"I can’t let sleeping dogs lie."

Mike looked at him, baffled. The stranger seemed as if what he were saying were perfectly plain to him, but to Mike, the answer made no sense at all.

"I’m saying I don’t leave well enough alone."

Mike frowned, "Hey, you’re not one of those commune people over in Apple Valley, are you?"

A terrible and powerful thought ran through the hitcher’s mind at his words. Mike didn’t know what it was, but he saw it clearly on his face.

"No."

Mike decided to change the subject. "You go to Mac’s a lot?"

That smile was back, "I’m just meeting a friend there."

Mac’s place was there. As they pulled in, Mike looked for Cathy, but there was a pickup with a long silver horse trailer parked along the front, and his view was obscured.

Mike parked across the lot under the sign. He could hear his tires crunch the gravel as the Mustang stopped.

"Well, here we are."

Jared opened the door, "Safe and sound. Thanks for the ride."

As the door to the diner swung shut, Caleb opened the door to the pickup and hopped down.

"All right, Kohei, the shortcut closes in thirty seconds. What now?"

Jared turned to the Mustang, "Now we clean up."

Caleb popped the trunk, and began rummaging through the odds and ends, "I still don’t comprehend why we’re doing this."

Jared winced at the plaintive tone, "Which of us is Sempai?"

Caleb sighed, "Sorry, Kohei."

Jared pulled the CD player from its bracket, and took another moment to carefully gather up loose contact wires, then he collected the CD’s themselves. He opened the glove box.

"If I pull this off, the committee promised me a green light for Rouen."

Caleb cursed from the back of the car, "Not the maid of Orleans, again!"

Jared was finished in the glove box. He closed it and got out. In his hands were several small papers he had found, and the sound system from the Ford.

Caleb griped, "That’s seven times you’ve tried it. Seven different points of attack. And it’s never broken loose. Not once."

"I can do it. I’m convinced that if she survives the 30th, even in one universe, the whole stream will benefit from it."

Caleb closed the trunk. He held a paperback book in his hands. "If you say so, Kohei."

They tossed the anachronisms on the ground in a little pile. Jared closed his eyes, "Athena, I need you to pick up some items and dispose of them downstream."

The items shimmered and faded away.

Caleb gestured toward the diner, "What about the truck?"

"The rancher will find it and think someone took it for a joyride."

"And him?"

Jared looked at his watch, "He’s local now, no way home but the long way. Besides, he’s happier here."

"But we can’t leave him here. He knows."

"He got a D- in history, Caleb. He doesn’t know enough to do any damage. And no one but her will believe him."

"But what about the Committee directive? That guy in Poland-"

Jared interrupted, "The Polish guy is a mechanical engineer! And nobody knows how he got there. Besides, that whole stream is classified, meaning off limits. Even for discussion."

Caleb winced, "Athena, what’s happening downstream?"

A small voice sounded clearly to the two men. If another person were standing next to them, they would have heard nothing.

"Sub sequential stream has increased by four temperons."

Caleb’s eyes flew open and focused accusingly on Jared, "Four…How!?!"

Jared smiled serenely, "We saved four strands, just now."