It's Later Than You Think, Part Seven

Our heroine, Sheila, finds herself transported into a future where little is known about who caused her to materialize and what she might be able to contribute to the future of humankind.  (See Part One, here, to catch up.)

Peg served lunch.  We ate at the very vid table where Buck was still discussing the conditions for my arrival at the Farms city with Ruth (who was in H-Pons Three) and the Far-7 delegates. We passed the salad bowl and bread platter over the faces of the delegates, while Buck at times had to move a plate out of the way to reply to a speaker (there were too many of them to comfortably fit on his own vid).

"Why all the fuss?" I wondered aloud.

"We haven't shown anyone the pictures, and no one else knows that we're on to them," Jack said, blotting out one of the speakers with his glass.

"On to them?"

"About why it was you. We think there is high-level input from abroad about this."

"From Asia, you mean?"

"Yes."

"If you can time-travel, why not just go back and find out what caused the Big Blank, so you can avoid it?"

"That's why you're here." Jack smiled at me, aware of what I was going to say next.

"But I don't know anything that will help you. And how come Buck had you kidnap me off the train? And who are you, exactly?" I had been so taken with the normality and even familiarity of these three people that these questions had been pushed to the back of my mind so far.

"Buck is a key player in the Council in Far-7."

"Ok, and you?"

"I'm just a -- an independent contractor, I guess."

"Who just happens to know more about me than both the Bubbles and the Farms put together?"

"Well, when you put it that way, yes."

"Not good enough, Jack." It wasn't. I was getting annoyed, too. What we had apparently done to the world was just as deadly as the effects of global warming or bubonic plague. We had wiped all memory of our civilization off the face of the planet, and I wanted to know why and how it had happened.

He hesitated. "I'm trying to be a scientist," he said, finally, looking me straight in the eye.

"Trying?"

"I work with a consortium of specialists from all over Americar and Scandinaviam. We think we know what happened to cause the first Big Blank, but we are trying to piece together what happened during the next 85 years, and why another 'Big Blank' incident happened during that time."

"Two Blanks?"

"Yes. From what we can put together, there are electromagnetic fields of different densities over various parts of the Earth's surface. Perhaps you know about this?"

"Well, yeah, sorta -- are you saying that some kind of electromagnetic pulse is responsible?"

"Not just one. There would have to have been fifteen or twenty, high altitude detonations of the sort you described earlier as 'nuclear' -- like in the energy cores that had to be buried -- at strategic points around the globe, to cause such widespread damage to sophisticated electrical circuits and computer cards -- the small cards that controlled so much of your lives, actually."

"Chips, you mean computer chips?"

He considered a moment. "Good name," he finally replied. "Your chips were down."

Buck finished talking to Ruth and the Far-7 contingent, and leaned back in his chair.

"They have given us until tomorrow. I told 'em that you were in good hands."

Peg helped him fill his plate for a lunch the rest of us had finished, and he started to eat.

"So," he continued cheerfully, "we have until tomorrow to find out exactly why you're here."

There were some parts of Buck's original account, and now Jack;'s explanations, that I wasn't buying.

"I'm not buying it all," I mused, stirring a cup of what smelled like excellent coffee. Peg grinned at her father, a "told ya so" expression on her face, and Buck laughed. We all turned to Jack, who looked down, as if choosing his words carefully.

"What can we help you with?" he finally said, and his face was impassive.

"First, you're not a rancher. Unless you are raising dogs; Oh! -- this isn't a dog ranch is it? Because there aren't any cattle anywhere near here, and if you're raising dogs you've only got three so far."

"Not a rancher, no. But this is my property. And if you remember, I didn't actually say I was a rancher to begin with. . . ." He was grinning again, and my relief came from an instinct that was not merely based on my attraction to him. Self-preservation was beginning to be a factor.

"Second, I had assumed that the folks in Far-7 must have brought me through from my time, because it sure wasn't the people in H-Pons Three. But the very fact that Buck can negotiate with Far-7 about when I do or do not arrive in the city makes it pretty clear that they don't hold all the cards -- they didn't bring me through either. I think you know who did, but you just don't know what it is that made me the lucky little time traveler. All this leads me to conclude that you are more than just a scientist, more than just an independent contractor. And I would sure as hell like to know why I'm here and how to get home." Everyone was silent, now, and Jack was the only one who met my eyes.

"Third, the only other players you have mentioned on a global level who seem to be operating their own little calendar-paradigm are Asia, which I can only assume you mean includes Japan AND China AND North Korea, as well as the other nearby countries, and that is one hell of an interesting combination, at least from my perspective in 2010. If the area you are referring to as Asia does comprise these nations, then I can only conclude that North Korea didn't blow us all off the face of the earth, and that China was able to take over North Korea with superior military power? That leaves Japan to supply the hardware specs for stuff like -- oh, I dunno, say maybe TIME TRAVEL?"

The fact that no one had denied anything I'd said so far was really all the answer I needed. But I wasn't finished.

"And this missing 85 years--very convenient--time enough to dispose of all paper everywhere in the world? I doubt it, human nature being what it is. Time enough to completely dismantle nuclear capabilities in the West? Probably. The nuclear reactors were buried, you said. And nuclear warheads, too? Were the entire military infrastructures of America and Europe completely dismantled? That would imply Asia is in control of a lot more than you're talking about. Because I have seen no military presence so far at all. Unless you represent the military, Jack. Do you?" I was faltering, now, but he held his gaze steady.

"And while I'm in full rant-mode, what is the deal with this time-travel nonsense? If people can go back and forward in time, why is the world still reeling from the technological crash of your Big Blanks -- no matter how many there were?" I had run out of steam. All eyes, still, were on Jack. He watched me thoughtfully as I spoke, and I wished I knew what was going through his mind.