Winds of Change

"Oh god," Michelle gasped. "Yes, yes, yes," she kept saying over and over, as she threw herself into John's arms. It was when he hugged her that she started crying.

John slides into the booth seat next to her and signaled Elliot for the check. Elliot, instead, brought him a bottle of Champagne to take home.

"Dinner is on me tonight John," he whispered as he faded back into the dimness.

John helped Michelle from the booth and they went home and enjoyed the Champagne.

John stood at the altar in the Valley City Episcopal Church waiting for his bride to appear at the doorway he now faced. It had taken two months to plan the wedding. Across from him was Susan, Michelle's maid of honor, she refused to be called a matron of honor. Standing beside John was Jimmy his best man. John was sweating profusely. Jimmy was chuckling at his dilemma. Bobbie was seated in the pews just below the altar, as were most of the people in the county or what seemed to be most of the people in the county.

The music started and John looked back at the doorway. There stood Michelle holding tightly to her father's arm. Smiling nervously, she took her first step toward her husband to be. Suddenly, John felt dizzy. Don't faint, don't faint he repeated to himself. But no matter how deeply he breathed the blackness kept closing in on his vision. The last thing he remembered was how beautiful Michelle looked coming down the aisle.

Chapter 49

In a small well-lit white room, John Abernathy lay on a small cot staring up into the indeterminate distance where the ceiling of his cell should be. The room, lit in such a way so as to cast no shadows, was of a pleasant temperature. To John his surroundings were familiar.

"Ah, Mister Abernathy so good to see you again," the voice said.

"Why this time?" John asked, looking around at the plain white room. "And why am in this cell again?"

"Well now that you are awake, you may move down to your usual quarters when you are here. As for why I think you know. As for why here, you know why."

"The disk."

"The disk."

"The portal."

"Yes, the portal. It only opens in this room."

John groaned, closing his eyes. "Well, Mike, what do we do now?"

"We talk about what you are going to do next.

"About the disk?"

"Yes, about the disk, so move down to the other room, shower and I will join you for a light meal."

Nodding, John got out of bed and walked up the far wall to the doorway in the ceiling. Laughing, he walked down the hall to a room he had been in two times before.

"So I hope the food was to your taste?" Mike asked.

"It was. Now about that disk, you know I was going to destroy the information on it. You can probably probe my mind and see I would eventually do so."

"We could and we did and you will, but not soon enough."

"What do you mean?"

"By the time you destroy the information, another disk will have been made along with another device. Somehow, someone removes the disk from where you hid it and copies the information onto another disk."

"Impossible. Who? How did they find out where?"

"Those answers are not part of your memories, none of your memories."

"I see. What do we do about this then?"

Mike removed an object from his pocket and slid it across the table to John. "We send you back and you use this on the disk."

"What will this do?" John asked picking up the object and turning it over and over in his hand.

"It will erase the magnetic data from the disk without that the disk is useless."

"The inscription... "

"Do not make the device work. They are there to explain what the disk and device together will accomplish."

"So even with the instructions there, showing how to build the device, it won't work?"

"That's right," Mike said.

"And if I promise to do this, I get to go back and live out my current life with... "

"Yes, you get to finish your current life, where ever it may take you."

"Well hell, there's only one choice then."

"We're glad you agree."

"Why would the Temporal Corps of Shonda want the information on the device?"

"We don't," denounced Mike.

"Then why give me such an elaborate a device to erase magnetic information from a metal disk? Why not just hand me a magnet?"

Mike was silent as he stared at John.

"Go ahead and tell him," a voice said from somewhere behind Mike.

"And who are you?" John asked.

"It is James Alanson, we met the previous times you were here."

"Why don't you come down to my room here and inform me yourself?"

"I will," Alanson said.

Chapter 50

Mike sat staring out the window as the two of them waited for Alanson to arrive. The door opened and Alanson walked over to the table, taking a seat across from Mike and to John's right.

"John," he began, then smiled and cleared his throat. "I don't know quite where to start."

"How about at the beginning," John said softly. "I think you owe me an explanation."

"We do, more than you know."

"Well then let's get started, I have a wedding to get back to."

"You do and you don't," Alanson said.

John just glared at Alanson. Alanson tried to stare John down but couldn't and lowered his eyes to the table.

"John, you have to understand the position... "

"I understand you want the information for yourselves. The only question I have is why?"

"It's not that simple... "

"Sure it is. The great and mighty Temporal Corps of Shonda wants a time device for themselves. Why? When you can simply step through the portal any time you... you can't, can you?"

Alanson cleared his throat. Mike tried not to look at John.

"Now why would a bunch of time cops, who can pluck a suspect out of his time/reality anytime they want, need a time device? Tell me that gentlemen and maybe I will help you, maybe. And you threaten not to send me back to the exact instant you plucked me from and the deal, any deal we make, is off. It would seem to me that you need me for some reason. Now tell me the truth!"

"Now John," Alanson started looking up at John only to look away from him quickly.

"You better tell him, Jim," Mike cut in, "or I will."

Nodding, Jim began, "Although... so far... shit. Look John, so far in all the history of Shonda you are the only person to... that we... who survived the transport process back to here. You are also the only one we have been able to send back to... you are the only one to have experienced multiple lives in different times, in different realities."

"Huh?" John was confused. "So you have been lying to me the whole time?"

"No, no we, the Temporal Corps have been around for a long time. We have tried to capture anyone who violates the articles of temporal procedures, we really have. It's only... none of them ever survived."

"So you have killed... how many people did you say?"

"John, you of all people should know we only attempt to extract them at the end of their timeline life."

"Well, except for this last time, I was strong and healthy and about to marry the woman of my dreams when you plucked me up and slammed me down," John shouted at the both of them. "Now why do you need that disk?"

"John... think back, to all the times you traveled in time. Did anyone accompany you?"

The question stunned John. All the lives where he traveled in time, he went alone, until this last life.

"You see now. Even those who had time travel before you only made one trip. The second trip was fatal. We were as surprised as you were when you turned up in the cell. That is why we studied you so thoroughly, to find out how we did it. Only it turned out it was you and only you that could do... could travel in time multiple times, until you... well until Michelle found that device and the disk fell into your hands, so to speak."

"And because Michelle is able to travel with me more than once, you would like a device like that so... what... you can go gather up those who break your rules of temporal travel?"

"Yes."

"Meanwhile, I would like to use it to solve crimes, maybe even prevent them... "

"NO," both Mike and Jim cry out.

"So you really can't change history?"

"No you can't, disaster always follows," Alanson said somberly.

"Not always," John said smugly.

"Yes, you're right, of course. You are the only person so far who has changed history without causing a disaster."

"And you don't understand why?"

"Correct. We don't understand why you can, yet others fail."

"Maybe it has to do with personal avarice."

"Maybe, but we have no way of knowing," Alanson said softly. "While it is true you didn't use your ability to travel in time for your gain. We have no other to compare you against."

"You have one other," John told them.

Mike and James both looked at him as if he had come unglued.

"Geez... Michelle. She traveled with me three times. I asked her twice if there was anywhere or any when she wanted to go. Both times, she refused. She could have talked me into saving her husband. I would have, even though I knew I would have lost her."

"Jim?" Mike said to Alanson.

"I will have to confer with Doctors' Becker and Shaffer," Jim said getting up and heading for the door.

"Ah, Mike, you have to promise me they won't try and bring her here."

"Crap," Mike said jumping up and heading for the door.

"Oh god," John said as he put his head in his hands.

Chapter 51

A tray of food, it smelled wonderful to John, but he shook his head, went, and sat on the couch by the window. He stared out at the jungle, watching the fantastic animals without really seeing them. He must have fallen asleep. The next thing he remembered was being sprawled out on the couch. The smell of coffee drew his attention to the table.

Getting up off the couch, John poured a cup. He sat heavily in the chair at the table, sipping slowly. It was hot. It woke him enough to remember what transpired the day before. He again rested his head in his hands, elbow on the table. He thought about all the lives he had lived. He thought about Michelle. He thought about how she was there, well so were others, with him. If they end what could have been the best time... John began to sob as a great depression washed over him.

Sitting up, he dried the tears on his sleeve and vowed revenge.

"John," Mike shouted from the doorway. "Someone here to see you... "

"You didn't?"

"They did. I tried to talk them out of it, but they said they needed her here in order to study... "

"Do you have a gun on you?"

"Yes and no you can't have it. She's alive, John. She survived the transport."

"What?" John was beside himself with rage. Then Mike's words filtered in and he collapsed back into his chair.

The door to his room opened suddenly and several people in white coats pushed in a gurney. John watched, bewildered, as they rolled it to the bed and lifted an unconscious Michelle from the gurney. As they set her down gently on the bed, John was there impatiently waiting until they moved out of his way.

"Oh god, oh god," John said quietly to himself.

Finally, he could sit beside his love. Looking down on her beautiful serene face, John's heart skipped a beat. Mike was beside him a hand on John's shoulder.

"She is beautiful," Mike said.

"She is," John replied. "I'm still going to punch Alanson in the nose when I see him. Don't get in my way."

Mike didn't say a word, he just patted John's shoulder.

"How long?" asked John.

"Not long. If you wish I will leave."

"No. You will have some explaining to do."

"I see."

"What does he see," Michelle's soft voice said, her eyes fluttering open to look up at John. "Where are we?"

"How do you feel?" asked John.

"Fine, if I was run over by a bus," she quipped.

"Get her something for the pain," John ordered. Mike stepped over to the table and picked up the communications device. "They'll be here shortly," John told her.

"Where... "

"Close your eyes and let your mind drift," John said softly.

Michelle closed her eyes and relaxed. Rapid intake of breath told John what he needed to know, she remembers everything.

"I remember everything. My god, John, how many times... have we... how many times?"

"Five, five times," John told her.

Michelle nodded, looking up at him. "You know... I remember the feelings I had... have... for you, but... oh, John what is happening?"

A man in a white coat entered the room and walked up to the bed. He swabbed Michelle's arm and plunged a needle into her flesh. Her eyes opened in surprise when she didn't feel pain. Then she was even more surprised that any pain she had been feeling was gone.

"Okay, tell me what is going on," she said softly to John placing her hand on his.

For the next two hours, John with Mike taking over when he faltered, told Michelle all about his lives and how she along with others were always part of them. Mike told her about Shonda and time travel and the rules against doing so. John then told her how he and she were the only two to survive being transported to Shonda. Michelle was surprised by the vehemence in John's voice when he told how they had transported her here against his wishes. As John and Mike finished another man entered the room.

Seeing who it was, John rose from the bed and waited. When the man was close enough, John punched him as hard as he could, in the gut. Alanson went down in a heap. Mike was behind John, pulling him back as Alanson climbed to his feet shakily. Looking at John with surprise, Alanson moved to a chair at the table. Looking up at John, he spoke.

"I will convey your displeasure to the council."

"Please do. But it would be more enjoyable to have them come by, either in a group or one at a time to accept my displeasure in person."

Mike laughed and Alanson just nodded.

"When can I go home?" Michelle asked almost crying.

"In a little bit dear," John told her.

"I... I don't know which one is real though," she said in a timid anxious voice.

"They all are," John said, "but they are linear. The last one you remember is the only one to which you can go back. I'm sorry," whispered John, dropping to his knees by the bed. "When you go back, you won't remember the other lives or that you were here."

"Oh," Michelle squeaked. Turning she looked at Alanson and spat, "Bastard."

"I am truly sorry," he told her.

Chapter 52

For the next couple of hours, John, Jim, and Mike discuss the deal. Alanson finally agreed to John's terms. Michelle and he would be placed back exactly, where they had been pulled from. Unfortunately, they had come from different times in their timeline. John promised to place the device on the disk when he returned to his ranch, after all, he was getting married.

Eventually, Jim and Mike left. John was exhausted but, knew he had a duty, to the young woman now sitting on the couch, looking out the window. Gently sitting down next to her, he breathed a sigh of relief. Turning, Michelle looked at him with a confused look on her face. Shaking her head, she turned back toward the window.

"I remember you. You are in every one of the lives I remember. It's funny, the further back in my lives I go, the less you are a part of my life, except for the very first one. There I am married to a very wonderful man, yet I love you also. Maybe it's the turmoil we are caught up in that gives me those feelings."

"Yes, that life is... was very rough on all of us. I wonder sometimes if it really happened and what happened to you after I died."

"I remember being sad when you did, but I remember Susan being devastated by your death. I also remember your devastation when Jen died."

"Those memories always seem to be the strongest," whispered John.

"All those lives," Michelle said turning to look at John.

"How many do you remember?"

"Ten," she croaked. "In one, you aren't there very long."

"I was there, briefly," John said, "yes."

"So, when they send us back, it will be to the last one, the one where you are sheriff and I am a physicist and we are lovers?"

"Yes."

"And I won't remember being here or the other nine lives, interesting, that I have lived?"

"No. Shonda is a very special place. When you are here, you remember everything, in your past. You even have memories of the future, yet you can't access them. The scientist here can, but you can't. When you aren't here, you don't remember any of the other lives or being here."

"I see. Will I enjoy my life when I get back?"

"Yes, yes you will," John chuckled.

"I remember being a physicist, yet I don't remember what a physicist knows."

"Uncanny, isn't it?"

"Yes. When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow morning. Are you hungry?"

"Yes and no."

A tray slid into sight on the large table in the middle of the room.

"Are they listening to us?" asked Michelle, irritation in her voice.

"The computer is," said John wincing a little at the fib he had to tell.

Michelle nodded getting up from the couch and making her way to the table. Smiling, John followed. Dinner was very good, a five-star meal by anyone's standards. Michelle thoroughly enjoyed hers. John didn't do too bad either. After dinner, they sat on the couch, Michelle on one end, John on the other, each with a drink in their hand. Michelle was having white wine. John was sipping bourbon, neat.

"Are those dinosaurs out there?" Michelle asked pointing to the jungle as the sun started to set.

"Yes. Don't worry, they can't get in here," John told her.

"I wasn't worried about that. I just wanted to know if they were real."

"They are."

"Where are we, exactly? And do you know?"

"I asked that question once."

"Well, did you get an answer?"

"Yes, but it didn't make any sense."

"What was it?"

"Shonda was everywhere and nowhere. It is ninety degrees from where you are at any time. It is above you, below you and it surrounds you, yet it isn't there at all."

"Flim-flam," Michelle squeaked. "How many times have you been here?"

"This will be my third time."

"I would have thought you were here after each life."

"Yeah, me too," John chuckled. "They didn't snatch me up until the fourth life was over."

"So when you succeeded they brought you here?"

"Yes."

"Can I ask you to do something for me?"

"Sure, anything," John said.

"Would you move down to this end and hold me for a little bit?" Michelle asked softly, almost as if she was a little girl again.

John slid down the couch and gently placed his arm around her shoulders. Michelle closed her eyes, sighing softly as she leaned her weight against John. They both sat quietly, sipping their drinks and watching the animal out the window as the sun finished setting. An hour later they were in bed, sound asleep.

Chapter 53

The next morning the pair had breakfast and sat on the couch again, waiting for Mike. An hour later, he came in and sat across from them in a chair.

"John," he started, stretching across to hand him the device, "here is the device you are to place on the disk."

John took it from him, "How do I get it back with me. And don't tell me to swallow it."

"No just hold on to it, it will go with you."

"How will I remember any of this... "

"We've implanted a memory, ah... last night while you slept. Once back you will have a compulsion to get the disk and place that on it."

"If you say so, but don't be surprised if you never get any... well, you know."

"Yes, we do. We also probed your mind last night, Michelle's too, and it was clear that you take the device to the disk and place it on the disk. What is not clear is if we receive any information."

"Uh, you what to me last night?" Michelle yelled at Mike.

John just chuckled at the consternation on Mike's face.

"Now Michelle, no harm was done... "