With Igor, they spoke of little things, chatting comfortably and avoiding the big subject on their minds. After a while, Igor asked, "Are you ready now?"
Alex gulped, and nodded. Deanna looked terrified.
The three of them walked the short distance to the original Portal that Alex had entered. "We can start here, and travel in several stages to a Portal just outside of Hartford."
As they walked, Alex asked, "I've been wondering about something. If I go into the past, and change it, how will you know anything has changed? Won't you remember only your 'new' past, and forget everything about your 'old' past?"
"That's a very good question," Igor answered, "very perceptive. There are two ways. First, you'll know, since you'll come back remembering the 'old' past. Second, we have another explorer who has already gone back, just before the time you'll arrive. He's prepared the room you'll be staying in, a boarding house not far from the Clemens house, and as we explained before he'll be playing the role of 'absentee father' for you. He's your cover for being at that boarding house. But even more important, he has taken back a set of documents that describe the life of Susy and Sam Clemens."
"How does that help?" Alex asked.
"Those documents, like your memory, will be unchanged by the change in history, since they'll be outside their normal time frame. When he brings them back, we'll compare the biographies before and after the changes. Then we'll know what really changed. In addition, he's taking back some more recent history texts, so that we can see if there were any changes in German history."
Alex had no other questions. She knew that she would not meet her 'fake father' in the past. He would have done his job, and left. It was feared that having two time travellers together in Hartford might make the changes even more unpredictable than they were.
At last they were at the Portal. The walk this time seemed much longer than the first time. The plan was for Igor to accompany Alex through a series of Portals. These would take them to a point in Sandorra where there was a Bridge to Hartford, in Alex's world. This was even more complicated than the New York subways, which she and her uncle had once attempted, and ended up taking a taxi.
Now they were ready to leave. Alex and Deanna hugged one another, and Deanna said "please be careful." Alex couldn't say anything. She and Igor entered the Portal, and were gone.