Timestorm (12 page)

After I realized what they were discussing, I had to shut my eyes and do my best to lower my pulse rate to the slow, sedated level because if they knew I had heard them, I’d probably be dead or locked up somewhere.

They are going ahead with Project Eyewall! Even though the committee voted no weeks ago! The plan is to have Sasha (the girl from 3102) take Ludwig to that year. They are hoping that amid the war and destruction he can find a quiet place to make clones who can time-travel.

President Healy plans to insert himself into a political position somewhere in the year 2000 or 2003 so that he can make sure legislation is more open to these ethically controversial issues. Those were his exact words! And the whole time I heard them go through this plan, I kept thinking how would the President insert himself into a position hundreds of years in the past without the help of a time traveler not only to take him there but to make alterations to the past. Would Sasha do this too?

That’s when I heard him. He’d been in the meeting all along. Thomas. The man who might be father to a time traveler in less than six months. My mentor. The person I had worked so hard to impress this last year.

He’s part of the plan. Not only that but he has all these theories on how the time-traveler clones should be raised in Eyewall headquarters. He thinks nurturing children will hinder their abilities. They want to raise these children with no physical contact with humans at all. No emotional bonds. It’s so wrong I can’t even think straight. How could this be better than any war we’ll fight in the future?

I never thought I’d get unhooked from that scanner. It took so long and I had to act calm and cool as Dr. Ludwig dismissed me. As soon as I got to my apartment, I jumped to 1988. Grayson is the only person I could think to tell what I’d heard. He’s as upset as me, maybe more upset. He said he thought both Ludwig and Thomas were headed down a path like this one but never imagined President Healy would take this big a risk, go against the rest of the government. Grayson only agreed to aid with the Tempus Gene Project because he thought it might hold off the cloning for a while.

We were both very worried about the fact that I overheard this conversation, and Grayson said I needed to hide my memory files from them. He helped me place them somewhere that would be nearly impossible for anyone to find. Memory files are the personal items that an individual owns in my present and the three hundred years before that, and they’re rarely used against a person by the government or any law-enforcement agency. It’s stated in the constitution of 2515. Individual thoughts, opinions, and mental plans cannot be used as concrete evidence in any shape or form. We are free to think and feel whatever we like. Only our actions and choices outside of the mind can be considered fact. No one can deny the usefulness of memory files. They have changed the way the world is run. They have truly improved society. To be able to see your past thoughts and ideas … it’s an invaluable tool.

But Ludwig constantly uploads data from my memory file as it’s recorded. If he knew what I knew, he wouldn’t use that file against me—he’d kill me to keep me from talking.

Lucky for me, Grayson is way smarter than he ever lets anyone see. Not only did he help me hide my memory file for safekeeping rather than destroy it like I wanted to the second I got to Grayson’s lab, but he also created a false memory file. He said there are tons of people who have figured this out in my present, those who fear government conspiracy and memory erasing, who want to keep their thoughts, but keep them hidden.

Grayson told me I have to go back soon and I have to keep pretending that I don’t know anything and follow whatever orders I’m given. Thomas knows me too well, I think he’ll see right through me, but I don’t have any other option, do I?

MAY 14, 2875.
AUDIO RECORDED BY HOST AND MEMORY EXTRACTED FROM HOST.

Thomas and Sasha took me to the Eyewall headquarters in the year 3197. Thomas told me he trusts me to understand why he made the choice to go against the President’s committee and follow Dr. Ludwig’s lead.

The city was destroyed and there were communes of faceless people, poverty-stricken and without any way to fulfill basic needs. We just sped past them; Thomas didn’t even look at anyone. Sasha did, though. We were beyond her present year, and knowing that fact, I could guess that either: A) another time traveler beyond Sasha’s time was discovered naturally and took her to this year or B) Dr. Ludwig was successful and had created a time-traveling clone that brought Sasha and Thomas to the future.

One jump beyond our farthest point with another time traveler is all we needed to have new, broader boundaries. I would now be able to travel this distance alone if I wanted to.

The Eyewall building was constructed so uniquely, one and a half floors are visible aboveground and at least half a floor sinks beneath the earth. Electric fences surround the entire place and beyond those perimeters, a dark forest encircles the building. We used a hover vehicle to fly over headquarters and land near the entrance. I had only seen hover vehicles in a museum. No one used them in my present, hadn’t since around 2650, after teleportation devices become accessible to everyone.

Why wasn’t teleportation an option in 3197?

I was too scared to even speak as Thomas led me inside the building. Men and women in brown coveralls moved swiftly through the hallways. I stuck close to Sasha’s side even though I had no idea if she’d been here before, if this even fazed her. But I couldn’t trust Thomas. I couldn’t let him know how much I disagreed with his actions. Distance in this kind of situation was crucial.

“Twenty-two years,” Thomas said as he opened a door at the end of the first hallway. “It took that long to build this project and generate successful products.”

Sitting in the middle of a room full of technology I couldn’t even begin to unravel, was a much older Dr. Ludwig. He had to be in his sixties by now. His skin looked worn and wrinkled. He smiled at me and the reunion was less awkward than I expected considering I’d only aged about two months since the last time he saw me and he was my grandfather’s age now rather than my father’s age.

He spoke quietly to Sasha, who left the room abruptly without another word. Thomas dimmed the lights and pressed a button on the wall. Dozens of hologram screens popped up in front of us, displaying identical rooms, bare white walls, beds, dressers, and in most cases, one individual per room.

I held my breath as my eyes scanned the images one by one. I saw girls and boys about my age, several small children, but no one much older than me. And that made sense … twenty-two years. I’m seventeen. They had to build the building, the machines, everything.

Thomas raised a finger, hovering over one of the rooms where a small girl with bright red hair sat on her bed reading from a handheld device. “This one … this one is my project,” he said proudly. “She’s completely unique, not a full-blood like the rest of them. She’s a part copy of another experiment that showed promising results but failed in the end to be useful. The results so far have been exactly what I predicted. Her brain activity is superior to anything known in your present. She’s fluent in every language we presented her with and she’s only 2525 days old.”

I watched her tiny legs, dangling off the side of the bed, while she read. “What’s her name?” I asked Thomas, barely managing an audible whisper.

“We don’t name the experiments. Too complicated. Some of them look too much alike,” he said. “She’s 1029. Part of the Untouched group.”

“Untouched? Like she’s above the others in ability?”

He shook his head. “No, she’s never had direct contact with human skin. Any needed contact was performed with thick, rubber-coated gloves that reach above the elbow. And it isn’t just physical contact, the experiments grouped in this area are given no rewards from humans at all. No verbal praise or positive words. They are given instructions appropriate to their age and gender and if instructions aren’t followed, basic needs are taken away for a period of time without warning. There is no leader or teacher. No parent role. They are taught nothing but self-sufficiency and they know no other option except to complete tasks exactly as given. Safety is never in jeopardy because nothing can influence them to test their limits. So far, the theory is working exactly as envisioned.”

I immediately pictured a headless body, holding an infant out at arm’s length. A sick feeling washed over me. This was so wrong. And Nora, my friend, practically my family after everything we’ve been through, would be giving birth to Thomas’s child soon, having no idea how little he valued this tiny girl’s life.

And the others, what about all the others?

“1029 is predicted to be able to achieve proficient time travel around 3650 days old,” he said.

Ten. She’s going to start performing missions for Dr. Ludwig and Thomas at ten. This is not what God intended us to do with our mind power, with our abilities.

I knew what I needed to do first and foremost. Tell Nora everything. And get her as far away from Thomas as I can before he gets his hands on that baby.

The coldness of these manufactured humans sitting alone in their rooms was the polar opposite of watching Lily Kendrick run around her neighborhood playground at eight years old. Or the feeling I used to get as a child, racing my brothers or my friends to school, my mother tucking me into bed. My father leaning over me at the kitchen table, checking my schoolwork, rubbing the top of my head if I had done well and sometimes even if I hadn’t.

My present wasn’t as open to touching as Lily Kendrick’s because of the Plague of 2600. But still, human contact, whether physical or emotional, was essential to growth and development. It’s a fact. I learned that in school. The people who influence us and whom we influence represent the humanity in us.

Maybe that’s what Thomas didn’t want in these soldiers. Humanity. Would this really work to stop whatever war had caused this destroyed world? And even if it did work, what price would we pay after death for this moral corruption?

All I could do today was agree to help Thomas even though I knew I wouldn’t ever consider being a part of this. I had to get back home and find Nora as soon as possible. Then I needed to do something to stop this. Maybe I can’t fight it, but I have to at least let someone know. Someone who cares.

JUNE 10, 2875.
MEMORY EXTRACTED FROM HOST.

Nora is safe. My hands are still shaking, I’m so scared of what will happen when Thomas finds out she’s gone. Grayson came here and took her to a year before the first time traveler was discovered. We decided that was best and also decided that he shouldn’t tell me the year. It would be safer for me not to know. I paced the apartment for hours, knowing the time jump could kill the baby, but Grayson came back and told me Nora was just fine. He gave her a new identity and they didn’t want to tell me that either, but he’s already looked her up and she had a boy. A healthy boy.

After Grayson left, I had to report to the lab for regular testing. Frank, President Healy’s committee member who was so openly opposed to project Eyewall when it was first presented, was there waiting for me.

My heart pounded as I watched Frank lock the door to the lab and turn off the surveillance systems. Did he know I had just aided in a time-travel escape?

“Listen carefully, son,” he said, turning to face me. “I only have a few minutes. The President’s committee has been infiltrated and only two members in opposition to Project Eyewall are left.”

“You know what Thomas and Dr. Ludwig are working on—?” I started to ask.

“Yes, yes, of course I know. Dr. Ludwig has always possessed the type of ambition that would lead him to extreme measures such as these. It was only a matter of time,” he said. “First of all, do you know where Nora is?”

“No,” I answered honestly. “But I know she’s safe.”

He let out a breath. “Good. As you heard in the presentation several months ago, Project Eyewall crosses lines of ethics the government and the United Nations do not support in any way, shape, or form. We only listened to the presentation and voted out of courtesy to President Healy, who we now realize might be brainwashed.”

“I’ve seen it,” I said, looking at the middle-aged man who possessed nearly as much political power as the president himself. “Eyewall headquarters. I’ve been there. It’s … it’s the complete opposite of everything good in the world.” Those were the best words I could use to describe the horror of this project. Adrenaline rushed through my veins as I finally realized that I had someone to help me, to take this burden off my shoulders. “We have to stop them, you don’t understand how terrible—”

Frank held up a hand to stop me. “I know. I have a plan, but I need your help—your abilities—to put this in place.”

“Just tell me what to do.”

He checked the door and the hallway, using the computer system before continuing. Then he pulled up a file on his handheld labeled
PROJECT EYEWALL
. “Many lives were risked to acquire this information, so listen carefully because I’m going to have to destroy the evidence when we’re done here.”

I nodded and leaned over to see the screen. My legs were already shaking.

“Dr. Ludwig is not the brains behind the successful cloning. So many formulas were tried and all of them failed throughout history, except one young man’s theory recorded in 1953.”

I glanced at the information on the screen.
Andrew Melvin: April 5, 1953, basement of NYC Public Library.
“Who is he?”

“A very smart young man,” Frank said. “I need you to pay him a visit.”

“You need me to destroy his notes?” I asked, catching on to this plan.

Frank shook his head. “That wouldn’t be enough. The theory is etched into his memory. He’ll write it down again. I’ve already sent someone to talk to him, but it didn’t work. Somehow Dr. Ludwig still got the information.”

“Who?” I asked. “Jean? Lonnie?”

Frank hesitated for a moment, like he was debating telling me another secret. “There’s another time traveler. I’ve kept him secret from absolutely everyone. I saw how all of you were going to be used and I knew we needed someone working on our side, the side that will not aid Project Eyewall in any way.”