One Last Try

By jinnis

Whoever said time travel would be a neat invention didn't think things through. Believe me, I've been there, done that. The mess got worse with every attempt at setting right what went wrong.

It began with a few small and almost imperceptible changes.

A logo that always had been red was blue of a sudden. Most people didn't seem to realise or care and drank their Coca Cola out of a blue-labelled bottle, but it irritated me no end. Such an unimportant detail, but still I couldn't grasp why no one remarked about it. Then, the local cathedral grew a new spire overnight. It was such a blatant change I was convinced the media coverage would overflow, but—nothing. Other changes followed, most minor, but when three new skyscrapers sprang up in the capital one day, I knew I was going nuts or I could see things others couldn't.

My frantic search of the internet for the sliver of an explanation had unexpected consequences, though.

The doorbell tore me out of sleep that fateful Sunday morning. I opened the door, still in my nightshirt and rubbing grit from my eyes. The woman outside greeted me with a wide smile.

"Good morning. Are you Caroline Burger?"

Instead of an answer, I studied the unexpected visitor with a frown. She wore a sleek black jumpsuit and her rich, dark hair fell long over her shoulders. I had never seen her before—I was sure I would have remembered her exotic features and sparkling eyes.

"Who wants to know?"

Her smile broadened. "You can call me agent M. I have a business proposal for you."

"Right, and I'm the president. Do you know what day and time it is?"

I was about to close the door when her smile faltered, and she reached out a hand.

"Please, Caroline, we need to talk. It is—about the changes." When I stopped, she stepped closer and lowered her voice. "We know you've observed them, too, and since there are only a handful of us, it is important that we gather our forces and work together."

"Work together for what?"

"To reverse what's gone wrong and restore our timeline, of course."

That's how I got recruited for the time force. Michelle—I never could bring myself to call her agent M—introduced me to the crew in the underground headquarters. In the early days, we were seven, with David the youngest at thirteen and Cindy the oldest at eighty-one. Our motley band grouped around Jenna, an ex-government employee in her forties. Despite her multiple sclerosis, she had led the development team of the original portal. As a brilliant engineer, her social skills were minimal, though, and she never talked much about the mistakes that led to the entangled timelines. Not that she needed to. The changes got worse by the day while Jenna, her partner Marco, David and Cindy worked hard on building a second portal, an opportunity for us to reverse things.

In the meantime, Michelle, Steve and I were tasked with recruiting more timeline-aware citizens. When the portal was finished, our group had grown to eleven—eleven people ready to fight against the end of the world.

Our mission was simple. Go back and eliminate whatever disturbance caused the time to unravel. Marco, tasked by Jenna to keep track of the changes, provided us with a mapping of the probable entry points into the time stream. Michelle volunteered for the first trip back, and I insisted on joining her. I had grown fond of her at that point and was aware she risked her life with the jump.

Jenna scrutinised me, a deep frown on her brow. "Are you ready to do what it takes?"

I swallowed hard, aware we were talking about the potential killing of another time traveller. To my surprise, Michelle came to my aid. "Caro will be fine, and I can use someone to watch my back and help me. What if the time traveller weighs more than I can carry?"

"Right." Our boss handed me a small gun. "Just stuff him into the portal, alive if possible. That's for emergencies only. Bring her back, understood?"

I knew she meant Michelle, not the gun, and took the weapon, its cold weight a bad omen in my hand. With a shaky breath, I closed my finger around it. "I will."

Michelle and I crossed the portal hand in hand to ensure we reached the same spot in the flow. Her touch felt amazing and gave me the stability I needed to fight the portal sickness. As soon as we stepped out of the shimmering tunnel, the potent smells of a medieval market assaulted us. Still wobbly from the transfer, I clasped a hand over my nose and mouth.

"Ugh. That's not how I imagined it."

Michelle grinned. "This is so much better than any history book. Come on, we have to find the traveller before we get arrested."

She was right. We already had the attention of several street kids who pointed at our jumpsuit and giggled. Michelle checked her PHD, the portable homing device, and turned left into a dark alley. The stench in there was unbelievable, but I followed her, thankful for the cold weight of the gun in my shaking hand. A few steps further, she stopped and pressed her back against a facade. I joined her, squinting to make out the person she aimed her gun at.

The man crouched behind a stack of crates, his back towards us. He was clad in a grey jumpsuit, not unlike our owns. A grin spread across Michelle's face as she pulled the trigger, the tranquilliser bolt hitting her target's neck with a soft thump.

"That was easy. Let's move him back to his gate."

Of course, this was the harder part, since the unconscious man was heavy enough to have us sweating while we dragged him to the door Michelle pointed out? It led to a cellar lit only by the wavering blue light of a time portal. We pushed our captive into the passage and watched it close behind him, the blue light sizzling a last time and leaving us in darkness.

I shivered and turned to leave. "Right, let's go home."

"Yes." Michelle hesitated, looking down the alley. "I wish we could stay and explore a bit."

"You know what Jenna said. No risks, just in and out."

"Right. Let's go."

We were celebrated as heroes when we came back, and the new spire of the cathedral had disappeared. Jenna seemed content. "We're on the right track. Well done, but it's only the beginning."

She was right, and things got harder from there. With our first mission, we had warned our enemy.

They now knew of our existence and fought back. We lost our first agent a week later, and two days after that, Steve dragged a bleeding Michelle back through the portal. "We need a doctor. They shot her."

I hadn't been allowed to travel because of a cold and rushed to support my love while she stumbled into the control room. Michelle died in my arms before we could get help and my world turned bleak.

The time war had claimed the person I loved, and I wouldn't let the others win. I was ready to kill. But the fiercer the war raged, the faster our world changed.

Jenna called me to her office an hour before my next mission.

"Caroline. I have a special task for you."

I frowned, afraid she would impede my revenge, but she continued without looking at me, running her hands over the tires of her wheelchair.

"The only way I can think of to stop all this is to destroy the original portal. And by destroying it I don't mean closing. You must ensure it cannot be opened again."

"And how do you want me to achieve that?"

"By killing me and blowing up the time lab at the same time."

"Is this the only way?"

Jenna shrugged. "The last one I can think of. I was the first successful time traveller. If you stop me and make it appear like the portal blew up, they will abandon the program as a failure."

"Right. But I don't want to kill you, of all people."

She shrugged. "It's on me. If you don't, we will all die anyway."

"What about Marco?"

"Don't tell him." A dark shadow crossed her face. "Also, don't hesitate and shoot me at first sight. Understood? When Michelle brought you here that first day, I knew I'd seen you somewhere. You are—were the gal who tried to talk me out of it, back on my first mission. Don't make the same mistake twice."

I lowered my eyes. The thought had crossed my mind. "I don't know if I can do it. Why not send someone else if I was there already and failed?"

"Can't you see? You are the last of our agents with the fire and the motivation. Steve is a shaking mess since the incident with Michelle, and I hardly can send Marco or the kid," She reached out and touched my chin, forcing me to meet her gaze. "You are the only one who can stop me. You have to. Do it for Michelle and all the others. Do it for me and my conscience, my legacy."

My throat felt parched while I nodded, unable to find words. Jenna pulled me into an awkward hug. "Thank you." She pressed a rough metal egg into my hands. "Use this to destroy the portal. Do you know how these work?"

I stared at the grenade and swallowed. "I remove this splint?"

"Right. It's set to ten seconds, but you can shorten the detonation process by turning this dial down. If all goes well, you will find yourself unharmed in the original timeline."

Only then did I understand the true nature of this suicide mission. If it worked, I might survive—but Jenna would be dead, anyway.

"Are you sure? You die, whatever the result for me, right?"

She slumped back in her chair. "That what it's all about, right? I caused this mess and I have to clean it up." She pointed at her legs. "I would go myself, but I can't anymore. My younger self would outdo me anytime."

She followed me into the portal room and took over the controls.

"Where is Marco?"

"I sent him on an errand. He would recognise the coordinates."

While I stepped up to the portal, I realised that she never got the chance to say goodbye.

"Jenna?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for everything, and goodbye."

She set the coordinates and activated the portal. "Good luck, Caroline. Don't fail me."

I suckled air into my lungs and stepped into the shimmering veil, embracing the nausea like an old friend, an opportunity to clear my head from my dark thoughts.

Moments later, I stood in a meadow. Soft strands of morning mist curled over the grass and the first rays of sunlight danced through them. I had forgotten to ask where Jenna would send me. But when I turned around, the majestic stone pillars told me everything. There were no fences separating the tourists from the ancient monument, and the stones appeared pristine and even more impressive than I remembered. Stonehenge seemed a fitting place for a first trial run of time travel.

A group of people in dark robes moved between the pillars and I wondered if this was a special day, if Jenna had picked the chance to witness an ancient ritual. She might well have, but I wasn't here as a tourist. I checked my PHD, aware her original portal would open any moment now. Yes, over there.

I stepped to the side, so I wouldn't be the first thing Jenna saw when she arrived. In one hand, I held my gun, in the other the grenade. My breath sounded loud in my ears and my heart drummed a staccato rhythm in my chest.

To my surprise, Jenna arrived on foot, supported by a simple walking stick. A wide smile spread across her face as she took in the prehistoric monument.

"Jenna." I couldn't help myself—I didn't find it in me to shoot her on sight.

She whirled around, the smile wiped from her features. "Who are you?"

Before I could answer, a shot tore through the crisp morning air. Jenna pressed a hand against her chest as she swayed and fell to her knees, her stick dropping to the side.

I tore my gaze from her crumpled form to stare at her assailant. "Jenna, why—?"

"I knew you would try to argue with me. But you provided a perfect distraction. Now, bring her to the portal and blow it up, as you promised, will you?"

I stared at the gun in her hand. What were my options? "You killed yourself."

"No, silly. If I my older self were dead, I wouldn't talk to you. But we won't last long. She's dying, and I'll be gone with her. Will you stand to your promise?"

"I will." I placed my gun in its holster and picked up the wounded woman. She was lighter than I had thought, but my steps were slow as carried her to the portal, the grenade still ready. In front of the veil, I hesitated for a moment and looked back over my shoulder. Jenna, my Jenna, was gone.

With a determined yank, I removed the pin, counted to three, and stepped into the portal.

~

The screeching of tires and loud voices tore me out of my sleep. I sat up with a gasp and rubbed my eyes. What an awful dream. The last thing I remembered was a searing flash of light and red hot pain. Had Jenna's plan worked?

I stumbled to my feet and leaned out of my window. Down on the street, a bright red pickup truck branded with the Coca-Cola logo had hit a cab. I shook my head until it registered. The logo was red again. I rushed to the bathroom window that pointed south. Just one spire at the cathedral, and no skyscrapers. It had worked, and as predicted, I found myself back in my original timeline.

But what about Jenna? In the morning news, they mentioned an unexplained explosion in a government building. They didn't mention causalities, but I was sure there was at least one. I cried a silent tear for Jenna and for my own lost innocence.

And then it hit home that somewhere, out in this world, a woman called Michelle existed. All I had to do was find her.