"You have to try something," Jeremy said.
"We could open a portal to send you back there," Aldan said, with a smile that was hard to determine if it were real. "Who knows, maybe Hannah took it to protect you from something that woman in white told her."
Wyatt shook his head and bit his upper lip. He knew something else they didn't know, and he wondered if telling them would do any good. Opening his mouth to speak, he closed it again.
"What were you going to say?" Brooke asked, stepping closer to him.
Shaking his head, Wyatt decided to tell them what he had thought. He spread his arms wide. "Hannah doesn't feel the resonance like we do."
Aldan nodded knowingly. Jeremy and Avery turned their backs on Wyatt, and he thought he could hear their cursing under their breath.
"Someone without the ability to feel the resonance now has a wrist terminal?" Jeremy said.
"That is terrible," Avery said as they both turned around and faced Wyatt. The anger in Jeremy's face offset the smile on Avery's.
"Hannah has never been able to feel it, which is why having her work in the warehouse was such an acceptable position." Aldan spoke softly and stared toward the bathroom door. "She was never supposed to get a wrist terminal. She was never supposed to know about them."
"I think our last mission showed her all she needed to know," Brooke said just as quietly. "She was there when we stopped your old group."
"And she knew I was a traveler that first time I went to find her," Wyatt said.
Aldan cast another glare his way but shook it away. He stepped toward the bathroom door. "After that smoke and soot in that warehouse, I'm going to take a shower."
"What about Hannah?" Wyatt asked. "Don't we need to plan how we will stop her."
"Stop her from what?" Aldan said, pausing halfway through the bathroom door. "She becomes the woman in white, and we have to just deal with that."
"But she does it with my wrist terminal," Wyatt said.
"Are you sure?" Aldan said.
"He's got a point," Avery said as the bathroom door closed. She turned and walked back toward the sofas.
"The resonance isn't growing, so I think we still have time," Jeremy said, following Avery toward the sofas.
Wyatt sat on his bed and let out a long sigh. "I've ruined it all," he said, thinking aloud.
"You could try and fix it," Brooke said, leaning down in front of him. She smiled at him, and he couldn't help partially returning it. This time her smiled seemed genuine.
"I can't do it alone," Wyatt said, raising his left hand. "I don't even know if I can find her in time." He rested his hands in his lap and looked down at the floor in front of him. It was all a mess he had caused. Part of him wished he had never gotten involved with Hannah.
The shower started in the bathroom. The humid air adding to the damp feeling of the dormitory. Wyatt rubbed the sweat from his temples with his right hand and looked at Brooke.
"I can go back with you, and we can try to find her," Brooke said. "You don't have to do this alone. Just tell me when and where. I could even go on my own."
"But you never travel alone," Wyatt said, looking up at her face.
Brooke smiled and straightened up. "You and Aldan aren't the only ones who travel at times," she said. "I'm just more careful about it."
"You would really help?" Wyatt asked, watching her smile grow.
Brooke nodded. She seemed genuine in her desire to help him. In the back of his mind, he worried her involvement would set a target on her also, but he shook that thought away. They all had targets because they could travel. He just wished he knew why Hannah had done it. Was she simply scared of the people watching her? Or had she always been after a wrist terminal?
"Okay," Wyatt said, with a glance toward the bathroom. The shower still ran. Avery and Jeremy seemed to cuddle on the sofa with their backs toward them. He grabbed Brooke's left wrist and pulled her wrist terminal toward him. "Let's go."
It took only a moment to scroll through her time to get it set and open a portal to R549PS on Sunday, October 15, 2039. He set the time for 11:00 am and activated the portal.
The resonance blossomed and he saw Jeremy look over at them as he grabbed Brooke and pulled her through.
CHAPTER eight
WAREHOUSE ENTRANCE, R549PS
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2039, 11:00 AM
The mildew smell vanished as Wyatt pulled Brooke through the portal. She let out a slight yelp as they fell to the ground. Wyatt tried to time their landing, so he didn't land on top of her.
The concrete felt cool, but his stomach lurched. Brooke retched beside him, coughing several times before she stopped, rolling onto her back as she did. Wyatt closed his eyes against the dizziness, holding the nearby lower level of shelving to keep from falling over as he tried to rise to his knees. He thought he heard Brooke laughing quietly. The resonance always hit when they traveled, but this time it felt stronger.
"You think they would invent some pill we could take to lessen that," Brooke said, stopping her silent laughter. "That just sucks each time."
As the resonance subsided slightly, Wyatt scanned the warehouse. The smell seemed empty and almost old. Where he had expected the ozone and diesel exhaust, the air seemed untouched by either. And the shelves nearby were empty.
That was a change.
Wyatt reached for Brooke's wrist and checked the location code, time, and date. "We're too late," he said as he released her hand and stood.
"What do you mean?" Brooke asked, scanning the warehouse area as her smile faded. "This is where we first entered the warehouse when this all started."
"Yeah," Wyatt said, stepping closer to her and scanning through the shelving. He looked for either of the women in white, hoping to see something that would help.
"Is this where you have come to see Hannah?" Brooke asked, looking at the time on her wrist terminal. She shook her head as something beyond her caught Wyatt's eye.
He thought he saw a white figure move. But from the distance, and with the lingering effects of the resonance, he couldn't be sure what he saw. He just knew they couldn't get caught there.
"Follow me," Wyatt said quietly, and turned to walk along the aisle where they stood. He aimed for the area where the blue line crossed the aisle, hoping to see a sign that maybe the items had been removed from the warehouse in preparation for the earthquake that would soon hit Salt Lake City.
"What is it?" Brooke asked as she followed Wyatt. The blue line brought its own wave of the resonance's dizziness as they crossed over it. That movement stopped Brooke for a moment, and she bent over with her hands on her knees.
Wyatt suffered through the dizziness, while looking back toward the figure he thought he had seen. The shape was gone. He hadn't seen the figure well enough to know if it was one of the women in white. It could have been Gene, an old worker in the warehouse that Wyatt had encountered a few other times. He discounted that thought, however, with the memory that Gene smoked cigarettes and that odor tended to follow the old man.
"What did you see?" Brooke asked.
"I'm not sure," Wyatt said. "I saw a figure moving over that way." He pointed back toward the empty orange shelving where they had appeared in the warehouse.
"Why is it so empty?" Brooke asked.
Wyatt shook his head and led her deeper into the blue area. Beyond two more rows of shelving sat an exterior wall with rollup doors. Smaller doors for personal use sat between the rollup doors. Everything was pale blue in color. No forklifts moved. He thought he saw one in the distance beyond four more shelves, but it was motionless.
"Wyatt?" Brooke asked when he didn't answer. "What is it?"
"Something is wrong," Wyatt said. "I didn't think things could change that quickly. The last time I was here is only a few minutes from now, but everything has changed."
Brooke leaned against the nearest shelf and looked back along the direction they had come. Her smile had fallen away from her face completely. Worry creas
ed her forehead. Wyatt followed her gaze but didn't see any sign of the figure he thought he had seen earlier. Could he have been wrong about how much stuff was in the warehouse the last time he came?
The warehouse had been designed by the Machina as a place to store supplies for recovery after natural disasters. In fact, the Machina had been designed to predict disasters and help prepare for the relief efforts afterwards. The warehouse took up separate times and spaces, but all connected.
"Do you think they are just preparing for the earthquake and moving some of the supplies?" Brooke folded her arms and looked at him. Her eyes flashed past him for a moment, and she let out a breath. "There is someone following us."
Wyatt looked over his shoulder, scanning through the now empty shelving. Five rows of shelving deeper into the warehouse, the shelves began to have items on them. Near those shelves stood a man in orange, smoking a cigarette.
"That's Gene," Wyatt told Brooke. "I think he is okay."
"I think he saw us," Brooke said. "Does he feel the resonance?"
"I don't know." Wyatt stepped toward the nearest smaller door leading through the wall at the loading dock. "I'm not sure I want to wait here."
Brooke followed him as he opened the door and stepped into the sunlight outside. The air was brisk and cold. Seeping through the shirt he wore, the cold made him wish he had a jacket.
The area around the warehouse loading dock was rolling land littered with low brush. A few mountains rose to their west, with a freeway. From the outside, standing on the loading dock, the warehouse looked small and blue, nowhere near the size it was inside. He had stood on the loading dock before, but never when everything was so empty.
"Where are we?" Brooke asked.
"If I had to guess," Wyatt started, watching the freeway, "I would guess we are in the middle of Utah. That looks like it is Interstate 15."
"That leads through Salt Lake City and down to Las Vegas," Brooke said. "Are we far enough away from the earthquake when it happens."
Wyatt shrugged. "I'm sure this area will feel it. That may be why everything was moved."
"But you come to the warehouse in a few minutes," Brooke said. "What do you remember of it?"
Wyatt had been avoiding that train of thought. His mind had begun to ache, and he wasn't sure. He remembered meeting with Hannah, but the memories were split in two ways. "I still remember meeting with her," he said. "But the shelves were full and empty at the same time." Something about the way Brooke had asked her question bothered him. He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but something was there in her words.
"It doesn't make any sense," Brooke said. "Why would Hannah change things this much and still meet with you? She shouldn't be able to find you."
Wyatt turned back toward the loading dock doorway. "She still needs my wrist terminal," he said. He kicked a small stone over the edge of the loading dock as another thought filled his mind. He looked back up at Brooke. "What if someone else did this?"
"What do you mean?" Brooke said. She cast a worried glance his direction. "You don't think Jarod would do this, do you?"
Wyatt's thoughts hadn't quite caught up with him enough and he struggled against the double memories of his first interaction with time travel. "I don't know," he said. "But if I were taking the wrist terminal from someone, I would use it to change my future. I wouldn't go back and change the past. That could ruin everything." He motioned to take in the warehouse in front of them.
"You don't have times you wished you could change?" Brooke asked. The worry on her face grew on Wyatt.
Wyatt shrugged and looked away. "I think it would just make things worse." He turned back toward her. "I really don't think all of this was done by Hannah."
"You really think it would be someone else?" Brooke said then quickly added. "I guess you could be right. But how will we ever know?" She smiled and looked away.
That change in her expression was too much. "What is it with you? "Wyatt asked.
"I'm just thinking things through," Brooke answered. "Don't worry. I think there are some changes I would have made."
"Like what?" Wyatt asked, backing away from her slightly. He stopped as her smile softened her face again.
"What if we were wrong with Jarod?" Brooke asked. "What would have happened if we hadn't stopped him?"
"The older Jarod wouldn't be trapped in the future," Wyatt said, shrugging. "The younger Jarod wouldn't have gone back to some random past."
"But what about the middle-aged version of Jarod?" Brooke asked. "You trapped him also."
"What do you mean?" Wyatt asked, thinking back to the last time he had seen that middle-aged Jarod. That version had been left in 2099 without a wrist terminal or other time travel device. He had done that Jarod a favor. He stopped himself from saying that, watching Brooke's reaction to his question.
"I just worry about the changes you made by doing that," Brooke said. "Are you certain you didn't create a paradox when you did that?"
Wyatt shook his head, shrugged, and looked away.
"It's okay," Brooke said, she touched his left arm with her right hand and stepped around in front of him. "I've just been thinking a lot about it lately. Each one of our choices has consequences. Some we may not see until much later."
"I think we need to see if Gene is still inside," Wyatt said, feeling the need to change the subject. Brooke almost seemed to be sympathizing with Jarod. He didn't understand why. Jarod had set out to destroy the Machina.
"That old man?" Brooke asked, drawing Wyatt out of his thoughts.
Wyatt nodded and stepped toward the small door to enter the warehouse again. Brooke followed as he opened the door carefully. The inside of the warehouse was the same as it had been, but Gene was not in sight.
"Come on," Wyatt said. "I want to see if we can find Gene."
Brooke entered without complaint and closed the door slowly. As his eyes adjusted to the lighting, Wyatt scanned the row upon row of empty shelving. "Gene should be easy to find, but I think he stays in the orange area."
"I think that is him over there," Brooke said quietly, pointing toward a figure off to their left.
That figure stood on the other side of the blue line separating the orange from the blue shelving. The shelves appeared seamless as Wyatt looked. He wondered at the technology behind that, and it made him wonder again about the Machina's reach.
Before a previous mission, they had searched for the Machina, and found a bunch of servers that connected to it. The Machina was a large, trans dimensional computer that sat outside their reality. The Machina saw everything recorded by existing cameras and sent messages to their supervisor, Lenny, requesting certain actions.
"Do you think the Machina sees us?" Wyatt asked as they moved toward the lone figure. "I wonder if it has registered all the changes that have happened."
"I'm sure it has seen a bit," Brooke said, glancing around nervously. "But that doesn't look like an old man." She grabbed his arm, stopped him, and pulled him close. "We need to set this for a return time so if things fall apart, we can get away."
Wyatt looked down at her wrist terminal. The date, hours, and location code were visible from the last time they had set it. "Roll that back around to close to when we left," he said. "Try R333PS, April 4, 2090."
"Should we try for an early afternoon?" Brooke asked. "Say 12:30 pm.?" She scrolled the time and location codes until she had them set.
"Okay," Wyatt said, looking back in the direction of the figure they had seen earlier. The figure was moving away, but another one joined that spot.
"Is that the older Hannah dressed in white?" Brooke asked.
The excitement and fear that filled Wyatt surprised him. He felt his heart racing with it and watched the retreating figure. "I think you are right," he said. "The one that was there could have been the version of Hannah in a thick white coat."
"Does that mean the nearby one is Gene?" Brooke asked.
Wyatt stared at the man, watching the way the
man rubbed the top of his bald head as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes. "If that's not Gene, it would have to be his brother," he said. He stepped toward the man, wondering if Gene would still recognize him.
"Careful," Brooke said. "If I have to, I will leave you here."
Casting a glance at her, Wyatt shook his head. "Let's stay close," he said. "I don't want to be left behind."
She smiled at him, and they moved together toward Gene.
"Who are you?" Gene asked, stuffing something into the front pocket of his overalls. It looked like a small notebook. "You look quite familiar, like I should know you." He puffed a couple times on his fresh cigarette before dropping it on the floor and stamping it out.
"I'm Wyatt," Wyatt said. "We've met before." He watched the way Gene frowned and looked from him to Brooke. Either he didn't recognize him, or he didn't want to admit it.
"Do you know someone named Hannah?" Brooke asked, evidently not caring that Gene didn't seem to know Wyatt.
Gene looked at her, his frown dropping away. "I'm not sure," he said. "I have trouble remembering things. It seems like what I thought had happened has changed. But"—he looked directly at Brooke—"you are the dangerous one, aren't you?"
"What do you mean?" Wyatt asked, but Gene shook his head and rubbed his eyes. Brooke shifted her stance beside Wyatt.
"I don't know what you mean," Brooke said.
"My head gets fuzzy at times," Gene said. "I have trouble remembering things from time to time." He finished, looking toward Wyatt. As soon as Wyatt's eyes met the old man's, Gene lowered his eyes.
Wyatt wondered if he had ever heard the man talk about feeling the resonance before. Surely, the trouble remembering was part of the resonance. Watching Gene now, he discounted any thought the old smoky man had any idea what the sensation meant.
"What do you remember?" Wyatt asked.
Gene glared at him for a moment and nodded. "You do look somewhat familiar," he said. "Like I may have seen you somewhere else."
Nodding, Wyatt stuffed his arms in his pockets. Out of the corner of his right eye, he saw Brooke shifting her stance again and wanted to prevent her from saying anything that might anger the old man.
Dissonance (The Machina of Time Book 2) Page 7
