Chapter 7: Trial and Error
Barbara and Pim Diffy walked down a hallway lined with small rooms. The guard led them to a room at the end of the hall and pressed a button on the wall that caused a door to slide open.
"Have a seat and the prisoner will be in to see you shortly," the guard said.
"Thank you," Barb said and walked inside.
The room was quite plain with dark blue walls, a door on both sides of the room, and a small table in the middle with chairs on either side. Barb and Pim sat down on one side of the table and within seconds the door on the other side of the room slid open. Phil walked in and smiled at his Mother and Sister. He was surprised to see Pim's face light up at the sight of him and wondered if she was feeling well. Phil took a seat across from his mother.
"Hello honey. How are you holding up?" she asked.
"I'm doing okay I suppose," Phil said, but he didn't look okay at all. "Pim I'm surprised to see you here," Phil added.
"Umm...honey there's something you should know," Barb started to say, but Pim cut her off. However, the voice that came from Pim's mouth...was not Pim's.
"Phil it's me! I had to disguise myself as Pim because they are watching us. I'm okay and I've come to help you," Keely said.
"Keel...," Phil started to say, but Barb hushed him quickly. Phil's face was lit up with emotion that he was desperately trying to hold inside. A tear rolled down Phil's cheek as he was overjoyed that Keely was alive and well.
"I've missed you so much. I thought you were...," Phil started to say, but couldn't bring himself to say the word.
"I missed you too. I will explain everything later, but for now we have to focus on the hearing," Keely said and looked like she wanted to jump out of her chair and kiss Phil right then and there. She then spoke in a hushed tone to Phil as she said, "I'm going to come speak for you at the hearing, but I will be going under my new name. I have to take on a new identity here in the future since Keely is technically dead. I'm going to change my appearance slightly and pretend to be one of Keely's descendants. I will be going under the name Alyson Martin."
When Keely said this name Phil's eyes went wide with shock.
"What? What is it?" Keely asked.
"Nothing, I'll explain later. This sounds like a great plan. Let's just hope the council sees things our way. That guy that arrested me is harsh. He seems to hate our family for some reason," Phil said in a hushed tone.
"We don't have much time left. Be strong for me okay. I brought you something that might help you," Keely said and then reached into her purse and pulled out Phil's pepper shaker. She handed it to Phil and he smiled.
"Read it. I had the inscription changed," Keely said.
Phil looked down at the shaker and noticed an engraving that read, "To Phil. You are my past, present, and future. Love Always, Keely." "I love it," Phil said.
Pim/Keely and Barb stood to leave as the guard motioned that their time was up. As they walked out the door Keely turned and mouthed the words, "Good Luck."
Later that day Phil was lead to a circular room that was divided by a short, waist high, wall down the middle. On one side of the wall were seats for observers, and on the other side was a table that sat front and center in front of a tall bench. On the bench three men sat wearing official looking uniforms. They wore dark black robes with a patch of silver running down each shoulder. The all looked stern and serious as they watched Phil enter. In the crowd Phil saw his Mom and who he guessed to be the real Pim as she looked annoyed to be there. There were a few other people in the crowd, but not too many. At the table a middle aged man in a lawyer's suit sat waiting. Off to the side of the council's bench a man sat holding what looked like a slightly larger version of a wizard. Phil walked through the small wooden gate in the wall and sat down at the table next to the lawyer.
"Hello Phil, my name is David Clark and I will be your lawyer. This is just a formal hearing, not a full trial so don't be too nervous," David said.
"Are you kidding I'm nervous as can be. How is this thing going to go down?" Phil asked.
"I will call a character witness, which in this case is Ms. Martin, the witness to the alleged crime, which is Officer Kirkpatrick, will also speak," David started to say, but Phil cut him off.
"Officer Kirkpatrick?" Phil asked as the name sounded awfully familiar to him.
"Yes the man who arrested you. He will speak and then you will go to the stand and the Council will ask you questions. After all that is done they will decide your punishment," David said.
Phil stirred nervously in his seat, glancing back at his Mom from time to time, and wondering when it was going to start. He pulled the pepper shaker from his pocket and set it on the table. David glanced over and smiled before saying, "I'm glad you brought that. You'll need it." Phil gave him a quizzical look, but David had turned to face the front again.
"Will you all please be seated so we can begin," an old gray haired man said. "This is the hearing for Phillip Diffy. Mr. Diffy you are accused of unlawfully using a time machine to travel to the past with the intent of bringing back a citizen of the past to our time. Does the accused have anyone to speak on his behalf?"
"Yes your honor. We would like to call forth Ms. Alyson Martin," David stood up and said.
The doors at the back of the room opened and in walked Keely, but she looked different. Her hair was now brunette and was pulled back in a ponytail. She wore glasses and a sleek looking business suit. Phil couldn't keep his eyes off of her as it was the first time he had actually seen her face since learning she was alive. She caught his eye and winked at him with a smile before she headed to the chair next to the bench and sat down.
"Miss Martin could you please tell us a little about yourself and your connection to the accused?" the councilman asked.
"Yes sir. My Great Great Great Aunt was Keely Teslow, the girlfriend of Mr. Diffy, whom Phil went to the past to save. Our family has passed down stories about Mr. Diffy and his kindness to my Great Great Great Aunt. I know of how he went to the past to save her life, only to be stopped and arrested in the process. Keely Teslow disappeared, never to be hear from again, only two days later. If Phil had only been allowed to save her then she would have had a full life! Mr. Diffy had no intentions of changing history. All he wanted to do was save the woman he loved," Keely said and almost came to tears.
"That's touching Ms. Martin, but you are basing all of this off of a story that has been passed down for years. Until today you have not even met Mr. Diffy, so how can you tell us what kind of person he is?" The councilman said.
"Your honor I would like to present some evidence that Ms. Martin has brought to our attention," David stood up to say and reached into a box to pull out Keely's Salt Shaker. He then approached the bench and handed it to the middle councilman.
"This Salt Shaker was part of a present given to Mr. Diffy by Keely Teslow in the year 2006. Each of them kept one shaker to remember each other by. Ms. Martin was kind enough to give this to us to present. It was passed down through her family. If you look at the inscription it reads, "Keely and Phil. Today, tomorrow, and forever". You will also note that Mr. Diffy here has the Pepper shaker that goes with it sitting right here on the table. This was a token of their love, as strange as it may seem to you. Phil went back to the past because this woman he loved was in danger," David said to the council.
"It's true your honor. Phil really loved my Great Great Great Aunt and this proves it," Keely said to the council.
"Thank you Ms. Martin that will be all," the councilman said as he handed the shaker back to David and Keely stepped down. "We will now hear testimony from Officer Taylor Kirkpatrick of the Chrono-Terrorism Task Force," he added.
The same time cop that arrested Phil came walking into the room and headed for the seat next to the bench. Suddenly Phil remembered where he had heard the name Kirkpatrick. "Tanner?" Phil said to himself quietly.
"Did you say something?" David asked from beside him.
"No, nothing," Phil said quickly.
"Is this why he hates our family so much? Did Tanner's family pass down stories about me to their kids?" Phil thought to himself.
Officer Kirkpatrick walked past the barrier and glanced over into the crowd. For a second he did a double take when he saw Keely. Keely just looked away and tried not to make eye contact with him. He then took a seat beside the bench and began to speak. "My unit had been doing surveillance on the Diffy family for some time. We were worried that they would attempt to return to the past. Their son had ties to the past in the form of a girlfriend he left behind. Two days ago I witnessed their son leaving their house in the middle of the night in a time machine. I followed him to the past and arrested him while he was attempting to bring a 21st Century female to our time with him," Taylor said as he stared a hole through Phil.
"I never said I was going to bring Keely to the future with me," Phil said to David in a hushed tone.
David simply nodded and stood to question Taylor.
"Mr. Kirkpatrick did Mr. Diffy ever actually say that he intended to bring Ms. Teslow back with him?" David asked.
"Well no, but if he loved her as much as they say wouldn't he have wanted to?" Kirkpatrick said.
"I'm sure he did, but we're not discussing what he might have wanted to do here are we?" David said with a smirk.
"Even if he wasn't going to bring her back he still went there to change the future!" Kirkpatrick said.
"According to Mr. Diffy's testimony he went there to protect his girlfriend," David said in return.
"Which would have altered her fate. No offense to Ms. Teslow...or her descendants, but her fate was to disappear and we all know that making changes to the past is strictly prohibited!" Kirkpatrick said and began to sound a little annoyed.
"I hardly see how a teenager trying to protect his girlfriend is a threat to national security though," David said and Kirkpatrick shifted forward in his seat before replying.
"Look, my job is to protect the integrity of the time-line and that means all of it!" Kirkpatrick said and began to really sound upset.
"Isn't it almost impossible at this point to police all of it? Should you be focusing on major events?" David asked.
"Hold on! I don't tell you how to do your job!" Kirkpatrick said with obvious anger in his voice now.
"The Diffy family spent two and a half years in the past and nothing happened. The world did not end and no major events were affected. Doesn't it seem odd that you would spend so much time and man power on one family who as already been through a hearing such as this and were found innocent?" David said and this made Taylor even more angry.
"That boy went to the past to alter events that were already set in place! He is a criminal!" Kirkpatrick yelled.
"Mr. Kirkpatrick I will ask that you lower your voice in this courtroom!" the councilman on the left said.
Taylor didn't show any signs of hearing the councilman as he huffed and puffed in his seat.
"As we all know at this point nothing was altered. Ms. Teslow sadly disappeared in the year 2006 and was never heard from again. Nothing was changed," David said.
"Lies!!! Ms. Teslow is in this very room as we speak! I saw her sitting right over there!" Kirkpatrick yelled and pointed at Keely in the crowd. "That is the same woman that I caught Mr. Diffy talking to in the past!"
"Mr. Kirkpatrick please calm down!" the middle councilman said.
"That is Ms. Teslow's descendant. It's not unlikely that she would bear some resemblance to her," David said and Kirkpatrick looked livid.
"You are letting them all make a mockery of our time travel laws!! All the work my men and I have put into preserving your lives is being thrown away as we speak!" Kirkpatrick yelled.
"You are out of line Mr. Kirkpatrick!" the councilman on the right said.
"It is no secret that you and your men have been reprimanded before for questionable tactics Mr. Kirkpatrick so I would advise that you listen to the councilman," David said and finally Kirkpatrick lost it. He leaped out of his chair at David, but the nearby Bailiff stepped in and grabbed him.
"Mr. Kirkpatrick!!! This behavior is unacceptable! Bailiff please take him into custody," the middle councilman said. "In light of the actions of the arresting officer I have decided that all charges will be dropped. However, Mr. Diffy you will destroy the time machine this time and provide proof of its destruction to this court by next Monday. Is that clear?"
"Yes sir," Phil said with a smile on his face.
"Case dismissed!" the councilman said and Phil stood up quickly and hugged David, which caught him off guard.
Phil turned to look at Keely who was beaming with joy. He practically leaped over the barrier and ran to hug her.
"We did it!" she cried.
"Thank you. You sacrificed everything to come here for me. How can I repay you?" Phil asked.
"By never leaving me again," Keely said.
"Don't worry, you and I are together now...forever," Phil said and then leaned in to kiss her.
To be concluded..