by T S Wieland
Otto turned around and looked at Ally. She stood with her arms out, feeling self-conscious as he scanned her. “Perfect!” He said to her. “You look great. Now come on over here, and I’ll finish setting you up.”
Ally walked to the desk and stood next to Otto as he reached over and unplugged a dark red wrist communicator from the computer. He wiped the dust off it and pushed the power button on the side as the screen flashed white and showed the display.
“You ever use a smartphone?” asked Otto.
Ally nodded. “Yeah. That’s all anyone uses back home.”
“Perfect. Same thing. Smartphone for your wrist. Only difference, it connects you across worlds using the ARC as a satellite. Thankfully, we don’t get a phone bill for inter-world calls, and it’s waterproof.”
“She’s not using that,” said Sem in a stern voice pointing at the communicator.
“We only have one,” replied Otto, gazing back at him with the same unshakable look. Otto turned his attention back to Ally.
“I hate this idea more and more by the minute,” said Sem as he swept back over to his locker.
“Press the green message button on the screen, you can record a message, and I’ll get it back here on the computer or on my own handheld. There’s a delay because of the whole broken-space-and-time thing, but I’ll send a message back to you as soon as I get it. So, I’ll be right there alongside you guys. Okay?”
Ally nodded as Otto showed her the screen.
“It also has a timer at the top of the screen showing the amount of time you have left. You guys will need to find the person you're looking for and get back here before the timer runs out.”
“What happens to us if the timer runs out?” asked Ally looking for a straight answer.
Sem glanced over at Otto.
“The world only has that long before it collapses,” said Otto.
“And we die along with everyone else in that world,” added Sem, reaching into the locker and pulling out his pair of goggles.
Ally looked at Otto, concerned expression written across her face.
“Way to spell it out, kid.”
“Hey. If she’s going with me, she'd best know the risks and the significance. Searching for one person to save a universe isn’t like playing simple hide and seek. Let’s just say, if we don’t make it back in time, you won’t have to worry about going home anymore.”
Otto shook his head at him. “Don’t worry, kiddo, you’ll be fine. You have nineteen hours, which is more than enough time to find the person you two are looking for and get back here with them. Besides, even if you guys run out of time, you can come back before the timer runs out, safe and sound.”
“We’ll only have seventeen hours if she’s coming. The more physical matter we bring in, the less time we’ll have,”
said Sem.
“Still, seventeen hours is plenty of time.”
Otto handed the communicator to Ally. She held it, hesitating to put it around her wrist.
“Merek and I managed to tie your communicator into the computer, so you can open the gateway from your end. Just push the orange return button at the top right, and it’ll send the ARC a return command. You’ll have to be near the gateway for it to work, though. Give it a try when you’re ready to come back to make sure it works,” said Otto pointing at Sem’s wrist.
“No way! How did you guys manage that?” asked Sem, putting the goggles on around his neck and looking at his communicator.
“Did it while you were passed out upstairs. Was Merek’s way of apologizing to you and me for the other day, so I guess the test wasn’t a complete waste. He’s a screw-up, but at least he can be useful.” Otto swiveled his chair around towards Ally. “So, don’t lose the fancy watch, or you’ll have a hard time getting back here in case I’m not around.”
Ally nodded. “Don’t lose the fancy watch. Got it.”
“Grab the other goggles, too,” said Otto.
Sem looked down at the floor for a second in anguish. He sighed, reached up, and grabbed a pair of goggles sitting on top of the locker next to his. Holding the goggles in his hand, he stared at them intently, rubbing the dust off the lenses with his thumb. Sem looked at his reflection in the dark lenses.
Ally watched him sensing the goggles meant the more to him than anything else in the house.
“Here…” he said, tossing them over to Otto without looking.
Otto caught them with both hands. “Thanks, kid.”
“Whatever,” replied Sem, pulling his brown leather backpack out from the locker and hanging it on the door frame.
“You're going to want to put these on before you go.”
Ally took the goggles from Otto’s hand and held them up to her eyes. She couldn’t see anything through them, only a faint green glimmer of the room. “Welding goggles?”
“You’ll want them for when you leave and come back.” Otto rotated around to the computer. “Sem will explain everything else once you guys get where you're going.”
“Wish I’d had these when I first came down here,” muttered Ally.
“Sem, don’t forget the communicator covers,” said Otto, facing the computer.
“Already got them,” replied Sem, pulling a fabric bag from his locker and placing two large bracelets into it.
Ally wrapped the goggles around the top of her forehead, ready to put them on when the time came. She stood, as eager and anxious as the day she started her job. Standing on the cliff's edge, ready to take the dive, she felt scared but excited.
“Make your own history,” mumbled Ally to herself, remembering her father's words.
“Alright, you kids are all synced up and ready to go. You ready?” asked Otto.
Sem picked up the fabric bag off the floor and placed his leather backpack in the locker. He turned around and faced the machine, slipping the bag’s straps on over his shoulders. He glared at Ally.
“When I go, you follow me. Understood?”
“Got it,” replied Ally.
“Alright. Hit it,” said Sem. Ally watched him pull his goggles on from around his neck.
Ally followed his lead and pulled the goggles down over her eyes. The room turned black through the dark lenses. She could see the ARC at the other end, but only just.
The ARC hummed. Otto reached across his desk, grabbed his own goggles, and put them on.
Ally gradually began to see the light from the ARC pierce through the black curtain ahead of her. Like a single star in the night sky, she watched it grow brighter and brighter until she saw what lay beyond it. A large palm tree on a sandy hill swayed through the gateway ahead of her. The feeling of a fresh, warm breeze blew in across her face, pushing her bangs to the side.
“Go for it!” yelled Otto over the roar of the ARC.
Ally watched Sem take off in a full sprint for the doorway ahead of her, his robe and bag flapping in the breeze.
Her feet hesitated to follow. Fear wrapped around her again, holding her in place. She had to decide. To continue living in anxiety, afraid of the unknown, or to venture forth into a new and bigger adventure. She took a deep breath of fresh, desert air. The fear and doubt loosened its grip on her.
Ally threw her right arm forward, pushed back against her left leg, and took off in a full-on sprint, abandoning her fear in the room behind her. She took the leap, ready to face the future ahead—somewhere in the past.
Chapter 13
The Greatest of Men and Kings
“You can take the goggles off now...”
Ally lifted the goggles away from her eyes. She was surprised to see it was still dark, and she was now standing at the base of the large palm tree she saw before. The landscape around her was illuminated by the white wash of a full moon across a sea of palm trees, and small, pointed bushes among the dry sand. Removing the goggles from her head, Ally looked up to the night sky and was glad to see the moon, realizing how much she had missed its ambient glow.
Sem knelt and began rubbing the
side of his leg. He was trying his best to keep his weight off it, only his limp was now more pronounced than it had been before they left.
“Ahhh . . .” Sem grunted.
“You alright?”
“Fine,” Sem replied, resting his back against the palm tree.
Turning around, Ally saw all that was left of the gateway they had passed through. A small, bright light, no bigger than a penny, remained suspended in midair.
“Is that the ARC?” questioned Ally.
“Yeah. That star’s our only way home, so we’ll have to get back here with enough time,” said Sem. He slung his bag off his shoulder and began sorting through it.
“So, where are we?” asked Ally, looking around.
“I don’t know,” replied Sem.
“Do you know the year?” asked Ally as she knelt in the sand and felt the dry grains pass through her fingers.
“No, I don’t,” replied Sem, sounding even more annoyed than before.
“Where should we start looking, then?”
“Look!” shouted Sem. He threw the bag down in the sand next to the palm tree and pointed at her.
“This isn’t a fun, time-travel field trip for you to enjoy. Alright?”
Ally dropped the sand in her hand and looked at him with a blank expression, unsure of what she’d said to set him off.
“Otto might like this idea or think it’s just a cute joke, but I don’t. Matter of fact, I hate it. But if you’re going to help me find this person—”
“Traveler.”
“What?”
“You mean ‘missing traveler.’”
“Yeah… Now don’t correct the guide while the guide is speaking. If we’re going to find this missing traveler and get out of here in one piece, there are rules you have to follow.”
“Alright,” replied Ally as she wiped the remaining sand off her hands.
“One, we don’t get involved in the affairs of this world. We don’t know how it could affect this world or its future, and for all we know, it could have terrible consequences. We are just here to find who we’re looking for and get out before anyone notices we’re here. Got it?”
“Got it,” replied Ally with a nod and grin.
Sem stared at her, his lips shaking.
“Second—”
“You mean two.”
Sem shot a cold tense stare at her.
“Sorry...”
“TWO, you do everything I say, when I say. If I say run, you run. If I say hide, you hide. If I say anything else, you had better do it like you are trying to earn a gold medal.
“And third… I mean three, don’t talk to anyone. Let me do all the talking while you just stand there and smile. As a matter of fact, don’t talk to me either. Got it?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“You just broke rule number three. You’re already off to a bad start.”
Sem turned around and walked over to the palm tree. He knelt to look through his bag, struggling to bend his injured leg. Ally looked at him, unsure whether he was just joking or being serious, or maybe both. Feeling she’d been made a fool of, Ally turned her back to his with her arms crossed and mouthed his rules with mocking emphasis.
“Course they’re buried at the bottom,” said Sem, pulling out the gold and silver bracelets he’d packed.
“Here. Put this on over your wrist communicator. Should slide on over top. Fits it so no one here will think anything of it, or us.”
“Guess that’s probably a good idea.” Ally slipped the bracelet on. Sem pointed down at the ground near her feet.
“Alright, now stay put,” said Sem. He reached into his bag again, pulling out a pair of binoculars.
Ally stood by the palm tree and watched him as he made his way over to a small sand dune, where he laid down and looked through the binoculars. She watched him, then took the time to observe the small orb of light from which they had entered.
Pacing a full circle around the silver star, she could see it sat suspended in space, glowing brightly, without a single sound. She waved her hand through it. The light passed through her hand. She didn’t feel anything. It remained unchanged, suspended in the space in front of her. Satisfied with her investigation, she watched Sem stare through his binoculars. She wandered over to him and laid down on her chest at his side.
“I said stay over there,” said Sem without bothering to look at her.
“Over here sounded better,” Ally replied.
Sem sighed. “There’s a large caravan out there, following the river. Looks like maybe a couple dozen men on horseback. Probably heading for that city over there. Best guess is they might have seen our naked friend, or he or she might have made their way there by themselves.”
“Mind if I take a look?” asked Ally.
Sem handed her the binoculars. He stood up from the sand and limped back over to the palm tree. Ally put the binoculars up to her eyes and peered out over the horizon. She could see a parade of men in the dark vision of the binoculars, all drowsily making their way through the desert. Some held spears and round, bronze shields, while a few carried red banners, and others on horseback rode with their helmets off. Ally turned her view in the direction they were going.
Off in the distance, she could see a large border of stone walls surrounding a vast city. To the north of the city stood a large, stone, three-tiered temple with gardens on each level, each of which was decorated with trees, vines, and shrubs in an array of colors. Waterfalls flowed from the top level on all four sides, cascading over the gardens below and weaving their way in and out of the temple.
Ally lifted her eyes away from the binoculars. The warm orange glow of sun was beginning to rise over the desert in a dark pink hue, allowing her to see the cool, sandy colors of the temple with her own eyes.
“No way…” she said, laughing to herself looking through the binoculars again.
“What?” asked Sem, removing the goggles from over his head and placing them into the fabric bag.
“There’s no way!”
“What? Please share. I’m dying of suspense here,” asked Sem with an edge in his voice.
“You know which city that is, right?!”
Sem put the bag on the ground next to the palm tree and limped over to her. “No, oh great and wise one. Please tell me.”
“That’s thee Hanging Gardens. Which means that’s Babylon!” said Ally with a large grin on her face.
“The what…?”
“That means we are in what would be present-day Iraq—formerly Mesopotamia— sometime between the year 600 BC and 200 BC,” she replied, laughing with excitement.
Sem just watched her with a blank expression. She looked through the binoculars once more, eager to see more.
“Woohoo . . ." Sem muttered sounding unenthused.
“How is it you travel across different time periods and don’t know your history?”
“My talents focus on survival, not history. That isn’t my area of expertise.”
“Wow . . . my dad would have loved this. He wouldn’t even believe me if I told him.”
“Well, when you’re done with your historical sightseeing, put your goggles and the binoculars in the bag, and let's get moving. Some of us have a world to save.”
“Sorry... Just… Babylon!” said Ally standing up in her trance, unable to look away. Walking behind Sem, she put the goggles and binoculars in his bag as she continued to stare out at the majestic view.
Sem’s communicator beeped repeatedly. He lifted the bracelet cover off and pressed the accept button on the screen.
“You guys make it in one piece?” asked Otto over the communicator.
“Yeah, everything's just peachy Otto. Real great. There’s a local caravan on its way to a city nearby—”
“It’s Babylon!” yelled Ally at his communicator in excitement.
Sem pulled his communicator away from her. “Yeah . . . We are in Babylon apparently, so we may follow the caravan and see if we spot our missing
person. By the way, if this doesn’t go well, I’m reserving my right to say, ‘I told you so’ when we get back.’”
Sem pressed the send button and placed the cover back over his communicator.
“Why don’t we just ask them?”
“Because I hate being social. It makes me ill even to think about.”
“It would be faster.”
Sem turned to her.
“Fine! Only if you agree to stay quiet. You’ve broken rule three fifteen times already. We’ll go ask if you’ll just stay quiet, please!”
“You’ve been counting?” Ally thought for a moment, looking over at him, confused. Sem began marching towards the caravan with Ally trailing along behind. “Wait, how do you expect to do that? They probably speak Akkadian or some other ancient language.”
“I don’t have to know Akkadian. There's an earpiece attached to your communicator. Pull it out and put it in your ear. It’ll translate anything you hear, and vice versa.”
“What? No way,” replied Ally, lifting the cover off her wrist communicator. Imitating Sem, she pulled the small, clear, plastic earpiece out from the side of her red communicator and looked at it in her hand. “That’s impossible… Okay, well I guess I used to think a world in the sky was impossible, so todays just another day for firsts. But how’d you guys pull that off?”
“Merek. He has a gift for creating new technology. Was a gift for saving his life way back. They’ll never know we don’t speak Babylonian.”
“Akkadian,” said Ally as put the earpiece in her ear.
“Yeah, Aka-den-dia, or however you say that.”
“Shouldn’t we take the bag with us?”
“Not worth the risk. Now come on and remember . . .”
Sem stopped and pointed at her. Ally raised her hands up at her sides.
“I know, I know. Rule number three: not a word.”
“That’s nineteen,” said Sem as he hobbled onward towards the caravan. Ally shook her head and raised her shoulders, counting back on their conversation on her fingers as she followed him.
◆◆◆
“Excuse me!” hollered Sem, approaching the caravan, waving his hand in the dawning light.