Cogs Of Fate

Pressure

Present Day

Tenley sat at her desk in the infirmary, flipping through the pages of the old journal once more. Nothing had changed within the written words. She sighed heavily, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear as she flipped the book closed.

Just as Tenley was ready to toss the book into a drawer, the overhead alarm chimed. "Active time travel initiated."

Tenley glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall above the door to the infirmary. The team hadn't been gone long enough to be coming back so soon. Something was wrong. She pushed her chair out from the desk, locking the journal in her supply cabinet for safekeeping before heading toward the control room.

Rounding the corner into the control room, Tenley saw she was the last to arrive. She blinked at the others surprised. Jiya's eyes bounced about the screen as she read, "Isles of Shoals, April 5, 1781..."

"April 5th?" Mason repeated. When everyone glanced over to him, he recalled, "Wasn't that the same date the others just left to?"

Jiya turned back to the computers, typing madly at the keyboard. A new set of windows popped up on the screen. She nodded. "Yeah," she admitted, "April 5, 1822..."

"So, Rittenhouse jumped again?" Wyatt questioned, crossing his arms over his chest. "Just to a different year and location?"

"Something's not right about this," Quinn stated. "This smells like a trap."

"How do you know?" Agent Christopher asked, turning her attention over to him. "You're suggesting we ignore this jump?"

He shook his head. "Probably not wise," he confessed. "We should check it out but...the timing certainly is curious."

Agent Christopher sighed heavily, shaking her head slightly. "We have no choice," she said, allowing her shoulders to slump forward ever so slightly. "Quinn, Wyatt, Tenley, and Jiya."

"Wait, what?" Jiya asked, eyes growing wide.

"We don't have much choice, I'm afraid," Denise admitted. "You're all we have left and the longer we wait, the less likely we are at stopping whatever they're planning on doing there."

Quinn turned his gaze over to Jiya. "Don't ye worry," he said, a small smile forming on his lips. "I'll watch out for ye."

Wyatt rolled his blue eyes, turning away from the control room to enter the landing room. Quinn followed behind, leading the others to his dark time machine.

Once the machine was gone from the landing room, Mason turned to Agent Christopher. "Something has gone terribly wrong."

She nodded glumly. "I know," she agreed," but there's nothing else we can do."

1822

The team found themselves heading deeper into town. As they walked by the general store, Rufus spotted a bulletin board hanging from the wall. He elbowed Flynn before meandering over to take a closer look. Flynn stopped the others, motioning to where their friend headed.

Rufus stepped up to the board, eyes darting about the hanging flyers tacked to the wood. Part of him hoped to see another series of 'wanted' posters with better representations of the team but was disappointed when there were none. What he did see, however, caught his attention.

He turned back to the team, making a bee-line for them, a small smile spreading over his face. "Jedediah Smith was a real person?"

Lucy cocked her head at him. "Yes, of course, he was..."