TWENTY-THREE

 

 

October 18th, 2018

Boise, Idaho

 

AFTER THE HOT shower and some chicken soup that tasted wonderful, she finally got around to asking a few questions. She and Wade had both had to change clothes, but luckily Bonnie and Dawn had predicted the outcome and got them some exercise clothes to change into that would get them back to their condos just fine.

While they were in the showers, Director Parks had gone back to work and Madison had headed to his office to do some research, leaving just Bonnie and Duster and Dawn to explain things.

Wade sat beside Sophie at the big kitchen counter in the cavern. Duster, Bonnie, and Dawn all leaned against the back counter in front of Sophie and Wade like three bartenders waiting to serve two customers.

All three had bottles of water in their hands and all three gave off an air of complete control. Nothing seemed to worry these three much. And Sophie was starting to understand why.

“So tell me how this traveling into the past of another timeline works, exactly,” Sophie said, finishing up the last of her soup. The chill wasn’t completely gone, but she felt a lot better and actually refreshed. That had been extreme cold. Not at all something Sophie was used to without preparing ahead of time.

And going from a warm fall day to the dead of winter in a few minutes was not preparation in her mind.

Duster nodded as Bonnie pointed to him to start.

Duster had taken off his oilcloth duster and cowboy hat and had tossed both over one of the stools down the counter. He didn’t look at all fazed by the few minutes he had been in the cold.

“We spent just over twenty minutes in that timeline,” Duster said. “We have recorded on the ledger under the crystal who went back and to what date and the duration of the stay in the past.”

“So others can use that same timeline?” Wade asked.

“Exactly,” Duster said. “And if we had stayed long enough to start to alter the timeline, new crystals would have formed in the original nexus caverns.”

“Wondering how the unlimited timelines didn’t instantly fill those tunnel rooms here,” Wade said.

“We would not have been able to do that if new timelines didn’t just form in the nexus instead of here,” Bonnie said, nodding.

“So we were there for just over twenty minutes,” Sophie said. “But I remember you asked Director Parks to just stay for the two minutes we would be gone.”

“The time elapsed here is just two minutes and fifteen seconds,” Bonnie said. “No matter how long you stay in the past of another timeline.”

Sophie sort of stared at Bonnie with that answer. Her mind just wouldn’t wrap itself around what she had just heard.

“So we could have spent ten years in that timeline and only two minutes and fifteen seconds would have happened here?” Wade asked.

All three nodded.

Silence.

Sophie still couldn’t grasp what that meant entirely.

“You can live full lives in other timelines,” Dawn said, “and even die in other timelines and only just over two minutes will pass here.”

Now Sophie really had a problem. “Die? What happens when you die in another timeline?”

“In that timeline, you actually die,” Duster said. “But when the wire is pulled from the machine or the crystal here, you end up back in your original timeline, alive and with just over two minutes and fifteen seconds older.”

“Madison and I have raised families at the Monumental Lodge now in sixty-three different timelines,” Dawn said. “We always stay until our kids have grandkids every time before we come back.”

“And those kids and grandkids still existed when you left?” Wade asked.

“Yes,” Dawn nodded. “They all think we are lost at sea or some other way that our bodies will never be recovered.”

“You actually live in the other timeline,” Duster said. “So anything you do creates still more timelines.”

“Infinite number of timelines,” Sophie said, more to herself.

“Exactly,” Bonnie said. “But all the timelines we can reach in our area of the nexus are so close to this timeline as to be indistinguishable.”

“So you three have all actually lived for a very long time, even though you don’t look much over thirty now,” Sophie said.

“A very long time,” Dawn nodded. “Thousands and thousands of years, actually.”

Silence once again.

Sophie was trying to understand what it would be like to live for entire lifetimes and then get a chance to simply restart. How was that possible?

“So the historical research you do is accurate?” Wade asked Dawn.

Sophie could feel a slight bit of excitement returning as Wade brought back in their research.

“It is,” Dawn said. “I lived many lifetimes in Roosevelt and again many lifetimes in the lodge we build up the valley from Roosevelt.”

“So why did you want us to research Grapevine Springs?” Wade asked. “You could just go back and visit it.”

“It’s not there,” Duster said. “I did go back.”

Silence once again in the big cavern.

Suddenly, everything they had been saying snapped into place and it all made sense to Sophie.

Complete sense.

“When did you go back to look for the town?” Sophie asked, smiling and laughing a little. “When in this timeline?”

“Right before we accepted you to the institute,” Duster said, frowning. “It’s why we had you both research the old town.”

“And in all the other timelines that are similar to this one,” Sophie said, “you would have accepted us at the same time? Correct?”

All three nodded.

“And this timeline is your base timeline, correct?” Sophie asked.

“The one we leave from is the base timeline,” Bonnie said.

Sophie turned slightly and smiled at Wade. She stuck out her hand to him like she was offering to shake his hand.

He looked puzzled, but took her hand. “Nice meeting you, Mr. Olsen. I’m Mrs. Olsen.”

For a moment she saw the puzzled look in Wade’s eyes and she just kept smiling because she knew in just an instant he would understand. They had shared all the research on Grapevine Springs. Every detail that they could find.

Then, after just a second or so, she saw the understanding come over his face. He laughed and shook her head back, “Wonderful to meet you, Mrs. Olsen.”

She laughed and kissed him. Then they both turned to face the puzzled looks from Duster and Bonnie and Dawn.

“You want me to tell them, Mrs. Olsen?” Wade asked, smiling again at Sophie. “Or would you like to?”

“Oh, we can share,” Sophie said, laughing. “You start.”

“In the late spring of 1897,” Wade said, “just after the snow cleared in the area, a young prospecting couple found the Grapevine Springs Valley.”

Sophie loved how Bonnie and Duster and Dawn were just nodding.

“Their names were Olsen,” Sophie said. “They represented some wealthy businessmen in Boise who sold lots and helped finance the construction of the main part of Grapevine Springs.”

“They ran the general store for decades until the town had mostly vanished,” Wade said.

“They sold off their interest to the town in 1924,” Sophie said.

She could see the look of understanding finally coming over the three brilliant people in front of her.

“Grapevines Springs didn’t exist when you went back months ago,” Wade said.

“Because you hadn’t told us about the town yet,” Sophie said. “Or any of this.”

“And so when you went back, we hadn’t started the town yet,” Wade said.

Sophie just loved the shaking heads and smiles and chuckles from the three. It made her feel like she belonged here.

And that felt great.