the war, and takes the blame for starting it.”
A shadow crossed over the professor’s face.
Jack shrugged, “But if it’s any comfort, my history teacher says that people are still arguing about the causes of the war.” He continued gloomily, “But that’s not all. That book tells you all about the war… but what I haven’t told you is that this war leads to another, even more horrific war. The Second World War, twenty years later.”
The professor shook his head, “Sorry Jack… this… book, your… story. It is so incredible. I find it hard to believe…”
Jack fished around in his pocket again. He’d started now, so he might as well go the whole hog. He produced the time phone and presented it to the professor.
“Here, the time phone I told you about. It links to the Taurus, which sends people backwards and forwards through time — when it decides to work, that is. It’s a bit dodgy. Look…” He flipped open the device showing the professor the mysterious blue light, screen, SATNAV and buttons. “You’re a scientist, Professor, but I bet you’ve never seen technology like this.”
The professor studied the time phone in wonder. Jack imagined that he had the same stupid expression of shock on his face that he and Angus must have had on first hearing Pendelshape’s revelations back at the Taurus control room.
All the professor could say was, “Incredible… incredible…” He repeated the words to himself trancelike, over and over again.
As they stared into the time phone, Jack noticed that the grey bar inside was starting to flicker. Gradually, the grey was replaced by a yellow light, which was soon burning brightly. Jack’s heart leaped.
“A signal! Professor! We have a signal!”
He grabbed the phone. Suddenly a message appeared on the display.
“Someone’s communicating with us!” Jack could scarcely contain his excitement.
“Look! Look!”
You have one message from Taurus:
My dear Jack — you are in great danger — your trip through time threatens us all.
You must give yourself up to VIGIL’s agents — Tony Smith and Gordon MacFarlane — as soon as possible. They are trying to locate you and bring you back. You must do what they say.
I love you — Mum
Jack was gobsmacked, “Mum? A message from Mum… on the time phone… but?” He couldn’t understand it… how could his mum possibly be involved?
“What does it mean?” the professor asked.
“I don’t get it. The yellow light is on… that means we are now being tracked and that’s why we can receive messages from the Taurus. I also think it means that we could travel back to the Taurus…”
“Astonishing. But this message, it’s from your mother?”
Jack grimaced, it wasn’t making any sense. “Yes… it seems so. Or maybe Tony and Gordon or the Rector are playing a trick.”
“Maybe she is with them?” the professor added.
Jack was dumbfounded, “It can’t be… can’t.”
He tried to think back through the recent course of events. How was his mum involved in all of this? And why hadn’t she told him? He felt a sudden twinge of anger — it was as if she was always keeping things from him.
He had an idea, “I know!” he said triumphantly. “I could send a message back! Pendelshape explained how to do that. I can ask them!”
He scrutinised the time phone once more, trying to recall how to create and send a message. But as he stared into the device, the bright yellow light flickered.
He groaned, “No! Please not again! I think we’re losing it…”
The yellow light went dead; the grey bar took its place.
“Stupid thing!”
He shook the device in disgust and then sank back into the corner of the basket, dejected. The professor moved over to him and pulled the blanket over his shoulders. He gave Jack a reassuring pat on the back. “Don’t worry, my friend, I don’t understand either… but I’m sure we can work it out.”
Jack looked up at the professor and tried to squeeze out a smile. It wasn’t easy.
After a while, he fell asleep — the nervous energy from a tumultuous day had finally taken its toll. In silence, on the opposite corner of the balloon, the professor studied Jack’s history book. It was beyond belief. His logical mind strained to identify an alternative, more plausible explanation. But as he worked his way through the pages, his natural cheerfulness evaporated and his expression became grim. Occasionally, he glanced across at Jack, shook his head and murmured something to himself as he tried to absorb the dramatic revelations from the future. Once or twice he stood and gave a blast on the burner and then gazed from the balloon as it moved steadily southwards, pushed on by a relentless tailwind.
The sky was finally beginning to darken in the east as the midsummer sun set. Way below, the European canvas spread out from the English Channel to the Russian steppes. Far away, for the first time, the professor spotted that the horizon had an irregular, jagged outline and exuded a faint, pink glow.
He mumbled something — half to himself, half to Jack — who slept soundly on in the opposite corner. “The Alps.”
Revelations
“Wake up!” The professor shook him hard. Jack woke shivering. He raised his head above the woollen blanket and unfolded himself from his foetal position in the corner of the basket. Every bone ached. Although it was light, the temperature had dropped dramatically. He peered gingerly over the edge of the balloon and was staggered by what he saw. Mountains. Everywhere. The balloon was scarcely clearing the peaks — vast rock outcrops, many snow tipped, interspersed with verdant pine-clad valleys. Wedged into the north-facing bowls, snowfields and glaciers still clung on, stubbornly resisting the summer warmth.
The professor seemed to be very excited. “The Alps! Mountains! Isn’t it beautiful? Austria. Incredible!”
“Are we going to land?”
“No doubt about it… out of gas… we’re going down. Fast! We may even crash. Isn’t it marvellous?”
Jack wasn’t so sure. Wasn’t there supposed to be some procedure for this kind of event?
“Don’t we need to fasten seatbelts, stop serving hot drinks… that sort of thing?”
The professor wasn’t listening. He was now staring out from the basket concentrating hard on the mountain terrain, “I think you should wrap yourself up in the blankets… and hold on tight. We are descending quickly… let’s hope we get lucky… some of those peaks look, well, they look high.”
“Why didn’t you put us down safely, before we ran out of gas?”
“What’s that my boy?” the professor shouted back over his shoulder.
“I said… why wait until now to land?”
“In the dark? Suicide! We reached the mountains faster than I anticipated. The wind speed was even greater than I expected. I have been looking for a safe spot since first light. No luck. We’ll have to take our chances.”
The professor had scarcely finished his sentence when there was a loud grating as the underside of the basket made contact with a craggy peak and scraped along it for nearly twenty metres. Then, the mountain dropped sharply away and they were again suspended above a green ‘U’-shaped valley with a kilometre drop to the valley floor.
The balloon swooped up the side of the next mountain as it caught a favourable updraught from the valley. It cleared the next ridge, but the basket suspended beneath was less fortunate. They hit a snow-covered arete between a double peak very hard and were both slammed face first into the inside of the basket. The professor groaned and blood started to stream from his nose. Then, a great slab of snow fell into them as the cornice on the opposite side of the arete collapsed onto the basket as it was dragged on by the balloon.
