The Time Bubble Box Set 2, стр. 40

Realising there was nothing more that could be done at thelab they decided to travel up to the John Radcliffe Casualty Department to findout what had happened to Henry.

There they were dealt the not unexpected news that Henry haddied, leaving Alice completely distraught. The two of them eventually got homeafter 1am, by which time she was exhausted by the sheer emotional stress of itall. Despite her fears about what might happen next, sleep had still comequickly.

She turned to discover her husband was no longer in bed, andshe could hear coffee cups clinking downstairs. Alone with her thoughts for awhile, she contemplated the future and what it might bring. She had worried foryears that one day something like this might happen and it seemed those fearshadn’t been unfounded.

The bedroom door opened, and Josh came in carrying a traycontaining a cafetière, two cups and various breakfast accompaniments. Blesshim: at least he was trying to make her feel better.

“Coffee and croissants,” he announced. “Just like when wewere in Paris.”

“Thank you,” she replied gratefully. “The condemned womanate a healthy breakfast, eh?” she said.

“We’re not dead in the water yet,” said Josh with far moreconfidence than he was actually feeling. “I’ll find a way to stop Vanessa.”

“How exactly?” asked Alice. “We can’t follow her, she’s gotthe tachyometers. And there’s no knowing what she could have done by now. Lookat the way that lab was stripped so quickly. She couldn’t have done that in acouple of hours. She must have been travelling back in time to do it.”

“She hasn’t got all of them,” replied Josh. “I wouldn’t beso stupid as to leave everything at the lab. I still have a MK IV versionhidden away in my office here. I checked this morning and it’s still here.There’s also another I left with Peter in case of an emergency. I rang him firstthing and he still has it.”

“But with the MK IV you can only go back in time to aduplicate universe,” said Alice. “You can’t go back in this one, which meansyou can’t stop Vanessa.”

“That’s true, but luckily he emailed me all the notes ofwhat he was working on a couple of days ago. She clearly didn’t know about thatso she’s not infallible. I can figure out what to do to upgrade thistachyometer from the email, given time.”

“How much time?” said Alice. “We may have very little tospare. Vanessa could be plotting something right now.”

“Probably not enough,” admitted Josh. “Right now, all we canhope is that her bloodlust stops at Henry and she doesn’t come after us.”

“You saw the look in her eyes, and what she said,” repliedAlice. “She wants you and that makes me a target. I wouldn’t underestimate her.She’s got a reputation for being ruthless in business and you’ve already seenwhat she’s done to Henry. She would be dangerous enough even without thetachyometer. With it she’s potentially lethal. I don’t mind admitting, I’mscared.”

“It’s going to be OK,” said Josh, by way of reassurance,even though he knew it probably wouldn’t be. “Here, have a croissant. I gotthese from the bakery on the corner and they’re delicious.”

He picked up a knife from the tray and scooped up some jamto spread on her croissant. “Get this down you and then we’ll get on the phoneand call an emergency meeting of the Time Bubble team.”

Getting everyone together at short notice wasn’t easy, butJosh insisted it was urgent enough for them all to shelve whatever they weredoing to meet up later that day.

The only one out of town was Kaylee who was in a meetingdown at the Met Office in Exeter, but, declaring a family emergency to hercolleagues, she headed back at high speed on the Hyperloop.

They arranged to meet for lunch at the Turf Tavern, one ofOxford’s longest-established pubs that could trace its origins way back to the16th century.

Kaylee’s Hyperloop journey took less than half an hour fromExeter. This new form of transport which fired occupants from city to city insealed vacuum tubes could achieve speeds of up to 600mph. This meant that shecompleted her journey in less time than it took Lauren to travel in on therailway line from her town just fifteen miles to the north.

The pub was accessed by a small passage beside Oxford’sfamous Bridge of Sighs, and as Kaylee approached the entrance, she spottedLauren approaching from the other direction.

She waved and they rushed toward each other to share a hugehug, as they did every time they met. Then they turned down the narrow passagethat led to the small courtyard where Hannah, Peter and Charlie were alreadywaiting for them.

The morning rain had ceased, allowing them to enjoy the warmspring sunshine. Peter and Charlie had pints on the go already – they neverneeded any excuse for a drink, whilst the rather more reserved Hannah wassipping a glass of sparkling water.

Josh and Alice hadn’t arrived yet,leaving the others to speculate about the nature of the emergency.

“Hey, guys,” said Lauren, as she and Kaylee joined theothers. “What do you think all this is about? It had better be good. I didn’thave any staff on today and I’ve had to close the pub for the afternoon.”

“Whatever it is, it must be important for Josh to summon ushere like this at short notice,” said Hannah.

“Indeed,” said Peter. “You’re not the only one being put outby this. I had a meeting of the allotment association this afternoon.”

Charlie laughed. “The allotment association! Blimey, you’llbe taking up bingo next.”

“There’s nothing wrong with having an allotment,” insistedPeter. “Imagine how much better it would have been for the environment thispast century if we’d all grown our own fruit and veg, rather than flying ithalfway around the world wrapped up in plastic.”

“He’s got a point,” said Kaylee. “Maybe we should get one,Charlie.”

“I’d rather we started a vineyard,” replied Charlie. “Then Icould make my own wine.”

As they chatted away, Josh and Alice were walking hand inhand towards the Bridge of Sighs. She was still feeling extremely fearful and,despite them talking about nothing else all