Rewinder Read Online Free PDF Page B

box—approximately five inches by seven and an inch thick—and holds it out to me. When I take it, I find it’s not nearly as heavy as I expected, and it’s not made of wood at all but some kind of metal designed to look like wood.
    “Open it,” she says.
    On the top is a flap that’s latched on the wide side. I try to open it but it doesn’t budge.
    “Right here,” she says, touching a smooth section next to the latch. “Touch it with your right thumb.”
    I do as she says and the latch pops open.
    When I look at her, she says, “It’s been keyed to you.”
    I start to ask, “How?” but my attention’s drawn to the display screen and buttons that were covered by the flap.
    “What is this thing?”
    She holds her hand out and I give it back to her. “The engineers call it a temporal transmitter, but it’s more commonly referred to as a Chaser.” She sets it on the table.
    I know temporal has something to do with time, but what would a temporal transmitter be? A radio clock?
    Seeing my confusion, she says, “A little history. The Upjohn Institute received its royal charter from Queen Victoria in March of 1841.”
    I blinked. Eighteen forty-one is an extremely important year in the history of the empire.
    “Yes,” she says, noting my reaction. “That was only three months before she was killed. When King James III took the throne, he reconfirmed the charter, and the institute’s been here ever since, serving the upper castes of the empire.
    “Until thirteen years ago, the only means we had for verifying lineages were old records. This was sufficient to a point but not always one hundred percent accurate. Records can be falsified, and whole histories can be changed to suit someone’s interests.
    “In 1998, Lady Williams learned of a project being conducted at a small university in Virginia. She saw the potential immediately, so she made a sizable donation to the school in exchange for hiring Professor Clarke and moving his project to the institute. Under her guidance, the professor turned his research in a direction more useful for our needs. It took him a little over three years, but finally he did it.” She touches the Chaser.
    “Did what?” I ask.
    “Perhaps it’s time for a demonstration.” She picks up the Chaser. “Think of a date, sometime in the past couple years, one you know exactly where you were at a specific time.”
    “A date? Why?”
    “Please, just think of one.”
    Without my even trying, a date comes to me.
    “Ready?” she asks.
    “Yes.”
    “I only need to know three things. The date, the time, and the city or district you were in.”
    “May 9 th , 2009. Three p.m. The Shallows, New Cardiff.”
    “All right. Now I’m going to ask you to stay in your chair no matter what happens. Can you do that?”
    “Yes. Of course.”
    She opens the Chaser’s lid and works her fingers across the buttons and screen. After a moment, she says, “I’ll be right back.”
    I expect her to get up and walk out. What happens instead is that she stands up, pushes a button on the device, and disappears.
    Despite my promise, my chair flies backward into the wall as I jump away from the table. I want to yell, but I can’t even take a breath. She was there, standing by her chair, and then she was…gone.
    With effort, I calm myself enough so that air can flow back into my lungs.
    It has to be some kind of trick. An illusion created by projections, perhaps. I’m half convinced she was never actually in the room, but then I remember that we shook hands.
    I slowly approach the table again. When I reach it, I lean forward and wave my hand through the air where she was standing. Empty.
    I eye the door and consider fleeing, but my curiosity is strong enough to keep me there. If this is some kind of test, the moment I step out of the room I’ll probably fail and be removed from the program.
    Without turning my back on the table, I fetch my chair and take my place again. My foot taps nervously on