A Star Over Houston

by John A. Frochio

 

Two men stood near the launch pad where a moment ago there was no one.  They were dressed in the casual, colorful garb of tourists, each slim and tall, with a full head of curly brown hair.  From certain angles in the afternoon sunlight, they appeared to be identical twins.

"This is it?" said one.

"Yes, this is where it began," said the other.

They gaped in awe at the immensity of the Saturn V rocket and mobile launcher platform as it was rolled out and placed in position on the launch pad.  The crawler-transporter groaned noisily as it rolled away.

"An impressive feat of engineering for this era."

"Yes, remarkable."

They referred to themselves as the Yin and Yang of time travelers.  When a time traveler was commissioned to go back and change the past, another "instance" was generated to prevent the first from changing the past.  They were virtually two versions of the same person, two copies, one an exact copy, the other a mirror image copy.  They were akin to the ancient image of an angel and a devil sitting on someone's shoulder, battling for domination over a person's soul.

However, unlike the angel and devil, they were cordial to one another.

"Do you feel the excitement in the air?" said one.

"Yes, I do," said the other.

"Kennedy Space Center is jumping."

"Rightly so.  A historic moment."

"Ah, the guards are coming.  Best we move on."

When the security guards arrived, they scoured the area but could find no sign of the intruders dressed as tourists who showed up on camera.  They reported their findings to their supervisor who berated them for their incompetence and demanded they locate the trespassers immediately.  Grumbling under their breaths, they continued their fruitless search.

#

Later, now wearing maintenance worker uniforms they had borrowed from unlocked lockers, the time travelers rode the elevator to the top of the scaffolding and entered the capsule.  

They examined every square inch of the capsule.  Neither paid any attention to what the other one was doing.

"There's not a lot of room in this capsule."

"Yes, it's much smaller than I expected."

"Are you satisfied?"

"Yes.  And you as well?"

"I am.  We should leave."

As they exited the elevator at ground level, a smiling middle-aged man in a white suit, black shoes, and bold purple tie met them.  His face was pale, smoothly shaven under thin brown streaks of hair, an ordinary man by anyone's definition.  His smile was broad.

They were startled by the sudden appearance of someone who clearly didn't belong there.  At least they dressed the part for the era.

"So," said the stranger in a pleasant voice, "have you two accomplished what you came to do?"

After a moment of confused hesitation, one said, "You're not from the organization.  Nobody's ever sent to check on us."

The stranger said, "I'm here to make sure true time hasn't been corrupted."

The other said, "What do you mean by 'true time?'  Time is multi-faceted.  Who are you, sir?"

"I'm the Master of Time."

They burst into laughter.  "There's no such thing.  Don't you think we'd have known about you long before now?"

"Maybe we've met on other occasions.  Perhaps you've forgotten."

"I don't think..."

"I call myself Timesong.  I like it better than my official title which sounds so stuffy, don't you think?"

Someone was shouting.

They looked toward the main building complex.  Guards were rapidly approaching.  One shouted, "You there!  Don't move!  You're in a restricted area."

They grabbed the surprised time travelers and led them away from the launch pad.  Strangely, the guards completely ignored the smiling stranger, as though the oddly dressed man belonged there.  Or perhaps he was invisible to them.

Over the next hour, a burly officer grilled the time travelers under hot lighting.  Since neither could come up with a believable explanation as to how and why they were at the launch site, and since neither had ID, they were locked up in a small minimally furnished room until the FBI arrived to take them away.

Alone now, one said, "This is a disturbing turn of events."

The other said, "That stranger distracted us.  We'll certainly be chastised by the organization."

"Why didn't they arrest the crazy guy?"

Timesong opened the door.

They gawked at him.

"Follow me," he said.

He led them out of the room, down the corridor past a half dozen employees, and out of the building past more people including the guards who picked them up.

Astounded, one of the time travelers said, "They can't see us?"

"No."  With no explanation.

They went into a tower that overlooked the rocket and launch pad.  By now the sun was settling toward the horizon.

Timesong said, "Tomorrow the Apollo 13 mission will commence.  It will either succeed or fail.  True time has become confused on this matter, or at least I have.  Something has upset the fabric of time, so I don't know which events are true time.  I don't know which of you has completed your assignment successfully.  One of you was directed to insure a successful mission, the other to insure failure.  But which is true time?  And which of you succeeded in your mission?  That's what I need to find out."

"You don't know?  And you call yourself the Master of Time?"

Timesong ignored the snarky remark.

"Furthermore, the possibilities are endless.  If it fails, how does it fail?  Is there a loss of life or mass destruction or simply an aborted mission?  All I can do is wait and see what happens—and keep an eye on you two.  On the other hand, time has a way of sorting these things out on its own, despite the interferences of well-meaning though incompetent time travelers."

The time travelers cringed at Timesong's insinuations.

One said, "We ourselves don't know which of us succeeded."

The other said, "That's the way it works."

"I'll take you back to where we met.  You'll forget about me and go about your business as though none of this has happened.  However, I'll be watching from a distance.  Also, there will be a star."

"A star?"  Confusion contorted their faces.

"Yes, it will appear as a bright guiding star in the heavens.  One of you will say something like, 'I don't remember that star being there before.'"

"And then what?"

"Then we'll see."

He escorted them to where he first met them at the base of the elevator.  They went up to the capsule.

"There's not a lot of room in this capsule."

"Yes, it's much smaller than I expected."

As they continued their inspection of the capsule, neither spoke.  They sensed something was different.  Something wasn't right.  They moved with less confidence and purpose.

"I remember something about oxygen tanks, something I was supposed to do.  Why is my brain so fuzzy?"

"I remember something about that, too.  What exactly was I supposed to do?  Did I do it already or not?"

"My mission has become muddled in my mind.  Didn't we already come here?"

He closed his eyes and recited.  "Locate service module.  Find number 2 tank.  Use pliers to scrape insulation off stirring fan wires.  A fire will result during the flight from short circuiting wires which will result in an explosion."

"That's your assignment?"

"I think so."

"Then the mission is meant to fail?"

"I don't know."

"Did you do it?"

"I don't remember. Did you undo it?"

"I don't remember either."

The two looked at one another, as though staring into a mirror at someone they no longer recognized.

"We're never supposed to talk about our missions."

"I know.  Let's get out of here."

#

The next day they watched as Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise approached the rocket, wearing their spacesuits and carrying their helmets.  The astronauts entered the elevator and the doors closed.

"What's done is done," said one.  "Now we wait."

"We wait until we're recalled."

"One of us, that is, while the other fades away.  I'll be the one recalled."

"Wait a minute.  I believe I'm the primary copy here."

They laughed.  That old joke.  Of course, they knew both were copies.  The original was safely back in the future.

They began to fade.

"What!  Time to go already?  We don't know what happened."

They faded and reappeared somewhere else.  They examined their surroundings and quickly determined they were at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas.

"Apparently this is where we'll find out what happens."

They stood on a balcony overlooking a grid of control desks and a large wall map.  They were dressed as important officials in business attire with black ties, holding clipboards and pens.  Dressed properly for the time and place, as usual.

They watched for a long while as officials, technicians, and flight controllers busied themselves around the mission operation control room.  Monitors displayed the astronauts within the Apollo 13 spacecraft.

After a while, they noticed someone standing next to them.  A stranger in white suit and bold purple tie turned to them and said, "Allow me to introduce myself..."

After the introductions, one time traveler said, "I find it highly unlikely that a single individual exists who can claim to be the 'Master of Time.'  Forgive me for doubting you."

"Not at all.  It's a common reaction to those I choose to tell."

"Why are you here?"

"I need to insure neither of you broke true time."

After a stunned silence, one said, "We are professional time travelers.  We're sent to the past to fix certain broken events.  We study history and, when we see something wrong or inconsistent, we send copies of ourselves into the past with opposite goals in mind, to either fix or unfix, assuring fairness when we tinker with crucial historical events."

"One tries to undo the event, and the other tries to redo the event?"

"Yes.  Yin and yang."

Timesong frowned.  "I find that very strange and not at all reassuring."

"It's for balance.  Time requires balance, as you should understand since you claim to be the Master of Time.  Only one of us can win out.  So the odds are 50-50 in favor of the event happening or not, which increases the odds of the event happening correctly."

"Balance," said the other.

Timesong shook his head.  "Well, your culture's so-called Balance Theory is pure garbage.  Excuse me for being blunt.  Any time a time traveler—whether a copy or an original or even a projection—enters a different time, time is no longer in balance.  True time has become compromised.  Anything can change and probably will."

"But we can undo and redo."

"Ridiculous!  Your society is obviously filled with too many people with too much time on their hands thinking big thoughts and coming up with brainless theories.  True time dictates that events are hard-wired to happen one way, period.  Any intervention by a time traveler could have serious consequences in the future.

"These games must stop.  I've been watching your society for some time now.  Until now, the tweaks I've made to fix your screw-ups have been minor.  But now it's gone too far.  Even I don't know what's going to happen here, and whether it will be right or wrong.  We can only wait now.  Wait and hope.  And pray." 

The time travelers wondered who a so-called Master of Time might pray to.

#

Over the next two days they watched the mission unfold.  Minor incidents drew their attention and concern but were readily resolved.  They were well on their way to a successful mission, a gratifying follow-up to the Apollo 11 and 12 lunar missions.

Then one night they heard the ominous words, "Houston, we have a problem."

A chill went through them.

Timesong turned to the twins and said, "Yin and Yang, we have a problem."

"Perhaps this is the unfolding of the true events as they were meant to be."

"How will we know for certain?"

The room came alive with frantic activity.  An oxygen tank had exploded.  The flight director ordered the mission aborted.  After that, things became even more hectic as one problem after another was addressed and emergency meetings were hastily organized.

The time travelers and Timesong went outside to await the outcome of the unexpected events.  Away from the epicenter of the crisis and out under a calm night sky full of stars, the time travelers considered all that had happened.

One of the time travelers looked up and said, "I don't remember that bright star being there before.  Perhaps it's our guardian angel."

The other laughed and said, "I think this job's finally getting to you."

It glowed brighter, almost outshining the moon, as a shadowy figure hurried past them and into the building.

Timesong said, "I see now."

"I don't understand," said one time traveler.

"I don't fully understand myself.  I'm only speculating based on what I'm witnessing."

"Shouldn't a Master of Time know these things?"

"I'm merely a facilitator, an overseer.  I can't know everything.  I find that Time itself sometimes takes control of a situation, ready to correct any error that can't be handled readily.

"This is what I believe is happening.  The problem with Apollo 13, which may or may not have been part of true time, was an extremely difficult problem to solve.  It required highly skilled technicians, engineers, and scientists putting their heads together and thinking outside the box.  They had to come up with a solution in an extremely short period of time.

"True time determined they needed a high level of expertise from the future to inspire their solution, a catalyst to motivate all the players to solve an unsurmountable problem.  True time did not sit back and let itself become corrupted.  It stepped in and took matters into its own hands.  That's what's happening inside that building right now.

"However, since I was appointed Master of Time, I've never seen anything like this, an unprecedented intervention.  It could only have been orchestrated by true time itself.

"As for you two, I have no idea what your role was in this scenario."

All was peaceful in that silent night.

The star above burned brightly.

Timesong looked around and saw he was alone.

He said to nobody, "It looks like all is well."

He strolled down the path away from the building.  He often enjoyed a quiet walk of meditation after a successful intervention.

"Record.  I must make plans very soon to visit that society that's abusing their time travel privileges.  I'll certainly have some harsh words for them.  I may even be forced to revoke their privileges.  We shall see.  My secretary, the exuberant and efficient Jellica Jewel Joy, will schedule a visitation at my earliest opportunity."

He gazed up into the clear night sky at all those bright stars and the moon.  Moments spent appreciating nights like this were few and far between for the Master of Time.

"Time, you are a glorious mystery."

The End