Reversion (The Narrows of Time Series Book 3) (28 page)

“No, I suppose it’s not. Not after everything he’s done.”

“One thing I can guarantee you is that Starling has a plan. He wanted you locked up down here for a reason, so I’m breaking you out. Seems like the logical thing to do. Screw him and his plans.”

Lucas nodded, letting the revelation of Starling’s identity soak in as they continued their escape, making their way down another hallway. “It does explain the mustache, sunglasses, and hat. He’s hiding his identity, knowing we were going to appear on the mountain, and didn’t want everyone to know who he really is. But why build eleven holding cells and then let the general take most of us out?”

“Perhaps he didn’t expect Protocol 5 to work. Or, he figured you’d talk sooner, leaving more of your crew alive.”

Another corner came and went, taking them into another corridor. “I can see why you’d think that, but if he went back in time immediately after our arrival, how could he have known to do any of this? No, it just doesn’t fit. Besides, he got off on the torture just as much as Alvarez. I could see it in his eyes. I know that look, trust me,” Lucas said, taking more time to think.
And, why would he tell me about the red rubber of destiny and all that crap? Just random gibberish? Or is something supposed to happen in the future?

“Maybe someone else traveled back and ran into Starling in the past, filling him in on the details he missed. We can’t assume the universe will make only one correction.”

Lucas nodded. “Then, that person must be me. Yes, that’s it. It would explain why he stopped the general and wanted me alive.”

“I’m not following.”

“He needed me to survive in order to bring back the info he needed to set a course to his future. It’s what leads up to this point. Without it, the past he knows never happens and his empire never builds.”

“Damn, I never thought of that. Well done.”

“At least now I know I survive all this. Or at least I did the first time around.”

“That was quite a gamble then with the Apaches.”

“He must have instructed Alvarez to let me live,” Lucas said, rubbing his head. Then he smiled. “I never thought I’d say this, but thank God I’m bald. This dome is pretty easy to spot from the air.”

Several hours later, Lucas paced the floor in Griffith’s lab with Masago following, stopping occasionally to bend his knee and test the integrity of the Smart Skin Suit. Every time he did, he expected Griffith’s patch job to rip loose, but it held secure and conformed to his body just as it should. In fact, if he hadn’t already known about the repair, he wouldn’t have been able to tell. Griffith’s work was impeccable, using an impromptu micro-fusing technique to connect and blend the nano-pathways masterfully between the original material and the new piece.

“Well?” Masago asked, holding Lucas’ street clothes over her arm. “How is it?”

“I’m impressed,” Lucas said, then looked at Griffith. “Well done, Grif. Just like new.”

Masago smiled. “You look like an Olympic bobsledder. A sexy bobsledder.”

Griffith laughed.

“Don’t encourage her,” Lucas said, squinting at him.

“Is that what it feels like when you travel through time? A bobsled racing down a hill?” she asked in a playful voice.

“No, not exactly. It’s hard to explain, but imagine every cell in your body being warmed and tickled from the inside. Then you feel nothing but an overwhelming sense of awe as your awareness grows to infinity and beyond. It’s a total mind-blowing rush. It’s nothing I could have ever imagined.”

She tilted her head. “Like you’re floating up to heaven?”

Lucas walked back to the group. “Not floating, and certainly not to heaven. More like your body and your soul are melting into cold energy. Then you’re liquefied and spread across space-time like butter on warm toast. It’s the strangest feeling.”

“Like I said, heaven.”

“I guess, maybe. Right before you arrive on the other end, your body feels like it’s nowhere and everywhere at the same time.”

Masago nodded. “Sounds amazing.”

Kleezebee cleared his throat. “What’s next?”

Lucas looked at Griffith. “We need to get the glasses working and test the connection, then we’ll know.”

Masago brushed one foot back and forth on the lab floor. “That’s when you’ll be able to talk to the future?”

Lucas nodded. “I was able to before. No reason to think I can’t again, as long as the Grif continues to work his magic.”

Griffith spoke without looking up from the glasses he was inspecting on the worktable. “Our instruments and knowledge are woefully inadequate for this type of technology. I’ve never seen such complex nanopower structures as these. There has to be thousands of individual chambers involved, each needing a fluid charge reset. I don’t know where to begin and even if I did, it’s going to take a while.”

Lucas put his hand on Griffith’s shoulder, squeezing it twice. “You’re doing fine. You fixed the suit, didn’t you?”

“You’re in my light.”

“Sorry,” Lucas said, stepping away.

“Who’d you say built this?” Griffith asked.

“A man I know in the future. We call him Master Fuji.”

“He’s my great-great-great-grandson,” Masago blurted out. “My family’s greatest achievement.”

“I think you missed a few greats in there, babe.”

She shrugged. “You know what I mean.”

“His name is Master Fuji. He created the Smart Skin Suit and came up with the physics for the Incursion Chamber,” Lucas said, turning to face Kleezebee. “You built the device with him, and I became the guinea pig. All thanks to the knowledge gleaned by tapping into the Akashic Field.”

Kleezebee seemed to ignore the reference. He leaned over Griffith’s shoulder. “Since it’s a free-flowing graphene core, I’d start by trying to identify the root cell. It’s possible that resetting its charge may start a downstream reaction, rectifying the electron flow across the entire power core. You may not need to reset each of them individually.”

“That’s a brilliant idea,” Griffith said. “Why didn’t I think of that? It’s so simple.”

“Sometime the easiest solution is the hardest to find,” Lucas said, staring at Kleezebee. It was one of the professor’s favorite sayings from the future and he hoped it might surprise the man or provoke a reaction.

Kleezebee didn’t flinch, never taking his eyes from Griffith. “I’m guessing this is a derivative technology, loosely based on lithium-sulfur technology, am I right?”

Griffith nodded. “
Loosely
would be the operative word.”

“What better substance to use than liquid graphene? The possibilities are endless, especially if the configuration was utilized like a supercapacitor and deployed with a high-efficiency ion transfer network. The electron mobility would be off the chart.”

“What made you think of it, Professor?” Masago asked.

“It just came to me. I knew there had to be an efficient mechanism in place to recharge the system. That’s how I would have designed it. Otherwise, it’d be a one-use device. Why go through all the trouble to invent an entirely new power system and not be able to use it repeatedly? The discharge of energy works the same way, regardless of the battery configuration or the power core. Just the nano-materials have changed.”

“Bingo!” Griffith said, standing up from his work stool as the glasses lit up on the table.

“Already?” Lucas snapped, picking the glasses up from the surface.

Griffith grinned, showing his crooked teeth. “The professor was spot-on. Once I determined the liquid representation of the anodes for each cell, I was able to trace its nano-circuitry back to the root cell. All but one of them had, for the lack of a better term, leads running in and out of it. Only one was missing the incoming connection—the root cell. Granted, this is an oversimplified explanation, but since time is of the essence, let’s just leave it at that.”

Lucas put the glasses over his eyes. Its interface booted instantly as the suit’s nano-pathways synced wirelessly to the headgear. He panned the lab, watching a horde of analytical data flicker and light up the virtual heads-up display. The metrics about the objects and people in the room appeared above each item and looked to be correct, as did the environmental data.

He swallowed hard, knowing it was time for the ultimate test. The test that would determine not only his fate, but the fate of the multiverse. Everything he’d hoped to achieve with this visit to Earth of the past would now come down to the next set of words he’d utter. He closed his eyes and took two deep breaths to calm his nerves, then cleared his throat and spoke into the device using a slow, purposeful voice.

“This is Dr. Lucas Ramsay, calling from Earth. Can anyone read me? . . . Earth Outpost Eutopia-3. This is Dr. Lucas Ramsay. Is anyone there?”

Kleezebee, Griffith, and Masago stared at him in silence, each leaning forward, turning an ear toward him.

Lucas dropped his gaze to the floor. A handful of moments later the Google Glasses crackled with static before someone’s answer came through the device.

“It’s damn good to hear your voice. We were growing concerned!”

Lucas recognized the person, making his heartbeat take off. “No need to worry, Professor. Just a few technical glitches, but we’ve been able to solve them.”

“We?”

Lucas hesitated to formulate his response. “Well, I wasn’t able to stay off the radar like we’d hoped. Ran into some issues along the way—some major, unexpected issues. Had to enlist the help of a new friend and a couple of old ones. But if it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be talking right now.”

“Who, exactly?”

“Has the video link synced?”

“Fuji’s working on it, hang on . . .” future Kleezebee said.

Lucas waited, aiming his gaze at Griffith’s worktable and equipment.

“Okay, the feed is coming through now. Looks like you’re in the science lab. Am I correct?”

“Yep, but that’s not all,” Lucas said in a sly tone, panning the room until the others came into view. “Recognize anyone?”

“Absolutely! So, who’s the girl?” Kleezebee asked.

“My new friend. She rescued me after General Alvarez took out most of my copies on the top of that mountain.”

“I see.”

“Wait, there’s more. You’re gonna love this. Her last name just so happens to be Fuji. Masago Fuji, to be exact.”

Lucas expected a response, but heard only static. He waited a bit longer; still no answer.

“You still there, Professor?”

“Yes, I’m here. We’re in discussion. Stand by.”

Masago tugged on his arm. “Can I talk to Master Fuji? I’d really like to meet my descendent.”

Lucas shook his head. “That’s not a good idea. Besides, even if I wanted to, I’m the only person who can operate this link. It’s been tuned precisely for my biochemistry.”

“That figures,” she said, with disdain dripping from her words.

“Don’t be upset. He knows you’re here and what you look like. That’s probably enough for now. Any more is just asking for trouble. We need to keep further corruption down to a minimum. Of course, that’s assuming there’s still any of the original timeline left to corrupt. But it stills feels like the proper thing to do.”

“He’s right,” Griffith added.

Local Kleezebee joined in. “I concur. In fact, the three of us should vacate the room and let you speak in private.”

Future Kleezebee’s voice came across the link. “We’ve discussed the matter and think it’s wise for you to move to a more private location before we continue this discussion.”

“Already on it, boss,” Lucas told him, swinging his head around to watch Griffith escort Masago by the arm to the lab door, with current Kleezebee right on their heels. The three of them went outside and the door closed.

Lucas turned his attention to the static crackling across the link, waiting for one of his friends from on Eutopia-3 to speak up.

Kleezebee did. “Give me a quick recap.”

“Let’s see . . . minutes after I arrived, Alvarez opened fire with three armed-to-the-teeth Apaches, killing most of my copies. I think he knew we were coming. How? I don’t know. Luckily, some of the Lucas copies got away, including me, but I was injured. Masago found me and nursed me back to health in her private bunker. The Smart Skin Suit and the glasses were damaged in the process. Once I was well enough to travel, she and I made the trek across the desert to bring them here to you—the you in this time—and you decided to bring Griffith in to help.”

“Status of the experiment?”

“Unknown. Thus far, I’ve avoided contact with my former self, focusing mainly on getting the link operational.”

“It sounds like you’ve made the proper decisions, given the circumstances.”

“Thanks, Professor. However, I need to tell you there have been a number of timeline changes. A few were noticeable immediately upon my arrival. I’m afraid something’s changed in the past. The past from here.”

“A predestination paradox,” Fuji said in his soft, controlled voice.

“Hey, Fuji. Good to hear your voice,” Lucas said.

Fuji didn’t answer.

“How severe are the changes?” Kleezebee asked in a more serious tone.

“Some of them major. Not sure what to do. That’s why I’m contacting you.”

“The fact that you were able to reestablish the link, and we’re still here, means the contamination hasn’t affected critical aspects of the timeline. But that could change.”

“I agree. We might only get one more shot at this. I was thinking Fuji should send me back a few days before I arrived. If I’m right, the other copies won’t be pulled here with me, and the general won’t have anything to shoot at. It might even help unwind some of the localized corruption we’re starting to see.”

“Or, make it worse. Right now, the facts indicate that enough of the timeline remains intact in order to achieve success. However, that might not be the case if we attempt a near-point reincursion. We might cause additional crossover ripples, compounding the paradox exponentially. No, we need to run the numbers and plan this carefully. The last thing we need is to exacerbate the situation with carelessness.”

Lucas didn’t like Kleezebee’s plan. It was going to require too much lead time before implementation. Time he didn’t think they had. “What about sending me much further back? Say a year or two. Get ahead of the bleed-back ripples and make our changes. What do you think, Fuji? Would that work?”