CHAPTER NINE
DAY 13. BEFORE DAWN
I tossed and turned all night in my bottom bunk, having dream after dream about Holly. Then suddenly, the scent of her hair fell right under my nose, dragging me from another amazing dream.
Cold fingers gripped the sides of my face, holding it tight. “I don’t know where your hand is trying to go, but it’s not gonna happen.”
My eyes flew open and were hit with a bright flashlight. Holly leaned over me, fully dressed, shoes and all.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
She released my face and took a step back. “Come on; Blake gave me the memory file. We need to hear the rest of it.”
I shook the dream from my thoughts and stumbled out of bed, rummaging for shoes. It was pitch-black outside and the bite of cold in the air was even worse than ever. Holly shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.
As we crept as quietly as possible across the grounds toward the technology building, Holly kept glancing sideways at me, like she was about to bust out laughing.
“What?”
“Nothing,” she said, and then she did start laughing. “Were you having a good dream? Anyone I know?”
Oh, God. What had I said in my sleep? “It’s none of your business.”
“Okay, whatever,” she taunted. “But you do realize I know the name of every single girl you’ve ever dated or hooked up with? Some of them I even know addresses and phone numbers. It was part of my training.”
Seriously? Why was my dating history a top CIA priority? Mason had the very same assignment and made a point to taunt me about it as soon as I joined Tempest.
“Like I would dream about some girl I could hook up with anytime I want,” I said with a smirk. “Where’s the fun in that?”
“So, it was a celebrity?” Holly asked, sounding slightly intrigued.
“Or a couple celebrities.”
“Gross.”
“You asked.”
She reached out in the dark and gave my shoulder a hard shove. I caught her hand, holding it firmly, and felt a familiar buzz of electricity flow through my entire body. I heard her quick intake of breath and wondered if she felt it, too.
I rubbed a callus near her thumb with my middle fingers and took note of her pulse speeding up. “From your gun?”
“Uh-huh,” she said.
We were stopped in front of the building now, Holly turning to face me. I released her hand and reached around her to open the door. Her entire body brushed against mine as she turned her back to me again and stepped inside.
I took the chair in the reproduction room and Holly stood beside me, playing with the controls, trying to remember what Blake had showed her about how to use the computers. Her leg kept rubbing against mine as she moved and I was thrown back into the memory of my dreams. I swear she was doing it on purpose.
“I’m just gonna let it play straight through. We don’t have Blake here to drill with questions,” she said.
“Sounds good to me.”
DECEMBER 1, 2874.
AUDIO RECORDED BY HOST.
Thomas spent the night at Nora and Jean’s place last night and Jean spent the night on our couch. I didn’t even realize this until the morning when I woke up and saw her curled up and sound asleep in the front room.
Jean wouldn’t give me any details but I already know how Nora feels about Thomas. It’s pretty obvious she worships him. I know almost everyone does, but Nora really, really does.
When I asked Thomas about last night, he said it wasn’t an impulsive choice. It’s something he discussed with Dr. Ludwig. I can’t imagine discussing plans for a romantic evening with Dr. Ludwig, but then it hit me … time travelers reproducing.
And now I can’t help but wonder what Nora would think if she knew about this plan. Somehow, I doubt their feelings are on the same level. Thomas is too committed to his work to get wrapped up with a family.
DECEMBER 25, 2874.
AUDIO RECORDED BY HOST.
Thomas just told me that Nora is pregnant. She’s only two weeks along but he wanted me to be the first to know. He’s been staying with her almost every night for the past three weeks and they’ve spent every waking moment together. I’m starting to think I might understand what it feels like to be in love, but that’s because of my frequent missions for Project Lily, not because I see this in Thomas. Around Nora, he’s affectionate and attentive, but when she’s not around, he’s all business. They’re going to move in together in January in a building across town. Which means I’ll have my own place and so will Jean.
Today is Christmas Day and I was supposed to be allowed to visit my family. I guess there was a security breach at the White House last night and none of us can go anywhere today. I started missing them so much that when Thomas went to see Nora this afternoon, I did a time jump to five years ago and watched me and my brothers and Mom and Dad take a family picture outside. It’s a tradition every year in my house and we all hate it except for Mom. I had to hide behind the house and watch from a distance.
If it weren’t for Grayson and Lily, I think I’d really want to go back to my old life. Everything about it represents who I am now. No matter how hard I try to become this person Dr. Ludwig, President Healy, Thomas, and the rest of the world expect me to be, I can’t shake Blake the little brother getting pinched in the back by three different hands during Christmas photos. Physically I’m the most resilient time traveler, Dr. Ludwig has told me this on several occasions, but mentally, maybe I’m just not cut out for this job.
JANUARY 10, 2875.
AUDIO RECORDED BY HOST.
I think Lily is on to me. She knows something is up. All my visits with her have been on weekday mornings during her summer break. She and Lexi (her dog) are at the coffee shop every morning. She’s been pushing me for personal information like my phone number and address. I’m not sure I can brush her off for much longer, but I can’t exactly tell her the truth, can I?
Today she asked me if I was homeless and I could tell she already knew the answer. She’s pretty brilliant and could easily put together the fact that the first day we spoke to each other is the only day that I haven’t had money, not that I purchase anything more than a drink and sometimes a muffin or a sandwich. And I’m always dressed in different clothes, current to the year 2002. I look like I’ve showered and trimmed my fingernails and all that.
But she’s just so pretty and smart and kind. Probably the most kind person I’ve ever met. I keep thinking about her playing with those kids in 1995 and how she never argued or told them they were wrong, even when they were. That’s just how she is. She’s not going to take hope away from another person who needs it more than she does. Lily doesn’t have any problem debating issues with me, but that’s because we’re more intellectually matched. I haven’t tried to kiss her or even hold her hand or anything remotely close to my wild night with Jean (an incident that we haven’t spoken of since), but I feel like maybe I love her … maybe.
But can you love someone if they don’t really know who you are?
FEBRUARY 15, 2875.
AUDIO RECORDED BY HOST.
Today was scary. The most frightening day of my entire life, actually. Besides the day I discovered I could time-travel. I only have a few minutes to get this information into my chip before the next meeting begins so I’m making a short list.
1) We were all awakened in the middle of the night and brought to the White House for an emergency meeting.
2) Sasha, a girl very close to my age and also a time traveler, came from the year 3102 to tell Dr. Ludwig about the destruction and war that is ahead of us. She had pictures and everything. New York City, my new home, crumbled to bits. I’ve never seen anything less peaceful than those images.
3) Sasha sat in the meeting, right across from me, between Jean and President Healy. She grew more and more tense as the meeting went on but didn’t seem quite as fear-stricken as the rest of us.
4) Fifteen government officials were present today to vote on a plan of action. This is the first time we’ve had major information from the future.
5) Everyone agreed that the most effective solutions would require more time-traveling manpower. The six of us (seven now counting Sasha) can only jump so much and so often. We need to explore too many years, events, and people to find the root of the destruction and stop it before it happens.
6) It was unanimously decided that the Tempus Gene Project has not been an effective method of increasing time-travel manpower in this year.
7) Dr. Ludwig and President Healy informed us that Ludwig had perfected a cloning formula that would use our DNA to create another human being and the process would replicate the time-travel ability we possess.
8) The clones’ genetics could be altered just enough to ensure that the clones aren’t identical matches in appearance to any of us, and they will be born from artificial wombs and raised from birth by the government to fight this war on time.
9) Jean’s and Nora’s reactions of complete horror and shock reflected my own, but none of us said a word. We weren’t there to give our opinions. We were only there to answer questions about our abilities to help implement this plan of action.
10) Nearly everyone on the committee voted no to the cloning, what Dr. Ludwig and President Healy called Project Eyewall, despite their impressive sixty-minute presentation. Frank, a longtime committee member, one who’s always been the nicest to me of any of the navy-suit workers, was so angry about the presentation he left the room and didn’t return for several minutes. He was more strongly opposed than anyone else.
11) I’ve never been more relieved than I was after the vote was final. I don’t think I breathed the entire time, waiting for more hands to go up in the air.
12) All of us are due back in another long meeting in twenty minutes, in which the committee will evaluate each of our abilities based on past missions, and with Dr. Ludwig’s help, come up with parameters for each of us and individual goals for research to help us learn about this future war. In other words, what’s the maximum amount we can time-travel without its killing us. I’m afraid I won’t be able to see Lily anymore and I’m really wishing that I had led them to believe she might be able to time-travel soon so that I could keep visiting her.
That’s all for now.
MARCH 12, 2875.
AUDIO RECORDED BY HOST.
I can’t believe what’s happening. I thought I could trust Thomas. And Dr. Ludwig … and President Healy … he’s the President for Christ sake! I’m in 1988 with Grayson right now.
A few hours ago, I was in my present, in the White House. Dr. Ludwig put me under sedation to evaluate my brain waves like he’s done a dozen times before, only I must have awakened early and Dr. Ludwig must have left the intercom on and I was alone in the lab and strapped to the brain scanner, not able to feel half my body, when I heard his voice and President Healy’s coming through the intercom. They were having a meeting in Ludwig’s office right behind the glass wall.
After I realized what they were discussing, I had to shut my eyes and do my best to lower my pulse rate to the slow, sedated level because if they knew I had heard them, I’d probably be dead or locked up somewhere.
They are going ahead with Project Eyewall! Even though the committee voted no weeks ago! The plan is to have Sasha (the girl from 3102) take Ludwig to that year. They are hoping that amid the war and destruction he can find a quiet place to make clones who can time-travel.
President Healy plans to insert himself into a political position somewhere in the year 2000 or 2003 so that he can make sure legislation is more open to these ethically controversial issues. Those were his exact words! And the whole time I heard them go through this plan, I kept thinking how would the President insert himself into a position hundreds of years in the past without the help of a time traveler not only to take him there but to make alterations to the past. Would Sasha do this too?
That’s when I heard him. He’d been in the meeting all along. Thomas. The man who might be father to a time traveler in less than six months. My mentor. The person I had worked so hard to impress this last year.
He’s part of the plan. Not only that but he has all these theories on how the time-traveler clones should be raised in Eyewall headquarters. He thinks nurturing children will hinder their abilities. They want to raise these children with no physical contact with humans at all. No emotional bonds. It’s so wrong I can’t even think straight. How could this be better than any war we’ll fight in the future?
I never thought I’d get unhooked from that scanner. It took so long and I had to act calm and cool as Dr. Ludwig dismissed me. As soon as I got to my apartment, I jumped to 1988. Grayson is the only person I could think to tell what I’d heard. He’s as upset as me, maybe more upset. He said he thought both Ludwig and Thomas were headed down a path like this one but never imagined President Healy would take this big a risk, go against the rest of the government. Grayson only agreed to aid with the Tempus Gene Project because he thought it might hold off the cloning for a while.
We were both very worried about the fact that I overheard this conversation, and Grayson said I needed to hide my memory files from them. He helped me place them somewhere that would be nearly impossible for anyone to find. Memory files are the personal items that an individual owns in my present and the three hundred years before that, and they’re rarely used against a person by the government or any law-enforcement agency. It’s stated in the constitution of 2515. Individual thoughts, opinions, and mental plans cannot be used as concrete evidence in any shape or form. We are free to think and feel whatever we like. Only our actions and choices outside of the mind can be considered fact. No one can deny the usefulness of memory files. They have changed the way the world is run. They have truly improved society. To be able to see your past thoughts and ideas … it’s an invaluable tool.
But Ludwig constantly uploads data from my memory file as it’s recorded. If he knew what I knew, he wouldn’t use that file against me—he’d kill me to keep me from talking.
Lucky for me, Grayson is way smarter than he ever lets anyone see. Not only did he help me hide my memory file for safekeeping rather than destroy it like I wanted to the second I got to Grayson’s lab, but he also created a false memory file. He said there are tons of people who have figured this out in my present, those who fear government conspiracy and memory erasing, who want to keep their thoughts, but keep them hidden.
Grayson told me I have to go back soon and I have to keep pretending that I don’t know anything and follow whatever orders I’m given. Thomas knows me too well, I think he’ll see right through me, but I don’t have any other option, do I?
MAY 14, 2875.
AUDIO RECORDED BY HOST AND MEMORY EXTRACTED FROM HOST.
Thomas and Sasha took me to the Eyewall headquarters in the year 3197. Thomas told me he trusts me to understand why he made the choice to go against the President’s committee and follow Dr. Ludwig’s lead.
The city was destroyed and there were communes of faceless people, poverty-stricken and without any way to fulfill basic needs. We just sped past them; Thomas didn’t even look at anyone. Sasha did, though. We were beyond her present year, and knowing that fact, I could guess that either: A) another time traveler beyond Sasha’s time was discovered naturally and took her to this year or B) Dr. Ludwig was successful and had created a time-traveling clone that brought Sasha and Thomas to the future.
One jump beyond our farthest point with another time traveler is all we needed to have new, broader boundaries. I would now be able to travel this distance alone if I wanted to.
The Eyewall building was constructed so uniquely, one and a half floors are visible aboveground and at least half a floor sinks beneath the earth. Electric fences surround the entire place and beyond those perimeters, a dark forest encircles the building. We used a hover vehicle to fly over headquarters and land near the entrance. I had only seen hover vehicles in a museum. No one used them in my present, hadn’t since around 2650, after teleportation devices become accessible to everyone.
Why wasn’t teleportation an option in 3197?
I was too scared to even speak as Thomas led me inside the building. Men and women in brown coveralls moved swiftly through the hallways. I stuck close to Sasha’s side even though I had no idea if she’d been here before, if this even fazed her. But I couldn’t trust Thomas. I couldn’t let him know how much I disagreed with his actions. Distance in this kind of situation was crucial.
“Twenty-two years,” Thomas said as he opened a door at the end of the first hallway. “It took that long to build this project and generate successful products.”
Sitting in the middle of a room full of technology I couldn’t even begin to unravel, was a much older Dr. Ludwig. He had to be in his sixties by now. His skin looked worn and wrinkled. He smiled at me and the reunion was less awkward than I expected considering I’d only aged about two months since the last time he saw me and he was my grandfather’s age now rather than my father’s age.
He spoke quietly to Sasha, who left the room abruptly without another word. Thomas dimmed the lights and pressed a button on the wall. Dozens of hologram screens popped up in front of us, displaying identical rooms, bare white walls, beds, dressers, and in most cases, one individual per room.
I held my breath as my eyes scanned the images one by one. I saw girls and boys about my age, several small children, but no one much older than me. And that made sense … twenty-two years. I’m seventeen. They had to build the building, the machines, everything.
Thomas raised a finger, hovering over one of the rooms where a small girl with bright red hair sat on her bed reading from a handheld device. “This one … this one is my project,” he said proudly. “She’s completely unique, not a full-blood like the rest of them. She’s a part copy of another experiment that showed promising results but failed in the end to be useful. The results so far have been exactly what I predicted. Her brain activity is superior to anything known in your present. She’s fluent in every language we presented her with and she’s only 2525 days old.”
I watched her tiny legs, dangling off the side of the bed, while she read. “What’s her name?” I asked Thomas, barely managing an audible whisper.
“We don’t name the experiments. Too complicated. Some of them look too much alike,” he said. “She’s 1029. Part of the Untouched group.”
“Untouched? Like she’s above the others in ability?”
He shook his head. “No, she’s never had direct contact with human skin. Any needed contact was performed with thick, rubber-coated gloves that reach above the elbow. And it isn’t just physical contact, the experiments grouped in this area are given no rewards from humans at all. No verbal praise or positive words. They are given instructions appropriate to their age and gender and if instructions aren’t followed, basic needs are taken away for a period of time without warning. There is no leader or teacher. No parent role. They are taught nothing but self-sufficiency and they know no other option except to complete tasks exactly as given. Safety is never in jeopardy because nothing can influence them to test their limits. So far, the theory is working exactly as envisioned.”
I immediately pictured a headless body, holding an infant out at arm’s length. A sick feeling washed over me. This was so wrong. And Nora, my friend, practically my family after everything we’ve been through, would be giving birth to Thomas’s child soon, having no idea how little he valued this tiny girl’s life.
And the others, what about all the others?
“1029 is predicted to be able to achieve proficient time travel around 3650 days old,” he said.
Ten. She’s going to start performing missions for Dr. Ludwig and Thomas at ten. This is not what God intended us to do with our mind power, with our abilities.
I knew what I needed to do first and foremost. Tell Nora everything. And get her as far away from Thomas as I can before he gets his hands on that baby.
The coldness of these manufactured humans sitting alone in their rooms was the polar opposite of watching Lily Kendrick run around her neighborhood playground at eight years old. Or the feeling I used to get as a child, racing my brothers or my friends to school, my mother tucking me into bed. My father leaning over me at the kitchen table, checking my schoolwork, rubbing the top of my head if I had done well and sometimes even if I hadn’t.
My present wasn’t as open to touching as Lily Kendrick’s because of the Plague of 2600. But still, human contact, whether physical or emotional, was essential to growth and development. It’s a fact. I learned that in school. The people who influence us and whom we influence represent the humanity in us.
Maybe that’s what Thomas didn’t want in these soldiers. Humanity. Would this really work to stop whatever war had caused this destroyed world? And even if it did work, what price would we pay after death for this moral corruption?
All I could do today was agree to help Thomas even though I knew I wouldn’t ever consider being a part of this. I had to get back home and find Nora as soon as possible. Then I needed to do something to stop this. Maybe I can’t fight it, but I have to at least let someone know. Someone who cares.
JUNE 10, 2875.
MEMORY EXTRACTED FROM HOST.
Nora is safe. My hands are still shaking, I’m so scared of what will happen when Thomas finds out she’s gone. Grayson came here and took her to a year before the first time traveler was discovered. We decided that was best and also decided that he shouldn’t tell me the year. It would be safer for me not to know. I paced the apartment for hours, knowing the time jump could kill the baby, but Grayson came back and told me Nora was just fine. He gave her a new identity and they didn’t want to tell me that either, but he’s already looked her up and she had a boy. A healthy boy.
After Grayson left, I had to report to the lab for regular testing. Frank, President Healy’s committee member who was so openly opposed to project Eyewall when it was first presented, was there waiting for me.
My heart pounded as I watched Frank lock the door to the lab and turn off the surveillance systems. Did he know I had just aided in a time-travel escape?
“Listen carefully, son,” he said, turning to face me. “I only have a few minutes. The President’s committee has been infiltrated and only two members in opposition to Project Eyewall are left.”
“You know what Thomas and Dr. Ludwig are working on—?” I started to ask.
“Yes, yes, of course I know. Dr. Ludwig has always possessed the type of ambition that would lead him to extreme measures such as these. It was only a matter of time,” he said. “First of all, do you know where Nora is?”
“No,” I answered honestly. “But I know she’s safe.”
He let out a breath. “Good. As you heard in the presentation several months ago, Project Eyewall crosses lines of ethics the government and the United Nations do not support in any way, shape, or form. We only listened to the presentation and voted out of courtesy to President Healy, who we now realize might be brainwashed.”
“I’ve seen it,” I said, looking at the middle-aged man who possessed nearly as much political power as the president himself. “Eyewall headquarters. I’ve been there. It’s … it’s the complete opposite of everything good in the world.” Those were the best words I could use to describe the horror of this project. Adrenaline rushed through my veins as I finally realized that I had someone to help me, to take this burden off my shoulders. “We have to stop them, you don’t understand how terrible—”
Frank held up a hand to stop me. “I know. I have a plan, but I need your help—your abilities—to put this in place.”
“Just tell me what to do.”
He checked the door and the hallway, using the computer system before continuing. Then he pulled up a file on his handheld labeled PROJECT EYEWALL. “Many lives were risked to acquire this information, so listen carefully because I’m going to have to destroy the evidence when we’re done here.”
I nodded and leaned over to see the screen. My legs were already shaking.
“Dr. Ludwig is not the brains behind the successful cloning. So many formulas were tried and all of them failed throughout history, except one young man’s theory recorded in 1953.”
I glanced at the information on the screen. Andrew Melvin: April 5, 1953, basement of NYC Public Library. “Who is he?”
“A very smart young man,” Frank said. “I need you to pay him a visit.”
“You need me to destroy his notes?” I asked, catching on to this plan.
Frank shook his head. “That wouldn’t be enough. The theory is etched into his memory. He’ll write it down again. I’ve already sent someone to talk to him, but it didn’t work. Somehow Dr. Ludwig still got the information.”
“Who?” I asked. “Jean? Lonnie?”
Frank hesitated for a moment, like he was debating telling me another secret. “There’s another time traveler. I’ve kept him secret from absolutely everyone. I saw how all of you were going to be used and I knew we needed someone working on our side, the side that will not aid Project Eyewall in any way.”
Another one of us. Except he didn’t have to give up his life like the rest of us. Or maybe he did, but just in a different place, in a different way.
“This time traveler is much older than you. I think your age and your apparent distress in this situation could be enough to convince Andrew Melvin to keep his work a secret and not pursue it any further.”
“I’ll do everything I can,” I promised Frank.
He touched a hand to my shoulder. “I know you will, son. You have always displayed the ability to do what’s right. I respect that more than anything even if no one else does.”
I’m pretty sure that was Frank’s way of telling me that my so-called bad habit of showing nerves, excitement, and apprehension during training sessions and meetings showed that I was human more than anything else.
The jump to 1953 wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. Frank had me memorize a map of the city in the 1950s. The access code he gave me to open the CIA-protected door worked perfectly.
What surprised me most about 1953 was Andrew Melvin. I hadn’t expected to have this world-saving conversation with a skinny kid about my age.
“Andrew Melvin?” I asked, wanting to be sure I had the right person.
He pushed his glasses up on his nose and eyed me skeptically from his desk, which sat in a large room full of shelves of books, papers piled in every corner. “Who are you?”
“Blake,” I said. “Listen … this is going to sound crazy, but just give me five minutes to explain.”
I had to give him credit for his patience. He listened to me for ten minutes without asking questions.
“I don’t know what theories you’re talking about,” he said when I had finished explaining my I’m-from-the-future story. “Probably a mix-up. Another Andrew Melvin think tank.”
“It’s not another Andrew Melvin,” I said firmly. “And I’m not asking you to admit to anything. Just don’t write it down. Destroy it if you already have. Don’t let anyone have that information inside your head. It will be the worst thing you’ll ever not get credit for. Trust me.”
I could see the debate in his eyes. The internal conflict as he asked himself, “What if this crazy fool is telling the truth?” Could I do anything more than that? Maybe one thing … “I have a good friend in 1987. I’m going to check up on you and make sure that you did what I asked you to.”
I left him with those final words because I could feel the fatigue and stress dragging me down, lessening my power.
JUNE 11, 2875.
MEMORY EXTRACTED FROM HOST.
I collapsed into my bed the second I returned from 1953 and slept for fourteen hours straight. When I woke, Thomas was in the kitchen putting eggs on a plate. He glanced up at me and set the plate in front of an empty chair. “I made you some breakfast.”
My eyes stayed on the plate of eggs and bacon, the glass of orange juice sitting beside it. “Um … thanks.”
“I had a meeting with the presidential committee this morning,” Thomas said, giving me no indication of his mood based on his tone. “Frank said you went on several missions yesterday for the committee, that they might have worked you too hard.”
I nodded, unable to trust my voice, then I sat in the chair and started eating even though food was the last thing on my mind.
“I know you were trying to help find Nora. I appreciate your effort, Blake. I really do. But I think it’s best if you don’t put stress on your mind looking for her,” he said.
I was literally holding my breath, not even able to swallow.
He sat across from me at the table, hands folded in front of him. “I’ll admit, I had high hopes for this child, but obviously Nora and I didn’t agree on certain aspects of parenthood. I just wish she would have spoken to me first. If she had been honest about her concerns, I would have listened.”
I highly doubted that.
“I’ve told the committee to let it go, that she’ll come back when she’s ready and we should give her some space.” He paused for a second, watching me carefully. “You didn’t tell Frank what I’ve shown you in the future, did you?”
“No,” I answered honestly. We hadn’t actually discussed this in detail.
“Thank you. He’ll find out soon enough,” Thomas said. “That’s what I wanted to tell you. The committee was impressed with the progress of Eyewall, though they were a little disgruntled with Dr. Ludwig’s choice to go against the vote. Either way, they’ve forgiven Dr. Ludwig and given us their full support to continue the project. Frank, however, has chosen to betray the government since being outvoted. We’ve taken him into custody this morning, but we have evidence he’s already formed a new agency specifically designed to act in opposition to Project Eyewall.”
Grief and fear took over. I hadn’t done it. I failed to convince Andrew Melvin that his ideas would eventually destroy the world. And now I’d lost the one person in my present who could help me. But had Frank really done it? Had he organized an opposition knowing they’d take him away soon enough? He seemed prepared, like he’d been planning every last detail yesterday.
All I could do was hope.
“I’m as disappointed as you are,” Thomas said. “Frank has been a crucial member of the government for fourteen years. I trusted him, we all did. And I wouldn’t worry about this opposition. He doesn’t have time travel on his side. Only we do.”
Hope sprang up inside me. Yes he does. He has a secret time traveler. Frank was smart. He knew exactly what he was up against. And this time traveler was skilled enough to steal files from Dr. Ludwig. I just had to figure out how to find him.
Deal with Thomas first, I reminded myself, he still trusts you.
Jean came through the front door before I had to verbally react to the information Thomas had just given me. “Oh good, he’s awake.”
Thomas looked from Jean to me, and then said, “I have a task for both of you. Something you’ll be working on together.”
I only got a few minutes to finish my breakfast and clean myself up and then Thomas, Jean, and I were in Central Park. In 1992.
The day was warm and people were everywhere. Thomas walked several paces in front of us, and Jean leaned into me and whispered, “What are we doing here?”
Finally, Thomas stopped and sat on a bench, pulling a newspaper from his back pocket, spreading it open to block his view. Jean and I guessed we were also supposed to stop and sit. So we did.
“If you look straight ahead, about two hundred feet away, you’ll notice a young man and woman with two small children running around in the field.”
I squinted in the sun, making out the outlines of two taller people and two little ones. I could see bright orange pigtails sticking straight out of one child’s head.
“Those children are a creation of the Eyewall opposition organization,” Thomas said. “They call themselves Tempest.”
“Tempest,” I said under my breath, memorizing it. Is this what Frank had done?
“Wait, so they’re cloning in 1992?” Jean asked.
My head snapped to look at her, realizing Thomas’s words … the creation of the opposition.
“No,” he said. “The woman with them carried them, a surrogate. But they used the eggs of one of our products, a successful time traveler. They have two brilliant scientists working on their side. And they have a theory. They believe the half-breed method will create abilities stronger than the products of Project Eyewall.”
“And you think they’re wrong,” Jean concluded.
“No,” Thomas said, folding the paper back together. “I think they’re right.”
“So what do we do about it?” Jean asked. The eagerness in her voice scared me. She would follow Thomas anywhere. “We’ve got to destroy them, right? We can’t have time travelers not under our control.”
“Violence is almost never the answer, Jean,” Thomas said. “And who says they aren’t under our control? Or that we can’t bring them to our side eventually? It’s just a matter of showing them what they can be a part of. The importance their lives can hold.” He turned to face me and Jean. “That’s your mission. Keep watching the twins. Tempest calls them experiment Axelle. Product A is female and B is male. When and if their abilities present themselves, we need to be right there, ready to help them make the right choice, understood?”
“And what if they refuse?” Jean asked. “Look at the way they’re being raised, it’s not the methods used for Project Eyewall. What if we can’t convince them to join us?”
Thomas looked out at the field again, watching the two little bodies chase a red ball around as it rolled through the grass. “If, and only if Plan A fails completely, we terminate them. We can’t have that kind of power working against us.”
I held in a gasp and glanced at Jean. She nodded solemnly as if she had already accepted this horrific task.
Suddenly the man with the children was walking toward us. He looked Thomas’s age or maybe a couple years younger. He moved past our bench without making eye contact, but as soon as Thomas stood up, I knew this was a planned meeting.
“Follow me,” Thomas said to us.
Minutes later, the four of us were hidden from the public eye by a small forest of trees.
“I thought we agreed, no backup,” the man said, nodding toward me and Jean.
“They aren’t backup, Kevin, just young trainees,” Thomas said casually. “And our definition of trainee is very different from yours. They’ve never picked up a weapon in their lives or learned hand-to-hand combat. They’re time travelers. Two of the originals.”
Originals … that’s what we were going to be called now that cloned time travelers were a part of society.
Kevin looked us over carefully, the disgust in his expression shifting to surprise maybe. It was hard to tell. He seemed to have composure as solid as Thomas’s.
“I have a short message to deliver,” Thomas said. “Dr. Ludwig and I are very impressed with your efforts toward scientific advancements. Even with the limited technology this year has to offer. I came to tell you that the experiment products—”
“Jackson and Courtney,” Kevin said, speaking through his teeth.
“Of course,” Thomas corrected. “Jackson and Courtney are in no danger. And we wish you and your team the best regarding the experiment’s outcome. It’s a brilliant concept, it truly is.”
In that moment, I completely lost my head. I could feel something surfacing inside me as Kevin looked at us, grouping me with them. I couldn’t stand it. Not for one more second. “He’s lying!”
Thomas turned to look at me and so did Jean. “Blake, do you have something you’d like to say?”
“They’re not safe!” I said to Kevin. Blood rushed to my face, flooding my judgment and thought process. “The kids, they’ll never be safe.”
Thomas rolled his eyes. “He knows that, Blake. And besides, it’s not completely true. If the children present no special abilities over time, we won’t have any interest in them at all.”
Of course he knows that. I felt like an idiot right then, trying to do something heroic and it wasn’t even close. They’re on opposite sides. Of course Kevin isn’t going to take Thomas’s message seriously. It’s just a formality. Thomas is formal about everything. And he wanted Kevin to see us—me and Jean. To know that we were real and natural and maybe he wasn’t working for the right side.
As Kevin walked away, leaving the three of us alone in the wooded area, I felt the weight of the entire world on my back. I couldn’t fight it. I’d never win.
“Do you really think they’ll be able to do it?” Jean asked. “The Axelle products? Even the Eyewall Project has suffered casualties.”
“Failure is part of every experiment,” Thomas said. “We made the subjects aware of the dangers of time travel and they made the choice to jump.”
“Casualties? Some of the clones died trying to time-travel?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said right away. “The earlier products, though I’m certain it will still happen now and again.”
Oh God … this is worse than I thought. And what did he mean they made the choice? He told me they follow orders. They were raised to do everything they’re told or basic needs are withheld.
“I want out,” I said to Thomas right away. “I can’t do this … not the mission, not the job. I’ve never been right for this.”
“Blake,” he said. “You’ve been through a lot in the past twenty-four hours. You haven’t even had a chance to grieve the loss of Nora and Grayson. Perhaps we—”
“Grayson!” My stomach flipped upside down as I fought the urge to vomit. “What happened to Grayson?”
Jean chewed on her fingernail, keeping her eyes on the ground. She knew something. And she had kept it from me.
Thomas rested his hands on my shoulders, staring right at me. “Relax. It’s a lot to absorb. Let’s back up and take things one step at a time.”
I could feel my legs trembling beneath me. “Just let me out, please. I’ll never tell anyone about Eyewall or what you’re really doing there. That children are dying…”
Thomas’s eyes turned hard and cold, disappointment filling his expression as his hands dropped from my shoulders. “You’ve lost your head, Blake. You’re not looking at the big picture. Plus, everyone knows you and what you can do. We can’t exactly put you behind a desk without explaining things.”
A small part of me thought maybe Jean would jump in and say she agreed with me and felt the same way, but I knew it wouldn’t happen.
“I’ll hide … let me go to 2002 or 2003 and stay with Lily … I can let you know if anything happens with her and I won’t jump at all,” I pleaded.
Thomas showed a rare sign of distress, rubbing his hands over his face for a few seconds. He glanced at Jean then back at me before taking a deep breath. “I wish this were easier, Blake. I really do.” He pressed something against my neck and the whole world went black.
When I woke up, I was lying on the floor in a living room somewhere. There was a fire in the fireplace beside me. It crackled and popped as the wood shifted. I lifted my head, feeling the grogginess still heavy in my limbs. Jean and Thomas stood in front of a couch, leaning over it slightly. I jumped to my feet when I saw the limp hand hanging over the side.
Jean had latex gloves on and held a huge syringe in one hand. “The boy next?”
“Yes,” Thomas said.
I glanced around the room, trying to figure out who the people who lived in this house were. Then I saw her … on the mantel … a photograph.
Lily.
This was her house.
“What are you doing?” I demanded.
Thomas touched the body on the couch. I leaned over and could now see it was two bodies. Both Professor Kendricks. Curled up together. Blue lips and faces. No rise and fall from either chest.
They were dead.
Thomas narrowed his eyes at me. “First it’s them, next it’s her. Unless you can find your focus again and never go near this subject in any year.”
“Oh God, Lily,” I muttered, then glanced up at the steps. “Carson! Not Carson.”
Lily’s much younger brother. The baby her parents never thought they could have. She adored him. Half of our conversations revolved around funny stories about Carson as a toddler, Carson in preschool.
I dove past Thomas and took off for the stairs, flying up them two at a time. Jean stood next to the bed in Carson’s room. The sleeping boy looked older than preschool, maybe eight or nine years old.
“Stop!” I shouted at her. “Please, don’t do this. Jean, it’s wrong. You know it’s wrong.”
Thomas calmly stepped behind me, pressing something into my back. I felt a shock of electricity go through my body and then complete paralysis. I knew what he had done and it was only temporary. Law-enforcement officers used these devices in my present.
I was completely powerless as I watched the little boy sit up, awakened by the commotion. His wide blue eyes froze on me and his mouth barely had time to form an O as he started to scream.
“Jean!” Thomas commanded.
Don’t do it, please don’t do it.
Her hands shook as she raised them. Her eyes glossed over and a tear trickled down her cheek when she stabbed the needle into Carson’s neck.
His eyes rolled up in the back of his head and he slumped over. No tears could form in my eyes while paralyzed, but inside I was breaking into a million pieces. Then Thomas lifted me off the ground, tossing me over his shoulder. The stunner still pressed into my side.
He set me down outside in the frigid air and finally released me from the horrible paralysis. Jean seemed to have pulled herself together, her eyes no longer wet.
“I’m not angry with you, Blake,” Thomas said, standing over me as I tried to pull my knees toward my chest in an effort to get up. “Lots of people make judgment errors as you have, and to be truthful, there isn’t really a right or wrong for you to choose from. Take some time and think about what you’d like to do next. Come find me whenever you decide.”
He grasped Jean’s shoulder and they vanished right in front of me, leaving me alone in this unidentified year.
Headlights edged their way toward the driveway in the dark. I scrambled to my feet and ran to hide behind a nearby tree.
I saw her feet first, then her legs as she climbed out of the car, keys rattling. Lily Kendrick a few years older than I’d ever seen her before. I felt my chest caving in, pain crushing me as I watched her open the door, knowing what she was about to find.
I slid to the ground again, pressing my face against my knees and feeling tears come out so easily even though the last time I could remember crying was six years ago, when I dislocated my shoulder while playing soccer.
Maybe I could warn her or … something.
I did a quick jump back home and then right away jumped again to the day after the last time I had seen fifteen-year-old Lily.
The quick shift from night to late-morning sun blinded me for several seconds and then I could see her, sitting at our usual coffee-shop table. I started to run but then slowed myself, attempting to act normal.
“Lily!”
“Blake,” she said, laughing at my volume.
I took a deep breath and fell into the chair beside her. “Sorry, I thought I’d missed you, got busy this morning.”
The smile faded from her face. “Is something wrong?”
My feet tapped nervously as if a clock were ticking away at my minutes with her, her parents’ and brother’s minutes of life. I jumped to my feet. “I can’t sit … I’m just … can we walk? Do you wanna walk with me?”
I glanced around and saw that her dog wasn’t here today.
“Yeah, okay. Whatever you need.” She stood up and we headed down the sidewalk, toward the park. “What’s up with you today?”
Someone just killed your family.
But I couldn’t say it. It didn’t matter. She couldn’t stop it from happening. Thomas would just pick a new date. I could feel us both hurtling toward this grief-stricken future and I wanted to hold on to her for as long as I could.
I reached out and grabbed her hand, squeezing it tight. Her cheeks blushed pink but she didn’t pull away. In fact, I got the tiniest smile from her.
My breathing slowed as I forced myself to inhale longer and deeper. “Sorry … I had a bad day. A very bad day. But let’s talk about something else … like anything.”
She laughed nervously. “Um, okay. I’ve decided that Josh is an a*shole.”
Josh. The boy who ran by the coffee shop shirtless every day. I hated him. “Good. That’s really good to hear.”
Her eyebrows lifted as she glanced sideways at me.
“It’s good because I like you,” I said, spitting out the words with as much confidence as I could muster.
She smiled down at her shoes. “Yeah, I kinda figured you didn’t hate me considering you hang out with me every day.”
“True,” I said, turning her toward the park and away from the street. “I guess it’s not really a secret.”
“You could tell me why…” she said. “That part is a secret.”
I stopped under the shade of a large maple tree and turned to face her, still keeping our fingers laced together. “I like you because you’d rather be kind than superior.”
Her face turned a deeper shade of pink, but she was brave enough to look up at me. “That’s not completely true. You haven’t really seen my competitive side.”
“You’re not as selfish as me,” I said. “I know that for sure.”
“How are you selfish?” She laced her fingers through my other hand and tugged me closer, removing the gap of space between us.
Heat flowed through my entire body. I leaned in, knowing today would be the day I was finally brave enough to kiss Lily Kendrick.
It was also the last time I’d ever come back here.