#Joshua Teleros
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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…
#Harkon Smith#Rupert Teleros#Jack Masterson#Melinda Summers#Mary Bishop#Abigail Esau#Nikola Tesla#ERK-147#Sesla#Deanna#Joshua Teleros#time doors#time travel#alternate universe#ESS#TDD#wedding invitation#Krissy Reynolds#Drake Bartel#Simple Complications#crossover#Chrono Hustle#Eric J. Barkman
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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…
#Melinda Summers#Mary Bishop#Abigail Esau#Jack Masterson#Harkon Smith#ERK-147#Nikola Tesla#Sandra Rodriguez#Philip Wilson#Dorian Winters#Jeri Quill#Joshua Teleros#Kathryn Teleros#Rick Alverado#Bob Alverado#Jake Teleros#time door#time travel#Deanna#Chrono Hustle#Eric J. Barkman
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Chrono Hustle #41 Cycles
Harkon Smith sat back in his chair as he considered. “Progenitor language, you’re certain of this?” he asked.
“I looked over the pictures they brought back,” Jack Masterson said as he leaned against the wall. “And yeah, it’s definitely that. Although, is that really what we’re calling them? Progenitors?”
“They don’t have a name for themselves,” Melinda Summers said as she looked over the pictures of the documents. “Seems like as good a name as any. The more important question is how this Chloe is connected to them.”
“We didn’t find anything about that,” the Ghost of the temporal duplicate of Jack Masterson said. “Unless it’s in the Progenitor language.”
“I can’t read most of it,” Jack said. “I know a bit, but not much.”
“Do we know anyone that does?” Abigail Esau asked.
“I mean, I’ve met a couple of them,” Jack said. “I’ve met Chronos and Yahweh before. Don’t know if we can count on either of them to help with this though.”
“Is this really our primary focus right now?” Mary Bishop asked as she was pacing back and forth. “What about the Sesla situation?”
“We’re still working on growing the clone body for her,” Doctor Jeri Quill said.
“Not present Sesla,” Mary said. “She only even still exists because of weird time travel stuff. But apparently Deanna is officially dead, and thus can’t become Sesla, so now Abigail will?”
“There was a lot Abigail-Sesla didn’t tell me about that situation,” Jack said.
“I mean, do we even know for certain it wasn’t Deanna-Sesla making herself look like Abigail?” Mary asked. “I have no doubt that Deanna could have survived the destruction of that Palore ship, and even less doubt that she could make herself look like someone else.”
“It is possible, but we’ve been asked to limit our visits to that era, while the Temporal Development Division restarts their experiments there,” Harkon said.
“Which is another thing that I can’t believe we’re just letting slide,” Mary said.
“We agreed to join them,” Melinda said. “We knew there would be compromises.”
“What weirds me out is that apparently I become Sesla after never again leaving this era, except the old fashioned way of waiting,” Abigail said.
“Yeah, that is weird,” Melinda said. “I mean, I know you don’t age because you’re a Demigod, but we’re in the Cretaceous. That seems more than just a little ridiculous.”
“But what happens if I just go through a time door right now?” Abigail asked. “I mean, that right there would change the timeline. Why would I choose not to?”
“For now, you should probably stay here,” Harkon said. “At least until we figure more out.”
“But what if it is original Sesla, and this is just playing into her hand?” Mary asked.
“That’s why we need to figure out more,” Harkon said. “I’ll talk with Director Teleros about this. For now, see what we can decipher of the Progenitor writing. And have we got an update from Tesla yet?”
“His next scheduled checkin is in an hour,” Melinda said.
On a certain rogue planet in the year 2017, Nikola Tesla was looking over what he and his team had learned about the temporal anomalies on this planet. The bot, ERK-147, was with him, and they were going over the findings together.
“This just makes so little sense,” Nikola said.
“We have successfully mapped the anomalies on the planet,” ERK-147 said. “And everything seems to be consistent.”
“Consistent, yes, but too convenient. Everything fits together like a puzzle, it almost seems artificial, but who could create something like this?”
“The Clockmaker, perhaps?”
“Hmm, no. Certainly he can create temporal anomalies, we saw that with that ship in the 1940s, but this is different. I think this whole planet might be artificial, and he may be an expert when it comes to time travel, but I don’t know if he can create a planet.”
“I am unaware of anyone with those capabilities,” ERK-147 said.
Abigail looked at the pictures of the Progenitor writing and compared it to what little information they had on it. “Hmm, this might be the word for planet, or it might mean apple or key or canoe or…I don’t even know.”
Mary was pacing back and forth. “If it weren’t for you being confined to base, we could just go search for more information on the language than we have here.”
“I mean, it’s kind of annoying, but look on the bright side, we know I’m going to survive for tens of millions of years, so at least my idea about being a red shirt isn’t accurate.”
“Haha, very funny. I don’t know why we’re just taking this at face value.”
“I mean, if it is really me, I’d like to think I had good reasons for doing what I did. But yeah, that is something we need to figure out, if it is the real me. Which is what Harkon is doing.”
“By going to talk with Rupert Teleros,” Mary said. “Which is another thing.”
“You still don’t think he should be trusted.”
“I mean, I understand that the historical records of him show all these great things he did, and about how he’s such a great person. But, I mean, people change. Joshua Teleros, who is Rupert’s ancestor by the way, was a good friend and ally of ours, and we trusted him, as did the ESS. And while he never betrayed us, he did betray them.”
“He did end up regretting that though, and did try making up for it,” Abigail said. “Even after he died.”
“Ah, right, the ghost you encountered.”
“I mean, technically, I never personally encountered his ghost, I was just investigating it.”
Harkon entered Rupert Teleros’ officer, where Rupert was doing some sort of mathematical calculations on a whiteboard.
“Please sit down,” Rupert said without turning around.
“What’s that?” Harkon asked as he did so.
“I’m working on determining more time door addresses.”
“You can do that?”
“It’s why I was brought into the TDD in the first place,” Rupert said. “I mean, it took me a while to actually get many of use. There’s only so many unique doors out there, so mostly it’s a matter of getting through the ones we know about, but in additional time periods.”
“Fascinating.”
“Indeed,” Rupert said as he put down his marker and turned around. “Although fairly time consuming. So, what can I do for you? I assume you’re here to ask for something.”
“After we returned the time door in the 2340s to the Oracle, you asked that we stay away from it.”
“I did indeed. I know you don’t approve of the experiments we are running there, but it’s important in combating the Palore.”
“I’m not here to talk about the experiments.”
“Of course not. You’re here to talk about the new version of Sesla that has occurred because of the changes to the timeline brought on by your team. And who just so happens to be a future version of a member of said team.”
“We want to determine if it really is Abigail.”
“I can assure you that it is,” Rupert said.
“Forgive me if I don’t take your word for it.”
“You’re free to disbelieve me if you want. It doesn’t really matter.”
“If Abigail uses a time door, that will change the timeline, and she might no longer become Sesla. So we need to know if it’s really her, and if it’s important that she follows this chain of events.”
“Tell you what, Mary can go through and talk to her. Just Mary.”
“Why just Mary?” Harkon asked.
“She is dating Abigail, is she not. She should know her well enough to determine if it’s really her.”
“People can change quite a bit over the course of tens of millions of years. I was thinking a more scientific method of confirming her identity.”
“Mary seems intelligent enough. I’m sure you can demonstrate any necessary tests to her that you may have in mind.”
“So, how much have you figured out of the Progenitor writing?” Melinda asked as she sat down across from Jack at a table in the cafeteria.
He looked up from his jello. “Not much. Enough to know that it is most definitely about the rogue planet. And, I’ve figured out the name of said planet.”
“Oh yeah?” Melinda asked as she starting eating her pasta.
“And it might be a hint as to which Progenitor we’re dealing with.”
“Oh yeah, what’s the name?”
“Kyklos.”
“I definitely want to go,” Mary said. “But why just me?”
“He says he wants to limit the chance of our interfering with the experiments,” Harkon said. “Although he’s definitely hiding something.”
“Well, no shit.”
“Which means, this Sesla is almost assuredly the real Abigail.”
“How does that follow?”
“The reason he wants you to be the only person that goes through, is because he suspects that I won’t be telling you what I’m about to tell you. Because you can’t tell Abigail.”
“Wait, what?”
“As a Demigod, she has some powers.”
“Well, yeah, her dreams.”
“Not exactly,” Harkon said. “Her dreams were caused by her powers, but her powers aren’t dream related. They are probability related. She warps probability around herself, so that unlikely things happen.”
“What? Why shouldn’t she know this?”
“Because she already blames herself for all sorts of bad things that happen around her. If she were to learn of this, don’t you think she would feel justified in that self blame?”
“No! Maybe. She still deserves to know. But how does that confirm that it’s really Abigail?”
“Director Teleros is aware of her abilities, and wanted to study them. I told him no.”
“But if he has a future version of Abigail that is no longer part of our group, he has free reign,” Mary said. “Maybe. I mean, even if this is Abigail, she’s taken the identity of Sesla, so I have to imagine she has at least somewhat equivalent magic, which would make it difficult for Teleros to trick her.”
“Yes, which means your job won’t be to determine if this is the real Abigail, so much as it will be to determine how they are planning on researching her abilities without her stopping them.”
“So, we’re thinking Chronos named the planet?” Melinda asked.
“Maybe even created it,” Jack said. “I was skimming Tesla’s daily report earlier, and they think the planet might have been artificially created. And I mean, I don’t know if Chronos has that kind of power or not, but if anyone does, a Progenitor would be a good guess.”
“It would also explain the temporal anomalies,” Melinda said. “I don’t know about planet creation, but the anomalies would certainly be within his abilities. So, do we approach him about this?”
“I mean, I know places we can go to find him. He lives under the Vatican in the twentieth century.”
“Hmm, I wonder if that’s related to why Hercules joined the Pontifical Swiss Guard.”
“Oh, that’s right, you’ve mentioned that before,” Jack said. “Might be related.”
Mary went through the time door, and appeared on the Oracle. The time door had been placed in Sesla’s throne room. There were a few TDD scientists near it, and Abigail-Sesla was seated on her throne. A few of her followers were also present, but she waved them away and they left as Mary went up to her.
“Welcome Mary,” Abigail-Sesla said. “I take it you’re here to determine that I am who I say I am.”
“That is correct,” Mary said, as she glanced at the scientists who were still in the room. “Can we go somewhere more private?”
“Of course,” Abigail-Sesla said. She snapped her fingers, and suddenly the two of them were in a room with a clear dome, giving them a view of space.
“I haven’t seen this place before,” Mary said.
“I don’t think it was actually a part of the timeline during your previous visits. I had it constructed.”
“It’s quite a spectacular view.”
“Yes, it is.” Abigail-Sesla had her eyes not on the stars outside, but on Mary. “I’ve missed you quite a bit.”
“I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be so old.”
“Not many can. The Progenitors, certainly. Theoretically other Gods and Demigods will eventually, but most don’t have the advantage of time travel to get so old by this era. And there was this one guy from another universe who was even older than I am.”
“Huh, so I guess it’s time to figure out if you really are Abigail.”
“So, how to you intend to do that?” Abigail-Sesla asked.
“When are you planning on approaching Chronos?” Harkon asked after Jack and Melinda had told him what they had figured out.
“We’re thinking sometime post 1970s,” Jack said. “Just to make sure it’s after my previous meeting with him.”
“He’s a God of time, so it might not matter,” Melinda said. “But still, better to take what precautions we can.”
“Indeed,” Harkon said. “But you don’t want to go too much later, because as far as I know we don’t know how long he’ll continue living under the Vatican.”
“Yeah, what’s the earliest time we can visit past that?” Jack asked.
“1984 is the closest I know of,” Melinda said.
“Let me see,” Harkon said as he brought up the information on his computer. “Yes, it is indeed 1984.”
“Then we’ll go then, and see what we can learn,” Melinda said.
“Good luck,” Harkon said.
“Scans show that your DNA does mostly match Abigail,” Mary said. “Minus the chunks that we already know change as the result of certain high level types of magic.”
“So, are you convinced yet?” Abigail-Sesla asked.
“I mean, that sort of high level magic would also make it possible for you to mess with the scanner.”
“What if I tell you something only you and I would know? Like the first time we kissed. It was aboard Sandra’s ship in this very time period.”
“Hmm, the problem is I don’t know if anyone else may have found that out at some point. Like, I haven’t told anyone, and as far as I know, my Abigail hasn’t either, but eventually one of us might. Plus, the original Sesla knew all sorts of things that she shouldn’t. So, if you’re just her posing as Abigail having taken your identity, you might still know that somehow anyway.”
“What reason would I have to lie?”
“I don’t know, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one.”
“What will it take?”
“If you are really Abigail, why did you become Sesla? And why would you have got to this era from the Cretaceous the long way? Even if you wanted to take over for her after Deanna’s future was changed, wouldn’t you have just taken over when it was changed?”
“I did do so to protect the timeline, to an extent, but in order to become Sesla I had to become a powerful wizard.”
“I thought Sesla was a mage.”
“She was, but I’m a Demigod, which means I have hereditary magic. It’s easy enough to pretend to be a mage when you’re a wizard though. And I mean, I did still need to learn how to use and improve my magic, so you could maybe say I’m both. And that took time.”
“Surely not ten of millions of years.”
“I also had to spend more time learning about time, which is a lot more complicated than we give it credit for. At this point, I possibly even know more about time than the Clockmaker, or even Chronos.”
“Did you set out to replace Sesla initially?”
“Not initially, no. My original intent was to save Curtis’ father. The decision to abandon that goal, and become Sesla, came later.”
“Why?”
Abigail entered the gym and saw Ohm weightlifting. Ghost Jack was spotting him.
“Hey Abigail,” Ghost Jack said. “I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen you set foot in this gym.”
“Hello,” Ohm said. “I haven’t seen you in here before either.”
“Yeah, I just needed to walk around a bit,” Abigail said. “And I was tired of just pacing back and forth in my room.”
“Getting a bit restless being stuck on base?” Ghost Jack asked.
“I mean, I’d be fine with that, if it weren’t for Mary going and meeting what is possibly my future self,” Abigail said. “That whole situation just weirds me out.”
“Did you at least tell her a code phrase before she left, so that she could determine that it is actually a future you?” Ghost Jack asked.
“No, but now I wish I had,” Abigail said. “Wait, how much time do you spend in the gym that you’ve taken notice of the fact that I don’t ever come here? You’re a Ghost, you don’t exercise.”
“He just enjoys my company,” Ohm said. “I think he has a bit of a crush on me.”
Melinda and Jack were going through Vatican City, heading towards their destination. They were using ESS credentials to get through.
“So, how much does the Catholic Church know about the ESS anyway?” Jack asked.
“Some,” Melinda said. “The Pope is allowed into meetings with the oversight committee, but doesn’t have any authority on it.”
As they were walking, there was a voice from behind. “Melinda, is that you?”
Melinda turned around, to see Hercules walking up to them. “Hey Herc, long time no see,” she said.
“What are you doing here?” Hercules asked.
“I think the better question is what are you doing here?” Jack asked. “I thought you were part of the Swiss Guard back in the forties, but this is the eighties, and you’re not dressed for the part.”
“My role here these days is a bit less official, and a bit more secret,” Hercules said. “But it’s still related to security.”
“We’re with the ESS,” Melinda said. “We’re authorized to be here.”
“We’re going to be seeing your great great great grandfather,” Jack said. “At least, I think that’s the right number of greats…I don’t know, your ancestry gets a bit confusing.”
“I can’t argue with that,” Hercules said. “But even if you’re authorized to be here, that doesn’t mean you have the authority to see Chronos.”
“I’ve met him before,” Jack said. “And I guess technically he’s my ancestor too, just gotta add an extra great, since I’m the son of one of your siblings.”
“You’ll have to be more specific,” Hercules said. “I have a lot of siblings.”
“Aphrodite,” Jack said.
“Oh yeah?” Hercules asked. “Do you know where she’s been the past few decades? It’s like she just dropped off the face of the Earth back in the 40s.”
“That’s classified, I’m afraid,” Melinda said. “But we do need to talk with Chronos. And you do still owe me a favor.”
“That was thousands of years ago,” Hercules said. “I can’t believe you’re still bringing it up.”
“You know I’m a time traveller,” Melinda said. “It was only a few years ago for me.”
“Right, right, fine,” Hercules said. “I mean, if you piss him off too much, he’ll just erase you from existence anyway, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Why?” Mary asked.
“By the time I even got to an era where Humanity had evolved, I had already long since got over my guilt,” Abigail-Sesla said. “You spend tens of millions of years without anyone to talk to, and it kind of changes your perspective on things. They change even more when you start having people to interact with again, but everyone you do so with dies eventually.”
“And you don’t miss them?”
“Of course I miss people, but even still, I’ve gotten used to losing people. And on top of that, I’ve realized that I can’t blame myself for stuff that’s out of my control, even if it is as a result of coincidences brought on by my powers.”
“So, you know about those?” Mary asked.
“I do, although I don’t imagine that will convince you anymore than the tale of our first kiss.”
“Mr. Smith thinks that you are who you say you are, and that the TDD are using this as an opportunity to study your powers.”
“Oh, they are certainly trying to, but as smart as Rupert Teleros is, he and his people have yet to figure out a way to do so.”
Jack and Melinda entered Chronos’ room. Unlike the last visit, he was in the form of a Human this time, and appeared to be reading a book. He looked up and smiled as they entered. “Ah, Jack Masterson, good to see you again. And Melinda Summers as well this time. What can I do for you two?”
“We’re here to ask you about Kyklos,” Melinda said.
“The political cycle?” Chronos asked.
“The planet,” Jack said.
Chronos put down his book, and stood up, the smile leaving his face. “What do you know about it?”
“Deanna was using it as a base of operations,” Jack said. “We managed to stop her, but what with the complicated temporal mechanics in play, it may not be for good.”
“Foolish younglings messing with forces beyond your compression,” Chronos said, his voice booming, before he vanished.
“Did we play this wrong?” Melinda asked. “Should we have built up to it?”
“I don’t know,” Jack said. “Not quite sure what he’s left to do.”
“Mr. Tesla, I have just detected something unusual,” ERK-147 said as it entered Nikola’s office.
“What is it?” Nikola asked, looking up from his computer.
“I don’t know, but it seems to be appearing all over the base, wherever there are people, at which point they are disappearing.”
“That’s not good,” Nikola said.
Chronos suddenly appeared in the room. “Begone, fools,” he said.
“So, I was right?” Harkon asked.
“I mean, I’m still not entirely convinced that she’s a future version of Abigail,” Mary said. “But it definitely seems possible, maybe even likely. But yes, she did say that the TDD is trying to study her powers.”
“Did she mention how?” Harkon asked.
“They have a lot of sensor apparatuses set up, but none that can penetrate her magical defenses.”
“Hmm, they could still be researching them in less direct ways. Since probability is warped in proximity to her, they could be concentrating on the effects around her, instead of just directly scanning her.”
“How would they do that?” Mary asked.
“I don’t know, but if anyone could figure it out, Rupert Teleros could.”
Melinda and Jack returned to base through the time door. Philip Wilson was on duty in the time door room. “Welcome back,” he said. “How was the mission? Helpful?”
“I mean, Chronos definitely knows about the planet,” Jack said. “Didn’t seem too happy when we brought it up though, so we weren’t able to learn much.”
“Speaking of, Mr. Tesla has missed his most recent check-in,” Philip said.
“That’s not good,” Melinda said. “We’ll go check it out right away. Jack, see if Imhotep is up for this mission. Even in his new body, he’s still probably the most powerful magic user we have at the moment.”
“Yeah, I’ll get him and the Ghost of my temporal duplicate,” Jack said.
“Is Mary back yet?” Melinda asked Philip.
“Yeah, she’s talking with Harkon right now,” Philip said.
“Okay, we’ll get a team ready, and then head out as soon as we can,” Melinda said.
“What happened?” Nikola asked to the darkness surrounding him. It was pitch black. He started reaching around, looking for anything.
“I don’t know,” ERK-147 said. “But I believe we were teleported somewhere.”
“Is anyone else here?” Nikola asked.
“Yes, sir,” one of the other agents, Mark Connor said. “All of us that were on the rogue planet seem to be here.”
“I can’t see anything,” Nikola said. “ERK-147, what are your sensors picking up?”
“Not much, unfortunately,” ERK-147 said. “I can detect all of us, and we appear to be in some sort of cubical room, but my sensors can’t penetrate the edges of it. Also, all of the walls and floor and ceiling appear to be completely flat and smooth surfaces.”
“How smooth?” Nikola asked.
“There are no imperfections in them,” ERK-147 said. “I don’t know who would have put this much effort into it.”
On Earth, in the same era, Melinda and her team stepped out of the time door. Her team included Jack, Ghost Jack, Mary, Imhotep, and Ohm.
“What can we do for you today?” the TDD agent, Robin Michaels asked.
“We need to get use of a starship to go out to the rogue planet, Kyklos,” Melinda said. “I’ll need to talk with Admiral Teleros about that.”
“I’ll set up a comm channel right away,” Robin said.
Admiral Jon Teleros appeared on the screen on one of the walls almost immediately. “Agent Summers, good to see you, I was just about to send you a message myself.”
“What kind of message?” Melinda asked.
“The rogue planet just disappeared,” Jon said. “We don’t know why, or how.”
“It’s gotta be Chronos,” Jack said. “He’s not happy with us mere mortals using his planet.”
“Chronos?” Jon asked. “Like the Greek God of time?”
“Yeah,” Melinda said. “We think he might have created the planet. Either way, could we get a ride to where the planet was, see if we can maybe figure out where it went?”
“Yeah, the Unity is out on patrol, but the Destiny just returned to Earth for some repairs. It’ll be ready to leave tomorrow, if you can wait.”
“If that’s the best you can do, I guess we’ll have to,” Melinda said.
To be continued…
#Jack Masterson#Melinda Summers#Mary Bishop#Abigail Esau#Harkon Smith#Nikola Tesla#ERK-147#Jeri Quill#Rupert Teleros#Sesla#Chronos#Hercules#Oracle#Vatican#temporal development division#Ohm#time travel#time door#Kyklos#rogue planet#Chrono Hustle#Eric J. Barkman
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Simple Complications #200
youtube
For #200, I’m once again doing something out of the ordinary. In this case it’s a conversation between two mysterious individuals. Clearly this is connected to the documents that a few of the characters found and decoded, but what does it mean for the future?
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Simple Complications #191
Drake typed ‘ESS’ into the search engine. A bunch of results came up, but nothing that seemed relevant. He then tried typing ‘Joshua Teleros’ in. Still nothing relevant. ‘Jon Teleros’ brought up a few articles, but nothing that seemed to be of use.
Drake deleted the browser history, before getting up and leaving the library. As he walked away from it, he tried thinking of other avenues of search.
#Drake Bartel#search engine#ESS#Joshua Teleros#Jon Teleros#browser#history#library#Simple Complications#Eric J. Barkman
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Simple Complications #151
“It looks like it’s a fairly simple code,” Jack said. “The letters are just switched with each other in pairs.”
“Huh, you’re right,” Abigail said as she started decoding the documents.
“Hmm, and it looks like this is from General Joshua Teleros,” Jack said. “Good for him, getting a promotion.”
“So, these are for you then?”
“I don’t know,” Jack said, as he looked at the computer screen. “I’m not exactly seeing anything about my… line of work. Although I’m not sure you should be reading this?”
“Why? Because of the talk about aliens?”
“Well, I guess if you’ve already gotten that far, there’s not much I can do to stop you.”
“Oh, good. I was worried you were going to say you’d have to kill me.”
“I’m not that kind of secret agent.”
#Abigail Esau#Jack Masterson#code#documents#Joshua Teleros#aliens#secret agent#Simple Complications#Chrono Hustle#crossover#Eric J. Barkman
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Chrono Hustle #13 The Extraction
Harkon Smith woke up in the ESS base. He looked around, noticing Colonel Joshua Teleros, who was frozen like a statue, and realized that the two of them must have been time frozen by Aphrodite in the KOKON base.
They were in a storage room, and he walked over to the door, and opened it slightly. Outside he noticed Mary Bishop talking with that girl from the French Resistance, Rosalie Chevalier. Harkon cleared his throat as he opened the door fully and came out.
“Mr. Smith, sir, you’re awake,” Mary said.
“Yes, how long was I out?” Harkon asked.
“It’s been about a week,” Mary said. “Jack was fine after only a few hours, but it’s taken a bit longer for you and the Colonel.”
“Right,” Harkon said. “Could you get Jack and Melinda. We’ll need to have a talk about what happened.”
“Of course,” Mary said as she went off.
“And I suppose you’ll be wanting me to be somewhere else,” Rosalie said. “To keep me from learning anything classified.”
“I would appreciate it,” Harkon said.
Jack Masterson and Melinda Summers were in another room in the base, playing a game of chess. Jack had just moved a knight into position to take Melinda’s king.
“Check,” Jack said. “You know, something’s been bugging me.”
“What’s that?” Melinda asked as she moved her king.
“We’ve only been here a few weeks,” Jack said. “It was about a week and a half that we’ve been in this time period before we went to that KOKON base and found out Aphrodite had taken it over.”
“Right.”
“So, where was the experimental jet that the ESS agents were supposed to use to escape in the original unaltered timeline? I’m guessing it took longer than a few weeks to build, so our presence couldn’t have changed that, but none of the agents found it.”
“We didn’t search the whole base,” Melinda said. “But I’m guessing you already considered that.”
“We searched enough of it that I was able to get a rudimentary idea of the layout. There wouldn’t be room for it anywhere other than the auditorium where Aphrodite was working.”
“It did have hangar doors. I noticed that as we were carrying you guys out. And that means they probably moved it.”
“Possibly to make room for Aphrodite’s projects.”
Mary came in at that moment. “Mr. Smith is awake,” she said. “He wants to talk with us.”
“Okay,” Melinda said as she moved her bishop. “Oh, and checkmate.”
Jack looked at the board. “Dammit.”
Harkon had sat down behind a desk, where he was waiting when Jack, Melinda, and Mary came in. “So, where are we at?” he asked.
“We have reason to believe that the creator of the time doors is in New York,” Melinda said.
“And the base we encountered Aphrodite in has been destroyed,” Jack added. “But we believe the experimental jet was moved before our failed mission there.”
“Which brings up the next problem,” Harkon said. “The mission was supposed to be a failure, but not in the way that we experienced. We now have several ESS agents who should not be alive, but are, and some that should be in the United States, but are still here in Paris.”
“We’re not gonna kill them are we?” Mary asked.
“Normal procedure when someone survives who was supposed to die, is to bring them into the TRD, either as agents or prisoners,” Melinda explained.
“But we’re on our own, and on the run from the TRD right now, which is going to make that a bit difficult,” Harkon said. “Especially since we don’t have access to the time door.”
“So, what’s the plan, sir?” Melinda asked.
“We’ll have to locate the jet, and use it to get to New York,” Harkon said.
“And the ESS agents?” Jack asked.
“Yes, what about us?” Joshua asked as he came into the room.
“How much did you hear?” Harkon asked.
“Enough,” Joshua said. “Was I supposed to die, or was I one of the ones who escaped back to the States?”
“You escaped,” Harkon said. “I think the best option is for all of us to get to the United States, and for those agents who were supposed to die to join up with us, while you report them as dead.”
“I don’t know that I feel especially comfortable with that plan,” Joshua said.
“Well, we can’t do much to stop you if you decide against us,” Harkon said. “But I ask that you think about it.”
Later that day, Melinda was looking through the files they had stolen from KOKON, trying to find anything of use. Unfortunately the files were from a different base than where they had encountered Aphrodite, so it was not as simple as locating a transfer notice.
There was information on some of the other bases, including sizes, so it was possible to narrow down the possible options, assuming the base the jet went to was even amongst the ones listed in the files, and assuming it was even still in France. Based on it’s range and speeds, it could be anywhere on the planet.
“Checkmate,” Harkon said as he moved his rook into position to take out Jack’s king.
“Yeah, well, if we were playing poker I’d totally win,” Jack said.
“Perhaps,” Harkon said.
“Sonic booms,” Melinda said as she came into the room.
“What?” Jack asked.
“If the jet went a large distance, it would have created sonic booms,” Melinda said. “If it didn’t then we can know it’s still somewhere in the area.”
“It’s not much,” Harkon said. “But it is a starting point. I’ll check with the Colonel, see if their equipment picked up anything. And where’s Mary at?”
“She’s out, with Rosalie,” Jack said. “They’ve been spending a lot of time together this past week.”
“Hmm,” Harkon said. “Is this something we should be concerned with?”
“I don’t think so, sir,” Melinda said. “I think she’s just glad to have a bit of time to unwind.”
“It really is a beautiful city,” Mary said.
“Yes, even after spending the last couple of years here, I am still enchanted by it,” Rosalie said. “When the war is over, I don’t know if I will want to leave and go back to farm life.”
“After…” Mary said. “I haven’t even considered what I’m going to do after this situation I’m in. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to go home.”
“You could stay here,” Rosalie said.
“I can’t, not once we find a way to continue our mission anyway. It’s too important.”
“I understand. But until then, we can still enjoy ourselves. Here is that restaurant I was telling you of.”
“What the hell is a sonic boom?” Joshua asked Harkon.
“It’s the sound created when something goes faster than the speed of sound,” Harkon explained. “The equipment you have in place should have been able to detect if any happened in the area.”
“Well, I suppose you can look over the readouts if you want,” Joshua said.
“Thank you.”
“But I’ve spoken with my superior about your situation.”
“And?”
“He relayed it to his superior, who relayed it to his superior, and so on up until it reached the director himself. And he contacted me directly, to tell me that he wants to meet with you, to discuss the situation. So, we are supposed to go to London and meet with him.”
“Well, we should be able to use the jet to stop off in London, before moving on to New York.”
“An extraction team is being sent in to get all of us. Me, my people, you, and your people. So, you can look into the data, and try to locate this jet, but you’re not taking it.”
“I understand,” Harkon said.
“Checkmate,” Melinda said to Jack as she placed her knight.
“Seriously?” Jack said. “Why can’t I win at this?”
“Because, you’re concentrating too much on short term gains, rather than looking at the bigger picture,” Melinda said. “I thought you were a con-artist, don’t tell me you’ve never pulled a long con?”
“No, I have, I guess I just haven’t been thinking of the game that way,” Jack said. “Maybe I’m out of practice.”
Melinda looked over as Harkon entered the room. “What’s the word, sir?” she asked.
“The Director of the ESS wants to meet with us. We’re being extracted, and moved to London.”
“What about the jet?” Melinda asked. “If I’m remembering correctly, it’s important to history that it gets to the United States.”
“Yes, and I’m sure that the Director will agree, once we’ve explained the situation to him,” Harkon said.
“But by that time it’ll be even more difficult to locate it,” Jack said.
“Not to mention it’s usage could further alter the timeline,” Melinda said.
“Which is why the extraction is going to miss you two,” Harkon said.
“I had a nice time,” Mary said as she and Rosalie returned to the ESS base.
“Me too,” Rosalie said. “I’ll see you again tomorrow.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Mary went inside as Rosalie left. Harkon was sitting in a chair, reading a book. He looked up as she came in.
“Welcome back, Mary,” he said. “I was wondering if we were going to have to go find you.”
“Has something come up?” she asked.
“We’re leaving Paris, tonight. The ESS is sending an extraction team, and we’ll be heading to London.”
“Tonight?”
“Yes, is that a problem?”
“No, I just didn’t realize we’d be leaving so soon. I haven’t had a chance to say goodbye to Rosalie.”
“It can’t be helped, I’m afraid.”
Meanwhile, Jack and Melinda had already left the base. Sergeant Philip Wilson had noticed them leaving, but they had told him they were just going down the block to have a quick supper before they left.
“We’re being followed,” Melinda said.
“Yeah, I see him too,” Jack said.
“We’re already a few blocks away,” Melinda said. “Which means he knows we were lying.”
“But he doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t want to cause a scene,” Jack opened his jacket and looked inside. “Hey, ERK, can you tell if he’s radioed back to the base yet?”
“He has not,” ERK-147 said.
“So, what do we do?” Jack asked.
“We’ll have to split up, and whoever he doesn’t follow will have to sneak around behind him and knock him out.”
“And then what?”
“And then we’ll have to keep him incapacitated until the others have been extracted.”
“That’s a terrible plan.”
“Do you have a better one?”
“No.”
Back at the base, Harkon was still reading the same book he had been earlier. As he was reading, Joshua came into the room.
“Where did Jack and Melinda disappear to?” Joshua asked.
“Hmm.” Harkon looked up from his book. “Oh, they went down the street for some supper. One of your men followed after them, I believe.”
“So, they’re not planning on trying to stay behind? Because I notice those printouts I gave you of our readings aren’t around here anywhere.”
“Really, that’s odd,” Harkon said.
Melinda snuck up behind Philip. He had followed Jack, allowing her to double back and follow him. She was keeping her distance at first, but slowly closing it. While he was occasionally glancing back, she was mostly keeping pedestrians in between them. But then, she noticed him reaching for his radio, and she ran up to him, knocking it out of his hand.
“What the,” he said as he started to turn around.
She kicked out his legs, causing him to stumble. He tried to regain his balance, but she used that time to move back behind him, and grab him in a chokehold. The fight was starting to draw an audience, so she started pulling the struggling Philip into a nearby alley.
He stopped struggling, and she lessened the hold. He still did not struggle, so she stopped the choking, as she pulled him into the alley. While there were still a lot of people watching, it was clear no one wanted to get involved. The ones who were closest to the alley ended up having to jump out of the way though, when a car drove up to it, and stopped.
“Get in,” Jack said from the driver’s seat.
“Where’d you get this?” Melinda asked as she put Philip in the back, and climbed into the front passenger seat.
“I stole it. It’s no triceratops, but it’ll have to do.”
Harkon put down his book, and looked at the time. It was getting late, and he assumed the extraction would be happening soon. He was extremely curious about the details of how it would happen.
“Wilson isn’t responding on the radio,” Joshua said as he came into the room. “Mind telling me what’s going on?”
“He isn’t?” Harkon asked. “That’s odd. Will there be time to search before the extraction?”
“I tried contacting him hours ago, and I’ve had my people searching since then.”
“So, no, there isn’t anymore time, is there?”
“Damn you, no, there isn’t. But you’d better have a damn good reason to give the director when you meet with him. Now get ready, we head out in five minutes.”
“What is this place?” Melinda asked as she and Jack carried the still unconscious Philip into a small apartment.
“It’s a safe house, of sorts,” Jack said.
“Yeah, you mentioned that on the way here, without mentioning how you have a safe house in this time.”
“It’s not specifically mine. Con artists have been using this place since the twenties, possibly earlier. I first found out about it from a mentor of mine, and I’ve used it a couple times. I’m just glad no one else is using it at the moment.”
“And what if someone decides to use it while we’re here?”
“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Jack said as he walked over to the window, and closed the shades. “Open shades means unused, closed means occupied.”
“Well then, I guess it’s time to look through that data.”
“So, now what?” Mary asked. She was with Harkon, Joshua, and the rest of the ESS agents, minus the missing Philip. They were standing next to the Seine.
“Just watch,” Joshua said.
The water started moving, as objects started coming up. They looked like barrels, but long enough to fit a human in comfortably. They also had a propellor on one end. The tops slid open.
“Climb in one,” Joshua said. “They have some sort of auto-pilot, so as soon as you are comfortably inside, it’ll shut, and you’ll be on your way.”
Mary paused as she looked at one close to the shore, while many of the agents climbed into various of the vehicles.
“I didn’t realize the ESS had anything like this,” Harkon said.
“So then, maybe you’re knowledge of history isn’t as good as you thought it was,” Joshua said. “Problem, Miss Bishop?”
“I’m not to fond of water,” Mary said. She stepped into the vehicle she had been eyeing, with one foot. She could feel it swaying in the water, but stepped in with the other foot, and lied down. It closed, and Mary thought it seemed uncomfortably like a coffin.
Jack looked at the papers in front of him. He was finally starting to get a handle on how to read the data, although he still was not completely sure what exactly he was looking for. He glanced over at Melinda, who was glaring at the papers in front of her.
“Anything?” he asked.
“Not yet. The ESS has listening equipment set up all over, giving great coverage, but it’s a matter of weeding out the other sources, such as thunder and bullets. They’re easy enough to differentiate, but it does make it take longer.”
“Right,” Jack agreed as he looked back at the papers in front of him.
Over in the corner, Philip was starting to come to. He had been tied up and, as he woke up, he began struggling against the ropes.
“What the bloody hell is going on here?” he asked.
“Sorry about that,” Jack said. “But we have important matters to attend to, and so we had to avoid going to London.”
“What kind of matters?” Philip asked.
“That’s classified,” Melinda said.
“By who?” Philip asked. “Because I was under the impression that our orders to return came right from the top.”
“Don’t answer his question,” Melinda said.
“I wasn’t planning on it,” Jack said.
“Just making sure,” Melinda said.
“You may not be willing to tell me, but sooner or later they’re going to find us, and then you’ll have to explain yourself to the director,” Philip said.
“Well, Harkon is on the way to talk with him,” Melinda said. “So I’m sure he’ll get this all squared away before then.”
Harkon was not certain how long he had been in the submersible. It was pitch black inside it, but he could hear and feel it moving through the water. It gave him a lot of time to think about the situation he was in, not that he had not already been doing that quite a bit since coming to this era.
He did manage to think a few things through, though. For one, it was clear that the TRD and TDD did not know they were in this era. Since they were unable to use the time door, they would have likely sent someone to 1875, and had them get to 1942 the long way. But since Harkon and his team had not encountered anyone it was likely that the divisions had not realized they were in this time.
As Harkon was considering this though, the top of the vehicle slid open, and he saw someone he did not recognize.
“Welcome to London,” the man said.
Jack woke up to light streaming in the window around the edges of the shades. He was feeling a little sore, as he had fallen asleep at the desk. He glanced over to the corner to see that Philip was still tied up, and had fallen asleep. And Melinda was still seated at her desk as well, also having fallen asleep.
Jack felt a rumbling in his stomach. He checked the cupboards, but they were unsurprisingly bare. He wrote a note to Melinda, telling her he was going out to get some food, and then left to do just that.
Harkon, Mary, and Joshua stepped into the office of the Director of the ESS. It was smaller than Harkon had expected, only being a little larger than Harkon’s old office at the TRD. The walls were lined with books, and at the back was a desk, with a heavy built and elderly man.
“Hello, sir,” Joshua said.
“Colonel Teleros,” the Director said. “I understand you lost two of the time travellers.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I had them stay behind,” Harkon said. “To try and repair the damage done to the timeline.”
“Right,” the Director said. “Colonel, would you excuse us.”
“Of course, sir.” Joshua immediately left the room.
“I need specifics,” the Director said.
“Can we trust him?” Mary asked, turning to Harkon.
“We can,” Harkon said, and he then began explaining the situation.
Back in Paris, Melinda woke up. She immediately noticed that Jack was gone. She looked over to see that Philip was still tied up, and asleep. She looked down at her desk, and saw the note from Jack there, mentioning that he had gone out to get some food.
She looked at the papers of data in front of her, to see where she had left off before falling asleep. She was systematically going through the information by time and location. She was up to the time when they had escaped from that KOKON base they had been held at after first coming to this era, and she was looking at data from near that base. And there it was, a spike in the charts, consistent with a sonic boom.
She checked it across other listening devices in the area, and figured out that the boom was from it moving away from the base, which meant it had arrived there at subsonic speeds, and left at supersonic speeds. Now she just had to plot it’s course, and figure out where it went.
Harkon finished his explanation, as the Director sat there, stroking his chin.
“Do you know which of the agents were supposed to die on that mission?” he finally asked.
“I do,” Harkon said.
“Why, what are you planning?” Mary asked.
“Well, you will be needing agents to fill your department in the ESS,” the Director said. “Harkon Smith, I am immediately making you the head of a department dealing with time travel, in order to figure out what exactly the TDD is up to, and a way to stop them. After figuring out how to travel through time again, at any rate, which I suppose is your first mission. So, I guess we’d better get you to New York.”
Jack entered the safe house, carrying groceries, and saw Melinda drawing on a map.
“I take it you’ve found a trail,” Jack said.
“Yeah, but you’re not going to like it,” Melinda said.
“Oh, where does it go?”
“Well, unfortunately we can only track the progress up to Belgium, but based on the flight path, I think I know where it was going.”
“Don’t tell me.”
“It was on a direct path to Berlin.”
“I said don’t tell me.”
“You’re going to Berlin?” Philip asked. It seems he had woken up during the conversation.
“Looks that way,” Melinda said. “Which means you have two choices, we can leave you behind, or you can come with and try to help us.”
“That’s not much of a choice,” Philip said.
“Sorry, but we’re not exactly in a great situation to begin with,” Jack said. “None of us are.”
“I suppose not,” Philip said. “I will go with you, under the condition that you let me in on the situation.”
Jack and Melinda exchanged glances, and Melinda shrugged.
“That is a long story, so I guess I’ll start at the beginning,” Jack said.
To be continued…
#Jack Masterson#Melinda Summer#Mary Bishop#Harkon Smith#Joshua Teleros#ESS#Philip Wilson#Mycroft Holmes#Paris#London#Berlin#KOKON#Rosalie Chevalier#Chrono Hustle#World War 2#1942#Eric J. Barkman
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