Tempus Fugitives

Beside me I heard Jadixna's whispered voice. "One thousand, two thousand, three thousand...." I was just about to ask her what she was doing when she cautioned me not to say anything.

She got up to thirty thousand and we were wondering when something was about to happen when the main hatch slid back and the white coated figure emerged clutching in his hand something that Jadixna told was a newspaper. The others hurried over to him and he held it out so that they could read the date on it. They immediately burst into applause and started jumping around the workshop in a frenzy of excitement. "Gentlemen, and ladies, we have succeeded."

We returned to our separate and lonely apartments in an almost trancelike state, the means to achieve what we planned to do was available to us. We could see nothing stopping us.

When I logged into my computer the next morning a message was flashing on the screen "Leandara report to your controller immediately."

3

It was with fear and trepidation that I approached the Controller's office. It was the first time in my long career that I had been summoned in this manner, usually there was a gentle message on the Vidscreen which was designed to make me maintain my work throughput, of course I had believed every word of it and redoubled my efforts. This time however, I got the impression that trouble was waiting on the other side of the door and while I was able to exchange thought messages with Jadixna I was unable to read the Controller's mind.

I hand printed the door lock. "Please wait." a recorded voice told me. I waited, and waited until several minutes, going on an hour, later the door shished into the wall. "Please enter" the door told me. I entered.

I stood staring at the top of the controller's head as she pretended to pour over the vid screen in front of her. "Sit down." I sat.

I sat waiting while she continued to pour over the screen in front of her. At last she looked at me, fixing me with a glare that was designed to freeze me in my tracks. I froze.

"Leandara, I am concerned about your section, just what is going on down there?"

Figuring that innocence was the best reaction I reacted, "What do you mean?"

"I have been getting complaints. Now your section is not one that usually gets complaints, so how do you explain the several complaints that I have personally received over the last few weeks?"

"If I knew what the people were complaining about I might be able to explain them. I certainly am not aware of any dissatisfaction from any client." If I didn't know better I would almost have convinced myself.

She once more consulted her papers. "I have here a complaint from a client who states that you and your assistant tried to dissuade him from the retirement destination that had been so carefully chosen for him."

"Oh that. He had changed his mind a couple of times and we tried to get him to stick with his first choice."

"That is not the way that it was put to me and the monitor record tends to support his version of the story."

"Would it be possible for me to view the record?"

"Certainly." She reached for a button on her desk and a Vidscreen burst into life on the wall behind me. I swivelled my chair just in time to see myself interviewing the client. I said a silent thanks for my habit of talking softly because you couldn't hear any of what was being said.

Saved. "You can't hear what is being said."

She opened her drawer and took from it a sheet of paper. "I took the liberty of getting a person skilled in lip reading to translate what has been said." She rewound the tape to the start of the interview and read from the transcript, matching word for word my words.

It was an adequate translation but I felt that I had to protest my innocence for as long as possible after all, she would still believe me to still be under mind control and not even think that I could lie to her. I did.

"Stop there! Now go back. Stop! Now play it from there." I sat and watched for a few minutes while at the same time looking for an innocent sounding statement that would fit the circumstances. "There! Your person said that I said 'You can't go to the Gold Coast because they are working on erosion control and you could find yourself in the way.' What in fact I said was 'You CAN go to the Gold Coast, but they are working on erosion control and you could find yourself in the way.' I was merely pointing out that he could find his retirement disrupted by the erosion control along the coast, after all his dossier indicated his retirement would be spent soaking up the sun on the beach."

She considered this for a few minutes before deciding to give me the benefit of the doubt. "I will accept your explanation this time but if there are any further complaints of this nature I will be forced to take disciplinary action."

I left her office with a mixture of relief and concern. Relief because I had been able to explain my way out of a tricky situation and concern because Jadixna and I had left ourselves open to this sort of accusation. We would have to be more careful in future.

"You managed that one well." Jadixna's concern was profound.

"How did you know I was in trouble?" I asked needlessly.

"I knew as soon as you went into her office that something was wrong. She left you hanging for a while to stew before she hit you with it, then your brain really started working overtime. Even though you weren't directing your thoughts at me I was still able to pick them up so I was working on a contingency plan in case you got into it too deeply but I was glad that wasn't necessary."

"Not this time any way, but we will have to be more careful in future."

"I agree that we were a bit slack with our precautions and I blame myself for that. I assumed that because I am able to think more freely than you I could stay one step ahead of them but I underestimated their resourcefulness. We are going to have to tighten up our defences."

"Does that mean that we won't be able to see each other outside of work in future?"

"Hopefully not. Tonight we had better check out our apartments for any sign of tampering."

"I wouldn't know the first thing about tampering so I wouldn't recognise it if I tripped over it."

"That's no real problem, I can check yours out as well as mine. I figure that they will use the same method on both of our apartments, if they have done anything, so, when I find out what they have done I will be able to counter it even before I arrive at your place to defuse yours. Just don't do or say anything out of the ordinary until I get there." She caught my thoughts that I was feeling hurt by her suggestion that I wouldn't take precautions. "Hey come on! You don't think that I will leave you on your own any longer than I have to, do you?"

"How could you suggest that I would even think of such a thing?"

"Forgive me Darling, I don't know what came over me." This was the light-hearted banter between us that I enjoyed. But behind this light hearted exchange were fears that we would find ourselves discovered before we could carry out our plans.

Our evenings became a ritual of checking out the progress of the Time Machine at the university as it was checked and tested, and checked and tested, before going through the archive disks on the history of the world, making love at either of our apartments after first making sure that there were no new monitoring devices.

Central Monitoring, having been alerted to an anomaly in our behaviour, had taken an even greater interest in our work attitudes. This was to be the trigger that forced us to bring forward our plans. I had just arrived back at my apartment when my head was hit by an alarm from Jadixna. "Leandara, get out of there now!" This message came simultaneously with the appearance from my TTL of a heavy duty Security Personnel. I didn't stay to look at the amazed expression on his face as I suddenly wasn't there, I was immediately at the university looking down at the deserted workshop with Jadixna.

"It looks safe to go down there.' Jadixna had been telepathically scanning the surrounding area so we went.

"Are you sure that you know how to operate this thing?"

"While I was waiting for you to get here I took a quick look inside. It seems easy enough." She punched numbers into a key pad on the console. "These are the co-ordinates that we need to take us back to where and when we want to go."

As she reached for a button to start the machine a group of security police burst into the workshop. Jadixna didn't stay to exchange pleasantries with them, she punched the button and we were off to the past, hopefully.

4

Our research had prepared us for most things except the noise and smells. Our environment was sanitised to the point that there were virtually no natural smells, here we were confronted with a barrage of new and exciting aromas. The trees and flowers gave off clear fresh smells while the vehicles emitted strong acrid fumes which offended our senses.

The sounds that confronted us were a confusion, people talking with each other as they walked along the paths, vehicles rumbling, screeching, blaring and roaring their way around. Our ears rang.

I looked around me, "What are those buildings?"

"The old university."

"Which University?"

"Adelaide. Now let's get out of here in case we were followed and before the locals get curious about the time machine."

"How could they follow us?"

"If you remember when we were watching the trials the machine didn't seem to move. I think it has something to do with the Time/Space Continuum and if they are smart enough they will figure out that by looking into it they can duplicate the settings and arrive here with us." she paused in thought for a few seconds, "It actually won't make any difference how smart they are, the settings won't change so that can take a week and still arrive here and now."

"Can't we change the co-ordinates now and move to another time or place, or both?"

"There's no point in doing that, because if they don't find us here they will just have to go back to find out the new settings."

"If I were them I would have set the co-ordinates for a couple of minutes ahead of ours and be here waiting for us."

"They are obviously not as devious as you are. Let's get away from here before they arrive."

They were as devious as I would have been. As we walked away from the machine an amplified voice came from behind us. "Stay right where you are!"

We didn't stay. Jadixna told me to teleport 100 metres to the South so I did and we met in an almost deserted shopping mall. Our first priority was to change our clothes so that we were less conspicuous but looking in the window of the shops was enough to convince us that we didn't bring enough money with us to buy new clothes. We were still deciding whether we should steal some clothes when we saw the first of the security police approaching. He hadn't seen us so we quickly teleported into the shop hoping that they would not look inside.

They didn't, so having a little breathing space we set about acquiring a new wardrobe.

The arrival of the local police was the first indication that we had that we had triggered some form of alarm in the store. The rattling of the door handle was the first indication then the shining of a torch beam into the store further confirmed our predicament.

We crouched behind a counter as the light probed the interior of the store. Just when we thought that it was safe to leave a new sound greeted us, that of the door being opened, it was no longer safe to stay so we teleported outside and stood just behind the gathering crowd and watched to see what would happen.

Our faith in human nature took a beating over the next few minutes when the store manager announced that while he would need to do a thorough stock reconciliation to see how much was missing, he had checked the cash register and found that all of the days takings were missing.

The police questioned the man for some time, concentrating on why he would have left the takings in the register instead of taking it to the Night Safe at his bank. His explanation, while plausible, somehow didn't ring true and the police were not convinced. "As you can see sir, there is no sign of a forced entry into the store," the policeman in charge pointed pointedly to the unscathed door frame, "The door was locked, and it would seem from the outside because you had to be called out to unlock it and it is fitted with a dead lock which can't be locked by just pulling it closed, how would you explain that?"

"I don't know. Maybe the burglar is still inside, maybe he got in through a ventilator and left by the same means before you got here, you did say that there was no-one here when you arrived. Why are you asking me this, you are the experts on burglaries aren't you?"

"Is there any other way in or out of the store?"

"There is a back door that can be pulled shut behind you, this is how the staff lock up when they are working late and I'm not here to close up."

"Were you the last to leave the store this afternoon?"

"Yes."

"No other person was in the store when you left?"

"No."

"Does any other person have a key to the front door?"

"Yes, my assistant manager has a key."

"And you are certain that this assistant manager could not have stolen the money?"

"Yes I am sure."

"You are sure?"

"I have already told you that I am sure, why are you pursuing this line?"

"We have to be sure. How can you be so certain that your assistant could not have done it?"

"The information that I give you, is it confidential?"

"As far as its use as evidence is concerned, if it is an open court then it is open for the media to use unless you can somehow get a suppression order, which I doubt, but if the offender is a juvenile then no evidence is permitted to be released to the media."

"My assistant could not have taken the money because she was with me at the time that the alarm went off."

"Why should this be a problem?" suddenly the obvious became clear to him, "Oh, you have a wife who thinks that you a conscientiously working late to provide for her and your children while all the time you are cheating on her, them."

"If you must put it that way then, yes that is what was happening."

"How does the alarm work, it's not switched through to your house?"

"No, I have a device like a pager and when the alarm is triggered it comes through this to me personally so that I can respond quickly."

"How convenient, and you can tell your wife that you were called back to the store because the alarm went off giving you a bit more time for your extra-curricular activities."

The finger print person came back from his task a t the rear of the store, "I have lifted two distinct sets from the back door which match perfectly the two distinct sets from the front door. One set I know are this man's and I presume that the other set belongs to an assistant."

"Not an assistant, the assistant."

"When can you be certain of the ownership of the prints?"

"In the morning, after I have got the prints from the assistant."

"I'm afraid sir, that at this time all the evidence is pointing to an inside job."

This point was not lost on the manager. "Well then the evidence must be wrong. There is no way that either myself or my assistant could or would have done this."

"Maybe it is not a case of either or but one of both?"

"I believe that my best interests will be served by contacting my lawyer."

"Whatever. If you don't mind before you rush off to your lawyer, I would like the name and address of your assistant."

"Her name is Janine Grahame and she is sitting in my car if you must talk to her now. I will of course be advising her to say nothing until I have discussed this whole thing with my lawyer, who will, I'm sure be only too happy to represent her as well."

The police and store manager left in the general direction of the end of the mall and left us alone outside the store. We went inside and decided that as long as we were supposed to have stolen all of the money we may as well find where it was kept and help ourselves. It didn't take a mental giant long to find the concealed safe and it didn't take the same mental giant long to find the key to the safe beneath the cash drawer in the register. Inside the safe there were several thousand dollars, it was obvious that the manager had little faith in the bank, or he was operating on a cash transaction basis and didn't want the taxation department to find out how much he was earning.

We took just enough for our immediate needs and left the store to find some form of temporary accommodation until a more permanent base could be found.

As we were new to this sort of thing we decided to ask someone and the most obvious person was a policeman. "Excuse me," I said as I approached a familiar looking figure, it was one of the police who were in the store, "We are new into town and our luggage has been held up in transit, so we are looking for somewhere to stay until our stuff arrives, do you have any suggestions?"

"That depends on what you are looking for and how much you are willing to spend."

"While money is a little tight, we want something comfortable."

"What about a motel?"

"I suppose so." My thoughts were racing, what the hell was a motel?

"There is the Travelodge, it's pretty expensive but nice and then there are a few cheaper and just as comfortable ones on the other side of the parklands." He listed off several and gave us directions to them. Thanking him we left.

This was the beginning of our troubles for the evening. Arriving at the motel we were greeted less cordially than one would expect. The inconspicuous name we had chosen seemed to provide the receptionist with some form of amusement. "Mr and Mrs Smith, you have your luggage with you?"

"No, you see it was misplaced in transit, we only have this small bag between us."

"How inconvenient for you. And how will you be paying your bill, cash or credit card?"

"Cash of course."

"Of course. And how long do you intend staying?"

"One or two days, at least until we find somewhere permanent."

"Would you be wanting a double or twin room, or would you wish the honeymoon suite?" the Receptionist sneered.

I didn't have a clue what the honeymoon suite was but I thought that accepting it would humour him, "The honeymoon suite sounds just right doesn't it Darling?"

"Why yes," Jadixna simpered following my lead.

"Very good." He reached for a key and walked around from behind the counter. "Follow me."

We followed. He led us to the honeymoon suite which was quite different from the Spartan accommodation to which we were used. "There is the bathroom," he indicated a door at the rear of the room. "If you feel the need for a cup of tea the facilities are here and in the mini bar you will find a complimentary bottle of champagne."

He at last left us to ourselves and we took the opportunity to explore our first taste of twentieth century living. We opened and shut doors and peered into cupboards and cabinets. At last we arrived, simultaneously, at the bed. It was huge compared to the narrow lonely sleep platforms of HERC. We jumped on it from different sides and bounced together in the middle, laughing we held each other for several minutes, just savouring the moment then, slowly, we began to undress each other until we were both naked.

We were just getting our rhythm worked out when there was a knock on the door. Scrambling back into our clothes I walked over to the door to be greeted by our leering receptionist. "Have you filled in your breakfast menu card yet?"

"No, where is it?"

He indicated a card on the table. I looked at it in some confusion. I recognised none of the stuff on it so I ticked a couple of items from each section but by the way that his eyebrows arched up into his hairline when he glanced at it, I felt that my selections were less than normal. Oh well, time will tell.