Doomsday Book (Oxford Time Travel, #1) - Connie Willis Page 0,21

said, wondering if the sounds of the bells would make it onto the Domesday Book. “It’s on this side road. I’m going to go fetch the wagon and drag it out onto the road, and then I’m going to stagger into the village before it gets dark and collapse on somebody’s doorstep.”

One of the bells was far away to the southwest and so faint she could scarcely hear it. She wondered if it was the bell she had heard earlier, and why it had been ringing. Maybe Dunworthy was right, and it was a funeral. “I’m all right, Mr. Dunworthy,” she said into her hands. “Don’t worry about me. I’ve been here over an hour and nothing bad has happened so far.”

The bells died away slowly, the bell from Oxford leading the way again, though, impossibly, its sound hung longer on the air than any of the others. The sky turned violet-blue, and a star came out in the southeast. Kivrin’s hands were still folded in prayer. “It’s beautiful here.”

TRANSCRIPT FROM THE DOMESDAY BOOK

(000249–000614)

Well, Mr. Dunworthy, I’m here. I seem to be in the right place, more or less. I’m not right on the Oxford-Bath road. I’m about five hundred yards south of it on a side road. I can see Oxford. It’s about ten miles away.

I don’t know exactly when I came through, but if it was noon as scheduled, there’s been about four hours slippage. It’s the right time of year. The leaves are mostly off the trees, but the ones on the ground are still more or less intact, and only about a third of the fields have been plowed under. I won’t be able to tell my exact temporal location until I reach the village and can ask someone what day it is. You probably know more about where and when I am than I do, or at least you will after you’ve done the fix.

But I know I’m in the right century. I can see fields from the little hill I’m on. They’re classic mediaeval strip fields, with the rounded ends where the oxen turn. The pastures are bounded with hedges, and about a third of them are Saxon dead hedges, while the rest are Norman hawthorn. Probability put the ratio in 1300 at twenty-five to seventy-five percent, but that was based on Suffolk, which is farther east.

To the south and west is forest—Wychwood?—all deciduous as far as I can tell. To the east I can see the Thames. I can almost see London, even though I know that’s impossible. In 1320 it would have been over fifty miles away, wouldn’t it, instead of only twenty. I still think I can see it. I can definitely see the city walls of Oxford, and Carfax Tower.

It’s beautiful here. It doesn’t feel as though I were seven hundred years away from you. Oxford is right there, within walking distance, and I cannot get the idea out of my head that if I walked down this hill and into town I would find all of you, still standing there in the lab at Brasenose waiting for the fix, Badri frowning at the displays and Ms. Montoya fretting to get back to her dig, and you, Mr. Dunworthy, clucking like an old mother hen. I don’t feel separated from you at all, or even very far away.

4

Badri’s hand came away from his forehead as he fell, and his elbow hit the console and broke his fall for a second, and Dunworthy glanced anxiously at the screen, afraid he might have hit one of the keys and scrambled the display. Badri crumpled to the floor.

Latimer and Gilchrist didn’t try to grab him either. Latimer didn’t even seem to realize anything had gone wrong. Mary grabbed for Badri immediately, but she was standing behind the others and only caught a fold of his sleeve. She was instantly on her knees beside him, straightening him out onto his back and jamming an earphone into her ear.

She rummaged in her shopping bag, came up with a bleeper, and held the call button down for a full five seconds. “Badri?” she said loudly, and it was only then that Dunworthy realized how deathly silent it was in the room. Gilchrist was standing where he had been when Badri fell. He looked furious. I assure you we’ve considered every possible contingency. He obviously hadn’t considered this one.

Mary let go of the bleeper button and shook Badri’s shoulders gently. There was no response. She tilted his