by Sable Hunter
“Well, I’m working on a theory. I want you two to be a sounding board for me as I weed through it.”
“Okay. That sounds good.” Journey wouldn’t let herself think about what this all meant for her.
“I’m sorry I gave you a hard time about Reno all these years. Obviously, you two share a very powerful connection.”
Journey stopped in her tracks to look Lou in the face. “Why do you say that?”
“Because of the timing. He came through at the exact moment you needed him. Just like you’d always imagined he would. He saved you. He was your knight in shining armor.”’
“You’re a scientist first and foremost, Lou. I can’t imagine that you believe in fate. Or destiny – or however some would want to label what’s happened.”
“Wrong, Journey. I’m first and foremost a woman. I can recognize a grand romantic gesture when I see one.”
“Yes, I guess you can.” She smiled at her friend in the mirror as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. “But remember, Reno didn’t know about me. Not like I knew about him. On his part, there was no real connection between us.” As if taking exception to what she’d just uttered, the memory of Reno telling her about the girl at the end of the rainbow came to mind. She chose not to mention it to Lou at this juncture. “As crazy as this all sounds and as unbelievable as it may be – there has to be a logical explanation for what’s happened. Maybe not the accepted logic of the day, but if anyone can crack this code, I know you can.”
Lou seemed to be considering Journey’s point. “I’m certainly going to give it the old college try.” She smiled and rubbed her hands together. “I told you I was working on my doctoral thesis for the anthropology degree, but I never told you the subject matter. I didn’t want to bore you.” Her eyes alight with excitement. “My subject is vanishing people.”
“That sounds interesting.”
Shaking her head, Lou came close to Journey as she applied a light touch of make-up. “You’re not getting the correlation, are you?”
“What correlation?” Journey was used to listening to Lou talk about her work without having a hope of understanding everything she said.
“To prepare for my thesis, I’ve studied hundreds of cases where people have just disappeared. Vanished. Up until now…” She paused for effect. “Up until now, there’s never been a clue as to where any of them might’ve gone.”
“What has that got to do with Reno?”
“Well, he appeared here in our time, Journey, but he vanished from the past.”
She was beginning to get an inkling of why Lou was so excited. “I see.”
“What’s even more incredible is the possible scientific explanation for this. I’ve been delving into some physics theorems and…” She blew out a breath. “I just feel like I’m standing on the perimeter of a previously unknown territory. On the brink of a huge scientific discovery. Can you imagine what it would mean to my career if I could solve the mystery of time travel?”
Journey could appreciate her friend’s excitement, but she couldn’t let the moment go by without reminding Lou of something vital. “I know this is important to you, for your work, for your research. Just please don’t forget there is a human factor involved. Reno may be from the past, but he’s a real man. With real feelings. This is his life we’re talking about here, not just a stranger-than-fiction phenomenon. If he doesn’t return to the past in a few weeks, his brother will be put to death for a crime he didn’t commit, and his friend and her tribe will be slaughtered by the US Cavalry as punishment for the deeds of someone else.”
Lou had the good grace to look chastened. “I may be excited, but I promise you I’m not making light of this, Journey. For me, this is earth shattering. More important than anything I’ve ever undertaken before. You can be sure I’ll treat both the process and Reno with the greatest respect.”
“Good. Thank you. I knew you would.” She hugged her friend, holding on for a couple of extra seconds. “I’ll be honest, this is hard for me.”
“I can imagine it is difficult for you. We’ve been friends for years. I know how much you care for this guy, or thought you did.” She drew back to look Journey in the eye. “Is he what you expected? Is he the hero you always dreamed him to be?”
“Yea, he is,” she answered unequivocally. “But I feel like I’m standing at a crossroad and any direction I take is going to lead to heartbreak. If he stays, he’ll always have regrets. If he goes, I’m very afraid he’ll take my heart with him.”
“What do you want me to do?” Lou asked. “Just tell me. I’ll abide by your wishes, thesis or no thesis. Monumental discovery or not.”
Journey felt like her heart was too big for her chest. Her worry and sadness produced an actual physical pain. “I want you to help him. Solve this mystery. Send him back in time where he belongs.”
Lou kissed Journey on the cheek. “You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din.” Seeing her friend’s puzzled look, Lou laughed. “Never mind. Sometimes I quote Rudyard Kipling when I’m inspired.”
“You’re so weird, Lou. Did I ever tell you that?”
Lou followed Journey out of her bedroom. “Yea, I think you’ve mentioned that a time or two before.”
…In the kitchen, the women found Reno setting the table. “About time. I was having trouble keeping my masterpieces at their peak of perfection.” He went to the oven and brought out a big tray of pancakes. “Hope you’re hungry.”
“Oh, I am. Definitely.” Lou sat down with a look of anticipation on her face.
“How about you, beautiful?” He pulled out Journey’s chair for her.
“I am. A bit.” She allowed him to fork a few pancakes to put on her plate. “Thank you.”
He bent to whisper in her ear. “Last night with you was the best sleep I’ve had in ages.”
Journey blushed and glanced at Lou, but her friend was too busy slathering her pancakes with butter to notice their whispered conversation. She turned her attention back to Reno. “Me too,” she said with a smile. Yes, they’d only slept, but the cuddling had been fantastic. “At first, I thought I might’ve dreamed it.”
“If you did, I had the same dream.”
“What are you two whispering about?” Lou asked around a mouthful of pancake.
“Nothing.” Journey winked at Reno. “Don’t talk with your mouth full, girl.”
After breakfast, while Lou and Reno cleaned up the kitchen, Journey took care of her chores. She tended the dogs, watered Myra’s plants, and spent a few minutes at her workstation in the sunroom mixing up a recipe of oils for toenail fungus. Just the thought of the malady made Journey shiver, but the icky condition was a problem for some – and she did have a solution. For every dropper bottle, she mixed in 15 drops each of clove, cinnamon, tea tree, and wild oregano essential oils, then finished filling the bottle to the top with a carrier oil. This time she used grapeseed. After tightening the lids, she decided to write out the labels later. She didn’t want to keep Lou and Reno waiting any longer.
When she rejoined them, Journey found Lou at work on the computer and Reno standing at his normal post, looking out the window toward Enchanted Rock. “Sorry, it took so long.”
“You’re fine,” Reno muttered. “Gave me a few minutes to think.”
Journey started to ask him what he’d been thinking about, but Lou stood and stretched. “Well, let’s get this ball rolling.” She indicated opposite chairs at the dining table. “Join me, please.”
Reno helped Journey into her chair, then went around to find his own seat. “We’re ready.”
“Good.” She stood for a few more seconds, then sat down to thrum her fingertips on the table. “Don’t mind me. I’m not nervous, just anxious. Okay, like I said yesterday, I want to use the both of you as a sounding board to start off with. My brain works in a weird way, I have to look at things in an orderly fashion. Plus, hearing myself talk seems to help my problem-solving process. In addition, you two are closer to the situation
and might see something I don’t.”
“I seriously doubt that, Lou. You know I didn’t even attend college and you’re a genius.”
“Don’t underestimate yourself, love.”
This comment came from Reno and gave Journey the boost she needed. “All right, I’m ready to listen.”
“Okay.” Lou pressed her lips together into a thin line. “As I was telling Journey last night, Reno, the topic I have chosen to write my thesis on is the phenomenon of missing people and the effects this has on society. When I first began my research, I was shocked to learn how many people vanish each year. NamUS is the national information clearinghouse and resource center for missing persons. The organization is managed by the University of North Texas and funded by the National Institute of Justice. Their resources are provided at no charge to law enforcement, medical examiners, forensic professionals, and of course – family members of those who are missing.”
“Well, I’m not missing, Lou.” Reno couldn’t help but point out the obvious.
“Well, you are. Actually,” Lou pointed out with a smile. “Just not on this end. You’re very much missing to those who knew you in the past. They have no idea where you are. Am I right?”
Reno nodded, looking toward Journey for emotional support. “You’re right. I’m sure Cole and his lawyer are beginning to wonder why I haven’t shown up by now.”
Seeing Lou looked confused, Journey pointed out what they’d concluded. “We think time is running parallel. The date he went through in the past is the same day of the month that he came through in 2019.”
“Interesting.” Lou made a note. “I should’ve realized that.” Lou flipped the page over in her notepad and drew a straight line. “The Centre for Time at the University of Sydney, Australia has put forth a theory called the Block Universe. This theorem holds the past, the present, and the future are all happening simultaneously.” She drew three X’s on the line. “Traveling between those three points could be done through a wormhole. Got it?” Lou looked at the other two like a football coach who’d just drawn a familiar play on the chalkboard.
Reno seemed to come out of his trance. “Wait a minute. I’m not sure I understood all of that, but I do know I didn’t come through no damn wormhole.”
There was silence in the room while Lou digested what Reno just said. Suddenly it dawned on her that he would think a wormhole was just what it sounded like – a hole made by a worm. Diplomatically, without cracking a smile, she quickly explained, “A wormhole is a shortcut through space, a tunnel which connects two distant parts of the universe via a very short path.” Lou smiled then, her explanation pleasing herself if no one else. “See? This is working. Good process.”
Reno and Journey shared a look and Reno smiled when Journey winked at him.
Back in her chair, Lou continued her observations. “According to NamUs, approximately 600,000 people go missing in the US every year.” She waited a moment for that huge number to settle into their consciousness. “Granted, most of those folks are found, come home, or are accounted for in some way. Some have come to harm, but their bodies are located. A fraction of that big group, however, defy explanation. They are literally missing without a trace. Some in the most mysterious of circumstances. Now, that’s not to say each case has the same cause. No, there are several theories being bounced around to account for these strange cases. I won’t go into them all now, because we’re only interested in one of those theories.”
“Time travel,” Journey filled in the obvious blank.
“Well…” Lou shifted in her chair, hunting a more comfortable position. “They give it a more scientific name. It’s referred to as going through a portal. Theoretically, there is a portal at each end of a wormhole. Of course, where a portal might lead is up for debate.”
Reno groaned a little as if he wasn’t sure about all of this. Lou gave him a strange look. “Hey, Mr. Skeptic, you’re the least likely one in this bunch to feel any doubt. After all, if you came from the past – which you and Journey truly believe is the truth – you had to come through a passageway of some kind.”
“A passageway that isn’t there anymore.” Reno stood and slammed his hat on his head. “Come on. I’ll show you.”
Lou was ready. “Excellent. Are you coming?” she asked Journey.
Journey looked to Reno to see if he wanted her to come.
“I’ll run ahead and saddle three horses,” he offered. “You might want to change clothes, Lou.”
Lou looked down at her white linen pantsuit. “You’re right. This isn’t the best choice, is it?”
“We’ll wait for you outside,” Journey told her, wanting a moment alone with Reno. On the way out, she called the dogs for a quick bathroom break. While Cleo and Dudley were tending to business and chasing butterflies, she and Reno went to the barn to saddle the horses. As they worked, she tried to give Reno a bit of hope. “Don’t be discouraged. She’s really smart. Unless this was just a pure miracle with no basis in science, Lou is your best chance at figuring out an answer. She’s trained for this. Physics is as far over my heads as the clouds are, but there are ongoing studies in this field. Serious people are looking at this subject in a serious way. And she’s not only one of them, she can contact the others for help if need be.”
“Yea, but won’t that make me a bug under a microscope?”
“Lou won’t expose you. I’ll make damn sure and certain of that.”
Reno gave her a quick kiss of gratitude. “Thanks for looking out for me.”
“Of course.” She wrinkled her nose in thought as she led one of the horses out into the open. “There are microscopes in your time?”
“They’re rare, but one of my friends, Dr. Domino O’Neill, has a microscope. He’s let me look it in a time or two. Truth be told, I wasn’t sure of what I was looking at, but it sure was interesting.”
About that time the kitchen door slammed. “I’m ready,” Lou announced as she rolled up the sleeves of her blue chambray shirt.
“Dudley! Cleo!” Journey hurriedly put the dogs into the house while the other two saddled up. Once she joined them, they left through the fence gate and headed out into the park.
The scenery, while beautiful, was something Journey was used to. Reno, also, had traversed this territory often, in both the present and the past. Lou, however, was seeing the magnificent sight with new eyes. “Oh, my,” she breathed out the words in awe. “This is truly beautiful.” She stopped her horse to scan the horizon. “It’s pretty awesome from the road, but you can’t really fathom the magnitude of the mountain until you’re standing in its shadow.”
Journey couldn’t help but feel proprietorial toward this land she loved. “And just think, the batholith is twelve miles by twenty miles on the surface, but it also reaches twenty-four miles beneath our feet.”
“And it’s all made of granite…” Lou whispered right before she slapped her knee so hard that her horse bolted.
Reno reached out to grab the horse’s reins. “Whoa, girl. Whoa.”
Just as soon as the animal was calm once more, Lou pointed to the mountain. “Is the canyon made of granite also?”
“Everything is made of granite out here.” Journey’s observation was matter of fact, but the way Lou repeated the words was anything but.
“Everything is granite out here!”
Reno watched as the blond scientist took off at a fast clip.
“Wait!” Journey called. “You don’t know exactly where you’re going!”
“Well, catch up with me!” Lou called back.
After exchanging an amused glance, they did just that. ‘Hold up!” Reno called. “This ground is rocky. Your horse might lose its footing.”
Lou pulled back on the reins to slow the mare to a trot. “Are we close?”
“About a mile ahead. The canyon will open up to your right.” Reno took the lead.
The closer they drew, the rougher the terrain became. High rocks, steep canyons, and what Lou had call
ed boulder fields.
“Why did you react so wildly to the fact that the mountain is granite?” Journey asked as they drew nearer the canyon.
Lou surveyed the area with assessing eyes. “Because I haven’t been looking at this whole thing from the right perspective.” She slowed her horse down even more. “There are places in this world known to be energy hotspots.”
“Right. Yesterday at lunch, my new friend, Skye, mentioned that Enchanted Rock sits on a ley line,” Journey offered. “Is that what you mean?”
“We might as well wait until they’re gone.” Reno asked as he noticed a couple of hikers straight ahead. “What’s a ley line?”
Lou checked her phone to see if she had a signal. “Two bars. Dammit. I wanted to look something up.” She shook her cell to see if she could coax a better signal as she answered Reno, “Many in the metaphysical community think a ley line is a straight alignment connecting various ancient structures or places of power. There are many ley lines, of course, and they connect locations like Stonehenge, the Great Pyramids, the Great Wall of China, and even Enchanted Rock. The belief is that these sacred structures were built at places of great energy to be a tangible source of that energy. When the locations of those sites are examined on a map, it becomes clear they could’ve been laid out on a grid. In addition, all those structures I named, including this mountain before us, are solid stone. Most particularly granite or some form of quartz. In other words, they are essentially all mammoth crystals.”
Since they were in earshot of two young men who were following one of the hiking trails, Journey lowered her voice. “I make my living with herbs and oils, so I can’t talk. But isn’t the belief in the power of crystals sort of…you know, out there?”
“One of the greatest minds of any time, Nikola Tesla, purported that crystals were alive.” Lou shrugged. “And as for them being ‘out there’, that could be said of many of the most recent discoveries. If you’ve ever been a fan of Star Trek, you’ll know that the show predicted tablet computers, tractor beams, flip communicators, replicators, cloaking devices, voice interface computers like Siri, transparent aluminum, Bluetooth headsets via Uhura, portable memory from floppy disks to USB sticks, GPS, automatic doors, big screen displays, real-time universal translators, teleconferencing, and diagnostic beds – to name a few.” Lou seemed to stop naming things only because she was out of breath.
