THE BETTER PART OF VALOR. Morgan Mackinnon
and, when that was successful, traveled seven years forward to 2009. Upon return, Chen reported that on February 1, 2003, the spaceship Columbia exploded, killing all seven astronauts aboard. July 4, 2004, saw the initial ground breaking for the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero. On December of that same year, a tsunami in southeast Asia resulted in more than 290,000 casualties. And on November 4, 2008, in a landslide victory, the United States elected Barack H. Obama as the first African American president in US history. Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and much of Louisiana with 1,300 people losing their lives, it being one of the worst natural disasters in US history at that time.
For the third time jaunt, Chen decided to transplace to 2018, which was also successful, reporting in a debrief world climate events were on the rise, the polar ice caps were melting, and Superstorm Sandy unexpectedly struck New Jersey and New York in 2012, causing $65.6 billion in damages. The deterioration of climate patterns also knocked the hell out of Puerto Rico in September 2017. And in the fall of 2016, an outsider, a nonpolitician, won the US presidential election, beginning a chain of events that would have future ramifications.
Intrigued, a week ago, Chen received permission to try for a date further out and picked 2037.
During the interval between Boomer and Chen’s joy-riding, the engineers under George Montoya made a modification to the transplacement process, and that was to reengineer the time/stamp watch to include a ‘retrieve’ feature. Should a “traveler” be out of his own time and suddenly need to return quickly or, conversely, remain longer, this feature would alert someone in the present to manually activate the retrieval mechanism in the present and bring the traveler home or to wait for retrieval until the volunteer indicated it was time. Basically, a retrieve and delay indicator. Before, the team in the present made the decision when to retrieve the traveler and this change would give more flexibility and judgement to the team member who was out of his or her time. It would also eliminate the messy possibility of jerking someone back from the past or future with a witness present. The team had not yet found a way to allow a “traveler” to communicate directly by voice or text to the support team based in the present.
With volunteers gaining the ability to go further and further into the future, in particular, was the catalyst where the expertise of Dr. Leigh began to come into play. Dr. Cresta Leigh was a clinical psychologist, and it was her job to monitor the psychological impact on these travelers to make sure there were no adverse effects. For instance, when Sammy Chen returned the last time, he was quite upset with photos he’d seen of some of the dead bodies after the Asian tsunami. Cresta talked him down off the ledge by assuring him there was nothing he nor anyone else could do to prevent the tragedy. It was also acknowledged that as their research and development progressed, there might even be an occasion to bring someone from the past to the present. It would be highly unlikely, but it would be Cresta’s job to facilitate that process with no harm done to the subject or traveler.
All of them had been waiting for Chen to reappear. His target was a week and that was up as of 5:16 p.m. today. If he didn’t come back voluntarily, the team would wait twenty-four hours and then send a rescue volunteer to the same time. Sure enough, promptly at 5:16 p.m., the “retrieve” mechanism beeped and Montoya flipped a switch. What had been an ordinary square, empty chamber with a sliding door, filled with a pale golden glow, and there stood Sammy Chen with a small briefcase in one hand and a duffle in the other. Even time travelers needed a change of socks and underwear.
When the door slid back to free Chen, the man stepped out, looking somewhat dazed. Sanford, alarmed, grabbed a bottle of mineral water from a small ice chest and thrust it toward the archivist. After Chen took a long swallow and steadied himself, he looked solemnly at Cresta Leigh.
“Honey, you’ve got your work cut out for you on this one.”
Chapter 15
The other members of the team dispersed back to routine duties and documentation, so it was Sanford and Leigh who guided Chen into a lounge outfitted with a sofa, coffee table, three chairs, a fridge, and a sideboard holding refreshments slightly stronger than mineral water. Jim set out a glass and poured a healthy shot of whiskey for Chen, which was gratefully accepted. Cresta frowned. She maintained a stash of anti-anxiety drugs kept in a locked closet just in case they would be needed, but she didn’t want to administer any if Chen had alcohol in his system.
Jim clapped Chen on the back. “What happened? You look white as a ghost.”
Chen nearly choked on the reply. “I found…I think I’ve found…an anachronism. A person who is out of time. I mean, a person who should be in the present but isn’t. This one could really impact the future.”
Shrugging off the suggestion he go home and rest for a bit, Sammy Chen shook his head. “No. This is important, and I need to tell you about it.”
Going to the end of the lounge, Sammy raised a curtain that hid a whiteboard. Taking a colored marker from the whiteboard tray, he began by putting the current year, 2002, at the top. He motioned for another shot of whiskey which Jim provided. Below the 2002, Chen listed the years 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016—all the way to 2036. He then circled 2004. Taking his briefcase, Chen pulled out some rumpled photos and newspaper articles from that year showing news and events.
“Okay. Remember the attacks on the World Trade Center last year? How could any of us forget, right? Nearly three thousand American dead, morale low, President Bush declaring war on the Middle East over suspected ‘weapons of mass destruction’ that, as it turns out, didn’t exist. The war was not very successful and would tie up money and cause thousands of American service people to be killed in the fighting, not to mention civilian deaths. One president would send troops in, another would bring troops back. That’s why I added all the election years. See? Democrat here, Republican here. The situation was a complicated mess. I mean, it will be a complicated mess.
“There will be a radical shift in public opinion, inflamed propaganda, and foreign interference that will allow a nearly autocratic government to begin forming in the early part of two thousand nineteen. No, party and names don’t matter. What voters wanted was someone who would be a breath of fresh air shake things up, drain the swamp. To accomplish that end, many people voted for an outsider, someone who knew nothing about how government works. That person proceeded to fill Cabinet appointments with his friends and donors. The result was a rolling back of environmental regulations, financial regulations, tax codes, an assault on healthcare, withdrawal from international treaties, alienation of major allied countries. Sorry, I know I’m mixing tense with ‘would’ and ‘will,’ but in this time, it hasn’t happened yet.”
Chen paused and drew a deep breath. “What matters is that by twenty thirty-seven, the seeds sown in the late twenty-teens will result in the world…the entire world will be on the brink of nuclear war which will virtually destroy this planet and millions upon millions of people will die. All because of a few greedy men who will rampage through Washington, DC, driven by ego, incompetence, and corruption. Fortunately…”
Chen sank down in a chair and drew another breath before he could continue. “Fortunately, there is a solution. There will be a statesman emerge who will bring the much-needed voice of reason to the people. A brilliant, ambitious young man of thirty-four will correctly access this situation and create a third party between the far left and the far right—a party people can get behind and support. It will be a United American People’s Party. Because of his influence and ability, diplomatic relations will be restored with those countries on this planet who wield nuclear capabilities and a peace will be struck. This man will understand isolationism, and war is not the answer. Killing and racism is not the answer. This man must become Secretary of State or we are probably doomed.”
Cresta looked cautiously at Jim before confronting Chen.
“Okay, so far there isn’t a problem. Something happen to this guy? We need to step in and save him?”
Sammy Chen took out a sheaf of photocopied pages. “I risked my butt to get these copies. And I checked a dozen sources. Every source says the same thing. The man in question will be Thomas M. Keogh, born to American parents of Irish descent in twenty oh-three.”
At