I was trying to join Nadia's club with the fast, hard-hitting stories with this story- ergo the need for seat belts. That said, I know that there will be many places where you will say something like "Oh, there's a whole nother story she could have told there..." but I'm not gonna tell it grin
It may not seem like it right now, but there is a track, a pace, and a destination to this ride... hold tight... it's coming...
As always, don't forget to leave a little note if you're still hanging in there! I love comments- they make me want to update.
-s-
FOUR
Xavir left the conference room in relief. The professor hadn't suspected anything out of the ordinary yet, but he had to make sure it stayed that way. He made his way to his office with growing anxiety. Out of the fire and into the frying pan, as his grandmother used to say.
When the doors slid open in response to his retinal scan, he stepped inside hesitantly. Chloe pounced as soon as he did.
"You said you would tell me everything," she demanded.
"I said that I would tell you what you needed to know," he corrected. Xavir's eyes scanned the room to see if she had been able to tamper with anything.
Chloe's expression showed her displeasure with his answer. "So, spill."
Xavir looked at her thoughtfully for a second. "You're in the future. You were caught in my time window when I was returning home."
Chloe started mentally filing the facts without allowing herself to be caught up in the impossibility of what he was claiming. "What were you doing… in the past?"
Xavir hesitated again. "I am a scientist," he stated simply. "What I need to work on now is getting you back to your time."
Chloe sensed that he was planning on leaving the story there. "Wait a minute. Where are Lois and Clark?" she asked, already formulating a theory in her head.
Xavir's eyes shifted and Chloe nodded. "They're here, too," she answered with confidence. "Except you don't know where, here they are."
"I'm going to find them." Xavir crossed to his desk. It was imperative that he found them.
Chloe followed. "Why did you send them here in the first place?"
Xavir sighed. "It was an accident," he admitted.
Chloe's eyebrows rose.
Xavir focused on what looked to Chloe like a computer without a monitor, placing his thumb on a scanner to activate it. "Time-Syncing is a relatively new and unstable technology…" he started, faltering off as he searched for a simple explanation.
"For someone dealing with something as powerful as this, you would think you would have better control measures." Chloe crossed her arms. "Didn't you just break your flight-time thingy?" she asked, referring to the device he had been holding in the cave.
Xavir massaged his brow. He didn't need reminding of that fact. Time-Syncing was not just unstable, it was unpredictable… and largely untested… at least, until now. Hell, he was lucky that he had preprogrammed the time warp for the first window. At least he knew what year Lois and Clark had been sent to.
"You didn't think to go into the future before going to into the past to see how this experiment would work out?" Chloe asked, pulling up the extra chair.
Xavir sighed, the study of Temporal Mechanics was harder than it sounded. "Future warping creates dangerous consequences. You can go back, but not forward."
Chloe narrowed her eyes. "What kind of consequences?"
Xavir looked uncomfortable. "Well, nothing has been proven… but according to the Mannheim Theory, the act of a person going into the future causes a disruption in the person's native time."
Chloe's questioning expression requested more information. Xavir tried to think of a simple way to explain the complex science he had been studying for years.
"Einstein proposed that time existed as a fourth dimension," he began, watching her face for signs of comprehension. Satisfied that she was following him, he continued. "Time is not linear, as we once assumed. In fact, we don't really have a word for it's… shape, for the lack of a different word. It's almost as if time exists at the same time, at all times."
"You lost me there," Chloe interrupted. "The same time, at all times?"
Xavir nodded. "It can't really be explained. It's just one of those things that just is. Think of it like a double helix… or a coil; continuous and overlapping. The future cannot exist without the past, so time is like a continuous plane. Basically, if a person goes into the future, the time line tries to compensate for the gap by catching up. The past tries to catch up to the future..."
Chloe's mind was going in circles trying to process the theory. "And if that happens?"
Xavir frowned and turned back to his computer. "Mannheim hypothesized that the future as we know it would be erased and it would have to start building again. After that, the best case scenario shows that the timeline from then on would be greatly unstable." It was one theory that they never wanted to put to test.
Xavir clicked a few buttons and a holographic screen appeared.
Chloe frowned. "It sounds like a lot of unproven theory to me… is there anything that you know for sure?"
When Xavir didn't respond, she sighed. "Please don't tell me that you pulled some kind of Hollow Man routine and jumped into an experiment yourself just to prove that it works."
"Hollow Man?"
Chloe shook her head. "It's a movie… or it was a movie… in my time. Never mind. It's not really important. So, let me see if I've got this straight. Since the three of us have been warped into the future, the past… which is our true time frame, is going into hyperspeed to catch up to us?"
"More or less," Xavir answered. In reality, it was less, but he didn't have the time to dwell on that.
Chloe propped her elbows on her knees and dropped her head into her hands. She was nearing the point of information overload. Finding out more on this so-called Mannheim's Theory of time travel could wait.
"How are you going to find them?"
Xavir's finger-strokes paused over the keyboard. "I…"
He was interrupted by the office door sliding open. "Xavir, we have a problem," a red-haired man announced bustling into the room. "Oh… excuse me," he stuttered when he noticed Chloe. "I didn't know you had company."
Xavir stood and glanced awkwardly between his two guests. Enning "Fitz" Fitzpatrick was a colleague of his here at the Center. Fitz knew as well as anybody that visitors were not allowed.
With a sigh, Xavir accepted that he was going to have to let Fitz in on his dilemma.
"Fitz, this is Chloe… she's from… um… 2006."
Chloe took a moment to study the office's new occupant. His red hair and fair complexion clashed with the stark white lab coat he wore over a navy blue jumpsuit.
"2006, what?" Fitz asked.
"The year," Chloe inserted, smiling wryly when Fitz's expression turned to disbelief.
"You didn't…" Fitz deadpanned, giving Xavir a sharp look.
"It's a long story," Xavir replied pitifully. "Well not so long as complicated. She kind of got caught in my window."
Fitz shook his head slowly. "Did you tell the professor?" When Xavir merely shook his head, Fitz chuckled. "Yeah, that's not good. Well, at least she's here with you, though. I came to tell you that while I was monitoring the time line, there was a slight flux… but now I can see why. So, just send her back, and the prof never has to know."
"Um… It's not that easy…" Xavir started.
Chloe looked on with interest, hoping to learn more about the situation they were in.
Fitz's eyebrows rose. "You two weren't touching when you jumped, right?"
"No!" Xavir assured.
Chloe frowned, her anxiety growing. "Why is that important?"
Fitz gave Xavir a pointed look. Xavir sighed and started his explanation. "The window was programmed for one person. The transport mechanism basically breaks down the traveler's system into individual atoms and puts them back together upon delivery. That's part of the reason for your discomfort when you arrived."
He cleared his throat and continued. "In some earlier tests, with inanimate objects, if two were touching during transport, the computer had some trouble distinguishing the two well enough. The objects become magnetized to each other in a way…"
"What if Lois and Clark were touching?" Chloe asked impatiently.
"Lois and Clark?" Fitz questioned. "What is she talking about, Xavir?"
"That's the problem," Xavir said, wringing his hands nervously. "They took my first window. I hadn't had a chance to enter the direct coordinates for destination, so all we know is that they are somewhere in the city."
"What happens if they were touching?" Chloe repeated.
"We don't know," Fitz responded. "But we need to find them as soon as possible."
"How much time do you think we have?" Xavir asked.
"The flux was hardly noticeable," Fitz answered. "If I hadn't been watching the screen I wouldn't have seen it. My best guess is that the time left to collision will decrease exponentially with time… and since there are three of them…" He released a short breath. "96 hours, give or take a few?"
"And how long will it take to fix that plasma thingy?" Chloe asked.
Fitz looked to Xavir again. "Fix the…"
Xavir nodded. "The Llecom complex was lost. We'll need to get a hold of another batch."
Fitz walked over and sunk into Xavir's desk chair. "We're going to need to tell the professor."
"I know," Xavir sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I know."
As they exited the strange elevator that had brought them back to city-level, Lois grabbed Clark's arm. "Do you see this?" she asked in wonderment.
Clark's head tilted back as he took in the city. This was the absolute opposite of the place they thought was the city when they first arrived is this… future. The streets were bustling with people moving amongst one another. As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, a dozen people pushed past them to enter.
The buildings seemed to arch as they reached achingly high into the night sky. It seemed that every shop on the crowded street was lit up with neon lights, competing with one another to draw the attention of the masses. Clark was reminded of the streets of New York or Tokyo taken to the extreme… except that there were no cars.
"Well, this is a relief, I guess," Lois remarked, happy to be back among civilization. The emptiness of the amusement park had left her feeling creeped out.
It barely registered to Clark that she had said anything as he had noticed something strange about the sky and was attempting to use his vision to see what it was. While he was able to see pretty far, he would have needed his telescope to see as far as he needed to right now. It was just something about the stars. They seemed… faded somehow.
Clark turned at a tug on his arm. "What did you say?" he asked, realizing that Lois had just asked him something.
Lois rolled her eyes. "I asked if I could borrow that twenty you had earlier."
Clark's expression grew perplexed as he reached for his pocket and came up empty.
"I already have it," Lois informed him, lifting her hand to show him his wallet.
"Well, why did you ask, then?" he asked, slightly peeved that he hadn't noticed he'd been pick-pocketed.
"To be polite," Lois snarked. She pulled a twenty from his wallet and handed it back to him. "You might want to put that somewhere safe," she advised.
Clark sighed. "Do you really think that the money will work here when it didn't inside the park?"
Lois shook her head. "No. I have a better idea. Come on," she said as she started walking, making her way through the throng of pedestrians to cross the street.
Clark followed, starting to feel like Lois was always one step ahead of him. "What is it?"
"Barter and exchange is one of the basic principles of any civilization at any time period in history. Even when there is no money, there is trade." She stopped in front of a shop and pointed proudly at the sign. "Case and point."
Pawn and Go, Clark read silently, trailing Lois as she entered the store.
"Can I help you?" the shopkeeper asked in a bored tone as they approached the counter.
Both Lois and Clark were taken aback at the foreign looking items that graced the numerous shelves.
Lois pulled her attention away from a stack of cube shaped objects; the sign in front of them declared that they were Replicators- whatever that meant. She peered into the glass display that served as the counter and noted the jewelry that sparkled inside. Apparently, diamonds were forever.
"I hope so," Lois stated, answering the man's question. She laid the bill on the counter and watched his face for a reaction.
The shopkeeper's brown eyes seemed to twinkle for a fleeting second before his expression returned to the bored one he had worn when they first walked in.
"Is this genuine?" he asked, pulling a jeweler's scope from a drawer.
Satisfied that the bill was real, the man placed his hand in a shallow plate holding a wax-like solution. When he lifted it, the substance dried to create a dust and grease free coating on the underside of his hand. He then reached for the money, placing it carefully on a clear plaque.
"I can't imagine how you've kept this so well preserved… but I'm a broker. I don't ask. I don't tell." He glanced at Clark and let his gaze return to Lois's. "Fifteen."
Lois reached for the newly mounted bill.
"Wait!" The shopkeeper cried, placing his uncoated hand in between Lois and the bill. "That was just the opening bid. I'll go twenty, but that's about all I can do."
Lois pulled Clark a step away from the counter and motioned for him to lean down so she could whisper in his ear.
"Do me a favor and make that dejected expression you're so good at."
"Huh?" Clark asked, straightening. His face was more confused than anything else.
Lois smiled and patted his chest. "That'll do." She left him frowning behind her and stepped back to the counter. "Listen, we could really use a break here. We're here on vacation, and I let him go to the casino… and well, he's not so lucky."
The shopkeeper nodded. "This your first time in New Troy?" he asked, already suspecting that the answer would be yes. He glanced down at the bill again. It really was well-preserved and he would be able to get quite a bit more than he was offering for it. But then, that was the business.
"Thirty-five," he offered, feeling generous.
"We'll take it," Lois said, sending a smile over her shoulder to her partner in crime. She felt pretty good considering they had more of those bills if their funds ran low.
"Do you want to put this on your cash card, or would you like a new one?"
Lois's eyes widened briefly at the question and she turned back to face the clerk.
"A new one would be great. Thank you." Clark inserted, stepping up to the counter.
Lois watched as the man typed some commands into his computer. Her mouth dropped open slightly as she noted that the amount he was entering onto her new card was 35,000 and not 3,500 as she had assumed.
"I need your thumb print," the clerk prodded as if she should have known that.
"Oh, right." Lois recovered, placing her thumb on the fingerprint scanner.
Handing her the new card, the clerk smiled. "Don't let him take this one to the casino."
As they neared the door, the man called to them. "You guys might want to check the weather schedule." Their wardrobe seemed a little strange to him, but he thought that way about most tourists.
"Weather schedule?" Clark asked as they stepped outside.
"Don't know." Lois merely shrugged. "But we have money now. Guess we should find somewhere to stay for the night."
Clark scanned the street as they walked. "There's got to be a hotel around here…"
Suddenly a rumble of thunder was heard and a hard rain began to fall from the sky. Around them, people either ran for cover or opened the umbrellas they had been carrying. By the time Lois and Clark made it under an awning, they both were soaked.
"It's like a freaking Supermarket!" Lois exclaimed, disgustingly pushing her wet bangs back from her forehead. "Weather schedule my ass…" she grumbled. Clark's flannel shirt was now plastered to her skin. She pulled the front of it closed and buttoned it up. Even though it was wet, it was better than the now soaked tee shirt she had on underneath.
"Well, look on the bright side," Clark said with a smile.
"Is there one?" Lois asked, bending over to wring the water out of her ponytail.
Clark gestured for her to turn around. "We found a hotel."
TBC