Acme Time Travel Incorporated - Volume 2

The ACME-HUB (orbiting space satellite)

Gabriel watched as Ginny’s leg re-growth processing concluded.

She was lying on the cot. The mist surrounding her began to disperse. She was still asleep. The restraining bandages still held her securely. Her legs looked long and shapely and beautiful; just like Gabriel remembered them.

They heard footsteps approaching the med bay door.

Swan walked in. He was smiling. Gabriel thought that the look didn’t remotely look natural. Swan was obviously trying very hard.

“Hey, good news,” Swan said. “ACME INC have decided to let you keep the STU you brought with you.”

“That’s great news,” said Gabriel.

“The coords database has been fixed, as well,” said Swan. “You can get going as soon as you like.”

“Wow,” said Gabriel. “I thought you said it might be a couple more days. You guys must have pulled out all the stops.”

“Just got lucky,” said Swan. He turned towards Sara and Zackery.

“ACME INC have decided to let you two get back to Earth for a bit. I know it’s a bit early. You wouldn’t normally rotate for another month, but they thought that, what with all the issues at the moment, it might be a good time for you two to take a break. Get off home early.”

“Thanks,” Sara said.

“Not only that,” continued Swan, “but we thought we would give you even more break time. We’ll let you have a STU each to use to get back. You don’t even need to use the usual shuttle.”

“That’s really good of you,” said Zackery.

Swan reached into his pocket and took out two black bracelets. He handed one each to Sara and Zackery.

“How do you use these things?” Zackery asked. “We see the clients wearing them, but we’ve never used one ourselves.”

“Just strap them on your wrist,” said Swan. “The STUs will link with you. Then you just tell the STU where and when you want to be. It’s instantaneous.”

“That’s so good of you,” Sara said.

Swan looked at Sara. He thought he detected cynicism in her voice, but he couldn’t think why that would be.

“Anyway, I’ll leave you to get on with it,” Swan said. “I guess you’ll be gone in an hour or two ... the time it takes to pack your bags, eh?”

“Yeah. An hour or two should do it,” agreed Sara. “Then we’ll be out of here.”

“ACME INC will let you know when to report back,” Swan said to Sara.

He looked pleased with himself.

“We’ll wait to hear,” said Sara.

“Ok ... and nice meeting you,” Swan said, turning to Gabriel.

“Yeah, likewise,” said Gabriel.

Swan turned and made his way out of the med bay. The doors closed quietly behind him.

Gabriel looked over at Sara and Zackery. He held his right forefinger across his lips. He walked quietly over to the doors and pushed them open slightly. The corridor was empty.

“Better get your gear,” Gabriel said. “I’ll get mine and Ginny’s.”

Gabriel looked over into Ginny’s med unit. She looked like she was starting to awaken. The med unit’s canopy was slowly peeling back. He went and stood next to the unit and rested his hand against Ginny’s face. She opened her eyes and smiled at him. As he watched, the restraining straps folded back into themselves, leaving Ginny lying naked on the cot.

Sara noticed and walked over. She gave Ginny a loose cotton one-piece garment to put on. “Here, let me help you,” Sara said, gently lifting Ginny’s legs to pull the garment up over her body.

Ginny looked down as Sara lifted her legs.

“I can feel them,” Ginny said.

“You need to be very careful, Ginny”, Sara said. “For the next three days, you should try not to move your legs. It takes that long for them to bond securely.”

Gabriel looked pensively at Sara.

“How are we going to move her?” he asked.

Ginny looked quizzical. She hadn’t been privy to any of the discussions in the last two days.

“We need to get out of here,” Gabriel said to Ginny. “We need to get out of here very soon.”

“We can transfer her to a stretcher,” said Sara. “She’ll be fine. We just need to make sure that we transfer her very carefully.”

“Look, Ginny,” Gabriel said. “We are going to have to get our gear and get going. We’re all going on the starship.”

Ginny looked like she was about to ask a lot of questions.

“I’m sorry Ginny, but we are going have to talk about it once we get underway,” Gabriel said. “We all need to get our gear, and ...”

“Ok,” Ginny said. “I understand. So, get the gear. See you shortly.”

Gabriel smiled and made his way out of the med bay. He was back minutes later. Ginny had brought nothing but her space suit, and Gabriel just had his backpack. Even so, when he got back, Sara and Zackery had their bags waiting. Gabriel guessed that fear had hastened their ability to pack their stuff together.

“Let’s get you onto a stretcher,” Sara said, pulling a stretcher off its wall mountings.

The stretcher had small ramstat boosters, enabling it to float. They fired up the boosters and positioned it next to the MED unit in which Ginny was lying. Suddenly the med bay doors swung open. Rust, the security guard, came in.

“There’s something going on,” Rust said. “I’m not sure what, but it ain’t good.”

“What ...?” Gabriel said.

“I heard there’s a specialist team of investigators on their way here. They’ll be here in less than an hour. Swan called my team together ... but not me, interestingly. One of my team got concerned and patched me into his mic. Swan told them something about ‘if they won’t move fast enough, they’ll have to get pushed’.”

“And I guess he means us,” said Gabriel.

“I’m sure he means you,” said Rust.

Sara and Zackery had got Ginny onto the stretcher. She had bitten her lip as they moved her, even though they were doing it as gently as they could.

Rust went over to the med bay doors, pushing them open slightly.

“Someone’s coming,” Rust whispered. He went out of the door, walking slowly down the corridor in the direction of the footsteps.

Smythe was walking down the corridor towards him.

“There’s been a change of plan,” Smythe said. “We need to get rid of them right now. There’s a press convoy and a legal team on their way here. They’re on their way right now. We need to get rid of these guys right now.”

Smythe pushed past Rust and saw Gabriel coming out of the med bay, with Sara and Zackery holding the stretcher.

“Sorry guys ... time’s up,” Smythe said, pulling his short rifle from its holster.

There was a soft ppfft noise and Smythe fell to the ground.

Rust put his own rifle back into its holster. He bent over Smythe and picked up his rifle.

“At least I had mine on stun,” Rust said, disgustedly.

“How long’s he out for?” said Zackery.

“Ten minutes.”

Zackery nodded to Sara. He let go of his end of the stretcher. It continued to hover. He pulled something from his belt. It looked like a small plastic tube. He walked over to Smythe and pushed the tube against his neck.

“This’ll give us a bit longer,” Zackery said.”

“How long?” Rust asked.

“48 hours … then a crushing headache.”

“Fair enough.”

Rust turned to Gabriel. “Can you shoot?” he asked.

“Yeah. On fairground guns.”

“It’ll have to do. Here.”

Rust handed Smythe’s rifle to Gabriel. “The safety’s off, and it’s on stun ... well, it is now. It’s got twenty stun rounds. Stuns give you barely any recoil at all, and they are good for any distance up to about forty feet. Aim anywhere, but for preference go for the big bits ... you know, like the chest. You’re less likely to miss.”

Gabriel hefted the gun. It was surprisingly light.

“Take a couple of shots right now,” said Rust. “That way, you will be less likely to freeze when you really need to.”

Gabriel looked across and down the corridor. There was a small sign, maybe twenty feet away. It said ‘docking points’. He aimed for the sign. He squeezed the trigger. The rifle made a faint ‘pfft’ noise. He was expecting the gun to jump in his hands and had been prepared to hold it down. There was no perceptible recoil, but Gabriel’s anticipation of recoil meant that he pushed the muzzle down slightly after taking the shot.

He lifted the rifle and fired again.

Rust put his hand on Gabriel’s rifle, pushing it down in the direction of the floor. Then he walked over, inspecting the sign on the wall.

“That’ll do,” Rust said, smiling back at Gabriel. “Right ... let’s get going.”

Sara and Zackery took hold of Ginny’s stretcher. They headed off down the corridor.

Rust took his place in front of the group. Gabriel was at the back.

“Has Swan said anything else?” Gabriel whispered to Vicky.

“No,” Vicky whispered back. “I think he must have taken his jacket off after the meeting he had. Maybe he has put it in a cupboard or somewhere.”

“Your ship’s docked down here,” Rust said, pointing with his rifle to a corridor bearing left.

As Rust spoke, they could hear footsteps behind them.

Rust stopped. “Get going,” he said, taking position at the junction of the corridor.

Gabriel, Sara and Zackery hurried past Rust. Ginny flinched as the stretcher rocked with their movements.

Behind them they heard Rust shouting out a warning.

They heard a ‘brrp, brrrrrrrrp’ noise.

“That’s not stun shots,” said Zackery.

They rounded the next corner and there was stub 12. The hangar that their starship was docked to.

They heard another ‘brrp, brrp, brrrrrrp’ noise and a scream.

“Let’s get on,” Gabriel said, trying to stop his voice from revealing his anxiety.

They rushed through to the docking point.

“The airlock door is open,” Vicky said. “You can get straight in.”

Sara stepped up and into the craft, but as Zackery stepped up they heard a shot.

Zackery fell onto his knees. As he dropped, his weight tipped Ginny’s stretcher. She rolled off the stretcher onto the ground, shrieking as she rolled across the floor.

Gabriel turned.

A security guard was kneeling down at the corner of the corridor. He was kneeling down and aiming his rifle at them. Gabriel raised his rifle and fired. He kept the trigger pressed. The security guard flinched as a full clip of stun rounds hit him. The guard crumpled to the floor. Gabriel’s rifle clicked as it continued firing on an empty chamber. He turned and rushed over to Ginny. She was sprawled awkwardly on the floor, her face filled with pain and fear.

“Sara?” Gabriel shouted.

Sara came back out of the craft and knelt by Zackery. He was bleeding profusely from his thigh.

A stutter of gunfire, then Rust came around the corner. His left arm was hanging down. Blood was dripping from his wrist. He was holding his rifle in his right hand.

Rust looked over at them. “Get the fuck on board,” he shouted. He started to sprint towards them. Another burst of gunfire. Rust jerked and fell to the ground, his body twitching. His rifle clattered across the floor towards Gabriel.

Gabriel saw Director Swan and another security guard come around the corner. The security guard was looking at them; at Ginny sprawled on the floor. She was shrieking in pain. Sara was kneeling next to Zackery, trying to staunch the blood from his thigh.

Gabriel stooped down and picked up Rust’s rifle.

The guard stood there, unsure what to do.

“Shoot them, fucking shoot them,” Swan shouted.

The guard looked incredulously at Swan.

Swan clumsily grabbed the rifle from the guard. He raised it and pulled the trigger. He kept it pressed. Bullets ricocheted off the walls and floor.

Gabriel raised Rust’s rifle. He pulled the trigger. The bullets seemed to drift lazily away from him and towards the security guard. They casually ripped open the man’s chest. They ripped away the right side of his face.

Gabriel felt the muzzle lift slightly and made a conscious effort to pull it down.

A stream of bullets tore Swan’s right arm off at the shoulder.

“Gabriel?”

“Gabriel?”

Gabriel looked around him.

The guard was laid dead; his head torn apart.

Swan’s right arm has been torn off. He was laid on the ground. He was screaming.

Rust was sprawled on the floor, unmoving.

He saw Sara trying to get Zackery onto his feet.

He saw Ginny laid on the ground. She was whimpering with pain.

He heard more footsteps in the distance.

“Gabriel?” Sara shouted.

More footsteps in the distance.

Sara’s shout stirred Gabriel ... he pulled himself together.

“Ok, let’s get Zackery up,” Gabriel said to Sara. “Get him onboard.”

Sara hauled Zackery onto his feet and dragged him onto the spacecraft. Gabriel dropped the rifle he was holding and squatted down. He picked Ginny up, as carefully as he could. He stepped on board the starship.

“Ship?” Gabriel said.

“I’m here, Gabriel,” Ship replied.

“Ship ... can you ...” Gabriel said, unsure now what to do, what commands to give.

“Ship ... close and lock the airlock door,” Ginny said, her voice almost a whisper.

“It’s done, Ginny.”

“Now get us out of here. Initiate cloaking and set a course for a close Earth orbit.”

“We’re on our way, Ginny.”

“Thanks, Ship,” said Ginny.

“It’s good to see you back, Ginny,” Ship said.