Legacy: Chapter 15
"Time is an immovable, unstoppable force which connects to and effects all things" Lisa said, "but it can be manipulated if you understand it's inner workings?"
"Correct!" Allie brought her hands together in a mock clap, "very good memory, but I asked you what time was. Not what I told you it was."
The two sat cross-legged on a rug opposite each other, taking advantage of some free time in the early morning hours to further advance Lisa's training.
"Um, time is…" Lisa groped for words, "very confusing to think about, then? I don't know!"
"That is correct too," Allie nodded, "but not the answer I am looking for."
"I'm sorry honey, I just can't think right…"
"Thinking is an obstacle unto itself!" Allie countered, her voice calm but definite, "Do not think! Just say what you know is true."
Lisa reflected on her daughter's words for a moment, then: "what?"
"Go with your first instinct," Allie told her.
"Oh, I get it…"
"Now," Allie cut her off, "what is time?"
"Time is… relative, and depends on our perception of it." Lisa her, her voice gained confidence as she spoke.
"Very good…" Allie studied her mother for a moment. Lisa had the spark of discovery in her eyes. She was progressing very rapidly, not as quickly as Allie had, but still above average even for a Xean child.
"I think you are ready." Allie said at last.
"For what?" Lisa asked.
A smile crept onto Allie's lips, "the time test." she said, and With those words, the house faded away into the endless expanse of pure white that Lisa had grown so accustom to over the past few weeks.
Lisa wasted no time looking around at the abundance of nothing that surrounded them. Instead she kept her eyes firmly fixed on Allie, "What is the 'time test'?" she asked.
"A test of your understanding of time."
Lisa let her mouth hang open slightly as the simplicity of the definition sunk in, then: "Well, that was obvious…"
"Very." Allie said as she turned on her heels. The white dissolved, depositing them on the side of a busy freeway. The wind whipped Lisa's hair as the cars and trucks whizzed past. Allie paid no attention to the breeze. She continued on her course, walking right to the edge of the road.
"What are you doing?" Lisa called after her, then followed.
Allie looked over at Lisa as she came to a stop beside her, said: "I will demonstrate the test first, then you try."
Allie stepped off into a clearing in the traffic, walked to the center of the lane and turned. A small truck was speeding toward her, not showing the slightest signs of slowing.
Lisa stopped breathing as she watched the truck move closer. She knew that none of this was 'real' in a physical sense, but everything was still very real as far as the effects upon the body. If Allie screwed up, she would be splattered.
The truck was a split second from impact.
She's not going to stop it… she's not going to stop it! "Allie!" Lisa screamed.
At that moment, the truck slowed to an imperceptible speed. Not stopped, just a drastically reduced speed. Lisa recalled what Allie had told her: nothing can stop time; we can only slow it to the point right before stopping. Imagine a number line; we can go right down to zero, but never to zero.
"See?" Allie said. She walked to the front of the truck and ran her hand along the hood, "Now its your turn."
Allie stepped off the road. The truck and everything else resumed its normal time.
"But… I…" Lisa backed up several steps.
"C'mon, there's a clearing coming!" Allie took hold of one of Lisa's hands, Lisa jerked it back.
"Not yet!" she folded her arms over her chest, tucked her hands in-between, and continued backing.
Allie watched her for a moment, then spoke: "Your fear controls you…"
"My fear is damn well founded!" Lisa shouted, the memory of the bee from her first lesson still painfully clear in her mind.
"I understand," Allie said calmly, "in your other lessons the 'screen' has been fully real. In this one, the cars are not completely real, so they cannot harm you."
Lisa eyed her unsteadily.
"I'll show you," Allie said as she reached for a stick on the ground. She hurled the stick toward an oncoming car. When it impacted the cars windshield the surface of the glass seemed to bow in around it. But then the stick was catapulted from the windshield and sent sailing into the opposing lanes of traffic, where it was summarily crushed into splinters by a tanker truck.
Allie frowned, "that almost never happens."
"But it just did!" Lisa almost screamed. For the first time she was actually afraid of her daughters urgings. What had Allie become?
"Just trust me, it has to do with mass." Allie said, "The stick was too light to pass through the car, but if you should fail the car will pass around you. You will only feel a slight pressure."
"A slight pressure?"
"Yes, it might knock the air out of your lungs, like being punched in the stomach, but nothing more." Allie said.
"I've never been punched in the stomach…"
"Yeah," Allie shrugged, "neither have I, it just sounded right." she stepped toward Lisa.
"I don't think I'm ready for this," Lisa said.
"It's okay," Allie told her, "it's getting close to time for your classes anyway. And I have school…" the freeway vanished into white then the white dissolved back into the living room. "We will try again later."
"Thank you…" Lisa said as she started to get up, Allie waived her off.
"I know that trust is a very difficult thing for you right now."
Lisa stared at her daughter trying to understand where that statement had come from. Allie continued:
"I know you think I am different now, that I have changed… because I have. But I'm still your little girl. I would never hurt you."
Lisa looked stunned, "Allie, what made you…"
"I can tell." Allie said flatly.
"I'm sorry honey… I really, really want to believe what you said back there… it's just…"
"I understand. I would be suspicious too if I were you."
Lisa knelt to her knees in front of Allie, "I'm not suspicious of you, I love you."
"Perhaps the next lesson should cover truth." Allie forced an uneasy smile. "It's okay for you to be truthful with me mom, I can tell when you lie anyway."
I'm telling her about lying? Allie thought.
Lisa was silent for a minute, "you're right… but I'm not suspicious because I don't trust you, it's that I don't understand what you do… or say, sometimes…" she smiled lightly. "Can you tell that I mean it?"
"Yes," Allie said.
"And when I say I love you, can you tell that I mean that?"
"Yes, mom. I love you too."
Mary Crawford kept up a swift pace with the flow of pedestrian traffic in downtown Seattle. She blended in perfectly with the hordes of businessmen and women as they marched along their well-worn paths toward their favorite lunch break eateries or coffeehouses.
Mary knew she was being watched, followed, and even listened to. That's why 'blending in' was so important, she could not do anything that might betray her knowledge. As long as the charade remained intact, they were safe. The meeting with Allie had been her only slip up so far. Fortunately it had not been a trap.
If it was Keith's purpose for her to bring Allie to him, she could not have done it any better. But nothing had happened. Had the agents been unaware of their plan to meet, or was there an even more complex plan in the works? Keith would have to have the patience of a Bonsai artist if he was waiting for Mary to bring Allie to one specific place. The meeting had to have been a hole in their information network! That was the only explanation that made sense.
As Mary rounded a corner the towering spire of the Space Needle came into view from behind a shroud of buildings. The lofty icon of the Seattle skyline was her destination on this walk. High atop in the observation area, Major Pierce waited for her in yet another diversionary tactic they had devised since the meeting with Allie.
Misinformation was the name of their game. Presented carefully, mixed within verifiable truths, subterfuge was one of the most powerful weapons available to them at this time. If not the only weapon, given Allie's apparent disinterest in taking any action whatsoever to stop Keith. Allie had seemed uninterested in talking about anything relating to the situation at all.
This had disturbed Mary.
Allie had been so preoccupied, changing the subject over and over, mostly to things that would be considered idle chatter. So out of character for Allie! She had been frustratingly to-the-point in all their other conversations so far.
It could have had something to do with getting reacquainted with Bryan. There was an odd chemistry between the two, like old friends reunited after many years apart. That made a little sense, but not enough to explain Allie's behavior fully.
She had said something about coming from an arcade with her friends: Jessica, Seth, and Tyler, Mary recalled.
Hemm… Mary smiled as she remembered the airy way Allie had said: "Tyler…" could it be? It was Spring after all, the time for love. That would explain a lot of things very well…
Mary entered the building, and after a short wait at the elevator, made her way to the observation area in the… saucer shaped structure atop the needle. The significance of the building's shape struck Mary as oddly appropriate.
Major Pierce spotted Mary first and moved to intercept her from behind.
"Hey." he said as he placed a hand on Mary's shoulder, causing her to jump and spin around.
"Don't do that!" she held her voice low but the intensity still carried through.
Bryan rolled his eyes, "don't be such a kid!" he said, mocking her intensity.
"Very funny, Major."
Bryan grinned, then, wasting no time, started quoting the script they had agreed to use: "were you followed?"
"No, those idiots couldn't follow a snail." Mary added the last part off the top of her head.
Bryan turned and guided Mary with a hand between her shoulders as they began walking around the windowed corridor of the observation level. They leaned close together to appear like a normal couple and keep their voices down. A move, which was, in reality, only intended to complete the act.
"I've searched these premises thoroughly, Keith has no ears in this building." Bryan said, almost laughing. He felt like he was back in grade school putting on one of those ridiculous plays.
"Excellent, we should discuss Allie's plans then." Mary said.
Wrong script! Bryan thought, "are we still leaving as planned?" he winked
"Oh… no, that's changed."
"Good!"
What is he doing? Mary thought, said: "my eyes told me that two of Keith's team of agents flew back to D.C. this morning." Mary changed the subject entirely, abandoning the script in favor of actual conversation.
Bryan glanced sideways at her, "I was not informed."
"Of course you weren't"
"Well," Bryan sighed; it looked like the whole 'script' concept was out the window. He decided that he might as well play along and see where Mary was going. "What do you think they're up to?"
"I don't know yet." Mary shifted her gaze past Bryan to the cityscape outside the observation windows as they walked, "it could be good. With less agents, Keith will have less power… or, it could be bad… setting us up for something."
"A diversion?"
"Yeah," Mary nodded, "that would fit his M/O."
Bryan cast a searching glance over his shoulder. The watchers were here, he could feel them. He was worried that Mary was taking the topic too far. After all, part of the point of misinformation is to make your opponent believe they have the upper hand. What was Mary up to?
"What do you think we should do about it?" Mary asked, catching Bryan off guard.
He shrugged, "I don't know, this whole operation is backwards anyway. I've never even heard of anything like it."
"Your still young, Major" Mary's eyes scanned out over the city once more, "I was only in my fathers project for a few months when Allie happened the first time. But in that time I was involved in countless 'mysterious disappearances' of UFO witnesses and abductees."
Bryan sighed, "all in a days work…"
"No!" Mary stopped, turned to face him, "don't you see?"
"See what?"
"It was wrong… This thing Keith wants to do is wrong! Its all wrong!"
"We're working to stop it…"
"That doesn't matter," Mary's eyes shimmered with extra moisture as she held back unshed tears of remorse, "what we're doing now doesn't fix everything else. I can't go back and give life to all the innocent people that have died because of me!"
"Lower your voice…" Bryan tried to quiet her, to no avail.
"I'm evil, I'll always be evil for the things I've done… its driving me crazy!"
Bryan guided her toward a bench in a shadowed niche, they sat.
"My mother always told me that I shouldn't worry about things I've done, to save the worrying for things I haven't done." Bryan said. "I guess it's sort of like: 'don't cry over spilt milk'."
Mary held her voice low and steady, "human life does not equate to a glass of milk, Major!"
"Right… but the point is still the same. You can't change it, you can only keep it from happening again."
Mary sucked in a deep breath, "a million wrongs cannot make a right the same as a million rights cannot erase one wrong."
Bryan nodded, "I guess that's true, but people can change… Look at you."
"I haven't changed though." Mary said, "There isn't a time when I think about Keith and I don't imagine emptying a nine millimeter clip into his head!"
Bryan laughed, "so! I imagine the same thing… except with a fifty round MP5 instead of a nine mil."
"So it was a bad example," Mary forced a grin.
"I have eleven confirmed combat kills, Mary." Bryan said, "Not a day goes by that I don't think of each of them… I ask myself: 'what if they had kids?' or 'I wonder what their mother would think of me if we stood before each other?' and a ton of other questions. It gets to me sometimes. I tell myself that it was either them or me, and that I was just following orders. But when it comes right down to it, I killed those 11 men. And there is nothing I can do to change that. Does it make me a bad person? Maybe it does, I don't know. What I do know is that I am good inside, no matter what I do. And it's the remorse for my actions that tells me that."
Mary could only nod her head as he spoke, she would have never expected such a beautiful thought to come from the Major.
"It is different though," Mary said, "it was either them or you. That's war! I'm responsible for the deaths of innocent people!" including my father and the only man who could ever love me.
"Is it really that different?" Bryan ventured, "What I was trying to say is that if you feel genuine remorse for what you did… you can't be 'evil'."
Mary stared at him for several minutes, then: "Maybe you're right," she stood up, "maybe you're wrong."
Bryan shrugged.
"It's not important right now anyway," Mary said.
Bryan stood beside her, "We should head back, don't want to make Keith and his boys too suspicious."
"Sir, are we not monitoring Agent Crawford any longer?"
Keith cast a casual glance up from his computer at the man that had just invaded his quiet. The Agents name hovered on the tip of his tongue for a moment then he remembered.
"No, Agent Peterson, we are not." Keith turned his attention back to the computer, he continued talking with his back to Peterson: "Agent Crawford and her little army buddies can play spy games if they want. We have more important things to take care of. I can't have any of you out playing tag with them."
"I understand sir…" Peterson trailed, a hint of indecision in his voice.
"There's something else on your mind?"
"Yes, sir. Actually…"
Keith let out a disgusted groan, "why are you all such spineless little girls?" he spun his chair to face him, "Just say what you want to say!"
"Well, it's just that… I think it's dangerous."
"What's dangerous?"
Peterson's eyes shifted around the room nervously, "not knowing what Crawford is doing, how much she knows."
"You think she poses a threat to me?"
"N--no sir, I just…"
"I'll tell you why we're not watching them." Keith stood up and walked to a file cabinet on the other side of the room. "The gear that the Special Forces team shipped in. Have you wondered, Agent Peterson, why it took so long to get here?" Keith asked as he pulled one of the drawers open, sliding it out till the runners stopped it.
"It was delayed at the airport, sir."
"A likely story, but nothing more…" Keith lifted up on the drawer and pulled it off the tracks, laid it aside. "Our guys back east got a hold of it first." Keith motioned with his hand, inviting Peterson to look in the cavity left by the drawer's removal. In the wall behind the cabinet, a hole had been cut out. Inside the hole was what appeared to be a small computer of some unknown manufacture with an equally small digital recorder hooked to it. Peterson glanced up at Keith questioningly.
"Every piece of clothing and equipment those army buffoons brought with them have microscopic transmitters and telemetry devices hidden in them." Keith said. "We may be blind, but we are not deaf."
Peterson nodded, "so, we know what they're saying?"
"Yes!" Keith bent down and pulled the little contraption out of the wall, flipped up the screen on the tiny computer. "Listen," he said, pushed a key on the keyboard.
A small speaker squeaked to life with a man's voice: "we should head back, don't want to make Keith and his boys too suspicious,"
A smile formed on Keith's lips, "don't worry, I'm totally clueless my friend."
Keith closed the screen down and replaced the computer in the wall, reinstalled the drawer and slid it closed.
"That thing records it all?" Peterson asked.
"48 hours worth on a digital hard disk." Keith told him.
Peterson stood up straight like a solder coming to attention. "I understand sir, everything was under control. I should not have wasted your time."
"That's right, you shouldn't have." Keith locked eyes with Agent Peterson; he could almost smell the fear. Keith had to turn away to keep from laughing. "See that it doesn't happen again." he made a dismissive gesture with his hand
As Peterson beat a hasty retreat from the room, Keith stared at his computer screen on the other side of the room. On it was displayed a floor plan of the old warehouse he had picked for the operation to take place. As he stared, his mental image of the inside of the building and the computerized floor plan began to blend in his mind. All the hide spots, the maze like structure at the north end… the surrounding neighborhood, abandoned and run down. Keith formulated a new play of attack.
I might just be able to take you alive, my darling, Allie. That would be very, very interesting…