by Al K. Line
For ten years Dale had wrestled with the contradictory nature of time travel, and however much he tried to figure it out, tried to come to an understanding, he always failed — some things were simply never going to make sense.
"Morning," said Amanda.
"Morning," said Dale. "How's your head?"
"A little foggy." Amanda sipped her coffee, hands cupped around the mug like it would take away the pain.
Dale poured himself a strong one, added a splash of milk, and sat down at the table — a beautiful Danish fifties piece Amanda had finally found at a specialist Online store that sourced very cool furniture from all over the world, from all eras. In the past only. Even that would change soon wouldn't it? Dale sipped his coffee.
"What if we just don't do it?" said Dale.
"We have to because we already have, or our lives would be different."
"It doesn't make any sense Amanda. If we just don't dig them up then everything will be all right. Won't it?"
Amanda stared at him through eyes red from alcohol and tears. "I wish I knew. I wish I understood how this all worked. I've tried not to think about it for so long, but it's always been there. Ten years Dale, ten years this has been hanging over us. I just want it done with. I want to know that the future will be safe, not how it turned out."
"But if we start this all off then surely that means that what's happened, what will happen, is already set, right?" Dale waved a hand as Amanda went to speak. "I know, I know, we've been over this a million times, but I just don't see it. If our task is to save the world, then we need to be able to change the future, which now means changing our past, as otherwise that despicable Hector and his insane production of Hexads will always still happen."
"Unless at some point we get a break and can really change things, stop it happening but still remember a different version of events."
"Ugh, I don't think it works like that, but let's give it a try now. Let's break the whole thing, refuse to let any of it happen through just not doing what we've been told we have to. No digging."
Amanda stared at him for a long time, until their coffee was cold and she was beginning to freak Dale out. "Okay, no digging."
~~~
Dale was edgy; Amanda was manic.
She'd cleaned the house in a frenzy, not stopping for anything but a quick coffee mid-morning. Dale busied himself sorting out the office, anything to keep his mind from what they had supposedly already done.
The day wore on, stress levels rising as the sun shone higher in the sky.
By late afternoon they were both exhausted. After organizing and re-organizing everything in the office Dale had joined Amanda in the cleaning of the house. By the time they were finished the windows sparkled, the kitchen gleamed like it had just been installed, the carpets looked like they were brand new and Dale had even pulled the fridge out and cleaned behind that, surprised to find quite so much fluff and what he thought was some kind of biscuit, maybe a Wagon Wheel, but it was hard to tell.
Finally, there was nothing left to clean, and they slumped into the chairs around the kitchen table, skin glowing after showering, both smelling as nice as the house itself did. Amanda's hair was as beautiful as ever.
"So, the world hasn't ended, we're still here, I still remember that we are supposed to dig up Hexads, that the world was empty in the future and that we were chased through time by a giant named Laffer. You?"
God, what if she doesn't remember? Then I would know that I am mad. Dale held his breath while Amanda took her time replying.
"I remember. When were we supposed to have dug them up? Morning, right, like when you dug up the tin?"
"Yup, and we haven't done it, this is going to work." Dale leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest, feeling surprisingly good — physical work had taken away most of the edginess, the hangover too.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
Dale and Amanda stood up with a start, nervous tension Dale thought had gone but was merely hiding well beneath the surface bubbling up again, making them instantly alert to the sound of the doorbell. Dale looked at Amanda; she returned the gaze, fear evident.
"I'll go and deal with it. It's probably just the guy who dropped off the bag yesterday asking for clothes for charity. I'm sure it's fine." Dale knew he wasn't convincing her, but he had to hope. Pray.
As Dale walked down the hallway he could see the shadows of two men through the opaque glass of the front door. Well, it wouldn't be people out to get them, would it? They wouldn't be so polite.
Dale opened the front door.
Two men were stood there, both wearing high visibility jackets, both very dirty and looking like it had been a long day.
"Afternoon mate, sorry to disturb you."
"Um, that's okay," said Dale. "What can I do for you?"
"There's a huge problem with the drains, we've just been at the house next door, ran a camera, and we think the problem's in your garden. It runs along the boundary, we're going to have to dig it up."
"What, today? Now?"
"Afraid so. We have to, it's the law. Any problems like this have to be dealt with immediately. We can't have sewage leaking out into the open. If it pollutes the waterways we're in big trouble, you too if it's on your property."
"Oh god, seriously?" Dale just felt numb, like he'd almost got away with it but deep down he knew that he couldn't, that fate would catch up with them and they were just there to be dragged along for the ride. "What if I say no? I don't want my garden trashed."
"If that's the case then, well, we'll have to get the police I'm afraid. Look mate, it's no biggie, we know where the problem is. It won't be too messy, we just need to dig a trench right on the fence line and replace a small section of pipe, won't take more than an hour. Look, we're gonna go on our break for a cuppa and a sarnie, we haven't even stopped for our lunch yet, but then we'll be back. Okay?" The man was staring at Dale curiously, clearly wondering why he wouldn't want them to ensure raw sewage wasn't streaming out all over the garden.
"Okay, sorry, just didn't want the garden messed up. A lot of work's gone into it."
"I understand, no problem. We'll be back with our gear soon."
Dale closed the door and walked back into the kitchen in a daze.
"Shall I grab the spades?" asked Amanda.
"I think you'd better," said a resigned Dale. It seemed like there was no escaping the Hexad.
An Unwanted Discovery
Present Day
"Where did we say they would be?" The previous night they'd had a hurried, and very subdued conversation about where the Hexads would be, playing along just so they followed what had already happened in what was once their future, now their present.
"A step to the left of the big shrub with the yellow flowers on it, and then one back."
"You can bet that's right where they are going to want to dig for this broken pipe. We've got no choice, have we? If we don't do it then they will, and then we won't have a Hexad for ourselves."
Amanda just nodded and carried her spade up the garden. Dale followed her.
Birds flew into the hedges, butterflies danced amongst the buddleia, and the robin seemed to know exactly where they were going so was already perched on the fence in anticipation of some juicy worms.
Amanda paced out where to dig and then they both pushed their spades into the rich soil, improved years ago, now neglected, neither of them able to face doing anything with an area they had agreed was totally out of bounds. The soil was still soft and easy to shift, but as they got deeper the ground became wet, then sodden, until soon they were digging through water that was filling in the hole almost as fast as they could get it out. They dug on, having to move faster and faster, cautiously checking down the garden that the workmen weren't about to discover them before they got what they had no choice but to uncover.
Thunk.
Dale hit something hard with his spade, hoping that it wasn't just the sewage pipe. He scraped away and A
manda did the same, but it was impossible to see what it was — the muddy water was beating them to it and the smell was getting worse.
"Okay, I'm gonna put my hand in."
Amanda stood back while Dale bent down and stuck his hand into the foul liquid. He felt around until he touched what felt like metal, and then pulled hard on a handle. The object began to move but was still held pretty fast, so he directed Amanda to dig away more of the slurry while he heaved.
Finally a small steel chest came out of the hole.
Dale dragged it away back onto the lawn, trying not to leave a trail of sewage-soaked soil behind him, while Amanda hurriedly filled in the hole as best she could then stomped down on the sinking earth to make it look natural. She stood back, shoveled some dry earth from the border over where they'd dug, then helped Dale carry the chest down to by the house.
The robin, unconcerned by the smell, hopped down onto the ground and pecked at a worm greedily.
Neither of them said a word; neither of them wanted any of it to be happening.
Dale hosed down the chest, scrubbed it with a brush to get the foul dirt off, washed off his hands and then they silently carried it into the kitchen. They placed it on the floor and stood immobile as a pool of water spread out from the base of it and a faint, but impossible to ignore aroma began to fill the room.
The doorbell rang, so with a resigned sigh Dale went to answer it.
"Just letting you know we're back," said the man from the water company, crumbs of sandwich sticking to his beard.
"Okay, fine. You need anything from me?"
"No, nothing. Oh, just need you to sign this, giving us permission." The man handed him a dirt-stained document, and Dale wondered how they didn't get sick if they dealt with sewage and clearly didn't make sure their hands were clean before they ate.
Dale took the paper and signed before handing it back.
"Sorry about earlier. I wouldn't really have got the police, just didn't want to have to go through a load of red tape. Me and the boys have a harder job on our hands if we jump through all the complicated hoops when owners aren't happy about us coming onto their property."
"That's fine," sighed Dale. "No problem." He shut the door and wandered back into the kitchen in a daze. Maybe he should have just let the workers find the Hexads, pass the problem over to someone else? Who was he kidding? He knew it wouldn't work out like that. This was a problem for him and Amanda, there was no escaping that fact, no escaping the future, or the past. Dale shook his head. What did it matter now? Ten years disappeared in an instant as he felt himself drawn back into events of a decade ago like the time in-between had been nothing but a dream.
~~~
They peered inside the trunk at countless Hexads — there must have been a hundred, if not more.
"Think what would happen if we just handed these out, how many lives would be changed forever," said Amanda.
"I know, it's tempting, right? You can see why once people knew about them then everyone had to have one. Just imagine, with all these in here, all with six jumps, how many people could totally change their lives."
"I know. I could do something to save Daddy, we could make anyone we wanted rich, go back and do so much. It's scary."
"We can't think like that though Amanda, we have to believe that what we are doing is right, there's no escaping it. And I don't know how we are going to change the outcome of all of this, but we will. But no trying to change anything else, who knows where it will end? It could make things worse. Let's just stick to what we know and work on it from there."
Amanda nodded, knowing Dale spoke the truth.
In the early years after the terrible day they had countless conversations about what they could do once they got the Hexads, wondering how they were going to save the world, how it would even be possible. There were numerous options, endless ways to change the future. Maybe they could trace Hector and simply kill him before he began to produce them? But at what age and what would the outcome be?
They both knew they couldn't kill him as a child because whatever he did it wasn't the child's fault, it was the man's. It was kind of scary now Dale thought about it that Hector would by this time probably already be in his thirties, maybe already incredibly wealthy — neither of them had wanted to find out, the waiting would then have been too much to bear.
Could they simply not keep a Hexad, ensure the police took them all and then they'd be done with the whole terrible mess? That didn't seem likely either as one way or another they would be getting a Hexad ten years ago, sending a message to themselves, so whatever they did then that was all inevitable — which begged the question: what could they do? Anything? The past had happened, they remembered it, so surely it was already guaranteed.
It all came flooding back to Dale as they peered into the trunk, looking at devices that had the ability to rip through universes and empty them of humanity just so reality could carry on existing.
What about the people from the future? Surely they would be back for the one Dale and Amanda kept? Dale could only assume that they didn't succeed, and the truth was that he would never give up their only chance to stop what happened, and that meant having a Hexad.
Amanda closed the lid, snapping him out of his reverie. She looked haunted. Her eyes had sunk just like the ground where the sewage pipe had collapsed: dark and heavy. She was paler than she'd been for a long time, foregoing much of her usual sunbathing this year, stress levels so high she found no joy in relaxing, but was always busy, finding things to do to stop her brain working overtime.
"Let's wait until those men have gone from the garden then start this," said Amanda.
"Okay." Dale didn't know what to do, he could see how stressed and upset Amanda was and he didn't blame her one bit. He couldn't imagine what she was feeling, but the gnawing in his stomach told him that now the time had come it was affecting them both a lot more than he had thought it would. What they'd seen at The Factory, that terrible manufacturing plant of Hector's, haunted them both. Now it all seemed more real than ever, the vision of the horrific place worming its way deeper into his skull to gnaw relentlessly at his sanity.
Looking out of the window he could see the men were already moving a piece of plastic pipe into position — they wouldn't be long.
They milled about in the kitchen, the silence only broken by the noise of the workmen, until soon enough they were packing away their gear, ringing the bell again to say the work was done and to have a nice day, and then there was nothing but the humming of the refrigerator and the steel trunk in the middle of the kitchen, sprayed with a potent cleaner to eliminate the smell, the puddle on the floor mopped up — Amanda had her standards no matter the circumstances.
Dale lifted the lid. He had an idea.
"What you smiling at?" Amanda looked at him curiously, the last thing she expected him to be doing.
"Wait and see." Dale picked up a Hexad and blinked out of existence.
Back to the Past
5 Seconds Future
Nearly as soon as Dale disappeared he re-appeared, feet landing firmly on the tiles he had finally admitted were rather a good investment after all. While he was away, and in a reality where time had little meaning, Dale did five fast jumps until there was one left.
When he reappeared, still smiling, Amanda not having had time to really even take in the fact he'd gone then returned, he grabbed a pad from the kitchen drawer, wrote a quick note, taped it to the Hexad and sent it back to meet them in a pub ten years ago, telling them to run, by dropping it dome side down onto the tiles, heart in his mouth as he did so, just in case it cracked a tile.
"Okay, one job down. What's next?"
"Oh, right. I wondered what you were doing, but why so happy?"
Dale tapped the side of his nose enigmatically, saying, "Just you wait and see. Anything we have to do?"
He could see Amanda was trying to think back — they had to ensure that they did everything that had happened.
"Okay, right, we have to do the tin, but that was at nighttime, so we have to wait for dark to do that, and—"
"Haha," interrupted Amanda. "Dale you muppet, it's time travel, we don't have to wait for dark!"
"Oops, oh yeah. I forgot. But let's wait anyway, it just, well, it feels right. Okay?"
"Okay, if it makes you happy."
So what were the other things they had to do? They couldn't think of anything so sat around waiting for the cover of night. They drank some wine, no champagne this time. As it grew darker, so did the mood in the living room where they sat on the floor around the coffee table, the bottle of wine still half full. The future was unfolding as the past already had, bringing them to where they were now, so they had to do what they both hated to do, knowing that they couldn't change the future until the past had been aligned to set them on the course that led them to where they now were.
Dale refused to think about any of it, just sipped his Chardonnay and let the mild buzz take him, calm him. Then he remembered the Hexad that landed on the table that Amanda had said she would send thirty minutes after thinking about it, so he told her. They really should have written it down, it seemed like they would never forget, but ten years was a long time.
"Wait a minute, that one had six jumps on it right?" said Amanda.
"Yep, sure did."
"So how do we do that? It takes a jump for it to get anywhere."
Dale sat up straight in his chair, wine forgotten. "Damn! You know, I'd never even considered that. Um... Okay, I give up. I've got no idea."
