Black: Sometimes, not following the rules is the right thing to do … (Rule Number 3 Book 2)

by Teya Tapler

  “Th-thank you.” Amidst his confusion Zander noticed the tears in Allies eyes. “Here sit down.” He said softly and made space for her on the sofa. “Tell me when that happened. Was she sick?”

  Allie sat at the other end of the sofa and pulled her knees close to her chest. She looked at him, then focused on her toes and said, “Evan died in a car accident a month after her twenty first birthday - on November 1st 2006. She would have turned twenty two last month.”

  “I'm so sorry. I didn't know.” Zander tried to be polite. “Please accept my sincere condolences.”

  “Thank you,” Allie whispered.

  “Would it be too hard for you to tell me how did she die?” Zander hoped he is not asking for too much.

  “The police said her car was pushed off the road by a heavy truck. The driver didn’t see her behind the road curve. Her car had rolled down the hill, caught fire and exploded. They told us she had died instantaneously.” Allie said quietly.

  “I’m so, so sorry… I can see that you miss her.” Zander said.

  “I miss her very much,” Allie said trying not to sob. “I miss her every day.”

  “I miss her too,” his eyes darkened, “I came here hoping to talk to her,” his words died.

  “There’s something I want you to have,” Allie ran upstairs.

  Zander looked around with empty eyes not seeing the furniture nor the house plants, his mind trying to grasp the situation. A sharp pain pierced the back of his head and he touched the spot under the bandana. It felt soft and throbbing. He pulled his hand and looked at the fingertips. They were clean; the blood had stopped but the place was still sore. He picked the spoon again and started to slowly churn the ice cream. Zander focused on the spoon and his memories.

  Evan is dead. Evan is dead.

  The news of Evan’s death were about to open the flood gates for unknown and unpleasant feelings and emotions to enter Zander’s life. His thoughts churned over and over. He was still trying to come to terms with the situation. There was a long way between his mind and his heart. Growing in a family of time and space travelers, from an early age, he was trained to think and not to feel. Any information he received had to be considered from all angles before any action was taken. That of course excluded finding how he felt about the news. In his line of work he had to be level headed and objective. It was expected to be hard for him to be touched emotionally because showing any kind of feelings during an assignment could easily turn deadly. He was trained to be like that, and yet, despite all the training and procedures and rules Evan was able to reach directly to his heart. She had her own place there. In fact, she had occupied all of his heart for the last three years. Every single day during those three years, Zander had thought about coming back and yanking her with him into the future. He had thought about the implications but never had the time to really investigate them. Now faced with the dreadful reality he was overwhelmed with his emotions. His heart was trying to come to terms with the news of her death. Zander felt how Evan's love for him, which he had kept deep in his heart, started to evaporate little by little as the news of her death slowly sunk in. The pain of the loss slowly settled down and he wondered if he would ever love again.

  “Here take it.” Allie put a pink cardboard box with large black polka dots in front of Zander. “These are her diaries. She wrote there all the time. After,” Allie stopped, smirked and then continued, “that I read all of them just to bring her back to my life. The last two, the black notebooks with the pale-blue pages, are all about you.”

  Zander pulled some of the diaries out and at the bottom of the box saw a transcaster bullet on a silver chain. Allie noticed his confusion and said.

  “My sister wore that around her neck since her senior year in high school. This was the only thing that survived the accident.”

  We were not supposed to leave any traces and had successfully left that!

  Zander looked at the improvised necklace. He stretched his hand and lovingly touched it. The memory of Evan sitting on the sidewalk opposite his father’s hideout in Cambridge after the explosion came to his mind. He remembered her wearing a big blue bead around her neck. In the whirlwind of the events at the time, he hadn’t recognized it as a transcaster bullet.

  “Hi Allie! I'm home!” Zander heard the voice of professor Shtuttgart and looked towards the front door.

  “Hi Dad,” Allie kissed her father,” this is Zander. You might remember him from the digs?”

  “Good afternoon professor!” Zander stood up and stretched his hand to meet the professor's firm grip.

  “What brings you here boy?” The professor asked as he sat on his favorite recliner.

  “I wanted to talk with you, about the pearls,” Zander said having absolutely no idea what he wanted to talk about. He was hoping to see Evan first. He knew he came here to try to bring her to his time to help them destroy the pearls. He had no plan about how to do that the right way, and now after the news, he was even more confused.

  “Forget the damn pearls,” the professor noticed the polka dots box on the table and the apple caramel ice cream. “Tell me about you. How are you? What’re you working on? Where’re you traveling to?”

  “Allie told me,” Zander touched the box gently, “please accept my sincere condolences,” he said.

  “I heard from Allie that Evan would have wanted you to have these,” the professor said looking at the box. “You know… Evan went to college to study journalism… then she changed her major from journalism to computer science and graduated the top of her class. In her junior year she and her best friend found their own place…then the gas explosion happened and they had to work two jobs to buy again all their books …but she was all smiling at that time…Evan cut her hair. She looked like Tinker Bell,” the professor smiled sadly. “She was quiet for months but she…she kind of looked happy.” The professor talked quietly making sometimes long pauses, remembering Evan and reliving every moment with her once more. “She was a very loving and caring person.” The professor stopped his tears by slightly stretching the outer edges of his eyes.

  Her prolonged contact with the transcaster bullet could explain the changes in her life, or maybe that was because she lived for a while close to the reader maker, or maybe… I’m so over-thinking this. She might have had it in her all along. Zander thought not knowing what to say. Obviously a lot had happened there in the last four years. He would have to read the diaries.

  “You’re going to ask me about the pearls,“ the professor changed the topic, ”you remember that I don't have the originals, do you? By the way there’s an article in the today's edition of Archeology Weekly that I’m retiring and will stop trying to assemble the device. To be honest I stopped being interested in Archeology since Agatha died in the spring of 2006.”

  Zander wandered what would be most appropriate to say as the professor continued. He sounded as if he needed to share that with someone to help to let go.

  “Agatha caught cold that grew into pneumonia and she passed out silently in her sleep two weeks later. Now it’s just the two of us. Allie and me,” he smiled sad and happy at the same time.

  Zander looked at him. The professor had visibly aged more than four years. His well-trimmed beard was totally white. He had lost most of his hair and the lenses of his glasses were thicker than the last time.

  “Will you stay for dinner? I didn't see your car around so you can't leave tonight. The next train to Boston is tomorrow morning. You can sleep on the sofa,” he had forgotten the way Zander traveled.

  Zander nodded in agreement. He would need some time to analyze what had happened before he could start to think clearly again.

  They had plain cheese pizza for dinner and watched a PG rated, full length, computer generated animation. The colorful characters with smiling faces and big bright eyes were not enough to cheer anyone in the room. Even the happy ending of the movie’s profoundly important existential problem didn’t light up the atmosphere. Everyone was
simmering in their own sad thoughts.

  After dinner, Allie brought sheets and blankets for Zander and left. He spread the sheets over the sofa pillows, pulled a lamp on the side table and took the last of Evan's diaries. He knew he would read all of them, eventually, but now at that moment he needed to read only the last entry.

  “October 31st, 2006.

  Dear Diary,

  Today is day 1096 since Zander left.

  Can you believe it that he left over three years ago and I cannot stop thinking about him. When will I stop comparing with him every guy who smiles at me? Actually I met him briefly a few months ago, but it was so short that it kind of didn’t count. He saved me again like a Knight in Shining Armor. No, he’s not a knight. He’s more of a romantic pirate and that’s why I cannot stop thinking about him. I hope I don't do this tonight. Brittany will celebrate her 21st birthday in the country club. Her boyfriend’s dad owns it and because the two of them will get married next summer he agreed to sponsor the party. The theme is Halloween. Yep, she is the Halloween Birthday Girl.

  What will I wear? I like black now.”

  Zander stopped reading for a while and put the book on his chest. He also liked black because it was practical. He looked either formally or informally dressed depending on the people around him.

  Oh, if only Evan was here.

  He looked at the pale-blue pages again.

  “It is so practical. I look professionally dressed in the office and then properly dressed in the club after only removing my jacket. Why did I ever like pink?

  When Brittany told me that the country club is in the house what used to be Thunder Gate Mill I became nauseous. The thought of returning to that place made me shiver. And yet, that was the place where Zander and I shared our first kiss at the top of the staircase.

  Oh, dear diary, how could I forget about him and look at another guy tonight? How could I move on? I know, I know. Zander will not return and I have to live my life instead of waiting for him.”

  Zander closed the diary. He had learned enough.

  Next, he had to go back to that party.

  He closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

  ***

  “Here he is.”

  “I told you we'll find him here.”

  “Come on wake up, we have to leave.”

  Three familiar voices entered his dazed and half asleep mind as Zander opened his eyes with difficulty and sat up. The black diary slid off his chest. He quickly picked it up and gently placed it in the polka dot box with the others. When he finally looked around he recognized his friends from the Anaconda team. Mary was sitting on the armrest closest to his head; Peter was on the other end of the sofa while Emil stood in the middle of the living room with hands crossed on his chest. Even in the dark Zander could tell that Emil was not happy. He felt Emil's eyes burning a hole on his forehead.

  “Pack up, we’re leaving!” Emil said. He lighted the side table with his torch and saw the polka dot box and the empty ice cream bowl with the spoon still in it. “That's what I thought. Come on let's go!”

  Zander grabbed his bag and the polka dot box and followed them to the back yard. There they stood on the concrete patio hidden under the trellis, held hands and transcasted back to the team base.

  ***

  “How d’you dare do that?” Emil was beside himself. He started the sermon even before they officially landed. “You could’ve killed yourself.”

  “Are you mad at me because I went there without your permission or because I removed my locator chip?” Zander asked still half asleep.

  “I don't know which one is the bigger offense. Go with Mary, she'll patch you up! I'll talk with you tomorrow.” Emil said. He tried not to shout but his words came out harsher than intended. He picked up his gym bag and headed to the door. He needed to let the negative energy out before he was able to think and act rationally again.

  “You’ll need a sparring partner,” Peter followed Emil leaving Mary to take care of Zander.

  “Come on, let's see the damage.” Mary pulled Zander to the kitchen. The light switched on as she entered the room and the humming of the air conditioner increased to adjust the room temperature based on the number of people in the room and their activities.

  Zander sat backwards on one of the chairs as directed, bent his back and laid his forehead on the kitchen table exposing his neck; Mary pulled the overhead lamp closer and loosened his collar.

  “So-o, you suddenly decided to go entirely off the grid.” she said.

  Zander kept quiet. He had other things already on his mind. The thought of Evan’s death had sunk in and he was struggling with the overwhelming emotions that had followed.

  Mary put on a pair of vinyl gloves and slowly pulled his bandana to look at the wound. Hairs stuck on the dried blood got pulled out as the cloth slid up Zander’s head. She saw him twitch but he continued to be silent.

  “What d’you use?” Mary asked while preparing to clean the wound.

  Zander didn't answer.

  “What d’you use to remove the locator chip?” she repeater her question.

  Zander didn’t answer again and that irritated her. To catch his attention, instead of swabbing the area she poured the disinfectant over it. The cold and stinging liquid changed its color when it contacted the dried blood then it started to bubble and drip down his neck.

  Zander twitched from the sting then finally answered.

  “Does it matter?” He said trying to stay still.

  “Actually it does. I saw the chip in your room. It looks pretty intact and I am curious how you did it, considering that you don’t have eyes at the back of your head.” She talked quickly while cleaning his wound methodically at the same time. ”You go through those implants faster than anyone else I know and this time you’re lucky that the attachment process hadn't started. You had it put in about a month ago, didn't you?”

  Every member of the team had a locator chip implanted at the base of their scull. That was the way they would find and retrieve each other after being accidentally sent to an unknown location. Those implants had saved their lives many times.

  Mary picked up the chip and inspected it under a magnifying glass.” It seems fine.” She said then returned it at its place and started stitching the small opening. ”It usually takes about six months for the locator chip to link to your nervous system. If you try to remove an attached chip on your own you could kill yourself. That’s why when these chips are implanted or changed the procedure is done under full anesthesia and takes two hours.”

  Zander felt the chip being positioned, slowly adjusted and then pressed in. The nape of his head was still very sore from the removal procedure. He felt every movement of the chip, how it clicked in place and then he felt the stitches going in one by one. Surprisingly it hurt much less than when he learned that Evan was dead.

  If only my heart could be mended that easily. He thought.

  “There you go! You’re like new again!” Mary said and patted Zander on the back. She shoved three small white triangular pills with orange stripes in his hand. “Take these for the headache.”

  He swallowed them without water and went to his room; closed the door and lay on the floating bed without switching on the light. He laid on his right side facing the wall; his eyes opened, and his mind full with thoughts like highway filled with cars during the rush hour.

  When Zander left Evan in 2003 he knew that he might not see her again. He knew that he might never see her again unless the circumstances were right and all the planets aligned just like that night in Cambridge. He had started to accept the idea that he might never see her again. The four centuries distance between their realities was too much even for the 25th century human lifetime expectancy. However, he hoped that she would have a long and happy live.

  The images in his mind blurred slowly. The headache pills seemed to be working. He got dizzier and slowly started to fall asleep while at the same time his thoughts became more logical and cl
earer. It was one of the side effects the painkillers had those days. In the middle of his sad thoughts, when he was all caught up in his human emotions Zander remembered the single most important thing he had been forgetting all along. He went back to 2007 to see if and how he could bring Evan back to 2424. The very fact that she had died meant that it should be easier to bring her to his time without harming the time and space continuum.

  Gradually Zander calmed down, thanked the painkiller in his mind and fall asleep with piece and hope in his heart.

  ***

  The voices in the living room woke Zander up. He touched the nape of his head and his fingers felt the small med-pack Mary had placed there to speed up the healing. Zander removed the now warm roll and opened his eyes. It was seven o'clock in the morning and the back of his head was not hurting any more. Lying in bed Zander stretched his limbs. The day seemed promising.

  He got up, selected a clean T-shirt from his improvised wardrobe, combed his hair with the fingers of his left hand and grinned at the mirror. Liking what he saw he opened the door and headed to the living room. Zander felt better physically and psychologically. He had an idea that the team would turn into a plan.

  As the smell of coffee and doughnuts hit his nose Zander looked around; Peter, gummy bear in his mouth was stretched between two floating chairs lazily clicking on the virtual keyboard at his right, Mary was noisily packing something in the kitchen and Emil was lying on the sofa reading one of the last two diaries. Zander felt his blood come up to his head. He took a few deep and slow breaths to calm down then sat down on the sofa pushing Emil to sit up.

  “What d’you find out?” Zander asked Emil.

  “These’re some very interesting diaries. I’d ask all of you to start documenting our missions that way. We might avoid problems like the current one.” Emil said with a smile referencing the events from the previous day. He had forgiven Zander and was back to his old self.

  “Evan dies in a car accident on November 1st 2006, after her friend’s birthday party in the country club that used to be the Thunder Gate Mill residence.” Zander said calmly and slowly stressing every word. As he spoke he looked around and stopped his eyes on Peter and Emil long enough to catch their attention and yet short enough not to make each one of them think he was talking only to him.