already. Do I really have to explain this all to you again? You might plan on keeping the results of your quest for atheism between the two of us, but our mere presence here changes things. We might swat a bug that would have transmitted a disease to man. Our conversations might change the way someone thinks-like the old woman in Bethany. We’ve spent an entire day with Jesus already. Who knows how many historically important conversations we’ve already distracted him from.”
“We’ll distance ourselves from everyone. We’ll stay in the shadows and observe. Just until he dies and doesn’t come back to life three days later,” Tom said.
David threw his hands up in the air and said, “It’s two and a half years until that happens! We can’t stay here for two and a half years! There’s a very good chance that if we stay that long, Roberts might track us down.”
“Roberts?” Tom asked.
David grunted. He’d forgotten about Roberts until now. “LighTech’s back up plan. Time Enforcement Division. Basically, he’s a killer with a crew cut, a gun and a time traveling watch. We do not want him to find us.”
“TED,” Tom said.
“What?” David asked.
“Time Enforcement Division. They created time cops with the acronym: Ted. Someone wasn’t thinking.”
David smiled.
“Sally approved this?” Tom asked.
“She had nothing to do with it. In fact, she made sure to warn me about him. Though she did say to leave you here if Roberts found us.”
“How kind of her,” Tom said with a grin.
“The point she was making,” David said, “is that Roberts will shoot first and likely not care about asking questions.”
“You didn’t think of mentioning this before?” Tom asked, looking around for anyone with a crew cut.
“Well, he’s going to the crucifixion, so-” David stopped himself too late.
“So we don’t even need to worry about him for a few years?” Tom asked.
With a sigh, David said, “No. Unless he figures out how to track us with the watch. But he didn’t strike me as being that intelligent.”
Tom thought for a moment while David caught his breath. “If we stay…and I’m right, then you’ll have to give up your silly beliefs. But… If we stay and you’re right…and Jesus rises from the dead…well, then I’d be a believer.”
“Tom, you can’t-what did you just say?”
“If you’re right. If I see him alive after I see him die, I’ll believe.”
David’s mind raced.
“C’mon, we’re smart guys. We can do this right. If we’re not going to observe the past, what good was inventing time travel devices in the first place?”
David shifted. Tom was getting through.
“Look at it this way,” Tom continued, “The risk of staying here, of witnessing these events unfold isn’t set in stone. We control our exposure to this world. We control the impact our presence here has. But if we go back now, in your mind, my fate is sealed right? I’m going to Hell.”
David shifted again and Tom moved in for the kill.
“Are you willing to take the risk to save my soul, David? Are you?”
David was silent. He had dreamed of the day when Tom would share his faith, his beliefs. And no matter how truly he believed that if they stayed Tom would indeed see Jesus die and rise from the dead, he couldn’t risk the lives and souls of countless people that might be affected by he and Tom playing time tourist.
“Tom, no matter how much I’d like to-”
“C’mon, what’s the worst that could happen?”
“You two bicker like a farmer and his ass,” said Jesus, as he caught them by surprise. “I’m not interrupting, am I?”
David attempted to play it cool, “No, no, of course not.”
“Do you know what I was just doing over there? With the people?” asked Jesus.
David felt sick to his stomach as he lied to God, face to face, “Umm, no?”
“I called eleven to follow me, to learn my ways and the ways of my father that they may continue to spread the good news when I am gone,” said Jesus.
“Eleven?” David asked.
Tom forgot they weren’t supposed to be in the know and said, “Looking for a twelfth, huh?”
Jesus raised an eyebrow as though he were impressed with Tom’s apparent intuition. “Indeed,” he said.
Tom said, “I’m sure there are plenty of good men to choose-”
“I’m afraid you don’t understand. I’ve already chosen the twelfth,” Jesus said.
“Who’s the lucky guy?” Tom asked.
David began to sweat with panic as he suspected what the next words out of Jesus’s mouth would be.
“You, Didymus.”
Tom stared at Jesus, waiting for the punchline. It never came.
“You’re not serious?” David begged.
Jesus nodded. “I am.”
“But I…I can’t.” said Tom, “You don’t…I…David?”
The portion of David’s brain that sent the signals to his mouth had shut down. David watched silently as Jesus put an arm around the baffled Tom and led him away. Suddenly a thought slammed into his cortex and he snapped out of his daze.
“It can’t be…” David said aloud to himself.
David ran to Tom and Jesus and said, “Tom, I’ll be back. I have to check something at home.”
“What? You can’t leave!” Tom was near panic.
“I’ll be back!” shouted David as he ran down the hill.
Tom was beside himself with horror. He now completely understood all of David’s fears and reservations. He had violated time in a way that might change every facet of the future he knew. He had gone from a respected quantum scientist to the destroyer of time-his own specialty! Tom was sure that even if they discovered that Jesus was in fact the savior of the world, he would still burn in Hell for what he’d done. Tom’s thoughts were shattered when a strong voice interrupted.
“Come, Didymus, let me introduce you to the others,” Jesus said, as he led Tom toward a group of men who looked just as wide-eyed as Tom.
EIGHT
Perspective
2005
Arizona
David spent an hour walking through the wilderness in an effort to make sure he wasn’t observed by any ancient Israelites. He thought about the ramifications of a man or woman seeing the light and sound show created by time travel and forming a new religion around the spectacle. Until his percolating theory could be proven in the future, he wasn’t going to take any chances.
After scoping out the area, David tucked himself away in a thick patch of trees and sat down to formalize a plan. The equipment he needed was in LightTech’s Receiving Area Alpha. But it was a small window of opportunity between the time the equipment arrived and when Tom stole the watch. Almost every hour before and after these events would reveal David’s actions to LightTech and possibly worsen their situation with the ruthless Captain
