Now, Then, and Everywhen (Chronos Origins)

by Rysa Walker

  If the others notice that I seem a bit worse for wear, they don’t mention it. Most are too busy bombarding Angelo with questions. They tell him they felt something odd, which hit them in two waves. Delia Morrell says it was like when you cross your own path, only more intense. Angelo apologizes, blaming the issue on a minor equipment malfunction. He’s a pretty smooth liar, as it turns out, which makes me wonder how often he’s practiced that particular talent.

  Everything is fixed now, he tells them. Which is true, up to a point.

  The only two who aren’t asking questions are Saul and Grant. They look at least as ragged as I feel, especially Grant, who is led off to the med unit ahead of us. Saul says Grant got a case of food poisoning in Atlanta. Messed up both of their research agendas. And after making that pronouncement, Saul storms out, not even waiting for the Temporal Monitoring Unit check, which is mandatory. I fall into line with the others, going through the med pod and then waiting for clearance from Timeline Consistency.

  There’s a slight difference today, but I don’t think anyone else notices. Usually when Marcy calls our names and says, “You’re free to go,” she takes us in alphabetical order. With the name Reyes, I'm always near the end. But today, she clears me first.

  When I step outside the TMU, Angelo is waiting. The side door opens and one of the techs steps aside to let Rich and Katherine, who weren’t on the jump schedule and therefore had to return to the isolation tank stable point, into the room.

  Before I lose my nerve, I hold out the contacts that I stashed in my pocket. “I just wanted to let you know that I’m not using these anymore.”

  “Why? Are they bothering your eyes? I can get—”

  “No.” I glance over at Rich for moral support. “I mean that I’m not going to be part of this social experiment anymore. I’ve spent the better part of the past two years embedded with groups who think I’m a lesser human being. Any interest I had in learning more about what makes those people tick is long gone. I know what makes them tick. It’s not a complex mix—mostly intolerance, anger, and a hefty dose of ignorance. So, I’m not doing it anymore. If that means the board decides to sit me out, stick me in some place like the archives, then . . . so be it.”

  Angelo sighs. “I don’t think it’s going to be a problem, Tyson. At least not in the short run.” He ushers us into a side room with two desks. The SimMaster 8560 is in the middle of one of them, and the display is active. A globe circles in the background, with the Temporal Dilemma logo at the top.

  Superimposed over the globe is a message in big block letters:

  SINCE YOU SEEM TO WANT TO PLAY . . .

  OUR OBJECTIVE: PREVENT THE US FROM ENTERING WWII

  LENGTH: THREE ROUNDS

  RESTRICTIONS: FOUR-PLAYER TEAMS, CONTINENTAL US, NO PLAYER SUBSTITUTIONS, NO WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, FIVE OBSERVERS PER TEAM

  TEAM ONE: MORGEN CAMPBELL, SAUL RAND, ALISA CAMPBELL, ESTHER SOWAH

  TEAM TWO: TYSON REYES, MAX COLEMAN, KATHERINE SHAW, RICHARD VIER

  STAY TUNED FOR OUR OPENING GAMBIT!

  ∞Acknowledgments∞

  When I wrapped up the CHRONOS Files in 2015, I joked that I needed a time-travel break to unravel my brain. I also had another series that I’d begun writing in 2013 (the Delphi Trilogy), whose characters had been waiting somewhat impatiently for their chance to get out of the confines of my imagination. But I always knew I’d be coming back to CHRONOS. There were other stories I wanted to tell, other historical events that I wanted to explore through the lens of time travel. And so, here we are.

  In keeping with tradition from the CHRONOS Files, I want to start out by sorting fact from fiction. The lines can be a bit blurry, and, as with any historical fiction, I’ve taken some liberties with the real-life historical figures who are in this book. That said, I’ve done my best to stay true to the character suggested in interviews, both print and video.

  There are numerous articles by fictional newspapers tucked between the chapters. Any articles with dates prior to 2000 are based on actual newspaper accounts of the events described.

  The selection from the Records of the House Un-American Activities Committee and the excerpt from The Manual of the United Klans of America are both verbatim transcripts.

  Madi’s trip to the church festival in 1957 Liverpool was the first time that Paul McCartney played with John Lennon’s skiffle group, The Quarry Men. The two would later go on to form another, somewhat better-known, band. The description of the parade that day is based on photographs of the event and flyers posted online at various Beatles fan sites.

  The actual concert playlist for the Beatles performance in Memphis (prior to the cherry-bomb incident) provides the musical backdrop for Madi and Tyson’s final push to restore the timeline.

  Information about the Beatles’ 1966 American tour and the public reaction is very close to the historical record. John Lennon’s comments about the relative popularity of his band and Jesus Christ were taken somewhat out of context by some politicians and media outlets, especially in the South. On their previous tour in 1964, the Beatles had not endeared themselves to segregationists when they refused to play at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida, unless the venue allowed people of all races to attend, and band members, especially Lennon and Paul McCartney, had made statements highly critical of Jim Crow laws still prevalent in the 1960s South.

  I made extensive use of online videos of the Memphis press conference with the Beatles and also a television interview with a KKK leader who claimed that they were planning a surprise for the band. The incident with the cherry bomb, which many believed to be a gunshot, was reportedly instrumental in the band’s decision to make the 1966 tour their last.

  Record burnings and KKK rallies were staged throughout the South and elsewhere to protest the tour. One of these was led by South Carolina United Klans of America leader Robert Scoggin. Three other Klan leaders have brief dialogue in the book: Robert Shelton (Imperial Wizard of United Klans), Robert “Dynamite Bob” Chambliss (responsible for the Birmingham Church bombing), and Collie Wilkins (charged with the killing of Viola Liuzzo).

  Reverend Jimmy Stroud organized the Memphis Christian Youth Rally to coincide with the Beatles concert on August 19, 1966. The original plan was to hold it at the Memphis Memorial Stadium, which stood only a few hundred yards from Mid-South Coliseum, where the Beatles would play. As the projected size of the counterrally dwindled, however, it was moved to Ellis Auditorium.

  The Antioch College speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. took place on June 19, 1965. An Ohio branch of the KKK planned an assassination attempt for that day, but it was canceled.

  Individuals who marched from Selma to Montgomery in March 1965 camped on the final night at the City of St. Jude. A Stars for Freedom concert was organized for the marchers that evening. In our timeline, no one was killed, and thousands of troops were on hand to provide protection. They were not, however, able to save the life of Viola Liuzzo, who was murdered while transporting marchers back to Selma.

  The ducks still do their daily march from the elevator to the fountain, if you’d like to visit them at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis.

  I think that pretty much covers the historical backdrop, but I’d also like to take a brief moment to talk about the other setting for this book and the two that will follow—the future. Much of the story revolves around CHRONOS, an organization that engages in extensive genetic alteration. While manipulating someone’s genetic makeup to allow him or her to time travel is still firmly in the realm of science fiction, most of the other genetic tweaks will be in the far less distant future. The desire to correct for abnormalities that cause suffering or early death would be hard to deny, but parents who currently buy their children’s way into elite universities would surely be willing to invest a bit before birth to ensure an intelligence boost. And since it’s unlikely that any of this would be free, the gap between the rich and the poor would become a widening chasm.

  Why pay for plastic
surgery later, when you could ensure that your child doesn’t inherit Grandpa’s nose, or any other physical trait deemed undesirable? All of the biases in our society—sexism, racism, homophobia, and so on—could potentially be reflected in the types of things that parents might choose to tweak.

  All this is to say that I hope readers will view my description of the genetic “enhancement” at CHRONOS as a cautionary tale. I believe we will face some very difficult choices in the coming decades, as we examine what sorts of genetic changes will be permitted. As our understanding of the human genome and how it can be altered grows, we need clear ethical guidelines, both at the national and international level.

  And on that cheery note, I’d like to turn to the long list of people to whom I owe a debt of gratitude. First, a big thank you to my team at 47North. Adrienne Procaccini has shepherded this book from start to finish with exceptional care and patience. Mike Corley has produced another gorgeous cover. Tegan Tigani and I shared multiple time travel headaches during the developmental edit. Special thanks as well to the dedicated group of copyeditors and proofreaders who patched up my assorted gaffes.

  If you’re among my friends on Facebook or Twitter, or in one of my online author groups, thanks for keeping me informed and entertained, and reminding me to get back into the Writing Cave. My trusty CHRONOS Repo Agents and beta readers deserve a special mention for their detailed feedback and support. While not all of them contributed to this particular book, their feedback and friendship helped me grow as a writer, so I won’t be “culling” any names, just adding a few who have joined the chaos more recently: Cale Madewell, Chris Fried, Karen Stansbury, Karen Benson, Ian Walniuk, Mary Freeman, Meg A. Watt, Hailey Mulconrey Theile, Billy Thomas, Erin Flynn, Margarida Azevedo Veloz, Summer Nettleman, Heather Jones, Meg Griffin, Kristin Ashenfelter, Lacey Waits, Shell Bryce, Fred Douglis, Jen Gonzales, Donna Harrison Green, Dori Gray, Susan Helliesen, Chelsea Hawk, Mikka McClain, Alexa Huggins, Stephanie Johns-Bragg, Cody Jones, Christina Kmetz, Jenny MacRunnel, Trisha Davis Perry, John Scafidi, Antigone Trowbridge, Jen Wesner, Dan Wilson, Jessica Wolfsohn, Tracy Denison Johnson, Mark Chappell, Becca Porter, and Sarah Kate Fisher. And, as always, apologies in advance to the person—or more likely, persons—I’ve forgotten!

  Thanks to my family—immediate, extended, and chosen. Extra special thanks to Pete for being my sounding board and to the three lovely people to whom this book is dedicated. You guys keep me (relatively) sane, even when I’m in the middle of book frenzy—which is pretty much all the time lately—and you have my unending gratitude.

  And finally, thanks to the readers of the original CHRONOS series around the world. Writing the book is only the first part of the creative process. It takes a reader to fill in the blanks and make the story their own. Thanks for lending me your imaginations . . . and I hope you’ll join me for the rest of journey.

  ∞About the Author∞

  Photo © 2014 Jeff Kolbfleisch

  RYSA WALKER is the bestselling author of The Delphi Trilogy (The Delphi Effect, The Delphi Resistance, and The Delphi Revolution) and the CHRONOS Files series, which includes Timebound, winner of the Grand Prize in the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards, Time’s Echo, Time’s Edge, Time’s Mirror, Time’s Divide, and Simon Says: Tips for the Intrepid Time Traveler. Her career had its beginnings in a childhood on a cattle ranch, where she read every book she could find, watched Star Trek and The Twilight Zone, and let her imagination soar into the future and to distant worlds. Her diverse path has spanned roles such as lifeguard, waitress, actress, digital developer, and professor—and through it all, she has pursued her passion for writing the sorts of stories she imagined in her youth. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, two youngest sons, and a hyperactive golden retriever. Discover more about Rysa and her work at www.rysa.com.