ADVENTURES THROUGH TIME (2025 Edition) by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 5 – FIRST MISSION IN TIME

 

13:44 (North America Central Time)

Tuesday, December 15, 3384 ‘A’

Headquarters of the Time Patrol, New Lake City University campus Great Lakes region, North America, Global Council

 

Nancy entered Farah Tolkonen’s office after buzzing and getting permission to enter, finding Farah sitting with three other persons of the Global Council around a low coffee table. Nancy actually knew one of them well: Doctor Jan Bella was the chief historian of the Time Patrol and had known her since her first days in the 34th century. The academician greeted her with a firm handshake and a smile.

“Nancy, it is nice to have you back. May I present you Nes Ronash and Virna Inmaez, from the Science Council?”

“Pleased to meet you.” said Nancy while shaking the hands of the two Science Council members.

“The pleasure is ours, Miss.” replied Ronash, a thin giant with wrinkles on his face and hands. He must have been well past 200 years old, which was close to the end of the normal life expectancy for a citizen of the Global Council. Everybody then sat around the low coffee table, with Ronash speaking again.

“Me and Virna are sorry to disturb you like this, but the Global Science Administrator, Daran Mien, is under increasing pressure to show a practical return for the heavy investments put into the Time Patrol. This organization has been formed over three months ago and has already cost millions of solars, with millions more to be spent on it in the next few weeks and months. Administrator Mien understands that it takes time to train personnel properly, but the Time Patrol does have a few qualified members who could be put to good use right away.’’

Hiding her irritation, Nancy looked at Farah.

‘’Farah, you did inform your visitors about the actual status of our organization, did you?’’

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‘’Yes, I did. They know that our network of space-time surveillance satellites is still only partially functional and that we will get our second patrol ship and our research ship only in two weeks. I also told them that you are our sole agent equipped with special implants and that the formal training of our first batch of agents started only two months ago, while the second batch started two weeks ago.’’

‘’And you still expect us to send barely trained agents on missions in the past?’’ Asked Nancy on a bitter tone while looking at Ronash and Inmaez. ‘’Do you have even the faintest idea of the kind of dangers a mission in the past entails?’’ Virna Inmaez, a mature woman much younger than Ronash, answered her in a reassuring tone.

‘’I am sure that a woman with your qualifications and experience could conduct without problems the missions proposed by Administrator Mien and by the History Council. The Council does not expect either that these missions, deemed to entail minimal risks, be conducted immediately. A delay of a few weeks before the first mission would be perfectly acceptable.’’

‘’A few weeks…’’ said Nancy while staring at Inmaez. ‘’What loss rate among my agents is Administrator Mien ready to accept? And on what basis your experts from the History Council calculated the risks of missions in the past as ‘minimal’?’’

‘’But,’’ protested weakly Inmaez, ‘’I assure you that our historians took in consideration all the pertinent risk factors.’’

‘’Coming from people who never had to face life or death situations, this reassures me greatly, miss.’’ replied Nancy on a sarcastic tone. ‘’I come from the past and remember 92 previous lives spread over 9,000 years. One badly chosen word, one misinterpreted gesture and a temporal field agent could be attacked, arrested or even killed with no warning. Simply visiting the past clandestinely is dangerous. To live there is even more so. No! I will not send any of my agents on missions in the past until they are fully trained and equipped, and I intend to be the one to decide when they are ready.’’

Inmaez and Ronash exchanged hesitant looks, surprised by Nancy’s opposition. Inmaez finally took out of her briefcase a number of thin printed documents and distributed them to Nancy, Farah and Jan Bella.

‘’In that case, would you be ready to conduct yourself at least one mission right away? The History Council has recently provided to Administrator Mien a list of

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historical research projects that they wish to see accomplished, classified by order of priority. Here are copies of that list.”

Nancy, Farah and Jan took each a copy of the said list and started reading through it.

“But…there are 187 projects on that list.” said Farah, not a little shocked. “It will take us forever to conduct all these projects, even with all of our present members.”

“Administrator Mien does not expect you to do more than a few of the top priority projects this coming year, Doctor Tolkonen.” said Ronash in an accommodating tone. Virna Inmaez spoke after him.

“Actually, there was one project that is in the top ten priorities of the History Council and for which Miss Laplante was deemed eminently qualified. That project is the third from the top on the list.”

Nancy looked for a few seconds at the list before looking up at Virna with shock in her eyes.

“You want me to investigate the life and death of Jesus Christ?”

“That is correct, miss. We understand that, through the memories of your past incarnations, you know that time period and geographical area well, and that you even speak fluently the local language. Jesus Christ was in many ways a crucial player in the history of mankind, yet what we know of him is limited to hearsays and historical documents of dubious accuracy written decades after his death.” Nancy was thoughtful for a moment, watched by the others.

“Miss Inmaez, it is true that I am knowledgeable about the Palestine of the first century of the Common Era and that I speak Aramaic. That is because I was then a woman named Magdala who lived in Jericho, near Jerusalem. There are however a few factors that would complicate such a mission for me.”

“Such as?” Asked Inmaez.

“Such as the fact that I am a 183-centimeter-tall Caucasian woman. For the people of early Palestine, I am a near giant, apart from obviously being a foreigner. Worse of, I would be a woman traveling alone.”

“So?” replied Inmaez, not seeing Nancy’s point.

“So? Miss, know that, in the Antiquity, women generally were not allowed to travel by themselves. They were expected to travel only when accompanied by their husband or by an adult male member of their family. Women traveling alone were quickly tagged as prostitutes or runaway girls, which was basically the same for the

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people of the time. I could probably think of a plausible cover identity, but it would probably wear thin after a while.”

“Why not have one of your male agents accompany you then?”

“Miss, none of my agents, male or otherwise, are qualified yet. As for sending them untrained on such a dangerous mission, I flatly refuse to do so.”

“A dangerous mission? But we are talking about simply documenting the birth, life and death of a single man. Your equipment would make you nearly invulnerable anyway.”

Nancy sighed audibly, more than a little annoyed by Inmaez’ glaring ignorance.

“Miss, if I am to conduct a mission in the past, then I intend to make it in a way that will not endanger the integrity of history. Do not forget that the primary mission of the Time Patrol is to preserve and protect history. I am not going to perform what will be construed then as miracles or acts of sorcery in order to survive that mission. Believe me when I say that just visiting that time period is dangerous enough. Living through it is even worst. Life then had little value, especially in the eyes of those who held local power, like the Romans and the local kings. Add to that the numerous thugs and bandits and the wild beasts and it made for a very dangerous environment. My special powers will probably be the only thing that will keep me safe there, if I use them discreetly.”

“When could you depart on such a mission, miss?” asked eagerly Nes Ronash.

“It will depend on a few things.”

Nancy then turned to face Farah Tolkonen.

“Farah, how advanced is our Project EQUUS?”

“The prototype was completed last week and is being programmed right now. You will be able to test it in a few days.”

“Project EQUUS?” said Inmaez, confused. Farah smiled to her.

“Yes! I initiated it on Nancy’s request. It is a project to build a robotic horse that, under mundane appearances, would also be a flying vehicle and a time machine for one person. I personally think it to be a brilliant idea. A horse will not attract attention in most historical time periods and is a big enough animal shape to house quite a few hidden systems and equipment.”

“Ingenious indeed.” said Nes Ronash. “Are you an experienced rider, Miss Laplante?”

That made Nancy laugh for a few seconds.

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“You could say that I have been riding horses since my tender youth as a barbarian nomad 5,000 years ago, Mister Ronash. Believe me, I can ride with the best of them.”

Farah, who had been studying the list of projects, pointed at the second and fifth projects from the top.

“If I may, now that the Jesus Christ project is decided on, I think that those two projects could be done fairly quickly, since they do not require agents on the ground. Once commissioned, our research ship and an onboard team of scientists could fulfill these missions with little risks.”

Nancy looked at the list and nodded in agreement.

“Hmm… Investigate the cause of the mass extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago… Observe the first hominids in the wild. All this could effectively be done adequately through the use of remotely controlled probes, especially where the hominids are concerned: the danger of historical contamination from direct contact with field agents is too great to act otherwise. Agreed!”

“Excellent!” said Ronash. “So, we can count on you being able to start that documentary mission on Jesus Christ soon?”

“If the robotic horse turns out to be good enough to fool people accustomed to horses, then I will be departing in about two weeks. I will however have to use hidden time during my mission, so that I could continue training my apprentice agents without interruptions.’’

‘’Hidden time?’’ asked Inmaez, confused.

‘’We call ‘hidden time’ the time spent in the future or the past by someone who returns from his or her mission only a few minutes after his time of departure. Technically, I could leave this place tomorrow morning, spend ten years in the 1st Century and then return here five minutes after my departure. These ten years would then constitute hidden time. I have in fact just used myself twelve months of hidden time, spent living my official life in the 21st Century, where I served an eleven month-tour of duty in Afghanistan. However, our agents could burn themselves out quickly if they use too much hidden time and would then be forced to retire after only a few years of apparent service…that is if they survive all those years of duty in the past. I already can see the bureaucratic battles to have that supplementary time approved and added to our pay.’’

Farah threw her a falsely irritated look.

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‘’Do I look that miserly, Nancy?’’

‘’I don’t know! Aren’t you a government bureaucrat now?’’ replied Nancy, smiling to her before looking back at Inmaez.

‘’Returning on the subject of the mission in Palestine, I will need a support team at first, embarked on our about-to-be-delivered research ship, the BABYLON, in order to pinpoint accurately the date of birth of Yeshua before I start my own trek.”

“Yeshua?” said Inmaez.

“Yes! That is the actual name of Jesus, as it was used in Palestine. On board the BABYLON, I will also need a team of probe operators to help better cover various locations. Since we don’t have accurate dates to go by and don’t know what Yeshua and his parents looked like, we will first have to spy on the inhabitants of the villages of Bethlehem and Nazareth to identify who were actually Yosef and Miriam. Once that is done, we will be able to find when Yeshua was conceived, which will be the starting point for my own mission. Thinking of it, that first phase of our mission could be of tremendous interest to historians and students of history alike: from the BABYLON, they could study firsthand the daily lives of the Galileans of the First Century. If that doesn’t create good publicity for the Time Patrol, I don’t know what will.”

“That’s an excellent idea, Nancy.” replied enthusiastically Jan Bella. “Imagine the boost to motivation this will be for the students of the history department at the New Lake City University. You should have a flood of volunteers for that mission to Palestine.”

“Wouldn’t that put those students at risk?” objected Virna Inmaez, appearing concerned. Farah shook her head and answered her.

“Short of a catastrophic equipment failure on the BABYLON, that mission will be no riskier than traveling on a regular passenger ship. We can have our scoutship WALKUREN escort the BABYLON as an extra precaution, though.”

“That sounds fine to me.’’ said Nes Ronash, who then got up from his chair, imitated by Virna Inmaez. ‘’Well, you will certainly have more than enough to be quite busy for the coming weeks and months, Doctor Tolkonen. We thank you for your cooperation. If you need anything from the Science Council to help you in your missions, don’t hesitate to ask.’’

‘’I will certainly keep your offer in mind, Mister Ronash.’’ replied Farah, shaking hands with her two visitors. Ronash and Inmaez then left her office with Jan Bella,

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leaving her alone with Nancy. Sitting back and inviting Nancy to do the same, Farah examined the latter for a moment.

‘’So, how was your time in the 21st Century, Nancy?’’

‘’Quite hectic, I must say. I spent eleven months in Afghanistan, helping to train female Afghan policewomen as their country prepares to assume its own security against the vicious attacks of the Taliban, a movement of fanatical religious extremists bent on imposing their ignorant, hateful and misogynistic rules on the Afghan people. Those months were full of violence and hardship and I had to kill many times in combat. In the process, I earned the Afghan Order of Military Gallantry and the Canadian Star of Military Valor…plus a Taliban religious edict calling for all Muslims to kill me on sight.’’ Farah’s mouth opened as she eyed Nancy with concern.

‘’By the stars, do you ever do anything safe, Nancy? How dangerous is that edict for you?’’

‘’Dangerous enough to make it unadvisable for me to do any reporting as an unarmed civilian inside Afghanistan, Pakistan and possibly Yemen and Somalia. Also, while I was on tour in Afghanistan, a major international crisis erupted when Israel attacked Iran, trying to destroy its nuclear facilities. The crisis was still ongoing when I left the year 2013. On the other hand, I made some good friends during my tour, including a young Italian female police officer and an Afghan female police officer. You would have liked them.’’

‘’I am sure of that.’’ said Farah, smiling. ‘’You always had good tastes in terms of choosing your friends. What else did you do during your time in 2013?’’ Nancy made a face before answering that.

‘’Well, I lost my job as a civilian war correspondent while I was on tour in Afghanistan. The magazine I was working for folded up, going under thanks to the competition from other, bigger publishing houses and media networks. Finding a new civilian job will be my first concern when I will return to 2013 after my present stint here.’’

‘’Oh! I am truly sorry to hear that, Nancy. Are you considering to join the Canadian Army full time to sustain yourself there?’’

‘’No!’’ answered at once Nancy, surprising Farah. ‘’While I cherish my time spent serving as a Canadian military officer, I am at a point in my career where I will probably be promoted soon to the rank of major, which would mostly glue me to a desk from then on. There is also the way my Canadian superiors let me down by not forcefully opposing a stupid decision made about my tour of duty in Afghanistan by American commanders

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of the NATO force there. I had accepted to take leave of my civilian job for eleven months, much longer than a regular six-month tour, for the tacit purpose of filling a specific training position left empty by a battle casualty. Yet, an American senior officer sent me instead to a secondary trainer position, pretexting that a woman was inappropriate to fill the role I had signed for. When I protested this on my return to Canada, I was simply ignored by the paper-pushers in Ottawa. As a result, I am seriously considering resigning my commission and leaving the Canadian Forces on my return to 2013 ‘A’. Since I just completed a long overseas tour, I cannot realistically expect to be called on another overseas tour for at least another year. With the closure of the Canadian mission in Afghanistan in 2014, there will be very few overseas theatres of operations left of interest to me.’’

‘’I see. I can only wish you luck in your future search for a job in Canada.’’

‘’Thanks, Farah.’’

Nancy was then silent for a moment before speaking again.

‘’Farah, I had much time to think things over during my tour in Afghanistan. I now believe that we made a big mistake when we built our base here, in New Lake City and in this year.’’

Farah stiffened at once; her eyes fixed on Nancy.

‘’What do you mean?’’

‘’What I mean is that, by basing ourselves here and now, we made ourselves highly vulnerable to any attempt by someone to change or modify history in some past centuries. If such an attempt succeeds and erases the Global Council as we know it, then we will be erased at the same time, without having the chance to find about that attempt and to stop it.’’

Farah’s jaws tightened as she saw the correctness of Nancy’s logic.

‘’By the stars, you are too right, Nancy! So, we should move our base to the past, to make us less vulnerable to historical alterations?’’

‘’Make it the distant past, Farah.’’ said gravely Nancy. ‘’There is no way for us to guess in advance at what point someone would try to modify history to fit whatever twisted purpose he or she has. I would say that we should be based at least a few millenniums in the past, and that our operational base be able to move around in space and time, if need be, to counter any threat.’’

‘’I agree with you on that, but this will entail new, sizeable expenditures by the Global Council to build such a mobile base. I will have to have a serious talk with Grand

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Administrator Kern, but I can see already quite a fight with the High Council to approve those extra funds.’’

‘’Tough! If they can’t see the logic and the necessity of such a move, then they deserve a serious kick in the backside. This is an essential operational requirement, not some frivolous demand for extra candies.’’

‘’Again, I agree. I will call Grand Administrator Kern right away after our meeting and will start thinking about the design of that mobile base. It could in fact be a much-enlarged version of the mobile mission control tower we already had in our book of projects.’’

‘’Make sure that it is able to shelter, maintain and repair our scoutships then, apart from being able to house our whole organization. It should be able as well to connect with our surveillance satellites network.’’

‘’True! However, our present surveillance center here will have to do for the moment. I suspect that the High Council will demand that we at least keep that here, in order to keep some control on us.’’

‘’You may be right about that, even though that would constitute a wasteful duplication of efforts. Well, I better leave you alone then. In the meantime, I will go see how our engineers are doing with Project EQUUS. I will also need to modify the training schedule for the next few weeks. Good luck with your talks with Kern and the High Council.”

‘’Thanks! I will need it.’’ said Farah, sighing.

08:01 (North America Central Time)

Wednesday, December 16, 3384 ‘A’

Main classroom, Time Patrol headquarters

New Lake City University campus

Nancy, standing behind a lectern and facing 58 apprentice members of the Time Patrol, unceremoniously banged on the lectern with the butt of her Glock 17L pistol to catch their attention. The apprentices, all ancestors except for four persons, quickly fell silent and looked at her with intense curiosity.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. In early December, you were given a print of our training schedule covering two months. However, following a long and fine tradition in military history, we will have to exercise that most practiced quality: flexibility!

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You can now take your schedules and rip them, because everything changed as of last night.”

The 54 ancestors took that in stride and quickly ripped their schedules in two, followed more hesitantly by the four giants in the classroom. Nancy then switched on a projector and the picture of a new schedule appeared on a giant screen by her side.

“This is the new schedule we will go by, for the moment. Don’t bother noting it down, as I will pass printed copies later on. The pilots and aircrews in your lot will probably like it, as we will concentrate on developing quickly your skills on how to fly and operate a scoutship in combat conditions.”

“What’s the rush, Nancy?” asked Jeanne Leclerc, a French geomatics expert from the year 2052 ‘A’ who had been saved with six other astronauts stranded in orbit in a doomed space station. “What caused these sudden changes?”

“What caused this is that the Time Patrol is being pushed into its first historical research mission faster than we expected…or preferred. In about two weeks, I will leave on a long mission to the past. I will be alone, except on the first phase of the mission, when both the BABYLON and the WALKUREN will be used as support ships to pin down the exact date and location where my trek will begin. That first phase will require more qualified aircrews than what we have now, including gunners qualified and ready to operate the armament of our scoutship. For those of you who are afraid of not seeing my bum or chest for a few months, I will use hidden lifetime on that mission. The concept of hidden lifetime has already been explained to you by Farah Tolkonen, who will cover with you tomorrow the general theory of time travel. She will also explain the concept of parallel timelines, of which you are living examples. I know that this business of timeline ‘A’ versus timeline ‘B’ has confused a lot of people.”

“I don’t see why it is so difficult to understand.” Said smugly Jack Crawford, a big, athletic U.S. Navy S.E.A.L. commando from the year 2021 ‘A’. “We are the A-Team and these losers are the B-Team.”

Young Ingrid Weiss, from 1941 ‘B’, gave him the royal finger amidst an exchange of boos and catcalls, making Nancy grin in amusement.

“I am sure that this point will be hotly debated during the next practice session in unarmed combat tomorrow. Just remember that we are all part of the same

organization.”

One hand then got up.

“Yes, Susanna?”

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Susanna Berghof, a 23-year-old blonde who was a living proof that not all blondes were dumb, cleared her throat and spoke loudly enough for all to hear her.

“What is the nature of the mission you are going on, Nancy?”

“Simply put, I am to document the birth, life and death of Jesus Christ.” answered calmly Nancy, bringing sudden and utter silence to the classroom. “Before anybody asks, no, you can’t come with me. I am the only one fully trained and equipped for such a mission.”

“But a woman traveling alone would be out of place there and then.” objected Samuel Goldman, an American Jew who had enlisted in the Royal Air Force in 1939. “You will need a hell of a good cover story to explain yourself there.” Nancy gave him a wide smile then.

“Don’t worry about that, Samuel. You may be surprised, actually. Now, about your training…”

12:06 (North America Central Time)

Main cafeteria, Time Patrol residential tower

“May I sit at your table, Nancy?” asked timidly Samuel Goldman while standing beside the table occupied by Nancy, Ingrid and Mike.

“Please, have a seat, Samuel.”

The brown-skinned young man put his tray of food opposite that of Ingrid and sat quickly, smiling briefly to the German girl before looking at Nancy, who was eating slowly.

“Nancy, I know that I can’t accompany you in Palestine, but I would like to ask a small favor from you. I suppose that you will take pictures and films while on your mission, right?”

“Of course! We are planning to put together a documentary from the video recordings I will take during my mission. Is there something that specifically interests you in Palestine?”

Samuel nodded his head quickly, hope on his face.

“The temple of Jerusalem, are you planning to visit it?”

“How could I not visit it, Samuel? My mission would anyway lead me to it. Talking of the temple, how well do you know its history?”

“Quite well, Nancy. I may not be a very observant Jew but I always was fascinated by the history of Israel. There were actually three temples built one after the

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other in Jerusalem. The first one was built by King Solomon in the tenth century B.C.E. and was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C.E. The temple was rebuilt between 520 and 445 B.C.E. Then, the third temple was built by King Herod the Great in the last half of the first century B.C.E. That temple, the last one to stand in Jerusalem, was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E.”

“Very good, Samuel. I have a trick question for you: when did the Ark of the Covenant disappear from the temple?”

Samuel concentrated for a moment before answering hesitantly.

“Wasn’t it taken by the Babylonians when they destroyed the first temple in 587 B.C.E.?”

“Not quite! According to the latest archeological data in 2012, the Ark of the Covenant, which was said to contain the tablets received by Moses from God, disappeared from the temple around 926 B.C.E., when an Egyptian expedition looted Jerusalem after the death of King Solomon. The Holy of Holies stood empty from that date.”

“This is very interesting, Nancy, but is there a point to all this?”

“A big point, actually. I may be a Canadian now, but I was a Hebrew twice in my past lives and the fate of the Ark of the Covenant is of personal interest to me. That artifact is too important historically to be let in the hands of looters who will pick it to pieces for the gold in it. I have a plan about the Ark and I want you to be part of it.” Samuel, now fascinated, bent forward.

“You can count on me, Nancy. What can I do to help?”

Nancy spoke for a good four minutes, at the end of which Samuel was nearly jumping in his chair from anticipation, a big grin on his face.

“God! I can’t wait! I will do my best, Nancy.”

“I am sure of that, Samuel. Now, you better eat your food before it gets cold.”

09:27 (North America Central Time)

Wednesday, December 30, 3384 ‘A’

Main hangar, Time Patrol complex, New Lake City University campus

Lori Kano, star reporter for Global News Network, had her cameraman do a panoramic sweep of the inside of the hangar, where a good hundred people were milling around the time research ship BABYLON and the scoutship WALKÜREN. Lori herself

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was supposed to travel aboard the BABYLON for that first official documentary mission in the past by the Time Patrol. She could hardly contain her excitement at the idea of traveling to the distant past, all in comfort and safety, of course. About forty excited students from the history department of the New Lake City University were going to travel as well with her and her cameraman. They were now waiting for one last person to arrive before they could depart. That person was however the key to the whole mission.

One of the two side doors used by support vehicles and robots to enter and exit the hangar started opening, prompting Lori’s cameraman into pointing his lens in that direction. Lori herself switched on her microphone and head-mounted miniature camera and waited with anticipation. The details on how the mission was going to be conducted by Nancy Laplante once she set foot on the ground in the past had been kept secret from all but a few members of the Time Patrol. Lori and most of the other persons present were thus surprised to see Nancy Laplante enter the hangar on top of a brown horse. Horse riding was a sport which had been extinct in the Global Council until very recently, when a herd of horses had been reintroduced from the past by the Time Patrol, but Lori knew a few notions about it. She was thus confused when she detailed Nancy’s equipment as the Canadian rode towards them. The main thing was the absence of stirrups, something Lori thought essential for riding. Nancy seemed however to be able to control her horse easily enough. Dressed in a loose-fitting, colorful combination of trousers and long-sleeved shirt, she also wore red leather boots and a long blue cloak. As befitted a woman with her reputation, she carried a number of antique weapons, including a sword, a bow, a lance, a dagger and an ax. Her fierce appearance was enhanced by a fur-lined sort of hat on her head and by a sort of leather headband incrusted with a few polished stones and worn around her forehead. A pair of saddlebags and a bedroll were attached to the back of her saddle, along with a large leather bag that contained a number of unidentified objects. Everybody watched her dismount near the research ship and take her horse by its bridle, leading it towards the rear cargo ramp. Signaling her cameraman to follow her, Lori quickly made her way through the crowd towards the Canadian, finally meeting her near the foot of the ramp.

“Miss Laplante, is this what the women of first century Palestine wear normally? This is a quite fierce-looking outfit.”

That made Nancy laugh hard for a few seconds.

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“Hardly, Miss Kano. In fact, a Jewish woman dressing like this would quickly be stoned by passersby. I am actually dressed like an ancient Sarmatian female warrior. Sarmatians were a fierce nomadic people who lived west of the Caspian Sea, in the steppes and forests of Central Asia, and who frequently raided the surrounding territories. Some of them were used as mercenaries by various states and cities around the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea.”

“And they let their women go to war?” asked Amelia Earhart, sounding dubious. The American aviator, dressed like the other members of the Time Patrol in a two-piece, dark gray utility uniform, had approached Nancy and was detailing her equipment with curiosity. Her question made Nancy smile.

“Actually, the Sarmatians were one of the very few societies of the past which treated its women equally when it came to military matters. The skeletons of many young Sarmatian girls and women were actually found in my time, with bowed legs denoting a life spent on horseback and with weapons surrounding them in their tombs. A Greek legend stated that Sarmatian girls could not marry before their first kill in combat. The history of the fabled Amazons was in fact based on that of Sarmatian and Scythian women.”

“That is quite an interesting identity cover, Miss Laplante.” said Lori Kano. “Do you know much about the Sarmatians? What if you meet someone who knows Sarmatians well?”

Nancy calmly looked at Lori, her intense green eyes piercing the reporter.

“Miss Kano, I was a Sarmatian nomad once, 5,000 years ago. I was also once a Thracian woman, like what my mother is supposed to be according to my cover story. As for meeting people who knew about Sarmatians, that is actually a distinct possibility in Palestine: Roman soldiers, along with Persians and Greeks, knew and feared the Sarmatians.”

“So, I am married to an Amazon.” said jokingly Mike Crawford, who had also approached Nancy and had passed an arm around her waist. She kissed him in return.

“And I married a French musketeer.”

Lori Kano stared at the couple, unsure about the meaning of Nancy’s declaration. A fantastic thought then crossed her mind.

“Wait! Do you mean that your husband is also remembering his past lives?” Nancy slowly nodded her head, her expression serious now.

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“He is, with my help. I have been stimulating his hidden memories and those of my other apprentice agents for weeks now, while my stepdaughter, Ingrid Weiss, accessed her own memories of past incarnations at the same time as me, in 1941 ‘B’. It is a slow process but, once started, their memories stay. They now all have the experience and skills of persons who have lived thousands of years. All of our agents, including the youngest women, know how to fight and use ancient weapons, ride a horse, live in the wild and can speak dozens of languages. Their ancient souvenirs have also greatly attenuated any nationalistic or political loyalties they may have had in their actual lives. They are now citizens of Humanity and not simply German, American, French or Russian. They serve the Global Council and are ready to die to defend it.”

“And what about special powers?” asked Lori, her mind now boiling from the possible implications of this.

“None so far. What I do is not the same at all than what happened to me back in 1941 ‘B’. Rather, I sort of hypnotize them to revive their hidden memories. Well, enough said. Let’s board our ships and start this mission.” A few shouted orders from Nancy got everybody moving, with Lori, her cameraman and Nancy going into the research ship with the university students, while a dozen Time Patrol members, some fully armed and armored, got into the scoutship. Once the access ramps of both ships were closed, the main doors of the hangar opened, letting the time ships roll out in the open. Once well clear from the hangar, they lifted silently from the ground and, in close formation, climbed through the low clouds covering New Lake City and the surrounding Great Lakes.

Inside the research ship BABYLON, which measured a good 85 meters in length and was much more voluminous than the escorting scoutship, Lori Kano and her cameraman made their way to the bridge, situated forward from the upper-level passenger deck. Opening the armored access door to the bridge sphere and entering it, she was about to start an interview with the crew when she froze in surprise: one of the two crewmembers at the controls was an Ancestor woman, while three of the five other bridge crewmembers were also ancestors. The ancestor, a dark-skinned one with neck-length black hair, smiled to Lori.

“May I help you, miss?”

“Uh, I was hoping to interview the pilots, miss.”

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“You certainly came to the right place, miss. I’m Sandra Billings and my partner is Jens Tarl. We will jump to the past shortly.”

“Excuse my question, miss, but I thought that you and the other apprentices of the Time Patrol had been training for only three weeks. Yet, you are at the controls of this ship.”

“Actually, Miss Kano, while I don’t pretend to understand yet much of the technology of this ship, flying it is quite simple. My old F-22 fighter aircraft was much trickier to fly than this baby.”

Still having a hard time to believe this, Lori looked at the copilot, a young man of the Global Council with the insignias of a first-class pilot.

“And how would you rate Miss Billings’ performance as a pilot, Mister Tarl?”

“I would rate her as a top-notch pilot, as long as I didn’t ask her to run a diagnostic of the ship’s systems. The only problem she and other ancestor pilots had at first was to adapt to our flight control systems, since they flew aircraft based on aerodynamic laws instead of the gravity drives of our ships.” Lori instinctively looked to her left, where the scoutship WALKÜREN was visible on the panoramic view screen, flying alongside the BABYLON and with less than 200 meters separating the two ships.

“Who is flying that scoutship, Mister Tarl?”

“Presently, it is apprentice Carmen Sanchez, an ex-U.S. Navy fighter pilot, with my comrade Virna Landross acting as copilot. No need to worry, Miss Kano: all the apprentice pilots of the Time Patrol passed with flying colors the standard ship pilot test in the flight simulator center at the New Lake City astroport.”

“Uh, if you say so, mister. Thank you for your time.”

Lori left the cockpit, then exchanged a befuddled look with her cameraman.

“Hell, Daran, those ancestors keep surprising me every day.” As they made their way towards the surveillance center, a flash of white light briefly blinded them. An announcement then came out of hidden loudspeakers.

“Attention all hands! We have just jumped to November 10 of Year One of the Common Era, or the seventh day of the month of Kislev of the year 3,762 of the Hebrew calendar if you prefer. We are now overflying Galilee under multi-spectral cloak at an altitude of 10,000 meters. Our sensors operators will now send miniature

reconnaissance probes towards the villages of Nazareth and Bethlehem, in Galilee, to find and identify the parents of Yeshua of Nazareth, Yosef and Miriam. Once they are

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identified, we will then determine if Yeshua is already born or not. The moment of the birth of Yeshua will mark the start of the ground phase of this mission.”

“Already? Let’s go down to the surveillance center, Daran.”

Rushing down the spiral staircase leading down to the operations level, Lori and Daran then stepped aft into the surveillance center, a large compartment with walls covered by viewing screens. Eight sensors operators, all Ancestor women, were already at work, sitting at a row of workstations and supervised by Farah Tolkonen and Nancy Laplante. The university students and their teachers were sitting in the rows of stations meant for observers and guest researchers and watching excitedly the panorama of Galilee through the giant viewing screens or the smaller screens of their observation stations. Lori went to Farah Tolkonen, who smiled to her.

“Hi, Lori! How do you like your first trip in time so far?”

“I have to say that it isn’t too different from flying on a regular airliner up to now.”

“That is because you haven’t set foot on the ground, miss.” cut in Nancy Laplante, who then spoke to the operators. “Remember, girls, we are looking for a young girl of about twelve or thirteen named Miriam, who is the sole daughter of Yoackim and Anna. Her village is named Nazareth. The other person we are looking for is a mature man named Yosef who is a widower with two sons, Yaaqov and Josua, living in the village of Bethlehem, about eleven kilometers West-Northwest from Nazareth.’’ Nancy then looked again at Lori.

‘’All the recordings from this mission will be made available to GNN once we are back in New Lake City, Miss Kano. We were thinking of using the imagery expertise of GNN to help us produce a high-quality documentary about this mission. GNN would of course obtain co-production and distribution rights for this documentary and others to come.”

‘’But that would be fantastic!’’ exclaimed Lori, enthusiastic. ‘’Such a documentary should be a huge popular success with Global Council audiences. I will certainly help arrange such a co-production, Miss Laplante.’’

Lori then hurried to two empty seats, followed by her cameraman, as Nancy spoke for the benefit of all.

‘’We are going to try to pinpoint the exact date when Yeshua will be born. Up to now, the known historical accounts vary widely about that date, going from 6 B.C.E. to 2 C.E. We have just sent down a number of remotely-controlled miniature probes to the

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villages of Nazareth and Bethlehem, the known places of residence of Miriam and Yosef. Please note that the Bible was misleading about the true place of birth of Yeshua. Instead of being born in the Bethlehem situated to the South of Jerusalem, as the Bible pretended in order to conform to a number of old Jewish legends and prophecies, Yeshua was actually born in Bethlehem of Galilee, which is situated only eleven kilometers from Nazareth. Once we find Miriam and Yosef, we will be able to ascertain if they have met each other yet and married. We will then be able to jump to a date nearer to the birth of Yeshua.”

Some of the screens soon started showing close-up shots of two villages taken by the miniature probes. Sounds were being retransmitted as well, letting Lori and the others follow the activities of the villagers, brown-skinned people with curly dark hair. Lori soon noticed that nobody was working in the rich fields surrounding the villages and wondered aloud about it, getting an answer from Nancy.

“Today is a Saturday, Sabbath, a mandatory day of rest in the Jewish religion. It starts at sunset on each Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday. We chose a Saturday to ensure that Yosef would not be traveling around, thus making it more probable to find him at his home.”

“Oh! I see.”

Lori kept watching the screens for the next half-hour, fascinated by what she was seeing. Life in the villages was even more primitive than she had expected. The inside of the crude stone and mud houses was nearly bare, with no chairs, tables or beds in the vast majority of the houses. Most of the people sat on the dirt floor of their houses or, in the case of the more affluent villagers, on carpets or sheep skins. Kitchenware consisted of a few wood, clay or stone cups and plates, with a measly collection of metallic pots and utensils to do the cooking. Water was drawn from a central village well and the primitive communal latrines drew horrified comments from both Lori and the history students. One of the screens then started concentrating on a young teenage girl living with an old couple in a house which was part of a group of buildings surrounding a central yard in Nazareth. At the time, the girl was sitting by the side of a group of adults engaged in an animated conversation in the central yard, listening quietly and talking occasionally with another teenage girl sitting beside her.

“I think that we found Miriam, people.” announced Nancy, making Lori and the others watch the girl more carefully. Lori had to recognize that the girl was beautiful,

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something a few of the male students present in the cargo bay commented on as well. Fifteen minutes later, a second screen concentrated on a middle-aged bearded man in the village of Bethlehem. Two young boys lived with the man in a modest house, which was about as bare as the house of Miriam in Nazareth. Lori concluded, correctly, that the bearded man was the Yosef they were looking for. Two young crewmembers then started distributing food from service carts to the occupants of the surveillance center, who ate while watching the screens. One hour after lunch was served, Nancy addressed them all on the compartment’s speakers.

“May I have your attention, please? We have now positively identified Miriam of Nazareth and Yosef of Bethlehem and have locked individual probes on them. They are not married yet and may not have met each other still. We will thus jump spacetime forward by a month and download the data from our probes for speedy analysis. We will repeat the process until we pinpoint the time when Miriam and Yosef either marry or date each other.”

One minute after that announcement, another flash of white light blinded Lori and the others briefly. The view on the screens was nearly the same as before, except that the sky was now overcast and a light rain was falling. Miriam was shown working at a primitive loom, while Yosef was repairing the tile roof of a stone house in a place identified as Sepphoris by an icon on the lower left corner of the screen showing him. Lori noticed with interest that armed soldiers were walking or standing around the building on which Yosef was working.

“Farah, who are these soldiers?”

The scientist spoke briefly with Nancy before answering.

“They are Roman soldiers. Sepphoris is one of their garrison towns in Palestine. Apparently, Yosef sometimes worked for them.”

After about five more minutes, Farah spoke again, this time to all the ones present in the surveillance center.

“We have finished analyzing the data downloaded from our probes. Yosef and Miriam met, apparently for the first time, about a week ago in Nazareth, when Yosef came to repair the house of Miriam’s parents. We are now programming our probes so that they will alert us of the moment, or moments, when Yosef and Miriam will be sleeping together. In order to respect their intimacy, we will not show those moments

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and will rely instead on the data from our probes. We will soon do a series of spacetime jumps forward in time to collect periodically data from our probes.”

The BABYLON, still escorted by the WALKÜREN, made three more jumps during the next hour, each spaced by a month of time on the ground, collecting data as they went. By the third jump, it was apparent that something was wrong. According to the probes, Miriam and Yosef had met a number of times by now but had not slept together or even stayed together in isolation from others. Yet, Miriam was displaying the telltale signs of morning sickness. More than a few of the university students were making allusions and jokes about that as Farah and Nancy held a quick meeting with Jan Bella in a corner of the surveillance center. The trio went to a forward compartment after that for about five minutes. Just after their return into the center, the BABYLON jumped space-time again. This time, Nazareth was shown at night. The probe spying on Miriam, who was sleeping near her parents on a carpet laid directly on the dirt floor of their house, suddenly showed a miniature probe flying inside the house through one of the windows. The small probe then slipped under Miriam’s dress, going between her legs. Three minutes later, the probe flew out from under the dress and left the house. Intrigued, Lori went to see Nancy, who was sitting beside Jan Bella and was discussing the mission with him. Nancy gave Lori a welcoming smile as the reporter stopped in front of her.

‘’Yes, Lori?’’

“Uh, I was simply coming to ask what is happening with the young Miriam?” Nancy sighed, trying to find the right words for what she now suspected was happening.

‘’Well, we now seem to have a historical dilemma, Lori. According to Christian lore, Miriam was still physically a virgin after she was impregnated by God. That is in fact the main reason why she was so worshipped in the Christian religion. The problem is that we just confirmed that Miriam is pregnant…and still physically a virgin, which is an apparent impossibility.’’

‘’Then, what could be the explanation for that, in your opinion?’’ Jan Bella answered her in a hesitant tone.

‘’Well, there are two possibilities. Either someone impregnated Miriam by using artificial methods, which would imply advanced medical technology, or…’’

‘’Or?’’

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‘’Or God really impregnated Miriam.’’ answered Jan, his eyes averting Lori. ‘’According to the level of development of her fetus, Miriam should give birth around mid-October of Year 2 of the Common Era.’’

Seriously shaken by this, Lori looked at Nancy, who appeared equally troubled.

‘’But that could mean…’’

‘’That Yeshua could be of divine origin, as the Bible says. We will however review in detail all of our data to date and send more probes before arriving at a more definite verdict on this. Once we will be certain about our information, then I will go with my horse to accomplish the ground phase of our mission.’’