Drive Time

by Matt Wilkinson

  ∆ ∆ ∆

  Eight hours later, Spencer woke refreshed, climbed out of Simon’s bed, remade it for him, grabbed a nearby dressing gown and went to take a shower. She had previously possessed the forethought to scan some clothing through the SARA so, after her shower, she reproduced a fresh set to wear today. Spencer was very excited about this new, more convenient way to dress, she could wear her favourite clothes as often as she liked without the worry of wear and tear since they could be recreated at will, and some of the items she currently owned should last through trends. Spencer also liked the idea of waiting for new clothing to lose their itchy stiffness before scanning them into her infinite digital wardrobe, making every SARA produced garment the perfect level of comfort.

  Once washed and dressed, Spencer set up the teleporter for her return to Colorado, jumping forward seven hours so that time zones would match. She was able to appreciate the benefits of time travel now that she’d had some sleep. To say that instantly arriving half a world away, with no time difference to adjust to was a dream come true would be something of an understatement. Spencer planned to leave HQ early and avoid doppelganger related antics when her past-self arrived at nine.

  She had decided that now was the perfect time to find a new home close to her family, who had emigrated to America fifteen years earlier. When she arrived back in her storage unit, she took Zack’s car to the nearest trailer depot to drop her her rental, then took a trip to the nearest real estate agent. She looked through the houses that were on display and found a perfect home within a couple of blocks of her parents. She made the purchase there and then on the company account, which visibly pleased the realtor, and mentally vowed to take a pay cut equivalent to the estimated monthly mortgage cost of her new acquisition. After their business had been concluded, she made a note of the date and time. A few seconds later, she received a message to her phone containing the details of the exact date and time that she had finished her move into the new house, and the earliest time that she could travel to the teleportation hoop there. She left Zack’s car at a long stay park close to the location of her new home and walked to her parent's house since the weather was glorious and the air was fresh.

  In a few weeks, Spencer would build a teleportation hoop large enough for a car in her new garage, then she’d pick up Zack’s car, drive it through her portal and out of the accompanying hoop that Zack was due to build today. This would mean that Zack would only be without his car for a day and she wouldn’t need to make the long journey back. Zack was also planning on killing two birds with one stone by attaching his larger portal to the plumbing of his house, eliminating the need to search for more refuse. Spencer would do the same once the time came for building her portal. If they were to divert their sewage lines to the teleporters, it would ensure that their water bills didn’t become astronomical if comings were to outnumber the goings through the portal. HQ already had schematics for SARA produced modules that would allow the portals to make use of the plumbing, they were also able to provide the tools and materials that were fit for the job. The larger hoops would be useful for when Zack and Spencer wanted to drive quickly between states, and even between their countries, later they could build a portal on the west coast to save time when driving to the adjacent states at that location. She’d need to register her UK car with the DMV in the US to be able to legally drive it there, and she’d need to change the registration plate every time she crossed over between countries, but that wouldn’t be too hard. Spencer might even write a routine into the teleportation code that would automatically change the plate when it reintegrated the car at the destination hoop, which would be more convenient even if it only saved her a few minutes each time. That could all wait until her new house was habitable, right now she was just visiting her parents. Luckily, Spencer had dual citizenship thanks to her parents being naturalised to the US — valid social security number and all — so there wouldn’t be any immigration queries if she were to be unlucky enough to have any run-ins with the law. Spencer wasn’t sure how much attention might be paid to her immigration records if she were pulled over; hopefully, they wouldn’t check too closely and notice that she’d never officially re-entered the country. That would require a lot of improvisation in her explanation, and to back any of it up would be impossible, no doubt — in today’s political climate — she would be mistaken for a terrorist. With the rapid speed at which they were changing their world, and — to a lesser degree — everyone’s world, hopefully, it wouldn’t be long before teleportation was the most common form of travel, and she wouldn’t have to worry about it.

  When she arrived at her parent’s house, nobody was home, but she knew the code to the garage, and the door beyond that led into the main house was unlocked. Her father was the principal breadwinner of the house, and her mother usually stayed home most days, but some of those days she would be busy entertaining kids, being a registered childminder. Spencer assumed that it wouldn’t be long until her mother returned home, she might be grocery shopping, the store was local, and her mum wouldn’t be doing a huge shop without her husband’s help. Spencer’s mobile phone had been modified to house an entangled photon which would route calls through the quantum computer, making roaming easier and her signal always perfect. She used it to call her mother and make enquiries about her location, telling her that she was sending her a package that would require a signature so as not to arouse suspicion. She was indeed getting groceries and would be back within the hour. Spencer made herself comfortable and waited, playing games on her phone.

  Chapter 49

  Lucy Egan pulled up outside the house and reversed her car onto the drive, so the boot faced the front door. She still called it a boot, and not a trunk, despite living in the US for a decade and a half. The front door offered a more direct route to the kitchen than the garage entrance, so Lucy unlocked and opened it ready to make a few unloading trips. The garage might have been a better option if she were able to pull her car in there, but her husband’s little projects had grown to fill the area, leaving no space to park.

  Lucy was pleasantly surprised to have received a call from her daughter while at the store, it had been awhile since they last spoke, and her interest had been piqued by its secretive nature. She had been eager to return home and discover what surprises might be in store, but the mailbox and usual hiding spots held no concealed packages or card indicating a failed delivery, so her curiosity would remain unsated for a while longer. After returning to the car and grabbing a few bags from the boot, Lucy became aware of a figure in her periphery, approaching from the front door. Assuming that her husband was home early — since the individual came from inside the house — she passed the bags in his direction, and he took them, allowing her to remove more from the boot.

  “Make yourself useful, we might get this done in one trip.” she said.

  “I can take a few more if you give me one or two of those.” her husband said, in a strangely high-pitched voice.

  A moment later she recognised the voice and turned to see Spencer, Lucy thought it was strange that her daughter hadn’t let her know she was popping round, then comprehension struck.

  “Oh my god! Spencer. What are you doing here?” She went to hug her but was laden with shopping.

  They embraced in an awkward clanging of produce.

  “Let’s get these inside, then I’ll tell you all about it.”

  They walked into the house and placed the bags on the breakfast bar island.

  “Well, what’s the story?”

  “I took some time off and flew over, I’m a founder of a billion pound company, I can do that.” Spencer realised that the story she had concocted wasn’t that long after all and she could have just told it during the journey from the drive.

  “Oh," Lucy said. “Well, I suppose that’s true.”

  She smiled and pulled her daughter into another tight bear hug, Spencer hugged back with equal gusto, she had memories of losing her mother during the fall,
so every second she got to spend with her in this reality felt like a gift. Lucy stepped back to look at her daughter.

  “You look exactly the same as when I last saw you. I thought you’d look richer.”

  Spencer laughed, “I’m still me, Mum. We’re spending most of our profits on philanthropic endeavours, none of us are particularly interested in wasting money on things we don’t need. Money can’t buy you happiness.”

  “I bet it can buy you contentment.”

  Spencer laughed again. “You have no idea. I’ve not a care in the world right now. Other than the wider problems that are beyond my control, that is.”

  “You always did worry about the things that you can’t change. It sounds like you’re giving it a good go, though. I’m so proud of you.”

  “Thanks, Mum, I know, you tell me every time I speak to you. It’s great to see you.”

  “You’re telling me. We miss you.”

  “You won’t have to soon, I’ve bought a house a couple of blocks over.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Oh my, that’s amazing. Your Dad’s going to be thrilled. He hoped you would at some point since it’s your company and you might need to open an office here to expand.”

  “He’s not wrong, I’ll be able to live here and still continue my work like nothing changed.” With or without an office here, Spencer thought.

  “What are you working on now? I saw your tiny robot things on the news, I tell everyone that my daughter was responsible for that. I’m not sure if they believe me.”

  “Right now it’s all a bit top secret, and I don’t think you’d believe me if I told you. We’ve kept some of our inventions to ourselves, but they’re working extremely well for us right now, the world is going to love them.”

  “Making you even richer? Your good causes are going to see a big difference, you might even solve their problems altogether with the way you earn for them.”

  “What we’re making is going to be almost given away, we don’t need any more money. It’s useless to us now.” Her mother assumed that Spencer meant they had more money than they could find a use for, but when Spencer said ‘useless to us’ she meant the whole human race, soon enough. “When’s Dad due home?”

  “I can call him and ask him to come home early if you like.”

  “No, no. Let’s not tip him off.”

  “He’s usually home just after five. Lately, he just does what he needs to at work, then comes straight home to work on his carpentry. He sells his chairs online.”

  “I saw them in the garage. They’re pretty. You know you don’t need to sell anything online now? Your daughter’s a billionaire.”

  “I know, but it’s his hobby. Keeps him out of my hair while I watch the soaps. Thanks for that device you sent me, by the way. It’s great to watch all my British soaps again, I never quite took to the American ones.”

  “No problem, catching you up to the twenty-first century.”

  “It’s great isn’t it, the internet, I love being able to keep in touch and see you online, it makes the distance between here and England seem so much shorter.”

  Just you wait, Spencer thought.

  ∆ ∆ ∆

  Jeff Egan pulled his car into the drive and parked it next to his wife’s, then exited and made his way into the house, heading for the living area. Jeff could hear his wife’s voice when approaching the lounge, they clearly had company as a conversation was taking place, maybe this would allow him to put in a spot of work on his latest chair while his wife engaged in a little gossip before dinner. He then realised that the second voice sounded a lot like his daughter’s, so maybe they didn’t have a visitor, and Spencer had finally made the time to make a video call to her mother’s laptop. As the living room came into view, he could see that they did have company after all, and when Lucy heard him approach she turned to face him, and their guest followed her gaze.

  “Spence? Oh, my god, hi!” Jeff said as she ran towards him. “How are you, honey? What are you doing here?”

  “Do I need a reason?” Spencer asked as she jumped to hug him.

  “Of course not! But it’s such a long trip. Is everything okay?”

  “Just missed you both.”

  “Oh hun, it’s so good to see you.”

  Spencer spent the next ten minutes repeating the conversation she’d had with her mother, almost verbatim, though Lucy spoke for her at times. Once they had caught up a little, the family prepared a meal in the kitchen then sat down together to eat. Spencer felt more content than she had in quite some time, knowing that she could enjoy her parent’s company at any time she chose was a tremendous comfort. When the meal was over, and plates and utensils were stacked in the washer, they returned to the lounge. Lucy brought the TV out of standby to catch up with her soaps, Jeff decided to keep the family time going, even though he’d always made it clear how much he disliked ‘continuing drama’; it just felt great to be together again.

  When the soaps were finished, Lucy exited the DVR menu, returning to the previously tuned network and she left to use the bathroom; Jeff had been asleep for an hour. The current TV channel was mid newscast, and Spencer instinctively began to pay attention, after all the hours she’d scanned during her phase of super heroics it had become a habit. Once Spencer realised the proclivity was placing her life at risk, her rehabilitation had been a personal goal, but the routine kicked back in now and again. She watched the current story for a few minutes, trying to glean as much information as possible and commit it to memory. The tragedy playing out on screen was sadly not even close to being the first occurrence of a such an event, she saw red.

  “Give me a time. Give me a time," Spencer muttered to herself.

  A few minutes later disturbing CCTV footage was displayed, a time stamp clearly visible in the top right corner. She left her seat and shouted to her mother.

  “Mum! I need to borrow your car.” Her father literally jumped out of his seat briefly.

  Spencer could just about hear her mother’s voice, “Where are you going?”

  “Just running a quick errand. Won’t be long.”

  “Okay, the keys are in my bag on the kitchen island.”

  Spencer ran to collect the keys and rushed to the front door.

  “Can you get me a six-pack on your way back?” her father called after her.

  “Sure Dad. The usual?”

  Spencer didn’t hear his reply since she was already out of the house. She knew there was no need to rush, as time was no obstacle, but the images on the news had stirred anger in her. She started the car and headed towards her storage unit.

  Chapter 50

  Spencer arrived back at HQ without time travel, making it just after one in the morning in Harrogate. She knew that there would be no alternate versions of herself to bump into and Simon would most likely still be awake. He was at his workstation, as expected, and authorised her transfer, greeting her as she materialised.

  She abruptly responded with “I need to use the prototype," and climbed into the recliner chair, placing her helmet on her head. “Hook me up.”

  Simon thought about reminding her that the prototype remained untested but Spencer was more than aware of this and he knew her well enough to discern that this wasn’t a time to refuse her order. He enabled the conduit between her mind and the CPU of their latest android model. The robot began to move and looked at its hands, turning them over a couple of times and squeezing them into fists. Simon noted the action since he’d seen it several times in his science fiction movies, and knew he had also performed the very same gesture. Is that the instinctive reaction, or are we influenced by the trope, he wondered before deciding that it wasn’t the time for philosophising over the subject. The android’s integrated speakers came alive with the sound of Spencer’s voice, each member of the team had their voice print digitised for when they were mentally controlling an android.

  “Open the portal and send me back to o
ne-fifteen PM Colorado time.”

  “Okay. Mind if I ask what this is about?”

  “Check the news after you send me through.”

  “Okey-dokey then," Simon said with a sigh, opening the portal to the requested date and time.

  Spencer stepped through.

  ∆ ∆ ∆

  It was between periods at Crescent Ridge High School, and students were milling around the corridors en route to class. Shaun Ivanovic worked himself into a deep rage as he sat in his car and thought of the jocks and princesses inside who did nothing but mock and condescend to him. They weren’t the only ones to treat him with such disrespect, but others were following their lead, he had had it with all of them. His anger rose further, and his vision began to blur. The whirring in his ears grew, and his head continued to pound. He needed to teach them a lesson, a lesson the whole school would witness so that it might teach others in turn. No one had the right to make anyone feel like a lesser being, of no more consequence than a bug on a windshield. I matter, he thought, I’ll show them how much I matter. I’ll show them consequences. He growled and punched at the wheel and dashboard, beat his chest and roared.

  Shaun stepped out into the car park, strode around to the back of his vehicle and opened the trunk. As he reached for the rifle, something flew at his face, a bug of some kind, he waved it away. The enraged student grabbed the hardware and began walking towards the school, a swarm of fruit flies followed him, zig-zagging in front of his nose annoyingly, he continued to wave the bugs away. Some of the bugs were flying too close to his eyes, causing them to twitch and blur his vision.

  He was causing enough of a scene for the guards to notice his approach — and the rifle he had in his possession — they drew their own weapons and dove for the nearest cover. The guards bellowed orders at Shaun, insisting that he put down the gun. Shaun didn't like being told what to do, he raised the rifle and pointed it in the guard's direction. He was confident that his weapon was powerful enough to take them out at this distance, and it was fully automatic, which their handguns weren't. Before Shaun had the chance to discharge a round, a student walked out through the school's main doors. It's not your day, Shaun thought and chuckled to himself, the student was dumb enough to walk between the guards without noticing their defensive positioning or hearing their shouts, he assumed that the kid must be wearing headphones under the hood of their sweater. The clueless kid stood between the guards and himself, so they were now unable to get a clean shot at him. Looks like you were killed by your favourite band, dickhead, Shaun thought as he opened fire at the figure.