Precedent

Chapter Fifteen

I back away slowly. Franklin just laughs.

"There is no need to be afraid, Olivia. If I was going to hurt you, I could've done it a long time ago. I have many opportunities, you know" he says.

"Well, you hurt me a few minutes ago," I snap, my fire coming back. "You know, when you shut my arm in the door." Franklin scowls.

"That was caused by your own obstinacy and stupidity," he replies. I smirk.

"What happened to 'you have sharp genes'?" I retort.

Franklin says, "Even the most intelligent humans are occasionally overtaken by foolishness."

"Anyone who calls themselves one of the smartest humans obviously isn't one of them," I retort.

Franklin smiles slightly.

"I should have known who your father was. You are so much like him."

"You didn't give me the time of day," I reply, "so you didn't give yourself a chance to see that." Franklin grimaces.

"If I had known..." I cut him off.

"See, that's what I've learned from this whole experience," I tell him, "people would have wanted to do different things had they known everything. The thing is though, they made their choice. It can't be undone. All that can change is how they act from now."

"Now that I have my family, everything will change," Franklin remarks.

"You're going to surrender?" I ask. "Or just give up?" Franklin laughs.

"Heavens no! That would be foolhardy. No, no, you and Taylor, and I can rule the world together. The smartest and most powerful."

He really is crazy!

Looking around for some means of escape, I say, "I don't know where you've been, um, your son's whole life, but he kind of hates your guts." Franklin scowls.

"Then perhaps not Taylor. Just you and me, Olivia." He walks closer to me. I try to back away, but my back's against the computer console now. "Haven't you always wanted family? Your mother locked me away in here. I went along with what she requested so I could get information. I don't want everyone to die, or anyone to die. I do, however, believe that the world should be controlled by people smart enough to govern it properly."

What am I to do? There's no reasoning with a madman.

"No one should govern it at all," I persist. I know he's too far gone, but he is my grandfather. I have to try. "For centuries the world's worked with democracies." Franklin snorts.

"Worked? You weren't alive for all the wars no one could win. Wars of greed, wars of religion, wars of anger. They were terrible wars...and you didn't have to live through any of them."

I'm breathing faster now.

I whisper, "I had to live through one war." Franklin smiles.

"One war is far better than dozens," he states.

"Not with the same total of casualties," I counter. I know I have to get out of here. I have to escape, but there's nowhere to escape to.

"It doesn't have to be," he says, his tone just as quiet. "Join me Olivia. You can convince your mother to surrender. You can have your mother, your father, the rest of your life, everything you could dream of?" He comes closer. "And...you could have Andrew Mason."

My eyes shift slowly to Franklin's feet so as to not look at his eyes. That's when I see how I'm to escape.

Franklin is standing in the Time Warping Machine.

Casually, I search the keyboard for the numbers. I can send him back in time too far for him to come back.

"Olivia, I know you," Franklin continues, taking my silence as uncertainty. "You want peace. You care about people. This is your chance to save everyone."

I find the numbers. I type in 1432. That was before they discovered the New World. This is perfect. He'll be without any technology to replicate this machine. He'll be without any technology period, actually.

"You're right," I state. "This is my chance to save everyone. From you!"

I press enter. The machine starts up. Franklin tries to get out, but one of his feet has already been sucked down. He grabs my leg. I scream as he begins to pull me down with him. I reach out and clutch the leg of the computer's table. It screeches as it is dragged against the floor.

Franklin has sunk down to his torso now. He uses his spare hand, the one not pulling me down with him, to grab another table. It has only an old fashioned revolver and five bullets to hold it down, so it does nothing. I gasp as the table and revolver tumble into the water and vanish.

I claw desperately with my left hand to find something heavier than the computer. I scream again. Where is my mom? Why hasn't she come yet?

Suddenly someone takes hold of my spare hand. I look up. Relief courses through me as I look into the green eyes of my rescuer.

"Drew!" I call out, so excited to see him alive that I forget to use his chosen name.

Franklin is so surprised at A-M's arrival that he lets go of my leg. He cries out in surprise as he vanishes, sucked beneath the water like the gun and everything else that's gone through.

"You're alive!" I exclaim, struggling against the pull of the time warp. A-M grimaces and continues to tug on my arm. He pries my fingers off the table's leg and now uses both of my hands to pull.

"Forget me," he says. "Let's get you out of there." With one final tug, I emerge fully from the water. A-M grabs a hammer from the desk and slams it into the keyboard. The water stops spinning like a whirlpool.

"Thank you," I tell him. He gives me a small smile.

"You shouldn't have to thank me for saving your life," he replies. "If what you said was true..."

"It is," I interrupt. He continues as if I didn't though.

"Then it's the thing I shouldn't have to think about."

"Did you really have to think about it?" I ask. He helps me to my feet.

"Of course not," he states.

"Good," I say.

I take a moment for my breathing to go back to normal before I let my brain start turning again.

"We need to find Mission Leader," I state, deciding that, as A-M hates my mother, I ought to keep things formal.

"What about your father," he asks. I gasp. Taylor's still lying on the ground motionless where Franklin left him.

I run over to him, grabbing his wrist and searching for a pulse.

"He should've woken up by now," I murmur. "His pulse is faint!"

I look around the room for the device. Franklin had set it back on the desk when he went after A-M and me. I walk over and pick it up. The medics might need to examine it in order to diagnose the issue. I hope they can. What if they can't? What if it's already too late?

"Can you carry him?" I ask A-M. He looks skeptical.

"I could try, but I don't think so, not alone," he tells me.

I take one of Taylor's arms and try to hoist him up. He's too heavy though. I look at A-M.

"Help me!" I order. A-M rushes over and hoists up Taylor's other side. We begin to haul him across the room. He's heavy, but I think we can do it.

I'm panicking now. What if we're not fast enough? What if he dies? What if Franklin already killed the others? Would he?

I shake my head mentally. I can't focus on Franklin right now. He's gone, but my problems aren't. No, they're not even close to being over. I need to save my father before it's too late.