Chapter 17: Soliciting Advice

After carefully guiding their equines to their sheltered stream to drink their fill, Ty hoping, knowing where it lay, they’d come here on their own, rather than running off. The others did what they could to complete their plot clearing efforts, though they were mostly done for the day.

Soon, Tanya, Mila and the other returnees confronted Ty. “After detailing what we discussed,” Mila began, “we decided we need to reach out, asking whoever sent us for their assistance. I still have several things we need and while another plow may be expecting a bit much, something to saddle the two with would also definitely help.”

“Is that all?” he teased, grinning.

“Hardly. As we discussed, I think we need to confront those who sent us here, addressing whoever’s monitoring us, as—”

Ty’s eyes dilated. “Phil.”

Mila blinked. “What?” Till and Anna both chuckled.

“When you mentioned him, his name popped into my head.”

“Yeah, your girls mentioned how one comment triggers other memories.” She paused, tilting her head. “How do you know this ... Phil?”

“I’m not sure, though I am certain he’s monitoring my activities. Well, one of many, though he’s the one in charge, tracking us while we’re active. And no, he doesn’t monitor our romantic activities. He’s a stickler about that, defending our rights as jealously as he guards his own privacy.”

“Okay?” She drawled her response out. “Any particular reason why?”

He chuckled. “Since he’s likely monitoring us, I’d rather not say,” he flicked his wrist in a particular, easily recognized manner.

They all leaned forward. “Really?”

Ty shrugged. “Yeah. He’s cool about it, but ensures no one ever violates anyone else’s privacy on his watch. Otherwise, nobody trusts those monitoring them.”

“Okay a couple questions. Are you sure he’s still there? After all, every returnee is significantly older than you, and any idea which watch he has? Earlier or later, after they’re saved, looking for whatever everyone else missed?”

“No, he’s in actively in charge, though again it’s largely meaningless as our times are independent of each other—one to three million years off. Plus, we can’t measure time and don’t know how many hours are in each day. I’m guessing they monitor our activity levels to know when to listen in, however it’s done.”

She drew near, standing on her tiptoes and covering his eyes, waiting several seconds. “Phil, this is Mila. We need to talk.” She waited another couple seconds, before uncovering Ty’s eyes again. “If you can, send me a signal if you’re listening. If not, we’ll continue doing this throughout the day, so—”

“Damn!” she drew back. “The metallic ridges in your pupil just shifted, rotating counter clockwise. Or rather, your right eye did, you left didn’t change at all.”

“You couldn’t ask for a clearer signal,” Ty noted.

“Phil, is that you or someone else?” Ty’s eyes involuntarily blinked.

“Thanks, we appreciate it. It’s always nice knowing who’s listening in. Now, having your attention, we’re curious what our mission here is. Whether it’s purely biological, spreading Ty’s DNA as widely as possible, restarting civilization on a different path or something else? We have our guesses, yet we’d rather know whether we’re doing the right things or not.” Ty right eye blinked again.

“Thanks. I’m assuming that’s a positive confirmation of our doing the right thing, whatever it is? Despite his rewards, the fact you sent me rather than someone he already knew, threw us for a loop.”

“I’m guessing they need clear yes and no questions,” Ty surmised.

“Yeah, I can see that.” She shook her head, refocusing. “Okay, what’s next? Should we continue traveling, extending our reach?” With no response, she guessed it wasn’t a clear answer, meaning virtually anything. Meaning traveling further was an important aspect, if only one of many.”

“Okay, back to my first question, how important is Ty’s continuing sleeping with new people? A vital concern?” She waited a few moments for a clear response. “Merely advantageous?” The metallic ridges in his right eyes shifted again. “Good, that helps. So,” she paused, considering it, “is it advantageous to you, or us?” There was a pause for several moments, before his ridges rotated yet again, this time clockwise, likely resetting.

“Good, then if it’s advantageous for us, is it advantageous for Ty and the others, or for those we interact with?” This time, both irises rotated. “Thanks. I’m guessing it’s due to our impacting everyone else’s health, as well as benefiting Ty.” No response this time.

“Okay, trying again. Does it benefit him by extending his reach or his gaining followers to further his mission, whatever that is?” This time, the ridges in both eyes rotated again. “Good, that certainly clarifies it. Now, before delving further into this, I need some tools beyond basic medications and medical supplies. In particular a microscope, so I can study the viruses the locals either suffer from or have been exposed to, so we’ll know how Ty’s nanobots helps others.”

“Again, that helps,” she said, ignoring Ty. “Of course, test tubes, PH strips and anything else which may help me test for specific conditions will also help. If we have some idea how his nanobot help others, we could pinpoint the dangers those he hasn’t yet reached spread.”

She nodded. “Again, thanks. We appreciate it. Once I get the additional tools, I’ll let you know if I discover any notable local parthenogens, as well as reporting what I find. One last thing, is Ty the only one with active nanobots affect others or do others share them to a lesser degree?”

She signed. “Yeah, I didn’t think you could answer that one. So I’m guessing some of us have some nanobots, if only those we acquired from Ty himself? But, is there anyone else you sent back doing Ty’s work elsewhere?”

She acknowledged receiving the message, closed Ty’s eyes before stepping back. “You definitely have some competition out there, though if they suffer the same memory losses, we don’t know whether they’re helping or hurting.”

“Okay, everyone. Ty and I contacted the person responsible for monitoring our progress, Phil.”

“Let me guess,” Anna ventured. “Ty recalled who he was, after you mentioned something seemingly random.”

She nodded. “Yep. The communication isn’t great as he can only answer yes and no questions, so we need to carefully phrase them. Although we learned quite a bit.

“Essentially, Ty’s nanobot theory is correct. They extend beyond just Ty, though we’re unsure what it involves. At the very least, we’re guessing his nanobots affected us somehow, potentially giving us some of his benefits, though we don’t know which.”

“Just stick to what we know,” Anna suggested. “We can pose our guesses latter, during a brainstorming session.”

“A few basics first. Phil’s in charge of his monitoring, though we’re unsure of his schedule or even if there’s any relation to our time or not. We never thought to ask whether he’s working for the humans or the Torrol-ro, as it may influence their ultimate intentions. I was interested in opening communications, not shutting them down entirely.

“I also requested they send some necessary research equipment. Something to track current viruses in the native population so we can begin evaluating how successful his and our nanobots are. I also said I’d updated on anything I discover. Beyond that, we didn’t learn much.

“However, the other question is whether some of us play a more direct role in Ty’s mission than the rest, meaning they were probably recruited for this mission, just as he was. Hell, we probably all were but can’t remember.”

“What’s Phil’s full name, Ty?” Tanya prompted.

“Uh, Makenzie. Thanks for asking or we’d never know.”

“Precisely why I asked. Do you recall anything else about him?”

“Like who he works for?” Ty shrugged. “It’s not a Torrol-ro name. Both his first and surname are western human names. Though I’m guessing he’s responding because of our personal connection, not his job assignment. Thus, pressing for answers concerning his affiliations is likely counterproductive.”

“Yeah, we already came to the same conclusions.” Till nodded. “But personal connections are beneficial, not liabilities, as he’s already said more than he’d be authorized to.”

“Ah, my training’s influenced your thinking, as you’d never consider it if I hadn’t kept pushing you to question everything. As a child, you were never interested in anything militaristic.”

“Things and people change,” she froze, staring at him. “Does this mean you now not only remember me, but our earlier life together?”

“Answering the first statement, yes,” he conceded, “things change in response to challenges, not a matter of course. With a challenge to overcome, you’re motivated to ask questions you wouldn’t otherwise consider. Without cause, there’s no effect.”

“As we’re all aware, he’s been challenging us every single day!” Tanya noted, her attitude dripping from each syllable.

“You can thank me later, yet even if you don’t, you’re welcome.”

“So,” Tanya began, ignoring Till’s question entirely. “What now? Do we pursue this, despite our lack of leads?”

Mila shrugged. “Until they send me something I can use, I can’t do much other than annoying Phil even more.”

“Hold on.” Anna’s tone raised sharply. “You worked with Phil, what agency did he work with?” He paused, considering it. “Don’t think!” she insisted. “You either know or you don’t. React, as recalling likely changes the answer!”

“I don’t know, though it wasn’t one of ours. It’s probably an independent agency, likely whichever agency was assigned to monitor me, so we must’ve worked together while I was in training to be sent here. That answers several non-specific questions about how I ended up here, most we’ve already guessed.”

“What about his department’s secretary. If you worked together, then—”

His eyes again dilatated. “Alice Tolson. She was young, dedicated but not particularly well informed, probably by choice.”

“When you called, how did she answer the phone?” Anna pressed.

He scowled, his forehead creasing. “Neural-Temporal-Monitoring, Incorporated.”

“That didn’t answer a thing,” Tanya noted.

“So a separate, corporate entity. What city?” Anna pressed. “What phone exchange was it? If we can place where they operated, it’s another step forward.”

“D.C., though I was never assigned there. She was in charge of keeping track of the more privileged, senior agents.”

“Good, we’re finally making progress. It’s not only a government agency, it’s definitely Earth based, not Torrol-ro. So your prior conjectures weren’t worth much. Now, we need to determine why American agents were so involved with Torrol-ro’s ancient past and future. They were obviously up to something, any clues we can identify would help.

“What about Phil’s background? You were assigned to Torrol-ro and were personally involved with someone there. Clearly, Phil Makenzie was too.

“However, the primary agency was an American government assignee. Phil’s inclinations having no effect. Whatever the reason, the American government was interested in changing Terrol-ro’s ancient, pre-recorded history. If we can figure out why, we may have a clue. Otherwise, the information’s worthless.”

“We’ll consider it,” Till said, “but for now, we’re clearly at an impasse.”

Early the next morning, everyone was out either lifting heavy stones, managing or caring for their equine newlyweds or hooking up Biscuit’s plow. Before he could join in, Mila once more cornered Ty.

“Okay, yesterday was a productive start, yet we need more specifics. So...” She again covered his eyes and waited several seconds, before removing her hands and began her interrogation. “Phil?”

“Damn? Does it mean he was reassigned for assisting us?” She cocked her head. “Okay, specific questions. Phil was reassigned, correct? No? Then ... he’s no longer our interface due to his prior relationship to Ty? Ah, that’s better. Does Ty know you? I’m guessing that’s a yes? Though it won’t help if there’s nothing to trigger his memory. Sorry, if you’re going to be of any help, there needs to be some familiar common connection between you.

“Fine, moving on. Why are you, a supposed Earth-based government agency, interested in changing Torrol-ro’s past and therefore it’s future? Wait? You screwed up, didn’t you? You tried, making everything worse. A typical SNAFU: situation normal, all fucked up.”

Ty’s eyes widened at the newest revelation, when she chuckled.

“So since you can’t answer me directly, let me make another guess. You went blindly in, trying to alter the past, and instead of destroying Terrol-ro’s resistance, you strengthened it, making it more powerful than ever. Only this time, they were dedicated to overpowering the Earth, before you had a chance to attack?” She smirked again. “And now you expect us to save your bacon?

“Since we trust these people implicitly, we’ll do our best, only ... this latest political reassignment further weakens our faith in you even knowing right from wrong. You do grasp the concept of trust, don’t you? It’s how you got Ty’s and supposedly my by-in before sending us back, once again screwing up, erasing our memories.

“Before we agree to anything, we’ll wait another day and reach out to you again. If Phil’s not available, we’ll do precisely what triggered you the last time, got it? So you have ... I guess twenty-four hours or whatever that is after millions of years, to again rectify your initial screw up.”