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cwnerd12 · 7 years

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Fistopia

“Fistopia” On King Warner’s plane, David comes out of the bathroom and goes back towards his seat. Warner sits in front of Queen May and their army of children, Warner gestures to him, “David, come speak with me.” David, uneasily: “Sure.” He goes over and gets into the seat next to him. Warner: “I’ve been led to believe that you’re a man of God, is this true?” David, “I’ve been told that all God asks of us is that we do good. So I try to do good. So I guess if that’s what being a man of God means, then, yes. I don’t know how good of a job I’ve been doing, though.” Warner: “God certainly seems to favor you.” David laughs, “If he favors me, he has a funny way of showing it.” Warner: “You and I do things differently.” David: “You could say that.” Warner: “I personally believe that women belong in the home. I don’t allow women to serve in combat positions in my army, and I don’t have any women among my political advisors.” David: “You should consider changing that. Michelle, Abby, and Monique, along with Shay Mendoza, have each been absolutely critical in every success that the AFG has had.” Warner smirks, “That abomination is not a woman.” David, “Her name is Monique Magnifique, and she is a woman.” Warner grimaces, “Tell me about your relationship with Jack Benjamin.” David, “He’s saved my life. He’s incredibly dear to me.” Warner: “You should consider the ultimate fate of your soul, David.” David looks at Warner incredulously, “Well, sir, my personal life is my own, as is my relationship with God. And I assure you, after everything I’ve done, and everything I’ve seen, if my soul is going to be damned for all eternity, it’s not going to be because I fuck and pray the wrong way.” Warner: “If I’m going to help you, I’m going to need something in return.” David: “If we’re going to be negotiating things, I’m going to have to call Abby over here. I know you want Carmel back, and she’s the one who knows enough to be able to work out a deal with you.” Warner: “We’ll set up a deal later, then.” David: “I’m going to re-join my advisors.” Warner: “Do you know who is behind the attacks?” David: “No. Abby believes it may be a group calling themselves the Amalekites, but she can’t find anything about them.” Warner: “The Amalekites?” David: “Yeah, like the Bible.” Warner: “If they’re anything like the Amalekites of the Bible, we should be worried about them. But they haven’t attacked Ammon yet.” David: “Hopefully we can find them and stop them. That’s something we can agree on.” Warner: “Yes. Go join your advisors.” David gets up and goes to sit down at the front of the plane.

A car pulls up to the army base, where Jack, Asher, Joel, and Shay are waiting. David steps out, followed by Abby, Michelle, and Monique. Jack, “There’s the hero.” He hugs David tightly, but David pulls away, saying softly, “Not here.” Inside, everyone sits around a table. David, “We need to figure out who’s behind these attacks.” Abby: “I’ve been trying to look into the Amalekites, and, it’s difficult to find pieces that fit together. Shay: “Are they even targeting us directly?” David: “They seem to have a thing for kings. If I’m gonna be king, I doubt they’re gonna like me.” Joel: “Who the fuck even are the Amalekites?” Abby: “I’ve been trying my best…” Joel interrupts, “No, like, why are they calling themselves Amalekites? Who are they people they’re naming themselves after?” Asher: “If you’re going strictly by definition, the Amalekites are a tribe of the ancient Holy Land who considered themselves to be the descendants of Amalek, the grandson of Esau. In more subjective terms, they’re often considered to be the archetypical enemy of the Israelites. They were the first to try to exterminate the Jews. One of the mitzvot followed by Orthodox Jews is, ‘Remember what Amalek has done to you.’ Hassidic Rabbis consider them to be a representation of the rejection of God.” Shay: “So we shouldn’t be fucking with them.” Jack: “Are we gonna let them fuck with us, first?” David: “We need to know more! They have to have a leader of some sort, someone who’s planning these attacks! Let’s start with that!” Jack: “Is there anything else from your trip that we need to be thinking about?” David sighs, “Warner wants a part of Carmel. Abby, that’s all your job.” Abby: “I already have a plan drawn up.” David: “Good. If there’s anything we can be doing in advance, we should be doing it. No telling what’s going to happen next.”

In his office, King Warner talks on video screen to William, “I’ve talked to Shepherd. He doesn’t want to negotiate with me, he’s sending his diplomat.” William: “That’s fine.” Warner: “I’m not declaring war on Gilboa until I get promised Carmel. Shepherd’s philosophy is too different from mine, he won’t hand it over, even if I can hand him the crown.” William: “You may have to accept part of Carmel at first. I’ve seen Abigail Hatch’s work, she’s nothing if not ruthlessly pragmatic. Accept the part they offer you, and then, I promise you, when the time is right, you’ll get all of it.” Warner: “What’s your ultimate plan, here, William? Why are you giving up half of your country?” William, with cold sincerity, “It’s not my country, it’s your country. Silas wrongly annexed Carmel, and I seek to undo his legacy.” Warner: “I understand a man wanting to be king, but this personal vendetta against Silas, I don’t understand it.” William, dramatically: “Do you really want to understand?” (“The Real Slim Shady”) Alister Cross sits at the head of the CrossGen board. William: “My father was a brilliant man. He built CrossGen from the ground up. When Gilboa was kingless, he was the closest thing we had to a king.” Alister and Jane Cross entertain at a society event, “He was bright, charismatic, cunning, he was beloved by all those around him. Because of him and his creations, the army of Gilboa was able to defend our land.” Alister, Jane, young William and Rose stand smiling like a royal family in front of an enormous mansion, “I was proud to be his son.” Alister argues his right to be king in front of a board of Army commanders. William: “He tried to get the army behind him, and he almost succeeded, but one officer refused.” Pan over to General Samuels, shaking his head. William: “He said that a man who made money off of war shouldn’t be king. Hypocrite! Do you know who he supported instead?” Young Silas, a clueless-looking new recruit. William: “The white trash literal kid next door whose alcoholic father beat him every night!” End music, Cut back to William talking over the screen, “I’ve been told that I’m just bitter that Silas got the crown instead of me. No, that’s not the case. I hated Silas long before the crown was ever on his head. And I had reason to after what he did to Rose.” Resume music, cut to: kid Silas chasing kid Rose as she rides ahead on a back and casts coy glances over her shoulder, “He’d been on her tail ever since we were kids! Childish infatuation! She always turned him away.” Teenage Rose stands in a white gown at her debutante ball. A line of young wealthy men stand to court her. “Rose was beautiful. She had eligible young men from respectable families falling all over her.” The front door of the Cross mansion opens, and teenage Silas, holding a pack over his shoulder, stands there, looking dejected. “Silas ran away from home when he was sixteen.” Alister stands in the front door. Rose appears on the staircase behind him, sees Silas, and smiles. “My father was kind to him! He gave him a place to stay!” Silas and Rose get it on in the guest house. “Rose always felt sorry for him, and at some point, she confused pity and sex for love.” Rose cries as Silas goes off to join the army. Alister and William look on approvingly. “I thought we’d gotten rid of him when he joined the army.” Rose accepts a diamond ring from a wealthy-looking young man, “Rose seemed to have grown out of her crush on Silas. She got engaged to Irwin Balthazar, who was from an excellent family!” Rose stands in a black dress in front of the Benjamin family house, which has guests in black on the front porch. “But then, she goes back to Temperance for one weekend! Just to see Silas and say goodbye to him one last time!” Rose in the doctor’s office, looking at two heartbeats on an ultrasound, “He gets her knocked up, and with twins, no less!” Cut music, William talking over the screen again, “Father wanted her to get a quiet abortion and marry Irwin, but she said no. She chose that cocky asshole over good breeding and respectability, even after what he did to me!” Warner: “What did he do to you?” Cut music, cut to: young William walks out of his fancy apartment building. To masked thugs grab him and put a sack over his head. The shove him into the back of a car and drive him out to the country. The car parks in front of an abandoned barn, and William is led inside and sat down. William, sobbing pathetically, “Please! My father has money! He’ll give you whatever you want! Just don’t hurt me!” One of the thugs pulls the hood off of William’s head. Sitting in front of him is young Silas, young Abner and some other army buddies standing behind him. Silas smiles brightly, “Hello, William. We’re going to talk about Rose.” Abner raises a giant-ass knife and smiles evilly. William screams in horror and terror, and keeps fucking screaming. William (voice over): “It’s not important.” Resume music, Rose and Silas get married, “So they get married in a no-cost wedding on an army base. The kids get born.” Silas fights a battle ferociously in the middle of a town, “Silas goes out and becomes a fucking hero.” Silas holds up the head of Nahash, “He killed the king of Gath. That’s why everyone wanted to make him king. Because he’s a fucking cold-blooded murderer.” Silas is crowned king of Gilboa. Rose watches and applauds proudly, while William scowls in the background. “He disgraced my family. His crown in mine. My father earned it, and I should have inherited it!” Silas and Rose stand posed with child Jack and Michelle, just like Alister and Jane before. End music. Warner, “So all you want is petty revenge.” William, “Yes. But it’s so much more than that.” Warner: “Pride is a sin, William. A man must want to be king for the right reasons.” William: “Do you want Carmel back or not?!” Warner, “I do. And I look forward to accepting it from you as king.”

David sits on his bed with Jack leaning on his shoulder. Jack: “I don’t ever want to see you and an explosion on a TV screen at the same time again.” David kisses Jack’s hair, “I’m sorry. They tend to follow me. Probably should have considered that when you fell in love.” Jack, “God, that picture of you is hot, though.” David: “I’m killing someone in it.” Jack, “And looking incredibly sexy while you do so.” There’s a knock on the door, and Jack sits up and moves away from David. David answers the door, “Yes?” An Ammon soldier stands on the other side, “Letter came for you, sir.” He hands an envelope over to him. David: “Me?” David takes the envelope, it’s clearly addressed to him, down to the officer’s quarters. David: “Thanks.” Jack comes over and looks at it, “What the fuck.” Back in the meeting room, with everyone looking on, David opens the envelope. He pulls out a flyer featuring the lineup of the Fistopia Music Festival. David, “Fistopia?” Jack: “Fistopia is this weekend?” Shay: “There’s something on the back.” David turns the back over. There’s a place marked on a map, “Meet here. alone. unarmed. learn the secrets of the Amalekites.” David reads it out loud. Shay: “What? Let me see that.” David hands her the flier, and she looks at it, “Oh, this is a trap. It might as well just fucking say ‘there’s a trap here.’” David, “What if it’s not? What if someone is actually trying to pass us information?” Abby: “I’ll contact the Fistopia organizers. They should know there’s a threat against them.” David: “This- this isn’t a threat!” Shay, “Then what the fuck is it?!” David, “It’s an invitation!” Shay: “Do you actually want to go?” David: “I- it might help.” Shay: “Help you get killed.” David: “Hey, I’m a soldier, I know how to defend myself!” Joel: “Seriously, David, this is more than a little scary.” David, “They know where we are. What if I don’t go to them, and they decide to come to us?” Shay: “If you’re going, I’m gonna go with you.” David: “It says to go alone.” Shay: “I’ll be as close nearby as I can be, then. Have any of us actually been to Fistopia?” Jack: “It’s only fun after your third tab of acid. Otherwise, it’s a bunch of dirty, sunburned, screaming hipsters.” He grabs the flier and looks at the lineup, “Ooooh Horse Choir is gonna play.” Abby: “Sounds like a great place to attack, if you want to cause chaos.” David: “It’s not a political target, though.” Jack gasps, “Jonathan is High is gonna be there!” Michelle, “Oh, Jesus fucking Christ, you don’t even like their music.” David: “What?” Michelle: “Six stoner guys named Jonathan decided to get together and make a band. There was a time when social media pictures of bleary-eyed Jack standing in front of Jonathan is High posters were the scourge of Rose’s existence.” Jack, “Oh, god, how much do you think she’d give to have that be the worst of her problems again?” Abby: “We need to take this thing seriously.” Jack: “I know. It’s just, it’s fucking Fistopia! You go there to do a ton of drugs and listen to shitty music! Why would anyone want to attack it?”

Abby sits at a computer, video conferencing with King Warner. David sits out of view of the camera, without saying anything. Abby: “David and I have drawn up an area of Carmel that we’re willing to declare territory of Ammon when David is king. I sent you the files related to it.” Warner: “Yes, I’ve had a good look. The area is very small.” David grimaces and shakes his head. Abby: “It’s all we’re going to offer. Given David’s image as a freedom fighter, it would be unwise for him to deliver a large population of his supporters over to you. The population I’ve drawn up is loyal to Ammon, and the handover of territory will be supported there. It’s a wise move for all of us.” Warner nods, “I suppose you are right. I’ll accept your offer.” David’s eyes widen in surprise. He mouths, “Seriously?” Abby smiles, “Thank you very much, sir! I’ll tell David right away!” Warner: “Goodbye, Miss Hatch.” Abby: “Goodbye.” Abby closes the window, “Holy shit!” David doesn’t share her enthusiasm, “That’s…. weird. Considering that Warner could just dump us back in Gilboa, I thought he’d want more. He’s kind of got some pretty good leverage.” Abby: “Yeah, well, because of this, we’re not gonna be dumped back in Gilboa. This is a victory for us.” David: “Yeah, I know, it’s just it doesn’t feel right. I don’t know what it is, but, something’s off.” Abby: “I have some music festival organizers I need to call.” Later, Abby talks on the phone wile David hangs in the background. Abby: “This is Abigail Hatch of the Army of Free Gilboa. We’ve received a message that we think can be considered a threat against Fistopia. It’s a message to David Shepherd, telling him to meet someone at a specific location and learn the secrets of the Amalekites, the group we believe is behind the suicide bombings in Shiloh and Damascus,” pause, “Yes, but considering all the unknowns about this group, all possibilities need to be considered,” she listens for a moment, “It was sent directly to David Shepherd at a location that hasn’t been publicly disclosed. Yes, the David Shepherd,” pause, “No, he doesn’t, I told you, his location hasn’t been publicly,” she’s interrupted, “No.” She listens for a long time, sighs, and tips her head back in frustration, “It’s not worth putting the safety of your attendees at risk!” She listens on for a few more seconds, angry, “Please, ignoring it is…” She’s cut off. She drops the phone from her ear in frustration, “They say they’re not a political target, so they don’t consider the threat to be serious.” David: “Even coming from me?” Abby: “Yes! They said they’ve already invested too much money and don’t want to cancel at the last minute.” David, “Shit, this is going to be a mess.” Abby: “The smart thing to do is to not go.” David shakes his head, “I know. But- I can’t get over the fear of what will happen if I don’t.”

In a private room, Michelle nervously talks to Jack, “Listen, I have something to tell you, and you aren’t allowed to make some stupid comment about it when I’m done, okay?” Jack: “What?” Michelle takes a deep breath, “While I was in Damascus… I may have slept with Abby.” Jack claps his hands over his mouth, and he stares at Michelle for an uncomfortably long amount of time. Michelle, “Stop looking at me like that!” Jack lowers his hands to speak and says in his most innocent voice, “Like what?” Michelle: “Look, I’m still figuring a lot of this relationship bullshit out, and I don’t know what me and Abby are at this point, but that fucking happened.” Jack goes over to Michelle and hugs her. Michelle: “What are you doing?” Jack: “I’m hugging my sister because something fantastic has happened to her!”He lets go. Michelle, sheepishly, “We’re not like you and David yet.” Jack: “Are you happy?” Michelle grins a little bit, “Yeah.” Jack hugs Michelle again, “That’s all you need. I’m happy for you.”

The next morning, David and Shay, dressed to blend in at Fistopia, at least somewhat, stand by one of the souped-up cars. Jack speaks to David, “Seriously, man, if something goes down, get the fuck out of there. Don’t do anything stupid and heroic, okay?” David: “I promise.” Jack: “I’ve had enough of being scared for you.” He hugs David tightly, and David hugs him back, “I’ll be careful.”

Shay drives the car through a long stretch of desert while David sits in the passenger seat. They sit, stuck in traffic as loads of cars with camping equipment head towards Fistopia. Shay drives towards a cliff with a path that goes upward, a ways away from the main gathering of Fistopia. She parks, “Listen, I’m gonna be standing here the whole time. You may be unarmed, but I’m gonna be fucking armed, okay?” David, “Okay.” He looks up at the cliff, and gets out of the car.

David climbs the path up the cliff. Up at the top, he sees a lone figure overlooking the festival. David steps forward, “Hello?” The figure stays still. David continues walking towards the figure, “Hello! Are you the person who told me to be here?” The figure doesn’t move, and David gets close. The figure spins around. He is a handsome and well-groomed man, Alek Amal. His face is serious, but when he sees David, a smile switches on, “I knew you would come.” David, “Who the fuck are you, and what are these secrets of the Amalekites?” Amal steps away from David, “Are you really the future king?” David: “It’s what a lot of people seem to think.” Amal: “I don’t like kings. They’re never as good or as noble as they pretend to be.” David: “Are you behind the attacks?” Amal, “Society is falling apart.” David: “Who the fuck are you?!” Amal turns around, “My name is Alek Amal, and I’m going to give you a choice.” He pulls a big knife from his waistband and throws it so that it sticks in the dirt at David’s feet. Amal, “Kill me or save lives.” David: “What?” Below, the sound of an explosion. David, “Shit!” Amal, “Make your choice, King David.” David looks frantically from the knife to Amal, torn about his next step, locked in a staring contest with Amal. Another explosion. Amal smirks. David flinches, turns around, and runs. (“Personal Jesus” Mindless Self Indulgence cover)

#Kings

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comics-manga-videos · 7 years

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ericbarkman · 7 years

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Chrono Hustle #46 Pocket Sliders

“We’re back,” Melinda Summers said as she walked up to the lake on the planet that would one day be named Trantor, along with her team. “Ohm?” Ohm laid the body of Jack Masterson on the ground right by the edge of the lake. Mary Bishop, Imhotep, and the Ghost of the temporal duplicate of Jack Masterson made up the rest of Melinda’s team. The lake stood up and took a vaguely humanoid form. “I see that,” Nu said. Imhotep immediately bowed. “So, we’ve brought you the body, Nu,” Melinda said. “Now you’ll help us find and save our friends.” “Of course,” Nu said. “It won’t be easy for you though. I can send you to pocket universes, but I don’t know which is the right one. So, I will send you to one, and after a set amount of time, you will be sent to another. Anyone that is in physical contact with any of you will join you on this trip.” “How long will we have in each pocket universe?” Ghost Jack asked. “How much time do you want?” Nu asked. “We won’t be able to communicate, so you’ll have to decide a length of time now that you will spend in each.” “And what about when we’re ready to return?” Mary asked. “If you are all in physical contact with each other, plus any others that have joined your journey, then you will all be returned here,” Nu said. “Otherwise you will continue to be sent from pocket universe to pocket universe.” “And if one of us dies?” Ghost Jack asked. “I mean, if another one of us dies.” “If someone dies, they will no longer be considered part of the group,” Nu said. “So if eventually only one remains, they will be brought back here on the next jump.” “Right,” Melinda said. “Let’s do this.” Meanwhile, back at their base in the Cretaceous, Abigail Esau was reading Merlin’s journals. She had already made her way through everything that was written in English, and was now slowly making her way through those in French, using a mixture of what she remembered from school, and a translation program when necessary. There were only a few in French though, and after that she was going to have to move onto another language that she would have to fully rely on translation programs for. She just finished reading a spell that seemed fairly simple, so she tried it out, and made a heart appear on the ceiling with Mary and her initials in it. It looked like if it had been scratched into a tree, despite the ceiling being metal. Nu created the portal, and Melinda stepped through, with her team following in behind her. “Four hours,” Nu had said. Four hours in this pocket universe, and then off to another. Melinda looked around at the place they were in. It was a lush rainforest. The air was thick with humidity and there was the sound of wildlife all around. “Are we sure he didn’t just send us to the Amazon?” Ghost Jack asked. “Can you fly up and get us a bird’s eye view?” Melinda asked. “On it,” Ghost Jack said. Mary was looking at the ground, checking for tracks. “Finding anything?” Melinda asked. “Plenty of stuff has been through this area,” Mary said. “I’m not seeing anything indicating Humans specifically though. Could be, but could just be animals.” “Imhotep?” Melinda asked. “This whole place is filled with magic,” Imhotep said. “Very old, very powerful magic.” “A Progenitor?” Melinda asked. “I would assume that’s who created this,” Imhotep said. “I could not tell you which though, and I don’t know that they are currently here.” Ghost Jack came back down to the ground. “Well, pocket universe is right, I could see the edges of this place as soon as I flew above the canopy.” “How big?” Melinda asked. “It looks to be spherical, I’d estimate a few kilometers across,” Ghost Jack said. “I don’t think we’ll have enough time to explore the whole place, especially with how thick this foliage is, but hopefully we can get a decent amount done.” “Okay, Ohm and I will go one way,” Melinda said. “Mary and Imhotep you go the opposite way. Jack, you’re the fastest of us, and can fly, so you can do your own thing. Let’s go.” Doctor Jeri Quill entered Harkon Smith’s office. “Good day, Doctor,” Harkon said. “What can I do for you?” “Sesla’s clone body is complete,” Jeri said. “I know you’ve been putting off that decision for a while, but unless you want Ghost Jack to lie to her next time he enters her dreams…well, you know.” “As long as Sesla remains in her coma, we don’t have to worry about her turning on us,” Harkon said. “If we transfer her mind to a clone body, she could become a threat.” “Like Deanna.” “Yes, I know Sesla is a thousand or so years older than when she was Deanna, and a lot changes in that time, but it’s still something to be considered. On the other hand, if we don’t do this, and she wakes up on her own somehow, that might lead to her to turning on us.” “Which means you should probably make the decision soon,” Jeri said. “Well, Ghost Jack is on a mission right now, so I at least have until he gets back,” Harkon said. Melinda pushed her way through the foliage as Ohm followed after her. They had yet to find any sign that any Humans had ever been here before. There was something else that Melinda was realizing they had not seen yet. “Ohm, have you seen any animals yet?” Melinda asked. “I have not,” Ohm said. “I am hearing them, and I’m seeing tracks indicating that they have been here, but I have not actually seen any yet.” “I wonder what that means.” “Many animals are good at not being seen unless they want to be. The fact that everything here is like that is worrying.” “Sensing anything?” Mary asked as she checked the ground for tracks. “Nothing new,” Imhotep said. “Are you finding anything?” “Nothing helpful.” “Wait, stop, we’re being watched.” Imhotep pointed up at one of the trees. Mary looked up where he was pointing, and saw a creature that looked like a mix between a jaguar and a monkey. Mary gripped her energy shotgun, as it just continued to watch them. “There’s more of them,” Imhotep said. Mary glanced around, and noticed that the trees were full of them. They were surrounded by at least a dozen of these creatures. “How long have we been here so far?” she asked. “About an hour,” Imhotep said. “Mary to Melinda, we’ve got a problem.” There was no response. “Oh great, comm interference or something.” One of the monkguars jumped down to the ground in front of them. Its teeth bared, and claws extended. Mary shot it with her energy shotgun, and it dropped to the ground unconscious. This caused the others to stop their silence, and start whooping as they jumped down to the ground as well. Mary started shooting as many as she could, as fast as she could, while Imhotep put up a magical barrier around them. The monkguars bounced off of it, but that just made them angrier and louder. With the protection the barrier provided, Mary was having little trouble dropping them, one after another after another, but as she was doing so, more kept arriving. There had been a dozen at first, and now there were already two dozen unconscious around them, and another twice that still attacking. “I can’t hold up this barrier forever,” Imhotep said. “Well, then hopefully they run out of reinforcements soon,” Mary said. Ghost Jack had flown up to the top of the sphere that was this pocket universe. The edge of it was a physical barrier, beyond which was a seemingly infinite emptiness. He flew back down towards the rainforest, looking for any breaks in the canopy, but it was like a sea of green. Even if there were breaks, it would be green there too, and he was not going to have enough time to do a thorough search of everything while they were here. He flew back down below the canopy, as the bird’s-eye view was not helpful if he could not see anything on the ground. Not that he was seeing much down here either, other than an astonishing amount of plant life. More and more monkguars were continuing to try and attack Imhotep and Mary. It seemed like for every one that Mary shot down, another two seemed to show up. “I can maybe hold up this barrier for another minute, at most,” Imhotep said. “We’re going to be overwhelmed if you drop it,” Mary said. “Do you have any other magic you can use in this situation?” “Maybe, but you’re not going to like it.” “What is it?” “I can maybe do a mass sleep spell on the area. So anything and anyone within about ten meters of me will fall asleep.” “That sounds good,” Mary said. “It’ll include us,” Imhotep said. “And I don’t know for certain if it will affect these things. It affects most animals, but I’ve never encountered anything quite like these before.” “I don’t see that we have much options,” Mary said. “Let’s do it.” “Melinda to Mary, you guys finding anything yet?” Melinda asked over the comm. There was no response. “Melinda to Imhotep? Jack?” “Something wrong with the comms?” Ohm asked. “I guess,” Melinda said. She took out her computer pad and ran a diagnostic on the comms. “Hmm, looks like the comms themselves are fine, but there’s some interference in the area.” “Is it just a problem with this pocket universe, or all pocket universes?” Ohm asked. “I guess we’ll find out in another two hours or so…maybe.” “In the meantime, should we check on the others?” “Hmm, maybe just in case,” Melinda said. “Although if this is a standard aspect of pocket universes, we’re going to have to get used to not always being in communication with each other.” Ghost Jack continued flying throughout the rainforest. So far he had not found much of use, although he had finally started seeing some animal life. It was strange though. He had seen some creatures which looked like a mix between snakes and parrots, and another that looked like a mix between a spider and a frog. The sprogers were especially creepy, although the snarrots were pretty close. And there were others that he could not even identify if they were supposed to be a mix of something else, or something entirely new. Then, as he was flying, he came upon a small clearing. Within that clearing was a small hut. He flew over to it, up to the roof, and stuck his head inside to get a peak. There was no one inside, but there was a small cot, and some cooking utensils. He looked back outside, and saw a small fire pit, although it had not seen use recently. Whoever lived here, possibly the person that had created this pocket universe, was seemingly long gone. Or perhaps this belonged to someone that had been trapped here. He looked at the ground, trying to find footprints, but had no luck. Maybe Mary would be able to do better. He tried the comm, but there was no response, so he took off to find the others. Back in the regular universe, Philip Wilson and Dorian Winters were aboard the timeship in orbit of the planet Trantor. Dorian was at the piloting console, while Philip was in the captain’s chair. "So, how long do you think it’ll take them?” Philip asked. “Who knows,” Dorian said. “Melinda said they’ll be spending four hours in each pocket universe, and who knows how many there are and how long until they’ll get to the correct one.” “And until then, we’re just stuck here waiting.” “I mean, we could use the time in other ways,” Dorian said. “We do have the ship to ourselves.” Ghost Jack was flying through the rainforest, when he suddenly found dozens of unconscious monkguars. They were surrounding Mary and Imhotep who were similarly unconscious. And there were more of the monkguars coming in, but as soon as they got within about ten meters of Imhotep and Mary, they too feel unconscious. He also started hearing energy weapons firing, and flew over to the source of it, where he found Melinda and Ohm, trying to hold off yet more monkguars. “You guys need some help?” Ghost Jack asked. “Anything you can do would be much appreciated,” Melinda said. Ghost Jack flew down to where they were. “Close your eyes, and we’ll see if this works.” As soon as Melinda and Ohm had their eyes closed, Ghost Jack sent out an explosion of light to try and blind the monkguars. And it seemed to do something, as they stopped coming at the group, and were pawing around in confusion. “What did you do?” Melinda asked. “Well, after realizing that i can glow in the dark when we had that power outage, I started experimenting with that,” Ghost Jack said. “Hadn’t quite done anything like this yet, but I’m glad it worked.” “Have you seen Mary and Imhotep anywhere?” Melinda asked. “They are just over that way,” Ghost Jack said. “I’m guessing Imhotep used a spell to put everything to sleep, as they are unconscious, as is every monkguar for about ten meters around them.” “There’s more coming yet,” Ohm said. “I found a hut over that way.” Ghost Jack pointed. “I’ll grab Mary and give her to you to carry out there.” “And Imhotep?” Melinda asked. “I don’t know if the spell is centered on him, or on the location where he cast it,” Ghost Jack said. “But I’m immune. So, I’ll carry him and find out, and if it’s centered on him, I’ll have to leave him a distance from the hut.” “Sounds like a plan,” Melinda said. “Let’s do it.” After bringing Mary to Melinda and Ohm, Ghost Jack went back and picked up Imhotep. He initially went over towards the blinded monkguars, while being careful to not get too close to Melinda and Ohm. Sure enough, the blinded monkguars starting falling unconscious as he got within about ten meters of them. That was potentially going to cause problems, but for the immediate time it was actually useful. Ghost Jack started flying around in circles, knocking out any monkguars getting too close to his friends. Ohm carried Mary, while following after Melinda. Ghost Jack had pointed them in the right direction, and he was pretty sure they were getting close. After a few minutes of walking, they got to the hut, and Ohm put Mary down inside, before coming back out. Melinda was looking over the campsite. “What do you think?” Melinda asked. “I don’t think this was made by our friends,” Ohm said. “This is a very old campsite.” “Chronos is a God of Time. So it being old doesn’t really tell us much. But I do agree that I don’t think this was made by them. I also don’t think this pocket universe was made by Chronos.” “So then we just wait until we move onto the next?” “It’ll be another hour so until that,” Melinda said. “We should be able to hold out that long.” As Ghost Jack saw that the others had made it to the campsite, he started circling around it with Imhotep, but keeping his distance. There were monkguars coming from all directions, so he was not able to keep them all out, but he was at least able to deal with some of them that way. He was really curious as to where they were all coming from. Based the size of this pocket universe, there was no way it could sustain this many of them. Possibly they were part of a security system, just being created to deal with the intruders. It was hard to say for certain though, who knew what kind of rules were really in place in this place. Mary woke up, and looked around. She was in a hut, and her energy shotgun was next to her. Ohm and Melinda were by the door, and they were both shooting out at a mass of monkguars that were approaching. “Where are we?” Mary asked. “Ghost Jack found this hut,” Melinda said without turning around. “We’re using it to try and last long enough to escape this universe.” Mary looked at her watch. Just another few minutes left here. She picked up her energy shotgun, and joined Melinda and Ohm at the door, and started firing at the monkguars. Ghost Jack was continuing to circle the camp with Imhotep, when he noticed the monkguars near them were no longer falling asleep. He was briefly wondering if that meant they were becoming immune, before Imhotep started waking up as well. “What’s going on, where are we?” Imhotep asked. “Still in the pocket universe,” Ghost Jack said. “Just trying to survive long enough to move on to the next.” “How much longer will that be?” Imhotep asked. “Should be any second now,” Ghost Jack said, and suddenly they were underwater. Ghost Jack was fine, not needing to breathe, but Imhotep did. Ghost Jack looked at him, and he was holding his breath, but as they had not been prepared for this, there was no telling how long he’d be able to hold it for. Ghost Jack looked around. He had no idea which way was up, so he grabbed Imhotep, and chose a direction, and started moving that way. After a few seconds they hit a solid surface, so they went in another direction. They hit another solid surface. A third direction led to a third solid surface. Mary was still firing at monkguars, when all of a sudden the monkguars were gone. And she was no longer in a hut in a rainforest, and Melinda and Ohm were no longer next to her. She was on sand. She looked around and saw more sand. She was in what looked to be cubic room, a few yards across. The floor, walls, and even the ceiling looked to be made of sand, but not packed together, which made her wonder how it was staying suspended. Mary reached down and picked up some sand of the floor, and sure enough, it was really loose. She tried the wall, and it was the same. She tried digging a bit, and came upon a solid surface after about half a foot, but as soon as she removed her hands, sand flowed down to fill in the hole. What was this place, she wondered. And where were her friends? She had been next to Melinda and Ohm, but clearly they were not in this room. Ohm was in a cubic room as well. His had grass growing out of the floor, walls, and ceiling. The strange thing was that there was no soil for it to grow out of. It was coming out of a solid surface. He grabbed a handful, and pulled it out, but more instantly grew out of the spot he had pulled from. He tried knocking on the walls, and then listened but did not hear anything. He tried his comm, but it was still not working. He checked his handheld scanner, but it did not show anything beyond the walls. And in yet another cubic room, Melinda was considering her surroundings. The floor, walls, and ceiling of the one she was in were coated in mud. The fact that the mud was not dripping down from the ceiling, or even going down the wall, was interesting. Melinda tried stepping onto the wall, and it was as if gravity shifted as she did so. What had been a wall, was now the floor, as far as she was concerned. Melinda then tried moving to the wall she had originally considered the ceiling, and that now became the new floor, from her perspective. She wondered what was the purpose of this pocket universe, and who had created it. And she wondered what kind of situations the others were in, and if they were all okay. The sudden appearance in water had surprised Imhotep, but once he realized where he was, he used a spell to create a bubble around himself with air in it. As he created it, Ghost Jack entered it. “You okay?” Ghost Jack asked. “I believe so,” Imhotep said. “Where are we?” “Some kind of cubic room, filled with water. Looks to be a few meters wide. I don’t see any obvious exits, although I can of course just go through the walls.” “Assuming there’s no magic in place to prevent that.” “True, but I should probably at least check to see if I can find the others. If this pocket universe is just a series of room like this, filled with water, they won’t have magic to save them.” “Right,” Imhotep said. “Hopefully that’s not the case.” Mary was pacing back and forth, trying to figure out what to do. Near as she could tell, her only option was to wait until they jumped to the next pocket universe. There was nothing here but sand. She had already tried digging holes in multiple locations, but they all filled in almost immediately. As she was pacing, she suddenly noticed something emerging from the floor. It was Ghost Jack. “Oh good, you’re not underwater,” Ghost Jack said. “Were you?” “Imhotep and I were, he still is, but with a magic bubble. I’ve been going through a few of these rooms that make up this place.” “And?” “And honestly it could have been a lot worse than underwater. One of the rooms is filled with lava.” “Have you found Ohm or Melinda yet?” “Not yet. I’m hoping that they’re close to here though, since the three of you were near to each other when we were teleported here, right?” “Yeah, we had all been next to each other, shooting those creatures. Do you know how long Imhotep can maintain his air bubble?” “Long enough, although this does now make me wonder if we should have brought environmental suits or something,” Ghost Jack said. “I mean, I’ll be fine pretty much regardless of what we encounter, but the rest of you might not be so lucky.” “Well, we’re going to have to make at least one more jump, unless we can find a way for the rest of us to travel between these rooms.” “Oh, and did you figure out the gravity thing?” “Gravity thing?” Mary asked. “Try stepping onto the wall.” Mary walked to a wall, stepped onto it, and suddenly gravity shifted for her, and the wall was now the floor. “Pretty cool, right?” Ghost Jack asked. Ghost Jack returned to Imhotep after searching dozens of rooms and finding Melinda and Ohm. “Is everyone else okay?” Imhotep asked. “Yeah,” Ghost Jack said. “Looks like you were the only one that got unlucky like this.” “That’s good. What about Tesla’s team? Did you find any of them?” “No such luck. I searched around pretty far, but nothing. That doesn’t mean they aren’t here though. We have no idea how big this place is.” “Yeah, and unfortunately you’re the only one who can explore it.” “I’m going to head back out, and do that for the rest of our time here, just thought I would give you an update.” Melinda was counting down the time until they made their next jump. Ghost Jack had shown up twice, once to check in on her, and a second time to let her know everyone else was okay, but he was unlikely to return again, as he would be spending as much time as he could on the search. She was really hoping their people were not here though, as according to Ghost Jack each of the rooms was about the same size, and it seemed unlikely that all of their missing people would be able to fit in one. And since Ghost Jack was the only one that could travel between the rooms, and they needed to make physical contact to bring others with them, they would be unable to rescue them all if that were the case. Melinda checked her watch. Just ten seconds left. Not knowing where she would end up next, she took a deep breath, just in case. The room disappeared, and she appeared in a large throne room. She exhaled as she took it in. There was a woman with a crown on the throne, and about two dozen guards with swords. “What is the meaning of this?” the woman demanded, as the guards surrounded Melinda. “Who are you, and how did you get in here, and why are you getting mud all over the carpet?” Imhotep suddenly found himself a few feet above the ground, and his bubble collapsed as he fell those few feet. He looked around. He was in a town, full of stone-brick houses. He was on a dirt road. And there were other people around, who looked very surprised at his sudden appearance, but no one made a move to approach him. Looking around, the town did not seem too large, but there was a castle on one end of it. The opposite end led to a forest. He walked over to the nearest person. “Excuse me,” he said. “I’m not from around here.” The person just stared at him for several seconds before responding. “Okay,” she said. “Do you know if there are any other recent arrivals here?” “No, everyone here has always been here.” “Hmm, okay, thank you,” Imhotep said. “Sorry, sorry,” Ghost Jack said as he flew out of the library he had appeared in, amongst the screams of the people inside. As he went outside, there were even more screams, so he went down an alley, landed on the ground, and made himself appear fully tangible. He left the alley the opposite way he came, and he was still getting weird looks from people, but no more screams, so that was good. The people here were dressed simply, and they looked like they were from medieval times, although noticeably cleaner. The buildings also looked to be from that era. He looked up, and the sky looked normal. Either this pocket universe was bigger than the first one, or its size was just better disguised. If it was larger, that would be a major problem. “Excuse me,” he asked a random person on the street. “Can you help me out with a few questions?” “Um, what kind of questions?” the person asked. “How big is this place?” “Well, the town ends over that way with the castle, and that way before the forest, and…” “No, not the town, umm, how far do things extend beyond the town?” “I don’t…why would anyone leave the town?” “No one leaves?” “Of course not. Nobody has ever left, and until now, no one new has ever come here.” “Hmm, right, thanks,” Ghost Jack said as he walked off. Mary had appeared outside the town, in the woods. The first thing she did upon appearing was check her comm, which still did not work. It was seeming more and more likely that whatever was causing the problems with the comms was an effect of these pocket universes in general. She also quickly realized that something seemed very off. There were no sounds of animals in the forest. No wind either, for that matter. The only sounds she was hearing were coming from the town. She checked the ground, and there were no tracks of any kind. That was curious, so she decided to start searching, and going in the opposite direction from the town. Mary was walking for about five minutes or so, when she hit an invisible wall. It did not feel like a forcefield though, it felt like an actual physical wall. She started moving alongside it, to see how far it continued. She quickly discovered that it was curving around, which meant that this place was probably domed like the first pocket universe, just in this case the dome had the illusion of the world continuing. Ohm had appeared in a cave. There was some sort of glowing moss on the walls giving off enough light to see. It was a tunnel, and it extended as far as he could see in either direction. He picked a direction at random, and started walking in that direction. He was walking for a bit, before realizing that the moss was getting thicker, and the cave brighter in this direction. He was unsure if that was a good or a bad thing, so he continued on. Eventually it opened up into a larger cave, in the middle of which was a small house. To one of the sides of it was a garden, which was being worked on at the moment by a young looking woman. She looked over as Ohm approached. “You’re new here,” she said. “That’s fascinating. There hasn’t been anyone new here in over four hundred years.” “No?” “No, when I created this place, I brought the amount of people I would need, no more, no less, so there’s never been the need for new people.” “So, you created this pocket universe? Then I assume that this is not where Chronos put our people.” She laughed. “No, although I am curious as to how you managed to come here.” “I don’t really understand the processes myself,” Ohm said. “But we’re just jumping from pocket universe to pocket universe, trying to locate our kidnapped people.” “Fascinating.” In the castle, Melinda had been thrown in the dungeon. A very clean dungeon though, much cleaner than would be expected based on the medieval look to everything here. The guards also seemed unsure of how exactly to treat her, as if they had not had any prisoners in a long time. They eventually decided on placing one guard outside her cell. She looked out the barred window on the back wall of the cell. There was a mountain range just a kilometer or two away. “So, you don’t get many visitors, do you?” Melinda asked the guard. “We don’t get any visitors.” “No travellers, nothing?” “Why would anyone travel?” “So, what’s going to happen to me?” “I don’t know.” The conversation was interrupted when another guard came up, and whispered something in the first guard’s ear. “Something happen?” Melinda asked. “How many people came with you?” the first guard asked. “What do you mean?” Melinda asked. Out in the town, Imhotep and Ghost Jack had just found each other. They were still getting weird looks, but no one seemed to want to approach them. “I am fairly certain that if our people are in this pocket universe, they are not in this town,” Imhotep said. “I agree,” Ghost Jack said. “These people are not used to outsiders, and we are clearly the first in a long time.” “Have you seen the rest of the team?” “Nope, no sign of them. Possibly in the castle, possibly in the forest, possibly somewhere else. I have no idea how big this universe is.” “So, where do we start?” “Might as well check the castle first,” Ghost Jack said. “It’s possibly where whoever created this is anyway.” Melinda was brought back before the woman on the throne. She had been told that this was Queen Rebecca. “I have been informed that you are not the only intruder in my kingdom,” Rebecca said. “There are two strange men that have been seen in town, and talks of some sort of ghostly figure. What is your purpose here?” “We are only here searching for our friends, your majesty,” Melinda said. “And we will be on our way shortly.” “What manner did you use to travel here?” “That’s…complicated.” “Do you think it is beyond my understanding?” “Honestly, I don’t really understand how it works.” “And who would understand how it works?” Rebecca asked. “One of your friends in the town?” “No, they don’t really understand it either.” Rebecca looked around at her guards. “Leave us,” she said. Without question, they all filed out of the room. “My people and I have lived here for centuries, ever since we were brought to this place. We do not age, or need food or drink or even sleep. No one even remembers anything from before we were brought here.” “Okay?” Melinda asked. “Except for myself. She who brought us here was unable to erase my memories. It’s why she made me queen. Give me some power, so I don’t question that I am trapped here.” “So, you want to leave?” “I was content with my lot in life, but if there is a way out of this place, I want to take it.” “Who created this place and brought you here?” “We don’t know her name, or what she is, only that she is very powerful.” “Powerful enough to track us down if we take you with us?” Melinda asked. “You haven’t told me your name,” Ohm said. “What’s in a name?” the woman asked. “That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet. Not that I expect you to get the reference, being a Neanderthal and all.” “Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare,” Ohm said. “I do read.” “My apologies, good sir, although now that I think of it, you never mentioned your name either.” “I am Ohm.” “A pleasure to meet you, Ohm. You can call me Lucy.” “Nice to meet you, Lucy. I don’t suppose you can help us locate our friends.” “Travelling to pocket universes you are unaware of is very hit or miss, which is how you got here,” Lucy said. “I doubt I’d be able to be any more helpful than whatever method you are currently using. Although I can give you some advice.” “Okay.” “Be very careful. Pocket universes have been created by a great many people for a great many reasons, and there are untold dangers you could encounter.” “That we have already been learning.” Ghost Jack flew through the castle, searching around, and came upon the throne room, where Melinda was talking to someone that looked like a queen. He flew down to the floor and became visible. “Hey Red, what’s up?” “Who is this?” Rebecca asked. “This is my friend Jack,” Melinda said. “Jack, this is Queen Rebecca. Have you seen the others?” “Imhotep is outside the castle, but we decided it would be easier if I searched it myself,” Ghost Jack said. “What are you?” Rebecca asked. “Oh, just your average Ghost of a Demi-God,” Ghost Jack said. “Anyway, haven’t seen Mary or Ohm, and we’re reasonably certain our people aren’t here, at least not in the town.” “The town is all there really is,” Rebecca said. “The forest only extends a short distance, beyond which it is just an illusion. As is the mountain range behind my castle.” “Are you the person that created this place?” Ghost Jack asked. “No, that’s someone else,” Melinda said. “But she does want to come with us.” “Does she now?” Ghost Jack asked. “Yes, I do,” Rebecca said. “Being the leader in a cage still leaves you in a cage.” Melinda and Ghost Jack had left the castle and met up with Imhotep. They explained the situation to him. “I can understand the desire to leave,” Imhotep said. “But if we bring her with, we might anger whoever created this place.” “And we don’t even know who that is,” Melinda said. “We also don’t know why these people were brought here. For all we know this is a prison, and she should be kept here.” “I mean, it’s pretty clearly a prison,” Ghost Jack said. “But we have no reason to assume it’s a prison for criminals. And even if it was, they’ve been here for centuries. I think she’s more than paid for any crimes she may have committed.” “What about everyone else?” Melinda asked. “Should we take them all with?” “She is the only one we’ve encountered that wants to leave,” Imhotep said. “The others don’t even remember their lives before they were brought here.” “Because they were mindwiped,” Melinda said. “And that’s another sort of prison. Imhotep, back when we were first dealing with the TDD, they had replaced some of my memories with fake ones, and you were able to restore my original memories. Would you be able to do that for the people here?” “Possibly, but we’d only have time for a few,” Imhotep said. “And, if you’ll recall, you were asleep for some time afterwards. We will be gone from here by the time we’d be able to see the results.” “Hmm, yeah,” Melinda said. “That’s not really an option.” Ohm checked his watch. It would just be another few minutes before they jumped again. “Leaving so soon?” Lucy asked. “We will be leaving shortly,” Ohm said. “Our people are still out there, somewhere, and we need to find them.” “I wish you luck in your endeavor,” Lucy said. “I don’t suppose you’ll be back again.” “I do not know, but it seems unlikely.” “Then perhaps I will have to visit you sometime. I do still go to Earth from time to time for business.” “What kind of business.” “Nothing super interesting, but I do have obligations that I have to attend to on occasion.” Melinda, Ghost Jack, and Imhotep returned to the throne room. “So, what have you decided?” Rebecca asked. “Will you take me with you, or are you leaving me trapped here?” “We don’t want to leave you trapped here,” Melinda said. “But we do have reservations about angering whoever it is that created this place. We already have a lot of powerful enemies, and it may not be wise to create yet another.” “On the other hand, she may already be angered by your intrusion, for all we know,” Rebecca said. “And this wouldn’t make things any worse.” “Maybe, but we don’t know that,” Melinda said. “We also don’t know where we are all going,” Imhotep said. “At the moment we are jumping from pocket universe to pocket universe, at random. In the previous one I would have drowned without my magic. Coming with us may prove dangerous.” “I am fine with danger,” Rebecca said. “It is better than this tedium.” Melinda checked her watch. Half a minute remained. “There are also other complicated aspects to it.” “You’re stalling, so that means it’s almost time isn’t it?” Rebecca asked, right before she ran over to Melinda, and placed her hand on Melinda’s shoulder. And then, they all disappeared. Mary disappeared from the forest, and appeared in empty space. She fought the urge to panic as she looked around at her surroundings, and exhaled her breath. In the distance she saw a large metal structure, like a space station. She could also see a few other people floating in space, but they were too far away for her to tell who. She knew she did not have long out here, so she did the only thing she could think of. She took her energy shotgun, and starting firing in the opposite direction of the space station, which started propelling her the towards the space station. It was far too slow though, and she knew she was going to lose consciousness any second. Imhotep also appeared in the vacuum of space. He immediately created a magic bubble of air around himself. After his near drowning, he was prepared for situations like this. Looking around, he saw Melinda and Rebecca close by. He used magic to propel himself over to them, and brought them into the bubble. “Still think coming with us was the right decision?” he asked. “What is this place?” Rebecca asked. “Space,” Melinda said. “Are the others out here too?” She was already looking off into the distance to try and locate them. “I see Jack over there,” Imhotep said as he looked out as well. “But he’ll be fine. Looks like there’s someone off that way.” He pointed. “And someone else the other way,” Melinda said. “Jack is closer to the one you noticed, hopefully he’ll go for them.” Ghost Jack looked around at his surroundings. He could see a group of three in one direction, and another person further in that direction, and the group seemed to be heading towards the individual. He assumed that meant Imhotep was there, and had things under control. He looked around some more, and saw the final member of their team, so he flew off towards them as fast as he could. It quickly became clear that it was Ohm, and that he was in distress. As Ghost Jack continued flying towards him, he looked around. The other group of his friends were pretty far away, as was the space station in the distance. As Ghost Jack arrived at Ohm’s location, Ohm was already unconscious. Ghost Jack grabbed him and started flying towards the others. They were actually slightly further than the space station, but he had no idea if he would even be able to find a way to bring Ohm inside it. He just had to hope that it was not too late. Mary was on the verge of unconsciousness when she suddenly felt enveloped by air, and started breathing again. This had been worse than that time she had almost drowned, and she hungrily took in the air as she looked around. She was in a bubble of some sort with Imhotep, Melinda, and someone she did not recognize. “Who’s the new person?” she asked as soon as she was able to talk again. “Mary, meet Rebecca,” Melinda said. “Rebecca, meet Mary.” “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Rebecca said. “Right,” Mary said. “So, what are we supposed to do here? Wait out in space until our four hours are up?” “There’s a space station over that way.” Melinda pointed at it. “And where’s Ohm?” Mary asked. “Jack has him,” Imhotep said. “They are flying towards us, and now that we have you, we are flying to them as well.” Ghost Jack looked at the remaining distance to the others, and even now that they were coming towards him as well, he did not think it was going to be fast enough for Ohm. He was at the limits of his speed though, so he had to think of something else. That is when he hit upon an idea. As a Ghost he was unaffected by the vacuum. He also did not need to breathe, but he did have air inside him. He enveloped Ohm, surrounding him completely to protect him from the vacuum, and then he released the air stored inside him into the bubble he had created with himself. It was not much, but it seemed like it just might be enough, as they got closer and closer, and eventually got to the others. As they did Imhotep enlarged the magic bubble he had created to make more room as they entered. Imhotep looked over Ohm. “Hmm, he’ll be okay, but that was a close one.” “So, I guess now we head over to that space station?” Ghost Jack asked. “Seems our best bet,” Melinda said. “Imhotep, can you get us moving over in that direction?” “Yes, right away.” Back at base, Abigail was continuing to experiment with the magic she was learning from Merlin’s journals. She had figured out a translation spell, so she could read the non-English ones just as easy as the English ones. She was currently reading one that was written in Atlantean, and was reading about an invisibility spell. She knew Sesla had similar spells, although this one seemed to be true invisibility. Abigail cast it on herself, and was instantly blinded. Right, she thought, true invisibility meant light passing through you, which meant not only would you not be seen, but you would also not see. She removed the spell from herself, and went back to reading. It took about five minutes for the group to get to the space station, and another five to find a way in. There was an airlock on the far side of it. It took them a bit to figure out the mechanism of it and get inside. Ohm had woken up by this point, and they started looking around. “I’m not sensing any magic here,” Imhotep said. “What does that mean?” Mary asked. “That this place wasn’t made with magic?” “Perhaps,” Imhotep said. “Or it may be old enough that there has simply been no magic used here in a long time.” “The construction of this place isn’t like anything from Earth,” Melinda said. “It’s not like anything made by Humans or Gods or anything else there.” “It kind of reminds me of our ship though,” Mary said. “The one we took from the Palore.” “Hmm,” Ghost Jack said. “The style is reminiscent of them. I’ll go look around, see if there’s any of those bastards around.” He flew off. “If this is a Palore space station, what does that mean for us?” Ohm asked. “I don’t know,” Melinda said. “But whatever it means, it can’t be good.” Abigail rang the door chime on Harkon’s office. “Come in,” Harkon said. He looked up as Abigail entered. “What can I do for you?” “Well, I’ve been looking through Merlin’s journals, learning a bunch of the magic in them,” Abigail said. “And I know we were waiting until Ghost Jack got back before transferring Sesla’s mind to her new body, but if you want to do so sooner, I may be able to.” “Thank you, but we know his methods work, so I’d prefer not to use experimental methods if we don’t have to.” “Understood, just letting you know there are options. They have been gone for a while.” “I’m sure they are fine.” “I suppose there’s nothing saying that pocket universes can only be created by magic,” Melinda said. “And the Palore are the Palore, so if anyone can pull it off, they’d be a decent bet.” “I’m just wondering what the purpose of this place is,” Mary said. “So far we haven’t seen anyone, so that could mean this place is abandoned.” “Or it could mean that they just don’t keep it regularly staffed,” Melinda said. “Guys, can you hear me?” they heard Ghost Jack saying over the comm. “Yeah,” Melinda said. “I guess comms do work here. What’ve you found?” “I’ve found what seems to be a command center of sorts,” Ghost Jack said. “There’s a bunch of computers here, and what look like teleporters, but I can’t read anything on the computers.” “It’s too bad we don’t have Abigail or the original Jack here to help with translating,” Melinda said. “I have been spending a bit of time studying the Palore language,” Imhotep said. “I’m not exactly fluent in it, but I’ll be able to manage a bit.” “Which way?” Melinda asked. Ghost Jack waited for a few minutes until the rest of the team caught up to him. Imhotep went straight to one of the computers and started looking over the information on screen. “So, your highness,” Ghost Jack said to Rebecca. “What do you think of all this? It’s a bit more advanced than what you’re used to.” “It’s all very impressive and yes, I have never seen anything like this place before,” Rebecca said. “The first time I left my home, it was a similar situation,” Mary said. “I was a simple farm girl, then I went from that to a space station, and yeah it definitely was not something I was expecting.” “I was even simpler,” Ohm said. “From a simple hunter-gatherer society, although I also only found myself on a large metal boat, not a space station.” “Hmm, this is really quite interesting,” Imhotep said, looking at the computer screen. “Did you find something?” Melinda asked. “We’ve been wondering how the Palore got back to the Cretaceous,” Imhotep said. “Their ships only allow them to jump about 212 years at a time, but I think this is the answer.” “Go on,” Melinda said. “Each of those teleporters are linked to a different time, somewhat similarly to our time doors,” Imhotep said. “One is the Cretaceous, one is even further back, one is 2017, and the final one is approximately eight billion years in the future.” “Eight billion,” Ghost Jack said. “Eight billion years. That’s ridiculous.” “Does this place have a self-destruct?” Mary asked. “I mean, we have to destroy it, right?” “The bigger question is if there are other places like this,” Melinda said. “If this is the only one, destroying it would be a great idea, but if there are others, which I assume there are, it would be pointless.” “I’m not sure,” Imhotep said. “I’m not seeing anything about that here, but I think this is mostly just about the operation of this one.” “Why 2017?” Ghost Jack asked. “Like why use a time teleporter to link this to 2017? Because isn’t this in 2017, just in a pocket universe.” “Because the rules of time are somewhat different with this pocket universe, if I’m reading this right,” Imhotep said. “I understand that your friends want to borrow the ship,” Harkon said. “And I understand that we do owe them for there help in dealing with Deanna, but we’re still waiting for out team to get back.” “It’s been months, sir,” Abigail said. “And don’t get me wrong, I’m not ready to give up on them either, but how long are Philip and Dorian just supposed to sit around waiting in orbit? Our team does have long range communicators on them, so they will still be able to let us know when they return.” “I’m surprised that you’re not more worried.” “Of course I’m worried, but there’s nothing we can do to help our team other than waiting. My friends back home though, they actually need the help. And I’ve been looking into the historical records, so I know that they shouldn’t even be where they are, and isn’t it our job to protect the timeline?” “Hmm.” “How different are we talking here?” Ghost Jack asked. “It seems like a few months will pass in the regular universe during our four hours here.” “Is it just this pocket universe, or all of them?” Mary asked. “Near as I can tell this is just talking about this one,” Imhotep said. “But that doesn’t mean the others don’t have the same issues.” “It doesn’t change our mission though,” Melinda said. “We still need to find Tesla’s team. A few months shouldn’t make a big difference, and if the other pocket universes are worse, we’re time travellers, so if we are too much out of sync with our people, we’ll just use time travel to get back into sync.” “We can pretty much assume this isn’t where our people are though,” Ghost Jack said. “Unless Chronos and the Palore are working together.” “Yeah, that seems unlikely, and somewhat terrifying to even consider” Melinda said. “But while we’re waiting out this one, there is still the question of what we do about this place. Imhotep, you said those time teleporters work similarly to the time doors. Does that mean there are teleporters on both ends?” “I believe so,” Imhotep said. “Can we send something through to the Cretaceous, a beacon of some sort?” Melinda asked. “Yes, can manage that,” Imhotep said. “I see what you’re thinking,” Ghost Jack said. “If the Palore have a base back then, we can let our people know where it is. And if not, they at least know that we are okay.” “Maybe,” Melinda said. “The problem is, do we know when in the Cretaceous it is connected to?” “I’m not entirely certain how the dates in here relate to our own,” Imhotep said. “It is definitely close, but I can’t say exactly how much so.” “So then we’ll put a timer on our beacon, so it doesn’t alert our people too early,” Melinda said. “Imhotep, can you make the beacon invisible, so they don’t see it?” “I can certainly try,” Imhotep said. Harkon’s comm beeped. “Yes?” he answered it. “Sir, it’s Jeth Simpson, we just picked up a signal from the Moon.” “What kind of signal?” “It’s a beacon from Agent Summers’ team,” he said. “They are okay, and apparently they are in a pocket universe that the Palore are using, and they say the beacon might be coming from a Palore base in this time.” “Then it’s a good thing Abigail’s friends got our ship back to us in one piece,” Harkon said. After their time in the Palore pocket universe was done, Melinda, Mary, Ghost Jack, Ohm, Imhotep, and Rebecca jumped once again. Melinda was unable to look around, as the room was incredibly dark, but it started lighting up as Ghost Jack started glowing, and she saw that all six of their group were here, but they were not alone. “Tesla,” she said. Nikola Tesla, ERK-147, and the rest of their missing people were here. They were in a large cubical room. “Miss Summers, it is good to see you again,” Nikola said. “Although I hope it is not the case that you are trapped here as well.” “No, we have a way out of here,” Ghost Jack said. “Is Chronos around?” “We have not seen him since he sent us here,” Nikola said. “Do you know why he did that?” “Jack, the original Jack, and I went to talk with Chronos, and as soon as we mentioned the planet he got pissed and disappeared,” Melinda said. “Since then we’ve been doing what we can to find you, but it’s been difficult, and a lot has happened.” “Well, we certainly have the time to start filling them in on it,” Mary said. “We’re going to be here another four hours, after all.” To be continued…

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ericbarkman · 7 years

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Chrono Hustle #45 Dreams of the Future

Jack Masterson reached out with his mind, to try and determine where Tyson Randall had gone when he had vanished in a flash of light. But all he knew was that Tyson was no longer on the base. HE’S GONE, L said. TO ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE. SO HE’S GONE, BUT MY FRIENDS STILL HAVE APHRODITE, Jack said. SO THINGS ARE ESSENTIALLY AS THEY WERE BEFORE TYSON SHOWED UP. EXCEPT FOR ABIGAIL STILL BEING INJURED. AND THEY NOW KNOW MORE ABOUT TYSON RANDALL THAN THEY DID BEFORE. I KNOW EVEN MORE THAN THEY DO THOUGH, Jack said. IS THERE A WAY I CAN GET BACK TO MY BODY AND TALK TO THEM? MAYBE, MAYBE NOT. IT’LL TAKE A WHILE TO BE ABLE TO TAKE BACK CONTROL OF YOUR BODY, AND THE QUESTION IS, BY THE TIME YOU ARE ABLE TO DO SO, WILL YOU EVEN WANT TO? OF COURSE I WANT TO, Jack said. FOR NOW, L said. FOR NOW. “Melinda, get Aphrodite back to her cell,” Harkon Smith said. “And try reinforcing it. We have no idea how Tyson got her out, but do whatever you can think of.” “Yes, sir,” Melinda Summers said as she led Aphrodite out. “Imhotep, could you and Ohm get Dorian and Philip down to the infirmary,” Harkon said. “They seem okay, if still unconscious, but better safe than sorry.” “Of course,” Imhotep said. “Ghost Jack, this voice you’ve been hearing, try looking into it, and finding out if it’s the other Jack,” Harkon said. “That’s my assumption, but we need more than just assumptions at this point.” “I’m on it,” the Ghost of the temporal duplicate of Jack Masterson said. “And Mary, do you want to join me in talking with Cid?” Harkon asked. “Sure,” Mary Bishop said. “What’s our current strategy with him?” “Not sure yet,” Harkon said. “We still have no idea if he’s connected to what’s been going down, or if it’s all just a coincidence, like he said.” Mary looked around to make sure they were alone, everyone else off to their tasks already. “I mean, you’re the one that told me that Abigail has powers which warp probability. So pretty much anything that happens here could be a coincidence caused by her not understanding she even has those powers, let along how to control them.” “Yes, I have considered that her powers could be causing things to happen here, but I don’t know that informing her would solve the problem.” “And keeping her in the dark will?” Jack continued studying the location that Tyson had disappeared from, but was having no success in discovering where or when he had gone to. He was starting to recognize the energy signal he had left behind though. It was different than the way either the time doors or the Palore timeships worked. YOU CAN PREVENT HIM FROM COMING BACK, YOU KNOW, L said. HOW DO I DO THAT? Jack asked. IT’S SIMILAR TO HOW YOU TURNED OFF POWER IN THE BASE, JUST SLIGHTLY MORE SPECIFIC, L said. I’M STILL NOT ENTIRELY CERTAIN HOW I MANAGED THAT, Jack said. WELL, YOU HAVE SOME TIME TO FIGURE IT OUT, L said. TYSON WILL NOT BE BACK FOR A WHILE. HOW DOES HIS TIME TRAVEL WORK? Jack asked. BECAUSE WHAT’S TO STOP HIM FROM GOING BACK TO AN EARLIER TIME? HE’S SOMEWHAT LIMITED IN WHEN HE CAN GO TO, L said. NOT AS FAR AS HIS ABILITIES GO, BUT THE CLOCKMAKER IS AWARE OF HIM, SO HE HAS TO BE CAREFUL TO AVOID BEING NOTICED. WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME ALL THIS? Jack asked. I MEAN IT FEELS LIKE YOUR JUST DUMPING EXPOSITION ON ME. NORMALLY THAT’S WHAT MY POWERS ARE FOR. IT’S RARE I CAN HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH SOMEONE ON MY LEVEL, OR EVEN AS CLOSE AS YOU ARE NOW, L said. IT’S NICE. Mary and Harkon sat down across from Cid in the interrogation room. “Is this really necessary?” Cid asked. “I did help you during your crisis.” “The crisis that happened after you arrived,” Harkon said. “Your agent, Melinda, she wasn’t aware that you have someone on base who warps probability around herself,” Cid said. “That girl in the infirmary, the one who was shot. Are you aware that she has those abilities?” “How exactly are you aware of them?” Mary asked. “Ah, so you two do know then,” Cid said. “I can see magic, for lack of a better way to describe it. It’s not technically sight, but somewhat similar.” “We’re not here to talk about the abilities of the people under my command,” Harkon said. “What we want to know is what happened to Jack.” “As do I,” Cid said. “Whatever happened to him was not magic, or I would have been able to tell what it was. You do have a theory though, do you not? That other Jack, the Ghost one, he’s been receiving messages from the not Ghost one.” “You’ve been eavesdropping,” Harkon said. “I have good hearing,” Cid said. “I will tell you what I learned about Jack’s powers though, in the brief time I was able to observe them before his mind disappeared from his body. Essentially he subconsciously casts a spell that connects him to the entire universe, past, present, and future. Unfortunately I don’t think it’s the sort that would be able to be replicated by mage, it’s the kind of power you need to be born with.” “Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?” Harkon asked. “Normally he would only be connected to the universe for a minuscule time,” Cid said. “A fraction of a millisecond, and even that implies a longer time than it really is. It’s why his powers seem to be so random, because he can’t take in a lot of information in that time.” “But if it were to last longer?” Harkon asked. What if it were to last longer, Jack thought. Was that what was happening? Was this just him using his powers fully? Well, perhaps not fully, but at least more than ever before. He thought about when he had turned the power off in the base. Concentrated on it, but while also trying to concentrate on not doing it again. As he did so, he found himself starting to see the threads of reality, or at least that was the best way he could interpret it. When he had turned off the power, he had essentially just yanked a bunch out, but now he carefully considered each of them, and cut one. VERY GOOD, L said. YOU’RE LEARNING. SO, THEY’RE SAFE NOW FROM TYSON? Jack asked. HE CAN’T RETURN HERE, L said. BUT I’M SURE YOU’RE AWARE THAT DOESN’T MEAN HE CAN’T STILL BE A THREAT IN OTHER WAYS. Jack looked around the base, and located Ghost Jack. TYSON CAN’T RETURN. Ghost Jack suddenly heard the voice in his head again. It was louder than before, and was beginning to feel more and more real. “How do you know that?” he asked out loud. I HAVE PROTECTED THE BASE FROM HIM. “You are Jack right?” Ghost Jack asked. YES. “What happened?” COMPLICATED, BUT NOT CID’S FAULT. “And how do I know this isn’t just a trick?” Ghost Jack asked. There was silence after that, for a bit, before he started hearing some humming. He quickly recognized it as a lullaby that a foster mother he had as a kid used to sing to him. “Yeah, that’ll work.” CAN I MOVE TO OTHER PLACES AND OTHER TIMES WHILE LIKE THIS? Jack asked. OTHER PLACES IS EASY, L said. OTHER TIMES TAKES MORE WORK, BUT YOU WILL LEARN EVENTUALLY. I NEED TO KNOW WHAT CHRONOS DID WITH NIKOLA TESLA AND HIS TEAM, Jack said. WELL, THAT’LL BE EVEN MORE DIFFICULT, AS THEY ARE CURRENTLY OUTSIDE OF TIME, L said. PRE-BIG BANG? Jack asked. LIKE THE TRD AND TDD HEADQUARTERS? NOT BEFORE TIME, OUTSIDE OF IT, L said. YOU STILL HAVE SUCH A BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF THE WAY THINGS WORK. BUT I’D LIKE TO LEARN, Jack said. AND I WOULD LIKE TO TEACH YOU, L said. JUST REMEMBER, THE MORE YOU LEARN, THE HARDER IT WILL BE TO RETURN TO YOUR BODY, IF THAT IS WHAT YOU WISH TO DO. “Hey boss, hey Mary” Ghost Jack said as Harkon and Mary left the interrogation room. “Did you learn anything?” Harkon asked. “Yeah, the voice communicating with me is definitely the other me,” Ghost Jack said. “How do you know?” Mary asked. “He knew the right thing to convince me,” Ghost Jack said. “And he says that nothing that’s happening here is Cid’s fault.” “Cid did offer a compelling explanation of what might have happened to Jack,” Harkon said. “Which tracks with him communicating with you.” “So, how we get Jack back then?” Mary asked. “And do we just let Cid go?” “Near as I can tell, he’s not guilty of anything,” Harkon said. “As for Jack, I don’t know. This is pretty far beyond anything I’ve ever dealt with before.” “Yeah, even in my time with Merlin, I don’t think I ever encountered any situation quite like this,” Ghost Jack said. “I’m at a loss as well.” Jack concentrated on the planet Kyklos in the year 2017, during the time when he had been there. He just kept thinking about it, going over everything he knew about it, over and over, until he realized he was there, in a manner of speaking. Or, at the very least, he was in the space where it had been. YOU ALREADY KNEW THE PLANET WAS GONE, L said. YES, BUT THIS IS FROM WHEN I WAS THERE, AND THAT’S STILL A PART OF HISTORY, Jack said. SO HOW CAN THE PLANET NOT BE HERE AT THIS TIME, IF I WAS ON IT AT THIS TIME, AND THAT’S STILL A PART OF NOT JUST MY TIMELINE, BUT THE UNIVERSE’S TIMELINE. CHRONOS IS POWERFUL, L said. HE CAN MAKE IT SO THAT SORT OF SITUATION IS POSSIBLE. IS HE MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU? Jack asked. NO, BUT HIS ABILITIES ARE A LOT MORE FOCUSED, AND HE HAS LESS RESTRICTIONS ON HOW HE USES THEM, L said. AH YES, BECAUSE OF YOUR OPPONENT, Jack said. FOR EVERY ACTION THERE MUST BE AN EQUAL AND OPPOSITE REACTION, L said. IT’S TRUE IN PHYSICS, AND IT IS ALSO TRUE IN THE GAME I PLAY. SO, WHAT’S THE OPPOSITE REACTION TO HELPING ME? Jack asked. AND WHAT HAPPENS IF I STAY AT THIS LEVEL? DOES THAT MEAN I HAVE TO JOIN IN THIS GAME TOO? YES, L said. IN WHICH CASE MY OPPONENT WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO BRING ONE OF HIS FOLLOWERS UP TO THIS LEVEL. AND IS THAT WORTH IT TO YOU? Jack asked. I DON’T KNOW, L said. I CAN SEE THE FUTURE OF A GREAT MANY THINGS, BUT NOT MY OWN FUTURE. MY OPPONENT AND I ARE NOT LIMITED BY THE LINEARITY OF THE UNIVERSE, BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN WE DON’T HAVE OUR OWN SORT OF LINEARITY INDEPENDENT OF IT. CAN WE TRAVEL TO EARLIER TIMELINES, INSTEAD OF JUST DIFFERENT TIMES? Jack asked. SOMETIMES, L said. BUT YOU CAN’T GO BACK TO KYKLOS, IF THAT’S WHAT YOU MEAN. THAT’S A RATHER UNIQUE SITUATION. THERE HAS TO BE SOME WAY TO FIGURE OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO NIKOLA TESLA AND HIS TEAM, SINCE I APPARENTLY CAN’T JUST GO TO WHERE THEY ARE, Jack said. YOU CAN’T GO THERE, L said. BUT WITH SOME WORK YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO SEE WHERE THEY ARE. “Good news,” Melinda said as she entered the interrogation room. “The evidence indicates you are not to blame.” “As I said,” Cid said. “This has all just been a bad case of coincidence. I suppose my theory about Jack has been shown to be accurate.” “It has,” Melinda said. “And he’s let us know that you are also not to blame for the timing of Tyson Randall showing up.” “So, I am free to go?” “Of course, but before you do, we still need information on any of the Progenitors.” “Ah yes, of course. And I suppose I did get to see Jack’s powers in action, if only briefly, and a deal is a deal.” “So?” “If you’d like to meet Nu, you can find him in 2017, living on the planet Trantor.” “Trantor?” Melinda asked. “It hasn’t been settled or even named yet by 2017.” “So?” Cid asked. “You really think that matters to Nu?” “I suppose not,” Melinda said. Jack concentrated on the thought of Nikola Tesla. He formed a full picture in his mind of everything he knew of the man. But not just what Nikola looked like, also the sort of person he was. His personality, intellect, sense of humor. And then he went to work on locating him. It was not that hard, and he quickly located him in the year 1884, when he was working for Edison. That was not when he was looking for him though, so he started following the threads of his timeline forward. It was fairly simple at first, going through the decades until the 1940s when Nikola started working with them. That was where things started to get more complicated as Nikola’s timeline and the universe’s timeline no longer matched up, but with a bit of work Jack was able to continue following it. He got up to the point where Nikola went to Kyklos, at which point it was like Nikola’s timeline abruptly stopped. Not like he died though, it just vanished the second he was teleported down to the planet. But then Jack tried ignoring the universe. Concentrated just on Nikola and nothing else, and he was able to see his timeline beyond arriving on Kyklos. It was faint, but there. Jack followed along that timeline, which would have been difficult even if it was clearer, thanks to the temporal anomalies that plagued the planet. But he slowly worked forward, until he got to the point where Nikola was actually taken out of the universe. Because that was what had happened. Nikola and his team were in a pocket universe created by Chronos. “I am wary about sending our timeship to 2017,” Harkon said. “I understand sir, but it’s probably not the best idea to go to Trantor aboard a UES starship,” Melinda said. “It’ll be the first Human built colony outside the solar system, and changing the way they discover it could cause alterations to the timeline.” “Yes, I agree,” Harkon said. “And purchasing a ship in that era would also be complicated.” “We could get a cloaking device though,” Melinda said. “That’ll at least allow us to travel around unnoticed in the timeship.” “Okay,” Harkon said. “I’ll allow it. Just be very careful. We don’t want to risk the timeship falling into anyone’s hands.” “Of course, sir.” CAN WE GO THERE? Jack asked. TO THAT POCKET UNIVERSE? WE ARE TIED TO THIS UNIVERSE, L said. WE CAN OCCASIONALLY GLIMPSE INTO OTHERS, AS YOU HAVE JUST MANAGED, BUT WE CAN NOT GO THERE. WILL MY FRIENDS BE ABLE TO GO SAVE THEM, IF I TELL THEM ABOUT IT? Jack asked. PERHAPS, L said. PERHAPS NOT. THAT’S NOT REALLY AN ANSWER, Jack said. NO, IT IS NOT, L said. Melinda sat in the captain’s chair aboard the timeship as it travelled through space. Dorian was piloting, while Philip was at the weapons console, in case anything went wrong. Mary was just pacing back and forth, while Ghost Jack floated around in the air. “I still think we should have held on to Cid,” Mary said. “At least until we verified his information.” “If he lied to us, we know where to find him,” Melinda said. “Dropping out of superspace now,” Dorian said. “We’re near the planet.” “Put us in orbit,” Melinda said. “Yes, ma’am,” Dorian said. “The atmosphere appears similar to that of Earth,” Philip said. “We should have no problem breathing down there.” “Mary, Ghost Jack, and I will go down there,” Melinda said. “You two stay up here with the ship, and keep on the lookout.” Jack returned to the base in the Cretaceous, and searched it, but Ghost Jack was not there. Jack had yet to figure out how to communicate with anyone else, so he started searching for where Ghost Jack had gone to. Ghost Jack, Melinda, and Mary teleported down to the planet. The planet was mostly desert, but there was a rather large oasis they had located, which was as good a starting point as any. There was a lake in the center, which was the largest body of water on the planet’s surface, and they were next to it. “Okay, we are definitely in the right place,” Ghost Jack said. “How do you know?” Mary asked. “I can sense something very powerful here,” Ghost Jack said. “Hello?” Melinda shouted out. “Anyone here?” Nothing happened. “So, how do we get his attention?” Mary asked. Ghost Jack shrugged. “No idea. I mean, I imagine he knows we’re here, but we need to figure out how to make him care.” “We need help in dealing with Chronos,” Melinda said. Still nothing. “He’s done something, and some of our people vanished and we need to get them back.” Still nothing. “Look, we don’t want to bother you,” Mary said. “But as his brother you…” The sky went dark in an instant, but somehow they could still see just fine without an obvious source of light. And the lake stood up and formed into a vague humanoid shape. “You dare refer to that simpleton as an equal of mine?” Nu asked, his voice booming to almost painful volumes. “The Progenitors don’t like people talking about them being siblings,” Ghost Jack whispered to Mary. “I can hear you,” Nu said. “And why should I care about what Chronos is doing?” “Well, what do you care about?” Melinda asked. “Maybe we can make a deal of some sort.” “What I want is to not be bothered by insects such as yourself,” Nu said. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just kill you now.” “I mean, technically I’m already dead,” Ghost Jack said. It did not take Jack long to determine where Ghost Jack had gone. He was in 2017 on an uninhabited planet with Melinda and Mary. Well, mostly uninhabited. Jack went there, and saw they were in a conversation with a giant, vaguely humanoid being made out of water. He assumed it was a Progenitor, and upon thinking about it, he immediately knew that it was Nu. Jack realized that in this state, it was becoming easier and easier to gain new knowledge, and he was starting to understand why L said it would be harder and harder to return to his body as he spent more time like this. Having this easy access to knowledge was intoxicating. Jack started listening in on the conversation, which was pretty much Nu threatening to kill them. Jack was beginning to think all of the Progenitors were assholes. To be fair though, this was only the third one he had seen. As he was watching, he noticed a few drops of water float up off of the top of Nu’s head and go up a few miles. “I can sense you watching,” the drops said. CAN YOU NOW? Jack asked. THOSE ARE MY FRIENDS YOU’RE TALKING TO DOWN THERE. “Why would you be friends with such inconsequential beings?” UNTIL RECENTLY I WAS A MERE HUMAN MYSELF…WELL, DEMIGOD TECHNICALLY, BUT TO YOU THAT’S PROBABLY ON A SIMILAR LEVEL. “And what do you want from me?” CHRONOS TRAPPED SOME FRIENDS OF OURS IN A POCKET UNIVERSE. I CAN’T GO THERE, BUT WE NEED A WAY TO GET OUR PEOPLE BACK. “And what’s in it for me?” BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU OFFER HIM, L said to Jack. “Another one of whatever you are?” Nu asked. “What did they say?” BECAUSE WHATEVER I OFFER HIM, THAT’LL ALLOW YOUR OPPONENT A SIMILAR OPPORTUNITY TO OFFER SOMETHING TO SOMEONE ELSE? Jack asked L. “What are you two discussing?” Nu asked. “I don’t like being left in the dark.” JUST FIGURING OUT WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU, Jack said. WAIT, I KNOW JUST THE THING. “I don’t think he cares that you’re already dead,” Mary said. “Pretty sure he can make you deader.” “Deader?” Ghost Jack asked. “Really?” “Silence,” Nu said. “Your prattling annoys me. But your friend has made a deal with me, so I will assist you.” “Our friend?” Mary asked. “The other Jack?” Ghost Jack asked. “He’s here now?” “What kind of deal?” Melinda asked. “I can send you on a journey through pocket dimensions to find the one where your friends were put,” Nu said. “And what do you get in return?” Melinda asked. “Your friend offered his old body,” Nu said. “You are to deliver it to me, and then I will assist you.” SO, YOU HAVE MADE A DECISION THEN, L said. YOU INTEND TO STAY ON THIS PLANE OF EXISTENCE? THERE’S NOT MUCH ELSE I CAN OFFER WITHOUT CAUSING PROBLEMS FOR YOU, IS THERE? Jack asked. THAT NU WOULD ACCEPT? L asked. PROBABLY NOT. THEN I HAVE LITTLE CHOICE, Jack said. AND THIS SORT OF EXISTENCE IS CERTAINLY INTERESTING. I THINK I’LL ENJOY TRYING IT OUT FOR A WHILE. ETERNITY IS A LONG WHILE, L said. “Nu wants what?” Harkon asked. Melinda’s team at returned to base and explained the situation. “Jack’s body,” Melinda said. “Jack offered it to him.” “So Nu claims,” Mary said. “Ghost Jack?” Harkon asked. “He didn’t say anything to me at the planet,” Ghost Jack said. “If he was there, I was unaware of it.” As they were talking, there was a shimmering in the corner of Harkon’s office, and Jack appeared suddenly. “Sorry about that,” Jack said. “But I’m here now, for the brief while I can remain visible.” “What’s happened to you?” Melinda asked. “I’m on a higher plane of existence,” Jack said. “Like L. She’s been showing me the ropes.” “And what’s up with us giving your body to Nu?” Mary asked. “I’m not going to be needing it anymore,” Jack said. “And it’s something that’ll get him to help.” “Why though?” Melinda asked. “My genetics are rather unique, even by Demigod standards, which is what allowed for my powers,” Jack said. “That’s going to be useful to him.” “And what happens to you now?” Mary asked. “Are you still going to be around, just like this?” “I can only maintain this form for a short time,” Jack said. “Maybe eventually I’ll be able to maintain it for longer, but I can’t spend too much time around here anyway.” “Because of the opponent L mentioned back when we met her?” Melinda asked. “There are complex rules to the way things work on this plane,” Jack said. “And I’ll need to spend a bit more time here before I can figure out the workarounds.” “I’m sure that won’t take you too long,” Ghost Jack said. “We’re smart guys.” “It’s been good working with you,” Melinda said. “I’m going to miss you.” “Same,” Jack said. “Back when I first became a time traveller, I never expected to be one of the people protecting the timeline, but it’s certainly been an adventure.” “Back when we first started working together, I didn’t trust you at all,” Harkon said. “But you’ve really proved yourself.” “Thanks, boss,” Jack said. “That means a lot. I’ve never really been the best at listening to authority, but I’ve been glad to serve under you.” Jack turned to Mary. “Remember when we first met. You had a shotgun pointed at me and marched me into town to have me put in jail.” “Can you blame me?” Mary asked. “A strange man suddenly showed up in my barn and claimed to be from the future.” “Yeah, but once you knew the truth, you acclimated to time travel and such very quickly,” Jack said. “You’ve really matured a lot in just a couple years, and I didn’t know him well, but I think your dad would be proud of you.” Mary went over and hugged Jack, but as she did, her arms went through him as he disappeared. To be continued…

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ericbarkman · 7 years

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Chrono Hustle #44 Shit Hits the Fan

“It’s not a coma,” Doctor Jeri Quill said as she examined Jack Masterson’s body. “You’re certain?” Harkon Smith asked. “I think I can recognize a coma when I see one,” Jeri said. “Especially considering why I was originally brought into this group.” “Sorry,” Harkon said. “What is it then?” “Well, it is something I recognize,” Jeri said. “He’s lost his mind…literally, I mean. It’s like Imhotep’s body after we transferred his mind to a clone body.” “How did that happen?” Harkon asked. “I couldn’t even begin to speculate,” Jeri said. “Imhotep is doing some research, to see if he can find anything, but he doesn’t have any theories yet either.” Elsewhere in their base in the Cretaceous, Melinda Summers had brought Cid into the interrogation room. He actually looked rather amused as he sat down. “You didn’t tell me you were time travellers,” he said. “What do you know about time travel?” Melinda asked. “Rumors and hearsay, mostly. Is this really necessary though?” He lifted up his hands, which were handcuffed together. “Probably not, but they’re staying on. What did you do to Jack?” “Like I said, I was just running tests on his powers. It was completely harmless. Just an observation spell.” “So you claim, but we have only your word on that.” “Something I’m wondering is why you approached me in the first place,” Cid said. “I didn’t reach out to you, you came to me.” “We were pointed in the direction of that bar, and you were the most powerful individual there. That’s why I approached you.” “Well, I can’t argue with that logic,” Cid said. “I mean, it’s basically a shot in the dark sort of logic, but I’m guessing you don’t have many better options at the moment for whatever problem you were already dealing with.” “And now, thanks to you, we have another problem.” “Like I said, I didn’t do anything,” Cid said. “Not anything that would have resulted in this anyway. It’s just a coincidence.” “What were you thinking?” Mary Bishop asked as she paced back and forth in her girlfriend’s room. “I was thinking that I’m mostly useless now that I’m trapped here on base,” Abigail Esau said. “But there was something useful I could do. The Ghost of Jack’s temporal duplicate was trapped in Merlin’s dream, and I could get him out.” “Barely,” Mary said. “You were almost trapped in there with him.” “But I wasn’t.” “And nobody knows why you weren’t.” “Because I made a backdoor on my way in.” “I talked with Imhotep about that,” Mary said. “And I had Ghost Jack check with Sesla. Neither of them understand how you managed that.” “Since when do you put stock in what Sesla says? I mean, I know supposedly I’m the one that becomes Sesla in the future now, but the one here on base is still from a previous future, before that was the case.” “You’re the one that supposedly becomes Sesla,” Mary said. “I’m still not entirely convinced on that. But aside from that, there’s the fact that Imhotep said the same thing. And him I trust.” “But you don’t trust me?” Abigail asked. “Of course I trust you, but this sort of magic is new to you. I’m just worried, and I don’t want to lose you.” Philip Wilson was down in the holding cell area, feeding all the prisoners they currently had. They did not have that many anymore, since joining the TDD and thus releasing most of the TDD and TRD agents that they had been holding. But they still had a few, including Aphrodite. She was always the prisoner that Philip most disliked seeing. That said, he was not exactly thrilled when he got to her cell, and did not see here. He checked the computer panel in front of her cell, and ran a scan to check if she was just somehow invisible, but the scan did not reveal anything. “Philip to Harkon,” he said over the comm. “We have a problem. Aphrodite isn’t in her cell.” “Is it still closed?” Harkon asked. “Yeah, the scan shows it’s empty, but I still figured it might be a trick.” “I’ll send Imhotep and Ghost Jack down there. Meanwhile, I’ll put the base on high alert. I really don’t like the timing on this.” Melinda heard the base alarms go off. “Melinda to Harkon, what’s going on?” she asked into her comm. “Aphrodite seems to be out of her cell,” Harkon said. “Are you still with Cid?” “Yeah,” Melinda said, glancing at him. “Is something going on?” Cid asked. “Those alarms definitely seem to indicate there is.” “I’ll see what I can get out of him,” Melinda said. “Wait, do you think whatever is going on is linked to me?” Cid asked. “There’s a certain situation that’s been under control for a good long time, you show up here and suddenly it’s no longer under control. You tell me how that sounds.” “It sounds like yet another coincidence.” “Quite a lot of coincidences around you,” Melinda said. “Almost like they’re being caused by someone,” Cid said. “You wouldn’t happen to have anyone like that around here, would you?” “What are you talking about?” Melinda asked. “I’m not detecting any magic within the cell,” Imhotep said. Ghost Jack floated into the cell, and moved around it. “And I’m not finding anyone.” “So, then she has escaped for certain,” Harkon said. “I’ve checked the security footage, but it’s been altered. It’s still showing her in there. Theories on how she escaped?” “Like I said, I’m not detecting any magic,” Imhotep said. “It could be something I’m unable to detect, but more than likely it’s something else.” “What about Tyson Randall?” Ghost Jack asked. “Could this finally be the outcome of that message we had to deliver to him?” “It’s certainly what I’m thinking,” Harkon said. “The problem is we know nothing about him other than the name, and what little we’ve heard from Aphrodite. For all we know, Cid is really Randall.” “Or even just working with him,” Ghost Jack said. “Or he might not be connected at all. There’s too many questions right now, and not enough answers.” As they were talking, the lights suddenly went out. “Harkon to anyone, what just happened?” he asked over the comm. There was no response. “Did you do that?” Melinda asked Cid after the power went out. “No, none of this is my doing,” Cid said. “Comms out too,” Melinda said. “And even the emergency lights are out.” She took a glow stick out of her pocket to provide some light. “Some kind of EMP?” Cid asked. “Our equipment is protected against that,” Melinda said. “Probably something mystical, which continues to point squarely at you.” “On the other hand, if I was behind this, wouldn’t I have rushed you as soon as the power went out?” Cid asked as he put the handcuffs, that were previously around his wrists, onto the table in front of him. “Just stay where you are.” Melinda unholstered her energy pistol. “Is that even going to work?” “I can still use it as a bludgeon to knock you out if I need to.” “Do you have any candles in here?” Mary asked. “No,” Abigail said. “Why would I have candles? Aha, here’s a flashlight, but it doesn’t work. Wait, let me try something.” “What kind of something?” Mary asked before the room started lighting up from a glow emanating from Abigail’s hands. “You can make your hands glow?” “Yeah, that was another of the spells I found when looking through Merlin’s journals.” “Cool, but we should start figuring out what happened here. And we should probably stop by my room so I can grab my gun.” “I don’t know if energy weapons will work after whatever happened. I mean, lights are out, comms are down, even the air conditioning is off.” “I have a regular shotgun as well,” Mary said. “I assume that’ll work.” In the time door room, Dorian Winters was searching through the supply cabinet, until he found some glow sticks. He cracked one to provide some light, and stuffed the rest into his pockets. He then went and checked the time door, which was just as dead as everything else on the base. He heard the regular door being pried open, and turned around to see Philip come in. “What happened?” Philip asked. “No idea,” Dorian said. “Power just went out completely. Even stuff on their own power supplies aren’t working.” “Yeah, has there been any time door activity?” “Not since Melinda’s team came back. What I’m curious about is if time doors in other eras can still connect to ours with it dead. We can’t connect out, but I have no idea about the opposite.” “Then we better stay here for now,” Philip said. “Just in case.” In the holding cell area, Harkon was just finishing checking over all of the occupied cells, to make sure they were still secure. In case of a power outage they would remain locked, but he wanted to make sure that nothing had gone wrong. Imhotep had created a ball of light to provide illumination. “Looks like they are all secure,” Harkon said after checking the last one. “At least that’s one piece of good news,” Imhotep said. “What do we do next?” “For now, while Ghost Jack is flying around the base trying to make contact with everyone, we wait here.” Mary pointed her shotgun at the wall as a new light source suddenly appeared out of it, before realizing that it was just Ghost Jack. “What’s going on?” Abigail asked, as Mary lowered the shotgun. “Power’s out,” Ghost Jack said. “Yeah, we kind of figured that out,” Mary said. “And my mother is out of her cell,” Ghost Jack said. “Aphrodite’s free?” Mary asked. “That’s not a good sign.” “Yeah, she got out before the power went out through, so not sure exactly what happened,” Ghost Jack said. “I’m just trying to find out how everyone is doing.” “Did you check the time door room?” Mary asked. “Yeah, just went there, Philip and Dorian are guarding it, but it’s just as dead as everything else. And it seems unlikely that Aphrodite went through it before power went out.” “That’s good at least,” Abigail said. “I think.” Melinda went down a corridor, with Cid walking in front of her so she could keep an eye on him. “How many people do you have here with magical abilities anyway?” Cid asked. “Why does it matter?” Melinda asked. “Well, what I’m sensing isn’t quite making sense. Like, I’m sensing three Demigods, one with probability warping, and one of whom is dead? And two really powerful beings, both in comas. Plus a depowered God.” “Well, assuming you’re being truthful, that at least indicates Aphrodite is still here.” “But I’m also feeling flickers of something else, something more encompassing?” “Encompassing?” “Yeah, like it’s everywhere here. And it almost feels familiar?” Melinda shrugged. “Don’t know what you’re talking about there. Unless L is around again.” “L?” “Never mind.” A thought had come to him. He did not know why that felt so strange, yet it did. And then another thought came to him, as he thought about the first. He tried to look around himself, but he could not see or hear or smell or taste or touch. He could feel though, although not in a manner that felt familiar. Well, no, that was not entirely accurate, there was a certain level of familiarity but he did not know why. As more and more thoughts came to him, some of them memories, he started figuring out who he was. He was Jack. Jack Masterson, that was it. But he felt another Jack was nearby. That was right, it was the Ghost of his temporal duplicate. The meaning of those words was not entirely clear to him yet, but he was getting there. Something had happened, but what was it? He remembered trying to use his powers. What were his powers? Someone was trying to observe him, observe his powers. Who, why? And how did he get here? He was back at base, that he was certain of, but the base was in another time and place, not where whatever had happened was. His body was here, he could sense that too now. Perhaps he was still tied to it? But why would he not be, why did that idea seem strange to him? An out of body experience, was that what this was? But why and how? Was he a Ghost too now, just like his temporal duplicate? Those words were starting to gain meaning, as he continued trying to puzzle through the current situation. It seemed like he should be panicking at such a strange situation, but he was too confused to even consider that. Others were panicking though. Why? The base was dark, other than brief bits of illumination here and there, wherever people had found ways to get some light. And that is when the realization hit. His first thought he had since leaving his body, that was the cause of the darkness. He had caused it, though he did not yet know the reason why. “There’s someone coming this way,” Philip said as he aimed his gun at the door. Dorian did the same, as they both ducked behind computer consoles, just in case. Aphrodite came running into the room, a glowing orb in her hand. She ran straight for the time door controls, and swore after noticing they were dead. “Freeze,” Philip said as he stood up, his gun trained on her, and Dorian following his lead. “Oh, it’s you two,” Aphrodite said. “What are your names again?” “Just don’t try anything, and we won’t have to shoot you,” Philip said. “Do you also want me to drop this?” Aphrodite asked as she dropped the orb to the ground. The room lit up, blinding Philip and Dorian. They started firing in the direction of Aphrodite, but did not hear any hits on her, just the wall. Then Philip felt someone behind him, who got him into a chokehold. He tried breaking it, but was held firm. The inability to breath was bringing him closer and closer to unconsciousness, when his sight returned to him, and he saw Dorian was already unconscious on the ground. There was a man standing over him that Philip did not recognize. And with that, he passed out. “How is everyone?” Harkon asked as Ghost Jack returned to him and Imhotep. “Everyone seems in good shape,” Ghost Jack said. “Philip and Dorian are keeping guard in the time door room, but the time door is as dead as everything else on base.” “And Aphrodite?” Imhotep asked. “I didn’t see any sign of her,” Ghost Jack said. “But with the time door down, she’s presumably trapped here.” “Unless she has another way out of here,” Harkon said. “And I don’t imagine she would have taken out the power if it would trap her here.” “Assuming she is the one that took it out,” Imhotep said. “I have been sensing something strange. I’m not sure what it is, but there’s some sort of force at work here. It doesn’t feel malicious though.” The time door room, it was empty, Jack realized. That should not be the case. He concentrated on it, and realized that he could see what had happened there. His mother was behind it, but not alone. Who was the other individual that she was with. The name Tyson Randall came to his mind, though he did not remember what it signified. It felt like it was someone important, but not someone he knew. Someone he knew of perhaps? It would come to him eventually. He realized that he should try contacting someone. But who? And how? He needed to let someone know what was happening to him, but he did not even know what was happening to him. He started looking around the base, trying to figure out where everyone was. Stationary people were easier to locate, but he could also find people that were on the move, with a little more work. Mary put up her hand, signalling to Abigail to stop walking. She moved forward, shotgun first, and poked around the edge of a corner. She saw Aphrodite, who was carrying an unconscious Philip. “Freeze,” Mary shouted as she went around the corner, her shotgun trained on Aphrodite. “Really dear?” Aphrodite asked. “Are you really going to risk shooting your friend here?” She held Philip in front of herself. “What the hell is going on?” Mary asked. “How did you get out, and how did you shut off the power?” “How did I shut off the power?” Aphrodite asked. “Was that not you?” Abigail asked as she came up behind Mary. “I want to escape this place, and the lack of electricity is making that a bit difficult,” Aphrodite said. “But if not you then who?” Abigail asked, right before gunfire started coming from behind. Mary turned around, to start returning fire, at the attacker, a man she did not recognize, who quickly withdrew and ran off. But the distraction had given Aphrodite time to escape. “Dammit,” Mary said before looking at Abigail, who was on the ground leaning against the wall, and bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds. “Shit, shit, shit.” “There was a fight nearby,” Cid said. “I just sensed the probability warper get injured.” “How nearby?” Melinda asked. “I think one or two floors up,” Cid said. “Probably pretty close to straight up.” “There’s a stairway just over there.” Melinda pointed. “Lead the way.” “You know your base layout better than I do.” “Yeah, but I want you where I can see you. Plus, you’re the one that can sense people.” “I can sense magic.” “Close enough, let’s go.” “What happened?” Jeri asked as Mary carried Abigail into the infirmary, which was lit by a bunch of glow sticks. She had been bandaged up with pieces of cloth ripped from both her and Mary’s outfits, clearly keeping her from bleeding out, and was currently passed out. “She got shot by someone working with Aphrodite,” Mary said as she put Abigail down on one of the beds. “Right,” Jeri said as she got to work. “Ghost Jack filled me in on what he knew, and I’ve been waiting here in case anything happened. Unfortunately I’m somewhat limited in what I can do.” She finished cutting off Abigail’s shirt, and checked her front and back. “Exit wounds for all but one entry wound.” “What do we do?” Mary asked. “Get some proper bandages from the cupboard over there, while I see if I can remove the bullet that’s still inside.” “Right.” Jeri felt inside the wound. The bullet was pretty deep, but she felt like it was removable. “Is she going to be okay?” Mary asked. “Maybe,” Jeri said. “The problem is that without medical scanners, it’s hard to judge how much internal damage there is.” “We’ve got a problem,” Ghost Jack said as he once again returned to Harkon and Imhotep. “Dorian and Philip aren’t in the time door room anymore.” “That’s not a good sign,” Harkon said. “Best case scenario it means that something happened which was big enough for them to leave it unguarded.” “And worst case, something happened to them,” Ghost Jack said. “What do we do?” Imhotep asked. “Continue guarding the prisoners?” “Where there any indications of what happened there?” Harkon asked. “Nope,” Ghost Jack said. “It looked about as normal in there as it can while being empty and dark.” “Go and find someone else to come down here and guard the prisoners,” Harkon said. “Got it,” Ghost Jack said. “Imhotep and I will go to the time door room, and see what we can figure out,” Harkon said. “Maybe see if you can find a few other agents to join us there as well, but make sure there’s enough down here first.” “Understood,” Ghost Jack said before flying off. Jeri carefully entered the wound with a pair of tweezers, moving them towards the bullet. She knew exactly where it was, and just had to get the tweezers far enough in to grab it. As the tweezers hit something solid, she carefully grabbed it with them, before starting to pull them back out, slowly. As they came out, the bullet in them, she dropped it in the sink. “Okay, get me those bandages now,” she said, and Mary started giving them to her as she first bandaged up that wound. She then moved on to replacing the makeshift bandages on the other wounds, one at a time, along with disinfecting them all as she went. “Okay, that’s all we can do for now,” Jeri said. “At least until we get the power in the base back up, all we can do is keep an eye on her, and hope for the best.” “What happened?” Melinda asked as she came into the infirmary with Cid. “We ran into Aphrodite and some man I didn’t recognize,” Mary said. “He shot Abigail. I’m assuming it’s Tyson Randall.” “Tyson Randall?” Cid asked. “That name means something to you?” Melinda asked. “I mean, I’ve heard the name before,” Cid said. “Mostly rumors and such.” “What do the rumors about him say?” Melinda asked. “Some say he’s an immortal as he’s been seen in so many different eras. Others say that’s because he’s a time traveller. I never really had a preference in the debate, but considering when we are, I’m guessing the latter is more likely.” “That’s doesn’t tell us anything we don’t already know,” Melinda said. “Well, unfortunately that’s all I’ve heard,” Cid said. In the time door room, Harkon and Imhotep had just entered and were looking around. Nothing seemed out of place to Harkon. “Can you use your magic to detect anything in here?” Harkon asked. “Aphrodite was definitely here,” Imhotep said. “I don’t know what she did, but she was here.” “Hmm, so that means she’s probably trapped here. Probably came here with the intent to use the time door, which indicates that she doesn’t have another way out of here. We just keep circling the same questions, without any good answers. Okay, so assuming Tyson Randall did come here through some other method, that means either he just released her from her cell, and then left without her, or he’s stuck here too.” “The second one, probably” Ghost Jack said as he flew into the room through a wall. “I was just in the infirmary, and Abigail was shot by a man that was working with Aphrodite.” “Is she okay?” Harkon asked. “Hopefully,” Ghost Jack said. “Jeri did what she could, but with the power being out, most of her equipment is useless.” “I’ll head down there and try some healing magic,” Imhotep said. “That might help.” “Yes,” Harkon said. “That’s a good call. Jack, did you finish getting agents to guard the prisoner cells and to come up here?” “Yeah,” Ghost Jack said. “There are agents on their way here.” “Okay, next up I’d like you to try and locate Aphrodite and her partner,” Harkon said. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen any sign of them yet?” “I haven’t seen them yet, just what they’ve done to Abigail, and the fact that Philip and Dorian are missing,” Ghost Jack said. “Yes, well, hopefully they aren’t able to hide forever,” Harkon said. “And if the partner is indeed Randall, and he is also trapped here, then I am really curious on who took out the power.” Jack continued to try and reach out to someone, anyone. He had so far made attempts to communicate with half a dozen different people, all to little success. Then as he was mulling over what to do, he finally located Aphrodite. She was with a man, presumably this Tyson Randall name that was stuck in his head. They also had Philip and Dorian with them, both of whom were unconscious. And they were bleeding. Not enough to cause a problem, but enough to give Aphrodite some blood she was using to draw on the ground. That was not a good sign. He looked around near them, and discovered the Ghost of his temporal duplicate was not far from the room they were in. It was living quarters, but ones that were currently not in use. Jack concentrated on Ghost Jack and just thought the word LEFT as hard as he could. He then watched as Ghost Jack hesitated for a moment, before turning left. He tried flying through the wall, into the room where Aphrodite and the others were, but as he did, one of the blood drawings briefly glowed, and Ghost Jack was bounced backwards away from the wall. “Hmm,” Imhotep said as he used his magic to check on Abigail’s condition. “There is some internal bleeding, but I don’t think it’s anything I can’t repair.” “That’s good,” Mary said. “So, she’ll recover fully?” “I don’t see any reason why she wouldn’t,” Imhotep said. “She may have to limit her physical activity for a while afterwards, but she should be fine.” Just outside the infirmary, Harkon was talking with Melinda and Ohm, who had also found his way to this part of the base. They had just finished going over what each of them knew. “So, what now, sir?” Melinda asked. “Hopefully Ghost Jack finds Aphrodite and we’re able to capture her,” Harkon said. “And if not?” Ohm asked. “Not to worry,” Ghost Jack said as he floated up through the floor. “I’m pretty sure I’ve found where she is. There’s a room I’m not able to enter, some sort of mystical field in the wall just pushed me back out.” “That’s worrying,” Melinda said. “She shouldn’t have her powers, although it’s possible she knows some spells that she can use beyond that.” “There’s something else though,” Ghost Jack said. “The way I found them. I just felt this sudden urge to turn left, and that’s how I thought to check the room.” “Your knowledge powers, maybe?” Ohm asked. “Maybe,” Ghost Jack said. “I’m not as experienced with those as the other Jack, but I don’t know, this felt different. Less like suddenly knowing something, and more like…almost like a voice in my head.” “Who’s voice?” Melinda asked. “Umm, I don’t know, I suppose my own voice,” Ghost Jack said. “You don’t think the other Jack might be reaching out somehow?” Harkon asked. “Maybe,” Melinda said. “You were saying that Imhotep has been feeling a presence of some sort, and that Jack’s mind is no longer in his body, which also tracks with some of what Cid’s been saying.” “So, he’s a Ghost too?” Ohm asked. “No, he’s not a Ghost,” Ghost Jack said. “I can assure you of that.” “But he might be astral projecting,” Harkon said. “It’s certainly a possibility.” Astral projecting? Jack considered the words as he listened in on the conversation. They did not quite convey what had happened to him, but they were not far off either. In any case, at least his friends finally had an idea that he was around. But what was the next move. His situation was not the pressing issue at the moment. He checked in on Aphrodite again, and she was still writing on the walls and floor with blood. He concentrated on Ghost Jack again, and thought BLOOD MAGIC RITUALS. He saw as Ghost Jack briefly flinched, and then was telling the others what he had just heard in his mind. Imhotep looked over as Ghost Jack, Harkon, Melinda, and Ohm came back into the infirmary. “Do you know anything about blood magic rituals?” Ghost Jack asked. “A bit,” Imhotep said. “Why?” “I think that’s what Aphrodite is using,” Ghost Jack said. “Make sense,” Imhotep said. “She’d be able to do those even without any magical power herself, assuming she knows what she’s doing.” “We need a way to bypass whatever protective fields she’s put up around the room she’s in,” Harkon said. “What about teleportation?” Mary asked. “Assuming our ship still has power, couldn’t Ghost Jack fly up there and use it?” “Without a teleporter inside the room, there’s no way to get anyone in,” Melinda said. “We do already have people inside the room,” Ohm said. “Is there any way to wake them up?” “There…there might be,” Abigail said, starting to wake up. “Ow.” “Try not to move to much,” Jeri said. “You were pretty hurt back there.” “Right, yeah,” Abigail said. “But there might be a way, not exactly to wake them up, but to temporarily take possession of their bodies. It’s similar to the spell I used to enter Merlin’s dream.” “Hmm, I’m not sure I like the sound of that,” Harkon said. “But I don’t know that there’s a better option. We need to stop Aphrodite and her associate before they do whatever it is they are trying to do.” Jack considered the plan his friends were making. It was not a perfect plan, but then, he was not certain there was such a thing in this situation. Perhaps he should turn the power in the base back on, although he had no idea how to do that. He still was not certain how he had turned it off in the first place. He did check the timeship and satellite they had in orbit, and both those were still at full power, so whatever he had done had just affected the base. Or possibly stuff within the atmosphere, but it was hard to determine that since there was not exactly a lot of electronics in the Cretaceous. Imhotep looked through the pages of Merlin’s journal that Abigail had pointed out to him. “Hmm,” he said. “So, what’s the verdict?” Harkon asked. “It’ll work,” Imhotep said. “With Abigail’s injuries she should not be doing it though, it could introduce complications.” “Can you cast it?” Harkon asked. “Yes, on myself and one other person,” Imhotep said. “It takes less energy to cast on myself, so that’s they only way we can get two people inside there.” “Ghost Jack, Melinda, Mary, and Ohm, I want you four waiting outside the room,” Harkon said. “And be ready to go in as soon as you can. Imhotep, you and I will be the ones possessing Philip and Dorian.” “Are you certain?” Imhotep asked. “I don’t like it, but we don’t have a lot of options,” Harkon said. “Okay, let’s do this,” Imhotep said as he lied down on one of the beds in the infirmary and Harkon lied down on the bed next to him. They clasped hands as Imhotep started casting the spell. As he was casting it, he blinked, and suddenly he was in another room. He kept still as he just looked around with his eyes. Sure enough, he could see Aphrodite out of the corner of his eyes, and the man they were assuming was Tyson. And next to him on the floor was Dorian, who similarly had his eyes open and was looking around. So that meant he was in Philip’s body. Harkon in Dorian’s body gave a slight nod, and both of them jumped up at the same time. Imhotep rushed at Aphrodite, while Harkon went for Tyson. Imhotep knocked Aphrodite to the ground, then he started wiping away the symbols she had been writing on the floor and walls. Jack watched as the fight went on, and as Imhotep was getting rid of the bloody symbols, he felt a change in the room. NOW he thought towards Ghost Jack. He then saw Ghost Jack telling the others they could move, and going into the room to join the fight. With the numbers advantage, it was not long before Jack’s friends had subdued Aphrodite and Tyson. But as they did so, Jack wondered what they were going to do with them, since the power was still out. And as he thought that, the power suddenly was restored. I DON’T KNOW THAT YOU WANTED TO RESTORE THE POWER QUITE YET, Jack heard in his head. WHO IS THERE? Jack asked. YOU SHOULD HAVE WAITED UNTIL YOU HAD A BETTER HANDLE ON THE SITUATION. WATCH. Jack looked at Aphrodite and Tyson, and noticed the look on Tyson’s face. It started with a raised eyebrow, before his mouth broke out into a smile. And then, in a flash of light, he was gone. WHAT HAPPENED? Jack asked. AND WHO ARE YOU? YOU DON’T REMEMBER ME? WE’VE HAD A FEW CONVERSATIONS BEFORE. IN YOUR DREAMS AND OUTSIDE. L? Jack asked. YES, BUT THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE’VE BEEN ABLE TO TALK ON MY LEVEL. SO, WHAT HAPPENED? Jack asked. TYSON RANDALL IS A CYBORG, L said. THAT WAS WHY YOU KNOCKED OUT POWER IN THE FIRST PLACE. HE HAS A TIME MACHINE BUILT INTO HIMSELF? Jack asked. I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT I WAS DOING. THIS WHOLE OUT OF BODY THING IS PRETTY NEW TO ME. YES. IT WILL TAKE SOME TIME FOR YOU TO GET USED TO IT, L said. I’D PREFER TO RETURN TO MY BODY, Jack said. I’M SURE YOU WOULD, BUT UNFORTUNATELY THAT IS NOT CURRENTLY POSSIBLE, L said.

To be continued…

#Jack Masterson #Melinda Summers #Mary Bishop #Abigail Esau #Philip Wilson #Harkon Smith #Dorian Winters #Jeri Quill #Aphrodite #L #Tyson Randall #Ohm #Imhotep #Cid #Cretaceous #time travel #time doors #Chrono Hustle #Eric J. Barkman

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ericbarkman · 7 years

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Chrono Hustle #43 A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Lose

Mary Bishop followed Melinda Summers down the back alley, at the end of which was a door. Melinda knocked on it, and the sliding peephole on it was opened and a scruffy looking guy looked out. “What’s the password?” he asked. “Solaris,” Melinda said, and the door was opened, allowing them to enter. Mary went into the bar after Melinda. She looked around at the diverse clientele. Several were Human, or at least looked Human, but there were just as many that did not. Centaurs, Werewolves, and animals with various levels of anthropomorphism made up just a few of the people she noticed. “What’ll you have?” the bartender asked. She looked Human, other than the fangs that indicated she was a vampire. Melinda ordered a couple drinks for them, while Mary continued to survey the place. “So, you two looking for someone in specific?” the bartender, who had introduced herself as Kat, asked. “Or just checking out your options?” “Don’t know yet,” Melinda. “But the night is young.” “So, how does that magic lamp work anyway?” Philip Wilson asked. He was in a motel room with Jack Masterson and Dorian Winters. “Well, assuming Imhotep’s instructions were accurate, I just have to say the incantation, and then spin the lamp, and it’ll point to the most powerful magic being within range,” Jack said. “I tried it when we got here, and it pointed to the bar that Melinda and Mary went to.” “Do magic people being grouped together affect that, or is it just the most powerful individual?” Dorian asked. “Just the most powerful individual,” Jack said. “But I mean it’s a bar for magic entities and users, so it stands to reason that there’s a lot in there, and that makes it more likely that the most powerful individual in the area is there.” “Can we use it to determine how powerful?” Philip asked. “I mean, other than comparatively, not really,” Jack said. “Like, we know there’s someone in there more powerful than me, but that’s not exactly saying a whole lot. The extent of my magic abilities is suddenly knowing things.” “I don’t suppose that’s kicked in with anything useful?” Dorian asked. “Not in the last bit, no,” Jack said. “I did suddenly know a really good brownie recipe I wouldn’t mind trying out later, but that doesn’t help us out at the moment.” “In the back corner,” Mary said. “The guy back there looks like a Human, but the way everyone is avoiding him, and the way they’re occasionally looking at him, but trying not to, there’s a level of nervousness there.” “Agreed,” Melinda said. “Doesn’t mean he’s the most powerful person here, but he definitely has some level of power, mystical or otherwise.” “Should we go talk to him?” Mary asked. “You stay here,” Melinda said. “I’ll chat with him, and see how things go.” “Has Ghost Jack left Merlin’s dream yet?” Abigail Esau asked Doctor Jeri Quill as she entered the infirmary. “Not yet, no,” Jeri said, glancing at the screen that showed Merlin’s cell. “I’m actually starting to get a bit worried. It’s been several hours now.” “Yeah, there’s no reason it should be taking him that long. Even if he was going to be questioning him that long, he’d have come out to let us know, right?” “Maybe,” Jeri said. “But there’s not much we can do about it. It’s not like we can directly communicate with Ghost Jack as long as he’s inside Merlin’s dream.” “What about indirect communication?” “Back when the other Jack was in a coma he still had minimal control over his eye movement, and he could feel if we jabbed him in the side. So we were able to communicate with him using morse code that way. But in this case, it’s Merlin’s comatose body and dream, and Ghost Jack is just in it.” “Yeah, so it might still work, but it might not,” Abigail said. “Plus it’s not like we want to get close enough to Merlin to do anything like that. Even in a coma, he’s still pretty scary.” Melinda sat down across the table from the man that Mary had pointed out. “Mind if I sit here?” she asked. “It looks like you already are,” he said. “I’m Melinda.” “I’m sure you are.” “And you are?” Melinda asked. “Not interested in pointless flirtations.” “I’m not here to flirt.” “Then what are you here for?” “I’m looking for information.” “Have you tried a library?” “There’s not a lot of information on the original generation of Gods in libraries.” “Hmm, perhaps you are interesting after all,” he said. “You can call me Cid.” “The lamp’s pointing a different direction now,” Philip said after spinning it again. “Whoever it’s pointing to must me on the move,” Jack said. “Yeah, he left the bar with Melinda,” Mary said as she entered the motel room. “She told me to head back here.” “Where are they going?” Jack asked. “And who is he?” “Back to his place, I think,” Mary said. “And Melinda said his name was Cid.” “Cid?” Dorian asked. “Not exactly a name that you’d expect someone powerful to have.” Mary shrugged. “Maybe not, but everyone else in the bar certainly considered him dangerous enough.” “Oh?” Jack asked. “In what way?” “Not sure exactly, but just the way they looked at him, and mostly avoided him,” Mary said. Melinda followed Cid into his apartment. It was a fairly small place, but the walls were all filled with shelves, and those shelves were all filled with books. “Care for a drink?” Cid asked. “No thanks,” Melinda said. “I’m more curious to learn what you know.” “I know a lot. After all, knowledge is power. And I can’t just go giving away power for free.” “Then why invite me up here?” Melinda asked as she looked at the spines of the books. She recognized a few titles, but not the majority. “I’m not going to give it away for free, but I might be interested in a trade.” “What kind of trade?” “Like I said, knowledge is power, and you clearly have a lot of it,” Cid said. “Information for information, I’d say that’s a fair bargain.” “What kind of information are you interested in?” “What kind do you have?” “First, I should be clear what I’m looking for,” Melinda said. “I need the location of one of the original generation of Gods.” “I know where a few of them are.” “And would kind of information would I need to offer for that?” “Ghost Jack still hasn’t come out?” Harkon Smith asked as he entered the infirmary. “No, sir, he’s still in there,” Jeri said. “Abigail was down here a while ago wondering the same thing.” “Was she now?” Harkon asked. “Do you think Ghost Jack has been trapped in there?” “I don’t the slightest idea,” Jeri said. “Demigod Ghosts entering the dreams of comatose wizards isn’t exactly something they teach about at med school.” “Where’s Imhotep?” Harkon asked. “I’m over here,” Imhotep said as he came over from the computers in the corner. “But I’m just as clueless as Doctor Quill on this.” “If he is trapped, would we have a way of getting him out?” Harkon asked. Jeri shrugged, as did Imhotep. Abigail stood outside Merlin’s cell, and took out one of the journals that had been brought back from Merlin’s lab. She began reading one of the spells in it, and suddenly her body went limp and fell to the ground. “Welcome back,” Jack said as Melinda joined the group in the motel room. “What did you find out?” “We might be able to get the location of one or two Progenitors from Cid,” Melinda said. “But he wants some information in return.” “What kind of information?” Mary asked. “Information from Jack,” Melinda said. “Me?” Jack asked. “How does he even know to ask about me?” “Apparently he could sense that I knew some Demigods,” Melinda said. “And specifically, one with knowledge powers.” “So, he wants me to use my powers to gain information?” Jack asked. “He didn’t say, just that he wanted information from you, and for you to stop by his place when you have the time.” “Come on, at least tell me something,” the Ghost of the temporal duplicate of Jack Masterson said as he flew around the bar. “I owe you nothing,” Merlin said. “You’re the reason I’m trapped in this coma.” “You didn’t have to chase after me after I was freed of your control. Don’t go trying to blame me for that.” “You were my property.” “Oh, fuck you,” Ghost Jack said. There was a swirling of objects in the corner of the bar as suddenly Abigail materialized out of thin air. “Yes, it worked,” she said as she looked around. “Abigail?” Ghost Jack asked, before turning back to Merlin. “What are you doing here?” “You shouldn’t be here, girl,” Merlin said. “I came to check on Ghost Jack,” Abigail said. “We’re starting to get a bit worried.” “How did you get in here?” Ghost Jack asked. “I used a spell, but that’s not important,” Abigail said. “Why are you still in here?” “He’s managed to trap me,” Ghost Jack said. “And now you’ve joined him,” Merlin said. “Are you sure about that?” Abigail asked. “You used one of the journals from my lab, yes?” Merlin asked. “I know which spell you used to get in here, and it will not allow you to get out.” Jack knocked on Cid’s apartment door. “Come in,” Cid said. Jack opened the door and went in. Cid was sitting on a couch, reading a book. As Jack walked around to sit down in a chair, he glanced at the book, but it was written with a letter system that he did not recognize. “You wanted to see me?” “Yes, I could sense your abilities while talking with your friend. And you two have other friends with magical abilities as well, I can sense that.” Cid’s eyes narrowed briefly, before going back to normal. “But for now it is your abilities that I am far more interested in.” “You want me to know something for you?” Jack asked. “Because it’s not like I can just choose what my powers tell me.” “You can certainly influence it though.” “Sometimes.” “Either way though, that’s not what interests me. I’m more interested in the abilities themselves, and how they work.” “Through magic?” “Well sure, but magic is just another set of rules. You know this, and yet you’ve never bothered to investigate the rules by which your abilities work?” “I’ve tried looking into it before, but to little success. Why, do you know something I don’t?” “I know a great many things that you don’t, but in this case I am uncharacteristically uninformed.” “So, then what do you want from me?” Jack asked. “Why, to run some tests, of course.” “And in exchange for that, you’ll give us the information we need?” “Yes, of course.” “What kind of tests?” “What happened to her?” Harkon asked as he returned to the infirmary, where Abigail was lying unconscious on a bed. “She was found lying on the ground,” Jeri said. “Outside of Merlin’s cell.” “What?” Harkon asked, looking at the monitor showing Merlin’s cell. “Did he do this? How?” “I don’t believe so,” Imhotep said. He was holding a book. “This was next to her, and it’s one of Merlin’s journals. The page it was open to had a spell to enter someone else’s dreams.” “She was checking on Ghost Jack, I assume?” Harkon asked. “It seems likely,” Imhotep said. “But the problem is that based on the strength of the spell, and Merlin’s magic power even while in a coma, I think she might be trapped in there.” Abigail looked around. She created a fireball in her hand, and threw it at one of the walls, creating a hole. “This way,” she said to Ghost Jack who followed after her. “What are we doing?” Ghost Jack asked as they went through the hole and were suddenly in a forest. Looking back there no hole back to the bar, just more forest. “We’re getting away from Merlin,” Abigail said. “We’re still in his dream, in his mind,” Ghost Jack said. “Just because we can’t see him doesn’t mean we’ve escaped from him.” “Dreams are more complicated than that, which you should know,” Abigail said as she started walking around to various trees, and knocking on them. “If you’re talking about Imhotep, that was based on interference caused by a higher level being.” “That’s why he was trapped, but even still, dreams can have areas that the dreamer is unaware of. I myself have recently been experimenting with redoing old dreams, and finding that there’s more in them than I was previously aware of.” “You’ve been doing that?” “I haven’t really told anyone yet,” Abigail said as she continued knocking on trees, until one sounded hollow. “What are you doing now though?” Ghost Jack asked. “Yes, what are you doing now?” Merlin asked as he floated down from the sky. “That’s none of your business,” Abigail said as she materialized a flintlock pistol in her hand, and fired it at Merlin. He put up his hand, as if to stop it, but it went straight through his hand, and then his shoulder. “Foolish girl,” he said through gritted teeth. “You may be able to conjure up simple weapons, but this is my mind.” He put his hands together, and pulled them apart to reveal a ball of energy, which he threw at Abigail. She ducked, and it hit the tree behind her, the one that had sounded hollow, which exploded with chunks of wood flying in all directions. Some of them embedded in Abigail, and somehow in Ghost Jack. They both fell to the ground, the pain enough that they passed out. “So, what first?” Jack asked. “Just sit down over there in the circle drawn on the floor,” Cid said. “Tea?” “No thanks,” Jack said as he sat down. “Okay, close your eyes and concentrate on knowing something.” “Anything in particular?” “Doesn’t matter, just when you meditate to try and direct your powers, try that. It doesn’t matter what you direct them too though.” “Okay, I’m working on that.” “Hmm, that’s interesting.” “What’s interesting?” Jack asked. “I’m just observing the kind of magic energy flowing through your body as you’re doing this. Are you knowing anything at the moment?” “Yeah, I was concentrating on knowing what’s up with you, and that’s interesting, very…” Jack trailed off as his body collapsed. “What’s happening?” Harkon asked as he noticed the sudden spikes in Abigail’s vitals on the health monitor. “Looks like she’s in a lot of pain,” Jeri said. “But her body is fine, it’s just in her mind. I can’t do anything about it.” “Imhotep?” Harkon asked. “I am similarly unsure of any action I can take to assist,” Imhotep said. “So, we’re just waiting?” Harkon asked. “Doing nothing?” Abigail’s eyes shot open, and she sat up. “Oh wow, wow, wow,” she said. “That hurt a lot more than I was expecting.” “You’re telling me,” Ghost Jack said as he suddenly appeared next to her. “What was that?” “I built a backdoor into the dream when I entered, it was in that tree,” Abigail said. “My initial plan was to open it and go through, but Merlin finding us required a slightly different approach.” “How did you manage to make a backdoor?” Imhotep asked. “That wasn’t part of the spell in the journal.” “Yeah, I kind of improvised that,” Abigail said. “In the future, please check with us before doing something like that,” Harkon said. “Right, sorry sir,” Abigail said. “I just didn’t want to waste time.” Mary was lying on the couch in the motel room, while Melinda was on the computer doing some research. Dorian and Philip were playing a game of chess. “Check,” Dorian said right before there was a knock at the door. Mary got up and went to the door. She looked through the peephole and saw Cid was there, so she opened the door, and realized he was carrying an unconscious Jack. “What the hell happened,” Mary asked as she reached for her energy shotgun. “I don’t know,” Cid said as he put Jack onto the bed. “I was just trying to observe how his powers worked, and suddenly it was like his mind vanished from his body.” “Right, like we’re just going to believe you,” Mary said as she picked up her energy shotgun and pointed it at Cid. “You’re coming with us.” “I have no objections to going with you, at least until we find out what’s going on here. I am quite curious myself.” To be continued…

#Mary Bishop #Melinda Summers #Jack Masterson #Abigail Esau #Philip Wilson #Dorian Winters #Harkon Smith #Jeri Quill #Imhotep #Merlin #Cid #time door #time travel #Chronos #Progenitors #Nikola Tesla #ERK-147 #Chrono Hustle #Eric J. Barkman

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ericbarkman · 7 years

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Simple Complications #1000

Lance Tucker was stocking shelves in the store while Jake Johnson was sitting at the till trying not to get up and start pacing. “If you want to put that nervous energy to some use, I could use some help over here,” Lance said. “How long are we even going to be doing this?” Jake asked. “It’s been a month that they’ve been gone.” “I’m sure they’ll be back.” “And what happens if they don’t ever come back.” “I mean, I don’t know. Curtis doesn’t have any living relatives, so the store would go to…I don’t know.” “It’s not really the store I’m worried about,” Jake said. “Yeah, sorry, I wasn’t thinking.” “Like, what do I tell Lex. She doesn’t know that Curtis is really the Amazing Archer and that Liz works with him on that, and that they went on this mission.” “Then what does she think happened to them?” “I don’t know. I’ve been avoiding her for a while, because I just don’t know what to say. She’s a smart girl though, she’ll figure it out, if she hasn’t already.” “How would she figure it out?” “She does know about the mission, her girlfriend went on it too,” Jake said. “And our other brother. It’s just a matter of connecting the dots.” Alexandra Johnson knocked on the door to Jake and Skyler’s apartment. Skyler Nickel answered after a little bit. “Hey Lex, what can I do for you?” he asked. “Is my brother home?” Alexandra asked as she went in and looked around the main area of the apartment. “No, Jake’s at work right now,” Skyler said. “Why, what’s up?” “Do you know why he’s been avoiding me for the last couple weeks?” Alexandra asked. “He’s been avoiding you?” “Yes, and repeating a question back at me is a terrible way to avoid answering it. It makes it pretty obvious that you know he has.” “I mean…it’s not really for me to talk about.” “It’s about Liz, isn’t it? She’s my sister too, and if something happened to her, he shouldn’t be keeping it from me. I’m already having to deal with not knowing what happened to Gina, I need answers somewhere.” “You should go to the store,” Skyler said. “Like I said, Jake is working right now, and it’s not really for me to talk about.” Becca Williams was keeping her composure as she was berated by her boss, Staff Sergeant Laura Connor. “And now, thanks to your negligence, we have to let him go,” Laura said. “Sorry ma’am,” Becca said. “What’s even been going on with you lately? You’ve always been a bit loose with the rules, but mishandling evidence is not like you.” “Sorry ma’am. It won’t happen again.” “It better not. Dismissed.” Becca left Laura’s office and went back to her desk. “So, how’d it go?” Madhur Singh asked as Becca sat down. “Better than I expected,” Becca said. “But I need to be more careful next time or, I don’t know.” “I know you’re worried about Drake,” Madhur said. “Just like I’m worried about Kira.” “It’s been a month, no contact, no word on if they’re even still alive. And we’re just sitting here like everything’s normal, because it’s not like we can tell anyone that your girlfriend and my boyfriend went on a covert mission into alien territory, and are now missing and probably dead.” “We can’t think like that. They’ve been in dangerous situations before and made it out. What makes this different?” “I don’t know, but I just have this feeling in my gut that something’s happened. Something bad.” Jake looked up as someone entered the store. “Hey Jake,” Alexandra said. “Lex?” Jake asked. “What are you doing here?” “You’ve been avoiding me for a couple weeks now,” Alexandra said. “I’m sure you know something about Liz and Curtis, and you’re afraid to tell me.” Jake looked around the store. It was just them and Lance. “Lance, I’m going to take a break.” “Sure thing,” Lance said. “Follow me,” Jake said, and Alexandra followed him into the back. “Liz and Curtis went on the same mission as Gina and Lyle.” “What? Why would they do that?” Jake opened up the broom closet and hit the secret button, causing the back to slide up, revealing a secret staircase. “What’s that?” Alexandra asked. “Follow me,” Jake said again as they went down. “Curtis is Amazing Archer,” he said as they got to the bottom of the stairs and entered the Lair. “And Liz is his sidekick.” “Huh,” Alexandra said. “Well, that certainly explains a lot. Do you know anything more about this, are they still alive out there?” “I don’t know,” Jake said. “There hasn’t been any word from them since they left.” “Has there been any contact from them?” Ted Jones asked as he sat down on the couch with Krissy Jones, his wife. “Nothing yet,” Ricardo Lopez said from the recliner he was sitting on. “But if they are still in the Caldore galaxy there wouldn’t be. The fastest communication methods we have would still take centuries to make it here, since they can’t be sent through the wormhole.” “Something has definitely happened though,” Krissy said. “A few days after the Majestic left, the Caldore diplomatic team became a lot more secretive and aggressive.” “Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?” Ted asked. “If they’re angry, it indicates our friends at least hurt them in some way,” Ricardo said. “So that’s a good thing. It’s just a matter of how much, and if it’s enough.” “And what happened to them afterwards,” Krissy said. “Are you putting together a team to investigate, and hopefully rescue them?” “My company had one starship, the Majestic,” Ricardo said. “So we don’t really have a way to send a rescue mission.” “But?” Krissy asked. “We’re looking into options,” Ricardo said. Back in the Lair, Alexandra and Jake were still talking when Alexandra noticed a blinking light on one of the computer consoles. “What’s that?” she asked. “Not sure,” Jake said as he went over to it. He pressed a few buttons on the keyboard, trying to figure out what it meant, but he had no idea. “Wait a second, that’s morse code,” Alexandra said. “It’s an SOS. That means they’re still alive, right? And that they need help.” “Probably?” “How do we help them?” “I have no idea,” Jake said. Meanwhile, in another galaxy, on a prison planet, Curtis Hammer was knocked to the ground by a punch from his opponent. “You got a decent left hook there,” Curtis said as he got back to his feet. His opponent just grunted at him, and came at him again, but Curtis dodged the attack, and elbowed him in the back as he went by. It did not do much damage, but threw him off balance, giving Curtis time to get him into a chokehold. His opponent tried struggling, but Curtis was able to keep the hold up long enough for him to pass out. He dropped him to the ground as soon as he was satisfied the guy was not just faking it. There were various people cheering and booing at this, but Curtis pushed his way through the crowd, to find Elizabeth Johnson. “How much did we make on this one?” Curtis asked. “Not much,” Elizabeth said. “We’re probably going to have to relocate soon, as less and less people are willing to bet against you around here.” “Well, we have a whole planet at our disposal,” Curtis said. “Even if we are trapped here.” “I did manage to hack that Caldore ship before we got captured. If it goes through the wormhole to our galaxy it’ll send out an SOS.” “If they don’t figure it out beforehand. And we have no reason to think it will go through the wormhole. And even if it does, we don’t know that anyone will go down to the Lair and see it. And even if they do, what can they do about this?” Elsewhere on the planet, Drake, Henry, and Jennifer were sitting around a fire, cooking a dinner of some small rodent-like animals they had caught. “Hear from Curtis recently?” Henry asked. “Not in a couple weeks,” Drake said. “Heard a bit about him,” Jennifer said. “He’s fighting for money in the camps over by Iklon Lake.” “Not sure why,” Henry said. “We’re getting by just fine without money on this planet.” “By living on our own, and hunting our own food,” Drake said. “I don’t think it’s even about the money,” Jennifer said. “Sometimes you just feel the need to fight. I’ve been thinking of giving that sort of thing a go myself.” “Come on, it was bad enough on Earth, but at least there you were fighting for a purpose,” Henry said. “I mean, if we need to fight to survive, that’s one thing, but going out and seeking a fight just for the sake of it?” “I just need to do something,” Jennifer said. “I’m getting restless here.” Lyle Johnson returned to the hovel he was currently calling home. Murshidah bint Haris al-Farooq was in what they referred to as the kitchen, making some sort of soup, while Rachel Kepler was messing with what few electronics they had managed to get hold of during their time on this prison planet. “Get anything new?” Rachel asked, looking up as Lyle came in. “A short range comm unit and a flux capacitor,” Lyle said. “We planning on using time travel?” Murshidah asked. “Not that kind of flux capacitor,” Lyle said. “I might be able to make use of those,” Rachel said. “You still haven’t mentioned what it is that you’re trying to build,” Lyle said. “Not entirely certain myself, yet,” Rachel said. “I mean, at this point I might be working on a long range communicator, or maybe, if we’re really lucky, a teleporter. It all depends on what other kinds of parts we can get.” “I mean, pretty sure we already have most of the electronics available in this town,” Lyle said. “Do we move on to another one then?” Murshidah asked. “I don’t know,” Lyle said. “This town is relatively safe. Most of the people here were imprisoned for non-violent crimes. We’re lucky to have found this place.” “I mean, for this planet, this place isn’t bad,” Rachel said. “But I’d rather we continue trying to find a way off this planet.” “It’s not your fault we’re trapped here,” Gina Farrell said. “If you hadn’t surrendered, we would’ve all been killed.” “Instead we’re all trapped here,” Kira Siegal said. “The crew is scattered all over the planet, or at last this section of it, and there’s no way home.” “But we’re alive.” “If we had made a run for the wormhole, we might have been able to make it.” “Maybe, but we can’t live in the past. Decisions were made, and now we just have to figure out where to go with them.” “We’re not going anywhere with them,” Kira said. “There’s no way off this planet.” “I’ve been chatting with a few people who are trying to make a ship out of the pods that bring prisoners and supplies down here.” “What about the ships in orbit? We’d be shot down the second we left the atmosphere, maybe even earlier.” “Maybe, but it’s something to try, if nothing else.” “Maybe if we could make multiple ships, or something, some sort of distraction,” Kira said. “See, that’s the ticket, we have a problem and we just need to figure out the solution.” Ricardo stepped through the time door into the headquarters of the ESS Time Division, which was situated in the Cretaceous. Abigail Esau was waiting for him as he arrived there. “Hey Ricardo,” Abigail said. “You said you needed a favor?” “Yeah,” Ricardo said. “Several of our friends went on a mission deep into Caldore space, and haven’t returned. It’s been over a month.” “I’d love to help,” Abigail said. “But I’m kind of confined to the base currently. It’s complicated.” “That’s unfortunate, your assistance would have been appreciated, but that’s not the only thing I’m here for. The UES can’t send a ship into Caldore space. And the only ship my company had was the one that our friends were using for this mission.” “You want to borrow a ship from us?” “It would be appreciated. You have a Palore timeship, and that would be a great help.” “I mean, I can talk with Harkon, see what he says, but I don’t know how likely it is,” Abigail said. “That is all I can ask for,” Ricardo said. “Thank you for whatever you can manage.” “Yes, I’d like to speak to Admiral Teleros,” Jake said over the phone. “May I ask who’s calling?” the voice on the other end said. “I’m Jake, I’m a friend of Curtis Hammer.” “Who?” “His dad was a friend of the Admiral.” “I’m sure he was, but Admiral Teleros is pretty busy. What’s your reason for calling?” “Umm…I’m not sure how much I should say over the phone.” “Is this some kind of prank call? How did you even get this number?” “No, this is important,” Jake said. “Umm, I just need to uh, think for a second.” The person on the other end apparently decided not to give him that second. “So, how did it go?” Alexandra asked. “I couldn’t get past the receptionist,” Jake said. “She hung up on me.” “Isn’t there any other way to contact him? Like, this place is full of ESS equipment. Maybe a direct line of communication to him?” “Maybe, I don’t know. I’m usually only down here if Curtis needs some patching up after a night out of vigilante stuff.” “Well, let’s get searching than,” Alexandra said. “Unless you want to try another phone call.” As Ricardo came out of the time door back into the present day, he found Admiral Jon Teleros waiting there. “Hello, Ricardo,” Jon said. “Decided to take a trip into the past?” “Just catching up with a friend,” Ricardo said. “Of course, of course. You wouldn’t be planning on having the timeline altered or anything, would you?” “Of course not. But you probably don’t want to know what I was talking about.” “So, you are planning something?” “We still have people behind enemy lines.” “We’re not technically at war,” Jon said. “And we don’t know that any of your people are still alive.” As they were talking, a beeping sound started coming from Jon’s jacket pocket. He took out a communicator. “Hello? Who is this? How did you get on this frequency?” Ricardo waited as whoever was on the other end was talking to Jon. “Hmm, that is interesting,” Jon said. “I’ll be there shortly.” He hung up. “Well, the chances of your friends still being alive, at least some of them, seems to have gone up.” “Oh?” Ricardo asked. “That was a friend of Curtis. Apparently they’ve received an SOS.” Elizabeth and Curtis returned to the shack they were living in. Bobby Anderson was living there with them as well. He was napping, but woke up at their return. “How were the fights today?” he asked, as Curtis went straight to his room. “Curtis is still the undisputed champion,” Elizabeth said. “That’s good,” Bobby said. “Not so much, less and less people are betting against him.” “I could fight then. I’m almost as good as him, but no one here knows that yet.” “You know he’s not going to allow that.” “He will if you talk him into it.” “Yes, because he always listens to me.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “He listens to you more than he listens to anyone else anyway. Especially me.” “He just doesn’t want you to get hurt. He doesn’t want anyone to get hurt.” “Other then the people he beats up, you mean?” Bobby asked. “Yeah, other than them. And himself.” Jake almost jumped when Jon and Ricardo teleported into the Lair. “That is so cool,” Alexandra said. “You said you received an SOS?” Jon asked. “Still receiving,” Alexandra said as she pointed at the blinking light. “It just keeps looping over and over.” “It’s not much to go on,” Jon said as he sat down at the computer, and started working on it. “I can trace the signal back to near the wormhole. It was probably sent from a Caldore ship that came through.” “So, Curtis and Liz and them made it back into our galaxy?” Jake asked. “Maybe, maybe not,” Jon said. “They may have just hacked a Caldore ship to send out the message if it passed through.” “It at least indicates they are alive,” Ricardo said. “Or at least that they were when they did this,” Jon said. “Anything could have happened since. And either way, the UES still can’t send a rescue mission.” “No, I understand,” Ricardo said. “I don’t,” Jake said. “It would be considered an act of war,” Jon said. “And what? Them occupying most of Europe isn’t?” Alexandra asked. “We had to let them stay there in order to negotiate a peace treaty,” Jon said. “A peace treaty they were going to break by sending another invasion fleet that our friends went to stop,” Jake said. “Yes,” Jon said. “But we can’t afford to let it be broken.” “Which is why we’ll wait until you leave before discussing our plans,” Ricardo said. Drake was having trouble sleeping so he left his tent and went out to sit by the fire. Apparently he was not the only one who had that idea, as Jennifer was already sitting there. “You can’t sleep either?” Jennifer asked. “Yeah, I had trouble for the first week or so we were here, and then it got better, but now it’s bad again.” “For me it’s just started up recently,” Jennifer said. “Like, I can get a decent sleep while also being ready to wake up in an instant if something happens, but here, I’m just restless. In London I was fighting pretty much every day. Here we’re just existing, and waiting for I don’t know what.” “A rescue mission, maybe?” “We went on this mission because no one else could or would. Who’s going to come rescue us?” “I don’t know,” Drake said. “I mean, I’m sure Ricardo is trying to figure something out, but I don’t know what even he can do in this situation.” “So, what are our plans?” Jake asked after Jon had left. “If we’re lucky we’ll be able to a ship from Abigail’s people,” Ricardo said. “I’m not sure how big of a crew we’ll be able to put together though. I suppose I’ll be going. Krissy will probably want to go too.” “And if she’s going, I imagine Ted will be as well,” Jake said. “I’m going too,” Alexandra said. “What?” Jake asked. “No.” “You’re my brother, not my boss. And our other brother and sister are out there, as is my girlfriend. I’m going.” “Then I suppose I’m going as well,” Jake said. “So, that’ll make five,” Ricardo said. “What about your boyfriend?” “Skyler?” Jake asked. “He’ll probably come along if I am, yeah, so he’s six.” “What about Madhur and Becca?” Alexandra asked. “They’ll probably want to go with as well. And no offense to us, but they’ll probably be a bit more useful than the rest of us.” “Very good points,” Ricardo said. “I’ll check with them, and that may make eight.” “Hey Gorthos,” Gina said as she lead Kira into the back of the shop, where Gorthos was working on some sort of device. “Gina, my friend,” Gorthos said as he looked up from his work. “And I imagine this is your friend Kira that you spoke of.” “Nice to meet you,” Kira said. “Gina said you’re working on a way off this planet.” “Indeed, indeed, trying anyway,” Gorthos said. “There is a lot of work yet to be done though.” “Anything I can do to help?” Kira asked. “Are you an engineer?” Gorthos asked. “No, but I know quite a few,” Kira said. “I could start tracking them down and bringing them back here to help with the effort.” “That would be greatly appreciated,” Gorthos said. “We can use all the help we can get.” “Of course we’re in,” Becca said after Ricardo had explained the situation to them. “What’s the plan though?” Madhur asked. “Even with a ship, how are we getting to the wormhole without being destroyed? If we get through it, what then? Do we even have a starting point?” “Not yet,” Ricardo said. “We’ll need to get there first.” “Which we’re doing how?” Madhur asked. “We’ll figure something out,” Becca said. “We’re not going to just leave them out there.” “The ship I’m trying to get use of has a cloaking device,” Ricardo said. “That should allow us to get to and through the wormhole undetected.” “Assuming they haven’t figured out countermeasures after the last time,” Madhur said. “Then we’ll just have to figure out how to countermeasure those countermeasures,” Becca said. “The cloaking device it has is a lot more advanced than what the Majestic did,” Ricardo said. “Now we just need to take time off work,” Becca said. “When are we leaving?” “So, do you trust Gorthos?” Kira asked as she and Gina headed home. “I mean, this is a prison planet. Do you know what he’s here for?” “I mean, from what I know, he probably does deserve to be here,” Gina said. “And I definitely don’t trust him, but I trust that he wants to get off of this planet, and we need all the help we can get.” “True, very true. I just don’t want us to do anything we’re going to end up regretting later.” “Okay, here goes nothing,” Rachel said as she plugged a new battery into the device she was working on. “How do we know if it’s working?” Murshidah asked before a light bulb on it turned on. “That’s how we know,” Rachel said, standing up with a big smile on her face, and kissing Murshidah. “Unfortunately without more parts, my work on it is kind of stalled.” “So you’re saying you have a bit of free time?” Murshidah asked. “Lyle’s going to be gone for the next few hours, so we have the place to ourselves.” “Well let’s not waste our time then,” Rachel said as she followed Murshidah to their bedroom. “So, I take it something big is going on?” Lance asked Jake. “What with all of the comings and goings in the past few hours.” “We got an SOS signal from Liz and Curtis,” Jake said. “It’s not much, but it’s a sign that they are at least out there, and it gives us a starting point, maybe.” “You’re planning a rescue mission?” “Yeah, I mean, I don’t know what we can do, but it’s not like anyone else is going to be doing anything, so we’re all they’ve got.” “I’d like to go with,” Lance said. “If that’s okay.” “I mean, we definitely need all of the help we can get, but why would you want to? Like for me, I have two siblings and a bunch of friends out there.” “I don’t have friends, haven’t really for a while, not since high school, and if I’m being honest it’s not like I was a great friend back then.” “Okay?” “I want to do better, I want to be better. This is a way I can try.” “So what are we going to say for why we need the time off work?” Madhur asked. “I’ve already used up my vacation days.” “Same,” Becca said. “We’ll have to figure something out. Maybe a conference of some kind?” “Maybe,” Madhur said. “The problem is that we don’t know how long we’re going to be gone for, or even when we’re leaving.” “So, yeah, we have to decide between asking now and saying we don’t know.” “Which is suspicious.” “Or we wait until we do know, which’ll likely be at the last minute.” “Which will also be suspicious.” “So, no matter what we do, it’s going look suspicious,” Becca said. “Pretty much.” “Hello again,” Ricardo said as he returned to the ESS Time Division base, where Abigail was waiting for him again, this time with Harkon Smith. “Mr. Lopez,” Harkon said. “It’s good to finally meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.” “Likewise, Mr. Smith,” Ricardo said. “I told him about your request,” Abigail said. “I understand it,” Harkon said. “But I’m not sure I feel comfortable lending you a timeship for this excursion. If it were to fall into Caldore hands, that could be disastrous. We already have enough enemies with time travel capabilities.” “How difficult would it be to remove the time travel capabilities from it?” Ricardo asked. “We need a starship, but we don’t really need a timeship.” “Honestly, not difficult at all,” Abigail said. “I spent a lot of time on that ship with little to do beyond learning it backwards and forwards. I could remove the time travel tech from it in a few hours.” “I’m still hesitant,” Harkon said. “But we do owe you and your friends for the help you provided in dealing with Deanna at the rogue planet. Just try and get the ship back to us in one piece.” “I’ll do my best,” Ricardo said. “I just wish I could go with,” Abigail said. “Hey, boss,” Becca said as she and Madhur entered Laura’s office. “Ma’am,” Madhur said. “Please sit down,” Laura said. “Of course,” Becca said as they did. “So, we’re going to be needing some time off.” “Yes, I just heart about that myself,” Laura said. “You heard about that?” Madhur asked. “I just got a call from the chief of police that you two have been requested to provide security to some sort of conference on Maltork Six,” Laura said. “Apparently Ricardo Lopez asked for you two specifically.” “Yes, well, he does know us,” Becca said. “It’ll be a shame to be missing two of my best detectives, but I’m not exactly going to be ignoring an order, no matter how strange it seems,” Laura said. “Dismissed.” “Yes, ma’am,” Becca and Madhur said before leaving her office. “Did you know Ricardo was going to be doing that?” Madhur asked. “No, but I suppose it’s not that surprising,” Becca said. “I mean, it is Ricardo.” Kira walked through the marketplace of this town. She knew Lyle, Rachel, and Murshidah were living in this area, but she did not know exactly where. She asked around at a few stalls, if anyone knew where they were. Humans were not exactly common on this planet, so it was not long before she got pointed in the right direction. As she was about to head that way though, she actually ran into Lyle who was in the marketplace himself. “Lyle, it’s great to see you,” she said. “Kira, how’s it going?” Lyle asked. Kira looked around, but no one seemed to be paying them much attention. “We’re working on a way of getting off this planet.” “So’s Rachel,” Lyle said. “Or so she keeps saying, but I mean, let’s be honest here, do you really think anything we come up with is going to be something the Caldore aren’t already prepared for?” “They’ve not been prepared for a lot of the things we’ve thrown their way so far.” “Well sure, thanks to the fact that we have plenty of tech they were unfamiliar with. But here on this prison planet all we have access to is the stuff they’ve allowed to be here.” “So, you’ve just resigned yourself to being stuck here?” “I don’t know, I just don’t know.” “So, is this everyone?” Jake asked as him and Skyler walked onto the bridge of their borrowed ship. Ricardo, Lance, Madhur, Becca, and Alexandra were all there. “Not quite,” Ricardo said. “We still need to pick up Krissy and Ted from Maltork Six.” “Who’s piloting the ship?” Skyler asked. “We haven’t figured out who’s doing what yet,” Madhur said. “It’s not like any of us really have much experience running a starship.” “I mean, I’d like to give it a whirl,” Lance said. “Same here,” Becca said. “And I’ve actually been on a starship before.” “Yeah, but I’ve seen your driving,” Madhur said. “I’d prefer someone else.” “I could do it,” Alexandra said as she went and sat down at the piloting console. “I’ve watched Gina fly ships before.” “And what do the rest of us do?” Jake asked. “Well, you’re the closest thing we have to a doctor if anything goes wrong, so why don’t you go check out the infirmary,” Ricardo said. “I’m pre-med. Pre means before. Why does everyone think that means I’m qualified to be a doctor?” he asked before heading off to find the infirmary anyway. Rachel and Murshidah were basking in the afterglow of sex, when they heard the door to their home open. “I’m home,” Lyle shouted out. “And we have a visitor.” “Who’s visiting?” Rachel asked Murshidah as she went to pick her clothes up off the floor and start getting dressed. Murshidah just shrugged as she did the same. After Rachel was dressed, she left their room, and found Kira was with Lyle. “Kira, hey, what’s going on?” Rachel asked. “We’re working on a way to get off this planet,” Kira said. “Lyle tells me you’re working on something too?” Rachel pointed at her device that was on the table. “Yeah, it’s still a ways away from completion, but it’s getting there.” “What is it?” Kira asked. “Still not entirely certain,” Rachel said. “At this point it could be the start of a few different things. What are you working on though?” “Ships, made with whatever can be scrounged up,” Kira said. “Wouldn’t those just be shot down?” Murshidah asked as she came out into the main room. “Probably,” Lyle said. “Maybe not,” Rachel said. “I mean, it wasn’t something I was considering, but my device could be a crude cloaking device.” “They eventually managed to see through our not crude cloaking device,” Lyle said. “Yeah, but we wouldn’t need it to work for very long, assuming we’re just trying to escape the planet,” Rachel said. “Getting back home through the wormhole would be another matter entirely though.” “One step at a time,” Kira said. “Just gotta take it one step at a time.” After picking up Krissy and Ted, the ship was now on its way to the wormhole that would bring them to the galaxy that the Caldore Imperium called home. “So, what happens if they can see through our cloak,” Madhur asked. “Depends on how quickly,” Ricardo said. “If we’re close enough to the wormhole to go through, then we just punch it and get through before they can destroy us.” “And if we’re not close enough?” Madhur asked. “Best case scenario, we escape and formulate a new strategy,” Ricardo said. “Worst case?” Madhur asked. “Never mind, don’t answer that.” “We’re going to do this,” Becca said. “And it’s going to work. It has to.” Curtis punched his opponent in the face. One hit and he was down. There were a few half-hearted cheers from the crowd, but not many, as they were getting pretty bored of Curtis never losing. He walked past the crowd to Elizabeth. “Well?” he asked. “No one’s betting against you anymore,” she said. “We got nothing.” “So, we’ll have to move somewhere else, where I don’t have a reputation yet.” “You’ll have to go pretty far for that,” a familiar voice said. Curtis turned around. “Jennifer, hey, how’re things. How’s Henry doing?” “Henry’s fine, Drake’s fine, I’m bored,” Jennifer said. “But word about you has been going around.” “How far?” Curtis asked. “A better option might be getting someone else to do these fights for a while,” Jennifer said. “That’s what Bobby’s been saying,” Elizabeth said. “We’re not putting Bobby into street fights,” Curtis said. “What about me?” Jennifer asked. “I thought you guys were living out in the wilderness and such, so you didn’t need to make money,” Curtis said. “It’s not about the money for me anymore than it is for you,” Jennifer said. “We’re fighters, it’s the type of people we are, and we’re bored when we’re not.” “Well, even if that’s true, then wouldn’t I be bored if you were taking my place?” Curtis asked. “Just because I start fighting, doesn’t mean you have to stop,” Jennifer said. “But living in these camps, you need money even if that isn’t the reason you fight.” “We’re dropping out of superspace in three, two, one, now,” Alexandra said from the piloting console. “How many Caldore ships are out there?” Ricardo asked. “I’m picking up forty-seven ships,” Madhur said. “I’m ready to start firing on them at a moment’s notice,” Becca said. “Hold off on that,” Ricardo said. “Any sign that they’ve noticed us?” “I don’t think so,” Madhur said. “There was just an increase in the amount that they are talking to each other,” Krissy said. “Looks like they’ve detected some changes in the wormhole’s behaviour, which they are saying means there’s another ship in the area.” “So they know someone’s here,” Ricardo said. “But they don’t know it’s us, and they don’t know where we are. In that case, keep us on course, let’s get through that wormhole before they do discover anything, and be ready to enter superspace the second we’re on the other side.” “On it,” Alexandra said. “That was pretty close to actually admitting why you’re really getting into these fights,” Elizabeth said as she and Curtis were heading back to their place. “I’m not doing it cause I’m bored otherwise,” Curtis said. “I was just pointing out the flaw in her logic. Remember, my plan used to be to become a lawyer.” “Right, but she does bring up the point that we could be out in the wilderness, where we wouldn’t be needing to make money to get by, just hunting and gathering. And it’s not like that wouldn’t present its own challenges. Hell, you’re an archer, that would be more useful with hunting.” “Maybe, but it wouldn’t be…” Curtis trailed off. “It wouldn’t be what? It wouldn’t be punishing criminals?” “My job isn’t to punish criminals, it’s to apprehend them, and these ones are already apprehended.” “As are we,” Elizabeth said. “Which means your job, like all of our jobs, is survival.” “We have left the wormhole,” Alexandra said. “Entering superspace now.” “Okay, so what next?” Madhur asked. “We’re in this galaxy, but we have no idea where to even start.” “We’re going to check out the location of the shipyard first,” Ricardo said. “That’s our starting point.” “And what are we expecting to find there?” Madhur asked. “We’ll see when we get there,” Ricardo said. “The shipyard could be in perfect working condition, or it might be damaged, or if we’re really lucky it’s been fully destroyed.” “And what will each of those things mean?” Ted asked. “Like, it’ll tell us how successful they were, but it won’t tell us where they are.” “Maybe, maybe not,” Becca said. “We know they made it into this galaxy, so the status of the shipyard may help indicate if they made it that far.” “But in theory, the plan was to go straight from the wormhole to the shipyard, and then straight back the other way,” Madhur said. “So unless the Caldore have a way to force a ship out of superspace, they were presumably captured in one of those two locations. And if the Caldore do have such a method, it was presumably still on that line between them.” “Well, if that’s the case, we might end up getting pulled out at the same location,” Alexandra said. “So that’ll at least be a lead.” “And if not, depending on what we find at the shipyard, we might head back to the wormhole,” Ricardo said. “But we should check on the shipyard first, just in case.” “And either way, it’s important to know if they were successful,” Krissy said. “So?” Kira asked. Rachel poked her head out from under the engine she was looking over. “Yeah, this is definitely workable.” “That’s what I said,” Gorthos said. “And we’ve got a few of them.” “How many?” Kira asked. “Eight, which’ll be enough for two ships,” Gorthos said. “We’ll need four per ship.” “Naw, that’s overkill,” Rachel said. “We can easily get by on two a ship, might even manage one per ship.” “That’s ridiculous,” Gorthos said. “We can’t manage that.” “Why not?” Rachel asked. “All we need them for is escaping the gravity of the planet. So we don’t need to worry about overloading them as long as they get us that far.” “And then what are we supposed to do next?” Gorthos asked. “Just slowly float through space?” “Floating through on momentum, or traveling through with those engines, either way we’re not getting to another system in at least a decade,” Rachel said. “Whatever we’re planning once we’re in space, these engines aren’t what we need then.” “Seven ships they notice increases the chance that they don’t notice the cloaked eighth ship,” Kira said. “I’m not going up there to float around unless we have a plan for what to do next,” Gorthos said. “And this is my equipment.” “No problem,” Kira said. “We’ll figure something out.” “Dropping out of superspace now,” Alexandra said. “What are we seeing?” Ricardo asked. “A hell of a lot of debris,” Becca said. “Whatever was here was big, and got destroyed.” “Well, at least we know they were successful then,” Madhur said. “Which means we know they got at least this far.” “Wait, I’m picking up a signal from the Majestic’s transponder,” Krissy said. “It’s in the area?” Becca asked. “Where?” “Umm, amongst the wreckage,” Krissy said. “Yeah, I’m looking over these sensor scans,” Ted said. “And I’m pretty sure I’m seeing a bunch of pieces of it.” “Any lifesigns?” Ricardo asked. “Nothing,” Skyler said. “No lifesigns.” “So they succeeded, but at the cost of their own lives,” Becca said. “We’ve lost them.” Drake brought some firewood back to the campsite, and found Henry pacing. “Hey Henry, you okay?” “I don’t know,” Henry said. “Jennifer went off to do some hunting earlier, and she’’s not back yet.” “How long has it been?” “Several hours, I’m not sure exactly, but she’s usually not gone for this long.” “I’m sure she’s fine, but if you want I can go search for her.” “No, that’s okay, I’m sure she’s fine, that’s not what I’m worried about.” “You think she went to one of the nearby cities or camps to participate in some street fights?” Drake asked. “Yeah, I mean, honestly I’m surprised she hadn’t done so sooner.” “Well, she can hold her own in a fight. There’s no reason to be worried.” “I’m not worried that she’ll get hurt,” Henry said. “I mean, okay yeah, I’m always going to be at least a little worried about that, but the bigger issue is that I’m worried about how much she enjoys fighting.” “Oh?” “I mean, violence should always be the last resort, right? Not the default.” “We’re seldom given a choice in that matter. Like, we didn’t ask for the Caldore to come and invade Earth, and we didn’t ask for them to succeed in conquering parts of it, and we sure as hell didn’t ask for them to build another fleet to finish the job.” “Yeah no, I get all that. I understand why she’s been fighting this whole time, and you and Curtis and everyone else. But here, now, with these street fights Curtis is taking part in, and maybe now Jennifer too. That’s a choice.” “You can take the soldier away from the war, but you can’t always take the war away from the soldier,” Drake said. “Eventually the fighting becomes part of who you are, and it’s not so easy to leave that behind.” The mood on the ship was pretty grim after Becca had made her comment. No one quite knew what to say. Some of the people were not even quite sure what to do, while others were obsessively looking through sensor readings, trying to find something, anything. “I guess, set course back for the wormhole,” RIcardo said. “This wasn’t what we were hoping for, but it’s what we’ve got, so we should head back. The longer we stay here, the more the risk adds up.” “Wait,” Krissy said. “I’m picking energy signals that indicate there was teleporter usage in this area.” “So?” Lance asked. “What does that matter?” “Because the Caldore don’t have teleporters,” Jake said. “That means it was our friends.” “Okay, so what does that mean?” Becca asked. “They used teleporters to get over to the shipyard and blow it up? Or are we thinking they teleported over to another ship and managed to escape that way?” “It’s possible,” Ricardo said. “And if that’s the case, they likely would have tried to get to the wormhole to escape.” “But without a cloaking device,” Becca said. “Which means there’s a decent chance they would have been caught,” Ricardo said. “Okay, where would they be brought if they were caught?” Madhur asked. “The Caldore have a prison planet,” Krissy said. “I don’t know where it is, but that’s where they send all of their criminals and prisoners and such.” “So, we just need to figure out where that is?” Alexandra asked. “How do we do that?” “Well, the easiest way would be for one of us to get captured,” Ricardo said. “If we put a tracker in that person, we can just follow the signal.” “I volunteer,” Becca, Alexandra, Jake, Krissy, and Lance all said at the same time. “We only need one volunteer,” Ricardo said. “Jake is the closest thing we have to a doctor,” Lance said. “Krissy is our linguist, and Alexandra is our pilot.” “So that narrows it down to you and me,” Becca said. “And I’m doing this.” “I’m more expendable,” Lance said. “If something goes wrong, better we lose me than anyone else.” “I’m sure that’s not true,” Becca said. “But tell you what, why don’t we both go, that way if something happens to one of us, there’s still a chance the other will make it.” Jennifer snuck back into camp in the middle of the night. She was trying her best to be quiet as she entered the tent she shared with Henry. She had been hoping not to wake him, but unfortunately for her, he was already awake, and sitting there. “Hey, welcome back,” Henry said. “Hey Henry, I didn’t think you’d still be up,” Jennifer said. “You’ve been gone all day,” Henry said. “I had no idea where you were, or what you were doing.” “Really?” “Okay, yeah, I can assume you went to participate in some street fights.” “Well, I haven’t taken part in any yet, but yeah, I was in those camps I was mentioning before. Met up with Curtis and Liz briefly.” “How are they doing?” Henry asked. “They’re doing fine, but running low on money as no one wants to bet against Curtis anymore in his fights.” “He’s doing that well?” “I mean, he’s been a vigilante crimefighter for how long now?” Jennifer asked. “He’s got some pretty decent skills in that time. Just like how I got mine fighting the Caldore.” “I understand that fighting is what you guys do, and I’m not going to stand in the way if this is what you feel you need to do, but I do wish you wouldn’t.” “Okay, there’s some Caldore ships up ahead,” Lance said as Becca piloted the shuttle they were in towards them. “Have they noticed us yet?” Becca asked. “Yeah, they are running scans on us right now. Let’s hope they don’t decide to just blow us up. Oh wait, we’re getting a comm signal now.” Lance opened the comm channel. “Hello, please don’t blow us up.” “What are you doing here, Human vessel?” a Caldore asked. “We’re kind of lost, not sure what happened, can you help us out?” Lance asked. “Surrender now, or be destroyed.” “Yeah, okay, not a problem, we surrender,” Lance said. “Their lifesigns are still good,” Jake said. “Which means they haven’t been killed. And they are on the move.” “As soon as they enter superspace we won’t be able to track them again until they emerge,” Ricardo said. “So we’ll just have to wait patiently for that.” “And hope they aren’t killed,” Jake said. “Then hope that they are actually brought to this so called prison planet.” “Yes, exactly,” Ricardo said. “As far as I know, they only have the one prison planet,” Krissy said. “And from what I understand that’s where they send everyone they want to lock up.” Kira brought some more of the technicians that had been aboard the Majestic into Gorthos’ shop. She sent them into the back to assist Rachel with the work. “Just how big was your crew?” Gorthos asked. “A few dozen,” Kira said. “You’re worried we won’t be able to fit everyone?” “I have some friends as well, and it’s my equipment so my group takes priority.” “Well, then hopefully there’s enough room.” A light on Gorthos desk started blinking. “What’s that?” Kira asked. “That means a pod is coming down with some prisoners,” Gorthos said. “Which means we should get there quickly if we want to get some of the equipment from the pod itself.” “The signal has reappeared,” Jake said. “In a system not too far from here.” “Set a course,” Ricardo said. “Setting the course,” Alexandra said. “Looks like that system has eight planets around a single sun,” Madhur said. “That sounds about right,” Krissy said. “I mean, we don’t know much about the prison planet, but I do recall hearing it was in a system of eight planets. Security in that system is probably going to be pretty high though.” “Hopefully they won’t be able to see through our cloak,” Skyler said. “But what are we going to do when we get there?” Kira and Lyle followed Gorthos to the location where the pod was landing, and got there just as it touched down. Gorthos had a crude energy rifle which he was pointing at the pod door as it opened up, and Becca and Lance stepped out. “Don’t shoot them,” Kira said, raising her hand. “Kira!” Lance exclaimed. “And…Jake’s twin.” “You all know each other?” Gorthos asked. “That’s good, means we don’t need to fight over the equipment in this pod.” He went to get to work on stripping the useful stuff from it. “What are you guys even doing here?” Kira asked. “We’re on a rescue mission,” Becca said. “Is everyone else alive and okay?” “As far as I know,” Kira said. “We were all in good shape when we were brought here, but I haven’t seen some people in a couple weeks.” “Drake?” Becca asked. “Him, Jennifer, and Henry were living out in the woods, last I heard,” Kira said. “So, what kind of rescue mission exactly is this?” “Ricardo borrowed a ship from Abigail’s group,” Becca said. “They are on the way, we just needed to figure out where this planet was.” “So, what happened?” Lance asked. “We know you took out the Caldore shipyard, and your ship was destroyed in the process, but what happened next?” “We got on another ship,” Kira said. “But without a cloak we couldn’t exactly hide, and when we returned to the wormhole we weren’t able to bluff them into thinking we were Caldore. Our choice was surrender or be destroyed.” Henry watched as Jennifer was wailing away at her opponent in the street fight. “She’s really good at that,” Curtis said. “I mean, yeah, that’s never been in doubt,” Henry said. “My problem with her fighting, and you fighting for that matter, isn’t that I don’t think you guys can win.” “Yeah, I know,” Curtis said. “I’m surprised you’re even here watching though.” “I may not agree with her, but I still love her and want to be supportive.” “Speaking of, you two ever actually going to get married? You’ve been engaged for how long now?” “It’s been a while, but then she went to London, and now we’re on this prison planet, and who knows when it’ll even happen.” “It’ll happen when you guys make it happen,” Curtis said. “There’s always a million reasons to put something off, and you just have to decide what’s too important to listen to those reasons.” “Yeah, that’s pretty good advice,” Henry said. “Thanks, it’s been a while since we’ve had a good talk like this.” Drake was still at camp, by himself, eating some lunch, when he heard someone approaching. It seemed a bit early for Jennifer and Henry to be getting back, so he climbed up a tree, to get a view of who was coming, while also getting out of sight himself. Two people came into the clearing. One was Lyle, and the other was… “Becca!” Drake said as he jumped out of the tree. “Drake!” she said. “You’re alive.” She ran over and they embraced. “What are you doing here?” Drake asked. “Rescue mission,” Becca said. “We’re here to save you guys.” “Who’s we?” Drake asked. “Her and Lance are here on the planet,” Lyle said. “And apparently they have a ship on the way with Ricardo commanding it.” “Huh, I figured Ricardo would try something, but I didn’t want to give myself false hope,” Drake said. “So, what’s the plan?” “Lance and I came here so that Ricardo and them could locate the planet,” Becca said. “The next step of the plan is up to them, depending on what they find when they get here.” “Fair enough,” Drake said. “I suppose sometimes you just have to make things up as you go along.” “Kira’s also working on something,” Lyle said. “A way to possibly get us into space.” “That’s good,” Drake said. “I imagine this planet has anti-teleportation fields set up, just in case. If we can get up there, and meet Ricardo, that’ll make things easier.” “I don’t think any of this is going to be easy,” Lyle said. “We’re dropping out of superspace now,” Alexandra said. “There’s a dozen ships around the planet,” Madhur said. “And a lot of people on it.” “None of them have picked us up though?” Ricardo asked. “I’m not noticing any change in their activity,” Krissy said. “They seem to be unaware of us.” “Excellent,” Ricardo said. “We are picking up anti-teleporter fields from the planet,” Skyler said. “We won’t be able to just teleport them up from the surface.” “We didn’t think it would be that easy anyway,” Ricardo said. “Both Becca and Lance are down there and still in good shape?” “Yeah, they both appear to still be in good health,” Jake said. “So, what’s our next move?” Ted asked. “We’re possibly going to have to go down and land on the planet,” Ricardo said. “If we do that, they’ll know we’re here,” Skyler said. “Our cloak isn’t going to stop us from air moving around us if we enter atmosphere.” “I am aware of that,” Ricardo said. “But unless they can come up and meet us, I don’t see what other options we have.” “So, how are going to let them know that we’re planning on going up to meet them?” Gina asked. Kira turned to Lance. “The trackers you have in you, do they include communication devices of any sort?” “They can be used to track our location, and they keep track of our vitals,” Lance said. “We might be able to work with that,” Kira said. “I mean, Rachel could probably manage to turn them into fully functioning communicators, but we need her working on the escape ships. But we could probably use them to send a morse code communication, if nothing else.” “One way though,” Lance said. “They just send information, they can’t receive.” “So we won’t know if they get our message,” Gina said. “We’ll know when we get up there,” Kira said. “It’s not a perfect plan, but it’ll have to do.” “There you guys are,” Drake said as he pushed through the crowd and found Henry and Curtis. Becca came following after. “Becca?” Henry asked. “What are you doing here?” Curtis asked. “Rescue mission,” Becca said. “So, get Jennifer and Liz and that sidekick of yours,” Drake said. “And let’s get going.” “It’s almost done?” Kira asked. “Just about,” Rachel said. “Just making some final adjustments.” “And how many people will fit aboard?” “That’s the bad news,” Rachel said. “We can fit all of our people, and maybe one more.” “Gorthos isn’t going to like that. Although to be honest, I am a bit wary of bringing a bunch of people with us that we know nothing about.” “Well, we should still be able to bring Gorthos himself. Which I mean, this is his equipment we’re using.” “Yeah, we at least owe him that,” Kira said. “Uh, I’m getting some weird readings from Lance’s tracker,” Jake said. “It keeps cutting out and reappearing, like something’s blocking it.” “That’s odd,” Ricardo said. “Yeah, sometimes for two seconds at a time, sometimes for five,” Jake said. “Send it over to my computer,” Krissy said. “Sure thing,” Jake said as he did that. “It’s morse code,” Krissy said. “They are saying that they’ll meet us in space.” “How are they going to manage that?” Madhur asked. “They aren’t giving details on that, just where to meet them, and an estimate of when” Krissy said. “Can we respond?” Ted asked. “No,” Ricardo said. “How much time do we have?” “A few hours,” Krissy said. “They’re going to give us a more exact time when they know.” “Then let’s make sure there’s a distraction ready for when they are ready,” Ricardo said. As Rachel was finishing up the escape pod, while their other technicians were working on the distraction pods, Kira went up to the front of the shop, where the rest of her crew were. Curtis, Elizabeth, and Bobby were just arriving, which meant everyone was here. “You have quite a lot of people,” Gorthos said as he walked up to Kira. “Is everyone going to fit?” “I’m sorry Gorthos,” Kira said. “You can fit, but none of your friends can.” “That wasn’t the deal.” “We could always convert one of the distraction pods into another escape pod,” Kira said. “But we only have the one cloaking device.” “Yeah, but that cloaking device is ours,” Kira said. “Rachel made that, most of it before even coming here.” Gorthos growled. “Your original plan was to go up without a cloaking device,” Kira said. “And we have friends up there with a starship, so you’re still better off then before we were helping you out.” “That’s the last one,” Madhur said. “Each of these asteroids has an explosive on it.” “Good work,” Ricardo said. “That should provide a decent distraction. Bring us into position to be ready to meet up with them, Lex.” “On it,” Alexandra said. “We’ve just got an update from them,” Krissy said. “They are ready to launch.” “Okay, everyone start getting aboard,” Kira said. She looked around as everyone started boarding the escape pod, and pulled Gina aside. “Where’s Gorthos?” “I haven’t seen him in a bit,” Gina said. “That’s worrying,” Kira said. “Uh, we have a problem,” Rachel said coming over to them. “What’s the problem?” Kira asked. “Nobody told me that Becca and Lance were here,” Rachel said. “We can’t fit everyone.” “We’ll have to squeeze in a bit more,” Kira said. “It’s not just that, we won’t be able to escape the planet’s gravity,” Rachel said. “Someone needs to stay behind, or use one of the distraction pods.” “How about all of you take one of the distraction pods,” Gorthos said as he approached, with a dozen of his friends, and they were all armed. “Is everyone aboard?” Kira asked. “Other than the three of us,” Rachel said. “Then you two get aboard, and leave,” Kira said. “We’re not leaving you behind,” Gina said. “It’ll take a few minutes to launch anyway,” Rachel said. “You can’t hold them off for that long by yourself.” “Just get started on it,” Kira said. “Right,” Rachel said as she went to go work on it. “She’s right, you can’t hold them off on your own,” Gina said “Good thing she’s not alone,” Curtis said as he came up beside them. Jennifer, Henry, Drake, Becca, Bobby, and Lance came up as well. “Get on the ship,” Kira said. “We can get on when it’s ready to launch,” Drake said. “For now, we need to stop them from stopping us.” As Gorthos and his friends came up to them. “One last chance,” Gorthos said. “Surrender the pod to us, and you can live.” “Or you can surrender and we won’t have to beat you guys to a pulp,” Jennifer said. Gorthos and his friends attacked. Gorthos himself went for Kira. He had a sword and swung it at her, but she ducked and went into a roll and came back up behind him. She elbowed him in the back, putting him off balance, while she turned around and got him in a chokehold. “We’re ready to launch,” Rachel shouted. “Everyone get to the ship now,” Kira said. Gorthos was still struggling in her arms, but it was lessening. And around her the fight was still continuing. “We’re not leaving you behind,” Gina said as she dodged to avoid getting hit by a club. “Somebody has to stay behind,” Kira said as she dropped the now unconscious Gorthos. “Watch out,” Lance screamed as he jumped into the path of a spear that was thrown at Kira. It hit him in the shoulder as he fell to the ground. “Lance!” Kira said. Curtis went after the guy that threw the spear, while Kira kneeled down next to Lance. “It’s fine, I’m fine,” Lance said through gritted teeth. “We need to get you aboard the escape pod, and get it launched now,” Kira said. She tore off a chunk of her shirt and wrapped it around Lance’s shoulder. “How long will it take us to get up into space and aboard Ricardo’s ship?” Curtis asked as he came over. The fight was pretty much over, and Gorthos’ friends had been soundly defeated. �� “Ten minutes, at least,” Kira said. “Lance won’t survive that long with that kind of wound,” Curtis said. “You did say someone had to stay behind,” Lance said. “I’d like to volunteer for that.” “Lance…” Kira said. “You don’t have to do that.” “If I’m not going to make it anyway, I’m the right choice,” Lance said. “I know that, you know that, I’m okay with that.” Kira closed her eyes for a second. “Right, thank you. You didn’t have to do that, but thank you.” “I haven’t always been a good person,” Lance said. “But I’m glad I finally got to do something worthwhile with my life.” “Everyone aboard the escape pod,” Kira shouted. “Let’s go.” “We’re detecting a launch from the surface,” Madhur said. “No wait, seven launches.” “They’ll be the eighth launch,” Krissy said. “The one we won’t detect, assuming Rachel’s cloaking device works.” “Oh, I assume,” Ricardo said. “We’re in position to pick them up?” “Yeah, we’re where they told us they’d be,” Alexandra said. “The Caldore ships are opening fire on the pods,” Madhur said. “Just the visible ones?” Ricardo asked. “Looks like it,” Madhur said. “Three of them have been shot down so far. Four now.” “The remaining pods just left the atmosphere though,” Skyler said. “And the remainder of the visible pods have been destroyed,” Madhur said. “Our friends should be here in about half a minute,” Skyler said. “Then time for our distraction,” Ricardo said. “Blow up the asteroids.” “Detonating the explosives now,” Madhur said. The viewscreen showed the asteroids in the distance exploding. “Several of the Caldore ships are going over there to investigate, but a few are still staying here.” “It’s the best we’re going to manage,” Ricardo said. “The shuttle bay doors are open?” “They are,” Ted said. “Our friends should be here any second,” Skyler said. “Lex, make sure we’re ready to jump into superspace at a moment’s notice,” Ricardo said. “Understood,” Alexandra said. “Decloak, and let’s hope they are fast,” Ricardo said. “Decloaking now,” Ted said. “The Caldore have noticed us,” Madhur said. “They are locking weapons.” “The lead ship is hailing us,” Krissy said. “They are demanding our surrender, and saying if we don’t that we’ll be destroyed.” “Tell them we surrender then,” Ricardo said. “What?” Jake asked. “We’re surrendering?” “Of course not,” Ricardo said. “We’re buying time.” “Something just landed in our shuttle bay,” Ted said. “Confirm what it is,” Ricardo said. “The lead Caldore ship is approaching and preparing to dock,” Madhur said. “The pod in our shuttle bay just decloaked and it contains our friends,” Ted said. “Let’s get out of here,” Ricardo said. “Entering superspace now,” Alexandra said. “We’re out of here.” “Wait, that’s odd,” Jake said as the ship went into superspace. “Lance’s tracker is still back on the planet.” As the ship flew back towards the wormhole, everyone was reconnecting. Kira’s crew telling them what had happened, and about their time on the prison planet, as well as being informed of what had been going on while they were there. There was some apprehension as they approached the wormhole back to the Milky Way Galaxy, as that was where Kira’s crew had been captured, but with their cloaking device they made it past the Caldore with little difficulty this time. And it was not long before they returned to Earth. “Did I make the right call?” Kira asked as she lay on the couch, her head on Madhur’s lap. “Leaving Lance behind?” “Leaving someone behind is never easy,” Madhur said. “But someone had to stay behind, and he wasn’t going to make it back alive.” “So Curtis said, but what if he was wrong?” “You can’t think like that. You made a decision, and you can’t change that.” “We know time travellers.” “Do you really think that’s a good idea?” “No, rewriting history to fix my mistakes is not a valid solution.” “And that’s assuming this was a mistake. You made the best decision you could at the time. That’s not a mistake, it’s just a shitty situation.” “What if I was wrong?” Curtis asked. “What if Lance could have survived. I should have been the one to stay behind.” “You’ve described the wound to me, and I agree with your opinion,” Jake said. “It sucks, but he wouldn’t have made it. You staying there would have been pointless.” Curtis punched the wall. “Why does everyone keep dying around me.” “Because sometimes people die,” Elizabeth said. “It’s an unfortunate side effect of reality. But there are also a lot of people that are alive because of you. If it weren’t for people like you, the Earth would have been conquered by now, with millions dead, and everyone else enslaved. Dark Hawk knew and understood that. So did Lance. They gave their lives trying to help, just like you try to help.” “But…it’s not fair,” Curtis said. “It’s not,” Elizabeth said. “That’s why we just have to keep trying our best every day to try and make it fair. It’s not always easy, but we just have to keep trying, because the other option is to give up. And we can’t give up.” “So, I suppose now that we’re back on Earth, you’ll be heading back to London shortly,” Henry said. “In a bit,” Jennifer said. “But not right away, I don’t think.” “Oh?” “That fight is important to me, and I do intend to return to it, but you’re important to me too, and I can’t lose sight of that either.” “I don’t want to stand in the way of what you need to do,” Henry said. “I never have. I just want to be able to stand with you.” “We’ve been engaged for a while now,” Jennifer said. “Maybe it’s time we finally actually did something about that.” “Well, the first step is setting a date, I suppose,” Henry said. “How long until you go back to Maltork Six?” Rachel asked. “I’ll be on Earth for another few days, catching up with friends and family and such,” Murshidah said. “But I do have a job to get back to.” “I’m going to miss you.” “You can always come visit, it’s not that long of a spaceflight.” “I guess not.” “If you wanted you could even move out there with me,” Murshidah said. “I…you know that’s actually not a half-bad idea,” Rachel said. “I never really thought about moving to another planet before, but yeah, I’d really like that.” Many months later, Drake entered a room. “Well boys, here we are,” he said. “Henry’s about to get married. Nervous?” “Not really,” Henry said. “I mean, maybe a bit, but overall, I’m just really happy that this is finally happening.” “Yeah, it’s about time,” Curtis said. “See, this is why you plan things out in advance,” Drake said. “So things don’t drag on endlessly.” “Oh yeah?” Henry asked. “How long until you and Becca tie the knot?” “Still another two years on that,” Curtis said. “Assuming his plans from three years ago are accurate.” “What?” Drake asked. “I didn’t even know Becca back then.” “Yeah, but that’s what you were saying the day we started university, that your plan was to get married in five years,” Curtis said. Ricardo came into the room. “Hey guys, sorry I’m late, just taking care of some business.” “No problem,” Henry said. “Although, considering the kind of work you do, anything we should be concerned with?” “No, things have been rather quiet on that front as of late,” Ricardo said. “Which is nice, one should never have to be defined by their job.” “Depends on the importance they put on their job,” Drake said. “Being a journalist is pretty important to me.” “As is my job,” Curtis said. “Isn’t being a costumed vigilante more like a hobby than a job?” Henry asked. “I mean, it’s not like you get paid for it.” “Maybe not in money, but there are other benefits,” Curtis said as he snapped the fingers of his new robotic hand. “You know, helping people out.” “What about you Henry?” Ricardo asked. “You have some big career in something planned yet?” “I’m not sure yet,” Henry replied. “But the important thing is that whatever I’m doing with my life moving forward, I’m doing it with the woman I love.” The end…

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ericbarkman · 7 years

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Chrono Hustle #42 Limited Information

Melinda Summers paced back and forth on the bridge of the UES starship Destiny as it was travelling through superspace. “Could you do me a favor and not wear a hole in the floor of my bridge?” Captain Bonnie Jefferson asked. “Sorry,” Melinda said. “I’m just feeling a bit impatient. It’s been a few days since we lost contact with our people, and I’m just getting worried.” “We’re getting you there as fast as we can,” Bonnie said. “I know it sucks not knowing what happened, but there’s not much you can do until we get there. How much longer until that is, Lieutenant Gilden?” “We’ll be there in about another fifty minutes or so,” Lieutenant Nicole Gilden said. She was the pilot. “Fifty minutes,” Bonnie said. “The rest of your team is relaxing in other areas on the ship. Feel free to do so yourself. We have various different recreation rooms aboard.” Elsewhere on the Destiny, in one of said rec rooms, Jack Masterson was bowling with Mary Bishop and Imhotep. “So, you had bowling back in ancient Egypt?” Jack asked as Imhotep went up and picked up a bowling ball. “It wasn’t exactly the same game, but throwing a ball to hit a target, or targets, isn’t exactly an uncommon game in various different cultures,” Imhotep said as he threw the ball and it went down the lane, before knocking down some of the pins. “What about the wild west?” Jack asked. “Did you have the game there, Mary?” “I know of the game,” Mary said. “Although I’ve never actually played it. I wish Abigail was here, she’d probably be enjoying this.” “Yes, well, that situation is definitely complicated,” Jack said. “I certainly hope she won’t actually have to stay in the Cretaceous until she leaves the long way, but until we understand more of the situation of how she replaced Sesla we don’t want to risk jeopardizing the timeline.” “Yeah, I know, I know,” Mary said. “I just feel bad for her having to stay back at base while we’re out here on a mission.” “Eh, it’s not too boring back at base,” Jack said. “Why is it so boring here at base?” Abigail Esau asked as she sat down in the cafeteria. “I think it’s nice, personally,” Philip Wilson said as he looked up from eating his macaroni and cheese. “It’s good to get a break from going out on crazy dangerous missions.” “Well sure, but not when you can’t leave,” Abigail said. “I mean, I understand why I should stay here, because otherwise it will alter the already altered timeline in ways we can’t possibly predict. But that doesn’t make this any easier.” “I thought your big thing was research. Can’t you do more of that while being stuck here?” “I mean, I suppose. Back home I would spend days in my room just reading stuff on my computer, only occasionally stopping for sleep.” “And food?” “If I remembered to.” “So, what’s different now?” Philip asked. “I mean, other than working for a time travel organization headquartered in the Cretaceous?” “The fact that I have a girlfriend now, and she’s out on an adventure, and I’m stuck here. Like, if Dorian was off doing some mission and you were stuck here, wouldn’t you hate that?” “I mean, I probably wouldn’t be bored, but maybe worried.” “Yeah, I’m a bit of that too,” Abigail said. “I mean, I know Mary can take care of herself, but you keep getting into danger and eventually you’ll get yourself killed. Unless you’re me apparently, and will live for tens of millions of years.” The Ghost of the temporal duplicate of Jack Masterson was holding the punching bag in place as Ohm was pounding away at it. They too were on the Destiny. “So, what do you think we’ll encounter when we get there?” Ghost Jack asked. “I have little idea,” Ohm said. “You probably have a lot better idea than me. I’m not sure why I’m even on this mission.” “What do you mean?” “I’m just the big, dumb muscle. And I don’t think punching Chronos into submission is going to work.” “I mean, technically we don’t know for certain that it’s Chronos that’s behind the planet Kyklos disappearing.” “A planet, which he possibly created in the first place, disappeared after he was asked about it,” Ohm said. “I’m dumb, but not that much.” “You’re really not though,” Ghost Jack said. “Like, you are a Neanderthal, and the most advanced technology where you are from is what, pointy sticks?” “Essentially, yes.” “And yet after just a couple years, you’ve become fluent in English, learned all sorts of stuff about more advanced technology and even have a basic understanding of time travel.” “Very basic.” “Maybe, but I mean, most of us only have a basic understanding of time travel. What I’m saying is that you learn at an amazingly fast rate. You’re not stupid.” “You’re just saying that because you’re interested in me,” Ohm said. “See, you’re also really perceptive.” Melinda was still on the bridge of the Destiny when they arrived at their destination, although she had stopped pacing by this point and was sitting down at one of the auxiliary science stations. “Report,” Bonnie said. “We’re at the location,” Nicole said. “But sure enough, there’s no planet here, just like long distance sensors showed.” Melinda looked through the sensor data on the console in front of her. “Hmm, readings seem mostly normal,” she said. “Then what do you want us to do?” Bonnie asked. “This is your mission.” “Have your scientists comb through all sensor readings for this area, for anything abnormal,” Melinda said. “They are obviously better trained with your equipment than I am, plus there’s a lot of data to go through.” “Can you tell us what to look for?” Bonnie asked. “Abnormal is a pretty vague description.” “I don’t know exactly what we’re looking for,” Melinda said. “And what I do know is classified, so abnormal will have to suffice.” “Understood,” Bonnie said, with a frown on her face. Jack, Mary and Imhotep had gone to an observation room, and were looking out at the empty space where a planet should have been. “Are your knowledge powers telling you anything?” Imhotep asked. “Not yet,” Jack said. “I mean, not anything relevant to this anyway. These days they are almost constantly telling me something though.” “I know we’re assuming Chronos is behind this, but could it also be related to the alternate universe stuff Deanna was doing on the planet?” Mary asked. “It’s certainly possible,” Jack said. “I mean, putting a planet in another universe would be a good way to hide it. Especially if it was a universe without people out in space.” “Are we also assuming the planet was moved, and not just destroyed?” Imhotep asked. “If it was destroyed, there would be debris or something left,” Jack said. “Even if it was completely obliterated, there would have been some sort of energy discharge we would have picked up.” “Unless it was destroyed in another era,” Mary said. “Maybe,” Jack said. Elsewhere, Nikola Tesla was pacing back and forth, as well as he could in the pitch dark room he was in with ERK-147 and the other scientists that had been with them on Kyklos. “So, this room is a perfect cube,” Nikola said. “Yes, that is what my sensors said,” ERK-147 said. “Which means the only way in or out is teleportation,” Nikola said. “And we don’t know who it was that appeared before us, and presumably brought us here.” “I believe he may have been a Greek God,” ERK-147 said. “Although more powerful than any I have ever encountered, but what little I could detect of his genetics fits that theory.” “It’s got to be Chronos,” Nikola said. “He could easily be behind not just this, but the creation of the planet itself. The only question is, how does that help us?” “Anything yet?” Jack asked Melinda as he sat down with her in the mess hall. “Nothing, it’s like the planet was never even here,” Melinda said. “There’s no trace of it.” “What about in other eras?” Jack asked. “Like, let’s say this is Chronos. We went to talk with him in 1984.” “Harkon sent teams to other eras, and the planet seems to be gone in all of them, but the stuff that we know that happened on the planet, still seems to be part of the timeline.” “Hmm, so presumably he wanted to make sure that those parts of the timeline were left intact for some reason. But we don’t know anything about his reasons for any of this.” “Which means that has to be our next move if we can’t figure out anything else here,” Melinda said. “We need to find out why he’s doing this.” “How are we supposed to do that? Talk with other Progenitors?” “Exactly.” “You wanted to see me, sir?” Abigail asked as she entered Harkon Smith’s office. “Yes, please sit down,” Harkon said as he put down his computer tablet. “I just got a report back from Agent Summers’ team.” “Did they find anything?” “They found nothing, which means we’re going to need to come at the problem from another angle.” “Oh?” “We’re going to try reaching out to other Progenitors and seeing if we can learn anything.” “Is that wise?” “Maybe, maybe not, but it’s the best course of action we have at the moment. Do you want to get started on looking into the identities of other Progenitors and where we can find them?” “Of course,” Abigail said. “I’d be happy to.” Melinda entered Bonnie’s office. “Have your people found anything yet?” Melinda asked. “Not yet, and I’m finding it increasingly unlikely that they will,” Bonnie said. “And I know my ship is on loan to you for this mission, but how long are we expected to be out here. Earth doesn’t exactly have a whole lot of ships.” “If we could stay out here a few more hours,” Melinda said. “We’re starting to look into a few other options, but we still want to be thorough in this area.” “Of course.” “So, we’re trying to figure out a list of Progenitors?” Dorian asked. “Yep,” Abigail said. “The more the better. So far, other than Chronos, the only one we’ve encountered so far is Yahweh, I think.” “I mean, it was just Jack and Deanna that encountered him,” Philip said. “And based on what Jack’s said of that encounter, I don’t know if we want to go to him again if we can help it.” “Which is why we need to figure out others,” Abigail said. “For instance, I’m pretty sure for the Norse pantheon it’s Ymir.” “I’m thinking Nu for the Egyptians?” Dorian said. “Makes sense, I think,” Abigail said. “What about, let’s say, Roman? I mean, that’s pretty hard to track down with the complex relationship between Roman and Greek mythologies.” “I got nothing for that,” Dorian said. “Me neither,” Philip said. “But maybe for Shinto mythology we have Amenominakanushi.” “Yeah, that sounds right, other than your pronunciation” Abigail said. “A friend of mine from back home used to date a girl who’s family practiced some elements of Shintoism.” “It’s just hard to tell for so many of these,” Dorian said. “In so many mythologies, especially as you get earlier into the family trees of deities, it becomes more complicated to figure out what the difference is between a being and a concept.” “Yeah, but at least we’re making some progress,” Abigail said. “I think.” Back on the Destiny, Melinda joined Jack, Ghost Jack, Mary, Imhotep, and Ohm in a meeting room. “Have we found anything yet?” Jack asked. “Still nothing?” Melinda said. “We’ll be heading back to Earth shortly. Abigail, Philip, and Dorian have been attempting to put together a list of Progenitors and seeing if they can track any down.” “I mean, if we need to, I do know where Yahweh is living,” Jack said. “Although I’m not sure if I want to go have another chat with him.” “How many others have they found?” Mary asked. “Last I heard they had a short list of names,” Melinda said. “But no locations yet.” “They aren’t exactly easy to track down,” Jack said. “It took a decade for me to do so. I mean, if we want I can do some long term searching again. With our increased time travel options, it’s even less of an issue for me to do that now.” “If we have to, we might take advantage of that,” Melinda said. “But for now we’ll see what we can come up with the regular way.” “Okay, so we haven’t figured out many, but we’ve possibly figured out a few of the Progenitors,” Abigail said. “So, we’ll work with that for now. Next up we need to figure out where and when we might be able to find them.” “Are we wanting to limit ourselves to after 1984, since that’s when Chronos become a problem from?” Philip asked. “Or 2017, since that’s when we were interacting with the planet Kyklos…sort of? “Does it even matter?” Dorian asked. “I mean, Chronos is a God of Time. It’s not like causality works the same way with him as with us.” “Maybe not, but other Progenitors aren’t necessarily the same way,” Abigail said. “So yeah, probably best to try for times of 1984 or later, 2017 or later if we can manage.” “So, how do we figure that out?” Philip asked. “There’s so little about them in the historical records.” “Then let’s go outside normal historical records,” Abigail said. “Who would know about things like this, Merlin, Aphrodite, Sesla. Any of them might be able to help.” “Aphrodite has rarely been helpful,” Philip said. “But we can try questioning her, I suppose. Don’t know about how cooperative Merlin will be, and either way we’ll need to wait for Ghost Jack to get back here to talk with him or Sesla, unless you know another way of communicating with someone in a coma.” “All valid ideas, although we’re not just limited to actually questioning them, are we?” Dorian asked. “With Merlin as our prisoner, somebody could go to his home and look through what he has,” Abigail said. “That’s a good point.” As Melinda and her team returned to Earth, she was given an update on what Abigail’s team had been figuring out. “Jack and I will go search Merlin’s place,” Melinda said to the team. “I should go with,” Ghost Jack said. “There are all sorts of magical security systems in place.” “You’ll have to just tell us about them, since you’re the only one of us that can talk to Merlin or Sesla,” Melinda said. “So, that determines that.” “We can take Imhotep with though,” Jack said. “He may be able to help with disarming the security.” “Agreed,” Melinda said. “Okay, I’ll tell you everything I am aware of,” Ghost Jack said. “And hopefully that’ll be enough.” “How long have we been here by now?” Nikola asked. “It’s been thirty-five hours,” ERK-147 stated. “You are worried about dehydration and starvation?” “Surprisingly no,” Nikola said. “I am feeling neither hunger nor thirst.” “Me neither,” one of the others said. “Yeah, I hadn’t even noticed, but I’m fine on that,” another one said. “Hmm,” ERK-147 said. “A scan of your bodies does indicate that you are properly hydrated and fed.” “Well, if Chronos can create a planet, he can surely ensure that his prisoners are kept in good health,” Nikola said. “The question is why?” “Hello Aphrodite,” Abigail said as she sat down on a chair outside her cell. “You’re a new one,” Aphrodite said. “My name is Abigail, I’ve been here for a little bit, but I haven’t had the need to talk with you as of yet.” “Oh, I know who you are, dear. I’ve met your father before.” “Don’t try playing that game with me,” Abigail said. “You’re not going to convince me that you’re my mother.” “Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. The woman that raised you is indeed your mother. The man who raised you however, that’s not the father I was referring to.” “I don’t care, that’s not what I’m here for.” “What are you here for? More intel? The last time you people wanted intel you had to do a favor for me. Are you willing to do that again?” “How did that work out for you, anyway? You’re still our prisoner.” “For now,” Aphrodite said. “Certain things can take a while, but it’s only a matter of time until I’m out of here.” “We’re looking for one or more of the Progenitors.” “The what now?” “Chronos’ siblings.” “Couldn’t help you there, even if I wanted to. But feel free to pay me another visit if you ever want to learn who your real father is.” Ghost Jack entered the dream of the comatose Sesla. It was very different than the last time he had been here. He was on a massive balcony overlooking an ocean. The sky was sunny, with a few fluffy, white clouds dotting it here and there. Sesla was standing by the railing at the edge, looking out at the ocean. “Is my new body ready?” Sesla asked without even turning to look. “Not yet,” Ghost Jack said. “We’re still working on growing it.” “I’m sure you are,” Sesla said. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit then?” “We’re looking for information on Progenitors, the original generation of Gods.” “Oh?” Ghost Jack explained the situation with Chronos. “Hmm, very curious. I am aware of a few, but tracking them down might prove difficult.” “Any help you can provide would be much appreciated,” Ghost Jack said. Imhotep cast a spell to get rid of the magic lock. It was not especially complex, although the sort of spell you would not know to cast if you had not been told. The door opened before them. Jack and Melinda followed him into the lab. “So, what exactly are we looking for?” Imhotep asked. “Notes, files, anything he might have,” Jack said. “You don’t become one of the most powerful magic users out there without knowing at least a bit about the competition,” Melinda said. “Hopefully in his case, that includes one or more of the Progenitors.” Melinda quickly found a computer, which she started looking through. Jack was mostly just looking at the various mystical artifacts. And Imhotep located some old journals, which he started looking through. They were in a variety of languages, but Imhotep had a simple text translation spell he could use for that. The journals were full of a variety of different information. A lot of it was about spells, or artifacts, but there was a bit here and there about Gods and other magical entities. Nothing on the Progenitors that he had found yet though. “This,” Jack said as he picked up an old oil lamp. “What about it?” Melinda asked. “Don’t know yet,” Jack said. “But my knowledge powers just kicked in. It’s something important.” He started rubbing it, but nothing happened. “Not a Genie, I guess.” “I think I saw something about that in one of these journals,” Imhotep said, as he started turning back through the pages. “Aha, here it is. That lamp can be used to track powerful beings.” “That could certainly help,” Melinda said. Even though he did not need to breath, Ghost Jack took a deep breath to calm himself as he prepared to enter the cell where the comatose Merlin was being kept. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Doctor Jeri Quill asked. “Not really,” Ghost Jack said. “In fact, I kind of really don’t want to do this, but we need to get as much information as we can.” “You already got information from Sesla, and Melinda’s team may have found something as well,” Jeri said. “Sesla gave some intel, but we need more.” “You don’t want to wait for Melinda’s team to return?” “It’s not like Merlin can do anything to me in there,” Ghost Jack said. “I think,” he added before he entered the cell, and entered Merlin’s dream. This was the first time he had entered Merlin’s dreams, so he did not know what exactly to expect. But what he found was a small bar. He looked around. There were a few customers talking and drinking and eating. He did not recognize any of them, nor did he recognize the bartender. In the back though, there was a piano being played, and the player was definitely recognizable. “Hello Merlin,” Ghost Jack said as he approached. “Good day,” Merlin said without even looking up. “I was wondering if you’d ever pay me a visit.” “We need information. We’re trying to track down Progenitors.” “Who?” “The original generation of Gods.” “Can’t help you there. Maybe if you wake me up, I can help you then.” “Can’t do that, sorry.” “You’re really not,” Merlin said. “Yeah, you’re right, I’m really not sorry. And if you can’t help us, then I’ll just be on my way.” Ghost Jack tried to leave Merlin’s dream, but for some reason it did not work. Merlin, still playing the piano, grew a rather large smile on his face. Melinda, Jack and Imhotep returned to base, where Mary and Abigail were waiting for them. “Did you guys find anything?” Mary asked. Jack held up the lamp. “This might help,” he said. “What, is there a genie inside it?” Abigail asked. “No, but it can possibly be used to track down Progenitors, amongst other powerful beings,” Melinda said. “Did Ghost Jack find anything?” “He’s talking with Merlin right now,” Mary said. “But he got some potential leads from Sesla. A starting location.” “And I talked with Aphrodite, but no help there,” Abigail said. “That’s to be expected,” Jack said. “What kind of leads did Sesla give us?” “What did you do?” Ghost Jack asked. “I may be comatose, but within my mind, I am still in charge,” Merlin said. “So, what’s your plan? Just keep me trapped in here with you?” “Misery does love company, but no, I have grander plans than that.” “What kind of plans?” “You know me better than that, I’m not going to just slip up and give you leverage.” “Maybe not that easy, but give it time, it’ll happen.” “Are you certain of that?” Merlin asked. To be continued…

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ericbarkman · 7 years

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Chrono Hustle #41 Cycles

Harkon Smith sat back in his chair as he considered. “Progenitor language, you’re certain of this?” he asked. “I looked over the pictures they brought back,” Jack Masterson said as he leaned against the wall. “And yeah, it’s definitely that. Although, is that really what we’re calling them? Progenitors?” “They don’t have a name for themselves,” Melinda Summers said as she looked over the pictures of the documents. “Seems like as good a name as any. The more important question is how this Chloe is connected to them.” “We didn’t find anything about that,” the Ghost of the temporal duplicate of Jack Masterson said. “Unless it’s in the Progenitor language.” “I can’t read most of it,” Jack said. “I know a bit, but not much.” “Do we know anyone that does?” Abigail Esau asked. “I mean, I’ve met a couple of them,” Jack said. “I’ve met Chronos and Yahweh before. Don’t know if we can count on either of them to help with this though.” “Is this really our primary focus right now?” Mary Bishop asked as she was pacing back and forth. “What about the Sesla situation?” “We’re still working on growing the clone body for her,” Doctor Jeri Quill said. “Not present Sesla,” Mary said. “She only even still exists because of weird time travel stuff. But apparently Deanna is officially dead, and thus can’t become Sesla, so now Abigail will?” “There was a lot Abigail-Sesla didn’t tell me about that situation,” Jack said. “I mean, do we even know for certain it wasn’t Deanna-Sesla making herself look like Abigail?” Mary asked. “I have no doubt that Deanna could have survived the destruction of that Palore ship, and even less doubt that she could make herself look like someone else.” “It is possible, but we’ve been asked to limit our visits to that era, while the Temporal Development Division restarts their experiments there,” Harkon said. “Which is another thing that I can’t believe we’re just letting slide,” Mary said. “We agreed to join them,” Melinda said. “We knew there would be compromises.” “What weirds me out is that apparently I become Sesla after never again leaving this era, except the old fashioned way of waiting,” Abigail said. “Yeah, that is weird,” Melinda said. “I mean, I know you don’t age because you’re a Demigod, but we’re in the Cretaceous. That seems more than just a little ridiculous.” “But what happens if I just go through a time door right now?” Abigail asked. “I mean, that right there would change the timeline. Why would I choose not to?” “For now, you should probably stay here,” Harkon said. “At least until we figure more out.” “But what if it is original Sesla, and this is just playing into her hand?” Mary asked. “That’s why we need to figure out more,” Harkon said. “I’ll talk with Director Teleros about this. For now, see what we can decipher of the Progenitor writing. And have we got an update from Tesla yet?” “His next scheduled checkin is in an hour,” Melinda said. On a certain rogue planet in the year 2017, Nikola Tesla was looking over what he and his team had learned about the temporal anomalies on this planet. The bot, ERK-147, was with him, and they were going over the findings together. “This just makes so little sense,” Nikola said. “We have successfully mapped the anomalies on the planet,” ERK-147 said. “And everything seems to be consistent.” “Consistent, yes, but too convenient. Everything fits together like a puzzle, it almost seems artificial, but who could create something like this?” “The Clockmaker, perhaps?” “Hmm, no. Certainly he can create temporal anomalies, we saw that with that ship in the 1940s, but this is different. I think this whole planet might be artificial, and he may be an expert when it comes to time travel, but I don’t know if he can create a planet.” “I am unaware of anyone with those capabilities,” ERK-147 said. Abigail looked at the pictures of the Progenitor writing and compared it to what little information they had on it. “Hmm, this might be the word for planet, or it might mean apple or key or canoe or…I don’t even know.” Mary was pacing back and forth. “If it weren’t for you being confined to base, we could just go search for more information on the language than we have here.” “I mean, it’s kind of annoying, but look on the bright side, we know I’m going to survive for tens of millions of years, so at least my idea about being a red shirt isn’t accurate.” “Haha, very funny. I don’t know why we’re just taking this at face value.” “I mean, if it is really me, I’d like to think I had good reasons for doing what I did. But yeah, that is something we need to figure out, if it is the real me. Which is what Harkon is doing.” “By going to talk with Rupert Teleros,” Mary said. “Which is another thing.” “You still don’t think he should be trusted.” “I mean, I understand that the historical records of him show all these great things he did, and about how he’s such a great person. But, I mean, people change. Joshua Teleros, who is Rupert’s ancestor by the way, was a good friend and ally of ours, and we trusted him, as did the ESS. And while he never betrayed us, he did betray them.” “He did end up regretting that though, and did try making up for it,” Abigail said. “Even after he died.” “Ah, right, the ghost you encountered.” “I mean, technically, I never personally encountered his ghost, I was just investigating it.” Harkon entered Rupert Teleros’ officer, where Rupert was doing some sort of mathematical calculations on a whiteboard. “Please sit down,” Rupert said without turning around. “What’s that?” Harkon asked as he did so. “I’m working on determining more time door addresses.” “You can do that?” “It’s why I was brought into the TDD in the first place,” Rupert said. “I mean, it took me a while to actually get many of use. There’s only so many unique doors out there, so mostly it’s a matter of getting through the ones we know about, but in additional time periods.” “Fascinating.” “Indeed,” Rupert said as he put down his marker and turned around. “Although fairly time consuming. So, what can I do for you? I assume you’re here to ask for something.” “After we returned the time door in the 2340s to the Oracle, you asked that we stay away from it.” “I did indeed. I know you don’t approve of the experiments we are running there, but it’s important in combating the Palore.” “I’m not here to talk about the experiments.” “Of course not. You’re here to talk about the new version of Sesla that has occurred because of the changes to the timeline brought on by your team. And who just so happens to be a future version of a member of said team.” “We want to determine if it really is Abigail.” “I can assure you that it is,” Rupert said. “Forgive me if I don’t take your word for it.” “You’re free to disbelieve me if you want. It doesn’t really matter.” “If Abigail uses a time door, that will change the timeline, and she might no longer become Sesla. So we need to know if it’s really her, and if it’s important that she follows this chain of events.” “Tell you what, Mary can go through and talk to her. Just Mary.” “Why just Mary?” Harkon asked. “She is dating Abigail, is she not. She should know her well enough to determine if it’s really her.” “People can change quite a bit over the course of tens of millions of years. I was thinking a more scientific method of confirming her identity.” “Mary seems intelligent enough. I’m sure you can demonstrate any necessary tests to her that you may have in mind.” “So, how much have you figured out of the Progenitor writing?” Melinda asked as she sat down across from Jack at a table in the cafeteria. He looked up from his jello. “Not much. Enough to know that it is most definitely about the rogue planet. And, I’ve figured out the name of said planet.” “Oh yeah?” Melinda asked as she starting eating her pasta. “And it might be a hint as to which Progenitor we’re dealing with.” “Oh yeah, what’s the name?” “Kyklos.” “I definitely want to go,” Mary said. “But why just me?” “He says he wants to limit the chance of our interfering with the experiments,” Harkon said. “Although he’s definitely hiding something.” “Well, no shit.” “Which means, this Sesla is almost assuredly the real Abigail.” “How does that follow?” “The reason he wants you to be the only person that goes through, is because he suspects that I won’t be telling you what I’m about to tell you. Because you can’t tell Abigail.” “Wait, what?” “As a Demigod, she has some powers.” “Well, yeah, her dreams.” “Not exactly,” Harkon said. “Her dreams were caused by her powers, but her powers aren’t dream related. They are probability related. She warps probability around herself, so that unlikely things happen.” “What? Why shouldn’t she know this?” “Because she already blames herself for all sorts of bad things that happen around her. If she were to learn of this, don’t you think she would feel justified in that self blame?” “No! Maybe. She still deserves to know. But how does that confirm that it’s really Abigail?” “Director Teleros is aware of her abilities, and wanted to study them. I told him no.” “But if he has a future version of Abigail that is no longer part of our group, he has free reign,” Mary said. “Maybe. I mean, even if this is Abigail, she’s taken the identity of Sesla, so I have to imagine she has at least somewhat equivalent magic, which would make it difficult for Teleros to trick her.” “Yes, which means your job won’t be to determine if this is the real Abigail, so much as it will be to determine how they are planning on researching her abilities without her stopping them.” “So, we’re thinking Chronos named the planet?” Melinda asked. “Maybe even created it,” Jack said. “I was skimming Tesla’s daily report earlier, and they think the planet might have been artificially created. And I mean, I don’t know if Chronos has that kind of power or not, but if anyone does, a Progenitor would be a good guess.” “It would also explain the temporal anomalies,” Melinda said. “I don’t know about planet creation, but the anomalies would certainly be within his abilities. So, do we approach him about this?” “I mean, I know places we can go to find him. He lives under the Vatican in the twentieth century.” “Hmm, I wonder if that’s related to why Hercules joined the Pontifical Swiss Guard.” “Oh, that’s right, you’ve mentioned that before,” Jack said. “Might be related.” Mary went through the time door, and appeared on the Oracle. The time door had been placed in Sesla’s throne room. There were a few TDD scientists near it, and Abigail-Sesla was seated on her throne. A few of her followers were also present, but she waved them away and they left as Mary went up to her. “Welcome Mary,” Abigail-Sesla said. “I take it you’re here to determine that I am who I say I am.” “That is correct,” Mary said, as she glanced at the scientists who were still in the room. “Can we go somewhere more private?” “Of course,” Abigail-Sesla said. She snapped her fingers, and suddenly the two of them were in a room with a clear dome, giving them a view of space. “I haven’t seen this place before,” Mary said. “I don’t think it was actually a part of the timeline during your previous visits. I had it constructed.” “It’s quite a spectacular view.” “Yes, it is.” Abigail-Sesla had her eyes not on the stars outside, but on Mary. “I’ve missed you quite a bit.” “I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be so old.” “Not many can. The Progenitors, certainly. Theoretically other Gods and Demigods will eventually, but most don’t have the advantage of time travel to get so old by this era. And there was this one guy from another universe who was even older than I am.” “Huh, so I guess it’s time to figure out if you really are Abigail.” “So, how to you intend to do that?” Abigail-Sesla asked. “When are you planning on approaching Chronos?” Harkon asked after Jack and Melinda had told him what they had figured out. “We’re thinking sometime post 1970s,” Jack said. “Just to make sure it’s after my previous meeting with him.” “He’s a God of time, so it might not matter,” Melinda said. “But still, better to take what precautions we can.” “Indeed,” Harkon said. “But you don’t want to go too much later, because as far as I know we don’t know how long he’ll continue living under the Vatican.” “Yeah, what’s the earliest time we can visit past that?” Jack asked. “1984 is the closest I know of,” Melinda said. “Let me see,” Harkon said as he brought up the information on his computer. “Yes, it is indeed 1984.” “Then we’ll go then, and see what we can learn,” Melinda said. “Good luck,” Harkon said. “Scans show that your DNA does mostly match Abigail,” Mary said. “Minus the chunks that we already know change as the result of certain high level types of magic.” “So, are you convinced yet?” Abigail-Sesla asked. “I mean, that sort of high level magic would also make it possible for you to mess with the scanner.” “What if I tell you something only you and I would know? Like the first time we kissed. It was aboard Sandra’s ship in this very time period.” “Hmm, the problem is I don’t know if anyone else may have found that out at some point. Like, I haven’t told anyone, and as far as I know, my Abigail hasn’t either, but eventually one of us might. Plus, the original Sesla knew all sorts of things that she shouldn’t. So, if you’re just her posing as Abigail having taken your identity, you might still know that somehow anyway.” “What reason would I have to lie?” “I don’t know, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one.” “What will it take?” “If you are really Abigail, why did you become Sesla? And why would you have got to this era from the Cretaceous the long way? Even if you wanted to take over for her after Deanna’s future was changed, wouldn’t you have just taken over when it was changed?” “I did do so to protect the timeline, to an extent, but in order to become Sesla I had to become a powerful wizard.” “I thought Sesla was a mage.” “She was, but I’m a Demigod, which means I have hereditary magic. It’s easy enough to pretend to be a mage when you’re a wizard though. And I mean, I did still need to learn how to use and improve my magic, so you could maybe say I’m both. And that took time.” “Surely not ten of millions of years.” “I also had to spend more time learning about time, which is a lot more complicated than we give it credit for. At this point, I possibly even know more about time than the Clockmaker, or even Chronos.” “Did you set out to replace Sesla initially?” “Not initially, no. My original intent was to save Curtis’ father. The decision to abandon that goal, and become Sesla, came later.” “Why?” Abigail entered the gym and saw Ohm weightlifting. Ghost Jack was spotting him. “Hey Abigail,” Ghost Jack said. “I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen you set foot in this gym.” “Hello,” Ohm said. “I haven’t seen you in here before either.” “Yeah, I just needed to walk around a bit,” Abigail said. “And I was tired of just pacing back and forth in my room.” “Getting a bit restless being stuck on base?” Ghost Jack asked. “I mean, I’d be fine with that, if it weren’t for Mary going and meeting what is possibly my future self,” Abigail said. “That whole situation just weirds me out.” “Did you at least tell her a code phrase before she left, so that she could determine that it is actually a future you?” Ghost Jack asked. “No, but now I wish I had,” Abigail said. “Wait, how much time do you spend in the gym that you’ve taken notice of the fact that I don’t ever come here? You’re a Ghost, you don’t exercise.” “He just enjoys my company,” Ohm said. “I think he has a bit of a crush on me.” Melinda and Jack were going through Vatican City, heading towards their destination. They were using ESS credentials to get through. “So, how much does the Catholic Church know about the ESS anyway?” Jack asked. “Some,” Melinda said. “The Pope is allowed into meetings with the oversight committee, but doesn’t have any authority on it.” As they were walking, there was a voice from behind. “Melinda, is that you?” Melinda turned around, to see Hercules walking up to them. “Hey Herc, long time no see,” she said. “What are you doing here?” Hercules asked. “I think the better question is what are you doing here?” Jack asked. “I thought you were part of the Swiss Guard back in the forties, but this is the eighties, and you’re not dressed for the part.” “My role here these days is a bit less official, and a bit more secret,” Hercules said. “But it’s still related to security.” “We’re with the ESS,” Melinda said. “We’re authorized to be here.” “We’re going to be seeing your great great great grandfather,” Jack said. “At least, I think that’s the right number of greats…I don’t know, your ancestry gets a bit confusing.” “I can’t argue with that,” Hercules said. “But even if you’re authorized to be here, that doesn’t mean you have the authority to see Chronos.” “I’ve met him before,” Jack said. “And I guess technically he’s my ancestor too, just gotta add an extra great, since I’m the son of one of your siblings.” “You’ll have to be more specific,” Hercules said. “I have a lot of siblings.” “Aphrodite,” Jack said. “Oh yeah?” Hercules asked. “Do you know where she’s been the past few decades? It’s like she just dropped off the face of the Earth back in the 40s.” “That’s classified, I’m afraid,” Melinda said. “But we do need to talk with Chronos. And you do still owe me a favor.” “That was thousands of years ago,” Hercules said. “I can’t believe you’re still bringing it up.” “You know I’m a time traveller,” Melinda said. “It was only a few years ago for me.” “Right, right, fine,” Hercules said. “I mean, if you piss him off too much, he’ll just erase you from existence anyway, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.” “Why?” Mary asked. “By the time I even got to an era where Humanity had evolved, I had already long since got over my guilt,” Abigail-Sesla said. “You spend tens of millions of years without anyone to talk to, and it kind of changes your perspective on things. They change even more when you start having people to interact with again, but everyone you do so with dies eventually.” “And you don’t miss them?” “Of course I miss people, but even still, I’ve gotten used to losing people. And on top of that, I’ve realized that I can’t blame myself for stuff that’s out of my control, even if it is as a result of coincidences brought on by my powers.” “So, you know about those?” Mary asked. “I do, although I don’t imagine that will convince you anymore than the tale of our first kiss.” “Mr. Smith thinks that you are who you say you are, and that the TDD are using this as an opportunity to study your powers.” “Oh, they are certainly trying to, but as smart as Rupert Teleros is, he and his people have yet to figure out a way to do so.” Jack and Melinda entered Chronos’ room. Unlike the last visit, he was in the form of a Human this time, and appeared to be reading a book. He looked up and smiled as they entered. “Ah, Jack Masterson, good to see you again. And Melinda Summers as well this time. What can I do for you two?” “We’re here to ask you about Kyklos,” Melinda said. “The political cycle?” Chronos asked. “The planet,” Jack said. Chronos put down his book, and stood up, the smile leaving his face. “What do you know about it?” “Deanna was using it as a base of operations,” Jack said. “We managed to stop her, but what with the complicated temporal mechanics in play, it may not be for good.” “Foolish younglings messing with forces beyond your compression,” Chronos said, his voice booming, before he vanished. “Did we play this wrong?” Melinda asked. “Should we have built up to it?” “I don’t know,” Jack said. “Not quite sure what he’s left to do.” “Mr. Tesla, I have just detected something unusual,” ERK-147 said as it entered Nikola’s office. “What is it?” Nikola asked, looking up from his computer. “I don’t know, but it seems to be appearing all over the base, wherever there are people, at which point they are disappearing.” “That’s not good,” Nikola said. Chronos suddenly appeared in the room. “Begone, fools,” he said. “So, I was right?” Harkon asked. “I mean, I’m still not entirely convinced that she’s a future version of Abigail,” Mary said. “But it definitely seems possible, maybe even likely. But yes, she did say that the TDD is trying to study her powers.” “Did she mention how?” Harkon asked. “They have a lot of sensor apparatuses set up, but none that can penetrate her magical defenses.” “Hmm, they could still be researching them in less direct ways. Since probability is warped in proximity to her, they could be concentrating on the effects around her, instead of just directly scanning her.” “How would they do that?” Mary asked. “I don’t know, but if anyone could figure it out, Rupert Teleros could.” Melinda and Jack returned to base through the time door. Philip Wilson was on duty in the time door room. “Welcome back,” he said. “How was the mission? Helpful?” “I mean, Chronos definitely knows about the planet,” Jack said. “Didn’t seem too happy when we brought it up though, so we weren’t able to learn much.” “Speaking of, Mr. Tesla has missed his most recent check-in,” Philip said. “That’s not good,” Melinda said. “We’ll go check it out right away. Jack, see if Imhotep is up for this mission. Even in his new body, he’s still probably the most powerful magic user we have at the moment.” “Yeah, I’ll get him and the Ghost of my temporal duplicate,” Jack said. “Is Mary back yet?” Melinda asked Philip. “Yeah, she’s talking with Harkon right now,” Philip said. “Okay, we’ll get a team ready, and then head out as soon as we can,” Melinda said. “What happened?” Nikola asked to the darkness surrounding him. It was pitch black. He started reaching around, looking for anything. “I don’t know,” ERK-147 said. “But I believe we were teleported somewhere.” “Is anyone else here?” Nikola asked. “Yes, sir,” one of the other agents, Mark Connor said. “All of us that were on the rogue planet seem to be here.” “I can’t see anything,” Nikola said. “ERK-147, what are your sensors picking up?” “Not much, unfortunately,” ERK-147 said. “I can detect all of us, and we appear to be in some sort of cubical room, but my sensors can’t penetrate the edges of it. Also, all of the walls and floor and ceiling appear to be completely flat and smooth surfaces.” “How smooth?” Nikola asked. “There are no imperfections in them,” ERK-147 said. “I don’t know who would have put this much effort into it.” On Earth, in the same era, Melinda and her team stepped out of the time door. Her team included Jack, Ghost Jack, Mary, Imhotep, and Ohm. “What can we do for you today?” the TDD agent, Robin Michaels asked. “We need to get use of a starship to go out to the rogue planet, Kyklos,” Melinda said. “I’ll need to talk with Admiral Teleros about that.” “I’ll set up a comm channel right away,” Robin said. Admiral Jon Teleros appeared on the screen on one of the walls almost immediately. “Agent Summers, good to see you, I was just about to send you a message myself.” “What kind of message?” Melinda asked. “The rogue planet just disappeared,” Jon said. “We don’t know why, or how.” “It’s gotta be Chronos,” Jack said. “He’s not happy with us mere mortals using his planet.” “Chronos?” Jon asked. “Like the Greek God of time?” “Yeah,” Melinda said. “We think he might have created the planet. Either way, could we get a ride to where the planet was, see if we can maybe figure out where it went?” “Yeah, the Unity is out on patrol, but the Destiny just returned to Earth for some repairs. It’ll be ready to leave tomorrow, if you can wait.” “If that’s the best you can do, I guess we’ll have to,” Melinda said. To be continued…

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ericbarkman · 7 years

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Chrono Hustle #40 Trust is a Curious Thing

Melinda Summers looked into the cell where Deanna was lying in a bed, with an IV connected to keep her sedated. Even though she knew the door was locked, she checked one more time , just to be sure. “Everything seems to be just the way we left it,” Mary Bishop said as she came up beside Melinda. “That’s good,” Melinda said. “At least as good as anything regarding this situation is.” “So, what are we going to do about it?” “I’ve been going over the files on all of the guards and other employees Deanna had here. They seem to have mostly been taken from 1984, which is good as it’ll be relatively simple to return them home with their memories of this erased.” “Yeah, I’m sure that’ll be very easy now that we’ve allied ourselves with the Temporal Development Division.” “Still not a fan of that decision?” Melinda asked. “Why wouldn’t I be a fan of that? It’s not like they’ve erased our memories before. Or brainwashed you to turn on us. Or killed my father. Oh wait.” “If it weren’t for Rupert Teleros being in charge now, I’d have the same reservations. Not to say that I don’t still have any concerns, like the fact that we’re already the ESS time division, and now we’re also going to be the operations team for the TDD. But at least my concerns are lessened. And in the meantime, our bigger problem is what to do with Deanna.” “The brainwashing won’t work on her?” “It might. It might not.” “Right, right, I know, I know, she’s complicated. Speaking of, what about Sesla? Are we still going to be working with her, considering she’s Deanna’s future self?” “I mean, that’s a millennium of difference. Not to mention that Deanna’s recent actions have taken her in a different direction than Sesla ever went.” “Still, it might be better to keep her in the coma for now,” Mary said. Meanwhile in the team’s base in the Cretaceous, Jack Masterson and the Ghost of his temporal duplicate were in Harkon Smith’s office. “Doctor Quill has finished growing the clone body for Imhotep,” Ghost Jack said. “So we’ll be able to transfer his consciousness soon.” “That is good to hear,” Harkon said. “There weren’t any complications with the new process?” “Doesn’t seem like it,” Ghost Jack said. “Everything seems fine.” “So, I take it we’ll be growing a clone body for Sesla next,” Jack said. “That’s what I wanted to talk with you about,” Harkon said. “You don’t trust her, do you?” Jack asked. “I mean, dumb question, of course you don’t.” “As different from Deanna as she may be, she does still have her own agenda,” Harkon said. “True,” Jack said. “But it’s not like she’s the only person we have working here that does.” “The difference is that everyone else here is on much more equal footing,” Harkon said. “We were barely able to defeat Merlin. If Sesla turned on us, there’s little we’d be able to do.” “So, does that mean we aren’t going to be growing a new body for her?” Jack asked. “We’ll have Doctor Quill start on it,” Harkon said. “But I have not yet decided if we’ll follow through on that. Understood?” “You’re the boss, boss,” Jack said. “Understood,” Ghost Jack said. Melinda was supervising a team that was bringing several of Deanna’s guards outside to be teleported up to the UES starship Unity. While most of the United Earth Spacefleet were unaware of time travel, there were a few high ranked individuals who were and who allowed the ESS time division to use some of their resources at times. “Uh, Melinda, could I have a moment of your time?” Abigail Esau asked as she came running up. “Sure, what’s going on?” Melinda asked. “I’ve been going over the information we have on the temporal anomalies on this planet, and I’m concerned that just because we’ve stopped Deanna once, she may still continue to pose a threat. Versions of her from before we stopped her could travel through a temporal anomaly and then we’d be in trouble again.” “Hmm, yes, that would be a problem. The anomalies are much different that what we’re used to dealing with. They provide a much different set of problems than the time doors or even the Palore timeships. Do you have any ideas on how to deal with it?” “Short of destroying this planet in the past, no, not really. And I’d be worried about what effect that would have on the timeline, especially because of the stuff involving alternate universes.” “Yes, well we do have Tesla and ERK-147 working on studying this planet, so we’ll see what they come up with,” Melinda said. Nikola Tesla threw a ripe apple a few meters in front of himself. He then walked to it, but in a circular path so as to avoid the temporal anomaly. He found the apple, rotten as if it had been there for a few months. “Interesting,” he said. “ERK-147, how big is that anomaly?” “While less than a meter wide, it extends several kilometers up,” the little bot said. “It also extends approximately three meters underground.” “Fascinating,” Nikola said. “Did the anomaly mapping from the Majestic include the underground portions?” “It did not. They only mapped the ones in the atmosphere.” “We’ll have to complete the maps they started first of all. That’s the number one thing. And then we’ll do the second thing.” “Which is?” “That’s an extremely good question. We need to determine how exactly this planet works in this method. Objects managing to be on the borders of different times. The fact that this apple and I started in the same time and location, but now we’re in a different time and location, but have experience a different amount of time getting there. We are on the cusp of great discoveries here, and it’s really quite invigorating.” Ghost Jack put one of his hands on the comatose Imhotep’s head, and the other on the head of the clone body they had made of Imhotep. Both bodies were pressed up next to each other. “Let’s hope this works,” Ghost Jack said before entering both of them simultaneously. Imhotep’s dream was much the same as it had been the last time he was there, looking like Imhotep’s old home back in Egypt. But at the same time he was entering what would have been the clone’s dream, if it had a mind. However, being mindless, all he found was a vast nothingness. The last time he had tried something like this it was very uncomfortable, but this time it was actually painful. “Welcome back,” Imhotep said. “Is it working?” “It hurts, but seems to be working as intended,” Ghost Jack said. “So, let’s try transferring you across.” Ghost Jack took Imhotep’s hand, and tried bringing him over to the clone body. It felt like a migraine extended across his entire body, which was really weird considering he was a ghost and had no body. But as the pain faded, Ghost Jack realized that the clone body now had the dream world, while the original was now empty. “It seems to have worked,” Ghost Jack said. “Seems that way,” Imhotep said. Ghost Jack exited back into the med lab. “Did it work?” Doctor Jeri Quill asked. “We think so,” Ghost Jack said. Jeri gave the clone body a stimulant, and after a bit it woke up. “Imhotep, is that you?” Ghost Jack asked. “Yes, it is I,” Imhotep said as he sat up. He looked at his original body lying next to him. “This is very strange.” “Yeah, but at least you won’t have to regularly see a second you,” Ghost Jack said. “That’s when things really get weird.” “What are we going to do with my old body?” Imhotep asked. “It’s your body, so it’s your choice,” Jeri said. Over in the cafeteria, Jack was having lunch with Dorian Winters and Philip Wilson. “Yeah, it took some work, but we managed to stop Deanna from whatever she was planning,” Jack said. “So, you don’t even know what she was up to?” Philip asked. “Well, we know she was trying to become more powerful, so that she could kill Sesla without us being able to stop her,” Jack said. “Still don’t know why though.” “Killing her own future self,” Dorian said. “I can’t even imagine what her motives for that could be.” “Yeah, well, for now we have to figure out what to even do with her, in order to get the timeline back on track so Sesla is still her future self.” “Can’t we just brainwash her?” Philip asked. “That’s the plan,” Jack said. “The difficulty is ensuring that it sticks. You know how much trouble we’ve had with Aphrodite on that matter.” “Please sit down,” Rupert Teleros said as Harkon entered his office at TDD headquarters. “Thank you,” Harkon said as he took his seat. “I read your report on the events at this rogue planet. Have you determined yet how Deanna even found out about it in the first place? Or where this Chloe that she bought additional information off of, was able to get it from?” “Not yet, we’re still working on trying to figure it all out. Were you aware of this planet beforehand?” “No, we were not, and that’s very worrying. That someone in the twentieth century has this sort of information without us knowing about it, it’s unprecedented.” “We are doing our best to look into it, although we are also having to deal with the cleanup on the planet. Not to mention learning more about it, which itself is taking resources from our investigations into alternate universes.” “No, I understand. Although if you need more personnel, I can arrange that.” “No offense, but our people are already some of the best,” Harkon said. “Oh, no doubt you have quality, but at times I’m sure you could also use more quantity. But if you don’t think that’s currently a concern, then I’ll trust your judgement. In the meantime, I do have another thing to add to your plate though.” “So, what have you learned?” Melinda asked as Nikola and ERK-147 entered her makeshift office. “The temporal anomalies on this planet are like nothing we’ve encountered before,” Nikola said. “Yes, I already knew that,” Melinda said. “I don’t just mean in the effects,” Nikola said. “I mean in the way they interact with time.” “My sensors can detect the anomalies just fine,” ERK-147 said. “But they read completely differently than the time doors or the Palore time drives. If I had just detected them without knowing their significance, I would not have even known they affected the timestream.” “So, what does that mean?” Melinda asked. “Is there a way we can get rid of them?” “It’s too early to tell,” ERK-147 said. “But the other question is if we want to,” Nikola said. “Abigail brought up the possibility that because of them, even though we’ve defeated Deanna, she could still try again from before we did so,” Melinda said. “I can’t say I’d want to risk that possibility if we can avoid it. Especially since we only defeated her thanks to someone from an alternate universe that we might never be able to bring back here.” “It’s true,” Nikola said. “That is a risk. But also, think of the possibilities it could bring. The whole reason we’ve agreed to work for the TDD was for access to more time periods. But if we could learn to harness the natural forces on this planet, we wouldn’t need them anymore.” “You wanted to see me?” Jack asked as he entered Harkon’s office. “Yes, come in please,” Harkon said. “I hear you just came back from the TDD base.” “I did, and they have a mission they’d like us to take care of.” “Sure we don’t have enough to deal with already?” “Melinda is in charge of the stuff on the rogue planet, and as for investigating your friend Chloe to find out where she got her information on it, we can’t exactly send you for that.” “I suppose not. So is this mission from the TDD something I’ll be doing on my own then?” “You can take a few agents with you, if you think it’ll be necessary, but I don’t know that it will be,” Harkon said. “What’s the mission?” “You’re not going to like it. But we need to return the time door in 2349 to the space station Oracle.” “So the TDD can continue their experiments there?” Jack asked. “After all the effort we went into to stop that?” “All we did was prevent them from further altering the timeline in that area. We never did anything to fix the changes they had already made.” “Even still, letting them back in there…” “Is exactly the sort of thing we expected when we agreed to join them,” Harkon said. “I’m not too happy about it, but the Palore are the bigger problem now.” “Are they though? We haven’t even encountered them in a while. Doesn’t it seem awfully convenient that just as we are becoming a bigger and bigger threat to the TDD, that suddenly a new enemy causes us to ally with them.” “Is this your knowledge powers kicking in, or just speculation?” “Just speculation, for now,” Jack said. “I’ll do this mission, but I am wary of it.” “Quite a lot to get done here,” Mary said as she sat down with Abigail for lunch. “Yeah, I’ve been working non-stop for the past eight hours,” Abigail said. “There’s so much to go through.” “I think you’ve been staring at computer screens a bit too long then,” Mary said. “And your eyes are getting a bit red.” “Yeah, well, we need to be prepared if Deanna attacks again.” “Ah yeah, I was hearing about your theories earlier from Melinda. Do you ever miss the old days, before all this time travel stuff?” “Even before time travel stuff, I don’t really miss much from after the incident. You?” “I don’t know. I mean, it was certainly simpler back when I was just a simple farm girl in the 1870s. But I don’t know if it was better.” “If I was still in 2017, we wouldn’t have met though, so there’s that. I mean, I suppose we’re in 2017 right now, temporal anomalies aside, but that’s only because we’re on a mission.” “Yeah, I definitely don’t want us to have never met,” Mary said. “And even if life is a lot more complicated now, we probably won’t be doing this all our lives. Maybe one day we can get married and settled down, and live a more normal life.” “And we could choose from any number of time periods to live in. Preferably your time or further in the future though.” “Eh, even in my time people can be plenty homophobic. My hometown is a pretty good example of that.” Philip and Dorian were sitting at a table in a bar, nursing their drinks, while trying to figure out their next move. They kept glancing at the table in the back where Chloe was sitting. “She’s not going to just tell us the source of her information,” Philip said. “Well, not for free, obviously,” Dorian said. “That’s why we need to offer her a decent chunk of change.” “I don’t think we’ll be able to offer her enough for that. Giving up sources isn’t exactly a good long term business strategy.” “Then what are we supposed to do? Just sit here hoping she meets her source while we’re watching? Who knows how long that could take, assuming it even does. Plus we can’t risk spending too much time here and accidentally messing up Jack’s timeline from when he was in this era previously.” “No, we need to figure out where Chloe lives, and search her place when she’s out,” Philip said. “So, we’re just supposed to follow her home? In her business, I’m pretty sure she’ll notice if she’s being followed. Hell, she’s probably already figured out that we’re watching her.” “Maybe we can use that. Convince her that we’re checking her out, and one of us goes and hits on her?” “We’re a gay couple.” “Yeah, but she doesn’t know that.” “You want to do what?” Sandra Rodriguez asked. “Hire you to fly me to the space station Oracle,” Jack said. “The last time you did that, I was trapped there for months.” “It’ll be easier this time. We don’t have to worry about the mercenaries now.” “Oh yeah?” “Yeah.” “Do I want to know why?” “Probably not,” Jack said. “And you want to bring the time door with? After all the work it took us to get it off there in the first place, you want to go and just bring it back?” “Yeah, we have our reasons for doing so.” “I mean, I’m going to charge extra for this. A lot extra.” “Yeah, no worries. We can cover it.” “Hey,” Philip said as he went up to the table where Chloe was sitting. “How’s it going?” “Not interested,” Chloe said without even looking at him. “Not interested in what? All I asked was how’s it going.” “You and your buddy over there have been checking me out all evening. But I’m not interested.” “Right, sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you.” “Could you also make sure your friend doesn’t bother me next?” “Yeah, yeah,” Philip said before returning to the table with Dorian. “So, how’d it go?” Dorian asked. “Didn’t work, we’ll have to figure something else out.” “That’s the last of them,” Mary said to Melinda as they watched the final of Deanna’s employees being teleported up to the Unity. “It’s just Deanna herself we still have down here.” “Hmm, yes,” Melinda said. “Could you send Abigail up there to make sure they are ready to receive her?” “Of course.” “And then meet me by Deanna’s cell with all of the other agents we have on planet. Except the science teams.” “Right away.” “They have phone books in this era, right?” Philip asked. “If we can just find out Chloe’s last name, we can look her up in the phone book.” “And how are we going to manage that?” Dorian asked. “Jack doesn’t even know it.” “Then we’ll just have to try following her and hope she doesn’t notice us.” “It’s too bad we can’t just go invisible…” Philip and Dorian looked at each other, their eyes wide. “Dammit, how did we not think of that sooner?” Dorian asked. “I guess we’re just idiots, but we thought of it now.” “Can’t have her seeing regular Jack, but we don’t have to worry about her seeing Ghost Jack.” Mary joined Melinda at Deanna’s cell, along with another two dozen agents. Every one of those twenty-four agents had their weapons at the ready as Melinda and Mary entered the cell. Mary checked the IV, to make sure it was still secure, while Melinda checked the medical scanner to make sure that Deanna was still fully sedated. Mary and Melinda started rolling the bed containing Deanna out of the cell, while every other agent had their weapons trained on Deanna. They went down the hallways, taking the shortest path to an exit. Every time they went over a bump on the floor, everyone tensed up for a moment, before they continued on. But they eventually got outside without incident, and Melinda activated her comm to the Unity. “We’re ready,” she said. “Get a lock, and teleport us up.” Ghost Jack floated down into the gym, where Imhotep was working out. “So, how’s the new body treating you?” Ghost Jack asked. “I mean, I know it’s genetically identical to my previous body,” Imhotep said. “But it feels different. It’s going to take some getting used to.” “Yeah, I can imagine. I don’t know how comparable it is to back when I first became a Ghost, but I’m sure there are parallels.” “Possibly, I suppose I just need to give it some time.” “Ghost Jack, please report to the time door room,” they heard over the PA system. “Guess someone needs me for something,” Ghost Jack said. “How long until we get to Earth,” Melinda asked after going up to the bridge. “Should be a day or two,” Captain Benjamin Grayson said. “Mr. Banman, can you give a more specific estimate?” Lieutenant Chuck Banman looked down at his piloting console. “Thirty-five hours and nineteen minutes.” “I’d prefer faster, but if that’s the best we can manage, it’ll have to do,” Melinda said. “We could go faster, but it would involve going through hostile territory, which I’d prefer to avoid,” Benjamin said. “And we don’t want to be starting any wars.” “No, we don’t,” Melinda said. “This will have to do, and hopefully it’ll be enough.” “Yeah, that’s not a problem,” Ghost Jack said. “Is she still at the bar?” “She was when we left,” Dorian said. “That’s the bar right up ahead,” Philip said. “Ah yeah, I’m familiar with that bar, albeit from my own time,” Ghost Jack said. “I’ll go scope it out, and find out if she’s still there. You two wait here.” Ghost Jack flew off, turning invisible as he did. “Wait, what?” Philip asked. “We’re just supposed to wait out here on the sidewalk?” “I mean, there’s a bench over there, we can go sit down, I guess,” Dorian said. As they went and sat down, they heard someone coming around the corner. Neither of them thought much of it, until they heard and recognized two voices. The first was Jack, but it was too soon for Ghost Jack to be coming back, not to mention he would not be walking. And they knew the regular Jack was off on a mission in another time period, which meant it could only be the regular Jack from earlier in his personal timeline when he had previously been in this time. That was only confirmed by the fact that the other voice was Deanna, from back when she was still their ally. “Oh shit, we can’t let them see us,” Philip said as he looked around for somewhere to hide. “If we run that’ll just make them more likely to notice,” Dorian said. “We just need to keep them from seeing our faces.” “Wait, are you suggesting what I think you are? But we’re in public.” “Yeah, well, it’s our best bet.” They started kissing, and Jack and Deanna passed by without incident. “Okay, I think that worked,” Dorian said after they had turned another corner. “We should maybe head out though, just in case they turn back,” Philip said. “I don’t know how common guys making out with each in public is in the 70s.” Meanwhile in the future, the present version of Jack was playing a game of Jakut with Sandra while they were en route to the space station Oracle. “Checkmate,” Jack said as he moved a piece on the board. “Yeah, that’s not how this works,” Sandra said. “I mean, that is a legal move, and even gets you two points, but there isn’t a checkmate in this game.” “Right, right. So, you just win by getting the most points before the game ends?” “Kind of, but there are some bonuses awarded after the end. That can change things up.” As she was explaining, the ship dropped out of superspace, and an alarm started blaring. “Proximity alert?” Jack asked. “Probably the same mercenaries from last time. I thought you said they wouldn’t be a problem this time.” “They won’t, I just need to let them know that,” Jack said as he followed Sandra up to the bridge. She opened the comm to the lead mercenary ship. The image of the captain appeared on screen, the same one they had encountered last time. “Hey Totorgo, long time no see,” Jack said. “I don’t believe I gave you my name last time,” Totorgo said. “Yeah, but I got it from your employers,” Jack said. “We’re kind of working together now.” “Wait, you’re what?” Sandra said. “You failed to mention that.” “It’s complicated,” Jack said. “Do you have any proof of this?” Totorgo asked. “Or am I just supposed to take you at your word?” Jack typed a handful of characters on the keyboard. “I’m sending an authorization code now.” “Hmm,” Totorgo said. “It checks out. You’re free to go.” The comm ended. “So, you’re working with those bastards now?” Sandra asked. “Like I said, it’s complicated. Turns out they aren’t quite as bad as previously though, and more importantly there are worse problems out there. The enemy of my enemy is my reluctant ally and all that.” “Right,” Sandra said. On the Unity, Mary and Abigail were having lunch in the mess hall, with some of the crew. “And that’s when she realized that there was confetti coming out of the back of her fighter craft,” one of the fighter pilots, who’s callsign was Cheddar Cheese, said. “I still don’t know how you managed that,” said the pilot in question. Her callsign was Pandaherbs. “What did the admiral say about that?” Mary asked. “He didn’t say anything,” Cheddar Cheese said. “But I heard that he looked like he was holding back some laughter.” “Yeah, I could see that,” Abigail said. “Admiral Teleros seems like he has a good sense of humor.” “Wait, do you know him?” Pandaherbs asked. “Kind of,” Abigail said. “I have a friend who’s dad used to work with him.” “Oh yeah, who’s that?” Cheddar Cheese asked. “Curtis Hammer is my friend, his dad’s name was Aaron,” Abigail said. “Aaron Hammer, yeah, he was part of the Admiral Teleros’ old ESS team back in the day,” Pandaherbs said. “Captain Grayson was on that team too.” “That’s pretty cool,” Abigail said, right before alarms started blaring. “What’s going on?” Melinda asked as she went onto the bridge. “We were dragged out of superspace,” Benjamin said. “What?” Melinda asked. “How?” “Don’t know that yet,” Lieutenant Cerise Martel, the chief science officer said. “We’ve never encountered something like this before.” “That’s because that technology shouldn’t exist yet,” Melinda said. “There’s a ship nearby though,” Lieutenant Commander Jiang Teng, the chief tactical officer said. “And it is a type of ship we’ve encountered before. It’s a Palore ship.” “Dammit,” Benjamin said. “What are they doing?” “Nothing yet,” Jiang said. “They do have their shields up, but their weapons aren’t locked on us.” “They are hailing us, Captain,” Lieutenant Wesley Harris, the chief communications officer said. “On screen,” Benjamin said. A Palore captain appeared on the screen. “Hello Captain Grayson, my name is Daskata. You have someone aboard that I want. Hand them over and you’ll be free to go.” “Who would that be?” Benjamin asked. “I believe she goes by the name Deanna,” Daskata said. “What do you want with her?” Melinda asked. “That is not your concern, Agents Summers,” Daskata said. “You should just be glad I am not asking for you and your people as well. But if you resist, I will be taking you and Agent Esau as well. You have ten minutes to comply.” The viewscreen went back to a view of space. “What are our chances of escaping from them?” Benjamin asked. “Not good,” Chuck said. “We can’t go back into superspace as long as whatever they did is in effect. And at sublight speeds, well unless they are a hell of a lot slower than us, it’ll take a very long time to get outside of this area of effect.” “And fighting them?” Benjamin asked. “Based on my scans, they are a lot more powerful than us,” Jiang said. “Deanna is your prisoner,” Benjamin said, turning to Melinda. “We can’t turn her over to them,” Melinda said. “Who knows what they’re planning on doing with her.” “Do you have any ideas on how to deal with them, in that case?” Benjamin asked. “So, what did you find?” Philip asked after Ghost Jack had returned to him and Dorian. “Well, I followed her to an apartment,” Ghost Jack said. “Took a look inside, and it certainly looks to be her place.” “Okay, then the plan is to wait until tomorrow, and then go in and check it out when she’s gone, I guess,” Dorian said. “Yeah, I’d say so,” Philip said. “And hopefully we don’t have any more close calls with the past versions of Jack and Deanna.” “You saw them?” Ghost Jack asked. “Yeah, but luckily they didn’t see us,” Dorian said. “As far as we know anyway,” Philip said. Mary and Abigail joined Melinda and Benjamin in Benjamin’s office, which was just off the bridge. “Why not me?” Mary asked, after they had the situation explained to them. “Or any of our other people? Why did they just say that they would take you two if we didn’t cooperate?” “Perhaps they didn’t know who else was all aboard,” Benjamin said. “Then how did they know that I’m aboard?” Abigail asked. “No, I think Mary is on to something here.” “Possibly,” Melinda said. “But we don’t have much time. We can’t outrun them and we can’t outfight them, at least not in starship combat.” “You want to go aboard?” Benjamin asked. “We don’t even know the size of their crew, but I doubt we can take on all of them.” “Maybe we can’t, but Deanna can,” Abigail said. “No, we can’t be considering that,” Mary said. “We barely managed to stop her the last time, and now we’re just going to wake her up. Hell, for all we know, she allied with the Palore, and that’s why they are here. To free her.” “My gut says they aren’t allies,” Melinda said. “Even if they aren’t, she’s not our ally anymore either,” Mary said. “Let’s say she does defeat all of them. Then she has a timeship.” “To be fair, you need multiple timeships to actually use them for time travel,” Abigail said. “It’s why ours is mostly only of use as a starship.” “Even still, setting her on the loose with a starship as powerful as that doesn’t seem like a great idea either,” Mary said. “No, if we do use her, we’re going to need a plan to deal with her as well,” Melinda said. After arriving at the space station Oracle, Jack teleported aboard with the time door. He appeared in the area that had previously been controlled by Sesla. But with the changes to the timeline, he was not certain what to expect. As he appeared there, there was someone waiting for him. The man named Xavier, who had been Sesla’s servant, and who still looked the same. “Hello Xavier,” Jack said. “Master Masterson,” Xavier said. “We’ve been expecting you.” “Have you now?” “The Mistress foretold your return. I will take you to her.” “I still need to set up the time door.” “All in time,” Xavier said. “All in time.” Melinda held the injector up to Deanna. “The second I inject the stimulant, I will back off, and then you’ll teleport her over.” “Of course,” Taro Tanaka, the chief engineer said. Melinda injected the stimulant, and then backed off, and Deanna was teleported over to the Palore ship. “Now we wait,” Melinda said. “And hope we don’t get screwed over in the process,” Mary said. Jack was lead into the throne room by Xavier. It looked much the same as the last time he had been here. The only major difference was that the throne was now on a swivel, and was facing away. “Mistress, Master Jack Masterson has arrived,” Xavier said. “Excellent,” came a female voice from the throne. It was not the voice of Sesla though, but it was a voice Jack recognized. “Abigail?” Jack asked. Meanwhile, in another era, Abigail, Mary, and Melinda were on the bridge of the Unity, waiting along with the bridge crew for what was about to happen. “The Palore ship hasn’t left yet,” Jiang said. “But it also hasn’t made any aggressive moves.” “Can our sensors detect anything happening aboard it?” Benjamin asked. “Not really,” Jiang said. “We’ll be able to tell if they lock weapons on us, or whatever, but if Deanna is actually doing anything aboard the ship, we can’t determine that currently.” “Which means, we’re in the dark for now,” Mary said. “I don’t like that.” “Wait, their shields just went down,” Jiang said. “In fact looks like their ship is dead in the water.” “How many lifesigns are aboard it?” Benjamin asked. “One human, and a few thousand Palore, but it looks like the Palore are all unconscious.” “Hail the ship,” Benjamin said. “Yes, sir,” Wesley said. It took a few minutes, but eventually Deanna appeared on screen. “Would anyone mind explaining why I’m aboard a Palore ship?” “They wanted you, and we didn’t have much choice,” Melinda said. “But we woke you up to give you a chance.” “Uh huh,” Deanna said. “Why?” “We figured that you’d be able to take them out,” Mary said. “And now you’ll have to turn yourself back over to us, or we’re going to blow the explosive we put in your head.” “You mean this explosive?” Deanna asked, as it materialized in her hand. “Shit,” Melinda said. “So, what exactly are we looking for here?” Dorian asked as he was searching through desk drawers. “Anything that’ll give us any clues as to where Chloe got that intel from,” Philip said as he looked through the closet. “The problem is that she deals in information,” Ghost Jack said. “So even if we find clues to one of her sources, it might not be the one we are looking for.” “We’ll just have to be thorough then,” Philip said. Ghost Jack passed through a wall, and then came back. “There’s a vault in this wall,” he said. “It’s too dark to read anything in there though.” “Can’t you like, create some kind of ghost light or something?” Philip asked. “Yeah, no, it doesn’t work like that,” Ghost Jack said. “Where’s the door?” Dorian asked. “Behind this painting, I assume,” Ghost Jack said as he took a painting off the wall, and revealed the door. “I’ll see if I can unlock it,” Dorian said as he put his ear to the lock and started turning it. “Captain, with your permission, can we fire all weapons at that Palore ship before Deanna does anything else?” Melinda asked. “Permission granted,” Benjamin said. “Commander Teng, open fire on that ship.” “Yes, sir,” Jiang said as she did so. The Palore ship was pelted with weapons fire. Without any shields, it was quickly destroyed. “Any remaining lifesigns?” Melinda asked. “The Palore are all dead, many of them vaporized,” Jiang said. “There’s no sign of Deanna though, alive or dead.” “I’m going to guess it’s too much to hope she was vaporized,” Mary said. “It’s hard to know what kind of abilities she even has after stealing powers from magic users from other universes,” Abigail said. “Other universes?” Benjamin asked. “That’s classified, by the way,” Melinda said. “Everyone on the bridge is going to have to keep that quiet.” “Sorry,” Abigail said. “Got it,” Dorian said as he unlocked the vault and opened it up. It was full of filing cabinets, which themselves were full of a variety of documents. “This could take a while,” Philip said. “Maybe, maybe not,” Ghost Jack said as he started looking through them. “Everything seems to be pretty well organized, so we just need to find the right stuff.” “Like this,” Dorian said as he pulled a folder out of one of the filing cabinets. “This is the intel we got from her. At least some of it is, but there’s more in here than what she gave us.” “Hmm,” Ghost Jack said as he looked over Dorian’s shoulder at the files. “Wait, that one there.” “This?” Dorian asked as he looked at a paper with some sort of symbols he did not recognize. “What is this?” “I can’t read it,” Ghost Jack said. “But I recognize the letters. The other Jack might be able to decipher it though.” “What language is it?” Philip asked. “It was a language used by the first generation of Gods,” Ghost Jack said. “The first generation?” Philip asked. “Like, what are we talking about here? Greek Gods, Egyptian, Norse?” “All of them,” Ghost Jack said. “The first generation had the progenitor of each of the different pantheons. So Chronos for the Greeks, Ymir for the Norse, I think, I don’t know who for the Egyptian or others, but you see what I’m getting at.” “So, Chloe got her information from one of them?” Dorian asked. “Don’t know,” Ghost Jack said. “I feel like that’s unlikely, but clearly there’s some sort of connection.” Meanwhile in the future, Jack was still trying to process the situation, as the chair turned around, and Abigail got up off of it. It was clearly Abigail, but she was as pale and bald as Sesla had been in this era. And she was wearing the same sort of black dress. “You seem surprised to see me,” Abigail said. “How did you wind up here?” Jack asked. “Leave us, Xavier,” Abigail said, and Xavier bowed before leaving the throne room. “Sesla needs to be here.” “But you’re not Sesla,” Jack said. “Somebody has to be, and she got killed back when she was Deanna, so I’ve taken her place in the timeline.” “When did this happen?” Jack asked. “From your team’s perspective, it’s happening right now-ish. Deanna was killed while en route to Earth from the rogue planet.” “And what, you just didn’t return through the time door when you got back to Earth?” “No, I did, I went back to the base in the Cretaceous, I just never left that era, at least not with time travel.” “So what? You’re tens of millions of years old at this point?” “And I don’t look a day over twenty-five.” “That’s insane. Why would you do that?” “Like I said, to preserve the integrity of the timeline.” “There’s got to be an easier way to do that,” Jack said. “And why from the Cretaceous? Why not just stay where she was when she was killed, and take her place from that point on?” “It’s complicated, as you will soon learn,” Abigail said. “But the war for all time is about to become far more chaotic.” To be continued…

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ericbarkman · 7 years

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Chrono Hustle #39 Rogue Planet

Jack Masterson was pacing on the bridge of the starship Majestic when it dropped out of superspace into regular space. “Report,” Kira Siegal said from the captain’s chair. “We are approaching the rogue planet,” Gina Farrell said from the piloting console. “There’s all sorts of weird readings coming off of it,” Lyle Johnson said from one of the science consoles. “I don’t know what to make of it.” “Like I said earlier,” Jack said. “Weird temporal anomalies on the planet.” “So, what’s the plan for when we get there?” Curtis Hammer asked from the back of the bridge. “I mean, I’m assuming if this Deanna went to all this trouble to bring us to this planet, we’re not going to be able to just up and leave.” “Well, that depends on who she’s after,” Abigail Esau said. “If we just hand over whoever she’s after, she’ll probably let the rest of us go.” “We’re not doing that,” Kira said. “Obviously,” Abigail said. “I’m just pointing it out.” “Abigail, Mary, and myself will go down and figure out what’s going on,” Jack said. “Just the three of you?” Kira asked. “Madhur and Becca are police. They could probably be of help.” “We’re being hailed,” Krissy Jones said from the communications console. She was still in her wedding dress. “On screen,” Kira said. The viewscreen changed from showing space to a video call from Deanna. “My, my, what a lot of people have been ensnared in my trap,” Deanna said. “What do you want, Deanna?” Jack asked. “Not much, just the groom,” Deanna said. “Me?” Ted Jones asked. “Why do you want me?” “Hand yourself over, and your friends and family and other assorted wedding guests will be allowed to leave,” Deanna said, before the viewscreen went back to showing space. “Well, I guess we know what she wants now,” Kira said. “Even if we don’t know why.” “When exactly is she?” Drake Bartel asked. “You said she’s no longer in control of this planet, and it’s only because of temporal anomalies that we’re encountering her.” “Probably the eighties,” Jack said. “But it could be late seventies or early nineties as well.” “So then how does she even know about the wedding?” Drake asked. “That’s a good point,” Abigail said. “The furthest forward she’s been in the timeline was 2016, and Ted and Krissy weren’t even engaged then.” “Presumably her agents,” Mary Bishop said. “Like the one that locked this ship on course for this planet.” “Either way, Mary, Abigail, and myself will be going down to investigate,” Jack said. “But in deference to Captain Siegal, we will bring Becca and Madhur with.” “Sweet,” Becca Williams said. “I’ve never been on another planet other than Earth. Should be fun.” “Fun, right,” Madhur Singh said. On the planet, Deanna leaned back in her throne as she considered her next move. At the moment there were too many people around Ted for her to just go up and take him. And she doubted they would actually turn him over. She thought it likely Jack would come down here with a team though, so that could work to her advantage, but she would also have to prepare for the problems they could cause. As she was thinking this, one of her minions came into the throne room. “Mistress, there is a problem.” “Oh, do tell,” Deanna said. “One of the prisoners has escaped.” “Which prisoner?” “The one from Universe Twenty-Two.” “Hmm, that’s interesting,” Deanna said. “I want a quarter of the guards working on recapturing her, and the rest on readying for whatever Jack has planned.” “Of course, mistress.” Jack, Mary, Abigail, Madhur, and Becca teleported down to the surface of the planet. The area they appeared in was a palace courtyard. There were five guards in the area, who immediately noticed them. “We have intruders in the courtyard,” one of them said into a comm unit. “Jack is…” The guard was cut off by Jack shooting them with an energy pistol, set to stun. Everyone started shooting at each other, and moving behind cover. The guards were using some sort of wands. “Be careful,” Jack shouted. “The energy bolts that they are firing from those wands can go around corners, although they do have to be controlling them.” “Then we’ll just have to take them out quickly,” Becca said as she popped up and stunned two guards before going back behind cover. “I got two.” Mary rolled out to the side of the statue she was behind, and took out the other two. “Same.” “Good job ladies,” Jack said. “But more will be on the way. Let’s try and be elsewhere in this palace by the time they get here.” Back on the ship, Kira had gone into her office, to the side of the bridge, with Ricardo Lopez and Drake. “Ricardo, you always know all sorts of weird things,” Kira said. “What can you tell me about this planet?” “Not a lot,” Ricardo said. “I mean, I’ve heard rumors about this planet, but nothing beyond what Jack already said.” “Speaking of Jack, how do you know him?” Drake asked. “We met at some function or gala or something,” Ricardo said. “Uh huh,” Kira said. “Abigail seems to trust him, do you concur with that assessment?” “Well, he was a con artist,” Ricardo said. “But his targets tended to be worse criminals. And I do know a bit about the group he’s part of now. They are doing important work to safeguard the timeline.” “Time travel,” Kira said. “Just when I think I’ve gotten used to one weird thing, something else pops up.” Jack glanced around the corner. There was no one there, so he went down that hallway, with Abigail, Mary, Becca, and Madhur following behind him. “So, what exactly are we looking for?” Madhur asked. “You said we’re trying to figure out what this Deanna wants, but how are we supposed to be doing that?” “Not sure yet,” Jack said. “Should we question guards?” Becca asked. “They won’t know anything,” Jack said. “Are we going to try and capture Deanna herself?” Madhur asked. “We don’t have the capabilities to do that,” Jack said. As they were talking, a door up ahead went flying out of its doorway and into a wall, with a guard against it who slumped down to the ground. A woman came out through the doorway, her arms stretched out in front of her, with the palms of her hands facing them. “You don’t look like guards,” she said. “I’m Jack Masterson,” Jack said. “We’re here to figure out what Deanna is up to.” “You can call me Taylor,” she said, although she did not lower her hands. “Did you do that?” Jack pointed at the unconscious guard. “Yeah, so don’t try anything stupid,” Taylor said. “So, this whole situation is pretty crazy, right,” Alexandra Johnson said to her siblings, Lyle, Jake, and Elizabeth. “Eh,” Lyle said. “I mean, time travel is kind of a new thing for me, but I was on this ship during the Caldore invasion.” “Well, yeah mister I fought against an alien invasion,” Alexandra said. “But I mean, for the rest of us this is kind of new territory, right?” “Umm, right,” Jake said. “Completely new territory.” “Has anyone seen Curtis recently?” Elizabeth asked as she looked around the bridge. “We’re on the same side,” Jack said, before he noticed a bolt of energy come at Taylor from behind, but it was stopped by some sort of invisible barrier. Taylor whipped around in the direction that it came from. A costumed individual was standing there. He was wielding some sort of high-tech bow, with an energy bolt drawn. “Put your hands down,” he said. “You shot at me first,” Taylor said. “I’d say I have pretty good reason not to listen to you. Especially since your energy arrows aren’t even a major drain on my barrier spell.” “Look, Amazing Archer, Taylor, can we all just calm down here,” Abigail said. “We are all on the same side here, I’m pretty sure.” “Only pretty sure?” Taylor asked as she turned so she had one hand focused on Amazing Archer, and the other hand on everyone else. “Look, I don’t know who any of you are. Although you clearly know who this sci-fi Robin Hood is.” “Like I said, we’re here to stop Deanna from whatever she is up to,” Jack said. “Which brings up a question, how did you get here?” “I…I’m not entirely sure, but I think it has to do with that key I found,” Taylor said. “Key?” Abigail asked. “Yeah, it looked like a normal key, but it had some magic properties, which helped me out a bit,” Taylor said. “But then after I’d had it for a little bit, I suddenly found myself teleported to wherever this is. And this Deanna had me locked up in that cell.” “A key was one of the artifacts, right?” Mary asked. “What artifacts?” Madhur asked. “Deanna had been buying up artifacts back in the 40s,” Abigail said. “And she’s been sending them to other universes.” “What are you talking about?” Taylor asked. “Where are we?” “We are on a rogue planet,” Jack said. “But for you the more important thing is that you are in an alternate universe, different from your own.” Kira looked up from her desk as Rachel Kepler entered her office. “So, what’s the situation with the ship?” Kira asked. “As soon as we arrived here, a program was enacted which prevents us from leaving,” Rachel said. “Yes, we already figured that out,” Kira said. “Can we bypass it?” “Not easily,” Rachel said. “The core programming language of the ship has been rewritten. And if we try rewriting it, we risk setting off a different program which’ll cause the engines to explode.” “That sounds bad. How bad is it?” “We might survive long enough to teleport down to the planet. But we might not.” “We need an option,” Kira said. “See if you can figure out a way to do it without killing us all.” “I’ll do my best, but I’m an engineer, not a programmer. I’m best with hardware, not software. Especially not software that’s in the Caldore language. Krissy and Murshidah know a bit about that language, though.” “See if they can help,” Kira said. “Alternate universes?” Madhur asked. “Will this weirdness never end?” “I’m in an alternate universe?” Taylor asked. “That actually kind of makes sense.” “You already suspected?” Jack asked. “My magic isn’t working like it should,” Taylor said. “I still have magic energy within me that works how it should, but everything external is different. I thought it was something Deanna did, but another universe would explain that if magic works different.” “Yeah, my powers didn’t work when I went to another universe,” Jack said. “You have powers?” Taylor asked. “I’m a Greek Demi-God,” Jack said. “I have this power where I sometimes just randomly know things.” “Huh, I’ve met Greek Gods before, although presumably different versions, if this is an alternate universe,” Taylor said. “This is fascinating and all,” Madhur said. “But we do have stuff to do. Can we just team up and move on?” “I suppose,” Taylor said. “As long as we can hopefully figure out a way to get me back to my own universe.” “So, what do you think?” Rachel asked. “Hmm, well, we are somewhat familiar with the Caldore language,” Murshidah bint Haris al-Farooq said. “But not so much their programming language.” “But we’ll see what we can figure out,” Krissy said. “So, how limited is your magic?” Abigail asked as the group stalked the halls. “Like do you have limited magic energy based on how much you had in you when you were brought here‏?” “Maybe,” Taylor said, absently touching one of her bracelets. “I might have a potential backup, but I’d prefer not to use it if I don’t have to, as I’m not exactly sure if it’ll work.” “Do you know if anyone else was captured in a similar way?” Mary asked. “I don’t know,” Taylor said. “I mean, it’s certainly possible, but if so, the cells are kept separate, as I didn’t see any others.” “I’d say its safe to assume there are others, or if not yet, there will be,” Jack said. “Deanna acquired numerous objects, and we can confirm she sent at least two to different universes.” “But what does she want with us?” Taylor asked. “And does she want me specifically?” “And how does Ted relate to this?” Abigail asked. “Who’s Ted?” Taylor asked. “He’s a friend,” Abigail said. “Well, I’m more friends with his girlfriend…or rather I should say wife now. They’re on the starship we have in orbit.” “You have a starship?” Taylor asked. “Wait, stupid question, this is another planet. I’m just not super used to sci-fi. My life tends to be more urban fantasy.” “I miss when my life was just a simple police procedural, if we’re going to be describing our lives as genres,” Madhur said. “Remember when we were just ordinary university students?” Henry Andrews asked Drake who was at a computer terminal looking through historical records. “I mean, you’re still a pretty ordinary university student,” Drake said. “You go to university, and you spend a lot of time playing video games.” “I barely game anymore.” “Right at the start of the university I was already investigating rumors of a ghost, so it’s not like I was ever particularly normal.” “Yeah, but now your life is a constant stream of dealing with secret agents and aliens and time travel. Things are just so much more complicated now. You’re one of my best friends and you’re dealing with all that stuff. My fiancee is part of a resistance against the aliens that currently control a massive chunk of Europe. And my other best friend is a costumed vigilante.” “Where is Curtis anyway?” Drake said. “I haven’t seen him in a while.” “Last time Madhur checked in with Kira, he mentioned that Amazing Archer was down there.” “Makes sense.” “What are you looking up here anyway?” Henry asked. “Trying to figure out when exactly the stuff down on the planet is happening.” “Is there anything in the records about this planet?” “No, but there are some records about Deanna herself, so I’m looking through them.” “Who’s files are these anyway, ESS?” “No, the company that Ricardo works for. Although they do includes some ESS files, but not all, and they have others in addition.” “You should maybe check with Elizabeth, see if she can access ESS files from out here,” Henry said. “In here,” Jack said as he opened a door. “My powers just kicked in, and this is where we need to go.” The others followed him into the room. “It looks like some sort of a lab,” Madhur said. “Yeah, the kind of lab that Frankenstein would have,” Taylor said. “It is giving off a major mad scientist vibe,” Becca said. “More than just that, it’s like a mad scientist of that era,” Taylor said. “I don’t think I’m mad,” Deanna said as she stepped into the room from a door across the lab from the door they had entered from. “Jack, do you think I’m mad?” “Was that door there a second ago?” Madhur asked as he raised his gun, as did everyone else, except Taylor who put out her hands in front of her, and Amazing Archer who aimed his energy bow. “What are you doing here, Deanna?” Jack asked. “Isn’t it obvious?” Deanna asked as she gestured at a series of jars that were filled with various differently colored liquids. “What are those supposed to be?” Mary asked. “Wait, that green one,” Taylor said. “It’s the one thing in this universe that has a magic aura that looks right to me.” “It’s from your universe?” Abigail asked. “Or it’s from her specifically,” Jack said. “Now you’re catching on,” Deanna said. “Although I do have to ask you all to lower your guns.” “I don’t think so,” Becca said. But then their guns, and Amazing Archer’s bow were suddenly extremely hot, and they all had to drop their weapons. “How did you do that?” Amazing Archer said. “My gloves should have protected me from extreme heat.” “Silly Curtis Hammer, thinking you’re so prepared for anything,” Deanna said. “But Batman is just a fictional character. In the real world you can’t prepare for everything.” “She didn’t heat up the weapons,” Jack said. “She just activated our pain sensors, so we’d think she did.” “Can’t make me drop my magic though,” Taylor said, her palms still pointed at Deanna. “Maybe not,” Deanna said as she picked up the jar with the green liquid. “But on the other hand.” “What, but how?” Taylor asked. “What?” Jack asked. “My magic…I don’t feel my magic,” Taylor said. “Hey Liz, could you come over here and help me with something?” Drake asked. “Sure thing,” Elizabeth said as she went over to the computer terminal Drake was working at. “What’s up?” “The ESS files you and Curtis have back on Earth,” Drake said. “Can you access them out here?” “Maybe?” Elizabeth sat down at the next computer terminal. “I can certainly try.” Kira looked up as Murshidah entered her office. “Any luck with the coding?” Kira asked. “Not yet,” Murshidah said. “But we have a problem. We lost contact with the team on the planet.” “Shit,” Kira said. “How long ago?” “They missed their last scheduled checkin five minutes ago, so we tried contacting them, but no response.” “Right,” Kira said as she stood up and went out onto the bridge, with Murshidah following after. “Attention everyone,” Kira said as she looked around the bridge. “A few minutes ago we lost contact with the team on the surface. We’ll try to reestablish contact, but if that fails, we may need to send down a second team.” “I’d like to volunteer to lead it,” Drake said. “Of course,” Kira said. Curtis paced back and forth in the cell he had been put in. Deanna’s guards had taken away all of his Amazing Archer gear when they took him in. He still had a comm unit embedded in his ear, but there was something interfering with the signal, and he could not try experimenting with it without his other equipment. He was alone in the cell, and assumed all of the others had been split up as well. This place was certainly large enough to have hundreds of cells, and by keeping them separated, they were unable to work together to plan an escape. Drake, Henry, Jake, and Skyler teleported down to the planet. They appeared on a balcony. Jake glanced through the door inside the palace. “Looks clear,” he said. “Okay, I know you three aren’t exactly prepared for dangerous situations,” Drake said. “But I had limited choices. So, just try to stay alert, and hopefully we can get through this.” “I mean, we did volunteer,” Skyler said. “Yeah, but, right,” Drake said. “Let’s go.” “So, what’re you working on over here?” Alexandra asked as she sat down next to Elizabeth. “Drake was trying to narrow down when the stuff on the planet is taking place by looking through various records and such,” Elizabeth said. “So, I’m taking over now that he’s down on the planet.” “But he had you joining him before that happened.” “He needed someone to bounce ideas off of.” “Wouldn’t he have used like Henry or something for that?” “What are you insinuating?” “Where is Curtis?” Alexandra asked. “I don’t know. Maybe he left the bridge, to check on the other wedding guests or something.” “Look, I’m not stupid. I know something is going on with you two.” “Everyone thinks something is going on with us,” Elizabeth said. “I don’t mean that I think you’re a couple. I know you’re both ace. But there is something you’re hiding.” Drake glanced around a corner before motioning for the others to follow him. “Where exactly are we going?” Henry asked. “We’re going to the last known location of Jack’s team,” Drake said. “The last place they checked in from.” “And if we don’t find anything there?” Skyler asked. “Then we’ll figure out a new plan then, but for now, that’s our best choice.” “Can anyone hear me?” Mary asked from her cell. “Yeah, I hear you,” she heard Taylor say from down the hall. “Mary, right?” “Yeah, I guess at least a few of the cells are in the same areas. So, is your magic completely gone?” “I can’t feel it. And I don’t like not feeling it. What about you? Do you have any way out of your cell?” “I don’t think so,” Mary said. “The locks seem electronic, and I don’t have any equipment on me. Deanna’s guards confiscated everything.” “Yeah, they are annoyingly thorough. I’m kind of surprised they didn’t take my bracelets.” “You implied you might be able to draw on magic with them?” “Might, but now, I don’t even know if I can draw on magic, when I can’t even use it.” “I’m not sure if we have other options though,” Mary said. “So, might as well try.” “Aha!” Krissy exclaimed. “What’s up?” Kira asked as she walked over. “We’re on to something with the code,” Murshidah said. “We might be able to do something.” “Go on,” Kira said. “Well, the code was somewhat sloppy,” Krissy said. “Because there were the two basic things that Deanna wanted, for the ship to come to the planet, and then for it to stay here.” “So, we might be able to get around the second bit, but only while we are in the midst of the first bit,” Murshidah said. “But we’re already at the planet,” Kira said. “We’re in orbit of the planet,” Krissy said. “But it is still possible to get closer.” “Ah, right,” Kira said. “How close would we have to get?” “I don’t know,” Krissy said. “It would depend on long it takes to rewrite the code while we are moving towards the planet, and how slowly the ship can go.” “Right,” Kira said. Drake and his team were making their way through the palace when they heard an explosion. “What was that?” Henry asked. “It came from nearby,” Jake said. “Yeah, let’s go check it out,” Drake said. “Is that really a good idea?” Henry asked. “I doubt Deanna’s people are blowing stuff up in their own palace,” Drake said. “It’s probably either our friends, or other prisoners.” They went down a couple hallways, until they found Taylor helping Mary out of her cell. There were several unconscious guards on the floor. “Mary?” Drake asked. “What’s going on?” “What are you guys doing down here?” Mary asked. “We came to figure out what happened to your group,” Skyler said. “We got captured, but Taylor managed to get the two of us out of our cells,” Mary said. “We don’t know where the others are.” “What are you doing here Deanna?” Jack asked. He was in the throne room. “And why are you doing it?” “Preparing,” Deanna said. “Something big is coming, and I need to be ready for it.” “What are you talking about? Sesla certainly doesn’t seem to know, and she’s your older self.” “She used to be, but I’ve decided to take a different direction with my life. And I won’t let her stand in the way.” “She’s the something big that’s coming, isn’t she? Doctor Quill and the Ghost of my temporal duplicate have been working on getting her and Imhotep out of their comas.” “They are using clone bodies,” Deanna said. “As such Sesla will be a lot less powerful, at least at first. Even now, with her in a coma she has too many protective spells on herself for me to actually kill her. But when she is in a new body, that will be the time to strike.” “That’s why you’re using this planet, with it’s temporal anomalies. You arrived here in the 80s or whatever, but you’ll be able to leave in another time. But only after stealing the magic from people from other universes?” “Different universes have different magic. By taking from them I get a much more comprehensive skill set.” “That is rather brilliant,” Jack said. “I mean, I still have to stop you.” “You can certainly try.” “So, how much access to magic do you have now?” Mary asked as their group was continuing to explore the palace. “I don’t know,” Taylor said. “Even while I was casting that explosion, I couldn’t actually feel that I was doing anything. I’m just hoping Anna is fine.” “Who’s Anna?” Jake asked. “She’s my apprentice,” Taylor said. “She’s back in my universe, and I’m using our bond to draw magic through her as a conduit. I don’t think it should harm her, but it’s not like this is something that’s ever been done before.” “Hey guys, I think I found something,” Drake said. “I mean, the ship can normally go really slow, slow enough that this wouldn’t be a problem,” Gina said. “Normally?” Kira asked. “Why do I sense a but?” “We start moving towards the planet, and gravity will speed us up,” Rachel said. “Under normal circumstances we could just use thrusters to slow us down, but the systems won’t let us do that because if we could, then we could just use those thrusters to move away from the planet.” “And the closer we get, the faster and faster we’ll get,” Kira said. “But, it may be our best shot.” Drake led the rest of his group into a room that was full of computers. There was also a wall of screens showing security camera footage. “Why is this room empty?” Mary asked. “This seems like another trap.” “Maybe not,” Jake said pointing at the security screens. “Looks like there’s some other prisoners trying to escape from cells over there, and if that map is correct that’s near here. Whoever was in this room is probably amongst those guards trying to stop them.” “Can any of you get anything from the computers?” Mary asked. “Naw, they’re password protected.” Drake had sat down by one. “Abigail could possibly get through it though.” “Probably,” Mary said. “You guys stay here and keep trying. Taylor and I will go try and free Abigail.” Mary looked at the security screen. “Looks like she isn’t too far from here, luckily.” “Kira, I think I’ve narrowed down when the stuff on the planet is happening,” Elizabeth said. “I believe it’s 1984.” “Okay,” Kira said as she went over to Elizabeth. “How does that help us?” “Well, in 1984 this was not where this planet was.” “Yes, I understand that planets move through space, but how does that help us.” “I don’t know, but that’s what Drake was working on, I thought he had a reason for that.” “I’ll check with him, as we have reestablished contact with him.” “All of them?” Elizabeth asked. “Some are still being held,” Kira said. “Jack, Abigail, Madhur, Becca, and Amazing Archer. But we do know where they are being held, except for Jack, and they are okay.” “That’s good, at least.” Abigail heard the sound of weapons being fired outside her cell, and bodies dropping before her cell door opened, and Mary was there. “Thanks,” Abigail said before kissing her. “No problem,” Mary said. “Look, nice reunion and all, but we do have stuff to do,” Taylor said. “Apparently you’re good with computers?” “I’m all right with them,” Abigail said. “I checked with Drake,” Kira said. “And apparently you were on to something with the planetary location thing.” “Oh yeah?” Elizabeth asked. “Lyle has been working on mapping the temporal anomalies on the planet, and it’s possible we can move through them in order to move away without losing our engines. Like, the program will bring us back, but it means we don’t have to worry about crashing into the planet before reprogramming the ship.” “I’ll check with him and Gina, and see what we can figure out.” “Yeah, I think I can figure this out,” Abigail said as she took a panel off the computer. “Just give me a couple minutes.” “So, what’s our next move?” Taylor asked. “Free the rest of your people? The cops or the sci-fi Robin Hood?” “Jack would be our biggest help,” Mary said. “But we don’t know where he is, not unless you guys have seen anything on the security monitors?” “No sign of him yet,” Henry said. “But also no sign of Deanna,” Jake said. “We think he might be with her,” Drake said. “Especially since they are exes.” “They are exes?” Taylor asked. “Really?” “It’s complicated,” Mary said. “Okay, I’ve got access,” Abigail said. “Oh, wow, wow.” “What is it?” Mary asked. “Fifty-two people from alternate universes,” Abigail said. “That’s how many people Deanna has kidnapped.” “And how many of them have escaped from their cells like me?” Taylor asked. “I know I have a habit of getting through situations I shouldn’t, but I can’t imagine several others haven’t managed too.” “Umm, not sure,” Abigail said. “I know where they are all being held, but it doesn’t mention if any have escaped.” “Then here is what we are going to do,” Mary said. “We’re going to split up into multiple teams, and try to release as many prisoners as possible, both our people and the other people from alternate universes.” “How do we know they are all good people though?” Skyler asked. “What if some of them turn on us?” “We’ll have to take that risk,” Mary said. “Well?” Kira asked as Gina and Lyle entered her office. “It’s going to be tricky,” Gina said. “Since we can’t actually use any maneuvering thrusters on the side of the ship closest to the planet.” “But there is a location we can descend towards the planet from, which will allow us to pass through the correct temporal anomalies,” Lyle said. “We can go through the area with the palace which is in 1984, but pass through into another area that’s in our own present.” “I need to enter superspace at the exact moment we pass through the boundary,” Gina said. “We should then be leaving from the area where the planet was in 1984, but we have to be heading back for where the planet is now.” “Okay, sounds good,” Kira said. “There’s just one other problem, we have to do it in about two minutes,” Lyle said. “After that, because of the way our orbit compares to the rotation of the planet, we won’t be able to try again for days.” “That’s not enough time to get our friends back from the surface,” Kira said. “But we will be coming back, so get ready to do this, and I will let them know.” Amazing Archer had yet to find a way out of his cell, when he heard fighting outside, and then the door was opened. Taylor and Henry were there. “Okay Robin Hood, let’s go,” Taylor said. “What’s Henry doing here?” Amazing Archer asked. “After we lost contact with you guys, some more of us came down,” Henry said. “We need to get you back up to the ship,” Amazing Archer said. “This is too dangerous for you.” “That didn’t stop me from going to London, and it’s not going to stop me now,” Henry said. “Going to London is dangerous?” Taylor asked. “In our universe a lot of Europe, including the United Kingdom, was taken over by an alien empire,” Amazing Archer said. “Right, let’s just keep freeing people,” Taylor said. “And hopefully figure out a way to get me and the others back to our own universes where we have normal problems like vampires.” Mary and Skyler freed another prisoner from her cell. “Who are you people?” the prisoner asked. “We’re here to help,” Skyler said. “We’re trying to free everyone, in order to try and take down Deanna,” Mary said. “The woman who brought you here.” “Where is here, anyway?” “That’s a bit complicated,” Mary said. “Suffice it to say, this isn’t your universe.” “Damn, I knew I shouldn’t have used that painting.” “Time to temporal anomaly border?” Kira asked. “Forty-five seconds,” Gina said. “How much longer after that will we hit the planet?” Kira asked. “Three minutes.” “And the reprogramming of the ship’s source code?” Kira asked. “It’s going to take longer than that,” Krissy said. “I’d estimate at least ten minutes.” “Then we will be entering superspace the second we cross the border,” Kira said. “Ready for that?” “I’ll do my best,” Gina said. Drake poked around the corner, and shot his energy pistol a few times, knocking out one of the guards. But there were still three more blocking them from Becca’s cell. And all three started firing as Drake pulled back behind the corner. “Now what?” Jake asked. “Well, eventually they are going to have to come around the corner to actually hit us,” Drake said. “But they are going to be assuming we are standing up, so we’ll lie down and shoot them from the floor the second they turn the corner.” “This seems like a bad plan.” “You just need to hit one of them. I’ll deal with the other two.” The source of the weapon’s fire kept getting closer, until finally the guards did turn the corner. Sure enough, they were continuing to shoot straight forward. Drake shot one of them, and Jake shot another before the third one aimed down at Drake faster than Drake could aim at him. Drake heard the sound of an energy weapon firing, and the guard dropped onto the ground. “I thought I just needed to hit one of them,” Jake said. “Thanks.” Gina watched the countdown. Ten, nine, eight. She had already entered the course, but she checked it again, just to make sure. Seven, six, five. She put her finger over the button to engage the superspace drive. Four, three, two. She held her breath. One. And she pushed the button. The ship entered superspace, and the engines did not blow up. She checked the navigation systems, and sure enough, they were on their way back to the planet from a decent distance away. “Report,” Kira said. “It worked,” Gina said. “We should be back there and exiting superspace in about eight minutes.” “Which should give us enough time to finish with the source code for the ship,” Krissy said. “Is this everyone?” Mary asked as she was joined by Abigail, Taylor, Madhur, Becca, Drake, Jake, Skyler, Henry, Amazing Archer and a bunch of the other people from alternate universes. They were approaching where the throne room was. “Most of them,” Abigail said. “A few decided not to follow us, but most did.” “Then let’s go,” Mary said. “Wait, what exactly makes you in charge?” someone shouted from the back. “Yeah, shouldn’t we have a vote or something?” someone else asked. “Screw voting, I should be in charge,” someone else yelled. “This is our universe,” Mary said. “Thus we are the most familiar with it, and I’m in charge of our group.” “For what it’s worth, I’m from another universe, and I’m in full agreement with them on this,” Taylor said. “They know the situation better than us.” “So, things don’t seem to be going according to your plans,” Jack said as one of the guards informed Deanna of the large group approaching the throne room. “Is that what you think?” Deanna asked. “Your prisoners have escaped and are on their way here. What is your advantage?” The doors burst open, and Mary lead everyone in. They started shooting. Some at the guards, others at Deanna herself. The guards were dropped very quickly, but Deanna herself was unharmed. The shots from energy pistols and Amazing Archer’s energy bow were deflected before they even hit her, but magic shots from the abductees were absorbed into her. “Damn it,” Jack said. “Don’t shoot her with magic, she’s just absorbing the power. That’s why she let this happen.” “I don’t think they heard you,” Deanna said. Sure enough, there was no halting of the people shooting at her. “We’re dropping out of superspace,” Gina said. “And we’re back at the planet.” “You’re going to need to keep moving towards it,” Krissy said. “We’re not quite done yet.” “Do it,” Kira said. “Hopefully we won’t be cutting it too close.” “Right,” Gina said. “We need to stop shooting Deanna with magic,” Jack said as he went up to Taylor. “She’s absorbing it.” “Then what are we supposed to do?” Taylor asked. “She figured out how everyone’s magic worked while you were in captivity, which is how she’s able to absorb it from all of you now.” “And in my case she has an unlimited source thanks to my link back home. Possibly others here have the same situation.” “It’s too bad we don’t have a form of magic she hasn’t figured out how to absorb yet.” “We might,” Taylor said. “I mean, it’s still a form of magic from my universe, but it’s a bit different from standard magic, so it might work.” “I sense a but coming.” “But there is no way in hell I am pulling it through my link with Anna.” “Is there any other way?” “Not that I can think of.” Amazing Archer was going through the different settings on his energy bow, trying to find one that worked. “Stop shooting her with magic,” he heard various people shouting as the message was finally getting around the group. “Any luck?” Abigail asked as she went up to Amazing Archer. “If magic is just making her stronger, it seems like science might be our best bet.” “Unfortunately her barrier has deflected every type of shot I’ve tried.” “How long until we hit the planet?” Kira asked. “Two minutes,” Gina said. “How much longer until we have full control of the ship?” Kira asked. “Less than two minutes,” Krissy said, before lowering her voice. “I hope.” Jack snapped his fingers. “We need Ted.” “Ted?” Taylor asked. “That’s why Deanna wanted him,” Jack said. “My powers just kicked in.” Jack looked around and saw Drake. “Do you still have your comm unit? Mine was taken away earlier.” “Yeah,” Drake said. “Why, what’s up?” “We need Ted down here now,” Jack said. “Umm, that might be a bit tricky,” Drake said. “But I’ll find out if it’s possible.” “What’s your plan?” Taylor asked while Drake was on the comm. “Ted is an anomaly of sorts,” Jack said. “He’s a part of this universe, but he’s not exactly…tethered to it might be the best way of describing it. So we can use him to create a conduit to your universe, so you can use whatever other kind of magic you want without risking your apprentice.” “Instead we’re risking this Ted?” “He’s not the conduit, he’s just creating it, so there shouldn’t be any danger to him.” “Okay, they might be able to send him down here in about a minute, assuming they don’t crash,” Drake said. “Crash?” Jack asked. “Long story,” Drake said. “But the teleporter won’t be able to teleport him through solid objects, so we’ll need to make a hole in the ceiling.” “That shouldn’t be a problem,” Taylor said. “Thirty seconds,” Gina said. “Almost got it,” Krissy said. “Just need to change one more thing.” “Twenty seconds,” Gina said. “Done,” Krissy said. Gina pressed to activate the maneuvering thrusters, but nothing happened. “You’ll have to reset your console,” Krissy said. “We don’t have time,” Gina said after hitting the reset button. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,” Lyle was counting down while Gina waited for her console to come back on. “Five, four, three.” “It’s back,” Gina said as she activated the thrusters, and the ship pulled up at the last second, its bottom less than a meter off the ground. “Bring us above Deanna’s palace,” Kira said. “Ted, you sure you’re willing to go down there?” “I mean, I don’t understand a lot of what’s going on here, but if I can help end it, then yeah, I’ll help out.” Taylor and several of the other magic users sent blasts at the ceiling to created a hole in it. A few even did it in such a way that the crumbling pieces of ceiling fell down towards Deanna. “You think that will hurt me?” Deanna asked as the debris was deflected away from her by her invisible barrier. “Maybe not,” Jack said. “But it’s worth the shot, and it allowed us to do this.” As he said that Ted was teleported in. “What? Giving me the person I am after?” Deanna asked. “Not quite,” Jack said. “Taylor, put your hand on his shoulder, and do your thing.” Taylor ran over to Ted, and put her hand on his shoulder. Then she summoned Dragon Fire and sent it at Deanna. It was not deflected by her barrier, and upon hitting her it clearly did damage to her. Amazing Archer fired another stunbolt from his energy bow behind it, and either the barrier was no longer there, or it was weakened, as the stunbolt hit her, and knocked her unconscious. “Good job Robin Hood,” Taylor said. “Yeah, you too,” Amazing Archer said. Everyone was brought up to the ship, except for Deanna and her people who had been left on the planet below. Taylor went up to the bridge, but the rest of the abductees were sent to the living quarters for the time being. “Is leaving Deanna down there the best option?” Kira asked. “What if she tries again? Based on the temporal anomalies, she’ll have plenty of opportunities.” “We’ll send a team to figure out what to do next,” Jack said. “But in the meantime, her and her people have all been locked up, and she should remain sedated until we return.” “And what about me and the other people she kidnapped?” Taylor asked. “Although it’s fairly recent, we have been studying alternate universes,” Jack said. “So, we’ll bring you back with us, and see what Tesla and ERK-147 can figure out. Ted’s ability may also come in handy.” “Why do I have this ability anyway?” Ted asked. “That’s a good question,” Jack said. “Perhaps they can figure that out as well.” They returned to Earth. Jack, Mary, Abigail, and Ted, as well as Taylor and the other abductees went through the time door to their base in the Cretaceous. “Welcome back,” Harkon Smith said after Jack, Mary, and Abigail came through, but than raised his eyebrow as the others started coming through. “What’s going on?” “It’s a bit of a long story, but Deanna has been abducting people from other universes,” Jack said. “These are them, except for him.” Jack pointed at Ted. “But we may be able to use him to help send them back. And hopefully quickly so that he can get on with his honeymoon.” “Right,” Harkon said. “I’ll have Tesla return here right away to assist.” “Hmm, that’s very interesting,” Nikola Tesla said as he looked at the sensor readout. “ERK-147, have you finished the readings on the other abductees?” “Yes, and I have uploaded them to your computer,” the little bot said. “So, what’s the verdict?” Taylor asked. “Can you send us home?” “No, but I think you can do so yourself,” Nikola said. “What?” Taylor asked. “What am I supposed to do? Click my heels together three times? I’m fresh out of ruby slippers.” “No, you’ll have to use Ted,” Nikola said. “In much the same way you used him as a conduit for your magic, but in somewhat of a reverse way. You mentioned having portal magic, yes?” “I do, but it hasn’t worked here, but yeah, I might be able to use it in conjunction with Ted’s whole interdimensional whatever. But what about others that don’t have portal magic?” “That we can help with,” ERK-147 said. “We should be able to help you make portals to send the others home.” “That sounds like quite the adventure,” Melinda Summers said after Jack, Mary, and Abigail had finished explaining the events on the rogue planet to her and Harkon. “Agent Summers, if you could prepare a team to go deal with cleanup there, I’d prefer you head there as soon as possible,” Harkon said. “Yes, sir,” Melinda said. “And your friends Abigail, are they all willing to keep quiet?” Harkon asked. “I believe so,” Abigail said. “Several of them already have their own secrets they have to keep, so they’ve become pretty good at it.” “Some of them may also prove to be valuable in the future,” Jack said. “Many of them are more than they appear to be.” “I’ll have to keep that in mind,” Harkon said. “Okay, thanks for your assistance, and enjoy the ride home,” Taylor said as she created a portal for yet another of the abductees to go through. “How many do we have left?” Ted asked as he looked at the list. “Oh, wait, that was the last one other than you.” “About time,” Taylor said. “I know most of them were able to create their own portals, but I still had to create more than I’d have liked. I’m feeling pretty tired.” “Too tired to create one more for yourself?” Jack asked as he entered the room. “No, definitely not,” Taylor said. “I am very much looking forward to getting back home. And just to be clear, I know I asked this before, but your certain I’ll be returning not just to my own universe, but the correct time?” “Yes,” ERK-147 said. “As much time will have passed as you have experienced while here, but you will be in your own time.” “Okay, good,” Taylor said before creating a portal. “Until next time.” “You think there’ll be a next time?” “I know my life well enough to know that there’s always a next time,” Taylor said before going through it. To be continued… And Taylor’s adventures are chronicled in Taylor: Wandering Wizard by Evan Barkman.

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