The Clockers- something of a sneak peek?

   "You see, Amanda, Zap, your kidnapping is much more than a mentally disturbed man taking a girl and a guy in their sleep," the middle-aged, suited, plump man says before me. He is across from us, sitting behind his very fancy and intricate desk, looking at us with grey eyes. As he sits back into his chair, he says, "And you-" he looks to Kelvin, "you make the situation even more complicated."

   It's been about two hours now. Or maybe three minutes. It's been a length of time that we have successfully escaped that odd... place underground, under the city, between the subways and the sewers, that corporation or agency that tried taking me. Escaping by time machine- it's insane, I'm gripping onto my chair, trying to figure out how I exactly got from my apartment to that place, escaping with Zap and Kelvin somehow by that odd vehicle, and landing... finding myself in 1974. Good God, how did this just happen?

   Kelvin, the robot I had somehow acquired on my little escape out of the facility- Yes- that's what I'll call it. The Facility. -speaks up, saying, "Sir, what we are trying to find out is why we were kidnapped and what is going on. And how I found myself in 2010 instead of 2084-"

   The man adjusts his spectacles, sighing, "Well, that would require me to go in much deeper. And the deeper you get, the more you have to explain, and sooner or later you find you've dug yourself into a hole all the way to the other side of the world."

   Zap, Kelvin, and I sit silent, staring back at the man.

   I eyed the watch that I had also somehow acquired when I first woke up. And let me tell you, waking up in that facility isn't exactly waking up in a bed and breakfast. I wanna go home.

   Zap shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Sir, how did you know I- we- were going to be wandering around near your office? How did you know about our escape? It was about a minute after we, uh, landed here you took us." Zap licked his lips, going on to say, "You knew about us. And we're in 1974!  Nearly thirty years in the future!" Zap's eyebrows furrowed, and I noticed he was getting a little frightened.

   We escape from some facility, gain a robot friend, steal a vehicle- which happens to be a time machine, just my luck- land in 1974, and NOW he's getting a little frightened?! I was freaking insane when I realized I was on something like an operation table instead of my lumpy bed in my crappy apartment. This Zap guy is weird. I have known him for about two hours now, and he thinks we're big buddies. I am stuck with this idiot who insists I call him Zap and a robot from twenty-eighty something. I am not a little frightened. My brain is about to explode.