The Pathfinder Trilogy

by Todd Stockert

  “I’m in the kitchen,” Thomas replied with a sharp laugh, and the pleasing aroma of cooking food wafted out from behind a partial wall that temporarily concealed his brother, piquing Adam’s interest almost immediately. “Your meal is already on the table… go ahead and start without me. I’ll be right out.”

  “Really,” responded Adam, perking up as he glanced at the dining room table and noticed the freshly baked chicken breast and potato with fresh asparagus spears neatly arranged on a plate. A huge dollop of sour cream with chives was slowly but surely melting into the potato. “You forgot the beer,” he said with a gruff smile, hesitant to compliment his brother but slowly allowing himself to be swayed by the delicious looking food. Eagerly he sat down and began to eat. “What are you doing?” he asked curiously, pausing long enough between bites to look up and ask the question.

  “Cooking,” his brother’s voice floated out to him. “I’m finishing up a few things in here.”

  Sighing, Adam put his fork down temporarily. “Oh c’mon Thomas,” he said, almost pleading with his brother. Under normal circumstances, this was something he would never do, and yet he found himself intensely curious about the situation. “Word at the Science Lab is that President Kaufield assigned you to work on something big… really big, for several months now. The scuttlebutt is that you’ve even reactivated your brain implant and enhanced its capabilities. Dammit, I want to know what’s going on!” He returned his attention briefly to the aromatic meal in front of him, fully appreciating the tastes of actual Earth food. “By the way, where did you get real chicken?” he asked curiously, continuing to chew on a bite from the potato. “And real sour cream… this is marvelous.”

  “After several generations of embryonic breeding from the frozen materials we removed from the Pathfinder, our stock of Earth animals on this planet has increased to the point where we can begin harvesting them for food stores.” Thomas’ voice was followed by the sounds of something sizzling and then a spatula scraping something out of a pan. “If you hold on for just a moment longer, I’ll be right with you. Asparagus is easily over-cooked – it’s best when it’s still got just a hint of a crunch to it.”

  Adam sighed at his brother’s usual, eccentric behavior and shook his head. “What are you doing, cooking one plate at a time?” he asked sharply. “Most people would prepare an entire meal and then serve it.”

  “There is a method to my madness… you’ll see.” His brother fell quiet for another few moments, a silence broken only by the sounds of him rattling around in the kitchen as he finished up with the cooking. When he finally emerged from behind the partial wall carrying a plate that looked very similar to Adam’s own, a smiling Thomas Roh eagerly sat down across from him. He set the plate gently on the table in front of him and folded his arms, declining, for the moment, to eat. “The matter of what to do about Earth has become an issue again,” he declared finally. “As you may have guessed, Kaufield thinks it’s time we act.”

  “I know,” nodded Adam sullenly. “I read the latest status reports. Recent probes that we sent to Earth have detected rising radiation levels in several areas on the planetary surface. The Brotherhood of the Dragon is still using nuclear weapons.”

  “It’s an easy enough way to quell a rebellion,” shrugged Thomas helplessly. “If you have completely abandoned morality, that is. Resistance to their dictatorship is growing with each passing year… the people who stayed behind are tired of being worked to death in the labor camps. They want their planet back… they want our planet back, and so do we.”

  “Well they’re not going to get what they want as long as those genetically enhanced clones are running things,” Adam concluded. “They took control of every major military establishment that survived the initial, planet-wide bombardment. Unless we help take them down, nothing will change.” His thoughts drifted back to the events of five years prior. “My assignment to the Wasteland was two-fold: I was to gather information necessary to assist the people there in ending their war, but also to field test the implant technology in preparation for a larger mission to Earth. Is Kaufield finally satisfied that we can make use of our resources here and attack the Brotherhood?”

  Again his brother shrugged. “And then what?” he asked curiously. “You’ve seen the reports, the statistics and the images that our probes have recorded. The entire surface of the planet has been devastated by a nuclear holocaust. If Earth’s ecosystem ever recovers from the continental destruction and persistent radioactivity, it won’t be in our lifetime. Maybe not even for several centuries. The planet is lost, and those who chose to stay behind have been chasing hopelessness, refusing to give up on a lost cause.”

  Now it was Adam who took a few seconds to fold his arms and lean back in his chair. He scrutinized Thomas’ face intently. “I know that you and Kaufield are working on something big,” he stated bluntly. “Isn’t it time to tell me what that is?”

  “That’s why I invited you over here,” chuckled Thomas in response. “That’s why I’m feeding you.”

  “What are you two working on?” Adam demanded with growing frustration, prompted mainly by his brother’s casual evasiveness. “Tell me!”

  “It will be easier to show you,” countered Thomas with a soft, confident smile. He stood up suddenly and pointed toward Adam’s half-eaten plate of food. “Lift up your plate,” he suggested somewhat smugly, “just for a few seconds.”

  Suspiciously, Adam eyed him warily. “Why?” he responded. “Why would I do that?”

  “Just do it. I’m certain you’ll prefer a demonstration instead of me talking about equations for three hours.”

  Already knowing from years of experience in dealing with his brother that Thomas was not going to tell him anything until he complied, Adam placed his fingers under the edges of his plate and lifted it up. Rather snidely he held it up in front of him and cast an irritated glance at his brother. “How’s this?”

  “Fine, just hold it right there for a moment,” replied Thomas. He cocked his head oddly to one side and then stared at the spot on the table surface where, only seconds ago, Adam’s plate had rested. Then he shoved the second plate of food across the table, nudging it several times with his hands until he approved of its orientation. “That looks about right,” he decided enigmatically. “That’s right about where yours was.”

  “What are you doing?” wondered Adam, his exasperated mood fading instantly as he realized that his brother’s strange head motions were not made without purpose. Thomas was making use of the Wasteland implant technology, a device still surgically attached to his brain, in some unknown manner.

  The plate of food sitting on the table suddenly glowed with a soft, golden aura of energy. Then it faded completely out of sight and vanished completely. There was a sharp, electrical popping sound and the smell of ozone suddenly permeated the room.

  Adam sat stunned for a moment, simply staring at the empty spot on the table. Then, after receiving a satisfied nod from his brother, he lowered the plate in his hands and placed it in the spot only so recently vacated. “What the devil did you just do?” he wondered inquisitively. The scientist inside him was fully alert and attentive now, and he looked at the proud grin on his brother’s face with wonder. This wasn’t the first time Thomas’ experiments had impressed him, and he was reasonably certain it wouldn’t be the last.

  “I just sent my plate through a small, Point-to-Point transit wormhole. However, this time it didn’t exactly cross distance in the traditional PTP manner,” explained Thomas eagerly. “It never changed position at all, in fact. New equations that I developed have allowed me to alter the wormhole and pierce the time barrier. I used my implant to transfer the food back through time, to a point only minutes before you walked through my front door. The plate that I brought out of the kitchen, you see, is actually the very same plate you were just holding in front of you. Kari verified its successful arrival for me just prior to leaving.”

  Which is why she was smilin
g so devilishly at me, Adam decided thoughtfully. He continued to watch his brother, utterly astonished, still trying to fully believe what he had just witnessed. “You transported a plate of food…back through time?”

  “I did,” nodded Thomas. “It’s the food you’re eating right now.” He gestured toward the plate Adam still held firmly in both hands. “Please, finish your meal.”

  Adam’s first instinct was to recoil backward away from the plate. As he leaned hard against the backrest of his chair, forcing it away from the table, its legs screeched awkwardly. Then he simply sat there for a minute and stared at the partially eaten platter, uncertain as to what to do next. “I’m eating time displaced food,” he repeated finally, glancing up at his brother. “These Point-to-Point equations of yours, Thomas, they’re brand new. What if there is residual radiation or the food’s molecular structure has been altered somehow? You can’t possibly know…” He shook his head fiercely. “I could be eating contaminated food…”

  “No,” objected Thomas immediately, raising a reassuring hand. “We used our most sophisticated Point-to-Point hardware – the stuff we removed from the Pathfinder – to analyze our test runs. This capability may be new to us, but it works just as well as the traditional PTP transit. Trust me, the food is safe… it’s completely harmless.” He reached across the table and tore a piece off of the bun sitting on the edge of Adam’s plate and then proceeded to chew on it for emphasis.

  “How often have you done this?”

  “We’ve controlled the entire test process using traditional brain implants for some time now. Trust me, I’ve been sending myself all kinds of meals, just as I did with yours, every evening for over a month.” He shrugged and smiled with a chuckle. “Kari likes it because she doesn’t have to cook… we come home and have a family meal. Then, later in the evening when the kids are in bed, I make the meal, plate the food, and transit it back to a point earlier in the evening. Who knows, this kind of thing could actually revolutionize traditional meal preparation in the restaurant business.”

  “How far back can you go?” wondered Adam, his thoughts racing with a variety of possibilities. “Could we hope to travel far enough into the past, perhaps fifteen years or so, and prevent the nuclear war on Earth before it ever takes place?” He took a deep breath, clearly intrigued. “You’ve given us the final piece of the puzzle. Along with our implants, we’ve got the resources now to take down the Brotherhood of the Dragon before they ever get started.”

  A frown unexpectedly crossed his brother’s boyish, usually optimistic features. “The mechanism is fully electronic… using standard Controlled Artificial Singularity technology, so distance, time wise, is as irrelevant as it is would be with a traditional Pathfinder CAS-driven transit.” He shook his head negatively. “So far I’ve only done the equations to take us back several decades. As for your suggestion, that contingency was initially discussed and dismissed as too risky,” Thomas informed him. “We already exist in that timeframe, remember? We were busy working with the Pathfinder’s computer systems on Earth’s moon.”

  “So?” Adam blurted out, glaring at him before thinking the matter through more thoroughly. “Ohhh…” he realized finally. “If we interfere with our departure from the moon, we could prevent ourselves from finding the Proteus galaxy.” He looked around, swallowing hard. “All of this – along with us – could theoretically disappear. Our journey to this new world would never happen.” He put a hand to his forehead and sighed heavily. “Holy cow, Thomas, I didn’t come over here expecting to discuss time travel for God’s sake! You are without a doubt the most out-of-the-box thinker I have ever known!”

  “The time-displaced wormhole is one of my better accomplishments,” Thomas grinned eagerly. “Someday it might be even more important than the CAS breakthrough. Although the former capability would not be possible without the power source made available to us by the latter.”

  Stubbornly, Adam stared down his brother’s mischievous smile. “Preventing the war on Earth from happening in the first place makes perfect sense – that would eliminate the continental destruction and ongoing radiation damage to the Earth. Why can’t we give it a try? We could always transit a note to ourselves detailing the precise location of this place. Couldn’t we achieve what we need to do and still end up with a human presence here in this galaxy?” Tentatively at first, he resumed eating.

  Thomas watched him calmly for a moment, clearly amused. “For crying out loud Adam, you were the one who thought we were playing God when we intervened in the Wasteland. What about all of the people who have settled here, most of whom are content with all that they have built? For that matter, what about all of the work you put into liberating the people in the Wasteland?”

  Silence temporarily filled the room while both of them contemplated Thomas’ words. Adam chewed softly, his analytical mind sorting through his brother’s words. “Ugh,” he grunted after a time, clearly frustrated. “You’re right. We could easily undo a lot of what already is and create a very confused mess. Mom used to tell us that ‘once you scramble Humpty Dumpty, it becomes very difficult to unscramble him’.”

  “Exactly. And, trust me Adam, we’ve already given this matter a lot of thought.”

  “This is positively mind-boggling… and now that you mention it, I think it’s actually an even more frightening prospect for me than when we decided to interfere in the Wasteland.” He set his fork down next to the plate and looked his brother squarely in the eyes. “So what do we do?”

  Thomas sat quietly for a moment, choosing his words carefully. “Before we continue that discussion, allow me the chance to tell you a little story about just how potentially dangerous this project could be,” he continued tersely. “Before President Kaufield and I began this effort, I consulted with our alien friend Noah and some of his alien allies, people who have already experimented with time travel to some extent. I discovered that they too are cautious with the capability and traditionally use time travel extremely sparingly. Then I approached him a second time to ask additional questions after confirming the success of my initial testing. He warned me specifically not to try anything unless I could guarantee a harmless outcome. ‘Always be harmless, first and foremost’, Noah has stressed firmly to me, repeatedly and on many occasions. And yet… well, with me being me.” He held up his hands and waved them casually in front of him, smiling wanly. “Let’s just say that after a few successful tests, I’m afraid my enthusiasm and curiosity got the better of me.”

  “Thomas,” Adam declared very sternly, still eyeing his brother intently. “What did you do?”

  His brother actually blushed in response, his cheeks turning bright red as he looked down at the table surface and paused for a moment. When Thomas finally raised his eyes, he smiled weakly. “I did the math up front before proposing the new process to Kaufield, so I knew what was dangerous and what wasn’t,” he admitted slowly. “Even so, I got bored and allowed my curiosity to affect my judgment. Do you remember when I told you that I’ve been sending meals to myself for over a month…?” He trailed off, quite obviously still more than a little embarrassed by the recent memories of whatever he was about to confess to.

  “Yes,” Adam replied warily. “What happened?”

  Thomas swallowed hard and cleared his throat. “Well, sending food into the past is what I call an ‘after-the-fact’ transit,” he pointed out. “I come home from the Science Lab and there is a hot plate of food already on the table waiting for me, kind of my gift to me except that it’s technically sent from the future.” A light smile crossed his freckled face. “On the nights when I know Kari and the kids are going to be here, there are four plates – an entire meal waiting. As you know, I actually cook what we ate later in the evening and then transit it back in time to complete the cycle. So I began to wonder just what specifically might happen if I came home, ate the meal, and then decided not to send it back in time later in the evening.” He laughed somewhat nervously. “Since I’ve alr
eady eaten the meal, it dawned on me that I have the power to create a paradox of sorts by not following through. I simply choose not to complete the process.”

  Mulling the concept over thoughtfully, Adam dunked the rest of his bread in a light-brown chicken gravy before devouring it. “Theoretically, and mind you I’m just spit-balling here, it seems that time should ‘auto adjust’ and shift back to a historical situation where you came home to an empty table. Since the meal then technically never happened, your memories should shift to match that experience and you shouldn’t be able to remember eating anything.” He chuckled, mildly amused. “But I’m not the expert, and since we’ve never actually done anything like that before, no one really knows what would happen.”

  “I know what will happen,” Thomas told him, rubbing tired eyes with the fingers of his right hand. “I decided to try my wild idea of not making the meal ‘after-the-fact’. It was one of my initial, secondary experiments. And your theory is a solid concept if time is a completely linear process, constantly moving forward. But if it is linear, then time travel should be impossible. And your presumption isn’t what ended up happening, Adam.”

  He raised an eyebrow in response. “What did?”

  Laughing a bit anxiously, Thomas stood up and began to pace nervously back and forth. “It – the experiment – was almost three weeks ago now. I came home one night and there was a nice meal waiting for me,” he began slowly, vividly reliving each and every detail. “I found baked fish and potato wedges on a plate just like yours. So I sat down and ate the food like usual. Then I tidied up a bit before going into the spare bedroom that Kari and I share as an office.” He paused, frowning slightly. “I worked on research for a few additional singularity equations until it was time to make the meal…” Trailing off, his eyes shifted back to Adam. “I couldn’t resist testing my theory.”