Higgs joined John and Jenny as they entered Morris' office. Tristan and the CO were already sitting around a new, larger conference table in what was West's old office.
"Come in and take a seat," Morris told them. "The SecDef has an announcement."
Tristan said, "Even though President Chambers has been tied up at the global war summit in Copenhagen for the last week, he has signed a full amnesty order for Brasca. She will retain her commission and will stay with Chronos. The President has also directed that we contact her family and accept any help they can offer."
John could tell Higgs and Jenny were more than just pleased by the announcement, but he was not so sure Morris accepted the proposed alliance as a good thing.
"The lieutenant is here, Colonel," Morris' aide said from the office doorway.
"Show her in," Morris said flatly.
Tye had two MP escorts that Morris dismissed by a wave.
"Lieutenant," Morris said, "This is the Secretary of Defense, Tristan Picare."
Tristan stood and shook her hand. "Lieutenant Brasca, on behalf of the President of the United States, you are hereby granted full amnesty for crimes of espionage and sabotage. Furthermore, you are promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant, if you so choose to accept it."
"I wish to do so Mr. Secretary," she replied.
She was obviously relieved and John saw her smile at Higgs who returned the same. Now that is interesting, John thought, seeing their obvious interaction.
"The President also requested that we formally ally with your family in this war," Tristan added with a subtle smile.
"Elder Sister, Luinan, has authority to discuss that matter," Tye said.
"Can you contact Luinan?" Jenny asked.
"That would be difficult as I am entrenched without recourse until the mission's end; I have no transit or com device. But with Major Higgs'
help, there might be a way to send a signal of sorts. I trust he is familiar with tachyon string theory," Tye said with a smirk.
"Of course," Higgs said rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
John smiled at another of Higgs' classic idiosyncrasies.
"I'm guessing contacting the Time Corps directly is out of the question?" Jenny asked.
"Let's wait and see what Tye's family proposes," Tristan said quickly.
"See what you can do with these strings," Morris told Higgs.
"Deputy Director, if we have a moment I have an urgent question for Tye," Jenny said.
"Okay by me," Morris said flatly.
Jenny turned to Tye. "Why hasn't the enemy tried to change the course of history by way of transits to Prime?"
John saw Higgs nod in apparent understanding, but no one else did.
"We all could have been murdered in our cribs; the war lost before it began," Jenny explained to her colleagues.
"Temporal subjectivity," Higgs said.
Tye nodded and said, "Such wide-scale manipulation of the timeline for the purpose of genocide is a violation of the Time Accords.
Punishable by erasure. There have been few exceptions."
"But it's okay to transit in and wage war. It doesn't make sense,"
Morris said tapping his fingers on the conference table.
"This erasure?" John asked.
Tye explained, "The complete dissolution of the timeline or timelines involved. My family considers this as insensible, but has limited power to stop the Time Corps once they reach a verdict in such a case.
The enemy is extremely careful to avoid such a breach. Early sectors during the war were subjected to erasure, but there have been none in my memory."
"You mean everything in the timeline ceases to exist?" Jenny asked.
"The timeline's total energy is dissipated by way of a Higgs field implosion," Tye affirmed. "The enemy has ravaged whole timelines through prehistory and beyond to the point rampant paradoxes make them indiscernible from what they once were."
Stark silence fell upon the group as the power of Time Corps became obvious.
"But what of our early TR tests?" Tristan finally asked Tye.
John recalled the reports of teams trying to transit to Minus-2 as well as creating intentional paradoxes by way of concurrent transits.
"They were deemed uneventful by the Time Corps officer in charge," Tye replied with a thin smile. "I am afraid that Prime does not have the perspective to fully appreciate the nuances of the Time Accords at this time."
"You're telling me," Morris said.
"Anything else?" Tristan asked looking around the table.
"We've had interesting results in the second-generation monopole sleeve modification taking into account magnetic-field strength rather than gravity effects," Higgs injected quickly. "We've been able to get predictable transits down to almost a month, but the maximum remains unchanged from just over twenty years," he added.
John knew Higgs would not have given up trying to create better TRs.
"Is it possible to re-create the first modification?" he asked Tye.
"Unfortunately, concentration of the modifying isotope would take several years that Prime does not have," she replied.
"Okay," Morris said, "let's not take up anymore of the SecDef's time.
Dismissed."
It was John's first time in the primary Chronos physics lab. This was Higgs' domain and anyone else's presence was strictly by invitation only.
The lab was impressive after three days of effort constructing the tachyon emitter; masses of instrumentation, cables and conduits filled almost every available space.
Higgs must have seen John's awestruck expression as he stuck his head out from behind a conduit. "The lab's usually not at capacity. Lucky the tachyon generator is in the basement," he said before disappearing back into the maze.
John jumped when the door behind him opened; he had only taken a step into the lab before the complexity of the lab equipment overwhelmed him.
"Oh my," Jenny said bumping into him.
"Higgs says it's not always this full," he said.
"This is unusual even for Higgs," she said looking around. "Where are he and Tye?"
"Higgs is in there somewhere." John pointed to the jumble in front of them where he had just seen Higgs disappear. "I haven't seen Tye yet."
"I'm over here," Tye said.
John guessed her voice came from behind the cables and analytical equipment where Higgs had disappeared.
"Just a second," Higgs said also sounding close by, but still out of sight.
John saw several cables jostled and then part as Higgs emerged; Tye was behind him.
"Just some final checks," Higgs said sheepishly.
"The major has achieved the critical power requirements for the signal. Remarkable given the resources available," Tye said stoically.
"Just how is this supposed to work?" Jenny asked.
Higgs straightened his lab coat, what John had come to know as the preliminary to any long and multifarious explanation.
"On second thought, let's save the details for later," Jenny quickly said, apparently having interpreted Higgs' body language similarly.
"Do not let the instrumentation detract from the simplicity of this communication device," Tye said taking up for Higgs. "The Time Corps com carrier has remained unchanged for hundreds of years. My contact will be unexpected, but the content of the message will be of great interest to the Time Corps and Family council."
"I thought we were just sending a signal to Luinan," Jenny said.
"The communication is open," she explained. "The Time Corps as well as the Family will receive it."
"And the Leadership?" John asked.
"Yes," Tye said. "Therefore, content of the message is important."
Higgs did not seem concerned about the risks involved and turned to check readings on a nearby device.
"And what is the content?" Jenny asked.
"Simply that Prime has recognized the importance of Earth's magnetic field to fractime transitions. It is my duty to report any such possible disruptions to the Time Corps, but Elder Sister should realize the tactical importance of the communication itself."
"Seems kind of shaky to me," John said.
"I agree," Jenny concurred.
Tye paused then said soberly, "The Leadership will consider this information curious, but it should not affect their overall strategy.
Hopefully, they do not suspect my family's involvement; Prime alone does not have the technology to stop the enemy."
"Just curious?" John asked knowing that informing the enemy of their discovery seemed incredibly risky.
"Elder Sister can explain further," Tye said.
"It's no use," Higgs said, "that's as far as I've got, too. Their family's matriarchal structure appears to prohibit Tye from saying much more."
Jenny's anxiety was obvious to John, but he trusted Tye.
"Morris okay with the message?" John asked.
"He left it up to me," Jenny replied.
"Then I guess it comes down to faith," John said.
Jenny looked around the lab, taking in the complexity and gently biting her bottom lip, then said, "Do it."
"You sure?" Higgs asked.
Jenny nodded.
He pulled his pad from his lab coat's breast pocket and brushed its screen. "There."
"That's it?" John asked him.
"You were expecting what?" Higgs grinned and Tye giggled.
"I don't know? The lights didn't even dim." John said gesturing to the surrounding equipment.
"So what happens now?" Jenny asked. "We wait?"
Tye said, "It will have already happened. Elder Sister is in Prime."
"That's fast," John said skeptically.
"Duration has no meaning within the fractal geometry of space-time," Tye explained.
John and Jenny exchanged quick glances.
"Don't even go there," Higgs warned.
Jenny's pad alerted her of a communication. With a raised eyebrow, she checked the message. "We're to meet Deputy Director Morris in his office. We have a visitor."
Morris was waiting for them outside his office. "I assume she's the one with purple eyes who you've wanted to contact," he said pointing his thumb over his shoulder at his closed office door.
"We already did," Higgs said.
"She seemingly appeared out of nowhere behind the OC's bar and then asked to see me," Morris explained.
"Let's not keep her waiting," Jenny said sensing Tye's anticipation.
As Morris led them into his office, Tye rushed to embrace her sister.
"Colonel, if I may have a moment with Tye," Luinan said.
"Of course," he said.
Luinan led Tye away from the group to a corner of Morris' office and hugged her while whispering something in her ear.
Jenny saw Tye slump. Luinan caught her and told her something else. The other's, except for Higgs, turned away at the obvious emotional reunion; his eyes locked on Tye as she straightened her posture and stepped back from Luinan's embrace.
"Colonel," Tye said calmly but obviously shaken, "I present my queen, Luinan."
Morris surprised by Tye's announcement, stammered, "Ah, it's an honor to meet you Queen Luinan. On behalf—"
"It's okay Anthony," Luinan said, "let's dispense with political formalities. Although my mother's death has rocked my family as well as the Confederation, the war continues and there is much to do in little time. It's good to see you again, Jenny." She held her hand out.
Jenny took her hand, warm as before.
"And you must be John Mackinac, the earth scientist of legend,"
Luinan said.
Jenny saw him blush.
"And Dr. Rodney Higgs. We must talk; I met your granduncle once, a brilliant man."
"Where do we start?" Jenny asked.
"I know you must have many questions," Luinan said. "For now, let's begin with your revelations relating to earth's magnetic field and the possibility of stopping the enemy's transits by a Sojourn."
"A what?" Morris asked.
"Rare Sojourns have stopped the spread of the enemy," Luinan continued, "but fractimes usually simply succumb. This is the last fractime, the last battle for us. We must wipe the enemy out of existence before they can begin the cycle all over. A Sojourn is the first step.
"The Earth has its own natural defense: its magnetic-field reversals.
And although temporary on a planetary or geologic scale," she said glancing at John, "a reversal might disrupt transits long enough for the Time Corps to catch up to the enemy. Earth's magnetic field in Prime is close to a tipping point, but the chances are minuscule that a natural reversal will occur before the enemy makes further advances. Let's hope that coinciding with a great flare, we can create the technological capability to affect a reversal and create a Sojourn."
"A great flare?" John asked.
"A solar flare of immense magnitude," Tye explained, "A rare occurrence even in our experience."
"The most recent and significant big flare is known as the Carrington Event of 1859," Higgs said. "It shut down communications, such as they were, worldwide."
"History tells one is imminent," Tye continued, "However, the universe has control of your sun's reactor. There is still a chance such a flare will dissipate too quickly or not happen altogether. We will have to monitor it closely and from space; the Earth's ionosphere blocks the data necessary for a forecast."
"Unfortunately," Luinan added, "the enemy also recognizes the danger to them of such a flare, and your satellite solar observatories will be vulnerable, especially after your temporal message. I suggest you
immediately secure your Moonbase and direct monitoring from there.
Timing will be crucial. Tye can fabricate the instrumentation necessary."
Morris asked, "How much time do we have before the flare?"
"Weeks to months," Luinan said.
The deputy director shook his head. Jenny guessed he was thinking the same thing she was: getting NASA on board so soon with a military operation would be a huge ordeal. She wished Tristan was not in Denmark.
"And this will coincide with what exactly," John asked.
Luinan explained, "Prime is uniquely positioned for creation of a Sojourn as the necessary magnetic-field instability of significant magnitude currently exists that can be destabilized during the great flare's peak. If this can be achieved, then the North Pole might be pulled into a reversal."
Higgs and John exchanged glances, and then Higgs' subtly cleared his throat.
"John's determined that the Calgary instability is by far the greatest opposed field instability on the planet," Higgs said. "The next biggest instability is in the southern hemisphere, the Samoan-Pacific instability, but it's remote and has the same polarity as the South Pole."
John sighed. "The Canadians will love us even more," he said. "How we do go about destabilizing it?"
"A magnetic pulse of at least several microseconds in the exawatt range is necessary," Luinan replied.
Higgs shook his head. "That's would mean a petajoule energy release. That's impossible," he said.
"An EPFCG," Tye said, "with some modifications should provide the necessary pulse."
"How much energy is a petajoule?" John asked.
Higgs rubbing his chin, explained, "About a billion times more than a lightning stroke. An EPFCG is old tech, but it could work."
"Can someone translate," Morris asked.
"Thanks," Jenny added.
"An explosively pumped flux compression generator," Higgs said,
"is an old EMP design- very limited, but incredibly powerful."
"I'm still lost," John said.
"This kind of EMP uses a high-speed explosive to quickly compress a magnetic field," Tye explained, "thus transferring most of the energy from the explosion to the magnetic field. One of sufficient size should induce the start of a reversal."
"But we'll need more energy than Castle Bravo," Higgs said solemnly.
Jenny recalled Castle Bravo was the biggest nuke test the US had ever conducted. John was right. The Canadians are going to love this idea, she thought.
"With certain modifications such a non-nuclear detonation of sufficient release is possible," Tye said, "but not certain."
"With the destabilizing effects of the flare and the already weakened magnetic field," Luinan said, "the explosion to heighten the instability has a significant chance of causing the primary poles to destabilize. This should stop all transits long enough for the Time Corps to close the gap and destroy the enemy."
"A significant chance?" Jenny asked. There was only a chance of the flare occurring. Only a chance the EMP would be big enough. And even if all that occurred, there was still only a chance the resulting Earth's field would still stop transits.
Tye and Luinan exchanged glances.
"Roughly a 20 percent chance of success," Tye said.
Morris moaned and sat down at the conference table and looked at John and Higgs, who only shook their heads.
Jenny felt a lump in her throat; it was a big gamble, but it seemed it was their only hope.
"What would be the secondary effects of a reversal on society, on global infrastructure?" John asked.
Tye and Luinan were silent and Jenny knew the alternative was worse.
"I guess that can't be helped," Morris said. "We'll have to do what we can to minimize the disruption."
"There is another component to success," Luinan said. "We must be sure beyond a doubt of the location of the Leadership. The Sojourn will be a locked gate; we have to be sure the enemy is on the right side, upline."
"We know they have infiltrated Minus," John said referring to the personnel in Martinique they stumbled upon only two months ago.
"We will not be able to eliminate all the threat," Tye said, "but it would be highly unusual for any command personnel to be downline."
"So, how do we turn this lock?" Morris asked a bit too sarcastically.
"I believe Jenny's sisters in Plus 2075 may hold the answer," Luinan said.
"So when do I leave?" Jenny asked.
"I think you meant- when do we leave," John said.
Morris nodded agreement. "You two, be careful."
She would have backup this time. Unlike Minus, Plus was a dangerous place.
Plus: 4 Jan 2076
"Damn it's cold." John said. "Why couldn't we transit to summer?"
"Mission clocks tick away in unison," Jenny explained, "it's been over two months in Prime, and now it's January in Plus."
John already knew the answer. "Well happy freaking New Years."
He stomped his already cold feet.
They stood outside Plus' CMAFS complex, close to where they had requisitioned the truck during the attack on the Mountain back in Prime.
"Okay. Question," Jenny said.
"You couldn't ask me inside where it's warm?"
"No. I'm still not completely confident in their security."
It made sense. Even though they had determined Tye had orchestrated the explosion in the physics lab for their benefit, the attack on the Mountain was still unresolved. John knew if she had doubts about Prime, her doubts surrounding Plus would be worse.
"Shoot," he said.
"First thing that pops into your head, Okay?"
"It'll be a popsicle if you don't hurry." The wind's chill was biting his cheeks, and his light fleece was not holding it back.
"Dobb's son."
"That's it?"
"Dobb's son," Jenny repeated undeterred.
"Ah, your telescope?" he guessed.
Jenny smiled. "Just what I thought, too. Shall we go for a ride?" she said tipping her head at a nearby decrepit H15.
John looked at her outfit: a light parka, wool scarf and gloves. At least, she would be warm.
Jenny drove to the location where she would have set up her telescope in Prime. The desolate spot was great for stargazing.
"So you think your Minus sister left you the clue 'Dobb's son' so you'd meet her here?" John asked.
"Minus or Plus, I don’t know but that was what I was thinking,"
Jenny said with disappointment through her scarf. "It was just another bad hunch."
"And why now?" John asked with a shiver.
Jenny shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows?"
"We should check and see if the cabin exists here. Who would want to hang around out here? You'd have to be crazy," he said rubbing his hands together.
It was only a few minutes back to the fork in the road hopefully leading to the cabin. They parked the vehicle at the beginning of the cabin's track. They would walk from there.
John had a sense of déjà vu approaching the cabin. "This is weird,"
he said.
Jenny held him back. "Hold it. Smoke," she said glimpsing the cabin.
The chimney was smoking, and he could see footprints in the snow around the woodpile.
Jenny pulled a Beretta from behind her back and loaded a round into its breach.
"How come I didn't get a gun?" John whispered.
"Shush. Just shout out to them. I'll cover you."
"Hello in the cabin! Anyone home?" John called.
He heard a noise inside. "There's someone in there alright."
"Go up and knock on the door," she said giving him a nudge.
John approached the cabin slowly; stepping onto the small porch, he briefly glimpsed a face in the window. The door opened slightly as he was about to knock.
He recognized the double barrels of a shotgun pointed at his face through the cracked door. "Ah, you better come on up," he said waving behind his back for Jenny to join him.
As she came up beside him, he stepped aside to reveal the double barrels to Jenny.
"Take your scarf off, please," he said to Jenny.
As she pulled it below her chin, both barrels dropped and the door swung open to reveal two more Jennifer Scotts, the oldest holding the shotgun. They burst through the doorway and hugged Jenny, and then left
John standing alone as they made their way back inside to the warmth of the stove. Shrugging his shoulders, he followed them inside.
It was not long before they all had settled down around the cabin's small table surrounding a half-full bottle of single malt.
John smiled at the older and younger Scotts informing Jenny as to the new name convention of Jennifer, Jenny and Jen.
John tried to follow their manic conversation, but after a while, he drifted off to sleep on the sofa wrapped in a familiar brightly colored afghan.
A loud knock on the back door startled him to full alertness, and as he reached for the shotgun, he saw Jenny draw her Beretta, but Jen gently pushed its barrel down to the table.
"It's okay," Jen from Plus, told them calmly.
"Come on in," Jennifer said.
"Damn, not another one," a familiar voice said. "And Doc!"
It was Carl; a small deer draped over his shoulders.
"Take that thing outside!" Jen ordered.
Carl hastily dumped the carcass on the woodpile and ran back to greet his friends.
John could not hold back tears as he hugged Carl.
Jenny sniffed once or twice holding the hands of her sisters.
The joy-filled reunion lasted well into the night after a hardy meal of venison steaks and sweet potatoes, and at John's request, Jenny had made more biscuits.
Carl recounted his arrival in Florida, alone in a sailboat from Plus Martinique as well as the realities of life at war during his journey across the United States to the Mountain to find Jen, the only person who he trusted to help him get home.
John found the convergence of so many timelines and lifelines surrounding the tiny cabin fascinating. Jennifer thought it was miraculous
while Jen dismissed it all as a great coincidence. Jenny withheld comment and just sipped a scotch.
Out of the three, Jennifer stood out at times, seeming nervous, even anxious. He noticed her absent-mindedly rubbing an old scar on her left wrist and asked if she was worried about anything in a rare moment alone. She said she was late returning to Minus, but offered no further explanation.
"Down to business," Jenny said during a lull in the conversation.
"I reckoned she'd be the serious one," Jen said to Jennifer with a smirk as she checked her watch.
John noted it was a standard-issue military timepiece rather than the sat-chrons Jenny and Jennifer were wearing. He saw Jenny notice the analog timepiece, too.
"As I was saying," Jenny continued. "Luinan said you might hold the answer to the whereabouts of the Leadership. We've got to make sure when the Sojourn is created the Leadership is on the upline side."
Jennifer placed a small duffel bag on the table and pulled out a pad and a phased pistol.
"That's the answer?" Jenny asked. "I'm guessing that's the pad the Prophesy's citations came from?"
Jen nodded.
"The pad won't activate," Jennifer said. "Before he died, Hudson said some AI program deactivated it."
"You think that's what Luinan was talking about?" John asked looking at the dead pad.
"Better be," Jen said catching his gaze briefly.
"We should let Higgs' team work on it," Jenny suggested.
"Let me see that," John said picking up and taking a closer look at the weapon.
"Looks familiar, huh Doc." Carl said.
"It's the TIA," John said mock aiming it out a window. "Well a working version anyway. And you got this from Hudson in Plus?"
"Wasn't too hard," Jen said with a wink at Jennifer.
Carl looked at John. "I wonder whatever happened to 13-C?" he asked.
"It's safe on my desk in Prime," John told him. "The FBI recovered it from Johnston's house. And you were right thinking is was a gun barrel,"
he said and recalling the anguish of leaving Carl outside Oklahoma City.
"I remember." Carl smiled. "I bet Dutch and Seth will want to see this."
"Give it to them yourself; you'll see them soon enough," John said.
"Doc, I'm staying," Carl said. "There's too much to do here and there're people I need to find."
"If this Sojourn works, you won't be able to get home," John said.
"I know," Carl said with conviction.
"Well, now that's sorted out, Time for another drink?" Jen asked reaching for the remains of the scotch.