“Until what?” asked Forrester.
“Who knows?” said Lucas, with a shrug. “Darkness wouldn’t tell us. A massive timestream split? A chain reaction? Ultimate entropy’?” He sighed. “Frankly. I’m not even sure I want to know.”
“So then Jenny Reilly was the key,” said Forester.
“In a way, she was,” said Lucas, but in another way, it was Scott. If she hadn’t fallen in love with him… but then, that was probably what she’d been programmed to do by Drakov, who kept manipulating her, keeping her off-balance and never letting her know what her real purpose was. He needed her emotions to be in turmoil, so she’d be driven to do what he meant for her to do. After she pulled a gun on Wyatt Earn and rescued Scott. Wyatt had to figure Scott had crossed over the line and had chosen to become an outlaw. When, in our, timeline. Jenny saw Scott moving toward the scene of the gunfight, she was going to call out his name, just as the other Jenny had in the parallel universe. Wyatt would have heard it and, maybe thinking Scott was about to shoot him, he would have turned around just as Doc and Morgan fired and then Billy Clanton would have shot him in the back.”
“And that would have been the third shot,” said Forrester.
“No.” said Lucas. “The third shot would have been Drakov’s. When he shot Finn, to keep him from killing Jenny before she could call out Scott’s name.”
“Why didn’t he just shoot Wyatt Earp?” asked Forrester.
“And lose the chance to kill at least one of us before he ceased to exist?” Delaney said. He shook his head. “He couldn’t pass up that opportunity. He knew Billy Clanton was quick with a gun and a good shot. The only reason Wyatt wasn’t hit was because he shot Billy in the wrist as he was drawing, a second after Morgan shot him in the chest. And after he shot Delaney. Drakov would still have had the time to make sure of Wyatt with his second shot and Scott with his third, in the event the others missed them.”
“Darkness knew about the temporal instability and the surge in temporal inertia that was going to take place right at that point and he wasn’t sure if his unstable subatomic structure would maintain its integrity or not.” said Andre. “He didn’t want to warn us specifically about what was going to happen because he wasn’t sure if that would influence our actions and affect the outcome. It all had to be done at the last minute and he had just one shot at it. Even then, it was a gamble. He didn’t know if he’d survive it. If he’d been caught in the same temporal vortex as me and Lucas, he may have discorporated.”
He also knew that everything depended on my immediate response.” said Delaney, “because he’d essentially have to be in two places at the same time, and even at faster-than-light speed, that’s quite a trick. He knew he had a chance to tell me to shoot the girl, to keep her from distracting Wyatt at the last possible instant, and he knew that if I reacted immediately, he could stop Drakov from firing more than one shpt. But he didn’t know if he could stop him from firing that first shot. He was gambling that on seeing me, Drakov would immediately try to shoot me first, instead of Wyatt. He wasn’t sure if he’d have a chance to save my life by taching to where Drakov was and deflecting his shot at the last possible second. Even traveling at faster-than-light speed, he had to play it close, so that the temporal inertia in both timestreams would be at its strongest surge and then, when the events in both timelines did not match up, the strength of that surge forced them apart, once and for all. Without him, it never would have happened. But thanks to him, the Temporal Crisis is over. Darkness changed the past and saved the future.”
“Only Jenny had to die,” said Scott.
Delaney looked at him with pain written on his features. “I’m sorry, Scott. I had no other choice.”
Neilson nodded. “I understand. And I’m not blaming you. But that still doesn’t make her death any easier to bear. I loved her.”
“Yeah, kid,” said Delaney, softly. “I know.”
“So Drakov had it all planned out in advance,” said Forrester.
“That’s right.” said Lucas. “He knew about it because he had done the one thing no one else had ever done before. Not even the Network, because it was so risky. He clocked ahead to the future. He clocked ahead far enough to study the history of the Temporal Crisis and he found out about what happened in the Tombstone scenario. Then he clocked back there, located the crossover points, established the scenario in each timeline and set out to try and make them match exactly, so that the temporal currents would flow together instead of being forced apart. And, apparently, from the standpoint of the future Darkness came from, he succeeded. Darkness had to come back and try to stop him.”
“Amazing,” Forrester said.
“The one thing Darkness never did explain was how he knew that Drakov would cease to exist if he succeeded.” Andre said. “Apparently, somehow, the result of what he did would affect your life, sir.”
Forrester nodded. “Indeed, it would have,” he said. He got up and went to the secret panel that led into his private sanctum. He opened it, went in, and came out a moment later, carrying a framed photograph in his hand.
“Wyatt Earp had a daughter.” he said.
“That’s impossible.” said Scott. “Wyatt and Josie never had any children.”
“No. not Wyatt and Josie,” Forrester replied. “Wyatt and Nadine McCain. A prostitute he met in Gunnison. Colorado, after he left Arizona. As far as I know, he was only with her once, but he left her pregnant and she gave birth to a daughter that he never knew.” He held up the old, faded photograph in the silver frame. “Angie McCain. Who grew up and married a silver miner named Michael Forrester. She was my great, great, great, great, grandmother.”
“I’ll be damned!” Delaney said.
“Then you knew you were descended from Wyatt Earp?” said Andre, stunned. “Why, the hell didn’t you tell us?”
“For the same reason Darkness didn’t,” Forrester replied. “I was afraid it would affect your actions. I couldn’t afford to take that chance, no matter how things turned out.”
“Well, thank God, they turned out all right,” said Lucas.
“Cooper’s Rangers went in afterward and picked up the Network men. And we were able to bring Drakov back alive for interrogation and he revealed the location of all his clones and hominoids. What’s going to happen to them?”
“They won’t be harmed.” said Forester. “The mutations, of course, we have no choice but to eliminate. And that will be doing the poor brutes a kindness. As for the others, and my son’s own clones, they’ll be conditioned, then temporally relocated and allowed to live out normal lives. Most of his clones we were able to pick up while they were still children. A few we got as adults, after they’d already been programmed with his mental engrams. Those will require therapy conditioning. They’ll be placed in different modern time sectors, where they’ll never run into each other and where their increased lifespan won’t make them freaks. As for my son himself..”
“I hear he’s going to be all right,” said Lucas, gently. “They say that they can rehabilitate him.”
Forester nodded. “The results are already beginning to show.” he said. “I went to see him in the hospital this morning. He called me ‘Father.’ Then he broke down and cried.”
Forrester had to turn away for a moment. He cleared his throat.
“Well, it seems as if promotions and decorations are in order,” he said. “I thought about making it a formal ceremony, but I know how you feel about such things…” He produced small boxes with new insignia in them and passed them out. “And I thought, Lucas, that you might want to wear your stars at your wedding.”
“My stars?” said Lucas, staring at the little box with disbelief.
“Congratulations.” Forester said. “Andre, looks like you’re going to be marrying a general.”
“But… but…” Lucas stammered.
“I’ll need someone to take over for me as Director,” Forester said. “I’m retiring. My son is going to need me when he gets well and I want to spend some time with him. Maybe give him a chance to get back something of the life he never had.”
“But… Director?” Lucas said. “Me?”
“I couldn’t think of a better man,” said Forester. “Don’t you agree, Colonel Delaney?”
“Yes, sir!” Delaney said, with a wide grin.
“Major Cross, congratulations.” Forrester said, kissing her on the cheek. “I wish you both all the happiness in the world.”
“Thank you, sir.”
He turned around, “Lieutenant Neilson?”
