Transient001
Quantum Scribe
Friends Here is the first chapter of the short story Transient Time, no pun intended really.
Please forgive the grammatical mistakes, they would be corrected as time proceeds.
Enjoy Chapter One
Temporal Shortcomings
Somewhere on the Aurora Star System
AuroraTR125.0121
November 23 44591 TST
“What in the Stars!” exclaimed Grionne Simmons as he leaned back deep into his leather padded chair. He took a very good look at the report before him one second time, he couldn’t believe it, he simply could not believe it and his angular wrinkled ridden face showed it.
Mayor Lucas Himmel, stood straight and tall before Chief Simmons. He had been an agent for Central for quite some time, so long ago he just could not remember. Maybe one of the side effects of temporal shifting one too many times. In his time he had faced unsurmountable odds, galaxy wide pandemonium, the usual chases through temporal zones and maybe once or twice tried to prevent the main time line from dissolving into nothingness but to face Chief Temporal Simmons twice in a month was something not even he was prepared for.
Chief Simmons stood up from his jet black desk, the surface reflecting his every action. He turned to look through the wall sized view port, by so doing he locked his arms behind him and allowed himself a brief period of silence. “Mayor,” he began cautiously, his voice even more nasal than always, “I do not mean to offend you by saying this, but are you certain that your report is completely accurate. By accurate I do mean is that the amount of resources that would cost us to solve this predicament?”
Mayor Himmel reflected for a second, he knew that his figures were quite alarming, and that they couldn’t possibly afford that solution he was putting forth but there wasn’t any other way or was it? His straightened himself even more, as was customary of Central Agents. “ Chief I know the number is definitely alarming but the damage done is considerable. If we do not act immediately we will not even be able to stop it with. The damage done would be too great to mend.”
“And what about this alien agency you mention in your report. Do we know anything else about them? How aware are they of our existence?”
“Actually Chief, most are not actually conscious of our work. However, some had inadvertedly encountered our people in the field. Some had been apprehended and dealt with yet there are others who had been able to escape. We can only presume that the word is out and others will be warned of our activities. Should I need to remind you sir, while some were seemingly inoffensive, others exhibited quite some share of cunning and resistance henceforth. The latter ones had been deliberately destructive and dangerous to the continuum.”
Simmons turned to face Himmel once again. He took yet another look at the report over his desk, tightened his thin lips one against the other, making his aquiline features even more triangular than ever. He knew that Mayor Himmel was right, the problem could no longer be dismissed, they would have to do something about it. “Mayor, assemble a team of five. Treat this situation with utmost secrecy. Inform them as need to know basis. We can not risk further interference from this people”.
“Excuse me Chief, but the figure I suggested was somewhat bigger.” Protested the Mayor elegantly trying not to sound rude.
Chief Simmons sat down on his seat and pulled himself near to his desk. “Yes Mayor Himmel I remember very well your figures, but at the moment that would take most of our people. As you are aware we can not afford that, so for the time being assemble your team and from there on we will try to work a more plausible solution to this present predicament.”
“But Chief,” protested once again the polite Mayor.
But the Chief Temporal looked at him in the eyes and replied vigorously, “That would be all for now Mayor, assemble your team and report by 3600 hours. Is that clear?”
“Yes Chief.” And left the room in a quite dignified manner.
As the Mayor left the room Grionne Simmons, Chief Temporal of the Central Agency of Transtemporal Affairs, exhaled heavily. His was an agency created ages ago by the first humans who achieved the proper time traveling techniques. At first it had been ruled by different government agencies, for a time even by the global presidency but it became laden with so many conspiracies that the agency had to separate from the many governments of Earth. Now they existed in secrecy but that secrecy was now bing jeopardized by some. Himmel was right they had to do something, but what?
“Miss. Jones please contact The Parliament. I need to speak to the Lords.”
* * * * * *
London, England
EarthTR125.0121
September 12 1929 A.D.
The last rain clouds were starting to part away, it had been raining for the last two weeks and the dark city had been darker these last days. But today the weather was getting better. To Guillione Lancaste it simply meant not wearing a cape. This would be his second visit to the city, the first time he was unimpressed with the attractions and this time with the bleak weather and all that talk about the war it made him sick. He came to London only because it was good for a place to lay low for a while. At least he thought so.
“Wanna go out for a walk, the rains gone away. Here see.” And he removed to a side one of the curtains that covered the one of the two windows of the room. He was talking to Sir Lionel Gregory, an old friend and whom he has been his protégé ever since they met several years ago back in France.
“I would rather stay inside old friend, besides we still have to talk about your impressions regarding the rumors of war.”
‘Hmph’ thought to himself the brash young man. He would have to endure the old man’s wishes for some more time, he still have to lay low for a while more anyways. He sat down in one of the Victorian chairs besides the aging baron and began, “ what exactly do you want to know my lord?”
The old man eyes lighted with fire, as rekindled by excitement. “Everything you know, who will start it and who will win?”
Guillionne crossed his arms gently before him, he leaned his head back and as if entering into a trance, “Ladda, Badda, Aum, Aum, Aum, Spirits do you hear me?” he said in a very ominous voice.
“Yes, yes spirits tell me, tell me of the future.” He continued as he made contact with his spirits.
An electrical crackle took over the room and the lights dimmed. The baron was rather amused than scared. A hazy cloud of light began to form before the two of them. From this cloud images could be seen, they were soldiers marching, flying machines dog fighting one another and rulers, monarchs and presidents arguing with each other. The baron was amused by all this, but the phantasmal vision came to a sudden halt and the lights came back gradually.
“Amazing, simply amazing,” exclaimed the excited baron. “I have never seen anything like it my young man. Now I know that you are the real thing and not one of those deceivers that use trickery with smoke and mirrors. What else can you do my young lad?”
“I can do this” and as he said so his form became engulfed with a blue crackling surge of energy. The baron leaped backwards and was laughing in amazement.
“What is that?” The baron asked bewildered.
“It is the power of my mind baron. Try your revolver against me.
The baron’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, “You want me to shoot you?”
“Yes Baron, shoot at me. It won’t hurt me. My mind is strong. You shall see.
The old man went to his desk and from one of its drawers drew a nicely polished revolver. He took a good look at Guillione and asked one more time, “Are you sure boy?”
Guillionne smiled and nodded. His form still surrounded by the seemingly powerful bolts of energy.
The baron without hesitation trained his revolver at the young man and shot. The gun blast echoed through out the room and possibly a very good part of his city manor. The bullet traveled directly towards Guillionne’s heart but it was immediately disintegrated as it approached him.
The baron gasped as he saw the tiny bolt of energy come out of Guillionne’s body and evaporate the bullet.
“See, I told you I would be unharmed my good baron.”
“Then it is true, you are a real wizard!”
Footsteps approached behind the wooden doors and Guillione stopped the energy surge around him. The doors swung open and in came three men, all of them armed. They all looked at the baron.
“What the hell Rogerson? What are you doing?” demanded the baron at his butler.
“But sir we heard a gunshot!” exclaimed the weak looking service man apologetically.
“Get out, get out!” ordered the baron infuriated
Rogerson motioned the others away as he closed the large wooden doors of the studio before him.
Guillione sure that the elderly baron was more than convinced of his mystical origins sat down in one of the many Victorian pieces of furniture in the room, and allowed himself a wide grin on his face. Looked the baron and saw that he was beyond flabbergasted. He made a mental note on the subject and began to consider his next step.
* * * * *
On board the Union’s Flagship Cathedral
Lewoara Sector, near the Trade Planet OrgorTR155.0694
OrgorTR155.0694
Two hundredth and twenty second day of the 35th year rule of Emperor Baxalas.
The entire starship shuddered as it suddenly came out from hyperspace. It materialized several hundred thousand kilometers from the space taxi zone of the world below. Even there, where space traffic was supposed to be minimal, there were nearly three dozen star cruisers waiting for service from the planet Ground Control Administration. The huge battle cruiser glided swiftly between the smaller cruisers like a space whale parading amidst a school of diminutive fish.
“Captain we are being hailed from the planet.” informed a slender young officer controlling the communications console.
The Captain was checking a small data pad on his left hand and handed it over to one of her officers and ordered coolly to the young lieutenant, “Initiate Tarion contact.”
A small beeping sound was heard and the Mayor replied, “This is the Union Vessel Cathedral please respond!”
For a moment the bridge of the ship fell silent, only the sound of the many sensors, computers and scanners could be heard.
“This is Tulak Shull from the GCA, could I have your identity codes?” responded the voice of a man over the speaker, not even his face showed on the viewscreen.
The Captain kind of laughed at this, “Sir this is Captain Doma Ur Noran of the Union Vessel Cathedral we do not come for trading business, we simply need assistance.”
The voice on the other side of the speaker asked in disbelief, “What sort of cruiser ship is yours Captain?”
“An Union Battleship” corrected the Captain trying to stress their point a little harder.
Lieutenant Varan on the communications console looked at her partner besides her, who was manning the ship’s differential drives and they both smirked at the emphasis her captain just gave to the word battleship. The scene was starting to look like one of those comedy clips they show on late night hyper telecasts.
The Captain looked at the two officers and asked, “What do you think they’ll do?”
The young man still trying to keep the drives together answered in an almost monotonic way, “Captain, I think they will provide whatever assistance they could afford and in the shortest period of time, they can not have an Union Battlecruiser floating round their planet. It would be bad for their trading business, know what I mean?”
The Captain very well knew what Lt. Louis was saying, but that was the same reason she just wanted to get out of here in the first place. But what could they do? She turned her gravitating seat around to look at the science station and saw his trusted friend and second in command Lt. Commander Stark gliding his fingers furiously over the key pad of his console, “Any luck yet Stark?”
He nodded in a negative without taking his gaze from the floating screen before him. He still did not know what had caused the ship to malfunction in the first place. It was utterly strange, one minute they were calculating a hyper jump sequence and the next they find themselves traveling faster than the ship’s drives can handle and going Space knows where.
The voice came once again on the speaker, “Of what Union are you referring to, Union of Galactic Traders or Union of Space Barterers? ”
“Of none, this is a vessel from the Union of Worlds. Can I speak with your superior” demanded the Captain to the faceless voice. Then she turned to the Navigational Station and asked, “Where in space are we?”
The officer controlling the console turned to face his Captain and answered regretfully, “Captain, I am sorry. The first coordinates I gave you were incorrect, they were based on data collected milliseconds before the starship hyper jumped.”
“Well, do you know where we are now?”
“Yes Captain!”
“Well, Lieutenant.” Demanded the Captain with an inner feeling of annoyance starting to develop.
“Sir if the instruments are correct we could be nine hundred and eighty thousand five hundred and six light years from Union Space at 37 degrees Alpha, 98 degrees Sigma and 52 degrees Omega.” As soon as he said this a holographical image appeared in the middle of the bridge pinpointing their exact location in space.
The face of the crew members was one of disbelief. How could that be, how could they have traveled nearly a million light years in over thirty seconds.
“Captain that is impossible. No drive is that fast or efficient for that matter.” Protested Lt. Louis
The voice on the other side of the speaker came again, “Sorry but I will have to send an escort for you. We do not know any Union. Please proceed to the following coordinates and stand by until the escort arrives….Mr. Geminow will arrive shortly and will conduct an inspection.”
Lt. Varan swiveled to her side and faced the Captain, “Captain what if they decide to attack us?”
Captain Ur Noran had forgotten about that too, their weapons systems was also down. It had been yet another side effect of the strange hyper jump. “Well, we will have to play it on the safe side.”
She looked over to Stark, “Come on Stark give me something to work with.”
Stark lifted his head and replied, “Captain, it so seems that a very powerful energy surge caught the differential drives and gave them quit a boost. In fact, it crystallized the gas in the differential chambers. We will need replacement for that.”
“Where did it originate?” asked the Captain.
“It was centered on deck twenty nine.”
The Captain suddenly blinked in realization, “Security! Where is the prisoner?”
Please forgive the grammatical mistakes, they would be corrected as time proceeds.
Enjoy Chapter One
Temporal Shortcomings
Somewhere on the Aurora Star System
AuroraTR125.0121
November 23 44591 TST
“What in the Stars!” exclaimed Grionne Simmons as he leaned back deep into his leather padded chair. He took a very good look at the report before him one second time, he couldn’t believe it, he simply could not believe it and his angular wrinkled ridden face showed it.
Mayor Lucas Himmel, stood straight and tall before Chief Simmons. He had been an agent for Central for quite some time, so long ago he just could not remember. Maybe one of the side effects of temporal shifting one too many times. In his time he had faced unsurmountable odds, galaxy wide pandemonium, the usual chases through temporal zones and maybe once or twice tried to prevent the main time line from dissolving into nothingness but to face Chief Temporal Simmons twice in a month was something not even he was prepared for.
Chief Simmons stood up from his jet black desk, the surface reflecting his every action. He turned to look through the wall sized view port, by so doing he locked his arms behind him and allowed himself a brief period of silence. “Mayor,” he began cautiously, his voice even more nasal than always, “I do not mean to offend you by saying this, but are you certain that your report is completely accurate. By accurate I do mean is that the amount of resources that would cost us to solve this predicament?”
Mayor Himmel reflected for a second, he knew that his figures were quite alarming, and that they couldn’t possibly afford that solution he was putting forth but there wasn’t any other way or was it? His straightened himself even more, as was customary of Central Agents. “ Chief I know the number is definitely alarming but the damage done is considerable. If we do not act immediately we will not even be able to stop it with. The damage done would be too great to mend.”
“And what about this alien agency you mention in your report. Do we know anything else about them? How aware are they of our existence?”
“Actually Chief, most are not actually conscious of our work. However, some had inadvertedly encountered our people in the field. Some had been apprehended and dealt with yet there are others who had been able to escape. We can only presume that the word is out and others will be warned of our activities. Should I need to remind you sir, while some were seemingly inoffensive, others exhibited quite some share of cunning and resistance henceforth. The latter ones had been deliberately destructive and dangerous to the continuum.”
Simmons turned to face Himmel once again. He took yet another look at the report over his desk, tightened his thin lips one against the other, making his aquiline features even more triangular than ever. He knew that Mayor Himmel was right, the problem could no longer be dismissed, they would have to do something about it. “Mayor, assemble a team of five. Treat this situation with utmost secrecy. Inform them as need to know basis. We can not risk further interference from this people”.
“Excuse me Chief, but the figure I suggested was somewhat bigger.” Protested the Mayor elegantly trying not to sound rude.
Chief Simmons sat down on his seat and pulled himself near to his desk. “Yes Mayor Himmel I remember very well your figures, but at the moment that would take most of our people. As you are aware we can not afford that, so for the time being assemble your team and from there on we will try to work a more plausible solution to this present predicament.”
“But Chief,” protested once again the polite Mayor.
But the Chief Temporal looked at him in the eyes and replied vigorously, “That would be all for now Mayor, assemble your team and report by 3600 hours. Is that clear?”
“Yes Chief.” And left the room in a quite dignified manner.
As the Mayor left the room Grionne Simmons, Chief Temporal of the Central Agency of Transtemporal Affairs, exhaled heavily. His was an agency created ages ago by the first humans who achieved the proper time traveling techniques. At first it had been ruled by different government agencies, for a time even by the global presidency but it became laden with so many conspiracies that the agency had to separate from the many governments of Earth. Now they existed in secrecy but that secrecy was now bing jeopardized by some. Himmel was right they had to do something, but what?
“Miss. Jones please contact The Parliament. I need to speak to the Lords.”
* * * * * *
London, England
EarthTR125.0121
September 12 1929 A.D.
The last rain clouds were starting to part away, it had been raining for the last two weeks and the dark city had been darker these last days. But today the weather was getting better. To Guillione Lancaste it simply meant not wearing a cape. This would be his second visit to the city, the first time he was unimpressed with the attractions and this time with the bleak weather and all that talk about the war it made him sick. He came to London only because it was good for a place to lay low for a while. At least he thought so.
“Wanna go out for a walk, the rains gone away. Here see.” And he removed to a side one of the curtains that covered the one of the two windows of the room. He was talking to Sir Lionel Gregory, an old friend and whom he has been his protégé ever since they met several years ago back in France.
“I would rather stay inside old friend, besides we still have to talk about your impressions regarding the rumors of war.”
‘Hmph’ thought to himself the brash young man. He would have to endure the old man’s wishes for some more time, he still have to lay low for a while more anyways. He sat down in one of the Victorian chairs besides the aging baron and began, “ what exactly do you want to know my lord?”
The old man eyes lighted with fire, as rekindled by excitement. “Everything you know, who will start it and who will win?”
Guillionne crossed his arms gently before him, he leaned his head back and as if entering into a trance, “Ladda, Badda, Aum, Aum, Aum, Spirits do you hear me?” he said in a very ominous voice.
“Yes, yes spirits tell me, tell me of the future.” He continued as he made contact with his spirits.
An electrical crackle took over the room and the lights dimmed. The baron was rather amused than scared. A hazy cloud of light began to form before the two of them. From this cloud images could be seen, they were soldiers marching, flying machines dog fighting one another and rulers, monarchs and presidents arguing with each other. The baron was amused by all this, but the phantasmal vision came to a sudden halt and the lights came back gradually.
“Amazing, simply amazing,” exclaimed the excited baron. “I have never seen anything like it my young man. Now I know that you are the real thing and not one of those deceivers that use trickery with smoke and mirrors. What else can you do my young lad?”
“I can do this” and as he said so his form became engulfed with a blue crackling surge of energy. The baron leaped backwards and was laughing in amazement.
“What is that?” The baron asked bewildered.
“It is the power of my mind baron. Try your revolver against me.
The baron’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, “You want me to shoot you?”
“Yes Baron, shoot at me. It won’t hurt me. My mind is strong. You shall see.
The old man went to his desk and from one of its drawers drew a nicely polished revolver. He took a good look at Guillione and asked one more time, “Are you sure boy?”
Guillionne smiled and nodded. His form still surrounded by the seemingly powerful bolts of energy.
The baron without hesitation trained his revolver at the young man and shot. The gun blast echoed through out the room and possibly a very good part of his city manor. The bullet traveled directly towards Guillionne’s heart but it was immediately disintegrated as it approached him.
The baron gasped as he saw the tiny bolt of energy come out of Guillionne’s body and evaporate the bullet.
“See, I told you I would be unharmed my good baron.”
“Then it is true, you are a real wizard!”
Footsteps approached behind the wooden doors and Guillione stopped the energy surge around him. The doors swung open and in came three men, all of them armed. They all looked at the baron.
“What the hell Rogerson? What are you doing?” demanded the baron at his butler.
“But sir we heard a gunshot!” exclaimed the weak looking service man apologetically.
“Get out, get out!” ordered the baron infuriated
Rogerson motioned the others away as he closed the large wooden doors of the studio before him.
Guillione sure that the elderly baron was more than convinced of his mystical origins sat down in one of the many Victorian pieces of furniture in the room, and allowed himself a wide grin on his face. Looked the baron and saw that he was beyond flabbergasted. He made a mental note on the subject and began to consider his next step.
* * * * *
On board the Union’s Flagship Cathedral
Lewoara Sector, near the Trade Planet OrgorTR155.0694
OrgorTR155.0694
Two hundredth and twenty second day of the 35th year rule of Emperor Baxalas.
The entire starship shuddered as it suddenly came out from hyperspace. It materialized several hundred thousand kilometers from the space taxi zone of the world below. Even there, where space traffic was supposed to be minimal, there were nearly three dozen star cruisers waiting for service from the planet Ground Control Administration. The huge battle cruiser glided swiftly between the smaller cruisers like a space whale parading amidst a school of diminutive fish.
“Captain we are being hailed from the planet.” informed a slender young officer controlling the communications console.
The Captain was checking a small data pad on his left hand and handed it over to one of her officers and ordered coolly to the young lieutenant, “Initiate Tarion contact.”
A small beeping sound was heard and the Mayor replied, “This is the Union Vessel Cathedral please respond!”
For a moment the bridge of the ship fell silent, only the sound of the many sensors, computers and scanners could be heard.
“This is Tulak Shull from the GCA, could I have your identity codes?” responded the voice of a man over the speaker, not even his face showed on the viewscreen.
The Captain kind of laughed at this, “Sir this is Captain Doma Ur Noran of the Union Vessel Cathedral we do not come for trading business, we simply need assistance.”
The voice on the other side of the speaker asked in disbelief, “What sort of cruiser ship is yours Captain?”
“An Union Battleship” corrected the Captain trying to stress their point a little harder.
Lieutenant Varan on the communications console looked at her partner besides her, who was manning the ship’s differential drives and they both smirked at the emphasis her captain just gave to the word battleship. The scene was starting to look like one of those comedy clips they show on late night hyper telecasts.
The Captain looked at the two officers and asked, “What do you think they’ll do?”
The young man still trying to keep the drives together answered in an almost monotonic way, “Captain, I think they will provide whatever assistance they could afford and in the shortest period of time, they can not have an Union Battlecruiser floating round their planet. It would be bad for their trading business, know what I mean?”
The Captain very well knew what Lt. Louis was saying, but that was the same reason she just wanted to get out of here in the first place. But what could they do? She turned her gravitating seat around to look at the science station and saw his trusted friend and second in command Lt. Commander Stark gliding his fingers furiously over the key pad of his console, “Any luck yet Stark?”
He nodded in a negative without taking his gaze from the floating screen before him. He still did not know what had caused the ship to malfunction in the first place. It was utterly strange, one minute they were calculating a hyper jump sequence and the next they find themselves traveling faster than the ship’s drives can handle and going Space knows where.
The voice came once again on the speaker, “Of what Union are you referring to, Union of Galactic Traders or Union of Space Barterers? ”
“Of none, this is a vessel from the Union of Worlds. Can I speak with your superior” demanded the Captain to the faceless voice. Then she turned to the Navigational Station and asked, “Where in space are we?”
The officer controlling the console turned to face his Captain and answered regretfully, “Captain, I am sorry. The first coordinates I gave you were incorrect, they were based on data collected milliseconds before the starship hyper jumped.”
“Well, do you know where we are now?”
“Yes Captain!”
“Well, Lieutenant.” Demanded the Captain with an inner feeling of annoyance starting to develop.
“Sir if the instruments are correct we could be nine hundred and eighty thousand five hundred and six light years from Union Space at 37 degrees Alpha, 98 degrees Sigma and 52 degrees Omega.” As soon as he said this a holographical image appeared in the middle of the bridge pinpointing their exact location in space.
The face of the crew members was one of disbelief. How could that be, how could they have traveled nearly a million light years in over thirty seconds.
“Captain that is impossible. No drive is that fast or efficient for that matter.” Protested Lt. Louis
The voice on the other side of the speaker came again, “Sorry but I will have to send an escort for you. We do not know any Union. Please proceed to the following coordinates and stand by until the escort arrives….Mr. Geminow will arrive shortly and will conduct an inspection.”
Lt. Varan swiveled to her side and faced the Captain, “Captain what if they decide to attack us?”
Captain Ur Noran had forgotten about that too, their weapons systems was also down. It had been yet another side effect of the strange hyper jump. “Well, we will have to play it on the safe side.”
She looked over to Stark, “Come on Stark give me something to work with.”
Stark lifted his head and replied, “Captain, it so seems that a very powerful energy surge caught the differential drives and gave them quit a boost. In fact, it crystallized the gas in the differential chambers. We will need replacement for that.”
“Where did it originate?” asked the Captain.
“It was centered on deck twenty nine.”
The Captain suddenly blinked in realization, “Security! Where is the prisoner?”
