part0029

The mood was festive, the attendees numbered in the hundreds, and the musically synced light show that played out on the ceiling was extraordinary.

The “small party” that Brother Christopher had described required no less than the ballroom at a neighboring convention center. A moving sidewalk suspended over the city streets provided direct access from the Golden Spire.

Except for the glass of iced soda that he wished were bourbon, Daniel was surprised at how entertaining the grand event had turned out to be. A few of the partygoers wanted his autograph, usually scrawled across one body part or another. But for most of them, an autograph was hopelessly outdated. They wanted a capture .

The technique involved flipping an olinwun into the air, posing, twisting or jumping while the device collected 3-D images, surrounding sounds and even smells, and then catching the coin before it hit the ground. It was a form of entertainment, modeling and photography, all rolled into one.

Three elegantly dressed, highly energetic young women who couldn’t be out of their teens had just finished a capture with Daniel at their center.

“Oh my God, it turned out great!” said one girl, pointing to the cone of light projecting upward from her olinwun. Within the cone was a fully three-dimensional video of the three girls posing like fashion models, laughing, jumping and screaming as they clung to Daniel’s arms and shoulders. Daniel’s part in the performance consisted of a stealthy smile with arms folded across his chest. His best Napoleon Solo impersonation.

The video clip could be rotated to any angle and even zoomed out to life-sized human figures when the olinwun was placed on the floor. On their encouragement, Daniel stepped through the elaborate projection, encountering the unmistakable scent of the girls’ perfume as he did.

“A slice of reality, captured forever,” he said. “I like it. What do you do with these captures?”

One girl shrugged. “Mmm, post them, exchange them. The guys usually upload them into games.”

“Yeah, lots of games use them,” her friend explained. “If you do a real-time interactive capture, you become part of the game.”

The girls waved goodbye as another group approached, led by Brother Christopher, who had been popping in and out as Daniel’s protective chaperone, though he claimed his role was no more than that of a helpful host. Daniel was unconvinced. At least Brother Benjamin had been upfront about hiding information. Christopher was all smiles. The kind designed to obscure.

The men in the group introduced their wives, who were the first older women Daniel had met since arriving in this very skewed future. They all seemed pleased to meet him, with several questions that boiled down to how the Stone Age man liked the modern world. Questions he answered as gracefully as he could.

Daniel recognized one of the men from Security, Brother Samuel, who had snipped the hair sample.

“Brother Samuel, it finally occurred to me the true purpose of that hair-clipping diversion,” Daniel said to him.

Brother Samuel seemed unsure what to say next, stuttering without saying anything. It didn’t appear to be an act.

Samuel still had the same questioning look. He clearly didn’t know. Possibly due to their bureaucratic layers. One level didn’t seem to know what the next-higher level was doing. But another answer might be time itself. Daniel had to keep reminding himself of the nonlinearity of events. Someone would prepare the coin that Father would give to Becton, but that might not have happened yet. Becton wouldn’t even arrive until the following week.

“Sorry, my mistake,” Daniel said. No reason to press the poor man any further. He simply wasn’t the right target.

One of the women reached out. “Dr. Rice, now that you’ve seen how much more advanced things are now than they were years ago…” She hesitated, looking slightly embarrassed to ask her question. “Well… I just wondered if today might be the turning point for you personally.”

“Yes, for your rejection of the old ways. You know… the reckless science of the past, before there was divine guidance.”

“Yes, that’s the mission.” He didn’t realize everyone else knew this fact, but it might have been part of the grade-school education that had made his name so well known.

“It just breaks our hearts to think that if the Committee had been around sooner to manage science, none of those people would have died.”

No one had yet mentioned this role of the Committee. Father certainly hadn’t. “Sorry, I don’t really see science as something to be managed. It’s a methodology for discovering what’s real. But I hear your point. The nuclear weapons of the past may have been handled recklessly. I wish we’d found a way to eliminate them before they were used. But I see that as a political issue, not a scientific issue.”

Her husband interjected, his Georgia drawl manifest. “She just means that in the past science was kind of every-man-for-himself, whereas today, things are much better controlled.”

Another man added, “You’re probably not aware of all the good things the Committee does. Government ministries, the guidance of our children through spiritual education, management of the historical archive and of contemporary journalism. Without their important work, our country would have been lost to the secularists a long time ago.”

There seemed to be a slight separation of church and state issue among these people. The more he heard, the less he liked about the structure of this society. Still, he was the intruder, and his mission wasn’t to correct their view of science, or guide their politics.

Impossible to ignore, though, once I’m home. There’s no memory reset button on the belt.

Back in 2023, he still enjoyed a public platform, and sometimes when he spoke about the common misconceptions of science, people even listened.

“Changing the subject slightly, I’ll be leaving in the morning, going back to the bad old days of reckless science. Any stock market tips you can give me?” Daniel said with a smile.

“No, I’d go with Pink Toe,” his wife said. “Every woman buys their products.” She waved a hand at Daniel. “You’ll make a fortune.”

Daniel held up both hands and laughed. “No, really, I was joking. I’m sure there’s some cosmic prohibition against inside information from the future. ”

As they laughed, Daniel looked beyond the group. An eye-catching figure of loveliness stood alone. Sister Jacquelyn, dressed to kill, her eyes locked on to Daniel like lasers.

His gape must have been obvious. One of the men in the group turned around to see what had caught his attention. “Time for us to go, ladies,” the man said and ushered the group away. Even Brother Christopher left to get a refill of punch.

Never taking her eyes off Daniel, Sister Jacquelyn sauntered over. Her floor-length gown outlined the curves of her body and shimmered in iridescent colors. A single yellow flower decorated the dress at her collarbone.

She cozied up far too close for the average cocktail party conversation, brushed back a lock of hair from her forehead and unleashed large green eyes. Looking up at Daniel and then shyly to the floor, she purred, “Could I, uh… get an autograph?”

Daniel’s heart beat a bit faster. “Why it’s Sister Jacquelyn, from Committee Security.” Formality might adjust the dynamic toward the mundane. “You look exquisite.” Or, maybe not.

A splash of red at each cheekbone matched the highlights in her hair and accentuated her natural beauty without hiding it. Her dress, though modest, allowed a scant peek of the curve of her breasts.

Her eyes still locked on his, she pointed down with one finger. “I see your pen is ready.”

Daniel nearly choked. “Uh… yeah, got it right here. What would you like me to sign?”

She pulled at the edge of her sleeveless dress, exposing one shoulder. “How about here?”

He’d already done it a few times. The shoulder seemed to be the preferred spot, except for one young man who had rolled up his shirtsleeve .

Daniel uncapped the pen and hovered its tip over her shoulder. “You sure you want that beautiful skin marked up?”

A sultry smile appeared on her face, widening. “Then… I want everything you’ve got.”

Daniel signed his name, put away his pen and did his best to clear the smirk from his face. He looked into her eyes.

“Shall we drop the game? Jacquelyn, you are one astonishing woman, and in any other circumstance, I’d follow you around like a puppy dog. But this day is different. For one, I’m not going to be here very long.”

Her voice morphed from sultry to shy. “I don’t mind. There’s a lot we can do with one night.” She ran a finger under the lapel of his jacket. “My apartment’s really close.”

“Yeah… about that.” Daniel took a deep breath. “There’s someone else. Back in my time. She’s kind of special.”

Jacquelyn looked down, her earnest voice returning. “She’s very lucky.” Shifting her dress exposed a bit more cleavage. “But she doesn’t have to be the only one.”

An image appeared in his mind of Nala curled up against his chest, napping in a hammock stretched between two palms. It brought back feelings of a rare kind of pleasure. A pleasure comfortable and warm, gentle and soft. Not how he’d normally describe their relationship, but jumping to a future where you were dead was a powerful reminder that life wasn’t endless.

Daniel shook his head, surprised he was turning down such a beautiful woman. “I’m sorry. How about a dance instead? ”

Jacquelyn reached around his neck and pulled him closer, whispering into his ear. “We need to talk. There’s more going on than you know. I’ll tell you everything, but only once we’re in bed together. You don’t have to fuck me if you don’t want to, but please… come with me.”

In a varied and often stimulating life as a bachelor, Daniel had never had such a direct offer. Not from a sultry beauty like Jacquelyn. Not from anyone. It forced him to stop and think, not about taking her up on the offer, but why on Earth she’d made it. It wasn’t just sexual enticement; this offer came with information.

“What’s going on?” Daniel asked as plainly as he could. If she had information, he was listening, and there was no one else around.

Her words became hurried. “Just say yes. Take my hand and we’ll walk out of here together. Really, it’ll be okay.” She touched the yellow flower on her dress. “No one will stop us. They might even encourage us.”

The earnest Jacquelyn was even more compelling than the sensuous version. Daniel was less than a millisecond away from taking her hand. But he hesitated. Spontaneous sex wasn’t remotely within Daniel’s mission guidelines, even if it did come with pillow talk.

“I… I can’t.” She looked in both directions, her expression changing rapidly to one of fear. Daniel followed her gaze, at first noticing nothing but lots of people scattered across the ballroom, enjoying the party. But against one wall, a solo man stared into a tablet in his hands. He seemed out of place.

“I’m sorry, I have to go. It was nice to see you again.” She turned and hurried away, disappearing into the crowd. Daniel followed for a minute, but when the crowd parted, she was nowhere to be seen.

He scanned along the walls. The man standing alone had disappeared too. This limited investigation had just skyrocketed to high alert, though he didn’t have much to go on. A direct solicitation of sex along with promised information.

There’s more going on than you know , she’d said. No doubt, but uncovering truth was highly dependent on who you talked to. He already regretted not taking Jacquelyn’s hand as she’d asked, but it had all happened so quickly. Spontaneity wasn’t one of Daniel’s strengths.

He could continue to search the room for her or locate someone else and be blunt in his questions. Brother Christopher was the first choice, but direct confrontation had its limits as a method of interrogation. Like it or not, this wasn’t going to be a get-in-get-out mission. To uncover whatever Jacquelyn was offering would require subtlety.

He stood alone, thinking about next steps. Nearby, a large fountain, the centerpiece of the party, sprayed streams of dark red punch into several large bowls with dipping ladles in each. Nothing alcoholic at this party.

His solitude didn’t last more than a minute. A thin older woman with gray-and-black-striped hair smiled as she caught his eye.

Uninterested in any more captures or stock tips, Daniel turned toward the fountain of punch and drew a ladle into a cup. She didn’t take the hint, walking up very close. Too close.

She looked Hispanic, with darker skin than most. Though her face was weathered and lined, it retained the intrinsic beauty of a youth concluded long ago .

“Not my kind of party,” she said. The accent was strong, but she could have been from anywhere. Caribbean. Possibly South America. “My guess, Daniel, is that this party is not where you wish to be right now either.”

Cutting through the small talk had always caught Daniel’s attention. No one else in the room had called him Daniel, not even Sister Jacquelyn who was ready to jump into bed with him.

She didn’t answer, pouring herself a cup of punch from the fountain. “You should have followed Jacquelyn.”

Now she really had his attention. Forget the subtlety. “That was a private conversation. Who are you?”

“Daniel, I will give you a second chance. This time, please make the right choice. It’s not safe here for either of us.”

She set her cup down and wrapped her arms around him, pulling in close. “Do not move,” she whispered. Her hand slid into his pants pocket, fumbling around like she was reaching for something.

Two direct women within minutes of each other was hard to manage. “Wait… wait… what are you doing?”

She pulled him even closer. “It’s a lie, Daniel. Everything they told you. All lies.” She withdrew her hand, now holding his olinwun. Before he could react, she reached over the fountain and dropped the coin into a punch bowl.

Daniel lunged for the device, which quickly sank to the bottom of the bowl. “What the hell are you doing?”

She jerked his arm back with more strength than he expected from a woman of her age. “You must come with me,” she demanded. “This is your only chance. ”

“That coin contains vital information.” He pushed against her hand, but she remained firm.

Her brow knit into an expression of determination. “The coin is worthless. There’s no time to explain, they will spot me any minute. We go right now, or we will both be dead within the hour.”