Chapter 4

Thursday, June 3, 3109, 10:50 a.m. The Hall of the Gate was empty of other occupants. Hands on her knees as she waited for the nausea to subside, Rebecca glanced around for the Bizzy K ball cap, but spotted it nowhere. A logical place for Leda to stash it was inside the control panel, she thought, atop the raised dais. The control panel interested her, anyway, and she headed over to look. She halted as Leda appeared in the passageway beyond.

“There you are! Perfect timing! One last thing to accomplish and all will be arranged. I am so pleased with you, Rebecca. Very pleased indeed!”

Rebecca nodded slowly. “I wish you’d tell me what this is all about, Leda. Where is my younger self?”

Leda laughed softly. “Quite a shock, I imagine, stepping back to 2014 in that manner. The important thing is you sent her through, Rebecca.”

“But for what reason? And what about—”

Leda gazed at her; eyebrows raised.

She doesn’t know about my older self, Rebecca thought. Better to keep it that way for the moment.

“How can I be in two places, at once? Two people, in the same place, at once. The same person, in the same place at once,” she questioned slowly, fingertips against her brow.

“Things went differently than before, too. We said and did things that we didn’t the first time.” She gingerly touched her swollen lip. “For instance, I didn’t bash Rebecca in the mouth with my head, this time. How is that possible?”

Leda chuckled again. “You are Rebecca, dear.”

Rebecca eyed her warily. “Where is she, anyway?”

“Walk with me, dear. I’ll explain as we go. Or try to. Time travel offers more than one paradox; Causal Expression is what you experienced on your trip back.”

Rebecca hurried to catch up. “Causal what?”

Leda chuckled again. “The Rebecca you encountered in 2014 was, and wasn’t, an earlier version of you. You made the trip back independently, so you experienced it in your own frame of reference, independent of your earlier self.” She laughed, drawing Rebecca against her for a hug as they walked. “It is so counter-intuitive as to make one’s head want to explode, I know. I’m not a physicist; one could explain it better, I imagine. But physicists once proved that airplanes--and bumblebees--couldn’t fly, so anything they say is suspect with me.” She stopped halfway down the passageway and dilated a door. “Look inside, Rebecca.”

It was the small, windowless room where she had slept overnight. In the center stood the divan, neatly made; beside it, the carafe and glass atop the small table.

“When you first came through the gate,” said Leda at her elbow, “I brought you here to attend to your wounds. The water contained a sedative, allowing you to sleep the entire night, a sleep that you badly needed. When you awoke, we went to breakfast--” She laughed guiltily. “—and I convinced you to return to 2014. You did, and the Rebecca you sent through is gone now. She left—” She consulted a silver timepiece on her wrist. “—10 minutes ago. It’s currently 10:58 a.m. in Arcadia.”

Rebecca’s head ached. “Don’t do that! Don’t refer to her as if she were a different person than me. I’m me. She’s me, standing here, right now!”

Leda smiled patiently. “Whatever you wish, dear.” She squeezed Rebecca’s biceps gently. “We have to hurry. Once a sequence like this is begun, there is no time to dawdle. Please come.” She headed back toward The Hall of the Gate, Rebecca reluctantly following.

“I’ll return you to 2014 to collect certain items, things that can’t be obtained in 3109.”

“What things?” Rebecca questioned suspiciously.

“I’ve prepared a list: a number of reference books, certain items of commerce. Excuse me while I adjust the gate controls.” She mounted the raised dais and Rebecca stepped up behind her. The control panel was not at all what she’d expected.