“I’m starting to understand,” Belle said, nodding.
He slipped her the one sheet agreement and watched as she read it.
Damn she was stunning and smart and clearly in shape. She carefully read the short document twice, then shrugged and looked up at him. “Nothing I can see wrong at all.”
“I could find nothing wrong with it either,” Zane said. “And that’s the only document. No other agreements at all. You just can’t tell anyone at all what you see and experience here.”
A hundred years in the future, the agreement was still almost identical. It seemed the institute never had needed more.
She took a pen that was lying on the desk near her and signed the nondisclosure and dated it.
Zane quickly made a copy of it and put the copy in an envelope and handed it back to her. He put the original in a tray labeled with Director Parks’ name.
“It will take me just a minute to get you into the system and print out your card,” Zane said.
He turned to the computer so that she was to his right, and then as he went, he asked her a number of questions, including the exact spelling of her name, emergency contact numbers, her cell phone number, and so on. He could feel her sitting there watching him and he honestly liked that.
After about two minutes, he went back over the simple form to make sure he hadn’t missed anything, then hit print.
To one side of the dining room behind his desk, a hidden printer started up. He stood and went to it and got her an institute ID card. It was the size of a credit card and had nothing but the letters HRI in gold script on one side and her name printed under the large initials. The backside of the card was blank, not even a bar code or scanning code.
He went back to his desk and handed it to her. “That’s the golden key to everything. I’ll show you how it works as we go. If it wears out or you lose it, we can easily get you a new one right here.”
She looked at it for a moment. “I think I have said before that I am beyond stunned.”
“I know the feeling exactly,” Zane said. And he did. He remembered sitting there looking at his institute card in the same way. “So let me direct until you get your feet back under you.”
“Direct away,” she said, smiling.
“First, we take your rental car back to the airport,” he said. “Then we show you an apartment I am sure you are going to love and get you moved out of the hotel.”
“I love the sounds of that,” she said.
“And at some point we’ll come back here and give you a tour of this place,” Zane said, deciding to leave that until she was far more settled.
She glanced around at the big front room of the mansion. “I would like that very much.”
If she was stunned at getting free room and food and transportation, she was really going to be shocked to learn about the three massive floors under this building that were the real heart of the institute.
Zane stood and indicated Belle should come with him to the front door. “We’re headed out, Director,” Zane called up the stairs.
But Director Parks didn’t answer. More than likely he was on the phone or had gone out the back or down under the building.
You just never knew around here, the way people were coming and going all the time. It was an amazing place.
And now, with Belle here as well, it had just gotten even better.
CHAPTER FIVE
June 9th, 2020
Boise, Idaho
BELLE HAD ZANE drive her rental car through the morning traffic back out to the airport. She had only been inside the institute for an hour and she had a hunch that hour was going to change her life. And that had her somewhat rattled.
As they got going, it was clear Zane was a great driver, and not in any hurry at all. He gave her a running tour of Boise on the way out Capitol Boulevard, past the old Union Pacific Train station that sat on a hill facing the Capitol building. He clearly had grown to love the town after coming here from New York for the institute.
He said he missed New York more than he wanted to admit at times, but the lifestyle of Boise was growing on him.
She had no doubt she was going to miss the San Francisco area this summer as well. But unlike Zane, she planned to go back in the fall. Zane said he planned on staying right here for as long as he could imagine doing research.
When she looked at him funny, he laughed and said, “You’ll understand why shortly. As I said, the library and facilities are beyond belief. And the living is mostly free.”
“I’m still having a hard time grasping that,” she said.
“Still knocks me down at times as well,” he said, laughing.
They dropped off her rental car and caught a cab back to an apartment complex near the river.
Actually, from what little she could see of it, the complex looked far, far more upscale than any apartment complex she had ever seen. In fact, she had no doubt this was a high-level condominium complex built next to the river.
He paid for the cab as they climbed out in the shaded parking lot of the complex. She thanked him and he just said it was no big deal.
“But wait until you see this place,” he said, indicating she should follow him toward buildings hidden among pine and oak and willow trees and among flower beds filled with various flowers of different colors.
It was now almost eleven and the sun was warming up the air and making the sweatshirt just too much.
She pulled it off and tucked it under her arm as they walked along a winding sidewalk. From what she could tell, each building was made of dark-painted wood and were two stories like a suburban home, only with fences and trees between each building. It quickly became clear that each building was only one unit.
The parking lot for the building had very few cars in it and spread for a long distance along the buildings. And the buildings seemed to be scattered and staggered along a hillside over the river so that each one would have a private deck to sit and look out over the river.
“My place is building #8,” Zane said, pointing to the right as they reached a junction in the wide sidewalk and turned away from where he had pointed. “I booked you into building #14 if you want to take it.”
“I thought you said these were apartments,” she said, shaking her head at the beauty and tranquility of walking under the trees past the well-maintained lawns and shrubs and private two-story homes.
“Surprise number four,” he said, laughing. “But that’s what everyone at the institute calls these places. I kid you not.”
“Places like this would rent in my area for far more than my annual salary,” she said as they turned on a private sidewalk leading under more trees and to a building.
“They wouldn’t be cheap in this city either,” Zane said. “But the institute wants us researchers to be comfortable in all ways while we work.”
“I’m still dreaming,” she said. “But promise me you won’t pinch me and wake me up.”
“I’d be afraid I would wake myself up,” Zane said, reaching the large carved wood front door and stepping aside.
She looked at him, puzzled.
“Your card opens your door,” he said. “Mine wouldn’t work here.”
She fumbled at her small tablet carrier and pulled out the institute card, its gold letters over her name seeming to glow.
“Face up,” Zane said and pointed to an almost unseen slot beside the door. “Slide it in and take it out.”
She did as Zane said and heard a click.
Zane indicated she should go in.
She tucked her key back in her bag and pushed the large carved wood door open and stepped inside.
The entryway was about the size of a small bedroom and had brown stone floors, tall ceilings, and a large mirror on one wall across from a closet clearly used for coats and boots.
There was also a bench and a stand to put keys and such with fresh flowers on the stand.
An archway from the entry area showed a sunken furnished living roo
m, a massive stone fireplace to one side, and a view out over the river that was worth more than Belle wanted to think about.
“Welcome home, Dr. Russell,” a soft female voice said. “Welcome Dr. Thomas. If there is anything I can get for either of you, please just ask.”
“Thank you, Goldie,” Zane said.
She looked at Zane as the door behind them closed automatically with a click.
“The complex is called The Gold Rush Village,” Zane said, smiling. “So the computer that looks out for all of our places we all call Goldie.”
“Not monitored or recorded in here?” Belle asked, suddenly worried.
“I was worried about the same thing at first,” Zane said. “So I had a tech guy at the institute who was here before me and also lives here, run me through the system. If you ask for something to be done or shout for help, you will get a response. Otherwise there are no cameras, no recording devices, nothing. Just a computer system guarding us all and taking care of the houses.”
“Wow,” she said. “Yet another surprise.”
“We’re just getting started,” Zane said, laughing.
And for some reason, that was starting to worry her.
CHAPTER SIX
June 9th, 2020
Boise, Idaho
ZANE LET BELLE explore her new home while he sat in one of the big cloth chairs in the living room. The ceiling in here was high, with wide windows looking out over the river beyond.
There were three large overstuffed chairs, a love seat, and a couch in the living room, with a stone fireplace dominating one side of the room. Everything, including the soft carpet and drapes, was done in various brown tones that seemed to complement the wood trim and the dark wood deck beyond the window.
After a few minutes, Belle joined him, coming back down the open wood staircase and going through the living room and to the state-of-the-art kitchen on the other side of the living room.
She didn’t say a word.
Zane doubted there was much she could say.
The kitchen had a counter with bar stools. The counter was open and looked out over the living room. A polished wood dining table with four chairs was tucked to one side of the kitchen in an alcove with windows that also looked out at the river.
The granite counters seemed to match the stone of the fireplace and the cabinets were also a light brown.
This place was almost identical to his place, just flipped so that his kitchen was on the other side.
Finally Belle came down the two steps into the sunken living room and dropped into a chair beside him facing the river. He just stared at her beautiful face and long brown hair and trim body as she looked out over the river.
He let the silence just last, since more than likely she needed time to gather her thoughts.
Finally, she looked away from the view and turned in her chair to face him. “You are saying this place is mine to use while I am doing my research?”
“It is,” he said, doing his best to not get lost in her wonderful gaze. “I’ve added some personal details to my place and some pictures of caves I have explored and such on the walls, but past that my place looks almost the same as here.”
“Why three bedrooms?” she asked.
Zane shrugged. “Guess if you have guests or something. Each bedroom in mine has its own bathroom.”
“Yeah, up there as well,” she said, pointing up to where the three bedrooms were. “So what’s the limits on staying here?”
He shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t think there are any, but you could ask Director Parks. I’ll be going on a year this fall and never thought to ask him, to be honest.”
She nodded and looked back at the river.
“So you like it?” he asked. “Would you want to live here while doing your research? The main library is about a half mile along the path, up river to the right.”
“I like it more than I want to think about liking it,” she said. “I’ve been trained to think that something too good to be real usually is too good to be real.”
Zane nodded. He understood that completely. There was no doubt she was concerned about the funding of all this and sooner, rather than later, she was going to need a real explanation of the money behind the institute.
“I decided that until they dropped the other shoe,” Zane said, “I was going to take advantage of the opportunity to work on my next book.”
“So why were you working the front desk?” she asked, turning again to face him.
“Honestly,” he said, “Director Parks said he needed people with credentials to greet new arriving guests. I am free to research from a computer there, and since only about three people a week come through the door, it didn’t get in the way at all. And he pays me more than I would make teaching for sitting there for fifteen or so hours per week.”
“Wow,” she said, laughing. “And it makes sense, actually. It sure impressed me when someone of your credentials greeted me.”
“Now you’re just blowing smoke,” he said laughing and trying not to show how happy he was that she thought he was impressive. “No one usually knows anything about me or my work. So you must be a fan of caving.”
She looked into his eyes and nodded. “Very much, but haven’t had the time or the money to do much besides a few tourist caves.”
“Maybe that can change,” he said.
He then stood. “Let’s go get you checked out of that hotel and your stuff back here and then get some lunch.”
“Going to need to buy food and things like that later on,” she said, as she stood as well.
“Grocery store about a block down the river. Your institute card gets you anything you want there for free.”
“You have got to be kidding me?” she asked. Then she laughed. “I am saying that a lot, aren’t I?”
“I am not kidding,” he said. “I agree that this all seems to be too good to be true. But so far, it is true.”
“Wow, does this place have some serious funding or what,” she said, following Zane toward the door.
That he could not disagree with.
And when she discovered why, it would make sense.
If she accepted that time travel existed.
CHAPTER SEVEN
June 9th, 2020
Boise, Idaho
BELLE SAT ACROSS a wooden table from Zane in the moderately crowded Brooks Garden Restaurant just after noon. Around them plants and wooden barriers gave each table a sense of privacy even though the place was full of people taking lunch breaks from their offices. The high ceilings and the barriers and enough plants and small trees to start a greenhouse kept the noise down.
She instantly loved the place more than she wanted to admit. The smell of garlic and fresh baking bread seemed to just drift between the trees and plants and made her mouth water. She was hungry, more than she had thought.
“This place seems great,” Belle said as they got seated. “And it smells wonderful.”
“One of my favorite places,” Zane said. “It takes the institute card as well without so much as a blink of the eye. But it’s the longest walk from the institute of any of the restaurants that take the card, but that I don’t mind.”
“So how do you keep in shape here for the caving while you are doing the research?” she asked, staring into his dark eyes.
He shrugged. “That path along the river is wide and a fantastic running path, so I try to get out running most days for a few miles. Clears out the cobwebs on the research problems. And I do a lot of walking. And the apartment complex has a weight room I use a few times a week. How about you?”
“I try to run every day,” she said. “And I think I’m going to enjoy the fewer hills here.”
A waiter came and took their order, then she and Zane chatted about their research and the books they were working on until lunch was served. Belle had ordered a Cobb salad and fresh, soft breadsticks came with that smothered in butter. The salad was larger than anyone could ever eat alone, but she was so hungr
y, she planned on making a decent dent in it.
Zane ordered a chef’s salad and it was just as big, if not bigger.
“So do you enjoy teaching?” Zane asked.
She shrugged. “It’s a job and they let me alone to do research on my off time. But it swallows a lot of time and energy. I wish my books would just pay my way at some point.”
Zane looked up from his salad at that, slightly surprised. “I would have guessed you enjoyed it.”
“Oh, I did for the first few years,” she said. “But all my attention is on the books now. And working on the genetics and genealogy side of things. That’s really starting to become important to me, so I get distracted.”
“Know that feeling,” Zane said, nodding.
After a moment of silence as they ate, Zane glanced up at her again. “Mind if I ask a personal question?”
“Since we’re going to be researching my family together,” she said, laughing, “I don’t think any question is off limits.”
Besides, she really wanted to get to know Zane and she wanted him to get to know her as well. She had only met him this morning, but she could tell already the attraction was very real.
“You married or have a boyfriend?” Zane asked, then quickly went back to eating.
“Nope,” she said, laughing and happy that he had asked that question bluntly. “I was serious for a few years with a guy after I started teaching, but that’s been over for a few years now. Never married. How about you?”
“Married once,” he said. “Way back in undergrad. No kids. The marriage lasted a couple of bumpy years before we decided to go back to being friends. Now I’m an eccentric uncle to her two kids with her second husband.”
Belle was thrilled that he was single. And he seemed to be pretty happy that she was as well. She decided to just take a more direct approach.
“So when your babysitting duties with me are finished, are there rules at the institute about researchers fraternizing?”
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