Chapters (45)
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Prologue
- 2046
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- About the Author
Ben’s rope goes taut as the Malcolm and Konrad from now operate the winch from the other portal. Two ropes. One to the past. One to the now. Both pulling. The violence they inflict is staggering. Wrenching the two grown men down through the thick bodies of waves. Harry’s rope has to be cut. Harry needs to breathe. Which one first? Get the mouthpiece in or cut the rope? Ben tugs the knife from the sheath on his thigh and feels for the taut rope. He goes to cut then checks again to find it’s his own rope. He flails again. Still pulled, still battered, still knowing Harry cannot breathe. He finds the other rope and slices the sharp blade through the rope that pings apart. A sudden variance in direction. Ben’s rope takes the strain, heaving them both through the water.
He lets go of the knife and works to force the mouthpiece into Harry’s mouth. Hammering his clenched fist into the end to force it in. Finally it goes. Finally Harry opens enough to get the thing in. He has to tie Harry on. He has to secure Harry to the rope but he is fading fast. He can feel it. His mind is not far from closing down and falling into blackness but if that happens he will let go of Harry, who will be left here to die.
Ben can’t grip him anymore. He cannot hold on. Ben wants to hold on. More than anything he wants to hold Harry, but the strength is going from him so fast he is blacking out. Ben gets the flotation device between them while the water surges past their heads and bodies. He pushes the soldier’s hands on to the grab handle and wraps his fingers over his, telling him to hold on. Harry does. He grips sudden and hard with a tension in his hands that Ben feels. He looks to Harry to see bubbles streaming up from the mouthpiece. Harry is breathing. He is holding on. Ben did not fail. Not this time.
A few seconds later Ben blinks his eyes open. He is not being pulled any more. He is floating in an almost pitch-black sea watching Harry stream away towards a faraway blue iridescent light.
It’s calm and quiet. No noises now. Just his breathing through the mouthpiece, which sends bubbles surging to the surface above or below him. He does not know. He is spent, exhausted and dying and he blacks out. Seconds? Minutes? Could be hours or days, but he opens his eyes and he is still there in the water feeling his body go limp and the air coming from the bottle has a weird taste to it now so it must be running out.