Tempus Fugitive Read Online Free PDF Page B

under all the armour.  It looked more than anything like an oversized chess piece.) 
    ‘Told you,’ said Denny.
    ‘Um,’ said Tamar. It was a mistake.
    The guard started up a wailing cry. ‘UNAUTHORISED USER!’  over and over again.
    ‘Shit!’ said Tamar.
    Denny had an inspiration.  ‘Password?’ he snapped.
    The guard stopped wailing.  ‘What?’ it said.
    ‘I wish to be assigned a new password,’ said Denny.
    ‘That’ll never work,’ Stiles hissed to Tamar.
    ‘Hmm, I don’t know,’ said Tamar. ‘This is a closed network, the security’s laughable. They don’t expect anyone to get this far.’
    ‘Assign new password – working,’ said the guard.  ‘New password is XXC241D.’
    ‘XXC241D,’ Denny repeated.  The guard vanished.
    ‘Brilliant,’ said Tamar.
    ‘No,’ said Denny.  ‘I should have thought of it before, back at home, if I had, then Hecaté would have it too, she’d be able to monitor us.’
    ‘She could look for Askphrit too,’ said Tamar.
    ‘Is there any way we can get it to her?’ asked Stiles.
    ‘Only if one of us goes back,’ said Tamar.
    ‘Goes back, how?’
    Denny grinned.  ‘You click your heels together three times, and repeat after me – there’s no place like home,’ he said. 
    ‘I’ll punch you in a minute,’ said Stiles.
    ‘Actually,’ said Tamar.  ‘He’s not kidding. Well he is about the heel clicking, but you can go back if you want to.’
    ‘You’re assuming I’ll be the one to go back.  – Okay, okay, I’ll go, it has to be me, doesn’t it?  What do I have to do?’
    ‘Go back to the deleted file and well – just make a wish.’
    ‘You’re kidding?’
    ‘No, wish really hard that the file is still open at our end and then say “close file” you should find yourself back at home.’
    ‘Should?’
    ‘Hey give me a break. I’ve never done this before.’
    ‘Okay, I’ll give it a try.  Better write down that password for me.’
    Denny did so.  ‘Know which file you’re going to?’
    ‘Um, better write that down too.  And er, got a map?’
    *
    ‘Which one?’ asked Denny, as they surveyed the vast array of small doors, each about the size of a serving hatch, and numbered, as Tamar had predicted, not named.  ‘There’s millions of them.’
    ‘More,’ said Tamar, gloomily.
    ‘So, let’s start by looking in a few, see where they lead, maybe there’s a pattern in the codes.  I mean, what are we looking for, 1944?’
     ‘Presumably.  If Askphrit’s even still there. I mean he might have gone anywhere.  You do have other ancestors.’
    ‘Okay, well we have to start somewhere, I suppose.  This is going to take forever.’
    ‘Longer.’
    ‘So, pick a door – any door.’
    She opened the nearest one; behind it was a black hole, so no clues there.  They would have to wait until they reached the other side, before they knew where they were. 
    ‘Great!’ said Tamar, meaning anything but.
    ‘Wait a minute,’ said Denny.  ‘How do we get out again?  I mean we could end up anywhere, dinosaurs – the middle ages – the seventies !’
    Tamar smiled and patted him on the shoulder.  ‘Don’t worry,’ she said.  She stepped to one side and pulled open the door.  ‘File open,’ she said, and closed the door, ‘file closed.  As long as we leave the door open we just have to say “close file” to get back here.  I think.’
    ‘You think ?  Oh never mind, we could do this all day, let’s just get on with it.’
    * * *
    Stiles re-materialised in almost exactly the same spot he had left from. Which was unfortunate since Hecaté was occupying that spot at the time, seated at the computer, trying to hack her way into the files.  But the universe compensates and Stiles was shifted out of her way, just in time, giving him an uneasy feeling of disorientation.
    She was shocked, but pleased to see him.  He had, she informed him, only been gone for a few minutes. And why, she felt compelled to ask, was