Acme Time Travel Incorporated - Volume 2

Chapter Don’t you think that’s strange? 15th Sept 2180



The ACME-HUB (orbiting space satellite)

“Follow the yellow line to get to the client quarters,” Vicky said.

A bright yellow line, three inches wide, appeared on the floor in front of them. It led up the corridor in which they were standing, turning right at a junction ahead of them.

“Are you making that yellow line?” Gabriel asked.

“I thought it might help,” Vicky said.

“There’s nobody about,” observed Ginny. “Don’t you think that’s strange? I would have thought there would be lots of people here. “

Ginny suddenly stopped. She turned back towards Gabriel and put her finger to her lips. They heard footsteps coming towards them. It sounded like several people. They weren’t running, but they were probably either jogging or, at the very least, walking briskly.

Gabriel felt his heart rate quicken. He didn’t think they were doing anything wrong, but likewise he didn’t want to have to explain their presence to anybody.

The footsteps got closer, then moved away. Who ever it was must have moved away down an adjacent corridor.

“Ok,” Ginny said. “Let’s get going.”

. . . . . . . .

“The client apartments are down here, on the left,” Vicky said. “Let’s find an empty one and go in.”

“This place looks like an expensive hotel,” Ginny said.

“I guess that’s what it is,” said Gabriel.

“Or was,” said Ginny.

“This one here,” said Vicky. “Room 8 ... it’s empty. I’ve de-activated the lock. Simply open the door and go in.”

Gabriel pushed the door open.

“Ok, let’s get on with it,” Ginny said. “Vicky, please find out what’s going on. Are you able to do that?”

Gabriel looked at Ginny. She seemed ... what ... highly focused. Like she had things to do, like there were things she had to get done come-what-may.

“Are you ok, Ginny?” he asked.

“I’m perfectly fine. Why?”

“Oh, I don’t know. You seem to be ...”

“Seem to be what?”

“Well ... you seem to be ...”

“For God’s sake, Gabriel. Say it. Say what you mean.”

“I’m sorry, Ginny. You don’t seem yourself, and I’m ...”

“And you’re ...?”

“I’m worried about you, Ginny.”

Ginny gave a vague smile to Gabriel, whilst holding her hands up in a ‘you understand how it is’ gesture.

Gabriel didn’t understand how it was. Her vague attempt at a smile had looked very artificial. She wasn’t being honest with him, and he didn’t know what to do or say. He was very worried.

“I’ve pulled back the information on the data corruption,” Vicky said. “The database of coordinates was corrupted, exactly as we thought. It happened when I tried to teleport back here with my last ACME client. On that very same day.”

Gabriel felt a vague sense of satisfaction from knowing their guess had been correct.

“The ACME techs had identified the coordinates database was corrupt,” continued Vicky, “and also that all backups and mirrors had been corrupted. They estimated that the time required to re-build the database from scratch would not be trivial. The trouble was that, during that time, the various clients would request their STU to teleport them back at the end of their trip.”

“So, what happened?” Ginny asked.

“Well, it looks like the techs didn’t notice the coordinates were corrupt for several days. Seemingly the coordinates weren’t deleted; they were tampered with. They still looked like real coordinates. If they had been changed drastically, such as their formats changed, making them unreadable, the problem might have been picked up earlier, but they weren’t. When the clients returning from their excursions requested their STUs to initiate a teleport back, the STUs carried out the request.”

“And?” Gabriel said.

“ACME realised there was a problem because many clients didn’t return on their designated dates and times. The techs realised the coordinates were corrupt, which meant the clients might end up being teleported into space, into solid rock, into a volcano ... anywhere.”

“Shit,” Gabriel said.

“Quite,” said Vicky, “so the only immediate option open to ACME was to shut down the communication protocol used by the STUs. They disabled WORM-LYNK. This prevented the STUs from getting access to the faulty coordinates, but by the time ACME had shut down its WORM-LYNK, most of the clients on trips would already have started their return teleport.”

“How many of them were there?” Ginny asked.

“37, excluding my client, Mervin.”

Ginny lowered herself down onto a reclining chair. It instantly molded itself to her form. She looked horrified by the information Vicky had found.

“We could have saved those people,” she said.

“How do you mean?” Gabriel asked.

“Don’t be so bloody dim,” she snapped. “If we had got here before the database corrupted, they wouldn’t have died. We should have told ACME ... told them soon enough to avoid ...”

“But Ginny,” Vicky interrupted. “If you had got here soon enough to warn ACME, I would never have arrived in Walton-on-the-Naze. John Cullen would never have recovered from his catatonia, and you and Gabriel may have never met.”

“And I wouldn’t have met Steve and Roy,” Ginny said.

Gabriel looked up at Ginny. She was looking distraught.

“Ginny?” he said, and then the door burst open.

Four heavy-set men rushed into the room. Each of them was cradling a short rifle. Gabriel jumped up and was immediately smashed down to the ground by a blow to the head with a rifle butt.


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