Day of Rebellion Page 7

  General Xiucheng was now nodding slowly at Backhouse. “We must go to Nanjing,” he said. “It will be safer and we need to discuss the implications of this with Hong Rengan and the Heavenly King himself. We must make arrangements immediately. There is no time to lose.”

  “What’s he talking about?” Angus whispered to Fleming.

  “Nanjing – it is the Taiping capital city – up river,” the captain replied out of the corner of his mouth.”

  As they were escorted from General Xiucheng’s tent, Jack noticed the young servant girl who had brought in the tea earlier. She stood stock still at the entrance to the tent, her head bowed in respect. But for some reason, as Jack passed her she raised her face to his. It was the briefest and most subtle of movements and Jack nearly missed it. She was very pretty and for an instant Jack could not help looking her straight in the eye. Then, for a reason Jack could not begin to fathom, she smiled at him.

  Into the Heavenly Kingdom

  The journey on the Yangtze river to Nanjing took two hot, sticky and uncomfortable days. General Xiucheng entered the city in triumph. He could announce the capture of the port of Shanghai to his leader, the Heavenly King, in person. But there was an added bonus – the capture of a British army officer and the momentous discovery of the mysterious Babbage ‘Seeing Engine’ and two interpreters of its fantastic secrets: Jack and Angus. General Xiucheng, wearing flowing gold robes and a jewelled crown, was carried in a special chair. Backhouse, Jack and Angus rode some way behind, ringed by an escort of fierce-looking Taiping guards. Captain Fleming was not with them. There were still occasional raids on the river by the Imperialists from the north against the Taiping rebels and General Xiucheng thought it best to split up the hostages.

  Ahead, Jack could see the huge walls – twenty metres high – that enclosed the city of Nanjing in a vast triangle. The gate they entered into to the city led through a ten-metre long tunnel that burrowed through the massive walls.

  “Behold!” Backhouse announced. “The Kingdom of Heaven.”

  But as far as Jack could see, it looked nothing like the Kingdom of Heaven. He was shocked at the squalor – children played in the filthy streets and there were scores of beggars.

  “We are rebuilding, of course. There is no money and no one owns property. The state provides everything. In this way, people are free to work and to follow the teachings of the Heavenly King. No more corruption, no more greed, no more Imperialism…”

  Periodically, military drum and gong signals boomed across the city from lookout towers high up on the walls.

  “They’ve got enough soldiers,” Angus said, gaping at the scene before them.

  “Ah, the military – the heart of the Taiping.” Backhouse waxed, “The Imperialists, by contrast, are cowardly, ill-disciplined and corrupt. Mind you, they are starting to get better. Despite our efforts, the new technologies are starting to seep in… I hear they have airships now, and they have many spies who have stolen secrets from us… you would be surprised. They will even have spies here – in Nanjing. But very soon we will have completely overrun Shanghai and we will have a sea port and, of course, a genuine Babbage ‘Seeing Engine’ There will be no stopping the Taiping,” Backhouse announced triumphantly. “Today China – tomorrow, the world!” Angus and Jack exchanged glances.

  They rounded a corner and the city changed. The street broadened out and well-kept gardens appeared on either side. There was extensive building work underway and rickety bamboo scaffolding clung to emerging yellow-walled buildings.

  “There!” Backhouse waved. “The Palace of the Heavenly King. Isn’t it magnificent?”

  The building took Jack’s breath away. An enormous half-built palace rose into the sky – all towers and upward-pointing eaves in the Chinese style. Vast silk drapes and flags hung from the walls, adorned with Chinese writing, symbols and dragons.

  The procession came to a halt and a small detachment escorted General Xiucheng through an imposing front gate. Jack, Angus and Backhouse followed in a further group at a respectable distance. They walked through a series of courtyards and rock gardens adorned with miniature trees, hedges and sculptures, until they arrived at a vast pavilion decorated with paintings, gilded flags and lanterns. It was furnished with a desk, a table and chairs – all in the same beautifully carved red lacquer work that Jack had first seen in General Xiucheng’s tent at the encampment outside Shanghai. They waited for a while until a rather plump little man appeared from behind a curtain and scurried in.

  “His Excellency Hong Rengan, First Minister of the Heavenly Kingdom,” Backhouse announced.

  Rengan greeted General Xiucheng in Mandarin. He eyed Jack and Angus and then, to their surprise, addressed Backhouse in flawless English.

  “We received your messages. You have it then? This discovery… this ‘engine’?”

  Backhouse flashed a look at General Xiucheng and then fished out the VIGIL device from under his frock coat. Rengan’s eyes bulged in wonder as Backhouse tapped on the screen and scrolled through some of the images.

  “If what you say is true, total victory for the Taiping is assured. This calls for celebration.” He clapped his hands and barked an order. “Now…” he turned to Jack and Angus and put a fatherly arm around their shoulders. “You two have been on a long journey. You are far from Shanghai and far from home, hungry and tired. We will eat and we will drink and then you will rest. When we are all ready, you will show us the secrets of the ‘Seeing Engine’.”

  Jack and Angus were led away from the pavilion to an annex across the courtyard. It was luxuriously appointed, except that there were no windows and the door was locked behind them. Jack sat on a low bed and put his head in his hands.

  “This is a nightmare.”

  “Tell me about it. But what I don’t get is that Backhouse recognised your VIGIL device. He must have seen one before. He said that this Babbage guy had one exactly the same back in England… but how can that be?”

  Jack looked up. “Incredible isn’t it? I’ve been trying to work it out… Want to know what I think?”

  “We’ve got all day.” Angus gave a crooked smile.

  “OK. I think Babbage somehow got hold of a VIGIL device like our one and studied it meticulously. That’s what helped him and the Cambridge Philosophical Society create all these new inventions we’re seeing which shouldn’t exist in 1860. The conference that Fleming mentioned was twenty-five years ago, so the inventions have had time to develop and they’ve seeped from Britain across the rest of the world, including to Backhouse’s Taiping friends right here.”

  Angus nodded. “Right, I can understand that – Babbage must have got hold of the device years ago – but how did he get it in the first place?”

  Jack shook his head slowly, “That’s what we need to find out. I can only think of one way it could have happened. A VIGIL agent must have travelled back in time and given it to him.”

  “But why? VIGIL would never do that. It’s against all the rules.”

  Jack nodded in agreement. “I know, Angus, I know. But how else could it have happened?”

  “You’ve heard of this Babbage guy before?”

  “Yeah. He’s famous. He was a genius. In ‘real’ history he invented computers about a hundred years before anyone else. He called them ‘Engines’ – there was a ‘Difference Engine’ and an ‘Analytical Engine’ – basically they were calculating computers but with metal cogs and levers and dials and stuff. I can imagine that if someone that brilliant was given a VIGIL device he could easily use it to make up some of the designs it shows. There’s some pretty detailed stuff in some of those apps.”

  Angus nodded.

  “There’s something else I’ve been thinking about…”

  Angus raised his eyebrows, “What?”

  “It’s two days since we left Shanghai… remember what the Taurus log said…?”

  “You mean – your Dad?”

  “Right. He’ll be in Shanghai shortly and we’ll be
stuck here in this festering pit more than two days away…”

  “And Fenton must be here already…” Angus grimaced.

  “Yes, waiting for Dad. But there’s one thing we need to remember…” Jack reached into his torn undervest to the special pocket. He pulled out the time phone.

  Jack smiled. “They were so excited at finding the VIGIL device that they forgot to search the rest of me. Whilst we’ve still got a time phone, we’ve still got hope.”

  Angus grinned. “Of course… no signal I guess?”

  They peered at the time phone.

  “Stupid thing is always dead when you need it most. We just need to be patient.”

  “When we get a signal, we can time travel and be ready to meet your Dad when he gets to Shanghai.”

  “We just have to keep ourselves out of trouble until then.”

  “Can’t see that being a problem.” Angus smiled. “Way I see it, Backhouse and his Taiping cronies need to look after us – they think we’re the ones that can help them use the VIGIL device.” He nodded at the time phone, “You better put that somewhere very safe – you don’t want them to get hold of that as well – then there’d be total carnage.”

  There was a rattle at the door. Backhouse, Rengan and two burly guards entered the room. The guards handed each boy silk robes to put on and then they were led away from the pavilion and back through the palace. They crossed a large courtyard – fringed with miniature trees that sprang from ornate flower beds. Ahead, Jack could see a great archway.

  “The Inner Temple. Usually only women attend the Heavenly King in the Inner Palace. You are privileged indeed,” Backhouse said with an excited smile.

  “Where are we going?” Jack asked.

  “We have an audience with the Heavenly King, the leader of the Taiping. You bow and you say nothing, of course. You will be in the presence of the divine. The brother of Jesus Christ, he is not of this earth.” Backhouse said the words with a quiet intensity. Jack gave Angus a sidelong glance. Jack had seen and experienced many extraordinary things over the last few months, but the idea that they were about to meet the brother of Christ stretched the bounds of reason. It was becoming increasingly clear to Jack that Josiah Backhouse was completely unhinged.

  They were left to wait for some time in an anteroom, where there was a heavy smell of incense. By the time they were summoned again, both boys ached with tiredness, but on entering the chamber their eyes widened in amazement. The room was brightly decorated in gold and red silk and lit by flickering lanterns. Ahead, was a large bed upon which reclined a figure in magnificent white and gold robes. In the shadows, Jack discerned several figures – all women – dressed in silk robes and wearing high head-dresses. One of the women stepped forward in front of the bed, dropped to her knees and kowtowed several times, addressing the prostrate figure on the couch.

  Then there was silence in the chamber. The incense was thick in the air and Jack’s eyes watered. They waited for a few more minutes but still there was no movement from the figure lying on the bed. When he started snoring, loudly, the young woman moved closer to the bed and cleared her throat. Finally, the man awoke and pulled himself up onto his elbow. His eyes flickered and opened and then, raised from his slumber, the Heavenly King, one of the most powerful men on earth and supposed brother of Jesus Christ – was staring at Jack with big, brown, hypnotic eyes. Jack was mesmerised. He felt as though he was being held in a helpless trance. He remembered the line drawing he had seen in the Edinburgh museum and the portrait on the oil rig of Hong Xiuquan. Jack knew it was the same man. It felt extraordinary to see him in the flesh.

  Suddenly, a hand pushed him forward, and Jack realised he should be touching his nose to the ground. He looked around. Backhouse was already kowtowing and Angus began copying him. Jack joined them both on the floor.

  “These are the westerners from Shanghai?” the Heavenly King asked. The voice seemed disinterested – as if he couldn’t be bothered with earthly matters. He gave a giant yawn.

  Backhouse did not raise his head, but spoke into the floor, “Yes, Heavenly Father… they bring the Babbage ‘Seeing Engine’ and with it great knowledge which we will use in our sacred struggle…”

  The Heavenly Father yawned again… and said nothing.

  Backhouse pressed on, “The First Lord Rengan, General Xiucheng and myself have discussed the matter. We shall take the westerners and the Babbage ‘Seeing Engine’ to the south… where our great factories are. We shall use their secrets to make new war machines to help in our sacred struggle against the Imperialists.”

  There was no response from the Heavenly King and then they heard a third giant yawn. Jack looked up. The Heavenly King waved his hand and a bowing girl held out a large pipe. He took a giant suck on the end of the pipe and exhaled black smoke which swirled up to the ceiling. For a moment, his eyes glazed over… then he became cross-eyed and his head fell back onto the bed and he started snoring again.

  Backhouse turned to Jack and Angus, clearly embarrassed and said, “I think our audience is over.” He kowtowed a final time, and they exited from the fog-filled chamber leaving the Heavenly King, brother of Christ and leader of the Taiping Rebellion, to his own heavenly world.

  The Yangtze Princess

  The Yangtze Princess belched black smoke from a huge chimney sprouting from the middle of its deck as it puffed its way up the great brown Yangtze – the largest river that Jack had ever seen. The boat’s steam engine powered two vast paddle wheels – one on either side of the boat – and the relentless pumping of the great iron contraption beneath the deck was starting to inhabit Jack’s very soul.

  They were up on the deck for fresh air – a privilege allowed them only once since leaving Nanjing. It was a blessed relief from the hot, cramped cabin in the aft of the steamer, where Jack and Angus had been held. Backhouse had taken charge of the precious cargo – the Babbage ‘Seeing Engine’. The ship was crawling with Taiping guards and armed with twelve-pounder guns at the bow and aft. No chances were being taken. There were two escort boats – one armed paddle steamer nosed through the great brown river two hundred metres off their bow, and a second followed them from behind.

  After they had boarded, Backhouse had attempted to interrogate Jack about the VIGIL device and how it had come into his possession. Jack had done his best to claim that it belonged to his father. Jack pretended that he knew nothing of the function or origin of the device and had assumed that it was some sort of lucky charm. He told Backhouse that his father had never talked to him of Charles Babbage, the CPS or the British government and claimed to be as mystified as Backhouse. With a stroke of brilliance, he suggested the best solution was for Backhouse to find his father as soon as possible. This had made Backhouse think, but so far caused no change of plan. As every minute passed, they steamed further away from Shanghai and his father, and closer to incarceration in the Taiping rebels’ heartland in southern China.

  “You did well,” Angus told Jack as they stood on the deck. Backhouse had hardly given Angus a second thought, though he’d been in the same cabin throughout the interrogation.

  “I was squirming as I spun him the yarn about Dad…”

  “It sounded believable… but Backhouse is going to keep on until he gets some answers.” Angus kicked out in frustration. “We’re kidnapped on board this stinking bath tub in the middle of nowhere… time phone’s still dead I suppose?”

  “I’m not getting it out here, but yes, last time I checked – dead as a dodo.”

  They stared out at the muddy waters for a while and a gentle breeze gave some relief from the humidity.

  “I just had a horrible thought…” Jack said, suddenly breaking the silence.

  “What?” Angus looked at him anxiously.

  “Well, you know, what if the Revisionist Taurus doesn’t work in the same way as VIGIL’s. You know how the VIGIL Taurus powers up and alerts the connected time phones every time there is a time signal, so we can time travel? What if th
e Revisionist Taurus is different – what if it just sits there and does nothing unless there’s someone back at the base giving it instructions?”

  “Then we’d be stuck here forever – enslaved by this mad lot. Anyway, your dad wouldn’t have come to China unless he knew exactly how he was going to get back.”

  “True.” But the mention of his dad gave Jack another stab of anxiety.

  Angus looked over the rail at the massive steam paddles churning the brown water into white froth.

  “I suppose we could swim for it…”

  “You serious?” Jack said. “That riverbank has got to be at least four hundred metres away. And even if we made it, what then?”

  Jack looked around. Their Taiping minders were gossiping to each other, further down the deck, “I guess that’s why they don’t seem to be taking a lot of interest… they know we can’t escape.”

  Jack slumped down on the deck, beaten down by the humidity and the relentless pumping of the engine, and out of ideas. Angus sat next to him and they stared up at the huge iron funnel that belched a continuous plume of smoke which drifted on the breeze. Jack’s eye followed the smoke, it was drawn to the stern and then beyond to the escort ship behind.

  “We’re stuffed then.”

  The words had barely left his mouth when suddenly the funnel of the escort ship rose up about twenty metres into the air like a rocket. It hovered momentarily in the air and fell back onto the deck beneath. It was still upright when it landed. Then it tottered, tipped sideways and crashed into the port paddle wheel, which disintegrated under the impact. The noise from the explosion hit them seconds later – an echoing boom across the water. Jack watched in horror as, almost simultaneously, the bow of the ship and its stern tipped up, pointing into the sky. Something had exploded amidships with such force that it had detached the entire funnel from its housing and blown a hole so big that the ship was no longer able to support its own weight. With astonishing speed, the entire paddle steamer was gobbled up by the great river.