A Chronetic Memory (The Chronography Records Book 1) (28 page)

Joph and Lora had come through. She was eager to see what they had found.

WALLACE HOME, Lower Queen Anne, Seattle, WA. 1745, Monday, June 12, 2215.

Lexil was waiting outside when Dani arrived at the Wallace home. Lounging against a tree trunk, looking cheerful, with his cap at an angle, he grinned as he saw her.

“Waiting for me?” she asked. “Or are you just too timid to brave the irisscan?”

“Aw, you figured it out. I was trying to pull off a casual stance here. What gave me away?”

“The fact that you were outside instead of inside, maybe?”

“Maybe. Should we fix that?”

She laughed. “Sure. We can get scanned together.”

They paused at the irisscan, and started up the slidewalk. Without any conscious intention, her hand found his, their fingers catching a few times before resolve caught hold and they curled away. Dani steeled herself. She knew where this would go if she weakened even for a moment. Enjoy the friendship, just the friendship, she told herself sternly.

Fortunately, Marak threw open the door enthusiastically when they were halfway to the house, providing a welcome distraction. “Hi, Dani! Who’ve you got with you? Must be Lexil.” He turned without waiting for her response to shout inside, “Kat! Dani’s here—with friend.”

Lexil’s hand was soon involved in a vigorous handshake, temptations forgotten. Good. Better not to have to deal with that. She shook off the wistful thoughts and focused on the tasks that had brought them here.

“Drinks, anyone?” Marak took their orders and excused himself to the kitchen to whip up some fruity concoctions. Kat invited them into the living room. Dani noticed the furniture was rearranged, and asked about it.

“I know! It’s different, isn’t it? I got home today and found it this way. Marak must have found some time to get creative while he was working from home today. He didn’t say a word, though, just let me find it myself. Silly man, probably waiting for my response. I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of commenting on it.”

“I like it, I think,” said Dani.

“Me too.”

As they got settled, Marak came back with the drinks.

“We need a name for this group,” he suggested. “How about the Ephemeral Ones? Or the Ephemerists?”

“What does that even mean?” Kat frowned at him, but the corner of her mouth twitched upward into a smile.

“Oh, you know. Lasting only a day? We’re going to be this version of ourselves for what, a day or two more? We should live it up, right? No possibility of regrets? We can quit our jobs, go crazy! You up for it, babe?”

“Oh yeah, always. Whatever you say.” She rolled her eyes at Dani and Lexil, and they laughed.

“Let’s hope we don’t have to do anything too drastic,” Dani said. “We’ve got to stay alive to see this through.”

“No diving out of helicars in mid-air?” Marak pretended to pout. “I had my heart set on it.”

“Maybe later, hon.” Kat patted his arm. “After these guys leave, we can talk about your fantasies.”

“Yes, please, wait till we leave,” Dani interrupted. Who knew where he might be going on this train of thought! “Please.”

“Well, okay.” Marak relented. “What have you two brought, and how can we help?”

Dani pulled out the little recorder Lexil had sent with her the day before. “First I need to get this back to you. It worked; I got the file structure.”

“Excellent! This little treasure,” he said, showing it to Kat and Marak, “will let me put that padlock back in place and introduce you two when you were supposed to have met.”

“You’re going to the institute?” Kat asked.

“No, I won’t need to. Dani will be able to plug this in, after I incorporate the correct file pointers, and use her scanner to reintroduce the padlock to the timestream. I’ll give it to her tomorrow.”

“So we’re looking at Wednesday for our Last Day Here on Earth?” Marak asked. “We’d definitely better get planning some crazy stuff.”

“Hush, Marak. Lexil will think you’re never serious,” Kat chided him.

“What do you mean?” Marak put on a hurt expression. “This is me, being serious. Right, Dani?”

“Pretty much,” she said, then added for Lexil’s benefit, “but he settles down eventually and offers useful stuff.”

“Well, I’d expect that.” He turned to Marak, “I’ve heard you are an incisive, quick-witted investigative reporter.”

“You’ve heard that? So now I have to live up to my reputation.” He sighed. “Okay, I’ll behave. What do you guys need from us?”

“Remember your question about whether I could stay in the observation box while the timestream was being fixed?” Dani asked. “That won’t work, it turns out.”

Marak frowned. “So all of our investigations here are going to be lost?”

“Unless they also happened—” Lexil paused. “I never know what tense to use with things that haven’t occurred in this timestream! But you know what I mean.”

They nodded. “Go on,” said Kat.

“Unless they would also have happened in the original timestream, which is unlikely in your case, but possible—even likely—in the investigations Dani has been doing with that Anders guy and the high school kids.”

“I’ve been trying not to mention anything that I got from you guys when I’m working with them,” Dani confirmed. “I sent all the data to Detective Rayes while I was on my way here. I’m hoping the other Dani would have done the same.”

“Why can’t she stay in the observation box?” Kat asked.

“Without being too dramatic, I’ll just say it this way: It might threaten her life,” said Lexil. “If she is outside the box at that moment when it switches back to the original timestream, her body would exist in two places, with half the substance in each, and each version of her would have two different sets of memories. It would be messy, and I’d kind of like her to survive, if possible.”

Dani laughed. “I’d agree with you on that one. Although I suppose I wouldn’t be alive to worry about it, if not.” Then a thought occurred to her. “What about the other interns?”

“Other interns?” asked Lexil. “What about them?”

“We have four labs, each of which has several scanners. At any given time, there might be three or four interns using a scanner somewhere. If it’s a threat to me, it might be a threat to them too.”

“Possibly. I think their actions would be the same in either timestream, but we don’t really know how far the ripples might have reached at the institute. Is there any time when the scanners would be sure to be unused?”

“Lunchtime, on most days. Or after hours.” Dani considered his question. She would have to be sure, if it might risk someone’s existence. This timestream stuff could be touchy, she was realizing. “But that’s not guaranteed. Sometimes, if there are special projects, interns work through lunch.”

“You never have, not as long as I’ve known you,” said Kat.

“No, they try to chase us out of the labs for lunch. Something about pleasant work environments and opportunities for socialization. Not that that actually happens much. Which brings up another concern.”

“What’s that?” asked Marak.

“They actually take the scanners offline at lunchtime to encourage us to take breaks, unless we need one for an officially sanctioned purpose. I can’t do what we need to do at lunchtime.”

“Is there any way you could clear the labs during a time when the scanners are up and running?” Lexil asked.

“Not unless there was an emergency evacuation for some reason. An earthquake, maybe. Or a fire drill. But I can’t personally schedule anything.” She frowned.

“How about a bomb threat?” asked Kat.

“That would work. If someone called one in, you mean?”

“Yes, and I might be able to help with that. I have someone who’s been wanting to do something like that for a while.” She made a face. “I think he’d rather plant a real bomb, but he’ll be thrilled just to be able to make a threat.”

“That guy I saw you arguing with the other morning?”

“Yes, that’s the guy. Neferyn James.”

“I don’t know, Kat. I don’t really trust him,” said Marak.

“I can manage him. He might be prone to theatrics, but he’s harmless.”

“Any objections?” With a glance, Lexil surveyed the room. “No? Okay, Kat, can you schedule it for sometime Wednesday?”

“I’m pretty sure that won’t be a problem. I’ll meet Dani tomorrow for lunch and confirm it.”

“Good. And Dani, do you want to come to the island tomorrow night to get the program?”

Dani nodded. The whole idea of a fake bomb threat, while initially horrifying to her as a really irresponsible action, faded into insignificance when she thought about Marak’s comment about having only days left of this timestream. Nothing they did in this existence would count. People could die, even, and they’d still be alive in the original timestream. What really mattered was the fix. And she was the only one who could put it in place.

RIACH LABORATORIES, Alki Beach, Seattle, WA. 1000, Tuesday, June 13, 2215.

The next morning, it took Dani several hours to get far enough ahead on her assigned tasks to make time for the investigations she needed to do for Detective Rayes. Gradually, as she selected the objects needed for her daily assignments, she began adding the extra items. Joph and Lora had eliminated irrelevant entries from the VAO list. All the remaining objects would need to be investigated.

She added them a few at a time to her tray. Working without a lot of interaction from her superiors had its advantages, she realized. She wasn’t sure whether they left her mostly alone because they recognized how efficient and productive she was or because her assignments were so tedious (she suspected the latter), but she made full use of the freedom now.

As she scanned them, she began to notice a pattern. All the objects with blackmail potential had been converted during lunchtime or after the workday ended. In addition, they were all tagged with the “Administrative” ID. Once she had a pattern, she became more efficient at isolating the objects. Unfortunately, knowing which objects had probably been used for blackmail, and even seeing enough to figure out what secrets the blackmailer had targeted, wasn’t enough to get the list of names Detective Rayes had requested. She had dozens of faces, but faces weren’t names.

While she was working, her mind raced, trying to find a way to identify the victims. The faces could be run through identification programs, but to get the images, she’d have to use the VAO converter herself. Her activities would suddenly become a lot more noticeable. She didn’t dare risk it. So she started to pay attention to tiny details, visual and audio clues. Out of the fifty or so objects the blackmailer had probably used, three of them gave her enough information about the blackmail victims to identify them with a name or an address. She hoped that would be enough.

BATELLI’S DELI, West Seattle, WA. 1000, Tuesday, June 13, 2215.

At noon, when she went off campus to meet Kat for lunch at the retro place, she sent the information she had gathered to the detective. She looked up when the waiter arrived to take their order, and realized Kat hadn’t said a word to her, after their initial greeting. Instead, she was studying her, her expression communicating a thoughtful concern.

“What’s worrying you?” Dani asked, then laughed. “I mean, besides everything?”

Kat frowned. “I’m trying to figure that out. In just a few words, I’m worried about you.”

“Me? Why?”

“You’ve changed in so many ways in just a few days.” Kat ticked them off on her fingers. “You’re falling in love—no, don’t try to deny it! You’re participating in, and even arranging, clandestine meetings. You’re working to take down a scarily dangerous person, and there might be more than one, and you’re not showing any real signs of fear. You’re engaging in corporate espionage and agreeing to bomb threats. Are you okay with all this? You almost seem like a different person!”

Dani looked around a little nervously, reassuring herself that no one had heard Kat’s words. “Not so different that I’d toss around all those incriminating words!” She smiled ruefully. “Maybe you’re the one who has changed?”

“No, I’ve always been an activist. Peaceful, yes, but still an activist. You’re the one who usually does everything she can to avoid making waves.”

Dani considered. “Well, in a way, I am a different person than the one you’ve known. Your Dani has never invested herself in the life of a little boy, for example. But I acknowledge that all these things are new even for the Dani of my timestream. I think I like the changes, though. Are they too terribly shocking?”

“Not to me. I just want to be sure you’re not getting sucked into something you’re not ready for.”

“What difference does it make? All the changes will be erased—tomorrow! Except maybe the investigations, and we don’t know about those. Besides, they really need to be done.”

“You’re sure.”

“Very sure.”

Kat studied her for a moment, then nodded. “Okay. Then I’ll call my guy back. I told him to be ready, on my confirmation, to call in his threat just as the afternoon shift is starting. I figured that would make sure that everything is up and running, but the interns would just be setting up, so they’d be able to leave easily. Was I right? Will that be okay for you?”