That Elusive Cure 44

“Fuck.”

Jimmy put the phone down as I walked into the house. I’d been with Cass all morning, helping out around her flat as she recovered.

“What’s wrong?”

“Newland.”

One word, but enough to scare me into dropping my handbag on the hall floor.

“What about him?” I asked quietly.

“He’s coming tomorrow, leaving early in the morning.” He punched the wall. “Fuck.”

I grabbed my bag and took the church key from it. “It’s too early, the pod isn’t ready yet.” I waved the key at him, as if it made more of a point. “You should have delayed him somehow.”

“You think I didn’t try? This is a man used to getting his own way. There was nothing I said that put him off. Nothing at all.”

“Shit, shit, shit.” I sat on the stairs and fiddled with the key. “What are we going to do?”

Jimmy was rubbing his knuckles. “Lie. Tell him someone before us did it. Or we could tell the truth. Those are the choices as I see it.”

Which was worse, the lie or the truth? I wasn’t sure. “I’m going to the church. Maybe it charged up faster.”

“You’ve gone just about every day. Is it charging faster?”

“No, but I’m going to do it anyway. You coming or staying?”

Jimmy checked his phone. “I’ve got to be back by two o’clock for a meeting. Come on, let’s go.”

He drove, weaving in and out of traffic recklessly. Guess it wasn’t just me whose nerves were getting the better of them. Jimmy screeched to a halt outside the church and seconds later we were inside.

“Open it then,” I said nodding towards the back of the pod.

“No way. I’m never touching that thing again.”

Maybe the man did learn lessons. I opened and closed the hatch and the machine went through its diagnostics. Seven days left until the recharge was complete. Right on schedule. I heard a noise and looked over to see Jimmy grimacing and holding his right hand gingerly.

“What have you done?” I went to him and checked his hand. The knuckles were already turning shades of blue and purple.

“Punched it, didn’t I.” I glanced at the pew and wouldn’t have known he’d touched it.

“Silly man.” I leaned over and gently kissed his hand.

“Where do you think it came from?” He indicated at the pod.

I shook my head. “I have no idea. Space? Aliens? The future?”

“Why do you assume it’s from the future?”

That made me turn away from the pod and look curiously at Jimmy. “What do you mean?”

He walked up to it, tentatively reaching out to touch the silver hull. “Do you really think time travel will ever be possible?” He raised his eyebrows at me. “Think about it. If it was possible wouldn’t we have people flying back and forth from the future to the present? Well they don’t, I can assure you.”

“How would you have any idea whether people time travel? They could be fixing things, doing things like leaving this machine here.”

“And risk changing the future? They could cause a paradox and never exist and we’d be caught in a time loop, repeating forever.”

I snorted at what sounded like science fiction.

“I’m being serious. Think about the earthquake in Japan. That destroyed nuclear power plant and the Pacific Ocean is being poisoned. Don’t you think if time travel was possible someone would have come back to fix that?”

This was making my head hurt. I put my hand up to stop him. “Okay, let’s assume time travel is out. Why not aliens?”

“The pod speaks in English.”

“Could be a babel fish effect,” I shot back at him. “If it’s alien and advanced enough to fix us, surely it would be advanced enough to be able to speak to different species.” I thought of Buster. If I put him inside would it bark at him?

“Fair enough, but then it wouldn’t have MicroHealth written inside the lid.” He crossed his arms as if to drive home his point, flinching when his right hand touched his left arm.

I shrugged. “Fair enough. But if you’ve eliminated aliens and the future, what’s left?”

Jimmy circled the pod, a cryptic expression on his face.

“Everyone hates a know-it-all, Jimmy,” I said. “And even worse is a know-it-all who doesn’t spill.”

“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” He stopped and made a point of smirking at me.

“So what remains?” I was losing patience.

“That the machine is from the present. That someone, somewhere on this planet invented this machine some time ago and this beauty is the result.”

Could Jimmy be right? Was someone out there making these things for a select few and keeping the rest of the world’s population in the dark? “Bloody hell,” I said and sat heavily on a pew.

“Mind blowing thought, isn’t it?”

“Do you think it’s been stolen from somewhere?” My fingers twisted up together as I tried to work out what this meant. “What if the owner isn’t Rich and they want it back? Maybe that’s the reason for the secrecy and why only one person can use it at a time? Wouldn’t want the numbers of cured people to be noticeable, right?”

Jimmy held his hands up. “I’m just doing what I do. I’m an analyst. I analysed the possibilities. Besides, Newland will be here tomorrow and he’s planning on telling us where the machine came from, right?”

“I guess. He did say that in the letter.” The pod seemed too fantastical not to be from the future.

“Then assuming he forgives us for breaking-”

“And don’t forget fixing,” I interrupted.

“And fixing his wonderful machine, then we will soon know the truth.”

My phone vibrated inside my handbag, breaking the moment. I dug inside for it.

“Damn it, it’s Janie again.”

The phone displayed her message. Haven’t heard back from you. Hope everything is okay and life is treating you okay. If you have a minute I’d love to hear how the machine has changed things for you.

I could feel the hurt emanating from her words. She didn’t deserve to be ignored. “Maybe I should tell her what happened? Admit the truth to her.”

“When’s the machine going to be fixed?”

“Next Tuesday,” I said as I stared at her message.

“Tell her you’ll meet her next Wednesday. All being well, you’ll be fixed by then and you won’t have to lie to her.”

Got a busy week. Want to meet at the café in Thurstaton you took me to next Wednesday? I’d love to see you again.

The message came back quickly. Would love to. I’ll be there at 1. We can have lunch.

I put the phone back in my handbag and stared at the pod. It had better be fixed on time.