by Jason Ayres
“You don’t get off that easily,” replied Vanessa. “Look, it’s cards on the table time. I think you’re amazing and you could be much happier with me than you are with Alice. I’ve fancied you since the day we first met in Canberra, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you ever since.”
She leaned in towards him, going for the kiss but he abruptly pulled back and angrily rounded on her.
“OK, you need to stop this right now,” said Josh. “We’re here to do a job, nothing more. I’m perfectly happy with Alice and nothing is going to happen between me and you – not now, not ever – is that clear?”
“Crystal,” replied Vanessa before adding cheekily, “but like I said, you don’t get off that easily. One way or another, I always get my man.”
Before Josh could reply again the screen pinged in front of them and the soft, feminine voice of the computer announced: “Simulation complete. Probability of success estimated at 99.8%.”
“We’ve done it!” exclaimed Josh, triumphantly, all thought of Vanessa’s attempted seduction temporarily forgotten in his euphoria.
“That’s fantastic!” replied Vanessa, “We must phone Henry and let him know.”
“And then it’s off to Charlie’s place to celebrate!” said Josh.
“Before the hard work really begins tomorrow,” she added. “Shall we go?”
She smiled, in a friendly way, with no hint of her earlier behaviour, reassuring Josh that perhaps the embarrassing little moment that had just passed would be swept under the carpet and not mentioned again. Hopefully she had got the message.
Vanessa had got the message but had no intention of being deterred. Vanessa was used to getting what she wanted and was smart enough to realise that she needed to bide her time and play the long game.
As far as she was concerned, his rejection was merely a temporary setback which just made her even more determined to steal him away from Alice.
She was going to have Josh to herself and nothing in this universe or any other was going to stand in her way.
Chapter Six
June 2057
Nearly a year had passed since Henry and Vanessa had first come to Oxford. Since then, there had been much travelling back and forth between Oxford and Canberra as the two couples worked together to integrate their respective technologies.
They had proven on the day of the barbecue, which predictably had ended in a thunderstorm, that transferring a consciousness through time was possible. Getting to the point where it could be put into practice had been a lengthy and frustrating process, but finally the time had arrived to make their first trial run.
The work had been intense and, thankfully for Josh, Vanessa hadn’t made any more advances on him which led him to believe the rather embarrassing conversation that humid afternoon had been forgotten.
The only question now was who should attempt the first journey, something the four of them were now eagerly debating in Josh and Alice’s lab.
“I think I should do it,” suggested Henry. “I’ve already got significant experience in mind transference so I’m the obvious choice.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t see it that way,” countered Josh. “You may have extensive experience of having your mind copied into an android body, but you’re completely unfamiliar with the intricate nature of time travel.”
“I would have if you let me have a go with that tachyometer,” replied Henry, looking enviously at the device which was currently plugged into an elaborate new computer panel that now covered half of the lab wall.
Much of Henry and Vanessa’s equipment had been transported up from Australia for this occasion, including the couches upon which they had seen Henry’s mind copied on their first visit there. The lab at Oxford was a lot smaller than the one in Canberra and they could barely move for all the equipment that had been squeezed in.
“We’ve talked about this, Henry,” replied Josh. “I can’t just allow anyone to go off with one of these.”
“I’m hardly just anyone, am I?”
“Nonetheless, there are way too many potential pitfalls and I should know! I’m the only one with the experience to handle this.”
“That’s exactly the reason why you ought not to do it. We need to know if it’s something someone who hasn’t got that experience can handle,” said Henry.
“I think you should let him trial it,” said Alice.
She knew this was a risky trial and the last thing she wanted was something going wrong. Josh had finally come clean about how long he had been lost in the past after Hannah had brought it up that night in the pub. She certainly didn’t want anything like that happening again.
“Yes, let Henry do it,” insisted Vanessa, enthusiastically, who was also aware of the risks and seemed to be almost relishing it.
“Alright. It’s a tenuous argument but you can go first,” said Josh, reluctantly. “But let’s not attempt anything too ambitious, OK? I suggest a short jump, no more than a few hours, just to check that it works.”
“Why don’t you send him back to when we were having lunch earlier?” suggested Alice.
“Ooh yes, that rare roast beef sandwich was gorgeous,” remarked Henry. “I could just eat that again.”
“Try not to eat so much like a pig this time,” scolded Vanessa. “You’ve dropped horseradish sauce all down the front of your shirt.”
“Have I?” said Henry, completely unaware, and he looked down to see a prominent white stain marring the otherwise perfect image of the Hawaiian sunset.
“That’s settled, then,” said Josh. “And if he’s successful, I’ll try a longer trip further into the past tomorrow.”
“Right, let’s get this organised,” said Henry. “It’s 2.30pm now and we went to lunch around midday. That means we must have been in the pub by about 12:15 so how about I aim to project my mind into my earlier self at around 12.20?”
“And how long are you going to stay for?” asked Josh.
“About half an hour, I would say. That’ll give me a chance to eat my sandwich. I might have some chips as well this time, since I won’t be bringing the calories back with me.”
“Remember that, although it will be half an hour for you in the past, no time at all will pass here,” replied Alice.
“I’m glad about that as we won’t have to stand around twiddling our thumbs waiting to see if it works,” said Vanessa.
“Now remember what we discussed before,” said Josh. “When you go back you will be creating a new universe and it’s vitally important that you don’t let on to the three of us in that universe what you are doing. You might alter our timelines over there.”
“Does it even matter?” said Henry. “It’s not our universe, after all. Perhaps I’ll be able to help them by reassuring them that this works.”
“That’s absolutely what you must not do. I thought you understood all this. You must try and act and speak exactly as you did before. Even seemingly insignificant changes can alter things drastically. I’ve travelled through the multiverse enough times to experience the consequences of this and sometimes it’s not pretty, believe me.”
“Right you are,” said Henry, casually, leaving Josh still not convinced he was taking this as seriously as he should.
“Let’s get started,” added Henry and he moved over to the couch and laid down.
As he did so, Alice began to summarise what they were doing for their records.
“Maisie, begin recording and add date and time stamp. This is our first attempt at transporting a human mind back through time. We are about to take a copy of Henry Jones’s consciousness and send it via the tachyometer back into his brain at precisely 12.20pm this afternoon in a newly generated universe.”
Maisie was the name of the supercomputer that Josh and Alice had installed in their lab, courtesy of funding from Vanessa. It was named after a pet mouse she and Josh had once had who had become the world’s first, and possibly only, time-travelling rodent.
“Can y
ou just clarify something for me?” asked Vanessa. “What will happen to his existing consciousness in the original host brain?”
“We believe the two will merge,” said Josh. “The new version which we send back will take precedence, but all his original memories should remain intact.”
“And at the end? When his mind returns?”
“When we bring him back to our universe, we will take another copy. The self we leave in the other universe will remember everything that happened but there is no way around that. We can’t extract the whole consciousness and return it here otherwise we’d just leave an empty shell behind.”
“I still think all this sounds extremely risky,” said Alice.
“It will be fine,” insisted Josh. “Haven’t we always been successful before? You’ve seen yourself that all the computer simulations worked perfectly. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“He dies?” suggested Alice.
“I’m sure you wouldn’t mind sacrificing yourself in the interest of scientific advancement, would you, Henry?” teased Vanessa.
“Oh, you’d love that, wouldn’t you?” replied Henry. “Is that why you didn’t say anything when Josh volunteered? You’d rather be rid of me? I didn’t see you putting your hand up either, come to that.”
“Of course not, my sweet,” replied Vanessa, condescendingly. “It’s just my little joke. Josh knows what he’s doing. I’m sure you’ll be perfectly safe. But just in case it isn’t, don’t worry, the life insurance is all up to date.”
“Let’s get on with it,” said Henry, “before I change my mind.”
“OK, for the record, we are all set to go, and I am ready to activate now,” said Alice. “Are you ready, Henry?”
“Go for it,” he replied.
Alice pressed the button on the tachyometer to begin the process. The method for copying the mind had been significantly refined since they had first witnessed it in Canberra. Now it took barely a second to make the copy and it could also be operated remotely from a distance. There was no longer any need for the brain to be positioned directly beneath a scanner.
The machine extracted a copy of Henry’s brain, absorbed it into the tachyometer and then sought out his brain signature at the time they had set in the past. This signature, something previously discovered by Henry and Vanessa, was as unique as DNA and could be sought out in any location.
The tachyometer then created the duplicate universe and pasted his consciousness into that brain. It took less than two seconds. The whole process seemed like the stuff of fantasy, but the four of them had made it a reality.
From Henry’s perspective, he was instantly transported from the lab to The Kings Arms at the bottom of Broad Street where he was sitting at a rectangular wooden table with the others as they waited for their lunch orders.
“It works!” he exclaimed, revelling in the curious and slightly exhilarating sensation that the transfer had left him with.
“What works?” asked Josh.
“Oh, nothing,” replied Henry, hurriedly, remembering that he wasn’t supposed to reveal anything and casting his eyes around for a reason to explain his outburst.
“This salt cellar,” he added, grabbing the glass container from the table and upending it, spilling a few grains of salt onto the table. “It works perfectly. You know what these things are like – always gumming up.”
“Henry doesn’t add salt to his food anymore, do you, dear?” said Vanessa. “It’s bad for his blood pressure.”
“Sadly not,” said Henry, who had a constant craving for salty snacks which his doctor had forbidden him to have. “It’s Burger Rings I miss the most.”
“Oh, yeah, I had a packet of those in Melbourne,” said Josh. “They’re gorgeous.”
Henry was still marvelling at his surroundings and the thrill of knowing that the experiment had succeeded. The discussion about not being able to eat crisps and snacks anymore had opened his mind to all sorts of possibilities.
He had been on pills for years due to his excess weight brought on by overindulgence, but he wasn’t going to have to worry about such things anymore if he could just go back to a time when he was young and fit. Then he could eat or drink whatever he wanted. In the here and now that meant the roast beef and horseradish sandwich that the waiter was now bringing over for him to enjoy for the second time that day.
He also ate more slowly than before, taking extra care not to spill anything on his shirt as the four of them talked about their plans for the experiment that afternoon. Little did they know, it was already taking place which he was secretly thrilled about. He was worried that he might give himself away, but he managed to suppress his excitement sufficiently to avoid suspicion.
Then, as swiftly and as suddenly as he departed, he was back on the couch.
“Well?” asked Josh, eagerly, as Henry sat up, just five seconds after Alice had activated the equipment from their perspective. “How was it?”
“A complete success!” replied Henry. “I just relived my own lunchtime and I didn’t make a mess with the horseradish sauce this time.”
“Maybe not in that universe but it’s still here in ours,” remarked Vanessa.
“Which is proof in itself that our universe remains unaltered,” replied Henry.
“What next, then?” asked Vanessa.
“Tomorrow, I’ll attempt a longer stint and go further back in time,” said Josh. “I haven’t quite worked out where yet, but I’ll think of something.”
“We can talk about it tonight,” said Alice. “Charlie and Kaylee are coming over for dinner, remember?”
“Of course,” said Josh. “Charlie’s full of ideas – he’ll be able to think of something good.”
That evening, over dinner and the inevitable heavy wine consumption that went with it, Josh excitedly told his friends about the success of the trial with an enthusiasm they eagerly shared.
“I must say, as someone whose body is seriously starting to feel the ravages of middle age, this is seriously appealing,” remarked Charlie. “It takes me about three days to recover from a heavy evening’s drinking these days.”
“I keep telling him he needs to cut down,” said Kaylee, who had always led a considerably cleaner lifestyle than her husband.
“It’s not like I drink every night,” protested Charlie. “And I only drink this much when we’re in company.”
“Not like back in the day, eh?” said Josh. “We used to knock it back then, didn’t we?”
“We certainly did. But it was easy in those days. We were young and fit and we had no responsibilities. Eight pints on a Saturday night wasn’t a problem when you didn’t have to get up until lunchtime on Sunday. That all went out the window when the kids came along.”
“The good old days,” said Josh.
“Listen to you two,” said Alice. “You sound like two old men.”
“I feel like an old man,” said Josh. “My back’s really been playing me up today.”
“He’s right, they were the good old days,” said Charlie by way of support. “Everything’s changed since then – music, TV, fashions. It was so much better in our day.”
“In our day!” said Kaylee. “That’s another old person saying. My dad used to talk like that all the time when Liv and I were growing up. He was adamant that 80s music was the best and used to make us watch old Top of the Pops episodes on BBC4 to show us how much better the music was in his era.”
“And doubtless your grandparents banged on about the 50s,” said Alice. “It’s the same for every generation – each has nostalgic memories of the particular era in which they grew up.”
“The great thing now is that they don’t have to be just memories anymore,” said Josh. “We really can go back and relive any time in our life over again – which is exactly what I plan to do tomorrow.”
“Have you decided when exactly yet?” asked Kaylee.
“Not yet,” said Josh. “There are so many days I could choose from. Where woul
d you go?”
“Ooh I don’t know!” said Kaylee. “It’s difficult when you put me on the spot like that. I feel like a kid in a sweet shop just thinking about it.”
“It’s easy for me,” said Alice. “I’d go back and relive my wedding day.”
“Ah, you must really love me,” said Josh.
“I suppose I must do if I’ve put up with you for this long,” replied Alice. “But to be honest, I was thinking more about seeing all my family again and wearing the dress.”
“You’ve still got the dress,” said Josh.
“I know but I can’t get into it.”
“I’d love to relive my wedding day again, too,” replied Kaylee.
“Apart from the fight,” said Charlie.
“Oh, yes, the big punch-up,” said Josh. “I’d forgotten about that. It was after all those sordid revelations that came out during your dad’s speech.”
“Hmmm, maybe that wouldn’t be the best choice,” said Kaylee, remembering the ructions that had ensued when her mother had interrupted her father’s speech to accuse him of having an affair with Charlie’s mother.
It was all water under the bridge now but had been truly shocking at the time, more the sort of wedding you would expect to see in an episode of EastEnders.
“I know,” she added. “I could go back to the day we went on our first date. Do you remember, Charlie? When we went to the cinema and kissed for the first time?”
“How can I forget?” he said. “That was one of the most memorable weeks of my whole life. Remember, it was also the week we discovered the original Time Bubble.”
“You recall more about that week than I do. I was stuck in the Time Bubble for two days.”
“Don’t I know it!?” said Charlie. “That idiot DI Kent tried to stick a murder charge on me.”
“We’ve had a few run-ins with him over the years,” said Josh. “Do you remember that time he threw us out of the pub?”
“Like it was yesterday,” said Charlie. “It was the night we tried and failed to do the Monopoly board challenge. Because of Kent we fell before the final fence.”
