The Sphere: A Journey In Time (7 page)

Adam smiled again but looked slightly concerned. "Please don't let it bother you. There's no need for you to join in if you're not comfortable with it."

"I just wasn't raised on any sort of religion." I was no stranger to it though. The topic of religious missions was frequently discussed, especially between myself and Noah. Noah was raised some variant of Christian, though I could never remember exactly which branch or sect. The differences between them were always hard for me to remember. But from our discussions I was now well versed in the histories of Jesus and Joseph Smith. Noah argued that Mormonism being, in his opinion, a cult, deserved to have its origins exposed. I usually argued that since he was biased he was missing the obvious point that all religions could be considered cults and therefore exposed. I also argued that for all he knew things went exactly as Joseph Smith said they did. He had laughed at me, but acknowledged that I could be right. Before I had met Noah, I just assumed that anyone who believed in organized religion was an idiot. I tended to think people like Noah would not be all that shattered to find out their messiah never existed, but that we were still a few generations from when most people would be readily accepting of it. "I'm not uncomfortable, I was just a bit surprised." I paused for a moment but decided to be honest. They seemed like very understanding people. "And didn't know what to do with myself."

"Not at all. So long as you don't dig in while we're praying, we won't be offended no matter what you do. Speaking of which." Adam gestured towards the plate of meat. "Roast beef in an apple nesbit jus reduction, braised beets, and asparagus."

I realized how ravenous I was but out of politeness only took one slice of roast beef to start. The meat was delicious and had a wonderfully fresh flavor. I was doubtful that they had a ranch somewhere on the island but felt it would be a little bit rude to ask where they got their meat from. "This is fabulous. Where did you learn to cook?"

"My mother taught me when I was young. She was one of the few natural farmers left in the plains. She refused to try any cross breeding of plants herself but let me plant a small garden and experiment on my own. I was never terribly good at it though."

Marina laughed. "He tried it again when we moved here. Created this rutabaga green bean thing. It was awful!"

I joined her laugh. "You have my friend Noah's sense of adventure with food. When did you start your own vineyard?"

“When we were working in Washington, DC we met quite a few people from the Virginia wine country area. One of them mentioned he had a vineyard he was looking to sell, and though I didn’t have much free time with the hotel, it was always a dream of mine. So we bought it and hired some people to take care of the day to day business, though I always had a hand in how the wine was made.”

“Hotel?”

“Ah, sorry. Let me start a little earlier. We met at a small business conference I was catering about 15 years ago-”

Marina grabbed his hand. “It was love at first sight.”

“Yes. It was a bit of a whirlwind. We were married within a year and Marina took over my catering business.”

“He needed some help with the management aspects of it.”

Adam smiled at her again. “I was in it for the food, not the money.”

“But when you’re not turning a profit that makes it hard to continue-” she countered.

“So Marina helped me grow my business and before I knew it, we had enough money to buy an old hotel in DC that was in a bit of disrepair.”

Marina smiled at the memory and continued. “The place needed to be gutted, to be honest. But I saw the potential. And with DC being such a popular place to travel to, I knew one thing it would always need was more hotels.”

“Between her business sense and my creative touches it became popular more quickly than I could imagine. And important people were staying there.”

“Senators, visiting dignitaries. We got quite a reputation for being discreet about our guests and their activities.” Marina could not hide the pride in her voice.

“And apparently word spread. The laboratory approached Marina about 8 years ago with an offer to build a resort on this island. They explained their need for people who could be trusted, given the nature of the guests. Frankly, we were excited by the idea of something a little more low key. The hotel was grand and very profitable, but the life was exhausting. And this place, is truly a paradise.”

I smiled in agreement, amused by the back and forth nature of their narrative. “And what did they tell you would be the nature of your guests?”

They exchanged a nervous glance before Adam spoke. “We try not to ask questions. We know the lab has a variety of research projects and some of the researchers, yourself included, are involved in time travel. But generally people come here to escape their work, and we encourage that.”

“We’ve also been warned that you’re quite the workaholic, and likely to throw yourself into the task of learning to sail.” Marina smiled and the tension immediately lifted with her tone.

“And to that end, we should probably retire for the night. I plan to wake you up bright and early to start challenging you!”

I laughed. “I have no objection to that.” Adam stood and Marina and I followed suit. “Can I help clear?”

Marina wouldn’t allow it. “You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow, get some rest.”

“Good night then.” They both nodded good night in return and I headed back to my hut.

There was a silky looking nightgown in the closet that felt wonderful on my skin as I brushed my teeth. I nearly jumped into the large fluffy bed and was out almost as soon as the sheets had settled over me.

Chapter 7

The next thing I knew, Marina was knocking on my door to wake me. I mumbled something close to "come in" and she entered with a tray full of some beautiful looking scrambled eggs, bacon and potatoes. The glass of orange juice had the thickness of fresh squeezed style. I decided I could get used to this. "Good morning."

"I figured you should have a filling breakfast on your first morning learning with Adam. He's going to feed you a lot of information this morning and you'll need to be able to focus well." She placed the tray on the table in my kitchen area and pulled a chair out slightly.

"Thank you so much Marina, this looks wonderful." I sat down in the chair and smelled the food appreciatively.

"Enjoy. He'll be by around 0730 to start on your first lesson." She gave me another smile and left.

As I ate the eggs, I mused that if they didn't have cows on the island, they must at least have chickens. The eggs looked gorgeous and tasted extremely fresh. Again, I thought I could get used to this. I finished my breakfast and took another long hot shower. I decided that for sailing, an airy long sleeved shirt and loose pants would give me good coverage from the sun, but not be too hot.

After dressing I opened my backpack and pulled out the few things I had brought with me. A few books for some leisurely reading, and a link to my present day journal, which I was never without. I opened the journal file and had made some notes on the previous evening, including a few more observations about religion when there was a knock at the door. "Come in!"

Marina entered, followed by Adam. She took away the tray that held my empty breakfast dishes and nodded before leaving again. Adam gave me an excited smile. "Ready?"

I stood up, equally as excited. "Absolutely!"

"Right then!" He sat down at the table and gestured for me to do the same.

I sat down, a little crestfallen. "Aren't we going out to the sailboat?"

He laughed. "Eventually. But first you need to understand some basic principles about wind direction and forces!" I smiled again at his enthusiasm as he pulled a pen out from behind his ear and flipped to a clean sheet on a pad of paper he had brought in with him.
Pen and paper, how archaic
. I settled in as he started drawing diagrams of boats and sails and wind vectors.

It boggled my mind that you could steer a sailboat towards the wind and still make forward progress. I was assuaged by the fact that math doesn't lie and the vector addition he showed me at least made intellectual, if not common sense. It bothered me, but Adam assured me that I was making good progress if I could at least accept the idea, even if I didn't quite feel it.

He made up a quiz for me involving a diagram of a boat and a list of parts. I had to label the diagram with what each part was called. It felt like I was back in grade school. He explained that it would help me to have an idea of what each part was before trying to use them. Though his style was simplistic, I knew I was learning a lot.

By the time Marina knocked on the door with lunch, I had a basic understanding of the principles of sailing. I was struggling to keep straight which rope hoisted or turned which sail. Adam told me it would make more sense when we were on the boat. "It helps to see the lines in action. It'll feel natural after a few hours. We'll go out late tomorrow morning."

"Not today?"

"Wind's a little strong, not too great for learning. Anyway, I'm sure you'd like some time to yourself anyway? Relax? Maybe explore the island a little bit?"

"I have been curious to look around. Maybe go for a swim. How big is the island?"

"It's roughly circular and about 6 miles to walk around the circumference. There’s a good sized stream on the other side that flows out from near the middle of the island, but it’s easily crossed. There's a small mountain towards the middle. Not so steep it isn't easily climbable and there's a 360 degree view from the top of it. There's a hydration pack and some sturdy boots in your closet if you'd like to climb it."

"Nice view?"

"You can't see much of anything but ocean from the top. Some people find it a little unnerving to be so isolated from the mainland. But given you spend most of your life in a big bubble, I can't imagine that would bother you."

Something from his tone when he said "big bubble" left me feeling that he didn't exactly approve of my work place. I kept the thought to myself, even though there were times I didn't exactly approve of it either. I justified to myself that the sacrifices of freedom I made were worth it in the end. And since he and Marina shied away from talking about it much last night, I figured it would be better to remain silent on the issue.

We finished lunch and Adam left me to myself. I found the hydration pack and loaded a couple of protein snacks and a towel into it, then tied the boots to one of the hooks on the back. I changed into shorts, found a wide brim hat in the closet and headed out to the beach barefoot.

I took a counter clockwise trek along the edge of the water. The waves were fairly calm and the water was just cool enough to be refreshing. The place really was paradise. I walked what I gaged to be about two miles and stopped to look around. I was not able to see more than a hundred yards or so back down the beach. The trees were thick and nearly reached the edge of the water. Adam and Marina were well around the other side of the island. For the first time in a very long time I was alone. No people. No surveillance equipment watching me or listening to me. At least I hoped not. I scanned the trees briefly and thought about it.

The lab owned the island so it was highly possible they were watching everything here too. That could explain the look Adam and Marina exchanged at dinner last night. I realized I did not care. I shook off the suspicion and yelled at the top of my lungs, a long ecstatic "Wahoo!" The noise was swallowed almost immediately by the ocean.

I dropped the pack to the sand and started to roll the sleeves of my shirt up. I looked at my pasty white arms and thought of Marina's tanned slender arms. The only other people on the island were two miles away and suddenly I no longer cared if anyone else was watching. The recovery crew at the lab had seen me naked often enough on my returns anyway. I stripped off my clothes and ran into the ocean.

The water was delightful and crystal clear. I could see my feet on the sand at the bottom. I had not been swimming in the ocean since I was an adolescent and it had been in New Jersey waters which were cloudy and nearly brown. For the first time I felt comfortable in ocean water. I swam out away from the beach until I started to get tired, then turned around and headed back with a lazy backstroke. By the time I got back to the beach I was fairly exhausted.

I took a sip from my hydration pack as I laid my towel out. I laid down on the towel and let the sun dry my skin. A breeze blew across me and raised goosebumps on my arms. I suddenly started feeling uneasy. Perhaps solitude was not meant for me. Everywhere I went in my day to day life, I was watched. Though it was a severe invasion of privacy, it was also somewhat reassuring. There was always someone there. I had no doubt that if I ever had a heart attack or started choking on something, within seconds someone would be there to assist me. In this place with so much open air I felt oddly exposed in this state, uncertain if I was being watched by someone who had my back.

I pulled my clothes back on and untied the boots from my pack to put them on. I hitched the pack back on and opened a protein bar as I headed into the trees towards the center of the island.

A few dozen yards from the edge of the tree line the ground turned into harder dirt. The ground started to slope upwards, but the trees were still dense and tall and provided ample shade from the mid afternoon sun. There was no trail so it was slow going, picking my way through the underbrush, but the mountain was easy to see and I kept making my way straight towards it. I hoped from the top I'd be able to see the huts so I wouldn't have to make a complete circuit of the island to find my way back.

There were plenty of birds in the trees and although I heard something rooting around in the bushes I couldn't see what it was. Adam hadn't mentioned anything about any dangerous animals on the island, but I was a little wary not knowing what it was.

The ground eventually became even more steep and the trees thinned out a little. I slowly picked my way through the brush and remaining trees up the side of the mountain. The ground finally flattened back out and I emerged from the last few trees onto a rocky surface about the size of a tennis court.

I was immediately able to see the ocean in front of me on the other side of the island. I walked towards the middle of the clearing and slowly turned around, taking in the view of the water from all sides. It was a first for me, to be able to see only ocean all around me. I understood what Adam had said about people feeling isolated but the unnerved feeling I had gotten earlier was gone. Being now able to see all around me I felt reassured that I was alone, not being watched by a stranger in the bushes with ill intentions. It was calming.

I made note of where I had come up the mountain and started to walk around the edge of the clearing. One side of the mountain was a rather steep drop off and it looked like there was very little beach at the bottom of it. I was just able to make out the tops of the huts through the trees on another part of the clearing and decided I would head back down closer to that side of the mountain to shorten my return trip.

I sat down on a large rock towards one edge of the clearing to rest. I pulled out another protein bar and sipped some more water while taking in the view again. Aside from the immediate foliage the view to the horizon was nearly indistinguishable from one angle to the next. The lack of visual stimulation caused my mind to zone out, and eventually I realized I was thinking about sailing again.

I sat for a while trying to remember everything Adam had taught me that morning. With my eyes closed I tried to picture the wind vector diagrams he had drawn and again disbelief clouded my thoughts. I smiled and shook my head at my own stubbornness. It would make sense, I reassured myself. Everything would come together when I was out on the sailboat. I tried instead to remember the diagram with the sailboat parts.

My silent contemplation of sailing was broken by another rustling noise in a bush at the edge of the clearing. I turned quickly and although I still couldn't make out what had been in the bushes, I was able to tell from the flash of light off its surface that it was metal. I immediately rose to my feet. “Hello?” I called out. Silence answered me.

I stood for a moment watching the bush closely but could see nothing moving. I took a few steps towards the bush before it shook again. I ran to the edge, listening to the rustling sound traveling away from me and down through the underbrush. I caught another flash of light and saw the unmistakable form of a surveillance bot withdrawing.

I turned away and started the trek down the mountain towards the huts. The calming feeling of being alone had suddenly passed as I looked over my shoulder at least a dozen times on the way back.