The Sands of Time 62

 

 "Joon. Meet Joon."

Four of them around a table. 

Joon found it odd to be looking at himself. He was looking for little differences, things that would set him apart. Is this how other people saw him?

And would Hillier be able to tell the difference? For some reason that mattered to him. 

"Care to explain why you summoned Joon-1 here?" Jack asked alternate Joon. Who was apparently Joon-352 

How many of me are there?

Alt Joon shrugged. "I thought we could use him."

"Has it occurred to you that one Joon might be enough?" There was a hint of humor in Jack's query. 

"You left the beacon?" Joon asked alt Joon. 

Alt Joon nodded tiredly. 

"Our friend here has recently been through a mindwipe. It can make you feel groggy," explained Jack. 

Alt Joon rolled his eyes. 

"Why exactly did you lure him here?" asked Hillier. 

"And who are you again?" alt Joon yawned. 

"She's a friend," Joon cut in. "My security chief."

"Is that so?" asked Jack. "I don't remember you."

Joon realized he needed to be careful- Jack was from the same place he was, would know the same people. 

Hillier smiled sweetly, didn't reply. 

"Why lure me here?" Joon asked. 

"I'd like to know that as well," replied Jack. 

"We all know Yvette is out of control. Maybe we need to stir things up a bit." 

Jack sighed. He looked exhausted. 

"This isn't the way. And now that you're here, we can't just send you back. Easy. No one's imprisoning you," he reassured Joon and Hillier, "but you need to stay awhile. Find out what we're doing here, how you feel about it. Be our guests. But keep a low profile, be discreet." 

"Who's Yvette?"

"Yvette was my co-lead on the Triassic expedition, and currently leads our program here."

"What program?"

"Well, that's the question. What are we doing here?" He looked at alt Joon. "We are... fixing time. Or trying to."

"When we got here it was decided that things needed fixing. The resources here, the sophisticated... it's just different. They know more about Gates. The problem is, it's hard to go back. The Directors, Stella... they don't understand," alt Joon was getting animated. 

"We stayed here, not entirely by choice," Jack cut in, "but we soon pooled resources and things got carried away. Yvette made inroads with the Scholars here and was put in command."

"I thought technology was brought back," Hillier interjected. 

"It was. We went back and forth several times. Did Stella fill you in?"

"Somewhat," Joon said. 

"The cart or the horse. Technology was brought back and are they changing the future now by implementing it? We traveled here by the Gate and are now time traveling with people from here, and there are problems. Where did they start?"

"What is the program?" asked Joon. 

"To fix our mistakes."

*******

Mallory panted and rose, checking herself. Stella had dispatched soldiers to help her and hurriedly closed the Gate behind her. Miraculously Mallory seemed unhurt. The image of the slaughter, Lawson falling, was indelibly burned into her mind, however. She tore off her helmet, sobbed as the medics examined her. She felt an arm around her, saw Maia there. Howie keened. 

Stella was there then. She supported her friend as they left. 

"Anyone else...?" she asked carefully. 

"They're all gone," sobbed Mallory. 

*******

Joon had been lying. Alt Joon, that is. He was sure now. That bullshit about Triassic being clear. His team had encountered resistance, but it'd been a bloodbath. Of course. They'd have been outgunned. But at least one had escaped. He shook his head. His people had killed Stella's people, but weren't they all the same? All his people. If not for Yvette, he might even be on the same side as Stella. 

He looked at Joon. This Joon- new, not yet cynical. His Joon must have run into this Joon in the Triassic, planted the beacon in 21st century Sanctuary. What was he playing at?