Second Chance

By John Cosper

Sgt. Danver got the call over his headset just as he reached his daughter's school. He was just leaning over to kiss Kelly goodbye when the frantic call came over the earpiece.

The adrenaline was pumping so loud, he could hardly hear his little girl say, "I love you." He urged her to get out of the vehicle quickly. "Daddy’s needed at work."

She bounced out of the hover car and closed the door, then paused to wave as her brave daddy set out to bring a dangerous man to justice.

Danver downloaded more information on the fugitive on the dashboard computer. The crime happened two miles away. The unidentified man was believed to have robbed a small coffee shop, assaulting two employees in the process. What was worse, witnesses believed the man to be under some chemical influence.

And he was armed.

"Dispatch, this is Danver, badge 9012, requesting intercept coordinates."

"Copy, 9012," the dispatch operator replied. "Transmission commencing."

A map appeared on the computer screen, plotting the suspect’s movements, and analyzing the best point of attack for Danver. He turned on his lights and moved his hovercar into position to intercept three blocks from the school.

Just shy of the intercept point, things began to go wrong. Another vehicle, a family car, pulled out in front of him. Danver pulled up on the wheel to avoid the car, losing control and slamming into a street sign.

It's hover engines damaged, the car dropped to the street. Danver was shaken, cut, but still able to move. He slipped out the car door and walked out into the street, gun and badge drawn, just in time to see the suspect's vehicle approaching.

The red car slowed to a halt. Danver walked forward, eyeballing the suspect. His eyes burned red, confirming the suspicions that this suspect was under the influence of some kind of drug.

"Step out of the vehicle, sir!" Danver ordered.

No reply. The red eyes were fixed on Danver. The police officer stepped forward with confidence, certain he could take the suspect in. "I said, step out of the vehicle."

This time the suspect responded… by revving the engine.

It was a moment of weakness, of fear… Danver saw his life flash before his eyes. He envisioned the car accelerating toward him, hitting him at full speed.

And that's when Danver fired.

******

The surveillance tape ended with the red car drifting into a store front as the driver’s foot fell off the brake. Watching from his seat behind the defense table, Danver shook his head. Five people were injured when the car plowed into that store. Not a night went by that Danver did not regret his actions.

Judge Waters cleared his throat. "Officer Danver, you have plead guilty to second degree murder in the shooting of citizen Edward Purless, and guilty to causing the destruction of the shop located at 1414 Alpha. Do you have anything to say on your behalf before sentencing?"

Danver stood to his feet. "I do. While I acted that in what I believed to be self-defense, I now know I was acting in fear, and not concern for my fellow citizen."

The judge nodded his approval at the admission. "You recognize the damage you did to the innocent, and the sick?"

"I do," said Danver. "The people in the shop were innocent victims, as was my victim." Danver felt a lump in his throat as he spoke the words. "Mr. Purless was ill, and could have been rehabilitated by the state, had I not rushed to judgment."

"I appreciate your candor," the judge replied. "While it is a shame Mr. Purless was lost to us, we do have means to remedy the situation, should you choose to accept it."

"Remedy?" Danver asked. "I thought the only remedy was jail time."

"That is an option you may choose," the judge said. "Exchanging your life for the one you took. Or, if you are willing to be a part of a government experiment, we might offer another solution."

Danver looked at the others in the courtroom. Suddenly, he wondered why this seemingly simple hearing was closed to only a few government officials. He turned to the judge. "What is this solution?"

******

Danver looked on the machine with awe. As a child, he had read an ancient classic novel by H.G. Wells, called The Time Machine. While Wells’s device looked nothing like the metal monster before him, the concept was the same. By bending the fabric of the space/time continuum, Officer Quentin Danver would be rocketed back through time. He would arrive four hours before his murderous actions cost Citizen Purless his life.

He was going back to stop that terrible tragedy from occurring.

The time machine was held in a secret location, known only to the police and a few city officials. The station was manned twenty-four hours a day since it became active, with special police agents on standby to assist in carrying out the time travel missions.

From what Danver heard in his debriefing, two trips had been made successfully. The first was merely a test, but the second had, apparently, thwarted an assassination of the city mayor.

He entered the chamber at four AM, and met the men who would greet him in the past. Agents Vinson and Logan were both young, able-bodied men who seemed to relish their jobs. They eagerly shared the tale of how they helped a city detective hunt down and apprehend an assassin before he could shoot the mayor.

"That’s quite a tale," he told them as Logan finished. "I never heard about anyone trying to kill the mayor."

"That’s because it never happened," Logan explained. "Not in this reality. We erased the assassination attempt by stopping it before it could take place. Only a handful of people know about it, outside Vinson, Detective Marx, and myself."

Satisfied that this would work, Danver followed Vinson into the chamber, where he was strapped into his seat. With a twinkle in his eye, Vinson told Danver, "Looking forward to meeting you again for the first time."

"Same here," said Danver. Vinson sealed Danver in the chamber. The inner sanctum of the machine was lit brightly, and the lights were warm enough to make the officer sweat. Silently, he waited for something to happen, listening intently for the roar of engines. Instead, after what to Danver seemed only ten minutes, the chamber opened, and Officer Vinson stepped inside.

"Welcome back," Vinson said. "Officer Vinson at your service."

Danver wasted no time explaining his mission to the young officers. Both listened intently, and seriously, asking the occasional question.

"Sounds like a risky proposition," Logan said. "Why not nail this guy before he robs the place?"

"Because we’re not dealing with a social creature," Danver said. "Excuse me, I mean citizen. We just don’t know where he was before the crime. The best place to get him is the moment I chose to kill him."

"Very well," said Vinson. "Let’s get to it."

******

Thirty minutes into the mission, Danver found himself in his own home. The three time travel agents wore oxygen masks, and Vinson set step one into motion. A small canister of gas filled the house with a safe anesthetic. Once the gas took full effect, they moved to the bedroom.

Nothing can compare to the shock of seeing one’s self in the flesh. Danver hesitated at the door as he looked on his sleeping form, lying next to his wife. He felt a strange weakness in his knees, and stepped out of the room.

"Not to worry, Officer," said Logan. "We’ll handle this."

Danver walked down to the restroom. He looked at his masked visage in the mirror, waiting for the all clear from the other two. Once his old self – his past – was safely out of the way, Danver moved into position. With assistance from the other two, he climbed into his pajamas. Then, after removing his mask, he climbed into bed. It felt strange, lying beside his wife on a night he had already lived, like déjà vu to a degree he had never experienced…

The remaining trace of gas in the house ensured he would fall asleep quickly.

The morning continued to be disorienting from the moment his alarm went off. The same song that woke him two weeks earlier came on at the exact same place. His wife rolled over and nuzzled his neck in the same manner. Then with a kiss, she was up, getting ready to leave for work. Danver almost believed he had woken from a bad dream, but upon sliding his uniform back on, he found his orders from the judge in his shirt pocket.

This was real.

Danver had a second chance to save a life.

******

The call came in as before, at the same moment Danver pulled up to Kelly’s school. The same ritual played out, with a kiss followed by an admonition to let Daddy get to work. Kelly waved, as she had before, while Danver set out for the intercept point.

He arrived a few seconds early this time, and, thanks to hindsight, just ahead of the vehicle that nearly wrecked him. He slid to a halt in the road, this time without damage to city property, and stepped out of the vehicle.

As before, the red-eyed suspect pulled to a halt, seeing the police man with weapon in hand. Danver felt the weapon would convey the seriousness of the moment to the suspect, but this time he would not use it, no matter what.

"Police!" he shouted. "Step out of the vehicle."

No response, as before.

"I said step out of the vehicle, now!"

The car engine revved. Danver felt sweat trickle down his neck, but he refused to give in to his fear. This man was sick. He would surrender. He—

He hit the accelerator.

Danver had only a split second to react and jump out of the way. He felt the wind of the passing car, and the heat of its thrusters as it passed him by. Danver climbed in the car and took off after him.

Logging on to the dashboard computer, he traced the fugitive’s route. He was headed back the same way Danver had just left. Danver gunned the accelerator, siren blaring, and began his pursuit. He took a separate street from the fugitive, and if his calculations were correct…

The two crossed paths again several blocks away.

Side by side, the cars flew down the street. The fugitive looked panicked, scared. Danver knew it would not be difficult to stop this one. He hit the boosters, and leaped two car lengths forward, then swerved to block the fugitive’s path. Purless responded by jerking his wheel left.

Danver could only watch what happened next from afar.

Purless’s escape did indeed come to an end, as his car plowed into the playground of a school. Kelly’s school. The car caught fire as it crashed into the jungle gym. Children and adults began pouring out of the playground, kids screaming.

Danver ran into the play area just as more police officers arrived on the scene. He saw Purless out of the vehicle, cut but otherwise okay. Two officers entering from the other side of the playground trapped him, forcing his quick and peaceful surrender. Thus, the mission to save Purless’s life was successful… but at what cost?

Danver saw bodies everywhere he looked. Burned, broken, mangled bodies of innocent children marked a trail of death from the road to the car’s final resting place. The whole thing happened so fast, the kids never stood a chance.

Kelly never stood a chance.

In the midst of all the carnage, Danver found his only child. Her neck broken, eyes still wide open, the sight brought the veteran police officer to his knees. He wept bitterly, wailing in grief as he held his child in his arms.

He was still there twenty minutes later, when his commanding officer walked up.

"I understand this was your doing," said the chief.

"I had him," he said. "He was stopped. Why didn’t he surrender?"

"Looks like you stopped him pretty well," said the chief. "There’s going to be an investigation. You’re going to be answering a lot of questions."

Danver sobbed. "I never meant for this to happen."

The chief held up a hand for silence.

"Save it," he said. "You can tell it all to Judge Waters."

Copyright 2005 by John Cosper