Page 28 of The Runner
He wrapped his arms around her, and the solid warmth of his body comforted her.
She kissed him and then pulled away reluctantly. ‘Yes, let’s get started. The longer we hesitate, the more nervous I become.’
The air was musty and cold, and she was pleased she had remembered to wear a warm sweatshirt. She shivered at the thought of what may await her if the experiment worked.
‘Okay, go ahead and touch the wall when you’re ready,’ Eddie said as they neared the back of the hole.
‘It’s incredible to think a priest must have hidden in here, terrified for his life,’ said Cara, distracting herself from the fear she felt.
And then she reached for the wall. Before she could say another word, the vortex enveloped them like a bubble. The air grew colder, and there was a whooshing sound in their ears. Eddie tried to illuminate Cara with the light of the torch, but the force of the whirling vortex knocked it out of his hand and the sound of it bouncing on the hard floor reverberated through the dark space.
In the silence that followed, George whispered, ‘Cara, Cara, are you there?’
‘I’m here,’ said Eddie, ‘let’s look for the torch so we can see what’s going on.’ He bent to his knees and scrabbled about. Several minutes later, the light flickered back on, and George saw Eddie rise, waving the torch. He shone it in the wall's direction and there was Cara slumped at the bottom.
‘Looks like she’s out cold again. Cara, my darling. Can you hear me?’George tapped her face gently with his fingers and embraced her as he prepared to lift her off the freezing ground.
Her head moved, and she groaned. Then her eyes opened, and she said, ‘Did it work?’
‘I don’t know. Are you okay?’ said George.
She nodded. She pushed herself upward with her hands, and George helped her to her feet.
Eddie said, ‘My goodness, this is exciting. The vortex came, but it only took you. I could feel it! What do you remember?’
‘Not much,’ said Cara, as they stumbled towards the light through the crack in the bookshelves. ‘I heard the vortex but after that, nothing.’
They stepped into the bright light of the library, rays of sunshine illuminated the room and the wall tapestry fabrics shimmered.
‘Are you all right, darling?’ said George, putting his arm around Cara’s shoulders, relieved that she was still with him.
‘Yes, I think so. Can we get out of here, though?’
They wandered out onto the terrace and after a few minutes when he saw she was all right, George went to make tea, and Eddie and Cara discussed the experiment.
‘What do you make of it?’ said Cara.
‘Well, that is the third time you’ve entered with what appears to be the same result, so it’s reasonable to conclude that one hundred per cent of the time, when you enter that wormhole…’ He drew breath and smiled, ‘Or, gateway—you automatically summon the vortex. It’s extraordinary,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘And in our previous experiments, when the vortex appeared, you time travelled to Tudorville. I suspect you’re correct that this time it’s different—but we’ll soon see what’s going on—when your memory updates.’
‘If my memory updates,’ she said.
George set down three cups of tea and a plate of chocolate biscuits on the trestle table on the terrace. ‘What does the professor make of the wormhole, then?’
‘Well, my dear boy, it appears your wife has just time travelled on demand!’ He took a sip of the piping hot tea. ‘Where to? We’re not one hundred per cent sure, but if I had to put money on it, I’d say there’s a version of Cara just arrived back to Georgiana in the year 1729. This is the most exciting development in the TTS since I first began years ago.’
Cara sipped her tea. ‘I haven’t heard much about the Time Travel System for a while. I knew you were keen for us to discover a way to time travel on demand, but I didn’t realise you were still working on the TTS. Of course, I should have known…’
Eddie looked puzzled. ‘This is the opportunity of many lifetimes. I haven’t even begun to digest the implications of what happened back there, but it already indicates there is more than one way to time travel.’
‘What next, then?’ said Cara, afraid to hear his answer but compelled to know what she was up against.
‘If it’s okay with you, I’d like to do it again, but this time you’ll enter on your own so we can see for sure it’s only you who triggers the vortex. We must remember we are time travellers too, so we could in some way be impacting the experiment.’ He looked across at George and then back at Cara.
She nodded her agreement. ‘Okay, when?’
‘Not yet. Let’s see what happens, if anything, because of today’s experiment. I’d like to document your dreams and anything else that comes up for you. We are in virgin territory—everything counts and could be critical to our understanding of how it works.’
They finished their tea, and walked around the estate, Cara and George explaining to Eddie their long-term plans for the house and the Tudor Heritage Centre.
