Authors: S D Taylor
“Not at a global level. Certain groups of people did better than others, but eighty percent of the 2043 population was dead within fifty years and the population stayed at that level for about a hundred years. With only two billion people left alive to feed, the Earth started to heal. Forests came back in places and the overfished ocean made some recovery of the species that had survived. But the nearly poisonous atmosphere took longer to recover and there were a number of genetic mutations that resulted. Some people developed a condition called ‘ultra-lung’ where they had hugely outsized chests.”
“There was some of that in our day, but it wasn’t due to the atmosphere.” Erin smiled as she said that. Peter smiled but Gaby was not sure what the reference was about.
Dara laughed for the first time any of them could recall. “You are referring to your culture’s fixation with the female breast. Very amusing. You see, I have studied my history.”
“You mean breasts are no longer popular in your time, Dara?” Erin was skeptical and Peter feigned disbelief. They all needed a lighter moment after what they had just heard.
“Let’s just say it’s complicated. Human relationships are much more complicated now and physical characteristics are usually one of the least important aspects. We all try to be pleasing in our appearance, but there is a pretty flexible definition of pleasing these days. And large female breasts are considered a sign of excess nutrition, just like obesity. Not something you want to be accused of in our world. You can get negative life credits for that.”
Peter glanced at Erin and then Gaby. He had a number of amusing comments to share, but when Gaby gave him a disapproving look he thought better of it and just winked at her.
Erin stood next to Dara and looked at the towers rising majestically in the distance. She could not deny that there was an irresistible fascination about being in this world and seeing things that she never dreamt of. “I am very interested in your world. I hope you will give me time to learn about it before you kill me.”
Dara turned and looked at the slender, red headed woman in the well-worn Red Sox cap. “I will see what I can do. The one thing our culture admires above all else is an inquisitive mind. For now, let’s go back inside. We should arrive in Selenton at dawn tomorrow and there will be many, many interesting things for you to see.”
Chapter 22
Without Rin to guide them, Doug took a couple of wrong turns, but eventually remembered the location of Peter and John’s secret hideout. The place that John the “Viking” had brought him the prior week when Doug was fleeing from the pirates. Tom had whispered to Olaf that he should not provide any hints to Doug since Tom wanted to see if his temporal twin could find the way on his own.
“Masterful job of leading, Doug.” Tom smiled as Doug pointed to the brush covered hillside that concealed the entrance to the shelter. About then the door swung open and Katelyn, with her mother close behind her holding a rifle, was looking to see what the commotion was about. “Hi, everyone. Come on in and join the party.” Then she saw him. “Olaf! She ran over to him and gave him a hug. We thought you were dead.”
Arny stepped out of the door and walked toward the boy, a stern look on his face. He put his arms around him and they hugged while speaking to each other in Old Norse that no one else could understand. Doug assumed it was “glad you are alive, don’t do that again,” or something along those lines. That is what fathers always say when their sons survive some death defying adventure.
Arny turned and looked at Tom and Doug. Putting his hands on their shoulders, he said quietly in heavily accented English, “It has been a long time since I have seen you, my old friends.”
Doug smiled at him. “But I saw you just last week. Don’t you remember? You have aged a bit since then.”
The old Viking laughed and they all went inside the crowded lodging that had seemed quite spacious the last time Doug had visited. So this had been the family home for all those future years that Doug’s future self and Rin had spent there. Now it was packed with Rin and the girls, Arny and his son, Megan, Ying, Tom and himself. There was barely room to sit down, but the light rain had convinced them to go inside.
Doug turned to Rin. “I love what you’ve done with the place.” He wasn’t kidding. There were various art objects and decorations that had found their way from various Viking and Haida sources and the place had a certain eclectic appeal. Doug recognized a raven symbol he had seen on one of the large Haida canoes. “You must have gotten some presents over the years.”
Rin was sitting between her two daughters, thankful to be alive and reunited with them. “The neighbors have been very kind to us during our time here on the island. And my Doug achieved a sort of celebrity status as a local medicine man. He could sew up wounds and that was a powerful inducement for people to treat us nicely.”
Doug smiled. “Never planned to start my own clinic. I guess you never know where life will take you.”
Tom stood next to Arny who looked around the scene of this multi-generational temporal family. Multiple Erins of different ages and their children. It was similar to what had happened at the Viking village. “How did you learn English, Arny?”
“Erin taught me some words. I am not good speaker of English. Can talk some and it makes me happy. Olaf is good speaker. He can be voice when important talk is needed. Younger Arny laughs at my talk.”
“You do very well. I am impressed.” Tom wondered if Arny knew the word impressed. He certainly wasn’t joking about being impressed. He wondered if Arny would be able to teach him even a few words of Old Norse. Tom remembered his complete failure when he tried to pronounce Danish words when he visited Copenhagen. He was convinced that there could never be a Scandinavian word the sounded anything like it looked on paper. At least Tom had yet to come close to pronouncing one correctly.
Arny took Doug aside and leaned in close to him. “My friend Erin is here. But where your Erin. Young Erin? Did die in battle?”
“No, Arny. She is a prisoner of the bad people from the future. They took her yesterday. They let the girl’s mother go.” He nodded towards Rin.
“People who fly in round ship?”
“Yes, the people in the round ship. They went far away with my Erin.” Doug felt the intense emotions and hatred creeping into him at the thought of Erin being held captive by them.
“They took her to the future?”
Doug was surprised that Arny understood. “Yes, she is in the future with them, but they may come back very soon. I hope so. I want her back with me.”
“You love her, don’t you?” Arny stared intently at Doug like an old uncle you meet at a wedding. “We must get her back. Put end to the bad people before they can attack again.”
“It is difficult to fight them. They are strong and have powerful weapons. But I would like to put an end to them. Put a really serious end to them.”
Olaf joined them. “We know, Doug. Their round flying ship shot balls of flame into our village and killed two people. Then they took Erin, mother of Katelyn and Alannah. There was no way to fight them.”
“Doug, we move village soon to new place where they won’t find us.” Arny was the protector of his people and he would not stay in harm’s way when they could flee and escape attacks. Doug learned that the younger version of Arny was pushing ahead with the plans.
“Where would you go? The Haida control much of the land around this area. Doug wondered if Arny had met the Haida and whether they were on friendly terms.
“We know Haida, Doug. They trade with us sometimes. They are strong people, but no better than us when people in flying ship come around. We die too easily when fighting flying people. I hope you help us next time.”
Doug was hoping the same thing. That they could all work together somehow to defeat this new and highly capable enemy. “They are just flesh and blood and we will find a way to turn that to our advantage. We will find something that can help and then we will get Erin out of there for good.
Arny grabbed Doug’s shoulder and pulled him closer until their faces were almost touching. “I think flying people may have taken older Doug also.”
Doug’s eyes got bigger at that thought. “You mean he may not be dead like Erin thinks?”
“He went fishing and not come back. Not like you or him. You don’t go dead from falling on rock. I did not believe it. But he never come back. Erin cry for week, but then make grave for him. Say he now dead. I believe not.”
Olaf elaborated. “My father thinks the saucer people have been here many times, taking away Vikings, Indians, Pirates and now Erin and Doug. Possibly. We have no proof, but we want to get a chance to go find him.”
Doug looked at the old Viking and his son. “I hope my Erin can find him when she is in the future world. My only concern is that we might be too late.”
Arny smiled his knowing smile. “We are not too late. Maybe your Erin will find him in the future and bring him back to us.”
Let us hope it happens that way thought Doug. For everyone’s sake. He looked at Rin and her daughters, laughing over some story that Megan had told. He realized for the first time that this group was the family he had never known. He had to do everything in his power to protect them and make sure that if his Erin and Rin’s Doug were out there in the ether somewhere, he would somehow find a way to help them get back home safely.
Chapter 23
Doug and Tom sat on the edge of the ridge and looked out over the expanse of the north part of the island. They had gotten up early and accompanied Arny and his son part of the way back to the eastern shore where the Viking had hidden his small boat. They bade them farewell and promised to visit the Viking village as soon as things settled down. If that ever happened, Doug thought as he saw the two men disappear into the thick forest. He and Tom decided to make a quick detour to the ridge above their camp to see if there was anything going on. They also wondered if there were any boats in the area around the island. Or flying vehicles of any variety.
“Not much to see. I think we may have done this just for the exercise.” Tom scanned the horizon in all directions with his small pair of binoculars.
“I thought the ladies might want a little time to get settled in with their new visitors. We are significantly outnumbered now that Arny and Olaf have left.”
“Trying small talk to avoid thinking about her?” Tom knew exactly what Doug was feeling.
“I have never felt so helpless in my life. I saw that hybrid guy taking her and I was unable to do a damn thing about it. And now I have no idea what to do to find her. I don’t even know if it is possible to find her. Or that we will ever see each other again.”
“Why do you think they let Rin go? It was obviously part of some plan that they didn’t take both versions of Erin into the future.” Tom looked at him intently.
“I have tried to figure that out. I thought they were just taking people at random, but it is clear there was some form of plan. If they came here from the future, they must have the ability to control the temporal rifts. When they disappeared, there was a flash very similar to the ones we saw from the weapon on the Rasputin.” Doug held out his hand for the binoculars and took his turn looking around for anything unexpected or threatening.
Tom fiddled with his rifle, taking out the clip and checking the number of rounds. It was unnecessary, but it helped keep his hands busy when he was sitting around. “If they came here once, then maybe they will come back. Rin mentioned something about them wanting to clean up the temporal mess and that it involved trying to terminate everyone. Since we are all still here, they will be back for us at some point.”
“But it could be years in the future. They aren’t bounded by any type of quantum constraints. I wonder how precise their temporal navigation is. Can they come back to today, precisely to this moment, or do they just land in the general area of time and space?” Doug wanted them back as soon as possible so he could either kill them or get captured by them. He wanted to find Erin and he figured the best chance would be if they took him to wherever they had taken her. But if he could find a way to kill them, that would be mighty tempting.
“Even if they come back and we get on their boat, their technology seems to be a long ways ahead of ours. Whatever that insect guy did to you, it is probably just a taste of what they have waiting on the boat. Or back where they came from.” Tom put his hand on Doug’s shoulder. “Whatever you decide to do, I’m with you.”
“Wouldn’t you rather get Megan and head out to that spot you told me about? Where you want to build a cabin and settle down?”
Tom smiled as he thought about the plan he had hatched with Megan. “Don’t worry, we are going to make that dream happen. Somewhere. Sometime. But for now we all have to pull together to set things right. These future people must have some vulnerabilities. There must be something we could do to defeat them. Or get one of them to help us. If we could shoot down their saucer, we might be able to find some technology we could use.”
Doug was skeptical, but he didn’t have any better ideas. “We have to be ready if they do show up. Otherwise, we could all be dead before we get a chance to shoot back at them.”