Believe me if I tell you that being intensely watched by three of the weirdest people I've ever met was pretty scary. I mean, I've met countless weirdoes in my life, but these three were strange inside. And the things they were talking about? Time child? Time taken back? Not to mention their communication system: was it telepathy? Yes, that would explain the words I heard in my mind. Too bad I don't believe in telepathy. Nor in people who can take time back at will. Nor in young people dying of old age. Nor in pretty much everything I witnessed today.
Before I could devise a good course of action of my own, Sapphire said:
"What if we all go to a quiet, safe place and talk?"
I couldn't agree more.
"That's a very good idea. What about my place? We can all fit in my car. Well, maybe your friend over there won't be too comfortable." I said, pointing at the big, black guy.
He laughed and said, in that deep voice:
"Not a problem, miss, I won't be coming. I'm needed elsewhere."
"Sorry, big guy, but I want to talk to you too. You're coming with us"
That said, I turned and marched outside the door. As soon as I stepped outside, I realized the big guy had disappeared.
"Now what happened to your friend?"
"He told you," Steel said, "he was needed elsewhere."
"I mean, how did he leave?"
No response from Steel, so I looked at Sapphire.
"We will explain everything as soon as we get to your place."
"All right", I conceded (not that I had much of a choice), "let's go."
So we ended up in my service car, which was clearly unable to transport their big friend. Well, one less problem. We drove the 15 minutes to my apartment in complete silence. I preferred to ask for explanations in the relative privacy of my own place.
Once inside, my little studio felt quite cramped. Numa, my Siamese cat, darted under the bed, and I knew I would see her again only after these strangers had left.
As soon as my guests had made themselves comfortable in my tiny sitting room, I took a seat and started looking at them with my best interrogation stare, saying nothing. This little psychological trick usually works with criminals, but I was not sure it would work with these people at all.
Of course it didn't work with Steel, who returned my gaze with an unperturbed one of his own. Sapphire spared me the effort and started talking:
"I'm afraid we haven't been introduced. You know our names, but we don't know yours. As I told you, my name's Sapphire." She stood and held out her hand, so I instinctively shook it. My language is sometimes rude, but my manners are impeccable.
As soon as I took her proffered hand, though, I felt something probing deep into my body and soul. It wasn't pleasant at all, so I stiffened. Then I heard Sapphire's voice once again whispering into my mind: "Race: human being, earthling. Name: Constance Stunt. Profession: police detective. 60 heartbeats per seconds. Iron-based blood. Age: 39. Life expectancy…"
I jerked my hand away, as if electrocuted.
"Stop it! I don't want you probing into me, and I most certainly don't want to know my life expectancy!"
Sapphire froze, while Steel abruptly stood.
"What did you feel?" he asked.
"You know damn well what I felt: I felt your friend here probing me with her mind and disclosing a lot of personal data. Too personal, if you don't mind." I tried to cast a mean look at Sapphire, but I was too shaken to do a good job.
They exchanged that look again, and again I heard something in my mind.
"Would you please stop doing that? I'm getting a headache. Can't you just talk like anybody else?"
They sat down again, then Sapphire started talking.
"Very well. No more tricks. We'll explain who we are, what we do, and why we're here, but you must promise you will not disclose any of this. To anyone. Agreed?"
"Sure. I suspect no one would believe me, anyway."
Sapphire smiled.
"Probably not. You see, we come from an entirely different place, much farther than the UK, much farther than anything you have ever known before. The name is unimportant. What is important is our mission: we are time agents, we try to settle all irregularities that take place in the time continuum. We are not like you, as you have already surmised: we are elements, or at least we embody what you know as elements. Steel, Sapphire, our friend Lead, and there are others, of course, each with different characteristics and abilities. For instance, I am able to directly manipulate time, like I did earlier, but only a few minutes in the past. Steel, as you witnessed, can drop his body's temperature to absolute zero, although he needs Lead to regain his heat. The threat we just fought is called the time child, and she kills people with her touch: they get old and die in a few minutes. We communicate with our minds. The strangest thing of all, though, is that you can hear us when we "think" to each other, and you even felt my probe."
"Oh, you think that's strange, don't you?"
"I realize this may sound rather unusual for you, but…"
"You have a talent for understatement. Listen, Sapphire, I'm sure you understand that all this doesn't sound just unusual: it sounds downright crazy! Do you expect me to believe it?"
Steel answered:
"We expect you to believe you own eyes. Or, if you don't trust them either, believe your own instincts: they seem like the most reasonable part of you."
Now was that an insult or a compliment? Hard to tell. So I chose the most diplomatic answer that came to my mind.
"Well, my instincts are yelling that I should not trust the two of you, that what I witnessed is impossible and that… Hold it, I'm not being truthful: that's what my mind is yelling, but my instincts are telling me that you are not lying. That's so hard to believe, though."
I sat down again and placed both my hands to the sides of my head, as if to keep my thoughts inside and prevent them from going all over the place. I was so confused.
Luckily my two guests did not exchange any more thoughts, so I had the chance to recover a little bit. Just when I started feeling better, the doorbell rang.
"Now what?" I snapped.
When I opened the door, a tall, thin guy was standing there, smiling.
"Hello. My name's Mercury. May I?"
"Sure, come on in, the elementals party's just started!"
The tall guy briskly walked in, not bothering to say hello to his colleagues.
"I was sent by the authority with a message for the three of you."
I laughed. "Of course you have a message: aren't you the God's herald?"
He looked at me with a puzzled expression on his fine face. "I beg your pardon?"
Sapphire explained: "Mercury was the herald of the Olympus' gods in ancient Greek culture."
"Oh. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I was not sent by any god, just the authority controlling us."
"Well, just take a seat and let's hear what your 'authority' has to say about this mess."
Mercury did take a seat, but he didn't start talking, rather he began broadcasting his thoughts to the other two agents. I did not complain, this time, because I was too curious to know what their authority had to say.
'She can't be disposed of: every life is sacred and cannot be sacrificed for the sake of secrecy. The authority wants to cooperate with her.'
Steel raised a hand to hush Mercury, but it was too late: I heard everything.
Mercury was puzzled. I smiled and said: "How nice of your authority: it's not going to 'dispose of' me and wants to cooperate. What if I don't agree?"
As I expected, Steel answered in his usual, no-nonsense tone: "Neither you nor we can pretend we don't exist. We could at least join our mutual skills to help each other."
"I really don't see how I could help you settle your 'time irregularities'. I'm no expert, you know."
"No, you're not, but you're a good police officer and could help us move in this city and maybe speed up certain… procedures often hindered by the bureaucracy your race seems to enjoy so much."
I pretended I did not hear his compliment, but it did touch a chord.
"And what is it in there for me?"
"You would be surprised how many more criminals you would catch with our help."
I laughed. "Yes, I suppose a criminal is still a criminal, whether he steals time, money or lives."
"Precisely. Do we have a deal, then?"
"We do."
Much to my surprise, Steel stood and came to shake my hand. He even smiled at my hesitation.
"I don't have Sapphire's probing ability. I just want to seal our pact."
What the hell, if we were going to cooperate, I could at least trust them, right? So I shook his hand, which turned out to be much warmer than I expected. Something flowed through our contact, though, but was not unpleasant at all: a sense of safety, solidity and strength. Did I get a taste of Steel's soul?