Ascent (14 page)

“Yes.”

He pauses as if he’s waiting for me to say something else. The only sound in the room is the TV in the background. “Then don’t you think you should be in bed? I don’t run this Institute to have people showing up late for class and slacking off. The Party is serious about our students’ attentiveness.”

“Of course, sir. I’ll get right to bed.”

“Good. We need to make sure all the students are wide-awake and ready for the day. Now turn the TV off.”

I reach for the remote control and for the first time he actually notices what’s on the screen. He waves his arthritic hand in the air and I set the remote back down. Next thing I know he’s joined me on the couch, sitting on the far edge, watching the movie.

Several minutes pass and I don’t know what to do. I watch him across from me. The distance is both safe and uncomfortable. Suddenly tired, I stifle a yawn.

He breaks the silence. “You look like her…” He doesn’t turn my direction.

I squint my eyes through the dark room at the TV. She’s on the screen, wearing skinny pants and a polyester jacket. I trace her face with my eyes. I wish I looked like her. A lot of people think I look like my dad. “Really? You think so?”

“You could be twins. It’s as if I’ve gone back in time twenty years and there she is.” He looks over at me and back at the TV. “Spitting image is what you are. She was a lot of fun, your mom. She used to come out to Vegas quite a bit before you were born. She’d bring her friends… That was before she married your dad, of course. After they were married we didn’t see her anymore.”

My brow furrows. “You knew my mom?”

“Oh yeah, Lynnette was a Vegas regular…” He turns and looks at me, his eyes piercing me through the dark. “She’d be real proud of you coming out here for the summer. I know if she could see you now she’d be real proud.”

I lower my head. “Thanks,” is all I can think of to say.

Then the room goes silent. The movie ends and the credits roll against a gently drifting soundtrack. Marvin pushes himself up off the couch, the movement in slow motion, and when he steadies himself he says one last thing. “Don’t disappoint her. Even though she’s not here I know she’s watching.” Then he turns and walks towards the front door, leaving me alone in a room lit by TV snow.

Chapter Twenty

Rick

It’s almost time to go. I’m still first. And being first secures my place in the history books. That’s all that matters. People go around life worrying about the littlest things no one will ever think about again. Not me. I only care about the big stuff. Time travel is big. And nothing is bigger than being the first.

Matt’s right: there’s no reason to panic. Dr. Thompson has been working on the Slider all year. It’s the last hurdle before I’m initiated into the Party. Once I’m one of them they’ll let me in on their secrets – and I want those, too.

And, really, it’s so stupid the reason they’re sending me back. It’s nothing. I’m sure if they wanted to they could scrub all the government computers of my misdeeds. But they want me to make a change.

I really think they’re just experimenting on me. Turning me into a human guinea pig. Like I care. They think they can outsmart me? They know nothing. I know they’re doing worse than just sending a bunch of high school kids back in time in that tent they have hidden in Area 31. They have no idea I know about the tent.

They’re a bunch of amateurs.

They would need to be a lot smarter than that to pull one over me.

***

I’m in my hotel room listening through the door, waiting for the sound of activity outside my bedroom to die down. I need to check something before I go – just a little something – and I don’t want anyone to stop me.

The voices outside my room won’t go away. Security. They’re talking about the opposition. Forces have been building up. Security has a close eye on what goes on outside the hotel.

But it means nothing because I’m leaving soon, to change my past, to come back as the perfect Party member, a person with nothing to hide.

Or at least nothing to hide that they’ll know about.

The voices fade away. I count to a thousand after they’re gone. I put my ear to the door. I pretend like I’m stretching. I’m wearing gym clothes. Like I’m going for a little exercise.

The hallway is silent.

It’s time for me to go.

***

Maria is behind the desk in the business center. She still has her nice smile and is, as usual, filing her nails. She’s always filing her nails. Like she’s obsessed. She nods at me when I walk in the door.

“Good evening, Rick. I haven’t seen you in here lately. The computers are wide open. Choose any one you’d like.”

“Hi, Maria. Yeah, they’re keeping us pretty busy out at the school.”

I pick the computer in the back of the room and wait for Maria to go back to filing. A security guard comes in and starts chatting her up. Her skin flushes red. The guard leans over her desk and whispers something in her ear. She giggles.

Amateurs.

I scrape the ePrivacy device onto the back of the computer and go to the satellite image of Area 31. They’ve constructed a fence around the tent. The fence looks like it much be at least ten feet tall. It’s topped off with barbed wire. A tank sits outside the gate, waiting for intruders. The construction workers are gone. Whatever they’ve been building is done.

Maria giggles the entire time I’m writing. I pretend like I’m researching. Like I’m taking notes. Because they’re watching; they have to be. But all I have is an interest in researching the Party.

I log onto the Conspiraciesrus.com forums. The thread is titled:
It’s Done
. Marcus is the owner of the thread. They’ve seen the completion of the facility. I wonder if they witnessed the security guard and the beast in the back of the truck that tried to pull off his arm. I look up at Maria and the guard flirting with her. They’re deep in conversation so I type a quick message:

It’s almost time for me to enter the vortex. I saw they finished the facility in Area 31. Keep the discussion going. If you see anything, post it here. I’m checking messages sporadically.

I log out of the forum and remove the security device. When I’m done I turn off the computer and head out of the center. Maria looks up at me like she forgot I was ever here.

“Get what you need?” she asks.

“Yep, thank you.” I glance at the security guard and nod my head. He nods back and goes back to talking to Maria.

I walk as fast as I can back to my room.

Chapter Twenty-One

Farrah–Kate

The sound of the pool’s waterfall and the distant traffic and voices from the street below are the only things I hear. I’m lying on my back on one of the Winn Hotel’s lounge chairs staring into the night. It’s one of those evenings where I can see for a million miles. The universe is swirling in the sky. Every pin prick represents a moment in time. My mind considers everything Dr. Thompson told us. Time is everywhere. It’s happening everywhere. You just have to find the vortex to take you where you want to go.

I take a deep breath. I should go inside; it’s getting late and we have our last class in the morning before it’s Rick’s turn to travel. And after Rick it’s Matt’s turn. I know it’s going to be difficult for Matt going back to that night. I worry about what Matt has planned.

Goosebumps prickle my skin. I feel those before anything else. Something moves and I sit up so quick that stars fill my eyes. I look over my shoulder. Marvin stands at the edge of the pool, leaning on his cane, watching me.

“Nice evening.” He walks over to where I’m sitting.

I nod my head. I never know what to say around Marvin. He’s allusive: a man that hides in secure offices and in shadows – a man with a secret and enough money to make anything happen.

And he’s the man who holds the key to my past.

“It’s a beautiful night,” I agree.

He limps to the lounge chair next to where I’m sitting and gingerly lowers himself onto it. His joints creak, pop. He lays back and we both stare at the expansive sky. The only sounds are crickets and cicadas chirping all around us, drowning out the street noise from below.

“You know, there are small wormholes everywhere.” He waves his arm in the air as if one will appear in front of us. “Small ones … they open up for a brief moment and then they’re gone. The problem is, no one knew where to find the holes – not until the Slider was invented. I knew it was possible all along, I was sure of it; I wouldn’t have spent my life’s fortune it wasn’t possible. Dr. Thompson is a genius. I’ve been looking for these passages in time my whole life and they were here all along.” I nod my head. “Now we can find the holes, send people through, and bring them back. But it only works if they go back with the right intentions.” He gives me a hard look. I can feel his eyes burning through me, looking for the truth. “What are your intentions, Farrah? You’re not going to be like Norris Chen and not return, are you?”

I consider his question. There are so many things I’d like to change about my past, but nothing more than changing what happened to my mother. I’m worried that changing her death is not something that can happen in a day, or a week, or even a month. Mom’s entire life led her to the end. Mom got all of her self-worth from acting, and little from anything else. And when the acting jobs dried up, there was nothing left to keep her going. I was too young when Mom died to change the trajectory of her life. I can only go back and change that night. After that I’ll have to rely on Mom to try to change the rest.

I start to cry. The years of pain I’ve built up inside me start to leak out. I’m cracked and my insides are dripping out. My shoulders shake. Poison leaks out through my tears.

Growing up without my mom is the worst thing that happened to me. I imagine all the things that would have been different if she had been around. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween … I was the only kid without birthday parties. I never brought food for the bake sales. There were no mother-daughter days at the spa.

It was only my dad and I, living in the same house, but not really living together at all.

Marvin gets up and joins me on the couch.

“Farrah, after you help your mom, make sure you come back. It’s what your mother would want. She’d want a better future for you. I know it.”

I smile at Marvin through my tears. He’s such a mystery to the people at IYD. I wonder the real reason he chose to put all of his money towards the creation of the Slider. Why a man who could do anything he wanted would choose to spend all his money, time, and energy trying to send people back in time.

“Farrah, you know, a lot of what happens in life is unfair. People hold things inside that no one on the outside can understand. Go back and change that night, give her another chance. Your mother was a beautiful person – one of the best. Let her candle die out later.”

“I’ll do my best. I want to help her. I’d do anything to change what happened.”

“Good. I have a feeling you have a lot of great things in your life ahead of you. You need to come back so you can keep going. It’s what your mom would have wanted for you anyway. I’m sure of it.”

Then we sit in silence, watching the night sky. My eyes drift closed and when I wake up I’m alone next to the pool.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Farrah–Kate

Time ticks towards our destination. It’s time for us to return to our pasts to meet our fate. Everyone is on edge, pacing up and down the halls in the hotel and having trouble concentrating at school. Lisa has agreed to let the trainees take a break and Marvin Winn agreed to let us leave the hotel so we could decompress. They’re taking us to Lake Mead. It’s our first and only break since we came to IYD. Party security agreed to let us off hotel premises as long as we have an escort.

Lake Mead is south of Las Vegas. It’s a huge recreation lake that’s part of the Colorado River. And it’s losing water. It’s one of the worst droughts in history. I doubt the Party cares about things like global warming and droughts. As long as they’re not going thirsty, I doubt they care at all.

We’re out on the lake with jet skis and normal food. It’s like a normal summer day and everyone has forgotten what we’re about to do. We’re having a picnic and playing in the sun. It’s perfect.

The guys come in from jet skiing and pop open a cooler and start passing water and soda around. My throat feels like sandpaper. I drink half a bottle of water before taking a break.

“Dude.” Rick is sitting in front of me, leaning over to talk to Matt. “Tomorrow’s the day. I’ll prove to the world that time travel is possible. Dr. Thompson talks about how we can’t go forward in time. But the future can go back. That’s the one thing he hardly talks about. It’s like no one in class ever thought about it.”