The Titan Drowns: Time Travel Romance by Nhys Glover (highly recommended books .txt) 📕

xml:lang="en-AU">‘Yes. I knew that only one of us could go. He deserved my place. If I had realised it was real earlier, Pia would not have had to risk herself.’

‘You think she would have gone without you? You really do deserve a beating. Goddamn it, man, she loves you! These people don’t love lightly. You were Pia’s only shot at love. You had no right to try to change things that you had no understanding of. Take your place? Honestly!’

Her husband was at her side now, placing his arm around her shoulder carefully as if he feared she would lash out at him.

‘Come Querida, there is a party above ground and we are missing out. All’s well that ends well.’

Jane tried to shrug out of his arms but it was only half hearted. Her temper was cooling now and, after a moment, she allowed her man to lead her away.

‘You hurt her again and I'll beat the shit out of you, I promise you,’ Jane said as a final warning as she was led down the dais stairs. In the heat of the moment her accent sounded a lot like the steward called Jacko, Marco thought vaguely. It was not the English accent familiar to him; Jacko had said he was Australian.

The red-head's husband glanced Marco’s way with a relieved laugh. ‘And she can do it, too. My wife is the best fighter we have.’

‘Not as good as Luke,’ Jane conceded grumpily.

‘Every bit as good as Luke. Better, on a good day, Querida. Come now, we deserve champagne. We did it! There is a celebration to be had!’

As Jane was led away, Marco looked across at Pia, who stood with her arms wrapped protectively around her body. She was shaking. Not sure if she had forgiven him or not, he stepped toward her tentatively, reaching out for her. After a moment’s hesitation, she flew into his arms and began to sob in earnest.

‘I thought I had lost you,’ she sobbed against his chest, her whole body quaking under the intensity of her emotions.

'I am sorry, so sorry. I did not think I meant so much to you. I did not know.’ He muttered endearments into her hair as he stroked her back.

‘Okay… it is okay now,’ she said as she tried to bring herself under control. He tightened his arms around her a little more and nodded, not willing to trust his voice any more.

‘Wh… where are we? Wh… what is this place?’ Paulo asked in shaky Italian, all memory of English seemingly gone under the enormity of what he was experiencing.

‘It is safety, garzone, safety. The Titanic has sunk and we have survived. And now our future is here. This place is called “New Atlantis.”’

As Pia stepped back, Marco extended one arm and drew the boy up and against his other side. Then, as Pia guided the way from her position under his right arm, they made their way down the stairs and along the marble floor toward the far end of the Cavern.

From the darkness the tall, Nordic giant appeared.

‘You are home safe, Pia. I am very, very glad,’ he said gently.

Pia grinned at the man and nodded. ‘We have one more than we counted on.’

‘It is better than losing you, dear girl; far better than losing you. Young man, you have a great deal to answer for,’ the giant said, as if he were an old man and Marco a child.

Then Marco realised that this man might not be his own age as he appeared to be. Maybe he was as old as Pia.

‘Yes sir, I am very sorry,’ he said respectfully, just in case.

‘Well, I may have been in the wrong for not bending on this one. Come along. There is a party going on and you are all invited. Gentlemen, it is mid-morning up at ground level on a warm spring day. Be prepared.’

‘Did he say…?’ Paulo started to ask in Italian.

‘Sí, Paulo. Warm spring morning. This is not a dream and you have not lost your mind. You have travelled through time and space to the future. Accept what your eyes are showing you. It is the only way,’ Marco told him in Italian.

‘Sí.’

 

 

Chapter Twenty-Eight

 

Eilish

 

She stood in the morning sunshine with her arm around Max watching the children playing and laughing. The adults from the ship and those from New Atlantis were also looking on in delight. Off to one side, she saw the youthful Luke standing with his arm around a joyous Faith. They watched as their son rough-housed with some boys on the lawn.

That boy could go from adult soldier to playful child in a matter of moments; somewhat like his adoptive father, Eilish realised with a start. She was so glad to see Luke so happy. Making the shift into a clone body had been his biggest adjustment yet, and he'd obviously made it with flying colours. Their whole society would benefit from that in the long term. Because she knew, without a doubt, that without Luke these large-scale missions would not work nearly as effectively.

She turned to see Karl and the girl called Lizzie walking across the lawn toward the moving pathway that would take them away from the centre of the city.

‘Give me a minute,’ she said to Max and slipped out from under his arm. Hurrying after the couple, she called out to them.

Karl stopped and turned back to her, waiting for Eilish to catch them up.

‘Where are you going? There’s a party going on,’ she said breathlessly as she reached them.

‘Lizzie is tired. It is after midnight by her internal clock. I am taking her home to bed. I want to show her my house by the sea. I have told her so much about it. It is past time she saw it for herself.’

‘Oh, of course. We will catch up tomorrow then at the Retrieval Centre?’

‘Yes. I will need to debrief as we all will. The virtual images of the Titanic will be quite a useful addition to our archives.’

Eilish noticed that along with contentment there was also sadness hanging over the couple.

‘We could not stop it,’ Eilish said, knowing the cause of their ennui. ‘We did what we could.’

‘I know. The rest are with their Maker now or will be Targeted in the future. Nevertheless, it still feels…' Karl shrugged eloquently, unable to find the words to describe what he felt.

‘I know. It still feels as if we only saved a small percentage of those who were lost. However, look at the woman beside you. Look at the children on the lawn. Isn't that worth celebrating?’

‘Most definitely. Even so, for me the celebration will come later when the tragedy fades a little. For now, I will go home with my soon-to-be wife and child and make my peace with it all.’

Eilish nodded sadly. ‘Yes, I imagine we will all be making peace with it in our own ways in the next few days and weeks. Nevertheless, you and I have so much more than the others to be grateful for.’ She smiled benignly at Lizzie before looking back at Karl. ‘To have found love is more than either of us would have thought possible.’

‘Indeed.’ Karl dropped a kiss on Lizzie’s head and rubbed her arm. ‘If anyone asks, just tell them where we have gone and why. I will see you soon. Good job. You Retrievers do a good job. If I did not know it before, I do now.’

Eilish grinned at his compliment.

Turning away, she headed back towards the party. Max had settled himself on the grass beside Carter and Hugo, a plate of food in his hands, watching Finn swing one of the children around in his arms. Several other tiny tots were begging for their turn. As she approached, Max grinned and held up the plate.

‘I piled on enough for both of us. This is almost as good as the restaurant on the ship. Carter says it is all prepared and processed so that it can be “reconstituted,” that was your word, yes?' He looked at Carter, who gave a nod. ‘Reconstituted in only seconds. That is a miracle!’

‘Another miracle,’ said Hugo jovially, sipping at a long glass filled with something green and icy.

‘I imagine I will get bored with the miraculous after a while,’ Max commented dryly, holding out his hand for Eilish. ‘Although I will never get bored with this woman, gentlemen. She is far more miraculous to me than time travel, moving walkways or instant food.’

‘Oh, I will hold you to that when I show you the Knowledge Centre. It will “blow your mind,” as they used to say in the 1960s. Or was it the 1970s…’

‘Blow your mind? That seems appropriate, especially after walking through that Portal. I was sure I was going to have a seizure of some kind.’

Eilish lowered herself to the grass and rested her head on Max’s stomach. She stared up at the peerless blue sky above them and wondered if this was to be the happiest moment of her life. It certainly felt like it.

‘You get used to it,’ Carter replied with a laugh. ‘It actually only lasts for a few moments. It just feels longer because your cells are transposed across the Continuum. You need to get one of the experts to explain it to you one day.’

‘Hmm.’ Max sounded doubtful as he ran his fingers through her hair. Ah, now this was the best moment! She chuckled to herself. Somehow she wondered if she would be saying that for some time to come. Each moment would seem just that little bit better than the one before.

‘Love you,’ she murmured.

‘I love you, too.’

 

Karl

 

Pia stood in all her understated glory beside Marco on the patio of Rene and Livy’s villa overlooking the cliff and turquoise ocean. The sun was shining, the sky was deep, cerulean blue and the crowd of white-clothed wedding guests looked cool and light as they witnessed their sweetest member make her vows.

The house was just a few doors down from his own and Karl would have volunteered to have the impromptu wedding there, except that his place didn’t have a patio and was somewhat smaller. And with the amount of people here to celebrate, smaller would not have worked.

It had been two days of celebration. Two days since they’d returned from the Titanic to the open arms of a waiting city. Just as the New Atlanteans had welcomed those traumatised women and children from 1942 several years ago they now greeted these new survivors. But unlike that last welcome, this one had been a truly joyous occasion, largely due to the children who still saw it as part of a big party they had been invited to.

Yesterday the children and adults had begun to settle into their new home. They had been assigned to the Interim Centre, the specially set up quarters for the Nazi victims. It was felt that keeping them together and minimising their contact with high technology was the surest way of introducing them to their world gently and effectively. It had worked with the 1942 survivors and it would probably work with this group. Although, no one expected it to take very long for these people to adapt to their new surrounds.

Karl had seen Bart sneaking a few of the older children out of the Centre yesterday to see the Start Point Cavern. Watching the children walk amongst the high tech equipment as the Portal activated and deactivated was a marvel. They were all filled with excited questions and wonder.

No, the children would be fine. It would