Fractime Sojourn (Part 2)

Chapter 18

  Prime: 13 Oct 2068

  John activated the STS workstation knowing he had reserved a bay at the rifle range at Peterson in an hour. He wanted to review additional geophysical publications for more information on known global magnetic instabilities.

  He preferred working at the lab, and looking over at Jenny, surmised she did as well. If she wasn't in her office, or the OC, she was usually here.

  She had been busy for some time, and John guessed it still had to do with her missing sisters.

  "How's it going?" he asked her.

  "The so called FBI in Minus doesn't have anything, and I've decided I'll make transit tomorrow to Minus- alone."

  "Hey, we've got stuff to do. Don't we?" he said looking at Robert.

  "Too, too busy," Robert replied still intent on his workstation.

  Tye just smiled from behind hers.

  "Finding yourself should be a walk through the park for ol' Agent Scott, so good luck," John said.

  Tye's smile turned instantly into a grimace.

  "Who's old?" Jenny said with a smirk.

  "I've got the purple-eye test script finished," Robert said quickly.

  "Let's have a look; after all, it was my idea." John laughed, and a diversion seemed a good idea.

  "He's been in the catnip again," Jenny said flatly, eyes on her work. "What do you think Tye?"

  "No comment, Colonel," Tye replied.

  Robert sighed. "I just need a calibration as to the exact shade of purple you saw," he told Jenny. "We can construct the color here if you like?"

  "Sure," Jenny said.

  Robert initiated the conference table's projectors. "Just tell me when to stop, and we'll adjust the contrast and brightness."

  A large, grey globe materialized over the table and then morphed into an eyeball that turned and looked directly at Jenny. Its iris color began slowly to change.

  "There," Jenny said, "but a bit brighter...yes, that's close."

  "Where'd you get that thing?" John asked faking a shiver as it winked at him.

  "You don't want to know." Robert grinned and then pointed towards the eye. "Almost the definition of magenta. Too easy, but I still have to interface to the personnel database, so maybe tomorrow with any results."

  "You were right about bright purple," John said staring at the floating eye.

  "Is that all?" Jenny asked.

  "That's it, ma'am," Robert replied.

  "Then I'm off and you all can keep playing Halloween," Jenny said. "I'm leaving for Minus tomorrow. Captain Mackinac has administrative authority during my absence."

  "Not Morris' reports," John groaned as the lab's doors shushed closed behind Jenny.

  Minus: 6 Aug 2066

  Jenny had been in Minus for two days and there were no new leads to her twin's whereabouts. Minus' equivalent of the FBI, which Jenny thought acted more like political police, had made a few contacts with her twin's distant family that were fruitless. She had similar results after several awkward calls of her own.

  She finished a quick lunch back in the same café on the outskirts of DC where she and John had waited in vain for her twin a few weeks ago. "I'll take the check," she said after the waiter.

  She could feel a rumble surrounding her, and her heart began to race before seeing the cause: a truck loaded with large pink boulders past in front of the café. She thought the large rocks looked like granite and laughed at herself. She'd have to tell John some geology was rubbing off.

  Still waiting for the check, she had an idea. It didn't take long to find the address on her pad: a single-family dwelling off Euclid Avenue in Lexington, Kentucky. She'd have to pull some strings to get there today and decided against calling first.

  Paying the check, she left for the airport.

  A cab dropped her at the corner, and walking up to the house, Jenny didn't know what to expect. As she was examining the door's knocker, inscribed with a ten-pointed star with delicate rays emanating from it, a woman who looked vaguely familiar cracked the door.

  Seeing Jenny, she burst into tears. "You said you might be back," she said crying. "What do you want now?"

  "Mrs. Mackinac, Helen," she said recalling the person in the picture on John's Ann Arbor mantle, "My name is Jennifer Scott. I'm looking for my sister; I'm guessing by your reaction you've met her."

  It shocked Jenny to find John's wife alive, nearly twenty years after the EV crash that killed her and their daughter in Prime.

  Helen Mackinac just stared at Jenny with teary eyes.

  Jenny asked, "Is John here?"

  The woman fell on the floor just inside the doorway, sobbing deeply.

  "Mother!" A young woman in her late twenties rushed to her aid. Helping her mother to the sofa, she gave Jenny a vicious look.

  "I know your father," Jenny said and followed the young woman inside their home.

  "You don't know him or you'd know he was dead," the young woman shouted. "Why are you doing this to my mother?"

  The news stunned Jenny.

  "I want you to leave now," the young woman said cradling her mother.

  Jenny struggled to remember her name.

  "I am so sorry for your loss," Jenny said with sincerity.

  "You are not the woman who was here before," Helen said with reddened eyes. "You're too old."

  Not that again, Jenny thought. "She's my sister. Did she tell you anything or leave anything with you?"

  The young woman stared at Jenny for a moment. "You have the same name so how can you be her sister?" she asked.

  "It's complicated," Jenny replied.

  "We've already told the police everything we know," the young woman said, "which is nothing. They found Dad in his car in the university parking lot. Someone stabbed him over six months ago. Now please leave."

  "It's okay, Stephanie," Helen told her daughter trying to regain some composure. "You knew John?" she asked Jenny.

  "Yes, professionally," Jenny said.

  "You do look like your sister. Your hair," Helen said wiping her nose and cheeks, "is longer. She came here a few weeks ago. It was worse then," she said taking the last tissue from a box on a nearby coffee table. "What do you want?"

  "I'm trying to find her," Jenny said again. "It's a matter of national security."

  "What did John do?" Helen buried her face in the tissue and sobbed.

  "He was a decent man, a wonderful father and husband. He didn't do anything. I intend to find who murdered him," Jenny said and showed them her Prime NGA ID.

  "What makes you think we can help you find your sister," Steph said more respectfully after seeing Jenny's ID.

  "I thought she might seek out your father, for some reason," Jenny explained. "It was just a hunch."

  "She said she might be back after…" Helen sniffed.

  "After?" Jenny asked.

  "It didn't make sense," Steph said.

  Helen blew her nose. "She said she had to find someone's son."

  "She said she was going to locate the Dobb's sons," her daughter corrected her. "And asked my mom to remember."

  "Remember just what?" Jenny asked.

  "That she was coming back or that person's son. How should I know?" Steph said curtly.

  Jenny grasped Helen's hand in hers. "I am so sorry about your loss," she said looking to them both. "And I apologize for upsetting your home. If you remember anything else or my sister pays you another visit, please tell her I was looking for her and please notify the police. They'll let me know."

  Jenny let herself out and then queried her pad for the location of the campus police station. It wasn't far; she would walk.

  The disinterested campus police eventually confirmed the account of John's murder. Forensics indicated the single wound to his heart was from a long, thin blade.

  Prime: 14 Oct 2068

  John reflected just how much he dreaded these staff meetings as Higgs reported on numerous projects and was meticulous in detail for each one. John's mind drifted to West's bottle of bo
urbon, previously occupying a drawer in the CO's desk.

  Morris was trying hard to follow the science as Higgs appraised him on the work to duplicate the modified monopole TRs.

  "The explosion irradiated the lab with a very short-half life isotope," Higgs explained, "and I believe this radiation produced the fortunate modification in the TR set."

  John already briefed Morris on the Piquet mission and Jenny's status in Minus. She had not checked in after three days. And there was still no word on Carl. Morris took their discussion regarding magnetic fields and their relation to transits with mute indifference.

  "Can you duplicate the new TRs?" Morris asked.

  "Given that the isotope appears to be unknown," Higgs said dejectedly, "the possibility of recreating the environment in which the modification occurred is nearly zero. We should consider reassigning research priorities."

  Is Higgs giving up? John couldn't believe it. The tactical consequences to his decision were enormous. They would have only one working long-distance, monopole TR set.

  Higgs continued, "The initial assumption that a mass effect or a weak gravitational force caused the rook's moves was wrong. It now appears variations in magnetic force were responsible based upon the data received from Piquet. We should modify our efforts accordingly."

  "Higgs, it's your baby," Morris said dryly. "I don't have much. Johnston's UD scan pegged her from upline, no surprises there. She's still in an induced coma, and not expected to live much longer. And there's no word on Scott's whereabouts in Plus. Do you have anything on that, Captain?"

  John assumed he meant Jenny's Plus sister. "No, sir."

  "Excuse me Deputy Director," Morris' aide said entering the office. "Lieutenant Tye Brasca is here asking to speak at your staff meeting. She says it's urgent."

  John could tell the irregular request annoyed Morris, but he nodded approval to his aide.

  Tye entered the office and then stood at attention.

  "At ease Lieutenant," Morris said shaking his head subtly at the ritual usually dispensed with when under the Mountain. "What is it?"

  "Thank you for allowing me to address your command, Colonel," she said formally.

  "Make it quick, Lieutenant," Morris said.

  "Sir, I feel it is my duty to inform you I am an officer in the Confederation Time Corps. I surrender to your authority," she said.

  "Excuse me Deputy Director," Morris' aide said re-entering the office. "I have a com for Captain Mackinac from the Chronos lab." Looking at John, the aide said, "It's Robert, and he says it's urgent."

  "Tell him I already know," John said soberly, guessing the results from the lens-eye color subtraction were ready for review.

  "And get security in here," Morris told his aide.

  Tye covered her eyes, then handed John a pair of brightly colored, cyan lenses as a two MPs appeared at the doorway.

  "Take her to holding," Morris ordered staring into her violet eyes.

  John saw anguish in Higgs face just as Morris's aide appeared at the doorway again.

  "Sirs, Ms. Scott has just arrived from Minus," he announced.

  Jenny met Mikael outside security's holding cells.

  "Can you believe this?" he asked.

  She couldn't. Tye was a trusted STS analyst since Chronos' inception. Working with Higgs back in the 60s, the physicist was a crucial cog in the then small team that developed the first working TRs.

  Mikael handed Jenny a pad. "Here's her file."

  "I know it already. Age thirty-six, only child, parents killed at a young age, honors at Princeton," Jenny said observing Tye on the interrogation monitor and wondering if anything in the file was true.

  Tye sat without emotion behind a stainless steel table, hands bound in front of her. A small white sensor adhered to her temple contrasted her dark skin. There were several others attached to her body to monitor her reaction to questioning as well as passive bio-surveillance monitors; all fed data to the interrogation station for processing and interpretation by a specialist.

  "Zoom on her face, please," Jenny told the operator at the workstation. Morris had informed Jenny of the cyan lenses.

  Damn, who are these people, Jenny wondered. "Well, let's see what she has to say." She activated her tactical earpiece's com-link to receive comments from the interrogation specialist.

  She and Mikael entered the holding cell followed by a MP who took station at the door.

  "Release her and wait outside," Jenny told the MP, as they sat down opposite Tye.

  The MP released Tye's binding and then left.

  "It's kind of unusual for a spy to turn themselves in, even if they knew they were about to be apprehended," Jenny said.

  "Yes, ma'am," Tye replied flatly.

  Jenny didn't know where to start. She had no plan for the interrogation. And for some reason, she didn't feel angry with Tye. She found it curious she had not killed herself as Johnston had attempted.

  "Were you involved in any way with the attack on the Mountain?" Mikael asked getting straight to the point.

  "No, sir."

  "Where you involved in the explosion in the Physics lab in any way?" he continued.

  "Yes, sir."

  Ma'am I'm getting no difference in readings; everything is flat, the specialist said into her com. She must be blocking acquisition; all we have is the passive audio and visual.

  "Tye, we are not getting any readings from you during questioning, Can you explain why?" Jenny asked.

  "My apologies Colonel. My transit signature hinders such inspection. It is inherent in the...process. The same is true for the UD scan," she replied.

  Jenny knew a UD scan had indicated Tye was from Prime.

  Mikael left them to confer with the interrogation specialist.

  "How were you involved in the explosion in the Physics lab?" Jenny asked.

  "I planted a radiation charge and then remotely detonated the device."

  Jenny read Higgs' report on the failing efforts to duplicate the modified monopole TRs. "And what did you hope to achieve by doing so?"

  Tye hesitated and then said, "The radiation caused the TRs' quantum resonance to become more flexible."

  "Your objective was to modify the TRs to expand their operational envelope?" Jenny asked.

  "Yes, ma'am."

  Jenny had no clue if Tye was lying or not.

  Mikael returned and sat down; he looked at Jenny and shook his head.

  "Except for the passive sensors, the other bio-monitors are useless," he said.

  "Do you posses a transit device?" Jenny asked.

  "No, ma'am. I am entrenched. If my mission is successful, I will be recalled," Tye said.

  Jenny decided on another approach, and answers to vague questions could be informative. "Tell us about you," she said.

  Tye smiled. "I am an officer in the Confederation's Time Corps."

  "And who are they?" Mikael asked.

  Tye explained, "The Confederation, among other things, is a coalition committed to independent and sovereign fractime. The Time Corps is one of several intelligence agencies operating within the Confederation, but I have triumvirate allegiance. My family is a political force within the Confederation, as we oppose several of the accords the TC have adopted, sometimes actively, such as in the case of the TR modification.

  "The Time Corps is, in part, an intelligence agency that monitors temporal activity and transgressions of the Time Accords," Tye added.

  "The last of your triad allegiance?" Jenny asked.

  "To the STS," Tye replied looking to Jenny.

  "Of course." Jenny sighed. "Tell us your story how you came to be at the Mountain and why," Jenny said.

  "I came to what you call Prime fractime in 2011. The last of several missions to this sector ahead of the enemy's advance. My Time Corps mission is similar to the recon of Minus the STS conducts. The Time Corps oversees all fractimes before invasion for breaches of the accords."

  "How do these accords apply to the war?" Mikael
asked.

  "War is not a breach," Tye said, "but an unfortunate fact of humanity. However, genocide using TR technology is. Regrettably, the Time Corps has strict protocols in place the enemy carefully works to their advantage."

  That has a familiar ring, Jenny thought recalling the Plus protocols that were once in place to protect Prime.

  Tye continued, "Genocide and population enslavement only occurs in the late stages of an incursion, and by then the enemy has already made another knight's move and started the process all over."

  Jenny asked, "And the rear action mentioned in the Prophesy?"

  "Refers to the military action the Confederation has waged against the enemy for millennia. The gap, the number of fractimes between the Confederation's front and here, has widened recently as the war enters the Constriction. The front is currently just over two hundred fractimes upline."

  "This constriction?" Mikael asked.

  "Each fractime's similarity naturally evolves to differ from adjoining universes. This sector's diversion became evident in the early nineteenth century. There are obvious and numerous differences now occurring in Plus and Minus with respect to Prime. From an upline perspective, these differences appear to be a constriction of similarity. And as similarity increases downline, the enemy obtains more tactical advantage using predictability from one fractime to the next."

  Now that could be a useful piece of information, Jenny thought.

  "My future home has virtually no similarity to adjacent fractimes and the Confederation is composed of very different fractime societies," Tye said.

  Jenny thought about John's Minus family being alive. "Your mission appears to be more than just monitoring," Jenny said referring to the physics lab's explosion and wondering how Luinan fit into these events.

  "Monitoring is a Time Corps mission," Tye said. "I alone am responsible for accord breaches."

  "There have been other breaches?" Mikael asked.

  "Chronos' first transit was the only other," Tye said now looking tearfully at Jenny.

  To Jenny, knowing the strange sequence of events that led up to the first transit, this made a lot of sense.

  "Do you know Luinan?" Jenny asked.

  "She is Elder Sister," Tye replied, "first in the line of succession in the Family."

  "And her mission?" Mikael asked.

  "I have not been informed, but that is not unusual. However, I know my queen has ordered the enemy stopped here so the Confederation can press ahead downline and finally eradicate the threat. I assume for Luinan to be personally engaged in an operation, the queen must think that time draws near."

  "The time for what?" Mikael asked.

  "Knowing Luinan is downline, she alone must answer. There are strict family rules in place regarding elder sisters."

  Jenny causally glanced at the cam recording the interview.

  Sorry Ms. Scott, still nothing, the specialist said in her com.

  "Tell us about you, personally," Jenny requested.

  "Having aptitude, I entered the Time Corps at an early age even for the Family. Training was extensive, lasting many decades. I have served in several fractimes prior to this mission. This is the last sector infected."

  "Personally Tye, not professionally," Jenny clarified.

  "Apologies, Colonel. The distinction is impossible. A few of my siblings serve in the Time Corps or the military. Many research the evolution of downline societies among other interests, but we all are committed to defeating the enemy. This is our destiny."

  "I assume Tye is not your real name," Mikael said.

  "My creation name is difficult to pronounce," she said, "but similar. I am usually called Tye, even within the Family."

  "Tye, how many siblings do you have?" Jenny asked.

  "Six hundred and fifty-two have lived. Too many have been lost. I am Middle Sister."

  "And your age?" Mikael asked. "You said you arrived here in 2011."

  "There are linguistic challenges for the term 'age', but my duration is roughly four hundred and seventy of your solar years."

  "Holy shit," Mikael muttered.

  Jenny and Mikael took a break, and Morris joined them outside the holding cell.

  "What do you think?" he asked them.

  Mikael just shook his head. "It all seems very farfetched to me."

  "I think she's telling the truth," Jenny said with conviction. "She has subtly similar looks to Luinan even though Robert's facial analyses didn't think so. Obviously, her violet eyes indicate a family connection."

  Morris looked at her and frowned. "You think we can trust her?"

  Jenny knew the President had handpicked him for this job because of his cool head under pressure and technical background, but she realized that nothing could have prepared him for this mission. Until he fully grasped all aspects of Chronos, the STS's mission and their current situation, she hoped he would trust her.

  Jenny said reflectively, "I am thinking we don't have much choice. If they have the capabilities as she describes and has demonstrated, what are our options? And so far, her so called breaches have been all to our advantage."

  "And?" he asked flatly.

  "Luinan claimed to be an ally and gave us critical intel that led to the capture of Johnston and the nano weapon, not to mention the weapon-grade Uranium," she reminded them.

  "I wouldn't call your conversation with an intruder at Camp David reliable intel," Mikael said.

  Jenny was undeterred. "I suggest we formalize an alliance with Tye's family immediately."

  The Deputy Director sighed. "Send me the interview," Morris told the analyst and then looking at Tye on the workstation's display, he ordered a MP, "Restrict her to quarters under heavy guard for now."

  Then he said to Jenny and Mikael, "Oh yeah, Johnston died this morning, and I'll need to run this by the Director and SecDef."

  Mikael nodded agreement to Morris's decision as Jenny smiled.

  John rubbed his eyes and looked back at the multitude of workstation displays. It was too complicated; he had lost his train of thought again.

  "How's it going?" Jenny asked with a concerned look.

  John hadn't even realized she had entered the lab. "I'm not a physicist and obviously not much better at geophysics. But look at this." John displayed a globe with the magnetic lines of flux of the earth's magnetic field, looping out to space then back connecting the North to South poles.

  "Like iron fillings around a magnet." Jenny said.

  "Exactly, but now look at this." He tapped the semi-transparent controls to show several smaller poles deflecting or sucking in the primary lines of flux. "There are more than a dozen of these around the globe."

  "Is that unusual?" Jenny asked.

  "Not in geologic time, but for recorded history, definitely. Now look at the flux intensity." He tapped the controls again, and the lines associated with the primary poles faded to purple or blue, while flux lines associated with most of the instabilities morphed between green, yellow, orange and red.

  "The Earth's primary magnetic field is almost twice as weak as it was two hundred years ago and the instabilities are almost five times stronger," he said.

  "Look at that one," Jenny pointed to central Canada at the brightest instability on the display.

  "That's been the focus of research for over fifty years. It's called the Calgary instability, and it's actually a negative pole."

  "What's it all mean?" Jenny asked.

  John had few answers and there were now many more questions than when he started his research. "Seems there's been speculation on a field reversal for a long time. And as far as I can tell this phenomenon is consistent with a coming reversal."

  John knew that even if the Earth were close to a reversal, it could still take tens of thousands of years if not longer. The time scales for the war and a possible reversal were a terrible match.

  "Need a break?" Jenny asked.

  "You bet." John sighed.

  "The SecDef arrived this morning fo
r a meeting regarding Tye. We've got time for a coffee before, if you're interested."

  John was shocked at hearing of Tye's confession. He figured she must be the closest thing to an alien there is. "Let's go," he said.

  The mess was nearly empty except for Dutch and Seth and after getting coffees, Jenny and John joined them.

  "Don't mind us," Seth said, "we're just leaving."

  "Another test?" John asked referring to the TIA prototype they were working on.

  "Aye, Captain," Dutch said tersely as he and Seth pushed their chairs under the table.

  It was obvious to John the master gunnery sergeant and Seth were not hopeful as they left.

  "I have something to tell you about my mission to Minus," Jenny said.

  John saw concern in her face. "I heard your Minus sister is still missing, but did you find out anything?"

  "A little, but that's not it." She stared into her coffee.

  "What then?" John asked sensing her reluctance.

  "Wife and your daughter are alive in Minus," she said.

  John was stunned. "You saw Helen and Steph?"

  "It was just a desperate hunch. I thought I'd check to see if your twin had any clues to my twin's whereabouts. It was the only thing I could think of."

  John's head reeled. "I don't understand."

  "It was just a hunch," Jenny said again, "I thought my twin might have sought yours out in Minus. She had in fact, but for reasons that are still unclear."

  "Are they all right?" John asked in disbelief. "I mean Helen and Steph."

  "John, your Minus self was murdered; Helen and Steph are still recovering."

  "Murdered?" A chill enveloped him. "But why?"

  "It appears to have been an assassination. I'm guessing the enemy is getting nervous with the hub captured and is taking further precautions against TR tech development in Minus."

  "But Helen and Steph are okay?"

  "Despite obvious grief, yes."

  Jenny looked at the clock in the mess. "You okay?"

  John knew Helen and Steph were alive in some downline fractime. But his feelings surrounding the fact he could actually see them again in Minus resurfaced.

  "I'm okay." He lied.

  "The SecDef will be waiting for us," she said.