Chapter 36

A Blast from the Past

Eloise sighed. This wasn't what she had been expecting. This wasn't what she had wanted – it was what she'd been dreading, actually. Desmond Hume.

History was repeating itself.

According to Daniel's first journal, Desmond had appeared to Daniel in 1996, turning up suddenly in his room in Oxford. From what she had been able to gather from Daniel's scribbled notes, Desmond's consciousness had traveled through time – his 2004 mind occupying his 1996 body. Or something like that. Daniel's notes were never all that clear; he was far more interested in formulae. But the basics were there, and Desmond's little mental jaunt into the past had been what had inspired Daniel to carry out the experiments that had led to him losing his mind that time around.

Things were different now, of course. For a start it was 1997, and according to the older journal, Daniel's mind had buckled after Desmond came on the scene, whereas now, now Daniel had lost his mental faculties before Desmond had arrived.

Different details, even though the grand sweep of the canvas looked as if it was still the same. She'd hoped it would be different – more earth shatteringly different than these tiny, irrelevant changes.

She stood in Penny's kitchen doorway completely unable to hide her disappointment, staring at the man in front of her as the rage rose up in her throat. For some inexplicable reason she had thought it would be different this time. But here he was. Desmond Hume. She eyed him dubiously. He looked ragged, unwashed. Like some rat who had crawled out of a sewer.

A time rat.

She already despised the man. For what he represented if nothing else. Charles didn't like him. She could see why. He was shifty and his eyes didn't meet hers. Spineless.

'How long have you been here, Desmond?' she asked curtly, breaking the silence.

'Um, do you two know each other?' Penny was looking between them, confusion written all over her face.

Eloise's eyes snapped up. 'Do you?' she asked Penny.

'Of course, Desmond's my – well, he was my boyfriend. We… broke up.' She finished lamely.

Eloise stood there in shock. Desmond Hume knew Penny? This was the 'boyfriend' that Charles had complained about? Charles, being Charles, had simply referred to him as that man, she was quite sure that he had never mentioned Desmond Hume by name – if he had, she was sure she would have remembered. But even so, how had she not known? Though she had to confess she'd never paid much attention to Charles' rants. She'd long ago learned to switch off and think of green fields instead, but now, suddenly, she wished she'd been a little more on the ball.

And then there was Penny. Had Penny never mentioned him either? She wracked her brain for all the conversations she'd had with Penny since they'd met. Desmond Hume was her boyfriend? How on earth had that escaped her before now? The fact that she'd only known Penny a couple of months probably had something to do with it, and yes, the fact that she didn't exactly like her hadn't helped. Or, at least, she hadn't warmed to her. Like was too strong a word. Their link had been through Daniel, and she had purposefully kept their conversations perfunctory. She wasn't interested in making friends. She'd only introduced them for Daniel's sake because, in his journals, Daniel seemed to give no indication that even knew he had a half sister and introducing him to Penny had been another one of her flailing attempts to do things differently. She hadn't told Charles about it. He'd be furious if he knew, but seeing as he and Penny weren't on speaking terms, she'd felt it was worth the risk.

And here, now, standing in her kitchen was a disheveled looking man that Penny claimed was Desmond Hume. Eloise sighed heavily. This was all getting so complicated. And of course, the series of bizarre coincidences that had brought them all together here suggested, what? That there was some pattern beneath all this? Was this set of relationships really random or could there be a deeper order that she should know about? Not for the first time, she missed Daniel's sharp mind. She'd come to rely on him too much.

From Daniel's first journal it was clear that Desmond's consciousness had traveled through time to 1996, and that Desmond had then had to travel to Oxford to see Daniel from wherever his 1996 self had been at the time. So only his mind and not his body had been on the move. The whole-body time travel had come later, once Daniel had reached the Island. She eyed Desmond carefully. He looked a wreck. She'd seen a photograph of him in Penny's sitting room, and this didn't look like the same man. The man in the photograph had looked dapper and well-dressed. This one looked ragged and wild, sort of a little unhinged. Which wasn't surprising, she admitted reluctantly, given the circumstances. Even so, she suspected that more than his mind had been traveling through the folds of space-time. At least she hoped so.

'How long have you been here?' she repeated her earlier question, trying to make eye contact with him, the irritation blooming inside her when he made no move to either look at her or answer. She didn't know how much time they had. And why was he here, now? He'd clearly been drawn to Daniel somehow, but why?

Suddenly she felt herself go cold as she realized the implications.

What this meant was that, on a sub-atomic level, Desmond had to be drawn to her son. In piggybacking onto the EM wave that Desmond had released on the Island, Daniel must have dislodged himself in space-time, and when Daniel had gone along for the ride, he must have somehow merged his energy signature with Desmond's. Who knew what would happen if Desmond started bouncing around space-time again? Would he drag Daniel with him? In his present state, Daniel was far too vulnerable to be going anywhere. Whatever she did now would have to be quick. She had to get Daniel away from Desmond, fast. But she needed information. She needed to know what had happened to Daniel. Maybe she should take Daniel away and come back – but then she wasn't sure how long Desmond would even be here. He was clearly unstable. On all levels. One look at him confirmed that, she thought wryly.

She stood for a moment, pondering what to do. Of course the safety of her son was of paramount importance – it didn't take much to see that Desmond was either bouncing around through space-time because his whole matrix was unstable or, well… or he was here because whatever happened, happened and this was just history repeating itself. With a twist. And it was the twist that she had to concentrate on.

'We need to talk,' she said finally, moving past them into the kitchen and putting her bag down on the table in the dining area. Ridiculous design, Penny's kitchen was a small slither of work surface that opened out onto a dining area. So twee. It had a view of the garden, the late sun shining on the first of the spring leaves. She stifled her disgust as she pulled the curtain shut, cutting out the slanting light. Then she pulled up a chair and sat down at the table.

'Would you like some tea?' Penny was already fiddling with the kettle.

'No. Sit, Penny. This won't take long.'

Penny looked confused, then annoyed, then schooled her features and came to sit down opposite her. Eloise gave a grunt of approval. She was her father's daughter alright. Desmond was hovering by the kitchen sink, watching her warily. 'Sit down Desmond.' He hesitated, then slunk down onto a chair where he could watch both her and Penny without having to move his head.

'How long has he been here?' Eloise directed the question at Penny, deciding the simple information would be gleaned more quickly from her rather than the sour and uncooperative-looking Desmond.

'About half an hour,' offered Penny. 'I found him in my bedroom about half an hour ago. Listen, what's going on, is he in trouble?'

She huffed. Of courses he was in trouble. Deep trouble. 'Where's Daniel?' she asked suddenly. Penny pointed vaguely in the direction of the sitting room where the sounds of the television were sifting down the hallway. She nodded before reaching into her bag and pulling out a notebook. She jotted down a few things – the date, time, her observations of Desmond's appearance and manner. She dotted the last full stop, digging the pen a little too hard into the page.

'So. Desmond. Where were you, before you came here?' There was no point beating around the bush. They didn't have time.

He watched her steadily.

'Were you with him? With Daniel?' she pushed out his name. Desmond didn't react. 'Oh for god's sake, Desmond, can't you bloody well cooperate?' There was a flicker in his eyes before he looked over at Penny and then back at her. His face remained irritatingly impassive.

'Is there something here that I should know?' Penny's voice was hesitant.

She ignored Penny and continued talking to Desmond. 'Look Desmond, I need to know what happened – I need to know what happened to my son. Now, I'd like you to answer my question, yes or no – were you with Daniel?' the blank stare was really beginning to upset her.

'Desmond?' Penny was looking over at him uncertainly.

Eloise let out another exasperated sigh. 'Has he said anything to you?' she asked Penny.

Penny looked over at Desmond and swallowed hard.

'Penny, this is important.' She paused. 'Look, Daniel's life is at stake and I'm quite sure that Desmond Hume's is as well. And I am quite certain that he knows something that can help both of them, so if he has said anything to you since he got here I think we would all appreciate it if you would enlighten us with it.'

Penny gave her a wide eyed stare as she received this piece of information, and then took a deep breath. 'Um, he said I wasn't real – that he'd been drugged and that… and that they were watching him.'

'Oh for god's sake.' Eloise almost spat with ridicule, speaking directly to Desmond. 'Don't tell me you've got some conspiracy theory going on. Do you honestly think you're that important Desmond? Do you? Look -' she shook her head. Desmond hadn't reacted to anything either of them were saying, but sat there with his eyes glazed staring at the wall. Clearly she was going to have to do this the hard way. She turned back to Penny. 'Penny. Desmond doesn't belong here. He's from the year 2004.'

'What?' It wasn't so much that Penny didn't believe it, but that the statement seemed so ridiculous that it had just flown over her head.

'Desmond is from 2004.' She repeated more slowly, hoping that Penny's tiny brain would catch up. 'He was on the Island.' She added, hoping beyond hope that that would mean something to her.

'The Island?' Penny's expression of dumb confusion was enough to make her want to scream. Damn Charles for his ridiculous compartmentalism. Men.

'I suppose your father never talked to you about the Island, did he?'

'My father? What's this got to do with my f-'

Eloise put up a hand to cut her off. She hadn't expected to have to do this. She didn't want to do this – apart from anything else, there wasn't time. Giving Penny the run down on her family history definitely hadn't been part of the plan.

'Look, your father and I lived on an Island. Daniel was conceived there. For some reason Desmond ended up there. And you did something, didn't you Desmond? Something that released such a surge of Electromagnetic Energy that it was enough to catapult you right through the fabric of space and time.'

Desmond's eyes were growing wider now.

'And no, you haven't been drugged, and no one is watching you.'

'Wait, wait a moment – are you seriously saying Desmond's from the future?'

'Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying. Saturday 27th November 2004 to be exact.'

'And you know this because….'

'Because Daniel wrote it all down in his diary.' There was a pause while she read Penny's expression. Doubt. Incredulity. Disbelief. 'Alright. So, Desmond, what were you doing in 1997?' She looked over at Desmond. 'Well?'

Desmond didn't say anything. 'Oh for god's sake, speak man! What were you doing in 1997?'

'He was in the army.' Penny said quietly, looking over at Desmond. His face was still expressionless except for his eyes roaming every which way. She hoped she was finally getting through to him, though by the gormless expression on his face she doubted it.

'Good. Where?'

'Millar barracks. It's North of Glasgow.' Penny was still looking at Desmond.

'Right. We're finally getting somewhere. So, Penny. Phone them.'

'What?'

'Phone the barracks. Speak to him.'

Penny looked from her to Desmond and back again.

'Get on the phone.' She said again, more slowly, 'And speak to Desmond at the barracks.'

Penny's eyes grew wider. 'But Desmond's here,' she insisted.

'Exactly.'

'Um.' Penny stood up carefully and inched towards the kitchen. At least the girl was still moving. Slowly. Desmond however, was looking positively catatonic.

'Did she ever phone you?'

Desmond looked up at her, surprised.

'Penny, did she ever phone you when you were in the army?'

He stared at her.

'Look Desmond, I know you might find this hard to believe, but I am actually trying to help, so if you value your life and your sanity I suggest that you at least make an effort to cooperate. Now this is important, do you have any memory at all of Penny ever phoning you at Millar Barracks?'

Desmond gave her more of that ridiculous blank stare, then flicked his eyes back over to Penny. Finally he shook his head slowly. She let out a long, slow breath. At least the man was following the conversation, even if she hadn't got a damn word out of him yet. That was progress anyway.

Penny was standing by the phone, flicking through an address book. 'So you never phoned him but you still have the number in your address book?' How sweet. Her thoughts were laced with sickly sarcasm. She really didn't like this Desmond fellow. She could really see why Charles wasn't impressed. She waited quietly as Penny dialed the number and started talking, then turned her attention back to Desmond, listening to Penny's voice as she watched Desmond's face. If she was right, the new memory should form about… now.

'Yes, Desmond Hume. Private Desmond Hume. Thank you. Yes, it's important. Penelope Widmore. It's alright. I'll hold.'

Eloise kept her eyes on Desmond and he stared back at her impassively.

'Desmond? Is that you? Des? Yes. Um, how are you?' Penny was holding the phone and turning to watch Desmond sitting at the table with a horrified stare.

Desmond frowned, then his eyes opened wide with surprise.

'Alright, enough.' Eloise said to Penny. 'Come back here. We need to talk.'

'Look Des, no, nothing important I just… look, I have to go.' Penny slammed the phone back on its cradle and blanched white.