The Time Stone (52 page)

“
Right there.” He said as
he then got out of the car. Sirens wailed in the
background.

“We have to hurry” said Reman. Drax
and Tina followed him into an old warehouse that looked like it had
been thoroughly vacant for ages. The cobwebs on the interior were
well kept and fresh while some were aged and dust mold was growing
on top of dust mold. “Be quiet” he whispered to them as they passed
through the large door that he slowly closed behind them. “It is
very important that they, meaning the police, do not find us here.”
He led them across the room and to a set of old machinery. Tina
felt she was in a horror movie as the darkness and damp and dust of
the room was enough to send shivers down her spine. She yawns.
“Quiet” said Reman as he walked over to an old mantle and pressed a
hidden lever and button in one of the bricks on the wall with his
finger above it causing the entire mantle to turn with the trio on
it until they were facing a passageway on the other
side.

“
A secret door” said
Drax.

“
Yes, we had come across
this place ages ago as the perfect hiding spot for our
operation.”

“
What operation is that?”
Asked Tina.

“
You will see.” He
replied. They made their way down the narrow shaft for half a yard
before approaching an opening several feet down with well-lit lamps
and furnaces, machines running, and people walking around looking
up in shock at the new comers. “This is home for me now… much
better than anything on the surface but occasionally I have to
venture up for supplies and risk not being caught.”

“
You’re wanted… for what
exactly?” Asked Drax.

“
Everything. It seems just
being human is illegal these days.” They climbed down a ladder led
by Reman and saw lab equipment set up with workers all around,
scientists, farmers, artisans, pirates, and engineers all working
on various projects. “So Tina did you ever marry?” Asked Reman
randomly and casually with grace and sincerity.

“
No, you know the whole
wife routine is not for me. What about you?”

“
I was but she was lost
during the great conflict.”

“
Oh, sorry”

“
Well it was some time
ago, not for you being from the past and all, I think.” He walked
ahead.

“
Dear God, Tina” said Drax
pointing to a symbol they recognized from the past and future, the
swirling orbs that signified the Culto de Piedra Tiempo.

“
Oh boy” she said as they
saw the symbol on everything from uniforms, lab coats, and books to
equipment and weaponry in the form of laser rifles on the walls.
“Do you think this could be the beginning of the rebellion we
helped in the future?” Asked Tina.

“
It is a good shot and the
extension of the warriors we battled in the past times” they
whispered to one another “but I don’t think we should tell them too
much about our travels or we risk altering things beyond measure
from now.”

“
Right” she replied.
“Reman, are there any other symbols like this? It could be
important.”

“
All over the place. It’s
the norm in this place.” Reman shrugged with a curious grin. “Uh,
let me introduce you to our lead geneticist, physicist, chemist,
and research experimentalist Howard Kowolski.” Said Reman leading
them to a small corner of the lab where a slightly plump young man
in his earlier thirties sits reading a book while simultaneously
examining a series of test tubes and lab tubes. “Hello Dr.
Kowalski” said Reman.

“
Oh hello yourself and
these fine strangers are here too” he nodded.

“
Unbelievable” said Tina.
“We met before.”

“
We did?” Said Kowolski. I
don’t remember.”

“
Yeah, last time we met I
was saying the same thing… long story.”

“
They’re from the past”
whispered Reman.

“
Ah” gestured Kowolski
grimacing.

“
Try not to broadcast it
too much huh?” Asked Drax.

“
OK…I’ll be back then you
can join us for a meal.” Reman walks away.

“
We were separated from
our friends during the last ‘jump’ and we don’t know where they
are” said Tina shyly.

“
The time stone you speak
of can in theory create an artificial hyperactive reticulum in our
own space-time grid axis” said Kowolski, “but the separation from
your friends might be something called a contemplating duplication
wave. The device emits a discharge of proto acid that is energy
based and vaporizes after each time jump but some residue remains.
Too much can be toxic but not enough to kill. I came up with the
principle but it was actually a colleague of mine who developed it,
Hans Merryweather. The wave would cause a duality in the grid axis
and split you from the others. It is a part of a fundamental
precept of time dynamics. But the theory itself is only a rumor. I
wish I knew where to begin to find an answer. But they could be
lost anywhere. The wave could theoretically span decades or even
centuries.”

“
Do you know where this
Merryweather is now, Doctor?” Asked Drax.

“
No, he went off years ago
for better ventures. In this day and age, I don’t know if he is
still alive.”

“
Oh” Said Tina.

“
Don’t worry. There are
worse things in life. You need some cheering up. Let me show you my
experiments. There are ways to feed the people of the world, end
hunger and poverty, end disease, and end war using Mother Nature as
our guide.” He unveils a set of electronic components and metallic
orbs near a series of plants in a glass casing.

“
Wow” said
Tina.

“
Basically, my dear, these
miniature probes will produce the needed nutrients from the organic
material of any living fruit, vegetable, mineral, or animal and
replicate it over and over as many times a needed. It’s like the
old bible story of Jesus Christ and the basket of fish and loaves.
Using advanced cloning procedures and particle manipulation we can
save our planet and race from extinction but there are those above
who make such procedures wrong and punish those who pursue this
line of research quite harshly.”

“
So you do it in secret?”
Asked Drax.

“
We have to for now but
not for always.”

“
You punk Kowolski, you
are a failure at life. You’re experiments aren’t fit to hold a bag
of worms” said a muscular man in a lab coat walking by cursing at
them.

“
Ah Dr. Know-it-all Julius
Tybrether, he is just jealous because he didn’t come up with it
first.” He yelled back.

“
You shouldn’t let him get
to you” said Tina. “You’re better than he is.”

“
Hmm maybe so… I like
you.” He reached out and touched her nose.

“
Thanks. I think you got
potential for greatness. Don’t give up on your dreams cause others
try to put you down.” Said Tina. Dr., do you remember what caused
the great conflict?”

“
No, why would I, I was
only a child when it happened.” He frowned.

“
I understand.”

“
You are curious
indeed.”

“
Yes. Thanks.” “Do you
guys ever have any encounters with ‘beasts’? Big scary man and
beast looking creatures.” Tina asked.

“
You know we learned a lot
about the beasts out there.” Kowolski said.

“
We faced so many beasts
both good and bad right Drax?” Tina said.

“
Uh Right” Drax
said.

“
Well, here is a little
secret you probably didn’t know we figured out, their DNA is almost
identical to man and man-like primates like chimps and apes. We are
basically identical genealogically.”

“
Really?” Asked
Drax.

“
From what I can tell
there was some type of contaminant or hyper meta virus a shadowy
substance that spread throughout their universe. God knows what it
really is but it transformed a perfectly civilized race of humans
to beasts, like men some are good and some are not so
good.”

“
Really, man and the
beasts from this other world are the same?” Asked Drax
Shocked.

“
The same and yet some
persist with the iconic notion of superiority and petty prejudices.
But to say that beasts and men are different races is as absurd as
saying that men of different colors are different
races.”

“
Wow” Tina
said.

“
We have bigger problems.
Tell him Doctor.” Said Reman coming back.

“
We are facing a plague
here. No one knows how it started, somewhere after the great
conflict” Kowolski started and Drax and Tina turned to one
another.

“
A strange disease affects
the liver and lungs and destroys capacity. Death is almost
instantaneous once the organs are eaten away from within in a
matter of days. We have tried every remedy and cure known to our
research and can’t find the cure. Top government scientists and
private commissioned ones have been working around the clock
without hope. We have our own facilities independent of the public
and private sectors but we are failing too. It seems the death toll
climbs higher every day.” Kowolski said.

“
Dear God” said Tina
“We’re talking total annihilation in a matter of months in this
continues.”

“
Is there nothing you
could do?” Asked Drax.

“
London has a cure,
special orchid Onymonos Poulla” said Kowolski “but it is
exceedingly rare and practically extinct nowadays. History shows it
grew in the wilds of Shireville but no longer. We have been
searching caves and lands near Shireville Forest near the old
kingdoms of Roy Tan now part of the countryside dead like the rest
of the barren earth. It had a strong potent abstract naturally
grown, which theoretically might act as a counter for the
virus.”

“
We are currently
searching to find it. But some believe it is a losing battle as we
are drawn closer every day to utter extinction.” Said Reman. “The
cure to the deadliest plague mankind has ever known may be just
within reach but totally unreachable. We don’t even know its full
origins. All we had left were what was left in some books salvaged
from the library after the great conflict.”

“
Even a small amount of
the flower’s native toxin would be useful due to our replication
technology but none seems to exist anymore, only part known is
there in history books.”

“
Too bad we couldn’t
simply go back for it” whispered Tina.

“
We don’t have the time
stone” said Drax.

Time Period: 1140 A.D.,
England

“
This strange glowing
crystal is all you need to travel through across the eons” said
Celia holding the time stone as she lay in bed with her covers on
her next to James who smirked while on his back with his shirt
off.

“
Yes” said James. “We have
been trying to get back home.”

“
Sounds like a romantic
adventure amidst the prized artifact.”

“
Yeah, we’re romantics at
heart. If you think about it” he reached over and grabbed it from
her. “The amount of ingenuity to create such power is beyond
imagination.”

“
There are greater things
indeed in the world so full of mysteries.”

“
Yeah” he put it down on a
stand beside the bed.

“
Which reminds me,” she
said “there is something I wanted to share with you. A dream I had
recently, more like a portend of omens. I felt something bad was
going to happen as I was in a cavern and was beginning to fall but
there was no one there to catch me. I fell to my death alone but
there was something there keeping me alive, something holding me
back from dying, something greater than myself that had to be done,
a mission.”

“
What do you think the
future has in store for us?” Asked James. “

That is any of our guesses. I have
always believed in predestination or divine intuition but also free
will.”

“
Me too. Maybe we can make
our own destiny.”

“
That would be nice.” She
added.

“
That is interesting. I
see things too that come to me like visions or premonitions.” Said
James.

“
Really?” Replied
Celia.

“
Whoa” James look forward
with wide eyes as he was shocked in himself as his mind’s eye
envisioned the stellar starry sky of the universe and rotated until
he was envisioning a cavern with strange writing on the wall
similar to what he saw in the other time periods. He saw a strange
white flower growing out of the rock floor and lights glowing all
around it. He snapped back to his conscious mind.

“
Wow!” “Are you alright?
You frightened me, James.”

“
I think we have to go
somewhere, together.” He said smirking and she smiled. “I need my
friend Mercedes too” he beckoned as he hopped up and grabbed his
dress shirt.

Time Period; 2042 A.D., Chronix
Bay

“
Yes, that’s them, sire”
said a young thief in rags scourging and skewering about like a
troll as he looked at a photograph of two people getting out of a
red car, Drax and Tina following a well-dressed gentleman into an
old factory.