The Children Who Time Lost Page 8

  To my right, Amelia trembled. I heard her sniffle and wished I could tell her everything would be all right. A loud cough heard over the speaker signaled the return of the voice.

  “So, ladies,” he said, “I shall now begin.” He cleared his throat. “Yinka Folayan, please step forward.” Heads swiveled and uncomfortable glances were exchanged. Yinka was a West African name, and attention was eventually focused on the women in what appeared to be an African group. They shifted uncomfortably and glanced at each other.

  “Yinka Folayan. Please go to the center of the room.”

  Again, nothing.

  “The first announcement was for information. This is now an order. Yinka Folayan, please—”

  A plump, fair-skinned black woman stepped forward, crying. She sniffled as she approached the room’s center, her gaze fixed on the floor.

  “Good,” the man said. “Michaela Barnes, please step forward.”

  Some women stared toward Europe and some toward us. I didn’t know where to look, but then I heard sobbing close by. I whipped my head back and saw a blond woman who couldn’t have been a day over twenty wiping tears from her eyes. Then it hit me: any of us could be sent home.

  The list went on, with more and more women breaking down in tears. I squeezed the hands of Amelia and the woman to my left as tightly as I could. There were already fifteen women standing in the center of the room, waiting to be escorted back home empty-handed. This must be it. They can’t send any more of us home, can they?

  “Maria Lopez,” the man said. I now counted twenty women. It started to seem that there would soon be none of us left. “Meredith Kaufman, Justine Moffat and …” I closed my eyes and prayed. I couldn’t go home. Not after coming this far.

  “Amelia Simmonds.”

  My eyes shot open. I looked to my right. Amelia looked straight back at me. Her mouth hung open. I wrapped my arms around her and she began wailing.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said.

  She continued crying, almost like a baby would. All eyes zoomed in on us. Amelia held me like she never wanted to let go. I could feel everyone still watching, but I didn’t care. I felt someone else push up against me.

  “I’m really sorry.” Monique’s voice carried sympathy and sadness.

  “You’ll be fine,” I said to Amelia. “You’re still young. Your time will come again.”

  “Amelia Simmonds, please move to the center of the room at once.”

  I broke the embrace and stroked her hair, and Monique did the same. Amelia wiped the last of the tears from her eyes and nodded at both of us. “You two have been great.” She walked toward the center of the room, and everyone applauded, even the women standing in the center.

  Amelia paused and looked around at everyone cheering her on before settling her gaze on us. A narrow smile followed. I returned it and watched her join the other women going home empty-handed. Sonia Byrne, the woman who had spoken out earlier, ran forward and embraced Amelia. Then she whispered something into her ear. I put both hands over my chest. It was a lovely gesture.

  After Sonia ran back to her chair, silence returned. Doors in every corner of the room slammed open, and many incarnations of the woman I’d seen in the corridor—Porsche, the man had called her—walked in. They wore blue, purple, black and gold dresses. It was amazing how real they all looked. I wasn’t sure whether they were human clones or advanced Kysos. Either way, I could see that science had leaped forward significantly from our time. They took the hands of the women standing in the center and led them out. Amelia gave us one last painful look before disappearing into the corridor.

  Chapter Nine

  I wiped tears from my cheeks after the last woman walked out of the room. I couldn’t shake how easily it could have been any one of us being escorted out. Had I answered any of the questions incorrectly, they might have called my name first. But then again, what really counted as a right or wrong answer?

  “Congratulations,” the voice said. “You have made it to the final stage. All that is left now is for each one of you to go ahead and meet your child. Some of you have invoked your right to select a gender. While we have taken each request into consideration, we cannot guarantee your wishes.

  “If you walk into the collection room and the child is not to your liking, you are under no obligation to take her or him home. You can simply leave empty-handed. But again, you will be bound by the nondisclosure agreement you are agreeing to simply by being here.”

  Monique leaned toward me. “As if anyone would say no to a child after getting this far.”

  I forced a smile. I couldn’t think of anything beyond seeing my child. The man called the first name.

  “Tanvi Kapoor, please step forward.”

  An Indian woman in a long gray dress rushed to the center of the room. A single incarnation of Porsche entered the room and extended her hand. The ecstatic woman jumped up and down and grabbed it. She left seconds later.

  The man continued calling names out, each time to the sound of jubilation. Eight women now remained in the room. I could feel my heart beat faster and faster.

  When we were down to five, Monique’s name was called, and she screamed so loud that some of the other women frowned in our direction, including the only remaining American besides us. I smiled and embraced her. She cried and caressed the back of my head.

  “This is like a dream come true,” she screamed. When another incarnation of Porsche walked in, Monique leaned toward my ear. “Thank you.”

  I looked at her. “What for?”

  “For saying the right things. I know we’re not really meant to see each other again after this, but I’d like to keep in touch.”

  I smiled. “I’d like that, too.”

  She ran toward the center of the room and followed her escort out. After their exit, I looked back toward the other three women and saw anxiety on their faces.

  “Rachel Harris.”

  I looked around at the other women, waiting for one of them to step forward. Then I realized he had called my name. I screamed at the top of my lungs and slumped to the ground with both hands over my head. I couldn’t see straight. My face trembled and all I could think about was my husband. How I wanted to have him with me.

  The last remaining woman on our chair lifted me and held my shoulders. “Are you okay?”

  I stared into her eyes for a moment and then looked at the other women around the room. They all looked at me with expressionless eyes. “I’m fine,” I said. “I’m just fine.”

  She smiled and gestured toward the center of the room, where yet another version of Porsche was waiting. I took a step forward, and then another. The speed of my heartbeat kept increasing. This Porsche’s smile seemed warm but couldn’t hide the frost behind it. I took her hand and walked out with her. The bottom of her purple dress reached the floor. We left and stepped into another endless corridor with white walls and fluorescent lights.

  I thought of Amelia. What must she be going through?

  “Congratulations, Rachel,” the woman leading me said. “I had a good feeling when I saw you earlier.”

  “So it was you I saw earlier?”

  She stopped and turned around. “But of course it was me. Who else could it be?”

  “It’s just that there are so many of you.”

  “And we’re all one. We all see what the others see. I know, for example, that your friend Monique has just acquired a beautiful baby girl with brown eyes and dark skin. Her face hinted at surprise when she first laid eyes on the baby, but I could see the genuine happiness after she accepted that a baby is still a baby, regardless of color.” She turned and continued walking down the corridor. I kept wondering when it was going to end. “Your friend Amelia, on the other hand, feels resentment toward you.”

  “Resentment? Toward me?”

  “Of course, resentment.” She turned around again. “And why shouldn’t she? Her one chance—and possibly her only chance—to ever have a child is gone. You, on the othe
r hand, have already had a child, and it’s very possible that you could conceive another. Yet here you are, winning a child. She must be thinking that she should be here instead of you. After all, you’ve had your time.” She shrugged. “I just thought you’d like to know.”

  I nodded. She turned and continued walking again. If you weren’t so damn important, I’d slap you right now, you smug woman.

  “I heard that,” she said and laughed. I placed my hand over my mouth.

  The corridor curved right and then left, and we kept walking. It seemed to be an eternity, but then we reached a solid black wall. She placed her right palm against it, and a blue light ran up and down the wall as it had done before. The wall shuddered and retracted. She stood beside me and we both watched until a path came into view.

  I stared into another bright room. This one was about two hundred square feet, with opaque glass all around it. The woman pointed to a black leather sofa at the end of the room. I looked at a white cradle and heard the magical sound of a baby crying. The woman smiled, placed her hand on my shoulder and led me forward. I shook with each step. I leaned toward the baby but stopped after seeing a sheet of paper stuck to the right side of the couch. It said “Dylan.”

  “It’s a boy,” I blurted.

  “Yes, it is. Does that please you?”

  “Yes,” I half-shouted. “It pleases me very much.” I lifted the baby in my arms and studied him. He couldn’t have been more than a year old. His cheeks were chubby. His hair was blond and his eyes as blue as the sky. He was very different from my Madeline but still adorable. I lifted him to my face and felt the tears pouring from my eyes. I looked at the woman. She was still smiling. I turned back to Dylan. He was smiling at me, too.

  “Yes, you’re a cute one, aren’t you?” I made funny faces at him and he laughed. I cried and laughed at the same time as I hoisted him in the air a few times. I rested him against my chest and faced the woman again. “What about his parents?”

  Porsche stepped backward, watching me. Then she placed her palm against the wall to the right of the entrance. The blue light ran up and down the wall like before and she dropped her hand.

  “Look outside,” she said.

  I gasped. The glass wasn’t opaque anymore. I could see what looked like a living room, with long brown sofas and glass tables that floated four feet in the air with no legs. I looked back at her and she pointed toward the area behind my baby’s cradle. I looked again and almost jumped out of my shoes. A man and woman stood behind the glass. They held each other and looked straight at me. I took a step forward and then moved left and right, but their eyes didn’t follow me. “Can they—?”

  “No,” Porsche said. “They can’t see you. It’s a one-way mirror.”

  I walked up to the glass. They were both extremely attractive, with bleached blond hair and striking blue eyes. I looked at my new baby and smiled. I could see where he’d gotten his looks from. I looked at the couple again and realized that while the woman smiled, the man was scowling, like he didn’t want to give his child up.

  “Come,” Porsche said. “It’s time to leave.”

  I approached her, but she raised her hand.

  “Aren’t you going to get his things?” she said.

  “His things?”

  She pointed at a silver suitcase on the floor, tucked neatly under the sofa. “He’s not from your time; you’ll need to use what his parents have provided to acclimatize him to 2043.”

  I nodded and laughed at myself. In my excitement, I’d almost forgotten all of Dylan’s things. The suitcase was much lighter than it looked. I started to open it but stopped myself. It could wait until we got home.

  Porsche moved to the side of the entrance and held her right hand out, and I took one last look at Dylan’s birth parents.

  The walk down the corridor didn’t drag like it had before. We reached another solid black wall after a couple of minutes.

  “I assume you remember everything you’ve been told?” Porsche said.

  “Yes. Don’t talk about anything I’ve seen here.”

  “Correct. You must adhere to these rules or you will be in violation of the Worldwide Lotto’s regulations. You may share the joy and ecstasy you are feeling and that you’ve felt throughout your visit to this time, but that is it.”

  “I get it,” I said. “I’m not a child. You don’t have to keep repeating everything.”

  She scowled at me and walked toward the wall. She placed her palm against it. “After I open this door, the portal shall await you and Dylan. This is the first day of the rest of your lives. Enjoy everything that he is, and always be grateful of the opportunity we’ve given you.”

  I nodded but wanted to tell her to just get on with it already. I couldn’t take any more of her voice. She frowned at me before pushing her palms farther. Oops, she must have heard me again.

  The vibrations were much more violent this time. It felt like the entire corridor would crumble, sending Dylan and me into some sort of black hole. It lasted for another minute before the wall rose. I could see the same bright light through the slow-opening gap until it was all I could see. Clear as cellophane, the portal spun viciously, a sphere shape like last time. Then the gale-force winds arrived, almost blowing me from where I stood.

  I held on tightly to Dylan. His cheeks started turning red, but I didn’t see tears. I noticed Porsche stepping into the room but didn’t know what she was doing. As she walked back out, the wind subsided and then ceased. I stared at my baby. He looked frightened but still hadn’t cried once, which was a bit odd, but I didn’t dwell on it. I was nitpicking already. And what was wrong with a baby who didn’t cry all the time? I tugged at his silver suitcase as if to ensure it was still in my hand.

  Porsche stood beside me and gestured toward the rapidly spinning sphere. “Your transportation to the past is ready.”

  I swallowed and took a step forward. I stopped to gaze at Dylan. He flung his arms up and down but seemed fine. I nodded at Porsche and stepped into the room. No one else was there this time. I stopped a few yards from the portal and just stared at it.

  “What are you waiting for?” Porsche shouted. “You must go now. The more time you waste—”

  I stepped in and everything went dark.

  Chapter Ten

  I felt someone tug at my right wrist, softly at first but it soon became painful. Then I heard Dylan crying and panicked. I swung my hands until my right fist hit what must have been someone’s cheek. A woman screamed in pain.

  “Calm down, Rachel,” I heard.

  I closed my eyes and everything went silent for a moment. I heard Dylan crying once more and forced them open. I saw Angela staring at me. She rubbed a damp cloth over her red right cheek. I sat up and kept blinking. I stopped when I was sure I wasn’t dreaming. “I’m so sorry.”

  She laughed and waved the apology away. “It’s no big deal.”

  I could still hear Dylan crying but couldn’t see him anywhere. “Where’s Dylan?”

  “He’s fine,” Angela said. “He’s just in the standardization chamber. We have to make sure he’s ready to step into our time.”

  I studied the room I sat in. It had a low ceiling, and screens were mounted all around it as well as to the walls. The sofa I sat on felt quite hard. There were numerous floating tables around me. Angela sat on a small floating black stool.

  “Am I back in—?”

  “Yes, you’re home,” Angela said. “2043.”

  I sighed—in relief, I think. “Where are we?”

  “The Valencia facility.”

  My eyes widened. “And the others?”

  “Don’t worry about them. Amelia went home a while ago, and Monique’s having her interview right now.” She pushed her right thumb against a glass control panel on one of the floating stools. A TV on the wall directly opposite me turned on. “Wanna see it?”

  I half-nodded.

  “Channel Six, please,” she shouted.

  The TV flipped to
a channel depicting a black presenter sitting on a couch talking to another woman I recognized when I heard her speak. Monique looked so beautiful. Her smile was warmer than I’d imagined possible.

  “It’s all so amazing,” she blurted. “It’s like my whole life up until today meant nothing.” She glanced down and the camera shifted to the face of a beautiful mixed-race girl, probably three years old.

  I almost jumped out of my seat. “She’s so cute. Monique must be so happy.”

  “She is,” Angela said. “I can’t imagine how happy you both must feel right now.”

  When the credits started rolling, Monique rose to her feet, holding her child. As she waved at the audience, the camera zoomed in on the child, who was also waving. A tear came to my eye and I held my hands together. Then I thought of Amelia and my tears of joy turned to sadness.

  “Dylan’s ready,” came a mechanical voice. I glanced toward the entrance to see a bronze Kyso.

  “Thank you,” Angela said, and the robot walked out. “Are you ready?”

  I stood up but still felt a little drowsy. Angela held on to my shoulders for a few seconds before letting me go. “You’ll be all right.”

  She started making her way out, but I called out to her. “So what happens now?”

  She turned and put her hands on her hips. “Now you take your child and we take you to Hollywood, where you introduce Dylan to the world.”

  I knew that my interview was the next step, but I hoped she’d give me a pass. “Is it a good idea making him go on TV? He’s so young. Can’t I just take him home?”

  “You know the rules, Rachel. No exceptions.” She continued toward the exit. “Now come on, the world is waiting to see mother and son.”

  I sighed and followed her out.

  The flashing cameras made me squint, but I continued walking. Excited men and women extended their hands past the ropes, but the stream of armed fifth-generation Lypsos got in the way any time someone got too close. I stared at the muzzles of the guns attached to their arms and flinched. I switched my attention to Dylan and held on to him for dear life, but he didn’t look the least bit fazed by the crowd around us. He even giggled whenever we shared a look. Angela walked beside me and answered a heap of questions from journalists and other people allowed on the edges of the red carpet. I wished everyone would just disappear, leaving only Dylan and me in the midst of Hollywood Boulevard.