#a friend of mine played recently and looking around their cockpit asked why there was a fan ''not blowing on anything''

[daxfarroh]

Chapter 3

“Ah, Rey. Thank you for joining me.”

Rey nearly laughed at the hilarity of this greeting, issued by the most magnificent woman in the galaxy. She would join General Leia Organa anywhere—in the fiercest of battles and in imminent death. Surely, she would meet her in this cramped corner of the Falcon for lunch.

“I’m sure you’re wondering what I’ve been doing here in my little office, all shut in for the past week,” Leia said, gesturing at a rather intimidating mess of maps and data pads. She sat down heavily with a cup of milk tea and a plate of rehydrated bread Rey had brought her. “Please, sit. Have some tea. Or something stronger—I don’t mind. God knows you probably need it.”

Rey collected her own cup of steaming tea from the galley just a few feet away and took a seat as Leia studied her with a furrowed brow. She looked horribly tired.

“I’m afraid I’ve neglected you, Rey. I know you must feel very alone.”

It was true that the just the thought of being so close to Leia every waking hour was one of the few pleasures of being packed into this ship with a dozen other souls, and it was true that Rey had seen much less of her than she’d hoped. When she wasn’t alone in her “office,” pacing back and forth, making calls and hovering over a holomap, her time was consumed with grave questions from Poe and others, asking about rations and plans and whether or not they were doomed.

“But I promise you you’re not alone,” Leia said now, placing a soft hand over Rey’s. “You are of great importance to the cause, Rey, and to me. I will train you as best I can—as soon as there is time. I can help you read the texts and make sense of all that dribble drabble.”

She winked and Rey grinned. Those texts had been nothing but a massive headache thus far. “I would like that very much. But I know your work here is more important.”

“Well, I can’t argue with that,” Leia responded, slumping a little in her seat to stare at her lap momentarily. “I’m afraid saving the Resistance has come down to food, water and a place to rest. We need to lick our wounds for a while. But once those needs are met, when we get a bit of time, we will rebuild. I’m sure of it.”

“I am, too,” Rey said. “Do you have a plan?”

“’Plan’ is a strong word.” Leia rose to her feet and turned on the holomap, summoning before them a hovering planet of swirling earthen colors. “I would call it a ‘proposal’—a proposal for charity which I’m going to make to an old friend. Have you ever been to Ryloth?”

Rey shook her head.

“Of course you haven’t, I’m sorry. My old brain,” Leia palmed her forehead in embarrassment. She then returned her attention to the spinning globe, moving her hand over it wistfully.

“Ryloth is a beautiful planet in the Outer Rim, inhabited by a fierce, freedom-loving race called the Twi’lek. On Ryloth, there are supporters of the Resistance, as many fear the First Order will soon cast its eye on them. And, on Ryloth, there is an abandoned shipyard from the Old Empire—one that still houses at least one viable battleship. But most importantly, my friend Yendor lives there. He’s retired and old, like me, but still respected in government. And he owes me a favor. … I believe he’s good for it, though I’ll admit it’s a longshot.”

“And if he can’t help us?” Rey asked.

“Well, then at least we’ll have a place to lay low for a few days and get our bearings. I don’t think B--,” she stopped herself, drawing a sharp breath. “I don’t think the First Order will come looking for us there. At least not for a while.”

A pang struck Rey as she wondered if she should share what she had learned last night. She was terrified to tell anyone about the Bond, but she wasn’t sure she could keep anything from Leia.  

“I could use some fresh air and a break from this tin can, couldn’t you?” Leia patted the rust-stained wall of the Falcon as if it were a living creature. “No offense,” she told the ship, her eyes wandering its dusty corners, seeing ghosts that Rey could not. “You know, I can feel him so clearly here. I keep catching myself outside the cockpit door, expecting to find him and Chewie inside, arguing. He sure did love flying this rusty bucket under the radar, where even I couldn’t find him. … Is it wrong to be jealous of a ship?”

Rey, all but speechless at this moment of intimacy, struggled to hold the stately woman’s raw gaze without betraying the chills that were overtaking her. “I miss him, too,” was all she could think to say.

“He is with Luke, in the Light.”

Leia sat down again, opposite Rey. For the first time, Rey saw the weight of age on her. It was the heaviest she’d ever seen, as if this woman was a thousand years old and had suffered the loss of a thousand loves. But, in truth, she had, Rey realized. Perhaps no one alive had witnessed more death. Now, here on this ship, who did she have? What planet did she call home? Leia Organa was, in fact, the loneliest person in the galaxy. And yet, still, she maintained this aura of purpose, of perpetual fortitude. What for? Rey wondered. How does she breathe, let alone lead us to yet another redemption?

“I’ll be joining them soon.”

The words wrenched Rey out of her own thoughts. “What? What do you mean?”

Leia sighed, taking time to choose her words and muster her token half smile that always padded the worst of news.

“Rey, after I was blasted out of the ship, I haven’t exactly been feeling my best.”

“I’m sure you haven’t. That was terrible. But you’re getting better. You’ve been getting stronger ever since, though I’m sure the food here isn’t doing you any favors,” Rey was spewing out sentences, delaying whatever was about to be said, because she knew she did not want to hear it. “But you’re doing better—”

“Rey,” Leia stopped her gently, taking her hand once more. “Perhaps twenty years ago I could have come out without a scratch, but let’s face it: I’m no spring chicken. The doctors told me, when I woke up, that my time is limited.”

“How limited?” Rey snatched her hand away, feeling cold. “How much time do you have left?”

Leia sighed again and, for once, appeared unsure, as if she was weighing all the consequences of telling her. After what felt like an eternity, she made her decision.

“Weeks. Maybe months, if I’m lucky.”

It was as if the Force was holding Rey in her seat, squeezing its ruthless fingers around her lungs and making her head spin. No, this wasn’t computing. This couldn’t be right. Not Leia. She was immortal.

“Rey?”

Suddenly, Rey’s senses flooded back to her all at once and the blood rushed to her legs, compelling her to leap to her feet and run from Leia without any explanation. When she returned, she was holding an ancient, leatherbound book the size of her own torso.

“I can’t really read it, but I’ve been studying some healing practices.” She opened the book to the marked page and pointed at the strange text. “If you help me, I can probably heal you.”

A smile lit up Leia’s face—the proudest, fondest smile Rey had ever received—but it didn’t reach the general’s sad eyes.

“I’m aware of the Jedi healing practices and, unfortunately, you can’t fix being old. Someday soon, you’ll be able to mend a bone with just a touch, but you can’t fix the damage I’ve endured. So many years of damage, Rey. So much living and suffering. It’s been one hell of a life, and I’m going to make sure I don’t waste a second of it.”

Leia smiled again as a tear slid down Rey’s cheek. There wasn’t a dry eye between them, but Leia had more to discuss.

“Enough of this depressing stuff. Let’s talk about the future.”

“The future?”

“Mhmm. You, my dear, are going to play a very important role in it. Are you ready?”  Rey nodded, though she was not ready for any kind of future without Leia.

“As you might have guessed, Poe is my heir apparent in this. I think we both know that it doesn’t really matter who I choose—it will be Poe just the same.”

Rey’s mouth formed a watery smirk at the thought of Poe, as she had recently come to know him. She liked to think of him as a friend. Their comradery had been immediate upon introduction. He liked calling her his “torture buddy,” since they had both survived an interrogation from Kylo Ren. Yet she also knew him to be a pilot who would fly through a sun if it got in his way. And he didn’t care much for taking orders.

“Poe has the potential to be a great leader,” Leia continued. “He takes leaps that others would consider suicide, which is how I’ve gotten this far. And he’s a bit insane. Which is why you must be his guiding light.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. You are not only, well, you, Rey, but you are also the last Jedi. You represent all who came before you and carry all of them with you. When I am gone, my soul, too, will live on inside you, because mine is the soul of a Jedi. When Poe goes astray, you must bring him back, as I would. Do you think you can do that?”

Without hesitation, because it was Leia who was asking her, Rey replied, “Yes.”

“Good. Now, call me Master Leia.”

[tgr489]

The road trip

My planned road trip has been postponed and will more than likely happen when we go to burning man now. The prospect of riding across the country a little daunting on my Daytona, mainly because of the comfort issue. Harv and I did end up on the road as it were but only to Albany, or just outside of, to pick up a new car for him, a nice beemer Z4M coupe. We left early to miss traffic and were out of the city pretty swiftly settling into a nice leisurely drive. It wasn’t long before he started grilling me about my ex-boss and the escapades from the previous weekend we’d caught up. Talked it out with how things came to pass and the what happened. He admonished me not to get involved in that situation, but I told him it was cool and that nothing serious was gonna come of it and that it was just a casual thing. He did say that he thought she was cool but not really my type and that I should’ve stayed with Sky. That wasn’t feasible for many reasons and all he could do was moan at me when I mentioned she had a boyfriend already. Told me to stop being such a playa, which I don’t think I am, not to the level he imagines anyway. All I could say was that all’s fair in love and war and everyone is fair game as far as I was concerned, although I’m starting to move away from that ethos following my recent episode. The rest of the journey was relatively non conversational and apart from my affirmations of a good track playing and him asking me to skin up we kept it fairly brief. Car journeys always seem to do that.

We arrived at the guy’s place who was selling the car, a bit of a middle aged dude who didn’t somehow suit the ride he was parting with. Someone had probably told him as much, well a good friend would’ve I’m sure. At $15k it did seem a bit too cheap for what it was, but apparently the electrics were a little fried which is why. That could be expensive to sort out but Harv didn’t seem too put off by it, so after a bit of a test drive the cash was handed over. I chanced my arm and asked if I was driving back his car, to which he gave me a stern ‘Fuck off’. It was worth a shot. His car is an amazing Holden Minaro, which I don’t think anyone has driven except him. Pretty selfish really, if it was mine I’d share it out to him. Never mind, the Beemer was still an awesome ride and I had secretly been looking forward to driving it back, I wouldn’t have come if it had been a shitter. 

I got in the car and fired it up and the first realisation was the stereo didn’t work. Oh well that’s the way it goes sometimes. I found a suitable playlist that would get me in the zone and casually pulled out of the driveway and pulled alongside Harv. ‘See you back at yours then?’ ‘Yeah. Don’t go too crazy, OK?’ Concern morphing across his face. ‘Of course. I bet you a Benjamin I beat you by an hour,’ were the last words spoken before I burned off down the street with the back end of the car snaking around. Fuck it was fun to drive and I had it sideways more than a few times on the semi quiet streets before the freeway. Was good to get that out of my system this side of the journey because it would never happen back in the city. I kept the speed to the limit for the first couple of Ks, getting used to the cruise of the car while I had a banger. That was when I realised another fault, the windows wouldn’t go back up. It wasn’t a problem to begin with but once I had the car upwards of 170kph the drumming of the wind resistance through the cockpit was painful on the eardrums and I had to have the volume of my pod up pretty high to drown it out. Either way the car was blinding fun to drive and was like a little go kart. I will get the chance to take it out again before it goes to the shop so will see about getting my GoPros on the front and on the dash to get some good footage. By the time I hit the outer city I figured I had maybe 40mins on Harv, my saving grace would be him getting caught in the slightly later traffic, because there was no way I’d make up the time with the distance I had left. I parked up at his, took a photo of the car with his building behind and sent to him, recording the time for us both. I sat in the car and had another banger then went for food.

He arrived back 4 fucking hours later! After the first hour I moved to the deli and ended up talking to 2 old geezers for about an hour, but after they went I was left looking at my phone for the remainder. No apology either when he arrived, just said he stopped for food then ran an errand. I was pissed but not convincingly. He let me into his place so I could get my bike and on the way out he paid me my winnings and thanked me for the help, giving me a bone crushing hug in the process. We agreed to catch up soon but neither of us gave dates so we’ll see.

I had the speed bug in me still and rode like a crazy man all the way home, weaving and dodging my way through the traffic and people. And right when I was turning from Mercer to Prince I got caught off guard by a familiar face in the street, so I turned to verify who I thought it was and ploughed into the side of a cab, fortunately not straight on so I was actually able to stay on the bike and ride alongside the driver’s window for a while. There was no way I was stopping because I didn’t want the woman who’d distracted me to see, and she would’ve done as she was heading in that direction, so I took off quickly and rode up Wooster the wrong way to prevent the cabbie from following, if he was. I decided to stay out and went and sat in the park. Over a banger I called Jase to see how he was doing, which was good. It’s funny how you don’t see someone for weeks and that’s all that people can boil it down to. All he told me about were his house renovations, which sounded interesting but I had no idea about half the shit he was spouting so just kept going uh huh, yep, cool. Maybe if I go to his sometime soon I’ll understand what he’s on about. Then my phone died so I went home. It was dark and I was tired. When I got in Lucy was the only one home. She confirmed to me I’d had a visitor and passed me the note she’d left. Elise was in town for the week and wanted to meet me tomorrow morning. I sent her a message saying ‘OK, where?’ Her reply of ‘the Bowery’ was fairly immediate. I softened and replied telling her I’d be there by 10. Luce asked me what was up with that so I told her all about what had been going on, my ultimatum and stuff. She asked if I was still interested in her but I didn’t know, some of me does but I can’t put the lies behind me, but I do want to. She said we should have some wine, so we did. She said if I truly loved her as much as I did I would find a way and make it work. Told her that’s what I’m trying to figure out. She said I should figure it out pretty damn quick because if she has decided to upsticks and move here and I wasn’t interested it was bang out of order, not only for her but the kid in tow. I knew she was right. I didn’t want to talk about it any more so we sat together on the couch and finished the vino watching Blades of Glory. Oh what to do…

Later Gator

[ericbarkman]

Chrono Hustle #35 I’m With Her

     Harkon Smith sat down in his chair at the end of the meeting room table.  He looked around at his top people.  “Okay, so someone claiming to be Rupert Teleros wants to have a meeting with us.  Apparently he is the head of the TDD, which is quite surprising to me.”      “Who exactly is Rupert Teleros?” Jack Masterson asked as he leaned back in his chair, and used another chair as a footrest.  “I assume he’s related to the other Teleros’ we’ve met.”      “He’s a descendent of them,” Melinda Summers said, as she brought up information about him on her computer.  “He was a great general, but also one that truly cared for the people under his command.  He had a strong moral compass, and I find it hard to believe he’d be willing to alter the timeline.”      “So, we’re thinking this isn’t really him?” the ghost of the temporal duplicate of Jack asked.  He was floating off to the side.      “I don’t know,” Harkon said.  “With what we’ve now learned about the Palore, it could be that the reason the TDD is working to alter the timeline is to figure out how to stop the Palore from doing that.”      “We’re going to go to this meeting regardless though, aren’t we?” Mary Bishop asked.  “I mean, just to figure out what’s going on?”      “Probably,” Harkon said.  “But the more we can figure out, the better prepared we can be.  Do the Palore we have in custody know anything about the TDD?”      “Not that I’ve learned so far,” Jack said.  “But I didn’t really have much time to question them what with Merlin attacking.  And we’re sure he’s stuck in that coma?”      “Sesla and Imhotep have been stuck for months,” Melinda said.  “We also need to figure out what to do about our missing agent.”      “Yes, Calvin Nichols is on my mind,” Harkon said.  “I’m going to send Tesla and ERK-147 to try and investigate that.  Jack, I want you to continue questioning the Palore.  And we still have some time until the meeting with Rupert Teleros, assuming it is him.  So in the meantime Melinda, you and Mary see what you can find out about him.”      “Understood, sir,” Melinda said.  “I would also like to bring Abigail with.  She has an interest in investigations, and I would like to see how she does.”      “That seems prudent,” Harkon said.  “I’ll be interested to hear about that as well.”      Doctor Jeri Quill was going through her daily rounds.  Imhotep, Sesla, and Merlin were all still in comas, luckily in Merlin’s case, less so in the case of the other two.  All three were otherwise in good health though.      Next up she checked through her supply inventory.  She was a bit low on a few medicines, but not out of stock on any of the ones she tried to keep a supply of.  She made a note to restock when she next visited a time period where they were available.      Mary found Abigail Esau in the cafeteria, eating a stack of pancakes while reading a tablet.  “Hello Abigail,” Mary said.      “Oh, hi Mary.”  Abigail looked up from her tablet.  “What’s up?”      “You’ll be joining me and Melinda on a mission.”      “Oh yeah?  What kind of mission?”      “We’re going to be doing an investigation of Rupert Teleros.”      “Teleros?  Any relation to Jon Teleros?”      “You know Jon Teleros?” Mary asked.      “My friend’s dad used to work with him.  And he helped save the lives of me and some friends of mine a while back…”      “But?”      “But not my friend’s dad.  He was killed.”      “I’m so sorry.”      “It’s my fault,” Abigail said.  “The only reason we were targeted was because I wasn’t as careful as I should have been, and I was looking into things that made that dangerous.”      “You shouldn’t blame yourself for what someone else did.  My father was killed, and the only person I blame is the man who did it, Tom Eastwood.”      “He’s one of the people down in the holding cells downstairs, right?”      “Yes, it’s better than he deserves, but it’s the best justice I can have.”      Jack passed by the various holding cells towards the ones where the Palore prisoners were.  Most of the prisoners ignored him, except for one.      “Hello Jack,” Aphrodite said.      “Mother,” Jack said.      “Has my message been passed on yet?  I did make a deal for that intel I gave.”      “Yes, your message has been sent out.”      “That’s excellent news.”      “I’m sure it is.  How much are we going to regret it?”      “I guess you’ll just have to wait and find out.”      “So, what’s our first move?” Abigail asked after she had followed Mary and Melinda through the time door.      “The first step is fairly easy,” Melinda said.  “We’ll have to talk with whoever would have most recently seen Rupert.”      “And that would be?” Mary asked.      “Don’t know for certain,” Melinda said.  “But his wife would probably be a decent choice.  Call Sandra Rodriguez, and see if she’s willing to fly us out to Maltork Four.”      “Does she have a new ship?” Mary asked.      “Not that I’m aware of,” Melinda said.  “Which is why we’ll be paying her by purchasing a new ship for her.”      “Set up the equipment over there,” Nikola Tesla told the agents as they unloaded it from the hovercar.      “Yes, sir,” one of them said.      “Is the building still invisible to your sensors?” Nikola asked ERK-147.      “It is,” the little bot said.      “Excellent, that means things are consistent, if nothing else,” Nikola said.  “To work!”      “Captain Rodriguez has agreed,” Mary said.  “She was rather excited after I told her how expensive of a ship we’d be getting for her.”      “Good to hear,” Melinda said.  “Did she say what kind of model she’d like?”      “Yeah, she sent me the info on it, so we can put in an order for it.”      “How long will that take for the order to come in?” Abigail asked.      Melinda looked over the tablet that Mary handed her.  “It should be ready within a few hours,” she said.  “Which is good, because I’d prefer to be on our way as soon as possible.”      Jack sat down outside the cell with the Palore in it.  “{Good day,}” Jack said in their language.  “{How are the accommodations?}”      “{They are the same as every other time you’ve asked,}” one of them said.  Her name was Arlos, and she seemed to be the leader.  “{What do you want?}”      “{Just to talk,}” Jack said.  “{I’d also be fine with talking to your associate over there, if he ever wants to speak up.}”      “{I have commanded him to be quiet, and he will not disobey me.}”      “{No problem then,}” Jack said.  “{I’ll just ask you questions.  What was your mission here?}”      “{That is none of your concern.}”      “{Considering you captured and locked me up, it kind of is.}”      “{And now we are the ones who have been captured and locked up.  But our reversal in fortune does not mean you have the upper hand.}”      “{Maybe not, but maybe.}”      “Thanks again for you’re help,” Melinda said as she sat in the second seat of the cockpit of Sandra Rodriquez’s new ship.      “In exchange for this ship?” Sandra asked.  “I feel like I’m getting the better end of the deal, even after I lost my old ship because of one of your people.”      “Even still, Maltork Four isn’t exactly the safest place to visit.”      “Eh, I’ve been there a few times, it’s not really a big deal.  I know how to handle myself in tough situations.”      “Yeah, I gather as much,” Melinda said.  “You’ve been a big help to us.”      “Well, I suppose protecting the timeline is pretty important.  Anyway, I have the course laid in and we are on our way.  Care to play a game of Jakut with me?”      “I’m not familiar with that game.”      “No worries, I’ll teach you.”      Abigail was looking through the food pantry, when she heard someone else come in.  She turned and saw it was Mary.  “You’re hungry too?” Abigail asked.      “A bit,” Mary said.  “This ship came fully loaded with food?”      “Apparently.  Probably an incentive that they do, like when you get free oil changes or whatever when you buy a car.”      “Okay?”      “Right, I sometimes forget you’re from the 1870s,” Abigail said.  “You’re so much more familiar with all this time travel stuff than I am.”      “Give it a bit of time, pardon the pun.  You’ll get used to it.  Goodness knows I’ve gotten used to a lot of things.”      “It’s definitely a learning experience.”      “So I can’t move the Tikal piece over to that spot?” Melinda asked.      “That’s right,” Sandra said.  “Because then it would be next to the Lakit piece, and they can’t be adjacent to each other.”      “Okay, I’ll move it over here instead, which I believe gets me five points.”      “Only if you can keep it their until the end of my turn, which it looks like you might be able to do, as it’s worth more to me to do other stuff than block it.”      “Happy to be back at base?” Jack asked Philip Wilson as he sat down across from him in the cafeteria.      “Yeah, just watching an empty building was getting kind of boring,” Philip said.  “Glad to leave that to the scientists now.  And I hear you’re interrogating those aliens in custody?”      “Yeah, just taking a lunch break at the moment.”      “Any progress?”      “I’m definitely learning stuff, but I’m not sure how much yet.”      “Uh huh.  So, I did get one bit of break while I was watching that building.”      “Oh yeah?”      “We hadn’t heard from base in a while, so I went to go look into it.  I wasn’t allowed back here, because of the Merlin situation I have since learned.”      “Yeah, that was an interesting series of events.”      “So, I visited the outpost in the 1940s, and I met your friend Abigail.”      “Oh yeah?”      “Yes.”      “She’s a nice girl, and pretty smart too,” Jack said.  “Should make a valuable addition to our group.”      “Does she get along with Deanna?” Philip asked.      “Mostly,” Jack said.  “I mean, she doesn’t trust Deanna, but then not many do.”      “Do you?”      “It’s complicated.”      “Maltork Four,” Melinda said as she stepped out of the ship with Mary and Abigail.      “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy,” Abigail said.  “We must be cautious.”      “Accurate,” Melinda said.      “How do we get in contact with Kathryn Teleros?” Mary asked.      “I’ve already scheduled a meeting with her,” Melinda said.  “And the walk there should give us enough time to fill you in on what you need to know.”      “Like what?” Abigail asked.      “She’s the leader of one of the three major criminal organizations on this planet, for starters,” Melinda said.      “She’s a criminal?” Mary asked.      “I mean, it’s a crime planet,” Melinda said.  “Most people are.  The criminal organizations essentially run everything, the actual government is mostly ineffective.  Kathryn is mostly a good person, but she does what she has to.”      “A lot of people use that as an excuse for a lot of things,” Mary said.      “Yeah, us included,” Melinda said.      Jack entered the gym, where Ohm was hitting away at a punching bag.  “Hey buddy,” Jack said.  “How is it going?”      “It is going good,” Ohm said.  “I feeling a bit useless lately though.”      “Your English is improving quite a bit though.”      “I have a lot of time to study and work on it.”      “Ah yeah.  I’m doing some studying myself, of a sort.”      “Oh?”      “I’ve been spending the past while questioning some of our prisoners.  This is my first break since lunch which was a while ago.”  Jack looked at his watch.  “A long while ago.”      Abigail and Mary followed Melinda into the building where they were meeting Kathryn Teleros.  Security patted them down, and took their weapons, before leading them into a meeting room.  Kathryn was already sitting at the head of the table.  Abigail, Mary and Melinda sat down, and all but one of the security guards left the room.      “So, you’ve got the meeting you wanted,” Kathryn said.  “Now who are you and what do you want?”      “My name is Melinda Cathars, and these are my assistants,” Melinda said.  “We are looking for your husband.”      “Yes, you told me your name when you set this up, along with a whole host of information on me that I have no idea how you learned.  That’s the only reason we are sitting here.  But your name tells me nothing about who you are, or why you are looking for my husband.”      “As you have no doubt determined, we are agents of a government organization,” Melinda said.      “You certainly carry yourself as such,” Kathryn said.  “Your assistants less so.”      “They’re new,” Melinda said.  “In the course of our work, we have been contacted by someone claiming to be your husband, but it seems unlikely, for a few reasons.  We are simply trying to determine whether or not we are being lied to, before we walk into a trap.”      Kathryn studied Melinda’s face, before looking at Mary and Abigail next.  “How long have you been working with Agent Cathars?” she asked Abigail.      “Not long,” Abigail said.  “Less than a month.      “And how old are you?” Kathryn asked.  “You look to be in your twenties, but the way you carry yourself, I’d guess you are a bit older.”      “I guess I’ve just experienced a lot,” Abigail said.      “No doubt,” Kathryn said, before turning back to Melinda.  “I haven’t seen my husband in over a year.  We’ve been going through some…marital troubles ever since I went to war with Bob Alverado.”      “He’s one of the other major crimelords on this planet?” Mary asked.      “Yes,” Kathryn said.  “He is also Rupert’s best friend.  Bob was the best man at our wedding, and our daughter is married to one of his sons.”      “Why are you at war with him?” Mary asked.      “The connections between our families are a matter of public record, but the reasons behind the war between Bob and myself is not, nor do I have any intention of making it so.  This meeting is over.”      “Any progress on the building?” Harkon asked as he stepped into the outpost that Nikola had set up.      “Yes, no, maybe, not really,” Nikola said.      “It’s been a few days since you set up here now,” Harkon said.      “Yes and no.  Technically we’re still setting things up.  Every sensor we set up tells us one of two things.  Either they are like ERK-147’s sensors, and detect nothing where the building should be, or they are like our senses, and pick up a building that is perfectly normal in every way.  So we are setting up more and more sensors, and looking at the differences between the ones we have set up, and are trying to determine what makes the difference, but so far there is nothing that makes any sense.”      “Well, keep at it.  We have a missing agent, and we are not going to just leave him,” Harkon said.      “Not like that agent that was taken by the TRD?” Nikola asked.  “What was her name again?”      “So, what next?” Abigail asked.  “We meet with this Bob Alverado?”      “I’ll be meeting with Alverado on my own,” Melinda said.  “I don’t expect much to come from it, but it’s worth a shot.”      “And us?” Mary asked.      “Samantha Alverado is the daughter that Kathryn mentioned.  Her husband, Rick Alverado, is the captain of a starship in the Tarkatan Space Fleet, and she is the chief science officer on that same ship.  That will be our next stop, so you two should go back to the ship and see if you can figure out where to find it.”      “Right,” Abigail said.      “{And that’s the point where I regretted asking Debbie to prom,}” Jack said.      “{Did that story have a point?}” Arlos asked.      “{You refuse to tell me anything, so I figured I’d start sharing,}” Jack said.  “{Open up a dialogue, as it were.}”      “{If you think that will get me to start talking, you are sorely mistaken.}”      “{You’re talking right now.}”      “{Just to inform you that you are wasting your time.}”      “{Maybe, but it’s my time to waste.  I mean, sort of.  Technically I’m following orders from the boss man, so you know how it is.}”      “Yes, thank you,” Abigail said as she closed the comm channel.      “Any luck?” Mary asked as she came into the room.      “Yeah, I found out what sector the ship is in.  I just made up a story about having a cousin on the ship, and luckily it’s current location isn’t classified so they were fine with letting me know.”      “Well, if we’ve already completed our task, and Melinda isn’t back yet, it seems we have a bit of free time again.”      “I suppose so.”      “Can we talk?” Mary asked.      “Sure, about what?”      “When we met, you told me about my friend, Rosalie, and how she cared about me as more than a friend.”      “Yeah, I didn’t mean to upset you with that though.”      “No, it’s…in the time period I’m from those sorts of relationships are considered very sinful.  Women with women, men with men.”      “Ah yeah, in my time they are…more accepted depending on where you’re from.  My hometown isn’t super accepting of them though.”      “Oh, are you a…a…”      “A lesbian?  No, I like guys.  I used to have a big crush on this friend of mine, Drake, but that…that didn’t exactly work out.”      “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”      “No worries, it’s in the past.”      “I’ve never really had those sort of feelings,” Mary said.  “At least not for a man.  There were plenty of men interested in me, but even with the nice ones I was never really interested in being anything more than friends with them.”      “Oh?”      “I don’t know, I’m almost starting to wonder if my feelings for Rosalie might have been similar to her feelings for me.  That’s why I panicked when you told me about them.”      “Oh, yeah, I suppose that makes sense.  Well, I’m not exactly an expert, but if you ever want any advice, feel free to ask me, and maybe I’ll even be able to help.”      Melinda sat down in front of the booth in the restaurant.  “Hello, Bob,” she said.      “Melinda,” Bob Alverado said.  “I heard you had a meeting with Kathryn earlier today, Melinda Cathars.  Last time we talked you were Melinda Larkin.”      “That identity got burned,” Melinda said.      “I’m sure.”      “How’s Riley doing?”      “My son is doing fine,” Bob said.  “So is his daughter, Chantelle.”      “That’s good.”      “But I don’t imagine that’s why you’re here, especially if you went to see Kathryn first.”      “I’m looking for Rupert Teleros.”      “I can’t help you.  I haven’t seen him since Kathryn and I have been at war.  Far as I know he just up and left.  I’d recommend you ask his one of his kids.”      “Samantha is the next person were going to check with.”      “His other kid, Jake, would probably have a better idea,” Bob said.      “I’ll keep that in mind.”      “I’m not just doing this out of the goodness of my heart.”      “I thought there might be a cost,” Melinda said.      “Stay away from Riley and Chantelle.”      “Of course.”      Dorian Winters was on duty in the time door room, when the time door activated.  He checked the computer display, and saw that they were receiving Joshua Teleros’ signal code, so he lowered the barrier, and sent a return signal through.  Shortly afterwards, Joshua Teleros came through.      “Sir,” Dorian said.  “Welcome to the base, but what are you doing here?”      “I’m here to see Agent Wilson,” Joshua said.  “He had asked me to look into something recently, and I’m here to let him know.”      “Of course,” Dorian said.  “I’ll let him know to meet you in the briefing room.”      “Do we have a location on the starship that Rick Alverado captains?” Melinda asked as she returned to the ship.      “We have the sector they are currently operating in,” Abigail said.  “Captain Rodriguez already has a course laid in, and we were just waiting on you.”      “Let’s go then,” Melinda said.      “You didn’t get anything from Bob Alverado?” Abigail asked.      “He suggested that Rupert’s other kid, Jake, might know more than Samantha about where their father is.  But we’ll still check with Samantha first, since we have a better idea where she is.”      “It’s good to see you, sir,” Philip said as he entered the briefing room where Joshua was sitting at the table, waiting.      “You too, Agent Wilson,” Joshua said.      “I take it you have something?”      “I’ve had my people keeping an eye on Deanna.  The one that you asked me to, I mean, since there’s technically two of her out there in my time.  All this time travel is pretty weird.”      “You get used to it, well, some of it.  What did your people find?”      “She’s been gathering up a number of artifacts from museums, I have a list written up for you.”      “Gathering up how?”      “As far as we’ve seen so far, it’s been legitimately, by purchasing them.  She’s fairly wealthy, which I suppose is not that hard when you’re thousands of years old.”      “Thanks for the help,” Philip said.  “I’m sure this will be useful.”      Melinda moved a game piece, and then a second one.  “Your turn.”      “I take it your meetings didn’t go well,” Sandra said as she moved a piece.      “Why do you say that?”      “You left yourself open for an attack.”  Sandra moved another piece.  “You’re new to the game, but you were doing much better earlier.”      “The meetings went fine, as far as what we’re after.  We didn’t get much, but I wasn’t sure how much we would get anyway.  But it did drudge up some old memories.”      “Bad memories?”      “Some good, some bad.”      “Ah yeah, I have a few of those situations myself.  Being constantly on the move can make it difficult to keep up relationships.”      “Yeah,” Melinda said.  “Time travel adds in even more complications.  That’s why I mostly try to avoid anything serious these days.”      “I’ll drink to that,” Sandra said.      “And that’s when Curtis’ dad was killed,” Abigail said.      “You can’t blame yourself for that,” Mary said.  “You didn’t even know what the documents were about until Jack helped you decode them.  And at the point you had to do something with them.  You couldn’t know that this shadowy organization would find out.”      “That doesn’t exactly make me feel better.”      “You’re a smart girl, and inquisitive,” Mary said.  “Those are great qualities, and it’s not your fault that this group fears people gaining knowledge.”      “Thanks, I know that, but emotions aren’t always so easily swayed by logic.”      “Well then, I’ll just have to keep complimenting you until you are swayed,” Mary said.  “You’re smart, you’re interesting, you’re kind, you’re fun, you’re beautiful.”      “I’m fun and beautiful?  Now you’re just making things up.”      “Oh come on, we’ve barely met, and already I’ve had more fun with you than anyone since…”      “Since?”      “Since Rosalie…”      “Oh?” Abigail asked.  “Oh!”      “I mean, I don’t know if…I mean, I, umm…”      “No, no, that’s fine,” Abigail said.  “And I’m flattered, and umm…”  Abigail leaned over and kissed Mary.      Mary leaned into it, but only for a few seconds, before pulling back.  “That was…that was really nice, but I thought…I thought you liked guys.”      “I mean…I do, but I don’t know.  Maybe I like girls too?  At the very least, I do like you.”      “Yeah, I like you too.”      They kissed again.      Meanwhile in another part of the ship, Sandra got out of her bed to answer a beeping on the communicator.      “What’s that?” Melinda asked from bed.      “We just dropped out of superspace, and someone is hailing us,” Sandra said as she put on a bathrobe.  “Probably, the starship we’re looking for.  You should get dressed while I answer.”      “Wait, keep those settings exactly as they are,” Nikola said as he hurried over to one of the sensor technicians.  “Let me put those settings on another sensor.”      “Why, they seem normal?” the technician said.      “You don’t see that blip?” Nikola asked.      “It’s within normal parameters.”      “Excellent, the blip is on these sensors too.  Keep them on your sensor, while I magnify them here.  Hmm, I’m not sure what this means, but there is something happening here.”      “Hello Captain Alverado,” Melinda said over the comm.      “Melinda Larkin?” Rick Alverado asked.  “My father sent me a message saying you’d be coming.”      “Can I come aboard?” Melinda asked.  “I need to talk to your wife about her father.”      “She’s leading a scientific expedition on a nearby planet, but I have talked with her,” Rick said.  “She hasn’t seen Rupert since the war between her mother and my father began.  Neither have I.”      “Would you happen to know where your brother-in-law is?”      “Jake is the captain of a small cargo ship.  He’s currently on his way to Trantor, I believe.  Probably a day or so out from there.”      “Thanks,” Melinda said, as she closed the comm channel.      “I take it we’re going to Trantor next?” Sandra asked.  “I’ll go set a course.”      “You found something?” Harkon asked as he looked up from his desk.  Nikola had just entered his office.      “Yes, I believe so,” Nikola said.  “I finally got some readings that were anomalous, so I’ve been looking into them, and they are like nothing I’ve ever seen.  Well, no, that’s not entirely true, they bear some superficial resemblance to temporal readings, but only superficial.  After looking into them some more, I believe I have a theory.”      “Yes?”      “I believe they lead to another universe.”      “Another universe?”      “I believe there is a micro-wormhole in the building, but with an area of effect that’s causing some of our sensors to not detect the building at all.  I also believe it can occasionally grow into a larger wormhole, big enough for a person to fit.”      “How occasionally?”      “Assuming the I’m right about the readings, it seems to be approximately every fifty-two hours and seven minutes.  It then stays open for only two minutes and three seconds.”      “Hmm, good to know.”      “Have you seen Mary and Abigail?” Melinda asked as she entered the cockpit.  “I haven’t seen them in a while.”      “Probably just in their quarters,” Sandra said.  “We should be dropping out of superspace soon.  I’ll contact the port authorities when we arrive and find out if Jake Teleros’ ship has arrived yet.”      “So,” Abigail said.  “Making out is fun and all, but there’s other things we could do as well.”      “Oh, umm, I’m not sure if I’m ready to take things farther than that,” Mary said.  “I mean, I was brought up to save myself for marriage.”      “Oh, okay, yeah, no worries.  I don’t want to pressure you into going further than you feel comfortable with.  We can definitely wait.”      “I mean, I don’t know if we’ll be needing to wait for marriage, or whatever.  I mean, I never really considered getting married to a woman.”      “My neither.  I mean, to be perfectly honest I never really thought about getting married.  I mean, I was okay with getting married if I was with someone that wanted to, but it’s not like it’s a big deal to me.”      “I mean, I never really gave it too much thought either.  Like I said before, I’ve never been interested in men, and never realized that being interested in women was an option, until I started time travelling.”      “Yeah, time travel certainly changes your perspective on things,” Abigail said.      “What kind of things has your perspective changed on?”      “Well, for one it’s nice to know that Human civilization is still around in the year three thousand.  I was kind of worried after the clusterfuck that was 2016.  Celebrities dying left and right, an alien invasion, and Donald Trump almost became President of the United States.  I mean, I would have preferred Hillary Clinton over Jargos Gordon, but better him than Trump.”      “I don’t know who any of those people are.”      “Sorry, don’t worry about it.  Let’s just get back to making out.”      “I like that plan.”      “Good news,” Sandra said.  “Jake’s ship is currently on the planet.  I’ve set up a meeting with him.”      “That’s great,” Melinda said.  “When is it?”      “In an hour.”      “Any luck so far?” Harkon asked as Jack entered his office.      “I’m slowly getting the Palore to talk more, but nothing really relevant yet,” Jack said.  “They don’t seem familiar with the name Rupert Teleros though, although they seem at least somewhat aware of the TDD.”      “Well, that’s something, I suppose.”      “You must be Jake Teleros,” Melinda said as she and Sandra sat down with him at the cafe.      “That would be me,” he said.  “Which of you is Captain Rodriguez?”      “That would be me,” Sandra said.  “This is my friend, Melinda.  She’s the one that wants to talk with you.”      “Oh yeah, what about?” Jake asked.      “Your father, Rupert,” Melinda said.  “The organization I’m a part of recently got a message claiming to be from him, and we’re trying to figure out if it’s really from him.”      “It seems unlikely,” Jake said.      “Why’s that?” Melinda asked.  “Do you know where he is?”      “I do, but I’m not going to tell you where that is,” Jake said.      “Or when that is?” Melinda asked.      “When that is?” Jake asked.  “Maybe the message you got is from him, if that’s a question you’d know to ask.”      “So, he is involved in time travel then,” Melinda said.  “When did you last speak to him?”      “A while back,” Jake said.  “There were regular message for a while, and then they just stopped.  You know, I’ve heard about you before, Captain Rodriguez.”      “Oh yeah?” Sandra asked.      “Yeah, you had been missing for a while, and I had managed to pick up a few new clients that usually went with you,” Jake said.  “That was around the time I lost contact with my dad.”      “Huh, weird coincidence,” Sandra said.      “So, how goes things?” Ghost Jack asked as he floated down into a chair across from Jack in the cafeteria.      “Oh, you know, keeping on keeping on,” Jack said.  “What’ve you been up to for the last while?”      “Keeping Sesla up to date on things, mostly,” Ghost Jack said.  “I’ve also been continuing to try and find Imhotep within his dreams, but that’s still turned up nothing.”      “That’s weird, right?”      “Very weird.  I’ve done some experimenting with other people’s dreams, with their permission of course, and no problems there.  It’s just Imhotep that I can’t find.”      “But he’s having dreams, which means there’s still someone there to dream.”      “Yeah, that would be my understanding of the situation.”      “How’d the meeting go?” Mary asked as Melinda and Sandra returned to the ship.      “Good, it went good,” Melinda said.  “Where have you girls been?”      “We were…” Abigail started saying.      “Around, just talking and such,” Mary interrupted.  “Did you learn anything?”      “We still can’t say anything is guaranteed, but it seems likely that Rupert Teleros may be the one who actually contacted us,” Melinda said.  “And if not, we’ve likely learned as much as we can without taking the meeting.”      “So that’s what we’re going to do?” Abigail asked.      “It’s up to Harkon, but I’d imagine so,” Melinda said.  “I’d imagine so.” To be continued…