Josh mulled it over. Henry was right, of course, but hewasn’t completely comfortable with killing in cold blood.
“I’m sure there must be some other solution,” he said.
“There isn’t,” insisted Henry. “We’ll be toast – or I willbe anyway. She’ll probably just wipe your memory and start trying to seduce youall over again, and there will be no one to come and help you next time. Thisis our one chance to rid ourselves of her once and for all.”
Henry raised his lump of timber, preparing to rain down moreblows on Vanessa’s skull.
“Hang fire a minute,” said Josh. “It’s not as if she’sactually attacking us right now.”
“Are you sure about that?” asked Henry. “Vanessa’s a verycunning creature and she leaves little to chance. For all we know she’sprepared for this exact scenario. It’s not just the villa she’s got wired,there’s technology all over this island. Where do you think that wedding musiccame from earlier?”
“I assumed she had some sort of speaker system rigged up inthe trees.”
“It’s considerably more than that. And she’s also gotadvanced biotechnology implanted in her body. For all we know, she’s got abunch of heavily armed android guards in the bunker beneath the villa whoalready know she’s been attacked and are on their way here. We can’t afford todelay a moment longer.”
While Henry was talking, Josh had come up with an idea whichhe now broached.
“OK, here’s a suggestion,” said Josh. “Firstly, how longhave these islands been here?”
“Thousands of years,” replied Henry.
“I was hoping you would say that,” said Josh. “You’vebrought a tachyometer with you, presumably?”
“Of course,” said Henry. “How else would I have got here?”
“Which version? Will it create a new universe or send herback into this one?”
“This one,” said Henry.
“OK, well, hand it to me. We’ll have to send her back intime far enough that she can’t do any damage.”
“What about her impact on the native population?” askedHenry. “She could totally alter history.”
“If we send her back far enough, there won’t be a nativepopulation and there certainly won’t be any technology she can use to get back.Here, let me have that.”
Josh took the tachyometer and adjusted some settings.
“OK, I’ve set it and now I’m going to activate the TimeBubble. You lift her up and shove her through.”
Henry did as Josh suggested, but as he lifted her, themotion caused her eyes to flutter open as she began to regain consciousness.
“Quickly, Josh, she’s waking up, activate it now,” urgedHenry, already feeling Vanessa starting to try and wriggle free of his grip.
“What are you bastards doing to me?” she cried as Joshactivated the bubble right in front of them.
“I hope you can fish, dear,” said Henry, “because you’regoing to need to!” And with an almighty shove, he sent her spiralling backthrough time.
Vanessa had been travelling in time long enough to realiseinstantly what they must have done as the landscape changed around her. It wentfrom darkness to broad daylight, at which point she noticed that the vegetationwas now much lusher and taller than it had been before. It left her unable tosee the shoreline from what little was left of the clearing. How far back intime had they sent her?
Her head was throbbing from where Henry had whacked her andthe path was gone, leaving her the difficult task of fighting her way throughthe undergrowth, but she had to know. When she eventually did emerge from thetrees her heart sank when she realised that the villa was no longer there.
The shoreline seemed unfamiliar, with rocks and more islandsout in the sea where there were none before. As she got closer to the shore,she could also see that the beach retreated far further out to sea than before.Whenever she was in time, sea levels were considerably lower. It also seemed alot cooler. Could this be thousands of years in the past, when the climate wascolder and more water was locked up in icebergs?
She couldn’t believe she had let Henry and Josh trick her soeasily. How was she going to get out of this? She had no tachyometer, notechnology, nothing. Then she spotted something further along the beach. Itlooked like a large suitcase. Could this be her salvation?
Intrigued as to who had left the case, she walked swiftlytowards it, her white wedding dress still billowing out behind her. Theexterior didn’t provide any clues. It was clear, brown leather, and she waspretty sure it hadn’t been washed up on the beach as it looked brand new. Itcertainly hadn’t come from the water.
She opened the case to find that it was full of assortedfishing gear – sections of rods, floats and nets, along with a book simplyentitled Fishing for Dummies.
Inside the book she found a handwritten letter in writingshe immediately recognised as Henry’s.
Dear Vanessa,
I hope this letter finds you well. Welcome to the year10,000 BC. We thought you might enjoy it here as there are no humans withinhundreds of miles at this time, and we know how much you enjoy being alone,bearing in mind the billions you killed in our time.
We didn’t want to leave you totally in the lurch, sowe’ve left you this easy guide on how to catch some food to keep you going. I’msure a genius of your intellect won’t have too much difficulty figuring out howto assemble a fishing rod.
OK, it’s not exactly the advanced technology you’re usedto, but unfortunately science is somewhat in its infancy in this time period.
Still, you shouldn’t need it for too long, anyway. Oncewe’ve been back in time to fix all the damage you’ve caused then in alllikelihood this version of you will cease to exist. Until then, I suggest youhave a good, long think about all the things you’ve done.
Enjoy your fish!
Love Henry and Josh x x
PS: If you think this is harsh, you got off lightly. Iwas all for putting you out of your misery
