The blue-eyed robot took a moment to process the remark and shook Ben’s hand. “Thank you, Commander. It has been a pleasure. Good luck, despite the theoretically high odds against success and for any unintended consequences we outlined mathematically in diagram 34A. I shall miss you.”
Ben smiled. He said a final goodbye to GranPat. I’ll either make you proud someday, or meet you on that long road. Love you, GranPat. After activating the desired medallion coordinates, he disappeared into the past.
Chapter 25
After making a few stops, Ben returned earth-side and across the street from his home in present day Carlston, or at least what his temporal coordinates indicated as such. Uncertain to what extent he’d changed the future, he’d feared his bronze t-medallion would no longer function, but it had. He arrived unharmed, except for the scratch on his forehead from his trip to Carmichael’s past.
Blinking against the cold, he scanned the neighborhood for any sign of Erdian invaders, but saw none. Had his recent trip to a long past summer day changed his world for the better? So far so good. If he’d failed, he would receive a breaking invasion story from CNN on his cell phone.
He squeezed the wrapped package under his arm. What if he could only return to a timeline where both teleportation and time travel existed? That wasn’t his intent. Was he really home, or just visiting a parallel world attuned for wayward time travelers? Crossing the snowy street, he entered through the gate, ran up the stairs to the front door, and pushed the doorbell. Shit. What if his own doppelganger answered the door? Ben shivered.
The door opened. “Forget your key again?” Mom said with a smile. “Please get cleaned up. We have company coming.”
Ben stomped the snow from his shoes and entered the house. She looked like Mom, only happier. Same red hair and freckles. Same house, but new flowers on the foyer table. “Company?”
“For my birthday party, or is that present you’re holding for someone else?” She tilted her head and brushed the small bandage on his forehead. “Did you get hurt at practice?”
“Just a scratch. Happy birthday, Mom.” As he hugged her, Kipper ran into the foyer on all four legs. Ben’s jaw dropped open. No harness or wheels! Did I jump back to the wrong timeline? Bending down to rub her head, he dared not call her by name should he be wrong. “I’m . . . going to change my clothes, how much time until everyone arrives?” His eyes were drawn toward the second floor landing.
“In about thirty minutes, but take your time. I’ll call you when we’re ready.”
“Thanks.” Ben hurried upstairs as quietly as he could. He passed his closed bedroom door and went straight into Jack’s room. Familiar trophies lay piled upon the shelves and dresser, but on the bed Charmaine kissed a boy—his face obscured by her long hair.
“Dude!” Jack said. “You gotta knock first. I’m busy here.”
Ben froze with his hand on the doorknob. Jack?
“Go on. Get outta here!” Jack’s eyebrows shot up. “I would appreciate a little privacy with my girl. Okay?”
Charmaine wore dark eyeliner and a precocious smile. She had been Jack’s girlfriend in high school until the accident that took Jack’s life.
Ben stepped out of the room and closed the door. Shit and double shit. Was that Jack from Terra, or a Jack from a different timeline, or was his real brother . . . alive? It felt surreal. He had a hundred questions for Jack, but they would have to wait.
Walking softly to his bedroom door, he held his breath and knocked. No answer. Ben placed his hand on the doorknob and twisted. Would he find his room unoccupied, or find a look-alike Ben admiring his shark tattoo in the mirror? He opened the door and saw his room. Mostly. Among his wrestling and football trophies, Ben found a baseball trophy for ‘Most Improved’. Baseball? Jack had always wanted him to go out for baseball, but after his brother died he hadn’t bothered.
Opening his closet door, he placed the wrapped package on the upper shelf. He knelt before the mound of dirty clothes, scooched his hands beneath the pile, and extricated the stash box from under the loose floorboard. Inside were several school pictures of Jack and three more of Lori. The spare bronze t-medallion he’d left in the box this morning had vanished—either because someone took it, or his trip to Carmichael’s past negated its existence.
He dug deeper into the box and gasped. Hidden beneath the contents of his stash lay an unopened pack of condoms. Awwwh, I didn’t buy this. Maybe the ‘other’ Ben in this timeline did, or Jack, or . . . Mom? Ben shivered. He’d always been too anxious to buy condoms in public, but the thought of Mom buying a pack for him made him blush with embarrassment. Although, he had told his mother about the special date with Trudy in a previous timeline.
He put the stash box back under the floorboard and walked to the bed. Still unsure if another Ben from this timeline might show up at any minute, he closed the bedroom door, changed his clothes, and plugged his phone into his charger. CNN’s alert sounded on his cell—their top story dealt with snowfall. He lay the phone down and closed his eyes to rest.
Ben woke with a start as someone banged on the door.
“Hey, Dufus! You still alive in there?” Jack called.
Groggy and disoriented, Ben sat up on the bed. “Come in.”
Jack opened the door. “Hey, sorry I was such a dick earlier, but you surprised me. It’s good to see you.”
“Same here. I was surprised to see you—”
“With Charmaine?” Jack looked over his shoulder, then walked inside the room and closed the door. “Yea, well, I see her when I come home, but I see other girls at college. Nothing serious. Cool?”
“Cool.” Ben swallowed. “Do you know anything about Terra?”
“Terra?” Jack wrinkled his forehead. “Who is she? Someone from your school?”
“Just wondered. I don’t think . . . you’ve met.”
“Forget Terra. You have a special date tonight.” Jack smiled.
Trudy. “I almost forgot.” He didn’t feel the same about her after his trip to Terra, but he’d promised himself, and others, to let Ruthie go. She, and Terra, were off limits.
“You go, Tiger,” Jack said, “but be careful. Use precautions like we talked about.”
“Tiger?” Ben checked his forearm for a tattoo, but saw none. Did Tiger live here too?
“Tiger, panther, jaguar, whatever, just don’t be a lion cheetah.” Jack chuckled. “Hey. C’mon downstairs. We got company.”
Ben rolled out of bed, took a shower, and brushed his hair. Was this Jack his true brother? Amo had warned him about the dangers of unintended consequences, but in this timeline, the accident that had crippled his dog and killed his brother apparently never happened. He shook his head. The funny thing was, he’d thought about going back in time to save Jack, but had chosen a different course entirely.
As he walked down the stairs with the package, he heard Mom laughing in the living room. What a happy sound. For years after Jack died, she’d been miserable. If she heard anyone speak of Jack, she’d become angry or fall apart in tears. Last summer’s kidnapping of GranPat by CSD, Ben’s disappearance, and discovering Jack from Terra, had brought his whole family together. He and his mother had learned how to talk to each other and about Jack. Ben’s guilt over Jack’s death had left him with permanent scars, but recovering from the wounds had made him a stronger person. What did it all mean now if Jack had never died? And if I changed my past, and the future, why do I still remember everything?
In the living room, a peppermint candle flickered on the coffee table. Mom sat on the couch next to the woman he’d visited in Carmichael’s past. She looked older, but still had an earthy sense of humor that curled her lips. Tears of excitement, fear, and mirth leaked from her eyes. She wasn’t Betsy, Albert’s formal but kind, wife he’d met on Terra. She was GranPat’s.
“Grandma Betty.” He smiled.
“Hello, Ben,” She stood and smiled. “Good to see you again.” Grandma Betty turned toward her daughter. “P
atty, could Ben and I have a moment alone?”
Mom gave him a gushy smile. “Sure. I need to check on the pot roast anyway.”
Grandma sat back on the couch and patted the cushion next to her. “Have a seat.”
Ben sat next to her. He was happy to see her too, but didn’t know what to say.
She laid her hand atop his. “Thank you. For everything.”
He nodded. “You remember?”
“I’ve been waiting years to see you since your last visit to Carmichael. I watched your younger-self grow up wondering, but not knowing when, or if, the ‘you’ I see before me now would arrive. But here you are with the bandage I put on your forehead that morning, and the birthday gift for my daughter I wrapped all those years ago. I know it’s really you.”
Ben smiled. “I wouldn’t have needed a bandage if you hadn’t thrown that flowerpot at me.”
“Shush up. I threw a flowerpot at what I thought was an owl. Why were you hooting in bushes at night?”
“I wanted to wake you up without bothering GranPat. I knew a hoot owl would draw you outside.”
“Yea, and good thing I didn’t grab the shotgun. Well, anyway, you told me and I kept my promise. I never told your grandfather about the visit, or the crazy story about time travel.” She squeezed his hand. “I waited all these years to thank you. If you hadn’t told me about the pancreatic cancer, I never would have gotten the treatment in time. You saved my life.”
Ben accepted the hug. “You’re welcome, Grandma. Honestly, for me, our visit happened just last night. I didn’t know what to expect when I got back today. Seeing Jack surprised me.”
“Don’t you remember, Ben? You told me about Jack’s future accident in Carlston and how you felt responsible. I just made sure I invited you both up to Carmichael when that weekend rolled around.”
Ben frowned. “Yes.” He now had two memories of that fateful day. One in Carlston and one with his grandparents. “Thank you, Grandma. I see why GranPat loved you so much.”
Something in the hall caught her eye. “I love you both.”
An old man with a white mustache and dark rimmed glasses entered the room. “What’s goin’ on in here? You tryin’ to steal me girl?”
“GranPat! You’re alive!” Ben stood up and gave him a hug.
“And why wouldn’t I be?” GranPat said. “I have more protection around me than I’ve ever had. Between the FBI and the Jet Propulsion Lab, they want to keep me alive forever.”
“Why?” Ben asked Grandma. “What’s going on?”
“Well, you know how Patrick gets busy in his cellar laboratory. He created a . . . what do you call it?”
“A beacon,” GranPat said.
“Yes,” she said. “A beacon that reached deeper into space that any of the yeti folk.”
GranPat cleared his throat. “That’s SETI—Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.”
“I’m telling this story,” Grandma Betty said. “Well, he reached out and got an answer. The aliens want us to visit. They even sent us a diagram for a space engine.”
“Fusion drive,” GranPat said. “I’m helpin’ Jet P decipher the schematics. It’ll take years to build it, and decades to reach them.”
Ben smiled. His plan had worked. This grandfather hadn’t lived with the loss of his beloved, nor discovered parallel universes, teleportation, and time travel, but he’d still proven himself a scientist extraordinaire. No matter what GranPat did, he was all in, and inspired Ben to do the same. He hoped his grades on this timeline would help with a future scholarship to MIT. He took a deep breath. All in good time.
Ben left the living room and found Jack setting the table. “Where’s Charmaine?” Ben asked.
Jack motioned toward the kitchen. “Helping Mom. They get along pretty well.” He finished the settings for six.
Ben scanned the table and his forehead furrowed. Six? “Is she staying for dinner?”
“Yep.” Jack arranged the silverware around each plate.
Jack, Charmaine, GranPat, Grandma, Mom, me . . . Ben’s heart sank. “Where’s Dad?”
Jack’s eyes flicked to the kitchen and then back to Ben. “Probably in Tibbetsville with Lucy,” Jack said in a low voice.
“Tibbetsville?” Oh. His chest tightened. Dad’s Terran doppelganger, Johnnie, had left his wife for Lucy Dandridge and lived in Tibbetsville with their young daughter Suzie. But I’m back on Earth now. Why isn’t Dad here with us?
“Why?” Jack scoffed. “Did you expect him to join us?”
Ben shook his head. The timeline was off. If he went back a few years and tried to tweak the changes, something worse could happen. Now that he had Jack, GranPat, and Grandma back, and with luck, nixed the Erdian invasion, he decided to let it ride. Sorry, Dad, better to have saved the world. “No. I . . . just miss him.”
“Me too, but don’t bring him up at dinner. Mom’s in a good mood.”
After dinner and cake, Mom opened her presents. When she opened the gift from Ben, she held up the framed photograph. “Ben. Where did you find this? I thought it was lost.”
“I haven’t seen that for years,” GranPat said.
“Let me see it,” Jack said. “I remember that, Mom. The picture sat in Grandma’s guest room when we were kids.” The silver frame was engraved with We Love You.
“My fifth birthday.” Mom said. “Your grandfather rented a pony and Grandma taught me how to ride. I love this picture. Such a nice memory. Thanks, Ben.”
Ben smiled. “Grandma helped.”
Grandma smiled at Mom. “That day was such a fine memory. Just wanted a second chance to remind you how much we love you.” Grandma winked at Ben.
“Happy birthday, Dear,” GranPat said.
“Thank you,” Mom said. “I love you all too.” She wiped her tears, stood, and started gathering the dishes.
Charmaine stood. “Let me help, Mrs. Fuller.”
Jack and Ben left the dining room together. Jack nudged Ben. “It’s seven thirty. Don’t you have somewhere to go?”
Ben blushed. “Yes.” He didn’t know if he needed a car. In his timeline, he’d inherited Jack’s Mustang, but now with Dad gone. . . “What car should I use?”
“Take mine.” Jack handed him his keys. “Charmaine and I can catch a ride. Just be careful. You get me?”
“Thanks, Bro.” Ben hustled upstairs to grab his jacket, unsure of what might happen tonight with Trudy. He hadn’t bought any protection because . . . I’m not on the same track as her.
A vision of Ruth holding their baby swam into his thoughts. She smiled and the baby cooed. My baby. Oh, Ruth was so very far away, but I really liked her. I should tell Trudy it’s over, and see if I can find Ruth again. Once I’m back on Terra, Ruth would take me back despite my promise to Tiger. In that timeline, with a girl who cared about him, he sensed hope, love, and happiness. Maybe enough for a lifetime.
Shit. The realization stopped him in his tracks. He couldn’t visit Terra. Fixing the timeline so GranPat never discovered parallel worlds, or teleportation, or time travel would have killed any chance for him to visit Ruth. If he’d undone everything, had he ever really held Ruth in his arms? Would she even recognize him? And what about Tiger? Gone too, no doubt.
Even though he held the power to change the universe, he suddenly felt . . . alone. Yes, he’d saved the lives of his real brother—Jack, GranPat, and Grandma Betty, and protected Earth from Erde, but who would ever know or believe him? Was he a hero, or just a guy with a cosmic eraser?
Ben stepped into his room, closed the door, and pulled the bronze-medallion from beneath his shirt. This Earth timeline rocked, except for Dad, but he would be a fool to change anything now. Jack and his grandparents were alive and Mom felt happy. He stared at the t-medallion’s power switch. Does it still work here? Maybe he hadn’t erased everything. His fingers moved over the time medallion and he disappeared into a green mist.
Chapter 26
Ben reappeared in the brightly lit phased lab
. Faded diagrams and algorithms flaked from the peeling white walls. The laboratory looked somewhat similar to when he’d left, but without Amo and GranPat’s broken body. A film of dust covered everything—time had passed.
“Anyone here?” Ben said, but heard no reply. Shit.
Opening the fridge, he found a rusty coffee can and a lump of dried black mold that might have once been an apple. An eternity could pass within the phased lab where time flowed differently.
“Amo. Can you hear me?”
Vzzsshhhh-clig. The green robot with blue eyes appeared supine on the work table.
“Amo!” Ben moved to the table. “I hoped you might still be here.” He touched the robot’s hand. “I was afraid I erased you when I changed the timeline.”
The robot stirred. “Commander. I am alive because I stayed with Patrick as you instructed. Your medallion continues to function because it is linked to the phased lab and my internal time processor.” Amo struggled to a sitting position. “This lab remains outside the bend and flow of timelines.” Amo pointed across the room to a plastic jug of gray synthetic oil. “Would you mind?”
Ben retrieved the jug, unscrewed the top, and set it on the table next to the robot. A small blue tube extended from Amo’s forefinger and into the bottle. The smell of synthetic oil filled the lab.
Vsshhhh-click “Better.” He removed his finger from the jug and replaced the top. “I have been very busy, but sedentary.”
“What happened to GranPat’s body?”
“Entropy. I had to process his remains.” Amo gestured toward the refrigerator. “His ashes are in the—”
“Coffee can?” Ben swallowed. GranPat was truly gone. “I’m so sorry, Amo. Thanks for staying with him, but you must have been very lonely.”
“Not so, Commander. I kept in touch with my future-selves via my t-processor. They travel many timelines.” Amo slid from the table and his blue eyes whirred. “Commander, tell me about your current timeline. Are you happy?”
Sliptime Page 20
