The Time Bubble Box Set 2, стр. 10
“Back in your era,” added Vanessa.
“Exactly. You could hang out with all your friends back whenlife was fun and responsibility-free, you know, all those people you lost touchwith over the years as life got in the way. You could see family members who’vepassed on who you thought had gone forever. And think of all the otherpossibilities – having the chance to live your life all over again, doingthings differently and correcting mistakes along the way.”
“If it was me, I wouldn’t marry you for a start,” saidVanessa.
“Hey!” protested Alice. “You promised to knock off on theinsults, remember?”
“Sorry,” said Vanessa. “I couldn’t resist.”
The waiter returned with their meals, and Josh was certainlynot disappointed when he saw the huge steak on his oversized plate, along withall the trimmings.
“Wow, this looks amazing,” he said.
“I promised you wouldn’t be disappointed,” said Henry.
As Josh cut his first slice of steak, he thought about whatHenry and Vanessa had said, his mind alive to the possibilities.
“In answer to your previous question,obviously most people would say the latter,” he said. “If I was eighteennow, in 2055 I don’t think I’d enjoy it as much. The music’s crap for a start.”
“I had a feeling you would say that,” replied Henry. “Whichis why I hope you can help us.”
“How exactly?” asked Josh as he bit into a delicious,beer-battered onion ring, though he was already pretty sure what Henry wasgoing to say next.
“You’re the world’s most knowledgeable academic on thesubject of time travel,” said Henry.
“Well, I dabble a little,” said Josh modestly.
“Don’t flatter him too much,” interjected Alice. “His ego’sbig enough already!”
She was as curious as Josh about what Henry had in mind, butwas also a little wary. She was concerned that Josh might say more than heought to, especially as he was already half a bottle of wine to the good.
“I’ve read everything you’ve ever published, and we’vetalked about time travel theory many times,” continued Henry. “But I can’t helpthinking you’re holding out on me a little.”
“I guess I may not have told you everything,” conceded Josh,at which point he felt a sharp dig in his ribs from his wife beside him.
He looked across and saw her shoot him a warning glance thathe knew only too well – it meant “Shut up”.
But Josh wanted to know more. He couldn’t come this far and nothear them out.
“The word on the street,” continued Henry, “and by thestreet, I mean the elite scientific community – is that someone has alreadydiscovered how to time travel and is keeping quiet about it. Andunsurprisingly, you are the odds-on favourite.”
“It’s not the first time I’ve heard such rumours,” saidJosh, trying to keep his cards close to his chest.
“Oh, I think they are more than rumours,” said Henry. “Yousee, one of the other things I’ve been conducting research into here is thetheory of the multiverse and I’ve made some rather interesting discoveries. Tosummarise, by using a system of measuring the number of atoms in the knownuniverse and then comparing them against certain mirror images that I’veuncovered, I’ve proven to myself beyond all doubt that duplicate universes doexist.”
Josh looked across to Alice on his right who caught his eye,giving him a concerned glance. Henry was uncomfortably close to reaching thesame conclusions they already had.
“Your looks betray you,” said Vanessa, picking up on thebody language between Alice and Josh. “You do know more than you’ve beenletting on.”
“I’m not exactly sure what you’re driving at,” said Josh.“One minute you’re talking about time travel – the next it’s alternateuniverses. Where’s the connection?”
“I was rather hoping you’d be able to tell me,” repliedHenry. “You see, once I’d established the existence of these alternateuniverses, it was a relatively straightforward task to catalogue them. I’vegiven each one its own unique identification code based on the number of atomsin it. This number varies by a miniscule amount from one to another, but enoughto make it unique. And do you know what else I discovered?”
“I’m sure you’re going to tell me,” said Josh, who was nowseriously wondering exactly how much Henry had worked out. For all hisflamboyance and joking around, he knew Henry had a brilliant mind.
“I could measure not only the size of the universes, butalso the exact time it was created and its point of origin, which is where itgot really interesting. I discovered that nearly all of these duplicateuniverses were created within the last few decades, and most remarkably of all,the vast majority were created in and around the Oxford area – where you justhappen to live. That’s an amazing coincidence, don’t you think?”
“Isn’t it just?” added Vanessa.
Josh remained silent as Henry continued in full flow.
“The biggest shock was discovering that this isn’t even theoriginal universe,” added Henry. “It was identical up until October 31st, 2029,at which point the diversion occurred. The original universe, the only one inwhich the number of atoms is unchanged since the Big Bang, is still there, butwe aren’t in it. Presumably our original selves are over there, alive and well,and presumably doing whatever it is they do over there, blissfully unaware ofour existence.”
“I really don’t know what you think I have to do with all ofthis,” said Josh.
“I think the time’s come to drop the pretence,” saidVanessa. “We think you know all about the multiverse and how to achieve timetravel, and what’s more, we think you’re already doing it. We also believewhatever you’ve been doing has been somehow responsible for the creation of allthese other universes.”
“Josh, could I have a quick word with you outside?” saidAlice, turning to the others and adding, “Cigarette break.”
“Really?” said Vanessa, rolling her eyes. “Who still smokesthese days?”
“Just give us a minute, will you?” replied Alice. “I need tospeak to Josh in private.”
Leaving the table and heading back out to the lobby, sheturned to Josh and asked, “What are we going to do? They’ve got it all prettymuch figured out.”
“I suppose it was inevitable someone else would eventually,”said