by Darrell Pitt
Was that possible? Could it be that easy?
‘Maybe,’ Ebony said. ‘But how do we know that this future doesn’t stem from this journey?’
‘What are you saying?’ I asked her.
‘Maybe it’s not as easy as going back and making different decisions. Maybe all those decisions, including our decision to visit the future, led to this.’
‘The other future was bad enough,’ Brodie said. ‘This one’s even worse.’
‘So you’re saying none of this would have happened if I hadn’t killed James Price?’
‘Both futures are a disaster. There’s got to be something better than either of them.’
I felt miserable. ‘There must have been another way of stopping James Price,’ I said. ‘I wish I hadn’t killed him.’
‘Undoing that would be a good start,’ Dan said.
Ebony’s head jerked up. ‘That’s it.’
‘What?’ I asked.
‘We can change things! We have a time machine!’ she said. ‘We can go back and stop all this from happening.’
‘But what do we change?’ I asked.
‘What do you think?’
I swallowed. ‘But I’ve already killed James Price...’
Brodie frowned. ‘Maybe you can stop yourself from killing him,’ she said.
‘You know what Ferdy would say,’ Dan said. ‘It would be a gross violation of the space/time continuum—’
‘Sounds serious,’ Chad said.
‘—and the annihilation of all matter in every multi-verse.’
‘Okay, it sounds really serious.’
Ebony spoke up. ‘Did you actually see James Price die?’
‘No. But he was inside the building.’
‘Are you sure?’
The seed of an idea began to grow in my mind. ‘I didn’t see him die,’ I said. ‘I might be able to save him if I can get back before I destroy the house.’
Dan frowned. ‘But you can’t let you...er...your past self see your current self.’
‘I know,’ I said. ‘It would be a violation...multi-verse...thing...’
We hurried to the time machine. Climbing aboard, I adjusted the dial for five hours prior to our original departure. ‘That should give me enough time to get to James Price’s house and save him.’
I activated the machine. Once again it shuddered badly in flight as it returned to the past. We tumbled out of the craft. We had used up the temporal resonators sent with the time ship to the past. There would be no other opportunities to change history. It was this or nothing.
We ran from the cave into the light of a new day. The others started towards Liber8tor.
‘I think you guys should lay low,’ I said.
‘But we can help you,’ Brodie protested.
‘There’s already enough versions of ourselves running around. We can’t risk you running into yourselves. I’ll see you back here in twelve hours,’ I said, trying to smile. ‘Go and drink hot chocolates.’
I leapt up into the sky. Dawn broke, casting yellow fingers of light across the landscape. It was a beautiful day on a beautiful world. Who in their right mind would want to destroy it?
Arriving in New York with an hour to spare, I made my way to James Price’s address. Careful to stay out of sight, I hid under a tree in the backyard where I could watch the driveway. Only a few minutes passed before I saw someone I recognized all too well walking down the street, their eyes fixed on the house.
Me.
It was strange, like watching a distorted version of myself in a mirror. I looked so suspicious, so angry, I was amazed a neighbor hadn’t rung the police. A chill danced up and down my spine. I recognized something else too. The same bitter expression that Old Axel had always worn.
Finally I heard a car pull into the driveway. James Price climbed out and went inside. Creeping to the back door, I used my powers to force the lock. By the time I found James Price, he was already putting his groceries away into the refrigerator.
His mouth fell open in amazement. ‘Who the hell are you?’ he asked. ‘What are you doing in my house?’
I glanced out the window where a storm was starting to build.
‘Saving your life,’ I said, forming a barrier around us.
Chapter Forty-Five
We sat in Liber8tor’s galley eating in silence. We were all there; Brodie, Chad, Dan, Ebony and—of course—the ever present Ferdy. We had been back on the island for three days taking such much needed R&R. There had been no sign of my future self; he had not returned. Whatever we had done in the present had changed the future. How much it had changed was impossible to say.
James Price had been grateful I saved his life. In return, I asked him a favor. ‘Please try to do good,’ I said. ‘For everyone’s sake.’
He promised he would, but there was a problem with that. Everyone’s definition of good is different. Through some misguided sense of right, he might still become the head of the Agency. He might still become a dictator. He might still destroy the planet with his experiments.
Only time would tell.
Ferdy broke the silence. ‘Ferdy believes he has an explanation for the boy that Dan met,’ he said. ‘Would you like to hear it?’
‘Sure,’ I said.
Anything to break the silence.
‘It would seem that Doctor Satou was partially successful in his attempts to create a hybrid plant/animal,’ Ferdy continued. ‘His final work would seem to have been a combining of human cells with mold.’
‘That’s...revolting,’ Ebony said.
‘So Henry was...mold?’ Brodie asked.
‘Mold spores,’ Ferdy said. ‘And so was the creature.’
‘How is that possible?’
‘Mold is microscopic. It would seem the spores were able to combine and manipulate its appearance into either the character of Doctor Jekyll or Mr. Hyde.’
‘But why was he a boy?’ Dan asked. ‘And whose skeleton was in the cell?’
‘The skeleton would appear to have been a US navy seaman who was captured during the war. We’ll never know his identity, but his one personal possession was the copy of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The man was infected by Doctor Satou’s spores and eventually died.’
‘And he became...’ Ebony’s voice trailed away.
‘Something new,’ Ferdy said. ‘A new form of life with no identity of its own.’
‘So it took the identities of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?’ Chad asked. ‘But Doctor Jekyll isn’t a child in the book.’
‘We’ll never know why Henry took the form of a child. Maybe he was responding to Dan or possibly the seaman’s last memories were of his childhood. That will forever remain a mystery.’
Everyone finished eating and went away to do other things, leaving Brodie and me alone in the galley.
‘I can understand if you want to be with Chad,’ I said.
‘I don’t want to be with Chad!’ she said, rolling her eyes. ‘Chad’s just a friend. He’ll never be anything else.’
‘Never?’
That made her pause. We had both discovered that nobody—with the possible exception of Ferdy—knew the future.
‘I’m not interested in being with him,’ she said, firmly. ‘I’m not even sure I want to be with you.’
I nodded. My heart was breaking, but I understood what she was saying. We’d been through a crazy couple of months. Our memories were taken, we were given super powers and then Brodie and I involved in the greatest love story since Gone with the Wind. It was a lot for anyone.
‘Is it Dan?’ I asked. ‘Do you want to be with Dan?’
Brodie burst out laughing, rolling her eyes. ‘I don’t want to be with anyone!’ she said. ‘I’m not an accessory. I can exist without being attached to a guy!’
The intercom buzzed. ‘This is Ferdy,’ he said. ‘There are Agency ships heading in our direction. They appear to be on an intercept course.’
Damn. That was the end of our i
sland hideaway.
We assembled on the bridge. Dan took his place at the helm while the others checked their consoles. Ebony suggested possible escape routes as Chad brought up the weapon systems. He glanced at me. I nodded and he returned the gesture. Our bruises were fading, but some wounds would take longer to heal. I still felt a deep hurt, but I had seen the path of hatred. I knew where it could lead and I wouldn’t let it control my life.
Liber8tor soared into the sky.
None of us knew what the future held. Our friendship had taken a battering, but it wasn’t too late to mend fences.
There was still time.
A Few Final Words
I hope you enjoyed reading The Twisted Future. The other books in the series are:
Diary of a Teenage Superhero (1)
The Doomsday Device (2)
The Battle for Earth (3)
I love to hear from my readers! Please email me at:
[email protected]
You can find out what I’m working on by visiting me at:
http://www.darrellpitt.com
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Thanks again and happy reading!
Darrell
