Future Threat

12

“We found that twenty-four hours was far too difficult on each subject,” Dr. Kapur says. “With such a long time period, we had to account for eating and sleeping—but five hours is the perfect amount of time to send a team for a mission without them getting overly tired or hungry. Plus, there’s a significantly lower risk of future shock with a shorter duration.”

“I thought we wouldn’t suffer future shock?” I ask.

“There’s always a small chance.” He sounds dismissive, like a small chance of brain damage is no big deal. I’m already regretting my decision to agree to this.

“How far ahead in the future are we going?” Adam asks.

“You’ll be going thirty years forward, like before,” Vincent says. “We’re sending you an hour before the other team was supposed to return. Dr. Campbell will meet you in the future and explain everything you need to know. Do whatever it takes to find Jeremy and bring him back, along with the others on his team. If you succeed, you have my word that Aether will leave you alone forever.” He pauses to let that sink in. “Now, if there are no other questions, we’ll get started. Good luck.”

The three of us share a wide-eyed look. We’re going to the future now. For the second time. Even though I knew it was coming, I’m still not prepared for how quickly this is happening. What will we find in this second future? Will it be identical to the other one we went to, except that Chris and I are alive in it now? Or will it be completely different?

“Sequence initiated,” says a robotic-sounding voice. “Five.”

Chris begins to swear under his breath, while we cluster in the center of the accelerator in anticipation of what we know is to come.

“Four.”

The walls around us begin to hum. My throat grows tight as the machine seems to close in around me from all sides. Last time there were five of us in here, but it feels more cramped than ever.

“Three.”

The buzzing grows louder, vibrating under our feet, through our bones. My head throbs, and the world starts to go dark, to tilt. But it’s not the world, it’s me. I fight off a wave of dizziness and flashbacks, pressing my hand to my forehead. I never thought I’d be going through this again, and it’s too familiar, too real, too much like last time. I’m tempted to run to the door and demand they let us out, to scream until they stop this madness, except I can’t make myself move.

“Two.”

The floor shakes so violently I feel it in my teeth. Chris stands beside me, his face a hard mask, his hands clenched into fists at his side. Adam pulls me into his arms, and we cling to each other as the golden light appears and the earthquake stops.

The aperture is opening. The doorway to the future is here.

“One.”

The rest of the world fades away into darkness. The present disappears and there are only the three of us, scared and trapped in a storm of pure gold energy. With no way out but forward, into the future once more.

PART II

THE FUTURE

00:00

The golden light dims, and the world around us starts to form. Dark shapes begin to sharpen as if someone is adjusting the lens on a camera, slowly making the future come into focus.

I blink rapidly against the brightness. I already know we’ll be in the same location as we were before, in the basement of the Aether building, but now thirty years in the future. Last time we visited this time period, the place was abandoned, eerily silent, and pitch-black. Now it’s full of light and sound.

Voices filter into my ears, hazy and slurred at first, but I pick out a few words:

“They’re here.”

“Good, they made it,” a woman’s voice says.

“Was there ever any doubt? It’s all in the file…”

“It’s still a miracle every time.”

When the last of the fog lifts, an older black woman moves toward us, smiling. It takes me a second to recognize Dr. Campbell. Her curls are tied back and don’t show any gray, but the edges of her eyes crinkle more than I remember and her mouth has laugh lines that weren’t there before. Of course—she’s thirty years older now.

“Welcome to the future,” she says.

“How are you feeling?” the man asks us. He’s Asian and younger, probably in his mid-thirties, and wears a bright purple tie under his lab coat. He was likely just a kid back in our time. “Do you need to sit down? Would you like a glass of water?”

“I’m not sure if you remember me, but I’m Dr. Ronnie Campbell.” She gestures to the other guy. “And this is Dr. Edwin Chow. He monitors the physical and mental health of the time travelers.”

None of us answer as we take in the world around us, still dazed. I don’t see Dr. Kapur or Vincent Sharp anywhere, but other scientists I don’t recognize stand around the basement, watching us with curious eyes. The accelerator is gone, but the massive basement is full of equipment and set up like a command center. Blinking lights. Sleek metal. Plastic and glass. I don’t know what most of it is, but it’s more advanced than anything I’ve seen before.

“What year is this?” Adam asks. His words come out strained. I don’t think I could speak if I tried. Dr. Campbell points to a wall where a dozen huge, paper-thin screens are set up, showing video feeds of different parts of the city, interactive maps with flashing pinpoints, and other things I can’t begin to guess at. Some of the screens are translucent, seemingly turned off. One of them flicks on and shows today’s date and time, along with a silly picture of a cat and a dog dressed up as witches. The month is October, exactly thirty years from the present, give or take a day or two. I set Mamá’s watch to the current time.