NINE
It took longer than Sam had imagined for Jeremy to come up with a prototype of the device he had described. Several weeks went by and Jeremy worked relentlessly. Sam discussed the idea with Tony and Doug and both were guardedly optimistic about it. But they both agreed the idea was worth exploring. They gave Jeremy and his team all the help they could.
Finally Jeremy announced that they had a prototype that was ready for testing. Sam talked with Bill and they both agreed that everyone should be present when the prototype was first tested. No one knew exactly what to expect from the test. But news of the project had spread rapidly throughout the complex and everyone was in high spirits.
Gathered in the dining hall were Sam, Bill, Tony, Doug, Samantha, Chris, Stuart, and Jeremy. Sitting on the table in front of them was what appeared to Sam to be a large pocket watch. But it was clearly not a watch. It sat with the cover open and in the center was what appeared to be a spherical object that had an etching of the American continents. Above this etching were two lights, one green and one red. The red one was currently lit.
Around the etching were some circular bands that appeared to Sam that could be turned. Sitting next to the device was a small leather bound book, about the size of a Bible that Sam had been familiar with in his time. In the current time physical books didn't exist except in museums or collectors collections. All books were in computer form and one simply read what they needed with an appropriate reader.
"Well, there it is," said Jeremy nervously. "It's a little bigger than I had hoped for but we just couldn't make it any smaller. Mostly it's the power supply. Any smaller and it wouldn't be large enough to run the device."
"I'm sure it will be fine," said Sam, looking it over but not offering to touch it. "My dad once had a pocket watch about the same size. It should be small enough to be able to stick in a pocket and be unnoticeable. What's the red light for?"
"Oh that. Well, while we were working on it I had a thought. The user needs to know what needs to be fixed. He, or she, also needs to know if they've been successful. There's a small hard drive inside the device that's programmed with the information for a specific set of dates. This one is programmed for every major world event from 1860 up through 1979. It has both the correct history and the history as it currently is, with any changes to it.
"Now, if the user gets to a certain date, say January 1, 1960, the device compares that date with what's programmed and the red light lets the user know if there are any differences. It can't them what's wrong only that the current time line is different from the original time line."
"That's what the book is for," interjected Samantha. "It's a complete record of the events of that same time frame. All the user has to do it look up in the book for whatever date they are at and it should tell them what's changed."
"Right," continued Jeremy. "Then the user simply has to use the device again to travel back to the appropriate date to change whatever needs to be changed. Assuming, as you said, there is anything they can do to change it. The device is also programmed to take the user to the time and place where the discrepancy has occurred so they'll be better able to figure out what when wrong."
"So it's showing that there's a change in the time frame right now," said Sam.
"Well, considering all the differences in the time line I'm not surprised," said Samantha. "It could be picking up any number of changes."
"So the user picks when and where they go?" questioned Bill.
"They can," said Jeremy. "I've also programmed in an automatic feature so the user can simply push a button and be taken to some event which doesn't correspond with the true time line. Once the user activates the Omni it will automatically take them to some time and place where history isn't correct."
"Omni?" questioned Doug.
"Oh, yeah, that's what we all it. Actually, the full name is Omnidirectional Multi-temporal Navigation Instrument. We've just been calling it the Omni for short since the rest of it is such a mouthful."
"I see," said Bill. "Stuart, how long will this Omni run on its current power source?"
"We estimate it will run for about 2,000 hours," said Bill. "I'm real proud of it. It's the smallest one I've ever come up with. Considering it only takes a few seconds to create the time field and move the user to the new time it should last a considerably long time. And we can replace the power supply whenever it begins to run low."
"That's impressive," said Bill. "So the user can go wherever and whenever they want."
"Well, to within the parameters that's it's programmed for," said Jeremy. "As I said this one is programmed from 1860 up through 1979. The user can't go to a date before January 1, 1860 or after December 31, 1979. But they can go anywhere and anytime in between.
"In addition it has an automatic recall option. The user can use it to return to the Temporal Institute at any time. Since we are technically outside the time line it's not under the same restriction even considering we're well beyond those dates. As long as the temporal generator is running and keeps us where we are the user can come and go from here as they like."
"What's to keep the user from getting lost in time as Tony, Doug, and I did?" asked Sam. "We don't want to risk setting up another barrier in the time stream."
"Because," said Jeremy, picking up the Omni, "the user will be using this to travel through time. They won't be anchored to any particular point in time the way you three were. It's like opening a door to a new time period. Once they move through time to the new destination the door they used to get there will close. There won't be any significant disruption in the time flow."
"Well," said Doug looking around the table at the group, "it appears that everything is in place. I guess all that's left to do is to use the Omni and test our theories. See if it works the way it's supposed to."
"I guess that means one of us will have to do it," said Sam. "And since I've spent more time traveling in time I guess I'm elected."
"That's precisely why you can't do it, Sam," said Bill.
"What are you talking about? I've got more experience than anyone. I'm better equipped to deal with anything unexpected that comes up."
"And you're the most likely to get lost again," said Tony. "Or worse. You could die."
"I don't understand."
"Remember the rubber band analog?" questioned Tony. "Travelling in time as you did your 'temporal rubber band', so to speak, was stretched and restretched uncounted times. Each time it happens it gets a little bit weaker. Eventually it's going to be too weak to withstand the strain of travelling through time. It will snap. If that happens we'd lose you permanently."
"He's right, Sam," said Bill. "Your cell structure has been compromised on a molecular level. There are stresses put on the human body every time they move through time. It's kind of like the G forces that fighter pilots used to experience in fighter planes. Over time these stresses will cause minute damage. Only with time travel that damage is on a sub-atomic level.
"As you said, you have spent more time moving through time than anyone. Which means you have suffered the most stress and consequently the most damage. We were lucky we were able to retrieve you when we did. I'm not sure you'd withstand another trip through time. I'm afraid, Sam, you are permanently grounded."
"So I guess that leaves either Tony or Doug," said Sam.
"Actually, we're in a similar situation as you," said Doug. "While we haven't suffered nearly the same damage as you, we've still suffered some serious damage. There's no telling how many more trips either one of us could withstand. So we're actually grounded as well."
"So, who exactly did you have in mind for this little test?" Sam asked.
"We figured Jeremy," said Bill. "He's only 26 years old so there's no chance of him appearing in a time after he was born. Remember: it is possible that whoever does this doesn't exist in the current time line. So we have to pick someone who's not likely to be affected by it. Which means sending someone back to a time before they would have been born to minimize the danger of that happening."
"Besides," said Jeremy, "I'm the one who designed the Omni. If there's a problem with it I'm the one best qualified to fix it. I've also studied the book extensively of the time frame I'll be visiting. I'm better qualified to figure out what might have gone wrong and how to fix it."
"Won't he suffer the same pressures as Tony, Doug, and I suffered?" Sam asked. "Won't it degrade his cell structure the same as it did us?"
"To some degree, yes," said Bill. "But not nearly as much. From what we know it should take years before it builds up to the point where it could be dangerous.
"You realize the chance you're taking?" questioned Sam looking at Jeremy. "You could disappear from here and in essence cease to exist. And there won't be any way to fix that."
"That could happen to whomever we send. I understand the risks, Sam. And I'm willing to take them. Besides, if this works I'll be only the 4th person in history to travel through time. I'm sure that will warrant a write up in the history books. I'll be famous."
"Actually," said Sam, thinking of Alia, "there was at least one other. Her name was Alia. I often wonder what happened to her."
"I remember my grandfather mentioned her once or twice," said Chris. "He would call her the 'evil leaper'. He said something about you helping her to escape the people who were forcing to her jump through time and mess things up or something like that."
"Yeah, something like that. I'll tell you about it some time. But she wasn't evil. She was being forced to do what she did. She didn't want to. I helped her escape all that."
"It's in the archives," said Bill. "It was part of Admiral Calavicci's memoirs."
"Oh, he didn't mean she was evil," interjected Chris. "In fact, he was quite specific in what his father had told him. Basically the same thing you just mentioned. Just that she worked for what he called your evil counterpart who were trying to mess things up instead of correcting things that had gone wrong."
"Anyway," said Jeremy, "it still means I'll belong to a very select group. I think it's worth the risk. Besides, if what Tony and Doug have told me is true, there's very little chance of me just vanishing. Technically, I won't exist yet. So the changes in the time line shouldn't affect me."
"It's only a theory," said Tony. "We won't know for sure until we try it."
"I know. And as I said, I'm willing to take the risk. Someone has to do it. Might as well be me."
"So how does this work exactly?" Chris asked. "You just push a button and are instantly moved through time to some point where the time line has changed?"
"Pretty much," said Tony. "Only we won't know how long it will take for him to make the trip. When Sam was leaping it seemed to be instantaneous to him. But we all know it could take a while before he landed wherever he was going. Travelling through time is not an exact science. There are a lot of variables that we just can't account for right now."
"Okay," said Bill, "just so we know exactly what we're planning, what is the gameplan?"
"Well," said Jeremy, "I'm going to use the automatic setting. It will take me to a random time and location. I won't know when or where that is until I get there. Once I get there, I'll check around and try to figure out what's changed. I have no idea how difficult that's going to but hopefully it won't be too difficult. Once I've figured out what historical event has been altered I'll check the book and see what was supposed to happen.
"Once I know that it will be a simple matter to simply use the Omni to move back through time to locate the instant when the change occurred. Then it's just a matter of figuring out a way to make sure that history unfolds the way it's supposed to. Here again, I won't know how difficult that will be until I know what's been changed and what I'll need to do to correct it."
"You'll have more to go on than I usually did," said Sam. "I usually didn't know what was going on until Al showed up let me know. Even then there were times I wasn't a hundred percent sure what I needed to do to set things right. Sometimes I had to play it by ear."
"I also won't know how long I'm going to be gone," said Jeremy. "It might take a while to figure out what the actual change is and a while to figure out how to correct it. I could be back in time a day or a week or a month. There's just no way of knowing."
"And we won't have any way of tracking his progress while he's back there," said Samantha. "We'll just have to wait until he gets back to know exactly what happened."
"So we have to sit around for maybe a month or more until he can return here and let us know what happened?" questioned Chris.
"Oh no," said Jeremy. "I'm going to set the Omni to return me here 5 minutes after I leave."
"Five minutes?" questioned Stuart. "That hardly seems like enough time to complete everything you need to do."
"It's all relative," said Sam. "Travelling in time does have some advantages. He could be back there a month but for us it will only be 5 minutes. Remember, he should be able to travel to wherever and whenever he wants. So we won't have to wait long until we know if this works."
"I guess there's no sense in waiting any longer," said Jeremy, reaching for the Omni and the book. "We have to do it sometime. Guess we might as well get it over with and see if it's going to work."
He stood up and walked over to a corner in the room. He checked the Omni over one last time, gripped the book tightly, then looked up at the group.
"Well, here goes nothing."
He pressed a button on the Omni and simply vanished from the room.
"I really wish he hadn't said that," said Bill. "I wonder why he picked that corner. Why didn't he just do it at the table here?"
"He didn't want to catch anyone else in the time field," said Samantha. "During our tests we discovered that the Omni produces a sort of electromagnetic field around whoever is holding it. If someone were standing close enough to them they could be caught in the field and transported with them."
"Well," said Sam, looking at a clock on the wall, "it appears we have 5 minutes to kill. Guess we should all just wait here until we're sure if it worked or not. I wish there were some way to track him. Or at least know when and where he is."
"That's what caused all this mess in the first place," said Doug. "Being able to track him would mean that some part of him would be anchored to this time frame. And we all know how disastrous that has been. We'll just have to wait and hope for the best."
"I've never been very good at waiting," muttered Chris.
The minutes ticked by agonizingly slow. The group tried to make small talk but it was quite evident that no one's mind was on whatever they were talking about. More than one of them kept glancing at the clock making it seem as if the time went by even slower. Everyone was apprehensive about what would happen at the end of those 5 minutes.
Finally the 5 minutes were up and everyone waited with bated breath. For a few moments nothing happened. Everyone was beginning to wonder if the test had worked. Then, as if on some type of cure, Jeremy simply appeared in the corner where he had left from. He didn't look any different from when he had left. It was impossible to tell if anything had happened.
"Whoa," said Jeremy, a grin from ear to ear. He laid the Omni and the book on the table. "I can see now why you guys enjoyed that so much. That was some voyage."
"Voyage?" questioned Doug.
"Hey, gotta call it something," said Jeremy. "Seems to me 'voyage' is as good a word as any."
"I wouldn't say enjoy is the right word, though," said Sam. "It's not like any of us had the option of coming home if we wanted to."
"Oh, I know, I know," said Jeremy, sitting at the table. "I meant the part about figuring out what was wrong and what you had to do to set it right. It's like a puzzle only you don't have a picture of what it's supposed to look like when you're done."
"That's all well and good," said Bill. "And we can discuss all of that later. Right now we need to know if it worked."
"Oh, yeah, right. Well, I did move through time. I first appeared at the inauguration of the President of the United States on January 20, 1977. It was on the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington D.C. I just appeared there in the midst of everyone who was watching him take the oath of office. I guess everyone was too busy watching the oath to notice me because no one seemed to notice I was there.
"I was a little disoriented but other than that I seemed to be fine. I thought it might look a little suspicious if I tried to leave just then so I decided to hang around until I could slip away. So I got to watch Gerald Ford sworn in as the 38th president of the United States. I never thought I'd get a chance to see that."
"Wait a minute," said Sam. "You said he was sworn in on the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington D.C.? That's not right. Ford was sworn into office in the East Room of the White House. And it was in 1974, not 1977. I don't remember the exact date. Sometime in August, I think."
"August 9, according to the book," said Jeremy holding up the book. "And you're right. I did some checking and found out that Ford had beaten Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election for President. After serving 2 terms as Vice President under Richard Nixon."
"Ford didn't serve 2 full terms as Vice President," said Sam. "Nixon resigned in 1974 and Ford took over after him. Ford ran for reelection in 1976 but was beaten by Jimmy Carter. I remember because my dad would say that Ford lost because of Nixon and the Watergate scandal. If not for that Ford might well have been reelected in 1976."
"Your dad was right," said Jeremy. "I did some checking to find out what happened. According to the book, there was a burglary of the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. on June 17, 1972. It was a break in of the Democratic National Committee Headquarters there. There were 5 men involved in the break in and when they were caught it was eventually linked back to then President Nixon who tried to cover it up. When it was all said and done Congress was going to impeach Nixon but he resigned before they could, making Ford the next President since he was the Vice President at the time. He was the only President ever to hold office who wasn't elected."
"Okay, so it seems that Nixon never resigned in disgrace," said Bill. "What happened? They obviously didn't impeach him because you said he served 2 terms. Is that what happened? Did they fail to remove Nixon from office?"
"It never got that far. In fact, the break in at the Watergate wasn't even linked to Nixon until after he had left office. The break in wasn't discovered on June 17 so they didn't link it to Nixon until much later. Apparently it was investigated as simply a routine burglary initially. There was no link to the Democratic National Committee Headquarters at first so it wasn't treated that way."
"A lot of people went to prison over that," said Sam. "Not to mention Nixon resigning in disgrace. And who knows what repercussions that would have had farther down the time line."
"Well," continued Jeremy, "I knew what had changed and why. I just needed to figure out some way to put it back the way it was supposed to be. I thought about going back to June 17, 1972 and calling the police and letting them know there was a burglary going on at the Watergate. But then I'd have to explain to them how I knew about it and everything. I thought that might cause complications. And I wasn't sure they'd take an 'anonymous call' very seriously."
"What did you do?" asked Tony.
"It was real simple," said Jeremy, grinning again. "I just called the front desk of the Watergate and told them I was a guest there. I didn't give my name, of course. Just that I was staying there. And I said it looked like one of the back doors had been left opened. I did some checking and found out what door the burglars had used to get into the building so I knew what door to tell them was open. They sent someone down to check it out and they discovered the break in. As soon as I made that phone call the light on the Omni changed from red to green letting me know I had corrected the error in history. Then I came back here."
"It would seem," said Samantha, picking up the Omni, "that our little experiment worked just fine. But I need to check this thing over and find out what – if anything – it's little trip through time might have done to it."
"And you," said Bill, looking at Jeremy, "need to report to the infirmary. You're going to get a complete physical to make sure there are no side effects from your little trip through time."
"Hey, I'm fine," protested Jeremy. "Never felt better."
"That may be but you're getting a full physical nonetheless."
"But," Jeremy began to protest again.
"Jeremy," said Bill looking at him deliberately, "that was not a request or a suggestion. I'll expect you in the infirmary in 10 minutes."
"Okay," Jeremy relented. "But you're going to find that I'm fine. Fit as a fiddle as my grandmother used to say. But, hey, I can still say I belong to a very elite club. I'm now a time traveler. Just like Sam and Tony and Doug."
"More than that," said Sam putting his hand on Jeremy's shoulder. "You're the first one to travel in time and return to where you started from voluntarily. Without getting lost in time. Not even we can make that claim."
"Hey, I never thought of that. You're right. I guess that makes me kind of special."
"Very special," said Sam, smiling at him.
"We need to check the equipment," said Tony. "Make sure that it's all working as it should be."
"Well, I suggest we all get started," said Bill. "It looks like we all have a lot of work ahead of us."
The group broke up to attend to the various things they each had to take care of.