Dissonance (The Machina of Time Book 2)

by Daniel R. Burkhard

  "I wouldn't work with Jarod," Avery protested. "My older version has to be working to make things right."

  "That could be the case," Jeremy said, stepping closer to Avery. "But we have to weigh the options."

  "It's scary," Avery said.

  "But your older version is not the only one I worry about," Wyatt said. "I've seen a few versions of Hannah. One of them took my wrist terminal and another seemed to leave it for me."

  "Weren't you with Brooke when you found that wrist terminal?" Aldan asked. His question bit into Wyatt's calm.

  "Are you saying she placed it there?" Wyatt asked, feeling his muscles tense. His heart seemed to race defensively. That was wrong. Brooke would never do that.

  "Let's lay it all out there," Aldan said. "When you found that wrist terminal, did you see anyone else around?"

  "I already told you I saw an older version of Avery discussing the changes with Lenny," Wyatt answered. "I didn't catch all they said, but they seemed to worry about something bigger." He lowered his gaze as he thought back to that time.

  Brooke had pointed out that Hannah had left a wrist terminal for him. It was also Brooke that said she had taken Aldan's wrist terminal. The thoughts began to escalate with the anxiety Wyatt already felt. He couldn't make them stop. He interrupted the piece of conversation that had started between Avery and Jeremy.

  "Listen," Wyatt said, waiting for their attention to fall back on him. "I think I was blinded by Brooke's niceness."

  "That's a silly thing to say," Aldan said. "She's been flirting with you all along."

  "But she told me she would never date someone she worked with," Wyatt said, shaking his head. He delayed telling them of the two versions of her he had seen.

  "And you let her get close," Avery said. She looked at Jeremy. "I know how that goes." She smiled.

  "No. Listen," Wyatt said. "This last time I saw her wake my earlier version and leave, she spoke to me for a moment. I think too much had happened for me to pay attention." He again stopped short of telling them there were two versions. He just couldn't say that.

  "What did she tell you?" Aldan said, folding his arms and sliding off the desk to stand.

  Wyatt stuffed his fingers into his front pockets and looped his thumbs through his belt loops. He felt sweat running down his lower back. He looked away from Aldan as he readied himself to answer. "She told me there was too much at stake and the Machina wasn't the only thing controlling time travel."

  "When did she say that?" Avery asked.

  "I bet it was right after taking my wrist terminal," Aldan answered. "Right?"

  "Yes," Wyatt answered. "I'm not sure what she was talking about."

  "Come on," Avery said. "We've seen it already. The Machina controls time travel through these wrist terminals, but we all know there are other ways to get around time."

  "There must be," Jeremy said. "How else would Jarod be getting around?" He nodded his head once before asking another question. "Did you see any cameras where you went?"

  Wyatt shook his head. "It was the middle of nowhere," he said. "I think it was central Utah, but that's just because that is a place I have seen. Sagebrush all over, and some mountains."

  "That could be almost anywhere?" Jeremy said. "Colorado, New Mexico, or—"

  "It was Utah," Aldan said. "If Hannah really is involved in this, it would be central Utah." He leaned back on the desk. "My father had a prefab house there, in the middle of nowhere."

  "And you said you didn't know anything about that location code," Wyatt said, remembering Aldan's small, prefabricated house. "We need to be honest with each other or this will never get better."

  "Do you think so?" Aldan said, he pushed himself off the desk and stepped closer to Wyatt. "How many times did you go back and visit Hannah without letting us know?"

  "Don't do that," Avery said. "We're all we have left. We can still work together."

  "I'm not sure if we can," Aldan said.

  Wyatt felt his breath quicken and his heart race, but he stood his ground. He didn't think Aldan would attack him. He hoped Aldan wouldn't, but the older man was close enough Wyatt could smell the sour smell of his breath.

  "How many times have you gone to your haven?" Wyatt asked. "I'm sure you spent more time there than I ever spent with Hannah."

  "Stop this," Avery said, rounding the table and placing herself between the two of them. She watched Wyatt for a moment before turning her attention to Aldan. "This isn't going to help us."

  "We're all involved in this to some extent," Wyatt said, catching the way Aldan's eyes flashed to him. He couldn't tell if it was anger or fear that drove Aldan's eyes. Before he lost his courage, Wyatt continued. "I've seen an older version of Avery involved with Lenny. I've seen you"—he looked at Aldan—"sitting with that older version of your cousin, and you seemed to be okay with that."

  "She was my cousin," Aldan said, his eyebrows lifting before he laughed and stepped back. "Okay. Sounds like we know some of the problems."

  "Yeah," Wyatt said. "Older versions of Hannah and Avery are involved. Jarod is traveling again. Brooke is somehow involved. Time travel is not controlled by the Machina, like Lenny thought it was. Did I miss anything?"

  "Is anyone else feeling that?" Avery asked. "You've been talking so much I think you missed the building resonance."

  "The resonance has always been there," Wyatt said but stopped talking. The resonance had seemed to always reside in the background since he first noticed the changes, but now something felt different. He turned toward the doorway and thought he saw a faint blue line forming near the hinge side of the door. "Do you see that?" He pointed and Aldan, Avery, and Jeremy stepped around him.

  "The line is there, almost," Avery said.

  "Someone was just there watching us through the door," Jeremy said, stepping toward it and throwing it open. He forced the door hard enough that it swung into the wall with a crack.

  "Now they know we saw them," Aldan said, stepping through the doorway after Jeremy.

  Wyatt followed, reaching the doorway before Avery. He stepped through as the resonance grew, and he suddenly wondered when he stood. The blue line was visible behind him as he turned to watch Avery step through. It separated the office from the hallway.

  Aldan moved along the hallway toward the intersection that would take them to their dormitory entrance. Jeremy and Avery pushed past Wyatt to follow, but he caught up to them.

  Sprinting along the hallway, Wyatt tried to catch a glimpse of whoever they were chasing. A lone figure ran ahead of them, but he wasn't sure who it was. It had the size that resembled the older version of Avery, or it could have been a man running.

  As they passed the intersection, the resonance seemed to grow. Someone was either leaving or arriving in that time. The dizziness slowed Wyatt, but the others seemed to be unaffected. The figure slowed as it neared the next ninety-degree corner. Aldan and Jeremy blocked the person's movement as Wyatt arrived behind Avery.

  "Don't do this," the figure said in a voice that was distinctly Avery's.

  "What are you doing here?" Aldan asked.

  "You got old," Jeremy added as he and Aldan blocked her escape.

  The younger Avery, stopped a few feet away, leaning against the inside corner of the hallway. "Why are you here?"

  "It's not what you are thinking right now," the older Avery said. "I'm here to help."

  "Then why did you run from us?" Aldan said.

  "Who sent you to help?" Wyatt asked, stepping between, but still behind Aldan and Jeremy. He studied this older version of Avery that stood in front of him. She had the same graying hair as the woman who had first come after him for the Machina.

  "Lenny," the older Avery said.

  "Why?" the younger Avery asked, her voice cracking as she seemed to struggle with the experience.

  "The Machina is in danger," the older Avery said. "It cannot see everything it needs to see. There just aren't enough cameras. Jarod and the others are attacking it
from areas without cameras."

  Her words made Wyatt think of the drone he had seen at R720RS. That dirt road had been far away from cameras, and someone had brought in that drone. "Does the Machina use drones?" he asked.

  "What?" Aldan asked.

  "Would the Machina use a drone to get close views of certain areas?" Wyatt asked. He wondered if something he or Brooke had done could have alerted the Machina which would have sent that drone to the dirt road area.

  "The Machina would need to know about the area first," the older Avery said.

  "I thought it controlled all of time travel," the younger Avery said.

  "I guess not," Jeremy said. "So, where do we go from here?" He asked the last question of the older Avery.

  The older Avery smiled at him. That smile made her look somewhat younger, and made it clear she was the same Avery that stood with Wyatt.

  "Lenny warned me not to share too much," the older Avery said. "Any piece of information that is shared risks ruining everything."

  "Does it get better?" Wyatt asked.

  "It should," the older Avery said. "But that depends on what you do next."

  "What kind of answer is that?" Aldan asked, as the older Avery glanced toward her wrist terminal. "Should we read our contracts?"

  Wyatt thought her wrist terminal looked to be the same one that her younger version wore. That seemed to be better than the odd device Jarod used.

  "No," the older Avery answered. "That's how I got myself into this mess." Her eyes flickered toward the younger Avery as she spoke. "I wish I hadn't looked."

  "I only read mine once," the younger Avery said, glancing worriedly at the others. She backed away and folded her arms, but when her eyes hit the older Avery, she stopped backing away and unfolded her arms. "How much did I mess up?"

  The older Avery's smile faded, and she glanced around the corner in the direction of the secure doorway that would lead into the Machina's server room. To Wyatt, it seemed she was trying to decide her next action.

  "What are you here for?" Aldan asked. "Were you looking for the key cards for the server room?" He stepped sideways to block the older Avery's view of the hallway. She looked at him and lowered her right hand into her front pocket.

  Wyatt's body tensed. He expected she would pull out a weapon. He relaxed slightly as she pulled her hand up and revealed a white and red card.

  "I needed to see the Machina's servers," the older Avery said, holding the card up to show them. "It seems the Machina has reactivated Lenny's office."

  "Why do you say that?" Jeremy asked and glanced toward Wyatt.

  "The blue line came back," Wyatt answered.

  "He's right." The older Avery stepped closer to Aldan as she spoke. "I need to spend some time in there"—she pointed toward the doorway along the hallway—"so let me pass."

  "We're coming with you," Jeremy said. "I've had too many changes already, and we need to see what the Machina has stored."

  The older Avery laughed. "Lenny said you might decide that."

  "We're coming with you, or you won't get in," Aldan said. "I think that is as simple as we can make it." He spread his arms wide and watched her.

  The older Avery stood only two feet from him her eyes focused on his. The intensity of her glare scared Wyatt. Jeremy stepped around beside Aldan, and the younger Avery behind them.

  That left Wyatt standing on his own between them and Lenny's office. He knew he should follow their lead and block her, but he couldn't.

  "I'm the only one with a keycard," the older Avery said. "You know you can't get that door open without the right card."

  "Either you open it for us, or none of us get in there," Aldan said.

  "Are you really sure you want to threaten her that way?" Wyatt said. Aldan's glare shifted to him for a second.

  "Unless you break this keycard," the older Avery started, "you won't be able to prevent me from getting in there." Wyatt noticed her lowering her right hand with the keycard. She moved her left arm across her body as the right hand lowered and Wyatt jumped into action.

  He grabbed her left hand and pulled it around behind her, feeling the shape of her wrist terminal under her shirt sleeve. She resisted after the first moment, spinning to face him. He felt her right hand strike the side of his head. It had little force. Aldan shouted something. Wyatt pressed the older Avery into the wall.

  Jeremy and the younger Avery joined the struggle briefly. As Jeremy tore the keycard out of the older Avery's hand, Wyatt pulled the wrist terminal off the older Avery's wrist and backed away.

  "You idiots," the older Avery said. "You're ruining everything."

  "We're just not allowing you to leave without giving us some more answers," Aldan said. "What are you going to tell the Machina?"

  The older Avery sighed and watched each of them for a second. Her eyes passed across Wyatt's last as he shoved her wrist terminal into his front pocket.

  "Tell us what is happening, so we can fix it," the younger Avery said. She folded her arms and remained back a little from the group.

  "If I tell you what has happened, you won't be able to fix it," the older Avery said. "Jarod is not finished yet."

  "How are Brooke and Jarod and Hannah connected?" Wyatt asked.

  The older Avery shrugged. "I thought I knew, but just the fact that you are here speaking to me proves you've already changed things."

  "What have we changed?" Aldan asked. "We've seen changes, but we didn't cause them." He placed his fists on his hips and glared at her.

  The younger Avery slowly shook her head and backed away another step. "Have we ruined everything?"

  CHAPTER twenty-eight

  HALLWAY, NEAR R333PS

  WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2090, 7:36 AM

  Wyatt watched the younger Avery as she finished shaking her head and watched the older version of herself. It looked almost like some silent understanding passed between them before the younger Avery looked at Wyatt.

  "We messed up," she said. "We messed up big."

  "What are you saying?" Aldan said.

  "She's saying I don't remember finding this"—the older Avery motioned to take herself in—"when I was younger. This event never happened."

  That sent a shock through Wyatt, and he stepped back a step. He suddenly felt uneasy about being in the same room as the older Avery. He remembered the way the older version of Aldan had said things had eventually gotten better. "Is it too late to fix it?"

  The older Avery watched the younger version of herself for a moment before turning her attention back toward Aldan and Jeremy who stood the closest to her. "I don't know." She shrugged and placed her hands into her pockets.

  "Then we need to check with the Machina," Jeremy said. "It helped us the last time we encountered Jarod."

  "Jarod is a dangerous man," the older Avery said. "At least his older version is. The one you"—she pointed her left hand toward Wyatt—"sent into 2100 is dangerous."

  "Do I need to go back and fix that?" Wyatt asked, watching as Aldan shook his head.

  "If you don't see any of us here trying to stop this," Aldan began, "I wouldn't go back and make things a bigger mess."

  Wyatt nodded and let out his breath in a quick exhale. It felt good enough, he took another deep breath and let it out slower. "So, do we try to stop Jarod, Brooke, and Hannah all at once? Or do we pick one of them to start with?"

  "Let's see what the Machina shows," the young Avery suggested.

  "I don't think you will get the answers you need," The older Avery said.

  "But we're going to try," Aldan and Jeremy said at almost the same time.

  "Let's go," Jeremy said, turning along the hallway as Aldan grabbed the older Avery's left upper arm and guided her along the hallway. She didn't resist but smiled slightly.

  Wyatt wanted to ask her about her smile. He wanted to know what was behind it, but when he tried to step closer, the younger Avery pulled him back. They followed Aldan, Jeremy, and the older Avery, from a few feet behind.r />
  "There is something wrong with her," the young Avery whispered.

  "I don't see anything other than her being older than you," Wyatt responded as he matched pace with the younger Avery.

  "She's not me," the younger Avery said. "She can't be."

  Wyatt thought he saw concern in the way she bit her lower lip. Her worry surprised him. "How do you know she is not you?" he asked.

  "She doesn't seem right," the younger Avery said, her voice almost rising above a whisper. "I can't explain it, but something is different about her."

  Wyatt watched the other, older Avery, walking along with Aldan holding her arm. She moved in the same manner as the younger Avery. From behind, she looked a lot like the Avery that had tried to get him to sign a contract.

  She looked the same to him, but he remembered the way the older Aldan in the location R720RS had been a little different. There was something that older Aldan had said that should mean something, but they had reached the large vault doorway before Wyatt remembered it.

  "Open it," Aldan said, leading the older Avery toward the vault.

  "I don't think any of us will find our answer inside there," the older Avery said, but stepped toward the large steel door and inserted the red and white keycard into the slot.

  For a moment, nothing happened. The large bolts securing the door didn't move.

  "Why didn't it work?" Wyatt asked as the bolts sounded inside the door. A moment later, the door swung inward.

  Jeremy was the first to enter, followed by Aldan, still leading the older Avery. The younger Avery remained behind Wyatt as he entered, but at least she followed. When he looked back over his shoulder toward her, he saw determination on her face. It almost seemed like she was preparing herself for a fight, if the older Avery tried anything stupid.

  The inside of the server room was much as it had been the last and only other time Wyatt had seen it. Stacks of servers stood in rows perpendicular to the direction they entered. They crossed the room from one side to the other, with a pathway moving around the outer edges.