Titan Boltz fought his way through the crowd of crying children and growling parents to the front of the line for the carousel. A chipmunk much younger than himself trembled at the controls as a mother fox stared down at him while comforting her crying kit. Boltz stepped between them and pushed the start button. There was a faint click from the first relay, then another, but the latter one wasn’t right. He looked at the children waiting on the ride and spotted the hippo family sitting on one side. It was easier to make the adjustment than try to explain load balancing to the kid. “Twenty seconds.”
He scampered to the center of the ride pulling the screwdriver from his toolbelt. With the practiced twist and flick of his wrist, the screws of the access panel popped into the air. He caught them in his mouth and pushed them to one side of his cheeks. Leaving one loose screw holding the panel, he shorted the actuator with the screwdriver while turning the adjustment in his fingers. When the led popped on, he put the tip of the screwdriver in his mouth. His tongue moved the first screw to the magnetic tip. He put the screw in the plate and tightened it in one twist of his wrist. He repeated the motion a dozen more times and nodded to the attendant who slapped the button. The ride moved under his feet as he stepped off at the ride’s exit. Behind him, a soft cheer went up as the music began to play.
As he left Kiddie Land, his wristband buzzed. He swiped across it and the face of squirrel appeared. It was Krackar Nutse, the park’s top engineer. His tail flicked with irritation. “Meet me at Teatime on the Titanic. It’s happening again worse than before.”
“On my way.” Boltz swiped the image closed and cut across the concession boulevard to Time Travel Land. In the three months since the park added the new area, the crowds doubled, but so did his overtime. Time travel rides were finicky.
As a chipmunk, it was easy for him to maneuver through the throng of children of larger species, but here in Time Travel Land the patrons were mostly large. To get to Teatime, he had to cross the lines of the other rides.
The speakers in the castle-shaped entrance of the first ride blared, “Enjoy a good fight to the death in history’s most epic battle.”
Terror in Troy was the favorite of large predators. Behind the plastic fronts, each ride was a long box the size of a tractor trailer with a door at the front. He dodged between the legs of three laughing teenaged lions.
“Wow. Did you see the size of the one I fought? I got in a few hits before he cut me in half.”
“Yeah. He was huge. I saw everything lying there with an arrow in my chest. I never got to fight.”
The third one grumbled, “I don’t know what killed me. I didn’t get to fight at all.”
Boltz made a mental note to check the temporal alignment on that ride. It tended to drift from the relatively calm start of the battle to the violent end. Since the guests were fighting for their lives against the Trojan army, most assumed they had been killed if the ride suddenly spit them out early.
He timed crossing the exit of Party in Pompeii to avoid the cloud of sulfur and ash as dragons in togas filed out. The sign over the entrance showed burning ash falling on running animals. How anyone found this entertaining was a mystery, but then who could understand dragons? Their togas were singed, and they reeked of sulfur. That meant the new entanglement module was holding, keeping the quantum lock dome big enough to cover the volcano.
The entrance for Teatime was a tasteful collage of pictures. “Come experience the greatest luxury cruise ship of all time.” Creatures of all types were in line here. This ride had a dedicated following who loved to speak in Queen’s English and wear Victorian costumes. For all their refined appearance and practiced manners, this crowd got ugly if the temporal lock drifted and the ship hit the iceberg while they were dancing or the quantum lock barrier prevented them from playing shuffleboard.
Boltz walked up the exit and into a side door that opened with his badge. He found Nutse’s behind Teatime fumbling with a screwdriver.
“Let me.” Boltz popped the screws from the panel and caught them in his mouth.
“You know that is unsanitary.” Nutse shook his head and plugged in the handheld diagnostic. “Guests are complaining about ghosting.”
The screen displayed numbers and graphs that made no sense to Boltz. Boltz scratched his head. “I’ve never heard of ghosting,” he mumbled through the screws.
“It’s not in the manual. Guests are complaining that things are fading in and out or disappearing. I’ve looked through every technical manual I can find. There is nothing like that in any of them. My guess is a crack in the shielding around the phase-lock causing the temporal positioning to flicker. That would look like people disappearing. He disconnected the device. “There is no problem on this side, but it looks like the qubit phase lock might be dirty. We’ll need to look at it from the other side.” He dropped the device into a toolkit of high-tech equipment and parts.
Boltz screwed the plate into place, ignoring the disapproving looks from Nutse. They entered they ride through a side door where the crowd faced the portal at the back and a mole standing in front of it.
Over one side of the round portal, a display was counting down from twenty. Through the portal you could see into an engine room as long as the food boulevard where giant gears and levers moved. In the distance, dragons shoveled coal into a furnace.
Voices emanated from a curved horn. "40 knots, sir."
"Engine room. What's going on down there?"
The mole standing on a platform to one side of the portal held one end of a velvet rope. “I’m Kiki, your tour guide. In a minute, you will board the Titanic. You can eat, dance, and stroll the ship, interacting with the people.” She paused and the voices from the horn blared,
"Iceberg ahead. Hard to port. Engines full stop."
She smiled and pointed up to an empty area on the wall. “The portal resets every hour. Do try to get back on time. It is unpleasant to be outside the containment shield when the field resets.” Kiki’s hands searched the velvet rope for the clasp and hooked it to a chrome stand. “Any questions?”
A tiger cub in front waved her hand over her head.
“Very well, as soon as the counter reaches zero, follow me for a guided tour.”
The tiger cub cleared her throat. “Can we get stuck in the past?”
Kiki opened her mouth, but her first word was drowned out by a bellow from the horn. She smiled and waited a second for the noise to stop.
"We've hit."
Kiki shook her head. “No, if someone could, then someone would have, but since no one has, we can't. It’s simple when you think about it.”
Behind her, dragons ran past the portal waving their arms. "The sea door won't close." The sound of creaking metal reverberated through the room followed by the sound of rushing water. There was sudden silence as a dark water and debris formed a wall across the portal. A dragon was swept along with arms flailing.
The counter over the portal reached zero. All was dry and bright. Dozens of smiling creatures appeared in the portal and filed out the exit.
Kiki let the velvet rope fall and picked up her cane. Feeling her way through the portal and tapping her cane before her she called, "Now if you will follow me." The crowd surged through the portal and around the guide. Soon she was alone, tapping her cane along the floor. “This is the engine room.”
Boltz followed Nutse through the portal. He took a moment to admire the incredible machinery and smell the fumes of the engine. “Isn’t it beautiful?” The sound of metal fighting metal was deafening, and the burning oil stung his nose.” A few squirts of lubricant quieted the nearby machinery. Sadly, in thirty minutes, everything was going to reset, and the noise would return. But they should be finished by then.
Nutse shrugged. “Let's take some readings.” He set the toolbox on the floor and fished out an entanglement meter.
Boltz could barely make out his partner’s words over the rumbling of poorly fitted pistons and metal grinding against metal, yet he marveled at the mammoth machine. What it lacked in technology, it made up for in beauty and size. The power of this monster was unimaginable. His eyes analyzed each part. It astonished him that it even worked. The bushings and fittings were so crude. On this side, the portal appeared on the side of a nondescript metal box the size of a train car with a few access panels and an antenna on top.
Nutse plugged his scanner into the diagnostic port at the back of the machine. “That’s interesting. The electronics are fine, but there’s an oscillation in the field. It’s too irregular to be a malfunction.” He closed the scanner and took a field strength meter from his toolbelt. Something else is happening. We need to take some field measurements.”
They made their way to a metal spiral staircase and climbed to a higher deck where rabbits carrying armloads of vegetables scurried through a door held open by a polar bear wearing a white apron.
“Field strength seems strong, but the oscillation is worse up here.” Nutse continued up the stairs with his face on the meter. A penguin in a tuxedo raced down the stairs toward Nutse carrying a silver tray of cheese.
Boltz was about to warn them, but the image of the penguin flickered. For an instant, there were two penguins, one collided with Nutse, the other dodged around him with practiced grace. They merged together behind Nutse who never looked up from his meter. It happened so quick Boltz wasn’t sure he saw it.
They climbed to the next landing where a hallway stretched into the distance on both sides. It was lit by glass bulbs under shades set into sconces on the wall. Boltz squinted and peered into to glass. A thin wire glowed white hot. The concept of producing light by such a wasteful means horrified him, but the warm light added a luster and opulence of the doors and walls that no one in the modern age could emulate.
Nutse waved the meter around before veering down the hall.
A walrus with a handlebar mustache and top hat popped out of a stateroom with a cane in his hand and white gloves draped over his arm. He pressed his back against the wall to avoid Nutse. His wide eyes followed the squirrel as he passed.
“Pardon us.” Boltz bowed quickly and hurried to catch up with Nutse who paused by another staircase and climbed.
They followed the direction the device sent them to the foot of a wide staircase. It was a glorious structure that took them up and onto the deck of the ship. The sea rolled around a cold, dark sky.
“The oscillations are getting stronger. This way.” Nutse followed the signal to the bow of the ship.
A flying squirrel stretched out her arms and leaned over the edge. Boltz held his breath. His legs trembled as he considered running to her rescue. The flying squirrel flickered.
Nutse walked by him with his face on the meter. “Wow. The meter is going crazy. Something is really messing with the field.”
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Boltz took a deep breath and called out, “Please come away from there, miss.”
She turned her head. The image flickered. A scruffy opossum who was nowhere to be seen moments before rushed to the flying squirrel and escorted her from the edge.
Boltz felt relief wash over him.
Nutse looked up. “What are you doing?”
Boltz pointed at the squirrel strolling away in the arms of the opossum. “She was about to fall.”
Nutse gave him a sideways look. “She is going to fall or not. There is nothing you can do about it. Stop wasting time and do your job.” He looked down. “See what you did? I’ve lost the trace. Now we’ll have to pick it up again.” He waved the meter around. “We’re going to have to triangulate. We’re at the front of the ship. We’ve been to the bottom center. Let’s start with the center top and work our way down.”
They measured the sporadic signal back into the ship and up to a control room where a bear in a dark blue uniform stood in the center of a small room where various species monitoring archaic machines.
An eagle scanned the horizon through binoculars. “Clear ahead.”
“Ahead ten knots,” the bear growled.
“Ahead ten knots,” a mockingbird yelled into a circular horn connected to a flexible tube.
A rabbit hopped up to them and pushed his paws forward. “No guests are allowed on the bridge.”
“We’re not guests. We’re here to fix something,” Boltz apologized as Nutse walked around the rabbit.
“You’re out of uniform,” the bear growled. “What is that thing? It has lights that move.” The bear stared in wonder.
Nutse waved the meter around. “Nothing here.” He pocketed the meter and walked between the captain’s legs.
“I’m the captain. I demand to know what needs to be fixed.”
Nutse turned in the doorway. “Come on, Boltz. Nothing here. Let’s go.”
“Wait, Nutse.” Boltz called him back. Confident he was on the right, Boltz walked up to the captain. “Sir, in twenty minutes, this ship is in danger of hitting an iceberg and sinking.”
The captain puffed out his chest and his neck bulged. He roared with laughter. “Have you ever seen an iceberg, son? They are mountains of ice, easy to avoid. Are you drunk, sailor?”
Boltz was downcast. There was no flickering. His half-formed theory was falling apart. “But they are hard to see at night.” He scrutinized the image of the captain. There was no trace of ghosting.
“Everyone knows this ship is unsinkable. Now get off the bridge or spend the day in the brig.” The captain turned his back on Boltz.
Nutse grunted in frustration outside the bridge. “What was that about?”
“Maybe some of the guests are interacting with the crew causing the problem. I thought if I made them make some other decision, I could reproduce the ghosting.”
“Nonsense. If that were possible, someone would have done it and history would be rewritten. This is clearly an electrical problem, so stop wasting time. We need to find the source in twenty minutes, or we’ll have to start over.”
They descended the stairs until it ended at floor where a beaver in a formal white uniform stood before large double doors. “Good evening, sirs. Back tie is required for the main dining room.”
Nutse swung the meter around and froze. He stepped around the beaver and toward the main doors.
“Excuse me, sir, but you cannot go into the formal dining room dressed like that.” The beaver pointed to the tool belt.
Nutse sidestepped the beaver and entered.
The beaver’s shoulders slumped.
Boltz grinned sheepishly. “We’re dressed for a private costume party. We won’t be long. Two please?”
“Well,” the beaver shook his head slowly, “at this hour, we could make an exception.” He pulled two menus from a sliding drawer. One with the outline of a squirrel, the other with a chipmunk. He rushed in front of Nutse and slapped his wide tail on the marble floor for attention. “Follow me.”
Boltz allowed the waiter to seat him at a table while Nutse scanned the room. “There is something wrong here. I’m getting fluctuations in the field now.”
They sat at a table with a lace tablecloth, a candelabra, and more spoons and forks around the plates than anyone knew what to do with. The waiter placed the menus beside them, bowed, and left.
Boltz looked at the long menu. Everything sounded so good. “Do we have time for a snack?”
Nutse didn’t look up from the meter. “This is a time machine. We have all the time in the world.”
Boltz scanned the desserts. It all looked so tempting.
The meter in Nutse hand buzzed. He looked down at it resting on the table. “Whoa. Off the scale. We’ve got to be close.” Nutse waved the meter around. “It stopped. We’re going to have to wait here for another spike.”
“What? It’s gone again.” Boltz looked around and spotted the waitress he saw last time. He let his eyes rest on her. She was so polite and had a lovely voice.
A penguin with a monocle came beside their table with a pencil and a pad of paper in his hands. “May I take your drink order, gentlemen.”
“Just a bag of pistachios for me.” Boltz nodded at the engineer. “And a cup of hazelnut coffee for him.”
“Very good, sir.” The penguin hurried through swinging doors at the back of the dining area.
Somewhere behind the doors, glass and china shattered. The doors parted for the lone form of Kiki swinging her cane in a wide arc and knocking a pitcher of water onto the floor. Her cane tapped the wet carpet and she stepped around the puddle. “And here we have the swimming pool. The popular dances of the time are the foxtrot and the waltz.” She tapped her way along the wall toppling a statue. “Pardon me.” The beaver dived and caught the statue before it hit the floor. “Now stay close and I’ll show you the gambling hall.“
A penguin waddled up to the table and placed a bag of nuts before Boltz and poured coffee from a silver pot into a china cup in front of Nutse.
Nutse adjusted the meter as he sipped the beverage. At that moment, the meter buzzed and light up. “There.” He looked up. “Something in this room is the cause.”
Boltz tried to keep focused, but the lovely waitress approaching the table held his attention.
“Nice to see you again, sirs. Do you wish anything from the menu?”
“It’s off the scale.” Nutse pointed the meter in an arc around the room.
Boltz blinked and looked into her eyes. “Do you recognize us?”
“Your pardon, good sirs. Perhaps I was mistaken.” Her eyes fell to the floor. Her tail bristled in embarrassment.
Boltz’ mind raced. A small amount of variation had to exist to make interact with people of the past possible, but they would always make the same decisions and be in the same places. Memories were not possible. Or were they? “Do you remember what I had the last time I was here?”
“A piece of rhubarb pie, I believe.”
Boltz gasped. His legs kicked involuntarily, sending his chair tipping backward. When it righted, he grabbed the table with both hands. “That’s right. Nutse, did you hear that?”
“What of it? She has mistaken you for someone else. Pay attention, will you?” He waved the meter around frantically. Look for something that would interfere with a signal or cause a reflection.”
“I think she is the problem. She remembers us.” Boltz shouted and pointed to the waitress.
The waitress’ shoulders shook, and her head was bowed to her chest. “My apologies, sir. I meant no offense.”
“Impossible.” Nutse crossed his arms. “It is all the same moment to her. Otherwise, she’d be terrified right now knowing what is going to happen in,” he checked the time, “nine minutes.” He took another sip of tea and cleaned the face of the meter.
The waitress squeaked. “Sir?”
“Was that necessary?” Boltz rasped.
“What does it matter?” Nutse’ cocked his head and he raised a hand palm up.
“That was cold.” Boltz shook his head. He turned to the waitress. “Pay him no mind.” He patted the waitress’ hand.
Nutse took a sip of his coffee and dropped his cup in the saucer. “I’ll prove it.” He turned to the waitress. “If you remember us, when were we in here?”
She looked perplexed. “I… can’t remember. It seems like a day ago. Why can’t I remember?”
“You see?” Nutse shouted and crossed his arms.
The beaver in the white coat hurried to their table. He took the waitress by the elbow. “Has she been rude, sirs? I shall see she is properly punished for her insubordination.”
Boltz waved a hand. “No, she was very nice. Please don’t punish her.”
The beaver bowed. “As you say, sir.” He glared at the waitress. “You have duties to perform. Come with me.” He turned on his heel and marching to a doorway.
She followed slowly and got halfway across the floor before the beaver turned on her.
“I’ve warned you before. Now I’ve had enough.” His voice was hushed but grated through his teeth. “You’re fired. I’ll see you are not paid for the rest of the trip.”
The waitress fell to her knees, “I did nothing.”
“Don’t make a spectacle of yourself. Leave this dining room at once.” The beaver pulled her to her feet and shoved her toward the kitchen door.
The waitress stumbled forward but turned.
The meter in the table Nutse’ hand buzzed non-stop and he paced the room.
The waitress hurried back to the table. “I’ve been afraid all day as if something was going to happen. What is going to happen in nine minutes?”
Nutse returned to the table and turned off the buzzing meter off. “We’re out of time. We’ll have to try again and start here next time.” He finished his cup and wiped his mouth with the napkin. “Let’s go.”
The beaver’s face poked out of the doorway. His eyebrows formed a V and his nose wrinkled. There was a slapping sound as his tail pounded the floor.
The waitress stood within arm’s reach, her shoulders trembling. Boltz took her hand. “Come with us.”
“What. No.” Nutse rushed around the table and pulled Boltz hand from hers. “You can’t. It won’t work.”
Boltz shoved him back and took her hand. “I have to try.”
Nutse strode away and threw a hand in the air. “Fine.”
“You’re going to see some things that may frighten you. Just say with us and you’ll be fine.” Boltz pulled her close.
She looked over her shoulder at the scowling beaver then nodded.
Boltz kept her hand in his and hurried after Nutse.
“Where are we going? What’s going to happen?” The waitress struggled to keep up. Her breathing was strained.
“We’re going to the engine room. This ship is about to hit an iceberg and sink.”
“I remember now. I had a dream. It was terrible, cold water, people crying. It wasn’t a dream, was it?” She collapsed to the floor.
Boltz helped her to her feet and slowed his pace. Nutse hurried on out of sight. Not that it mattered. He knew the way. The worst that could happen to him was he’d be caught outside the containment field and experience the ice-cold water, maybe even drowning, but he’d be fine in a few seconds. He worried more for the waitress. Was is hopeless for her? He didn’t have the deep understanding of relativity tensors that the engineer had, but something in his gut told him there was hope for her. Her breathing was ragged gasps.
As he rounded the spiral stairs into the engine room, Nutse stood halfway up the stairs and pointed. “There’s the real problem.”
Boltz followed Nutse direction to the top of the time machine. The antenna on top was bent over at ninety degrees. “How did that happen?”
Nutse shrugged. “Well, we’ve got five minutes. I’ll have to order a replacement. I’ll straighten the best I can, but the load balancer will need adjusting and you’ll have to put in key in the new calibration settings manually.”
A steady stream of smiling park guest was coming from every direction, descending on the portal. One by one, they touched the side of the box and disappeared. Kiki’s tapping and talking could be heard by no one as she felt her way along the wall.
The waitress’s eyes filled with tears. “Where did they go? What is happening?”
“They are safe. Stay here and rest for a minute.” Boltz steadied the waitress who was doubled over trying to catch her breath. She nodded.
He and Nutse went to the back of the time machine. Nutse climbed the ladder. Boltz popped the screws of the tensor transmitter plate and caught them in his mouth. The readouts glowed. One by one, they flashed the word fault as Nutse straightened the antenna. Boltz finger poised over the keypad ready to enter the new settings. Beside the keypad, a number was counting down. The digits flew by faster than he could read except for the zeros which advanced to fill the end of the readout.
Nutse’ voice was drowned in the engine noise. Boltz could barely make out but a few disconnected syllables. He spit the screws into his hand. “I can’t hear you. What was the number?”
Nutse call out louder this time. His voice cracked with effort, but it still wasn’t loud enough.
Boltz thought about climbing the ladder, but he doubted he could get up there, remember a nine-digit number, return, and enter it in time. He removed a spray can from his tool belt and sprayed all the engine parts thoroughly. The noise dropped and the engine moved with a speed and silence that it had never been able to achieve before. “What?” he called up.
“I said four five seven eight one six zero five five.”
Boltz keyed in the numbers and hit save.
A panicked voice echoed from the horn on the wall. “Captain. We have increased speed. 30 Knots.
"Impossible,” the captains voice growled. “This ship can't go that fast."
"40 knots, sir," a timid voice quavered.
“Come down now.” Boltz waved frantically.
The waitress straightened and picked her way down, her heels catching the holes of the metal steps.
The captain’s voice bellowed, "Engine room. What's going on down there?"
A low sound like the beating of large wings erupted from the horn. "Iceberg ahead.”
“Hard to port. Engines full stop."
The ship lurched to the side. The waitress screeched and clutched the handrail.
"We've hit,” the horn bellowed.
Boltz dropped his screwdriver and let the last of the screws fall through the floor grating, leaving the access panel to shake and the ship shuddered beneath his feet. He took a few steps before he fell sideways.
Nutse shook his head as he descended the ladder of the time machine. “You’re wasting your time.”
Water poured from the hissing boilers. One of the dragons yelled, "Close the sea doors." The others turned wheels on the wall.
Dragons pulled frantically against the red wheel on the wall nearby. Metal screamed in protest.
“Look out.” The waitress stood on a stair and pointed.
Boltz looked up. Movement overhead caught his eye. A heavy lever was coming down on top the time machine. It caught on the antenna and bent it over. The heavy iron bar bent as it came down against the top of the time machine and stopped.
The dragons ran past the time machine yelling, "The sea door won't close."
“Hurry.” Boltz waived the waitress on, but she froze as sea water washed across the floor.
Rushing water threatened to knock Boltz’ leg out from under him as he ran to the stairs. He held the waitress in his arms and helped her into the water. They fought their way against the rushing water to the time machine. A wall of water raced toward them, and with a final leap, he threw them into the portal. He fell on the floor and opened his eyes in time to see a dragon, twisting and thrashing, get swept by. Boltz turned his head.
The waitress lifted herself on hands and knees and looked around. “What is this place?”
Behind her, Nutse’ mouth hung open as he stared at her back. “That’s impossible,” he sputtered.
Head engineer, Titan Boltz chewed his pistachios and gazed into the candelabra. Teatime had not had the slightest problem in the five years since he did the unthinkable. It made the perfect place to take lunch. He mouthed the words in perfect sync with the beaver’s angry protest. “Where is that waitress?”
At that moment, Boltz phone rang. “Hi dear. I was just thinking about you.”