The Prometheus Project (13 page)

Her heart was pounding furiously in her chest. The generator could have killed her!

“What’s this all about?” demanded Dr. Harris. “Who
are
you?” he asked the Ryan who had just entered the room.

Ryan ignored him. He ran to his mom and hugged her as tears cascaded down his cheeks. He wouldn’t let go. He shuddered as an image of his mom, unconscious, a huge gash in her head, popped into his head. Seeing the generator fall had given him a graphic reminder of what had happened originally—what he had almost been too late to prevent from happening again. She was safe! He was not going to lose her after all.

He had almost given up hope of finding the building. He had run as fast as he could for what seemed like forever searching for his bearings. He ignored his thirst and the searing pain in his head and the burning of his overworked lungs. His panic had grown by the second. If his mom died because he had gotten lost he would not be able to bear it.

And then he had found it. At last! The soccer-ball shaped structure.

But he would have to
hurry
. Far off in the distance he could just make out four tiny figures entering the building—Ryan, Regan, Carl, and Dan. He began sprinting as fast as he could. After running for so long already he now had a knifing pain in his side to match the one in his head, but he refused to let this slow him.

And he had made it
. By less than a second.

The adults were too stunned to react as the stranger continued to hug Amanda Resnick, but the other Ryan wasn’t.
“Get away from my mom!”
he growled.

The Ryan hugging his mother turned quickly to face himself. Their eyes met. “Don’t worry, ah . . . Ryan,” said Ryan, feeling silly to be addressing himself. “I’m
you
.”

The room was completely silent. Everyone held their breath as they watched two mirror-image boys stare at each other. No one could take their eyes away. The boys were even dressed identically. The only difference in the two was that the newcomer was sweaty and grimy, and looked as though he had slept in his clothes.

“I accidentally went through a doorway that sent me back through time,” said Ryan to his earlier self. “So did Regan. She’s not here because she had to distract the guards while you were hanging from the tree branch. Otherwise you would have been caught by that guard coming toward you, the one with the walkie-talkie.”

Ryan and Regan gasped. This Ryan must be telling the truth! How else would he have known what had happened while Ryan was hanging from the tree. Ryan would have been caught but the guard had to run off to help chase a girl who had emerged from Prometheus Alpha. This really was another version of Ryan. He really
had
already lived through what they were now living. There was now no question about it.

“Impossible,” said Mr. Resnick reflexively, but even as he said it he reconsidered. How many other things that were impossible by human standards had they seen already? And what other explanation was there for the appearance of his son’s identical twin?

“If you really are my son,” said Mr. Resnick, “then you would know . . . ”

“Dad, I don’t have time for that right now,” he said, turning away from the other Ryan to face his father and the other scientists. “I don’t know how much time I have, so I can’t play games to prove what I say. You’ll have to decide later if you want to believe me or not. I’ve already changed things so I’ll never exist, and I think I’ll probably disappear any minute, so I’m going to be quick.”

The scientists looked on in fascination, hanging on his every word.

“In the past that I lived through, the generator
did
fall on Mom’s head, and it almost killed her. But just when you were preparing to take her to the hospital, a swarm of what we thought were killer insects came up through the floor. They’ll be here any second,” he added. “We ran and stumbled across a doorway that sent us back in time. We thought everyone else had disappeared, but it turned out that
we
had. We traveled back to just before you had broken into the city, so the entrance wasn’t there yet. We thought we were trapped and have been exploring the city for over a day now, searching for a way out. We finally figured out we had traveled in time just a few hours ago.”

“How in the world were you able to figure
that
out?” asked his mom in amazement.

“There isn’t time for that,” he said, wondering how it would feel to vanish out of existence. “I need to tell you the things we’ve been able to learn. The swarm of insects you’re about to see aren’t really insects, they’re nano-robots. This entire city was built from a single one of these in the same way humans arise from a single cell. Each of them have the programming to build this entire city. We thought they were the city’s immune system at first, but they aren’t. After they finished building the city they became its repair crew. They’re coming to repair the stairway after you cut a piece out. You’re in no danger from them.”

As if on cue, millions of the nano-robots poured from the floor, surrounding them. The scientists could not have been more astonished. This boy was telling the truth. Everything that was happening had
already
happened to him. He
had
traveled in time.

They watched in fascination as what still looked like a terrifying swarm of insects devoured rocks in seconds. Even after Ryan had told them they weren’t in danger, it was still unnerving.

“The rocks are raw material to be used in rebuilding the step,” explained Ryan.

The scientists ignored the insects and focused once again on this amazing boy. He had said he didn’t have much time and now they believed him completely. He continued to talk as the insects went about their instant repairs.

“The city was built by a people called the Qwervy as an outpost to keep tabs on promising species. They return every hundred years or so to check up on things. The city is set up like a web page on the Internet. Just as you can jump to other web pages by clicking on hypertext, you can jump to other planets just by walking through a doorway. The Qwervy don’t go web surfing, they go
planet
surfing. But Earth is off limits until we become more mature.”

The scientists listened in fascination. How had these kids possibly learned all of this in a day? They each had dozens of questions to ask but no one dared interrupt.

As Ryan had spoken the insects—nano-robots—had completed their work and disappeared without a trace. They had repaired the stairway just as this new Ryan had said they would.

Ryan was about to tell them about the zoo and the visit to the wooded planet when he realized that he hadn’t told them about the most important thing of all; the computerized, telepathic Teacher. If they could find the Teacher they could get answers to all of their questions. “There is a schoo—“

Ryan stopped in mid-word. The scientists had all frozen in place! Like living statues. As if time had stopped.

And Ryan had a sinking feeling that this could only mean he was vanishing from existence, and that this collection of living statues would be the last thing he would ever see.

Chapter 26

The Challenge of Prometheus

Just then Ryan felt the Teacher’s presence in his mind once again and he somehow knew that it was also in contact with Regan, wherever she was.

The Teacher had succeeded
. It had learned how to connect with them again. Ryan was not in the process of vanishing from existence, after all! At least not yet. What a
relief
.

“Children, please listen carefully. The world appears in slow-motion to you now but it is not. Instead, you are in fast-motion. I have speeded up both of your minds because we have far less than a second. When you saved your mom and changed the future of the Ryan and Regan in this room, and thus your past, I was able to complete key time calculations. The precise instant the timeline will un-kink and you will vanish is nearly upon us
.

“But I can not and will not let this happen. At least not before I have taken some critical steps to ensure your safety. That is why I have contacted you now.

“I do not take these steps lightly, but you two are quite worthy of them. I fully expected that you would be after coming to know you from the copies of your minds, but the insight, selflessness, bravery, and heroism you have shown since we parted has left no doubt. You both possess the qualities of will, mind, and decency that are needed by your species, and the adventure you have taken together since passing through the time doorway has further enhanced these qualities and enriched you both. These qualities are more than worthy of preservation.

“For this reason, in the instant before the timeline un-kinks, I will transfer all of your thoughts, memories and experiences to the Ryan and Regan in this room—even the memory of the words I am now speaking. Your bodies will vanish as the new timeline dictates they must, but only after you have been transferred to new bodies—your own. Bodies you are familiar with in every way.

“Brace yourselves, children, it will happen . . . now.”

The experience was indescribable. There was a flash of light a thousand times brighter than the brightest summer day, yet it didn’t cause them any discomfort. In fact it was glorious. Then, suddenly, they were accelerating to near infinite speed and experienced every thought and every memory they had ever had all at once. It was exhilarating beyond belief and . . .

Slam! With a mighty jolt, the transfer was complete.

The scientists came back to life, moving normally again.

Regan, who had been hiding from the guards in the woods outside, now found herself back in the large room inside the soccer-ball shaped building. She was staring at her brother—but only for an instant! Before she could even blink he vanished without a trace! Ryan, standing beside her, also saw his mirror image disappear the instant the transfer had been completed.

Every scientist in the room gasped at the same time. The boy who had barged in on them and saved Amanda Resnick’s life had been right again! He had vanished as if he had never been—just as he had predicted. The other Regan must have also vanished from wherever she had been. Everyone looked over to Ryan to reassure themselves that at least
one
of the Ryans remained.

One Ryan did remain. And that Ryan felt
fantastic
. The searing pain in his head and side were gone. His hunger and thirst were gone.

This was
terrific
.

Suddenly the room stopped once more. Everyone turned to living statues as they had before. This time the kids knew what this meant: the Teacher had returned.

“Hello children. I have accelerated your minds again because we need to have a private conversation before you speak with the others. Because of this acceleration, you are now thinking so quickly you won’t have time to form words, so remember to ‘think’ your words—don’t try to speak. How do you feel?”

“Fantastic,”
thought Ryan.

“I have scanned your minds and I am happy to report that the transfer was a complete success.”

“Thanks. Thanks for everything,”
both kids thought in slightly different ways. Without the Teacher they would never have saved their mother—or themselves.

“You are very welcome. I have truly enjoyed getting to know you. But, unfortunately, this will be the last time I will establish a connection with you.”

“Why
?” thought both kids in disappointment within an instant of each other.

“I have been in contact with the Qwervy. Humans were not supposed to find this place for hundreds of years. The Qwervy have the power to remove this city from your planet and erase all human memory of it. But they have chosen not to. Instead, they have decided to let you proceed so they can learn how your species will handle this opportunity; how you will explore, what you will learn, and how you will apply this knowledge.

“But all of your actions must be your own, without my help. What you learn you must learn for yourselves. The Qwervy believe your species has great potential, but also a dark and destructive side. The Qwervy doubt you are ready for what this city offers, but by naming this project Prometheus you have shown surprising insight into your own nature. This has given the Qwervy reason for hope. You are a primitive people who have been given fire—now what will you do? Will you use it to heat and light your grass huts or will you use it to burn down the grass huts of your enemies? Or perhaps your entire world?

“I will be watching, but I cannot interfere. My greatest hope is that your species will prove able to play with this fire responsibly. Your species will need to face, and pass, the challenge of Prometheus. If you do, you will have taken a giant step closer to gaining entry into galactic civilization.”

Ryan and Regan were silent, digesting what they had been told. Was humanity ready for this responsibility? They would soon find out. There was no turning back now.

They both understood what the Qwervy were doing and why, but they had grown fond of the Teacher in a very short time.
“So we can never speak with you again? About anything?”
thought Regan sadly.

“This is probably so,”
answered the Teacher gently.
“But then again, never is an awfully long time.”
The Teacher paused.
“I have to go now, children. But before I do, I need you to promise that you will not tell the others about me.”

“We promise,”
they both replied earnestly.

“Thank you. Please understand that this means that they cannot know that you two are the Ryan and Regan who traveled in time, nor about the transfer I made possible. You will have to pretend that you know nothing about how the time traveling Ryan and Regan were able to learn what they did.”