Emperors of Time (5 page)

My problem is
that I do not have the time to figure out what events they altered.  You
are now living in a timeline where Lincoln was assassinated, but other things
have been changed. 

This must be
fixed, but I am rather occupied at the moment by trying to collect all the
Domini Temporis.  Once I collect all of them, I will be able to reprogram
them to set the timeline back into its proper, unaltered state and get my
colleagues back to being government scientists instead of the government
itself. 

This book
holds brief remarks on history as it was before the Emperors of Time started
meddling.  From this, you should be able to determine where the timeline
that you now inhabit diverges from the original and, hopefully, what caused the
divergence. The book also contains an explanation about the Domini Temporis
themselves, so you can understand a bit about the mechanism by which you must
help restore time.

I want to
meet everyone in person, so I can talk to you one last time before you begin,
and a time jump should help convince any doubters among you.  You need not
find the divergence in timelines first, just re-bury the box with a slip of
paper telling me when and where you will travel.  I will meet you
there. 

In the
meantime, good luck on your journeys.  Hopefully, I can be of some
help.  Pick a place and time to come and meet me.

Until our
timelines cross again,

-Steven
Hopkins

Tim had only
just finished up reading this letter when the rumble of a car on the Chapmans’
gravel driveway woke him from his concentration. 

“Shoot, okay,”
said Julie quickly.  “I don’t want to talk about this in front of my
parents.”

“No need for
anyone to think we’re crazy,” agreed Tim.

“Yeah…  and
even my judgment about your sanity is still undecided,” registered Rose.

“Right…  So
we talk about this another time.  Maybe group text tonight and get
together tomorrow afternoon?” asked Julie.

“Good a plan as
any,” opined Tim.

“Do you want to
cover the hole back up?” Rose asked Julie.

“Tomorrow should
be fine for that,” decided Julie.

“And then we can
tell Hopkins when and where we’re going,” said Tim.

“Well,” said
Rose.  “This still beats a normal Wednesday afternoon, but I definitely
think you guys might be nuts.”

“That’s okay,”
said Julie.  “Sometimes, so do I.”

Tim wasn’t quite
sure what it said about him as a person, but he continued to keep up with his
homework that Wednesday night, even with the prospect of more time travel on
the immediate horizon.  Still, the historical puzzle that Hopkin’s letter
advertised gave him an extra incentive to focus on his history homework.

It was for that
reason that he was engrossed in reading his history textbook when his phone
sounded a notification that he had gotten a text. 

Julie: 
Hey, Tim, Rose.  Any thoughts on where/ when we should meet Hopkins?

Tim thought for
a second, after which a number he didn’t recognized responded.

I still think
you’re probably bananas.  But if not, travel to any place/ time is fine by
me. 

Tim guessed the unrecognized
number must be Rose’s, and programmed it into his phone for future reference.

I’ve got an
idea, but it’s kind of bold.  I think we should do something more
impressive this time.  Why travel through time at all if you’re only going
back 16 years?

His phone buzzed
again twice in rapid succession.

Rose: 
Agreed.  Let’s be adventurous!  :)

Julie: 
What do you have in mind?

Tim typed a
little bit.

In terms of
things close and interesting, the bridge over the Susquehanna River was burned
in 1863 by Union Troops to prevent Confederate troops from coming into
Lancaster County.

Tim waited for a
moment before his phone buzzed again.

Julie:
 
If it burned down, what’s our object from that time?

Tim had, of
course, already thought about this.

Wright’s Ferry
Mansion.  Oldest building in Columbia, Pennsylvania, built in 1738 by
James Wright, across the river from Wrightsville.  It’s been restored, but
if that’s a problem, there’s a cemetery from the 1720s nearby.  Columbia’s
ten miles up the highway from us.

By this point,
Tim was so busy considering the possibility that he might get to see an actual
part of the Civil War that this line of thinking had substantially outweighed
any pretense of doing his homework.  His phone buzzed again.

Julie: 
Sounds like it could work.  I’ll figure out something to tell Billy to get
him there with us.  How does this Saturday morning sound?

Rose: 
Hey guys…  This is all starting to get a little weird because you’re
talking about this like you’re serious.

Julie: 
If you think this conversation’s weird, you’re in for some big shocks down the
line.

The next day at
school, Julie asked Tim nonchalantly if he could come to her house again after
school that day, Thursday.  Tim thought it was funny that she could ask
him this in front of Sam and Bridget without either of them having any idea
that the reason he was going to her house was to plan a strategy for undoing
something people from over 300 years in the future had done to the past.

Later on that
day, Tim and Julie continued their now daily routine of walking to Julie’s
house together after school.

“Something’s
been bugging me,” confessed Julie once they were through the door.

“Just one
thing?” asked Tim.

Julie
laughed.  “Okay, several things, but one in particular.  I saw a news
program last night.  I guess the United States just captured
Baghdad.  Did you hear about that?”

“Yeah,” said
Tim.  He had his own opinions on the matter, but didn’t want to go into
them so close to the school.  There were a lot of ears that could be listening. 
He stuck with a shallow comment on the issue.  “The Russians held it for
most of last year.  Before that, we held it for the previous decade. 
The Iraqis were more or less independent before then.”

Julie nodded
with a frown.  “I’m wondering about the casualties.  The reporter
said thirty thousand allied troops died over the last week of fighting, but
then that only 136 Americans died.  Who are these allies?  Why are so
many more of them dying?”

Tim looked
around to make sure no one was within earshot before answering.  “Okay,
listen.  Before I say this, I want to let you know something, just in case
you ever get questioned by the police:  This is not information you’re
supposed to have.  I get most of my news from the internet.  There’s
an international group of journalists and free-thinkers who call themselves
internet pirates, and they’re able to get some good information up
online.  Way more reliable than the nightly news, anyway.  The
government has tried to stop them, but they’re good at what they do, so the
only way to do that would be to shut down the whole internet.  That would
probably cause riots among generally law abiding citizens who only use the
internet to get celebrity gossip.  So, they just spread a whole bunch of
misinformation saying the pirates are hacks and make all their news up. 
But it’s the truth.  You still want to know?”

Julie rolled her
eyes emphatically.  “I just showed you how to travel through time.  I
think I can handle some covert internet reporting.”

“Fair enough,”
said Tim with a tight smile.  “So, when you hear something about the
United States, you gotta remember we’re talking about the forty-eight states
that have made up the Union since 1912.  They’re still the only states
today.  Our colonies are all territories.  After we started getting
European territories, Congress made it tougher-- impossible, really-- for other
territories to become states.  Today, we have three hundred million
American citizens, including a lot of people who migrated here from the colonies. 
Obviously we only take the best.  And then we’ve got about two or three
times that number in the colonies.  Our colonies do most of the fighting
for us in battles, mostly because it’s the only way we agree to make sure
they’ve got food to eat.  We call them our allies.  America’s native
contribution to the military is basically generals, specialists, and then some
people who are considered undesirable in America.  Mostly the
unemployable.”

“Oh…” She looked
dumbfounded, and Tim could guess why.  She wasn’t great at History under
the best circumstances, and now she was hearing a history quite different from
her own.  After a moment, she said “It doesn’t sound like we’re
necessarily great people.”

“Well, the
Russians aren’t any better.  Although we’re richer.  Helps that we’re
not communist, or at least that’s what the government says.  Either way,
those of us who are allowed to stay in the country- and it’s a crazy high
majority, really- are comfortable enough to keep us from asking too many
questions.  What…  are we any better in your timeline?” asked Tim.

“Well, we’re
just as belligerent, I guess.  In my lifetime we’ve been at war with the
Chinese, Japanese, and Indonesians.  But our colonies have been turned into
states over time, usually on a one country one state model.  So, like,
Hungary’s a state, Austria’s a state, Prussia and Bavaria are states… 
France has two states, England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales have one each, and
Canada has three.  We have…  um…  had…  about eighty states
in all, mostly in North America and Europe.  I guess we have a more even
distribution of casualties in war, but we’re still pretty well off.” 

“Hmmm…  and
all that comes from letting Lincoln live and a handful of other changes?” asked
Tim.

“So says
Hopkins,” Julie confirmed with a shrug.

“Oh, also…
France isn’t a colony in our timeline.  When I said they were our allies
yesterday, I mean they’re seriously our ally, not our territory.  The
greater French empire includes Africa and basically all of Western and Central
Europe, up to where Russia takes hold, in Poland and the Balkans.  Russia
and the United States fight it out in the Pacific and the Middle East. 
South America and Mexico joined together in a league, but they’re pretty
insignificant, along with a few other independent countries,” Tim said.

“Well… 
that’s a lot to process.  But thanks, I guess.  I mean, if I’m going
to live in this timeline, I might as well know a little about it,” Julie said.

“But if Hopkins
is right, we can change things back to the original timeline, before the
Emperors of Time messed it up,” said Tim.

“Maybe, but do
you think it will be any better?  I mean, this is the second timeline I’ve
seen, and both of them are pretty unpleasant,” countered Julie.

“Those timelines
were both created by the Emperors of Time, and they sound like pretty devious
people.  The normal timeline has to be better, right?” asked Tim.

“Why, because
people left to their own devices are just better than this?” asked Julie with
an uncharacteristic bitterness.  “Remember, they only changed a couple
things.”

“Right,” said
Tim.  “But they did those things intentionally to control outcomes. 
We just have to hope it will be better if we fix things.”

“I suppose,”
said Julie skeptically.  But then her face brightened.  Tracking her
gaze, Tim saw that it was Rose, appearing in the road in front of her house,
who had caused Julie’s change in mood.

“Hi, July!” said
Rose.  “Hi, Timothy.  How are you two?”

“All right,”
said Julie.  “Tim’s just been giving me a social studies lesson.”

“Yeah, and then
she gave me a very pessimistic philosophy lesson on the depravity of mankind,”
quipped Tim.

“Oh?” asked
Rose, politely curious.

“Yeah,” said
Julie.  “Hey, quick question for you, given my new pessimism about the
human race…  What do you think about Baghdad being captured?”

“That’s a
dangerous question,” said Tim, before Rose had a chance to respond. “You
shouldn’t ask that question of someone unless you know how they’re going to
answer.”

“Lay off,”
countered Julie irritably.  “I know Rose.  Even if not from this
timeline, I know her.”

“Okay,” said Tim
hesitantly.  But it wasn’t as if he could un-ask the question for
her. 

“I think it’s
abhorrent, and so do you,” said Rose casually.  “What the government says
about defending ourselves from the Russians is a load of bull.  It’s total
imperialism and it’s ridiculous.  If I could do anything about it, I
would.”

“Good answer,”
said Julie.

Rose
smiled.  “I think so.  So, are we going to debate politics, or talk
about time travel?  ‘Cause honestly, I’m okay with either.”

“Well, aren’t
you agreeable?” asked Tim. 

Rose
nodded.  Julie led the other two into her house.  “We’ve got this
book to look at.  And we should work out the particulars for our little outing
Saturday.”

“Sounds good,”
said Rose.

As they made
their way to her room, Julie said, “So, I got Billy to agree to come along with
us to Wright’s Ferry Mansion.”

“Oh, good!”
exclaimed Rose brightly.

Tim didn’t go so
far as to call it good, but he did ask, “How’d you manage that, then?”

Julie laughed,
“Okay, maybe I mentioned that I had a cute blonde friend who had seen him play
basketball and wanted to meet him.”

“July!” yelled
Rose.

Julie laughed
even harder.  “Yeah…  he might be under the impression that it’s a
double date.  Oh, right…  also, Tim, I had to make it sound like you
and I were dating…  I hope that’s okay.”

Tim half wanted
to say that it would be even more okay with him if they actually
were
dating,
but instead mustered a quick, “Sure, whatever.”

“Hey!” said
Rose, obligingly taking the attention off of Tim’s slight blush.  “Why
don’t you care if it’s okay with me?”

“Because you get
to pretend to date Billy, and Tim has to pretend to date me.  Which one’s
more unpleasant?” asked Julie. 

Rose laughed at
Julie’s self deprecating humor, and before Tim had a chance to say something
charming in response, Rose said, “All right.  That’s settled then, I
guess.  Should we go back to that journal?”

“Sounds good,”
said Tim.

Julie grabbed
the book from her bookshelf and flipped it to the next page. 

Tim read along
as Julie read aloud.

I will now
give you a little more background on the Emperors of Time and what they are
doing.

The Domini
Temporis were commissioned by the American Empire government to weed out a
complex terrorist organization called the Fingers of Anarchy.  They were
threatening to topple a government spanning three continents and governing
billions of people.  By 2335, they had infiltrated all corners of the
empire with an ideology based on self-sufficiency, freedom and a cult of
political martyrdom.  For every terrorist weeded out, ten more took his or
her place in a week.  As more attacks strained our American civilization,
the government realized that the only way to end the mudslide would be to
somehow prevent the organization from ever having existed.

As the pace
of advances in the philosophy of science and the science of space-time
quickened, this apparent impossibility seemed within reach.  I was one of
twelve scientists put to work on the project.

As we began
to make progress, something even more amazing happened.  The members of
the Fingers of Anarchy began to pursue political goals within the government as
a replacement for violence.  More people were beginning to sign on to
their ideas.  The government feared a ruse, and it is hard to accept
compromise when you are so used to fighting.  The government was still
hungry for this weapon to dwarf all other weapons. 

Why simply
kill your enemies when you can prevent them from ever having been born?

We worked on
the project, and a complex computer program to help us make the weapon
work.  No one wanted us to go back forty years, knock off the first
members of the Fingers of Anarchy, only to find out upon returning to our own time
that doing so had somehow caused a nuclear disaster of epic
proportions.