Chapter 9
Martial law
Steve looked round at the union bar in the failing light. This place brought memories back to Steve, of how he used to frequent this place, how he used to enjoy talking to the staff and the End-of-the-bar gang. It was all coming back to him now, all the happier times. He had spent a lot of time in this building in his student days. It was here that they worked out a lot of the theory that had lead to the Chronon Accelerator, but it had also lead, so they all said, to the bombing of St Andrew Street, and the deaths and imprisonments of many people he had known. If he concentrated hard enough, he was sure he could see the main bar as it was. He never knew what happened to the staff of the Student association, the closure must have been a real heavy blow to them as well as to the students.
To see the place as it was now was heartbreaking. Like the rest of the student union, paper littered the floor of the main bar. The drinks had long gone, but that was the least of his worries. The placed had closed down five years after the St Andrew Street attack due to the bankruptcy of RGIT. The students at Garthdee weren't really bothered about it, until their college was closed down as RGIT folded, since without the St Andrew street premises all the technology moved to Heriot Watt. Squatters had moved in after six months, and stayed for a year before they were evicted.
Now it was just an empty shell, anything that was not screwed down had been removed, and some things had been unscrewed and removed as well. A lot of the windows had long been replaced by wooden boards, and some of them had been used for camp fires. At least in the basement it would provide a decent shelter. Steve walked down the back steps to the old launderette, in the light of the ever-glow lamp, it looked cavernous without the washing machines and dryers. He found a dry spot on the floor, and unrolled his sleeping bag that he had left before getting into the commander’s car the previous day. All he could do now was wait and hope, that Priscilla or Philip would see sense. If they didn't, all was lost as the only way to stop what was going on was to travel backwards in time. He slowly drifted off to sleep, dreaming about ghosts drinking at the bar, doing their laundry in the basement and watching nonexistent televisions.
He woke suddenly to the sound of footsteps, he jumped up. He knew he should have hidden himself more. He started to reach inside his bag for his Chronon Accelerator.
"Mister Gryson" came a voice he recognised. Steve looked down the corridor at a figure that was coming towards him. It was Philip.
"You said you could save my father, How?" he asked.
Steve rubbed his eyes as he sat up. "What time is it?" Steve asked.
Philip looked at his watch, "it's six thirty"
"Philip, why did they say your father was killed?" Steve asked as he got out of his sleeping bag.
"You were making a time machine that would cause something horrible to happen to the universe, I never understood it. They all said you had evil intentions to change history, and the US Air Force saved the universe by blowing you up before you could try" Philip answered, puzzled as to why Steve had asked it.
Steve sighed and switched on the ever-glow lamp. "The only person who believed my experiments could be modified to produce a time machine was Neel. I had no interest in constructing a device to travel in time, the risks are too great"
A light dawned across Philip's mind "Your going to go back in time and save them aren't you"
"It seems I have no choice, we were all scapegoats. Whatever the Americans are up to, they are resurrecting it, and the only way to find out what it is, is to travel back to before the bombing, steal the tapes and pull the entire team out, before those rockets hit"
"But how can we help?”
"I need Neel Maclean's computer and his old discs with our notes on it. Priscilla had them at the time, so the authorities never got hold of them. Neel was convinced he had worked out how to generate anti-Chronons or Chronons on their own, while maintaining a stable field, in which an object could sit. I need Neel's computer to produce a program to feed into my Chronon Accelerator and the equipment in the lab twenty years ago"
"Mr Gryson?"
"Call me Steve"
"What's a Chronon Accelerator?"
"Its the device I used to disappear and reappear, it just allows me to seem to go faster" Steve explained, "Will you help me?”
"Yes" Philip replied, "Mum’s gone to the Portsoy settlement for a while so there won’t be any trouble there."
Steve picked up his bag and followed Philip out. As they reached the front door, they could see the snow beginning to fall. It looked white, "obviously from the Arctic" Steve thought, as it was white, it would be pure from all toxins. The sound of the explosion coming from the police station shattered the silence of the light snow shower. The two raced around the building into Schoolhill, they could see the flames on the Horizon. They watched helplessly as they saw the police hover car burst into a fire ball above the city, brought down by a heat seeking missile.
"They never stood a chance" Steve whispered
"I can hear a helicopter" Philip said.
The two men gazed into the falling snow, as they were only just able to make out the shape of a Neo-Soviet helicopter gunship.
"We better get inside quick" Steve suggested, "Whatever it is, it’s going down."
The two men re-entered the old union building. The helicopter seemed to recede into the background.
"My guess is, that they will now declare martial law" Steve told Philip "what ever I stole from Edzell has to be behind this"
"We better hurry then Steve, you better get in the van"
Steve looked at the old white Volkswagen van, the years had not been kind to it, but it was transport. Steve thought for a moment, and got in the back. Philip got in the front, closed the door and belted up. He turned the key and the van complained at this torture.
"It’s always like this in cold weather" Philip explained, "Pseudo diesel never did give the performance of the real stuff"
Steve hunted around the back of the van, there was an old torn blanket and cardboard box with old rusted jump leads. The van coughed and spluttered again, then started up under protest. Steve took the blanket and folded it up, so he had a cushion to sit on. He would have preferred to sit up front, but if soldiers were to descend on the streets, he would have to keep out of sight. The van lurched forward as Philip coaxed the van along the road in the snow. The road seemed very bumpy, as the council had very little money to make any repairs. The vans antiquated suspension did help matters either.
"Uh oh" Philip said after about five minutes
"What's the matter"
"I can see a police ground car behind us and it wants me to pull over"
"Do it, don't worry about me"
Philip went to park the van on the side of the road; suddenly he heard a loud explosion behind him. The police car had been hit. They both heard the helicopter over head.
"Try that narrow side street" Steve shouted as he pointed to an old disused road.
Philip sped the van up and did a sharp turn into the narrow road. They heard the helicopter scream over head, totally ignoring them.
"What's going on Steve?"
"I think they are definitely trying to find an excuse to impose martial law. If the local police force is knocked out, the local military has emergency powers"
"Why the Russian helicopter?”
"They need more scapegoats, but it’s me they're after"
They waited in the street for a further five minutes, in the distance they heard other explosions as the Helicopter picked off police ground cars one by one. Then Philip started the van up again. The rest of the journey back to Philip's house was uninterrupted.
"What the hell is it all about Steve" Philip asked as they got out of the van and crunched through the freshly fallen snow.
"That's what I have to go back and find out"
They walked up the stairs, Philip opened the door and went in. Steve followed him in and went into the lounge to wait. Philip went to search for the computer and the disks. Steve searched through his bag and found his radio; he switched it on and started looking through the stations. Nothing, Aberdeen could be reduced to rubble and no one would ever know, nor would they ever care. He suddenly had a thought.
"Philip do you still have a telephone?”
"Yes" Philip called out from another room.
Steve picked it up, it was dead, and they really were alone.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
It was seven forty five in the morning when Colonel Samuel Travers finished addressing the contingent of Marines that had been assembled in the Stonehaven Town square, and climbed down off of the platform stage. He gazed steely eyed as he saw the armed Hover-car of the Edzell Wing Commander descend through the snow shower. He saluted the hover-car as it landed beside a parked hover-tank. A hover-troop transport came in as well and landed. General John Reynolds got out of the hover car.
"Can I address your men sir?" The General asked.
"Yes sir" The colonel responded
The General walked out in front of the amassed ranks of armed marines and climbed up the stage. Wing commander Samson got out of his car and walked over to the platform stage. He did not climb up it. The general cleared his throat. "As you are aware this morning, a Neo Soviet Helicopter took out all civilian law enforcement agencies. We have intelligence reports that a Neo Soviet spy, who penetrated Edzell two nights ago, is due to lead an invasion force. It is our job to find and eliminate this threat. Most of you will be involved in re-establishing law and order. I will have photo fit pictures of the spy distributed shortly. He is extremely dangerous and a top agent, so shoot to kill on sight. As soon as we see the invasion force we can call in air support. Hopefully we can crush this incursion before we are over run. As from this moment, under the Western Bloc Alliance, emergency powers act, I formally declare Martial Law on the city of Aberdeen. Now assemble at your transit vehicles and prepare to move out"
The marines slowly started to file over to various ground Lorries, various sergeants barked orders to expedite the mobilisation. While they were doing this the colonel walked over to the general and the commander, two marines followed him.
"General, Commander" he started, "I must insist that you take along with you these two men"
"There's no need colonel, I have my own men for our escort" The general replied.
"With all due respect sir, these men have trained in Aberdeen and are familiar with its territory. Your MP's have trained in Dundee and will not be familiar with this territory. For your own safety, as you insist on going into a theatre of operations, I strongly urge you to take these men with you as well"
"But" insisted the commander, "We don't have room in the hover-car"
"They have their own armed hover-car, and will ride shotgun behind you" The colonel replied.
The general looked at the two marines, one had red hair and looked like he was in his early twenties, and the other was of afro-Caribbean extract. The general did not feel comfortable with the second marine, but he managed to hide his prejudice. There was no sense in attracting suspicion. "Ok colonel, this is your patch and we would not want to fall into any traps"
The colonel turned round to the two marines, "Ok soldiers, you have your orders"
"Yes sir" they both replied
"Ok, dismissed"
The two marines then ran across the square to pick up the other armed hover-car. The colonel turned back round to the other officers. "I will be accompanying my men in one of the hover-tanks. We will be patrolling the shoreline looking for landing craft"
"Very good colonel" said the general "we have information about subversives who may be assisting the enemy, and we intend to deal with them."
"General, before I depart to my hover-tank, permission to be frank sir"
"What's on your mind?"
"This is a military operation sir; I know you are running for president, so I request that you don't risk my men by using this as a photo opportunity. After the emergency, you can capitalise all you want on this."
"So noted Colonel, Samson, lets go" With that the general and the wing commander walked back to the commander's car. The colonel watched them through his steely coloured eyes. A hover-tank came up behind him and opened up a door.
"Would you like to get in sir" said the marine that was driving.
The colonel turned around, got in the hover-tank and strapped himself into the front passenger seat. "Routine coastal sweep Sergeant, and get me lieutenant Peters on the blower"
The driver made the hover-tank climb thirty feet into the air and handed Colonel Travers a radio mike.
"This Sparrow-hawk, ok, over" came a voice over the speaker.
"This is zero, where are you now ok, over"
"We're following the birds, ok, over"
"Which way are they migrating? Ok, over."
"Over to the city, ok, over"
"Remember to implement the Roosting procedure, ok out"
"Ok out"
Travers handed back the microphone to the driver, it would be along day.
Barney Harris watched from the office of Colonel Travers as the four hover-tanks flew out in formation across the Stonehaven bay. He picked up an audio only telephone and dialled a number. He got through to an answering phone.
"Tell the Boss, operation turkey shoot has just started" he said down the phone. Barney replaced the handset, "Samuel, you never did ask who I worked for"
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Just look at that view General" Samson said as the hover-car flew over the Kincorth area of Aberdeen.
"And in about five years time, it will probably be a ghost town" the general replied, "you were right, this was a good place for operations"
"Ok, who are we going to pick up first, the Smiths or the Tavistocks, General"
The general looked out of the window and thought for a moment, the Tavistocks, Mrs Smith was easier to persuade of the official line, Mrs Tavistock, still protests their innocence. Whoever your intruder was must be connected with them. Besides, a little birdie told me she had a visit from an old flame the other day."
Samson banked the Hover-car around and headed for the city centre, "And if we arrive in time, we can catch both Mr and Mrs as he drops her off for work at the Bon Accord centre"
The generals eyes lit up, "Oh yes, do you guys, there in the back want a coffee at Uncle Sam's"
"Yes sir" came the voices of the two military policemen riding in the back
"We don't need to go in there" the commander insisted, "we can pick them up outside. In fact, we can do better". The commander flicked a switch on the steering column. A television screen lit up, displaying the hover-cars weapon system.
"Please place hand on screen for identification" came an electronic voice.
"It’s fully armed, general, we could just destroy their car before they park." suggested Commander Samson.
"You forget our shadows, the colonel's trusted marines. We will wait for them to arrive at the centre, and Travers men can bring them to us while we wait at Uncle Sam's. There's also some merchandise I need to see, you know what I mean"
The two hover-cars flew over the docks, a naval patrol ship was seen, still burning away and half sunk, the pilot in the Mig, had really excelled him self. They flew across the city centre and landed in the Bon Accord centre's delivery yard. The snow was getting heavier now. The general, the commander and the MP'S got out of the hover-car. The general walked across to the hover-car carrying the marines. "A red ground car is due to come by and drop off an employee of the Uncle Sam's cafeteria, they are spies and traitors. You are to apprehend the man after he has dropped the women off and she has gone inside."
"What do you want us to do with him sir" asked the red headed marine.
"Under the emergency powers act, he is to be sentenced to death, and you are to carry out his execution"
"In cold blood" the red headed marine said in surprise
"Listen soldier, this could be war, and he and his accomplices are responsible. As soon as you have executed him, come inside to Uncle Sam's, we will apprehend the women there and hand her over to you for her execution. Its not murder, because I do have that power to authorise summary executions on enemies of the state"
"Yes sir, but what do we do with the bodies"
The general looked around the yard, "put them in that skip over there" he said pointing to a giant wheeler bin, "its more than those scum deserve"
"Yes sir" the marine answered back.
The two officers and the MP's entered the shopping centre. As it was just half past eight, hardly any shops had opened. With the weather as it was, that was understandable. In the distance they could see a slim young figure in shorts, a very small bikini top and a red white and blue hat. She looked about nineteen, and was walking in a huddled fashion.
"How do fancy that one commander" the general asked, the lust in his voice was nauseatingly obvious, "let’s carry out a strip search"
"I don't think we have the time general" Commander Samson responded, "any way what would our shadows think about it, you know the Colonel's reputation"
The general sighed, "You’re right Samson, but it would only have been some harmless fun. You are such a prude Samson".
They followed the figure up the stairs to the cafeteria. A single solitary man in a black suit and tie was sitting in the far corner sipping coffee from a Styrofoam cup. The general recognised him instantly. It was Larry Rider, one of the major share holders of the holding company that ran the Bon Accord centre.
"What are you doing here" Larry asked.
"Martial Law has been declared" the general explained, "One of your employees is suspected of being in league with the Neo-Soviets. After all, they have wiped out you police force"
"You better sit down General Reynolds and you Commander Samson" said Larry. "Cherry" he ordered, "Bring these gentlemen a tray of coffees.
Cherry went behind the counter to get the coffees. As she felt the warmer air from the cookers on her thin semi naked body, it felt like shear bliss. Mr Rider had found out about the clothes that the friend of Marie had paid for. He had said something about it being classed as a tip, and as some sort of tax was liable on tips, he had to confiscate them until he had seen the accountant to check the tax situation. All of them objected, even the supervisor, but he was the boss, and they were told they were very lucky to have a job. The supervisor had made the point of Cherry needing something to wear for the evenings at least, but Mr Rider had said that because the security guards could see her in uniform during the day, there was really no need. She had to spend a cold night with nothing but the thin blanket to wear. Cherry put the coffees on the tray, with the cream and sugar and the stirrer, just as she had been taught. Even after two days of serving customers virtually in the nude, she still could not get used to it, because in her heart she knew it was wrong.
Cherry carefully carried the tray to the MP's standing near the entrance. She felt a cold draft from the weather outside, she was aware that her teeth were chattering slightly. She desperately wanted to wear something more during the cold weather, but alas it was not to be. Then she took the tray, with the other coffees to the three men sitting at the table. As she put the tray down on the table, General Reynolds took hold of her left upper arm. His grip was very strong, and caused her pain as his fingers dug into her thin arm, it was all she could do to grit her teeth, to prevent herself screaming out in agony. She tried to smile; Mr Rider had told her the day before that she had to be "more friendly" to men in her body language.
"You’re absolutely right Larry" the general said with an evil grin
"Is this necessary" protested Samson.
The general ignored him and took his machine pistol from his holster, flicked off the safety catch, and placed the muzzle to Cherry's throat. Cherry froze with utter terror. The other two men at the table froze as well, they knew he was sadistic, but they could not make out what the general was doing. The MP's just looked on impassively, as the other waitresses and the supervisor found themselves unable to move. The general started to slowly bring the muzzle down between Cherry's breasts. He then used the gun to fondle her left breast, and then her right breast.
"You have a beautiful body, Cherry" he said in lecherous manner
Marie came up into the Cafeteria and saw what the general was doing.
"What are you doing to her" she shouted as she pushed forward past the MP's
"Arrest her men" Samson ordered.
Immediately the two MP's grabbed her by the arms. The general pulled his gun away, replaced the safety catch and re-holstered his gun. He released Cherry's arm and pushed her away. Cherry felt her legs turn to jelly. Susan managed to unfreeze and rushed forward to grab her as Cherry feinted. Marie then recognised the man who was molesting Cherry, "Its General Reynolds, the presidential candidate"
"Well we certainly won't be relying on your vote" he retorted.
A gunshot sounded in the distance.
"That was Mr Tavistock" the general said smugly, "don't worry, by the emergency martial law act I have ordered both your executions"
Marie's mouth went dry, she started to panic, but the grip of the two MP's was very strong. Susan looked up from Cherry, at the general, her eyes full of hate, for this b*****d. The frightening thing was, this man was leading in the polls and would soon be president.
"Susan, take Cherry to the supervisors room, she can sit down for a while and have a coffee" Larry said, still seething with rage at the general. What was he playing at, Cherry was a lucky find and this man could have killed her.
"Yes sir, Mr Rider" Susan replied, she did not know who she hated more, the general or Mr Rider. She gently picked up the now sobbing Cherry and helped her to the supervisors room. She sat her down on the supervisors chair and wrapped the blanket around her. Cherry was obviously in shock, and was starting to say how sorry she was. Angela, one of the other waitresses, brought in a small coffee and handed it to Cherry. Cherry's hands were shaking badly, she really felt that she must be being punished for some sin she could not remember. Susan could tell that she was very near breaking point.
The two marines arrived in the cafeteria.
"Take Mrs Tavistock outside and institute the judgement of the military court" Samson ordered the men.
"Don't worry Larry" the general said with an air of reassurance, "I can get you another one, unless you have someone else lined up"
Larry remained silent. Marie was dragged away screaming by the marines, five minutes later, the other waitresses flinched as they heard the sound of a single gunshot.
The general turned to the commander, "The Smiths, I think next" he suggested. Silently the commander nodded. The two men got up and left the cafeteria. Larry Rider just sat there and stared at the stair well for a moment, and then he too got up.
"Miss Judith" he said to the supervisor, "I will see that Cherry can have her clothes for after hours from now on"
"Thank you Mr Rider that will be just great" she said sarcastically, it was obvious that she hated his guts like the rest of them.
As the general and the commander left the shopping centre, the general caught sight of a hover-tank taking off. "Who was that?" he asked the red headed marine, "I thought the hover-tanks were patrolling the coast"
"They dropped off a vigilante they picked up, and want us to take him into custody. They believe that he might have some relevant information Sir" the marine replied.
"Who is he?" Asked the commander
"He's a local man, called Joe Ferguson; he says that knows the name of a very dangerous criminal that has returned to Aberdeen"
This intrigued the general, "Tell me soldier, did he give you the name of this criminal?”
"Yes Sir, he said it was Steve Gryson, whoever he was"
This was like a thunderbolt from the blue. The commander and the general looked at each other in disbelief.
"But he's dead" protested the commander, "He died when we had to destroy that building, to stop his experiments"
"But" said the general, "none of the bodies could ever be identified, the fire saw to that"
"But if it is Mr Gryson" The commander started
"Then we are in deep trouble, if he is still alive" the general finished.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Steve managed to load the disc in to Neel's, now ancient, PC. It was a mere dinosaur compared to the modern fibre-optic computers and pocket books. Steve had spent two hours looking through the old files. Suddenly he saw through the formulae to what Neel was getting at.
"Eureka !" he exclaimed "Anti-Chronons"
"What are Chronons ?"Philip asked.
"Hypothetical particles of time. When we first discovered them we realised they could be made to speed up time, but anything in a certain zone where they weren't present continued at the normal rate and thus appeared to go backwards. Anti-Chronons should make time run backwards but anything in the exclusion zone would run at normal rate." Steve explained "and therefore you have the basis of a crude time machine."
"How will this information help you save my father?" Philip asked having not understood a single word Steve had said.
"I have reprogrammed my Chronon accelerator to create the Anti-Chronons to send me back to the time before helicopter attack. But there is one snag"
"What's that?" Philip said still puzzled at what on earth this man was talking about.
"The Chronon accelerator is designed so that with out complex modification taking several weeks, it will effectively stay in this time stream."
Philip understood this time and asked with concern "Then how will you get back from the past to this time"
"Simple sitting in St Andrew Street in the past is a crude Chronon generator. It needs only one control setting change and this program on this diskette, to project a room full of people forward in time."
"Do you want to set it up here?" Philip asked
"No, we can't stay here; the Marines could be descending on us like a ton of bricks any second."
They got up and started to go down to the van. As they got to the van, they saw a single marine with an assault rifle. Luckily the marine had not spotted them. Steve crept into the back, and Philip got into the drivers seat. He did his best not to draw the attention of the marine. The marine walked on by, he had not noticed anything out of the ordinary. Philip sighed with relief and started the van.
The drive down to the old student union building was quite uneventful. At one time, they passed a troop transport lorry, but no one was interested in the white rusting van.
They eventually arrived at the building.
"I want to depart from one of the old television rooms; it was never used much, so it is a perfect entry point"
The two figures trudged up the stairs in silence, through the accumulated filth of the years of neglect. At the top floor Steve entered the particular television room, now devoid of every thing, and open to the elements. Philip watched as he set the Chronon Accelerator down on the floor.
"Philip?"
"Yes Steve"
"If this works, then in fifteen of your minutes we should arrive on the first floor of the ruins of the St Andrew Street building, on the north side. The floor will still hold seven people, but I may need help getting some of them down. I don't know what the disorientation effects will be"
"And if you fail?" Philip asked
"Wait twenty minutes, get this letter to General Reynolds, and get the hell out of here. I don't want any more deaths on my account" Steve explained as he handed Philip a buff coloured envelope.
Steve looked out of the window at the falling snow, and then, taking his kit bag, went inside and switched on the device. He stepped in front of the machine and waited a few seconds, for it to start its new programme. Philip gazed on in amazement as Steve vanished into thin air.