Time Keepers

by Kate Allenton

  “I had to. It was in the vial, and I was about to be caught. I had no other way of getting rid of it.”

  Sarah took a step in her direction. “What exactly did the first batch do?”

  “It killed the trial patients. At first, it was migraine-sized headaches, and then their bodies were pulling electricity from their surrounding and opening portals at will, although they couldn’t control what time frame they opened to. The result of the electrical energy alone killed most of the participants by stopping their hearts.”

  “And you guys volunteered for this?”

  “Of course,” Andrew said. “Can you imagine being on the front end of this ground-breaking technology?”

  “Francesca was the first trial patient since she and Steed designed the program. She’s also the only one to survive long enough for the man to show up and give her a shot to go along with her stabilizing agent. It saved her life when Steed almost killed her with his formula.”

  “You say you received a shot?” Sarah asked. In her time the stabilizing agent was in pill form, not a shot. She didn’t even know which scientist had concocted it. Sarah was almost afraid to ask. In 2130, the Enforcement Board still used it.

  “Steed formulated the stabilizing agent that your future probably uses. It was his first batch that killed people when they opened portals going into the future and past since they couldn’t control the time frame it opened.”

  “The stabilizing agent is one of the formulas on the manifest to take with us when we leave,” Andrew answered.

  “Unlike Steed’s first trial, which could open portals to the future, his second trials only stabilized travel. Whereas with the first trials, not even a transponder was needed.”

  “So whoever survived the first trials and the stabilizing agent and this special shot could practically go anywhere on command?” Sarah asked.

  “With the right tools,” Francesca answered. “We…I would still need a way to open the portal to the right time frame and be sure to have enough energy to get back. My body is like a conductor, sucking what it needs out of the air.”

  “You’d need your necklace,” Andrew said, crossing the room.

  He pulled a necklace out of the drawer that glowed blue like the energy Sarah tried to contain in the transponder room.

  Sarah mouth parted. “In this time you’ve contained the energy?”

  “Yes,” Andrew answered.

  “How…When does that happen?” Sarah asked.

  “I’m afraid that can’t be answered, not since you’re from the past.”

  “Not yet,” she answered, “but the Time Enforcement Board will figure out how to do that.”

  Andrew and Francesca shared a look. “If you’re from the past, how is that you know you about the Time Enforcement Board when the development is just in its infancy.”

  Sarah’s mouth parted. “Are those the laws you’re currently working on?”

  “Yes, and speaking of, I’ve got to go if I have any hope of erasing Francesca and the others from history before we’re all scheduled to leave. I only have one week to get everything in order,” Andrew announced.

  Sarah grabbed his arm to stop him. “Less than that. The older Steed knows what day you leave. He won’t hesitate to kill Francesca knowing what she did.”

  “How does he know? I can’t imagine I tell him about the pregnancy, and you just said that I give you up for adoption. How could he possibly know?”

  Sarah swallowed around the lump in her throat. “I told him to shock him long enough that I could save my friends. He was going to blow up STEM Corp. You said a man showed up and gave you the shot that was supposed to stop your headaches and be able to travel forward in time?”

  “Yes.” Francesca’s cheeks pinkened like she’d done something wrong. She clasped her hands together. “A man showed up at work three days ago and gave it to me.”

  “What did that man look like?” Sarah asked knowing full well that in order for someone to get inside the facility, it meant they stole an ID or they opened a portal to the location. If she had to guess, she knew which one.

  “Dark hair, blue eyes. He didn’t say much when he walked into the trial room. He was wearing a doctor’s coat.”

  “He saved her life,” Andrew said.

  Sarah slipped the picture of her and the kids out of her pocket and unfolded it. “Is that him?”

  “Yes.” Francesca’s brows rose. “That’s him. Is he your husband, the father of those kids?”

  Tears formed in her eyes, and a lump formed in her throat. “Yes.” Sarah turned her gaze to Andrew. “He’s Foster, your son.”

  Andrew gasped. “I have grandchildren.”

  “We have grandchildren.” Francesca grabbed him into a hug. “Just wait until I tell Natalie.”

  Chapter 22

  If only Sarah had thought to grab the history book that she’d written. She might know where the older Steed was going to be. At this point, she didn’t know if he was even aware the others would be leaving. The young Steed might not, but the old one did.

  He was going to try to stop things. Sarah could feel it in every fiber of her being. He’d kill Francesca in a heartbeat and the others that traveled. “Can you take me with you to see your transponder room?”

  “Oh, those of us traveling are off the books. Besides, there are too many of us to use the transponder room. That’s why we’re here instead. We’ve figured out a way to contain the energy waves from the aurora borealis. We’ve contained it in our necklaces. It’s powerful, and there’s plenty of energy to go around. The earth won’t run out,” Francesca said.

  If they only knew. What if it these people traveling had started it all, started the demise of the world’s oceans? Would she be able to let them go without trying to stop them herself?

  “The earth does run out. In the future, the aurora borealis is gone, and the world’s oceans dry up and they’re still trying to figure out how it happens and how to fix it.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Andrew announced.

  “I’m afraid I am. Millions of people die from lack of water, and those that don’t have water rationed to them.”

  Francesca gasped. “That’s horrible.”

  “I wasn’t in 2130 long enough to get more of a history lesson. I don’t know when it happens or what caused it; I just know it does happen and the outcome.” Sarah walked over to the desk and picked up the necklace. “Who made these for your group?”

  “I did. I figured out a way to control the energy and pull it from the earth’s atmosphere to use it. I would never take more than what was absolutely in dire need,” Francesca said.

  Sarah believed her mom, but that didn’t change the fact that in the future it was gone. To be honest, Sarah could ignore the fact, not that she’d live long enough to see it happen, but her children would, and that was unacceptable.

  Andrew left to start erasing profiles and existences from history. It was hard to fathom that Sarah’s mother and Foster’s dad were the cause of the sleepers in 2018. It was even harder to fathom that she had to let them go about their journey without stopping them since she didn’t know who was like her mother and hiding versus being sleepers sent to 2018. There was too much at stake and too much that would change on the timeline if she were to try and stop it.

  “You’ll stand out like a sore thumb in those clothes if you want me to take you to the clearing.” Francesca crossed the room to a closet and pulled out some clothes. She handed the items to Sarah.

  “What’s the clearing?” Sarah asked holding up the armored bodysuit. “I’m already wearing one of these.”

  “You are?” she asked.

  Sarah showed her the sleeve.

  “The clearing is a special place where the travelers will be leaving from.” Francesca gestured to the suit. “Who gave you the suit?”

  “Commander Mackenzie Chase,” Sarah answered.

  Francesca’s lips twitched. “Commander, huh?”

  Sarah turned h
er back to her mom and changed into the other clothes, taking a minute to look where the stick had impaled her during travel.

  “Here, let me patch that up,” Francesca said.

  Sarah turned to face her mother. There was hesitation and worry in the woman’s eyes. “Thanks, Mom.”

  The words sounded foreign, but it eased the lines in Francesca’s face. “I still don’t know how I could give you up.”

  “There’s nothing a mom won’t do for her kids,” Sarah answered. She might not have had her first child yet, but thinking of the ones in the compound, she was already feeling the maternal bond and pull to keep them safe.

  “You’ve had one?” Francesca asked.

  “No, but like you, I’ve met mine when they’re older.”

  Francesca finished bandaging the wound, and Sarah continued to get dressed. The uniform was identical to the one Francesca was wearing. There was no emblem or anything different to set them apart.

  “Come, let me show you.” Francesca tossed Sarah a jacket and slipped hers up her arms as she headed for the door. “If anything should happen to me, just come back to the cabin. It’s stocked with enough food and water to last over a year. All of the cabins are, but mine is special.”

  “How so?” Sarah asked, zipping up her jacket to cut the bite of the wind and the chill in the air. She couldn’t help but look up at the lights and wonder at how beautiful they were. This was where her love for the borealis must have started.

  “There’s a backup necklace hidden beneath the floorboards, not that you’ll need it with an ancient transponder, but just in case. Once you find it, you’ll find a secret panel on the back wall in the closet.”

  “Where would that secret panel take me?” Sarah asked, following her mother through the trees.

  “To a haven, where only travelers like you and I can go. A place you won’t get visitors unless you guide them there.”

  She must be talking about the compound that she and Foster had visited. That was the only place that made sense. The compound surrounded by grass and sky. Only, would those people even be there when she got there? What if she arrived in a time prior to it being occupied? What if she was all alone, and this was when she found it for the first time?

  “It’s a shame the future won’t see these lights in anything other than pictures and holograms.”

  Francesca wrapped her arm around Sarah’s. “I’ll figure out a way to stop that, but tell me about you, about your life and your friends. Are you happy?”

  Sarah spent the next thirty minutes of her walk telling her mom all about Diana, Jonathan, Ziggy, her job, and the woman that raised her. She left out the fact that Natalie was her assistant and was missing with her adoptive mom and that Andrew was no longer with her. Something had to have transpired there for them to be separated and him to be living in the sanctuary compound.

  Foster had saved Sarah’s mother’s life. Had he done the same for her adoptive mother and Natalie? Surely, he would have had to since Natalie was his mom. He wouldn’t hurt her.

  They stepped into the clearing and paused. The clearing was a bit smaller than a football field. On each end, and at a couple of spots along the sidelines, were tall metal conductors. This somehow made sense. Sarah could almost imagine the energy dancing from one pole to the other until it unified into a blue stream surrounding the occupants on the inside.

  “This is pretty amazing,” Sarah said, stepping into the clearing with Francesca. Sarah was studying one of the beams and how it was being grounded and didn’t even notice when a woman approached.

  “Sarah, I’d like you to meet Natalie and her son, Foster.”

  Sarah spun around and rose from where she’d been kneeling. Natalie was young and beautiful and full of energy.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  Sarah shook Natalie’s hand before Sarah squatted next to Foster and held out her hand. “And you. You’re a pretty special guy.”

  “I am?” he asked.

  Sarah nodded. “One day when you grow up, you’re going to save lives.”

  Foster’s face beamed. “Did you hear that, Mom? I am going to grow up to be a squad leader, just like Grandpa.”

  Sarah’s cheeks tinted as she rose. “I’m sorry.”

  Natalie’s brows rose as she ran her hand over Foster’s hair. “Squad leaders have a dangerous job. We’ve talked about this, Foster. You’re going to be on the council, just like your father.”

  Oh, if she only knew, not that Sarah was going to share it with her.

  “So is Sarah one of the Jumpers from our group?” Natalie asked, glancing down over Sarah’s apparel. She raised a brow when she reached Sarah’s shoes. That was the only thing that she hadn’t changed. “Vintage shoes. You must be eager to leave.”

  “Natalie, if you’ll excuse us. I’ll tell you all about it tonight when I see you.”

  “Tonight?” Natalie asked. “We don’t have dinner plans, and the time jump isn’t for another week.”

  “I’m sure Andrew will fill you in.” Francesca took Sarah by the arm and led her around the field. “There are several places Steed could hide if he found out about our jump. Although I’m not sure how he’ll find out. Last I heard he was drowning his sorrows at the Cartwright Club.”

  “Is that like a bar?” Sarah asked, hoping that old Steed didn’t inform young Steed what was going on, although if it were her, that was exactly what she’d do once she scouted the place to verify that was really going down.

  Neither Sarah nor Francesca noticed anything unusual or any way Steed could be able to sabotage anything. They headed back to the cabin to warm up and eat.

  It was only a couple hours later when someone knocked on Francesca’s door. Sarah grabbed her gun and moved behind the door and out of view of the newcomers.

  “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. Where is she?” Natalie asked, almost bowling Francesca over as Andrew and Foster followed her.

  Sarah stepped out from behind the door after shoving her gun beneath her shirt and out of young Foster’s view.

  “I’m here,” Sarah said and glanced at Foster. “And I’m sure you can understand why we didn’t say anything.”

  Natalie threw her arms around Sarah and pulled her tight. “Welcome to the family.”

  “Oh, we aren’t…we haven’t…”

  “But Andrew saw the picture.”

  “Yeah, but that’s in my future. We just met not too long ago in my time, although I must admit he keeps surprising me every day.” Sarah rested her hand on her mom’s arm as they moved to sit at the table.

  “He’s a good boy. I’m sure he’ll grow up into a wonderful man.”

  Sarah didn’t want to tell her too much. If things got altered, life as Sarah knew it would be different, and right now she liked where it was headed.

  “Francesca, we’re leaving tonight. I won’t risk Steed killing you, especially since the older one is here.”

  “That’s a smart idea,” Sarah said, rising from her seat. “I’ll help her pack.”

  “You’re coming too, right?” Francesca asked. “She’s coming with us.”

  Sarah still had work to do. She picked up the handcuffs and showed them to her mom. “I can’t leave without bringing him back with me or sending him to the Enforcement Board to deal with. It’s not safe.”

  “I’m already pregnant. He can’t change things if I’m gone.”

  “He could sabotage the others leaving in a week, and I can’t let that happen. That would create ripples that we couldn’t even begin to contain or justify. Catching him and taking him back to the beginning before this all started is my only option.”

  “Your mom is right; you should come with us,” Natalie said.

  “I’m afraid I have to agree with Sarah,” Andrew said. “If too much gets changed, someone will have to answer for all of it.”

  “You’re talking about putting your daughter-in-law in danger,” Natalie growled, even though Foster was in his own little worl
d drawing in the condensation on the windows.

  “He’s right,” Sarah offered.

  “Come on, Foster; it’s time for that special trip that Daddy was telling you about.”

  Foster abandoned his project and smiled like an excited boy ready to go to a theme park.

  Natalie squatted to check the transponder watch on Foster’s wrist as Andrew and Francesca grabbed a few of their backpacks full of things and slid them up their arms.

  Sarah stepped back from them and watched a portal open, trying her best to block the blue and white light dancing around the room. Sarah gave them a small smile as they stepped through the portal and out of harm’s way.

  Just her and the wilderness now and figuring out how to stop a man that knew much more history than she did.

  Chapter 23

  Sarah kept a low profile as the days passed. She ventured out several times to the clearing in hopes of crossing paths with Steed. She may have been his daughter, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t kill her on the spot. Heck, he might just for sending him into this time.

  She’d ventured into the crawl space, easing the back panel from the wall. Within the second day, she made it into the area that her family would call home. Only the building was nothing like it had looked on her last visit. She’d been right; this was when she’d founded the place, only it wasn’t her that found it. It had been her mother, and that was something that made it even more special.

  Francesca had a collection of books in the room she’d claimed as her own. Food lined the shelves, along with drinks. Francesca had been stocking for quite a while. There were several other rooms that had lab equipment and the start of the transponder room. As great as it was to surround herself with familiar things, Sarah couldn’t have been happier when she fired up the quantum computer and it came to life.

  She’d spent hours doing the unimaginable and researching history, which was strictly taboo. What had happened to Foster and the STEM Building? Had it exploded?

  Sarah typed in her name to find that nothing appeared. Her mother’s name was the same. Her father, however, that was a different story altogether. History had lost his name, but Sarah didn’t need his name to figure out what transpired. She researched the news media for the week prior to the travelers leaving up to a week after, trying to pinpoint her dad’s involvement, and then she found it.