the pink matching belt round her pyjamas.
“I must get Elio to give me more credit,” Jonathan said when the waitress had gone. “I shall go broke paying for everything. Sam’s not allowed any credit. When they gave him his first belt, he took it apart and altered the credit-limit. Then he spent a fortune on butter-pies.”
“A thousand units in two days,” Sam said happily.
“How much is a unit?” Vivian asked.
“Um—about two of your pounds,” said Jonathan.
Vivian gasped. “Weren’t you sick?”
“All night,” Sam said cheerfully. “It was worth it. I’m a butter-pie addict.” His face lit up as he saw the waitress coming back. “Here they are! Yummee!”
While they ate and let the hot part trickle into the cold, Jonathan seemed to feel he had to go on showing Vivian Time City. He pointed to the gleaming white building across the square. Vivian was rather embarrassed to find that the tourists’ heads were turning to look at it too. “There’s Time Patrol, where we were last night,” he said. “And there—” He pointed towards the end of the squareand tourist heads in strange hairstyles swung that way as well as Vivian’s. “That building’s Duration, where Sam and I go to school. I expect you’ll be going there with us when half-term’s over.” Then he pointed back along the arcade, and once more all the heads turned where he pointed. “That’s Continuum behind us, where all the students are, with Perpetuum and Whilom Tower beyond that…”
Vivian was so embarrassed at the way the tourists were listening in that she stopped attending. Instead she thought: Half-term! It’s their half-term and they were bored with nothing to do. That’s why they thought up this adventure with the Time Lady and saving Time City, to make life exciting. I can just hear them whispering together about V.S.! It’s still not
real
to them!
“…and opposite Agelong, where my mother works. Those twin domes—those are Erstwhile and Ongoing,” Jonathan was saying. “Then there’s Millennium at the end of—”
“I need another butter-pie,” Sam interrupted.
Jonathan pressed another stud in his belt. A clock-face appeared on the back of his hand. It said a quarter to twelve. “No time,” he said. “We’ve got to show V.S. the Endless ghost.”
“After that then,” said Sam.
“No,” said Jonathan. “It’s my last credit.”
“You count tomato pips!” Sam said disgustedly as they got up to go.
“How does your belt work?” Vivian asked. “It seems like magic to me!”
She soon wished she had not asked. There were now crowds oftourists in the square. Jonathan said, “Energe functions,” and dived vigorously this way and that among the people, shooting bits of explanation over his shoulder. Vivian followed as best she could, trying to understand, although almost the only parts of it she grasped were words like
and
and
the
. “And mine’s made in Hundred and Two Century so it’s got a low-weight function,” Jonathan said. “Look.” He pressed another stud and took off from beside Vivian in a long, floating leap. He landed, and at once took off in another, and another, floating this way and that among the groups of people.
“He’s gone silly!” Sam said disgustedly. “Come on.”
They dodged among the people, trying to keep Jonathan’s green swooping figure and flying pigtail in sight. It took them between buildings beyond the glass arcade. Vivian had a glimpse of the twin domes Jonathan must have been talking about on one side and, on the other, a most extraordinary place like a lopsided honeycomb that seemed to have stairs zig-zagging dizzily all over it. Then they were at a grand flight of steps. Jonathan’s green figure was bounding down them like a crazy kangaroo. They saw him bound right across the broad crowded road below, where he dropped straight down at the top of a leap and landed with a bump, looking a little cross.
“Good. It’s run down. He’ll have to
“I must get Elio to give me more credit,” Jonathan said when the waitress had gone. “I shall go broke paying for everything. Sam’s not allowed any credit. When they gave him his first belt, he took it apart and altered the credit-limit. Then he spent a fortune on butter-pies.”
“A thousand units in two days,” Sam said happily.
“How much is a unit?” Vivian asked.
“Um—about two of your pounds,” said Jonathan.
Vivian gasped. “Weren’t you sick?”
“All night,” Sam said cheerfully. “It was worth it. I’m a butter-pie addict.” His face lit up as he saw the waitress coming back. “Here they are! Yummee!”
While they ate and let the hot part trickle into the cold, Jonathan seemed to feel he had to go on showing Vivian Time City. He pointed to the gleaming white building across the square. Vivian was rather embarrassed to find that the tourists’ heads were turning to look at it too. “There’s Time Patrol, where we were last night,” he said. “And there—” He pointed towards the end of the squareand tourist heads in strange hairstyles swung that way as well as Vivian’s. “That building’s Duration, where Sam and I go to school. I expect you’ll be going there with us when half-term’s over.” Then he pointed back along the arcade, and once more all the heads turned where he pointed. “That’s Continuum behind us, where all the students are, with Perpetuum and Whilom Tower beyond that…”
Vivian was so embarrassed at the way the tourists were listening in that she stopped attending. Instead she thought: Half-term! It’s their half-term and they were bored with nothing to do. That’s why they thought up this adventure with the Time Lady and saving Time City, to make life exciting. I can just hear them whispering together about V.S.! It’s still not
real
to them!
“…and opposite Agelong, where my mother works. Those twin domes—those are Erstwhile and Ongoing,” Jonathan was saying. “Then there’s Millennium at the end of—”
“I need another butter-pie,” Sam interrupted.
Jonathan pressed another stud in his belt. A clock-face appeared on the back of his hand. It said a quarter to twelve. “No time,” he said. “We’ve got to show V.S. the Endless ghost.”
“After that then,” said Sam.
“No,” said Jonathan. “It’s my last credit.”
“You count tomato pips!” Sam said disgustedly as they got up to go.
“How does your belt work?” Vivian asked. “It seems like magic to me!”
She soon wished she had not asked. There were now crowds oftourists in the square. Jonathan said, “Energe functions,” and dived vigorously this way and that among the people, shooting bits of explanation over his shoulder. Vivian followed as best she could, trying to understand, although almost the only parts of it she grasped were words like
and
and
the
. “And mine’s made in Hundred and Two Century so it’s got a low-weight function,” Jonathan said. “Look.” He pressed another stud and took off from beside Vivian in a long, floating leap. He landed, and at once took off in another, and another, floating this way and that among the groups of people.
“He’s gone silly!” Sam said disgustedly. “Come on.”
They dodged among the people, trying to keep Jonathan’s green swooping figure and flying pigtail in sight. It took them between buildings beyond the glass arcade. Vivian had a glimpse of the twin domes Jonathan must have been talking about on one side and, on the other, a most extraordinary place like a lopsided honeycomb that seemed to have stairs zig-zagging dizzily all over it. Then they were at a grand flight of steps. Jonathan’s green figure was bounding down them like a crazy kangaroo. They saw him bound right across the broad crowded road below, where he dropped straight down at the top of a leap and landed with a bump, looking a little cross.
“Good. It’s run down. He’ll have to
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