Rachel, Gaby, and Rick are mine.
Rated PG : some language and violence.
Because of the nature and pace of this story, I will be posting a chapter every day, if ff.net is cooperative. And yes, the rest of the chapters will be a lot longer than this one. This is a bit of an experiment, I hope everyone enjoys it, (and doesn't miss a chapter). As of now, this will be the last in this series of stories.
Up front, I'd like to thank Al and Cecilia for patiently answering my questions about commercial building electrical systems, and Rach (aka The Fink) and Trixy (aka Mr.Quinn) for lending their names.
Reviews are appreciated, please take a moment to leave one.
He stopped for a moment to look over the house. More than a house, really, a mansion, in the style of such things hundreds of years ago. Not the past -- now, he reminded himself. Despite the many times he had sent others into the past, it felt pretty damn amazing to be there -- then -- now -- himself. Time travel -- you didn't even know the right words to use.
But he was here now. And he had a job to do. With another quick glance over the manicured lawn, the small, carefully tended flower garden that the path to the front door wound through, the imposing façade, the door with its large windows on either side, he started forward again. A push on the doorbell, a look back towards the main street as he waited. There were cars parked up and down the long driveway, and in an improvised lot on the side of that beautiful lawn. A lot of people were here. Naturally, considering what day it was. They were here for the same reason that had brought the people he had come to find.
"Sir? May I help you?"
He turned to find a slender man in formal clothes standing in the doorway staring at him. "Yes, I'm here to see Wesley Collins," he said.
The man blinked at him with a slightly dazed expression, and swallowed. "I'm afraid that's impossible, sir."
"Jennifer Scotts? Eric Myers?"
"They're also -- unavailable."
"I suppose Alan Collins, too."
"Yes, sir, he's rather -- um -- busy."
"Well, I'm meeting a group of friends. We're all part of the bride's party. A man who looks like Wesley Collins but with darker hair, two other men, three women..."
"Ah." The slender man's face brightened. "Follow me."
He did, through large rooms, expensively furnished; through crowds of people standing around aimlessly, talking in quiet voices. There seemed to be a slightly hushed atmosphere despite the plentiful food and drink available, and he caught expressions of puzzlement, even worry. As if something was wrong here. Or maybe the feeling came from himself. He knew something had gone wrong, perhaps terribly wrong. Then the man he was following beckoned, opened a door, and ushered him inside. Faces looked up at him, familiar ones, but the exhaustion, the shadowed eyes, the paleness of them was new. They stared at him as the door shut, leaving them alone.
"Well? What do you have to say for yourselves?" he asked abruptly.
"Captain Logan, sir, I know this looks bad..."
"It looks terrible! Unnecessary contact in this time. A disruption in the flow of the timestream. And a time bubble, for Christ's sake! No one's ever been able to accomplish that before! Temporal Investigations has involved themselves."
They exchanged glances that spoke of anxiety, maybe even fear. "Have there been effects in our time?" one of them asked. "How bad is it?"
Logan allowed his expression to soften. "We're still working on that, but there appears to be no significant damage. T.I. wanted to send a couple of agents, but I persuaded them to hold off and let me come by myself. Tell me exactly what happened, and maybe you'll still have careers to go back to."
"Thank you, sir." Another shared glance, before the one who had spoken went on. "We have no real excuse for this. Except that we all wanted to see Jen and Wes get married. Stupid, I know, but it seemed harmless enough. The rest of it... well, we had no way of knowing what was about to happen, we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time..." A sigh. "We'll tell you everything we know, what we've been able to piece together between all of us..."
TBC...