Chapter 28: Limbo
Date: February 12, 1996
Location: Aboard Inferno
Mission: TBD
I stood near the edge of the observation level, leaning against an invisible rail, peering down at Earth below. So calm and still from this vantage, so deceptively peaceful. Go down to the surface, and it's full of violence and chaos. No, I guess a lot of the world was doing okay. Most people weren't starving in the streets. They just lived insulated from the real horrors of their world. But then, who was I to begrudge anyone their creature comforts, living in a veritable palace in the heavens? I honestly gave some thought to doing something drastic, just having DANTE synthesize some absurd amount of food, or gold, or weapons, or something, and give it to the hungry, the poor, the disenfranchised. Let history shake itself out. Would World War III be less terrible if it happened here and now? Or would it be even worse, creating a world so awful I'd never even be born into it?
And then there was Phyllis--and Peter. Having met them, having spent time with them, I got an uneasy feeling just at the thought of unleashing such terror. They weren't historical figures to me, they were human beings. Real people. So were those I'd killed in my many journeys into the past, as much as I tried to deny it. They bled the same blood, cried with the same anguish, remained just as dead as anyone else. I just made myself feel better, thinking I was serving a greater good. But what had I done, really?
The only appreciable effect I'd had at all was a slightly more benign Magna Worldwide. Previously, I had no records of the company engaging in any kind of public service. After my little intervention with Ryan Andriesen, though, their public profile increased sharply. It worried me somewhat that they also became a more successful company, bigger and more powerful than my old records indicated. Was it possible I'd helped turn Ryan into a more savvy businessman? That was hardly my intent. Primarily, I just wanted him to curb his lust for power, think about the "little people" on his way up. And he did. Ryan and his executives went on adoption sprees, grabbing orphans from any country in which Magna operated, gave them good homes, educated them. By all measures, he was doing an incredible service to humanity. And yet, I couldn't bring myself to trust it. It only made me want to keep a closer eye on him.
His headquarters--the main facility of Magna Red--could be found in Manhattan, a large skyscraper known, coincidentally, as "Magna Tower." One of the anecdotes that caught my attention was a newspaper article from many years ago, shortly after Magna Tower opened. He put out fliers that anyone who came to the building would be given a voucher good for a meal at any Magna-franchised restaurant, limit of one per customer per day. The building was flooded with people looking for a handout, and they received it that day. He reported being so touched by the degree of need in the city, that he set up soup kitchens throughout the five boroughs. He and his associates even ended up fostering and adopting some of the worst cases to show up at said kitchens, kids with no family, no future, and no place to go.
By all rights, he was a humanitarian, a man with a brilliant mind, and a heart to match. Had I really tapped into the latter? Did I truly make that much of an impression on him?
I wanted to feel gratified, I wanted to feel like I'd made a positive difference somewhere, and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. The doubt always nagged. I knew the only thing that would put me at ease would be to get closer to his operations, but I didn't know of an easy way to do that. Spying from the outside could only tell you so much. If I could get inside his organization, that would go a long way. But I needed to have my own backup plan, first. My own "business," so to speak. A team. Just a germ of an idea at that moment, but that's when it first occurred to me, standing there on the observation deck as Australia rotated into view.
What did they call that? A hedge. Yeah, a hedge. If I was going to stop jaunting back and forth through time, I needed to hedge my activities here, find a way to ensure they'd be carried on even if I died. First, my own team.
And then, Magna.
The thought didn't full form in my head at the time, but that's where I was going, almost blindly. Feeling out the contours of a half-concept.
I put out my cigar on the invisible rail and tossed it through the protective screen that held air inside the bubble surrounding me. A faint ember cut out immediately. I liked to imagine that's what I would do to the war, when the time came. Just give it a little push, and it's out like a dying flame. But I had to bring it down from being a raging fire, first.
Chapter 28
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