Relative Strangers (Book 2) No Man Is An Island

18. Right And Wrong

E and Matt set off at first light.
After typing in the correct coordinates on her ACD, E stepped through her anomaly, and was closely followed by Matt.
In seconds they had left the 21st century behind, and entered a very different era.
As Matt took in their new surroundings, he realised that they were now stood in a forest, with tall trees either side of them.
"When are we?" Questioned Matt.
"Early cretaceous" answered E, who hadn't stopped to look at where they were.
Matt had to run over to her side to stop himself from getting left behind.
"Right, so this isn't the safest place ever" Matt said quietly.
"Not exactly, no" admitted E.

As the pair made their way over a steep hill they suddenly found themselves surrounded by armed men from all era's, who were pointing various weapons at them.
Matt reached for his EMD, but E stopped him.
"At ease commander" instructed E.
A middle aged man wearing body armour bent down to one knee, and the rest of the men around him copied.
"Forgive our behaviour, my lady" he apologised.
He was dressed as a medieval knight, and had brown hair and stubble dotted around his face.
"Don't worry about it Lance. Anyway, how many times do I have to tell you that you don't need to call me my lady. I'm not a high born, like you" reminded E.
"No. But you earned your title, instead of just being born into a wealthy family" replied Lance, as he stood to his feet.

"Fair enough... How many?" Asked E.
Every time she arrived at the camp, one of the first things she did was enquire about the number of people living at the camp.
The numbers often stayed the same, as they didn't lose as many members any more. But E still liked to know how they were doing.
"24" answered Lance.
E frowned, "24. I wasn't expecting you to have another member just yet".
She traced and tracked all the anomalies in certain area's, so she knew that no new ones had opened there recently.
"Oh, our newest member is not a lost traveller like us. Sheila gave birth to a boy a few weeks ago" revealed Lance.

"Wow, that's unexpected" commented E, who was at a loss for words.
"Come and meet him" insisted Lance.
E nodded, and followed the commander through the forest, until they reached a small camp barricaded by a wall of thick branches
The person on duty nodded their head respectfully as E passed them.
"So, you set this up?" Matt asked quietly.
"I can't take credit for all this, but I brought most of the people together, and assisted with the building of the camp" admitted E.
There were several small huts dotted around the camp, and a large fire pit in the middle.
Bowls of water were lain by the fire, and laundry lines hung from the trees.

"It's incredible" commented Matt.
"I know. The people here are really amazing and very adaptable" replied E.
Lance led the way into one of the huts, where a woman was cradling an infant in her arms.
The woman's partner joined her on the makeshift bed, and kissed his son's head.
"Sheila came from the 1960's, and her lover Anthony came from some time in the late 1800's. Without time travel, they never would have met" E said to Matt.
"And we are so lucky to have found each other" smiled Sheila.

"Congratulations on the baby. What is his name?" Asked E.
"We've decided to call him Evan" revealed Anthony.
"That's a great name" replied E.
The longer she looked at the happy family, the worse she felt, for she knew that she could never have what they did.
She was also aware that the child would never have a normal upbringing, and might even die young because of where they were living.
"I need some air" she mumbled before rushing out of the hut, with Matt close behind her.

"Are you alright?" Asked Matt.
E sniffed and nodded her head, "Yeah. I was just thinking about how I've condemned an innocent child to a terrible existence outside of time".
"You said yourself that those people wouldn't even have met if they had been returned to their original time zones. So you brought that baby into the world" replied Matt.
"I know. I'm the one who actually brought them together. I found Sheila just under 2 years ago, and brought her to this camp. Anthony was already there when she arrived... Maybe I never should have gotten involved. Perhaps I should have just left people to their own devices. That way we wouldn't have situations like this".

"Not helping people, is not the answer. What you're doing here is good, and you shouldn't stop" insisted Matt.
"Becker wouldn't agree. He would be angry at me for not returning these people to their old lives... When I came back to the ARC all those months ago, after nearly getting hypothermia, you guys said things to me that changed my view on what I do here. Becker said that I was cruel for leaving these people here. But back then I only saw what I was doing as a good thing. I didn't want to take away people's ability to time travel. But after our conversation I began to question my whole idea of what was right and wrong" revealed E.

"There is no rule book for you to follow. What you are doing is completely unique, so you have to do things your way, and decide what is right and wrong. You could've left these people to survive on their own, since they are not your responsibility. Or you could've returned them home, but that could've created problems if they started telling people about the things they had seen. Instead you decided to help them, by increasing their survival rate, and joining them with other lost souls. It is not up to us to judge you, or tell you what you should've done" admitted Matt.
"I used to believe that whatever I thought was right, really was. I felt that my morals were better than everyone elses. So it was up to me to decide what was right and wrong. But now that I'm older, I can see that I was mistaken" sighed E.

"We all believe in our own version of right and wrong. And if we start questioning our own minds and morality, then we'll never be happy or content" said Matt.
"Maybe... Those that find their way lost in time are curious people, and often not happy with their lives. Which is why I don't want to return them to their old boring lives. However, there are exceptions. I always return children to their homes, because I don't want any child to have to go through what I did. I failed with Danny's brother Patrick. He slipped through the cracks and became a psychopath named Ethan who killed a lot of people. I never want to make a mistake like that again.
And sometimes when someone misses their life and family so much that it is effecting their mental health, I will take them back home" revealed E.

"Then I don't think you need to worry, because it seems to me that you have a pretty good idea of what is right and wrong" reassured Matt.
"You really think so?" Asked E.
"I do" answered Matt.
"Thank you... I just need to talk to Lance and a few other people, and then we'll be out of here"
"Take your time, I don't mind waiting while you talk to your people"
"Thanks. Feel free to walk around and explore while I'm with Lance. Just don't get into trouble"
"Don't worry, I'll be as good as gold"
"You'd better be".