by Gene P. Abel
Claire took the hand for a quick greeting as she replied, “They did that to me as well before we left. It faded away after about ten minutes, so don’t worry.”
“Lou has been showing me around the place, and I must say, I’m very impressed. I can only imagine how you’re taking it.”
Here Claire briefly giggled as Dr. Weiss led the way down the remaining hallway. “I’m impressed by things you consider outdated,” she replied. “Like those things you record moving pictures on.”
“CDs?”
“Actually, I was thinking of the tapes. And digital watches, and electric toothbrushes . . . Oh, I could go on all day.”
“Our little vacation was a bit eye-opening for the both of us,” Ben stated as he slid an arm around her waist. “There are some things I never really appreciated until seeing them through the eyes of someone a century out-of-date. But tell us a little about yourself, Samantha. You’re joining the team?”
“I was on my way here when the attack came,” Samantha replied.
To Ben’s questioning look, Agent Hessman supplied a quick answer. “Group of Russians with some odd weapons. I’m still trying to track them down. That’s why we had to end your trip a bit early.”
“Oh my!” Claire exclaimed. “I hope it wasn’t anything serious. Oh, of course it is, or we wouldn’t be here right now.”
“Sam was just giving us a little walking tour of the new upgrades,” Ben put in.
“Sounds like something I need to listen in on,” Samantha agreed. “Lead on, Uncle Sam.”
The corridor Dr. Weiss was leading them down had grown increasingly busy with the coming and going of base personnel from one adjoining doorway or branching hall or another. They seemed to be walking down a main thoroughfare deeper into the heart of the facility.
“Since my niece hasn’t bragged about herself yet, allow me to do it for her,” Dr. Weiss began. “One of the youngest PhDs in physics that you’ll ever meet, absolutely brilliant, and a budding expert on the theory of time travel and its consequences.”
“Only because Uncle Sam encouraged me so much growing up. Now I’m a member of this project and soon to see an actual working time machine. Color me impressed.”
“Don’t let her fool you,” Dr. Weiss continued. “She’s brilliant. Even got on a think tank over at Caltech. What was that on, Sam?”
“Climate change,” she replied. “But let’s see more of this base.”
“And what about that cane?” Ben asked. “How long until you’ll be running around without it?”
“Actually, I’m thinking of keeping it. Makes for a rather stylish look, don’t you think?”
“Back in my time all the gentlemen sported canes,” Claire put in. “That and a top hat.”
“I’m not too sure about the hat,” Dr. Weiss replied. “Then I’d have to get a suit to go along with it. Anyway, in the months since you two went on your trip, there have been a few upgrades. First, we’ve enhanced the monitoring of TDWs to better pinpoint the time and location of the events, as well as to allow for quicker detection. All the better to prevent any changes to history.”
They came to a four-way intersection. The middle hall was labeled time chambers, the right command, and the left medical. Ben noted the plural form of the first sign and eyed Dr. Weiss.
“Yes, we had a second chamber constructed,” Sam replied. “That way we can respond to multiple temporal events. The general has also increased the reaction teams to three to respond on a moment’s notice. One for each chamber and a backup.”
“Sounds like a wise precaution,” Samantha remarked, “but has anyone considered the ramifications of having two temporal chambers operating simultaneously? Two wormholes so close to one another might have some crossover effects.”
“We’ve been running some simulations and tests, and so far all looks okay,” Dr. Weiss replied. “We just have to keep their dimensional operating frequencies sufficiently separated.”
He turned down the left hall toward Medical and continued his explanations.
“I have also been working on developing a temporal neutral field that will surround each chamber so that all within them will be immune to any changes to history that may be incurred during a trip—at least in theory. We haven’t had a chance to test it out yet, and we hope we’ll never really need it.”
“That’s Uncle’s way of saying it may still have a few bugs in it,” Samantha said. “But I have faith in him.”
“It’s one of the reasons why I recommended that my niece join the team. Her input will help me fine-tune a few things. We also vastly increased the data storage of the computers in these protected areas so as to hold as much data on world history as can possibly be found. After our first excursion it was decided that every detail, no matter how small, could turn out to be very important.”
“I know one of those little details saved my life,” Claire put in. “Though I wish I could have at least said goodbye to my parents.”
Ben saw the brief look of regret on her face and hugged her closer as they walked.
“At any rate, the purpose of all these changes is to add a more proactive operation to ensure that others do not disrupt history, while also allowing the safe and supervised observation of historical events.”
Both the tour and their steps came to a halt before the central nursing station of the circular hub that was the medical section. Ringed around it was a series of partitions leading into the adjoining patient rooms, with one at the opposite side labeled “OR.” They paused here for a moment, with a couple of questioning looks directed at Dr. Weiss.
“Phelps didn’t make it,” Dr. Weiss said to the unvoiced question. “We lost him just the other day.”
“And Sue?” Claire asked.
Sam said nothing, just led them around to the left, past two partitions. At the third he parted the curtain and let Claire and Ben proceed inside. Behind them Samantha was about to step forward, but a gentle hand from Agent Hessman stopped her. He simply gave her a look to which she replied with a nod.
Agent Sue Harris, a black lady with short-cropped hair, was wired up with tubes and sensors, surrounded by monitor devices to one side and a medical drip to the other. Her eyes were closed, and if the slow progression of her heart rate being displayed on one of the monitors was any indication, she would remain unconscious for some time to come. Seeing her like this, Claire found herself clutching Ben’s hand tightly as the two approached the edge of the bed.
Ben and Claire
“Sue,” Claire whispered. “Hey, sorry I haven’t been in to see you in a while, but Ben’s been showing me around. I wish you could have been up to come along with us. There was a pair of would-be muggers that I would have loved to see you take care of.”
A tear drifted down Claire’s cheek, accompanied by a forced smile, as she reached out to lightly caress the unconscious lady’s hand. Then she remembered what was on her own hand and brought it up before Sue’s face as if she might see it.
“Look what Ben got me. We’re engaged now. Oh, he’s made me just so happy. I always felt a little out of place back when I came from, but around Ben . . . I never thought my dreamboat would come from another time. At any rate, I want you to be my maid of honor, so we’ll hold off the wedding however long it takes until you’re awake and can attend.”
She drew back her hand and leaned in close to whisper in Agent Harris’s ear. “But you better wake up real soon because I really want to marry this guy.”
It was a few moments longer before Ben and Claire came out of the room to rejoin Dr. Weiss. Claire sniffed sadly as she glanced up and happened to see Lou and Samantha across the room. They were idly conversing, Samantha with a pleasant smile, Agent Hessman with his usual noncommittal composure. In Claire’s view, however, his emotional neutrality seemed just a little forced when around Samantha, and to this Claire flashed a
grin as they followed Dr. Weiss out of the medical wing.
They found themselves soon enough back at the previous intersection, this time headed down the hall labeled command, with Dr. Weiss once again narrating.
“The command center has seen several upgrades, as you’ll see, but the most important one is General Karlson himself.”
“General Karlson?” Ben asked. “What happened to him?”
“Did he become a mechanical man or something?” Claire asked. “Because in this time I never know just what may be possible.”
“Nothing as extreme as that, Miss Hill,” Agent Hessman replied. “He has simply been promoted to four-star general.”
General Karlson
As they approached a heavy security door, a pair of armed security men eyed them carefully. The walls to either side of the door had what looked like a glass surface, and as they each walked between them the glass flashed green. Only then did the guards relax as the security door began to slide open.
“Weight sensors in the floor to tell when there’s anyone here,” Agent Hessman explained, “coupled with the wall sensors scanning for those security chips everyone’s been implanted with. If it senses a weight and no accompanying chip signal, then the panels flash red and things get a little messy.”
“I’m just impressed by the fact that the gate is sliding aside all by itself,” Claire remarked. “The rest is just gravy.”
Once the thick metal door had slid fully aside, Dr. Weiss led the way through.
4
Little Mysteries
The command room had been expanded: there was a sea of stations below the general’s command platform, across from which the far wall now held a larger TDW Location Board, or simply “blip board” as many there would call it. General Karlson stood at his station with Captain Beck beside him, the former greeting them all with a nod, to which Samantha replied with a respectful enough word or two, though Claire wasn’t letting him off that easy. But she flung her arms around Captain Beck, crying out, “Robert!” then switched to hugging the general before he could object. A moment later she eased back with a shy grin.
“Sorry, but it was your people that cured me and you that allowed me to stay in this time.”
“Quite understandable, Miss Hill, just”—the general lowered his voice for her ears alone—“not in front of the men, if you please.”
Claire backed off with a quick curtsey, then stepped back alongside Ben as the general shifted his attention.
“Dr. Samantha Weiss, I believe,” he said, putting out a hand. “You come very highly recommended. Nice to meet you. I’m General Karlson and this is Captain Beck.”
“Another member of the first team,” she replied. “Yes, my uncle told me all about you.”
“I’m the old man of the team,” Captain Beck said with a brief flash of a grin. “I understand your trip was a bit less than uneventful.”
“A brief ruckus, which Lou here handled quite admirably,” Samantha stated. “I think I would feel perfectly safe anywhere he’s around.”
“Agent Hessman is one of our top men,” the general replied, oblivious to the sly smile she was now giving Agent Hessman. “Agent Hessman, I believe you have a report to make about that incident.”
During this, Claire had been slowly panning the room with wonder-filled eyes, taking in everything from simple flat-panel monitors and winking lights to the vast screen on the opposite wall. Occasionally she would smile in delight at one object or another, until her gaze happened to take in the look that Samantha was giving Agent Hessman and the way Hessman was maintaining his composure. Then she quietly giggled but said nothing.
“I am most eager to get to work,” Samantha told them. “I suppose now is as good a time as any to announce this. Uncle Sam and I have been working on something together.”
“A new theory,” Dr. Weiss eagerly broke in. “You might even call it astounding.”
“Oh really?” the general said with a curious look. “What sort of theory?”
Dr. Weiss looked like a kid busting out with a secret, but despite his own obvious eagerness, he gave the nod to his niece, who immediately jumped in.
“We believe that it should be possible to move forward in time as well.”
“Technically,” Claire put in, “I already did.”
“Forward from the perspective of the time machine, of course,” Dr. Weiss supplied. “Now, as you can well imagine, this raises several questions.”
“Like, forward into which future?” Ben asked. “Is the future already written, or are we talking one of several possibilities? And would you be able to change the future if it really hasn’t happened yet? And how would you do that?”
“Sam and I have been having this debate for weeks now,” Dr. Weiss replied. “I think it’s a matter of each possible future having a certain quantum probability of coming to pass depending on the unfolding of current events.”
“Which means that technically you aren’t changing the future,” Samantha stated, “so much as aligning the current present with one of the probable futures. Now, as far as bringing something back with you from the future, there might be some danger involved. For instance, doing so could change the present and hence put you on a path to a different future in which that object you brought back with you might not even exist anymore, or at least not in that form.”
“Philosophical quandaries are ever the prospect of time travel,” Ben put in, “forward or back. We discovered for ourselves the problems with changing the past. Would there be something similar involving the future?”
“Possibly,” Dr. Weiss thoughtfully replied. “We can’t really change the past, at least not the big events. But if we’re part of someone else’s past, then they would have the same trouble trying to effect changes in our present to affect their present, which would be their future; but since we haven’t picked our own future yet, then would we have more power to effect such a change if stimulated by visitors from a given future?”
“Again,” Ben stated, “which future? You’re making it sound like we could have visitors from any of several different futures. And if we go to visit one possible future, does that then lock us onto a path to that one alone?”
Claire’s eyes were starting to glaze over, and Captain Beck was massaging his temples, though Agent Hessman remained expressionless and General Karlson looked annoyed.
“I think it boils down to this,” Samantha stated. “We’ll have many of the same problems going forward as going back. However, if someone can be convinced in their own native timeline to do something that may affect their future, then in that way a traveler from the future may be able to effect a change, though they would have to be very careful in how they proceeded.”
“Agreed,” Dr. Weiss replied.
“Though I wonder,” Samantha continued, “if, as a result of traveling to the future, one might come back with no memory of the experience so as to protect the integrity of the future timeline.”
“Something put down by the powers that be?” Ben asked. “That sounds a little theological to me.”
“And a discussion for another time,” Claire quickly broke in. “Speaking as the only one here who has been and continues to exist in my own future, I can tell you that my head hurts just thinking about it, and General Karlson looks like he’s been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes now.”
“What? Oh, sorry, General,” Dr. Weiss said. “We can really get into it at times.”
“So I noticed,” the general replied. “Lou, you were about to make a report.”
Attention now shifted to Agent Hessman, who went into his report with far less philosophical sidetracking than was in the previous discussion.
“Los Alamos caught our attention because this is the second time that a conference on time travel has been attacked, only this time the attackers vanished
before our very eyes. I’ve scoured the site for clues and only found these.”
He reached into a pocket and brought out some shell casings and presented them to the general.
“The lab boys tell me these are unlike anything currently manufactured and, in fact, are not regular bullets. From what they can tell, these things are guided and appear to be designed to explode in an electrical burst on impact. No real damage, but enough to heavily stun the target.”
“Like a Taser but without wires,” General Karlson said.
“Exactly so.”
“But who could make such a thing?”
“We heard then speaking Russian,” Dr. Weiss put in.
“Russians.” General Karlson took the bullets, looking at them thoughtfully before replying. “Does this mean that the Russians are trying to kidnap a few scientists to construct their own chamber? The problem is, though, that I can confirm that bullets such as these are not even on the drawing board for either us or Russia . . . Lou, has everyone been chipped?”
“The last of base personnel should be going through it now,” Agent Hessman replied. “Ben and Claire were chipped before I’d let them leave the base.”
“I still remember the sting,” Ben quipped. “These chips . . .”
“With them we can track base personnel anywhere on the planet with the help of our satellites,” General Karlson explained. “After our new funding came through, I started it with certain key personnel, but after this latest incident I had Agent Hessman chip everyone down to the janitorial staff. Okay, Lou, I want you to keep any eye out for these Russians. Samantha Weiss, I believe you have a new lab to get to. And Miss Hill . . . I have a surprise for you.”
He reached back to one of the computer stations ringed immediately around him to pick up a folder lying there and handed it to Claire.
“May I present you with your new identity, Miss Hill. Birth certificate, Social Security card, and other documentation as proclaims you a resident of this century. Welcome officially to the twenty-first century, Miss Hill.”
