Inquire

Kimberly entered the SGHQ car park humming softly to herself. Given what had occurred the day before, she'd decided to spring lunch on Eric as a way of lightening the day. She knew he'd been dreading the post mortems on Mirracon's machinations -- particularly given John's role in the whole affair -- so a little R&R would definitely do him good. It would also tell her if she needed to be prepared for trouble with John later in the day.

I know Eric won't mean to upset John, Kimberly mused as she climbed out of her car and headed into SGHQ. But it seems to happen anyway. He says something; John snaps then Eric snaps back and bam. She sighed. Not for the first time, she wished she could get her hands on Frax and his boss.

"Mrs Myers!"

The exclamation from the receptionist startled Kimberly from her thoughts. Looking up, she didn't see Robin Helm, the standard morning receptionist. Instead, the person sitting at the reception desk was a bespectacled, chubby looking woman Kimberly had never met before. "Um? Where's Robin?"

"Called in sick." The woman grimaced. "Gina and I are the only two admin people not out sick now."

Kimberly blinked. "What the hell?"

The woman shrugged. "I don't know. Anyway. Commander Myers asked me to call you -- wanted to ask you to come down here."

Kimberly blinked again. "What? Why?"

The woman shrugged again and pushed her glasses up her nose. "I don't know. I was just about to phone you. Guess you've saved me the call."

"Guess I have," Kimberly answered, frowning. "I'll go on up, then?"

The woman nodded. "By all means."

Kimberly nodded in return and headed into the building proper, wondering just what was going on.

~*~

Rick looked at Alice. "What do you think?"

"About John?" she answered. "Not a lot." Rick lifted an eyebrow. "Honestly, Rick, you didn't have to spend all weekend listening to him and dad argue."

"No." Rick sighed and nodded in John's direction. "But he looks like he could use a friend right now." And there was no denying that statement, Rick mused. John's face had the single most hang-dog expression Rick had ever seen.

Alice sighed. "What am I? Your conscience? Who'm I to say you shouldn't go over there and talk to him. I just don't happen to think he's in anything other than deserved trouble."

Rick smiled at that. "No arguments about that here. I just thought, you being his sister and everything..."

"Thought you wanted to cheer him up," Alice cut in, a smirk now gracing her face. "Go -- talk to him. Maybe you'll have better luck than mom'n'I've had."

"Yes ma'am, leader, ma'am."

Alice swatted at him and grinned, but as the halfhearted slap connected with his shoulder, he felt something more. For the briefest millisecond -- or perhaps the longest -- her hand stayed against his shoulder. It was just a moment, barely long enough for him to draw a breath, but it seemed to crystallise something for him. More so than even his hasty blurting had done in Eric's office.

Then Alice ducked her head in embarrassment, withdrew her hand and the moment was over. "Go...um..."

"Yeah."

So dismissed, Rick crossed the room to talk to John, conscious of the feeling at the back of his mind that at some point soon, he and Alice were going to have to talk. And properly talk as opposed to the bantering they'd previously been used to. And that, he decided, is infinitely more terrifying than even what I said to Eric!

"Hey," said John, sparing him any more musings. "What did dad say to you?"

Rick found himself turning red in embarrassment. Alice hadn't asked him about it...which was probably just as well. "Um...I sorta laid Jackson out."

John's expression was almost identical to the one he'd received off Eric, only somehow it looked more quizzical this time round and a lot less threatening. "You laid out Jackson?"

Rick shrugged awkwardly and came to perch on a convenient table. "He wasn't going to let Shawn come back to the warehouse any other way." The expression on John's face said everything. "I know." Rick shrugged. "It was dumb and your dad left me with that in no uncertain terms."

"Dad would," John murmured, looking down.

"What did he say to you?" Rick asked.

"What didn't he?" John answered, studying his fingers as if they were the most fascinating things he'd ever seen. "I did something beyond incredibly dumb yesterday and he's pissed at me over it." There was a pause. "And he's probably right about it, too."

"Why did you do it? I mean, you had to know he was going to be annoyed. And," Rick added, "he was steamed when he found out you'd vanished." John mumbled something. "Huh?"

John sighed. "Does it matter? I did it, I'm now in hot water, let's just drop it. 'Kay?"

"John?"

John just shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

~*~

Whatever Kimberly had been expecting to find in Eric's office, it certainly wasn't what she found. Ben's presence wasn't so unusual. Nor was Wes', or Jen's. But Wes' father's presence was a surprise, and if that was a surprise, realising Lucas was also physically in the office was a shock. And not a pleasant one. Not that Kimberly disliked him; just that she realised his being here meant things had gone from bad, through worse to absolutely disastrous.

"That was quick," commented Jen.

"I was just walking through the door when the girl on the reception desk was starting to ring me," Kimberly replied absently. "And what is with all your admin staff being out sick?"

"There's a nasty bug going round," Wes answered. "Lot of the Biolab staff are out sick with it too."

"Same with the Guardians," Ben added. "Three more of them called in sick this morning."

Kimberly just shook her head. "Weird."

"Um...?" said Lucas.

"Honey," said Eric. "Think I could have a word with you?" Kimberly's attention snapped to her husband, who was looking a mix of sheepish and annoyed. "In private?" he added.

"Certainly n...OW!" began one of the two men that Kimberly hadn't previously met before, and whose presence she'd basically ignored until he'd spoken. But before he could finish his sentence, his colleague had elbowed him sharply in the ribs, provoking the yelp of pain and it was left to Lucas to say,

"Of course."

Kimberly moved aside and watched as Lucas and the other man, between them, manhandled the first man out of the room. Wes, Jen and Mr Collins followed them.

"Boss?" said Ben. "Anything you want me to do?"

"Talk to Lucas," Eric answered. "He knows better than I do what's going to happen."

Ben nodded and withdrew.

"Want to tell me what's going on?" Kimberly asked. "Starting with who Pinky and Brain are?"

Eric offered a half laugh at that. "The loudmouth one is Lieutenant Bunton. The other one is Lieutenant Chisholm. They're both members of Time Force -- department of Temporal Investigations, in fact, although who or what they are, Lucas hasn't said -- but I get the feeling he doesn't like them all that much!"

"And they want...?" Kimberly prompted.

Eric sighed. "They're here to arrest me."

Kimberly stared at Eric for a full minute. "I'm sorry," she finally managed, "that sounded like you just said they wanted to arrest you." Eric nodded. "You're kidding." Eric shook his head. "Why the hell do they want to do that?"

Eric gave another sigh. "It's mostly to do with my 'permitting' you -- a non-sanctioned civilian -- to use first my morpher and now Jen's. It's also to do with the experiment of Zaskin's that's letting you do the latter. Since they can't arrest him..."

"But they can arrest you?!"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"You're not just going to let 'em do this, are you?" Kimberly exclaimed.

"I don't really have a huge amount of choice, from what Lucas has said." Eric shrugged his shoulders. "He's got a plan for dealing with this -- if nothing else, he has you to testify that certainly your use of the Quantum Morpher was unavoidable..."

"Damn straight it was -- and that reminds me, why the hell are they suddenly now dragging that up anyway? That was ten years ago!"

Eric offered her a smile. "That was what I said." The smile faded. "There's something going on in Time Force. Lucas doesn't know what or why, but he's working on finding out and fixing it."

"So what's Lucas' wonder-plan?" Kimberly wanted to know.

"In the first place, for me to go with Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee."

"Into the lion's den," Kimberly observed, a sinking feeling forming in the pit of her stomach. "I don't like it."

"Me either," Eric admitted. "But for this to be straightened out, it's gotta be done in a court of law where the charges were brought. No good going to the county sheriff's office here."

Kimberly snickered faintly. "Love to see his expression if we did."

"Yeah."

"So you have to go to...what is it. 3013?" Eric nodded. "And be treated like a criminal for something you couldn't do anything about?" Eric nodded again. "Meantime Lucas is...?"

"Talking to the powers that be," Eric responded. "Probably with you. Once the judge knows the circumstances..." He spread his hands. "It's a BS charge and they know it. They'll have to release me."

Kimberly nodded, but all the while she had a horrible suspicion that it wasn't going to be anything like as simple as Eric was making out. Nothing in the last six weeks had been. Before she could voice her fears, Lucas reappeared, with Bunton and Chisholm in tow.

"Time to go, Captain Myers," snapped Bunton, reaching out for Eric. Kimberly could see Eric restraining himself from doing something to Bunton that they both would regret -- Bunton a little more readily than Eric!

"Would you at least allow me to kiss my wife goodbye?" Eric said instead.

Bunton opened his mouth to say something, but Chisholm got in first: "Certainly -- but please make it fast. The sooner you come with us, the sooner this mess can be straightened out."

Kimberly thought Lucas muttered, "First piece of sense either of you've come out with," but she wasn't sure, particularly as Eric enveloped her in a tender embrace. He pressed his lips against hers in a kiss that was urgent and needy at the same time. It told her he held the same fears she did, that this was not going to be easy. She responded in kind, imprinting the moment on her memory all the while hoping it would only be a matter of hours before she had him back.

"OK, that's enough -- time to go." Bunton's growl was unwelcome. For a second time, Kimberly was intimately aware of what Eric's first reaction was. This time, she could feel his arms tensing, ready to make the blow.

"Don't," she murmured softly. "Not worth it."

He kissed her lightly on the temple. "I know." He bent and whispered in her ear, "It won't be long. Promise."

"I'll hold you to that."

Then Bunton had grabbed hold of Eric's shoulders and was pulling them apart.

Kimberly could do nothing but watch as Bunton and Chisholm led Eric away. She felt an arm go around her shoulders, but it wasn't until its owner said, "We'll get him back, Kim," that she realised it belonged to Lucas.

"You're damn right we're going to get him back," she replied. "What's the plan?"

~*~

Alice watched as her brother most effectively gave Rick the brush off. That probably meant things had gone badly between John and Eric. Don't they always? she mused with a groan. Dinner tonight's gonna be... But she never finished the thought, as at that moment, the conference room door opened to admit first Ben, then Wes, Jen and -- most surprising of all -- Mr Collins, Rick and Lexia's grandfather.

"Is everyone here?" Ben asked as Wes did a quick headcount.

"Lexia's not," Jen noted. "And Gina ought to be here."

"Hm." Ben nodded.

"I'll go look for them," Wes offered. "Lucas and Kim'll be down in a minute or two, and we ought to make the most of the time."

"Good plan."

Alice noted who hadn't been named -- and who was strangely missing now. "Where's Eric?" she asked.

"It's a..." Ben grimaced. "A long story."

"What's happened to dad?" John demanded. "And what's going on?"

"We'll explain in a minute," Jen answered. "Soon as Lucas and your mom get here."

"Should we be here?" Paul asked, clearly feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Ben?" Mr Collins prompted.

"They're involved," Ben replied. "Sorry guys, but thanks to yesterday, this is something you need to hear about too."

A tense sort of silence fell over the conference room. It was briefly punctuated by Wes' return, along with Gina and Lexia, but for the moment part it remained intact until Lucas and Kimberly arrived. That was when Alice knew something was badly wrong. Her mother, as angry as Alice ever remembered seeing her, looked about ready to start throwing punches.

"Where's dad?" John repeated.

Everyone looked to Lucas and waited for the answer, and Lucas gave it, grimly. Alice felt sick as she learned what had happened barely five minutes ago. Looking around the room, she could see similar reactions in everyone else.

"We're not just gonna let this happen, are we?" John asked, voicing the question that was on Alice's mind.

Given how rocky John and Eric's relationship was of late, that John was asking it gave Alice pause. Eric had obviously said something to John that had gone deep. Maybe he had got through to him. Maybe they had reached some sort of understanding. Maybe...

"No," Lucas agreed, pulling Alice's attention back to the here and now. "We're definitely not going to sit back and take this. As things stand, Kimberly, Wes and I will be travelling back to 3013 when this meeting's over, where we will proceed to make hell with the legal system until the supreme court comes to its senses -- as it were." A couple of snickers met that statement and Lucas smiled faintly.

"Why Wes?" asked Taylor. "Surely Jen would be a better bet -- no offence, Wes."

"None taken," Wes replied, smiling. "You're right, she would be."

"So...?"

"I see Taylor hasn't changed, then," observed Lucas, eliciting a faint smirk from Jen. Alice wondered what he meant. "The answer is..."

"I'm pregnant," Jen explained. "Time travel and pregnancy don't mix well. There's a huge potential for a spontaneous miscarriage."

Taylor winced, her hand going to her own belly in a gesture that surprised Alice.

"Any other questions so far?" asked Lucas.

"What's your backup plan?" Ben replied. "I know you've got one."

Lucas nodded. "Two other people will be going back with us -- smuggled back, I should say. Things in Time Force right now are not good. The fact that this has all come up now, after what happened with Frax and then Mirracon is not coincidental. In fact, things have been looking rocky for some time now. Since Frax abducted you four," and at that he nodded at Alice, Rick, John and Lexia in turn, "I've been working on a task force independent of Time Force to try and track down the root cause and put it right before they cause major trouble."

"Think you've failed on that last one, Lucas," Wes observed.

"I know."

"So who is this task force and what're they looking for?" asked Rick.

"As things stand," said Lucas, "they're three people I trust implicitly -- Rob Logan, our old friend Dr Hawking," at that, Jen choked with what sounded like laughter, although Alice couldn't see anything amusing about it, "and Dr Ven Evora. They've had a certain amount of help from Jackie Bennett, who's still a member of Time Force Technical but who's ready to quit and join the task force when I say the word. Same for Trip and Nadira in my department."

Much of this was so much Greek to Alice, although she recognised several of the names.

"As for what they're looking for," Lucas continued, "it's the same thing as Time Force is ostensibly looking for: The Master. I am ninety-nine percent certain he's he one behind everything -- and that includes the problems in Time Force."

"Which is why you set the task force up separate to Time Force," concluded Ben, nodding. "Makes sense. Who're you planning on smuggling?"

"Rick's one of them," Lucas replied.

"What? Me?!" Rick looked stunned.

"Are you sure?" Jen asked.

Lucas nodded. "Positive. The only person I know who knows more about computers and communications is Trip -- and if, or until, I know that Eric's not going to be freed any other way, I need Trip to remain a member of Time Force."

"But me?" echoed Rick. "I..." But words failed him.

"Think about this, Rick," said John quietly. "Thanks to Frax, I know enough about fighting and martial arts to probably be able to give dad a run for his money in a fight."

"And I know enough about explosives to level a good size building," Lexia put in.

"I guess." Rick sounded dubious.

"Don't guess, know," Alice replied. "If Lucas says you know as much as Trip, believe it."

"Who else did you have in mind?" Jen asked.

"I'll do it," Alice volunteered before Lucas could answer.

"Honey..." began Kimberly.

"Ali?" said John, puzzled.

"Look," Alice replied, "unless Lucas has anyone else in mind," at which, Lucas shook his head, "whoever else goes needs to be someone who won't be easily missed here. That makes it one of you, me and Lexia, because who's gonna miss a cadet Guardian? Not like we're exactly on active duty or anything like that."

"But why you?" John persisted.

"You can't," Alice replied. "Or had you forgotten you'd broken your wrist? Which leaves Lexia and me -- and I owe Dad this."

"If Frax wasn't already dead, he would be if I got my hands on him," Kimberly muttered. "Lucas, may I talk to my daughter for a moment?"

"Sure -- but I want to leave as quickly as we can."

Kimberly nodded. "Alice." The expression on her face and her tone of voice told Alice that this wasn't an optional conversation.

Reluctantly, Alice stood up and followed Kimberly from the room. As she left, she heard Lucas tell everyone else what was going to happen. At least in his mind she was going. The trick would be convincing Kimberly!

~*~

Kimberly led Alice into the second conference room, trying to work out what to say. She couldn't fault Alice's reasoning -- that was one of the more irritating aspects of what Frax had done to Alice; it was now rare for her reasoning to be at fault. That didn't mean Kimberly liked it. Particularly now -- and particularly given her third piece of reasoning.

"Mom -- I'm going with you and you can't make me stay here," Alice stated as the door closed behind her.

"Honey -- why do you want to go?" Kimberly replied.

"Like I said," Alice answered, "I owe Dad to do this. How many times has he dug me out of a hole? How many times when I was a little kid did he save my life, mom? How much has he done for me and how many times have I acted like an idiot in response? I can't take back all the times I've yelled at him or screamed at him or..." she hesitated a beat then continued, "Or told him how he's not my real dad." Kimberly couldn't help but wince at that reminder of how most of the current mess had begun six weeks ago. "I can't put that stuff right. But I can do this and help him now."

Kimberly looked at Alice and found herself looking at a mature, self-assured young woman who had -- at least in her mind -- reasoned her way to a sensible conclusion. And I'm still reacting to her as if she was sixteen... Kimberly slowly shook her head. "And the fact that Rick's going...?"

Alice coloured slightly. "I'd have volunteered anyway...but Rick and I work well together."

It was almost an honest answer -- probably as honest as Alice had admitted to herself, never mind anyone else, Kimberly realised. She sighed, knowing that Lucas had already accepted Alice's presence on this trip. "I can't talk you out of this?" Alice just shook her head. "For the record, I don't like this. At all. And you can bet your allowance that your father will have words to say to you about this when we're done."

"Just so long as he's there to have words with me," Alice retorted, "I won't mind."

At that, Kimberly was forced to laugh. "Ali, you're incorrigible."

Alice grinned. "I just take after you, mom."

~*~

It took amazingly little time to organise, Rick decided. Within an hour, he found himself, along with Alice, his parents and Kimberly standing on a beach just to the north of Silverhills before a strange, yellow, pear-shaped vehicle. From the vast seas of data that had been implanted in his mind the term time ship drifted free -- although it looked nothing like a ship, that much Rick was positive about!

"Kids," said Lucas, "I need you to do a couple of things before we go. I know you're both wearing your morphers. I need you to give them to me -- and anything else you're wearing, like jewellery or watches. You'll get it back when you get to the task force's base, but as you're being smuggled as a biological sample, we can't have any anything showing up on the scanners other than biological matter."

"What about the SG uniform?" asked Kimberly. "Because I can assure you it's synthetic."

"Thus spake the laundry Goddess of the Myers family," murmured Wes with a grin.

"She's right," Jen replied, swatting at Wes. "Take it from me, if not from Kim."

Lucas snickered. "That's the second thing. I have something for you guys to change into," he added, speaking again to Rick and Alice. "But before you get changed, I need those personal items. Anything you don't want, give to Jen to look after."

"I'll be taking the uniforms home with me, too," she added.

Mutely, Rick handed over his morpher to Lucas, while Alice handed over the morpher and a narrow gold chain on which hung a tiny ring.

"What's that?" Rick asked.

"Good luck charm," Alice replied. "When dad proposed to mom, he proposed to me too. Can't think of a better symbol of good luck."

"And we're probably going to need it, too."

"Anything else?" Lucas asked. They both shook their heads. "OK. Afraid all I have for you to change into are hospital gowns. Not the type that open at the back, you'll be pleased to hear!"

Feeling faintly uncomfortable, Rick shrugged out of his Guardian uniform and pulled on the proffered gown. About the only comfort to the situation was that neither Lexia nor John were there to know about this -- and he had no intention of telling them about it either. To judge by Alice's expression, she wasn't planning to, either.

He handed his uniform over to his mother. Alice followed suit.

"OK?" asked Lucas. Rick nodded. "If you guys can do your goodbyes..."

Lucas stepped back to permit Kimberly, Wes and Jen to step forward. Rick was vaguely aware of Kimberly wrapping Alice up in a hug, then that awareness vanished as his mother did the same to him.

"Take care of yourself," Jen murmured. "Be careful."

"I will, mom."

"I'll see you soon," Wes said as Jen stepped back. He pulled Rick into a hug. "Take care of Alice," he whispered. "Don't let her do anything silly."

"Dad!" Rick objected, even as Wes stepped back. Wes just offered a grin.

"Ready?" Lucas asked.

Rick and Alice exchanged a glance. "Yep."

"All right. This might be a little weird -- and I'm sorry about that. I'm going to need you to stand as close together as you can."

"Easiest way to do this," Alice mused, "is going to be if we hug." Suiting action to words, she wrapped her arms around him.

Initially awkward, Rick matched her. The awkwardness faded, though, in the face of how comfortable the pose seemed. Maybe, when this is over...

~*~

Jen chewed her lip nervously as she watched Rick and Alice embrace. There was a flash of light and the two smugglees were placed into the cyro-suspension necessary to sneak them into the thirty-first century. The risks of this were huge. The kids had been well warned about it, but still Jen couldn't help but feel nervous.

Lucas completed containment -- a harsh term for something as voluntary as this was -- and straightened, cradling the canister gently. "Looks like we're all set," he said. "Sooner we get going, the sooner this is all going to be resolved."

"And the sooner I have my husband back," Kimberly finished.

Suiting action to words, Lucas led Kimberly into the time ship, leaving Jen and Wes a chance to say goodbye in private.

Wes leaned down, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. "Take care of yourself," he murmured.

"And you," Jen replied, kissing him back. "Give my love to Trip and Nadira."

Wes smiled as he stepped back. "I will do -- but they'll be able to do it themselves; we'll be in regular comm. touch."

Jen nodded and he started to head into the time ship. "Good luck," she called.

He paused in the entry hatch and looked back at her, a wry expression on his face. "I have a nasty feeling we're gonna need all that and much, much more."

Jen nodded. A moment or two later, the hatch slid into place and a moment or two later, as the turbines of the time ship kicked up a miniature sandstorm, the pear-shaped vessel lifted off from the beach and vanished into a purple/black time hole. A moment later still and the only sign that there had been anyone else on the beach barring Jen herself was the flattened patch of sand where the time ship had been sitting.

She sighed. Nothing more to be done here. Time to go back to SGHQ and help Ben run the Guardians and cover for everyone's absences. And hope like hell this is sorted out quickly.

TO BE CONTINUED...