Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next 2)

'Is that the charge? Is that why I'm here?'

'Answer the question.'

'No, sir.'

'You're lying. He brought you back early but your father's control of the timestream is not that good. Mr Kaylieu decided not to threaten the Skyrail that morning. You were sideslipped, Next. Joggled slightly in the timestream. Things happened the same way but not exactly in the same order. It wasn't a big one, either – barely a Class IX. Sideslips are an occupational hazard in ChronoGuard work.'

'That's preposterous," I scoffed. Stiggins would know I was lying but perhaps I could fool Flanker.

'I don't think you understand, Miss Next. This is more important than just you or your father. Two days ago we lost all communications beyond the twelfth of December. We know there is industrial action but even the freelancers we've sent upstream haven't reported back. We think it's the Big One. If your father was willing to risk using you, we reckon he thinks so too. Despite our animosity towards your father he knows his business – if he didn't we'd have had him years from now. What's going on?'

'I just thought he had a gun,' I repeated.

Flanker stared at me silently for a few moments.

'Let's start again, Miss Next. You search a Neanderthal for a fake gun he carries the following day, you apologise to him using his name, and the arresting officer at the Skyrail station tells me she saw you resetting your watch – a bit out of time, were you?'

'What do you mean – "for a fake gun he carries the following day"?'

Flanker answered without a trace of emotion, 'Kaylieu was shot dead this morning. I think you should talk and talk fast. I've enough to loop you for twenty years. Fancy that?'

I glared back at him, at a loss to know what to do or say. Looping was a slang term for Closed Loop Temporal Field Containment. They popped the criminal in an eight-minute repetitive time loop for five, ten, twenty years. Usually it was a laundromat, a doctor's waiting room or a bus stop, and your presence often caused time to slow down for others near the loop. Your body aged but never needed sustenance; it was cruel and unnatural – yet cheap and required no bars, guards or food.

I opened my mouth and shut it again, gaping like a fish.

'Or you can tell us about your father and walk out a free woman.'

I felt a prickly sweat break out on my forehead. I stared at Flanker and he stared at me, until, mercifully, Stiggins came to my rescue.

'Miss Next was working for us at SO-13 that morning, Commander,' he said in a low monotone. 'Kaylieu had been implicated in Neanderthal sedition. It was a secret operation. Thank you, Miss Next, but we will have to tell SO-1 the truth.'

Flanker shot an angry glance at the Neanderthal, who stared back at him impassively.

'Why the hell didn't you tell me this, Stiggins?'

'You never asked.'

All Flanker had on me now was a slow watch. He lowered his voice to a growl.

'I'll see you looped behind the Crunch if your father is up to no good and you didn't tell us.'

He paused for a moment and jabbed a finger in the direction of Stiggins.

'If you've been bearing false witness I'll have you too. You're running the Thal end of SO-13 for one reason and one reason only – window dressing.'

'How you managed to become the dominant species we will never know,' Stiggins said at last. 'So full of hate, anger and vanity.'

'It's our evolutionary edge, Stiggins. Change and adapt to a hostile environment. We did, you didn't. QED.'

'Darwin won't mask your sins, Flanker,' replied Stiggins. 'You made our environment hostile. You will fall too. But you won't fall because of a more dominant life form. You will fall over yourselves.'

'Garbage, Stiggins. You lot had your chance and blew it.'

'We have right to health, freedom and pursuit of happiness, too.'

'Legally speaking you don't,' replied Flanker evenly. 'Those rights belong only to humans. If you want equality, speak to Goliath. They sequenced you. They own you. If you get lucky perhaps you can be at risk. Beg and we might make you endangered.'

Flanker shut my file with a snap, grabbed his hat, removed both interview tapes and was gone without another word.