Time Keepers

by Kate Allenton

  The steely look in his gaze told Sarah he’d been less than amused. “Sarah, you aren’t ready to face the truth yet. You need to step on the technology and grind it into the floor. That’s the only way she can’t find you.”

  Sarah pulled the little chip out of her pocket and did exactly what he suggested. Aiming her gun, she pointed at Foster’s leg and pulled the trigger. His hologram flickered and vanished. Pain radiated throughout her whole body but worse in her stomach region. She dropped to her knees, clutching her stomach as a scream tore from her lips.

  Foster appeared in the doorway and scooped her up into his arms. He carried her into the living room and laid her on the couch. “You took the pill?”

  His question made her still as sweat beaded on her brow. She felt like she was dying from the inside out.

  “How could you possibly even know that?” She groaned.

  “Just answer me. You’re running out of time.” His voice grew in anger and concern.

  “Yes,” she answered, turning away from him. There was no position she tried that could ease the painful assault.

  Tears claimed her vision.

  “I need you to listen to me very carefully,” he said. “You’re about to go to the year 2130 and to meet the Magistrates of the Time Enforcement Board. Don’t trust what they tell you.”

  “Why?” The words were a whisper through the anguish tearing through her body.

  “Because they’re the reason you die. Go to 5524 Terrance Street. Knock twice and then slip this paper through the opening.”

  He held it up for Sarah to see before shoving it down her shirt into her bra. It wasn’t in a sexual kind of way, but more like a “no one will look here” type of thing. “They’ll send you back.”

  “Why would they—” Sarah screamed as her eyes rolled. She was about to lose consciousness.

  “If they don’t, I’ll come for you. You have my word.”

  That was the last thing Sarah heard before she sank into a deep dark abyss.

  Chapter 7

  A portal hovered over where Sarah lay in the grass. She rapidly blinked her eyes as she pushed to sit up. The pain from what seemed like only moment ago had utterly vanished as if it had never existed. Sarah slowly rose from her spot as her gaze took in colors and things she’d never thought she’d live to see. Everything she thought she knew vanished, even though her memory was still intact. Where she lived, who she was, it was all there, but her mind was working overtime to make sense of these strange surroundings. It was nothing short of futuristic promises come to life.

  A female robotic AI with changing facial expressions walked past without giving Sarah so much as a secondary glance. The only way Sarah could guess it was AI and not human was by the red glowing eyes. In her grasp was a chain that led to a spike-studded collar attached to a tiger’s neck. The tiger appeared to be smiling and missing claws. It was official. She’d either bumped her head or the pill had worked. The only question was, how in the hell was she going to get back home?

  “AI’s walking tigers. Maybe Henrietta hadn’t lied about there being no violence,” Sarah whispered. “But where the hell am I?”

  Tall buildings floated about thirty feet above Sarah’s head and seemed to disappear in the lavender- and green-shaded sky. Cars flew through the air like planes, only these maneuvered like on highways. The seemingly ordinary sidewalk she was standing on was lit from beneath with her name and descriptor.

  Sarah Weston,

  Time Dispatch Analyst, year 2018.

  Authorized entry for meeting with the Time Enforcement Board

  No way did Sarah fit in. She was the only human as far as the eye could see. Had they sent her to the wrong time and place?

  A robotic thing about three feet tall appeared out of thin air in front of her. His slanted eyes and orange skin reminded Sarah of an Oompa Loompa from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

  “We’re programmed to look like something from childhood that you aren’t afraid of.” The thing glanced down at his skin. “I seem to have malfunctioned.”

  Sarah covered her parted mouth with her palm. She leaned over to meet the midget’s gaze. “Where am I?”

  “Twenty-one-thirty. You, Sarah Weston, swallowed the pill. I’ve been expecting you, and might I say that it’s an honor to make your acquaintance.”

  “Why is that?” she asked, straightening her shoulders and lifting her chin. She stared as a vehicle descended from the sky and hovered in front of them.

  “I have said too much.” Pink heated through the orange skin as though the mechanical-man-boy thing were actually embarrassed. That must have taken some ingenious programming to remember the details like blushing.

  “What is your normal form?” she asked.

  “Oh, miss, you aren’t ready for that,” he said.

  “Please. I’d like to know who I’m dealing with before I get into the car with strangers.”

  “Strangers.” He chuckled as if that word had a different meaning here.

  “I’m no stranger. My name is Thomas, and if you insist…” he said. A blurry mist formed around him before it started to disperse. Where once a three-foot man had stood, now there was something bigger, something way more dangerous. He stood three feet taller than her. His red glowing eyes could only be described as looking like a demon she’d seen portrayed on TV and his body was that of robot.

  Sarah pressed against what she thought was skin to feel the metal beneath. “A ruse.”

  “If you prefer, I can change back,” he offered.

  “No, be yourself. Just don’t kill me.”

  “Killing is illegal,” he said, almost aggravated that she would suggest such things.

  “Good to know that much hasn’t changed,” Sarah said.

  “That word and action were banished and extinguished seventy-five years ago.”

  “I’m sorry, I—”

  “Your apology is unnecessary. We have no feelings, and you’re making us late for your scheduled appointment with the Time Enforcement Board.”

  “By all means, show me the way. We mustn’t be late for them to send me home.” Sarcasm rolled from her voice. She could spend years here and never comprehend a thing.

  He gestured to the car, the look on his face devoid of emotion.

  “Travelers who arrive are not permitted to leave.” He punched a few buttons on the window in the metallic contraption. The car was computerized and digital. Only the smartest hackers in her time would be the new car thieves.

  “I have no desire to stay.”

  “Your wish is of no consequence. The history must remain unchanged,” he answered.

  Sarah raised a single brow. “I didn’t make this mess; the people before me did. I’m just helping to clean it up, but what about my personal history? Keeping me here would change that, and then people from your time would be breaking the laws.”

  “It’s futile, and I’m forbidden to share history.”

  Sarah’s brows dipped as she remembered Foster’s words that the members of the Board wanted to kill her. Did he mean today or some other time in her future when she’d have to meet these people again?

  “Okay, just so we’re clear. I’m not staying, but tell me about this place.”

  The vehicle lifted into the sky. The sensation had her grabbing the seat and tightening her grasp. Roller coasters were one thing; flying cars were another. If they happened to crash while in the air, it was almost guaranteed they’d all die when the vehicle plummeted to the ground. No…Sarah didn’t like 2130. Not at all.

  “I’ll give you a tour when your services are complete and you’re given living quarters,” Thomas said.

  Thomas was on crack if he thought Sarah was going to be staying. All she needed was to talk some sense into these people so they would send her back.

  She stared around the floating city in awe, unsure she’d even be able to describe it to anyone back home. Pulling out her phone, she snapped a single picture before the robot turned on
her. “That is unauthorized.”

  “Well, if I’m staying, what does it matter?” When he didn’t answer, she continued. “Do all the cities look like this in the future?”

  “I don’t understand the question,” Thomas said.

  “Skyscrapers floating in the air. Flying transportation.”

  “Yes,” he said.

  “And do you still have wildlife and oceans?”

  “Oceans are out of bounds. One must have top clearance to even get near them,” he answered.

  “I guess we really screwed that up and now the world is trying to fix it.”

  He didn’t answer, and the ride was over before it really started. The car flew to the tallest building in the sky and landed on a patio outside of business offices.

  Thomas ushered her out of the car and through the sterile white halls before pulling open a door. He pointed to the spotlight inside. “I will be waiting just outside these doors for the next commands.”

  “Whose commands?” Sarah asked, and her question went unanswered. Trepidation filled her gut as she stepped inside. The cool room created goosebumps on her arms as she moved toward the light.

  Thomas ushered her farther into the room, and the door clicked closed behind her. Sarah gave the handle a tug, and it didn’t budge. “Perfect.”

  Chapter 8

  “Agent Weston, you’re late.” A familiar male voice filled the room.

  “Ziggy?” she asked, cupping her eyes and trying to cut through the dark empty space. “I wasn’t informed there was an agenda to keep.”

  Gasps sounded in the room, making it evident that they weren’t alone.

  Ziggy stepped into the light. The once pimply teen was now in his fifties, and nothing made sense. Had he aged like an average person and arrived by living out his time, he’d be dead by now. He must have been sent here the same way Sarah had by ingesting that damn blue pill. “Ah, you poor thing, you swallowed the pill, didn’t you? Didn’t your momma teach you better than to take candy from strangers?”

  His lips twisted at the corners, and his eyes crinkled. His robe fluttered around his body, and his gaze softened when he approached. “You’re exactly how I remember you.”

  “You’re not.” She smiled back at him. “How is it possible that it’s more than a hundred years later and you’ve only aged about thirty years?”

  “I wasn’t from this time either,” he said. “We’ve got much to discuss.”

  Sarah gestured with her thumb over her shoulder back to the door. “My escort told me I have to stay. Tell me that he’s lying.”

  “Sarah, you’ve been issued a home here in this time.”

  “Listen, if Henrietta led you to believe I came here of my own free will or that I’m staying, then we’ve got a problem.”

  “Henrietta doesn’t issue orders.”

  “Great.” Sarah rubbed her hands together. “Then let’s talk to who did so we can get this cleared up. I mean I still have to finish training you so you can become…yourself.”

  The room filled with gasps again, and Sarah tried not to sigh in aggravation, although it was getting harder by the minute. She had no idea what she was doing here or how in the hell she was getting home.

  “She’s insubordinate. Get her under control, Magistrate Carmichael, or the rest of us will be forced to step in.” A woman spoke, stepping out of the shadows. Her long flowing white hair danced around her shoulders and down her back. The purple in her eyes mesmerized Sarah into a trance as she sauntered across the room wearing a tan church choir robe.

  Sarah raised a brow and crossed her arms over her chest. “Under control?” She gawked. “You guys sent sleepers into my time that are causing havoc, and you want Ziggy to get me under control. You kidnapped me from my own time and destiny, and I’m the one trying to fix your damn screw-up.” Sarah’s angered words drifted off at the sound of Ziggy in her ear.

  “I look damn good with gray hair, Sarah, but I’m not sure I’d screw with the locals. She looks scarier than Henrietta, who, by the way, you should have taken back with you. She’s not very happy.”

  “If she’d been there when I travelled, you can bet, I would have brought her butt back with me.” Sarah muttered under her breath.

  How was it possible that the contact and earpiece were working in this time? Not that Sarah was upset about it. Having 2018 Ziggy in her ear brought her a bit of comfort. At least if she didn’t make it back, someone would know the story and where she was being held captive. She shoved the thoughts aside at the sound of her name.

  “Sarah, this is a tense time for all of us. The decisions being made in 2018 are leaving implications on people from this time. Deaths of those that were supposed to live and prosper and have families. Entire lineages being erased.”

  “Someone in your time is killing off the rule-makers of our society,” another voice in the dark interjected.

  “So tell me who it is and send me back to do my job.”

  “Very diplomatic, just pull your gun and start waving it in the air like you just don’t care,” 2018 Ziggy said in her ear.

  Sarah cleared her throat and itched at her ear. Magistrate Ziggy’s lips twitched as he followed the movement. It was as if he knew what the younger version of himself was saying. It was possible he did.

  “I’m sure you have a ton of questions.”

  “Actually just two,” Sarah said, dropping her arms from her chest and resting her balled fists on her hips. “Who is giving me the name of the killer, and which one of you is sending me home?”

  She knew it wouldn’t be that simple. Nothing with her ever was. The butterflies in her stomach suddenly dropped, and her heartbeat raced. Something was wrong. Her fingers were the first warning, as her hands started to shake like a diabetic in need of a sugar fix. The movement traveled up her arm and through her body as if it were going down her spine. She dropped to her knees and swallowed hard as she held the older Ziggy’s gaze.

  He kneeled beside her. “It’s an after-effect of the travel. You’re about to lose consciousness.”

  What the hell is wrong with me?

  Ziggy asked in her ear, “Why aren’t I helping you escape and sending you home?”

  She didn’t have the strength to answer him as her eyes started to roll. The shaking in her limbs slowed seconds before the world turned black.

  “Sarah.” Ziggy’s voice was but a whisper in Sarah’s ear. It sounded as though it were far away. Sarah’s eyes flew open.

  “Ziggy?” she asked, sitting up in the familiar bed.

  It was her bed in the beach house—proven by the smell of the salty air, the way the curtains billowed on the breeze, the sound of breaking waves. Confusion clouded her brain. She’d time traveled; she was sure of it. She slowly sat up, ignoring the pain in her head, and tossed her legs over the side of the bed. Not everything seemed right. Sitting on Sarah’s dresser was Ziggy’s blue necklace, which Sarah’s mother had given him. She slid that over her head and hid it beneath her shirt. Next to it was the bunter’s memory chip, only it wasn’t in pieces as she’d left it in her kitchen; this was in one piece. She slid the memory chip into her pocket before she headed for the window. This was her house. This was her oasis.

  Voices from the balcony below drifted up to her ears, turning her attention from the blue ocean to the back porch.

  Jonathan and Foster were seated at a table. Each had a beer in hand like they’d been friends for ages. There wasn’t a timeline in history that she could imagine that this truly happened.

  “That’s not possible.”

  Chapter 9

  Sarah glanced down at the sundress covering her body and paused. She hadn’t changed, and even if she had, she wouldn’t have picked out this sundress. She raided the closet for something appropriate. She grabbed the memory chip and stuck it into her pocket, refusing to forget it. She left the room and jogged down the stairs. She was done playing games. She stopped by the kitchen and grabbed a sharp knife, sliding it up her sleeve. Sh
e was going home one way or another. She stepped out onto the porch, and Foster and Jonathan’s conversation ceased.

  “You’re finally awake,” Foster said, rising from his seat. Crossing the distance between them, he pressed a kiss on her lips. “You sleep well?”

  Sarah didn’t answer, trying to understand why Jonathan wasn’t protesting.

  “She’s speechless.” Jonathan chuckled and rose from his seat. “She’s probably wondering why I’m not beating the crap out of you.”

  Sarah nodded. “That thought had crossed my mind.”

  “It’s a simulation, Sarah,” Older Ziggy said, appearing out of thin air next to Jonathan. His appearance disrupted the holographic connection, making it shimmer before settling back into place. “The council thought it best to ease you into this timeline by surrounding you with people and places that are familiar to you. The fact that Jonathan and Foster are getting along is of your own making. The way you wish things were in your mind.”

  “None of this is real?” she growled.

  “I’m sorry, it’s not,” he said, tossing his arm over her shoulder and leading her down the beach.

  The feel of the sand between her toes felt real, as did the feeling of his fingers touching her bare arm. “It feels real.”

  “I can assure you; it’s not. The beach you see in the simulation doesn’t exist in this time.”

  Sarah left his side and jogged into the freezing water. “The water feels real.”

  “Sarah.” He pulled her out of the water and turned her back to the porch they’d left, where Foster and Jonathan were standing statue still in the same position she’d left them in. “I don’t have time to explain how the simulation works. The other council members are demanding I lock you up so you can’t change anything else.”