Acme Time Travel Incorporated - Volume 2

The Alameda de Hercules - Seville

Gabriel and Ginny stopped just up the road from the café that Sara and Zackery were going to. They stood back behind one of the large guardian trees growing along the wide street. In the distance they could see Sara and Zackery, walking along together. Zackery had on a soft pale-blue linen shirt, with casual cream trousers and brown shoes. Sara had on a pair of tight blue jeans and a long-sleeved white T-shirt. She was wearing pumps on her feet. Sara seemed to be skipping alongside Zackery, and he was holding her hand and smiling to anyone he saw. They looked very happy together. They sat down at a roadside table.

A waiter saw them and walked up to them. “Hola!” he said

“Un café y ...,” Sara said to the waiter. She looked back over to Zackery, who just smiled back at her. “Un café con leche.”

The waiter scribbled something down on his notepad, then said to Sara, “No tiere mucho espaňol ¬¿verdad?” He gestured vaguely towards Zackery, who was looking up the street.

“No ... no mucho,” Sara said, looking quizzically at the waiter.

“Tal vez, e gustaría venir y ver mi máquina de café?” He gestured back to the door of the café.

“ ... es muy grande,” he continued. “Un recuerdo para tus vacaciones.”

Sara laughed. “Estoy segura de que tu máquina es muy impresionante ... muchas gracias, pero solo tomar un café,” she said.

The waiter chuckled good-naturedly and walked off back into the café.

“What was that about?” Zackery said, as the waiter walked away.

“I just had a proposition,” she said, smiling. “He was offering me ... something off the menu, let’s say. I told him thank-you, but that you were more than enough for me.”

She reached over and stroked Zackery’s hand.

He smiled back at her but cast a vague glance in the direction of the door to the café.

. . . . . . . .

“C’mon,” Ginny said to Gabriel. “Let’s go and see them.”

Ginny set off walking down the street, Gabriel rushing to catch up.

Sara turned and saw them. She began to wave excitedly.

The waiter was just arriving with Sara and Zackery’s drinks. He put the drinks down, then turned and pushed another two chairs onto Sara and Zackery’s table.

Ginny leant down and gave Sara a big hug. Gabriel shook Zackery’s hand warmly.

“Great to see you guys,” Sara said. “What’s new? We were waiting to hear from you.”

“It’s only been four weeks since we last saw them, you know,” Zackery said, grinning.

“Yeah, I know, but, well ...” Sara said, suddenly aware that the waiter was waiting to take an additional order.

Sara looked over to Gabriel and Ginny.

“Do you want a coffee or something cold?” she asked them.

Ginny took a quick look at the drinks menu and pointed to something that looked like a tall glass filled with kiwi fruits and strawberries.

Sara turned to the waiter, pointing to the drink that Ginny had seen.

“Una como esta,” she said.

Gabriel looked up to the waiter, holding up two fingers, taking care to hold his palm facing forwards.

“No, dos como esta,” Sara said to the waiter, who scribbled something down and walked back into the café.

“Sara?” Gabriel said. “Before we talk any more, do you have the STU with you ... the one that Swan gave you?”

Both Sara and Zackery recognised the urgency in Gabriel’s voice.

“Sure ... I’m wearing it,” Sara said, pulling back the sleeve of her long-sleeved T-shirt. “We’ve been waiting for you guys to contact us on it.”

“So, you’ve not used it for anything else?” Ginny said.

“No.”

“Would it be ok if you turned it off?” Ginny said.

“Why?” Sara asked.

“Because Swan made those STUs emit a tracking signal,” said Gabriel. “ACME can use that to see where you are.”

“Oh shit,” said Zackery. He looked suddenly very scared.

“Ok,” Sara said. “I’ll turn it off.”

“Just a minute,” Gabriel said, a sense of urgency in his voice.

The others turned to hear what he had to say.

“We know that ACME have been tracking you with that STU,” Gabriel said. “So, they know that you are here, in Seville.”

“So, let’s turn the fucking thing off, then,” Zackery said.

“It occurs to me ... if we just turn it off, ACME will have no reason to think that you have moved away from here. They might conclude that you have just turned it off, or it got broken or something,” said Gabriel.

No one spoke.

“But if Ginny and me took it ... like took it a long way from here, then ...”

“They would think we’ve moved somewhere else,” said Zackery.

“But what about you guys?” Sara said. “They would know where you were. They would come to get you instead of us.”

“I think we can look after ourselves,” Gabriel said, smiling over at Ginny.

“But how would we stay in touch?” Sara said.

“Can you get hold of some sort of phone, Sara?” Vicky asked.

“What, right now?” Sara said.

“If you can,” Vicky said.

“Be right back,” Sara said, getting up and walking across the plaza.

Zackery watched her go. He looked both worried and proud.

The waiter came back, holding a small tray on which were the two fruit drinks that Gabriel and Ginny had ordered. He placed the drinks on the table. He slid a piece of paper under the glass ashtray in the middle of the table. He looked to see if anyone wanted to order anything else. He decided that nobody there knew how to order anyway. He walked away back into the café.

“Realised we had bugger all to say, eh?” Zackery said, taking a sip from his latte.

A few minutes later Sara came walking back, holding a small blister pack. She put it on the table and pressed it open, revealing a tiny device ... like a small ear-plug. She squeezed it gently and the device turned from pale pink to a light violet colour. She placed it on the table.

“Will this do, Vicky?” Sara said.

“Vicky?” she repeated.

“Yes, that’s done,” Vicky said. “We can communicate with you on that device, so you can give Gabriel or Ginny your STU.”

Sara unclipped the STU from her wrist and handed it over to Gabriel, who put it in his pocket.

The device on the table began to emit a low buzzing sound.

Sara looked at it worriedly.

“It’s just me, Sara,” Vicky said. “Just checking the comms.”

Sara laughed.

“Sorry for worrying you, Sara,” Vicky said.

As they spoke, a lady came walking up the street, pushing a buggy.

She sat at an adjacent table. She pulled the buggy alongside her and clamped on the brakes.

She pulled a very young baby out of the buggy, which immediately began to make a slight whimpering sound. She held the baby to her chest, holding one hand gently behind its head.

She began to slowly rock the baby, backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards.

The baby nuzzled in against its mother.

Her waiter came over bringing a tray with a clear glass cup with a handle. It seemed to contain hot water with small green leaves in it.

“I think she has that every day,” Sara explained. “The waiter brings that without her asking.”

Zackery sat watching the woman with her baby. Almost unconsciously he half-stood up, leaned over to Sara and gave her a loving kiss on the forehead.

Sara smiled up at him.

Zackery suddenly realised that Ginny and Gabriel were watching him. He gave them an awkward smile, then looked away into the distance, his cheeks a faint pink colour.

Sara took Zackery’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

Gabriel looked over at Ginny. Her eyes seemed to be twinkling. He smiled at her and she smiled back.

Sara took a sip at her coffee and said, “So, anyway, what was all that about then ... you know, about the STU?”