Emperors of Time

by Penn, James Wilson

  “So, they’re happier out here?” asked Rose.

  “You ask a lot of strange questions,” the woman said, eying Rose suspiciously. “I might even suspect that you’re spies, except I can’t imagine the metropolis caring about our happiness. Unless… you aren’t here for a callback, are you? Because if you are, I can tell you now, we aren’t interested.” It was strange, but this was the first time the woman really seemed angry.

  “What’s a callback?” asked Billy. He looked first at Tim, Julie, and Rose, but it was clear that they were just as confused as he was.

  “Sometimes, the metropoles get concerned if the birthrate is too low. People have children later in life, resulting in smaller families. If they didn’t do something about it, the population would shrink over time, and they don’t want that. Parts of Western Europe had the same problem in your time- or at least, in your time in the normal timeline- low birth rates and all that, but it’s different for the metropoles. They’ve built the metropoles structurally and organizationally for about 750 million people, so that’s the number they expect to have at any one time. Western Europe could deal with it by allowing immigrants in, but the only pool of potential immigrants the metropoles have is the exiles, which explains why they keep them around,” explained Hopkins.

  “Yes, and quite a favor they’re doing for us, too,” said the woman sarcastically. “Look, I don’t know why you want to know, but we don’t want to live by the metropolis’s rules or have them regulate what we do out here. They’re monsters -- pampered, shallow, out of touch monsters -- and I don’t know why anybody would consider going for a recall even if they did have the opportunity. But no, I don’t think that ‘happy’, would characterize what we feel out here either. I’ve had three children, only one is alive. She’s ten now. Her brother was killed by a disease that could have been treated if we were allowed to have hospitals. Her sister died of hunger.”

  By this time, one of the other women in the camp had walked over. This second woman looked a little younger than the first, but with the hard living the exiles endured, it was hard to guess her age. When the first woman finished speaking, the second woman jumped in, saying, “My name is Jacinta. Pardon me interrupting, but we hardly ever see any strangers here. There are a few small clans a couple miles up or down the river that we meet with once a year when we have brides to exchange, but otherwise, it gets a bit repetitive here. Who are you?”

  Before any of the teens had a chance to answer, Hopkins jumped in. “That question would take a bit too long for us to answer right now, but let me just say that we are good listeners without hostile intentions. Will you tell us a little about yourself?”

  “If you’d had hostile intent, I expect you would have brought a weapon,” said the woman with a shrug. “My father was the elder of the tribe, until he was killed in a raid three years ago. We sometimes get raided by a larger tribe from the North that swoops in and takes a woman or two and kills any men who resist. That raid three years ago was the most recent one. My father was exiled from the metropolis because he got caught cheating one of the casinos at cards. I had a sister, who died during childbirth giving birth to my niece. I take care of her now because I have no children of my own. Was there anything else you wanted to know?”

  Hopkins again answered for the group, saying, “No, but thanks to both of you for your willingness to talk. I know you don’t get many strangers out here. I cannot go into any specifics now, but I want you to know that I intend to bring the leaders of the metropoles back to their normal human size.”

  “That would be fantastic, although I don’t expect to see any such thing happen in my lifetime,” said Jacinta. The other woman merely grunted in agreement.

  Hopkins led the four teens back over the hill.

  “That probably gives you a decent idea of why the Emperors of Time need to be stopped, quite apart from any personal vendetta I may have against them. There are millions of men, women, and children with stories just like the ones those women told. There is little use in having you hear more stories. You can multiply them yourself when considering the 300 million people living in exile, either as exiles themselves or their descendants. But before I send you back to your own time, I want to show you one more thing. Let us link hands again?”

  They did, and Hopkins pulled out his Dominus Temporis and a bigger stone from his pocket. This time Billy and Rose closed their eyes before they hopped from one place to another.

  The place where they ended up was beautiful, although Tim had the sneaking suspicion this was not what Hopkins had brought them here to see. They had materialized on the shore of a large lake, on a promontory where the land jutted into the water. On three sides of their little peninsula, there was water for about a mile before they could see grassy land again.

  “This is the year 2346, and this lake is located in what was once Ohio. I found this event by talking to some of the locals in my own year, when I was trying to decide who I should take you to see. I will not always have time to learn the intricate details of the timelines that the Emperors of Time create, which is why I am asking you to take over, so I can focus on hunting them down. Still, I decided it was important to show you the sort of worlds the Emperors create, to give you a motive to stop it.”

  “I think the stories we heard from the exiles are motivation enough,” said Rose.

  “Perhaps, but I would like you to see a little bit more,” said Hopkins. “Remember that I am not being cruel by showing you this. What you see here will be more or less replicated a thousand times around the world in this timeline. You see, this particular lake is very rich in fish. It was part of a state park back in your time. It is called Lake Deer Creek, and the dam that kept it so full of water and fish survived the scourges of time and was overlooked by the Emperors of Time. But now there are so few people in the world, with none of them taking recreational fishing trips to Ohio, that the fish have populated the lake quite heavily. A man can walk into the shallows and catch a fish in his net quite easily.”

  Julie nodded, “That’s interesting, how the fish rebound without as many people around… Does this happen with other animals?”

  “Some,” said Hopkins. “But that is hardly the point I am trying to make. Consider how appealing this lake would be for a group of exiles like the ones we just met. Not only would you never have to worry about starving, since this lake is quite accessible for ice fishing even in the depths of winter, but you could also live your life without ever having to take long hunting trips, tediously walking from field to field collecting wild wheat, or even sowing your own seeds. Naturally, whoever occupies the area around the lake is in quite an enviable position.”

  The four teens nodded. Tim spoke up, saying, “I suppose some of the other people around do more than just envy them, though.”

  Now Hopkins nodded. Then, he took several pairs of binoculars out of his duffel bag.

  After handing them around, he said, “I want you all to take a look at that group of people on the shore opposite us.”

  Tim had to scan the shore a little bit, but he soon found a group of about forty people sitting across the lake. “What are we looking at here?” asked Billy.

  “This tribe of exiles have lived here for about a decade. They have become a little too comfortable, never feeling hunger in all that time,” said Hopkins.

  “But that’s not the event you brought us here to see, is it?” asked Tim hesitantly. The binoculars were very good. They could see faces even at the distance of a mile. Tim could tell that the group was a mixture of men, women, and children. The children were playing, the men and women were laughing and cooking fish on a fire in the middle of the group. The people who lived by this lake seemed to have found a small bit of happiness in a very hard world.

  “No, unfortunately not,” said Hopkins. “We should not have to wait long now, but we must wait.”

  So they did, mostly in silence. Tim was not sure what he expected when Hopkins told him he was going to take
them to see the future, but it was certainly not this. Perhaps hanging out in the indoor beaches that Hopkins had described would have been more fun, but spying on small tribes of exiles in the year 2346 was certainly not what Tim had had in mind.

  Hopkins was right that they wouldn’t have to wait long. Only five minutes later, they were privy to a gruesome scene in their binoculars. Twenty men with spears ran up to the people at the lakefront. Tim wasn’t sure whether the lakefront tribe had any weapons of their own, but if they did, there was no time to draw them. The massacre was quick and absolute. The screams took a second or two after the first killing to make it across the lake, but they were horrible when they arrived. After it was over, Tim looked around at the others. Rose was crying, while Billy and Julie looked as horrified as he felt.

  After the last of the lake dwellers was killed, Hopkins turned toward them and the teens lowered their binoculars to look at him. “You have now seen everything I wanted to show you. I am pressed for time, but if you need to know anything else before making your final decision, now would be the time to ask. Have you seen enough to make a decision? Are you ready to do your part in fighting the Emperors of Time?”

  Rose was the first to speak, and answered immediately. “Yes,” she said, her eyes still watery, but her voice firm.

  There was a pause then, but shortly after, Julie spoke up as well. “I’m in,” her voice was a bit husky, as if she maybe still had a lump in her throat.

  “Me too,” said Tim.

  There was another pause. Finally, Billy spoke up. “I think I still need another day and a half before I believe this isn’t some elaborate hallucination. But once I’ve convinced myself of that, I’ll be ready to fight them however I can. Is that good enough?”

  “As much as I could hope for,” said Hopkins with what seemed like genuine appreciation. “But I have two more warnings about time travel for you before I send you back. Firstly, whenever you go back to your own time, you will arrive back a certain amount of time after you originally left. This time is determined by how long you spent in other times. What time did you leave in your time?”

  “About noon,” answered Rose after a moment of thought.

  Hopkins nodded. “Since you have been gone several hours so far, if I sent you directly back now, you would wind up arriving back somewhere around 4:00 pm. Since the area around Wright’s Ferry Mansion would likely still be busy with people at that time, this would require way too much explaining. So, I am going to send you to a different time first, then have you hop back to Wright’s Ferry Mansion after a few more hours have passed, making it closer to 10:00 pm.”

  “Makes sense,” Julie said. The others agreed as well.

  “Good. My other caution is that when you go back in time, bring everything you could possibly need to fix things the first time. For instance, if you want to bring a bit of money-- this would probably have to be gold or silver instead of actual currency, because of course anything dated from your own time would be useless. Remember, each person can go to any year only once,” warned Hopkins.

  The four teens nodded or murmured their understanding of Hopkins’ cautions.

  “Right. Well, I must leave the task of changing the world back to the proper timeline with you. I have no doubt that after it is corrected, the Emperors of Time will find a way to change it again, so as soon as you right the ship, it will probably be knocked astray again.” said Hopkins.

  “Why are you so confident that we can even do this?” asked Julie.

  “Because I know you will grow up to do great things with your friends. I can think of no one better to leave this problem with,” said Hopkins. “In the meantime, I am going to give you this final rock. It is from Australia. I want you to think back to a time when there were no people in Australia, just a barren wilderness with kangaroos, wallabies, and few natural predators. I want you to think of night time on this great island continent. Imagine it is just after midnight in a time like that, and then return to your own time as the sun rises. The view of the stars, in a time and place with no human light pollution, will be spectacular. I think you deserve a wonderful sight after all you have seen today. If you need me you can leave messages for me and find any messages that I send by the oak tree.”

  Finally, after Hopkins said his final goodbyes to the teens and allowed them to change back into their own clothes, they took the rock he offered and linked hands. He also gave them a second Dominus Temporis, the one he had recently captured, explaining that the Emperors of Time would be more likely to expect that Hopkins himself still had it, rather than suspecting some teenagers from the 21st century. Since Julie was the most experienced with going back in time out of the four of them, they let her hold the rock and envision the scene Hopkins had described.

  The four of them had a pleasant night, watching the stars in the Southern Hemisphere travel across the pitch black sky. Because they didn’t know what the southern constellations were, they picked out their own patterns and named them, aside from the times when they were discussing what a crazy day they had just had.

  Chapter 10

  Charles E. Hughes

  After a well-deserved night sleeping at their respective houses, Billy, Rose, and Julie gathered at Tim’s house on Sunday afternoon. Julie had brought Hopkins’ book with her, and Tim’s parents were so excited about Tim having guests over that they provided snacks and drinks. It was lucky, though, that they stayed mostly out of Tim’s room that afternoon, as the conversation concentrated on things that would sound absurd to anyone who was not currently planning a trip back in time to save the world.

  “Okay, so we’re good down to Lincoln,” said Tim, after a cursory glance at Hopkins’ list of presidents. Their first plan was to try to see where the presidents strayed from the true timeline, and go from there. This part would be pretty easy, since Tim knew the American Presidents, or at least the ones who had served in his timeline, off the top of his head.

  “Okay, good,” said Julie.

  “Sorry, but is any of this blowing anyone else’s mind?” asked Rose. “I mean, we’re trying to figure out where our universe basically became an alternate universe. That’s weird, right?”

  “Of course it’s weird,” said Billy, with a voice that mixed sympathy and annoyance. “But we’ve got a job to do, so we have to deal with it.”

  “After Lincoln comes Andrew Johnson, that’s normal,” said Tim, basically ignoring what his friends were saying. Then Grant, Hayes, Garfield… check, check, check. Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison, and then Cleveland again… that’s weird, but it’s in both our timeline and the original one… Okay, then McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft… Oh, wait, here it is!”

  “What?” asked Julie. The simple recitation of the list of presidents seemed to be monotonous enough to her math-loving, social-studies hating mind that she had almost fell asleep, but Tim’s excitement roused her.

  “Well, here Wilson serves from 1913 to 1921! Oh, this is so weird… Harding, Coolidge, Hoover… I’ve never even heard of them, but according to Hopkins, they were presidents in the true timeline. Anyway, this is clearly where the paths diverge,” said Tim.

  “You’re sure?” asked Billy. In contrast to Tim’s excitement and amazement, Billy was all business.

  “Yeah, no… that’s not right,” said Rose. “I know Wilson only served for one term in our timeline--” Billy looked at her with raised eyebrows. “What? They teach advanced history at Catholic school, too, you know. Here, Tim, do you have a history textbook?”

  “Yeah, but we don’t need it. I know a lot about the 1910s and 1920s,” he got his history book out of his bookbag and handed it to her anyway. “In our timeline, Wilson’s single term was followed by Charles E. Hughes. Hughes led us through the Great War and was responsible for the start of the American Empire. Remember how I told you about that the other day, Julie?”

  “Of course,” Julie answered.

  Tim was flipping through the other pages Hopkins had written. “Apparently, Wils
on fought the Great War in the original timeline… Except for some reason Hopkins calls it World War I,” Tim said. But after he kept flipping, he said, “Yeah, okay… because there was another big war about 25 years later. Hmmm… In our timeline at that point France was fighting Germany for control of central Europe, but not many other countries got involved. Something must have happened during Wilson’s term to make the timeline get weird.”

  “Or during his election,” suggested Rose.

  Tim and the others looked at her. She was holding up his history textbook, open to what appeared to be an electoral map, with the different states in the U.S. colored blue and red.

  “Why do you say that?” asked Tim.

  “Well, just look,” said Rose. “The electoral vote in 1916 was 267 to 264. Plus, Wilson still won the popular vote by hundreds of thousands. I bet the Emperors of Time did something to change the election. They wouldn’t have had to do much.”

  “It makes about as much sense as anything else I’ve heard since yesterday,” said Billy, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

  “Worth exploring, anyway. So what state should have gone for Wilson that went for Hughes instead?” asked Julie.

  Rose shook her head. “It came down to three votes, so it’s hard to narrow down. If any state at all, even one with three electoral votes, changed columns, that would have been enough to switch the winner. Tim, does Hopkins tell us the electoral-vote totals for this election?”

  Tim was still flipping through the book. “I don’t see anything, no,” he shook his head. “Hopkins did say he was pressed for time. He didn’t know this was the year we would need, either, right?”

  “Right,” said Rose, her voice carrying an edge of frustration. “Well… Okay, to the internet then, shall we? Maybe we can find something that looks suspicious within our own timeline. They probably wouldn’t have wanted to change any more votes than they had to, right? Maybe there’s a state where it’s still close.”