As an afterthought Duncan asked, “Did
you at least use protection?”
“No. I didn’t even think of it.”
“You realize that while we have
eradicated STDs in our time, in this Ethan’s time, they were still rampant.”
“Yeah, I know.” In a whisper he
added, “Ethan is HIV positive.”
Duncan’s face turned white. “I
assume you’ve had all of the inoculations?”
“Yes, so I’m not worried about
getting infected.”
“Okay, back to the original topic.
You have to go back to just before you met him and retrieve the object. That
way the two of you will have never met and the timeline will be completely
restored.”
“That’ll fix almost everything,”
Ryan responded dejectedly.
“What are you talking about?”
“Sure, my going back to before we
met will fix the timeline and him, but not me.”
Duncan sighed. “There’s
nothing I can do to help you with that, as much as I wish there was.” He held
up his hand to forestall any arguments. “You’ll have to get over him somehow.
Perhaps talking to one of the counsellors will help.” He stood, walked over to
Ryan and laid a compassionate hand on his shoulder. “I know this will be
difficult for you, but it has to be done. You know this.”
“Yeah, I do,” Ryan sighed.
Standing up and gathering his resolve, he said, “Well, I need to get this done.
The bitch of the matter is that I won’t even get a chance to say goodbye to
him, even though we’ll never have met.”
“It’s one aspect of this job that
really sucks.” Duncan commiserated.
₪₪₪₪₪
Ryan materialized in the
darkness of night, right behind Ethan’s workshop. Peeking through a window, he
noticed that the lights were off. So far
so good. Now, how do I get in? He pondered. Trying the window, he
discovered it was unlocked. Slowly he raised the window enough for him to crawl
through.
He shined his beacon light
round the room until he found the object he was looking for. Stowing the object
away in his pack, he removed another item from his pack and slowly crept back
out the window, closing it slowly. One
down, one to go. I hope this works! He ran quickly across the lawn to the
house where the Evans brothers were fast asleep.
Holding the universal sonic
lock pick, which was actually modeled after the thirty-seventh Doctor Who’s
sonic screwdriver, he made short work of the lock. Hoping there wasn’t a
security alarm, Ryan slowly opened the front door and stepped inside, closing
it quietly behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief when no alarm sounded. He
put the lock picker back into his pack and removed the one remaining item,
something he stole before departing.
Making his way up the stairs
to the second floor he peeked through door after door until he found the room
which contained a sleeping Ethan. As quietly as he could, he crossed over to
the bed and knelt down beside it. He stared at Ethan’s sleeping form before
gently taking the device in his hand and pressing it to Ethan’s bare shoulder.
A quiet hiss was heard as Ethan was injected with the STD vaccines and the HIV
cure. “I’ll always take care of you, Ethan. I love you.”
Ethan stirred silently in his
sleep swatting at his shoulder as if he was swatting a mosquito. “Ryan, is that
you?” he whispered.
Quickly hitting the button on
his beacon, he quietly dematerialized thinking, Fuck. We got the coordinates wrong again. We had already met in this
timeline!
₪₪₪₪₪
Stepping out of the
travellator he rushed over to the control console. “Let me see the latest
coordinates for mission 2132-RE-2.” He ordered. The tech, not Liam this time,
pulled them up on the screen.
Just then Duncan walked into
the control room. “Ryan, what’s up? Why are you so agitated?” He asked, noting
Ryan’s body language.
“Wrong fucking coordinates, again!” Ethan not only spotted me he
knew who I was.”
“Shit! Let me see the coordinates.” Duncan looked over the information on the computer screen. “Bring up all coordinates used for mission 2132-RE-2” He demanded. As the tech complied with his instructions, he sat down at another terminal and started typing away. Studying the coordinates displayed on the tech’s screen, he typed for a few seconds then said, “Use these coordinates for another time jump”.
Ryan looked over the new coordinates. “This is like, a week before the first time jump. How am I supposed to avoid people for a week?”
“Go camping. We’ll send a signal to your beacon as soon as it gets close the coordinates of the timeline skew. Wait for nightfall, get in, get the artifact then get out. Don’t…” he paused for dramatic effect, “…even try to see Ethan. We can’t afford any more mistakes. Too many have been made already.”
Ryan acknowledged his orders with a nod of his head. “When do I leave?”
“Tomorrow morning. Get your gear together and report at oh-eight-hundred. While you’re at it, get your head together. I’m sure it won’t be easy for you, but you have to forget this guy from the past.”
“I know.” Ryan replied quietly. I won’t forget him. I can’t. But there is one thing I will do, consequences be damned. I will give him another injection. I won’t let him die a horrible death. I’ll face life in prison before I let that happen. His resolve firmly in place, he left to get everything together, including grabbing another injector from the local Life Sciences Center.
₪₪₪₪₪
Eight o’clock the next morning, Ryan stepped into the travellator with his camping gear. “Let’s get this shit over with,” he growled as he slowly dematerialized.
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