Timestorm: A Tempest Novel (The Tempest Trilogy)

by Julie Cross

  “True,” Stewart said, nodding and obviously stalling like she might be afraid to tell us the next part. “The electromagnetic pulse will go up as soon as the field is down. The only point of access for time travel is just outside the Eyewall headquarters. All we have to do is take out the guards who come charging in after the field is dropped, remove their identifier chips, implant them on our own bodies, walk to Eyewall headquarters, at least to the point of access, then time-jump the hell out of 3200.”

  “Is that all?” Sasha said, sarcasm falling from every word.

  Grayson and Dad both kept their expressions as blank as if they were jacked up on B-29. Dad spoke first. “Let Grayson, Lonnie, and I discuss this more in-depth. There are some logistics to work out. It’s a long journey to headquarters.”

  We all filed out of the room, knowing there wasn’t any reason to argue or discuss it further until they made a decision. I grabbed Stewart by the shoulders from behind and gave her a squeeze. “Nice job. Honestly, I figured you had no idea what you were getting into. It’s a good sign that they’re even willing to talk about it.”

  Once we were outside, near the fire pit, Stewart turned around to face me, grief filling her expression. “It’s my fault you’re here. If I hadn’t dosed Healy with the truth serum, Emily wouldn’t have been alone long enough to start her little quest and Healy wouldn’t have trapped you so soon. He would have waited longer and we’d have figured out that he was trying to trap you…”

  I didn’t know how to respond. I was sure there was some truth to what she was saying but still, so many factors led to this entrapment. No way could we pin it all on Stewart.

  “Did you know Healy is the President of the United States in the future?”

  Stewart’s mouth fell open and I laughed, steering her toward a log to sit down on. “Let me fill you in on everything you missed.”

  “You don’t think I have any good gossip to share?” Stewart said. “I was hanging out in 2009 for three whole days before coming here.”

  I sat down beside her on a log and Mason, who’d been listening in from Stewart’s other side, joined us. “You can’t possibly top Healy as President in the future.”

  “Okay, maybe not.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  DAY 13. BEFORE DAWN

  I tossed and turned all night in my bottom bunk, having dream after dream about Holly. Then suddenly, the scent of her hair fell right under my nose, dragging me from another amazing dream.

  Cold fingers gripped the sides of my face, holding it tight. “I don’t know where your hand is trying to go, but it’s not gonna happen.”

  My eyes flew open and were hit with a bright flashlight. Holly leaned over me, fully dressed, shoes and all.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  She released my face and took a step back. “Come on; Blake gave me the memory file. We need to hear the rest of it.”

  I shook the dream from my thoughts and stumbled out of bed, rummaging for shoes. It was pitch-black outside and the bite of cold in the air was even worse than ever. Holly shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.

  As we crept as quietly as possible across the grounds toward the technology building, Holly kept glancing sideways at me, like she was about to bust out laughing.

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” she said, and then she did start laughing. “Were you having a good dream? Anyone I know?”

  Oh, God. What had I said in my sleep? “It’s none of your business.”

  “Okay, whatever,” she taunted. “But you do realize I know the name of every single girl you’ve ever dated or hooked up with? Some of them I even know addresses and phone numbers. It was part of my training.”

  Seriously? Why was my dating history a top CIA priority? Mason had the very same assignment and made a point to taunt me about it as soon as I joined Tempest.

  “Like I would dream about some girl I could hook up with anytime I want,” I said with a smirk. “Where’s the fun in that?”

  “So, it was a celebrity?” Holly asked, sounding slightly intrigued.

  “Or a couple celebrities.”

  “Gross.”

  “You asked.”

  She reached out in the dark and gave my shoulder a hard shove. I caught her hand, holding it firmly, and felt a familiar buzz of electricity flow through my entire body. I heard her quick intake of breath and wondered if she felt it, too.

  I rubbed a callus near her thumb with my middle fingers and took note of her pulse speeding up. “From your gun?”

  “Uh-huh,” she said.

  We were stopped in front of the building now, Holly turning to face me. I released her hand and reached around her to open the door. Her entire body brushed against mine as she turned her back to me again and stepped inside.

  I took the chair in the reproduction room and Holly stood beside me, playing with the controls, trying to remember what Blake had showed her about how to use the computers. Her leg kept rubbing against mine as she moved and I was thrown back into the memory of my dreams. I swear she was doing it on purpose.

  “I’m just gonna let it play straight through. We don’t have Blake here to drill with questions,” she said.

  “Sounds good to me.”

  DECEMBER 1, 2874.

  AUDIO RECORDED BY HOST.

  Thomas spent the night at Nora and Jean’s place last night and Jean spent the night on our couch. I didn’t even realize this until the morning when I woke up and saw her curled up and sound asleep in the front room.

  Jean wouldn’t give me any details but I already know how Nora feels about Thomas. It’s pretty obvious she worships him. I know almost everyone does, but Nora really, really does.

  When I asked Thomas about last night, he said it wasn’t an impulsive choice. It’s something he discussed with Dr. Ludwig. I can’t imagine discussing plans for a romantic evening with Dr. Ludwig, but then it hit me … time travelers reproducing.

  And now I can’t help but wonder what Nora would think if she knew about this plan. Somehow, I doubt their feelings are on the same level. Thomas is too committed to his work to get wrapped up with a family.

  DECEMBER 25, 2874.

  AUDIO RECORDED BY HOST.

  Thomas just told me that Nora is pregnant. She’s only two weeks along but he wanted me to be the first to know. He’s been staying with her almost every night for the past three weeks and they’ve spent every waking moment together. I’m starting to think I might understand what it feels like to be in love, but that’s because of my frequent missions for Project Lily, not because I see this in Thomas. Around Nora, he’s affectionate and attentive, but when she’s not around, he’s all business. They’re going to move in together in January in a building across town. Which means I’ll have my own place and so will Jean.

  Today is Christmas Day and I was supposed to be allowed to visit my family. I guess there was a security breach at the White House last night and none of us can go anywhere today. I started missing them so much that when Thomas went to see Nora this afternoon, I did a time jump to five years ago and watched me and my brothers and Mom and Dad take a family picture outside. It’s a tradition every year in my house and we all hate it except for Mom. I had to hide behind the house and watch from a distance.

  If it weren’t for Grayson and Lily, I think I’d really want to go back to my old life. Everything about it represents who I am now. No matter how hard I try to become this person Dr. Ludwig, President Healy, Thomas, and the rest of the world expect me to be, I can’t shake Blake the little brother getting pinched in the back by three different hands during Christmas photos. Physically I’m the most resilient time traveler, Dr. Ludwig has told me this on several occasions, but mentally, maybe I’m just not cut out for this job.

  JANUARY 10, 2875.

  AUDIO RECORDED BY HOST.

  I think Lily is on to me. She knows something is up. All my visits with her have been on weekday mornings during her summer break. She and Lexi (her d
og) are at the coffee shop every morning. She’s been pushing me for personal information like my phone number and address. I’m not sure I can brush her off for much longer, but I can’t exactly tell her the truth, can I?

  Today she asked me if I was homeless and I could tell she already knew the answer. She’s pretty brilliant and could easily put together the fact that the first day we spoke to each other is the only day that I haven’t had money, not that I purchase anything more than a drink and sometimes a muffin or a sandwich. And I’m always dressed in different clothes, current to the year 2002. I look like I’ve showered and trimmed my fingernails and all that.

  But she’s just so pretty and smart and kind. Probably the most kind person I’ve ever met. I keep thinking about her playing with those kids in 1995 and how she never argued or told them they were wrong, even when they were. That’s just how she is. She’s not going to take hope away from another person who needs it more than she does. Lily doesn’t have any problem debating issues with me, but that’s because we’re more intellectually matched. I haven’t tried to kiss her or even hold her hand or anything remotely close to my wild night with Jean (an incident that we haven’t spoken of since), but I feel like maybe I love her … maybe.

  But can you love someone if they don’t really know who you are?

  FEBRUARY 15, 2875.

  AUDIO RECORDED BY HOST.

  Today was scary. The most frightening day of my entire life, actually. Besides the day I discovered I could time-travel. I only have a few minutes to get this information into my chip before the next meeting begins so I’m making a short list.

  1) We were all awakened in the middle of the night and brought to the White House for an emergency meeting.

  2) Sasha, a girl very close to my age and also a time traveler, came from the year 3102 to tell Dr. Ludwig about the destruction and war that is ahead of us. She had pictures and everything. New York City, my new home, crumbled to bits. I’ve never seen anything less peaceful than those images.

  3) Sasha sat in the meeting, right across from me, between Jean and President Healy. She grew more and more tense as the meeting went on but didn’t seem quite as fear-stricken as the rest of us.

  4) Fifteen government officials were present today to vote on a plan of action. This is the first time we’ve had major information from the future.

  5) Everyone agreed that the most effective solutions would require more time-traveling manpower. The six of us (seven now counting Sasha) can only jump so much and so often. We need to explore too many years, events, and people to find the root of the destruction and stop it before it happens.

  6) It was unanimously decided that the Tempus Gene Project has not been an effective method of increasing time-travel manpower in this year.

  7) Dr. Ludwig and President Healy informed us that Ludwig had perfected a cloning formula that would use our DNA to create another human being and the process would replicate the time-travel ability we possess.

  8) The clones’ genetics could be altered just enough to ensure that the clones aren’t identical matches in appearance to any of us, and they will be born from artificial wombs and raised from birth by the government to fight this war on time.

  9) Jean’s and Nora’s reactions of complete horror and shock reflected my own, but none of us said a word. We weren’t there to give our opinions. We were only there to answer questions about our abilities to help implement this plan of action.

  10) Nearly everyone on the committee voted no to the cloning, what Dr. Ludwig and President Healy called Project Eyewall, despite their impressive sixty-minute presentation. Frank, a longtime committee member, one who’s always been the nicest to me of any of the navy-suit workers, was so angry about the presentation he left the room and didn’t return for several minutes. He was more strongly opposed than anyone else.

  11) I’ve never been more relieved than I was after the vote was final. I don’t think I breathed the entire time, waiting for more hands to go up in the air.

  12) All of us are due back in another long meeting in twenty minutes, in which the committee will evaluate each of our abilities based on past missions, and with Dr. Ludwig’s help, come up with parameters for each of us and individual goals for research to help us learn about this future war. In other words, what’s the maximum amount we can time-travel without its killing us. I’m afraid I won’t be able to see Lily anymore and I’m really wishing that I had led them to believe she might be able to time-travel soon so that I could keep visiting her.

  That’s all for now.

  MARCH 12, 2875.

  AUDIO RECORDED BY HOST.

  I can’t believe what’s happening. I thought I could trust Thomas. And Dr. Ludwig … and President Healy … he’s the President for Christ sake! I’m in 1988 with Grayson right now.

  A few hours ago, I was in my present, in the White House. Dr. Ludwig put me under sedation to evaluate my brain waves like he’s done a dozen times before, only I must have awakened early and Dr. Ludwig must have left the intercom on and I was alone in the lab and strapped to the brain scanner, not able to feel half my body, when I heard his voice and President Healy’s coming through the intercom. They were having a meeting in Ludwig’s office right behind the glass wall.

  After I realized what they were discussing, I had to shut my eyes and do my best to lower my pulse rate to the slow, sedated level because if they knew I had heard them, I’d probably be dead or locked up somewhere.

  They are going ahead with Project Eyewall! Even though the committee voted no weeks ago! The plan is to have Sasha (the girl from 3102) take Ludwig to that year. They are hoping that amid the war and destruction he can find a quiet place to make clones who can time-travel.

  President Healy plans to insert himself into a political position somewhere in the year 2000 or 2003 so that he can make sure legislation is more open to these ethically controversial issues. Those were his exact words! And the whole time I heard them go through this plan, I kept thinking how would the President insert himself into a position hundreds of years in the past without the help of a time traveler not only to take him there but to make alterations to the past. Would Sasha do this too?

  That’s when I heard him. He’d been in the meeting all along. Thomas. The man who might be father to a time traveler in less than six months. My mentor. The person I had worked so hard to impress this last year.

  He’s part of the plan. Not only that but he has all these theories on how the time-traveler clones should be raised in Eyewall headquarters. He thinks nurturing children will hinder their abilities. They want to raise these children with no physical contact with humans at all. No emotional bonds. It’s so wrong I can’t even think straight. How could this be better than any war we’ll fight in the future?

  I never thought I’d get unhooked from that scanner. It took so long and I had to act calm and cool as Dr. Ludwig dismissed me. As soon as I got to my apartment, I jumped to 1988. Grayson is the only person I could think to tell what I’d heard. He’s as upset as me, maybe more upset. He said he thought both Ludwig and Thomas were headed down a path like this one but never imagined President Healy would take this big a risk, go against the rest of the government. Grayson only agreed to aid with the Tempus Gene Project because he thought it might hold off the cloning for a while.

  We were both very worried about the fact that I overheard this conversation, and Grayson said I needed to hide my memory files from them. He helped me place them somewhere that would be nearly impossible for anyone to find. Memory files are the personal items that an individual owns in my present and the three hundred years before that, and they’re rarely used against a person by the government or any law-enforcement agency. It’s stated in the constitution of 2515. Individual thoughts, opinions, and mental plans cannot be used as concrete evidence in any shape or form. We are free to think and feel whatever we like. Only our actions and choices outside of the mind can be considered fact. No one can deny the usefulness of memory files.
They have changed the way the world is run. They have truly improved society. To be able to see your past thoughts and ideas … it’s an invaluable tool.

  But Ludwig constantly uploads data from my memory file as it’s recorded. If he knew what I knew, he wouldn’t use that file against me—he’d kill me to keep me from talking.

  Lucky for me, Grayson is way smarter than he ever lets anyone see. Not only did he help me hide my memory file for safekeeping rather than destroy it like I wanted to the second I got to Grayson’s lab, but he also created a false memory file. He said there are tons of people who have figured this out in my present, those who fear government conspiracy and memory erasing, who want to keep their thoughts, but keep them hidden.

  Grayson told me I have to go back soon and I have to keep pretending that I don’t know anything and follow whatever orders I’m given. Thomas knows me too well, I think he’ll see right through me, but I don’t have any other option, do I?

  MAY 14, 2875.

  AUDIO RECORDED BY HOST AND MEMORY EXTRACTED FROM HOST.

  Thomas and Sasha took me to the Eyewall headquarters in the year 3197. Thomas told me he trusts me to understand why he made the choice to go against the President’s committee and follow Dr. Ludwig’s lead.

  The city was destroyed and there were communes of faceless people, poverty-stricken and without any way to fulfill basic needs. We just sped past them; Thomas didn’t even look at anyone. Sasha did, though. We were beyond her present year, and knowing that fact, I could guess that either: A) another time traveler beyond Sasha’s time was discovered naturally and took her to this year or B) Dr. Ludwig was successful and had created a time-traveling clone that brought Sasha and Thomas to the future.

  One jump beyond our farthest point with another time traveler is all we needed to have new, broader boundaries. I would now be able to travel this distance alone if I wanted to.