TIME & TIED: AWARENESS

ARC 1.3 - Of Her Impact

PART 15b: WITH KALEIDOSCOPE EYES 2

"Look, Carrie, this time travel stuff is more complicated than you're making it out to be,” Frank said. “Take the apple for instance."

“What apple?" she grumbled back at him.

"Last Sunday you caused an apple to appear and disappear at my house. You dropped it off early in the day, then picked it up later in the day, only to travel back and drop it off. I honestly haven't been able to figure out where it came from. I tried duplicating the experiment this week, and well... I couldn't. So, can you identify where the apple originated?"

Carrie’s forehead creased. “What are you going on about? I’d been thinking about having an apple, and you had one. If it wasn't yours... well, I don't know. It must have come from somewhere."

"But it didn't," Frank insisted. "That's my whole point, it originated and vanished with you. A sort of temporal paradox. In a similar vein, your information passing with respect to your trip to the day of the fire alarm bears scrutiny. How did you learn of my theories? Because of your future self. But how did your future self know? Because they heard it when they were your past self. So where did the information truly originate?"

"Frank, stop, you're going to give me a headache."

He leaned against the table in the library’s records room. “I’m trying to show you how complicated time travel can be. Honestly, you need to consider your actions more carefully. It's almost like you have some... some personal affinity for these causal loops."

Carrie pressed a hand to her temples. “Fine, good for me then," she sighed. Her gaze fell back down to the book before her. "Though, wait a minute... could we apply one of these paradox loops to our research here then? After all, there's no need to look up all this stuff on 1955 when I mostly remember what I’ll already say! Right?"

Frank's eyebrow twitched. "Carrie, you missed my point. We want to AVOID these situations, not create more of them. Besides, I’M the one who has to convince Beth of the situation. And unless I see proof with my own eyes, I'm not going to be convinced, let alone be able to convince her."

"But since I remember most of what you said to her, I could write out... hey, wait, here’s a paradox for you,” Carrie said, brightening. "What if we were to decide NOT to go back to 1955. Never becoming our future selves! What would THAT do?"

A pained expression crossed Frank's face. Getting Carrie to think about time paradox might not have been so smart after all. "One I don't even want to start thinking about," he concluded. "We are going back, Carrie, and we are learning this stuff through research. Keep checking the newspapers. Please?"

“Oh, fine,” Carrie sighed. “Though I wish the library would digitize this stuff already. At the very least, next time around I should make sure to mention to my past self where I found the references to Peabody's trial. I mean honestly, shouldn’t two angels being involved have drawn a little extra attention?"

Frank winced. "Actually," he began tentatively. "Now that you've brought that up, I, er, have been a little worried about us being portrayed in that manner."

"Uh-oh," said Carrie suspiciously. "Is this going to turn into a quasi-religious debate? Because I'm not sure I want to go there..."

***

Luci entered the library a little later that day and made her way downstairs towards the section where old records were kept. At long last, things seemed to be coming together nicely, both in her own mind, as well as in what was going on around her. She hoped the trend would continue.

"Yo, short stuff!" came a voice interrupting her thoughts. "What brings you by the book nook?"

Luci turned to see her classmate from school, the one who always had somewhat unruly hair, stacking books nearby. "Hello Lee," she responded. "Actually, I was wondering whether Frank was around."

Lee scratched his head. “He was here earlier on in my shift. Him and the track tease. They may've left by now though. If I spot the math whiz again, should I mention you're on the prowl for him?"

"No, I'd rather you didn't."

"Okee-dokee, no problemo," Lee affirmed with a grin. "Hey, speaking of math, how'd you do on that last test? Only pulled off a 73 myself, think I rounded too much on the circle questions."

"81," Luci countered. Which had been the mark she'd been aiming for, by making those few mistakes. Not that she was about to admit that to anyone.

"Whoa, good show! Spend much time studying?"

"Enough," she answered. "Look, Lee, I'd rather not talk now."

"Oh, okay," Lee said. "I've gotta get back to shelving these self-help books anyway... hey, maybe I can make up a big sign for 'em that reads 'Help Yourself!'. What do you think?"

Luci smiled. "Whatever makes you happy, Lee."

"Nah, more like whatever makes the librarians happy," Lee concluded, shrugging at Luci before turning away.

The young girl merely shook her head slightly before continuing towards the rear of the library. Hoping that the record books Frank had been using had not yet been re-shelved.

***

"Carrie and Frank were in the library for at least three hours,” Clarke reported. “Based on what they left out on the table, they were researching this area in the mid to late 1950s."

"The '50s?" Julie said in surprise. "That far back? What could possibly be of interest to them from that time period?"

Clarke shrugged. “No way to know. The town itself was barely a town back then. I think it originally sprung up from being a convenient place for a railway station or something."

"Huh. Well, maybe Frank was looking for a good time period to leave my transmitter; he didn’t count on my still being able to find it. Anything else to report?" Julie pressed. Clarke shook his head. “Then you could have told me this over the phone," Julie concluded. "Why come here? Are you about to get on my case again about how I'm pushing myself too hard?"

“Apparently I don’t have to," Clarke indicated. “Honestly, would it be so bad to declare a break for the rest of the afternoon? We could go to the cafe and share a hot chocolate.”

“I can’t afford any downtime now,” Julie said brusquely. Perhaps seeing his expression, her voice softened. "Though... maybe once the worst of this is over, I'll take you up on the offer."

"And when is the worst of this over?"

“Less than two months, by my modified schedule.”

Clarke sighed. He considered pressing the point that Julie should relax, but he knew Julie, knew her moods, and knew that continuing this argument would only serve to push her away. Moreover, this might be a good opportunity to press another point.

"All right," Clarke relented. "But if you're about to go to work on some big plans taking up the entire month of October... can't you at least tell me why?"

"Because," Julie simply replied. Clarke stood quietly, waiting for more. Julie opened her mouth again, perhaps to give another typically evasive retort, but then her lips closed. She turned away.

"Phil," she continued at last, "Have you ever had anyone tell you that you were worthless? Insignificant? Someone who could never amount to anything in this world?"

"No," Clarke responded, quite taken aback.

"Good. Count yourself lucky," Julie stated sharply. With that, she strode out of the sitting room, not even looking back as she concluded, "Jeeves can show you out."

***

The brunette quickly retreated back down to her 'play room', collapsing into the lone chair she kept there. She was annoyed with herself. Why had she said that to Phil? Was she weakening under his constant barrage of questioning?

Julie shook her head. No - she hadn’t revealed anything, and now he would get off her back for a while. Which was what she wanted. Right?

Julie shivered. For one alarming moment, she wasn't sure what she wanted anymore. Her gaze turned to the wall that had the map of the school on it. "Damn them. Damn them all,” she whispered. “I’ll have my way, I will...” Her gaze shifted to the lower drawer of one of her filing cabinets. “You’ll see. Both of you, you’ll see, damn you," she finished. Her hands balled into fists.

Less than a minute later, Julie sat up. Quickly wiping her cheeks dry, she began shuffling back through some of the papers that had been holding her attention less than an hour ago.

***

Luci walked up the driveway of Frank's house feeling equal measures of confidence and anxiety. The anxiety annoyed her; Frank's house wasn't currently being watched, Frank was (probably) home, and Carrie was (probably) not around. There was no logical reason to be nervous.

Unless you factored in how this was liable to be more than a random study session... with someone two years her senior. Shaking her head in annoyance at her own inner turmoil, Luci rang the doorbell.

Frank's father answered the door. Luci elected to wait by the doorway as he went to call upstairs for his son. When Frank appeared, he looked a little tired - no surprise - and maybe even a little worried. Though his expression cleared when he saw her.

"Luci,” Frank said in greeting. "Er, what brings you by here? Were we supposed to talk math?”

"No Frank," Luci said. She checked to make sure neither of his parents were within hearing range before continuing. "I'm here to discuss the time machine with you."