Chapter 12

"It will all be over soon," Word gloated. "Once you're out of the way, there will be nothing to stop me from finally ruling the world!"

Not if I can help it.

It was time to see if I could power up the time machine myself. I decided to transfer my red draconium energy first. Any dragon could tell you that controlling more than one mag energy stream at a time took concentration, but my problems were further complicated since I had to keep the different energies separate. I had to keep powering the defensive armor with gold energy while simultaneously transferring my red energy into the time machine. My gear wouldn't run on red energy so I had to be careful not to let the energies mix or the gear might shut down on me.

Working under pressure was never fun, but I had gotten lots of experience at that ever since The Choosing had taken place. I did my best to clear my mind and focus on the energy within me. I made sure I could feel the different energies and then carefully directed my red energy into a mag stream and sent it into the red dracronium contact on the time machine where the energy cell used to be. I wasn't sure how much energy the time machine needed to operate, so I transferred as much energy as I thought I could spare.

Word saw the red mag energy stream and exclaimed, "WHAT?" as he stared in disbelief.

Ha, caught you by surprise, huh Word. You weren't ready for this, were you. Well, good. Even better: the time machine seemed to be holding the charge I had sent into it.

Now it was time to transfer the black energy. I focused again and let out another energy stream. After a few seconds, the time machine started to power up. The lights inside came back on and it looked like it did before the energy cells had been removed. I transfered a bit more energy to hopefully give it a sufficient charge.

Word was angry, and that was putting it mildly. "Impossible! It can't be!" Turning to his two technicians, he said, "Stop him you fools!"

The technicians looked back at Word. One of them just said, "How?"

Word had lost his patience by this point. He yelled, "The dragon can still see, you idiots! Grab some flash sticks and stun him!"

The technicians jumped at Word's order and scrambled to get the flash sticks. That was my cue to leave. I hurried back up the ramp towards the door of the time machine. Word took a guess where I was and threw the black interference gear he was holding at me. I saw it coming towards me and got in position. As it was about to hit me, I whipped my tail at it and batted it back towards Word as hard as I could. The look of shock on his face as he saw his gear hurtling back at him was priceless. He had to duck quickly to avoid being hit, and the gear impacted the wall behind him. Just like drag-ball. How I enjoyed that game.

The technicians were back how, flash sticks in hand, along with half a dozen guards. Word shouted at the guards, "There's a dragon in my time machine! Stop him!"

Time to get out of here. I squeezed my way through the door of the time machine. The door was human sized and I was a little too wide at the shoulders. One of the guards threw a flash stick at me as I managed to finally get my shoulders through the door. I pulled my tail in and used it to slam the door shut as I heard Word scream, "NOOOO!" I could hear the flash stick hit the door as it shut. That was close.

I was wedged in a bit tight, but fortunately my head ended up near the controls. I looked around to try and see how this thing worked. I had to think quickly. Fortunately, there weren't a whole lot of controls. That was one of the things the humans were really good at: computers and automation. Just about any kind of gear or equipment was so automated that it was pretty easy to operate it. As it was, there were only a few indicators, a few switches, and one large lever in the center. The indicators were all in the green, which seemed to indicate the time machine was properly powered up and ready. Odds were the lever would make it go.

The guards were at the door, trying to get in. No more time. The question was, had I transfered enough energy to make this thing actually travel through time. I held my breath and pushed the lever forward gently with my chin, uncertain as to what might happen.