It's in the Water
It was six night now in Santiago,
six nights that included a continual series of deep hypnotic imaginings of some
sort. Where did they come from and what
was the purpose? Michael suspected some
sort of drug. People just don't share dreams without some kind of prompt, some
kind of mechanism. It was all so odd.
He'd hash it out with Laura and Schechter over dinner.
"Where's it coming from
Sol?", Michael wanted to know.
Schechter saw this coming and didn't really want to talk about it. He had
enough nightmares of his own. "I wish I knew Michael. I have no idea. It
could be coming from you, or Laura, something in your past, a place you
visited. It could be jet lag. I don't know." Schechter looked troubled by the whole
subject. "Michael insists that
someone's drugged us. He says you can't ordinarily hypnotize people
otherwise". Laura prodded despite Schechter's reluctance
to discuss it. "Couldn't we get
back to the research?", Schechter pleaded. "I assure you there's
nothing in the water and the food's kosher" , he added with a smile.
Michael couldn't shrug it off so easily of course. Too much had happened. He looked out the courtyard up
at the sky. Lights on the fountain distracted his view somewhat. It felt strange to be down here now. He wondered if Schechter felt this way about
Chile. He wondered about people and what comfort and security were. Where was
home really, especially now? Was it him
or was it the world? Was it the research and how far it had stretched the
imagination? Were they really standing at a crossroads in time, or was this all
a dream brought on by some kind of extended jet lag?
It would have been just a fleeting
thought except for the facts of Exit 51. It was as real as his home back in
Philly. He knew the place, the people, the times, the food, the news, the
details. It was all that detail. Mark Green was just as much him as Michael
Gornstein, possibly more.
He wrestled with the conflicting
viewpoints. He wasn't being forced into the future against his will. This was
important. He had a choice. Stay here and finish his research, or regroup
across a quantum leap through time.
Michael looked at the photographs
on the white translucent glass that Schechter had laid out in his study. He
looked at the area where the anomaly appeared and wondered. His mind drifted to
the problem of this month's thru-put at the exit. He smiled at the thought of
Mohammad's grimace at the news of their upgrade. He smelled the red dust of
Oklahoma blowing up from the ground after the rain had dried. He could see
Lauren's pretty smile as she tilted her head toward him. "We belong at the
exit", he said resolutely. Lauren liked his certainty when he made
decisions. He watched the blue and green lights on the fountain fade with the night. He watched as the observation room became more and more solid around him with Lauren now there and by his side. It was like landing on a runway when the wheels touched down and you were there and no longer in the air. They both watched the data run by through the white glass of the
observation trackers. They were 300 years into the future and they were
there to stay.
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