Time Agent | ONC2024

13. Progress

This chapter is dedicated to BrianMullin0, who has not one, but THREE stories submitted for the ONC this year, (le gasp!) including the hilarious teen romp, The Summer I Really Didn't Kidnap Lance Hardwood!)

What the hell? Jean looked around in a daze. What had happened? Where the fuck was he?

Tall blocks of flats rose into the night sky on his left with the occasional curtained window glowing with warm light. What appeared to be a disused warehouse was on his right. A wire mesh hurricane fence surrounded the block he was standing in. Dust and rubbish blew around his feet.

He shivered. He appeared to be alone, probably a fortunate circumstance considering what he was wearing... or wasn't wearing. He bent to retrieve piece of paper which had wrapped itself around his foot. It was a shopping receipt, dated 13th March 2005. Wait, 2005? He glanced hastily at his watch, shining on his wrist, luminescent in the dark. It read, 15 /03/2005, just as he had set it only moments ago.

Of course! He had gone back in time, but not to the street he wanted to go to, where the Prime Minister had been shot. No, he'd stayed pretty much where he was when he'd got ready for bed. Except, Jack's apartment block was only a few years old. It hadn't been built in 2005.

Excited now, Jean studied his surroundings more closely. He tucked the receipt into the waistband of his boxers. He knew Sophie had said not to interfere with anything in the past, but surely this piece of rubbish wasn't going to change history.

He shivered, the cold wind was biting. Time to go home, there wasn't anything else he could do here. Fingers now stiff with cold, he changed the date on his watch, back to 2020. Home, he thought. The next time he tried this, he would dress far more appropriately.

~~~

Jean waited until he returned from his second, and far more successful trip to 2005, before he told Sophie and Marcel that he was able to travel through time.

"I knew it!" exclaimed Sophie, feeling vindicated. "It was bound to happen, you just needed to be patient."

"I've made two trips," Jean told them, proudly. "The first was a bit of a washout but the second went much smoother. I think I've got the hang of it now."

"Excellent!"

"Though I learnt one really important thing from my first attempt," Jean continued. "You might travel back in time but you don't travel to a different place. When I went back the second time, I had to go to the street first, where Boudain was killed."

Sophie nodded. "I found the same. So, what really happened then? Was it Leclerc?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I saw him quite clearly."

"I still think the Nats were behind it," muttered Marcel.

"Possibly," Jean shrugged. "I could only see what he did, not what was going on inside his head." As far as he knew, Marcel had yet to develop the ability to time travel himself.

"Have you had any success yet?" he asked, as delicately as he could.

"Some," said Marcel in a matter-of-fact tone, surprising both his friends. "And I discovered something myself. It's quite possible to go back to a period before we were born."

Sophie and Jean stared, Jean feeling a little miffed that his thunder had been stolen.

"I've been back to 1910," Marcel told them. "Just before the Battle for London. When rebels stormed the parliament and overthrew the lawful government of the day."

"What was it like?" asked Sophie, asking about the process. "Did it feel any different going back that far?"

"No. I just blinked and there I was. Easy."

"But you didn't touch anything, right?" Sophie asked, suddenly anxious. Something about Marcel's response worried her. It sounded... glib.

"Of course not." Marcel was quick to answer.

"But what did you see?" asked Jean, more interested in the history.

Sophie sat back, only half-listening, while the guys talked. She should have been happy that both her friends shared her ability to travel back in time, and she was, of course she was. But she was also concerned they weren't taking the possible consequences seriously enough. She had been the only one of them – to her knowledge – to experience the results of altering the past, to be aware of two timelines simultaneously and know that her life had changed as a result. Although the experience had been interesting from a scientific point of view, it had also been... well, if she was honest, it had been frightening.

What if it hadn't been Tulip who'd disappeared from her timeline? What if it had been people? Her mother or her father? Or her friends?

~~

Jean hurried home from the meeting, full of energy and enthusiasm, ideas bouncing around inside his head. He wished he could tell Jacques what was happening but they had all agreed it would be safest to keep their experiences secret, at least for the present. They didn't want the news to get out and end up in the newspapers, or worse, as subjects in an experimental lab somewhere!
An unexpected shower caught him just as he left the Metro and he ran the last few metres.

He was looking forward to a glass of brandy with Jacques, and then later, some peace and quiet in his own room to consider the options which had opened up before him as a result of Marcel's revelation.

He burst into the flat with his usual flair.

"Jacques, you wouldn't believe it, but it's pouring out there! Oh – sorry to interrupt!" Jean stopped in his tracks as he caught sight of the delicious stranger sitting opposite Jacques. The man who was looking back at Jean as if he were the best thing since honey on toast. Jean couldn't help smiling. This day was getting better and better.

"Who's this gorgeous guy?"