Fantasy The Time War

They both looked at each other.

Someone knocked again.

Murna Feinbaum stood up, straightened her blouse and gathered her dignity and slowly opened the door.

John Calle stood there. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but do you have a quick minute? We need to talk."
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*********​

"Someone is going to record an incriminating video to discredit the World Government Accords?" said Murna Feinbaum. "Why, who would do such a thing?"

"You would, Senator," said Calle.

"I... I would never!"

"That's quite a beautiful necklace you're wearing, Senator," said Calle. "May I see it, please?" Without waiting for a reply, he plucked it off her neck. He stared at it. It looked like a blue stone. "Very pretty. The hidden holorecorder is almost unrecognizable."

"Holorecorder?" said Murna, her eyebrows rising.

"Yes," said Calle. "You looked surprised. Where did you get this necklace from?"

"Why... Jean-Claude gave it to me." She turned to face him, and saw the guilt on his face.

"Well, that's one surprise after another," said Calle. He casually pulled a compression pistol out of his pocket.

"What is that?" said Murna.

"It's a gun, Senator. For shooting people," Calle explained.

"You're going to shoot me?"

"It's tempting," said Calle. "I have no great love for this World Government monster you are about to proudly inflict on the world. But right now I have a job to do." He pointed his pistol at Rousseau. "You, come with me."

"I don't think so," said Rousseau, giving a small smile.

"Maybe I can change your mind," said Calle, raising his compression pistol.

"Or maybe I can change yours," said a new voice behind him.

Calle gave a cold smile without turning around. "Mr. Locke, I presume."

"Mr.... McCallister. You can turn around, but slowly, please, and drop the gun."

Calle complied. He found Locke facing him with a pistol of his own. "That looks rather old fashioned. Is that a gun which shoots metal pellets?"

"It is," said Locke.

"Outdated, isn't it? Kind of like your ideology."

"We don't think so," said Locke, as Rousseau squeezed past Calle, heading for the doorway.

"Locke, Rousseau. You probably thought you were being so clever. Haven't you ever heard of working incognito?"

"We were working incognito, Mister... John Calle," said Locke. "The state of modern education is such that more people know the 29 virtues of race, gender, and sexual orientation than know the names of John Locke or Jean-Jacques Rousseau." He reached down and took Calle's pistol.

"A point well taken," said Calle. "And what now?" He looked at the pistol in Locke's hand. Old fashioned or not, it could kill him with one shot.

"It's time to say goodbye," said Locke.

Goodbye? Did that mean....

Locke raised the gun and aimed it squarely at Calle. "Goodbye, Mr. Calle."

And then he simply turned and left.

Calle turned to Murna Feinbaum, who was speechless. "Congratulations," he said in an unhappy tone. "You're about to get what you always wanted."
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*********​

"So Rousseau was using Feinbaum to record their secret meeting," said Sarah. "How did you figure it out?"

"Partially from the recording itself," said Calle. "We saw all the participants in the recording... but only heard the voice of Senator Feinbaum. That suggested she, somehow, was making the video. If I hadn't been so... distracted, I might have realized it sooner." He looked down at Sarah. "As a Passive Observer, I would have thought you would have noticed that even before I did. Why didn't you?"

Sarah shrugged. "Perhaps I was distracted as well."

Calle took a deep breath. In one way, an enormous weight had been lifted from his shoulders. History was restored. The World Government existed once again.

But in another way, he felt a much more intense weight. Marion was dead, once again. And this time, he had helped kill her.

Sarah saw the pain on his face, but said nothing.
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********​

Marion.

Calle sat in a hard chair by the window, watching it rain. The rain streaks on the window pane matched the ones on his cheeks.

Calle heard his door chime.

He ignored it.

The door chimed again.

A moment later, he heard his door opening and closing. He turned and saw Sarah.

"If I can break into the Pentagon's top computer, your door code shouldn't present as much of a challenge," she said.

Calle turned away.

Sarah found another chair, positioned it right behind his, and wrapped her arms around him, and her head on his shoulders.

It rained some more.
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