The Garden

by Craig W. Turner

Keegan snickered and looked past her out her apartment’s window, but Amy knew he wasn’t focused on anything specific. Just thinking. “There’s thirteen other countries in the program, but not thirteen who could afford it,” he said. “But you raise a good point. I’ll bet the President hasn’t thought of that. We didn’t.”

  “Well, who’d you have in the room? You, Robert and Reilly? You guys can’t see past your own stars-and-stripes.”

  Still looking out the window. “No, Claire was there, too.”

  “Canada,” she said. “Honestly? I can assure you that if the U.S. Attorney General shows up here tomorrow and starts shutting us down, I make one phone call to the Chinese government and they have a facility constructed by January.” She was wandering into hyperbole, of course, that her country could get a facility built that quickly, but she did believe in her heart that given the opportunity to snatch the project – and, more importantly, the technology – away from the Americans, China would jump at it in a heartbeat.

  Keegan looked back at her. “One, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Two, I think you’re overestimating your and other nations’ willingness to pony up $50 billion to build a time travel facility. If anything, if the AG comes in here tomorrow and is successful in shutting us down, it could be years before the program even has a chance of getting up-and-running again somewhere else. And during those years, we’re done. We’re out of a job or in prison. I’m not willing to take that chance, and I hope you’re not too.”

  “Well, then why are you here? What’s your plan?”

  “I need your help,” he said. “We want to blow this thing out of the water.”

  “And how are you going to do that?”

  He looked back toward the door to her apartment. “Look, we don’t have a lot of time. Do you mind if we walk while I explain?”

  She laughed. “You want me to go with you and can’t even tell me where we’re going?”

  “No, no, we’re going to Research. I need you to come with me.”

  Amy was not impulsive by any stretch of the imagination. She had always believed it was her conservative nature that had drawn the approval of the Chinese bureaucracy to land her the position, knowing that an aggressive but analytically cautious voice in the conversation would be the greatest deterrent to the other nations ganging up on China, should tempers ever flare again. But Keegan had piqued her interest now, mentioning that he needed to go to Research, which seemed superfluous, given what they thought was coming. The legal department or Government Affairs would have been a better choice. “You’re trying to pre-empt the Attorney General with a mission? What, are you going to go back and murder him before he can do this?”

  “No, nothing that dramatic,” Keegan said, holding up his hands to emphasize that she’d overshot the target big-time. “Will you come? I’ll tell you everything as we walk.”

  She thought for a moment, then nodded and followed Keegan into the hallway.

  The research department was in the Curie Building, two towers over. They’d have to cross into the Edison Building via the 47th floor airwalk and then over to Curie at the 38th floor. Ten-minute walk. She wasn’t going to let him get far into that ten minutes without bringing her in on the secret, however, so she picked up where they’d left off. “Alright, I’m walking with you, like you asked. What’s up? What do we need in research?”

  Keegan’s strides were at least double the size of hers, so while he was clearly in a hurry, she could tell he was also being cognizant of her inability to keep up with him. “Amy, our work has taken us in a very specific direction,” he said. “If we don’t see it through, then all of it is for naught.”

  “I hardly think-”

  “Just hear me out,” he said, cutting her off. “Our only choice is to demonstrate the value of this program. Make it an undeniable fact that SATP serves a purpose for the betterment of mankind.”

  “Is that something we can actually do?” She’d often wondered the answer to that question herself. Sure, the technology was mind-blowing, and they could learn things about history that they never could possibly have learned before. But they weren’t curing cancer. They weren’t creating new food or renewable energy sources. It was often difficult for her and some of the others sometimes to justify to naysayers why the program needed to exist. Which was why Robert was generally the only one who talked to the media. “Why do you need me?”

  “He doesn’t like me. He likes you. Well, he likes women. And I wasn’t about to ask Claire.”

  “Ahhh,” she said. They were going to see Chester Davies, the highly-educated and pompous ass who was head of the SATP research department. There weren’t many in the compound who could just walk into research and demand a meeting with Davies, but Keegan was in the select group with his hierarchal proximity to Reilly and Robert. Davies was decidedly British, a traditional if not stereotypical representative of his home country, and was incredibly difficult to get along with. That being said, he’d earned the right. He was a brilliant, world-renowned researcher to whom anyone on the team who had been in the field owed a deep debt of gratitude for his foresight and intuition.

  And, as Keegan had pointed out, he was fond of the ladies. “You’re pushing it,” she said

  “Desperate times…” he said, continuing to stride forward as they came to the elevators. He waved his hand in front of a sensor to the door’s right, and a moment later the elevator arrived for them.

  They stepped inside to find a young woman along for the ride. Which only meant they had to pause their conversation. As Amy felt the force of the elevator dropping rapidly in her stomach, she tried to predict what Keegan was ultimately going to tell her. If they were planning to go back in time to change something that would eliminate the current problem, the repercussions if they were caught would be ten-fold whatever the attorney general could possibly be bringing their way now. He’d said it wasn’t going to be that “dramatic,” which could mean a lot of different things.

  Quickly, they were to the 47th floor and out of the elevator, sending the innocent potential eavesdropper on her way without them. The moment the doors were closed behind them, Amy picked up the conversation. “What’s the mission you’re planning?”

  They emerged out of the building onto the glass walkway crossing to Edison. It was one of Amy’s favorite places to be – especially on a sunny day. The view of all four SATP towers surrounding her with the sunlight reflecting off their windows was breathtaking. Made her feel powerful and special – above the rest of the world and in a place where only the smartest people on the planet were permitted to congregate. It wasn’t an egotistical thing for her, but more a feeling of honor. Perhaps “empowered” was a better word than powerful. In any case, this time crossing the bridge she was hit with a wave of sadness, being forced to deal with the understanding that it was all likely coming to an end one way or another.

  Keegan slowed his pace for a moment to make sure there weren’t any passers-by. “We need to talk to Chester about Eden.”

  She laughed out loud. “Be serious.”

  “I am serious,” he said. “There is no mission on our docket that would have a bigger impact on scientific thought than that one. We have one last chance to make a statement about the program.”

  Amy sighed. It was a lot to process in the space of the last five minutes. “Alright, let’s say we can somehow get agreement by everyone that it’s a course of action we should take – which we won’t – how are we supposed to pull this off while the attorney general is shutting us down?” She looked up at Keegan as they exited the glass walkway into Edison. He didn’t answer, giving her the actual answer. “No, Keegan,” she said cautiously. “We’re going to rush it? We’re going to jump into something that big unprepared? That’s a terrible idea.”

  “Well, let’s not jump to conclusions,” he said. They passed office after office in the long corridor to get to the elevators on the other side of the building, ignoring the floor-to-ceiling windows that allowed a vie
w of the activity inside. The team knew well that those elevators were less traveled than the ones in the middle of the floor, as the 67-story Edison Building was wholly dedicated to office space – as opposed to the Einstein building, whose top 40 or so floors were apartments. “A lot of the groundwork has already been done. We know Research has been working on this for years. We just need to hear from Chester how much is ready to use.”

  Amy stopped short, so quickly that Keegan’s momentum took his several steps past her. She waited until he turned to face her before continuing. “Keegan, you realize what I’m saying isn’t about what we can or cannot do, but what we should or should not do. This is crazy.”

  He retraced his steps back to her and started to say something but stopped himself. Instead, he looked past her and collected his thoughts, then after a moment said, “Look, I need your help now,” he said softly. “What I’m asking you for is not a commitment to anything – just your help in loosening Chester up so I can get some information from him. After that, when we have enough information to make a decision, let your conscience be your guide. I’m not asking anything of you other than helping me right now, for this conversation. If you do, it may save the program.”

  “It’s not going to save the program, Keegan,” she said, shaking her head. “It doesn’t even make sense. The attorney general is trying to shut us down so your first inclination is to time travel to-” She stopped and quieted her voice as a two SATP staffers walked past them lost in their own conversation, waiting until they were well past before continuing. “Time travel to the middle of the desert thousands of years ago to find out if there’s a magical garden there? How does that prove anything?”

  He shook his own head. “It doesn’t. But it will settle the most divisive scientific debate in the history of mankind. And when we return with an answer…” He stopped for an exaggerated sigh, and his voice softened again. “When we return with an answer, they won’t be talking about anyone using SATP for personal gain.”

  She shook her head. “I’d almost have more respect for you if you were planning on going back and bumping off the attorney general.”

  That made him laugh. “Don’t think it didn’t cross my mind,” he said. “But unlike Eden, we don’t have any research done on that mission.”

  She stared down the hallway past him. So much had just happened that she was finding it impossible to process what next steps should be. Did she believe that the Chinese would immediately jump in and offer to host the program? Absolutely. Did she also know that if that were to happen her influence would be diminished, as China would quickly militarize the program to the extent they could, given the other partners? She did. Besides, Keegan was correct that it would take years to get a new program up-and-running, which would lessen the likelihood that she’d be able to stick it out – either through her own decision or not. At the same time, she did not appreciate the Americans taking such an aggressive action against the treaty that provided oversight for SATP. If there was a way to stop them, she felt she needed to be open to it. Though, it was hard to believe that this was it.

  “This is a low-risk request,” Keegan said, continuing his sales pitch. “Just come talk to Chester with me.”

  Amy sighed again. “Alright,” she said. “But I’m not promising anything. Especially if the research isn’t there yet. I won’t support forcing it ahead haphazardly.”

  “And I wouldn’t expect that you would,” he said. He held out his hand, motioning down the hall and they stepped into stride again. “I want you to know how much I appreciate this,” he said. “I really can’t stand this guy.”

  “What makes you think I can?” she asked.

  They reached the elevators and Keegan waved his hand across the “down” panel.

  CHAPTER 17

  Landon checked his newly-issued SATP phone again and shoved it back into his pocket. Only seven minutes until the students would line up to head toward the next part of their tour, which regrettably was an area of the facility that he hadn’t even had the chance to see yet. The time lab was presumably the highlight of the visit (on normal days, when Robert wasn’t scheduled to participate), and he was in no way prepared to present it. In fact, he hadn’t even been prepared enough to get them fed. He’d asked one of the teachers who’d been on the tour before to guide them to the cafeteria for lunch. Pathetic.

  Now, he was running out of time. It was ironic to him, as he’d never imagined the primary stress of working for SATP would be caused by the ability to shuffle students from Point A to Point B and talk to them about time travel. He hadn’t felt overmatched in a scientific discussion in the last decade, but this group of school children had him yearning for a seat on the first plane back to India.

  Fortunately, his fears were quelled as – just as he was again reaching back into his pocket to check the time – Claire emerged through the doors and into the cafeteria. The teachers were already starting to gather the students, many of whom were separating the recyclable materials from their tray to put into the proper receptacles. She’d arrived just in time, and he immediately hoped that her swift pace toward him didn’t mean that she’d be providing an update and then leaving again.

  “What’s going on?” he asked, once she was close enough that he could whisper.

  She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I’ll give you the run-down after the tour’s over. How’d everything go?”

  Landon shrugged. “The discussion was fine. I got lost on the way to the cafeteria, but one of the teachers-”

  “Good,” she said, cutting him off. “Let’s get them gathered up and we’ll take them down to the time lab. Everything needs to appear normal.”

  “Are things not normal?” he asked, confused. Confused mainly because she hadn’t offered an apology for being gone so long. But now it was clear that something was seriously wrong.

  “Later,” she said, then left him to talk to one of the teachers. Within two minutes, the students were lined up double-file at the cafeteria door and ready to continue their tour. “Alright, everyone. We’re headed this way. Next stop is the time lab.” She motioned to the students to follow, then the doors slid open for her.

  Not sure where he should be, Landon waited until every student had exited the cafeteria then followed. They walked a short distance through a non-descript corridor that almost resembled a hospital before they came to a set of elevators. Claire was explaining to the students that these elevators required both biometric and key card permission to access, and that they led to a high security area of the facility. One of the students asked if they’d get to go inside the time lab and Claire told her, unfortunately, no. That area was reserved for SATP personnel only.

  Claire saw Landon at the back of the line and waved him forward, pulling him aside. “We’ll have to take them down in about five or six groups,” she said. “What we’ll do is I’ll go down with the first group and you follow with the next. Then you come up and get the others while I wait downstairs.” She held up her hand and pointed to her palm. “Palm print and then key card to engage the elevator.”

  Landon nodded. “We take them right into the secure area?”

  “Well, no,” she said. “We take them into the secure viewing area. For safety, there’s no access from the viewing area into the actual time lab. We enter a completely different way, through another part of the facility.”

  “Got it,” he said, learning on the fly. “Go ahead.”

  She turned and approached the throng of students. “Ok, I need about twenty-five of you,” she said, waving them toward her. She turned, and Landon watched as she placed her palm on the device to the right of one of the elevators. After a moment, the door slid open to one side and the students started to file in. After the box was full, she slipped inside behind them with her key card in hand. The door closed, and Landon was alone with the students again.

  “Hello?” he said awkwardly, trying to get everyone’s attention. With the help of the teach
ers once again, the students quieted after a moment, so he continued. “I’m going to take you down in a few groups. I’ll take one down, leave you with Dr. Devereaux, and come and get the rest. Should take about seven or eight minutes and then we’ll be on our way.” He had no idea how long it would take, but he thought that presenting expectations would be an effective way to temporarily control the crowd.

  Like clockwork, the elevator reappeared. Landon used his palm to open the door, hoping that they already had him in the system at the appropriate level of access. He’d walked through all the facility’s security protocols almost immediately upon arriving at SATP two nights before, and had seemingly had every piece of his body that was unique to him scanned. He knew, of course, the time lab had the deepest security, and was avidly interested to learn what kinds of devices they used to protect it.

  As the students filed into the elevator, his thoughts returned to the concern on Claire’s face after she’d left to follow Robert. Clearly, she’d successfully tracked him down and the news was not good, though he couldn’t imagine what it might be. There was only so much that could go wrong while they were here in the present, and Robert was the only one who’d taken a recent mission. Perhaps that was it – an unauthorized mission. He didn’t know enough about the facility or the organization yet to begin to brainstorm how something like that could have happened, but that didn’t stop him from contemplating.

  Eventually, the elevator was full once again, and he pulled his key card from his pocket, sticking it into a slot just inside. The door slid closed and the elevator jerked downward. To his surprise, after about a three second drop, it stopped, then began to slide to his right. It did that for about ten seconds, then came to a stop. The door opened and the students started to move into the hallway. Landon could hear them talking excitedly about the “sideways elevator.”

  After taking a deep breath to assure his stomach that the unexpected motion had ended, he looked out past the students and saw Claire motioning for him to speed up the process. He slid his card back into the receiver and the elevator was en route back toward the waiting students. Four more trips went smoothly, and within ten minutes, as he’d promised, everyone was ready for the next leg of their tour.