Ray Palmer had driven out to his weekend place, for some peace and quiet while he was working on some improvements he wanted to make to his ATOM suit. He had been working on that for several hours, when he decided to give his brain a short break.
On his way back from the kitchen, he noticed that there was a smallish parcel in his mailbox. He was surprised when he noticed there was no stamp or postage marks. It had been hand delivered. He took it back to his desk and opened it, then stared down at the contents of the package. It was a potboiler written by an - apparently - very popular science fiction writer. He wondered who would have sent it to him as a joke. It wasn't the kind of book he would ever read - although one or two people that he knew had said the science bits were spot on. According to a brief synopsis he'd once seen, the author had written a series of books in which an improbably beautiful female time ship Captain led a motley team who frequently 'Saved The Universe'. He groaned and said ''Oh, please -.'' when he'd read that.
The book had arrived with a handwritten note - it turned out that it had been delivered by a friend - asking him to read a specified list of pages in the book. He had looked at the first one on the list, to try and see what the point of all this was. The contents of the first page had raised a slight suspicion in his mind, so he started working through the pages on the list. By the time he got to the end of the fourth page, he was sure - the book character 'Jay ' was a very thinly disguised version of one Ray Palmer - himself. Perhaps that was the 'joke'?.
He turned the book over and stared indignantly at the picture of the author, who at first glance appeared to be a complete stranger. Then something in his mind seemed to shift and he remembered that there been many occasions when he and this - Rip Hunter - had been talking to each other, although he couldn't remember where the conversations had taken place or what they had been about.
''Oh, come on'' he told himself 'my memory's not that bad.''
It got even stranger about an hour later when the doorbell rang. He was in his study at the back of the house, doing more work, and pulled up the image from the security camera above the front door, before deciding whether to be 'at home' or not.
Rip Hunter and a woman he didn't recognise were standing on his doorstep.
At the sight of that particular man, he did go down. He wanted an explanation at the very least.
''Dr Palmer?'' Hunter asked, as soon as he opened the door. '''I'm Rip Hunter and this is Captain Baxter. It's very important that we talk to you.''
''I'd certainly be interested in hearing what you have to say.'' Ray remarked, with an irony that seemed to elude them. 'Come in.''
Once they were all seated, he came straight to the point ''I presume you've come about the contents of your books, especially with regard to Jay.''
''Indirectly'' Hunter replied '' It's a long sto -Baxter!''
Ray had barely noticed that the woman was taking something out of her shoulder bag while Hunter was speaking.
Two things happened almost at once. The woman said ''We don't have time for long stories. '' Then she stunned him.
Rip was left with no choice but to finish the job and activate Ray's other memories.
