Matt Reilly Stories Read Free Page A

on, Mitch. Lighten up,’ the pretty blonde beside him whispered as she
smiled for the cameras. ‘This is going to be awesome . And we’re going to
be the first to experience it.’
    Mitch
Raleigh was a novelist from Australia, here in Texas on a book tour for his
latest novel, Seven Deadly Wonders . The current success of that novel
had got him an invitation to this, the much-hyped launch of Time Tours.
    He
turned to the girl beside him. An old family friend, Laura had done very well
for herself. Not only was she a Calvin Klein model, she was also—
    ‘So,
Humbert! How do you think you’ll review this!’ a reporter shouted from the
crowd.
    The
hunch-backed, bespectacled man to Mitch’s right cleared his throat. In his
mid-fifties, Humbert Hughes was a much-feared book reviewer from the New
York Times . It was a very brave move by the people at Time Tours to invite
him.
    Interestingly,
Mitch Raleigh knew something about Humbert Hughes that few others did: a year
ago, Hughes had submitted a manuscript for a novel to publishers in New York
and London. It had been awful, unreadable, and had been rejected by everyone.
    Today,
however, the usually dour Hughes was in fine spirits.
    He’d
even brought a bottle of vintage 1932 Dom Perignon to celebrate the occasion
with his fellow travellers—Mitch, Laura and three sporting stars.
    Suddenly,
the lights dimmed, and a new figure stepped up onto the stage: Tad Ellis, the
dashing CEO of Time Tours Inc. ‘Ladies and gentlemen!’ he proclaimed.
‘Welcome...to Time Tours!’
    He
raised his hands, and the giant billboard on the stage divided into two halves,
revealing the Travelling Room.
     
    The
Travelling Room
     
    It
looked like an ultra-modern laboratory.
    In
its centre was a ring of six silver recliner chairs, each of them bolted to the
floor like dentist chairs and each fitted with a dome-shaped device on the
headrest.
    ‘This
is where the magic happens!’ Tad Ellis proclaimed. ‘This is where our guests
will commence their journeys to…’
    A
video screen sprang to life, a voiceover man intoning:
    ‘… The Ancient Empire!  Go to the world of Ancient Egypt, where you will
live like a pharaoh. Overlord: experience the action of World War II
first hand! Or Dinosaurland: for the naturalists, take a scenic tour of
the Earth as it was 75 million years ago. Or, for the not-so-naturalist, how
about going on a T-Rex hunt?’
    There
were three more worlds: including one called Superstar where you lived
in a world where you were the most famous person alive.
    Tad
Ellis said, ‘To create our worlds here at Time Tours, our expert programmers
have joined forces with the world’s foremost historians, scientists and
satellite surveyors. Our proprietary engine program, Ultimate World v.2.0, uses
their input to create realistic environments based on the actual terrain and
cityscapes of our planet. So when you storm the beach at Normandy, you’re
storming a replica of the actual beach .’
    The
media wrote frantic notes, filmed the images.
    During
the pause, Mitch turned to Tad Ellis: ‘Sounds a bit like The Matrix .’
    ‘This
is way better than the fucking Matrix ,’ Ellis whispered before moving
away and continuing his presentation. ‘Ladies and gentlemen! You can do all
this and more at Time Tours ! How?
    Well,
it all takes place in your mind.’
     
    All
in Your Mind
     
    Humbert
Hughes popped the cork on his 1932 Dom Perignon and the six celebrity time
tourists toasted each other and drank.
    Then
they all stepped into the Travelling Room.
    Mitch
reclined in one of the dentist’s chairs, while a technician lowered the chair’s
dome-like headpiece over his face.
    Tad
Ellis proclaimed, ‘Our patented non-invasive headpieces beam microwave signals
directly into the client’s cerebellum, disrupting cortical activity and slowing
the synaptic pulse-rate, inducing a quasi-coma. We then replace real-world
sensory inputs with our own constructed ones: convincing the client that