by C. J. Hill
If it was perfect, how come it felt so disturbing?
Taylor turned her attention to the map on the car panel. They were almost to the Scicenter. Only a few more minutes.
She tapped her foot nervously on the floor. It would be fine, she told herself. They had been trained. Things would go smoothly. She might not even see a gasbot. Probably wouldn’t even hear that menacing whirring in the darkness.
Finally the car pulled up to the Scicenter—well, not actually to the front of the Scicenter—a row of cars twenty deep rimmed the walkway. Their car sensed the line, slowed to a stop at the end, and opened the door.
This was it, then.
Ren got out of the car first, and everyone else followed. The building loomed in front of them, thirty-five floors high, with eight more floors underground. It was white, like some mammoth bone sticking out of the ground. Except for the top ten floors. Those showed a video of scientists studying code on a 3D clear computer monitor. “The immortality tax is working,” the motto underneath the video proclaimed. “We’re closer than ever to finding the cure for death.”
Yeah. They were also one day closer than ever to dying. All these stupid mottoes made Taylor think longingly of Santa Fe. The citizens there would have added some good commentary to these buildings.
Fountains of light sizzled on either side of the Scicenter front door, symbols of the light of knowledge piercing the darkness of ignorance. A pale cement courtyard spread out in front of the building, offering benches to workers waiting for cars.
Taylor had gone into the building in every virtual reality simulation she’d done. This time the doors seemed mouthlike, gaping open to swallow the stream of people heading inside.
Ren had his comlink out, pretending to make a call while he checked the scanner function. He nodded. That meant a mobile crystal was where it was supposed to be—taped under the bench closest to the right side of the door. Everything was a go. Taylor walked, heart pounding, with the rest of the crowd slowly making its way to the Scicenter’s entrance.
Chapter 9
Joseph had been to the Scicenter a lot over the years, usually to get dating on an artifact. The last time, when he’d snuck in with Taylor, he hadn’t had bodyguards or many electronics. He hadn’t even had much of a coherent plan. He was twice as nervous now, though. More was at stake.
Joseph moved along with the crowd, keeping his gaze fixed on Taylor, on her shiny green hair twisted into a bun on the top of her head. He wouldn’t let himself look around as though he had a reason to worry.
The security guards at the front desk didn’t even glance at Joseph as he went by with the crowd. He sauntered toward the elevator, his senses on alert. He forced himself to walk casually, even though he could feel the adrenalin pouring into his system. Xavier kept pace beside him, talking about problems on a nonexistent project. It was unlikely the entire team would make it into the same elevator, but Joseph needed to make sure he and Xavier weren’t separated.
Ren headed into an open elevator, following two women. A group of three men slipped in, and Taylor and Lee joined them. By the time Joseph and Xavier had walked over, the elevator was full and the door slid shut.
Another elevator door opened. Joseph hurried to it, and he and Xavier were the last ones inside before the doors shut. Joseph checked the lit floors, pretending he was about to add his to the directory, then stepped away from the panel as though his floor was already marked. And it was. Someone was going to the fourth floor.
That could be a bad thing. Not many people were allowed on restricted floors, so the workers were more likely to know one another. If he and Xavier got off on the fourth floor, the person who had clearance to get off there might ask who they were and where they were going.
Joseph let his gaze slide left and then right. The men at his side didn’t look familiar. He couldn’t be sure about the men behind him. It would be horrible luck to get off the elevator with one of the scientists who knew he’d translated for Taylor and Sheridan.
The elevator stopped. Third floor. The door slid open and a man in the back corner pushed his way to the front. It might be safer for Joseph and Xavier to get off on the third floor, too, and cut through to the fourth.
Xavier sent him a questioning look. Joseph shook his head. He didn’t want to take the extra time. The door slid closed.
Joseph felt a short electric pulse shoot into his hip and then smelled a lemony scent. He had put his comlink on silent, and this was the comlink’s way of letting him know he had a message from Taylor. No one else smelled the lemons. It was a trick of electronics sending messages to his brain.
He glanced down at the top of his comlink. The number 3 appeared, which meant Taylor’s group had gotten off on the third floor.
The elevator door slid open again. Fourth floor. Joseph and Xavier stepped out and headed left toward the largest room on the floor, the Time Strainer bay. Joseph pulled out his comlink as he walked and replied to Taylor’s message with a number 4. He resisted the urge to turn his head to see who had gotten off the elevator behind them. Out of the corner of his eye, he had seen two men step out, but he hadn’t gotten a good look at either. Joseph listened for footsteps and heard a set following them. They were uneven, unnatural sounding.
A man behind them spoke. “You’ll have the test reports to me before lunch?”
Joseph recognized the voice. Carver Helix. Everything the science chairman said was barked out in a disapproving tone, indicating he thought himself mired in a sea of incompetence.
Sangre, Joseph silently swore. This was going to complicate things.
The last time Joseph and Helix had met, Helix had ended up bleeding and unconscious. Joseph doubted Helix would ever forget Joseph, and Helix would undoubtedly recognize him even with a puffy face and black dye. How had Joseph missed seeing the science chairman by the elevators?
The man walking with Helix spoke. “I’ll show them to you as soon as I have the results.” It took a moment for Joseph to place the man. Anton something, one of the Time Strainer engineers.
Joseph kept walking slowly, didn’t alter his pace. He bent his head over his comlink. With luck, Anton and Helix would walk around him and Xavier without looking at them. He typed a one-word message to Xavier: Helix.
“Make sure you review them before you send them,” Helix said, his voice still sharp. “Last time, one of the simulation code summaries was missing. It was worthless.”
“The simulation code summary wasn’t missing,” Anton said. “We deleted it when Reilly decided to change the event time horizon.”
Helix’s voice rose. “I approve all modifications. Not Reilly, not the mayor. Me. If you didn’t get my approval, don’t make the change.”
“You were in the med clinic at the time,” Anton pointed out weakly. “We didn’t know if you would live. Reilly had to take command.”
Even though Joseph and Xavier were walking slowly, Helix and Anton hadn’t overtaken them. Helix was walking even more slowly than they were. Joseph realized what the uneven footsteps meant: Helix was limping.
“Reilly isn’t in command,” Helix growled. “I expect you to undo any modifications you’ve done without my consent.”
“But you haven’t seen them yet,” Anton protested. “Don’t you want to examine the modifications before you make that decision?”
“No. You will give me hourly reports until you’ve undone anything I didn’t agree to.”
Well, that pretty much explained why Reilly hadn’t made more progress on his projects. Helix wasn’t trying to build anything but his own personal empire.
Joseph and Xavier turned a corner, and the huge double doors of the Time Strainer bay came into sight. Up ahead in the hallway, two men and a woman had reached the bay doors. The woman pressed her crystal to a panel on the wall, unlocking the door. It slid open and the workers walked inside.
The problem with reaching the fourth floor so soon—besides the fact that Helix was right behind them—was that Jo
seph didn’t know how many more scientists and engineers were on their way to the room. Ideally, Joseph and Xavier would be the last ones into the Strainer bay, and then they wouldn’t have to worry about disabling any stragglers still arriving for their shift. If any of the scientists called for help on their comlinks, he and Xavier could easily be surrounded and trapped.
Joseph fingered the comlink jammer on his belt. He couldn’t use it yet. If he jammed signals now, Taylor wouldn’t know where he was or how to reach him.
The door loomed up ahead. Joseph’s comlink sent a tingle of energy into his hand, and he smelled the scent of baking bread, Xavier’s identifier. Joseph checked the screen, already worried it would show a number 111, the code for “fight.” The number 0 glowed on the screen. That meant “bluff.”
Xavier murmured something to Joseph about needing to transfer some part IDs, stopped in the hallway, and fingered his comlink. Joseph stopped as well, turning his body to keep his profile hidden from Helix. If Helix didn’t recognize Joseph as he passed by, there would be no need to fight. Not yet.
Joseph didn’t breathe. Didn’t look. Just listened to the shuffling sounds of footsteps.
Helix and Anton walked by, with Helix still going on about unauthorized modifications. Neither man paid any attention to Joseph or Xavier. Which, now that Joseph thought about it, he should have expected. Helix wasn’t the type who cared about his subordinates enough to notice people in the hallway. And Anton was so nervously focused on Helix, he probably wouldn’t have noticed if Taylor herself stood in the hallway wearing her twenty-first-century clothes.
Still, it wasn’t until the men were nearly to the Time Strainer bay doors that Joseph glanced up for a better look. He hadn’t recognized Helix in the elevator because the man had changed his hair. The long black-and-gray stripes were gone. It was short now, a spiky bronze flecked with blood red—like someone had exploded near him and he hadn’t bothered to clean off the mess. Helix was thinner too, and he walked not only with a limp but with his shoulders slouched.
Turning his back to Helix and Anton, Xavier unzipped his overalls so he could get into his pack. “Tell me when they’ve gone inside the bay,” he whispered. Xavier took out a vial of sleeping gas, then pulled out his mask.
Joseph unclipped his laser box from his belt and watched Helix’s limping progress through the bay doors. When they slid shut, Joseph said, “They’re in.”
Xavier read his comlink screen. “Taylor’s group is in the stairwell. They’ll be here soon.”
They couldn’t hesitate then. Joseph put on his gas mask, and he and Xavier hurried to the bay door. When they got there, Joseph put his lock disabler to the door panel. The panel let out a spark, a small electric protest against the invasion. The disabler fried the lock’s original components, then added new ones so that the door didn’t sound an alarm. It slid open more slowly than normal, fighting the command. Before it had opened more than a few centimeters, Xavier threw the vial of sleeping gas inside. A tinkling crash sounded.
Someone called, “What was that?”
But no one answered. By the time Joseph and Xavier stepped inside, the gas had saturated the air and the scientists were stumbling, eyes glassy from the drug.
The door slid closed behind Joseph. A man in the farthest corner was the only one still standing upright. He frowned at Joseph in confusion and then fell face-first onto the floor.
“That’s going to hurt when he wakes up,” Joseph said. He kept scanning the room, laser box drawn.
The room looked the same as the last time Joseph had seen it. Back then he’d been brought here with his father to translate twenty-fifth-century English to the time riders. Joseph hadn’t thought the Time Strainer would actually work and had stood stunned and speechless when the light cleared and two unconscious girls floated in the Time Strainer chamber. Since then, not a day ended that he didn’t think about the machine and all of its applications.
The Time Strainer stood in the center of the room: five meters high with cables trailing from its top. A glass chamber stuck out of the middle, like an elevator that had been fused to a short building. Computer terminals and equipment stations were scattered around the room, lights blinking as the machines waited for input. Joseph stepped over a couple of unconscious men to get to the command terminal.
Xavier made his way to the Time Strainer chamber, checking the room for anyone who might have escaped the effects of the gas. Once he was satisfied that all the scientists were on the floor, he unzipped his overalls and unfastened the packs around his middle. Joseph did the same, tossing his packs in Xavier’s direction.
Xavier caught them and glared at Joseph. “Careful with the equipment. It’s expensive.”
Joseph didn’t answer him. He’d reached the main terminal. If one of the scientists wasn’t already logged on, it would put the whole mission at risk. Joseph was good, perhaps the best in the city, at splicing into computer programs, but success was never certain, and he didn’t have much time.
One glance erased his worries. Programs were running. Now he just had to access the right one and put his transfer stick into the port. Both took him only a few moments. While the computer downloaded his program, he strode over to Helix. The man lay on the floor, eyes staring upward blankly.
Joseph never would have thought running into Helix was a good thing, but it was about to credit them with some time. Joseph took Helix’s comlink from his belt and tapped out a message: I’m in a meeting in the Time Strainer bay. Don’t bother me or anyone in this room until I give you clearance. Anyone who ignores this order will face a questioning.
That ought to keep people away for a while.
Joseph went back to the command terminal and sat down in front of the computer. His download had finished. The computer would now run from orders on his transfer stick. One of his programs deleted the computer stations’ recording functions. Another program synched up the QGPs. Using the functioning parts of three units, they would work together to transform matter into an energy flux wave.
Joseph’s comlink sent him an electric prickle and he smelled lemons. Taylor. He was too busy to answer. He searched through the timestream data on the computer, searching for the exact moment he needed to snatch his brother out of the past.
From over by the Time Strainer, Xavier called, “Taylor’s group is on the fourth floor.”
“Understood,” Joseph called back. He kept his attention on the computer screen, couldn’t think about Taylor right now. The timestream data was longer and more complicated than he had expected. He had pictured it like an actual stream, data layered on top of each other. Instead, it was like cords that twisted together to make a rope while all of it whipped and wriggled in a strong wind. He could barely keep track of the piece he needed, let alone control any of it.
Then he laughed at himself for ever believing it would be easy. Time wasn’t one of Sheridan’s horses—a beast who ignored its own power and would let you ride on its back. Time was a snake slithering unnoticed and uncaring until you grabbed hold of its tail. Joseph had grabbed that tail, and now he had to control it before it turned and sank its fangs into his hand.
Chapter 10
Taylor hurried down the hallway, Lee by her side, Ren behind them. Her insides churned with fear and anger. Why in the world had Joseph chosen to go to the Time Strainer bay—the most important room on the fourth floor? Five other rooms had the computer equipment she needed to destroy the QGPs. Five. All of them were better strategic locations than the Time Strainer bay.
If a scientist or two found one of the smaller rooms locked when it wasn’t supposed to be—well, it wouldn’t automatically be cause for alarm. It might have been hours before someone noticed. But the Time Strainer bay—how many people did Joseph have to knock unconscious to take that room? People would notice when a large group of scientists went AWOL.
Taylor rounded the corner in the hallway, and the Time Strainer bay doors came into sight. The hallway was empty. That was
good, at least. They didn’t have to shoot anyone and drag them into the bay.
Ren and Lee had already put their gas masks on. Taylor put on hers as well. Ren jogged to the door while Lee turned around, laser box drawn, watching for anyone who might come into the hallway. Ren could have called Joseph and asked him to open the door from the inside, but it was just as quick to use a lock disabler.
The door slid open and the three slipped inside.
Taylor hadn’t thought about this room since she’d been carried out of it a month and a half ago, nearly unconscious. It seemed larger without the crowds of scientists gawking at her. The Time Strainer stood in the middle of the room. Equipment stations surrounded the huge machine, looking as though they were peasants paying homage to their monarch.
Joseph sat in front of the main computer terminal. Xavier was kneeling next to a fallen scientist, bending over him. She didn’t bother to ask why. Her mind was focused on the computer programs and everything that had to be done. Ren and Lee took up their positions near the door, guarding it against anyone who tried to enter. Which would probably happen soon, because Joseph had chosen the worst room possible.
She wouldn’t criticize him for that now though. She didn’t want to get Joseph off track while he hacked into the Time Strainer’s programming. Judging from the furrow of his brow, it was harder than he’d expected.
She strode over to the main computer terminal, her transfer stick already in her hand. She would send the QGPs self-destruct signals and run the programs to change the QGP data that the Scicenter had already recorded. She had invented a brilliant algorithm that would change each test result, each parameter by random degrees. The numbers would remain close enough to the original to not be easily caught, but far enough from the actual result to mess up anyone who used them.