He fit the damaged helmet on his head, completing the time jumper’s outfit and clearing the feeling that he might be neglecting something. He returned to the jump spot in the columned breezeway.
Gritting his teeth against the pain, he lifted the ring once more, held it parallel to the ground and looked up. The soapy film spanning its interior provided a reflection, but surprisingly, it wasn’t a reflection of the stone floor at his feet. It looked more like red dirt.
Fascinating.
He tipped the ring, studying its reflection of furrows and the remains of plowed-under plants jutting from the dirt.
My destination? Father had said this area was farmland in 2023. The ring seemed to provide not just a passage to his anchor point, but a view to it.
Daniel took a deep breath, released the ring and watched with amazement as it floated down in slow motion, moving past his head and shoulders and surrounding him in a thin translucent veil as it dropped.
38 Fate
Dizzy with a vague sense of not being fully conscious, like waking in the middle of the night. Dreamlike.
His head hung down, his view a pair of shoes partially dug into rust-colored dirt. Were they his feet? Surrounding the shoes, a glass ring. It seemed familiar, but he couldn’t quite recall its purpose.
Daniel lifted his head. He stood in a field, but with somewhat blurred vision it was impossible to distinguish much more than dirt and a few trees in the distance. His ribs hurt. A headache was starting.
Better than dead.
Memory slowly returned. The ring had performed its function, drifting down as if it were made of tissue paper and leaving behind a soapy film that had enveloped him. The ring had met the stone floor of the breezeway, and then nothing.
Is this 2023? Am I flowing forward?
He looked up to a bright sun with puffy clouds drifting by. The leaves on the trees rustled, and a breeze cooled his skin. Empros time wasn’t like this.
His vision sharpened, though the ache across his side didn’t abate. Nausea swelled in his stomach and then passed, possibly from the metal coin that was still down there somewhere.
Flowing forward. Injured but alive. I’ll take it.
He retrieved the phone from his jacket pocket. Three bars of service, but not much battery life left. He dialed, smiling when a familiar gruff voice responded. “Daniel, where the hell are you?” Griffith had never sounded so wonderful.
“A farm somewhere outside Atlanta. We don’t have much time, so here’s what you need to know. USS Nevada, a ballistic missile sub on patrol in the north Pacific. They will launch later today, with one missile hitting Vladivostok and a second hitting San Francisco at five p.m. Pacific time. Captain’s name is Lundstrom. Stop them. Whatever they’re doing, stop it. Shut every system down on that sub. Hell, tell the Navy to blow the ship out of the water if they have to.”
“Got it. This is cutting it close, but I know who to call.”
“I’ll have a lot more information for you on a religious cult that’s involved, but right now that evidence is in my stomach. I’ll be checking into a hospital next.”
“Huh?”
“Long story. Work the Navy angle. Hurry.”
“I’m on it. Good job, Daniel.”
Daniel hung up. Griffith would be busy. So would the Navy, but the ball was rolling. Daniel had worked with the Navy and knew their procedures well. They could instantly communicate with any submarine, even when submerged. If that didn’t solve the problem, a guided missile destroyer could launch a hypersonic missile that could hit any target in the Pacific within thirty minutes. The only catch was they’d need to know where to strike. If the sub had gone dark, not even the US Navy would know where they were.
Daniel’s phone had already gone into power-saving mode. Probably just enough juice for one more call. He dialed.
“Nine-one-one. What’s your emergency?”
“I’m not sure where I am, but I need medical attention. Can you help?”
After a pause, “We have your location.” She collected his name and vitals and suggested he find a shady place to sit. Given his remote location, it might be twenty minutes before an ambulance could arrive.
Twenty minutes. It would do. Thanks to instant cauterization, blood loss was minimal. The chip stuck in his forearm wasn’t bad. The pain in his ribs was manageable. He could use some water, but the only farmhouse within sight looked at least a mile away.
The upper portion of the helmet lay in the dirt nearby. He put it back on his head, the best shade he’d likely find in this treeless field. He retrieved the glass ring from the dirt. The shimmering film in its center still reflected, but with different colors. He held it up, expecting once more to see the reflected red dirt, but the image was now of stones.
He tilted the ring, locating breezeway columns within its reflection.
Wow. Back to the future.
The amazing device provided an accurate view of his surroundings, but from the opposite end of a time tunnel. The stone walkway fronted by columns and with a rotunda at one end would someday be built right here in this farm field.
He searched the ring view for a body and found a crumpled shape to one side. The image from empros time was too dark to make out any detail.
He’s dead. Permanently dead, he tried to assure himself. The nagging feeling of multiple versions of Father bouncing around in time wouldn’t go away, but at least none of them could reach into the past.
Daniel took a few steps forward and held the ring up once more. Its reflection displayed a fountain in a gravel courtyard. Another tilt and he could make out the corridor leading into the mansion. All he’d need to do is walk across this dirt field and he’d be standing precisely where the holding cell would be someday.
On the morning of June 3, 2053, he and Jacquelyn would be standing in that cell. Father and his goons would enter, threaten Jacquelyn and force Daniel to jump. These future events were as real as any. He’d just lived through them, every detail fresh in his mind.
An idea formed. A powerful urge, almost a destiny. There was no ignoring its message. Before any ambulance arrived at this 2023 farm field, he had one more task to complete. Jacquelyn’s life depended on it.
Daniel stepped further to his left, walking through red dirt but along an imagined stone breezeway. He checked his position repeatedly by holding up the ring. Satisfied he’d found the right location, he stopped and powered up the belt.
I’ll stay in empros. It won’t consume even a single second of forward time.
Typing on the belt’s controller, he reinitialized the anchor point and set a new destination node: June 3, 2053 10:00 AM. The exact time was a guess, but just as Father had done, he could easily jump again if he missed.
His final mission to the future might be fate or it might be personal, but it wasn’t optional. Moreover, he was one hundred percent certain it would succeed. It already had.
Daniel held the glass ring under one arm and pressed the Enter key.
The bright flash was followed by near darkness.
He hadn’t materialized inside a wall, that much was clear. It took a minute for his eyes to adjust to empros darkness, but the LEDs on the belt helped. He stood in a small room with a bed on one wall and a closet on the other. The guard’s sleeping quarters in 2053. Exactly on target. More importantly, the glass ring, still in his hands, had made the jump too.
The room and corridor outside were still and quiet. No sign of any empros-flowing intruders with electric blades.
Good so far, but did I get the time right?
Further down the corridor, the cell door was wide open. The scar-faced guard stood just inside with Jacquelyn in his grip. One of the brute’s arms was wrapped around Jacquelyn’s neck, pulling her head back. The fear on her face was like a snapshot from a recurring nightmare.
A few feet away, Father threatened with his blade, a smirk of contempt on his face.
No one moved. The blade made no vibration.
Perfect.
Daniel slipped past the smug guard and into the cell. “Be careful where you put that hand. Somebody might slam a door on it very soon.”
Inside the cell, the other guard pointed his automatic rifle at frozen Daniel, backed against the wall.
Inside the cell. Now just fast-forward a few minutes.
He adjusted the time on the belt’s controller, stepped to the far corner of the room and compressed time once more. The yellow light flashed again, washing out the darkened scene before him. When his eyes readjusted, the tableau had changed.
Father and both guards were gone, and the cell door was now closed. In the center of the room, frozen Daniel and Jacquelyn embraced.
“Spot-on!” Daniel set the ring down and circled the frozen figures in their goodbye embrace.
“Both of you are about to be very confused, you especially, Daniel. But never fear, it’ll all work out.” He pushed frozen Daniel’s arms to his side, taking care with the arm wrapped in gauze. “You’re going to be sore. Sorry about that. Unfortunately, it gets worse.” He patted his counterpart on the ribs.
Frozen Daniel wore his own version of the belt. Odd that two copies of the same item could exist in the same moment, but then there were two copies of himself too. His frozen version would need that belt and Daniel didn’t touch it.
He studied their positions, her arms still wrapped around his neck, her head against his chest. “Yeah, I need to separate you two.”
Unclasping her hands, he lowered her arms, hugged her from behind, and dragged her back a few feet as best he could, given the pain in his side. As if she were a mannequin, he repositioned her legs and arms until she looked balanced.
Daniel removed his own belt and wrapped it around Jacquelyn’s waist, buckling it securely, then positioned the damaged helmet over her hair. He stepped back to review his preparation.
Would it work? The helmet was missing a large chunk, exposing Jacquelyn’s chin, but the visor with its electronics and light still covered her face. He would only need a single command, flow empros. It wouldn’t disrupt the anchor point set in the controller’s memory. He was already flowing empros, so if part of the flash caught him it shouldn’t change anything.
All guesses. It would be nice to have an expert like Chloe around to weigh in.
He looked into Jacquelyn’s frozen eyes. “This is going to be weird for you, but if all goes well, I’ll explain in just a second.”
From Daniel’s viewpoint, the controller was upside-down, making it harder to select the command. His nervous tension didn’t make it any easier. He shaded his eyes with a hand, reached out and pressed the Enter key. The room lit up with the flash.
He uncovered his eyes. The room was still dark, no change there.
She moved her arm, rubbing her shoulder. Her head pivoted.
He let out a deep breath. “Holy hell, it actually worked.”
Jacquelyn blinked and squinted. “Daniel? It’s dark.”
He grabbed her hands. “I’m here, don’t worry. Let your eyes adjust.”
She looked dazed, studying his face. “What happened?” She put a hand to the helmet on her head, and Daniel helped her take it off.
He pointed to the other Daniel, still frozen in place. Her mouth dropped open and she circled the frozen figure, even touching him. “How is this possible? What did you do?”
Daniel joined her, studying himself. “I’m him, just an hour or two later. I managed to get out of here with some special help from a friend in the distant future.” He motioned to the ring lying on the floor. “It might not look like much, but they’ve got some pretty amazing technology in 2441.”
Her eyes flitted between the two nearly identical copies of Daniel. “You jumped further into the future?”
“Four hundred years, then all the way back to 2023. Sorry, it’s confusing. But I knew I had to return for you.”
Her lips tightened, and that look of fear that had marked her face just moments before returned. “Father?” she whispered.
Daniel nodded. “I’m not sure you would have survived.” He motioned to frozen Daniel. “I was thankful when you disappeared. At the time, I didn’t understand how it happened. Turns out, I did it. Just now.”
She held a hand to her forehead. “This is too weird.”
“Very weird. Remember when I told you about empros time? We’re in it, right now.” He pointed to frozen Daniel. “He’s in forward time, so he can’t see us. Neither can the guard.” He pointed to the guard’s face peering through the window.
Her lips turned up at the corners. It was the first time she’d smiled since they’d been dragged from Aiden’s car. She wrapped her arms around Daniel and took a deep breath. “So, what do we do now?”
He took a deep breath. “It’s a little complicated, but I do have an escape plan.”
He picked the ring up from the floor, held it high and studied its reflection. No stones or columns; it was just a reflection of the floor they stood on, which made sense since this cell would still exist in 2441. He tilted the ring toward the closed and locked cell door. The reflection in the ring’s center showed the door standing wide open to a corridor.
Better still, the corridor was lit by a pink-lavender light.
Daniel smiled. “This just might work.”
“You can take me with you? To your time?” Jacquelyn asked. Her plea was as earnest as he’d ever heard from her.
Daniel shook his head. There was no sugarcoating it. “I can’t. I’m sorry, there’s just no way to take you backward. I wish I could, but I don’t think you’d survive. You’re not from my time, and you’ve been flowing forward your whole life. The snapback would kill you.”
He placed the ring in her hands. “But you can get away to a better place. I’ve seen it. It’s a time when people have not only mastered science and technology, but they’ve overcome our own bad instincts. It’s a better time than yours, better than mine too. I’m confident this ring can take you there.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “I can’t go with you?”
Daniel shook his head. “I still have a mission to complete, and it’s back in 2023. I didn’t flow forward with this jump, so the belt should take me home safely.” He put his hand on hers. “But only me.”
If Chloe were there to advise, she would almost certainly agree. The belt was never designed for two, and no explanation of time jumping had ever covered taking a person backward from their own time. It seemed like certain death.
But the ring was different. It appeared to be a reversible tunnel and it was now pointing the way—back to the future.
Jacquelyn nodded, head down. “I get it. You have a world to save.” She unbuckled the belt and handed it to him. When she looked up, tears streamed down her cheeks.
Daniel wrapped the belt around his waist and buckled up. “You’ll meet a friend when you get there. A woman, of sorts. She’s very colorful, and really remarkable. She told me she was waiting for ‘one other,’ and now I know who she meant. She’s waiting for you.”
“She’ll help me in this future?” Jacquelyn brushed the tears from her cheeks.
Daniel nodded. “I think she will. She was my guide, and she’ll be yours too.” He could picture Jacquelyn stepping into the alcove, almost like a video playing in his mind. The glowing figure would be waiting. No doubt.
“When you get there, she’ll call out for you. Walk to her voice. If you see a body lying in the corridor, don’t look. Hurry past it, straight to an alcove at the end.” There were potential dangers, but any phantoms of Father that might be roaming through time would be searching for another version of Daniel, not Jacquelyn.
She may have to pass through a battlefield, but she’ll be safe. The speckled pink lady will ensure it.
Confident in his assessment, Daniel held out his hand, palm up, index finger curled. “When you meet her, try this as an icebreaker.”
Jacquelyn looked confused and he helped shape her hand in the same way, lying on top
of his. Jacquelyn smiled. Lady Pink would too, Daniel was sure.
“Thanks for the tips.” Jacquelyn bowed her head and whispered. “I’m really going to miss you.”
Daniel pulled her close. Her path would be different than his. With the glowing woman’s help, Jacquelyn would join a new world and start a new life, free from the cruelty and abuse of her own time. Much would be unfamiliar, but Jacquelyn would adapt. Anyone who could conjure up a different personality at will would find her place among the people of the future.
“I’ll miss you too,” Daniel said. “But you’ll do great. Maybe you’ll even be a celebrity.”
“Just like you.” She grinned. “A new me. I think I could do famous.” She threw her head high, posing as if on the cover of a magazine.
Daniel laughed. “You’ll be a star.”
They separated, and Jacquelyn held the ring in both hands, unsure what to do next. “Just hold it over your head and drop it. The ring will take care of the rest.”
She lifted it over her head, more tears flooding her eyes. “Goodbye, Daniel, thanks for everything.”
Daniel wiped his own eyes. “Goodbye, Jacquelyn. It was wonderful to get to know you.”
She flashed her beautiful toothy smile and dropped the ring. It fell slowly, erasing her body from existence as it dropped. When it touched the floor, the ring disappeared altogether, and Jacquelyn was gone.
Daniel stood quietly for several seconds, absorbing the magic of advanced technology as well as his own complex feelings. A feeling of loss, but a satisfaction that he’d helped her move on to a better place. Most of all, he was curious how her life might unfold in the distant future.
A new life in the twenty-fifth century. She’s the real time traveler in this story.
Daniel sighed. He’d never see her again. Probably a good thing. “Time to get home. I’ve got an ambulance to catch.”
Daniel donned the partial helmet, tipped his head to his frozen self, and pressed the buttons on the belt controller. The yellow light flashed for the last time.
The Quantum Series Box Set Page 89