Of Magic and Bad Tidings. Act 1.

By the start of this particular tale, I had been working for two years at the Arcanum Agency. I had navigated the shady tides of protocol and office politics, made friends, turned my office in to a nest and had earned the privilege of being on assignment to the Noctis Research Station. I was young and trim, not to mention eager and my hair was still a healthy blonde, free from stress-related-grey. Although, the more than occasional late night had rendered my usual dark blue eyes a rather more unpleasant bloodshot; although thankfully not too often.

This particular place was an agency run facility, situated in a mostly uninhabited dimension, codenamed "Fontaine." The facility rested on a double of Earth, the same but for the slight differences in the planet's tilt, rendering the night cycle three times longer.

The cause of this had been a spatial phenomenon, curiously in a geosynchronous orbit over the facility (which is why it was built there, presumably). The Heitzvelder Exotic Particle Singularity, named after the researcher charged with leading the facility, was known for causing seemingly random energy spikes, radiation and a host of entirely unpredictable phenomena. The H.E.P.S. didn't seem to conform to what we understood of physics.

During the team's study of the phenomenon, events that became known as Continuity Incursions occurred all around the planet (although the majority of them tended to be on the face of the planet facing the singularity). Strange objects and creatures would appear from nowhere; some dangerous, some harmless.

Thanks to this phenomenon and the research facility's tireless work we have identified just over a dozen new elements and have identified forty-eight new species of life form.

Of course none of these creatures were anything more complex than common crustacea. That is, except for one.

- - -

The intercom next to my bed buzzed insistently, determined to rouse me from my sleep. I sat up slowly, rubbing my eyes and fumbled for the answer button, the flashing red light doing very little to illuminate my tiny spartan living quarters.

'Weller,' I answered tiredly, squinting to make out the time on the wall clock.

'Sorry to wake you,' the intercom buzzed, distorting the familiar voice of my friend Doctor Fines, 'But I've got something you need to see.'

I rubbed my eyes again and sat up,

'Can't this wait until the morning?' I asked with a yawn.

I slipped out of bed, fumbling for my dressing gown. At half past three in the morning the research staff would have to make do with me being groggy and underdressed.

'I'm afraid not Maggy,' he answered soberly, 'Someone just came out of one of the incursions.'

I stopped in my tracks,

'Did you just say "someone"?'

- - -

In the end I had decided to go with my uniform after all, having hurriedly thrown on a skirt, blouse and lab coat and rushed from the dormitory wing towards the quarantine wing. As I reached the large doors leading to the guarded section of the building I saw Doctor Fines waiting for me.

'What's going on Daniel?' I asked, striding hurriedly, 'Has he been able to communicate with us?'

Daniel Fines reached in to his own lab coat and produced an A5 sized dataslate, stifling a yawn. From the look of his stubble and unkempt short blond hair I'd have said that he'd just been woken up too. He pushed up his glasses as I took the pad from him and walked with him inside.

'We've been fortunate,' Daniel began, 'in that he speaks English.'

I looked at the image on the pad, scrolling through the pictures of the man. He appeared rather unkempt, with dirty shoulder-length brown hair and a messy van-dyke. I skipped to the initial notes, not quite believing that he had come through the phenomenon.

'Sirius Black?' I asked, repeating the name on the slate.

Daniel nodded,

'It's somewhat fitting that a man named after the brightest star in the sky would fall from the heavens like this, don't you think?'

I cast a sideways glance at my smirking friend. I'd have bet that he'd been working on that one-liner for ages.

'Do we know where he came from?' I asked.

Daniel shook his head,

'We've not been able to get much out of him thus far. We've confiscated his personal effects and assigned him quarantined quarters. If he checks out then you'll have the privilege of asking him yourself.'

At this point we had reached the cell in which he was being kept. I stood with Daniel, gazing through the two-way mirror that separated us.

The cell hadn't been designed for people and the man was clearly uncomfortable but there was nothing else we could do about it. I watched as two men in biohazard suits finished adjusting the bed they had just installed and left through the airlock leading out of the room. He looked so depressed, so lost. He simply sat on one of the benches with a forlorn look on his face.

Feeling a pang of pity I moved to the intercom and pressed the button, speaking through the tannoy in the room.

'Hello Mister Black. Can you understand me?' I asked.

The man looked up sadly and nodded.

'Listen,' I said, choosing my words carefully, 'I know this must seem very strange to you but we've had to separate you for safety reasons. We need to run some checks on you and then we can let you out and we can talk.'

'What kind of checks?' He asked, lifting his head. It seemed hearing a sympathetic voice incited some confidence in him.

'Well you've come out of something we call a Continuity Incursion, a phenomenon which has in the past caused radiation, exotic particles and other odd spatial phenomena. We need to make sure that you're not a danger to us.'

He nodded thoughtfully, looking round the room.

'I'm sorry about all of this Mister Black but I promise we'll have you out of there as soon as we can. In the meantime I'll send someone with some food and we'll work on getting you access to a shower.'

He seemed to pause for a moment, absorbing the words. I got the feeling then that he was deciding whether to try and escape or not. Apparently he settled on "not."

'Thank you.' He answered simply.

I released the button, the tannoy clicking in response and I turned, determined to catch up on my sleep…