Acme Time Travel Incorporated - Volume 2

The Alameda de Hercules - Seville

Two more coffees and two more fruit drinks later and Gabriel and Ginny had explained what they had found out at the ACME-HUB in 2182. They had told Sara and Zackery that the coords database had been corrected. They had told them about the tracer feature that had been enabled on the STUs given to them by Swan.

They didn’t tell them that Smythe had killed Zackery and seriously injured her.

They didn’t tell them that their history had been re-written.

“So, somebody called Dmitry seems to be trying to track us down,” Gabriel said.

“And that’s why you’re going to take that STU and lead them away?” Sara said.

“Exactly,” said Ginny.

“But what if ...?” Zackery said.

“Your STU needs to leave Seville,” Ginny said. “Otherwise they will know that you are here.”

“So why haven’t they ...?” Zackery said, but then he stopped. “They did, didn’t they?” he said.

He looked across at Sara, horror in his eyes.

“Are they on their way?” Sara asked.

“Not just now,” Ginny said.

“How do you ...?” Zackery asked.

“We’ve stopped them,” Gabriel said. “Well, Ginny stopped them, I should say.”

Ginny looked across at Gabriel. Her eyes were glinting a warning.

The waiter arrived and put fresh drinks and a bowl of olives on their table.

“Gabriel and I need to go ... we need to go very soon ... we need to go today,” Ginny said. “We’ll take a slow route, up through Spain and into France ... maybe on to Switzerland. We’ll make it look like you are travelling by road or rail. Taking a scenic journey. It won’t look like you are using the STU.”

Gabriel looked across at Ginny. He was very impressed.

“So, we could stay on here in Seville, do you think?” Sara asked.

“It’s a nice place,” Ginny said. “It suits you. I think you should be ok here.”

Sara looked at Zackery. “What do you think?” she said to him.

Zackery looked over to Gabriel and Ginny, as if they could maybe give himself and Sara more information. Something they could use to help their decision.

“What are you guys going to do?” Zackery asked.

“I think we need to find this Dmitry,” Ginny said.

“And do what?” Sara asked.

“I think Ginny will think of something,” Gabriel said. “She seems to be getting good at this stuff.”

“I think you guys should keep that phone charged up,” Ginny said. “And maybe keep a rucksack nearby with some basic stuff in. You know ... just in case.”

Sara smiled ruefully back at Ginny.

“Life can be a bitch, sometimes,” Ginny said.

“And then you die,” said Gabriel, who had heard that line in a Woody Allen film and had always wanted to be able to use it.