Webster Nash

I sit here in my bed, an old man, and my time in this world is soon to be over. I have contacted a disease that has no cure, but one that I carrier proudly. Nothing can stop it because it causes Cellular decay. My cells don’t belong in this time.

I know that this is a bold statement, but it is the truth, and I believe that my story should be heard. Many of you know me as Webster Nash, the CEO of Slip Disk Technologies, but the name I was given by the old ones of my tribe is Wanderer, Wand for short.

Yes, I said tribe, where I’m from there are not 10 billion people. We don’t really know how many there are. My tribe is only around a thousand, and I know of only three other tribes. There are few things in my World that you could take for granted. It was an everyday struggle to survive. Well, enough of this let me get on with my story, and by the way, I was only 17 at that time.

The wind was light, and it was warm on my face. I was not in the sun but soon would have to cross the canyon. There was a small stream, but it was no more than a few inches deep but did have a few deep pools. The water would be cold, it was melt off from the glacier in the north. I could see no beasts along it, and thought this was a little strange.

I had never been this far south before when hunting, and I knew no one else in the tribe that had. I was not hunting for food animals anyways, but was looking for red mushrooms, that grow inside of caves along canyon walls. They were sweet and in high demand for winemaking.

I fitted an arrow to my bow, I was not going to cross the canyon floor unarmed. I’m an excellent marksman, even if I do say so myself. I pulled my hat down to shade my eyes from the sun. It was still early, and the warm air would feel good. There were no clouds in the sky, but I was sure that there would be some soon.

I just hope there would be no rain, I had not brought my poncho. I did, however, have a jar of burn cream in my backpack. As I walked, I had not seen any sign of any kind of life. I had never been in the canyon where there were not a few lizards trying to keep from getting stepped on.

When I reached the stream I was surprised, the water was not clear. It had a yellow tint to it, and I didn’t see any minnows. I began to have a strange feeling about being there. I had never been anywhere this lifeless before. I decided to hike up-stream and see if I could find out what was making the water yellow.

I noticed that some clouds were moving in from the south. I hurried my pace, I didn’t want to get burned by any rain. I keep a close look at the sky and the canyon wall for anywhere I could get to cover fast just in case. It had not always been like this.

Many of the old-timers, told stories about when the World, was covered with trees, and planets. When grass covered most of the ground, and there were more kinds of animals than you could count. At that time, I thought they were just tales to tell kids.

About an hour and haft later, I found where the yellow tint was coming from. There was a stream of the fluid flowing from somewhere near the cliff, or from it. I looked south, and the clouds were getting thicker and had the look of a big storm. I would have to find cover.

I followed the yellow fluid, it went right into a small cave opening, which was great for me with the storm coming. I had to take my pack off and bend down to enter. Before I got too far in, I found my flashlight, just as the rain started. I was glad to be safe inside. The rain won’t kill someone, but it would surely cause one a lot of pain, making blisters where it sat on your skin for very long. I had been burn on my arms a couple of times.

After about a hundred yards the tunnel opened up some and I was able to stand up and walk. I was careful not to step into the fluid, as I was not sure just what it was. I did know that there was no life anywhere around it, so I was sure it was a poison.

I came to a caravan, it was not that big, but I was able to find a place to sit down. It was only mid-afternoon, but I was tired. I could hear thunder once in a while, so it must have been storming hard. I uni-strung my bow, there was no way I would be able to use in there, I still had my hunting knife.

I wondered how far the cave went, and if I should just give up on finding where the yellow fluid was coming from. I thought that if I could in some way stop it, then the stream would once again be clean. I hated the idea that it was poison of some kind. There was far too little life in the World now. The old ones told tails of a far different world than what we have today.

I didn’t sit too long and decided to keep going. There was just one tunnel, so there was no way to get lost so far. It began to go up slowly, and curve. I felt uneasy, so keep my hand on my knife. I still had seen no sign of life anywhere, but I still felt uneasy. I still could not think of what the yellow fluid was.

I’m not sure how long that I walk, but the tunnel opened on the plateau or almost the top. The rain had stopped, the storm had moved on. It opened into a small valley. There were a few very old buildings. The yellow fluid was coming from a small pound.

There was an area that had washed away, and it was escaping slowly. I looked the pound over good and seen no problem in stopping the flow. There were a good five feet of lip around the pond’s edge, but one spot had been wash away to let it flow out. It would be dark soon, and I had to work fast to stop it, but I was able to get it stopped. I would have to reinforce it the next day.

I went back into the tunnel, where it would be warm to spend the night. The night could get really cold on top of the plateau. The winds could at time blow a man off the edge. I found myself a nice spot to lay down and soon was asleep. I awoke one time by the sound the wind made in the tunnel.

My patch on the pound had held the night, so I went about adding more rock and dirt to make sure it would be fine for some time. I look at the old ruins that were not too far away and wondered, who would want to live up here, and why would they have had a pool of poison?

I had no clue how old the place was. The buildings or ruins were old that was for sure. I decided that since I was up there to take a look at them. I had never heard of any tribe that lived this far south, yet this place was here. They had built with something that looked like rock, but I didn’t think it was. I know now what it was, but back then, I had no clue what concrete was.

I re-strung my bow before going anywhere near them. I still had an uneasy feeling about the place. The place was bigger than I thought, it ran under the ground, as the small valley reached up to the plateau. I want to go up to have a look from the plateau before going back underground.

I had only been on top of the plateau just above my tribe's home, and then only to spot where the Rock Sheep where for a hunting party. I was surprised to find that only a few hundred yards away to the east, there was another canyon, that was even deeper than the one I have lived in my whole life.

The wind was strong near the edge, but I had to look, and seen that there was some kind of bridge spanning the canyon, that was over a mile long. I was amazed that someone could have done this. It had the look of new metal, like my knife, or flashlight. It looked as if it may be coming from where the ruins went back underground.

No one in the tribe had ever mentioned that there was another canyon so close to theirs. I was sure that if anyone had seen the bridge, it would have been the talk of the whole tribe. As far as I knew my tribe was the most southern and the other three I knew of where north.

Few had ever come as far south as this, but I really want to find a new supply of red mushrooms. I had a feeling it was going to be a long day. I could not see where the bridge ended, there was a foggy haze at that end. This canyon did not have a stream but had the look as if it had at one time. I decided I needed to see if I could find how to reach the bridge.

This was all beginning to get a little strange to me. I had just wanted to find mushrooms. I hung my bow over my shoulder, and with my knife in one hand and flashlight in the other, I entered the ruined building. I had to craw a couple of times and make my way down a couple of floors. I finally found the doors to the bridge.

It was metal and showed no sign of rust of any kind, I almost didn’t open it, for I had never seen one made of metal before. I took a look around the room but could find nothing to tell me who these people had been. They had clean the place out.

The door opened as if it had been hung the day before. I step out on to the bridge slowly, not sure if the thing could take my weight, but it seemed to be stable enough. At first, the wind was not too hard, but by the time I got halfway, it was really hard. It was only wide enough for one to use, so I was able to hold on to both sides.

The fog was still there, and I didn’t like the idea of passing through it but had little choice if I was going to find out where it went. I looked down and thought, what would happen if the bridge gave way, there was no way I would survive. As I reached the fog, I was not sure if I should breathe any of it. It smelled a little funny but was all right.

I took my time crossing, but when I reach the other side, there was a door the same as the others. This one was a little harder to open, and when it did, there was a hissing sound.

When I step inside the lights came on. The walls glimmered with facets of light, they were cut from some kind of crystal.

I have no idea if it was made or if the room was natural, but it was rather pretty. As I walked through, I noticed that there were wires running here and there between the crystals. This made me wonder what it was about, and I had no clue. When I reached the other side, and when I went through the door, I stopped dead.

At that time, I really had no idea how to describe what I had seen. There were lights of all colors, flashing on, and off, with clicking sounds. I had never seen anything like before. It was almost as pretty as the crystal room. The room was full of all kinds of rows of boxes, and counters, with a lot of bottles, and jars of different types of fluid.

It was some kind of workshop, I thought. Whoever the people who made this place were, they sure know way more than anyone who lived today, I thought. I rounded a bank of boxes, and all most dropped my knife. There stood before me was a man-made of bite gold metal.

It was just standing there watching me, with eyes that kind of glow, head cocked to the side just a little. I thought of running back the way I had come, but it made no move. Looking back now I believe he, yes I called it he, was just as shocked as I. It looked at the knife in my hand and then back at my face.

“I a sure you sir you won’t need the knife.” He said. It could talk, but it did not have a mouth, that I could see. I really don’t think the knife would have done me any good anyways. “Did you come across the bridge?”

I was only able to nod my head in answer. This was wilder than any story’s the old-timers had ever told, and to say the least, I was nervous.

“I’m called Placer.” He held both arms out and added, “This is the Matrix Hub.” He said it as if it should mean something to me.

I’m not sure how long I stood there staring at him. I had no clue what a Matrix Hub was, or why he would think that I would. “What are you?” I finally asked.

“I’m the state of the art Cyber Consciousness, a one of a kind manufactured man. You really don’t know what I’m talking about do you?”

“No, I don’t. Are you real or did that fog drug me in some way?” I was not sure.

“I’m as real as you are. Please have a seat.” He pointed at a nearby seat, so I sat down but still held my knife. “You have nothing to fear from me. I’m designed to serve any Humans, in any way that I can. I’m unable, to harm anyone, it goes against my programming. What is your name?” He asked.

“I’m called Wanderer by my tribe, but most just call me Wand. What are you doing here? There are no people here to serve, why are you still here?” A metal servant with no master.

“My duty is to the Matrix Hub, and I can not leave as long as Ada Strong is lost in the Matrix. Well, she not really lost, I know when she is but for some reason have lost my lock on her. You are the first person that has come here in almost four thousand years.”

Wow, I thought he has been here by himself for all that time. I had no clue what this Matrix thing was, and how someone could get lost in time. You must understand that in my World, there is nothing like schools, so any knowledge was learned by watching or doing. Most of what was taught had to do with survival. My World was unforgiving to the unaware. There were a thousand ways to die each day.

“Who is this Ada Strong, and whats this Matrix, you keep talking about?” I asked.

“Ada Strong was, or is the last Time Agent. I have no clue what happened to her, and there was no one left here to send after her. I being of metal can not go after her, and my programming demands I stay here. The Matrix is how time travel is possible.”

“So you can’t go after her, is what you’re saying.”

“Only organics can be sent, and as I said my programming says, I must stay here if there is someone traveling. Right after she went was when the war started. The rest of the personnel were called away or were killed in the bombings. You have seen the ruins.”

For the next couple of hours, he told me of what had happened to bring the World to where it was. I was not sure that I believe all that he said, but it did sound as if he believed what he was saying. All this had made me tired.

Placer must have been able to tell by the way I looked and said, “There is a bed in the next room where you can rest. I’ll prepare you a meal and let you know when it’s ready.” He pointed at a door.

I’m not really sure how long I was asleep, but Placer had done a great job on the food, and we continue our talk. The World that I knew was just a by-product, an end result of Eons of greed, and wars. I found it hard to believe that anyone could do some of the things he said. The Human history that he show me, made me ashamed.

Over the next couple of weeks, Placer had taught me what the Matrix Hub was, and what they had been trying to do there. There was some other organization out there, who thought that it was their destiny to bring about the end of the World. This organization was named Forever Never, and they too were able to use a time matrix. They had been at war for over a thousand years, and it looked as if they had won most battles.

Ada Strong was to go back to 1978, to stop a Never agent from giving a young Scientist a chemical formula that they told him would cure cancer. It would seem to work on cancer at first, but the second generation became contagious and spread it. None had a clue for over two decades, and then the Government held this from the public.

Ada Strong had failed, and Placer had no clue of what happened to her. Each Agent carried a coin that they tracked, but hers stopped working within an hour of her arrival. With no one at the Hub anymore there was no one to help her or to fight the war.

Scents it is getting late for this old man, I’m going to shorten my story and jump ahead. Placer convinced me to help. I tried to tell him that my parents had to be worried about me by now. He a sure me that if this war could be won everything we knew as history would change. Just how much I had no idea at the time, after all, I was young.

Placer had given me clothes that were from that era. I was going to try to save Ada Strong. He led me into a small room that was full of strange machinery, with a three-foot circle in the middle of the floor. He showed me a picture of her and give it to me. I thought she was rather pretty, and about the same age.

He had given me two coins, one for her and one for me. I was to meet her as she arrived. Placer told me to stand in the circle. The machinery came to live. I felt a wind move up my body and then my sigh blurred, I had to blink a few times. I was no longer in the Hub.

Placer had shown me what I would find, but it was not the same as being there. I was standing in an alleyway. The sound from the cars passing was louder than I would have thought. I walk to the end of the alleyway and watched the street. I was amazed by the sight, people riding in cars, and people walking along the sidewalks, with no care in the World it seamed. I believe I would have like to live in a world like this.

Just down the street was a noise so loud that it made me jump. The cars all stopped, and the people ran down the street. I rush to look and discovered what had happened to Ada Strong. She was laying in the street, being struck by one of the cars before it had hit another. Her purse was under the wheel of one of the cars, it must have been where the coin was.

I run up to her, yelling out her name and people moved out of the way. I pushed a coin into her hand, press her hand tight, and did the same to mine, and a moment later, we were back at the Hub. My first Time trip had last a whole 20 minutes.

As I said earlier, I’m tired, and it is becoming hard for me to stay awake. Now you know how I first got into Time Travel, but you also now know how I found the partner and the love of my life. After a nap, I’ll continue.