The Garden

by Craig W. Turner

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were thinking about this?” he said, knowing full well that he didn’t tell her half of what he was thinking the last week, either.

  She smiled. “Because I knew Robert had something in store for you, and it would have been impossible to have one conversation without the other.”

  Keegan nodded. “Well, I’m happy for you. Happy for all of us, I guess. Right?”

  “Absolutely,” Robert said in agreement.

  “So, where’s our next mission?” Keegan asked, looking at Robert.

  He laughed. “You tell me, Team Leader.”

  Keegan looked at Claire and finally allowed himself to smile. “When do you start at your new job? Because I’m thinking our next mission is… On a beach, somewhere.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Claire said, reaching over to squeeze his hand. Which felt really nice.

  “You lovebirds figure that out on your own time,” Robert said, pointing at his menu. “My next mission is these ribs.”

  Keegan shook his head. “There’s an Adam and Eve joke in there somewhere, but I can’t – oh, wait…”

  The waiter returned just in time to save them from the punchline.

  CHAPTER 91

  Landon turned his head to the side as the tech strapped a microphone to the lapel of his suit coat. There was always this awkward interaction before any interview, where someone he didn’t know would have to pin the device to him. He didn’t like being touched, ever, and often wondered why, if he was on set to talk about molecular physics, he couldn’t be trusted to connect his own microphone. But this was how the routine and, once the tech finished, he settled into his chair.

  It had taken Landon by surprise when Keegan had visited his apartment unannounced. He’d found that coming down from the excitement of his first few days on the job, and the subsequent trip to Washington and back, had left him craving rest, so for the following few days he’d afforded himself the luxury of early nights, which was unusual for him. He was three-quarters of the way through a novel, another rarity, when the tone had rung through his flat that someone, Keegan, was at the door. And while the visit wasn’t surprising on its own, since he still hadn’t officially been welcomed to SATP in a formal way, what Keegan had wanted to discuss with him had caught him off-guard.

  Keegan, as he’d outlined for him, still surrounded by unopened boxes, had been promoted to team leader after Robert’s ascension to director of SATP, a move Landon thought was a good one. Keegan’s selflessness through the Eden mission had demonstrated a high class of leadership – one that Landon was more than willing to follow. In fact, he’d been contemplating just how smart the move was for the program when his new team leader had asked him if he’d be willing to take on the role of spokesperson.

  After a moment of incredulousness, Landon leapt at the opportunity – before realizing that it would likely mean more time travel missions. Though, he’d already been thinking that, after successfully taking on about the most aggressive time travel mission possible, his fears had somewhat subsided. It didn’t necessarily mean he was anxious to suit up again, but that the next time he was forced into the situation, it wouldn’t be filled with panic and dread.

  It was a tremendous honor for him, of course, but Keegan’s offer had raised a host of questions about the rest of the team, and how he’d jumped to the lead. Claire, he learned, was retiring to go into teaching. Amy, similar to how Keegan described himself, was more interested in the science, and didn’t consider herself a strong public speaker anyway. But Keegan had told him that, despite any assumptions he’d made about his acceptance to the program being based on some research paper, it had been his unique combination of science and presentation skills that had won him the job. The new role was simply a manifestation of the confidence they had in him.

  So, here he was, sitting in the studio, waiting to begin his third interview of the day, this one with the Global Science Network. His chair was one that scientists across the planet only dreamed of occupying. He’d had a brief interview, with the rest of the team, in Greensboro after they’d returned from Washington, but this was his first sit-down as a member of SATP, and his first interaction with Charlotte Huxley, a former astrophysicist who’d made the jump into journalism and was held in high esteem for her dual skill sets. He was not nervous, but he also knew he needed to mask his enthusiasm.

  The camera crew was finishing up its prep for the interview, six holocameras positioned at 60-degree segments surrounding them, but hidden in the dark of the room. The one-on-one interview format leant itself nicely to the holographic coverage, which would be recorded and aired the following morning. Landon had already been encouraged to repeat things if he fumbled, to address Huxley and not the cameras, and to focus on interpretation, since the details of the trip – the ones they’d agreed to release – had already been widely publicized. In turn, SATP had given strict instructions for Huxley to keep the interview about the mission, and avoid any questions about the politics that had led up to it. Apparently, as he’d learned, that was something that could happen when your organization was the reason for the network’s existence. He looked up to see her smiling broadly at him.

  “How are you doing? You good?” she asked.

  He nodded to her. “Just very happy to be here, of course.”

  “You’re going to do great.” She looked at closest cameraman, who pointed at her. Landon heard her take a deep breath, so he did the same, and the conversation ensued. “Dr. Tripathi,” Huxley said, clasping her hands together, “first let me say congratulations, from the bottom of my heart. I cannot express my appreciation for what you and your team have accomplished. Time travel to the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden. I’m so thrilled to have you here today with us, and can’t wait to hear what you have to say.”

  Landon smiled. He’d been through plenty of interviews, even if none were as big as this one. “It’s my pleasure to be here,” he said.

  “You know, typically when a new representative joins SATP, we have that person on the show to introduce them to the world,” she said, then laughed. “But we never got the chance, did we? Instead, we have something more exciting to discuss. No offense intended.” She laughed again, and Landon forced out a laugh with her. “I’m know the story of how you got to Greensboro is a great one, but I don’t know if any of your stories can compare with the Garden of Eden.” She paused for a moment and composed herself, tilting her head slightly to the right as she started the real interview. “Your second day on the job, and you’re called upon by the program to undertake this mission. What did that mean to you? And with all of the work you’ve done prior to coming to SATP… Were you prepared?”

  He’d received a list of the types of questions she might ask, but Robert had coached him to be ready for anything – that Huxley liked the spontaneity of the interview process, even with the restrictions on her. “Well, I don’t know that there’s anything you can do to prepare you for something like that,” he said, feeling very natural – which was important to him, because he knew he wouldn’t be able to rise to a sufficient intellectual level without being comfortable at the outset. He also had been coached that the world knew nothing about his initial qualms about time traveling, nor his being forced into the mission, and that neither should be a part of the conversation. The past was the past. “But as far as being ready for any time travel mission so quickly, yes, my experiences in the field had prepared me. That’s from a scientific point of view, of course. I’m not a historian, or a sociologist, so my preparation was for the actual process of sending a human through space and time. Which is why the diverse make-up of the SATP team is so critical. It’s difficult to see from the outside the close-knit team that we have, but each member of the team brings different skills, different expertise and different interests to every mission. I don’t know that the program would be as successful as it has been without that diversified recruiting – something SATP’s leaders must keep in mind when replacing Dr. Dever
eaux’s extremely valuable body of work with the organization.”

  “You leave SATP and moments later you’re standing in a mystical garden that half of the world back home doesn’t believe exists,” Huxley said. “What could you possibly have been thinking at that moment?”

  He nodded and smiled. “I will tell you that all of our faiths were tested. There is one thing standing in front of a lecture hall and debating the existence of the Garden of Eden, and there’s another being put on the spot with the opportunity to actually find out. I would venture to say – and I hope my colleagues don’t mind me speaking for them – that even the most devout of us, facing the opportunity for a let-down, didn’t necessarily feel as though there would be light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. I’m not saying that to make judgment on anyone’s level of commitment to their religion. It’s just a fascinating phenomenon. As much of religion is based on faith, and a trust that there is a higher power, on many levels it’s a very difficult thing to remain devoted in a world where fact and truth are held in such high regard. I give people of faith very much credit for their beliefs. But, somehow, in the end we were shocked to find out that it’s easier to believe in something you have no chance of seeing or touching, than when you are afforded the opportunity to see or touch it. That’s what was going through my mind. My first thought after feeling the dew of Eden on my face. As a human being, I was hopeful. As a scientist, I was skeptical. But as a person of faith, I had serious doubts that I instantly had to deal with.”

  “You say, ‘as a person of faith,’” she continued. “You’re Hindu, are you not?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “This mission was focused on the stories of the Abrahamic religions, and on the intelligent design myths – or, I guess we’ll not be calling them myths anymore, but concepts – laid out in their ancient texts. How did that affect your interest in what you were trying to accomplish?”

  “There is a logic to exploring the Creationism story, in that it has been the world’s most debated,” he said. “And don’t forget, between Christianity, Judaism and Islam, as you said, the Abrahamic religions, realistically, we followed the lead of a good three-quarters of the world’s population. Notwithstanding, Creationism theorists of both the Old Earth and New Earth varieties have dates loosely attached to their viewpoints, which made for a target that isn’t necessarily offered by other intelligent design accounts. From a scientific standpoint, it made sense, and there was an understanding that if we didn’t find anything, we could always investigate others.”

  “But you did find something,” she said, “and for the past several days we’ve heard the account many times. The lush garden, all the beasts of the field and birds of the air as Genesis describes, the Tree of Knowledge… Now that we know, how do you think the world – today’s world – will react?”

  He smiled again, hoping through yet another interview that he wouldn’t be probed for the real details of their trip. They’d agreed among the team that they would not talk about Eve, Adam, the Serpent, the mysterious darkness, or their role in the Fall of Man. Not that they wanted to hide anything, but they knew that the world simply would not be able to deal with the aftermath. The fact that they’d been able to return to a present time relatively close to the one they’d left was nothing short of a miracle – they all acknowledged it. And they were all in agreement that “we went, we saw, and we came back” was the only viable report they should make.

  “That I can’t tell you,” he said. “That’s where you bring in the sociologist, but I believe Dr. Mulvaney is on his first vacation in about thirty years. You’ll have to ask him that question when he gets back.” They shared a laugh. Robert had been on the show more times than they could count. “What I can tell you, though, is what it means to me, and how I’ve changed. The world is different now. Not because the debate has been settled, but because I now know that a higher power exists. Do I expect everyone here in the present time to believe it? Honestly, no. But I’ve seen it. I’ve had the chance to witness it. We have spent eons in science trying to disprove that idea, and for me, now the challenge is to use science to understand why, and how, this is the reality. And, even more importantly, how we can marry the two – science and the existence of a higher power – to make the world a better, smarter and more sustainable place for all of us to live.”

  “I notice you said, ‘science and the existence of a higher power’ rather than the traditional rivals, ‘science and religion.’”

  “Yes,” he said. “This is not about religion. We have followed one specific timeline in this instance to come to these conclusions. Does that mean that those religions’ belief in a higher power is the only one with merit? I would say no. But it does give us a rallying point, rather than to perpetuate the propensity to take sides that has dominated history. My hope is that a bigger discussion ensues now. Though, I’m afraid I know humans too well.”

  “Maybe you should be a sociologist,” she said, tongue-in-cheek.

  He shook his head. “No, I’m much more interested in studying things not so complex. Like the atom.”

  “Your team’s report says that though you time-traveled exactly 10,000 years into the past, you landed just over six thousand years ago, aligning very nicely with Creationists’ timelines. What do you make of that? Where did you lose four thousand years?”

  “I’ve given a lot of thought to that, obviously – and let me preface by saying that we have not yet had the opportunity to get the team and the rest of the brilliant minds at SATP together to have this conversation, so I’m speculating here based on my own assumptions, not speaking for SATP, which will draw its own conclusions – that the phenomenon is most like what has been described by Old Earth Creationists. A situation where, while time may have begun just over 6,000 years ago, the Earth was in existence long before that. Of course, the word ‘before’ suggests time, but I’m speaking geologically. If that’s true, our decision to go back 10,000 years could have been 20 million years, and it wouldn’t have made a difference, with the very important exception of the trajectory of our time travel. Because, while there may not have been time as we know it, clearly from our successful mission, the Earth was still moving around the sun in a predictable way. Otherwise, we would have ended up… Well, I’d rather not talk about where we would have ended up, because it takes my breath away. But there is plenty of room in the Biblical account of Creation for the billions of years of the Earth’s evolution – from the life cycle of the dinosaurs to ancient rock formations to glaciers to meteors and so on – to have existed. I’m not here to say that’s the answer, and we may never have the answer… But there’s plenty for us to ponder and discuss for a while.”

  “We have to take a break in a second,” she said, having warned Landon ahead of time that there would be ‘breaks’ between ‘segments’ to allow time for some of the most expensive advertising space on the planet, “but you say, ‘you may never have the answer.’ You now know, though, how to successfully navigate to the farthest reaches of time. Won’t you go back?”

  He smiled and thought to himself for a moment, then shook his head. “No,” he said slowly. “We can’t. It’s time for a new mission.”

  CHAPTER 92

  Robert’s car pulled off the highway and onto a winding parklike road lined with palm trees. A large sign to his right welcomed him to the South Florida National Cemetery. To his left, a big blue lake reflected the southern sun.

  Though it was almost oppressively hot in West Palm Beach, he’d been cooped up on a plane for the last hour or so, and had his windows open allowing a light breeze to move through his rental car. He’d forgotten how much he liked Florida, knowing that he didn’t get away from SATP nearly enough. He’d never classified himself as a workaholic, but he also never made time for himself. And it had been a long while since he’d had a relationship with anyone, which was probably the main reason why he hadn’t taken any vacations. Five, seven… Could it have been ten years?

&nb
sp; The other reason was that he’d had the missions. There was never really the need for a “getaway.” There was no one else on the planet who, in those ten years that he’d never taken time to sit on a beach or hike a forest, had been to ancient Egypt, Colonial America, Industrial Age New York City and the Garden of Eden. When you have that kind of itinerary, there wasn’t much need to go out of your way to see the world.

  But the missions were over, and while he didn’t expect his life to slow down by any stretch of the imagination, he knew that he needed to settle in a bit. Which meant intentionally taking some time for himself, and maybe even rebuilding some of the personal relationships he’d lost along the way while catering to his own celebrity. When your entire life was SATP, where you eat, sleep, work, live and breathe the time travel program, it was easy to let weeks, months and years pass without thinking of your own needs. No matter how big a penthouse Robert had, having home and work be the same place left little room for personal renewal.

  This trip was the beginning, he thought to himself as he rounded a bend and saw thousands upon thousands of white grave markers reflecting the afternoon sun across a green, grassy background. He was doing something for himself. He reached over to the seat next to him and picked up a sheet of paper where he’d scribbled a note. “Section 59, Site 119,” he said out loud, then set the paper down. He found a directional sign that led him to the right side of a fork in the road and touched the map on the display. The car veered to the right.

  Senator O’Neill had never finished her story that she’d started that day prior to the President’s press conference, and not before the team had headed back to North Carolina, swept up into briefings, interviews and data collection. But before Andrew Reilly was an enemy, he was a friend – one of the few people with whom Robert had cultivated a long-standing and reliable relationship. So, he’d made a point of remembering that he needed to get the story from her, not knowing what to expect. When he’d finally had the opportunity to corner her several days later, he’d been pleasantly surprised at what he learned she’d been able to do. It wasn’t her actions that had surprised him – the move was typical of the kind of person the Senator was. In fact, when the media had put two-and-two together in realization that Reilly was no longer the head of SATP, O’Neill had taken full control of the situation, offering them a vague explanation of Reilly taking a new critical and confidential role within SATP (all of which was the truth), that left them with nothing to report. No, it wasn’t what she’d done that surprised him. But that it had worked.