I'll Be Seeing You Through Time (The Dimension Keepers) (3 page)

“You are on it. I’ve checked the records and you were not listed as absent without official leave, or AWOL as they called it. So you were listed with the men aboard the
U.S.S. Sims
. You can’t go back.”

“How can that be?”

“There is still a mirror image of you in that time. A doppelganger. Right now, there are two of you. One here in 2013 and one in 1942. The Ancients who set up travel to help those move unseen from their old to their new times, must have created this concept.”

“The Ancients?”

“I don’t understand how it works myself.”

“How do I get back?” Glenn asked.

“You can’t go back.”

“That’s what that Clayton kook said, but I have to.”

Hadley looked grim. “It is certain that you will die in this century and probably long in the future. Samantha and I are learning to track the travelers. We use the birth records that do not coincide with other records from different times. This century has an amazing invention called
computers
. They store huge amounts of data and information that is easy to retrieve. There are energy surges… never mind, this is too much information, we can discuss this another time. ”

“But why me? Why was I sent here?”

“You’re a traveler,” Sam said joining him on the couch. “You’ve had dreams, haven’t you?”

“Yes… how would you know about them?”

“We all do. Guides and travelers. This is what your dreams tried to tell you. Even if Clayton wasn’t clear, this is your time. You weren’t supposed to die on that ship in World War II, you were meant to live in this century.”

“There’s more.” Glenn paused. “I’m engaged. There’s a girl waiting for me.”

“You will need to forget her,” Hadley stated flatly. “She’s either an old woman or dead. It’s impossible to find her again. We all lose people we are close to when we travel.”

“Nothing’s impossible. I just proved that to myself in the last twelve hours. I’ll find her.”

Chapter Four

Hadley and Sam visited him at least once a day. They were right—it helped ground him in the current time. Sam felt under the weather so Hadley came over and asked Glenn if he would like to explore the current city.

“San Francisco is beautiful, is it not?” Hadley questioned as they strolled along
Sidney Rudy’s Waterfront Park
.

“It is. I concentrate on what’s still the same—the sky, the water, the Golden Gate Bridge. The rest will take time to get used to, like a new pair of shoes. But I’ll get through it; I have no choice if I can’t go back.” Glenn leaned over the metal railing next to the bay and watched the tide wash against the shore. The sun glinted off the surface, as he turned his collar up against the cold breeze.

After a long pause, Hadley spoke first, “The boats that float in the marina still look like boats that I remember from the past. Things and the design of them have moved ahead with technology, but they are still boats. That thought helped me adjust.”

“My grandparents came to their homestead in a covered wagon. Now people use cars. Cars are still in this world, only much smaller. How can a guy expect to kiss his girlfriend in the back of one of those mini machines?”

“In my day it was carriages, with wide leather seats… to kiss girls on.” Hadley grinned. “Though mind you, not many allowed such a thing.”

Glenn grew serious. “You haven’t said much about your past, Hadley. You were a guide? ”

“My father was not clear about my position, the Ancients or my place within the bookstore where I spent over a hundred years.”

Glenn blinked, not sure if he’d heard him correctly. “Did you say a hundred…years?”

“Yes, I was a guide in the bookstore you traveled through for a hundred years. I started in England in 1889. My father and my grandfather were all guides, but like you, I was told only half-truths. Samantha came to the bookstore to guide me out. If she had not agreed to take me and be my guide, I would still be in the bookstore instead of Clayton, I assume for eternity.”

“You don’t look a hundred years old.”

Hadley smiled. “Some days when the fog moves in, I feel that old. I’m lucky that I did not age all those years, or I fear that Samantha would not have found me as attractive as she does.”

“She doesn’t like older men?”

They both laughed before Hadley continued, “With Samantha’s help I use these machines called computers to trace any thread of information on time-travelers or the Ancients so we can help future travelers. We are trying to assist others so they do not come through as lost as you. Clayton should be ashamed of himself for doing what he did.”

“I never did get a copy of
Call of the Wild
. That was why I went into the bookstore to buy a book— not fly ahead seventy years.”

“There is a bookstore on the way back to your apartment; we can pick up a copy.”

Glenn put up a hand. “Oh no… I’m not going into any bookstore.”

“It’s just a bookstore, not a portal, I can assure you. I have been inside many times. But if you do not feel right in entering, then I will go in and make the purchase for you.”

“How long will that mirror image of me be in 1942? Will it be long enough to see Jewel again? Can I get a message to the other ‘me’?”

Hadley stopped and turned to face him. “You must forget about her. She cannot be a part of this world.”

“But she will be half crazy missing me like I miss her. If that part is true and there is a placeholder, a doppelganger of me still in 1942, I can find her. It’s been almost a week. My destroyer will be in the South Pacific. But, when the ship comes back…”

“You are no longer in that time or will only be for a short period.” Hadley mouth was a thin line.

“How long?”

“I do not know, but not long.”

“But, why are you sure?”

Hadley did not answer his question. The men walked in silence. Glenn declined taking time for Hadley to stop by the bookstore, but he was hungry. They dipped into the corner restaurant for a chicken dish called Marsala. The smell of the rich food rose from the bag as Hadley drew out his card made of plastic and handed it to the man behind the counter.

Maybe tomorrow, Glenn would ask how he could use these money cards.

“Well, I am going to leave you,” Hadley said as they walked the final block to his apartment. “But one of us will stop by tomorrow and spend much of the day with…”

The ground under Glenn’s feet shook. He widened his stance, and threw a hand against the cool brick wall. “What the…. am I being transported again?” he asked, as he desperately looked down, but the ground was solid again.

“Are you all right?” Hadley reached for him but the man’s image shimmered.

“I’m…” This time he was thrown to his knees. He dropped the bag on the concrete. The white paper containers and reddish yellow contents leaked across the sidewalk.

Hadley pulled him to his feet and dragged him forward. Another blast rocked through him and then the pain hit. He cried out and cupped his ears.

Hadley yelled, but he couldn’t hear what he said.

Glenn looked down. There was water and glass at his feet. The world shifted.

Suddenly, he knew where he was. He wasn’t in 2013; he was at his Quartermaster position on the bridge of the
U.S.S. Sims
in 1942. It was as if life sped up, stopped and then flew backwards.

Bernard, wearing a life vest waved his hands frantically in front of Glenn’s face and drew a life vest over his head and then one over his own. Blood trailed down the side of Bernard’s face. From his agitated look, Bernard was shouting, but Glenn couldn’t hear or understand him. Deafened from the explosion, everything appeared surreal.

The bridge of the destroyer was in chaos. Smoke rose in front of the windows, and strewn broken glass scattered across the floor from the instrument panels. Red cabin lights flashed distress warnings and cast an eerie glow against the gray hull and interior glass. The ship tilted. The lower decks must be taking in water; he hoped many of the men had time to escape.

He ran toward the aft window and saw flames from what he assumed was a gaping hole just out of view. It must have been a Japanese torpedo. Men raced by with extinguishers and blasted the fire raging toward them on the bridge. The lifeboats on the port side of the ship were on fire and with the deck’s tilt at such a crazy angle, it would be difficult to set the other afloat.

Glenn hooked the straps closed on his life vest. The ship pitched to the right and his shoulder crashed against the side of the ship. Kicking with his foot, he broke through the remaining glass of the damaged window and let gravity take him into the ocean. The warm seawater tasted salty as he finally broke to the surface and gulped in air.

He fought to free himself from the suction as the pull of the sinking ship threatened to take him under the water.
I’m a strong swimmer. I can do this.
Grateful for the summer races at the water holes back home, he frantically churned his arms and kicked free of the undertow. Flames engulfed most of the ship as the bow tipped higher.

Men flailed in the water as they fought to free a few of the remaining inflatable rafts. He recognized Bobby floating ahead of him. He swam and rolled him to his back. A large bloody gash slashed across the side of his friend’s head and he wasn’t breathing. His eyes were open and glassy. Glenn pushed him away and looked around as he slapped the sting of sea of salt water from his eyes.

Another shipmate, Frank, waved his arms. Glenn went to him. Without a second’s glance when he saw the man’s arm stuck out at a strange angle he knew it was dislocated or broken.

“Here!” he cried. He still couldn’t hear his own voice, but said the words to be understood. He stripped off his vest and put it over the other man’s head.

Frank shook his head.

“I can still swim. You can’t. You need this more than I do. You’ll be all right.” Glenn spotted a floating chunk of wood from a bunk bed and pulled it over. He helped push the other seamen up on the plank.

When he turned back, the sea seemed alive with bodies and smoke. Most of the ship was under the water. Bernard was about twenty feet from him, waving his hands and yelling. Glenn cut through the water to reach him.

As he reached Bernard, his hearing partially returned just as Bernard cried, “Glenn, watch out!”

A chunk of the flaming hull collapsed toward him. Jagged metal shards caught in the material of his Navy uniform. He fought to free himself as the ton
size piece plunged below the surface. The enormous section caught in his clothes was still attached to the main decking. He felt Bernard’s hand. The debris must have caught him too.

Glenn opened his eyes as he struggled. Through the dark waters the hull of the destroyer spiraled below him in a slow circle. The colored red, green and blue lights reminded him of the traveling carnival when it came through his hometown. Bodies and the ship’s debris floated past him as he was pulled slowly deeper and deeper into the murky depths of the sea.

Freeing his right arm, he reached into his pocket for his lucky rabbit foot.
That’s right, it’s not there. I gave it to Jewel.
Her picture replaced his lucky talisman. He felt for the edge of the paper.

He had always thought at the time of his death there would be panic, but a sense of peace washed over him. The pain was gone. He drew the photo out of his pocket and struggled against the force of the water to bring it closer to his lips, but it was impossible. His arms were pinned at his sides by the cables. He didn’t need the photo to remember her face.

I’ll kiss the water and hope it finds you. I love you, Jewel.

Like a shroud, rope and tangled metal cables wrapped around him. Off to the side Bernard fought for freedom. It was no use. Glenn knew he was out of time. They both were, along with most of the crew.

With no more breath in his lungs, Glenn opened his mouth and inhaled water.

Something or someone shook him. He fought to pull in air but there was only water. He was twisted from the cables, no, it was hands.

“Glenn! Come on, breathe! Just breathe!” someone shouted.

This time when he expanded his chest, it filled with air not water. He coughed violently and gagged.

When he opened his eyes Hadley looked panicked, as he pushed him forward at the waist. “Can you hear me? Glenn. Say something.”

“I… I was on the
Sims
.” His gaze darted around the apartment. But again, there was no water and no drowning men only the beige walled apartment with the sounds of the city.

Hadley hooked an arm over his shoulder. “It will be all right. You’re here now.”

Glenn’s heartbeat began to slow as he looked down at his shaking hands and nodded.

“You’re in this time now; that other you is gone, dead,” Hadley said.

“What did you say?”

“That other you is dead.”

Realization hit. Glenn turned towards Hadley as the blood in his veins turned to ice. “You bastard!” He shoved away. “You bastard,” he repeated. “You knew what was going to happen, that’s why all the concern about leaving me alone. You knew I was going to die on my destroyer!”

“I… did. But you did not die, you’re…”

“I did die, and you knew it was going to happen. You lied.” Pulling back his arm he punched Hadley in the jaw.

Hadley tumbled off the edge of the bed and landed on the carpeted floor. Slowly, he raised himself up on all fours, then stood and rubbed his jaw. “I deserved that. I have always prided myself on being truthful, but in this circumstance I was at a loss. It was that age-old question, ‘if you knew you were going to die, would you want to know’?”

Glenn glared at him. “That was my decision… not yours.”

“You’re right again, it was, and I know now that I was wrong. But, in the hundred years I was a guide I never came up against this. If there was a mirror image of the traveler left in the time they came from, they seemed to fade without incident. In this case, your name was on the lost at sea list. Perhaps it was the violent circumstance that temporarily transported you.”