Infinity Cage by Alex Scarrow Read Free Book Online

Computer-Bob, can you find us some quiet place not too far away? I don’t want the same back-breaking hike we had getting to Rome.’
    > Affirmative. Checking …
    ‘By the way …’ Liam turned to Bob. ‘I picked up some things while you were sleeping.’
    ‘I was
not
sleeping. I was calculating our time-stamp.’
    ‘Aye, yeah … sure. I bet you calculated that in about three seconds and used the rest of this afternoon to get in an old-man nap.’
    Bob’s thick Neanderthal brows knitted together.
    ‘Just messin’ again.’ He slapped Bob’s shoulder. ‘Now, I got us some clothes that should just about pass as suitable for this time. I should be OK. But, as usual, you’re going to stick out like a brontosaurus.’ He looked at Bob. The support unit’s coarse, springy, wiry hair had grown long enough during their time abroad that it was now hanging in thick corkscrews to hisshoulders. His normally smooth, square jaw had sprouted a thick thatch of dark bristles. Maddy had been nagging the pair of them to get down to the barber’s at the end of the street and tidy themselves up. Rashim, on the other hand, kept his beard meticulously trimmed and his long hair tidy, thus escaping her disapproving scowl. Luckily they hadn’t listened to her. Liam looked at Bob; the scruffy, unkempt look would probably help them. He could imagine Bob passing as some simple-minded gentle giant. Perhaps an ex-Gallic slave.
    ‘And … I picked up an old goatskin bag, a satchel-type thing, I’ve packed a couple of those torches. Oh, and I bought a second-hand copy of the King James Bible for reference and this … I nicked from the library.’
    Liam produced a burgundy-coloured, leatherbound hardcover book.
A Remarkable Exploration Beneath the City of Heaven
, by Sir Richard F. Barton. ‘I flicked through some of this. Some gentleman explorer messing about in the sewers and Roman-era aqueducts. It might be useful.’
    ‘Liam, the Bible is not a reliable source for historical data.’
    He shrugged. ‘You never know. There might be something we can use.’
    ‘Suggestion: you should download the appropriate language into one of the babel-buds.’
    ‘Done that … while you were napping.’ He smiled. ‘First-century Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. You’ll need to download those into your hairy nut too.’
    ‘I will do that now.’
    An hour later, computer-Bob finally came up with a suitable location for them. The slopes of a hill overlooking the city to the east. They examined the pinhole image and saw dry clay-orange ground and the twisted thick trunks of stunted olive trees. In the distance … the cluttered, labyrinthine mess of acity crammed within the confines of a salmon-pink stone wall. All flat roofs and terraces, narrow streets and crowded marketplaces that shimmered with colour.
    ‘To be clear … that is Jerusalem, right?’
    > Of course.
    ‘Good, then that looks to me like a short downhill stroll. Good job.’
    They ran a density scan and got nothing on the display but a gentle undulation that could have been the swaying of dry grass nearby or a passing bird.
    ‘I think we’ve got ourselves a winner,’ said Liam. ‘But let’s just be cautious. Let’s go in after dark.’
    > Good idea, Liam. I will advance the time-stamp by six hours.
    ‘All right, computer-Bob, looks like we’re good to go. Can you start charging her up once more, please?’
    > Of course, Liam.
    Liam settled on the edge of the desk. As soon as the displacement machine was charged, they were ready to go. He found himself staring affectionately at the row of monitors sitting on the bench and at the webcam.
    Maddy’s final instructions to computer-Bob had been quite right. A perfectly sensible precaution. If for some reason his expedition to biblical times went wrong, as well as Maddy’s trip to meet Waldstein, then this dark refuge tucked away at the back of the brick labyrinth was destined to remain deserted for years, decades even.