The Didymus Contingency by Jeremy Robinson Page B

as he suspected what the next words out of Jesus’s mouth would be.
    “You, Didymus.”
    Tom stared at Jesus, waiting for the punchline. It never came.
    “You’re not serious?” David begged.
    Jesus nodded. “I am.”
    “But I...I can’t.” said Tom, “You don’t...I...David?”
    The portion of David’s brain that sent the signals to his mouth had shut down. David watched silently as Jesus put an arm around the baffled Tom and led him away. Suddenly a thought slammed into his cortex and he snapped out of his daze.
    “It can’t be...” David said aloud to himself.
    David ran to Tom and Jesus and said, “Tom, I’ll be back. I have to check something at home.”
    “What? You can’t leave!” Tom was near panic.
    “I’ll be back!” shouted David as he ran down the hill.

    Tom was beside himself with horror. He now completely understood all of David’s fears and reservations. He had violated time in a way that might change every facet of the future he knew. He had gone from a respected quantum scientist to the destroyer of time—his own specialty! Tom was sure that even if they discovered that Jesus was in fact the savior of the world, he would still burn in Hell for what he’d done. Tom’s thoughts were shattered when a strong voice interrupted.
    “Come, Didymus, let me introduce you to the others,” Jesus said, as he led Tom toward a group of men who looked just as wide-eyed as Tom.

— EIGHT—

    Perspective

      
    2005
    11:00 P.M.
    Arizona

    David spent an hour walking through the wilderness in an effort to make sure he wasn’t observed by any ancient Israelites. He thought about the ramifications of a man or woman seeing the light and sound show created by time travel and forming a new religion around the spectacle. Until his percolating theory could be proven in the future, he wasn’t going to take any chances.
    After scoping out the area, David tucked himself away in a thick patch of trees and sat down to formalize a plan. The equipment he needed was in LightTech’s Receiving Area Alpha. But it was a small window of opportunity between the time the equipment arrived and when Tom stole the watch. Almost every hour before and after these events would reveal David’s actions to LightTech and possibly worsen their situation with the ruthless Captain Roberts.
    While Roberts wasn’t currently a threat in ancient Israel—he’d actually jumped to the time of Jesus’s death, two and a half years later than Tom—David himself could still be dangerous in his own time. The presence of two Davids at LighTech could trigger a security response before Tom ever got a chance to leave. More than that, David’s actions now could make things hard for the David at LightTech and potentially keep him from following Tom into the past. If his activities were discovered, LighTech would—
    A thought struck David and he smiled. He knew exactly where and when to go because he had already done it! The second time distortion that was detected when Tom stole the watch! David knew it was himself who had caused the second and third disturbances—the supposed ripples— because he was seconds away from creating them. He worked his watch with quick fingers, setting the date, time and exact location for the most technologically advanced theft in history.
    David normally frequented the bathroom several times before events like this, when he was about to embark on something dangerous, but this time he was unusually calm. He knew the outcome. He knew he would succeed—because he already had. He would get in and out of LightTech with the equipment he needed and no one would be the wiser. And then his future/past self would actually advise against researching the event! David was smiling ear to ear. Birds rocketed into the air as David pushed the final button and exploded back to the future.
    With a flash of light, David appeared, and then the receiving area went dark again. The lab had been shutdown for the past few hours