#ERK-147

[ericbarkman]

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…

[ercdouken]

Did the FE sorter thingy again. Link: http://fesorter.tumblr.com/

Full List:

1 Catria 2 Cherche 3 Silque 4 Mia 5 Oboro 6 Marcia 7 Setsuna 8 Volke 9 Lucina 10 Jill 11 Nephenee 12 Rebecca 13 Tate 14 Miledy 15 Palla 16 Erinys 17 Ayra 18 Tailtiu 19 Minerva 20 Linde 21 Saber 22 Mae 23 Haar 24 Ogma 25 Marth 26 Flora 27 Felicia 28 Kaze 29 Clair 30 Stefan 31 Beruka 32 Noire 33 Cordelia 34 Lute 35 Ishtar 36 Caeda 37 Tibarn 38 Farina 39 Nino 40 Lyn 41 Titania 42 Barst 43 Camus 44 Cain 45 Tana 46 Gerik 47 Brigid 48 Joshua 49 Karin 50 Lon'qu 51 Sonya 52 Fir 53 Dieck 54 Lewyn 55 Finn 56 Sigurd 57 Kamui 58 Elincia 59 Sumia 60 Anna 61 Miriel 62 Cynthia 63 Fee 64 Larcei 65 Altena 66 Orsin 67 Merric 68 Tiki 69 Owain 70 Celica 71 Mathilda 72 Ilyana 73 Sain 74 Nanna 75 Athena 76 Nolan 77 Fiora 78 Priscilla 79 Canas 80 Oswin 81 Gray 82 Cecille 83 Hardin 84 Zihark 85 Ced 86 Leila 87 Laura 88 Ethlyn 89 Legion 90 Lena 91 Julian 92 Azura 93 Lissa 94 Robin 95 Marisa 96 Pent 97 Vanessa 98 Ninian 99 Florina 100 Calill 101 Astrid 102 Gatrie 103 Kieran 104 Marisha 105 Shanna 106 Navarre 107 Frey 108 Phina 109 Norne 110 Delthea 111 Lukas 112 Keaton 113 Lucia 114 Kagero 115 Tanith 116 Gregor 117 Heather 118 Tatiana 119 Genny 120 Lilina 121 Sue 122 Echidna 123 Lex 124 Luthier 125 Jeorge 126 Sheena 127 Julia 128 Shanan 129 Tinny 130 Arthur 131 Naesala 132 Perceval 133 Hector 134 Matthew 135 L'Arachel 136 Shinon 137 Oscar 138 Micaiah 139 Katarina 140 Hinoka 141 Takumi 142 Saizo 143 Scarlet 144 Leo 145 Ryoma 146 Ike 147 Boyd 148 Mist 149 Reyson 150 Clarine 151 Abel 152 Est 153 Klein 154 Geese 155 Ellen 156 Rutger 157 Allen 158 Lance 159 Ares 160 Seliph 161 Alvis 162 Mordecai 163 Zelgius 164 Eliwood 165 Kaden 166 Wendell 167 Xane 168 Rinea 169 Clarisse 170 Quan 171 Olwen 172 Mareeta 173 Sara 174 Bastian 175 Chrom 176 Isadora 177 Louise 178 Natasha 179 Cecilia 180 Leif 181 Eldigan 182 Tanya 183 Safy 184 Lara 185 Machyua 186 Linoan 187 Shiva 188 Lachesis 189 Corrin 190 Tharja 191 Olivia 192 Frederick 193 Edain 194 Deirdre 195 Chulainn 196 Valbar 197 Jagen 198 Alm 199 Mycen 200 Geoffrey 201 Kent 202 Draug 203 Guy 204 Mozu 205 Sedgar 206 Wolf 207 Forsyth 208 Boey 209 Conrad 210 Ophelia 211 Midori 212 Velouria 213 Sakura 214 Arthur 215 Effie 216 Benny 217 Lloyd 218 Stahl 219 Maribelle 220 Myrrh 221 Cormag 222 Henry 223 Muarim 224 Aran 225 Volug 226 Seth 227 Neimi 228 Eirika 229 Amelia 230 Charlotte 231 Astram 232 Samson 233 Colm 234 Moulder 235 Tormod 236 Lyon 237 Saleh 238 Roshea 239 Sylvia 240 Jamke 241 Leon 242 Kliff 243 Castor 244 Sophie 245 Gunter 246 Reina 247 Brom 248 Nailah 249 Ephraim 250 Duessel 251 Innes 252 Laurent 253 Hana 254 Camilla 255 Elise 256 Xander 257 Forde 258 Ursula 259 Carrion 260 Tina 261 Halvan 262 Bartre 263 Raigh 264 Fae 265 Karel 266 Oifey 267 Igrene 268 Patty 269 Reinhardt 270 Marcus 271 Orochi 272 Caineghis 273 Say'ri 274 Lucius 275 Basilio 276 Ulki 277 Janaff 278 Greil 279 Largo 280 Vaike 281 Virion 282 Nasir 283 Brady 284 Lugh 285 Roy 286 Ulster 287 Lana 288 Asbel 289 Fergus 290 Lifis 291 Brunya 292 Sigrun 293 Leanne 294 Serra 295 Idoun 296 Syrene 297 Morgan 298 Zephiel 299 Valter 300 Inigo 301 Selena 302 Brighton 303 Lalum 304 Elphin 305 Wrys 306 Malice 307 Nagi 308 Jake 309 Lorenz 310 Ranulf 311 Tauroneo 312 Kyle 313 Karla 314 Chad 315 Noah 316 Gonzales 317 Severa 318 Izana 319 Shura 320 Rinkah 321 Raven 322 Harken 323 Jaffar 324 Legault 325 Hinata 326 Jakob 327 Dorcas 328 Rath 329 Erk 330 Pelleas 331 Libra 332 Gaius 333 Danved 334 Gilliam 335 Geitz 336 Heath 337 Walhart 338 Aversa 339 Ashnard 340 Sanaki 341 Skrimir 342 Rhys 343 Lethe 344 Rennac 345 Garcia 346 Hawkeye 347 Dart 348 Dozla 349 Tethys 350 Gangrel 351 Silas 352 Flavia 353 Panne 354 Giffca 355 Renning 356 Dheginsea 357 Sephiran 358 Kurthnaga 359 Ena 360 Petrine 361 Kellam 362 Sully 363 Ismaire 364 Wil 365 Lowen 366 Knoll 367 Hayato 368 Subaki 369 Selkie 370 Caeldori 371 Soleil 372 Nina 373 Nah 374 Shiro 375 Siegbert 376 Forrest 377 Fuga 378 Niles 379 Nyx 380 Perne 381 Diarmuid 382 Michalis 383 Roger 384 Arlen 385 Gotoh 386 Febail 387 Lester 388 Faye 389 Etzel 390 Horace 391 Shin 392 Galzus 393 Miranda 394 Shigure 395 Misha 396 Homer 397 Eda 398 Dean 399 Selfina 400 Dagdar 401 Darros 402 Beck 403 Ymir 404 Midayle 405 Azel 406 Deen 407 Julius 408 Areone 409 Guinevere 410 Hugh 411 Dayan 412 Python 413 Tobin 414 Mila 415 Juno 416 Atlas 417 Jesse 418 Berkut 419 Midia 420 Radd 421 Caesar 422 Gordin 423 Luke 424 Roderick 425 Lene 426 Vika 427 Ross 428 Athos 429 Franz 430 Nils 431 Gwendolyn 432 Ogier 433 Cath 434 Sophia 435 Hicks 436 Dalsin 437 Beowolf 438 Dew 439 Rudolf 440 Wallace 441 Artur 442 Linus 443 Fargus 444 Renault 445 Nergal 446 Limstella 447 Sonia 448 Nowi 449 Priam 450 Gareth 451 Percy 452 Dwyer 453 Kana 454 Ignatius 455 Dice 456 Frost 457 Dolph 458 Bantu 459 Warren 460 Cord 461 Samto 462 Niime 463 Douglas 464 Zeiss 465 Gale 466 Narcian 467 Eyrios 468 Salem 469 Bors 470 Astore 471 Saul 472 Hannibal 473 Merlinus 474 Travant 475 Asugi 476 Mitama 477 Rhajat 478 Sothe 479 Edward 480 Leonardo 481 Bord 482 Nomah 483 Yodel 484 Saias 485 Amalda 486 Xavier 487 Alec 488 Noish 489 Gharnef 490 Medeus 491 Maria 492 Nyna 493 Ryan 494 Arran 495 Shanam 496 Wolt 497 Murdock 498 Vaida 499 Jahn 500 Lyre 501 Rafiel 502 Nealuchi 503 Zelot 504 Wade 505 Lott 506 Garret 507 Manfroy 508 Johan 509 Johalva 510 Clive 511 Elice 512 Ralph 513 Arden 514 Rolf 515 Fiona 516 Almedha 517 Claud 518 Fred 519 Robert 520 Kein 521 Alva 522 Treck 523 Kris 524 Yumina 525 Reiden 526 Belf 527 Roberto 528 Macellan 529 Vyland 530 Tomas 531 Jedah 532 Barthe 533 Marty 534 Ronan 535 Sleuf 536 Glade 537 Dorothy 538 Coirpre 539 Soren 540 Ricken 541 Donnel 542 Emmeryn 543 Gerome 544 Kjelle 545 Glen 546 Caellach 547 Hisame 548 Kiragi 549 Yarne 550 Kyza 551 Ashera 552 Yen'fay 553 Validar 554 Peri 555 Riev 556 Ewan 557 Raydrik 558 Blume 559 Troude 560 Meg 561 Rickard 562 Oliver 563 Yubello 564 Boah 565 Makalov 566 Matthis 567 Azama 568 Garon 569 Mikoto 570 Yukimura 571 Orson 572 Conomore 573 Dorias 574 August 575 Veld 576 Brendan 577 Hilda 578 Izuka

[nerdgirlofficial]

#Selfie #147 Still in DC, sitting outside kinda enjoying the day (I don't like the sun), waiting on the kid to tell us she is ready to go and chatting with Erk about the TV show #TheWire and #TheCorner. So my #Bmore people which was your go to. How real is real for you?!?! Quote of the Day: Never ever judge a book by the cover. People are very judgemental and I am not perfect by any means. <3 Gladys #XOXOtheNerdGirl #NerdGirlOfficial #NerdGirlArmy #NerdyBookServices #365daysOfSelfies #EvolutionInMyMind @FanGirl_Staci

[conners-clinic]

While Resveratrol is perhaps, as my title states, the most researched anti-aging product on the market, it is NOT just an anti-aging product. Numerous articles show its benefit for cancer to hormonal issues, and cardiovascular support to brain health. Resveratrol is indeed a must-purpose nutrient.

Our Resvoxitrol is a unique combination of phytonutrients designed to enhance antioxidant potential by stimulating nuclear factor-erythroid-2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), a dynamic pathway known to increase the production of the body’s most important cellular antioxidants. This unique combination of truebrocTM, turmeric, andrographis, and resveratrol provides potent free radical scavenging potential, maintaining normal inflammatory balance, and induction of intracellular antioxidant production. These powerful phytochemicals are the basis of many “superfoods” and have extensive, peer- reviewed research supporting their dramatic effect on cell health and longevity.

Overview

Nrf2 is a transcription factor that regulates the antioxidant response of the body.1 It is the primary cellular defense against the cytotoxic effects of oxidative stress.2 This key protein is found inside a cell and is inactive until it is released by an Nrf2 activator. Once activated, Nrf2 migrates into the nucleus and binds to DNA at the location of the master antioxidant regulator, the antioxidant response element (ARE).3 Studies suggest Nrf2 plays an important role in supporting the activation of cellular antioxidant systems, as well as maintaining normal inflammatory balance.4,5 A number of fruit and vegetable compounds have been shown to activate Nrf2 and ARE, and increase antioxidant potential.6-9 It is believed that these compounds have a protective effect on the body, help maintain normal inflammatory balance, and induce cellular longevity.10

Broccoli Seed Extract†

Broccoli seed extract has the highest levels of glucoraphanin (a potent Nrf2 stimulator) of any broccoli product available.11 In

fact, 230 mg of broccoli seed extract is equivalent to consuming 1 1⁄4 cups of fresh broccoli. Glucoraphanin is a phytochemical compound that acts as the precursor to sulforaphane, one of the leading compounds in broccoli that is responsible for many of its positive benefits.12,13 These compounds and their mechanisms have been studied extensively and supported by more than 500 scientific publications. Glucoraphanin and sulforaphane act as direct activators of Nrf2 and potent antioxidants shown to support detoxification and maintain normal inflammatory balance.14-18 Studies show they work by improving hormone balance and increasing functional enzymes that support excretion of toxins from the body.19 Broccoli seed extract has been shown to remain active within the body for up to three days following consumption.20

Turmeric Root Extract†

Turmeric is a bright orange-colored spice used for thousands of years in cooking and medicine. Through its antioxidant mechanisms, the active ingredient in turmeric, curcumin, helps to maintain a healthy cardiovascular system, support gastrointestinal (GI) health, and provide neuroprotective activity.21-24 Curcumin has been shown to play a crucial role in maintaining normal inflammatory balance in a variety of bodily systems due to its ability to modulate Nrf2.25 Studies have shown curcumin maintains normal inflammatory balance in endothelial cells and cardiac cells.26-28 Curcumin has also been found to provide antioxidant protection to the cardiovascular system by reducing oxidative stress and supporting a normal immune response.29

Andrographis †

Andrographis (Andrographis paniculata) is an herbaceous plant native in India and Sri Lanka. It has widely been used

in Southeastern Asian medicine for its broad range of health- promoting properties. In recent years, andrographis has emerged as a potent activator of Nrf2.1 Recent studies have shown that when compared to other phenolic compounds, 60 mg of andrographis induced the highest activation of Nrf2.2 This activation helps reduce oxidative stress, quench free radicals, maintain endothelial health and support mitochondrial function.2-4

Resveratrol†

Resveratrol, is a stilbene found in many plants and red wines. It is the most well-researched stilbene. Studies of resveratrol have found it to enhance the potential of antioxidant and detoxification activity through Nrf2 activation.30 Other studies have linked resveratrol to enhancing blood sugar balance, maintaining normal inflammatory balance and reducing oxidative stress.31, 32

Directions

2 capsules per day or as recommended by your health care professional.

Does Not Contain

Gluten, yeast, artificial colors and flavors.

Cautions

Do not consume this product if you are pregnant or nursing. Consult your physician for further information.

References

Wong SY, Tan MG, Wong PT, et al. Andrographolide induces Nrf2 and heme oxygenase 1 in astrocytes by activating p38 MAPK and ERK. Journal of neuroinflammation 2016;13(1):251.

Wu KC, McDonald PR, Liu J, et al. Screening of natural compounds as activators of the keap1-nrf2 pathway. Planta medica 2014;80(1):97.

Rajagopal S, Kumar RA, Deevi DS, et al. Andrographolide, a potential cancer therapeutic agent isolated from Andrographis paniculata. Journal of Experimental therapeutics and Oncology 2003;3(3):147-58.

Mishra SK, Sangwan NS, Sangwan RS. Phcog Rev.: Plant Review Andrographis paniculata (Kalmegh): A Review. Pharmacognosy Reviews 2007;1(2):283-98.

Li W, Khor TO, Xu C, Shen G, Jeong W-S, Yu S and Kong A-N. Activation of Nrf2-antioxidant signaling attenuates NFκB- inflammatory response and elicits apoptosis. Biochemical pharmacology. 2008;76:1485-1489.

Surh Y-J, Kundu JK and Na H-K. Nrf2 as a master redox switch in turning on the cellular signaling involved in the induction of cytoprotective genes by some chemopreventive phytochemicals. Planta medica. 2008;74:1526-1539.

Surh Y-J and Na H-K. NF-κB and Nrf2 as prime molecular targets for chemoprevention and cytoprotection with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant phytochemicals. Genes & nutrition. 2008;2:313-317.

Lee JH, Khor TO, Shu L, Su Z-Y, Fuentes F and Kong A-NT. Dietary phytochemicals and cancer prevention: Nrf2 signaling, epigenetics, and cell death mechanisms in blocking cancer initiation and progression. Pharmacology & therapeutics. 2013;137:153-171.

Gopalakrishnan A and Kong A-NT. Anticarcinogenesis by dietary phytochemicals: cytoprotection by Nrf2 in normal cells and cytotoxicity by modulation of transcription factors NF-κB and AP-1 in abnormal cancer cells. Food and Chemical Toxicology. 2008;46:1257-1270.

via News – – Conners Clinic

[nturkiye-blog]

AİHM'den Nuriye Gülmen ve Semih Özakça'nın tahliyesine ret: "Devlet iyi bakıyor"

Avrupa İnsan Hakları Mahkemesi (AİHM), Kanun hükmünde kararname (KHK) ile ihraç edildikleri işlerine geri dönmek için başlattıkları açlık grevinin 147’nci gününde olan tutuklu akademisyen Nuriye Gülmen ve öğretmen Semih Özakça’nın tahliye edilmesi için yapılan başvuruyu reddetti.

Birgün’den Erk Acarer’in haberine göre; Avrupa İnsan Hakları Mahkemesi (AİHM) 02.08.2017 tarihinde (bugün) verdiği…

[cancersfakianakis1]

Clinically Viable Gene Expression Assays with Potential for Predicting Benefit from MEK Inhibitors

Purpose: To develop a clinically viable gene expression assay to measure RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK (RAS–ERK) pathway output suitable for hypothesis testing in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) clinical studies.

Experimental Design: A published MEK functional activation signature (MEK signature) that measures RAS–ERK functional output was optimized for NSCLC in silico. NanoString assays were developed for the NSCLC optimized MEK signature and the 147-gene RAS signature. First, platform transfer from Affymetrix to NanoString, and signature modulation following treatment with KRAS siRNA and MEK inhibitor, were investigated in cell lines. Second, the association of the signatures with KRAS mutation status, dynamic range, technical reproducibility, and spatial and temporal variation was investigated in NSCLC formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue (FFPET) samples.

Results: We observed a strong cross-platform correlation and modulation of signatures in vitro. Technical and biological replicates showed consistent signature scores that were robust to variation in input total RNA; conservation of scores between primary and metastatic tumor was statistically significant. There were statistically significant associations between high MEK (P = 0.028) and RAS (P = 0.003) signature scores and KRAS mutation in 50 NSCLC samples. The signatures identify overlapping but distinct candidate patient populations from each other and from KRAS mutation testing.

Conclusions: We developed a technically and biologically robust NanoString gene expression assay of MEK pathway output, compatible with the quantities of FFPET routinely available. The gene signatures identified a different patient population for MEK inhibitor treatment compared with KRAS mutation testing. The predictive power of the MEK signature should be studied further in clinical trials. Clin Cancer Res; 23(6); 1471–80. ©2016 AACR.

See related commentary by Xue and Lito, p. 1365

http://ift.tt/2nDmpDv

[ericbarkman]

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…

[ericbarkman]

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…

[ericbarkman]

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…

[ericbarkman]

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.

[ericbarkman]

Chrono Hustle #38 Going Rogue

     “Hello Director Teleros,” Harkon Smith said as he entered the office.      “Ah, Mr. Smith,” Rupert Teleros said as he looked up from his computer.  “So nice to finally see you again.  Please sit down.”      “Thank you,” Harkon said as he did so.      “I take it you finally have an answer to my proposal?” Rupert asked.  “It’s been several months since I offered to let your group become the operations team of the Temporal Development Division.”      “We are already the time travel division of the ESS.”      “You’re mostly autonomous from the ESS though, and I assume Holmes lets you mostly have free reign to make your own decisions.”      “That would be a safe assumption.”      “Would it also be safe to assume that you’ve made a decision?”      “Not yet, there’s a few things I’m going to need to discuss with you first.”      “Such as?” Rupert asked.      “Well,” Harkon said.  “This is going to require a bit of backstory.  You are aware of Sesla’s younger self, Deanna.  She has been working with us because of her relationship with Jack Masterson, but recently we were becoming aware of some suspicious activity on her part.  It was Abigail that first brought this to my attention…”      “What sort of suspicious activity?” Harkon asked.      “She’s been buying up several artifacts,” Abigail Esau said.      “I mean, we only know minimal bits about her history during the 1940s, but that doesn’t seem out of the ordinary,” Harkon said.  “Despite working with us, she is still a fairly significant historical figure, so she does still need to be keeping up with doing what she’s supposed to be doing.”      “I understand that, which is why I decided to do a bit more digging, find out exactly what artifacts she’s been buying, and learning what I can about them.”      “And?”      “And I recognize at least one of them, as I saw it in a museum when I was younger, a museum it had been in since the 30s, until at least 2005.  A museum that Deanna just bought it from, thus altering the timeline.”      “Hmm, that may have been unintentional on her part, since we can’t help but have altered her timeline just by interacting with her, but it is something to keep an eye on.”      “Well, that wasn’t all I learned.  Most of the items, possibly all of them, have magical properties.  And powerful, at least the ones I can get information on.”      “Is that all?” Harkon asked.      “For now,” Abigail said.      “I take it she kept investigating?” Rupert asked.      “She did,” Harkon said.  “And she brought in Mary to assist her.  They figured out an item that was likely to be one that Deanna would be interested in.  Tracked it down to the owner...”      Abigail tried to steady herself on Mary’s shoulders, before going back to working on trying to shimmy open the window.      “Have you ever broken into a house before?” Mary asked.  “It seems like it’s taking you a while.”      “No, I haven’t,” Abigail said.  “And we wouldn’t have to be, if you hadn’t made him suspicious of us when we tried talking to him.”      “He was already suspicious of us.”      “I could have turned it around…just like I’ve turned this around,” Abigail said as she opened the window.  She climbed in, and then reached out, and helped Mary climb in as well.      “So, how do we find it in here?” Mary asked as she looked around the room, which was full of all sorts of ancient artifacts, from weapons to pottery to jewelry.  “Wait, is this it?” she asked as she picked up a necklace.      “Yeah, that’s it,” Mary said.  She took something out of her pocket, that looked like a tiny piece of clear tape, and stuck it to the necklace.  She smoothed it out, and it looked like nothing was even there.  “Now we can track it.”      “Did this plan work out?” Rupert asked.      “It did indeed,” Harkon said.  “Although that was only because of a stroke of luck.”      “Oh?”      “Deanna did indeed purchase the necklace, and brought it back to her home, before the signal vanished.”      “She discovered the tracking device?”      “That was Abigail’s initial assumption, but then a month later the signal was located again.”      “Oh?”      “Are you aware of the existence of alternate universes?”      “I am aware of the theoretical existence of them,” Rupert said.  “Are you aware of them on a practical level?”      “We are.  We have been to one, and have an outpost set up there.  We actually found out about it while tracking down the duplicates of a certain agent of your organization.”      “Anthony Hobbs?”      “That’s the one.  So, you don’t know why one of his duplicates would have been going to a location near a wormhole to another universe?”      “I do not.”      “No matter,” Harkon said.  “Anyway, the important thing is that Nikola Tesla has been running that outpost, and Abigail had been sent there to pick up his weekly reports.”      “Are these all of the reports?” Abigail asked as she looked at the computer pad.  “There’s not much here.”      “There’s not much to report on,” Nikola Tesla said.  “It’s been relatively quiet around here.  We’ve got the outpost up and running with minimal difficulties, and the locals are unaware.”      “Yeah, I suppose that wouldn’t lead to a lot to report on.”      A beeping started from Abigail’s pocket.      “What’s that?” Nikola asked.      “That’s weird,” Abigail said as she took her sensor device out of her pocket.  “It just picked up a signal from a tracking device that disappeared a month ago.”      “What are you tracking?”      “A necklace that Deanna bought, which means she somehow sent it here.  Has she been here?”      “Not that I am aware of.”      “That’s what I thought.  As far as I’m aware she hasn’t even used the time doors since then, which brings up multiple questions.  Even if she could send it to another universe, she’s in the 1940s, this is the 1870s, so why would it have appeared in this era in this universe?”      “Is that the only alternate universe you have access to?” Rupert asked.      “At the moment, yes,” Harkon said.  “Tesla is working on testing some theories, but no telling when or even if those will pay off.”      “Have you been able to ascertain why Deanna would be sending an object to this universe, in this time?”      “We’ve since been able to learn that she’s been sending them to various universes, in various eras.”      “But it can’t be a coincidence that she sent the one you could track to the one place you’d be able to track it.”      “Well, that’s complicated…”      “Her powers are a bit more complicated than mine,” Jack Masterson said.      “Your powers are that you randomly know information,” Harkon said.  “We don’t even understand how that works.”      “We may not understand it, but the effect is rather easy to explain, you just did so in a single sentence.”      “And what of Abigail’s powers?  I know she’s had dreams predicting the future.”      “That’s what we thought early on, but it turns out that’s not accurate.  Her dreams told her about Atlantis, but what they told her didn’t happen.”      “I thought we were just assuming it hadn’t happened yet, or that your intervention prevented it.”      “My dream showed me that the Altanteans had vanished, and I took that to mean they were wiped out, which we later learned was false.  Her dreams explicitly said that they were dead.  The relevant thing wasn’t that her dream was accurate, but that it be close enough to what we knew that we let her become involved.”      “Meaning what exactly?”      “Her powers have to do with coincidences.  Probability warps around her.  That’s part of why friends of hers, people who were relatively normal university students, were crucial in saving the Earth from an alien invasion.”      “Is she aware of this?” Harkon asked.      “I haven’t told her.  She already blames herself for too much stuff that happens around her,” Jack said.  “I don’t want her blaming herself for even more.”      “That’s fascinating,” Rupert said.  “I’d love to know how those abilities work, and if Abigail could learn to control them.”      “I’m telling you about them only because of the relevance they have to my explanation,” Harkon said.  “And I would prefer you not look into them further.”      “I understand, although you are placing a lot of trust in me by telling me about them.”      “I am.”      “Then I will try to live up to that trust.  I am curious where this is leading though.”      “This is where we need your help.  We know you have recently gained access to a time door in 1972.”      “How do you know that?” Rupert asked.      “Well…”      “You’ve done what?” Harkon asked.      “I have figured out how to listen in on the TDD communications,” ERK-147 said.  “Thanks to the computer we recovered from them in the 1870s.”      “That’s great news.  What have you learned so far?”      “I am in the midst of creating a full report, but one of the most interesting things is that they have vastly increased the number of time doors they can access.  771 BCE, 32 CE, and 1972 CE are a few of the years I have so far determined.”      “Hmm, keep on it, I’ll be interested in learning more.”      “I was wondering if you were the reason we had lost contact with our agents in the 1870s,” Rupert said.  “You really are being open, sharing this.”      “Yes, well, we need to go to 1972,” Harkon said.      “Why is that?”      “To figure out what Deanna is up to in the 1940s.  We’ve checked in the 2340s, and Sesla isn’t where she’s supposed to be, we don’t even know if Deanna still eventually became Sesla, or have any idea where she is.”      “So, you’re hoping by getting a look a bit earlier, you can figure it out?”      “Exactly.”      “Any word back yet from the boss?” Jack asked as he exited the time door.      “Not yet,” Melinda Summers said from where she was sitting at the computer console.      “He’s been talking with Rupert Teleros for a while.  I wonder how it’s going.”      “Hopefully they can come to an agreement.  We need to figure out what Deanna’s up to.”      “She’s not at her place anymore,” Jack said.  “I was just there, and it’s been cleared out.”      “That’s worrying.”      “Oh, it gets worse.”      “Oh?”      “I’ve been having Abigail searching through the computer logs, to find out what Deanna’s all looked at.”      “And?” Melinda asked.      “You know that secret base that Joshua Teleros will end up commanding starting in 1947?”      “She was looking up information on that?”      “Yep.”      “That can’t be good.”      “Nope.”      The Ghost of the temporal duplicate of Jack Masterson entered the med lab, where Doctor Jeri Quill was sitting at a computer, staring at the screen.      “How goes the work?” Ghost Jack asked.      “Not well,” Jeri said.  “Creating a clone that has a working brain, but not a mind of its own is not exactly an easy task.”      “You’d think it would be easy, considering this machine was designed to make clones to put back into the timeline, and can thus be programmed to know what they should.”      “Well, sure, it’s easy enough to program them with memories, but they still have minds built in as a default that you put the memories into, and I’m not sure how to get around that, or if it is even possible.”      “Welcome back, sir,” Melinda said as Harkon returned through the time door.  “How did it go?”      “We are officially a part of the TDD,” Harkon said.  “Exactly what that’ll all entail is something that will still require a lot of discussion, but for now we’ll be getting access to additional time doors, including 1972.  Get Jack, Mary, and Abigail ready, and you’ll be going through to see what you can learn.”      “Yes, sir.”      “How about magic?” Ghost Jack asked.      “Magic?” Jeri asked.      “Yeah, what if we apply magic to the cloning process, that might allow us to get around needing to make a mind for the clone bodies.”      “I’m a doctor, not a wizard,” Jeri said.      “Yeah, I can check with Sesla, but we might need to get some outside help in actually performing any magic.”      “Do you know anyone?”      “I was the slave of Merlin for a while, I met a few people.”      “Mary and I will be going to meet with Joshua Teleros,” Melinda said after they had come out of the time door into 1972.  “Jack and Abigail, I want you two to reach out to whatever contacts Jack has around this time, and see what you can figure out.”      “Just how many contacts do you have around this time anyway?” Abigail asked.      “I built up a few when I was getting back to our present to deal with the Caldore invasion,” Jack said.  “Plus there’s the more generalized contacts I have just by knowing of them, and the right things to say to them.”      “Right,” Abigail said.      “Yes, that would be fairly simple magic to perform,” Sesla said after Ghost Jack had entered her dream and explained the situation with the clone bodies to her.  “Nearly any mage or wizard would be able to do so.  If I were not trapped in this coma, it would be of the utmost simplicity for me to perform.”      “Well, that’s good to know,” Ghost Jack said.  “I have a few people I can reach out to, and we should be able to get you and Imhotep into new bodies pretty soon.”      “Why is it whenever you need to reach out to contacts, or make new contacts, your first stop is always a bar?” Abigail asked.      “Because that’s where people go to meet, and to meet,” Jack said.      “What?”      “Meet as in meet up with people you know, and meet as in meeting new people for the first time.”      “Right.”      “It’s good to see you again, General Teleros,” Melinda said as she and Mary entered his apartment.      “You as well, although it’s somewhat strange for me,” Joshua Teleros said.  “I haven’t seen you in close to thirty years, but you haven’t aged a bit.  I wasn’t aware this was one of the years you could travel to.”      “We recently gained access to more time doors,” Melinda said.      “So, what can I do for you?” Joshua asked.      “You remember Deanna?” Melinda asked.  “We believe she may have at some point infiltrated the base you are currently commanding.”      “What do you know about that base?” Joshua asked.      “Pretty much everything,” Mary said.      “We’re not going to inform the ESS proper though,” Melinda said.  “For better or worse, it’s part of the timeline.”      “Right, well, I don’t have any reason to think she has infiltrated the base at any point,” Joshua said.  “Not that I’d know if she had, I suppose.”      “We’d like to go in, and take a look around,” Melinda said.      “That will be difficult,” Joshua said.  “It takes months of background checks before I can bring in new people.”      “What kind of security does the base have?” Mary asked.      “I’m not going to tell you how to break into a base I command,” Joshua said.  “If it got connected to me in anyway, I’d be dead.  Even now my superiors probably know you are here, and if you go in and get caught, that right there could be the end of my life.”      “Well then, it seems you have incentive to make sure we don’t get caught,” Melinda said.  “Since we’re going in either way.”      “Learn anything from the bartender?” Abigail asked as Jack sat down with their drinks.      “A friend of mine from the last time I was in the 70s will be here tonight,” Jack said.  “She’ll probably be able to help.”      “That’s good.”      “Well, goodish.”      “Why the ish?”      “Because the me from the last time I was in the 70s will also be here tonight, along with the Deanna from that time.”      “And we don’t want to run into them, and accidentally change the timeline,” Abigail said.  “So, what’s the plan?”      “They can’t see me, but they don’t know you yet.”      “But they’re going to meet me eventually, and if they’ve already met me in the 70s, that’ll change stuff.”      “You’ll just have to not meet them.  It shouldn’t be a problem.  It’s not like when they meet you in 2016 they are going to remember the face of a random person they were in the same bar as back in 1972.”      “I suppose.”      Melinda pressed herself against the wall, to avoid the security cameras as she went down the hall.      “Okay, stop,” Mary said over the comm.  “In exactly three seconds you need to cross to the other wall as the cameras turn, but you have to do it quickly.”      “Understood,” Melinda said.      They had got access to the network the cameras were on from Joshua, so Mary was watching the feeds while Melinda went in.      “It’s too bad it’s just their security cameras on a network, and not their computer files,” Mary said.      “Is there anyone in the archives room?” Melinda asked.      “Not at the moment, you’re clear to go in.  Make it quick though, as there’s no telling when someone might go in there.”      “Mind if I sit here?” Abigail asked as she came up to the table where a old woman was sitting.      “It’s a free country,” the woman said as she eyed Abigail.      “Thanks,” Abigail said as she sat down.  “I’m Jeanette.”      “Chloe.  So Jeanette,” she said the name slowly.  “What can I do for you?”      “I’m looking for some information.”      “Everyone always is.  You’ll have to be a bit more specific though.”      “I was told you might know something about this.”  Abigail slid a folder across the table.      Chloe picked up the folder, and looked through it.  “Oh, you’re interested in what Deanna is up to.  The one that isn’t involved with Jack, I assume.”      “You know there are two of her?”      “Information is my business, honey.  And she did come to me for information a few years ago.”      “What kind of information?”      “Information on a planet.”      “A planet?”      “Yeah, not the usual type of information I normally provide, but for the amount she was offering I wasn’t about to turn her down.  How much are you willing to offer for it?”      Melinda was looking through the computer files.      “Any luck yet?” Mary asked over the comm.      “Not yet,” Melinda said.  “The problem is we don’t know when Deanna was here.  Hell, we don’t even know for certain that she was.  And if she was, we don’t know if it’s happened yet.”      “It’s like searching for a needle in a haystack, I guess,” Mary said.  “Is there any way we can narrow things down?”      “Well, I’m already starting by checking the biggest things, specifically the missions to the moon, since that’s the majority of stuff that’s handled at this base.”      “And anything?”      “Huh, this is interesting.”      “What?”      “On the last mission, the ship had approximately 70 kilograms of weight aboard that they couldn’t account for.”      “Sounds like an extra person,” Mary said.  “You better get out of there now.  There’s someone on the way towards your location.”      “Right,” Melinda said.      She shut down the computer, and went to the door.  She opened it, glanced out, then walked out, being careful to stick towards the wall.      “You’re going to need to go left up ahead, and you’re going to need to turn that corner within the next three seconds,” Mary said.      Melinda sprinted for the hallway intersection, while still hugging the wall, and managed to turn the corner just as she heard someone enter the hallway section behind her.      “Okay, I think you’re good for now,” Mary said.      “She wanted to know about a planet?” Jack asked as he looked through the files Abigail had got from Chloe.  “Where did Chloe even get this information from anyway?  This isn’t ESS intel.”      “She wouldn’t say her source,” Abigail said.  “Not surprisingly.  She gives up her sources, then people don’t need to go to her.”      “A rogue planet?  Why would Deanna want to know the location of a rogue planet?”      “And how would she know about it in the first place to even ask?”      “That’s a good question.”      The door opened, and Mary and Melinda came in.      “Deanna went to the hidden base on the moon,” Melinda said.  “We don’t know why yet.”      “Probably to steal one of the Caldore shuttles there,” Jack said.  “We discovered that she recently got information on a Rogue planet.  Don’t know why yet.”      “Abigail, Mary, do you two want to go to 3009?  See if you can figure out anything about this rogue planet there?”      “Thank you for your assistance,” Jeri said.      “Not a problem,” the mage known as Coral Thern said before turning to Ghost Jack.  “Now, you tell Merlin my debt to him is paid.”      “Of course,” Ghost Jack said.      “I am curious why you want to grow mindless clone bodies though,” Coral said.  “There are easier ways to extend your lifespan than transferring your mind to a new body.”      “There are other afflictions to a body than just old age,” Ghost Jack said.      Abigail and Mary stepped out of the time door into their outpost in 3009.      “Welcome,” Agent Tess Carver said.  “We just received a message for Abigail.”      “A message for me?  From who?”      “Near as we can tell, it was sent from a server that was holding it for nearly a thousand years,” Tess said as she handed Abigail a computer pad with the message on it.      “It’s a wedding invitation,” Abigail said.  “My friend Krissy, from back home is getting married.”      “Huh, that’s kind of cool, but also really weird that she knew how to get an invitation to you,” Mary said.      “Well, the message was actually sent by my friend Drake, but I don’t know how he would know either.”      “It’ll take a few days to grow the clones, but then we should be able to transfer you and Imhotep into new bodies,” Ghost Jack said.      “That is wonderful news,” Sesla said.  “I look forward to it.”      “You are really lucky,” Harkon said.  “Director Teleros gave me a complete list of time doors we have access to, and one of them is currently April of 2017.”      “That’s a pretty big coincidence,” Abigail said.      “Is it the time door I originally used?” Jack asked.      “I don’t believe so,” Harkon said.  “But Abigail, you can go to this wedding, if you want.”      “I’d also like to bring Mary as my date,” Abigail said.      “Of course,” Harkon said.  “Jack, do you want to go too, and find out who all knows about the time travel, and talk to them about the importance of keeping secret?”      “Of course,” Jack said.      “And find out how they tracked Abigail,” Harkon said.  “That could prove to be useful.”      “Understood,” Jack said. To be continued in Simple Complications #874…

[ericbarkman]

Chrono Hustle #36 Welcome to Earth 2

     “Good morning,” Harkon Smith said as a few of his top people sat around the table in the briefing room.  “So, based on the intel Agent Summers gathered, we believe that it is indeed Rupert Teleros that contacted us.  He wants to meet with me, so that is what will happen.”      “Even it if is him, I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Melinda Summers said.  “We still don’t know for certain why he is leading the Temporal Development Division, and are just assuming he has good intentions based on his reputation.”      “Which is why you’ll be in charge of security for this mission,” Harkon said.  “Your job is to make sure there is an exit strategy if things go wrong, and to keep it viable.  We have a few more days to prepare.”      “Yes, sir,” Melinda said.      “Meanwhile, Mr. Tesla has discovered that the building where Agent Nichols disappeared contains a wormhole to another dimension,” Harkon said.      “That is my theory anyway,” Nikola Tesla said.  “We sent a probe through, and we’re still waiting for it to return.”      “When it returns, I want you to analyze the information, and if it’s safe on the other side, Agent Masterson will lead a team through to find and recover Agent Nichols.”      “Right,” Jack Masterson said.      “Agent Bishop will come with me as my bodyguard,” Harkon said.  “Everyone else is open to be part of either Summers’ or Masterson’s teams.”      “Understood, sir,” Mary Bishop said.      Dorian Winters was on duty in the time door room, when everyone started filtering out of the meeting room.      “Hey Dorian,” Philip Wilson said as he came out.  “We still on for lunch?”      “Yeah, my shift ends in an hour,” Dorian said.  “Unless something comes up.”      “There’s some missions happening, but not today.  So even if we’re selected we should still be good.”      “So, we are in a relationship, right?” Abigail Esau asked.  “We’re girlfriends?”      “Yeah, we are,” Mary said.  “But I’d prefer we keep it a secret for now.”      “Okay?”      “I’m just…this whole lesbian thing is pretty new to me, and I don’t know if I’m ready to tell everyone about it.”      “Yeah, no, I don’t want to pressure you into anything, but I think they’ll be okay with it.”      “I mean, Jack and Melinda and Harkon will all be fine with it,” Mary said.  “They’re from times where it’s normal, but what about Philip and Dorian?  Or Mr. Tesla?”      “I don’t think Tesla will care,” Abigail said.  “Like, I doubt he’ll even take notice.”      “Maybe not, but still, can we keep it secret, for now at least?”      “Of course.”      “Who are you thinking of using for your team?” Jack asked as he walked down the hall with Melinda.      “Probably Philip and Dorian,” Melinda said.  “Maybe a few others.  Too many people could draw attention though, so I want to keep the group as small as I can.  You?”      “I mean, I’ll probably bring ERK-147 through, assuming it’s sensors will work on the other side,” Jack said.  “And the ghost of my temporal duplicate would be a good option as well.  Maybe a few redshirts as well, just to fill out the group.”      “Redshirts?”      “Never mind, Star Trek reference.  You should consider Deanna as well, since the meeting is in Ancient Greece, and she used to live there.”      “Where is she anyway?” Melinda asked.  “I haven’t seen her in a while.”      “Doing stuff in the 1940s.  She is somewhat important to history, so she kind of needs to keep up with her own life in addition to working with us.”      “Yeah, but you two already made it up to 2016 from the 1940s.”      “Yeah, but you know, it’s complicated.  We were doing a lot of stuff as it was.”      “I suppose.”      The ghost of the temporal duplicate of Jack Masterson floated down into the gym through the ceiling.  There were a few people in there, most of whom had a momentary look of surprise before going back to what they were doing.  One person though, Ohm, did not even look away from his punching bag.      “Hey, Ohm,” ghost Jack said as he floated over to him.      “Hello other Jack,” Ohm said as he continued his workout.  “Can I help you with anything?”      “Probably not, I just need someone to bounce ideas off of.”      “And I’m that person?”      “I need someone smart, but not someone who will interrupt my thought process.  Someone who will ask questions, rather than attempting to supply answers.”      “And you think that’s me?”      “You’re already doing it.”      “Asking questions, yes.  But you said someone smart.  Would you not prefer someone who is not literally a neanderthal?”      “I’ve seen your reading material.  You’re learning at an amazing rate.  I’m quite impressed.”      “Really?”      “Yep.”      “Okay, I suppose I can help you.”      “Oh, hey, Agent Wilson,” Abigail said as she tried to catch up to him in the hallway.  “Did you hear back from your friends yet?”      “Hmm?” Philip asked.  “Oh yes, I did a little while ago, while you were away on your mission.”      “And?  What has Deanna been up to?”      “Mostly just buying old artifacts, apparently.  I can give you a list, although I don’t suppose it’s really that strange of a thing for her to be doing.”      “Thanks, I’d appreciate the list.”      “Okay, so Imhotep’s dream is a vast open world, like a video game,” ghost Jack said.      “What’s a video game?” Ohm asked.      “It’s a game you play on a screen, like a TV or computer.  Open world games are a popular type, because there’s a lot to explore and do.  The only problem is, Imhotep is nowhere to be found.”      “Shouldn’t he be found in his own dream?”      “Yes, he should, it would be like if you went to play a video game, and the main character wasn’t there.  But then who’s playing the game?”      “You?”      “Except the world is created by his brain, so he still has to be there, I think.”      “How do you know it’s created by his brain?”      “Because, what else would create it?  It’s a dream in his brain.  Granted I’m a ghost, so I’m a mind without a brain, so who knows.”      “Hey you,” Mary said as she entered Abigail’s room.  “What’re you reading there?”      “Hmm?” Abigail asked as she looked up from the computer pad she was holding.  “Oh, just some researching I’m doing.  Which I’ll probably have plenty of time for, as I’m assuming Melinda won’t be picking me for her mission team.”      “Probably not, although Jack might pick you for his.”      “True, I’m sure he could use a few redshirts.”      “Redshirts?”      “Star Trek reference.  In the original Star Trek a few of the main characters would go on a mission, along with a bunch of background characters.  The background characters tended to be security officers, or occasionally engineers, both of which wore redshirts.”      “Oh, okay, although I’d hardly say you’re a background character.”      “I also hopefully won’t die.  That’s what tended to happen to redshirts.  You know, to show that the mission was dangerous, but without killing off anyone important.”      “Well, you’re very important to me, so you’d better not die,” Mary said.      “Yeah, this is all assuming I get asked to go on the mission anyway,” Abigail said.      “Good news,” Nikola said as Jack entered his lab.      “The probe has returned?” Jack asked.      “Indeed, and it seems that everything on the other side is perfectly habitable, and seems to be similar to our own Earth,” Nikola said.      “So, it is another Earth?”      “Based on the findings from the probe, I believe so.”      “Excellent, I’ve always wanted to visit another Earth.”      “Yes, I can help with that,” Deanna said after Melinda had explained the mission to her.  “What is the plan for getting through the time door though?  The time door in that era is controlled by the TRD.”      “Can you make us invisible, so we can go through when Harkon and Mary do, but unnoticed?” Melinda asked.      “I should be able to manage that.”      “That’s what we’ll be doing then.  We’ll go in invisible, and set up shop.  We’ll have to survey the area, and figure out where to place each of us.”      “Who will all be going?” Deanna asked.      “You, me, Philip, and Dorian.”      “Not Jack?”      “He has his own mission.”      “Hey Jack,” Jack said as he joined ghost Jack and Ohm in the cafeteria.  “Hey Ohm.  What’s up?”      “Just trying to figure out what’s going on with Imhotep,” ghost Jack said.      “Oh yeah?  How’s that going?” Jack asked.      “Not well,” Ohm said.      “Well, we might be making progress, but it’s hard to say for certain, since this is not exactly well understood science.  What’s up with you?”      “Prepping for a mission to another dimension.  An Earth 2, if you will,” Jack said.  “I’d like you two to join it.”      “I’m in,” ghost Jack said.  “Always wanted to go to another Earth.”      “Yeah, I know, we used to be the same person, until that whole timeline split thing,” Jack said.  “Ohm, are you in?”      “Yes, it will be nice to go on another mission,” Ohm said.  “It gets boring around here.”      “Melinda talk to you yet?” Dorian asked as he entered Philip’s room.      “Yeah, we’ll be joining her on the mission,” Philip said as he looked up from the book he was reading.  “Her and Deanna.”      “Something worrying about that?”      “Not per se, just that, you remember when Colonel Teleros came by a couple weeks ago?”      “Yeah, what about it?”      “He was letting me know what Deanna was up to.”      “Oh, something suspicious?”      “I don’t know.  I mean, most things involving her are at least somewhat suspicious, but I don’t know.”      “Yeah, sometimes it’s hard to know who to trust,” Dorian said.      Abigail and Mary were making out in Abigail’s room, when the door chime rang.      “Quick, where can I hide?” Mary asked as she looked around.      “Umm, uh, the closet?” Abigail suggested.  “Yeah, you can hide in the closet.”      “Right,” Mary said as she ran over to it, and went in and closed the door behind her.      “Come in,” Abigail said, as she straightened out her clothes.      The door opened, and Jack entered the room.  “Hey, Abigail,” he said.      “Hey Jack, what’s up?” she asked.      “Oh, just putting together my team for the incursion into another universe.  Would you be interested?”      “Yeah, yeah, that sounds fun, really fun.  I’d love that.”      Jack raised an eyebrow.  “You seem unusually energetic.  Are you hiding something?”      “What, no, I’m not hiding anything.”      “Right, anyway, we’ll be heading out tomorrow, so yeah.”      “Okay, cool.”      “Yeah, I’ll talk to you later,” Jack said as he left.      Abigail waited until he had been gone half a minute.  “You can come out of the closet now, Mary,” she said.  “In the literal sense I mean.”      “Any change in their condition?” ghost Jack asked as he entered the medlab.      “No changes,” Doctor Jeri Quill said.  “Sesla and Imhotep are still in their comas, as is Merlin.  And no changes in any of their vitals.  Will you be checking out Imhotep’s dreams again?”      “Not today,” ghost Jack said.  “I’ll be heading out on a mission tomorrow, so just checking in before that.”      “How are your preparations going?” Harkon asked as Melinda entered his office.      “As well as they can,” Melinda said.  “Since we can’t go there ahead of time without rousing suspicion, at the minimum.”      “Yeah, but meeting in an area that we control would require us to let them through, and could lead to an invasion of one of our bases.”      “I agree, sir.  I’ve been going over information on the meeting area with Deanna, since she lived there when she was a couple thousand years younger.”      “A prudent course of action.  Will she also be joining you on the mission?”      “Yes, is that a problem?”      “I don’t know,” Harkon said.  “Joshua Teleros came by the base a while ago, while you were investigating Rupert Teleros, in fact.”      “Oh?”      “He came to talk with Agent Wilson.  I don’t know any details, but my gut says that it was about Deanna.”      “Oh?”      “I could be wrong, it could be a personal matter, but the situation with Deanna is rather complicated, so it’s best to be careful with her anyway.”      “Of course, sir.”      “This is your whole team?” Nikola asked.      “This is my whole team,” Jack said as he looked around the room.  Ghost Jack, Ohm, Abigail, ERK-147, Jeth Simpson, and Yvette Telooth were all there, and ready to go.      “And if ERK-147’s sensors don’t work in the other dimension?” Nikola asked.      “If that happens, we’ll send him back with the probe immediately,” Jack said.      “Okay, everyone into position,” Nikola said.  “The wormhole will be opening momentarily.”      “Is everyone ready?” Harkon asked.      “I’m ready,” Mary said.      “I believe we are ready,” Melinda said.  “Deanna?”      “Of course,” Deanna said, and she turned invisible along with Melinda, Philip, and Dorian.      “Then, let’s go,” Harkon said.      Jack and his team came out of the wormhole, into a forested area.      “No building here, let alone a city,” Abigail said.      “Which could mean any number of things,” Jack said.      “We are at the same geographic coordinates on this Earth as we were on our own,” ERK-147.      “So, your sensors are working here,” Jack said.  “That’s good.”      “So then, we’re assuming there was just never a city here in this universe?” ghost Jack asked.      “Seems likely,” Abigail said.      “Are we picking up any radio transmissions?” Jack asked.      “We are,” ERK-147.  “There is definitely Human civilization in this dimension, and it seems to be at a similar level of development as our own in this era, based on the conversations I’m listening in on.”      “Are you picking up any signs of Nichols?” Jack asked.      “No, I regret to say that I am not,” ERK-147 said.      “Then it’s time we started exploring,” Jack said.  “Telooth, you’re with me.  Simpson, you’re with the other me.  ERK-147, Ohm, and Abigail, you’re team three.  Let’s go.”      Mary went through the time door, with Harkon right behind her.  On the other side, there were a number of people, who Mary assumed to be TDD agents.  The time door was in a different location that the previous time that she had been in Ancient Greece.  Unlike the temple it had been in, this was clearly a base set up by the TDD.      “Welcome,” one of the agents said.  “Director Teleros is upstairs.  He’s waiting for you.”      “You’re not checking us for weapons?” Harkon asked.      “Director Teleros told us to let you keep your weapons,” the agent said.      “Right,” Harkon said.      “So, ERK-147, are your sensors picking up anything you think is worth investigating?” Abigail asked as they moved away from the wormhole area.      “I don’t know,” ERK-147 said.  “Although I am picking up some wolves nearby that we should make sure to avoid.”      “Good call.  So, do people call you anything for short?”      “Most people refer to me as 147.  Jack refers to me as ERK.”      “Do you have a preference?”      “Not really, I am fine with either.  147 is a more specific identifier, but as I am the only ERK unit around, it hardly matters.”      “What about gender pronouns?”      “I have no gender, so mostly people just use the word ‘it’ for me, although Mr. Tesla tends to refer to me by male pronouns, for some reason.”      “But do you have a preference?”      “Not really.  I understand it is important for Humans, and I respect that, but I am not Human.”      Mary entered the office, with Harkon coming in right after.  There was a desk with two chairs in front of it, and one behind.  The one behind was facing away, but as soon as they entered, it spun around to reveal a man, who Mary recognized as Rupert Teleros from the pictures they had of him.      “Harkon Smith, and Mary Bishop, how nice to finally meet you,” Rupert said.  “Please sit, we have much to discuss.”      Mary glanced at Harkon, who nodded, and she sat down, as did he.      “I must say, I was somewhat surprised to hear from you,” Harkon said.  “You are not the person I’d have expected to be running the Temporal Development Division.”      “An understandable reaction,” Rupert said.  “I only joined up with them a few years ago, and only recently became the director.”      “How recently?” Harkon asked.      “After you and your people went on the run,” Rupert said.  “And I want you back.”      “I worked for the TRD, not the TDD,” Harkon said.  “We’re supposed to be fixing the timeline, not changing it.”      “We’re working on the same thing, but from another direction,” Rupert said.  “No doubt you are aware of the Palore, by now.  We are trying to figure out ways to fight them.”      “By doing what, exactly?” Harkon asked.  “What is the experiment you were running in the 2340s?”      “We managed to make a fairly significant alteration, which had only minimal impact on history.  The people who were under your command when you were at the TRD weren’t even able to realize there were any changes in the 3000s.”      “And how did you manage that?” Harkon asked.      “Cause and effect,” Rupert said.  “We figure out what effects are caused by our changes, and figure out how to counterbalance them.  It’s already what you do to fix the timeline, but we’re applying it on a larger scale.  It’s the only effective way to fight an enemy who’s time travel capabilities have become intertwined with their very history.”      “So, Telooth, how long have you been working with us, anyway?” Jack asked.  “I think this is the first mission we’ve been on together.”      “A month,” Yvette said.  “I was recruited from 2348.”      “Ah yeah, it’s nice having our outpost in that era,” Jack said.      “So, if you know so little about me, why did you bring me along?”      “I heard you have good tracking skills.  That true?”      “It is, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem like anyone else has been around here for at least a few days.”      “That’s unfortunate, especially since my knowledge powers don’t seem to be working here.”      “Oh?”      “Yeah, not sure why though.”      “What does that even mean?” Harkon asked.  “Time travel capabilities intertwined with their history?”      “Because, once they invented time travel, they just went back and gave it to their past selves,” Rupert said.  “They’ve shared so much between themselves in different eras, and created so many alternate timelines as a result that it’s impossible to figure out what their original timeline was even like.  We can’t hope to untangle that, the best we can hope for is stopping them from continuing to rewrite the timeline.”      “You’re fighting fire with fire,” Mary said.      “It’s the only way,” Rupert said.  “If there was another option, that’s what I’d be doing.”      “And what exactly do you want from us?” Harkon asked.      “The TDD is mostly made up of scientists.  That’s why we’ve had to resort to using TRD agents for missions.”      “So, you want your own operations team,” Harkon said.  “And you want us to be it.”      “Yes,” Rupert said.  “Feel free to go back, discuss it with your people.  Let me know when you come to a decision.”      “We’re free to leave?” Harkon asked.      “Yes, and you don’t even need the exit strategy that Agent Summers’ team has figured out,” Rupert said.      “I am picking up some Human life signs, at the edge of my sensor range,” ERK-147 said.      “How many?” Abigail asked.      “Twelve, so far,” ERK-147.  “But there could be more outside of my sensor range.”      “Well, it’s something.  Let the others know while we head in that direction.”      “Huh, wait, knowledge powers just kicked in,” Jack said.      “Oh?” Yvette asked.      “Yeah, but only to let me know why they don’t work here.  This universe has different magic rules than our own.  So my knowledge powers still work on myself, since I’m still from our universe, but it can’t extend beyond myself.”      “Those are the people?” ghost Jack asked as he and Jeth joined Abigail, Ohm and ERK-147 at the edge of the tree line.  “Looks like a Native American tribe.”      “Yes, but not one that I am aware of,” ERK-147.  “The tattoos look to be culturally significant, but I do not have any records of those sorts of tattoos.”      “How aware are you of Native American tribes?” ghost Jack asked.      “I’ve downloaded most of the information available on them in the 2340s, in order to better prepare for missions in the 1870s.”      “This is an alternate universe,” Abigail said.  “There’s nothing to say that the same tribes would exist here as in our own.”      “He wants us to join the TDD?” Melinda asked Harkon as they went into his office after getting back.  It was the two of them and Mary.  Harkon had just finished explaining the situation to Melinda.      “That’s the long and short of it,” Harkon said.  “Did you or your team notice anything suspicious while there?”      “No, nothing,” Melinda said.  “This could still be a trap, but so far everything seems aboveboard.”      “Nothing has been aboveboard about the TDD so far though,” Mary said.  “They are the reason my father was killed.  Even if that was before this Rupert Teleros was put in charge, it’s not like that just erases what they did.”      “I’m curious about what, if anything, the Clockmaker knows about this,” Melinda said.  “Because if he knows about Teleros being in charge, and still doesn’t trust them, that would certainly say a lot.”      “Assuming we can trust him,” Harkon said.  “There’s still so much we don’t know about the Clockmaker, and his agenda.”      “The Clockmaker has been a lot more trustworthy than the TDD,” Mary said.  “He was right about Merlin, and ghost Jack.”      “He told us the truth and it benefited both himself and us,” Harkon said.  “The only other encounter we had with him was when he abducted Jack to learn information that he needed, and then dropped him off in another time.”      “Which did allow Jack to gain valuable allies, learn important information, and return at the right time to save us all from death,” Melinda said.  “My gut says that at least some of that was intentional on the Clockmaker’s part.”      “Perhaps,” Harkon said.  “But either way, it’s not like we can just call him up and ask for his opinion.”      “Is Agent Nichols amongst this tribe?” Jack asked as he and Yvette joined the rest of the group.      “I don’t believe so,” ERK-147 said.  “Although I think he was previously.”      “Oh?” Jack asked.      “I’ve been analyzing my sensor readings, and I believe I can tell the difference between stuff from this universe and our own.  Stuff from this universe is slightly…fuzzier would be an adequate term.”      “Okay, go on.”      “There is Human excreta near to the camp, and some of it is from our universe, or at least from a person from our universe.”      “So, we can track him with his shit?” ghost Jack asked.      “We can determine he was likely here from it, but it could take a long time to locate the next place he used,” ERK-147 said.      Imhotep looked around himself, and saw the same thing he had been seeing for… he could not even remember how long it had been anymore.  But he was surrounded by sand in all directions.  That’s all there was, sand, and sky, and that’s all there had been.      He had figured out early on that this must be a dream of some sort, there was no way he would still be alive otherwise, since there was nothing to eat or drink.  But even that fact was starting to slip from his mind.  He was losing his grip on reality.      “Good work out there,” Harkon said to Jack.  “And you made the right call coming back to base.”      “It’s going to take a long time to track down Agent Nichols,” Jack said.  “I figured we’d have to prepare for a more comprehensive search.”      “Indeed,” Harkon said.  “You’ve learned at least a bit about what things are like on that Earth, at least nearby to the wormhole.  Next up, we’ll need to make contact with the locals, and who knows how that will go.  So we’ll need to figure out the right approach, and the right team for that.” To be continued…

[ericbarkman]

Chrono Hustle #35 I’m With Her

     Harkon Smith sat down in his chair at the end of the meeting room table.  He looked around at his top people.  “Okay, so someone claiming to be Rupert Teleros wants to have a meeting with us.  Apparently he is the head of the TDD, which is quite surprising to me.”      “Who exactly is Rupert Teleros?” Jack Masterson asked as he leaned back in his chair, and used another chair as a footrest.  “I assume he’s related to the other Teleros’ we’ve met.”      “He’s a descendent of them,” Melinda Summers said, as she brought up information about him on her computer.  “He was a great general, but also one that truly cared for the people under his command.  He had a strong moral compass, and I find it hard to believe he’d be willing to alter the timeline.”      “So, we’re thinking this isn’t really him?” the ghost of the temporal duplicate of Jack asked.  He was floating off to the side.      “I don’t know,” Harkon said.  “With what we’ve now learned about the Palore, it could be that the reason the TDD is working to alter the timeline is to figure out how to stop the Palore from doing that.”      “We’re going to go to this meeting regardless though, aren’t we?” Mary Bishop asked.  “I mean, just to figure out what’s going on?”      “Probably,” Harkon said.  “But the more we can figure out, the better prepared we can be.  Do the Palore we have in custody know anything about the TDD?”      “Not that I’ve learned so far,” Jack said.  “But I didn’t really have much time to question them what with Merlin attacking.  And we’re sure he’s stuck in that coma?”      “Sesla and Imhotep have been stuck for months,” Melinda said.  “We also need to figure out what to do about our missing agent.”      “Yes, Calvin Nichols is on my mind,” Harkon said.  “I’m going to send Tesla and ERK-147 to try and investigate that.  Jack, I want you to continue questioning the Palore.  And we still have some time until the meeting with Rupert Teleros, assuming it is him.  So in the meantime Melinda, you and Mary see what you can find out about him.”      “Understood, sir,” Melinda said.  “I would also like to bring Abigail with.  She has an interest in investigations, and I would like to see how she does.”      “That seems prudent,” Harkon said.  “I’ll be interested to hear about that as well.”      Doctor Jeri Quill was going through her daily rounds.  Imhotep, Sesla, and Merlin were all still in comas, luckily in Merlin’s case, less so in the case of the other two.  All three were otherwise in good health though.      Next up she checked through her supply inventory.  She was a bit low on a few medicines, but not out of stock on any of the ones she tried to keep a supply of.  She made a note to restock when she next visited a time period where they were available.      Mary found Abigail Esau in the cafeteria, eating a stack of pancakes while reading a tablet.  “Hello Abigail,” Mary said.      “Oh, hi Mary.”  Abigail looked up from her tablet.  “What’s up?”      “You’ll be joining me and Melinda on a mission.”      “Oh yeah?  What kind of mission?”      “We’re going to be doing an investigation of Rupert Teleros.”      “Teleros?  Any relation to Jon Teleros?”      “You know Jon Teleros?” Mary asked.      “My friend’s dad used to work with him.  And he helped save the lives of me and some friends of mine a while back…”      “But?”      “But not my friend’s dad.  He was killed.”      “I’m so sorry.”      “It’s my fault,” Abigail said.  “The only reason we were targeted was because I wasn’t as careful as I should have been, and I was looking into things that made that dangerous.”      “You shouldn’t blame yourself for what someone else did.  My father was killed, and the only person I blame is the man who did it, Tom Eastwood.”      “He’s one of the people down in the holding cells downstairs, right?”      “Yes, it’s better than he deserves, but it’s the best justice I can have.”      Jack passed by the various holding cells towards the ones where the Palore prisoners were.  Most of the prisoners ignored him, except for one.      “Hello Jack,” Aphrodite said.      “Mother,” Jack said.      “Has my message been passed on yet?  I did make a deal for that intel I gave.”      “Yes, your message has been sent out.”      “That’s excellent news.”      “I’m sure it is.  How much are we going to regret it?”      “I guess you’ll just have to wait and find out.”      “So, what’s our first move?” Abigail asked after she had followed Mary and Melinda through the time door.      “The first step is fairly easy,” Melinda said.  “We’ll have to talk with whoever would have most recently seen Rupert.”      “And that would be?” Mary asked.      “Don’t know for certain,” Melinda said.  “But his wife would probably be a decent choice.  Call Sandra Rodriguez, and see if she’s willing to fly us out to Maltork Four.”      “Does she have a new ship?” Mary asked.      “Not that I’m aware of,” Melinda said.  “Which is why we’ll be paying her by purchasing a new ship for her.”      “Set up the equipment over there,” Nikola Tesla told the agents as they unloaded it from the hovercar.      “Yes, sir,” one of them said.      “Is the building still invisible to your sensors?” Nikola asked ERK-147.      “It is,” the little bot said.      “Excellent, that means things are consistent, if nothing else,” Nikola said.  “To work!”      “Captain Rodriguez has agreed,” Mary said.  “She was rather excited after I told her how expensive of a ship we’d be getting for her.”      “Good to hear,” Melinda said.  “Did she say what kind of model she’d like?”      “Yeah, she sent me the info on it, so we can put in an order for it.”      “How long will that take for the order to come in?” Abigail asked.      Melinda looked over the tablet that Mary handed her.  “It should be ready within a few hours,” she said.  “Which is good, because I’d prefer to be on our way as soon as possible.”      Jack sat down outside the cell with the Palore in it.  “{Good day,}” Jack said in their language.  “{How are the accommodations?}”      “{They are the same as every other time you’ve asked,}” one of them said.  Her name was Arlos, and she seemed to be the leader.  “{What do you want?}”      “{Just to talk,}” Jack said.  “{I’d also be fine with talking to your associate over there, if he ever wants to speak up.}”      “{I have commanded him to be quiet, and he will not disobey me.}”      “{No problem then,}” Jack said.  “{I’ll just ask you questions.  What was your mission here?}”      “{That is none of your concern.}”      “{Considering you captured and locked me up, it kind of is.}”      “{And now we are the ones who have been captured and locked up.  But our reversal in fortune does not mean you have the upper hand.}”      “{Maybe not, but maybe.}”      “Thanks again for you’re help,” Melinda said as she sat in the second seat of the cockpit of Sandra Rodriquez’s new ship.      “In exchange for this ship?” Sandra asked.  “I feel like I’m getting the better end of the deal, even after I lost my old ship because of one of your people.”      “Even still, Maltork Four isn’t exactly the safest place to visit.”      “Eh, I’ve been there a few times, it’s not really a big deal.  I know how to handle myself in tough situations.”      “Yeah, I gather as much,” Melinda said.  “You’ve been a big help to us.”      “Well, I suppose protecting the timeline is pretty important.  Anyway, I have the course laid in and we are on our way.  Care to play a game of Jakut with me?”      “I’m not familiar with that game.”      “No worries, I’ll teach you.”      Abigail was looking through the food pantry, when she heard someone else come in.  She turned and saw it was Mary.  “You’re hungry too?” Abigail asked.      “A bit,” Mary said.  “This ship came fully loaded with food?”      “Apparently.  Probably an incentive that they do, like when you get free oil changes or whatever when you buy a car.”      “Okay?”      “Right, I sometimes forget you’re from the 1870s,” Abigail said.  “You’re so much more familiar with all this time travel stuff than I am.”      “Give it a bit of time, pardon the pun.  You’ll get used to it.  Goodness knows I’ve gotten used to a lot of things.”      “It’s definitely a learning experience.”      “So I can’t move the Tikal piece over to that spot?” Melinda asked.      “That’s right,” Sandra said.  “Because then it would be next to the Lakit piece, and they can’t be adjacent to each other.”      “Okay, I’ll move it over here instead, which I believe gets me five points.”      “Only if you can keep it their until the end of my turn, which it looks like you might be able to do, as it’s worth more to me to do other stuff than block it.”      “Happy to be back at base?” Jack asked Philip Wilson as he sat down across from him in the cafeteria.      “Yeah, just watching an empty building was getting kind of boring,” Philip said.  “Glad to leave that to the scientists now.  And I hear you’re interrogating those aliens in custody?”      “Yeah, just taking a lunch break at the moment.”      “Any progress?”      “I’m definitely learning stuff, but I’m not sure how much yet.”      “Uh huh.  So, I did get one bit of break while I was watching that building.”      “Oh yeah?”      “We hadn’t heard from base in a while, so I went to go look into it.  I wasn’t allowed back here, because of the Merlin situation I have since learned.”      “Yeah, that was an interesting series of events.”      “So, I visited the outpost in the 1940s, and I met your friend Abigail.”      “Oh yeah?”      “Yes.”      “She’s a nice girl, and pretty smart too,” Jack said.  “Should make a valuable addition to our group.”      “Does she get along with Deanna?” Philip asked.      “Mostly,” Jack said.  “I mean, she doesn’t trust Deanna, but then not many do.”      “Do you?”      “It’s complicated.”      “Maltork Four,” Melinda said as she stepped out of the ship with Mary and Abigail.      “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy,” Abigail said.  “We must be cautious.”      “Accurate,” Melinda said.      “How do we get in contact with Kathryn Teleros?” Mary asked.      “I’ve already scheduled a meeting with her,” Melinda said.  “And the walk there should give us enough time to fill you in on what you need to know.”      “Like what?” Abigail asked.      “She’s the leader of one of the three major criminal organizations on this planet, for starters,” Melinda said.      “She’s a criminal?” Mary asked.      “I mean, it’s a crime planet,” Melinda said.  “Most people are.  The criminal organizations essentially run everything, the actual government is mostly ineffective.  Kathryn is mostly a good person, but she does what she has to.”      “A lot of people use that as an excuse for a lot of things,” Mary said.      “Yeah, us included,” Melinda said.      Jack entered the gym, where Ohm was hitting away at a punching bag.  “Hey buddy,” Jack said.  “How is it going?”      “It is going good,” Ohm said.  “I feeling a bit useless lately though.”      “Your English is improving quite a bit though.”      “I have a lot of time to study and work on it.”      “Ah yeah.  I’m doing some studying myself, of a sort.”      “Oh?”      “I’ve been spending the past while questioning some of our prisoners.  This is my first break since lunch which was a while ago.”  Jack looked at his watch.  “A long while ago.”      Abigail and Mary followed Melinda into the building where they were meeting Kathryn Teleros.  Security patted them down, and took their weapons, before leading them into a meeting room.  Kathryn was already sitting at the head of the table.  Abigail, Mary and Melinda sat down, and all but one of the security guards left the room.      “So, you’ve got the meeting you wanted,” Kathryn said.  “Now who are you and what do you want?”      “My name is Melinda Cathars, and these are my assistants,” Melinda said.  “We are looking for your husband.”      “Yes, you told me your name when you set this up, along with a whole host of information on me that I have no idea how you learned.  That’s the only reason we are sitting here.  But your name tells me nothing about who you are, or why you are looking for my husband.”      “As you have no doubt determined, we are agents of a government organization,” Melinda said.      “You certainly carry yourself as such,” Kathryn said.  “Your assistants less so.”      “They’re new,” Melinda said.  “In the course of our work, we have been contacted by someone claiming to be your husband, but it seems unlikely, for a few reasons.  We are simply trying to determine whether or not we are being lied to, before we walk into a trap.”      Kathryn studied Melinda’s face, before looking at Mary and Abigail next.  “How long have you been working with Agent Cathars?” she asked Abigail.      “Not long,” Abigail said.  “Less than a month.      “And how old are you?” Kathryn asked.  “You look to be in your twenties, but the way you carry yourself, I’d guess you are a bit older.”      “I guess I’ve just experienced a lot,” Abigail said.      “No doubt,” Kathryn said, before turning back to Melinda.  “I haven’t seen my husband in over a year.  We’ve been going through some…marital troubles ever since I went to war with Bob Alverado.”      “He’s one of the other major crimelords on this planet?” Mary asked.      “Yes,” Kathryn said.  “He is also Rupert’s best friend.  Bob was the best man at our wedding, and our daughter is married to one of his sons.”      “Why are you at war with him?” Mary asked.      “The connections between our families are a matter of public record, but the reasons behind the war between Bob and myself is not, nor do I have any intention of making it so.  This meeting is over.”      “Any progress on the building?” Harkon asked as he stepped into the outpost that Nikola had set up.      “Yes, no, maybe, not really,” Nikola said.      “It’s been a few days since you set up here now,” Harkon said.      “Yes and no.  Technically we’re still setting things up.  Every sensor we set up tells us one of two things.  Either they are like ERK-147’s sensors, and detect nothing where the building should be, or they are like our senses, and pick up a building that is perfectly normal in every way.  So we are setting up more and more sensors, and looking at the differences between the ones we have set up, and are trying to determine what makes the difference, but so far there is nothing that makes any sense.”      “Well, keep at it.  We have a missing agent, and we are not going to just leave him,” Harkon said.      “Not like that agent that was taken by the TRD?” Nikola asked.  “What was her name again?”      “So, what next?” Abigail asked.  “We meet with this Bob Alverado?”      “I’ll be meeting with Alverado on my own,” Melinda said.  “I don’t expect much to come from it, but it’s worth a shot.”      “And us?” Mary asked.      “Samantha Alverado is the daughter that Kathryn mentioned.  Her husband, Rick Alverado, is the captain of a starship in the Tarkatan Space Fleet, and she is the chief science officer on that same ship.  That will be our next stop, so you two should go back to the ship and see if you can figure out where to find it.”      “Right,” Abigail said.      “{And that’s the point where I regretted asking Debbie to prom,}” Jack said.      “{Did that story have a point?}” Arlos asked.      “{You refuse to tell me anything, so I figured I’d start sharing,}” Jack said.  “{Open up a dialogue, as it were.}”      “{If you think that will get me to start talking, you are sorely mistaken.}”      “{You’re talking right now.}”      “{Just to inform you that you are wasting your time.}”      “{Maybe, but it’s my time to waste.  I mean, sort of.  Technically I’m following orders from the boss man, so you know how it is.}”      “Yes, thank you,” Abigail said as she closed the comm channel.      “Any luck?” Mary asked as she came into the room.      “Yeah, I found out what sector the ship is in.  I just made up a story about having a cousin on the ship, and luckily it’s current location isn’t classified so they were fine with letting me know.”      “Well, if we’ve already completed our task, and Melinda isn’t back yet, it seems we have a bit of free time again.”      “I suppose so.”      “Can we talk?” Mary asked.      “Sure, about what?”      “When we met, you told me about my friend, Rosalie, and how she cared about me as more than a friend.”      “Yeah, I didn’t mean to upset you with that though.”      “No, it’s…in the time period I’m from those sorts of relationships are considered very sinful.  Women with women, men with men.”      “Ah yeah, in my time they are…more accepted depending on where you’re from.  My hometown isn’t super accepting of them though.”      “Oh, are you a…a…”      “A lesbian?  No, I like guys.  I used to have a big crush on this friend of mine, Drake, but that…that didn’t exactly work out.”      “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”      “No worries, it’s in the past.”      “I’ve never really had those sort of feelings,” Mary said.  “At least not for a man.  There were plenty of men interested in me, but even with the nice ones I was never really interested in being anything more than friends with them.”      “Oh?”      “I don’t know, I’m almost starting to wonder if my feelings for Rosalie might have been similar to her feelings for me.  That’s why I panicked when you told me about them.”      “Oh, yeah, I suppose that makes sense.  Well, I’m not exactly an expert, but if you ever want any advice, feel free to ask me, and maybe I’ll even be able to help.”      Melinda sat down in front of the booth in the restaurant.  “Hello, Bob,” she said.      “Melinda,” Bob Alverado said.  “I heard you had a meeting with Kathryn earlier today, Melinda Cathars.  Last time we talked you were Melinda Larkin.”      “That identity got burned,” Melinda said.      “I’m sure.”      “How’s Riley doing?”      “My son is doing fine,” Bob said.  “So is his daughter, Chantelle.”      “That’s good.”      “But I don’t imagine that’s why you’re here, especially if you went to see Kathryn first.”      “I’m looking for Rupert Teleros.”      “I can’t help you.  I haven’t seen him since Kathryn and I have been at war.  Far as I know he just up and left.  I’d recommend you ask his one of his kids.”      “Samantha is the next person were going to check with.”      “His other kid, Jake, would probably have a better idea,” Bob said.      “I’ll keep that in mind.”      “I’m not just doing this out of the goodness of my heart.”      “I thought there might be a cost,” Melinda said.      “Stay away from Riley and Chantelle.”      “Of course.”      Dorian Winters was on duty in the time door room, when the time door activated.  He checked the computer display, and saw that they were receiving Joshua Teleros’ signal code, so he lowered the barrier, and sent a return signal through.  Shortly afterwards, Joshua Teleros came through.      “Sir,” Dorian said.  “Welcome to the base, but what are you doing here?”      “I’m here to see Agent Wilson,” Joshua said.  “He had asked me to look into something recently, and I’m here to let him know.”      “Of course,” Dorian said.  “I’ll let him know to meet you in the briefing room.”      “Do we have a location on the starship that Rick Alverado captains?” Melinda asked as she returned to the ship.      “We have the sector they are currently operating in,” Abigail said.  “Captain Rodriguez already has a course laid in, and we were just waiting on you.”      “Let’s go then,” Melinda said.      “You didn’t get anything from Bob Alverado?” Abigail asked.      “He suggested that Rupert’s other kid, Jake, might know more than Samantha about where their father is.  But we’ll still check with Samantha first, since we have a better idea where she is.”      “It’s good to see you, sir,” Philip said as he entered the briefing room where Joshua was sitting at the table, waiting.      “You too, Agent Wilson,” Joshua said.      “I take it you have something?”      “I’ve had my people keeping an eye on Deanna.  The one that you asked me to, I mean, since there’s technically two of her out there in my time.  All this time travel is pretty weird.”      “You get used to it, well, some of it.  What did your people find?”      “She’s been gathering up a number of artifacts from museums, I have a list written up for you.”      “Gathering up how?”      “As far as we’ve seen so far, it’s been legitimately, by purchasing them.  She’s fairly wealthy, which I suppose is not that hard when you’re thousands of years old.”      “Thanks for the help,” Philip said.  “I’m sure this will be useful.”      Melinda moved a game piece, and then a second one.  “Your turn.”      “I take it your meetings didn’t go well,” Sandra said as she moved a piece.      “Why do you say that?”      “You left yourself open for an attack.”  Sandra moved another piece.  “You’re new to the game, but you were doing much better earlier.”      “The meetings went fine, as far as what we’re after.  We didn’t get much, but I wasn’t sure how much we would get anyway.  But it did drudge up some old memories.”      “Bad memories?”      “Some good, some bad.”      “Ah yeah, I have a few of those situations myself.  Being constantly on the move can make it difficult to keep up relationships.”      “Yeah,” Melinda said.  “Time travel adds in even more complications.  That’s why I mostly try to avoid anything serious these days.”      “I’ll drink to that,” Sandra said.      “And that’s when Curtis’ dad was killed,” Abigail said.      “You can’t blame yourself for that,” Mary said.  “You didn’t even know what the documents were about until Jack helped you decode them.  And at the point you had to do something with them.  You couldn’t know that this shadowy organization would find out.”      “That doesn’t exactly make me feel better.”      “You’re a smart girl, and inquisitive,” Mary said.  “Those are great qualities, and it’s not your fault that this group fears people gaining knowledge.”      “Thanks, I know that, but emotions aren’t always so easily swayed by logic.”      “Well then, I’ll just have to keep complimenting you until you are swayed,” Mary said.  “You’re smart, you’re interesting, you’re kind, you’re fun, you’re beautiful.”      “I’m fun and beautiful?  Now you’re just making things up.”      “Oh come on, we’ve barely met, and already I’ve had more fun with you than anyone since…”      “Since?”      “Since Rosalie…”      “Oh?” Abigail asked.  “Oh!”      “I mean, I don’t know if…I mean, I, umm…”      “No, no, that’s fine,” Abigail said.  “And I’m flattered, and umm…”  Abigail leaned over and kissed Mary.      Mary leaned into it, but only for a few seconds, before pulling back.  “That was…that was really nice, but I thought…I thought you liked guys.”      “I mean…I do, but I don’t know.  Maybe I like girls too?  At the very least, I do like you.”      “Yeah, I like you too.”      They kissed again.      Meanwhile in another part of the ship, Sandra got out of her bed to answer a beeping on the communicator.      “What’s that?” Melinda asked from bed.      “We just dropped out of superspace, and someone is hailing us,” Sandra said as she put on a bathrobe.  “Probably, the starship we’re looking for.  You should get dressed while I answer.”      “Wait, keep those settings exactly as they are,” Nikola said as he hurried over to one of the sensor technicians.  “Let me put those settings on another sensor.”      “Why, they seem normal?” the technician said.      “You don’t see that blip?” Nikola asked.      “It’s within normal parameters.”      “Excellent, the blip is on these sensors too.  Keep them on your sensor, while I magnify them here.  Hmm, I’m not sure what this means, but there is something happening here.”      “Hello Captain Alverado,” Melinda said over the comm.      “Melinda Larkin?” Rick Alverado asked.  “My father sent me a message saying you’d be coming.”      “Can I come aboard?” Melinda asked.  “I need to talk to your wife about her father.”      “She’s leading a scientific expedition on a nearby planet, but I have talked with her,” Rick said.  “She hasn’t seen Rupert since the war between her mother and my father began.  Neither have I.”      “Would you happen to know where your brother-in-law is?”      “Jake is the captain of a small cargo ship.  He’s currently on his way to Trantor, I believe.  Probably a day or so out from there.”      “Thanks,” Melinda said, as she closed the comm channel.      “I take it we’re going to Trantor next?” Sandra asked.  “I’ll go set a course.”      “You found something?” Harkon asked as he looked up from his desk.  Nikola had just entered his office.      “Yes, I believe so,” Nikola said.  “I finally got some readings that were anomalous, so I’ve been looking into them, and they are like nothing I’ve ever seen.  Well, no, that’s not entirely true, they bear some superficial resemblance to temporal readings, but only superficial.  After looking into them some more, I believe I have a theory.”      “Yes?”      “I believe they lead to another universe.”      “Another universe?”      “I believe there is a micro-wormhole in the building, but with an area of effect that’s causing some of our sensors to not detect the building at all.  I also believe it can occasionally grow into a larger wormhole, big enough for a person to fit.”      “How occasionally?”      “Assuming the I’m right about the readings, it seems to be approximately every fifty-two hours and seven minutes.  It then stays open for only two minutes and three seconds.”      “Hmm, good to know.”      “Have you seen Mary and Abigail?” Melinda asked as she entered the cockpit.  “I haven’t seen them in a while.”      “Probably just in their quarters,” Sandra said.  “We should be dropping out of superspace soon.  I’ll contact the port authorities when we arrive and find out if Jake Teleros’ ship has arrived yet.”      “So,” Abigail said.  “Making out is fun and all, but there’s other things we could do as well.”      “Oh, umm, I’m not sure if I’m ready to take things farther than that,” Mary said.  “I mean, I was brought up to save myself for marriage.”      “Oh, okay, yeah, no worries.  I don’t want to pressure you into going further than you feel comfortable with.  We can definitely wait.”      “I mean, I don’t know if we’ll be needing to wait for marriage, or whatever.  I mean, I never really considered getting married to a woman.”      “My neither.  I mean, to be perfectly honest I never really thought about getting married.  I mean, I was okay with getting married if I was with someone that wanted to, but it’s not like it’s a big deal to me.”      “I mean, I never really gave it too much thought either.  Like I said before, I’ve never been interested in men, and never realized that being interested in women was an option, until I started time travelling.”      “Yeah, time travel certainly changes your perspective on things,” Abigail said.      “What kind of things has your perspective changed on?”      “Well, for one it’s nice to know that Human civilization is still around in the year three thousand.  I was kind of worried after the clusterfuck that was 2016.  Celebrities dying left and right, an alien invasion, and Donald Trump almost became President of the United States.  I mean, I would have preferred Hillary Clinton over Jargos Gordon, but better him than Trump.”      “I don’t know who any of those people are.”      “Sorry, don’t worry about it.  Let’s just get back to making out.”      “I like that plan.”      “Good news,” Sandra said.  “Jake’s ship is currently on the planet.  I’ve set up a meeting with him.”      “That’s great,” Melinda said.  “When is it?”      “In an hour.”      “Any luck so far?” Harkon asked as Jack entered his office.      “I’m slowly getting the Palore to talk more, but nothing really relevant yet,” Jack said.  “They don’t seem familiar with the name Rupert Teleros though, although they seem at least somewhat aware of the TDD.”      “Well, that’s something, I suppose.”      “You must be Jake Teleros,” Melinda said as she and Sandra sat down with him at the cafe.      “That would be me,” he said.  “Which of you is Captain Rodriguez?”      “That would be me,” Sandra said.  “This is my friend, Melinda.  She’s the one that wants to talk with you.”      “Oh yeah, what about?” Jake asked.      “Your father, Rupert,” Melinda said.  “The organization I’m a part of recently got a message claiming to be from him, and we’re trying to figure out if it’s really from him.”      “It seems unlikely,” Jake said.      “Why’s that?” Melinda asked.  “Do you know where he is?”      “I do, but I’m not going to tell you where that is,” Jake said.      “Or when that is?” Melinda asked.      “When that is?” Jake asked.  “Maybe the message you got is from him, if that’s a question you’d know to ask.”      “So, he is involved in time travel then,” Melinda said.  “When did you last speak to him?”      “A while back,” Jake said.  “There were regular message for a while, and then they just stopped.  You know, I’ve heard about you before, Captain Rodriguez.”      “Oh yeah?” Sandra asked.      “Yeah, you had been missing for a while, and I had managed to pick up a few new clients that usually went with you,” Jake said.  “That was around the time I lost contact with my dad.”      “Huh, weird coincidence,” Sandra said.      “So, how goes things?” Ghost Jack asked as he floated down into a chair across from Jack in the cafeteria.      “Oh, you know, keeping on keeping on,” Jack said.  “What’ve you been up to for the last while?”      “Keeping Sesla up to date on things, mostly,” Ghost Jack said.  “I’ve also been continuing to try and find Imhotep within his dreams, but that’s still turned up nothing.”      “That’s weird, right?”      “Very weird.  I’ve done some experimenting with other people’s dreams, with their permission of course, and no problems there.  It’s just Imhotep that I can’t find.”      “But he’s having dreams, which means there’s still someone there to dream.”      “Yeah, that would be my understanding of the situation.”      “How’d the meeting go?” Mary asked as Melinda and Sandra returned to the ship.      “Good, it went good,” Melinda said.  “Where have you girls been?”      “We were…” Abigail started saying.      “Around, just talking and such,” Mary interrupted.  “Did you learn anything?”      “We still can’t say anything is guaranteed, but it seems likely that Rupert Teleros may be the one who actually contacted us,” Melinda said.  “And if not, we’ve likely learned as much as we can without taking the meeting.”      “So that’s what we’re going to do?” Abigail asked.      “It’s up to Harkon, but I’d imagine so,” Melinda said.  “I’d imagine so.” To be continued…

[ericbarkman]

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…

[ericbarkman]

Chrono Hustle #25 Dreams of the Present

     Melinda Summers sat down in Harkon Smith’s office, across from where he was sitting at his desk.      “Any progress?” Harkon asked.      “Unfortunately no,” Melinda said.  “While everyone else seems to be doing fine, Jack, Sesla, and Imhotep are still in comas.  Doctor Quill is still working on trying to figure out why, but she’s not hopeful about them waking up.”      “Hmm, that’s problematic, although it’s not our biggest problem,” Harkon said.  “We still need to figure out what to do with the time door in the 1870s.”      “So far the TRD seems to be leaving it alone, but no telling how long that will last.  And with Elliot’s clone being dead, that complicates matters.”      “It does.  We need another clone of him there, in order to prevent alterations to the timeline.  But we don’t have the capability do create one.  Not with his memories anyway.  We could let the TRD keep control of the time door in that era, and they would clone him, but that would mean giving up our ability to visit that time.”      “Sir, perhaps it’s time we visited 3008,” Melinda said.  “If we can do that, we can get the equipment we need to make another clone of Elliot.”      “The problem is we might have only one shot at that visit.  And the whole reason we set this up was so Jack could use his knowledge powers to learn what the TDD is doing to alter the timeline.”      “I know, but that was before that virus hit us.”      “Yes, things have changed.  Start putting together a team.  In the meantime, we do still need a temporary solution to the 1870s situation.  Send Tesla up here.  I want to see if he’s had any progress on the time door barriers since Sesla’s been in a coma.”      Jack Masterson stepped out of the cave, and looked around as fish were swimming about.      “So, what are you learning now?” Dorothy Kingsmill asked.      “Well, you’re still here, so it’s likely still related to the Gods,” Jack said.      “Or it could be that you’ve just gotten used to me being around.  It is your dreamscape, and you’re gaining more control over it at all times.”      “Yeah, it’s annoying being trapped in a coma, but at least I’m doing something useful, assuming I ever wake up to share the information.”      “Any progress?” Harkon asked as Nikola Tesla entered his office.      “Very much so,” Nikola said.  “We can now create the same type of barriers with technology that Sesla previously created with her magic.”      “That’s good to hear.  I want you to go set up a barrier on the time door in 1876 right away.  Bring Ohm along for protection.  And bring the clone of Mary with as well.  For now, we’ll be keeping the time door in her barn, and she’ll be the one guarding it, so you’ll need to show her how to use the system.”      “Of course.  Oh, and some other good news.  I’ve improved ERK-147’s sensors further, so he can now detect various different types of magic.”      “Hmm, that’s interesting.  If you could write up a report on that when you get back, I’d be fascinated to learn the details.”      Melinda gathered Mary Bishop, Philip Wilson, Dorian Winters, and Susan Matthias in the briefing room.      “So, the plan is for the five of us to travel through the time door to 3008,” Melinda said.  “The TRD has a decent outpost in that era, which the time door is inside.  Now we do have one major advantage, probably.”      “Probably?” Susan asked.      “In 2348 I buried a device, which we remotely set a timer on.  So, before we go to 3008, we’ll be setting the time for a few minutes before the precise date and time when we are to exit the time door in 3008.”      “And what is this device going to do?” Dorian asked.      “Two things,” Melinda said.  “Firstly, it will create an effect not unlike that of a black hole, and begin sucking in matter.  Secondly it will produce an EMP effect, which will knock out their electronics.    The two will happen far enough apart that they will know about the first effect before they lose their electronics, thus they will be busy dealing with that, and be caught unaware when we come through.”      “But won’t they realize that we’re behind this?” Philip asked.      “Possibly,” Melinda said.  “Which is why we’ll likely still encounter resistance.  We’ll probably have to fight our way out of the outpost, and we may be split up in the process, which is why we will predetermine a meeting point in case that happens.  From there we will be working to gain access to the cloning technology we need.  Any other question?”      “When do we start?” Mary asked.      “Water, water, everywhere, but not a bit to drink,” Jack said as he continued his underwater walk.      “Figuring anything out yet?” Dorothy asked.      “The fish are species that are around in my own time,” Jack said.  “So that narrows down when this dream is taking place.”      “So no, you haven’t figured out much than.”      “Every clue helps,” Jack said, before noticing something in the distance.  “What is that?”      “Only one way to find out.”      Jack concentrated, and a dolphin swam over to him, which he got on to ride.      Mary readied her energy shotgun as she met up with the rest of the team in front of the time door.      “Remember everyone, stun settings,” Melinda said as she activated the time door and went through.      Mary followed immediately after.  She dove to the ground, as she activated her night-vision goggles.  The EMP had worked, and the place was completely dark.  There were three TRD agents in the room.      Mary shot one of them, as Melinda shot the other two, before the rest of the team had even finished exiting the time door.      “Okay, let’s go,” Melinda said as she began leading the way.      Jack approached what he was quickly realizing to be an underwater city.      “Atlantis?” Jack said.  “Don’t tell me Atlantis is real.”      “You’re surprised?” Dorothy asked.      “Not really, just making conversation,” Jack said.      Melinda and Philip made their way down a hallway.  They had been separated from the rest of the team, in order to avoid being spotted.      “How high up are we?” Philip asked as they approached a window.      “Low enough that jumping is an option,” Melinda said as she opened the window.  “But high enough that we can open the window easily enough, without setting off alarms.”      “I feel like those two things are somewhat contradictory.”      “It’ll be fine,” Melinda said, before jumping out the window.      “Which way?” Mary asked as she approached a split in the hallway, followed by Susan and Dorian.      “We should go left,” Susan said.  “And I should really be leading, considering I’ve been here before.”      “That’s a good idea,” Mary said.  “You should take point.”      Upon approaching Atlantis, Jack realized that there was a dome covering the city.      “To keep air in?” Jack asked.      “That would make sense,” Dorothy said.      “So, Atlanteans still need to breathe.  But why am I learning this?  Is this relevant?”      “Is it relevant to what?”      “To the current going’s on?  I…hmm.”      “Just act normal,” Melinda said as she walked down the street.      “We just jumped out a window,” Philip said.  “I’m acting about as normal as I can after that.”      “It was the quickest way,” Melinda said.  “And now we want to make sure we aren’t being followed before we make our way to the rendezvous point.”      “I’m not noticing anyone following us.”      “That’s because you’re checking for Humans,” Melinda said.  “We have a security bot that’s watching us.  It’s not TRD though, just local police.  The only question is if it saw us jumping out the window or not.  If it did, the police may contact the TRD.”      “The local police know about them?”      “No, but they’ll contact the owners of the building we made a hasty escape from, it doesn’t matter that they don’t know those owners are a time travel organization.”      “It feels like we’re going around in circles,” Mary said.      “I agree,” Dorian said.      “The layout has changed somewhat since I was last here,” Susan said.  “But I think I know where we’re going.”  She opened the door in front of her, just as the lights turned back on.      Inside the room were five TRD agents, who pointed their guns at the three intruders, as the three of them pointed their guns at the TRD agents.      “Well, this is awkward,” Mary said.      Jack stepped through the bubble dome, and entered the city.  “That’s a weird sensation,” he said.  “I’m not sure if it’s more or less weird though from this being a dream, where I was underwater without the whole drowning thing.”      “Don’t look at me,” Dorothy said.  “I may be a manifestation of your subconscious, but that doesn’t mean I know everything that you’re thinking.”      Jack looked around.  “Well, right now what I’m wondering is, where are the people.  If this is Atlantis, presumably there should be Atlanteans.”      “Maybe you just don’t know enough about them for your subconscious to create them.”      “Maybe.”      Mary, Dorian, and Susan continued to point their guns at the five TRD agents, who continued to point their guns at the three of them.      “Susan Matthias?” one of the agents, Isaac Korrelson asked.  “What are you doing here, with Mary Bishop and… whoever that guy is?”      “Trying to fix the timeline,” Susan said.      “Then why are you working against us?” Isaac asked.  “That’s our job.”      “There is more going on that you don’t know about,” Mary said.  “A conspiracy within your organization.  That’s what we are working against.”      “That’s ridiculous,” another agent, Olive Purcell said.  “Look, Agent Matthias, I assume you were captured by these people when they took the base in the Cretaceous, and you had to choose between working with them, or being locked up, but that’s no longer the case.  You can rejoin the TRD now.”      “So, this is your safe house?” Philip asked as he entered the apartment.      “Yep,” Melinda said as she followed him in.  “It’s from back in my Interpol days, but even after joining the TRD I decided to keep it around, just in case.”      “So, in theory this should be even more secure than the safe houses Jack always procures for us.”      “Yes, in theory.  I just hope the rest of the team gets here soon.”      Jack continued walking along the streets of Atlantis.      “I wish I knew exactly when this was,” Jack said.      “Why’s that?” Dorothy asked.      “I think there’s a reason this city is empty, but I don’t know what it is.  Hmm…” Jack reached into his pocket, and pulled out a phone, and looked at the date.  “Huh, so this is my hometime.”      “And what do you think that means?” Dorothy asked.      “No idea.”      Melinda was on the computer, doing some research, when she saw an alarm notification come up.  She checked the security camera feeds.      “We’ve got a problem,” she said.      “What kind of problem?” Philip asked as he came out of the kitchen with a sandwich.      “TRD agents just entered the building.”      “What are the chances it’s a coincidence?”      “Slim to none.”      Jack laid down on a bed in a random house in Atlantis, and began tossing a ball up and down.      “So, what are you up to now?” Dorothy asked as she entered the room. “Figuring out my next move,” Jack said.  “I think I need to wake up, but I still haven’t figured out how to do that.  Well, not entirely, anyway.  I know how my friends can wake me up, but I have no way of telling them that unless I can wake up.”      “That’s certainly a pickle.”      “It is indeed.”      “This seems like a bad plan,” Philip said as he climbed out the window, and tried to grab hold of the roof.  “It’s a bit high.”      “Just don’t look down,” Melinda said.      “No, I mean, the roof, I can’t reach it from here.”      “Okay, I have an idea,” Melinda said.  “Get ready to grab on.”      “Okay, what are you doing?” he asked, as he felt Melinda grab his feet, and push him up.      Philip tried to stay steady, and grabbed the edge of the roof.  He barely managed to get a grip.      “Okay, and how are you getting up here?” Philip asked as he pulled himself up.      “You can pull me up,” Melinda said.      Jack closed his eyes, then let out a laugh.      “What’s funny?” Dorothy asked.      “I was closing my eyes in order to concentrate on the problem, when I realized that the problem is that my eyes are closed.  Well, I mean, it’s more than that, but this is just a dream, so closing my eyes here doesn’t really mean much.”      “No, I don’t suppose it does.”      “Or does it?  Back when I was a kid, if I tried opening my eyes in a dream, I would wake up.”  Jack opened his eyes.  “Now clearly this is a different situation, as I’m in a coma, not merely asleep.”      “Yes.”      “But maybe I can affect my body in some manner from in here.”      “Like what?” Dorothy asked.      “In here,” Melinda said as she pointed to an empty area of the roof.      “In where?” Philip asked.      “In here,” Melinda said as she opened a door in the middle of the empty roof.  “It’s a cloaked hiding spot.”      “So, what do we do next?” Philip asked as he followed Melinda in.  “I mean, either we were followed, or the rest of the team was captured, and someone gave the TRD our location.”      “We weren’t followed.”      “Well, if that’s the case, it seems pretty obvious who gave the TRD the location of your hiding spot.”      “It would seem so,” Melinda said.      “So, what’s our next move?”      Harkon entered the med lab, where Doctor Jeri Quill was still running tests on Jack, Imhotep, and Sesla.      “Any progress?” Harkon asked.      “Not really, although I assume the reason the virus affected them differently is because of their partial divinity,” Jeri said.      “Yes, that would make sense.”      “Also, Jack has a new symptom, as of a few minutes ago.”      “What sort of symptom?”      “His eye movements seem to have gone into some sort of pattern.”      “Oh?” Harkon asked.      Jeri opened one of Jack’s eyes, and Harkon saw it quickly move three times to the left, then three times slowly to the right, then three times quickly to the left again.      “It’s morse code,” Harkon said.  “He’s figured out a way to communicate with us.”      “That seems highly unlikely.”      “With him, unlikely is par for the course.  Now, we just need to find a way to communicate back to him.”      Melinda and Philip entered the warehouse, their guns at the ready.  In the back corner there was a group of five people playing poker, who looked up at the intrusion.  One of them, a large-set woman stood up, and approached them.  The other four also stood up, and pointed their guns at Melinda and Philip.      “Melinda Summers, I haven’t seen you in years, I thought you were dead,” the woman said.      “No Izabel, not yet,” Melinda said.      “Well, there’s always tomorrow,” Izabel Monroe said.      “And even today isn’t over yet,” Melinda said.  “But today I’m not here as an enemy.”      “Then what are you here as?”      “A client.  I would like to hire you to steal some cloning tech from the Jaruvians.”      Izabel laughed.  “Do you realize how much that would cost you?  How are you going to afford that?”      “I can erase your criminal record,” Melinda said.  “All gone.”      “Like I asked, how are you going to afford it?”      “I can also erase your brother’s criminal record.”      “I’m listening.”      Dorothy entered the kitchen in the Atlantean house, where she found Jack making some sort of dish involving fish eggs and seaweed.      “This being a dream, you don’t really need to eat, you know,” Dorothy said.      “I like eating though,” Jack said.  “And it…” he trailed off as he grabbed his side.      “What?”      “I just felt a sharp sensation on my left side.  Multiple sharp sensations, in fact.  And now, there’s a dull one on my right.  Wait, they got my message.  And they’re saying ‘hello’.  Well, now for the fun part.  Explaining a complex medical procedure through morse code.”      “So, now what?” Philip asked as they left the warehouse.      “Now we return to the TRD outpost,” Melinda said.  “If we’re lucky, the rest of our team will still be there.”      “And if we’re not lucky?”      “Then we will at least be able to hold up our end of the bargain with Izabel.  The TRD computers have the kind of access we need to erase criminal records.”      “And what of the rest of our team?”      “If they aren’t there, I don’t know, we’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.”      ERK-147 typed up the medical instructions as it watched Jack’s eyes, and translated the morse code.      “I still find this difficult to believe,” Jeri said as she looked at the instructions on the screen.  “But it’s impossible to deny that this is happening.”      “You’d think, but I’ve found Humans have quite a capacity for denial,” ERK-147 said.  “I mean, not this group so much, but then, when you encounter new things on a regular basis, you become somewhat more willing to accept the improbable.”      “I hope to be here long enough that I become used to this,” Jeri said.  “Even if you still haven’t told me where here is.”      “That’s Harkon Smith’s call, as he is the boss.”      Philip followed Melinda through the sewers.      “It’s extremely clean down here for a sewer,” Philip said.      “I suppose,” Melinda said as she looked around.  “This should be the right area.”  She started placing explosives along the ceiling.      “So, where exactly will these explosives get us into?”      “The armory.”      “That’s not going to be dangerous, is it?  Explosions in the armory?”      “No, it shouldn’t be.”      Mary paced back and forth in her cell.  It had walls on three sides, and a forcefield on the fourth.  On the other side of the forcefield was a room, about the same size as the cell, which had a single door leading out.  She had already felt all over the walls, looking for anything that would help, and came up empty.  As she was pacing, she felt the ground shake, and the sound of an explosion.  She smiled.      Melinda tossed an energy assault rifle to Philip, before grabbing one for herself.      “Increased firepower, and much more energy efficient than the ones we’ve been using,” Melinda said.  “Now follow me.”  She exited the armory, and went down the corridor, with Philip following after.      As they approached the end of the corridor, the door at the end opened.  Melinda started firing her rifle, as three agents came out.  They all dropped to the ground.      “So much for the element of surprise,” Melinda said.      “I think we lost that with the explosion,” Philip said.      Melinda went through the door, with Philip going in after her.  Inside there was a short corridor with twelve doors.  Five on each side, the one they had come through, and another one on the opposite end.  The doors on each side at small windows on them, and Melinda started looking through them.  Philip did the same.      “Mary is in this one,” Philip said.      “And I’ve found Dorian,” Melinda said.  “No sign of Susan though,”      “Nor on my side,” Philip said.      “Okay, you get Mary and Dorian and get out of here, I have to go hold up our end of the deal with Izabel.”      “Well, here goes nothing,” Jeri said as she injected the concoction into Jack.  At first there seemed to be no change, but then some of his readings on the scanner started changing, and his eyes shot open.      “Woah, yeah, that was something,” Jack said.  “I feel like a just downed several liters of energy drinks.”      “And how are you feeling otherwise?” Jeri asked.      “Good, I think,” Jack said.  “Don’t give this concoction to Imhotep or Sesla though, it won’t work on them the same way.”      “No?”      “I’m a Greek Demi-God, Imhotep is an Egyptian Demi-God.  Well, Demi-Demi-God, since he’s only a quarter divine, but the differing race of Gods is the more pertinent point in this equation.”      “And Sesla?”      “She’s complicated.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go speak with Harkon about my next mission.”      “You just came out of a coma, you shouldn’t be rushing out on a mission.”      “Maybe not, but technically I’m not rushing out onto the mission, just rushing into the preparations.  I’d tell you more, but I’m not sure how much of what we’re doing you’ve been told about.”      Melinda walked down the corridor, until she got to the door she was looking for.  It was locked, and required an access code.  She knew her code would not work, and would probably alert everyone on the base to her attempt.      So, she attempted to use another code that she knew.  The one belonging to Tom Eastwood.  She was just not certain if he still had the same code.  She typed it into the keypad, and the door unlocked.      Melinda entered the computer lab, and went over to one of the computers connected to law enforcement databases.  She brought up the files she was looking for, and deleted them.  She then erased the history of what she had been doing, before making a quick exit.      “So, what happened?” Philip asked as Mary and Dorian followed him out of the outpost.  “Did Susan betray you guys?”      “We ran into some trouble on our way out,” Mary said.  “But no, I don’t think it was Susan’s fault.”      “Where is she now?”      “No idea,” Mary said.  “They initially brought all three of us to the holding area, but they must have moved her afterwards.  I’d guess they brought her to the TDD base, so they could use their mental probes to learn what she knows.”      “That’s a problem,” Philip said.      “Yeah, that’s putting it mildly,” Mary said.      “It’s good to see you up again,” Harkon said as Jack entered his office.      “It’s good to be up again, although I did learn a lot during my coma,” Jack said as he sat down.      “Like what?”      “For starters I learned some stuff about the origins of the Gods, although I’m not yet certain how that’s useful.  But I’ve also learned about an alien invasion on Earth in 2016.”      “Yes, I’m aware of it, it’s a fairly significant historical event.”      “And Atlantis played a major role in preventing it, correct?”      “Yes, why do you ask?”      “Because someone, although I don’t yet know who, is planning on altering the timeline, in order to wipe out the Atlanteans before the invasion.”      “How?”      “I don’t know yet for certain, but we need to do something about it.”      “Yes, we do.  I suppose your plan is to get there the long way from the 1940s?”      “It seems to be the most direct route.”      Melinda entered another one of her safe houses, where she found Mary, Philip, and Dorian already waiting.      “Just how many safe houses do you have in this era?” Philip asked.      “A few,” Melinda said.  “Which is good because we might be stuck here for a while.  The TRD is likely going to have a major security upgrade after our intrusions.”      “So, what’s the plan?”      “We’re still waiting on the cloning tech, so for the moment, our next move should be seeing if we can find Merlin.  He may be able to help.”      “Are we sure we can trust him, after what happened the last time?” Mary asked.      “What happened last time?” Philip asked.      “He took Jack’s soul,” Melinda said.  “The second Jack, I mean, the one who has since died.  And we can’t fully trust him, no, but we need all the help we can get.” To be continued…

[ericbarkman]

Chrono Hustle #18 Trapped

     Harkon Smith looked up from his desk as Melinda Summers entered his office.      “Welcome back Agent Summers,” Harkon said.  “I was just looking over your mission report.”      “I’m sorry to say that it did not go as planned, sir,” Melinda said.      “Yes, I see that.  We have yet to here from Zeus on how he feels about the fact that Aphrodite was killed rather than captured.”      “It was one of his people that betrayed us.”      “Yes, which is somewhat odd.  I thought Asclepius was a god of medicine.  Why would a healer become a killer?”      “I’m sure Zeus will have him questioned, find out if he’s working for someone else.  Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll know where the time door is, and we’ll be able to leave this time period.”      “Yes, getting out of World War 2 would be nice, but we can’t just hope for that, we have to continue working on it.”      “Any progress on locating the time door?” Melinda asked.  “Or any progress on figuring out what happened on the ship where Jack disappeared, and all those people from other eras appeared?”      “Tesla and ERK-147 have been over the ship with a fine-toothed comb, but they have yet to figure anything out.  For the moment we still have no idea what happened on the ship, or where or when Jack is.”      Jack Masterson watched as Sandra Rodriguez searched the holding cell they had been placed in on the mercenary ship.      It was a cube shaped room, with all of the walls, the floor, and ceiling all being bare and grey.  The only way in or out was by teleporter.  The room was lit, although Jack had no idea how, as there were no visible sources.      “Anything?” Jack asked.      “Nothing,” Sandra said.  “I was hoping there would be some sort of removable panel, or something, but nada.  Which means we have nothing to do but talk.”      “Oh?”      “Like why is there a warrant out for your arrest?”      “When I hired you to take me to the space station Oracle, part of the deal was no questions.”      “That was before we were arrested.”      “Well,” Jack said.  “I’m not actually certain why there is a warrant.”      “No idea?”      “Well, I suppose I have some ideas.  I know of a few people who want to capture me.  But I’m not certain how they’re behind this.”      “But you are certain they are behind it, aren’t you?”      “Fairly certain.”      “And who are these people?”      “No one you’ve ever heard of.”      Mary Bishop walked into Harkon’s office.  “Good morning sir,” she said.      “Good morning to you too.  How are our guests acclimating to the situation?”      “Some better than others.  Imhotep has been the best behaved, while the Jukarn has been a major problem.  And then there’s Sesla.”      “Sesla’s been causing problems?”      “Not precisely, but she’s… well she’s Sesla.  She’s very… unconventional.”      “Perhaps, but she has been an ally in the past,” Harkon said.  “Or so you, Jack and Melinda have told me.”      “She can be useful at times, but first I’d need you to give me an assignment, instead of just having me help them acclimate.”      “If she could assist us in locating the time door, that would be most useful.”      “I agree, but she says that she does not know where it is.”      “Well, keep at it.  Maybe she’ll have a vision that will enlighten her.”      Jack woke up suddenly.  He looked around the cell, trying to determine what had changed.      “We dropped out of superspace,” Sandra said.  “I’m surprised you could tell.  I usually don’t even notice it, and I’ve spent most of my life in spaceships.”      “So, where are we?”      “No idea.  But unless this is just a pitstop, I assume we’ll find out soon enough.”      “Good morning Sesla,” Mary said as she entered Sesla’s room.      “Is it?  I don’t believe you much care for any morning in which you have to speak with me.”      “Have you had any visions or anything that would help us locate the time door?”      “Perhaps.  I can say that we will not get access to it without Jack.”      “Why not, and do you know where he is?”      “He was returned to his own time.  And from there he is trying to make it back here.”      “That shouldn’t be difficult, should it?”      “You have no idea.”      Jack and Sandra had been sitting around, when they felt themselves being teleported, into another holding cell.  This one was not completely enclosed though, as it had one open side.  Jack reached out his hand, and felt a solid, yet invisible, wall there.  A forcefield.      “Another cell,” Sandra said.  “i’m beginning to think I made a mistake in taking you on as a passenger.”      “Well, I think you at least got me to the right place,” Jack said as he looked out of the cell.  It was the same design, and with the same sort of battle damage as the last time he had been there.      A door opened, and a familiar person walked in.  “Hello Jack.”      “Hello Tom,” Jack said.      Melinda entered Harkon’s office.  “You wanted to see me, sir.”      “Yes, I just got off the phone with Agent Kingsmill,” Harkon said.  “She says that Zeus is not happy.”      “Just as we figured.”      “She also said that he’s decided to come pay us a visit.”      “What?  Why?”      “She said that Zeus hadn’t told her any more than that.  But this could cause problems.  Your assignment will be to keep him in line during his visit.”      “Of course, sir.”      “So, what’re you doing back home?” Jack asked.      “I’ve been heading up the search for you and your friends,” Tom said.  “So, when I got word that you had been located, I came to see for myself.”      “You’ve been leading the search?” Jack asked.  “Well, that explains how we’ve gone without capture for so long.”      “Well, you’re captured now.”      “For now.”      “Now what exactly are you up to?  We know you’ve been kidnapping people from throughout time, including Imhotep and Ohm.”      “What is he talking about?” Sandra asked.  “What is going on here?”      “Don’t tell me she doesn’t know,” Tom said.  “Well, since we’ll be mindwiping her anyway, there’s not reason not to tell her that we are in a time war.”      “A time war?” Sandra asked.  “Is that why you’re so weird?  You’re not from this time?”      “To an extent,” Jack said.  “Although even in my own time I’m not exactly normal.”      “Now, what are you planning?” Tom asked again.      “I’m not going to tell you,” Jack said.      “Maybe not yet, but eventually you will.”      “We’ve got it!”      Harkon looked up as Nikola Tesla burst into his office.  “You’ve learned what happened on the ship?”      “What?”  Tesla asked.  “No, of course not.  The ship is perfectly normal as far as I can tell.  I have no idea why Jack disappeared on it, or why the others appeared.”      “So, then what have we discovered?”      “We’ve figured out how to locate the time door.  I’ve been going through the data on the doors from ERK-147’s sensors.  At first it seemed pointless, as the doors seemed invisible to his sensors, but then I decided to check what his sensors picked up while traversing the time door.  And that data was largely meaningless, a whack of weird sensory stimulations, but buried within it, I found a unique signature that his sensors picked up within himself, which all of the people who appeared aboard the ship also had within them, although it has since dissipated.”      “And how will this allow us to locate the time door?”      “Because, this TRD of yours is trying to get through, although everyone they’ve sent has been killed by KOKON.”      “That is our understanding, yes.”      “So then, all we need to do is search for this signature, and that will lead us to people or objects who have recently traversed through time.”      After Tom left the room, Jack sat down and closed his eyes.      “So, what’s the plan here?” Sandra asked.      “Don’t worry.  I’m working on it.”      “Uh huh.”      “No, seriously.  The situation on this station is complex.  Tom’s group controls the area around the time door, but that area is shielded from teleportation.  They also control this area, but there’s a lot of ground to cover between here and there, and that is not controlled by them.”      “So, I take it you’ve been here before.”      “Yes, although some of this intel is more recent.  Last time I was here, Tom’s group didn’t have a foothold, at least not in the same way, and I was unaware of them at the time.”      “How much more recent?”      “I just got it now.”      “What?  How?”      “I’m Jack Masterson.  I know things.”      “Welcome to America,” Melinda said as Zeus stepped off of his plane.      “It’s been a while,” Zeus said.  “Last time I was here, James Madison was President.”      “That has been awhile.”      “Now, which way to your base of operations?”      “We have a car ready to take us there.  Please follow me.”      “Wait for it,” Jack said.      “Wait for what?” Sandra asked.      The lights suddenly went out.  Sandra stood up, and checked the forcefield, which was still up.      “That,” Jack said.  “The forcefield is on an independent power source, but the general power to this part of the station has been shut off.”      “What?  Why?  By who?”      “To stop the teleporter dampeners in this area, is the why,” Jack said, as he and Sandra were teleported to another part of the station.  “And she is the who.  Sandra meet Sesla.”      “It is good to see you again, my Jack,” Sesla said.      Mary was sitting at her desk when she heard someone come up behind her.  She turned around to see Sesla.      “What are you doing here?” Mary asked.      “I came to tell you of something I’ve just learned.  My past self in the future is working together with Jack.”      “How do you know that?  It’s in the future, so even though it’s your past self, you’re memories shouldn’t change.”      “Tell me, what is it like, having such a linear view of time?  It’s been so long for me that I can barely remember it.”      “Can you get us to the time door Sesla?” Jack asked.      “Yes, that will be easy, but have you thought about where you will go?” Sesla asked.      “My original plan was to go back to World War 2, before KOKON got the time door in that era, but I was in stasis for too long.”      “Yes, if you go through now, even if you could somehow survive, which you wouldn’t be able to, the rest of your team would already be dead.”      “Which is why I was bringing the stasis pod with.  My plan would’ve been to go back to the Wild West, and put myself in stasis until the 1940s.  But that’s back on Sandra’s ship, which we have no way of getting to.”      “About that,” Sandra said.  “What am I supposed to do?  You’re apparently going to be traveling in time, once you figure out the specifics, but I never signed up for that.”      “Yeah, sorry about that,” Jack said.      “Why would you need the stasis pod?” Sesla asked.  “Why don’t you just use the long way?”      “What do you mean?” Jack asked.      “You’re a Demi-God, remember,” Sesla said.  “You don’t age.”      “I… wait what.  You’re sure about that?”      “Yes, of course.”      “This changes everything!”      Melinda led Zeus into the ESS Time Division offices.  The agents all looked up from their desks in awe, except for Mary who glanced over, but was in the middle of a conversation with Sesla.      “I know you,” Zeus said, noticing Sesla.  “You are a servant of Aphrodite.  What is she doing here?”      “I haven’t been her servant for several millennia,” Sesla said.      “And you expect me to just take you at your word?” Zeus said.      “She’s not even from this era,” Melinda said.  “She’s here as part of a situation we’re investigating.”      “I thought you didn’t have time travel access without the time door,” Zeus said.      “We don’t,” Melinda said.  “Like I said, this is a situation we are investigating.”      Jack sat at the computer terminal, looking over historical data.  As he was doing so, he heard someone enter the room he was in.      “Trouble sleeping?” Sandra asked.      “No, just doing some prep work,” Jack said.  “What about you?”      “I just don’t know what I’m going to do next.”      “Well, you could always come with me into the past.”      “Yeah, that’s not exactly an ideal option.”      “You could stay here on the station, with Sesla.  Or you could join Commander Grayson’s group.”      “I’m not too fond of those ideas either.”      “I know, and I’m sorry.  I didn’t realize this would happen.”      “What time period are you from?”      “I originally left from 2014.  I recently returned home, but it was already 2015, even though I haven’t experienced enough time that it should be that year yet.  But there was some weirdness with that whole situation.”      “Wow, so you’re from quite a way’s back.  Did you guys even have space travel back then?”      “We went to the moon in the 1960s.  And there were talks about manned missions to Mars.”      “So, how’d you get involved in time travel business?”      “I was being chased, I ran through a door, and apparently it was a time machine.  Since then I’ve become embroiled in a situation which I’m still working on figuring out.  But with this revelation that I don’t age, I think I might just be able to start getting some level of control.”      Harkon looked across his desk and observed Zeus sitting there, observing him back.      “So, Zeus, you never told us what the purpose of your visit was,” Harkon eventually said.      “I’m not happy with what happened in Germany.”      “None of us are.  That still doesn’t explain why you came here.”      “Aphrodite should not have died.”      “I agree,” Harkon said.  “Her death is problematic for the timeline.”      “That is not what I mean.  She has been a problem for thousands of years.  And now she was just killed.  It’s too neat, too easy.  Something else is going on here.”      “Something else is always going on.  Life is complicated, and people make mistakes.  Unless you have something more concrete.”      In the morning, Jack readied himself.  Sesla had given him clothing and weapons that would be appropriate for his destination.  He joined her and ten of her followers at the teleporter.      “You are ready to go?” Sesla asked.      “Yes, I am,” Jack said.      “You could always stay here for longer,” Sesla said.  “It’s not like you don’t have the time.”      “Maybe, but the TDD knows I’m here.  So let’s get this done.”      Harkon read through the file Zeus had given him.      “Is this accurate?” Harkon asked.      “Yes, it is.”      “This changes things.”      “Yes, it does.”      “I don’t think you understand just how much.  This information could give us a major advantage.”      “Oh?”      “Thank you for letting us know,” Harkon said.  “We will look into this, and then get back to you.”      “You don’t want to do another combined mission?”      “I know I can trust my people.”      Jack appeared in the hall outside the room with the time door.  Sesla’s and her followers appeared simultaneously, with the followers around them in a circle.  There were other people in the area, but Sesla’s followers took them out quickly and efficiently.      Sesla walked over to the door to the room, and pressed the panel to open it.  Nothing happened, as it was locked.  She closed her eyes, and concentrated, and the door unlocked and opened.      “Until we meet again, my Jack,” Sesla said.      “Whenever that will be,” Jack said.  “From each of our perspectives.”      Jack went to the time door, chose the correct option, and went through…      “You wanted to see me, sir?” Melinda asked as she entered Harkon’s office.      “Yes.  Is Zeus on his way back to Australia?”      “He is.”      “Good.  I’d like to talk to you about what he told me.”      “Which is?”      “He believes that Aphrodite is still alive, and that it was a double of some sort who was killed.”      “Then where is the real one?”      “If Zeus’ intel is correct, she is with the time door.  And while we don’t know the exact location, we do know the general area.”      “That’s good to hear.”      “It’s even better than that.  With Tesla’s discovery, we should be able to narrow it down even further.  We might finally be able to regain access to the time door.”      … Jack stepped out of the time door, and assessed his surroundings.  He was back in the Bishop barn.  Same old wood walls.  Same tools lying around.  Same sense of a gun being pointed at him.  Jack slowly turned around, and was somewhat surprised at who he saw.      “Put your hands where I can see ‘em,” Elliot Bishop said.      “What?  You’re supposed to be dead,” Jack said.      “Is that a fact?” To be continued…