Second Lives Read online

  Jana shook her head in amazement. 'I can't believe he made it,' she said. 'I mean, he was hanged, stabbed and shot.'

  'He was touch and go,' agreed Dora. 'As were you, for a time.'

  There was a brief, contemplative silence that went on just long enough to verge on awkwardness before Jana spoke again.

  'So here we are,' she said. 'Safe and secure. The doctor says I've got a couple of weeks of recuperation left, at least, so I'm not going anywhere fast. Dora, was Mountfort the last? Those were the only people recovering here?'

  It seemed to Kaz that this question was loaded somehow, as if Jana was trying to make it seem less casual than it was, but Dora didn't appear to pick up on it.

  'Yes,' said Dora. 'Everyone I rescued and brought here has been returned to their rightful time and place.'

  'So you've got no more errands to run?'

  Dora shook her head.

  'OK, good. Clean sheet,' said Jana firmly. 'You two can both jump through time solo now, can't you?'

  Kaz nodded and so did Dora. 'After I touched Quil in the undercroft in 1645,1 was thrown sideways in time,' explained Kaz. 'It took me about six months before I was able to jump through time again. I could feel the power growing in me all the time, I just had to wait for it to reach the right strength.'

  'It was the same for me,' said Dora. 'About six months after we were separated I also gained the ability to travel through time on my own. It took me many months of practice after that before I was able to steer myself accurately. I am impressed, Kaz, that you were able to return to Pendarn and aid in our escape from Quil so quickly after your power matured.'

  Kaz shrugged. 'What can I say, I was highly motivated.'

  This earned him a smile from Dora and a good-natured eye-roll from Jana.

  'Unlike you two, it's still only a week or so since I first jumped through time,' said Jana. 'So for now I'm only going to be able to jump if I'm holding hands with one of you.'

  Kaz could see how little Jana relished the idea of being reliant on somebody else but he thought it would do her good not to be completely in control for a change. He kept this slightly uncharitable thought to himself.

  'Anyway, can we fill in the blanks, please,' said Jana. 'Let's start with you, Kaz.' She turned to him and he held out his hands as if to say 'Ask anything'.

  'In Sweetclover Hall you touched Quil and off you went,' said Jana. 'I thought I was never going to see you again, so you can imagine my relief when you turned up with the cavalry. You say you were gone for six months, so where and when did you end up?'

  Kaz barely knew where to start in recounting his adventures in history. 'It's a long story,' he said, 'but the short version is that I spent the time serving on a privateer on the Spanish Main in 1693.'

  'You were a pirate?' said Jana, amazed and delighted.

  'I was that,' agreed Kaz. 'And let me tell you, it wasn't nearly as exciting as the films. It was mostly deck swabbing, sail stitching, bad food, worse drink, unbelievable BO in the sleeping quarters and the singing. All the awful, awful singing. I don't care if I never hear another sea shanty in my life.'

  'But you plundered ships,' said Jana. 'You wore a cutlass and carried pistols?'

  'Once or twice,' said Kaz, smiling at Jana's uncharacteristic enthusiasm.

  'And did you ever swing between ships on a big rope while they fired the cannons beneath you?'

  Kaz found himself lying before he could stop - chances to impress her did not come along often and he wasn't going to let one pass.

  'Only once,' he said. 'But it was awesome.'

  'That is literally the best thing I have ever heard,' said Jana. 'Did you have a pirate name? Red-handed Kaz? Sealegs Cecka?'

  Kaz laughed. 'No, Jana, I did not have a pirate name,' he said. 'I just kept my head down, tried to be the best crew member I could, and waited for my powers to develop enough for me to get the hell out of there.'

  'I want to know every detail,' said Jana, folding her hands in her lap decisively and eagerly staring at him. Across the bed Kaz could see Dora looking less than thrilled at the direction the conversation was taking.

  'Later, I promise,' said Kaz.

  'Spoilsport.' Jana pouted.

  'Dora, what about you?' asked Kaz. 'Where and when did you end up after 1645?'

  'Auckland, 2063,' answered Dora.

  Jana pursed her lips and breathed in sharply. 'Ouch,' she said.

  'What?' asked Kaz.

  'I learned about that period in history,' said Jana regarding Dora with concern. 'Not a good time to be in the Antipodes.'

  'No,' agreed Dora. 'But I was fortunate, I found sanctuary in a shelter for orphaned refugees. They looked after me well.'

  Dora did not elaborate, and after a pregnant pause Kaz asked, 'Is that it? If I had to guess, I'd say you're four years older than when we first met?'

  Dora nodded. 'Approximately,' she agreed.

  'But you said your ability to time travel solo kicked in after six months,' said Jana. 'So what happened to the other three and a half years? Did you stay in Auckland the whole time or did you travel?'

  Dora fixed Jana with a steady, appraising gaze and Kaz could tell she was considering how much to reveal. 'I travelled,' she said eventually. 'With purpose.'

  'You trained, didn't you?' said Kaz. 'You found someone to help turn you into a superhero.'

  Dora rewarded his wisecrack with a tiny smile. 'Yes, that's exactly correct, Kaz. I found a sensei and learned the skills I felt would be necessary for me to rescue everybody. It took some years. You can thank me later.'

  'Oh believe me, I've given thanks for you every moment since you skewered that thug on the rooftop,' said Kaz emphatically.

  'So who did you find to train you to be a ninja?' asked Jana.

  'I could tell you,' said Dora, deadpan. 'But I'd have to kill you.'

  Jana did not smile and Kaz shifted awkwardly in his seat as the two young women engaged in a staring contest. Eventually Dora smiled again and said, 'Garcia.'

  The name meant nothing to Kaz but it obviously did to Jana, whose eyes widened as her mouth dropped open.

  'No way,' she said, seemingly awestruck.

  'Way,' said Dora.

  Kaz waited for one of them to enlighten him and sighed dramatically when neither of them did. 'You know, I'm from 2014,' he said, 'and the only other time period I know well is the seventeenth century. I'm not like you two, I'm not from the future and I haven't been there much so . . .'

  'Sorry Kaz,' said Dora.

  'Yeah, sorry,' said Jana, turning to him. 'New Zealand in the 2060s was overrun with refugees from the Pacific Islands. As their homes sank beneath the water, they took to boats and tried to find somewhere willing to take them in. North America was in the middle of the second civil war, Chile had slipped into anarchy and Australia had started literally shooting migrant ships to pieces. New Zealand was the destination of choice for waterlogged refugees. But tensions were high and there was a lot of violence. I don't know why I'm the one explaining this, you were there Dora.'

  'It was OK,' said Dora, shrugging. 'Watch the History Channel and you'd think it was constant urban warfare, but in reality it was a lot less dramatic. I only saw two race riots while I was there, and one of them was pretty tame.'

  'Right. Wow,' said Kaz, processing the nuggets of future history that Jana had so casually dropped into his lap. Second civil war?! 'What about Garcia? Who was he?'

  Jana whistled. 'He was a legend, a ghost,' she said. 'If you believe the stories, he was behind most of the unsolved political mysteries of the twenty-first century. Supposedly he was the man who assassinated President Hurley . . .'

  'Yes,' said Dora.

  'Blew up the Kremlin . . .'

  'Yes,' said Dora again. 'Hijacked the QE3 . . .'

  'No,' said Dora. 'That was Tibetan special forces.'

  'Kidnapped the pope and ransomed him . . .'

  'Oh yes,' said Dora, smiling as if at a personal memory.

 
'Not to mention hacking the Chinese National Bank and wiping out most of the world's debt.'

  'No,' said Dora, shaking her head and wearing her best poker face. 'That was me.'

  Kaz genuinely couldn't tell whether she was joking or not. In that moment he found himself believing Dora capable of practically anything.

  'And you hooked up with this guy when you were, what, fifteen, sixteen years old?' he asked.

  Dora nodded. 'Think about it,' she said. 'For people like us, who can jump in and out of any time period at will, the most important skill is being able to move through the world invisibly. Who better to teach me that than a man many historians in this time period still don't think actually existed?'

  Jana bit noisily into a biscuit and chewed slowly, staring at Dora with wide eyes. 'That,' she said after her last bite, 'is totally badass.'

  'Yeah. Yeah, it is,' agreed Kaz, reaching for a biscuit.

  They sat in silence for a while, munching their way through the biscuits, each lost in their own thoughts. Kaz was mostly trying to come to terms with the idea that the future was available to him. He had explored the past and accepted the idea that he could take a holiday in ancient Thebes, watch the Beatles play Hamburg or arrange to casually bump into Helen of Troy, but the opportunity presented by the future was dazzling, even if Dora and Jana did make it sound like a long series of wars and riots.

  When the plate held only crumbs, he decided it was time to address the elephants in the room.

  There are two things I want to know,' he said. 'First, Dora, the other day you told me you rescued Steve from Io Scientific.'

  Dora nodded. Although the person they knew as Steve had rescued them from captivity in 2014, risking his life to do so, he had remained in disguise the whole time, his (or her) identity concealed beneath something he called a chameleon shroud. He had told them some details about their future, so he was certainly someone they either knew or would come to know. It was even possible he was one of them, travelling back from the future.

  'Did you see Steve without the disguise?' Jana asked, before Kaz could.

  Dora nodded again, but said nothing.

  'Well?' said Kaz impatiently. 'Who was he?'

  Dora pulled an apologetic face. 'I can't tell you,' she said. 'Sorry. Steve made me swear to keep the secret.'

  Both Kaz and Jana groaned in annoyance.

  'You'll find out, I swear, when the time is right,' said Dora firmly. 'You just have to trust me.'

  It was clear she was not going to budge on this.

  'Fine,' said Jana with a distinct lack of good grace. 'Did he at least tell you anything else about our future? Anything that can help us? Anything at all?'

  'He told me that when we are ready and want to find out about our powers and the responsibilities that come with them, we need to join hands and travel together as far into the future as we are able to go,' said Dora. 'If we do that, he said, we will arrive precisely where and when we are supposed to be.'

  'That's it?' said Jana, disgusted.

  Dora shrugged. 'That's all I could get out of him.'

  'Ha! So Steve's a him!' said Kaz.

  'Steve is,' agreed Dora, smugly. 'I never said the person beneath the mask was.'

  Kaz gritted his teeth but was jarred out of his annoyance by the strange way his new dental work fitted together in his mouth. He grunted sullenly.

  'What is the second thing?' asked Jana. It took Kaz a moment to realise she was addressing him. He looked at her blankly.

  'You said there were two things you wanted to know,' she said slowly.

  'Oh, yeah,' said Kaz, climbing back aboard his original train of thought. 'Dora, in your future travels, did you look into Quil? Do you have any information about her?'

  'Some,' said Dora. 'The furthest forward I travelled was 2156.'

  'That's fifteen years after my time,' said Jana. 'I don't think she was around in 2141 - at least, if she was I never heard of her.'

  'She was around,' said Dora. 'She's a well-known and divisive political figure by 2156, but she didn't come to prominence till around 2150. And her life before then is a total mystery, so what she was doing and who she was when you were at school, I can't say.'

  'So spill,' said Jana, leaning forward eagerly, wincing as she pulled at her wound. She leaned back again with a soft groan.

  'Some of this won't be news to you, Jana,' said Dora, 'but Kaz needs to know some of the context. I certainly did.'

  'Hit me,' said Kaz, excited at the prospect of getting some answers, however incomplete.

  'Right,' said Dora, taking a deep breath. 'By 2156 mankind has left Earth. Not completely, it's still well populated, but people have colonised the solar system. Mars is being altered to make it more like Earth, but it is still early in the process. The people there live in huge domed cities. Further out, colonies have been established across the solar system, on moons and dwarf planets far out into space. The primary reason is to mine for minerals and other resources, which are shipped back to Earth and Mars. Ceres is particularly important, as they're breaking its surface ice into chunks and shooting it at Mars to create oceans.'

  'Wow,' said Kaz, boggled by the scale of what Dora was describing.

  'Out on the edges, where the mining concerns harvest asteroids and comets, the large companies began using specially created clones sometime in the 2120s,' Dora continued. 'These are humans, specially grown from an altered template to enhance their ability to live and work in deep space - they function better in zero gravity, cope well without sunlight, that sort of thing. They have very limited rights, though. By law, they are property of the corporations who created them. Their DNA is copyright and they don't get paid.'

  'I know some of this,' said Jana. 'In my time there were rumours about exploitation out on the edge. The problem is that the mining companies have total control of their own stations, colonies and staff, and communications can be patchy that far out, so there was no proof. Eyewitness accounts would get out sometimes, but it was all hearsay. The basic thrust was that the clones were slaves in all but name, but the governments on Earth didn't want to get involved.'

  'Couldn't get involved,' corrected Dora. 'They don't have jurisdiction beyond the atmosphere.'

  Jana shook her head firmly. 'So they say, but there was a legal challenge a couple of years before I left—■'

  'OK,' interrupted Kaz. 'I get it. Colonies, mining, clones, slavery. Moving on.'

  Jana looked at him and he was surprised to see both disappointment and outrage on her face. 'Clones are people, Kaz,' she said angrily. 'They should have rights.'

  Kaz held up his hands placatingly, taken aback; he hadn't thought of Jana as the crusading type. 'I didn't say they shouldn't,' he said. 'But what does this have to do with Quil?'

  'Quil agrees with you, Jana,' said Dora. 'In 2150 a journalist on Mars published an expose of conditions aboard the asteroid mining ships. Video, official documents, proof of inhumane treatment, terrible working conditions, summary executions. It caused a scandal, and all the journalist would reveal about the source of the material was her pseudonym.'

  'Let me guess - Quil,' said Kaz.

  Dora nodded.'The corporations fought back,' she continued. 'Branded all the material fake, claimed it was the work of agitators and anarchists trying to destabilise the economy.'

  'Nothing changes,' muttered Jana darkly.

  'But Quil wasn't finished,' continued Dora. 'More material began to emerge, really detailed, lots of dates and times, names and places, all with her name on it.'

  Kaz shook his head. 'Wait, so what you're saying is that Quil is a crusading human rights activist?' He tried to square this idea with the insane killer he had met in 1645 and it made his head ache.

  Dora nodded. 'That's how she first appears,' she agreed. 'In 2153 she starts talking directly, releasing videos of herself giving speeches, trying to encourage people to protest, sign petitions, get Earth to intervene.'

  'Ooh, what does she look like?' asked J
ana eagerly.

  'She wears a mask,' said Dora.

  'But I thought she only wore that because she was so badly burned after her trip back through time?' said Jana, confused.

  'So did I,' agreed Dora. 'But she wore one before as well. She says it's a representation of the faceless clones, a way of reclaiming individuality or something.'

  'Huh,' said Kaz, nonplussed. 'So you don't know where she comes from, what her real name is or what she looks like.'

  'No, sorry,' said Dora, unapologetically. 'She protected her anonymity very carefully in her own time. She was stirring things up, causing trouble, rocking the boat. She would have been a target. Best guess is she's one of the clones. It would explain why there's no record of her before 2050 - she was grown in a vat and then added to the work rota, just another faceless worker on a mining ship or colony somewhere far away from prying eyes.'

  'Maybe it's not a question of her protecting her identity, but creating one,' suggested Jana. 'If she's a clone, then she has the same face, same body, same birthmarks even, as all the other female clones. They don't have names, only numbers. So by choosing a name and removing her face, she's created a persona that is uniquely hers. That would be a potent act of rebellion, if you think about it.'

  'OK, so she's a clone on a crusade,' said Kaz impatiently. 'But so what? How does she get blown back in time? Why is she so angry at us? What's the war she mentioned?'

  'All I know is that by 2156 she's leading an open rebellion,' said Dora. 'The clones in a number of the farthest colonies seized power, kicked out the corporations and declared independence. She's their figurehead, maybe even their actual leader, I don't know.'

  'That must be her war, then,' said Jana.

  'I guess,' said Kaz. 'And at some point after 2156 that war brings her to Mars, where she meets us—'

  'If Quil's clone army reaches Mars, that's serious,' interrupted Jana. 'It means Earth is threatened.'

  Kaz continued, 'On Mars something goes horribly wrong, we don't know what, and then some time after that she's blown back in time and lands in Sweetclover Hall in 1640.'