by Clark Graham
“Felix, this cab will take you to the doctor, where you will be checked over and cleaned up. Then we’ll meet up with you,” Dalton said.
Felix shrugged and got into the car. At least he was still alive.
At the office, they stripped him naked, weighed him, sprayed him with some chemical, shaved his head, and then showered him. He was dressed in a nice suit and tie, then pushed out of the office.
Dalton, Mary, and Diana were waiting for him when he left the office.
Diana hugged him. He couldn’t remember when a hug felt so good. He then turned to Dalton. “They shaved my head.”
“You had lice. It’s the easiest way to get rid of it.” He put a bowler hat on Felix’s head. “It will grow back, meanwhile, wear the hat.”
Adjusting the hat, Felix asked, “How did you get me out?”
“Most of the conspirators in the death of the Archduke were having their sentences commuted, so I asked my lawyer to see what he could do for you. He was able to get your sentence commuted too.”
“Thank you so much. What is to become of me now?”
“You are extremely malnourished, according to the doctor’s report. I am to fatten you up, but that will have to wait. We need to get back as soon as possible. Here, the United States Government has issued you new identification papers because they want no notoriety about you coming back home. You are now Jakob Franz, while you are traveling, at least. We’ll get you back to the states and go from there.”
Dalton handed him the papers. He looked over them. “Thank you again. When do we leave?”
“Right now.”
Another cab pulled up a few minutes later and the group climbed in. They were dropped off at the train station.
Steam and smoke billowed out of the train as it made its way to the coast. Felix sat across from Dalton. “Thanks again for helping me.”
“Are you done with this nonsense then? World War One is over, are you going to try and stop the next war? It’s coming in a few short years.”
‘I’m done.”
Dalton sat back. “Good.”
The next day they boarded a ship heading towards America. Felix had night tremors. Diana held him. As he lay in her arms, he asked, “What will become of me, of us? I know too much.”
“You will work for Dalton. It's all set. Those things he doesn’t remember of the future, you will fill him in on. He’s adapted to the circumstances well, you will also.”
Felix nodded. “I’m ready to accept my fate. It’s a lot better fate than it was just a few days ago.”
Chapter Forty
Long Island, New York
1920
Felix stood on the deck of the ship during its voyage. He couldn’t sleep. The nightmares had started and it jolted him awake every time he drifted off. He stared out across the empty sea. He felt gentle arms around his waist.
“Come back to bed. I’m lonely,” Diana put her cheek against his.
“It’s so good to be free, but my mind isn’t. I’ve seen murders, suffering, and brutality. My mind isn’t letting go.”
“Okay, we can just sit here arm in arm and watch the waves go by then.”
He nodded, “I would like that.”
It was the first week back in the United States. Dalton had opened up an office on Long Island, halfway between New York and the Hamptons. Diana wanted to be near her father. He had taken a turn for the worse while Felix had been away, so the two of them stayed in the city. Diana did most of the cooking in the diner these days. Her father helped where he could.
Felix walked into the office, a one-story building next to the main road. The land would be worth a fortune in only a few years. He sat down at his desk. An old typewriter greeted him. Dalton walked in a few minutes later.
Felix looked up, “What am I supposed to be doing?”
“Good morning,” Dalton smiled. “I need to know a few things to fill in the blanks of history.” He walked in the office and then came back out with a list of questions. “Here, fill in the answers for me. You can use the typewriter or you can just write down the answers.” Dalton walked back into his office.
Felix looked at the first one. “How did they come to get their hands on the Vmax3 drive?”
He put a piece of paper in the typewriter and pushed a key. Nothing happened. He pushed it harder. Still nothing. He slammed it down. It finally left a mark. “How do you use this contraption?” he yelled through the door.
“It takes a lot of getting used to, especially if you’ve just come off of using a computer keyboard. Write down the answers.”
Felix sighed, then pulled out a pen. Fountain pen. He sighed again. He hadn’t needed to write anything down while a prisoner, or a dishwasher. Diana had done that for him, those few times he needed it. “Is the pencil invented yet?”
Dalton came in the room. “Here, sorry I forgot all the troubles I had adjusting to this time.” He put two pencils on the desk and walked back to the office.
Felix pulled the paper out of the typewriter and set it on the desk. Pushing the typewriter aside he wrote.
There are several copies of the Vmax3 drive in existence in my century. Phillip Anderson was sent back in time to bring you back, so you could explain what went wrong. He never made it back to our time. The plane was found in the 1970s with holes in the oil tank. No word on Anderson’s fate ever surfaced.
It is suspected that a pirated copy of the Vmax3 drive made it away from the Lockheed plant, but was never proven. Phillip Anderson did smuggle a copy of the plans for the plane out of Boeing, but that would mean nothing without the Vmax3 drive. If the same people have a copy of the drive and the plane, it would still require a massive amount of money to develop it and the expertise to build it. So far as I know, nobody has tried. If a foreign government has both of those, then the past and the future is theirs.
Two completed planes existed. The FBI had one but it was destroyed by the CIA. The government agencies didn’t trust each other. You destroyed the other. I left a man in the seventies to destroy the one that Phillip Anderson flew. I have no idea if he succeeded.
Senator James has been, or I should say, will be, sent to prison for his role in procuring the money for the plane. The timeline will be very different now that your copy is destroyed. I will not be coming back in that version of history.
Dalton’s next question was, “What would the future be like if Ted would have found the plane?”
Ted brought the plane up from the depths, but it was in rough shape. It was 1925 before he did though, so that’s in the future. If I hadn’t interfered, that is. He tried for years to get it to work, but then gave up and visited you. Because you were dying of prostate cancer, he thought you would jump at the chance to fix it and go back to get treated. He never made it home, but died in a car crash.
Ted’s son Mel tried to fix the plane also, but Bryan found out and received a court order to take the plane. Mel murdered him and went to prison. The plane bounced around until it ended up in Senator James’ hands. He was able to rebuild the plane and the Vamx3 drive. That was the plane Phillip Anderson flew back to you and ended up in the seventies.
How can we stop these visits back to the 1900s?
I think you did already.
Dalton came back into the room and read over the answers. He swallowed. “This is hard to read.” He walked out without saying another word.
Felix ventured into Dalton’s office, after knocking on the door. Dalton looked up. “I’ve already messed the time line up, so it’s irreparable. I’ve done the same thing you spent five years in prison over. I’ll still die, but my son won’t. What happens if he has kids? I don’t know what to do. I thought I could stop Hitler, one little boy drowns, history heals itself. It doesn’t work. Every child has an impact. What am I going to do?”
Felix looked at him long and hard. “I thought it was so easy for you. I never realized. You watch the Titanic go down and couldn’t lift a finger. You let me rot in prison. I’m no
t bitter. You did what you thought was right, but here we are still, messing with our own future. The future me will not come back in time. I’ve changed the timeline by being here. We may have ruined our own lives.”
Dalton took a deep breath. “Worse than that, I thought my nephew was on the ship and I still let it go down.” He went over and pulled up a chair. “We will do the best we can not to mess up the timeline. That’s all we can do.”
Felix nodded. “Agreed.”
Chapter Forty-One
New York, New York
1919
Dalton walked into the yard of the stonemason. All around him, men chiseled away on stones. A few had lean-to shelters, but most of them were exposed to the elements. A short man with a leather apron on came up to Dalton.
“How can I help ya, Sir?”
“I need a stone cut.”
“How big a stone?”
“I want a large cross, about my height, made of granite. I want this inscription on it.” Dalton handed him a folded piece of paper.
“Just a second.” The man whistled and a boy of about fourteen came up. “My eyes aren’t so good for reading small stuff. Read it to me, Paul.”
“Yes, Sir.” Paul unfolded the paper. “Says, Captain Gerald Myers. Born September 15, 2012. Died January 6, 1894.”
The short man hit Paul upside the head. “Read it right.”
“That’s what it says, Pa.”
The man turned to Dalton. “I think there’s a mistake, Sir. Did you mean September 15, 1812?”
“No, I meant 2012. That’s how I want the stone inscribed. I have a reason for doing it that way.”
The man shrugged, “It’s your money. I need some cash up front to buy that much granite.”
Dalton nodded, “Of course.”
Dalton picked up the Cross three weeks later. The tug chugged out into the Atlantic Ocean. It pulled a barge with a small crane on it. The cross was wrapped in tarps and tied securely on the deck. The tug stopped and anchored. The captain walked out of the pilot house. “This is the spot. I’ll send my divers down first. They will secure the cross as we lower it.”
Dalton, Felix, Mary, David, and Bryan stood on the deck of the tug, watching the divers descend. Later, a yank on the line indicated the divers were in place. The crane puffed smoke and the cross was attached to it. Pulling it up and slowly dropping it down, the crane let out line.
Another yank, the crane took in line and the divers came up.
Dalton cleared his throat. “None of you knew Captain Myers, but he was a good man. He deserved a lot more than to die so far away from home and so far out of his time. He could be irritating at times, but he died doing his duty like the good soldier that he was.”
Dalton nodded to the captain and the ship pulled anchor and headed back to the city.
At the office the next morning, Dalton was late. Felix finished up on some of the assignments he’d been given. When Dalton came in, he turned to Felix and said, “You need to get away from the East Coast. Move to Alaska. I’ve told my son not to have kids, but he just laughed at me. I don’t know what to do. I’m going to destroy history.”
“It’s cold in Alaska.”
“Not so bad, if you’re on the coast. Nobody history-changing ever came out of Alaska.”
Felix shook his head. “You’re overreacting. Most people are born, grow up, and then die and don’t make a dent on history. We’re going to be okay. You are talking about killing Hitler. He was a major player in history. What about that sugar beet farmer in Idaho? How does his life and death impact history?”
Dalton sat down. “I don’t know. I just don’t know.”
“What’s gotten you so upset?”
“We’re going to destroy the timeline. I didn’t know my son would die in this current timeline. Now his life, his very existence, changes everything. What if one of his kids, or your children, turn out to be evil?”
“What if they turn out good? What if they save mankind from a major disaster? That’s just as likely. We have a right to live out our lives. We have been put in these circumstances beyond our control. History will have to adjust to us like it has to every single person that comes along.”
Dalton smiled. “I’ve never heard you so profound.” He stroked his chin. “You know, you’re right. I should not have married. I should not have built up a fortune. I should have let Phillip take me back to my time, but yet, here I am. I’m going to live my life. I am going to do one more thing. I’m going to try and stop the time machine from being built. It’s caused a lot of deaths.”
Felix’s eyes widened. “How is that going to affect history?”
“It will make sure I don’t kill Hitler. If I fail to save him the next time around, it destroys the world. That bullet could have hit me as easily as it hit Myers.”
“But you won’t go back in time. You won’t meet Mary.”
“Perhaps you’re right. I won’t be alive to stop it anyway. I would have to send Bryan. I’m going to close down operations here. Your father-in-law is ailing, I heard. I can purchase the family diner and you can run it.”
Felix smiled. “I see what you’re doing. A small-time diner owner won’t impact history. I would say no, but Diana would love it, so, yes.”
Dalton nodded and left the room.
Chapter Forty-Two
The Hamptons, New York
1921
“You invented Chicken Fried steak?” Dalton, Mary, Felix, and Diana sat at the table in the newly remodeled diner.
“It was invented in Texas, but I was the first one to bring it to New York City.” Felix smiled.
“It is very good,” Mary commented, “I’ve never had anything like it.”
“In our time, it’s in nearly every good restaurant on the planet. Great idea, Felix, bringing it to New York. You two are doing good things here. The place looks great.”
“Yes, it’s the heyday of diners. In a decade or two, they will start to dwindle out, but I’ll be retired by then.”
“You two always talk in riddles,” Diana replied. “It’s so unnerving to know all that you do. What disaster is awaiting us next?” She shivered.
“Nothing much. This era will be referred to as the Roaring Twenties.”
“When do I need to get out of the stock market?” Felix asked.
“What, he needs to get out of the stock market?” Diana eyed both men. “He’s doing so well in it.”
“Before 1929. It will lose almost half its value over a single week, but before then, you’ll make lots of money.” Dalton smiled. “No, you have nothing to worry about for years.”
“Good,” Diana replied.
“I heard Bryan is engaged,” Felix commented.
“I tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn’t talk. He says he loves the girl.” Dalton took another forkful.
“You shouldn’t have tried. Honestly, he has a right to a full and happy life.” Mary scowled at him.
“Well, dinner was delicious. Thank you so much.” Dalton stood up and offered Mary his arm. “Should we head back home, Mrs. Dalton?”
She smiled and took his arm. “Yes, Mr. Dalton.”
Felix looked around. “I love this place and time. I’m glad I came back. If I hadn’t, I would never have met you.”
She hugged him. “If only we could have had kids.”
“Prison destroyed any chance of that. Besides, us having kids? That would have really worry Dalton.”
Ted watched as Charles ran into his office. He was out of breath when he stood in front of Ted’s desk. “They met again, at the diner. I couldn’t get close enough to everything they said, but I overheard Dalton say something about the stock market losing its value.”
“That must be the crash in 1929. Did they mention the time machine at all?”
Charles shook his head. “I think they destroyed it.”
“I still want to hear everything they say to each other. Two men from the future will always talk about it.”
&nb
sp; “Yes, Sir.”
Ted couldn’t stand it anymore. The only way to get the information he needed was to talk to Dalton himself.
He didn’t set an appointment, but drove to the house.
“Hello, Ted,” Mary smiled. “What brings you all the way out here?”
“I need to talk to Adalwolf. Is he here?”
“Yes, of course, come in.”
He walked into the parlor and Mary ran upstairs to get Dalton.
“Ted, good to see you, have a seat.”
When he was settled, Ted said, “You beat me. I congratulate you.”
“You couldn’t have used the time machine anyway. It was badly decayed and the parts to fix it haven’t been invented yet.”
“Yes, but there’s another one, isn’t there?”
“Two more, as far as I know. I truly hope there aren’t any others.”
“What happened to those two?”
“One I destroyed and the other was stuck in the 1970s. I shot it full of holes. I hadn’t expected that one. The second one I anticipated.”
“They keep trying to take you back to the future. Why don’t you go with them?” Ted leaned back in his chair.
“My life is here. The machine destroys time. I don’t want any part of that. If they keep sending the new machines, I’ll keep destroying them.”
“Could you keep one of them? Let us see the future now and then to improve our portfolios?”
Dalton laughed. “I don’t know if they will send any more, but no, I fear what the machines can do so I’ll keep destroying them.”
“Can’t blame a guy for trying.”
“Nope.”
Ted stood up to leave, but shook Dalton’s hand first.
He walked out of the house but didn’t get into his car. Instead he had a meeting with a real estate agent who was waiting for him across the street.
“This is the property you asked about, Ted. What do you think?”
“I’ll take it.”