A Glitch in Time
by Gary D. Snyder
Chapter7:
It was almost midnight as Jimmy brought the hovercraft into a final approach towards the Advanced Physics Institute in Upperton. Since leaving Drakken's lair he and Kim had been preparing for this mission, and even now were silently reviewing last minute details and considering responses to possible contingencies. The extreme urgency of their mission had not given them much time to formulate a plan and gather the necessary equipment, and they both knew that any one of a thousands things might go wrong. Jimmy, who was not used to such clandestine activities, was far more nervous than Kim but did his best to hide it. He knew that her part in the plan was far harder than his and didn't want to unnerve her.
"I'm sorry you didn't get much time to practice with some of that equipment," he apologized. "It took me longer than I thought to get some of them put together."
Kim waved it off easily. "Hey, no big. I'm actually pretty impressed that you were able to put these things together as fast as you did."
"Most of them aren't really much," Jimmy replied. "They're just to get you in. It's the scanning decrypter that's the main thing."
Kim held up the analyzer and studied it thoughtfully. It looked much like a portable CD player, which was not surprising as that had once been its original purpose. "The scanning decrypter," she repeated. "I just hope that it works."
"It should if the Institute's vault security works the way I think it does. Based on what we were able to dig up on the place I'm betting that their security system is using a continuous pseudo-random data stream with an embedded rotating distributed key and redundant pattern match."
"In English?"
"A continuous data stream is a way for the security system to ensure that the circuit hasn't been cut. The pseudo-random pattern keeps someone from faking a data stream to pretend the circuit hasn't been cut. The embedded key is the part of the data stream that checks patterns used to open the lock. Distributing and rotating the key makes it harder to pick it out from the random data patterns. And redundant pattern matching means a match has to be made several times, and at just the right times, for the lock to open."
"Oka-a-ay," Kim said as she pocketed the device. "Not really English, but close enough. This thing will figure out the correct code to open the lock?"
Jimmy nodded and looked gravely at Kim. "But don't forget. The system will detect the hack and sound the alarm thirty seconds after the decrypter cuts in, whether it's isolated the code or not."
"Thirty seconds. Got it." She suddenly leaned over and pulled on the control wheel, hard. The hovercraft heeled over, nearly standing on its side from the drastic course correction. Jimmy caught a glimpse of a silvery shape as it flashed past them, missing them by scant feet. Kim relaxed her grip on the wheel and let out a sigh of relief as the hovercraft leveled off and gained altitude again. "You okay?" she asked.
"Think so. I didn't think any aircraft would be flying this low over a populated area." Jimmy looked back, but the other vehicle had vanished.
"Aircraft? I don't think so. It was a car."
Jimmy refused to believe that. "What would a car be doing up here?" he demanded.
"We probably drifted a lot closer to the ground than you thought without realizing it," Kim answered. "I mean, you are cruising without lights. But it was definitely a car. If I didn't know better, I'd say it was a DeLorean."
"That's ridiculous. They haven't made those in more than twenty years and they made less than 10,000 of them. The odds of seeing one are pretty small." Jimmy thought about it. "But if it was a DeLorean," he continued slowly, "then it might have been pulled out of the past because of the singularity."
"I've been meaning to ask you about that," said Kim. "Why is it that things further in time from the singularity are pulled past us? If the singularity is in the future and we're closer in time to it, why isn't it pulling us in more strongly?"
"We're closer in sequential time," Jimmy explained. "Remember the tangled string model. There are points in time that are closer to the singularity than we are but are actually further in sequential time in the past. My guess is that the singularity can't pull them completely out of normal space-time - yet - and so we're experiencing them as the singularity accelerates them past us through sequential time. Pretty soon we'll be seeing more than just isolated objects. We'll being seeing entire slices of the past."
Kim thought about that. "And why are we seeing just isolated objects now?"
"All I can think is that somehow they must not be anchored as firmly in the time stream. It's almost as if…" His voice trailed away and he shook his head.
"What?" Kim asked at last.
Jimmy was reluctant to voice the idea to Kim. "It's probably the stupidest idea you've ever heard. I was about to say that we may be seeing the things we've been seeing because they were traveling outside of normal space-time." He shook his head again. "But who in their right mind would be using a biplane or a steam locomotive or a Delorean for time travel?"
"You got me," was all Kim could say. After a brief pause she pointed ahead of them. "That must be the Institute."
"Right. Let me get over it." Jimmy coaxed the craft higher and hovered silently as he donned a headset and Kim slipped one of Jimmy's inventions over her eyes. "Remember to stay in touch by radio. Testing…one…two…three…"
Kim touched the tiny receiver in her ear and nodded. "Alpha…bravo…charlie…" she murmured quietly in reply.
"Loud and clear," Jimmy announced. "It looks like your transceiver is functioning perfectly. The Omnispecs 2000 should be enough to guide you through the ducting and help you avoid any sensors. If you aren't sure which setting to use, call in. And don't be afraid to use that personal protection equipment. Remember, the effects are non-lethal."
"Roger." Kim slipped over the side. "Wish me luck," she whispered as she descended like a flying squirrel towards the dark roof below. The analogy was actually quite appropriate, for billowing folds of fabric arched outwards between the ankles and wrists of her stealth suit, causing her to float more than fall through the air. About ten feet above the rooftop she drew her arms to her side and flipped forward to land lightly on her feet. "I'm down."
"Good," Jimmy answered back. "Let me know if anything comes up."
Kim adjusted the controls of the Omnispecs and carefully scanned her surroundings. While her stealth suit made her all but invisible in the darkness the enhanced vision capabilities of the Omnispecs allowed her to see things as though it was twilight rather than midnight. Satisfied that there were no cameras or other surveillance equipment within range she proceeded to a duct of the building's ventilation system, pried off the grill, and disappeared inside. Once inside she switched the Omnispecs from ultraviolet to infrared, alert for any indications of sensor beams blocking her way as she inched along.
"How's it going, Blue Fox?" a voice whispered in her ear.
"So far, so good, Mauve Duck" she answered in a voice she could barely hear. "No signs of infrared detectors. No sounds of anyone around either. Must only be the security guards here tonight."
"Copy."
With infinite patience Kim made her way through the ventilation duct. Despite the terrible urgency of their mission she knew that any mistake would surely end the mission, and that undue haste was unacceptable. After she had traveled perhaps fifty yards she switched the Omnispecs to the x-ray region and looked about her, trying to get her bearings. The ambient radiation was not great but the amplification of the device allowed her to see several dozen feet in all directions, which was enough to identify the various rooms by and over which she passed. After fifteen minutes of agonizingly slow progress she spotted a dark shadow off to her left.
"Blue Fox to Mauve Duck," she whispered. "I see something…whatever it is x-rays can't pass through it very well."
"That may be vault," she heard Jimmy reply. "But it might also be just a storage cabinet for radioactive materials. Switch to the low end of the EM spectrum. Does it look like there's any electrical power going to it?"
Kim complied and studied the false-color image. "Looks like," she replied quietly, "but it's hard to be sure. The power cables may be shielded and this ventilator shaft might be blocking some of it as well."
Jimmy sighed. "Copy that. I guess it's a good first target to check out. Let me know what you find."
"Roger." Kim crept silently through the ducts, looking for a side shaft that would bring her closer to the unknown object. After a few minutes of crawling she found one and made her way to a grill that opened onto a hallway near the possible vault. After a quick search through several regions of the electromagnetic spectrum she decided that the hallway was empty, slowly pushed the grill open, and dropped silently to the floor. An x-ray scan showed the dark shape to be on the other side of a locked door. After some examination she whispered softly, "Mauve Duck, this is Blue Fox."
"Go ahead, Blue Fox."
"I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I'm probably in the right place. The sign on the door reads 'Advanced Projects Research – Authorized Personnel Only'."
"Sounds like the right place," Jimmy agreed. "What's the bad news?"
"The door is at least three inches of solid steel and locked, and as near as I can tell from x-ray scans it's been wired. I'm pretty sure it's alarmed and I don't think I can get into the room any other way without making a lot of racket."
"I expected something like this," Jimmy answered. "You know that spray can I gave you?"
Kim removed the canister from a pouch on her belt and regarded it curiously. "You mean this defensive anti-personnel spray you gave me?"
"Yes. I want you to spray the center of the door with it. Use the entire can." As Kim complied Jimmy explained, "This is a quick freeze spray that would have frozen anyone coming at you for a few minutes. The entire can should drop the temperature of the exposed portion of the door down to a few hundred degrees below zero."
"And super-cooled metal becomes very brittle," Kim concluded as she emptied the last of the can. Replacing the empty container, she braced herself and drove her gloved fist forward with all her strength into the now rime-covered door, striking the spot she had sprayed. There was a delicate sound like glass shattering and Kim looked on with satisfaction at the roughly circular two-foot hole left in the door by her punch. "Good thing I've always watched my figure," she commented quietly. "It would be a tight fit otherwise."
"Wait a few moments before going in," Jimmy cautioned. "The edges will probably be a little cold."
Kim waited for what felt to her like hours, looking about her as she waited to make sure no one was coming to investigate and cautiously touching the edges of the hole from time to time to estimate its temperature. When she was satisfied that the temperature was no longer a threat she slipped through the opening and into the room beyond. Inside the room she noted with satisfaction that there was indeed a vault like that Jimmy had described earlier and moved to affix Jimmy's decryptor. "I'm at the vault door," she murmured. "It looks like the hard part is over."
"Careful," Jimmy cautioned. "Remember, we need to get out of here as well. That'll be the tough part."
Kim nodded somberly at the reminder. Then she took a deep breath, activated the decryptor, and attached it to the face of the imposing door. The decryptor clung to the door as its circuits began analyzing the data stream flowing through the locking mechanism. As the device worked purposefully Kim kept a silent mental count, mindful of what Jimmy had said about the thirty-second limit. The LCD screen of the device was recording the code sequence as fast as the decryptor extracted it, Kim knew, but in the darkened room even the Omnispecs couldn't give her a clear image of the display. Jimmy had been almost certain the device would complete its task in less than thirty seconds, but not being able to verify that made the thirty seconds speed by with terrifying swiftness for Kim. Twenty-nine…thirty, she thought as the count came to an end. I hope Jimmy knew what he's doing. She popped the decryptor from the vault, returned it to one of the many zippered pouches on her outfit, and turned to the door just as a loud alarm began to blare. After spending such a long time in near silence the sudden noise startled Kim and momentarily froze her in her tracks. Then she sped into action, diving in one graceful leap through the hole in the door and rolling to her feet in the corridor beyond.
"Status, Blue Fox," she heard Jimmy say in her earpiece.
"The hounds are out," Kim replied, raising her voice to be heard above the din.
"Copy that. Head for the rendezvous point."
Bright lights came on in the corridor as Kim headed towards the ventilator grill from which she had emerged earlier and she whipped the Omnispecs off her head, stuffing them into her belt. The lights were not for her benefit, she knew. They were for the security guards who would be there any moment to investigate the cause of the alarm. As this crossed her mind she spotted the first of them just ahead of her, rounding the corridor into the hall she was in. Spotting her, he pulled a sidearm from a holster and pointed it at her. "Halt!" he ordered.
"Sorry, got other plans," she called as she vaulted towards the ventilator opening. It was an unfavorable maneuver, as it brought her closer to the guard, and as her fingers gripped the edge the guard fired at close range. She felt a sharp pain in her shoulder and for a second she was shocked that he had actually fired at her. The next second her entire side went numb as a powerful electric charge coursed through her. Unable to maintain her hold on the edge of the opening she dropped, collapsing to her knees as she landed.
As she fought her way back to her feet to confront her first assailant who was bearing down on her she heard others coming up behind her. "Freeze!" she heard someone call as she whirled about, delivering a roundhouse kick into the first guard's midsection. With her body still numb from the effects of the shock there wasn't much behind the attack. The guard grunted from the force of the impact but did not go down. As her opponent circled her Kim felt another sharp pain as another shot struck her in her back. Her attempts to brace herself for what she knew would follow were futile. She stiffened for a moment as the charge struck her, swayed uncertainly for a second or two, and then fell forward into the waiting arms of one of the guards, unconscious.
Kim wasn't sure how long she was out, but when she came to herself she was lying on a gurney outside the building with Institute's security guards conversing quietly among themselves. A man who was lounging nearby and not in uniform noticed that she had regained consciousness and came up to her. "What's going on?" was all she could say.
"I'd like to know the same thing," the man replied.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Dr. Amberson, the director of the institute. And you are…?"
Kim struggled to sit up and discovered she was strapped down. After a few seconds of useless effort she dropped back, exhausted. "Please," she pleaded. "You don't understand."
"No," Dr. Amberson replied pleasantly. "But I'd like to. Who are you, and what were you doing here?" He gestured at the assortment of equipment Kim had been carrying. "What are these, and where did you get them? I really would like to know before the authorities arrive. They're most fascinating and your cooperation might help you."
Kim's answer was cut off by a large whirring sound. She twisted her head in time to see a dark helicopter descend from the sky and land on the large expanse of lawn in front of the institute. A grim figure in a dark trenchcoat emerged and strode purposefully towards her and the institute director.
"Dr. Amberson?" he said.
"Yes."
The new arrival flashed a badge and identification card. "My name is Smith," he said curtly. "I'm from the Agency." He nodded towards Kim. "Is this the intruder?"
"Yes," Dr. Amberson replied and looked curiously at Smith. "Do I know you? You look familiar." Kim thought to herself that he appeared familiar to her as well.
"If I do, I've failed in my job," Smith replied. "The Agency prefers total anonymity. We never met before, and never will again. Do you know why she's here?"
"No. I was just asking her." He gave Smith another close look. "You certainly got here faster than I expected."
"That's not surprising. She's here for the temporal complosion device." The agent almost smiled at the institute director's look of astonishment. "We suspected that something like this might happen after Dr. Dementor stole the other device. We've been keeping a close eye on this place ever since then."
Dr. Amberson finally found his voice. "That's preposterous," he objected. "There's no way she could have gotten it."
"Really?" Smith crossed over to the pile of devices and picked up the decryptor. After glancing over it he showed it to Dr. Amberson. "Is this the code for the vault?"
Dr. Amberson put on a pair of eyeglasses to scrutinize the tiny LCD screen Smith was indicating and looked amazed. "Yes. I didn't notice before, but yes." He removed the glasses and looked at Smith quizzically.
Smith nodded in satisfaction. "Just so."
Dr. Amberson sighed in relief. "But fortunately we stopped her before she could get what she wanted.."
"No. You didn't."
The pronouncement shocked Amberson. "What?"
"She got exactly what she wanted. The code. And just the code."
"But…but why?" Dr. Amberson stammered.
Smith looked grim. "There's only one reason. To give it to someone here so that they could get the device later at their own convenience."
"My gosh!" Amberson shook his head. "That's incredible. Are you sure?"
"It's a possibility," Smith replied. "And that's enough to pose a security threat we can't ignore. I'm afraid this project is going to have to go black."
"How black?"
"Pitch. Until we can determine how seriously this project has been compromised I'm going to have to remove the device to an undisclosed location. Furthermore, anyone associated with this is not to reveal anything to anyone until informed otherwise." He nodded to Kim. "I'm afraid that includes her and her accomplice. I'll be taking them with the device to a secure holding area."
"Accomplice?" Amberson looked puzzled. "What accomplice?"
Smith stepped aside and gestured towards the helicopter. In the back seat Kim could see Jimmy sitting, his head down, not looking at her. "We've had our eye on this one. We suspect that this isn't his first time at something like this. We can't prove it, but we have reason to believe that he was directly involved in a number of incidents requiring official government investigation." Smith looked thoughtful. "Not really a bad kid. He's just a classic example of a loner with too few friends and not enough stimulation who's in it for the thrill of the hack. Maybe it's not too late to rehabilitate him, but that's not my call." He sighed and shook his head. "And now, if you can fetch the device, we'd better get it out of here with the rest of the evidence."
"Yes. Of course." Dr. Amberson, flanked by two security guards, went into the building. Shortly after they returned with Amberson toting a large carrying case. Smith opened the case to inspect the contents, grunted, and closed it again as the guards unstrapped Kim.
"Very good, Doctor. We should be in touch with you in a few days. Until then, I was never here. Neither was this –" He hefted the case slightly. "- or them or their equipment." He gestured to Kim and Jimmy.
"If you'll just let me explain –" Kim began.
"Please, Miss," Smith interrupted. "You have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right, anything you say can and will be used against you." He gave her a cool, level look. "I would strongly recommend that you exercise that right. It might make things easier on your parents."
Kim hung her head sadly and walked towards the waiting helicopter as Dr. Amberson watched them go. Only after they had entered the helicopter and the aircraft had disappeared into the darkness above that he realized that Smith had never told him the names of the suspects or even which agency he worked for. Bureaucrats, he thought.
High above the skies of Upperton the helicopter dissolved into the more familiar form of Jimmy's hovercraft. "Good work, Agent Smith," Jimmy complimented.
"Totally righteous," Smith replied, giving Jimmy a a crooked grin and "hang loose" sign. Jimmy flipped a switch and Smith faded into nothingness, just as the helicopter had.
"That totally rocked," Kim said, then winced. "Except for the tasers."
"Sorry about that," Jimmy replied. "I didn't foresee that part."
"No big. I'll just be a little stiff and slow for a while. And I guess it was better than having to fake losing a fight. Has this always had a cloaking device and solid photon holograms?"
Jimmy shrugged. "No, just for a while. When my space bus got wrecked I salvaged them and figured I might as well make use of them somehow. But the main thing is that we have the comploder." He noticed that Kim had suddenly stiffened. "Are you sure you're okay?"
Kim abruptly whirled about, her every instinct warning her of danger. She tried to leap to one side, but, just as she had told Jimmy, the effects of the tasers had still not completely worn off. Part of the blast of green energy struck her, sending her sprawling backwards. A lithe figure dropped into the hovercraft, seemingly from out of nowhere. As Kim was struggling to her feet another burst of emerald radiance caught her at point-blank range, sending her spinning into unconsciousness.
It was over so fast that Jimmy had no time to react. All he could think, as the green bolt that engulfed and overwhelmed him faded into black was, Stupid! Stupid! STUPID!
End of Chapter 7
Author's Notes:
Hopefully Jimmy's explanation about the effects of the singularity made sense. The objects they had seen – the biplane, the steam locomotive, and the DeLorean – were actually a double inside joke of sorts. One was a reference to a travel movie called "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles". The other involved references to other movies involving time travel. One was a popular time travel trilogy that virtually everyone knows and which used both a DeLorean and steam locomotive for time travel. The biplane was in a more obscure Disney movie involving a time warp of sorts. I'm curious to see if anyone out there will be able to recall the name of the movie.