Disclaimer: no matter how much I wish it were, the world and the recognizable characters are not mine, but in fact are Diane Duane's.
Oh, I am sorry for keeping you waiting, dear readers. It was cruel of me, but I wanted you to wallow in suspense for a little while, about a week. Then real life decided to throw a hissy fit and become busy, and Tom and Carl didn't want to cooperate. I do hope this is worth the wait. It's a bit shorter than I'd hoped, but ah well—you'll see more soon enough. Enjoy!
Chapter 11: No Time
Tom Swale arrived with a pop back in Hempstead, stumbling a little since he wasn't nearly as good at teleportation as Josh. Everything was quiet; the trees rustled slightly in the breeze. It was startlingly normal after those few minutes of wizardry and flame.
Didn't the world realize it was ending?
Well, that might be a little dramatic. The entire world itself wasn't ending, of course. But Tom's might as well be. His best friend and partner, whom he loved and who apparently loved him in return, was about to be killed by the Lone Power. His second closest friend who had only just rediscovered his wizardry was lying unconscious. Tom had a sickening feeling that the Lone One wouldn't kill him on the spot. A merciful death for Joshua Grogan? Not a chance. From the boy's reaction to the redheaded man, Tom knew he could only be one person—the one who had practically destroyed his life, the one who had almost caused him to lose magic forever: Josh's rapist. And with an awful certainty he knew that if he didn't get help soon, as in within the next minute or so, the bright young boy who had just regained his confidence and love for life would be broken again and left to burn alive while the Power merely looked on and laughed.
The thought made him want to retch. It was too painful to contemplate. By some huge effort of will he managed to keep the contents of his stomach inside his body.
Tom felt like he needed to scream, or cry, or strangle a Power with his bare hands, or curl up into a ball and hide. It was all too confusing, happening too fast. He did none of those, but merely stood in numb shock, his mind yelling at him. I need more time! I can't have run out, no, Josh...CARL...I love you, I love you, I love you, please, a little longer... His heart beat wildly against his ribs as tears finally made their ponderous way down his face. I just need more time.
Then he fiercely wiped the tears away. He was doing Josh and Carl no good whatsoever by just standing there and weeping. He had to do something. At the very least he could make sure the flame remained contained. It's what they'd gone to do, wasn't it? He could go to Mr. Kolibri and ask for help. But how would he make it in time?
Mr. Kolibri. Time. His mind caught and tripped over the word, slowing his thoughts. Tom thought back to Physics class, of all things.
"I don't suppose you know what Einstein contributed to the scientific community?"
"He came up with the theory of general relativity; basically, everything moves relative to the space-time continuum, or that space and time are really the same thing."
If space and time were really one and the same...
Tom's brain still moved slowly, thinking it through to its logical conclusion.
He could teleport, he knew that with certainty.
The thought unfurled, bringing with it a wild, desperate hope.
If he could teleport, and if space and time were one and the same, didn't it stand to reason that he could travel through time as well? After all, time travel would be just glorified teleportation.
Tom Swale's heart continued to beat quickly, but he was no longer helpless. The Lone Power had said that he'd run out of time. Well then...he'd just have to make time.
He reached into his otherspace pocket and pulled out his manual decisively. It was worth a try. Since they would definitely die if he didn't take action, somehow the danger of what he was about to do didn't faze him one bit. He was young. He had respectable reserves of power at his disposal. And if it wasn't enough, he could make it a blank check spell.
Tom's mind was made up.
With a stick he drew the diagram for a teleportation spell, then wrote in the proper symbols in the Speech. He checked and rechecked his numbers and name, mouth in a thin line. It would take a lot of energy. Much more than just a simple jump in space. He couldn't afford to fail, so he wrote a figurative blank check and tied it in. Then he realized with a jolt that he couldn't just ask to go back in time; that would leave him stranded in outer space. Tom hastily blotted out the old parameters and wrote in the new ones: he wrote in the location on the earth's surface, as well as the angular location in spacetime relative to the sun on the planet's orbit, tying everything together with a wizard's knot When he finished he stood back, absentmindedly brushing off the thin sheen of sweat that had collected on his forehead, and surveyed his handiwork.
What he saw made his stomach clench with nerves. It had taken him a full fifteen minutes to write out the spell, even though he was fast with the written form of the Speech. The diagram took up approximately thirty square feet. He'd only been able to give himself forty-five minutes of time. By the time he got to where—well, when—he was headed, he'd have at most twenty-five minutes to get help and get back to the building. Twenty-five minutes. That was all.
Tom quashed his anxiety with a mental stomp. It would do him no good. After checking the spell one last time, he stood at the beginning of the flowing script and started to grimly read. "This is a temporospatial claudication..." he began in the Speech, and the universe bent in to listen.
Step by step he built the spell. The fourteen-year-old identified what he expected to do and where and when he expected to go. "From this point forth I shall refer to the version of myself that goes back in time as Tom 2 and the reality thereof as Reality 2; and the version of myself up to the point this spell is completed shall be called Tom 1, and the reality thereof shall be called Reality 1. Reality 2 shall begin precisely 45 minutes prior to the point in spacetime when this spell is completed at the spatial coordinates Earth 40 degrees 40 minutes 51.63 seconds North, 73 degrees 36 minutes 55.79 seconds West; Sol 302 degrees 82 minutes 29.5462 seconds. When Reality 2 begins, Reality 1 and Reality 2 shall coexist and overlap, with no changes being made to Reality 1 unless Tom 2 wreaks them. These changes shall become part of Reality 2. When Tom 2 returns to the spatial coordinates Earth 40 degrees 47 minutes North, 73 degrees 57 minutes West, Reality 2 and Tom 2 shall replace Reality 1 and Tom 1. Both Reality 1 and Tom 1 shall cease to exist at that point."
Tom then went on to detail the payment of the spell, feeling slightly ill while doing so. This wasn't a big wizardry. It was a huge wizardry. It would take an enormous amount of energy to pay off. But he needed it done now, and he needed to have the reserves to teleport backup to Manhattan to save Josh and Carl.
Finally the spell was finished. There was a moment when he hung suspended in the universe and the deafening silence closed around him; and then suddenly he was flung backwards, being squeezed and stretched impossibly, unable to breathe.
A split second later Tom landed, clutching his chest and fighting for air. This time he did retch, quietly losing his lunch into a nearby trash can. Then he looked at the sky and saw that, to his perspective, the sun had moved eastward. He set his watch to forty-five minutes behind and waited for his wheezing to subside. At long last it did so, and though his legs were tired and he still felt ill from traveling back in time, he was able run for help. Before he did so, he looked at the face of his watch, his mouth tightening.
Twenty-three minutes.
Sorry, it's a cliffhanger yet again. But really, can you blame me? It's building up to the climax of the story! I have to inspire tension and suspense somehow, otherwise the climax will be like walking into a wall instead of the ever-faster building of a giant wave that comes crashing down!
Also, I did do my research. Hempstead, NY really is at those coordinates, and Manhattan is indeed at the ones listed for it. He didn't need more precision for Manhattan because when he goes back to the building he'll be inside the error bounds. But for Hempstead he wanted to stay in exactly the same place so he can immediately go where he needs to go and not stop to get his bearings. I kind of made up the solar coordinates, but since it'd be very early November or so, I think they're reasonable—with 0 degrees being, of course, the position of the Earth relative to the Sun at 12:01 AM on January 1st of that year.
I'd quite appreciate it if y'all check my wording on the spell. I wanted to give an idea of the complexity of going back in time, but I still wanted it to be right and possible to word it like that. If you see a loophole or a flaw in my logic, please please PLEASE comment on it so I can fix it!
Thank you muchly!