TIME & TIED: AWARENESS

ARC 1.3 - Of Her Impact

PART 16a: AND LOGICAL MIND 1

"Uh... time machine?" Frank answered uncertainly. His dad had returned to the sitting room and his mom was in the kitchen, but he kept his voice down regardless.

"Yes," Luci stated. "And please don't bother trying to cover it up. I overheard you discussing it with Carrie a few hours ago."

"A few hours ago? But..." Frank stopped. Could Luci have been hiding near the library records room?

"Having trouble remembering where you were a few hours ago?" Luci inquired, half-smiling. “It’s fine, I was yielding to your own time continuity. A few hours ago for you and Carrie, it was late August. One month ago. Now, while you're obviously feeling a bit time lagged after having been then, and in the 1950s before that, I'd appreciate being able to see your data on the time machine before this day is out?"

"Ah." Frank decided he couldn't be feeling more off balance had Luci simply shoved him down onto the floor. Well, at least she hadn’t opted for that literal option, the way Carrie would have. "Luci, why don't you come down to my lab?" he finally offered.

***

A little over a month ago, in the ravine out back of Carrie's house, two teenagers were arguing.

“Admit it Frank, you screwed up," the blonde insisted. “Could happen to anyone. Late August, late September, easy mistake. Granted, annoying as all hell, and better not happen again..."

“Carrie, I’m telling you, I set the circuits for... wait, of course, I know what happened," Frank realized. "Remember how this machine has an inherent random element to it? We're not so much setting a date as rigging the game. And this time, we didn't hit the jackpot.”

He rubbed his chin. “Honestly, I'm a bit surprised it hasn't happened more often. Maybe I’m getting better at setting it. Or the odds are more in our favour than I figured."

Carrie rolled her eyes. "Oh, GREAT. Any MORE good news?”

"Carrie, I - we - are still trying to understand this machine," Frank reminded with a sigh. "It's not possible to have time travel down to a fine science in the span of a week.”

"No kidding. Still can't pick an arrival time, still seem to have no clue about where we're going spatially..."

"Wait, did you hear something?"

"Don't interrupt! And now, even some of the stuff we supposedly know, we still can't control," Carrie groused. “We can’t keep doing this. Have you noticed how this is messing with my circadian rhythms? And presumably yours too? Today I woke up, spent a few hours in the present, spent four hours tooling around in '55, then over three in the present doing research in the library. Followed by another four hours or so in '55, and now we're doomed to spend more time in August while the machine charges! I'm going to need supper and some sleep when we get back to the present, regardless of the actual time of day when we get there.”

"Well what do you want me to say?" Frank shot back in exasperation. “It was your idea to go back to '55 again!"

"Yeah. Well... the good we did there is starting to feel more like a hassle,” Carrie sighed. “Paradox be damned, how come our future selves haven't at least come back from sometime in December to tell us more? Seems really irresponsible of us."

“Has it occurred to you that it’s because we’ll run out of present day coins before December?”

Carrie’s gaze snapped back to him. “No,” she admitted, her voice tight. “How many more of them do we have?”

Frank ran a hand back through his hair. He wished he hadn’t brought that up. “Ten,” he admitted. “Actually, nine, thanks to this detour. Unless you have more?”

“And how many of those will you need for your testing?”

Frank tried not to meet her gaze. “We can probably find more by buying stuff... I got three as change this month."

“No, Frank,” Carrie reached out as if to grab his shirt, but then seemed to think better of it and pointed at him instead. “You HAVE to keep some of those coins around for MY trip. The ones I had are used up, poking those holes in your timeline theory.”

"But Carrie..."

"No 'but's, Frank,” Carrie said firmly. “In fact, let me give you a deadline. Seven more days of tests, and then I’m going. By myself if I have to.”

“Carrie!”

“I’m serious, Frank,” Carrie said. “At this rate, we'll never do anything. This is where it ends. One week."

Frank sighed. 'Perfect,' he thought to himself. 'Just perfect.'

***

Back in the present, Luci followed Frank down the stairs to his basement. “So, was that you I heard in the bushes back then?” he asked her.

"Of course," Luci answered. "I was sitting in the park when a flash of light caught my eye, so I went into the ravine to investigate. Granted, I couldn’t hear your whole conversation, and I slipped away once Carrie started rattling off ‘Barenaked Ladies’ tunes, but I caught enough to be able to piece the rest together over time.”

Frank rubbed the side of his head. "Just how much DO you know then?" he inquired.

"I know that you and Carrie recently came into possession of a time machine," Luci began. "It had already happened by the math test a couple Fridays back, given your reactions to each other on that day. Moreover, when I called your house that evening, I was told that Carrie was there. On a hunch, I then phoned her house, and she answered. Meaning at least one Carrie was out of her proper time."

"Good catch," Frank said, looking startled.

"Simple logic," Luci countered. "You two weren't even trying to cover your tracks. I then decided to come by your house last Sunday afternoon. Which is when I saw Carrie arrive with what I can only assume was the time machine. At the same time, I learned indirectly, via Clarke, that Julie was becoming interested in your activities. Which should hardly come as a surprise, given her ties with Carrie."

Frank nodded. "Yes, the... Julie angle was pointed out to me."

"If you're referring to the mysterious phone call you received, that was from me."

"What?" Frank said, startled anew.

Luci allowed herself another smile. "I used electronics to simulate a male voice. I wanted to warn you about Julie without involving myself directly. Which seems silly, until you realize that the conversation I’d heard was still to come in your future. A future where I hadn't been mentioned, so I didn’t want to risk a possible time paradox."

"Ah! Thank goodness, someone who finally understands the danger of paradox,” Frank said, letting out a sigh of relief. "Except... wait, if that was you on the phone, do you know anything about a shady man in some woods two years ago?"

Luci stared. "Pardon?"

Frank shook his head. "Never mind, another puzzle which I thought had been connected to the call - guess not. Okay, so what made you realize that today was the day to come and tell me all of this in person?"

"A simple matter of figuring out when that August incident would catch up with you," Luci explained. “I already knew, based on some of the things Carrie had been saying, that it would occur on a late September day when you both spent some time in the library. Observation and occasional discussion with Lee and the librarians revealed today as being that date. Hence I waited until I was reasonably sure you'd already taken your time trip to the ‘50s, and I come to you now before any other time puzzles can turn up to complicate matters."

"Luci... you amaze me," Frank concluded. "You know, with your ability to deduce all of this, it's surprising that you can still have occasional difficulty with your academics.”

Luci hesitated, deciding to sidestep that comment. “So, you currently have a problem. Several problems, really. Ergo, unless you have an objection, I'd like to help you out.”

Frank nodded slowly. “A fresh perspective on all this might be exactly what we need," he admitted. "Though I should really consult with Carrie before I say anything."

Luci felt the side of her mouth twitch. "Carrie's probably busy, she wouldn't understand the technical details, and I seem to recall her saying something to you about a deadline,” she fired back.

"Er, well, true," Frank replied. "But all the same, she did find the machine and introduce me to the situation two years ago... and she does have a personal interest in this."

"Wait, HOW long ago?" Luci said, for the first time caught unawares. "But that means... no, of course, it actually makes more sense now," she continued, vocalizing her own thoughts. "She didn't go to you because you had been researching time travel. You'd been researching time travel because of a past encounter with her."

"Essentially," Frank admitted. “Is our connection becoming that obvious?”

“Only if you’re paying attention. But it won't be long before even casual observers notice that something's up. Carrie's acting different. You're acting different. What was up with that evasive act you pulled in the hall last Thursday?"

"Oh. That technically wasn't me," Frank said sheepishly. "I was testing the time machine later that night and it dropped me back right in the middle of the school. I was lucky it was a few seconds before the bell signifying class change, as opposed to after, otherwise someone could have seen me arrive."

"But you can't keep relying on luck that way,” Luci protested. "Otherwise, sooner or later, someone else is going to work out what's going on.”

Frank spread his hands out in a gesture of helplessness. "There's not much I can do about that. We're only in Grade 11, Luci... heck, age wise you should be in Grade 9. We’re not equipped to understand the technical details of a time machine at a glance - we need more data. Unless you’re suggesting we get some adults involved?"

"Not necessarily. But I gather that some of your time traveling problems are due to an inability to set direct co-ordinates in space-time?”

"Er, yeah..."

"Then why not integrate your own clock and map into the device?"