58. The Errant Speedster

It transpired that Glen Mower had met his own hologram. Whereas the real Mower was there to meet Professor Delphi, his hologram AI representation was due to meet the author Robert Louis Stevenson back in 1879 in Monterey, California.

It was the hologram who would be disappointed, for Professor Delphi had commissioned it simply to elaborate the position the organisation sought to confer upon the frequently bewildered historian and the avenue they would be taking. One that would court publicity in its battle to maintain history. So there was no actual need to send the Glen Mower hologram to the West Coast of the States to meet the author of Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll & Master Hyde. To offset any disappointment it was explained to the hologram that Stevenson was no longer able to make the meeting as he had been kidnapped.

Mower was no longer based in the bunker, with its thick, uncompromising walls and atmosphere reminiscent of Cold War tension. From his office in the Roman city of Bath he was expected to take the fight to Route 1066. To head the world’s first time-travel agency, using holograms of the travellers, to meet historical figures or be in attendance at past momentus events. Establishing that foothold, like Edmund Hillary on the Basecamp on Everest, so that when humans themselves could be transported back in time, the History Maintenance Commission would be in the vanguard of it, with their conscientious approach probably meaning the future Route 1066 would be knocked out of the water and the world would be safe from threats posed to the past.

Mower would be in charge of all the tourist visits back in time. As well as ensuring that once the AI hologram had achieved its intended rendezvous, it didn’t cause problems in the past and if it did those difficulties were addressed, until such time as it ran out of solar energy maybe four or five years down the line.

He had agreed, also, as it entailed exactly the same means of observation and procedure tackling any problems caused by the holograms sent back as part of the Hologram Defense Program. To that end the biggest miscreant had been the speed king Donald Campbell who was racking up fines galore for breaking speed limits in early-Victorian England after his successful deployment upon Florence Nightingale. The streets in Pre-Motorised Britain were positively sedate. Even a steady 20 mph would seem like breakneck speed to them, so the introduction of someone who had touched 300 mph on water and over 400 mph on land was bound to cause issues.

It was imperative, as with any customer of the new Route 1066, that holograms were never sent to prison as it would become apparent they were not physical beings. This in itself would likely cause major issues which would likely result in bad consequences for the present day.

Mower believed there were three strategies that could be employed.

1. Send another hologram to neutralise Campbell.
2. Just keep somehow paying the speeding fines and hope at no point does a magistrate send him to prison, although being in excess of 395 mph over the speed limit might not leave much room for manoeuvre.
3. Try and get the police to introduce speed awareness courses about 160 years earlier.