Oli Smith - Nuclear Time

Nuclear Time

Apollo 23 by Justin Richards

Night of the Humans by David Llewel yn The Forgotten Army by Brian Minchin Nuclear Time by Oli Smith The King's Dragon by Una McCormack The Glamour Chase by Gary Russell

Nuclear Time

OLI SMITH

1 3 5 7 9 1 0 8 6 4 2

Published in 2010 by BBC Books, an imprint of Ebury Publishing.

A Random House Group Company

Copyright Oh Smith 2010

Oh Smith has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

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ISBN 978 1 846 07989 4

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Commissioning editor: Albert DePetrillo Series consultant: Justin Richards Project editor: Steve Tribe

Cover design: Lee Binding Woodlands Books Ltd, 2010

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For Emma,

without whom I wouldn't be a writerUniversity of Michigan, 23 February 1973

The radio hissed static for a second, squealing as the dial searched for the right frequency. The garbled voice of an announcer suddenly faded to silence on the word 'Brothers', and Doctor Albert Gilroy spun the volume up to maximum.

In the dark lighting of the computer lab, silhouetted against the warm orange glow of the overhead projector, he thrust the sleeves of his lab coat up his arms and prepared his best air-guitar stance as the soft opening riff built in intensity and the high-hat skittered away underneath. The electric guitar solo squealed in and Albert began, vibrato-ing thin air with his left hand and nodding

DOCTOR WHO

his head in a fashion that was completely wasted on his closely cropped blonde hair.

'Who's that lady?' the radio sang.

'Who's that lady?' Albert warbled an echo.

'Beautiful lady.'

The double fire doors to the lab slammed noisily open, and Albert scrambled into some semblance of a dignified stance as he spun around and pushed his glasses back up his nose.

One of the cleaners was shuffling backwards, bum first through the doors, dragging a floor polisher behind him. He turned at the sound of the radio and squinted to spot the scientist in the dimly lit room. The faintly blinking LEDs that spanned the computer banks of the lab did little to illuminate the old man, and it took Albert a second to recognise him as Sam, the part-time janitor who refused to retire.

Sam shuffled self-consciously as the awkward pause lingered. 'Uh, sorry to disturb you, Dr Gilroy.

Bit late to be workin', isn't it?'

'Yeah, I guess, but it takes four hours to boot up these babies in the morning, so I might as well take advantage of them while they're still hot.' He gestured to the technology around him, raising his voice over the music. 'Not much longer now, though. I'm expecting a breakthrough tonight.'

'Oh yeah? Something good?'

NUCLEAR TIME

Albert smiled wryly. 'Well, either I will have created something Earth-shatteringly incredible, or...'

He paused. 'Or I discover that I've been wasting my life for the past four years.'

Sam ran a chubby hand through his thinning hair.

'I see. Well, you let me know when that happens either way, an' I'll come back and do the floors.' He started shuffling back the way he had come. 'Have fun with the Isley Brothers.' He nodded to the radio.

'You a fan?'

'Nah, not for me, but my daughter likes 'em.

Anyway, see you later.' The double doors closed behind him with a soft thud.

Albert waited a few seconds before bunching his hands into fists and bicycling them around in time to the music once more. 'Gotta keep on keepin' on, if I don't, she'll do me wrong!' He resumed his singing.

'Oh, Dr Gilroy, I forgot to mention.'

Albert made a big show of looking for his pen, scattering his research papers onto the floor in the process, as Sam poked his head back around the door frame.

'I don't suppose you'd have heard if you've been in here all day.' The janitor paused. 'But the war's over.'

Albert sobered up for a second. 'Oh really?