Read Online The Trouble With Time by Lexi Revellian - Free Book Online Page B

label: Château Mouton Rothschild 2011. Food and drink made her feel more able to cope with the situation, whatever it was. She smiled nervously at the man, raising her glass.
    “Cheers. I ought to introduce myself. I’m Floss. Floss Dryden.” She nearly held out her hand, but thought better of it. His were no doubt filthy. And he was a killer. “Who are you?”
    “Jace Carnady.”
    She decided it would be best not to ask him straight away why he had killed her abductor. Or how he’d seemed to be waiting for him. Instead she asked the question that had been vaguely niggling her all the time she’d been exploring. “You know earlier, when you said I asked the wrong question? What did you mean?”
    “You asked where this is. You should have asked when.”
    “Why when?”
    “This is the future. Not sure which year, Quinn didn’t tell me. Some time after 2170.”
    A pause while Floss considered this information, sipping her wine and eyeing him uncertainly. He topped up her glass, waiting for her reaction, expression sardonic.
    “That’s crazy,” she finally said, her tone less convinced than her words. “You’re asking me to believe I’ve time travelled to the future?”
    “Nope.” He shrugged. “Your opinion is your own concern. I really don’t care what you believe.”
    “But there’s no such thing as time travel!”
    “Where do you think you are, then? Does it look like your own time? When was that, anyway?”
    “2015.” An eerie howl in the distance made Floss glance towards the window. Other howls answered it. That was either a pack of wolves, or . . . something else that made a noise exactly like a pack of wolves.
    Jace said, “Don’t worry, they can’t get over the railings. One reason I stayed here.”
    “Okay. Assuming this is the future, how did I get here, and why?”
    “Ansel Quinn – that man – brought you. Why, I don’t know. My guess is to get you out of the way.”
    “Out of the way of what, exactly?”
    “How should I know? But I can get you back home. Most likely.”
    “Can you really?” In spite of her revulsion towards a murderer, Floss couldn’t suppress her relief and gratitude. “That would be awesome!” She pictured Chris sitting in the bar, wondering what had happened to her friend, who was usually so reliable; trying to reach her on her mobile; in the end giving up and leaving. This vignette was small and distant, as if she was looking through the wrong end of a telescope. The ruined room was much more real.
    “In theory I should be able to get you back to the same minute you left. First we have to go to wherever Quinn left from.”
    “Why?”
    Jace picked up the cuff from the pile on the table. It was stylish, made from matt silvery metal, and turned out to have a touch screen and buttons and a tiny ice-blue light that pulsed every few seconds. Near the top of the screen the metal was dented and scratched. Jace turned it in his hands, strong capable hands ingrained with dirt, the nails black-rimmed. “This is how Quinn got you here. You set the time and place, and the TiTrav does all the rest. Press these two buttons at the same time, and off you go. Anyone you’re holding on to goes with you. It seems to be working okay, though it got a bit battered in the fight. Only problem is, he’s used the limiter. It won’t go anywhere except the location and time he set.”
    “Where’s that?”
    “I can’t tell where the co-ordinates are. The time’s 25 th March 2050, 7.15 pm.”
    “Is 2050 your own time?”
    “I suppose it is now. I left in 2045, and I’ve been here five years.”
    “So time travel is a thing people do – will do – did do in 2045?” Time travel really messed with your tenses.
    “No. The government had it locked down. Time travel to the past’s hardly ever sanctioned. It’s just too risky. The minimum penalty for unauthorized travel to the past is fifteen years, no remission. Part of my job was tracing illegal time