TIMELESS

PROLOGUE

Imagine a place far in the future.

Imagine a place far in the past.

Imagine the gap in between those two places.

That's... that's quite, quite far.

It's hard to imagine how two such places would become conjoined. After all, even now is a time that is far from the time of long ago. The human race has moved on so quickly, that even a few weeks ago seems to fade into the infamous Mists of Time. Even what you ate for dinner two days ago vanishes into the very same mists. Let alone a time when pirates roamed the seas and rich women fawned in ballgowns.

Time has always been seen as a fairly immovable thing; it cannot be touched, tweaked, it cannot be changed. How could that possibly be achievable? No, no it couldn't. And that was that.

Apparently.

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Time travel, being a danger to the Very Substance of Time and Space and all, was never publicly displayed. Which really was a shame—it's inventor (one of an entire team) had been hoping for a Nobel Peace Prize. At the very least. But it was all hushed up—and the news never got out. Very few knew of it.

It was, as everything seems to be, created in Japan.

How far into the future this took place is of no concern to you. Further then tomorrow, but not quite the next millennium. It doesn't matter. It's just... the Future. The bright and jolly future? Hmmph. Not exactly.

My, haven't the human race made a mess of our planet? In fact, I'm pretty sure that they would all be dead by this time, if not for the inventions of a man who really won the Nobel Peace Prize. Rainforests were being cut down too fast to cope with – so to keep the oxygen supply up, a certain Doctor Lori Fielding came up with something. She was not a doctor of the medical kind—but a scientist.

I don't really expect you to understand the technicalities. Her invention was a machine that took in carbon dioxide from the air and turned it into oxygen, much like plants. In fact, it used cellulose from plants as one of it's key features—and somehow, molecules and magical spangly bits and whatnot ended up with oxygen. All in all, it was a lifesaving invention.

There were many of them in the world now—huge, grey blocks, stationed at various points throughout the world; which had grown ever so slightly smaller. Ice caps melting. Sea water rising. Bits of land below sea-level were no longer save to live on. The population, however, continued to increase. Where could they go?

Upwards, of course. The height of the buildings in these times were insanely big. In fact, nowadays, many children grew up without ever setting foot on the ground. There were walkways and thing like that, for transport. Flying cars? Pssht, no—people are never going to realize that they will never happen. Far too damaging for the environment; which is what matters in these times. They had the oxygen under control; but they still had the ozone layer to worry about, which was stretched as thin as clingfilm nowadays.

Now that these new 'breathing machines' had been invented, people seemed to not care any more about how many trees they cut down. There was a sudden surge of tree-death, so to speak. They needed more oxygen. So... plankton! Plankton were the key! They already supplied the world with oxygen, but they were being killed off, once the sea became so polluted that the reason you wore goggles to the beach were for more then seeing underwater.

Ah, yes, the sea. Yes, polluted, and much more big. Seeing as the sea had increased so much, there was a lot more of it about. And people began taking to living on the sea – free of land, for the most part. Over time, these boat-dwellers began sticking together; entire villages of boats, moving in unison. And they became less trusted with those who remained on their toweringly high skyscraper homes, on land.

They grew separate from each other. Distant. They didn't need each other any more.

Soon, the boat-dwellers being looked down on, as the dirt-poor scourge of the world. But they were happy enough with their reputation. They remained living on their boats; entire populations of moving, floating villages. There was something almost picturesque about them.

But where there are people, there is crime.

In other words... pirates. Pirates were born again. Perhaps not as you remember them, but it was still the same. This is the future. And the future holds... pirates!

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Benjamin Buck hated pirates. Of course, he would—merchant ships that carried goods from one country to another were attacked daily, and then the goods taken to their mysterious floating villages, where the loot would be shared out. They did grow some food and livestock on board these ship-villages, but not much. They needed to steal to eat.

He was a very highly ranked member of one of the biggest trading megacompanies of his time – Nutriware Ltd. This was one of the main sources of food in the world. Because of the lessening amount of fertile soil and land, food was pretty hard to come across. Nutriware Ltd were one of the first companies to come up with the idea of factory food... for life. Huge parts of Africa had been cleared out—it's population seemed to be the only one dwindling in the increased heat of Global Warming—and factories implanted. And food was made by very unnatural means.

He leaned back in the meeting with his second-in-command; a certain Adele Merritt, a cold and calculating businesswoman, much like himself. She did not seem to have a single scrap of personality to her; smooth, plastic skin and shiny hair pulled back in a bun, held in place with your standard black clip. A suit that was neither too revealing nor too constricting was what she was wearing—as usual.

"Time travel has not yet been authorized by the government," Adele said, tucking a strand of fringe behind one ear in a professional manner.

"But that doesn't matter, Miss Merritt," Benjamin said, leaning forwards with a smile. Adele's face remained completely expressionless, as usual. Sometimes, Benjamin thought she was the closest thing to a robot that the human race had come up with so far. (No droid-slaves yet, I'm afraid)

"Even if you use the time machine, there is no proof that such a... man exists. There is no point in nearly throwing the universe into chaos for a legend," She inclined her head, "Especially a legend as foolish as Davy Jones."

"But think of it," Benjamin smiled grimly, leaning back into his chair again. Behind him, a ceiling-to-floor window displayed skyscrapers outside, and the fact that he was higher up the most of them. The closer to the sky you were, the higher your profile—both literally and figuratively. The bottommost floors were dirty, stained slums. "People have been dismissing the existence of... magic for so long. But there have been recent breakthroughs... and it seems... logical," He smiled as he used the word that Adele Merritt followed like a god. Logic. If it was logical, it was the right thing to do.

"Hmm," Adele said, doubtfully, but seeming reassured by the use of her favourite word nonetheless, "And what of the matter of splitting the universe, ripping apart the dimensions of time and space, and utterly destroying everything in creation?" She raised a pencil-thin eyebrow.

"Oh, don't worry," Benjamin said with a wave of his hand, "We'll put him back."

NB: Another Hairbrained Idea™ brought to you by illogical squeeks! I just happened to think of this idea--and I'm wondering if it's worth continuing. It is a little, uhm, actually it's very, very strange. And it only gets stranger...

Disclaimer: Pirates of the Caribbean is not mine. The story and various OCs are mine, but they don't really matter. No money being made from this, yadda yadda.

Addition: I can't belive I did this, but... up there, I accidentally wrote 'cellulite' instead of 'cellulose'. It's fixed now, thanks to a certain sharp-eyed Pirata.Acquamarina, but still... how embarrassing! I guess you see what you expect to see, heh... Aaanyway yes. Methinks I should perhaps spend less time partying, and more time sleeping... o-O;