Time Riders

CHAPTER 72

2001, New York

Maddy realized she’d nodded off. The steady muted chug of the generator inthe back room had lulled her into a fitful sleep.

She’d been dreaming.

Dreaming of the day she’d been snatched from a doomed airliner, waking up on this samecot and opening her eyes to see Liam slouched on the bed across from hers. That daft, lopsidedgrin on his face.

She realized how much she missed Liam. Even Bob. If she added up the looped Mondays andTuesdays they’d all been here in this archway together — before things had gonewrong, that is — it came to several weeks’ worth of days. That’s all. But itseemed like she’d known them both so much longer.

She missed them.

Another memory floated into her half-conscious mind. Foster taking them down to the Museum ofNatural History. She’d been there before on school trips. But this last time had beendifferent. This time not a bored schoolkid gazing at dusty old exhibits behind glass panels,but seeing these things as precious heirlooms of the past, mark-points of a history crying outto her to protect it, to preserve it… to keep it unchanged…

She remembered…

Maddy jerked herself out of her drowsy wool-gathering.

‘Oh my God!’ she whispered.

The generator was still chugging away in the background. She climbed offher bunk and looked around the archway. Sal was sitting at the long desk listlessly staring atthe turned-off monitors.

‘Where’s Foster?’

Sal gestured towards the sliding corrugated door leading to the back room. ‘In the backfiddling with the generator, I think.’

Maddy paced across the floor, slid the door to one side and stepped into the smelly darkness.‘Foster!’

Torchlight flickered towards her, and over the noisy chug of the generator she heard him makehis way over. ‘What’s up?’

‘Foster, I think… I think there’s a way Liam can communicate withus.’

‘Sorry. What’s that you say?’ he replied, cupping his ear.‘It’s noisy,’ he barked, ‘let’s step out.’

They emerged from the back room and he slid the door shut. The noisy percussive rattle of thesickly-sounding generator was once more a background thud.

‘What were you saying?’

‘Liam… I think there’s a way Liam could try to contact us.’

Foster shook his head. ‘You know Bob can’t return atachyon beam transmiss-’

‘Yes, I know that,’ she cut in impatiently. ‘Listen… the museum. TheMuseum of Natural History…’

‘What about it?’

‘When you took us there, Liam and I were looking at the visitors’ guest book. Wewere having a laugh at some of the comments.’

Foster shrugged. ‘And?’

‘Anyway… the museum has kept a guest book in the entrance foyer since the museumfirst opened. They have an archive of them that they kept in the basement. They’ve keptthat archive since, like, the 1800s, I think.’

Foster’s eyes suddenly widened. ‘Yes!’

‘If we go there — ?’

The old man nodded. ‘They might still be down there!’ The hope on his face madehim seem much younger. But only for a fleeting moment. Almost as quickly as it arrived, thehope faded away.

‘But Liam doesn’t know all this.’

Maddy grinned. ‘But he does! The security guard there told me. Liam was standing rightbeside me at the time. He was telling us both! And if I remembered…?’

Foster’s lined face rumpled with a wide lopsided grin. ‘Then Liam wouldtoo.’

‘That’s what I figured.’

Foster nodded. ‘Yes… yes, he would. He’s a smart lad.’

‘So,’ she continued, ‘if he made his way to New York and visited the museumin 1957, it’s possible he could have left a message for us in there.’

Foster nodded. ‘And that message could give an exact time and location for us to open areturn window for them.’

‘Closer to home? Maybe in New York? Would we have enough of a charge left to dothat?’

Foster glanced at the blinking LEDs. Another red light had turned back to green.‘Generator isn’t going to last much longer, by the sounds it’s making. Thefuel tank’s virtually on empty. We need it to get the charge meter up to ten greenlights, at a guess.’

‘But if it can?’

Foster chewed his lip, deep in thought for a moment. ‘If we open a window close enoughto home… and even then, only for a few seconds. We’d need an exact time… I mean exact.’ His eyes methers. ‘Then… yes, we could make a window big enough for Liam. Possibly even forBob.’

‘Then — ’ she chewed a fingernail nervously — ‘then we have to go see, don’t we? We have to go check out the museum?’

Foster took a deep breath. ‘I don’t think we have any other choice.’

Maddy felt her arms and legs trembling. Oh God. Why did I have to openmy mouth and suggest this? The thought of stepping outside again terrified her. Butthe prospect of being stuck in this nightmare forever scared her infinitely more.

Foster turned to Sal. ‘Maybe you should stay here, Sal. Madelaine and I won’t begone long. We — ’

She shook her head. ‘No… I’m coming with you.’ She stood up, suckedin a deep breath, steadying her own nerves. ‘We’re a team, right? The three ofus… TimeRiders.’

Foster’s grin was infectious — both girls suddenly found themselves sharing it.‘The best, Sal,’ said Foster. ‘The very best.’

Sal shoved the office chair beneath the desk and zipped up her hoodie. ‘Then what thejahulla are we waiting for?’

Maddy nodded. ‘Atta girl.’

‘What the jahulla are we waiting for, indeed,’replied Foster. ‘I’ll get the shotgun.’