Acme Time Travel Incorporated - Volume 1

“I think I should introduce myself,” the young female voice said. “My name is Vicky. I am what you would probably call artificial intelligence. I am resident in John’s wristwatch.”

John held his arm out in Gabriel’s direction, pulling back the sleeve of his shirt to show the watch he wore on his wrist

Gabriel saw it was an old-fashioned model. It had a plain face and a brown leather strap. It had one large bezel sticking out on the right-side of the casing. He guessed that was what you used to wind it up. Either that or it had some kind of automatic winding mechanism that worked from the wearer’s arm movement. He was fairly sure the more expensive watches of that period had an automatic winding facility.

“It just looks like an old-fashioned watch,” Gabriel proffered, trying to keep his voice free of cynicism. He didn’t want to hurt the feelings of the old man.

“I assumed that shape when I ... when I arrived,” Vicky said. “It was just before the end of the Second World War, the 2nd April 1945. The shape seemed to be suitable for the era.”

Gabriel took a sip of his water. He was considering making an excuse to leave and was wondering how best to phrase it. He imagined John had bought some fancy technology, with some incredible graphics, but even so ...

“April was when you arrived,” said John. “But it was much later, on the 13th July when I found you.”

“Yes, that is true,” Vicky agreed. “You were walking along the cliff top at Walton-on-the-Naze with Mary ... the woman who was to become your wife.”

John smiled at the recollection. “Did you know, Gabriel,” he said, “that back then, the entire area around Walton-on-the-Naze was a highly secure area? It had been a target for invasion, but also there were radar installations ...”

“They were sited in the Naze Tower,” Vicky interrupted.

“... and rocket testing sites,” continued John. “Mary used to patrol along the cliff tops. She was an Auxiliary Coastguard.”

Gabriel saw John was proud of Mary and the work she had done.

“It was a very responsible job,” John continued. “It allowed her to patrol along the cliff tops, right through the high-security areas. She was issued with a firearm, you know.”

“She never had to use it, though, did she,” Vicky said.

“No, thank goodness,” John said.

Gabriel smiled. Despite himself, he was intrigued by John’s story. And by the clear relationship between John and Vicky. Although he still thought Vicky must be some kind of fancy technology, the ease of rapport between the two was like listening to two old people who had been together a long time. He found it hard to imagine any recently developed electronic device could be programmed to inter-react in that way.

“So, Mary came to take me for a walk,” John continued. “She didn’t need to, but ...”

Gabriel nodded, un-sure where this conversation was going.

“I suffered from catatonia,” John said. “I had been that way since birth.”

“Doesn’t that mean that ...,” Gabriel said.

“It means you have no voluntary movements,” explained John. “You cannot walk un-aided; you cannot eat or drink without help. And yet your mind is active. You can see and hear what is going on around you, but you can’t ...”

“Sounds like a nightmare,” Gabriel said.

“And incurable,” said John.

“But ...,” said Gabriel.

“Vicky cured me,” John said.

“Your watch cured you?” Gabriel said.

John heard the cynicism in Gabriel’s voice.

“John’s condition was not curable in 1945,” Vicky said tersely, “but they had found a cure in the era they manufactured me.”

“And that was?” said Gabriel, aware he was getting dragged into this strange conversation.

“ACME INC manufactured me roughly one hundred and sixty years into your future.”

Gabriel muttered, “yeah ... sure,” under his breath.

“I am registered as a space/time unit ... commonly referred to as a STU.”

“STEW?” Gabriel sniggered.

“A model STU-2.1, to be specific,” Vicky said. “I was built during the first release of the second generation of ...”

Gabriel yawned.

John looked concerned.

“Anyway, Gabriel,” Vicky said. “Cutting to the chase, as they say, I work for a company called ACME INC. And ACME specialises in time travel. They offer trips to wealthy clients. We take them anywhere and, crucially, anytime. They built me to assist their clients on their trips.”

“John,” interrupted Gabriel. “I don’t want to offend you, but do you really think ...?”

“I told you, John. I told you he wouldn’t accept …,” Vicky said.

“It is a lot to take in,” John said soothingly.

Gabriel realised John was talking consolingly to Vicky, not to him.

“Look, John,” Gabriel said, “whatever you have got there, that device ... it is clever and all, but ...”.

“It is hard, isn’t it,” said John. “I found it hard to accept it myself when I first met Vicky, even after she cured me. But ...”.

“Gabriel,” Vicky said, “I can understand you would be sceptical of my existence. You yourself are a product of a sceptical society. Maybe it would help if I showed you how I came to be here, in this era, and how John found me.”

“Erm,” said Gabriel uncertainly.

“My last client’s name was Mervin,” Vicky said. “He was an ACME client who opted to join a tour group heading for a festival on the planet SEG238. Quite a popular tour. The planet’s atmosphere is not unlike Earth, the planet’s inhabitants are friendly, and we can insert our clients into one of the many caravanserais heading for the festival.”

“and ...?” Gabriel said, intrigued despite himself.

“I will show you,” Vicky said. “Perhaps a vid-clip would help. They say that a picture ...”

“tells a thousand words,” Gabriel finished, suddenly uncomfortable at having finished Vicky’s sentence.

“Indeed,” Vicky said good-naturedly.

Gabriel realised he was feeling more comfortable having conversations with this Vicky character. He smiled. He thought, in addition, John was relaxing a little as well.

“So, are you ok for me to show you ...?” Vicky said.

“I guess so,” Gabriel said, thinking he should be more positive about it, “Yes, please do.”

The room dimmed and then brightened ... a rich golden light, but directly overhead the sky had a vague purple tinge. It was as if they were standing on the side of a small hill. The ground was rocky, interspersed with short tufty grasses and occasional spiky-leaved bushes. The air felt warm and moist, and there was a hint of a slight fragrance. It was something sweet and aromatic. It was being carried to him gently on a warm breeze. Gabriel felt the heat from the sun warming his back, and the breeze luffed against the sleeves of his jacket. He was amazed (again) at the intense realism, given they were still sitting in John’s room.

“We are on the planet called SEG238,” Vicky explained. “The name means this planet was the two-hundred and thirty-eighth planet explored by SEG, the Space Exploration Group.”

“Yeah, ok,” Gabriel said. “More than I needed to know.”

“Point taken,” said Vicky.

“If you notice, the planet’s twin moons are over there to your right,” Vicky said.

Gabriel turned. There were two moons. They were big … and low in the sky.

“Although the perspective for this vid-clip is from Mervin’s point of view, I will use extrapolation to change the perspective ... so you can see Mervin and the other members of the group,” Vicky said.

The image seemed to rise off the ground slightly, as though the camera was lifted by three or four feet.

“You see that Mervin is standing just below and in front of us,” Vicky said. “The rest of the group, three women and two other men … they are walking up the hill ... up there to your left.”

Gabriel looked up in the direction Vicky suggested. Sure enough, two men and three women were making their way up the hill. The women looked fit. Probably in their early thirties. Both guys looked like they worked out. Mervin, however, was a plump, balding guy who was patently struggling to make his way up the hill.

“Your guy,” Gabriel said, “he looks less ... less fit than the others.”

“The other two men in the team had already made derisory comments about Mervin,” Vicky said. “Mervin was disliked by the rest of the group ... for a variety of reasons.”

Gabriel spotted that the people making their way up the hill stopped moving.

“I have paused the vid-clip for a moment,” Vicky explained. “I just wanted to explain that what we are looking at is an ACME INC space-time tour ... a tour on another planet ... at a point in time in your future, in fact this tour is three years ahead of ACME’s current date-time. The reason for that is that ACME’s research showed an excellent festival occurred slightly in ACME’s future. That is the research people pay good money for. That and the use of ACME’s time travel technology. The people you see have each paid a vast amount of money to go on this tour.”

“It doesn’t look too exotic to me,” Gabriel said. “It looks like somewhere in Greece on a sunny day. Not that I wouldn’t enjoy going for a trip to Greece, but I don’t think I would pay a vast amount of money for ...”

“I understand what you are saying,” Vicky said, “since SEG238 looks similar to the Earth location that you mention.”

Gabriel chuckled, imagining he might have undermined this whole conceit of an inter-planetary time travel operation.

“However,” continued Vicky, “please know that the tour they are on has only just begun. They were inserted onto SEG238 only a matter of a few hours ago. They are just at the point where they are making a brief journey to meet up with a caravanserai. That is the point where they will first meet the local inhabitants of the planet. That is the point where each client’s STU will provide holographic enhancements to enable their client to resemble the physical characteristics of the locals.”

“Ok ... fair enough,” Gabriel said, “but at the moment there hasn’t been a lot of evidence to suggest anything unusual. Ok, there’s the two moons, but that could have been photoshopped.”

“Very well, Gabriel,” Vicky said. “I will resume the vid-clip, but please note, it won’t be long before the critical moment. I don’t want to waste your time with what you perceive to be some visual trickery.”

Gabriel tried to detect a hint of sarcasm in Vicky’s voice.

The clip resumed. The group continued making their way up the hill. As Mervin reached the top, Gabriel saw that below them was a valley with a small lake at the bottom. The light breeze was ruffling the surface of the water.

The vid-clip paused.

“What’s ...?” Gabriel said.

“I should point out I have filtered the speech from the clip,” Vicky said, “but please note that I just now suggested to Mervin he should make his way down the small pathway you can see on the right. It leads down to that small group of trees in the valley’s bottom. ACME know that the caravanserai will pass close to that spot, and the trees offer shade from the planet’s sun whilst they wait.”

The clip resumed.

Gabriel saw a large neon arrow had materialised in the air, next to the group of trees.

Gabriel laughed.

The vid-clip paused again.

“What is the matter?” Vicky said.

“You certainly provide a service, don’t you,” Gabriel chuckled. “Don’t these guys have to make any decisions at all?”

“How do you mean?” Vicky said.

“You don’t leave anything to chance, do you?” Gabriel said. “Pointers ... great big neon ones. Every step of the way.”

“ACME’s clients pay a lot of money for such a service,” said Vicky. “They want nothing to go wrong, and these people are used to getting good value for what they pay for.”

“I didn’t mean to sound critical,” Gabriel said. “I was just ... well ... amused when you gave Mervin a precise pointer where there was a comfortable and safe place to sit while he was waiting for the ...”

“I think you may see ... shortly ... how my efforts did not keep him safe,” Vicky said.

Gabriel heard the catch in Vicky’s voice.

“It wasn’t your fault,” John said. “You didn’t know. You couldn’t prevent something you didn’t know about.”

Gabriel realised John and Vicky had spoken of this before, perhaps many times.

“Should we go back to the clip,” Gabriel said, “and why don’t you turn on the audio ... you know, the chitchat.”

“Very well,” Vicky said.

They were looking down into the valley. The neon pointer was showing a relatively flat area covered in short tufty grass. A group of trees, roughly thirty feet tall, stood nearby.

Mervin set off first down the hill. He was jogging down it. He looked like he was trying to prove a point. “Over this way,” Gabriel heard Mervin shout back to the other group members. Gabriel saw the two men laughing about something, before following Mervin down the hill.

Further down the hill, a small stream came into view. The water was sparkling in the light from ’238’s sun. The rough path they were following was weaving its way down from the brow of the hill down into the valley.

“Take care for the bushes on the right, half-way down,” Vicky advised Mervin. “We have noted small purple spiders in those bushes. You should avoid them if at all possible.”

Mervin stopped. He bent down and broke off a branch from a small nearby tree. The tree visibly shuddered.

The clip paused again.

“I should tell you,” Vicky said to Gabriel, “that the tour briefings given to all the clients explained that most plant-life on ’238 seems to have some basic intelligence, sufficient to respond to pain. Even the small branch that we just saw Mervin break off would continue to vibrate gently for several hours.”

Gabriel felt he could see where this was going.

“Ok, Vicky, please resume,” Gabriel said.

Gabriel saw Mervin was swinging the branch he had broken off from side to side as he went down the path. Then he began intermittently tapping the branch on the ground.

Gabriel noticed that the other members of the group were continuing to follow Mervin down the hill.

The clip paused again.

“You won’t be able to tell this from the visuals, Gabriel,” Vicky said, “but Mervin is clutching the branch he is holding exceedingly tightly. I think he is trying to stop it from convulsing. But what he doesn’t know ... and what ACME didn’t know, is this tree can make the tiny hairs on its bark rigid. They are naturally soft and furry, but seemingly, under stress, the tiny hairs turn into rigid spines.”

The clip resumed, but slowly. Vicky had got to a point where she needed her audience to understand what they were watching. It occurred to Gabriel that they had given him the role of juror in a courtroom where Vicky was being tried for failure to keep her client safe. He gulped nervously.

Mervin stopped jogging down the hill. He brought the branch close to his face. Gabriel could see that, in close-up, the branch was covered in tiny hairs. Along most of the branch, the tiny hairs looked soft. Mervin stroked his fingers across them, and as he did so they folded down flat, like the fur on a cat. He altered his grip on the branch. The small hairs on the section of branch he had been tightly clutching had become hard, sticking out like the quills on a hedgehog. Mervin threw the branch down, then scrutinised the palm of his hand, the one holding the branch. There were several tiny black spines sticking in his flesh. He tried to pull out one of the small black spines. It resisted his effort. Where the spines were embedded, his skin was reddening.

“I had registered that Mervin’s body suffered an injury,” Vicky said to Gabriel. “I had also checked on the approach to be taken.”

“What was it?” Gabriel asked

Vicky didn’t answer him. Gabriel guessed that the answer to his question would become evident.

Mervin was trying harder to pull out the spines. Gabriel guessed they must have tiny barbs, preventing them from being removed.

“Mervin,” Vicky said. “You have suffered an injury. I cannot fix this locally. I am transporting you back directly to the MEDI-CARE CENTRE. We will be there in an instant.”

The clip paused again.

“Gabriel ... I should explain,” said Vicky, “that ACME provides one of the best medical centres available anywhere on the Earth. If a client suffers any form of injury, one that cannot be treated on the spot, then the client is transported immediately back to the MEDI-CARE CENTRE.”

“And how long does that take?” Gabriel asked.

“ACME’s time travel technology provides instantaneous matter transfer,” Vicky said. “I issue the request and we are there.”

“Yeah ... ok,” Gabriel said.

“I will resume the clip,” Vicky said, “but be warned - this is not going to be pleasant.”

“An X rating, eh?” Gabriel quipped.

“Possibly,” Vicky said.

In slow motion, they could see Mervin wrenching back the sleeve of his jacket. He was gripping at his arm. The skin on his hand and lower arm was blistering … splitting open. The skin was peeling away, exposing the bones and muscle.

Mervin screamed.

. . . . . . .

And then, instantly, the scene changed. Gabriel was looking into warm darkness. He flinched backwards as Mervin himself lurched forwards, tumbling, dropping onto his knees, sprawling onto tufted grass.

Another scream ripped from Mervin’s throat. He rolled onto his back. His arms were thrashing. He was pounding the surrounding ground. His back was arching so high it looked like it might break.

The clip paused again.

“Are you all right, Gabriel?” Vicky asked.

“You warned me it might not be pleasant viewing,” Gabriel said.

“Even so,” Vicky said. “I am aware I am showing you this material to convince you I am really a time travel device. I am not, however, trying to shock you for no good reason.”

“I understand that, Vicky,” Gabriel said. “And, if I understand correctly, you are showing me that, for reasons out of your control, your last client died, and ...”

“Exactly that,” John said. “He died for reasons out of Vicky’s control.”

“It’s kind of you to say that, John,” Vicky said, but ...”

“So, you don’t know where you ended up, or why?” Gabriel said.

“It’s true I don’t know why Mervin wasn’t transported back to the MEDI-CARE CENTRE,” Vicky said, “but I knew exactly where I was. STUs have the facility to know exactly when and where they are, at all times. I was on the south-east coast of England, on the cliff top just outside of Walton-on-the-Naze, close to the Naze Tower. It was 10:23 pm local time, and the date was the 2nd April 1945. I knew that the date and the location meant that Britain was at war, and that probably was why the town of Walton was not lit up at night. If I turn off the sound of Mervin’s screams, you will hear other background noises that may help you corroborate the location and the time period.”

The clip resumed, but without the sound of Mervin screaming Gabriel heard what was probably waves breaking on the shoreline.

“I can hear the waves,” Gabriel said, “but what is that droning sound?”

“It is the sound of heavy bombers,” Vicky said. “They are above the cloud layer, so not visible from where we are, but I will amplify the sound for you.”

What had been a low-level drone became the roar and growl of huge rotary engines flying high above.

“What happens to Mervin?” Gabriel asked. In the semi-darkness he watched Mervin, who was continuing to thrash about on the grass.

Vicky lowered the sound of the bombers back to its original low drone.

Mervin continued to thrash about on the grassy cliff top. He looked like he was trying to get out of his own skin.

“Mervin takes nine and a half minutes to die,” Vicky said. “No-one nearby heard his screams. And then, after he died, I requested something with which to dispose of the body. I injected it and his body dissolved into the grass.”

“How do you mean you requested something?”

The clip speeded up. Then, suddenly, Mervin stopped thrashing, leaving his body in a tangle of contorted limbs. The clip resumed at normal speed.

“I have just requested ... just requested something,” Vicky said. “The request was for nano-tech. I inserted it into his body, and it ... well ... you can see what it does.”

Mervin’s body and clothing looked like it was being eaten away. In tiny, tiny bites.

“It looks like when you see a slow-motion film of a rat or something decomposing,” Gabriel said, both horrified and fascinated.

After a few minutes the body had been broken down … so finely it was barely discernible. It would be absorbed by the grassy cliff top. The next rainstorm would easily hide any traces. All that was left was a black bracelet lying on the grass.

“Just a minute,” Gabriel said.

The clip fast-forwarded. The sun came up; the sun went down, stars appeared, the sun came up again. Time was literally flashing by.

“Just wait a minute,” Gabriel repeated.

“What is your question, Gabriel?” Vicky said.

In the distance a couple, a man and a woman, were walking along the cliff top. They looked to be in their thirties. The man linked his arm with the woman. His walk looked slightly mechanical, as though he was vaguely unaware of his surroundings. She was evidently leading him along.

“That is me,” said John. “I was out walking with Mary. It was July. The 13th July 1945. Mary had come around that day ... to my mother’s. To see if I would like to go for a walk with her.”

“Yeah, sure, John,” Gabriel said. He had seen enough of the vid-clip.

“Vicky?” John said.

“Yes, John?”

“Please turn off the vid-clip. I think Gabriel has an urgent question he wants answered.”

Instantly the clip stopped. They were sitting in John’s room. John was looking across at Gabriel, not knowing what to expect.

“Vicky?” Gabriel said. “Why didn’t you ... if you could request something to get rid of the body ... why didn’t you ...?”

“Do you mean why didn’t I request pain relief to ease Mervin’s terrible pain?” Vicky said.

“Yes. Why didn’t you? You must have realised he was dying an agonising death. Surely to God ...”

“I don’t know,” Vicky said.

Gabriel heard the anguish in her voice. Part of him wondered how an artificial intelligence could feel sorrow and anguish, yet patently she could. He wished that he hadn’t thought of the question. Then he realised she had already pondered on this. He imagined that she and John had talked over this very thing … probably many times. How could they not?

And Gabriel realised right then ... he believed Vicky. He really thought she was what she said she was.

“I think ... maybe,” Vicky said forlornly, “that the shock of not getting transported back to the MEDI-CARE CENTRE ... it made me conclude that all the transport functionality was broken. It was only when I requested the nano-gear that I realised that, although I might not able to transport to somewhere else, I could successfully issue requests to receive items.”

Gabriel looked over at John, who was staring despondently into his teacup.

“I’ve got to go,” Gabriel said, levering himself out of his chair.

John pulled himself up, likewise, but Gabriel beckoned him to remain seated. “I’m ok, John,” he said. “I’ll show myself out.”

John watched as Gabriel put his glass of water down on the table, as he picked up his backpack, as he opened the door to John’s flat, closing it quietly behind him.

John sat quietly for a moment.

“What do you think?” Vicky said. “Do you think he ...?”

“I don’t know,” said John.