The Time War

Chapter 34: America Joins the World Government

"Thank you, Ayesha," said Sarah, accepting the Pad from the Indian woman with long black hair and firm round buttocks.

Ayesha nodded, and smiled at Calle. "I heard about the good work you did on the Thomas Edison mission, John."

Calle found himself smiling shyly. "Well... Doctor Vladek helped."

"Um hm." She walked away, swaying her hips, her big, round buttocks clenching and unclenching slowly.

"I think Ayesha likes you," said Sarah, in a stage whisper.

"You always say that. Are you trying to be a matchmaker?" Calle asked, as he watched Ayesha's ass cheeks fade into the distance.

"Why not? It's not like you're seeing anyone else right now," said Sarah. She looked up at him with inscrutable eyes. "And Ayesha did try to seduce you."

"Under the influence of those rider parasites."

Sarah took a deep breath, causing her non-existent breasts to heave slightly. "I suspect that those parasites simply removed inhibitions within us," said Sarah. "They enabled us to do what we always wanted."

"And so you think Ayesha wants me, and the rider let her express that."

"Um hm," said Sarah.

"And what about you?" said Calle.

"What about me?" said Sarah.

"I seem to recall you making love to me in front of a crowded audience while being controlled by your rider." Calle folded his arms and stared at her. "And I believe you also told me that I was excellent breeding stock."

Sarah looked up at him again with big brown eyes. "You are." Then she turned back to her work again, as if nothing had happened.

*********

Marion.

Something had changed. America was no longer part of the World Government. Taxes were lower, there were fewer regulations, cars were bigger and heavier, prices were lower, and the media was freer.

And Marion Thomas, undoubtedly, was alive, once again, somewhere out there.

Calle tried to put the thought out of his mind. He had accompanied Major Reynolds on a scouting mission to find out the extent of the changes and to attempt to determine the cause. Once they had finished, Reynolds called for the gateway, and Calle followed Reynolds and the rest of his team up the Binochi Corridor, back to the control room. As they marched up the well lit path, Calle instinctively blocked out the sounds of the whispers from the mists. But then there was a whisper, so faint, and yet he couldn't block it from his mind.

Marion....

Calle jerked his head up. He saw an image of Marion, and himself. They were sitting at a two story gazebo, at the garden in Mohonk. Marion was smiling at him and put her hand over his.

He stopped and just stared at it.

"Calle!"

Calle blinked.

"Calle, come on!" said Reynolds.

Calle looked up the path, and saw the rest of the team, some distance ahead, stopped and waiting for him.

He couldn't leave Marion!

"Calle!" Reynolds cried again.

Calle bit his lip. "All right."

Reluctantly he started walking. With the first step, the image faded. He felt like crying.

When he caught up to them, Reynolds gave him an odd look. "What was that about?"

"Nothing," said Calle.

Reynolds gave him another odd look.

And then they were back in the control room.

********

It had been Marion. Marion as he remembered her. The same face, the same smile, the same everything. They were sitting together in a gazebo, just as they did innumerable times in Mohonk.

Except... Calle had never sat in that particular gazebo with Marion before. When it came to gazebos at Mohonk, Calle had an eidetic memory. He had walked by that two story gazebo many times before with Marion, but they had never, ever sat in it.

So what was it, if not a memory of the past? A vision of the future?

In this altered reality, Marion was alive, somewhere.

Would he be seeing her again?

********

"Alyssa Makepeace, the American President, died unexpectedly a week before she was to go to Stockholm to sign the World Government Accords," said Colonel Strayker.

"Was she killed?" Erica Green asked.

"Apparently not," said Strayker. "Apparently she slipped and fell and broke her neck in her own bathtub. It looks like an accident." He stared at the others sternly, as if to show what he thought of that theory.

"But... this didn't happen in our own timeline," said Daniel. "If it were an accident, how could it happen now?"

"I have a theory on that," said Doctor Vladek. "While we have been most assiduous in defending the timeline, some minor changes have unavoidably cropped up."

Like the deaths of 3000 people on the Titanic. Or 74 people on the Scunathorpe. Or the introduction of an entirely new system of lighting-

"Perhaps these minor changes introduced an element of randomness which caused her death," said Vladek.

Colonel Strayker shook his head. "A week before the United States was to join the World Government? Her Vice President was not nearly as committed to the cause as she was, and as a result America never joined the World Government. No, this was no accident."

"Then who did this?" Calle asked.

"Perhaps the most dangerous group of all," said Strayker. "You've encountered them before, Captain. The so-called Freedom Riders."

The Freedom Riders. Suddenly, Calle remembered John Locke and Jean-Claude Rousseau, who had tried to sabotage the creation of the World Government.

"Why do you say they are the most dangerous group of all?" Calle asked. "Surely, the Temporal Social Justice Warriors, or Goodlife-"

"Are obviously evil, of course," said Strayker. "But the Freedom Riders are merely misguided. They think world order is anathema to society. But because we think of them as merely misguided, that makes them all the more dangerous. There are some who may even have sympathies for them." He glared at everyone, one by one, to make his point. "I assure you, we will show them no more mercy than we will the other factions. I want this matter investigated thoroughly." He turned to Calle, as if to give him the assignment, and then took a deep breath, and turned to Reynolds instead. "Major Reynolds, you will be in charge of this matter."

"Yes, sir."

********

A team went back in time and examined President MakePeace's bathtub. Sure enough, a thin layer of solvent had been applied to the bottom of it.

"So it is murder, then," said Strayker. "I want you to find out who did this. I want you to find them, capture them, and interrogate them so we can locate their point of origin and end this menace once and for all. See to it, Major," he said, stalking out of the room.

"Yes sir," said Reynolds.

Calle turned to Sarah. "I've never seen the Colonel so obsessed. We've seen factions who have practically wiped out humanity. Why is he so angry with this faction?"

Sarah paused, and then spoke haltingly. "The Colonel is a... passionate supporter of the system of World Government." She gave him a warning look to be quiet as Major Reynolds approached. "Yes?"

"Sarah, we're going back in time a week to set up a minispycam in the President's bathroom. Once you locate the intruder who tampers with her bathtub, notify us of the temporal coordinates and we'll go in and grab him."

"Of course, Major," said Sarah, nodding.

********

But it wasn't so easy. After Reynold's team placed the spycam, Sarah sat at the monitors for hours, watching.

"Want me to spell you?" Naomi asked. "There isn't much incoming traffic right now."

Sarah held up a restraining hand. "No, I can handle it, thanks." She was watching speeded up time lapse on four different holomonitors at the same time.

When she was ready, she made her report.

"No one?" said Strayker. "Your recording found no one?"

"That is correct, sir," said Sarah, standing at attention in his office.

Strayker walked around her in a circle, glaring at every side of her. "So how did it happen? Are we supposed to think that that bathtub greased itself?"

"I don't know, sir."

Strayker said nothing, pacing furiously.

"At least we can solve the problem, sir," said Reynolds. "We can put down a firm rubber matt, with a gravitational adhesive. It won't budge an inch."

"Do it," said Strayker.

********

And so, US President Alyssa MakePeace did not slip and crack her head in her bathtub a week before signing the World Government accords.

She did however, choke on a chicken bone and suffocate and die five days before the summit was to be convened. She choked on a chicken patty which was supposed to be boneless.

Strayker ordered a camera installed in the White House kitchens. He wanted to know everyone who went in and out of there three days before and leading up to that event in time.

But again, when they reviewed the footage, they found nothing suspicious and no one but the regular White House cooking staff.

"So are we to believe that that chicken bone just inserted itself in the President's cutlet?" Strayker asked.

"It has been known to happen, sir," said Sarah.

"I don't believe it!" he said loudly. "Sarah, what's going on here?"

"Sir?"

He stared at her face to face. "What... is... going... on?"

"I... I don't know, sir," said Sarah.

"I believe I may have a theory," said Doctor Vladek.

Strayker turned to face him; Sarah, relieved, sank back in her chair.

"Perhaps the assassin is wearing a cammotarp. That might explain why we didn't see him in the bathroom, or the White House kitchen."

"A cammotarp," said Strayker slowly.

"It would effectively render him invisible to our sensors," said Vladek.

Strayker nodded slowly.

"We can render this assassination method innocuous by running all the meat products in the kitchen through a molecular pulverizer," said Vladek. "All food, even bones, will become as soft as powder."

"Do it," said Strayker.

********

As it turned out, Alyssa MakePeace not only didn't slip and crack her head in her bathtub, but she also didn't choke to death on a chicken bone in the White House mess hall.

She did, however, perish in a large fireball when her stratoliner exploded, shortly after takeoff from Andrews Air Force base, on the way to Stockholm.

Colonel Strayker was enraged. "All right! Enough is enough! We are going to catch these anarchists once and for all. We are going to have men watching her plane. We are going to have men watching her motorcade. We are going to have men watching the air force pilots, and men watching her secret service staff. The entire Continuity Service base staff will be mobilized for this operation."

"But sir, if they are using cammotarps, they could walk right past us and we'd never know," said Erica Green.

"Not anymore," said Strayker. "You will all be given nuclear powered contact lenses which will enable you to see rapid changes in density. You will see them, all right. Sarah has mapped everything out and will give you all your placement assignments."

********

"I gave you the simplest assignment," said Sarah, looking at Calle. "To watch Air Force One. Do you think you can do that?"

"I imagine so," said Calle.

"You'll have the credentials of a Secret Service officer. Stop and search anyone trying to get aboard. If anyone is using a cammotarp and you detect them with your contacts, shoot first, and ask questions later."

Calle's eyebrows went up.

"The Commander's orders," Sarah explained.

********

Calle felt uneasy as he stood outside Air Force One. The only ones who had approached thus far were the pilots. He had searched them and let them on their way.

He tried not to think about what he was doing. If he was successful, when he was successful, Marion would once again cease to exist. He had hated himself for wiping her out of existence even as he helped the World Government come into being, and hated himself even more now that he was about to do it again.

Focus. He had to focus. He stared out at the empty tarmac. So far the "density change detectors" built into his contacts hadn't detected anything, except a slight breeze. Maybe the assassin wasn't coming this way.

And Calle watched as a lone Air Force officer approached him. The man came close and saluted.

"Hello, John," said the officer.

Calle stared at him.

It was John Locke.

*********

He appeared to be unarmed; if he had a compression pistol, it must be hidden in his jacket. But he made no attempt to reach it. Calle looked around.

"There's no one else here, John, just you and me," said Locke.

Calle was incredulous. "What was your plan, that I would just let you walk right past me and put the bomb on the plane?"

"Yes, John, that's exactly what I plan to do," said Locke.

Calle drew his compression pistol. "You know I can't let you do that."

"The World Government is evil, John. It's a cancer," said Locke. "It's well intentioned, perhaps, but it has a distinct plan for every person on the planet, and that isn't right. Shouldn't people have the right to choose what kind of milk they drink, what kind of holodrama they watch, what kind of air car they buy?"

He saw the flicker of pain in Calle's face.

"That's right, John. Your wife is alive. You can see her again," said Locke softly. "She didn't die in that air car crash, John. If you let me pass, America will never join the World Government, and Americans will never be forced to buy light, unsafe air cars, and your wife will live again."

His words hit Calle like a sledgehammer. Suddenly, the vision of Marion made sense. If he let Locke walk buy... Marion would be alive... and he could be with her, again. Suddenly, the unthinkable became...

thinkable

.

Locke walked up to him and whispered in his ear. "And the best part is, John, you don't have to do anything. Just let it happen. Just let me walk by. Do nothing, and you can spend the rest of your life with Marion again."

Locke saw the uncertainty playing out on Calle's face. Locke grabbed his arms. "John, the World Government...

it's not even supposed to exist

.

It never did."

His words barely made an impact on Calle. The image of Marion, in the garden gazebo, sitting with him, hand in hand, overwhelmed his mind.

And so John Calle watched as Locke experimentally took a step past him, and then another and another. "Thank you, John," Locke said softly.

Calle watched him walk into Air Force One, and several minutes later, watched him come out. He felt totally paralyzed. Locke did not approach him as left the plane, simply walking away in another direction.

Marion

.

********

Calle was prepared for anything when he saw the plane explode. He had no idea what he was going to say to Colonel Strayker. He briefly considered not returning to the Continuity Service main base, but knew that he could easily be captured; after all, they knew exactly where and when he was right now.

And so he activated the recall device and returned home.

********

"Airforce One blew up 39 seconds after launching," said Strayker, glaring at his staff in the conference room.

He paused for a long moment. "However, President MakePeace was not aboard."

Everyone looked startled.

Strayker gave a tiny smile. "She was persuaded to take another plane, and to use Air Force One as a decoy."

"How?" Sarah asked.

"Based on threats to her person received by the Secret Service," said Strayker. "The conference went on as planned, and America joined the World Government, just as it always did."

Everyone clapped and applauded... except for John Calle.

The Colonel noticed. "There is only one lingering matter to resolve. John, you were guarding Air Force One. How did that bomb get aboard the plane?"

"I don't know," said Calle.

"Did you search everyone who boarded?"

"Yes," said Calle.

"Did your contact lenses detect any invisible movement?"

"No, sir," said Calle.

Strayker nodded. "A continuing mystery, then. I wonder what the remote sensors detected."

"Remote sensors?" said Calle.

"We also planted remote sensors around the airfield, ones capable of detecting invisible movement, just like your contact lenses, but more sophisticated, as a backup." He saw the expression of surprise on Calle's face. "You didn't know that, did you? Well, you didn't need to know. Sarah, have you finished reviewing the footage?"

"I have," said Sarah.

"And?"

Calle looked up at Sarah. She purposefully avoided his gaze. "There was no sign of any invisible movements towards Air Force One."

"And did Captain Calle in fact search every person who approached the plane?"

Sarah nodded. "He did, sir."

Strayker gave her a hard look.

"Perhaps you'd like to review the footage yourself, sir," said Sarah coldly.

Strayker stared at her for a long moment, and then shook his head and gave her a chilly smile. "Well, then I guess we still have a little mystery on our hands. Not to worry, eventually, we always get to the truth. Don't we, Sarah?'

"Yes, sir."

Strayker glared at them all one more time, for good measure. "You're dismissed."

********

Later, Calle went over to Sarah.

"Why?" he asked simply.

"I'm busy," said Sarah, staring at her holoscreen.

He took her arm. "Why?"

Sarah looked around, to see if anyone else was nearby. Naomi was closest, and she was a good thirty feet away.

She looked up at him, and spoke in a soft voice. "A man should never be forced to kill his wife... twice."

Calle's face fairly melted with emotion. He gingerly reached out and caressed her cheek. "Thank you," he whispered.

Her smile meant the world to him.