[Space Time 02.0] A Stranger From Time

by Atri Kundu

  And he did everything he could, employing his every resource to get any news about Steve or any sight of something supernatural or extraterrestrial but finally we had to return empty-handed. No one seemed to have come across a time-travelling zorbing ball.

  I drove back home with Ameline beside me. Then paused as I stepped down from my car, ‘Where am I going to keep her? Not the storeroom again. Maybe I can manage to sneak in some food without letting mom know, but…”

  “It’s okay,” she said, snapping me out of my thoughts. She sure knows to read my thoughts.

  Then we went inside, we walked close to each other. So close that when I let my left hand hang loose, it almost touched her right arm. So close that I could feel the warmth radiating from her body and take in the sweet smell that almost intoxicated me. Spending an entire day with one girl appeared to me as the funniest joke till yesterday, but today I liked it.

  Was I changing?

  “I’m taking you in,” I said as I stood before the front door. She stared at me dazzled. I lifted my arm to ring the bell but the door opened before I could press the switch.

  A six-foot woman in her fifties stood before me. She stared at me directly then moving her eyeballs to scan Ameline Johnston. I shivered. There were always differences between her, I was afraid of her but loved her at the same time. “Mother, she is Ameline Johnston, my friend. And…umm…I want you to meet her,” I was stammering.

  “What do you think you are hiding from me?” she said, running down on us a frosty glare. But there was something different in her voice, stern as usual but mixed with extra softness. “Come in,” she said.

  I took periodic glances at my mother and at Ameline, who looked equally surprised.

  Once inside, she told me that she knew everything about Ameline. She saw her last night, saw me helping her, giving her food this morning and then Brian told her the rest.

  “I really want to help her,” I said, lowering my eyes.

  She looked at me, her eyes dazzling and I knew what she meant. Do whatever you have to, they said. “Come down in five minutes for dinner. Both of you.”

  She started walking and paused before the door and threw a glance over her shoulder. “Not every story has a similar ending,” she smiled, which was unique and I didn’t remember her smiling after dad left her. “It’s time you start using your brain for good, look for things where they are supposed to come first. Time teaches us our responsibilities, for you that time might be now.”

  She left the room, Ameline was staring at me and I was blushing.

  After dinner, I went to the room allotted for Ameline. Mother gave her some of her own clothes and she welcomed me in a light blue night gown with randomly scattered printed flowers on it. I gulped, wondering why I always begin to stammer before her. This was never the Raymond Dreyar I knew.

  “Just wanted to check in if you are alright,” I said.

  “Of course, I am. I couldn’t have found a better friend to help me,” she answered with a smile. Friend, she called me her friend. A sudden sense of joy filled my lungs.

  I sat on the bed beside her. The AC was set very high and I felt the cold piercing into my skin. Maybe the humans in her time are adapted to this cold. Then my eyes drifted to her right arm, where a big cluster of red spots were visible. “You’ve got some serious rashes on your arm,” I said, pointing at it.

  “That’s nothing,” she nodded with a smile.

  But I couldn’t overlook it that easily. I gripped her near the elbow and raised her arm to get a closer look. The rashes looked terrible and her skin was warm, not the soothing warmth but burning. Immediately I touched her forehead and it was burning too. “What the hell…” my words paused in mid air as I got a glance of some rashes on her neck. “You have super high fever and these rashes…you need a doctor.”

  “It happens,” she said. “The weather is very different here, it will go away.” But her voice was hardly convincing.

  I said nothing. “Your mother is very nice,” she said, changing the topic.

  “Yes, she is,” I let out a sigh. She worked as a law consultant in a multi-national company that was how she raised me after dad took divorce. She was strict, especially when it concerns love and relationship and I couldn’t blame her for that. “Usually we have a clash of ideas, but she seems supporting of our current mission.”

  “Is there nothing we can do to find him?”

  I paused, having no answer to this question. Then my mother’s words flashed in my head, look for things where they are supposed to come first. Thank you, mom. “Of course, there is a way,” I sprang up on my feet in the excitement of discovering something new. “Why didn’t I think of this before? I don’t know how much I should thank my mom.”

  “What happened?”

  “Who do you think will have the first information on spaceships and timeships before anyone else? The NASA and then the US army and I know just the person who could break into their systems. Eric Sheldon.”

  ***

  “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” —Lyndon B. Johnson

  Eric Sheldon was the best hacker I’d known in this city of New York. Three years senior to me and already worked for the FBI cyber branch and had found his way into almost every top-secret server of our country. He was a trusted friend of mine. Last night, I called him and asked him to help me about Steve. Right now, we had nothing to do other than waiting for Eric’s reply.

  We walked in silence, me and Ameline (I got promotion to use her first name last night after dinner). Our pace matched perfectly, and we walked close to each other which made me feel if I move an inch to my left, my arm would touch hers. But I didn’t.

  Finally we found a little bench under the shade of a huge chestnut tree. “Beautiful place, isn’t it?” I said, taking a sideways glance at her and then focusing on what was in front of us.

  Before us was a blue swift creek, though wide enough to be called a river. The birds, the herons floated on the cold water, reflecting bits and pieces of their color and making them look larger than they were. Occasionally small paddle boats crossed before us.

  I looked at her again. She hadn’t replied. It was late afternoon and the last remnants of the day were fading. The sky was slowly changing its color and the soft dying rays of the sun fell on her face. She did nothing to shade her face from the sun rays, she was bathing in it.

  Her face glittered and a smile lay suppressed in her lips. Maybe from where she came, she had no chance to enjoy these beauties.

  “It is really beautiful,” I said again, but this time as a statement not a question.

  She smiled and nodded.

  “Steve is also enjoying this from somewhere, right?” she said, as if directing the question to infinity.

  “Yes, he is,” I said as a consolation, for her and me both. Before I could say anything more, the phone vibrated inside my pocket.

  Suddenly my face lit up. It was Eric. “Hello,” I said eagerly. Though I didn’t look, I felt Ameline staring at me with double my eagerness.

  Five minutes later, Eric cut the line as he had finished telling me everything he knew. Although the screen was blank, I held it close to my ears, for the fear of answering her or maybe it was for my own consolation.

  Then I had to put it away.

  “What did he say?” she asked, brimming with hope and curiosity. “Any news of Steve?”

  I paused for a moment. A sudden fear churned inside my stomach. “NO!” I replied. With the word, a heavy sigh escaped my mouth. I couldn’t take away her last hope.

  “What ‘no’?” Even now her eagerness was at its peak.

  Finally, I looked directly into her crystal blue eyes. I clenched tight my teeth, I had told several lies in my life till that moment but none required the strength like this. “Eric had checked every database on the American, Canadian, Russian and Indian satellites. They had nothing. If these heavy weight countries have no clue, then the highest probabi
lity is that Steve never came here.”

  The glow in her eyes was lost in that instant. She looked away again, focusing at something in the infinity.

  A path curved behind us around the chestnut tree, sounds of activities from the busy path floated to us. Hundreds of people passed, jogging, biking and rollerblading. For a moment, I wished I was a part of them which I was three days ago and had nothing to take care of.

  How my life had changed in these three days! And I knew I was going to hate myself forever for this lie and yet, I had no other choice. I’m sorry Ameline.

  I stood up and raised my right arm, offering it to her. “Let’s go for a boat ride.”

  She looked up. “I don’t want to do this now…”

  “I didn’t ask you. I said you to come,” my voice was stern without losing the little touch of care. “As a friend I think I have this right. Take my arm.”

  How much willingly I didn’t know, but she slid her fingers into mine. Her cold touch, soft skin sent electricity down my veins. I shuddered.

  “I’ll show you something,” I said as we walked towards the small dock from where the boats for small journeys leave.

  “What?”

  “Wait for the time.” I talked with a boatman and hired him and his boat. It was for four people but I agreed to pay five times to book the entire one.

  The boat set sail. The man rowed it hard and the wind direction favored our sail. Minutes later, the bay from where we started appeared only as a black spot.

  “I am also a physics student, isn’t it?” I said, as I still held her tightly.

  “Yes. So?” she appeared puzzled at my sudden change of topic.

  “So, I also have a slight understanding of the physics of space and time. And here’s what I want to show you — ” I slid out a green leaf from my pocket and placed it in the blue waters of the creek. “Now, watch it float.”

  She did without any question. Our boat sailed faster but we kept our eyes glued on the green leaf, as far as we could. The small leaf floated slowly but steadily, occasionally hitting some obstacle but then making its way past it. It didn’t stop moving even for a moment.

  Finally when we came too far to see even a glimpse of it, I spoke. “You see, time is like this river, flowing at its own pace, waiting and stopping for none. But it is not just time that keeps moving, the very nature of life is to push forward. Obstacles might block the way, the current might pull it back but life flows only in its own discretion. It pauses, learns ways to get over those barriers and then resumes its journey forward.” I paused.

  Our boat ride was at its last lap and I could see the little boat harbor where this journey was supposed to end. I hastened with my words. “Steve is that leaf in the stream of time. Don’t worry, he will learn and survive and,” I paused and stared into her eyes, “and you will have to do the same.”

  Our boat stopped at the bay. Slowly we walked up the stairs and I could see the little effect my words had on her. She looked at me and passed a sweet smile. The smile dazzled on her lips, illuminating her entire face like a cascade of diamonds.

  “The smile looks so beautiful on your face, Ameline — ”

  “Amy. Call my Amy,” the smile widened. “Now I believe Steve is fine. Wherever he is. We just haven’t done everything to find him, that’s it. But we will.”

  From Miss Johnston to Ameline and now Amy, gradually I was rising in importance in her life. She trusted me more now, depended on me more. And I wanted to say her thank you for making me a person good enough to be trusted, but something held me back.

  My fingers were still embedded inside hers. I wrapped them tighter. Her skin was not the soothing cold as when I first touched her, instead it was burning with fever. I took a glimpse on the red spots on her arms and now face also. Yesterday there was only a few but now it covered her entire skin, spreading fast.

  That very moment, I felt a determination seeding inside me. I must compel her to live, for her sake and for my sake as well.

  “You should go back,” I said, looking away from her.

  She paused, and shot a perplexed look at me. “Go back to your world, Amy” I repeated.

  ***

  “Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.” ―William James

  None of us had a good sleep in the night, so when the first ray of sun was out next morning both of us were out of our beds. I knocked on her room. After keeping me waiting for five minutes, she came out dressed in a sweet yellow top and blue jeans. It was another morning, another morning when she mourned to see her brother and another morning when I failed to fulfill her desires.

  “I wish our world was like this. Blue sky, clear sunlight and blue rivers and these dancing herons — I wish I could see these ever again,” she said without any emotion, as she looked far away. From our roof one could see the creek at a distance, taking soft curves and dissecting the city.

  I turned to her instantly. It took me a moment to get inside her words and then a sharp pain stung my heart. “Thank you for listening to me.” Finally she had agreed to go back, last night I had to do so many things to convince her. At least she understood. It’d break me, kill me from inside I knew, but it was only through these little sacrifices we make, that we can ensure a better life for our love.

  I knew this now.

  “I have one last thing to do,” she said. Her eyes were watery, she blinked hard to keep the tears at bay. “Let’s go to your room,” she said and I followed her. Not saying a word more, she took my laptop and started it with ease without knowing the password and I sat watching her and wondering about her abilities and her world in 2921. “It’s a simple hack for me,” she said without taking her eyes off the screen.

  I frowned. Not the first time that she read my mind.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Making sure that you won’t ever forget me,” she said and I figured her smiling. I peeped into the laptop screen, which showed a large bunch of equations and figures. What the hell!

  “I’m writing down everything I knew about the mysteries of space and time. The Unified Field theory. In these 800 years, we’ve developed this theory and I think I’ll leave this information at your hand. The foundation of Unified theory was the turning point in our history.”

  “What I’ve seen in these few days, this world is lagging in so many departments. You’ve to improve the life of these people,” she continued.

  “What? Me?”

  “Yes, you.” She turned to me, her gaze penetrated deep into my body. “It will take time but you need to become their hope and my hope as well.”

  I said nothing. Mom said it was time for me to take responsibilities but then I hardly knew it’d be this huge. This sudden burden seemed to be too much for me. “But always remember one thing,” she said, stressing on each syllable to increase the gravity of her words. “Don’t let your world turn into mine. I am entrusting you with these responsibilities, hoping you will take care of them like you did of me.”

  “But why me?”

  “Because I trusted you then and I trust you now.”

  “Why did you trust me in the first place?” I stared at her, slowly easing in the situation. “You didn’t even know me when your machine crashed here.”

  “No, I didn’t know you but still you saved my life. And this time at least, I had to trust someone. And your hazel green eyes, they sure do look dependable.”

  Me and loyal? I was famous for not being one, she didn’t know the Raymond I was but surely I’ll try to be the Raymond she thinks she knows. And that I promised to myself that very moment. “Now, tell me about your world,” I changed the topic willingly.

  “Heartless and mechanic,” she replied without looking up. “We have one-tenth the population as of here and we all live inside a huge biosphere dome. Outside it is the dead and decayed Earth — destroyed buildings and farms, harmful radiations and high intensity ultraviolet rays. This is our world, where people wa
ke up and go to sleep at exact minutes and live and die only to do their part allotted by the government.”

  Now I realized why she had those rashes and fever. Coming from an artificial biosphere weather it was impossible to adapt under real heat of the Sun, no specie can adapt in three days. “We are far-developed and advanced,” she continued, “but the only thing we lack is life.”

  “Oh!” That was what I could say in return.

  “Science is to improve lives, not to turn man into machines” she said. “That’s the reason why building a time machine was my dream and Steve’s too. I wanted to see if our past was as bad as it is now, as lifeless as we are now.”

  “But why did your brother came here and not you? Even if he did why can’t he return on his own in his own?”

  “It was an accident. He was just testing it,” she greeted her teeth. “I should have been in his place. I should…” her voice trailed off.

  “He can’t come back on his own even if the machine is still with him,” she said, finally looking up. “There’s one thing I didn’t tell you.”

  “So, you’ve been keeping secrets from me?” I raised my brow into an arch. Well, I had too and probably a bigger one.

  “You know the biggest problem in travelling back in time?”

  “The Grandfather paradox. When the time traveler goes back in time and kills his grandfather before his grandfather meets his grandmother, as a result, the time traveler is never born. But, if he was never born, then he is unable to travel through time and kill his grandfather, which means the traveler would then be born after all, and so on…”

  “Correct. The answer to this is Parallel Universe. There are an infinite number of such Universes, lying parallel to each other. You never end up in the same Universe when you travel in time, so that your actions don’t affect the history and the paradox is maintained,” she said in a single breath.