“Stop this blasphemy! No man is more supreme than He, He dispatched us to deal with you, you are unworthy of his holy hand.”
“Don’t you believe he gave man free will? How can he have a plan and give us free will at the same time? Isn’t that contradictory?” Future Sarah asked antagonistically, expecting yet another rehearsed recital of an illogical rebuttal to an age-old question; the group had now become more taken by the strange, irrational debate than they were with the danger at hand.
“Stop, stop, STOP!” the leader screamed, getting higher pitched with each word. “The next person to speak will be destroyed immediately.” he squeaked.
Future Sarah hadn’t expected such a tantrum-esque response to her tried and trusted argument, and she fought — and failed — to repress a giggle. A new Future Victor stepped out of the portal in the corner.
“What the hell, dude!” he managed to say before the leader of the religious group destroyed him once more.
“Hey, that’s not fair, he didn’t even hear your...” Future Zack managed before evaporating.
“Anyone else?” the leader asked sweeping his still glowing weapon in unsteady, panic attack driven arcs in front of the scientists.
Both versions of the PRE-Innovations group held up their hands. Victor made a lock and key mime at his lips, which was difficult when suppressing an amused smile.
The lead aggressor leant on the nearest desk and took several long, slow, deep breaths while everyone waited. One of his colleagues reached over and patted him on the shoulder.
“Would you like me to get you a paper bag, Dave?” the newly vocal fanatic asked.
“I’m fine!” Dave yelped, shrugging his accomplice off.
After an awkward waiting period, Dave finished his breathing exercises and stood erect with one last sighing breath.
A fresh Future Victor and Zack stepped out of the corner portal.
Dave sighed again and motioned with the tip of his weapon for them to join the others. He cleared his throat.
“Okay, I’m tired of this, I’m just going to destroy this machine.” he moved the business end of his disintegration device towards the quantum computer.
“Wait, if you do that, you’ll be stuck here with nothing changed.” Future Simon said.
“Then change the past!” Dave cried.
“We could take you back to the past and change it then, but you’ll be in a new, separate timeline where none of this happened, all other realities will continue exactly as they were. We’d need to find a shadow to delete any of this.”
“Simon!” Future Victor exclaimed, exasperated.
“What? That’s how it works.”
“I know that Simon, but there was no need to let them in on that.”
“Sorry.”
“This is one of those situations where you should curtail your excitement about the science. Who’s side are you on?”
“I never thought, sorry. No common sense, remember.” His face told them that even he wasn’t convinced by that excuse.
Both sets of the whole team slumped and shook their heads, even Younger Simon.
“He did the right thing, I wouldn’t recommend subterfuge, people," Dave suggested smugly. “Find one of these shadows and set the portal for a time before you made this all happen.”
“What my idiot colleague didn’t mention is that shadows are not always possible to find," Victor informed the three Christians. “We would need to find a corresponding transmission that happened in both this timeline and the timeline it split from before it branched off.” Blind him with science, he thought, knowing that Dave was already ignorant to most of it. “Finding a shadow takes an hour here for every six seconds we search in the past. Successfully acquiring the shadow you need could take years. How long do you think you can keep those weapons on us? We do already have a shadow linked to the date we left, though.”
Dave tried his hardest to pretend he understood what Victor had just said. “Will that be far enough to delete this new world?”
“It will,” Victor said. “We hadn’t built anything other than base camp.”
“That will have to be sufficient," Dave said. “Do it.”
Victor sighed and walked to the nearest console, keying in the location they were to travel to, which would be the same portal they were to enter, followed by a time.
“That’s the wrong date," Simon said, who’d moved to a position to look over Victor’s shoulder.
Victor turned his head slowly, wide-eyed until he met Simon’s gaze, mouth agape.
“It’s a week after we left.” he stared at Victor for a while, until he started to get the message, then the comprehension was evident on his face. The change in Simon’s expression also caused a change on Victor’s, becoming a grimace, which sent a clear message. A message of impending violence from one man to the other.
Simon quickly tried to appear more casual, passing the line into too casual. Starting a strange dance of on-off feigned apathy, leaning on the desk. “Oh, no maybe I was mistaken.” he murmured.
“What’s going on?” Dave asked. “I’m not stupid, I can see that you’re up to something.”
“We’re up to reversing heaven on earth, as per your request," Victor said. “I think that’s strange enough for this to appear unusual.”
“What did he say about a week after you left?”
“He was mistaken.”
“Yes, mistaken," Simon added.
“Shut up, Simon," Victor requested.
“K," Simon replied, appearing on the verge of tears.
“Why would you choose a date a week after?”
“It’s the right day, Simon is just suffering from a little time sickness, all this travelling can cause issues with a person’s ability to comprehend a linear chronology. Even if it was a week later, how would that cause a problem to you? None of us is there right now; we’re all here, our office will have been empty for a week.”
“This is your whole group? Are you lying to me?”
“Look around at the duplicates, do you see any odd man out?”
Dave did so and seemed satisfied. “Boot it up," he said reluctantly, and Victor did so. “You people all go through first, I don’t want you getting up to anything here while we go through.”
“What if we get up to something on the other side?” Simon asked.
“SIMON!” several of his colleagues and their duplicates blurted in unison.
“I’m sorry, it’s a compulsion! I’m don’t know how to respond to this level of foolishness.” Simon said in a shaky voice.
The insult appeared to go over Dave’s head. “Okay, first, one of us will go through, two will stay here,” he told his cohorts “then we send eight of them through, then another of us, then the other eight of them, then the last of us. We’ll walk through in a close chain.”
“Shall we hold hands too?” Victor asked.
“Funny," Dave said.
“How are you going to get the fox, chicken and bag of grain through?” Beth asked.
“What?” Dave asked.
“Oh, nothing.”
Victor gave Beth a high five. “I see what you did there.”
“Wait.” Future James said. “You said that you want all sixteen of us to follow you through?”
“Of course," Dave said. “All of you are coming. I don’t want you doing anything to stop us from here.”
“But we can’t do that once you’re gone, and we’re not from that time.”
“I don’t care!” Dave shouted. All this time nonsense was giving him a headache. “Once we get back there, you’ll disappear anyway.”
“That’s not how this works either.” Future Victor said. “Once we’re back, we’re back for good. None of us will be slowly fading out of existence while we play Johnny B Goode at the school dance.” Younger Victor laughed.
“I don’t care!” Dave repeated, this time louder and more highly pitched. “We’re all going.”
“This is what happens
when you send the religious to do a scientist’s job.” Future Victor complained.
Dave fumed in silence for a moment then turned to a co-conspirator on his left. “Go on, Jeremy.”
“Why me?” The newly identified Jeremy replied.
“Someone has to.”
“Why not you?”
“Because I’m the leader.”
“I don’t remember voting on that.”
“I’ve done all the talking, so I’m the leader.”
“You should have notified us beforehand that that’s how this was going to work, I’d have spoken more.”
“This is no time to be Judas, Jeremy.”
“Would that make you Jesus, Dave? Don’t let their influence sway you towards the devil.” he motioned to the PRE-Innovations group.
“Yeah, him upstairs doesn’t take kindly to false prophets, Dave," Victor interjected. The trio was laughable despite their powerful weapons.
“Quiet, this is not your business. Jeremy, just go through, we’re coming right after you.”
“Make Barry go.”
“I’m not going," Barry said.
“Oh, for pity’s sake! Fine. I’ll go first.” Dave said. “Remember what happens next, eight of them, then one of you, then the other eight, then the last of you. Work it out amongst yourselves; I don’t care. I’m leaving.”
He walked through the portal with the gait of a stroppy child.
Chapter 65
Dave arrived in the past at Novum HQ and turned immediately turned back to the portal, vigilant in keeping the PRE-Innovations team in line, both figuratively and literally. Simon was the first to step through, still wearing a guilt-ridden expression, Victor was next, followed by Jeremy.
“Jeremy, you were supposed to come through after eight of them!”
“Calm yourself, Dave, it’s just your even number fixation.”
“No, it isn’t! Barry has to handle fourteen of them on his own now, he’ll screw this up. Darn, they should be here by now.”
“Chill your boots, they’ll be here," Jeremy said.
“They should be here now. How hard is it to follow right behind?”
Dave stared at the portal with palpable anxiety, waiting for any visible activity within the hoop’s surface.
“What on earth?” Dave asked.
“Maybe someone needed to use the bathroom before they left.”
“Jeremy, the journey is instantaneous, they could have gone once they got through.”
“True. Maybe they’re packing.”
Dave stared at Jeremy in disbelief.
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that. Go back through and see what’s taking them.”
Jeremy looked to the portal, then at Dave, then back to the portal.
“Go on," Dave said, getting impatient.
“Maybe something has gone wrong. I don’t know if I should.”
“Just go, Jeremy.”
“I could get hurt back there.”
“We’re about to delete ourselves, what is it about martyrdom you don’t understand?”
“I don’t think deletion will hurt.”
“You’re a coward, Jeremy.”
“Then why don’t you go?”
“I’m the mastermind!”
There were a few moments of awkward silence, and this reality’s Simon and Victor shared a glance that said is this really happening?
Victor whispered to Simon while their captors argued about who was in charge.
“We could take these idiots, no problem.”
“I don’t fancy being disintegrated again.”
“It won’t be a problem, though, will it. We’ll just reintegrate. It can’t be any worse than being savaged by an alien bear.”
“I have no memory of that.”
“Well, I’m going for it while they’re distracted.”
Victor took a step forward, only to have his plan interrupted by James’ arrival, which was followed by more of the group in procession.
“What happened to you guys?” Victor asked.
“Oh, the guy with the weapon had a meltdown about being left alone," Sarah said. “He was shouting for Jeremy to come back through the portal for several minutes, regardless of the fact that we told him that sound doesn’t carry through.”
The future’s James stepped through the portal, completing the set of remaining PRE-Innovations members like a matching bookend. Barry trailed behind looking disgruntled.
“What on earth were you thinking?” Barry asked Jeremy.
“I got confused.”
“You left me with fourteen people, all wanting to hurt me.”
“He had a panic attack.” Future Victor said. “The man with the large weapon pointed at us had a panic attack. Something you all share, obviously,” directed at Dave. “He disintegrated a couple of us while he was hyperventilating and we had to wait for duplicates.”
“Quiet!” Barry said as he pointed the SARA tech at Future Victor.
“Don’t shoot him again," Dave said. “Unless you’re going back to retrieve the duplicate.”
“Sod that.” James said, “You think we’re going to make this easy for you?” then lunged at Dave.
James managed to land a solid punch on Dave’s jaw, knocking him to the floor. He knelt to the ground, continuing his assault. Dave’s cohorts were unprepared for this turn of events.
“Stop!” Barry called out.
James maintained the scuffle with Dave on the ground, Dave’s weapon fell loose from his hands, available for the taking.
“Everyone stop where you are," Jeremy yelled and pointed his disintegration device at the rest of the group.
“Get off him," Barry told James, unable to fire without taking Dave out with him.
“Get off!” Dave whined.
“Where’s your God now, Dave?” James asked, mocking Dave with several insubstantial slaps to the face.
“Enough. Stop, or we’ll shoot.” Barry said.
“Go ahead, you’ll be helping us out. I’ll be back, will your buddy here?” James said and gave Dave another slap.
“He’s prepared to make the sacrifice.”
Muffled noises of protestation could be heard from within the headlock in which James was attempting to place Dave.
“I’ve had enough," Barry said, aimed his weapon and pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
Jeremy noticed that Barry was having trouble and tried his own weapon, which also failed to fire.
It wasn’t long before the sixteen unarmed occupants of the room took advantage of the situation. Several of the group jumped on Jeremy and Barry, the former’s weapon spun across the floor towards the members of the team that were slower in taking action. They winced in turn as the dangerous end of the device span in their direction while it slid over the floor’s shiny surface, concerned that its failure might be temporary. Once it reached the end of its momentum, Future Sarah grabbed the device, pointing it in Jeremy’s direction, who currently lay under a pile of several bodies, pinning him to the floor. Barry was similarly subdued, and Future James had wrested his weapon.
“It’s over guys,” Future Sarah said. “We have their disintegrators. Let’s take them back through the portal before they cause any more trouble.”
The contributors to each pile removed themselves and shifted from the line of fire of the powerful device, leaving Jeremy and Barry alone and disheartened. Future Sarah was filled with antipathy upon noticing their pathetic resemblance to spoiled children.
“So what do we do about them?” James asked.
“We’ll march them right back through the portal, they’ll be tagged as deported and we’ll send them back to earth.” His future counterpart answered.
“Earth? Aw, don’t send us back there, the place is a mess.” Barry said.
“Are you serious right now?” Zack asked him. “You just tried to make sure that living on any other planet was never a possibility.”
“If we succe
eded, I wouldn’t have remembered there being another option.”
“Well, I guess you didn’t think this out too well, huh?”
Barry actually choked back a sob.
“I can’t believe you guys.” Future Victor said. “I almost feel sorry for you. Regardless of our shaky past. Remember when you vapourised me? More than once? Fun times.”
“You said they’ll be tagged," Simon said. “What did you mean by that?”
“Their physical data will be watermarked so they can’t use interplanetary portals.”
“Oh, boys!” Sarah said to the three failed saboteurs. “It looks like God’s plan is to send you back to hell for now. You might want to rethink your strategy for getting past the pearly gate, it seems He’s on our side.”
The three saboteurs remained silent.
“Alright, let’s go.” Future Victor said. “Maybe half of us go through first, then these three, then the rest of us.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Future Spencer agreed. “We’re scientists, I’m sure we can make that happen easier than these fellas did.”
“You guys are mean," Dave said pathetically, and without a hint of irony.
They all looked at him and, after a pause, snorted with laughter. The future group began travelling through the portal, Victor first — carrying one of the SARA tools — Simon, Sarah and Beth following closely behind. Dave, Jeremy and Barry were ushered through the portal with the other two weapons held by James and Zack, Jules and Spencer were last.
“Be you later," Spencer said as she stepped through into her own time and place.
Chapter 66
The group looked around their empty workspace and at each other.
“What’s the return to work protocol for after a religious extremist terrorist attack?” Victor asked.
“I’ve got designs to finish up and new information from the future to look through," Simon replied.
“So, no day off for mental trauma recuperation?”
“This is my trauma recuperation.”
“Of course it is.”
Simon went straight to his workstation and began working with their new information.
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