Acme Time Travel Incorporated - Volume 2

SEG002

They had gone to bed, just as if this was any other day. They had cuddled up and slept together. Gabriel had snuggled up behind Ginny. They were like two spoons, side by side in a drawer.

The starship was still slowly circling SEG002, for no reason other than that neither Gabriel nor Ginny had suggested landing anywhere.

Gabriel had awoken to find himself laid on his back. Ginny, fast asleep, was laid with her head on his chest.

“Good morning, Gabriel,” Vicky said.

She was whispering.

“Morning, Vicky,” he replied in a murmur.

“I think that you should wait for a few days before you both go back into the CrYO-PODS. I think that we should wait to see if any phantom limb sensations appear.”

“How do you mean?”

“After a limb amputation, it is not uncommon for the patient to experience pain in the excised limb.”

“If she does, is there anything that you can do to help her?” said Gabriel.

“The MED unit can provide a series of treatments, but there is still no guaranteed treatment for phantom pain. NMDA receptor antagonists, calcitonin and β-blockers have been used in the treatment of phantom limb pain. But none have been proven to give a guaranteed result.”

“Shit,” muttered Gabriel. “I guess we just have to hope that she doesn’t get it then.”

“Get what?” Ginny said, lifting her head off Gabriel. She smiled at him, then suddenly looked down at where her legs had been.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow” she said, looking irritable.

“What’s up,” Gabriel asked, alarmed.

“I’ve got a bloody itch on my left leg,” she wailed, pulling the coverlet back so that she could scratch her lower leg. She pulled the coverlet away, revealing the space where her leg had been. She looked at Gabriel, her expression a mixture somewhere between wry amusement and alarm.

“You ok?” Gabriel said.

“I guess so,” she said, visibly trying to force a wry grin. “Still bloody itches, though.”

Gabriel’s stomach felt icy. A gnawing foretaste of hard times to come.

“Come on girl, let’s get some breakfast and some coffee going,” he said, forcing a smile to his face.

He hoped that Ginny wouldn’t see through his forced jollity, but in his heart, he knew that she could read him like an open book.

. . . . . . . .

They felt a soft thump. A gentle shudder. It ran throughout the starship.

“What the fuck was ...?” Gabriel said, alarmed.

“It was the starboard Ramstat motor,” Ship explained. “It has just ... just stopped working. Do not worry. I can still control and land the ship on the remaining engine.”

“So, the intermittent fault just got a bit more permanent, then?” said Ginny chuckling. “Just as well we got here then. I guess that definitely puts paid to any more long-distance flights.”

“Vicky and I would not recommend it,” Ship concurred.