#Rupert Teleros

[ericbarkman]

Tales of WID 72 #18 Out of the Fire

     “So, what do you make of him?” Detective Pauline Belton asked her partner, Detective Melsa Ripley.  They were looking through the one way window into the interview room at the police station.  The man in there had been found cutting his way out of a huge flying reptile that had crashed in the street.  He was walking back and forth, and looking at everything with wide eyes and an open mouth.      “Not sure,” Melsa said.  “I ran his speech through a translator, and you’ll never guess what it is.”      “What?”      “English.”      “Then why does it sound like nonsense?”      “Old English, like two thousand years old.”      “I mean, that creature did look like a Dragon,” Pauline said.  “But what, a Dragon ate a guy back in like 1007 or whatever, and he somehow is still alive now in 3007?  That seems unlikely for a number of reasons.  Did you get anything useful from what he said?”      “His name is William, and he is a farmer.  Apparently he was fighting off some invading army, when these Dragons attacked as well, and one of them ate him.  He says he was only it for hours, at most.  You know what I’m thinking?”      “If you say time travel again, I am going to put in a request for a new partner.”      “It makes sense.  And just wait, if Agent Blackwood comes to take over this case, that’ll just prove it.”      “Time travel isn’t real, Agent Blackwood works for Interpol, not some secret time travel police, and you’re ridiculous.”           William looked over as two women entered the room.  He recognized Melsa as she had already been talking to him, but the other was new.  She was dressed similarly though.      “Hello, William, I’m Detective Pauline Belton.”      “Hello,” William said.  He did not understand the magic with which they made themselves understandable to him, and vice versa, but he thought it a good thing that they could communicate.  Not that they had explained anything of use to him yet.      “Do you know where you are?” Pauline asked.      “Detective Melsa Ripley said a city called San Francisco,” William said.  “But I do not know where that is.”      “Where are you from?” Pauline asked.      “A farm, by the fortress town of Celliwig,” William said.      Pauline looked at Melsa, who shrugged.  “According to the historical records, it’s a place connected with King Arthur,” Melsa said.      “Who’s King Arthur?” William asked.      “Not important,” Pauline said.  “Do you know how you got here?”      “I was swallowed by that Dragon, and by the time I was able to cut myself out, it had travelled to this San Francisco of yours.  I do not know how, and this place is clearly some sort of magical realm, but you do look Human, even if your clothing is strange.”      “Nothing magical about this realm,” Pauline said.      “Then how else are we able to understand each other despite the differences in our languages?”  William asked.  “Or that flying horseless carriage I was brought here in.  Or some of those buildings I saw in the city as we came here.  Even aside from how tall so many of them were, there were buildings that seemed to be floating in the air, and I think I saw people disappearing from the top of one building, and appearing on the top of another.”      “None of that is magic,” Pauline said.  “It’s technology.”      “If you say so,” William said.           Pauline started pacing after returning to the office she shared with Melsa, who sat down.  “So, what are we thinking?” Pauline asked.  “Like, near as I can tell he hasn’t committed any crimes, so we need to let him go, but where are we letting him go to?  And what do we do about those supposed Dragons.  I mean, they’ve gotta be some kind of alien species, right?”      “Cardaillians look kind of like Dragons,” Melsa said.  “Possibly these are other species from their planet.”      “If so, this is a bit above our pay grade.  But if that’s the case, how does William figure into this?”      “You see why I’m thinking…”      “Don’t say time travel,” Pauline interrupted.      There was a beep on the comm before their supervisor, Captain Maven Travers started talking.  “Detectives, Agent Blackwood is here to take over your investigation.”      “What?” Pauline asked.  “Why?”      “Because clearly there is time travel involved,” Melsa said.      “Not this again,” Maven said.  “Just have everything ready for Agent Blackwood, and she’ll be down to your office in five minutes.”  The comm went silent.      “Five minutes?” Pauline asked.  “We’re going to need time travel.”      “Not really,” Melsa said.  “It’s not like we really don’t have a whole lot of anything.”           Agent Sarina Blackwood took the elevator down and walked through the hallway.  She had been here enough times that she knew her way around.  Upon arrival at Pauline and Melsa’s office, she knocked on the door.      “Come in,” Pauline said.      Sarina opened the door and walked in.  “Good day detectives,” she said.      “We don’t have a lot of info on whatever happened,” Pauline said  “But we’ll give you all we have.”      “Transferring it over right now,” Melsa said as she pressed a few buttons on her computer pad.      “And I understand you also found a Human in one of the creatures?” Sarina asked.      “Yeah, William, he cut his way out,” Paulin said.  “He’s in one of the interview rooms.  I can take you there.  Follow me.”      Pauline led the way out of the office, and led Sarina to the interview room, and led her in, but someone else was already in there with William.  His grey hair and wrinkled face indicated his age, but there was a certain amount of vigor in his eyes.  Sarina did not immediately recognize him, but there was something familiar about him.  William was sitting off to the side.  He was watching, but not doing anything.      “Ah, Agent Blackwood, I was wondering how long you would be,” he said.      “Who are you and what are you doing here?” Pauline asked.      “Agent Cid Jameson, with Interpol” he said as he revealed his badge.  “Could Agent Blackwood and I have the room?”      “Right,” Pauline said as she went out.      “Who are you really?” Sarina asked after turning on a scrambler to make sure no one could be listening in.      “You want to have the conversation in front of him?”  The man pointed at William.      “It doesn’t matter what he hears,” Sarina said.      “I suppose not.  I am Rupert Teleros.”      “Wait, the Rupert Teleros?” Sarina asked.  “What are you doing here?”      “I’m with the TRD now, just like yourself, although my membership is something of a secret.  But you can check with Director Wilcox to confirm it.  And I’ll be taking William with me.”      “I’m in charge of dealing with the incursion of the Dragons through the time door.”      “You are, yes, with one exception.  William was supposed to die in that battle.  His survival is a change to history, so we’re considering making him an agent, and I’ll be overseeing that.”           “Maybe this Cid is another time agent?” Melsa said.      “Agent Blackwood was really surprised to see him, and I’m not sure she actually knew who he was,” Sarina said.  “He did look familiar though.”      “The way you described him, kinda reminds me of my grandpa.”      “You say that about every old guy, which leads me to believe your grandpa is the most generic old guy ever.  And I don’t know, this whole situation just seems weird to me.”      “That’s because of the time travel,” Melsa said.           “There’s one other thing before you go,” Rupert said.  “One of the detectives here, Melsa Ripley suspects the time travel stuff.”      “Yeah, I know,” Sarina said.  “But she doesn’t have anything conclusive, so we’re leaving it alone for now.  And depending on what she does discover, we might even make her an agent.”      “She would make a fine agent,” Rupert said.  “Now, if you’ll excuse us.”      “Right,” Sarina said.  She looked at William one last time before leaving the room.      “So, William,” Rupert said as he turned to him.  “You are understandably rather confused by all of this.”      “Yes, sir,” he said.      “You have been transported into the future,” Rupert said.  “By a couple thousand years.”      “That’s what you were talking about with that other agent?”      “Yes, we are both part of a time travel organization, and I would like for you to join the same organization.”      “I’m just a farmer.”      “You fought and killed a Dragon.”      “I was eaten by a Dragon, and managed to cut my way free.  It was luck, nothing more.”      “Maybe, but what else do you plan to do with your life?” Rupert asked.  “Even if we returned you to your time, you have nothing to return to, but with us, you can have purpose.”      “I suppose I have little other choice,” William said.

[ericbarkman]

Chrono Hustle #41 Cycles

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

[ericbarkman]

Chrono Hustle #38 Going Rogue

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

[ericbarkman]

Chrono Hustle #36 Welcome to Earth 2

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

[ericbarkman]

Chrono Hustle #40 Trust is a Curious Thing

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

[ericbarkman]

Chrono Hustle #37 Dreams of the Past

     “So, what do we all gain from joining up with the Temporal Development Division,” Jack Masterson asked as he leaned against the wall.  “Because, I mean, these were the people that captured and planned to brainwash us.”      “Some of us they had already succeeded in brainwashing,” Melinda Summers said.  She was sitting at a chair near the head of the briefing room table.      “What we gain is legitimacy,” Harkon Smith said from where he was sitting at the head of the table.  “Along with that we once again gain access to all of the time doors.”      “Or we could just keep taking the time doors from them,” Jack said.  “Eventually they would be stuck at their bases.”      “With every base we’ve taken, they fortified the others more,” Mary Bishop said as she leaned forward in her chair.      “I wouldn’t have thought you’d be in favor of joining them,” Melinda said.      “I’m not, but that doesn’t make the point false,” Mary said.      “So, the other question is, what do we lose by joining the TDD?” the Ghost of the temporal duplicate of Jack Masterson asked.      “We lose our autonomy,” Melinda said.  “We would then report to Rupert Teleros.”      “Is that a bad thing?” Abigail Esau asked.  “I mean, from everything I’ve been hearing from you guys, and everything I’ve read on my own, it seems like Rupert Teleros is a good guy.  And the worst of the stuff the TDD has done was from before he was in charge.”      “There is certainly a lot to consider,” Harkon said.      “Ultimately, it’s your decision, sir,” Melinda said.      “Yes, but I want to make sure we have at least some level of agreement on it,” Harkon said.  “In the meantime, there is also the other matter to consider.”      “The alternate dimension that I led a team into,” Jack said.  “We are fairly certain that Agent Nichols is in that universe, but it’s going to take some time to track him down.”      “Mary, you are the best tracker we have,” Harkon said.  “So, you’ll be in on that mission.  I still want Jack in charge though, for when and if it becomes necessary to make contact with the locals.”      “Yes, sir,” Mary said.      “Understood,” Jack said.      Doctor Jeri Quill was doing her regular checks on Imhotep and Sesla.  They were both still healthy, other than the comas they were still trapped in.  As she was walking away though, she heard a noise, and looked back to see that Imhotep had sat up, those his eyes were still closed.      “Imhotep?” Jeri asked, but there was no response.      “Ohm is still in the alternate reality, guarding the base camp we set up, along with a few other agents,” Jack said.  “We should definitely include him in our search team, I think.”      “Makes sense,” Mary said.  “I’m thinking Philip and Dorian too, and Abigail.”      “Going with people you know best, I see” Jack said.  “Speaking of which, I’ve noticed you and Abigail have been spending a lot of time together.”      “Well, we are close to the same age,” Mary said.      “Technically she’s nearly a century old,” Jack said.  “Remember, Demigod, like me, so she doesn’t age, and we had to get back to the team the long way from 1804 to 1876.”      “Yeah, but…wait, if you both don’t age, why does she look like she’s in her twenties, and you look like you’re in your thirties?”      “No idea,” Jack said.      “And you both still mostly act like the ages you look…”      “I mean, that’s probably just psychological effects.  How we look can influence how we act.”      “He just sat up?” Harkon asked as he looked at Imhotep who was still sitting up, despite still being in a coma.      “I don’t understand what caused it,” Jeri said.  “I’ve gone over the medical scans multiple times, and there no indications of any new stimuli to have caused this.”      “Hmm, and it’s interesting that this happened to Imhotep,” Ghost Jack said.  “I can find and talk with both Sesla and Merlin by entering their dreams, but not Imhotep.  That can’t be a coincidence.”      “Go back in, and try to find him again,” Harkon said.  “Maybe this means something.”      “What about that individual that’s been in the other Jack’s dreams?” Jeri asked.  “Did you ever find out what was happening there?”      “No, and she stopped showing up a while ago,” Ghost Jack said.  “But maybe she has a connection to this, that’s a possibility I have been considering.”      “I think Jack’s starting to suspect there’s something going on between us,” Mary said as she entered Abigail’s room.      “Really?” Abigail asked.  “The guy who, aside from being a former con artist who is good at reading people, also literally has a superpower where he gains random knowledge, he suspects that we are secretly dating?”      “Well, when you put it like that, I suppose it makes sense.  But what are we doing to do about it?”      “I mean, our options are to not do anything about it, or tell him he’s right, or try to convince him we aren’t.”      “He’ll see right through it if we try convincing him we’re not dating,” Mary said.  “Like you said, he was a con artist, he’ll know if we’re pulling a con on him.”      “So, do we just not do anything, or come clean?” Abigail asked.      “For now, I guess we just don’t do anything about it?”      “Sure, if that’s what you want.”      Ghost Jack entered Imhotep’s dream.  The area he landed in was a massive wide open desert.  He had been here before in the dream.  But this time was different, there was someone here, and it was Imhotep.      “Hey, Imhotep, how’s it going?” Ghost Jack asked.      “Jack?” Imhotep asked.  “Well, it’s nice to have someone else here to talk to, even if I know you’re just a part of this dream.”      “I’m not actually, I’m a Ghost, so I can enter dreams,” Ghost Jack said.  “Also, I’m the temporal duplicate of Jack, not the original.”      “Thus explaining how you’re a ghost, assuming you are actually here.”      “Can’t you use your magic abilities to figure that out, or whatever?”      “I just expelled a bunch to try and wake up, and I’m feeling rather drained right now.”      “Hmm, that might be why you sat up, and why I’ve finally been able to find you.”      “Welcome to Earth 2,” Jack said as Mary, Abigail, Philip Wilson, and Dorian Winters followed him through the wormhole.  “Abigail was already here with me, but to the rest of you, it’s new.”      “What exactly makes it Earth 2, and us Earth 1 anyway?” Abigail asked.      “Well, it’s the second Earth we’ve been too,” Jack said.  “And ours is the first.”      “And shouldn’t it be universe, not Earth, since it’s not like this dimension just has Earth,” Abigail said.      “Fine, just take all the fun out of it,” Jack said.  “Ohm, how are things here?” he asked as Ohm approached them.      “No one has come close,” Ohm said.  “Things seem normal.”      “Good, excellent,” Jack said.  “We’ll set out shortly.”      “So, he managed to use his magic to sit up?” Jeri said.  “That would explain why I couldn’t identify the reason.”      “Yeah, but it brings up more questions than it answers,” Ghost Jack said.  “Sesla is far more powerful than him, but she hasn’t managed anything of the sort.”      “Yes, and it also brings up the question of what to do if Merlin is able to do anything with this magic, while in a coma.  We want to wake up Imhotep and Sesla, but not him.  Not unless we can find some other way to contain him.”      “That village is where we found evidence that Agent Nichols had been,” Jack said, as he pointed it out to his group.  The village was in the open plains, past the tree line, while they were staying in the forested area to avoid being seen.      “I don’t suppose we know how long ago that was?” Mary asked.      “No,” Abigail said.  “We don’t.”      “And my knowledge powers don’t work in this universe,” Jack said.  “So we can’t count on that helping us out.”      “Then I think we’re going to have to talk to them,” Mary said.  “I mean, I can scout around the area, but the trail could be long gone.”      “Deanna, do you have any thoughts on the situation?” Harkon asked.  “Any ideas why Imhotep was able to use his magic to sit up, and whether this could be a risk as far as Merlin goes?”      “Imhotep is not even as powerful of a magic user as myself, let alone my older self, Sesla” Deanna said.  “If she has been unable to do anything of the sort, then it’s clearly not the result of power alone.”      “That doesn’t mean that Merlin won’t be able to manage the same thing,” Ghost Jack said.      “No, but his magic is more similar to that of myself than it is to that of Imhotep, so it is not something I would consider an immediate threat,” Deanna said.  “Moreover, I assume it is related to whatever was keeping you from finding him within his dream in the first place.”      “Which is what?” Ghost Jack asked.      “Figuring that out is now your number one priority,” Harkon said.      “Well?” Jack asked over the comm.      “Nothing,” Mary said.  “I mean, plenty of trails, but nothing to indicate that any of them are from Agent Nichols.”      “Understood,” Jack said as he began approaching the village, with Ohm and Abigail.  “Okay, so remember, follow my lead.”      “Do you have a plan in mind?” Abigail asked.      “I’m going to wing it,” Jack said.  “Feel out the group.”      As the approached the village, they were noticed by the people there, who watched them.  Some of the people there had weapons, bows or spears.  They were at the ready, but not pointed at the group.      “Hello,” Jack said.  “Do you speak English here?”      A man came out of one of the dwellings.  His clothing was different than the others, and Jack assumed he was a person of authority, possibly the chief.  “I can speak your language,” he said.  “Who are you?”      “My name is Jack Masterson.  I believe one of our people was here some time ago.”      “Do you refer to Calvin Nichols?”      “Yes,” Jack said.  “So he was here.”      “He was, but he was taken by the Centaur.”      “I’m sorry, what?” Jack asked.      “Hey Sesla,” Ghost Jack said as he entered her dream.      “Jack, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” Sesla asked.      “I’ve finally made contact with Imhotep,” Ghost Jack said.      “That’s good.”      “It was after his still comatose body sat up.”      “That’s odd.”      “He expelled a bunch of magic energy to try to wake up.”      “That’s hard to believe.  Imhotep has decent magical knowledge, but his actual power is rather limited.”      “We suspect it’s related to why I wasn’t able to find him before, which we suspect is related to the individual that has been in the other Jack’s dreams.”      “Hmm, yes, that seems like a possibility.  I have an idea, but it will take some time to prepare.  Please come back later.”      “Right, okay.”      “The Centaur?” Mary asked after Jack and the others returned and explained what they had learned.      “A Centaur is a half man, half horse, right?” Dorian asked.      “Yeah,” Abigail said.  “But it could be that this guy’s grasp of English is incomplete.  He may have just meant someone riding a horse.”      “Or he could mean an actual Centaur,” Jack said.  “I mean, Centaurs exists in our universe, I assume.  So there’s no reason to assume they don’t exist here.”      “Why do you assume they exist in our universe?” Abigail asked.      “You and I are Greek Demigods,” Jack said.  “Centaurs are from Greek mythology.”      “Either way, how can we track this individual?” Philip asked.      “The Centaur apparently came from, and left to the east,” Jack said.      “I did see some hoof prints on the east side of the village,” Mary said.  “Looks to be a few months old, and most of them are gone, but I might be able to track them.”      “Then that’s where we’ll be headed,” Jack said.      “Hey Melinda, what’ve you been up to recently,” Ghost Jack asked as he floated into the cafeteria, where Melinda was eating a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup for lunch.      “Mostly I’ve been going over the intel we have on the TDD, and Rupert Teleros, and trying to determine the best course of action.  I’ve been talking with a lot of the TDD agents we have in custody.”      “And how’s that going?”      “Could be better, could be worse.”      “What do you think is the correct course of action?”      “Personally, I think joining the TDD might be our best course of action at the moment,” Melinda said.  “Assuming we still keep some level of autonomy.”      “Are we going to have a long distance to go?” Jack asked as Mary was looking at the ground.      “It’s hard to say,” Mary said.  “I mean, these tracks are at least a month old, which means they could be pretty far away, but we can’t really know that until we’ve followed them far enough.”      “I don’t suppose we can bring some sort of vehicle here?” Philip asked.      “We can’t fit a hovercar through the wormhole,” Jack said.      “Not to mention that Mary can’t exactly follow the tracks from a hovercar,” Abigail said.      “Ready yet?” Ghost Jack asked as he entered Sesla’s dream again.      “Just about,” Sesla said.  “Now what I need you to do is have myself and Imhotep moved right next to each other, so that our heads are touching, and then I need you to try to enter both of our dreams at the same time.”      “I’m not sure if I can do that.”      “Normally no, but I have created a magic spell that I believe will allow you to do so.”      “Are you certain?”      “Not completely certain, but relatively certain.”      “It’s getting dark,” Dorian said.  “We should probably set up camp soon.”      “We’ll go another half hour or so,” Jack said.  “See if we can’t find a more defensible location to set up at.”      “So, what exactly will entering both of their dreams at the same time do?” Jeri asked as she pushed the beds with Sesla and Imhotep next to each other.      “Sesla was kind of vague on the details,” Ghost Jack said.      “But you’re certain this is a good idea?” Jeri asked.      “Nope, but I don’t have any other ideas.”      “Right.”      “Jack definitely knows,” Mary said.  “Why else would he have us share a tent?”      “Because there’s six people, and three tents?” Abigail asked.  “So I mean, he put us women together, and then Philip and Dorian because they’re pals, and him and Ohm because they are friends.”      “Yeah, I suppose that make sense.”      “Look, Mary, I know you wanted to keep this a secret, but if you’re going to freak out every time anyone says anything about us, then I think we should just go public with our relationship.”      “But what will people think?” Mary asked.      “Most of them will be fine with it,” Abigail said.  “And those who aren’t, that’s their problem, not ours.”      “Maybe…”      Ghost Jack put one hand on Sesla, and the other on Imhotep, and then tried to enter both their dreams at once.  It was very uncomfortable, almost painful, but then he found he was essentially split into two of himself, but his mind was connected to both.      “Whoa, this is weird,” he said in both of the dreams.      “What is weird?” Imhotep asked him.      “So, it worked then?” Sesla asked him.      “Yes,” he said in Sesla’s dream.  “I’m in both of your dreams now,” he said in both.      “Wait, what?” Imhotep asked.  “What are you talking about?”      “Take my hand,” Sesla said as she offered it to Ghost Jack, who took it, and then suddenly she was in Imhotep’s dream.      “I was not certain that would work,” Sesla said.      “What did you do?” Imhotep asked.      “I used Jack as a conduit to travel into your dream,” Sesla said.  “So that I can try to determine who was keeping you imprisoned deep within your mind.”      “Everyone, we have something to announce,” Mary said in the morning as she and Abigail left their tent.      Philip was making breakfast while Dorian was taking down their tent.  Ohm was keeping watch, and Jack came out of their tent at Mary’s statement.      “Oh?” Jack asked.      “Abigail and I are…that is to say that we have been…” Mary started saying.      “We’re girlfriends,” Abigail said.      “Yes, that,” Mary said.      “I mean, obviously,” Philip said.      “Did you think no one knew?” Dorian asked.      “Wait, you two knew?” Mary asked.      “I think everyone knows,” Jack said.      “I was just worried how people would react,” Mary said.  “Especially you two,” she said to Philip and Dorian.      “Because we’re from a less enlightened time?” Dorian asked.      “We’ve been doing the time travel thing for a while, just like you,” Philip said.  “Also, we’ve been dating for a few months now.”      “Okay, that I didn’t know,” Jack said.      “We haven’t been hiding it exactly, but we haven’t really come out publicly either,” Dorian said.      “Until now, I guess,” Philip said.      Ghost Jack watched as some sort of letters started glowing in the air around Sesla, at least he assumed they were letter but they were unfamiliar to him.      “Hmm, fascinating,” Sesla said as she was reading, and manipulating the letters.      “What are you finding?” Imhotep asked.      “Someone has been messing with your mind,” Sesla said.  “It was rather sloppy work.  That’s why you escaping the dungeon they put you in caused your body to sit up.  They seem to have overloaded parts of your mind, but you got them working again, and that caused some unintended physical reactions..”      “Is that a good thing or a bad thing for us?” Ghost Jack asked.      “It’s a good thing, I believe,” Sesla said.  “I believe I may be able to trace the source.”      Mary returned to the group after scouting ahead.  “I’ve found something,” she said.      “What is it?” Jack asked.      “There’s an area up ahead that’s clearly been used as a camp multiple times,” Mary said.  “Near as I can tell, by this Centaur each time.”      “How can you tell?” Philip asked.      “Only hoof prints,” Mary said.  “No Human footprints.”      “Are there prints more recent than the ones we’ve been following?” Jack asked.      “There are,” Mary said.  “Looks to be some from only a few days ago.”      “And Sesla can just stay in there without you?” Melinda asked after Ghost Jack had told her what was going on.      “I was the bridge, to allow her to cross over to Imhotep’s dream from her own,” Ghost Jack said.  “She’ll need to use me again to get back, but until then I am unneeded.”      “Hmm, what would happen if you transferred one of them to the dream of someone not in a coma, and then that person woke up?”      “I don’t know.  Seems like it could pose some sort of risk though.”      “But what if that body was a clone that didn’t have a mind of it’s own?”      “Could still pose a risk, but yeah, I see what you’re getting at.  If we can’t wake up their current bodies, maybe we can put them in new bodies.”      The trail led Mary and the group to a small settlement.      “Okay, I’ll go into town with Mary and Abigail,” Jack said.  “Mary, I want you to try to keep following the trail in the town, but don’t make it obvious that you’re doing so.”      “Any luck get?” Ghost Jack asked as he reentered Imhotep’s dream.      “I believe so,” Sesla said.  “I will imprint the location on your mind.”      Jack, Mary and Abigail entered a saloon in the town.  Mary and Abigail went to grab a table, while Jack went up to the bar.      “Hello, we’re from out of town,” Jack said.      “Obviously,” the bartender said.      “We’d like some drinks, and some information.”      “What kind of information?”      “We’re looking for someone who maybe have been here recently,” Jack said.  “He’s pretty tall, and maybe has four legs.”      “Oh, you’re talking about the Centaur.”      “You know him?”      “A legend comes through your town, you hear about it, but you must be from pretty far away not have not heard of the Centaur.”      “We’re from out east,” Jack said.      “Oh yeah?  New York or so?  You seem like a New Yorker.”      “Yeah, that’s where I’m from.  So, do you know where we can find the Centaur?”      “Okay,” Harkon said after Ghost Jack had explained the situation to him and Melinda.  “I want you two to go to that location and investigate.  Bring a few other agents with you, just in case.”      “Yes, sir,” Ghost Jack and Melinda said simultaneously.      “Did you learn anything?” Mary asked as Jack sat down with their drinks.      “Well, for one thing I learned that the money here is at least similar enough to that of our own universe that the bartender didn’t notice anything suspicious about it,” Jack said.      “Anything relevant?” Abigail asked.      “I got an address,” Jack said.  “The Centaur is still in town.”      “Then what are we waiting for?” Mary asked.      “Well, we have to finish our drinks first,” Jack said.      Melinda pushed aside the ferns as she stepped out into the clearing, to join Ghost Jack who had just phased through the jungle.  They had brought a few other agents, but she was having them hold back for now.      “I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this is not it,” Ghost Jack said.      “Me neither,” Melinda said.      In the middle of the clearing was a small Human child.  A young girl, who was just sitting there.  She opened her eyes as Melinda and Ghost Jack approached.      “I was wondering how long until you managed to find me,” she said.      “Who are you?” Ghost Jack asked.  “And what are you doing in the middle of the Cretaceous?”      “I like dinosaurs,” she said.      “Why were you keeping Imhotep caged?” Melinda asked.  “Any how?”      “He was…I did not expect his mind to be as weak as it was.  Jack, the other Jack, he had such a strong mind.  I was just trying to communicate with Imhotep, as I had with Jack, but it overwhelmed him.”      “So, it wasn’t on purpose?” Ghost Jack asked.      “No, that is why I have since avoided dreams of those other than Jack,” she said.  “And even his I have stayed out of as of late.”      “You never answered our other question,” Melinda said.  “Who are you?”      “You can call me L, I suppose.”      “And what are you, L?” Ghost Jack asked.  “You look Human, but I assume there is more to it than that.”      “I am not Human, I have simply adopted a form that you will be comfortable with,” L said.      “Please tell me you aren’t part of the L continuum,” Ghost Jack said.      “No, I am unique,” L said.  “In this universe at least.  Although, I suppose that was a joke.”      “And what do you want?” Melinda asked.      “To play,” L said.      Jack knocked on the door.  Abigail and Mary were standing on either side of him.  After a little bit, the door opened just a crack.      “Can I help you with something?” a female voice asked.      “Hello,” Jack said.  “We’re from out of town, and we hear the Centaur is in town.  We’d really like to meet him.”      “You must be from pretty far out of town,” the voice said, and the door opened the rest of the way to reveal that the voice belonged to the Centaur, who was female, and holding a gun that was pointed at Jack.  “Now, what do you really want?”      “What exactly is playing to you?” Melinda asked.      “You people are so fascinating,” L said.  “Not as fascinating as dinosaurs, perhaps, but still so much fun.”      “This is like The Sims to you, isn’t it?” Ghost Jack asked.      “Hmm, that is a video game,” L said.  “Yes, that might be an apt comparison.”      “Can you wake up Imhotep and Sesla?” Ghost Jack asked.      “Yes, but no,” L said.  “It is within my powers, but not within the rules.”      “What rules?” Melinda asked.      “There’s someone else, isn’t there?” Ghost Jack asked.  “Someone else as powerful as you are?”      “Our game has been going on for a very long time,” L said.  “And it will continue to go on even longer.”      “How can we even know anything you are telling us is true?” Melinda asked.      “You can’t,” L said.  “It’s not like it matters anyway.”      “Why not?” Melinda asked.      “Because either you believe me or not.  If you do then you will carry on as you have.  If you don’t, you may spend some time and energy looking into and researching about me, and ultimately find that you can’t do anything to me, and you will carry on as you have.  Anyway, it’s been nice talking with you, but I have to be going now.”  And with that she vanished in an instant.      “We are looking for one of our people,” Jack said.  “Calvin Nichols.”      “Huh, so you’re from really far out of town,” the Centaur said.      “So, you know who he is?” Mary asked.      “I do,” the Centaur said.  “Cal, your people are here,” she shouted.      Calvin Nichols came to the door.  “Hey Jack, Mary, and I don’t believe I’ve met you before.”      “I’m Abigail.  I’m newish.”      “So, they are legit than?” the Centaur asked.      “They are,” Calvin said.      The Centaur lowered her gun.  “You can come in then.”      “Hmm,” Harkon said after Melinda and Ghost Jack had told him the details of their meeting with L.  “I’ve never heard of this L before.”      “I checked with Sesla and Imhotep,” Ghost Jack said.  “Sesla said that there was something familiar about my description of L, but she did not know her specifically.”      “Hmm, we’ll have to get her help in learning more perhaps,” Harkon said.  “And Agent Summers, what is your opinion?”      “I don’t think L was lying about anything, but there’s also something about her that I don’t trust,” Melinda said.  “But, like she said, I don’t know that there’s anything we can do about it.”      “So, anyway Calvin, we are here to bring you home,” Jack said.      “I am home though,” Calvin said.  “I’ve started building a life here, in the past few months.”      “But…what?” Jack asked.      “I thought I was stuck here,” Calvin said.  “Initially I was captured by that Native American tribe, but then the Centaur here purchased my freedom.  We’ve been together ever since, and have started to fall in love.”      “Oh,” Jack said.  “Well, then I suppose I’ll relay your message to Harkon.  Just so you know though, we do now have easy ability to travel between our two worlds.”      “Well, then if you really need my help, I suppose you can come ask for it, but I would still prefer to stay here,” Calvin said.      “Right,” Jack said.  “Who am I to stand in the way of love?” To be continued…

[ericbarkman]

Chrono Hustle #35 I’m With Her

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