iHawk
03-01-2007, 3:41 AM
“Time travel is a bitch.”
-Dr. Jessica Rawford
It was a warm summer day; bright blue sky, fluffy white clouds and a gentle breeze. The kind of day where you could feel good about doing nothing the whole day. The birds were singing, the dragonflies buzzing lazily around the tall grass and the bushes swaying slightly in the breeze. Suddenly there was a man standing amongst the bushes on the side of the road, he looked altogether ordinary; A dark red leather jacket, some black gloves, a white long-sleeved shirt and some light cargo pants. He had headphones on which were connected to a CD player in his jacket’s breast pocket. He looked around squinting while his eyes adapted to the light, as he reached into his pocket to start the CD player he muttered to himself.
“Damn, I forgot there were only CD players back then...”
You mean now, use the proper tense. a voice replied, You don’t want to give yourself away do you?
“Of course not,” The man said putting on a pair of sunglasses to help his eyes fare against the brutal sunlight, “I’m just wondering why I couldn’t of brought an MP3 player, they’re only three or four years ahead of thiswhen.”
No Rapier, you know protocol; No contaminating timelines. That means no advanced tech no matter how close it’s homewhen is.
“Yeah, speaking of that.” The man said as he started walking, “If not contaminating the timeline is so important then why did they let me bring my... ‘armament’.”
Hey I don’t write protocols, I just enforce them. Besides, I doubt you’d want to be ‘unarmed’ if they showed up.
“All I’m saying is they didn’t have to send me for this, I’m not the most ‘downwhen friendly’ if you know what I mean.”
What’s this? Are you actually nervous about a simple re-recruitment? This isn’t like you.
“Well excuse me if I find this one a bit more... ‘personal’ then the others.”
C’mon Rapier, you’ve done this a hundred times. You go in, contact the target, stimulate their abilities and take them back. I mean it’s not like you’re re-recruiting yourself.
“Yeah, yeah I know. The timelines naturally prevent paradoxes from forming. The only way to be rerecruited by your future self would be through a Time-Loop.”
Which the Council will only sanction in times of desperation. Now will you get on with it? If we keep this line open too long they might be able to find you.
“Sure thing. I’ll contact you when I’m ready for evac’. Rapier out.”
By this point Rapier stopped walking, he was now standing at the entrance to an all too familiar subdivision and with a long sigh he continued. A less experienced jumper might of been tempted to do something, anything to make the trip faster, but stealing transportation would draw unwanted attention from local law enforcement and using his abilities now would draw unwanted attention from something far worse. He however, simply turned up the volume of his CD player and hiked on up the hill.
Each house he passed gave him a flood of nostalgia, he recognized many of the general designs and building materials. Looking at several of the houses with wood decks he remembered that real wood furniture was one of the many things he missed about living this far downwhen. That part of his life however was long behind him, and his gifts were being put to good use... just like all the other deadbeats who were pulled from the timelines. Just like his target would be. He felt sweat beginning to form across his chest and shoulder, so he removed his headphones - placing them in another pocket on the jacket - and then removed the jacket as well draping it over his right arm as he continued walking.
Ten, maybe twenty minutes later Rapier reached the area where the target would be. He had already memorized the area and the likely locations to make contact, but for now he just stood there on the corner surveying the row of houses ahead of him. Taking his glasses off to get a better view he muttered one word under his breath.
Home.
Comments, criticism I'll take whatever you've got. I've recently been interested in time travel and semi-paradoxes so I sat down at around 2:00AM and started writing. I'm not quite sure what I'll be doing with this, but if anyone out there likes the idea I'll definantly continue the story. Feel free to offer ideas for a name, because so far the only idea I have is "The Allwhen Chronicles" but that would imply writing multiple stories which I'm not sure I want to do just now :P
Sleep deprivation-fuled inspiration for the win!
~iHawk
-Dr. Jessica Rawford
It was a warm summer day; bright blue sky, fluffy white clouds and a gentle breeze. The kind of day where you could feel good about doing nothing the whole day. The birds were singing, the dragonflies buzzing lazily around the tall grass and the bushes swaying slightly in the breeze. Suddenly there was a man standing amongst the bushes on the side of the road, he looked altogether ordinary; A dark red leather jacket, some black gloves, a white long-sleeved shirt and some light cargo pants. He had headphones on which were connected to a CD player in his jacket’s breast pocket. He looked around squinting while his eyes adapted to the light, as he reached into his pocket to start the CD player he muttered to himself.
“Damn, I forgot there were only CD players back then...”
You mean now, use the proper tense. a voice replied, You don’t want to give yourself away do you?
“Of course not,” The man said putting on a pair of sunglasses to help his eyes fare against the brutal sunlight, “I’m just wondering why I couldn’t of brought an MP3 player, they’re only three or four years ahead of thiswhen.”
No Rapier, you know protocol; No contaminating timelines. That means no advanced tech no matter how close it’s homewhen is.
“Yeah, speaking of that.” The man said as he started walking, “If not contaminating the timeline is so important then why did they let me bring my... ‘armament’.”
Hey I don’t write protocols, I just enforce them. Besides, I doubt you’d want to be ‘unarmed’ if they showed up.
“All I’m saying is they didn’t have to send me for this, I’m not the most ‘downwhen friendly’ if you know what I mean.”
What’s this? Are you actually nervous about a simple re-recruitment? This isn’t like you.
“Well excuse me if I find this one a bit more... ‘personal’ then the others.”
C’mon Rapier, you’ve done this a hundred times. You go in, contact the target, stimulate their abilities and take them back. I mean it’s not like you’re re-recruiting yourself.
“Yeah, yeah I know. The timelines naturally prevent paradoxes from forming. The only way to be rerecruited by your future self would be through a Time-Loop.”
Which the Council will only sanction in times of desperation. Now will you get on with it? If we keep this line open too long they might be able to find you.
“Sure thing. I’ll contact you when I’m ready for evac’. Rapier out.”
By this point Rapier stopped walking, he was now standing at the entrance to an all too familiar subdivision and with a long sigh he continued. A less experienced jumper might of been tempted to do something, anything to make the trip faster, but stealing transportation would draw unwanted attention from local law enforcement and using his abilities now would draw unwanted attention from something far worse. He however, simply turned up the volume of his CD player and hiked on up the hill.
Each house he passed gave him a flood of nostalgia, he recognized many of the general designs and building materials. Looking at several of the houses with wood decks he remembered that real wood furniture was one of the many things he missed about living this far downwhen. That part of his life however was long behind him, and his gifts were being put to good use... just like all the other deadbeats who were pulled from the timelines. Just like his target would be. He felt sweat beginning to form across his chest and shoulder, so he removed his headphones - placing them in another pocket on the jacket - and then removed the jacket as well draping it over his right arm as he continued walking.
Ten, maybe twenty minutes later Rapier reached the area where the target would be. He had already memorized the area and the likely locations to make contact, but for now he just stood there on the corner surveying the row of houses ahead of him. Taking his glasses off to get a better view he muttered one word under his breath.
Home.
Comments, criticism I'll take whatever you've got. I've recently been interested in time travel and semi-paradoxes so I sat down at around 2:00AM and started writing. I'm not quite sure what I'll be doing with this, but if anyone out there likes the idea I'll definantly continue the story. Feel free to offer ideas for a name, because so far the only idea I have is "The Allwhen Chronicles" but that would imply writing multiple stories which I'm not sure I want to do just now :P
Sleep deprivation-fuled inspiration for the win!
~iHawk