Key Inheritance: A Desperate Plan

CHAPTER TWO: The Time Travelers

The team arrived inside the same mansion only it was now new and pristine. They looked around in awe before coming face to face with the mysterious Jon Smith. Both Sarah and Felicia gave a short scream of fright, taking a step back behind the adults.

Jon responded with a bemused smile. “If I had not received a care package from myself a year prior, informing me of your arrival, you would all be dead right now.”

Butch grunted. He saw the small army of young men and women of all races and cultures nervously holding automatic weapons from a catwalk above them. “Somehow, I don’t doubt that.”

Jon motioned the team to follow him. “Originally, my forefathers built this time machine but, as I moved through the ages, I helped them build it with several much needed modifications.”

Viva sighed. It seemed to her that this Jon had severe issues with his ego but decided not to mention it. “We would appreciate any help you can offer us.”

Jon nodded. “First, I suggest all of you take a much needed shower and rest before having a good meal. After that, we can discuss getting all of you some personal records.”

Sarah seemed confused. “Why…?”

Jon gave his usual annoying smile. “None of you have been born yet in this time period. There is no record of any of you ever existing and the identifications you have will be immediately seen as forgeries. You will not even be able to start your plan without them.”

Sarah was surprised. “You can produce these papers?”

Jon chuckled. “Dear child, I am far more wealthy and connected than you can possibly fathom.”

“Jason frowned. “So why have you not made any changes?”

Jon’s smile broadened to an almost sinister degree. “I have been making changes since my arrival twelve thousand years ago. Only I work in subtle changes as bold, far reaching changes can be just as easily reversed. Humanity takes to changes better when it happens unnoticed.”

Butch again grunted. “Sarah and Felicia shower first.”

Jon’s smile fell to a firm frown. “There are more than enough private rooms with bathroom suites for all of you to shower and get dressed in fresh clothing.” He then smiled again. “Patience, general; we have all the time in the world.”

Later, inside her own private room, Sarah looked around in pure joy and amazement. She never had such a large room to herself with such wonderfully crisp and clean air. Everything around her looked and felt like a princess dream come true.

She looked at the clothing laid out on the bed by Jon’s grown children. It was a light blue blouse and a dark blue skirt with white stockings, white undergarments and black Mary Janes. They were cleaner than anything she had ever seen or worn and neatly pressed. She then turned to the shower. It was already running with steaming clear inviting water. “I wonder if this is all real or just a pretty dream.”

Slowly, Sarah disrobed, leaving her soiled clothing in a metal bin with a radiation warning label on it. Upon stepping into the shower, she shuddered seeing oil black water flowing off of her down the drain. She nearly screamed when one of Jon’s adult daughters joined her in the bathroom suite.

The woman was in her mid-twenties with shoulder length brown hair and blue eyes. “Do not fear, child. I am here to help you shower yourself clean.”

Sarah pouted, uncertain if she should be flattered or insulted. “I can wash myself.”

The woman smiled, much like Jon did. “Trust me, child. I will have you looking and feeling like a real princess.”

With that said, the woman slowly, gently began to wash Sarah’s body with various soaps, shampoos and boy wash. The entire process took nearly an hour but Sarah was soon standing in front of a full body mirror, wearing the clean pressed clothes. It was like a sequence in a dream. To Sarah, she was truly dressed like a princess; beautiful without a flaw to be seen.

“It’s real… I don’t ever want to go back.”

Felicia had a similar reaction to her accommodations, treatment and clean environment only she was not thinking of what she was gaining from being back in time. Her life was not easy, growing up in the aftermath of the Resource War. Laws were literally nonexistent except for an unspoken code of honor among survivor clans and communities.

She sighed looking at herself in a pair of sneakers, blue jeans, and a black blouse. “What was worth throwing all of this away? The air and water is still clean and food is still plentiful.”

The young woman who had helped her clean herself, gave a patient smile before motioning to the window. “We all helped our ancient grandfather build and secure an amazing machine that will change the world. You and your team are a part of that change.”

The woman then quietly left the room, allowing Felicia some time to herself to reflect. Felicia loved the clean feel and smell of her new clothing. They were far softer and more comfortable than anything she had worn all her life. It was like a dream come true but it saddened her to know that all of her friends in 2050 were suffering and dying. Worse, her actions in this time period may result in them never being born.

She walked to the window and took in the clean fresh air before looking out over the city of Pardida Angeles in the distance. She had not noticed until then that the mansion was on a high cliff overlooking the city in the neighboring valley. Nor did she know that the city was called Los Angeles before the war but she did not care. The buildings looked inviting from a distance rather than foreboding and she longed to get out and explore this world that, to her, had been lost to time.

She nodded, knotting her jaws in decision. “Failure is not an option; we must succeed.”

Later, in a large room Jon called a dining room, the team met him at a long table for a meal and conversation. Both Sarah and Felicia were fighting not to drool over the food placed in front of them. Jon gave a bemused smile and motioned them to begin eating; the entire team complied and ate hungrily. No one raised an eye to them rarely using the utensils while Jon patiently enjoyed his own meal.

A hint of a smile came across Butch’s face. “I had forgotten what real food tastes like.”

Jon nodded. “It is sad to see how far humanity had fallen after so many advancements and discoveries. However, this is not the first time this had happened and it will not be the last.”

Viva seemed confused. “What do you mean? Has humanity risen and fallen before now?”

Jon smiled only there was an air of sadness in it. “Empires rise and fall as assuredly as the tides; the oil and pharmaceutical empires are no exception. Technology and discoveries come and go in the same manner. Archaeologists find devices that should not have worked in the era they were created and mega structures that should have been impossible to create with the tools used during that era.”

Jason grunted. “Only you were there so you know better.”

Jon again nodded. “I was there; they had technology that would make what we had in the year 2050 make us look like cavemen.”

Felicia tilted her head, curious. “What happened to it all, then? Did they take it all with them when they left?”

Jon smiled. “That technology is buried about three miles under the sand after a major cataclysm turned the rich tropical region into an ocean and then a desert.”

Viva’s jaw dropped, shocked. “What…?!”

Jon chuckled. “A rogue planet passed close to the moon, pulling on it just enough to cause it to pull on the Earth, moving it two degrees off its axis. You can imagine the earthquakes, tidal waves and volcanic activity that followed.”

Butch cleared his throat. “To the point, have you looked over our plan to avoid humanity’s extinction?”

Jon was silent for a moment as if annoyed the subject had been changed. Then, his usual mad smile returned. “I have but I must ask, why teenagers and why specifically females?”

Jason sighed. “First, adults are set in their ways and are primarily only interested in their own tiny little world of family and friends. Very few ever think of the big picture.”

Butch nodded grimly. “Second, the adults would not survive the DNA enhancements required for our plan. We need a generation of humans who are stronger, faster, more intelligent and immune to most illnesses including a few that have not yet surfaced.”

Viva smiled slightly. “When the girls are ready, they will give birth to that generation and, if we are able to reach them, teach their children to treat the Earth with more care.”

Jon shook his head. “The world is highly paranoid in this era. You will need to tread carefully and choose your recruits wisely if you want your plan to work.”

Butch sighed. “We will need to infiltrate this society where teenagers frequently gather so to pick our recruits.”

Jon nodded. “I can get you into a high school as substitute teachers and watch over your progress but afar from that, it is your plan. You must carry it on as you see fit.”

Sarah shuddered. “You talk as if you really don’t care.”

Jon sighed, face turning serious. “A large percentage of this city’s population died with the first nuclear strike along with a hundred of my adopted children. Through my centuries of life here on Earth, I have seen countless numbers of people die in all sorts of ways; I have learned to keep my emotions close to the chest.”