Jeremy Robinson - The Didymus Contingency

Tom’s eyes widened as he saw the feat of amazing strength from a safe distance. “Who is this guy? Maybe we shouldn’t bother him,” Tom said.

“Stop worrying,” Jesus said, “It doesn’t become you.”

Jesus strode toward the man. Tom wondered what death wish had possessed Jesus now.

Mary, Lazarus’s sister, ran from the house, long black hair undulating through the air behind her, and shook Lazarus by the shoulder. “What is it?” Lazarus asked, knowing the look in Mary’s bright green eyes meant trouble.

Pointing to the road on which the fourteen were walking toward the house, Mary said, “There, on the road.”

From this distance, only the number of men could be made out. Lazarus picked up his shovel and wielded it like a gladiator.

“Get inside,” Lazarus said, “Find Martha, and be ready to run.”

“What about you?” Mary asked.

“My life is inconsequential. I would willingly give it for my sisters’,” Lazarus said, “Now go.”

Mary obeyed her big brother’s request. She ran back inside as quickly as she had run out. Lazarus took a few broad steps toward the encroaching group and shouted, “Stay where you are and state your business.” His voice boomed.

The fourteen stopped in their tracks. Lazarus had a commanding voice and even more commanding body language. Jesus turned to Tom and smiled, “Perhaps we all need to learn a lesson, eh?”

“What? No. What are you-?”

Tom’s brief protest fell on deaf ears. “We’re here to eat your food and be served by your sisters!” Jesus shouted.

Tom audibly gasped. Jesus had gone insane! “What are you doing?” Tom said, “That guy is huge!”

Lazarus held up the shovel, ready to strike down the first man to try. “Turn back the way you came, stranger.”

“Stranger?” Jesus shouted, “I haven’t been gone that long.”

Through squinted eyes, Lazarus attempted to make out facial features.

Jesus pushed on, “Perhaps I should come up there and beat some sense into you!”

Tom looked at Jesus wide-eyed. Tom thought all this God business must have really been going to Jesus’s head.

Lazarus stood up straight and his head tilted. “Jesus?”

“In the flesh,” Jesus replied.

A smile stretched across Lazarus’s face. “Mary! Martha! It’s Jesus!” Lazarus shouted, as his huge feet carried him toward Jesus.

They met halfway and embraced like true friends. Jesus was lifted off the ground in Lazarus’s arms. “It’s been too long, my friend!”

Tom let out a long sigh of relief. He looked at David, “I thought we were all dead for sure.”

“I’m sure that’s the same thing he was thinking.” David said, as he looked at Lazarus.

Jesus was released from Lazarus’s bear hug. He looked at Lazarus’s arms and said, “I see you’ve been working hard.”

“Jesus!” Mary shouted, as she just about barreled him over with a hug.

Tom couldn’t help but smile at such a happy reunion. He could tell these must have been lifelong friends of Jesus, and Mary…was stunning! Her hair looked soft, but not as soft as her face, and her smile-beautiful, the way it pushed her cheeks into firm apples… Tom was pulled from his wistful distraction when Jesus spoke.

“Where is your sister?” Jesus asked.

“When Martha heard who was here, she got to work on a meal for you and your friends,” Mary explained.

“Come,” Lazarus said, “Come inside. Our home is your home. Our food is your food.”

Lazarus led the fourteen men, who Tom knew were all strangers here, toward the house. He had never seen such friendship or generosity. Tom felt instantly at home.

Arizona

Thirty seconds after David launched into the past in search of Tom, Captain Roberts, George Dwight and Jake Parish entered Receiving Area Alpha. Sally watched as Captain Roberts, who looked out of place in his ancient garbs and modern crew cut, was allowed free access to any and all classified equipment and material that had been transported to LightTech from the future. Roberts didn’t seem to find anything useful in the cluttered room, but Sally was sure he simply couldn’t make sense of anything he was seeing. This was the man her superiors were entrusting to save the world.

“Find anything useful?” Sally asked.

“Nothing of interest,” he replied.

Nothing of interest? Roberts was a joke, Sally thought. Absolutely every device and sheet of notebook paper within the confines of the room was of interest.

“Of course, finding anything of interest is a moot point,” Roberts said, “You and your science team have already combed through this equipment, correct?”

“Of course,” replied Sally.

“Then you tell us. Is there anything of interest that might help our cause?” George asked in a tone that suggested she better tell the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help her God.

Sally picked up one of the remaining time travel watches and handed it to Roberts. As Sally moved her arm toward Roberts, she worked the buttons expertly. Sally was in charge of the science team and held an executive position at LightTech, but had once been a formidable scientist herself. She had studied the watches and had made some discoveries she didn’t want known-not yet anyway. She also wanted to protect her two prized scientists. She had been hard on them over the years and she rarely saw eye to eye with them, but without them, none of this could have ever been possible. And she respected them greatly for that…especially David.

She knew that Roberts would kill them without hesitation. He was the kind of man built for killing, and after the years of training he’d received at LightTech, she imagined he was long overdue to draw blood. She couldn’t let that happen, but she also had to make sure the blood spilled wasn’t her own.

Sally pressed the final button on the watch; she finalized the changes she had swiftly made to Roberts’s landing zone, placing him ten miles outside his intended target area. The plan was to give him a hike, and hopefully give David a little more time. Beep, beep. Sally froze. She didn’t expect the watch to make any kind of confirmation noise. Roberts squinted at her and she could have sworn his hand moved toward his knife. Sally worked hard not to panic in the following seconds. She knew that even the oddest change in facial expression might draw suspicion. Sally felt a deadweight pulling down on her shoulders. Would her attempts to slow Captain Roberts be found out? Sally glanced at the watch as casually as she could manage.

Thank God! Sally’s tense muscles relaxed. “Top of the hour, gentlemen.”

Sally handed the watch to Roberts. It was 3:00 p.m.

Roberts slipped the disguised watch onto his wrist and glanced at the face. “How’s this doohickey work?” he asked, causing Sally to roll her eyes.

George and his assistant Jake looked at each other with a tinge of embarrassment. All the years of training and education and Roberts was still a simple-minded buffoon. Sally saw the exchange and attempted not to smile.

“Push this button once to go back to the prearranged time and place. This has already been programmed,” explained Sally, as she pointed to the appropriate buttons. “Push the same button twice to come back. That’s it; even a seven year old could work the watch.” Sally was pushing it, and she knew it.

Roberts checked his weapon quickly, making no attempt to hide his angry glare at Sally, as he walked to the center of the room and turned around. “Be back in a minute.”

Captain Roberts pushed a button on the watch and waited to be transported back in time. Nothing happened. “It’s the other button, the one above that,” Sally said, her smirk impossible to hide.