by Michael Dodd
Mick was impressed with Cathy’s sheer imagination. “Well,” he said with a slight chuckle, “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, but let’s go run it up the flagpole and see who salutes it.”
The startled, frightened and increasingly claustrophobic scientists of TimeCorp spent the next 2 months working the problem. Unsure of the ramifications of Kenneth Graham’s trek to the past, they could neither leave their timelineprotected building nor communicate with the outside world. Did their families still exist beyond these walls? Perhaps in an alternate timeline? Were wives or husbands married to others? Were their children alive? These questions dogged the minds and weighed on the souls of all who were now, essentially, trapped in a building that was trapped in time. The only way they could be sure to return to their previous lives and families was to invent a way of travelling though time in order to go back and stop Kenneth Graham from whatever he did that changed their world. They were assured by Mick Jagger that necessity was the mother of invention, but inventing a time machine in the short time allowed was more than daunting.
Fortuitously, Mick had seen to it that their TimeCorp building was stocked with food that could last up to six months. There were plenty of bedrooms and more than enough space for everyone in the building. Nevertheless, after two months of brain-racking drudgery and little or no relaxation, most in the complex were on edge. Would they ever be able to invent something that was heretofore considered impossible? And in less than the few months they had left before starving to death? Was there any alternative? Venture out of the building and “see what the world had become”? Could they even walk out the door safely? No one was sure they wouldn’t die immediately from the instantaneous timeline change. It seemed the only option was to soldier on and hope they found an answer.
“Good morning, Cathy,” Mick said, entering the cafeteria, “How did you sleep?”
“Oh,” Cathy answered after taking another sip of her second cup of coffee, something she’d never even tasted until about a month ago, “Pretty good, I suppose, if you don’t mind listening to Carol’s—her roommate—incessant snoring. I didn’t know a woman could snore so loudly. Every time I was about to nod off, I’d wake up in fear that I was about to be run over by an old freight train.”
Mick laughed at the colorful description. “Well, if you want, I could stagger your shifts so you don’t have to sleep at the same time?”
“No,” Cathy replied with a smirk, “If you did that, I’d stay up all night because it was too quiet. I’m used to it by now.”
Mick grabbed an apple from the bowl on the table and bit into it. “So,” he said, still chewing, “What kinds of breakthroughs are on the agenda for today?”
“You know,” she said, “I was th inking last night, while I listened to Carol snore, that a change in resonance frequencies is the only viable option. I mean, we can’t jump into our DeLorean and drive 88 miles an hour because we can’t leave the building. For the same reason, and a few others that are too obvious to mention, we can’t ask Mr. Spock to slingshot us around the sun until we start going backwards in time. The only possibility, as far as I can see, is a change in resonance frequency of the human body, thereby throwing it into an interdimensional shift. The question is, how?”
“Well, let’s face it,” Mick said, “If you’re right, then the amulet must have somehow caused just such a dimensional shift. Now, while I never dissected it to see what was inside, I was pretty sure that it was made of a solid metallic alloy of some kind. I would be flabbergasted if one of those alloys was not gold. The amulet looked and felt like it was made of pure gold, but obviously there was something else added to the mix. If we could figure out what that was, we’d be on to something.”
Cathy leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table. “Mick, you got a chance to look at that amulet for a long time, right?”
“Yes,” Mick replied, intrigued by the look in Cathy’s eyes, “I had it with me every day for the last 15 years, and many years before that in another timeline. Why?”
Cathy picked up her Comp and started punching icons. Soon, a three-dimensional projection emanated into the air between them. The images projected looked to Mick like samples of different metals. “There are only three metals in the world that are non-white colored metals: Gold, copper and caesium,” Cathy said with a bit of enthusiasm, “Now, look at these different metal alloys and tell me which one looks like the color of the amulet.”
Mick began to peruse the 3D dense-hologram suspended in midair by Cathy’s Comp. Before him, he could see Copper, Caesium and various different alloys of gold, from blue gold, to yellow, to green, red and white. It didn’t take him long to narrow it down. “Well,” he replied, “As I said, it looked very much like gold, so I’d say it’s between this one, this one and this one,” he pointed to each.
After a few more finger twirls on her Comp, the images were narrowed down to the three Mick had pointed to. “Okay,” she said, “Now, between these three, which would you say most closely resembles the amulet?”
Mick looked carefully. “They all look very similar. What’s the difference between the three?”
Cathy pointed in succession. “This one is 14 karat gold,” she began, “It is comprised of 58 percent gold, 4-28 percent -28 percent 28 percent copper. This one,” she said, pointing to the metal in the middle, “is 18 karat gold. It is made of 75 percent gold, 10-20 percent silver and 5-15 percent copper. The other is 22 karat gold, comprised of 92 percent gold, 4.2 percent silver and 4.2 percent copper. They are all Yellow Golds, but with varying degrees of hue.”
Mick finally pointed to the image of 22 karat gold. “If I was to pick one, I’d say this is the closest, but it isn’t exact.”
“No, I wouldn’t expect that it would be,” Cathy said, “because whatever elements were added to the gold to make it resonance changing might have changed its color a bit. What we need to do is try various mixtures of 22 karat gold and other metals or alloys. If we’re lucky, one or more of them might do the trick.”
“Even if we found the right combination,” Mick asked, “How could we control it? How could we know where we might end up in time, or even if the shift was time-related and not space-related? We could end up in another dimension of space, apart from our own world altogether.”
“One step at a time,” Cathy said, grabbing her Comp and rising from the table, “First, let’s go see if my theory holds water.”
‡
2070
Cindy Xylon had never been happier. She and her husband Michael were on their way home from the hospital after her final ultrasound before the big day. According to the doctor, everything looked good. Gates—the
amniocentesis had already shown it would be a boy and Cindy had already named him—was due in just over a week. Their new company, MJ Technologies—Michael had named it that; Cindy had no idea why—was just beginning to take off and the future look so bright that she scarcely believed it was real. Michael was a handsome and virile 30 years old and she had just turned 25.
While she very much loved her husband, he was still a bit of a mystery to her. While he had a mind for technology that eclipsed even her own, he still seemed to her to be a fish out of water. According to Michael, he’d been raised in an orphanage after his parents were killed in a car accident. Somehow, in spite of that, he’d managed to acquire a vast amount of technical and computer knowledge, seemingly without an education. Then, some distant relative dies and leaves him millions of dollars. The whole story had always seemed a little too trite for her taste, leaving her at times with an uneasy feeling about his roots. Yet, just when she’d begin thinking he was some kind of international criminal or the son of a Mafioso, he’d do you say something that made her wonder how he ever managed to tie his shoes in the morning.
Once, when she bought him a pair of sandals, he went on and on about the idea of shoes without shoelaces. “Velcro,” he’d said, “What will they think of next?”
He di
dn’t know that Escargot was snails, that Calamari was squid, and he spent an entire meal playing with his spaghetti, saying, “Isn’t this a hoot?”
When she first found out she was pregnant, Michael was more than beside himself. He seemed genuinely fascinated that a man and woman could produce such a thing. “Imagine,” he’d said, “that people can have children without any assistance from the government.”
Nevertheless, Cindy loved him very much and was sure he was a good man. If he had a few secrets, she was sure they were kept for her own best interests, but still…it just made her wonder.
When they pulled up to the house —yes, Michael could now drive a car—the two were surprised to see a man sitting on the stoop of their front porch. He looked to be about 50 or so, with graying black hair, a slight paunch and a pleasant look on his face. Neither of them had ever seen the man before.
“Good afternoon,” the man said as Michael helped his wife out of the car. “Are you Michael and Cynthia Xylon?”
“Yes,” Michael responded with a slight unease, “Can we help you?”
The man stood and approached them with his hand extended. “My name is Mickey,” he said, shaking Michael’s hand, “I’m a computational physicist. I’ve just flown in from California. I’ve been following your progress in starting up MJ Technologies and wondered if I might have a word with you?”
“Computational physicist?” Michael replied, “I don’t even think I know what that is. What can I do for you?”
“Well, frankly, I was thinking that we might be able to help each other…” The man stopped in mid-sentence, realizingthat Cindy was uncomfortable. “Oh, excuse me, Mrs. Xylon; I’m sure you want to get inside and rest. Please, take her inside. I’ll wait out here.”
Michael sized the man up and decided he didn’t pose any danger. He handed him the keys to the house and said, “Can you get the door?”
Immediately, and rather awkwardly, Mickey rushed to the door, opened it, and stood aside while Michael ushered his wife to her favorite recliner. “Come in,” he said, once Cindy was seated and finished grunting and sighing. “Let’s go into the den and leave Cindy to rest. She’s due in about a week, you know?”
Minutes later, after Mickey declined refreshment, the two seated themselves on Michael’s brown-leather couch and conversed. “May I call you, Michael?” Mickey asked, “I’ve heard so much about you; I feel I know you personally.”
Michael couldn’t imagine how that was possible, since he’d only established his new identity in this timeline a couple of years ago. “I must admit…Mickey, is it?” Mickey nodded. “I must admit, I can’t imagine why you would be so interested in our fledgling company in Chicago. And how you know anything about me is an even bigger mystery. I’ve only recently entered the field of technology with my wife, Cindy. Why us? Why would you come all the way from California to meet with a couple of entry-level executives for a startup technology company?”
Gates knew he could not tell his father who he truly was. It would open a can of worms that a whale couldn’t digest. It wasn’t important that his father knew he was his son, only that he knew he’d come from the future and that he needed help and advice in order to protect that future.
“Well,” Gates began with an ironic grin, “the fact is, I’m not from California and I’m not a computational physicist, if there even is such a thing. I’m from the future and I’ve come to ask your advice on a problem I don’t know how to solve.”
Michael was stunned. Had he not been from the future himself, he would have thought the man insane and thrown him out; however, the man had the same assured look on his face that he remembered when Mick Jagger had told him the same thing. Nevertheless, “Who are you?” Michael had to ask. “What do you mean you’ve come from the future? That’s utterly preposterous!” It had occurred to Michael that this man may have simply found out, or guessed about his own trip from the year 2125. Maybe he was in the Wooten administration and word had gotten out. Perhaps this was a first step towards blackmail.
Mickey stood up and reached into his pocket. He pulled out the amulet and handed it to Michael. Needless, to say, when Michael saw the amulet, he was both shocked and convinced. “Where did you get that?” he asked with his mouth agape. “I didn’t even know there was more than one.”
“I think,” Gates said, “that if you reach into your right pants pocket, you’ll see that you still have the amulet.” He reached over and retrieved the amulet he’d just given his father. “The fact is, Michael, the two amulets are one and the same. I can’t explain how I got ahold of it, but I assure you it was purely by chance.”
“So, what is it you want? You said you needed help with some problem. What is it?”
Gates, aka, Mickey, spent the next fifteen minutes explaining that another man, Kenneth Graham, had come back in time, as well. He, on the other hand, did not come by accident and his agenda was quite nefarious. He explained about the company, Linear Data Systems and the new technology it had created to send information through time. What he needed, he told him, was assistance in stopping LDS from applying this technology, and, if possible, to return Mr. Graham to the future from which he had surreptitiously absconded.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
2140
It had now been almost five months since Kenneth Graham had made his trip back in time. The team of scientists at the “timeless” TimeCorp building was on the ragged edge. Within a month, their food supplies would be exhausted and they would have to give up on their dreams of time travel. If this became a reality, they would have no choice but to accept the changes in the time-line—whatever they were—and venture out the door of the facility, not knowing what their fates might be without the building’s time-line protection. The best case scenario would be that they would survive the time-line change, instantly become incorporated into the new time-line, and go on living their lives with no knowledge of the changes that had occurred.
On the other hand, their knowledge of the previous time-line might remain intact, causing them to continue to live in the new time-line with the knowledge of loved ones and relationships that no longer existed. Of course, the third option was the most frightening: they might all die instantly once the door to TimeCorp was opened and the temporal protections it afforded them were severed.
Cathy had been working closely with her best friend in TimeCorp: Helen Casto, a metallurgical engineer. Between the two, they had spent hundreds of hours poring over every possible combination of gold alloy and everything they could find on historical references to “mystical” powers attributed to such alloys. One day, Helen found such a reference which piqued the interest of Cathy.
“Have you ever heard of La Maná Springwater?” Helen asked, perusing a site on her computer archive.
Cathy leaned back in her chair, sighed and replied, “I can’t say that I have, Helen. Why? What is it?” Cathy’s mind was fatigued. She hadn’t slept for more than 19 hours and she was about ready to call it a day.
Helen began to paraphrase that which she’d read. “Well, La Maná is an ancient area in Ecuador. In the nineteeneighties, I think, they found an area with pre-Sanskrit writing and a number of artifacts that are not easy to explain. There is the famous Black Pyramid with the “all seeing eye” at the top…very much like our dollar bills; the pre-Sanskrit message on the bottom of the pyramid which says, in essence, ‘Son of my Creator returns’, and the stone slab with a modern day map of the earth engraved on it.”
“What does all this have to do with time-travel?” Cathy said this with a tinge of sarcasm. She was quite tired.
“It’s the electrical effect of La Maná Springwater,” she said, “It’s actually, electrum water. It’s said to vastly increase the resonant characteristics of the human body. I thought you’d be interested in the word, ‘resonant’.”
“What’s electrum water? I’ve never heard of it.” “Electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver,” Helen said from memory. “Some people cal
l it, green gold. It has elements of copper and other metals as well.” She poked a few desktop icons and a picture appeared. “Here, look at this,” she said as Cathy leaned in closer. “Here are a couple of electrum coins from the 6th century BC. Maybe we could get Mick to take a look at them and see if they look similar to the amulet.”
Cathy took a good look. “Hmm, it does look like the right hue, according to Mick. I’ll go get him.”
Cathy popped out of her chair with a little more enthusiasm and went to find Mick Jagger. When he followed her back to Helen, he took a good look at the coins she’d brought up on the computer.
“That’s it!” Mick shouted, startling both women. “That’s the color! I’m sure of it! What is it?”
Cathy smiled at Helen and said, “Tell me more about this, La Maná Springwater.”
Helen brought up the site and said, “It says here, ‘Electrum is the ancient alloy comprised of gold and silver that incorporates the ductile properties of the two precious metals while being inert, without any chemical reaction to water. Electrical conductivity in the human body is usually highest in the bloodstream, as its greater salinity allows greater conductivity than the less saline cellular water. However, a body fueled exclusively by colloidal gold and silver water of optimal nanoparticle size induces an extremely enhanced electrical conductivity, replacing one of the usual roles of salt in the body. As salinity reduces the ability of a colloid to suspend the nanoparticles, the virtual elimination of salt from La Maná electrum water allows for maximum suspension. The suspended gold and silver nanoparticles are highly reflective of light and sound alike, vastly increasing the resonant characteristics of the human body.’ Let me also point out,” Helen continued with her own thoughts, “that myth in ancient Lydia, as well as modern myth in Western Anatolia, where electrum occurs most naturally, are riff with tales of the sightings of human vanishings. Perhaps there’s a correlation?”