Paradox (16 page)

Suddenly it struck him that this couldn’t
have been where Emilee had gone. This kind of technology wasn’t around when she
was a kid. So why was he here? Had she put it in here as a “trap” of sorts so
that anyone who tried to stop her couldn’t? Where was he?

When
was he?

Zac looked at the options on the menu. He
had to start somewhere. If Emilee was in here, maybe her name was listed.

“Please select an option from the menu,”
the voice repeated.

“Patient directory,” Zac said out loud and
waited. Nothing happened. He repeated it, louder and more clearly.

“Please select an option from the menu.”

A man walked up next to Zac and pressed
the wall where it said “Patient Directory.” The wall reconfigured into a
different screen.

“Having trouble?” the man asked.

“Yeah, thanks,” Zac said. “I’ve never used
one of these before.”

The man laughed. “That’s funny. Your folks
must be pretty wealthy to have already upgraded to a voice-activated wall
system at home.”

“Voice activated?”

“Not many of us have the new voice
systems. Most houses just have these standard interactive walls. But I guess
you rich kids don’t realize how it is for the rest of us.”

Zac stared at the wall. “Um… does this
thing have a calendar on it so I can… check something?”

The man reached over and pressed some
spaces on the wall. The menu disappeared and a calendar popped up. It was the
same day as when he left. But the year was what shocked him.

Somehow, the TEMPUS machine had propelled
him about one hundred and fifty years into the future.

Zac took a step back. How had this
happened? Why would Emilee visit the future? What was she trying to accomplish?

Or what if the computer malfunctioned
again? Instead of sending him to the past, it sent him ahead? He excused
himself from the man and snuck around the corner, pulling out the Wand. He had
to get back to talk to Bryce; something had gone wrong. He pressed down on the
sensor.

Nothing happened. He tried again.
Still nothing.

He examined the device and saw that the
lights were not working. Did it mean that it was out of power? He moved down
the hallway, the images on the wall flickering and changing into different
things: pictures of animals, advertisements and posters, interactive screens…
he leaned against the wall to think.

“Invalid selection,” the voice around him
said. “Please make another choice.
Invalid selection.”

A doctor came out of a room, holding
another see-through digital clipboard. “Don’t lean against the wall, please,”
he said and shook his head.

Shaken, Zac stood back up. He looked down
the hallway and could see what looked like a multitude of rooms, each one
packed together and tiny. He started walking, hoping to find an exit. He looked
down at the Wand; one bar was lit up now.

Zac breathed a sigh of relief. It was
still working.
At least partially.
He tried pushing
the sensor, but still, nothing happened.

A nurse passed him. “Doctor,” she said,
peeking into one of the rooms, “the Jane Doe in 1623 is still suffering some
side effects from the trauma. She keeps saying that she needs to get back to
her own time.”

“Just give her a mild sedative until we
can run some scans,” the doctor replied. “She’s been talking like that since
she was admitted. The person who dropped her off said he found her passed out.”

The nurse nodded and tapped something onto
her clipboard. “It’s being administered right now,” she said. “I’m scheduling
another scan.” She lowered the board to her side and walked on.

Zac stopped. Could it be? Was Emilee here?
But why was she a patient?

He waited until the doctor was out of
sight and moved down the hallway, toward room 1623. Other people walked in and
out of the rooms as he
passed,
family and friends
coming to wish a speedy recovery or to visit. Room 1623 was toward the end of
the hallway. He passed door after door, occasionally pausing to glance inside.

“Watch out,” someone said, and Zac pressed
himself to the side, careful to avoid touching the wall again. A few men pushed
a bed past him with an elderly man on it. Zac had to stop and look again. It
looked like the bed was levitating, just floating in mid-air. But that was
impossible. Yet there it was, being guided along by a gentle push of the hand.

Finally, he came to the door of the room.
Zac looked behind him, making sure no one saw him going in. Then again, in this
place, they probably had cameras everywhere, even inside the walls.

The room was dark except for a red light
in the corner. A lone bed lay in the center of the room, an IV drip hanging
down next to it. There were no heart monitors or machines beeping and cluttering
up the room. Instead, the wall next to the bed glowed with numbers and moving
lines, about ten screens spread across the surface.

Zac moved closer, stepping in to get a
better look at Jane Doe. Her bed did not levitate like the one he saw in the
hallway. Instead, it rested on top of a rectangular base that was the same
size. Before he could get any closer, he heard a soft, croaking voice coming
from the bed.

“Zac?”

Zac ran up to her. “Emilee? What are you
doing here?”

She gave a weak smile,
then
reached up to touch his face. “Hey, there…”

“Emilee, why did you use TEMPUS? What were
you
thinking
? You’re lucky I was able to find you!”

Emilee just turned over like she was half
asleep. Zac shook her.

“You need to get up. We have to get back.
The machine malfunctioned again, and my device is having trouble working.
Where’s yours?”

Emilee said nothing, but began drifting
off, her eyes glazing over. “So sweet…” she said. “…that’s why I like you so
much…”

Zac looked at the wall that displayed the
screens. Her heart rate was slowing as she fell into a sleeping pattern. He had
to wake her up or he might never get her out of there and back home. He looked
at her IV drip. It was giving her a steady dose of something. He followed the tube
down to her arm and pulled off the tape, slowly easing the needle out of her
vein. He grabbed a cotton ball and pressed it to her skin.

“Come on,” he said. “I need you to wake
up. You’re not supposed to be here.” He lifted her and she stumbled out of the
bed. She was still groggy and sleepy. “We need you to get dressed. Here, put
these on.” He handed her the jeans that were in the closet.

Emilee slid the small plastic monitor off
her finger and struggled to put the clothes on. She began to become more awake,
more aware of her surroundings. “Where am I?” she asked.

Zac slipped her shoes on her feet, and she
looked around the room, confused. “You’re the one who got here first. You tell
me.”

Emilee squeezed her eyes shut and grabbed
her head in pain. She grunted. “Someone did this.”

“Who?”
Zac
prodded. “Bryce thought you used the machine to go back and stop your
stepfather.”

“What?” Emilee said, puzzled, “No. No, I
didn’t use the machine.”

“Then how’d you get here? The doctors said
someone brought you here; did something happen after you left?”

“No,” Emilee said, shaking her head. “I
told you, I didn’t use the machine. I just… After you stormed off to go try and
stop the subway bombing, I talked with your dad for a while, and then I left.”
She paused, her memories becoming clearer. “I just remember someone putting
something over my mouth, and then I passed out. When they brought me in, I
tried to tell them I’m not supposed to be here.” Her eyes widened, and she
tried standing up. “Someone brought me here.”

“Who did?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I tried talking
to the doctor and then…” she stopped suddenly,
then
rushed over to the table, a look of horror spreading to her face. “
Oh, no.”
She held up a small cylindrical object.
Her Wand.

It was crushed in the middle.

“That isn’t…”

Emilee nodded. “The doctor told me that
when I was brought in, it was all I had with me. What do I do?”

The monitors on the wall started beeping,
calling the nurses to check on the patient. Zac looked outside the door. A
nurse was walking down the hallway.

“Here,” Zac said, tossing her the shirt
from the closet. “Put this on; we’ve gotta get out of here.”

“Just use your Wand,” Emilee said, pulling
her shirt on.

“I can’t,” Zac said. “For some reason,
it’s not working in here. I think something’s interfering with it. We have to
get out of here.” He stepped out the door. Emilee followed.

“Excuse me,” said the nurse. She called
after them. “Wait a minute! You can’t just leave!”

Zac looked back,
then
started running. He paused. Emilee was still feeling the effects of whatever
they dosed her with. He hurried back and slung her arm over his shoulder. “Come
on,” he said. “I’ve got you.”

They hurried down the hallway toward the
end of the corridor; there was a stairwell there. The walls immediately lit up
all around him, covered in security camera footage of Zac leading Emilee out of
her room just moments ago.

Zac stood in front of the stairwell door,
looking for a handle to push open. He put his hand to it, pushing.

Instantly, the door slid sideways into the
wall, and they stepped through. The stairwell was steep; they were on the
sixteenth floor.

“What do we do?” Emilee asked. She looked
down at the spiraling staircase.

“Do you think you can walk?”

“I…” she braced herself, grabbing onto the
railing. “I think so.”

“Good. Let’s go.” Together they scrambled
down the stairs. Zac looked down and saw some men coming up the stairs.
“Great,” he said.
“New plan.”

At the next floor, he touched the door,
and it slid open.

“What are you doing?” Emilee asked.

“They’re looking for us on the stairs. We
need to get back on the elevator. You’re going to have to run for it. Can you
do that?”

She nodded. “Ready?” she asked.

“Ready,” Zac said.
“On
the count of three.
One… two…”

Emilee bolted down the hallway, pushing
aside a levitating bed and almost knocking someone over.

Zac hurried and followed; people stared at
them, many yelling obscenities. Few seemed to notice the walls that displayed
images of them leaving her room just minutes earlier. Everyone was probably so
used to the walls displaying pictures that they just ignored them. At least Zac
and Emilee could hope that was the case.

They reached the elevator and got in, the
sleek black doors shutting behind them. Zac checked the Wand; the lights were
all out again.

“This isn’t good,” he said. “Something’s
not right.” He pressed the illuminated button on the wall, and the doors closed.

They felt a fast sinking sensation as the
elevator dropped to the first floor. The elevator stopped, but the door remained
closed. A voice came out of nowhere, seemingly emanating from the walls.

“Hospital staff and patrons please
observe,” it said. The black wall was filled with a glowing white square about
thirty inches across. “There has been a security breach. Please take note of
the individual in question and report any sighting immediately.” The image
changed to a picture of Emilee’s face. It looked like it was from a security
camera, zoomed in and cleaned up to give a crystal-clear shot of her. Under her
picture were the words “Considered Dangerous.”

“What does that mean?” Emilee asked. “Why
are they calling it a security breach?”

“I don’t know,” Zac said. “How did you get
here? Did you get yourself in trouble or something?”

She shook her head, staring at her image
in the wall. “No, I keep telling you. I didn’t use TEMPUS. I don’t know how I
ended up here.”

The door to the elevator opened and the
screen disappeared from the wall, becoming a shade of obsidian again. Zac
noticed some people walking their way.

“Okay,” he said. “We need to do this
quickly. See the doors at the opposite end of the room?”

Emilee gazed through the massive, open
lobby. To the right was a cafeteria; to the left was a gift shop. Farther past
that, she could see what looked like a checkin station for incoming patients.
The doors were just beyond the desk, a security guard stationed nearby. The
guard was watching the monitors carefully, bending down to examine them. “I see
the doors,” she said. “Do we make a run for it?”

Zac shook his head. “No, that’ll draw
attention. We need to act calmly. Keep your head down.” He started down the
hallway, walking as slowly as he could, but occasionally looking up to see if
anyone was following or otherwise watching.

Emilee followed. They passed the cafeteria
and the gift shop. The loud noise poured from the cafeteria and no one seemed
to notice them. And why would they? They were eating.

Zac moved toward the checkin station.
Hospital employees were talking with other patients, handing them digital
clipboards to fill out information. One woman looked up from typing on hers and
smiled. Zac smiled back.

“There’s no way we’re going to get past
that guy,” Emilee said, eyes darting toward the security guard. Zac turned and
faced her. “We can’t just walk right out. He’s going to recognize me right
away.”

“Well,” Zac said, “do you have a better
idea?”

Emilee thought for a moment. “Come here,”
she said. “Put your arm around my waist.” She lifted her arm up so he could
move in close. “Now pull me in, like we’re a couple.”

Zac’s heart skipped a beat as he held her
close. He felt the same as he did when they escaped on the cliff together just
a few days ago. “What are we doing?”

“Pretend you’re in love with me,” she
said. She put her arms around his neck and intertwined her hands together.
Lowering her head, she rested it on his chest, hiding her face.

Zac could smell her hair. He pulled her in
by the waist a little closer and started walking, lowering his head down to
touch her forehead.

“Good,” she whispered. “Just play along.”
Both of their faces were slightly hidden as they approached the security guard.

Zac’s hands trembled slightly as they
neared the door. They were so close.

Suddenly, Emilee pulled away, giggling,
her hands held out in a defensive position. She looked down at her feet, and
her long black hair hung down in front of her face. “Stop tickling me!” she
said, voice filled with laughter.