The Great Altruist (34 page)

       
    
“Who were my real parents then?”

       
    
“Your biological parents – and by that I mean the sperm and egg donors,” he said coarsely, “are unknown to everyone but those at the top of the project. Even Hitler didn’t know.”

           
“Hitler?” she asked.

           
“Everyone involved in the project is dead and any records left over were destroyed after you escaped. Few people alive know anything about you. I only know because I was presumed dead and, by the grace of God, managed to escape here - to South America.”

       
    
“Why don’t I remember any of it?”

       
    
“That’s complicated. The project was charged with producing the following: a human being comprised of only the core genetic material necessary for human function, but it was then modified to increase strength, reduce independence, and remove morality. Originally, you were not given a voice.

       
    
“The human genome had not been discovered yet, but when we stumbled upon time-travel just before the war, Hitler wanted to know how to engineer his soldiers since breeding the perfect race wasn’t working. And so he commissioned doctors to find anything from the future that might help him toward that goal.  In the course of our experiments, I learned a great deal about DNA that I never shared with my superiors. I am the one who saw to it to add the genes that made you who you are today: you are compelled to be selfless, loving, thoughtful, and kind. I even designed a mechanism that would cause you great abdominal pain if you resisted your true nature.

           
"Your abilities, by the way, were a little concoction of my own doing. Your size, which I’m sure you’ve come to resent, was not meant to handicap you. I had to stall the other researchers for time so I could perfect the material that would make you virtually indestructible. Instead of making you a killing machine, I wanted to see someone who only wanted to help others. Call it my way of making amends for trusting a man like Hitler with my people’s most precious technology.”

           
“Wait!” she exclaimed. “Where are you from?”

           
“That isn’t important, my dear. I saw all the terrible things the Nazis did and it reminded me of my people in our infancy. The last thing they needed was another instrument of death. I imagine you’ve been wisely trying to help others since you left.”

       
    
“I’m not sure how successful I was. I did try to prevent the war from ever happening at least.”

           
“Well,” he said, “that would have been impossible, my dear. Preventing the war would have prevented your own creation.”

           
She gasped. “So the reason so many people died was because of
me
?”

           
"You mustn’t torture yourself with that idea. Besides, I’m sure you’ve done enough good in the time since. That has to count for something.”

           
Genesis was suddenly plagued with regrets. “I could have done more.”

           
“I’m sure we all could have. The last thirty-five years since the war have been intolerable as I look back on what I could have done. You’re different. You had no choice in the matter and have no reason to feel remorse. The abilities you have were meant to teach you an important lesson: that there is little use living in the past.”

           
“Then I must not have learned much because all I’ve done was try to fix people’s mistakes from the past.”

           
"If I could undo our experiments, I would,” he confessed. “But enough damage has been brought about by time-travel. Besides, the technology was lost when the war ended. As for you, I wanted to reverse what we did to you eventually, but there wasn’t time. The end of the war was approaching and I needed to protect you.”

       
    
“Do you still know how to reverse it?”

       
    
He smiled once again and said: “Yes.”

       
    
She smiled back and waited patiently for his reply to her implied petition.

       
    
“I assume you wish to return to some point in time and lead a normal life?”

       
    
“Yes,” she said. “But how did I get here?”

       
    
“Easily,” he said. “You had no other choice. When you left, I chose a time that was safe in Earth’s history for you upon your release. Your body was programmed to go to that point in time when triggered – in the first case it was triggered by anger and fear. Conversely, you finding me was a programmed affair too. I estimated a place I would likely be found if not captured or killed. I’ve been waiting on this lake house for you to return – and now you have.”

       
    
“But what triggered me to come here?”

       
    
A wide grin crossed his face. “What else, Genesis? You fell in love, didn’t you?”

       
    
She nodded excitedly.

       
    
“Good,” he said. He stood up from the desk and walked to a bookshelf overflowing with papers. Beneath a pile of loose pages, he removed from the top shelf a small metal box with an antique lock on its outside hinge. “In here, you will find what you want.”

       
    
He opened the box and removed a tiny syringe. “The drug in this needle will restore your entire DNA to normal and allow you the life you so much deserve.”

       
    
He set it down on the desk in front of her. She approached the needle with apprehension. “Will it hurt?” she asked

       
    
“Only the needle part. The transformation will be instantaneous. When you return to your new home, you will be restored to your normal self. Unlike your first trip through time, you will now remember everything you know now. This is my final gift to you. Are you ready?”

       
    
“Will I ever see you again?” she asked.

       
    
“No, my dear. I’ve served my part in your life.”

       
    
“Thank you,” she said, “for everything.” She approached by flight, smiled, and kissed him on the cheek.

       
    
A moment later, she felt a slight pinch on her arm, thought of returning home to James, and disappeared as a flying time-traveler for the last time.

           
The department store was cold, dark, and empty at 7:00 in the morning. To Genesis’s everlasting relief, there were no guards on patrol and no security cameras present when she arrived. As with every other jump through time, only Genesis (in her perfect skin) appeared out of nowhere. It took her a moment to adjust to her new body; her steps were unusually light and her gait more than a little clumsy. She looked down at her naked body with her normal carefree manner as she walked down the aisle of the store when she realized that modesty would be essential now.
I’m going to need something to wear
, she thought. As she strode through the racks of clothing, she grabbed the first sundress off a rack that might look good on her and got dressed. After a quick trip to the lingerie department and the quick addition of bra and panties to her wardrobe, she ran to the front door.
She grabbed some comfortable shoes on her way out the door and was off to meet the man she loved.

       
    
Despite being in excellent shape, Genesis wasn’t used to losing so much energy. She reasoned it was because she had never run on her legs before. She had always flown. Ten minutes after leaving the department store, she was exhausted and decided she wasn’t in any rush: James’s house was only a few minutes away and she remembered that the other, much smaller Genesis, hadn’t even brought him home from their first adventure yet.

       
    
The walk to his house served her well; she was able to take time and appreciate all the small things she previously took for granted. Flowers no longer seemed as frightening; nor did bees and other insects, creatures that always avoided her.

       
    
Outside the Grant home, Genesis stood along the street and looked up at the window to James’s bedroom, where she often stationed herself and stood guard over him as he recovered from their frequent trips through time. Now, she saw the man she loved weeping at the sight of her departure.

       
    
Whatever pain she may have felt in her legs from the run home meant nothing to her now. She bolted up the stairs to the front porch and took a moment to catch her breath before pressing the doorbell, desperate to apologize for leaving him and to explain all she had learned.
This is it!
she thought.
My new life.
The few seconds it took James to rush down the stairs and answer the door felt like years to the woman he would finally be able to hold in his arms. The door opened, and all their dreams came true.

Part 3

Chapter 1

           
John Archer sat at his desk going over the latest test results. He adjusted his glasses and ran his fingers through his salt-and-pepper hair as he read. His assistant, Ryan, sat beside him waiting anxiously for a sign of emotion on Archer's face. Fifteen more minutes passed before Ryan got a chance to relax.

       
    
“Now,
this
is interesting,” Archer mumbled.

       
    
“What? Did I do something wrong?” Ryan asked, his voice quivering a little.

       
    
Archer chuckled. “Not at all.” He stood up and took some printed pages with him. Archer looked like a man about to give a speech. “The thing is this: I've spent the last twelve years working for the government, working on things I'll never be able to tell you about, my young friend.” A smirk crept across Ryan's face, as the two were only three years apart in age - and Ryan was the eldest. “But this,” Archer continued, holding the pages up. “This is going to set us apart. Not apart from the Russians or the Chinese, no. A line now exists between humanity that will not exist again for many generations. This line now divides humanity of the past – the one that brought us cell phones and the Internet – and the humanity of the future.”

       
    
Ryan sat up straight in his chair. “All this from one test?”

       
    
“Not exactly,” Archer said, sitting back down. “I still need others to verify my work. But if I'm right – which I always am or else I wouldn't be paid so handsomely – then we have truly reached a turning point in our history!”

       
    
Ryan pulled his chair closer to Archer and leaned to whisper. “But Dr. Archer,” he always said out of respect, “are you seriously suggesting it may soon be possible to travel through time?”

       
    
“Probable, not possible,” he answered without lifting his head from his notes. “The math is all there. Now all we need is some idiot with lots of money who is foolish enough to build the silly thing.”

       
    
Across the room, a door opened and a man in military uniform decorated with medals walked through.