TSJ #36, Chapter 9: A Fateful Decision

“DO YOU WANT ME to go with you to confront him?” Tom Swift IV asked.

Tom Swift Jr. slowly shook his head. “It’s a tempting thought, but I have a feeling it’s best if the entire world didn’t find out about the multiverse. We don’t know how many people at BG Industries knows about the Negative Zone and there’s no telling who we might run into on our way there. No, I’ll handle this and will let you know what I discover.”

“How soon can you talk to him?” Tom IV asked.

“Probably not sooner that Monday. I’m sure he’s out of the office on weekends. I’ll call him, though, and set up a private meeting for Monday morning. This should be a very short discussion!”

Two days later Tom Swift Jr. found himself standing in front of a giant glass building that rested deep in the heart of Nebraska. Tom had to admit it was a very classy research center. The landscaping around the structure was artfully done, with lush green trees, flowers, and bushes dotting the landscape. The structure reminded Tom of an oasis in the desert.

Bud had volunteered to go with him but Tom told him he could handle it. This surprised Bud, but Tom explained this was probably all a misunderstanding. “I don’t think Mr. Gamino actually means any harm – he probably just got a little carried away. I don’t want it to look like we’re threatening him. I just want to have a private one-on-one conversation and get to the bottom of what’s going on.”

“If you say so, boss,” Bud replied reluctantly.

Tom stepped into the building’s magnificent lobby. The spacious room was dotted with modern chairs and furniture. On the walls hung rows of paintings of random colors and designs that Tom thought must be examples of modern art. There are some things I’ll just never understand, he thought wryly.

The young inventor walked up to the receptionist. Before he could say anything she spoke. “Why good morning, Mr. Swift! Ed Gamino is expecting you. Just take the elevator to the left – he’s on the fourth floor, down the hall, first door on the right.”

Tom looked surprised. “Do I need a visitor’s badge or anything?”

The secretary shook her head. “You’re always welcome here, Mr. Swift. Feel free to make yourself at home.”

Tom thanked her and made his way up to Ed’s office. To his surprise he had no secretary. As soon as he opened the door he found himself in a spacious, modern office, filled with all sorts of gadgets and machinery. I had no idea Ed was an inventor, Tom thought. But I guess that makes sense. He does run BG Industries, after all!

“Why there you are!” Ed boomed. When Tom entered the office he had been standing over a computer terminal, but as soon as he saw the young scientist he rushed over and eagerly shook his hand. “Please, have a seat – sit anywhere! I’m so glad you could come. I’ve been expecting you for days.”

Tom took a seat in front of Ed’s enormous desk. “You’ve been expecting me?”

“Of course! You’re no dummy, Tom. No dummy at all! I’m sure you’ve discovered by now what I’ve done and have come to ask for an explanation. No one can put one over on you, that’s for sure! Your track record is most impressive. Why, you single-handedly brought the entire nation of Kranjovia to its knees!”

Tom was astonished. “So you knew we would catch you? Then why did you do it?”

Ed smiled. “Why, we did it for you, young man! I decided to help you out – to take the one step I knew you would never take. I did it for the good of all mankind. But tell me – just to satisfy an old man’s curiosity – how did you find out we’d built a Negative Zone?”

“Tom Swift IV came and paid me a visit,” Tom explained. “He told me someone had broken into his lab and stole some things. With a little research we discovered that the intruder came from this building. It turns out the spacial disturbance made by the Negative Zone is very easy to track. You weren’t hard to find.”

“I do wish you had brought Tom IV,” Ed said. “I really do! I would loved to have met him. And to think that there are even more Tom Swifts out there! Possibly an infinite number! It’s amazing. And people don’t even know it!”

“You’re not supposed to know it either,” Tom pointed out. “How did you even find out about it?”

“Why, you told us! When we asked for scientific assistance your father gave us everything you had. The blueprints for the Negative Zone were mixed in with a whole stack of other designs.”

Tom sighed. “I knew I should have been more closely involved with the knowledge transfer. Ed, you weren’t supposed to get those files. That was our most closely-held secret! At least, it was supposed to be.”

Ed nodded. “I can certainly understand why! But once I saw it I knew I had to try building one! I just couldn’t resist. I assure you no one else in this whole company knows about it. I’m the only one! And I built the Negative Zone device right here in my office – all by myself! My, but it was a tricky bit of work. Worth it, though! It’s not every day you get to visit another universe.”

Tom was astonished. “You built it yourself?”

“Of course! I’m an inventor too, you know. Someone had to design the machines that this company makes! I didn’t do them all, of course, but I’m not bad – not as good as you, though! You and your father are my heroes – always have been, always will be. We can’t all be like you, but we can all do our part!”

“Then why did you do it?” Tom asked. “Why did you break into his lab and steal the time trigger plans?”

“I didn’t steal anything at first, you know,” Ed began. “I built the Zone just to satisfy my own curiosity – I wasn’t going to touch anything. I made quite a few trips without doing a bit of harm! But then I saw how reluctant you were to perfect your magnificent claytronic stones. I understood, of course, but I though you were misguided. I have the utmost confidence in you! All you needed was a push – the right motivation. And I know what you want more than anything else – the one problem you’ve never been able to solve.”

Tom was taken aback. “You’re talking about time travel!”

Ed nodded. “Exactly. Time travel. You just can’t do it. I think you could do it if you weren’t so emotionally invested in the outcome; your heart is clouding your mind. But that’s neither here nor there. The point is, you can’t solve that problem. But Tom IV did! And you just need his plans. So I took them! I’ve got them right here. I can’t make any sense out of them, and I’m not going to try, but I bet they make a lot of sense to you. All I ask is that you perfect your claytronic stones and I’ll hand them over to you. All of them – I won’t even keep a copy for myself. You can rescue Irene and all will be well.”

“But the stones are so dangerous,” Tom protested. “I destroyed an entire planetoid.”

“It was your first attempt! First attempts always go wrong. You can fix the problem, my boy! Look. We won’t use the stones here on Earth. We’ll only use them one time – on a completely uninhabited planet, to build our city in the stars. You can even be there to supervise it! You can add in some kind of failsafe so it doesn’t happen again.”

When Ed saw that he was still reluctant the energetic man continued. “I’m not a monster, Tom. I just want to help. And in return for fixing your stones – for making them safe for humanity – I’ll give you the plans you need to save Irene. What do you say?”

“Let me think about it,” Tom said at last. “This is too much to process all at once. I need to figure this out.”

“Of course, of course,” Ed replied, beaming. “Just let me know. I’ll be right here. Feel free to drop in anytime. That’s why I don’t have a secretary – I don’t want to discourage visitors.”

Tom got up to leave, and then he stopped. “Oh. I almost forgot! I’m afraid you’re going to have to destroy your copy of the Zone. We can’t–”

“I understand completely,” Ed replied. “I expected that! I’ve had my fun and I’m done. I’ll destroy it as soon as you leave. Don’t even worry about it.”

“Thanks,” Tom said. He shook Ed’s hand and left.

* * * * *
 

When he got to the parking lot he pulled out a communicator and contacted Laurence Grinsby, the Transmittaton chief, who was stationed on his outpost in space. “Hey, Laurence!”

“Hey there Tom!” Laurence replied. “How did the meeting go?”

“It went…well,” Tom said at last. “Hey, I need you to do me a favor. Instead of transporting me back to my office, can you send me directly to these coordinates?” Tom gave him a set of figures.

“Can do, chief,” Laurence replied. A moment later Tom felt the Transmittaton grab him. There was a flash of light, and when the light faded he found himself standing at the top of a small, grassy hill. Off in the distance he could see Lake Carlopa. It was an overcast day, with a hint of rain in the future. Gusts of wind rattled the trees.

Tom walked to the top of the hill. At its crest was a small, private graveyard, dedicated to the Goddard family. Tom opened the wrought-iron gate and walked inside. In the back of the graveyard he found a small marker, signifying Irene’s grave. He knew she wasn’t actually buried there, for none of her remains were ever recovered from the wreckage of the hyperplane. That was to be expected; her plane hit the ocean at several times the speed of sound, and very little of it survived. But Tom still came here from time to time when he wanted to feel close to Irene again. He missed her tremendously – sometimes more than he could bear.

Tom knelt down beside the tombstone and used his finger to trace over the carving of her name in the granite. He thought about the last time he had seen her alive, back in Brungaria. He thought about the last message she had left for him, moments before being killed in the crash. “I never got to say goodbye,” he whispered.

There were a lot of things he never got to do. He never got to give her the engagement ring he made for her. For months he had pictured the look she would have on her face when he finally handed it to her and asked her to marry him. Now he would never get that chance. They were supposed to have a future together – they were going to create a new tomorrow for civilization. She should have been there when I built my rocket ship, Tom thought. When I discovered Atlantis. When I set foot on the Moon. When I met the Space Friends. She should have been a part of all of that – but she wasn’t. Because of me. Because of a mistake I made that cost her her life. I put her in that grave. I took her future from her.

Tom looked at the tombstone with a tremendous feeling of regret. But I can fix this! I can bring her back. I can still give her that ring. We can still have a future together. I’ve got to try – I’ve just got to. She deserves that.

The young inventor stood up and looked over the lake. Dark clouds rolled overhead, threatening to rain but not yet raining. All sorts of emotions filled Tom – elation, regret, concern, trepidation. But he knew what he was going to do. The decision was made. Tom took out his communicator and contacted Lawrence once more. “I need you to do me another favor. Can you transport me back to BG Industries?”

“Can do,” Lawrence replied.

* * * * *
 

An hour later Tom materialized inside his laboratory at Swift Enterprises. Bud Barclay was waiting there, along with Tom’s father. “So how did it go?” his father asked.

“It went very well,” Tom replied. “It was all a big misunderstanding, really. It turns out they got the plans for the Negative Zone from you.”

Mr. Swift winced. “I had a feeling that was the case. I’m sorry about that, Tom. I take full responsibility. I’ll make sure that it never happens again.”

Tom nodded. “It’s ok. The only reason Ed built it was to satisfy his own curiosity. He didn’t mean any harm. When I confronted him he promised to destroy it and never use it again. He struck me as an honest person – I’m sure that’s what he will do.”

“But what about the time trigger?” Bud asked. “Stealing the plans is not exactly an above-board move! We can’t let Ed decide to experiment with time travel. He could put the whole universe in jeopardy!”

“Bud’s right,” Mr. Swift agreed. “We don’t dare let anyone build a time trigger, no matter what their intentions. That technology is just too dangerous.”

Tom’s mind raced. “Ed didn’t know anything about the time trigger,” he said at last. “He confessed to building the Negative Zone and using it to travel between universes, but he didn’t steal anything. I suspect the thief is someone else entirely – perhaps an enemy Tom IV has dealt with in the past.”

“Are you sure?” Mr. Swift said doubtfully.

“It makes sense,” Bud said. “I mean, what are the chances that Ed could have even found the blueprints? We don’t even know where they’re stored, and I bet Tom IV has all kinds of advanced equipment guarding them. You’d need a high-class inventive mind just to get past all of that.”

“That’s true,” Mr. Swift replied. “I hadn’t thought of that. I guess you’re right.”

He stood up. “I’m sorry for causing this mess, Tom. When you see Tom IV can you give him my apologies?”

“Of course,” Tom replied. “I’m sure he’ll understand. In fact, he probably already has plans in motion to make sure this never happens again.”

“Is there anything else?” Mr Swift asked.

“There is one other thing. Ed has convinced me to take another look at claytronic technology.”

His father looked at him in surprise. “Really? I thought you had decided that technology was far too dangerous!”

“It has dangers, but it has promise as well,” Tom explained. “I believe I can build in sufficient safeguards to prevent another disaster like the one that happened on Chariklo. Besides, Ed has promised to only use the stones one time, on an uninhabited planet – and I can be there to supervise it. I think, if properly managed, the risk is minimal. It would certainly be a tremendous help to the project!”

Mr. Swift nodded. “If you think the risk is worth taking then I’ll support you, Son.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Tom replied.

* * * * *
 

“So Ed didn’t steal the plans,” Tom IV said slowly. “I guess it makes sense – it would take a mind like yours to get through all of my security. A paper-pusher in an office certainly couldn’t do it!”

“We’re really sorry about all of this,” Tom added. “My dad is deeply embarrassed. We’re going to take steps to make sure this never happens again.”

Tom IV nodded. “I understand. I’ve lost secrets myself before. The good news is I’ve come up with a technological solution. I’m going to put an encryption key on our Zones. Before you can contact me your Zone will have to send me an encrypted signal – a signal that only I know how to produce. If anyone else builds a Zone they won’t be able to reach mine because they won’t have the key.”

“That sounds like a good solution,” Tom agreed. “I’m assuming you’re not going to give us the plans for generating that signal!”

Tom IV smiled. “You know what Ben Franklin always used to say! ‘Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.’”

Tom laughed. He stood up to go. “Is there anything else?”

Tom IV shook his head. “No, that’s all. Thanks for letting me know what’s going on. I’m glad Ed was so agreeable about destroying the Negative Zone. The only thing that bothers me now are the time trigger plans. If Ed didn’t steal them then someone else did – and I need to find out who that person was. Time travel is just too dangerous to be messed with.”

“Good luck on your search,” Tom replied.