The Last Time Traveler

by Aaron J. Ethridge

  “This is,” Robert replied, pulling a brain scanner from his backpack. “I've got the mind of the man that locked this door backed up on this.”

  “That's your big plan,” Cleo laughed. “There's no way that's going to work, Rob!”

  “Why not?” Morgan asked.

  “Explain it to him, dear,” the traveler replied. “Then I can tell you why you're wrong.”

  “Well Morgan,” she began, “Even assuming that Rob backed up this guy's entire mind...”

  “Which I did,” Robert interrupted.

  “It's merely a collection of data, personality traits, processing abilities, etc. Now, we could use that information to make a clone that acted exactly like this guy, but not one that thought just like him. The software that simulates how the man behaves works as an interface between the information that was his mind and the software that is the clone's mind. And that means, that even if the clone gave you the exact same answers the brain patterns would be completely different. That's because it's not thought, but simulated thought.”

  “So far, so right,” Robert nodded. “So then why won't my plan work?”

  “Because,” she said turning her gaze to him, “that scanner's only going to be able to simulate thinking, not think!”

  “Right!”

  “And that means it won't open the door!”

  “Right!”

  “Then what am I wrong about, Rob?”

  “Oh,” the traveler chuckled. “You're just wrong about me not being able to use it to open the door.”

  “...What?”

  “I mean,” he replied with a devilish grin, “that I plan to upload this guy's mind into Morgan's brain. And then he will be able to think just like him.”

  “Two things, Rob,” she replied, very obviously excited and clearly getting angry, “that probably won't work, but it will positively kill Morgan!”

  “I knew it!” Morgan replied, throwing his hands up. “I mean, I knew it! I'm just crewman number six! Why else would this hero from the future show up out of nowhere and drag me through space and time just to gawk at the most beautiful women that ever lived?”

  “Morgan...” Robert began.

  “Save it, Rob!” the young man yelled. “Save it for the next moron. Who knows how many you're going to need to go through before you're done. Either way, I told you I was glad you got me and I was willing to die for it! Well, I meant it! Mainly because I'm not a liar! Anyway, just hit me with the brain ray so I can open the door and you guys can get out of here!”

  “Will you please listen to me, Morgan?” Robert asked gently.

  “Et tu Robert...”

  “Don't talk like that,” the traveler chuckled, “you're going to make me laugh.”

  “I admit,” Doc replied, standing up to his full height and crossing his arms, “I don't see the joke this time, Robert.”

  “Okay...” Robert said throwing his hands in the air. “Let's go. Y'all done made me mad now.”

  “Hold on, boss,” Vox said, his brows knitted. “I want to hear what you got to say whether or not Morgan does.”

  “I'm not saying anything if he's not gonna listen,” Robert replied shaking his head.

  “I'm listening, Rob,” Morgan sighed, “I ain't believing, but I'm listening.”

  “Morgan,” the traveler said, stepping over to stare into the young man's eyes, “do you remember when I told you I spent years looking for you?”

  “I remember that lie,” he nodded. “Yes.”

  “Well, the more specific truth is that I spent centuries searching for you.”

  “Right...”

  “Well obviously I don't mean twenty-four seven man! And I wasn't alone. But we were searching for you for centuries.”

  “Why?”

  “Ah,” Robert smiled, “that's the real question, Morgan. Why? Why are you here? If I needed a moron, bro, I could have picked one up on the island. Morons are another thing the universe is replete with. I didn't need a moron, I needed you.”

  “Same difference,” the young man replied.

  As this point Azure stepped over and took Morgan by the hand, tears in her eyes.

  “No,” the traveler sighed, “not at all. Do you know why you only use five percent of your brain's potential, Morgan?”

  “Yes,” the young man nodded. “I'm the stupidest man that ever lived. In fact, Doc was actually able to prove that medically.”

  “No, Morgan,” Robert replied. “You're wrong again. The fact is that the machine measures the difference between brain use and brain potential. You're not any less intelligent that the average person from your time period.”

  “Really?” Morgan asked.

  “Of course!” the traveler exclaimed. “A person of average potential that only used five percent of it wouldn't be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, man! The reason you only use about five percent of your potential is because you have just over twice the brain potential of almost every human that ever lived!”

  “Really?”

  “Yes you idiot!” Robert replied. “Why in the universe would I have dragged you all over space and time, gone to the effort to train you and get you experience, given you cash, cologne, MREs, and whatever else if all I needed was a living human brain?!?! Plus man, we're friends! Well... I thought we were!”

  “Don't be like that, man,” Morgan said, gazing into his friend's eyes. “It's just that all of you are so remarkable! It's hard to understand why in the universe we are friends. I'm a nothing, man!”

  “You're a hero, you moron!” the traveler screamed in his face. “I've seen you charge a nano-zombie with nothing but a baseball bat, you've crept into the arms of death with us and helped us fight our way out, and you’ve used your body as a shield to save a friend! What is wrong with you?!?! Why can't you see what we see?!?! Even if you really were a complete and total idiot, which you're not, I would still be your friend! And if we weren't in the middle of the most important mission we've had so far I would seriously punch you right in the face!”

  “Sorry, Rob,” Morgan replied slowly nodding his head. “So, seriously, I have more potential than most people?”

  “No, Morgan,” Robert sighed, his breathing heavy and his brow covered in sweat. “No, you have more potential that anyone who ever lived up this point in time.”

  “Even you?”

  “Yeah,” the traveler chuckled, wiping his forehead with his hand, “even me. Of course, even if you live to be a billion years old you still won't be as intelligent as I am. But you really do have more potential. And potential counts, Morgan. Plus you're like seven inches taller than me.”

  “You're right,” Morgan replied with a smile. “Potential does count. And it's probably more like seven-and-a-half inches, but in principle you're right either way.”

  “So,” the traveler sighed, trying to get his breathing and his disposition back to normal, “that's why I brought you here, Morgan. It would probably kill me if I put this guy's mind in my head, but your brain can handle what almost amounts to two minds at once.”

  “But even so, love,” Cleo said softly, “there's no way he'll be able to control it.”

  “Yes there is,” he replied. “Right, Doc?”

  “At least in theory,” Doc agreed. “Robert and I did a great deal of work on that... oh maybe fifty or even seventy-five years ago now. And we did manage to develop a number of techniques that would make it possible. Robert even managed to succeed in some very simple tests with the minds of apes.”

  “Okay...” she replied. “But Morgan doesn't know how to do that.”

  “Yes he does” the traveler smiled. “Sister programmed him with everything I learned on the subject within minutes of him coming to Never Never Land.”

  “No she didn't,” Morgan replied. “She only programmed me for common. Well, that and she dumped some memories I didn't need.”

  “Exactly,” Robert said, the devilish grin returning to his face. “And one of the memories you didn't nee
d was agreeing to do all this before we ever started.”

  “What?” the young man asked, a look of sincere confusion on his face.

  “Morgan,” the traveler chuckled. “One of my life philosophies is never let people know more than they need to.”

  “That's true!” Cleo, Vox, and Doc all exclaimed simultaneously.

  “What good would it have done you to know that this moment was why you had come with me?”

  “Well...”

  “No,” Robert interrupted. “That was a rhetorical question, Morgan. Let me give you a few possibilities: You might have gotten more and more nervous the closer we got to this. You may have started feeling like I was just using you. You might have started obsessing over what your role in the team was. You might have even started to get egotistical over your potential.”

  “And we sure don't need more ego,” Vox chuckled.

  “Right,” the traveler nodded. “I get to have all the ego.”

  “So what did happen with Sister?”

  “A few things,” Robert replied. “First off, we programmed you for common and cleared out some memories, just like you remember. However, what you don't remember is me explaining this part of the mission to you and what you would have to do to make it happen. You also don't remember Sister clearing out even more memories we decided you didn't need or being programmed to be like an information sponge when it came to anything about the mission...”

  “What do you mean?” the young man asked.

  “Morgan,” the traveler laughed, “didn't ever strike you as odd that before you met me you had a hard time keeping Merry and Pippin straight in your head, but afterward you could remember completely unfamiliar planet names flawlessly...”

  “They were actually French foods,” Morgan interjected.

  “I know that, Morgan,” Robert replied. “But isn't it just a little weird that you never got Bouillabaisse and Escargot mixed up?”

  “Well now that you mention it...”

  “Or how about the fact that you've been able to remember conversations we had from day one almost verbatim?”

  “Yeah... that was kind of odd.”

  “That's what I'm telling you, Morgan,” the traveler replied. “We prepped you for this mission and then erased the memory of us doing it. And there is one thing I really want you to understand!”

  “What's that?”

  “You agreed to do all of this on day one! You've been a hero since the day we met! You agreed not only to risk your life doing this, but also to go in blindfolded, putting your life literally in my hands.”

  “How did you convince me to do that?”

  “Well I lied a little...”

  “Obviously!” Morgan interrupted.

  “You really wanted to do it, Morgan,” the traveler replied. “You were just nervous about the memory wipe. So, I simply told you that the machine detected a heart condition that might give you a heart-attack if you knew what you had to do. And I also assured you that when the moment of truth came Doc would be right there with a defibrillator.”

  “And I bought that?”

  “Well... to be fair you didn't know me as well as you do now. If I had to do it to you again I would have to think up a slightly better lie.”

  “Yeah,” Morgan nodded. “I can see that... So, either way, I actually know how to do what I'm supposed to do?”

  “You do.”

  “And I can do it?”

  “If you can't, then it really can't be done.”

  “Let's do it,” Morgan said with complete resolve.

  “Morgan,” the traveler smiled, “you really are a hero!”

  Instantly Robert began punching buttons on the brain scanner. Seconds later two minds were in the young man's head.

  “What's it like?” Azure asked.

  “Confusing,” the young man replied, his breathing quick and shallow, “and painful... Let's hurry, Rob.”

  Immediately Robert led the young man over the vault's retinal interface and initiated it.

  “Remember, Morgan,” the traveler said softly, “use his mind, not yours.”

  Seconds ticked by that seemed like eons before one of the five displays above the vault door filled with an image.

  “What does that mean?” Cleo asked.

  “No idea,” Robert whispered. “But it means something to the man's mind in Morgan's head.”

  One symbol after another followed in rapid succession and finally the door unlocked.

  “I don't believe it!” Cleo exclaimed. “Rob, you really are a genius!”

  “I guess I am,” he agreed, restoring Morgan's mind to normal with the scanner, “but so is my boy here! Better?”

  “Much,” Morgan said with a sigh of relief. “I felt like I was about to go nuts... What's next?”

  “Just cleanup,” the traveler replied.

  He then pulled a grenade from his side, activated it, and tossed it in the vault beside the prototype time drive. Instantly he sealed the vault door again. Seconds later the entire room shook with the force of an explosion.

  “What was that?” the young man asked.

  “You remember thermal detonators from Star Wars?”

  “Of course!”

  “Well that makes a thermal detonator look like a firecracker.”

  “So you blew up the prototype?”

  “Sure,” the traveler nodded. “Another of my life philosophies is never climb into a vault sealed with the Enigma Code.”

  “Well,” the young man said, his mouth hanging open in disbelief, “how are we going to replace it now that you've blown it up?”

  “Oh,” Robert chuckled. “We'll just replace it with a completely identical and fully functioning counterfeit, man. What difference does it make? It's not like the creator is going to check to see if his prototype has become a fake all the sudden.”

  “Knowing you like I do I find it hard to believe that my mind didn't just leap to that conclusion...”

  “I know,” the traveler nodded. “But it's been a long day for you.”

  “It has... Let's get out of here!”

  All six of the party switched on their stealth fields and exited the base with the same timing and precision they had used to enter it. As a result the car was once again parked in the ship just minutes later without any complications.

  “Well,” Robert said with a sigh of satisfaction, “In about a day and a half a large group of military scientists are going to be very surprised.”

  “I'm sorry I doubted you, Rob,” Cleo said, smiling at him.

  “Oh that's alright,” he chuckled. “Sometimes I really am just about too good to be true.”

  “But not overly humble,” she observed.

  “Well, no,” he admitted. “I don't think you'll ever have to worry about me being all eat up with humility.”

  “So I guess that's it then,” Morgan said, as he and Robert marched toward the bridge side by side.

  “Almost, bro,” the traveler nodded. “We still have a little cleanup to do but...”

  “No,” the young man said shaking his head. “I mean I guess I've done my job, now. So, what happens next?”

  Robert brought the band to a halt, turned to face his friend, grabbed him by the shoulders, and looked him dead in the eyes.

  “Morgan,” he said, his voice almost stern, “you are a long way from done your job. We're saving the universe, man! How many times do I have to tell you that you're an essential member of one of the most elite teams ever assembled in history! Unless of course you're trying to tell me that you're resigning...”

  “No, sir!” Morgan said, snapping to attention and giving the traveler a salute. “Not at all, sir!”

  “Awesome, bro,” Robert said with a wide smile. “Because I want everybody to know that I really love hanging out with you, man.”

  “I'm glad,” the young man chuckled, “because I really love hanging out with you too.”

  “Of course you do, boy!” the traveler exclaimed. “I'm R
obert Nathaniel Hood, son!”

  “Yeah,” the young man nodded. “I guess you kinda are...”

  Chapter 16: All's Well That End's Well

  “Check the time-lines, please, Cleo,” Robert said the moment the party reached the bridge.

  “Yes, sir,” she smiled, dropping into her seat and punching buttons on the console. “It looks like that did it. There were a number of arrests and inquests to determine how, or even if, the vault had been broken into. In the end they concluded that the time drive itself had exploded without external influence. As a result the damage was undone and the reputation of the Enigma Code remained intact.”

  “Perfect,” the traveler said, his eyes sparkling. “Now to drop off our fake drive before heading back to Never Never Land for yet another disability!”

  “You already had the duplicate prepped?” Morgan asked.

  “Are you kidding me, man?” the traveler replied. “Do you know who I am?”

  “You're Robert Nathaniel Hood!”

  “And you're big, bad, Morgan Harker! Now let's wrap this thing up!”

  A few hours later they had dropped off their duplicate time-drive and un-heart-attacked its creator. They then made straight for Never Never Land and blew-up-afied Delmont's beautiful time machine one last time.

  “What have we got, love?” the traveler asked, his eyes turned to Cleo.

  “It worked!” she almost screamed with excitement. “Time moved forward seven seconds!”

  Four of the six companions cheered wildly. To Morgan and Azure, however, this didn't seem such an obvious victory.

  “We did all that for seven seconds?” Morgan asked, a disappointed tone in his voice.

  “Well, no,” Robert chuckled. “Not exactly. We did all that to get time to move at all, Morgan. It's been a long time since that's happened. And it means this is working! We couldn't be sure that it would until we'd actually accomplished something. But now that we have, we know this will work. That's a huge victory for us.”

  “But seven seconds?” the young man replied. “Shouldn't undoing all this have undone Delmont's time-bomb? Well... not time bomb, but you know what I mean...”