Now, how to make sure he’d get the letter at the right time? For that, I’d have to trust my great-grandmother. I stuffed Sean’s letter inside another envelope, then wrote a short note: “Baby, Please hold onto this letter until the right time. It will bring you good luck. Love, An Admirer.” From what I knew of her, she was superstitious enough to believe that. I wrote down as much as I remembered of her snail mail address and hoped a post office would help me later with the rest.
I tucked the letter in my purse, then checked the envelope for my plane tickets back to the base. It was empty. How had I lost them? I dumped the purse out on the table and checked every pocket, but I couldn’t find anything. For a black moment, I wondered if Pluckenreck had been so eager to get rid of me that she hadn’t bothered providing me with a way back. But then my uncle would never get his priceless DNA sample. I examined the ticket envelope again and found a phone number. Relief flooded through me, only to change to irritation when Pluckenreck refused to believe I had the sample.
“It doesn’t matter how strange you find the TwenCen, Ms. Lyon.” I could hear a sneer in her voice. “You’re here until you fulfill your mission.”
“I did.” I wished I had a handheld so I could send her proof. This antique telephone was so limited.
“You didn’t even have a plan to meet Sean,” she accused me. “You can’t be done already.”
“You don’t think we Lyons are smart enough to work fast?”
Silence on the other end, followed by a huff. “I’ll believe it when I see it. Take the Greyhound bus back to Phoenix, then call me again. If you’re wasting my time....”
I hung up before she could finish.
It didn’t take me long to realize she’d directed me to the bus to punish me. The nightmare lasted four days—four days of bumpy roads, greasy meals, and awkward attempts to clean myself in dirty restrooms. The only good thing about it was I was able to find a post office, ask the clerk how to send a letter to the Philippines, and mail Baby’s letter during one of the stops. When I called Pluckenreck after arriving in Phoenix, she humphed at me, told me to wait there, and disconnected. She showed up an hour later in a contemporary car. Pluckenreck rolled down the window and stuck out her hand. “Let me see the sample.”
I didn’t give it to her—I had a sudden flash of her snatching it and abandoning me—but I held it so she could see the label. She sighed. “Get in. They can test it at the base.”
Relieved, I crept into the seat next to her.
She drove us out of the city, into a desert that seemed to go on forever. Neither of us spoke to the other on the trip. When we arrived back at the mining camp, she took us underground and led me straight to a lab even smaller than the one on the Sagan. For a brief moment, I wondered if George had transferred down here and what I’d say to him. But I didn’t recognize the technician scanning sample pens.
“Give it to him,” Pluckenreck told me.
Repressing a sigh, I handed over one of the DNA-filled samplers and hoped it was the right thing to do.
“Could I have the rest of the samplers?” he asked me. “If they haven’t been used, we can give them to other travelers.”
Keeping my expression as neutral as I could, I dug two pristine samplers out of my purse. Had anyone kept track of how many samplers I’d been given? Could I pretend I’d lost the other one?
“That’s only three,” Pluckenreck said. “Where’s the other one?”
I felt my face flush and knew I wouldn’t get away with a lie. I couldn’t even look the tech in the eyes after retrieving the final sampler, the one with Sean’s DNA. I could imagine Sean scowling at me and wanted to apologize again.
The tech nodded at me. “It’ll be a few hours before the results are ready. You can grab some lunch in the mess hall or relax in the rec room.”
“Is there someplace I can borrow a handheld?” I asked. “Or are we not allowed them down here?”
“There are a couple of entertainment handhelds in the rec room, but they’re offline.”
I’d been hoping to contact George, but I thanked him anyway.
I showered and changed into my cleanest set of TwenCen clothes, then headed for the mess hall. The meatloaf was lukewarm and salty, but since meat was more common on this Earth than mine, I paid attention to every bite. As I considered dessert, another traveler from my classes came in. He wore a suit and tie similar to those I’d seen men wearing in Chicago. I wondered if he still had to leave on his mission or if he’d already completed his, like me.
He passed by my table on the way to the buffet. “Do you know when the next shuttle leaves?” I asked.
“They only run at night,” he replied. “But I don’t know if the wormhole storm threw off the schedule, or if they’ll be pulling us all out of here.”
I sat up straight. “The wormhole storm?”
“Yes. It happened a few days ago. All sorts of exotic particles spewed out of the wormhole, and it even shrank.”
I crumpled my napkin. “Was the ship damaged?”
“It’s fine. They raised their shields in time. They say the planet isn’t in any danger either. But the physicists are still trying to figure out what it means, if anything.”
“Why? Is this something new?”
He nodded. I thought back to my letter. Had I really done something that would change history? But Sean hadn’t read it yet; it was still on the way to Baby. I couldn’t have possibly disturbed the universe.
Pluckenreck returned. “There you are, Ms. Lyon. Come to my office. I want a full report on your trip.”
She didn’t get one. Oh, sure, I told her about Grandma Mary and the concert. I sang one of Sean’s songs for her; she tapped her foot in time with the beat, but she didn’t crack a smile. I even described taking the DNA sample. But I left out my outburst at the concert and the letter I mailed to Baby. She still didn’t seem satisfied.
“And you’re sure you didn’t tell him about his future?” she asked over and over. “Not his success, not his murder?”
“Of course not,” I said. I willed myself not to flush.
She watched me for a couple of seconds, her eyebrows drawn together skeptically. “And you didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary?”
“Compared to our world, all of it was.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t know if you’ve heard yet, but there was some unusual activity associated with the wormhole. I just want to make sure the travelers didn’t have anything to do with it.”
I played dumb. “How could they do that?”
“By changing the history of this planet.”
“But aren’t we already affecting events just by being here?”
“Not on a scale that affects the wormhole.” She sighed and pushed her glasses into place. “And I want to keep it that way.”
I stared at her while her words sank in. If I really had changed the wormhole, were we stuck here? And she was going to get us unstuck by letting Sean get murdered? I wanted to protest, but she stared at me so coldly I knew I’d incriminate myself if I spoke.
Her TwenCen phone rang. She turned away from me as she identified herself, then listened to the person on the other end. Sweat gathered in my armpits. When she finished her call, she regarded me for a few seconds before saying, “They’ve verified your DNA sample is from the test subject. You can take tonight’s shuttle back to the Sagan. Until then, you’re free to wander around the base.” The expression in her pale eyes finally warmed. “Well done, Ms. Lyon.”
As relieved as I was to escape, I didn’t feel I’d done a good job at all.
* * *
With trepidation, I watched the Sagan grow larger in the shuttle’s overhead holoprojector. Would George be willing to help me wrest control of the clone from Uncle Jackass, or would he despise me for completing my mission? Would he even want to talk to me again? If he didn’t, what about Ferdie, Liz, and Livia? It would be a long, dull trip back to my universe if they banned me from the genetics lab
.
The docking and repressurizing of the shuttle bay seemed to stretch out another month. At least there were only a few other passengers, so I was able to get off quickly. I scanned the shuttle bay for George, but he wasn’t there. Of course he wouldn’t have known when I was coming back. Still, all my energy drained out of me, and I trudged to my cabin. Maybe after a proper shower and a good night’s sleep on a firmfoam mattress, I’d feel up to facing him.
George waited in front of my door. I could see faint red indentations on his face from his safety glasses. He looked up from his handheld, and a smile lit up his face. Joy chased away my fatigue.
“Your name was on the passenger list,” he said, “but I wasn’t sure....”
I hesitated for a moment, not wanting to appear too eager, but when he approached me, I dropped the pretense and ran into his embrace. Our lips found each other as if they’d been magnetized.
We finally had to come up for air. George cupped his hand under my chin and gazed at me. “You…you look different,” he said.
“Must be the TwenCen dirt. I can still smell cigarette smoke in my hair.”
He shook his head. “That’s not it. You don’t look so angry at the whole world anymore.” His mouth quirked. “So, did you kill your great-granddad or make peace with him?”
I let out a rueful laugh. “I came close to changing history a couple of times, but he’s still in one piece.”
“That’s good. I wouldn’t want Pluckenreck forcing you to take his place.”
“Would you come after me if she did?”
“Of course, no matter how backward the TwenCen is.” George drew me closer to him, close enough for me to feel his chest rise and fall with each breath. “But we can talk about that...later.” He stroked my back in a way that meant he was interested in something else. So was I, but I needed a shower almost as much as I needed George.
We compromised; we showered together, so I could get clean and dirty at the same time.
Later, we huddled together on my narrow cot, and I told him not just what I’d shared with Pluckenreck, but about Sean’s song and my breakdown afterward. Even remembering the experience brought tears to my eyes. I clutched George’s hand for strength, then decided it was OK if I let the tears fall on his shoulder. I didn’t weep as hard as I had before. Maybe I’d got the worst of it out of my system.
When I finished, George looked me in the eyes and said, “Sounds like the trip did you good. Did you warn Sean about his upcoming murder?”
It felt right to trust him. I nodded. “Not directly, but I sent a warning to his wife.”
“What happens if he doesn’t marry her?”
“Then he won’t become involved in Filipino politics and get himself assassinated later.”
“That makes sense.” George sat up. “The physicists say this is a parallel universe, so there’s no reason why the alternate history has to follow ours.”
“Except to keep the wormhole open so the travelers can exploit this world.”
For a moment, the only sounds came from the spaceship. I thought about the samplers I’d surrendered to the tech back on the base. Would they send them to the lab, or keep them somewhere else on the ship?
“So, now your uncle gets to create his Sean Lyon clone.” George eyed me as he spoke, as if afraid I’d do something.
I shook my head. “No, now I have to figure out how to keep him away from the child.”
“Jo, you know I can’t tamper with Sean’s DNA sample.” He hesitated. “You said Lizabeth told you how Professor Murakami distorted my work, right? If I’m implicated in another scandal like that, it would kill my career.”
No; it wasn’t fair to ask him to do that. And if I ever wanted to work in the genetics lab on the Sagan, I couldn’t sabotage them myself. That left the motherhood option, but George wouldn’t like it. I’d never asked him about kids, but he’d want his own. I braced myself for a lonely trip back home.
“There is a way I could reclaim that sample.” I raised my chin to look at George. “If I volunteer to be the child’s mother.”
His eyes widened, and a half-laugh, half-gasp came out of his throat. For a moment, I considered ordering him out before he could reject me. Then I remembered how unpredictable Sean had been, and I decided to give George a chance, even though it would hurt more in the end.
“I—I never thought you’d want kids,” he said after a couple of minutes.
I shrugged. “I don’t know anything about them.”
“Then what makes you think you’ll be doing the child a favor?”
“You think I’d be worse than Uncle Jackass?”
“No, no.” He laid his warm hand on mine. “It’s wonderful of you to even consider the idea. I’m just saying you should think it through before you commit yourself to it.”
Well, it wasn’t an outright rejection, but he wasn’t enthusiastic about it either. I wished I hadn’t mentioned my plan at all. But it still seemed better than letting my uncle twist the poor kid.
“Whatever you decide to do,” George said, “I’ll be there with you.”
He stared at me, mouth open as if he meant to say something else, then he shook his head and kissed me. I wondered what would happen when it was time for me to return to Earth, but for now, all I wanted to do was lie there in his arms and not worry about the next day.
* * *
The next morning, George and I returned to the genetics lab, and I regaled the other scientists with my adventures. Now that I’d completed my mission for the travelers, I was free to work full-time in the lab. “You could even start work on your dissertation, if you have a project in mind,” Lizabeth said.
I grinned until I remembered this was a short-term assignment. “What do I do when I get back to Earth? Do you think you can recommend me to some other genetics lab?”
Lizabeth and George exchanged glances. “We’ll see,” she said finally.
I wondered what they were keeping from me, but I didn’t have time to probe or fret about why they didn’t want to give me the recommendation. I was due next door in the medical facilities to discuss the possibility of me becoming the surrogate mother for Sean’s clone. Dr. Allnan ushered me into an exam area and drew the curtains so we could talk in private.
“I was sent here to collect a DNA sample from my famous ancestor,” I told her. “When my uncle recruited me for this project, he asked me if I was interested in donating my eggs and/or hosting the pregnancy. I told him no, but—” I looked down at my fingers—“I’ve changed my mind.”
“And you want to start right away, I take it?”
I nodded.
“We can do it here on the Sagan.” Dr. Allnan set her handheld down to stare at me with dark eyes. “But you realize once the child is born, your uncle will expect you to turn it over to him?”
I bit down on my lip. That was the sticking point. “I never signed the agreement. We’ll have to discuss it once we return to Earth.”
She sighed. “I’m not a lawyer. Maybe it’s best if I don’t get involved in the legal issues. We should wait until we obtain permission from your uncle. Technically, he owns the DNA sample—”
“Oh, he does, does he?” My voice rose, and the doctor raised her eyebrows. I forced myself to take a couple of deep breaths to tame my anger. Rage wasn’t going to help my cause, no matter how justified it was. “I’m also a member of the Lyon family, the one who obtained Sean’s DNA. Yes, I got it for my uncle, but I haven’t been paid yet. So until I see the credits, I figure I have some say about what’s done with the sample.”
She still didn’t look convinced, so I smiled as naturally as I could. “Trust me, my uncle is very eager to start the process. He’ll be even happier if I return with a child already on the way than if he has to wait another six months.”
“It’s not so much about making him happy as making sure he doesn’t sue me.”
I wanted to tell her not to worry; he’d take it out on me first, not her. I leaned forwar
d. “Do doctors still swear to do no harm? Because if he gets to raise the clone, the boy will suffer a lot more than he would as my child.” Assuming I could figure out the whole mother thing before I dropped the baby, or forgot him somewhere, or did something else equally stupid....
Dr. Allnan rose and inspected the medical supplies in the cabinet, but she didn’t select any of them. After a few minutes of silence, she turned to me. “All right. I’m still not sure this will work out the way you think it will, but we’ll try it.”
I wanted to scream with joy and jump up and down like one of Sean’s more ardent fans, but I didn’t. Instead, I grinned as easily as if I did it all the time.
The doctor smiled at me for a moment before her face became serious again. “I should warn you, this won’t be easy. Since you’re young, I’m assuming your eggs are in prime condition and that your overall health is good, but I’ll still have to test you first. If you pass, we’ll induce superovulation with hormones, then harvest your eggs. We’ll probably be able to create several viable embryos, but getting one—hopefully only one—to implant successfully is the hardest part.”
I’d already reviewed this information before breakfast. “Might as well get started, then.”
I spent the rest of the day in the sterile-smelling med lab, doing my best to lie still on the cold table while they scanned me with every medical instrument you can think of. Dr. Allnan returned after I got dressed. “It’s a go. When was your last period?”
“About three weeks ago.”
“Then we can start the hormone treatment with your next cycle.”
I grinned. “Thank you, Dr. Allnan.”
“You might not feel so thankful after two weeks of PMS and shots in the butt every day,” she said wryly.
I was glad George wasn’t around to hear that.
I returned to my cabin to rest and check my messages. To my surprise, there was another holo from Dad. My first instinct was to trash it. Even if it was something important, he could have one of his lawyers contact me. Then I remembered Sean hadn’t been the enemy I’d thought he would be. Maybe it was time to stop treating my father like one too. For the first time in I don’t remember how many years, I listened to one of his messages.
Lyon's Legacy: Catalyst Chronicles, Book One Page 9