Chapter 1

"A gnat in the eye of a warrior may determine the outcome of the battle."
~Sensukyu Baikumoto, Japanese Philosopher & Poet
1788 - 3rd Remove

Sakai Dotutsura Mbeywe knew most people had never heard of Baikumotosan because he had died at the age of 7... and yet she had a quote from him when he was very old.

It was a perk that came with the job. Sakai (Sakky to her friends) had it engraved on a plaque that was displayed on her desk. In the years that led to her appointment to the lead archeochronographer of the Agency, she had the opportunity to collect many such novelties from a great span of historical removes which were unfamiliar, unknown, and altogether foreign to the modern Jane or Joe on the street.

In fact, if you had asked anyone about the conquest of the East by the Portuguese army, or how the Mongolian Empire had grown to the Iberian peninsula, they'd have looked at you as if you were crazy. Their world rested on a retelling of history that everyone knew was set in stone and they liked the basis of their political opinions to stay that way.

"It is still in recent memory when communism fell with the Berlin Wall in 1994." Sakky wrote in her journal as she pondered the number of major, minor, and insignificant milestones were about to be altered. She journaled as a way of marking the remaking of history. If anyone picked up her journals, they'd think she was insane. Dates were off. Names were sometimes altogether unfamiliar. But there was often a thread of familiarity. It was that thread which made these journals seem more fiction than fact. In reality, those diary entries were now fantastical no matter how much they were grounded in facts that once were.

As she finalized the most recent journal entry in preparation for the next remove, she heard the buzzer on her tablet which opened an alert.

 

Mission Preparation Briefing in 30 Minutes.

 

A flick of the wrist and the message reset for a 10 minute warning. Just enough time to run across campus to the briefing and grab a bagel at the cafe. No more than she had dismissed the message, the door security intercom lightly chirped to life.

"Sakky? Are you in? Got a minute?"

The image of the security team supervisor popped into the corner of her tablet. He was a dark man. Like Sakky, he had a fairly interesting heritage. Both had fathers who were First Generation Americans from East Africa. Sakky's dad was Ethiopian. That contributed to her height and deep complexion. However, her mother was Japanese. Both Sakky's parents were eagle-eyed academics in military academies. Terrance Cambyema had a Cuban mother who died when he was 3. His face and eyes were like polished obsidian, and his features were equally striking.

Sakky responded with a hint of frustration, "Terry, I can't right now. I have a briefing in 30 minutes. I still have to finish this entry and polish off 2 more slides for the presentation. I'll be sprinting as it is. But, if you could be a dear and grab me a burrito from the cafe and meet me at the briefing, I'll be more than happy to resume our planning as soon as the briefing is over."

Terry was all too familiar with Sakky's procrastination. They had been dating for about a year after one of the missions. It was well known that anyone in a relationship could find that relationship erased from existence by a mission gone awry... especially if one of the partners was not in the mission detail. The rules forbade fraternizing among mission team members. It's why almost everyone on the team who were in the know remained single. There were a few who kept relationships. The most awkward moments often happened when a team returned from a remove and some team members who were formerly married were suddenly never married bachelors and still worked with their former spouse.

That is why it was imperative that Sakky get this presentation done. Sakky was just about to propose that Terry return to his former position as Chief of Mission Security or that he at least be inside the Continuum Containment Field acting as base security. Whatever came of today's discussion, that was one of her key points. Of course, she buried the points in formality. But, if she was being honest, she didn't want to come back only to find that he was a total stranger, dead, or (worst of all) in a relationship with someone else. She knew that could be a real possibility.

Within the ChronAgency, each remove required copious planning, surgical precision, and people who were unattached. Removes were, in essence, screwing with history at its root source. Time travel was a secret and it couldn't get out. But Removes were planned as a way of improving modern times by finding and modifying minor moments in history to create a better today.

If you inquired of anyone in the know what one thing they'd change about history today, they may want to remove the Great War from existence, or they may want to have ended slavery a few hundred years earlier. Even those who operated removes would admit they would love to erase some of the world's greatest atrocities.

If it were only that easy.

Sakky looked at the final slide. While less than satisfied, she knew the case was strong and her main points were an almost certainty to be accommodated. She saved the file and uploaded it to the private network and stowed her tablet in the containment vault. The next remove team was scheduled to return in 35 minutes during her briefing and, besides having a quick lunch with Terry, she also needed to debrief with the returning crew to get some final details. So far they had tracked all historical changes and the remove was approved for a return. She had penciled in an appointment this evening or tomorrow with Merrek and his crew for the debrief and discuss strategies to make her remove further accentuate the modifications of their remove.

She was just about to lock her office when she opened the door again to retrieve her coat which held her ID badge, access cards, and alternate forms of ID for her mission.

"Oh! Better not forget my Bomba!" As she reached for her energy drink. She only had 7 left and then she'd never have another one again. "Another casualty of the removes! I'm gonna miss you when you're gone!" She snuggled her can of Bomba.

* * *.

Sakky arrived at the conference hall with 3 minutes left to scarf down the burrito that Terry handed off to her like a relay baton and attempt to not get anything on the blouse she was wearing. She was so grateful Terry had interrupted. If anything, it meant having a warm burrito rather than a cold, tough bagel to eat. She wiped her face with a napkin and stowed it in her pocket. Terry had easily kept up with her in her jog filling her in on his security report and wiping the corner of her mouth with his sleeve just before she went into meeting room 18.

"3V07!" He whispered to her as she winked at him, turned, and entered the conference room. She was only 5 minutes from taking the lectern to present her points... just after Admiral Graves and Subcommittee Chairman Javier Gonzalez.

Unlike the several of meetings before, this time, she was nervous.

There were some very real... very personal consequences that could arise from this remove.

She was ready.

* * *

Terry had his own meetings to attend.

Working as the lead for the security detail was more than muscle, machine guns, and mean faces. Security for a time travel group, was far more nuanced. The approach was more philosophical and less pretentious. First of all, the 4 person security team were almost always former special forces. That was the only way they could guarantee getting a strategist, a security member, and an asset for the execution of the mission.

Terry was no exception.

He rose through the ranks of the most elite military force on earth. His naval SOF team was one of the most elite. He lovingly referred to his brothers as his "Squiddies."

Despite his demeanor, Terry was the demolitions specialist and the one who trained all security teams in their hand-to-hand defense. As his long gait sped him across the courtyard for his primary meeting for the day, he felt a thump on his wrist.

In a smooth motion, Terry glanced at his wrist to see the face of his watch change to a muted yellow with a single exclamation mark. Without missing a beat, he turned and headed to the eastern-most building on campus.

"This better be a drill." He muttered though he was afraid it wasn't.

All his plans suddenly took a grave turn as he entered the nondescript metal building and saw 30 of his team mates all with the same disapproving scowl.

At the center of the room was a small time pod — smaller than the mission variety — and it only seated 6.

Each man went to the center desk and pulled a paper tab and held it in his hand for 30 seconds. At the end of those 30 seconds, 6 of those tabs would turn bright red. The others would turn black. Terry's palms sweated, his heart raced, and his stomach turned.

"...Twenty-Seven-One-Thousand, Twenty-Eight-One-Thousand, Twenty-Nine-One-Thousand, Thirty-One-Thousand!" He whispered to himself mutedly.

It was red.

* * *

6 hours later, Sakky emerged from her meeting a bit disheveled. Terry was sitting on a bench, freshly showered, and smiling... "And you got me two burritos!? I knew I loved you for some reason."

Terry grimaced. "Shhhh. You'll get us in trouble."

"Oh. No... You haven't heard? You're going with us and we are supposed to act as husband and wife." Our plan got adjusted back a few years. But the crux of it is still the same. Another 3 days of adjustments and we will be pod-hopping through history. You as Terry Houx. And me, your adoring wife, Madeline Houx." Sakky said with barely veiled excitement. "This is a little more cloak-and-dagger than any other session."

"Terry Who?" Terry inquired.

"Houx. Spelled H-O-U-X. It's French I think. And, remember. I'm Madeline." Sakky pondered. "I do like that name... I think." Then more sure, "I do! Let's go find a place to eat!"

They found an oblong log bench near one of the eastern fountains and ate their burritos as they discussed their back story. Sakky pulled out the cover files and instructed that they needed to begin their roles immediately. Even the Admiral had stressed the cover stories of the entire crew were highly important.

"You better know who you are inside and out. If I call you by your given name from today forward until the end of the remove, you better look at me like a damned doberman looks at a butterfly! You will not answer to anything other than who that file says you are. Get to work!" Sakky recounted doing her best impression of the Admiral.

"You know he'd probably not approve of you making that lip-thing when you do his accent. You're not military, but I'm certain he'd find a way to demote you and then exercise harsh amounts of bureaucratic justice on you. Be careful." Terry cautioned before adding, "But, damn! You're going to be an Oscar winning actor in this role. I hope I can keep up!"

They spent the evening together, this time, with not a care in the world about whether people thought they were a couple... If anyone asked, It was part of the job. They had a cover for their cover... all that was missing was the new names. In a few hours, those would be second nature also.

At 18:32, there was no more Terrance Cambyema nor Sakai Dotutsura Mbeywe. They were Terry and Madeline Houx and their backstory was starting to take shape.

* * *.

Admiral Graves was a tall man. His voice was oddly cheerful and stern at the same time. It was often jibed that he put his uniform on when he was a teen and it had never been removed since. He knew his reputation. He reveled in it. None the less, the tank top betrayed him as he shaved for the evening. Just a few more hours and he'd be in bed with his wife of 45 years... if he could ever get the cat out of the bed first.

The communication alert on his watch lit up on the stand. With a tap, he said, "Gimme 10 minutes. I'll secure the office communications before we chat."

9 minutes later, the admiral lit up the communications and set in his security code. With that, the windows went white and the outside containment of the room let off a steady, low hum to mask his voice.

"What is it Terry?"

"We had one complication, Sir."

"What do you... DAMMIT this cat." Tossing the cat off his chair, "What do you mean, 'Complication' son?"

"Merrek, Sir. He's... He saw us before we got there. He knew what we were there to do, I don't know how. He saw us and he leapt into a river." Terry paused awaiting a reaction.

"And?" Admiral Graves growled.

"We think he's dead. Almost a hundred percent certain. If the fall didn't kill him, the water temperatures probably did. I couldn't have survived that fall. I'm sure as hell he couldn't either. He was already dressed in period, so we don't have to clean up any tech nor send a second scrub team. The pod was returned and we planted the evidence to look like a fluke failure. I'm pretty sure Sakky will be devastated. She may even ask for a 2-3 day delay in launch. But I think I can get..."

"I don't like loose ends." interrupted Admiral Graves. "I'm certain anyone who has given it any real thought has figured out that we have cleaners in the event something goes wrong. Speaking of, did you hear what actually went wrong? A kid. That son of a bitch somehow found our pod in that cave. By the time the mission was over, there were fifty... maybe a hundred people who had seen it and begun gathering people to retrieve it." Admiral Graves glared at the viewer, "Son. Of. A. Bitch! Now we have to build another pod and recalculate another entire mission with an entirely different set of removes."

"What about our mission?" Terry aghast.

"Still on as planned. You heard there's some minor tweaks. You guys are actually going back with a primary of realigning a few items that Merrek botched up. You're going a few years earlier, too. If we do this one right, we may have found a stroke of fortune." The Admiral paused. "We may be able to erase the Great War altogether! Can you imagine hearing about the longest periods of American peace from the end of the War of North and South going all the way to the 1970's or longer? There's a small chance you could push an Asian war, think something like Nam or Korea, into the 80's. But I think we'll actually get a slightly more peaceful Middle East to boot!"

The admiral paused again. Terry was a bit reluctant to interrupt. The Admiral interjected once more, "Still. On the outside chance he did survive... I'm considering..."

"Considering what, sir?"

"Never you mind, son. I have to talk to Admiral Breemish. Some decisions take more than my word. And he has 2 more stars than I do." Admiral Graves trailed off then lit back up, "You go about your job. Keep an eye out for my signal. I may need to alert you with a quick project." With that, the Admiral barked, "Dismissed son. Good luck."

Terry was staring at a blank screen.

The most he had ever done in a single day, and it was today. He shut down the communication shielding, and stepped out of the fake closet in his bathroom to the door of his bathroom rattling.

"TERRY! TERRY, HON! ARE YOU OKAY?"

"Sakky, babe. Sorry, I had my headphones on in the shower listening to the mission briefing again." Terry opened the door in a bath towel having ducked his head in the water just before opening the door. He held out the headphones as a gesture of good faith. "So glad I got the waterproof ones!"

"Next time, turn the volume down and don't lock the door. Who has a metal door on their bathroom anyway?!" Sakky said, "And, besides. It's Madeline. Don't call me Sakky again. I'll be angry." She winked and said, "Get out. I gotta shower, too." As she pulled him out and went in to get ready for bed.

Terry was concerned. He knew that once Sakky... "Dammit! It's Madeline" He half muttered... Once Madeline learned the fate of Merrek and his crew, she was going to dissolve in tears. They had a long history and he was almost a father to her. It was Merrek that was informed about this bright half-Asian girl who could chug calculus, history, music, and bourbon without skipping a beat. When his department chair told him about this prodigy, he worked with her grad school advisor to aim her towards his advanced doctoral theoretical physics independent study. It was a miracle she took it since she was aiming toward Engineering initially. Her talents for practical things like project management while simultaneously binging on the high-academics of her schools made her a novelty in her classes. Merrek was her doorway to this odd world. Grandfatherly Merrek.

And now he was gone.

And Terry had to act as surprised as she would be when she found out. Surprised and devastated.

That shouldn't be hard because Terry did indeed care for Sakky. (Dammit. It's Madeline! Remember, Terry! Madeline! Madeline! Madeline!).

But it was Terry that he was running from when he died.

"He did die, I hope. That's going to make things really messy if he didn't. And we should know soon if he didn't." Terry thought to himself... almost hearing the words forming in his throat.

When Madeline emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a towel and soaking wet hair, Terry brightened up and said, "Madeline, I hope you don't get used to showering so long. We will not be around lots of running water where we're going."

After a moment, Terry continued, "I think I know why I keep messing up your name. Other than the fact that you've gone on more of these than I have and you've had multiple other names..."

"Sarah Marshal was my first name. Did you know that" to which Terry nodded.

"Anyway. They gave me my actual name... At least my nickname: Terry. But they gave you a name that doesn't feel like it fits you: Madeline. You don't look like a Madeline!"

"I love that name. It's got a flavor of old America. Besides, It will fit in when we're going."

"By the way, When are we going? You never told me that part." Terry fibbed already knowing more about the mission than he let on.

"1824. But I'm concerned." Sakky said with more than a hint of worry. "Merrek and his crew should have been back by now. I wanted to debrief with him. We were supposed to piggyback on his mission. Now our departure is moved up by 3 hours and we're going 2 years, 10 months & 8 days earlier than his target date. We've never done anything like this before. I just have to trust he'll get back okay and we can compare notes when we get back."

"Three hours early?" Terry's surprise was real. "That means news of Merrek's fate will be more of a surprise to her. This could go really bad... or better than expected." thought Terry as the pit in his stomach deepened. Then aloud, "I better get ready for 1824."