Allergic To Time by Crystal Gables Read Free Book Online

to think of the right word. “Sympathetic to the patients.”
    I thought back to the Nick Cooper articles. Martin seemed plenty sympathetic towards time travellers to me. He had published half a dozen papers supporting them for crying out loud! Of course, all the articles were written under a pseudonym. Maybe Baldie didn’t even know about them. But then why was Martin his go to guy when he needed a time travel detective brought in? Possibly because they were in the business of covering up time travel cases — if he’d known about Martin’s secret pen name maybe he wouldn’t be fit for the job.  
    The man in black lowered his voice and leant forward closer. “The patient in that room has travelled through time, Anna Black.” I shuddered at him using my full name — he made it sound like it was wrong. “And we need your help to prove it.”
    I sat back in my chair, realising I’d been wrong. This guy didn’t want to cover time travel up. He wanted to prove it. I didn’t know what his agenda was but I knew that I didn’t trust him one inch. Something about him made even me want to take the opposite opinion, just to spite him. Me, the girl who had dedicated her whole life to proving time travel was possible.
    I stared at him. “Why do all the patients you see here, die?”
    “They can’t breathe, of course” he said, looking at me like I should already know that. He was lying though. There were all those case studies by Nick Cooper with living time travel survivors. They’d managed to go on to live healthy lives, breathing the air just fine.
    Shit , I thought, thinking back to Martin’s actions in the hospital room earlier. Were Martin and I maybe on the same side after all? Maybe the only reason that he he’d been so violently opposed to the idea that the patient was telling the truth, was a simple one: maybe he didn’t want to be on the same side as the man in black. And if Martin didn’t then neither did I.
    “So no one has ever survived?” I asked, giving him one last chance to tell the truth.
    “None of them have ever left this hospital.”
    “Why do you need my help to prove he’s a time traveller?”
    The grin didn’t leave his face. He titled his head, then simply said. “Well, we need to be completely sure, don’t we?”

    All of a sudden I found myself lying, convincingly, for the first time.  
    “Actually, I don’t believe the patient. Martin is right: time travel is impossible.”

Chapter Six.  

    As I made my way back down the dungeon corridor, Martin walked past me without any greeting. “I’m going back to the university,” he snapped at me over his shoulder. “If you have any sense you will join me.”
    Well, I wasn’t sure it was a true indication of how much sense I possessed, but I had no intention of leaving until I’d spoken to the patient in the blue room. I had to warn him about something. And I knew I had to do it quickly.  
    I shook my head at Martin and kept walking, hurrying towards the blue room as fast as I could in heels, and as fast as I thought it was reasonable to go without drawing suspicion. When I reached the familiar door down the far end, I pulled it open and made my way in, sighing with relief when I saw there were no medical staff in there. Lying in the far corner on his cot was our infamous time traveller. I was surprised to find him asleep — surely travelling through time would be enough excitement to keep you awake. Then again, waking up in an unfamiliar world, not being able to breathe the air, was probably quite tiring.  
    I rushed over and shook his shoulders, briefly aware that it was probably the wrong thing to do, considering his condition, but ignoring any good judgement I may have had. I needed him awake and alert. When my first shake didn’t rouse him I gave him a second more solid one.  
    His eyes burst open and he gripped my arm. The look of panic in his eyes resided as he saw who it was. “It’s you,” he said, relieved.