Time and Again

dismissed his pallor, his dazed confusion, as the effects of his head injury. She'd discounted his odd questions and remarks the same way.
    Now there was the ship-and no matter how far she stretched it she couldn't call the vehicle a plane. If she accepted that it was real and not part of some strange, vivid dream, then she had to accept Cal's story.
    "'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,/ than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
    "Hamlet." He grinned at her quick, suspicious look. "We still read Shakespeare. Want some coffee?"
    She shook her head. Dream or not, she needed answers. "You say you- bounced off a black hole?"
    He smiled, immeasurably relieved. She believed him. Perhaps she didn't fully realize it herself, but she believed him. "That's right, or at least that's what I think. I'm going to need my computer. My instruments went berserk when we hit the gravitational field, so I went to manual and managed to bank east. I remember the force. It must be what a fly feels like when someone gives it a good solid bat. I passed out.
    When I came to, I was free-falling toward Earth. I switched back to computer and thought my troubles were over."
    "That doesn't explain how you ended up here-or should I say now."
    "There are a lot of theories. The one I lean toward deals with the space-time continuum. It's like a curved bowl." He cupped his palm to demonstrate. "Mathematically, the bowl isn't space and it isn't time.
    It's a combination of both. Everything in it moves through space and time. Gravity's the curve of the bowl, drawing everything down. Around the Earth it's not much of a curve. You don't really feel it unless you, say, fall off a cliff. But around the sun, and around a black hole-" He deepened the cup of his palm.
    "And you're saying you were caught in that curve?"
    "Like a marble being spun around the lip of the bowl. And somewhere, somehow, along the spin, I was flicked off. The speed, the trajectory, sent me tunneling not just through space but through time."
    "It sounds almost plausible when you say it."
    "It's the only theory I've got. Maybe if we look at it, it'll sound more plausible." Leaning forward, he turned a dial. "Computer."
    Yes, Cal.
    Libby lifted a brow at the soft, sultry voice. "Since when do they make computers tall, blond and busty?"
    He just grinned. "Intergalactic runs can be lonely. Computer, play back log date 02-05. On screen."
    Cal swiveled in his chair and leaned forward as a small viewing screen rose out of the console. Sound filled the cockpit Impassive, he watched his own image flicker on. From her chair, Libby stared mesmerized, as the playback progressed. She could see him sitting precisely where he was sitting now.
    But there were lights flashing, buzzers sounding. While the cockpit vibrated, he reached up to secure a safety strap. She could see the sweat beading on his face as he fought the controls of the bucking ship.
    "Widen image," Cal commanded.
    Then Libby saw what he had seen through the shield. There was the vastness of space, seductive and compelling. There were stars, clusters of them, and what was surely a distant planet. There was a blackness, an absolute blackness, that spread for miles. The ship seemed to be hurtling toward it.
    She heard Cal swearing-or rather the image of Cal was swearing as he pulled on a lever. There was a sound, a screaming rip of metal that seemed to vibrate all around her. The cockpit began to roll, end over end, with sickening speed. And then the screen went blank.
    "Damn it. Computer, continue playback."
    Memory banks damaged. No further playback possible.
    "Terrific." He started to command an analysis, but then he caught a glimpse of Libby. She was sitting limply in the chair beside his, her cheeks a dead white, her eyes glassy. "Hey." He was up quickly and leaning over her. "Take it easy." Cupping her face in his hands, he pressed his thumbs lightly on either side of her throat. "It was like I was there."
    He cursed himself and took her icy hand in his to warm it. He had known better, Cal thought in disgust.
    But he had only been thinking of himself and his need to see what had happened. "I know. I'm sorry."
    "It was horrible." Whatever doubts she had harbored had vanished completely during the playback. Her fingers tightened convulsively on his as she looked up at him. "It's all been horrible for you."
    "No." He combed his fingers through her hair. "Not all." Softly, gently, he touched his lips to hers, then skimmed