Short Story: Time and Tide

© William Forbes 2008

The weather is bland. Boring. It’s not extreme, bright sunshine, but at the same time it’s not blizzards and thunderbolts and lightning, very very frightening me either. I like weather like this. Especially for the job I’m doing today.

I look at the device on my wrist to make sure that the time function has recalibrated itself properly. I wonder what’s taking him so long. Then there is a small flash, only noticeable if you actually know what you are looking for. And then he lands. And immediately falls on his backside. I like working with newbies. So eager to please. So enthusiastic. And always, always unable to stay upright after their first trip.

I hold out my hand. He grabs it and I help him up.

“So, where do we need to go? What’s the persons address?” he asks. As I said, so enthusiastic.

“Calm down young un. First we need something to eat. This kind of trip can really take it out of a person. Come on. There’s a café down here.”

We set off in the direction I motioned in. I know that at some point there is a café in the direction we’re walking. That’s one of the problems with time travel.

So, now you’re wondering what I’m on about. So, here it is. We’re from the future. Some scientists, who are also huge Trek fans, decided to see if they could finally build a teleporter that could send more than just light. And, to everyone’s surprise (especially theirs), they actually managed it.

But there was more. In addition to moving people through space, it turns out it could also transport them through time. There was a lot of debate about how to utilise this ability. There were those, naturally, who wanted to use it to clean up on the stock markets, the lottery, etc. That was dismissed by the creators who wouldn’t allow it to be used for personal gain. (Trekkies, remember?) So eventually, in the interests of the public good, us.

We don’t actually have an official designation but for all intents and purposes we’re time cops. The way it works is thus: we go back in time and find people who will be convicted of crimes in our time. We then find them in the past and try and convince them not to do what they are going to do. Kinda like precogs in Minority Report only, not. (We did actually try something similar using precogs. Didn’t work. Do you know how cryptic their clues are? The most infamous case was when we were told how the proceeds from a huge bank job were to be spent. Nothing about the crime itself, nothing about who was doing the spending. The programme was stopped soon after.)

That was how it started when we needed to arrange to be taken back from where we were dropped off. But then the technology got smaller, we have the personal wrist ports and now, if we need to, we simply ‘kidnap’ the person, take them back to the future, educate them and return them to their time line after the crime they were convicted of had taken place.

Admittedly that course of action is a last resort as it is in a grey area ethically. We do alright. Not a huge enough success rate so that the powers that be can boast about our unit Keeping Citizens Safe (god, I hate that catchphrase) but not so badly that they have ever threatened to cancel the programme and/or pull our funding.

Thankfully we were right and we arrive at the café. We walk in and consult the menu. Shortly, a waitress approaches us to take our order. I get a full English breakfast with tea. Aiden orders fish and chips with juice.

“So, tell me about where we are,” Aiden says.

I consult the port. “Middlesbrough, England, 2012. Olympic games in London in a month’s time. The local football team have just won something called the UEFA Cup.” I rack my brains for any more information. “Yeah. Marijuana is still illegal and the ban on smoking in public places is still in force. It’ll be rescinded next year.”

“There’s something I still don’t understand. If what we’re doing here is preventing crime, why is there still crime in our time?”

Typical newbies question. “You’ll learn this quickly Aiden. We don’t have the personnel or the resources to prevent all crime. So we stop the big things from happening and the lesser crimes are fine. Besides, a totally crime free society is simply not possible.”

“So, why don’t we use this ability to stop major events? 9/11, the three World wars, things like that.”

“They did think of doing something like that. So, it was tried on a smaller scale with Waco and David Koresh. That would have finished differently if we hadn’t intervened.” I don’t say any more. I was at that trip and just thinking about what we had to do brings me out in a cold sweat.

The waitress comes back with our food and drinks. We both start eating. There is silence while we do so.

Then Aiden speaks. “See what you mean about the trip making me hungry. So, changing the big things isn’t a good idea?”

“Exactly. Besides, the things that you mentioned so fundamentally changed the world that, if we did stop them happening, we have no idea what it would do to our time. We might actually end up phasing ourselves out of existence. Then the event can’t be stopped. And then we would exist again. To stop the event. The result is a huge logic loop and just thinking about it gives people a headache.”

“But what we’re doing now doesn’t?”

I point at him with my fork. “Exactly.” I finish my tea and start twirling a pen in my fingers. “It’s such a small thing that in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t actually make a difference.”

“So,” Aiden enquires, having finished eating himself, “Who are we here for?”

I open up my jacket and reach into the pouch sewn into the lining. From there I pull out two identical files and hand one to Aiden. I open the other one and start reading. “Joe McInnes. Currently 10 years old. Within 5 years will start the descent into crime. By the time he’s stopped and incarcerated, he will have done everything short of murder and rape.” I look at the name again. I have a funny feeling about this one, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

I shake my head, trying to get rid of this feeling. Aiden looks up at me. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” I respond. “Just got a strange feeling about this one.”

“So, how do we do this?”

“Ah,” I say. “Now then, that’s the million dollar question. We’ve tried every approach we can think of from impersonating what they know of to be police officers to telling the truth. Nothing works. So, if you can answer that question you’re a smarter person than anyone in the department.”

“So how about getting the local police force involved?”

“We tried that. While they appreciated our efforts into the protect side of protect and serve, they believe in innocent until proven guilty.”

“Even though we know them to be guilty?”

I warm to the subject. “Even so, there is still no crime for the person to be guilty of yet. So, how can someone be guilty of a crime that they will commit?” Plus, I leave unspoken, they’re not happy about the whole potential kidnapping portion of the job. “Secretly, I think they’re jealous and they’d love to be able to do what we do. So, we have to play it by ear.”

The waitresscomes over and I pay for the meals. “Shall we?”

…….

We stand outside the house, about to knock on the door to go in. I still can’t shake this strange feeling I have. I’ve never felt this before on any of the missions. I nod to Aiden and he knocks on the door. Usually I like to do that but, as it’s his first trip, why not treat the lad.

The door opens and a woman opens it. She is in her late thirties but looks slightly older. “Yes?” she says.

“Hello,” I respond. “We were wondering if we could have a word with Joe?”

“Jo? There are two strange men here to see you,” the woman shouts, half over her shoulder into the house.

“It’s OK mam. Let them in. I’m expecting them.” Something about the voice intensifies the inexplicable feeling I have. And it’s not that the voice is, unexpectedly, female.

The woman steps to one side and indicates where the kitchen is. Aiden and I walk through and as we walk through the door I stop. That’s what the feeling is. Someone lied to us.

Jo McInnes is not a ten-year-old male. Though she is only about 15 in this time, she is unmistakable. She is one of the most powerful precogs we had, and now, we think, she has gone rogue. And she is sitting at the kitchen table, typing away on a laptop.

“Aiden, Dennis. Sit down.” We sit at the table as Jo stands up. “Dennis, you like tea, white one sugar. Aiden, you prefer juice.” She gets us both drinks as I stare at her and Aiden sits with his mouth wide open.

“So, then,” I start. “I suppose you know why we’re here?”

“Yup. And I’ll tell you now, it won’t work. New bloke here doesn’t know, but you do, exactly how powerful I am. My powers are just blossoming and I’ve discovered I can see potential timelines as well. Wanna know what happens if you succeed in taking me away from here?”

I think about this as I stare into my tea. Aiden no longer has his mouth open but there is a rabbit caught in headlights look on his face. Jo is lighting a cigarette. I finally decide on my answer. “Try me.”

“OK. All that you have against me is pretty circumstantial evidence, from a few criminals who have merely suggested a precogs involvement in the planning of their crime. You didn’t even know before walking through that door that it was a female you were here to see, which means that someone has lied to you. Despite this, you are going to try and convince me that a life of crime is not what I want. You will fail and kidnap me. You’ll return me after the crimes I am supposed to have helped commit have been committed but, not only will I be a fifteen year old girl out of time, but I’ll have revenge in mind. I’ll go to what you think I’m up to anyway, but things will increase in scale. As I can see all possible futures, you’ll never be able to stop me and, eventually, everything will descend into chaos. And I know that you agree with what I’m saying as you’re just about to leave.

I press a few buttons on my port and look at Aiden. “You have the new co-ordinates. Time to go.”

We leave.

…….

Jo’s mother walks into the kitchen. “Where have those two men gone?”

“Don’t worry mam, they won’t be back.”

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