Maya's face turned pale, as if she had seen a ghost; and White noticed, a corner of his thin lips twitched in amusement.
"Your…employer?" she asked hesitantly, feeling her mouth going dry and her heart race with apprehension.
White bowed his head slowly but kept his gaze on her, "Your old colleague, Dr. Daniel Hadden".
Her mind was numb, how could this have happened? And most importantly: how was he still alive?
"How is this possible?" she asked incredulously.
White sighed and leaned back in his chair, looking as though he were considering his next words carefully.
He told Maya about how Daniel shared every information with White after his ordeal: about his life before the Great War, his research at the University with his best friend and fellow researcher, Maya, working on the particle collider, then a freak accident that occurred when they were inside the chamber and she disappeared, leaving Daniel severely exposed to chroniton radiation. For many years, this went undiagnosed because the technology did not exist to detect it. It affected every cell in his body, making him age at a slower rate than everyone else. After the accident, he suffered severe episodes of depression, and required several years to recover from the ordeal. White spoke of the events several years after the accident, and how Daniel formed his company, Omega Prime, which focused on creating state of the art and prototype power generators, genetic engineering and manipulation, and energy weapons. This caught the attention of the U.S. military and Omega Prime became drawn into a new and much larger organisation: Vault-Tec. As founder and leader of Omega Prime, Daniel became one of the first founders of Vault-Tec as well, helping to create and establish many of the protocols and systems that Vault-Tec had come to use. However, in all that time, he had never given up on trying to find a way to find Maya, and that every project he had worked on he was trying to find a way to get her back. That desire to find her turned into an obsession that he had to see through, so he poured all his scientific resources until he found the answer: time.
He had a theory based on the scientific data they collected that Maya were thrown out of time and sent into the distant future, but he did not know when. That was, until he found out about the results following Elder McNamara's attempt to send a message to the past.
"So, I did travel into the future…" Maya blurted out, looking somewhat confused.
White nodded. "Daniel wants you to go back to your own time Maya. His theory is that if you return, all of this can be prevented".
"But it doesn't add up" Maya mused.
"What's that?" White asked.
Maya stood up and started slowly pacing in the room, mulling over all the information in her head. "This world…the technology, the remnants from the 'old world' as you call it, it doesn't fit…It's like I've not only been shifted into the future, but also into a parallel universe"
White was hoping that this would not come up, he had to throw her off the trail. "That's because technology and everything took a different turn when you disappeared" he said, hoping that would suffice.
She shook her head uncertainly, "I doubt it, one person vanishing from time isn't enough to send the entire timeline into chaos… it's too much of a change… It's like everything took on a retro 50's vibe. It doesn't make sense".
Then White remembered something about what Daniel told him about time travel, he might be able to use it in this situation. "It's the Butterfly Effect. You were taken out of the equation and history as you know of after that had changed".
Maya stopped pacing and turned to face White, "That would only apply if thousands…no hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of years passed. Not a mere 200. And even if it were true, I'm not that significant to the timeline"
For a few moments silence enveloped them as Maya contemplated and White tried urgently to conjure up something that would offer a passable explanation and throw her off the scent. Then it hit him.
"Would you say the same thing if, for instance, Newton was taken out of the equation? If he suddenly disappeared from his timeline, what would have happened to our future as we know it? What if Einstein was removed before he made his great discoveries? How would that have affected the world? Everything would be different, the world and its scientific breakthroughs would have shaped everything differently".
Maya laughed, amused at the thought that he of all people would make a comparison like that, "I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm not that important".
"And how do you know that?" White gazed at her unflinchingly.
"You're serious, aren't you?" Maya stopped laughing and regarded White critically.
White shrugged, "If you won't believe me, then you should believe Daniel. This is his theory, not mine".
"I want to see him… this needs to come from him" she demanded.
'I've got her now' White thought, relieved.
"In time, you will, but there is more work to be done before a reunion is to be scheduled" White replied, "But whatever you decide, you should keep this in mind: if you go back, this world, its catastrophes and meaningless wars and death will be averted. All it takes is one person to change history." He regarded her sternly, his grey bloodshot eyes not breaking contact with hers.
"You won't even get a chance to act on your plans; the Legion will not allow this foolish tampering with time to suit your needs!" Alerio broke his silence, a look of disgust upon his face, "And you, you profligate bitch" he spat at Maya, leaning forward in his seat, "When the entire Legion force is done with you, you'll wish we had made you a slave…"
The corner of White's mouth curved upward in a sneer as he turned to face Alerio.
"I'm going to need you to look away now Maya" he said calmly, but before Maya even had time to process what was going on, White's restraints fell away from his arms and legs and he launched himself at Alerio. Before he made physical contact with the Legionary, Maya saw a flash of steel, then it disappeared into Alerio's neck, releasing a crimson river of blood that sputtered onto White.
Maya covered her face and screamed as the violent image was burned in her mind. Like an air raid siren, her scream was so loud it echoed through the prison door and alerted the guards outside, so much so that she didn't even hear the door unlock and the furious pounding footsteps of NCR soldiers on the concrete floor filling the small room. She moved back until she collided with the wall and sank to the floor, but almost immediately felt a pair of sturdy arms grab hold of her and pull her out of the room. It was Colonel Hsu.
"Maya! Maya it's okay, you're safe" he re-assured her, his voice calming and gentle; but the scene kept replaying in Maya's head and she shook her head.
Hsu sighed and pulled her close, "Come on, let's get you out of here" he said as he tried to pick her up.
"No!" Maya pushed him back, "No, I'm…I'm okay, I can walk" she said through shuddering breaths, slowly removing her hands from her face.
"Oh…Maya…" Hsu's expression was sorrowful as he saw that she had drawn blood on her forehead where her fingernails were pressing.
"I'm okay…I'm okay…" Maya kept saying over and over, trying to calm herself down and force the images out of her head. Instead she tried to focus on her surroundings, the soldiers rushing in and out of the interrogation room. A pale faced Boyd was standing to the side watching her. No doubt she had seen the river of gore.
"Alright, let's get you to your friends. They must be very worried about you now" Hsu didn't want to let go of Maya's arm in case she faltered and fell down the escalator stairs as he led her to McNamara's tent. But before they could get to the bottom of the stairs, McNamara jogged into the base with a slight limp.
"Maya!" he ran over to them, wincing in pain. "What happened?"
"There has been an incident in the interrogation room" Col. Hsu answered, letting go of Maya's arm.
"What incident? We saw soldiers running into the base. What happened?" McNamara urged.
"The prisoner, White, has fatally wounded the other Legionary prisoner. It happened while Maya was still inside…" Hsu answered apologetically. "I am deeply sorry for what Maya witnessed. If there is anything I can do…well…my door is always open. I must leave you two for the moment though, to deal with the situation at hand." he bowed his head slightly before rushing back up to the room.
Maya was shaking, but the image was starting to fade from her mind as she forced herself to look around her surroundings. McNamara's presence helped too.
"You shouldn't be on your feet, you're hurt" she commented, staring at his bandaged legs.
McNamara sighed, pulled her in for a hug and held her for a moment, until he felt her arms wrap around his waist. He had a sinking feeling that what happened was just the beginning; but he knew that as long as he drew breath, he wasn't going to let anyone or anything harm her like that again.
"Come on, let's go get some rest…"