Stealing Time

anyone other than herself in thisapartment before.
Varya paced into the kitchen, dumped herbag, and sat, staring at Marisa’s coffee. She chewed her lip andfidgeted. Marisa turned to see the man hovering in the doorway,holding a large box. He raised his knee and hunched over the box toshift it.
“Just over here, maybe?” he asked nobody inparticular.
Marisa shrugged and turned back to Varya,frowning. She ignored the dull thump of the box hitting the floorand reached out to touch Varya’s hand with a single finger.
“Hey, you’ve got coffee,” said Connor, hisexcitement overcoming his reticence.
“Specially imported on the black market allthe way from Java, just for me.” Marisa held her empty cup aloft.The corner of Varya’s mouth twitched slightly and she raised aneyebrow.
“Oh.” Connor was already running his handsover the machine lightly, inhaling the aroma from the spentgranules. “Do you mind if I…?”
“Knock yourself out, kid,” said Marisagenerously. She watched as Connor gripped the handle and tapped outthe spent coffee grinds. She caught the heady whiff of the newgranules as he opened the packet and scooped out more. Marisadipped her head to face Varya’s.
“Bit young for you, isn’t he?” shemuttered.
Varya stood and made to walk past her. Sheplaced a heavy hand on Marisa’s shoulder and squeezed. “Be nice.He’s from work. He’s here to help.”
Marisa paused, then continued in a lowvoice. “I saw the news about Ben. How are you holding up?”
Varya looked directly into her eyes then,fear the main message. She shook her head and pulled her handaway.
“Hey, is this…?” Connor started to say.
Varya moved with lightning speed andsnatched the black square out of Connor’s hands. She placed itcarefully on the table and bent her knees as she lowered herselfslowly back into the chair. She cupped her hands protectively overthe device. No more than an inch thick, the surface was smoothapart from a tiny green light which blinked at regularintervals.
Connor stared at the device. Marisa staredat Connor.
“A guy from work? Who the hell is he really,Var’?”
“My name’s Connor,” Connor clarified.
“He’s Professor Langford’s nephew,”explained Varya. She’d asked him the same question herself in thecar on the way over. “He used to be a doctor.”
Marisa nodded. “Ah, so he knows…”
Varya turned to face Connor, keeping herhands around the device.
“I don’t know what he knows,” she said.
Marisa cocked her head to the side andflared her eyes.
“So, Connor, nephew of Langford, what do youknow? Enlighten us.”
The stream of liquid coffee emitting fromthe machine ended with a faint hiss. Connor turned and picked upthe cup, cradling it in both hands before taking a small sip.
“I know that’s a Time Lock stabiliser. And Iknow that it’s active. Which means there’s a Time Lock somewherenearby.”
Marisa squirmed and sat up, frowning atVarya. Varya moved slowly, apparently engrossed in inspecting theTime Lock stabiliser.
“Janet said you would need help with someresearch you’re doing, something about the Time Chips. She didn’tsay exactly what, just asked me to…” He trailed off and lookedsharply between them.
“She asked you to look out for Varya, didn’tshe?” said Marisa.
Connor nodded.
“I don’t need looking out for,” saidVarya.
“Okay.”
Varya held the device flat in the palm ofher hand and carried it over to the shelf above the coffee machine.She placed it carefully next to a small cactus, then stood back togaze at the montage.
“Don’t ever touch it again.”
“Okay.”
Marisa cocked her head to one side. “So,doctor boy. How can you help us? You good at sales ormanufacturing?”
Connor blanched and shook his headslightly.
“I…”
“Marisa,” Varya warned.
Marisa put her cup down and opened her handswide, leaning back in her chair.
“What? He said Langford sent him to help.What else is he going to help with?”
They both turned to Connor expectantly.
“I’m not sure. Without knowing what it isyou need, what that stabiliser is for…”
He indicated the device with a flick of hishead.
“Nah-ah,” Marisa laughed, a slight menace inher tone. “You first. What kind of a doctor were you?”
He paused and lifted his cup to his mouthagain. “This is very good coffee. Where did you say it was importedfrom?”
Varya rubbed at a knot in her shoulder.
“I’m guessing you didn’t diagnose coughs andcolds,” she said.
Connor put the cup down on the stone benchwith a clink and sighed softly.
“I was attached to the Rest Time Corps. Iworked with the kids who were returned by the time thieves.” Hepaused. “And their families, afterwards.”
Marisa gave a low whistle.
“Bullshit,” said Varya. “I would rememberyou. That section of the Corps wasn’t that big.”
Connor snorted. “I had a Y chromosome, andmy name wasn’t Sebastian. Of course, you didn’t notice me.”
Marisa laughed loudly, slapping her palm onthe table. “Oh, that’s brilliant. I’m going to remember thatone.”
Varya glared at her. Marisa gave one lasthoot, then cleared her throat and fell silent again.
“I was out in the field, mostly. You were inthe labs.” Connor paused. “Sebastian would remember me.”
“Sebastian’s not here,” said Varya.
Marisa leaned forward. “So, Connor, tell memore about Sebastian.” She waved her hand in the air at Varya.“Lover-girl here won’t say a word. I figure he must begorgeous.”
Connor opened his mouth to laugh but stoppedwhen he saw Varya’s thunderous expression. He cleared histhroat.
“Maybe some other time.”
“We don’t have time for gossip,” Varyasnapped. “Daniel has been abducted.” She looked from Connor toMarisa and back again. Marisa was opening and closing her mouth.That wasn’t information that had been shared on any news bulletinshe’d seen.
“Marisa can fill you in on the Time Lock.”She paused, holding her left hand with her right, trying to stopthe shaking.
“You’re sure?” said Marisa finally.
“Yes. We may need his help.” Satisfied,Varya walked out of the room, turning left down the hallway.
Marisa stared into her cup, trying to getthe story straight in her head. Where to begin? She’d kept Varya’ssecrets for five years but had never had to explain them to someoneelse.
“Who’s Daniel?” Connor lowered himself intoa chair opposite her.
She nodded, thankful for the direction.“Good idea. Let’s start with something simple. Daniel is the son ofVarya’s friend, Zoe.”
“Okay. And we think he’s probably beenabducted by the same person who took that other kid?”
Marisa nodded. “Ben Williams.”
Connor glanced up at the flashing black boxabove the coffee machine. The pace of the blinking increasedmomentarily, then dropped back to its previous