To this point, I’ve rebuffed the suggestion. Now, though…
“Can we trust him?”
Clearly she’s been expecting me to shut her down again and looks surprised at my question. “Absolutely.”
I think for a moment longer and then, with the hope that I don’t regret what I’m about to say, tell her, “Let’s talk to him.”
My chaser sits on the table in front of us. It looks like nothing special, just an old wooden box that could as easily be from 1015 as from 2015.
Iffy’s likened it to a cigar box in size, and from the pictures she’s shown me, that seems about right. It even has a similar lid. When opened, though, instead of revealing rows of cigars, it uncovers a control panel.
The device was developed at the Upjohn Institute, a place that now never existed, and yet I walked its halls, studied in its library, and slept in its dormitory. The device is what allowed rewinders such as myself to travel through time.
It was Sir Gregory, one of the institute’s administrators, who told me during training that the chaser is the most powerful thing on earth. “In the wrong hands, can you imagine the devastation one of these could cause?”
I don’t need to imagine now. I’ve done it. But that’s the past. What we’re doing now is trying to figure out the future.
Iffy sits beside me. Across from us is her friend RJ.
While technically I’m no longer employed by the Upjohn Institute, and therefore am not bound by their rules and regulations, I can’t ignore the sense of panic growing in my chest. Revealing the truth about who I really am to an outsider and explaining what a chaser allows me to do are two of the institute’s cardinal sins.
To this point, I’ve shared these secrets with only two others. Iffy, when I thought she was about to be erased forever and telling her wouldn’t matter; and my sister, Ellie, who I brought to this reality so she could receive medical treatment our former time line denied her.
Bringing a third person into our circle — someone I have just met at that — is beyond merely difficult. I’m in a mental battle with myself to keep from picking up the chaser and racing out of the room. But like it or not, I need Iffy’s friend.
My chaser’s battery will eventually run dry, rendering the device useless. I can’t allow that to happen. I may be the last of the rewinders, but if I’m not, others will be searching for me so they can force me to bring back the original time line. Without a working chaser, I can easily be taken. The machine gives me the ability to hide if necessary, or, if I must, fight them on an equal footing.
RJ looks at the box and then at us. “So?”
“We’re hoping you can help us figure out how to charge it,” Iffy says.
When he lifts the chaser off the table, I nearly leap out of my chair to snatch it back from him. Sensing my unease, Iffy grabs my thigh and gives it a squeeze. This does little to calm me, but it does keep me in my seat.
RJ turns the box around, studying each side. Finally he asks, “What do you mean charge it? It’s a box.”
“It’s more than a box,” Iffy says.
He looks at Iffy, waiting for her to elaborate. I can feel her glance nervously in my direction, prompting RJ to turn his attention to me. “So, what is it?”
It takes me another couple seconds before I can say, “I don’t see how that’s important.”
Iffy squeezes my leg again and then asks RJ, “Will it help if you know?”
“Um, yeah. I need to understand what I’m working with here.” He turns the chaser around again. “I don’t even see a place to plug anything in.”
My discomfort is reaching maximum. “I’m not sure I’m ready for this.”
“Look,” RJ says, setting the device down, “I don’t know what the big deal is, but Iffy said you needed my help. If you don’t want it, fine. No worries.” He stands.
Iffy scolds me with her glare as she says, “Denny?”
I close my eyes for a half second and then let out the breath I’ve been holding. “I’m sorry… yes, we do need your help.”
“Then you’re going to have to tell me what that thing is.”
After another quick glance in my direction, Iffy says, “Actually, it’ll be easier if we show you.”
The plan is one she proposed after she finally convinced me to have the meeting. Reluctantly, I then worked up the information per her instructions and input it into my chaser. What I didn’t do was openly agree to executing her plan.
While I know in principle this will be the easiest way to convince him, going through with her plan means yet another major institute rule broken. So when she stands, I’m not so quick to do the same.
“What’s wrong?” she asks.
“I’ve never done it with three before.” This is a weak argument at best. Marie, my personal instructor during my training period at the institute, told me a rewinder could jump with as many as five people in a pinch, and that once someone had taken a journey with seven. Three won’t be a problem.
“Never done what with three?” Wariness has crept into RJ’s voice.
Iffy gives him a reassuring smile before saying to me, “I’ll stay. You can go with him by yourself.”
This is not the response I expected, and while RJ seems nice enough, if we’re really going to do this, I’d much rather have Iffy along. “Never mind. I’m, um, sure it’ll be okay.”
RJ’s concern has only intensified. “What are you guys talking about?”
Iffy hands me the chaser as we move away from the table and then waves RJ over. “Join us.”
He hesitates.
“RJ, don’t be an idiot. Get over here.”
Reluctantly he walks over.
Iffy puts her arms around me from the left. “Grab on to Denny on that side just like this.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he says. “I think it would be better if—”
“Quit being such a baby and do it.”
“You guys are messing with me, aren’t you?” He looks around. “Are we on one of those practical joke shows? You’re streaming this live online, aren’t you?”
“RJ!”
Looking like he’s sure he’s being set up, he very tentatively grabs my right side, leaving a gap between us.
He’s probably close enough, but I’d rather not take any chances. “Move in a bit.”
“Oh, sure. Move it.” He steps right next to me and hugs me tight, like he wants to crush my ribs.
“I’d like to be able to breathe.”
“Too much? Sorry, man.” He loosens his hold, still smiling like he’s in on the joke.
“Everyone set?” I ask.
As Iffy nods, she locks eyes with RJ. “Don’t freak out.”
“Freak out about what?” he asks.
I raise the chaser and press go.
At Iffy’s suggestion we go for the dramatic.
RJ apparently has a passion for all things space related, so I jump us to a hill in the Mojave Desert within the boundaries of Edwards Air Force Base. The date is April 14, 1981, and as per the protocol I learned during my rewinder training, we arrive in the dark of the early morning.
RJ gasps as he pulls away from me, cringing from the headache of the trip. We all experience one, but we haven’t gone that far back, so it’s not very intense. Since I do this a lot, I barely notice it and am able to immediately assess our surroundings.
In the west, a quarter moon rests just above the horizon, providing more than enough light to see the dry lake in the plain in front of us. At one edge of the lake is a large rectangular area filled with cars and campers and RVs, many with lights on. I have never seen so many vehicles parked in one place before. Surely there are more than a thousand. As for the hill where we stand, we are alone. I look around and spot some large rocks that should hide our presence during daylight and then use the chaser’s calculator to adjust the location number so that we will pop out behind the boulders next time.