Time Camp Episode 1: Family Time (6 page)

“Nice!” said Tom. “The old Toyota is on its last legs!”

Tom and Liz said their goodbyes, and returned to the Buffalo TimeStation exactly one minute after they left on Thursday evening during their business trip. Then they headed back to the convention and wrapped it up on Friday afternoon, heading back to Erie.

Chapter 15: The Decision

Around the couch, the kids were silent and looked a bit troubled. They weren’t exactly sure what was being asked of them, but they kind of understood.

Finally, Jenna piped up. “So, you are asking us to join you in time trips to witness historic events. It won’t be forever, but we’ll be gone a while and when we get back, it will be like we never left to people in our own time. Is that right?”

“That’s right, honey,” said Tom. “We don’t know exactly when they will call us for missions, but we’ll need to be able to go several times a year. Then we’ll come back right after we left, but we’ll have grown older while we were gone,” said Tom.

Laura asked, “AND we’ll get these enhancement thingies?”

Liz said, “Yes, but they are turned off in our own time. So you are only superwoman when you are time traveling!” Laura made a fake frown.

“It’s important that you all agree to this on your own, without us forcing you. And if we sign up as a family we’ll need a cover to explain why we go out of town so much. The closest TimeStations are Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Cleveland, and we’ll need some reasons for that,” said the kids’ Dad.

Andy said, “So let me get this straight. I get to do everything I can do today, AND I get to do stuff that nobody else IN THE WORLD will be able to do? And I get secret powers? Count me in!”

Laura chimed in, “Um, so I won’t have Facebook or my phone or my friends when we do these trips?”

Liz said, “No, but you will have amazing connections to information you have never imagined, you will see famous historical events first-hand, and we can mentally talk to each other and other travelers while we’re on assignment.”

The room was silent for a few minutes. Everyone wanted to process their thoughts and emotions.

Finally, Tom said, “Let’s sleep on this. No talking about it to anyone outside this family. Give us an answer after school tomorrow.”

Monday dawned as hectic as it always does for a school day. Everyone got caught up in work, school, activities and evening stuff. Dinner was a late 8PM meal of soup and sandwiches at the kitchen table.

As they munched on dinner, the family debriefed on the actions of the day. Finally, Tom called for silence. They all knew what he wanted. “So what are your decisions?” he asked each of the three Watson kids.

Andy said, “I want to do it, for sure.”

Jenna said, “I think so, but I think I’ll miss my friends when I’m not here.”

Laura said “Me too. I’m very connected. But it sounds super exciting.”

Their mom asked, “So is everyone in?”

A show of hands indicated that the whole family was in!

Tom said, “Excellent. I’m proud of all of you for your courage and the thought you put into this.”

Laura piped in, “So, how soon until we get to time travel? I’m excited to go!”

Liz explained, “Well, we think the best time to travel is over school breaks, where you may not see people for a while. That way if you grow, or ahem, ‘change’ over the trip, it’s not so noticeable. So our next opportunity is Spring Break, and we think we may be able to squeeze in our mandatory Time Camp training trip then. Is everyone up for that?”

A chorus of “YES!” met the question. The Watson family was going to Time Camp!

BOOK TWO: THE WATSONS GO TO TIME CAMP

Chapter 16: Preparation

Spring Break was only three weeks away. After the family decision, the kids had a fresh infusion of energy, and they each worked really hard to make sure their grades were good and no one got sick or hurt. They peppered their parents with tons of questions about Time Camp, some of which they could answer and some they knew nothing about. It was difficult to keep their friends out of their secret, but they had made a family promise, and they kept it.

On Tuesday evening after the meeting, Tom called a number that connected him to the Tonawanda TimeStation operator, and confirmed to the agent that the family was in. They arranged to return on Friday night of the four-day school break, so Tom and Liz would not miss any work, and they would have the weekend to recover in Erie after the trip.

As break approached, the kids started packing. Their parents had to tell them that they really shouldn’t take anything with them to Time Camp – they would be provided with everything they needed, and they would have to leave their stuff in the Van in Buffalo. They were worried that their phones and electronics would be stolen, but Liz assured them that they would only be in the building for a few minutes of elapsed time. They booked a hotel for the Friday night after their return, so they wouldn’t have to drive in the dark.

Friday came, and the kids were home from school and practically bursting with energy and excitement. They cleaned and organized their rooms, arranged to have the dogs watched, and told their friends that they were going to see a hockey game, which was partially true – they planned to see the Sabres on Saturday if all went well.

The trip to Buffalo was uneventful in the sunny midwinter thaw that sometimes interrupted the normal blanket of snow. As they rolled up to the warehouse in Tonawanda, Andy said, “I’m nervous. What if something bad happens?”

“I can’t say there’s no risk, Honey,” said his mother, “but I know these people run a tight ship. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

Chapter 17: Off to Camp!

Tom took a deep breath. “Are you ready for this, family?”

“As ready as we’ll ever be, Dad,” said Andy, and they all climbed out of their red van.

Then, they locked the car, walked toward the warehouse, and as they opened the door, Liz and Tom’s enhancements activated.

*Welcome, Liz and Tom,* sent Abby, the receptionist. “Hello Laura, Jenna and Andy. Welcome to the team!” she said aloud to the kids. They smiled and Laura said, “We’re kind of nervous. This is our first, well, time!”

Everyone chuckled at that, and the ice was broken. Liz sent, *Abby, do we need any other prep before we head to Time Camp?*

Abby shook her head, and sent, *No, you are ready. Give the orders and we’ll get you all going!*

Liz said aloud, “Abby, please set up the booth for Time Camp, Era 47, to follow our last return.”

Abby replied, “Time Camp, Era 47. Return in +1?”

Liz followed up with the TimeStation protocol: “Return in +1. Have a Good Day!” Everyone smiled.

The portal opened, and the family filed into the booth. On the way in, Jenna asked, “What was that all about?”

Tom replied, “The operators need to know exactly where and when to send you, and how to program the units for your return. We told them to send us to Time Camp, and to arrive just after our last time we left there. The ‘Plus 1’ was to indicate that when we return here, we are to come in a minute from our departure, so we don’t catch ourselves coming and going. There’s a kind of protocol that operators and travelers use, to avoid mistakes. It’s adapted from the interchange that pilots use with air traffic controllers.”

“Cool,” said Andy. “I’ve always wanted to be a pilot.”

“Ready to go to Time Camp?” Tom asked the family. They nodded in agreement. “Here we go!”

The booth’s display flashed blue and the far door opened on the huge station of Time Camp. Kara and Jade were waiting for them and greeted the parents with a hug.

Tom introduced them all. “Kids, this is Kara, our training guide, and Jade, our medical advisor. This is Jenna, Andy and Laura.” Greetings were exchanged all over, and the kids stared wide-eyed at the huge facility, bustling with activity.

“This place is huge!” exclaimed Laura. “Wouldn’t this building be visible from satellite photos?”

Kara replied, “It would in your time. But we’re over 2 million years in your past, and the hunk of rock this is built on will be covered by ice in your time. We’re pretty safe here, and well hidden in time.”

Jenna was next. “How did this place get built?”

Jade answered. “It’s actually been destroyed and rebuilt several times in its life. It started out as a smaller research station for beings, well, people, from the far future. As they worked backwards and discovered the boundaries in time, they developed different versions of Time Camp to accommodate the research and other needs of the teams working each side of a boundary.”

“What’s a boundary?” asked Andy.

Kara said, “The timeline is broken into many eras. Each era is separated from the ones before and after by some major change in technology, human development or a huge cultural shift. In general, people in one era can communicate or work in close eras, because communication is difficult across the boundaries. The exception is your time period, which is called Era 47. Era 47 is the last civilized pre-joined era, meaning you can communicate well with most eras that came before you. That’s why the Temporal Guild is so excited to get people from our time to be observers and agents – we can go pretty far into the past and fit in, with the proper training, and we can pick up on much of the technology. We can go where the future people can’t!”

Tom said, “Our first guide, Lana, was from a future era, and it was a bit obvious that she was not ‘one of us’. I gather that learning to fit in is very important when you travel in time!”

“Well said,” replied Kara. “Let’s do a tour before we get down to business!”

Jade excused herself from the group and told them to find her when they were done.

Chapter 18: The Grand Tour

They began by wandering around the huge open departures and arrivals room. In the center were the operators, who arranged the trips for the travelers. Along much of the outside were the time travel booths. Most of them were the same size, and numbered in several languages. A couple of the booths were very large. Blue displays occasionally showed departures and arrivals.

As they watched, they saw mostly individuals, but sometimes couples and rarely a family move into or out of the booths on their way to another time and place.

“Dad, look! Cowboys!” hollered Andy, as he pointed at a couple of men decked out in chaps, boots with spurs, hats and pistols in holsters. Tom activated his enhancements, and sent a mental greeting to the cowboys, who stopped, turned and walked over to the family.

“Howdy Andy. Evenin’ Miss Jenna, Miss Laura,” replied the first man. The girls blushed and smiled at the men. “We’re trying to stay in character as we’re headed out to keep an eye on things in Colorado Territory in 1870. I’m Jake, originally from Detroit, recruited in 1980. Bobby there was from Denver, recruited in 2020.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing the old Denver City,” grinned Bobby, tipping his hat at the ladies. “You kids study hard. We need good strong families watching and keeping things right downtime.”

The men shook hands with Andy and Tom, and headed back to their booth which was waiting for their departure.

“Wow! Do you think I’ll ever get to be a cowboy?” asked Andy.

“Only if you get over your fear of horses and cows,” said Jenna. Andy glared at her.

“Hey, hey. There’s plenty of time to work on that stuff. Let’s keep looking.” said their mother.

As they walked around the huge room, they noticed an African American family with two boys emerging from a booth. They caught the eyes of the boys and approached them. Jenna said, “Wow, other kids time traveling! Where were you? I mean when were you? I mean…”

“You’re new aren’t you? You can’t send yet.” said the younger boy, about 10. “I’m Jacob. This is my brother Clay. We’re from 2008 Los Angeles.”

Clay, 15, interjected, “We just got back from Harrisburg, witnessing the Three Mile Island incident in March 1979. It was a minor disaster, but it had a huge impact on public opinion of nuclear power in the late 20
^th
century.”

“Wow. I just read about that in American History,” said Jenna. “How was the trip?”

“It was fine, no problems. Harrisburg is not the most diverse place in 1979, but we got through OK.” Replied Jacob.

“It’s a little tougher for us to go back, owing to our skin color,” commented their father. He introduced himself as David Johnson, and his wife Elaine. “Our perspective is very important, but we do run into a lot of discrimination, and our trips have to be planned very carefully before 1970.”

“Well, welcome back to Time Camp. I hope your trip was good,” replied Tom. The Johnsons said their goodbyes and headed off for debrief and Brain Dump.

Chapter 20: A Future History Lesson

As they continued the tour, they saw many branching hallways extending off into the distance. Kara led them to one labeled “Education”.