Alex Scarrow - The Eternal War

Eugenics. Devereau felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. He fought to keep a rigid expression on his face. ‘James, are you certain of this?’

‘Certain?’ Wainwright laughed bitterly. ‘I have just committed an act of treason. Of course I’m certain! They’re coming your way, William, and they’re going to throw every little monster in their box of tricks right at you.’

‘God help us,’ whispered Devereau. He glanced over his shoulder at Maddy and Becks, then back at Wainwright. ‘James, perhaps you’ll reconsider your position on the discussion we had this morning.’

‘That’s why I’m here, old friend. These two young women, do you …?’

‘Do I believe their story?’ Devereau considered his answer for a moment. ‘You’ve seen their pictures, their small device … I’m no technician, but I swear that thing is beyond even the capability of the British.’

Wainwright nodded.

‘And there’s more to see in their bunker if you want to come and — ’

Wainwright raised a hand. ‘There’s little time. I believe … I have little choice but to believe them. I have nothing left but hope that they can change all of this.’

Devereau turned and beckoned Maddy and Becks to join them.

Maddy smiled. ‘Colonel,’ she said politely.

‘Miss Carter. I have agreed to join my efforts with Colonel Devereau and help you fix your time machine.’

‘Really? Oh, that’s — ’

‘William, Miss Madelaine, Miss Becks …’ Wainwright drew a deep breath. ‘I have committed an act of treason and mutiny. As soon as they discover this, they will be swarming all over my sector. If there are parts you need to take from the British communications hub, then we will need to move quickly.’

‘If we can retrieve what you need from there,’ said Devereau, ‘how long will it take you to fix your time machine?’

Maddy turned to Becks. ‘Becks?’

‘I am unable to give a precise estimate. Connecting and configuring a radio communications dish may take — ’ her eyelids flickered for a moment — ‘thirteen hours.’

‘ What? ’ gasped Wainwright. ‘That is far too long!’

‘In addition, we need to establish a source of power. Our generator utilizes petroleum-derived diesel. Do you have this fuel type?’

The colonels looked at each other. Wainwright shook his head. ‘I have not heard of it. Southern engines run on a liquid-form fuel we call maizolene. I believe it is a mixture of corn-based alcohol and Texas oil.’

‘As I suspected,’ said Becks. ‘A variety of hybrid ethanol. Then we would need to adapt the generator to run on this fuel. This may not be possible. In which case we would need to acquire one of your engines and use that as the motorized device to turn the generator’s dynamo to produce electrical power.’

Maddy sucked her teeth. ‘That sounds like a lot of work.’

‘Correct.’ Becks’s eyes blinked again. ‘Approximately thirty hours of work.’ She turned to Maddy. ‘But I am making several significant assumptions in this calculation. It could take much longer.’

‘Good God, there is no time for this! The British will be here before we can — ’

‘Unless we buy her the time she needs,’ said Devereau. The others looked at him. ‘James,’ he continued, ‘you and I have said this before, have we not? This war is not the war it started out as. It’s not our war.’

Wainwright nodded. ‘This is a war no American would want.’

The colonels eyed each other silently. Long enough so that Maddy felt the need to say something. ‘What? What the hell are you guys thinking?’

‘James … I think … no, I know my men would join me. What about yours?’

The Confederate colonel turned to look back across the East River. ‘I believe they might.’ He glanced at Devereau. ‘Particularly if they learn what the British are planning to do.’

‘What?’ Maddy looked from one to the other. ‘What are you two talking about?’

‘An uprising,’ said Devereau.

‘A mutiny,’ added Wainwright.

Both men smiled at the thought of it. ‘It could spread,’ said Devereau. ‘Really, it could spread right along the front line. If someone somewhere dared to make the start of it.’

‘Word would need to get out. You and I, William, we’d need to make absolutely sure the news got out.’

Wainwright grinned suddenly. ‘There is not a regiment, old friend, not a single Confederate regiment, that would not celebrate an end to this damned war!’

‘Oh my God! Is that your plan, then?’ asked Maddy. ‘A popular uprising?’

‘If news spreads among the men,’ said Devereau, ‘that the British plan to deploy eugenic military units again on American soil … yes, good Lord, this could … this could truly take hold. The soldiers on both sides, the general public would be terrified of another Preston Peak massacre!’

‘And if it comes to it,’ added Wainwright, ‘if it came down to it, our men, I’m sure, would fight side by side.’

Maddy thought she saw tears in Devereau’s eyes. ‘My God, James! This could be it, a tinderbox issue Americans can unite on! Military-use eugenics being used over here again!’

‘That’s what needs to be said, old friend. Loud and clear. So everyone can hear it.’ His grin widened. ‘This is the flame to the thatch.’

‘Indeed.’

Maddy looked from one colonel to the other. ‘So is this what we’re doing, then? Starting a revolution?’

They both nodded. ‘And not before time,’ said Devereau.

Maddy hunched her shoulders. ‘OK. So, do you guys need to shake on it or something?’

Wainwright offered his hand and Devereau grasped it. ‘We have much to do, James, and very quickly.’

‘Indeed. I will go back and present this to my men.’

‘As shall I,’ said Devereau.

2001, outside Dead City

The British troops were up and mustering at dawn with the noisy clatter of equipment and belt buckles, the thudding of boots on pressed soil, the barking of parade-ground voices. Liam watched with guarded fascination as they scrambled quickly to assemble into ranks by platoon, by company, until he was looking at three hundred soldiers, rows of red tunics and crisscrossing leather belts shifting gently as chests heaved for breath. White pith helmets in endless ranks, their pointed peaks shadowing the eyes of hardened faces that looked like they’d seen plenty of action.

Liam was impressed by their discipline and efficiency. If they fought half as well as they mustered, he wondered how a war anywhere in this world could last long in the face of such a military machine as the British army.

McManus had confided in them last night that this regiment, the Black Watch , was actually considered one of the finest in the British army: an elite regiment that had experienced combat on every continent in the world … and had been chosen to field-trial the newest generation of experimental eugenic units.

Speaking of which, he watched the hunter-seekers moving out of the camp at a trot as the last of the tents and camp equipment was being rolled up and stowed into the large saddlebags of the baggage huffaloes. The hunter-seeker that had chatted briefly with McManus last night — ‘George’ — exchanged a polite nod with the captain as his pack moved out last. They broke from a trot into a loping gallop as they spread out in a loose line across the weed-strewn field and finally, several minutes later, disappeared a quarter of a mile away into the dead and overgrown outskirts of the suburban fringe of Baltimore. Liam could just make out a line of backyards, bordered with rotting and leaning picket fences; falling-down shanty homes; abandoned carts; and rusting automobiles of an old-fashioned coach design, their spoked wheels tied to the ground by thick brambles and briar.