"Maria V. Snyder - E-Time" - читать интересную книгу автора (Snyder Maria V)

E-TIME
by: Maria V. Snyder

With her finger poised above the send button, Jan scanned the letter. It had to be convincing. She
had spent two weeks composing this e-mail. It had to be perfect.

The sound of pounding footsteps grew louder as security guards raced toward her. Time was running
out. She hit the send key. The high pitched whistle of the machine reached a crescendo, creating a
miniature wormhole that existed for a mere fraction of a second. Not enough time for a physical object to
travel through, but long enough for an electronic message. The noise diminished as the wormhole
collapsed.

“Freeze,” a male voice ordered in the sudden silence.

Jan glanced down at the open wallet in her lap. Three young children smiled up at her. Her husband
stood rigid next to them, scowling.

“Doctor Vincent, take your hands away from the keyboard and raise them,” the guard instructed.

Jan held her hands shoulder high. Her eyes remained locked on the picture.

“Turn around slowly.”

As she rotated, the government-issued office chair squealed. Two security guards stood in the
doorway with their arms extended out. Jan eyed the twin black barrels of their guns. She glanced down
to see the photograph again. Three little sunbeams and the storm cloud still remained. Facing the men,
Jan wondered if they would shoot her if she rushed them.

“Dr. Vincent are you aware that the Generator Area is restricted?”

“Of course, you idiot. I created this area.”
#
“Amy’s here,” Jan’s mother called from the bottom of the stairs. Jan stuffed the last T-shirt into her
backpack and zipped it closed. She strode into the hallway, and spotted Amy standing in the foyer with
an identical overstuffed pack leaning against Amy’s long legs.

“Come on up, Aim,” she said, “I have one more thing to do before we go.” She retreated to her
room without waiting for her friend’s reply. Turning on her computer, Jan smiled as Amy plopped onto
her bed.

“What’s so important? We’re going to be late.” Amy’s face glowed with excitement.

Pushing a stray strand of black hair out of her eyes, Jan tapped at the computer’s keyboard,
accessing her e-mail account. “James promised to send me the name and address of a great youth hostel
in Paris. I want to get it before we leave.” Jan waved a hand at an open notebook on her desk. It was
their travel itinerary. The book had a colored tab for each European city. Under each city the pages were
filled with tourist destinations, hotels, train schedules, and restaurants. Jan had planned out every detail of
their two month-long backpacking trip through Europe.

She frowned at the two empty lines in her Paris section as she clicked on the inbox icon. Only one