The Time Bubble Box Set 2, стр. 14
“Perhaps you ought to ask your husband what went on duringhis trip through the multiverse last year,” said Hannah. “And don’t you thinkhe’s aged a lot recently? How long did he tell you he was gone exactly?”
“Woah, cool it,” remarked Lauren. “This is meant to be afriendly reunion.”
“That’s right,” said Josh, grateful for Lauren’sintervention, but as he spoke a brief memory flashed into his mind aboutsomething that had gone on between the two of them in one of those otherworlds. He quickly banished it from his thoughts. It had been a desperate timeand he had resorted to desperate measures and he hadn’t told anyone about it,not even Peter and Josh.
“Josh, exactly how much have you told this Henry and Vanessaabout what you’ve achieved in terms of time travel?” asked Charlie.
“They know I can travel in time, but not the mechanics ofhow it’s done.”
“And do you really think that it may be possible to mergetheir technology with yours?”
“They are both brilliant scientists and have achieved someamazing things. I don’t see any reason why, given enough time, we couldn’t runsome tests.”
“What do you think about it, Alice?” asked Hannah.
“I feel we are duty-bound as scientists to at least exploreit,” she said. “We’re talking about the chance to live forever, one ofhumanity’s holy grails. Who wouldn’t want to be offered that opportunity?”
“I’m not sure I would,” replied Hannah. “When our time’s up,our time’s up. We’d be messing with what makes us fundamentally human anddriven to succeed. Knowing we only have one shot at life makes us fight to makethe most of every precious moment that we have. With mortality removed, whatmotivation would we have? We’d just descend into a life of decadence.”
“A life of decadence sounds good to me,” said Lauren.
“In your case, it wouldn’t be much different to now, wouldit?” remarked Alice who had always disapproved of Lauren’s lifestyle.
“What about the rest of you?” asked Hannah.
“I’m tempted,” said Charlie and the others nodded inagreement. Each of them was already thinking about what they might do given theopportunity to go back into their own past.
“It seems I’m outnumbered,” said Hannah. “But I think you’replaying a very dangerous game.”
“We can sit here and discuss the moral and philosophicalimplications all night,” said Josh. “But it doesn’t alter the fundamental truthwhich is that if we don’t do it, someone else will figure it out eventually. Iwould far prefer it to be us.”
“I understand that,” replied Hannah, “but the whole conceptdoesn’t sit well with me.”
“I appreciate that and, believe it or not, it’s been dulynoted,” replied Josh. “You’ve made some valid points and I agree this isn’tsomething to be rolled out to the general public, even if that is what Vanessahas in mind. But in the interests of science, I feel that we must at leastexplore this. I suggest we follow the same rules as before and keep it amongstourselves.”
“Plus Henry and Vanessa, obviously,” added Alice.
“And can we trust them?” said Hannah. “Are they going to behappy to keep it quiet when you turn around and say this hasn’t got anycommercial value.”
“It’s a valid question,” said Alice. “Vanessa’s built up amultimillion-dollar empire pretty much from scratch. She’s also beenbankrolling a lot of Henry’s research. She’s in this for the money, of thatI’ve no doubt. Whoever controls this technology will be very powerful indeed.”
“You had better find out exactly what her intentions arebefore you take this any further,” said Hannah. “Make it clear that whateverthe final outcome of this is, it’s not for sale.”
“We’ll find out soon enough,” replied Josh. “They’re comingover next month for a three-month sabbatical. Vanessa’s made an extremelygenerous donation to the university and they’re welcoming her with open arms.”
“I suggest you lay down the rules to them right from thestart. Make it clear this isn’t a commercial operation. And at the first signof trouble, you pull the plug. Then perhaps I’ll countenance this, but I’m nothappy about it,” said Hannah.
“Sounds like that’s all sorted,” said Lauren, who had justescorted the last two customers off the premises and locked the front door.“Now let’s stop talking about all this boring stuff and get on to what wereally came here to do.”
She looked up towards the ceiling and said, “Pub – partymode – 2018.”
The ceiling panels slid smoothly aside, revealing a solidliquid crystal display which quickly filled the room with brightly colouredlights. At the same time, music filled the room from the speakers embedded inthe walls and floor.
“Remember this?” shouted Lauren over the opening bars of theold Dua Lipa and Calvin Harris hit, “One Kiss”.
“I put this playlist together especially for tonight – it’sall the biggest hits from when we were in sixth form. Come on, Kaylee, let’sdance!”
She grabbed her former school friend’s hand and practicallydragged her from her seat.
There were going to be some sore heads in the morning.
Chapter Five
July 2056
It was high summer in Oxford, the Botanical Gardens wereblooming, and people everywhere were out enjoying the heatwave that had spreadacross the country. It was hot, and very humid, the sort of British weatherthat inevitably broke down into thunderstorms after a few days.
Not everyone was out making the most of the weather. Josh,Alice, Henry and Vanessa had spent the whole summer holed up in the lab at theuniversity, working feverishly to bring their big project to fruition.
The college was quiet at this time of year. The rowdystudents who had been casting off their mortar boards whilst downing gallons ofchampagne the previous month had all moved on to pastures new, with the nextset of freshers not due to arrive until late September. The main noise outsidethe lab in midsummer came from the steady stream of tourists taking pictures inthe Quadrangle.
As was often the case, Alice wasn’t happy about the amountof time they were spending in the lab. She had always found Josh’s obsessionalwork ethic frustrating, and now he had two similarly-minded people making iteven worse. As they got closer and closer to a breakthrough, they were workingseven days a week and