“I haven’t seen him since we left the conference room. I assumed he was with you getting ready for whatever other mission Walter has planned.”
April replied, “We talked about the mission for a bit, but after about thirty minutes, he ran off. You know how he is about studying. I think he’s still a bit upset about not going back with you.”
Matthew grinned. “I think he’s more upset about not going back with this little guy’s sister.”
April took Steven by the hand and replied, “I’m sure he’ll be fine once he knows what Walter has planned for us. I just wish we were all going to be together for it.”
April walked out of her room accompanied by Matthew and with Steven on her arm. She asked Matthew about his time in the pod, and Matthew told her that he really didn’t remember much, just a few weird dreams.
“What happened in the dreams?”
Matthew told his mother that he wasn’t sure, but they were strange enough that he woke up in a panic. “I don’t think they mean anything. They’re just dreams.”
April agreed and said, “If you remember anything about them, you can always talk to me. Sometimes talking about them can make them seem less scary.” Matthew hugged his mother and told her that he loved her. She took Steven on down the hall, and Matthew approached Walter’s door.
He noticed that the door was ajar, so he knocked and watched it open a little more. He looked inside, but Walter was nowhere to be seen. His inquisitive mind wouldn’t allow him to stand in the hall, so in he went.
As he entered the office, he noticed it was almost identical to Walter’s office in Sector 37. The guy was consistent, if nothing else.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted that same piece of equipment he had asked about while in Sector 37—the one that resembled a projector. Walter had said that it didn’t work, so Matthew wasn’t too concerned with breaking it.
He just wanted to fiddle with it a bit. Maybe he could figure out why it didn’t work. He thought to himself, “I don’t have anything else to do. What could be the harm?”
Matthew put his hands on the sides of the projector and noticed that there was an indentation on the front of the machine, like a chin-rest, where you could rest your head. Above this area was a viewfinder for your eyes. The projector didn’t seem to have an on-off button or a power cord to run it, so Matthew placed his eyes on the viewer to see what was inside.
The moment he did this, the projector came to life. It was drawing power from somewhere, and now Matthew could see an image materialize within the projector. The image was fuzzy at first, but after a few seconds, it started to take shape. Matthew couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He also wasn’t sure what he was seeing. Whatever it was, it seemed to be looking back at him.
Matthew excitedly thought, “What in the world is this?” The figure he saw in the projector answered him with one word: “Home.”
Chapter 9
BROTHERS AND SISTERS
Matthew jumped away from the projector. Whatever it was that he had seen, had just responded to his question. The projector lost its power the moment Matthew moved away from it. He was breathing heavily as the shock of what had just happened overwhelmed the young man. Was he going crazy? Was he hearing things? He took a quick look around the room and decided to step back up to the projector. He paused, took a deep breath, and then put his eyes back to the viewer.
Once again, the projector came to life, and the shapes and images within it took form. As before, once his eyes adjusted to the background, he saw a man. He looked similar to Matthew based on his size, but he looked older. He seemed to be waiting for something, so Matthew spoke again.
“My name is Matthew. Can you hear me?”
The figure inside of the projector was staring hard at Matthew. He opened his mouth again. The words didn’t seem to match the movement of his lips, as if there were a time delay. The message was a little garbled, like static from an old black-and-white television, but it was clear enough. The figure said, “Matthew, home.”
Matthew wanted to ask about home. What did he need to know about home? Whatever this was, it was amazing. The figure in the projector, whomever or whatever it was, was speaking directly to him. Matthew’s heart raced, and his mind flooded with the possibilities before him. Maybe this projector was some type of portal to another world. He was ready to ask his next question, but before he could, he felt a rough pull on his shoulder, which dislodged him from the projector.
He turned to see Walter, his big hand cinching Matthew’s arm.
“What in the hell are you doing? That is not a toy. Who let you into my office? No one is allowed in my office without me being present!” Walter was agitated to a point that Matthew had never seen before. He was shaking, and his eyebrows were furled.
Matthew yanked his arm from Walter’s grasp. “The door was open. I just came in because you said to come by and pick up some study material.”
“What were you doing with the box?” Walter asked.
Matthew dropped his head and hesitated with his answer. “You had said it didn’t work, so I was just looking at it. It came on when I looked through the viewer part.”
Walter walked over to the projector but didn’t look into the viewer. He picked it up and carried it over to his desk. He placed it on a shelf behind his chair, safely out of reach, and took a seat. “Did you see anything?” he asked.
Matthew didn’t want to lie to Walter, but he could also see how upset he was. “I didn’t see much. It looked like a landscape for the most part.”
Walter continued to push. “What else did you see? Did you see anything or anyone along the landscape?”
Walter had calmed himself to the point that his questions no longer screamed accusation, just concern.
Matthew told Walter that he had seen a figure against the landscape but that he couldn’t tell who it was.
“Did you hear anything coming from the projector?”
Matthew shook his head. “I didn’t hear anything. You pulled me away before I could hear anything.”
Matthew hated lying to anyone, but in this case, he thought Walter might be more willing to let him take another look in the projector if he thought he would get something out of it.
Walter considered. “So, the image didn’t speak to you? You just saw it there and nothing else?”
Matthew looked to the projector and said, “Yeah, it looked like it was about to say something and then you pulled me from it.” Matthew approached Walter’s desk and added, “I could take another look. Maybe this projector thing could be useful to us.”
Walter stood abruptly and said, “Absolutely not! You are not allowed to use that piece of equipment for any reason. Do you understand me?”
Matthew backed away from the desk again. “What’s the big deal? You said it didn’t work, and I was able to get it to work, so why not let me see what it can do?”
Walter looked down at his desk and replied, “That’s not an option.” He reached for a file folder and handed it to Matthew. “Here are the notes I promised you. Look them over. You’re leaving tomorrow night.”
Matthew took the folder. “You already know what that thing is, don’t you? Why won’t you tell me?”
Walter stood up, walked around the desk, and took Matthew by the arm. Leading him to his office door, he motioned for Matthew to leave. “This discussion is over. You need to leave my office. You have a lot of work to do before tomorrow.”
Matthew had already taken a couple of steps down the hall when a final comment from Walter reached his ears. “I know it seems that I’m keeping things from you, but I promise you, I am the one to trust. Remember that.”
Matthew made it to the elevator and waited for the door to open, never looking back toward Walter’s office. He didn’t know what he had just seen or what it meant, but he was confident that Walter was hiding something from him. Be it good or bad, Matthew wasn’t a fan of secrets. For now, he would keep the message from the projector to
himself. Maybe he could figure out what “home” meant on his own.
He reached his room and tried to review the pile of papers and study materials for the trip. It was late, but Matthew wasn’t tired. The file contained information on a college located just a bit south of Washington, DC. Based on its location, the rorimite tunnel would spit them out about thirty miles southwest of the school.
It appeared this would be the next stop for Matthew and Amanda. But the subject matter was a bit strange to him. With all the things that he and Amanda would have to deal with in 2016, it seemed a bit odd to study the history of the college they would be attending.
Baylee College seemed like a respectable place. It was just outside Alexandria, Virginia, and had a history that went back to the 1790s. It had been much smaller then, but quite popular. In 2016, it was considered one of the top colleges on the East Coast, boasting a strong curriculum in both the humanities and the sciences. Degrees ranged from English Literature to Aeronautical Engineering.
A school this old was packed with history, legends, and traditions that revolved around everything from the professors on campus to pep rallies before football games. Matthew was interested in the football-game traditions.
For example, every week before a home game, everyone on campus would converge at the epicenter of the school and form lines around a giant statue of a cardinal. The Baylee College Cardinal had been a landmark of the school for over a hundred years, and tradition called for everyone to gather around it before a big home game. Matthew wasn’t quite sure what happened next, but he wanted to find out.
As interesting as it was to study a college manual from 2016, Matthew couldn’t concentrate on it for too long. His mind kept wandering back to the image in the projector. “If only I could sneak back into Walter’s office for a while,” he pondered to himself.
Matthew was convinced that Walter would double-padlock his office until he left for the past, though. He couldn’t figure out why Walter wouldn’t want to find out more about the projector. Perhaps he already knew what it could do and didn’t want Matthew to know, for his own good. Maybe the projector was dangerous and could hurt someone that looked into it for too long. Perhaps Walter had a plan for it later. Maybe Matthew was making a mountain out of a molehill.
He was just about to put away his study materials when the door to his room flew open. It was Connor, fresh off his own study binge with Agents Marco and Blake.
“Man, it’s gonna take a while before I get used to seeing you like this. You’re almost as tall as I am.”
Matthew replied, “I might be a little taller than you.”
Connor grabbed a small rubber ball that was sitting in a box next to his bed and started bouncing it off the wall above Matthew’s head. Matthew stayed in his bed and watched the ball careen back and forth.
“You’re gonna wake up half the floor doing that,” Matthew remarked.
Connor threw the ball harder. “There’s no one on the other side of this wall. I need to burn off some energy.”
Matthew asked, “So, did you find out what you and Mom will be doing while I’m in 2016? Will it be dangerous?”
Connor jumped on the bed with Matthew and thumped him in the head. “What’s wrong, little brother? Or maybe I should just start calling you ‘younger’ brother. Are you worried about me and Mom? There’s really no reason to worry about us. We won’t be the ones getting hurled back through time and space.”
Connor laid his head back on one of Matthew’s pillows and added, “You’re going back in time, like, a hundred and sixty years, and me and Mom will just be down the road a bit.”
“What will you be doing?”
Connor chuckled. “You know how Walter is. He won’t tell us the full story until we need to know it. All I know, so far, is that we’ll be on some type of excavation site. Only the main man knows what we’ll be doin’.”
Matthew grabbed the rubber ball from Connor’s hand and said, “I know what you mean. All I know is that Amanda and I will be at this college back in the state of Virginia.”
Connor pulled the ball back from Matthew’s hand. “Yeah, Virginia. I remember hearing about that state back in school—in 1984.”
Connor tossed the ball up in the air from his laid-back position and said, “You don’t know what Addie and Bryan will be doing while you’re there?”
Matthew snatched the ball from one of Connor’s tosses and said, “Not a clue, besides act like our parents.”
Connor laughed. “That’s classic. You and Amanda are brother and sister. I guess that means no more dating. You also have a little brother to take care of. I think Mom’s gonna miss him more than anything.” Connor punched Matthew in the stomach, causing him to drop the rubber ball into Connor’s hand. “I think Mom sees a little of us in Steven.”
Rubbing his stomach, Matthew said, “I’ll take care of both of them, and no, I won’t be dating Amanda while we’re there—or any other time, for that matter.”
Connor was confused and said, “I don’t get it. You’re clearly nuts about her, as well you should be. Are you giving up and letting me have her?”
This time Matthew punched Connor in the stomach before answering. “Number one, I couldn’t give her to you, even if I wanted to. Number two, no, you can’t have her, and three, I’m not nuts about her. She’s great, but I have more important things to worry about.”
Matthew was flustered. He wanted to tell Connor about his talk with Walter, but he just couldn’t risk Connor opening his big mouth to anyone.
“Let’s just say that it’s better this way for everyone. We’ll go back to 2016, do what we have to do, and when we all get back, I’ll figure it out then.”
“Fair enough. I’ll drop it,” Connor replied.
Matthew and Connor lay side by side on the small bed in the corner of the room and fought back and forth over the rubber ball as if they were back in Sector 37 before any of this ever happened. They were just playing around and enjoying each other’s company, as much as two brothers could do that.
They had settled down for a few minutes and started to feel the cold pull of sleep calling them. The room was silent for about five minutes before Matthew spoke. “It’s gonna be weird not having you there with me.”
Connor felt the same way as his brother, but he would never have said anything. He reached over to Matthew and patted him on the shoulder. “Well, I can’t have you blubbering all over everyone tomorrow, so I guess I’d better give this to you now.”
Matthew could see an object in Connor’s hand that resembled a small replica of a beamball. He took it from Connor and studied it. He realized it was a carrier stone.
“I formed it while I was sitting in there with Blake and Marco. I got bored so I took my time and made it look like a little beamball. Keep it with you while you’re in 2016, and it’ll be like I’m there with you.”
Matthew was astonished at what his brother had done. He never did anything nice for anyone else. The fact that he took the time to do this was remarkable. Matthew started to focus on his other hand, and within a few seconds, he had also formed a carrier stone. He didn’t spend hours forming it, but when he got done, it resembled a small football.
Neither stone was any bigger than a thimble, but they represented so much for the boys. They had never been apart for more than a few days at a time, and now they would be apart for up to six months.
But it wasn’t just the time apart. It was also the fear that something could happen on one of these missions. Both of them had almost been killed during the mission to 1984, so they knew that getting out of these tasks alive wasn’t a guarantee.
Matthew handed Connor his stone and said, “Now you’ll have me here with you, too.”
As far as emotions went, this was about the limit Matthew and Connor would go with each other. After a quick punch in each other’s arms, they took the other’s carrier stone and stuffed it into their pockets.
Each knew how the other felt about him, whether
it was spoken aloud or not. They would always have each other’s backs in any way that they could. At this point, they turned away from each other in order to avoid further emotional weirdness.
After three weeks of sleep, it didn’t seem likely that the boys would catch any shut‑eye that night, but after a few deep breaths and thoughts of what was to come, they both crashed for several hours.
They were awakened by a familiar sound and touch. “Get up, boys. It’s time to get ready for the trip.” Matthew opened his eyes to see his mother smiling down at him and Connor.
“Did you boys sleep in the same bed last night?”
Connor answered as only he could. “Nothing gets past you, Mom. What gave us away?”
April pointed her finger at Connor and said, “I was making fun of you. I just think you’re gonna miss each other.”
The boys looked at each other and both huffed and puffed.
“Please, if Matthew wants to stay in 2016, it won’t hurt my feelings.”
Matthew countered with, “If you’re going to an excavation site, just have them bury Connor there before you leave. We can dig him up after I get home.”
April popped Matthew on the head and said, “You aren’t fooling anybody. For my sake, try to act like you care about each other.”
The boys agreed, and Connor added, “We’ll try. For your sake.”
The boys were separated after a quick breakfast in the mess hall. Connor went with April, Blake, and Marco to make final preparations for their journey. Walter had set up housing for April and Connor about thirty minutes away from the compound. Both Marco and Blake would have their own places, but in separate housing complexes around the excavation site.
Walter met with Connor’s group first and gave each member a backpack with individualized information for the mission, much the same way the mission to 1984 had been handled. Walter wanted to make sure that information on what each group was doing was kept as secret as possible. While Walter trusted his teams, he was still cautious. The last thing he wanted was for someone in his own group to slip up and reveal his plans to anyone outside of the Persons Resisting Order or PRO, as they were classified by Sector 1.
Last Chance Volume 2 - The Legend of the Hathmec: Planting the Seed Page 13