Eighteen

“W-what did you say?” he said. “How do you know my name?”

“I know everything, Geoffrey Stamp,” Jennifer said.

“Everything?” Geoff said.

“Yes, everything,” Jennifer said. “I know about Continuum, I know about your little encounter with my older self on Tower Bridge, and I even know about your plot to come back here and destroy the prototype Sat-Nav. You cannot get anything past me.”

“But how?” Geoff said, taking his hands off her desk. “How do you know all this?”

Jennifer laughed. “How?” she said. “How? Geoff, for the last three years I have been building and testing the most advanced supercomputer in the world, running every possible simulation of the future that there is to simulate. While you and your friends have been running around trying to work out what’s been happening in your time, I’ve been watching it all transpire on a computer screen back here, right from the comfort of this chair.”

“But I don’t understand,” Geoff said. “When I watched the simulation before I came back, it showed—”

“—it showed you destroying the Sat-Nav and changing the timeline,” Jennifer said, finishing his sentence. “I know. Like I said—I’ve had unlimited access to this computer since the day I built it. I knew you were going to watch that simulation—in fact, it was me who programmed the computer to cut it off at the right point to make you think you’d succeeded in changing history. But you didn’t. You think that thing you broke is the only Sat-Nav I’ve got? Think again. And those rumors about how I’d invented the Sat-Nav and convinced a rogue scientist to leave Time Tours with me to set up Continuum? Who do you think started those?”

Geoff had heard that one of the cleaning ladies was a bit of a gossip, but in this case there was another name that sprang to mind.

“I’m guessing that might have been you,” he said.

“Correct. Without those rumors, you might not have tried to come back here and stop it from happening, so I made sure everyone was whispering about the circumstances of my resignation, knowing one day the stories would find their way to you. So you see, this whole scenario was a massive setup with one purpose in mind—to get you to come back here.”

“Balls,” Geoff said, slumping back down in his seat.

“Balls, indeed,” Jennifer said.

“But… what has all this got to do with me anyway?”

Jennifer laughed.

“Oh, you have no idea how important you are to the Continuum project,” she said. “Without you, none of it will ever exist.”

“Are you sure?” Geoff said. He didn’t feel particularly important, but then he’d learnt from past experiences never to underestimate himself. “How does that work then?”

“Creating the Sat-Nav was no problem for me—electronics are my speciality, after all,” Jennifer said. “But you said it yourself—the serum is proving to be a little more tricky. I’m having real problems synthesizing a substance that’s immune to the way time is manipulated, while being able to link a user to the device.”

“That does sound pretty hard,” Geoff said. He had enough trouble making hot chocolate, let alone that sort of concoction.

“Fortunately for me, though,” Jennifer said, “that’s where you come in.”

“Me?” Geoff said. “How can I possibly help you create the serum? I didn’t bring any back with me.”

“Yes you did,” Jennifer said. “It’s in your blood.”

“My blood?” Geoff said, holding a hand to his throat.

“That’s right. Over the past twenty-four hours, you have been injected with it, and you’ve drunk it twice. Your body is riddled with the stuff—enough for me to create a base formula from which I can make as many unique variations as I need to supply every man, woman, and child on this planet.”

“I don’t believe this,” Geoff said. “You mean to tell me that I’m the reason you were able to set up Continuum in the first place? All those people that end up disappearing into their own timelines in the future—all that happens because of me?”

“Bingo,” Jennifer said. “That’s why without you, Continuum would never have existed. You should have listened to your friend. He was right about why my older self just let you go without a fight on Tower Bridge. She let you go because she knew she needed you to come back here and give me your blood. And as for your plan to have your friend watch over this moment from the future to make sure everything goes to plan, I’ve taken care of that as well. Right now, he’s watching a fabricated scenario of you entering your Continuum-free world, wondering why his own reality hasn’t been altered. He won’t figure out what I’ve done until it’s too late.”

Geoff looked down into his half-drunk mug of tea and sighed. After all that talk of not doing what people told him to do, of not allowing his life to follow the path laid out for it by others, everything he had done had actually been working against him.

His actions had created the very thing he was trying to stop.

What an idiot.

That was why the paradox scan had turned green before he came back here—traveling back in time hadn’t changed history; it had kept it things running exactly as they had been all along.

“I don’t understand,” Geoff said, his body completely deflated like a soufflé someone had forgotten to eat. “If you’ve known about this all along, how come there were times when you were acting all surprised about what was happening? Like when I first came back from my Continuum experience and you discovered I’d already used the serum?”

“It was all an act,” Jennifer said, flicking a few strands of hair back. “I played my part in a course of events I knew would eventually motivate you to come back here.”

“But if your plan all along was for me to come back here, why go to all that trouble of erasing my memory? And nearly getting me killed?”

“Think of it in terms of cause and effect. Cause: You lost your memory and got sent back in time with a bullet in your back. Effect: You came to Continuum to investigate what had happened to you. I had to let all that happen, because if it didn’t, I never would have triggered the chain of events that brought you here tonight.”

“But doesn’t this whole situation create one almighty paradox?” Geoff said. “The only reason I lost my memory and got shot was because I came to Continuum to find out why I lost my memory and got shot! And more than that: if the only reason Continuum ever existed was because you were able to synthesize a serum from my blood that I wouldn’t have in my body had I not come back in time, that means no one ever actually created the serum, right?”

“That’s right,” Jennifer said.

“So…how does that work, then?” Geoff said. “Isn’t that a paradox? Why hasn’t this situation resulted in the space-time continuum losing its temper and writing a very stern letter of complaint to both of us?”

“Because all the situations you have just described are not paradoxes, Geoff,” Jennifer explained. “They are what are known in the scientific community as causal loops.”

“Causal loops?”

“Yes,” Jennifer said. “Basically, it’s where the lines between cause and effect become a little blurred. It’s the same principle behind how you knew the directions to my office, which only happened because you watched the way you walked in the simulation before traveling back in time. While you cannot pinpoint where your knowledge of those directions has actually come from, neither did you create a paradox, since the laws of physics have not been violated. Exactly the same thing has happened here—I am about to use your blood to synthesize a serum that wouldn’t exist had you not traveled back in time with it inside you.”

“There’s just one problem,” Geoff said, standing up and posing in as menacing a way as he could while still holding a cup of tea. “I may not be much of a fighter, but I’m bigger than you, and although I don’t normally hit women, if you try anything, I’m happy to make an exception.”

He had actually hit a woman before, when he was holding an umbrella over Zoë and a sudden gust of wind had made him accidentally punch her in the face. But that was an accident.

And she’d hit him back, so they were even.

“What are you saying?” Jennifer said.

“I’m saying, how exactly do you plan on getting a sample of my blood?” Geoff said, taking a gulp of his tea.

“Oh, I don’t just need a single sample,” Jennifer said. “I need access to your body for years and years before I have enough blood to go into mass production.”

“What?”

“Every bottle of serum has some of your blood in it, Geoff,” Jennifer said. “Why else do you think the liquid is red and tastes metallic? Oh, no—I need you alive and well fed to keep producing the stuff for me.”

Geoff took another gulp of tea and laughed.

“There’s no way I’m allowing that to happen,” he said, taking out his earphones. He didn’t feel particularly threatened at the moment. “All I need to do is put these earphones on and travel back to the future, and this is all over.”

“I’m afraid you’re too late,” Jennifer said.

“Oh?”

“Remember that older man you bumped into back at the Continuum offices? The fat guy with the awful skin? I don’t suppose you recognized him, what with the long hair and everything. But that was you, twenty years from now. You’re about to spend the rest of your life locked up inside the Continuum building, giving me all the blood I need. After a few years you start to go a bit crazy, but that doesn’t matter. What’s important is that your blood just keeps flowing.”

Geoff shuddered. Now that he thought about it, he could see a resemblance. He needed to get out of here right now, or at least immediately  after he’d finished his tea. It would be a shame for it to go to waste.

“So how exactly do you plan on stopping me from getting away?” Geoff said, taking a final gulp of tea and putting the empty mug down on the desk. He took out his earphones and began placing them in his ears. “You’d need an army to stop me leaving right now.”

“That’s right,” Jennifer said. “Or I’d need to trick you into drinking some sort of highly potent drug that makes you extremely open to suggestion.”

“Exactly.”

“Speaking of which, how was your tea?”

Geoff swallowed.

“My tea?”

“Yes.”

“It was all right,” Geoff said.

“No it wasn’t,” Jennifer said, walking over to him. “It was the best tea you’ve ever had.”

“Now that you mention it, it was pretty delicious,” Geoff said. “Best tea I’ve ever had.”

Jennifer smiled.

“Drop the earphones,” she said.

Geoff did as he was told. For some reason he was finding Jennifer to be incredibly persuasive, like the voice in his head that told him it was okay to watch entire DVD box sets without moving from the sofa.

“Wait,” Geoff stammered, suddenly overwhelmed with a brief sense of panic. “What have you…done…to…”

He looked around desperately for something to defend himself with and grabbed the mug he had just put down. As far as weapons go, it wasn’t ideal, but he could still do some damage with it.

“Ah yes, the mug. Think you can hit me with it?”

Under the circumstances, Geoff didn’t fancy his chances much, but he got the feeling he was now in a considerable amount of danger and needed to do something, even if it was nothing more than hitting someone with a mug. So he swung it round toward Jennifer’s face as hard as he could.

“Oh no you don’t,” Jennifer said, not even flinching.

As she spoke, Geoff felt his arm lock tight just before the mug was about to make contact. He couldn’t move.

“Put the mug down, please,” she commanded.

Geoff looked at her in puzzlement as his arm did what it was told.

“That’s it,” she said. “You see Geoff, everything you’re about to do, I’ve already seen coming. Resistance is futile.”

But Geoff clenched his teeth and drew on every shred of willpower to resist what she was telling him to do, The feeling of not doing as he was told was unbearable, but his efforts did appear to be making a difference. Slowly but surely, he began to raise his arm again.

“PUT THE MUG DOWN!” Jennifer shouted.

“N-no,” Geoff said. “I…will…not!” And with that, his arm broke free of Jennifer’s control, and he walloped her round the face with the mug with so much force that it shattered on impact, leaving a long, vertical cut under her left eye. This act of resistance was extremely satisfying, but also totally exhausting, so much so that he didn’t think he’d have the mental capability to do something like that again. He dropped the mug to the floor and let out a sigh.

Jennifer clutched her cheek and scowled at him. It was funny—despite thoroughly deserving a smack in the face for everything she was about to do, Geoff still felt bad about hitting her. But given his life was in mortal danger and the future of all humanity was at stake, he was sure he would forgive himself.

It was at this moment that  something happened in Geoff’s mind—his memory of Jennifer changed. Now when he thought back to what her future self looked like, he remembered her having a feint scar under her left eye, exactly where he’d hit her just now. At the same time however, he could also recall an alternate future when it hadn’t been there. It seemed that hitting Jennifer with the mug had demonstrated two things to him: firstly, it was still possible for him to change the future, and secondly, if that change did create a paradox, all that meant was that he could remember both scenarios.

There was just one problem: now that the drug had taken full effect, he was so open to Jennifer’s suggestion, that he was completely powerless to take advantage of this newly acquired knowledge.

Jennifer dabbed the wound on her face with a tissue, “It seems I shouldn’t have goaded you about the futility of your situation more than I did in the original simulation,” she said, taking a step back. “Looks like that gave you a bit of extra determination. Make no mistake though—from now on, I’m sticking to the script.”

Outside the office door, Geoff could hear a few people laughing and joking, like a bunch of students stumbling back after a pub crawl.

“Ah—that must be Eric returning from his awards ceremony,” Jennifer said, holding the tissue to her face and walking over to the door. “Time for us to leave. Follow me.”

“W-where are we going?” Geoff said, his feet shuffling toward her. He tried to his best to resist, but it was hopeless.

“I don’t know if you’re familiar with history,” Jennifer said, “but this is the point where I famously tell Eric that I resign.”

And with that, she marched out of her office, her head held high.

Geoff followed a few steps behind. He had absolutely no idea what to do.

At the other end of the corridor, a younger version of Eric had just entered through the door at the other end. He still looked pretty old, maybe in his sixties. One hand was holding a framed certificate that was presumably his Nobel Prize, and the other hand was wrapped around the waist of a young woman, who was presumably fond of old men who had just won Nobel Prizes. Eric was accompanied by a number of other people, all of whom looked like they weren’t going to have a particularly great time tomorrow morning once the hangovers set in.

“J-Jensifer?” Eric said, looking up as she strode toward him. He didn’t sound particularly sober, and his eyes were glazed over like he’d left his contact lenses in a glass of milk before putting them in. “W-what are you shtill doing here?”

He removed his hand from the waist of the young woman and stood up straight.

“You know, Eric,” Jennifer said, tossing her tissue to the floor and pushing her way through the drunken crowd of people. “I’ve been asking myself that very same question for quite a while. What am I still doing here? I mean, after the way you’ve all treated me, what THE HELL am I still doing here?”

“Now, Jennnnnsifer,” Eric slurred, “com’on, we’ve talked about thish…”

All around, everyone else was completely silent, apart from one guy who couldn’t stop hiccupping.

“No, Eric!” Jennifer said, tossing her hair back. “I’m sick of it! I’m sick of this place, I’m sick of this life, and I’m sick of putting in all the work, only for you to get the recognition!”

“What are you shaying?” Eric said, falling back against the wall of the corridor. “And who’sh shoes thish guy?” He looked up at Geoff, but he was so drunk there was no way he would remember his face in the morning.

“This is a good friend of mine,” Jennifer said, looking around at everyone as they stared back at her. “He’s another scientist from Time Tours who’s leaving with me. And I promise you one thing—together, we’re going to create something amazing. One day you’ll be hearing from me again, and when you do, it will be because I’ll be putting Time Tours out of business for good!”

Upon hearing those words, Eric slid down the wall and lay across the floor like a drunk old man who’d just won a Nobel Prize and then had to deal with some crazy woman resigning.

“Come on, Geoff,” Jennifer said, calling him as though he were a small puppy that had run off to sniff a tree. She stepped over Eric’s legs and dodged her way past the drunken Time Tours employees, leading Geoff through the door at the other end of the corridor.

“W-where are we going?” Geoff managed to say.

“Up to the roof,” Jennifer said. “I’ve got a few friends waiting for us, and from there, we’ll be flying across London to my temporary offices on the other side of town.”

“I don’t want…to…”

Jennifer looked back and tugged him closer to make sure he didn’t fall behind.

“Don’t be like that,” she said. “Try and enjoy this little trip, okay? After all, it’s the last time you’ll be in the outside world for the rest of your life.”