Free The Quantum Objective by F. Habib

you,’ Beth bowed low and slipped back to the floor. The stench, pain and rocking motion made her retch. She lay down on the filthy deck and Galen placed a warm hand on her chest. She closed her eyes and felt his head press against hers. She woke when the boat bumped hard against a dock and she blinked in the bright sunshine.
What on earth? Looming over the fishing boat was a tower of steel. Her heart leapt. The solution surrounded her. Giant tankers lined up alongside enormous cranes, containers formed mini-mountains nearby.
Beth checked her pouch of gems was still on her.
With these I can buy safe passage to wherever these monsters are going. No passport, nothing traceable. I’ll have to be discreet; don’t want to go from the frying pan into the fire twice in one day.
She assessed the line up of vessels and grabbed Galen by the hand. With another low bow she thanked their rescuers and gingerly made her way onto the dock. A long walkway marked her path to the future; each ship would bring a different destiny and destination.
‘Sliding doors,’ she whispered. Wasn’t that the phrase?

Chapter Eight
    East Coast, Mauritius - Five years later
‘Hurry mum, come on...we're going to be late.’ He couldn’t understand how it took his mum so long to get dressed. He’d even watched to see what the delay was and bizarrely, there was nothing fancy happening, even by his own loose standards. She didn’t wear makeup or even dry her long hair. She just ran a comb through it and tied it up. He couldn’t even fault her speed.
One day, with a straight face, she’d passed him a stopwatch. He’d stopped fussing then, but today was different.
He jumped up and down on the spot and wriggled his slim shoulders as though his expended energy would somehow speed her progress. He looked through the kitchen window, down the lush slope to the long strip of coral sand that held back the Indian Ocean from the road. He couldn't bear the thought of missing Rian's performance and they hadn't been to a Diwali celebration before. His toes tingled at the thought.
There’d be lots of people there; that wasn't great, but most of them would be quite happy, which helped. He didn't enjoy crowds, but this was a party and Rian would be there to show off and make him laugh. Rian was his best friend. He was also his only friend, but even if Galen had a thousand friends, he just knew Rian would still be top. That was because he was completely kind, which was rare in an eight year old. It smoothed fear like oil on water. Plus, he was quite funny. And he didn't mind at all that Galen could do magic.
Galen craned his neck to check his tiny wooden boat was still safely hooked up to the buoy. Tomorrow they’d go crab catching amongst the rock pools, or maybe push the boat into the bay. He looked out now to the reef where huge waves crashed to a shuddering halt, fall-down tired after their long journey across the ocean. He always imagined they were thankful to come to a rest.
‘Darling, have you locked up?’
Beth came out of her room and padded barefoot across the tiled floor, fiddling with her hair. She smiled at Galen's impatient frown.
‘Yes! Ages ago. We can't be late mum and it starts in ten minutes.’ Galen pointed to his watch with feeling. It was large and black with lots of dials and numbers and was totally waterproof. He’d gotten it for his birthday back in June and so far he still loved it very much.
‘When has anything in Mauritius started bang on time? Give me a little leeway here my friend, you know I've been running around like a mad woman today.’ She gave him a tight squeeze, and then a stern look of enquiry.
‘So how come you're so handsome?’
He rolled his eyes and pulled at her hand, dragging her out the front door. She grabbed her flip-flops and locked the door as he scooted to the road that carried many people.
At least we’re not the only late ones. He skipped ahead of his too-slow mother, squirting between the