Silver Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

Life had been losing its savour for Jenn. She’d scratched every piece of wood in the Complex, even the stuff in the nursery, which was supposed to be locked off. Oh, obviously she could look after herself, and there were various devices that fed her and so on, but it wasn’t the same. For a cat, Jenn was a very social animal.

So when the Portal opened, she scuttled up the top of a handy table and watched with interest as people tumbled out. Two male, two female. Silver and Jake and the woman who smelt human and the man who did not. He fell, heavily, with his eyes tightly shut. Silver prodded him.

"Great, get rid of one and pick up another. Any ideas?"

Stella nodded. "I have to check if the others got away all right."

"I expect so. Get the Unity in a fight with the Sisters and they wouldn’t notice a brass band marching by."

"Yeah. But I’d better get back."

"Okay. I’ll do a one-way transfer."

Stella gawped. "You’ve actually got that working? How?"

Silver smiled. "Typical Cáirneach. I’ll send my notes back with you, if you like."

"Thanks." Stella stood by the Portal as Silver fiddled with it, waved, and then stepped through. Jake waved back, and then beamed at Silver.

"Missed me?"

"Not for a moment," lied Silver unconvincingly. "Go on, I’ll make us some... dinner? God knows, it’s been a while."

"Okay. I’ll tell you all about my day."

The Unity operative had been locked away- that is to say, Silver had smashed the mirror then Portalled out of the room, which she felt had earned her a quick burst of applause. She was getting better at these short trips, she decided. After dinner, she listened to Jake’s day, carefully plaiting what looked like thread made out of fire around the Portal sticks.

"So," he asked brightly, "what next?"

"Nothing next. We got the wrong end of the stick. They’re not going to destroy the Earth after all."

"So, why aren’t we celebrating?"

"We’re all going to die, Jake. And I really couldn’t care less. I thought I had a plan back there, but now I see... Time to go home, Jake."

"You’re going back to Earth?"

"No, you are."

Jake blinked. "When did you decide this?"

"You’ll survive. Maybe the Cáirneach will too, they’re still based on Earth. They’ll just be stranded. Party’s over, Jake. This dimension only ever exited because science generally wins out over common sense, and now reality’s calling in the debt."

"Silver, I won’t leave you."

She looked up, and Jake realised she was crying. "Don’t you get it? The adventure is over!"

"I didn’t come with you for the adventure."

Jake replayed the sentence in his own head and winced. Silver was holding out on him, but the last thing he needed to do right now was tell her that he- well, he couldn’t say it out loud, but he nearly had, and that was warning enough. But even as Silver’s expression changed, they both heard the scream in their minds.

The Unity operative lay on his back, whimpering, but the telepathic scream went on. Perfectly sustained notes, with no need to pause for breath. Silver put a hand on his forehead, and hissed.

"They’ve separated him. He’s cut off from the Unity. It’s okay, I’m here, I’m here." She scooped him up in her arms and cooed at him until the scream faded. "I, I, I," he muttered. Despite the panic on his face, Jake could see he was probably quite good-looking, very blue eyes framed by very dark hair. And from what Jake could gather, he had an English accent.

Silver sat the man up, and looked at him. "Better?"

"Y-yes. Help us. Help us. All empty. Just the fear."

"Do you have a name?" Some Unity started out with names, if that operative needed to be particularly identified for some reason. Most didn’t bother. The man shook his head.

"Okay, we’ll give you one. Any ideas, Jake?"

She seemed to have forgotten that Jake was supposed to be leaving, and Jake hoped that if he made himself useful, she wouldn’t remember.

"Er, Adam, maybe?"

The man looked up. "Adam?"

"Good idea." Silver patted Adam’s hand. "Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you."

The days passed in some kind of routine. In the morning, Jake would heave Jenn off his stomach, get up, and go see if breakfast was ready. Adam discovered he had a knack for cookery, and there was generally cinnamon toast, or hash browns, or one of Silver’s grill-ups. In the morning, Jake would explore some more bits of the Complex, bits even Silver had forgotten about. The control room, with its limestone covering and strange throne-like structure fascinated him. He’d started chipping away at the honey-coloured crusting, and that, he estimated, would keep him busy for a few weeks at least. Sometimes they’d go to Layers for lunch, and if so they generally stayed all afternoon. Silver seemed happy idly chatting to various friends and acquaintances, but Jake made it his business to find out about the Harlequins, or any notable disaster. There was nothing catastrophic, but it seemed everyone was barely struggling through their lives, and since the Noah hypothesis, as it had become known, had been leaked by the Cáirneach, there was generally a sense of apathy. How could you fight creatures that could alter the laws of cause and effect? The more Jake looked around, the more he realised that people had been waiting for this for a long time. In their hearts, everyone knew the dimension was unstable, but they’d closed their eyes and carried on with the party.

Evenings were quieter, there was reading and talking and music. Adam knew folk tales from every people in the dimension, and told them in his very soft, English voice. He seldom let go of Silver’s hand, Jake noticed, and she never made him let go. Sometimes she lay her head on his shoulder trustingly, and Jake realised he was clutching his book a little too tightly. There was a perfectly innocent explanation, of course, Adam panicked without constant contact. He’d imprinted on Silver like a new-born duckling, and she seemed happy to let him. Not that she ignored Jake, but there was sometimes a darkness in her mood that made it very difficult to talk to her sometimes.

In all this time the mirror had been propped carelessly in one corner, Silver confident that the Sisters, like everyone else, couldn’t get into the Complex without her Portal sticks.

After about three weeks of this, Jake left Adam playing with Jenn (each completely fascinated by the other) and went to find Silver.

She was by the patio, looking up at what Jake now knew wasn’t a starry sky. He’d been building up his tolerances, because of what he was about to ask.

"Sil? I want to go to Du Cray."

Silver raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yes?"

"The bell the Cáirneach stole is broken, remember?"

"I remember. And the clapper was made out of a stone native to Du Cray. Jake, why do you think the knights haven’t been back to fix it?"

"No idea."

"Nobody can find it. It’s not just the city that’s hidden beneath the sands, it’s the entire world. The Sisters destroyed it by towing the planet into a new orbit."

"Then someone knows where to find it. Presumably the Sisters know where they put it."

Silver was interested despite herself. "What are you going to do? Wait in Layers until one shows up, then get her drunk?"

"Worked on Manda."

"Jake!" Silver very nearly smiled. Wordlessly, she waved the sticks at him. "Okay, you win, just be back by dinner."

"I’m going alone?"

"I’ve got to look after Adam."

Jake shook his head. "What’s the deal between you two? I mean, I guess he lets go of you sometimes."

Silver nearly smiled again. "Not often. I’m kidding! I’m still married, you know."

"I guess. You sure you won’t come?"

"Thanks anyway. And don’t worry about Adam, I’m-"

"A sucker for a guy in trouble, I know. See you."

Jake lifted up the horizontal stick, and then Jenn ran through the mirror as though the devil was behind her.