09:21 (North America Central Time)
Monday, August 10, 3384 ‘A’
Time laboratory annex, New Lake City University campus
Great Lakes area, North America
The time scooter reappeared in the middle of a large laboratory sporting equipment that would have been worthy of the best science-fiction movie set in Hollywood in 2012. The three giants in the scooter got out of it and immediately broke in a profuse exchange of happy hugs and kisses. On her part, while eyeing with intense curiosity the lab around her, Nancy was much more subdued and took her time to get off the scooter, something that Farah noticed.
‘’Why the stone face, Nancy? We’re home and safe! We should celebrate this moment.’’
‘’You are home, Farah, but I left behind the two persons I cherish the most. I’m sorry if I play the killjoy like this but I can’t stop thinking about Mike and Ingrid. There is also something else.’’
‘’Oh, what?’’
‘’You did say that your society was a pacifist, unarmed civilization and that your compatriots are mostly risk-averse, right?’’
‘’Uh, I suppose that would be the polite way for your people to describe the Global Council, yes. We are however a gentle society: you won’t have to worry about being threatened by anyone here.’’
‘’What about the reverse? What are your risk-averse, pacifist citizens going to think of an anatomically abnormal woman who is trained to kill and has a kill score in the dozens? As for my weapons, I may be ready to be discreet about them, but I am not going to give them away: I will need them to go get Mike and Ingrid.’’
Maran Tolvek and Mona Zirel, catching on to the situation, had by now cooled down their demonstrations of joy and were eyeing Nancy with a mix of curiosity and caution. Mona nodded her head and spoke while keeping her eyes on Nancy.
‘’She may have a point, Farah. She is physically a most visible oddity, while many may panic on being told she is a soldier, and an armed one at that. Hell, I am not sure that half of our citizens actually understand what a soldier is, or know the difference between a soldier and a simple murderer. The fact that she doesn’t speak Neo-English would only add to the chances of a misunderstanding.’’
‘’Then, let’s get her through a mnemotronic session.’’ Suggested Maran. ‘’We are on the grounds of a university, after all.’’
‘’What is a mnemotronic session?’’ Asked Nancy, even though she already had a vague idea about it. Farah answered her on that.
‘’We use mnemotronic techniques to help accelerate the assimilation of complex knowledge in teenagers and adults via direct mental data transfer. I learned 20th Century English, German and French that way in no more than an hour. You will probably need less than thirty minutes to learn Neo-English and, yes Maran, that was a good idea. I suggest that we do that before anything else: I don’t want to see Nancy having to face Global Council officials or policemen while incapable of being understood.’’
‘’Then, let’s go!’’ Replied Nancy without hesitation.
‘’Uh, what about your weapons?’’
Nancy smiled while patting the pistols on her belt and on her belly.
‘’Those? They are simply tools of my trade, Farah. Don’t worry: I don’t intend to turn into a shooting maniac inside that university.’’
‘’Knowing how good you are with them, that does reassure me a lot, Nancy. Follow me, then. Maran, Mona, you go hide that time scooter somewhere: I don’t want to see it being confiscated or impounded by Daran Mien.’’
‘’Who is that Daran Mien?’’ Asked Nancy, attracting a sardonic smile on Farah’s face.
‘’He is one of those risk-averse compatriots of mine, on top of being the Global Administrator for sciences and my superior. He wouldn’t even think of risking anything by himself. His first reaction on seeing films about you was to call you a mass murderer.’’
‘’That’s nice!’’ Replied Nancy sarcastically. ‘’It is always better to know with whom you are dealing with. Do you have another superior who could prove more understanding about me?’’
‘’Yes: the Chief Global Administrator, Boran Kern. He is an intelligent, reasonable man. I think that I will call him after your mnemotronic session.’’
‘’The Chief Global Administrator… That would make him the leader of Earth, right?’’
‘’Make it the leader of the whole Solar System, Nancy. We have people living in as far as the Neptune System.’’
‘’Wow! Humanity did progress a lot in that respect.’’
‘’And in many others. Ready to follow me now?’’
‘’Let me just do one thing first.’’ Said Nancy, who then took off her beret and pulled off her wig, showing her shaved head and attracting a shocked look from Farah as she put the wig on a nearby table.
‘’What happened to your natural hair?’’
‘’I was accused by some allied prisoners in Colditz of being too friendly with the Germans. They attacked me in the shower house, beat me up and cut my hair to mark me as a collaborator.’’
‘’I…I’m sorry. I didn’t know about that.’’
‘’What is done is done. The good point of that is that I will now attract less attention with a shaved head around your university. Show the way, Farah.’’
Walking out of the lab and into a wide hallway, they soon crossed into the main university building via a steel and glass covered pedestrian bridge. Nancy used that opportunity to examine the surroundings of the university complex, noting the nearby shore of a huge lake.
‘’Where are we exactly, Farah?’’
‘’In New Lake City, one of the few cities now existing in North America. It is situated on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, near its northern tip where it links up with Lake Huron. Due to the long term radiations from the 2052 Nuclear Holocaust, most of North America remained a wasteland for many centuries. The Global Council has been working hard now for four centuries to decontaminate and repopulate parts of the continent, but there are still only a dozen cities dotting it. As for the East Coast, it is still virgin territory, so intense were the radiation levels there.’’
‘’The folly of man…’’ Said quietly Nancy while contemplating the countryside and the buildings of the medium-sized city built along the nearby shore. Farah nodded her head to that.
‘’You are right about that, Nancy. Hopefully, the Global Council will never have to suffer the scourge of war.’’
They then resumed their walk, crossing path often with groups of teenagers and young adults that in turn eyed Nancy in various ways. Nancy giggled as one particular group of girls passed her, attracting an amused look from Farah.
‘’What is it?’’
‘’One of those girls just thought that I had atrocious fashion tastes. I can’t say that she is wrong, if you look at my battledress uniform.’’
‘’Nancy, how powerful is that telepathic power of yours? In fact, can you tell me more about what happened to you in Colditz?’’
‘’Farah, I actually have to control my mind in order not to be swamped by all the thoughts emanating around me. If I can see or picture someone in my mind, then I can communicate telepathically with that person. It is in fact only one of the many powers I received from The One when he healed me in Colditz.’’
Nancy then took a few minutes to tell Farah about her experience in Colditz, while they walked along the corridors of the university. By the time they arrived at a mnemotronic lab, Farah was sobered up by Nancy’s story.
‘’This is all quite incredible, Nancy, yet I have seen enough to believe you. However, the society of the Global Council is completely atheistic. Making others believe you about your ‘One’ will be difficult. Ah, here we are!’’
The mnemotronic lab turned out to be a large room filled with rows of what looked a lot like dentist chairs. A dozen of the chairs were already occupied by seemingly sleeping giant teenagers, while a technician sat at a control desk. Farah led Nancy to one of the occupied chairs and made her sit in it, then adjusted on her head a sort of helmet with a facial viewing screen.
‘’Just relax from now on, Nancy. I will go program your session at the control desk.’’
The technician at the control desk, a young woman that Farah knew well, smiled to the physicist as Farah joined her and called up a program for Nancy’s mnemotronic chair.
‘’Who is your friend, Farah? She sure dresses funny.’’
‘’You could say that, I suppose. Her name is Nancy and she is quite special.’’
The technician then noticed that Farah was programming a session of Neo-English and looked at her with confusion.
‘’Why program Neo-English for her? She doesn’t speak it already?’’
‘’No, Anya! She speaks old Colloquial English from the 20th Century.’’
‘’English from the 20th Century? How could that be?’’
Farah then stared into her friend’s eyes and spoke calmly.
‘’Anya, keep this to yourself for the moment, but that woman just came with me from the year 1941.’’
The technician’s eyes bulged wide open at those words.
‘’A…a time traveler? She is an Ancestor?’’
‘’Yes, she is an Ancestor, and a quite remarkable one at that.’’
Fahar then completed her programming and initiated the mnemotronic session before sitting in an empty chair of the control desk, checking in particular a specific indicator. She smiled with satisfaction when the dial gave her a reading after a few minutes.
‘’Nancy has an I.Q. of 153. Not bad for an Ancestor, wouldn’t you say, Anya?’’
‘’But, that’s genius level! I thought that Ancestors had to have inferior minds, to do something as stupid as the Nuclear Holocaust of 2052.’’
Farah looked at the technician gravely.
‘’Believe me, Anya: Ancestors could be as brilliant as any of us, or as stupid as any of us. They just didn’t have our level of knowledge, that’s all. My friend Nancy actually originates from the year 2012, but was kidnapped by two of our own scientists and was used as a guinea pig for experiments in time travel. I had to go recuperate her in 1941 but she in turn saved my life and made possible our escape. She is the bravest woman I ever saw and she has a heart of gold.’’
‘’She is certainly small, compared to us.’’
‘’But she is very strong for her size, Anya. Ancestors, contrary to us, practiced sports intensively and most of them were more fit physically than any of us. Nancy could most probably run into the ground anyone in the Global Council.’’
Farah then stayed silent for the rest of Nancy’s session. She got up from her chair when the program ended and went to Nancy’s chair. Taking the helmet off her head, she smiled to Nancy and spoke to her in Neo-English.
‘’How is the little brain of the young lady?’’’
‘’The young lady will be polite and won’t send you where you should, Farah.’’ Replied Nancy, also in Neo-English, before laughing with Farah.
‘’So, what do we do next?’’
‘’I believe that now is a good time for me to call the Chief Global Administrator. There are public videophone stations in a lounge close to this lab. Come with me!’’
A short walk brought them to a students lounge that was mostly deserted, classes being in session. Farah entered with Nancy one of the sound-proof glass cubicles containing a chair facing what looked like a computer station. Taking place in the chair, with Nancy standing out of the field of view of the station’s camera, Farah composed the number for a station in Zurich, in the European Alps. A young female receptionist answered her, her head and torso appearing on the station’s screen.
“Good afternoon! Office of the Chief Global Administrator. May I help you?”
“This is Doctor Farah Tolkonen, member of the Global Science Council and head of Project Tempus. I need to speak urgently to Chief Administrator Kern on a question of life or death.”
“Oh!” Said the receptionist, visibly impressed. “One moment, please.”
The screen went to waiting mode for a short moment before the head and upper torso of a handsome man appeared on it.
“Doctor Tolkonen, you were reported as lost in time in the twentieth century. How did you manage to get back?”
“It certainly wasn’t because of the Global Science Administrator, sir: my assistants had to break a ban on time travel in order to get me back with the help of a friend.”
“Are you alright, Doctor?” Asked Boran Kern, appearing genuinely concerned about her.
“I was captured, tortured and nearly killed, but I’m mostly alright now, thanks to Nancy Laplante.”
“That Laplante, wasn’t she the one who supposedly caused the distortions in the timeline?”
“She’s the one, sir, but she is not the one to blame in this: two of our own scientists marooned her in time without her consent or knowledge. Faced with surviving a war she was not supposed to live through, she tried to shorten that war, which caused the distortions. Sir, we owe her: she was nearly killed a dozen times, was tortured horribly and also got wounded repeatedly. Her name is now disgraced in the time we just came from; she lost most of her personal possessions and she has been separated from her new husband and adopted daughter, who are still back in the year 1941. She is now with me in New Lake City and is hoping to be able to go back to the past to retrieve her husband, daughter and various possessions. Simply apologizing to her before kicking her back to her year of origin will not suffice, sir. Besides, we may need her for something none of us could do.”
“I’m listening, Doctor.” Said Kern gravely. Farah then spoke for a couple of minutes, explaining an idea she had been cultivating for a few days now. At the end of it, Kern nodded his head, apparently won in by her arguments.
“Your idea has a lot of merit to it, Doctor. Besides, that Nancy Laplante sounds fascinating. You can expect me in New Lake City in two hours.”
“Sir, before you hang up, you should know two things. First, my friend was armed when she arrived here. I would like to obtain a waver for her from the standing global ban on weapons. She will need her weapons when she will go back to the past, for her own protection.”
“Could she be dangerous, Doctor?”
“To us, no! To her enemies, very much so. This brings me to the second point I wanted to bring on. Sometime during her stay in the year 1941, Nancy Laplante acquired some very powerful paranormal powers, which she used to help me escape.”
“Paranormal powers? What kind of powers? How?”
Nancy decided then to jump in the conversation and moved so that Boran Kern could see her.
“Good morning, Chief Global Administrator. Let me present myself : Nancy Laplante, war correspondent and Canadian Army reserves officer from the year 2012. I gained my powers at the same time that I was healed in minutes from the tortures inflicted on me by the Germans in 1941. For that, I owe it to what I call ‘The One’, essentially an entity formed of pure spiritual energy and possessing incredible powers. Some may actually equate The One with God. As for my powers, I can communicate telepathically, use telekinesis and levitation and can heal by the touch of my hands. I was as well given by him earlier on the ability to remember all my past incarnations, spread over 9,000 years and 92 lives. I know that this will be difficult for you to believe, but I am more than ready to prove to you what I say once we meet.”
Boran Kern was silent for a long moment, digesting those words. He finally spoke cautiously, weighing his every word.
‘’We will definitely need to talk together, Miss Laplante. Could you now wait outside of the booth, so that I could speak in private with Doctor Tolkonen?’’
‘’As you wish, sir.’’ Said Nancy before leaving the cubicle and closing the sound-proof door behind her, then walking away to the other side of the lounge. Kern followed her via the camera, then spoke to Farah when he was satisfied that Nancy was far enough.
“Doctor, how could you tell me that an armed woman from a barbaric past who possesses such powers is not dangerous to our society? From what she did, it sounds like she could take on all of our security agents single-handedly.”
“She probably could, sir, but she won’t, unless she is threatened. She may be a soldier but she has a heart of gold. She would do anything to protect innocent people, especially children.”
“Hmm, a trained killer with a heart of gold… Sounds like quite a contradiction to me, Doctor.”
“Please, sir, do not prejudge her without at least meeting her. I would trust that woman with my life, sir.”
“Alright, Doctor. I’ll be on my way shortly. She may keep her weapons in the meantime but tell her not to carry them in public. As for your idea, we will talk more about it once we meet in New Lake City.”
“Thank you very much for your comprehension, sir. I will be waiting for you at the time lab, in the university’s physics annex.”
Farah was nearly jubilant as Kern terminated the communication. It had gone much better than she had hoped for.
11:25 (North Americal Central Time)
Landing pad, campus of New Lake City University
Boran Kern was thoughtful as his personal transport craft was landing vertically and silently on one of the landing pads of the university campus, thanks to its directional gravity drive. Like most citizens of the Global Council, he knew very little about the history of the twentieth century or that of previous centuries. Most of the world’s historical archives had been lost in the mid 21st century, following the nuclear war in 2052 that had almost wiped out humanity from the surface of the Earth. The little he had read about that time period spoke of incredible violence and cruelty. Could that supposedly friendly woman really come from such a barbaric period? To complicate the problem, that woman had lethal weapons with her, weapons that had been technically banned in the Global Council for centuries. If that woman turned to be less than friendly and ran wild with her weapons, there was no way to predict what could happen then. As for his own personal protection, Kern had brought six of his top security agents, well-trained men armed with non-lethal weapons, but, from what Doctor Tolkonen had told him, those six men may not be enough to face that woman soldier. He could thus only hope that the incoming meeting would go well and that Tolkonen’s judgment of that Laplante was accurate. If not, there would be quite a lot of blame coming his way from the High Council, the governing group of global administrators of which he was the chairman.
Surrounded by his bodyguards, the Chief Global Administrator stepped out of his craft by its rear access ramp, setting foot on the concrete of the landing pad as a local government limousine commandeered in advance by a call from Zurich approached slowly. Kern and his security detail took place quickly in the limousine, which then accelerated towards the Physics Annex. The trip was short, less than a minute in fact, with the limousine depositing its passengers in front of the main entrance of the annex. Kern’s arrival didn’t go unnoticed by the faculty members and students going in or out of the annex, with many of the people seeing him then placing calls on their wrist videophones. Kern realized with a sigh that his visit in New Lake City was going to fuel endless speculations and could very well attract the attention of the medias. He however suspected that the apparition of Nancy Laplante would have done that quickly enough. With one of his bodyguard first asking for directions to the time lab, Kern then started walking down one of the ground level hallways of the annex, still surrounded by his security agents. The latter were now understandably nervous and kept one hand near their stun pistols hidden under their vests. The idea of going to talk with a confessed mass killer had in fact attracted a strong protest from Kern’s head of security, but Goran Vedak had to capitulate when faced with the stubborn intention of his boss. Vedak, along with his five agents, actually drew their stun pistols from under their vests just before entering the time lab, to then hold them as inconspicuously as possible while still ready to use them quickly. Kern nearly ordered them to holster their weapons back, but he reasoned that Vedak, as the security professional, knew better than him about how to face a potential deadly threat. The first person they met once inside the lab was Farah Tolkonen, who had been waiting near the door of her office. She bowed her head politely to Kern, who bowed back, and shook his hand.
‘’Thank you for coming to see me, Chief Global Administrator Kern. I know that you are quite a busy man.’’
‘’Not busy enough to ignore a subject as important as the one we need to discuss about, Doctor Tolkonen. Could we speak in private in your office before going to see Miss Laplante?’’
‘’Of course, sir.’’
With his bodyguards staying outside of the office, Kern entered the small room, which was furnished rather simply, and took a chair opposite Tolkonen. He couldn’t help think then that the physicist appeared exhausted.
‘’Are you alright, Doctor? You seem quite tired. We could always postpone this discussion if you wish so.’’
‘’No, no, let’s discuss now. I can always sleep later: this cannot wait.’’
‘’As you wish, Doctor. So, tell me in detail what happened after you jumped to the year 1941 to save that Laplante, then tell me what you honestly think of that woman. Take all your time.’’
Farah Tolkonen spoke for a good twenty minutes, with Boran Kern cutting in a number of times to ask questions and clarify points. Their conversation left Kern stroking his chin with one hand as he digested Farah’s information.
‘’This woman seems nearly impossible. Many could see her as a public danger, especially with her weapons and her supernatural powers.’’
‘’Sir, Nancy may be good at killing, but that doesn’t mean that she enjoys killing. She is a highly honorable woman, with a keen sense of justice and a tolerant mind. She is also a certified genius: her mnemotron session showed me that her I.Q. stands at 153. She is quite far from the picture of the mindless barbarian that some would try to put on her.’’
‘’If you say so, Doctor. Well, from what you told me, I think it should be safe enough for me to go speak with her. Is she still armed?’’
‘’No! She voluntarily surrendered her weapons to me for the duration of her present visit to our time period. She will however want them back when she is ready to go back to the past to go get her husband and daughter.’’
‘’We will see about that in good time, Doctor. Let’s see first how our conversation with her goes.’’
‘’Then, may I suggest that your bodyguards holster back their stun pistols, sir? I told Nancy that we are an unarmed, pacifist society, and she may not react well on seeing weapons pointed at her.’’
‘’Hum, point taken, Doctor. Well, let’s go see your wonder woman.’’
Both got up and left the office, joining the six agents waiting in the hallway. On being told by Kern to hide his weapons, Goran Vedak hesitated a moment but finally obeyed reluctantly. The six bodyguards then formed a phalange around Kern as Farah led them towards the laboratory proper. After passing a transparent double sliding door, Kern finally had his first direct look at Nancy Laplante, who was sitting behind a table supporting a number of scientific instruments. He was better able to judge her size when she got up on her feet as he entered with his guards and Tolkonen. While small in comparison with adult Global Council citizens, there was no mistaking her for a young teenager, as she had a very feminine, well developed body. She certainly was a beautiful woman and her long black hair only added to her exotic beauty. Kern then caught on about her hair.
‘’Uh, if I am not mistaken, miss, you didn’t have that hair on your head during our videophone conversation earlier this morning.’’
‘’You are correct, Chief Global Administrator Kern. I am presently wearing a wig I bought in 1941 to cover my shaven head. Please understand that, for most women of my time, having a shaved head was a stigma, a mark of infamy. Some allied prisoners of war cut my hair because they thought that I was too friendly with our German guards in the prison where I was held after being tortured. Much of what was then left was burned away while I was saving German civilians trapped in houses on fire.’’
‘’Doctor Tolkonen told me about that, Miss Laplante. First, before we speak further, I want to thank you in the name of the Global Council for what you did for Doctor Tolkonen.”
Nancy smiled to him and nodded her head once to acknowledge his thank.
“I am the one grateful to her, sir, as I would be still marooned in time if not for her brave intervention and that of her assistants. May I ask what you plan to do with me, sir?”
“Be reassured, Miss: we are a pacifist and kind society. You will be fully compensated for the wrongs done to you by the two scientists who kidnapped you, then we will help you return to your proper life. I understand that you had to leave behind in 1941 two persons that are dear to you, along with most of your personal possessions.”
Kern saw sadness appear on her face at his words.
“Sir, my husband and adopted daughter are effectively very dear to me. Whatever happens to me, I wish to have them by my side. Could you arrange that?”
Kern turned his head to look at Doctor Tolkonen.
“Doctor, do you see any possible bad consequence for the timeline continuity if we go fetch these two people in 1941?”
“No, sir. Timeline ‘B’ is a creation out of Nancy’s actions. It is quite malleable compared to our own timeline. From what I know of those two persons, they are nice people with a good potential to help in my special project I told you about.”
“Ah, yes, your Time Patrol idea. Did you put that idea across to your friend here?”
“We didn’t have much time to talk about that, sir, but I am sure that she would be interested by it.”
“Do you mind if I ask her, then?”
“Sir, I was counting on that.” Replied Farah, obviously delighted. Kern nodded his head and looked back at Laplante.
“Miss Laplante, Doctor Tolkonen proposed to me the idea of forming an agency that would be tasked to regulate and police time travel, to avoid further distortions of the timelines. That agency would also be used to document history in detail, as most of the world’s archives were lost in the 21st century. Would you be interested in helping organize and run such an agency?”
“With immense pleasure, sir.” Was her instant reply. “My own experience showed me how vulnerable to manipulation history is. A recent experience where I gained my new paranormal powers also gave me another incentive to be interested in protecting history: I can now remember my past incarnations. I am able to recall my 92 ancient lives, going back to the eight millennium before the Christian era. Those souvenirs include ancient languages as well.”
“But…that’s fantastic! This could be invaluable when the time comes to document and patrol history.”
“I know, sir. I will be glad to use this knowledge for the protection of history.”
A thought then came to Farah’s mind at those words and she jumped in the exchange.
“Nancy, those past lives of yours, how varied are they? Were you ever a historically significant person?”
Farah swallowed hard when Nancy nodded her head somberly.
“I was both man and woman, peasant and warrior, slave and merchant. Of my 92 past lives, one was pivotal for history. How well do you know the history of Europe’s fifteenth century A.D.?”
“Er, not very well, I am afraid. Were you some kind of king or queen then?”
“No! I started out as a simple French peasant girl, then turned into a warrior who rallied France against the English troops occupying it. She ended up burned at the stake as a heretic, after freeing much of France. Her proper name was Joan the Maiden, more popularly known as Joan of Arc, and she is a national heroine in France. Ironically enough, Joan was always one of my favorite role models when I was a young teenager. Finding out that I was actually her was a great shock to me, but also a marvelous surprise.”
‘’Then,’’ said Boran Kern, ‘’I definitely want you for that Time Patrol project…if it can be accepted by the High Council. That is however far from being a given. What could definitely help convince the High Council to endorse this new organization is the prospect of being able to rebuild our knowledge of past history. The Nuclear Holocaust of 2052 unfortunately destroyed nearly all of the World’s historical archives and artifacts and there is presently a great hunger for historical knowledge in our society. Also, a great number of animal and plant species we