“I’m here for a job interview,” Geoff said to the receptionist. For someone who just sat behind a desk in the lobby of the Continuum office and let people know when a guest had arrived, this girl looked absolutely stunning. Not that receptionists weren’t allowed to look stunning, but we were talking supermodel looks here, as though she’d just stepped off the catwalk after a photo shoot and been hired by Continuum to be the first face you saw when entering the building. Her long blonde hair was tied in a thick braided ponytail behind her back, her skin had not one blemish anywhere to be seen, and her eyes were hazel brown and looked as though they could disarm any man who walked through the door, even if they were there to complain about the superficial nature of Continuum’s receptionist-hiring policy.
“You must be Geoffrey Stamp,” she said, looking him up and down. There was a slight look of mischief in her eyes, as though he were being a bit naughty for turning up and it was their little secret. But there was something else going on here as well. Was she checking him out?
“That’s right,” he replied, suddenly conscious of his appearance. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d made so much effort for anything. He’d showered, cut his hair, and even had a proper shave. And once his scraggy hair had been tamed and he’d slipped on one of Tim’s suits, he actually looked quite dapper. Whatever that meant.
“I’m Jeanette,” she said.
“How do you know my name?” Geoff asked.
“Come on,” Jeanette said, leaning forward and twirling a few strands of hair around her fingers. “Everyone’s heard of you. You’re the Time Rep for the twenty-first century, aren’t you?”
“That’s right,” Geoff said. He’d forgotten that Time Reps were treated a bit like celebrities in the future. Given the decline of Time Tours over the last few months, he was surprised anyone still recognized him or even cared about what he did. He thought by now his celebrity status might be comparable to that of a forgotten star trying to revitalize their showbiz career by going on a reality TV show, but he guessed he was mistaken. Apparently people still knew who he was.
“Ms. Adams will be so pleased you decided to come,” she said. “Of all the Time Reps she’s contacted, I’m told you’re the one she’s wanted to meet the most.”
“I am?”
The receptionist picked up a phone and began to dial a number.
“Please, have a seat,” she smiled, resting the phone against her shoulder and pointing across the room to a row of black leather chairs. “We’ll be ready for you in a moment.”
He looked down at his watch.
Two fifty.
Were there really only forty minutes to go before he got shot? He could barely believe it. Everyone here had been quite friendly so far, so he’d have to do something pretty bad to take such an amicable environment and let it deteriorate to the point where someone would try to kill him so quickly. Then again, he was pretty good at ruining the mood in certain situations at the drop of a hat, like that time he literally dropped Zoë’s new hat under a bus by mistake.
Geoff made his way across the busy lobby toward the seating area, weaving his way through a relentless flow of men and women walking in all directions. The Continuum building really was a hive of activity. There were people standing around in groups chatting excitedly, others dashing into different elevators at the far end of the hall with bundles of paperwork in their hands, and over near the entrance, a number of companies had set up stands advertising things you could do on your holidays. Geoff stopped to look at these for a moment. One company let you take canoe equipment back to go whitewater rafting in the prehistoric jungle. Another one was offering advanced weaponry for people to go back and start wars for fun. And one particularly sadistic stand was showing off a range of flying cars that had been modified with weaponry, which you could take back in time and use to cause whatever havoc you pleased.
Just the sort of thing to do with the kids during the school holidays.
Geoff eased himself into one of the few remaining seats. This was not to say that there weren’t many remaining seats because someone was taking them all away; they were just mostly occupied. As he sat down, he felt his stomach rumble—with all the excitement today, he’d forgotten to have any lunch.
To take his mind off of his hunger, Geoff took a moment to examine Continuum’s lobby in a bit more detail. You could really tell the company must have been doing quite well at the moment, because the whole place screamed of money, and screamed even louder of money being spent. The floor was made from solid marble, thick beams of sunlight shone down on everyone through tall, stained-glass windows, and right in the middle of the room stood a huge golden C at least ten meters high, mounted on a square pedestal. This was the logo of Continuum, and although it wasn’t obvious at first, the logo was actually rotating around slowly, the golden surface reflecting on a different section of the room’s perimeter as time passed.
Next, Geoff turned his attention to the other people seated in the waiting area. There were about ten or twelve men and women here. Some were dressed in suits, others looked more casual. Geoff was pretty sure he recognized half of them, and figured they were probably other Time Reps, no doubt hoping to be hired by Continuum. A few looked back as though they recognized him, too.
“Mr. Stamp?” came a voice to his right.
Geoff looked around. A smartly dressed woman was standing next to him, smiling.
“Yes?” Geoff said, getting to his feet.
“Allow me to introduce myself,” the woman said, extending a hand for him to shake. “I’m Jennifer Adams.”
“Pleased to meet you, Ms. Adams.” Geoff shook her hand. She had long, thin fingers and a firm grip, but not so firm as to imply any kind of dominance. Strong, but not too strong, like a good cup of tea. “Oh, call me Jennifer,” she said.
“Right…Jennifer,” Geoff said. He stood a little awkwardly, as though he had a stone in his shoe.
So this was the boss of Continuum. Jennifer Adams looked to be in her mid-to-late forties, though at first glance you might have been forgiven for thinking she was a few years younger. It was only when she smiled that telltale wrinkles emerged around her eyes and mouth. Standing a little shorter than Geoff, she seemed to keep herself in good shape, with a thin frame and narrow shoulders. She wore her long brown hair down past her shoulders with a neat part combed into the right-hand side, kept her makeup to a minimum, and had a steely gaze to her eyes that suggested a no-nonsense attitude. Wearing a dark gray trouser suit with a pale green blouse, she looked like your regular sort of businesswoman.
“So you finally decided to see what we’re all about?” she said, leading him across the lobby toward an elevator that was being held open by a security guard. As they walked, a few passersby looked around, as if seeing the head of the company walking through the lobby was quite a novelty.
“Yeah, I had a visit from William,” Geoff replied. “His demonstration of what you allow people to do when they go back in time was very memorable.”
Jennifer laughed. “William Boyle? The Time Rep from 1666? Yes, he’s done a great job for us in spreading the word.” As they approached the elevator, Jennifer stepped to one side and invited Geoff to go first. “Please, after you, Geoff,” she said. “May I call you Geoff?”
“You can call me what you like,” Geoff said, stepping inside the elevator. He was followed by Jennifer and the security guard.
“Basement,” Jennifer said.
“Actually, I would prefer it if you called me Geoff.”
“No, I was telling the lift where to go. Haven’t you ever been in a voice-activated lift before?”
“O-of course,” Geoff said. “I guess I’m just a little nervous.”
“Nervous? There’s no need to be nervous.”
“I suppose not,” Geoff said. Unless of course you took into account the fact that someone was going to shoot him in thirty-seven minutes, he thought.
The doors closed, and the lift began to move.
“So tell me,” Jennifer said, folding her arms across her chest. “After all this time, what made you decide to finally come and meet us? We’ve been trying to get in touch with you for months, sent you letter after letter, but up until now we’ve had no reply. Why the sudden change of heart?”
“I don’t know,” Geoff said, trying to quickly think of a reason other than the fact that he was there to spy on them.
But once he’d thought of spying, that was the only reason that went around his mind.
Spying.
I’m here to spy on you.
I thought I’d do a bit of the old spying.
Spy, spy, spy.
Spy.
“Come on, there must be something.”
“I guess I’m just fed up of not being able to do what I want,” Geoff said eventually. “I want to be honest with the people I care about and tell them what I really do for a living, but because I’m a Time Rep, I’m not allowed. I just have to do what I’m told all the time in case I change something. The truth is, I’m sick of lying to people every day. Pretending to be someone I’m not.”
That’s rich, he thought to himself, considering you’re actually here to spy. But at least there was some truth to what he was saying.
He was fed up with being told what he could and couldn’t do, and how he was supposed to live his life.
Jennifer nodded. “That’s what a lot of you say. What’s her name?”
Geoff smiled. “Zoë. How did you know it was about a girl?”
“With the men, it’s always about a girl,” she replied.