“If a traveler marries, he tells his wife, right?”
“Yes, the spouse is told, but a lot of marriages end because of the aging issues and time spent away from home. It’s a lonely existence for both spouses.”
“What happens when they divorce? How do you keep the ex from telling all about it?”
“With a combination of hypnosis and a type of nepenthe from the future.”
“What’s a nepenthe?”
“A drug that erases specific memories. The hypnosis targets the memory and the drug completes the erasure of it. The job memory is changed to whatever the couple had told family and friends.”
“Like traveling salesman?” I chuckled and Daniel nodded.
Tired of sitting, we continued down the beach towards the Point. Seeing the sand bar, I walked out into the bay. Daniel followed. We got so far out that when I looked back all I saw was water because the tide was coming in.
Daniel warned, “I suggest we go back unless you’re planning on swimming with one arm.”
After giving him a snide look, I turned around. Daniel headed for shore first and I copied his steps gingerly, fearful of falling in. Safe on the beach, we resumed our discussion. Our walk was a nice distraction. We passed the noisy osprey nest and sat on the sand.
Daniel looked at me and asked. “I need to know. Can you deal with this or not?”
“I’m sorry that I got so upset before, but when you told me the year, I lost it.”
“I understand. It’s a lot to process.”
“As long as you’re staying this age, I can handle the rest.”
A sigh of relief passed through his lips. “A big weight has lifted. I couldn’t stand deceiving you. It never mattered before, but it does now.” That comment made me smile.
“I’m drained. Can we talk more later?”
“Sure, I’m spent too.”
This really had been quite an emotional afternoon and could’ve been a total disaster. I couldn’t imagine Daniel not a part of my life. Realizing everything he knew and had done, I was intimidated by him. No wonder he was so smart, he had lived and learned so much.
Daniel put his arm around me as we walked towards the car. “I won’t let anything happen to you.” I knew Daniel would keep me safe or wouldn’t rest until I was.
He kissed my head and whispered, “Everything’s going to be okay. We’ll be okay.”
15. GREENPORT
“It is a scale of proportions which makes the bad difficult and the good easy.” Einstein
Mom was relentless in talking to Daniel about going to college. Grammy looked at me and when I rolled my eyes at her, she asked him a question. I was glad that she changed the subject.
They started talking about the Middle East and terrorism again. I didn’t want to hear anymore, so I surreptitiously mouthed to Daniel, ‘Let’s go.” We got up to leave for the movies.
“Gabby thanks for everything. It was a pleasure to spend time with you this week,” Daniel said as we made our exit.
“I really don’t want to see a movie. Can we just go for a ride?”
“Sure, how about Greenport?”
It sounded great to me. As I stared out the window, I saw the trees swaying in the wind and asked, “So please tell me why were you collecting those nuts and plants in Central Park?”
“Oh, some scientists in my time asked for them.”
“I knew that it was weird! Why?”
“In my time, there was a chestnut blight, a fungus, which almost wiped out the chestnut trees on the East Coast. They’re working on developing resistant chestnut trees to the blight and getting present day specimens will help.”
I looked at him incredulously. “You’re saving the world and you’re also worried about chestnut trees?”
Laughing, he said, “You said I was an oddity.”
I shook my head. “Amazing.”
“The basis of all science and technology that is present today was started in the past. All future years are working on things that have already been discovered and updating and creating new technology from old. Everything is co-dependent on each other.”
“Tell me more about your parents.”
“After Oxford, my dad joined the Tube Alloys program.” He looked at me as if I should know something about that, but I shook my head no. “The Tube Alloy was the code name for the nuclear weapons program and where the principles for time travel were discovered. A separate team was put together to study that and my dad joined the new group. They eventually succeeded and the time machine was built.”
As he drove, he rattled on about scientific stuff. At one point he looked over and said, “Do you want to hear this?”
“Yes, go on,” I insisted.
“New areas of physics were being explored such as nuclear power, electricity, magnetism, and shock waves. The goal was to achieve military advantage during WWII. There was information that Hitler was also researching nuclear power.”
“If that ever happened.” I winced at the thought
“Weapons like rockets, the atom bomb, and radar technology were impossible to keep hidden, but the time machine has been a very well guarded secret.”
“Yeah because you guys go around and eradicate people’s memories,” I said jokingly.
Daniel glanced at me and his expression troubled me. “I have to tell you something. When I go to DC tomorrow, I’ll check the repercussions you knowing. If the outcome is bad, I have to come back to right before. That’s my deal with James.”
My face went white. “No. Why? I won’t tell anybody, I promise.”
“I trust you, but I have no idea what the consequences might be. I’m telling you everything in the hopes that everything will be okay.”
“But how can you check that?”
“If the future events stay the same and nothing horrific is added, we’ll know.”
As he drove through the center of Greenport, I was freaking out. Daniel kept trying to reassure me, but it sounded hollow. He couldn’t guarantee that everything would be fine, definitively fine. I didn’t want to forget everything he had told me. Daniel parked in the lot across from the gelato shop and saw how upset I was. He promised that whatever happened, we’d still be together and I felt a tiny bit better.
Knowing that there was nothing I could do about it, I asked him to finish the story.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, maybe it’ll keep my mind off the fact that you might erase my memory.”
“I hope that won’t happen.”
“I know. Go on tell me the rest, please.” I needed to focus on something else or I’d cry.
“Okay. They initially created two machines and experimented by first sending objects, and later animals, back and forth. After many trials, they felt ready to try human travel. In the beginning, they were sent to the past and future with mixed results. After some casualties, the machines were adjusted and eventually perfected. Wherever the time machine was, was where the agent exited. Because England, the US, and Canada were united through the war, England informed them of the nuclear findings and time travel machine. Known as the ‘British Mission,’ a team of scientists went to work at Los Alamos on the nuclear bomb and to set up a time machine. In Canada, a joint British-Canadian laboratory was set up and a time machine was constructed there. Once that was in place, time travel between the three countries was possible. Dad remained in England and was in charge of the time machine there.”
“How many time machines are there in total?”
“I can’t answer that, but there are machines in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the US.”
“How did Australia and New Zealand get involved?”
“The UK–USA Security Agreement established an alliance of five English-speaking countries for the purpose of sharing intelligence. The alliance comprises of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. The countries involved are known as AUSCANZUKUS. AUS stands for Australia, CA is Canada
, NZ for New Zealand, UK is United Kingdom and of course you know what US stands for.”
“With all those countries involved, how can you be sure that it hasn’t leaked?”
“The program is top secret, only the top personnel of each country know of its existence. Only the actual time travelers know of each other. All that the other NSA agents know is that we are agents from another department. EMIT is an elite group in the NSA, but not everyone in EMIT are travelers.”
“Are Pierce and Brad?”
“I can’t say.”
“Why?”
“It’s one thing telling you about me, but I can’t talk about other agents.”
“Fine. You can only travel between those five countries?” I asked.
“For now. They’ve been working on a traveling time machine for quite some time and soon we’ll be able to travel anywhere.”
“That’s amazing.”
“It is, but it’s dangerous depending on what country we end up in.”
“Is a traveling time machine safe? Have there been deaths?” I asked, worried about Daniel.
“A few, but the issues have been corrected. The main problem is making sure the machines s where they are programmed to go.”
“Have they been seen?” I asked.
Daniel said, “Yeah a few times, but there were two major sightings where lot of people saw.”
“Recently?”
“No, the worst one happened on July 7, 1947 and was one of the reasons my father had to come to DC to take over the Time Travel program at the CIA. Do you know anything about the Roswell incident?”
“The UFO story with aliens?” I had read something about that.
“Yes, but it wasn’t a UFO. It was the first attempt to launch a traveling time machine. At the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico, they sent a test machine to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California. It was to appear at the 7000-acre remote experimental test site, called Site 300. Something went wrong and the time machine appeared 226 miles away in Roswell, New Mexico. The agent was found dead inside, shriveled and aged beyond recognition and that started the UFO stories. James showed me the pictures after it was recovered and it did look like an alien.”
“Why was your dad called to DC?”
“A lot of the scientists in DC were sent to Los Alamos after the Roswell fiasco, so Dad was moved to DC to be in charge of the Time Travel program there,” he explained. “Last year, they finally thought all the kinks were worked out, but just in case they decided to do the test in Europe not wanting another Roswell problem. A traveling Time Machine was sent to the Piedmont area in Italy from London. Again, something went wrong and it appeared in the South of France. They got it out of there, but France went crazy with UFO sightings.”
“Wow, people actually saw it?”
“Yeah, there were some witnesses that reported an object touched down, left scorch marks and zoomed off. The truth was that it appeared and disappeared, but that wasn’t reported.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“I guess that would sounded too crazy, so no one admitted seeing it disappear.”
“I still can’t believe that this hasn’t leaked out.”
“Only high-ranking personnel who pass security clearance procedures are permitted near the machines. There are retina screenings, finger print checks. No one can get in without proper identification. Besides, even if there was a breach, we could go back in time and correct it.”
“Hopefully, you won’t have to correct telling me.”
“Me too, but I wanted you to know everything before I left.”
I didn’t know what to say. I had no idea what would happen when Daniel went into the future. I hoped that nothing would change, but that was out of my control.
Trying to change the now somber mood, I asked, “1947, huh? It’s taking a really long time?”
“Yeah, it is. With stationary time machines, the locations are locked, but with a moving machine there are many variables to deal with. It should be a fait accompli by next summer since the traveling time machines in the future are working.”
“Can’t they send one from the future?” I asked.
Daniel appeared impressed with my suggestion. “No, the traveling machine is too big, but some scientists are recommending we built one huge time machine for just such issues.” Before I could ask another question, he said, “Come on, enough of this. Let’s go have some fun.”
“Please, just a little more,” I begged.
Daniel sighed and nodded his head for me to continue.
“But if it’s traveling around, aren’t people going to see it?”
“Hopefully not. That’s the reason it’s taken this long to perfect it. An agent will exit the machine and press a button and it will disappear to the lab. When the agent needs the machine to return, it will reappear.”
“Where would that button be? A cell? What happens if you get caught?”
“You’re right and that’s why the device will be implanted into the earlobe.”
“Won’t that hurt?”
“It’s very small. Let’s get some gelato.”
“What does EMIT stand for?” I asked not moving.
“This is the last question,” he insisted and I agreed. “Our team initially was part of a group called Echelon. For security issues and to hide our existence, our division was named E.M.I.T-Echelon-Matrix of Intelligence Travelers. EMIT spelled backwards is time.”
“Wow! I didn’t realize that!”
“That’s it. Let’s get out of the car,” Daniel ordered.
I could’ve sat there and listened to him all night. This story was just so incredible. While we crossed the street, we held hands and his touch made me tingle. He was the most amazing person and the thought of him leaving was making me more anxious by the minute.
“Do you have to go?” I asked. Daniel stopped a few feet from the entrance and twirled me to face him. His eyes stared into my soul and he kissed me right on the lips. It was a fast kiss but I almost fainted. This was the first time his lips came anywhere near mine.
“I’ll miss you too. I’m so accustomed to seeing you every day, even when you hated me.” He noticed that I was breathless. “Are you okay?”
“Your kiss just knocked me out, that’s all.”
He gave me quick kiss and I couldn’t stop smiling. “Well, at least you’re not gloomy anymore,” he grinned.
“After that kiss, why would I be?” I said blushing.
He laughed. “Let’s go inside.”
The store was crowded as it usually was during the summer months. I got a chocolate and stracciatella while Daniel got coffee and caramel. We walked down to the pier and saw a long line of people waiting to get into Claudio’s. Winding around the back, we sat on a bench near the carousel and watched the kids scream trying to grab the brass rings.
After I told Daniel about all the times Lily and I made our parents bring us, he pulled me up and tried to lead me inside.
“What are you doing?” I squirmed, trying to plant my feet firmly, so I wouldn’t move.
“Come on, let’s have some fun.”
“Okay,” I laughed. “Why not?”
We picked horses side by side and Daniel helped me on.
Busy enjoying each other’s company, we didn’t grab at the rings not wanting to make any kids angry. The carousel was inside a glass structure and with the dark night sky outside and the lights shining inside, it was magical.
After four rides, I had enough and I walked out feeling a little dizzy. “That was fun. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome, and you were right, I did feel like a kid.” Daniel scooped me up in his arms and carried me until I begged him to put me down.
We stopped at a coffee shop. Daniel got coffee and a sparkling water for me. We sat on bench out front and I started to think about him being here from the past.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course, you can ask me anything.
”
“Where do you prefer being?”
“What do you mean?
“Your time or here?”
“Well, that should be perfectly clear to you, I prefer being here with you.” My heart jumped and I couldn’t help smiling. “My life is here now with you. Never forget that.”
I looked at his beautiful face. “I’m so happy you said that.”
“I’m glad.” He looked at his watch and said, “We have an hour what do you want to do?”
“Can we go to the Causeway Beach until I have to go home?”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” he joked.
Walking to the car, we both were extremely quiet and I started worrying again. “Daniel, I’ll understand if you have to change things.”
“Let’s hope for the best. Now, let’s have fun on our last night on Long Island together.”
Our ride back was quiet. Thank goodness for the radio. Arriving at the beach, we saw a couple walking a dog, heading away from us. It looked like Laura Burke and Cheddar. The man must be her husband.
Daniel retrieved a towel from the trunk and we walked down to the water and sat down. It was dark, but the stars twinkled overhead.
I looked at Daniel and he started to kiss me. It was the most amazing, tender and loving kiss. I didn’t want it to stop. My heart was pounding and my blood was racing. I couldn’t breathe; the kiss was so intense that I felt dizzy. I almost fell back on the towel and he grabbed me.
“You okay?” he smiled.
“No.”
“I wanted to kiss you for so long, but couldn’t because I wasn’t honest with you.”
He cradled my face in his hands and kissed me again. We clung to each other as we shut the world and all the drama out. We were in our own bubble and no one could hurt us or keep us apart. I clung to the possibilities and forgot the worries. We lay down on the towel and watched the stars above. We began kissing again and I felt such a rush of emotions and sensations course through my body. Kissing him was more than I could’ve ever imagined. Things got a little heated. Daniel abruptly stopped and sat up. Why did he stop?
EMIT (THE EMIT SAGA) Page 26