at in this dreary landscape.

I scrambled up the hot rock and rotated slowly, feeling sweat run down my back as the sun beat down on me. On the face of it, he wasn’t here. No one was here. Except me, of course. I rotated back the other way, just for something to do. The only movement was loose sand scudding across the ground, blown this way and that by the intermittent wind. The landscape was empty. He hadn’t come.

‘Good afternoon,’ called Ronan, looking up at me from ground level.

I spun around. Where the hell had he come from?

He stood, unmoving, as if we were both waiting for my heartbeat to return to normal. He wore the same black T-shirt and jeans but with a bandana tied around his head against the sun. I noticed that this time, however, there were no reassurances about not being armed.

‘Well,’ he said, ‘isn’t this nice? A little hot, of course. Would you like to climb down so we can sit in the shade?’

I slid down and we squatted in the deep shade at the foot of the rock. He politely offered me some water. Equally politely, I declined. Drug me once – shame on you. Drug me twice – not bloody likely.

‘I don’t want to keep you hanging around in this heat,’ he said, a sentiment I would have found so much more sincere if he hadn’t spent the last twenty minutes keeping me hanging around in this heat until he could confirm I was alone.

We looked at each other. Dr Bairstow had given me his decision and a message for Ronan, but I had discretion to act on my own initiative should the situation require it.

‘Well?’ he said, casually, although his voice was not quite steady. ‘Is there a response?’

‘Yes, there is. I’ve spoken to Dr Bairstow. In fact, we discussed it all afternoon.’

I stopped, remembering pacing the carpet in front of his desk, waving my arms, arguing … Because what we were proposing was not without risk. Strictly speaking, we should report immediately to the Time Police and await instructions. Let them handle it. Yeah, like that was ever going to happen. The Time Police are not noted for their lightness of touch. We had a chance here – a real chance – to end this now. Once and for all.

‘Yes,’ he said, impatiently. ‘And?’

‘Dr Bairstow completely…’

And that was as far as I got.

I stood up, staring over his shoulder. Over on the horizon, far over to my right, a tiny flash of light. And then another one.

I spun around to face him.

Whatever it was, it was too far away to be an immediate threat. A caravan, maybe, on its way to … I racked my brains. I’d studied maps of the area before setting out. The oasis at Siwa was too far north, and anyway, the traditional route was off to the east via the Dakhla and Farafra oases. I turned to Ronan in sudden suspicion. ‘These were your coordinates. Is this a trap? What’s over there?’

He was staring too. ‘How should I know? It could be anyone.’

‘Out here? In the middle of nowhere? Caravans travel to the east.’ I gestured vaguely in what I hoped was an eastwards direction. ‘There’s nothing here except us.’

Except me.

Dr Bairstow and I had discussed the possibility of an ambush. Or kidnapping. Or even murder. I was armed and equipped for anything. I was certain he would be as well. So much for detente.

I opened my com and he pushed me back against the rock, a gun appearing from nowhere. ‘Who are you talking to?’

I pushed his hand away. ‘My computer, of course. Computer.’

It gave that irritating little trill.

‘Computer, using current coordinates, speculate on approaching traffic.’

There was a slight pause as, presumably, it gave the matter some thought.

‘There is no evidence of any major trade routes in this area. Subjects may be lost. Or…’ It does this. I think it likes to build up the suspense. One of these days, I’m going to rip it out by its peripherals and show it who’s the boss around here.

‘Excavations in this area have revealed a considerable number of human bones and some artefacts, which date back to approximately two and a half thousand years ago. Some theorise they are the remains of an Egyptian army, believed to have been lost in a possible sandstorm, as it made its way to the Oracle of Amun at Siwa, resulting in the deaths of fifty thousand men.’