Stealing Time by Rebecca Bowyer (acx book reading .txt) 📕

archives of Rest Time Corps for,albeit a little rougher around the edges.

“Stand by, ready to test,” she warned.

Varya’s hands trembled slightly as she typedin the coded sequences that would trigger the transfer of ten days’life span from Gamma mouse to Delta mouse. The mice twitched everynow and then. They were sleeping, but still alive. They’d beendosed with a sedative to prevent them running about and shaking offthe wires which attached them to one another.

This time it would work, she willedsilently. She looked up at her colleagues peering into the side ofthe glass container before hitting enter on the keyboard. They allwaited. Three minutes. That was the minimum amount of time thatneeded to lapse before they could re-test the life span of eachmouse. For once, Varya wished she could speed up time rather thanfreeze it or slow it down. This was the eleventh live experiment inthe past twenty-four hours. They were nearly there, though therehad been problems getting the calibrations right. The first sixexperiments didn’t work at all; there was no change. The seventhand eighth resulted in drained span from one mouse but didn’ttransfer it to the other. The ninth had killed both mice and thetenth had successfully transferred life span but had continued todrain the donor mouse entirely until it dropped dead. The recipientmouse was still happily running around its cage, and likely wouldbe for quite some time.

“Ready?” asked Connor, holding a blackwand-looking device aloft.

Varya nodded, not trusting herself tospeak.

He tested the donor mouse first. Its lifespan was twenty-two days, ten fewer than it was three minutes ago.Varya breathed in sharply as he reset the scanner and moved it overthe recipient mouse. The green numbers glowed – thirty-four days,exactly ten days extra. She blew air out in a great sigh andgrinned. Connor grinned back then turned to face the otherscientists who had crowded around to watch.

“Success!” he declared. A cheer went up.There were high-fives, back-slapping, and a sudden increase inchatter. Connor turned back to Varya. “You want to call Sebastian,or shall I?”

“It’s okay, I’ll call him.” She picked upher phone from a nearby desk and carried it out into the corridor,where there was relative peace.

“Varya.” Sebastian answered immediately. Sheignored the strained note in his voice.

We did it, she tried to say, but it caughtin her tense throat. She took a breath and tried again. “We did it.The time transfer tech is ready.”

“That’s… that’s great. Thank you. That’sreally great news.” He sounded distracted. Varya frowned.

“Sebastian? Is everything okay? Has anotherchild been… has there been another abduction? Or…”

“We have a few leads, but we won’t need thescanner just yet. There’s been another body.”

Varya leaned heavily against the wall. “Oh,no.”

“You’d better bring it over here anyway, soit’s ready when needed. I won’t be here, but just leave it with…”his voice became muffled. Varya heard another male voice in thebackground. “Jonathon. Ask for Jonathon Wilde when you get here.Don’t entrust the tech to anyone else, okay?”

“Okay,” she replied hesitantly.

“Varya, this is important. Don’t trustanyone else. Only Jonathon. Got it?”

“Yes, Sebastian. I’ll leave now and bring itto Jonathon. I understand.”

“And Varya, are you sure you haven’t had anycontact with Reg recently? None at all?”

“No. I already told you.”

“No calls, no texts, not even a friendlybeer?”

“No, of course not. I know what ‘contact’means, Sebastian. I haven’t heard from him or seen him since Ileft.”

“And nobody else has access to yourapartment? Nobody else has a key?”

“It’s not key-operated. It’s coded to meonly. And no, I haven’t given anyone else access.”

“Not even Marisa?”

“No, she has scheduled times she comes in,and always only when I’m there, although…” Varya trailed off, herscalp suddenly feeling tight and cold. “She hacked the system onetime. Sort of as a joke. Met me inside the apartment. I got soangry at her; she’s never done it again.” Sebastian was silent.“Sebastian? Why does this matter? Is someone trying to break inthere? Are they… I mean, am I in danger?” Varya’s mind raced,calculating the number of minutes it would take to get back to herapartment to check on the Time Lock.

“Why would someone want to break into yourapartment, Var’?” he said quietly. “What are you keeping inthere?”

“N-nothing. I mean, Marisa meant it as ajoke. She didn’t want to wait in the stairwell and…”

She thought she heard Sebastian sighsoftly.

“Sebastian? What is this about?”

“I’m sure it’s nothing. Just make sure youcome directly to the Rest Time Corps headquarters and bring thetime transfer tech. Ask for Jonathan. I have to go now.”

He hung up and Varya made a split-seconddecision. The Rest Time Corps headquarters and her apartment werein opposite directions. She’d promised Sebastian to come to RestTime Corps, but she had to make sure Kir and Elena were safe first.And Daniel. Zoe would never forgive her if anything happened tohim.

“Varya?” said Connor. “Varya, what did hesay?”

“I have to go. I have to go right now.”

“And take the transfer tech to…”

“Yes.” She brushed her hair out of her eyesand snapped the briefcase shut. “I have to take the transfer techright now. I don’t know when I’ll be back.” She paused. “Thank youfor your help, Connor. You may never understand how much this meansto me, but just know that it means everything. I’ll make sure thistechnology never hurts anyone again.”

Connor sidestepped in front of her, cuttingoff her exit.

“Varya, wait. Why does this feel likegood-bye? Where are you going?”

“I’m going home to check on my little boy,”said Varya. “Now get out of my way.”

He stepped aside and she marched out of theresearch facility that she had built and run, fuelled by her owngrief, possibly for the last time.

Chapter forty-nine

Reg sat on Varya’s sofa, directly over the impressionmade by Sebastian the previous night. A uniformed police officersnapped his cuffs securely then read to him from a tablet, pausingfrom time to time so Reg could nod his understanding. Reg was thefirst in the room to see Varya as she pushed open her apartmentdoor. He looked tired, thought Varya. And old.

Sebastian stood with his back to the frontdoor, writing notes on his screen with a stylus and speakingquietly to a colleague. He