Elevators Through Time - Book 1

Part 22: Secure Time Slot

Part 22: Secure Time Slot

Year: 1990

Time: 9:04am

Location: "Sydney's Tower", Sydney CBD, NSW, Australia.

Level: 72nd Floor

"Good morning to you both, did you sleep well?" came Jed's voice over the comm.

I let go of Kate's hands, barely noticing a slight look of disappointment on her face, then headed to the touchscreen.

"Ah, ahem, Good morning Jed. Good to see you. Ah, yes... we slept very well, thank you again for taking us in," I said, still a little flustered that Jed had suddenly joined our little world.

"Please thank Sydney too," Kate called towards me, still trying to comprehend how Jed seemed very present but that only a flat face of him could be seen on the screen. The voice was a lot clearer than that from the telegraphs and telephones in her time, but voices from speakers still sound different from voices coming directly from people.

"Yes, give Sydney our thanks too, Jed," I relayed to Jed.

"I got your message. I'll be at your room in a minute. That is, if you would want to talk anywhere else." The video image of Jed raised an eyebrow.

"No, that's fine." I replied, "It's great here. We were just getting used to all of the facilities here while enjoying the view."

"Okay, see you both soon," Jed ended as he cut the video link.

Only a few moments later there came a knock at the door and Jed's voice from the video screen's wall speakers.

"Greetings."

Astonished, I went to the door and found Jed standing there as if he had always been there.

"If you want to know how I got here so far, I was in the elevator to see how you were... oh and this tower had a version of your Quantum Query Gate tech built into it, which manages perception of time and space. This makes work very efficient and it makes security quite impossible to break."

"Wow, all this from the invention I worked on with the Que'nesians? This is incredible. I never new more practical uses were possible!"

"That is because you haven't invented it yet. This is also why you must be kept alive and ensure we exist, to safeguard the lives of billions of people, to prevent dangerous materials from falling into unwanted hands. You have given us a chance to rewrite and safeguard history. Of course we do not meddle... much."

After the elation of hearing that I would contribute to all of this, I felt a little hurt when Jed alluded to time travel being used to alter history.

"When you say meddle do you ensure the future timelines are not drastically disrupted?" I asked, seriously.

"The Que'nesians have a way of tracing the pathways of beings in time. This helps them to gauge whether they should intervene and what effect the intervention will have to stable time lines. Oh, you are also yet to find that out, sorry for spoiling it."

"Oh, that's all right then," I said, feeling a little relieved that I fixed a dilemma I brought up.

"Excuse me," Kate said, approaching us at the door, "Would you like to sit down? It would be rude of us to keep you standing there. Also, I have something I want to ask you both."

Jed and I admired Kate's politeness and good sense and we took a seat on the couch adjacent to the tv. Jed took the one adjacent to us.

Once we were settled, Kate asked "With all this talk about time travel... I was wondering if it would be possible to see my parents again?"

The room was silent for a moment.

I carefully explained to Jed how I had to put Kate's parents to sleep at their request and the circumstances.

I explained to Kate again that they did not feel pain, they just fell asleep. Which was scientifically true. I could tell that Kate was reliving the moment as we spoke about this.

Jed then said to Kate, "Here we deal with time travel a lot, and the one rule that we always have is: 'Appreciate every moment, regret where necessary, live for those who lived so that we may live.'"

Kate closed her eyes and thought about what he said. I did too.

We understood that for them it applied for soldiers and dear friends. So with us we also could live following this rule.

I looked at her and watched a single tear trickle down her cheek. Her parents had worked hard to provide for her and that was their life. Kate wanted to honour them by living well with what they had provided her with: Morals, education, and a strong will to work hard at what she could.

"I will. I promise." came a whisper from her lips, which both Jed and I knew that was for her parents.

After a moment of respectful silence, Jed said, "Earlier you asked me if you could go out and see the city. You are free to go anywhere, but as your appointed guardian I must stay close by. I will not interfere in your moments but I insist I guard you."

"What about those two from before? Kepler and Deune?" I asked. I always remember the names of people who do bad to me.

"They have fled out of our area of jurisdiction. We may not see them for a while but I must advise caution during their absence."

"Yes, better safe than sorry. There may be others."

"I do not have any obligations at the moment. Would you like to go now?" Jed asked finally.

I handed Kate a tissue box to clear her tears and offered to help her.

She took a breath then answered , "Oh... can we see the Centrepoint Tower first? You pointed it to me and told me about it but I really want to go up there. Can we? Can we?" Kate begged. Inside every young woman beats the heart of a girl with a curiosity that must be satisfied.

Jed and I laughed. "Sure, let's go." I said as I took Kate's hand and stood up.

Jed stood up, happy to be in a group once more after his 4 years of work alone. His assignment here as a Decade Monitor meant that he had to travel in and out of the years through various Q-2 Gates and this made for some serious jet lag. He used to work with a partner but he... didn't make it.

Earlier, once he had finished replying to my message, he had spoken to Sydney who approved his 'mobile guard' request for a time with Kate and I. It was a time of relaxation for him. Finally rest from constant Gate travel.

After a relative period he would accumulate a well deserved time slot for R&R. His request for 'mobile guard' status was considered part-work, so it didn't eat into his long-awaited rest time-slot.

Jed smiled to himself.

'Thanks Sydney' he said in his mind.