Never Enough Time

I do not know what I expected a time trip to be like, but it was dull compared to the fact that I was about to be in a different time from the one I was born into. We did not have to travel far to get to the connecting wormhole, so there was no hibernation sleep option. I used the time to search agency records, looking up how often people disappeared while traveling. It happened often but they never remained missing long. It was extremely hard to not leave any clue that the agency could not trace. There were a few rare cases and Julia's was one where the trail went cold inexplicably.

I arrived at Tortilla and made my way to the agency's resort. As I entered the lobby of the accommodation building, I had to stop and get my bearings. Behind the counter was a Sapogan and it was the first non-human I had ever seen outside of the agency monitors during my training. Earth does not get many alien visitors outside of a few areas of interest. Where I had grown up on earth was far from anything that would be considered interesting.

I stepped up to the counter. The Sapogan looked up but did not speak. I was not familiar with the Sapogans facial expressions, or whether they even had any so I could not tell it’s mood, but the air around us seemed to indicate they were becoming impatient.

"If you are checking in, you will need to submit your ID scan," it said, breaking the silence.

"I am not a guest. I am here on an agency job searching for a girl who vanished."

"You will still need to submit your ID scan."

I placed my wrist over the ID scanner, it chirped once and the Sapogan seemed more relaxed. I started to remember from my training that Sapogans are a heavy pheromone-based species.

"I apologize for wasting your time, "I said. "This is my first trip off earth, and I am a little nervous."

The air became markedly cooler and refreshing.

"That is quite all right, Mr. Fearghail. We are one of the most popular agency sites and so there is little reason for agency operations to need us. If you had been a guest they would have given you an itinerary which would have included instructions on arrival and checking in at the resort. I apologize for my emotions and their effects on you."

"No need. Could you tell me anything about a young girl named Julia Matveev? She would have checked in for this season's reservations."

The ID chip that every human, as well as all species that use the agency's time travel services, have implanted in their forearms are able to perform many tasks. It has a storage capacity that is greater than the amount of information you can ever hope to enter. One of its capabilities is visual projection. I showed the Sapogan an image of Julia. The resort's scanning device also recorded the image. The Sapogan looked at its display and then looked back at me.

"I'm afraid that no-one by that name has ever checked in at this resort. Also, none of the resort's surveillance equipment has any visual record of any person who looks like the image you provided."

"I wonder if anything happened to her between the space port and the resort?"

"I took the liberty of submitting a search from the agency's planetary monitoring. There is no indication she left the space port."

How could that be? She did not board another flight, and I think space port personnel would notice a sixteen-year-old girl loitering around the port. Does the record show if she was actually on the flight here?"

A moment passed as the display was checked.

"Yes, she is confirmed aboard the flight and Tortilla space port has her passing through intake."

"I think my next step is to go back to the port. Thank you very much for all your help. You were truly kind with your time."

"If you aren't leaving Tortilla immediately perhaps you would like to meet later and share a meal?"

"Oh, that is.... again, kind of you to offer. However, I do not believe that would be beneficial to either of us. I mean no offense, but I have little experience with non-humans. You are the first of your kind I have met. I am not even sure what gender you are. Again, I mean no offense."

The air turned sweet and blissful.

"I am not looking to mate with you human," the Sapogan said. "As I said before, we do not have many visitors who are not guests. I would be happy to talk and learn more about your species and maybe I could do the same for you."

"Ahh, I am a bit ashamed then. Well, the one thing I can teach you about my species, at least ones like me, is sometimes we are nervous about unknown people or places. I need to concentrate on my mission."

I started to leave the lobby of the resort but at the doors I turned back to the Sapogan.

"Maybe if I come back here someday and the offer still stands, I might like to eat with you."

"Until that day then."

I laughed when my transport approached the space port. I had spent so little time at the resort that the vessel I arrived on still had not left the port. I went to the service counter, was about to ask the attendant a question and suddenly Deja vu took over. I stuck my forearm over the ID scanner and heard one chirp.

“Thank you, Mr. Fearghail. Are you booking a return passage? You just arrived a short time ago."

"No, I am on an agency mission, trying to find a young woman who has disappeared. Julia Matveev. Planet surveillance shows she never left the port so I would like to check port surveillance to see her movements here after deboarding the spacecraft."

"One moment I will attempt to get your clearance." A few seconds passed and the attendant turned back to me. "Request approved. The footage from after she leaves the spaceship is ready if you use the display at the end of the counter. You have level two clearance so you may search for other port records if needed."

"Thank you."

I moved to the end of the counter. On the screen was a still image of the ship I had arrived on but clearly from a different time from today as the sky showed cloud cover unlike the sunny sky of today.

I started the recording and the ship door opened. A dozen passengers debarked before Julia exited. She made her way through ID scanning and went to one of the food stalls. Fifteen minutes later she left and made her way to the washrooms. Obviously, there was no recording of her during the time she was in there.

A lot of time passed and there was no sign of Julia. A few individuals entered and exited but none were Julia. I increased the speed of the recording until an hour passed since she entered the washroom. Was there a different way out of the washroom? I made a request for the layout of the port, but I was denied as my clearance did not give me access. I went back to the attendant.

"Hi, would it be possible to have someone clear the women's restroom so I can gain access to it for a brief time?"

“Certainly." She made a call and shortly a woman in port uniform arrived and asked me to follow her. She entered the washroom and a couple of minutes later came back out and gave me the all clear.

I entered the room and immediately confirmed my suspicions. The washroom was in the middle of the port so no windows leading outside. I climbed atop the sink counter and tried pressing against the ceiling, but it did not budge. I could see no way Julia could have left this room without being caught by the camera.

Exiting the restroom, the port worker was waiting for me.

"Would it be possible to speak to the cleaning staff?" I asked. "It's possible they may have seen something relevant to my search."

"There is no cleaning staff. It's automated and none of the robots possess anything more than basic programming. Don't want the Horkons paying us a visit, do we?"

She was referring to the inhabitants of the planet Horkon. Early in the 22nd century there was a rebellion against humans by the robotics. Artificial life dealt with taking care of the mundane bits of life that people were tired of doing. The problem arose because the robots also tired of the mundane. It was understandable. If humans were bored with these tasks imagine how it must be for a being with a vastly superior intelligence. It was not a fierce rebellion. Sure, some windows were smashed, random benches and signs in most cities were destroyed by robots. The thing was they immediately repaired something after they broke it. They did not want a fight; they just wanted a choice of how to live their lives.

Humans agreed. They had not realized the robots felt this way and gave them their freedom and flexibility to live anywhere on Earth. Colonization of other planets had at that time started to hit its stride, so the robots felt it best they have their own world. So, The Robot World of Horkon was established. The robots had taken their parting from humans a step further by joining the consortium. The consortium was a separatist organization, and their planets were identified by each planet in its group containing the words "The World of" before the planet's name. No agency vessel landed on a consortium planet.

Part of the agreement with the now free robot society was that any automated unit would not be given self-awareness. The Horkons did not care if humanity continued to make robots to be employed in tedious tasks, they just did not want them to be self-aware and suffer.

"Is the washroom shut down when the robots clean?"

"Yes. The door signals the cleaning process is commencing, the door locks from the outside so no one else enters and once anyone inside exits, a door in the wall opens for the robots to enter."

I smiled because I now knew how Julia escaped. It still did not explain where she went. She did not show up on the planetary surveillance so cannot have left the port.

"Is it possible to see how the robots operate? I'm wondering if the person I'm looking for might have used the robot passages to move around the port without being caught."

We both re-entered the restroom and the port worker entered a series of codes into the pad she carried and a portion of the wall about waist high slid aside.

The woman crouched down and crawled through the opening and I followed her. Standing up on the other side I saw we now were in a hallway that was dimly lit.

"The passage leads this way to the other areas the robots routinely clean," she said indicating left of where we had emerged. She turned and pointed right. "There is an employee cafeteria and administrative offices this way before it ends at the robot storage and recharge area."

"How many rooms does this passage access that passengers would have access to?" I asked. I had a feeling Julia would not want to risk moving through an area that the public would not be expected to be in.

"In total six. Two washrooms each for human males and females and two for interspecies use."

"I'd like to return to the reception desk. Thank you for your help."

I called up the footage from each washroom starting at the point when Julia entered the washroom. Running the footage back and forth I tracked each person's entrance to the washrooms until one individual was not recorded entering the men's room. The man exited the washroom fifteen minutes after Julia had entered the women's bathroom. However, tracing it back hours he could not be seen ever entering.

After exiting the restroom, he went to the booking counter, bought a ticket and half an hour later left through the boarding gate. I caught the attention of the ticket agent.

"Can you help me determine who this man is and where he traveled to?"

The agent made note of the time stamp and entered it into her terminal.

“His name is George Havok, and he booked passage to Oxaka,” she said and then paused while she looked at the screen a few moments longer. “I think this is your girl. Everything checks out with his wrist scan, but there is no record of Mr. Havok arriving on planet. There is also no record of his employment with the agency resort, so he is not an employee.”

I booked passage to Osaka. While I waited for the ship to arrive, I re-evaluated my assignment. I had thought it would be simple to track down this girl, but I had not predicted how clever she was. The tech she would need to pull off a disguise like that as well as the programming for that Tech would cost a fortune. However, it would be easy to track down where she made the purchases from, or so I thought. I checked her name and under the George Havok name, but no purchases were made under these names, nor was anything shipped to her parents’ home. Unless she had another alias, she must have bought everything on the black market. I knew that most of the answers I was looking for would have to come from her.

The ship arrived and I boarded, making my way to the hibernation room. The trip this time would take much longer, as there were two stops before we would arrive at Oxaka. Hibernation sleep was not necessary, but I thought I should get used to the feeling. When I laid down in the pod the lining was so soft it almost felt like nothing was supporting me. The bed slid into place inside the wall and seconds later my pod filled with a bitter smell, the world faded, and immediately returned. My pod emerged from the wall and one of the flight crew helped me step from the bed.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“Not at all, sir” she answered, chuckling. “You may feel as if no time has passed. That is how hibernation sleep is designed. In reality, it has been three days since you boarded this vessel.”

“We have arrived at Osaka?”

“Yes, you are free to depart, unless you are experiencing any ill affects of the sleep pod.”

“No, actually I feel good, as a matter of fact.”

Inside I used the port’s database again. The was footage of George/Julia leaving the ship that came in from Tortilla. This time she didn’t waste any time inside the port. After passing through the checkpoint, she headed straight for the exit, not even stopping to gather any baggage. I thought she had to have either made arrangements for clothes and necessities to be delivered to Osaka or she had planned to buy those things here. The information I got from the port agent was frustrating. Not only was Oxaka not a time agency resort like Totrillia, but the government was also proud to be self-sufficient and therefore did not need to be cooperative with any time agency issues. My agency credentials would not gain any help from the local officials in tracking Julia’s movements.

I decided the best course of action might be to visit some eating establishments and ask questions. I kept my inquiries centered around places a teenage girl might frequent and, in a few days, I had a few good leads. I visited and removed some of the simplest and least likely options. On my third night there I made my way to a nightclub, which was what I felt was the most likely place I would find Julia. The club was a fair distance from the space port so I took a mag transport. I remember taking a mag transport when I was young. My mother explained to me that the underground roads held a magnetic field that pulled the vehicle along and controlled everything including the speed. There was absolutely no need for a passenger to know how to get to their destination. The onboard computer would link to the right station and the trip was done effortlessly.

The club was along the river which the vehicle needed to cross. The mag road ceiling gave way to clear dome and the river surrounded me. The car pulled into a station and as I got out my wrist screened the way to the club. I was fascinated when I arrived. The lights were all shades of color and bathed all around in a glow that was beautiful. The music as I entered the main area was unlike anything I had heard before. I paused for a second and realized how far outside my comfort zone I had ventured. The fear began to build. I had spent most of my life not straying more than a few miles from my house. It hit me at this moment that I was more than just a few miles away, I was light years away and at a different time. I had not had this much concern about Tortilla but I think it was due to it being an agency resort. There was no real culture shock there, but on Oxaka, in this club right now I was confronted with too many unfamiliar sights and sounds.

I decided to focus on my mission and forget about my fears. I stepped up to the bar and ordered beer, as it was the only thing I knew. I turned to scan the crowded club, but I didn’t see anyone who resembled Julia or George. It was possible that she could be anyone here. If her method of disguise could fool the Agency scanners, it must be something sophisticated.

“What’s your type?” a voice asked behind me. When I turned, I saw it was the bartender.

“My type?” I responded.

“I’ve been doing this a long time son, I know when a tourist, who is looking for something more exciting than the Agency worlds can offer, is on the hunt. So, what is your flavour? Women, men, or alien perhaps?”

I saw my opportunity here and decided to capitalize on it.

“Am I that obvious? I haven’t travelled much, but I had heard about Oxaka while on Tortilla. My taste is women, particularly women with bright coloured hair, around five and a half feet tall. Someone who, unlike me, would not look out of place in here.”

The bartender laughed. “Well, you’re definitely going to find that here, but I'd be careful about when you get it.” She smiled and leaned down, resting her body on the bar. “Are you happy with that beer? I can make you a drink. On me.”

“I am not familiar with anything on your drink list.”

"Do you trust me?” she asked smiling again.

“Should I?”

“Absolutely not, but I will make you a drink that you will love.”

“Ok, I will take it,” I said chuckling. As she made my drink, I felt foolish about how anxious I was when I stepped into the club. I was no further in my search for Julia, but I started to consider my new bartender friend as a possible source of information. She turned, putting the drink in front of me and as I was about to ask her to help me with my mission, I felt something press into my lower back. I heard someone speaking in my ear over my left shoulder.

“Grab the drink and start walking towards the washrooms.”

I looked at the bartender, but no help would be coming from her.

“I warned you about trusting me, and about getting what you want.”

I stood up and made my way towards the back of the club. Just as we were about to reach the washrooms the person leading me pushed me through a set of doors and we exited the club into an empty lot. I waited a few seconds then slowly turned towards the person who stood behind me. I saw the blood red hair, the teenage face I had looked at on an agency screen had matured into a prettier face of an early 20’s woman. There was no mistaking who had brought me outside.

“Julia Matveev,” I stated with certainty. She raised her hand slightly and I noticed the gun that had recently been pushed into my back.

“You shouldn’t have come for me, agent,” she spat out, before levelling the gun at my chest.