Rachel, Lorent, Klezmi, Silva, and a few others in minor roles are mine.
Rated PG : language; sexuality; violence; some mature concepts.
This chapter and the next are based on the events of my previous story, 'The Second Time'.
Please review, it keeps me going.
Captain Logan rubbed his chin, staring out at us balefully from behind his desk. The five of us sat quietly, but I could see Trip squirm. I felt like squirming myself. Logan had called this urgent meeting without telling us what it was about, and his expression did not encourage us to ask.
Finally Rachel and Dagmar walked into the room. Logan nodded at them. Rachel glanced around, catching my eye before taking her seat in the front of the room. I watched the back of her head as Dagmar settled down and Logan fiddled with the papers on his desk before beginning.
I still felt a pang every time I saw Rachel, still felt guilt, although she had never accused me or appeared to be angry. She had shown her feelings by a very subtle withdrawal, by going out of her way to treat me strictly as a colleague and casual friend, rarely letting our conversations stray from the professional. It seemed to me that somehow she had known when my relationship with Jen had intensified again; a new current of coolness had come into her attitude.
Sometimes I wondered if it had ever happened, if we had ever been close, emotionally and physically. Sometimes I wished things had been different, that somehow I could regain that closeness. Then I remembered that Jen was the one I loved, the one I had waited for, and struggled for. But there was no real closeness with Jen, even now; she always seemed to keep me figuratively at arm's length. Looking at Rachel, I felt a sharp moment of regret.
"I called you here for a status report. To tell you we may have a situation." Logan's voice brought me back to more immediate concerns. "I'll let Dagmar brief you."
Our temporal expert stood and faced us self-consciously. "We've been detecting minor fluctuations in the resonance patterns of the timestream. A ripple echo effect, reflecting disruption on the future side of our corresponding time in…"
"In English, please," Logan growled.
"Oh, sorry." She hesitated for a moment, undoubtedly searching for words we ordinary people could understand. "We see signs of interference with history again. Something has set events in motion which have a high probability of disrupting the timestream."
"Something?" I asked. "What do you mean?"
"We can't tell what the cause is. But most likely it's someone traveling from our time into the past again. We've also detected traces of unauthorized timeholes."
"Right," Logan said. "Not very frequent. Never in the same place twice. Whoever it is, is good at covering their tracks."
"So? What are we going to do about it?"
He hesitated. "Until we have more information, there's nothing much we can do."
"We can't send anyone back at this point," Dagmar added. "Too much risk of damaging the timeline ourselves."
"But be ready. We may need some or all of you to travel into the past again at any moment."
There was silence. Jen broke it. "What time?" she asked softly. "What time in history are you talking about?"
I think we all already knew. Certainly I felt no surprise when Logan answered, "2003."
I watched Jen, as I did so often these days, seeing her mind wander, as it always seemed to be doing lately. She seemed to be a million miles away. Or perhaps just two hundred years.
"This isn't working, is it?"
Her eyes moved to my face with a blink of surprise. "What do you mean?" she asked.
"This. You and me."
With a sigh, she said, "I'm trying. I'm just distracted tonight. It was a shock, finding out about -- what's happening."
I was mildly surprised by how calm I felt. "Jen… You're still thinking about him, aren't you?"
"This involves him -- of course I thought of him."
"That's not what I mean. I wish you'd make up your mind. Either forget him, or stop seeing me."
Her brows furrowed as her eyes slid away from me. She might have pointed out that I was the one who had pursued her, who had insisted on trying again. But all she said was, "I'm sorry. I just need time."
"It was time that pushed us apart in the first place. And Wes had something to do with it."
"We thought you were dead. You were dead, until history changed."
"I know." I looked away.
"He's in the past, Alex. I know that. It's over."
"It may not be. We -- or some of us -- may have to go back."
"I hope not."
"You want to see him again, don't you?" I asked flatly.
"No." Her face was unreadable.
"But what if you have to go? You're one of the obvious choices. How will you feel if you see him again?"
"Alex..." She shifted in agitation. "Why are you asking me this? I don't want to talk about it. Don't want to think about it."
I wasn't sure myself, I only knew I couldn't leave it alone. "You'd better consider the possibility. It's starting to look very likely."
"No. There's no reason I should have to go. Logan said we'd send a small team. Two people. If anyone has to go."
She was right. There had been more meetings as the timeline disturbance grew worse. Another mission to the past seemed increasingly likely, but it would be kept limited. There was no compelling reason for Jen to be sent on this mission -- unless she wanted it.
After a moment she spoke again. "I'll tell Logan I don't want to go."
"If that's what you want."
"It is. I'm sure." But her eyes avoided mine.
A few days later we all stood in the timeship hangar, watching a small flyer being prepared for time travel. Jen and I stood silently, with Katie next to us fidgeting distractedly. I looked at the hard mask of Jen's expression. She had been as good as her word, had turned down the opportunity to go on this mission. Logan hadn't questioned her decision. Lucas and Trip had been selected, and Logan was giving them a final briefing.
"This is very serious. Indications are that Eric Myers is being removed from history before the proper time."
I saw Jen's face contract and Katie frown. We were all aware of the implications. Eric was important to the development of Time Force, his absence could mean a realignment of the timestream, whether major or minor we did not yet know. For Jen, Katie, Trip, and Lucas, it was also personal. They had known Eric, he had fought Ransik by their side. All of us were aware of what Logan meant by 'removal'. Someone was going to kill him.
Logan went on. "Remember, you must minimize your interference. Don't have contact with any inhabitants of 2003 unless absolutely necessary. Prevent Eric's death, recover his morpher and return as quickly as possible."
That was another problem we were facing. There was also evidence that the Quantum morpher had been taken and used by whoever killed Eric. That morpher was controlled by verbal commands, and would obey only Eric's voice -- unless he released the lock. I wondered briefly how they had managed to force him to do it. From everything I had heard about him, he would die first.
I glanced at Jen again, wondering what she was thinking. I thought I knew. Would Wes be involved, would he be in danger? Would Lucas and Trip see him? What was he feeling, in our corresponding time, with his friend and partner soon to die? Perhaps she was regretting her decision, wishing it were her boarding that timeship.
"Good luck. We're counting on you," Logan said, holding out his hand. Lucas shook it, then Trip. They turned to us, exchanging nods and smiles. Katie grabbed Trip in a bear hug that made him squeak in protest.
"I hope it was the right thing to do, sending only two of them," Logan muttered as the ship's door closed behind them.
"They can handle it," Katie responded, her face not as confident as her voice.
Trip and Lucas called in the next day. I was there for the call, in Logan's office. When I saw their faces I was glad Jen and Katie weren't there. It was quick and concise; communications were difficult because of the worsening disruption of the timestream.
"Captain Logan, Alex. Good to see you," Lucas said.
"Good to see both of you. Report."
"It's not good news. Eric is dead. We found him, got him out, but he died a few minutes later." Trip paused, blinking, obviously upset. "We had to ask Wes for help. We're staying with him."
Logan chose not to comment. "What about the morpher?"
"They got it. It's gone. Captain, it's Lorent. He has the morpher, and he's using it."
I exchanged a glance with Logan. Lorent was the man who had owned the house where I had fought the first Muta-Chem modified human. Now he had surfaced again. He was obviously dangerous, and much more so with the Quantum Ranger powers.
Lucas went on. "He's teamed up with a guy here named Jonathan Alcott. They've been bringing weapons to this time, and they've been using Muta-Chem. We raided their laboratory, but they got away, along with one of their mutants."
Logan looked away for a moment, his jaw clenching. "Keep looking," he said finally. "You've got to find Lorent. Stop his interference with the past. Get that morpher back."
"We're doing our best, sir."
"I know. Logan out."
We looked at each other silently. A bad situation had just gotten worse. I watched Logan stand up and walk across the office to his window, his shoulders slumping. My own mood was too dark for me to offer any comfort.
"It's happening again…"
I knew what he meant. Our reality was threatened; we faced the end of everything we knew, again. "Ransik failed to change history. Lorent will fail too."
"We were lucky with Ransik." He turned around, his face shadowed by the light from the window. "Better contact Jen and Katie. See Rachel and have your morphers checked out. Be ready, in case you need to go back."
"Yes, sir."
A few minutes later I found myself in Rachel's lab. She was at her computer, intent on her work, as I walked in. I watched her look up at me, her smile warming me before her face became serious.
"Alex. Logan told me you were coming."
"Right. Jen and Katie are coming too." I removed my morpher and handed it to her.
She led me to the test unit and strapped the morpher on a wrist-sized bar inside a transparent cabinet. As she closed the unit door she looked at me again. "How are you doing? Haven't seen you in a while."
"I know." I glanced away, faintly embarrassed.
She moved to the controls and began the test sequence. A low hum began to vibrate through the air. "How's Jen?" she asked unexpectedly. "How's it going between you?"
Now I was definitely embarrassed. I looked at her sharply, but her back was to me, her head bent over the readings on her instrument panel.
"She's all right. It's been a difficult year for her, adjusting to being back." I paused, again feeling the impulse to confide in her. "It's been hard for her to get over Wes."
"So I've heard. Not easy on you, either. But you're back together now."
"Well… I suppose so."
She threw me an unreadable glance over her shoulder. "You suppose so? What does that mean?"
"Nothing's the same…" I sighed, not wanting to pursue that subject. "Now we're facing another threat to reality. Everything could end again. Just like the last time."
I thought I saw her shoulders stiffen slightly. "You'll prevent it." Her voice was slightly muffled, but full of confidence.
"Maybe." I moved a restless step. "But it'll just keep happening. As long as we have time travel, someone's going to keep trying to use it to make the world over to suit himself. Sooner or later…"
"I don't believe that. I think we'll always return to this reality."
"Why? What's special about this timeline?"
"I suppose…" She turned to face me again. "Maybe it's the best of all possible worlds."
I couldn't help it, I laughed. She smiled, and then laughed with me. Just for a moment, we shared comfort, just like the last time. "There's an awful lot wrong with this world," I said, still smiling.
"But there are a lot of good things, too. We've... shared a few of them." There was a spark of -- something -- in her eyes.
"I wish I'd met you first." I was as surprised as Rachel by my words. I met her eyes and then glanced away.
"But you didn't. You love Jen." She turned back to her instrument.
I moved closer, next to her, and sat at the bench. "I don't know anymore. I thought I could make her love me again, but I just can't." When she didn't respond, I laid my fingers on her arm, stroking it gently before taking her hand.
"Rachel…"
"Alex, don't." She spoke softly, not looking at me. "I don't want to -- to take Jen's leftovers."
I pulled my hand back as if I'd been burned, and stood up.
"I see you got started without us." It was Jen's voice. I turned to see her and Katie coming toward us, both of them looking grim, but Jen with a touch of curiosity in her expression.
Behind me, Rachel spoke up, becoming brisk and businesslike again. "Alex, your morpher is fine. Jen, Katie, hand them over."
A week went by this time, before we heard from Lucas and Trip again. When it came, their message was short and urgent. Logan replayed the recording for me over the office vidcomm when he summoned me.
They had sent it from their timeship. On the screen, I saw Lucas in the pilot's seat, Trip beside him as co-pilot. Behind them was another man. I recognized him instantly, my stomach lurching at the sight. Lucas spoke as his hands moved over the controls.
"Captain Logan, we're back. Lorent, Alcott, and Ray -- their mutant -- got away in a timeship, back to our time. They should have arrived about half an hour ago. They still have the Quantum morpher. We just got out of the timehole, we should be landing in a few minutes."
He paused and looked directly into the screen. "I know it's against orders, but I'll take responsibility. We brought Wes Collins with us."
TBC...