Dissonance (The Machina of Time Book 2)

by Daniel R. Burkhard

  "I realize it is tempting, but it is better to let them finish changing," Aldan said and Jeremy nodded.

  Wyatt smiled and adjusted his left sleeve. He wanted it to cover his whole wrist to hide the fact he no longer had his wrist terminal. It didn't seem as though Aldan noticed, which was good.

  "We're ready," Avery said, stepping around in front of them and moving toward the sofas.

  Lenny stood smiling with his arms folded as he waited. Brooke followed Avery and the rest of them fell in behind her. Wyatt took up the rear of the group.

  "Now, are you ready for your next mission?" Lenny asked.

  "As long as we don't need to go and stand in an empty street," Aldan said.

  "He already said we were staying inside the warehouse," Avery said, glaring at him. "Let's see what he has to say."

  Wyatt stepped around to stand beside Brooke. "Is this one of those missions where the Machina hasn't told you much of what to expect?"

  Brooke smiled at him before turning her attention back toward Lenny.

  Lenny held his hands up for calm and smiled. He seemed to shake his head slightly. "You have all done quite well during your last mission," he said. "This time, I do have a little more detail. This one will take you to a special warehouse. The Location code is R501PS, and the time is November 3, 2039, at 7:00 pm."

  That time rang familiar with Wyatt. "That's right before I started," he said. "Where is that special warehouse?"

  "It is in Lakepoint, near Salt Lake City," Lenny said, and looked directly at Wyatt. "The earthquake is the next day. For some reason, the cameras failed that evening, and we need to know what happened."

  "Why are you sending us there?" Aldan asked. "That earthquake kills a lot of people and ruins the whole valley for years."

  "You're right," Lenny said. "But the Machina's supplies were there. Most of them survived in that special warehouse we have in Lakepoint. The Machina designed that warehouse to survive."

  "So," Avery started, "are you saying that warehouse is not quite completely in that time?" She glanced toward Jeremy as she asked the question.

  "You mean that it could sit outside that time, like in another dimension?" Jeremy asked.

  Lenny shook his head once and glanced toward Wyatt. "Are you going to be okay with going back then?"

  Wyatt thought about it as he looked at the others in the group. Avery and Jeremy seemed almost excited, while Aldan seemed a little quieter. Brooke looked at him and rested her left hand on his right arm. She gave him a slight nod.

  "I think I'll be okay," Wyatt said.

  "Great," Lenny said, his smile returning. "Someone attempts to make a mess of that warehouse, and others that were sent back by the Machina were not able to stop them."

  "Wait," Wyatt said. "How many others did the Machina send back?" He folded his arms and glared at Lenny's smiling face. It sounded like it could end in a trap. "How many other groups are there?"

  "Hold on a moment," Lenny said. "I'll explain what I know." He paused for a breath and looked at the sofas. "Do any of you want to take a seat as I discuss it?"

  Wyatt glanced toward Brooke, who nodded and moved toward the sofa on Wyatt's left. He followed her to that sofa. Avery led Jeremy to the other sofa and Aldan remained on his feet.

  Lenny nodded. "Okay, then." He backed toward the door for a moment and retrieved a small tablet from the front right pocket of his tan slacks. He stared at it for a moment.

  "Are you reading some prepared response to the question?" Aldan asked, folding his arms and shifting his weight to his right leg.

  "Maybe," Lenny said. "I have to make certain I don't share too much and ruin the experience. You see, the future is malleable. Small actions here can change how it turns out there. If I tell you too much now—"

  "You'll ruin where we are now," Aldan said.

  For Wyatt, the implied threat was worse. If they made some kind of change that ruined this next mission, he wondered if he would still have survived the earthquake.

  "What is changing?" Wyatt asked. "Why are we going there?"

  "I don't know the whole story," Lenny said. "But the Machina is always under attack. This is the next wave of that attack. This time you go back into that warehouse, find the person, or persons, trying to destroy it, and stop them."

  "Sounds too simple," Aldan said. "Go back and stop someone from destroying that warehouse and come back."

  "Are you sure you can't share any more with us?" Jeremy asked. "That is a little weak."

  "Doesn't the Machina have cameras in there?" Avery asked.

  "How do we know if we stop the right people?" Brooke asked. She glanced toward Wyatt. "I'm all for making things right, but if others have tried and failed, how are we going to do any better?"

  Lenny dropped the tablet back into the pocket of his slacks. After looking at Brooke for a moment, he shrugged, this time with his hands in his pockets. The smile remained on his face as he watched each of them. When his eyes met Wyatt's, Wyatt thought he saw some fear in them.

  "Is that all you can tell us?" Wyatt asked.

  "Unfortunately, yes," Lenny said. "That's all I am allowed to say. I need you to get back here afterwards. Come back at 8:15 am., today, so R333PS April 4, 2090."

  "That's only a few minutes from now," Brooke said.

  "I know," Lenny said. "I'll be waiting for you." He glanced at each of them, his eyes stopping on Brooke. "And don't take any detours you don't need to."

  "Have you seen any of the others that were sent back to stop it?" Brooke asked, looking away from Lenny.

  Lenny shook his head.

  "We weren't the same group you sent back, were we?" Avery said. She scooted forward on the sofa, letting Jeremy's hand fall behind her. He had been holding her.

  "I don't think so," Lenny said, glancing toward Wyatt.

  "Why are you looking at him?" Aldan asked.

  "When you are going, he is alive," Lenny said.

  "I'm not dead here," Wyatt said.

  "That's not quite what I meant," Lenny said. "In that time, Wyatt worked in a warehouse, correct?" He stared at Wyatt.

  "Yes," Wyatt said then glanced toward the others. "That was my job before this."

  "It's not the same warehouse, is it?" Brooke asked.

  Lenny's smile broadened. "I cannot answer that," he said. "I need all of you to set your wrist terminals to R501PS, November 3, 2039, at 7:00 pm."

  Wyatt shook his head and stepped backward. Brooke stepped around in front of him and turned to face him. "You'll be okay," she said, setting her wrist terminal as she faced him. "I'll help you."

  "Let's get out of here," Aldan said, casting his portal toward the dormitory door. It caused Lenny to turn his back on Wyatt, making Wyatt wonder if Aldan knew about his missing wrist terminal.

  As Aldan moved toward his portal, Lenny said something, and Brooke pushed Wyatt through a portal she had cast behind him.

  CHAPTER six

  SPECIAL WAREHOUSE, R501PS

  THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2039, 7:00 PM

  The nausea of the resonance hit Wyatt as Brooke's weight fell on top of him. Added to the nausea, her weight was not pleasant. His stomach lurched and he rolled to his right. Brooke rolled off on his left.

  Wyatt retched beside her, as Aldan and Jeremy both coughed. Avery stepped around in front of them, wiping her face with her right hand.

  "Did you do that on purpose?" Aldan asked Brooke as he extended his right hand to help her up. "I bet that felt terrible coming through with him." He helped her to her feet as Wyatt rose to his hands and knees.

  The smell of smoke filled his nose as his stomach settled.

  "I tripped," Brooke said.

  "Really?" Aldan asked.

  "Don't be too loud," Jeremy said. "We're not as alone as we were in our dormitory." He pointed toward something in the distance and Wyatt struggled to follow where he pointed.

  The dizziness and nausea hadn't faded as much as he thought they should. He was the last one to rise to
his feet, and he thought he saw a familiar figure wearing a white coat in the distance.

  "Where did you work before the quake?" Brooke asked, stepping closer to help him to his feet.

  "It was in a large distribution center," Wyatt said, straightening up on his knees. He lost sight of the other figure.

  The shelving around them was polished steel, with several large high pressure sodium lights hanging at intervals from the metal ceiling. Their yellow light dampened the colors of their skin and hair. To Wyatt, it explained why the tall shelving was simply polished steel.

  "This is a distribution warehouse," Brooke said. "Are you sure it wasn't here?"

  "It wasn't called the Machina, and it wasn't in Lakepoint," Wyatt said, but he felt like the area inside this warehouse looked like where he had worked. He stepped to his feet and rubbed his mouth with the back of his right hand. The warehouse looked a lot like where he had worked, but there had to be all kinds of distribution centers around the Salt Lake valley.

  "Are you thinking this is where he worked?" Avery asked. She stepped closer to Brooke as Jeremy and Aldan moved around the near edge of the shelving in front of them. "Do you remember any of these items?"

  "The warehouse I worked in did not hold food boxes," Wyatt said. His eyes traced the lines of the bare boxes on the shelves. The boxes were not labeled, as they had been in the larger warehouse. That made a kind of sense. All of them were prepared for the earthquake that would strike the next morning.

  "Not all of these are food boxes," Avery said, pointing over his right shoulder.

  He traced her gaze and saw rolls and rolls of toilet paper wrapped in plastic of all colors. He shook his head and smiled back at Avery. "We need to find out what we were sent here for."

  "I think we just found it," Aldan said as he came back from the edge of the shelving. "Someone has been burning something." He held up a portion of a toilet paper roll that was charred and blackened.

  "That explains what I have smelled," Wyatt said.

  "Like a campfire was happening in here?" Brooke asked with a laugh.

  "More than a campfire," Aldan said.

  "It was so much more," Jeremy said. He stepped around from behind Aldan and dusted the ashes and soot from his hands. "Someone burned an entire shelf."

  "But it didn't catch those," Wyatt said as he stepped past them to get a look at the area. The end of the aisle opened onto at least three rows of thirty feet of burned area. To the far end of the warehouse, he saw the metal wall, and the several discarded boxes and remnants of paper products. The ground around the shelving was littered with bent plastic spoons and the light above that area had evidently burned out from the heat. Soot covered the ceiling structure directly above them.

  "Why would someone do this?" Avery asked. "This is all relief for an earthquake."

  "Maybe that is what we are here to find out," Jeremy said, stepping beside her. "Do any of you see anyone out there?"

  Wyatt was about to answer when he felt the resonance kick in. The fresh wave of nausea gave him a headache, and he closed his eyes. He felt Brooke drop to a crouch beside him with a sharp exhale.

  "Don't vomit on my shoes," Wyatt told her. He reached his hand out toward the full shelving to his right and supported himself as Brooke gripped his left leg from where she crouched. Her grip was awkward and pleasant at the same time.

  "Someone is either coming or going," Aldan said, spitting over his right shoulder as if trying to get some of the bad taste out of his mouth.

  "I think it is a worse sign that that," Avery said.

  "You mean the way Lenny said others had tried to stop it?" Wyatt asked, looking toward the burned areas. He wondered how many others had come to this warehouse.

  "It doesn't make sense," Brooke said slowly as the resonance passed and she worked her way to her feet again. "If Lenny said there were others that were sent here, why haven't we seen them?"

  "I don't think we want to," Avery said. "Something is wrong with this."

  "Tell me about it," Aldan said, stepping toward the burned area. His feet scuffed the ashes and remnants of unburned paper products. "The fire must have burned hot, before the sprinklers kicked in."

  "What makes you say that?" Wyatt asked, joining him in the area.

  "You must have had a bonfire at some point in your life," Aldan said. "This amount of paper would make a large fire. And yet the ceiling is only darkened with soot. You'd think it would have sunken in a little as it cooled."

  "What would that mean?" Avery asked. "Do you think there were more than one fire?"

  Wyatt looked around the burned area for a moment. He nodded. "That's what it has to be," he said. "But it still doesn't make any sense. What would be the value of burning this?"

  "There are some strange people all over the world," Jeremy said.

  "Yeah, but this implies there are strange people able to travel," Aldan said.

  "Jarod was a strange man," Avery said. "We've seen him as both young and old."

  "I think that is the problem," Wyatt said.

  "You can't really think he is behind this, do you?" Brooke asked. "We took care of him. He's in a better place. Even his younger version is doing better." She ran her right forefinger along the ashes of the shelf and inspected it. After a moment, she smelled it.

  "Why did you sniff it?" Wyatt asked, approaching her from her right side. Her comments about Jarod's younger version bothered him. But he kept the questions to himself.

  "I bet it smelled like burned paper," Jeremy said.

  Brooke smiled and turned to face them. She nodded before rubbing her blackened finger on her pants.

  Wyatt stepped past her and examined the burned area. What had been left of the steel shelving was bent around the burned areas. The middle of the three shelves had small food items scattered along the floor. He thought he could see oats and flour in places where it hadn't burned.

  Beyond that, it appeared there had been several smaller fires, rather than one large fire. The centers of each of the shelves had lost everything, but the outer edges were where he saw the oats and other debris that littered the floor.

  "This has been burned in pieces," Wyatt said. "I don't think it all burned at once." He looked back toward Brooke on the other aisle and tried to gauge the size of the special warehouse they stood in. he counted fifteen rows of shelving, with the damaged shelving almost in the middle of those rows. The warehouse walls were easy to see, unlike the other warehouse.

  "Guys," Brooke said. "If we were supposed to come back here to stop it from being destroyed, why were we sent here after it was burned?"

  "Not all of it has been destroyed," Avery said, motioning toward the rest of the fifteen rows of shelving. "Maybe someone else is still here, trying to destroy it."

  "Why would they destroy it?" Brooke asked. "This is all in preparation for the earthquake."

  As she finished speaking a metal door creaked and slammed shut. It sent a chill down Wyatt's spine as he scanned the others. Aldan stared in the direction toward the wall where the door had closed. Avery and Jeremy turned to face the noise also.

  Wyatt stepped around the shelving into the larger aisle between the aisles of shelving and started walking in the direction of the sound. Someone had been in the warehouse, and they might have already lost them.

  Brooke moved along beside him, and the others crowded in also. The talking stopped as they moved closer to the wall. At the end of the shelves, the tan-painted, corrugated metal wall extended in both directions. In the shadows cast by the sodium lights, the doorway in that wall was hard to see.

  "Over there," Brooke said, her voice was mere whisper. "The door is over there." Wyatt watched where she pointed and saw another figure running toward the door.

  Aldan chased that figure, shouting for it to stop. He gained a little distance on the figure as the figure seemed to fight with the door for a moment.

  Wyatt followed Aldan, managing to get within ten feet of him as they ran along the wall.
He thought the figure messing with the doorway was familiar, and that scared him. The figure was not dressed in white, or thin, so it was not the woman in the white jacket. As the figure opened the door and stepped through, he thought he saw the same jet-black hair that Avery now wore. Her gray windbreaker surprised Wyatt as she vanished through the door.

  That was the same jacket an older Avery had worn when she had found Wyatt. The shock made him stop his chase.

  "Are you okay?" Brooke asked as she stopped beside him.

  "No," Wyatt said. "I've seen that woman before." He quieted as Avery ran past with Jeremy right beside her.

  "Who is she?" Brooke asked, holding his left forearm as she came around in front of him. The door slammed three times behind her as Jeremy, Avery, and Aldan left.

  Wyatt shook his head, unsure if he wanted to tell her. That figure that had raced out of the warehouse was an older version of Avery. "I won't meet her for a few more hours," he finally said.

  "What?" Brooke looked over her shoulder toward the door for a moment before turning back to him. "What do you mean?"

  "I don't know if I should say," Wyatt said, shaking his head again. He felt the anxiety building inside him as he struggled to decide. Telling Brooke could ruin his relationship with Avery and the others. He felt Brooke's hand on his left wrist and realized he had other troubles.

  Without a wrist terminal, he needed Brooke to help him. "If I tell you," he started, "you have to keep it quiet and just between us."

  "Okay," Brooke said. "But we better hurry and catch up."

  "It was Avery," Wyatt said, watching Brooke's eyes open wide. "That figure was the same older version of her that collected me for this group."

  "So, she cannot be the one that would come here to set fire," Brooke said, turning toward the door. "Come on, we have to stop the others from attacking her." She Pulled Wyatt after her, her grip tightening on his left wrist.

  "Wait," Wyatt said as she let go of his arm and worked to open the door. "We don't know who is out there."

  "We're out here," Aldan said as the door opened. "But we lost that person." His eyes shot toward Wyatt's arms for a moment then he looked at Brooke. "Are you guys okay?"