Acme Time Travel Incorporated - Volume 2

The ACME-HUB (orbiting space satellite)

“Thanks, Sara,” Gabriel said.

Sara smiled. “I could see you were trying to do something ... didn’t know what, but I thought a diversion might help.”

“I think you certainly diverted him ... and me,” said Zackery, smiling.

Gabriel turned towards the med unit in which Ginny was still lying, the web of rays slowly generating Ginny’s new legs continued to criss-cross, criss-cross, criss-cross.

“About another five hours,” said Zackery.

Gabriel nodded. “And then wait for three days for the new legs to take, eh?”

“Well, Swan did say you’ve got a few days here,” said Sara.

“Just a minute,” said Vicky. “Swan has called a meeting. It sounds important.”

“Can you put him on speaker, so we can all hear,” Gabriel said.

Instantly they could hear Swan’s voice. He sounded both excited and agitated.

“He can’t hear us, can he?” Gabriel whispered.

“No, he can’t,” said Vicky” and it sounds as though he is using headphones or something. I don’t think that we will be able to hear the people he is talking to.”

“... we can’t afford to have these fuckers here,” said Swan. “I’ve told them they can use our facilities for a few days, but ... well ... for fuck’s sake, they’ve got a bloody STU that shows one of our ‘lost clients’ dying a slow and agonising death. One that could have been prevented if somebody hadn’t fucked up the coords.”

Swan was obviously listening to somebody replying to him.

“Yeah, sure,” Swan continued. “What with the likelihood of litigation from the thirty-eight clients we ‘lost’ and bearing in mind that at least three of those clients were known mobsters ...”

Short silence

“Well, yeah, they didn’t put that on their client details, but for God’s sake ... we all knew that’s what they were, and their business partners might just decide to try to get some compensation in ways other than legal. And I’m sitting here, on this fucking floating rock, just waiting for ...”

Silence

“Ok. I am staying calm.”

Silence

“Look. We’re the last ones on this fucking ship, and it’s likely to be sinking fast. I for one don’t want to go down with it.”

Silence

“What? A team of ... so now we’ve got a team of fucking investigators on their way here.”

Silence

“Look. If they get here and they check the data log on the STU those fuckers brought back with them, we are absolutely and totally fucking screwed.”

Silence

“Look ... up to a few hours ago there was absolutely no evidence that the ‘lost clients’ were actually dead. Sure, they could be anywhere, but no-one knew for sure. Suddenly, right there on that fucking STU, there it is ... all anybody would need to know to nail us to the fucking cross.”

Silence

“Sure, we all agree that we need to get them out of the way, but what do you suggest? They’ve asked for another STU. I told them they could fuck off ... we don’t give that sort of gear away. And anyway, the coords are still fucked.”

Silence

“What? Give them a STU? I told you, the coords are ...”

Silence

“Shit. You really want to ...?”

Silence

“I ... I guess if I told ’em we’d fixed the coords, and we’d changed our minds about giving them a free STU ... then maybe ...”

Silence

“Well, yeah. There are other people who know they’re here. The security guys know, but they are a bunch of dipshits. The med-bay crew are the bigger worry. There’s two of them, and they are both smart cookies. Maybe if we ...”

Silence

“Sure, they rotate back to Earth on a periodic basis.”

Silence

“Well, we could say we’re sending them back right now ’til the excitement dies down. Give them a bit of a holiday. I’ll get a shuttle arranged.”

Silence

“Oh God. Give them STUs as well? It’s a fucking death sentence. You realise that they ...?”

Silence

“Us or them, eh?”

Silence

“But it’s me pulling the fucking trigger, isn’t it?”

Silence

“Right. All right. I’m going to get two STUs. The med-bay team can take one each, and our little troublesome duo can take the one they came with. That way we don’t have to re-format the fucking thing.”

Silence

“Yeah, sure. Stay calm yourselves. Just remember, it’s me on fucking point here. You guys are safe and warm. You better fucking remember that.”

Silence

“Close link.”