The Great Altruist

by Z. D. Robinson

  James took hold of the device and answered back. “I stand by my choice.”

  “Are you sure?” Roger grinned again as Val approached his side. She waved to Genesis and blew a kiss to James. She then disappeared from view, her laugh drowning out on the device.

  Genesis looked up at her husband and gave him a reassuring smile; he didn’t need to defend himself.

  They embraced as the ground beneath them began to shake from the ship’s engines revving up. James looked up at the ship with an expression of fear that Genesis had never seen before.

  Genesis turned to face James. “I love you, James.”

  He smiled, pulled her close, and tenderly kissed her.

  The ship lifted and stationed itself high in the atmosphere. James and Genesis stood holding each other, preparing for the worst, when they saw a flash of blue light all around them. The ship's crew stood gathered in a group – seventy men and women – huddled together in fear of their fate, which they now realized was unavoidable.

  The weapon fired a moment later. All over the planet, human beings were vaporized while all other forms of life watched the massacre. Outside the hospital, the people around James and Genesis Grant gasped at the sight of each other’s death. Bloodcurdling screams from all over the planet cried in unison as nearly seven billion souls breathed for the last time.

  “I’m scared,” Genesis said. Suddenly, she felt the same sensation she hadn’t felt since returning to James. She looked up at her husband in fear as a wash of blue light surrounded them.

  “What’s happening?” he asked.

  “A miracle,” she said.

  As the last humans on Earth dematerialized into thin air, James and Genesis disappeared from in front of the hospital. They were gone, lost in the streams of time.

  Part 4

  Chapter 1

  John Archer was crouched on his hands and knees on the bridge of the Apocalypse just before the weapon was fired. The crew was already gone, sent to their deaths on the surface of the earth. His trusted friend, Roger, stood over him with a gun to his head, while the young woman, Val, looked over him with disapproval.

  “You disappoint me, Doctor,” Roger said. “All this time together and you still don’t trust my motives.”

  Archer coughed up a small amount of blood that resulted from a beating by the guards earlier. “I should have known when you asked me to turn traitor.”

  Roger laughed. “As I told you before, there are more important things than lines on a map. We are restoring the world back into balance. One hundred loyal individuals who will rebuild a new civilization without the petty annoyances of this bankrupted culture.”

  Archer struggled through the pain to muster a laugh of derision at Roger. “I used to believe that pure evil doesn't exist. I die knowing that whatever good is left won’t exist either.”

  “How poetic!” Val said, her tone of voice filled with ridicule. “The only thing that will die with you and all those people is short-sightedness.”

  Archer turned from them and caught a glimpse out the bridge window. On the ground below stood a crowd of people gathered in fear and panic. Although knowing he was seconds from death, Archer smiled, knowing he had done all he could to give James one final moment with his wife.

  “Any final words before you join the rest of humanity?” Roger demanded.

  Archer turned to face Roger and Val and said nothing. He only smiled.

  Roger looked down at the ground and caught sight of the extinction. “What a waste!” he said. He turned to address Archer but he was already dead, killed in cold blood by Val.

  She turned to face Roger, wiped Archer’s blood off her face, and said: “Let’s get on with it.”

  The death of every human being standing on the ground when the Apocalypse fired its weapon marked the end of an entire society, but James and Genesis were nowhere to be found. Deep in a thick, humid jungle, a naked man and woman suddenly appeared and held each other for comfort as they tried to figure out where they were.

  “What just happened?” James said, looking around for any other signs of life.

  “I’m not sure,” his wife replied.

  “I thought you said you lost your powers.”

  “I should have. That’s what the scientist told me.” She looked around their location for any signs of civilization. She couldn’t help laughing as James crouched sheepishly in a vain attempt to cover his nakedness. For her, it felt good to be outdoors again and not have to worry about being modest.

  “I can’t believe we made it out of there,” James said. We’re in the middle of nowhere, he thought. “I need to rest.” He sat down on the stump of a tree and put his head against the trunk.

  “I had no idea I could still do that,” she said.

  He smiled at her while beckoning her to come close. “I know you didn’t. Remember our deal the night we got married?”

  She nodded as she sat on his lap and rested her head against his shoulder. “Of course. No secrets.”

  “Right. So let’s try to figure out what happened: the man who made you said you would be restored to normal when you came back, right?”

  She nodded.

  “But I’m sure getting poisoned wasn’t his idea. After all, he made you to be genetically perfect.”

  “Poisoned?” she said aghast.

  “Yes, the doctor said they found a strange chemical in your blood. Whatever it was, it was supposed to kill you. Instead, it gave you cancer, which gave me a chance to save you.”

  She thought back to the last thing she saw in her kitchen as she prepared dinner. Then she remembered the pinch on her shoulder just before her mind went blank. She looked at her shoulder but couldn’t find the puncture wound. It had healed as though it never happened. She then recalled what her creator had told her about her first trip and how it was triggered by her fear. She now realized why she was able to travel back in time: it was fear, an emotion she had never felt in all her time with James. “My creator said my first jump was triggered by anger and fear. Maybe that’s how we ended up here?”

  “Yes, but it doesn’t explain how you suddenly got your powers back.”

  She stood up and started pacing as she thought. “There can only be two possibilities: the man lied and only restored my height to normal, or he kept his word and something else changed my genes later.”

  “The cure!”

  Her eyes widened as she put the puzzle together in her mind. “The cure,” she repeated.

  “Right! The injection I gave you killed the cancer but maybe it also undid some of whatever your creator did.”

  “Does that mean I’m going to shrink again?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe the cure just balanced out his mistake and you’ll be yourself and have your powers.” He pulled her close and held her close. “Should be pretty cool, right?”

  She nodded. “It still doesn’t help us get back. Or save all those people.”

  “We’ll think of something,” he said. “First, we need to figure out where and when we are.”

  Just then, they heard a branch crack in the distance and they quickly ducked down behind a log nearby. Another branch cracked, and soon another. Soon, they heard all sorts of vegetation crushing and breaking in a slow and steady rhythm as though something approached.

  “An animal?” Genesis whispered.

  James shrugged his shoulders. A moment later, though, they found out precisely what it was. They looked up from their hiding place and hovering over them was an animal no human had ever laid eyes upon: a small but hissing dinosaur.

  “I guess this explains when we are,” he said. He grabbed her arm and they began to run. It was far too late for running, as around them a herd of the same animal formed a circle and hissed and shrieked in unison. He looked at his wife and said: “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

  The earth had just suffered an extinction event far worse than anything else in its history. Seven billion humans were destroyed in an instant. No ot
her forms of life suffered; in fact, it seemed to be a comfort to animals previously kept under man’s control. Even the trees appeared to breathe a sigh of relief!

  Val stood watch on the bridge of the Apocalypse as it hovered over the earth in orbit. From her vantage point, she watched a storm rage in the Pacific and a clearer view of the American continent than she had ever seen.

  Her watch was almost over, which she saw as a very good thing since she had a lot of work to do. She looked down at the residual blood staining the floor near her feet where John Archer came to his end. Something occurred on the surface beneath them right after the ship’s weapon fired that kept her attention as she stared out the window. She saw a blue light seem to explode on the ground right as the population of her home planet was vaporized. For the past couple hours since the holocaust, Val had feverishly been trying to analyze what it might have been. Before taking her shift and on a hunch, she programmed the time machine’s computer to record all temporal displacements since their arrival.

  One of the remaining guards finally approached her from behind and handed her a clipboard.

  “Ma’am?” he said, with just a touch of fear in his voice. After all, he had witnessed her shoot Archer in the head and there was a chance her anger had not subsided.

  She nodded as she received the clipboard and waved the man away, to which he scurried off the bridge. The report appeared conclusive – although she would need one of the engineers to confirm her suspicion: there was a jump through time - only not the ship. Something else had traveled through time.

  Her shift was over a few minutes later, and without even acknowledging her replacement, she hurried to her quarters to change and then ran to Roger’s office.

  “I think I have something,” she said.

  Roger welcomed her in and offered her a seat. “Would you like something to drink?”

  “No, I’m fine,” she said, still out of breath.

  “Val, you need to rest. You haven’t slept since your head injury.”

  “Forgive me, sir, but there’s something I need to show you that can’t wait.” She handed him the paper from the clipboard. He looked at it carefully and nodded as he tried to decipher the computer’s language.

  “Have we run this by one of the volunteer engineers?”

  “No, sir, not yet. I wanted you to see it first. I think that explains where James and that girl went.”

  He shook his head to himself. “I understand you want revenge for that bump on your head, but the possibility still remains that those two died with the rest of their kind.”

  “Sir, I know, but…”

  “It’s okay, Val,” he cut her off. “From this information, it does appear that something other than us has passed through time. Your memory of visual phenomena, which we have concluded did not come from the ship, certainly adds credence to your theory. But it still does not explain that if those two traveled through time just before being destroyed, how they did it. I deactivated his wrist device when we caught Archer.”

  She bowed her head in respect since she did not know the answer either. “Sir, with your permission, I would like to find out the answer.”

  Roger closed his eyes and sat back, thinking of the possibilities. “I suppose you’re right. If they have the means to travel through time, then they pose a significant risk to our plans.”

  “Do I have your permission to begin a search?”

  Roger nodded. “We still have several days before we are planned to settle our first new city. You have leave to find them if you can. Keep me informed.”

  She nodded and immediately jumped up and made way for the door.

  “Val!” he called out. She turned and faced him. “If they can narrow down who was responsible for what’s happening, the possibilities to interfere are endless. Please hurry. As we speak, they may be trying to stop our plan.”

  James and Genesis stood their ground amidst a hoard of screaming lizards that continued to close in on them. As seconds passed, it appeared as though there was little they would be able to do.

  “Can you get us out of here?” James said.

  “I can’t!” she exclaimed. “It’s not working!”

  “Let’s hope getting us here wasn’t just a one-way trip.”

  Genesis nodded and tried desperately to think of a way to free them from a gruesome death. My other powers!

  James tried his best to keep the dinosaurs away by making noises and throwing sticks and rocks at them, but they continued to get even closer.

  “Can I try something?” Genesis said, smiling.

  James nodded and said: “Be my guest,” as he dropped the rock in his hand.

  “You’ve never seen me do this before,” she said. Genesis bowed her head and took a deep breath.

  James felt an intense heat on his back. He turned to look at Genesis and fell to the ground at the sight of her. The blue light James had been accustomed to was replaced by a bright red glow that surrounded her. He tried to see what she was doing, but the fire was too brilliant. He looked up at the lizards instead to see their reaction, but it was too late for them: a massive shock wave rippled in every direction and simultaneously ripped the flesh from their bones. James was thrown back by the blast as well, but – as always – he was protected by the woman he loved.

  A moment later, all was calm and Genesis crouched down to offer James her hand. She helped him stand and kissed him deeply. He didn’t say another word, but thanked her in the best way he knew how. Although only hours had passed for Genesis, James had gone months without the affections of his wife. And even though a gentle fire consumed the vegetation around them, the floor of the jungle seemed as good a place as any to confirm their love. For all they knew, they might never make love again.

  Chapter 2

  On the bridge of the Apocalypse, Val waited for one of the engineer civilians to confirm the time machine's latest report. A few more hours had passed since she left Roger and Val had wondered if the ship's computer was capable of detecting where someone traveling in time might end up. It turned out that Doctor Archer was indeed a brilliant man, someone she finally resented killing, if only because he would serve her interests.

  “What am I looking at?” she barked as she examined the report.

  The readout from the computer showed what appeared to be a massive time-line and other lines of varying brilliance and lengths drawn over it. What the engineers had helped Val understand was that traveling through time was traceable; a marker was left in space-time, telling the machine where and – more specifically – when a jump was taken. The most recent trips through time were represented by the brighter lines on the time-line, while dimmer lines were considered unreliable since those trips had taken place too long ago.

  Two lines piqued Val’s attention. One of them clearly represented where James and Genesis had escaped to: some point in Earth’s distant past. The line began at the precise moment the ship’s weapon was fired, but there appeared to be no jumps following it. Val concluded that wherever James and Genesis were, they were perhaps unable or unwilling to jump back – yet.

  The other line intrigued Val a lot more. It appeared to represent a jump taken over a year ago, but it was still brilliant. Most other jumps through time in that period had faded, but this one – the oldest – was brighter than even the most recent.

  “Are you sure this is right?” she asked the technician.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said, “the physicists confirmed it.”

  Val left the room and ran down the hall to Roger’s office.

  “Do you have a minute?” she asked.

  He nodded and she came in and sat down.

  “I just got the computer’s latest report,” she began. “Remember how I told you we were trying to track down jumps through space-time?”

  He nodded again.

  She set the paper on his desk and pointed to the bright line on the time-line. “This trip was taken a year ago. I checked the ship's log: no jumps were made ba
ck then because the machine didn’t exist. Who could do this?”

  “You think it’s the girl with James, don’t you?”

  “You yourself said we know nothing about her; she has no past. How else did this happen?”

  “That’s a valid hypothesis,” he said. “But if you’re right - and this chart is accurate - that girl has been jumping through time all the way back to 1907.” He studied the paper further and tried to double-check her conclusion, but he was no engineer. “What do you plan to do with this information? Go after her?”