by Peter Ward
“Here we are.” Jennifer turned the handle and opened the door. “Come on in.”
“Okay,” Geoff said, following Jennifer as she stepped inside.
There wasn’t much to say about the interior of the room. It was about the same size as Jennifer’s office, with gray walls and no real features to speak of. The only thing of note was a small wooden table placed in the middle of the room. On it were two small bottles with some sort of red liquid in them, and a tablet computer that looked identical to the one William had been using to manipulate the timeline when he’d paid Geoff a visit.
“I’m sure you recognize this,” Jennifer said, walking over to the table and picking up the tablet. “My greatest invention—the Sat-Nav.”
Geoff laughed. “The Sat-Nav? Is that really what that thing is called?”
“What’s wrong with that as a name?”
“Well, I thought a Sat-Nav was the thing that shouts the wrong directions and falls off your car windshield all the time if you don’t stick it there properly.”
“No,” Jennifer said. “Sat-Nav is short for Space and Time Navigator. It’s the device we give all tourists when they go back in time. With this, you can rewind time, fast-forward it, and even…” She trailed off.
“Yes?” Geoff said.
“I don’t want to spoil it,” she said, handing it to Geoff. “You’ll get to explore all its functionality during the tutorial.”
“Tutorial?” Geoff said. He hoped it wasn’t like those boring tutorials you found in every single first-person shooter, where the opening level was conveniently designed to have a bit where you need to jump so it can say “Press A to jump,” and a bit where you need to crouch so it can say “Press B to crouch,” and a bit where you need to sprint so it can say “Hold down the right stick to sprint.” He hated those sorts of levels.
“That’s right,” Jennifer said. “The first thing all tourists experience on a holiday with Continuum is a tutorial, demonstrating all the features of the device. We send you right the way back to the beginning of time and give you a taste of what you can do—how you can change whatever you like, and how you can send shock waves of causality through the space-time continuum with no harmful consequences to yourself whatsoever. You’ll basically have the powers of a god, someone able to change the course of history however you wish. Trust me—you’re going to love it.”
“And what’s with those bottles?” Geoff said, pointing at them.
“These?” Jennifer said, picking one up. “This is the serum that links you to your Sat-Nav. Drink this, and your mind and body will be shielded from however you choose to manipulate the timeline. Whether you leap forward a thousand years or slow time down to a crawl, your body will age normally. And if you rewind time, while your body will be forced into reverse, your mind will remember everything that transpired, even once the events you witnessed have been undone.”
She unscrewed the cap and handed it to Geoff. “Drink it.”
Geoff smelled the bottle. It smelled a bit metallic.
“But William has already injected me with this stuff,” Geoff said. “Do I really need more?”
“Each serum is coded differently,” Jennifer said. “The one he gave you was linked only to his tablet, and he would have unlinked you from his device the moment he returned things back to normal. Otherwise, you’d still be moving through time in line with what he is doing now.”
“I see,” Geoff said. He didn’t know a liquid could be uniquely coded. This stuff probably had more artificial ingredients in it than any number of diet soft drink brands that would no doubt sue the living daylights out of anyone who mentioned them in an unfavorable context.
“Well? What are you waiting for?” Jennifer said. “Drink it.”
Geoff looked at his watch.
Three fifteen.
“I don’t get it,” Geoff said, still holding the full bottle. “Before I drink this, do you mind telling me what the deal is here?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you still haven’t answered my question. If you’re not hiring me to be a Time Rep, then why are you hiring me at all?”
“It’s simple,” Jennifer said. “All I want is for you to take that Sat-Nav and disappear into history forever. Spend the rest of life on vacation, moving through time and changing things as you please. Maybe you could use your new powers to go back and win the lottery. Or perhaps take your chances with this Zoë girl. Whatever you choose to do, with the Sat-Nav, you’ll never make another mistake again. Everything you do can be undone. Every happy memory can be relived. I’m asking all Time Reps to spend the rest of their lives in paradise; I’m asking you all to go back and enjoy yourselves. Forever.”
Geoff narrowed his eyes. “Sounds too good to be true. What’s the catch?”
“There is no catch. Just go back in time, and enjoy the rest of your life however you please.”
“But this makes no sense,” Geoff said. “What do you get out of all this?”
“Simple—I get to watch Time Tours go out of business, and I get to see a lot of Time Reps free themselves from the shackles of their old job. Their old life.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it. It really is a win-win situation.”
Geoff had to admit, it sounded like a pretty good deal. In fact, the only way it could have been any better would be if he used the opportunity to go back and time and change history so that quiche was never invented. He hated quiche.
At this point, he knew he should probably have immediately gone back to tell Tim what was going on, but part of him was extremely curious to try this out. This was his chance to find out what Zoë’s reaction would be if he asked her out, to see the look on her face when he revealed the truth about who he really was. It was too good an opportunity to miss.
Of course, he would eventually get around to telling Tim all about Jennifer’s plans, but not just yet.
First of all, he wanted to have some fun.
He looked down at the bottle, lifted it to his lips, and drank the serum. Just as he had detected from its scent, the liquid tasted slightly metallic. There definitely must have been some artificial colors and flavorings in there.
“Good,” Jennifer said, picking up the other bottle and handing it to him. “Here’s a spare batch in case you want to share the experience with someone else.”
“How do I use it?” Geoff said, taking the bottle and putting it in his pocket.
“The Sat-Nav will tell you what to do,” Jennifer replied.
Geoff looked down at the tablet. It was quite light, about the weight of a small book. On the screen, a big green button appeared that simply said BEGIN.
“Okay,” Jennifer said. “From the moment you press that button, your Continuum experience will start.”
Geoff looked at his watch one last time.
Still no sign that anyone was going to try and kill him.
But then everything started to fall into place in his mind. He’d been looking at this all wrong—at the moment, there was no reason for anyone to try and kill him. He was harmless. He’d done nothing wrong. But what if he discovered something while he was away, then used the Sat-Nav to eventually come back to this exact moment in time? Maybe he was going to reverse his way completely back out of everything he was about to experience, returning to this spot with new memories. And maybe it was something about those memories that nearly got him killed.
He must have been about to uncover a secret that was worth killing to protect, like what was going to happen in the remaining Game of Thrones books.
But what secret could that be? And having figured all this out, why would he willingly return to this point in time if he knew it meant someone was going to shoot him?
“Are you all right?” Jennifer said.
“What’s that?”
“You keep looking like something’s bothering you.”
“It’s nothing. I’m fine.”
“Well then, what are you wait
ing for?”
“Right,” Geoff said. “Here I go.”
He took a deep breath and held the air in his lungs, his finger hovering over the BEGIN button on the screen. Somehow, he had a feeling he’d be back in this room sooner than either of them would expect.
“From now on,” Jennifer said, “the fate of the world is in your hands. All you need to do is ask yourself one question: What will you change?”
Nine
Geoff breathed out slowly and pressed the BEGIN button on the tablet, and in that moment, everything around him changed. The walls of the Continuum building melted away, the sky went dark, and in front of him, huge volcanoes appeared on the horizon, spewing out lava and pumping thick, black smoke into the air. Instead of standing in a small underground room, he now found himself on an outcrop of rock, surrounded by bubbling rivers of lava. He removed his finger from the button on the tablet and tugged at his collar—it was baking hot.
“Welcome to your Continuum tutorial session,” a voice said from behind him.
Geoff spun around.
He knew that voice.
It was Jennifer Adams again.
Or at least, it was a holographic representation of Jennifer Adams, projected a few feet in front of him to make it look like she was standing there with him. Her physical form was slightly transparent and seemed to be constructed out of a blue light, and as she moved, millions of floating pixels darted around within the rough outline of her body to animate her movement. She kind of reminded him of Cortana from the Halo games, except she actually had some clothes on.
“Jennifer?” Geoff said, taking a step forward. The ground beneath his feet felt hot even through his shoes, a bit like when you’re on a beach and it’s sunny, and you think it would be nice to walk around barefoot until you realize after two steps that the soles of your feet feel like they’re on fire.
“Jennifer?” he said. “Is that you?”
The hologram of Jennifer Adams didn’t appear to react to Geoff’s question; its eyes just looked straight through him as if he weren’t there. This was actually how a lot of women tended to react to Geoff, so it wasn’t an unusual experience for him. He reached out to touch the image, but his hand just passed straight through it.
Now that was unusual. He’d never actually just reached out to touch a woman without warning before, but he assumed the normal reaction in that instance would be to get a slap.
And then get arrested.
Geoff’s stomach rumbled again.
Roughly translated, this meant “please insert food immediately.”
The hologram of Jennifer spoke.
“You are now standing at the earliest known point when the Earth could sustain oxygen-breathing life forms, billions of years ago,” it said. The image of Jennifer appeared to be prerecorded, reciting a standard script. Geoff assumed this was what every tourist saw on their first trip.
“At this time, most of the planet is still covered in lava,” it continued. “There is barely any plant life, and the first vertebrates will not exist for many, many years.”
Great, Geoff thought. If that was the case, he didn’t fancy his chances of finding a conveniently located Pret A Manger nearby. He would just have to put up with being hungry a little while longer.
The hologram turned to face the vast range of volcanoes in the distance, extending its pixelated arms toward them. “In front of you,” it said, “the Earth is still a volatile planet, with the continents you know today still yet to be formed. But over time, forests will grow. Oceans will rise and fall. And mountains will climb high into the sky.”
And ultimately, Geoff thought, the human race will appear on the scene and offer many contributions of its own to the evolution of the planet, like the wheel, foldable cutlery, and squeezy Marmite.
Once the hologram finished speaking, it disappeared in a puff of blue dots.
Geoff stood there for a moment, staring blankly at where the hologram had just vanished into thin air.
Was that it? What kind of tutorial was that? He’d just been given one of the most sophisticated pieces of time-manipulation devices to do with as he pleased, and yet when it came to being told how to use it, all he’d gotten was a quick lecture about how the planet had lacked a lot of basic amenities back when it was still developing into the world he knew today. It was like turning up for a flying lesson only to learn that the instructor was a small dog holding an interesting story about the Wright brothers in its mouth.
But just then, something began to happen. Time appeared to speed up before Geoff’s eyes, and he watched in total amazement as the landscape of the planet began to change form in a matter of seconds. It was as though he were watching a piece of time-lapse photography set over billions of years, like that really cool special effect in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan where Kirk watches the video demonstrating how the Genesis device could transform a barren moon into a lush planet in just a few days. He watched in awe as tiny saplings in the ground grew into towering trees in a matter of seconds, and then watched as a cycle repeated itself of trees decaying away, falling down, and being replaced by other trees. To his right, a few trickles of water swelled into a surging river, weaving its way through the landscape like a winding snake. And in the distance, Earth’s tectonic plates crashed into each other like two angry giants, the scars taking the form of beautiful snow-capped mountain ranges that soared into the sky.
He couldn’t understand how this was happening. Who was controlling his journey through time at the moment? It was only then that he thought to look down at the Sat-Nav. On the screen, the date was spinning forward, and the words TUTORIAL MODE were displayed underneath.
The device must have been doing all of this automatically.
At least, he hoped that was the case—otherwise he was in big trouble. It would be just typical if he’d broken the bloody thing already.
Eventually, the flow of time returned to a normal speed. Geoff let out a deep breath, took a few steps forward, and looked around. He was standing in the middle of a tropical jungle, with all kinds of strange and exotic animal noises emanating from his surroundings.
Geoff looked down at the tablet again. On the screen, the date said 200,000,000 BC.
In front of him, the hologram of Jennifer Adams appeared again. “Now, let’s take a look at your Space and Time Navigator,” it said, “or as we like to call it at Continuum, the Sat-Nav.”
Geoff sniggered. He still couldn’t believe they’d called this thing a Sat-Nav. As far as the naming of a product went, it was nearly as bad as when Kellogg’s briefly renamed Coco Pops to Choco Crispies before changing it back again. Didn’t they realize nothing rhymed with crispies if they wanted to use the same jingle in their TV adverts?
“The Sat-Nav is a remarkable device, allowing you not only to have complete control over your exact position in time, but also in three-dimensional space. It is small, compact, and easy to use, with a simple, intuitive interface. It also comes in eight different colors, and for additional security, the screen took a scan of your fingerprint when you first pressed BEGIN, making you the only person now capable of using it.”
The Sat-Nav was all very impressive, Geoff thought, rubbing his stomach, but could it help him find the nearest restaurant?
“At present, your Sat-Nav tutorial program has sent you to two hundred million years BC, in the middle of what will one day be known as the Amazon rainforest. If you look at the display, you can see the date clearly.”
Geoff could indeed see the date. This interface seemed pretty straightforward and easy to use so far, although that’s what he’d thought the first time he’d used Windows 8.
“You are now on the WHEN screen,” the hologram said. “The WHEN screen has two main functions—it tells you when you are, and you can tell it when you want to go. Now, you will see three icons at the top of the screen. One has a question mark, one has a clock, and one has a crosshair. The question mark represents the WHAT screen, which we will get to later.
The crosshair represents the WHERE screen, which we will look at now. Go ahead and press the icon with the crosshair.”
Geoff did as he was told. As he pressed the icon, the screen below changed to show a map of his location. As he played around with the screen, drawing on it with his finger to navigate, he realized you could zoom out for a full view of the planet, or right down to the individual blades of grass beneath his feet. It was like Google Maps on steroids, only minus the blurred-out faces and markers for minicab companies.
“This is the WHERE screen. Just like the WHEN screen, the WHERE screen also has two functions—it tells you where you are, and you can tell it where you want to go. Used in conjunction with the WHEN screen, you can use the Sat-Nav to transport you wherever, and whenever you want.”
Geoff raised his eyebrows. Despite the stupid name, this device was seriously impressive. It was so sophisticated it made Apple’s iPad look like it had no more functionality than an actual apple.
“Now, let’s say you wanted to travel forward in time, and appear on another continent. First of all, go back to the WHEN screen by pressing the clock icon.”
Geoff pressed the clock. The current date appeared on the screen.
“Next, use the dials to change the year to one hundred and ninety million years BC.”
Geoff did as he was told.
“Now move to the WHERE screen again, and zoom out. Spin the Earth so the crosshair is over the northern hemisphere, then zoom in. The image you see is a real-time snapshot of the moment in time you intend to travel to, so you can be sure you won’t materialize in the middle of a mountain, or in the path of anything moving toward you. The Sat-Nav will also perform a safety check of your destination before transporting you, and will prevent you from traveling anywhere that might put you in danger.”
Except in my case, Geoff thought, when I’ll eventually use this thing to go back and get shot. Great!
He followed the hologram’s instructions, scrolling around the map and zooming in on a beach somewhere in the northern hemisphere. When he had decided on a location, another icon appeared at the bottom of the screen. It said EXECUTE.