Scott climbed the hill. He hadn’t talked about Steadman before, and now he wouldn’t talk about the FBI men. The visitors had known about Steadman and hadn’t mentioned it. Of course they don’t trust you. But they also know you’re harmless.

Behind the cabin, Xavier clicked his tongue and shook his head as he tried to sort out the badly-burned electronic contraption. He had set up a little workshop, nailing together discarded boards for a table and a tree-stump for a chair.

His task is enormous. Don’t be a child. He knows what he’s doing. He knows what he wants. Don’t get in his way. Help him. It’s no good cheerleading. They know more. Their world is different than yours. They have no nature. They came for yours. Give it to them. Politely.

“How are you doing on that thing?” Scott asked, pointing to the electrical box.

“I don’t know,” Xavier said, all the assuredness gone, which Scott had mistaken for arrogance. “I don’t know.”

“You think it’s going to take long?” Scott asked.

“If I can do it at all,” Xavier replied. “Are you tired of us?”

“No.”

“But you want us to leave.”

“Yes,” Scott said honestly.

“I’m trying,” Xavier said calmly.

“Wait a minute!” Scott blurted out. “Wait! Wait! Wait!”

It was the kind of idea that had made Scott famous at his job. It was simple, brilliant and so obvious others would be chagrined they hadn’t thought of it.

“Forget that thing!” Scott shouted, pointing at the broken contraption. Worried at the commotion, Yula joined the two men. Tenner followed, ready for action.

“Go back with the others!” Scott told them all.

Yula looked embarrassed, then defiant when both Xavier and Tenner shot her a look.

“What others?” Xavier asked with a forced steadiness in his voice.

“The ones in the Amazon rain-forest. Or the African group,” Scott said. Again he watched accusatory looks between the three others. “Why not join them? Get on a plane and go!”

“It’s not that easy,” Xavier told him.

“Why not?”

“We don’t have passports,” Xavier said.

Scott thought about that. He figured there had to be a way. There were neighborhoods in Los Angeles, he knew, where people bought green cards and birth certificates and even passports. Maybe even people under surveillance by the FBI.

“I can get you passports. All of you,” Scott stated firmly.

Xavier looked skeptical, Tenner snickered, Yula burst out: “One should tell him we don’t know where they are.”

Xavier shot Yula another look. Tenner stepped between Yula and Xavier, warning Xavier first with his eyes, then Yula.

Xavier sighed heavily. He looked up at Scott like a patient principal faced with an unruly student.

“Their location is unknown,” Xavier told Scott. “Each group wasn’t allowed to know where the others were going. If one group was captured, they couldn’t reveal the location of the other groups, even under torture. We know how you people enjoy torture.”

“There’s got to be some way–”

“No, it’s impossible,” Xavier went on. “Abcedif made it this way for security reasons, for the good of the mission.”

Scott looked to Yula for confirmation. She won’t lie to you. The look on her face told him it was true.

Scott cooked a meal of canned beans, rice and hot-dogs. The visitors from the future pretended to enjoy it, but Scott could tell they were preoccupied.

“How do you eat? Without plants and animals I mean?” Scott asked.

“Oh, we have plants and animals, but all domestic,” Xavier replied. “All genetically designed and bred.”

Then why the hell don’t they design whatever they want?

“That would be so boring!” Yula joked.

They all laughed, great big guffaws, but Scott didn’t.

“You’re reading my mind!” he shouted.

“Calm down,” Xavier admonished.

“You’re reading my mind!” Scott repeated.

“Tell him it’s not as bad as he thinks,” Yula said to Xavier.

“How do you know how bad I think it is?” Scott shouted.

“I read your mind,” Yula laughed.

They all laughed. Except for Scott. He paced the room, he purposefully thought of dragons and monsters and madmen coming to eat the people from the future.

Yula smiled.

She thinks it’s cute, Scott realized. He spoke no more. They cleaned the dishes quickly and went right to bed, the three from the future on one side of the cabin, Scott on the other. He counted, from one to a thousand, until he was sure the others were asleep. Now you can think.

“What’s bothering you?” Yula asked Scott in a whisper the next morning, as they sat on the porch eating cereal. Tenner had run off in a sulk equaling Scott’s, Xavier was hard at work behind the cabin. “What is it?” Yula asked again.

“Can’t you read it in my mind?”

Yula looked hurt.

“It’s not that bad,” Yula explained. “We get impressions. We don’t know exactly what you’re thinking.”

“I don’t like it,” Scott stated simply.

“It’s not something we can turn on and off,” Yula told him.

“Did you evolve that way or something?”

“No. I don’t think so. It’s an ability we’ve cultivated, that’s all.”

“Doesn’t it bug you, people knowing what you’re thinking?”

“There are ways around it,” Yula explained. “Ways you haven’t learned. That’s why you seem so forthright and honest to us. Your mind is open. That’s why we trust you.”

Scott almost blushed. What he was thinking right then bordered on the pornographic as he stared into Yula’s deep, blue eyes.

“You are being a dirty little schoolboy right now, for instance,” Yula smiled.

Scott did blush.

A scream from the other side of the cabin instantly flung Scott and Yula back to the moment.

He electrocuted himself. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’ll kill us all.

Yula and Scott careened around the cabin. Xavier kicked the dirt repeatedly, wailing high-pitched screeches.

“I should never have tried it before I was sure!” he shouted.

“Maybe they can fix it!” Scott exclaimed. “Send it back–the device itself! Like you did the specimens!”

Xavier stared at Scott. It was a brilliant idea. Xavier’s respect for Scott jumped a mountain.

“I’m the only one who could fix it,” Xavier decided, shaking his head.

“Someone might suggest Abcedif,” Yula tried.

“He’s a fool!” Xavier shouted.

Scott looked at Yula. Professional jealousy? Aren’t these people beyond that?

“Leave me alone,” Xavier said, without anger. “Come back in an hour. I’ll have another list.”

Neither Scott nor Yula wanted to argue. They stepped quickly into the woods. Once again, Tenner was absent. Scott wondered about that. For such a jealous person he left Yula alone a lot.

A trap? Testing her? Testing you?

They walked. The air was cool and clean and full of morning. Tenner or no Tenner, Scott wanted to make love to Yula, on the pine needles, underneath the dark canopy of the forest, naked and hot, their bodies moving as one.

Yula blushed. Is she reading my thoughts?

“No, just some of them,” Yula stated, trying to be reassuring, but confirming Scott’s fear at the same time. “I’m not as developed as Xavier.”

Scott thought of a joke. Yula gave him a sour look and covered her breasts.

“Sorry,” Scott muttered.

“You think always of sex,” Yula observed.

Scott nodded. There was no use hiding it.

“Only with you,” Scott said.

“I don’t think so,” Yula replied.

Scott sat on a log. He patted the place next to him.

“Just sit next to me,” Scott said. “That’s all I want.”

Yula stared. She’s checking your mind, Scott. Scott thought of a faded black and white postcard, from the beginnings of photography–two large women in corsets and petticoats, one spanking the other’s bare bottom.

Yula laughed and sat down. They sat silently, looking into the woods, Scott thinking of nothing but Yula, she listening to his every thought.

“Tell me about the future,” Scott said with sudden urgency.

“I shouldn’t.”

“I have to know.”

“You’re curious.”

“No. It’s not just curiosity,” Scott insisted. “I have to know. I’m doing something now. Many things. My projects. I have to know if they’ll work.”

“I’m not sure I can help.”

“I want to show you something,” Scott said, jumping up.

He took her hand and pulled her urgently all the way back to the cabin.

Show her the first one. Make it simple. Don’t get into the other things. See how she reacts to this one first. Stop thinking, she’ll hear you.

Inside, Scott opened his footlocker and took out a map book of Los Angeles. The pages were crisscrossed with red pencil marks.

“Bicycle paths,” Scott told Yula.

Yula squinted questioningly.

“The government buys bicycles to leave around,” Scott explained. “Anybody can get on a bike anywhere and ride free of charge. Just leave the bike to be used by the next person. No fossil fuels. The health benefits alone would offset the cost.”

Yula looked back at the map skeptically.

“Your people will steal bicycles,” she said.

“They can be painted bright yellow.”

“Your people will repaint them.”

“Sure,” Scott shot back. “Maybe they’re sold in Mexico by the thousands. But the pollution problem’s just as bad there. Worse. As long as they get used.”

“A city will want to buy bicycles for another city?”

“No,” Scott replied. “That’s a problem.”

“And what if you ride to your job, then come out and there isn’t a bicycle?” Yula asked.

“There’d still be buses and subways and cabs of course.”

“But in smaller cities?”

Scott shook his head. She doesn’t like the idea. Yula looked at Scott. She loved him.

“Locks,” Scott suggested. “Every citizen could be issued his own bike lock.”

“Don’t people have bicycles already?” Yula asked.

“Sure, but they just sit and rust. That’s why getting them to ride them’s so important.” Once again, Scott tapped the map book.

“It all comes back to human behavior,” Yula said, a sadness in her voice.

“No, it’s a technical problem,” Scott told her, shaking his head. “I’m used to technical problems. You push one button down and five others pop up. Civilization isn’t so complicated and intertwined that nothing can be done. After all, the internal combustion engine has been around for less than a century.”

Yula grinned and touched Scott on the cheek. He blushed.

“You’re beautiful,” Yula told him.

“Oh, come on.”

“You are.”

“Just practical,” Scott told her softly. “It’s a simple method. Identify the problem, think of a solution.”

Yula smiled. She doesn’t believe me.

“Hey, I know it sounds nutso,” Scott told her. “But it only takes one simple idea put into effect to create a domino effect. Others’ll take up the cause. Anyone who can think can be. Anyone who is can do.”

Yula again looked skeptical.

“All I’m saying is that the enemy is listlessness and despair,” Scott said. “Hopelessness has to be fought. Look, let me show you.” Scott pointed to the map-book.

“What’s the major complaint about riding a bike?” Scott asked.

“Automobiles?”

“Right. So I made every fourth street a bicycle street. These are cross-streets, where cars would cross the bike streets. New traffic signals’ll have to be installed. There’ll have to be a cost analysis and an environmental impact study. It won’t be easy.”

“Maybe you should leave free bicycles out of it for now,” Yula suggested. Maybe she’s right. “And maybe you should start with three days a week. Expand the program after it becomes acceptable,” Yula said. She’s smart. Listen to her. “People will see that bicycles are cleaner and quieter,” Yula told him.

Scott considered. He had worked a long time on the maps, marking streets, imagining them as bicycle-only thoroughfares. At times he had felt elated, thinking about the communities that would thrive around the paths, unencumbered by the dreadful internal combustion engine. Other times he had despaired. He had drawn lines through neighborhoods he’d never seen. Rough neighborhoods–Black, Hispanic, Korean, Vietnamese. Would they abandon their cars? Would people without hope, used to drugs and crime and violence–would they ride bikes to their jobs, if they had them, in order to clean the air? Did they consider it their air, their problem? Scott didn’t know.

And the neighborhoods Scott had driven through, every day some of them for twenty years, he couldn’t remember. He didn’t know where the traffic lights were, where the commercial areas were. He hadn’t been paying attention, that’s all. There was too much to know. He felt he had to know everything. Every possible objection.

“I have to ask you,” Scott told Yula.

“I know,” Yula said.

“Am I wasting my time here?”

It was Yula’s turn to consider. Scott seemed so young and innocent. How could she tell him the despair she’d grown up with? How could she describe the future without crushing him? But Scott’s enthusiasm was infectious. She wouldn’t test it.

“The future isn’t inevitable,” Yula said slowly. “We don’t think so, otherwise we wouldn’t be here, trying to change our own future.” That makes sense. Hadn’t thought of that. “We have no great experience with time travel,” Yula went on. “But we believe at any point of time, history can be changed. Even my own existence is not inevitable.”

“So I should go on with this?” Scott asked.

“Absolutely,” Yula said.

“But…?” Scott questioned, noting the look in Yula’s eyes.

“I don’t want you to be disappointed.”

“Just tell me the truth,” Scott urged.

“I don’t know the truth exactly,” she explained. “I will only tell you…”

She trailed off. It was Scott’s turn to read her mind.

“That it’s hopeless,” Scott said.

“No. But some things you try to do…it may be too late. The only thing we know in the future that you’re not convinced of now, is how fragile the Earth is.”

Scott considered. It was the same thing Xavier had said. It would be like Yula to try and spare his feelings. Xavier wouldn’t bother. Neither would Tenner, for that matter.

“So what do you have in the future?” Scott asked.

“I shouldn’t tell you,” Yula said.

But she’s going to, though it hurts her.

“People don’t go outside very much,” Yula began. “It’s too dangerous.”

“Why’s that?”

“The sun, the atmosphere. And we have crime,” Yula admitted. “Most people work at home. Or live at work. There are very few private cars. But there are hundreds of delivery services, some of them state-owned. We are more safety-conscious than you. The past has taught us to be more careful. No, not careful. More considered. Less impulsive.”

Yula shook her head. She didn’t want to say more. Scott decided not to press. The future disturbs her. She wants to stay. With you.

“No one has tried this before?” Yula asked, pointing at the bicycle maps.

“Yes,” Scott admitted. “In Europe. Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Paris and Rome. On a trial basis.”

“And how does it work there?” Yula asked.

“Fine, I think,” Scott told her.

“Then why did you show me this?” Yula asked.

She’s on to you. She knows this was a red herring. She knows you have other things in mind.

Yula waited. Scott took a deep breath. He looked into her eyes and told her he was sorry.

“I have other ideas,” Scott admitted.

“I know.”

“I have a design for an electric/solar car,” Scott began.

“And?”

“Homes built out of old cars and used tires,” Scott went on. “Evaporative coolers for cars instead of air-conditioners. I have a plan to expand wildland areas by connecting our National Park system.”

“Why didn’t you show me those?” Yula asked.

Scott shrugged. She knows.

“You didn’t trust me,” Yula said out loud.

“No, it’s not that.”

“You wanted to test me,” Yula said, a tear in her voice.

“No. I wasn’t sure. I thought you’d think I was a fool. I…I didn’t want to lose you,” Scott said, justifying himself, but knowing he was guilty.

“Cut it out,” Yula warned.

“You know the future,” Scott shot back. “You have me at a disadvantage. I’m swimming in the dark here!”

Yula stared at Scott. She wondered if the difference between them was irreconcilable.

“No,” Scott protested, reading her mind. “We…” Scott reached for her.

“I have another list,” Xavier interrupted, coming to the door of the cabin. He handed it to Scott. Scott stared at it without reading it.

On the way to town, Scott glanced at Xavier’s list.

“Damn!” Scott shouted. There was no safe place to turn around, so Scott was forced to drive all the way into Hafton before he could make a U-turn.

“What is this?” Scott demanded when he’d reached the cabin again.

“Computers,” Xavier replied calmly. “I need computers.”

“Three of them?”

“Yes. I believe so. These are kind you have now, right?” Xavier asked.

Scott looked at the list. Three personal computers with Influx 589 microchips installed, it said. Expensive.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Scott said. Tenner came in from the woods and stood next to Yula. They both stared at Scott.

“How am I supposed to pay for this?” Scott demanded.

“You don’t have the money?” Xavier asked, worried.

“Don’t you?”

Xavier shook his head.

“We don’t have paper money. We have a credit system that hasn’t been invented yet.”

Scott stared at Xavier. Just how far do you trust these people? With your life savings? Yeah–I guess so. Scott swung on his heel and headed back for town.

Steadman spotted Scott’s Jeep in front of the electronics store. Steadman pulled the patrol car over, went to the window and looked in. The clerk, Freddy Weinstock, loaded up boxes of stuff on the counter. Steadman went back to the patrol car and leaned against it. He would wait.

“Hey there!” Steadman called when Scott emerged from the store, his arms piled high with boxes.

“Oh, hi,” Scott replied, continuing to the Jeep.

“Where’re the feds?”

“Oh, they’re around.”

“Tapping my phone, are they?”

“You don’t have a phone,” Steadman came back.

“You’re right. Must be rough on them.”

“You’re not taking my advice then, are you?” Steadman asked.

Scott remembered the last conversation he’d had with Steadman when the lawman had walked Scott back to his Jeep after the FBI agents were through.

“No, I’m going to stick it out a little longer,” Scott told him.

Steadman helped load the boxes in the back of the Jeep.

There was one complete personal computer setup and three extra motherboards. Even Steadman, not a computer whiz, could see it was a great deal of equipment.

“Lot of stuff here,” Steadman commented.

“Yeah.”

Steadman waited for more. Let them explain, Steadman had learned long ago. Keep the pauses long and empty. Everyone talks to fill the void. And when they do, they give you information, a little at a time maybe, but always helpful. The FBI boys should learn that.

He’s waiting for me, Scott realized. To hang myself. Sorry, pal.

“Got a couple of projects going,” Scott said.

“With the future people?” Steadman asked.

“On my own.”

“Are they still up there?” Steadman asked.

“Why don’t you ask your buddies?” Scott shot back, then realized Beck and Johannsen were probably at the top of the hill, telescopes trained on Scott’s cabin.

“What exactly did you say you did before you came here?” Steadman asked.

“Outside agitator–didn’t they tell you? Ripping down the dear ol’ U.S. of A.”

“Come on–I’m not them,” Steadman told Scott.

No, he isn’t. You’ve hurt him. You’re being unfair. You went to the authorities, after all.

“But you called them,” Scott shot back.

“We all make mistakes,” Steadman said in sincere apology.

“Electrical engineer,” Scott said.

“Pardon me?”

“I was an electrical engineer before I came here,” Scott said. Steadman nodded.

“Do any defense work? Classified stuff?”

Scott realized Steadman had something there. That’s what all this is about! You pop up on the computer. You meet with strange people, you file a police report. They think you’re a spy! Scott started to laugh.

Scott was still in a glib mood when he arrived back at the cabin. He let Xavier, Tenner and Yula carry up the computers while he stood behind the cabin, held his hand against the sun and searched the top of the ridge. Nothing. Scott went into the cabin and returned with a pair of binoculars.

A glint of metal. Scott focused. Two men in the bushes, one telescope between them. Scott grinned and waved. One of the men moved behind the telescope.

Scott laughed and turned. His jeans dropped to the ground, his undershorts fell to his knees. Scott bent over and gave the telescope the moon.

Scott was in that position when Yula, Tenner and Xavier, eyes and faces filled with shock, came up the hill.

copyright 2007 Brenda H all rights reserved

[tags]Brenda H, fiction, sci-fi, thriller, science-fiction, ecology, environment[/tags]