Alex Scarrow: Time Riders

1912, Atlantic Ocean

‘Anyone left here on deck E?’ cried Liam O’Connor. His voiceechoed down the narrow passageway, bouncing off the metal walls. ‘Anyone downhere?’

It was silent save for the muffled cries and clatter of hasty footsteps coming from the deckabove and the deep mournful creak of the ship’s hull, stressing and stretching as thebow end of the ship slowly dipped below the ocean’s surface.

Liam braced himself against the gradually steepening angle of the floor, holding on to thedoorframe of the cabin beside him. The chief steward’s instructions had been clear- to ensure every cabin at this end of the deck was empty before coming up and joininghim.

He wasn’t sure he wanted to; the screaming and wailing of women and children that hecould hear coming down the stairwell from above sounded shrill and terrifying. At least hereon deck E, amid the second-class cabins, there was an eerie sense of peace. Not quite silent,though. Far away, he could hear a deep rumble and knew it was the sound of the freezing oceancascading into the stricken ship, roaring through open bulkheads, gradually pulling herdown.

‘Last call!’ he cried out again.

A few minutes ago he had roused a young mother and her daughter cowering in one of the cabinswearing their life jackets. The woman was paralysed with fear, trembling onher bed with her daughter wrapped in her arms. Liam ushered them out and led them to thestairs to deck D. The little girl had quickly kissed his cheek and wished him luck as theyparted on the stairwell, as if — unlike her confused mother — she understood theywere all doomed.

He could feel the angle of the floor increasing beneath his unsteady feet. From the top ofthe passage he heard the crash of crockery tumbling from shelves in the steward’sroom.

She’ll be going under soon.

Liam uttered a quick, whispered prayer and craned his neck into one last cabin. Empty.

A loud groan rippled through the floor; it vibrated like the song of a giant whale — hefelt it more than heard it. His eyes were drawn to something flashing past the cabin’ssmall porthole. He saw nothing but darkness, then the fleeting quicksilver flutter of bubblesracing past.

Deck E’s below the water line.

‘Sod this,’ he muttered. ‘I’m done here.’

He stepped back out into the passageway and saw at the end a ripple of water only an inch ortwo deep, gently lapping up along the carpeted floor towards him.

‘Oh no.’

The lower end of the passage was his only way out.

You stayed too long, Liam, you fool. You stayed too long.

He realized now the girl and her mother had been his fateful warning to get out. He shouldhave left with them.

The ice-cold water met his feet, trickled into his shoes and rolled effortlessly past him. Hetook several steps forward, wading deeper into the water, feeling its freezing embrace aroundhis ankles, his shins, his knees. Up ahead, round the bend at the end of the passage, was thestairwell he should’ve been climbing five minutes ago. He pressedforward, whimpering with agony as the icy water rose round his waist and soaked through hiswhite steward’s tunic. His breath puffed past chattering teeth in clouds of vapour as hestruggled forward.

‘Ah J-Jayzzzusss an’ Holy Mary… I d-don’twant to drown!’ he hissed, his voice no longer the recently broken timbre of asixteen-year-old, but the strangled whimper of a frightened child.

It was getting too deep to wade now. Ahead of him, where the passage turned right for thestairwell, the water had reached the wall lights, causing them to spark and flicker.

The stairwell’s probably flooded.

He realized that round the corner the water had to be lapping the ceiling and at least oneflight of the stairs would be completely submerged by now. His only way out would be to holdhis breath and hope it would last long enough for him to fumble his way up that first flightto the landing.

‘Ah J-J-Jay -zus!’ His blue lips trembled at thethought of floundering in the darkness, beneath the surface — losing his way, feelingthe growing desperation and then finally sucking churning seawater into his lungs.

It was then he heard it — the sound of movement from behind him.

1912, Atlantic Ocean

He turned to look up the passageway and saw a man standing ankle-deep in the water,holding on to a wall rail to prevent himself tumbling down the passage towards him.

‘Liam O’Connor!’

‘We’re s-stuck!’ Liam replied. ‘There’s no… there’sno way out!’ His voice sounded shrill.

‘Liam O’Connor,’ the man said again, his voice calm.

‘ What? ’

‘I know who you are, lad.’

‘Whuh?… We need to — ’

The man smiled. ‘Listen, Liam.’ He looked at his watch. ‘You have justunder two minutes left to live.’ The man looked around at the vanilla-coloured metalbulkheads of deck E. ‘This ship’s spine will snap in about ninety seconds.She’ll break two thirds of the way along. The bow end, the larger section, the bit youand I are in, will sink first — like a stone. The stern will bob for another minute andfollow us down, one and a half miles to the bottom of the ocean.’

‘Ah, p-please no. No, no, no,’ Liam whimpered, realizing that he was crying.

‘As we sink, the water pressure will quickly mount. The hull will buckle under it. Theair pressure will burst your eardrums. The rivets in these walls,’ hesaid, running his hand over a row of them, ‘will fire out of the bulkheads like bullets.This passage will instantly fill with water and you’ll be crushed before you can drown.That’s at least a small mercy.’

‘Oh Jay- zus, no… H-help us.’

‘You’ll die, Liam.’ The man smiled again. ‘And that makes you perfect .’

‘P-perfect?’

The man took several steps forward, wading waist-deep into the water towards Liam.

‘Tell me, do you want to live?’

‘ What? … Is th-there another w-way out?’

The lights in the passageway flickered out in unison. Then a moment later came back on.

‘Sixty seconds until she buckles, Liam. Not long now.’

‘Is th-there another w-way out of — ?’

‘If you come with me, Liam,’ he said, holding out a hand, ‘there is anotherway. You’ll live an invisible life. You’ll exist as a phantom, never quite in thisworld of ours. Never able to make new friends, never able to find love.’ The mansoftened that with a sympathetic smile. ‘You’ll learn about things that… well… that can ultimately lead to madness if you let itmess with your mind. Some people choose death.’

‘I w-want to live!’

‘I must warn you… I’m not offering you your life , Liam. I’m offering you a way out, that’s all.’

Liam grabbed hold of the candelabra of a flickering wall light and pulled himself backwardsup the slanting passage, his feet finding the floor once more. A shuddering groan rippledaround them — deafening.

‘She’s dying, Liam. The Titanic ’s back is goingto break in just a few seconds. If you believe in God, you might wish to joinhim now. If you stay here, I assure you, it’ll all be over very quickly foryou.’

Drowning . It was Liam’s worst nightmare — for as farback as he could remember. He’d never learned to swim because of his terrible fear ofwater.

Liam looked up at the man, looking at his face for the first time: deep sad eyes surroundedby wrinkles of age. And then a thought occurred to him.

‘Are you… are y-you an a-angel?’