The Time Bubble Box Set

by Jason Ayres

  “Sorry,” he replied, scrubbing out the date and writing 31st December 2024 instead. “I must still be a bit woozy from the fall.”

  “Perhaps you had better go careful,” replied Barry. “We don’t want you having any more accidents, do we?” This was said with an air of menace in his voice, that Josh couldn’t work out was genuine, or just Barry playing another one of his games.

  “No, we don’t,” he replied.

  “Good lad,” said Barry. “I suggest you keep your distance from this place for a while.”

  “Don’t worry, I will,” replied Josh, and he meant it. He had seen enough of the hospital over the past few hours to last a lifetime.

  “I’m pleased to hear it,” replied the beefy security guard.

  He wasn’t so bad, really, thought Josh. Theirs had been a strange and brief encounter, but he couldn’t deny it had been a memorable one.

  “Well, Barry, it’s been an absolute pleasure,” he said, holding out his hand.

  “I’d love to say the same,” replied Barry, ignoring the gesture. “But my tea’s been going cold while I’ve been dealing with you which means I’m going to have to go up to the League of Friends and get another one. So if you could kindly bugger off now, that would be greatly appreciated.”

  Thankful to have all his belongings intact, Josh was happy to oblige. Safely out of Barry’s lair, he made his way down the corridor towards the exit. Once he was safely clear of the hospital he would try and figure out what to do next.

  Chapter Ten

  December 2024

  It was mid-afternoon and Josh was safely ensconced in his bedroom in a travel tavern, just off the Oxford Ring Road.

  He had booked himself into this modest hotel because he wanted somewhere out of the way to think things through. He also needed time to investigate what had happened to the tachyometer. Most importantly of all, it was cheap.

  There was a possibility he could be stuck here for a while and he wasn’t about to fritter away the funds he had on a posh hotel in central Oxford. If the tachyometer was out of action, he had to look after the money he had.

  Until he knew for certain what his situation was, he was going to have to do everything on the cheap, including hotels, food and transport. He had already started on this regime by taking the park and ride bus to the hotel, rather than a taxi.

  The inside of the room was seriously depressing. It was small, even for a budget hotel, and the décor wasn’t exactly inspiring. The curtains were a vertical mix of green, brown and cream stripes, with a bedspread to match.

  The gap between the curtains revealed the grey and drizzly skies outside. It was only the middle of the afternoon, but daylight was already beginning to fade. Josh had always hated the early sunsets at this time of year.

  The walls were a dull cream colour and the TV was practically an antique, even by the standards of this time period. It was just a simple, 32-inch, flat-screen model.

  Everything else was exactly what you would expect from this sort of hotel room, right down to the Corby trouser press, something that seemed to be omnipresent in every hotel he had ever stayed in. He had never used one.

  He was thirsty and craved a cup of coffee, but the cheap, plastic kettle, also standard issue in this type of hotel, was taking forever to boil. While he waited, he turned on the TV and idly flicked through the first few channels on the list.

  There was a daytime quiz show Josh hadn’t seen for years that involved opening giant eggcups to reveal amounts of money inside. On another channel there was one of the old Carry On films, full of innuendo. He remembered that his father used to love them.

  Next he found some daytime chat show which annoyed him after about five seconds due to the screeching, hysterical audience. What was it people always said? TV was better in the old days? Not on this evidence, it wasn’t.

  He hadn’t switched on the TV to watch this tat. He needed to find the news channel. He knew he had gone back in time two days, but he wanted to see if there were any external signs of change in the world around him. Was he in an identical universe to the one he had left? He hadn’t noticed any changes in the world around him since he had left the hospital, which was encouraging.

  Eventually he found Sky News and watched it for a couple of minutes as the kettle began to emit a low hiss. At last it had managed to haul the water within up to boiling temperature.

  He watched the TV for another couple of minutes, and then poured himself a cheap, nasty cup of coffee, complete with UHT milk. The cup didn’t look particularly clean and he wondered if it had ever seen the inside of a dishwasher.

  He had worked for a few weeks in a hotel one summer when he was a student. Standard procedure then was to just rinse them under the bathroom tap and dry them on a towel. Mindful of this, he gave his cup a thorough wash under the hot tap in the bathroom, using a complimentary sachet of shower gel.

  What he had seen on the news was reassuringly normal. There certainly wasn’t anything to suggest he was in a radically different universe, so now he turned his attention to the tachyometer. He needed to find out why it seemingly hadn’t been working in Barry’s hands.

  It had been safely tucked away in his backpack since leaving the hospital, despite his desperate desire to examine it properly. Resisting the temptation had been difficult, but he knew that taking it out in public was too risky.

  He turned the TV off, opened up his backpack, pulled out the tachyometer and had a good look at it. There didn’t seem to be any obvious signs of external damage, but the power on button refused to work. Normally when he pressed it, the display panel would light up and its small screen would give him all the information he needed. It would give him details of the date, time, location and the current universe he was in. It was also where he entered the details for the destination of his next jump.

  The power indicator on the end would also turn green, informing him that the device was sufficiently powered to open a time bubble. Right now, the light on the end remained stubbornly red. This was better than there being no light at all. At least it didn’t mean it was completely dead. Red meant it was charging, but it should not take anything like this long. Usually it was a few minutes at most. But now it was over twelve hours since the incident had occurred.

  And what exactly had occurred? He had seen another Josh appear in the room and seemingly they had both attempted to create a time bubble in the same space at the same time. That was what seemed to have created the weird mirror effect he had seen, with what looked like infinite universes reflecting all around him.

  One thing was glaringly obvious. It seemed almost certain that Josh had caused the very event he had gone to investigate. Another Josh, similarly curious, from another universe had clearly had the same idea and together they had created the unique circumstances that caused reality to splinter the way it had.

  If time really had fractured, then all those multiple images would certainly account for the huge number of new universes that seemed to have been created on that day.

  What other strange effects had this event had? What about Thomas Scott, the man who had ended up living his life backwards, one day at a time? That surely had to be down to what had happened in that room. And what had happened to Amy? Where had she ended up? Was she even still alive? Perhaps he ought to try and track her down and find out.

  He decided to try and forget about all those questions for the moment to concentrate on his own predicament, which had thrown up enough questions of its own.

  What was he going to do now? Was the tachyometer permanently out of action, and if so, what could he do about it? Could he fix it? Was there anyone here in this time that could help him? Could he get a message to his future self in this world or any other to come to his rescue?

  And why hadn’t Alice come to help him, as they had arranged?

  There was no end to these questions. He lay down on the bed, exhausted from all the thoughts whirling around his head. Soon he fell asleep, dozing fitfully as his
subconscious mind tried to make sense of his current situation. Just like Alice and Lauren before him, he found himself experiencing a series of bizarre and lifelike dreams of other worlds and other times.

  He wasn’t normally one for falling asleep in the middle of the day, but jumping around in time so much had messed up his body clock. He was suffering from the time travel equivalent of jetlag.

  It was dark when he awoke but there was a light in the room. It was a very welcome green glow coming from the bedside table that he recognised right away. The tachyometer was charged up! He could get home!

  He fumbled for the light switch beside the bed, illuminating the room with the bedside lamp behind the table. Quickly he picked up his device and examined it.

  The green light might be on, but his heart sank when he pushed the button to turn on the display and the screen remained stubbornly dark.

  What was he to do now? How could he programme the device with no display? And was it even working? There was only one way to find out. He was going to have to try and create a bubble and risk stepping through it. It was the time-travelling equivalent of trying to fly a plane blindfold, but it was either that or risk being stuck in this place and time forever.

  He had no idea when or where he was headed, but before he went he flicked on the TV again. It would be useful to know the exact time of his departure, as at least then he would have a reference point when he reached the other end.

  He didn’t even need the clock on the TV display. As soon as it came on, he could see there was a large fireworks display taking place over the Thames. It could mean only one thing – London was celebrating New Year. It must be just after midnight on January 1st, meaning Josh had been asleep for around eight hours.

  He was wide awake now, and knew there was no way he would be getting any more sleep tonight, not now he knew the tachyometer was potentially working again. He was eager to get going and couldn’t afford to wait. There was no guarantee that the device would continue working in its current damaged state.

  Switching off the TV, he put on his coat and backpack, checking he had all his belongings with him, before getting ready to activate the tachyometer. He pressed the button and stepped forward, hoping that a bubble would be there.

  Thankfully, it was, but unfortunately for Josh, he had neglected to follow one of his prime rules and now found himself in a rather sticky situation.

  Usually he carried out his jumps in the lab or in certain locations around Oxford where he could be sure he wouldn’t encounter anyone. This time, eager to get going, he had quite neglected to think about the consequences of jumping in the hotel room. The relief he felt at discovering that the tachyometer still worked quickly vanished when he saw the scene unfolding in front of him.

  The bed was now occupied by a young couple in the throes of some seriously energetic sex.

  The woman, who was on her back, saw him first. The look on her face quickly contorted from one of ecstasy to one of shock. A split second later came the scream.

  “What the fuck?” exclaimed the man as she pushed him off. He quickly turned around and spotted this stranger who had seemingly appeared from nowhere.

  That was more than enough for Josh to spring into action. He had no intention of trying to talk himself out of this one; he just needed to get away.

  Running across the room, he wrenched open the door, with the man in hot pursuit. Running down the corridor, Josh could hear him shouting all sorts of obscenities at him, but he hadn’t pursued him beyond the door of the room. Since he was stark bollock naked, that was probably why – his modesty had precluded him from running down the corridor with his tackle hanging out.

  This was a temporary reprise for Josh but he wasn’t safe yet. Hitting the end of the corridor, he ignored the lifts and raced down the stairs. The couple were bound to be calling reception to inform them there was a pervert on the loose, and he knew the lift doors directly faced the front desk.

  Finally reaching the bottom after running down three flights, he ignored the signs to the left directing him to the lobby and instead turned right, seeking another exit. There was bound to be one somewhere here, there always was at the bottom of the stairs.

  Sure enough, just round to the right of the stairs he found a fire exit with double doors. Hitting the horizontal opening bar, he was straight out and into the car park, nearly going arse over tit into the freshly fallen snow outside.

  Brilliant – that was all he needed. There must have been a good couple of inches settling on the ground, with more falling all around him. Thank goodness he had brought the parka: he was going to need it. But where was he to go now? There was no sign that the alarm had been raised, but he really ought to get off the premises as quickly as possible.

  He remembered that there was a Tesco superstore about a mile up the road from the hotel that had always been open 24 hours a day, at least as long as he could remember. Hopefully it would be open and he hadn’t had the bad luck to arrive on Christmas Day when it would be shut. Leaving the hotel car park, he began what was to become a long and weary trek along the side of the ring road.

  It was almost devoid of traffic, suggesting it was very late at night. Then in the distance he saw a police car approaching, lights ablaze and siren wailing. To avoid being spotted, he had no choice but to throw himself behind a bush, getting covered in more snow in the process.

  The occupants didn’t see him, passing by and on towards the hotel. Watching from a safe distance, he saw them turn in, no doubt summoned as a result of his actions. Once the police car was out of sight, he resumed his long trudge. Rounding a turn in the road, he was encouraged to see the bright lights of the superstore in the distance. That suggested it was indeed open.

  It seemed to take forever to get there, but finally he made his way in through the front doors. He had never been in a superstore at this time of night and it was eerily quiet, with more night workers around than shoppers.

  He didn’t know exactly what time of night it was, having no idea where or when the tachyometer had sent him. He didn’t know the date either, but was guessing he hadn’t travelled far in time – it was still winter, after all, and the large Christmas tree just inside the front doors was a dead giveaway.

  He instinctively looked at his watch, before remembering that it had been well and truly fried. He couldn’t see any clocks either. He would just have to ask someone. Wandering past the fruit and veg aisles, further into the store, he approached a chubby, young chap who was restocking the bread aisle.

  “Excuse me, mate, have you got the time?” he asked. “The battery’s gone in my watch.”

  This should be a reasonable question to ask a person from this era. Batteries were old hat in his Josh’s time, but they had been commonplace in the 20s.

  “Sure,” said the man. “It’s a quarter to two.”

  Josh was tempted to ask the date, too, but stopped short. Experience had taught him that wandering around in the past asking that particular question could attract strange looks, especially if he also asked what year it was.

  The last thing he wanted to do now was attract unwarranted attention after what had just happened in the hotel room. Expressing his thanks, he wandered further towards the far end of the store where the café was.

  His body was making him acutely aware that he was hungry, thirsty and needed the toilet. He wasn’t going to satisfy the first two of those needs in the café, as it was closed at night. Fortunately the toilets were next door and mercifully unoccupied. Although he only needed a wee, he went straight into a cubicle, locked the door and sat down.

  For the first time since he had arrived, disturbing the couple in the hotel room, he felt safe. Perhaps he could stay here for a while and think things through. It wasn’t as if there was anywhere else he could go at 2am in the middle of a blizzard. There was nothing to stop him wandering around the store, but that might look a little odd if he did it for too long.

  He still didn’t know the date, but that wo
uldn’t be difficult. He would just do what he usually did, look at a newspaper. There was bound to be a stand selling papers somewhere close to the store entrance.

  As for food and drink, he was surrounded by it, though it wasn’t as if he could just help himself to food and start eating it as he wandered around the store. It might be acceptable behaviour to give a toddler something to eat to keep it quiet before presenting the wrapper at the checkout, but a grown man stuffing his face in the aisles would probably result in ejection from the store.

  Despite the urgent rumbles from his belly, he would just have to stay put for the moment while he figured out some sort of plan. But plans weren’t easy to make when you didn’t know when or where you were.

  Pulling the tachyometer out of the bag, it was clear he was not going to be heading off anywhere again anytime soon. The charging light was once again stuck stubbornly on red. How long would it be before it charged itself up this time? It must have been at least twelve hours before, possibly a lot more. He couldn’t be sure because he had been asleep when it had turned green.

  If it did go green again he needed to ensure he got himself somewhere safe before he attempted another jump. He didn’t want any repetition of what had just occurred in the travel tavern. He certainly wasn’t going to do it while he was sitting on the toilet, imagining the havoc that might ensue if the cubicle was occupied at the end of the jump.

  Going by last time, he decided to work on the assumption that he would be stuck for a minimum of twelve hours and work around that. His first priority had to be to get some food. He couldn’t spend the night sitting on a toilet trying to ignore his pangs of hunger.

  He would get what he needed, brave the cold and eat it outside the shop and then think about what to do once he had some food inside him. Maybe the energy from eating would give his brain a boost to help him come up with some more ideas. Even if it didn’t, he knew his stomach would certainly appreciate it.