Chapter 10

Jen entered a Time ship and started the motors. Katie and Trip came after her and sat down. "Are you going to drive this thing?" Katie asked.

"No," Jen said softly. "Lucas will."

"Are you going to control his mind?"

"There will be no need for that," Jen answered looking towards the ship's still open door.

The blue vector cycle was pulling over by it and Lucas got off and walked towards the ship, a container for a frozen mutant in each of his hands. He walked inside the ship and put both containers in front of Jen, with their small crystal windows facing her.

Jen looked at the containers. One held Ransik, and the other Nadira's shrunken body. Lucas said nothing as he sat down and grasped the controls. Jen followed his example as she adjusted her seat belt.

"I've set the time target to four hours before The Mistress landed. That way you'll have four hours to come up with a plan of how to save Jessica," Circuit informed them.

"Who is Jessica?" Jen asked.

"Wes's wife," the owl said. "Under your seats you'll find a small present from Major Logan," he continued. The officers searched under their seats and found small boxes under them. Jen opened hers and took out the long black glove inside.

"What are these?" Trip asked.

"Time Force's state-of-the-art officer gloves. They have several buttons on them, and each button pressed will generate a different tool. They are to substitute for your belts," Circuit informed them.

Jen put hers on, and pressed a button on top of her wrist that had a small light on it. As she did, a flashlight appeared in her hand. She turned the flashlight on and off again. "How do I put it back?" she asked.

"Press the same button again," Circuit told her. She did it and the flashlight dissolved.

"These are great!" Katie said, pulling hers up over her elbow.

"Circuit, get us to the year 2004," Jen ordered. Circuit blinked slowly, his way of nodding.

"By the way, Jen," Trip said suddenly. "I have a present for you and Alex." He added the last bit awkwardly. "It was supposed to be for Christmas, but the occasion seems better now." He put his hand on the bag where he usually kept Circuit, and extracted a small white mouse. He put it on the Time ship's table in front of Jen.

The mouse stirred and opened his eyes. He stood on his rear legs and opened his mouth. "Jen!" he called out as if he knew her all of her life. "It's good to see you, what can I do for you today?" Jen looked at Trip amazed, the mouse seemed so real and natural, and yet he was talking.

"It's a version of Circuit, but in nano-size. He can do all the things that Circuit can do, plus he can control your weapons and suit independently of you, so he can protect you. His name is Tao and he's yours." Jen picked the small mouse up from the table and it caressed her hand softly with its head. "He's also supposed to receive and give you messages he receives from Buda, the one I made for Alex," he explained.

"Do you have Buda with you?" she asked; her eyes full of tears suddenly.

"Yes. I'll give it to Alex the moment we see him again," he promised. She smiled sadly.

"Well, sorry to ruin the party," Lucas announced. "But our time hole is open, we have to go."

The ship took off, and in less than a minute after that, they were spinning fast, pressed against their seats by the force of it, as they traveled back to a time where, unknown to them, they were no longer welcome.

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"Wes," Eric called softly as he sat down next to his best friend. "You want me to help you with the funeral arrangements?"

"Not yet," Wes answered sadly.

"Wes, I'm not going to sit here and pretend to remind you how nice and good Jessica was, okay? I hated her as much as you loved her," he told him. "But at least I'll admit you loved her for who she was--"

"Is," Wes interrupted him. "I love her for who she is."

"Wes, Jessica is dead," Eric said matter-of-factly. Wes roared and grabbed him by the neck, pinning him to the wall.

"What the fuck are you doing here?! You hated her! There wasn't one single day you didn't call her a 'corporate bitch'! Get the fuck out of here! Leave me alone!" he yelled in Eric's face and shoved his friend away from him.

He didn't understand. Nobody understood what was wrong, what he was going through. Jessica had been perfectly healthy three weeks ago, perfectly healthy! And now she was dead. She had died suddenly and unexpectedly, and what hurt Wes the most was that her last words, to him, had been 'I love you too'. That 'I love you' he had expected for so long, almost as long as he had expected Jen's. But Jessica's I love you meant so much more than any other word from any other woman! It seemed so unfair that right when she seemed willing to love him, to let go, to free herself from her parents' incarceration, when she seemed willing to finally be truly happy, she had to die.

"I want to see her," he asked the nurse that had walked to him after the incident with Eric.

"I'm sorry, Mister Collins, that's impossible, the autopsy is being performed on her right now."

"Autopsy?!" Wes asked. "Who gave authorization to perform an autopsy?"

"She died of a disease, Mr. Collins. The autopsy is mandatory," the nurse explained.

"I want to see my wife," Wes demanded.

"Your wife's body is the only thing I can offer you, Mister Collins," the nurse said. "Her body will be released to you when the autopsy is completed."

"Make it fast," Wes pleaded.

"We will," the nurse told him.

In that moment Wes felt dizzy as if he had been caught in a rush of air. He closed his eyes, and felt himself spinning fast. He opened his eyes and saw himself sitting next to Jessica's bed in the ICU.

Jessica's eyes were open, and her face looked a lot healthier than it had looked when he had fallen asleep.

She took the hand he offered with a strong grip and he smiled. She smiled at him with her eyes that shone with love and happiness.

"I'll go and call a nurse to get you off that ventilator," he said. He walked out of the room and towards the nurse desk.

"Can I do anything for you, Mr. Collins?" The big black nurse behind the desk asked, smiling.

"It's a miracle," He said simply. "She's cured," he said. The nurse looked at him with an amazed expression in her face.

To be continued..