1.1 Chapter Two
2 Los Angeles, 2002
"This clock is said to be one of only two in the world. One is rumored to be in the possession of Alexander Khasinau. The other," Sydney held up the clock she and Dixon had retrieved from the bank in Korea, "is this one." She handed it to Vaughn so that he could look it over. "It belonged to a civilian family by the name of Klinger until the Korean War. It passed from their possession to the hands of a North Korean soldier after the desertion of the M*A*S*H unit that a man named Maxwell Klinger served in."
Michael looked confused. It was 10:30 at night and they were meeting at the docks to discuss Sydney's mission in Korea. It was raining again so they were inside one of the warehouses. He was looking the artifact over. "M*A*S*H unit?" He asked, unsure of what the word meant.
"Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. A unit of doctors and nurses who were stationed in Korea to fix up those that were wounded in battle."
She pulled a folder out from her bag and handed him an old photo. It was of several men and a woman standing around a signpost that had arrows with the names of several cities written on them. The arrows were pointing to the direction you had to travel to get to a certain city and also how many miles it was to that city. She pointed to one sitting in the foreground on top of a footlocker.
"This is Sergeant Klinger. We know that the clock was kept in a footlocker, but it's only speculation that this was the one used."
"And the others? Who are they?" Vaughn indicated the others in the photo.
Sydney pointed to each in turn. "Major Charles Emerson Winchester III: Surgeon at the 4077th. Captain John Francis Patrick Mulcahy: Chaplain at the 4077th. Captain BJ Hunnicut: Another Surgeon. Captain Benjamin Franklin Pierce (better known as Hawkeye): Head surgeon. Major Margaret Houlihan: Head nurse. And Colonel Sherman T. Potter, whose name really explains everything."
She took a deep breath and searched through the folder once more. Vaughn continued to look at the photo. "Did Sergeant Klinger know the importance of the clock?"
"The whole family knew that it was a sought after artifact. But they thought of it as a family heirloom. They didn't believe that it was actually important." She pulled out a sheet of paper. "They did, however, know that the US government was after it. This is a letter from Klinger's mother. It explains that the CIA was after the clock and that she was sending it to him for safekeeping."
"How did it get into their possession in the first place?"
"Well, that's an interesting story…"
3 Korea, 1952
Colonel Potter was looking the clock over very carefully. "What time is it, son?"
"O eighteen-hundred, Colonel Potter, sir." Klinger replied.
"By this contraption it's noon." He showed it to the Corporal.
"Oh, the time doesn't work on it, sir. It never has." He took the clock back from his CO. "You see, this isn't a time telling clock."
"It isn't?" Colonel Potter was skeptic.
"No. It's just for show. My great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather bought it at a market in Lebanon during the 1500's. The man that sold it to him said that it hadn't told the time in 30 years. His father had found it in the house of a man put to death for heresy. The day he stole the clock it worked fine. The next day, it stopped. No one knows why. Anyway, my great-great-great-"
"Klinger!" Colonel Potter interrupted.
"Yes sir. He bought it and took it home and ever since my family has been passing it down from one generation to the other." He got down on his knees and clasped his hands together. "Please let me keep it in your footlocker. It's very important."
"Get up."
"Yes sir."
4 Los Angeles, 2002
"So it was stolen the day before Rambaldi was put to death?" Vaughn asked.
"Yeah. Legend has it that it stopped working the next day…at the exact moment of his death."
"Noon."
"Right." Sydney set the clock down on a chair.
"So how does it work? Or, rather, how was it supposed to work?"
"One of the pages in his notebook says that Rambaldi used this clock and the other clock that Khasinau has to experiment with time travel. The clocks had to be set to a certain time. One day Rambaldi would set one clock to 5:00 and then a week later he would set the other clock to 5:00 and he would, according to his records, be sent back to the day he had set the other clock." She could see the look of disbelief on Vaughn's face. "I know, pretty unbelievable." She cast a glance at it. "Sloane, however, seems to believe it. He thinks it will lead us to Khasinau."
"How?"
"I don't know. Set it to the same time his clock is set and then we're sent to where he is. Something like that."
"Why do you have it? I mean, if Sloane thinks that it's so important, why did he give it to you?" Vaughn noticed that Sydney's gaze dropped to the floor. "He doesn't know you have it, does he?"
"Well, not exactly. He knows I have it. He's trusting me to take it to a lab tomorrow, to see if it works. What he doesn't know is that I'm showing it to you." She paused and stared Michael straight in the face. "And that I'm planning on trying it out first."
5 Korea, 1952
"Corporal, I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but you gotta promise me that you're not going to get us into any trouble. I mean, I'm a very patriotic man and you're asking me to keep something from my government. Now, I wouldn't usually do something like this, you know. But I can see that it means a whole lot to your family and if there's one thing I hold in higher esteem than the USA it's my family." He picked it up and twirled the hour hand around with his finger. "Besides, it's only a clock." He spun the minute hand as well. "What harm could it do?"
The clock read 10:19.
"I'll put it here for right now. No harm can come to it and I'm hankering for some dinner."
2 Los Angeles, 2002
"This clock is said to be one of only two in the world. One is rumored to be in the possession of Alexander Khasinau. The other," Sydney held up the clock she and Dixon had retrieved from the bank in Korea, "is this one." She handed it to Vaughn so that he could look it over. "It belonged to a civilian family by the name of Klinger until the Korean War. It passed from their possession to the hands of a North Korean soldier after the desertion of the M*A*S*H unit that a man named Maxwell Klinger served in."
Michael looked confused. It was 10:30 at night and they were meeting at the docks to discuss Sydney's mission in Korea. It was raining again so they were inside one of the warehouses. He was looking the artifact over. "M*A*S*H unit?" He asked, unsure of what the word meant.
"Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. A unit of doctors and nurses who were stationed in Korea to fix up those that were wounded in battle."
She pulled a folder out from her bag and handed him an old photo. It was of several men and a woman standing around a signpost that had arrows with the names of several cities written on them. The arrows were pointing to the direction you had to travel to get to a certain city and also how many miles it was to that city. She pointed to one sitting in the foreground on top of a footlocker.
"This is Sergeant Klinger. We know that the clock was kept in a footlocker, but it's only speculation that this was the one used."
"And the others? Who are they?" Vaughn indicated the others in the photo.
Sydney pointed to each in turn. "Major Charles Emerson Winchester III: Surgeon at the 4077th. Captain John Francis Patrick Mulcahy: Chaplain at the 4077th. Captain BJ Hunnicut: Another Surgeon. Captain Benjamin Franklin Pierce (better known as Hawkeye): Head surgeon. Major Margaret Houlihan: Head nurse. And Colonel Sherman T. Potter, whose name really explains everything."
She took a deep breath and searched through the folder once more. Vaughn continued to look at the photo. "Did Sergeant Klinger know the importance of the clock?"
"The whole family knew that it was a sought after artifact. But they thought of it as a family heirloom. They didn't believe that it was actually important." She pulled out a sheet of paper. "They did, however, know that the US government was after it. This is a letter from Klinger's mother. It explains that the CIA was after the clock and that she was sending it to him for safekeeping."
"How did it get into their possession in the first place?"
"Well, that's an interesting story…"
3 Korea, 1952
Colonel Potter was looking the clock over very carefully. "What time is it, son?"
"O eighteen-hundred, Colonel Potter, sir." Klinger replied.
"By this contraption it's noon." He showed it to the Corporal.
"Oh, the time doesn't work on it, sir. It never has." He took the clock back from his CO. "You see, this isn't a time telling clock."
"It isn't?" Colonel Potter was skeptic.
"No. It's just for show. My great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather bought it at a market in Lebanon during the 1500's. The man that sold it to him said that it hadn't told the time in 30 years. His father had found it in the house of a man put to death for heresy. The day he stole the clock it worked fine. The next day, it stopped. No one knows why. Anyway, my great-great-great-"
"Klinger!" Colonel Potter interrupted.
"Yes sir. He bought it and took it home and ever since my family has been passing it down from one generation to the other." He got down on his knees and clasped his hands together. "Please let me keep it in your footlocker. It's very important."
"Get up."
"Yes sir."
4 Los Angeles, 2002
"So it was stolen the day before Rambaldi was put to death?" Vaughn asked.
"Yeah. Legend has it that it stopped working the next day…at the exact moment of his death."
"Noon."
"Right." Sydney set the clock down on a chair.
"So how does it work? Or, rather, how was it supposed to work?"
"One of the pages in his notebook says that Rambaldi used this clock and the other clock that Khasinau has to experiment with time travel. The clocks had to be set to a certain time. One day Rambaldi would set one clock to 5:00 and then a week later he would set the other clock to 5:00 and he would, according to his records, be sent back to the day he had set the other clock." She could see the look of disbelief on Vaughn's face. "I know, pretty unbelievable." She cast a glance at it. "Sloane, however, seems to believe it. He thinks it will lead us to Khasinau."
"How?"
"I don't know. Set it to the same time his clock is set and then we're sent to where he is. Something like that."
"Why do you have it? I mean, if Sloane thinks that it's so important, why did he give it to you?" Vaughn noticed that Sydney's gaze dropped to the floor. "He doesn't know you have it, does he?"
"Well, not exactly. He knows I have it. He's trusting me to take it to a lab tomorrow, to see if it works. What he doesn't know is that I'm showing it to you." She paused and stared Michael straight in the face. "And that I'm planning on trying it out first."
5 Korea, 1952
"Corporal, I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but you gotta promise me that you're not going to get us into any trouble. I mean, I'm a very patriotic man and you're asking me to keep something from my government. Now, I wouldn't usually do something like this, you know. But I can see that it means a whole lot to your family and if there's one thing I hold in higher esteem than the USA it's my family." He picked it up and twirled the hour hand around with his finger. "Besides, it's only a clock." He spun the minute hand as well. "What harm could it do?"
The clock read 10:19.
"I'll put it here for right now. No harm can come to it and I'm hankering for some dinner."