Danielle woke up early in the morning, and told herself that she was 100% committed to taking on the Resistance's time mission. 'If I keep telling myself that, it will eventually sink in enough to become true,' thought Danielle.

  Michaela made breakfast for everyone, and Danielle said her good-byes to Malaika, Angelica, Haruto and Michaela. Derrick drove Danielle and Kenji into town. Danielle brought her travelling pack, complete with all of her personal possessions down to her toothbrush. The two Bitcoin storage devices were packed as separately as she could manage. "I'm not quite sure what I should bring to the year 2057, guys!" joked Danielle.

  "Jian and Leonard will set you up with what you need, but remember that you will be going forward in time and not back. The future will probably have such cool stuff that you won't need anything from the present, anyway," replied Derrick.

  "Here we are," observed Derrick, as they pulled into the parking lot. There were already a good number of vehicles parked. "Wow! It looks like the gang's all here! I would guess that some of them have been working all night. Kenji and I stayed until 10:00 pm, but some of these cars haven't moved since we left! Everyone is doing everything they can for you, Danielle."

  Derrick and Kenji led Danielle directly into a section of the facility that she had not yet seen. In the back corner of the former sawmill, was a high ceiling room of about 2000 square feet filled with mostly electronic gear. Computer hard drives and servers, arranged on racks, cables connecting them to routers and networking devices. On every window there was an air conditioner, connected to wall outlets via extension cords. All of them were running, and in several places between the racks, there were large fans. The whole assembly was very noisy. At a work desk, Jian and Leonard were tinkering inside servers with their covers removed.

  "Danielle!" exclaimed Leonard. "We heard that you made your decision! Everyone was pretty pleased by that."

  Danielle realised that Malaika or Michaela must have called Derrick last night. "Yes, I'm going," blurted out Danielle with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. "I am here to learn everything I can from you guys. Do your best!"

  "Of course," replied Leonard. Then, waving his hands around towards the equipment, he added, "Here it is! Our Hope for the Future! We're drawing 10 megawatts right now but we hope to max out the power usage of the whole dam, someday."

  "Before we do that, we are going to have to improve the cooling system around here," added Jian.

  "That's true," acknowledged Leonard, but even so we are making some strides. None of this equipment is connected to the internet, Danielle. We are keeping the whole thing separate, and the plan is to make it as useful as possible a tool to fight the future AIs."

  "What sorts of tasks will it be able to accomplish?" asked Danielle.

  "In aggregate, we hope that this machine will be able to construct a plan to reverse the outcome of the Tachyon-D experiment. How we get there is anyone's guess, but the watermark message has encouraged us to believe that we will be at least somewhat successful. Rest assured that all of us will do our best to prepare for your return in 2057, whatever happens in the intervening years," explained Leonard.

  "Most of this gear came from a failed Bitcoin mining company, that went broke here in 2017. We will need a pile more, and Kenji has some leads for us in Oregon. Those guys throw so much away, it is ridiculous. Every time they upgrade one of those big data centres, they fill their dumpsters. The trick is getting it here," added Jian.

  "Yes," added Kenji, "I am starting to think that the best plan is to find Canadian sources of this stuff, even if we have to pay a bit more."

  "Let's head over to the meeting room," suggested Leonard. "It is quieter there, and I know that Mei has some gear for you."

  "Sure!" answered Danielle. She was starting to feel like the focus of attention, and it was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable. 'Oh well,' she thought to herself. 'I am sure that there will be vastly more discomfort in my future.' Little did she know just how prescient that thought would prove to be.

  __________________________________________________________________________________

  "Danielle! I heard that you have made your decision! Is it true?" asked Mei, as she walked into the meeting room.

  "Yes. Sign me up for a one way ticket to 2057," replied Danielle, with a hint of dread in her voice.

  "Ah, I sympathise. Until we throw the switch, you can back out at any time. But seeing as it is a go for now, I will kit you out." Mei lifted the chameleon suit pack onto the wooden meeting table, and then a second backpack. "We are hoping that all of your gear will fit into these two packs. Keep in mind that the plan is for you to get into a boat with a colleague, and sail to Europe. Also, we should be a bunch more gear waiting for you in 2057, if all of our preparations work out."

  "What if I get there and nobody is waiting for me?" asked Danielle.

  "Good question," replied Mei. That will be entirely up to you. Obviously we will be trying to avoid that possibility, but if Arachnid or some other disaster takes us all out, then my thought would be you should head south, however you can, and re-enter the United States. your ID will get you across the border, even though your passport will be long expired. Whatever funds or investments you have now can be recovered once you get back to Arizona. However like I said, we plan on being there, one way or another."

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  "Okay, I have all of my ID and everything that I am taking along for the ride. I would like a copy of that Le News newspaper article, if I might," requested Danielle.

  "Sure thing," replied Mei.

  "When does my flight leave? joked Danielle.

  "We can send you off this afternoon if you are ready," replied Leonard. "I will have to shut down the Hope for the Future computers. We will also need to cut off power for the town. Every bit of juice that we have will be necessary to work the Time Machine. Do you want me to power it up?"

  "No time like the present! Can I have some lunch first?" asked Danielle.

  "Go for it!" replied Leonard. "We will be ready at the power house when you are."

  "Thanks Leonard. Thank you everybody," said Danielle.

  __________________________________________________________________________________

  Mei, Beverly and Heather ate lunch with Danielle. After the meal, Danielle transferred all of her personal possessions into Mei's mission backpack. All of the guys went over to the powerhouse to prepare the time machine.

  "This really feels odd to me," observed Heather. "I mean, we have all been around or participated in a time mission, but it's always going backwards in time."

  "Yes!" added Beverly. "When you travel back in time, there is some comfort knowing you can expect something. I always tried to research as much as I could about the year I was going to. Sometimes things were a bit different than the pictures, but I was never too surprised. What can you expect the year 2057 to look like? Flying cars? Robots doing all of the work? Aliens walking in the streets?"

  "I doubt that Ocean Falls will look much different than it does now," suggested Mei. "The locals tell me that not that much has changed for the past 30 years."

  "Yes, I am imagining that for the first few weeks, all I will be doing is catching up with the world changes that have happened," speculated Danielle.

  "It's exciting, in a way. I always wanted to see the future." Heather was cleaning up the dishes now that lunch was finished.

  "What are your ideas as to how you will approach the mission, Danielle?" asked Heather.

  "I've noticed that none of you have had much to say on that, and I can understand why that is," replied Danielle. "It seems to me that all of the time technician training applies doubly to a mission into the future. I will have to think for myself, and adapt to the situations that present themselves. Assuming that you guys can deliver me to Europe, then the goal is to get into Switzerland and find this Rudolf guy. No small task. I will be tired from the journey and uncertain where he is. That is step one, and probably the toughest. Step two is to figure out how to interact with him. I might just have to use some of my feminine wiles!" explained Danielle, grinning.

  "Good so far, Danielle," observed Heather. "What then?"

  "Well, he must be a smart guy, and I think that we have a strong case. Presenting the truth, in a convincing manner should be enough to sway him, I hope."

  "I like it!" agreed Beverly.

  "Then I will just tell him that if he doesn't make the change, they will kill him in his apartment, and show him the newspaper article! That would be enough to change my mind. The facts will be in my favour, I think. The main question will be if I am able to find him, and have the time to present my case."

  "Danielle, I am more sure than ever that you are the right agent for this job," observed Mei. "We have all been sent out into these situations. Every mission is unique, and every problem encountered has its own solution. We are always sent to places where one or more faction leaders are paying particularly close attention to something important. But you are going directly into the centre of the hornet's next, I fear. Every faction has something to gain by preserving the timeline of Rudolf's experiment, as it is. It is also worth noting that CERN is a high security zone for the people and authorities who live in 2057. You'll definitely be dealing with them, as well. Take care of yourself."

  "I will," replied Danielle.

  The lights flickered off, and after a couple of seconds, yellow emergency lights came on to take their place.

  "Jamari has shut off the power! " commented Heather. "He must be ready to go. We should head over to the powerhouse."

  _________________________________________________________________________________

  Jamari and Kenji were busily adjusting machinery inside the powerhouse which contained the time machine. John Teator greeted Danielle and her four companions at the front door.

  Danielle wore the backpack containing all of her personal possessions and Heather carried the backpack holding the Stillsuit and its associated gear.

  "Danielle," welcomed John. "Just like old times! If it is okay, I would like to go through your gear with you. Best not to forget to take something important!"

  "Sure thing," replied Danielle. If someone else checks it, I will feel more comfortable."

  John Teator opened and checked every item in Danielle's possession. If anything, he was more meticulous then he and the other technicians had been in Las Vegas. When he laid his eyes on the bitcoin storage devices, he raised an eyebrow, but eventually congratulated her on the thoroughness of her planning.

  "You've got this girl!" commented John Teator.

  By the end of the inspection, everyone had entered the powerhouse. Most were up on the overhead metal catwalk that led to the upper entryway. In the time it took to look through her backpacks the noise levels inside the powerhouse had ramped up. More water was flowing through the fully opened penstocks. The control boards were humming and Jamari was walking around throwing large switches to their closed positions.

  "We are ready for you to enter the cage, Danielle," said Kenji, offering his hand to guide her up the walkway into the transit cage. "The cage works as a Faraday cage, Danielle," shouted Kenji, above the din. "You'll be protected inside of it!" The noise was getting really loud inside the powerhouse.

  Danielle stepped inside the cage, lined with the cables provided by the time agent from the future. Kenji handed her the Stillsuit pack, which she set onto the metal floor of the enclosure. Her nerves were really going through the roof. 'Anxiety, or what?' she asked herself. Looking up onto the catwalk, she could see all of her recently acquired friends: Mei, Beverly, Leonard, Heather, Mei, Jian and Reginald. Kenji, Jamari, Derrick and John were still working down on the main floor, with Jamari staring intently at his control panel, and typing rapidly. Jamari looked up, and directly at Danielle. He extended his hand and made a thumbs up signal. He waited for Danielle to return the signal.

  Danielle made a thumbs up with her right hand.

  The last thing Danielle thought was, 'I hope that Uncle Lou is going to be able to explain all of this to my family!'

  Jamari threw the main switch.