Chapter 27: …And Old Ones
The rest of the flight passed uneventfully. On arriving in London, Archbishop Shepherd got the two sets of siblings and their chaperone deluxe suites in a hotel less than a block away from the Goddess of Mercy hospital and cancelling their previous ones. After a meal and a change of clothes, they finally made their way to the hospital.
In a spacious waiting room, they reunited with Father Delver and Gwen Guiseman, with much tears exchanged between Gwen and her children. Also waiting there was a veiled woman in a blue dress, two younger men, and an older woman who appeared to be their mother. Celestia remembered seeing the mother and two sons on their flight over, in Coach.
Archbishop Shepherd pulled Father (and Bishop) Delver aside, and soon the two were off in a private room to make their plans.
“Hello, I’m Goanna Guiseman, Gus’ sister,” the older woman introduced herself, “and these are my children: Greg, Gordon and Kim.”
“Kimmy!” Gloria and Gavin exclaimed as one, giving a strong hug to the woman in the veil. “Cousin Kimiko was our favorite baby sitter growing up,” Gloria explained to Celestia and Luna. “She’s been living in London for the past five years, working as an English teacher.”
“I fulfilled my promise,” Kim Guiseman said proudly, most of a grin visible on the twisted face under the veil. With a sigh, she added, “but it was not enough for Uncle Gus.”
Archbishop Shepherd left the hospital soon afterwards, in order to return to Heathrow Airport and speak with the authorities there. He returned to his hotel room late that night.
The next morning, after visiting hours had begun, he returned to Goddess of Mercy Hospital. On walking by, he noticed that Gus Guiseman’s room was full up with relatives, with several others in the waiting room until their turn came around.
After learning that the conditions of the three patients had not changed, he contemplated his next move. He wanted to review his press release one more time before leaving it with the Times of London. Rather than waste time going back to his hotel, he could use the waiting room, but there was too much conversation going on.
He walked over to Meridiem’s hospital room, only to find that it too was full. Among the occupants was Father Delver, Butterfly, Gwen Guiseman, and a woman that that looked somewhat familiar…
“…And when I finally got him to admit what that phone call was about,” the woman was telling the others, “I declared that I was going to London, and there was nothing he could do to stop me. And by the Goddess did he ever get mad! We had a huge shouting match, during which he as much as admitted that he…that he did horrible things to my daughter, and was willing to do the same to me if I dared to disobey him.”
“What did you do?” Butterfly asked.
“I head-butted him out of a three-story window,” Meridiem’s mother told them, “and came straight here. I wonder if there’s a warrant out for my arrest?”
Shepherd sighed and got a business card out of an inner pocket. “Here’s my lawyer’s number. You’re better off calling sooner rather than later.”
With that, he stepped next door, to Gnosi’s hospital room, which was devoid of guests. Like Meridiem and Gus, Gnosi was unconscious. Meridiem and Gnosi had been put into medical comas in order to recover from radiation poisoning. Gus’ case…was more complicated.
Shepherd sat down next to Gnosi’s bed and reviewed his proposed release. Eventually, he was satisfied that it succeeded in taking what should be a cut-and-dry miracle and obfuscate it to the point that nobody would know what actually happened.
“I just wish I knew what actually happened,” Shepherd said to no one in particular.
“I might be able to help you with that,” Gwen said from the doorway. When Shepherd made no move to stop her, she took a seat next to the Archbishop. “I know for a fact that all three of them travelled through time, to 1945 and back,” she told him. After a few moments she grinned and added, “I notice you’re not telling me that I’m crazy.”
“I’m waiting to see what kind of proof you have for that outrageous statement first,” Shepherd replied.
Gwen reached into her purse. From her wallet, she removed two photographs, and handed the first to the Archbishop. “This is a copy of a photo that Goanna Guiseman received in the mail in late 1945, from a post office box in Rio de Janeiro. It was a Polaroid instant photo, of a type that wouldn’t even be invented for the next thirty years.”
Shepherd examined the photo, then had a double-take and examined it closer. It showed a young Japanese girl, Gus Guiseman in the very clothes he was hospitalized in, and an exploding bomb. The girl’s name was helpfully provided on the bottom of the photo. “It…well I guess if what you say about the film and the year is true, it can’t be a fake, but I’m sure that somebody would have thought so at the time.”
“You’re right,” Gwen replied, “and that someone was Goanna’s brother Gus. He thought it was a cruel joke designed to chastise him for his part in the Japanese bombings. He thought the old man in the photo was a manipulated image of their father, who was at that time in the last year of his life. Goanna insisted that they go to Japan and hunt down this girl, and when she found her she fell in love. It took a few years, but eventually Goanna adopted Kimiko. Kimiko then showed her new mother two other things which the mysterious man in the photo gave her. The first was a second photo.” Gwen then gave Archbishop Shepherd another copied photo, this one showing the girl, 1985 Gus Guiseman, and 1985 Meridium and Gnosi. “And the second was an umbrella manufactured in 1985.
“Gus meanwhile turned the problem around in his head every which way, but was unable to solve it, so he never spoke of it again,” Gwen said with a laugh. “As a result, when I married him, I never knew that there was anything unusual about Aunt Kim’s adoption.”
She became much more serious for the next part of her story. “In 1978, Gus collapsed on the street. He was hospitalized, and diagnosed with liposarcoma, and given only two years to live. I…didn’t take the news so well.
“That was when Goanna took me aside and told me everything I’ve told you. She also showed me the contents of a package sent from the same mysterious Brazilian P.O. Box. It contained an issue of People magazine dated June of 1985, and a letter. The letter described Pan Am Flight 103, which was destined to be destroyed by a nuclear bomb on June 28, 1985, unless somebody acted to change history. Kim had already volunteered to move to London for that very purpose.”
Gwen paused to look down at her hands before continuing. “Once I was convinced that this all wasn’t science fiction, I found that I was willing to live with it. My Gus would live five years longer than predicted, and then he would save hundreds or even thousands of lives by travelling through time, something that he had been dreaming of doing since he was a little boy. And so all the members of his family entered into a conspiracy to keep the truth from him, so that those last seven years of his life would be as happy for him as possible. I think that he at least suspected that we were up to something.
“I had no idea how it would happen. For one thing, Gus was just a small step removed from a classic mad scientist, so maybe he’d whip up a time machine in the garage one day. Or maybe some natural phenomenon would sweep him up, and he’d somehow use his knowledge of science to master it. But one thing I was sure of: he was never going to come back to me.
“I always knew that Gus’ trip would kill him—it was too much to ask in this cruel world of ours for something so wonderful to not have a price. When I finally had an opportunity to meet the two Markists in Kim’s photo, I did everything I could in the short time we had together to become their best friends, to thank them in any small way I could think of in return for what they were going to give up. My Gus had had a long and rewarding life, and thanks to that little book of his, he had finally achieved literary immortality. But Meridiem and Gnosi were too young to die. I’m glad that they appear to be recovering.”
Shepherd rested his hand on Gwen’s. “I am truly sorry for what you have gone through, Mrs. Guiseman. But you mustn’t give up hope—this is one of the world’s leading hospitals, and they have already done a remarkable job with Gnosi here and Meridiem…”
Gwen smiled sadly. “I’m sorry, Archbishop, but my husband has cancer, and the radiation he was exposed to pushed it out of remission and into overdrive. It is only by giving him near-lethal doses of narcotics that he is being kept out of unbearable pain, and his condition continues to deteriorate. Short of a miracle, there is no way to save him.”