Chapter 10

2023

Myka and Helena were on their way back home from Pete's girlfriend's house. Myka had been very interested to meet her. The woman lived in a smaller city near Univille which was a safe place to send Sarah if something in Univille was happening that seemed to be dangerous. Pete spent a great deal of time with her, but he hadn't yet told her anything about the Warehouse or anything else. They hadn't been together that long. Pete appreciated that she never asked deeper questions about his job. Nor did she ask any questions when there was a reason to bring Sarah somewhere safe.
They drove in silence for a while, and Myka sighed while concentrating behind the wheel.
"Do you want to tell me what happened in the B&B? I'm confused and I can almost hear you thinking." And let's not talk about that hug and that little family moment we had, because that was the most confusing part for me, she thought.
"I think I found the person who is responsible for the missing day,"Helena answered."I have to tell the others about it."
"In the B&B? Excuse me? I don't understand,"Myka couldn't follow her thoughts. "Could you please just talk and tell me everything? I don't care about what happens to the future. This affects me and you and our... your daughter, it seems, so please, just tell me. Maybe I can help."
"I don't know that much more than you. I went into the B&B to pick up Sarah and there was another woman with her. She was talking to my daughter. I felt dizzy like when I first used my time travel machine."
Myka looked at her in surprise. "I didn't feel dizzy when I used your machine."
"No. I think I'm the only one to feel that. Maybe I can feel such things because I used to mess with time myself? Who knows. I think the woman has an artifact that messes with time and this affects the whole city - so we miss a day - and it somehow also affects you - so you are dragged from the past to our time. I don't know what she wants or what she is dealing with, but she told me she needed my help and she is trying to change something. I was so enraged when I saw her with my daughter. I thought she'd harm her, and my wife. I just wanted to keep them safe. My only thought was to make her bring my Myka back. No offense," Helena said and paused.
"That's okay. I really would like to go back to my time, too," Myka answered."No offense."
Helena smirked.
"So what do we have?" she started thinking out loud. "We have you brought from the past to the future. We have a time travelling artifact that doesn't work. We have a mysterious woman who talks about changing something in time. We have a missing day in Univille. We have a sudden scar from a shooting appearing on your shoulder. And we have you dreaming about the artifact, another version of yourself and a third person. What did this person look like?"
"I don't know. I couldn't see her. Everything was dark," Myka answered.
"Can I speak hypothetically?" Helena asked.
"Of course."
"Well, let's assume that the woman wants to change something in time - we don't know what it is, yet - that has to do with you. We can assume this because you are now here and you suddenly got that scar. And the person in your dream said she didn't want to bring you here."
"Let's assume," Myka said.
"I would like to make a hypothesis that the woman in your dream and the woman I just met are the same person."
"Hypothetically," Myka nodded."Hypothetically, this would make sense."
"And she said in your dream that she didn't intend to bring you here. That means - hypothetically - that your appearance in our time was a downside of the artifact."
"But I have the artifact,"Myka said."It's in a neutralisation bag on the table in the B&B."
"Hm,.", Helena answered.
There was a pause and Myka could almost hear Helena think.
"But that woman disappeared into nothing. And I heard a twirling sound. If you ask me, I'd say she used an artifact to disappear."
"You mean, she disappeared out of your time?"
"Hypothetically," Helena answered.
"So what does that mean?" Myka asked. "Another artifact? Two artifacts?"
Helena shook her head.: "No, and this is the most hypothetical part about my hypothesis."
"Okay, let me hear it."
"Let's assume the woman has a time travel artifact. And we assume, she is from the future -because she is aware of an incident that happens in the future and she tries to change it - that would lead me to the conclusion she has the original artifact."
"The original artifact? Helena, I travelled through time with the artifact. It does work, it just stopped working."
"I don't think that I agree, Myka. I thought a while about this today, when we drove Sarah to the safe place. In my hypothesis the artifact doesn't exist in time like we do."
"Excuse me?" Myka looked up from the street and gazed at Helena's cheek.
"Please pay attention to the street, darling," Helena said calmly.
Myka rolled her eyes.
"I would say that the woman I just met has the original artifact and uses it to travel through time. But the artifact you have is something like a shadow of the original artifact in another time," Helena continued.
"That is a little too much for me, can you explain that more simply?" Myka asked.
"Well, you and I and everyone - we all are bound to time. When time passes, we get older. What if this artifact exists without time? Time itself has no affect on this artifact."
"That would mean the artifact would always stay the same way, no matter how much time passes?" Myka asked.
"Yes, in my hypothesis, the artifact could be made in the future, but that would mean it appears in the past. And that would mean, if someone uses it in one time, it is also in usage in another time,"Helena concluded.
"Do you mean that if the woman uses the artifact in her time, the artifact in my time also works?"
"Yes, but just as some kind of shadow. This is why the woman can take her body with her while you just landed in the body of my Myka."
"I think that makes a little sense."
Helena stopped talking and started thinking again. After a few minutes during which Myka concentrated on the street, she started talking again:.
"I would like to make another assumption based on my hypothesis."
"Okay. It's not like my brain doesn't already feel like a big mess."
"In your dream, you met another Myka. Maybe it's my Myka?" Helena asked.
"I don't know. I didn't ask her."
"Well, she said she also had the artifact, just like you. This information leads me to answer a question I always had about you appearing in our time," Helena looked at her.
"Start answering that question immediately. I have so many questions about appearing here. It would be great if you could answer at least one of them," Myka smirked.
"Why are you in particular appearing in our particular time? Are you bound to any happening here? Are you here for a reason?" Helena asked.
Myka pressed her lips together. "To be honest, before I touched the watch I asked myself a few desperate questions about the very complicated relationship we have in our time and I thought the watch wanted to calm me down or something by showing me what my future looks like."
"That sounds very romantic," Helena answered. "A time travel artifact brings you to the possible future and shows you how it could be with the woman you love."
"Possible future?" Myka asked.
"Well, the future hasn't happened at your time, yet. So I wouldn't say it's that fixed."
"Now you're confusing me again. Could you just please answer the questions you have just asked," Myka demanded while turning the wheel.
"Future may be changeable. Past isn't," Helena said, "The ink in which our lives are inscribed is indelible. But you haven't written your future, yet. You can change what you are writing."
"That sounds poetic. I think I just understood. But can you just please answer the questions?" Myka rolled her eyes again a little.
"Well, why is 2013 Myka in 2023? Why isn't maybe 2009 Myka in 2034 or some other time?" Helena asked.
"I understood the questions when you asked them before."
"Okay. Based on your dream and the other given hypothetical facts, I would say: The woman tries to change something about your life. She travels through time and lands in 2023. Her time travel maybe needs energy. Temporal energy or something comparable. This is the reason why Univille is missing a day - hypothetically. The day is needed to make the artifact work. She meets me and asks for my help about the change, because I'm your life partner and also someone who has experience with time travel."
"Okay."
"But I'm not cooperative because of my daughter and my wife. So she maybe travels through time again."
"Excuse me? Why would she do this?" Myka asked.
"Because maybe she thinks I'm more cooperative in another time?" Helena explained.
"Okay, makes sense."
"She travels to 2013 because in this time I'm not with you and I don't have a daughter there."
"Well, Adelaide, in a way," Myka said, feeling that rubber band around her neck again.
"Yes, Adelaide. But perhaps Adelaide isn't affected by the time travel like you are, now. So she travels back to 2013 to get help from me in this time."
"I still don't know what this has to do with my appearance in this time," Myka said.
"Well, again hypothetically. If we start by assuming that the person brought you here by mistake like she said in your dream and then we look at the other important point in your dream: the presence of another Myka, as well as the sudden appearance of your scar, this all leads me to make a big and very bold hypothesis."
"Helena, I know that you like to hear yourself talking. Could you please just say it? In a very very easy way?" Myka asked her.
"You haven't just been sent here from 2013. You swapped places. My Myka is in 2013 and you are here, and this wasn't anything our suspect intended. It is a side effect of her time travel artifact. I would say, the person desires to change something connected to you and with this desire, she also dragged you with her while she travelled through time. From 2013 to 2023 and the other way round," finished Helena with a very proud staccato tone.
Myka was silent for a while and thought about this. This was just a hypothesis by Helena based on another hypothesis. But all in all, it made sense to her. Myka couldn't explain, why, but she had the feeling that Helena was right. Her touching the artifact wasn't just a coincidence. She touched it for a reason. The scar on her shoulder just appeared. That would mean something happened in the past that didn't happen if she had stayed there. The past was running on without her, but her body seemed to be still involved in it.
"You are too intelligent for this world," Myka said after a while.
Helena smirked."I'm very glad to hear you say it."

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"Hypothetically?"Artie asked and leaned forward in his chair, focusing on the two women on the B&B's couch.
"Hypothetically,"Myka answered."This is what we think makes the most sense."
"So, let me get this straight. The missing day, Myka's appearance, the not-working artifact...you think that is all related to one person? And you think Myka swapped places with her younger self?" Pete said through a mouthful of sandwich. Steve watched him with a slightly disgusted face.
Helena nodded. "Exactly."
"But who is this person?" Abigail asked. "I mean, if we follow that hypothesis, she must have some connection to the Warehouse. Or Myka."
Myka sighed. "That's the problem, we have no idea."
Helena stood up and started walking through the living room, "I had the feeling I know her. I can't explain it."
Steve scratched his neck."So, she is from the future, right? Because she wants to change something and we don't know what it is but she is completely aware of it and it's something about Myka? Maybe a big thing happening to her?"
"This is what I asked myself, too," Claudia appeared. They all gasped.
"Claudia! Stop Mrs. Frederic-ing us!" Pete yelled.
"I already told you that I want this to be called 'Claudia-ing'! It's so much cooler if it's named after me."
"So what did the Regents say?" Abigail wanted to know.
"They don't know any more than we do. They are concerned. They told me to bring Myka to them and make her answer their questions."
"Oh," Myka said. "But I don't know much more than you."
"That's what I told them, Mykes. So they gave us a little time to discuss what we are dealing with. You have to understand them. When the timelines are messed up it could affect the Warehouse and this is what they worry most about," Claudia took place next to Pete and took a bite from his sandwich.
"Hey!" Pete yelled.
"Let me be. Claudia-ing people makes me hungry," Claudia mumbled between two bites.
"So, what could this thing be that happens to Myka that this woman tries to change?", Abigail rubbed the bridge of her nose in thought.
Helena was still walking up and down the living room. "Why do I know her?"
Myka looked down to the floor and sighed. This was about her. Something was happening in the future to her and someone wanted to change it. Maybe this person had bad intentions. Maybe Myka did something that crossed the woman's plans. But the woman actually told Helena that she didn't want to harm her family. This would mean something else, that the woman actually had good intentions. Maybe she wanted to save Helena and her family. Maybe she wanted to rescue Myka.
Myka cleared her throat and spoke, her voice trembling a bit."My death?"
Helena stopped. "Excuse me?"
Myka looked at her. "She seems to have good intentions. She didn't want to harm your daughter, she didn't hurt you...she didn't really hurt you when she fought against you. Maybe she wants to save me from an accident or something else cruel happening to me. In the future."
Helena stared for a moment at her, then she closed her eyes for a second, turned around and continued walking through the living room.
"How old was she? Did she look like a warehouse agent? Maybe we have new agents in the future. It can't always just be the little family," Claudia said.
"No, she was too young to be an agent," Helena said in thought, "Maybe 20...wait - family..."
Helena stopped in front of a dresser with some pictures of them: Artie and Claudia, Pete and Myka with Helena with ice cream cones in their hands, Jinks in front of the warehouse, Myka and Helena and Sarah.
"Oh my god!" Helena gasped.
"What is going on?" Abigail asked.
"Myka! It is the family. I didn't see it, because I was so enraged and afraid, but now that I can think clearly, I know. It's her!" Helena gasped again.
"H.G., we can't follow your thoughts," Steve explained.
Helena took the photo of her wife and daughter. It was a close-up to their faces. Myka's and Sarah's green eyes blinked into the camera, their faces pressed together so their curls mixed.
Helena turned around and put the photo on the table.
"It's Sarah, Myka. That woman who tries to change your future is Sarah," she said calmly but with a frightened expression on her face.
Claudia choked on Pete's sandwich. "What?!"
Steve looked at Helena. "Are you sure about this?"
"I recognize my daughter when I see her, no matter how old she is. How could I not have seen this?"
"You are the only one who has really seen her," Artie answered.
"You have to believe me. I am really sure about this,.", Helena looked Myka in the eye.
"Yes," Myka answered. "Yes, that would make sense."
Her future daughter was trying to rescue her. Myka couldn't believe it, but she believed Helena. Helena was so bound to her daughter, she knew her best and she was so sure about this.
"This would explain the side effect of the artifact. She travels several times through time and takes the person with her who she desires most to be with her," Steve explained.
"Well, we have to tell her that the time travelling has to stop," Artie's voice was definite.
"The artifact!" Helena said.
"What about the artifact?" Abigail asked.
"We could use it to prove our hypothesis," Helena explained. "It exists out of time."
"I don't understand."
"With the artifact we have an opportunity to communicate with 2013. Remember your dreams, Myka!" Helena said and looked around to find the aforementioned object.
"It is here," Myka held up the bag.
"Well, please give it to me. And I will need a hard and pointed object," Helena explained.

2013

They had brought Myka to her hotel room and made her lay down on her bed. The painkillers kicked in, so she wasn't that responsive anymore. She had closed her eyes and was half asleep. Helena and Pete had taken their places at the foot of her bed, watching over her. Claudia fell asleep curled up on the couch.
"I shall stay here for the night, Peter," Helena whispered. "Myka said it is important to have me here so if the kidnapper comes again, I am safe."
"Yes,"Pete answered. "It is about you being safe." He rolled his eyes a little.
"Pardon?" Myka said and opened her eyes a little.
"Nothing."
"So would you explain now what this case is about? Because I really want to know. This seems to be about me and also about my family.", Helena's voice was rough.
Myka sighed from the other side of the bed.
"Time travel," Pete whispered.
"I discovered that myself," Helena answered. "I saw most of the notes of my kidnapper. She is trying to change something in the future and wanted me to figure out how the events are connected to each other. I must say that I didn't understand that much, but it seems that it was something in the future and it was connected to the Warehouse."
"Okay, so what do you want to know, if you already know this?"
"I want to know why she chose me? Does she know I was a Warehouse agent? She said she knows I'm a time traveler. Who is this woman?"
"We don't know,"Pete answered.
"She has an artifact. I saw it. It was a wrist watch."
"A wrist watch? Are you sure?" Pete asked, quietly now. Myka had begun to snore a little.
"I am very sure. It was on the same table we were sitting at going through her notes."
"What notes?"
"Well, most of it I didn't really understand. It seems that there is an accident with someone at the Warehouse in a distant future. And that there is a mysterious person at the Warehouse."
Pete frowned. "A mysterious person? Is this a parallel?"
"Time travelling is very much about parallels," Helena hissed.
"Thank you for that brilliant explanation," Pete's voice sounded more sarcastic than he wanted it to.
"I'm still awake, you two. If you don't stop fighting, I will make you stop," Myka mumbled from her bed.
"Of course, darling," Helena rolled her eyes.
"So?" she focused Pete.
"So what?"
"So, tell me everything. From the beginning. When did you get the ping about Boone? What do you know about the artifact? I want to know everything. When did it start?"
"Okay, now that you said you saw the artifact being a wrist watch I would say this is connected on a level beyond just being a simple case," Pete started.
"Well?" H.G. raised an eyebrow.
"Okay. It all started with Myka's time travel in the Warehouse-"
"Myka's time travel?" Helena looked at Myka in surprise.
"Umm," Pete started.
Myka turned a little and looked through tired eyes at Helena. "I'm not the Myka you know., I'm sorry I haven't told you, yet."
Helena's eyes widened. "But you are...?"
"I'm Myka from the future. Wow, that sounds ridiculous. Umm, in the future I came in contact with an artifact and I woke up in my old body in 2013," Myka explained.
"Oh," Helena said and looked down. And then, louder. "OH."
Claudia grunted on the couch and started turning around very busily. When she was quiet again, Helena looked at Myka. "So...the future?"
"We don't talk about the future," Pete answered.
Myka nodded. "That's true."
"But how is that connected to me?" Helena asked.
"So, yes, umm, basically, we think that Myka swapped places with future Myka. Is it okay to call you that, Mykes? 'Future Myka'?"
Myka's eyes were already closed again but she grunted in approval.
"How did you come to that conclusion?" Helena wanted to know.
"I just thought this would be a good explanation. Myka saw herself in a dream talking to her. And the other Myka had the same artifact. So there are basically two Mykas. Future Myka and ...not future Myka. Do I sound like I'm crazy? Because I have the feeling I sound like I'm crazy," Pete's head turned to Myka.
"No more than usual," Helena answered.
"All right. When we were just looking to see if the artifact had the same effect as your time machine - you know, the 22 hours and 19 minutes - it's not the same effect, by the way - we got information about the artifact here in Boone. Since you said it was a wrist watch, we think this might be a combination artifact or something, because the artifact Myka is dealing with is a wrist watch, too."
"Can I see it?" Helena said, holding out her hand.
Pete stood up to get the artifact out of his suitcase. "By the way, can you give me any information about the kidnapper?"
"Umm, it's a woman. She is a little taller than me. Oh - I injured her face. She now has a cut on her cheek, because I broke her glasses."
Claudia groaned on the couch.
With a fast move, Pete dropped the bag with the artifact and purple gloves into Helena's lap.
"Thank you very much," H.G. said with an undertone. "Your mood is so encouranging."
While Helena pulled on the gloves, Pete watched Myka, who had finally fallen asleep. With her gloved hands, H.G. pulled out the artifact and turned it in her hands.
"You know that she loves you, don't you, H.G.?" Pete whispered.
Helena stopped and stared at Myka's feet. After a while, she continued observing the object in her hands.: "I know," she swallowed.
"Don't hurt her, please," Pete looked at Helena and his face was very serious.
"I'm here in Boone, so I won't."
Pete shook his head. That was actually the problem. H.G. didn't understand and he was so done with them both not communicating. They had to talk. When this was over, he would force...real Myka and H.G. to talk with each other.
"Did you see the engraving on the watch?" H.G asked.
"Engraving? There was no engraving when we examined the watch," Pete answered.
"Well, it's less an real engraving than something poorly carved," Helena stood up and walked over to the desk with the watch. She turned on the desk lamp and held the watch under it.
Pete looked over her shoulder.: "Where is it?"
"Here, on the back of the watch. Someone took a pointed object and carved something in it."
"Does it say something?" Pete bumped against Helena's shoulder in excitement and she rolled her eyes in reaction.
"Yes," she answered and started reading.: "Myka, 'she' is Sarah. Go to sleep."
"Is this even grammatically correct?" Pete asked. "'She is Sarah'. Sounds wrong to me."
"Who is Sarah?" Helena asked.
"I don't know!" Pete answered. "Maybe we should concentrate on that question, H.G.!"
"The kidnapper, maybe?" Helena asked.
"Oh! That sounds true! But who is the kidnapper? Did the kidnapper carve this into the watch?"
"I can't believe you are the person who came to the conclusion with the over-time-body-swapping, Peter," Helena mocked, "The person, who carved this into the watch was obviously not the kidnapper. The person who carved this refers to her as 'She', so there won't be any misunderstandings, like with 'Myka, it's Sarah'."
"Ah!" Pete said and Helena could hear the understanding in his voice: "So the person who carved that wanted to tell us that the kidnapper is Sarah."
"Yes!", H.G. answered.
"But who is Sarah?"
"When we look at the fact, that the carved writing is addressing Myka, I would say that 'Sarah' is somebody related in some way to 'future Myka'. So Myka will know who she is dealing with.", Helena explained.
"Oh, that sounds logical!" Pete said.
Helena stared at the watch.
"And me," she said.
"Pardon?"
"This Sarah seems to be somehow related to me, too. During my inventor time, I carved a lot of things into objects,"Helena explained. "This is my handwriting."
"You mean...?"
"I think, my future me has written this to inform 'future Myka' about a person who is somehow related to us both. Maybe they have this artifact in the future, too. Them sending us messages by carving something in the watch must mean that the watch isn't really influenced by time," Helena explained.
"Umm,...could you explain that?", Pete asked.
"Well, Pete. If I were to carve something into this table, it would stay and another person in the future could see what I have carved. But if the future person were to carve something in response, I in my time wouldn't be able to see it. But the fact that we are now able to see what somebody in the future carved into this watch leads me to the conclusion that time doesn't have the same effect on this watch as on other objects."
Pete nodded. "Understood."
"Okay, there is another part of this message," Helena mumbled, looking at the watch in her gloved hands again. "'Go to sleep'."
Pete scratched his chin. "Should I bring my pajamas?" he asked.
"No, that's not directed at you. The whole message is intended for 'Future Myka'. They want her to go to sleep." She looked at Myka on the bed. "Well, this won't be difficult."

AN: Everybody who yelled "I knew it!" while reading gets a cookie. Well, i made it very obvious, didn't I?