09:15 (Auckland Time)
November 6, 2977 B.C.E.
Medical section, main Time Patrol base
Future site of Auckland, New Zealand
“You are effectively pregnant, Nancy. One month pregnant to be exact.” Said Rebecca Milner while still looking at the results of the examination she had performed on Nancy. Rebecca saw at once the grim reaction her words attracted on Nancy’s face.
“Is it an unwanted pregnancy, Nancy?”
“Well, it is certainly an unplanned pregnancy, Rebecca.”
“Do you want to keep that baby, or…?”
Nancy lowered her head, having feared to have to do such a choice.
“I have no wish for my baby to pay for a mistake I made. On the other hand, Farah may not allow me to have that baby.”
“Who is the father?” Asked her now alarmed doctor. Nancy’s answer was a near whisper.
“King Louis the Fourteenth of France.”
“Oh shit!” Said quietly Rebecca. “What are you going to do now?”
“I…I don’t know.” Replied Nancy, bordering on tears. “I don’t want that baby to die, but my sons are still in the past, waiting for me. I will have to inform Farah of this first, I guess.”
Seeing her distress, Rebecca put down her clipboard and went to hug her.
“Don’t worry, Nancy. We will find a way out of this dilemma for you.”
“Thanks, Rebecca. You are a real friend.”
Rebecca held her for a few more seconds, then stepped back and activated her wrist videophone, calling Farah Tolkonen. The Chief Administrator of the Time Patrol answered after a couple of seconds on the miniature screen and smiled to the doctor.
“Yes, Rebecca. What may I do for you?”
“Actually, it is Nancy that needs your help. She is pregnant but it is an unplanned pregnancy. Uh, the father is King Louis the Fourteenth of France.”
“WHAT?” Shouted Farah. “Tell Nancy to come to my office, right now!”
“Uh, will do.” Said Rebecca. Closing her videophone, she then looked apologetically at Nancy. “I gather that she didn’t take that piece of news too well.”
“It was expected.” Replied grimly Nancy. “I can’t blame her for that: she has some reasons to be upset. Well, I better be on my way to face the music.”
Walking out of the infirmary while still dressed in her 17th Century court gown, Nancy followed the hallway looping around this level of the main residential and command section of the base, going at a deliberate pace while thinking about her options. Unfortunately, those were quite limited and mostly meant bad news for her. She crossed path with a few of her friends on her way, acknowledging their greetings absent-mindedly. Arriving after a couple of minutes at the entrance of the office suite used by Farah, Nancy hesitated for a moment, then stepped inside and went to the desk of Farah’s secretary. The bald giant woman from the Global Council gave her a gentle smile and nodded once.
“Farah is waiting for you, Nancy. You may go in.”
“Thank you, Druna.”
Taking a deep breath, Nancy then stepped towards the door of Farah’s office. The door automatically opened once she was within two paces of it, letting her enter. Farah was sitting behind her huge desk, eyeing her severely as Nancy came to a stop five paces in front of her.
“Nancy, the least I can say is that you have a talent to get into trouble when it comes to men. Tell me how you got pregnant by King Louis.”
“It is quite straightforward, Farah. I confused my fertility dates and used my contraceptive spray too late.”
Nancy then gave Farah a detailed account of the night and following days when she got pregnant. Farah felt some discouragement as Nancy finished telling her story: while Nancy’s mistake could be somewhat excused, the consequences to follow were bound to be severe.
“Nancy, this is the third time that you force me to react because of your liaisons with men from the past. While the episode with Gordon Smythe was due to temporary amnesia and was through no fault of yours, I can’t say the same about your liaison with D’Artagnan, when you committed possibly the biggest offence possible in the Time Patrol: to reveal the existence of time travel to someone from the past. I was lenient then but now you are pregnant from no less than the King of France. Who in the 17th Century knows about your pregnancy?”
“No one, Farah. Not even King Louis.”
“Thank the stars for that! At least we can still contain the damage. Do you plan to have that baby?”
“I want that baby to live, Farah.” Said weakly Nancy. Farah nodded slowly.
“Then you can have it, but not in the 17th Century. Nobody there is to learn about that child.”
Nancy felt as if she had been slapped then: this was one of the options she had dreaded the most.
“But, my sons… This means that I will be separated from them for over a year.”
“They won’t realize that if you return to the same day you departed, Nancy.”
“But I will!” Nearly shouted Nancy, despair in her voice. “I have already spent four months without seeing William. This would mean that I would be separated from him for over a year and a half, while I won’t see Charles and James for at least a year.”
Farah clenched her teeth as she realized what those words meant. Unfortunately, she had to pass the integrity of the main historical timeline first.
“I’m sorry, Nancy, but you should have thought of that before letting yourself get pregnant. I will ask you not to jump spacetime until further notice. You will also go pass a complete medical examination. Then, go rest until I notify you of my final decision concerning you. Dismissed!”
Tears rolled on Nancy’s cheeks as she turned around and left Farah’s office. She managed to wait until she got to her assigned apartment in the tower before starting to cry.
10:20 (Auckland Time)
Farah Tolkonen’s office
Farah was already discussing Nancy’s case with Jan Bella, the chief historian of the Time Patrol, and Jack Crawford, the leader of Nancy’s tactical assault team, when Boran Kern, the chief of personnel and services, and Miri Goshenk ‘B’, the chief psychologist, entered her office. Farah pointed a vacant sofa to them at once.
“Please sit down: we have quite a serious problem to discuss.”
“We know!” Replied Boran Kern, who had been once the Global Chief Administrator of the Global Council, in essence the political leader of the whole Solar System. “The whole base already seems to know about Nancy’s problem. They didn’t joke in the 20th Century when they said that nothing goes faster than rumors. Isn’t Mike Crawford going to attend this meeting?”
“He is presently on a major documentary mission in the Ninth Century C.E., along with a number of other field agents. Jack Crawford is filling in as Interim Chief of Operations.”
Boran Kern nodded at that but didn’t let his displeasure show up: He didn’t particularly like Jack Crawford. True, the man was an outstanding assault specialist and was deadly in combat but Boran felt that he lacked some human touch with his subalterns. Boran believed that much of Jack Crawford’s problems came from his previous training and service as an American S.E.A.L. special forces soldier. That training had left in Boran’s opinion Jack with poor interpersonal skills. Farah’s voice then returned Boran’s attention to her.
“Well, since you already heard about Nancy’s problem, we will now discuss what to do with Nancy.”
“Uh, shouldn’t we decide first what to do about her pregnancy?” Cut in Boran.
“I already took a decision about that, Boran. She will have her baby, but here, away from any person from the 17th Century. She will also keep the existence of that baby a secret.”
“And where are her sons right now?”
“In their respective centuries. Since Nancy will use hidden time, they won’t notice any delay in her return.”
“Wait a minute!” Cut in Miri Goshenk, frowning at Farah’s answer. “You mean that you will force Nancy to stay away from her three sons for the whole period of her pregnancy?”
“Uh, more actually. Once she has given birth, she will need a few months to get back in her original shape and to wean her baby from breast-feeding. Then she can leave her baby in the care of a sitter and use hidden time to live with her baby, the way she does with her three sons.”
Miri bent forward slightly while staring at Farah, clearly not happy with this.
“Farah, you are asking the impossible from Nancy: to live three completely disconnected lives while caring for four children who will not see each other.”
“She should have thought about that before getting pregnant from historically important men.” Said Jack Crawford coldly. “This is the second time that she does that.”
Those words made anger flare in Miri, who then rose her voice sharply at Jack.
“You know what, Jack: I am starting to be really fed up with the hypocrisy of this pregnancy policy. It puts all the onus on our female field agents, while our male field agents can basically bed women through the ages without ever having to answer for the consequences, all because we reason that this is the problem of the woman involved if she ends up pregnant. And don’t tell me that our field agents don’t have to use sex during their missions, because I have seen too many times when they have been ‘encouraged’ to use sex in order to obtain important information or gain access to someone or something.”
“Nancy only needed to use her contraceptive spray if she wanted to avoid her present problem.” Replied Jack, also raising his voice. “She bedded no less than the King of France, a man whose romantic adventures and offspring, both legitimate and illegitimate, will be closely scrutinized by historians. Her baby can’t appear in the 17th Century, period!”
“Jack is right on that last point, Miri.” Said quietly Jan Bella, the chief historian. “King Louis the Fourteenth was famous as a womanizer and left a trail of mistresses and babies, all of whom were eventually mentioned or studied in numerous books, documentaries and even films. It is already a small miracle that Nancy, as the Marquise de Saint-Laurent, is not yet visible in history books. If she officially ends up with a baby from King Louis, then you can be sure that she will become historically famous herself, something a field agent can’t afford to let happen.”
“That’s a rather convenient point of view when talking about the life of one of our agents.” Replied Miri. “We sent that girl on a long mission to the 17th Century when she was still only sixteen years old, then made her our resident agent for that century. Nancy brought us already tons of truly invaluable historical information and documents, both written and visual, from that century, along with more stuff from the 19th Century, where she is also our resident agent. In the latter case, we assigned her there to replace Nancy ‘A’: Nancy ‘B’ didn’t come up with that idea. She volunteered after we asked her. And what are we doing now, after making that girl shuttle constantly between three disconnected lives? We are planning to cut her off from her three sons for a good eighteen months! Dammit, she already lost two husbands and had to renounce the other man she loved in order to preserve history. We go on with that lousy plan and we will back that poor Nancy into a depression she may never come out of.”
“But, Miri,” protested Farah, “what else could we do? We can’t allow her baby to possibly end up in the line of succession of King Louis the Fourteenth. She should have used her contraceptive spray, which would have made this whole discussion unnecessary.”
“And what was the excuse she gave you for not using her contraceptive spray?” Asked Jack to Farah.
“She said that she believes that she confused her fertility dates and used her spray too late.”
“That sounds like a cheap excuse to me.” Said Jack, attracting angry stares from both Miri and Boran. Miri was the one to shoot back at him.
“Jack, have you stopped for a second to think that maybe she had a point about her fertility dates? You obviously haven’t and don’t seem to care either, so I will give you a few facts about female fertility. First, the female body is influenced by more than just straight calendar days. The living conditions, stress situation and diet can all affect female periods. Also, the Moon and its phases affect them directly. It is actually very possible that Nancy honestly thought that her fertile period was not due and that her constant switch between centuries screwed up her periods.”
“But she should still have used her spray after having sex.” Fired back Jack, unwilling to concede the point. Miri gave him a dubious look.
“You know, for someone who could remind female past lives, you are quite obtuse concerning this, Jack. Our standard contraceptive spray, while safe to use, still causes some minor secondary effects. Because of that, our female agents don’t always use it and try instead to track down their fertility periods. Since condoms are not used during most of history, our female agents often have to play a sort of Russian roulette with sex. Most end up with no problems, as their missions in the past are often short and infrequent. Nancy, on the other hand, is our sole field agent with resident status in the past and has been spending far more of her biological time away from our main base than any of our other field agents. Our other women are in majority ship crews and may go on patrols for a week or two at a time, then return to base, or serve as duty liaison officers at our outposts for fixed periods of six months. This is nothing compared to the constant, prolonged shuttling in time Nancy has to perform in order to fill her duties as resident agent in not one but two centuries. Can’t we cut her some slack, for God’s sake?”
“Miri is correct on that point.” Added Boran Kern somberly. “I reviewed her service file before coming here and she has already accumulated a staggering number of years of service in the past.”
“Come on!” Protested Jack Crawford, throwing his hands up. “She doesn’t simply visit the past: she lives in the past. Even more, she lives in luxury and comfort. In the 17th Century she occupies apartments in the Palace of the Louvre, while she is a multimillionaire in 19th Century Paris. I wish I could have had those living conditions while researching primitive hominids.”
“Did they have torture chambers in prehistoric times, Jack?” Replied Boran coldly, getting fed up with him. “Did your hominids have to deal with the sight of thousands of men lying wounded and dying on a battlefield while trying to care for them? Did they ever have to play nurse during a mass epidemic of cholera? Stop demeaning the work of Nancy, Jack, before I conclude that you are unfit to be her supervisor because of gross prejudice against her.”
Ignoring the harsh glare he got from Jack, Boran then looked at Farah, who was not sure anymore where this meeting was going.
“Farah, I don’t think that this discussion is still relevant anyway, as I believe your decision to quarantine Nancy from her sons to be an illegal one.”
“Illegal?” Said Farah, shocked. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that, being a member of the society of the Global Council, like all other members of the Time Patrol, Nancy has fundamental rights that your decision violated. Your orders to her amount to forcible separation from her three sons for up to eighteen months. In a Global Council court of law, this would be judged as no less than moral cruelty and your order would be cancelled on judiciary grounds, apart from you losing your position as Chief Administrator of the Time Patrol for reason of abuse of power. I thus strongly suggest that we explore a more flexible and humane solution concerning Nancy. Also, the point raised by Miri about the liabilities for pregnancy put on our female field agents deserves some serious study and debating.”
“What about the integrity of history in all this?” Cut in Jack vehemently. “Isn’t it supposed to be our prime concern?”
“I will worry about that, Jack,” answered Farah, “but I will do it with Boran and Miri’s concerns in mind. I now see that I have a lot of thinking to do about this, apart from having to talk further with Nancy. I declare this meeting adjourned until further notice. Thank you for your advice.”
The others got up from their seats and started to leave the office. Farah’s voice then made Jack Crawford stop.
“Jack, please stay for a moment.”
The tall, athletic ex-S.E.A.L. commando pivoted around and faced Farah, who was eyeing him somberly.
“What is it, Farah?”
“Jack, I have in mind to transfer Nancy to Assault Team B. In return you would get Den Selan.”
“Is this because of what I said a few minutes ago, Farah?”
“Yes, it is. It is obvious that you don’t have much confidence in Nancy as a field agent. George Townsend will be able to give me a second assessment on her. If George finds that Nancy doesn’t make the grade with him, then I will have to seriously reevaluate her as an agent.”
“Fair enough, Farah. You want me to pass the news to her?”
Farah considered that for a moment but, after a look at Jack’s hard expression, rejected it.
“No! I will! That will be all, Jack.”
Once the man was gone, Farah lowered her head, Boran Kern’s words still echoing in her mind. Had she really been too harsh with Nancy? Possibly. Could she have handled it better? Probably.
11:41 (Auckland Time)
Main cafeteria
Having gone previously to knock on Nancy’s apartment door and having got no answer there, Farah had decided in view of the hour that Nancy had probably gone down to the main cafeteria of the base for lunch. Once inside the large room, Farah effectively saw Nancy sitting at a table with her parents, Pierre and Suzan Laplante. However, while her parents were eating, Nancy seemed to have no appetite and appeared in a downcast mood despite the efforts of her parents to cheer her up. As Farah approached them, Suzan Laplante, who was sitting across from Nancy, saw her come and gave her a less than friendly stare. Seeing his wife’s expression, Pierre Laplante also looked in Farah’s direction. Farah didn’t like the way his face hardened then but she could easily understand why they would tend to be hostile towards her right now. Farah still managed a smile after stopping besides the family’s table.
“Excuse me for disturbing your lunch at this time. Nancy, could we discuss a bit the two of us?”
Nancy gave her a reproachful look before answering a bit brusquely.
“What for, Farah? You already cut me off from my sons. What’s next?”
That answer and her tone hurt Farah deeply. Nancy ‘B’ was a perfect twin of Nancy ‘A’ and looking at her was for Farah as if she was looking at her past best friend, back from the dead after eleven years.
“Please, Nancy, listen to me. Boran Kern and Miri Goshenk raised a few points in your favor and convinced me to reconsider your case.”
“My case?” Said Nancy, nearly spitting the last word. “It sounds like I am a criminal now.”
She then got up from her chair and faced Farah from up close, deep resentment in her eyes as she stared hard at her.
“I have given my best to the Time Patrol as a field agent for 23 years of my biological life, Farah. Yet you decided in a matter of seconds to forcibly keep me away from my sons for more than a year. I don’t care what were your reasons or whether you changed your mind about it, because I will never forget this, ever! Nobody will get between me and my children. Since you don’t seem to appreciate my services and think that I’m too irresponsible as a field agent, I am thus presenting to you my resignation from the Time Patrol. First, though, I am getting my sons back.”
Before the shaken Farah could plead with her, Nancy then disappeared in a flash of white light. Farah looked with horror for a few seconds at the spot where Nancy had been.
“My God! What have I done?”
“What have you done?” Replied coldly Pierre Laplante. “You forced Nancy to run away in order to protect her family. That’s what you have done.”
Getting up from his chair, Pierre took his wife’s hand and spoke to her.
“Come, Suzan, let’s pack up! We’re leaving!”
Tears filled Farah’s eyes as she watched the mature couple walk away from her and towards the cafeteria’s exit. Everybody in the cafeteria was now looking at her, most with confusion on their face. Some, mostly female field agents, were however staring at Farah with reprobation. Ingrid Weiss ‘B’ then got up and walked out after giving Farah a cold look. Jenny Kawena and Elizabeth Windsor were next to get up and leave, followed closely by Susanna Berghof, Eli and Heracles. Farah, haggard, watched as nearly one third of the Time Patrol members present left the cafeteria in apparent protest. She then sat down heavily on a nearby chair and started sobbing uncontrollably.
14:01 (Auckland Time)
Scoutship ANGEL OF MERCY
On approach to Landing Pad 4 of Time Patrol’s main base
“We’re nearly home, guys. Make sure that all your gear is properly packed and ready to be unloaded.”
Mike Crawford, still wearing the clothes of a Viking-era traveling Danish merchant, took off his heavy wool cloak and stuffed it in his equipment bag: the weather at Main Base was much warmer than the one in the Danish-occupied part of Ninth Century England in Winter. Patricia Wilson, Frida Winterer and Jeffrey Norton got similarly busy around him in the cargo bay of the scoutship. After the weeks of enduring cold, wet weather, the beach in Auckland was going to be nice indeed. The voice of their pilot, Angie Wells, then came out of the compartment’s intercom system.
“Mike, we seem to have a situation at Main Base: I can see combat robots and at least three assault troopers in full battle armor about to board the scoutship ENTERPRISE on Pad 3.”
“What the…” Said Mike, surprised like the other members of his mission team. He then went to the intercom panel. “Contact Transit Control and ask them what the hell is going on.”
Angie acknowledged his instructions, then came back on the intercom after a minute or so, as their scoutship was about to land on Pad 4. Angie’s voice was now tainted with alarm.
“Mike, Nancy ‘B’ is reportedly on the run after resigning from the Time Patrol and has disappeared. Jack Crawford is about to go after her.”
Anger immediately rose in Mike at those last words.
“With combat robots and full battle armor? No he won’t! Land on Pad 3 and cut the path of the ENTERPRISE. Jack is not going anywhere without a good explanation.”
Mike then looked at his three mission comrades.
“Get stun pistols! I don’t like this business at all.”
Watching the holoscreen panels that gave an external view from the cargo bay, Mike activated the big rear cargo ramp the moment their scoutship touched ground, then ran out with his three agents towards the back of the ENTERPRISE, were the assault troopers and the robots were about to go up the ramp of that scoutship. Mike ran to the troopers and braked to a stop in front of Jack Crawford, who had his helmet visor up.
“Jack, what the hell do you think that you are doing?”
“Didn’t you get the word, Mike?” Replied brusquely Jack, clearly unrepentant. “Nancy ‘B’ fled the base against Farah’s orders after being grounded by her. She could do major damage to history if not found and stopped quickly.”
“And what the hell are you going to do with those robots after finding her? Start a battle in the Palace of The Louvre or through the streets of 19th Century Paris? Cancel this sortie of yours: I am going to get the whole poop from Farah before we do anything.”
“With all due respect to her, Mike, Farah has lost it. She has been sitting in her office for the last two hours, incapable of giving any coherent order and blaming herself for Nancy’s rebellion.”
Those words made Mike stare harshly at Jack.
“Jack, I know that girl better than anyone else here. For her to rebel would take some mighty serious reason. If Farah is blaming herself for this, then I need even more to talk to her.”
He then looked at Heinrik Braun and Den Selan ‘B’, who appeared unsure what to do now.
“Return to the assault sections’ division with your robots and stand down for the time being. I will issue fresh orders once I know what went wrong.”
“Nancy went ballistic, that’s what!” Interjected Jack, prompting Mike to face him back and jab his chest with an index.
“Jack, shut up and obey me! You are making this way too personal to my taste. Now, get back to the assault section’s division and stop arguing!”
Jack stared back for a moment, then turned around and ordered his two troopers and his robots to follow him. Mike’s mission comrades were grim-faced when he turned to look at them.
“Alright, grab your kit and go change. I’m going to see Farah.”
Mike jumped spacetime directly to his own office in order to save time, then walked out and went to Farah’s office, two doors down the hallway from his office. When he entered he was shocked to see the look of total despair on her face. She got up from her chair at once and ran to him, throwing herself in his arms, sobbing.
“Oh, Mike, I’m so happy to see you. I…I screwed up big time. Now, half of our members won’t listen to me anymore.”
“Calm down, Farah.” Said gently Mike while patting her back. “Just tell me what the hell happened.”
Controlling her sobs with difficulty, Farah went to sit in a nearby sofa, then spent a couple of minutes to describe to Mike what had happened with Nancy. Mike had to sit down as well, stunned by the magnitude of the crisis.
“Hell! Do we know where Nancy is now?”
“Not really but she told me before disappearing that she was going to get back her sons. Her robotic horse has gone with her. All this is my fault: I should never have cut her from her sons. Now, she will never come back. Worse of, many of our agents and crews have sided with her and are refusing to go after her.”
Mike felt discouragement then: years of hard work and sacrifices were about to be thrown away because of this. They now needed a sensible plan if the Time Patrol was going to survive this as a functioning entity.
“Farah, did you order Jack Crawford to go chase after Nancy with combat robots?”
The shocked expression that appeared on her face was enough of an answer by itself.
“Of course not! It would be the worse thing to do right now.”
“I thought so. I will have to straighten him up after this.”
Farah then gave him a hesitant, beaten puppy look that made him feel bad for her.
“What are we going to do now, Mike?”
“First, we need to figure out what we really need to do. We won’t have a chance at a second try on this. Don’t take it bad, Farah, but I can see why Nancy would have revolted. You don’t cut a mother from her children without causing something fierce. There is obviously something wrong with the way we employed her. In this I am as much to blame as anyone else. On the other hand, we need to address the problems that this baby could cause history-wise. Let me think for a minute.”
To his utter frustration and despite using all of his imagination, Mike was unable to figure out any sensible plan that would deal satisfactorily with all aspects of this crisis. In truth, he didn’t have enough hard information to make an educated decision. Only Nancy ‘B’ knew all the pertinent details but that didn’t help him one bit right now.
Mike was still thinking hard when a buzz announced someone at the door of Farah’s office.
“Come in!” Said Farah in a resigned tone, expecting more bad news. What she got was Ingrid Weiss ‘B’, who walked in at a resolute step and stopped in front of her desk at attention.
“Farah, Mike, we need to talk with you.”
“Who is we?” Cut in Mike, looking up sharply at her from his sofa. Ingrid, who was Mike’s adopted daughter, answered with a soft enough tone but Mike could see that she was not here for niceties.
“The ‘we’ includes me and the other members of the Time Patrol who sympathize with Nancy’s present plight. We just saw Jack Crawford coming back in full battle armor and with a dozen combat robots. Can I hope that he was acting on his own and not under orders?”
“Ingrid,” said severely Mike, “you should know me and Farah better than that. I would never send combat robots after Nancy. Now, are you here to propose a solution to all this or are you here to announce that you and your group have mutinied??