The Nick Of Time Part 21

On his back, propped up a little on his elbows, his face b.l.o.o.d.y and filthy and twisted with fear and pain, his silver and blue Agency uniform all but torn into tatters, as pathetic a sight as could be imagined, he lay on the transmission stage. The silence was necked with the sound of clicking: it was from the cameras that had gone off when the photographers had snapped Mihalik's picture just before he'd disappeared. A bell had begun to toll the noon hour just as Mihalik had been sent into the past, so long ago, and the ringing note still sounded through the stillness. To the others an inconceivably short time had pa.s.sed. There hadn't been time for the blink of an eye. There hadn't been enough time for the human brain to register the transition -- first there had been Frank Mihalik, proud and solemn and dressed in his one-piece green coverall, sitting on a folding chair -- and then there was... this pitiful wreck of a man, staring wildly as if he'd beheld the very end of the world itself.

His first thoughts were of Ray, who was nowhere to be seen. Mihalik was alone on the transmission stage. "Ray?" he called, startled by the hoa.r.s.e, almost inhuman quality of his voice.

"I'm here, Frank," came Ray's familiar, hearty voice from somewhere in the crowd. How could that be?

Dr. Waters was the first to reach the transmission stage. "Don't move, Frank," he said. "We'll have a doctor examine you right here. You may have broken bones or internal bleeding. Do you need anything for the pain?"

"No," croaked Mihalik. "Ray?"

"This Ray hasn't gone back to get you yet," said Dr. Waters. "It will be days before he leaves. Don't worry; he was rescued the same time you were, but he will go back to the time he came from. You'll be there when he goes, and when he gets back."

"Good," said Mihalik. He was exhausted. "Note."

"You mean the one from the nuhp?" asked Dr. Waters. Mihalik nodded, bewildered. How could Dr. Waters know about the message from the extraterrestrials now, only a few objective seconds after their handshake prior to Mihalik's departure?

Dr. Waters hadn't known about it then.

"In the trillionth of a second while you were gone," said Dr. Waters, "I went into the future. I was actually taken into the future, to learn all that I needed to know to rescue you. I was returned just about the time you reappeared. We're both time-travel veterans now, my boy." His dark magnetic eyes glowed with a strange intensity. He absently stroked his carefully trimmed mustache. Already Dr. Waters was turning over in his mind the results of this experiment, designing further tests, making newer theories, planning greater conquests. Suddenly he seemed to s.h.i.+ver, and he returned his attention to Mihalik.

"That's all for later, Frank, after you've been attended to. We have plenty of time to talk. Plenty of time."

His eyes glittered: I Have Seen the Future.

"Yes, sir," said Mihalik.

"Cheryl's here," said Dr. Waters, raising one eyebrow. He backed away.

Cheryl ran to the edge of the stage and took one of Mihalik's b.l.o.o.d.y hands. She kissed his trembling fingers. "Frank!" she said, sobbing.

Mihalik looked at her with a powerful mixture of tenderness and anger. He struggled to understand his feelings, but they were too confused, too conflicting, too inappropriate. "Cheryl," he murmured.

"I told you to be careful," she said, in a gentle voice.

He was not amused. "You didn't come back, did you?" he said. "You didn't come back to try to save me. The other Cheryl did, but you didn't. You stayed here. You never even--"

"Frank," she said, aghast, "you've been gone only a split second. There hasn't been time to do anything. If you needed help, I would gladly have volunteered. Maybe in a few days, if someone needs to make the trip, I'll go. I don't understand these time-paradox things. I don't see why someone will have to go in a few days if you're back now, safe and sound."

"Someone will have to go," said Mihalik, feeling an odd bitterness, "and it will be Ray, not you."

"What are you doing, Frank?" said Cheryl, frightened. "Why are you treating me this way?"

"I don't know," he said. There was the knowledge that this Cheryl, his Cheryl, had risked nothing, had never left her safe niche in time. All his adventures, his pain, and the risks he'd faced, he'd shared with another Cheryl, a Cheryl from another universe who was lost forever. It meant that his feelings for this Cheryl were now different, but it seemed that never in a million years would he know in what ways they were different. He sensed his old feelings beneath an overlay of guilt and betrayal and faithlessness; he might never sort them out. They sat like a cl.u.s.ter of black jujubes at the center of his heart.

"Don't you still love me?" she asked. "What happened back there? What did you mean, 'the other Cheryl'?"

"We're going to have to do a lot of talking, honey," said Mihalik. "I have a lot of healing to do, inside and out."

She nodded, letting his hand go. She sat on the edge of the transmission stage, watching him fearfully.

Ray pushed his way forward. "You were supposed to watch your a.s.s, buddy," he said. He looked concerned.

Mihalik forced a smile. "While I was busy watching my a.s.s, something hit me on the head."

"What?"

"Say, that's right, you don't even know about it yet. Well, Ray, all I can say is thanks. You pulled me out of the d.a.m.nedest mess you can imagine. I'll never be able to repay you for it."

"Well, h.e.l.l, Frank, we're pals and all, and we're in this project together, and I'm sure that if it was the other way around--"

Mihalik raised a hand to cut him off; they were both a little uncomfortable. "Just thanks. Even more now, when I think that you'll do it knowing that you'll come back just as bad off as I am."

"I will?" Ray turned just a touch paler. "Well, d.a.m.n it, what are friends for? You can't have all the glory, anyhow."

Mihalik laughed; it hurt. "You can have as much as you want, Ray." He looked from Ray to Cheryland back, wondering about friends.h.i.+p and love, wondering how much of what he felt toward her was the result of his final estimation of himself: the inadequacy, the failure, and the shame.

"You're wearing different clothes, Frank," said Ray.

"Uh-huh. Picked them up in the future."

"The future? We sent you into the past."

"Right. I went into the past first, but I ended up in the future. That's where you'll have to come get me."

Ray shook his head. "I don't understand. How long were you gone?"

Mihalik shrugged. "There's no way to tell. A couple of years altogether, I think."

"A couple of years?" Both Ray and Cheryl were astonished. "Then you must have had some time of it."

"I guess I did," said Mihalik. A lot of his adventures were already beginning to seem unreal to him; later on, he probably wouldn't be able to sort out what had really happened from what he had dreamed about it.

Cheryl moistened a handkerchief with her mouth and wiped away some of the dirt on his face.

"You've got lines on your face, Frank. Where you didn't have them before."

"Laugh lines," he said.

"They make you look a little more, oh, distinguished. They suit you."

"Then it was all worth it, I guess," said Mihalik, feeling sullen again.

"Will I spend that long in the future, too?" asked Ray.

"No," said Mihalik, "you were only there a few hours."

"Just long enough to get as torn up as you."

"Sorry, pal. It all happened right at the finish."

Ray sighed. "I can't say I'm rarin' to go, but--"

"Ray, you're going to have a box seat for the most spectacular event you've ever seen. This one quick, awful look will stay with you as long as you live, I promise."

Ray didn't look too heartened by that, either. "Then don't tell me about it," he said. "I don't want you to spoil it for me."

"Dr. Waters will fill you in before you go. You'll know what's going to happen; but believe me, it more than lives up to your expectations."

"Okay," said Ray, "now you've got my curiosity aroused. Now I don't mind getting my knees sc.r.a.ped a little."

"That's enough," said a doctor in a green overall, carrying a black bag, "let me through." Ray stood aside, and the doctor began a quick examination of Mihalik.

"I think I'm okay," said Mihalik.

"Compared to what?" said the doctor. "Let me make the decision, all right? Nothing seems fatally messed up; you don't seem to have left anything important behind you, but we're going to put you into the hospital for a few days just to make sure."

"Hey, I'm--"

"You knew you'd be quarantined. It was part of the plan." Two men rolled a gurney up to the transmission stage and carefully lifted Mihalik onto it. Cheryl, Ray, and Dr. Waters followed the doctor to the waiting ambulance. Mihalik tried to look back at them, but the movement was too painful. He was grateful for the interruption; he didn't feel like more conversation, more pretending that he was still brave and untarnished and ready to do the whole thing over again. Before they even raised him into the ambulance, he was asleep.

You're out of the woods, you're out of the dark, you're out of the night "Huh?" said Mihalik, waking suddenly from a terrifying dream of being pursued.

"Just need to get your blood pressure, Mr. Mihalik," a nurse said softly. She wrapped his arm and squeezed the bulb. "You cried out in your sleep." "I hope I'm not disturbing anybody."

The nurse smiled. "There isn't anybody else on this whole floor. You've got it all to yourself. We have you all to ourselves. We're proud to have you as a patient, Mr. Mihalik."

"Thanks, I guess, but--"

"Dr. Waters told us you'd be modest; he also gave us an idea of what you went through. You're on mild sedation -- your physician thought it would be a good idea for a little while. You were treated for severe bruises and lacerations and we have you on an IV; but other than that, you seem to have come through everything just fine."

"Great." Mihalik stretched out his legs; the pain wasn't gone -- he knew it was still there, somewhere -- but it was hiding. The clean sheets and the comfortable pillows felt wonderful. The peace, the soothing quiet, the likelihood that he had at last come home did more for his state of mind than any medication.

"We won't be able to feed you as well as you dined in the places you've been," said the nurse. "You'll have to adapt to our standard of living again."

"You know," he said, smiling, "it will be a pleasure. I am hungry. What time is it?"

"About two in the afternoon. Wednesday. You've slept the clock around. Would you like some lunch?"

Mihalik nodded. "What do you have?"

"Anything you want," said the nurse.

"I want a box of Raisinets and a Vernor's," he said.

The nurse unwrapped his arm, made a notation on a chart beside his bed, and nodded. "We'll have that in to you in a couple of minutes. Need something for the pain?"

"Not just yet."

"All right, Mr. Mihalik, you just lie still. You've done your part; now it's our turn."

That was all right by him. He just stared up at the ceiling for a while not noticing the time pa.s.s, until they brought his lunch in on a tray. He wolfed the Raisinets and washed them down with the ginger ale.

Then he clicked on the holovision set and watched daytime shows for a while. Just before dinnertime, the telephone rang. He picked it up. "h.e.l.lo?" he said.

"Mr. Mihalik, the Man from Mars would like to speak to you. Please hold the line for a moment."

Mihalik felt a thrill of excitement. He hadn't expected this kind of reception. "Mr. Mihalik?" came the familiar voice.

"Yes, sir."

"I hear you've had quite an adventure."

"Yes, sir."

"I want you to know that we're all proud of you. It's people like yourself who remind us what this world is all about, why we have to keep fighting to restore it to its former greatness."

"Yes indeed, sir."

"And it's people like yourself who are making the contributions that will go a long way toward bringing about that end. You're an American, aren't you, Mr. Mihalik?"

"Born and raised, sir."

"Well, you know, so am I. I know I'm supposed to speak for the world as a whole, but I just can't help being proud that it was an American who conquered time. I'd like to invite you to the White House, where your President and I would like to congratulate you in a formal ceremony. You'll receive the highest civilian award."

Mihalik couldn't speak for a moment. He was a hero, all right, he knew that; but he never thought of himself as anyone special. "I don't know what to say, sir. It's a tremendous honor."

"You bet your sweet a.s.s it is. We'll make arrangements another time, after you've been released from the hospital. On behalf of the starving, miserable, homeless, squalid, filthy people of the world, thank you for your courage. And say h.e.l.lo to Dr. Waters for me."

"I will, sir."

"Goodbye." There was a click. Mihalik set the phone down. He was going to the White House, onFifth Avenue, to get his reward -- a never-ending free supply of Three Musketeers bars for him and all his progeny unto the end of time. It was too much. Mihalik wept.

The thought of the candy reminded him of Athos, Porthos, and Aramis; of Madame de Romiers; of the other Cheryl, who had fought beside him shoulder to shoulder, against the enemies of their beloved Queen Anne... Mihalik wept some more.

Not long after, a soft knock came at the door. Dr. Waters and Cheryl came in. He took the chair beside Mihalik, and she sat at the foot of the bed. "How are you doing?" asked Dr. Waters.

"Fine," said Mihalik. "Got a call from the Man from Mars. He said to say h.e.l.lo to you."

"Oh, Frank," said Cheryl, "that's wonderful."

"I have to go to some reception or something." He looked anxious about the notoriety.

"I'll be there with you, Frank," said Dr. Waters. "Are you all recovered?"

Mihalik paused a moment before answering. "You know," he said at last, "this sure feels like home. It looks like home. It ought to be home. Yet I can't shake the feeling that maybe it isn't home. That maybe I'm in just another wrong universe, only it's going to take longer than usual for me to find out. I might not learn the truth for twenty or thirty years. Then, all of a sudden, something bizarre will pop up. I feel like I'm going to walk around for the rest of my life, waiting for the wrong thing to tap me on the shoulder."

Dr. Waters nodded thoughtfully. "You've earned a little time to work out your doubts, son," he said.

"I don't really know what I or anyone else can do to prove that this is your true reality."