Divergence (Chapter 10)
October, 20'Th, 1840: Arendelle City, Kingdom of Arendelle, Port of Arendelle, Fjord docks.
A roar of celebration filled the air as the royal sisters sailed in to the port. The Queen stood by her Princess as she waved to the cheering crowd lined up along the docks. Anna held the wheel with her right hand while waving with her right. The gathering of over five thousand subjects would not have guessed that the smile upon the princess's face was less than genuine. On the outside Anna was the model of happiness, blowing kisses to the crowd as Elsa stood next to her with an arm around her shoulder. However both women knew that the happiness was a practiced face. The red head was filled with so many emotions that if she had her sisters abilities, frozen rainbows would be filling the sky.
Elsa rubbed the shorter girls back and whispered into her ear. "We will make new memories, a hundred times better than the old ones."
Anna weekly smiled to Elsa; she didn't blame her sister for what happened, Elsa was only eight. She didn't blame herself either, she was only five. She blamed three people, two of which were dead.
Anna pulled along the dock controlling the boom breaks while she brought the ship to a snail's pace, as dock workers threw ropes over to the four sailors that had meet the sisters in a runabout when they had first appeared before the mouth of the fjord. Anna knew how to tie off guide ropes and everything else needed to pilot and dock a ship twice this size; but Elsa had said no to Anna performing physical labor and possibly getting hurt (because she's is the clumsiest person in the kingdom) in front of thousands of witnesses.
Flynn and Rapunzel were standing at the front of the crowd along with Gerta and Kai; all four wearing looks of relief as their favorite redhead had come home unscathed. Normally the dock directly in front of Arendelle castle was reserved for royal vessels only, never a humble fishing boat that was comically too small for the giant slip, but seeing that the Queen and Crown Princess were aboard, certain exceptions were made.
Once the sisters had disembarked Anna was immediately tackled by a tearful Rapunzel. "Anna I was so scared for you."
Anna paused for a moment and then gave the brunette a kiss on the cheek. "I'm safe now Punzie and thank you so much for attending to Arendelle in my sister's absence."
"Good to have you back little red." Flynn said as he pulled Anna into a hug.
Elsa and Anna were settled in to the Queen's bedroom holding each other a few minutes later when Anna finally stood and spoke to Elsa somberly. "Elsa I love you with all of my heart, nothing has changed between us. I don't blame you for any of this."
Elsa's eyes started to fill with worry.
"I need some time to handle some stuff and when I get back, things will return to normal… well our normal at least."
"Get back? Anna…" Elsa stated but was cut off.
"Elsa I will be back tomorrow morning; and yes as my girlfriend, Queen and big sister you can order me to stay. But all four of us know that I'll just sneak out anyway. So really it's just better for you to give me a little time.
Elsa frowned but nodded her head in agreement.
"Ok Anna Please be safe"
Leaning in, Anna kissed her deeply and said. "I'll be back before you can even miss me you cute cotton top."
"Anna five seconds is all it takes for me to miss you."
The Princess pulled her sister in to a hug "I love you so much Elsa."
"Please be careful Anna." The Queen didn't want to let her sister go, especially after the events of the last few days; but after dropping a bomb on Anna like that while they were still on the ship, she knew she had to.
After another kiss the two girls pulled apart and Anna gave a shy wave and turned to walk out the door.
"EEEEEEEEK" Anna screeched as something extremely cold hit her in the butt. Turning her head to see Elsa standing with crossed arms and an arched eyebrow.
"Don't call me cotton top."
….
November, 26Th, 2012: Los Angeles, United States; the most dangerous bar on Vermont Ave.
Looking up from the glass he was drying the bartender frowned as he saw a man with a charcoal gray suit walking up to the bar and spoke with indifference "You lost or something?"
"Give me a screwdriver with 'Keitel One'."
"Say, we don't want no week little office boys like you in our hood, so roll the fuck up on out of here before you get your ass whopped." A thug with a couple of tattoos and a shaved head said as tried to intimidate the man."
Turning to the side Ethan slammed his foot into the shaved head's inside leg bringing him to the ground. A couple of years earlier that would have been the end of it. However since Molly's death Ethan had become a changed man; a little harder, a little colder, a little empty on the inside. As the thug started to stand up Ethan grabbed the guy's arm and brought it down across his knee giving a clean break that was accompanied by a sickening crack (Once a Syndicate agent, always a Syndicate agent). Ethan smiled as the thug screamed in pain.
Out of the corner of his eye the widower noticed a pool cue being swung at his head. Dodging the first swing, Ethan managed to catch the cue in the crook of his arm take it away from another guy while kicking him the nuts, breaking the stick with a good whack to the counter, and then stabbed the guy thru one cheek and back out the other with it.
"DON'T MOVE!" Ethan heard shouted in forceful voice.
As the dark haired man turned his head he saw two L.A. cops with their guns drawn.
"Well that was quick for this neighborhood." Ethan quipped as he raised his hands.
….
October, 20'Th, 1840: Valley of the living rock. (A sovereign territory, outside of the Kingdom of Arendelle)
Anna guided her horse Sitronup to the familiar clearing when a group of troll children noticed and started spinning in complex ellipses while cheering "The Princess is here" Anna was loved by all of the troll youths. Dismounting Anna noticed Kristoff sitting on a pile of pillows talking with Bulda.
The ice harvester had come to visit his family around the same time Anna and her big sister had left for 'Tar Det Opp I Ræva' Correctional Facility to get his adopted mother to use her healing crystal in private for an injury he had sustained at the castle before he had left (and preferred not to go in to details about).
"Hey Anna, what brings you out here in the middle of the night?" The ice harvester asked.
"I need to see Grande Pabbie." Anna stated in a firm emotionless tone.
As soon as she said that the Elder troll walked out of a small cave and stepped up on to a boulder placing him at the same eye level as Anna. "Welcome Anna, how may…" Pabbie couldn't finish because Anna had just punched him in the face as hard as she could knocking the troll off of the boulder and on to his back. All of the other trolls plus Kristoff were rendered speechless while Anna collapsed to her knees; holding her wrist and grunting in pain because she had just broken her hand by punching something made of rock. "Elsa's going to be real proud of this one." The Princess thought to her self sarcastically.
….
Anna winced in pain as the ancient troll waved the green healing crystal from around his neck back and forth slowly across her hand while the old troll chuckled.
"I assume this is about your missing memories?"
"Yes, they were mine; you had no right to take them." Anna said with a pout. She was no longer willing to attack the old shaman but the Princess hadn't actually forgiven him yet.
"You parents felt…" Pabbie started to say before Anna cut him off.
"No, even they didn't have that right. So now I don't even trust which memories are real and which ones are the implants."
"What has been taken can be restored." Pabbie quietly said to the Princess.
"FATHER NO!" Bulda cried out to the patriarch.
"It is Anna's decision; she has the right to decide on her own." He said before turning back to Anna.
"It can be done, however it will not be easy, It will feel like your mind is being split in half. Anna this will probably be the most painful thing you have ever felt and there is a chance that you could not survive this."
"Pabbie, the most painful thing I ever felt was Elsa shouting 'go away' at me thru her door, and I need some answers, that come from my own head."
"Anna maybe if you talked this over with your sister." Bulda interjected.
"No Bulda, I love and trust Elsa more than anything in the whole world, however this is one of those decisions I have to make on my own.
"So be it, when would you like to do this." Grande Pabbie asked, having resigned to accept Anna's choice in the matter.
"No time like the present." Anna answered; if she didn't do it now she wouldn't have the courage to latter.
Having seated Anna comfortably on to a bed of moss, the trolls and Kristoff surrounded her.
Kristoff held her hand in his own.
"I'm glad you're here Kristoff." Anna leaned forward and kissed him tenderly and pulled back. "My heart belongs to another…"
"Elsa" Kristoff said quietly.
Anna hid her shock well and continued. "Yes, If it hadn't been her it would have been you."
"All always be you friend Anna." Kristoff said pulling the Princess in to a hug.
"And I'll always be yours. If this dose indeed kill me, please tell her that I love her and that she is to move on, Princesses' orders."
"Of course feisty pants" Kristoff gave her a chaste peck on the forehead as he helped her lie back on the bed off moss. Kristoff wasn't exactly thrilled about his best friend going thru the procedure, but he knew that trying to stop her would just be a waste of breath.
After Kristoff stepped back Grand Pabbie waved his fingers and vines magically wrapped themselves around Anna's wrists and ankles.
"So you don't hurt yourself or someone else." The old troll explained.
Anna nodded her head in understanding.
Grande Pabbie pulled a box from underneath his moss cloak and opened it to reveal a small purple crystal about two inches long. Unlike the other colored crystals that the trolls wore around there necks, this one was special and dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands. Only a Grande Elder could wield it. Taking the stone into his hand he looked back to Anna.
"This is the Stone of Eternity. It will help me sail against the flow of the Life River… the river we all drift down. I will go upstream with this stone and retrieve your lost memories and return them to you. As I said earlier this will be extremely painful; your very soul will feel the agony of the real reasserting itself over the imagined. You are young and strong, but even your heart can take only so much. Anna it is not too late to change your mind, no one here will think any less of you if you do"
"This heart has had its ass kicked in one way or another since I was five years old, I'm ready." The Princess replied her face filled with determination.
Pabbie started to chant as he held the lavender crystal.
"Wait" Anna shouted.
"Yes"
"I'm sorry I hit you." Anna said looking away as her expression turned to shame.
The ancient troll caressed her cheek gently as he smiled. "That has already been forgotten, your highness; think of it no more. Are you ready to continue?"
Anna nodded
As Pabbie started to chant Anna's face started to scrunch up in pain and then the Princess started to scream in agony; and wouldn't stop screaming until the next morning.
….
November, 26Th, 2012: Los Angeles, United States; Men's Central Jail
"Beckett, you being released" The Jailer shouted thru the bars at the man who had been sitting in the holding area for about two hours
"Took them long enough"
Two men in green uniforms stood as the doors opened and Ethan stepped out. As he was being escorted to the release processing area one of the two Custody Assistants spoke.
"Now they don't tell us shit, but I heard that once your social security number hit the computer system, a bunch of red flags went off and the D.A. got a phone call from the state department raising all kinds of holy hell. Orders from the highest level; to not only let you go, but Sheriff Baca himself is waiting on the outside steps to personally apologize to you for the inconvenience. (The Syndicate may no longer exist but its influence lingers) "So I've got to ask, who the fuck are you?"
Ethan looked back to the two men walking behind him and answered the guard's question with one of his own. "Do you have a level seven clearance with the United Nations Security Council?"
"I don't even know what that is." The Custody Assistant answered."
"Then you will never know." Ethan answered, curtly. Beckett did not have any animosity for the two jailers, but he didn't exactly hold them in high regard. (Authors Note; by this point, you should know Ethan has thing with authority figures.)
"You could always write a letter to the President and ask him." The second Custody Assistant joked to the first one."
"What makes you think he has clearance?" Ethan replied, leaving both guards in bewildered silence.
….
October, 21'ST, 1840: Arendelle city, Kingdom of Arendelle, Arendelle Castle, Queen Elsa's study.
Elsa sipped at her mid-morning tea; Gerta had delivered a pot of it ten minutes earlier. That of course made her check the time and when she saw that her watch read ten A.M. she started to get worried about Anna. "I'll give her another hour and then I assemble search teams." The Queen thought when the door opened to her study. Only one person entered that door without knocking. Looking up She saw her little sister standing there, looking like she was about to pass out. Anna's eyes had bags under them. Elsa gasped in fear when she noticed the lines of dried blood running from the Princess's ears and nose.
The redhead grimaced and finally collapsed
"Anna!" Elsa shouted in alarm and immediately ran to her sister's side, cradling the younger girl in her arms, relieved that she was still conscious.
Anna started sob, heavier than she ever had before; even when her parents died.
"Anna my love, what's wrong?" Elsa asked in worried confusion.
"I'm sorry Elsa, I'm so sorry. It's my fault, all of it."
Stroking the slender royal's disheveled ginger locks Elsa was going to ask what she had to be sorry about, but Anna beat her to it.
"T…The Ballroom when we were little, it's my fault. I should have slowed down like you said."
Elsa's mouth hung open in shock for about half of a minute, she had told Anna that there was an accident with her magic but she had purposely omitted the part about little five year old Anna becoming reckless and not paying attention when she had said to slow down… for this exact reason.
"Anna how do you know about that?" Elsa asked very cautiously
"I remember, I remember everything"
"But how Anna, how?"
"Grande Pabbie restored my memories." Anna laughed weakly as she noticed Elsa examining her torn up state. "It wasn't exactly the most pleasant experience.
Elsa I'm so sorry. I ruined both of our childhoods because I was a stupid brat that wouldn't listen, I still am. I should have stayed my ass in bed."
"NO!" Elsa shouted as she took Anna forcefully by the shoulders. "You were just a baby, you didn't know any better. This is my fault, I'm the big sister and I'm the one who is responsible, not you."
"Hit me" Anna said quietly.
"What?" Elsa asked assuming that she had misunderstood.
"HIT ME, CALL ME AN IDIOT, TAKE REVENGE ON ME FOR WHAT I DID, I DESERVE IT." Anna cried out in unbearable guilt.
Elsa just wrapped her arms around her and rubbed her back.
"Listen to me Anna; no one ever blamed you, not me, not mama, not papa. You did not ruin our childhoods; that was papa and I. It is my burden to bear not yours."
Anna buried her face into Elsa's chest and sobbed for a little longer before looking up and addressing her sister in a slightly less shaky voice. "You're busy, I'll leave you alone." Anna tried to get up but Elsa's hold remained firm.
"I'm taking the rest of the day and tomorrow off; the regency council can handle things in my absence. So you are going to just lay here in my arms and cry as long as you need to my little princess; and when you are done we are going to do whatever you want." Elsa said cradling Anna in her arms while thinking "I'm going to kick his ancient pebbled troll ass."
….
November, 26Th, 2012: Santa Monica, United States; Ethan's House on Ocean Ave.
Ethan walked in to his kitchen holding a manila envelope containing his personal affects that had been confiscated by the jail and then returned upon his release. He placed it on the counter next to the microwave and then turned to open the refrigerator. He was hungry beyond belief and hadn't felt like stopping at any of the fast food places along the way home. While pulling a plate out of the cabinet he looked over to the small table in the breakfast nook and saw two burritos each sitting on its own plate. Looking closer at the plates on the table he noticed the one on the left had a blue ring and a chip missing; the plate in his hand also had a blue ring and chip missing in the exact same spot.
Ethan placed the plate in his hand in the microwave and hit the quick minuet button twice. As he was about to look in to the two mystery plates on the table, Ethan noticed a purple flash out of the corner of his eye. Turning back to the microwave oven he saw that the plate and burrito had disappeared. Ethan was first shocked and then noticed a pale glow coming from the envelope.
Dumping the contents of the envelope on to the counter he saw the Energon crystal (he had started to wear the pendant and chain to keep a small part of Molly with him.) faintly glowing. Ethan thought about this for a moment and then decided he would try an experiment.
Taking a second plate from the cabinet and another burrito out of the freezer, the scientist then took three toothpicks from a dispenser on the table and placed them next to each other on the plate and set the burrito on top covering them. Ethan placed the second plate in to the microwave and placed the Energon crystal on top of the appliance. Thinking about the NC-597 particles he had discovered seventeen years earlier while pressing the quick minuet button twice, and as he suspected the microwave and crystal glowed purple and then vanished.
Ethan hesitated for a moment as he turned back to the plate on the right that had been sitting next to the one with a chip in it. Taking a deep breath Ethan picked up the burrito and saw three tooth picks arranged exactly how he had done on the now vanished second plate that was placed in the microwave.
Ethan was quiet and still for a moment before he burst into laughter and shouted. "Chronotrons, there fucking time particles"
Grabbing the manila envelope and a nearby pen Ethan started to fill the yellow paper with triple integrals and Fourier transforms while thinking. "I can get them back. I can bring them all back. Alter, Ayako and Asako, hell even Kagome… and Molly, your first baby."
….
October, 21'ST, 1840: Arendelle city, Kingdom of Arendelle, Arendelle Castle, dining room
The two royals had been side by side for the whole day. After leaving Elsa's study they made snow men in the ballroom, followed up with a bicycle ride thru the village, then to Elsa's bedroom for a round of hot passionate sex where Elsa explained that she couldn't actually make an ice dick to screw her with because she would freeze Anna's insides, then they had a late lunch, they went back to the castle where Anna enlisted help from Flynn and Rapunzel to teach her big sister how to play a game called 'Skillings' which involved bouncing a four skilling coin into a shot glass and if you missed the glass you had to drink the shot. Anna had cheerfully explained to Elsa that in this game even if you lose you still win. This lead to the sisters excusing themselves for another round of hot passionate sex, and then dinner.
The girls were seated with Elsa sitting at the head of the table and Anna seated on her right. Both were eating a meal of Kjøttkaker and unlike at the Kjedelig som Dritt' family diner a week prior Elsa was more than happy to play footsie under the table.
As Elsa gracefully placed a forkful of seasoned meat cake in her mouth she saw a quiet tear slide down Anna's cheek. The Queen took the younger girls hand into hers and spoke. "Anna my darling what's wrong."
Anna smiled and dabbed at her eyes with a cloth napkin. "Nothing the last few days have been a whirlwind of emotion for me."
"I can imagine why." Elsa said with a grin.
"Kristoff knows about us." Anna blurts out with not even an attempt to segway the conversation smoothly.
"Kristoff how… wait …" Elsa started to stammer nervously
"He just picks up on stuff like that, and no he wouldn't ever tell" Anna reassured the Queen who looked like she was about to have a heart attack.
After Elsa composed herself she asked, "Anna when did you see Kristoff?"
"When I went to see Grande Pabbie."
"He knows about the trolls?"
"Elsa, Kristoff is the one who introduced me to the trolls. They raised him from the age of eight on up. Explains why he's so weird sometimes; Bulda, his adopted mom said that he had come to be treated for an injury he received at the palace, but wouldn't go into details."
Elsa's stopped for a moment as she thought about the punishment she had let loose on Kristoff four days prior and started to think that maybe the poor guy had suffered enough, and decided that she would let him have carrots again.
Elsa noticed Anna's plate had a few celery stalks left over. "Anna finish you celery it's good for you"
"Yuk, no way"
"Come on Anna green is your favorite color"
"I've already got something that's long and green"
"And what would that be" Elsa asked.
"You got to come to my bedroom to find out" Anna said with a grin and poorly contained laugh.
Elsa looked up not understanding Anna's joke as Flynn and Rapunzel entered the dining room. After a bow and curtsy that made Anna scowl and comment on family not needing to do that, Rapunzel took the seat to Elsa's left while Flynn sat next to Anna on the right. Elsa thought that she was being discrete while she admired Rapunzel's bottom as the visiting princess sat down. The Queen also used that same 'discretion' as she snuck quick little glances at Punzie's breast. Elsa was devoted to Anna and would never even contemplate cheating on her; however since Anna had pretty much woken up the young monarch's dormant libido, it now had to take its natural course of development. Anna was fully aware of this fact and instead of becoming angry or jealous. Thought it was ironic that Elsa was lusting over the same girl that Elsa had declared a victim of the same emotion almost two weeks earlier. "Yeah, you like that don't you my Snow Queen?" Anna thought, looking forward to mercilessly teasing the older blonde about latter.
"Sorry were late" Rapunzel said as a glow emanated from her body, which Anna recognized with a devious smile.
"So what have the pair of you been up to?" Anna asked with a grin Elsa looked at her sister in confusion as to why the small redhead was laughing.
"Letting my ship explore an uncharted channel" Flynn answered in a cleverly cryptic way, so Anna would get it and Elsa wouldn't.
Keeping Flynn's sneaky method, Anna confirmed it. "Punzie finally let you in thru the back door?!"
"Oh yes, I have seen the Promised Land, and it is good."
"UP TOP" Anna cheered and gave Flynn a high five."
While it's true that Elsa did not understand what Flynn and Anna were talking about, she knew that they were purposely speaking in code; most likely to discuss something she would not approve of the way a forty five year old parent wouldn't catch all of the slang their teenage children use but still know that they were up to no good. "I am not aware of what the two of you are speaking about, but I assure you Anna if I find out that you are discussing an inappropriate topic there will be repercussions."
Flynn leaned over and whispered in to Anna's ear. "So are those 'repercussions with her bare hand or some sort of crazy ice paddle?"
"Depends on how butt hurt and pissy she gets" Anna whispered back and then looked back to a disapproving look from her big sister.
"And what was that little exchange about?" Elsa asked in reference to the whispers between her little sister and the Coronan Prince Consort.
Most of the time Anna could come up with a quick (though not always convincing) lie. This was not one of those times. " Ummmm…." Was all the Princess could say as her brain went into vapor lock and she quickly grabbed the glass of wine in front of her and took an exaggeratedly long sip.
Noticing Anna's distress Punzie blurted out the first thing came to mind, which unfortunately was… "Flynn saw the two of you kissing the other day"
Elsa froze in shock (Authors Note: Yeah I know.) While Anna did a spit take so perfect that even Danny Thomas would be proud.
"Blondie!" Flynn said in an alarmed voice. Now convinced that the Ice Queen would freeze them both in to silence.
"Prince Flynn, Please explain what you saw." Elsa instructed, Anna's earlier hijinks completely forgotten.
"When the two of you were preparing to leave for the prison inspection you passionately kissed the way two lovers would."
"Y…You.. Saw th…that" Elsa asked, trembling in fear as a thin layer of dull red ice filled the room.
"We would never tell anyone, we love you, we all do" Rapunzel quickly spoke.
"I'm here Elsa" Anna said as she climbed into the Queens lap and wrapping her arms around the Queens neck. Not caring that her other family could see this intimate embrace as she nuzzled the side of her head into her big sister's neck.
"You won't tell?"
"No, Never my Queen" Flynn said as Rapunzel placed her hand on Elsa's shoulder and nodded in agreement with her husband.
….
October, 21'ST, 1840: Arendelle city, Kingdom of Arendelle, Arendelle Castle, Queen Elsa's Chambers
"So is she ok now" Rapunzel asked Anna whisper as she shifted her yellow sleeveless nightie
"Yeah, I held her until she fell asleep and then slipped the handcuffs on her. Anna whispered back as she started to slowly open the door.
"It's cute how she didn't think I would notice her ogling me at dinner." The brunette giggled.
Anna returned the smile as she held a finger to her lips. The two Princesses entered the door and locked it behind them as quiet as a pair of church mice.
"Ahem" Anna cleared her throat loud enough to wake up Elsa's peaceful slumber.
The Queen came to and first noticed that her arms where handcuffed to the headboard and then glanced down realizing that she was not wearing the nightgown she had put on before Anna had gently soothed her to sleep. A look of concern and confusion came across the young Queen's face as she noticed Anna and their cousin stand on the right and left sides of her bed.
"What's going on?" Elsa stammered out.
Anna gave Rapunzel a glance that meant go ahead.
"So, You didn't think I would notice you checking out my butt and boobs at dinner" The Coronan said in a faked angry voice while crossing her arms.
"I… um… I would never…" Elsa started but was cut off by Anna matching her cousin's tone of feigned disapproval.
"I saw you too Elsa, there is no denying it."
Elsa's eyes started to water in guilt and fear of Anna leaving her. "I'm sorry Anna."
"We are very disappointed in you Elsa. You have been a very naughty Queen." Rapunzel said.
"Are you going to leave me?" Elsa asked looking to her 'Everything' as tears started to drip from her eyes.
Anna caught herself before she gave in to the instinct to throw her arms around Elsa and tell her that it would all be ok.
"No dear sister, I am not going to leave you. However you must be punished for such actions."
"What are your intentions?" Elsa asked nervously
"Close your eyes Elsa. You going to make some noise over this, but it has to be done." Anna instructed as she delicately stroked the woman's hair and placed a light kiss to her lips.
Reluctantly the blonde shut her eyes and trembled.
Anna and Rapunzel waited for about thirty seconds so Elsa could stew in anticipation. The Queen let out a gasp as both eyes shot wide open. Nothing had ever prepared the platinum haired woman for the feeling of both nipples being gently sucked on at the same time.
….
August, 2'ND, 2015: Los Angeles, United States; Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, third sub-basement.
The service elevator's doors opened, giving Dr. Ethan Beckett a panoramic view of the room. Glancing around he could see the tanks of liquid helium coolant on the right and the processor banks of the 'hyper' computer he had designed to handle the innumerous calculations and miniscule frequency and impedance adjustments the Energon crystal necessary for a temporal vortex to form. At 100 quadrillion operations per second, it was ten times faster than any other machine on Earth.
Looking to the center of the room Dr. Beckett could see the Energon crystal nested in to a socket on a five foot podium, with the Einzel lenses of three equidistant electron guns pointed at the crystals center mass.
While Beckett's eyes informed him that everything was on track, his nose reported differently.
"Damn it Alex, it smells like a Green Day concert in here."
"Just a little toking Ethan, chill" His friend and programmer responded.
Ethan let out a sigh. "We are in a hospital; and believe it or not, being an above scale Professor in the engineering department gives you only so much clout. The last thing I want is for some overzealous security guard to stumble upon this place buy following his nose."
"Like Toucan Sam?" Alex quipped as he took another rip off of his 'Scooby Doo' shaped bong.
Ethan had to count to ten so he wouldn't strangle his friend and programmer for making such an asinine joke. "Alex, please remind me of why I keep you around." Beckett said sarcastically.
"Because I code like a god." The hippie programmer replied as he typed in the vortex parameters
"Fair enough" Ethan ceded. Alex had to invent a special programing language to run on the hyper computer, one that even Ethan couldn't decipher.
"Are we ready Alex?" The scientist asked.
"Time Space coordinates are 34.0722°N by 118.4441°W; 2:30 PM, October 21'st, 2040, and they are locked in."
"Good, Begin the sequence." Ethan ordered as he took a device around the size and shape of an old fashioned Game Boy and started to press a few buttons and a three hundred second countdown clock began.
"Hey Ethan, I don't get it. Since you need all this equipment (Alex gestured to the two billion dollars of electronics and devices) to open the vortex. How is that little box going to get you back?"
"The electron guns and hyper computer are required to make the wormhole connecting the two temporal vortices. This (Ethan waved the device in his hand) is the D.H.D. or dial home device, the crystal fits in to a cavity on the side and only requires a relatively small current to reopen the wormhole." Seeing the blank look of confusion on Alex's face Ethan realized that he would have to dumb it down a bit. "The equipment here builds the door. The D.H.D. is the key that unlocks it. Understand?"
"Not really Ethan, But hey if any is going to build a time machine Molly and I always thought it would be you."
Alex's mentioning his late wife stung a bit. Five years had not dulled the pain much.
"Ninety seconds Ethan. You want a pull off of this before you go" Alex called out holding up his bong.
"I am about to travel twenty five years in to the future Alex; so maybe a clear head is best for this."
Ethan withdrew a small case out of a cabinet and opened it, pulling out a Desert Eagle Mark XIX pistol with a laser sight mounted to the accessory rail; Along with three extra seven round clips. Checking the clip and slide Ethan pulled open his full length black leather coat and slide the fire arm in to a shoulder holster."
"WOAH! Bad vibes man" Alex exclaimed as noticed Ethan with the monstrously large hand gun.
Alex like most people was not aware of Beckett's time with the Syndicate, so seeing the man most assumed was only a scientist with a gun was a bit of a shock. Ethan had expected this reaction and tried to put the programmer at ease.
"2014 could be a utopian paradise… or it could be some Mad Max beyond Thunder Dome shit. Either way I'm going to be prepared. I can't go back and give Molly the cure for her type of cancer if some post-apocalyptic thug kills me with an axe made from a stop sign or something, now can I."
"Good point, just be careful."
A tiny purple dot of light appeared in the middle of the room and then instantly expanded to eight feet in diameter. Papers and anything not weighed down started to fly around the room as a twenty five mile an hour wind started blowing around the room.
"I guess that means it's ready." Alex commented as Ethan slide the Energon crystal out of its socket in the electron gun assembly and locked it in to the D.H.D.
DR. Beckett took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. He squared his shoulders and started forward with his head held high.
"Hey!" Alex shouted.
Ethan turned around to hear what he assumed would be words of encouragement for the first trip thru time ever performed by anyone anywhere.
"Nice coat Neo." Alex taunted Ethan while pointing at the leather trench coat that extended past his knees.
Ethan smiled and gave Alex the finger as he jumped into the vortex, the swirling cloud purple energy disappeared and Ethan was no longer in the year 2015.
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