Chapter 13: Still Not Home

Abraham watched as the countdown progressed. He was not sure what to expect, Jim hadn’t been sure of what might happen, either.

Tests of the unmodified power generator had proved to be both immensely successful and anticlimactic, in that it hadn’t caused the end of the world, not that anyone had wanted that. As important as the development had been, it just hadn’t ranked up there with time travel, even imperfect time travel.

However, the power device would prove to be a huge boom for mankind, and another step in the ‘Families’ dominance and leadership.

He continued watching. No one knew what to expect from this side. After all, it was uncharted territory for all. All the recording devices were running at peak performance, and feedback was being sent back to the compound in real time. Jim had expressed his doubts over how valuable that would be. It was noted that once the jump started, that very little might make it to the compound, Jim had pointed out that all lines into the ‘Compound’ had been severed almost instantly the first time. It was hoped that various radio waves would do better. In any case, the effort had to be made.

Abraham had video and audio feeds from inside the control room and was seeing at the same time what was going on there. The countdown to zero came, and he watched as Jim standing, pressed down the button, at the same time he heard one of the women say, he was sure it had been his daughter, Angela say, “Wait shouldn’t you be ... Then the screen went to static with ghost images, and suddenly went blank.

He turned to watch the other monitors of the compound viewed from observation sites that had been spaced around it and from the air. There was some sort of shimmering glow like dome for the briefest of moments, with some haziness, then all the buildings disappeared as if they had never been. They had just vanished from the face of the earth...

He was shocked. It was one thing to be told something like this might happen, but quite another to witness it firsthand. They were gone including his daughter and his grandchildren. The realization that he’d never see them again suddenly set in, adding to his shock. He was glad his wife had remained in New York rather than witness this.

After a moment of staring at the high-definition monitors, Abraham realized that the land contours were different from before. The changes were very slight, but they were there. It was then that he realized that they had gone into the past and not the future. The picture he was looking at could only be the site of where to compound would eventually be built. It seemed so much like the location where even now a copy of the Compound was being created. Was it a copy, or was it the original? Such things were better left to others who could better understand it, for it was all beyond him. It was as he could make out, a displacement of the earth that was here with that of the past, or where ever they had gone. He was glad that a huge void had not been left. It would have been very unsettling to see a vast hole in the place where the Compound had been.

Abraham couldn’t help himself, he had to chuckle. “So that was how he had gotten the letters and all the strange devices and instructions he and the Family had received.” James Adam Wolfenstein and his compound had gone into the past some one hundred years, he was sure of it. It all added up, then scratching his head, he looked at where the compound had been. If what he was looking at was the result of the time shift, then it stood to reason the same had happened on Jim’s timeline. Just how were the authorities of that time handling the appearance of a circle of salt water and jungle. They would surely test the waters, and find them to be seawater, hundreds of miles from the ocean. Most likely they wouldn’t have as much luck with figuring out the land mass’s origin.

Abraham was no scientist or physicist, he would leave whatever data that had been gleaned up to those to figure out.

Abraham turned and was about to leave the control room when one of the observers shouted, “Look, something is happening.” Before Abraham had turned back around, the Compound was there again, as if it had never left. Quickly recovering he ordered that communications be reestablished with the compound. For it was without a doubt the Compound.

There was a pause that seemed to last forever before there was a response. Jim had mentioned that there was a period of disorientation after a jump. He had forgotten just how long that had lasted. Then Abraham heard the voice of Adam, somewhat confused, “Incoming signal input, analyzing.” Yes, Abraham said to himself, that sounds like the Adam I know.

Adam’s voice once again said, “analyzing.” There was a lengthy pause. Then Adam’s voice again, “code verification.”

Adam, again, “Code verification complete.”

Then Jim’s voice, “Fuck, just how in the world did we get back here?” Clearly, he must have been speaking to someone elsewhere in his control room. “Abraham? Are you there?”

Abraham hit the com panel button that activated his mic. “Yes, Jim, I’m here. I never expected to hear from you again. But offhand, I’m not all that surprised, either.”

Jim replied, “I can’t really say the same, it was after all still very much a crap shoot where we might end up. But I am happy we are here, and...” there was a pause... “Really?” He heard Jim speaking to someone in the background ... Then slowly, he asked, “Abraham just how long were we gone?”

Abraham chuckled, “Now just how long do you think you were gone, with me here to talk to you as soon as you reappeared?”

Jim slowly said, “Minutes?”

Abraham said, “Guess again.” Once again Abraham heard faint voices in the background, as he overheard Jim ask, “You’re sure?” he was asking someone in his control room. Abraham smiled at that.

Jim came back, somewhat unsteadily, “Was it ... seconds?” Apparently, Abraham thought the disorientation lasted for quite some time.

The video monitor came up then, and he could now see Jim and the others in the control room, including his daughter. Abraham nodded yes. “Yes, Jim, I didn’t even have a chance to order a check of the perimeter. Good thing, too, as I could have lost whoever I had sent.”

Jim nodded back, “We need to talk, I will send a chopper to you, to bring you here. There are things we must speak of in private.”

Abraham asked, “Is that wise?”

Jim chuckling, “Sure, I have already locked the button down, there will be no unscheduled jumps, for the time being.” Abraham hadn’t been thinking along those lines but kept his thoughts to himself, for now.

While Abraham and James Wolfenstein discussed the adventure of Jim’s last jump, Adam was making a detailed analysis of any changes if any had occurred from their first arrival, and now this, their return, before and after. Adam being an AI found nothing alarming in the minute changes it had discovered. They didn’t seem to indicate a different timeline. But it couldn’t be ruled out, either. A more detailed analysis of air water and mineral and the phase shift would be required, as also a genetic informational sampling of Abraham himself and other known entities. Adam would then report to Jim on his findings.

No plans were being made for an extended stay. The data collected would be gone over minutely and of course the brain scanning to be performed on the growing population of the compound. It appeared the helmets had done their job; however, a sampling needed to be made to be certain.

James Wolfenstein was making his own evaluation of Abraham, as he was sure Abraham was making of him. This alternate time jumping was a tricky thing. Could either be sure of the other? More importantly, did it matter? There was little that either could do about it. One thing he had learned was that there was an enemy to be dealt with in this Family’s past. Also, could he be confident they had contained them on his own timeline? To be sure all the other families were now aware of them, and they were not the forgiving sort.

While he couldn’t be sure, he was wondering if they might be Zealots. He was hoping they were not, as Zealots couldn’t be dealt with as you might others. Their belief system seemed to be hard-wired into them. They would not consider any alternative, and they could not be persuaded to alter their course. To survive they may, and had probably done so in the past, go into deep hiding and come out again when they were least expected. This seemed to fit with the historical pattern of the ‘Families’ history. He would have to think about and discuss options with his advisers.

More and more these thoughts were troubling to Jim. In the future/past? He found he would have to limit contacts with each time they landed. He would have to be extremely careful, and he considered himself lucky so far that ... well, the thought was better off ... no, drop it, better to think only of returning to his own timeline without further incident. It had been altogether too easy to interfere with the events of each of the other landings.

But then as he was making plans to get home, he was also thinking of travel back, much, much farther. How much further, he hadn’t determined yet. Would even subtle changes make that much difference? One might think that there were more than one of him making these jumps, the thought of it was starting to make his head ache again with the implications. Time travel alone was beginning to feel like the more comfortable of the two. The worst-case scenario might be two or more of himself landing in the same place at the same time. It was best if he stopped thinking along those lines or it could just drive him mad. He would have to see Doctor Stine soon to adjust and heal his mind. Every time he thought about it, a cold shiver went down his spine. How far could he trust the good Doctor Stine, Victor von Franklin Stine. The alternative was far worse. Trust was a tricky thing when there were people out there actively seeking your death.

During the wait, as the Compound’s people had the restorative scanning done, a family dinner was planned. It would be held in New York. It would include a sampling of the family heads and family members. Not all of them to be sure, the last such dinner had shown them just how dangerous that could be. There would be the speeches and elbow rubbing that events of that nature required. Of course, there was the story of my jump back in time. Not that many would believe it. It wasn’t mentioned that it might be my last appearance, not that any of my appearances had been planned. My wives were overjoyed at the prospect; though how to explain that I had more than one wife, might be a bit of a challenge. Having a mistress or even two might be understood, though all attending the same function would not be. The other Family wives could be a problem if they thought what I had done might give their own husbands ideas on the matter. Just when had the idea of monogamy taken hold? It wasn’t by any mean Universal, but still, this was puritan America we’re talking about.

Abraham was again pleased with a plane trip, he had been contemplating on a more time-consuming ocean crossing on one of Pan Am’s China Clippers. Flying on one of my private planes seemed a luxury that was now within reach. When we left we took the runway and planes with us. Converting bombers to commercial passenger use was just a short step in creating the families first Airline, a step he was keen on taking. The war effort had been the only thing stopping him.

By now it may have been understood I was not of this period, and that what I did was of future time and place. I didn’t disabuse them that even on my own timeline, multiple wives would be frowned on and in many cases thought of as illegal. While in some cultures it might seem a man of my stature had too few wives and lacked a Harem. In any case, I wasn’t about to let my wives be snubbed by the women of this time of their own supposed superiority.

When it came to my time at the podium. I spoke of Family and how important it was to me. Then I went on that it had never been my intention to supersede Abraham as the Family head. Some might have disagreed with that assessment. There were even those that questioned Abraham’s ascent. There was no questioning that Abraham had pulled the Family’s fat out of the fire so to speak, as no one else had been able to. I didn’t mention my part in that. I ended that Abraham would be the Family Head or Prime till he died, or he decreed otherwise.

In any case, as I ended, I told them all I was returning to my first love of Science, and it wouldn’t leave me with much time to meddle in family politics. For those not understanding, I said war is fought by men, and those men were not always soldiers, they were teachers, shoe salesmen, farmers, in short, they were called to duty, and served. Now that duty was over, they were returning to what they were before the war, and so was I.

When the dinner was over, the men left their wives behind to enjoy what might be thought of as male bonding, to drink their brandies and smoke cigars. Engaging in business or man talk. As chauvinistic as that might sound, it was merely a sign of their time and not my own. While I didn’t care at all for the males’ attitudes towards their women; it was not my place, nor was it the time, to challenge them.

When my own women accompanied me, you could see the infuriated looks of the other wives as they were excluded. A sign that times would indeed be changing. Only Abraham’s wife was included with my wives in the male group. A snub of our own on them. I was just as glad not to be on the other side of the wall to hear their complaints.

The sound of gunshots filled the room, causing panic. Jim didn’t have to think who the target had been, he had felt the impact of the bullets striking him. They came from so close as to be felt, even given his protective armor. The girls had reacted instantly, the assailant was pinned in their hold. He was tasered and rendered unconscious. This could only have been a suicide attack, and I meant for him to be kept alive for questioning. His mouth was checked for a cyanide capsule, or some other means of self-destruction. The room was then cleared in case there had been a bomb, also. We took our captive down to the basement to our shielded van. Nick being Nick, had an emergency vehicle rigged as an Ambulance. Only this one was fitted with the latest scanning technology and was shielded.

The building had been sealed, and Nick now placed it on lockdown, no one in or out. Nick was beside himself that a weapon had gotten that close to me, let alone used. This was just the thing grandfather had feared, and why he had made sure I had inspected those companies on his list. The result was the armor I now wore, and the Nanomite implants, that protected me from several other threats.

The girls examined the attacker and found he had been given a cyanide capsule that was promptly taken from him. Given the fact that this must have been planned quickly, it had been well-executed. This meant that some smart and well-heeled people had more than a passing interest in Family business. They hadn’t been given much time to act yet were still able to hit me. This showed both intelligence and daring, and something more.

One of my security vans was already parked in the garage of the building. From the outside, it didn’t seem like much, but it was a high-tech ambulance with the latest scanning gear my people could come up with. The would-be assassin was laid out on the bed and scanned for foreign objects. They found additional means of self-destruction that were quickly neutralized. Nick quickly determined that the level and sophistication of the attack was not some ordinary hit job.

The scanning also revealed some curious objects that would need to be identified. Those objects troubled me, and I ordered that they be removed and placed in a shielded container. With orders that it only be opened in a fully shielded lab. It was perhaps also a good thing that the van had been protected with its own countermeasures. If they were what I thought they were, whoever was on the other end, listening, hadn’t had time to activate a remote destruction or gain further information before being cut off.

A portable brain scanner was then used. The assassin didn’t need to be awake for this. Unfortunately, the van didn’t have the means to give a detailed examination of the results of the scan. The data would be encrypted and sent to Doctor Stine and Adam for analyses.

It was evident to me that whoever was behind this, knew a lot more than they should.

“Adam were you able to get a scan on those devices before I sealed them up,” I asked.

Adam responded with a negative, “It was a low power transponder, estimated range of fewer than hundred meters. Probably of an explosive within it, seventy-six percent. Origin unknown. A device of its size and power would be unlikely to be of this period.”

To say that was a stunning revelation would have been an understatement. What had I gotten Abraham into? Then I realized that the threat had been here all along. My being here had only brought them out into the open.

Adam went on, “Due to its short range the operative listening in could still be in the building.”

Nick reinforced his order not to let anyone in or out of the building.

I asked Nick just how many people would we be talking about. “Too many, to be sure,” Nick replied. “If he had the listening device, he or she had most likely dumped or destroyed it.”

Then most likely we wouldn’t be able to ID them. Thinking quickly, I ordered a blood sample and a photo be taken of everyone here. Had we more time and resources, we might have placed tracking devices on all of them. It would take time to run that many samples. We could only hope we could locate them later when testing of the samples was complete.

Another thought, “Check closets and any areas someone might hide in. Don’t be surprised if you find a dead body.”

Nick looked at me, “Maybe you should be doing my job.” It wasn’t an accusation more a nod that I was thinking ahead. Maybe later I’d have him play chess with Mr. Tristan a few times.

It was evident they wanted me out of the way permanently. How they had arranged the attempt on such short notice, showed they had knowledge of the inside communications within the family, even to the location of the event, which had only been announced a day earlier?

I asked Adam, “Do you think you can trace its location.”

Adam’s response was slow, “It had only been sending not receiving.” Adam then gave some surprising information. It had been scanning the area via satellite and had picked up a vehicle leaving the vicinity at the same time the device had been secured. The probability of it being coincidental was just six percent. Adam was still observing it. As we had never given out that we had a satellite surveillance system and given that Rocketry was in its beginning infantile stages. It was unlikely they knew they were under observation. Maybe our one advantage as we knew so little about them. I couldn’t be sure if that extended to the mastermind. It was all pointing to someone from the compound. Just who would have the skill set to build such a device? Whoever it was must be relying on history not changing more than it already had. If they were going to rely on that to make future investments ... But given how they had infiltrated the Family, maybe they weren’t, but were piggybacking on what they learned by observing family communications. Taking Abraham aside, I recommended he change the family codes as soon as possible. Then from time to time, send out deceptive messages, and try to trap whoever is listening.

Once again, I had Adam send out feelers of potential computer traffic, with the understanding he was not to be detected himself. In fact, all signal transmissions.

As for our own detection equipment, we would have to change to nondisruptive vehicles of the time. And use military grade secure frequencies. Such was already being put together under Adam’s and the odd little man’s watchful eye.

It was evident they had a keen interest in the family’s affairs and with the ‘Families’ growing influence, and perhaps seen as a threat to their own. Did they know of the compound? It seemed most likely. Did they know it had traveled to the past and back? Unlikely as for all intents and purposes we hadn’t been gone but for a few moments.

Nick got my attention, “They had the crew that was recording the event.”

“What!” I asked. Nick repeated, that whoever they were had recorded the event. His people had seized their equipment over their protests that they were just a film crew documenting the occasion for the Family archives.

Abraham made a quick call and determined that while such had been ordered, these were not Family people.

As advanced as these people may have been, they were still a hundred years behind in technology. They had no idea, just what we hadn’t told Abraham. Hadn’t told anyone. The frequency they were using might have gone unnoticed had they not encrypted their communications, it was an easy matter to decrypt it. What was more, we had position on them, as a drone had been dispatched to watch the area.

Nick spoke into his communicator. “Knock them out, before they realize we’re on to them.”

Almost immediately he was told they had been too late, they were both now dead. He then had their equipment taken to be examined, to another shielded van. Again, it was not what it appeared to be. Only in this case luckily whatever the device was, it had failed to self-destruct. It too would be examined and would give us a better understanding of who and what we were up against.

The cameramen had been restrained, the same cyanide capsules were found on them. Maybe they felt they could still get away. Then they had both dropped, killed, their brains had been turned to mush by implanted explosives. They, too, would be examined.

Whoever it was, we couldn’t dismiss that they might be as advanced as we were.

I could see that Nick had just thought of something. He was making calls, and from the look on his face, he didn’t like the answers. Taking me aside. He informed me that it was the so-called media crew. That they had disappeared from the Compound. Now we had something, we knew who they were and how many. One problem, had they hooked as I had with members of their people from the past?

They’d had just as many years to develop advanced electronics. Had they been able to? We couldn’t afford to discount anything, now.

We had kept it a secret that we could ID them using genic testing. Was felt it was unlikely that anyone of this time knew about genetic testing, or of modern 2037 Forensic science. That media team couldn’t have had that much depth to it skill level wise.

Was it possible they had seen the power build up and discharge? The disappearance and reappearance of the Compound? Again, it would be impossible to tell at this time. But given that they had and were able to monitor the Family’s communications, it was highly likely they knew about it. They could have been beyond a few kilometers, and they might have been looking for it.

Those people from my timeline would be an invaluable resource they wouldn’t want to lose. Their truck was still in the compound, gutted for the most part, they could only have gotten away with what they could carry.

Damn this would definitely delay our return to our own time. For this had to be dealt with, or it could come back to haunt us in the future. Maybe it already had.

A lot was going on here. As I had said, they just knew too much. Then again not everything. Inviting Abraham into my car, we were able to chat, the ECM and shielding keeping what we said private.

“Abraham,” I started, “these people have infiltrated the Family, and there is no telling for just how long they have been here.” I then told him about the death of my Grandfather and how I had tracked down the persons responsible and turned tables on them. But it hadn’t stopped them from making another attempt on the compound and on myself. I had gathered enough evidence and gave it to the other ruling Families that proved beyond a reasonable doubt they had been plotting the death of the other Families, for years, and had successfully killed off hundreds in each of the Families without anyone suspecting.

I was now confident that they had been responsible for the stock manipulation that had caused the Family Prime’s death, and many others that day. I continued filling in Abraham about this threat, not to only our family, but given the historical evidence most likely everyone that wasn’t them. As impossible to believe as it was, I could see no way refute it. These people wanted us all dead. It now seemed surprising that they hadn’t blown up the entire building, as the had nearly all of the Family there.

I was reasonably confident that Nick had the Compound covered and that we didn’t have a spy on it. Still, with Abraham’s people having access, Nick and I couldn’t be one-hundred percent certain. The attack on me, here, was proof that the ‘others’ were capable. I had already ordered Nick to detain any of Abraham’s people on the compound till they could be checked out and cleared. At least there the DNA testing could be done quickly, and hopefully with little notice.

It would be painfully slow, but everyone would have to be tested, and in such a way as to not draw attention that it was indeed a method being used to identify them.

In the years we had been here, we had been instrumental in creating a new internet. Those using it couldn’t know yet just how much of their communications were intercepted, and even encrypted it was no match for Adam. It looked all the world the same as it did on my time. However, the odd little man assured me that its infrastructure was completely different. It would be much harder to tamper with and yet make it easier for us to.

While everyone of my time knew data was intercepted, it had gotten to the point even routine e-mails were heavily encrypted and most everyone knew that. Encryption had grown to be a fine art and Governments were making a show of going after encryption companies for their keys, so they wouldn’t have to keep building bigger and better computers, the service life of which was shorter and shorter with each new generation built. Just how much of that was for show and public consumption to reassure people that their private communications were secure and how much was a smoke screen to cover-up that they weren’t.

That didn’t help us much, they were not using it. We still had a problem, we didn’t know where they all were, and no way to identify them should they go into hiding. There was the same problem with the other Families. The heads could be identified, they all knew each other. And while they didn’t go out of the way to hide where they were, it was still an age where not everything was known or could be easily tracked. If they didn’t want to be found, they wouldn’t be.

While Abraham’s spy network was respectable, it couldn’t cover everyone, all the time. There were always holes; and of course, they each knew all the others were spying on them, too.

I felt we had done something to send them underground, as the family was at its peak by the late 90’s and they hadn’t come out of hiding till about 2020 or shortly before. But this time I was here. Somehow, they knew that would make a difference. I wanted to get mad, and angry! These people had murdered my Grandfather, and countless others over the centuries. For all, I knew they may have been responsible for the start of World War Two, and for all I knew also the First one. I didn’t believe in coincidences! Not any longer!

Was there a way to get them out into the open? It may have been impossible before, but now they were known. Abraham and I spoke for long hours, well into the night.

It was interesting noting the change. Most notably in the girls, Nicky and Wind Song. If anything, they stayed closer to me than ever, ever watchful. It may not have been noticeable before, but there was no mistaking it, now. Again, I wondered what it was about them that was so different. Would I ever find out? Had grandfather?

It got to the point Nick wouldn’t let me wash my hands without first going over the sink with a fine-tooth comb. I wasn’t sure he would ever relax again. Finally, I had to order him to sleep, and even had the Doc give him a sedative injection just to be sure he did. He was ready to rebel, but I quite frankly told him he couldn’t protect me if he was dead, and he soon would be if he didn’t start taking care of himself.

You might recall I had said something like that before.

We got lucky! Hell, you might even say we hit the jackpot! It turned out that the camera was also a recording device. It had recorded everything that had happened in the room - that might have been all well and good, we even got a rundown over where the parts came from. I had to chuckle at the irony of it. They had come from our own companies - but the kicker was, that they had recorded something before the dinner. How anyone could have overlooked that, was beyond me. But we lucked out and there was a panorama of the New York skyline, indicating it was taken from the Jersey side of the river.