interrupted.
Everyone turned to her.
She tapped her chest. “The spirit of humanity.” She pointed at Moms. “None of the survivors of that plane crash that she kept from being killed by the Shadow have shaped world history. Except as Moms realized: they inspired hope. Think on that. The Shadow was attacking hope, not an event. Why would it do that?”
Silence reigned.
Surprisingly it was Roland who broke the quiet. “Maybe it’s more than hope? Maybe it’s, you know, spirit, or guts, or whatever it is, that makes people different? Makes us better? We’ve all seen it in combat. Where we’re willing to put our lives on the line for each other. That’s bigger than, well, bigger than . . .” and then he ran out of words.
“Roland’s right,” Moms said. “It’s an intangible.” She turned to Dane. “Back to the original question. Will there be Time Patrol agents meeting us?”
“Certainly, for some of you,” Dane said. Before anyone could object, he continued. “We don’t know. There should be an agent there, but as you’ve noted, sometimes the Shadow gets to them first. Sometimes, something happens to the agent that has nothing to do with all this. We try to get a message back to them, giving them what we know about where you’ll end up. But you have to remember the main problem: these missions come to us inside a time bubble. A bubble that the Shadow creates. How? We have no idea. All we know is we’ve inherited the technology to send you back in time into that bubble. But it’s not our bubble.”
“So we’re bursting their bubble?” Roland said.
Mac groaned, but Dane nodded. “In essence. Yes. The Agents we have in the past are from their era. They don’t know how things are supposed to play out. They just know something isn’t right. My advice, which you already know from listening to each other’s debriefings, is to be leery of anyone who approaches you pretending to be an Agent. And some of you will undoubtedly be on your own.”
“Hold on,” Doc said. “When the Shadow invades our timeline with a bubble, it only lasts twenty-four hours, right?”
“We don’t know,” Dane said. “We know each of you will be back for a maximum of twenty-four hours. Based on the debriefing from Black Tuesday, some of you were snatched back faster than the full twenty-four hour cycle.”
“Why?” Moms asked.
Dane shrugged. “In a way, the bubble doesn’t exist in reality. It’s an intrusion into our timeline. A timeline that has already been laid done. It’s a false reality. You succeed, it’s as if the bubble never happened.”
“If we fail?” Moms asked.
“We try to fix the ripple,” Dane said. “You haven’t failed yet, so let’s not start.”
“But dead is dead,” Eagle said. “Those men who died on my mission. They died. Right?”
Dane nodded. “Yes.”
There was a pause, and this time it was Edith who filled the vacuum, speaking to Moms. “It should be thrilling for you to go to Rome at that time,” Edith said, her face immediately turning red for her intrusion and because her blatant attempt at misdirection.
“It will be fascinating at least,” Eagle said, throwing her a bone for giving Dane a dirty look about the ring tones. “I imagine a lot more than my mission.” He indicated his clothes.
“Don’t jump to conclusions,” Dane quickly wrote on the board: 15 March 1783 A.D. NEWBURGH, NEW YORK
Everyone on the team waited for Eagle to chime in with the event from his vast wealth of knowledge. Even Dane and Edith waited.
“General George Washington,” Eagle finally said. “He had his headquarters there in 1783.”
“Yes,” Dane said. “The Battle of Yorktown was in 1781 and most people think the Revolutionary War was over there and then.”
“Treat of Paris wasn’t until fall, 1783,” Eagle said. “That officially ended the war. After Yorktown there was a truce, but not actual peace.”
“Correct,” Dane said. “But in 1782, since the war
Everyone turned to her.
She tapped her chest. “The spirit of humanity.” She pointed at Moms. “None of the survivors of that plane crash that she kept from being killed by the Shadow have shaped world history. Except as Moms realized: they inspired hope. Think on that. The Shadow was attacking hope, not an event. Why would it do that?”
Silence reigned.
Surprisingly it was Roland who broke the quiet. “Maybe it’s more than hope? Maybe it’s, you know, spirit, or guts, or whatever it is, that makes people different? Makes us better? We’ve all seen it in combat. Where we’re willing to put our lives on the line for each other. That’s bigger than, well, bigger than . . .” and then he ran out of words.
“Roland’s right,” Moms said. “It’s an intangible.” She turned to Dane. “Back to the original question. Will there be Time Patrol agents meeting us?”
“Certainly, for some of you,” Dane said. Before anyone could object, he continued. “We don’t know. There should be an agent there, but as you’ve noted, sometimes the Shadow gets to them first. Sometimes, something happens to the agent that has nothing to do with all this. We try to get a message back to them, giving them what we know about where you’ll end up. But you have to remember the main problem: these missions come to us inside a time bubble. A bubble that the Shadow creates. How? We have no idea. All we know is we’ve inherited the technology to send you back in time into that bubble. But it’s not our bubble.”
“So we’re bursting their bubble?” Roland said.
Mac groaned, but Dane nodded. “In essence. Yes. The Agents we have in the past are from their era. They don’t know how things are supposed to play out. They just know something isn’t right. My advice, which you already know from listening to each other’s debriefings, is to be leery of anyone who approaches you pretending to be an Agent. And some of you will undoubtedly be on your own.”
“Hold on,” Doc said. “When the Shadow invades our timeline with a bubble, it only lasts twenty-four hours, right?”
“We don’t know,” Dane said. “We know each of you will be back for a maximum of twenty-four hours. Based on the debriefing from Black Tuesday, some of you were snatched back faster than the full twenty-four hour cycle.”
“Why?” Moms asked.
Dane shrugged. “In a way, the bubble doesn’t exist in reality. It’s an intrusion into our timeline. A timeline that has already been laid done. It’s a false reality. You succeed, it’s as if the bubble never happened.”
“If we fail?” Moms asked.
“We try to fix the ripple,” Dane said. “You haven’t failed yet, so let’s not start.”
“But dead is dead,” Eagle said. “Those men who died on my mission. They died. Right?”
Dane nodded. “Yes.”
There was a pause, and this time it was Edith who filled the vacuum, speaking to Moms. “It should be thrilling for you to go to Rome at that time,” Edith said, her face immediately turning red for her intrusion and because her blatant attempt at misdirection.
“It will be fascinating at least,” Eagle said, throwing her a bone for giving Dane a dirty look about the ring tones. “I imagine a lot more than my mission.” He indicated his clothes.
“Don’t jump to conclusions,” Dane quickly wrote on the board: 15 March 1783 A.D. NEWBURGH, NEW YORK
Everyone on the team waited for Eagle to chime in with the event from his vast wealth of knowledge. Even Dane and Edith waited.
“General George Washington,” Eagle finally said. “He had his headquarters there in 1783.”
“Yes,” Dane said. “The Battle of Yorktown was in 1781 and most people think the Revolutionary War was over there and then.”
“Treat of Paris wasn’t until fall, 1783,” Eagle said. “That officially ended the war. After Yorktown there was a truce, but not actual peace.”
“Correct,” Dane said. “But in 1782, since the war
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