Crossover Earth '98
Just a Vagabond Jay Shaffstall
The man known as Jack Trail jogged into town. He'd spent the night at the government research facility with Dr. Martin. He'd been spending many nights with Dr. Martin lately, helping the man to stop drinking and keep his work progressing. Without his moral support, the Traveller didn't know if Dr. Martin would have kept going.
The Traveller walked up to his motel room and slipped the key in the lock. He'd been sleeping days for some time now. With any luck, it would all be over in January, when the experiment was scheduled to run.
As soon as he opened the door, he sensed the other presence in the room. He reached out and flicked the light switch, revealing another man sitting in the chair by the bed.
For anyone else, it would have taken minutes to recognize someone else wearing their own face. For the Traveller, who'd spent hours studying his face for any clue as to his background, recognition was instant. Not only the face, but the body, build, everything. The man sitting in his chair could be his twin.
"I'm amazed you found your way here," the other said.
The Traveller stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.
"I don't understand."
The other man chuckled. Where on the Traveller, such a chuckle would have been full of humor and compassion, on this man it was as if he was watching a baby die and found it humorous.
"I'm not surprised. You should have gone to the university. The answers were there, waiting to be unlocked."
"What answers?"
The other man didn't speak at first, but gazed at the Traveller as if evaluating him.
"Why do you do it?"
The Traveller wrinkled his brow in puzzlement.
"Do what?"
The other scowled. He stood and approached the Traveller until the two were within arm's reach.
"Help them. Care about them." The man looked at the Traveller's eyes, as if he could find the answers there. "We are superior to them in every way."
"Superior to whom?"
"To everyone! To the sheriff you helped in that first town, to the so called heroes and villains that abound. They are only worth our contempt. You are my only equal on this planet, and you are weakened by your compassion."
"I don't see it like that," the Traveller answered. "Compassion is what gives me strength. Caring is what makes me continue living. Without that, what do you have?"
"The sheriff followed me to the university, you know." The change of subject startled the Traveller.
"Sheriff Peal? What did you do to him?"
The other man laughed without humor.
"He's fine, but he won't be pointing that revolver at anyone again for quite a while." The other man turned and sat back in the chair.
"Who are you?"
"I call myself Vagabond. You and I are like brothers."
"Brothers?"
Vagabond nodded.
"The university unlocked my memories. It was at the university that I was created. We're constructs, you and I, grown for a single purpose. To save our worlds."
Constructs! The Traveller didn't reject the explanation. It would explain why he could do the things he could do, and so much else.
"What do you mean worlds? Isn't there just the one?"
"We each come from one possible future. Our futures depend on Dr. Martin's experiment succeeding. The scientists in my future were advanced enough to determine that someone was trying to alter the past. So they created me to send into the past to deal with the threat. The scientists in your future must have done the same."
The Traveller walked to the bed and sat heavily on it. Vagabond's words had the ring of truth, and yet he sensed the other man was leaving out major portions of the story. Regardless, there seemed to be only one course open to them.
"It appears we'll both be helping Dr. Martin. I'll introduce you tomorrow night."