Dissonance (The Machina of Time Book 2)

by Daniel R. Burkhard

  In the tight space under the car, he worked to get the zip tie on his wrist free of the bolt under the car. When he got it free of the cotter pin securing the nut to the bolt, he tried to scoot sideways out from under the car on the driver's side. The movement hurt his back. He felt the road's warm surface and the wetness that seemed to indicate he had scraped his back when the car dragged him.

  The pain, as he tried to position himself to slide out was almost unbearable. He bit his cheek against it. With the pain, he was almost stuck. The bottom of the car was too low for him to roll over.

  Taking several deep breaths, he reached for the axle and the steering connections on the driver's side wheel. Gripping tightly, he pulled himself along the road's hot surface. The pain grew, but he fought through it.

  It seemed like an eternity. Sweat covered him, stinging his eyes, as he managed to get out from under the car. He rolled to his stomach and breathed for a moment. His back ached and stung. That added to the soreness of his muscles from Jarod's taser made him grateful the street was empty.

  The earlier version of his group stepped through their portals in the next block. He thought he saw the version of himself that had driven the sedan moving along the street. Jarod was nowhere in sight.

  He rose to his feet and scanned the sidewalks. They were still empty. With his wrists shackled as they were with the zip ties, he couldn't make any adjustments to his wrist terminal settings. But he was able to bring it close enough to activate a portal by pressing his nose against the screen.

  It took seven tries to get his nose in just the right place, and moving his arms pulled at the scratches in his back. He probably had some serious road rash. At least he didn't see any blood on the street. Hopefully, that meant his cuts were superficial, if painful.

  Without wasting any more time, he tried one last time to activate his portal. It opened near the gray sedan, and he stepped through, not caring where he would end up.

  The familiar mildewy smell of the dormitory entrance filled his nose as he realized he was not the only one coughing. Right beside him as he struggled to recover from the resonance, sat Brooke. She wore the same dusty jeans she had worn earlier, but she looked more exhausted. Sweat matted her hair down on the sides of her head. Tears stained her cheeks, but she wiped them away as he appeared.

  "Are you okay?" Brooke asked, rolling up on her knees and nearly falling beside him where he had fallen.

  Wyatt nodded, trying to get both hands up to look at his wrist terminal. Brooke noticed and grabbed his wrists. She tugged at the zip ties, but neither of them would release.

  "I just need to know the time," Wyatt said.

  "April 11, 2090, 8:30 am.," Brooke said as she rose to a crouch and turned her head toward the dormitory door. "Let me get a knife."

  "No," Wyatt said, but it was too late. He watched her rise to her feet and open the dormitory door. The last time he had been here, there were others in the dormitory, but this time it was empty. At least, from where he now sat on the floor, no one was visible.

  It took a moment for Brooke to come back with a pair of scissors. "I didn't know he was going to do that," she said as she clipped the zip ties. Her eyes studied the grease on his left sleeve and for the first time, she seemed to notice the way his shirt had been torn and stretched along his back. "I thought I'd lost you. Are you okay?"

  He shook his head, feeling a wetness in his back that worried him. "How bad is it?"

  Brooke moved around behind him and gasped. "You're bleeding," she said.

  "Are you sure?" Wyatt asked. "I mean, take a moment and be sure." He tried to smile through the pain as he shifted around to face her, still sitting on the floor. The cream-colored shirt with red streaks he had seen another version of himself wear in the business park suddenly made sense. The shirt was thicker than the other shirt he had worn, so the damage could have been worse. "Why were you involved with him? Did you know he would do that?"

  "We can't stay here," Brooke said. "The others will be back here soon. Remember that discussion we overheard?"

  "They were talking about me, weren't they?" Wyatt asked, working against the pain in his back to rise to his feet.

  "Hold on," Brooke said, racing back into the dormitory room. A moment later she returned with a red hoodie. "Put this on."

  "At least the blood won't show through as quickly, right?" He pulled the hoodie over his head, thankful that it was a few sizes too large. Moving his arms over his head hurt his back.

  "I didn't know everything he was planning," Brooke said. "I knew he could be dangerous, but his younger version made some good points about this time travel. We're stuck inside this. When he took me from that dirt road, I would have done anything to help you."

  "I don't understand why you would help him," Wyatt said, moving his arms gingerly to prevent pain. He wanted to see how much motion he had with his arms. The hoodie was soft material but seemed to catch on the scabs that were no doubt forming on his back.

  "Like I told you before, I think," Brooke said, smiling at the memory. "There is more going on here than you think. Your actions have locked him in a loop at various times. I'm not sure if his actions helped, but it seems your actions are tied to the paradoxes he has been stuck in."

  "Jarod doesn't think I should have lived through that earthquake," Wyatt said. "That was before I ever knew anything about contracts, the Machina, or any of you." He was going to say more, but a thought struck him. He took a breath and continued. "Because of the trouble he has had, he wants to eliminate me."

  "Strange, isn't it?" Brooke asked. "How do you know you were chosen by the Machina?" she folded her arms and pointed toward the blue line. "We should keep walking."

  Wyatt followed her and thought about her last question. "Lenny told us we were selected by the Machina," he said and noticed the way she smiled back over her shoulder.

  "Simple enough to say," Brooke said. "It could even be true, but I don't think we will ever know."

  Wyatt stopped walking and grabbed her arm to slow her also. The way she moved against his grip pulled on his back and he winced through the pain. She turned to face him.

  "Is that why you were helping him?" Wyatt asked. "Did he tell you there was something better out there?"

  Brooke's smiled faded as he dropped her arm. "At first, yes," she said. "But then I realized he was doing the same thing that Lenny has done." She glanced back toward the dormitory entrance before she started to turn away as she spoke. "We need to get a little farther away from here before other versions of ourselves come back. Besides, Jarod may still come for you."

  "Would you let him?" Wyatt asked, stepping quicker to walk beside her. "Do you want me dead like he does?"

  "No," Brooke said. "I didn't realize at first that was what he was after. I thought he would be more lenient because you didn't kill him. I didn't realize you stranded him in the future."

  "I didn't just strand him," Wyatt agreed. "I stranded three versions of him. And he just tried to kill me with that gray sedan I drove in the business park." He let out a sigh. "So, can I trust you now?"

  Brooke stepped into a gap in the shelving on the right side of the aisle and faced him. She lowered her arms and stared at him for a moment as he followed her in.

  His eyes scanned both sides, looking for any sign that others were around. He calmed as he realized they were still alone.

  She grabbed both of his forearms in an almost caring gesture and stepped close in front of him. "I was not out to get you. You need to understand that. When he came for me in that dirt road, I had already decided I would not help him. I just had no way out of there." She watched his eyes for a moment. "I brought you that shirt because I remember seeing what he did to you in that street."

  "You remembered seeing," Wyatt said, stopping in the middle of his sentence and shook his head. He settled on a question instead. "And you did that instead of stopping him?"

  "I couldn't change our subjective pasts that much," Brooke answered. "I did
n't want to lose you."

  Wyatt watched the way her smile faded. Her eyes remained fixed on his. Those brown eyes and the darker tone of her face drew him in. He couldn't believe she would be lying to him now. "Okay," he said. "I believe you."

  "Good," Brooke said. "Now, tell me what your plan is."

  "I don't really have one," Wyatt said. "I just know that I somehow have to get two items to Hannah."

  "Hannah?" Brooke asked.

  "It's a long story," Wyatt said. He felt in his back pocket for the notebook. It was still there, but his jeans were torn around it a little. "Hannah somehow ends up being in the middle of all of this. At some point I give her something she uses to help us."

  "That's why she was there in the business park," Brooke said, letting go of his arms. "That's why she seems to end up in important places."

  "Yes," Wyatt said as a footstep approached along the aisle that was at Brooke's back. Before she could turn, the two larger men that had been with Jarod earlier stood behind her.

  Both were larger than Wyatt. Both wore black shirts over black pants. The tops of their heads were shaved, and one had darker skin and the other pale. Due to their size, they could have been brothers, if not for the difference in their skin color.

  "You need to come with us," the darker of the two men said, his eyes shifting from Wyatt to Brooke.

  "What is this?" Wyatt asked Brooke. "Was this some kind of trap?" He saw the fear that stretched her face as she turned to her right and looked back at the two larger men.

  Brooke shook her head. "I don't know what they are doing."

  "This is for the preservation of the world," the dark man said.

  "It's important," the paler man said with a glance toward the other.

  "Jarod doesn't need him any longer," Brooke said. "That part has been taken care of. Let him go."

  The paler man looked to the darker man, who shrugged and stepped closer. He wouldn't fit into the gap with Brooke standing there, so as he pushed his way in, Brooke ducked out behind him.

  The darker man continued his approach and Wyatt reacted. Spinning around, he raced into the aisle. The heavy footfalls of the darker man came quickly after him, and the constant rubbing of the hoodie on his torn back was almost unbearable.

  CHAPTER Forty-one

  NEAR DORMITORY ENTRANCE

  TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2090, 8:43 AM

  The heavy footfalls of the darker man came quickly after him, and the constant rubbing of the hoodie on his torn back was almost unbearable. Each step sent felt like it was tearing fresh holes in his skin.

  But he couldn't stop moving. He ran across the blue line in the aisle, nearly tripping with the dizziness that meant he had shifted back to 2039. The two larger men were gaining on him, and he was running out of directions he could run. Veering off to the left or right would mean putting himself closer to his pursuers, but it would mean getting into a fresh aisle.

  He wished he hadn't left Brooke behind, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was getting away from the two larger men.

  As he ran, he considered activating a portal to get away. Through his quick breaths, he looked down at his left wrist, he knew he couldn't simply run. He would have to come back to this time. But first, he needed more answers.

  He ducked into one of the gaps between the shelving on his left and took off down the adjacent aisle. At the same time, he slowed slightly, and rolled his wrist terminal back to the year 2089. He nearly tripped as he rolled the setting back to the business park location code, R259PS.

  After nearly losing his step, he lowered his wrist terminal and watched where he headed for a moment. The two men were nearly on top of him. He wished he could toss some of the boxes from the pallets on the shelving into their path.

  It was too much. He couldn't run long. His back was on fire and felt wet where the soft hoodie had torn scabs off his scrapes.

  In a last-ditch effort, he ducked into another gap in the shelving on his left. This time he curved back and began running in the direction he had come from. The concrete of the wall near the dormitory entrance stood nearly four football fields away. His lungs ached and he ducked into another break in in the shelving, stopping to figure out where the two men had gone.

  His doubling back on the aisle provided him a little more space. He took the moment to set his wrist terminal for July 7 at 6:25 pm. He remembered eating a burger with Hannah around that time and as they left the table, he felt the resonance. He activated his portal and the resonance hit him at the same time as the two men rounded the corner of the gap.

  "Gotcha," the paler man said as Wyatt backed into the portal.

  Wyatt didn't make it. The two men grabbed him and pulled him back from the edge of the reality. Their grips on his arms were crushing and the way they pulled him roughly, made the pain explode in his back.

  "Wait," Wyatt said. "What are you guys going to do?" His portal stood active behind him as he spoke, but he couldn't shift his weight enough to reach it. He couldn't reach his wrist terminal to deactivate it either.

  "Jarod wants to speak with you," the darker man said, releasing his right hand from Wyatt's arm.

  These were the same two men that had grabbed Brooke from the dirt road. Wyatt struggled to catch his breath as the paler man held him tightly.

  "You are going to stay right here until he comes," the paler man said.

  The darker man reached down toward Wyatt's wrist terminal and pulled it off his wrist. With the same motion, he deactivated the portal. Wyatt was again trapped.

  "Come on," Wyatt said. "I'm just trying to fix my past."

  The resonance made Wyatt lose his balance as the reality of the shelving beside him tore open leaving jagged edges. Wyatt's heart sank as he saw the figure stepping through it.

  "At the expense of everything we've worked for," Jarod said. "You just can't stop trying."

  "You," Wyatt stopped himself from accusing Jarod of trying to kill him, thinking that leaving that portion out would be best.

  "Now," Jarod said. "It's my turn to fix the mess you made. I just want my life back."

  "What are you talking about?" Wyatt asked, feeling the darker man on his right grip his arm tighter.

  Both larger men turned him to face Jarod.

  "I think you ask that question each time I see you here," Jarod said, smiling through his older face. It accentuated the bags under his eyes and the crow's feet in their corners.

  "How many times has that been?" Wyatt asked. He hoped to get an idea of how many times he would live through this kind of attack.

  Jarod laughed. "That's a good question, but useless in this case. You see"—he stepped closer and pointed toward Wyatt's chest with his right hand—"this has been going on for some time. Every time I stop you from making a big mess. But frankly, I'm getting tired of it all. It just loops back through."

  "Then stop," Wyatt said, trying and failing, to sound more confident than he felt. Jarod's words were confusing, but that had to be one of the paradoxes Brooke had mentioned. "Are you stuck in a loop. I don't know why you feel you need to change it."

  "The Machina has you trained well," Jarod said. "But I've said that a few times before."

  "Then tell me why you are ruining everything," Wyatt said.

  Jarod looked from Wyatt to the darker man on Wyatt's left then to the paler man on his right. He never said their names, but their grip on Wyatt's arms relaxed for a moment.

  As soon as Wyatt straightened up, the darker man pressed his hand into the middle of Wyatt's back. The pain from the scratched and torn skin was too much. Even though he tried to keep it in, and not show it, fresh, hot wetness seemed to run down his back.

  "At least now I know when you came from," Jarod said. "Now I know what you have just accomplished."

  "I wasn't run over," Wyatt said through gritted teeth. "You didn't succeed there."

  Jarod smiled. "No. I didn't. It's like the earthquake of 2039 all over again. Something that should have easily stopped you,
failed."

  "Maybe your information is wrong," Wyatt said. "Maybe the Machina chose me and the others because of our ability to sense the resonance and know that your plan is crap."

  Jarod nodded and glanced toward the darker man again. It was like he was waiting for something that the other man had not done yet.

  "My information is not mine," Jarod said. "Do you know why the Machina stops traveling on New Year's Eve 2099?" He inhaled quickly and spoke again without letting Wyatt answer. "It's because the future generations that have been destroyed by its future fixers stopped it. They destroyed the Machina."

  Wyatt felt a wave of shock roll through him at those words. He had no way of discounting it. There simply wasn't anything he could say. He stopped himself as his body began to nod.

  "See why I am so upset?" Jarod asked. "Do you see why I have worked so hard to make this right?"

  "Prove it," Wyatt said, as the paler man's grip eased a little more on his right arm. "Do you have a picture, video, or anything to prove it?"

  Jarod smiled and shook his head. "I don't need to prove it to you. We're beyond that. You've seen what I'm willing to do to fix all of this."

  Words failed Wyatt as Jarod stepped closer. This time, he didn't appear to have a taser with him. He felt the paler man's grip lessen even more and cursed himself for losing his wrist terminal. If only he could activate it.

  The darker man held his left arm with his right hand, while he held Wyatt's wrist terminal in the other. Scenarios played through Wyatt's mind, but he saw no obvious way of doing it. This version of Jarod was not the same one that had taken him to the business park and tried to kill him but seemed to be a version that came after that one.

  Could he use that against him?

  "Are you going to kill me now?" Wyatt asked.

  "Yes," Jarod said. "But I can't do it. If I don't, you'll trap me in a loop. I must prevent that."

  A loop?" Wyatt asked.

  "Paradox, loop." Jarod shrugged. "I've seen what you've done to me, and time is running out."

  "How?" Wyatt asked. "I'm just trying to save my past."