Timeriders Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Spoiler warning!
This article contains plot details about an upcoming episode, book or any other feature of this topic.
TimeRiders
TIMERIDERS1 front
The latest cover for the book.

Author(s)

Alex Scarrow

Series

TimeRiders

Genere(s)

Science Fiction

Publisher(s)

Penguin Group

Publication date

4 February 2010

Edition(s)

Paperback, Hardback

Pages

432

Chapter count

93

ISBN

9780141326924

Book in series

1

Followed by

TimeRiders: Day of the Predator (book)

TimeRiders is the first book in the TimeRiders series, and was written by Alex Scarrow

It follows the adventures of Liam O'Connor, Saleena Vikram, and Madelaine Carter, three teenagers pre-destined from the dawn of time to meet early, untimely deaths. Liam O'Connor should have died on the Titanic in 1912, Madelaine Carter was supposed to die on a doomed plane above America in 2010, when a mysterious old man offers both the chance to escape, but at a cost: they would not be able to return to their lives ever again. Saleena Vikram's supposed "death" was not spoken of in the first book.  

They all awaken in the Arch under the Williamsburg Bridge in New York in a 48-hour time bubble, running from September 10th, and September 11th. The time bubble resets back to September 10th at the end of the 11th, meaning the TimeRiders will relive those two days, over and over, as long as they remain within the time bubble.  

The reasons, as Foster explains, is that using the time of the collapse of the twin towers, the agents can go unnoticed. 

Plot[]

Moments before their deaths, an old man known as Foster recruits Liam O'Connor from the sinking Titanic, Madelaine (Maddy) Carter from a doomed plane in 2010, and Saleena (Sal) Vikram from a fire in 2026. They awake in 2001, New York. Right after the three awake, a seeker appears, and they are forced to leave. 

Once outside, Foster explains that the seekers are unknown beings that originate from another dimension known as Chaos space, which what people briefly travel through while time travelling. The seekers themselves consist of pure energy, and leech of power sources when in the normal world. With enough energy, the seekers are able to gain physical form, and are then able to influence the world around them. Foster also reveals that the team before them was killed by a seeker attack, since seekers are highly hostile to all but their own kind.

Foster briefs them about the history of time travel, revealing that a theoretical physics paper written in 2029 by a Chinese mathematics graduate Edward Chan, stated that it was possible to bend the fabric of space and time in such a way as to create a hole. Using this physics paper, Roald Waldstein (a rich scientist and genius) invented the first time machine in 2044. He was driven by the urge to see his deceased wife and child one last time. However, after testing the machine in front of the public, Waldstein returned a very changed man. Convinced that time travel will destroy the world, he became obsessed with stopping time travel. He supposedly destroyed his time machine, and campaigned for the technology to die out. Eventually, an international law was passed to stop time travelling devices from being constructed. The TimeRiders exist to repair the damage (contamination) caused by time travel, and to terminate the individuals responsible for the damage, going by the ideology that history should only go one way. He also explains that small changes to the timeline in the present cause a butterfly effect, with large changes to the timeline in the future. If a reality shift is large enough, it forms a time wave, as the fabric of space and time itself shifts and contorts to accommodate the new timeline. He states that since the team is not from the current time, the reality shifts will not affect them at all. Foster also reveals that the human race started to rapidly decline in the 2020s, with poverty increasing worldwide, climate change, pollution, overpopulation, and fossil fuel shortages proliferating by the mid to late 21st century.

Foster then shows the team their field office, an old archway underneath Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn, repurposed and sheltered from the outside world to suit the needs of the agency. It also contains an advanced and modified version of the Waldstein time machine called a displacement machine. The field office exists within a time bubble (which protects the field office from being changed by reality shifts) of 48 hours between September 10 and September 11 2001. The location and time of the field office was specifically chosen to not attract attention, as most people will be focused on the September 11 Attacks rather than the activities in the archway.

The four of them go into the back room of the field office, containing lots of humans being grown in perspex tubes. After releasing a large and muscular man from a perspex tube, Foster explains that all of the beings in the tubes are genetically engineered bio-robots, identical in biology to humans, although with much more physical strength. Each robot contains a tiny organic brain, but most of the functions of the robot are carried out by a 'silicon neural net processor unit' in it's head, a very advanced artificial intelligence. The team gives the birthed robot the name 'Bob', and is assigned the 'job' of a 'support unit'.

The next day, Foster assigns the three recruits their 'jobs' within their field office. Sal is the observer, who is tasked with detecting any reality shifts within the timeline by sitting in Times Square and carefully observing her surroundings, Maddy is the Analyst and leader of the team, tasked with zeroing in to the source of a reality shift (once it has been detected by the observer) using a very powerful computer transported from the future, while Liam is the field operative, who must travel back in time with Bob (the support unit) to correct the damage and contamination to the timeline after the source has been located and zeroed in on by the observer and the analyst.

The four then explore New York to become familiar with their surroundings. They visit the American Museum of Natural History, with Liam and Maddy signing the Guestbook, learning that older versions of the Guestbook are stored in the basement of the Museum. Not long after, Foster reveals to Maddy that time travel slowly corrupts living cells, causing premature ageing. Foster reveals that his real age is 27 and that any further time travelling will probably kill him, cautioning Maddy to keep the information hidden from Liam as he is the field operative and the one who will be excessively time travelling.

Foster shows them the displacement machine, and tells him that when travelling back through time, they strip to their pants and enter a perspex cylinder with water to minimise the contamination inflicted on the timeline, as bringing anything other than themselves from their time period could unintentionally affect the timeline. In a perspex cylinder, only the time traveller and the water will be going. Bringing back other objects from their time period could unintentionally affect the timeline.

For their training mission, Foster brings Liam and Bob to Dallas, Texas on the 22 November 1963, the day that Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated John F Kennedy. They find some clothes in a laundry basket, and alter the timeline by disarming the killer, causing John F Kennedy to live instead of die.

In 2001, Sal feels a wave of dizziness while in Times Square. After looking at her new surroundings, Sal learns that several details in Times Square have changed and rushes to call Maddy. As the analyst, Maddy begins finding the source of the shift, learning from the internet that Russia, China, and the United States are co-operatively funding a massive space programme. A small scientific outpost had been built on the moon, a 'cartwheel' space station hung in geostationary orbit around earth, and a spaceship with humans is en route to Mars. After learning that former US President John F Kennedy is conducting a meeting between other politicians, she deducts that Liam, Foster, and Bob prevented Kennedy from being assassinated.

In 1963, Foster explains to Liam that the assassination of JFK is an example of a historical event where history corrects itself. They watch as other hidden assassins shoot and kill JFK, correcting the timeline. They return back to the field office through a portal called a 'return window', which was set to open by Foster at that exact time period and at those exact coordinates.

When they arrive back in 2001, Foster is delighted to learn that Sal and Maddy had figured out exactly where and when they had travelled.

Meanwhile in 2066, Dr Paul Kramer, his second in command Karl Haas, and a group of ex-military soldiers travel to a permanently closed American Museum of Natural History through a desolate New York, now a ghost city. After the human race began to rapidly decline in the mid 20th century, Kramer and his men intend to travel to World War 2 and help Germany win the war in order to rewrite history and make the 21st century and the future better. They break into the museum and head into the basement where all the relics and artifacts of the museum are stored in boxes. Two men are killed when the police storm the museum. After the group finds the time machine, (which was not destroyed by Waldstein, but rather packaged and hidden in the basement) they set coordinates into the machine and travel through one by one. With Kramer as the last one to travel through, he drops a grenade outside the machine right before departing to ensure that the police do not follow them back or find out where they travelled to.

Kramer and his team emerge at night in a snow covered forest on 15th April 1941 near The Eagle's nest, the location of Adolf Hitler during that time period. Karl reveals to Kramer that two more men were killed when they were fused together during the time travel. The team storms Eagle's Nest with their advanced weaponry from the future and capture Hitler, telling him to call off his rapidly approaching backup troops in exchange for advanced technology and knowledge from the future that will help Germany swiftly win the war.

Back in 2001, a reality shift occurs after the activities in 1941, turning New York into an alternate version of itself. In place of the Twin Towers now stands a giant marble structure and the streets are much more tidier and less chaotic. Once Sal returns to the field office, the team deducts that the Germans won World War 2 and conquered the US in this alternate timeline. The team attempts to zero in on the change. They out that the internet in this alternate history only contains a single government controlled news site. An archived history section on the news site reveals all the achievements that the Germans have made, including launching the first man into space. The earliest point on the timeline, 1956, reads 'America celebrates joining the Greater Reich'. Further investigations reveal September as the month 'Vice-president Truman signs an unconditional surrender to the Germans.' Accessing history before 1956 requires authorization.

Struggling to find any information regarding the source of the shift, the team decides to send Bob and Liam to September 1st 1956 next to the White House, much to the dismay of Liam. All the necessary data (including the history of World War 2 and the Nazis, as well as the German Language) is loaded into Bob. They are tasked only to observe, with a scheduled return window configured to open at their arrival spot within the next several hours, followed by a second one an hour later, and a third one twenty four hours later.

Upon arrival, Liam observes United States Army soldiers preparing a last ditch defence around The White House to protect their president (Dwight D. Eisenhower) as Bob goes to fetch clothes to camouflage with the soldiers around them. Right as Bob returns, a giant German circular airship descends from above the clouds and begins to drop Smoke Screen Canisters all around the White House. As Liam and Bob hurry into the White House, soldiers with advanced weaponry descend all around them and engage the US army.

Inside, Liam and Bob search the building as medics tend to the wounded and the dying. After questioning a man in a suit for valuable information, they learn that Adolf Hitler has been dead for more than a decade, meaning that the Führer is a different person.

After attempting to convince the man in the suit that they are time travellers, the Germans overwhelm the US army and break into the White House, forcing the three to flee. Bob kills several soldiers and takes their clothes, allowing him to blend in with the germans. His superhuman strength and engineered body allows him to survive the gunshot wounds inflicted. Once outside in the corpse-littered lawn, the three see the Germans begin rounding up prisoners and securing the White House as the giant airship in the sky moves on to secure the rest of Washington DC.

Upon arriving to the location of the return window (which is designated to open in an hour and seventeen minutes), Bob and Liam realise that the location is blocked by a temporary German Army Camp, guarded by soldiers with prisoners huddled together, sitting on the ground. A German soldier sees Bob, thinking that he is a soldier carrying two prisoners, and orders him to drop Liam and the man next to the other prisoners. Liam, left without a choice, orders Bob to drop him and the man in the suit at the camp, and to return once the opportunity presents itself.

Back in 2001, Maddy, Sal, and Foster prepare to open the return window, but the process is interrupted when the computer warns them that it is detecting 'varying density packets' in the area of the return window, meaning that the return window location is obstructed. After the 'density spike' decreases (meaning that the obstructions have moved away) the team decides to open the return window, but bring back a German soldier, who is quickly transported back to where he came from by Foster, unintentionally causing him to fuse with another soldier who walked through the location of the window while the other soldier was transported back to 1956. Foster sends Sal to scout the alternate New York to find any possible clues to the source, while Maddy is told to try to hack the news outlet.

Back in 1956, Liam and the rest of the prisoners are herded into an truck as Bob watches, unable to do anything. His computer calculates only a 0.5% chance of success if he attempts to rescue Liam. Furthermore, Bob's gunshot wounds need cleaning, disinfecting, and dressing, otherwise there is a high chance of a deadly infection. He returns back to the White House as President Eisenhower's corpse is carried out.

On the prison truck, the man in the suit tells Liam his name, Daniel Wallace, as they head towards a prison camp.

Meanwhile, it is revealed that Kramer is the Führer, and that he kicked Hitler out of power not long after Germany conquered most of the world, reshaping the empire into one that he believed would make a better future. On the airship, Kramer is brought the fused corpses of the two soldiers, and starts to speculate that people from the future are trying to reverse history to how it was. After discussing the incident with Karl Haas, they decide on declaring September 1st 1956 as 'Day One, Unity Day' as celebration to draw a line under two thousand years of bloody history and to start over, starting a systemic purge of all history books, documents, and relics to prevent people from the future from locating the source of the reality shift and stop their progress. Thus being the reason that viewing all history before 1956 requires authorization in 2001.

On the ground, Bob makes a decision to return to the field office through the last return window designated to open in 23 minutes, prioritizing to return all the information gathered during 1956. However, his tiny organic brain manages to override the computer in his head to prioritize rescuing Liam.

In the field office, Foster and Maddy open the last return window. Upon seeing that nothing has emerged from from the portal, they are forced to close it to prevent the portal from attracting a seeker, much to the dismay and anger of Maddy. Foster assures her that there is still a method of sending a message to them, allowing them to coordinate the next return window location.

In the airship above Washington, Kramer slowly becomes paranoid of possible time travellers being sent to kill him.

In 2001, another reality shift occurs, turning New York into a desolate wasteland. The archway loses complete power, disabling the time bubble and leaving them with no electricity. After realizing that Sal is out in the city, Foster takes a shotgun and leaves the Archway with Maddy to search for Sal. Sal is in Times Square when the reality shift hits. She begins hurrying back to the archway through the ruined streets when a large pack of strange humanoid creatures converge on her. The creatures seem peaceful at first, observing and touching her curiously, but become hostile once Maddy and Foster approach and try to guide her away from the mutants. The mutants interpret this as an act of aggression and surge forward to attack. Foster shoots one of the mutants with the shotgun, and this seemingly scares them all away. While the mutants are still spooked from the shotgun blast, the decide to quickly return to the archway.

In 1956, Bob approaches a prison camp in New Jersey using a stolen military truck, travelling very fast towards the entrance of the camp. The entire perimeter is guarded by advanced sentry guns and lots of soldiers with advanced pulse rifles from the mid 21st century. Ignoring warnings to slow down at the main gate, the soldiers guarding the camp shoot at the truck, causing it to crash into a sentry gun and flip. Bob breaks out of the ruined truck and ruthlessly kills the soldiers. He breaks into the prison camp and searches each of the fifty four prison huts, but does not find Liam. In the ensuing chaos as the prisoners rebel against the guards, a prisoner tags along with Bob as he leaves the camp.

Back in 2001, it has been three days since the second reality shift and the archway's food supplies have begun to run out. Expeditions made by Maddy and Foster into the ruined city found no food supplies whatsoever. However, they did find out that the creatures were once human, but have become heavily mutated and cannibalistic. They seemingly hunt in tribes and feed on each other, leading them to speculate that some sort of nuclear war occurred due to the damage inflicted on the city. Inside the powerless archway, Foster explains that the room with the perspex tubes contains a diesel generator. However, he never maintained a store of diesel, as the energy of the time bubble somehow corrupts the diesel at a chemical level, rendering it useless. Left without any other options, Foster heads out of the archway with Maddy and Sal to search for diesel fuel.

It is the year 1957, Liam has spent several months at Prison Camp 79 in New Jersey. The camps are filled with people who might have organized or led some sort of a resistance movement such as army officers and lawyers. He talks with Daniel Wallace about the history of the alternate World War 2, learning that the war started as it had in the original timeline. Poland, Belgium, and France were conquered, and the British army was kicked out of France at Dunkirk. The US President, Roosevelt, wanted to enter the war, but Congress and the Senate stopped him and kept the US out. However, the alternate timeline differentiated after the Germans did not decide to invade the Soviet Union, seemingly having a change of heart, even signing a peace treaty with the Soviets. It was that same year that Paul Kramer came to the public's attention as Hitler's deputy, leading Liam to speculate that Kramer is a time traveller and was the one who stopped Hitler from invading the Soviet Union. Three years later, Kramer kicked Hitler out of power and took over himself. Under his leadership, The Greater Reich completely conquered all of Europe. The United States hoped that Kramer was finally ready to sign a truce between the Greater Reich and America, but the Germans launched an invasion on the New England coast, rapidly taking over the entire nation and crushing the US army with advanced mid 21st century technology. Liam attempts to convince Wallace that he is a time traveller from the future, but he does not believe it. Before walking away, Wallace tells Liam that there is an account of Hitler's very first encounter with Kramer in his second autobiography, describing Kramer as a messenger from God, who arrived on 15th April 1941 at around 9:30pm, the date which Liam speculates is the source of the reality shift.

In 1956, in the airship above Washington, Karl Haas hears news that people all over the Greater Reich are celebrating Unity Day, a day to draw a line under two thousand years of bloody history. War, torture, holocausts - all those dark things in the past. Haas discusses with Kramer how five camps have been raided and the prisoners freed. According to eyewitnesses, the raids were carried out by one man who is referred to as a 'superman', leading Kramer to become more paranoid with this new information.

In 1957, Bob has gathered a large group of followers from the camps in his quest to find Liam, raiding prison camp by prison camp in his search, although Bob only factors the followers as useful to divert some of the enemy fire from him.

In 2001, Foster, Maddy, and Sal explore a New York subway station in their quest to find diesel fuel, their torch providing the only source of light in the damp, and desolate environment. Foster explains that most of the subway stations in New York were fitted with backup generators during the Second World War. After breaking into a staffroom, Sal finds a newspaper dated to March 1957, with a headline including a 'superman', referring to Bob's activities during that time period. Upon locating a diesel generator in another supply room, the mutants ambush them, but flee once again after Foster shoots a mutant with the shotgun. They locate three drums of diesel fuel in a storage cupboard. After realizing that the three drums are too heavy to carry to the archway, they decide to pour some of the fuel into jerry cans they found nearby, and use an abandoned child's pram to push the fuel to the archway.

Emerging into dusk, Foster explains to Maddy that they can use tachyon particles to communicate with Bob, particles of matter that can travel faster than light and thus are able to travel through time. Using a tachyon array, messages can be encoded within the tachyon particles and beamed to Bob's approximate location. His onboard hardware will detect the particles and decode the message. Unfortunately, Bob cannot beam messages back to the field office, and the spread of the beam and length of the message affect the amount of power burnt.

At Prison Camp 79 in 1957, Liam is forced to dig a ditch along with the other prisoners. He learns that the defensive ditches were being dug as a measure to strengthen security after the successful raids on other prison camps by a band of 'resistance fighters', with the prisoners freed and most of the soldiers guarding the camps killed. There were rumours being spread amongst the guards that the resistance fighters were being led by some sort of demonic entity nine feet tall in height with 'the agility of a tiger'. A brief spark of hope that Bob is behind the demonic entity prevails in Liam, however he crushes the hope as quickly as it had come. After Wallace approaches him and reassures him to not give up hope, Bob and his followers attack the camp. In the ensuing chaos, the prisoners are rounded up and executed by the guards. Liam manages to escape the massacre as Wallace and most of the other prisoners are slaughtered. He hides in a a hut as Bob and his followers enter and storm the prison, killing the guards. The followers outside mourn when they find the executed prisoners as Bob travels hut to hut, searching for Liam and finally finding him.

In 2001, Foster, Maddy, and Sal enter the back room where the diesel generator is located, finding that all the support units in the tubes have died from the the filtration system shutting down due to a lack of power, causing them to absorb their own effluence. They start the generator after filling it with diesel and begin charging up the displacement machine. Foster explains that the limited power gives them only one chance at bringing Liam and Bob back. Some of the power will be used on sending the tachyon beam, while the rest will be used on opening two portals, one to bring Liam and Bob back, while the other to send them back in past to correct the reality shift. They prepare to send a tachyon beam, with Foster cautioning that the message must be short in order for the beam to consume less energy. Since they do not know Bob's location, the tachyon beam must be spread across a wide area, which will use up more energy. The team decides that they should send back a timestamp, which are coordinates and time period for a return window. Foster also warns that if Bob stays in the past for a total of six months, he is programmed by default to self-destruct to stop him from falling into the wrong hands and getting hacked, which could leak information about the agency. Foster decides on opening the return window just several days before Bob's termination date.

In 1957, Liam manages to convince the 'freedom fighters' that the two of them are awaiting a sign from God. Almost instantaneously, the fighters kneel down and start worshipping Bob as a warrior angel sent down by God. At the freedom fighter camp, Bob warns Liam that he will self-destruct in three days, and that the self-destruct protocol cannot be overridden. Not long after, Bob detects incoming tachyon particles and decodes the message sent from the future. He tells Liam that the field office has experienced a time shit that resulted in much destruction and that they have set a return window to open in 25 hours, at a timestamp in the middle of Washington DC. Unfortunately, due to limited power, the return window only has enough energy to transport one person, meaning that Liam must extract the computer from Bob's head and return, or alternatively remove Bob's head and take it with him, much to Liam's protests.

In the later months of 1957, in the airship above Washington DC, Kramer has become completely insane and is confronted by Haas, who states that Bob's freedom fighters are sparking rebellions across the country, and warns him of a possible nationwide insurgency. After Karl Haas spots an atomic bomb on the floor surrounded by a wire cage, he demands Kramer his intentions with it. Kramer explains that he believes the devil is after him and will unleash a darkness that will come for every living soul, and so he created a doomsday device as an act of kindness to make death quick, an atomic bomb magnified infinitely by Waldstein's displacement field, ensuring a blast and gamma radiation that will wipe out every living thing. After Haas threatens to shoot him, Kramer orders his private guards to execute him. After Haas is ruthlessly shot in the head, Kramer causes the second reality shift by detonating the weapon, devastating the entire world and wiping out most of the population.

Several months earlier, Bob and Liam leave the army camp by telling the prisoners that they are returning to God, but promises to return and beat back the Germans. They head towards the timestamp, navigating through the sewers underneath Washington DC to avoid the German soldiers. Upon arriving at the coordinates, the correct time is reached and the return window opens. However, the portal is much smaller than anticipated, and neither of them can go through. Bob gives Liam a knife and instructs him to dissect his skull and remove his computer, sending it back to 2001 with all the gathered data. Liam hesitates and refuses to cut open his head. Several seconds later, the portal closes without receiving any contents.

In 2001, the team contemplates their future as their last chance to bring Liam and Bob back was wasted. They have no more diesel left to send another tachyon array, and heading into New York city to search for more is risky, since the mutants are on the hunt for them.

In 1957, Liam remembers his trip to the American Museum of Natural history, and wonders whether he could write a message in the older guestbooks for the team back in 2001. Bob and Liam head to New York City, and Liam wonders whether Maddy will remember the guestbook.

In 2001, Maddy sadly remembers her memories right after being recruited by the agency. After remembering the guestbook in the museum, she rushes to Foster, telling him about the older guestbooks stored in the basement of the museum, theorizing that Liam could have left them a message in 1957. Foster agrees to go to the museum, and tells Maddy that the proximity to the field office also affects the amount of energy used. If they open a portal close to the archway (in New York), and for a very short period of time, the return window could be large enough for both Liam and Bob to come through. Maddy, Foster, and Sal then prepare to leave for the museum.

Back in 1957, Bob and Liam enter New York city, controlled by German forces. After stealing a car, they travel down the streets, with Bob quietly and effectively disposing off the guards standing in their way. Both blend in with the other German soldiers due to the German uniforms they are wearing, acquired from Washington DC. They arrive at the museum, only to see everything inside is being carried out and thrown onto a large pile, ready to be burnt.

Bob and Liam enter the museum, tricking guards to enter. They are led to the basement by a museum worker, and Liam realizes that the worker is the same man as the security guard who explained the Guestbook to Liam and Maddy in 2001. Once the two are left by themselves, Bob suggests that they should write a precise timestamp into the guestbook, very close to the archway in order to conserve as much power as possible. Liam wonders how they would be able to hide the guestbook away from the german guards.

Maddy, Foster, and Sal locate and enter the ruined museum, only to find the basement completely empty. After searching for some time, Foster cautions that the day is coming to an end, and that they would be extremely vulnerable when returning home at night. As Foster and Maddy prepare to leave the museum, Sal locates a clue etched into the wooden floor, the letters 'B.L' (signifying Bob and Liam) and an arrow pointing towards another area of the basement with more clues. After searching heavily for a long time, they find the guestbook, with a timestamp written inside.

In 1957, Bob and Liam leave the museum after hiding the guestbook, and travel towards the timestamp in the car.

In 2001, the team leaves the museum as night approaches. Hundreds of mutants begin to observe and follow them, although they fear Foster's shotgun and keep their distance. Foster kills one of the mutants who approaches too close, and the shot seemingly scares them all away. Later, when the team begins crossing the Williamsburg Bridge towards Brooklyn, the mutants ambush them and grab hold of Sal. Despite Maddy's and Foster's best efforts to fight back and save Sal, the mutants drag her away back along the bridge to Manhattan, where she is presumably eaten alive.

In 1957, Bob and Liam reach the timestamp coordinates, which is the precise location for the archway in 2001. A laundry building stands in place of the archway in the alternate timeline 1957. With only seven minutes left until the portal is due to open and one hour until Bob self destructs, the team kicks the occupants of the building by threatening to kill them.

In 2001, Maddy and Foster return to the archway. Foster begins charging the displacement machine, and upon entering the timestamp into the computer, he is delighted to learn that the coordinates are the exact location of the archway, conserving enough power for both Liam and Bob to be brought back. Maddy mourns Sal's death, and is mostly unresponsive to Foster. He attempts to comfort her by saying that if Bob and Liam can correct the reality shift, there is a possibility that the resulting time wave from the shift could bring back Sal. However, their talking attracts the attention of a nearby mutant, and it begins searching for a way in. Other mutants join in, and start searching the brick archway for a weakness. Unable to open the displacement machine yet, Foster loads his shotgun and prepares to fight, promising that none of them will die. As the mutants break into the back room and invade the archway, the displacement machine charges fully and Foster opens the portal.

Bob and Liam travel through the window and into the archway. Bob instantly springs into action and goes on a rampage, killing most of the mutants attacking the archway. The remaining creatures scamper away in terror. Upon Liam registering that Sal is missing, Maddy tearfully explains her fate, as Bob clears the archway of mutant corpses and repairs the wall. After Foster asks Liam for a possible source of the shift, Liam explains that Hitler wrote a second book after Mein Kampf in the alternate timeline, describing his first encounter with Kramer on 15th April 1941 at around 9:30pm.

Foster prepares to open a portal near the Eagle's Nest on 15th April 1941 at 8:30pm, one hour earlier than the time specified in Hitler's second book. The portal has to be opened directly in the archway due to a lack of water and power for the perspex cylinder. This means that a scoop of the concrete floor will go back through time with Liam and Bob, who are ordered by Foster to locate Kramer and kill him before he inflicts any damage to the timeline. Foster tells Liam that all the historical information on Eagle's Nest and the surrounding areas have been downloaded from the database onto Bob's hard drive, and warns him that this will be their last chance to return history to how it was. If they are successful, and history is reverted back to normal, then the archway will have power again, allowing Bob and Liam to return home through several return windows (the first one at 9:30pm, the second at 10:30pm, and then the third 24 hours later).The displacement machine finishes charging and is activated, sending Liam and Bob back to the past.

They emerge in a cold, snow-covered forest outside Eagle's Nest. They approach the main road leading up to the area, little more than a dirt track winding up the hill. Bob suddenly begins picking up Tachyon particles in the vicinity, and estimates that something/someone has time travelled to the area within around 300 yards of their position. They suddenly hear rustling sounds coming their way and hide in a tree. A group of men emerge and stop underneath them, preparing to attack Eagle's Nest. Liam overhears a conversation involving Kramer and another man called Karl. Liam and bob drop down and attack the men, with Bob going on a ruthless rampage. Although he manages to wipe out most of the men, he is sprayed several times with a submachine gun and falls to the ground. Liam is confronted by the remaining men (including Kramer and Karl) and is forced to drop his weapon and kneel onto the ground. While being interrogated, Liam tells Kramer that he is an agent from the future sent to stop him, to which Kramer asks him why anyone would want to preserve the original timeline, where the world is dying by the mid 21st century. Liam tells him that the future that Kramer would create will result in something much worse than the original timeline, a world of ashes and ruins, completely devastated and filled with cannibalistic ghouls. Before Kramer could reply, Bob sprays them with a submachine gun, killing Kramer, Karl, and the rest of the group.

Liam kneels down next to Bob, lying on the ground with the submachine gun in his left hand. He has sustained too many gunshot wounds for his body to survive, but instructs Liam to gather all the futuristic weapons and destroy them with grenades. He prepares to self-destruct but is stopped by Liam, who begins searching for a knife to dissect Bob's skull and remove his computer.

The killing of Kramer and his men causes a reality shift that turns everything back to normal. In the archway, Maddy and Foster have made the decision to commit suicide with the two remaining shotgun shells should the plan fail, sparing them from living a horrific life in the ruins of New York. The generator in the backroom had finally run out of fuel and stopped. They are on the verge of giving up all hope when the lights turn on and the time bubble initiates. Foster and Maddy happily celebrate as they emerge from the archway to be greeted by a bustling and alive New York City.

Liam returns through the first window, carrying Bob's computer in his bloodstained hands. Maddy greets and embraces him, excited about his return.

After scrubbing Bob's neural processor clean of brain tissue and blood, Foster plugs it into the computer system and starts downloading the entire content of it's hard drive, which takes a long time. Foster explains that his AI is intact, and will be merged with the computer system, giving him complete control. Communication will be directly possible through the computer. He tells Maddy that the archway cleanup process will take some time and effort from the damage inflicted by the mutants and the reality shift. He also tells her that he will be leaving the field office soon, as the time bubble will kill him within several days if he doesn't leave. Although Maddy protests against the decision, he tells her that Maddy and Liam will manage and will make a good team. In the midst of the conversation, Sal enters the archway, somehow being preserved in the original timeline. Having been out to buy milk and bagels, she is confused by all the mess in the archway upon entry. Maddy rushes to Sal and embraces her.

Sal is soon briefed about what happened when she was away, but is not told about the mutants nor her death.

Foster and Maddy enjoy coffee at a Starbucks shop on Tuesday September 11. Before he leaves, Foster assures Maddy that the team will be able to cope fine on their own. He bids farewell and walks away, as Maddy watches him vanish amidst the busy pavement traffic.

HISTORY AS WE KNOW IT:

1941: Hitler prepares to invade Russia.

1945: Nazi Germany loses the Second World War.

2001 New York: as we know it - Busy, noisy, and colourful

HISTORY ALTERED BY KRAMER:

1941: Kramer convinces Hitler not to invade Russia.

1945: Nazi Germany wins the Second World War.

1956: Kramer's storm-troopers conquer the US.

If Kramer had not gone insane, then

2001 New York: Germanic - an ordered city under the control of Kramer's Greater Reich.

Otherwise

1957: Kramer goes insane and unleashes doomsday weapon

2001 New York: Apocalyptic - ruins populated by starving mutants

TIMERIDERS_by_ALEX_SCARROW

TIMERIDERS by ALEX SCARROW

[]

Advertisement