by Holly Hook
The Lab Coat Man stands there, glaring at the three of us in turn. It's almost comical since he's a few inches shorter than I am. He points to the water walkway and waits.
The three of us run towards the water walkway while the guy watches. I'm so relieved that we're not arrested or in custody or anything, but I know if he catches us in here again, there's going to be a lot more to pay other than our eardrums. I keep my gaze down on the floor until we're safely in the tunnel, surrounded by the gentle gushing of water.
“Well, that went well,” Simon says when we slow. “I think we're safe in here.”
The water swishes around us, moving in a perfect circle. We're on a pathway through a blue, living tunnel that looks just as amazing as the golden rifts I'm getting used to. The hallway curves, keeping the rift chamber and the angry scientist out of sight. I can still hear him grumbling to himself.
I breathe out and stop along with Simon and Isabel. I can't help but wonder if these people have modeled this complex after the corridors in the Hub. After all, a mortal's memory doesn't get erased if they only go there and then back to their normal time. The wipe only happens if someone goes from time to time. Some of these travelers must have seen the Hub. The rift room even looks a lot like the Main Chamber, only smaller.
“How did they do this?” I ask, studying the water flowing above my head. A trickle of dread rises inside me. I suppress an urge to run back out of the tunnel. I don't like being surrounded by water. I can't help but imagine it crashing down on my head and closing in...
Isabel looks back to make sure that Lab Coat Man isn't coming back after us. “I've never seen anything like this,” she says, reaching for the liquid. She lets her fingers slide into it. “It's warm. I thought it would be freezing.” Then she retracts her hand and faces me. Her blue eyes are steely. “But now, how do we get home? It turns out Arnelia isn't so helpful.”
“We can start by getting out of this tunnel.” I seize Simon's hand and squeeze, focusing all my attention on that. He must be able to feel how fast my pulse is still going. Hint, hint.
Footfalls approach. “Oh. There you are.”
It's Arnelia, talking with her strange accent. She's got that butterfly back in her hair now. Okay. I'll think about that. Did she just leave to go straighten up? Is that the culture now? Maybe in 5052, it's rude to talk to people without having your hair done right. I wish she'd told us what would happen if we left the platform. It would have saved me this growing headache.
“Julia,” she says, smiling at me. “And Simon.”
Isabel looks between us both, mouth falling open.
Now Arnelia remembers. Whatever she's gone off to do might have brought that back. Wow, I can’t figure her out.
“How?” I ask, walking towards her—and hopefully closer to the other end of the tunnel—with Simon in tow. As far as I know, she’s not a member of the Timeless. Time wouldn’t have made us send her back if she was. I look closer at her eyes, trying to make it look like I’m not staring. I don’t see any trace of gold in them, no streaks going through the smooth brown. But I didn’t see that in Simon at first, either. “You shouldn’t remember us, but you do.”
Arnelia smiles. It’s mischievous, like there’s some secret that only she knows. It does nothing but make me shift foot to foot. She's blocking our way out of here. “I told you that you shouldn’t have left the platform. Mulavi doesn’t like it when anyone who’s not in the system goes into the Time Lab. I heard his yells from here. He is very paranoid that people are going to go in and mess with the equipment. Not that they can, of course. He is the one who made all the security measures that the three of you must have experienced.”
“Yeah. That was great.” I have to keep speaking. I'm safe. I'm safe. “At least he didn’t zap us with one of those prism things.”
“Can we...talk?” Arnelia asks. Her smile is gone. Her gaze flicks over to Isabel and back to us.
She’s dodging the subject. There’s some tension in her voice. Her gaze goes over to Isabel and I realize why.
Whatever she has to say to us, she doesn’t want to do it with her here. She trusts Simon and I only. We’re the only two she mentioned in the bathroom back at Trenton High.
“Whatever you have to tell us, it’s fine,” I say. I motion to Isabel. How much longer do we have to stand in here? If I focus on Arnelia, it almost looks like the water is closing in...“She’s okay. We just need her help with something.”
Arnelia narrows her eyes. “Are you sure she’s the one?”
The one. I can’t shake the feeling that Arnelia knows more than she’s let on about our plan. “Yes. She must be. What do you know about what we're doing?”
Arnelia nods. “Then the three of you need to come with me.”
There’s a burning question that I need to ask. “Who are you exactly, and why are you interested in me and Simon? Are we some kind of report you have to write about the effects of changing history? A study that you're doing? I’m sure we’re an interesting subject.”
“That’s what I’ve been thinking,” Simon adds.
Arnelia lets out a breath and faces us. “My interest in the two of you is far, far more than that,” she says. “My full name is Arnelia Desmondi. I am a scientist working on the Time Project, and I am your descendant.”
Chapter Fourteen
I forget all about the water flowing around us. Simon coughs. “Um…huh?”
“I did the calculations,” she says, waving us down the hall like we need to hurry. “I checked the global DNA bank as well, where the genetic history of every person on Earth is stored. It is the truth.”
“But it can’t be,” Simon says. Now he's pulling me along. I'm still too shocked to say anything. “The Timeless can’t have children. None ever have. Julia and I will never reproduce.”
“That is true,” Arnelia says. “Only mortals can pass on their genes. I am fully mortal, in case you were wondering.” Arnelia walks faster through the swirling water tunnel. There's excitement in her steps now. Thankfully, it’s not hard for me to keep up the pace, especially since I still want out of here. I can't breathe. Isabel's right behind me. Is she feeling the same fear of the water? Is Simon?
“Simon is right,” Isabel says. “This isn’t possible.”
“It is,” Arnelia says. “Follow me to the library. I will show you how.”
"But in order for Simon and I to have descendants, we’ll have to both become human again." My heart's pounding. Does that mean that we succeed with our plan to stop the Titanic from sinking? It must. Arnelia does want to help us if what she’s saying is true. Her existence depends on it.
The exit to the water tunnel is right ahead. I breathe a relieved sigh. The four of us emerge into a huge chamber that’s crowned with another glass dome. Sunlight streams down and tall potted plants cast shadows everywhere. Fans blow somewhere. People mill around, almost all of them in robes like us. There's chatter and I can make out none of it. There are also a few people in lab coats, a group of women standing over by a gurgling fountain in the middle of the room. I see all skin types and hair types around me. Nobody has a trace of acne or even wrinkles, not even those with gray hair. They must have amazing health care in this time.
There are more tunnels branching off from this one, too. There’s one with purple water swirling around, and another one with green water rotating around it. People walk in and out. There’s even a garden in the middle of the room, with flowers of every possible color surrounding a gurgling fountain.
“We should visit this place more often,” Simon whispers to me.
I do like the idea. So long as we stay out of those tunnels.
“We need to go down the green corridor,” Arnelia says. “That is where the library is. I hope it is not busy.”
"Are you okay?" Simon asks me.
He's picking up on the fact that something's bothering me. "I'm fine. Just shocked."
We follow her, and I can’t stop staring at the lime green wat
er that swirls around us. I take a deep breath. My pulse calms. This isn't bothering me as much as the other tunnel, mainly because this water's a different color than what I remember gushing into the Titanic. It doesn’t look lit from behind. I wonder what kind of technology managed this.
This tunnel is a lot more busy, probably because the Lab Coat Man isn’t on this end. We pass a couple of men in long, purple robes that look like they could be priests or something. Neither give us a second glance. The tunnel opens up again ahead.
We come out into a small lobby with vines creeping down marble walls. Twin archways lead into darkness, and Arnelia leads us through the one on the left.
“This is the library,” she whispers, leading us through the semi-dark. "Like in your time, it is customary not to raise your voice here."
My eyes adjust.
There are no books here. I should have known. "This isn't a library."
"I agree," Isabel says. "It doesn't look like anything."
It's a room filled with rows upon rows of silver things that look like gigantic balls stuck halfway into the floor. About half of them have people standing or sitting in chairs next to them, and everyone's wearing plain glasses. One woman nearby studies the space above the ball like there’s something there that I can’t see.
"It is. I know it is not what you're used to," Arnelia says. "Over to this pod."
We’re at one of the round things seconds later. Arnelia taps the side of the "pod" and a drawer opens up, shimmering just like the trap that enclosed Isabel a few minutes ago. She jumps back and Simon squeezes my hand harder for a second. But then the drawer solidifies and waits, open. There’s four of the glasses inside.
“That’s cool,” I say, reaching for a pair.
Arnelia slips one pair on. “This is so only we can see what our pod shows us. Put them on.”
We’re all wearing the specs now. Simon smiles at me. His glasses make him look, well, sophisticated.
"You're even cuter with those on," I say. "You should keep them."
"I'm not sure they'll let me do that," he says.
"I discovered the existence of the Timeless a year ago," Arnelia begins. "I am the first scientist on the Time Project to become aware of their existence and remember it. I have ventured into the Hub many times, and on each occasion, some members of the Timeless have found me and sent me back home. They always erased my memories of each experience, but to make a long story short, I devised a way to bring those memories back once I was safely home. Ever since then, I have been researching the origin of these people. I was shocked to discover that two of them were my ancestors. On further research, I found this scenario in our database. What you are about to see is the reason I sought the two of you."
Arnelia touches the pod thing, and another one of those touch screens lights up on the metal. Isabel stands next to her, staring at it. It's another touchpad with glowing blue numbers. She taps the virtual keys—at least, I think they’re keys—and stares at Simon and I. "This will show you everything you need to know,” she says. “I took off the narration since it is not in your language, but I think it will be understandable. This is a powerful computer that can calculate what kind of effects changing the past can have on the future.”
I have no time to respond to that. The air above the pod thing lights up.
It’s just like the vision that Simon and I saw in the Main Chamber, only smaller. My breath catches.
It’s the Titanic, sailing away on the ocean with lights blazing in the middle of the night. The image is so real, I feel that if I extend my hand, I'll feel that icy water wrapping around my fingers. I can even hear the ocean parting.
A dark blob appears in the inky expanse and draws closer. The iceberg. It scrapes the side. And like the changing of a scene in a film, the vision changes. Simon and I hang on the edge of the ship, gripping the railing. Screams pierce the air. Simon says something to me, but it's lost in the noise. People plunge to their deaths all around us.
Simon and I fall. Golden light opens up and swallows him. I keep falling. This is the first time we fell, the time that I wasn’t supposed to survive. My heart pounds. I cringe, holding down a scream.
“Arnelia, we don’t want to see this." Anger rises in Simon's voice and jars me out of the scene. Of course. I'm safe in this future library.
“Sorry,” she says on the other side of the image. “We must. It is about to change, I think.”
It does. Now we’re looking at the Time Project. Men and women mill around the rift wall, here in 5052. All of the screens display blue numbers and symbols. One man punches at one. Another faces the rift wall, sighs, and turns away. They're all frustrated. The project doesn’t seem to be working.
"What is the point of this?" I ask. "We already know about the troubles your scientists are having with time travel."
"Do you see me there?" Arnelia asks.
"No," I say. I understand. "Oh...you don't exist here because this is the version of history where I died in the past."
"Precisely," she says. "Continue watching."
The scene goes right back to the Titanic. Simon and I fall again, embracing this time, and the rift opens and takes us both. This is last time, the time that I lived.
Back to the Time Project. Arnelia stands there now near the rift wall, alone, adjusting the butterfly in her hair and looking satisfied.
The hologram dies, and Arnelia looks at the three of us in turn. I’m glad that the Titanic images are gone. “Do you understand?” she asks. “Before you changed the fact that you died, Julia, I did not exist here at all. Now I do. That is why I have to make sure that the two of you succeed in what you are trying to do. I did the calculations, and I have determined that the two of you need to become human again and survive in your regular lives in order for me to be born. Right now, there is only a chance that will happen. History is not as solid as we all think. As you both know, it can always change. There is a one thing that can stop you from succeeding--and one thing that can make me cease to exist again."
The air above the pod thing lights up again, and there stands a one-foot-tall version of Frank.
Isabel makes a disgusted sigh and turns away. Dread creeps up through my belly. Simon grunts and balls his free fist.
Frank disappears, and Arnelia takes off her glasses like she's just finished with a funeral.
Maybe she has. Her own. And maybe mine, too.
And then I see her eyes again. They're the same shade as Simon's, the exact same shade. I scan her face to see if there's any trace of me there, but I find none. Of course, this is three thousand years from my time.
Still, it makes my heart ache. Frank can kill me if I become human again. If he does that, he'll kill Arnelia, too, and a whole line of my descendants.
“Julia. Simon,” she says. “Frank wants to stop the two of you from becoming mortal again and surviving in your original time. I have researched him for many hours. He is so bound to his duty that he forgets that he is dealing with real people. If Frank is successful,” she faces me and Simon, “You will die, Julia, and Simon, you will remain Timeless forever. I will never be born. But I have great hope in the two of you. I do not believe in fate. Perhaps the two of you were not meant to die in the first place.”
It's the first time I've heard anyone say that besides Simon. The ache loosens from my chest. There is hope. Arnelia stands here. That's proof that we can succeed.
Then a thought hits me. “If we stop the ship from sinking, Simon and I will never become Timeless. We'll stay in 1912."
Understanding dawns over Simon's face. He faces Arnelia. “That's right. And if we become human and stay in our original time, we won't remember you, either. Or you, Isabel.”
But Isabel's turned away to look at the bare wall. She remains silent. Maybe it's about Frank. Or it's about the fact that once again, even with the use of a super computer, her ship was never mentioned. After all, it's supposed to play a role in all of this.
“It does not m
atter to me if you remember me or not,” Arnelia says. “What matters is that you survive. But perhaps is a way you can remember it all if you become mortal again.”
There's fear in her eyes. Real worry, but also determination.
There's me.
Arnelia's taking off her butterfly. It blinks red, casting a light on the wall. A woman nearby in a white robe watches it for a second.
“This way,” Arnelia says, waving us out of the library.
We're in the lobby now, where there's no one. Arnelia stops and hands the butterfly to me. “You might find this useful when you become mortal again.”
I take it. I'm not sure what to say or what to do. “Thanks?”
Arnelia smiles. It breaks up the tension. “How do you think I kept my memories when I went through time?”
“This?” I ask, holding it up. I'm afraid to drop the butterfly and shatter it on the floor. The wing tips are also very sharp, so much that they could double as knives.
“Oh, it only looks like a hair clip. No one knows what it really is,” Arnelia says. “I long suspected that Time blocked the memories of people who traveled through it. Our scientists would go through the rift and come back remembering nothing. So I borrowed a memory chip from another scientist. I programmed it to download the memories from my brain and store them safely while I was on the other side of the rift."
"Download?" I ask. "As in, you know, that thing computers do?"
"Yes." She says that like I'm asking if the sun is hot. “Then this device feeds my memories back into me if I forget them. This is how I kept my full memories when I found you at Trenton High School. It appears that the mind tricks the Timeless use do not work on machines."
"I know this," Simon says. At least his anger is gone. "It's very annoying. We always have to go into computers and erase records of people who end up in wrong times. And Arnelia? This is amazing, what you've done.” Simon draws closer, eyeing the butterfly like he's being drawn into its colors. “All of your memories are in this thing?”
“All of them,” she says. “Including the ones of you, the ones I should not have."