“How could we figure out which it was?”
Dani took out her worktablet. “Jored’s tracking equation should show bumps when the messages arrive, if they are causing the disturbances. Did you see this, Marak? Come and look.”
“The one he helped Zaidee with? He couldn’t stop talking about it on Friday.”
“That’s the one.”
Both of them turned their gaze on the viewwall as Dani set up the equations on her tablet. “I’ll make it highlight anything that appears suddenly. If it’s a smooth progression, I think we can safely say that it’s his imprisonment that is the source.”
She backed it up to Tuesday, August 1, six weeks before, and let it play forward. This was the second time she and Lexil had watched the sequence, but it was the first time for Marak. For two weeks, the color glowed blue, indicating a steady growth. Suddenly, they saw a spurt of green, and then three days later, another, and the bursts continued through the eighth and last on Friday.
Dani took a deep breath. “It looks like it’s the messages.”
Lexil nodded. “We can’t follow mysterious instructions if they’re the source of the timestream disruptions. The best thing we could do, in that case, would be to ignore them. Which one of you wants to tell Kat?”
Dani tilted her head toward Marak. “You’ll probably see her first. Will this be enough to convince her?”
But he had sat down by the viewwall and was staring at the projection. Finally, he spoke. “Lexil, tell me: How accurate are those dates and times?”
“As accurate as they can be, with the sensors we have in place. The recordings are more or less continuous, except when sensors are offline for maintenance. We have seven of them, and we need four for 3-D triangulation, and two to determine differences in intensities. We usually take them down one at a time for routine service and upgrades, but occasionally we’ve lost two at the same time.”
“Can you check the maintenance schedule for these six weeks?”
Dani pulled up the reports. “We were online continuously. No down time. Why? Are you thinking something else might be causing the spikes?”
“Run it again, but stop it at each of the dates.”
The projection played, and then it stopped on Tuesday, August 15.
Marak sucked in air through closed teeth. “That’s what I thought I saw. Let me predict: The next ones are on the 18th, 22nd, 25th, and 29th of August. Every Tuesday and Friday.”
Dani quickly confirmed his prediction.
“How’d you know that?” asked Lexil.
“Those are the dates Kat visited him. And on the 1st, 5th, and 8th. Now check that last one, last Friday.”
Dani saw immediately what he was talking about. On the last day, the effects, instead of intensifying, actually showed a countering force. The ripples were subdued during the exact moments that Kat saw that fleeting evidence.
Whatever agency had sent those messages had the same goals they did.
Lexil bit his lip and nodded slowly. “If we want to contain this event, we’re going to have to get Royce released.”
Marak stood up. “I’ll get to work on that. Too bad we don’t have some sort of official Chronetic Oversight Committee.”
“Like Time Guardians or something?” Dani laughed at a sudden vision of caped superheros.
“That would do it. Journalists have the power of the press to influence public opinion, but this is a little more specific. It will be hard to spin it in a way that will make it look like a good thing.” His voice took on an announcer’s tone. “Next on the news, we take a look at why a convicted blackmailer should go free. He’s not innocent. Nor was he wrongfully accused. He’s straight-out guilty. In fact, he’s in maximum security for being such a danger to society. But let’s release him, because otherwise our whole timestream will collapse. The future is at risk. And hey, he’s my wife’s uncle, but that has nothing to do with it.” He shook his head. “Not gonna be easy.”
“Good thing you have so many contacts in the criminal justice system,” said Lexil.
Marak brightened. “Yes, there is that. We’ll see where this goes.”
He waved to open the door. “Well, I’m off—to accomplish the impossible.”
The door closed behind him. Lexil pushed chairs back under the table. Dani closed down the display.
As they moved toward the door, it whooshed open again. Marak poked his head in. “Almost forgot. Kat wants you out to dinner tonight, Dani. Said if you had other plans, cancel ‘em. She won’t take no for an answer. Okay?”
Dani laughed. “Tell her no, I don’t have any other plans, so I refuse to cancel them. And I’ll see you all tonight.”
“Okay.” And he was gone.
WALLACE HOME, Lower Queen Anne, Seattle, WA. 1745, Monday, September 11, 2215.
“Tell me you didn’t.” Kat threw her hands in the air. “Dani, Dani. What am I going to do with you?”
“I was worried about you and your uncle.” Dani knew her friend was half teasing, but she felt defensive anyway. “I wasn’t there to moon over a guy.”
“Oh sure. Blame it on me. What exactly are you waiting for? He’s good looking, and smart, and obviously interested. He makes a move—so sweet, by the way—and you suddenly decide it’s time to ask him how to get to his house?”
“I told you he was the one who said Dr. Seebak and Dr. Brant would be wondering where we were.” It had seemed reasonable at the time. She didn’t want to make anyone worry about her.
“But he followed that by saying he was ‘tempted’ to get lost with you, right? Where’s your brain, girl? What were you thinking?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know if he means it. I think he just likes to flirt.”
Kat shook her head. “Name me one other girl he teases like that. Or looks at like that.”
Dani opened her mouth to protest, but Kat cut her off.
“I’ve seen it myself. And you have too. Plus, you’ve been ditching me to spend time with him, haven’t you? Admit it.”
“Not intentionally.” Dani looked down at the floor, staring at her feet. She still felt bad about not being there for her friend. She looked up. “I won’t do it again.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Kat sighed. “I’m the one who’s always urging you on, and you think you’ve disappointed me? Besides, I was keeping pretty busy myself. I canceled on you the last time. Come here. Sit right here next to me on the sofa.” She sat down and patted the seat next to her.
Dani sat.
“Now look me in the eyes and tell me you are not at all interested in him.”
“I— I mean, he— we work together. We complement each other’s strengths.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Dani thought back to the walk on the trail. “He’s got gorgeous eyes.”
“Okay, that’s a little better. Go on.”
Dani fidgeted. “He’s brilliant, and funny. And he’s interested in the things I’m interested in.”
“He’s interested in you.” Kat shook her head. “So tell me, are you interested in him? Or in the things he’s interested in?”
“Um…him, I guess. But I don’t know, Kat. Every time something seems close, my mind tells me it’s not what I want. I want to get out of there, change the subject, anything but get involved. Maybe I just need more time.”
“Girl, if you take much more time, some other woman with a little more of her own mind is going to see what you’re missing. You know that, right?”
“It’ll be all right. You don’t have to worry about me. We’ll work it out.”
Kat sniffed. “You have no idea. But if that’s what you want, I’ll let you have your space.” She got up and turned toward the kitchen.
Dani didn’t want her to leave like that. She realized, with surprise, that she actually wanted to talk more about Lexil. “Hey, want to hear about my dream?”
Kat turned slowly. “Was he in it?”
Dani nodded.
�
�Then yes, of course!”
“It was kind of fuzzy, but we were walking—like we did along the trail, but it was on a road, and it was dark out, with a full moon shining.”
“Moonlight is good.”
“And our hands sort of…”
“You held hands?”
“I think so.” Had she actually dreamed this? It seemed like there was just that moment when he leaned in to kiss her. She blushed a little as she remembered. But now all these other details were coming back to her. Vivid. As if she had lived it, instead of dreamt it. She shook her head to clear it. Didn’t help.
“You did or you didn’t?”
“I remember holding hands. But I don’t remember dreaming that, exactly. In my dream, I looked up at him…”
“…in the moonlight.”
“Yes, in the moonlight. And his beautiful brown eyes looked back at me and I kind of forgot about everything else. And he leaned in and I knew he was going to kiss me.” She looked down and shifted her feet.
“Don’t stop there!”
“Well, that’s where it stopped. The dream, I mean. And then there were other things. Someone was crying, and there was an explosion, and it was hard to breathe with all the dust in the air.”
“That’s no fun. So go back to the almost kiss. Tell me, how did you feel about that?”
Dani raised her eyes slowly to look at her friend. “I— I was happy. I wanted him to kiss me.”
“So what’s stopping you from letting it go that way on a romantic walk in the woods?”
Dani ran her fingers through her hair and frowned. “I really don’t know.”
“Guess it’ll take more dreams, huh?”
“Yeah, dreams.” Dreams. She had to remember to get Jored to tell her more about his dreams. “When are Jored and Marak getting back?”
“Half an hour, maybe? They just ran to the store for the pasta, but you know how distracted they can get. I need to check on the sauces.”
“Do you want some help?”
“Always. And I need you to fill me in on what Lexil and Dr. Seebak said about my uncle’s messages. I’m going to see him again tomorrow.”
Jored came through the door first. “Is she here yet? Dani, are you here?”
“In here—kitchen, with your mom.”
“We got a Geology Genius Sonar Kit and Dad’s going to show me how to look inside the earth for skeletons and stuff! Whatcha cooking?”
“Sauces for the noodles you bought.” Kat looked up at Marak. “At least, I hope you bought. Did you?”
Marak feigned hurt. “Of course I did. You’re maligning my unparalleled reporter’s memory now?”
“Only when you don’t have your notes to depend on.”
“What kind of sauces?” Jored was single-minded. “Can I taste?”
Kat got out a spoon and gave it to him with a dollop of her marinara-mushroom sauce on the tip. Dani’s mouth watered. Kat had some great recipes.
“Mmmm. Some more?” Jored held out his spoon hopefully.
Kat shook her head. “Not till the noodles are ready. Won’t be long.”
His face fell. Then it brightened. “Want to play chess, Dani? I almost won last time.”
She glanced at Kat. “Okay with you?”
“Yep, I’ve got this under control, and he’s been begging for you all day.” She laughed. “I don’t think I can stand in the way of that.”
“Okay, you set up the board.”
Jored ran to the games cupboard, calling back over his shoulder, “I get white.”
Sometime later, after a knight-to-king’s-bishop-four move, Dani remembered to ask him about his dream.
“I’ve had more of them now.”
“And you’re seeing Lexil?”
“Sometimes him, sometimes…” He looked up. “You, or mom.”
“What did you see me doing?”
“I saw all of it. Whatever I wanted to look at. I saw you being born. Your dad was acting silly. I saw you getting yelled at by some guy. He was being mean to you. I didn’t like him at all. I saw you as a little kid, going to school.”
“In that order?”
“There wasn’t any order. It was like…” He twisted his mouth to the side and looked off to the right. He looked back at her. “Sorta like looking at a picture book, where you can turn to any page. Whatever you want.”
“How’d you know it was me, being born? You’ve never seen my parents.”
“Because it was your life. It was all connected. I could see now, and it was attached to the same…line.” He captured a pawn and made a fist around it. “It’s hard to explain.”
“Did you see anything else?”
“Well, at one spot, the line broke into two lines, like a ‘Y,’ you know?” He made the shape in the air.
She nodded, fascinated with his description.
“And one of them was shorter than the other one. It was the glowy one. The longer line was…darker, I guess? Couldn’t see it as well.”
“What did you see on the glowy one?”
“You were in a big building with a lot of broken walls. They were falling all around you. Oh, and you were looking for something.”
Dani caught her breath. Could it be the same scene that ended her own dream?
“Do you know what I was looking for?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t look. I was watching the falling walls.”
“What happened after that?”
He frowned. “There wasn’t an ‘after’ or ‘before.’ It was all the same. Check.”
“You little scamp.” How could he concentrate on the game with all this going through his head? She examined the board. “Oops. Shouldn’t have used your queen for that, I guess.”
When they’d first started playing together, she had taken it easy on him, let him take back moves that she could see would end the game too quickly. But it had only taken a few months before she was playing him in earnest. She won most of the games, but he took his share of them too.”
“Dani, who was the man yelling at you?”
“I don’t know, bud. It was your dream, not mine.”
“I’m not sure it was a dream.” He looked up at her. His lip quivered. Was he scared of something?
She put her hand over his. “They can seem really real, can’t they?”
He nodded. His eyes pleaded with her to do…what? Maybe she shouldn’t have asked him about his dreams. But that falling walls part…
He moved his bishop. She could see where he was heading with that. A few moves from now, she’d need her rook there. Might as well move it now, because he could box it in next move.
They played a few more turns. His face started to relax.
“Hey, you want to know something funny?” she asked.
“Sure. What?”
“I had a dream with falling walls too.”
Hope spread slowly across his face. “You did?”
She nodded. “Falling walls and shelves. And I was looking for something. I think I found it.”
His eyes widened. “Wouldn’t it be cool if we had the same dream?”
“It would! Shall we make a pact to tell each other our dreams?”
A shy smile. “Could we? ‘Cause I was kind of scared, all alone. It’d be nice to think you were there, somewhere.”
She stuck out her hand. “Deal.”
He shook it. “Deal.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Priority
NORTH PACIFIC DOME PRISON, Pacific Ocean. 1030, Tuesday, September 12, 2215.
As Kat sat waiting for Uncle Royce to come in through the door, she watched the walls warily. No messages appeared, though, before he entered the room.
She couldn’t waste time feeling sorry for him today. After talking with Lexil and Dani, and discovering that his wild claims might indeed have some basis in fact, she was all business. Marak had said it would be an uphill climb to get anyone to consider his release. She had to let him know where they stood. Maybe he’d hav
e some ideas.
He looked weary. She ignored that. “Hello, Uncle Royce.”
“Thank you for coming to see me again.”
She nodded.
“I wasn’t sure what you’d do, after…last time.”
“You thought I’d stop coming? I admit, I was upset when that wall message just appeared out of nowhere.”
“I shouldn’t have bothered you with it.”
She shook her head. “I almost wish you hadn’t, but as it turns out, it was good that you did. Have you had any more messages over the weekend?”
He looked at her doubtfully. She realized he didn’t trust her reactions. Small wonder. Anyone with sense would have dismissed his claims and shut the door on any more visits.
“Okay, let’s wait on that question. I’ll tell you what I found out from Lexil first.”
His frown relaxed a little, and his face showed a touch of hope. Or maybe that was her imagination.
“You talked with him?”
“Yes. Well, Dani talked with him.” She traced an infinity shape on the tabletop with her forefinger, considering her words. She didn’t want to make any promises she couldn’t keep.
“Dani? She’s your friend I met that one time at your place?”
“Yeah. She works with Lexil now. They monitor the timestream for any weird stuff.”
“Ah, good. And they found nothing? So I can safely ignore the messages?”
That was interesting. Here she thought he’d be hoping for release, but really he was—what, exactly?—stressing over the urgency of the mysterious words? feeling trapped?
“Is that what you’re hoping?”
Two sharp, definite nods. “Absolutely. If I know there’s no basis for them, we won’t have to face the impossibility of getting me out of here.”
Odd. This wasn’t what he’d been saying only three days before. Had she read him wrong? Or—she glanced around, uneasily—had someone adjusted his chip?
“Hold on. I’m confused. Didn’t you want to convince me to work for your release when we talked on Friday?”
He frowned and looked upward, as if trying to remember. He blinked rapidly and shook his head a little, almost unnoticeably. “I…don’t think so? If so, I don’t remember.”
A Chronetic Perspective (The Chronography Records Book 2) Page 7