Free Asher's Dilemma by Coleen Kwan Page A

impossible to believe? You’re hell-bent on completing your contraption. Is it so unbelievable that you should get the thing to work sometime in the future and use it to travel back here?”
    “I don’t deny that, but I cannot think of one reason why I would want to destroy my own invention.” He began to prowl around Minerva. “I smell a trap here. Someone is using you to get to me, convincing you of this outlandish tale. I never thought you a gullible person, but clearly I’m wrong.”
    “I’m no one’s cat’s paw,” Minerva snapped. “If you saw this Asher you would know I’m telling the truth.”
    “So why hasn’t he shown himself to me?”
    “Because—because he’s afraid of—of the cosmic implications.”
    “Cosmic implications?”
    The man was too busy scoffing to notice, but from his position just outside the door, Asher saw Minerva shut her eyes. Wavering, she leaned against a worktable for support, white as a sheet. His first instinct was to leap to her aid. He took a step forward, but then froze as a frightening occurrence unfolded. The pallor in Minerva’s face appeared to spread across her entire figure. It was as though a fog were enveloping her, obliterating her. Spots of her dress danced in front of his vision. He could almost see through her, see through to the floor and the workbench behind her.
    His innards constricted. Minerva was disappearing before his very eyes. If he didn’t do something she would vanish.
    He threw open the door and charged into the workshop. “Asher!”
    The other man spun round. His eyes stretched. The color drained from his face. “You? But it can’t—”
    Asher of the future strode forward. “Yes, it is I. To avoid confusion, I will address you as Asher, and you may call me Quigley.”
    “My God, my God.” Asher rubbed his eyes. “I don’t believe it.”
    “Pinch me if you don’t believe me.”
    “So…it works? It really works?”
    “Yes, it works.” Losing patience, he turned to Minerva. “You are not well.”
    She didn’t seem to hear him. Her fearful gaze jumped between the two men. “But what of the cosmic implications?”
    “To hell with the cosmic implications.” Cupping her elbow, he found her more substantial than he’d feared, and a modicum of relief filtered back. “This idiot here would never have been satisfied had I not revealed myself.”
    “Who’re you calling an idiot?” Asher jutted out his jaw.
    Quigley moved forward, placing himself in front of Minerva as if to protect her. “Do you wish to take it further?”
    The other Asher glowered then moved towards him with deliberate strides, closer and closer until their breaths mingled. Quigley held his ground while his double scrutinized every inch of him.
    “Quigley, is it?”
    “Do I pass muster?”
    Identical green eyes glared back at him. “Tell me about the journey. Did you experience any pain, any faintness or nausea?”
    “Some, yes, but it was fleeting.”
    “And you have all your senses? You can taste food, smell odors?”
    “Everything. I experience hunger, tiredness, pain. I sleep, dream, remember. Everything functions.”
    Asher nodded, excitement mounting in his expression. “And how did you arrive at the correct voltages to calibrate the chronometrical conveyance?”
    Asher of the future sighed. “By my own calculations, of course.”
    “What about Klaus Schick?”
    “I had to consult him on one or two algorithms, of course. He’s an expert in Riemannian space.”
    “But his analytical machine?”
    “I didn’t use it.”
    “But it would have taken you months to complete and verify the figures.”
    “I didn’t want to fraternize with Schick more than was necessary, and besides, I saw no reason to rush. Without correctly calibrating the machine I risked a great unknown.”
    “Precisely! You could have been out by hundreds or thousands of years.” Asher’s face flushed, and his eyes glittered. “Tell me the figures, Quigley. Tell me what