by Edward Gates
Dave mumbled something under his breath, shoved his gun back in his holster and crawled back into his bedroll.
Charlie looked over at Ed, who stood with a broad smile on his face and nodded approvingly at him.
Ed raised his voice so all could hear. “I guess some people just wake up a little grumpy.”
“Why don’t you shut your yap and go back to sleep.” Dave rolled over away from Ed and Charlie.
Charlie could hear Walter snicker from his bedroll. Ed lay back down in his bedroll and Charlie walked back out to where the horses were tethered. He set a blanket on the ground and sat down near them. He knew this wasn’t over. More agents would come. Maybe not now, but they would come. With those two destroyed agents being auto-transported back, once again they would know exactly where he was at this point in time. He wondered whether this would go on for the rest of his life. He was in a no-win situation. In order to check historical records and preserve recorded history, he needed to use the time belt; however, every time he used it, it would alert the time-agents as to his position.
He sat pondering his options when off in the distance was another flash of light, a little closer than the first one. But it wasn’t quite the same. This blue light wasn’t as bright and had a purple hue to it. And even more amazing was the fact that there was hardly any sound at all. Charlie stood and walked out toward where the light flashed. He pulled his pistol again and waited. Is this going to go on all night?
Charlie stood staring off into the dark prairie, waiting. After quite a while, a figure came walking toward him. Usually the agents travel in pairs; it was strange to see a single figure. It was hardly distinguishable in the dark since it didn’t appear to be wearing a glowing vest. Androids always marched in a perfectly timed and balanced cadence, but this person walked more like a human than an android. Charlie’s curiosity was amplified as the figure got closer. It stopped about ten yards away.
“Is that you, Archie?”
Charlie didn’t answer.
“Archie? It’s Dad. I want to talk to you.”
33
Fatherly Advice
Charlie gasped and felt light-headed. His knees buckled from the shock of seeing his father. His initial thought was to run to his father’s outstretched arms and fall into his embrace. But, that would never happen -- his father’s arms were never outstretched. The elusive embrace that he had dreamed of since he was a child would never materialize. He knew his father would dismiss any outward sign of affection.
He took a deep breath and cleared his mind. The momentary softness he felt in his heart for his father soon turned cold and hard.
“Hello, ‘Daddy’,” Charlie spat out with as much sarcastic bitterness as he could muster. “What are you doing here? Gonna try and sweet-talk me into giving myself up?”
Dr. Campbell shook his head and took a few steps forward. “Are you going to shoot me, too?”
Charlie realized his gun was still in his hand and leveled at his father. “Give me a reason not to.”
“I’m here to offer you a way out, Archie.”
“Bullshit! I don’t buy it. Sorry, but your words don’t carry much weight with me anymore.” Charlie felt his voice rise. He slipped his gun back into the holster and took a few steps closer to his father. Quietly he said, “We can’t talk here. I can’t take the chance of waking those guys over by the fire.”
“Okay. Then let’s take a walk away from here.”
Charlie stared at his father. He wanted to tell him to go to hell and never see him again. But that would be too simple, too unfinished. He really wanted to tell his father a lot more than that. This would probably be his only chance.
In silence, the two began a slow walk across the plains away from Charlie’s camp.
“Do you have a new travel device? Where’s your belt?” Charlie asked, breaking the silent tension between them.
“Two wrist bands, now. Lighter weight and more compact.” His father held out his arms for Charlie to see the wide gold and silver wristbands that mostly covered his forearms. They were adorned with silver ornamentation and dotted with what looked like a few colored gemstones.
“There wasn’t any noise. And the light was different.”
“Yeah. They’re working with some new materials like ruby crystals instead of the silver alloys. They also found a way to slow down the instant displacement of the air molecules. Now it sounds more like a wind instead of a breach of the sound barrier.”
“Did you do that?”
“No. Wish I had. I haven’t done any development for quite a while now.”
They walked a little farther when his father smiled and said, “You’re going to have to stop shooting the agents. It’s getting expensive trying to repair them.” He chuckled at his own humor, trying to lighten the mood. “At least you shot this last one in the head. The heads are easily replaced. But when you blow apart their processors, we have to scrap the whole thing and get a new one.”
“If you want me to stop shooting them, then quit sending them after me.”
“Well, now that is a possibility that was discussed,” his father said.
Charlie stopped walking. Did he hear that correctly? Was he really going to be left alone? His father stopped with him and turned to look at him. “We are considering calling off the agents, but there are some conditions.”
“Of course. I’d be surprised if there weren’t. Anything from you always had strings attached.” There was an awkward silence as Charlie stared into his father’s eyes. He noticed a softness and a tiredness in those eyes that he had never seen before.
“I didn’t kill that guy, Dad. The failsafe didn’t work,” he began. He didn’t intend to talk about that dreadful night, but felt compelled to explain what happened. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve thought about that evening a lot. There was no way for that accident to just happen like it did. That system is too sophisticated. Whenever it detects a problem that it can’t fix or bypass, the failsafe shuts the system down. It’d done that a few times before. But not this time. I think it was sabotaged. I think somebody screwed with the vacuum seal and then disabled the failsafe. That’s the only explanation.”
“Yes. We know.”
“You know?”
“After we investigated it, we all came up with the same opinion as you. In fact, we’re pretty sure we even know who tampered with the system. But we can’t prove it.”
“Who?”
His father didn’t answer.
“It was that damn second-shift operator, wasn’t it?” Charlie’s anger rose as he remembered that night and how upset the operator had been about his showing up late.
Again, there was no answer from his father.
“Then I’m off the hook!” Charlie said with a bit of excitement. “I can go back home!”
“Not quite. That’s one of the conditions.” His father walked a few steps away and Charlie followed.
“What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything. Someone else messed up the transport, not me. Did you even talk to that operator?”
“He disappeared after the accident. We haven’t been able to locate him.”
“You can’t find him? Are you kidding me?” Charlie’s anger started to boil. “You can track me across multiple time dimensions, but you can’t find some punk intern in the same city as you?” He shook his head. “That’s unbelievable!”
Again there was silence from his father.
“I think you’d better explain your idea to me before I get too angry to listen.”
“Whether you did anything or not is irrelevant at this point. You were still at the helm when the accident happened. The media got wind of the accident... probably from the same person who sabotaged the transport. Michael O’Donnell’s family is screaming for justice, along with your head… and probably a big paycheck. They’re blaming you and the whole Teleport Agency. Their attorneys are petitioning for a full Justice Department investigation into the safety of the program, its fina
nces, the people in the agency and everything else associated with the program. The longer this drags on, the bigger it gets.”
Charlie stopped walking. He had a pretty good idea where this was going. “You want me to be the scapegoat, don’t you?”
Dr. Campbell looked away, then slowly nodded. “The ramifications of a Justice investigation would be disastrous. Not only for the program, but for a lot of good, innocent people who would have their lives destroyed in the media for no reason. You know how these investigations get magnified and dissected.”
“So, I’m innocent. But everyone’s going to think I killed that guy.”
“It’ll go away. We’ll tell the O’Donnells that you were eliminated resisting arrest and settle their grievance out of court for a few million credits, and eventually it will all go away.”
“So, if I’m playing dead, then I won’t be able to come back home, right?”
Again, Charlie’s father nodded.
“For how long, Dad? When will I be able to come back home?”
“You can’t… ever.”
Charlie’s heart felt like it stopped beating. He was shocked. Ever? He had always considered going back home to the future at some point. He had never wanted to stay here for the rest of his life.
His father continued. “The order for your apprehension will be sealed, but never cancelled. If you show up back home and someone spots you, all this could resurface. And that would be worse than what we’re going through now. If you came back, the Enforcers would immediately apprehend you and take you away.” There was a pause as Charlie took it all in. “Look, Archie, you told the first agent you wanted to stay here. Now you’ve got your wish.”
“I… I… never considered making this a permanent move.” Charlie took a step away from his father and then without thinking turned and lashed out at him. “Always covering your ass, aren’t you? This isn’t about me. It’s about protecting yourself and your beloved program. You’re going to sacrifice your son for the sake of other people and the program.”
“Archie, listen to me. I did everything I could to get this to go away. Once it became public it was out of my hands. This is the best deal I could get them to agree to. You get to live here in the past trouble-free. That’s the deal.”
“Them… we… they… who are you talking about? Who are these people making these decisions about me that you can’t do anything about?”
“It’s a board made up of a number of people, Archie. Heads of the Travel Department, their lawyers, the Chairman and officers from the Transport Agency, and the government’s Secretary of Transportation and his vice-chairman. There’s a lot at stake here. Like I said, it’s out of my hands.”
“What if I don’t agree and decide to come back anyway?”
“It’s not debatable, Archie. This is what’s been decided. We have to keep everyone believing you’re dead. They’ve already created a hologram to release to the media showing you being destroyed. It actually looks pretty convincing. You don’t get a choice here. Like I said, if you show back up you’ll be apprehended and most likely eliminated without anyone ever knowing.”
Charlie turned away and stared back at the glimmer of the campfire far off in the prairie. This was hard to digest. He rolled his father’s news over in his mind.
“What if I come back with you right now?”
The older man let out a deep sigh. “If you come back now, you’ll be arrested and there would be a trial. But don’t think you’d be exonerated in the trial. It would be a circus. I guarantee you’d be found guilty and put away. They’ll do anything to make O’Donnell and this fiasco go away. You’re the scapegoat either way you look at it. Here, you’re free and clear. Back home, you’re a criminal.”
Charlie nodded. He couldn’t decide whether this was good news or bad. On the one hand, he had this new life here and now he’d never be bothered by the time-agents again. On the other hand, he’d never see Angel again, nor his friends and coworkers. He’d never see his apartment or all the conveniences of his home that he’d been missing. Everyone there would always believe he was a murderer… a dead murderer.
“I guess I don’t have a choice, then, do I, Dad?”
“Archie, you have no idea how hard this is for me. I know I haven’t been the best father to you. I only wanted you to be the best you could be. I wanted you to strive for your best on your own because I knew I wouldn’t always be around.”
Charlie turned to look at his father. He wanted to say something, but nothing came out.
“Your mother’s death hit me pretty hard and I don’t think I ever got over it. I want you to know, though, I’ve always been proud of you.”
“Proud of me? You know, Dad, it would have been nice to hear how proud you were of me once in a while. That’s all I ever wanted from you. Just your acceptance and approval. But you never gave that to me. Whatever I did was never good enough for you. You were always too busy and involved in your life… never with my life.”
His father lowered his head. Charlie could see that this weighed heavily on him.
“You burned me. You had this illegal time device and threw that all on me. Most parents defend and protect their children. You blamed everything on me to save your ass.”
“But it saved your ass, didn’t it?”
Charlie had never looked at it that way before. His father was right. If he hadn’t found the time belt he’d most likely be in jail, or worse. But that still didn’t change the situation.
There was a pause as he looked at his father for the last time. “Maybe it’s better this way. We’ve never had much of a relationship anyway. You can tell them I’ll play the game. I won’t be back.” He looked his father in the eye. “This cuts it… you and me. We’re done. I don’t have a father anymore. I think you’d better leave now.” Charlie turned away and started back to the camp. Tears began to well up in his eyes.
“Archie, wait. Archie! I want you to know you’re a good son.”
“Goodbye, Dr. Campbell.”
As Charlie walked back toward his camp, an unexpected calmness came over him. There was a brief blast of wind and a dull purplish flash of light behind him. He kept walking and didn’t turn around to look. The situation with the time-agents was over. They’d never bother him again. He felt vindicated, not only in the death of Michael O’Donnell, but also in his relationship with his father. Things got said that he needed to say. Even though no one else would ever know of his innocence, he knew it in his heart. He felt like he was truly free.
He stopped next to the horses and sat on his blanket and ran the conversation with his father over and over in his mind. Was he really free? He wasn’t supposed to be here. How would he live the rest of his life in the nineteenth century and never leave a mark on history?
His truly free life suddenly took on an ominous responsibility.
34
The Road to Denver
Ed Bass gently nudged Charlie as he lay sound asleep on the grass near the horses. Charlie rubbed his eyes and looked up at Ed.
“Fallin’ asleep on guard duty is a hanging offense around these parts.” Ed poked at Charlie with his foot.
“Damn! Sorry. I must have just dozed off. I was watching the sky get lighter and just sort of lay back.” Charlie stood and brushed himself off.
“Save it. I was just funnin’ with ya. We’ve all dozed off once or twice. Let’s get you some coffee.”
Charlie followed Ed back to the campsite and enjoyed coffee and breakfast with the others. He wanted to tell them about his experience with his father last night, but of course, that was something he’d have to keep inside for a long, long time.
After packing up the camp and hitching the teams, they were back on the road toward Denver. The day started out cold and cloudy and seemed to get colder by the minute. What little sun there was did nothing to warm up the day. Darker clouds began forming behind an increasing wind and by evening snow was falling.
Dave pulled the wagons just off the
trail and set up camp for the night. He parked one wagon perpendicular to the other to act as a windbreak and then built a fire between them.
“Gonna be a three-dog night,” Dave announced. “Keep that fire blazin’ and everybody grab extra blankets.”
Charlie set out the tarps off the sides of each wagon to form an overlapping lean-to, as Dave had done during the rainstorm. They all set their bedrolls under the tarps and wagons for the night while Jesse fixed supper. After they had all eaten and talked for a while, they began to turn in. Charlie had first watch.
Throughout the night the snow continued to fall, bringing an eerie stillness across the landscape. The wind blew snow across the prairie and deposited it in drifts against any tree, rock or hillside. The drifts distorted the beautiful grasslands and left a white, barren wasteland. The animals huddled close together and Charlie parked himself near the horses to try to avoid the wind. He made frequent walks back to the fire to keep warm.
In the middle of his shift, he returned to the fire and found Dave awake brewing coffee. “Your shift already?”
“No. I have trouble sleeping in the cold. You will too when you get to be my age.” Dave poured a cup of coffee and handed it to Charlie. “Sit down for a spell and warm up.” They sat and drank coffee, shared small talk and absorbed the heat from the fire. After a little while, Dave stood and patted Charlie’s shoulder.
“Well, get some sleep. I’ll take watch from now on. Pray this snow stops. If it gets any deeper, we’ll pay hell gettin’ these wagons through it.” Dave grabbed his rifle and a second blanket and walked off to watch the animals.
Charlie crawled into his bedroll, closed his eyes and thought about his new freedom from being hunted by the time-agents. He was dozing off when he heard Dave singing a soft song to the animals. A smile found its way to Charlie’s lips and he fell asleep with the tune of Dave’s ballad gently rolling through his head.
In the morning, a bright sunrise intensified the brilliance of the snow, making it blinding white. Charlie wished ruefully for his sunglasses, but those weren’t readily available in the mid-nineteenth century.