/- Sorry about the lack of updates. Been wrestling with putting Gentoo on my new laptop, so I could write from ANYWHERE.

A variety of complications occurred, which resulted in me giving up and just putting Windows on the thing. So, here you are: the first chapter I write on the new machine, from a fast food joint, no less. :)

Happy Reading! -- Icebreaker -/

A massive amount of metal and glass with eighteen wheels came roaring down the highway. It's length seemed eternal, and one could not get in front of it nor behind it in time. The shoulder was ending, he was frantically looking for a space, the semi not seeming to care...

"Can I merge there?! Oh, shit, this guy isn't slowing down..."

"Rescii, stop, wait, you'll never make it... Rescii... RESCII!"

Donovan slammed on the accelerator, slowly gaining on the semi to his left. He squinted his eyes and tightened his hold on the steering wheel, calculating his speed against how much distance remained. The lane was merging into the freeway just a couple meters ahead... almost there... too close yet... and... NOW.

The Jeep swerved into the freeway, the water tank it was towing behind it just narrowly missing the front grill of a Mack truck. The trucker honked his horn as the Jeep continued gaining speed, putting a good amount of distance between itself and the semi.

Donovan looked over his right shoulder, craning to see around the water tank's outline. "Well, looks like we survived that one, huh?"

Nicholas's eyes were closed behind his glasses, and his skin looked a bit more pale than it usually was. "Even though I haven't touched a car in several years... and my lisence is probably expired... I still call driving on the way home."

It was raining somewhat outside, and large drops were collecting on the windshield and windows. Headlights shone through the dark, overcast world outside, which marked a stark contrast to the warm, dry interior of Donovan's Jeep.

Nicholas twisted around to regard the black, metal box on the floor between the two front seats, which rolled around somewhat as Donovan changed lanes. "You guys allright back there, after that little maneuver?"

There was a pause before the box spoke up. "We're fine," said Ecco. "Slightly jarred, perhaps, but that's it."

"Good, good," Nicholas said, leaning back in his seat. "We should be there in another hour, so just hang tight back there, allright?"

"Will do, Nicholas," answered Trellia. "We're getting a chance to talk back here, anyway."

Nicholas grinned and turned towards Donovan. "Now that that's out of the way, how about letting me see that bag of potato chips, eh?"

Donovan seemed lost in the current bit of techno-trance that was pulsing out of the speakers, but was still able to reach down with his left hand and grab a loose bag of Fritos. He tossed it across to Nicholas as he squinted his eyes, trying to look through the downpour.

"So let me get this straight, old man," said Donovan, turning down the stereo after a solo piece had finished, while Nicholas crunched thoughtfully on some corn chips. "Your plan is to simply roll up to this installation, flash my identification, and hope that we get in?"

Nicholas grinned around some unchewed corn fragments. "Rescii, you've been living by the rules all your life. You might be surprised how far a little fast-talking and misdirection will go." He turned his gaze towards the side window as they went over a small bridge, the valley below just barely being visible through the weather. "Besides, even if you can't get in, there are other... more drastic methods we can take to get access."

Donovan shook his head as he passed a blue sedan. "I dunno, Nicholas. You can't really say that you've raided anything on this scale before, I mean, they've got security up the ying-yang, I KNOW how they operate..."

Nicholas held up a hand. "One thing at a time, Rescii. If they don't let you in – and they really should, if you've got as high a level of clearance as you say you do – then we'll deal with that problem when we get to it. Worrying ahead of time doesn't do anyone any favors."

Donovan shrugged. "I sure as hell hope you know what you're doing, Doc..."

The old man pushed at his glasses with his index finger and settled down in his seat. "I'm not really sure I know what's going to happen any better than you do, I'm just better at keeping a level head about it. Now, can we change this godawful radio station yet? It's been rather static-filled for the last few miles."

"Uh, remember Doc, I get to pick the radio stations, seeing as how it's my car that got drug into this mess," said Donovan, reaching for the stereo system.

"Oh, I don't know about that," said Nicholas, slapping Donovan's hand away. "A man can only take so much of this techno-crap before his brain starts oozing out of his ears."

While the two humans bickered in the Jeep itself, Trellia and Ecco floated next to each other in the trailing water tank. It was dark inside, as the tarp prevented any outside light from getting in, but a red glow from the trailer's brake lights managed to bathe the interior in an infrared hue.

"So tell me, what happened after you assembled the Asterite?" asked Trellia, turning her head inside the rather cramped quarters to regard her new friend.

"Well," said Ecco, "it turned out he was not complete as of yet. He informed me that the Vortex had stolen his final pair of globes, and taken them into the dark future, and of course it was up to ME to go and get them..."

"Oh, my!" squeaked Trellia in a fearful tone. "I don't think I could've done it... I mean, you had to be pretty scared, right?"

Ecco grinned. He had spent the last few hours telling this lovely dolphin of his many adventures, and was feeling truly happy for the first time since he had been frolicking with his pod in Home Bay. Trellia was a perfect listener, as well, she gasped in all the right places, and added comments such as, "No way. Really?" or "I don't believe it." It was truly a joy to share his many experiences with her.

"Certainly I was scared somewhat, and I still am whenever I time travel. But I had an extra reason to be scared: I had to get an actual Vortex to CARRY me into the future, since the Atlantean time machine wasn't equipped with a device as Donovan described..."

Trellia shook her head. "I swear, Ecco, out of all the dolphins I've ever met, you're the only one that could've done all this."

Ecco beamed. "Why, thank you, Trellia. I suppose it did take a certain strength of character..."

There was a short silence wherein he noticed that Trellia was shivering somewhat. True, it WAS downright chilly with the storm going on, but compared to swimming through the northern ice caps to find Big Blue, this really wasn't a problem.

"Pretty cold in here, huh?" asked Ecco.

Trellia nodded. "I wish either of those two humans would've thought to include some sort of heating machine before we set out..."

Ecco considered alerting the translator box to get Donovan to stop and see about the water temperature, but then he had a grand idea. "I can ask her to snuggle up against me for body warmth!" he thought to himself. "I mean, she is a rather attractive dolphin... and this might just be the move I need..."

"You know, Trellia," said Ecco, clearing his throat and speaking aloud, "you could, perhaps, if you're cold enough... y'know, come over here, and..."

At that moment, an all but rusted-out metal box underneath the tank began pumping water through two hoses that Ecco hadn't noticed before. He could feel the warmer water begin to flow into the chamber, and apparently so could Trellia.

"Ahhhh," Trellia sighed, as she shook off the relative stupor that the cold had put her in. "That feels nice. I guess Nicholas did install a heating machine, but it's old and didn't turn on quite as fast as I would've liked..." She turned her head after a bit to regard Ecco once more. "Now then, Ecco, weren't you saying something before that turned on?"

Insofar as it is possible for dolphins to blush, Ecco did it. "Er, uh, nothing really. Just wanted to know if you wanted to switch spots, as the water over here seemed a bit warmer than over there."

Trellia smiled. "Well, thanks for the thought, Ecco. Seems like you're as nice as you are brave."

Ecco smiled in turn, but mentally he slammed his head against the wall. Not for the first time, he pondered the irony that he could take on the greatest foes that the Tides of Time dared throw at him, yet if he was placed near an attractive girl, he'd go as shy as a sea anenome when a hungry one swims by.

"But anyway, Ecco. So you had to get kidnapped by aliens, in effect, to travel into the future?"

Ecco shook himself out of his feelings of self-pity. "Right, right... and as you mentioned, I was a bit scared, but not too much. So I swam to the only place I thought there would be Vortex creatures, Lunar Bay we called it..."

The Jeep continued on through the rain.


"Have there been any temporal fluctuations?"

"Not yet, Queen, nor does the probability matrix point to there being one in a recent period of time."

A tall, insect-like creature presided in front of a semi-circle console, its four arms working various knobs and holographic displays on the bio-screen.

The room it was in can best be equated to the bridge of a ship in Earth terms. There were several displays pulsing against the walls, showing orbit trajectories, calculated falls, and potential velocities, and on the front wall was a transparent viewport that showed the rocky, pockmarked surface of Luna. The ship was currently parked in geosynchronous orbit over what Earth called the "dark side of the moon," and as such, no radar or visual means had been able to pick them up.

"This complicates things... perhaps their machine is not fully functional as of yet..."

"That is a possibility, my Queen. Of course, it is another possibility that the fluctuations are so small that we cannot detect them from the other side of this planetoid..."

"I have thought of this. You know not to correct me," the Queen warned, sending a mild electric current through the insecticoid's brain.

The console operator stumbled somewhat before regaining its composure. The Queen was not in the bridge with it, nor even on the same ship. She controlled all the ships in her fleet from afar, just as a chess master does with his pieces.

"I am sorry for my transgression, Queen. It will not happen again."

"See that it doesn't. Also, ready your shock troops, the timeline cannot be delayed any longer. Deploy to major human population centers on the continent they mark as 'Europe.' Should reinforcement prove necessary, Delta and Theta squads will be located to the immediate east and south of your position. Understood?"

"Understood, my Queen. Activating now."

And with the press of a button, the dark age of humanity began...


Jeremy Gloval was relaxing in the guard booth of the Federal Government Warehouse JF-14, munching on a hamburger while some Johnny Cash music played out of a dusty old boombox. It had stopped raining, Gloval observed, and the sun had come out to shine upon the stack of papers cluttering his tiny desk.

It was an easy job, as almost no one came out to this warehouse save routine techs and such. True, there was that rather important scientist this morning with a team of contractors, but the rest of his schedule for the day looked clear. Honestly, he didn't know why they bothered to keep him around on days like this... no one was scheduled to come in, so why keep a guard there? Sure, there's the emergency override for people not on the schedule, but that had NEVER been used as long as he had been there...

So, imagine his surprise when, looking up after a particularly juicy bite of cheeseburger, he noticed that a Jeep was coming down through the compound, straight off the freeway. It had some sort of trailer in back, covered with a tarp, and it kept right on going up to the gate... finally stopping in front of the guard bar.

Gloval put down his burger carefully and stepped out of the booth, locking the door tight behind him. He then went over to the driver's side window of the Jeep and knocked, which summarily caused the window to roll down.

"Uh, sir? I don't have you on the schedule to get into the warehouse today... are you sure you're at the right place?"

Donovan glanced at Nicholas, who nodded, then reached into his back pocket for his wallet. "As you can see here," snorted Donovan, flipping open his wallet and showing his Class B clearance badge, "I'm quite obviously qualified to come in. The case is an emergency down in Block 3, might've been some leakage with one of the artifacts there... short notice and all of that..."

Gloval straightened up and crossed his arms, and Donovan could see that the man was not buying it. "Well, first off," said the guard, "even Level B's aren't allowed to come in unannounced, you have to be level A or above. Second, there is no Block 3, each section is designated by letter." He puffed his nose, quite annoyed that this hotshot had interrupted his lunch. "Now, I suggest you turn this thing back around before I get a better look at that badge and decide to write down your social security number."

Donovan sighed and looked over at Nicholas as he rolled up the window. "Well, I tried, Doc. Told you it wouldn't work out, you know."

Nicholas just grinned as he watched the guard return to the booth. "Not to fear, Rescii, this is going to be easier than I thought. First, as we were coming in, I noticed a few blind spots that the cameras along the perimeter didn't cover. We could, perhaps, drill through the fences in those areas -"

"Hold that thought, Nicholas," said Donovan, as he peered at a figure running towards the gate from inside the warehouse. "No... it couldn't be..."

He stepped out of the car and as soon as he opened the door, he could faintly hear the figure yelling his name as it ran. "Imagine running into him now, of all times.... TAKAGESHI!" Donovan yelled.

"Wait, now, what the hell's going on here?" asked Nicholas, stepping out of the car in turn.

After a few seconds, the figure managed to make it to the gate, and revealed himself to be a lanky Asian man in jeans and a black T-shirt. He bent over and propped his hands on his knees as he attempted to catch his breath.

"Donovan! Thank God I caught a glimpse of your car from over there... only man I know of with those kinds of custom headlights."

Donovan grinned and patted the hood of his Jeep. "Well, you know how it is, Takageshi, she's my pride and joy. What're you doing here, anyway?"

The gatehouse guard thought this a good time to step back out of his booth. "You're the Level A that came in this morning, right?" he asked, nodding at Takageshi, who nodded in turn as he stood up.

"Yep, that's me. Go ahead and lift the bar, guard, I'll vouch for these two... assuming he's with you, Donnie?" asked Takageshi, nodding towards Nicholas.

"He sure is, let me introduce you two..." Donovan started saying. Gloval mumbled something under his breath, but went back into his booth to raise the guard bar.

"No time for that, Donovan, and we'll get to what I'm doing here later. Right now all you need to know is that, and I know this is going to sound horribly silly, but... several major cities in Europe and Asia got glassed from orbit."

Donovan's jaw dropped, and even Nicholas managed a raised eyebrow as he hobbled around the front of the Jeep. "That's news indeed," quipped the old man.

Takageshi nodded impatiently. "Yes, but that's not all. There's also lots of spacecraft up there in orbit that we have no known radio signature on. It's not ours, the Russians and Chinese both claim null responsibility... Donovan, it is the NSA's opinion that Earth is being invaded by extraterrestrials."

"The aliens part is easy to swallow, as I just had a run-in with some this morning," mused Donovan, looking towards the warehouse. "The tough part is the fact we're being invaded, although I guess it was somewhat obvious they were hostile..."

Takageshi looked confused, then shook his head. "Whatever, you can explain it on the way back to section E. But Donovan," said Takageshi, grinning somewhat, "this little bit of news is sure to get some surprise out of you: They're launching Project Darkflare as soon as possible, down at the Cape."

Donovan's eyes widened and his face adopted a look of startled incredulity. "No... no fucking way... there's still too many unknown variables..."

Nicholas sighed loudly, so that everyone could hear him. "You know," he said, "just once I wish you kids would explain these terms before you started throwing them around."