{"id":2529,"date":"2023-07-15T16:54:54","date_gmt":"2023-07-15T23:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/?p=2529"},"modified":"2023-07-15T16:54:54","modified_gmt":"2023-07-15T23:54:54","slug":"the-historians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/2023\/07\/15\/the-historians\/","title":{"rendered":"The Historians"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

prompt: A journalist has been granted permission to visit the premises of a lab carrying out top-secret work. They could never have anticipated what they\u2019d find\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

available at Reedsy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teryn looked at the drab, grey building hidden behind high fences. \u201cHere we go again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese so-called science stories are killing me.\u201d Liz checked her camera equipment before hoisting the camera to her shoulder. \u201cOh, it\u2019s a breakthrough<\/em>,\u201d she said in a mocking tone, \u201clook, toast in sixty seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teryn frowned. \u201cAt least your name isn\u2019t attached to every one of these. As long as the network keeps sending me out to these nothing-burger stories, I\u2019ll never get promoted. Always a junior producer, never a real science reporter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe there\u2019s a story this time?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, Liz, and maybe I\u2019m the queen of France.\u201d Teryn looked at the camera operator. \u201cSorry. I know you\u2019re just trying to cheer me up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExterior shots for B-roll finished, unless you want some more of the uh\u2026is that astroturf or weirdly green grass?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fine. If this is anything like the others, it\u2019ll end up being a thirty-second piece to fill in between real stories.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liz let the camera down to hang by the straps that distributed its weight evenly over her shoulders. \u201cJudging by the building, I\u2019d guess we won\u2019t get a PR person leading us around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo \u2018face\u2019 then. So, what do you guess? Lab nerd or pasty, thirty-something founder that looks like he or she still lives in mom\u2019s basement?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The woman that came out the door at that moment to escort them in didn\u2019t fit any of their categories. At barely five feet tall, her features were broad, her hair a curly mop of reddish blonde. Light blue eyes shone in her bronze face, enhanced by the deep blue of the skin-tight tee shirt that showed her strong arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liz leaned over and whispered in Teryn\u2019s ear, \u201cI go to the gym, but god damn<\/em>, she makes me feel like a slacker.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHead in the game, Liz. Get a shot of us meeting. For once, I won\u2019t be the short one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The woman approached as Liz readied the camera. \u201cWelcome to Avacorp, I am Jessica, and I will be your guide.\u201d She shook hands with Teryn while Liz filmed, then turned to Liz and shook her hand as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she led them in the door, she handed each of them a lanyard with a \u201cVisitor\u201d tag. \u201cSorry, you need to keep these visible at all times.\u201d Three bored security guards sat in the bare entryway, only looking up long enough to see the tags, one of them giving Jessica a small wave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think Alex has a little crush on me,\u201d she confided to Teryn in a hushed voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teryn kept looking at the guide. There was something\u2026off<\/em> about her. Some sort of genetic anomaly. It wasn\u2019t anything like Down\u2019s syndrome, but it was something. That, combined with the odd accent of swallowed r\u2019s and lack of contractions left Teryn dying to ask a host of inappropriate questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jessica smiled and winked at her. \u201cI can tell you have questions about me. They will be answered in just a few moments. Please, ladies, follow me to the main lab.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She placed her palm on a reader next to the elevator, which opened for her. Teryn took note of the high-tech biometric security in the midst of what was an otherwise unremarkable entryway within a drab building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The elevator went down instead of up. It stopped on floor -9 and opened on a clinical-looking hallway. Jessica stepped out and led them to a door near the end of the hallway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBefore we go in, I have to remind you that nothing<\/em> you see or film in here is to be released until the fourth of next month; to coincide with our own public announcement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lab was a cavernous space, one wall lined with banks of thrumming machines behind a glass wall. A monstrous coil of cables led from the machines to a device in a glass-enclosed, free-standing room in the center of the lab, surrounded with cameras and antennae of some sort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A row of desks on the opposite wall held computers where men and women in casual clothes worked amid a constant, low murmur of conversation. It looked more like the office of an internet start-up than a science lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDr. Ball will be here soon to explain what this is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the techs behind the computers, dressed in cargo shorts and a faded band tee shirt, stood and started calling out a checklist in a nasal tone. \u201cSpatial coordinates locked in?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSpatial coordinates locked in,\u201d a tech replied in a booming basso.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTemporal coordinate locked in?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTemporal coordinate locked,\u201d another shouted with a thick, Spanish accent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAssist team, in the chamber.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two people in hazmat suits walked into the room with the device, closed the door with a hiss, and gave a thumbs up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRun decontamination in the chamber.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A mist filled the chamber before being sucked out through vents in the floor. The two inside again gave a thumbs up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDecontamination complete. Spool up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSpooling up,\u201d a woman responded in a clear soprano, and the machines that thrummed behind the glass began to speed up their thrumming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jessica turned to Teryn, allowing Liz to continue filming the goings-on. \u201cI just want to remind you, that Dr. Ball may decide some things are not to be released publicly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teryn nodded. \u201cI read the fine print before I signed the limited disclosure agreement. Are you the company\u2019s legal advisor?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jessica laughed. \u201cHardly. I am Dr. Ball\u2019s assistant. Which means I fetch coffee, file documents, categorize video, translate, and do some data entry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSounds like a rounded job. What was your major?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMajor? Oh, no. I have not had any formal schooling. I am studying botany in my free time, though.\u201d Jessica smiled but her eyes carried sadness. \u201cDr. Ball has been very good to me, since I cannot go back home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thrum of the machines had grown into a whine that was felt more than heard. The woman that had called out last said, \u201cSpooled up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The standing tech called out, \u201cSpooled up. Call out levels stable post sixty seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She read off the countdown, not trying to carry her voice, but the clear, high pitch carried well in the room. Finally, she called, \u201cLevels stable, seventy seconds and counting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll silent. Initiate,\u201d the standing tech called, a keyboard clicked once and, a swirling vortex appeared near the device in the center of the room-within-a-room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the smoky center of the vortex cleared, the space beyond it was woods, just near enough to see a small collection of skin shelters and stocky people wearing skins moving about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was my home,\u201d Jessica whispered, tears pooling in her eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teryn looked again. They were Neanderthal. That was what she found odd about Jessica. Liz continued to film, though her hands shook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jessica stepped over to the camera and helped Liz steady her hand. Then, something that didn\u2019t fit what they were seeing appeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A hand and forearm in a hazmat suit propped itself against the floor, as if climbing from some unseen point below the vortex. The assist team pulled the person in the hazmat suit up into the lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once he was in and had stuck his head through it one last time, no doubt looking for anything he might have left behind, he stood and made a \u201ckill\u201d gesture. The vortex disappeared in a puff, the machines quickly went back to their low thrumming, and a cheer washed over the lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRun decontamination in the chamber.\u201d His shrill, nasal voice was perfect to cut through the din.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again, the chamber filled with mist which was then sucked out through the floor vents. All three inside the chamber gave a thumbs-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDecontamination complete. Exit the chamber.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The door to the chamber opened with a hiss and the three inside stepped out. The door closed behind them with another hiss, and they stripped out of their hazmat suits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLockdown status.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGenerators locked on standby.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTargeting locked on standby.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChamber locked on secure standby.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThanks, everyone.\u201d The tech sat back down and slumped in his chair. Meanwhile, Dr. Ball, the one that the assist team had pulled out of the vortex walked to the desks. His dark hair was shoulder-length, with streaks of grey. His face had the lines and deep tan of a forty-something who spent many years outdoors, but he moved as though he was a decade younger than he looked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow did we do, team?\u201d he asked. \u201cDid we get all twelve cameras? How long did it take to calculate?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGot \u2019em all,\u201d the nasal-voiced tech said, \u201cand two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGreat! In two weeks\u2019 time, we\u2019ll aim for group N1, same day, download only, and see what data we get, before we decide if we need to move and to where.\u201d Before anyone could answer, he made his way over to Jessica, Teryn, and Liz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is good to have you back, Dr. Ball,\u201d Jessica said. \u201cWe missed you these past two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s okay, Jess, there\u2019s no need for formalities right now. My name\u2019s Mike,\u201d he said, \u201cand you must be Teryn. Sorry, they didn\u2019t tell me what your camera operator\u2019s name was.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m Liz, Dr. Ball.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNice to meet you, Liz, just Mike, though. I\u2019m only Dr. Ball when I\u2019m giving a lecture.\u201d He motioned toward the door. \u201cShall we go to my office to talk?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He led them across the hall to a cramped office. A dry-erase board and map took up half the wall behind him, carefully sectioned into grids, and filled with dates and cryptic notes. He added the current date and the text, \u201cN2: replace, zone A-19,\u201d before turning around offering them a seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He sat behind his desk while Liz unfolded a tripod and set the camera up. Before she could give the go-ahead, Teryn jumped in with questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWas that a time machine? Those were Neanderthals. Were those Neanderthal? And does that mean that Jessica is\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTeryn, if I may.\u201d He leaned forward. \u201cYes, what you saw was a time machine. And yes, that was a Neanderthal group of thirty-seven called Falla-intes<\/em>, which we call N2, in their summer hunting grounds. They\u2019ll probably move again in a few weeks, their time. Based on past data, to either zone B-18,\u201d he pointed to a section on the map, \u201cor over to A-11. Those areas already have cameras, so it\u2019s just a matter of connecting and downloading.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut\u2026you were there for two weeks?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, I was there for six hours. Just long enough to replace some dead cameras while staying hidden.\u201d He sighed. \u201cIt took two weeks to calculate the exact spot in space to pick me up, 63,017 years, 147 days, and\u2026roughly nine and half hours ago in what is now northern France. We\u2019re working on getting the compute times down, but we don\u2019t want to make a mistake and open a portal in the vacuum of space\u2026or the bottom of the ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOkay, now I need to get this cleared up. You built a time machine to record the lives of Neanderthals\u2026and maybe dinosaurs?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe time machine is a means to an end. How do we move from archeological inference to the actual <\/em>recording of history? We are historians, first and foremost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re currently following three groups of Neanderthals,\u201d he said, \u201cand we have plans for other historical periods. Going back millions of years for dinosaurs, though\u2026the compute time goes from weeks into decades, and there are a lot of unknowns about changed trajectories via asteroids and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat makes sense, I guess. What I don\u2019t understand\u2026at what point did you decide to kidnap Jessica and bring her 63,000 years into the future?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Ball just raised his eyebrows and nodded at Jessica. She smiled at them from where she\u2019d been standing off to the side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was hunting, and got separated from my group, Falla-intes<\/em>. I was going back to the camp to wait for them but was cornered by a boar.\u201d She took a stance as though she was holding a spear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI tried to fight him off, but he gored me,\u201d she raised her shirt and showed the massive scar on her abdomen. \u201cI passed out from the pain and expected to be eaten. When I woke up, though, I saw the portal. I thought was this was my rebirth, returning to the womb, so I reached for it, and crawled through.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jessica chuckled. \u201cI don\u2019t know who was more scared\u2026me or Mike. He made sure I got medical treatment, which included too many rounds of vaccinations and antibiotics to count. Nothing from then is dangerous to you now\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat we know<\/em> of,\u201d Dr. Ball interjected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight\u2026that we know of, but plenty of your germs now I had no immunity to.\u201d She smiled at Dr. Ball. \u201cHe sat beside me, day and night for weeks, talking to me until I was well enough to walk around. By then, I had learned a few English words, and we talked all the time. It took me a few months to get to a basic conversational level, but by then I understood what Mike meant by \u2018germs.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI decided it would be dangerous for me to go back to my people with modern germs, so I stayed. I have been here three years local time, and from the time you saw in the portal, I have been gone, dead according to them, for twelve years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teryn\u2019s eyes pooled with tears as she understood just how isolated Jessica was. Her family and everyone she\u2019d known dead for tens of thousands of years, and yet close enough to touch on a regular basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She pulled herself together and continued with the spate of new questions that now rolled around in her head. Perhaps her physics minor wasn\u2019t wasted after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They talked for over an hour, covering topics from the power supply, to the generation of the wormhole and its stability, to questions about the many-worlds interpretation and whether anything done in the past could change the present. On the latter, Dr. Ball was hesitant to say for certain, but he assured her that he did everything in his power to leave the past untouched other than the small cameras, easily hidden and recovered when they broke down or were no longer needed. He also assured her that no<\/em> biological material was allowed to go through either direction, thanks to their decontamination protocols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As they finished up, Dr. Ball leaned forward. \u201cI want you to understand something,\u201d he said. \u201cYou are never<\/em> to reveal the truth about Jessica to anyone<\/em>. If her image, voice, or even mention of her presence other than \u2018lab assistant\u2019 leaks from your report, I will take your network for everything they have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll delete the footage of her, and any mention of her in the interview before we leave. I mean, we signed the limited disclosure agreement, but aren\u2019t you being a little harsh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Ball shook his head. \u201cNo. Jess is not<\/em> going to end up an oddity for research and experimentation, and she\u2019s certainly not going to be exploited for others to gawk at. As far as anyone outside this floor knows, she\u2019s Jessica Smith, from Little Rock, Arkansas. She even has a driver\u2019s license that says so. I\u2019m already worried about her safety once we release the first sixteen years of the footage we have from the Falla-allas<\/em>, Falla-intes<\/em>, and Falla-eswa<\/em> groups. Even though we\u2019ve edited around her, someone might see the resemblance, and then she\u2019d have to go into hiding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teryn rose and gave Jessica a hug. \u201cI\u2019m so sorry you lost\u2026everything. I won\u2019t tell anyone about you, but Mike has my card, and if you ever want to talk\u2026about anything, give me a call.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you, Teryn, it was nice meeting you.\u201d Her eyes still had that sad touch, that Teryn understood now. \u201cI have not lost everything without gain, though. I have made friends and learned much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once they\u2019d left, Liz loaded the camera in the trunk of the car while Teryn\u2019s mind whirled. Liz pulled her out of her reverie with a poke on the shoulder. \u201cMaybe this is the story that gets you promoted. If not, you know of a living Neanderthal\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot happening. She\u2019s lost so much already, you want to take away her privacy, too?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t being serious,\u201d Liz said. \u201cJust trying to get you out of your funk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot in a funk, I\u2019m just wondering if anyone got written out of history, due to Jessica coming here. I mean, she might<\/em> have survived.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWould we even notice?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teryn hummed. \u201cNot likely. Wait, we know<\/em> time travel exists, but no one showed up to Dr. Hawking\u2019s Time Travelers Party. Ugh! I should\u2019ve asked why not.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

prompt: A journalist has been granted permission to visit the premises of a lab carrying out top-secret work. They could never have anticipated what they\u2019d find\u2026 available at Reedsy Teryn looked at the drab, grey …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[208],"tags":[210,228,209],"class_list":["post-2529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trunk-stories","tag-fiction","tag-science-fiction","tag-short-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pxT7i-EN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2529"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2530,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2529\/revisions\/2530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}