The Time Bubble Box Set 2

by Jason Ayres

  “I’ll make myself beautiful for you, I promise,” she said.

  “I know you will. It’s a shame we can’t have a stag or a hen night,” he added. “But since we’re the only two people left on Earth that might be a little tricky!”

  “I don’t mind,” she said. “And I don’t mind we can’t have any wedding guests, either. I love that it’s just the two of us in the whole wide world with none of those nasty, horrid other people to ever get in our way ever again.”

  “You’re so right,” he said, resisting the urge to point out that it was difficult to find people to invite when the bride had murdered the entire population of the planet. She was the ultimate bridezilla!

  With Vanessa out of the way and his memory more or less fully restored, he spent the rest of the day mulling over what might happen the next day. He wasn’t sure if Henry had a plan, so he decided to make one of his own and run it by him on his return.

  Thankfully, Henry did reappear on Saturday morning, as promised, while Vanessa was out of the way having her shower.

  Josh suggested his plan, to much enthusiasm from Henry.

  “Yes, that’s absolutely perfect,” he said. “You lure her into the woods, distract her with a fake wedding ceremony, and then I can appear and overpower her while her guard’s down.”

  “How exactly do you plan to do that?” said Josh.

  “I’ll figure that out when I get there. The most important thing is you keep her distracted. Kiss her if you have to, anything that will enable me to sneak up undetected behind her.”

  “I really don’t want to have to do that. It will be like kissing a serpent,” complained Josh.

  “Take one for the team, mate,” replied Henry. “This is our one chance to take this woman down. I very much doubt we’ll get another.”

  “Right, well, you keep yourself well under cover. And wear something sensible, not one of your usual shirts. You stand out like a lighthouse in those things.”

  “Fair enough,” said Henry.

  “And don’t be late,” said Josh. “I’m not sure how long I can keep up this charade, and I really won’t be able to bring myself to actually have sex with her.”

  “Yeah, I can relate to that,” said Henry. “Believe me, it’s nothing to write home about. Well, it wasn’t for me anyway. That’s the trouble with marriages of convenience, there’s no passion, you see.”

  “Right, it’s time you weren’t here. She’ll be out of the shower soon,” said Josh. “I will see you tonight.”

  “You certainly will,” he said. “And if we manage to pull this off, then the hard work will really begin.”

  “One thing at a time,” said Josh.

  Even if they succeeded in their plan tonight, he knew that undoing all the harm Vanessa had already done was going to be a huge challenge.

  But that would all come later.

  First, they had to take Vanessa down.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  July 2058

  The sun was setting across the sea as Josh walked up the short, sandy path, surrounded by tropical vegetation, that led to the clearing at the centre of the island.

  Earlier that afternoon he had been up there and built a fire in the centre of the clearing. As he approached, he was pleased to see that it was still burning brightly, crackling fireflies sparkling above it across the steadily darkening skies.

  There was no sign of Vanessa, so he waited as the sun disappeared below the horizon. He was surprised that she wasn’t already there waiting for him, considering how keen she had been before. He wondered briefly if she might have sussed out what he and Henry were up to, but then he saw her approaching.

  As the last of the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, he saw a white-clad figure walking up the same path he had taken from the beach. Just after he laid eyes on her, the opening bars of Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” began to play out all around him. He had no idea where from, as he couldn’t see any speakers: perhaps they were concealed inside the trees.

  Josh thought he had made a reasonable attempt to look the part, dressing in a smart, grey suit he had found while rummaging through the villa’s extensive wardrobe. However, the effort Vanessa had gone to had taken it to a whole new level.

  Even though he now found everything the woman said or did totally repulsive, he couldn’t help but be mildly impressed by her appearance. She had gone the whole hog with the wedding dress. It was full-length with a particularly revealing neckline and a pleated waist. The material looked extremely expensive. At a guess, Josh would say it was Chantilly lace.

  The whole thing was topped off with a veil and a tiara that, as she got closer, Josh could see was full of precious stones. Her hair and make-up were also immaculate. He knew she couldn’t have possibly organised all this by herself, but now his memory of time travel had returned, he realised that was how she must have done it.

  “Wow, you look amazing,” he uttered, adding, “I’m such a lucky man.”

  He couldn’t believe how corny and false this sounded, but she still lapped it up. How could such a ruthless businesswoman be so easily fooled? Perhaps love really was blind.

  The music stopped just as she reached him, leaving the only sounds around them the crackle of the fire and the clicking of insects in the undergrowth that always became active around this time of night.

  She lifted her veil and smiled at him.

  “Shall we say our vows now?” she suggested, handing him a card with the whole ceremony written out.

  “Obviously there’s no minister, but we can improvise,” she added.

  Over the next few minutes Josh went through the motions with her as they read the traditional vows, for richer or poorer and in sickness and in health. He wasn’t fazed by saying any of this. The whole thing was a sham and didn’t mean a thing to him, but it clearly meant everything to her, the way she was gazing adoringly at him throughout.

  “I now pronounce us man and wife,” she stated at the end of the vows, adding, “You may now kiss the bride.”

  She leaned towards him. It looked like he had no choice but to comply. Where the hell was Henry? He had better hurry up, because Josh had no desire to go any further with this.

  The kiss was truly horrible. He remembered what he had said before about kissing a serpent and it was literally like that, as her tongue snaked aggressively into his mouth. Why did some women do that? He hated it. Kissing was something you did with the lips, not the tongue, as far as he was concerned. And in this case, he would rather not be kissing her at all: it made him want to vomit.

  “Say, why don’t we skip the reception and the speeches and go straight to the honeymoon,” she suggested, pushing him slowly backwards and then easing him down gently towards the ground. As soon as he was prone on his back, she straddled him, white dress billowing out all around her as he felt her reaching down and fumbling for his zip.

  “Steady on,” he said, hoping that whatever Henry was planning to do, he was going to hurry up and do it. “Let’s not rush things.”

  “I can’t help it, I’m so hot for you,” she replied. “I’ve waited such a long time for this.”

  This was going too far. She had him pinned down on the ground right where she wanted him, but there was no way he was going through with this. If Henry wasn’t going to stop her, then he was going to have to fight her off himself.

  Her eyes were full of lust as she leaned down to kiss him again, trying to wriggle her hand inside his flies. He couldn’t let this go any further. Thankfully, just as he was about to push her off, she violently lurched forward and rolled off him.

  Josh looked up and clocked Henry, standing behind her, wearing Army camouflage and carrying a large lump of what looked like driftwood in his right hand.

  “Howzat!” exclaimed Henry. “And that’s why we always beat you Poms in the Ashes!”

  “You could have got here a bit sooner,” said Josh. “And you could have warned me about her kissing technique. It was like having a sna
ke trying to force its way down my throat.”

  “Ah yeah, I had forgotten about that,” said Henry. “It’s a long time since I’ve had the unpleasant experience of kissing her.”

  He patted his makeshift cricket bat which looked like a solid lump of good old English oak. “I found this on the beach earlier. I think it’s part of the keel of a ship that washed up in these parts a few years ago.”

  “You know, I would have thought one of the most brilliant scientists in the world could have come up with a slightly more sophisticated weapon than a plank of wood,” remarked Josh.

  “Effective, though, wasn’t it?” replied Henry. “I couldn’t risk firing a weapon, could I? I might have ended up hitting you. Otherwise I could have just vaporised her from a distance.”

  “Would you go that far?” asked Josh. “To kill her?” He looked down at her unconscious body.

  “I think we still should, before she comes around,” replied Henry. “She wouldn’t hesitate if the boot was on the other foot. Look at her track record!”

  “Doesn’t killing her make us no better than her?” asked Josh.

  “We’ve no choice,” said Henry, looking down at the woman he could hardly believe he had once been foolish enough to marry. She was out cold but still breathing.

  “The job’s only half done,” insisted Henry. “We can’t let her wake up. There is no knowing what she might have up her sleeve. If she has some way of transporting out of here or any other technological gizmo that will let her escape, we’ll be done for. She’s got the time travel technology as well as total control over this island.”

  Josh mulled it over. Henry was right, of course, but he wasn’t completely comfortable with killing in cold blood.

  “I’m sure there must be some other solution,” he said.

  “There isn’t,” insisted Henry. “We’ll be toast – or I will be anyway. She’ll probably just wipe your memory and start trying to seduce you all over again, and there will be no one to come and help you next time. This is our one chance to rid ourselves of her once and for all.”

  Henry raised his lump of timber, preparing to rain down more blows on Vanessa’s skull.

  “Hang fire a minute,” said Josh. “It’s not as if she’s actually attacking us right now.”

  “Are you sure about that?” asked Henry. “Vanessa’s a very cunning creature and she leaves little to chance. For all we know she’s prepared for this exact scenario. It’s not just the villa she’s got wired, there’s technology all over this island. Where do you think that wedding music came from earlier?”

  “I assumed she had some sort of speaker system rigged up in the trees.”

  “It’s considerably more than that. And she’s also got advanced biotechnology implanted in her body. For all we know, she’s got a bunch of heavily armed android guards in the bunker beneath the villa who already know she’s been attacked and are on their way here. We can’t afford to delay a moment longer.”

  While Henry was talking, Josh had come up with an idea which he now broached.

  “OK, here’s a suggestion,” said Josh. “Firstly, how long have these islands been here?”

  “Thousands of years,” replied Henry.

  “I was hoping you would say that,” said Josh. “You’ve brought a tachyometer with you, presumably?”

  “Of course,” said Henry. “How else would I have got here?”

  “Which version? Will it create a new universe or send her back into this one?”

  “This one,” said Henry.

  “OK, well, hand it to me. We’ll have to send her back in time far enough that she can’t do any damage.”

  “What about her impact on the native population?” asked Henry. “She could totally alter history.”

  “If we send her back far enough, there won’t be a native population and there certainly won’t be any technology she can use to get back. Here, let me have that.”

  Josh took the tachyometer and adjusted some settings.

  “OK, I’ve set it and now I’m going to activate the Time Bubble. You lift her up and shove her through.”

  Henry did as Josh suggested, but as he lifted her, the motion caused her eyes to flutter open as she began to regain consciousness.

  “Quickly, Josh, she’s waking up, activate it now,” urged Henry, already feeling Vanessa starting to try and wriggle free of his grip.

  “What are you bastards doing to me?” she cried as Josh activated the bubble right in front of them.

  “I hope you can fish, dear,” said Henry, “because you’re going to need to!” And with an almighty shove, he sent her spiralling back through time.

  Vanessa had been travelling in time long enough to realise instantly what they must have done as the landscape changed around her. It went from darkness to broad daylight, at which point she noticed that the vegetation was now much lusher and taller than it had been before. It left her unable to see the shoreline from what little was left of the clearing. How far back in time had they sent her?

  Her head was throbbing from where Henry had whacked her and the path was gone, leaving her the difficult task of fighting her way through the undergrowth, but she had to know. When she eventually did emerge from the trees her heart sank when she realised that the villa was no longer there.

  The shoreline seemed unfamiliar, with rocks and more islands out in the sea where there were none before. As she got closer to the shore, she could also see that the beach retreated far further out to sea than before. Whenever she was in time, sea levels were considerably lower. It also seemed a lot cooler. Could this be thousands of years in the past, when the climate was colder and more water was locked up in icebergs?

  She couldn’t believe she had let Henry and Josh trick her so easily. How was she going to get out of this? She had no tachyometer, no technology, nothing. Then she spotted something further along the beach. It looked like a large suitcase. Could this be her salvation?

  Intrigued as to who had left the case, she walked swiftly towards it, her white wedding dress still billowing out behind her. The exterior didn’t provide any clues. It was clear, brown leather, and she was pretty sure it hadn’t been washed up on the beach as it looked brand new. It certainly hadn’t come from the water.

  She opened the case to find that it was full of assorted fishing gear – sections of rods, floats and nets, along with a book simply entitled Fishing for Dummies.

  Inside the book she found a handwritten letter in writing she immediately recognised as Henry’s.

  Dear Vanessa,

  I hope this letter finds you well. Welcome to the year 10,000 BC. We thought you might enjoy it here as there are no humans within hundreds of miles at this time, and we know how much you enjoy being alone, bearing in mind the billions you killed in our time.

  We didn’t want to leave you totally in the lurch, so we’ve left you this easy guide on how to catch some food to keep you going. I’m sure a genius of your intellect won’t have too much difficulty figuring out how to assemble a fishing rod.

  OK, it’s not exactly the advanced technology you’re used to, but unfortunately science is somewhat in its infancy in this time period.

  Still, you shouldn’t need it for too long, anyway. Once we’ve been back in time to fix all the damage you’ve caused then in all likelihood this version of you will cease to exist. Until then, I suggest you have a good, long think about all the things you’ve done.

  Enjoy your fish!

  Love Henry and Josh x x

  PS: If you think this is harsh, you got off lightly. I was all for putting you out of your misery after I whacked you the first time but Josh is a bit of a softie at heart and came up with the idea of sending you back here instead.

  In a rage, Vanessa tore the letter into hundreds of tiny shreds and threw them into the air, before watching them scatter along the beach in the cool breeze that was blowing all around her feet.

  “If I ever get out of here, the pair of you will wish you had never
been born!” she screamed, beating her fists against the nearest palm tree as tears of anger and frustration poured down her face.

  She was beaten and she knew it. Other than the birds circulating overhead, there would be no one here to hear her for a very long time.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  July 2058

  “What now?” said Josh.

  He and Henry were back at the villa, standing in front of the keypad that led to Vanessa’s secret office.

  “We get inside and disable all her equipment,” replied Henry. “We don’t know what she might still have running.”

  “I don’t know the code,” said Josh. “Vanessa would never allow me in here.”

  “This is a lot more than just an office,” said Henry. “I was involved in the design of this place.”

  “Vanessa said it was just an expensive holiday home.”

  “It was until we bought it, but then we made a few alterations. Do you remember the bunker I mentioned before? It’s all hollowed out beneath the island and absolutely huge. It cost billions to build and it’s designed to be completely self-sufficient. We built it after the asteroid strike in 2029 as an insurance policy in case anything like that ever happened again.”

  “Great, so how do we get in?” asked Josh.

  “Fortunately, I planned ahead on that one,” replied Henry. “I transported in here a couple of days ago whilst I was cloaked and hooked up a tiny, virtually undetectable camera just above the keypad to see which buttons she pressed.”

  “I’m surprised you’re using such old-fashioned technology,” said Josh. “If it was activated by her retina scan then we’d never get in.”

  “That was part of the design,” said Henry. “We thought that a lot of people might need to get down here in a hurry and probably wouldn’t want to queue up waiting to have their eyes scanned with some huge rock hurtling towards Earth at 50,000 miles an hour.”

  He tapped in the four numbers and the white, metal door slid smoothly to one side.