Chapter 16
Washington, D.C.
September 28, 2049, 09:09 EDT
"Good morning, PJ. You said you had something you needed to discuss?" President Isabella Flynn looked PJ over as he stood in the center of the Oval Office, directly on the head of the eagle pattern embroidered into the rug beneath his feet. "You―look like you have a lot on your mind."
"Thank you for letting me see you. I know you have a busy schedule, and I promise this will be worth your time." He took a deep breath. "I'll get straight to it. I have come here from the future to warn you and Phineas and Ferb that the Conspirium are going to launch an EMP strike today, at just after 2 pm. They have also planted a nuclear bomb somewhere in the city, which will go off at precisely 8 pm tonight."
Isabella's eyes widened slightly at the news, but otherwise, she hid her reaction behind an impressive poker face. "I see. This is distressing. After all the mud being flung at me over the weekend, I thought things couldn't get much worse. These are certainly the times that try men's souls."
After that reflective soliloquy, she locked eyes with PJ. "So you're PJ's time clone, from the future? What course of action do you recommend? What should we do to stop the Conspirium?" She was looking at him intensely, full of faith that he had a solution. He couldn't look her in the eyes when she stared at him that way.
"To be frank," he directed to the floor, "I didn't come to make a plan. I came to tell you so you and Phineas and Marie could get somewhere safe."
The President cocked her head slightly to the side, furrowed her eyebrows. "What? You want to abandon―" She cut herself off, gazing at him more intensely. After a long pause, with a tone that reserved all judgment, she kindly said, "You must have been through a lot, PJ." If he looked as bad as he felt, she had apparently noticed. Isabella relayed him a gentle smile. "I may not know what you've gone through, but I can tell that you have sacrificed so much just to be standing here right now. You have my sincerest gratitude for giving so much and for trying so hard."
PJ felt ashamed to hear her praise him like that. "But I've failed to stop Suzy over and over again! What good has my trying so hard brought? Nothing! Everything I did ended up being worthless! I just can't beat them!" He hid his face in shame.
Isabella rose from her seat behind her desk and padded across the room to PJ, dropping to her knees at his side to put an arm around his shoulder. PJ expected her to say something, but she didn't―she just empathized with him. After a few moments trying to hold back the dam, his feelings burst out as a deluge of tears. Without hesitation, Isabella pulled him into her bosom, and he collapsed like a small child, crying into her shoulder. The President's aids watched awkwardly from their seats around the room, patiently allowing the scene to play out.
PJ had never cried like this before. What happened to the fierce OWCA agent who graduated top of the class? He was supposed to be steely eyed, not turning on the waterworks. Unflappable, not a moping mess. The semiaquatic personification of unstoppable, dynamic fury, v.2.0, was bawling his eyes out on the carpet of the most powerful office on earth!
Isabella didn't pay any heed to the stains his tears left on her neatly pressed jacket. She just comforted him, like a mother would, letting him feel what that was like for perhaps the first time in his life.
At last the tears began to pass. PJ broke from the embrace to wipe the moisture away with the back of his hand. Isabella kept her hands on his shoulders, holding him square to her body. "PJ," she said softly, "you've always tried to do everything on your own. It's why you're so strong. Now, it's time for you to learn that when you're not strong enough on your own, it's okay to ask someone for help. Being a family isn't just about protecting each other, it's about being a team. And teamwork can move mountains, one wheelbarrow at a time. Let's be a team from now on. What do you say, PJ? I know you've already done so much. Can you pick yourself back up and try again? Just one more time?"
It felt like getting his batteries recharged. PJ could feel a surge of energy from Isabella's support and encouragement. What was he thinking, just giving up and taking his family and running? He couldn't believe he had stooped so low. He'd almost made the same mistake as the Mayor of Villagetown, he realized, by putting his own needs in front of the rest of the world. He didn't know what else he could do, but if Isabella asked him to keep fighting a little longer, he would. PJ sniffed and nodded back at Isabella.
Just then, there was a curt knock at the door.
"One moment," Isabella called, while gently wiping away the remnants of PJ's tears.
The door impatiently burst open, ignoring her response. "Madame President, there's―" The Director of the Secret Service, and PJ's one-time boss, stopped when he saw the unexpected scene in front of him. PJ turned away to finish cleaning his face.
Isabella sighed. "What is it, Roland?"
"Sorry, Madame President, but it's an emergency. We've just received news that a riot broke out in the financial district. We need to move you somewhere safe."
"The Conspirium is behind this too," PJ explained in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC), the communications and operations hub that was secured inside the White House's underground bunker. "Ezekiel Okeko is working for The King, Kyle Konig. The riot won't reach the White House, we're all safe here―at least until the EMP goes off, anyway."
"So it's a diversion," Isabella concluded.
"Suzy's plans always are," PJ noted somberly.
"Roland, I want Marie checked out of school and brought straight here, immediately."
"It's already been done, Madame President. Gustav is on his way here with her now."
Isabella seemed consoled by that news, her grip on her armrests lessened. "Have you heard back from Phineas yet?"
"No, ma'am, not since he and Mr. Fletcher set off to investigate the supposed changes to the timeline," Roland said.
"I think we can confirm that the timeline has been changed," Isabella muttered. "If you hear anything from the lab," she added, referring to Summertime Industries, where Phineas' and Ferb's lab was located, "I want to know right away."
"Yes ma'am."
PJ had been briefed a few minutes ago about how Phineas and Ferb had gone to work that morning to investigate the timeline changes. Nobody had heard back from them since, but it wasn't abnormal for those two to get caught up in their work. Since that put them in Danville, at least they were quite safe from the bomb. He just wished they would hurry up, it would be really useful if they could whip up something to stop the EMP and find the nuke before it went off.
Isabella tried calling Phineas' number again, just in case. Like every other time that morning, it went straight to voicemail. Isabella sighed and hung up.
"We're going to have to handle this crisis without Phineas and Ferb," she said resolutely.
"How?" asked the Chief of Staff, who was seated two empty chairs down the table from the President.
"There has to be a way we can make a preemptive strike," a five-star general who regularly advised the President offered.
"PJ, do you have any thoughts on this?" Isabella turned to PJ.
He wrung his hands before answering. "There is a Command Center. When I went there in a different timeline, Suzy and Konig were there, but it was fortified by a small army. Maybe if we hit them hard and fast, and caught them by surprise, but I don't see how we can mobilize a force strong enough to storm the compound before the EMP."
"I'll be the judge of that," said the general. "Where is this Command Center?"
PJ reached for the map he'd asked for. "Here," he pointed.
"I could have fighters from the nearest Air Force base scrambled in fifteen minutes," he said, whipping out his communication device. "On your command, Madame President, the whole compound could be leveled within the hour."
"But we don't just want the Conspirium wiped out," contended PJ. "We need Suzy and Konig alive to locate and disarm the nuke by tonight."
"Do we? As soon as Mr. Flynn and Mr. Fletcher get back, they should have no trouble dealing with that threat, right?"
"How do we know there is a nuclear threat at all?" asked the Chief of Staff. "What if the Conspirium are bluffing? Are we sure the EMP won't knock it out too?"
"They aren't bluffing," affirmed PJ. "In the timeline I came from, D.C. had been wiped off the map for almost a hundred years."
The room went silent for a moment. The one who broke the silence was Isabella.
"PJ," she said thoughtfully, "if Konig is the Conspirium's leader, what do you think of going back to Friday night and arresting him at the gala?"
"The gala?" asked PJ.
"For the Cincinnati Society, remember? The one where you were poisoned?"
It had been so long ago, PJ had almost forgotten about that. "That's right, we could easily take him in right then and there. Except…" he sighed when he realized why that wouldn't work. "Konig is their figurehead and rallying point, but Suzy is the Conspirium's mastermind. If we don't get Suzy, she'll use time travel to warn herself in the past and they'll adjust to some sort of countermeasures. It only works if we manage to get to her. She is priority number one."
"And what about the rest of the Conspirium leadership?" Isabella probed. "If we did manage to arrest Suzy, wouldn't someone else use a time machine to do the same thing?"
Even PJ hadn't thought of that. Isabella really was a sharp one. "It's possible," he admitted.
"Then it sounds to me like the only way to stop the Conspirium once and for all is to nab every member all at once. If even the lowest henchman or newest recruit gets away, they could turn back the clock on us and undo everything."
Every person in the room shot Isabella an incredulous glance. "But that could entail hundreds of individuals scattered all across the country," the Chief of Staff declared.
"Maybe thousands," PJ corrected. "And we don't know who most of them are. I don't even know how expansive their leadership is or what the complete chain of command looks like."
With everyone in the room now aware of how daunting the task ahead of them was, the air grew thin. "Then I don't see how we can win," the Chief of Staff resigned. "At best, we're looking at a stalemate. With both sides constantly using time travel to go back and outflank the other in a never ending cycle."
"I still think we should have our fighter jets bomb this Command Center of theirs to kingdom come," the general spoke. "If we're lucky, maybe we'll take out enough of their leadership all at once that we can discombobulate and disorganize their ranks. It might even stamp out the cult altogether."
Everyone looked at President Flynn expectantly. The final decision was hers. Isabella was looking curiously at PJ, and he had no idea why.
"Everyone, please give PJ and me the room," she finally said. Everyone shared a curious glance before they stood from the conference table and left. Once the Secret Service closed the door, PJ held his breath and waited for Isabella to speak first.
She reached into her purse and extracted her personal tablet, swiping the screen to turn it on. She quietly stroked the touch screen over and over again, all without saying a word to PJ. He watched her enter a security code that was easily over twenty digits long.
"PJ," she finally said, "did you know that in all the years Phineas and I have been married, we've never had a single fight?"
Whatever he was expecting her to say, it definitely wasn't that. "Um, congratulations?" He tilted his head, confused.
"We have disagreed about things, debated, even argued; heatedly, I might add, but never fought."
He had no idea what that had to do with stopping the Conspirium.
"One of the biggest disagreements we have had through the years, you might have heard, is about time travel. Phineas and Ferb's scientific work claims that the future is set, but you and I both know that isn't true."
"I'm not sure I follow."
"Oh, I bet you do. You say you've seen several very different timelines play out. There is no doubt the future can be changed, it just doesn't seem to affect Phineas and Ferb."
PJ remembered the conversation he had with them back in their office. "Right, things always tend to work themselves out when they're around. Or, at least, that's what I've heard."
Isabella nodded, still swiping away on her tablet. "Let me tell you about our first encounter with time travel as kids. It was the first day of That Summer, the day we built The Rollercoaster. After the ride was over, the craziest thing happened―two future versions of Candace, all grown up, came into the backyard and told us that they needed help getting back to their own time. The time machine at the Danville Museum was broken, and they needed Phineas and Ferb to fix it so they could get back."
"Wait, is this the same time machine that Suzy used this summer?"
"Mm-hm." Isabella nodded again. "Long story short, there had been this crazy chain of events that had all started when Phineas and Ferb took a quick trip to the future to borrow a wood-and-steel fusing tool. It was a bit of a mess, and I decided to clean things up by taking a little trip in the time machine myself, delivering the fusing tool to them before they ever went to the future, stopping grown-up Candace from ever accidentally making a bad future in the first place."
PJ could agree that that sounded familiar to his story. "What happened then?"
"After that, Candace never came from the future to get their help in the first place, and so consequently, they never knew that the timeline had already been changed multiple times. I was the only one who remembered everything. Ever since that day, I've been the only one who knew how dangerous time travel could be."
"Until now," breathed PJ, realizing what she was getting at.
"Until now. PJ," she paused to lock eyes with him, "the following conversation never happened." He nodded in understanding. Isabella then looked back down at her tablet. "Computer," she said aloud.
"Voice key confirmed," a cool, robotic voice declared. "Hello, Isabella, PJ."
"What is that?" PJ looked at the goofy robot face with square eyes and a waveform mouth that had appeared on her tablet screen.
"We did a lot of things as kids that, in hindsight, were pretty dangerous," Isabella said coyly. "Of which, time travel is but one. This is another: an omniscient supercomputer. The old model we made as kids could put Dr. Baljeet's quantum computer to shame, and this one's even more advanced."
"An omniscient supercomputer?" PJ was stunned.
"My error range is calculated to be within precisely one-sextillionth of a percent," the computer factually stated. "So not totally omniscient."
"Isn't he cute?" Isabella said. "This, along with a small collection of Phineas' and Ferb's other inventions, ended up being too powerful, so we agreed that they should never be used, except in emergencies. They've been kept a secret ever since."
PJ marvelled.
"Of course," Isabela went on, "this is just an encrypted connection. His mainframe is actually located in a highly secured vault in Switzerland. The encrypted line has been built to disconnect after you get one question answered, so choose your words wisely." She slid the tablet over to him.
"We only get to ask one question?"
Isabella nodded. "A necessary precaution. Understand, PJ, if this fell into the wrong hands, it could potentially be an even bigger catastrophe than what we're facing now. Anything could happen. Maybe something so terrible that even Phineas and Ferb wouldn't be able to handle it. Not even if they took the risk of wearing the Brain Gain helmet to try to outthink the supercomputer, our best contingency plan in the event of that happening. That's another invention that's top secret, by the way. It's one of the most dangerous inventions on the list."
The seriousness in her voice made his spine shiver, even though he didn't have the vaguest clue as to what a 'Brain Gain helmet' could possibly be for.
"So, I just ask it how to defeat the Conspirium, and it'll tell me?"
"It'll tell you the logical answer to whatever you ask it, and nothing more," Isabella said.
With only one shot, PJ could feel the pressure. "Maybe it would be better if you did it, Isabella? I don't understand how these types of things work very well."
Isabella gave him a reassuring smile. "Nobody knows the Conspirium better than you do, PJ. I believe you are the person best suited to ask the best question."
Still uncertain, PJ slid the screen his way and looked down at the computer. What should he ask? There were a thousand questions he would like the answer to. How could they prevent the EMP? Where did the Conspirium hide the nuke? How many people had joined the cult? Who? How could they find them all? What about Suzy? Did she have any tricks left in her bag? Where had she been hiding this whole time? Could they defeat the Conspirium by taking her down? Or would they have to hunt down every last member? What was the safest place to be for Marie, Phineas, and Isabella? Was it still possible to change the timeline at all? And if he did, would he get deleted from existence?
He thought it over very carefully before he took a deep breath. "Computer," he began, "how do I save both my family and my country from the Conspirium?"
Without the slightest hesitation, the computer responded. "Get in your time machine and jump to precisely 5:17 pm this evening. Your destination is the Conspirium Command Center located in Button Creek, Virginia. Hide the time machine behind a large boulder shaped like an ear on the east side of the compound. Then, approach the fence with your hands up and surrender to the guards. If you follow these steps exactly, I am one hundred percent certain that you will save both your family and your country, PJ."
The face on the screen fizzled out and disappeared. PJ blinked in confusion. "That―that can't be right. Can it?" He glanced at Isabella.
"His instructions are always like that, but they are always right," she said.
"But what about the EMP? And the nuke?"
She took back the tablet and returned it to her brief-purse. "I don't know, PJ, you're just going to have to trust the computer on this one." She packed her things and approached the door.
PJ twisted in his seat to follow her with his eyes. "But that thing's plan―it's crazy! How is turning myself over to the Conspirium supposed to save the future?"
Isabella stopped and turned, one hand on the doorknob. "That's up to you, PJ. If anyone can do it, it's you." She twisted her hand and opened the door. Marie was standing there, one hand raised, as if she were about to knock.
"Oh, hi, Mom. What's going on? Why'd I get checked out of school early, and then brought here? Is everything okay?"
"Everything's going to be fine, right PJ?" Isabella directed his way.
PJ waved at Marie, happy to see her safe. "If you say so."
"Before I leave, there's a couple more things we should discuss," PJ said, once all the available members of Isabella's Cabinet, including the Vice President, as well as any remaining advisors, had been brought back in the conference room, whether physically or digitally. "First and foremost, we need to evacuate as many of you as we can from the city before the EMP, before the Conspirium takeover begins. In case my mission fails, we must have everyone in this room out of the city before two o'clock. Otherwise, it will become a lot harder to get to a safe distance from the blast radius by tonight."
"We are preparing a secret location for everyone to meet," Isabella said. "Your security teams are receiving the location as we speak. Time is not on our side, so please hurry. We also cannot risk anyone from the Conspirium finding out what we're doing. Do not tell anyone outside this room where the location is."
"If you can," added PJ, "take a time machine as your vehicle. If you are outside the flow of spacetime when the EMP hits, it'll protect your time machine and any other electronic devices you have with you. Plus, we also want to have as many back-up time machines on our side as possible. Furthermore, I highly recommend you bring all the electronic resources you'll need with you in your time machines. Anything extra you can bring along, such as communicators, radios, flashlights, batteries, etc., will be helpful, but bringing personal devices like computers and TV's won't be. If you aren't sure what to bring, think of what you would pack in an emergency preparedness bag."
"For another thing," Isabella took over, "another reason to use time machines to skip the EMP is that flying cars will lose power and crash when the pulse hits them. Whatever you do, don't get caught in the sky by it!"
"Shouldn't we warn the American people of the impending attack?" one of the Cabinet members asked.
"It's too risky," PJ said. "If Suzy Johnson finds out we know about the attacks, she'll alter the timeline to throw us off. This plan depends on secrecy to work. Of course we regret putting so many American lives on the line, but we simply have no other choice."
"Wouldn't forcing Suzy to alter the timeline be a good thing?" another person brought up. "It might even force her to delay the EMP attack."
"Or move it up," countered PJ. "I know it feels like we're in a worst-case scenario here, but this is the closest we've had to an upper hand against the Conspirium in a long time. If Suzy knows she has to change things, she'll find a way to press her advantage in some other way. We can't give her that option.
"Also, from what I saw of the future, the Conspirium wasn't trying to inflict massive casualties. The EMP and nuke were designed to deal a devastating blow to the US Government itself, not to kill its people. Konig wants all the subjects to rule over he can get once he sets himself up as the new King. What I'm saying is, there will be casualties, but it won't be as bad as you're probably thinking. The Conspirium is planning to evacuate all of Washington before the bomb goes off. Or at least, evacuate everyone that is willing to swear their allegiance to the Conspirium."
Everyone seemed appeased by that explanation. PJ turned to Isabella. "Have you been able to get a hold of Phineas yet?"
"No," she answered, "and Vanessa says she hasn't been able to reach Ferb, either."
PJ sighed. "I was really hoping to get their opinions before we started, but I guess we'll just have to manage without them for now. Okay, does anyone have any other questions?"
Everyone kept their peace.
"Then with that, Madame President," he said, turning to Isabella, "I will take my leave now to finish preparing for my mission."
Isabella flashed him a smile. "Good luck, PJ. Be safe."
"You too," he said. He quickly exited the room and was met outside by Marie.
"So there's gonna be an EMP, huh?" she said casually, stretching her arms over her head from a nearby chair.
PJ stopped in his tracks. "You were eavesdropping? That was a top secret meeting, Marie! You could get in serious trouble!" He looked around to see if any of her bodyguards were watching.
"Oh, posh," she hummed with a flippant gesture.
"And could you at least act a little more worried about the situation?"
"Listen, PJ," she said, ignoring him, "I want to help, so take this, okay?" She held out her hand.
It was a radio earpiece. "What's this for?" he said, picking up the earpiece.
"It's so I can help you on your mission! Duh!" she grinned, excitedly clenching her fists in a pose. "If you need information, I'll be ready to assist!" She pulled back her hair to show him that she already had her earpiece in.
"But it's not gonna work," he said. "The EMP…"
"You're skipping past the EMP with your time machine," she reminded him, "so it won't be affected!"
"I meant yours!"
"Right, that reminds me! I still need to make it!" She bounded for the door, bubbling with energy. "See ya!" She briefly turned to wave before making her exit.
"Make what?" he called after her. When he got no response, he added, "Just make sure you don't blow anything up, okay?" Normally, such a sentence might not be the wisest thing to shout around the Secret Service, but they all knew Marie too well at this point.
The earpiece hidden inside his earlobe crackled. "You don't have to shout, I can hear you just fine!" Marie's voice chided.
He must have put the earpiece in already without thinking. PJ shook his head but couldn't help smirking. He'd missed Marie so much.
The usual hustle and bustle of downtown D.C. attracted PJ's attention as he prepared his time machine to make the jump. It was sobering to see all these flocks of people seeing sights and conducting business and traveling to and fro, thoroughly unprepared for the ordeal that awaited them when the EMP hit. If his mission went south, he considered, this could be the last time he saw something as mundanely wonderful as a traffic light or enjoy the view of the towering Washington Monument.
He decided he had better get a move on. "This is Pidgeon One, I am all set and ready to take the plunge, over," he spoke into his communicator.
There was a pause, and then a voice he didn't recognize responded from the dash. "Roger, Pidgeon One, you are green to jump."
"Copy that," PJ said, setting down the transmitter and flipping a switch with his finger. "Jumping in five, four, three, two, one." He hit the big, circular button in the center of the control console. Pop! The familiar, undulating sensation was accompanied by a barrage of psychedelic colors outside his windshield, then before he knew it, he landed with a jolt.
"I'm back," he said, looking at the deserted sidewalks and streets laden with dead vehicles.
"PJ! You made it!"
"Marie?" The teenager's voice rang loud and clear through his earpiece. "What's going on? How can I hear you? Did I miss the timing on my jump?" He double-checked his inputs on the console.
"No, you went dark around four or five hours ago, so this should be about right."
"Then how are you still there? The EMP should have, you know…"
"I told you, I was going to build a Faraday Cage to shield it!"
"Marie, first off, I don't know what that is, and secondly, you didn't tell me what you were up to, and I've told you a hundred times I can't read what's going on inside that crazy brain of yours."
"Yeah I did, I told you I was―" PJ could hear her breathing from the other end while she cast her mind back to their earlier conversation. "Okay, so I might have forgotten to tell you that part," she admitted. "Still, you should have been able to figure it out on your own," she added with a pout. "A Faraday Cage is a―"
"Forget about that," PJ said as he soared into the sky. "Tell me you and Mom were able to make it out before the EMP."
"Obviously," she said. "We're at some military installation base somewhere. Mom's in her important meetings, as always. We still haven't heard anything from Dad or Uncle Ferb, though. Some of Mom's bodyguards sent out a search party after we got here. We haven't heard back from them yet. Ugh, it sucks, news takes forever to get here now." PJ guessed by the squeaking sound in his ear that she had started spinning in one of those spinny office chairs. She didn't seem to be too worried about the whereabouts of her father and uncle. He was certainly concerned.
"Aren't you worried about them?"
"I didn't say I wasn't. Dad probably just got carried away with something, some new toy he and Uncle Ferb invented at work today. And besides, if anything did happen to them, they can take care of themselves."
He didn't like it when she put it that way, but she had a point.
"So, anyway, what's going on at your end? Tell me about your mission! Do you need me to hack into anything? I can get you schematics, blueprints, whatever you need―it'll just take a while. The internet is terrible at the moment, and yes, I know I should just be happy we have power for anything right now, but still."
"Wait, you're at a computer?"
"Just my phone."
"You mean your―thingadowhatsit cage protected your phone from the EMP too?"
"You mean my Faraday Cage? Yeah, I put all my electronics inside it before the EMP hit."
You mean to tell me you knew about this magical cage thing that could stop EMP's from working this whole time? PJ was suddenly very interested in what this Faraday Cage thing was. "What is a Faraday Cage, anyway?"
"Basically any container with insulation inside and completely covered in metal on the outside. The EMP, or any electromagnetic field for that matter, is diverted around the outside, keeping anything inside safe, as discovered by Michael Faraday. He used to demonstrate his discovery by standing inside a metal cage while it was hit with lighting bolts. It's the same principle behind how come when lighting strikes an airplane it never electrocutes anybody, even though the metal on the plane conducts electricity."
PJ had been envisioning some sort of shield he could hold up, or something, to block out the EMP. It sounded more complicated than that. His fleeting hope that he could go back in time and maybe build a Faraday Cage around the whole country was quite outside the realm of possibility. They needed Phineas and Ferb for something like that.
"Now hurry up and tell me what your mission is!" exclaimed Marie.
PJ was already speeding in that direction. "I'm heading to the Conspirium's secret headquarters," he explained.
"Cool!" Marie responded enthusiastically. "Need me to look up the base's layout, hack into their systems, tell you where to go to sneak in and take them out?"
"Not exactly," PJ rejected. "What I have to do doesn't make any sense, but it's what Mom wants. You can't help me with it. But I am grateful for the company," he added as an afterthought.
"Well, if you do need my help with anything, you can count on me! Just say the words, PJ!"
PJ had one other thing he wanted to get off his chest, but was afraid of how corny it was going to come out. "Marie," he said after a long pause, "if I don't make it back, I just want you to know how proud I am of you. You're like the sister I never had. Being a part of this family has made me happier than I ever thought someone could possibly be."
"Aw, PJ, I'm touched," she said. "With me watching your back, you'll make it back, I promise! And when you get back, we're gonna drag Thomas over, and together, we're gonna build a rollercoaster so big it'll put everything Mom and Dad made as kids to shame!"
PJ grinned at her optimism. She must get that from her father. "It's a deal!" he said.
The city now far behind, he watched the countryside whisk past beneath him. It was the peak of fall, and the trees were all turned to a breathtaking hue of amber, orange, or red, glowing in the light of the lowering sun. Gazing at such a peaceful sight, he felt calmed as his vehicle raced westward toward the Appalachian mountains. All he had to do was hide his time machine and turn himself in, and somehow, that would stop Suzy and the Conspirium. Isabella seemed to have total faith in the supercomputer's clairvoyance. But how could giving himself over to Suzy possibly be all it took?
He guessed he'd find out. And if things started to look like they were headed south, at least he'd have a working time machine close by this time.