Out of time

It was my second week on the job, and I was already late. To make things worse, I had just watched what was left of my pop tart disappear beneath the heel of a stranger. 

“It’s probably for the best. I don’t think those things are real food.”

I glanced up to see a middle aged man in an expensive, Euro cut suit.

“Are you a photographer?” he asked.

How could he know that? I thought.

As if sensing my hesitation, he gestured to my shoulder. “You have a camera there. I’m looking for a photographer to do a small job. I can pay 500 dollars.”

I looked him over and did a double-take at his watch. Upon studying it more closely, I saw that it wasn’t a watch at all. It was some kind of gadget that I had never seen before.

A low chuckle drew me out of my reflections. 

“You sure are a suspicious one. What will it be?”

Well, 500 dollars is 500 dollars, and it was very exciting to get an independent job offer.

"Sure," I said, trying not to sound too interested, "just tell me when and where."

He handed me a slip of paper.

"Come to this address at 5 pm tomorrow. I'll see you there."

And with that, he dissolved into a throng of people. I stood there in vapor lock for a minute. There was something mysterious about the exchange. I slipped the paper into my pocket and went into work. 

At exactly 5 the next day, I stood in front of a big grey warehouse outside of town. At the door I was met by an important looking man. A guard of some sort? He didn't say a word as he escorted me into the building. I didn't mind. I was used to silent people. He led me into a room where the man I had met the day before was talking to what seemed to be..... engineers? Technicians? I couldn't tell. The man looked up and saw me.

 "Ah, there you are. We're just about to start. Please follow me." He lead me to a room where a crowd of people was already gathered. 

 “Make yourself comfortable,” he said, and then motioned for the crowd to be quiet.

 “Welcome. For all those who are new, my name is Cavendish Fitzhugh. I have gathered all you photographers here to do a very important job. Your assistants will give you more details, but here’s the gist of it: you will be photographing important events. You will be given a special camera depending on when— sorry WHERE you are going. Make sure you capture the details. That’s all. Good luck, and blend in.”

And with that, he was gone. A woman came up to me. 

 “Hi! My name’s Cordelia. And you are…?”

 “I’m Becca,” I said, looking with interest at her neon blue hair and metallic silver jumpsuit.

“Nice to meet you, Becca. I’m your assistant. Please follow me and we’ll get you ready.”

 “So, where am I going?” I asked as we walked down the hall.

She hesitated. “The question isn’t where, it’s when. This might come as a shock to you, but we’re from the future.”

I stopped walking. “You’re WHAT?!?!”

She smiled at me, much the way my older sister looks at me when I say something she considers naive. “I work for a secret agency. Where we come from, knowledge of the past is forbidden. All historical data has been destroyed. So some historians started an organization to re-record these historical events. You, my dear, are going to help us.”

I stared at her in disbelief.

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” she said hastily, “but it’s true. You’ll see.”

She looked at something on her wrist. I realized it was the same thing that Cavendish had been wearing when I first met him. 

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Oh this? This is a chronfibulator. “We use it to communicate with our agents in different periods of history. You’ll get one too.”

We came to a room where technicians were adjusting the controls on a computer. Suddenly her gadget— the chronfibulator?— started vibrating. A holograph of a man appeared. He seemed to be in a castle and was wearing battle armor. 

“We’ve collected the data from the Battle of Hastings,” he said.

“Great,” Cordelia replied, “You’re all clear to come back. You’ll be arriving in bay 4637. See you soon.”

The man disappeared. That certainly looked real, I thought.

“So, where, I mean, when am I going?” I asked. I was waiting for her to admit this was all a prank.

“You’re going to Cape Canaveral, Florida in the year 1972. You’re going to the moon.”

I almost laughed. The moon? This must be a joke. But she was serious. And strangely, I was starting to believe her.

“All right. What’s my assignment?” 

“You’ll be joining the Apollo 16 mission. We’ve designed your suit so the other astronauts won’t be able to see you. We don’t usually do that, but it would be hard to blend in on a rocket with only three other people. Once you’ve landed on the moon, your job is to collect samples, take pictures, and record what the three astronauts are saying.” She strapped a chronfibulator to my wrist. “We’ll be talking to you through this. Once you’re ready to come back, press this button. Now let’s get you suited up and you’ll be good to go.”

Once I had my suit on, she led me into a glass chamber. She slipped a camera into the pocket of my suit. Then, pointing to the chronfibulator, she said,

“Press this button when we tell you too. Good luck.” And with that, she joined the technicians on the other side of the glass.

“Ok Becca,” Cordelia said through the chronfibulator. “Press the button on three. One.”

Why on earth am I doing this?”

“Two…”

More like why OFF earth am I doing this.

“Three.”

I pressed the button, and everything went black.

When I opened my eyes, I was in a rocket. A voice began counting down. 

“T minus 10, 9, 8………”

There were three men sitting in front of me. 

That must be John Young! And that must be……

“3, 2, 1, BLASTOFF!”

The rocket shook violently. I could feel my brain rattling in my head. I don’t remember much from before we broke the atmosphere, but when we did, and I looked out the window, I stopped breathing. 

I’d seen pictures of space, but this was breathtaking. I could see Earth which looked like a huge blue green and white marble. I could see the moon, and I imagined I could see the man in it. I’d always wanted to be an astronaut. Or at least I always wanted to want to be an astronaut. It sounded like the kind of thing one should aspire to be.

“Take a picture, Becca.”

Without knowing what I did, I pulled out my camera and took a picture. 

I didn't take my eyes off the view the entire journey. When I stepped onto the lunar surface, the sight that met my eyes was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. Craters everywhere. The grey, rocky terrain. I saw the American flag that Buzz Aldrin had put there in 1969. 

Ha, four years ago. 

“Now collect some rocks and take plenty of pictures.”

I had the time of my life. I was able to hitch a ride on the lunar rover, which I had seen in a museum when I was little. I looked into the craters and, just like John Young had said in an interview following the mission, they looked like they were lined with glass. I got to watch the astronauts in action. It was extraordinary to be with the three men about whom I had read so much. And of course, the different gravity. It was like one giant trampoline. I collected samples and took multiple pictures. Suddenly an urgent voice in my ear interrupted my joyride.

“Becca, press the button and come back immediately. Your life could be in danger.”

Hesitating, I looked around. Everything seemed normal. What was going on?

“PRESS THE BUTTON!!!” The voice was panicked. “NOW!!!!”

I quickly pressed the button. As everything faded to black, I thought I saw…. another time traveler?

I woke up back in the glass room. Cordelia came in and took my camera and the samples I collected. 

 “What happened?!” I asked. I was shaking.

She bit her lip. She looked frazzled and exhausted. 

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

That's all I could get out of her. After I got out of my suit, Cavendish walked in. 

“Wonderful! I’m so glad you’re okay. You did extremely well. I’ve been looking at the pictures you took. You have a remarkable eye. If you want to go back to your job, then we’ll have to give you something to make you forget everything that you saw today. But I’m hoping you’ll stay and work for us. You’d do some time traveling, as well as work behind the scenes. But no one can know. As far as everyone is concerned, you’re still in your job at the newspaper. We have some agents there who can cover for you if you decide to work for us.”

That was a blow. I had been thinking of all the cool Instagram posts that I was going to make. Of what I would tell my friends and my parents. 

But there were more important problems. 

“What happened back there? I thought I saw another man before I blacked out. How was my life in danger?”

He paused. “There’s another organization, like ours, that’s equally committed to stopping the work we do. The man you saw works for it. We've had lots of trouble from them before. We try to keep our endeavors secret, but it doesn’t always work. They’ve sometimes gone to extremes to put an end to what we do here. ”

“What do you mean? What kinds of things have they done?” 

“Some of our agents have disappeared, and they may have been killed. You may want to take time to consider before you decide.”

I imagined going back to my job at the newspaper. The long meetings. The stressful deadlines. My rude coworkers. The lack of privacy. Then I imagined this new job. Traveling through time. Seeing things that no one in my time would ever see. Getting to see the people and places I had read about in history books. And yes, even the danger. All of it kindled the spirit of adventure in me.

“When do I start?”