The Time Stone (5 page)

The next morning he was awoken by a
loud banging on the front door of the building of his former
residence. He struggled to get up to get out of the alleyway and to
the front door of the building to see what was going on and who it
could be. He saw no one by the time he arrived. He looked at the
door instantaneously and found a stack of papers tacked to the
front door. “Notice of Eviction”, the papers read. ”Someone else’s
misfortune” he muttered as he shook his head, thinking that the
city’s homeless population was going to increase. He crawled back
into the alleyway and went to sleep.

Hours later in the same morning, he
was awoken by another loud noise. He struggled to get up to get to
his feet, and minutes later he heard a series of sirens in the
distance. Then gunshots pierced through garbage cans in his
alleyway. “Oh my God!” He ran out and ducked trying to avoid
getting shot or getting arrested.

CHAPTER 11

“
How does it work?” asked
Sylvia Armstrong, local reporter for Chronix Bay Universal printing
the news and nothing but the news, as their motto displayed on the
side of their building. Sylvia was a tall woman dressed in a royal
blue pants suit and pearls. She pointed to the tall cylindrical
metal object in the center of the crowd.

“
Well,” said Broad
Staffnight. “I will refer to Mario Preparo who is our lead
scientist on the project and head of Research and Development for
TI. Mario?” Broad gestured to a short balding man in a white coat
nearby, small glasses pressed against his face.

“
Yes Sir. To answer to the
question posed by the young lady, there are many dimensions that
exist in our definition of space-time, according to the laws of
general relativity and its successor string theory, but we were
previously only aware of part of the story. There are many more.
Modern M theory tells us there are over a dozen dimensions existing
alongside our own three dimensional universe. This device
transposes matter of any kind to the subatomic level and fuses it
to one of these other dimensions, resulting in instantaneous travel
to any point in our three dimensional space by pulling out and
reassembling that transposed matter into any location on the
planet.”

“
Amazing.”

“
Ingenious!!!”

“
Spectacular!” “I wonder
what runs it.” The comments began to flow spontaneously from the
crowd. Thereafter numerous voices speculated throughout the
audience in grandeur at the device that sparked a million
curiosities.

“
Would you like to see it
in action?” said Broad Staffnight.

The reaction of the spectators in the
room was a resounding yes when they applauded in
agreement.

“
Hit it Mario,” Broad
pointed proudly, displaying his courage like a talk show
host.

“
OK!” Mario typed in some
commands on the control interface, displaying a standard computer
keyboard, followed by pulling a lever beside the keyboard. Within
moments, a bright yellow light with a hot white core illuminated in
the interior of the pod at the center of the device and where there
was nothing, the light faded revealing that there was a person
inside. The pod door lifted up like a canopy, projecting itself
upward, and out stepped a beautiful woman with long blonde curls
and a rhinestone covered red dress, who danced before the
crowd.

“
Ladies and Gentleman,
meet the lovely Alexa!” Broad yelled as the room applauded loudly
with amazement. “As you can see the matter stream cuts both ways
making it possible to transmit to or from the device. Now I know
many of the eligible bachelors in this audience will be sad to see
the lovely Alexa go but we will send her back to the stage
preparation room. My dear, please step back into the
pod.”

“
Sure dearest.” She smiled
passing him and squeezing his rear end.

“
Not here,” he smirked
with a devilish grin escorting her to the pod. The canopy closed
over her once again. Broad nodded. Mario typed in commands on his
keyboard and pulled the lever, causing the hot yellow-white light
to appear and lingering for a period of time longer. “What is going
on?” Broad asked curiously.

“
I do not know,” said
Mario perplexed, “the matter stream is being blocked
somehow.”

“
Blocked? Pull her back,
now!” Broad yelled as the audience stood in stunned
silence.

“
Yes Sir” Mario pulled the
lever again and the light vanished leaving, a charred human corpse
in the pod, its skeletal features toppling over in the closed
canopy. The crowed sighed in heavy disbelief and Broad’s eyes
widened with hopelessness.

“
Open it!” yelled
Broad.

“
But sir,” added
Mario.

“
Open it now!” Broad
yelled and Mario complied. The canopy rose up and the charred
remains of the lovely Alexa fell to the ground below. Broad dropped
to his knees as tears fell from his face. Mario scrambled with the
other scientists to clear the reporters and other members from the
stage and the curtain dropped ending the show for them.

The lights of the studio in the
Chronix Bay Universal building were hot and bright. The cameras
focused their attention on one person, Sylvia Armstrong. “That is
what happened folks. The world’s first teleportation device as
devised by Temporo, Inc. is a failure that has taken a life. The
State Governor has ordered a full investigation and the
spokesperson for TI, Mr. Broad Staffnight could not be reached for
comment. It appears that the breakthrough in the next step of
transportation would be set back for a long while. This is reporter
Sylvia Armstrong signing off, Channel Nine news.” The television
clicked off and the remote control slammed onto the
desk.

“
Get me Staffnight, now!”
screamed an elderly crumpled voice cloaked in darkness and
rage.

“
Yes Sir, Mr.
Cumberberry,” spoke a corporate official running out of the office
in a panic.

CHAPTER 12

Alone on Main Street, James thought a
lot about what Syrus said and he wanted to better himself so he
decided to go to the clinic address on the business card. He turned
the street corner onto Bang Avenue nearly tripping over himself as
he stumbled back after almost bumping into a woman taller and
better built than he was. He dropped his hands as he saw the badge
on her chest and the patch on her sleeve reading Chronix Bay Police
Department.

“
Going somewhere, punk?”
she said cockily to him, her arms crossed.

“
I am uh just going home”
he lied shifting his eyes and speaking in a breaking
tone.

“
Come on you are coming
with me.”

She grabbed him by the scruff of his
neck and pulled out a pair of handcuffs and slapped them on his
wrists behind his back.

“
What? I didn’t do
anything wrong” he shouted struggling in her grasp.

“
Relax,” she pointed her
finger in his face, “come peacefully or I will be allowed to use
authorized physical force.”

“
Am I guilty of
something?” he shouted back at her.

“
Must be something” she
snorted as she shoved him in the direction of her waiting police
cruiser. “You have the right to remain silent, you have the right
to an attorney and have him or her with you during questioning, you
can stop answering questions at any time if you so desire.” She
read him his Miranda warnings as she patted him down and slamming
his body up against the cruiser. “Do you understand your rights as
I read them to you?” She asked.

“
Uh huh” he sighed looking
at her name plate, “Officer Hennessey.”

She shoved him into the cruiser after
opening the door, “Watch your head” and slammed the car door shut
beside him as she yelled, “Punk!”

CHAPTER 13

The morning after being in jail, going
through the booking process of being fingerprinted, photographed,
and strip searched prior to being detained, was especially
difficult for James. Not because he was a first time arrestee but
because for the first time ever he began to feel worried about his
immediate future, not just his distant future. He was being
escorted to the court to be held in detention. He was worried about
his immediate future, his wellbeing, and how he would fare in
court, since he was completely clueless as to what charges he was
facing. He stood in line at the side entrance to the court in
chains awaiting his turn to enter and face the swift hammer of
justice. As he stood there feeling sorry for himself he saw the
last person he expected to see in court. A few meters away, the
police were escorting another prisoner to the court. It took three
officers to parade her up the stairs, wearing full restraints but
putting up a strong spirited and incredible fight of great
resistance. She struggled against their will endlessly even as she
was overcome, the perspiration dripping down her face and dark
brown hair, made James feel sympathy but also a reluctant
attraction. A dozen loose emotions surged within him with a sudden
shock as he saw her full face from the front. “Tina?” He questioned
with a frown, feeling sorry for her. The three officers shoving
Tina up the stairs were soon joined by two other officers and
pushed her up the steps into the Chronix Bay hall of justice
without a problem and the line continued, men and women having been
caught in deceit and crime by one way or another now heading into
the proverbial lion’s den of the criminal justice
system.

CHAPTER 14

The process in the
courthouse was long and arduous most of the time consumed by
relentless waiting. James was processed in jail and appeared before
the court where he was forced into taking a quick plea deal to
lesser charges without dispute at the advice of his very nervous
court-appointed legal advisor. He still didn’t understand
completely what he was actually being charged with and the entire
time in court felt like a blur. He was advised that it was a
complicated matter and best swept under the rug. He felt cheated
and abused as he was on the street: in one instance a homeless yet
free young man in his mid-thirties and now a prisoner and property
of the criminal justice system being criminalized, shackled, and
sent into a lead cage of those termed outcasts and outlaws, as
Officer Hennessy told him when he was brought to the court
“
punk losers of society
.” He felt lower than ever in his life. Officer Hennessy was
not that much older than him but had a steady job, career, family,
and roof over her head. He had absolutely nothing, had accomplished
nothing, and felt that he was exactly that, nothing. He regretted
his choices in life not caring about his life and his future when
he was younger. He began to care now but he wondered,
“
is it too late for me?
” He was dragged out of the courtroom in chains and brought
to a ring of jail cells in the basement of the courthouse to carry
out the beginning of his sentence. He sat in a jail cell as the
guards left him alone for the time being. Somberly, he shook his
head and cupped his face in his hands and was about to sigh when he
heard a weeping sound coming from nearby. He looked over to his
left to see he was not alone after all but he was with another
prisoner who he had seen before.

“
Tina?” he
whispered.

“
Huh?” She looked over
slumped down on the floor of her cell, her wrists and ankles
shackled as his were and she was weeping profusely.

“
James, why? I‘m
confused.” They stared at one another thinking it odd the guards
would put them side by side.

“
I don’t know…” he shook
his head.

“
Are you alright?” he
asked.

“
Do I look alright?” She
shrugged showing her bindings. She was wearing a grey sweatshirt
and sweatpants. “I didn’t even know why they grabbed me. This is
insane.”

“
Come on. I can tell you
know why. ”

“
OK, I’m a hooker. Happy
now?” She snapped crying.

“
I know,” he said frowning
then decided to quickly change the subject.

“
I saw you put up quite a
fight with the guards on the courthouse steps. It was very
impressive.” He smirked.

“
Thanks” she laughed
slightly wiping her face with her bare hands. “I guess I can be
pretty rough when I need to be. My dad used to be a
boxer.”

“
What did they give you?”
James asked her the question curiously.

“
Seven years. And you?”
She asked.

“
More or less but I think
it was a case of mistaken identity.” He shrugged then slumped down
to the floor in his cell and saw her eye to eye.

“
Yeah that’s what they all
say.” Tina smiled with a sense of resilience.

“
Prosecutor said something
about murdering some guard. It can’t be us.” Tina added. “At least
I thought it was crazy. I didn’t kill nobody!” Tina
exclaimed.

“
Murder. I didn’t murder
anyone either.” James said shocked. “This is my first time in the
system.”

“
I have been arrested more
times than I can count in the past few years,” said Tina
coolly.

Tina May Prescott spent time with her
old acquaintance and new cellmate listening to his tale of woes and
explaining that they were not as far apart in life circumstances as
they would imagine. She explained how she wound up in jail this
time. Tina had always needed money fast and found it by turning to
a life of crime. She knew that she would need to come up with more
money fast to avoid being disassociated by her pimp and becoming
completely destitute and homeless. She explained to James that she
had walked into the approaching street which she knew very well.
She was afraid of dying alone on the streets due to lack of
nutrition, stable employment, or adequate resources. Each day and
the night that followed were especially long and hard. Tina sat on
a small stoop and rested for a moment. Each breath was a simple
sense of sweet relief and recognition of life in the harshest of
circumstances in the inner city but also carried with it the innate
fear that it could inevitably be her last. She had regretted the
sad life that she had grown accustomed in the proverbial middle of
nowhere lifestyle in Chronix Bay. A loud noise crackled across the
darkening sky and rain drops began to fall in a massive storm. She
sat with her head slumping between her legs and groaned
incessantly. Then she was approached by someone who appeared to be
a perfect John, tall and well-dressed even in the slums of the
inner city of Chronix Bay. She approached the man who turned out to
be an undercover police officer. Tina explained that she was
arrested for prostitution but was now being accused of some murder
she never heard about.