Fumbling Toward Ecstasy

Chapter 24 - Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

Payton, expectantly staring at the blank wall in his office, swallowed nervously and shook his head. "This isn't right," he said. "Something's gone wrong. It's been over an hour. She should've come through by now." He looked at Bell. With the exception of Jeremy, everyone in the room knew that it should only take a few minutes for an agent to return from a mission.

"What do you think happened?" Jeremy asked.

"Most likely, she couldn't establish the link on her end," Bell answered. "What kept her from doing it is anyone's guess."

"What do you do now?" Jeremy asked eagerly. "How do we get her back?"

"We don't!" It was Packard, who'd just burst into the room with his laptop and a harried expression on his face. All eyes were on him as he walked over to Payton's desk and opened the computer. "I've been tracking the timeline since Brynne left, and I've found something. I think I know how Brynne ended up in the picture with the Gigantic. It isn't a double – it's actually Brynne. We managed to create one wicked paradox. The timeline changed when she went back the first time, as we all know, and created an alternate timeline where the Gigantic sank in place of the Titanic."

"Right, but how does that explain the photo?" Bell asked. "Is it a fake?"

"No, it's real – sort of, " Packard said. "The picture's real – Brynne is not. Not her image anyway. If you look closely, you can see that it's been altered. See the inconsistency around the edges of her image?"

"Someone edited her into the picture," Payton said.

"Makes sense," Bell said. "They probably thought her image would draw publicity for White Star and the Gigantic, but after the Titanic's trip to New York in that timeline, Brynne was nowhere to be found."

"Because she'd come back here," Jeremy said. "It also explains why I wasn't in the picture - I was here."

Packard nodded. "White Star used the photo for a promotional campaign for the Gigantic. For years afterward, the photo became famous because it was connected with the Gigantic, one of the worst passenger maritime disasters in this altered history."

"Shit, that explains our mystery imposter," Payton said.

"It means we sent Brynne on a wild goose chase," Bell said.

Payton knew Bell was right, but it was too much for him to admit aloud. He looked at Packard. "You said we can't bring her back?"

"When Brynne went back this time, something strange happened with the link," Packard explained. "We think that somehow, two parallel universes merged and became our timeline. One of those universes was created with Brynne's first mission. We don't know the origin of this second universe, unfortunately, because of the malfunctions with the link system. We found something interesting in the second universe, however: It turns out that Brynne married Thomas Andrews before the Titanic sailed in this second universe."

"What?" Jeremy said. Packard pulled up another window on the computer screen. It was an article about Brynne and Andrews, which Jeremy read voraciously. "How can that be … "

"I have no idea," Packard replied, though Jeremy's question hadn't been directed at anyone in particular. "And as to your question, Payt, as to why we can't retrieve her, it turns out that at least one of her descendants will have – or had, rather – a direct, positive impact on World War II. Brynne, Andrews, and their daughter led the design team responsible for a new class of ship that would prove highly effective against enemy attacks at sea. We ran a few cursory tests – if we pull her out, the new boats don't ever get built. Brynne must've used some modern ideas to help create those boats, information that no one had access to back in the first half of the 20th century. That's the best explanation I can come up with."