The Eternal War by Alex Scarrow Read Free Book Online Page A

had compiled. ‘What we do know is he was described as very tall and thin and scruffy.’ She pointed to a screen showing a JPEG image of Lincoln’s presidential portrait. ‘And check out those freakin’ brows … I mean it looks like he’s got a small mouse living above each eye. Even as a young man, that’s got to be a feature to look out for, right?’
    Bob nodded. ‘Information: cranial growth variation around the orbital sockets is limited after a human skull reaches maturity, whereas certain other features – nasal cavity and cartilage tissue, soft tissue around the ears, the lower jaw – continue to –’
    Maddy waved him silent. ‘Which means even as a kid he probably always looked miserable.’ She wiped a runny nose. ‘Anyway, just keep your eyes peeled for a large cart loaded with barrels of booze and Costen Brothers Distillery painted on the side. Any tall, miserable-looking idiot looks like he’s going to step out in front of it, you grab him. Simple.’
    Liam lifted his chin to adjust his collar button. ‘Sounds easy enough, eh, Bob?’
    Bob rumbled an acknowledgement.
    ‘How’re you doing, Sal?’ Maddy called out.
    ‘Almost!’ Her voice came back brightly through the drape, the unintended racial slur already completely forgotten by the sound of it. ‘It’s just a bit big on me.’
    ‘I am tightening the corset to its smallest setting to compensate,’ added Becks.
    ‘Hey!’ Maddy frowned. ‘Hey! No … don’t say it like that. Like I’m a butter-troll or something.’ She caught her reflection in the perspex displacement tube. ‘ OK, so I’m not just some skin-’n’-bones clothes hanger ,’ she muttered to herself.
    ‘Completed,’ said Becks, and pulled the drape to one side.
    Liam held back a gasp and Maddy found herself nodding approvingly. ‘Now that looks better on you than a hoody, right?’
    Sal ran her hands over the corset and skirts. ‘Feels so weird.’ She grinned. ‘I feel like a … ugh, jahulla! I know this sounds pathetic, but … I feel like a princess .’
    Maddy clapped her hands. ‘I know – it’s kinda cool, isn’t it?’ She cast a glance at Liam and Bob. ‘Good … you all look the part. Now undress and bag your clothes. It’s a wet departure.’
    Ten minutes later Liam, Sal and Bob were treading water in their underwear together in the displacement tube.
    ‘So, a nice and easy mission this time,’ said Maddy, huddled on the top step of the ladder. ‘Just find young Abe and grab his collar before he gets himself turned into Lincoln ketchup. You OK in there, Sal?’
    She nodded, her teeth chattering. ‘Guess I’m g-getting a bit nervous n-now.’
    ‘You’ll be just fine. Remember you’ve done this before. It’s no big deal.’
    ‘It’s the white s-stuff that s-scares m-me …’
    ‘Chaos space?’ Liam shook his head. ‘Ahh, you’ll be through it in a heartbeat, so you will. Nothing to it.’
    ‘Could you h-hold m-my hand?’
    Liam nodded. ‘I s’pose. Sure, if you like.’
    ‘Uhh … it’s probably best if you don’t,’ said Maddy. Her eyes quickly met Liam’s and after a few seconds he nodded. He knew what she was thinking. After all, he was the one who’d seen it up close: fused bodies, bodies turned completely inside out. Very messy. He’d told Maddy about it, but not Sal. It was a grisly detail she didn’t really need to hear and, anyway, it only happened rarely. Maddy had no idea what caused it, but when Foster had insisted Liam had to float on his own first time round … well, there was almost certainly a very good reason for that.
    ‘Works best if you’re all floating freely, Sal. But look,’ she said before Sal could ask why , ‘you’re going together. The other two will be right next to you. And as Liam said, it’s, like, a second, no more.’
    ‘I’ll sing you a ditty,’ said Liam, ‘so you’ll hear me in there … in the chaos soup.’
    ‘There you go.’ Maddy smiled. ‘That is, if