“I think so, but I can’t be sure she made it to 2441.”
“Well, I sure hope she did. Sounds like she risked it all to help you.”
“I’m glad you see it that way. You’re not jealous?”
“Jealous? Not really. Jesus, she’s a fucking freedom fighter. Hard to knock that even if she did start out as a call girl.”
Nala paused in thought. “Look, Daniel… I don’t own you. I can’t stop you from jumping into bed with alluring women, and I wouldn’t want to try. But you’ll need to figure out how to deal with assertive women. I’m one of them. We go after what we want, and we don’t apologize for it.”
She was right. He’d been with plenty of assertive women in his life. A pattern? Was he just a docile participant, swept up in relationships with strong women? It almost seemed like another manifestation of fate versus free will. There were some lessons to be learned from the future. If he rejected fate, he’d need to fully embrace free will.
Nala had remained silent while he thought. She was good at that. She was also pretty good at knowing when it was time to move on. “It seems to me you mentioned a second woman in this story?”
He looked up. “Vitoria.”
“Vitoria jumped you too? Busy social schedule.”
Daniel shook his head, a gentle smile on his lips. “No. Totally different.”
He went back to the celebration and explained Vitoria’s role in their escape to the safe house. He told her about meeting his older self in the restaurant. But he hesitated before revealing the true nature of Vitoria’s relationship. The sexual contact wasn’t there, but the implications were even larger.
“Um… Vitoria told me that she’s my wife, or his wife. You know what I mean.”
Nala sat up straight. “Vitoria is married to your future self?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you know her now?”
“Never met her.”
“Okay, that’s just too weird.” Nala pulled out her phone. “We need to figure this out. Last name? Occupation? City of residence?”
Daniel gave her what he knew. In today’s world, Vitoria might still be in Brazil, though she’d moved to Washington just before they’d met.
After some searching, Nala turned the phone toward Daniel. “Is this her?”
A young woman stood at a podium with the flag of Brazil on the front. She was probably thirty-five and very attractive. Definitely Vitoria, but vibrant and young. It seemed odd that she was somewhere out there in the world, right now. Almost like she was waiting for him.
“Wow.” He wasn’t hiding his interest in the photo very well.
“Yeah, she’s stunning.” Nala stared at the photo too. “So… is she going to be your wife?”
Daniel pushed the phone away. “I don’t believe in fate.”
Nala sighed. “I don’t either, but you experienced your future. Even if you don’t know her now, you know she’s out there. How bad is that going to screw up your mind?”
“It really wasn’t my future. Just one possibility.”
They didn’t speak for a minute. Nala didn’t seem to have any more questions, and Daniel had nothing left to explain.
She looked up and tapped a finger on her chin, talking to the ceiling. “Okay, so he’s admitted it all… not bad. The girl he slept with in the future is literally a little girl today… wow, not going there! But she’s also an adult who’s cruising around in her Jetsons flying car four hundred years from now… weird, but kind of fun to think about. And he’s got a wife, but he hasn’t met her yet… cause and effect mixed up, but…” She tilted her head left and right. “Acceptable, I guess. Too bizarre to really process that one.”
She looked back at Daniel and spoke with an upbeat voice. “Okay, I’m good.”
She was impulsive, the kind of person who made snap decisions and didn’t look back. But this was new territory for their relationship.
Perhaps he hadn’t interpreted her instant assessment correctly. “You’re good with everything?”
“Yeah, I’m good. Everything.” She put away her phone. “Just do me one favor. Don’t follow Vitoria on Twitter, okay? Stuff like that would hurt.”
“I wouldn’t do that. I never meant to hurt you.”
Nala shrugged. “I know you didn’t. But knowledge of the future could seriously scramble your brain if you let it.”
Her concern was justified, but her acceptance of the events from the future had already provided therapy. There was no fate. No being swept up as a passive player. Daniel was quickly coming to the same conclusion that Nala had.
I’m good too. Everything. I love that Nala is assertive. I wouldn’t want her any other way.
His body would heal. His relationship with Nala might too.
“Can we switch topics?” Daniel asked.
“To what?”
“Our next beach trip.”
“What did you have in mind?”
Daniel thought. “How about Tahiti? They speak French there.”
She snuggled down into the covers and wrapped one arm around him. “J’adore la langue française. Tell me about Tahiti.”
41 Bora Bora
The dance floor was crowded with people of all ages and nationalities, moving their bodies to the fast rhythm of the Tahitian drumbeat produced by four bare-chested men pounding enthusiastically on traditional wooden instruments. With cheers and claps from the dancing crowd, the noise level was high and getting higher. The throng gave room in the center of the dance floor for the impromptu star of the night.
Nala looked spectacular, dancing barefoot and wearing a grass skirt, bright yellow poms on each hip, a bikini top and a feather headdress. Her legs pushed up and down, hips thrusting left and right in rapid motion with the rhythm. Her Tahitian instructor danced nearby.
“Lift your feet and throw your hips,” the instructor encouraged. “A little quicker on the ami. Good thrust! You’ve got it!”
Daniel encouraged from the sidelines, clapping along with the crowd. Nala was a natural, maybe from her years of ballet training, maybe from her spontaneous enthusiasm for anything new. Her face glowed, her eyes sparkled, and her smile was irresistible. Daniel wasn’t the only man staring at the superstar tourist who’d mastered the Tahitian ote’a in one evening.
Nala held her arms out gracefully, her torso barely moving even as her feet lifted and hips thrust wildly in directions that seemed impossible.
“Let’s try the fa’arapu,” the instructor yelled over the drumbeat, shifting her own hips in rapid pulses. Nala watched and mimicked, shaking wildly and laughing as the poms accentuated each jerk.
The drumbeat increased its pace, and her hips shook faster still. She looked to the sky and howled a joyous scream. A shirtless young man jumped out from the crowd and danced opposite Nala, closing in as he twisted back and forth. He seemed ready to kiss her, but she sent him away with a gentle push on the chin, not missing a beat with her shaking hips.
Daniel watched in amazement at her natural grace and style. He was equally amazed at his good luck. This irresistible beauty could attract any man in the world.
She’s captivating without even trying, just by being herself.
With her hips swinging, she stepped forward, the crowd parting as she approached Daniel with a beckoning look. She pointed a finger at him. Daniel feigned a “who, me?” and the onlookers roared with laughter. Her poms flapping right and left to the drumbeat, she cozied up close, grabbed his shirt and pulled him to her waiting lips. Applause erupted across the dance floor.
She tugged him with each beat out to the center of the floor, where the instructor joined them, showing Daniel how to move his hips. Daniel was hopelessly inept at the more naturally feminine moves, but he gave it his best shot, and the men in the crowd cheered him on.
The drumbeat crescendoed, and the drummers gave one last coordinated slam to their instruments and then stopped cold. Everyone cheered.
Nala dropped from her toes and threw her arms
around Daniel’s neck. Through panting breaths and a pounding heart, she yelled to be heard above the crowd noise. “Oh my God, that was so much fun!”
He held her face in his hands. “You are truly amazing.”
Several people passed by with congratulations and praise, including the instructor, who jokingly asked if Nala wanted to teach her next class.
Nala beamed, hanging on Daniel’s shoulder. “I’d dance all night if I could manage it.” She removed the feather headdress and grass skirt, returning them to the instructor. “But right now, I need some water and a rest!”
Daniel took her hand. “Come on.” He picked up a bottle of water from the bar and stepped off the open-air dance floor and onto soft white sand.
They strolled across a never-ending beach hand in hand. The waning moon rose above a darkened volcanic peak, casting a long reflection across the calm lagoon. Nala leaned against Daniel as they walked.
The noise of the crowd was soon far behind, with nothing left but the rustling of palm trees and the rhythm of small waves lapping at the shore. They found a spot where the sand sloped to the water and plopped down to enjoy the tranquil nighttime view.
She took a gulp of water and caught her breath. “That’s a hell of an exercise. No wonder Tahitian women look so good.”
“There’s not a woman on this island who could compete with you,” Daniel said. “Tell me again how I got so lucky?”
“Let’s see.” Nala put a finger to her upper lip. “Um, first, you saved my ass from being arrested by the FBI. Then you helped me get my Fermilab job back. After that, when I’d launched myself and Thomas into the void, you rescued us—no, actually, Marie Kendrick did most of the rescuing, but you were at the smokestack in Texas when we climbed down.” She took on a quizzical look. “But, now that you mention it… what have you done for me lately?”
“Took you on a trip to Bora Bora?”
“There’s that. You did buy the tickets and pay for the resort. But on a more personal level…” She leaned in close with sensuous eyes.
He kissed her neck, soaking up a fragrance of perfume mixed with her own natural scent from the effort of her dance. “Personal attention coming up as soon as we get back to the room.”
“I think I’m the lucky one.” She waved a hand to the lagoon, bounded by a coral reef that formed an arc across water that glittered in the moonlight. “Just look at that. It’s so beautiful here.”
“It really is. I could do this forever.”
“Forever.” Her voice trailed off. “We don’t do forever very well.”
It was a reference to their on-again, off-again relationship, a sore point for both of them. Daniel had known the topic would come up. He’d even rehearsed what he was going to say.
“The long-distance thing doesn’t work, does it? Seeing you on three-day weekends is like a tease. I want more.”
“Me too.”
He was hoping she’d say that. He’d been worried this talk might go in the opposite direction. “Nala, I’ve been thinking… I might leave D.C. I never really liked it there anyway, and I’m sure I could find a job in Chicago.”
“Something that doesn’t require jumping into the future?”
Daniel laughed. “Right. How about a policy job? Or a strategy and planning job. You know, the job I was supposed to have at OSTP.”
She ran a finger through the sand, forming an infinity sign, tracing it repeatedly. “Funny, I was thinking the same thing, but not Chicago. There’s a new physics team forming down at the Los Alamos national lab. The director gave me a call. He’s got a job waiting for me if I want it. New Mexico. Ever been there?”
Daniel couldn’t have been more enthusiastic in his response. “I adore Santa Fe! Historic. Lots of art. Great restaurants. Fun people too.”
“I’ve only seen pictures, but it seems really nice with all the mountains and trees. I’m pretty sure everyone who works at Los Alamos lives in Santa Fe.”
“Government jobs there, too,” Daniel said. “I even know some people.”
She paused for a minute, her head down and still drawing infinities in the sand. “So, what do you think? Should we?”
“No complaints from me.”
She grinned. “Really? You’d move there?”
“I would, no hesitation.”
A thousand obstacles faded. She was reaching out too. A complex issue that had kept them apart simply evaporated. In place of a chasm, a new bridge formed between them—a shared dream full of possibilities. The feeling was exhilarating.
His mind raced ahead into unexplored territory. “Um… Nala?” He hadn’t rehearsed this part, but he couldn’t repress it just because the words might come out mangled. “Something else I’ve been thinking about.” His nerves skyrocketed. He had no idea how she might react.
“You’ve changed my life in ways I never imagined. It’s… like I just woke up and hadn’t realized I’d been asleep. I love being with you. I love our adventures together, and our quiet times, too. And I love you. When we get to Santa Fe… would you marry me?”
Her mouth opened, half in smile and half in surprise. She turned away, staring into the distance. “Whoa. Pretty traditional. I wasn’t expecting that.” She looked back with a quizzical expression, not saying a word while she studied his face.
Daniel waited, his heart pounding and concern rising over what she might say or do. Laugh? Run in the lagoon? Find that younger guy back at the dance floor? Nala was spontaneous. Anything was possible.
She lowered her head and spoke quietly. “I have to tell you, you’re not the first person to ask.”
He squinted, not sure he wanted to know. “How many?”
She shrugged. “Three. I said no every time.” She looked up. “I didn’t feel any guilt either… it was the right choice for me.”
The last thing he wanted was to force her into something she’d regret. “Forget I mentioned it. I understand.”
A crooked smile formed on her lips. “I don’t think you do. Those guys were different. I was different too.” She leaned in, put her arms around his neck and kissed him. “I’m ready for something new. I’d love to marry you, Daniel Rice.”
His mouth opened but the words weren’t there. A feeling of comfort spread throughout his body, even as a chill ran up his neck. They stared at each other with incredulous smiles mirroring the other for what must have been hours or days, though no one was counting.
She finally blinked. “Wait a second. Did we just create a new timeline? A new branch in the universe? None of this was supposed to happen, right?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes, it matters. The future isn’t just fantasy. You saw it. Are we erasing something we shouldn’t be?”
Daniel cleared his throat and mimicked. “Knowledge of the future can seriously scramble your brain if you let it.”
She smiled. “I said that, didn’t I?”
“You did.”
“So, just let it go? Full speed ahead on our new path? No Vitoria? No Jackie Jetson?”
Daniel gazed up at the starry sky. “Some of the future that I witnessed has already been erased. Millions of people in San Francisco and Vladivostok now have lives to lead. Our country won’t fall prey to a madman armed with misinformation. There’s nothing wrong with erasing one future and replacing it with something better.”
“Hell yeah.” She snuggled close. “But if you and I move to Santa Fe and get married, is that better than what it would have been?”
He put an arm around her. “Who knows? The only thing I learned about your future is that it didn’t involve me. So yeah, we’re both creating something new. But that’s exactly as it should be. The future is wide open, just waiting to be written. Waiting for you, me—everyone. We can mold it into anything we want.”
“Daniel?”
“What?”
“Do me one more big favor.”
“Anything.”
She looked up, the starlight reflected in her eyes. “Kiss me.
And press whatever button you press to suspend time. I don’t want it to end.”
He smiled. “Very syrupy. I didn’t know you had it in you.”
She laughed, pushed up onto his lap, and pressed her face to his. They kissed, a lingering kiss, perhaps even an infinite kiss while time simply suspended its flow.
THE END
Afterword
I hope you enjoyed the story. Maybe I should linger a while longer at the tranquil beach… waves lapping at the shore and a moon over the mountains… a Tahitian drumbeat in the background and someone special in your arms. Ahh…
All very nice. But time to wake up. The story may be over, but our time together isn’t. Notice how often I use the word “time” in this book? (By my count, 576. I have a writing tool plugin that checks for overused words. It’s screaming at me.)
I really enjoyed writing this story, though I must admit that keeping track of all the jumping around was challenging. To help, I made a timeline diagram complete with jump arrows and event markers. It looks like one of those airline route maps. Complicated.
Books are an odd form of communication. On one side is the author who has a story in mind and on the other are readers who interpret that story in a thousand ways. I suspect some readers will take this particular story for what it is: fictional, part science, part entertainment. But some readers may look deeper—as they do with any time travel story—questioning the method of time manipulation or searching for holes in the logic (“wait… if Daniel pushed his own frozen arms down, wouldn’t that mean…?”)
If you’re that type, have at it! Post whatever you find on my Facebook or Twitter pages and I’ll be happy to participate. But I’m not going to dive into time travel logic quirks here. Instead, let’s talk science and how it relates to the story you just finished.
We’ve all been entertained by time travel stories. Is there anyone in the world who hasn’t seen Back to the Future? (At least ten times, for me. Fun stuff.) Even A Christmas Carol is a time travel story in its own quaint, nineteenth-century way.
But is there any reality to jumping through time? Or is it all just fantasy?
The Quantum Series Box Set Page 92