The Khyber Connection (TimeWars 6)

“Din do well, Sahib?”

The troops below had dispersed and taken cover as the Ghazis started firing indiscriminately. It would be a long and drawn-out battle, but their ambush had failed. Learoyd looked down at Gunga Din, his lips drawn tight.

“You did well, soldier. You did damn bloody well.”

He saluted him.

Din coughed twice and attempted to raise his own hand to return the salute, but it fell back lifelessly onto the floor.

“You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din,” Learoyd said softly. He reached forward and closed the Hindu’s sightless eyes.

There was a knock at the cell door. Mulvaney and Ortheris, leaning all their combined weight against it, stared at each other.

“Who’s there?” said Ortheris.

“What do you mean, who’s there?” Mulvaney said. “Who in bloody ‘Ell d’you think is there, you stupid sod?”

“You just can’t help some people,” Finn’s voice came from the other side of the door. “You get ‘em out of trouble, and like idiots they go barging right back in.”

“Blimey!” said Mulvaney. They opened the door and saw Finn and Andre standing amidst a pile of Ghazi corpses.

“You boys ready to leave now?” said Finn. “Or were you planning on setting up housekeeping?”

“You’re wounded, sir,” said Ortheris. “And you, miss Cross!’

“It isn’t serious,” said Andre. “Come on, we’d better get you out of here.”

“Holy jumping Christ!” Learoyd shouted from the parapet. “Take a look at this!”

Below and to their left, around the bend of the pass, a wild battle was raging between the Ghazis and the British troops. Below and to their right, armed men clad in field-gray uniforms began appearing as if from out of nowhere, materializing out of thin air. The moment they started coming through, Forrester’s division, hidden in the rocks above, opened fire. The pass below them became a deadly latticework of laser beams.

“I must be dreamin’,” said Mulvaney, looking down. “What in God’s name is goin’ on down there?”

Ortheris was speechless. He could only stare, slack-jawed, at a sight he couldn’t comprehend. The troops from the alternate timeline didn’t stand a chance. Forrester had employed the same tactics against them that the Ghazis had hoped to use against the British troops, and the gray-uniformed soldiers could only ineffectually return the fire sporadically as they came through and died. Then, suddenly, the men stopped coming through.

Stability had been restored to the scenario and the rippling effect moved on. The confluence point shifted and those caught coming through at that precise instant screamed as they were caught between the timelines, materializing momentarily only to disappear again, trapped forever in the limbo of non-specific time known as the dead zone. It hadn’t lasted more than several minutes. Forrester’s men ceased fire while just out of sight, around the bend in the pass, the echoing thunder of rifle shots continued as the British engaged the Ghazis.

“What did we just see, lads?” said Learoyd. “What in the name of heaven were all those lights? Who were those men?”

“What men?” said Finn.

“What lights?” said Andre.

Learoyd turned to look at them, dumbfounded. “But you were standin’ right here! Surely you saw them?”

“Saw who?” said Finn. “Learoyd, what are you talking about? Are you all right?”

“It must have been the strain,” said Andre.

“Strain!” said Learoyd. “Mulvaney, you tell them! You saw it!”

Mulvaney looked from Learoyd to Finn and Andre. “Saw what, Chris?”

“Those lights! Those men!”

Mulvaney licked his lips. “I didn’t see no lights, mate.”

“You lying … Stanley! You saw it, didn’t you? You must have seen it!”