The Time Bubble Box Set 2
a weapon but insteadhad just transported him somewhere else. It was the stuff of science fiction,but after all the adventures with the Time Bubble a few years previously, hermind was open to all kinds of possibilities.The only other comforting thought she had, and it was anextremely tenuous one, was that if the assassin did kill her, maybe she andCharlie would be together again somewhere. It was an odd thing to think ofbecause she had never believed in any sort of deity, but the likelihood ofimpending doom had suddenly made the existence of some sort of afterlife anextremely appealing proposition.
By now she was halfway down the stairwell at the entrance tothe middle level of the car park. As she swung around the corner towards thenext flight of stairs, she almost knocked a mother with two young girls out ofthe way in her haste.
The woman gave her an extremely filthy look which suggestedshe was the one who had seen the contents of Kaylee’s stomach descending athigh speed towards the ground floor moments before.
There was no time to apologise or issue a warning: what usewould that be? If the assassin was only after Kaylee, these people would besafe, and if not, no one would be against the sort of weaponry the killer wastoting.
Kaylee risked a quick glance back up the stairs but there wasno sign that she was being followed. Briefly she allowed herself a little hopethat maybe she was going to get out of this alive after all.
Her hopes were swiftly quashed as she arrived at the bottomof the stairs and the assassin reappeared, right out of thin air directly infront of her. With a sinking feeling, she knew now that the game was up.
It was the first time Kaylee had got a proper look at herexecutioner, not that it gave her any clue as to the identity. The assassin wasso heavily clad in black body armour and a mask that covered the whole face,bar the eyes, that she couldn’t even tell if it was male or female. Come tothat, she couldn’t even be sure it was human – the armour was made of somestrange-looking metallic material that made her wonder if it might not be somesort of robot or android. Could it be an alien, or something from the future?
“Why are you doing this?” cried Kaylee as the killer raisedthe weapon that had already killed her husband. They would be her final wordsas no reply was forthcoming.
There was a high-pitched whistling sound and then a singlebrilliant, bright blue laser bolt consumed her body, instantly annihilatingher. Barely anything was left behind, just the single yellow flower that shehad been wearing in her hair which was blown off her head by the blast. Otherthan that, there was nothing, not even a hint of smoke.
Beneath the mask, the assassin smiled, pulled a wand-likedevice out of a side pocket and pressed a button, before stepping forward andvanishing.
Other than the small yellow flower fluttering slowlydownwards towards the regurgitated bits of muesli and skimmed milk congealingon the floor, it was as if neither of them had ever been there.
Chapter One
September 2055
It was springtime in Canberra and Josh and Alice Gardnerwere visiting one of the most advanced scientific institutes in the world.
Australia had risen to become a major world power after theNorthern Hemisphere had been crippled by the devastating Black Winter of2029–30. Nowhere was this more apparent than at the gleaming futuristicbuildings of the Australian National University, the pioneering hub ofrevolutionary new technologies that were set to change the world.
For some time, Josh had been enjoying holographicconversations with Doctor Henry Jones, the centre’s most eminent scientist. Heand his wife, Vanessa, had been at the forefront of developing the increasinglysophisticated artificial intelligence in the robots that were now becomingubiquitous in homes and workplaces across the world. It had made them famousand also extremely rich – wealth that they had used to bankroll ever moreadvanced research.
By the mid-2050s, Henry and Vanessa had delved far deeperinto the complexities of the human brain than anyone had been able to before.Their aim was to achieve something previously thought impossible: the abilityto transfer human consciousness completely into a digital format that could bestored forever or transferred into a new host.
It was this research that Josh was particularly interestedin, and he and Henry had discussed it at length. In return, Henry had been justas enthusiastic about Josh’s field of expertise.
It was well known in academic circles that Josh was theworld’s leading authority on time travel theory. He had written many papers onthe subject during his long career at Oxford University, without ever quiterevealing the full extent of his knowledge.
What few people other than Josh’s closest friends andconfidants knew was that he wasn’t just an expert in time travel theory. He hadalready achieved the ability to travel in time and done so many times. Those inhis inner circle had long ago decided that it was too dangerous to allow thisknowledge to be revealed to the wider world and had kept it to themselves fordecades.
Josh had let some hints slip to Henry that it might be possible,purely to keep him interested enough for him to grant Josh access to theinstitute. He was fascinated by the work they were doing there and the possibleapplications it might have if combined with his time travel technology. Toinvestigate further he had arranged to meet Henry and Vanessa to see their workfirst-hand.
Alice had reluctantly agreed to the meeting, even thoughthey were supposed to be on holiday. She knew how obsessed her husband got overthese things, and if she didn’t indulge him it would be all he would talk aboutfor their entire trip. It would be no big deal to give up a day or two out ofthe several months they were spending travelling the world.
The weather was warm and pleasant as they walked through thegardens in front of the impressive frontage of the scientific institute. It wasan unusual semicircular design that was reminiscent to Josh of the old BBCTelevision Centre back home, but that was where the similarity ended. This wasno