The Children Who Time Lost Page 10

  “Dinner’s ready,” Kevin shouted out from the kitchen.

  “I’ll be right there.” I leaned farther into Dylan’s crib and saw his eyes steadily closing. I placed his hands by his sides and straightened his legs.

  “Rachel,” Kevin repeated for the fourth time.

  I hissed and stood up straight. I reached for the light switch and caught a glimpse of a white cloth sticking out of the bag Dylan’s parents had packed for him. As I put it back in the suitcase, I noticed a faint glimmer, similar to light reflecting off metal.

  I peeked into the bag but didn’t see anything. I rummaged around, pushing the clothes to one side. The glimmer returned, and then I noticed what it was. It looked like a gold computer chip. I picked it up. It was about the size of a chip you used to find in olden-day credit cards. But I didn’t understand what it was doing with Dylan’s stuff.

  I stared at it for a few seconds, ignoring Kevin’s calls. Then I placed it on the floor beside Dylan’s crib. I ran my hand through the suitcase again. I had no idea what I was looking for, but the chip must have been part of something else. It wouldn’t have been just lying there otherwise.

  My hand touched something metallic. I circled around the same area but didn’t feel it again. I grunted and threw everything from the suitcase onto the floor and then found what it was: a silver holder, square in shape and marginally bigger than the gold chip. It had to be its case. I held it up, just underneath the light, and tried to place the chip inside. It fit right into place.

  “What’s taking—” Kevin stopped and stared at me, wide-eyed. “What’re you doing? Why’s all of Dylan’s stuff on the floor?”

  I held the chip and its case in the air, toward him. “Look at what I found. It was inside Dylan’s bag.”

  He walked toward me, knelt and took it from me. I could see the gold chip shining in the light. “What is this?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “Beats me. It must be something, though.”

  “I dunno. It’s probably just something his parents forgot in there. I say we should probably just get rid of it.”

  He rose, but I held on to his wrist. “Give it to me, Kevin.”

  He looked at me with questioning eyes. “What do you want to do with it?”

  “You know that a chip that size, with that case, fits into our computer. We can check out what it is.”

  He yanked his hand away, the chip still in it. “Are you crazy? You know we can’t do that, even if it was meant for us. It’s forbidden to look at any kind of information from the future, or are you forgetting the rules? We have to report this.”

  I stood and walked up to him. Then I placed my fingers against the edge of the case, sticking out from his fingers. He held on to it with some force.

  “I don’t care about the rules, Kevin,” I said. “Whatever’s on it came with our new baby. I’ll destroy it, all right, but not until after I’ve seen what it contains.”

  He glared at me and released his grip. I made a fist around the case.

  “This is a bad idea, Rachel.”

  I stared at him without speaking.

  “Okay, fine. Wait there. I’ll get the computer.”

  He walked out and I sat on the floor beside a floating cream sofa, a few feet from Dylan’s crib. My hands were shaking, but it wasn’t due to my needing my drugs; I had just had another dose twenty minutes earlier. It was simply fear, fear of the unknown.

  Kevin returned two minutes later with his laptop. His was one of the more powerful ones available. The screen was pure glass, with no metal frame around it. The base—glass also—was as flat as paper, with a touch-screen keyboard. He placed it on the floor beside me and tapped the bottom right-hand corner twice. A small glass compartment rose, with a port for a flash drive. I looked at the case in my hand once more, and it looked like a perfect fit.

  “It can’t be the same,” Kevin said. “That one’s from 2108. They must have gone light-years ahead of us by then. There’s no way it’ll work.”

  I edged the case toward the open compartment, the chip still inside. Then I held my hand steady.

  “Are you sure this is what you want?” Kevin said.

  I moved my hand away from the drive and considered his words. I had just won Dylan. Was I being stupid? Could I be jeopardizing everything by watching what was on the chip?

  “You don’t have to do this,” Kevin said. “We can just pretend we never saw it.”

  I stared at the case and the gold chip inside. Then I faced Kevin again. “How can we do that? It came with our son.”

  He nodded. I slid the case partway into the port, waiting for it to be sucked into place. Nothing happened. I looked at Kevin and he shrugged, but then it flew from my hand.

  A bright green light filled the laptop screen. I gasped, put the laptop on the floor and moved back. Kevin held my shoulder and sat on the floor beside me. The green light flickered before a white wall came into view. Kevin and I sat speechless.

  “That’s from the future,” I said. Kevin looked at me. “That looks like where I got Dylan. What is—”

  A man came into view. He had bright blond hair and very blue eyes, but his expression was one of sadness, with a hint of fear.

  “That’s Dylan’s father,” I said.

  “Are you sure?”

  I raised my right hand up in a dismissive manner and watched the screen. The man wiped sweat from around his mouth. “You don’t know me,” he said. “You’re probably wondering why you’re watching this. You probably think that this is some sort of mistake. That this isn’t meant for you. But you’re wrong. I worked so hard to make sure I got a storage medium that would work in your time. And I managed to find one, for what I’m about to say carries significant consequences for our world, our way of life.

  “My name is Tristan Galloway, and for many years I’ve been living in fear. A prisoner. Unable to allow myself to think or even feel, for fear that they’ll know. My life is a living prison sentence, and I’ve wanted to end it all so many times. More than you could ever imagine.” He stopped and wiped more sweat, this time from his forehead, his face now trembling. “I thought of many ways to get a message back, but I didn’t know how. It wasn’t until my wife, Sally, came to me one day and suggested that we volunteer our child for the Lotto that I realized what I had to do.” He leaned forward and dropped to his knees, and his face filled most of the screen.

  “I’m so sorry that you received this, whoever you are, for what I am about to tell you might turn your world upside down.” He edged back to his seat and his eyes twitched. “But the message I carry is so important that I sent my only son sixty-five years into the past to make sure you received it.” He paused and sighed, as if reluctant to go any further.

  I clenched my fists and inched forward.

  “You are all in grave danger,” he said, “everyone in your time. Nothing is as it seems. Your life as you know it is one big lie.”

  The screen flickered for a second and lines appeared in the middle. Then the sound went. I rushed forward and shook the laptop, but nothing changed. The lines now covered most of the screen, like some sort of interference. Kevin sat beside me and fiddled with the back of the laptop, but the screen was filled with snow, and we couldn’t hear anything. Then the screen went blank.

  We sat in silence for almost a minute, unable to speak. I didn’t know what to think. Kevin started the recording again, but it cut out at exactly the same point. The room returned to silence.

  “What now?” I said.

  Kevin gave me a blank stare. “What do you mean? You saw the recording. There is nothing there.”

  I frowned at Kevin. He was trying to pretend we hadn’t heard what we’d just heard. “But he looked scared,” I said. “He was about to tell us something big.”

  “Except he didn’t,” Kevin snapped. “Now I wish we never even saw the damn thing.”

  I stood up and placed my hands on his left shoulder. “You’re thinking what I’m thinking, aren’t you? So
mething feels very wrong, doesn’t it?”

  Kevin shot to his feet. “But we don’t know what he was going to say.”

  “But we’re gonna do something, right?”

  “Like what?”

  I shrugged. “We’ve got to tell someone. We can’t just ignore what we saw.”

  “We broke the law, Rachel,” he snapped. “Or are you forgetting that? No, I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. We’ll pretend this never happened.”

  Dylan started crying. I stared at him for a moment, wondering what had triggered it. Was it because we were arguing? I frowned at Kevin and picked our son up. He swung his arms around for a few seconds and I rocked him from side to side. His thrashing eventually ceased and he shut his eyes again. I placed him back in his crib and fixed my gaze on Kevin. He gave me a stern look and headed for the door.

  “So you’re gonna do what you always do and run away from our problems?”

  He paused and glared at me. “No, don’t you put this one on me. I asked … No, I begged you not to watch that video. But you didn’t listen.”

  “And I told you I never wanted to play and yet you entered me without even discussing it with me first.”

  “It’s all about you, isn’t it, Rachel?” he shouted.

  “Shush,” I whispered. “You’ll wake Dylan.”

  “Well, you should have thought of that before you violated one of the Lotto rules.”

  I turned toward the wall. “We still have to tell someone about this,” I said. “Maybe Angela or someone else from the Lotto. We can tell them we watched it by mistake. That we didn’t know what was on the chip.”

  He walked toward me. “Are you crazy?” he half-shouted. “Do you know what will happen to us if we say anything?” He rested his right knee on the floating sofa. “Let’s just imagine for a second that the guy on the—”

  “Tristan,” I said.

  Kevin gave me a bewildered look.

  “His name is Tristan.”

  Kevin waved my words away. “Whatever. Let’s just imagine he had some crazy news from the future. Don’t you think everyone involved with the Lotto might already know about it? Carrie. Her husband. That Angela woman. All of them. Hell, they might be a part of whatever the shocking news is.”

  I frowned. “Aren’t you being a bit paranoid here? We don’t even know what the message was.”

  “Exactly. And until we do, we can’t say anything.”

  I turned toward Dylan. Kevin moved in front of me. “Rachel, promise me you’ll leave this alone.”

  I met his gaze but didn’t speak.

  “Rachel,” he hissed.

  I backed toward the door, still without saying a word.

  “Rachel!” He punched the wall with his fist. I stood still and stared at him, trembling. He walked toward me. I knew he wouldn’t hit me, but I hated seeing him like this. He sighed when he reached me and caressed my hair. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shout.”

  I held his right hand and kissed his palm. Then I looked into his eyes. “Fine, we’ll do it your way.”

  He kissed me on the forehead and walked toward the door. “Dinner is on the table if you still want it. I’m going to have a shower.”

  I didn’t blame Kevin for losing his appetite. How could either of us eat after seeing that? I turned and sat on the floor beside Dylan’s crib and watched him sleep. But my mind was filled with fear and uncertainty. What was Dylan’s father trying to tell us?

  Chapter Twelve

  I can’t remember how long I sat still. I thought of standing up numerous times but just couldn’t get myself to. This should have been one of the happiest days of my life, but I was plagued with worry. What if the message would have turned out to be as severe as he’d made it sound? How could I just ignore it? My father always used to tell me that responsibility doesn’t stop with family and friends but extends to everyone we have the power to help. Kevin might have been prepared to ignore what Tristan had said, but it kept nagging at me. I wished I hadn’t gotten the message. But I had. Being ignorant wasn’t a bad thing, but knowing and playing the role of an unassuming bystander was almost as bad as committing the atrocities that followed. I had to do something, regardless of what Kevin said.

  I stood and walked toward the door. Kevin’s shower was still running. I pulled my cell from my pocket, inserted the silver headset into my ear and dialed Suzanna. My heart raced as it rang. I contemplated putting it down, but she answered.

  “Hi, Rach,” she said. “How’s the little rascal?”

  I sat back down and started to speak, but couldn’t form any words. But she must have heard my heavy breathing.

  “Rachel? What’s wrong?”

  I sighed. “I don’t know. It might be nothing, but …”

  “Honey, what’s the matter? You’re not making sense.”

  “Is that Rachel?” I heard someone shout.

  I ruffled my hair and spoke firmly. “Who’s that?”

  “It’s Jenny. She and Rob are staying over tonight. But what’s the matter?”

  “You know what? It can wait.”

  “No,” Suzanna snapped. “You can’t do that. You can’t call up acting all weird and then tell me not to worry. This should be the happiest day of your life. You just got a new baby.”

  I grimaced, a tear on the verge of falling. “I know. I should be, shouldn’t I?”

  “Then tell me what’s wrong. Is it Kevin? Are you two fighting again?”

  “No. It’s not Kevin.”

  “Then what is it? And don’t tell me it’s nothing.”

  “I saw something.”

  “What, honey? What did you see?”

  “With Dylan’s things, there was a memory chip. It had a message. A message from the future.” I didn’t hear anything from the phone for a few seconds. “Suzanna, are you there?”

  “I’m here, honey. What did it say?”

  I told her everything that had happened after I found the chip, including Kevin’s reaction. About halfway through telling the story, she told me she was putting me on speaker so the others could hear. After I finished, there was only silence at the other end of the line.

  “So what do I do?” I asked them.

  After a few seconds, Jake said, “Don’t tell anyone yet. Sleep on it. No matter how bad it might turn out to be, people are still soft on you, so you might need to play on that. Maybe you can get to someone powerful because of who you are. But you’ve got to look out for your family first here.”

  “Who’re you on the phone to?”

  I froze. I could feel Kevin’s steel eyes looking at me. I wanted to just curl up into a ball. I hung up, shoved the phone into my pocket and stood up. “Don’t be mad, baby. It was only Jenny, Suzanna, Rob and Jake.”

  He growled and stamped his feet. “Why? We agreed not to tell anyone.”

  The cell rang in my pocket. I knew it must have been them calling back. Kevin shook his head, anger in his eyes. I pulled the phone out and turned it off. He continued staring at me without saying a word. The anger in his eyes changed to a look of betrayal. I wished I could take the phone call back.

  “But they’re our friends,” I said. “And if you must know, they gave some good advice.”

  “I don’t care what they said. I told you we should deal with this. Now with Suzanna’s big mouth, all of L.A. will know.”

  “She won’t do that. Not for something as serious as this.”

  He slumped to the floor and seemed to sob, but I didn’t see any tears. “You’ve messed it all up,” he said. “We’re done.”

  I rushed toward him and embraced him. “Don’t say that, baby. We’re in this together, remember? For better or for worse.”

  He looked into my eyes for a moment. Then he embraced me again, this time squeezing tight.

  I lay in bed with my unblinking eyes fixed on the ceiling. Kevin was snoring so loudly; I wished I were in as deep a sleep. The sound of traffic, a hundred feet beneath us, was sporadic, but nothing could dis
tract me from the pain I felt. My mind had been racing everywhere for the last few hours since we’d watched the video. But as I calmed myself, I tried to put things together.

  I stood up and peeked into our en-suite bathroom. Fudge was sleeping soundly. I put on jeans and a gray-hooded sweater. Then I tiptoed toward the bedroom door but stopped when I heard movement from our bed. I saw Kevin fidgeting, and then he sprawled across the bed. I tried not to move. When he started snoring again, I sighed and continued. In the corridor, I gently pushed Dylan’s door open and peeked in. He slept peacefully. I tiptoed to his crib and watched him. He looked so cute and peaceful. I just wished he were all I was thinking about. What was your father trying to tell us?

  I walked into the living room and booted up the laptop. I started scrolling to the video file but stopped and glanced at the door to the corridor. I didn’t want Kevin to know how much the message still bothered me. I promised him I’d drop it. I picked up the laptop and put a pair of flat shoes on. Then I walked toward the curtain. After drawing it, I placed my palm against the top right corner of the glass. It rose fifteen feet into the air and a cold draft followed.

  The dim glow of the moon greeted me when I stepped outside with the laptop in my hand. I closed the curtains and tiptoed to my left. Two floating stools hovered in front of me, along with a floating table. After putting the laptop down, I pushed a switch on the wall and the glass door closed again. I peeked through a small gap in the curtain, but nothing moved. Even Fudge wasn’t running around, which was good. He always made a racket when I came out to the balcony.

  I started the video and watched it again, listening to every word. I rewound it many times, hoping it might continue past where it always stopped. But it kept cutting out at the same spot. I kept at it, trying to find something, a clue that could give me more information than I had. But there was absolutely nothing. No background noise, no sign of anyone else in the room. Nothing.