27 Aug 2010

TSJ #36, Chapter 15: Ashes

Posted by joncooper

THE EXEDRA TOOK ONLY A moment to travel through the Negative Zone. As soon as the starship dropped into normal space Aristotle maneuvered it into a stable orbit around Earth.

“Looks like we made it!” Tom Swift IV said triumphantly. “Ok, guys, it’ll take just a moment to calibrate the jump. We’ll be ready to jump back in time in just a second.” The young inventor walked over to a computer keyboard, sat down, and began typing.

Bud looked at the forward viewscreen and frowned. “Hey, wait a minute! Are you sure we jumped to the right place? That doesn’t look right at all!”

“What do you mean?” Tom Swift III asked. He glanced at the screen. “That looks like Earth to me – large land masses, a couple oceans. What’s the problem?”

Mr. Swift stared at the screen intently. “Bud’s right – we’re in the wrong place. Our planet is a sold mass of green nanites. There aren’t oceans or land masses anymore. The whole planet was destroyed.”

Tom Swift IV turned around to see what was going on. He frowned. “You’re right – that’s not the same planet we left. I must have accidentally jumped us to the wrong universe. Sorry about that! Just a minute, please.” Tom walked over to another computer console and worked while everyone else stood and watched. At last he frowned. “I don’t understand! This doesn’t make any sense. According to this we’re in the right place.”

“That seems highly unlikely,” Mr. Swift commented. “But we can easily test that hypothesis. Aristotle, can you contact the outpost in space?”

“I cannot,” the robot replied a second later. “I am afraid this planet has no orbital space station. Indeed, it has no orbital satellites at all.”

“None?” Mr. Swift asked. “But there are countless satellites in orbit! The nanites are not airborne particles. The satellites were left unaffected.”

“I’m telling you this is the right place,” Tom IV insisted. “Something must have happened to them.”

“What about Nestria?” Bud asked.

“Excellent point,” Mr. Swift replied. “Can you locate it?”

The robot shook his head. “It appears to be missing as well.”

Bud looked at Tom IV, confused. “So the satellites are gone, the sky wheel is gone, Nestria is gone, and the planet is no longer overrun with nanites. How could we possibly be in the right place?”

Tom IV snapped his fingers. “I’ve got an idea! Give me a minute.” The young inventor ran back to his time terminal and worked at it furiously. At last he nodded with satisfaction. “All right, gang! I know what happened. It turns out this really is the right place – the Zone hasn’t malfunctioned on us. The problem is that the timeline has changed.”

Several people gasped. “Good night!” Bud exclaimed. “What sort of change could cause all that? And who went and traveled back in time, anyway?”

“My son,” Mr. Swift said suddenly. “It must have been him. Somehow Tom survived the nanite flood and then went back in time to stop it. Only something went wrong.”

“It doesn’t look that bad to me,” Anita commented. “I mean, the nanites are gone, right? It looks like people live there. Are you sure he didn’t fix things?”

Aristotle spoke up. “I am afraid the planet’s looks are deceiving. The Exedra‘s sensors tell me that much of its surface is emitting low levels of radiation, and there are no major population centers. It would appear that the world was destroyed in some sort of global nuclear exchange.”

Anita was shocked. “That’s horrible!”

Mr. Swift looked at the planet and shook his head. “It must have happened at least several years ago. The war somehow prevented mankind from developing space flight. Nestria is not there because in this timeline we never made contact with the Space Friends. That should help us pinpoint the exact date that time changed.”

Tom III turned to Tom IV. “You’ve got a chronoscope, right? Can you look back in time and see how it happened?”

“Maybe,” Tom IV said cautiously. “Whenever a time trigger is activated it leaves a trail that the chronoscope can follow. In this case it’s a little tricky to do, though, because of the way things turned out.”

“What do you mean?” Tom III asked.

“Well, somebody went back and changed the timeline. However, in the altered timeline no time-travel attempt was made. That means we can’t look for a recent time-trigger event and then work backwards. Instead, I have to scan the distant past for time-travel activity. That’s a lot harder to do.”

“But we can use logic to narrow things down,” Mr. Swift pointed out. “If my son is responsible for this, he most likely went back to the moment just before Irene died. Given how high international tensions were that day it’s possible he did something that triggered a nuclear war.”

“You could be right,” Tom IV said. “Do you have any idea where he would have gone?”

“There are two possibilities,” Mr. Swift said. “He may have gone to the Tomasite plant in California to stop Irene from going to Brungaria. The other option is my reactor in New York City; he may have gone there to rescue her from the hyperplane just before it crashed. There are other options, of course, but I believe those are by far the most likely.”

“I’ll check into both of them,” Tom IV replied.

* * * * *

 

Even with the search criteria narrowed it still took Tom IV an hour to trace events through time. When he finally had everything figured out he turned around to face the group.

“Here’s what happened. Mr. Swift is right – Tom Jr. did go back in time. He appeared over New York City just a few hours before the reactor went critical. However–”

Tom IV suddenly stopped. He looked acutely uncomfortable. “Look. You have to understand that I told him to never build a time machine. Bud was there – he knows what I said! And on top of that, Tom did not get the plans through me. I didn’t even know he had them until it was too late to stop him from using them.”

“No one’s blaming you,” Anita replied.

“What are you getting at?” Mr. Swift asked.

Tom IV sighed. “I will admit I had a copy of Dr. Reisenbach’s notes in my office. I knew better than to have a copy of those notes, but I needed them when I developed my chronoscope. That invention is completely harmless, by the way.”

“Ok,” Tom III said. “So?”

“So the point is, I, um, well, I modified the documents a bit. In order to protect the secret of time travel I changed a few equations in a way that would be impossible to spot. That way anyone who found the documents would eventually conclude they were worthless and throw them out.”

Mr. Swift looked at Tom IV intently. “So you’re saying my son used blueprints that had been tampered with?”

“Yes, but they were tampered with in such a way that any trigger built from them should have failed entirely,” Tom IV said defensively. “Somehow Tom found a way around the problems I created. I don’t know how he did it, but he got it to work well enough to take him back in time. However, the time trigger wasn’t stable. Instead of cleanly transporting himself into the past, it just collapsed.”

“What effect did that have?” Mr. Swift asked.

Tom IV paused for a moment. “It destroyed New York City.”

“What?” Mr. Swift gasped. “How is that possible?”

“Hey, there’s a lot of energy involved in time travel! I’ve told everyone time and time again that it’s not safe and can do horrible things. It could have been a lot worse! The collapse could have caused reality itself to unravel, which might ultimately have led to the collapse of the entire universe.”

“That was a distinct possibility,” Aristotle confirmed.

“Now hold on,” Anita said. “Aren’t we about to travel back in time? And you’re saying that could destroy everything?

“Not in our case,” Tom IV hasten to add. “My time trigger actually works. I wouldn’t recommend using it very often, but it will work this once.”

“A nuclear war,” Mr. Swift said softly. “That’s horrifying.” He gazed at the ruined planet, lost in his thoughts. “Washington must have thought the Brungarians were responsible, so they retaliated. In the end everyone died. That was exactly what I was afraid might happen that day. In fact, had Irene not sacrificed her live to deliver me the spare parts I needed that’s what would have happened. My son has undone the very thing Irene sacrificed her live to prevent.”

“Let’s not forget Tom IV’s role in all this,” Anita pointed out. “He’s the one that poisoned the plans.”

“You can’t blame this on him,” Ben Walking Eagle protested. “He told Tom not to use them! This is all his fault.”

“We can discuss who’s to blame blame later,” Mr. Swift said firmly, ending the discussion. “Right now we need to find a way to fix this problem. Are there any ideas?”

Everyone looked at Tom IV, who shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I know, I know. All this time travel stuff is my invention. Let me think. Well, there may be way we can undo this. If we can stabilize Tom Jr.’s re-entry into the past, we should be able to prevent the explosion that altered the timeline. Then the nuclear war will have never happened and things will go back to normal. All we’ll then have to do is prevent the nanite flood, which should be as easy as taking the plans back from Ed and beating some sense into him.”

“Can we do all that from here?” Anita asked.

“I’m afraid not,” Tom IV replied. “I think I can extend the time trigger’s effective radius enough to encompass Tom Jr.’s machine, and use our trigger to stabilize his entry. However, we’re going to have to be at that precise moment in time to do that.”

“Now wait a minute,” Anita protested. “Before we were just going to go back a couple weeks to have a one-on-one meeting with a single person. Now we’re talking about a much bigger expedition. I don’t like this.”

“It’s either that or go home,” Tom III said, sighing. “Tom’s right – we don’t have a lot of options. Either we fix this new problem that Tom Jr. created or we leave the world knee-deep in ashes.”

Everyone looked at Mr. Swift. For a while he said nothing. “What are the risks?” he asked.

“Minimal,” Tom IV said. “We shouldn’t have any problems traveling back in time. It will be painless.”

“What about this whole ‘extend the time field’ thing?” Anita asked. “Have you done that before?”

“Not exactly,” Tom IV admitted. “I mean, I understand the theory behind it. I think the math works out. But – well, anything could happen, I guess.”

Mr. Swift nodded. “Thank you, Tom. Given those facts, these are my observations. If we try this and fail, the explosion will still happen and history will once again get to this point. In that case we will have done no further harm. However, if we try this and succeed then history will revert to what it once was. If we can then stop the nanites from being created then the problem will have truly been solved. Given that, I believe the attempt is worth the risk.”

“I agree,” Tom III said, after a moment’s hesitation.

“I’m in too,” Tom IV said. “It’ll take a moment for me to crunch the numbers. I’ll get right on it” He turned back to the keyboard and started typing.

“Hey – what about my vote?” Anita asked.

Ben Walking Eagle smiled. “Well, if you don’t want to come–”

“–I can be dropped off at home,” Anita finished. “I know. No thanks.”

Bud Barclay suddenly spoke up. “What about Irene? I mean, I know she’s not the reason we’re going back in time, but since we’ll be there anyway shouldn’t we try to rescue her?”

Mr. Swift nodded. “That is an excellent point. Aristotle, does this ship have the ability to transport a person out of a plane that is moving at supersonic speeds?”

“It does,” the robot replied. “If you so desired, I could extract Irene Goddard from the hyperplane moments before it crashes. I assume you would want me to act in a way that preserves the integrity of the original timeline.”

“I think that would be wise,” Mr. Swift said. “I don’t want to risk causing even more problems.”

“But what about her radiation sickness?” Bud asked. “I mean, in this timeline aren’t the translators still on Thanatos?”

“That will not be a problem,” Aristotle replied. “We have the ability to treat her on-board.”

Mr. Swift was surprised. “You can treat advanced cases of radiation sickness?”

Ben Walking Eagle nodded. “A while back we went to a crazy planet called Kwortu’um. While we were there we got a special molecule that can cure pretty much anything. It’s astonishing – it’s completely revolutionized the field of medicine.”

“It’s astonishing we survived going there,” Anita replied. “Those people are insane.”

“I don’t know if you’d call them people, exactly,” Ben commented. “They certainly weren’t human.”

“All I know is we are never going back there,” Anita said firmly. “It’s not a happy place.”

“I’ll second that motion,” Tom III said, grinning.

Twenty minutes later Tom IV spoke up. “I think I’m done here! Aristotle, can you double-check these numbers?”

“Most impressive! Your calculations appear to be correct.”

“Thanks,” Tom IV said. “Let’s hope reality agrees with us.” He turned to Tom III. “I’m going to set the time trigger to drop us out about three hours before Tom Jr. arrives.”

Tom III nodded with satisfaction. “That should give me plenty of time to get the Exedra into position over New York City. I’ll make sure the ship’s cloaking field is activated so no one will even know we’re there.”

After making sure everyone was ready Tom IV activated the time trigger. The viewscreen went black. There was a slight sense of nausea, but other than that there was no way to tell that the ship was traveling through time.

“What happened to the screen?” Anita asked.

“Right now there’s nothing out there for the ship’s sensors to detect,” Tom IV explained. “We’re not really in normal space anymore. You might say we’re between spaces.”

A moment later the feeling of nausea stopped and the viewscreen came back to life. This time it showed a lush, green planet.

“Aristotle?” Tom IV asked.

“We appear to be exactly where you predicted,” the robot replied. “I detect no anomalies.”

Tom III nodded. He carefully maneuvered the Exedra out of orbit and toward the thriving metropolis of New York City. After forty-five minutes the starship was in position.

“Now we wait,” Mr. Swift said.

Time passed. Mr. Swift stared quietly at the viewscreen, thinking about the events that had happened that day. Bud saw the intent look on his face and walked over to talk to him.

“It’s weird, thinking that Irene is still alive right now,” Bud said.

Mr. Swift nodded. “It gives me chills to think that in a few hours she’ll be on board this ship. I’m not sure what to say to her.”

“I bet she’ll be quite surprised to see us!”

“Probably, but even so, it will be more awkward for us than it will be for her. She doesn’t know that she’s been dead for years. For her, it’s only been a short time since she last saw you.”

“I wonder what her parents will think,” Bud said.

Mr. Swift shook his head. “Losing a child is perhaps the most terrible thing that a parent can go through. I think the Goddards will be delighted to have her back, but I don’t know. It’s hard to predict what sort of psychological impact this will have on them. It will certainly be an unexpected shock.”

He sighed and looked at the viewscreen again. “Too much has happened recently, Bud. I feel like I’m numb to what’s going on. Both of us watched our planet destroyed, and then we came back to find it had been destroyed again. This is going to take a long time to sort out.”

“I think we’ll fix it,” Bud said confidently. “Things will be back to normal soon.”

Mr. Swift shook his head. “Things will never be back to normal. Whatever we do here will change the future forever. Whether we’re able to save Irene or not, your life – and my son’s life – will never be the same again.”

“But in a good way, right?” Bud asked.

“I don’t know,” Mr. Swift replied, sighing.

* * * * *

 

“I don’t get you guys,” Anita complained. “I mean, here we are, traveling back in time! Where’s the excitement?”

“We’ll get excited later,” Tom IV said. “After we’re safely home.”

“But this is still an amazing occasion! I mean, think about it. How many people get to travel back in time?”

Ben Walking Eagle shrugged. “Sure, but this is happening in someone else’s universe. To me it’s more like visiting a new planet. It’d be different if we were back in New Mexico. We don’t even know the people here.”

“Quiet, please,” Tom IV said. “Tom Jr. will arrive in less than a minute.”

There was silence on the bridge. Tom IV pressed some buttons on the keyboard and confirmed his settings for the ninth time. He then sat quietly, nervously, watching the screen.

“Here it comes,” he whispered to himself. “Five…four…three…two…NOW!

The whole ship shook. Tom IV felt an intense feeling of nausea. There was a brilliant flash of light, and something violently collided with the Exedra. There was a horrible grinding noise and the power began fluctuating. A moment later the feeling of nausea faded away.

Mr. Swift looked at the viewscreen. “Well, New York City is still there, and I see no signs of an explosion,” he remarked. “Does that mean–”

A siren suddenly went off! Red lights began flashing.

“What’s going on?” Tom III asked. He dashed to the controls frantically.

“A fire has broken out on deck two,” Aristotle reported.

Tom IV gasped. “That’s where all the time-travel equipment is stored!”

A muffled boom was heard in the rear of the ship. The deck shuddered.

“What was that?” Anita asked.

“I think our ride home just went up in smoke,” Tom IV replied. “If the time trigger’s been destroyed we’ll have no way to get back home!”

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