lost in time

The Doctor

Camille showed us into our living quarters- big, spacious rooms, luxuriously furnished, all spic and span, well kept. I could tell that the others were as thrown off by the posh interior as I was. We aren't used to such extravagance.

He's very rich, is he, Joan? I asked her silently. She can't hear my thoughts unless I voice them to her specifically.

Yes, she admitted. But the amount of assets that he possesses is much more than what you think it is.

Camille clasped her hands in front of her. "If you need anything, please just ask. Andrew will be here in no time." She left us there, standing in the apartment.

None of us moved to sit on the chairs or the sofa. The place was too shiny, too new. It must feel homely to the occupants. But we hadn't seen anything like this before. It was alien to us. I felt the same wave of apprehension like I did when I stepped through the Portal. I wondered if we really will ever feel like we belonged to this time. I met Jared's eyes, and they mirrored the same apprehension that I was feeling.

He cleared his throat. "Quite a place."

Violet came to her senses- she seemed quite speechless when she stepped through the doors. "Okay. Might as well make yourselves at home. We need to get down to business as soon as possible.'

We all broke out of our stares and moved around. Chang and Lucas ran up the stairs to claim a room- they got their enthusiasm back fast. They're like that- adaptable. That's the main reason they were chosen to be a part of the Survivor pack. I followed them upstairs.

"Jared," Chang called out. "There's a place for you here too."

"Cool." He ran up the staircase and clapped me on the shoulder, and walked inside the room.

He was immediately met with five pillows thrown at him- it looked like Chang and Lucas grabbed all of them within arm's reach and flung it at him. I could hear them burst into laughter. The twins' madness seems to have rubbed off on them.

"Idiots!" He rushed inside. Well, at least they were settling down.

I walked into the other room. There were three beds here, too, so there would be a spare. I dumped my backpack on the table and sat down on the soft bed. We'd need to buy some new clothes. It's called shopping here- I looked it up on the network. What a weird word.

I listened to the guys yell and fight with each other. I shouldn't have been able to hear that, considering the walls were pretty thick, but our senses are engineered to be far more perceptive than a normal human beings' in order to allow Joan to extract as much information as she can from our surroundings to help us do our jobs. So thanks to Joan, I was listening to Lucas try and stuff a pillow down Chang's throat. Fun.

Violet came up. "Change of scenery, eh?"

I sank back into the bed and nodded silently. She threw a towel at me. "Go ahead and have a bath. Best we freshen up. I've already told the others what we're telling this Andrew Hamilton- we need to be careful. He's a brilliant scientist, and if something we say doesn't add up, we'll be skewered."

"Yeah. What are we saying?"

She transmitted it via Joan. I gave her a thumbs up as I went through the information.

15 minutes later, a knock echoed from downstairs. Violet was just pulling on her black jacket which was part of her gear. I followed her downstairs, and I head the boys come after us. She opened the door.

A tall man stood at the door. I immediately found the resemblance of this man to the family we'd just met- sharp eyes, the firm shoulders, the dark hair.