Time Twisters

by RABE, JEAN

  Goodbye, Mom.

  “I hope you both realize the jeopardy that your colleague has placed us in with this hazardous and incredibly foolish stunt,” the general said. “Yes, we were certainly hoping that this program could be used to change the past, to divert the timeline of crucial events so that our world wouldn’t be nearly destroyed in the War against China. In time, we had hoped to send people back to accomplish certain—missions—to ensure that the war never happens in the first place. But now, thanks to Doctor Hollister’s egocentric little jaunt, all of that is possibly in very real danger.”

  David’s jaw dropped, mirroring Irena’s shocked expression. “Sir, have you even given a thought to what you’re saying? The consequences of trying to alter the time continuum could be disastrous, even catastrophic. We don’t know if it is even possible to do what you’re suggesting.”

  “Well, I guess we’re about to find out,” the general said. “Just by going back in time, Doctor Hollister has already altered events, even it he does nothing, correct?”

  “Yes, the very fact that he is there could potentially alter time, and change the future. However, as we’ve already said, we won’t know about it, since the reality we exist in is occurring right now, already around us, created every second.”

  “But does that mean he will shift that time stream over to another, different path?”

  “I think we’re about to find out,” David said, waving them over to the monitor that showed the time displacement chamber, now containing a blinding white glow that was spreading to every corner of the room. “The return cycle is starting.”

  Jack shielded his eyes enough to block most of the glare from the dazzling light that appeared in front of him. But he couldn’t help watching as other things began to appear in the incision between the two time periods.

  He saw Lana going to school, then entering college as he had hoped, then graduating with her degree and going to medical school—

  But then a different scene appeared, and he watched Lana under very different circumstances, pregnant and alone in what looked like a grimy third-story walk-up apartment building, with tears running down her face as she sat at a battered kitchen table—

  What’s going on here? he wondered, just as another view of her appeared, this time in a corporate board-room. His mother, looking about forty years older, was dressed in a tailored pantsuit and presenting some kind of make-up line to the people seated in the room. Above her head was a company logo: Striver Cosmetics—

  The scene changed again, and he saw Lana dressed in a black robe and with her right hand raised and her left hand on a Bible, taking some kind of oath of office—

  As Jack watched, he saw hundreds, then thousands of alternate Lanas, each one following a new path to a varying conclusion. Some of the different versions of his mother were cut down by accidents or disease, some were the victims of crime or poverty, and many went on to accomplish careers, marry and raise a family, or, in some of the best cases, both. The images flowed over and around each other, like hundreds of thousands of different life paths that his mother could take, branching off from this moment—

  —Including the same one she might have continued on after I spoke to her, Jack thought. Irena was right after all; it doesn’t matter whether any of us go back in time to try and change things; all that does is create a new, separate reality, in which that choice is played out, and all of the other, different decisions after that.

  So if every choice creates a different line, then there are billions—no an infinite number—of alternate worlds being created every second of every day.

  But what will happen to me now that I’ve stepped out of my timeline and changed things? I mean, I still exist, because somewhere in all of these infinite timelines, she met and married my father, and apparently still had at least one child—I think. So I will not disappear like a figment of so many fevered pulp writers’ imaginations. But would I still go back to that moment—would I still exist in that future?

  Before he could even ponder the ramifications of answering his own question, Jack stepped into the glowing white rift and blinked out of existence from Oak Street in Duluth, Minnesota, in July, 1948.

  “The universe moves toward order,” Irena whispered under her breath as the white light faded, revealing Jack standing in the middle of the displacement chamber, looking around with a satisfied expression on his face.

  The general unsnapped the flap covering his pistol. “Guard! I want you to arrest that man—”

  David limped forward. “Wait, general, consider what you are doing right now. Jack Hollister is the only human being to have successfully traveled through time—assuming that the man in there is indeed Jack. If you lock him up now, years, perhaps decades of research will be lost to us, and we would be no closer to seeing if your goal is even possible.”

  The general glared at David, his hand hovering over his pistol, then motioned the guard back to his position. “You get everything out of him you can, and then he’s mine, understand?”

  “Perfectly, sir.”

  Jack opened his eyes to find himself in a vast forest, with a small, bustling town composed of dozens of clapboard building that ringed a large, frenetic port on the shore of Lake Superior.

  The sound of whuffling horses and creaking wagon wheels made him turn to see a buckboard and team pull to a stop nearby. A man in a homespun shirt and well-worn canvas pants regarded him. “Wherever did you come from? I would have sworn this road was empty a moment ago.”

  Jack regarded him with a frown. “That would be almost impossible to tell you, sir, so I’ll just say I come from a very, very far away place. Mind if I get a ride into town?”

  “Ayuh, hop on up here. I can take you to the mill on the outskirts, then you’re on your own.”

  Jack looked around with a smile. “That sounds just fine.”

  The white glow faded, and Jack found himself back on Oak Street, everything around him unchanged. For a moment he thought about going back to see his mother, then he shook his head, turned around, and began walking down the street in the opposite direction.

  Jack winked into existence in a thick forest, and stumbled around just long enough to attract the attention of a hungry cave bear that stalked, killed, and ate him in 1948 BC.

  Jack . . .

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  Kevin J. Anderson has more than sixteen million books in print in thirty languages. Of his more than eighty published novels, thirty-three have appeared on the bestseller lists. He has penned many popular Star Wars and X-Files novels, as well as numerous internationally bestselling prequel novels to Dune written with Frank Herbert’s son Brian. His original work has appeared on numerous “Best-of” and awards lists, including a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. In 1998, he set the Guinness World Record for Largest Single-Author Book Signing. His recent novels include Of Fire and Night and Scattered Suns (in the Seven Suns series), and The Martian War, as well as a collaboration with Dean Koontz, Frankenstein: Prodigal Son. With his wife, Rebecca Moesta, he is writing an original young-adult fantasy series, Crystal Doors.

  Pierce Askegren Born in Pennsylvania and one of four children, he lives in Virginia these days. Humble and fuzzy yet strangely loveable, Pierce is the author of eleven novels, three of them in collaboration, eight based on media properties such as Marvel comics and TV’s Alias. His most recent books are After Image, featuring Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Exit Strategy, the third of a well-received original science fiction series set on the moon in the not-too-far distant future. Pierce’s short stories have appeared in such anthologies as The Chick is in the Mail and Historical Hauntings. He’s currently at work on his next book, but he’s not sure just what it will be.

  Linda P. Baker is the author of The Irda and Tears of the Night Sky, with Nancy Varian Berberick. Her short fiction has been published in several Dragonlance anthologies as well as First Contact, The New Amazons, Wizard Fantastic, and Earth, Air, Fire, Water: Tales from the E
ternal Archives. In her nonfiction guise, Linda is a researcher and writes brochures and software guides. Linda dedicates her story to her sister Laneta and brother-in-law Garland. As survivors of Hurricane Katrina who chose to view their loss as a chance to make their move to a better place, they serve as role models for their family and friends. Linda and her husband, Larry, live in Mobile, AL, and are always on the look-out for a good antique auction. They have found their better place in Ireland, and hope someday to live there.

  Donald J. Bingle is a frequent contributor to short story anthologies in the science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comedy genres, including the DAW anthologies Civil War Fantastic, Historical Hauntings, Sol’s Children, Renaissance Faire, All Hell Breaking Loose, and Slipstreams. He is also the author of Forced Conversion , a science fiction novel set in the near future, when everyone can have heaven, any heaven they want, but some people don’t want to go. His latest novel, GREENSWORD, is a darkly comedic eco-thriller about a group of misfit environmentalists who are about to save the world from global warming, but don’t want to get caught doing it. He and his lovely wife, Linda, currently co-habit with two dogs: Makai and Mauka. Don is also a frequent author and coauthor of adventures and tournaments for the TimeMaster role-playing game. He can be reached at www.orphyte.com/donaldjbingle.

  Jon L. Breen has contributed stories to Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine and Fantasy Book and belongs to Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, but he is best known in the mystery field. He has won two Edgar Awards for critical writings and is the author of seven novels and nearly a hundred short stories. His most recent books are the collection Kill the Umpire: The Calls of Ed Gorgon and the novel Eye of God. Retired as a librarian and professor of English, Breen lives in Fountain Valley, California, with his wife Rita.

  Since 1984, Jackie Cassada has written the science fiction /fantasy review column for Library Journal, giving her the perfect excuse to read a lot of imaginative fiction and call it “work.” She has also authored “The Year in Science Fiction and Fantasy” for the Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbooks 2000, 2001 and 2002. Her published fiction includes the now out-of-print Immortal Eyes trilogy (The Toybox, Shadows on the Hill, Court of All Kings) of novels for White Wolf’s Changeling role-playing game and has contributed short stories to the White Wolf anthologies Death and Damnation, Truth Until Paradox, City of Darkness: Unseen, Splendour Falls and Dark Tyrants. She spends her days as a member of the support staff of the Asheville-Buncombe Library System in western North Carolina. Jackie shares a house with her long-time partner, five cats, and a Plott hound. In her spare time she reads, plays role-playing games, crochets, and dreams of founding a haven for geriatric animals.

  Author of forty science fiction, mystery, and fantasy novels, Gene DeWeese was, once upon a time, a technical writer who did manuals for B-52 navigation systems and intuitive programmed instruction texts on orbital mechanics for NASA’s Apollo program. He’s lived in Milwaukee the past forty-five years with his multitasking wife Beverly and assorted single-minded cats. His most recent books are a Star Trek novel, Engines of Destiny, and a small-town-sheriff mystery, Murder in the Blood.

  John Helfers is an author and editor currently living in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He has published more than thirty short stories in anthologies such as The Sorcerer’s Academy, Faerie Tales, Alien Pets, and Apprentice Fantastic (DAW Books). His media tie-in fiction has appeared in anthologies for the Dragonlance and Transformers universes, among others. He has written both fiction and nonfiction books, including a comprehensive history of the United States Navy. His most recent novel is Shadowrun: Aftershock, co-authored by Jean Rabe.

  Stephen Leigh has published twenty-some novels and a few dozen short stories, under both his own name and pseudonymously. His fiction has won several awards within the science fiction and fantasy fields. He also teaches creative writing courses at a local university. His other interests and avocations include music, Aikido (in which he holds the rank of Nidan), art (he has a bachelor’s degree in fine art), history, language and sociology, prowling the Web (he has a site at www.farrellworlds.com and a Livejournal account) and finding spare bits of free time.

  He is married to his best friend and favorite first reader, Denise Parsley Leigh; they have two children who are growing impossibly old.

  Joe Masdon lives in Elon, North Carolina, with his wife Sherrie and their two sons, Jonathan and Robert. He has written numerous horror and fantasy short stories that have never left his hard drive and a few that saw publication in books that very few people read. He writes fantasy as a way to apologize for being an accountant.

  Wes Nicholson is a born-and-bred Australian who has always had a fascination for technology. He never really decided what he wanted to do when he grew up and has several trade and university qualifications to show what he’s tried. He began his writing career in the role-playing industry, and has several published credits for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Shadowrun games, and has had short fiction published in the Forgotten Realms setting. A world traveler, he lives in Canberra with his wife and three children and teaches karate when he’s not writing or role-playing.

  Chris Pierson has been a writer since he was a kid up in Canada. He has written seven novels for the Dragonlance series: Spirit of the Wind, Dezra’s Quest, the Kingpriest trilogy (Chosen of the Gods, Divine Hammer, and Sacred Fire), and the Taladas trilogy (Blades of the Tiger and Trail of the Black Wyrm). He is currently working on the third Taladas book Shadow of the Flame. In addition, he has been published in Dragon Magazine and in the anthologies The Dragons At War, Dragons of Chaos, and Rebels & Tyrants. During the day, Chris works as a game designer for Turbine, and has been involved in the Asheron’s Call series, Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, and Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar; he also writes and edits other game material. He lives in Boston with his wife and fellow movie addict, Rebekah.

  Harry Turtledove is a Caltech flunkout who perplexed everyone, including himself, by ending up with a doctorate in Byzantine history from UCLA. This suited him for telling lies for a living, which is what he mostly does now. His novels include The Guns of the South, Ruled Britannia, In the Presence of Mine Enemies, The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump, and Every Inch a King. He has won a Hugo, two Sidewise awards, and the Hal Clement award for YA fiction. He is married to Laura Frankos, also a historian and also a writer. Of his three daughters, the two in college are both history majors. Environment or genetics, do you suppose?

  Robert E. Vardeman has been interested in Nikolai Tesla and his fabulous inventions since doing a grade school book report in a prior century. Other than “The Power and the Glory,” Vardeman has written several dozen short stories and more than seventy science fiction, fantasy, and mystery novels. He currently lives in Albuquerque, NM, with his teenaged son, Chris, and a cat. Two out of three of them enjoy the high-tech hobby of geocaching.

  Nancy Virginia Varian is the not-so-secret identity of Nancy Varian Berberick. While N.V.B’.s work has long been known to Dragonlance fans and those who enjoy reading short stories (and the occasional novel) with a distinctly Norse or Old English flavor, N.V.V. has only recently popped her head up over the parapet. “Yeshua’s Choice” marks her second short story, the first being “The Oaths of Gods” in Lords of Swords, an anthology of sword & sorcery stories.

  James M. Ward has been a successful author and game designer since 1974. He created the first science fiction role playing game in Metamorphosis Alpha. He’s written for Marvel, DC Comics, DAW, Random House, Del Rey, Bantam, Tor, and Western Publishing. Voted into the Game Designer’s Hall of Fame, he also received the best game of the year award for Gamma World. His novels have been on the bestselling lists of Waldens, B. Dalton’s, and Locus. His game credits include work with Charlie Brown, Sesame Street, He-Man, Conan, Indiana Jones, Dragon Ball Z, Marvel, DC comics, Worlds of Wonder, Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, Joss Whedon’s Firefly & Buffy, and Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro. H
e designed the smash hit card game Dragon Ball Z that’s been breaking sales records since 2001. He lives in the Midwest with his wife. He’s taken up fencing and this hobby constantly pits him against younger, faster people, just like in the game business.

  Skip and Penny Williams profess a love of old things, such as silly old movies, the century-old farmhouse they share, and each other—though not necessarily in that order. Penny has degrees in chemistry and Russian and dozens of editorial credits in the role-playing game industry. Skip co-authored the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition game and has numerous other role-playing game credits. This short story is Skip and Penny’s first published piece of fiction.

  When not exploring alternate histories, Skip putters in his vegetable garden (which keeps many deer and rabbits fed); works to reclaim the fields around the farmhouse from the (thus far) implacable weeds that blanket them; and paints toy soldiers. Penny enjoys many different crafts, puts up jam, and works as a substitute teacher in all subjects.