"This is really weird," Wyatt said after he struggled to come to terms with the various memories he had. "Is it always like this?"
"Only when someone works at it," Lenny said. "That's the danger of time travel. The more it gets out the more it tears apart our reality."
"So, you're saying we experienced everything we remember?" Avery asked.
"Think about it for a moment," Aldan said, his voice calmer than the rest of them. "The Machina is some huge transdimensional computer. It isn't completely in this reality. Maybe there is more than one reality we can experience."
"Maybe that is the case," Lenny said. "With the Machina's design being so advanced, no one alive today may be able to make that determination."
"How would we measure that?" Wyatt asked. "If time travel takes us to other dimensions, how would we know?"
"The Machina gives us location codes and times," Brooke said quietly. "Those location codes are always similar."
"Similar?" Jeremy said. "They are always exact."
"Even the code we used to go back to that business park was the same. "Aldan folded his arms and glared toward Lenny as he spoke. "What is really going on? Why are you so ready to help us?"
Lenny smiled and leaned back in his chair. He crossed his right leg over his left, leaving his right ankle above his knee. The way he watched silently made Wyatt wonder how much the man knew about the changes they were facing.
He had already seen two versions of Hannah that seemed to be different. The older version had not worn his wrist terminal, and when she had vanished, he wasn't sure if she had traveled through time. He felt the resonance at that moment he thought she left, but that was also the time her younger version had appeared.
"The Machina provides the codes," Lenny said. "That's all I know about them."
"How does knowing that help us?" Aldan said. "Is there anything you can do to help us?"
Lenny leaned forward again. He stared at Aldan for a moment. "I may be able to help," he said. "But I cannot know of things that haven't happened yet. The only way I learn those is through the Machina's communications with me." He pointed toward the small black tablet on bookcase behind him.
"How can you help us?" Aldan asked, unfolding his arms and stepping closer to the desk. He leaned down over the desk as if trying to intimidate Lenny.
"You all remember the mission to that business park," Lenny said, looking up into Aldan's eyes. "But do you remember your very first mission?"
Wyatt couldn't remember. His mind was flooded with images and memories from the mission to the business park, but before that, everything grew cloudy. "Honestly, I can't remember much before almost being run over," Wyatt said. "Or being run over. I'm still not sure which happened." Or even if he was in that business park.
"Who would be after us?" Aldan asked, avoiding the question completely.
"If you cannot answer my question," Lenny said, "you might be worse off than I thought."
"What do you mean by that?" Avery asked. "You say that like you actually know something about what we are going through." She partially rose out of her chair to face Lenny.
"If you know something, you had better tell us," Aldan said, leaning down closer to the top of the desk. "What do you know?"
Lenny pushed his chair back and stared from Aldan to Avery, who had taken her seat again. Avery watched him, with her arms on the armrests of the chair as if ready to charge him.
The smile Lenny had been wearing seemed to vanish, but only for a moment. "I only know what the Machina shows me."
"What has it shown you?" Wyatt asked as he stepped closer to the desk. He watched as Lenny's eyes shot toward him for a moment before returning to Aldan.
When Jeremy also stepped closer, Lenny let out sigh.
"Do you remember your first mission?" Lenny asked. "I mean, do you remember the first time you traveled for the same purpose?"
Wyatt folded his arms and looked down at the corner of the desk. His mind played with thoughts and images of what might have been the first mission, but everything was still in a cloud.
"You sent me to retrieve a letter," Aldan said. "And when I arrived there, I was attacked. I never got that letter, but I got hurt as I tried to leave." He pushed himself up off the desk and stood erect as he faced Lenny.
Lenny shook his head slowly. "That is one danger with working as a traveler, future fixer, or whatever you call yourselves." He scooted his chair back toward the bookshelf and retrieved the black, palm-sized tablet. As soon as he pulled it off the shelf, Wyatt realized the shelf was empty.
"You mean to tell me you didn't send me back there to be attacked?" Aldan said, his voice louder, causing Jeremy to slip to the side to put some space between them.
"I think it was the Machina," Avery said, lowering her arms from the sides of her chair. She looked at Lenny who nodded slightly.
"You're going to say the Machina sent me there to be attacked?" Aldan said.
"Let him explain," Avery said. "I think the answer is even simpler than that." She held her right hand up and seemed to wait for Aldan to look at her. When he did, she continued. "I think Lenny is as much a pawn in this game as the rest of us."
"A pawn?" Jeremy said, rounding on Avery.
"That seems about right," Wyatt said as Lenny rose to his feet behind the desk. "The Machina sends him messages on that tablet, and he has to do what it directs."
"You understand," Lenny said. "I'm not sure what most of the messages mean."
"Sometimes it sends us to a future where we stand in an empty road," Avery said.
"Only so someone can try to run us over," Brooke added. She crossed her right leg over her left and interlaced her fingers as she held her knee.
Lenny let out a sigh and glanced toward Wyatt. When he spoke, his eyes remained focused on Wyatt. "How did you get that car to move?"
Wyatt involuntarily took a step back. Lenny's question seemed to shift all their attention back toward him. He didn't want that. He wanted to say that Hannah had done it.
"How did you override the safety programming," Aldan asked, folding his arms and turning to face Wyatt.
Even Brooke looked his way, although her expression seemed to be more worry than anger. Jeremy and Avery, on the other hand, turned what could only be glares on them.
Raising his hands up in a placating gesture. "All I did was get into that car," he said. "Hannah may have done something to it first." He saw the way Aldan's eyes narrowed and he took another step back.
"You're going to blame that on my cousin?" Aldan said. His tone grew harsh, but his voice seemed quieter.
The fact Aldan stood with his arms still folded gave Wyatt a little peace. The last thing he wanted to do was fight with Aldan. Even though Aldan was older, Wyatt was not the best fighter.
"Calm down," Brooke said. "I saw her trying to get you"—she motioned toward Wyatt—"to get in that car."
"Your cousin made him drive that car?" Lenny asked.
"Yeah," Wyatt answered. "It wasn't what I had expected either."
"Did you hit anyone?" Lenny asked.
"Honestly, I'm not sure," Wyatt said, remembering the way the car had bounced along the street. With that memory came the images of their earlier versions standing in the street. "Who is really doing this to us? I don't think Hannah is the only one."
Brooke nodded and looked toward Aldan. Avery and Jeremy exchanged a glance and for a moment, Wyatt thought he had said something out of place.
"You're right," Aldan said, lowering his arms.
"Why would Aldan's cousin be there?" Lenny asked. "How did she get there?" He shook his head and Wyatt felt Lenny's eyes scanning him.
He shifted his left arm behind himself and leaned against it and the wall. He might have gotten away with it, but Lenny had been watching too closely.
"How did you lose it?" Lenny asked, pointing toward Wyatt's hand. "I think I'm seeing things I can't get involved in yet."
"I don't see why you can't," Brooke said. "W
e've all seen things that haven't happened yet. Some of them are terrifying."
Wyatt felt a wave of shock at her words and thought about her comments regarding Jarod. What had she seen?
"What she means to say is that you aren't in the future time we came from." Avery spoke directly at Lenny. "You sent us on a mission that failed and told us to come back to find you."
"But you weren't there," Jeremy said as Lenny coughed.
"Don't tell me my future," Lenny said. "I cannot know it. I'm sure the Machina sent me to fix something."
"Sent you to fix something in the four or five minutes we were gone?" She asked, shaking her head.
"Why are you so sure?" Wyatt asked. "Will it ruin something for you? In the tomorrow we came from, you weren't there. Did we form a paradox?"
"Shut up," Lenny said, his smile fading as he rose from the chair and moved around the desk. He crossed toward the window on that side of the room. It still showed the blue loading platform, and he stared through the window for several seconds, his right hand holding the black tablet close to his leg. He kept his back to them, but Wyatt watched him breathe.
After the silence dragged on for a few seconds, Brooke asked a question that got everyone talking again. "What was our first mission?"
"We went back to find letters," Avery said.
"Are you sure?" Jeremy asked. "I thought we had something just before that."
"It doesn’t matter," Aldan said, backing away from the desk and leaning against the wall. His eyes fell on Wyatt for a moment. He looked ready to say something but remained quiet.
"But it does matter," Lenny said, turning back from the window.
"If we can't remember it, it might not have happened," Wyatt said.
Lenny nodded and stuffed the tablet back into his pocket. "You should head back to your time now," he said. "Stay there until I find you."
"What do you mean find us?" Wyatt asked.
"Go back there," Lenny said. "I think I know a way of discovering what may have happened to my later self. I'll send him to find you."
Wyatt shook his head and readied himself to ask another question, but Avery beat him to it.
"Won't that ruin everything to have you go and find him?" Avery asked.
Lenny's eyebrows rose as he nodded toward Wyatt. "What do you think?" he asked. "How many versions of Hannah have you seen?"
"At least two," Aldan answered and Wyatt nodded. It felt strange to agree with Aldan who a few minutes ago seemed ready to attack.
"So, the past can help the future," Lenny said. "Now I need you to head back to your time and wait. I'll make sure someone is there to meet with you."
"Don't you need to know what time and place?" Avery asked.
Lenny raised his right hand from his front pocket, still clutching the tablet. "I'll find it."
"I say we go back later in the night, just to see what has changed," Jeremy said. "Say 9:00 pm."
"We don't need to go back that late," Brooke said. "I suggest we go back closer to when we left so we have all afternoon to wait for Lenny to fix himself." She rose from her chair and faced the others, with her back to Wyatt.
"Okay," Aldan said. "This time let's use R333PS, April 4, 2090, at"—he waved his right hand in the air as he thought of a time—"1:00pm. That would be thirty minutes after we left."
Avery nodded and watched Jeremy adjusting his wrist terminal. She smiled at him from the chair where she sat.
Wyatt stepped closer to Brooke as she set her wrist terminal.
Jeremy moved back from the two chairs and activated his portal. He was the first to step through. Aldan's portal opened next followed by Avery's. As they stepped through, Wyatt waited to see if Lenny would stop them again.
This time he didn't, and Brooke pulled him through her portal.
CHAPTER sixteen
DORMITORY, NEAR R333PS
TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2090, 1:05 PM
Each of them dealt with the resonance quietly. Little was spoken as they made their way into the dormitory again. Jeremy and Avery moved to the sofa on the right, and Brooke sat on the sofa to the left. Aldan entered the kitchen area, opened the refrigerator, and slammed it.
"I sometimes wish we had some alcohol," Aldan said. "It might help with the resonance."
"Imagine traveling when you were drunk," Avery laughed.
"Instead of just wondering where you parked your car, you could be worried about when," Jeremy said, laughing with Avery.
Aldan shook his head, opened the refrigerator again, and retrieved a bottle of water. After downing most of it, he turned back toward them. "Is anyone else hungry?"
Wyatt shook his head and noticed the others were nodding.
"I haven't eaten since breakfast," Brooke said. "Do we have anything that sounds good?" She rose from the sofa and entered the kitchen, blocking Aldan in as she began searching through the cupboards and drawers.
"Think we could make it back to the green area?" Avery asked. "I could sure use some meat."
Even though Wyatt had just eaten a burger and fries, the pulled pork and chicken in that area of the warehouse sounded good. The green area was deeper in the warehouse but opened to an outside rainforest. The wooden tables in that area were surrounded with fires cooking meat and roasting vegetables.
"We've only been there once," Wyatt said. "But I'm sure we could find it."
"We can't risk it," Aldan said. "Too much has already happened." He pointed toward the corner and the bed that had never been used.
Brooke smiled, pointing toward the bed in the corner. "But we must have done something to fix it, because that bed is made again."
Wyatt turned toward the bed and stepped closer to it. It looked completely different than the last time he had seen it. The orange blanket and white sheet were tucked tightly around it as if it had not been used in a long time. It made him wonder if he should go back and look for Hannah. Maybe he could find her before she took his wrist terminal.
He shook that thought away as the others continued speaking behind him.
"Did you hear the question?" Aldan asked.
Wyatt shook his head.
"He asked you why you gave her wrist terminal to Hannah," Jeremy said. "It seems kind of silly to us that she would have yours."
Wyatt looked at Brooke as he shook his head.
"I saw him come back through his portal and it was gone," Brooke said.
"Hannah took it off my wrist as I stepped through," Wyatt said. "I know the dangers of giving it to her."
"You know them now," Jeremy said, smiling. "I bet you got a little distracted and wanted to get closer to her."
"No," Wyatt said. He turned and faced Jeremy. He figured they were all feeling a little scared and knew he had to be careful how he responded. He decided to tell the truth. "I went back to see her, but she was really nervous. She worried that someone had been following her. And she did ask me for a wrist terminal, but I didn't give it to her."
Brooke nodded and turned back toward Jeremy and Avery.
"Who was following her?" Avery asked.
"Her older version, probably," Aldan said. "My cousin just seems to be in the wrong places." He moved out of the kitchen and sat on the sofa across from Avery and Jeremy.
"Anyone want some of this?" Brooke asked as she lifted a frozen lasagna out of the freezer at the bottom of the refrigerator. Without waiting for an answer, she stepped toward the oven and turned it on.
"I don't think it was just her older self that was there," Wyatt said in the pause that followed. He couldn't help remembering the way the older version of Avery had spoken with Lenny. He wondered how much damage it would cause if he mentioned that.
"Who else would be after her?" Avery asked.
"Why would they be after her?" Brooke asked from the kitchen after setting the oven temperature and opening the lasagna.
"She was worried about Gene, the smokey old man," Wyatt said. "When he got close, she ushered me out."
"Why would she do tha
t only to take your wrist terminal?" Aldan asked. He turned on the sofa to watch Wyatt. His face had lost some of its anger. His eyebrows were tight with concern, but he almost smiled.
"That old man is just an employee of the Machina from that time, right?" Avery asked, leaning forward as Jeremy placed his left arm across her back.
"He seems to be," Wyatt said. "But he also seems to be everywhere she is back then. It's like he watches over her." He tried not to look at Aldan as he spoke that last, but that meant either looking at the wall behind Avery and Jeremy, or at the front door. He settled on turning back toward the bed, thinking about the encounter with the older Avery. Since they were talking about the troubles, and who might have caused them, he wanted to bring her up.
"Did Lenny seem a little strange the last time we saw him?" Jeremy asked. He had been gently rubbing Avery's back but stopped as he asked the question.
Avery looked over her right shoulder toward him. It looked like she was silently asking him why he stopped rubbing her back. "Do you think he knows more than he told us?"
"He always knows more than he tells us," Aldan said. "That's the trouble with that man. He sits there thinking the Machina is like a god, when the Machina only knows what has been or will be recorded by the various cameras it can access."
"Do we need his tablet?" Wyatt asked, turning to face the others again. That tablet had been the source of their earlier problems with Jarod Whiting. That had been what that older man had been after. He wondered if Jarod could be part of the problem.
Wyatt had forgotten his own question as he moved to sit on the sofa facing Jeremy and Avery. Avery straightened up and watched him. She must have seen the way he grew worried because she was the first one to say anything.
"Why would you ask us about Lenny's tablet?" Avery asked.
"I don't know," Wyatt said, shrugging and glancing toward Brooke who stood in the kitchen as the lasagna cooked. "It just seems like that tablet may still be involved in what is going on." He almost explained he had seen Jarod but stopped himself.
"As long as Lenny has that tablet, everything is okay," Avery said.
Dissonance (The Machina of Time Book 2) Page 14
