"Well, there's nothing here!" Allan proclaimed as the group filed into the girls toilets. "Can we go now?"
"Alan!" Tanya pushed him further into the room as he stopped in the door way. "You haven't even looked, now move out of the way!"
"Pushy," he complained as the group, minus Much, stepped a little warily inside. "What exactly are we looking for?"
"You said it yourself a moment ago," Charli rolled her eyes. "A vortex."
"Yeah I know that, but for some reason I don't think it's going to be that easy. I mean, if it were here, I think we'd know by now-"
"Alan, be quiet!" Robin shook his head as he made his way toward one of the cubicles. A silence fell on the group as he made reached out his hand and slowly pushed one of the doors open. Narrowing his eyes, he stepped inside, not exactly sure what he was looking for, but praying to god that some kind of clue, if anything, would appear.
"Alan's right." Djaq peered into the sink, drawing their attention from Robin. "What does a vortex look like?"
"Well, you know..."Tanya glanced around. "Um...Charli?"
Her friend rolled her eyes. "I don't know what a vortex looks like!" She proclaimed. "I've never seen one before."
"Well don't look at-"
"We fell from the ceiling." John reminded them, and as one, everyone looked up.
"Well, not being funny, but there's nothing there now, is there?" Alan pointed out.
"Things aren't always what they seem," Will said quietly, his eyes scanning the room quickly.
"Thing's aren't always-Will! There is nothing here!" Alan argued.
"Shut up! Both of you!" Tanya snapped as she threw open another cubicle door and peered inside. "Will's right. Things are NOT always as they seem. I didn't believe in time travel until you guys practically fell on top of us. The vortex may well already be here...we just can't see it."
Alan extended his arms and made wild sweeps around the room, causing the others to dissolve into giggles. "What are you doing?"
"You said it may be here, even if we can't see it." He continued to wave his hands around wildly. "Maybe we can feel for it instead."
"Alan," Robin warned as he took hold of mans scruff and pulled him to one side. "Stop messing around!"
"Who's messing?" Alan protested, making a grab in mid air close to Charli's head. She ducked out of the way.
Robin shook him. "Come on Alan!"
"There's nothing here, Robin!" Alan told him, indicating the room. "Nothing up there, or in there...and unless you want to get into the privy to see if there's anything in there, we can safely say there's nothing in that cubicle thing."
"Alan's right," Tanya emerged from the cubicle, heading towards the window. "There's nothing here." She ran her hand along the wall, frowning.
"But there has to be," Robin said, a hint of desperation in his voice. "We just need to look harder!" He marched back inside a cubicle, and jumped up onto one of the seats to look around.
"Robin..." Charli chewed on her lip. "Maybe we should-"
"No!" His jaw tightened. "There has to be SOMETHING!"
"There are other things we can try, Robin!" Charli leant against the wall. "We can do some research or something."
"Research-Charli! We do not have time!" He jumped down from the toilet seat, emerging from cubicle, and began to pace. "We have wasted nearly three days already-"
"Robin calm down..."
"And now I fear we may have left it too-"
"Well, maybe if we'd come here right away, like Charli and I had suggested, we wouldn't have this problem." Tanya pointed out.
Robin turned slowly and glared at her. "Don't you dare try and lay the blame on me."
"Who do you want me to lay it on?" Her eyes narrowed.
"Its no ones fault!" Djaq tried to intervene, but the two weren't paying attention to her.
"How about Gisborne and Vaysey?" Robin moved toward her, his eyes blazing.
"They're not the reason we are here," Tanya pushed away from the wall, standing on her toes to try and match his height. "You cannot blame them."
"I'm not hearing this." Robin shook his head as he continued to glare down at her. "Did you not hear a word they said the other day? They threatened to KILL you. YOU, Tanya! And your good friend Charli if we do not find them a way back! So don't you dare stand there and tell me they are not to blame!" He spat angrily.
The slap resounded through the bathroom and was followed by absolute silence. Tears streaked Tanya's face and Robin looked shocked; the outline of Tanya's hand clear on his cheek. She flew from the bathroom before anyone could say anything. Robin, wide eyed and confused, looked to his friends for help. "I...what did I do?"
Charli stepped forward and tried to smile. "Nothing, she's just...finding this difficult- we ALL are," she blew out through her cheeks.
"Why don't we go and have those coffees? Sit and have a think for a minute? Maybe if we stop and put our head together, we can come up with something?" Djaq reasoned.
The others seemed to decide without consulting Robin, and filtered out, leaving him alone, staring at the wall with a bewildered and bemused expression on his face. A moment later, the door opened and Charli appeared. "Come on Robin! We can't restrain Much from drinking your coffee much longer." she smiled lightly.
Much sat at the small round table under the window, eight coffees placed strategically in front of him, his eyes flickering from the cups to the large fluffy cakes sat in the display. Surely they wouldn't mind if he just had the one? There was no harm in that was there? Biting on his bottom lip, he quickly took a sip from his coffee before pushing his chair back and getting to his feet. He began to make his way back to the counter, smiling at the young female assistant, but was stopped in his tracks when someone suddenly came barrelling from the toilets and right in to him, almost knocking him off his feet.
"Oh! Much! I'm sorry I...are you okay?"
Much looked down into the tear stained face of Tanya, his eyes widening in concern. I'm fine...I-are YOU okay?" He placed his hands on her arms gently.
"Yeah..." Tanya sighed. "Well... yeah. It's just Robin being..."
"Stubborn? Hot-headed? Idiotic?" Much smirked.
Tanya giggled through her tears, despite herself. "Actually, it was me. He did nothing. I'm just so..." she trailed off, wanting nothing more then to break down, but fighting desperately against it.
Much took her hand and led her back to the table. "I know. It's okay. You don't have to explain." He smiled reassuringly at her as they both took a seat in the window. "We will work something out."
Tanya sniffed. "But how...you have to go back. Charli and I, we belong here..."
"What's meant to be is meant to be. I've never been much of a believer in fate. That was until this happened…"
"What do you mean?" Tanya wiped her eyes, curious.
"You and Robin..."
"Coffee!" The voice of Alan cried, interrupting the pair before the conversation could continue. Tanya silently cursed, looking up to see the group making there way towards them, minus Robin and Charli.
The group gave Tanya a wide berth as they sat down and picked up their mugs. "Scared of me?" She teased, brushing away the tears. "Where's Robin?"
"In shock." Djaq said, sipping the hot beverage.
"Sh'it," Tanya murmured. Placing her coffee down on the table, she rose from the chair and began to make her way back to the ladies toilets, but the door swung open just as she reached it, causing her to take a swift step back. "Oh...hi..." she said to the pair as she shuffled her feet nervously.
"Hi." Charli slipped past her. "Bye! Be nice!" She hissed in an undertone.
Tanya ignored her, looking up at Robin. "Hi," she said again.
"Hi?" Robin raised an eyebrow at her. "Should I be afraid?"
Tanya took a deep breath, noting the amusement in his voice, slightly relieved knowing he was no longer angry. "Sorry?" She offered.
Robin shook his head, chuckling. "You're dangerous. I don't know whether that's a good thing or not."
"You know, I'd never hurt a fly. I'm just emotional right now," she tried to reason.
"Emotional? Scary more like!" He scoffed.
"You should see me in the morning," Tanya dead panned.
"I have!" He laughed, placing an arm around her shoulder and pulling her to him. Kissing her temple softly, he sighed. "I wish there could be more mornings."
"I'm sorry..." she tried to apologise again, feeling truly terrible for her behaviour; he had done nothing to deserve it.
"Don't be. Sometimes I want to slap me too." They laughed together before Robin looked at her seriously. "You should never be sorry."
Tanya smiled sadly as the two of them made their way to the table. The rest of the gang were deep in conversation, although not, it seemed, about their current predicament. The topic of Claire had been brought up again, and Much was sat in the middle of the teasing, cheeks bright red, arms folded like a stubborn child.
"Much? Are you blushing?" Robin narrowed his eyes, smirking.
"I most certainly am not!" He defended. "I can handle jest when I want to..."
"Right!" Alan scoffed. "Tell me Much, where you as red as that the night that you and Claire-"
"Alan!" Much quickly got to his feet, knocking the chair backward, straight into Tanya and Robin.
"Careful," Robin picked up the seat, standing it back on its legs. "Alan, leave the man alone. Let's concentrate on why we're here."
"There's nothing there Robin!" Alan said again, earning him a glare.
Charli sighed. "We've established that, I think Alan. We need to decide what to do now...I think we should go to the library. Read up on the forces; get some scientific theory to see if we can work out what the hell happened."
"I didn't understand one word of that," Much gaped.
"She means research," Will answered for her, rolling his eyes.
"You're smarter than you look." Charli teased him, but Robin shook his head.
"We don't have time Charli! We need to-"
"Okay, Robin fine." Charli threw up her hands. "You can stay here and search through the loo all day. Search the bins and the entire restaurant as well, while you're at it. I am going to go to the library to try and find out what we are dealing with. Something I should have done the day you fell through the ceiling!"
"I'm coming with you," Tanya said in a determined voice. "You never were any good at studying."
"Passed my exams didn't I?" Charli shot back. "But you're right, I never do any work. You should come. Robin can stay here alone."
"Alone?" He gaped.
"Yes, that's right," Alan patted him on the back as the group rose from their chairs and began to shuffle to the door. "Seems like we all want to go the library, bar you."
Robin stood watching them all for a moment before giving up completely. "Alright, alright!" He threw his hand up in the air. "I'm coming!"
"WOW! Look at all the-"
"Djaq shush!" Charli hushed as the librarian gave them a disapproving glare. "Miss Morris will kick us out."
"We have to be quiet?"
"Yes!" She hissed as they made their way inside the main library of Nottingham.
The outlaws stopped in their tracks, gaping at the rows and rows of books that seemed to extend endlessly across the vast room. "Who is Miss Morris anyway?" Alan looked around, Charli not liking the mischievous grin etched on his face.
"Forget that!" Tanya huffed. "I can't believe you made me get the car and drive nearly twenty miles to Nottingham when we have a perfectly good library back in Lockley!"
"It's not perfectly good, it's perfectly crap!" She argued quietly. "We need better resources and here is the place."
"And on the plus side, we finally get to see Nottingham as it is today," Robin pointed out.
"What, stuck in this building?" Will frowned.
"Look out the window." Tanya told him as Charli led them over to the 'paranormal' section, picking up a book and flopping down into a beanbag. "Well?" She glared up at everyone.
"Well what?" Much said blankly.
"Start looking!" Tanya rolled her eyes, shoving Alan and Much down one aisle. John followed them, whilst Djaq appeared to be studying a few books already. Robin, on the other hand, had disappeared completely. "I don't believe this." She growled, heading away to look for him.
She located the outlaw several rows away, staring up at one particular shelf grinning. "Tanya!" He said giddily when he noticed her. "Look at all of these! See! Robin Hood-A Legend. Tales Of Robin Hood. Robin Hood-Fact or Fiction? Robin of –what? "
Tanya glared at him, arms folded as she tapped her foot impatiently on the floor. "Pack it in. We really do not need one of your ego boosts right now."
"But..." Robin pouted, and Tanya rolled her eyes.
"This is why we should have gone to Lockley library. They would have had one, maybe two books about you, tops. But no, Charli had to bring us here!"
"I like it here," he sulked as Tanya dragged him back to the rest of the group. She shoved him playfully toward the table where the group now sat before joining Charli in her search. "Anything?"
Charli shook her head as she glanced down at the pile of books in the bag. "Don't know yet until we read them."
"Alright smart ass," she sat down next to her friend, picking up one of the books. "A Loop In Time." She read off the front cover. "Sounds like a load of hogwash if you ask me!"
There was a snort of laughter from the table containing the outlaws, which earned them a harsh "ssh" from the librarian. Charli rolled her eyes. "Well would you rather read Quantum Physic's theory?"
"No..." She shrugged. "I'd much rather be back in Lockley."
"I hate it when you call it Lockley." Robin suddenly said.
"Well, that's what it's called. Names change over long periods of time, Locksley!" Tanya sniffed, getting stuck into the book before her.
"Believe me, it's better to be here than back at home. Do you want to find a way back for these guys or not, Tanya?" Charli whispered.
"To be honest? No. I'm doing this so I don't get my sorry arse murdered in four days time." She grinned sarcastically.
"No one is going to be murdered." Robin pointed out as he opened a book he had picked out.
"That one better not be about you, Locksley!" Tanya warned. Robin chuckled as the held the book up to her, the title reading 'Vortex's' in large letters.
"All that's going to tell you is that water goes one way down a plug hole north of the equator, and the other way south of the equator." Charli told him as he clutched the children's book.
"What's the equator?" Alan looked up.
"What's a plug hole?" Much asked, pulling the book from Robin and looking for a picture. "Ooh! A bath!" He squealed.
"Give me that!" Robin snatched the book back from Much, earning himself a glare from his friend.
"Don't start!" Charli warned as she continued to flick through her pages. "We're not here to study the equator and plug holes...or baths." She looked up and smiled at Much.
"How come he gets a smile?" Robin sulked.
"Do you want a smile Robin?" Charli asked, sickly sweet. The man's eyes widened. "Tanya, be a dear and smile at Robin." Robin buried his head in the book and Charli grinned, flicking the page of her own.
The group fell silent for a little while, the sound of paper rustling and Alan and Much sniggering from time to time was all to be heard. "Hey, listen to this." Charli sat forward, beginning to read from her book. "Is time travel possible? For example, an object travelling at high speeds ages more slowly than a stationary object. This means that if you were to travel into outer space and return, moving close to light speed, you could travel thousands of years into the Earth's future."
"But we didn't go into space!"
"Will you just shut up and listen?" She asked Much, who looked thoroughly confused already.
"Einstein-" she paused, looking up at the outlaw. "He was this really clever guy with mad hair who discovered a load of laws...sciencey things – anyway…Einstein's 'special theory of relativity' showed that time changes to motion. Time is relative to the speed of one's travelling, so there cannot be a central clock. We are a moment in astronomic time, a transient guest of the Earth. Our wet, wrinkled brains do not allow us to comprehend many mysteries of time and space. Our brains evolved to make us run from saber-toothed cats on the American savanna, to hunt deer, and to efficiently scavenge from the kills of large carnivores. Despite our mental limitations, we have come remarkably far."
"So basically…" Tanya said slowly. "Time Travel is possible, but we are too stupid to understand it?"
"Basically." Charli nodded, looking a little put-out.
"We knew time-travel was possible!" Robin looked frustrated. "We are here, aren't we? We didn't need that huge thick book to tell us that!"
"Robin's right. What's important right now is finding out a way to get back." Charli pushed the book away from her and leaned back against her seat.
"Well...we can keep searching...but to be honest, we may not necessarily find an answer." Tanya shrugged.
"Why not?" Alan looked a little downhearted.
"Because, technically, nobody has discovered time travel. There are no answers yet, only theories."
"So...now what?" Will asked.
Charli shrugged. "We keep reading and hope that we come up with something? There's always a chance...I'm going to go and read the science journals. You never know. Will, you coming?"
"Sure." He followed her.
"I think I might check the fiction section...you never know," Tanya moved away from the table, hoping to find something there instead.
"What about us?" Alan lifted his hands in question.
"I don't care, but whatever you do, do it quietly!" She left them at the desk.
"What does this mean?" Djaq looked up at Alan with a grin. "Quietly?"
Alan shrugged. "I don't know. Much?"
"No idea mate." Much and Allan both cracked identical grins. "Let's go and find something to do. John, you with us?" The big man glanced up from the book he was reading, and shook his head. "Suit yourself!" He stood up.
"Where are you going?" Djaq narrowed her eyes at them. "Can't you see how important this is? We do not have time to mess around." She warned them.
"Mess around? Us?" Alan winked, backing away. "Besides, we're no use here. I hate books, and Much here can't even read. "
"Get back here!" Djaq hissed as they finally disappeared round a corner.
"I can too read!" Much protested as they left an annoyed Djaq behind. "And what exactly are we going to do anyway?"
"I have no idea yet…we'll see…"
"The time Machine…" Tanya chewed on her bottom lip, pulling the book from the shelf of the fiction section. "I liked that film..."
"Yeah, because Guy Pearce was in it," Charli called through the shelving from the next aisle.
"No, I liked the film!" Tanya protested.
"Who's Guy Ritchie?" Robin appeared at her side.
"No one." Tanya said quickly, placing the book back in its place. "Oh look! Quantum Leap!" She excitedly pulled the book from down and began to flick through its pages. "Ugh! What a pile of sh'it! Listen – 'Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime'…okay that rules that one out, unless you actually live for over eight hundred years, Robin." She closed the book and threw it back onto the shelf carelessly.
"Well I have a few books here that have some fairly decent explanations in them." Charli and Will walked to the end of their aisle and round the corner to join Tanya and Robin.
"Go on."
"This one here," she opened a thick book that read 'Time Travel Portal'. "It explains something about a 'Lorentzian wormhole'. They are essentially short-cuts through space and time. They are mainly studied by experts in Einstein gravity, and if they exist in real life would be more-or-less similar to the wormhole on Star Trek: Deep Space nine…"
"Ugh! Deep Space nine! Kill me now…"
"Apparently this 'wormhole' is like an apple."
"Don't let Much hear you say that." Robin groaned. Charli ignored him and continued.
"The name 'wormhole' comes from an analogy that was used to explain this; imagine that the universe is the skin of an apple, and a worm is travelling over its surface. The distance from one side of the apple to the other is equal to half the apple's circumference if the worm stays on the apple's surface, but if it instead it burrows a wormhole directly through the apple, the distance it has to travel is considerably less."
"Okay…in English please?" Robin rubbed at his temples tiredly.
"Basically, its quicker to go THROUGH the apple as opposed to AROUND it." Tanya simplified.
Charli looked at her, eyebrows raised. "I'm surprised you got it actually."
"Not just a pretty face. Continue."
"The good news about Lorentzian wormholes is that, after about ten years of hard work, we cannot prove that they do not exist. The bad news is that they are very strange objects; if they exist at all, they need large amounts of negative mass to hold them open and stop them from collapsing-well damn!" Charli stopped suddenly.
"What?" Tanya frowned. "That sounded pretty good to me."
"A Negative energy…that's not right." She snapped the book shut, causing the other three to jump.
"Why not? Are you going to get all scientific on me now?"
"Damn right! A negative energy would be slowing down the particles so that they would move into reverse - below absolute zero..."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning, that unless we live in Moscow, it's not possible."
"Oh…" Tanya blew out through her cheeks. "Why couldn't it have been a different energy? Like a sexual energy? That would have been possible."
"And perhaps would have explained everything too," she looked pointedly between Tanya and Robin.
"Damn right!"