Chapter Text

Introductory Notes

The Narrator of the original story is un-named. She is called “my bridge” and "Little Cat" by Graham Gore. She is an employee of the Ministry of Defence who was recruited into the Time Travel division. Her profession is translation of Asian languages. In this story she may seem passive, and rightly so. She believes she may have been complicit in a war crime. She has trauma having witnessed at least three violent deaths. She has every reason to be reactive, cautious and wary.

Lieutenant Commander Graham Gore is a real person from history who served in Franklin’s 1845 Arctic Expedition and died in the Arctic. The premise of the original novel is that he was abducted from the past using a time machine. Graham and Little Cat have already fallen in love and shared romance and intimacy. It should come as no surprise that they are eager romantic partners.

Margaret Kemble is also a character in the original novel who becomes fast friends with both of them. She is young and beautiful.

Almost all of the other characters are of my own invention.

Layla is a high-level executive assistant in Envision, trustworthy, often given special assignments. She gets things done. She is Persian-Canadian and is a member of the Baha’i Faith.

Poyer is named after John Martin Poyer, a person I didn’t know about until looking through Samoan web pages. I didn’t want to borrow a Samoan name, so this is our diplomat’s call sign. He is also a member of the royal family of Samoa.

Envision is an organization founded by extremely wealthy people who believe in the Climate Crisis aka Climate Emergency and also that something can be done about it. It has headquarters offices in Geneva, Canada and the United States. It is only mysterious in that it doesn’t report to anyone and has its own purposes. It works with governments, international organizations, United Nations agencies, and religious authorities. Envision believes that individuals, cities, governments, and educational institutions can make conscious decisions or choices, to mitigate and survive Climate Change. Having a sailing yacht at hand in the San Juan Islands would be a valuable tool for attracting the attention of influencers and decision makers. One tag line for Envision might be “everyone makes choices.” TechBros, also called Technology Brothers for fun, not only have donated, they participate in programs to educate their peers. Imagine how influential TED talks have been. Also, those who swim in the deep dark web have had enough of this foolishness.

A careful author would do significant research on the Coastal Salish Indian tribes and governments and ensure that any information or references are accurate and reviewed. This is an important step for anyone writing about Indigenous cultures. None of what is below is based upon known cultural expression and is invented, but that’s because this is fan fiction and will not be formally published.

The Choice might look something like this sailing yacht.
https://iyc.com/yachts/ellen/ My sailing terms leave a lot to be desired, oh well.

The Diner

The early morning rush was done: the first cadre of neighbors grabbing coffee, a muffin or an egg sammie before heading down the hill to the harbor. The second wave would be coming in soon, those folks who want a full breakfast, several cups of coffee with a newspaper and a chat. Nearby shopkeepers stopping by before opening up for the day, tourists at the overnight rentals, an occasional cyclist coming over the ridge on the way to the ferry.

The Diner had always been a restaurant, it was the original purpose for the building. It had been owned by one extended family for generations now from when the first hippies arrived, cooking beans and rice and vegetables from their own gardens. They perfected a local sourdough yeast that was named and beloved. Crusty loaves had given them a niche in the economy. No one cared if a few of them were absent if the Feds were coming through town.

Elspeth’s parents had grown up in the back, in a passel of homeschooled kids. Many wanderers had taken turns in the kitchens, some of them making very good food. Elspeth herself went to public school, and then to a business school on the mainland. She consulted with local towns about how to support small businesses, mostly laying plans in the winter when the tourists were gone. Her cafe was open every day of the week though, that was for the community. She liked to open up and make the first pot of coffee. Short meetings and consultations could take place in the booths in the back. And you never knew who might come in the door, sometimes a movie star off a big yacht in the harbor. It happened.

Today her two more recent regulars were in for their weekly breakfast together. The woman had an accent that could not be deciphered and Elspeth had tried. It was English, maybe, but maybe not. She could not figure them out. She and the man were not lovers. Maybe they had worked together and stayed friends? He had obviously worked for a living and yet was deeply courteous and polite. She would have called him “old school” but he wasn't yet forty.

This morning Maggie, who had introduced herself the first time they had stopped in, was glowing with news. He took her hands across the table to try to calm her down, but she was having none of it.

“It worked,” she was exultant. “I knew it would, I hoped it would, and I was right, it did!”

She was waving her phone at the man she called Gray. Maybe he was a cousin, perhaps they went to school together?

She opened the phone and pulled up a photo. Elspeth did not move closer to see, but she did call over the counter “Do you want menus or the regular?”

They didn’t hear her. They both were entranced by the photo on the phone. Elspeth brought over cups and the coffee pot. Gray handed Maggie the phone. “The regular, please,” they said in unison.

Elspeth smiled, wrote on their order on a paper pad and walked it over to the order window. “One of Everything, double” she called out, clipping a small page to a wire where the line cook could read it.

When they came in the door, Gray was always first and always took the seat in the booth that faced the door. He liked the large plate glass windows that let in sunlight and showed a panorama of the street and the approach from the harbor. He did not look afraid, he just looked careful. Always on alert. She narrowed her eyes, she tried to see: cop, fed, inspector, security guard. Nope, none of those. It was obvious that the man had never taken steroids, but he was fit. Narrow, but fit.

When she brought their plates of bacon, sausage, pancake, toast and potatoes, their heads were again bent over the phone, tapping out a message. Maggie gleefully spelling out the words. Gray looking pensive. Maggie looked up to share her happiness with Elspeth, but Gray shook his head no.

Maggie let him do so, but he was not her boss, her pimp, her brother, or her agent. Elspeth knew all these interactions well. This was not that.

Maggie reluctantly put the phone away. As they were eating they exchanged names of towns over the table: Seattle, Vancouver, not the Washington Vancouver the Canada Vancouver, Bellingham, Portland, Victoria, Seattle, and they nodded together. It was interesting decision making to watch, she could see that there were many words unspoken.

Maggie was gobbling her food, she was so excited and happy, it made Elspeth smile just to see her so.

“Thanks for breakfast, Gray,” She said, “I’ll text you. Right away, I promise I’ll text you.” She waved at Elspeth and practically danced out the door. Gray had not eaten much. She served other tables, cashed out other diners, poured more coffee, waved at people walking by outside, the county commissioner bought a box of pastries for a meeting.

When she brought the check to the table he was gathering himself together. He looked up at her and she could see his eyes were wet. He was counting out the bills, always paying in cash.

“Have you figured me out yet Miss Elspeth? I see that you keep trying.” He was looking anywhere but at her face.

“You could give me a clue.” She said dryly. “Sometimes I think that you are just out of 10 years in prison, but I know what those men look like and that’s not you. And not a prison guard either. Maybe you fly the planes that take inmates from one jail to another?”

“Well, not quite. But that’s a very good guess.” he replied. Then he made a choice, and looked her in the eye. “In former times, I would be wearing a uniform and there would be insignia on it that would tell you exactly what I was. Nowadays I’m mostly a sailor.”

“Ah, an officer, but not with the U.S. Navy. That’s what confused me. Not wearing a uniform, obviously working on something, so on a mission of some kind.” She should have known by his posture, although his hands were not all messed up. He now had a glint in his eye. It was hopeful.

“Yes.” he replied. “Yes, exactly so.”

Chapter Text

Wednesday at Pike Place Market

I had a photograph, a package with a US stamp on it, and after looking very closely, a postmark: Seattle, Washington. A large American city. How do you find a person, or two people, in a large city like that? How do you even tell them that you have received their message? This was secret agent territory, and I was almost a secret agent so I should be able to figure something out other than to arrive in an airport and hope for a miracle.

They were hiding out. Yet, they put a package in the postal mail, so they were not in a dungeon somewhere. It was inconceivable that they did not have at least one mobile phone. Maggie had learned to use her phone quite well. She had a Tinder profile, she had shown it to me. Surely, it had been deleted and that phone discarded. But I knew Maggie.

I did not have an account on Tinder. It was agony making a profile for myself. I took a photo that showed only half my face and that in shadow. So. Obvious. My interests on Tinder were mystery novels, travel, and chickens. I chose women seeking women. I wasn’t sure if Maggie knew she was femme but then again, she had met up with other women. There was only one choice for my user name. I typed in, Little Cat, and then had a little cry.

She found me the very next day. Her profile photo was sweet and had been taken in a cafe. Her direct message was short. I could tell that she was trying her best to be discreet. Her location was set to Seattle. She wrote that she also had done much travel. She liked my photo, and would I have a coffee date with her as she worked in a market.

My message back offered to meet up anytime as I was not working much these days.

Within a day I had an airline schedule sorted out. My next message was:

“Not too busy this week, how about next Wednesday for a coffee?”

Her reply was:

“Surely we can meet then, the morning would be better. Pack lightly, we may have walking weather.”

Flight tickets were purchased and I sorted through my collection of large bags and backpacks. I got the message of no luggage, looked up the weather for October, dug out a rain slicker, and practiced packing as lightly as possible for a backpack that didn’t look too large.

I told my parents I was visiting a school friend who lived near Seattle and hoped to be able to see the Pacific Ocean and hike in the rain forests. My dad had seen the package of course. He didn’t say a word. My mother noted I was happier while planning the trip and she asked only a few questions. I showed them a cheap phone I had bought to travel with and that I wasn’t taking my laptop. “I will check in. I promise.” I said as I climbed into a car for the airport. They waved, I saw my mother clutch her hands to her chest and my father pulled her closer. The two people who loved me most in the world behind me. The other two people I loved, somewhere ahead of me.

The plane arrived at the Seattle-Tacoma airport early in the morning and once through customs I went straight to the tram that would take me to Pike Place Market, which is the only one I could imagine Maggie was talking about. Thankfully I had slept on the plane. It was drilled into field agents to sleep when possible because no one can do their job sleep deprived, not even James Bond.

At the airport I logged into Tinder to find a single question mark in a message. I replied with an exclamation point. A message came back with an icon. It was a bagel. I replied with an icon of a clock, a tram, and a chicken. Then I had to sit down for a moment to catch my breath. I was here. I would see them. They would see me. What would happen next?

There were plenty of signs to get me from the tram stop, into the Market and to the notable bagel shop there. I wanted to run, but my feet were confused and didn't remember how to do that. My heart was pounding, my brain was trying to give the rest of me directions. The sign that said Pike could as well have been pointed at me, saying “what the hell do you think you are doing?”

Without any warning at all a little hand slipped under my arm and her voice whispered, “There thee are.” And we were in a desperate embrace. I had words to say, and couldn’t say them. She was calmer, barely. She kissed both my cheeks even though I knew she wanted to kiss my mouth. My darling Maggie moved to lead me into the wide front doors of the market.

“You are surprised to see me so quickly, I didn’t want you to go searching if you did not see me. Let’s walk by here and seek out a quiet corner.”

We walked by the fruit, the fish, the toys, and a pirate store. There was a quick turn of a corner to find a deck with benches and tables.

“Sit thee down, we are not talking now and we are not crying now. This is a nice little jacket you have, take it off.”

I did so while she unfolded a windbreaker of another color from her bag.

“We are going to change how we look a bit, pick up our lunch and then a surprise for you. Show me thy passport, if you please.” I did. “Show me thy mobile.” I did. “Turn it all the way off if you please.” I did.

Within minutes I had a new coat, a cap, and my back pack had been tucked inside a whole other bag of a different color. Maggie had tucked her curly blonde hair into another cap and had turned both her bag and coat inside out. We looked completely different.

“We are being cautious because that is wise to do. Has thou eaten?” I shook my head. “As I thought. We will walk to the bagel bakery and receive a bag which we will carry for a while and then stop and eat.”

Amazingly, that’s what happened. She waved, slowed down slightly and a girl behind the food counter smiled and held out a bag to her. No money changed hands. She put it in her large shoulder bag and arm in arm we walked down the waterfront, the wind in our faces, mine still astonished.

In two blocks she found a bench hidden away around a corner and sat us down. Her cap came off and her hair came down and she was my beautiful friend, who had been grabbed by a time machine from the 17th century as an experiment to see how people from the past would adjust or not. What I thought was a grand experiment, because I was assisting these time travelers, became a nightmare. She and our friend Graham had escaped no one knew if they were alive or dead, including me until I had received their package.

She handed me a bagel sandwich and a napkin. “My friend Gray tells me that when on a mission you should eat when you can, because nothing good comes of being hungry when running or shooting.” She saw me melting. “Now is not the time for asking questions. Soon. Eat.”

I stuck the sandwich in my mouth and pretended to chew, which also kept me from trying to ask questions. Maggie had no trouble with this. “I never had a real bagel before Seattle,” she said. “They boil them before they bake them which gives the chew. I ken that they are difficult to make at home, but I might try. These little green things are capers, from Italy, and I like them very much. I could eat salmon every day. I may eat salmon every day.”

I ate the excellent sandwich, and the rest of my body shifted focus to digestion. Here she was, my darling friend, fully present, feeding me, calming me. And that meant that Graham was somewhere close by?

She took all the wrappers and napkins and folded them carefully into the paper bag and then into a pocket of her coat. “Do not throw anything ye have touched into a can or a bin. Do you understand why?” I nodded. “Good because I don’t and just pledged never to do so.”

“Here is how we shall proceed.” She looked at me with serious eyes. “We are walking down to that Ferry Terminal,” she pointed along the water. We will present our passports and I will purchase tickets. We will ride the ferry to Canada! It is a fast ferry, a fine boat. But we will wait in a long line to get on. Let’s switch our jackets.”

She took my hands and with her beautiful face she looked me in the eye. “We don’t know if anyone is looking for us. But we do know what will happen if they find us. So, we are careful now and will be for the rest of the day.”

“In Canada?” I asked, because I had not made a mental connection between Seattle and Canada.

“Aye, tis wonderful how ferries go to islands large and small. We will see many boats and little islands today and in a few hours, we will be in B.C. That’s British Columbia, but it is not British and it is not Colombia, it’s Canada.”

“Well done, Maggie," I complimented her.

“I am friends with a geographer, which is handy, indeed.” She was bragging a little. She also twinkled. We headed in the direction of the docks, some with large ferries to be sure.

Maggie was what they call “a champ.” Meaning that she had cash, our passports, and charmed the ticket clerk into a private room. The ferry was handsome, ship-shape, with all kinds of people coming aboard. She timed it perfectly that we were under an awning when the ramp opened for new passengers and we were not in the open before it did. For a moment I thought I saw a Graham shaped person up near the wheelhouse.

“Don’t look,” said Maggie under her breath. “Be patient. The number of our private room is 4B, find the signs for B deck.”

The small private room was off a corridor before a large lounge with many rows of seats, much like an airplane. There was a coffee shop, a gift shop, and streams of young people with backpacks. The private room was a table and two benches for a passenger to catch a nap or lay out a work project. Voices were sounding on the intercom, and buzzers warning, and the engines were turning and a horn was sounding. We could feel the boat moving away from the dock and turning. The view of the city in the distance under a mountain was wonderful, the view of the water right under the window was rough and splashing from the wake of the engines.

As I turned away from the window, the door of our room opened slightly and quietly in slipped Graham. Carefully, silently, and with a finger to his lips. I was quickly wrapped in his arms and he held me for a minute and kissed me on my head.

“Well! Here’s our Little Cat. Well done Maggie, well done to you both.”

He was dressed simply, dark pants, shirt and a jacket, with a cap that made him look like he was a crew member, but he wasn’t.

“The rooms on either side are full so we will talk quietly. There will be no tears and no arguing. I will be giving you some instructions, you need to listen. Calmly.”

“I will get us some tea, it will take at least 20 minutes, I’m sure.” said Maggie and she slipped right back out of the room.

Graham gave me another soft kiss and then took my shoulders and sat me down on one of the benches, he sat opposite, on the other side of the table. He brought out his officer voice. I had only said one word, his name, and he reached across the table and put his finger to my lips.

“We do not know if we are in danger, or if there are agents from the Ministry looking for us or tracking us. We do not believe that you were followed, but.” His eyes signalled caution. “We are going to proceed today as if people might come looking, sooner or later. Maggie and I can avoid cameras, but you cannot.”

“But, I used my own passport. The plane tickets were in my name,” I explained, in a whisper.

He knew this, he nodded.

“Yes, if someone were paying attention, then we may have flushed them out. Friends of ours were waiting for you at the airport. They were with you on the tram. They handed you your lunch.”

“I was a decoy?”

I practically hissed. Mention of the Ministry had me anxious and frightened. What was really going on here?

“No. You were not." His voice was firm. "We are not in a battle, we are not playing at war. You were being protected. You are the mission.”

I sat back, very confused now. He looked down at his hands, lay them flat on the table, and then looked back up into my eyes.

“I am sorry to be vague. What I do not tell you today, I will tell you tomorrow. We, Maggie and I, are taking you where we can tell you what has happened to us, where we live and who our friends are. However, if officers or police walked through that door right now, you can honestly answer their questions because you don’t know, do you?”

“Police?” I did know how to do that, as I had done that recently.

“Probably not. We have friends who hear the police radio bands. This far, no one is saying anything about you, or us. All is quiet, for now.”

His officer voice was fading and he was looking at my hands, also flat on the table. Slowly he placed his hands over mine.

“If I hold your hands, can you also listen to me?”

I nodded.

“There is much to explain, and when we do, it will not make you afraid.”

His voice was calm, he was not pleading.

“There will be choices, no one is breaking any laws. You used your own passport. All will be well.”

He stopped, and swallowed, and allowed himself to hold my hands in his, which he gave a gentle squeeze.

“There was a moment when Maggie and I thought we would die. At that moment we pledged to hold up each other. So that we would not die alone. If it looks as if we are teamed, that’s because we are. And see, we have you with us again, to be ours for a little while.”

Maggie chose this moment to come back through the door, with two big paper cups of tea.

“Here we are,” she handed one to me. “Gray will sup on his own. Three of us may attract attention.”

She sat next to me on the bench and looked at Graham with a question in her eyes.

“I’ve not told our Little Cat where we are going, because it’s a nice surprise. I have told her that she is our mission, to be taken to safety, to meet some of our friends.”

He was still holding my hands, something he would not have done a year ago in front of another person. I reluctantly took my cup of hot water with a tea bag in it. I had a suspicion.

“You two.” I used my explainer voice. “You are not watching too many spy movies?”

They both looked down and found something to straighten. Guilty as charged.

“The Spy Who Came in from the Cold was a good film," Maggie protested. “Richard Burton!”

“We watched all of the George Smiley stories,” Graham admitted.

I hid my face in my hands and then revealed a big smile. Their earnestness had got me again. I loved them for it.

“British naval officers are plotting all the time. It’s the only way to make their fortune or their future. Not much of a difference if you ask me.” Graham claimed.

"The Hunt for the Red October?” I asked.

“My favorite,” he admitted.

“Sean Connery, my favorite.” Maggie agreed and we laughed and it was like old times, but only a few months ago.

“I am going to leave you now and check with our security friends.” Graham was moving reluctantly. “You could rest from your travels, we will sail for another three hours at least. Maggie will show you the boat. You can buy a magnet for your refrigerator, everyone does. I will see you again tonight, on shore.”

He was standing at the door while giving us these orders, his hazel eyes glowing, clearly happy in his caution.

“Little Cat, will you give me your mobile, please.”

It was not a request. I reached into my backpack for my phone, it had been there since Maggie had me turn it off. It was odd to hand it over to another person.

“Thank you.” He put it in an inside coat pocket. “If somehow you are traced to this phone, I would be found, instead.”

I thought that he would not do so in front of Maggie, but he leaned down and kissed me again. Maggie and I drank tea in paper cups and looked out the window at the ships and the islands. She bade me put my head down, and when my heart stopped pounding, my eyes closed and the engines sent me down to a sweet slumber.

Chapter Text

The Empress Hotel

I suppose I knew about Vancouver Island, and Victoria, the capital of the province of British Columbia. One hears about the adorable Canadian city that is more British than anywhere in Great Britian. The trip into the harbor was delightful, with darling little water taxis criss-crossing the bay. Maggie led us on deck and pointed out the government buildings, the museums, and the huge elegant hotel called the Grand Empress, making itself very important and right in the middle of everything.

With only backpacks, and another change of light jackets, we walked off near the front of the line. It was a nice surprise to find myself in a somewhat cheesy vacation destination. We did not rush and Maggie looked like she was poderings her options.

“All the shops will be open for another hour, and we look like ordinary folk. Let us stop by the best vintage clothing shop, which means we must look closely to find an worthy bargain.”

Up one street from the harbor were several such shops and I allowed her to choose out several items for me: a pretty sundress, a subtle flowery shirt, a sun hat, a sweatshirt and a long sleeve tee shirt she was pleased to find in a specific shade of green. “We will need this I'm sure.” She muttered to herself. And there were a few pairs of leggings that looked promising, we didn’t try anything on. I allowed her to buy me the sundress and I had plenty of Canadian cash for the rest, thanks to the little bank on the boat. Her pleasure at doing this girlie shopping was like rays of sunshine. “Sometimes, to make me happy,” she confided, “Gray allows me to show him some shirts I find here and if I hath been lucky, he will buy one.”

Graham was waiting for us at the door of our last shop. We met as if we were long time friends, and he walked with us back down near the harbor. He was relaxed, smiling, a bit of a tease, and watchful.

“Now is the time to watch exactly what we do.” He told me as we walked nearer to the hotel.

I was hearing echoes of my own voice in another time and place when I was the instructor.

“There is a back entrance to this palace and when we walk through the door no one will notice and no one will stop us. They are busy with their work and will not care. Look as if you belong here.”

There was a path around the back of the building and several staff entrance doors. The one I was led to looked like all the other doors, a small number plate was pointed out to me. Graham held up a key card, the door clicked and he held it open for us, following behind. We walked into a busy corridor, passed offices and store rooms and stopped in front of a service elevator. It opened promptly and he pressed the last button of the row, the nineth floor.

When the elevator door opened the corridor beyond looked dark and old-fashioned. We walked past several doors to one that had old brass numbers on it, but still used a key card. Inside was a small suite with two bedrooms and a corridor that went back to a sitting room and then a tiny kitchen with a table and chairs.

“These are maid’s quarters from when people traveled with maids and manservants. Not used much anymore, it is ours when we need it.” He didn’t need to apologize. The small windows were open, letting in a breeze. The table lamps were already on. There were fresh flowers on the kitchen table and a box of my favorite biscuits. I was shown which was my bedroom and laying on the bed pillow was a stuffed chicken. It was a small pillow shaped like a chicken, a soft message from our shared past. I was nearly undone by it, my heart flowing into puddles at my feet. I kept my composure, barely.

I came out and sat down in an armchair in the small sitting room to wait for what came next. “Is all this really necessary here, in Canada?” I asked. Who was really organizing all this, I wondered to myself. And how long had the two of them been in Canada?

“Perhaps not,” said Maggie reorganizing all her bags and hats. “We don’t know. You were able to leave London, no one took you at the airport.”

“Canada allowed you entry.” Graham continued, he was pacing and planning. “There are no radio alerts or bulletins that we can hear or see. When we are in this hotel, there is another layer of security that is always on watch. It is also near to the Parliament buildings and that counts for something.”

I saw him checking messages on his phone, tapping out answers.

“Is it time for supper, Graham?” asked Maggie.

She never called him by this name, so it was a strong hint that I had not had a full meal that day.

“Can I take off this jacket then, it’s the fourth one I’ve worn today.” I asked.

The two of them looked at me as if I were their precious child. Which was about right. Twenty minutes later we were freshened up and back in the service elevator. I lost track of the twists and turns of the back ways of the large hotel. Eventually we walked through a staff entry into the back of a small cafe off the lobby.

A server saw us, pointed us to a table in a back corner and brought menus and tall glasses of ice water.

“Good Evening Layla” trilled Maggie, in a dulcet tone that made me look twice. “We have a friend visiting and she needs a good supper after a long day’s travel.”

Layla was lovely, a confident middle-eastern beauty wearing a black apron with panache. I could imagine her as the catering manager. Perhaps she was, filling in a shift.

“Welcome in!” she said.

Which everyone says in the Pacific Northwest I learned, I had heard it in every shop.

“Please ask me the specials because we are trying out some new dishes today.” Indeed, she was the catering manager.

We agreed to each try a different “special” and it wasn’t bad for hotel food. After we had cleaned our plates Layla came back to sit at the table with us and opened up a folder with evaluation sheets. Graham sighed, “Paperwork.”

“Don’t hold back,” she begged. “Be honest and you will have earned a pie or cobbler."

Maggie, being herself a good cook, had several flavor notes. Graham made a point about serving sizes and the lack of gravy. I had to be honest about the mashed potatoes, but they laughed at me and said “this is not England, they do not need to be creamed here.”

Layla was as good as her word and a tray of cobblers and pies came out for us to choose from, along with a big pot of brewed tea, God bless her. She closed her folder and sat with us mentioning conferences coming up and certain dignitaries who were expected. Graham asked about some of them by name.

The pie was excellent, the vanilla ice cream was extraordinary, and I was yawning. The time difference between the U.K. and British Columbia is eight hours, and I was feeling all eight of them. This morning I was standing alone in front of a market. Tonight I was sharing bites of pie with two dear friends and their “particular” friend. I pretended not to notice that Graham was sitting where he could watch the door, that he was wearing a gun, that Layla was almost certainly an operative, and that she and Maggie were more than friends. I let him gather me up to go upstairs. Maggie gave us a wave goodbye, Layla mouthed “nice to meet you.”

The Offer of Choice

We walked through doors that said “private” back to the service elevator and Graham took two key cards from a pocket.

“This one is yours. It will always work, even if you are alone and have come in the front or back doors. If we become separated, come back here. A friend will come and find you. Obey them if they do. Try it now to make sure it works.”

It did. We walked in and I pushed the button for the highest floor. He put his arm around me and said quietly, “Maggie won’t be back until morning, we have the rooms to ourselves.” I could not trust myself to answer him.

He took my hand as we walked out onto the quiet floor and used my keycard to open the door to the suite. He motioned me in, followed, and turned back to lock the door. His hand kept me from walking down the hallway and he passed by to look into each room and take a circuit of the central living space. Satisfied, he stopped by the other bedroom to lay out his coat and other items. I wasn’t sure what to do next, but he was very sure. He took my arm again, and walked me to the sofa and settled me down into it. Then took a dining chair, put it directly in front of me, and sat down in it.

He began with his officer voice. Calm, direct, distinct and sure that he had my full attention.

“How did that feel today, being led around on a leash? Not knowing from one moment to the next where you were going or who you would be with? Were you frightened? Are you still?” He clasped his hands and waited for me to answer, assuredly he wanted an answer.

“I was not afraid.” I replied, honestly. “Because I was with Maggie. And because I was with you. I trust you. But, it was strange to be guided every step, to be told what to do, to be obedient, without question. I see your point.” I was still ashamed for my part in his stolen life and was looking down at my nails as I said this.

“You were guided by me, as I was guided by you. Not quite the same, but still.” His voice was firm. “I came to rely upon you, desperately. And you never failed me, I understand that now. I do not want to fail you.”

He said this as a pledge. A pledge I did not deserve. My hand was on my mouth now, gasping, not crying, putting his feelings and experiences on for size. I was alone in a room in a strange city with a man I had to trust, there was really no other choice. I said that out loud to him. “I really had no other choice, did I?”

“I am here to offer you a choice.” he began a small speech. “I also speak for Maggie in this. You are our friend, and we love you. You came to see us and now you have. We are well. We are safe. This is our home now, and we will gladly show it to you. Tonight you and I will have our time together. Tomorrow we can see the famous gardens. We can take a water taxi. We can visit parks and a forest and have nice meals. We can ride bikes. In a few days, I can return with you on a ferry to Seattle. We can spend a few days there, if you like. I will take you directly to the gate of your airplane and you can go home to your parents and your friends. If you wish it, you can return for a vacation next year, but only if you desire it. We have not abducted you. I will not seduce you.”

His officer voice was gone now, it was deeper and sincere. It was made quite plain to me on his face that I was free to make these choices. His hands were sitting on his knees, his words were calm. I was not. My hands came down and across and to lay on top of his. I wanted those hands.

“A choice.” I said, and he nodded. “What is the other option of this choice, what am I choosing between?” His head bowed down a bit. He glanced up into my eyes and I leaned forward.

“It's complicated to explain. There’s more to it. Perhaps best laid out in daylight, after a good night's sleep.” He stood up, set the chair aside and sat down beside me on the sofa and took my chin in his hand. “It would involve working together, closely.”

That was enough for me, because I was now sitting on his lap, his head in my hands, my lips on his mouth and kissing him with my whole body. Which he had been eagerly hoping for. His hands pulled my hips closer, his arms reached around me and his mouth devoured mine. We came up for air at the same time my shirt came over my head.

“Time for the other room now?” he asked.

The man who had been my lover several months ago, was asking my consent. Which I gave. leading him to the bed with the little chicken pillow. It was just as I had imagined it. While on the airplane, when waiting at the market, as he lectured me on the ferry, while buying clothes with Maggie, when riding the elevator. I was with my lover, he was with me. Our bodies remembered each other.

My legs remembered how best to wrap around his hips.  Our mouths remembered how best we liked to kiss.  His hands remembered how best to hold up my thigh the better to entwine ourselves.  My hands knew just how to stroke him from neck to shoulder and down his torso.  We remembered our rhythm, how best we moved together.  He waited until I arched and gasped, and then he began to speak softly in my ear.  "Oh, how I have pleased my lover, look at her show me her pleasure.  She remembers how to love me, she remembers how I love her.  She welcomes me in and further in, and even further.  My sweet girl.  My only girl."

Resting afterwards, faces side by side, he stroked my cheek and my lips with his thumb.

“Commander?” I asked.

“Hmmmm” he said. "It's Graham now, just Graham.  Or darling, or dearest, or lover."

“What time did I first see you today, Darling. Dearest. Lover?”

“I saw you earlier, I watched you come aboard. The ship pushed off at 12:30, so one in the afternoon?” he calculated.

“What time is it now?” I could see a small slice of dusky sunset through the window blinds.

“It was eight o’clock when I took off my watch just now.” He answered.

“Seven hours then.” I said. He chuckled. “That was a very long seven hours.” I insisted.

“Yes,” he agreed. “It was.”

Chapter Text

Thursday at Breakfast

We fell asleep in each other’s arms, but after an hour or so, one of us would begin stroking a back, arms, hands in hair, fingers down the neck, and the other would respond with whispers of encouragement. Loving would commence, and then quiet cuddling, legs and arms wrapping around and some more sleep.

In my sleep I heard Maggie come in the door. Later Graham kissed himself out from under me and I later heard the shower going. He came back to stand beside the bed, lay another blanket over me, and kissed my forehead.

“I’m going out to do some errands. It’s just now dawn, sleep and I'll see you for breakfast later.”  It was his voice.  He was talking to me. What a lovely dream.

The eight hour time difference was still in effect. I burrowed down and slept deeply until I heard the door open and close, his steps walking into the small kitchen and his voice greeting Maggie. Their soft voices together, not wanting to wake me, turned my heart inside out. I loved them both so much, and they were right on the other side of the door, only a few steps away. Was I dreaming? Would I wake up elsewhere, in the safehouse, in my childhood bedroom, on the airplane? How is it I woke up in a secret apartment suite at the top of the Empress Hotel?

The old-fashioned shower took a long time to bring hot water to the top of the building. Everything I needed for beautification was already there. Maggie had bought me an especially nice set of soaps and creams. I used it all. The pretty shirt she had chosen at the shop looked fresh and bright. My clothes from last night were neatly folded and placed where I could see them. In my bag I found a matching pair of pants. I left my hair a little wet and walked out into the hallway in bare feet.

The sweet looks on their faces when they saw me, my smile wide enough to break my face, Maggie’s cheerful “Good Morning”, and my Commander standing up to greet me. I barely kept myself from running down the hallway, greeted Maggie first with a warm hug and then slipped my arm around Graham’s waist so that he could lean down and kiss me. He kissed me twice.

“Good Morning, Little Cat. Maggie’s made breakfast for you, us, all of us. She has got that special bacon with the cracked pepper.” Graham pulled out a chair from the table, and motioned me to sit.

Maggie began handing around plates and silverware. I asked what time it was, Graham still had my phone.

“Just eight o’clock.” he said. I looked puzzled, it didn’t seem that early. “We went to bed at eight o’clock last night, it’s been twelve hours,” he reminded me.

“Gray stopped by the best bakery in town and bought one of everything and we are going to be so fat! Here are some soft eggs, and three kinds of berries from one box. You can buy real cream here, already whipped and that’s just sinful.”  Maggie was all about breakfast.

She laid it all out on the table, and we were hungry. Graham sliced several pastries in quarters, for us all to have a taste, the one with fresh peaches was voted best in class. It was so easy. We had shared meals like this before, brewed coffee, made jokes about cream and sugar, and sliced oranges. It was comfortable, it was friendly, it was how we were, before.

Maggie looked at me over her cup of tea. “Grey tells me that last night he offered you a choice. Now you shall hear of this same choice from me. You are our friend and we love thee. We will vacation, admire gardens, walk the parks, eat lovely things, and go to book shops. We can take the ferry back to Seattle. You and Grey can spend a few days there together. Then you can fly back to England, to your family and friends, and we will remain. If you like, you can come visit again, next year, and we will welcome you. This choice is yours to make.”

Maggie’s voice was firm and friendly. She truly wanted me to believe that I had this freedom, that I could leave them if I wanted to.

“And there is another choice.” I was not asking a question.

“There is.” Graham used his officer voice, that got my attention. “And offers will be made. But first, we must reach an understanding together. You must tell us what happened after we escaped. Everything, honestly, and now. We will sit with you for as long as it takes.“

Maggie nodded in agreement. “I miss Arthur. I loved Arthur, and he should be here with us. Now is the time dear friend, to help us understand what happened. What happened to Arthur, what happened to us.” She put her hand over mine, looked at me firmly, and said again, “This is the time."

Graham cleared the last plates from the table, brought over the coffee pot, poured me a glass of water, and placed a box of tissues in front of me, and sat back down.

“We have written out a timeline,” he said. “Each of us knew some things that the other didn’t, and that was helpful. I knew enough to be suspicious, before you began to question your training. We know that you were chosen to be a bridge because of your honesty and your trustworthiness. You were a top student, you always wanted to do your best. This is why we do not blame you. You were recruited just as we were abducted.”

I interrupted him. “Except that it was wrong, it was all wrong from the very beginning.” I wasn’t tearful, I was angry. “You were abducted. Experiments were conducted on you. No one ever consulted you, or gave you a voice. I was wrong to participate and it would be insulting for me to ask for your forgiveness.”

Despite the misery of this confession, I was not crying.  I was relieved to be saying it aloud, to people who knew exactly what I was talking about.

“This is true.” Graham’s voice was steady.

“Tis the truth”, Maggie was calm as well. “But no one hath accounted for love.” She said.

“Or friendship, or our humanity, or our devotion,” added Graham. “We made that. We still have that. Only now, it works in our favor, it moves us forward. We can be forgiving, and we can also be grateful.”

He did not touch me. “And, if we are honest, they had their reasons. We now know their reasons, some of them. There was desperation all around.”

This all sounded thoughtful, and somewhat rehearsed. I sat back in my chair, even pushed it back a little to be able to look at them both at the same time.

“Look at the both of you, being so . . .actualized.” I caught them sneak a glance at each other. “How did this happen for you?”

Graham showed a very slight smile. “We had good counseling.”

“Therapy,” Maggie said at the same time. “We had treatment for trauma.”

“And you should have had treatment for trauma after your control was murdered, gunned down right in front of you.” Graham was bitter about this. “No one at the Ministry made sure that you had therapy for that kind of trauma. The villains.”

“Darling,” said Maggie. “We had trauma before we were dragged in a net through a time door. Which they well knew. Gray was freezing to death on the ice, with his mates. They were starving. Everyone I knew had died in a plague. I was dying. That was why they took us when they did. It would have taken months for us to not be healed from being dead and dying, and we were not given that time.”

“The people you work with now,” I asked, “they care about your suffering and your healing? They prepared you for this conversation, for talking this out with me. Are they listening to us now?”

“No. They are not spies.” Maggie assured me. “If you take their offer they will also ask you some questions. It is your choice.”

I looked at Graham for his answer. “This is between the three of us, for now. We have shared what happened to us with our friends here. They are sad and worried for us, and watched you carefully to make sure that you were safe as well.”

“There is so much to say.” I held the tissue box in my hand and twisted it around. “It turns out, I don’t feel like crying. I feel like punching something.”

“Oh yes,” said Maggie, “I kneaded bread dough. Loaves and loaves.”

“I had use of a boxing gym.” said Graham.

“And now? What are you doing now?” I asked, avoiding the topic but also, wondering how they filled their days?

“I am in film school!” Maggie crowed.

“I play my flute in a small wind ensemble. And I sail The Choice. My sailboat.” offered Graham

And to be honest, this did make me cry just a little, tears of joy. Happy for my friends. And they smiled back, Maggie patted my hand.

Graham insisted, “Now is the time. Start from when I left you.”

That’s what I did. Starting slowly and then building up a head of steam.

“After you left me, the security unit came. They held me at the safe house, no one talked with me for days.”

“I was debriefed. By people we know, who knew as much as us. I could not tell them where you had gone, because I did not know. A few times they tried to scare me, bright lights, no food. I was already talking, so it didn’t work. I believe that they gave me drugs. I don’t know what I said. I think it was mostly about Adela and that was confusing to them, because they did not know who Adela really was, truly, the people who were interrogating me didn’t know and I didn’t tell them.”

“How could they not know? She came from the future, she was in charge of the whole project.” Graham was very angry. “She told us, me and Maggie, before she, well, imploded.”

“It was horrible.” Maggie whispered.

“I know! I saw the same thing happen to the Brigadier.” I replied.  They nodded. They knew that he was dead and I wondered how, but didn't ask.

“When you destroyed the machine.” said Graham, with certainty.

“I was told later that it was not really destroyed. I don’t know if that’s true or not. I cannot say if anything I was told was the truth or lies. All I can do is to tell you what they told me.” They nodded, they understood exactly. “Adela told me that it was the Ministry who killed Arthur. And I’m not sure how many others or how many times. They would have killed me, too, except. The senior Secretary met with me. He told me I was now redundant, gave me a large payout, and showed me what was left of Adela. They did not kill me, because of Adela.”

“Say it all, you must say it.” Maggie encouraged me.

These next words I had not spoken aloud, had told no one, certainly not my parents. These two would be the only people who could possibly understand it. It hurt my heart and my head to try to understand it.

“Adela told me that she was a future version of myself.” My mouth could barely form the words, I had been shown what I would become once I passed the field agent test.

“She had colored her hair and lost her eye in Cambodia. She was a field agent. There is a terrible war in the future. You, Commander Gore, had joined the Ministry, been trained as a field agent, and had risen in the ranks quickly. They married. They had a son together. I can’t tell when the time machine first appeared, or when it was used to abduct people from the past the first time. Adela came from twenty years ahead of now. We were not the first group of people who were used this way. I think part of the project was keeping people alive so they could be trained as special agents. If the expats died, their bridges were killed as well, at least, that’s what I think happened?

I had to take a drink of water. I lay my arms on the table, palms turned up as if I had nothing to hide. I looked Graham full in the face.

“There's an Admiral Gore in the future. He is fighting a world war. Adela, the person I become, is now dead. I was shown a bucket of stars, but he still exists on the timeline of the universe, I believe.”  Two of me. Two of Graham. The horror of it is, that there were at least two. There may have been more, but we did not survive.

Graham Gore, the man I loved, crossed his legs and placed his folded hands in his lap. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. When he spoke, his voice was assured. It was not his officer voice.

“I am no longer in any government service and do not intend to be, ever. I am no longer attached to Her Majesty's Royal Navy as a commander and will not be an admiral. I am currently working in transportation management. I ensure that clients travel safely and arrive promptly. I should have shown you my business card before this.”

He reached into a breast pocket, brought out a small case, opened it, and handed me a white card. It said:

Gm. Gore, Transport
Victoria B.C. Seattle, Wash.

“Occasionally, I take on special assignments for those who need to travel carefully and with caution. There is a security section that works closely with me for obvious reasons. I have no plan to fight a world war. I saw what happened to Arthur.” He paused, looked at Maggie and she encouraged him with a nod.

“However. We, Maggie and I together, have made a choice. The entire world is in worse danger now. The climate for the planet is on the edge, and may go over the edge. If the world is to be saved, if humanity in most of the places on the planet is to be saved, then humans must make better choices. It can’t be forced, it can’t be done at the point of a gun. Their choices need to be made with love, with hope for the future.”

“Oh God, Graham,” I cried “That Brigadier and his partner, they told me what their life was like, two hundred years from now. They told me what was gone, forever. They told Simmilla what was gone, whole continents with no humans left. They drove her insane with what they told her.”

“We know about that.” Maggie whispered. “There is more to know as well. You are important in a way we can’t tell you now, you and Gray. This is the other choice, to join us in our work. We live here, we are part of a brilliant effort and there is much work to do.”

“Is it the United Nations? The European Union?” I pleaded. “Is it National Geographic? Is it the government of Canada? Please don't say the ecoterrorists?”

“The Technology Brothers,” said Maggie. “The billionaires. You can’t make riches on a dead planet.”

Graham confirmed her claim, “And you cannot keep your children safe, if there’s nowhere safe to go. It’s more complex than that, of course, and you will see it first hand, if you like.”

Now Graham stroked my palm with his fingertips. “We invite you to come and see.”

I pulled back, stood up, and paced in my bare feet. I knew exactly where my heart was leading, but these two were keeping secrets. I knew it, they were doing their best not to show it.

“Are you recruiting me Mister Graham Gore?” I asked.

“Yes, I am.” He replied. Maggie nodded, enthusiastically.

Chapter Text

Layla

“Well,” I put my hands on my hips, “I would like to speak with Layla about all this.”

Maggie and Graham exchanged guilty looks, surprised that I had sniffed Layla out myself, good for me.

Graham glanced at his wristwatch, “She’s expected?” he looked at Maggie.

“She is.” Maggie replied. And just like that there was a quick knock at the door, a cheerful “Hello” and Layla walking down the hallway and into the apartment, looking comfortably dressed in shorts and sneakers, ready for a day of walking around the harbor.

“Good Morning Layla! Our friend hath been putting two and two together” Maggie warned her with a smile.

“Oh please it wasn’t hard, I was practically a field agent, I should have figured it out.” I was clucking at them.

“How so?” asked Layla carefully, putting down her purse and a laptop bag.

“It wasn’t you,” I assured her and gestured to the two sitting at the table, both of them busy now neatening it up. “It was them. It was how they looked at you, adoringly.”

“Oh. Well. Perhaps we won’t need the cafe again.” She was making mental notes. “I think we know each other too well now anyway. And, honestly friend, I am organizing meals for two different conferences in the next month or so.”

“May we go somewhere to speak privately," I asked. Using my professional voice so that she could be prepared for the questions I was going to ask.

“Certainly,” she replied, in that same tone of voice, “We can meet in the lobby. I’ll send a text,” Layla told Maggie and Graham, “you can join us there later.”

Professional sounding me needed first to find shoes and a purse.

Layla showed me through the door and into the service elevator, she had her own key card, I noted. This time we exited into a short hallway off the lobby. There were comfortable sitting arrangements throughout the large Victorian-looking room, with some deep chairs for newspaper reading and quieter corners for more private conversations. She led me to one of these.

“For all of the spy versus spy action yesterday, this lobby feels quite public to me?” I gave her a searching look while looking around.

“And so it is.” she said, business-like. “Right in the middle of everything, no one will notice us. I’ll just open up my laptop on the table and it will look like we are finishing up a presentation.”  She tapped an icon on the touch screen. “No one will bother us here.” she said confidently.

“Are there other people watching?” I couldn’t see anyone in the room who looked like a guard or an agent.

“Yes,” she said, “Don’t worry, you are not supposed to notice them.”

“Are you a field agent Layla? “I demanded of her. “An operative? A recruiter?” I tried sounding knowledgeable about a field where I had completely failed.

“No. I’m an executive assistant. Let’s just say a very senior executive assistant.” She handed me a business card and that’s what it said; Layla Nazari, Executive Assistant.

On the laptop screen appeared a webpage for an obviously wealthy organization. A slideshow featured elegant cruise ships, a woodsy office campus, a festival gathering around a colorful teepee, bright blue lakes under a pristine mountain, and a conference gathering with distinguished speakers. A title moved across the page: “Envision the Future. Envision Your Choices. Envision the Earth for Everyone.” It was all quite attractive.

“You are their Control? Maggie and Graham?” I asked.

“I am now, but not for much longer, I’d bet.” She answered confidently. “Graham Gore is a gifted leader, and he is already well-regarded. I expect to be working for him sooner than later.”

“That is what happened before.” I insisted, my voice rising. “I’m not sure that it isn’t still happening. There's a Commander Gore in our time and also another, much higher-ranking one, in the future.”

“This is one reason why we need to consult with you directly, to determine what we think we know about the future.” Layla said this with all honesty. “I’ve been catching up on what happened to you and to them. Something different is happening now, but we don’t yet know what, or how, or why, or when, or who.”

“Here’s the situation though,” I told her, “I cannot swear that what I was told, by anyone, was the truth or elaborate lies to convince me to one action or the other.” Adela, my future self, told me about her life in the future. I had believed her then, but what evidence did I have? Only a few sentences about their lives from two other travelers from even a further future.

“We have some other sources of information.” said Layla. “And what we know will be shared with you. Our job offer for you is at an executive level.”

“Because of Adela.” I said. It wasn’t a question. “And Commander Gore.”

“No,” she replied softly. “Because of you. Any organization such as ours would be thrilled to hire someone with your knowledge and capacity. Not to mention Ministry training, exposure and experience. Someone like you is rare in the world.”

“Layla, that’s because the Ministry killed the other people who were trained like me.” Those were hard words to say, but they were true. “Who really sent me the package, the book and the photo?” Of course she knew about them. “Why was I brought here, now?”

“Oh, they did it, they really did. And they didn’t tell me about it until you contacted them last week. They figured out the postage, how to mail it, the whole thing. Tinder? That’s brilliant.” She gave me a humorous look. “Trust me, I could have figured out your mailing address.”

“Why now, Layla. What is happening now?”

“Because they love you! There is no reason why it must be now, unless someone living up north of here gave them a reason.” She was pondering. “When they told me about inviting you I had to tear up my schedule for two weeks, just threw it right out the window. Now that I think about it, there may have been a decision made elsewhere that they acted on. I don’t always know everything.”

“What did they tell you? About me?" I asked.

“Nothing. They tried lying and couldn’t get away with it. And then they said that they missed you too much and were very worried. And then they suggested that you were supposed to be here, with them, for what happens next. Anyway, I could never have faked a message like that. I’m a good admin, but not that good. I don’t even know what they said in the letter to you, they wouldn’t tell me.”

I looked out again into the lobby, a steady crowd of tourists moving through, taking in the elaborate decor. We could hear the dining room being set for lunch, in the distance someone was playing a piano. There was nothing to be afraid of, and I could not help being afraid.

“I saw the machine, Layla. I learned how they would throw a metal net to capture the expats and drag them through the time door. Graham shuddered when he talked about it. I learned what happened to people who were in their way. It could appear in this lobby at any moment and the people on the other side could throw a net and drag me, or you. Away. Forever. They don’t care who they kill to get their way.”

Layla touched my hand. She waited until I looked her in the eyes.

“That’s what they did. That’s what made them the villains. Your Ministry, grabbing people from the past to experiment on them. They failed. They did it more than once and they kept failing. How many people died? Died more than once? We have people who are watching the Ministry. Very closely. I am not worried about the machine today. But, it is smart that you are worried.”

Layla had deep brown expressive eyes with long lashes. Her dark brown curly hair was worn long around her shoulders. She was not quite European. Her short sleeve button up shirt was fashionable and modest. Her voice had a quiet accent and was not as Canadian as it could be. Her manner was genuine.

“You are Persian, yes?” I asked her. I had not said Iranian.

“Yes, of course.” She replied, glad to be moving to another topic. “I was born here in B.C., in a suburb of Vancouver. My parents were students in the Seventies during the Iranian Revolution. They stayed in Canada and officially emigrated. I’m the youngest of four daughters, so I was allowed to go to language school instead of medicine.” She laughed and I laughed right along with her.

“Persian, Arabic and ?” I asked,

“Yes, and all the ‘stans, Turkish and some Russian as well. University of Toronto and then post-graduate work in Germany. I worked for the State Department for a few years before being recruited.”

“And you are Baha’i?”

“Good on you!” Layla was impressed. “Not everyone makes that connection, or at least not until they come over for dinner and see my books.”

I had seen those books. My parents had friends who were Persian Baha’is. We had been to dinners when I was younger. There was always someone there who looked and sounded like Layla.

“Your people in Iran, I made sure to always keep up on their situation from the Persian Desk at the Ministry. It’s going to get worse for them before it gets better.”

“We know.” She nodded. “We have known this for a long time. We still have family there, they report back to us. It’s very hard for them, but they stay, they need to. Who will pick up the pieces afterwards, if not them? The Baha’is, you know, we believe in the future. We believe the world will be better in the future.”

“That’s a big ask, a hard burden to bear.” I was sympathetic, and why not. The Baha’is in Iran were being arrested, imprisoned, kept unemployed, dismissed from universities, their young people had to go overseas to go to college, they had no future in their own country, none.

Layla held her head up proudly. “There are Iranian Baha’is in nearly every country in the world. They are in every hospital as doctors. They provide dental and eye care in villages everywhere. They build schools, they nurture youth, they make platters of rice and they make friends. They are the original network.”

“So, all three sisters are doctors, then?” Layla and I laughed with our hands over our mouths so as not to attract attention. “And your parents know about this?” I motioned toward the entrancing slideshow still playing on her laptop: “Envision a New Way. Envision Cooperative Learning. Make Better Choices Together.”

“Well” she said, drawing out the word so that I could catch her meaning, “They know as much as they have decided they want to know. About my job and other aspects of my life.” I understood her to be referring to herself and Maggie. “You seem familiar?” She asked. I had surprised her.

“As you know,” I explained. “my mother is Cambodian. And Buddhist. As my father is not, he learned how to be comfortable with people of other religions. She enjoys being on the local interfaith council, as she was the first Buddhist they found. She was quite pleased to be told about the Baha’i Temple in Cambodia.”

“Oh that’s so sweet. My mother, the same! Oh, someday, if your family comes to visit you here, we will introduce them. I promise.” Layla said that so kindly, that I could see it in my mind, the Persian and Cambodian mothers together looking out over the harbor.

Without any warning, or text, our two beloved “free travellers" ambled into the lobby, acting nonchalant, while also being concerned about how long we were taking. Layla closed her computer as they brought up chairs to the table.

“I have been found out,” she told them. “We have been talking about our education and we have a lot in common, having both majored in languages. She’s learned more about me than I have about her.”

“That’s because you already have acquired my entire personal file, tests results and evaluations from the Ministry, I’m sure.” I looked her straight in the eye. She did a very good “who me?” face, and then an adorable side-eye. Maggie and Graham both chuckled.

I gave them all a stern once over, which Graham seemed quite pleased to experience.

“Are you going to show me these famous gardens now?” I asked. And with that Graham stood up happily, Maggie bounced a bit and Layla packed up her laptop. “I’m parked right outside”, she said. “Graham?” and she handed him the car keys.

Chapter Text

The Gardens

“Whenever did you learn to drive?” I asked him as we walked out the front door.

“Right away. I determined that in this huge country it was necessary.” He clicked the key button beside an expensive looking sedan, and opened the passenger side door for me while Maggie and Layla settled themselves into the back seat. “Layla was my driving instructor, I have a license!”

“Do you have your own car?” I asked, interested to think about what kind of car he might buy, and could afford.

“Not yet, because I ride my motorbike to work or my bicycle. This is more traffic than I’m used to, though, but we will be on the high road in a few minutes.” He turned his attention to the traffic, merging and turning as if he were sailing a boat in a river. “This way is a bit longer,” he said when turning off the main road, “but it is much more scenic.”

And it was, with lovely lanes and stands of trees, many homes with colorful gardens. He pointed out the bikeways beside the roads and we saw sheep, cattle, horses and llamas which was thrilling for everyone in the car.

“What time will we have lunch, I’m on the cafe reservation site”, said Layla from the back seat looking at her phone.

“One”, said Maggie, “otherwise too late for luncheon.”

“One-thirty," said Graham. “We are still half-an-hour away, there’s parking and getting in the gate. Is Thursday senior discount day, will there be many wheelchairs?”

“One-thirty it is,” Layla confirmed. “Everyone remember so we don’t have to hunt you down.”

It felt like a day trip with my three best friends, scenery going past, vacation meals being planned with cheerful anticipation, and how could this feel so normal with people who had been through so much? Is this how it worked being recruited, into an agency or a cult? It all felt too nice, too much fun, too easy, and too dangerous. I should not be feeling so happy, should I?

Graham was right, the parking lot was full, there were buses from senior centers, the line to get in was slow, but soon we were strolling through the lovely, elaborate, overwhelming gardens sculpted by a billionaire of his time. Maggie and Layla took their own path and soon Graham and I were walking alone, holding hands, following directional signs to the Cove.

“Are we safe here?” I asked. None of my Ministry training was proving useful in assessing our vulnerability. We were walking around a large park with hundreds of other people, many of them using mobility walkers.

“We are. I have made quite sure that we are and if you can’t see our security does not mean it’s not there. I would never put you in any danger I could ward against.” He sounded as stern as he was on the ferry, but he also wrapped my arm around his own and we kept strolling down the paths, Graham knowing exactly where he was going. It felt like the courtship he had always wanted. The Cove had a dock for boats, a charming boat house, and benches tucked in under the trees.

“Come here” he said, sly and soft, and pulled me sitting onto his lap as we sat on a bench. Several kisses later, my arms around his neck I rested against his chest, his arms wrapped around me.

“Is this where you took the photo of Maggie?” I asked, taking in the view.

“No, that’s on another island, which I will show you sometime.”

“In Alaska?”

“No, but that’s a good guess. I’m not yet keen on going much further north, I’ve had enough of ice and snow, enough for a good long time.”

He wrapped his arms around me again, tighter this time and spoke quietly, over my head.

“I have a warm, cozy place, not too far away from here. It is my own home. I have a job that keeps me busy. I have a bank account, with my own funds in it. Sweetheart, I also have a dog, I hope you don’t mind.”

I didn’t lift up my head from his chest, not yet. “I’m not at all surprised that you have a dog. I’m very happy to be your sweetheart.”

And then I made myself stand up and sit back down on the bench. I took his hand, and began the conversation that was patiently waiting for us.

“Layla has made me a job offer. You and Maggie have offered me a choice. The consequences of time travel remain dangerous somehow. We are traveling “under cover” and you most certainly are carrying a gun. Despite all the ways I harmed you, and the Ministry harmed you, I am being offered a whole new life. Which means that I have quite a value here and I need for you to spell it out for me.”

I could see Graham struggling not to go into officer mode. He stood up and paced a bit in front of the bench while I sat and watched. He thought for a moment longer and began his argument.

“You have every reason to be suspicious of these circumstances. It does seem as if we were in a novel and Maggie has watched all the spy films to make sure that we were doing this correctly.” He offered a smile, and I smiled back.

“This organization, movement, gathering, is not a company or a corporation. It is an emergency rescue squadron. People are working together in the hope that we can save ourselves. When it was first funded and organized there was not a knowledge of time travel. This happened later, it happened to us, and to others we now know. It also happened to us that we loved each other. The first time with Adela and Admiral Gore. And then again with you and me. It’s not mysterious, people fall in love. And, of course, I loved you.”

At this point he was one knee in front of me and holding both my hands and now I had my tears and so did he. I wiped his with my thumbs, and he kissed mine away.

“Layla can tell you how many ways you are qualified for any work they want to offer. We can talk about it at lunch, Maggie is so eager to tell you of her film studies. It’s a large organization, Little Cat. We can be useful, we can be heroic and save the world, and we can also have our own home, together. If that’s what you would like to do.”

I gave him the kiss he was waiting for, and nodded my head like a Jane Austen heroine, and held his face in my hands, and kissed him some more. And then I began making my choices.

“It’s time for lunch.” I said standing up and bringing him up from the ground with me. “And we will hear what Layla and Maggie have to say. And then you will show me this house, and I will ask some questions of these people, and learn the secret that you are keeping from me, which can wait. And then Graham Gore, you will have to figure out a way to meet my parents.”

Nothing I could have said would have made my nineteenth century suitor happier. As we quickstepped it back to the restaurant he was happily muttering about arranging airfares, what time of year would be best, he would need a new suit of course, would my mother allow him to cook for her?

Layla and Maggie were waiting and despite there being a line at the door, we were ushered into a semi-private room. I asked Layla a question about this with my eyes, did everyone on Vancouver Island know her? She leaned in and said,

“A lot of people do know me here, we host many events and gatherings, conferences, special talks, and I have a credit card of a certain color that gets me pretty much whatever I want.”

Drinks were ordered all around, large platters of grilled fish and fresh vegetables and I was taught that chips were called “French Fries” here or just fries and no one could explain why. And when coffee and ridiculous slices of cakes appeared I turned to Maggie and said,

“Graham and Layla have taken their turns. Now it is your turn to recruit me for your project, amaze me!”

Maggie beamed. “Thou knowest that I am in classes at a film school. A whole department of people are learning about how films are made and written. Who pays the funds, who writes the play, who directs the actors, who sews the clothing?”

“People learn about the world with more heart from hearing stories, such as in films. This is why it calls to me so clearly. I can write out a receipt for cooking a dish, or I can film Dame Julia Child to show how to cook a dish. The heartfelt learning is from Dame Julia to me, though I may also have it writ out on a page.”

“If we are to save the world. If we are to survive the climate emergency, then stories for television and films and on mobile phones will help encourage good choices.”

This was her “elevator speech” carefully conceived and delivered with verve and feeling. I was thoroughly convinced.

“This sounds wonderful, but I don’t know much about how films are made. What can I do to help with a project like this?”

Maggie looked disappointed, as if she had missed a point in her presentation, and she even waited a minute to see if I would catch on. And then I did.

“Oh, with languages.” She nodded furiously. “Making sure that the films are translated correctly, using the right contemporary words and phrases. Words with the right emotional power, but also, empowering and inspiring. Not with guilt, with encouragement.”

“And there we are.” Layla looked triumphant. “If you read that job description, would you be interested? Would you want to learn more, would you apply?” All three of them leaned in towards me, with eager faces. I took another bite of my multi-layered cake and let the moment hold a bit.

“Yes, of course I would.” All three of them settled back in their seats with broad smiles, drank their iced teas, ate their cake, gleefully. They were all “I told you so” with each other, congratulatory even.

“I do know that there’s more to this. We are not sneaking around just to talk about making climate emergency educational films. But this is good enough to tell my parents about. And to consider moving to Vancouver, and I will do a job interview, that’s an easy choice to make.” And it was.

The Gift Shop

“Do you enjoy gift shops?” Layla asked as she steered me towards a building that was decorated with all things gardening and flowers. Countless books, cards, umbrellas, colorful blooms and birds to hang in windows, magnets, playing cards, posters, paintings and rugs. All irresistible.

“Of course I do,” I replied, “everyone does. So many beautiful things to buy and you can leave with just a magnet and be happy.”

She led me to the spinning rack of postcards with glowing images of flower beds and the fountains which I had not seen. I had eyes for only one person and everything else around us was a colorful blur. That person was now looking through silk scarves printed with every shade and shape of flower.

“Let’s pick out a postcard to send to your folks, shall we? They will also sell you a stamp here, and there’s a post box.” Layla was giving me a signal, it took me a minute to get it.

“Ah, a postcard for my parents, a timestamp. So that they, and anyone else will know where I was on this date.”

She chose an especially lovely postcard that had the name of the garden spelled out in ornamental letters. She paid cash at the register, and when they could not find the postage stamps for sale, she dug one out of her purse along with a pen. Behind me Graham and Maggie were holding items of clothing up against my back, including scarves of different colors, tee shirts, embroidered jackets, comparing them and vetoing each other’s choices. They were ridiculous and adorable. Layla and I were trying hard to keep our composure.

Dear Mum and Dad,

I am visiting the city of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada! Surely you have heard of these incredible gardens. I had lunch with friends and we will be exploring the Island, visiting parks and giant trees, maybe even go camping. I am feeling better and some language friends from school have asked me to visit them as well. I will let you know when I’m on the way home, but it might be a while, I’m having fun.

All my love

“Very good, just right.” Said Layla who put on the stamp and walked the card directly to the post box outside the doorway. As Graham and Maggie walked out, with a bag of purchases, I asked if he still had my cell phone. He dug it out of a jacket pocket and handed it to me and I turned it on.

All three of them hesitated as I did so.

“I am making a choice now.” I told them. “I am going to stand in front of this giant pot of flowers, with this sign for the garden, and one of you will take my photo so that I can send it to my parents. If I’m about to go undercover, or underground, or off the grid, I’d like for them to see me happy.”

I handed my phone to Maggie with the camera turned on. Graham came up to me with a long sheer peach colored scarf, with imprints of berry blossoms. He smiled as he placed it around my neck and tied it loosely, very pleased with himself. Layla stepped up and arranged it much better around my shoulders and took off the price tag. Maggie took a lovely photo with me smiling shyly. And they all watched over my shoulder as I texted it to my father, and my sister. It was the middle of the night on the other side of the world, they would see it when they woke up. I turned off the phone and handed it back to Graham and he tucked it back into his pocket.

He looked fondly at the three women with him, his lover, his best friend, and his control. And said with his officer voice:

“The tide turns at seven tonight. The crew will be waiting on the boat, we just have time to stop at the hotel and pack up. Do we need to make any stops before we get in the car?” We all did.

Walking back into our hotel attic apartment suite, Maggie went into the kitchen to empty the refrigerator. I was told to pack everything, including what had been purchased for my use. I also tucked the chicken pillow into my bag. Graham emerged from his room with what looked like a seabag. Maggie had changed into reasonable shoes. Layla was washing up the dishes. They looked like a well-organized team of operatives, while I was standing around waiting to be told what to do. Layla smiled at me and knew what I was thinking.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “Your turn is coming. You’ve had a lot to process, it’s only been one day. And, there are lots of chores on the boat.”

Chapter Text

The Sailing Yacht

The hotel whistled up a taxi for us. Graham gave the keys to the car to a bellman. I thought we were going back to the ferry dock, but instead we pulled up at a large boat basin with pleasure boats of every size, from sailboats to motor boats to yachts. It was not a long walk to an extraordinarily sleek sailboat, practically a schooner. As soon as she was in sight a dog onboard started barking and bouncing on the deck. Two crewmen waved and let down a set of stairs. We were not sneaking aboard then.

“Welcome aboard Captain” they called from the deck, “Hello Miss Maggie, hello Miss Layla. Hand us those bags, down Sargeant.”

The dog was a mixed breed with a lot of retriever and beyond excited to see us. I looked to see if the boat had a clever name painted on the stern. It did not. Graham bodily handed me up the stairs to the crewmen, and they caught me on either side. “Welcome aboard Miss, glad to meet you!”

“Graham, this is your boat? You are the captain of this beautiful boat? And this is your dog?”

I was dumbfounded. I thought Graham was now in the private car business, and instead he was a captain of the most glamorous sailboat I had ever seen. The dog was overjoyed to welcome me.

Graham was speaking to the dog. “Down Sargeant. Good Boy. This is our lady! She is happy to make your acquaintance. To me. Try again. Be good!”

“I told you I was in transport.” He glowed with pride, patting his dog to hide his delight at my surprise. He moved the dog to stand at his side and handed out a treat. “We are still in training. His courtesy will improve.”

When he stood up again he looked two inches taller and his face was completely open. “This is how we get around the islands, and quickly in and out of the coastal cities. She is also a diplomat, which is why she is so elegant. The wind does most of the work but she has fine engines as well. When we go up to the wheelhouse, I’ll show you my ratings. I don’t have them all yet, but progress is being made.”

Maggie was already in the stunning galley kitchen putting away groceries and Layla was laying out paperwork on a table. They were making themselves conspicuously busy. Graham turned me towards the crewmen. They were quite clearly brothers or cousins, with strong black hair worn long, a golden color to their skin and dark eyes. I was about to meet my first Native Americans.

“May I introduce my mates, Kyle and Grant. They are Coastal Salish. As you can tell, they are cousins, their families live north of here. Their tribal council appointed them to work with Envision. They made the choice to sail with me. They sail this boat, smaller craft, and have taken me out to sea in a long canoe. They are also trained in security.”

Both of the men, closer to my age than to Graham's, were looking at me closely.

“Pardon me for asking, I’m Kyle, I have the mustache so you can tell us apart. Are we related, sister?”

I flushed a little and was complimented at the same time.

“My mother is Cambodian, which is near Thailand and Laos. Although we are all related and I also see a resemblance, Cambodia is very far away from here.”

It was their turn to blush, and Grant, with the earring I saw, said,

“Not so far way to the west of us, Miss. Not far away at all. We are honored to be on your mission and would be interested to hear your language. You should know, my BA is in Geography. Kyle’s is in Marine Biology.”

Before I could sink right through the deck, Graham said “let’s stow you away before we tour the ship. Watch your step, ceilings are low, we all eat together in the lounge here, looks like Maggie has a start on dinner, we do take turns cooking. We can sleep twelve passengers if necessary, there are six private berths, the crew has their own quarters below, the bathrooms are here and here and the captain’s quarters are here at the back. If you would like to see them . .”

He ushered me through and closed the door behind us. It was our first private moment of the whole day. Yesterday I had arrived in Victoria Harbor on a ferry boat from Seattle, today I was leaving on a private sailing yacht. Honestly, I was no longer surprised at anything by now.

I saw my backpack placed on the bed.

“You have a choice here as well.” Graham was holding my face in his hands. “You can stay in here with me, or have a room of your own.” I couldn’t answer right away as we were kissing, his hands stroking my back, mine at his neck and shoulders.

“I don’t know,” I quietly answered. “How long is this voyage, exactly?” He was carefully folding my new scarf and tucking it away on a shelf with netting.

“Not long enough, this time.” He whispered. “We don’t have to rush though, we can enjoy the views.” He had unbuttoned my shirt, and also folded it up carefully and tucked it in with the scarf.

“But, really, only a full day this time. We will watch whales.” He was kissing all the way down my neck, around my neck, around my breasts, his hands circling my waist, his fingers slipping under the waistband of my pants. “We can count the eagles and wave to the fishing boats and buy a fresh salmon right out of the ocean.”

My talkative lover had his hand down the front of my pants, was kissing me deeply and giving me a travelogue. I was just getting to his belt when bells started sounding over an intercom. And then the engines started running.

He gently set me down, quickly buttoned-up his shirt, kissed me again, and said, “Time to shove off and navigate through the harbor. We should be over the bar before dinner. Come up to the wheelhouse when you’re dressed.”

After catching my breath and putting my clothes back together, I enjoyed exploring the captain's cabin, with clever storage, a well-used desk, reference books and charts, a full closet including storm gear and a bed that wasn’t a single, but not very much larger. I used the tiny bathroom and put on a light sweater. Before I went out to help Maggie with dinner I took the chicken pillow out of my bag and placed it on the bed.

The Choice

Maggie’s dinner was progressing nicely. “Truly, it is easy to do. The market near the harbor hath excellent greens, already washed. This Italian green sauce is already made, the pasta is also newly made and cooks up quickly. They have RED carrots, and tasty they are. Lay out the sliced meats and cheeses, slice the loaf and thy meal is complete. Tis wonderful to shop in Victoria.”

“Please tell me you don’t make every meal.” I pleaded. I was slicing red and purple carrot sticks. Maggie loved salami and I was slicing that as well. The pesto was from a local farm on Vancouver Island. It was going to be a very good dinner.

“Oh no. We agreed early to share out this task. Layla will make her Persian rice if we beg, with the dainty green beans in it. Then she makes the egg plant and we clean our plates. The cousins will buy a fish off the dock or a fishing boat and they roast it on the grill in the corner there. Gray likes to cook chops, mostly lamb and they know him at the butcher now, so the choicest chops are put aside for him.”

“Does everyone know you in Victoria?” I asked her, “It seems like you were greeting friends all day yesterday?”

“Ah, well. We do stop over often. And take groups on this boat. And we don’t go far from the harbor, the better to make sail quickly, when we are called. And here is what we have learned, it is easier for people to make good choices, when first they are your friends.”

“Maggie, this language about choices, all of you have used it, all day long.” I didn’t want to call it strange, although it was very strange. “It sounds like . . . prayers, like a religion.”

She looked at me with a merry face. “We do often talk with religious people, some of them from far places in the world to be sure. The language of choices can be used by people of odd religions.” She stopped to consider her language. “When the religious people want to talk to each other, they yearn for a common language. Film helps with that I think.”

“Ah, I agree with that thinking. A unique language gives everyone an equal place in a discussion then?”

“Layla would say, a consultation.” She nodded her head in Layla’s direction, where she was wearing headphones and tapping urgently on her keyboard. “Do you understand about her religion?”

“Yes, my parents had friends.”

“Good,” Maggie interrupted me, “please sit by me one day and explain it. I become confused.”

We were chuckling when Layla took off her headphones and closed her laptop to put it away.

“My mother’s aunt says that it is her brother-in-law's family who live near your folks, the Naraghi family.”

Maggie nearly choked, and I was astonished. “Yes, that’s who they are I remember now, quite nice neighbors, always have something going on.” I turned to look firmly at her, “Will my parents be offered choices now?”

“You can decide.” Layla promised. “Consider that they would like to hear about the sister-in-law’s niece who has a daughter who made friends with you in British Columbia.”

“They would love that, of course.”

Our marvelous ship had motored out of the harbor and was weaving around larger and smaller islands, just as we had seen on the ferry from Seattle. One sail was up, with the engines doing most of the work. The sun was lower in the sky, and we were heading towards a smaller island, one of several in sight from the galley windows.

“They are getting ready to weigh anchor in the cove for the night.” Maggie told me. “Walk up those stairs to see them do it and then bring them down for dinner.”

I dried my hands, and made my way out the door of the galley and up the small outer stair that went up to the top, where the wheelhouse would be. Graham and Kyle were there, Graham at the wheel, Kyle reading a screen that looked like sonar. Grant was at the prow of the boat where we could see him at the anchor station and it was Kyle who shouted “away” for him to let it drop. We were in a small cove, nestled in a way that was out of sight from the channel through the islands. I didn’t see a beach, huge trees came down to the water.

Graham reached out for me and set me between himself and the wheel. “We will scan the shore for a few minutes to see if there’s any driftwood that’s floated in since we were here last. There’s not much of a tide around an island this small, but a log too large could damage our vessel.” His voice, explaining this was calm and sure, pleasing and precise.

Kyle had walked out on the deck with a pair of large binoculars and was scanning the shore methodically. Grant was doing the same.

“What do you see?” Graham asked softly in my ear.

I looked over my shoulder to speak to his face, “A sailing Captain who has the most beautiful boat in the whole world. I didn’t think this is what you meant by transport.”

He kissed my ear. “Well, yes. She is elegant because she has her own job to do. She is a sailing yacht and I am her Master, most of the time. The cousins sometimes will bring her around if I’m busy elsewhere and there is another captain available if I am busy. They also take her out to do science. She first belongs to a technology brother. He owns her, she is on loan to my employer. The university also has use of her, for students in marine biology and geography. I have a much smaller boat of my own and if you like, I’ll teach you how to sail her.”

“We will see about that.” I looked over his shoulder and gasped, “Are these your certificates?” Framed on the back wall were pilot licenses for both Graham and Kyle. I turned to look him in the eye. “How? Has it even been six months? How do you have this ship, how do you even have this paperwork? There’s something you are not telling me.” It was not an accusation, just a matter of fact.

“I am not telling you yet.” He was assured about this. “It is not a mystery, and I promise I will tell you. And, I hear the dinner bell.” Which Maggie was clanging below decks.

Layla had laid the table and was opening bottles of Italian sparkling water. Which was a choice for sure. The men washed up, and as the six of us stood around the table she filled up metal drinking cups and began to speak. It seems that she was the senior person present, even if Graham was captain of the sailing yacht.

“Usually we fill our plates at the counter, but this is a special night and we dine as the family that we are. We have been joined by a new friend, a visitor from lands across another ocean who has landed on our shores. She is welcomed. She is beloved. She is befriended. She is safe with us.”

This was unexpected. So much of this was unexpected. They all raised cups of . . . sparkling water, and toasted me, and welcomed me aboard.

“Many thanks for this kind welcome” I blushed, “And I would praise this ship fulsomely, but I cannot tell her name?”

All eyes went to Graham, his eyes were sparkling. “She is The Choice.”

Plates were passed and pasta was dished up. I had my first spinach pasta, which was not terrible. I learned that if the passenger cabins were full there would be a crew of six. Because many wealthy people lived between Seattle and the city of Vancouver voyages were scheduled for private meetings. The Choice was kept busy and there were rotating captains and crew. Kyle’s mother was mentioned as someone who was indispensable, and when I asked why a fridge magnet was passed to me that said “Sparkle Up Your Boat.” She had a cleaning business in Friday Harbor that employed a dozen members of their family.

“We pass these out by the handful and my mom has a client waiting list.” Kyle told me.

“You should know,” confided Grant, “that my Aunt Naomi considers Graham as another son. She will be looking you over very closely.”

There were wide smiles around the boat at Graham, with his face in the palms of his hands.

“I will need an lesson,” He looked at Kyle closely, “on what is expected of me in this regard?” Kyle and Grant were gleeful with promises for extensive conversations on the topic.

“I know you might have been expecting a more interesting drink” said Graham as we were washing up, “but we as a crew decided that our sailing would be alcohol-free, the better for any quick decisions we might need to make. The cousins come from a sober family, and there’s Layla’s religion as well. We can have a glass of wine together soon.”

“Ah. Yes. That sounds smart and thoughtful.” I was opening all the doors and drawers of the galley to see how cleverly the dishes and cookware were stowed. “You are also not smoking?” I pointed to the elegant “No Smoking” sign posted at the door.

“No. We had a longer voyage where there was no tobacco on board and I had to go without. Not for the first time, and when we arrived I was offered a “patch” and that kept me from dying of desire.” His look was about more than tobacco.

Graham lowered his voice, “Do you understand about her religion? With a quick glance at Layla.”

“Does she not answer your questions, because Maggie asked the same?” He looked embarrassed. “Yes, I do understand.” I told him. “The three of us, you, Maggie and me, will have a lesson one day, and then Layla will be pleased to tell us more.” I was exasperated and my hands ended up on my hips. “This is what the Internet is for, you could look all this up if you really wanted to.”

Graham reached into a small closet for a mop and began to earnestly clean the floor. “You do know that you are very good at explaining,” he said to the floor.

We watched the sun set. Maggie handed out a mango raspberry sorbet to die for. The cousins retired to the crew quarters to play video games. Maggie set up a film on a huge TV in the main lounge for her and Layla to watch. I could barely keep my eyes open.

“Come Little Cat, time to tuck you in.” Graham led me by the hand like a child. This morning I had woken up in maid’s quarters on a busy harbor, tonight I was on a luxurious sailing yacht in an island cove. He had been with me, every moment of the day. My happy heart was too big for my body.

Sharing a little room, getting ready for bed, we already knew how to do this. We had done so for weeks last year, and routines had developed: who used the bathroom first, who turned off the lights and checked the lock on the front door. I had brought with me a soft white sleeveless summer shift that he liked and his smile was wide when I came out of the bathroom with it on.

He enfolded me in his arms and then lightly turned me around so that I could lean against him, back to front. On his working desk in the corner sat a little paper bag, a gift bag, such as one would buy in a museum gift shop.

“You already gave me a present,” I protested. I have not brought you anything.”

“You brought yourself. You walked into the unknown and brought yourself to me. It is the very best gift.” He reached over, picked up the pretty little bag and handed it to me. Inside was tissue, and then a small white box, and inside that was a small ring. It didn’t have a stone, instead it was a circle of flowers, in a clever metal design with subtle colors, just the right size for my hand, not too small, not too large.

I didn’t usually wear rings, they always looked too large on me. No one in my life had ever given me a ring. Graham took it from me, sweetly spun me around again to face him, formally bowed and kissed my hand.

“I believe you received a proposal of marriage from me today.”

“Yes. I did. I said yes. I’m sure I did.”

“Will you wear this little ring then, until we choose another one together?” His heart was in his eyes, his face was soft. His words were courtly. He tried it on the ring finger where it was a bit too large and moved it to the next finger where it fit just right. He lifted my chin with his hand and kissed me as if it were a promise, a seal of our promise.

“I will. It is beautiful and perfect, and I will. I put my hands around his neck and kissed him. And yet, he was still fully clothed. “Are you coming to bed?” I asked.

“I’m putting you into bed. And then I need to put my ship to bed, make sure all are safe, check the weather report, see that the stove is off, all those things I don’t have a third lieutenant to do for me.” He kissed me again, led me to the bed and literally lifted the covers so that I would climb in, which I did. “I will be back within the hour.” He promised.

“As if I could sleep after all that romance.” I joked. And closed my eyes and immediately went to sleep.

Chapter Text

The Secret

Graham Gore, late of the Royal Navy, walked down the narrow crew quarters hallway to find his dog, who was curled up into his bed in the little crew galley.

Behind him in the captain’s quarters and safely sleeping, was the woman he loved, secure, on his own ship. He was amazed and confounded that the Lord God had done this for him. He had been brought back from the dead to help save the future and also have happiness? There was no explaining it. He could not help but think that having a pipe to smoke would be an aid to understanding.

Sergeant was pretending not to be guarding the bedroom door, as if a dog could be nonchalant. Much praise was given, because he was a very good dog, noble and patient. Learning to love new people was a big job, he was doing so well. Maggie would be down soon Graham promised, everyone else would be going to bed soon.

Graham walked quietly up the gangway stair so as not to disturb Layla and Maggie cuddled in front of their film. He continued back to the stern and found Kyle and Grant together on the drop where the tiny tender with the outboard motor was. Between them was a complex water testing kit, with digital readout, a bluetooth directly to their laptops set further away from the water.

“Testing, testing,” he teased and knelt down to watch the lead they were slowly dropping into the water.

“The water temperature now. We will lay down the net a little later, and check the size of the crabs” said Kyle, wearing his scientist demeanor.

“Thank you for your gracious welcome today. It was nicely done.”

“You are very welcome Graham, wait until she comes to the reservation for the potlatch,” said Kyle. “The aunties are already beading for her.”

“Do the aunties know something I do not?” Graham did not believe that these kinds of welcome happened for everyone’s girlfriend.

“Yes, they do, but because it’s women’s knowing, we may never get a clue.” Grant told him. “We got a call on the radio. We have a passenger to pick up in Nanaimo tomorrow.”

“Oh?” Graham was asking cautiously.

“Yep, the Big Man was up in the villages doing some consultations there. I heard he might be. Anyway, he says it’s okay to take the ship out for a sail, but he needs to be onboard before sunset and then we have to skip right back to the San Juans.”

Graham sighed. “I had hoped for a day.”

Kyle was steadily pulling up the ocean thermometer to download data. There was a quiet bitterness to his voice as he looked at Graham to speak directly. “That day is gone now, amigo. That day has been gone for a long while now. We didn’t know when it had passed us, it didn’t tell us at the time. It’s “no time to waste” territory now. For the rest of our lives.”

“I will leave you to it then.” Graham nodded to them both. He checked the oven and the stove. He saw that his ladies had gone to bed. The weather tomorrow would be fine. He had been told, and now he was learning, that October weather in the Pacific Northwest was very fine, indeed.

It was just about an hour when Graham returned to the captain’s cabin. He opened and closed the door softly. He quietly took off his clothes and set them on a shelf in the closet. He brushed his teeth. When he climbed into bed with her, she was holding her arms out for him, still mostly asleep. He had settled into to sleep as well, when she rolled over on top of him and stretched out along the length of his body.

He wrapped his arms around her. They both sighed with happiness. She moved her hands to his chest, lifted up with her arms and looked him in the face.

“When will you tell me the secret?” she asked him. “It is about me, isn’t it?”

“Ah.” He spoke softly. “You hope to get me talking, clever cat. I cannot tell thee now. This is not the time to know and worry about it.”

“Why is there a secret?” She asked. She spoke into his chest. “Why must there be secrets?”

“Do not push.” He scolded her so that she would know he was serious. He also knew she would like it when he did. “If you push I cannot speak to thee at all, and you being my bride.”

“Graham,” she whispered. “You are a secret.”

“Yes. This you already know.” He stopped her mouth with a kiss.

“And Maggie is a secret.” She asked next.

“Yes, she is. And who else?” he replied.

“I am a secret. I am the mission. Just as you told me on the ferry.”

“You are my mission.” He was insistent. “I will keep you safe. The secret will be told. But for now it is time for sailing, and for loving, and for being happy together, just like this. And, like this, and like this.” She encouraged further suggestions of how to express their happiness. She had some ideas of her own. After much creative happiness she lay her head on his shoulder and rested herself on him, a blissful relaxation. He wrapped his arms around her from shoulder to hip and lay her down beside him so that he could look at her face.

“Tomorrow we sail, and we rest. We deserve a restful day. We will look for the blackfish, we can count the eagles. The cousins will buy us a salmon off a fishing boat and cook it for us and we will feast. We will sit in the sun and wear sunscreen. I will make you a smoothie drink with that sorbet in the fancy blender. We will sleep again, and then the next day we will arrive at our destination and there will be introductions and meetings, and, oh god powerpoints. We will have to wear badges.”

His voice sounded a little sad and now she understood. They would have a day, one day. A sailing day.

“May I turn the wheel a little bit?” She asked him.

“We can let out all the sails if the wind is fair, and then you will see how my ship can fly,” He answered

She turned so that he could wrap his arms around her, and this time they both slept through the night.

Chapter Text

Friday in Nanaimo

The loving, the sea air, the movement of the boat gave me a deep, restful sleep. Graham brought in tea and a pastry when I was still in bed.

“There’s no rush, take your time, we will sail all day.” He said with a kiss.

When I came out later wearing my new sundress, it was like a beautiful dream. The sails were out, lush green islands were slipping past, birds were in the skies, other boats were on the water and sometimes horns sounded and the people aboard them waved from a distance. Sergeant paid close attention, with an occasional polite bark that was often returned by other dogs on other boats.

Graham and Grant were sitting together and Grant was tapping on his phone. Kyle was at the wheel.

“If we come into the channel before noon, they have a catch for us." Grant reported. "They promise a treat.”

I refilled my tea and lifted an eyebrow in question.

“Cousins are on the water,” he explained. They will toss up a salmon to us, straight from the sea. The treat might be an octopus.”

“Calamari!” Layla cheered.

Then she and Maggie saw my little ring and the screaming commenced. We had a fine time admiring and cooing and teasing. Graham stood apart watching, not knowing if he should be proud or embarrassed. Grant looked over politely and smiled. “Those colored flowers will match nicely with what my aunties are making for you.” He looked over at Graham, “They are very happy for you both.”

“Really, Friend,” Graham’s voice was a little harsh, “Must the whole coast know my business?”

“Yes, sir.” Grant’s answer was pointed. “If you ask the entire nation to act as rescue rangers when people show up with weird weapons and metal nets, then everyone has to know.”

Layla, Maggie and I were now paying very close attention. At the mention of “metal nets” Maggie and I reached out and embraced each other.

“Everyone must know,” Grant went on, “Because that’s a hard lesson we learned long ago.” He turned to me, despite Graham trying to wave him off. He explained, carefully: “If the Star Trek villains had shown up, if Graham was killed or captured, we were to grab you up and stuff you in a fishing boat that was waiting with a full tank. You would have been taken far up the sound, as fast as we could go, and dropped off in a camp that’s not on the maps. The aunties would have had charge of you after that, upstream into camps that most men don’t know about, much less White men. The only people we would have returned you to were Maggie, Layla, or the Big Man. Otherwise, you would have been digging roots, and liking it, for a long time.”

Grant was speaking matter-of-factly. Layla was a little stunned, Graham was looking out to sea while drinking coffee. I looked at Maggie, “What about Maggie though?” Because now I was afraid. We would never leave Maggie behind, would we?

She looked at me sweetly and with perfect calm said “I would be with Graham. We have not told you all, not yet.”

“Tonight,” said Graham, “We can do that tonight.” He cast a different kind of look at Grant. “And?”

“And, our orders stand. Everyone is ready if action needs to be taken.”

Here I am coming out to have a nice sailing yacht breakfast and now I’m looking at Grant wondering if he was going to throw me into a fishing boat at any minute. “You and Kyle are rescue rangers now?”

“We are scientists who sail this part of the world on the regular, so we are rescuing people all the time.” He held out his hands in a shrug, “It’s part of the job. The Choice is a science vessel most of the time. See all the instruments on the mast, they are not standard issue. We work closely with the university, and often have training sails for students. Captain Gore is now the Master on some of these trips. He has a few more months to sail and a few more exams to take, but that’s only a matter of time.”

“This ship hosts VIP tours each summer and Kyle and I act as mates. Lately both Captain Gore and Miss Maggie have given talks about the changes they have seen in the planet over the centuries and people believe they are the very best actors. The VIPs think they are going to have a booze party on a fancy yacht and then Kyle gives them the marine biology lecture. I give them the population and refugee data lecture. And then the Big Man gives them their deadlines to make a difference or make a plan.”

Layla joined in, “We invite people to the VIP cruise who are attending conferences and special meetings. They think they are going to see whales. Instead we show them the garbage coves. By the time they disembark they are ready for the serious talks. They start calling their accountants.”

“Who? Who is this Big Man?” I asked.

“My boss,” said Layla. “I am his administrative assistant. And I have to tell him about the fishing boat, Graham.”

“Our direct report.” Said Grant, who shrugged. “He set up the Marine Science Division for Envision and asked the tribes to send students to apply for scholarships at the university. After we graduated, he hired us.”

“He’s a lovely man.” said Maggie. “He has always been nice to me and arranged tutors for my schooling. He hasn’t told me this exactly, but I think that he is a king.”

I looked over at Graham, who was in a reverie. “He is my very good friend. On the second day I was here, he took me to a shelter to choose my dog. And Layla, I will tell him about the fishing boat.”

Kyle’s voice sounded on the speakers from the helm “Fishing boat coming up alongside port. It’s Chester and sons.”

Both Graham and Grant moved up forward to left, Graham with a large net on a pole, closely supervised by Sargeant. A small fishing boat, nets tucked up in its mast carefully came alongside, with three smiling faces looking up and waving.

“Hello Sargeant!” There were many happy barks in greeting. “Hello Miss Maggie and Miss Layla. Hello Miss Bridge! Our grandmothers send greetings. All we have is a fish and a squid!”

Graham and Grant lowered their net and expertly caught a gorgeous salmon and a netted bundle. Their smiles were cheerful with many thanks and good wishes. A solid waterproof plastic box was lowered down with care and gracefully received. With whistles and toots of the ship's horn the small boat slipped safely away from the larger ship's wake.

“That was well done!” I told Layla.

“It’s well practiced. The VIPs love a fish right out of the sea. Kyle then tells them how much longer they have to eat a fish like that.”

“What was in the box?” I asked.

“Oh, they sent us a shopping list. Graham likes putting together a box for them. He always sends something to the aunties. Let’s sit over here for a minute and I’ll tell you about the rest of the day.” She led me to a deck chair while the fish was being squared away.

“We got word last night that Poyer, my boss, is in Nanaimo. We will be picking him up before dinner. As he likes to do, he will have short meetings with us in groups. He is eager to meet you and, I believe, is ready to tell you some things. Maggie is right, he is royalty and he is large. That’s because he is Samoan. Oh, and that’s not his real name, Poyer is his “call sign.”

Graham looked around the corner. “Are you ready to sail?” Layla let out a squeal and ran around to sit inside the lounge. He looked at me with a gleeful invitation. “You need shoes, not sandals and may want a windbreaker.” I could feel the engines running harder as the boat turned away from headlands and the islands.

I dashed down into the crew cabins to put on some more clothing and I heard Maggie calling Sargeant to come sit by her. She held up a bagel for me as I dashed past and up the stairs and into the wheelhouse.

All three men were there, Kyle at the wheel, Graham at the sonar, Grant getting the weather, tides and waves by looking at a digital map that showed only ocean. There was a little bench for me on the back wall.

In front of us was a video screen that showed a schematic of the ship, the mast and the sails. Kyle gently turned the boat into the wind and tapped on the keyboard. One by one, sails unfurled on the screen and then unfurled in front of us, above us, behind us. I heard the engine sounds slowing as Graham pulled down a throttle. Another adjustment of the wheel and the whole ship lifted higher in the water. Another screen was showing speed, the numbers of knots rolling higher.

“Where are we?" I asked. The electronic map was narrowed to give an overhead view. “That’s Vancouver Island," pointed Graham, “and this dot in the ocean is us. We are on the sea roads going north, we may see whales, we may see other ships.”

“Helm is ready, Captain,” Kyle said in a perfectly normal voice for someone flying a ship. “Taking the helm.” Said Graham moving his arms over to the wheel so that now he was flying the boat. The three of them reported instruments, speeds, and currents to each other. “Whale pod!” one of them cried and pointed starboard. The others changed sails and tilted the ship slightly the better to see them. “Whales at two o’clock.” Kyle said into the speakers for Maggie and Layla.

“What family?” asked Grant pointing at the pod of Orcas. Kyle had grabbed a digital camera and was taking photos and video. Graham was sailing to match the speed of the whales, who were traveling with determination through the water. I couldn't tell if they minded the ship or not. They seemed to take a hard right though after looking us over closely. The ship was not going as fast when Graham reached back for me and put me between him and the wheel. He moved my hands so that they felt the power of the sails. I leaned against him so that I could feel his shoulders and arms at the wheel.

“The ship itself knows what to do.” He said into my ear. “The computer can measure the wind and the current and turn the sails by degrees. She is my servant, I am her master. I am the one who tells her where to go. She obeys my command, turns where I tell her, stops at the port of my choice. We could take her around the world if we liked. On my cruiser twenty-five men would have been up in the sails, on the masts, pulling on the ropes. The sounds of the winds in the sails could make you deaf. On a night watch I would take a turn at the great wheel when in command.”

“Where would we go, Graham?” I spoke so only he could hear me. “Because I’m not keen on going upstream to pick berries and roots.”

“Today, we go to Nanaimo.” He had a smile in his voice. “Tomorrow south, back to the San Juan Islands. After that, time will tell.”

Sun, sky, water and whales, wind, sails, two friends beside us prepared for any danger we might meet. How does it happen that fear can turn into wonder, a new life of generosity and grace?

Gradually the ship slowed to a sailing speed that allowed for going back down the stairs. I took my uneaten bagel with me and joined Maggie and Layla on the lounge sofas still holding onto Sargeant for dear life. We watched the sails above us through the skylight, the blue sky and sun peeking through light gray clouds. For a long time, no one talked. Maggie reached her arms around me on the wide sofa, and kissed me lightly on the cheek.

“Maggie?” I asked her quietly. “When did you and Layla get together?”

“Oh!” Maggie was surprised, “You are the first friend to have asked.”

“No? Graham hasn’t asked?”
“No he has not.” She assured me.
“Kyle or Grant?”
“They are very polite to us.” Which was true.
“Mr. Poyer?”
“Not a word.” said Layla, eyes still closed and cuddled up with a blissful Sargeant.

“Here is how it was.” said Maggie, nearly like a fairy tale. “I had been rescued, but with nothing. No clothes, not even shoes. The crew found me a few things to wear, but still, not much. Layla called me on the Captain’s phone and asked me what I needed. In Miami there was a box on deck that arrived for me, with many necessary things. A box was delivered for Graham as well. When we arrived here, she came on the ship very first with a rolling bag of clothes for me, so that I could arrive with dignity. She took me to my room at the Guest House, and because I did not know anyone, asked if I would like her to stay the night so that I would feel safe. So, since that time.”

We may have dozed. Next thing I heard was the blender. Graham’s cheerful voice sounded from the galley. “I promised smoothies and I will make good on that promise.” Ice, fruit, juice and sorbet were laid out on the counter. I imagined him coming down the stairs to find three women and a dog lying in a contented heap on his decks, as if out of a Greek myth.

Layla began to croon a little. “Smoothies and Calamari.” She jumped a bit when Kyle came on the speaker.

“Next port of call is Nanaimo, British Columbia. Tying up in about 90 minutes, the Big Man is waiting and asks if we have a grocery order?”

“Aye!” cried Maggie, reaching towards the intercom. “Tell him to go to the bakery on Water Street and get three baguettes as those are the best ones. If that’s alright to go with the salmon? Also, come down to collect thy smoothies.”

The ship was slowing, and turning east towards Vancouver Island. Soon there were other boats, some larger, some smaller, none as elegant, visible ahead and all around us. Graham poured out his frosty drinks and offered his hand to walk out towards the stern. “I also promised eagles.”

We were passing binoculars back and forth watching a pair of eagles bringing small fish back to a large nest. We could just see several eager beaks poking out of the top of the nest, when Layla called out from above; “Less than a hour Captain, time to hustle it up!”

Graham closed in for a kiss. “It's all business for the rest of the day for Poyer is also my employer. I will see you later tonight. Layla will explain more, the Big Man is a diplomat and so we must look worthy.” He bounded up the stairs, checked on Maggie and gave her some instructions and then up to the helm to sail into the harbor.

When I made my way to Maggie she was furiously scrubbing down the galley, shipshape was the order, she told me to plump up the lounge pillows we had left in disarray. When all was pleasing, she snapped her fingers at Sargeant and pointed him down the stairs to the crew quarters so that he would not ruin the effect.

“We must dress now for boarding by Mr. Poyer, let’s look through what you have.” She pulled out my bags and settled on the short-sleeve button down with dark pants. In the small galley she pulled out an iron and a cleverly stowed drop-down ironing board and put me to work with not only my clothes, but her own as she sorted through them. “We must look like we have earned our salary.” She muttered. Sergeant went to the safety of his bed. As we were finishing up Layla slipped down to check on us, she was much more prepared, the cousins blew through for a change of shoes and fresh shirts. Graham was down last, as we were going up the stairs he was finishing up a close shave.

Chapter Text

The Samoan

“Who is he really?” I asked Layla as we stayed out of the way of flying ropes and ramps to the dock.

“He is a lot of things all rolled up into one. How he does it all, I don’t know. I am only one of several assistants, he has them all over the world. For his country, he is like a Foreign Minister for Climate. He is a member of the royal family, which no longer has a king, but he still has responsibilities there. He is one of the founders of Envision, and is senior Council Member for the South Asian and Pacific nations. He does cultural work with the Native American tribal nations from Alaska to Mexico, especially in this part of Canada. He knows Kyle and Grant’s families very well. And, it seems, he has the remit for you, Maggie and Commander Gore. He has been at hand for them since the day they came ashore. We call him the Big Man because he told us that’s what they call him in the villages. At the Conference Center they call him Sir. His call sign is Poyer, which is easier to be honest than his Samoan honorifics.”

“How could one person possibly do all that?” I asked.

“Well, look at him. If anyone could, that’s your man.” Layla pointed to the largest person I had ever seen. He was tall, he was wide, he moved lightly, without much effort. He filled the whole dock. I looked around and every person in sight was standing at attention. He was carrying one bag of luggage and a paper bag of groceries. “Look Poyer and Samoa up on Wikipedia,” she added, “then you will know why he chose that name.”

Maggie came and took me to stand near the door of the lounge. Graham came around the deck after supervising the tying up of the boat. He was wearing a crisp white uniform shirt and a captain’s white hat. Kyle and Grant were standing at attention at the bottom of the ship’s ramp looking spiffy, Graham and Layla were at attention on deck. “Look up.” said Maggie. On the mast waving in a light breeze were the flags of Canada, the United States, Samoa, British Columbia and Envision, or so I was told.

“Permission to come aboard, Captain?” Asked a very pleasing voice at the bottom of the ramp.

Graham released one of his widest smiles. “Permission granted, and welcome always.” Mr. Poyer stepped up lightly, offered a hand to Graham to shake and warmly greeted Layla. He waved over to me and Maggie and we approached. Flowers came out of the grocery bag for Maggie as he also handed over the loaves of bread. “Greetings Miss Maggie, I heard that a fresh salmon was delivered earlier today. Grant and Kyle will grill it? I also brought fresh lemons.” Then he turned to me.

“It is my deep pleasure to meet Commander Gore’s Miss Bridge. We will have our conversation after dinner.”

“Layla,” he tossed her a glance. “We shall go in first.”

“The conference room is ready, Sir. As is your stateroom.” She replied, and they went straight back into the ship. I didn’t know there was a conference room. Kyle and Grant were rolling up the boarding ramp and tossing ropes right back into the ship. I threw a glance at Graham.

“We will find a pleasant cove for dinner and conversation.” he said on his way back up to the helm. “Much nicer, and more private, than sitting in a dock.” Soon the engines were running and The Choice was rounding Newcastle Island looking for a pretty spot to drop anchor, which soon it did.

I put myself in charge of setting the table for seven. Maggie was elbow deep in salad greens. As soon as the anchor was dropped Kyle and Grant appeared to light the grill and gut the fish. It was killing me not to have a camera to take photos of their process. My father would have loved it. I finally asked Kyle if he would take some pics and save them for me for later. He and Grant put on their official ship’s aprons and let me pose with them. I didn’t know a dog could be so discriminating about raw fish treats, but Sargeant knew a good thing when it was being filletted under his nose.

Graham came through the galley on the way to the conference room, his turn with the Big Man was next. Layla came out and flashed me a relieved smile. “I had to tell him about the fishing boat plan. He prefers to be in on the beginning of a plan and not hearing about it later.”

“Don’t care,” said Kyle from the grill.

“Begging forgiveness is less trouble than asking permission.” or so I’ve heard.” claimed Grant.

“Well you will have your turn to explain that!” said Layla, and she showed me where the platters were. We decided to put the bread in the oven to warm up. Tiny new potatoes went in first, slathered in olive oil and herbs.”

“What’s the music?” Maggie called over to the cooks. “Those who cook may also choose the dinner music.” She told me.

“We think Steely Dan tonight.” called Grant. “Ten minutes.”

“Oh, I love them.” said Maggie scrolling for a link.
“This song is older than me,” sighed Layla.
“Not me!” said the Big Man, who had changed into a Hawaiian shirt. “I saw them in concert once.”

Laughter swirled around the lounge, the diplomat had said the perfect thing. The salad had twelve ingredients, four kinds of lettuce. The bread was the best, which is why Maggie had ordered three loaves. Grant stood at the head of the table and served out salmon portions according to doneness. My British self was wide-eyed to see barely warm, practically raw steaks passed around the table. Kyle teased me. “Surely you have eaten sushi Miss Bridge. You saw this fish come right out of the ocean.” Layla got the double portion of grilled squid. I didn’t know that a person could relish squid like that.

When busy forks gave way to sighs of pleasure and small requests for second servings, the Big Man gave me a knowing look across the table. “Seems that there’s some good news to share. Do we all get to hear the story of the proposal in the garden?”

Graham tried very hard to keep his cool, and gave up. I flushed pink up to my eyebrows. The whole table was hiding smiles behind napkins, I gave in and put my hand across the table so that my ring could be admired.

“The first thing he did,” I told the table, “was to walk me to The Cove.” There was general acclaim for the appropriate romance. “And he told me he had a dog.” Nods all around at the wisdom of this. “He told me about a cozy house?” Nods of agreement here as well. “It seems that just out of sight was a fishing boat with a full tank ready to grab me up in case the bad guys showed up. But they did not!”

I didn’t say much more than that, for which Graham was relieved and grateful.

After lemon sorbet with fresh sugared lemon was passed around. Poyer glanced to the end of the table and Kyle and Grant stood up to make their way to the conference room. I saw that they carried printed maps and reports so I wasn’t too worried about them. Later I learned that they confirmed their knowledge of the most confidential radio channels and offered up the names of specific aunties, all of whom had met with approval.

Then it was our turn, Maggie, Graham and me. The conference room was comfortable, the dusky evening sky could be seen from a skylight above. A computer was laid out and binders of reports. And for the first time the Big Man took both my hands in greeting.

At the head of the table he was not imposing, because he didn’t want to be. He and Graham held each other in great respect, that was clear. He was friends with Maggie. I didn’t question that he would be friends with me as well. We seated ourselves and he began:

“I’ve heard reports from Layla, Commander Gore and the rescue ranger cousins. I have other sources of information, here and in London.” He looked at me significantly. “We see nothing that would suggest that the Ministry in London is paying any attention to you at all. The two travelers from the far future, who killed your friends, are indeed still dead in our time. The Ministry may have decided to believe that Maggie and Graham are drowned in the Thames. Our sources tell us that the Ministry of Time is quiet, with fewer people in offices or on staff. You will remain discreet, we will stay on alert, but I don’t think you need to take the fishing boat upstream any time soon.”

Just hearing about my recent past made me begin to breathe faster. The diplomat in front of me seemed to know my whole situation. How did he know? He continued, keeping a close watch on me. He looked directly at me.

“We have been cautious and confidential. Not everyone even here on this boat knows all. No one needs to know everything. The proper timing keeps us safer. We all learn that the hard way, even as small children.”

“I am delaying, I know. It’s because what comes next is hard to say.” He exhaled, and then made himself begin:

“There is another group of time travelers. They are not from this century, like Adela and her husband. Or from the past, like Graham and Maggie. They are from a farther future. They have been here for a while, watching and waiting.”

“Watching and waiting for our friends in London to die?” I was not prepared for this news. Could they have been saved?

“They did not know how this was playing out. They were surprised that this program of bringing people from the past was replicated, with people being abducted from time more than once. They did not know who Adela was, until they did. They did not expect to find so much failure. Their records a hundred years from now were incomplete. None of their plans came to fruition. In the end, only Admiral Gore has survived into the future. Adela has indeed died. She never returns. His world is falling apart, he will have more urgent matters to attend to.” Graham was looking at his hands. He had a deadly calm, which I had learned to recognize.

“These people from the future, they decided that if they could access the time machine, it should be used to save the people in their recent past, at the time when there is the most opportunity. They are here to guide us in making good choices, better choices. More hopeful choices. If we can do that, then this present and our future will improve. Our present will improve, or at least we are hopeful. They are also here to help us prepare for what may come, because some of it cannot be stopped now.”

“How many of them?” I whispered. He might not know how important that question was, especially for Graham and Maggie.

“We don’t know fully. There may be Travellers in China, some in Russia, some in Brazil. They are not networked with each other, they are acting independently of each other. Which is an interesting choice to be sure.”

“Envision was created before they made themselves known to us. Envision has agreed to listen and learn from them. There are three Travellers in our region. They have asked to meet with you, specifically,” He gestured at me, “They have questions for you.”

I turned with growing astonishment to look at Graham and my fear and anger overflowed. “You fetched me for them? What? You fetched me here to meet with them after all we went through?”

Graham stood up and walked around the table so as to look me in the eyes. “No, I did not. I called you, and you came. You made a choice. I fetched you to keep you safe from them. You will have the choices that I did not have. I have a fishing boat around the corner of this bay. We can take the tender with the outboard motor and go to it right now. We can walk off this ship right now. The fishing boat will take us where they will never find us. I will be with you. Anyone who wants you will have to go through me.”

“That’s the secret I’ve been keeping, not from you, but from him.” Graham swallowed, and kept his eyes directly on me. “That man,” he said pointing at Poyer "is my brother. But, he will not stop me and you will meet no one or do nothing unless you choose to do it.”

Maggie's eyes were huge, and that told me something. Mr. Poyer was not prepared for this outburst and I could tell it didn’t happen to him very often. He had his hands flat on the table, working to keep them under control.

I breathed. The other three people at the table breathed, and they all looked at me. I stood down.

“I feel better now about the fishing boat.” I said, directly to Graham. “You can sit back down.” He already was my hero. From before I ever met him, he was a dependable officer. Now I knew for certain exactly what he would do for me.

“Commander Gore?” Pornoy looked him over. “How long do you intend to keep these fishermen at hand?”

“We will see, won’t we.” Graham replied. And looked at me.

Chapter Text

Maggie’s Story

Poyer, the Big Man, looked at me as well, and he was thinking carefully about what to say. I did not believe myself to be fragile or on edge. But not all the dots were connecting. I know I looked confused.

“What do you want to ask me?” He said.

“I don’t know how we got here, to Puget Sound, to Vancouver Island. How did Graham and Maggie get here? With you managing their lives?”

He turned to Maggie, who had been silent all this time. “This story has not yet been told.” She explained. “The time did not seem right.”

The Big Man stood up. “Let’s fix that.” He said. “Let’s move out to the deck, light the fire and tell it so that we all know.” He gracefully moved out of the room, Graham offered me his hand and turned to follow him. Maggie didn’t move.

“Gray?” She said softly, questioning. He stopped between us, and with his free hand lifted it to touch her cheek. “Our agreement stands. It always will. Today you have other choices. There is always room for the three of us, but you have Layla now, isn’t that right?” She leaned her head into his hand. “Yes. Just so.”

“Just so. We have choices, so do you. You always will have, if I can see it done.” She smiled at him, and nodded.

We moved together up to the deck. Kyle or Grant had put some logs in a fire pit and cheerful flames crackled. Layla had made two kinds of tea and we poured out mugs before sitting in a circle around the fire. Sergeant sat at Graham’s feet.

Graham started:

“You know that the Ministry had a time door.” He stopped, and turned to Kyle and Grant who obviously did not already know exactly this. The expressions on their faces were a combination of “sure” and “what the hell?” He started again.

“It’s time to explain to everyone that the Ministry of Defence had captured a time door. It had appeared from the future, it was examined, and it was decided to experiment with it by abducting people from the past and bringing them to the present. The person managing this project was herself from the future and had her own plots and plans that were not discernable at the time.”

“Maggie and I were both stolen from the past. Myself from 1847, Maggie from 1665.”

Kyle and Grant made a series of interesting noises between themselves with words such as "cannon" and "that Navy" and "Shakespeare?" and "plague."

“After weeks of living on medical wards, both Maggie and I were given a minder to live with who would be a “bridge” from our times to this one. To help us adjust to the changes and answer our questions. This person was trained to watch for signs of illness or maladjustment in us. I was fortunate with my bridge. She cared about me as a person. She taught me how to live in a new world. We became friends with Maggie and another Traveller named Arthur. They called us “expats,” as in expatriates. We hated that word.”

“We enjoyed each other’s company, we learned the ways of London together. Arthur was a soldier from 1916, and he and I had much in common that way. We Travellers from the past were frightened and confused and lonely. Our dear bridge worked hard to help us along. We, all three of us, loved her for it.”

“Two other Travellers appeared, they were from a much further future. They believed that time could only hold so many people who were out of place. When they wanted to return to their home time, wretched as it was, they murdered people so as to make room in time for themselves. They killed our friend Arthur. They killed a friend of Maggie’s and her bridge.”

“I was suspicious this whole time. I had a plan for an escape, I had places for us to hide, passports, and had begun to provision a boat. We did this without telling our bridge. I will hand this story to Maggie now.”

Maggie sipped her tea. She began to speak.

“When we started therapy here, we were told that it would help to tell our stories. We told them several times, sometimes to each other. Often our trials would seem more awful in the telling. Other times, we could see who had cared for us or protected us. We also began to understand that the climate disaster was why people were desperate in the future. They invented the time door to try to change the past and improve the future.

“Our dear bridge always had something clever for us to do. She taught us new ways generously and kindly. You must understand, we had been dying. I, with a sickness that had killed every person in my household. Gray was freezing on the ice. All those we knew and loved were dead or nearly so.”

“As he said, Gray was not fooled. He thought there was some mission he was being trained for, without his consent. He wondered how free he was to live his new life, even as they were offering jobs and new ranks. We talked about this, without telling our bridges. Gray began making ready for an escape. We made plans, he had a place for us to hide. If something bad happened, he told me what to do and where to go.”

“Something bad did happen and our dear one was right in the middle of it, unprepared. She was a good soldier, followed her training, trusted her superiors and looked to them for guidance. She was betrayed and then betrayed again.”

“After they started shooting guns at us, we had to leave her behind. They wanted to murder us, or worse. We were afraid that she would be murdered as well. Gray and I decided to leave her behind. Gray had a sailboat hidden. We got to it and pushed off into the river. We were not ready for bad weather. We found ourselves nearer to the large freighters and the boat was not working as it should. We stayed awake all night in the middle of the river, unable to get to a hiding spot on the shore. The current was faster, the rain came down harder and the little boat was filling with water. No one saw us from the giant ships. We could hear and feel huge engines in the water.”

“We already knew what it was like to die. But before, we had died alone. This time we were together. This was comforting. We pledged to each other that if we were to die it would be together. We would hold each other up to the light. This pledge still holds us, even now.”

Kyle placed another log on the fire. I was softly crying as was Layla. Graham was not. His voice was steady:

“We did not die. A beautiful sailing yacht came alongside throwing ropes, life vests and floats into our little boat. We were afraid and would not board. There was a Navy captain and he was calling out instructions and I didn’t trust him. He called me by name and then I was willing to kill him or die trying. He put on a life vest, jumped on a rope and came down to me, while I was pointing my gun at him.

“Come aboard” he cried, “we are trying to save you.”

I didn’t believe him, but then I saw that Maggie had put on a life vest. She was ready to believe him. “He said come aboard this boat and I’ll teach you how to sail her!”

Maggie chimed in “He made an offer that could not be refused!”

Everyone laughed. She went on, “When they pulled us over the side, our little craft was sinking under the waves. We were soaking wet, starving and waiting to be killed at any minute. They took us below, bundled us up, handed us hot tea and Captain Lewis said “We’ve been looking for you for days.”

Graham concluded the tale: “We stayed with the ship for two weeks, until it sailed into Friday Harbor, halfway across the world. Poyer was at the dock to welcome us. For the first time in this new life, we were offered choices. One of mine was to sail this sweet ship.” He came to sit down beside me and added “and the other to come back and get you, if I could.”

Poyer looked at me. “The first thing they told me on shore was that you must be found. That your safety must be assured. Our sources in London determined that you had gone home to your parents. We encouraged Graham and Maggie to rest, to heal, to seek out their place in the world. You were safe, we made sure to keep you safe.”

“A few months earlier three other Travellers made themselves known to us. They were not strangers. We might not have believed them until they told us to go looking for you. There are people working deep in the Ministry who confirmed everything, to our increasing surprise. They had been watching for some time and were finally sick of it. Captain Lewis had already sailed The Choice to The Hague for a diplomatic gathering. We had it at hand to mount a river rescue.”

“I know that not every aspect of this story has been told.” He continued. “I don’t know all the specifics.” He looked directly at me. “You are the only one who does. Our three resident Travellers wish to speak with you about it. It could make a difference. For the whole world, perhaps?”

I stepped across the circle to Maggie and she stood up and we held each other and allowed ourselves to cry. She had saved herself in the boat for me. Everything she had done since was for me. Graham and Layla both came to us and gently took over. Their loving embraces brought on a more calmer response. Graham took a light blanket from the couch and wrapped it around me. We stood for a few minutes watching the fire. Once more, it seemed the whole world revolved around me. I knew why. It was Adela. Was she still pulling strings from somewhere? Was I still her willing puppet?

Sir,” I said. “We sail for Friday Harbor tonight? I will meet with your offices tomorrow. I am not making any promises about meeting with anyone else. There are reasons why.”

He nodded his head and Graham and I turned to go down into the cabins. Kyle called out softly “Goodnight Miss Bridge.” Grant repeated after him “Goodnight Miss Bridge.” Sergeant lay his head in Maggie’s lap and she and Layla gazed into the fire.

In the little captain’s cabin, Graham sat in the desk chair to unlace his shoes as I slipped off my outer clothes. I had washed my face with a cool cloth, and still felt hot. He reached out to pull me closer to his face. He began to speak steadily, while also lightly blowing into and kissing my belly.

“Do you remember what I told you in the gardens?” He asked.

“Yes. You told me that you would never walk me into danger. I noticed that you were wearing a gun. That played in your favor.”

“I’m glad to hear it, would you have said no to me otherwise?” He turned me around slowly, kissing and blowing, my hips, the small of my back.

“Certainly not. I love you Graham.”
“As I love you, Little Cat.”

He went on; “Do you think it was by accident that you learned about the fishing boat at breakfast?” A kiss, a soft soft blow.

“Oh. Well. So I was meant to know that an escape plan had been made, and that there still is an escape plan.”

“Yes. I believe you would have figured this out on your own.’’ A turn, a kiss, his face in my belly.

“Graham,” I tipped up his face. “What was in that box you sent to the fishing boat?”

“Oh, some emergency rations, first aid kits, a change of clothes, lots of money. Cash money. A gun. I hope I have improved in my provisioning.”

“Would we have really gone to the villages?”

“For a day, to change boats, and then to a freighter perhaps, I’ve made some friends in the ports. The more we talk about going to ground, as in berries and roots, the more likely they are to look for us there first.”

He opened his knees, pulled me closer between his legs and asked me a question: “Who is the Captain of our family enterprise, Little Cat?”

“You are.”

“Yes, and who is the First Officer?” I didn’t have a ready answer. “You are. You are not a passenger. You are an officer, you may be second in command, but you are a trusted officer worthy of consultation. If I have not laid out a plan for you, it is because we are not sure from day to day what our options are. We are keeping our options open, as they say.”

“Ah. This feels really good, the blowing and kissing. I like this, we can do this some more.” He stood up and I wrapped myself around him.

“We did something like for trauma treatment, I thought that you might enjoy it. Thinking of doing it to you was part of my trauma treatment.”

“No it was not!” I poked him in the side.

“Oh yes it was!” He insisted as he unbuttoned his handsome white officer’s shirt and carefully placed it on the back of the chair.

“Graham." I stretched myself lifting my hands high in air and going on tipy-toes. "Would you sail me like your ship?”

“Oh, won’t that be nice” he murmured, and moved us toward the bed.

There was a new blanket, with lovely woven patterns in red and black in wool. “It’s from Kyle’s mother. He brought it in here once he saw your ring.”

I slipped under the sheets while watching him continue to undress. “When will I get to meet them?”

He crawled under the covers next to me. “Oh, you won’t know. Their boats turn up and we will get a text to come over for dinner. They will have other engagement gifts for you, I’ve been told.”

“My goodness.” I said, for about three different reasons, two of them happening under the blanket.

“Don’t worry If you wake up later and I’m not here. We will be sailing all night to reach our destination in the morning. I’ll be taking my watch at the helm later and will see you at breakfast.”

That was all the talking we did for a while.

Chapter Text

Arrival in the San Juan Islands

I woke up to hearing cheerful conversation on the deck, and for the first time felt fully awake at the right time of day. There was a rap at the door and a voice calling “coffee’s up.” My boat outfit of shorts and a sweatshirt was at hand, and as I came up the stairs everyone was already laying out fresh biscuits and Poyer was dishing up scrambled eggs. I found “my” mug and slid over to sit by Maggie, who was not cooking, and she gave me a loving kiss on the cheek.

“A busy day for you ducks,” she said. “You will meet new people and see our Conference Center.”

“Do you work there?” I asked, buttering a fresh hot biscuit and adding a large spoonful of Marionberry jam. “Do you have an office?”

“I do take meetings, and I have a room at the Guest House. I also have a sweet little place to live near my college. We have a study group that watches films together, and they have helped me with a library of books I should have. I also have a tutor.”

“How does that work, exactly?” I had been wondering. Layla came to sit on my other side and filled me in.

“Maggie isn’t a degree student so she doesn’t have to worry about credits that she doesn’t need. For now. She does an excellent dramatic reading of “I come from another time and place.” And the word around campus is that she escaped from a religious cult in Idaho that didn’t believe in education for women.”

“One of my films will tell my story,” Maggie quipped. “I’ve many school friends eager to help with it. I may indeed make it my student project. Although, I do not wish to visit Idaho.”

The sailing yacht was coming around an island stacked from the bottom to the top with huge private homes, expensive looking docks, and boats of every size and kind. I could see towns and harbors in the distance and small busy ferries connecting them. Horns were sounding to keep the traffic in control.

“Am I allowed to know where we are?” I was joking but not joking. I had let them have their fun keeping me on the mysterious ocean roads, but it was beginning to feel like real life again and I needed some bearings.

“We will be passing by Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands, Washington State," said Poyer. The Evision Conference Center has its own harbor and docks. Everyone arrives there by boat . . . or helicopter. It will be about an hour now.”

“Why is everyone sounding their horns?” I asked. The channel was swarming with small and large pleasure boats, ferry boats, fishing boats, tourist charters and many of them were tooting and honking or letting loose in general.

“It’s because The Choice is showing off.” He pointed up and all her flags were flying, all the sails were up, there was bunting and she was skipping the waves like a dancer. “She is a queen, you know, they all love her.”

“Sir, I do have a question for you?” I learned across the table to look at Poyer in full. “I know that you are a diplomat for your country. And you are a principle for Envision.” Yes, he nodded.

“What is your profession?”

He waited just a moment, as he could see that I had guessed.

“I am a psychotherapist. Stanford University, California.”

“And you treated both Graham and Maggie?” I cast a questioning glance over to Maggie. She shrugged.

“Graham and Maggie will tell you if they want to, but I can say primarily Graham and once both together. Be assured they were very discreet about you. Deeply concerned about you.”

Now I knew that this man would be important to us for some time yet, maybe always. I would not object. I was also looking around for Graham, Kyle or Grant. Even Sergeant wasn’t to be seen.

“They are all up on the wheel house, the sailing is complicated through here and the radio is busy. Graham also needs to put in his hours. We won’t see them again until we dock.” Maggie explained. “And we have other tasks to see to.”

She took me in hand and led me to one of the ultra-luxury guest staterooms and pushed me into a huge shower. There were dispensers for every kind of soap and hair care, thick washcloths and even thicker towels, and heat lamps and hair dryers and many mirrors.

“You know what they say about rooms like this, Maggie?”

“No. What?” Her head peeked around the open door to the bedroom.

I heaved an elaborate sigh, “It must be nice.”

“I would not know.” She replied.

“That’s also what they say!”

I came out to find her laying clothes on the bed. Maggie was considering them closely.

“I have watched what the women wear while doing their tasks and in the meetings. They are quite confident and do not show off. They do not wear too high shoes, only a few jewels, and always a nice carry bag or case. Many women are “the boss” or “in charge” which is what we also saw at the Ministry, but here they really are!” She gestured to the bed.

“There is some shopping in the village. There are shops for nice clothes and for hair and for clothes for wearing on boats or walks in the woods. Alas, there’s no time for that today. I picked out some clothes for you and I hope that you do not mind.”

Because Maggie should be a fashion designer, everything she brought for me was stylish and fit. There was not one item in black. We chose dark green slacks, an ivory knit sweater and a short boxy jacket in a subtle pattern that didn’t show off. There were some handsome low heels in a dark brown. Layla knocked at the door and gave her full approval with compliments to Maggie and to me. She shyly handed me a small box. It contained a pair of elegant gold earrings.

“This is a gift,” she said, “to you from me. And for trying to fool you in Victoria, for which I apologize.” Smiles were shared all around. At least now I looked like I was ready.

When we came back to the salon both Maggie and Layla had changed into business clothes. Maggie was colorful, but modest. Layla looked like an executive. Poyer was wearing a suit that fit him perfectly, I didn’t know that they could make a suit coat that size. He saw my delighted surprise, and took the compliment, “Hong Kong tailors my dear, they can dress anyone.”

He asked me to step further back into the lounge with him for a more private conversation:

“Miss Bridge,” he said with a smile. “Why does no one on this ship use your name?

“I believe that they are under instruction from Graham. I am to be kept as secret as possible for as long as possible.”

“Ah. You should know, it’s your call sign now. I heard them using it on the radio this morning. I thought that I understood how Graham and Maggie came to be here, in our time. There’s a deeper story though that they have not told, part of that is what happened to you?”

“Yes.” He waited. “I told Graham and Maggie what happened to me at the hotel in Victoria. They know.” He waited. It was exasperating. “After they escaped, I was placed under house arrest while the Ministry decided what to do with me. I was not killed but it was a close thing. My life was threatened if I ever tried to return. I went home to live with my parents because I no longer had a job. I did not know if Graham or Maggie were alive or dead. It was rough.”

“I can only imagine. Quite obviously there is more.”

“Sir.” I answered “There are some things that must remain between the three of us. We hope not to be too obvious about it.” I tried a smile. He tried a smile. “This is one reason why I am not eager to meet people from the future who may not understand or agree. They say that they have questions for me. As I told you last night, be prepared for me to refuse to answer them.”

“Oh.” he said. I was testing his powers of persuasion.

“How can I explain? The Climate Crisis is real and I’m excited, and interested, to be a part of an organization that is dedicated to surviving it. Count me in. However, I am, me, in the middle of a two-part Star Trek episode with intergalactic villains. They have already tried to kill me and those I love. The time door could show up anywhere and any day, because that’s what they do. Forgive me for being more generally focused on my own life and death.”

I was aware that I was talking with my future direct report. And I was thankful that he looked like a kind man with a generous heart. And, I had surprised him. I had his full attention. This had not happened to me very often before. I liked how it felt.

Kyle and Grant came into view wearing smart uniform shirts with an embroidered icon of The Choice on them. The ship turned a corner and I saw the Envision Conference Center for the first time.

It was subtle, but not. It was made of timbers in a way that was purposed to impress. It had “grounds.” There were many windows and lanterns. The boat dock was in the center of a tourist village that looked welcoming and cozy. There was already more than one yacht tied up. I could see a coffee shop, ice cream kiosks, a brewery tavern, an outdoor outfitters, and an art store, too.

Sergeant came tumbling down the stairs with the cousins and supervised them carefully as they leapt onto the dock and threw ropes to each other to tie up. There were several instructional woofs. A little touch of the engine made it all straight and then the motors powered off.

Graham came down the stairs looking wonderfully like the master of a yacht. He wore a handsome fine knit sweater, a sports coat in the colors of The Choice and a black Breton cap. He was very closely shaved. Three women lined up for him like a crew of deckhands for inspection. He nodded approval, bestowed a smile upon all, and then said, in his officer voice:

“We certainly look splendid and ready to go ashore and meet our fate at the hands of managers and committees? Does anyone need to use the facilities before we do?”

Layla, Maggie and I turned straight around and did so. Kyle and Grant were making a show of tossing our bags from ship to shore. Sergeant’s lead was found and he was handed over the rail. Poyer went down the small stairs and ramp first and Graham expertly handed down each woman into his arms. Which we all enjoyed immensely. I was the last one to go.

“You look quite fine this morning, Miss Bridge. Do not be worried.” Graham told me. “Maggie and I are pledged to be with you all the way. You will not be alone.”

Chapter Text

Saturday at Conference Center Meetings

“Ahoy The Choice” called a man who looked very much like Security with a capital S. Graham stepped forward to shake his hand first, then Poyer, who received an especially formal welcome.” Our greeter motioned toward some smartly designed golf carts for our use.

“I have visitor’s badges for you,” he handed three of them to Layla who handed them out to Maggie and me. I noticed both Poyer and Graham pull more permanent looking ID out of their breast pockets and clipping them on.”

“Kyle and Grant will deliver our bags to the Guest House and take care of Sergeant. I see his mother’s boat on the other side of the harbor, we will meet his family later on today perhaps.” said Layla as she put the lanyard over my head.

How many of these had I worn in my life, I wondered? I glanced from our beautiful ship and then over to the Conference Center campus. If I chose the one, would we also be able to keep the other I hoped? I did not intend to make a choice between them.

We preferred to walk and I felt somewhat dizzy. “Sea legs take a minute or two to adjust to land.” Maggie explained as she took my arm. “The walk from here to there will sort us out.”

The path was gradual from the docks to the buildings. The men walked ahead with chatter about security, any updates, new technology, who else was visiting, Poyer was carrying a handsome briefcase. Graham had a slim leather folder and was handing docking paperwork to the other man. He was shorter than both of them, self-assured, and comfortable in an official capacity. There was no question of his natural leadership, even here on land. For the first time I wondered more about his job. For right now, it seemed as if his whole job was me.

Our entrance into the building was anti-climatic. There was no security desk, no scanners for our purses and bags, no wands to seek out hidden weapons or bombs. My Ministry sense knew that there were security guards about, but no one was in an obvious uniform.

There was a subtle video board in a wall that listed out the meetings and gatherings of the day. A Chinese holiday lunch was featured at noon in the building restaurant. I could see a large dining room looking out over the bay on the entrance level. There were small rooms around the rotunda that looked like shops. There was a quick stop for coffee, a place to buy greeting cards and batteries, a tech repair counter, an art gallery, a tee shirt shop with every kind of Envision shirt, sweater, rain slicker or hoodie. It was warm, with polished wood in every direction.

After making one full turn to view the open and airy atrium, a woman appeared who had Human Resources written all over her. Also in big letters on her name badge. Graham saw her approach and walked back to where I stood with Layla and Maggie. She had big smiles for both of them. He took my elbow and moved me away a step. “Cynthia will have paperwork for you, Layla will go with you, we will meet you within the hour in a conference room up there.” He pointed through the open atrium to a floor above.

It felt very odd not to kiss him as we parted, but we did not. It was like walking into the Ministry together, just months ago. No kissing there. Layla waved us towards an elevator and while I was not afraid, something was changing now, a wave, a tide was turning. It was not unexpected, but I was sorry to see him go in another direction. I was glad he and Maggie were together, she was a member of that group now, centered between the men, and clearly cherished by at least two of them.

Layla and Cynthia from H.R. were waiting. “It’s always a shift to walk into headquarters for the first time.” Cynthia said, “My father worked in a New York skyscraper when I was a child and it was its own world with its own secrets and rules.”

I could not help but think of the Ministry, which was certainly more subdued and had rules within rules, with depths that few people ever saw.

“I’m sorry,” I told her. “I’ve been out of an office for some months now and it is a shift, that's a good way to describe it.” I smiled, professionally. Layla was watching me carefully. It was because she knew something else was coming. I knew as well, but I wasn’t going to think about it until I had to.

The small human resources conference room for new hires was warm and comfortable. There were Envision booklets, key chains, and water bottles. I was given a salary sheet, an email address, and a key card. I was told company electronics would be issued to me today or tomorrow, depending upon how my day went. That department was expecting me, and I could walk in anytime.

“Mr. Poyer has informed us that your first full day of employment is today. It seems that you told him “I’m in?”

There were smiles all around and I nodded my head. Cynthia explained, “When you open your email there will be messages with forms for you to complete and a helpline if you need it. You can use the Guest House as your first address. There is a bank branch down the street if you would like to open a local account.”

“I have been told that you will have important meetings and consultations over the next several days. Layla here is a Communications liaison for Mr. Poyer, so she will be setting up your desk or office depending on how he wants to organize that? Beginning today, your direct report is Mr. Poyer, which is unusual. Mr. Gore and Miss Kemble are the same and my guess is that you will be working on projects together under his direction. Our office will guide you in legal documents for working in the U.S. as a British citizen. Envision has an office in London, it may be the best option to hire you through them as the paperwork goes.” I nodded again. That would probably be a good idea.

“And, our hour is up,” Layla declared. “Many thanks Cynthia, we will catch up with you later.” All of the paperwork went into the smart business bag that Maggie had chosen for me.

“We have a small auditorium here, it’s on the other side of the balcony. Let's stop in here first.” She said as we moved past a restroom. Layla saw that I was shivering. It was a nice restroom, there were several chairs in a lounge area, and a place to nurse a baby. We walked in and I saw myself and Layla in a large mirror.

“The last time I was in a headquarters,” I told her, “I saw myself dead.”

I don’t know how those words came out of my mouth. Layla was startled. I was startled. I looked into her the eyes for reassurance, she sat me down in a chair and crouched down in front of me.

“I’ve not said that before out loud,” I whispered to myself, and to her.

“I. Wait. I didn’t know that, when was this? At the Ministry? In London?” She was surprised. Why would she know about Adela and me? I still didn’t understand about Adela and me.

“When I met with Control, the Secretary of the Ministry. When they made me redundant. When they didn’t kill me.” My voice was flat. I didn’t know how to tell her any more, and her eyes looked worried. “Truly, you didn’t know? Maggie didn’t tell you?”

“She sure didn’t tell me that. I would have remembered that!” Layla went from surprised to comforting.

We were holding hands, I was processing that perhaps I had not explained it well. “I may not have explained it very well. They, Graham and Maggie saw it when it happened, but it was different for me. Afterwards.”

“You died?” Layla was patting me on my legs, trying to show me that I was real.

“I did. But, not the me I am right now.” I looked at her. “This must not have been in my employee records.”

“Noooo, it was not.” She was shaking her head in front of me, “I would have noticed that, I’m very sure.”

“Anyway.” I shook my head a bit to reorient myself. “I didn’t think that walking down a hallway would bring it back like that. Perhaps it was the employment paperwork.” I tried to smile. It was what they call a weak smile.

Layla glanced at her watch, and I watched her flip into executive mode. “The meeting is going to start, I’m going to sit the three of you in the back, you will not be introduced. I will be up front. I will not let anyone ask you questions. Is that okay? Is that alright?”

I nodded yes, we stood up and smoothed out our nice clothes. She took me further in the room and found a dispenser of nice hand cream and we did a little routine with a few drops each. She reached over and massaged my hands with another drop of cream. It helped, I felt better.

Back in the hallway, I began to see more people walking around the atrium towards the classroom-like meeting hall. Windows were tall, the stadium seating was raised so that everyone had a clear view of the speaker's podium. When Graham and Maggie saw me at the doorway they both looked worried after seeing my face.

Layla spoke first. “I’m going to sit the three of you in the back, you do not need to be the center of attention today. Our dear one has had what we call a “flashback” she just needs a few minutes to blink it away. I will tell Poyer not to introduce you to anyone.”

She literally passed me to Maggie who took me around the waist. Graham was confused and concerned. “A flashback? We have had those, haven’t we?” His eyes found Maggie’s.

“Yes, Gray. We all had them. Arthur had them the worst.” They sat me between them and I did try to blink away my fears and pay attention to the room.

“It just came on me, I didn’t think to expect it. Layla helped, she gave some hand cream.” They both looked at my hands. “It helped, she massaged my hands, and it helped. I will be okay now.” I promised them.

We were placed into the top rows of seats, it was a room that could hold a hundred people, there were about twenty-five to thirty. We watched Layla walk up directly to Poyer and speak to him quietly, he glanced up at us, and sent a warm smile our way.

“Is everyone here, do we see anyone missing?” He began. A few people came through the doors at the last minute, carrying cups of coffee, laptops, yellow note pads. As he began the conference room windows inside and looking outside became opaque. No one could see in or out. We could hear the doors lock.

“Most of you know that I am Poyer, I am from Western Samoa and am a member of the royal family there. My remit is coordination of the island nations for Envision, senior VP of Communication, Pacific Division. I also serve in the diplomatic corps for my country.”

“We have several principals with us today, they will be meeting with some of you individually. This meeting is at the highest level of confidentiality. I need to see phones down on desks and laptops closed. Please do not take any notes. You will all have questions and within the next day or two you will meet in small groups to discuss them and I will be available. Do not take this conversation to any chats. Person to person, in person, only. I trust you to follow my instructions on this matter.”

There was a general shifting around the room as items were tucked away. If the Ministry had a meeting like this, I had certainly not been invited.

Poyer standing on a dias at the front of the room looked like a king. He then began to speak like one.

“Our planet, our home, has a past, a present and a future. We are continually learning from our past. Historians are valued in our societies. Memory keepers are valued. Geologists who can read rocks from the past are teaching us knowledge of great value for our present. These are not the only ones who learn from the past, you can easily name others.

“The present, for most of us, is livable. The planet’s temperature has risen, but we can manage this, and improve. We know what needs to be done, it’s not a secret. We are determined to enable our human family to make better choices so that what has been damaged can be repaired.”

“If we play the cards we have been dealt with generosity and forgiveness, I believe that this can be remediated, our hard work can make it so. Envision is in constant conversation with governments to help make better decisions, important work that all of you are now doing.”

“The future is what we make of it from today, forward. If the polar ice caps melt, if the forests burn, if the islands drown, if the hurricanes increase in strength and frequency, then humanity will suffer terribly. We can predict the future, we certainly have the mathematical models, but we can’t know for sure how bad it will be. All of you already know this. Is anyone in the room confused about any of this?”

The room moved as one, every man and woman there shook their heads no, including Graham and Maggie, who was holding and stroking my hand.

“Alright then. We have a common understanding. Our hearts are as one.” And the people in the room began as one to nod yes.

“I’m here today to give you some good news. There are people who have come to us from the future to help.” He stopped and took a breath, and watched the faces around him wonder if they had heard correctly.

“We have time travel. It was invented in the future. There are people with us, here now, who have come from the future to help us.”

Someone in the crowd very softly said “I knew it!”

Poyer held up his hands. “It’s time to listen now. The future desperately needs us to make better choices. They are here to warn us and to consult with us. We have Travellers from the future in the room with us today.”

Like everyone else I looked more closely around the room. People were swiveling in their seats. Some were pointing vigorously at themselves saying “Not me, don’t look at me.”

Several people had spotted us, and there were confused looks, because they knew Graham as the boat captain, and Maggie was not a stranger. No one knew me though, some of them were looking very hard at me.

I picked them out right away. There was a calm Native American woman who looked like a grandmother, an elder. There was an older man who looked as if he was from India or Pakistan. He was sitting with a corps of South Asians. He was not looking around the room. And on the farthest side of the room from us was a man with a bushy white beard who looked like a Royal Navy sea captain. He also was not looking around the room.

“Graham,” I whispered, “Is that your sea captain, the one who rescued you? He is a Traveller? What did you say his name was?”

“Captain Lewis, yes that’s him.” Graham was matter of fact about this.

Poyer let everyone mutter and glance around for a few moments. He began to speak more firmly.

“The Travellers are here because their times are desperate. It’s too late for them to remediate or repair. They have explained to us what their challenges are. There are no more choices for them, it is only survival. There is a downward spiral. It is horrifying.”

“I know that some of you read science fiction. Moving through time is tricky, we have been told. Only so many people can do it at once. Humans are not biologically evolved to do it. It can kill them. It does kill them. Large groups of people cannot be moved from the future to the past. There will be no immigration from the future.”

“Our Travellers have also told us some things that are hopeful and some that are concerning. There are Travellers in other parts of the world. When a machine was available to some governments, experiments were done in the hope of learning how to move through time safely. These experiments were unethical, it was dangerous, there were failures.”

I saw a man sitting below us who had taken his yellow pad back out, he was scribbling mathematical formulas, making charts and graphs. There were wild equations. He was already working the problem.

“The future was watching these mistakes being made. At the same time, and this is important, certain aspects of their lives began to change. Slightly, but measurable. Lines could be drawn showing improvements. New lines on old graphs.”

Poyer began to weep, just a few tears down his face. His voice caught slightly. “They tell me that my island home will be the first to go,” He said. “But, perhaps with guidance from the Travellers, we will be able to save your homes.”

“The Travellers will be meeting with your departments in small groups. You,” he pointed to the whole room, “do not have to believe in them. You can decide for yourselves if this is fact or fiction. They have other places to go and other people to talk to. Be smart. Be thoughtful. Listen and learn from them. For the next week, clear your schedule. Tell your families that you are meeting special visitors from around the world, because that is true.”

“Your co-workers, the village and our families will figure out that these special visitors have arrived for intense consultations. You don’t have to say anything more.”

“Please,” he looked around the room, “reward the trust we have in you.”

The windows became transparent again, and the doors unlocked. Several people walked right down to the grandmother and introduced themselves. She sat them around her and they began to make some plans.

The squad of Indian and Pakistani staff engineers were dazzled. They knew right away who the visitor in their midst was.

A few people looked straight at us and we silently shook our heads. There was some reluctance to believe us. I was feeling better. Poyer’s talk had brought everyone to tears. Maggie was wiping her eyes, Graham was brushing away tears. “How did we get here?” he began to mutter, “How did this happen?”

Layla had come back up the stairs and seeing that I was looking more like myself and not a ghost, was suggesting Chinese lunch in the dining room. Walking out through the door I glanced back to see that a few people had found Captain Lewis. He wasn’t paying very close attention though. He was looking across the room at me. He had his hand at his mouth. It was funny, he looked something like my dad.

Chapter Text

The Screaming

Someone, somewhere was screaming. I wondered who it was because these were wretched screams, as if a dead body had been found or a murder discovered. I saw Captain Lewis reach out in horror, the people around him all turned to look in my direction. Where was the screaming coming from?

My first irrational thought was, “What will he tell them about me?”

Maggie reached me first and I turned on my dearest friend, “You didn’t tell me! You knew and you didn’t tell me?” Graham was putting his arms around my waist, and I turned on him “And you knew! How long have you known? Were you ever going to tell me, or was I just supposed to figure it out by myself?”

People were running towards me. I saw a woman wearing a doctor’s coat running down the hall towards me. Layla tried to take me to an elevator and the doctor said “No, not in an enclosed space. The clinic is just this way.”

Poyer arrived, having flown to the top of the stairs, and picked me up, my whole body. I was still screaming, whole body horror screaming. Screaming for the past, screaming for the future. Layla was picking up my shoes. Tears were streaming down my face, Graham and Maggie were following closely behind, horrified. I screamed at them from Poyer’s arms “How could you, how could you, how could you?”

Poyer carried me straight through the clinic and into an exam room and placed me on the table, the doctor was right behind him and also a nurse, both of them women. The nurse pushed everyone trailing behind out of the room and closed the door leaving the four of us. I stayed on the table, heaving with racking sobs. “Did you know?“ I yelled at him, ”did you know?”

“I don’t see any blood” said the nurse. “Neither do I," said the doctor. “Are you bleeding?” She gently took my face so that I would look at her. “Were you shot or hit with something? Did someone kick you or punch you?” They both were taking off my jacket, feeling around my waist and my shirt.

I could barely speak. “No, no one hit me, no one hurt me.” And again at Poyer, “Did you know?”

He went down on his knees before me and tried to hold my hand. “Did I know what, my dear friend? What did I know?” I snatched my hand away.

He didn’t know, that was a relief. I looked at the doctor, her Asian-American face examining me and listening to me and her hands laying on my shoulders trying to calm me. “Do you know?” I screamed at her. “do you know about him and me?”

“No, no,” she spoke quietly and calmly. “I don’t know you. I’m just the doctor here, you only arrived today.”

The nurse came back in to stand on the other side of me and I looked at her sweet concerned face and said “I’m going to throw up.” She grabbed a pan, held my head and I did.

The doctor turned, “Mr. Poyer, sir” she asked. “Who is this? What has happened just now.” She opened the door and they both walked out and I heard many voices and shouts coming from the other side of the door.

“Uh, oh.” I said to the nurse who was wiping my mouth and also wiping my nice new sweater. “Oh dear.” I choked out. “What a mess.” She was getting out the blood pressure cuff. And I settled down to a steady loud weeping, no longer screaming. Just wretched weeping while the two women went to work on me, not knowing why I was so upset.

The doctor had come back into the exam room. “They are very worried, about ten of them. Some of them are crying, some are arguing. Our waiting room is too small for all of them, I put them out into the hallway. There is more than one executive. They are furious.”

I would have been worried if she had not been wearing a small smile. “It’s quite obvious” she said, “that they love you very much. They also can’t tell me if you are injured or have an existing medical condition.”

I was not at all ready to be forgiving. And I did not control the bitterness in my voice. “We will see about that.” A huge sigh. “Send them all away, to lunch or something. Graham can stay and sit in the waiting room until I’m ready to see him.”

“Well, he wouldn’t go anyway, would he?” She asked me, and I only needed to nod my head in agreement. She went back to speak with the group and I could hear them through two sets of doors.

The nurse came back with a fresh washcloth and it had a cool, soothing scent and she wiped my face down again and also my hands.

“I have a question for you.” She nodded and said nothing. “How long does it take for a pregnancy test to work?”

She sat back on the stool and looked at me carefully.

“Do you want to request a rape kit?” Her voice was even and deliberate.

“No. And I really mean no.” I said to her, “That’s not an issue, you do not need to be concerned about that. I promise. It does take some weeks before a pregnancy test? It’s been a long time since I used one. I am on birth control pills.”

“If you miss a period.” She said, “that’s the best time, so it can be a few weeks.” She rolled her stool over to a cupboard and brought out a small box. “I’m going to give you one, and this is a pack of Plan B pills. Read the instructions carefully. Let’s put these in your bag, inside the zippered pocket. Is that okay? I will not enter these on any record or chart.” She looked very firm. “You and I are the only people who know you have these, not even Dr. Mila. However, if you take the Plan B, tell me, just in case.”

I nodded. I mouthed a thanks because I couldn’t say it out loud. My face was hot. My breathing was hurting, but better. I was not as frantic. My eyes hurt. The doctor came back in and stood with her back against the door.

“Your friends are worried about you, but I told them that you were recovering and should be able to leave on your own two feet. You will tell us when. The man is standing in the waiting room, he will not leave.” She sighed and looked worried. “I’m sorry to ask you this, but would you like for me to call security? Would you like a rape kit?”

I promised myself that I would give them both the best evaluation rating ever. For all of my shock today, Envision corporate was looking good at this moment.

“No. No to both. That man is my security. And more. And he and I need to talk, right away.” This felt good to say, because despite everything, it was true.

The doctor came to sit at my side to take my pulse and she held my wrist carefully. She looked in my ears, into my eyes and had me open my mouth. These familiar routines helped. She felt my neck, and put her stethoscope against my chest asking me to breathe in and out. In and out.

“What do you think brought this on?” she asked, watching my face. I tried to think of a lie or a story, what came out was the truth.

“I had some depression last year after a tragedy. Later there was a horrible accident and some people died. I’ve been sailing with friends and feeling better. I am here for a meeting today and to start a new job and I had a flashback. And then an hour later, I just started screaming.”

Both doctor and nurses nodded, understandingly. This they could deal with. I hoped this would be enough. It would be impossible to talk about Captain Lewis, the man who looked like my father.

The doctor listened to my heart again. It was still thumping. My breathing was somewhat deeper.

“Nice top, I really like this color.” She said.

“Oh thanks,” I replied, “my friend picked it out for me because we didn’t have time to go shopping, because we were on the boat, and we had these interviews. She also got me these nice shoes.”

“I like those a lot,” said the nurse. “They look designer?”

“I’m not sure, but my friend loves a vintage store and she knows a good bargain when she sees one.”

Our chatter had calmed me down. The nurse was holding my hand, she brought the cool washcloth back up to my face.

“We have something in common.” said the doctor, she had an easy face, a best friend kind of face. “My mother is from Hong Kong.”

“My mother is Cambodian.” I replied.

“Oh, we have Chinese for lunch today, would you like us to fetch something for you, soup perhaps?” She suggested.

“I’ll go get it,” said the nurse, "they will let me in the front of the line.” She left the room.

I knew this was to see if I would throw up again. My tears were still flowing but I wasn’t sobbing the whole time now.

“We are alone, so you can tell me and only me.” The doctor tried to sound not so serious. “Did you take anything? Pills or a drug or vitamin that a friend gave you. If you took something, we can pump out your stomach here, no one needs to know.”

“What’s your name?” I asked her.

“Mila, you can call me Mila,” She said, looking at me closely, waiting for an answer.

“You are a good doctor, Mila. And of course you would need to ask me that. But. Not to worry. I’ve not been poisoned. I didn’t take any drugs or pills.”

“Poisoned?” She asked. “Were you ever given a prescription for anxiety or for depression? You said some awful things happened to you?”

God Damnit. “No. No one asked about or treated me at all. I could have gone to counseling, but I didn’t.”

Tears were calming down to heavy sighs, my lungs trying to put some more oxygen in my body. The nurse came back in with a tray and some soup. “This is Rosa.” Said Dr. Mila. “Usually she and I are seeing older delegates or visitors. Sometimes people are sad and anxious after the presentations or meetings. Sometimes they come from a remote region and ask for a vaccine booster.”

Rosa had put a napkin over my chest and was feeding me a spoonful of soup. I felt like a little child. I wanted my mother. Suddenly, tears began to flow again. For the first time in a long time I needed to hear my mother’s voice.

“This is good.” I told Rosa and between bites she wiped away more tears.

“I think we need the drawer.” She told the doctor.

“Oh, really? You think so?” The nurse and the doctor were playing a game for me.

“Let’s see,” she rolled her stool over to a drawer nearby and pulled it out. “What do we have here? And she held up a small figure, like a plastic toy. “First up we have a Madonna and Child. There is also the Goddess Kali” She held it so I could see. “I have a nice photo of Abdu’l-Baha, and here is the Lord Buddha?”

I pointed at the Buddha figurine and she put it on the edge of the counter where I could see it. Rosa fed me another spoonful of soup. “Let’s add a dime I see here in the drawer, and I have a flower too." She brought up what looked like something from a craft. These were laid beside the Buddha, along with a pack of Chinese crackers that came with the lunch.

I finished the bowl of soup, and had not thrown up again. Rosa gave me a glass of water and that also felt good to drink. I looked at my little shrine and it helped with the shock and with comprehending what I had seen and knowing I would have to talk about it.

“This is going to sound strange, I know, but I don’t have a phone with me. Would you take a picture of this little shrine to send to me later, Please.”

“You don’t have a phone?” Nurse Rosa didn’t like that.
“I am supposed to get one today.” She and Mila gave each other a look.

Dr. Mila did as I asked and took photos to send to me. “I will have a prescription for you tomorrow for some anxiety meds. Whatever gave you this shock is still out there on the other side of the door. There’s a small pharmacy near the Guest House, you can pick it up there.”

“We have paperwork, we have to fill out some of it together.” I told them my name, and we dug out my passport from my bag. That was enough to order my prescription.

It took a few more minutes. Some deep breathing. I began to feel ready to talk.

“This has never happened to me before. Just before it did, I had a flashback to that difficult time in my life last year. I think I was triggered by being in an office building again, although I know that doesn’t make sense to anyone but me. I met a person whom I did not expect to meet, ever in my life. Do. Not. Put that in my chart. I have to trust you. I cannot tell you anymore about this.”

They nodded seriously, I sighed again.

“This has been a helpful exam, but do you have a different room where I can talk with that man?”

The doctor and nurse silently consulted with each other. Dr. Mila turned to me. “We are not ready to release you, yet. We want to watch your blood pressure, listen to your heart and see if you can go 30 minutes without throwing up again. We do have a room down the hall that has a bed and a chair. We would like you to be laying down.”

“I think that will do,” I said, sliding my legs around the exam table to look for the floor. Rosa brought over my lovely new shoes and Dr. Mila took hold of my arms to test that I could walk. My bag and jacket were found. We exited through the door and walked to the end of the hall into a room with a single bed and a simple chair. It had a small washroom and I used it. They brought in some clinic pillows, two boxes of tissues, a tumbler of water and plastic cups. They tucked me so that I was sitting up on the bed but didn’t look too frail. They both had “are you sure looks” and left the door open.

“We are going to be right outside here.” The doctor said.

“He will close the door though.” I told them. “This needs to be a private conversation, please don’t listen.”

They were gone not a minute before Commander Gore was in the doorway. His face was ashen, his body was on full alert.

“May I come in?” He asked. I pointed him to the chair. He picked it up and brought it beside the bed and sat down.

“Are you all right?” He asked. I tried to talk, I really did. Tears began to flow, again.

“Should I call the doctor back? Should I call the nurse?” He was so afraid for me. He took my hand, and I let him keep it. I shook my head no. “I am so sorry. I knew it was a bad idea for the two of you to be in the same room, and I told them so. I did not tell you because I didn’t want to tell you. I wanted you to have a day, one day, where you didn’t have to wrestle with this.” He stroked my hand and kept his voice low, his eyes looking at my hand and not my face. He put my hand to his lips, and kissed it. “I’m not even sure how we can talk about this. We, you and I, we don’t have a child.”

This was the exact right thing for him to say, because it was true. The truth helps in times of trouble, it really does. I was not angry with him about this. He and I did not have a child.

“How did this happen to us, Graham?” I was exasperated. “How did we get here, with all these people who are looking at us as if we are at the center. We’re not at the center, are we? None of this revolves around us, does it? I am a translator. You are a sailor. We love each other, we can’t help it, we just do.”

“You were an ambitious functionary in a Ministry. I was on a great voyage of exploration on the polar ice, one-hundred and fifty years ago. I didn’t put the two of us in a room together.” He let that hang between us.

“I did not choose for us to be matched either.” I replied. “I will not regret for a minute being with you, then or now. Despite the misery, because of the joy.”

“You are the only person in the world who has seen me completely fall apart, twice.” I told him. “How could we become that future me and future you? That’s not who we are?

He looked at me fiercely. “That future will not happen to us. I will take you into the wilds of the Olympic Peninsula before I let it happen to us. We will not be field agents, we will not be officers, we will not fight battles in Asia, that will not be our fate. I promise you this with my life.”

Now we were both wiping our eyes. We had reached an agreement that until now was unspoken. We were not going down that path if we had to fight back kicking and screaming. I had started the screaming.

“When did you know? When did you know who he was?” I had the box of tissues on the bed now. He found a small waste basket and moved it near the chair. He poured me a cup of water, and another for himself.

“You heard the story last night. Maggie and I were prepared to go down with our little boat in the middle of the Thames. They swooped in to get us aboard the yacht even though I had a gun. I was ready to go out shooting, taking them all with me. Except for Maggie.”

“Your love for her. She saved you.” I told him.

“I think Maggie is going to be saving us for some time yet. She caught you first just now. She knew what to do. I was at a loss. Him over there crying, you becoming a whirling dervish.”

He was buying time, mulling over what to say.

“The stupidly beautiful sailing ship, a yacht for a billionaire, someone with more money than God, that ship was my therapy. Once we ate, and slept, he convinced me that we had left the villains behind. He swore that you would be watched and protected, he promised me this. Within a day I was twelve hours at a time on that little bridge. He is retired Royal Navy, he knew exactly how to talk to me. I already knew the language of sail, I understood what the computer screen was showing me. Within days I was at the wheel free hand. He printed off all the ratings tests and qualifications and we studied them together. Maggie and the crew got along very well, she encouraged me in everything.”

I could tell that he had wanted to tell me this story. To share how he had learned the boat so well, had earned his ratings so quickly.

“Sweetheart, we went through the Panama Canal!” He tried not to be too excited about it. “We saw the Baja, San Francisco Bay, we sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge. We went to Victoria first and began meetings with Envision. I didn’t learn about the Travellers or come here to the Convention Center until later.”

“When did you know it was him?” I probed.

“He didn’t tell me, I guessed. I didn’t see myself in him at all. He’s taller than me. But once, I saw the ghost of you. I looked for a photo of your father online, and found one. He is a sixth generation Royal Navy officer, so I didn’t think to question how well he knew how to talk with me. It was refreshing. Comforting.”

“I’m not angry with you about that.” I assured him. “Remember, the same happened to me with Adela. I’m still not over it, I never may be.” I didn’t tell him that I thought about Adela every day. I thought about Adela’s husband and son every day.

The man who would be my husband let out a very heavy sigh. He didn’t want to tell me, and he did. “It was during a longer stretch at sea. Maggie was watching films. I watched a film a day with her. There was some liquor on the ship then and I took a bottle and found him. He knew what was coming. I asked him about his father, and he told me.”

He looked up to see if he could be done and I shook my head.

“How much can you stand to know? He was a teenager, the world was a mess, his parents were spies. His mother went off on a mission and never came back. He didn’t know about the time travel, not then. His father lied. And then his father told him the truth, that she might not ever come back. The Ministry determined that the mission had failed and put the machine in a closet.”

“He was accepted into the Academy at 18. He gladly went. His father changed. He never forgave himself, which I understand. But also, other things changed. Countries, nations, they ran out of steam for war. Certain leaders were showing up dead, no one knew who killed them. Battleships were sinking all over the world, no one could figure out why. Fighter jets would lift off and then crash within minutes. Pilots started refusing to fly. Everyone was so tired and confused, they just went home.”

I was not expecting this turn to the tale. This world war had been promised as our future. We were fated to become fighters in that war, senior decision makers and time travelers. Graham saw what I was thinking. He looked at me cautiously, “Adela said something about a change in the timeline. I don’t understand what that means. I’ve been waiting to talk to you about it.”

I had also been mulling this over. I would get so far parsing it out and then stumble over something about it that would not work.

“I believe that the reason Adela gave me the passcodes was so that all records of us would be erased, as if we had not been here. So that they could start all over again. She did not anticipate that I could get to the time machine and damage it. I did something that she herself could not imagine I would do.”

“Really, Little Cat?” He placed his hand on my face, gently holding it with love and sympathy. “I can imagine that very well. I never thought that I would marry a marksman, but here we are.”

That brought a chuckle from me and a twinkle from him. A rap on the door made us both jump as my doctor and nurse walked in with a purpose.

“Excuse us a moment, we need to check up on your vital signs, check your blood sugar, take a blood test.”

Graham stood up and smiled. He returned the chair to the end of the bed. We were okay. “I’ll meet you in the waiting room,” he said, pulling a phone out of his coat pocket.

Both my doctor and nurse stood back to look at me. The blood pressure cuff and stethoscope and syringes all began flying about me. “I want a urine test, too” said Dr. Mila, “can you do it?”

She was also asking me to breathe in and out.

“Did you throw up again?” asked Rosa, looking around for evidence.

After a trip to the bathroom with a little cup, I ran my fingers through my hair, put on my lovely green boxy coat, and shook their hands and gave them each a hug.

“Are you sure that you don’t want me to call security?” asked Rosa.

“I think that if you walk me to the door, you will see plenty of security already waiting for me.”

Graham was standing in the waiting room and opened the door for me. Outside in the lobby were about a dozen people, including Kyle’s mother I learned later. There was a tall man at the back of the lobby watching. There was a taller Samoan who had clearly had a fright. Maggie wasn’t worried, much. Layla was deeply worried. Captain Lewis was nowhere to be seen. Kyle and Grant were at the door to the building, standing at the ready.

Dr. Mila stepped forward and addressed the group. “You know that I don’t have to tell you anything about our patient and so I will only say this once. Someone’s blood sugar was a little low and then there was an unexpected shock. Anyone would have had an extreme reaction or anxiety attack. Nurse Rosa and I are content that with some fresh air and a quiet day or two, our patient will be fine.”

I did not say anything. Maggie came over to hug me, and so did Layla. The tall man at the back of the room heard every word. He was giving me his full attention. I showed him that I knew that he was there. He gave me a restrained “thumbs up.”

Poyer put away the little prayer book in his hands. The woman I knew to be Kyle’s mother stepped over to talk with Rosa. Graham tried to not talk in his officer voice. He failed.

“We are now going to walk through the gardens and then on to the Guest House. We will pick up dinner on the way. We will talk later about tomorrow.”

And that’s what we did. Everyone, reluctantly, went their separate ways. Kyle and Grant patrolled at a distance. We stopped by a market with a deli and bought a simple dinner. Sergeant was waiting for us at the welcome desk at the Guest House, and came up the stairs and sat close to me for the rest of the evening. We didn’t talk anymore, I couldn’t make any more words come out of my mouth. I missed the rocking of the boat, the sound of the waves. Graham opened up the window so that I could hear the ocean. He turned the lights low and I changed early into my shift and lay down in the bed. I took a pill that had been dispensed to me with a promise of a deep sleep that I surely needed.

He let me be by myself for a while, not sleeping, eyes blinking, still catching my breath. He talked with Sargeant about being on land again. How our lady was sleeping with us now, his bed was here in the corner, he would go on a long walk in the morning. He was a very good dog.

I was still awake when he got into bed with me, wrapping arms around to hold me, a big spoon and a little spoon.

“Maybe.” I said.

“Maybe.” he repeated.

“Maybe, there will not be a big war. Maybe the Travellers have come here to show us how to avoid it. Maybe I won't lose an eye. You don’t become an Admiral. A boy doesn’t lose his mother.”

“I believe that this is the intention. But the boy has already lost his mother. We can’t stop that, we know it happened. I saw it happen.”

I tried to answer, and could not. It was a secret that could not be spoken aloud. My eyes closed, it was a dreamless sleep.

Chapter Text

Sunday with My Own Personal Billionaire

Sergeant had his long morning walk and my own dear future husband picked up coffee and bagels before I opened an eye the next morning. When he saw my hand give a small wave from the bed, he opened up like a book.

“I have heard that there are good bagels and bad bagels. Blueberry bagels are bad bagels, even if they are tasty. The only good bagels in the world can only be found in New York City, which makes the people from L.A. laugh. I don’t know where L.A. is. The general rule is that only Jewish people can make a good bagel, but that rule is meant to be broken depending upon where you live. Maggie swears by the bagels in Pike Place Market and I like them. I cannot swear to the quality of these bagels when placed besides the ones from New York City. But, they are all better than anything we ever ate in London.”

“Are these bagels toasted?” I asked, pushing myself up in bed.

“Yes! And spread with butter which has melted all over. I will peel you an orange or a banana.”

“Orange juice?” I asked hopefully.

“Yes, with ice.” and both appeared at the bedside with the still warm bagels.”

“How are these still warm?” My mouth was full.

“I held them closely to my body,” he said straight-faced and sat up in the bed with me. We made a complete mess, sesame seeds everywhere.

“Don’t make me laugh,” I told him, “because I am still wound up and, you know, could start crying again.”

“It would be all right with me.” He said this sincerely. “I don’t believe we cried enough when we should have and it has built up and overflowed.” He took my hand and brought it to his mouth and kissed it.

“I do not wish to belabor this, and I do not like to talk about it, if it can be avoided. You know that I served aboard a battleship. I held men as they lay dying, screaming because their limbs had been blown off. That’s what cannon fire does. When you were screaming there was a difference.”

I heaved a huge sigh. He was right. It could have been worse.

My explainer voice came out: “L.A. is short for Los Angeles, where Hollywood is, in southern California.”

“Ohhhhh.” He said, “I know about Los Angeles. The women from L.A. all like my white captain’s hat, or so they say.”

My sesame toasted bagel was perfect. The coffee was also good. There was a breeze through the window. I had only embarrassed myself with a screaming fit yesterday in my future workplace and had to come to terms with meeting, at least once, with three people from the future, one of whom was somehow related to me and named after our dearest dead friend. My chest was still heavy, as if I had injured myself. Sargeant appeared alongside the bed and placed his nose beside me, and a crust of bagel. His eyes were huge.

“What now, Graham?” Sargeant got the crust of the bagel. Graham looked well-rested. He didn’t even look worried. I didn’t think I could ever walk into the Conference Center again, but then again I wasn’t concerned about being fired from a job I didn’t have.

“Well,” he said. “My phone has endless texts and emails. Everyone is desperately sorry, there are many apologies. There will be meetings and policies to be sure that nothing like this happens again to anyone.”

“Both Dr. Mila and Nurse Rosa have called me because I did give them my card. They are surprised they cannot talk with you directly, and I don’t think they like me very much.”

“They are good medical providers and I am happy to know them. Layla will talk with them about you.”

“Layla is in purgatory, it will give her something to do, I’ll answer her last text.”

His fingers were slow and sure, he knew the keyboard now and used a larger phone. For once I was glad not to have a phone. There was a light tap on the door that I knew to be Maggie, along with Sergeant’s woof of recognition. I crawled out of bed and opened the door and she grabbed me up.

“I should have warned thee, but didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know if you already knew. I didn’t ask Gray, it was not my place. I should have warned thee.” Her eyes were wet and I didn’t say anything, we just hugged and rocked and hugged some more and I felt better for it and so did she. The room was large enough that we could use a set of easy chairs in the corner. Graham had stood up when she walked into the room and he started picking up napkins and brought over my coffee.

“The sooner we meet with them, the Travellers, the sooner we can decide where to go and where to live.” Maggie was making choices. “They say that we can name the time and place, it need not be a conference room.”

“Who are you talking to about this, Maggie?” Graham asked evenly.

“Oh, I like the Sikh. He made friends with me some time ago, he hath been teaching me about Indian food. We are going to host a Langar meal for everyone.

“And you are texting?”

“Yes Gray. You are being busy with someone more important. He is the one they asked to be our contact, we can make arrangements with him. But, we must meet with all three of them together, that’s their request.”

She turned to me, “And there’s someone who wishes to speak with you this morning. It's my own personal billionaire, the one who produces films and owns his own theaters.” She looked at my surprised face. “Oh, I did not mention him?”

“You don’t have to meet with him this morning at all.” Graham was direct. “He can wait, he can send an email.”

“He’s waiting downstairs?” I asked. “Your own personal billionaire?”

“He said no rush, whenever you are ready, but he is downstairs.”

An hour later, the three of us, four counting Sergeant, came down into the comfortable lobby and library at the Guest House. As I suspected, the person waiting was the tall man from the back of the Conference Center lobby making sure that I was in safe hands.

“We have met at least once before Mr. Gore” he reached out to shake hands in that manly ritual. “Maggie and I have met several times. This is our first time meeting, he reached out his hand to me.”

“Am I supposed to know who you are?” I asked, shaking his hand, he did not look like a technology brother.

“Not at all. I’m from Chicago and made my fortune in accounting software that works well. These days I produce films. Envision connected with me a few years ago, I established investments that fund scholarships in the arts and environmental sciences. I’m also on the steering committee for Envision, a three-year term that rotates.”

We sat in the library. A door was closed, we were left alone, with Graham and Maggie steadfastly acting as my guardians. Maggie and I sat together. Graham stood behind us, like a marine. Our own personal billionaire sat opposite.

“First, let me offer our abject apologies. No one had seriously considered how deeply emotional it might be the first time that you, especially, would meet the Travellers. There are aspects to your relationship that I was not told. No one was told. Very few people knew. You should be assured that even now, very few people know.”

I nodded. I could not easily speak. I thought that I had recovered somewhat. Still, I tried.

“I don’t know everything, either.” I assured him. “I could not have predicted my reaction, it has never happened to me before in a professional setting. I am still surprised and unmoored. I’m not sure how I will feel about this tomorrow, I can’t put it into words.”

“There may not be any words, now or ever. My family is Jewish, we know our history in Europe, we still don’t have the words. When I talk with Maggie, she gets to a certain point and there are no further words to explain her experience. But, she can say your name, and Commander Gore’s and that helps her get through.” Maggie and I were holding hands.

“We, Envision, myself, consider you our co-worker in the task ahead of us, if you can forgive us?” He continued. “It is a momentous task. It will be difficult work. There will be times when all we can do is scream and cry. A desk waits for you or you can choose to work from home if that’s what you need to do. I have a badge for you.” He put a name badge on the table between us, it had my name on it. It was a kind gesture

“The Travellers are also sorry and concerned, one of them especially. I talked with him last night. They are insistent that they need to talk with you. And Mr. Gore, and Margaret.”

“He told you about me?” My voice was flat. “Did he tell you that I killed his mother?”

Graham put his hand on my shoulder, “Hush. No.”

Maggie moved closer. “Do not say so, you need not say so.”

Our new friend sat back in his chair. “No, he did not tell me that. Perhaps he does not know that?” He leaned forward and with the fingers of his hand tapped the table a minute, thinking. “He did tell me who you are to him and that’s why yesterday happened. He also mentioned you, Commander Gore, this time he said Graham’s rank.”

Graham paced behind the couch, gathering up his words. He stood again behind me, his hands resting on my shoulders. “We,” he started, “We are a couple. We love each other. We are pledged to be married. We have no children. Captain Lewis, as much as I like the man, is not related to us, in any way. I am not his father.”

I reached up and took his hands and they rested on my shoulders entwined together. I continued, “There is another couple, in the future who are also us, twenty years from now. They are field agents and soldiers. Somehow they also managed to be a family. We have been told that this is who we became, the first time Graham was pulled from the past. This will not happen again. We refuse. We believe that our timeline may have already been changed.”

Graham also stood his ground. “We will talk with the Travellers and we will tell them what happened to us, and what we have been told about the future. We may have been lied to. Or, we may have taken a path that has changed the future. But not today. We cannot do this today.”

The Producer nodded, I could see him taking many mental notes.

“And what will you do? Today?” He asked as if he were a friend, or a school counsellor.

I took my hands down to my lap. “The first order of business is to get me a mobile phone.” Graham moved from behind me to sit in a chair opposite. He gave me his full attention as if receiving his orders of the day.

“Because it is really stupid now that we are on this island that I cannot receive texts or calls like a normal person. The technology center is . . .?”

Both men pointed to the left of the Guest House. There was a small “yes dear” moment between them which was slightly amusing. “Good, because I am getting a phone, and a laptop, and a tablet, and one of the large bluetooth headphones, and I think a matching watch that connects with it all.”

Maggie perked up, “Oh, a watch, for thy wrist?”

I leaned over to her “They are very clever and have a tiny screen and you can set it with all sorts of little buttons for the time and the weather and to see your texts, without getting out your phone and they come in gold and silver . . “

The tall man slid his business card across the table. “As an appreciation from me, please show this card in the store. You can choose whatever you would like. Of course, they will add all the security protocols while you are there. And Miss Margaret may have her own smart watch.” This was a successful offer and he received brilliant smiles in return.

“I need to call my doctor about some anxiety medications and to assure her that I am not a kidnap victim. We are all suffering from trauma and anxiety and I’m not going down with the ship again.”

All three of them nodded, and Graham said, “I’m told by text that these are waiting for you at the pharmacy. Further down the street.”

“Good. Then we will have some lunch and I am going to call my parents on my phone. I need to hear their voices, and assure them that I am still not a kidnap victim and I’m going to tell them about my friends who are showing me around the islands. Then I’m going to tell them that I’m interviewing for a new job, because they will need a few days to process that I’m moving to . . .where? Canada or the states?

“Canada” said both Graham and Maggie together.

“Okay then, Canada it is.”

I reached over and picked up the name badge, spelled correctly, underneath was listed my department: Communications. I turned it around to display to the board member and tapped that word specifically. “We will do this better.”

“Yes, we will.” He nodded. “We will always be doing it better.”

“Then after lunch, and to give myself all sorts of endorphins, we will go to the outdoor outfitters store that I saw and I may need several new pairs of shoes for hiking and boating, and some of this athletic wear I see everyone in, and the right clothes for visiting the coastal villages, because I’m guessing that’s happening soon.”

I saw the billionaire make a glance with his eyes to my male companion, who caught it.

“With my own money. Which I have plenty of.” I insisted. And they both became very interested in something on the table. I turned to Graham, “I’m guessing we have a dinner invitation.” He nodded. And then brought out his phone and texted a short reply to either Kyle or Grant or Kyle’s mother.

Well then,” our tall friend stood up, “this sounds like a productive day.” He looked me in the eye, “When you have your new phone number, will you please send it to me?” I nodded. Maybe I would. He opened his hand to show a dog biscuit from the host desk. “May I?” He asked Graham, who nodded with a chuckle. Sergeant had known it was there the whole time.

He stopped a minute and turned to me. “Visiting the coastal villages?” he asked.

“When I’m not screaming,” I told him, in my explainer voice, “I am paying attention. The emergency will happen a little at a time, and then all at once. Boat people are washing up in Europe every day. That’s only going to get worse. One day a thousand boats are going to arrive in these islands. The next day, a thousand more. There is plenty of room here and in Canada to absorb them, if we plan ahead, and if we are emotionally and spiritually ready. The people who will help us with that are those who have always lived here.”

He raised his eyebrows and looked at me much more closely than before. “Indeed.” He said.

“Time to get to work.” I replied

“Ready for new tech?” I said to Maggie, who was very much ready.

And as we were getting ourselves up and out the door I saw he and Graham exchange another look entirely. I thought to myself, “Damn right.”

The Tech Center in the village was waiting for me. There was a display room for staff and a choice of laptops was already set out. I stuck with my tried and true, no need to learn a new operating system on top of everything else. While it was logged on and updating, both Maggie and I picked through pretty covers, mine had an ocean scene.

We carefully considered the size of phones, and tested the keyboards. I always liked a smaller unit as my hands are small. If I wanted to play games or watch a video I now had a handy tablet. It was also plugged in to update and charge. The tech support person was not surprised to learn that my former phone had been lost overboard. It seems to happen often in a port town.

Graham had been shown over to a new selection of military style phone cases, which he pretended to look through. Sergeant was petted and admired and given another treat. I chose a color for my headphones and that box was added to the pile. A multi-charger device was included. And the watches were last. I chose the color of my watch to match the color of my ring, which was admired. My fiancee received genuine smiles.

“No stop at the register is necessary” I was assured. “Your phone and watch can go with you, the rest will be delivered to the Guest House.

My prescription was waiting at the pharmacy and I entered the name and number of my doctor into my new phone. She received my first text, which said “Thank you. I feel better. Will take these meds.” It took only minutes to receive my first smiley face text in response. She also sent a link for making an appointment. Then came the photo of our little shrine.

The local restaurant let us out onto a deck with our pup, brought huge bowls of seafood soup and soft breadsticks. Graham had a steak. He was happy, so was Sergeant.

Chapter Text

Sunday Lunch and Shopping

My parents have had the same landline phone number my entire life. I entered it into the phone. They would be getting ready for bed, eight hours earlier. The restaurant deck was quiet.

My father’s voice answered sounded cautious, what friend calls on a landline these days? “It’s me dad, I’m calling from America.”

“Darling Girl!” He said. “Where in America?” I could hear my mother’s voice from the kitchen calling out “who?”

“Hello Mei, it’s me!” If I talked louder I knew she could hear me. “I am in the San Juan Islands, which are between Seattle in the U.S. and Vancouver in Canada.”

“Is everything alright?” she shouted from across the room. They were not used to hearing from me unless it was a birthday, or I had lost my job or something like that.

“Yes. It is so beautiful here I wanted to tell you about it. I sent you a postcard but you probably don’t have it yet. I’ve been out on a sailing yacht! We went around the Islands and we went to Victoria. In Canada.”

“Wonderful!” Said my dad. “That’s the little city that is more English than England, or so I’ve heard.”

“Who is we?” I heard my mother demanding. “Ask her who is we?”

“Your mother wants to know about your friends there, I will put you on speakerphone?”

“That’s fine, I will put you on speakerphone, too.” Both Maggie and Graham got wide-eyed and sat up straighter. “I am at lunch right now with two of my friends I knew in London. One is Maggie, we went clubbing together. The other is Graham, he and I worked together. They both live in Canada, now.”

“He is the chap who sent you the package and the photo of the lake?” My father asked.

Graham then surpriseed me. “Yes, sir. That was me.” He said into the phone. “I was quite pleased when your daughter took the hint and came here on vacation.”

Maggie leaned in to speak at the phone on the table. “This is Maggie! I am also a friend. We have been shopping and drinking tea, and rode the ferry from Seattle.”

My mother spoke to my father. “This sounds like a good vacation.”

“Here’s the thing.” I said into the phone. “I saw a job listing and responded because, why not, and I’ve had an interview. I could have a new job here in the States.”

There was silence. “What kind of job?” My mother asked cautiously. “Doing translation and training work. It pays very well, and the company is world-wide. Look up Envision online, I will send you a weblink.”

“Oh!” My mother said, “the Naragi’s have a niece who works there. We saw them at the grocery store. We will have dinner with them next week.”

“Yes she does, her name is Layla and I met her. They can tell you more about the company.” I saw Graham waving for a turn on the phone.

“I am very glad to talk with you on the mobile. We are feeding your daughter salmon right out of the ocean. My dog likes her. Tonight we are meeting some Coastal Indian friends. We will send photos of my ship. I am the Master of a tourist sailing yacht.”

“Dad, I’ll send you an email with my new phone number, my other phone got lost overboard. I will have a new email with Envision.”

My father said, “Alright dear, I’ll look for it.” My mother said “How big is this ship?”

“Look for photos," I told them. I love you. Call you again, soon!”

Both Maggie and Graham looked quite satisfied with themselves, but I looked at him with loving irritation. “Wasn’t that a little quick on the draw?”

He didn’t know what that meant, and he didn’t care. “Little Cat,” he said “It is a dream come true.” And he meant it.

Maggie and I had a delightful time purchasing new outfits at the outdoor store. I allowed myself to look through the full price racks, no discount corner for me today. Graham was shown to the equipment section and was earnestly looking over the survival gear. I caught him gazing at the knives longingly.

“How many knives do you already have?” I asked teasingly.

His reply was heartfelt. “You can never have enough knives.”

Several bags and an employee discount later, we headed back to the Guest House. Maggie split off to find Layla to show off her new watch. I was ready for a nap. It took all my strength to resist the new laptop, but I didn’t have that much strength left. So much emotion to process and to question. I was not surprised that I had a reaction, it was the extreme reaction that was odd. It was uncalled for.

Laying down together on the bed, Graham wrapped his arms around me.

“It is like serving double-watches,” he said. “Normally, we would be filled with joy for finding each other again. And with deciding to marry, which we have not yet talked about. And we should.”

“True,” I agreed, “this is true. We would be sharing large emotions and feelings and kisses and loving. And trying out big plans for size. I want to do that with you.”

“Considering a new place to work, learning new duties, moving to a new country. Many tasks are involved.” He added.

“I can barely comprehend it. The paperwork, alone. I can’t bear to think about it.” I told him.

“It wasn’t terrible, the paperwork, but still, so much of it.” He agreed.

“And these important people with big names. They are all generals and rear admirals, and lord secretaries. Diplomats. Kings!” He had my head on his shoulder and was making points by tapping down my arms.

“I’m going to work with all of them. O Lord, they called me an executive. That’s the worst. They will want me on the phone every day.” I could see my life passing before my eyes.

“And these Travellers expect us to relive our trauma for them tomorrow,” he was now counting down the middle of my body, gently tapping with two fingers. “If you tried to add it up, it would be more than anyone could master.” He was carefully explaining.

I leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. “You were paying close attention during therapy sessions about stress.”

“I was.” He was quite serious. “I was thinking of you. What I could do, how I could help when you returned to me.”

“Graham,” I whispered. “You will make me cry.”

“Oh no,” He said softly, “I will make you do the other, better thing.” and he began to unbutton my shirt.

I brought up a word that I knew he would like: “You are being so conscientious in regards to me.” I told him.

“Oh yes, indeed, as I should be.” He responded with a nod. “Because I love you.”

And then, he did.

Chapter Text

Sunday Night Family Dinner

I had a nice long nap after that. Graham slept a little with me, and then sat in a chair with a book. He allowed Sergeant to take over being a warm comforting lump.

Later my man and his dog returned with a nice snack for me from the bakery and we changed for dinner at the family boat waiting for us at the other end of the dock.

It felt odd not bringing anything to dinner, but Graham said that we were honored guests and everyone knew that I was new in town. He also mentioned that four dozen fresh clams had already been delivered to the boat. He wore a flannel checked shirt that he swore was practically a uniform in the Pacific Northwest. I dressed up in a dressed down way. It was also time to put on the little chicken necklace given to me last Christmas from Graham. His smile was wide when he saw it.

It was a nice walk together down to the little harbor, over to the dock. It felt like a normal couple's thing to do. The large motorboat belonging to Kyle’s family was at the very end, and there were extra chairs, lanterns, chests of ice and a cooker of some kind all laid out and around it.

Kyle was there with his wife and two daughters. Grant was there with a girlfriend he was eagerly introducing around. Graham and I met many cousins, aunts and uncles. There were teenagers out on the water in small boats being cheerful. I was placed in a seat of honor, between two grandmothers and was asked for my choice of drink. It was suggested I might like a Mexican Coke and when I asked about that, it made them happy to pour me my first one. Graham was handed a Jamaican Ginger Beer which he had been fond of in London.

I was told that plates of food would be brought to me, and was there anything I could not eat? Lucky for me, there was not, because the little clams, breaded clams, crab legs, octopus arms, mussels, tiny potatoes, and fry bread, all just kept coming. The grandmothers beside me helped to negotiate the shells. One of them got out her phone and showed me the gift shop she owned in Friday Harbor supporting Native artists.

“The shop is closed in January and the Conference Center hosts workshops and guest teachers for men and women who teach and share traditional techniques and new learning. Staff at the Center schedule workshops.”  She put her information into my new phone, took a photo of us together and made that her contact picture. She was kindly showing me how to remember and collect everyone’s name and number when they started asking.

Rosa, my nurse, stopped by. She kissed me on the cheek, and also checked my pulse. She asked to see my phone and added her personal number to it. I saw her later, hands on hips, giving Graham some instructions.

The other grandmother asked me about Graham and how we knew each other. Everyone was listening in to hear our story. It was good practice ahead of introducing him to my parents, coming up with answers that were not lies: We had worked together in London. Yes, he had been in the Navy. He had spent much time at sea on scientific voyages. Government work, some of it classified. I had done some training with him and we fell in together. After he was hired by Envision to captain the sailing yacht for science and education, he invited me to visit. We already knew we wanted to be together, but he had surprised me with a proposal at the garden. It was the best proposal ever.

Before it was time to take the children home, Kyle’s mother stood where everyone could see her with her husband Ralph nearby. They thanked everyone for coming, told some family jokes, and then turned to me.

“Graham says that you don’t yet know why we are such good friends. Graham has been adopted into our family. It must feel strange to get off a plane in Seattle and find that a whole family is waiting for you. For your wedding events, he will have cousins and uncles and aunts.” My emotions were already close to the surface, when tears started to flow, the grandmother took my hand, softly patting it.

“When we first met Graham on The Choice, and in his work, he had a sadness that he could not tell us about. It was heavy on his heart. It prevented him from knowing us better, and we were around all the time, so it was a problem that needed to be solved. Finally the uncles took him out in the long canoe and after crashing through some waves, shook it out of him. He told us his Arctic tale, and we were sad with him. Sharing what has happened, even awful things, helps with healing. Storytelling is healing. Graham requested that he be allowed to tell his story to us and ask for forgiveness. This was done.”

“We know that whenever there is enmity, disunity, and distrust that those who have been harmed must make space for healing. Those who have done harm must drop any excuses and make space for honesty and forgiveness. We did this. Graham did this. Our hearts opened, together.”

Graham was silent, I was consoled. In this group of people he was not an officer. He was a friend, a cousin, an uncle, a co-worker.

The children brought me small gifts, a pretty bracelet to wear and clips for my hair. Another wool blanket was handed to me, and some useful kitchen tools in a basket, one of which was a crab cracker. They were quite pleased with my surprise, and pleasure and shyness and then gave me a little space to respond.

I didn’t know what to say and then I did. “I had been feeling a little sad that my future husband did not have parents or grandparents to share in our joy. Now I am excited to be joining your family. My own mother and father will surely visit from England and they will be eager to get to know you, too.”

It was getting cool, hot tea was being passed around. The little ones went home, the teens were laughing out on the water. Graham was helping to clean up the grills and gather up the dishes. I may have seen him sneak a cigarette.

I turned to the curious grandmother. “I know who you are, I recognize you from yesterday.” She nodded with a gentle hmmmm. “Is one of these children your future grandmother.”

“I have not said.” She told me softly. “It can be unsettling to learn that a stranger is related to you in an unexpected way. I’m a newcomer here as well, not yet two years.”

“That was a wise decision.” I told her, “I don’t know if I can do it. Tomorrow.”

“Yes you can,” she said. “You can because of what I’m going to tell you now.” She had my full attention. “You and that Graham Gore have your own future and your own lives. You are independent of those other Travellers, alive and dead. I can tell you your future, do you want to know it?”

I gasped. I believed her. I looked around for Graham, he saw my face and made straight for me. She motioned for him to sit. I nodded.

“This next fifty years is full of horrors and hopes. You can make it better with your work and good choices. You will have many responsibilities and you will make good decisions, mostly. People will remember you fondly because you chose to serve your community. This will always be a good place to live. You will have your own children. They will make you proud parents. They never need to fear the Ministry, I don’t think that you ever had to tell them, but I’m not sure about that. Be happy, your lives will be long and full.”

Later, we lay together in the dark, wide awake, very quiet. Graham turned to me and told me a secret.

“When I signed up with Franklin, for two years or more in the Arctic, I had made peace with the rest of my life. I did not believe it was probable for me to marry, or if I did later on in life, to have my own children. Some officers can manage to do this. Captains of larger ships can have their wives aboard. I did not foresee this happening for me. And, it was alright. I had a career in Her Royal Majesty's Navy. I had shipmates, I had seen the world. I was part of a great science expedition.”

“Somehow the Lord God in his mercy has made a different choice for me. This new future, I will embrace it.”

He lay his head on my shoulder and an arm across my belly and I thought about our children, the grandmother didn’t say how many. I wondered how many?

Chapter Text

Monday at The Longhouse

Nearer to the woods, behind the Conference Center, uphill from the harbor, was a Salish Longhouse. It was a modern building that acted as a cultural center and meeting place, with spaces set aside for gatherings and consultations with visitors. It was warm, with polished wood, and decorated with weavings, carvings and a welcoming totem pole at the door.

Graham, Maggie and I walked in together. It was morning, after a nervous breakfast. Fog had moved into the harbor town, we could barely see the water, the whole world was the same color of light gray. We had not compared notes or prepared what we would say, we didn’t want to remember most of it. Graham wore as close to a uniform as he could manage, all in dark blue. I wore a wool coat I had purchased the day before. I wanted to bring my new blanket and almost did. Maggie had to take it out of my arms and set it on the bed. She also was subdued, and somehow looked more 17th Century than I had ever seen her.

We were the last people in the room. Someone had taken out tables and conference chairs and made a circle of comfortable furniture. There was a couch for Graham and I to sit together. Maggie sat with Layla. Poyer was there and each of the three Travellers. Settling in and looking at them, I noticed for the first time that all three were older, almost elderly. It was Kyle’s mother, Naomi finishing up the room, setting out water, tissues, and checking the temperature. She brought some small pillows to the couch for us, and checked with each of the elders if they were comfortable.

She was about to walk out and close the door when I said something unexpected. “Naomi,” I called out. “Would you like to stay?” Several pairs of eyes looked at me with surprise, but not Graham’s.

Naomi knew why I had asked her, she sent a quiet look of support my way. She found a chair and settled herself next to the Grandmother, whose name I did not yet know. That’s when I noticed that Mr. Singh also had a companion, a much younger man with an IT badge.

Poyer stood up and addressed the room. “This meeting is not being recorded, either by video or audio. Captain Lewis is keeping a log, I am making notes of any decisions we make here. My assistant is present to be sure that nothing is missed. Is there any objection to this?” There were none.

“Thank you all for coming. There is no precedent that I know of for any meeting like this. We have representatives from humanity’s future and from our past. There is not a problem set before us to solve. This is an information gathering meeting. Mr. Singh will be our chair. Before I hand this meeting to him everyone should understand that new information may be revealed today. None of you are expected to be fully informed of everything that may be discussed. That is, there is no shame in being surprised.”

Mr. Singh stood up to greet the room. He was a slender, friendly South Asian man. Maggie had said he was Sikh. He smiled at us and allowed for a moment of quiet.

“I am the chair today, because I am the oldest person here. I have lived on the Earth for 90 years, although it will be a few more years before I am born in the present. Both of my companions are also elders. We have come to you on a one-way trip, we won’t be going back to our own time. We are not the only elders who have made this journey, they are in other parts of the world.”

“We have learned that there have been multiple sets of time travellers arriving, shall I say, recently. This decade in history is the crux, it is when decisions and choices are being made that will determine how humanity will suffer or advance. Lieutenant Commander Gore and Margaret Kemble were selected from the past in order to influence the future, and in this process they were not given warning, choices or options. For this, we representatives from the future offer our deepest and most sincere apologies and beg your forgiveness. Thank you for meeting with us today.”

“Last year, when the two of them were being operated by M16, the Secret Service in the United Kingdom, they met two other Travellers from a future further than my time. They told you about their time. This is what we need to hear from you today. We are asking you to please remember exactly what they told you.”

Answering this question fell mostly to me. I reported what Adela had told me about the wars and weapons that were used. I swallowed hard and told them about boat refugees and the Coast Guard. I shared what the man we called the Brigadier and his companion Salise had said in conversations, and how their speaking accents changed. I mentioned that people lived in bunkers because of toxic air. I shared what Simmilla, another bridge, had told me, at gunpoint, about billions of people dying in Africa. I said that they had claimed to have used the last of their countries' resources to invent the time machine.

When I thought I was done, the Grandmother began to speak.

“My name is Mona Khan.” She introduced herself. “My family was from Arizona, and we were nearly the last people to leave when no one could live in Arizona anymore. Members of our family died in the heat, on land we had lived on for a thousand years.”

“My daughter,” she looked at me sadly, “We were internally displaced people. There was much suffering. I tell you this because now you must tell us how these Travellers died.”

I knew this was coming. I closed my eyes and remembered walking with Adela. “I was coming with Adela, the Vice-Secretary of our department, through the marsh to find Graham and Maggie, to rescue them. I knew where they were hiding from danger. I am deeply ashamed of this, and that is one reason it is difficult for me to tell. This is when she told me about her time, twenty years from now. She mentioned mass migration, terrible wars, chemical weapons that had destroyed farming, and revolutions.”

“The time machine had been captured in their time. They used it to go backward in order to abduct people from an even further past. They required a quieter world than theirs in which to conduct their experiments. This is when I get lost as to motive.”

The room gave me the time I needed. “The two future Travellers appeared suddenly, and with a weapon from their own time. Salise pointed the weapon at me, Adela jumped him and killed him with a knife, because a forcefield would have protected them from a gun. I was in shock, the other one ran away. Adela told me to run because special ops soldiers were coming. Adela found Graham and Maggie and spoke to them, I don’t know exactly what she said to them.”

“Not thinking clearly, I went back to the Ministry offices and I found one of the other bridges with the Brigadier. He had told her about the future, about how many billions of people would die. How many nations on Earth would disappear. She had been helping them to kill the other Travellers from the past. We called them expats, including our friend Arthur, because there was only room for so many people to be traveling in time. I had a gun. Instead of shooting at either one of them, I shot at the time machine. It was damaged, the Brigadier imploded into stars and back in the tunnels so did Adela. We did not know until that day that she was also a Traveller. That is three Travelers who died that day, four if you count our friend Arthur, who had been brought from the past.”

“I saw Graham one more time after that, in the flat we lived in. He and Maggie barely escaped with their lives. I was put on house arrest. The Ministry was done with me, but before I was sent home I was shown what remained of Adela, which looked like a box of stars. For all I know, she is still there along with the Brigadier.”

“You should know that the further Travellers were observing the time meddling, standing at the edge of meetings at the Ministry. We don’t know how long they had been there. I was told at the time that they had a mission of their own.”

Both Maggie and Graham had some contributions, small conversations held at one time or another. Chance meetings at the Ministry that now didn’t look as if by chance. Odd turns of phrases, strange questions. Graham had become more suspicious by the day, but no one at the Ministry knew much about them either. They each recited what happened in conversation with Adela at the tunnels. Graham knew that she was trying to delay their escape. He was furious and arguing with her when she burst into flames from the inside and then collapsed. They used the confusion to escape from the tunnels and could not say what happened after they ran away.

I was done, maybe, and made myself look over at Captain Lewis. He was writing with a pencil, in a paper notebook, and I wondered if people really still did that 100 years from now. He finished and looked up at me. He was a nice looking man. I saw in his face my father, my husband, a bit of my mother, a bit of me. He was not my son, but somehow, we were related.

He set down his notebook on a small table, gave Graham and Maggie a small smile. They knew him. They liked him. He stood up.

“My name is Arthur John Gore. You know me as Captain Lewis, which was my wife’s last name. I am in my 70s, I am a retired Royal Navy officer. I was a Captain, with an emphasis on training and arms instruction, and later military intelligence. I joined up when I was 18 and served aboard ship in the Atlantic and the Arctic. My father was Admiral Graham Gore and my mother was the woman who is being named as Adela. She disappeared when I was 15 years old. They were from the first set of expat Travellers and their bridges. I can’t explain it, but they were desperate. There was a terrible war, defeat was possible, maybe probable. My father and mother helped to end that war. If pulling people from the past into the future had worked before, certainly it could work again and again. You could continue to pull the same person, just five minutes earlier. The problem was, most of the time, those pulled from the past died. With the deaths of those further Travellers the Ministry had enough. The time machine was locked away, I know that it is shocking for Miss Bridge to see me. Imagine if there were a dozen of me?”

“We have been tasked with finding out what happened to the people who were pulled forward. We believe that other Travellers have been passing through, trying to fix things. Trying to find ways to stop wars, save the Earth, to save humanity from terrible suffering. We are sympathetic to those two from the further future, they were trying to improve that future for all of us.”

“I have been keeping careful records, with pencil, on paper, of the history we have found, what our individual memories have recorded, what we ourselves have witnessed, what our elders told us, what we have seen on this, our beautiful planet taking place now.”

“It is our belief, and I am happy to tell you this, that some aspects have improved. Some international incidents have not occurred. Certain despots have not appeared. The hole in the ozone layer in the atmosphere has been repaired.”

“We are encouraged. We will dedicate the remainder of our lives in places where we can make a difference, when decisions and choices are made, we hope to represent the people of the future. That’s why we have come to live with you. Not to prevent, to encourage.”

“But,” Maggie asked, “what about the time door? Are you still using that same time door? Oh.” She had the answer to her own question. “The technology brothers have the time door.”

Mr. Singh now took his turn. “This is my field. I am a computer engineer, and when it happened that everyone in the world could talk with each other all at once, some of us began to wonder how the world could be remade. There are generations of conversations and experiments and networks now layered deep in code and programming. It wasn’t possible to build a time door without us, or without the knowledge and physics that had been humming along for two hundred years before this invention was designed. Since we have begun to study it the technology has since improved. There is plenty of room in time, there always has been, if you survive the trip. It is possible that your experience was sabotaged. We may never know.”

Mr. Singh’s assistant now spoke up. “I am here as a representative of the deep web. I can tell you that there has been conversation on the deepest levels of world-wide communication. The people who communicate on that level have their own agendas, their own priorities. They are doing their part to alleviate the Climate Emergency and to prepare for the worst. Some are aligned with Envision. The time door has been put to sleep for now. No one can wake it up, today, without our permission. It looks as if, one hundred years from now, it will wake up and that’s how we have our Elder Travellers with us now. I will be watching to see when news of the Elder Travellers appears on the deep web. I will not be posting about them anytime soon, but someone somewhere will.”

Poyer and Layla were staring, amazed. Naomi looked protective. Graham and Maggie were confused and looking to me for an explanation. Captain Lewis was nodding knowingly.

Grandmother Khan was also nodding, with approval maybe? She said:

“What we do know is that storytelling is healing. We learn best from each other, from those we trust. Literature has been used as a word of warning for a long time now. This is why we have a request which will require much labor and humility.”

She looked at me like a professor making an assignment. I had a strong feeling that she was a professor, and was issuing me an assignment.

I saw what was coming and sat back in my seat. Then Graham saw it. I saw him resist and then protest. “This is a big favor to ask,” He said to the room, “to ask someone to lay their life bare and then live with everyone knowing the worst of you.”

“And the best.” I said. To him. “The very best. Better than I could have ever hoped for. Better than I deserve. I came here thinking I might be hiding out for the rest of my life in Alaska. Not nudging the world out of the way of a climate reckoning.”

“If we all do our jobs right,” said Grandmother Khan, “many more of us may be able to live our best life. This is a task we know that you can do.” She looked at me lovingly, encouragingly. “You can write in a dozen languages. Now is the time to write in the language of the future.”

I saw Naomi’s beaming face. She would help me. The two Gore men were looking crafty. Maggie was already thinking about filming, I could see the wheels turning in her head. Layla was writing furiously. I narrowed my eyes, and thought about my new laptop, waiting all fresh and ready.

The silence was interrupted by a sharp conversation coming from the door, and the security head came forward signalling to Graham.

“Sir, there’s a man at the door insisting that he come in, he said to tell you his name and rank.”

Directly behind him strode a figure who was familiar, a smaller cocky man dressed all in leather as if he had just come off a horse or a motorcycle. He looked as if he were wearing a sword, except that he was not. Maggie and I knew who it was at the same time and gasped. I looked over at Graham and, with appreciation, thought “Damn!”

Graham stood up straight and walked forward to meet him. Captain Lewis also stood at the ready.

“Lieutenant Cardingham.” Graham said in his officer voice.
“Commander Gore.” He replied sharply. They saluted each other.

“Captain Lewis.” he said and saluted again. “A pleasure Miss Margaret, he touched his brow. Miss Bridge, he nodded.”

Layla was quietly laughing into her hand. She may have been the only other person in the room who knew who Cardingham was.

“What can we do for you Thomas?” asked Graham, eyebrows lifted. Cardingham allowed himself a little smirk.

“Sir. You called for me. And I came.”

Chapter Text

Finale

Elspeth had been thinking about them lately, fuschia bright Maggie and hopeful Gray. It had been a few weeks, not unusual, a school break for Maggie perhaps. She had decided to not be worried yet when she saw the four younger people walking together up the street from the harbor towards The Diner. Maggie was all sunshine, pointing out to the others their destination. She was holding hands with another woman who was also all smiles. Behind them walked the officer with a slight, younger woman on his arm. He looked taller, lighter, and proud. Ah, she was right, it was a woman.

They came in the door all flush with their walk, admired the view down to the harbor, hung up coats and still Gray escorted his lady friend to the inside of the booth that looked out at the door. Oh ho, not a girl friend, not a lover, a wife!

“Elspeth!” Maggie called, “We have returned with friends at last!”

Elspeth could not help herself. She came over to welcome them with hugs, and menus. Gray stood up formally.

“May I introduce you to our special friends, Layla who works out of Friday Harbor most of the time and the person you most wanted to know about only a month ago, now my wife.”

“Not quite yet,” the bride reached for the menus and gave Elspeth a sweet smile. “But he can’t help himself and I’m not complaining. I’ve been hearing about your One of Everything option. But Layla tells me that a good short stack is a thing of beauty.”

“I am very happy for you both and will bring over the catering menu. We supply desserts for every occasion. Our short stack always has fresh fruit and an optional non-dairy alternative whipped topping.”

“Me, me, that’s for me. I’m Layla. You know my cousin Vahid.” Said Layla.

“I will share my One of Everything for bites of Short Stack.” said Maggie.

“What is a Belgium Waffle in the U.S?” asked the bride with a London accent.

“At least five kinds of fresh fruit and a sprinkle of walnuts.” Elspeth replied. “And yes I know Vahid, we send six pies to Naw Ruz every year.”

“Steak and eggs?” Gray asked with a lift of his eyebrow?
“Yes, Albert’s in the kitchen, so steak and eggs for you.”

Elspeth had this figured out now. “I’ve got three Brits and a Persian. Would you like tea or coffee?

The not-yet-wife peered from the back corner of the booth. “Does the tea come in a bag next to a coffee cup of hot water?”

Her companions covered their faces in their hands so as not to be uproarious. “Coffee then,” said Elspeth with a straight face.

There were seven fruits on the Belgium waffle. The sun came out and little sailboats and motorboats began tying up below in the harbor. The bell at the door was ringing merrily, soon every stool at the counter was occupied.

Elspeth stopped by three times with coffee for the merry table up front. She wrote out one check and Maggie came out of the scrum the winner. As she carefully counted out her cash, she said,

“Gray tells us that you train former prisoners in the kitchen?”

Elspeth handed the catering card over to the future bride. “We do. The larger kitchens in town know that I train them well. We have a dedicated bake shop. A few now have their own food trucks. Members of my own family were on the run from the Feds once upon a time, don’t tell anyone that, it’s our secret. So, we know a little help goes a long way.” She reached over to the counter again and pulled up a postcard with the general non-profit info on it and the date of the next crab feed.

The bride reached out for it and then took a photo with her phone.

“Do you have your own personal billionaire?” She asked.

Elspeth didn’t answer right away. She opened her mouth and then closed it again. With all the tech money out of Seattle you could not make assumptions about anyone.

“Not . . yet?” She replied, hopefully.

“Well, I have one who owes me a favor. We will put the crab feed on the calendar, maybe we can come.”

Maggie had decided to show everyone the foreign language bookstore and there was a lot of chatter as coats and bags were found.

Graham was the last one out. His bride was waiting outside at the window, looking in with interest as he took Elspeth’s hand, bowed and kissed it formally. He handed her a business card with a phone number on it.

“You can call me Gray or Graham, I answer to both. My mode of transport is mostly by sail these days. If you meet a former sailor who needs work, give me a call.”

“Thank you,” Elspeth said. “I will.” She smiled at the happy woman on the other side of the window. All was well.

The End