Roger pulled onto the road again. "I can't believe this is really 1920."
"Yes, you are almost one hundred years in the past." Mickey affirmed.
"But how, and why?"
"Just past that house is a dirt road, turn there."
Roger saw the road and pulled in. It was smooth and the going was good. They rode for less than a minute.
"Stop here and shut off the car." Mickey motioned to a wide spot alongside the road.
Roger followed her instructions.
"We don't have much time so listen carefully."
"I'm all ears." Roger said.
"Ok, in the year 2518 there will be a great war that will destroy all life on earth. My job is to prevent that from happening."
Roger laughed, "Right, and I'm Abraham Lincoln."
Mickey glared at him, "Have you ever been here before? Do you know where you are?"
"Well, you're right about that, I'm lost."
"And what about the price of the gas you just bought, and the newspaper?"
Roger nodded, "Ok, I believe you."
"So just listen, and I'll prove everything I say.
I'm a time traveler from the year 2341. We've had time travel since 2333. At first it was very crude and I'm afraid not very reliable.
"Go on." Roger nodded.
"At first we had units so large they weren't practical anywhere but in the laboratory, and very limited in range and power. After a while, we succeeded in building smaller, more powerful units. But we had no control where we landed in time. In fact, some early travelers have never been found. After a while we gained some control, but, still can't make a jump over 96 years long."
Roger looked puzzled, "If that's the case, how did you get here from 2341? That's a lot more than 96 years. Why don't you just jump into the future and get the technology you need?"
"We tried that, but, for some reason, time travel doesn't advance any more than what we have right now. So, we've set up a series of relay points 96 years apart. We can move in time by jumping from relay to relay."
"You mean if you move in time from a certain place, you reappear in the same place....."
"Yes, We have a range of about two miles from the location of the relay, but, basically, yes, only in a different time." Mickey finished.
"How many relays are we talking about?"
Mickey paused for a moment. "45."
Roger coughed, "Wow!"
Mickey tried to stifle a laugh, "Anyway, when our people tried to explore the far future they landed in a terrible war. They managed to send a message back before they were killed. It told us not to land in that time again."
"Whew! What did you do?" Roger whistled low.
"At first we tried to jump to a time after the war. Our people never returned."
"So you think the war is still raging?" Roger asked.
"We have no way of knowing for sure, but, we think the earth is either gone, or uninhabitable."
"That's unbelievable!" Roger whistled.
"Well, believe it! So we sent people to a time just before the war years. Five years seemed like quite enough time to try and stop the war from happening. We were wrong, in two weeks the five years will be up."
"And then?"
"The relay will be destroyed and we will have to start all over again. But, our people have discovered a way to prevent the war."
Roger frowned, "Really, then why don't they do it?"
"They don't have the necessary skills."
"Is that why I'm here?" Roger straightened in his seat.
"No, but I'm coming to that part."
"The war started because there was no one to act as a mediator. Everyone on earth was on one side or the other. So, we searched time to find the wisest man who ever lived, and sent a messenger to ask for his help."
Mickey paused to let him think about what she had just told him.
"Ok, I'm with you so far, go on." Roger nodded.
"We found such a man in the early history of the world, and set up a series of relays to reach him."
"Who did you find?" Roger asked.
"His name is Solomon."
"Solomon? Not the one from the bible!" Roger gasped.
"Yes, the same one."
"Well, I'll be darned, there really was such a man?"
"Yes, and he was just as wise as the bible tells. He agreed to help us and we started to transfer him to the years before the war."
Roger rubbed his hand across his face, "I still don't see what I have to do with all this."
"The transfer was going according to plan, until we reached the relay here in 1920. Solomon arrived here, but, when we tried to send him on, we couldn't."
"Your relay is broken?"
"Yes, Solomon arrived here in a fierce lightning storm and maybe that had something to do with the malfunction."
Roger asked, "Why can't your people fix it?"
"This station has only operators, no technicians. The closest technicians are 4 relays into the future, about 384 years."
"So why don't you send for them?"
"We can't send to the future, and besides there are other considerations. You haven't realized yet, but, you left your time in the afternoon. You arrived here in the morning, actually, the morning after the day you left."
"I hadn't thought about that." Roger said.
"Yes, it takes time to travel between relays, how long depends on the size of the object being sent. Something small, like a bird, is almost instantaneous, a man takes about 2 hours. You and your car took a lot longer. So it will take four, almost five days just to get Solomon to the proper time. If we add time for resting, and eating, that leaves about one week for him to negotiate the truce."
"Why not land him a year before, then there will be plenty of time."
"We could do that, but our people really want to get this issue resolved quickly."
Roger looked intently into her eyes. "What about me? Why am I here?"
She took a deep breath and sighed softly, "you're here quite by accident. You were one
relay away, and when we tried to work the relay, something strange happened. It picked you up and brought you here."
"How did you know where to find me?" Roger laughed.
"We didn't. That diner was close to where you were taken from, in the other time of course, and I thought you might show up there sooner or later."
"Well, send me home!"
"We can't, our machine is broken. But maybe you can help us repair the problem. We have done a search on you and find that you just might have the knowledge and skill to help us." Mickey smiled broadly.
"You see, we can receive from the future, but, we can't transmit. Need I say more?" She laughed again.
"I see what you mean, if I want to get home, I have to fix your machine."
"Exactly! Up this road is our relay. It's in an old farmhouse just around the next bend. Shall we go?"
Roger started the car and pulled back onto the dirt road.