“Where exactly are we going next, Armelle?”
“Well, unless you know of some other top secret facility with a time-travel device in it…”
Vančura shook his head with a slight smile.
“And I don’t.”
“Then back to the Sandglass facility it is, then.
Eddie ignored them both, pointedly. It didn’t make much difference, but he did it with single-minded determination, mostly because there wasn’t anything else he could do. Vančura leaned back and closed his eyes.
“Remind me again why we need to go back in time? The rest of it makes sense, but as far as I can tell, another trip through the knothole will just complicate things.”
With a brief shrug and a slight wince, Armelle considered the question. At length, she glanced at him and shook her head.
“It’s complicated. No, don’t start off on me! I’ll dumb it down, but it won’t be quite as accurate. Look, the STAd does create a distortion I can measure, but once it’s measurable, it’s too late to do anything about it. The damage is already done. If we’re actually going to fix the problem, we have to do it before it happens, obviously.”
Beside her, Eddie rolled his eyes loudly, but didn’t say anything. Ignoring him, she continued.
“Anyway, nobody said anything about traveling back in time. That would be pretty useless, at this stage.”
Vančura blinked and stared at her . In stark contrast – and entirely true to form – Eddie completely missed every possible implication of Armelle’s comment. Vancura’s sharp reply, however, nearly startled the little man right out of his seat.
“You. Are. Crazy.”
She stared at him, eyes wide. Vančura never raised his voice. But he just had.
“What?”
“How can someone so smart be so dumb?”
Eddie perked up at that. It occurred to him that something resembling a fight was brewing and he was sitting right in the middle of it. Even though the truck hadn’t slowed any, the prospect of jumping was beginning to look more attractive by the second.
The cab was quiet for several minutes as Armelle tried to come up with a response while glaring at Vančura. When she finally spoke, it was with a half-angry, half-hurt tone.
“It’s perfectly logical plan!! And I’m not dumb!”
Eddie winced and wondered if folding his arms over his head would help save him from verbal fallout.
End Chapter 15 – Part 1
Go to Chapter 15 – Part 2
Nobody ever said writing was easy. Between my inability to handle a calendar, a late shift, and my boss calling in an emergency shift (and then cancelling it) this installment almost didn’t get written. Fortunately, stubbornness has prevailed again and you’ve got your weekly ‘Twicebound’!
Want to read the previous installments? They’re right here!
Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three,
Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six,
Chapter Seven, Chapter Eight, Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten, Chapter Eleven, Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen, Chapter Fourteen
Michael Gunter's Tales of Today and of Yesterday 
I don’t suppose you’d give lessons on how to roll your eyes loudly? Great installment !
your stubbornness, or fear of the public fit i would throw if my weekly Twicebound failed to appear??
@Chess tip: to roll your eyes loudly, get a small glass jar with marbles in it. Carry at all times. when rolling your eye’s loudly is needed, sigh, so you have everyone’s attention, then swirl the marbles in the jar under the table, while rolling your eyes as per standard procedures and sneering. The effect should be quite dramatic, but maybe don’t try near anyone who would be tempted to cause you bodily harm for that sort of trick. (I mean, it WAS his idea, but brothers get funny ideas…..)
Heehee! The only reason I might not try it is that I have impressionable younger siblings who might try it and sprain an eyeball. Can one sprain an eyeball?
This could be a problem…. the eye rolling marble epidemic could grow out of proportion.
Anyhow, I’m still not sure how Eddie did it. It’s one of those things I don’t ask him about.
@Aerin, great advice, I’ll have to find a jar small enough to fit in my purse. It could be quite handy. 😀
Great, just great.
I’m a trend starter! XD
@Chess. ehhh, I don’t think so. I’ve never done it, and I push the limits ALL the time.
@Lauren I think it could be really useful. I mean, the possibilities are endless….
@Michael, quit being a wet blanket.
Me? A wet blanket? I’m hurt!
Hmm. Okay, I can see how travelling back might be kind of useless, namely given how they’ve just done that, and it hasn’t bought them much… but I admit, I don’t really see how going forwards in time buys them much either. After all, they’ll be forwards in time if they wait long enough anyway. I gather there’s a detail I’m missing — and I’m guessing it’s related to the fact that their bodies seem to replace their bodies in the past, so how can they replace themselves in the future if their bodies aren’t there, having left from the present? Hmm.
Thanks for the stubbornness! Incidentally, I went to remind myself of Part 14, Part 3, and it doesn’t seem to be flagged in the catalogue, only appearing on the main blog site. Just FYI.
@Aerin: That’s very clever… it works until you start losing your marbles.
Don’t worry; it’ll get explained next Saturday!! (you might be close, though….) 😀
Quite welcome! As Aerin pointed out, it was helped along by the great and terrible fear of what my readers would do if I didn’t follow through… o.0 Thanks for catching that, btw!! I’ll get a link to it ASAP.
@Mathtans whoops missed you in my comment. >.< but to read Michael's stuff, you kinda have to have lost at least a few of your marbles anyway, so it's not much of an issue……..
I am like a ninja. Who tends to ramble a lot, so no worries! Hm, I can see why he’s afraid of what the readers would do though, if they’re lacking in marbles. (Also, ooh, I might be close! Or very far away! I guess we’ll know eventually.)
That’s the question I’ve been asking myself… it always comes down to reader marbles, doesn’t it?
Yep, yep, yep; the suspense is half the fun, right? 😀