Journey in Time (Knights in Time) (41 page)

In the second, a bald cartoon female with almond-shaped black orbs for eyes on an otherwise featureless face stood in an open door. Dressed in a skimpy black teddy with thigh-high stockings and spike heels, she bid the viewer to enter with a wave from one of her six arms, while "Welcome to Alpha Centauri” was spelled out in neon rain behind her.

Shakira had seen similar characterizations of alien life-forms in various sources, but the choice of outfit belonged to Gordon. She looked him over out of the corner of her eye. The knife creased jeans...
who presses their jeans anymore,
the plaid sweater vest and white, neatly ironed shirt, she pictured for a professor. The bar-tart alien he designed didn’t jibe with her preconceived image of the academic.
  

"Cute," Miranda said to Gordon as he shut the music off. “I’m Ian’s wife, Miranda.”

Gordon shook her offered hand. "Nice to make your acquaintance, please sit."

They took seats in front of Gordon’s desk as the secretary returned and set a tray of coffee down then left closing the door behind her.

Gordon poured each a cup without asking if they wanted one.
 

Shakira pegged his age as late fifties. Pink cheeked with a warm smile, he had a genial quality that reminded her of her father. Like her dad, Gordon aged well. His dark hair was shot through with fine strands of grey. Although short, his beefy frame appeared solid without the paunch older men often get.
 

"Well, you must have some pretty unusual questions to ask if it takes three of you to pose them," Gordon observed stirring the cream in his coffee. "Who wants to go first?"

Ian and Miranda turned toward Shakira while they relaxed back in the chairs. "Fine, I guess it's me then."

"It is your story to tell," Ian said in a silky voice.

Shakira breathed deep and let it out. "This is all hypothetical, a case of what if."

"I understand."
 

She retold the extraordinary events of the day she and Alex traveled back. Ostensibly using an imaginary couple she brought up the odd weather, the sudden restlessness in the horses, and static electricity. She left out the details about their other physical reactions.
 

Dr. Gordon didn’t scoff at the story. He sipped the coffee and listened, but his shrewd scrutiny never left Shakira's face. Only after she finished did Gordon’s expression change. His furry brows scrunched into a bushy "v" behind frameless glasses and he put the cup down. He blinked rapidly as if he were doing mental calculus, then his brows unwrinkled, and he smiled so his lips curved high into a computer-like emoticon.

"Unusual premise, where did you get the idea?"

"Ah...it...ah...just came to me."

"I see." He paused as though analyzing her answer then continued. "If I understand your question, you want an explanation how this could occur?"

All three nodded.

"Please, indulge me and answer a few questions. Insatiable inquisitiveness, it's the bane and boon of the academic mind."

"Certainly," Shakira replied. What choice did she have?

"Why seek a personal meeting with me? All this has been discussed in various books and periodicals. What's your real reason for being here?"

The pointed question knocked her for six. "I...I..." she stammered before she blurted the weak lie, "I wanted some thoughts on time travel from the point of view of someone who's made a serious study of it. I'm writing an adventure novel involving this element." She ignored his guttural grunt at the mention of a novel.

     
"Does your story take place in England?" Gordon asked.

     
Shakira nodded.

     
"Not one of those tales claiming Stonehenge has hidden mystical powers, I hope, because it doesn't. I've investigated the area extensively."

     
"No."

     
"You mention a granite outcropping, do you have a place in mind?"

     
"I’m exploring a couple of different locales."

"The couple, your...umm, hero and heroine, is it their intent to change history?"

"No. I personally don't believe history can be changed. It is what it is. How can anyone change what has already occurred?"

"The concept is referred to as self-consistency. It maintains the time traveler is the one on the journey, the mobile entity. The traveler cannot alter the existing events--create what we call a paradox."

"Makes sense to me," Shakira said.

"Good, I agree with that principal too. I'm glad we don't have to debate the point." Gordon stared hard at her. "I still find it interesting three of you are so keen on research for this fantasy novel. Anyway--
  

"In your story, two people went back and only one returned. Are you asking me how to close this portal or how to predict when the doorway will open again so the other person can get out,
hypothetically
?"

He stretched the word, enunciating so a hint of skepticism struck each syllable. He suspects. Shakira shot a worried glance at Ian, who looked equally unnerved.
 

A horrifying thought formed on the heels of her panic. What if Gordon wants to see the locales she spoke of, see the outcropping? What if he demands to bring others? He could refuse to offer an opinion until she cooperated. Without guidance, she'd never be able to help Alex. What a choice. Flounder about, clueless as to what action to take next or exposure. A bunch of physicists poking around would be disastrous. If they did figure a way to bring Alex home he'd be treated like a freak or worse, an exhibit, their pet project. Even if he managed to extricate himself from the grip of scientists, he'd be hounded and made a joke of by the press. His career would be ruined, his life a shambles.

Bottom line though, she needed help. Risk the portal's secret or risk losing Alex to the fourteenth century. What a conundrum? Hopefully, this was the right choice.

"Miss Constantine?"

"Yes?" Preoccupied, she’d been staring off and hadn’t answered. Her gaze flickered over to Gordon, the question forgotten. "Sorry, what did you ask?"

"This time tunnel—opened or closed?"

"Open. Something must be the catalyst, a wormhole perhaps?"

"Could your fictional couple have stumbled onto a pre-existing wormhole? Unlikely. A wormhole is a passageway across space, a time saver, the straight line, so to speak, between two points in the universe." His attention moved from Shakira to Ian to Miranda, "With me, so far?" They nodded in unison. Apparently satisfied, he continued.

"However, there are a number of cons involved with this premise. First, the general belief is wormholes are vast, possibly millions of miles across. Travel through them is believed impossible. Even with a space ship, by our calculations the wormhole would shut too fast. A ship passing through would be destroyed before it could go from one end to the other.

"For your travelers to survive and find themselves over six hundred years in the past suggests wormholes might be smaller than previously thought.”

“There’s no ship in the story,” Shakira said.

“All right, let's move on and consider the time elements of your couple. Their adventure lasts three months or so the duo thinks, but when the one returns, only three days have passed.” Blue eyes locked on Shakira. “Clever touch."

Gordon dug in his rear pants pocket and removed a hanky with a flourish. He pulled the wire temples of his glasses from his ears and wiped each lens in a rapid circle, "Now you want a logical explanation." He lifted the glasses to the sunlight and checked for smudges, then slipped them on again, fixing the individual earpieces.

"My inclination is to say they traveled over the area where spacetime bends around and meets the point of origin. Einstein’s theory claims under certain conditions this is possible."

"I told her the same thing," Ian said.

Gordon took a paper and pen from his desk drawer and drew an example of a closed tube to represent spacetime. Along the side, he sketched a graph that showed the couple traverse forward. "As you can see, eventually they arrive at the start point or close to it. But for them, it was a three month journey."

"I appreciate the explanation,” Shakira said. “Back on topic, what might cause the time portal to open?"

"Again, this is conjecture, a best guess for a fictional story. I’d use the lightning you described, suggest some scientific anomaly occurred. A number of scientists are currently investigating what they refer to as, ‘Super Lightning.’” Perhaps an electrical charge from the power surge of the lightning triggered a change in a nearby magnetic field. Since we’re speaking of theory only, maybe this outcropping is the source of such a field."

"The lightning never touched the ground, although we felt some of the effects and--"

Gordon’s brows lifted a notch. "We?"

"Pardon?"

"You said ‘we’."

"Did I?" She faked a
silly me
smile. "I meant
they
of course. You know how it is with writers. Their characters become real after awhile."

"If you say so, please, go on."

"The bolts never struck the outcropping either,” Shakira clarified. The magnetic field idea held promise, remote as the chance might be. She'd love to cling to the ray of hope, but she had to make clear the circumstances so Gordon based his speculation on accurate details.

He waved away her comment. "Doesn’t matter, the power spike is atmospheric."

"You’re saying if weather conditions are right the portal might open again?"
 

"Why not? I must say, your enthusiasm over a hypothetical amuses me, Miss Constantine. If only all of my students were so inclined."

"Dr. Gordon, you will never find a more interested pupil, trust me. We won’t take anymore of your time." Everyone stood, including Gordon. Shakira extended her hand. "Thank you. You’ve been an enormous help."

"My pleasure. Time travel is one of the more enjoyable subjects on which my colleagues and I like to offer endless opinions."

"Oh, Miss Constantine..." Gordon said as she started out of his office.

"Yes?"

"Your hero is the one stuck back in time isn't he?"

"You mean in my story. Yes, yes he is."

"I'd love to interview him."

"Pardon?"

"I'd like to talk to him."

"Talk to him?"

"Do you think you might have a theoretical physicist, like me, interview him after he returns? I’d love the opportunity and could lend a spot of color to the story. I’d be a great source for technical advice for the scene."

"I'll certainly consider it."

Interview Alex? Fat chance.

Chapter Fifty

"Hi," Shakira called out.

"Hi," Miranda closed the door and came into the kitchen. "Why aren't you at work?"

"I asked for the week off, but I might take two. I have a plan and I want to be available, in case Alex returns."