Chapter XXV - His Time

“Oh, hello Mr. Folks. Nice to meet you,” Zuonn show him his dirty teeth because he smiles so widely. “Enjoy the sun? Me too! It has been a long time since I saw the sun!” Michael laughed in order to make them not too formal with him. “Yeah, you're right! This is the great sun ever!” Zuonn also laughed and Lucas could see some of Ghiglea people started to close their ears.     Michael's eyes turned to see Lucas that still wearing Ghiglea's clothes. He smiles at him and turn his body to see him. “And it must be Mr. Lucas Whitlock?” he guessed. Lucas smile at him and he nodded. “Thank you for your big help, Mr. Whitlock. We really appreciate that,” he continues again. “Just call me Lucas, sir. And no need to thank me. I'm not doing so much thing,” Lucas smile again. “Oh, you are really too humble, Mr. Whitlock. My team told me everything.” Michael Folks put his hand on Lucas's shoulder and walked with him a few steps away from the crowd. “May I ask you something privately?” “Of course, sir.” The old man looked around once, then lowered his voice. “Where did you get that pocket watch?” *** Lucas felt his whole body become cold. “Excuse me?” “The watch in your left pocket,” Michael said calmly. “You have touched it eleven times since I arrived.” Lucas said nothing. “I am not accusing you of anything,” the old man continued. “I am asking because I have seen one before.” *** They walked to a quieter place near the edge of the field. From there, Lucas could see Zuonn showing his teeth to a Ghiglea engineer, who looked absolutely terrified. “Sir,” Lucas said finally. “What do you know about it?” Michael Folks put both hands behind his back. “Forty years ago, when I was still a junior researcher, our team found an object in a collapsed building at the southern site,” he said. “It looked exactly like a normal antique watch. But the metal did not match any period we knew.” “What happened to it?” “We studied it for two years. We learned nothing.” “And then?” The old man was quiet for a moment. “And then the researcher who kept it in his room stopped waking up,” he said. *** Lucas felt his mouth become dry. “Stopped waking up?” “His body was completely healthy. His heart worked. His brain worked. He simply never opened his eyes again.” “For how long?” “Eight months,” Michael answered. “And then one morning he woke up, took a shower, ate breakfast, and asked for a pen.” “A pen?” “He wrote for six hours without stopping. Fourteen pages.” Lucas swallowed. “What did he write?” Michael Folks turned to look at him. “Names,” he said. “Two hundred and six names of people that do not exist in any record of our world.” *** The wind was warm now. The snow around them kept melting, drop by drop, and somewhere behind them Kip was laughing at something. “Sir,” Lucas said. “Where is that researcher now?” “He died twelve years ago.” “And the watch?” “It disappeared from the laboratory on the day he woke up.” Lucas closed his eyes. “Mr. Whitlock.” “Yes?” “Did you also see names?” *** Lucas thought about the last three weeks. Zuonn. Misty. Omerice. Bea. Lopo. Dorsky. Grandmother Vela. Kip. Names of people who, according to every record of his own boring world, absolutely did not exist. “Yes, sir,” he answered. Michael Folks nodded slowly, like a man who just received bad news that he had already expected for forty years. “Then I am going to give you an advice, and you may ignore it if you want.” “Please, sir.” “Write them down.” “Why?” The old man looked at the melting field. “Because that researcher told me something before he died,” he said. “He said the hardest part was not being trapped inside the watch.” “Then what was the hardest part?” Michael turned back to him. “Coming home,” he said, “and being the only person in the world who remembers them.” *** Lucas did not sleep that night. Not in Sororice, and not in his apartment. He sat at his small kitchen table at three in the morning with the pocket watch in front of him and a cheap notebook that he found inside a drawer. He wrote for a long time. Zuonn — big man, hunter, remembers everything you tell him once. Misty — engineer, carries a gun she never uses. Grandmother Vela — old, sharp, cried when she touched grass. Kip — eleven years old, brave, missing one front tooth. Dorsky — dances badly, drinks anything. When Lucas finally stopped, the sun was already coming through his window and his hand was shaking from writing too long. *** He looked at the notebook. Fourteen pages. Lucas laughed out loud in his empty apartment, and then, without any warning at all, he started crying instead. *** Later that morning, before going to work, Lucas took the ratchet wheel from his bedside table and put it inside the notebook like a bookmark. Then he closed the notebook, put it in his bag, and left the apartment. For the first time in three weeks, he was not afraid of falling asleep. He was afraid of something else now. He was afraid of the day when he would open that notebook and not remember which one of these names belonged to a real person.