Against Time by Michael Barnes.
Category: Science Fiction
Paperback: 152 pages
Language: English
ISBN: 1845493109

Chapter 1
Primary Research

"The library was like any other university library. In one corner, a photocopier was busy printing out its thousandth assignment; in the other, a rather under populated reference section.

"Dan!" a voice shouted.

Daniel turned. His blue eyes fixed. It was Tom, in the photocopying section.

"Quiet Tom," he whispered. "We’re in a library remember."

"Sorry mate,"

He and Daniel had been close friends since the first day of university, but Daniel was often critical of his untidy appearance.

"How are you doing with your dissertation?" Tom enquired, now in a quieter voice, his face red, embarrassed by his previous shout.

"Not too bad," he said. "Hopefully I’ll get it finished for the deadline."

The dissertation had been hard work for him. Its title ‘How does modern society compare to the 1950s?’ had caused him plenty of headaches over the last two months. He had though, made plenty of progress. However, his tutor Dr Bennett had told him to include more primary sources within his work. This was why he had come into the library; his grandfather had given him numerous photographs and accounts of his time in the 1950s to work through.

"Coming for a drink?" Tom asked.

"Later mate! I’ve got some studying to do."

"Okay, see you later!" After his rejection, Tom walked out of the library with one hand fumbling around in his right trouser pocket, trying hurriedly to find enough change for a drink. In the process, he temporarily lost his balance and in doing so, nearly knocked over another student who was approaching the entrance. Daniel smiled at his antics and then headed straight for the reference section.

He sat down and brought out his folder containing the items from his grandfather. He’d had the folder for nearly three years, and it was now showing its age, as its top edge had begun to fray. He took off his coat and carefully placed it behind him on the chair. This study session he knew, would take some time.

As he looked in his folder for the photographs, he saw that they were not there. He quickly remembered that he previously had them out of his folder whilst his girlfriend and fellow student Kelly, was looking through them. He had still not seen them himself. He had put them in his coat pocket. From there, he produced a white envelope. It was slightly creased as a consequence of him putting it away quickly and in doing so, had disturbed the start of the lecture. Indeed, the lecture, on ‘Post War Britain,’ had been delivered by Dr Bennett; his dissertation tutor.

The envelope read, Hope these will assist you with your work Daniel, love grandad. As he was about to open the envelope, he noticed that on its reverse his grandad had written his shopping list. Daniel gave out an outward laugh. He quickly looked around him to see if anyone had heard him. No-one had. He then turned his attention back toward the contents of the envelope. However, just as he was about to look at his grandad’s items, he was suddenly temporarily blinded.

"Guess who?" "