“Like I said, time moves differently in the Other Realm.” He paused, and I could see his face had gone a funny shade of gray. “Was that a space ship?”

  I glanced up at the thing, let my eyes take in its shape and form, and then I looked back at him.

  “Shuttle,” I said, and he stared at me, mouth agape.

  “You know what that is?”

  I pushed back the sense of unreality threatening to overwhelm me, and nodded.

  “Yup,” I said, trying to convince myself I was in control—that, maybe, I was on a movie set, a really sophisticated one. “That was a space shuttle.”

  The paramedic was having none of it.

  “You’re telling me we’re in the future?”

  “Yup,” I said, wishing we weren’t doing this, here, in the middle of the street, and that I had something to counteract the shock. “Let’s go find chocolate.”

  “Chocolate?”

  “I need chocolate,” I said, figuring the sugar would help both of us fight the shock. “They’ve got to have chocolate, right?”

  “I…yeah. Chocolate.” He moved up beside me, dividing his attention between me and the sky.

  I reached out and took the extra pack he’d brought, and we walked a few more steps in the direction of the buildings from behind which the shuttle had taken off, and then he stopped again.

  “You think they remember us?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “What’s your name?”

  “Remy. Remy Black.”

  I took a step, and he mirrored the movement, so I took another, and he kept coming. I breathed a sigh of relief, and kept us moving to buildings. I mean, it had to be some kind of air…space port, or something.

  Being a transport hub, there was bound to be a police station there. Well, there should be one…or someone that knew where one was. Maybe this kind of thing had happened before, and someone would know how to deal with it. Maybe… I heard Remy’s steps start slowing down again, but I kept moving.

  “You a paramedic, Remy?”

  “Yeah. Where are we going?”

  “I thought I’d drop in at the station. See if the POS is still around.”

  “POS,” and he started to snicker. “You think they still call it that?”

  This time, I stopped, and I turned, and I looked him in the eye.

  “You better hope they do, Remy. Otherwise, we’re gonna have a helluva time explaining how we got here.”

  He paled a bit, and then gestured at something behind me.

  “Well, now’s your chance,” he said, and I turned back in time to see the two cops who’d just come out of the building see me and Remy.

  “You!” one shouted, and I grabbed hold of the urge to run.

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  Nothing makes a cop madder than if you make him run to catch you, and the pack I’d taken off Remy was heavy. Speaking of Remy, I glanced at him, ready to grab him if he made a break for it, but I didn’t need to. He was looking from the cop to me, and back again. Following his gaze, I realized he wasn’t the one they were talking to.

  “Yes officer?”

  “Hands where I can see them.”

  I held my hands clear of my body, and they came closer. Remy had taken a step closer to me, his movement drawing attention.

  “You! Don’t move.”

  And Remy froze.

  Their hands hovered over the guns at their hips, but they didn’t draw. I stood as still as I could, and waited. Beside me, Remy did the same. One stopped, and the other approached.

  “Who are you?”

  “I’m Officer Harper, and this is Officer Black.”

  “Harper and Black,” said the officer who’d stood back from us, and I realized he was talking into a small, round badge on his collar. “Yeah. Black’s wearing a 21st century paramedic’s uniform, and Harper…” He glanced over. “She’s wearing the usual tunic and breeches.”

  I watched the exchange, but didn’t move a muscle. ‘Usual tunic and breeches’ sounded like they did know how to deal with this kind of thing. Maybe that should have worried me. In fact, it did worry me, and I cast a quick glance over at Black. The worried frown on his face didn’t make me feel any better.

  I glanced around the street, and the officer in front of me tensed. He reached out and grabbed my arm, just as the sound of a high-speed engine caught our ears.

  “Inside!” he shouted, turning to drag me back towards the building for which we’d been heading.

  “You, too!” his partner added, as a floating vehicle the size of a mini-van slid around a corner at the other end of the street. He took the two steps he needed to reach Remy and grab hold of him. “Come on!”

  Neither of us argued. The guys we were following were in uniform; the minivan was a blue so dark it was almost black—and it had no markings. It made me wonder if it was this world’s equivalent of the white mini-vans used by so many murderers in our own time, but I didn’t stop to ask. We made it through the doors just as the vehicle drew parallel with the curb.

  “Don’t stop,” ordered the officer who had a hold of my arm. “We’re not safe, yet.”

  Which made me wonder why policemen had to run.

  I didn’t have much time to think about that, as we ran through a mostly empty concourse lined by shops, travel agents, and duty-free stores. If I didn’t know any better, I would have said we’d made it to the airport—except Canterbury Park was nowhere near an airport, and there wouldn’t have been space to build one, back in my own time.

  Just exactly what had happened to bring the place to this?

  I had so many questions, and a lot less time to ask them than I realized.

  “What did we do?” I asked, as they ushered us into a holding cell, and took away our packs.

  I thought about fighting for the pack, I honestly did, but we were in the holding cell by then, with one officer back up by the door, and the other one holding out his hand, and I thought better of it. No way either of us would reach the farthest one before he could draw and fire. I looked at Remy, and he looked back, gave me a shrug, and slipped his pack from his shoulders.

  I followed suit, and we let the officer carry them out of the cell without trying to get them back.

  “Hey,” I said, as they locked the door behind him, and they looked up. “Got any chocolate?”

  “Got any coins?”

  Remy and I exchanged glances, then Remy patted his pockets, and I patted mine. We both knew the answer, but who could resist pulling a chain or two, when their world’s been pulled right out from under them?

  The officers didn’t bother staying for the show; they walked away, shaking their heads.

  I sighed. At least the holding cell was familiar…to me, anyway. I’d put enough people into one, in the time before.

  Which made me wonder some more. I looked at Remy, checked off shoes and laces, checked off his belt, guessed they didn’t think we were much of a suicide risk—or they didn’t care, either way.

  Remy sat himself down on the floor, leant back against the wall, and put his hands behind his head.

  “Yeah,” he said. “This is so much better than where we were. Wonder how long they’ll keep us waiting?”

  “At least there aren’t any trolls,” I muttered, and sat down on the opposite side of the cell.

  I leaned back against the wall, and closed my eyes, because even though I’d probably had enough sleep to last me a lifetime, old habits die hard.

  Too many years of catching zees between ops and paperwork were kicking in, and I couldn’t think of anything better to do. There was no point asking Remy when we were. All he’d say was ‘time moves differently in the Other World,’ and I knew that already.

  We weren’t sitting there long. Once the door into the cell area had closed behind them, things settled into silence…and then, a scant few minutes later, they got noisy again.

  The door rattled open, and I opened my eyes. Remy opened his, and we shared a moment, while we decided if we could be bothered getting up to see what was going on. In the end, we decided to go back to looking like we were asleep.