Dissonance (The Machina of Time Book 2)
Page 18
"Can you still remember Hannah?" Brooke asked, then held her right index finger to her lip as she squatted down. She pulled him with her. "Over there." She pointed toward back in the direction they had come from.
Wyatt followed the direction she pointed and spotted two figures. One wore the same white coat he had seen before, and the other wore what could easily have been the same gray windbreaker the older Avery had worn.
"How are they here?" Brooke asked.
Wyatt shook his head and tried to hold in the only answer that came to him. Seeing that older version of Hannah talking with the older version of Avery worried him.
"Why do you think they are here?" Brooke asked when Wyatt remained quiet.
"They're here because," Wyatt started, and stopped himself. He didn't want to tell her what he thought it meant. Already, he had seen the older version of Hannah waiting for him in the business park. He had seen her a few other places. The two older women had to be looking for them.
"What is it?" Brooke said, turning his face back toward hers with her right hand.
"Do you think they're looking for us?" Wyatt asked, shaking his head.
"That's strange," Brooke said. "Are you sure?"
"What else would they be doing here at the same time we are?" Wyatt shook his head, forcing her to move her hand away from his chin.
Brooke lowered her hand and looked back between the structure of the shelving toward the two older women. "I wish we could hear what they are saying."
The older version of Hannah seemed to speak animatedly about whatever they were discussing. Wyatt watched, trying to read her lips, but she kept throwing her hands in the way. "She looks frightened," he said quietly.
"Why would she be frightened," Brooke asked.
With a shake of his head, Wyatt continued to watch. Avery responded to whatever Hannah said with less emotion. A lot of her responses were simply the shaking or nodding of her head.
"We need to get closer," Wyatt said, scanning the shelving.
"We can't get closer without being seen," Brooke said. "Besides, if this is different, your memories would change. What do you remember of this visit?" She shifted to face him more fully in her crouch. Her face was lined with worry as she waited for him to answer.
Wyatt didn't want to think about the double memories of his last visit to Hannah. It seemed the more he focused on remembering the visit with her, the harder it became to remember. He remembered talking to her, in these aisles, but he couldn't remember what they discussed.
"Something is wrong," Wyatt said, keeping his voice near a whisper. "I don't remember her face."
"What do you mean?" Brooke asked.
"I mean that I no longer remember which version of Hannah I met with." Wyatt lowered himself to sit on the floor but remained partially facing the two older women in the distance.
"You think you might have met with the older version of Hannah?" Brooke asked. "I think you would remember that better. They don't seem to be watching for you."
"I hate this," Wyatt said. He glanced toward Brooke's wrist terminal and saw that the time of his first visit to Hannah that day was almost on them.
"Where did they go?" Brooke asked directing Wyatt's attention back toward the two women.
Only this time they were gone.
"Where did they go?" Wyatt asked.
"That was my question," Brooke said, rising to her feet slowly. She scanned the shelving from the left to the right. "I don't feel any added resonance, do you?"
That was a tough question for Wyatt to answer. His insides felt fine, but his head hurt, and he was dizzy. He felt like he stood up too fast. He did stand, but not fast enough to get lightheaded. He shook his head and let out a sigh as he gripped the shelving in front of them. "They must have walked somewhere."
Brooke nodded and scanned from left to right again. "I really don't like this." No sooner had she finished speaking than they both felt the resonance.
This time, the resonance came as a wave of dizziness and a headache that would not subside. Wyatt felt his memories being torn apart for a moment before it passed. When the resonance passed, Brooke watched him with a broad smile.
"Why are you smiling?" Wyatt asked.
"Because I suddenly feel better," Brooke said. "There she is." She pointed through the shelving to their right and Wyatt saw the younger version of Hannah moving away from Gene. It looked like they had been walking together along the central open area from an area where the pallets had been stacked on the floor.
"How?" It was the only word Wyatt managed to get out. His mind worked at pulling up his memories, and he saw that version of Hannah wore the same orange sweatshirt she had worn when he came to visit her, but she looked a little different.
She seemed to look directly at him as another wave of resonance filled the area. That had to be his approach. As he waited for his figure to emerge from a portal, his memories seemed to finally align. He remembered Hannah. He remembered the way she had greeted him in that warehouse when he came to visit her.
"You're back," Hannah said as his earlier version emerged from a portal. She smiled broadly watching that earlier version of Wyatt.
"Are you okay?" Hannah asked. "It doesn't get worse each time, does it?"
Those words were exactly what she had said to him, but something was strange. That version of Hannah was dressed a little different. Her orange sweatshirt seemed stained with sweat. Wyatt pulled Brooke around the shelving as they moved closer to where his earlier version stood with his back to them.
"Did she look like that when you came here?" Brooke whispered her question as they ducked behind one of the only boxes on the shelving separating them.
Hannah stepped around near that version of Wyatt as Wyatt watched. It gave him a headache to stand so close to himself. He hadn't seen himself earlier, and worried that his earlier self might look in his direction. That could ruin his mind.
"We need to get out of here for a bit," Wyatt said, rising back to his feet.
"I'm staying to watch, so I can tell you what happens," Brooke said, not rising from her crouch.
Wyatt shrugged, saw her smile at him, and moved away.
"Sometimes, it is rough," he heard his earlier version say as he moved out of earshot along the aisle.
After walking carefully for several seconds, he turned back and watched. That version of Hannah spoke to his earlier version, but it seemed different than his memories.
He watched as that version of Hannah pointed toward his earlier version's wrist. She still wanted a wrist terminal, but something was odd. He stood just over one hundred yards from her, but as she pointed with her right hand, her left sleeve raised slightly, and he thought he saw white on her wrist.
Paranoia filled him. He already felt certain this was not the same Hannah he remembered visiting, but to see her going through the same actions with what looked like a wrist terminal on her wrist, bothered him. He couldn't shake the thought that was the same version of Hannah he would have a burger with in 2089. Why would she be doing what she was doing?
That version had claimed he had told her to do it.
"Falling apart." The voice startled Wyatt as he moved a little deeper along the aisle. It had been Lenny's voice. The shelving to either side of the aisle had more boxes, and he couldn't determine how far away Lenny had been.
"Gets better." That voice was the older Avery. He remembered it from when she had called out to him on his first encounter with time travel. They were discussing something, but Wyatt was obviously missing most of the conversation.
He tried to quietly draw closer. Most of the conversation happened so quietly, that he struggled to understand what they said. He only caught bits and pieces, but those bits of conversation were enough to scare him.
When he reached the next gap between shelving, he crossed that aisle, and waited.
"I tell you he isn't behind this," the older Avery said.
Wyatt managed to see her through the gap. She stood
across the next aisle from Lenny who shook his head and spread his hands wide.
"He has to be the one who has ruined this," Lenny said. "No one else has done what he did. Brooke has worked with him, which surprises me."
Without knowing the subject of their conversation, Wyatt couldn't be sure they were speaking about him. He wondered who else it could be. Maybe Aldan was causing the trouble. But he discounted that because Lenny had said Brooke's name. Lenny had to be talking about him.
"How did she get here at this time?" Lenny asked, pointing back in the direction from which Wyatt had come.
Wyatt ducked behind the boxes and glanced back toward the aisle where he had left Brooke. Over one hundred yards away, he could barely see her hidden figure. She was still safe.
"Why did you send me after them, if this is what would happen?" Avery said, her tone louder and more demanding.
"The Machina chose them," Lenny said. "I have little say in it. It can see the recorded future and plan for it. We have to trust it."
"The Machina?" Avery asked. "Or was it that later version of Hannah?"
"You need to get out of here before he sees you," Lenny said. "If he finds you, everything could be lost."
Wyatt wanted to stand up at that moment and approach them. He wanted to demand answers, but the tone Lenny had used didn't make it sound like they were out to ruin things. Lenny had sounded concerned about the way things had changed.
Shaking his head and breathing away his frustration, Wyatt forced himself to remain hidden. It suddenly seemed the best choice as Lenny opened a portal and stepped through, followed by Avery.
The resonance knocked Wyatt off his feet, and he struggled for several seconds to get back to himself. His mind ached with the changes he couldn't resolve yet.
He started to rise to his feet and felt the resonance coming from the direction he had left Brooke. Had she left him?
The sensation doubled him over and he coughed several times, struggling to keep the contents of his stomach down. On his hands and knees, he slowly began to recover.
Lenny had walked out of sight.
When he was finally able to stand without having to fight back his stomach, he rose to his feet and made his way back toward the aisle where he left Brooke.
She stood, waiting for him, smiling as he approached.
"What happened?" Wyatt asked quietly, scanning the area where his earlier version and Hannah had been.
"It happened the same way you said it did," Brooke said. "They talked for a bit, she sounded quite worried, and you left."
"Did she take the wrist terminal?" Wyatt asked. He stopped a few feet from Brooke and watched how she reacted to that question. When her smile broadened, it stunned him.
Brooke pointed toward the shelving across the aisle from where he had seen his earlier version talking with Hannah. "She left it for you."
Wyatt followed her gesture with his eyes and saw the white band of a wrist terminal sitting at chest height on the shelving.
"Why would she leave that there?" Wyatt asked.
"Can it get any more messed up?" Brooke asked as another figure moved on the other side of the shelving.
Wyatt shrugged and raced through the gap to retrieve the wrist terminal before anyone else saw it. The other figure stepped into the aisle at that same moment, but nearly one hundred yards back. Wyatt knew he had been seen, but when he looked at the man, he saw Gene. The man stood watching him, with a cigarette between the fingers of his right hand.
He raced back toward Brooke. She already had her portal opened, gesturing for him to hurry. Stuffing the wrist terminal into his front pocket, he let her pull him through her portal.
CHAPTER twenty
DORMITORY ENTRANCE, R333PS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2090, 2:00 AM
Mildew and humidity filled his nose as he fell through the portal behind Brooke. Others around him reacted loudly. Aldan lay on his back near Wyatt, coughing fiercely.
"Ugh," Jeremy said from the other side of where Wyatt crouched. The smell of mildew was joined by the smell of fresh vomit.
"Who did that?" Jeremy asked.
Wyatt looked toward Jeremy and saw the bit of bile on the floor in front of the larger man. Avery rolled to her side, finished coughing and laughed slightly.
"That was terrible," Avery said. "I can't believe you allowed the resonance to catch you like that." She pushed herself up to her knees and worked to climb to her feet while Jeremy rubbed his face.
The remaining spittle hung between Jeremy's right index finger and his mouth for a moment before he shook it free. He wiped his hand on his pants and stared at Wyatt.
His look almost made it look as if he suspected something. Coughing, Wyatt rose to his feet and steadied himself on the shelving beside him.
They stood near the entrance to their dormitory. Only a few lights in the warehouse were illuminated, as if the Machina were conserving power.
"What time is it?" Wyatt asked, directing his question to Brooke, but she wasn't the first to respond.
"Where did you go?" Aldan asked, sliding his feet back under himself as he faced Wyatt. He looked over at Brooke and shook his head. "I bet you didn't come straight back here. That would have been too easy."
Brooke glanced at Wyatt, but it was enough to convince Aldan he was right. Wyatt shook his head and remembered hearing the older version of Avery speaking with Lenny. That might help him resolve the issue with less anger if he could use it right.
"Where did you go?" Avery asked.
"We took a detour," Brooke said. She smiled at Aldan and backed closer to Wyatt.
"Where?" Jeremy said. "That has to be the reason the resonance was stronger this time."
"I think it was more than that," Wyatt said as he looked at each of them. "I think a piece of our past got corrected."
"Corrected?" Aldan said, rising to his feet. He placed his hands into his pockets. "Who would do that?"
"Hannah," Brooke answered and Wyatt wished he could have stopped her from speaking.
That was a piece of the information he hadn't wanted to say because he still wasn't sure he believed it. He watched the way Aldan's eyes narrowed at her words.
"You tried to get her out of this, didn't you?" Wyatt said, stepping away from the shelving with a glance over his shoulder. "You didn't want her to get involved in this, but I think it is too late. She is involved."
"How can that happen?" Jeremy asked. "If she never came here, how would she get involved?" He turned and faced Aldan from where he stood a little behind Wyatt.
Avery stood directly behind Wyatt. If he were trying to escape, it would be tough to get around them. He scanned each of their faces as he tried to come up with an answer. As his eyes moved back toward Aldan, Brooke answered for him.
"I think there is a lot more going on than we have been told," Brooke said. "I got to watch Wyatt's earlier version go back to meet with Hannah in the warehouse, but I don't think she was the same version he used to visit there."
Aldan raised his eyebrows and stepped closer for a moment. "What did you say?"
"She said that version of Hannah was different than the version I met with," Wyatt said. "She was right. That explains why I felt like she was acting differently. Instead of being the confident Hannah that was comfortable with her job there, she was nervous. I think that is why she took my wrist terminal." Wyatt remembered both versions of Hannah he had seen. One seemed happy, but the version who took his wrist terminal seemed exhausted. She must be the same one that had urged him to drive the car in 2089.
"Let's not talk about it out here," Avery said. "I'm worried there may be more people watching us here." She looked over her right shoulder, along the aisleway. Her eyes seemed to focus there for a moment.
"Did you see something?" Wyatt asked, scanning the direction her eyes had lingered. He couldn't see anything, and Avery didn't answer.
"Let's get inside," Jeremy said, grabbing Avery's arm and leading her around Wyatt.
"How do you know?" Wyatt said, keeping his voice quiet just for her. "Have you seen him?"
Brooke looked down at her hand and sighed. "Just be careful," she said. "He may be stuck in a loop or a paradox. All because of your actions." She dropped her arm and walked toward the door before he could respond.
The others entered the dormitory as Aldan held the door open. Wyatt followed Brooke in, but Aldan's eyes remained fixed on Wyatt.
"I don't know what you did," Aldan said as Wyatt entered. His voice was low and menacing. "But if you put my cousin back in danger and anything happens, I'll come after you."
Wyatt raised his hands up in front of himself as he neared the door. "I didn't do it," he said, but he wondered if he would at some future time. That version of Hannah in 2089 had told him she was only doing what he asked her to do. Maybe Aldan had a reason to worry.
He stepped through the doorway and moved between the sofas toward the kitchen counter. Brooke had already retrieved two bottles of water from the refrigerator and handed him one.
"What is your problem?" Jeremy asked, looking directly toward Brooke.
Brooke opened her bottle of water, took a long drink, and moved to sit on the sofa to the right side of the doorway. Aldan, Jeremy, and Avery sat on the other sofa.
"I don't know what you mean?" Brooke said. "We didn't set out to ruin anything." She stopped and motioned for Wyatt to sit beside her.
Wyatt's heart raced and he felt beads of sweat running down the sides of his face. They should have come straight back. Instead of coming back to just an angry Aldan, Brooke's actions had infuriated him. Looking at Aldan on the other sofa, he could see anger swimming behind the tight lips and narrowed eyes.
Wyatt didn't like confrontations, but enough was enough. "Wait," he said. "Before you start to attack her, listen to what we discovered." He saw the way his words drew Brooke's attention then Jeremy's. Avery glanced toward Aldan before she looked toward Wyatt.