"What is it?" "A service station." "Some kind of half-way place." " And the time?" " The present." "Inhabited?" "I don't know, I haven't looked yet." "Well, let's look." " The time of day?" " 8:54pm." " What is the time of year?" " Summer, mid July." "I wonder if there's anybody running this place." "There isn't." "Apart from us, there are only two other people here." "And they arrived in that." "I've given it a visual examination but..." "And the result of your examination?" "I'd say the car was manufactured in 1946." " Mm-hm." " It's no more than two years old." " Where are they?" " Hm?" "Oh, they're in here." "'All irregularities will be handled 'by the forces controlling each dimension." "'Transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life." "'Medium atomic weights are available." "'Gold, Mercury," "'Copper," "'Jet, Diamond, Radium," "'Sapphire, Silver and Steel." "'Sapphire and Steel have been assigned. '" " Do they go with the car?" " Yes." " Have you questioned them?" " No, not yet." "I thought I'd leave that to you." "I'm not very good at intimidation." "Are they real?" "I mean, do you believe them?" "Well, I've been given no reason to disbelieve them." "So far, that is." "A couple and a car." "Two people and a machine driving here from 1948." "To this place?" "To this time period?" "I did say so far." "Perhaps this side could be wrong." "What do you mean, "this side could be wrong"?" "Why not?" "After all this seems just as perfectly set in its period as they do in theirs" " but one side has to be wrong." " And this side?" "Well, that's also a little odd." "Tell us." "Silver, you're supposed to gamble." "Gamble?" "Yes, sometimes - well, most times - you're supposed to lose." "Oh!" "I wondered why I wasn't enjoying it." "I said tell us." "I was standing here." "I was told - you were told - there was going to be a time-break, so I was sent here to watch and to wait and then the car arrived." "But the time-break happened before that." "Did you see it arrive?" "Well, I should say it appeared." "I didn't hear its approach." " Could you do it?" " Yes." "Show me." "I'd love to." "What on earth is it?" "What's your opinion?" "Opinion?" "You've been here, what do you think is going on?" "I think" " I'm almost sure - that there's no time here." " Not any more." " You mean it's stopped?" "Yes." "It's a kind of a pocket, like a vacuum." "Yes." "You could say that there's no time here any more." " Evidence?" " The traffic." " You can hear it." " Yes." "The through road would be round about there." "But listen to those sounds." "The sounds are repeated." "From when the time-break occurred." "They are still travelling but they're not going anywhere." " The time." " What about it?" " It's still 8:54." " Yes." "It's been 8:54 for the past six hours, ever since I got here." "All the clocks are still working but they don't tell us what the right time should be." "You see?" "Thank you." "What's normal time?" "Normal time?" "Yes, time as it is." "You remember that." "What is it?" "Three minutes, 23 seconds after midnight." " And you've been here for six hours?" " Roughly, yes." "What does that tell us?" "It happened yesterday?" "When?" " I don't know." " Perhaps the radio can tell us." "Radio?" "'The referee's mo..." "The referee's mo... '" "'... 54... be 8:54... be 8:54... '... be 8:54... '" "Time as it should be for here." " But not for us?" " No." "'... be 8:54... be 8:54... '" "Are you going to show more surprise than your friend?" " Surprise?" " Yes." "He didn't show any." "Well, suppose you tell us why we should be surprised." " Because we're here." " And where's here?" "Oh, come on now." "You represent authority and I suppose he sent for you." "It's not a crime." "Whatever's happened to us..." "it can't be a crime, can it?" " No." " Well, then." "Reason with him, don't argue with him." "This is the future, isn't it?" "We were driving, minding our own business, suddenly we arrive here, into the future, without warning." "That's why we're sitting here." "We're not making a fuss, we're just sitting here, waiting, so that perhaps we may go back without warning." "This isn't a trick on our part, you know." "It's not some game, you may think it is..." "No." "No, we don't think it is." "Good... because I know that this place isn't a game." "It's..." "Well, I suppose it's how the future would feel." "I mean..." "It even smells and tastes like a different time." "It scares me." "When you were driving along and minding your own business, what happened?" "She's already said." "Explain it." "Explain it to us." "We'd taken the long-toll turning, it's an old toll bridge road." "There's a small garage I know there, it's only got one pump." "They sell eggs and fruit, milk." "Most people wouldn't know it was a garage." "Grass and weeds growing everywhere, chickens running under your wheels." "But you can knock on the door any time, the old fellow will always serve you." " So, you drove in there?" " Yes." " Then what?" " It became this place." "Suddenly." " Without any warning." " Were there any people here?" "No." "Then he arrived." " He wasn't very helpful." " Sorry." " Time of day?" " What?" "What was the time when you drove in here through the grass and chickens?" " It was nearly midnight." " Yes, it would be almost midnight." " And the date?" " The 25th of July." "And the year?" "1948." "'Do we believe them?" "' 'We can always do tests. '" "'If they're not what they say they are... '" "'Victims of the time-break. ' '... they could be part of it. '" "'I don't see that. '" "A large age difference between them." " About 14 years." " Hm." " But they are married?" " Oh, yes, they are married." "But not to each other." "Oops." "As the catering staff seem to have deserted us," "I'll gladly cook some food." "Can I get you something?" " No, thank you." " Surely, you..." "We don't trust it." "We prefer to wait until we get back to our own time." " That might be quite a while." " We'll still wait, thank you." " What about you?" " Me?" " He didn't really ask you." " He doesn't have to." " You must be hungry." " No, I'm not." "After that journey?" "I mean, 30-odd years!" "What about an omelette?" "I can soon do a nice ham omelette." "I'm afraid that would constitute a meat meal away from home." "Page three, paragraph nine of their ration book RB1." " Half a coupon per person." " Oh, yes, of course." "You do have your ration book?" "We don't want the food so you don't get the coupon." "Fair enough." "But, if it'll satisfy your curiosity." "You talk about food, what about those?" "Those plates?" "Some haven't even been touched." "There are cigarettes and matches on that table." "There are coats over the chairs but there are no people." "You expect me to eat something and touch food here?" "A glass of water, that's all I want from this place." "Because this place terrifies me." "Hm." " This." " What about it?" " Do you know what it is?" " No." " It's a calculator." " I don't want to know." " All you do..." " Didn't you hear?" " We're not interested." " Not even in this?" "Not even in that." "What about all the other gadgets in here, aren't you curious?" "No." "Things you'll never have seen before." "We are interested in only one thing - getting back." " Yes." " I think what he's trying to say is, why don't you take this back to 1948?" "You could invent it, make a fortune." "We're still not interested." "Well, that's good." "The future should be left intact." "Quite." "But how many people would consider that?" "I would expect people to take what they could from the future, to make the most of the experience." "But not you." "All you want... is one glass of water." "Yes." "'Out here. '" "When you arrived, did you switch any lights on?" "No, they were already on." "Why?" "If the time-break happened on a summer evening, why was every light left on in this place?" "And there's an image." "Of a person?" "Yes." "An old man." "In there." "In another building." "Well, a part of another building." "Wait!" " That was the image you saw before?" " Same man, different background." "What are you getting?" "A sense of fear and violence." "Isn't it possible for a time-break, by accident or design, to pick up some powerful emotion from the past?" "Like a side effect or follow-through?" " Yes." " Hm, I'd agree with that." "A small garage that sells eggs and fruit and milk." "With grass and weeds growing everywhere." " July the 25th was a Sunday." " Yesterday was a Sunday, yes." " This small garage you drove into..." " Yes?" " Was it open on Sunday?" " I've already said." "It's open all hours, any day." " Provided you knock on the door?" " That's right." " What about at midnight?" " It's no different." "But the old man, how did you know if he was in?" "Because he never goes out." "I see." "Anyway, he always leaves his lights on." "All night long." "A light burning in every room." "He's a sort of local joke." "What?" "A character." "Ah." "Why are you asking us this?" "We're in the wrong time, the wrong place." "We don't really need unnecessary questions." " Where were you going?" " Going?" "Where were you going when you..." "There are suitcases in your car." " Don't answer him." " You looked, did you?" " Yes, I looked." " I said don't answer him." " We don't have to." " You do have to." "If you want us to get you back into your own time." " To face whatever you have to face." " What do you mean?" "!" " I don't know, you tell me." " What do you mean?" " It's obvious you're running away." " Are we?" "!" "Don't you think we've had enough?" "That's odd, I was thinking of playing that machine." "Oh, my God." "Look!" " I was holding..." " Look." "Look at the clock." "It's moved forward by ten minutes." "Our bodies haven't been affected, only this place has." "So, what is it moving forward to?" "To whatever is going to happen here."