‘ ‘Most of them were computer related. It takes an infinite number of calculations to accomplish even a simple same-time mat-trans jump. When you add the complication of a temporal destination, even more juice is needed. The chupacabras, as the locals dubbed them, would not have been my first choice as test subjects, but since I was there and they were the only other living creatures at my disposal, I made do.”
“You made do by sending violent, murderous creatures into the past?” Doc asked in tones of disbelief.
Jamaisvous shrugged. “Frankly I was curious to see if such moronic boobs would survive a reverse time-trawl intact. The information stream I beamed into the quantum interface and bounced back for a picture never did function correctly-then again, the masters of Chronos never perfected the chronal window for temporal peeping, either.”
The whitecoat turned back to Doc. “As I recall, that was another reason for their delight in you, Dr. Tanner. They’d somehow managed to keep the window open into your particular time and locale, actually getting some video footage of you and your wife doddering around the wooden sidewalks of Omaha”
“I know,” Doc replied quietly. “I have seen the tape.”
“The goatsuckers… You said you sent them back?” Mildred prodded, wanting to keep him talking, wanting to extend the situation before Doc crawled into the waiting gateway.
“Right! And from published reports of the time, I was even more successful than I could have dreamed. Amusingly enough, the media of the 1990s deemed the genetically created chupacabras a living creature designed for war, as having extraterrestrial origins.”
“You’re right,” Mildred said. “Soto and Jorge, from Old San Juan, had researched those accounts, too.”
Jamaisvous gestured with both hands, adding a visual commentary as he talked in the clipped manner he assumed when spewing information. “Imagine! Savor the irony! Packs of EBEs-extraterrestrial biological entities-flying over the islands of the Caribbean! Bug-eyed Martians wanting a beach vacation! All of them, racing around the Puerto Rican countryside in then- flying saucers, taking time out to suck the blood from goats and cows in some arcane ceremony. Utterly hilarious.”
“None of them were ever captured or found?”
“Of course they were! The United States government, the ‘aboveboard’ contingent, knew something strange was going on after they took away a pair of the beasts from the island to the mainland for observation and autopsy, but their response was predictable. Taint the evidence and ridicule the believers, while destroying or distorting any real proof.”
Mildred realized where this was leading. “They could tell the chupacabras were genetically engineered creations, couldn’t they?”
“Of course! And here’s the kicker. They took what they could learn from the two animals and used what they thought were alien strands of DNA to make their own living, breathing chupacabras! Next thing you know, we have a paradox. Take into account the eternal question of the chicken or the egg? Doesn’t matter any longer, for you no longer needed the egg in the first place! Which came first-the future or the past? Damned if I can say for sure, but it certainly makes for top-notch entertainment.”
“I’m not a geneticist, but this sounds far-fetched even to me.”
“Not when invoking chimeric DNA, Dr. Wyeth.”
“What?”
” ‘A fearful creature, great and swift of foot and strong, whose breath was flame unquenchable,'” Doc said from his position at the opening of the gateway, pulling up specs from the depths of his incredible memory.
“Sounds like he needs a bottle of mouthwash,” Mildred retorted. She’d heard Doc’s lengthy dissertations on these topics before, and the end result was always one of two things: either Doc’s yammering drove her to distraction or bored her to tears. Now, she welcomed it, knowing as long as she kept the discussion going, the odds were greater of holding these two off until Ryan returned, hoping the one-eyed man would never allow Doc to take such a risk without knowing more about the boundaries.
“The Chimera was a mythical fire-breathing monster, with the great head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a hissing, striking serpent,” Doc continued. “Held to be unconquerable, with the ability to spit bolts of fire…until Bellerophon rode winged Pegasus up and over the beast, shooting her with arrows from a safe distance with no risk to himself.”