Time Shift

Time Shift Part 1

     It was just after midnight in the early hours of Saturday morning and the music from the hotel's dance system echoed from the far end of the bar. Jason found a seat in a dark corner away from the noise and the dancers. He sat down and sipped on his second drink for the evening.

The last few weeks had been a blur. He had found a flat in town to rent, he had bought a cheap second hand car to drive to and from work, and he went to his job every day to help a mad scientist create a death machine. Well that was an extreme way to think of it, but he knew what the result would be if this project reached completion. He had seven weeks to try and prevent it. He took another long sip from his glass and put his head in his hands trying to think. Jason felt so alone, there was no one he could confide in, he was new to the town and the job. Even if there was someone he could tell, they would never believe him. They would think he was stark raving mad. If only this was all a dream.

"You look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders," came a voice from nearby.

Startled, he looked around and noticed a figure sitting to his right. It was a girl with long hair. He could hardly see her features in the dim light.

"Uh, hello," he mumbled, "I was just deep in thought."

"Either that or you've had too much."

"Oh, no, this is only my second drink."  

"Well you look like you've just lost your best friend."

"It's just..." he paused to think of something, "family problems."

She was silent for a few moments, then said, "These things often have a way of working themselves out."

"I hope you're right."

"Are you here with anyone?" the girl asked.

"No, I just had to get out of the house for a while, so I thought a drink might go down well." He moved his position slightly to get a better look at the girl in the dark. It was still hard to see her properly. "How about you?"

"I'm here with a couple of friends, but they're off dancing, so I'm having a drink in the dark."

"Well let's have a drink in the dark together," Jason held up his glass.

She did the same.

"I'm Jason," he eventually said to break the silence.

"Tracy."

They made small talk for a few minutes. Tracy asked Jason where he worked. He told her and watched as closely as he could in the darkness for her reaction, but he saw none.

"What do you do there?" she asked.

"Technical design and development."

"You mean you build technical equipment?"

"More or less."

"Sounds interesting. What are you building now?"

Jason froze. This question brought the whole horrible dilemma back to him. Finally he answered, "I can't tell you, it's a security issue."

"Oh," she sounded disappointed.

Jason swung the conversation back to Tracy, "What about you, where do you work?"

"Oh I just do boring office work," she answered quickly, "So how long have you worked there? Did you move here from out of town to take the job?"