The Sphere: A Journey In Time by Michelle McBeth Read Free Book Online Page B

did remember one experiment involving a new fruit he hadn’t cooked with that turned out too mushy for human consumption, but he had a lot more experience with gauging the consistency of food now. "Outside?" he asked and I nodded in return. I always preferred the grass to his dining area table and chairs. I could never get comfortable in the hard plastic curves of his seating choices.
     
    He spooned servings out into bowls and grabbed a bottle of viognier from the fridge. Though I tended to prefer reds, I trusted his judgment of what would best compliment his creations. I silently grabbed my bowl and two glasses and followed him out to the courtyard. We plopped down in the grass and I held the glasses for him as he poured the wine. He took his glass and held it towards me before taking a sip, "To a successful mission."
     
    I did not hesitate to take the compliment this time so I clinked his glass readily and took a sip. It was perfectly drinkable but I decided to reserve judgment until I tasted how it would complement the risotto.
     
    "So who was the lucky man?" he asked as he started on his food.
     
    "His son, Hamnet."
     
    Noah tried very hard to keep the partially chewed risotto in his mouth as he barked out a laugh. His gaze drifted off to the edge of the dome and I gave him the moment I knew he was taking to mentally review the sonnet. He snickered and shook his head slightly in disapproving amusement. "Oh, how you're going to piss off the literati."
     
    "I hate to think of my poor scout and all his investigative work.” My scout had spent several weeks sneaking around Stratford to figure out the exact dates of events and get a more accurate picture of Shakespeare’s daily life and acquaintances for me. He was also the one who came up with the plan for the maid’s disappearance. “His 'List of close or relevant men' completely led me astray while I was there. I barely paid any attention to the children."
     
    The thought came with a pang of regret. "Had I known they were such an influence in his life I would've made more of an effort to know them," I said. The idea was accompanied by a bit of doubt. The children, while not haughty, gave me little attention as a maid. It’s likely I would have had to be a tutor or some other position more meaningful to them to gain any insight into their lives. It wouldn’t have been hard to prove my qualifications as a tutor. I certainly was educated enough to teach whatever subject they would be learning. It would’ve been more difficult to fake governess credentials though.
     
    Noah gave me a sympathetic look. We both knew it was pointless to think such things. Going back again would absolutely be out of the question. Scouts were the only people allowed to cross visits, and that was only because they were so good at hiding from the rest of us. For some reason they thought that stumbling upon another version of yourself would be disastrous.
     
    I always thought this was a rather silly rule though. If I ran into another version of myself or a colleague, I would understand what was going on. I wouldn’t even think it shocking to find a stranger who appeared to be out of time. I actually found it rather hard to believe that there were not already other people out there traveling through time. If we had the technology, then what was keeping the European Coalition from finding it as well? If there were other travelers, I had to believe they had rules like ours. Maybe our lab just didn’t want other countries to know we had the same technology. It all seemed rather sophomoric to me; the idea that everyone thought they were the only ones with this big secret, when in actuality, everyone had the same one.
     
    However, in the opposite extreme, if we were the only ones who had the ability to travel through time, then that was definitely something we needed to guard. We were strictly forbidden from making any changes that would seriously alter the course of history. It was hard to