Future Threat

15

“Damn,” Chris says. “Team Echo is like a bunch of Adam clones.”

He’s right. Every one of these people is on Adam’s level. No foster kids this time. Each one of them is rich, brilliant, or both.

Dr. Campbell coughs. “After Team Delta—that was your group—Aether decided to go in a…different direction with their new recruits. Foster kids with special skills were Lynne’s idea, and that didn’t work out well for any of us. For the next team, we decided to recruit some of the top minds in the country, who might be more…willing to cooperate.”

“You mean, you recruited a ton of geeks who would follow orders,” Chris says.

Adam raises an eyebrow. “I think I should probably be offended by that statement…”

“They’re not so perfect though,” I say. “Most of them had problems with the law not long before they were recruited. My guess is that Aether magically made all of those problems go away.”

Dr. Campbell’s lips form a tight line and she doesn’t answer, but that’s enough of a response for me. These people may not be foster kids, but they definitely have dark spots in their past that Aether can exploit to force them to cooperate. Like us, they never really had much of a choice.

“What was their mission exactly?” Adam asks Dr. Campbell. “There’s not much information on that in these files.”

She hesitates a moment before answering. “They were sent to…infiltrate a Pharmateka lab and obtain a design for a machine that could create synthetic water, which we believe could potentially cure the drought and hunger problems of the world.”

I remember Pharmateka from the other future, where it was a rival of Aether Corporation, although in the present it hasn’t even been formed yet. “So they were supposed to break into your rival’s lab and steal this design, then bring it back to the present so Aether can make it instead? That’s some serious corporate espionage.”

“Essentially…yes.”

“No wonder Aether doesn’t want us to break the confidentiality agreement,” Chris says.

“Aether may resort to some…not entirely ethical means of doing things, but only with the best intentions,” Dr. Campbell says. “If Team Echo brings back the synthetic water generator’s design to your time period, imagine how much better the world could be in ten or twenty years. No more drought, and enough water for crops all over the world. It could end famine and water wars completely.”

I’m not sure I agree with her reasoning that the ends justify the means, but whatever. It’s not our mission to get the design, just to bring the original team back. If they have it, great. If not, that’s their problem. I’m sure Aether will send them to the future another time to get it.

“Why not have your own people do the breaking and entering part?” Chris asks.

“It would be too risky for us. We can’t let Pharmateka get even a whiff of the fact that we’re involved in something like this. Or that we have the ability to travel through time.”

“But if the team is successful, wouldn’t this future change anyway?” Adam asks.

“Would it?” Dr. Campbell replies, raising her eyebrows. “Or would it simply create an all-new timeline parallel to this one, while we continue on and have to live with the consequences of our actions?” She shrugs. “There’s no way to tell.”

Time travel. What a pain in the ass.

I go through the rest of the file, trying to look for any clues as to where the other team could have gone. Like Dr. Campbell said, we didn’t give Aether much info when we returned to the present with the other team. We mention that they split up, and that we stuck together and tracked them down one by one, and that’s about it.

I have a sneaking suspicion I know what they’re up to.

“Do you know if Team Echo ever looked up their future selves?” I ask. “In this future or any other?”

She frowns. “No, they were instructed not to, because of the potential for paradoxes, like you were. Why?”

“If we knew about their future selves, it might help us find them.”

“Hmm. Good point. I’ll have that information compiled and added to your flexis.”

“We should go to their last known location and see if we can find anything,” Chris says.

Dr. Campbell shakes her head. “We already examined the areas surrounding the Pharmateka lab and found nothing. You’re welcome to investigate as well, but I suggest you don’t spend much time there.”

She’s right. The clock is ticking, and we need to get going. I shove the last bite of my sandwich in my mouth and wipe my hands. I’ve never met this other team, but from their profiles, I’m starting to think I know what they were up to. “All right, let’s go. We only have”—I check my mother’s watch—“a little over four hours to find these people and bring them back.”

Dr. Campbell rises from her chair. “We’ll have someone escort you to—”

“Nope,” I say. “No babysitters.”

“But—”

“Look, we were sent here to help because we can find them and you obviously can’t. But you need to let us do it our way, or we’re not doing it at all.”

She considers my words with a frown, and looks across the room to where Dr. Chow stands with some other scientists. Finally, she nods. “Very well. But in that case, I should give you something else.” She waves Dr. Chow over. “Edwin, we’ll need three neutralizers.” He gives a sharp nod and walks away, his lab coat fluttering behind him.

“Neutralizers?” Adam asks.

“In case any member of Team Echo proves to be uncooperative,” she says.