Daniel didn’t disagree that we had much to do on our own planet, but he’d argued that we might learn something that would help us in our tasks. Clure and others pointed to human history. First contact with a very different civilization was more about domination than learning.
They’d sparred on many topics, scientific, religious and alien, sometimes in private conversation, but other times on the stage in front of hundreds of others. But throughout the back and forth, there was no animosity, no insults, and in the end, a genuine respect had developed between them. Even a contrary view, when argued from a platform of civility, becomes not an ideological threat to vanquish, but an alternative to consider and an opportunity to grasp the diversity of humanity.
Reverend Elijah Haugen Clure could be exactly the right person to help. Not that Clure knew anything about the nature of time. But a scientific discussion wasn’t what Daniel had in mind. He located Clure’s contact record and started a text message.
17 Ebenezer
Midmorning in Atlanta. A pleasant breeze rustled the leaves on the still-green trees. A few weeks earlier, this place would have been a summer steam-bath. A few weeks more and the leaves would start showing their true sans-chlorophyll colors.
Daniel’s request for a ten-minute delay while he spoke with Clure was accepted by Griffith after some head-scratching. Indulging Daniel’s pre-jump eccentricities was the least he could do, he said. It seemed much like the offer of a cigarette before the firing squad.
Griffith and Chloe would wait for him in the old Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King, Jr. had preached so many years before. At least it was a tourist site, giving Chloe a glimpse of American history.
Built with red stone and white trim, the modern Ebenezer Baptist Church looked like a larger and more sculpted version of its ancestor. The new building was the natural result of a swelling congregation that now proudly included many white residents of Atlanta.
Daniel opened a large door and walked into a cavernous space soaring a hundred feet overhead. His footsteps echoed in the quiet, a reminder that this was Monday, a low-key day for any Christian church.
It was also a reminder that his weekend with Nala had officially evaporated. He’d sent a text upon arrival in Atlanta, but no answer. She’d be back at Fermilab, at work by now.
He wandered up one aisle toward the pulpit, and a familiar voice called from an open door at one side. “You sure you’re supposed to be in here?”
“The voice of God?” Daniel looked up in mock search. “No, my mistake. The voice of man.” They greeted each other with a handshake that morphed into a hug.
“Good to see you, Daniel.” Reverend Clure’s short-cropped hair was a little grayer at the temples, but otherwise he hadn’t changed since their debates. He wore an open-collar blue shirt with stylish slacks. With a strong physique, he looked more like an athlete on his day off than a pastor.
“Glad to find the door unlocked. After all, you knew I was coming.”
Clure smiled. “Our doors are open to everyone, even the nonbelievers. Imagine that! No qualifications to join this club.”
They’d had this discussion before; the elitist science club. “Are scientists really that bad?”
The reverend’s expression tightened. “Well, let’s just say that credentials are a big deal in your line of work.”
Reverend Clure wasn’t opposed to science. In fact, he had been quite supportive. But he worried that science had become too far removed from the everyday life of the average person. Daniel acknowledged the point with a nod. “How’s the college fund going?”
“More than four million dollars so far this year. We can help a thousand young people get a good education with that.”
“Outstanding. You should be very proud.”
“Best use of tax-deductible contributions that I can think of.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
Reverend Clure wagged a finger. “But you didn’t come here to talk about our college fund, did you? You have something else in mind.”
Daniel just smiled. He’d love to hear more about the work this church was doing to advance their community, but the president had been clear. As soon as possible.
“I’m on an assignment. Odd circumstances. Probably more than you’d want to hear. Or would believe.”
The reverend threw both hands in the air. “Ah, Dr. Daniel Rice. A witness to some of the most incredible things in our universe, but still not ready to accept the grandest story of them all.”
“Any evidence for your story that you didn’t have last time we talked?” Yes, it was snarky, but their relationship was close enough to allow for it.
The reverend shook his head. “Not your kind of evidence.”
Daniel could have carried the argument forward and enjoyed the amicable back and forth. Evidence doesn’t come in varieties, he’d say. If it’s not specific and verifiable, then it’s hearsay, imagination, or opinion.
But he hadn’t come to reengage in their ongoing religious argument. Being on opposite sides was no reflection on the man. Reverend Clure was someone Daniel could trust. It was why he had come.
“I need your help. A test of sorts.”
Clure nodded. “Just say the word.”
Daniel removed the multifunction watch from his wrist. “I need to leave this here.” The reverend looked puzzled, but he reached out. Daniel withdrew. “Not specifically with you. I’d like to leave it in the old church. Just for a day, I’ll pick it up tomorrow.”
“A test?” Clure asked, his eyes flitting between the watch and Daniel.
“A test of permanency. And of the sequence of events in time.” It wasn’t much of an explanation, but Daniel didn’t want to tell all just yet.
Clure shrugged. “Well, I’d be happy to help with your test, but the National Park Service manages the old church. It’s an historic site.”
Daniel had already figured this into his plan. “But you have access to the building.”
“I do, for weddings. But…”
“If it’s okay with you, I’d rather not involve the NPS. It’s part of the test.”
His skeptical expression remained. “I see. We can go over there, but it’s not exactly a secluded place. Lots of visitors every day. You leave a watch on a pew and someone will pick it up.”
“I wasn’t thinking about a pew. It’s an old building. I’m looking for a closet—even a crack in the wall will do.”
Clure scratched his head. “Well, there’s the storage room in the bell tower. We keep some Christmas decorations there.”
“Sounds promising. Can we go over? Just you and me. No one else.”
Clure squinted with one eye. “For the life of me, Daniel, I don’t think I’ll ever understand you. A test? With your watch in the old church? Overnight?”
Daniel nodded to all three questions. “If you don’t mind.”
Clure shrugged. “Okay, it seems harmless enough.”
He waved, and Daniel followed. He picked up a key from a desk in his office, and they exited the church. “It is just a watch, isn’t it?”
They walked side by side. “Yeah, nothing alien or subversive, if that’s what you mean. The watch isn’t really part of the test. It’s simply an item that’s easily identified as mine.”
They crossed a small park, and Daniel noticed a new sapling that had been planted recently, the thin tree still bound to a pole with rubber straps. He logged the image of the young tree in his mind. A useful gauge for his next step.
On the other side of the street, the old church stood as it had for one hundred and one years, its neon sign still hanging over the entry, still working. Rectangular towers graced both sides of the building with a stained-glass window between them. Daniel recalled reading about the centennial celebration the previous year. The church had replaced a broken pane with new artwork that included a bell-shaped aquatic creature resembling a Dancer from Ixtlub. A nice touch for the modern era.
The front doo
r was open, the entryway crowded with tourists, pointing and talking among themselves. Griffith and Chloe weren’t among them, but they were probably somewhere in the building. Past the rows of old pews, a young couple stood at the altar in front of a woman who appeared to be giving them instructions.
“Wedding rehearsal,” Clure said.
“Lots of weddings here?” Daniel asked.
“Booked solid through next year. We’re the first choice for just about every African-American couple in the area.”
They walked past a small alcove where a park ranger sat at a desk. “Hi, Lauren, we’ll be up in the attic for a few minutes.”
The young woman looked up. “That’s fine, Reverend. Just watch out for the spiders. We haven’t sprayed for a while.”
Clure unlatched a cord strung across the base of a staircase and reattached it behind them. Each step creaked as they went up. At the top landing, a locked door blocked their passage. Clure slid in a key. “We don’t ring the bells anymore, so it’s more of an attic these days.”
Clure led Daniel into a small room with a battered wooden floor, a window on the one side, dingy and covered with spiderwebs. There were a few folding tables against a wall and a closed door in one corner, its paint cracked and peeling.
“Restoration of the building didn’t bother with this room,” Clure said.
Daniel walked across the creaky floor and opened the closet door. Cardboard boxes filled several shelves. The highest shelf above Daniel’s head was empty, probably because there wasn’t much room between it and the ceiling.
“It’s perfect,” Daniel answered. “Can I put my watch on top?”
“That’s fine. No one will see it there, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Yeah. It’s a great hiding place. I’ll bet it could stay there without discovery for years.”
The reverend looked up to the high shelf. “Just the spiders up there. But this is just for overnight, right?”
“Should be, yeah. But, Elijah, if for whatever reason I’m not back here to pick it up, would you just leave it there?”
“I can do that. Your test might take longer?”
“Yeah, possibly. In fact, it would help if you just forgot all about it.”
“It’s your watch. Odd that you want to give it to the spiders, but I guess I’ve heard stranger things coming from you.”
Daniel laughed and pulled a coin from his pocket. “Yeah, this next part is stranger still. Heads for north, tails for south.” He flipped it in the air. “Heads. North side. Okay, one more time. Heads for east, tails for west.” He flipped again. “Tails. West. I’ll put it in the northwest corner.”
“Getting superstitious, are we?” the reverend asked.
“It gets worse,” Daniel answered, smiling. He counted the number of holes on the watch wristband. “Pick a number between one and ten.”
“Uh, seven.”
Daniel positioned the watchband hook into hole seven on the band. “Okay, between the four corners of the closet and the ten hole positions of the watchband, that gives me forty possible combinations. A 2.5 percent chance that I’ll find the watch in exactly this configuration by random chance, a 97.5 percent chance that the future is a direct consequence of the past. Or, I might find the watch in a different configuration, in which case I’m screwed.”
The reverend shook his head, clearly flustered by the partial explanation of the test. “Daniel Rice, you are definitely the strangest person I have ever met.”
18 Jump
Freedom Plaza, adjacent to the Ebenezer Baptist Church, is the resting place for Martin Luther King. A long rectangular fountain surrounds the great man’s tomb, and a covered walkway along the length of the fountain, known as the Freedom Walk, provides shade and a quiet place for visitors to contemplate. A small chapel sits at the west end of Freedom Walk, obscuring the view from the rest of the plaza, and a concrete wall blocks the view from a parking lot in the other direction.
It was a perfect choice for a safe jump point to the future. Being a memorial, none of the architecture would likely change over a thirty-year period. It was open to the street but concealed from view, and there were no doors or elevators that could be locked or wouldn’t function while in empros time.
Jump from here and future Atlanta is at your feet.
Griffith, Chloe and Daniel gathered in a tight circle with no one else around. Even if someone in the plaza saw Daniel suiting up, they wouldn’t see much. Just a guy getting ready to ride his motorcycle.
Okay, so, motorcycle guy puts on his helmet and then disappears. It happens.
Even in broad daylight, it would hardly be noticeable as long as he returned to the same spot. He’d pop out of existence and return a split-second later. Chloe had done something similar; she’d just changed positions while flowing empros.
“Glad I only have to do this once,” Daniel said to his companions as he cinched the belt around his waist. “I doubt this time travel kit is going to hold up much longer.” One of the staples had come loose, allowing a wire to dangle. Of course, if he was successful, the belt, loose wires and all, might end up in the Smithsonian.
“Try this,” Chloe said. She pulled a C-shaped gold piercing from her lip and jabbed its pin through the leather. She threaded the loose wire through the opening of the C and capped the jewelry’s pin on the other side. Secure against the leather, it did a pretty good job of holding the wire in place.
“Thanks,” Daniel said, laughing. “I’ll give it back to you in a few seconds.”
He looked at Griffith, then Chloe, took a deep breath and flipped the switch to the on position. Lights came on just as they’d done for Chloe.
“Remember, flow empros, then initialize the anchor and set the node. When you’re ready to go, compress forward,” she said. “Any problem, just come back, and we’ll talk.”
“Pretty straightforward,” Daniel said, “but I’m glad you’re here.” Chloe gave him a hug, and Griffith provided a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
It was true that he wasn’t likely to screw up the belt’s operation, though what the universe might throw at him could range from a mild hiccup to a major schism between today’s world and every possible future. He took another deep breath and donned the motorcycle helmet, visor up.
A few people wandered through the plaza. A man and woman positioned themselves for a selfie in front of the King tomb. The chapel blocked most of the view. No one would notice.
“Okay, time to rock and roll.” He flipped the visor down and selected the first command from the small display.
tcs_flow_empros
His finger hovered over the Enter key. His heart beat a little faster. Chloe nodded her encouragement and gave a delicate wave goodbye.
No big deal. You already did this much in Geneva.
Daniel pressed the key.
A rising tone, followed by a flash of yellow light that exploded inside the helmet, much brighter than expected. Temporary blindness lasted several seconds. A sharp tingle made the hair on the back of his neck stand up with a feeling of electricity running down his back and into his arms.
“Wow! That’s a jolt to the system.” He flipped the visor up.
Chloe and Griffith hadn’t moved, but their expressions were now frozen. Their eyes stared straight ahead, unflinching. He’d expected as much. But the sudden darkness was unnerving. Not completely dark, but like a late twilight.
Daniel scanned the walkway and the plaza, seeing only outlines of buildings that had been in bright sunshine only a moment before.
He took the helmet off. No sounds. Still air where there had been a slight breeze. Even the midday humidity was gone, replaced by a slight dampness inhaled with each breath.
“It worked,” he whispered to his companions. They wouldn’t hear him. No one would, but he spoke aloud anyway. “Flowing empros. Just as you said, Chloe, forward time has collapsed to quantum.” Her fingers were still positioned in a goodbye wave.
The e
xperience of a new reality was as exhilarating as Mathieu’s demo, but daunting to be doing it alone. He picked up Griffith’s duffel bag, stowed the helmet and retrieved a flashlight, an addition suggested by Chloe.
“I’ll be back before you even notice I’ve been gone.”
He walked across the plaza, passing frozen figures. The couple still posed for a selfie that from Daniel’s perspective would never happen. A young man was in midstride, one foot levitating above the ground, his arms held out but not moving.
Daniel continued out to the street, Auburn Avenue. A car appeared parked in the middle of the street, headlights off in the darkness, the driver holding the steering wheel and looking straight ahead. Daniel knocked on the car window. No reaction from the very stiff driver.
Further down, Auburn intersected Jackson Street with cars frozen in both directions. The dark intersection reminded him of a power outage at night. No lights anywhere. He looked up and easily found the sun, a somewhat brighter circle in the sky. He could stare at it without discomfort, like those odd occasions when the sun can be seen through thick fog, presenting its shape but without any of its brilliance.
Photons are still moving, but slowly. Ticks are measured in chronons.
In front of the Ebenezer Church, a man and woman walked hand in hand, their right legs extended and heels just about to touch the sidewalk. A young girl by their side was frozen with both feet several inches above the sidewalk. Perhaps she’d been skipping or jumping, as kids often do. Her leap would be a record breaker and she’d never know it.
He circled around the family, noting the frozen positions from all angles. The woman had her mouth open; maybe she’d been talking. Or was still talking. These people were still in motion, but their pace was now a billion times slower.
“Nala’s going to love to hear about this,” he said aloud as he examined the frozen people.
Anyone would. The effect was startling and the options for exploration endless. He was free to go anywhere and do almost anything without anyone noticing. For the people on the street, he wasn’t even a blur. He could take the phone from the man’s hand. Reach into the woman’s purse. They wouldn’t have any idea. The bank down the street was no better guarded.
The Quantum Series Box Set Page 72