History Hackers Read online

  ‘Something’s happening,’ said TEX. ‘Look.’

  The main LCD screen at the front of the machine lit up:

  Trans-Portal activated. Do you wish to utilise?

  YES NO ASK ME LATER

  ‘Of course we wish to utilise,’ said Four. He did so, and the screen changed:

  Substance Conversion of Energy Digital Blueprint in progress. 43% complete.

  Do you wish to terminate the process?

  YES NO ASK ME LATER

  ‘You bet we do,’ said Four. ‘This is getting interesting,’ he added as the screen changed again:

  Do you wish to reverse the Substance Conversion?

  YES NO ASK ME LATER

  ‘Ditto,’ Four shouted excitedly.

  ‘Are you sure?’ asked TEX.

  ‘Sure I’m sure.’ Four pressed YES without a moment’s hesitation.

  The machine gave another three beeps and began whirring at a much faster speed than before. The various coloured lights flickered rapidly, the small screens filled with a constant stream of ones and zeros, while a message flashed across the main screen:

  Substance Conversion to digital

  energy in progress. Please wait.

  They didn’t have to wait long.

  ‘Look what’s happening,’ said Nine, pointing at the cone-like lid of the machine.

  Cleopatra was still visible, but as the squad watched, she became paler and more ghost-like.

  ‘She’s fading,’ said Five. ‘She’s disappearing.’

  ‘It’s working,’ Four explained. ‘She’s being converted back to her original energy form.’

  ‘And it’s happening so fast,’ added TEX, even as he spoke, the Queen ceased to be visible. ‘She’s gone.’

  All that remained in the cylinder was a swirling mist that glowed and throbbed, and shimmered with sparks like an electrical storm. A new message flashed across the main screen:

  Total conversion to energy status achieved. Do you wish to transfer energy packet to the Carry Capsule via Trans-Portal#1?

  YES NO ASK ME LATER

  Four hit the YES option and the Carry Capsule shuddered for about five seconds, followed soon after by a final message on the main screen:

  Energy packet transferred successfully. You may now remove the Carry Capsule.

  ‘You did it,’ shouted Nine. ‘You’re a genius.’

  ‘You’re wrong there,’ said Four. ‘We did it, all of us. But you are spot on about me being a genius.’ Four laughed and high-fived with the others. ‘Now we need to convert the rest of these energy packets and transfer them to their capsules.’

  ‘You keep watch, TEX,’ said 005, ‘while the three of us work on this. We don’t want to be surprised again by any more guardroids.’

  The Battle Agents split up and set to work. Nine and Five needed help with their first machine, but after that they were able to go it alone. Fifteen more ‘bodies’ had to be converted into energy packets and transferred to their Carry Capsules; that meant five per agent. There wasn’t a moment to lose.

  The Battle Agents worked quickly, but it was impossible not to at least glimpse at some of the bodies in the cylinders before they vanished.

  ‘I never knew that Julius Caesar had such a big nose,’ said Nine as the Roman general faded away.

  ‘I never knew how ugly Attila the Hun was,’ said Five.

  ‘And I never knew how much Joan of Arc looked like you, Nine,’ said Four. ‘You must be related.’

  ‘Show me,’ said Nine.

  ‘Too bad. She’s gone.’ Four chuckled. ‘You’ll have to take my word for it.’

  Even though the Battle Agents had little time to think about what was happening, they found the experience strangely unsettling. They’d all been as close as you can get to great leaders and warriors in their Battle Book missions. But having those figures right there with them in the real world, in the flesh, like real people, felt distinctly odd. And then seeing them fade into ghosts and vanish was unnerving as well, all in a way that none of them quite understood.

  BA005 was working on his last machine and had just given the go-ahead for the historical person inside to be turned back into pure energy, when he looked up. The cone-lid had cleared enough for him to actually see the person. Five gasped. It was the bearded man from the city square, eyes closed, face deathly grey.

  Five scanned the various screens for more inform­ation. Increased Security Required flashed in red across one screen. Subject difficult to contain, the message continued.

  On another screen were the words: Subject Returned to Conversion Cylinder, followed by a date and time. Five gaped in disbelief. There it was, as clear as day – the man had been re-inserted into the cylinder earlier that very evening, only a few hours before Omega Squad had broken into the Time Store.

  Horace Horologe’s words came flooding back. This was the escapee, the one that had got away.

  BA005 stared back at the figure in the cylinder. There was no mistake; he was the bearded man, all right, the one Five had twice seen in the small city square haranguing the crowd. And the last time was only this afternoon. Five remembered wishing the man would escape. But they’d caught him and brought him here.

  The bearded man was fading at a slower pace than the others had, no doubt because his Substance Conversion had been more advanced. But he was already translucent; soon Five would be able to see right through him, and then he would be gone. As Five stared, snatches of the man’s words echoed in his head.

  The words seemed to have more significance than ever. Five felt as though the man was talking directly to him, and had an overpowering urge to stop the conversion process. He hit the Reverse button, but the message that flashed across the screen made his heart sink:

  Reversal of Conversion process no longer possible

  He punched the button several more times but the same message came up. And all the while the bearded man continued to fade. Five almost cried out, wishing, willing the man to stay, though he didn’t know why. What was this man to him? What did he —?’

  BA005 stopped and stared hard through the cone lid, sure that he was imagining things now. It couldn’t be, he told himself, and yet it was – the bearded man had opened his eyes and was staring straight at him. But that wasn’t all. The man was reaching out to him as well, just as he had that afternoon in the city square. Five couldn’t do a thing. He was transfixed, first by the man’s intense eyes, and then by the hand drawing closer. BA005 peered harder, and suddenly realised the hand was holding something. Something for him.

  And then another hand was on his shoulder, clamping down hard.

  ‘Haven’t you finished yet?’ BA004 was at Five’s side.

  Five jumped. ‘Don’t do that!’ he yelled. ‘You frightened the life out of me.’

  Four immediately backed off. ‘Take it easy; we’re nearly through.’ He eyed Five up and down. ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’

  Five shrugged, calming himself. ‘It’s been a tougher mission than I expected. Sorry.’

  He glanced at the Conversion Cylinder. The bearded man had completely vanished and already the Carry Capsule was vibrating. A moment later the main screen displayed its message:

  Energy packet transferred successfully. You may now remove the Carry Capsule.

  He leaned down and disconnected the Carry Capsule, his head still reeling. As he did so he read the name on the capsule:

  ABRAHAM LINCOLN

  BA005’s jaw dropped.

  ‘That’s it,’ he shouted. ‘We’re out of here.’

  FIFTEEN

  The Time Troopers crammed the Carry Capsules into their backpacks, grabbed a StenVoid 320 each and ran from the Incubation Room. They raced along the corridor, through the fire door and down the stairs as fast as they could.

  When they reached the bottom, TEX stopped.

  ‘Hang on a minute,’ he said, staring at the wall next to the Exit. ‘There’s another door here.’ He ran his finger around the outline.
/>
  ‘A hidden door,’ said Four. ‘Wonder where it goes?’

  ‘Don’t bother,’ said Five. ‘Our welcome must be wearing thin by now.’

  ‘But it could be important,’ TEX added, putting his ear to the door. ‘I have a feeling that the deep rumbling I was worried about yesterday is coming from somewhere in there.’

  He scanned the area around the door with his powerful eyes, then promptly reached up and pressed a button that was virtually invisible to the others. A thick steel door slid open with an electronic hum, followed by a blast of hot air.

  ‘It’s like a furnace in there,’ said Nine.

  ‘And you’re right, there is a kind of rumbling sound,’ Four added. ‘Way down there somewhere.’

  ‘Just a quick look?’ said TEX.

  ‘You’ve got one minute,’ Five replied. ‘No more. We can always come back if we escape; we can’t if they capture us. Go, TEX – sixty seconds.’

  The super soldier took one step through the door. But crossing the threshold immediately set off an alarm and the steel door slammed shut like a guillotine. Luckily TEX leapt back in time.

  ‘Now we really have overstayed our welcome,’ said Five. He edged towards the door into the street. ‘Prime your weapons. We might have to blast our way out of here.’

  Five opened the door into the street a chink and peered through it.

  ‘No-one yet,’ he whispered. ‘But that flashing red light is bound to draw a crowd. Let’s go!’

  He ripped open the door and leapt through, panning the street both ways, his StenVoid 320 cocked, finger on its trigger. The others immediately filed out behind him and raced for the nearest corner, keeping low and flush with the wall.

  But they hadn’t gone far before a squadron of guardroids marched around the corner and charged towards them.

  ‘Back the way we came,’ TEX shouted.

  But that way was blocked as well now, a line of guardroids marching from the far end of the street.

  ‘We’re done for,’ said Nine.

  ‘Not quite,’ TEX replied. ‘Look on the other side of the street.’ There was an extremely narrow lane between two buildings, barely a person wide. ‘Fire on the run,’ the super soldier said. ‘Go!’

  The squad members sprinted for the lane, blasting up and down the street with everything they had – PUGs and StenVoids – and to their great surprise made it safely.

  ‘Keep going,’ Four yelled, he and TEX covering as Nine and Five dived into the narrow lane.

  ‘After you,’ TEX shouted at Four, firing in one direction with a StenVoid, in the other with his Electro-Mag Disintegrator.

  With TEX covering the rear, the three Battle Agents ran as fast as they could towards the far end of the lane. But just as they reached it, a long vehicle screeched to a stop right across their exit.

  ‘Oh no,’ Nine groaned.

  ‘Oh yes,’ Four cheered. ‘It’s Bernard. We’re saved!’

  The doors of the limousine burst open, the three Battle Agents dived in, followed a moment later by TEX, and the big car roared away with its cargo safe and sound.

  ‘I don’t believe it, Bernard,’ cried Four. ‘You’re amazing. How did you know we were in trouble? How did you manage to be —’

  ‘In the right place at the right time?’ Bernard replied. ‘Intuition, Master Winston. It’s some­thing all good chauffeurs should have at least a modicum of.’

  * * *

  ‘Good work. You really have excelled yourselves this time.’

  Professor Perdu and Omega Squad were in a debriefing session, in her office. She had temporarily bug-proofed the room by installing an electro-magnetic field that scrambled their conversation. So for now they could talk freely.

  As tired as the squad members were, they’d given the professor a full report on everything they’d done, seen and heard. She had returned the stolen historical figures to their proper Battle Books, which were now completely stable once more.

  ‘At least we can relax about the body-hacked Battle Books,’ she said with a sigh of relief. ‘Your quick thinking has avoided an almost certain disaster, Omega Squad. But it has also taken us a little closer to understanding who is behind these attacks on Operation BB.’

  ‘Little is the right word, Prof,’ said BA005. ‘It’s like a journey that has no end. Just when we think we’ve got somewhere, we realise we’ve still got a long way to go.’

  ‘I know. But we are making progress.’

  ‘Are we?’ said Nine. ‘It seems to me like we have even less idea of who might be behind the whole thing. All we know is that our enemies are very powerful. How does that help us?’

  ‘It tells us that we must be onto something big, for a start. And the mere fact that they’re doing everything they can to stop us means that we must be getting closer. It’s clear that Horace Horologe was given orders to eliminate you. That can only mean you must have been uncomfortably close to finding whatever it is they’re trying to hide.’

  ‘We sure seem to be digging in the right place,’ said Four. ‘There’s a lot going on in that area around the Time Store; all those armoured trucks coming and going, plus the heavy security.’

  ‘And the strange stuff happening underground,’ added Five.

  ‘And the rumbling,’ said TEX.

  ‘Yes, the rumbling,’ said Professor Perdu. ‘I’ve run Audio-Spectrum and Sonic Analysis tests, and they indicate that the vibrations are most likely coming from a reactor.’

  ‘As in nuclear?’

  ‘No, that was ruled out, which makes it even more intriguing: if it is a reactor, but not nuclear, what sort of reactor is it? All we can really deduce at this stage is that there is some sort of high-tech processing unit under the ground in the area around the Time Store, and it is definitely large.’

  ‘So could those trucks be feeding the reactor thing?’ said Five.

  ‘That’s a distinct possibility,’ said the professor. ‘But what are they feeding it? And more importantly: What is it making?’

  ‘I’m bamboozled,’ said Nine, shaking her head. ‘There’s too much to take in.’

  ‘I know how overwhelming this must seem. Every answer poses more questions. But we can’t give up now. I believe we’re closer than we realise to solving this puzzle. We’re only missing a few pieces. They are key pieces, I’m afraid, but I’m hoping that Alpha Agent One will have those pieces.’

  ‘Alpha One?’ cried Nine. ‘Is he back?’

  The professor immediately stiffened. She closed her eyes for a moment before replying.

  ‘No, not yet. But he won’t be long.’ At least I hope he won’t, she said to herself.

  ‘So you’ve heard from him?’

  ‘Er, he’s made contact, yes. A couple of times.’

  ‘Well? What did he say?’

  ‘Dreadful reception. Couldn’t hear a thing he said. But —’

  Professor Perdu couldn’t bring herself to tell them the full truth – that the so-called contact she’d had with Alpha One only amounted to a couple of Battle Watch beeps. Not while there was hope. And there was still hope, she told herself. There was.

  ‘But he’s on his way,’ she stammered, putting on her bravest face.

  ‘You’re a bad liar, Prof,’ said Nine. ‘You don’t know where he is, do you?’

  ‘Not exactly. We all know how secretive Alpha One can be. But he’s close. I can feel it. I really can.’

  An unwelcome silence crept into the room. The Battle Agents struggled to contain their very real fear for Alpha One. His warning echoed in Nine’s head: I might not come back from this mission. But far worse were Horace Horologe’s words: And don’t expect Alpha Agent One to come to the rescue either.

  Those words made her sick with worry, and she thought about mentioning them, but decided not to. The professor’s faith was frail enough without undermining it further. Besides, it was something to cling to, and certainly better than the alternative – a dark tunnel that only led to hopelessness. At least for
the moment, no news was good news, Nine told herself.

  ‘So what do we do now?’ she asked.

  ‘We prepare for battle,’ said the professor. ‘I have no doubt that things are about to turn very nasty. Our enemies have shown they’ll do anything to stop us. At the very least I expect to be kicked out of Operation Battle Book. And after your exploits at the Time Store, I’m sure they’ll expel you from college. The gloves are off, Omega Squad. The real fight has begun.’

  ‘But how can we fight this if they kick us out?’

  ‘Don’t worry. I prepared for something like this years ago. I have a bunker with equipment, gadgets, weapons, software etcetera. They won’t stop us that easily.’

  The professor paused briefly, letting her words sink in. Then she continued.

  ‘But right now we play the waiting game. There’s no alternative. We wait to hear from Alpha One. Which means that you all go home and get as much sleep as you can. You’ll need it, believe me.’

  The squad members glanced at each other, the same thought uppermost in their minds.

  ‘I don’t think any of us could sleep, Prof,’ BA005 said. ‘Not while Alpha One is —’

  ‘But you must,’ the professor insisted. ‘There’s no point in all of us losing sleep over this. Rest assured that the moment I know anything, you will. Now off you go!’ She cracked her knuckles. ‘That’s an order.’

  The Battle Agents shuffled reluctantly towards the door, wishing there was more they could do, but knowing the professor was right.

  * * *

  In the grey streets of Futura, not far from the library, Alpha Agent One staggered between the shadows. He glanced over his shoulder before slipping into the cover of a darkened doorway, using its frame to stay upright. Not much further, he told himself, almost collapsing from the pain. Pure instinct and a stubborn refusal to lie down were all that kept him going.

  He doubled up with a fit of coughing, struggling to keep as quiet as possible. Not that there’d be too many people around at 3.45 am, just derelicts and UnderOnes. But after what he’d been through he wasn’t taking any risks.

  After checking the way was clear, he hobbled across the road as quickly as he could, past the flickering street lamp, slipping into the shadows once again. Sticking close to the wall, he made his way down one more street, pausing beside a line of Electros to catch his breath.