Organization: Penn State University Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1993 12:23:48 EDT From: Marshall Ryan Maresca Message-Id: <93203.122348MRM122@psuvm.psu.edu> Newsgroups: alt.ql.creative Subject: Timestorm, Part 3 Lines: 149 TIMESTORM Part Three "Admiral!" shouted Gooshie, "The readings just jumped again!" "What happened?" asked Al, running over to the console. "I think the 'TimeNapper' just grabbed another leaper. Between that and the energy field he has set up, we have quite a disturbance happening there." "What does that mean?" "I don't know, Admiral. Sam's leap with Alia was the only other thing I've seen that came even close to this. If this guy brings in anyone else, I have no idea what's going to happen." "Get Dr. Fuller on it, Gooshie. Ziggy, what do you have on that area for that time?" "It has been surprisingly difficult to find information on it. So far, I've found an owner name for the property and articles on a string of disappearances in the area in the month preceeding the date in question." "Disappearances?" asked Al. "It is likely that the person in question kidnapped people to be host bodies, Admiral." "OK, what was that name?" "Lawrence Thorton. I am continuing to seek more information and should have more for you in 3.2 hours." "Thanks, Ziggy. Give me a yell when you've got more." "What are you going to do, Admiral?" asked Gooshie. "The only thing I can," said Al, "Wait." *************** "Beckett! How did you do this to me?" screamed Zoey, pulling at her bonds. "You time travellers certainly have your own little circle," said Thorton. "Zoey! I didn't do this! It was done to me as well!" "And YOU," Zoey said to Alia, who had now woken up and was trying to get behind Sam, "When I get out of this chair I will break your neck with my bare hands!" "Not if I can help it," said Sam. "Ever the protecter, Doctor Beckett?" said Zoey, "Even when chained up?" "Will you all just shut up?" said Thorton, "I didn't do this to listen to some cross-time melodrama!" "And who the hell are you, you disgusting rodent?" "Ooh, a little spunk, I see. I am the one who brought you here, my dear girl, so be respectful." "How did you do that? What year is this?" "It's late eighties," said Sam, "Eighty-eight or eighty- nine." "How did you know that?" asked Thorton. "Common sense," said Sam, "You said you picked up our leap in Mallard in '87, so I figured it wasn't too much later than that." "Very clever, Doctor." "I should have killed you both there," said Zoey, "You should be dead, Alia." "Fate protects fools, children and heroes, Zoey," said Alia. "You? A hero? Hardly, Alia. A fool, perhaps, but you're no hero." "What wonderful, catty people you are," said Thorton, "There should be a time police or something to keep you in your own present." At that, both Zoey and Alia were strangely silent. *************** "What've you got for me, Ziggy?" asked Al. "Various pieces of possibly important information, Admiral. Lawrence Thorton was a computer science student who worked as a programmer for the CIA until 1984, when he was dismissed for mental unstability and paranoid delusion. He moved to his family home, where he stayed hidden until January 17th, 1989, when the house was destroyed in an explosion. Thorton and six others were found dead. Those six were assumed to be the same people who had disappeared in the previous months, but definite identification was never made. The case was shut by the Federal investigators before local authorities had much chance to investigate the situation. In addition..." Ziggy paused. "What?" "I've correlated the data they used to attempt to identify the bodies. I've confirmed with 99.4% accuracy that Doctor Beckett is one of the bodies." Al was silent for a minute. "What is at the site now?" "Nothing. The property remained unbought, due to superstitions concerning the explosion as well as... supernatural sightings." "Ziggy!" "Admiral, I am merely relating the information I have correlated." "OK," said Al, rubbing his hands on his temples, "Gooshie, I want you to connect yourself to the imaging chamber. I don't care if you black out the west coast, but get in touch with Sam." "Where are you going, Admiral?" asked Gooshie. "Maine!" said Al, and he stormed out of the control room. *************** "In afterthought," said Thorton as he carried Zoey's limp form to the wall, "I should have made more than one chair. But hindsight is 20/20." With her tied up, he brought another victim out to the chair. "How many people did you kidnap for this?" asked Sam. "Oh, quite a few, quite a few, Doctor Beckett. I needed enough to get a good amount of time travellers, if not all the ones out there." "Why are you doing this?" "Isn't it obvious, Doctor? I want you people to stop mucking about in the past. With my Time Trap here, I can grab you in and prevent you from doing further damage. At the very least, a few more of you grabbed out of the time stream will be enough to make your friends in the future think twice!" For the third since he arrived in this nightmare, Sam felt that awful machine come to life again, but this new leaper was no one Sam new, which made him glad. He looked to Alia, who showed a glint of recognition at the newcomer, but no other reaction. Odds are, then, Sam thought, he isn't someone from HER old project. The newcomer, a young man with short, dark hair, looked around the room, and when he saw Sam, his jaw dropped. "Doctor Samuel Beckett!" he said with pure astonishment, "Oh boy!" *************** "Verbena, this isn't good," said Gooshie, "Our readings just got another jump. With each leaper brought to that time and place, the energy readings go up almost logarithmicly!" "What does that mean?" "I'm not sure. I'm not that good with temporal mechanics!" Gooshie said. Verbena gave an inward smile. Gooshie was one of the top ten minds in temporal mechanics in the world, but truly excelled in bio-electronics (hence, programming Ziggy). But he always compared himself to Sam, so in his mind, he was "not that good". "What do you think, though?" "If the disturbance grows anymore, perhaps one or two more leapers brought in, the temporal reverberations could be felt for decades in both directions. Maybe centuries." "You mean..." she left it hanging. "A Timestorm. One of immense proportions." To be continued... Marshall Ryan Maresca