It was finally discovered that only bringing Ethan forward
brought the timeline back ninety-five percent back into its proper flow. While
Ethan missed his family terribly, he settled into his new life with Ryan; the
two of them building a life together, even as members of the TPC continued to
try and figure out what was going on with the timeline. Everyone had believed
that bringing Ethan forward in time would fix it. They were wrong.
World War III in 2474 and World War IV in 2802 caused a lot
of historical records from that time period to be lost. Ethan took a job
working with Anne to try and restore those records and correcting erroneous
information. His knowledge of the time period was invaluable, and he was often
sought after by the educational system to do lectures. Still he was unhappy,
which didn’t go unnoticed.
₪₪₪₪₪
An exasperated Ryan knocked on Duncan’s door. When he looked
up Ryan asked, “Duncan, do you have a minute. I need to talk to you about
something important.” Duncan indicated for him to come in and have a seat.
“Don’t tell me, let me guess. Ethan,” Duncan began. “What
seems to be the problem? He seems to be adjusting well to this time period, and
his work has been exemplary as well as indispensable.”
“It’s an act. He’s not adjusting as well as you think he is.
He’s getting more and more depressed every day. He tries to hide it, but he’s
not the same Ethan that came forward.”
“Do you know what’s causing his problem?”
“I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing it’s his family. He’s
really close to his brothers and sister. They’re the only family he has left.
He misses them, and I have no doubt they miss him as well.”
Duncan sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin
thoughtfully. “I really don’t know how we can solve his problem,” He said
regretfully.
“The longer you leave something, the harder it is to fix it.
I don’t want to wait until Ethan’s so broken there’s no way to help him. I do
have an idea. I know we can’t let him go back to his own time without extensive
training on how to preserve the timeline,” he paused, not sure how to put forth
his idea.
“Go on,” Duncan instructed.
Ryan took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Since
Chris, Alicia and his other brother, Troy I believe is his name, know about us,
and Chris has actually been here, what if I were to go back on occasion and bring
them here? We could keep them here in the building so they can all spend some
time together. We can try it once and have someone keep a close eye on the
timeline. If it doesn’t skew, we know it’s safe and can bring them here permanently.
If it does skew, we can immediately return them to the exact moment in time I
brought them forward.”
Duncan carefully considered Ryan’s idea. “Okay, we can give
it a try. Just Chris, though, since he’s already been here. It can only be for
a few hours though, and Ethan will be under strict orders not to reveal
anything he’s learned here. I’ll have Colin monitor the timeline so Liam can
concentrate on the day-to-day operations.” He paged Liam and Colin to his
office and explained what was going to be going on.
Sending them back to the control room he turned to Ryan. “Please
go ask Ethan to come see me, and you go back and get Chris. Have Liam let me
know when you get back, but don’t leave until I give you the okay.” Without
even acknowledging his orders, Ryan ran out of the room to carry them out.
₪₪₪₪₪
There was a knock on the door. Chris was startled to see
Ryan standing there. He quickly ushered him into the house, lest he be seen. “Ryan.
Why are you here? Has something happened to Ethan?” The words came out in a
rush.
“Physically he’s fine. Emotionally, that’s a different
story. He really misses you, Alicia and Troy and it’s depressing him,” Ryan
explained.
“Damn!” Chris exclaimed as he got up and started pacing.
After a couple of minutes, he sat back down, elbows on his knees and his face
in his hands. “I appreciate you telling me this, but I have to ask; why did you
come back to tell me this? I thought we all understood that we would never see
him again, nor he us.”
“I’m here to bring you to see him for a few hours.” Ryan
noticed the tears forming in Chris’ eyes.
“But what if the timeline goes out of whack?”
“We have someone in the control room whose sole job is to
monitor it. If there is an aberration, we simply send you back so that you
arrive a few seconds before I arrived. That way, you’ll never have come forward
and the timeline will be restored.”
“Wow. This is all giving me a headache. How do you deal with
all of this?”
Ryan grinned, “Believe me it takes some getting used to. Are
you ready to go see your brother?”
“Hell fucking yes!” Chris exclaimed as he jumped to his
feet.
“There are a couple of things you need to know before we go.
In order to keep you from accidentally gaining knowledge of the future that can
affect your present, you won’t be allowed to leave the building or see the
outside. Also, Ethan will not be able to talk about anything he’s learned. He
can, however, talk about his work.”
“Fine. Whatever. Let’s go!”
“Okay.” Ryan put his arm around Chris’ waist and pressed the
button on his beacon.
₪₪₪₪₪
Ethan looked puzzled as he knocked on Duncan’s doorframe. “You
wanted to see me?”
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