A story exploring time travel and societal issues in the wake of 9/11. This is chapter 34. See previous posts for chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33.
When Thomas first told Trish about A, B, C, and D, she assumed he was joking. But then, while they were experimenting with the Mind Spheres, A and D showed up. Trish watched in fascination as these nameless workers in khakis and whites began using an NSEA headset and typing on laptops. "Are you seriously telling me that these people have been sharing your workshop here since the beginning?" she asked. "This whole time? And you've never even talked to them?"
"Not much to talk about," said Thomas. "I keep waiting for them to finish whatever it is they're doing, but they never finish. They just keep coming back. I call it a studio, by the way. Though I guess workshop works, too."
"And you're just going to go along with it forever?" asked Trish.
"Hard to say," said Thomas. "For all I know, they're building a mind control weapon for the military. But they could just as easily be applying the tech to the manipulation of artificial limbs. Or maybe they're doing something way weirder."
"Such as?" asked Trish.
"Instant education, like I'm doing," said Thomas. "Perhaps orgasms programmed into the mind. Extreme tolerance to pain. There are lots of directions to take it."
"Huh," said Trish. "Safer painkillers. We could sure use those. Though I did read that legalizing marijuana reduces prescription opioid deaths. But seriously. What do you think they're doing?"
"I'll be sure to ask Mr Wachuski the next time I see him," said Thomas. "I've tried talking to these ones here and they never respond."
"Crazy," said Trish. "I don't think I could handle it."
"Truth is I kind of like the mystery," said Thomas. "Playing with secret tech in this unlikely studio, watching these unknown persons come and go. You know, at first I thought they were CIA, but now I kind of doubt it."
"Oh?" asked Trish. "Why is that?"
"The vibe is all wrong," said Thomas. "They're not Ivy League and they don't strike me as soldiers."
"Did you hear the Los Angeles Times got caught clearing stories with the CIA before publication?" asked Trish. "Whatever. Anyway, who do you think they are?"
"Private sector, NID, DARPA," said Thomas. "From what I've been told, it's all pretty much the same when you get to a certain level. This crew definitely seems to be operating at that level. Technically, I suppose so are we."
"Technically, I'm one of the biggest landlords in the country and I live in a treehouse," said Trish. "I'm restless. Want to get out of here for a while?"
They walked through the cold winter afternoon to the coffee shop, which was one of the only places Thomas really went these days. There were no open tables, so they joined a pair of young men, who didn't seem to mind. One wore a gray hat and the other had a bright blue scarf. The pair were involved in a discussion about the new state of politics under Trump.
"I'm just saying he's a racist," said gray hat. "He's as racist as credit scores."
"Right, but I bet he doesn't get us into any new wars," said blue scarf. "Now I'm not saying he's good. Just ... bad in a different way than we're used to. He's friends with Jeffrey Epstein bad, not Timothy DeFoggi bad."
"DeFoggi?" asked gray hat.
"A career bureaucrat who got caught with kiddie porn," said blue scarf. "One thing I know for sure about Trump is that he's no bureaucrat."
Trish giggled. "You guys are great," she said. "I take it you didn't vote for him?"
"Nah," said Gray hat. "No one did. No one here, anyway. But we're just one spot of blue in an ocean of red."
"On another subject," said Thomas. "Are either of you old enough to remember 9/11?"
"I was in elementary school," said blue scarf. "All I remember is the grown ups getting all upset. I saw the towers get hit, but I was too young to understand what I was seeing."
"Same," said gray hat. "But I was even younger."
"And later, in school, do you remember what they taught you about the attack?" asked Thomas.
"That radical Muslims attacked us because they hated our freedom," said gray hat.
"And that all the victims and first responders were heroes," said blue scarf.
"Out of curiosity, were either of you ever taught that elements within the Saudi government supported the attacks?" asked Thomas.
"If that were true, then why did we invade Iraq?" asked gray hat.
"For oil, duh," said blue scarf.
"You know about the petrodollar, then?" asked Trish.
"I know they had oil and we wanted it," said blue scarf.
"So I'm clear," said Trish. "Your version of events is that the towers were hit by a rogue group of religious radicals, then we responded by invading Iraq to take their oil?"
"Yeah, basically," said blue scarf. "I'm not saying it makes sense, but that's pretty much what we were taught."
(Feature image from Pixabay.)
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