Free City of Time by Eoin McNamee Page B

Owen could almost feel her frowning in the dark. Then, “I don't know. He might have.”
    She doesn't really think so
, Owen thought.
But that teapot has the same pattern as the tea set in the kitchen cupboard at home. The tea set with the missing teapot
. And the idea that his father might have been in this very place comforted him as he drifted off to sleep.
    Although she was exhausted, Martha did not sleep. Mary's breathing had become more irregular. Martha watched the woman and brushed the hair back from her face, wondering at how young Mary had seemed to grow in the last few hours. The wrinkles had faded from her brow and there was a flush in her cheeks.
    Martha shook her head. How stupid could she be? She'd lived in a fog for so long that she'd forgotten that the world existed. A doctor! That was what Mary needed, not somebody moping over her. She jumped to her feet, looking for a phone. She found an oldfashionedblack one on a low table by the fire. She lifted the receiver, but as she did a voice stopped her.
    “Martha?” Mary's voice was strong and Martha turned to her. Mary's face was youthful now, and there was a sparkle. Martha went over to her and took her hand.
    “It is a key,” Mary said.
    “What?”
    “It is a key.” Martha looked at the hairpin she still held in her hand. “Take it over to the clock and open it.”
    Martha did as she was told. The clock case opened easily. Martha gazed at the clock face and it was a moment before she thought to look down. Her eyes widened. The infinity within drew her, the blue-black depth without end in which tiny lights glinted.
    “Is this it?” she said, hardly comprehending the words coming out of her mouth.
    “Close the case and lock it,” Mary said. Martha did so. “It is what you think, an entrance into time itself. An ingress, it is called. I have guarded it.”
    “But why didn't you tell—”
    “Whom would I have told, Martha? And what good would it have done, except to betray its location to Johnston, perhaps? But my time is very short now and I can't explain everything. The Navigator must go to the City of Time.”
    “The Navigator …” Realization dawned on Martha's face. “No! Not Owen. He is too young.”
    “Young, perhaps, but also brave. There are thingsyou do not understand. Your mind was put to sleep because it was frozen and wounded. You were not properly awakened until tonight. I am sorry that it took so long.”
    “Owen isn't ready!”
    “He has already fought and beaten the Harsh once while you slept. He is ready. And in your heart you know that the Navigator is the only person who can heal this world. He must go to the City of Time. It is the only place he can find what he needs. He may already have gone,” Mary said. “Diamond. Dr. Diamond will realize that there is no other way.”
    “No!”
    The light was fading from Mary's eyes and her voice was weakening. “Listen to me,” she said urgently. “Keep the key safe. It will be needed. The Workhouse will need you. It is badly manned.”
    “But Owen …,” said, and there was anguish in her voice.
    “Is the Navigator,” Mary said. Then her breathing changed.
    “Mary?” Martha bent over her, but the old woman's eyes had closed and she did not answer.
    Martha ran to the phone and this time nothing stopped her from making the call. She sat down to wait for the ambulance, her mind in turmoil. Owen was the Navigator? His father's quest to be the Navigator had done terrible damage to all their lives. What would happen to his son?

A curious groaning noise awoke Owen. It sounded like an old sheep. He heard it again. He swung his legs out of the bunk and slipped on his boots. Outside it was still dark. He went around to the cab, where Dr. Diamond was sitting at the wheel. As Owen reached him he heard the noise again, but this time there was a spluttering sound, then with a gout of smoke from under the hood the engine burst into wheezy, clattery life.
    Dr. Diamond beamed down at