Time Salvager (23 page)
“How did you idiots let this happen?” she demanded, waving her arms, feeling the urge to take out her fury on someone from this stupid time period, which was unfortunately limited to the only other person in the room. “When I woke up this morning, the sun was out and the ocean was beautiful. The world was at peace. Hell, there hadn’t been a war in twice my lifetime! We defeated hunger, disease, and energy starvation. Humanity was finally fixing the planet and picking itself out of the gutter! Now, now…” She sat back down again, speechless and bewildered.
“We blew it,” he admitted. “In 2098, nine months after the Nutris Platform’s destruction, we fell back into our old ways. World War Three broke out over the colonial rights of Luna, Mars, and the mineral deposits in the Main Asteroid Belt. Famine, poverty, and the planet’s taint soon followed. We declined as a civilization, wasting resources on war and losing valuable technological achievements. In a short amount of time, the general population’s mind-set changed from one of innovation and prosperity to just self-interested survival.” He paused. “It gets worse. I haven’t even started on what happened once humanity got off-planet.”
“How could it get any worse?” she yelled and pointed outside the window. “Look at this place! I was almost better off dying back in my time.”
James rubbed his temples with his fingers. “I’m sorry, but I had to save your life.”
Elise took a few deep breaths and collected herself, feeling ashamed. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. I appreciate you rescuing me, really. I just didn’t realize the future was such a dump.” She sighed and tried to suppress that mountain of outrage in her head. “All right, what’s done is done. What do we do now?”
“Now, you need to survive the present.” James looked out the window as the faint orange morning rays bathed the room. He plucked four metal bands seemingly out of the air and handed them to her. “Put these on.”
Elise stared at the ugly, dark, thick bands. “Um … thanks, but they’re not really my style.”
He held up his arms and showed her the dozen or so around his wrists. “They’re not for aesthetics.”
He picked out two of the bands and looped them around each of her delicate wrists. “This one is a rad band, and this one is an atmospheric control band. They will protect you against the radiation and the elements. The atmos will allow you to breathe clean air. Do not take them off.” He looped another band around her left wrist. “This one is a comm band. It’ll allow us to communicate at all times. I’ll show you how to work it later on.” Then he took the last band—fatter than the other three—held it up in front of her face, and then looped it around her right wrist. “This one is the most important. It’s a wrist beam. You will need to learn to shoot with it and protect yourself. Never take any of these bands off.”
Elise recoiled. “Like a gun? I can’t even kill a bug, let alone shoot someone.” She shook her wrists at him, jingling the loose bands. “Take it off. Take it off!”
James clasped her hands gently in his and sat her down. “Listen carefully, Elise. I’ve done a terrible thing in bringing you back. I broke some important laws. There are people looking for us.”
“Like the ones at the plaza today?”
“Monitors. They’re the police force of the time-traveling agency I work for.” He paused. “Used to work for.”
“What happens if they capture me? Will I go to jail or something?”
James shook his head. “They’d probably just shoot you on the spot. You need to know how to take care of yourself.”
A cold wave swept over Elise as she looked at the dark metal bands around her wrists. She was tempted just to shake them off and give them back to James. She was an avowed pacifist, and the very thought of wearing a weapon nauseated her. Still, these were extraordinary circumstances. People were hunting her. Not just any people, but from the uniformed authorities of this time. She was knee-deep in serious trouble.
She held up her arm reluctantly. “Fine, I’ll wear them on a trial basis. But if I do decide that I’m all right with them, I eventually want them in another color. These are ugly.” Even her attempt at a joke couldn’t break the somber atmosphere. James obviously didn’t get it.
“As you wish.” Still holding her hands, he spoke in a slow, measured tone. “These bands link to your bioenergy and respond to commands in your thoughts. You need to be able to clearly identify each one whenever you activate them.” He touched each of the bands one by one, naming them again. “Rad band, comm band, atmos, wrist beam. Identify them clearly.”
Elise looked skeptical. “Really? You want me to mentally call each of these hunks of metal by their name and think at them? This is ridiculous.”
“Close your eyes,” he said and touched the bands one at a time again. “Rad band, comm band, atmos, wrist beam. Identify. Now think at them.”
Fidgeting, and feeling stupid, Elise obliged him and closed her eyes. “Okay. Now what?”
“Think at them to close.”
Elise did so, and squawked in surprise when all the bands tightened around her wrist. She lifted her arms and gaped at how snugly each band fit, as if it were made for her wrists.
“Amazing,” she murmured.
A small smile escaped James’s somber exterior, and he gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder. “Well done. Which one is the rad band?”
Elise pointed at it.
He nodded. “Think at it: ‘Activate full spectrum.’”
She closed her eyes again. A moment later, she knew the rad band was powered on. She couldn’t explain exactly how she knew, just that it was. She opened her eyes again and nodded.
“Keep that on at all times unless I tell you otherwise. The rad band will protect you from most of the radiation and toxins in the air. Now, do the same for the atmos. Think at it: ‘Activate all-coverage twenty-six Celsius.’”
She did, and the air around her warmed up immediately; she no longer felt a breeze. She inhaled and noticed that the air felt clearer. She looked down at these little magic bands. “This is incredible.” She sniffed the air. “It still smells like crap. Does the band work on scent?”
James nodded. “It will only filter out identified toxic substances. There are settings to filter out all smells if you wish. We can go over its other settings later. For now, let’s move on to the wrist beam.”
They spent the next few hours practicing shooting her wrist beam. Elise hated to admit it, but she was having fun with these new toys, especially the wrist beam. In a way, she felt like one of those superheroes she used to read about in the digital comics as a kid. Sure, she was an awful shot and would fail to discharge the weapon more often than not, but that just took practice, right?
She was surprised to discover that James was actually a very good teacher. He was patient and gentle, but at the same time methodical, making sure she knew every step of a lesson before moving on. By the time the sun had climbed up the sky and its rays were coming in through the window openings, she felt comfortable enough with her new bands to practice on her own.
“That’s enough for now,” he said as she fired off her twentieth round of groupings at the concrete wall on the other end of the room. “Let’s move on to the comm band.”
Elise lifted her right arm up and stared at it. She didn’t have to look at it in order to turn it on, but it helped focus her thoughts. Again, she got the feeling that the thing was on. She wasn’t sure how; she just knew.
“Good,” James said. “I want you to focus on frequency channel E9V1A55. It’s a subchannel I created for personal use. You should be able to communicate with me through it.”
She did so and again, felt nothing, but somehow knew it was open. “Hello?” she said. “Anyone there? The sixth sick sheik’s sixth—”
“Close down the channel! Close it down!” James suddenly barked in a very loud voice.
Startled, Elise complied, shutting down the entire band. “What happened? What did I do wrong?”
Looking worried, James scanned the room and then glanced out the window. “I need to check something,” he said. “Why don’t you keep shooting at those targets? I’ll be back soon.
Then, without a word, he leaped into the air as if he were Superman and disappeared into the wreckage of what was once Boston, leaving Elise to wonder what in Gaia just happened.
Panic seized James as he hurtled across the half-submerged buildings to get as far away from Elise as possible, only stopping once he got to the far northeastern edge, where the ocean met the city. It took him several leaps across the rooftops of these ruins, but he soon reached the last building still standing against the ocean’s constantly crashing waves. He walked to the edge and stared at the violent dark brown ocean swirling beneath him. He should be far enough from her now.
He lashed out at the source of his anxiety. “What the abyss do you want? Don’t even bother trying to trace me. I’ve already altered—”
“I’m not trying to track you. I’m off-book,” said Smitt. James could hear the desperation in his voice. “Hear me out. Please, my friend.”
James was going to cut Smitt off right there but he was curious. “How did you know about this subchannel?” he asked. “I’ve cut off all our previous lines.”
“Come on, James, it’s me. I’ve been your only friend since the Academy. I was there when you took three days to set this thing up. Two more than anyone else, I might add. Hell, you might not have ever finished the firewall setup for this thing had I not helped.”
That much was true. James was always on the low end of the technical skill sets for chronmen work. Smitt tutoring and helping him cheat was a major factor in his graduating from the Academy.
That was a long time ago, though. James was impressed. “And you remembered it after all these years?”
“James, I’ve been speaking in your head longer than I care to remember. Just took a few hours to backlog and pour through our old notes. You know it’s all recorded somewhere.”
“Just a few hours, huh?” James’s gut felt queasy. If it had taken Smitt only a few hours to find him on the comm, what other mistakes had he made? Was a squad of monitors coming for them right now? What if they had already pinpointed their camp and captured Elise?
“Sorry, James,” said Smitt. “You might be clever, but you’re not very creative.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“I was trying to be nice.”
“Well, don’t be. What do you want?”
“Listen, you’re in a heap. A big fucking pile of shit. Levin’s about to bring a blackhole’s worth of pressure down on you. The agency is out for your blood.”
“I wasn’t aware of that. Thanks for telling me.”
“No need to get pissy at the guy risking his neck telling you. You’re the one who brought this down on yourself.”
“Spit it out, Smitt. And I swear, if you somehow found a way to track my location through this subchannel, this will be the last you’ll ever hear from me until one night when you’re least expecting it…”
“Damn it, James. Shut up and stop threatening me. Listen! Valta wants to step in. They’re willing to make it all right. They’ll fix the shit with ChronoCom. Do you hear me?”
James frowned. Could the solution be that simple? Would Valta just sweep in and fix this mess he’d made? He shook his head; nothing is ever that easy, especially when it came to a megacorporation.
“What are they offering?” he asked.
“Sweeter than the original deal. They’re willing to buy out your entire contract. Tack on that last year. You get to go straight to Europa!”
James froze, speechless. This offer, too, was unbelievable. How could they actually offer him a better deal after the mess he’d made? Something was very wrong here. “What do they want in exchange?”
“That person you brought back. Is she one of the scientists?”
“Yes,” said James, distrusting where this conversation was heading.
“Which one?”
“Why do you care?”
“Valta cares. They’re willing to erase this entire event for both of us if Valta can claim indentured ownership of this scientist.”
Indentured ownership. Common contract terminology used during the Gas Giant mining rush requiring miners to work their homestead for a certain amount of years in exchange for the mining companies paying for their transportation fare. In other words, Valta wanted to claim Elise as a slave.
“Good-bye, Smitt,” James said, this time saying the words out loud as well.
“I see. I’m sorry. For everything. I hope you can forgive me one day.”
“I already do. I know you were doing what you think is best.” James was about to cut the connection when he stopped short. “Smitt, did you ever find out what that residual tear back on the Nutris Platform was from?”
“No. Been a little crazy here since you got back.”
“Find out for me, will you? The entire job felt wrong, especially since I wasn’t allowed to make the retrieval until after the disaster happened.”
“I’ll see what I can find out. Hey, James, keep this encrypted channel open for incoming messages. It’s the only way I can keep in touch with you. Keep the subchannel a one-way receptacle if you must, but keep it pingable. Please.”
James hesitated, recalling the last twenty years of his life, with Smitt as the only constant. This guy was the closest thing to family he had. It might help to have someone on the inside. Could he gamble with Elise’s safety? Had Smitt ever intentionally steered him wrong? Even with the incident earlier today, James believed Smitt when he said he’d stepped in for James’s own good. Did he still trust Smitt?
“I’ll see what I can do,” he said. “No promises, but it’ll stay open. For now.”
James was left standing on the roof alone with his thoughts. He looked out for several kilometers at the slow-moving ocean waves grounding against the buildings. His eyes followed the smaller chunks of concrete that broke off from the structures and fell into the ocean. Sometimes, the ocean didn’t want those pieces and pushed them back against the buildings, hammered them against the crumbling walls until they were swept out again. The process repeated a half dozen times.
There was a thunderous crack as one of the large skyscrapers groaned and pieces of debris slid down its curved side, falling into the dark brown waters below. The dying building wouldn’t last another year before it, too, would be swallowed up by the encroaching plague of shit.
