Page 32 of Reversal of Fate

17 – You Can Handle the Truth

Carter took a seat at an empty table outside the coffee shop Julie had asked him to meet her. He was early, not wanting Julie to arrive before him and think that he’d stood her up. He barely touched the iced coffee he’d ordered. The coffee shop’s practices had surprised him. Everybody’s drink was served in a single-use paper cup, and he’d personally seen that upon finishing their drinks, the customers disposed of the paper cups in a garbage bin. Did they not have any idea how valuable paper was? After the great fires in the Amazon rainforest in the early 2040s, and the uncontrolled logging operations in countries like Canada and the United States, trees had become scarce, and it had taken a global effort to restore forests. Logging was now tightly controlled, and paper cups or plates and anything similar had been banned.

Carter sighed. He was nervous. He only had two and a half days left to tell Julie who he really was and where he was from, and to convince her to travel to the future with him.

In his head, he listed the points in his favor.

One—He’d saved Julie from Todd, the jerk who would have raped her according to the historical records. Even though Julie didn’t know about her fate, she knew he’d saved her from somebody who’d had bad intentions. Carter had no intention of telling her about the police report. Why put her through the trauma when it wasn’t necessary? It was sufficient for her to know that Todd had tried to drug her, and that Carter had intervened just in time.

Two—He had spent a blissful night in bed with Julie, showing her the pleasures possible when a couple clicked on all levels. He’d been gentle with her and put her needs ahead of his. Though, to tell the truth, he’d gotten just as much pleasure from their lovemaking as she had, if not more. Seeing her surrender to her desires had given him as much satisfaction as his own orgasms.

Three—He and Julie had things in common. She was interested in Nanotechnology, a field that was highly advanced in 2085, and while he hadn’t studied it himself, his own studies in the field of climate and environmental science were linked to hers, in fact they depended on each other. Knowing that he and Julie would one day be working in related fields, was appealing. They would have things to talk about other than sex. And he knew—though not from his own experience, but that of his parents’—that a couple needed more than just physical attraction to grow old together.

Funny, he just realized that he was thinking of a future with Julie, even though the mission didn’t demand it. All his mission required was to convince the woman to return with her time traveling Romeo. Once in 2085, the woman was free to choose her partner. This had been made clear to the Romeos during their training, although the software that had matched the men from 2085 to the women of 2025 was giving the matched couple the best chance of compatibility.

He and Julie had chemistry. It was undeniable, but he wasn’t blind to the big points that stood in the negative column. He was a stranger, one who’d met her under a pretext. Time travel was a concept that the scientists in 2025 hadn’t even attempted to explore beyond the hypothesis of the bending of space time. Julie would have a hard time believing that he’d come from the future. But even if she believed it, there was still the hurdle of convincing her to come with him, leaving her entire life behind. This, he considered the biggest hurdle, but one he had to clear within the next two and a half days, or he would fail in his mission. And Julie would die.

A shadow suddenly fell over his table, and he looked up. Julie stood in front of him.

He jumped up, ready to kiss her, but she put her hand against his chest and stopped him. Only now, he noticed her facial expression. She appeared upset.

“Julie? Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not okay.”

“Come, sit down, tell me what’s wrong,” he said, pulling out a chair for her.

But she kept standing, as did he.

“I’m not staying long,” she said, her tone clipped.

He was no idiot. She was angry with him, but he had no idea why.

“Julie, baby, what’s—”

“You have no right to call me that.”

He shoved a nervous hand through his hair. “Please, Julie, what is it?”

“It’s you,” she accused him. “You broke into the house last night.”

His heart stopped. How the hell did she know? Had somebody seen him after all?

“I…” He stopped himself. He was unprepared and had no answer ready.

“Don’t deny it. My roommate has a video of you going into my room, rummaging through my things.”

Shit!

“And before you say it was when I had you check the house for an intruder, there’s a time stamp on the video. It was taken while I was still at the party.”

“Julie, please, I can explain—”

“Explain? You tricked me! How did you do it? Did you see Todd trying to pick me up and figured you’d plant some drugs on him so you could play the hero?” Her voice became louder with every word.

Carter glanced around, and a few people were already staring at them.

“I didn’t, I swear. Let’s go somewhere where we can talk in private.”

“Do you think I’m stupid? I’m not going anywhere with you even if my life depended on it!” she hissed.

Fuck! What now?

“Julie,” he said in a low voice and leaned in, hoping the people at the table next to them couldn’t hear him. “I’ve come from the year 2085 to save you. Next week, a virus will sweep through the West Coast, and you’ll be one of the first infected—”

“You lying bastard!” she interrupted him. “You think you can serve up some fantastical story… God damn it, that’s so low. You’re a piece of shit!”

“I can prove it,” he said, desperate now. He shoved his left sleeve up and turned a little to block the other customers’ views as much as he could. Then he tapped on his wrist.

“Here, this is—” He stopped himself. He wasn’t wearing his holocom. He’d taken it off in the motel to take a shower, then forgotten to put it back on. It was an easy thing to forget, given that back home he would have never needed to take it off in the first place. “Shit!”

Julie glared at him. “Don’t ever contact me again.”

She spun around and hurried away.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he cursed.

There was no use running after her now. Without his holocom he had no proof that he wasn’t lying. He had to get back to his motel, get the holocom, and then mend things with Julie.