A Hole in Time

The Hole - Chapter 15 - Conversations with my son

I go through the morning, unable to focus on anything. The thought has shaken me so badly, It is all I can think about. It is not until lunch time that I start to snap out of it. In our groups, we line up to receive our lunch. My group of girls head over to the Healers lunch station where a Healers woman stands behind the counter and serves a bowl of our normal gray slump. I stand and watch her movements, so robotic it scares me. I take my bowl and follow the line to our table. Our table sits in-between two other 16 year olds girl groups. To my left, a Hierarchy group, eating their disgusting looking food. I thought gray looked bad, but black is ten times worse. To my right, a Unionists group, eating their brown slump. I do not know why our food has to be the same colour as our uniforms. It has to just be colouring differences because the food looks all the same.

I try to control the gagging that threatens to choke me. I must eat my lunch like everyone else, otherwise they will notice something different. Each person that Liam and I come in contact with will record the encounter and the computer will register it later. I cannot let anything happen that the computer will register as out of the ordinary. What would the computer do if it found out what Liam and I know? We would be found and thrown Outside to die. A new thought starts to occupy my mind. What IS on the Outside? Is it actually the horrible, deadly place that we have been taught or is it a bigger, healthier version of the field? 

The idea hits me that the future that I stepped into was actually the same place, but different time. Something has, or rather will, happen to the Dome and it will collapse. I am struck with sudden urgency. The man that gave me the parcel was apparently Liam's and my future son and he was fully grown. The letter said that Liam and I were too weak to make the journey to meet, well, me. So the Dome will fall in the next seventy to eighty years. All people here in the Dome die around the age of 95. So, we really need to get everyone out of the Dome and soon. 

My focus is finally back and I coast through the rest of the day. I am anxious to see Liam and talk to him about everything. The boys extra class seems to take forever, but soon enough, Liam and I are walking towards our field. Once we are there, Liam relaxes onto the grass, but I need to know something. I walk towards the hole that I stepped through and tell Liam not to worry, that I am just testing a theory. I step through and I am greeted with a cool gush of air. 

I look around, seeing nothing but destruction. The sky is blue, but not like our energy-shield-projected sky. There are white things that are floating through the sky. I reach my hands up into the sky and try to touch the white things. A voice calls out in the silence, startling me. "Those are called clouds. It is evaporated water in the sky. It is what forms rain." I turn around and I see Mikey, my future son. 

"Hi, Mikey. Thanks. We do not have clouds in the Dome. But then, I am sure I have told you that before." I wonder why it does not bother me to be here, in the future, in the ruins of the Dome, talking to my future son. "Yeah, Mum, you have told me before. And, I know how you must be feeling right now. It is strange for me too. I understand that you might have questions, so I am here to answer them, if I can." He motions for me to sit down on the rubble. "We only have a few minutes. You cannot be out of your time for too long."

I walk over and sit down. "Okay, let's start with that. Why can I not be out of my time for too long?" Michael smiles. "Well, you and Dad are the ones that made all of this possible." He says as he waves his arms around. "You and Dad are the only un-chipped people from the Dome, and thus you are the only ones that could not be tracked. You were able to sneak up on the computer before it found you. And because this is a result of you destroying the computer, if you are out of your time for too long, it will not happen the same way. I might not even exist." 

"Oh, okay. In that case, I will  ask what I can now. Liam's and my twins, John and Scarlett, are they affected by our lack of microchip? Like, do they benefit from the twin bond? Does it help them?" I watch Michael nod. "Yeah, Uncle John and Aunt Scarlett are helped by your lack of microchip. It is what you think. They receive instructions from the computer but they have the ability to accept or refuse." I file this in my brain to tell Liam and search for more questions in my mind. 

"Okay, are you able to tell me where the computer is? Or how to heal the time holes? Not that I do not want to spend time here with you, but it is not natural." Michael shakes his head. "We have already given you as much information as we can. You guys, in this timeline, did not find the computer in time. The way to heal the time holes is to find the time technology and destroy it. This is all I can tell you." 

Michael stands up, and extends me his hand to help me up. I need to return to my time now. "My last question before I go. When I return to my time, will you still be in my future?" Michael smiles at me and guides me to the hole. "Your future is yours. Your decisions will make your future. If you want, then yes, I will be in your future. Seeing as though I was your first child, it is quite probable. Whatever you do, Mum, remember this. The entire population of the Dome is currently under the control of the computer. So, without putting too much pressure on you, the fate of the entire world rest on Dad's and your shoulders." 

Michael must realise something is happening because he pushes me towards the hole. The last thing I hear from Michael is him telling me to take care and use the information we have. There is a flash of light as I move from the natural sunlight of the Outside and into the artificial light of the Dome. The only good thing is the change from the rocky rubble to the softness of the grass under my feet. Liam smiles at me and I can feel my heart racing. It cannot be the time difference, because it is  happening every time I see Liam. I feel happy, safe, and tingly all over. I do not know why this is happening, but I like it.