The life of a physicist can be troubling, at times, as the universe doesn't always play well with others.

But even the universe can't break a true promise.

---

I struggle to look behind me and find that this absolutely huge enemy soldier has picked me up off the ground by my armor. I start trying to kick and hit him, but he seems to just shrug it off. For the first time since I became Tara, I'm left feeling weak.

Feeling weak makes me angry, and I redouble my efforts to struggle.

"Put me down, I'm not some toy you freak!"

I manage to catch my forearm under his helmet, and it opens to show his face. I aim a punch right for his nose, but he shifts, grabs my arm with his other hand, and glares at me. I'm now fairly certain I'm going to die here.

And then I'm falling to the ground, beside Goliath, who hits the ground with a large thud. I scramble back behind the vehicles, passing by the girl I had tried to save. I'm ashamed to admit it, but at the moment my own skin is paramount. I hear the fighting begin to quiet.

And then I lose the contents of my stomach after seeing what happened to that giant man's face.

"Unit 17 reporting no visual contact."

"Unit 3, no visual contact."

"Unit 8, no visual contact."

"Comms, we appear to have the exterior secure."

I breathe a sigh of relief, one part of this is done. I look over towards the girl I had been grabbing, and see a medic working on her. She's not moving, but I'm hoping she'll be alright.

A voice from behind me startles me. "Ma'am, we have the outside of the building secure, and are preparing to make entry. Would you like to wait out here until we have the building secure?"

I think about that for a moment. "No, I don't think I can wait out here, you'll need me on site immediately if the device is active."

"Acknowledged, ma'am."

He reaches for his radio. "Unit 3, Comms, principal has requested to join entrance teams."

"Comms, acknowledged. Unit 3, 8 and 11 will form breach team. Principal will join 8 who will be in defensive formation."

"Unit 3, acknowledged"

The soldier helps me to my feet, and I see teams forming up. I follow the soldier towards the door, and we meet up with the others in the units who will be entering.

"You guys heard the setup, right? Check your gear."

Everyone around me begins checking their weapons, and 3 of them wave to nearby men to provide extra magazines. I have a small handgun tucked into a small holster on my thigh but I haven't used it. Still, taking after the guys, I pull it out and double check that everything I can see is still in order.

The soldier who had brought me over here sees me. "Nice pistol."

I realize he's just trying to make smalltalk, probably trying to keep me from getting nervous. Or trying to keep himself from getting nervous.

"The general decided after... previous experiences that I should have something of my own."

He smiles. "Well, you can't go wrong with the M9A1."

I nod. "The general made sure I spent plenty of time practicing, too."

He looks about, and sees the others are just about prepared for entry. The members of unit 8 approach.

"Ma'am, as we enter, we're going to form a diamond around you. We want you to stay in the center of that diamond as best as possible. If we tell you to get to cover, you'll follow the Sergeant. Understood."

I smile. "Anything goes wrong, stick close to the sergeant, got it."

We begin entering, a team in front, our team, and a team behind. It's slow going. Behind I see some more soldiers enter and begin gathering near the stairs upward. We continue around the main lobby and begin checking each of the rooms on the main floor. Finding nothing of value, we slowly head down the stairs to the next level. We start doing much the same thing until we reach what appears to be a large lounge or lunchroom area, the front team begins sweeping, has reached about a third of the way across the room when our team enters and takes up position behind some pillars.

Suddenly there's a gunshot. Everyone drops down, and gets into cover. I slide next to the sergeant and pull out my gun. I'm not expecting to use it but there's no way I'm going to be caught without taking a shot. I hear several shots being traded back and forth but I decide it's far safer to stay where I am.

Everyone else is looking towards the direction of the enemy, but I'm staring back, and slowly I realize something in the wall appears to be moving. I see a panel begin to slide sideways.

And then I see a face and upper body. I fire at it repeatedly. The sergeant hears my fire and turns around, spotting the attacker. She shouts and a couple of the soldiers turn around and watch our rear. After a few more minutes, the fighting ends. One of our team has a graze, and another soldier quickly bandages it. The head of unit 3 comes over and sees the body half out of the wall.

"What happened here?"

The sergeant reports. "Sir, she was watching our rear and spotted this man coming out of the hidden panel, fired several shots and killed him."

He looks at me, impressed. "Several?"

"Well, the rangemaster was fond of a few sayings. Especially what he quoted as 'United States Marine Core Rules of Engagement #2: if it is worth shooting, it is worth shooting twice.'"

He laughs. "Yeah, he's a good man. Thank you for watching our rear, we might have sustained heavy losses. You may have just saved all our lives."

I blush.

"Alright people, let's keep going."

We get back into our formations and continue heading through the building. Finishing off that first basement, we had to the second, and finding no difficulties on the second, head to the third.

The third floor seems different, just a long hallway. We reach the turn at the end of it, and the lead unit spots a couple of defenders. The quickly take them out and we head towards a large door. It appears to be very solid.

"Okay, everyone get back, we're going to need to use a breaching charge."

I watch one of the soldiers pull a package out of his pack, and begins attaching it to the door. The front and rear teams form up on either side of the door, with us further back.

"Breaching! Fire in the Hole!"

I cover my ears as the door explodes. The teams begin entering the room and after a minute we hear a voice. "We have a problem in here."

My unit's lead frowns, and asks a question. "Is it safe to enter?"

"We have a large glowing device in one corner of the room, and a woman at a set of controls behind glass."

"Alright, we're entering."

I follow them in, and spot the woman behind the glass, and the tachyon device in far corner.

The device is obviously active. "What are you doing? You don't know what that will do!"

She turns to me. "Actually, I do. We've had years to study it. It's going to destroy a large mass around it. At current settings, it'll probably clear a couple million metric tons."

I gasp. "That could destroy a large portion of the city!"

She smiles. "I know. Originally we were going to use it in the middle east."

I'm now a bit confused. "But.. why... why are you using it here then?"

"Well, after I stole the device I was crossing the main lab back in this mountain, some scientist had an experiment and we needed some of his hardware to finish the device. I somehow got pulled into some sort of... I don't know. But I ended up here. In the past."

My eyes open wide in shock. "But... but the video... was a man who went into the room and vanished."

I had said it fairly quietly, but she still heard. Her eyes locked onto mine. "It's true... but after I got here, the men I was working with treated me totally differently... and... I didn't have any friends. The ones I thought were friends... they did things to me... and now they're going to pay!"

She shuddered. "But... how do you know?"

"It was my lab."

She laughs. "They said the lab's main scientist was a guy."

I nod.

She gets a mad look in her eyes. "Oh my god, you too? You mean I wasn't the only one sent back here? And changed into a girl?"

I nod again.

She laughs... it has a sort of crazy edge to it now... "Oh my, that's just to perfect. Here, we finally meet. And together we can die!"

She manipulates the controls and a computerized voice speaks. "15 minutes to detonation."

Oh... fuck.

I shout. "Get her away from there!"

One of the soldiers fires at the chamber. The glass cracks but holds.

He sneers. "Shit, it's bulletproof."

I being to start panicking. Another soldier leans over towards him and begins chatting quietly with him.

They nod to each other, and both point their weapons at the chamber.

"One!"

And they both fire.

The glass shatters but holds.

"Two!" Again, the fire together. "Three!" Another round.

I see glass falling from the door of the chamber, and the girl is dead.

I turn on the soldiers, shocked. "How did you do that?"

The second soldier smiles. "I had a thought that if we could hit the glass at the same time maybe we could produce a pressure wave in the bulletproof glass and cause it to destroy itself."

"... wait, they have smart soldiers?"

He laughs. "I'm just here for the college money."

Remembering the chamber, I turn around, and see one of the soldiers forcing the door open.

They pull her body out and I rush forward to enter. I look at the controls and quickly try to find something to deactivate the device. I begin working with some of them and start working at the computer.

"Shit. SHIT SHIT SHIT."

The soldiers are staring at me. "What's up?"

"I can't turn it off."

"What do you mean?"

Tears form at the corners of my eyes. "It's self-powering now, the most I can do is try to turn down it's yield."

The unit commander looks at me. "How.. how much."

"I don't know, if I'm lucky maybe a couple orders of magnitude, but that's still going to be a lot of matter."

He looks worried. "Any idea how much?"

I shrug. "If I can turn it down, maybe a block or two. If I can't... most of Star City."

He grabs his radio. "Unit 3, Comms, we need an evacuation, as much as possible, as far as possible. We have 10 minutes."

I walk over to the device and give the small computer interface panel on it's side a small punch. This isn't how it's supposed to end.

The sergeant comes over and puts her hands on my shoulders. "Ma'am, we need to get out of here."

"It's no use. This wasn't even supposed to happen."

She gives me a strange look. "What was supposed to happen?"

"This device ends up going off in the water by the West Bridge."

She thinks for a moment. "Why the water?"

I wipe at some tears. "Why the water? I don't know. I..."

Oh Tara, you brilliant, brilliant woman.

I look up at her, a sudden fire in my eyes. "I've got it. I need to get to the West Bridge right away. We need to get there before this goes off."

I grab the device and we all quickly begin running out of the building. The commander radios ahead as we run, securing transport.

I hop into the back of one of the HMMWVs and we speed off towards the bridge with 9 minutes left.

One soldier asks... "So, why the bridge?"

I smile. "The water, if I can keep the yield on this down, it'll still eat a lot of matter, but with water... water is consistent, and it will surround the device. With luck all the matter it needs will be from the river. At low yield, it may be 20 or 40 metric kilotons of matter instead of the 2 million or more the woman suggested."

He whistles.

Unfortunately, we run into a traffic jam just before the bridge. 6 minutes.

I get out and we start running. At a restaurant near the bridge I spot something that makes my heart crumble. Tedd and Carol outside seeing what all the commotion is. The see me and start running after me.

I don't have time to stop so I keep running towards the middle of the bridge. I reach the middle of the bridge with 3 minutes left.

Tedd and Carol and a group of soldiers are following.

I keep working at the controls trying to keep the yield down.

Carol shouts at me. "Tara, what are you doing?"

I being crying. "I'm leaving, Carol. I have to go with this. I have to try and keep the settings where they are."

2 minutes.

Tedd shouts at me. "What are you doing Tara, you can't jump off the bridge, just come back and we'll work out whatever this is, together."

I shake my head at him, still crying. "I'm sorry Tedd, it has to be me. You'll understand one day."

80 seconds. I make a final adjustment to the device.

I crawl up onto the railing. I gather myself for my jump.

With tears in my eyes, I tighten my grip on the device. I turn back towards Tedd and Carol.

"Just do one thing for me... please. Survive."

And I jump. I hold on tight to the device as the water comes rushing up to meet me, and I try to make myself as slim as possible, wanting to take the device as far into the water as I can.

I hit the water with a crash, the device hitting my chest hard, probably breaking a couple of ribs, but I ignore the pain. I won't feel any of it soon anyway.

Just as I feel I'm about to run out of breath, I see a bright flash.

***

---

***

Carol's POV
***

It's been 6 months since Tedd and Brett died, and I've been so lonely. All the platitudes from the Department of Defense personnel really didn't do much to ease the grief I felt at being alone. Losing my husband wasn't made any easier with the knowledge that he was going to become Tara and I got to see him after. Because of this damned time travel business my husband returned to me before he died, and then died again. There's all sorts of grief that I don't think I'll ever be able to deal with completely. I lay in my bed, staring at the ceiling once again, wondering how life ended up this way.

I cherish the memories we had together, but I know in my heart that I'd give anything to make more memories.

A sound from outside breaks me out of my little depression. I know none of them would want me to be like this but I still... it hurts. It hurts bad.

I hear a car turn off outside. I quickly try to get dressed as I realize I'm about to have visitors, and I don't want to look like I've been sitting here crying again, even if it's true.

While I'm dressing there's voices outside, but I can't quite make them out. They don't sound angry or anything so I don't think I need to worry that they may be here to hurt me. But it also gives me more time to get ready. I look in the mirror and see that my hair is a mess, and quickly try to brush it all back into a quick ponytail. Not my finest hairdo but whomever is at the door is just going to have to suffer with it.

The doorbell rings. I shout down the stairs. "I'll be down in a moment!"

About 2 minutes later, with shoes on, finally, I go down to answer the door. I see through the stained glass in the middle of the door what looks like a military uniform. I open the door.

He greets me. "Hello, ma'am. I'm General Steven Anderson. I'd like to know if I could have a little chat with you."

I'm a bit taken aback. I've never had someone ranked this high come to talk to me.

I compose myself and welcome him in. He brings a couple of other people in with him and they take up position near the door.

"Would you like something to drink, General Anderson?"

"I'd love some coffee if you have it, ma'am. The stuff my wife makes isn't all that great so I take it where I can get it." He says with a smile.

I return with a cup of coffee for the general and for myself, sitting with my back towards the door.

He accepts the mug and sits down. "Thank you. Now, I suppose you're wondering why I'm here."

I nod. "I can't imagine why someone of your rank would come all the way out here to talk to me. All the important stuff happened with my husband, and our friends."

He nods, and there's a bit of a sad expression in his face as he does. "I worked with your husband and with Brett. They were both upstanding citizens and their dedication to their work was something I wish I could get even a tenth of the men under my command to show. Their deaths were a great loss to this country."

I can't help but hear the sincerity in his voice. "Thank you. I always knew they enjoyed their work but to hear someone else show appreciation means a lot to me."

He smiles. "First, I wanted to let you know that Brett has been posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom."

I gasp slightly.

He continues. "I'd also like you to know that your husband has been posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, with Distinction. His sacrifice saved the lives of many that day. He will not be forgotten."

I can't hold back the tears. Tedd was being recognized with the highest possible award a civilian can get. This means that the very highest of government knows what he did, and thanks him. Knowing that people like that care about my husband pushes me fully into bawling territory.

For all that he is, the general just waited until I was finished, providing me with a handkerchief to dry my eyes.

I can't help but still have tears in my eyes. "Thank you, General... I know he would've just said he was doing his job."

The general smiles again. I think he does this a lot. "The best men and women I've ever met have always said the same."

He then clears his throat. "I would also like to tell you that Tara Smith has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, with Distinction. It may have taken a while longer, but it was also felt that this award was deserved. Her sacrifice saved untold lives that day."

He nods at the female soldier.

She turns towards me and begins to speak. "Ma'am, she saved my life. I had been shot and she pulled me to safety. I owe her my life, as do many others. I'm honored to have served with her.

I sniffle some more. Hearing this about them doesn't remove the grief but it does make it seem a bit less heavy.

The general begins speaking again. "However, I didn't come here today to inform you about these medals. They were all duly earned, and they'll forever have my utmost respect."

I blink a bit at that. "Well, if I may ask... what did you come here for today?"

"You are aware of the flooding near the commercial district about 3 weeks ago?"

I nod. "Something about one of the nearby hotels having a leak from it's rooftop pool, as I recall."

"Well, that's not entirely the truth. Something else happened there, but the important thing is that we discovered something of yours in the flooding."

Now I'm very confused. What could he have found of mine?

I cough a bit and then ask. "I can't think of any reason anything of mine would have been found in the flood."

He nods. "I can understand, but it's true. We have a package out in the car, so we can return to you what's yours."

I blink a bit. "Do they normally send generals out for package delivery?"

He laughs. "No, but some packages are more important than others. Would you like me to have my soldiers bring it in?"

"Sure, they can bring it right in here."

He nods towards the female soldier again, and she walks out.

"I think you'll like what we found. It's in very good condition, and we're somewhat eager to return it to you."

I'm still a bit confused as I hear the door open behind me. "I really can't think of anything you might have found down there, but I'm fine with accepting whatever this package is."

He just looks at me for a moment, then motions the woman to bring the package closer. I'm a bit startled when I see that she's not carrying anything, but looks like she's walking with another person. I look up into their face.

And I cry. I cry like I've never cried before, but these tears are the happiest tears I could possibly have.

"But... how... how can it be you, how can you be here? I saw you die!"

Tara scoops me up into a huge hug and there are tears in her eyes and I'm crying into her neck.

"The flood... that was the river... and me, appearing."

I try to soak this in a bit. It's a bit too much for me to accept. I watched her die years ago and had come to terms with it.

I managed to speak a bit between sobs. "But... but... you died!"

"No, I just ended up here. It seems that my last-minute alterations managed to make the detonation just stable enough for another trip through time."

I start pounding on her chest. "DAMNIT I saw you die. How... how can you be back here."

She takes my face in her hands, and puts our heads together, with our lips only inches apart.

"I told you I'd come back to you, no matter what. I promised."

And she kissed me.