THOUGH SAVANNAH HAD PULLED down the computer screen, Unquill still saw the image of himself-the image of Hinjo Junta-before him. He found himself staring at the place where the computer screen had been, thinking of everything Hensen Var had said.
Hensen Var had once been a man named Tinbar Ross. Tinbar had been the head of the Temporal Constabulary, where Unquill had worked. A transformation had occurred, changing Tinbar into Hensen. According to Hensen, a similar change would happen to Unquill, turning him into Hinjo.
That had been before future history had changed. According to future history, the black brigade ship Yesterday should have brought Unquill, Savannah and Kenneth to the Council of Thirds. As head of the constabulary, Hensen had seen it all recorded by a historian visiting the future.
But that visit had not happened as Hensen had described. If that could change, then Unquill's transformation into Hinjo Junta might never happen. Unquill had thought long on the matter, considering each possibility that had presented itself before him.
As far as he knew, the transformation would occur all on its own. He did not know what event might trigger it or whether an external stimulus was needed at all. He did not know what could be changed or avoided so that he would remain himself because of this. That much he was sure of: if he changed into Hinjo, he would be a different person. The person he had known named Tinbar Ross was not the talkative, animated man that Hensen had been.
He didn't much like that idea. He wanted to avoid the transformation at all costs. As far as he was concerned, becoming a different person with all the memories of his previous life would be too... weird.
In researching the problem Hinjo Junta created-or was supposed to create in the future-Unquill had learned that a worldwide rebellion had occurred. The rebellion consisted of non-compliance on the part of trillions of people. People who had normally followed the decree of their body's natural processes providing them with all the nutrients they needed had instead chosen to eat food. In doing so, they chose a short life during which they could not reproduce.
The majority of the world's population could not produce offspring. A negative population growth had been in place for centuries, offset by babies being conceived in vitro. During the rebellion of non-compliance, even the specialists who helped bring new lives into the world had died. Less than 100,000 people remained after all was said and done.
Hinjo Junta was not among them, having died from the very behavior he himself had advocated.
In short, Hinjo led the entire world into suicide and beginning in the 77th century, humanity was no more. No one was left alive on the planet save for the journeymen and historians who went forward to verify the prevailing conditions. Unquill had stayed up through the flight when a single thought occupied his mind-even assuming that the future still played out the way he had been shown it would, with the Zeta Disruption in the form of Kenneth and Savannah, he could ask the constabulary to send people into the future where they could re-populate the planet.
He had tried to work out all the implications of such a scheme. If people were sent forward into the future, would not future historians report this event?
Then, would Unquill in the past even be inspired by an idea which had not yet been tried?
This part of the Zeta Disruption was a part he did not understand. In a world where the future affected the past as much as the past affected the future, the future was a tricky thing to change.
But he had to change the future if he wanted to remain himself.
He felt sure that Hinjo arrived into the world because the world had reached the point where a worldwide suicide movement had become preferable to living long lives during which, if Unquill was honest with himself, not much happened at all.
People had become bored. He himself had become bored on more than one occasion. He had made it through his bouts of boredom by telling himself that if he waited long enough, something good would happen to him.
The "something good" had been his promotion to journeyman. After many years of studying temporal theory together with his survival training, the constabulary decided he had been ready to travel through time.
At first, the travel had been exciting. Even though Unquill was not allowed to stay for more than a day each time, he had reveled in the discovery of new situations.
He had grown his hair out, as was the custom for people who traveled into the planet's past. Though he was short by the standards of his time at only eight feet tall, he had stood high above everyone else. Whenever he interacted with people, no one had been able to ignore him. This had been the opposite of what he normally experienced in his daily life.
Before long, though, even this routine of being the center of attention had become tiresome to Unquill. Ennui had struck him when he least expected it: in the past, surrounded by a group of people gaping at his brute strength when he lifted a horse into the air. He had let the horse down gently, and then went back to report that the grassland area of the Mongolian barbarians was safe, though as usual, a ten-foot tall historian took care not to be discovered.
Unquill could only imagine how it might be for the people who did not have the benefit of time travel to break the routine in their daily lives. If he himself had grown tired of his job, how might it be for someone stuck doing repetitive labor for hundreds of years?
A person might come to yearn for death in the face of such monotony, Unquill thought.
Kenneth interrupted Unquill's train of thought when he passed through a silver curtain, entering the area assigned exclusively for the three travelers. Kenneth said, "The bathrooms here are crazy. The door stayed locked until I turned off the water completely."
Unquill, who had never used a bathroom on board an airship, said, "I've heard of that happening. It's to conserve resources. This must be an old ship."
Kenneth entered the row of seats in front of Unquill. He had to stand on a seat to look over its head rest. He said, "This is an old ship?"
Unquill, glad for something else to talk about, relaxed next to Savannah. He said, "The newer models have an automatic system that scans your hands and dispenses a certain amount of water. This one has a lever, right?"
Kenneth thumped his fist on the back of the chair. "Yeah, it does. Crazy thing locked me in there."
A male voice came over the intercom. "Attention passengers. This is your Blue speaking. We will be landing in five minutes. I ask at this time that each passenger secure themselves in their seats. I repeat..."
SEEN FROM ABOVE, the city of Jakarta resembled New York City more than Savannah had thought it would. She had been on a trip to New York City once, a weekend field trip with her church youth group. New York had been a city of tall buildings, colorful flashing lights and yellow taxis. As the Iria made its descent into Jakarta's airport, she saw much of the same thing-tall buildings, colorful flashing lights and large green taxis.
The Jakarta International Airport sprawled out a great distance in every direction. Ships of the same kind she had seen sitting above the sea beside Alexandria laid at rest in the airport. The Iria gradually descended straight down and decelerated. Smaller vehicles with orange flashing lights dashed this way and that across the airport.
The ship landed sooner than Savannah expected. The man who called himself Blue instructed each passenger to disembark while the ship recharged.
Savannah found herself in a line of tall people waiting to get off the ship. At her eye level, she looked at someone's slender legs.
She descended a set of metal stairs that were too big for her. She had to jump down each stair, afraid that if she took the stairs normally, she would fall down.
After jumping off the final step, she followed the line of people into the airport. She was glad to see that it was smaller than the transfer station where she had rode upon Unquill's back. Black conveyor belts hummed along beyond the stations for retrieving luggage. People stood upon them then moved away to their various destinations.
Savannah waited until Unquill and Kenneth caught up to her. She felt silly standing about in the black robes Muhammed had given her. No one else wore the attire she had seen everywhere in Alexandria save for the few people who came from there. Many people wore loose shirts and denim shorts instead. Some people even had sunglasses on. She wished that she had told Muhammed she didn't want the clothing he provided, even if doing so had been rude.
Kenneth approached, taking off his white robes. His red shirt with the white circle and yellow lightning bolt over it showed. Unquill took advantage of a chance to change his attire in Alexandria as well. Where he normally had worn his toga with a badge depicting an attached book, he strolled into the airport looking like a wealthy man from the Middle East. His white and blue headdress, too big for his head, fell down so far that it came down to his eyebrows. His long black hair fell down about his shoulders and over part of his chest.
For the first time, Savannah saw that he had small feet. She had not noticed it when he had worn normal shoes inside the constabulary but now that he walked forward with sandals on, he walked on feet so small that Savannah wondered how they managed to support the rest of his body.
He did not notice her at first. He was staring off into the distance instead. Savannah hid a smile behind her hand.
Savannah asked Unquill, "Where do we go first?"
Unquill looked down and noticed her for the first time. "If Muhammed didn't make arrangements for us here, we'll have to make our own," he said. "Let's stop by the information desk first. As I recall, airports like this one have a localized computer network in case of a central computer failure. Let's hope they have information for us."
Kenneth frowned. He said, "You mean like, a warrant issued for your arrest as an enemy of humanity, that sort of information?"
Unquill sighed. "Yes, I suppose."
Right at that moment, Savannah wanted to give him a hug. She would have done so under other circumstances if she did not feel the shadow of her father's belt hanging over her.