“How did the beta eye contact work for you? Did it give you any issues besides the glitch interruption?” Diana asked, holding open the contact box.
Sarah slid the contact out of her eye and eased it into the spot before taking the comm out of her ear and nestling it next to it. “They worked like a charm. The FBI files interfaced with the facial recognition were beneficial, but I think my favorite was the energy signature trails with associated maps. Tell Ritter I’ll submit my recommendation to Dr. Claremont to start production of the prototype. Everyone in the field needs these.”
“He’s going to love you,” Diana teased.
“Not when you remind him I need the glitches in the biometer fixed as soon as possible. That takes precedence. The last thing we need is to lose another tourist.”
“Or lose track of an unauthorized one,” Diana reminded Sarah.
A tourist was the quaint little name Sarah liked to call the Time Travelers who arrived at the facility. It was hard to imagine people from the future wanting to come back to primitive days. Time travel had been a thing born in imagination, books, and fairy tales until she saw it with her own eyes.
To date, the facility had twenty “sanctioned” travelers in this time period, some from as far away as the thirtieth century, and about ten more unsanctioned that had landed in their time under the guise they were in the witness protection program. Sarah and the others now knew they were sleeper cells sent to their time for more devious plans.
Ordinary people might be relieved and rest easy knowing that, even if there was an alien attack in the future, humans would survive and would go on to perfect the art of time travel.
Sarah wasn’t normal. Just ask anyone. She lived in the here and now, not worrying about what her future held. Life was too short and her bucket list too long to care about something that she’d never get to experience. She was one of the few who didn’t ask questions about the details like a schoolgirl looking for a glimmer of hope.
Diana followed quickly behind her. “Did he tell you where he’s hiding your mom?”
Sarah had only told and shown two people the video of her mother and Natalie. In the event something happened to Sarah, someone else had to carry on the search after her death. Sarah waved the biofeed watch over the panel until the door buzzed opened. “I asked, but he didn’t answer. The same song and dance we’ve had for six months.”
Sarah’s lips twitched before she could stop it, and Diana was fast to notice. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Heat claimed Sarah’s cheeks as she leaned against her open door. “He recreated the aurora borealis.”
Diana’s mouth parted. “Sarah Weston, you better not be falling for him.”
“Don’t be silly. I’m not.” She shrugged. “It was just sweet.”
“Sadistically sweet. He’s a killer, Sarah, and what about Jonathan? If he knew you were getting soft on this guy, he’d track Foster down himself and put a bullet through his head.”
“I’m not getting soft,” Sarah said, stepping into her apartment. “I’m not.”
“Good, because you’re too old for him.”
Sarah’s mouth parted. “I’m not too old for him.”
“Depending on what year he’s from, you’re ancient. Don’t take it personally.” Diana spun on her heels and headed down the hall. “I’ll tell Ritter you’re going to bring in your biometer to check for a short.”
Ritter was the resident engineer, stuck and assigned to the present time to help with a technology they weren’t quite capable of grasping. They all had jobs of some sort. Sarah’s was concierge, dispatcher, and occasional bouncer.
Sarah grabbed a shower and changed into her standard black pants and shirt. The material wasn’t from this time. Not that she was complaining. It felt like cotton mixed with spandex, but it did so much more than make her look good. It stopped bullets, for one thing. She knew first-hand, and that was just the tip of all the gadgets her new uniform held. When Dr. Bay had been ousted as the driving force behind the company and replaced with Dr. Claremont, all kinds of new and exciting inventions were introduced. Dr. Bay had been holding out on everyone and using the designs for his own personal needs.
STEM Corporation wasn’t military, technically speaking, but they had the clearance. Most of the people in this building were scientists of some sort with higher military clearance than generals. Sarah was trusted with the past, the present, and the future; all she had to do was ask the right questions.
Diana was back at her station with three computers surrounding her, scanning for any records of the twenty tourists. One of her assignments was to erase any records and footprints of their existence scanning the World Wide Web using facial recognition in the event that some proof was captured and, God forbid, recorded. They’d caught several tourists uploading videos on YouTube to warn the world of future choices. The agency had scrubbed the real ones, left the fakes, and sent those tourists back home, not to mention that Sarah’s one-time biggest threat was now her assistant.
Ziggy Carmichael was at his desk surrounded by the same computer figuration. He hadn’t changed much since she’d brought him into the secret world of time travel. His tall, lanky body was stuffed behind monitors doing somewhat the same job. He was still sporting another version of his geeky attire. A favorite superhero graphic shirt complete with additional stains beneath another plaid shirt. Even though he’d had a haircut, it was still long enough for his unruly curls to stick out beneath the beanie on his head. The search he was doing on the computer differed from Diana’s search.
Ziggy was running facial recognition on the unsanctioned Jumpers, along with monitoring the sensors and scanners they’d placed at the opened rifts in time in an attempt to watch any other unsanctioned entries and activities.
None of these computers were as impressive as the one STEM Corp kept under lock and key. The quantum computer Sarah had nicknamed Nelly was the most important and the way they communicated with people from future and past years. It was mind-boggling to know that the STEM Corporation had inserted itself as far back as when electricity had first been harnessed.
In every year, in every century, there was always a greeter, a concierge, just like Sarah, who blended with the local times like one of their own. Only they weren’t, and they all had one mode of communication without having to travel. Here it was called Nelly. It was like any social network, allowing messages and video, with one significant difference. Nelly was holographic in nature, and the user switched screens with the flick of their fingers in midair.
Sarah bypassed Diana’s and Ziggy’s desks and crossed the room to where two heavily armed guards stood at the titanium door. “Morning, fellas.”
They grunted like normal. Sarah waved her biofeed watch over the reader and moved her eye closer to the scanner until she heard the familiar computer voice speak.
“Dispatch Analyst Sarah Weston; identity confirmed.” The red beam from the scanner always momentarily screwed with her sight. Blinking rapidly, she stepped back as the impenetrable doors slowly opened.
Sarah entered the room, and lights illuminated overhead with each step. Old Nelly sat in the center of the room. Sarah typed in her security access code to close the door behind her.
She waited until she heard the familiar locks click into place before she crossed the room to the lighted podium where Nelly’s keyboard rested. Sarah slid the biometric tinted glasses onto her face. To the untrained eye, the computer screen interface couldn’t be seen without the the glasses.
Sarah was greeted by Commander MacKenzie Chase’s 3D smiling face. Her blonde hair was settled around her shoulders instead of the tight bun she normally wore it in.
“You’re late.”
Sarah shrugged. “Biometer issues. What’s with the change to your hair?”
“It’s casual Friday.” She answered making Sarah grin. Sarah seriously doubted they had anything akin to casual Friday and not only that but MacKenzie was all business.
“Is that a new
development?”
“What?” MacKenzie asked.
“Casual Friday? Because if it is then I might keel over from a heart attack if I ever saw you in a dress.”
MacKenzie chuckled. “Let’s stay on topic. You said biometer issues, anything we need to worry about?”
“Just a glitch. I’m sending my meter to Ritter to adjust.”
“Noted. Any other issues?”
“Since the glitch occurred while I was chasing an unsanctioned Jumper, do you think it might be their doing?”
“I’m sorry, Sarah. None of their names appear in history again, so there’s no way for us to tell. We were told they were scientists when they left the other time periods. We had no idea they’d claim to be in witness protection or falsify their orders to disappear. We might not have known about the sleeper cells, but lucky for you, we’re sending you help to track them.”
“You are?” Sarah smiled.
“You know I wouldn’t leave you to your own devices. The people that are hiding from you have more advanced technology. We’re all concerned about the time rifts. They can only be fixed from your end,” she answered.
“Thanks for that by the way. We had no idea how to fix them. Our scientists are designing the patch as we speak. It should be up and running in the next month.”
“That’s good to hear. I’m sending the arrival’s passport to your email. You only have one new arrival today. Henry Tillman. She’s going to help you apprehend the sleeper cells before they open any more rifts.”
“Henry is a she?” Sarah’s lips twitched. Foster had told her that it was a guy. Maybe he didn’t know everything after all. “I’m sorry, it’s just in our time that most of our Henrys are males.”
“Her given name is Henry, but if it’s confusing for your time period, you can call her Henrietta. She’ll answer to both.”
“Good to know.” Sarah opened the secure email and sent them to the printers. The printer churned to life across the room. “The print job is starting.”
“Next transport will bring you something less antiquated.”
Sarah smiled. Everything Sarah had was considered antique to MacKenzie. She probably wouldn’t last a day in Sarah’s time. “It does the job.”
Her brows pulled, and she frowned. “This is classified information. You should have the best.”
Sarah glanced at the printer that started pushing paper out. “This one is fine. Besides, I know how to change the ink.”
“Ink?” she asked, and then her face relaxed. “Oh right. You still use that ancient stuff.”
Sarah had never asked MacKenzie what year she was from, but she’d imagined it was somewhere in the distant future and she was tasked with sitting in a room just like Sarah’s, doing the exact same thing. “Any security risks in transport?”
“None to report,” she answered. “This woman is…how do you say it…. Kick the tires and fight the fires.”
Sarah grinned at her attempt to imply mission focused. She was getting better at speaking in a way Sarah could understand. “Kick the tires and light the fires. Close, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.”
“I believe that one was even before your time,” she said.
“You’ve been practicing ancient slang.”
“Well, it helps when I’m stuck working with an old fossil like you,” she teased.
Sarah laughed. She’d been called many things, but a fossil wasn’t one of them. She was only twenty-seven, young by society standards.
2018
Chapter 4
“Why is she coming here?” Diana asked.
“To help track and capture the unsanctioned,” Sarah answered and grabbed the standard welcome file from her desk.
One woman materialized in the containment chamber. She looked lethal, wearing all black in a tight fitted cat-like suit. She oozed a military persona that Sarah would link to Time Travelers from the future. Her interaction would be simple. She was the one-woman welcoming committee, doctor, nurse, and tour guide for the humans. She’d assist them in any way they deemed necessary.
“Welcome to 2018,” Sarah said as the containment doors slid open and the woman walked out. It always took travelers a few minutes to get their bearings. It had been described once as their body being shoved into a little tube with nothing but consciousness until they appeared on the other side. Sarah’s side.
They came from all walks of life, but one thing was certain. Sarah’s colloquialism and slang always amused them. She grabbed the dialect translator. The device had had a more scientific technical term, but to Sarah’s preferred name for the device was more casual; the dialect thingamabob. They wouldn’t come close to understanding her English without the chip the thingamabob implanted unless they were well versed in ancient history. That was what she was to them.
She held the dialect gun to the tender spot behind Henrietta’s ear and pressed down on the button, injecting the tiny metal disc under her skin.
In essence, it was a translator, allowing her to understand them no matter what time frame they were from or nationality they were. The device translated and changed speech into something recognizable.
“Welcome to the year 2018,” Sarah said again. “I’m dispatch analyst Sarah Weston, your contact for the duration of your stay. If you’d please follow me.”
Sarah showed Henry into a locker room of sorts with a table situated in the middle and a screen hanging on the wall.
Sarah laid out the report on the table as the traveler looked around the room like a child’s first visit to the fair. The first traveler Sarah and welcomed and everyone after acted the same way.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“Henry Tillman, but you can call me Henrietta. I understand, in your time, using my name might call some unwanted attention and questions.”
Sarah raised her brow. “You spoke with the Commander before your transport.”
The woman smiled, sliding her red hair behind her ear. “No, I’ve researched your time period extensively enough to be able to blend in.”
“That should make things easy for you. I apologize for the lack of conveniences that you must use in your time, but this is the best we’ve got.” Sarah gestured to the table. “That file contains your latest mission report, as provided by Nelly.”
“Nelly?” she asked.
“Sorry, that’s what I call our quantum computer.” Sarah gestured to the files. “Those have your latest coded intel sent by Commander Chase. Behind you are lockers. Store anything not from this century that you can’t conceal. In the room beyond is a changing room where you’ll find clothes in all different sizes from this time period, including everything you’ll need to get around and communicate. I’ll leave you to get acclimated and changed.” Sarah pointed to the button on the wall. “Just press that red button when you’re ready, and I’ll come back and acquaint you with our technology.”
Sarah stepped out of the room and was reading through a report in her email when the red light flashed, indicating Henrietta was ready for Sarah to re-enter.
Sarah walked back inside to find the woman changed into a pair of men’s military-issue combat pants and a black shirt stretched across her breasts. If her name alone didn’t make her stand out, her looks would. She looked like she should be on the front of a military pin-up calendar. Sarah covered her mouth with her hand as she stared at the woman.
Henrietta’s brows dipped. “What? Did I not put these clothes on right?”
“You did, and you look great.” Sarah cleared her throat, walked back into the room, and grabbed a few more tops and a pair of jeans for her to try. “I’m just concerned that how you’re dressed might draw too much attention. The goal is to blend in, not have men stopping you every two seconds asking for your phone number.”
“Right. Sorry.” Henrietta grabbed the clothes and went into the clothes room and changed. She returned a few minutes later, looking much more like the girl next door instead of Rambo’s hot si
ster.
Henrietta grabbed a backpack and started fumbling through the items inside. She pulled out an ATM card and spoke into the plastic. “Call base.”
Sarah had her work cut out for her. “I thought you said you’ve researched our time.”
“I researched 2020,” she answered. “Things couldn’t have changed that drastically in two years.”
“I guess they will.” Sarah smiled and gave her a fifteen-minute tutorial on how to use the ATM card and cell phone, programming it with Sarah’s number, the STEM Corp’s number, along with Diana’s to call in the event she needed a scrubber at her location. Sarah had her practice using each item, including a practice ATM, while she explained. “Everything in this time relies on paper money or plastic credit card. We provide both.”
Henrietta grinned as she approached. “Money is no issue.” She pulled back the sleeve of her shirt to reveal a suit underneath, made of material Sarah had yet to see. She had a device implanted in her skin, and before Sarah could figure out what it was, the woman pulled her sleeve back down and punched buttons into her watch, making a computer hologram appear. She did some other magic before holding her sleeve to the machine. A thousand dollars slid out of the device into the money catcher.
“That’s a neat trick if there’s no one around.” Sarah smiled back at her. “You’re in New York, and there is always someone around. Learning to use the card could be crucial. Otherwise, you’re going to leave me one hell of a mess to clean up.”
Sarah walked over to the map hanging on the wall, much like the maps that hung in the middle of malls. A digital X marked their location, along with the location of every biometer present, including Henrietta’s and Sarah’s in this room.
Sarah clasped the watch around the woman’s wrist. “If you get separated, push the turnstile, and it will direct you to the nearest safe house. Hold the watch to the door lock, and it will let you in and alert me that you’re there. I’ll be in touch.
“We have rules. Limit your contact and communication with people from this timeline. No pictures, no mementos unless sanctioned by Nelly, no disruption, and no going out of bounds. Your watch will turn red should you venture somewhere Nelly considers a danger zone for you in our time. If you forget those rules, I have to send you home. Simple and easy.”
Time Keepers Page 2