The Time Bubble Box Set 2, стр. 16

“Don’t eat too many sausages, Henry,” said Vanessa. “Wewouldn’t want you keeling over with a heart attack, would we?”

Her tone suggested that was exactly what she’d like, butAlice bit her tongue, not wanting to inflame things any further. However, assoon as she got Henry on his own she was going to say something.

Emerging, blinking into the bright sunshine, they strolledacross the Quadrangle, dodging the tourists and headed out on to St Giles’.There they hailed one of the many auto cabs that were now ubiquitous in everytown and city around Britain. Once inside, Alice told the car her address, letit scan her retina for payment, and then they sat back and relaxed while itdrove them a few miles out of town to Charlie and Kaylee’s country cottage.

“This is nice and easy, don’t you think?” remarked Alice asthey glided along Banbury Road in the auto cab lane. “You should have seen thiscity a generation ago – choked with traffic and pollution everywhere. I’mamazed that people put up with it.”

“You can thank the world’s governments and energy companiesfor that,” replied Henry. “They could have developed the electric car andrenewable energy a lot earlier if they had made it a priority.”

“Absolutely,” said Alice. “I campaigned for it while I wasgrowing up. I was inspired by Greta Thunberg to organise a strike at myschool.”

“It worked, too,” said Henry. “It’s amazing the progresswe’ve made since then. She really deserved that Nobel Peace Prize.”

“I don’t miss sitting in the Oxford traffic jams, that’s forsure,” said Alice.

“It’s nice being ferried around but these cabs are a littlesoulless. I have to say, I miss driving. When I was a young man, I had a sportylittle Mazda, electric, of course. One summer, my girlfriend and I drove thewhole east coast from Cairns all the way down to Melbourne over a few weeks. Itwas amazing.”

“Oh, wow, that must have been awesome,” said Alice. “When Iwas a student, I took a gap year and spent months backpacking around Australia.I hitch-hiked up part of that road, after I left Sydney.”

“Did you visit the Blue Mountains?” asked Henry.

“Oh, yes, they are beautiful,” replied Alice.

“My girlfriend thought so, too,” said Henry. “Those werehappy days.”

“I take it this wasn’t Vanessa?”

“Goodness, no, she’d never be interested in doing anythinglike that,” replied Henry. “Time is money as far as she’s concerned – a jauntlike that would be an unprofitable way to spend her time.”

Alice seized this opportunity to delve further into theirunconventional relationship.

“You know, I hope you don’t mind me saying, but I do find ithard to picture how you two got together in the first place. I can’t believethe way she talks to you, for a start. Doesn’t it bother you?”

“It’s all water off a duck’s back to me,” said Henry. “Andyou’re right, it’s not a marriage made in Heaven. It’s more one of convenienceif you want to put a label on it. When we met we both had something each otherwanted.”

“Which was?”

“She’s got money. A huge amount of money – in terms ofAustralian dollars she’s practically a billionaire. But I’m not a gold-digger –I’m more interested in investing the money into research, rather than using itfor personal gain.”

“And what do you give her in return?”

“I’m the leading scientist in the world in my field ofrobotics and mind-mapping. She’s obsessed with achieving eternal life bytransferring her consciousness before death and she offered to bankroll me tomake it happen. I could never have done it on the institute’s money alone,generous as it is.”

“But you didn’t need to get married for that?”

“Maybe not, but it seemed a good idea at the time. It mayseem hard to believe now but she didn’t totally detest me back at the start. Orif she did, she was very good at hiding it.”

“She doesn’t bother hiding it anymore,” replied Alice.

“I suppose not, but I can’t be bothered to do anything aboutit, and despite all the backbiting, we do work well as a team and it’s not justabout her money. She’s got a brilliant mind, too, as you’ve seen these pastweeks, and I wouldn’t have got as far as I have without her input, regardlessof the money.”

“And she’s plenty of that,” said Alice.

“That’s down to her incredibly business brain. She wouldn’thave become as rich as she has without it. It’s all self-made money, you know.”

“And you’re happy to carry on like this?” asked Alice.

“For the time being,” replied Henry. “Put it this way,though, if we do manage to succeed in this project and I get the chance to goback and relive my life, I highly doubt I’ll marry her again second timearound. I may not need her money the second time as long as I can retain theknowledge of how to do all this, or even take the technology with me in someway.”

“I’d still marry Josh, for all his faults,” replied Alice.

“Which are?”

“Well, there’s his showing off, big-headedness, andobsession over time travel, just for starters. But none of that matters becauseI love him, and I just can’t imagine being with anyone else.”

“It must be nice to feel that way about someone,” saidHenry. “I’m pretty sure I did – all those years ago with Bronwyn – the girl Iwent on that road trip with. But we were young, and our lives took us indifferent directions. I often think about her, but it’s way too late now.”

“Maybe it’s not,” replied Alice. “If we do succeed and youget the chance to live again, what’s to stop you going back to that time anddoing things differently? If you loved Bronwyn, then perhaps you could staywith her this time.”

“Believe me, the thought has crossed my mind,” repliedHenry, as the car left the outskirts of the city behind and turned onto a smallcountry road. “Wow, I so love your countryside here – it’s all so green. It’snothing like this back home.”

“True, but we do have to put up with a lot of rain to keepit like that,” said Alice.

“I had kind of noticed that,” said Henry. “It’s hardlystopped raining since we got here – but not today,