Send Simon Savage #1 by Stephen Measday Read Free Book Online Page A

Mission Control. This is where I can find out what I need to know.
    ‘Any sight of Spenser yet, Harry?’ McPhee asked the Operations Officer, a chubby, red-faced man in an army uniform.
    ‘No, sir,’ Harry replied, ‘but the timeline’s just opened again. We’re getting some vision of the area and he’s due back to his pick-up location in ten minutes.’
    ‘Very well, keep an eye out.’ McPhee turned to Simon. ‘You know how it all works?’
    ‘Not exactly, Professor.’
    ‘I was looking at your Training Request Form. You said that you wanted to learn how the Time Control and Mission Tracking System operates. Any special reason?’
    Yes, Simon felt like saying, I want to find out how and why my dad died. But it would be stupid to tell it straight like that. ‘I’m just interested,’ he said.
    McPhee gave Simon a searching stare before replying. ‘Well, we’ve decided to grant your request. But for one reason only. You remember that I mentioned a special mission with Danice?’
    Simon nodded.
    ‘Good. Understanding how this system operates will help you with that,’ McPhee said. ‘Harry here is our rostered Operations Officer. He will give you some basic training.’
    Harry twisted around on his chair. ‘Harry Hammil,’ he said cheerfully. ‘Got any questions, just ask.’
    Simon fixed his eyes back on the Operations Screen. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Why do we go back in time and take documents and investigate all these different eras?’
    Harry looked at McPhee. ‘Would you like to take that one, sir?’
    ‘One of our jobs is research,’ McPhee explained. ‘Recently, we formed a History Unit. We’re rewriting some of the history of Europe, America, China and parts of Africa using original documents and facts gathered by our temponauts.’
    Simon’s attention switched to the future end of the screen.
    ‘I see you’re also interested in the centuries ahead,’ McPhee observed, following Simon’s gaze.
    ‘Those bands going forward four centuries,’ Simon said. ‘Why are they there? In our training manual it says that there is some law, some regulation, about not travelling to the future. Is that right, sir?’
    McPhee sat on the edge of Harry’s desk. ‘You’re referring to a decision that was made some time ago. When time-travel technology was still in development. We thought it would be unwise for the human race to know too much of what might happen in the future.’
    Simon nodded.
    ‘If people had easy access to travelling forwards in time, they could find out things like winning lottery numbers, or the best shares to buy on the stock exchange,’ McPhee went on. ‘They could come back, buy tickets in the lottery, or put bets on the right horses, and make a lot of money. Unscrupulous people could use the same means to change and manipulate world events. It could be catastrophic.’
    Simon nodded again. Not that long ago, he would have thought it kind of cool to know who all the future World Surfing Champions would be, and whether he’d have any chance at the title. But he had other things on his mind now.
    ‘Take another look at the screen. A closer look,’ McPhee said. ‘Bring up the future timelines, Harry.’
    Harry punched some keys, and six horizontal red lines appeared from a line marking the year 2321. They connected back to several vertical lines in a block eight hundred years earlier.
    Simon studied them. ‘They look like mission lines to a spot in the twenty-fourth century. I don’t get it, sir. How does this fit in with not doing missions to the future?’
    ‘Those are red lines, not yellow, Savage,’ McPhee said. ‘If you look carefully, you’ll see these missions originate in the year 2321, and link to a variety of locations and times back in the sixteenth century.’
    ‘So those aren’t our missions?’ Simon asked. He could think of only one other explanation. ‘Does this mean someone else has worked out a time-travel system?’
    Harry smiled. ‘The kid’s