Part Five

Sat in the visitors’ lounge that was never in fact used by visitors, Dave found himself almost unbelieving. The machine they were working on transported things, people, across TIME? And they had all come from the far future?
The problems had arisen when the machine transported WITH them; contact with base had been irrevocably lost. There was something missing, but they did not know what - YET they stressed. They could not focus on time or space SPECIFICALLY without the missing item. It must be another power source they thought.
And the military thought this ‘weapon’ would let them simply remove people and machinery and place them wherever they wanted, out of the theatre of conflict at least.
How did they know the machine was not working though he stressed. Because nothing had materialised where it should, in the lab. It was not working. He shook his head, how could the pair be so DENSE. They KNEW they could not focus specifically, but this was exactly what they were expecting. Things and people COULD be moving through time and space at each and every ‘bolt’, just because they did not appear there did not mean it was not happening.
The two looked at one another, as if realising this for the first time. Look, Dave said, let me out in a library, a good library with news sources from around the globe, and he would find any anomaly he could.
There was no need of a library they said, they would give him a small office further along from the lab, with access to the complete database of electronic news and more that was what was once called The Internet. And they could provide links and paths to places that the authorities thought hacker proof. Use these they said and no trace would remain in the systems. Their technology was far superior. Oh, they wished they could link up with their own systems in the future …..
They did in fact enjoy books and had libraries in their world, but these were a novelty mainly used by the super rich or academics of the time who wished time to contemplate instead of being sat at a dull screen or spinning disc all day. Paper of whatever kind did not last long over time, but the more modern the people were the more they looked back at ‘simpler’ times and methods with longing and regret for things vanished.
Dave was hooked, how could he leave this place with that kind of knowledge at his fingertips? He still had no memories of before, but it was no handicap. He would help, but he hid his mistrust well. They were holding a lot back. Must be their very nature that made them suspicious, even of their own.