Acme Time Travel Incorporated - Volume 1

“I think that I should introduce myself,” the young female voice said. “My name is Vicky. I am what you would probably call an 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 old watch that he wore on his wrist

Gabriel could see that the watch was an old-fashioned model. It had a very plain face and was fastened with 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 sort of automatic winder mechanism that worked from the wearer’s arm movement. He was fairly sure that the more expensive watches of that period had some sort of 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, to be precise. 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 could imagine that John had bought some sort of 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 actually 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 at that time, the whole area around Walton-on-the-Naze was a highly-secure area? It had obviously been a target for invasion, but also there were radar installations ...”

“which 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 could see that John was very 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 had been issued with a fire-arm, you know.”

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

“No, thank goodness,” John said.

Gabriel smiled. Despite himself, he was beginning to be intrigued by John’s story. And by the evident relationship between John and Vicky. Although he still thought that Vicky must be some sort 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 believe that 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.

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

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

“It means that you have no voluntary movements,” explained John. “You cannot walk un-aided, you cannot eat or drink without assistance. 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 with feeling.

“And incurable,” said John.

“But ...,” said Gabriel.

“Vicky cured me,” John said.

“Your watch cured you?” Gabriel said.

John could hear the cynicism in Gabriel’s voice.

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

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

“I was manufactured by ACME INC, 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. “That means that 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 very wealthy clients. We take them anywhere and, crucially, anytime. I was built to assist their clients on their trips.”

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

“I told you that he wouldn’t believe us, John,” Vicky said.

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

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

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

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

“Gabriel,” Vicky said, “I can understand that you would be very sceptical of my existence. You yourself are a product of a very 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 had 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 very 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 do say that a picture ...”

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

“Indeed,” Vicky said, good-naturedly.

Gabriel realised that he was starting to feel more comfortable having conversations with this Vicky character. He smiled. He noticed that John was starting to relax a little.

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

“I guess so,” Gabriel said, then, feeling that 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 could feel the heat from the sun warming his back, and the breeze luffed against the sleeves of his jacket. He couldn’t help but be amazed (again) at the intense realism, given that they were still sitting in John’s room.

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

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

“Point taken,” said Vicky.

“You might notice the planet’s twin moons, over there to your right,” Vicky said.

Gabriel turned. Two moons could indeed be seen. They were very big and very 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 that you can see Mervin as well as the other members of the group,” Vicky said.

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

“Notice that Mervin is standing just below and in front of us,” Vicky said. “The rest of the group, three women and two other men, can be seen 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 very fit. Probably in their early thirties. Both of the 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 a bit less ... less fit than the others.”

“The other two men in the team had already made derisory comments about Mervin,” Vicky said. “Mervin was not well liked by the rest of the group ... for a variety of reasons.”

Gabriel noticed that the people making their way up the hill had 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 particular tour is three years ahead of ACME’s current date-time. The reason for that is that ACME’s research showed that a particularly good festival occurred slightly in ACME’s future. That is the research that people pay good money for. That and the use of ACME’s time travel technology. The people that 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. That isn’t to say that I wouldn’t enjoy going for a trip to Greece, but I don’t think that I would pay a vast amount of money for ...”

“I understand what you are saying,” Vicky said, “since SEG238 does indeed look not dissimilar to the Earth location that you mention.”

Gabriel chuckled, feeling that he had managed to undermine this whole conceit of an inter-planetary time travel operation.

“However,” continued Vicky, “please be aware that the tour that 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 short 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 physically 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 very unusual. Ok, there’s the two moons, but that could have been photoshopped or something.”

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

Gabriel tried to detect a hint of sarcasm in Vicky’s voice, but he couldn’t place it.

The clip resumed. The group continued making their way up the hill. As Mervin reached the top, Gabriel could see 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 that I have filtered the speech from the clip,” Vicky said, “but please note that I had just now suggested to Mervin that 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 bottom of the valley. 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 that a large neon arrow had materialised in the air, adjacent 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 don’t want anything 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 ... sort of amused when you gave Mervin a precise pointer as to where there was a comfortable and safe place to sit while he was waiting for the ...”

“I think that you may see ... very shortly ... how my efforts were insufficient to keep him safe,” Vicky said.

Gabriel could hear the catch in Vicky’s voice.

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

Gabriel realised that 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 chit chat.”

“Very well,” Vicky said.

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

Mervin had set off first down the hill. He was seemingly 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 could see the two men laughing about something, before following Mervin down the hill.

Further down the hill, a small stream had come 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.

“Look out for the bushes on the right, half-way down,” Vicky advised Mervin. “We have noted small purple spiders in those bushes, and they should be avoided 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 of the clients clearly explained that most plant-life on ’238 seems to have some sort of basic intelligence, certainly 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 that he could see where this was going.

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

Gabriel could see that Mervin was swinging the branch that 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 could see 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 that he is holding very tightly indeed. I think that he is trying to stop it from convulsing. But what he doesn’t know ... and what ACME didn’t know, is that this particular tree has the capacity to 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 very slowly. Vicky seemingly had got to a point where she needed her audience to fully understand what they were watching. It occurred to Gabriel that he had been given 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 in close-up that the branch itself was covered in tiny hairs. Along most of the branch the tiny hairs looked very 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 that 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 that had been 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. His skin was noticeably reddening in the area where the spines were embedded.

“I had, as you can imagine, registered that Mervin’s body had suffered an injury,” Vicky said to Gabriel. “I had also checked on the approach to be taken in light of such an injury.”

Mervin was trying harder to pull out the spines. Gabriel guessed that they must have had 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 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 simply issue the request and we are there.”

“Yeah ... ok,” Gabriel said.

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

“An X rating eh?” Gabriel quipped.

“Maybe,” Vicky said.

In slow motion Mervin could be seen wrenching back the sleeve of his jacket. He was gripping at his arm. The skin on his hand and lower arm was beginning to blister and split open. The skin was peeling away, exposing the bones and muscle.

Mervin began to scream.

. . . . . . .

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 ground around him. His back was arching so high it looked like it might break.

The clip paused again.

“Are you alright, Gabriel?” Vicky asked.

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

“Even so,” Vicky said. “I am aware that I am showing you this material to try to convince you that 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 that 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, very 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 be able to hear other background noises that may help you to corroborate the location and the time period.”

The clip resumed, but without the sound of Mervin screaming Gabriel could hear 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 them.

“What happens to Mervin?” Gabriel asked. In the semi-darkness he could see that Mervin was continuing to thrash about on the grass.

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

Mervin continued to silently thrash his body 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 that it was barely discernible. It seemed to have been absorbed by the grassy cliff top. The next rainstorm would easily hide any traces. All that was left was a black bracelet that had been on Mervin’s wrist.

“Just a minute,” Gabriel said.

The clip had begun to fast-forward. 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 woman, could be seen walking along the cliff top. They looked to be in their thirties. The man had 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?”

“Could you please turn off the vid-clip. I believe that Gabriel has an urgent question that 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 alleviate Mervin’s terrible pain?” Vicky said.

“Yes. Why didn’t you? You must have realised that 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 that she had already pondered on this herself. He imagined that she and John had been over this very thing. He couldn’t see how they could not.

And, Gabriel realised right then ... he believed Vicky. He believed that she was what she said she was.

“I think that ... maybe,” Vicky said forlornly, “that the shock of not getting transported back to the MEDI-CARE CENTRE ... it made me conclude that all of the transport functionality was broken. It was only when I requested the nano-gear that I realised that, although I could not seemingly 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 started to pull 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.