Timeshock - I Want My Life Back (6 page)

“I’m from way in the past - we didn’t have much back then.”

“Oh - so you were the guy who made this place possible?”

“So I am told.
 
Over and over again.”

“Well, my name is Zac - do you want to get back to reality?
 
It’s rough out there, but I prefer it to here.
 
I’m a Zeta Radical - we believe in trying to fix the present rather than hiding here.”

“My name is Nigel.
 
I will take you up on that offer, as long as I can bring my time machine with me - I presume I can use it to get back to the past once we get back to the real world?” asked an excited Nigel.

Zac looked a bit apologetic. “Sadly the Bilozians have raised a massive force field to stop people going back in time.
 
I think it is possible to get around it but there is only one place I know where there isn’t a force field and you wouldn’t want to go there.”

“Well, I need to get back.
 
Where is this place?”

“The Bilozians send power around the universe using energy beams.
 
At the hub of that network is their trapped super-nova energy source.
 
The energy it produces is so intense it disrupts the time force field.”

“And I guess it is so hot it would destroy anyone trying to time travel there anyway?” said a disappointed Nigel.

“Actually no - they have harnessed it in an energy field so the heat is contained.
 
However they have also built a massive fortress around it.
 
It is said the emperor of the Bilozians resides there.
 
You really, really, don’t want to go there.”

Zac knew that Nigel definitely wanted to go there.
 
“You still want to go there, don’t you?”

“Yes - I can’t live in this time - I don’t belong here,” said Nigel.

“Well - if you must go - then at least make sure you have a plan.
 
As things stand you wouldn’t last five minutes there.”

“Can you help me?” Nigel tried his best to look pathetic and in need of help.

“Well OK - I’m always up for a mission with no chance of success.
 
They are always the most fun,” mused Zac.

Zac and Nigel spent the next few days in Previum, getting supplies for their mission to the Bilozian power hub.
 
Nigel showed Zac the weapon he had taken off Raymond but Zac laughed - to him it seemed like a toy gun.
 

Zac handed Nigel a tiny metallic disk and told Nigel to attach it to the palm of his hand.
 
It stuck like a piece of plasticine and Nigel wondered what it did.

Zac told Nigel to hold up his hand and just think about shooting a nearby tree.
 
Nigel did this and an energy beam blasted from him, obliterating the tree.
 
The locals of Previum nearby were not amused by this.
 
Nigel apologised but Zac just laughed.

Another boon for Nigel was a diamond-shaped device that Zac gave Nigel. Its function was fantastically simple and massively useful.
 
It could compress an object inside its small size and then re-materialise it at will.
 
No more heavy time machine to lug around!

Finally Zac, with no little resistance, got Nigel to allow him to insert a device in his brain to allow the automatic translation of thousands of languages.
 
Apparently almost everyone in Previum had one, as did Zac, so they could talk to Nigel and Nigel to them. However in the real world most people didn’t have the implant so unless Nigel got the same implant only Zac would understand him.

After a few more days, Nigel and Zac were ready to leave. They both morphed out of Previum using the dimension cutter and into a new reality in the future.

Zac and Nigel re-materialised in a wasteland full of screaming people. The people were running away from what appeared to be spacecraft strafing them.
 
Zac shouted for Nigel to get down and they both dived to the ground.

Nigel was in a panic. “What is going on?”
 

“It’s a Bilozian raid.
 
They do this every week or so - to keep the population down.”
 
Zac pointed at one of the ships.
 
“This is exactly what we need,” he said.

“What?!?” exclaimed Nigel.

Zac pulled out a strange looking cone-shaped device.
 
“You remember how to use your palm blaster?” asked Zac.
 

“Yes”

“Good.” With that Zac hit a button on the cone-shaped device and he and Nigel teleported inside one of the Bilozian spacecraft.
 
There wasn’t much space left between Nigel, Zac and two Bilozians.
 
Nigel was surprised how attractive they looked - they had multi-coloured skins with cat-like eyes, no noses and permanently smiling mouths.
 
Zac blasted one of them with his palm blaster, blasting it out of existence.
 

Nigel was just in awe of the beauty of the Bilozian - it just looked so cute.
 
He could hear Zac shouting at him but he was transfixed.
 
He saw the Bilozian raise its hand.

Seeing the danger, Zac barely managed to vaporise it before it fried Nigel.

“What were you doing?!?
 
You almost got yourself killed!” shouted Zac.

“I’m sorry - I’ve never seen a Bilozian before.
 
They are really cute.
 
Next time I won’t hesitate.”

“It’s funny you say that,” mused Zac.

“Why?” asked Nigel.

“The first humans to meet the Bilozians were so taken with them because they were so beautiful.
 
We went to war with the Mindoans because they looked hideous even though they are actually very nice when you get to know them.”

“OK.
 
I’m sorry. Where are we anyway?”

“Just outside Proxima Five.
 
It’s the nearest human world to the hub.
 
With this ship we can get a lot closer to the hub than we would otherwise.”

When Zac said “much closer”, Nigel discovered he was speaking in relative terms.
 
It took almost three months to reach the hub.
 
Zac said that it would have taken five years from Earth.

In the months it took to reach the hub, Zac explained the history of mankind and the Bilozians.
 
For the first hundred or so years relations were very good.
 
Bilozians were famed for being very empathic and peace-loving.
 
Then in a matter of a few years they went from being peaceful to wildly aggressive and uncaring.

Mankind was caught completely off-guard.
 
All but a few outposts were taken.
 
Earth fell and all hope seemed lost.
 
Those who survived were forced to flee all over the universe looking for havens until they discovered the time rift Nigel had created and built Previum.
 
For some reason the Bilozians couldn’t or wouldn’t go there.

Something that occurred to Nigel on the way to the hub worried him deeply.
 
If he was five years’ flight away from earth, even if he did get back in time, he would most probably be stuck in space and die instantly.
 
He talked this through with Zac who saw the problem but also proposed a solution.
 

Zac modified Nigel’s time machine to add a teleportation feature.
 
It would automatically teleport him to the nearest habitable world when it had travelled back in time.
 
It still meant Nigel needed some other way to get home - but at least he wouldn’t die in space.

While Nigel was extremely impressed by the level of technology, he was still shocked by the fact that there were no proper toilets in the Bilozian spacecraft.
 
Those functions involved shunting a bag of waste into space.
 
Zac seemed not particularly bothered by this, but Nigel was.
 
Interestingly, Nigel found toilet paper had been replaced by nanobots - tiny microscopic robots - that did the same thing, ensuring that the expected hygiene problems of not having a toilet never became an issue.

Similarly, there were nanobots for shaving body hair that Nigel found extremely convenient.
 
No more shaving, just tell the nanobots to keep it under control and they would.

Nigel got used to day after day travelling and was becoming accustomed to things when one day Zac pointed at a dot in the view-screen.
 
Yellow lines could be seen converging on the dot.
 

“That is the power hub!” exclaimed Zac.

As they grew closer to it, the majesty of the hub became clear.
 
It was enormous - and hundreds of vibrant beams of energy surged in and out of it.
 
This sign of oppression was awesome to behold, thought Nigel.

“So what is the plan to get into it?” asked Nigel

“I’ve not really thought one up yet,” admitted Zac.

“Oh.
 
Better come up with something soon.”

“I know.
 
Very hard to get in without being captured.”

“We need something better than that,” said a concerned Nigel.

At that moment the whole ship shuddered and the view-screen changed from being of the hub to being of a cargo bay inside some kind of enormous structure.
 
Two Bilozians, with hands raised up showing their palm beams, materialised in front of Zac and Nigel.

One of the two Bilozians spoke: “You two, come with us.
 
The Emperor wants to see you.”
 
With that the door of the spacecraft opened and Zac and Nigel were forced out.

They were force-marched through a long array of corridors.
 
It was clear from the view out of the windows along the way that they were inside the hub.
 
Nigel had the time machine stowed inside his storage diamond.
 
If he just had a minute to get it out and activate it he could escape!
 
But the Bilozian guards were keeping a keen eye on him and Zac.

Eventually they arrived at a huge chamber. On each side of it were spheres of glowing light that were interconnected with power beams.
 
At the far end of the chamber sat a hugely fat and bloated Bilozian.
 
Its head had multiple wires protruding from it leading towards a large glass container on the ground beside it.
 
It contained something that looked like a human head.
 
But Nigel and Zac could not yet see it clearly.

It’s definitely a human head thought Nigel.
 
As he and Zac were forced closer, the true horror of the situation eventually became clear.
 

The head in the jar was that of Raymond Deville.
 

Zac and Nigel just stood and stared.
 
Raymond’s head was in a jar next to the Bilozian emperor.
 
What on earth was going on?
 
Raymond’s head looked dead - there was no facial movement but it had a set of probes inserted into it.

“Nigel Saunders” said the Bilozian emperor.
 
“We meet again.
 
Of course you are wondering where we met.
 
I have in me the consciousness of Raymond Deville, who you left for dead.”
 

“What?” exclaimed Nigel. “It can’t be.”

“The Bilozians are a telepathic and empathic race - they sense the mood of their emperor and follow his lead.
 
At the time of the coronation in times past the Bilozian emperor bonded with another creature - usually an animal indigenous to the Bilozian home world - to give a new direction and perspective to the Bilozian race.”

The emperor continued. “This tradition had fallen out of use and the Bilozians fell into their normal docile state, with no leadership from the emperor, free to choose their own destiny.”

“So what changed?” asked Zac.

“Oh, at the time of the coronation of this emperor, at exactly the moment when the creature bonding historically would have taken place, suddenly I appeared in a badly injured and burned state.
 
This was seen as an omen and the emperor bonded with me, Raymond Deville.”

“But why go so aggressive, why not let mankind live in peace?” asked Nigel.

“My body was not recoverable but my brain was, so the emperor carries me around with him, so I can steer the thoughts of 40 billion Bilozians across the galaxy.
 
With that kind of power you don’t sit and talk. You win.”

“What are you going to do with us?” asked Zac.

“Oh, I think I will have some fun with you two.
 
Guards! Take them to the cleansing suite!”
 
With that Zac and Nigel were dragged towards a set of booths where they were subjected to strong electro-magnetic fields designed to destroy any electrical devices on them.
 
Both their palm blasters fell off their hands - inert and useless.

After this they were taken towards what appeared to be an ante-room adjoining a giant arena.
 
There were assembled crowds of excited Bilozians shouting and cheering in the arena.
 
The guards moved back and threw Zac and Nigel long spears.
 
One spoke: “The Emperor wants you to fight to death.
 
The winner lives!”

Suddenly, the floor tilted up making Nigel and Zac slide into the middle of the arena.
 
Several thousand Bilozians sat screaming in anticipation of the fight.
 
Nigel could see the Emperor and Raymond’s head amongst the spectators in the arena.

Nigel and Zac squared up. Zac, while pretending to fight spoke really quietly to Nigel -“do you still have the storage diamond?” he asked.