"Don't you get it?" asked Rusch. "Don't you see? When you shifted the
consciousness of humanity ahead twenty-one years --when you moved 'now' from
2009 to 2030 --the 'nowness' that should have been experienced by the people in
2030 had to shift somewhere else. The exclusion principle! Every moment exists as
'now' for those frozen in it --you can't superimpose the 'now' of 2009 on top of that
of 2030; the two nows cannot exist simultaneously. When you shifted the 2009 now
forward, the 2030 now had to vacate that time. When I heard that you were going to
be replicating the experiment again at the exact time the original visions had
portrayed, it all fell into place." He paused. "The Sanduleak supernova will oscillate
for many decades or centuries to come --surely tomorrow's attempt won't be the
last. Do you think humanity's taste for seeing the future will be sated with one more
peek? Of course not. We are ravenous in our desire. Since ancient times, no dream
has been more seductive than that of knowing the future. Every time it is possible to
shift the sense of now, we will do it --assuming your experiment succeeds
tomorrow."
Theo glanced at the bomb. If he was reading the display properly, it had over
fifty-five hours before it would explode. He was trying to think clearly; he'd had no
idea just how unnerving it could be to have a gun aimed at your heart. "So --so -what
are you saying? That if there's no opening here in 2030 for the consciousness
of 2009 to jump into, then that first jump will never happen?"
"Exactly!"
"But that's crazy. The first jump has already happened. We all lived through it
twenty-one years ago.
"We didn't all live through it," said Rusch sharply.
"Well, no, but --"
"Yes, it happened. But I'm going to undo that. I'm going to retroactively rewrite
the last two decades."
Theo didn't want to argue with the man, but: "That's not possible."
"Yes, it is. I know it is. Don't you see? I've already succeeded."
"What?"
"What did everybody's visions have in common the first time?" asked Rusch.
"I don't --"
"Leisure-time activities! The vast majority of the population seemed to be having
a holiday, a day-off. And why? Because they'd all been told to stay home from work
that day, to stay safe and secure, because CERN was going to attempt to replicate
the time displacement. But something happened --something caused that replication
to be called off, too late for people to go back to work. And so humanity got an
unexpected holiday."
"It's more likely that what we saw the first time was simply a version of reality in
which the precognition event had never occurred."
"Nonsense," said Rusch. "Sure, we saw some people at work --shopkeepers,
street vendors, police, and so on. But most businesses were closed, weren't they?
You've heard the speculation --that some great holiday would exist on Wednesday,
October 23, in 2030, celebrated across the globe. A universal disarmament day,
maybe, or a first-contact-with-aliens day. But now it is 2030, and you know as well
as I do that no such holiday exists. Everyone was off work, preparing for a time
displacement that didn't come. But they'd had some advance warning that it wasn't
going to come --meaning the news story that Large Hadron Collider had been
damaged must have broken sometime earlier that day. Well, I've got my bomb set
to go off two hours before the Sanduleak neutrinos will arrive."
"But if something like that was in the news, surely someone would have seen it in
their vision. Someone would have reported it."
"Who would be sitting home watching the news two hours into an unexpected
holiday?" asked Rusch. "No, I'm sure the scenario I've described is correct. I will
succeed in disabling CERN; the consciousness of 2030 Earth will stay put precisely
where it belongs, and the change will propagate backwards from this point, back
twenty-one years, rewriting history. My dear Helena, and all the other people who
died because of your arrogance, will get to live again."
"You can't kill me," said Theo. "And you can't keep me here for two days. People
will notice I'm missing, and they'll come down here to look for me, and they'll find
your bomb and disarm it."
"A good point," said Rusch. Carefully keeping the Glock trained on Theo, he
backed toward his bomb. He retrieved it from inside the air pump, lifting it up by its
suitcase handle. He must have noted Theo's expression. "Don't worry," said Rusch.
"It's not delicate." He placed the bomb on the tunnel floor and did something to the
counter mechanism. Then he turned the case so that the long side was facing toward
Theo. Theo looked down at the timer. It was still counting down, but now said 59
minutes, 56 seconds.
"The bomb will go off in one hour," said Rusch. "It's earlier than I planned, and
with this much advanced notice, we're probably cheating people out of their holiday
the day after tomorrow, but the gross effect will be the same. As long as the damage
to the tunnel will take more than two days to repair, Der Zwischenfall will not be
replicated." He paused. "Now, let's you and I start walking. I'm not going to trust
myself on a hovercart with you or --I imagine you took the monorail, no? Well, we
won't. But in an hour, we can walk sufficiently far along the tunnel that neither of us
will be hurt." He gestured with the gun. "So let's get going."
They began to walk counterclockwise --toward the monorail --but before they'd
gotten more than a dozen meters, Theo became conscious of a faint whine behind
them. He turned around, and so did Rusch. Just rounding the curve of the tunnel off
in the distance was another hovercart.
"Damn it," said Rusch. "Who's that?"
Jake Horowitz's red-and-gray hair was easy enough to make out, even at this
distance, but the other person --
God! It looked like --
It was. Detective Helmut Drescher of Geneva's finest.
"I don't know," said Theo, pretending to squint.
The hovercart was rapidly approaching. Rusch looked left and right. There was so
much equipment mounted on the sides of the tunnel wall that, with some advance
warning, one could easily find crannies in which to hide. Rusch left the bomb at the
side of the tunnel and started to retreat away from the approaching cart. But it was
too late. Jake was clearly pointing at them. Rusch closed the distance between
himself and Theo, and jabbed the pistol into Theo's ribs. Theo had never known his
heart to beat so fast in his life.
Drescher had his own gun drawn as the hovercart settled to the tunnel floor about
five meters away from Rusch and Theo.
"Who are you?" said Jake to Rusch.
"Careful!" blurted Theo. "He's got a gun."
Rusch looked panicked. A little bomb-planting was one thing, but hostage taking
and potential murder was another. Still he jerked the Glock into Theo's side again.
"That's right," said Rusch. "So back off."
Moot was now standing with legs spread for maximum stability, holding his own
gun in both hands aimed directly at Rusch's heart. "I'm a police officer," said Moot.
"Drop your weapon."
"Nein."
Moot's tone was absolutely even. "Drop your weapon or I will shoot."
Rusch's eyes darted left and right. "If you shoot, Dr. Procopides dies."
Theo's mind was racing. Had it gone down like this the first time? Rusch would
have to shoot him not once, but three times, to match the vision. In a standoff like
this, he might get one bullet into Theo's chest --not that it would take more --but
surely as soon as he pulled the trigger the first time, Moot would blow Rusch away.
"Back off," said Rusch. "Back off!"
Jake looked as terrified as Theo felt, but Moot stood his ground. "Drop your
weapon. You are under arrest."
Rusch's panic seemed to abate for a moment, as if he was simply stunned by the
charge. If he really were just a university professor, he'd probably never been in
trouble with the law his whole life. But then he brightened somewhat. "You can't
arrest me."
"The hell I can't," said Moot.
"What police force are you with?"
"Geneva's."
Rusch actually managed a small, panicked laugh. He jabbed Theo with the gun
again. "Tell him where we are."
Theo's insides were churning. He didn't understand the question. "In the Large
Hadron --"
Rusch jabbed again. "The country."
Theo felt his heart sinking. "Oh." Damn. God damn it. "We're in France," he said.
"The border goes right across the tunnel."
"So," said Rusch, looking at Moot, "you've got no jurisdiction here; Switzerland
isn't an E.U. member. If you shoot me outside of your jurisdiction, that's murder."
Moot seemed to hesitate for a moment; the gun in his hand wavered. But then he
brought it back to bear directly on Rusch's heart. "I will deal with whatever legalities
there are after the fact," said Moot. "Drop your weapon now or I will shoot."
Rusch was standing so close to Theo that Theo could feel his breathing --rapid,
shallow. The guy might hyperventilate.
"All right," said Rusch. "All right." He took a step away from Theo and --
Kablam!
The report echoing in the tunnel.
Theo's heart stopping -
--but only for a second.
Rusch's mouth had gone wide in horror, in terror, in fear -
--at the realization of what he'd done -
--as Moot Drescher staggered backward, tumbled and fell, landing on his back,
dropping his gun, a growing pool of blood spreading across his shoulder.
"Oh my God!" shouted Jake, "Oh my God!" He surged forward, scrambling for
Drescher's weapon.
Rusch looked absolutely dazed. Theo grabbed him from behind, putting his neck in
a choke hold, and bringing his knee up into the small of Rusch's back. With his other
hand, he tried to wrest the hot, smoking gun from Rusch.
Jake now had Drescher's gun. He tried to aim it at the combined form of Theo and
Rusch, but his hands were shaking violently. Theo wrenched Rusch's arm and he
dropped his gun. Theo dived out of the way, and Jake squeezed off a shot. But in his
inexperienced, trembling hands, the bullet went wild, smashing into a fluorescent
lighting tube overhead, which exploded in a shower of sparks and glass. Rusch was
scrambling for his dropped gun, too. Neither he nor Theo seemed to be able to get a
grip on it, and finally Theo kicked it from Rusch's grabbing hand. It skittered a dozen
meters counterclockwise down the tunnel.
Theo had no weapon, and neither now did Rusch. Drescher was surrounded by a
lake of blood, but seemed to be still alive; his chest was heaving. Jake tried another
shot but it again missed its mark.
Rusch was only halfway to his feet before he started running after the Glock.
Theo, realizing he'd never overtake him, decided to go the other way. "He's got a
bomb," he shouted as he passed Jake. "Help Moot!"
Jake nodded. Rusch had now recovered his own gun, and had turned around and
was running, weapon held in front of him, toward Jake, Moot, and the retreating
Theo.
Theo was running for all he was worth, footfalls echoing loudly in the tunnel. Up
ahead was the aluminum suitcase containing the bomb. He stole a glance over his
shoulder. Jake, still holding Moot's gun, had gone to his knees next to the cop. Rusch
passed them, keeping his own gun trained on Jake, preventing him from squeezing
off another shot. Rusch turned around, running backward, keeping his weapon on
Jake until he was out of Jake's shaky range. He then turned again and continued
pursuing Theo.
Theo reached the bomb, scooping it up with one hand, and then --
He got onto Rusch's hovercart, and slammed his foot against the activator pedal.
Theo looked back as the cart started to speed away clockwise.
Rusch doubled back. Jake, apparently assuming Rusch had gone, had set down
Moot's gun and was pulling his own shirt off over his head, some buttons, still done
up --clearly, he wanted to use it as a pressure bandage to stanch the flow of blood
out of Moot's body. Rusch had no trouble getting into the hovercart that had brought
Jake and Moot to the scene, and he took off after Theo.
Theo had a good lead as he careened along the tunnel. But it was hardly straight
line flying --not only did the curve of the tunnel have to be negotiated, but so did all
the giant pieces of equipment that jutted out willy-nilly along its length.
Theo glanced at the bomb's display: 41 minutes, 18 seconds. He hoped Rusch had
been telling the truth when he said the explosives weren't fragile. There were a
series of unlabeled buttons attached to the display --no way to tell which ones might
reset the timer to a higher value, and which ones might cause the bomb to explode
immediately. But if he could make it to the access station and get up to the surface,
there would be plenty of time to abandon the bomb in the middle of one of the
farmers' fields.
Theo's cart had a decided wobble --he was doubtless pushing it faster than its
gyros could really deal with. He glanced behind himself again. At first, he began to
breathe a sigh of relief --Rusch was nowhere to be seen --but after a second the
