The Space Between Read online

  "Hey."

  A little boy was crying nearby. He was bleeding from a wound on his leg.

  "Hey. Help me with this, will you."

  Kim turned and saw one of the 'German' cannoneers — a short, balding man on the wrong side of fifty. He had picked up one of the ropes used to pull a cannon into position and was trying to get it out of the camp and into the open.

  "Hey." He was talking to an archer but the man stood in shocked silence and it was doubtful he'd be any use at all for a while yet. Then he saw Kim and turned his attention to her. "Help me with this," he said in his English accent. "There's another one of the damn birds."

  Kim followed his pointing finger.

  "Just grab the rope and pull."

  Kim was trained to follow orders in battle. She did as told and Keeble came to help as well.

  “[This had better be a cannon,]” he said as he pushed at the back. “[It looks a bit flimsy.]”

  Kim had no idea what he said, but she pulled on the rope and tried to keep up. The little man was surprisingly strong and his low center of gravity gave him good leverage.

  The cannoneer stopped pulling for a moment to shout at five of his friends. "Sonneberg Artillery. Don't just stand there. Gets those cannon moving." He let go of the rope completely and went to shout from closer range. The other men hadn't moved.

  "Are you crazy, Johnno?" said someone from inside a tent. It wasn't the best place to seek protection from bombs.

  Keeble kept pushing, so Kim kept working as well. It seemed better than thinking about the people in the crowd. Or about any of the other things she might think about. She pulled on the rope and tried not to think.

  "Are we artillery men or are we just playing with our toy guns?" Johnno shouted.

  He pushed someone towards a second cannon and glared at another man until he went to help. Soon all three cannons were heading for the open ground. Another four men were getting a large chest from beside a tent. They pushed through the onlookers, straining with their burden.

  “[This is the worst bunch of soldiers I've ever seen,]” Keeble said as he took a quick look over his shoulder. “[Pathetic.]”

  Johnno encouraged his men one moment and abused them the next and soon had all the cannons lined up about five meters apart.

  "Harry, what's the range at maximum elevation?"

  "Christ, Johnno, I don't know," a big man replied, barely keeping the quaver out of his voice. "We've never fired them at maximum elevation."

  "We've got no chance of hitting a moving target," said one of the men lugging the chest. "Can we load shrapnel of some kind? Cutlery maybe?"

  Johnno pointed at the bat. "We don't have time."

  Kim looked again. "Shit." She took a couple of steps back and looked over her shoulder to see just how far away the forest was. Her heart was racing.

  "Come on boys, let's do this." Johnno strode along behind the three cannon, checking to see the alignment of each, as if they could possibly know what they were going to need. "We've fired these things hundreds of times. Easy as pie."

  One of the men looked at him and shook his head. "Who're you kidding, John?" A couple of the others looked at him as if he were crazy.

  "Where's Boydie?"

  "Here." He'd been helping with the chest and was now pulling a key from a chain around his neck. He was a thin man with a long nose and hollow cheeks. His costume seemed about two sizes too big, as if he was expected to grow into it. Now was his chance.

  Johnno jumped. Up until then he had been as calm as a seasoned campaigner but his tension finally came through for a moment. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, with mixed results. "Good. Excellent. Let's load up then." His leg was shaking. He grabbed it with his hand to get it under control. Kim wished it were all that easy as she wiped sweat from her own hands.

  The bat was coming in over the trees.

  Two men adjusted the cannon's muzzle height while Boydie supervised the loading.

  Kim watched as Johnno took a packet of matches from his pocket. She wiped sweat from her face, licked her lips and examined the bat. Two minutes at most. Did they have time? Did they have any choice? She looked back at the remains of the crowd. A couple of hundred injured people and bodies littered the edge of the cricket field. They were a writhing, moaning mass. About the same number had come from the forest. Some were helping while many just stood and stared.

  She swallowed and watched the cannoneers working. The bat seemed to come so quickly; the men seemed to work so slowly. Christ. What the hell are they doing?

  They were waving their sword at the dragon and not waiting for the experts, that was what they were doing.

  When the first cannon was loaded, the men moved on to the next, and someone came forward to fill the fuse hole with gunpowder.

  Kim looked around, as if hoping someone sensible would turn up to tell her what was really happening. Her heart pounded. She suddenly needed to go to the toilet. Smoke drifted across the field. The sounds of death and pain came with it. And the smell. Burned flesh. Fire. Explosives. Fear.

  "We ready?"

  Kim looked back at Johnno in his costume. Panic clawed at his eyes, trying to get out. But he held a match in his hand, and it was as steady as a rock. The bat was still a long way out; surely the cannon couldn't fire that far.

  "Beware," Johnno yelled.

  Everyone nearby turned to look at him, even those in the important loading detail.

  "Fire in the hole."

  Everyone covered their ears, and Kim thought it might be a good idea if she did the same. Keeble seemed to work out what was going on just in time. He covered his ears just as Johnno lit the match and touched it to the fuse.

  The explosion was much louder close up. Kim's ears were ringing as she watched the cannonball sail majestically across the field. It cleared the pitch square, cleared the field, and crashed into the trees on the far side. A couple of hundred meters.

  She stared through the drifts of smoke for a long time after the ball had landed. It was crazy. The first shot had fallen well short of the bat — Johnno obviously didn't know much about the capabilities of his cannons — but possibly had some use as a range finder. Stupid bloody Englishmen, trying to hit a moving target with a cannon that had never been fired in anger.

  The bat was still coming.

  "Don't just stand there," Johnno bellowed. "Finish loading those cannon."

  Boydie and his assistants got back to work. Keeble rushed over to watch them, chattering constantly in his strange language. Meledrin had reappeared and stood watching. After a few moments she said something to Keeble and he fell silent, though he didn't look happy about it.

  The next cannon was loaded, and Boydie moved to the third.

  "What do you think, Harry?" Johnno asked.

  "Not yet," the big man replied, suddenly an expert after his earlier protestations. He seemed much calmer, too. "A few more seconds."

  "Range was good on that first one," Johnno said proudly. Then he shook his head. "The height is what'll screw us."

  Harry gave a bark of humorless laughter. "That's confidence for you. I reckon there's about a dozen things that are gunna screw us."

  Kim couldn't believe what she was hearing. "This is crazy," she said. "What the hell are you doing?" She looked into the woods and wondered if it was too late to run. It probably wasn't, but she stayed where she was.

  Johnno shrugged. "Some jobs have got to be done," he said. "And some times the right person isn't available, so the only person has to do it."

  "Christ." Wiping her hand on her jeans, Kim turned to look at the sky. The bat was coming. It was almost there.

  Johnno got out his matches again as he shouted at some of his men to get the second cannon repositioned.

  "We ready?" Johnno shouted. He answered his own question. "Looks good to me. Beware." And a couple of seconds later, "Fire in the hole."

  But that couple of seconds was too long. Kim knew it as soon as she saw the ball's
flight path. It was going to cross behind the bat.

  Kim uncovered her ears in time to hear Johnno swear. He moved to the next cannon and shouted as his companions to adjust it.

  The bat was only a hundred meters from the remains of the crowd. It was almost skimming along the ground, moving fast and sure.

  "Beware." Johnno came forward, and Kim jumped back out of the way. "Fire in the hole."

  It was going to be close. Maybe.

  Kim shaded her eyes to watch. She willed the cannonball on. Her heart skipped a beat. "Shit." She leaned to the right. She leaned further, hoping to upset the tilt of the world. Hoping to affect the spin of the universe for just one moment. She was aware of others doing the same. "Shit."

  The bat kept coming, bearing down on the injured people as if they were still a threat. As if they'd ever been a threat.

  Boydie was already at work on the first cannon, stuffing gunpowder down the muzzle. He would be too late, though. There was no doubt about that. Way too late.

  The bat was almost there. Kim thought of closing her eyes. She sucked in a deep breath, wiped at her face. She didn't want to watch but couldn't look away. Her heart still pounded, a million beats a minute.

  The bat dipped lower. Time seemed to stop. For just a moment.

  Breathe.

  Then, out of nowhere, a jet streaked across the sky.

  "Harrier," Kim shouted. She felt like jumping for joy but kept her feet on the ground. The plane looked the worse for wear, but it was still a sight for smoke-stung eyes. Kim relaxed slightly, wiped at her face again, started to breathe without conscious thought.

  The experts.

  She watched a long line of tracers pummel the bat from the side, seemed to feel each impact. The creature fell from the sky like a lead balloon. It screeched and writhed, tossing its head with the pain. Then the canisters strapped to its belly exploded. Long arms of flame reached for the crowd. Almost got them. Shrapnel did. Kim ducked instinctively as new screams joined the ones from earlier.

  More injuries. It wasn't good, but better than it could've been.

  Then the jet was gone, out of sight behind the trees, and the sound washed over them like a tsunami.

  Kim turned to look for Johnno, to tell him that, sometimes, the right people were available. But Johnno was dead. Gagging, Kim locked her knees to keep herself upright. He'd been right there, a nice old guy who probably had a wife who cooked him bacon and eggs for breakfast and ironed his cannoneer uniform every week. Now he was lying on the ground with a piece of metal the size of a CD embedded in his skull.

  He could have run. It would have been the sensible thing to do. If Kim had been able to get her legs moving at the right time, she would've run. But now? Now it was too late. The bat thing was dead. Johnno was dead. Half the crowd were dead.

  Kim fell to her knees and cried. The sound of it was lost amongst the chorus.

  Half the crowd were dead. The half that weren't were either injured or trying to help. Sir Douglas was nearby, crouched over a boy in a page's costume. The knight had a fresh gash on his forehead, and the metal was still lodged in his breastplate, but he didn't seem to notice. An old woman, dressed in the lace and frills of a lady, was looking at someone else. They probably weren't the right people for the job, but they, and others like them, were the only people.

  Kim climbed slowly to her feet. She was probably more right than most. She'd been in the army. She had training, even if it was a couple of years out of date. She should be helping, not standing around like some stunned tourist. She'd felt nothing but disdain for Douglas earlier, but he was doing his best to prove her wrong.

  "Shit." Kim didn't like being proven wrong. Deep breath. There were injured people scattered amongst the tents behind her, but relatively few. Most were already being seen to. She glanced at Johnno wondering when someone would come to help him. Swallowing, she set off across the field and tried to order her thoughts. There would be burns. There would be panicking friends and relatives. There would be people with good intentions who should not be left in charge of a Band-Aid and a box of aspirin. She dragged up memories from the army that she hadn't used for years.

  But Kim was only halfway to the edge of the field when somebody tugged on her sleeve. She turned to see Keeble and Meledrin.

  "Will help us now?" Meledrin asked. "These creature attack my people as well."

  "What?"

  “[I don't think we're going anywhere yet, woman.]”

  Keeble was pointing again. Kim followed his finger out to where another bat was heading towards them.

  "Damn it." Kim almost fell to her knees again. She'd thought the main danger was past. She looked in the direction the jet had gone. It was probably halfway to London by now. For a moment she was caught. She'd been on a mission to help the injured and was suddenly loath to abort that plan. But if nobody did anything about the bat then the help would be short-lived and possibly painful.

  So, she would wave her sword at the dragons. She would tilt at the windmills. "Damn it." Kim raced back the way she'd come. She was crying once more.

  "Boydie?" she called. It came out as hardly more than a squeak. She cleared her throat. "Boydie, get those cannon loaded." The skinny man was sitting on the ground tying a makeshift bandage around his leg.

  "What?" But he saw for himself. "We don't have time."

  He was probably right but Kim pointed at the mass of injured people on the other side of the field. "They're the ones who don't have time."

  "But..."

  Kim crouched down and finished tying the bandage. Her hands were shaking. "Come on. Get moving." She looked around. "Cannoneers," she shouted, "let's go."

  Keeble had already opened the chest and was poking amongst the contents. Kim wasn't sure if that was a great idea but let him keep going. It proved to be the right decision. Boydie saw what was going on and scrambled to his feet.

  "Get out of there," he said, shooing the little man away.

  "If you aren't going to do it," Kim said with a smile, "then someone has to."

  Boydie sighed and, in a surprisingly loud voice, called to his companions. He set to work straight away while the others gathered about him, shuffling their feet and watching the sky nervously. It seemed they would stand there all day or, at least, right up to the time when they got a bomb dropped on their heads.

  "Harry, don't just stand there," Kim said. She had to clear her throat again.

  The big man looked at her as if to say, Well, what else am I supposed to do?

  "We need the cannons adjusted." Kim said it as if she knew what she was doing. The second bat was coming in from a different angle, slightly higher. "We need them spun to the right."

  Harry kept standing for a moment, watching the bat, then shrugged and looked around. "You heard the lady, lads." He and another man went to the cannon next to Boydie and started to heave on the ropes while Kim sighted along the barrel.

  "That'll do it." Highly technical stuff. An exact science. Kim wondered if she was going crazy. Her mouth was so dry she could hardly swallow.

  Two more men had already started shifting the next cannon. Kim followed Harry to the one that had just been loaded. Less than a minute and the bat would be upon them. Kim had to make some real decisions. She stood behind the cannon, Harry nearby with a box of matches in hand. It was surreal. Thick, bitter smoke drifted around them one moment, and the next it was clear. Sound came and went. Moans and shouts filled her consciousness, leaving no room for other thoughts, and then she could think all too clearly.

  Kim took a deep breath and tried to calm her racing heart. That was a futile exercise.

  "What do you think?" Harry shook his head. "Bloody hell, we're being attacked by giant space-bats."

  "Space-bats?" Kim said. "You think they're from space?"

  "Can you think of a better idea?"

  "Well..."

  "Beware," Harry bellowed and stepped forward.

  6: Open Doors

  "Not yet," Kim s
aid, a hand on his arm. She tried to gauge the bat's speed and imagined the flight of the previous cannon balls. The idea of space-bats kept getting in the way and she shook her head to clear it. "Not yet." She used her shoulder to wipe sweat from her forehead. When she looked up again, the bat was skimming over the trees just beyond the far side of the field. "Fire," she said softly.

  "Fire in the hole."

  Kim covered her ears. She felt the explosion hit her in the chest, smelled the cordite and watched the ball sailing across the field.

  No good. No good. She could tell almost immediately. While the others continued to stand and stare, she hurried to the next cannon, checked the aim, then started to push on the back corner. Keeble came to help a moment later.

  “[Who are these soldiers? They just don't understand how battle works, do they?]”

  Kim ignored him. What else was she supposed to do? "Harry." And Harry ignored her. "Harry."

  She stepped back then pulled Keeble away a moment later.

  "Harry. Quick"

  Harry shook himself, turned, and went to the second cannon.

  "Fire the damn thing."

  "Fire in the hole."

  The thump in the chest. Ringing ears. Kim held her breath. "Come on. Come on." The ball sailed though the sky, a black spot against the blue.

  Kim leaned to the left. She held her breath.

  She almost thought she heard the impact of the ball hitting the bat. That wasn't possible. But it did hit. She turned to look at Harry for a moment, saw the same look of stunned disbelief that she knew must be on her own face.

  "Huh."

  They'd hit it.

  There was a screech that cut through all other sound and Kim turned quickly back. The huge creature was leaning dangerously to one side, tried to correct, went the other way. After a couple of seconds of struggle a wing clipped the ground. It came down in a rush, plowing a long furrow in the outfield and sending up a storm of dust. Sounds of pain came from the cloud, but if Kim knew anything at all about giant space bats, and she didn't, she didn't think that one was going anywhere in a hurry.