Chapter 10

So Word knew I was here. I should have known. In the art of war, for every weapon or tactic one side develops, the other side eventually comes up with a counter-measure. So it would seem that someone had come up with a way to detect the gear I was using and Word knew about it. This really wasn't my day. And what was that other piece of black draconium gear he was carrying? I didn't like the looks of that either.

"It looks like we have a visitor," Word said speaking to the two technicians. "You can't see him, but there's a dragon standing over there by the pod. He's using ancient gear to hide his presence. Unless of course, you know what to look for," he said indicating the scanner in his hand. Word then turned in my direction, lowered the scanner and said, "I must say, it was most clever of you to get this far. I don't imagine there are many dragons who could have figured all this out on their own."

Yeah, well they don't call me the dragon of legend for nothing. Though it looks like I wasn't quite clever enough.

"And you are the gold dragon, aren't you? No other dragon could power that gear."

You got that right.

"It's such a pity that this is where it will end for you," he said with mock sympathy. He continued more seriously and with some anger in his voice, "Do you realize how much trouble you've caused me? If it wasn't for you and that fool Connor trying to fulfill an ancient prophecy, I wouldn't have had to build this time machine in the first place. But you left me no choice. I had to alter history and arrange that unfortunate accident for Connor in his childhood to get you both out of my way. I do all that, and you still show up here and get in my way! If you had only chosen to work with me instead of against me, neither of us would have had to go through all this."

You tell me you went back in time and murdered the man who was like a father to me and you expect me to feel guilt? Eat my scales, Word. Even though I knew he couldn't see or hear me, I bared my teeth and growled anyway.

"So you thought you could use my time machine to undo what I had done, huh? Very clever." Word lightened up a little and started boasting, "You know, it isn't really a time machine per se. It's really a reverse entropy field generator. The fact that the pod travels through time is merely a side effect of the entropy field. It's based on an artifact I discovered from the ancient Red Draconium Empire. They were experts at forging raw draconium and had created a device to generate a field of increased entropy. As you know, everything decays over time and the decay is represented by an increase in entropy. The greater the entropy, the greater the state decay. The device the Red Draconium Empire made creates a field that increases entropy. They used this to help break down exceptionally hard pieces of raw draconium to make them more malleable for forging."

It was true enough that the ancient Red Draconium Empire was known for their ability to forge just about anything. In fact, they were good at just about anything to do with the use of heat. But how do you take a device that makes metal more easily forged by increasing entropy and turn it into a time machine?

"It took me a long time to develop, but I discovered that the artifact had an interesting effect when it was properly powered by black draconium energy. When done correctly, and by balancing the red and black draconium energies, the entropy field created by the device actually reverses. Instead of increasing entropy and causing things within the field to decay faster, it actually does the opposite. However, the second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of an isolated system must increase over time. The laws of physics do not allow this rule to be broken, so when my modified device is activated and begins decreasing total entropy, the universe compensates for it by pushing anything within the field backwards in time. A state of decreased entropy could only have existed in the past and so anything in the field must move into the past. It's a rather indirect way to travel through time, but it works."

Word was clearly enjoying his chance to gloat. I guess killing Connor wasn't enough for him. He wanted to rub my snout in it as well.

"When the reverse entropy field is activated, it surrounds the entire pod and moves it and everything inside it backwards in time. When the field is shut off, the normal entropy within the pod is restored and it returns to the point in time from which it left. Quite simple really."

It did sound pretty simple.

"But you've got nowhere to go now. Without the energy cells, the time machine won't function. So I'm afraid you're stuck here now in this new reality I've created. And when you have no more energy to power the gear you're using, you will simply cease to exist and there will finally be nothing to stop me," Word said as he clenched his fist in the air. With a sinister grin, he added sarcastically, "How unfortunate for you."

Word did indeed like to gloat. But he said he achieved the time travel effect by mixing red and black draconium energies. Red and black: That was almost too much of a coincidence. Hmm, I wonder...

"You've been powering that gear all day, haven't you? I imagine you must be getting weak by now. And just in case you have any ideas of your own still, let's not prolong the inevitable."

Looking his most malevolent, Word then took out the black draconium gear he had brought in with him and held it in his left hand. It was saucer shaped: flat on the bottom and domed on top. It was about 14 inches across and was black with purple markings. He pressed a button in the center and it activated. A pair of short antennae-like projections unfolded and extended from the dome. Once extended, the gear began glowing with a purple black draconium aura and pulsated. As soon as that happened, the smooth subtle hum of the gold draconium gear on my forehead was interrupted. It started to sputter a bit and began to sound like machinery under strain. Oh, scales! Word had a counter-measure for my gear. The gear was still protecting me, so he couldn't attack me directly, but that black draconium gear was emitting something that was interfering with the operation of my gear. The straining sound my gear was emitting was getting worse, plus it was getting warm against my skin, like it was overloading. This wasn't good. The gear was clearly having trouble maintaining my isolated pocket of space. If this kept up, it would quit completely. And if that happened, I'd vanish into nothingness and this reality where dragons and humans were at war would become permanent. Word will have won.

I was out of time. I had only one last idea. I had only one last chance.