Sitting in the driver’s seat, he wound down the window and, resting his pistol on his arm, took aim. He didn’t need a rifle; the range was close enough and the Glock an accurate weapon.
Then he heard a noise behind him. Turning he saw that a man was leaning in through the passenger window, which was open thanks to the late summer warmth. The man was pointing a gun at Stanton. A gun Stanton recognized as a type not known in 1914, and which, like his own weapon, was made of polymer, a substance not yet invented.
And Stanton understood.
Another century had passed.
A century in which he’d killed Rosa Luxemburg but must then have died himself because he had not been able to destroy Newton’s box.
For here was another visitor from the future.
A man come to prevent the assassination of Rosa Luxemburg.
Stanton thought all this in the moment his eyes met his brother Chronation.
And he wanted to cry out: ‘Kill me if you must but for God’s sake go to Cambridge and destroy the box.’
But thought is quicker than speech.
He never said a word.
And at that moment in space and time, Hugh Stanton was taken out of the loop.
49
ISAAC NEWTON STARED at the spinning wheel.
It was nearly midnight and he was utterly exhausted, having spent many hours in a coach returning from his trip to Cambridge.
Now he was home in his niece’s house and she had prepared him hot milk because he professed himself too preoccupied to sleep. And so they sat together, she spinning thread on her wheel and Newton staring into it. Round and round it went, returning after each revolution to the place it started and then spinning around again.
Newton saw space and time in that wheel. He saw it spinning round and round but never progressing. In constant motion but also stationary. Never moving beyond its fixed course.
Was he right to have arranged to pass on the benefits of his insight? Was it always better to know? That had been the guiding principle of his life. Better to know. To shed light on the mysteries of the universe.
But this time? To offer men yet unborn the chance to cheat fate? To shape a different destiny to the one God had created for them?
Isaac Newton was a Christian man. He had spent a lifetime trying to understand God but he had never desired to be God.
He decided that he had made a mistake. Sometimes it was better to simply leave well alone.
Time was not the spinning wheel.
Time was the thread it made.
In the morning he would go back to Cambridge and demand that Master Bentley return his box. Having made the decision, Newton felt that he would sleep more easily.
And he did, for when his niece shook him gently to usher him to bed she discovered that the old man was dead.
About the Author
Ben Elton is one of Britain’s most provocative and entertaining writers. From celebrity to climate change, from the First World War to the end of the world, his books give his unique perspective on some of the most controversial topics of our time.
He has written fourteen major bestsellers, including Stark, Popcorn, Inconceivable (filmed as Maybe Baby, which he also directed), Dead Famous, High Society, The First Casualty and Two Brothers.
Elton’s multi-award-winning TV credits include The Young Ones, Blackadder and The Thin Blue Line. His stage hits include the Olivier Award winner Popcorn and the global phenomenon We Will Rock You.
Also by Ben Elton
Stark
Gridlock
This Other Eden
Popcorn
Blast from the Past
Inconceivable
Dead Famous
High Society
Past Mortem
The First Casualty
Chart Throb
Blind Faith
Meltdown
Two Brothers
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First published in Great Britain
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Copyright © Ben Elton 2014
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