The Time Stone (21 page)

James looked down from the building
office window at the horrible sight of the

frightened young girl vanishing with
the pernicious beast that almost destroyed his hometown.

“
Yes!” Yelled Ramrod and
all cheered in a sigh of relief.

“
Awesome” yelled Tina who
took off and met up James during the melee as he was coming out of
the building.

“
Who was that girl?” Asked
Davis.

“
The prisoner?” Asked
Ramrod rhetorically, “you let her get away.”

“
Oh crap. No Sir, the
little girl in the light portal.”

“
Time holds no bounds,
young man. The town is safe. We’ll leave it up to the politicians
to deal with the other stuff.”

Tina raced back upstairs to the office
building and saw James. “What happened to Staffnight?” Asked
Tina.

“
He is um… resting
comfortably.” He beckoned to the lying form of Broad Staffnight on
the floor unconscious.

“
Nice fighting kiddo” said
Tina joyously.

“
Let’s go.” Said
James.

“
Yeah, we still have
warrants on our heads. But I got this….” Said Tina as she held up
the emerald waving it into the air.

CHAPTER 47

The laboratory in the basement of
Temporo Inc. headquarters was big enough to house a dozen football
teams yet was only occupied by two scientists. A short portly
balding man approached a metal workbench where a petite young woman
with large framed glasses and short brunette hair combed through
several cards on the table.

“
How is the examination
coming Vanessa?”

“
Well, Sir” she responded
shyly. “I am cataloguing the reference samples. I just find it
fascinating that all the hours spent on this project and the end
result was so… unpredictable.”

“
How long have you been
working for the company?”

“
You know I just started.”
She gasped.

“
Yes but you are not new
to science. You know there are some things that can never be known
fully. We represent a machination that has worked long and diligent
hours on a way to harness clean energy and power but we are
restricted by the inherent ebbs and flows of space and
time.”

“
That is why you are so
brilliant. You are the genius credited with this new approach.” She
smirked beckoning to the cards and the immense amount of lab
equipment on the table and in the surrounding areas spanning for
the entire length of the large room.

“
It took a lot of effort”
he rubbed his head. “It was a long shot using a modified version of
Einstein’s theories of special and general relativity with a
magnetic wave leverage inhibiter to capture tons of energy from the
electromagnetic void that surrounds the world. We can finally break
free of the bounds of space and time and capture raw energy. We can
end the world’s fuel problems and make Temporo Inc. shareholders
very wealthy.”

“
And what will you get out
of it my proud teacher?” The young scientist beckoned to her
mentor.

“
The thrill of scientific
discovery is enough for me but… having my picture in the world’s
science literary journal would be of great interest. I have always
wanted to visit Stockholm. My research will surely place me in the
top five physicists at the global level coveting the famous Nobel
Prize.”

“
You deserve it” she put
the cards down and turned to her mentor. “No doubt your theories on
new age astrophysics will revolutionize the world we live in. Was
it really the key goal to deliver a stream of particles directly
from the jet propulsion systems? What about the threat of negative
energy?”

“
It was the case my
protégé. The negative energy would simply evaporate into the void
once penetrated. Our calculations were air tight. It’s as if the
knowledge of the ancient’s device was infused in me like a
whatchamacallit, a shaman being possessed by a poltergeist. Scary
stuff isn’t it?” He laughed.

“
Oh yes. Kudos Doctor
Antoine Denis.”

“
But there could be the
problems with the sub molecular quantum producer that created a
truly profound and coherent effect on the temporal void. A single
slip can be devastating…” he thought aloud. “Even the slightest
miscalculations in the equation could be enough to open an unstable
rift to any number of dimensions along the multiverse
theory.”

“
The beasts that attacked
the city earlier could have been the result of our work, Doctor.
What about the artifact?”

“
It is connected but our
experiment is to blame. Everything is going to be covered up now…
so much for the Nobel Prize.”

“
That beasts of immense
size and power come from an alternate dimension is truly an
incredible belief let alone a reality that is actually happening.
Is it the end now or will more come soon from any point in space or
time?”

“
It has already
started!”

CHAPTER 48

That night in the city order room,
Broad Staffnight and Elizabeth Peters addressed a crowd of city
representatives including Chief of Police Brent Hightower in a
private super emergency meeting.

“
Damn it Broad. What
happened today was inexcusable neglect. You exposed our city, hell
our universe to something that we may never live down.” Yelled the
Chief under the auspices of the fuming mayor and
council.

“
Mr. Chief and
distinguished colleagues. What happened today was a mere oversight.
We have had an unexplainable intervention and a variable not
contemplated during our initial calculations. As a result we were
taken by surprise. I assure you we will not let that happen again.”
His eyes widened. “The U.S. government has expressed interest in
complete control over Chronix Bay under martial law in the interest
of national security.” Said Broad.

“
After what has happened
recently, I can’t say I blame them.” Said Liz.

“
We will submit to it
under one condition.” Said Broad.

“
What condition is that?”
Asked Hightower.

“
We will implement a new
system, which is why it has been proclaimed and ordered by this
council that Temporo, Inc.’s board of directors will govern the
city when it comes to matters of extra jurisdictional affairs and
as this involves beings from another universe, this falls within
that jurisdiction.”

“
And what about these two
derelicts who beat you and stole the device, Prescott and
Timewalker?” Asked Cumberberry curiously, his hair grey and face
more wrinkled with age. “They know how to use it as they have done
so. They could be anywhere in time or space.”

“
They will be found and
dealt with” said Hightower. “There is a triple net reward out for
them, dead or alive and it will remain on their heads to last for
five millennia if need be.”

“
And since the board of
directors is governed by one, it has been determined that, that one
is me. All will answer to me with regard to this matter.” Said
Broad. “I now control the City of Chronix Bay.”

“
So be it.” Chief
Hightower nodded and all clapped in anticipation of the success he
will usher in for them all. Mark Cumberberry snorted as he slyly
sipped his cabernet in the corner.

CHAPTER 49

Near the city of Chronix Bay, out to
the sea past the local ports, a small rowboat with a makeshift sail
is floating towards an unknown and uncertain
destination.

“
James, what are we going
to do? How do we know what we are supposed to do now?” asked Tina
frantically. “It seems like only yesterday I was learning about it
in college classes and books about this crazy topic…destiny… fate…
but I never thought we would be talking about this on another
scale, in terms of other worlds and dimensions or times… I say it’s
crazy because it seems so ludicrous yet so appealing. Is this some
type of social change or movement by these beasts? Is it meant to
be better or worse? Just walking down the street or turning on the
evening news you can see it is not getting better. It seems
hopeless. There are a lot of questions and no answers.”

“
As long as we don’t give
up, we can succeed. We have seen a lot and who knows what else is
out there.”

“
But, James, I don’t know
if that is true but I do want to keep helping and being useful …
with you.” Said Tina.

“
I think we will be
helping each other.” Said James. “We have been through a lot for
sure but I have a feeling we have only scratched the surface of
what we are supposed to accomplish with this thing and for our
sakes. There has to be hope if we have faith.” He looked down at
the emerald in her lap wrapped in a cloth, glowing brightly in the
moonlight.

PART TWO

A SECRET
DESTINY

CHAPTER 50

“
Nighttime has a funny
thing to it,” thought Mercedes Gonzalez, a lonely individual adrift
in the world.
It has the tendency to make
one second guess one’s choices and also has the tendency to make
one recognize the rightness of one’s own innate
abilities.
” Mercedes sat on a bus on its
way towards a destination she never dreamed she would possibly be
headed, not in her wildest nightmares, the U.S./Mexican border. She
was of Mexican descent, mocha complexion, dark brown hair, tall,
pretty but not feeling she was, and spoke with a slight accent but
she was American, born in the United States, educated to middle
class parents who struggled from their roots in a poor town near
Juarez City to the hard work and perseverance of becoming citizens
of the greatest country in the free world to give their children a
better life. Mercedes felt like the odd ball of the family as her
siblings, one older sister and one younger brother went on to
college and further studies in law and medicine while she herself
never aspired for anything passed high school and she embodied the
blue collar working class struggles of many of her peers. She felt
that maybe if she made a better choice to be “somebody” like her
siblings and like her parents pushed her towards, she would not be
in the predicament she was in now, a thirty-odd year old woman,
single, childless, and having been arrested and convicted of
aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, now being taken to the
Mexican border under order of deportation because of some mix-up in
paperwork she does not understand and despite her pleas that she is
a citizen, her lack of proper identification resulted in the border
patrol being forced to carry out their order. She wore a brown
suede jacket and jeans and sneakers. Her hands in handcuffs in
front of her as a prisoner of the state being escorted between
boundaries like the others around her. She looked around the bus
and saw empty seats, but the ones that were full were filled with
sad people just like her who felt wronged in some way by the
system. The poor huddled masses that were picked up and swept back
by the increasing alert of security and political slants against
the illegal immigrant population were her new contemporaries on
this sudden voyage of the damned.

She regretfully and vaguely remembered
when she was first apprehended only a few months ago when the
process began journeying her through the system. She was going to a
local bar in her hometown in California. She was alone and hoping
to meet someone to marry someday. She made her way passed the
usually vulgar crowd of ruffians and drunkards who already had too
much before happy hour was over. And she saw a young man in his
forties, dark hair, handsome schoolboy look, and wearing a classic
Armani exchange suit with golden cufflinks. He looked like he was
very wealthy or at least comfortable enough to fake it so she
approached and introduced herself, ignoring that he was talking to
several younger girls at once.

“
Hi, I’m Mercedes
Gonzalez. What’s your name?” She sat beside him.

“
Broad Staffnight. You
look really hot.”

“
Thanks,” she blushed
“this old thing.” She referred to the bright red dress she had on,
a special at a local thrift store.

“
Want to buy me a drink?”
She uttered.

“
Sure. Excuse me ladies,”
Broad brushed aside his younger targets and escorted Mercedes as
she clung to his elbow, to the bar. “Two margaritas,” He told the
bartender. “So tell me where you’re from and where you’re headed,
doll?”