Page 68 of Erase Me
“What you heard isn’t the entire story,” I said again, attempting to downplay the potential disaster I saw looming ahead.
“We’ll get to that later.However, meeting you two confirms for me that time travel isn’t something you find in a science fiction novel.It’s not just a far-out possibility.What I’m working on is a reality.”
She moved with a noticeable bounce in her step as she turned and crossed the room to Avalie.
“We’ve known for years that the laws of physics allow for chronological hopping—or time travel—but the devil has always been in the details,” she said, her hands gesturing in the air.“Time’s progression is dependent on the speed that we are moving.The faster we travel, the slower seconds pass.Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Judy waited until Avalie gave a nod in response, and then she began pacing.
“If someone were able to stand near the edge of a black hole, where gravity is exceptionally intense, only a few hours might elapse for them while a millennium unfolds for someone on Earth.Now, when they return to our planet, that individual would have essentially traveled—if ‘traveled’ is the right word—to the distant future.”She looked from Avalie to me and back again.“That is an actual phenomenon, entirely uncontroversial.It is accepted and part of mainstream scientific teachings.”
I didn’t interrupt or try to distract her.The time for denial had passed.In this apartment, on this night, a shift in history had happened.Judy understood she wasn’t chasing her tail with the research she was doing.And, as Avalie pointed out, her work now had the potential of progressing at a much faster pace.
It occurred to me that what had just happened had not significantly changed the larger historical picture, however.After all, we were still standing here.That was a good thing.
And for the first time tonight, the importance of what Avalie was trying to tell me struck me.Undoubtedly, there was now an alternate future in store for Judy.Could it be that her research would go from theoretical to actual application sooner, allowing her to benefit from her own work regarding her cancer?Could she become an agent in the Quantum Commute program herself?
Was it possible that I’d have my mother around longer as I grew up?
The complications of this scenario were not lost on me, either.My father would never remarry unless my parents divorced, potentially affecting the existence of my two half-sisters.And, my brother, who had taken charge of the company in his mid-twenties, might find more time for his true passion—doing research in the laboratory.All of these personal reasons loomed large as factors in this equation.Never mind the hundreds of other indirect players somehow linked to the original line of history.Some people would live, others might never be born, and countless lives would be forever altered.
It was already too late to change anything about it.This glitch tonight was irreversible unless I took immediate action.An agent needed to travel back in time to a week ago.Avalie would have to be stopped.Judy could never connect with Avalie and learn about time travel.The responsibility for all of this rested on me.I had to initiate the necessary steps.The question remained,Would I?
“Are either of you physicists?”Judy asked.
Avalie and I both shook our heads.
“Too bad.”
At the age of twenty-one, Judy was deeply engrossed in her scientific work.At this very moment, thoughts about marriage and children—despite me standing right in front of her—were on a back burner.The research she was doing was her baby.It was the only thing that she cared about.
“Other researchers have already created models of time travel.One involves a wormhole, a tunnel in spacetime that connects one point in the cosmos to another.Sort of a shortcut through the universe.”She resumed pacing, her words now directed as much toward herself as at us.“Imagine accelerating an object at one end of the wormhole to somewhere near the speed of light and then sending it back to where it came from.Those two ends of the wormhole are no longer chronologically in sync.One is in the past; one is in the future.”
She turned to each of us and smiled encouragingly, as if saying,Are you keeping up?I was, of course, but the main thought going through my mind right now was that I was witnessing what it felt like to be in the presence of a genius.This was the woman who, years from now, scientists in the organization and beyond would rave about for her unparalleled brilliance.An older version of this face I was looking at was depicted in a painting adorning the boardroom of the company.The most recent research building at our headquarters bore her name.And, above all, she was my mother.
Judy was gesturing with her hands, creating a model and explaining.“Now, if you’re the object moving between these two points, you’re time traveling.”
Her phone dinged with an incoming text, and she took it out of her pocket.As she read the message, it occurred to me that her research would shift to an understanding of the gyre-like loops within the walls of those wormholes, but she was still years from that.At least, she was until tonight.
Judy was frowning at the text on her phone.She shook her head and buried it deep in her pocket again.
“Okay, now I need you two to answer some of my questions.”She started heading out of the kitchen but then motioned to me.“Reed, open another bottle of wine.It’s going to be a long night.”
I watched her vanish through the door, my gaze lingering even after she had gone.Turning to Avalie, I frowned.“This is your doing.You brought her here.Now, I have to figure out how to fix it.”
“No, you don’t.Let it be.Some things are better when they’re rewritten.Some people are worth saving, worth keeping.”Her voice shook.As she spoke, her eyes reflected the intensity of her emotions.“You know as well as I do that history isn’t a linear progression of events, where one thing must absolutely lead to another, cause-and-effect.There are many scenarios and more possibilities.It’s time you opened your eyes and recognized some of them.Let her live, Reed.Let Nadine live!”
With a fierce glance that told me to consider my choices wisely, Avalie left the kitchen.
I turned around and slapped both hands on the counter.This wasn’t the way today was supposed to go.My job, my mission, was to be the hunter—to go after people who made a ripple in history, to stop their actions from becoming a wave.
Despite my frustration over this shift, a spark of hope flickered within me.What if this meeting with Judy became a catalyst for substantial good in the future?Not long ago, I’d discovered that her work in physics wasn’t pigeonholed to time travel.She held a wealth of unexplored ideas—concepts my brother was also interested in but couldn’t delve into since he assumed leadership of the company.Areas like renewable energy, quantum computing, medical imaging, environmental monitoring, and countless other fields.And then there were the personal reasons for having her around…for me and for our family.
I grabbed two bottles of wine, red and white.I paused at the kitchen door and did a mental calculation, trying to recall if Judy was old enough to drink in 2023.
ChapterTwenty-Two
Avalie
