The Time Stone (7 page)

The two guards wandered off down the
hall laughing.

“
Did you hear that? We
haven’t been sentenced yet on our plea deals. The cases aren’t
supposed to be over. Why are they transferring us?” James asked
with a curious curled brow and a self-righteous grin.

“
Beat’s me, let’s keep
moving.” Tina replied.

The duo made their way up the stairs
quietly creeping passed the many closed private offices until they
heard voices through the slightly ajar office door of Judge Wilx’s
Chambers.

“
I don’t care what you say
Mr. Jones this is highly irregular,” said Judge Farnsworth Wilx
after dismissing his clerk into the next room leaving the judge
with the district attorney Vladimir Jones.

“
Judge, we have a limited
time frame and window of opportunity in these two highly sensitive
matters and we are facing political pressure from various
sources.”

“
Aside from being ex
parte, this communication is improper and tantamount to
misconduct.”

“
Judge, I assure you that
these matters are very important to my office. We need to have
Prescott and Timewalker facing justice imminently to avoid a major
political incident.”

“
How is that so Mr.
Jones?”

“
The report on your desk
speaks for itself. I cannot serve it on the defense without
jeopardizing a very sensitive investigation of my office regarding
these two prisoners.”

“
It will be dealt with.”
Judge Wilx nodded looking at the thick hundred pages on his desk, a
symbol on the front cover he had not seen in years, but one he knew
all too well from his glory days, a double curved upside down arch,
the symbol of the Egyptian serpent god Apophis and the symbol of
the Temporo Inc.’s secret label 12VM.

“
Thank you, your
honor.”

Tina and James looked at one another
in the crunched crawl space in the stairwell near the open-door
office they were peering into.

“
I’m confused.” Tina
whispered to her colleague. “Why are we so important?”

“
I don’t know but I think
we are going to find out soon enough,” added James.

They continued passed the door and hid
in a nearby storeroom that was opened down the hall as they saw Mr.
Jones leaving the judge’s chambers and walking out briskly passed
them without noticing them.

“
Whew, that was close,”
said Tina.

They ran out and as they exited the
main door at the end of the hall way, a large alarm sounded and a
guard saw them and pointed to them, “freeze!”

“
Oh crap, let’s get out of
here.” James yelled leading them into a stairwell.

CHAPTER 17

“
Mark Cumberberry,
CFO
” so it read on the door in Temporo,
Inc. headquarters in central Chronix Bay. Mark sat at his chair in
the large architectural design of an office space, a wet bar on one
end and a designer leather sofa with throw pillows and a mahogany
shawl on the other, a gilded centerpiece chandelier hanging above,
and an extended marble inlaid desk with gilded monuments and
statuettes of ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Sumerian, and Central
American religion and myth. Plants hung from every corner and sat
on his desk, adorning the office as he was a fond lover of nature.
A giant mirror occupied the full length of the side walls to his
right. He sipped an entire glass of cabernet in a moments glance
and then rose to his feet thinking of nothing better to do in the
middle of the work day and approached the mirror.

He stared deep into it and into
himself, his eyes widened and physically morphed growing into large
ovals and his nose and mouth protruded outward growing larger and
his face growing wider forming a hideous snout with fangs extending
from there onward as if breaking free after ages of dormancy. A
pair of horns grew from his head as long as scimitars and just as
razor sharp, his tannish complexion pigmented to a light shade of
brown and hair grew on top of his balding hairline to cover his
entire head, wild and shaggily extending downward, down his back,
his suit breaking as his muscles grew covered with hair and
darkening in shade, small tendrils protruded from his back and
extended outward like a metamorphosis of a larva from a cocoon and
becoming a pair of gigantic bat wings flapping back so far they
knocked over to the carpeted floor a pair of historical Chinese
figurines on his desk. His legs grew in size as did his back and
stature ripping the suit pants until they were mere shreds on the
floor and his feet formed the shape of hooves crushing the
alligator skin loafers he had on. His loins covered with brown
thick shaggy fur further covering down arms to clawed rough fingers
and hands and his legs, spine, groin, and chest, muscular physique
to his upper body, neck, and face gritting fiercely with
determination and gladness over the transformation as if a true
being freed from the prison of a form he did not relish, that of a
mere human being as he was more than human, he was stronger,
faster, smarter, more resilient, and ferocious. He was a beast and
five points formed on his forehead. He relished himself in this
true form of his. He stretched out his wings and muscular arms
towards the various potted plants in the room. The plants began to
move on their own as they recognized him communing with them. The
plants began coming to him as if intelligently sensing his
presence. He was in complete ecstasy as he was surrounded by the
flowing vines of the plants growing around him. The plants and the
beast communed enjoying one another’s presence. He peacefully
embraced his plants enhancing his own pleasures and relishing the
bond of life they shared. Together they were happy in the
moment.

Then suddenly the door opened and
entered a young blonde woman with a cup of coffee and she gasped
when she saw him and dropped the cup spilling its contents onto the
carpet as she ran out in pure fear screaming of terror.

“
Oh my God, what is
that???!!!” She ran out as Mark in his true form turned in a grit
of disgust at the smell of a human woman interrupting his
tranquility.

A few doors down the hall in the large
corner office of Broad Staffnight, Liz passed back and forth in a
frantic panic.

“
Liz, tell me what’s
wrong. You act like you’ve seen a ghost!” Said Broad Staffnight
seated in his chair arching his fingers together towards his
nose.

“
I think so…It was a
monster… like those mythical creatures, beasts, like the goat god
Pan, it looked like a Satyr but different, more grotesque and all…
I never saw anything so hideous in my life. I think it killed Mr.
Cumberberry. I didn’t see him in the office.”

“
Hmm” Broad thought for a
moment, “that is interesting” treading off towards his window
panoramic view of the city skyline while not completely absorbing
her issue as if knowing more than she understood.

“
Broad, you think I’m
crazy don’t you?”

“
Hmm”, Broad responded
gazing into the panoramic view outside.

CHAPTER 18

The dim lighting in the halls outside
the meeting room housed by the mighty Temporo, Inc. central tower
echoed with the important conversations that had transpired within
it permeating time itself. The building itself had been around for
centuries but there were meetings here going back farther dealing
with ancient rituals and human sacrifice. Broad Staffnight stood in
the center of the conference room inside at the head of the table
thinking of how his father and great, great, great grandfather
before him once stood there and commanded others as he did. The
room soon filled with an array of suited men and women in expensive
attire and prepared to lead the directorate of the company he
loved, and that has been a part of his family for so many
generations before, into the new millennium and beyond.

“
My friends” he spoke
jovially to the group of proud business spectators. “We have an
unprecedented opportunity to do something that has never been done
before, a new venture will unfold, and a project of millions of
years in the making and it will make shockwaves for generations to
come.”

The meeting ended as usual with the
words by Broad Staffnight

“
Let’s work together to
build more bridges of fortunes and excellence for us all.” However,
for some the meeting was anything but usual as the project revealed
to them offered both high expectation and utter despair.

“
I don’t like this, Tom”
said Maria Bella from the legal department to her accountant
colleague Thomas Papaioannou. “Everything he said was either an
outright fabrication or a perversion of impossible dreams.” Maria
added as she gained an inquisitive look from her Mediterranean
colleague.

“
But we know this can be
possible. Do you not know about the transition protocols that are
being prepared?” Tom spoke in a deep seated Grecian
accent.

“
Of course but it doesn’t
appear to be tenable.”

“
I believe it is perfectly
within our means. We just have to keep our wits about
it.”

“
Let’s hope you’re right
or this whole thing will literally make shockwaves but not in the
way he’s hoping.” She gestured to Broad who was standing a few
meters away engulfed in his conversation with Mark Cumberberry who
had been immersed in another conversation of his own.

“
Mark, Elizabeth saw you.”
He spoke to his mentor and colleague now back in human
form.

“
I know,” he smiled
sipping his glass of wine, a special unique brand of
cabernet.

“
You also know that our
best kept secret must never be revealed to the public.”

“
I will handle
her!”

“
No, I will handle her. We
don’t need any more of your way of handling people.” Broad grimaced
and began to walk away angrily and then stopped. “I had to tell her
the truth. You are fortunate she is one of us.”

“
I have issues on you too,
my apprentice. You will have to answer one way or another at the
‘real’ board meeting soon” said Mark as he sipped his
cabernet.

“
Well we will have to see
when the mission is complete before we jump to any hasty
conclusions.” Broad commanded with a threatening tone.

“
Is that why I was only
recently awakened, to act as cannon fodder for this merciless
mission?” Mark asked curiously. “I sure as hell am not much in
accounting matters.”

“
No we are all equally
valuable to the cause” said Broad “but we need to remember who has
priority on the mission.”

“
So be it… then see you
when we search for the artifact of legend. It is upon us, you know.
You will soon have your orders to assemble your team, Broad as you
desire most.”

“
In that I can count on
your support then I know but I am pulling some strings on the
others, especially to keep the teleported mishap a complete
cover-up. No one is to know the truth.” Said Broad as Mark nodded
gently.

“
We have no choice” Mark
uttered empathetically.

“
Hmm” Broad turned
smirking slightly and walked away.

“
Time is on my side” Mark
whispered to himself.

CHAPTER 19

“
This is reporter Sylvia
Armstrong reporting for Channel Nine news, Chronix Bay. The hustle
and bustle of the downtown streets continue to lay filled with
protesters standing tall amidst one of the worst economic climates
in US history, rampant lawlessness, unemployment, extreme
homelessness, rock-bottom housing prices, and shortages of basic
necessities like food, water, and gasoline, contamination and
recalls continue but amongst the worst are what has been coined as
the ‘law graduate job deflation and bust’ where many young lawyers
and seasoned, new and old, are continuously struggling to make ends
meet in a bottoms up economy. Those without jobs are quickly
turning in their law books for aprons at the local coffee shops for
the chance to earn even a meager income. ‘From Barrister to
Barista,’ says one recent law graduate, Marina Gomez.

“
I am open-minded but I
can’t pay back two hundred thousand dollars in student loans on
minimum wage, unemployment, or food stamps. I like many others of
my brothers and sisters need jobs and good ones and we cannot
imagine a worse time now. We are not peons or slaves and not
illegal workers but we are people who deserve respect and need
truly gainful employment. There is nothing wrong with fighting now
for what is ours.” She marched on with others holding signs in a
circular picketing line chanting out loud at the top of their
lungs, “employment now!”

“
There you have it folks,
the new movement for a new era.” The television set fizzled off as
the obese prison guard stuffed cheese puffs into his mouth
repeatedly with a redundant snort.

CHAPTER 20

Several meters from the guard’s office
with chaotically strewn files and junk food wrappers, James and
Tina sought to escape their confinement.

“
There has got to be a
better way!” Thought James thinking of his youth listening to the
Rolling Stones as he and Tina ran up the stairwell curving to each
floor circling frantic to get out to freedom.