by Simon Rose
“Will she come back?” said Stephanie.
“Probably not willingly. There’s a lot of evidence regarding major crimes that she and her associates may be implicated in. It could take a long time to bring it all to trial and if she’s in a country without an extradition treaty with the States she could well be gone for years.”
“What about the Castlewood Dynamics?” Alex asked.
“It’s been shut down for now and the employees are staying at home. However, as you know there are numerous branches overseas, partner companies in other countries, and others that Castlewood has shares in that many of us don’t even know about.”
“And she’ll have the best lawyers too,” Stephanie pointed out.
“That’s right,” said Marino. “I don’t think Veronica will be home any time soon but we’ll do our best.”
Alex’s phone vibrated. He took it from his pocket but the message was just a promotional text from the phone company. Marino glanced at Alex’s phone.
“Is that a new app, Alex?”
“What?”
“On your phone.”
“Oh, yeah,” Alex replied, trying to keep his cool. “It’s just a game.”
“I haven’t seen that one before,” said Marino. “But then again there are so many apps these days it’s hard to keep up.”
She stood up from her seat.
“Okay, I’d better go. I hope your dad’s feeling better soon.”
She walked over to the door and opened it for Alex and Stephanie before following them out into the reception area.
“I’ll keep in touch but contact me if you remember anything else that you think might be helpful with the investigation.”
“We will,” said Stephanie.
“Bye,” Alex added.
Marino smiled, then turned and walked toward the hospital’s exit.
“That was a close one,” said Stephanie, once Marino was well out of earshot. “Do you think she believed us?”
“About the app?”
“About everything.”
“She seemed to,” Alex replied. “After all, who’d believe the truth anyway?”
They both laughed then went to check in with Andrew and Angela.
Chapter Twenty-One
Inventing The Future
TWO WEEKS LATER, Alex and Stephanie were watching TV at his house. The news was about to start, following some commercials. Alex’s parents were visiting the hospital for Andrew’s follow up treatment. Officer Marino had visited the house several times to check in on Andrew and to provide updates on the ongoing investigation. She’d explained how the police department, along with the FBI, was very busy both at the mine and in the facility in the depths of the Castlewood Dynamics headquarters. On her most recent visit Marino had revealed that Lewis and Palmer had been arrested, although Veronica’s whereabouts were still unknown.
“So I guess Lewis and Palmer must have found Veronica near the dirt road, just after we left,” said Stephanie.
“Yeah,” Alex replied. “If they were heading to a plane to get her out of the country, that would explain why they were driving so fast when we saw the van on the road in the woods. It sounds like she got away safely but they weren’t so lucky.”
“I wonder where she is now?”
“Who knows? Maybe there’ll be something on the news.”
“Hey,” said Stephanie. “It’s on.”
“INVESTIGATIONS CONTINUE INTO Castlewood Dynamics, one of Silicon Valley’s leading technology corporations,” the news anchor began. “Operations by the police department and the FBI have focused on the company headquarters in San Jose as well as at a previously unknown research facility outside the city. Investigations by local law enforcement agencies are also taking place overseas at other Castlewood Dynamics offices and with several of Castlewood’s subsidiaries and partner companies. Further arrests have been made although the company CEO Veronica Castlewood remains at large.”
The news story primarily concerned the revelations about the company’s business dealings. Much of the information was derived from evidence provided by the police department about the company’s operations, corruption, and insider stock market trading. The police had learned much of this crucial information from the documents Stephanie had hurriedly emailed from the lab at the mine. Castlewood Dynamics remained temporarily closed down pending further investigation.
“Ms. Castlewood’s lawyer spoke with reporters earlier today outside the company’s headquarters,” said the news anchor.
The image on the TV shifted to show Veronica’s lawyer outside the Castlewood Dynamics offices. Reporters surrounded him, firing questions regarding recent developments, although the lawyer wasn’t very forthcoming. Most of his answers were non-committal or simply sidestepped the reporters’ questions.
“You can rest assured that we will be fighting these baseless allegations with the force of the law,” he said as the press conference drew to a close. “Ms. Castlewood has done nothing wrong, but will remain outside the United States while the investigation continues.”
“How long do you think she’ll be out of the country?” said a reporter standing near the front.
“That will depend on the process of the investigation. I’m unable to speculate on that issue.”
“And where is Ms. Castlewood currently located?” the same reporter asked.
“I’m afraid I can’t comment on that,” said the lawyer. “Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.”
He abruptly brought the press conference to a close and pushed his way through the crowd to a waiting car as the reporters continued to ask him questions.
“Well, he didn’t say too much, did he?” said Alex.
Before Stephanie could answer, the screen was suddenly filled with static. Alex and Stephanie were astonished as a familiar face appeared on the TV.
“Alexander!” Stephanie exclaimed.
“You’re alive!” said Alex.
“Yes,” said Alexander, smiling. “You could say that reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
“But the door breaking down,” Alex said. “And those shots.”
“And the blood,” added Stephanie.
“I know,” said Alexander, sighing. “Please accept my apologies. Like I told you, for me it had all happened before, when I was your age, Alex.”
“We thought you were dead,” said Alex.
“Yes, I’m sorry about that,” said Alexander. “I had to do something dramatic to get your attention. I know how hard it was to stay on track and trust me, especially as things seemed to be happening differently to what I was telling you. You were definitely wavering by that point, wondering if you could change things or if it was all predetermined. My death seemed to be the only way to shake things up when I sent you the mine’s coordinates.”
“So was everything fake?” Stephanie asked. “Those images from the future?”
“The technology that you saw all exists,” replied Alexander. “Fortunately, it’s not all controlled by Castlewood Dynamics. I’m sorry I lied and only fed you limited information, but it was necessary. I was asking you to prevent a possible course of events. But I still had to make sure that you completed your mission so that Veronica’s plans were defeated.”
“So was the future ever really in danger?” asked Stephanie.
“Especially if you were deliberately misleading us all along,” Alex added.
Alexander shook his head.
“Oh, it was in danger. If I hadn’t sent the messages to get you to save Dad, Veronica would have won. Alex, you’d never have embarked on the mission, or even believed yourself capable of it, without my initial message from the future.”
Alex thought for a moment.
“So is this knowledge of the future allowed? I mean, every book I’ve read or movie that I’ve seen says that’s dangerous.”
“Don’t worry,” said Alexander. “Now that you’ve defeated Veronica, the two of you will one day become partners and
found a technology company together.”
“Really?” asked Stephanie, excitedly.
“Yes, really,” Alexander replied.
“What sort of things will we make?” said Alex.
Alexander smiled.
“You’ll invent the technology that made this whole adventure possible in the first place. However, you shouldn’t have any detailed knowledge of what’s to come. That would be cheating.”
He winked at them.
“The app on your phone will disappear soon, but it should still be on there for a few days. And now I have to say goodbye. Thank you for all your help.”
Before Alex and Stephanie could ask any more questions, the image of Alexander vanished from the TV screen.
“So that’s it?” said Stephanie. “He’s gone for good?”
“Looks that way,” Alex replied. “I don’t think we’ll hear from him again.”
He looked down at the icon on his phone.
“You know, we should really study this app in more detail while we still can. We’ve been using it so much but we have no real idea how it works.”
“Yeah,” Stephanie agreed. “I’m curious about that as well.”
They stood up from the couch.
“I know this whole thing has been just insane,” said Stephanie, as they walked toward the basement steps. “But don’t you feel strange that we have to create the technology so that everything that happened could really happen?”
She shook her head.
“Even that sentence sounds crazy. You know what I mean though, right?”
“Yeah,” Alex replied. “It is really weird, but then again, none of this ever made much sense, did it?”
They both laughed before heading down to the workshop in the basement. It would take some time, but they were about to begin work on the inventions that would in many ways shape their future.
About the Author
Simon was born in Derbyshire, England and has lived in Calgary since 1990.
He is the author of The Alchemist’s Portrait, The Sorcerer’s Letterbox, The Clone Conspiracy, The Emerald Curse, The Heretic’s Tomb, The Doomsday Mask, The Time Camera, The Sphere of Septimus, and Flashback. Simon is also the author of The Children’s Writer’s Guide, a contributor to The Complete Guide to Writing Science Fiction Volume One, and has written many nonfiction books for younger readers.
Simon offers programs for schools, is an instructor with the University of Calgary and Mount Royal University and offers services for writers, including editing, writing workshops and coaching, plus copywriting for the business community.
Find Simon at simon-rose.com
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Chapter One - The Storm
Chapter Two - Unwelcome News
Chapter Three - Curiouser and Curiouser
Chapter Four - The Visitors
Chapter Five - Texts From Tomorrow
Chapter Six - Learning Curves
Chapter Seven - Castlewood Dynamics
Chapter Eight - Revelations
Chapter Nine - The Shape of Things To Come
Chapter Ten - Expect The Unexpected
Chapter Eleven - The Mansion
Chapter Twelve - The Terrible Truth
Chapter Thirteen - The Laboratory
Chapter Fourteen - Foregone Conclusions
Chapter Fifteen - A Matter of Trust
Chapter Sixteen - Search and Rescue
Chapter Seventeen - Into the Depths
Chapter Eighteen - No Escape
Chapter Nineteen - The Road to Recovery
Chapter Twenty - Telling Stories
Chapter Twenty-One - Inventing The Future
About the Author