Time Agent | ONC2024

20. Arguments

As a Time Agent, Seven's prime directive was to seek out and terminate any time machine created in another timeline. And terminate, despite its faintly clinical sound, meant totally destroy, so that it could never be used again.

Every machine discovered so far, had been made of metal or had metal components, which made them an easy target. The Senta laboratory technicians had programmed nanobots specifically to attack any metal they encountered, turning it as brittle as toffee, ensuring it shattered into tiny pieces under its own weight.

He, and the rest of the team, had been allowed to use the nanobots on a metal object in a carefully sealed room, to witness their effectiveness.

In fact, Seven carried a small quantity, safely packaged, in the utility belt around his waist. He'd been told the batch he carried was programmed to cease working after ten minutes once activated, to ensure they didn't spread too far from the target. But none of that was relevant in the current circumstances, as his target was not metal but a living, breathing human being. And Jean was not just a faceless name from history, but someone he'd met and liked. A lot.

He knew the Senta would expect him to carry out his mission, regardless.

What was he going to do? It was an impossible dilemma.

Seven was startled out of his dark musings by the sound of Jean's chair scraping the floor.

"I'm going to try Marcel again," said Jean, getting to his feet. He returned a moment later.

"He's still not answering," he told Sophie, sounding worried.

"I'll go around and see if everything's okay," she decided, putting the empty cups on the sink. "Are you going back to the flat? I think we should meet again, later today. There's so much more I want to talk about with Sven."

"I'll ring you," said Jean, unwilling to commit. His head was buzzing and his stomach was churning. Already feeling uneasy about the way Sven had smoothly dodged Sophie's question about dismantling the time machine, Sven's reaction to his own revelation had sent internal alarm bells jangling. His instincts were telling him to keep Sophie out of this, as far away from Sven as he could manage, though exactly how he was going to do that, he had no idea.

And where was Marcel? He was getting a very bad feeling about this, adding even more fuel to his anxiety.

He plastered a smile on his face and turned to address Sven. "I'm going back to the flat. Are you coming with me?"

"Yes. Thank you."

"Let's walk," said Jean. "It's only a couple of kilometres or so, and I need some air."

"Fine," agreed Seven, suppressing a wince. He wasn't used to long walks.

"So, tell me about your organisation," asked Jean as they walked briskly along the pavement.

"'Organisation'?"

"Well, I can't imagine you got here on your own, and you said 'we know there's a time machine'. Who sent you?"

Seven hesitated for a moment then decided it was safe to tell him a little bit. After all, what could it matter?

"I work for the Senta. The Senta monitors the world's time line. Occasionally a time line will diverge due to natural causes and we let those go, but when we see a time device in action, we step in."

"And 'dismantle it'? Right?"

"Right," agreed Seven, cautiously.

"But what gives your organisation the right to do that? Aren't you in the position of playing God, just like you were criticising other time travellers for?"

"Of course not!" Sven sounded taken aback. "We have very strict regulations. Time Agents don't go back in time to try and change history!"

"Don't you? I think that's exactly what you do. You were sent here with orders to stop anyone using a time machine. A device which, if it had existed, would have been developed in this timeline, just like any other invention. And by stopping it, you change our history. And our future."

"Maybe so," admitted Seven, who had never thought of it like that. "But time machines are an aberration. Senta only sends us back to deal with them, nothing else. We don't interfere in wars or revolutions, any thing like that. Agents have at least a year of training before they're allowed on their first mission, so they are quite clear about what can and can't be done. Everything is rigorously controlled. You can't have just anyone going back into the past and trying to change things!" Seven repeated. "We have to stop that happening."

"Why? Maybe a particular divergence was meant to happen. Maybe some people were going to be allowed a second chance in a different future. Who knows?" Jean was on a roll, deliberately playing devil's advocate.

"But-"

"And what does that even mean, anyway? 'Meant to happen'? Meant by who or what? It happened, that's the reality, surely."

Sven stopped in his tracks and caught hold of Jean's arm. "But Jean-"

"It's all right," Jean hastened to assure him. Sven looked really worried. "All arguments aside, I have no intentions of playing God. I promise."

He tucked his arm through Sven's.

They walked the rest of the way in silence, both occupied by private thoughts. Time was running out for Seven. Tomorrow was his third day here and the time gate would open for the first time, tomorrow evening. He still had no idea what he would do. Part of him wanted desperately to stay as long as he could, but he knew that would only make his eventual departure in ten days time, much harder.

It wasn't until they reached the apartment block that Seven thought to ask, "Does Jack know about your ability?"

"No." Jean shook his head. "Not yet."

Seven was surprised, he'd thought the brothers were close.

"Only Sophie, then? Oh, and I suppose Marcel, seeing as you were going to invite him to join us. What did Jack call you? The three Millennials..." His voice trailed away. He came to a halt, staring at Jean as he realised the truth.

"You can all do it, can't you? All three of you can travel through time."

(Author's Note - Third milestone reached, 20K word total achieved in this chapter. One more to go to finish the story!)