Sean Dalton - Time trap

Sweat dripped into his eyes despite the cold. He felt suddenly clammy and without hope.

For all his complaining about life in the twenty-sixth century, for all his disparagement of modern people’s life-styles, for all his criticism, it was still his time. He cared about it; he wanted to make it better; he needed it for his own identity. Never to go back…

He shoved the growing fear away, not wanting it to paralyze him. He had to keep his mind clear and his hopes up.

“Damn you!” he said and chopped down on the bracelet with the heel of his hand. “ Activate!”

With a low, almost inaudible hum the LOC came on. The bracelet’s copper image dissolved into the reality of its Plexiglas sides. They revealed the pulsing optics and complex circuitry that made this small device capable of such wondrous things.

Noel closed his eyes a moment and sagged in relief. He felt as though he’d just been thrown a lifeline. But there wasn’t time to waste. At any moment he might be overheard or discovered.

Collecting himself, he said softly, “Scan. We are at Mistra in Greece, era medieval. Determine date. Identify and correlate all important historical events for this time and place. Begin.”

“Scanning,” said the LOC’s toneless voice in acknowledgment.

Noel wiped the sweat from his face and waited. As long as his LOC functioned, he was not helpless. He could get himself out of this mess. He just had to take it one step at a time.

“Ready,” said the LOC. “Specific date 1332 A.D. Location Mistra. Important historical events…”

It stopped talking. Noel frowned in alarm.

“LOC,” he said, trying to keep anxiety from his voice. “Are you malfunctioning?”

“Negative.”

“Are there no important historical events?”

“Affirmative.”

“None?”

“Affirmative.”

Noel’s frown deepened. “That’s not possible. The fourteenth century marked a lot of political power struggles in this part of the world as well as in Asia Minor and Europe. There’s a power struggle going on right now, and someone mentioned Turkish pirates making raids on the coast. Scan again.”

“Scanning,” said the LOC. It paused. “Anomaly warning.”

“Well, isn’t that amazing,” said Noel, then caught himself. The LOC did not respond to sarcasm. “Specify.”

“Time split. Parallel alternatives.”

He swore. “Of course. LOC, this is the situation. A duplicate of me has been created during our journey through the time stream. That duplicate is called Leon.”

“Reversal of Noel,” said the LOC.

“Yes. I’m left-handed; he’s right-handed. He’s telepathic or something. I’m not. I don’t know how many other comparisons we can make. That’s not important. What we’ve got here is someone who looks like me who wants to change history.”

“Acknowledged.”

“LOC, give me data on the history parallels.”

The LOC hummed but made no reply.

“Are you malfunctioning?”

“Negative.”

“You can’t specify the alternative lines of history?”

“Not at this time.”

“Since when?”

“Negative.”

Noel’s frown deepened. The LOC wasn’t making sense. “Run diagnostic codes,” he said. “Scan for registering malfunctions. Identify.”

“Scanning… destination codes,” said the LOC.

He felt that cold shiver of fear again. “Obviously those are shot to hell. Look where we ended up.”

“Date codes.”

“Yes. What else?”

The LOC did not reply.

“Are you malfunctioning-”

“Retrieval codes. Systems… nine, four, zero, two date. Two date. Error. Scanning…”

It was getting warmer on his arm. Noel touched it. “LOC,” he said urgently, afraid it would crash on him. “LOC, stop internal check. Run hypothesis.”

“Ready.”

“What if Leon didn’t affect history? What if Leon didn’t exist? What would be the important events happening here at this time? List them without dates.”

“Theodore of Albania named governor of Mistra. Rules province five years. Marriage of Theodore and Lady Sophia. Three children produced. Invasion of Turks under Umur, the Emir of Aydin, stopped at walls of Mistra. Bulgarian uprising is-”

“Stop,” said Noel. “What about Sir Magnin? What part does he play?”

The LOC did not reply.

“Are you malfunctioning?”

“Negative.”

“Run another hypothesis.”

“Ready.”

“If Leon changes history here, what part does Sir Magnin play?”

“Sir Magnin the Black usurps rule of Mistra, leads Peloponnese in revolt from Byzantine rule. Lady Sophia dies of suicide before wedding. Umur leads Turkish janissaries up river and conquers Mistra. All holdings of Peloponnese and Athens fall into Turkish hands within-”

“Stop,” said Noel. “Question. What action does Leon commit that changes history?”

The LOC hesitated. “Action already committed.”

Noel sat up straight. “What!”

Something stirred outside his cell. The man in the iron maiden moaned, and Noel hunched over his LOC in frustration, reminding himself to keep his voice low.

“Repeat.”

“Action already committed.”

“Damn,” said Noel. “Damn, damn, damn, damn.”

He couldn’t go back and undo it. With date and destination codes malfunctioning, he certainly couldn’t expect to do the kind of tight maneuvering required to create that short of a time loop. Besides, the LOC wasn’t being specific enough. Apparently it wasn’t programmed to handle the kind of contingency Leon represented. No one had ever been duplicated while going through a time stream before. For that matter, no one had ever been sent to the wrong time and place either.

“All right,” said Noel, thinking rapidly. “I can’t stop Sir Magnin from taking Mistra. That’s already happened. But can I help topple him from power and keep him from trying to marry Lady Sophia? Will that pull events back into proper line?”

“Unknown.”

“You must know something!”

“Unknown.”

“Damn!”

The LOC remained silent, its circuit lights pulsing steadily.

“All right,” said Noel, drawing a couple of breaths in an effort to regain control. “All right. Maybe I should forget the whole thing. Maybe all this is supposed to happen. Why don’t we get on with our original mission? Can you reprogram to original destination? Location Constantinople. Date 634 A.D.”

The LOC did not reply.

“LOC!” he said sharply. “Respond. Are you malfunctioning?”

“Negative.”

‘Then reprogram, dammit!“

“Wait,” said LOC. It almost sounded sullen, although that was impossible.

“Come on. Come on,” said Noel impatiently.

“Reprogramming not possible,” said the LOC.

“Why?”

“Malfunction in destination and date codes. Date two, zero, four, four, four… scanning time retrieval scramble not found, not found, not found-”

“Stop,” said Noel. “Let’s try again. Reprogram. Location Constantinople. Date 633 A.D. Run.”

“Wait,” said the LOC. It hummed briefly. “Reprogramming not possible.”

Noel swore. His hands were shaking. He rubbed the moisture from his palms. Forcing himself to remain calm, he said, “Reprogram. Location Byzantium. Date now. Run.”

“Wait.”

He waited, listening to faint snores and the suffering whimpers of the man in the iron maiden. The LOC kept humming, but it did not respond.

“LOC,” he whispered. “Are you still reprogramming?”

“Affirmative,” said the LOC.

Noel’s spirits rose. His confidence came back in a rush. “Good. Let’s travel there now.”

The LOC did not reply.

“Are you malfunctioning?”