D. MacHale - The Never War

That was a pretty good argument. Besides, if Patrick really could do this, we’d have the answers we so desperately needed.

“Okay,” I said. “Give it a shot.”

Patrick let out a big smile. He was psyched for the challenge. He ran to a cabinet where he pulled out two pads of blue paper and two pens. “I need you two to write down everything you can think of that has to do with the situation. Names, dates, events, locations… I meaneverything. No bit of information is too small.”

“I thought the computer does that?” I asked.

“We need to give it as many cross-references as possible,” Patrick answered. “The more guidance we give it, the more accurate the result will be.”

I looked at the pen he handed me, and chuckled, “You guys still use pens and paper?”

“Not usually,” answered Patrick. “But it would take too long to show you how to interface with the computer.”

Good point. For the next half hour, we wrote down everything we could think of about the mystery. I made sure to get everything down that I knew about Max Rose and Winn Farrow. They were the key figures here. It was because of their relationship that theHindenburgwas in danger. When we finished, we each presented Patrick with many pages of data.

“Now what?” I asked.

“Go outside and relax. It’ll take me a while to input all this and start the process. I’ll find you as soon as I come up with something.”

That was that. Gunny and I left Patrick alone to do his thing. We walked back out to the lobby, where I was hit with the smell of food. I hadn’t realized it until that moment, but I was starving. I really hoped there was a cafeteria around and this wasn’t some virtual smell coming from somebody using the computer to look up “pizza.”

We found a small counter selling simple foods like cookies and drinks. It didn’t matter to me. They could have been selling brussel sprouts and I would have bought a bundle. That’s how starved I was. Gunny was too. We each picked out a handful of cookies and some juice.

“Uh-oh,” Gunny said. “All I’ve got is First Earth money.”

I shrugged and said, “Give it a shot.”

Gunny handed the counter guy a First Earth twenty-dollar bill. He looked at it strangely and said, “I’m not really sure what that is, but you don’t have to pay for food when you’re using the library.”

Wow. Free food. That surprised me almost as much as seeing the underground city. Life here on Third Earth was pretty sweet.

Gunny and I took our food outside to the front steps of the library and sat down to eat. We didn’t say much at first. We were too busy enjoying the taste of fifty-first century chocolate chip cookies. They tasted the same as the twenty-first century variety. Luckily time hadn’t changed everything.

While we ate, I had a chance to think. I wrote before that I had a nervous feeling, but didn’t know why. It wasn’t until now, as we sat on the steps of the library, that the reason became clear. It had been staring me in the face since we arrived on Third Earth, but I couldn’t bring it into focus. Now, as we sat there on that beautiful warm day, I finally got my mind around it. It was totally obvious, too. Maybe that’s why I didn’t get it at first. It was too simple. But the more I reasoned it through, the more sense it made.

And I didn’t like it. My appetite was suddenly gone. I put the last cookie down uneaten.

“What’s the trouble, shorty?” Gunny asked.

“It doesn’t matter what Patrick comes up with,” I said.

“Excuse me?” Gunny replied. “I think it matters a whole lot.”

“But it doesn’t. I already know what we have to do.”

“Really?”

“You know it too, Gunny,” I said. “I think we’re both hoping that Patrick comes up with something that tells us we’re wrong, but he won’t.”

Gunny stopped eating his cookie and looked out over the scene in front of us. What had once been a busy, congested city was now beautiful countryside. We could see a few modern housing units scattered around, but mostly it was clean, green country full of people enjoying a beautiful, sunny day. In the distance I could see the unpolluted East River. The air smelled fresh. There was no violence. It was perfect. From what Patrick told us, the rest of Third Earth was the same way.

Perfect.

I looked into Gunny’s eyes. He was troubled. We were on the same page.

“Doesn’t look like a territory that Saint Dane pushed into chaos, does it?” Gunny said.

Exactly. The wreck of theHindenburgwas a horrible disaster and classic Saint Dane. We even hoped that by saving it, we might be able to stop World War II. But the truth was, Earth had evolved into a truly wonderful place in spite of the fact that theHindenburgblew up.

“We won’t make things better by changing history, will we?” Gunny said.

“No.”

Reality was closing in fast. Our mission was about to be turned upside down. If we wanted Earth to evolve into the wonderful territory we were now looking at, we had to make sure history played out the way it was supposed to.

That meant only one thing. Winn Farrow had to succeed. TheHindenburghad to go down.

“Saint Danewantsus to change history,” I said with finality. “That’s what this has been about. That’s the turning point. If we change history, this is a world that may never be.”

Suddenly the whole challenge seemed too huge. I’m embarrassed to say this, but I snapped.

“I hate this!” I screamed, jumping up.

“What’s the trouble?” Gunny asked with sympathy.

“The trouble is I don’t want to do this anymore. It’s not fair. Why are we the ones responsible for saving the territories?”

“Because we’re Travelers,” Gunny answered.

“Yeah, well, I don’t want to be a Traveler. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t volunteer. How did I get chosen? Howdid youget chosen? Don’t you wonder about that?”

Gunny said softly, “Everyday.”

“And it doesn’t bother you?”

Gunny took some time to think about this. “To be honest, I think that if I had the choice, I’d still be sitting here with you right now. But it’s different for me. I lived a long life before finding out my true calling. I can understand why you’re troubled.”

“Yeah, you got that right!” I said. “I’m fifteen years old. I had to leave home when I was fourteen. Nobody my age should see the things I’ve seen. I’m supposed to be playing ball and sweating over tests and zits and hoping girls like me-not making sure thirty-six people die in a horrible accident. I don’t want that responsibility!”

The stakes had suddenly gotten very big, very fast, and it scared me to death. I knew I wasn’t smart enough, or strong enough to have that kind of responsibility. I wanted somebody else to do the job. I wanted Uncle Press to be there. Or Osa, or even Loor. I didn’t want to have to make these kinds of decisions. I wanted to go home. I wanted to see my mom and dad again.

I wanted my old life back.

I was half a second away from going back to the flume and launching myself home to Second Earth for good, when I heard a voice call to us. ”I’m finished.”

It was Patrick. He walked down the last few steps to join us. I hope I can do a good job of describing the way he looked. He was shaken. I swear, it was like all the color had left his face. I know this sounds weird, but he looked ten years older than when we last saw him. He didn’t even stand up tall, he was kind of hunched over, like there was a tremendous weight on his shoulders.

“Come inside and see what I found,” he said softly.

“What is it?” Gunny asked while standing up.

“You’re going to have to see for yourself, because you won’t believe me otherwise.”