Overheard At The Timeport

All sorts dropped into the Chronos Tavern. We got workers from the Canaveral Timeport, we got travellers from the future, but in all those years I met only one executioner and one shade.

It introduced itself as C. Jammes Nord, which seemed over-formal, then sat gleaming and impassive. Others must have found it disturbing too, because no one else wanted to sit at the bar.

C stood for Construct. If  it wished, it could consume a drink and dispose of it later.

"Such innocent times," it added. “Such touching faith in reason. There are some who would not even speak to me."

It spoke English without the need for a box of tricks.

"I am employed to make ethical judgements."

"Right." Moments like this were why I opened the Chronos. "Employed by whom?"

"By those too nice to decide for themselves."

That was when the man sat down at the bar. The Canaveral Timeport was off-limits to the public; more like an embassy with the land signed over to the future, so customers were either Timeport staff, or time travellers. This drab, grey little man was the shade.

He took a Chronos Tavern coaster from his pocket and handed it to me. "All I seem to have is this. So I came here."

C. Jammes Nord beckoned me over. "Vend him what he wants and I will pay."

The man tasted his beer and pushed it away. I was learning beer was a passing fad, and in future would need to provide more exotic fare.

"So," I began. "When are you headed for?"

He blinked. He didn't know.

You know how it is with a broken-winged bird, with some wounded creature clipped by the car. You want to help, but in your heart you know the best thing would be to put it out of its misery.

His baffled gaze took in me, the Chronos, and its customers. "Do I remember this?"

The five identical women in the corner booth wanted another round of endorphin sprays, and when I got back, the little man was gone.

"What is his debt?" asked C. Jammes Nord.

"Who was he?"

"A shade. He has gone to complete the loop."

C. Jammes Nord was inhumanly patient. No, I hadn't I seen the man before, nor would I see him again, because I only intersect with the loop once.

"The loop returning him to the future, so that he can travel back here to that moment.

"That, that makes no sense. Where did he come from?"

"The loop is acausal. It will continue unless I judge otherwise. As I implied, I am an Executioner."

That was why others hadn't sat at the bar.

"I detect your disapproval."

Perhaps I had opinions about stuff I didn't understand. Those fixed in time have little comprehension of those who are not.

"He does not know he is in a recursive loop. I noted you treated him as if he was real. Do you think that life worth preserving? Some would wish this anomaly tidied away."

Perhaps that is how those uptime see our own lives. As not quite real, a brief video that can be fast-forwarded to see how it ends. Perhaps we remind them of shades.

I noticed later the shade had pocketed a coaster before he left, as he always does.

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