“When did Dr. Greenbaum arrive?” David asked.
“He came through not twenty minutes ago. Didn’t quite seem himself though. Nearly ran me over.”
“Maybe I’m not too late,” said David to himself.
“To late for what?” asked Fred.
Waaooh! An alarm sounded throughout the complex, so shockingly loud that David and Fred had to cover their ears. Red lights flashed on every wall. Just as quickly, the noise of the alarm disappeared, but the light remained. David knew he was too late.
David entered the control center and was met by raw chaos. Scientists were running in every direction attempting to make sense of what had happened. Armed guards lined the walls and aisles watching for anything out of the ordinary, which was everything as far as David could see. Sally was at the center of it all, giving orders to every soul in the room like a general in the trenches.
Her eyes caught David’s and he saw an expression on her face he determined that second to never forget: relief. Sally rushed to David and said, “Someone used it! Someone went back! I don’t know how this could happen. Only you, Tom and I had… Where’s Tom?”
David dodged the question, “Are the other watches still there?”
“One is missing,” Sally replied.
Spencer, a timid scientist with thick glasses and a slight hunch, approached Sally with his head down and waited for her to acknowledge his presence. “What is it?” Sally barked.
“Uh, well, closer inspection of the data sheets from the time of incursion shows two additional time-space distortions,” explained Spencer.
“Meaning?” Sally asked.
“Meaning two or three people-” David said.
“Or objects,” Spencer added.
“-traveled through time in that room at roughly the same time,” David finished.
“How is that possible?” Sally asked, “All but two of the watches are accounted for and you still have yours, right?”
David removed the watch from his pocket and held it up for Sally. “Which means someone or something transported into the room and then back out after the first watch went missing.”
“Is anything else from the room missing?” Sally asked Spencer.
“We already compiled an inventory. Absolutely nothing, other than the one watch and the unfortunate chair, is missing,” Spencer said with unusual confidence.
“What about added?” David asked. “Was anything added? Maybe our future selves sent something else back?”
“We would have found that during the inventory,” Spencer said. “Nothing inside the room has changed. But…”
David’s impatience grew. “What?”
“Perhaps the monitoring equipment is flawed?” Spencer said, looking a little uncomfortable at suggesting such a thing. “This is, after all, the first time we’ve monitored space-time distortions. What if what we’re seeing is, for lack of a better term, ripples?”
“Like aftershocks?” David asked.
Spencer smiled with relief. “Exactly! What if the second and third distortions we detected were simply aftershocks, or ripples, created by the first?”
“It’s possible,” David said. “That might make sense, but we should keep an eye out for the phenomenon in the future, just in case it repeats.”
“Good,” Sally said, the subject put to rest for the moment.
David patted Spencer on the shoulder and said, “Good work, Spence.”
“Thanks, David. See you in the past,” Spencer said as he hustled away.
See you in the past?
“David, what are your thoughts?” Sally asked.
David’s mind left his thoughts about Spencer’s odd comment and focused on their predicament “My best guess,” David said, “is that it’s either a side effect from the all the time distortions created in the last day or our future selves adding or subtracting from what they sent back. If it wasn’t from an internal source, then there’s nothing we can do about it anyway. I suggest we focus our efforts primarily on the problem at hand.”
“Agreed, but I want another inventory done, just in case something was missed,” Sally said as they entered Receiving Room Alpha, which was swarming with guards.
David scurried to the eight remaining watches, resting on a table. He picked one up and glanced over it. “Good, they’re identical. I still might be able to catch him,” he said without thinking.
“Catch who?” Sally demanded, “And how on God’s green Earth can we find were ‘he’ went?”
David put the watch down and pulled out the one from his pocket. He strapped the watch to his wrist and looked up at Sally, “Because I know where and when he went. And since the watches are identical and most likely function similarly, I’m sure he could have-”
“David, for the last time…who?”
David paused. Should he tell her? Would she still trust him after knowing the truth? David’s honesty won out, “Dr. Greenbaum… Tom went back.”
Sally cocked her head sideways, apparently confused. “What? Why would he?” she asked.
“It’s a long story,” David said, “I don’t have time to explain and I’m going to need a few things.”
David began mentally preparing for the ordeal, which he knew was his to face alone. It had been years since he held a conversation in his native Hebrew tongue, let alone his school-learned Greek and Aramaic. Thank God they were required learning throughout his years at private Israeli schools. He feared Tom would be even worse off. He began making a mental list of items he would need: Authentic clothing could be created. Money: gold and silver in moderation would probably do. Some padded sandals…and a disguise for the watch.
David decided he would take a test trip into the past. He thought it would be best if he witnessed first hand the event that drove his partner and best friend to risk changing the past to prove a point. He had to see it for himself. He had to understand. His mind was made up.
He was going to Zambia.
FOUR
The Fall
1985
Zambia, Africa
An unfamiliar cracking noise filled the jungle, causing birds to jet away to the safety of the sky. Light flashed through the thick foliage like a frantic photo shoot. A shard of light split open, just above the ground, and spilled David out. He appeared, stumbled a few feet and leaned on a moss-covered tree for support. Boom! With a clap like thunder, the light vanished. Glowing blue sparkles twinkled to the wet ground around David, signifying the completion of the event.
David struggled to take another step, but fell to the ground and vomited into a patch of ferns. Perhaps this wasn’t such a good idea? For all he knew, time travel was only safe for inanimate objects. David pulled himself back to his feet and looked at his surroundings-lush jungle as far as the eye could see. This had to be Zambia, but were his coordinates correct? A thought occurred to David and a smile came to his sickly face, it had worked! He had traveled through time and space! He- crack! A gunshot pierced the air in the distance and David remembered what he had come to see.
He carefully made his way through the dense wilderness toward the sounds of gunfire. He crept low to the ground while attempting to avoid the many snakes, spiders, and larger predators that he couldn’t see but thought must be lurking nearby. A metallic click froze David in his tracks.
“Tuhn arownd,” came a deep voice. “Slohly.”
David did as he was told and came face to face with four men he thought must be from a local tribe. Their dress was half-modern, half-tribal and one of them wore a Yankees baseball cap… David’s memory was triggered. He remembered the night Tom broke down and told David the entire story. Four men, in tribal clothes with rifles…and one of them, Tom called him the Yankee fan, because he wore a Yankees hat. These were Megan’s killers! These were the men Tom was going to kill mere minutes from now! David’s mind raced with thoughts and theories about what his presence would do to this past and his future.