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Chapter -31- A Moment of Calm

Tuesday, May 23, 1893 - early evening Atlantic Ocean ...

Reno blew his nose into a handkerchief. "It's gross. Modern washing machine detergent - I miss that. Thank God toilet paper was invented a few years ago."

"It's not a new invention, just the way it's perforated." Kerii grinned. "You're not like other men. Some men are so prudish, and so concerned with judgment; they wouldn't dare utter the words 'toilet paper.' You're so ... free, so progressive."

Reno laughed, brow arched. "Yeah? I'm told I'm considered traditional and fairly conservative by the standards of 2049." He reached for a roll and looked at the packaging. "So what's this brand? I never heard of it."

"The Waldorf Hotel is known for its toilet paper, I suppose. I'm not sure who makes it for them, but they're embarrassed to put their real name on the product." Kerii stretched. "Why are you so congested, Nathan?"

"Cigarette smoke on some of the decks. This room was bad the first two days. It's in the sheets and mattress. I'm just not used to it, not big deal."

Kerii shrugged. "This country was built on tobacco. It most certainly cannot be all that bad."

Reno shrugged. "I've smoked a cigar before. A handful of times, but ... when it gets in your hair, and your clothes, and everything you sleep in ... it takes some time to get used to it. If I don't die of cancer before I get home, I'll be surprised."

"Smoking causes cancer?"

"God yeah."

"And you are a democrat?"

"Somewhere between Republican and Libertarian."

"But Republicans are so ... liberal."

"What? In my time, the Democrats are the liberals."

"Oh? They switched?"

"I think so, yeah. I remember reading that Malcom-X once said he wouldn't trust a democrat as far as he could throw one. But, a few decades later, the first black president is on the democratic ticket." Reno ran his hands back through his hair.

"Remember, I do not know the names of which you are speaking."

"Yeah, sorry. So, hey, let me ask you this - were you born in America?"

Kerii nodded. "I was born in Boston in 1758. I know most women won't admit their age, but when you look the same for most of your life, it's a badge of honor and a mark of wisdom. It's proof you've survived everything that life could throw at you."

Reno glanced out a porthole to the twilight sky and the ocean chop. "Say, you think there are pirates out there?"

She approached him and ran her fingers through his hair. "Not anymore. If so, it's very rare. Long gone are the days of Mary Read and Anne Bonny."

"Who?"

"Never-you-mind, my dear. Would you like to walk the deck?"

"I honestly thought we'd be there by now." Reno licked his lips. "Don't get me wrong. I enjoy being on a cruise with you, but I have all this free time and don't know what to do with myself."

"Mm. You said you came from a war zone, Nathan. It takes time to adjust after so much emotional trauma - after seeing loved ones die, dodging rifle fire, and seeing a macabre scene of fallen soldiers."

He frowned at the detailed wording. "Sounds to me like you've seen it firsthand, kiddo."

She nodded with a grimace.

Reno turned from the porthole to face her. "Really?"

"We're surrounded by war all the time, Nathan. I was born during the Seven Years' War. Next was the Revolution. Then came the War of 1812. I came out west at the conclusion of the Invasion of Mexico because I saw the tensions building between the north and south. I narrowly missed the bulk of the Civil War. Now there are tensions between America and Spain - the very country to which we have decided to travel. It is no wonder Justus Loupe is following us."

Reno tilted his head at the way she pronounced the man's name, 'Yooste.' He sat back down on the bed. "You think they sent him to keep an eye on us because there are tensions? If there are problems between America and Spain, why does a passenger ship go from New York to Spain?"

"To understand the tensions, you should know about the Virginius, an American ship. Remember the building you saw in New York? The tall one? The editor, Joseph Pulitzer, likes to write material critical of Spain."

Reno cut his eyes back to the porthole. "So why does this ship port there?"

"We're not landing in Spain, my dear. We're landing in Lisbon, Portugal. The ship will continue on to France, however the shortest route into Spain, for us, will be to cut through Portugal."

Reno rubbed his forehead. "I should have paid more attention to geography, history, and social studies when I was a kid, huh?"

"I fear we will be traveling into a tense situation, Nathan. Portugal declared itself bankrupt last year. Spain has wanted Portugal 'back' for quite some time. The hearts and minds of men - they conquer, and that somehow makes things better in their minds."

"Yeah. The universe is like that."

She nodded, not quite sure how he meant his statement. "Countries expand until they cannot afford to do so, and they collapse - such is life. When the center cannot hold, collapse is inevitable. It has happened to many countries and empires. I admit, I'm worried it may happen to America."

"We'll be fine," said Reno. "Trust me on that."

"The railroads are going bankrupt trying to expand our nation."

Reno smiled a bit. "But the country, itself, isn't going bankrupt, is it?"

"That depends on your perspective. Governments become bed partners with banks and financial institutions the way Governments once shared their bed with organized religions."

"I guess," he said, not having thought of it that way before. "But, unlike Europe, America doesn't have to pay for a navy just to expand our interests. We have plenty of space to explore right in North America."

"Mm, but at what cost? It was a blood bath. Natives were tricked and killed. Black people are treated as less than men. Banks and money loaners gave America the money to take ownership of the Louisiana Purchase. Banks buy one another or they go under from competition, or from their ownership of the railroads that have become bankrupt."

"Yeah, I suppose that's a pretty sticky mess. But that's why America is making out well on their relationships with banks. Right? The bank loans the government the money to buy a section of the nation, then the banks have to fend for themselves, while the name on the deed belongs to America."

"You love this country, I see it in your eyes and hear it in your voice."

"Damn right I do. The only thing that has ever bothered me was slavery ... makes a guy ashamed to be white."

Kerii tilted her head with incomprehension. "Nathan, the first slave owner was a black man. Black people willingly entered into servitude because it was better than being shipped back to Africa. Yes, some slave owners were distasteful in the treatment of their indentured servants, but it was most certainly not every black, white, native, Hispanic, or poor man. If they did not wish to sign up for indentured servitude, they most certainly did not have to."

"Yeah, but then people were born into slavery, and it got out of hand."

She nodded. "I suppose some times that happened. However, the problem stems from not considering the poverty class as a person. So black people do not vote, poor white people do not vote."

"That's not indicative of the words, '...every man is created equal.'"

She smirked. "Most offensive of all is the fact that women are simply not allowed to vote, no matter how much money they have."

"Where I come from, people are often reminded of the black struggle; we're constantly shamed by our American history."

"You did not live through it. Ask Trajen if you see him again. He has lived through these times. He was a slave owner."

"What? He's black."

"Yes, and he owned a plantation. One cannot run such a large business or operate a farm of that size without farmhands. However, farming does not generate enough money to pay a large staff. At least ... not the way Eli Parker pays his people. Trajen employed quite a number of people who volunteered indentured servitude for food and shelter."

"I ... didn't know that." Reno was floored by the information. "He really owned slaves?"

Kerii nodded. "Quite a number of them. I do not know how he treated his servants, but he has always managed to have enough money to want for nothing."

"Damn. All this stuff I thought I knew, and I really don't know much, do I?"

Kerii smiled. "That was a humble thing to say. Most men I know would never say such a thing. How can you be such a perfect blend of liberal and conservative?"

Reno shrugged with a chuckle. "See? Aren't you glad you 'married' me?" He trailed off and squinted in the porthole. "I see land."

"Do you now..."

"Yeah. Definitely. C'mere and look." He stepped aside and gave her space.

Kerii peered through the porthole with a smile. "I see it. I will find 'Justus' as you call him," she said, pronouncing the word 'justice' as Reno had earlier, "...and give him word that we will depart soon."

"I thought he's supposed to be spying on us?"

A smile spread across her face. "All the more reason to approach him. It shows him I know where his room is located, what his mission is, and that we know he will be landing with us. Information is knowledge. Knowledge is control, and control is power, my dear." She stepped back and pivoted, causing her dress to swirl around her legs. "I will return shortly."

X

X

Wednesday, May 24, 1893 - midday Spanish border ...

"Thank God gold is good everywhere." Reno boarded the train and sat down on a bench. The entire car was empty.

Kerii sat down beside him. "Gold will always be worth something - it does not rust away into dust. Silver tarnishes, but, like gold, it is a precious metal."

"They're not platinum, though."

"Platinum - I do not know much about it. I understand Spain makes ingots and utensils from that metal, but I know little else about it."

Reno grinned somewhat. "It's rare, it's heavy, it's dense, and it's worth a lot more than gold. At least in the future. It's a sign of prestige. I believe it's used in industry, too. Like, it's used for drill pieces, because it's so dense. I saw on the History Channel once that a bowling ball made of platinum would weigh, like, eight hundred pounds." He paused and frowned. "Wait, bowling ... you have that yet?"

"Yes, Nathan," she said condescendingly. "We, the troglodytes of my lowly time period, have bowling. One throws a ball to a smaller ball, a jack, and..."

"Oh, man, not that European stuff. I mean, where you take a ten pound ball and roll it up a wooden lane towards ten pins."

"Ah. So, a ten pound ball, of the same size, but made from platinum, would be eight hundred pounds?"

"Yeah, I think so. I usually watched the History Channel when I was drunk because it was way more interesting. So I might be off by a few pounds. But, the point is ... it's heavy. It's really dense. And it's really rare."

"I see. Then you should collect as much as you are able while it is fairly affordable."

"That's a pretty good idea," said Reno with a grin. "Remind me to start collecting."

The train began to rumble towards the heart of Spain.

Reno watched the countryside roll by. "I think there is going to be a civil war in this country. It happens in about forty years or so. I really wish I paid more attention in school. There's also going to be a really bad flu. Not sure why it's called the 'Spanish Flu' since it kills a hundred million people around the world, not just here. But in my time, Spain is struggling with finances. It seems like their golden age ended a long time ago."

"Sins of the forefathers," she said with a firm nod. "Does this friend of yours speak English?"

"Yeah, but I don't know how good it's going to be, over a hundred fifty years before I meet him the first time."

"Ah." She rubbed her thumb and forefinger together. "Eli told me that proletariat anarchists will refrain from problematic..." She turned back to Reno and cleared her throat. "I mean to say we should be safe from harm. There is growing unrest in the region, but it is ... for lack of a better term, fallow at this time."

"I'll be honest, I have no idea what that word means."

"Fallow? Untilled. It has not yet fermented."

"Oh. You mean shit's going to hit the fan soon?"

"Your colloquialisms confound me at times, Nathan. But it's your mystery that intrigues me, my dear."

"Well, at least you find me interesting."

"I do." She took his hand. "Being educated is not the same as being intelligent. You have the ability to comprehend what you learn. One cannot educate the feeble-minded. However, _you_have the capacity to learn. I find your intelligence refreshing."

Reno rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. "That's funny. I always felt like the dumbest guy in my peer group."

"How is that funny?"

"I guess 'ironic' would be a better word. I just like that you think I'm smart."

"Intelligence is the as-of-yet unmeasurable ability to comprehend more or less than the average person. Tell me this," she said, giving his hand a squeeze, "...since surrounding yourself with your peer group, have you learned a great deal of things you never knew before?"

"That's the understatement of the year, Kerii. I didn't know the difference between amps, watts, and volts. After I acquired my ability, it became second nature to me. I can blast someone with high voltage and stun them. I can increase the amperage, and make the same voltage blast become fatal. I can burn things, or I can blast things. I can electrocute, or I can electrify people."

"See? Your capacity to learn and comprehend what you've seen and heard - that is your intelligence. It is not something we can measure properly, but something that intelligent and perceptive people can see in others. Like imagination, some people are blessed with it, and others are not."

"I have a big imagination, but I'm not very creative."

"The fact you understand that about yourself ... I enjoy your company, Nathan Carrington. It is refreshing."

"When we find Raul and he agrees to take me back to the future, I want to make sure you make it back to somewhere safe before I go. I'll explain to him that I want to take you to Paris, first. Then we'll get you on a ship, destined for America. That's important to me. We came all this way, you know? You shouldn't have to be stuck here, alone."

She reached up with her free hand and placed her finger on his lips and offered him a sad smile. "There is little use in making such plans at this point."

"She's right," said a third voice from behind.

Reno and Kerii turned around. Sitting two rows back, with his arms spread out along the backrest of a bench, was Raul Poliandro. "Well, if it isn't the famous Nathan Carrington - superstar of temporal anomalies."

"Raul!" Reno stood up and came around to Raul's bench. "Look, on New Year's Day, in 2050..."

"Aht!" Raul held his hands up. "No, no, no. Silencio, por favor, Señor Carrington." Raul rattled off a lengthy diatribe in Spanish.

Kerii reached across the row of benches and touched Reno's wrist. "He says to please be quiet about the distant future. Things that cannot be changed ... mustn't be changed, at least not dramatically. For a proper change to occur, it must happen slowly, over a period of many decades. Dramatic changes can have unforeseen and often-dangerous consequences."

Reno took a deep breath and sighed. "Yeah, I got a little of that."

"You know Spanish, Nathan?"

"I was born and raised in California," he said. "I know a few words and phrases." He turned back to Raul and offered his hand to the man. "Raul Sergio Poliandro. Let me properly introduce myself - Nathanial Carrington. We're friends in the future."

Raul took Reno's hand. "Well met, amigo. I am thinking that you should be knowing that I always had the knowledge that you would come to find me on this day."

Reno glanced around the other-wise empty train car. "You travel through time. Of course you knew."

"I travel to the past. I prefer not to travel into the future, as it creates complications. It causes the anxiety, you see, of wishing to change the present."

"You don't ever want to change the past?"

"I have no desire." Raul released Reno's hand. "I see the past as what already happened. I have no desire to make changes, only observe and learn. I have taken the obligation upon myself to dedicate my life to stopping a handful of those with my ability from changing time."

Kerii asked, "How do you do such?"

"I find those with my ability and I hunt them. You see, I am being the term of..." Raul paused to think of the proper vocabulary. "I am a prodigy of my ability. When someone is the manifesting of this power, they find me on their doorstep. If they help me to protect the timeline, I allow them to live. If they are abusing of this burden, I have the heavy-hearted task of ensuring they are never born."

"Look, you might not want to hear about the future," said Reno, "but you can't do your job if you're dead."

"Am I killed by someone with my ability?"

"Well ... I mean, technically ... yeah. She stole it from someone."

"Was I helping you?"

"You were helping your niece."

"The succubus?"

Reno nodded. "Yeah, her."

Kerii tilted her head but remained quiet.

"Then I was deserving of my death, no? People change with age. Their outlook is evolving, unless they are deeply being set in their ways, do you comprehend? I always knew I would eventually deserve the same justice, which I have dealt."

"The woman who killed you was planning to change time."

"And did she? How can you be sure?"

"No, actually," Reno said with a weak smile. "She dies minutes after you die."

"Then it is for the best." Raul reached forward and patted Reno's cheek condescendingly. "You are needing not to being so worried, amigo."

"Yeah, well, I'm the one who killed her."

"Ah!" Raul laughed with delight. "You are a true friend! You are to be my avenger! I have always known you are important, Nathan!"

"I ... have a confession to make."

"Si? Then be confessing!"

"There are two Nathan Carringtons. I'm not supposed to be here, or I'll be stepping on his toes."

Raul shook his head and laughed. "There is so much you do not understand."

"Nathan climbs out of the woodwork in 1906," said Reno. "He becomes friends with her sister," he said, gesturing to Kerii. "He helps with the Esoteric Civil War in 1908. He does all these amazing things throughout the twentieth century. I'm not trying to step on his toes."

Kerii tilted her head. "He befriends Keturah?"

Reno glanced back. "Yeah, they're best friends. He saves her from destroying herself." He turned back to Raul. "You need to get me out of here before I mess up the timeline. Just drop me off in 2050."

Raul rubbed his chin. "Do you have the tablet?"

Kerii remained quiet.

Reno reached into his pocket and withdrew the seven inch touchscreen tablet. "Yeah. All the files are right here. I haven't read anything. All the files were written by the other Nathanial Carrington."

Raul sat back down on his bench. "Did you know Nathanial Carrington's mission in life is to change the future very slowly? His mission is to save the world in the future."

"Well, I don't want to mess things up, so you have to get me out of here before he arrives." Reno cleared his throat. "All I ask is that you let me take Kerii to Paris first. I promised her."

Raul patted the wooden bench. "Sit. Por favor, sit besides me." He looked to Kerii and said, "Could you give us a moment of privacy?" Raul pronounced the word in an English way, so it sounded like, 'priv-ah-see' with a short 'i'.

Kerii approached Reno and whispered into his ear, "I understand now. You're a descendant of Nathanial Carrington, and you do not wish to interfere with your ancestor saving the world. Well, if is to save my sister from herself, then I appreciate you ensuring his work is uninterrupted." She kissed the side of his face and walked to the far end of the empty train car.

Reno turned back to Raul and took a deep breath. "My name is Reno Nevada. I was born in 1995. I'm twenty-eight years old when I am frozen by a machine. I wake up in 2049. I haven't even done the math. I don't know if I'm still twenty-nine, or if I'm thirty by now. It doesn't really matter. I disappeared in 2050 and that's where I belong."

Raul sighed and shook his head. "You were thrown back in time to now?"

"Yeah. There's this machine in this ... city, it's like Atlantis, and there's this quantum temporal block that keeps you and other people from moving through time. I remove it with my electricity power. You go into the future to make sure everything is on the right path. Then you come back and you tell us that our work isn't done. We still have to fix a few things. Then this crazy goddess named Sigyn appears. She kills you."

"Dios mio..."

Reno continued. "I step back into the energy stream. It's something to do with time. I have no idea how it works. Anyhow, I absorbed energy from that stream, using a negative polarity..."

"Your words are beyond my comprehension. I have not learned those English words, señor."

"Okay, well," Reno grimaced and slumped onto the bench besides Raul. "I step into this energy field. I use my powers. Your body disappears. Then Sigyn's body disappears."

"Perhaps our bodies are sent to different times?"

"No," said Reno. "You guys were ripped apart. You were already dead. She was shattered. I think ... I'm going out on a limb here, but I think maybe she had her ashes spread throughout time."

"Of what limb are you speaking?"

Reno groaned. "It's just a saying. Look, please take me back to 2050. I have a war to fight. I was never supposed to go back in time."

"Ah, but you were." Raul smiled.

"Okay, fine. I was meant to come back to 1893, fine. I guess this is a time loop or something. Now it's time for you to take me home."

"Señor Nevada, you want to know your future? Allow me to be like an oracle for you, si? You take your pretty wife to Paris, you return to America, and you build a machine with Nikola. You step into the energy, and you go forward, into the future. Then, and only then, will you be in the proper place at the proper time. And, si, señor Nevada ... or señor Carrington if you prefer ... you do help to save the world."

Reno nodded with a sigh. He felt disappointed. He came all this way and he was so close to returning to the future. "Why can't you do it?"

"Because that is not how it happens," said Raul. "It has always been the happening of the way I am saying to you - you step into the energy and go through time, into the future. I am sorry you have traveled all this way."

"First of all, she's not really my wife. Second of all, I traveled all this way for nothing, Raul. We're friends in the future. I need your help."

"I protect the time line, señor. It is nothing being the personal. I do not take people through time. What happens if your ability is triggered while traveling through time with me? What if you kill me one hundred fifty-six and one-half years early? If your ability, in a temporal energy field, has such a grave response in the First Age capital, then why would I bring you into one on purpose?"

Reno frowned. "Shit."

"Si, mierda." Raul gave Reno's shoulder a firm pat. "Take your wife to Paris, take her back to New York, and find Nikola. Lo siento - I cannot help you."

"She's not _really_my wife."

Raul laughed. "It is best you not say such things within earshot of su esposa. Women have tender feelings, even the sister of my niece."

Reno ran his hands back through his hair. "So you know? You know she's Keturah's half-sister?"

"Si. She is not of blood relation to me; Azazel is, at best, my brother-in-law. She is muy bonita. If you do not wish her as your wife any longer, then be allowing of me to flirt with her, hmm?"

Reno smirked. "I know you're a flirt, but it's how you deflect being lonely."

Raul shook his head with a chuckle. "I will do you one small favor."

"Yeah?"

"I will be displacing time-space for you, Señor Nathan Carrington. I will take you to the heart of France. I do this because you avenge my death. See? I break my own rules just this once, no small matter I assure you, because I appreciate meeting the man who avenges my murder."

"I'm a homicide inspector. It's kind of what I do - I avenge murders."

"Si. You are being the very well at your occupation." Raul stood up and brought his fingers to his lips. He whistled hard.

Kerii, at the far end of the empty car, looked back at them. She walked through the aisle of benches and approached Raul and Reno. "Mr. Poliandro, Nathan - have we decided a course of action?"

Raul stepped out from his bench and took Reno's wrist. He reached for Kerii's hand and interlaced his fingers with hers. "You are having of the soft hands, Señora Carrington."

A soft smile spread across Kerii's face. "Kerii Mae Carrington. It has a ring to it."

"Si. It has a bell to it." He grinned at Reno, adding, "See? I told you. Hold still, we are leaving this train - my one and only favor to Señor Carrington."

The scenery abruptly changed.

Reno and Kerii found themselves standing side by side in the middle of a street. Reno looked up at one of the signs and saw a word he recognized - 'Avenue.' He couldn't even pronounce the street name, nor did he try.

Kerii grasped Reno's forearm and pointed into the sky.

Reno looked up and saw a colorful hot air balloon. "I'll be damned." He looked around, but there was no sign of Raul.

Reno placed his hands on Kerii's elbow and guided her out of the street. A bicyclist pedaled by.

Kerii spotted a sign in front of a boutique and immediately recognized the language as French. "Are we...?"

"Yeah. Raul felt it would be better if we left Spain. He said he owed me a small favor for something I do for him in the future. I told him I wanted to take you here. So he brought us to France."

Kerii went to the end of the street. After the last building at the end, she saw across the green park of the Champ de Mars. Standing majestically at the end, was the Eiffel Tower, only four years old.

Kerii stopped in place and stared at the tower in the distance. "It is the tallest manmade structure on Earth."

Reno came besides her. "Remember that building in New York? The Pulitzer one?" He nodded towards the tower across the Champ de Mars and said, "That thing is, like, easily three times taller."

"It is ... so beautiful." Kerii reached for his hand and interlaced her fingers with his. "You have my sincerest gratitude for sharing this with me."

"I think it stays the tallest for a while. I don't know how long, but it's a while." Reno looked around. It was sunny, and fairly warm for May.

A store on the corner had fruit for sale, but nearly all the bins were low. Some of the pieces seemed somewhat withered.

Kerii linked her arm with his and started walking towards the Eiffel Tower, looming in the distance.

"Warm for this time of year," he mused.

"Did you not read the international news section, Nathan? This area, clear up to Wales and England, is experiencing a serious drought. It hasn't rained since March. At least nothing worth measuring."

"Geeze." He walked with her across the Champ de Mars. He'd never seen the Eiffel Tower up close in his time. It was impressive.

Lifts went up the legs of the tower at an angle.

At first, Reno considered trying to impress her by taking her to the top on a bolt of lightning. On second thought, he decided striking a metal tower filled with bystanders was, at the very least, in poor taste, and at the worst, a dangerous idea for the visitors.

A slight grin tugged at his mouth. He wondered if such an act would make the front page of the newspapers.

"I like that you are smiling," she told him. "Do I make you happy? Does this?"

He opened his mouth but decided against telling her it was a smile of childish amusement. He put his arm around her shoulders. "Yeah, Kerii. Yeah, you make me happy."

They walked together to the base of the Eiffel tower.

"I could exchange some gold pieces for Francs," she said. "We could ... see what it is like at such a height, if you are interested?"

"Yeah." He hated to admit it - despite being on a mission to get home ... he was having fun. And, now that he was told by Raul that he would return to the future using technology, he didn't feel rushed anymore. "Yeah, let's do it. Let's go to the top of the tallest manmade structure in human history. I'm down for it."

Kerii gave his hand a squeeze and her smile brightened. "At first, I thought I would be miserable on this trip. Now ... now, I'm glad I let Eli and Niall talk me into this. Thank you, Nathan."

"Can I tell you a secret?"

"Hmm?"

"You have to promise you won't tell anyone."

She looked him over, amused. "You have my word, I will keep your secret, Nathan."

"It's about the whole future thing..."

"Yes?"

"I was born with the name 'Reno Nevada.' Yeah, like the city and the state. I had to assume the name Nathan Carrington because I figured it would botch up the timeline if there was ever a record of me being here in the past. But ... I'm stuck here for a while. And I feel like I owe you the truth. You can't tell anyone, okay?"

She cupped either side of his face and kissed him for his honesty.

A flash-pan caused Reno to open one eye. He spied a photographer a few paces away and smirked against her lips.

She didn't seem to care; the rest of the world had melted away during their kiss.

After the lip-lock, Reno grinned somewhat. "I never thought I'd kiss a girl under the Eiffel Tower."

Her smile brightened and, without a word, she kissed him again.

X

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