she said.
“Together or one at a time?”
“Can the field handle both of us simultaneously?”
“I think so.”
“Together. Unless you know a reason for separating.”
“None at all, Mellia.”
“Then it’s settled.”
“Right. Now finish your meal. It may be a while before we have another chance to eat.”
My last item of preparation was a small crater gun from the armory. I strapped it to my wrist, just out of sight under the cuff. We went along the time-shielded transit tunnel to the transfer booth. All readings were normal; the circuits were ready to operate. Under normal conditions a passenger would be rotated painlessly and instantaneously out of the timestream into the extratemporal medium, and rerotated into normal space-time at the main reception room at Nexx Central. What would happen this time was an open question. Maybe we’d drop back down my timeline, and there’d be two of us aboard the sinking galleass; or maybe Mellia Gayl’s gestalt would be stronger and we’d arrive at a point in her past where we hadn’t arrived before, thus adding to the disaster that had hit us. Or possibly somewhere in between. Or nowhere at all . . .
“Next stop Nexx Central,” I said, and ushered Mellia inside. I squeezed in after her.
“Ready?”
She nodded.
I pressed the Transmit button.
The explosion blew both of us into our component atoms.
21
“Or maybe not,” I heard a voice croak. I recognized the voice; it was mine, somewhat the worse for wear but still on the job. “Some dream,” I went on, giving myself the word. “Some hangover. Some headache.”
“Trans-temporal shock is the technical term, I believe,” Lisa said beside me.
My eyes snapped open; well, snap isn’t quite the word. They unglued themselves and winced at the light and made out a face nearby. A nice face, heart-shaped, with big dark eyes and the prettiest smile in the world.
But not Lisa.
“Are you all right?” Mellia
“Together or one at a time?”
“Can the field handle both of us simultaneously?”
“I think so.”
“Together. Unless you know a reason for separating.”
“None at all, Mellia.”
“Then it’s settled.”
“Right. Now finish your meal. It may be a while before we have another chance to eat.”
My last item of preparation was a small crater gun from the armory. I strapped it to my wrist, just out of sight under the cuff. We went along the time-shielded transit tunnel to the transfer booth. All readings were normal; the circuits were ready to operate. Under normal conditions a passenger would be rotated painlessly and instantaneously out of the timestream into the extratemporal medium, and rerotated into normal space-time at the main reception room at Nexx Central. What would happen this time was an open question. Maybe we’d drop back down my timeline, and there’d be two of us aboard the sinking galleass; or maybe Mellia Gayl’s gestalt would be stronger and we’d arrive at a point in her past where we hadn’t arrived before, thus adding to the disaster that had hit us. Or possibly somewhere in between. Or nowhere at all . . .
“Next stop Nexx Central,” I said, and ushered Mellia inside. I squeezed in after her.
“Ready?”
She nodded.
I pressed the Transmit button.
The explosion blew both of us into our component atoms.
21
“Or maybe not,” I heard a voice croak. I recognized the voice; it was mine, somewhat the worse for wear but still on the job. “Some dream,” I went on, giving myself the word. “Some hangover. Some headache.”
“Trans-temporal shock is the technical term, I believe,” Lisa said beside me.
My eyes snapped open; well, snap isn’t quite the word. They unglued themselves and winced at the light and made out a face nearby. A nice face, heart-shaped, with big dark eyes and the prettiest smile in the world.
But not Lisa.
“Are you all right?” Mellia