It was the most difficult decision Dr Paul Jordan had ever had to face, and he was torn. On the one hand, the Altanteans said they could use their transfer generator to send Paul and the two women back to their own time right away, but on the other, it would mean leaving his thirteen-year-old son behind. How could he do that, just go home without Scott?

Still, he knew his son would be safe with Fred and Varian. He trusted Fred, they’d been friends for years, and even though he’d only known Varian for a few days, Paul had the greatest respect for the man from earth’s future, and knew him to be a man of his word. How could Scott be any safer than with a medical doctor and a healer in attendance?

Besides, as soon as the trio arrived at Atlanteum, they could also return to their own times through the Transfer Generator, so in reality, he’d only be leaving his son behind for a few days at most. Then they’d be reunited back where they belonged.

If he could have sent Jill and Eve on ahead, then he might have stayed behind and waited for Scott, but he couldn’t abandon two people he was responsible for. What if something went wrong? Eve could cope; for as long as Paul had known her, she’d been calm, steady, confident, and highly capable, as well as one of his most knowledgeable colleagues in the field of marine biology, which was why he’d invited her. He’d needed a woman along on the trip as company for the one female graduate student who’d signed up. Jill, unfortunately, had proven more delicate. She’d been badly shaken by the shipwreck, and even more so by her experience among the privateers. It would be best to get her back to their own time as soon as possible; then perhaps she could dismiss recent events as nothing more than a bad dream.

The other reason Paul wanted to get home as soon as possible was, of course, his wife. Enid had no idea what had happened to her husband and son. All she would know was that contact with the boat they’d been on had been lost. She must surely believe they were dead, lost at sea, and Paul didn’t want her having to suffer that nightmare any longer than was absolutely necessary.

So he would take the ladies and himself back to nineteen seventy-seven, and Scott would follow in a few days, when he, Fred, and Varian reached Atlanteum. Everything would be fine, or so he hoped.

It would be a wrench though, leaving without Scott, knowing his son was, even for just a few days, so far away from him in terms of both time and space, still trapped on this peculiar island, where past, present, and future somehow existed side by side, each on its own terms. For a historian or a physicist, it would be the stuff of which dreams were made, a fascinating if hazardous field for exploration and study, but Paul had seen more than enough already. His own time was far from perfect, but it was at least a known quantity.

He tried not to think about the four people who would not be returning home. Ben and Carl, owner and crew of the boat he’d chartered, and the two other graduate students who’d signed up for the field trip. All of them had lost their lives through misadventure, and he felt responsible, even though there’d been little he could have done to prevent their deaths. Their families would have to be informed; that was another good reason to return home right away.

Paul was sorry that he wouldn’t get to see Varian again, to thank him in person for all the help and guidance he’d provided; he would have liked to learn more about earth in the twenty-third century, but perhaps someday his descendants would meet the man to whom Paul owed so much. He could hope for that. In the meantime, the best he could do was write a letter to Scott explaining his reasons for leaving without him, and hope the boy was strong enough to understand and accept them. Perhaps he would add a note to Varian as well, a thank you and a goodbye to a man he wished he could have gotten to know better.

Decision made, he asked the Atlanteans if they could provide him with pen and paper, then began to write.

My dear son, Scott…


The End