Chapter 2
Ralph Hinkley was back at work as the Hero League / Ruby Corporation Education Director. It had been two weeks since his return from his tours of the Central and South American schools as the principal. The school tours were a success, except for the large green guy attack on the school in Brazil and Ralph almost dying but was saved at the last second by the little green guys.
A young Hero technician ran into Ralph Hinkley's office and exclaimed, "Sir, you have to come to the quantum generator building; something has happened to Ms. Hinkley!"
Ralph jumped up and shouted, "What has happened? Is it the baby? Is It coming?"
The tech said, "No, it isn't the baby; just come. Mr. Thornton can tell you."
Ralph ran at super speed to the quantum generator building. When he got there, he didn't see Pam anywhere. He shouted, "Where is Pam? What has happened?"
Eric explained, "Ralph, there has been an accident while the scientists were attempting to create a transverse timeline portal; Pam got pulled in."
Ralph shouted, "What are you talking about? She got pulled into what? Where is she? What has happened to her?"
Arnold Burns stood up to explain what happened. "Somehow, Ms. Hinkley entered the building and walked by the transverse portal columns. We were all concentrating on the control panels and didn't see her. When the portal was opened, she was pulled in, and then one of the circuit boards blew, and the portal collapsed, and she was gone."
Ralph became furious, and his anger grew to a dangerous level. He grabbed Arnold, who was not wearing his super red suit, by his shirt, pulled him up off the ground with his face one inch from Arnold's, and yelled, "You had better tell me where she is right now or…"
Eric grabbed Ralph's arm, pulled it down with both arms, and shouted, "Ralph, Ralph, he is trying to tell you! Calm down." Ralph put Arnold down, turned away, lowered his head, closed his eyes, and took deep breaths.
When he had calmed himself a little, he turned back and asked, "Where is she?" with a determined tone.
Arnold shakily said, "We don't know. We are working on it."
Ralph shouted, getting angry again, "You don't know? You don't know? Well, why don't you know? Why was she here to begin with? What are you people doing?" His voice became more hysterical and agitated with each question.
Eric calmly said, "Ralph, calm down. Here, Emily recorded most of what happened. We all concentrated on the computer screens and didn't see Pam enter the building."
Eric put his hand on Suit's sleeve, and Emily, Eric's suit, transmitted the recording of Pam entering the building and proceeding between the two transverse portal columns; the toroids started sparking, Pam turned to look at them, and the portal opened, then she was pulled into the portal. The circuit board blew up, the portal collapsed, and Pam was gone. It all happened quickly.
Ralph fell back onto a chair and put his head down with his hands over his eyes, with tears welling, saying, "She can't be gone. She can't be gone."
Eric took Ralph by the shoulders and stood him up. He said to the science team over his shoulder as they walked away. "We will be in my office; call when you have something."
Arnold stood there shaking and said, "I thought I was going to die; the look in his eyes was …"
He trailed off as one of the other technicians said, "Yeah, we all know what can happen if the First gets angry, especially when it concerns his wife." All the others nodded, and some techs patted Arnold on the back, understanding. All the scientists and techs remembered that Ralph Hinkley when he thought Pam had been raped, had destroyed the Madagascar pirate camp and would have killed everyone there if it hadn't been for Suit holding back Ralph's hits and throws. No one would dare do anything to Pam Hinkley without suffering the wrath of Ralph Hinkley, the First.
Ralph was a walking zombie in a state of shock. As they walked toward Eric's office, Ralph kept saying, "Pam can't be dead. Pam can't be dead. I'll get Bill to search on the other side. If he can't find her, then she isn't dead. Where can she be? Eric, where can she be?" He grabbed Eric's arm, and Eric pulled Ralph's hand from his arm. If Eric hadn't been wearing Emily, his arm would probably have been broken.
When they got to Eric's office, Ralph started pacing back and forth, running his hands through his hair, wringing his hands together, and mumbling to himself. Eric felt terrible for Ralph, knowing what he was going through, having gone through something similar when Emily Perkins, his partner, died.