“I’m not very good with people,” Alice said, an anxious frown pulling her brows down.“But if you’re getting a headache…”
“I’ll be fine,” Mel said, glancing at Jack.She hesitated, then said, “We probably shouldn’t both go.Two women out here in the middle of no where?Probably too suspicious.We might need to think about setting up some kind of meeting room topside, for visitors who aren’t ready for the silo.”And might never be ready for it, she thought wryly.
“It’s not a bad idea,” Jack said.“Too bad we can’t go back and fix that before we go up there now.”
Before her adventures in time, Mel might have wondered about that.The problem with tweaking things was that ripples of change could be sent forward in unexpected ways.
They could build their antechamber and wipe out someone’s future.
The only reason they were still messing about in time was to stop their opposition.If they managed that?Well, then they could decide what to do with their research.
It had created some tech that they could monetize if the future didn’t keep shifting on them.
“You going to stay here?”Mel asked Alice.
She hesitated, then nodded.“I’ll keep an eye on that.”
She pointed toward the bulletin board, still looking ordinary and harmless in the artificial lighting.
Rita looked up as the door opened, but it wasn’t Con or the man.It was a woman.She was backlit by the light, so Rita couldn’t see her face, just the shape of her.
And her stance.There was something about her stance that lifted the hairs on her arms just a bit.Not a full-on warning, just a sense that she was more than she appeared.
Then she stepped into the dim room and shut the door.
Now Rita could see her.Her hair was blonde, disordered, but possibly by design, though there had been some wind out there.She had classic features and startlingly clear, purple eyes.
It was reassuring to see humor in those eyes, as the woman studied her back.
“I’m Mel,” she said, stepping forward with her hand held out.
“Rita.”Rita rose to meet her halfway.
“I wasn’t sure if you found the bathroom or had what you needed,” Mel said.
Rita found she could smile.“I did find the bathroom and some water.”She held up the half empty bottle.
She didn’t mention the things that puzzled her about this building.
It was clearly old enough to be late 40s, but the refrigerator was somehow wrong.
There was a phone on the desk, square with the handheld resting in the cradle.It had a dial tone, but she didn’t have a number to call, so she’d set it back down.
There wasn’t a calendar anywhere, which had kind of been a standard in offices she’d seen, even back in her own future.
Everyone needed to know what day it was.
What year.
What had they traveled through?She’d seen some strange things in her travels.She’d even seen the horizon waver like that, but she’d never gone through it.She’d leaned back her seat, as if that would keep them from going forward, too scared to even scream.
And now here they were, in a place she suspected that Red recognized.And the helicopter?No sign of it.Had it been from the agency?And if it had been, why had it been trying to shoot them down.
No, she made herself think it: they’d been trying to kill them.
Why?Had they thought being out in the middle of no where would mean no witnesses?
Didn’t they know, even in the desert, there were eyes to see.No place was ever completely deserted, this place being a case in point.
