2بخش

With a high-vis vest and a clipboard,

you can get almost anywhere.

Almost.

An obscure tenet.

No small talk.

Nothing that might reveal

who we are or what we do.

I thought I was here to find out what we do.

You’re not here for “what,”

you’re here for “how.”

“What” is your department

and not my business.

Well, to do what I do.

I need some idea

of the threat we face.

As I understand it,

we’re trying to prevent World War III.

Nuclear holocaust?

No.

Something worse.

Aim it and pull the trigger.

It’s empty.

Aim it.

Check the magazine.

How?

One of these bullets is like us,

traveling forwards through time.

The other one’s going backwards.

Can you tell which is which?

How about now?

It’s inverted.

Its entropy runs backwards.

So, to our eyes, its movement is reversed.

We think it’s a type of inverse

radiation triggered by nuclear fission.

You didn’t make it?

No, we don’t know how yet.

So, where’d it come from?

Someone’s manufacturing them in the future.

They’re streaming back at us.

Try it.

You have to have dropped it.

How can it move

before I touch it?

From your point of view, you caught it.

But from the bullet’s point of view, you dropped it.

But cause comes before effect.

No, that’s just the way we see time.

Well, what about free will?

That bullet wouldn’t have moved if you hadn’t put your hand there.

Either way we run the tape, you made it happen.

Don’t try to understand it.

Feel it.

Instinct.

Got it.

Why does it feel so strange?

You’re not shooting the bullet, you’re catching it.

I’ve seen this type of ammunition before.

In the field?

I was almost hit.

Then you were exceedingly lucky.

An inverted bullet passing through

your body would be devastating.

Not pretty.

These look like today’s.

They may have been made today

and inverted years from now.

Where did you get them?

Came with the wall I was assigned it, like all the material I’m studying here.

Do you have an analysis on the metals?

Sure.

Why?

The mixture of alloys can tell me

where they might have been made.

Look.

I’m not seeing Armageddon here.

The bullet may not seem like

much, but it’s a simple machine.

Lead bullet, brass casing, gunpowder.

If they can invert that,

I see no reason they couldn’t invert pretty much anything.

Even a nuclear weapon can only affect our future.

An inverted weapon might be able to affect our past as well.

Now that we know what to look for, we’re

finding more and more inverted material.

Remnants of complex objects.

What do you think we’re seeing?

The detritus of a coming war.

Yep?

We live in a twilight world.

No friends at dusk.

I was told you left the building.

Even the dead need allies.

Specifically?

I need an assist in Mumbai.

I need to get to Sanjay Singh.

Singh?

He never leaves his house.

And his house is.

his house.

Yes, it is.

I’m looking right at it.

I’ll see who’s on deck.

Bombay Yacht Club in two hours.

It seems you need an introduction to a prominent Mumbai local on short notice.

I’m Neil.

I need an audience with Sanjay Singh.

That’s not possible.

Ten minutes tops.

Time isn’t the problem.

It’s getting out alive that’s the problem.

Would you take a child hostage?

A woman?

If I had to.

I’m not looking to make much noise here.

Yes?

Vodka tonic.

And a Diet Coke.

What?

You never drink on the job.

You’re well-informed.

Well, pays to be in our profession.

Well, I prefer soda water.

No, you don’t.

How’s your parachuting?

I broke an ankle

during basic training.

Singh’s house isn’t tall enough to parachute off of.

It’s bungee-jumpable.

I don’t think “bungee-jumpable” is a word.

It may not be a word, but it may

be our only way out of that place.

Or into it, for that matter.

I know you’re tired.

I’m also very tired.