Almost there.....nope, can't do it
I couldn't do it tonight. I almost made it to equal Jen's wordcount but now I can't stay awake anymore. So I give up for now, I'll try again in the morning. Besides, I've got to sleep on what's going to happen next exactly.
There was a clacking noise getting closer. Gen tensed a bit as the noise of an underground train ran by. "That was awful close. I hope they don't come through this tunnel."
"Jim said they built some of these tunnels and hid the entrances," Kit said around a mouthful.
"We've got something." The two of them looked up to see Jim poking his head around the corner from a conjoining room off the side of the tunnel. They cleaned up their lunch quick and followed him into the makeshift lab. Adrian was working quickly on finishing up the schematic in the computer. "It's almost uploaded into the computer, then we can figure out what it is."
"The blue print of the machine that was in the notebook," Gen asked. "I saw it before the time wave changed everything." Adrian was tapping a few keys before he finished. The computer was cycling through different simulations and schematics, trying to match it to something. "We have to be quick, before anyone figures out we're tapping the intranet," Jim explained. "If we don't find out anything in five minutes, we've got to back out."
"We've got a hit," Adrian tapped the old keyboard, enlarging the results. The four heads crowded around the screen. "What are we looking at," Gen asked, hoping she didn't sound too dumb by not being able to understand what was on the screen. The two scientists were muttering back and forth to each other, testing and rejecting theories.
"Couldn't be that he actually found a way to..."
"If this piece here cancels out the positron flow..."
"But he'd have to compensate with..."
It finally hit Jim all at once. "Of course...oh, the man's a genius. Absolutely crazy, but still...genius." He pointed to the large circle of metal at one side of the picture. Gen remembered seeing it on the floor of the demolished tattoo parlor back in her own time. "This part is the cosmic charger. He'd need it for a machine this complex to power enough energy into it." His finger traced along the cables to the door shaped object at the other side of the machine. "These connect it to a doorway that is charged a certain way. With enough power, and if the computer's simulations are correct, it opens up a portal through time. I presume the calculations for how to get to a certain time are controlled from here." There was a computer console at one side of the doorway.
"So, he could just step through into any time?" Kit asked.
"But he didn't," Gen remembered. "I found him there when the machine powered down."
"He wouldn't have made it anyway," Adrian said, looking through the equations the computer was coughing up. "No person could survive that big of an influx of energy. He would have known that too."
"So, it's the Enforcers. He must have sent one of them through time," Jim leaned back in his chair. "Or more."
It was starting to add up. "Ok, I think I've got a handle on this," Gen said, starting to pace without realizing it. "According to his journal, his experiments on me were, in his words, a 'disaster' that he learned from to create a time portal of sorts. He says that he thinks he can change his own destiny. He never did like working as a teacher. So he sends his mind controlled minions, what you call Enforcers, through the portal to change...something..." Kit was starting to get it too. "And when you find your way back, if one believes that time is linear, the time wave comes through from the point of the change, rewriting history in it's wake." Gen nodded, "That all fits. And somehow, it worked for him. Now he's created this whole world from the things that he changed in the past."
"And killed off most of the human race in the process," Adrian scowled bitterly. He's right, Gen thought, getting angry too. "How could he have gone so bad, so fast?" she asked aloud.
"That's not the question," Jim stood up from his chair. "The question is, what are you going to do about it?" He was looking at Gen. It took a second to realize that he was talking right at her. "Me?" Gen was confused. "What do you mean?"
"Yes, what are you on about," Adrian asked, a confused look on his face. "You said that you have the ability to travel through time. You're the only one who could fix it." That really threw Gen for a loop. "But...no, I mean...I'm not sure how it happened..."
Jim cut her off. "Look, we're scientists to be sure, but with our rag-tag group, we can't built anything that complex," he pointed at the screen at the time portal. "At least we couldn't without being discovered. And if the Underground Scientists fall, that's the end of the resistance. With Truax controlling everything in the city, including his mind control technology, we haven't got any advantage over him." He put a hand on her shoulder. "But you do. And if we help you, so will we."
"You want me to go back in time and..." Gen was a bit overwhelmed with all of this. "We don't even know what he did. And there isn't any street signs in the time vortex for what year is where. I had to guess just to get back to my own time."
"Well, if it isn't fixed, this will be your own time. Is that what you really want?" Jim asked. Gen sighed. "No." This was bigger a situation than she ever thought she would be caught up in. But there was no way that Truax could win like that. All those people he'd killed. It was a fantastic idea, but Jim was right. If she could reverse what Truax had sabotaged, then everyone would be alive again. Including herself, she thought, looking at Adrian's hopeful eyes. She knew what he was thinking. Poor guy, if he only knew the truth... Gen resolved not to tell him. It was better for him that way. "Ok, but like I said, I still don't know how it all happens."
"We'll help you as much as we can," Jim said. "And you're pretty creative under pressure. You proved that with that escape attempt. I'm saying that you're pretty much the only person who could attempt this sort of thing. All of the other quatrixes are under Truax's control. You're the only one that still has control over her own mind." Gen nodded, understanding. "Hey," Adrian had gone back to the computer while they were talking and was motioning them over. "I found something."
Jim was concerned. "You should be getting off soon, they'll trace it back to us, even with your elaborate viruses."
"I will, but look at this. I was able to hack a confidential file in Truax's own computer. It had the word quatrix highlighted in it." Adrian brought it up on the screen. Jim scanned it quickly and found the part Adrian was looking at. "It's part of Truax's own notes about creating a quatrix and their genetic makeup. He references the fact that their DNA is made up of a plasma-like quality. Not quite liquid and not quite solid. This explains their ability to change phase back and forth."
"What's this," Kit came in from the side and pointed to a paragraph. "This part about humans. I thought quatrixes were grown." Jim looked at him sadly. "That's what they told you. I'm afraid most quatrixes were once people, like Gen. People who opposed Truax and his ideas. It's just another way for him to stay on top." Kit put a hand over his mouth, realizing the extent of the monster he had been supporting. "That's horrible," he said. "Those poor people...and I did nothing."
"You didn't know, kid," Jim reassured him and then returned to conferring with Adrian, who was logging off and working on running his own simulation. Gen sidled over to Kit. "You ok?" she asked. "No," he hung his head. "All this time I thought they...you...were nothing but a machine that looked like a human. It was really the other way around." He looked at her, "I'm really sorry, Gen."
Gen smiled and gave him a one arm hug. "No worries, you've saved my life. We'll call it even."
A red light started flashing on the side of the wall. Gen was the only one to see it at first. "What's that?" she asked. Jim and Adrian looked up and each turned a different shade of pale. "It's a raid, they've found us." Adrian quickly started pulling plugs out of everything that could be traced on the computer while Jim ran over to the side and pulled out a crude but mean looking weapon that resembled an elongated shotgun. "Raid?" Gen said, worried. "Enforcer Raid. We usually get more of an advance warning, but this must be a big one if it's already Condition Red. Adrian, we've got to go!"
"Just a sec," he was finishing as fast as he could. "We can't let them get the harddrive." He was pulling it out to take along with them. Gen grabbed the notebook from the side of the table and the four of them took off running through the tunnels. Soon after they left, the tunnel was overrun with Enforcers, hot on their trail. Gen still wasn't feeling 100% better, but she could keep up well enough with the three guys. They sloshed through the wet tunnels, going through one junction after another. "If a subway comes by, flatten out against the wall and hold your breath as long as you can," Jim said, covering them from behind. "It's the only way to survive being that close to the antigrav jets."
"We can't outrun them," Kit said, puffing along with them. He wasn't used to all this activity. "What, being an assistant in a posh lab has made you soft, Kit," Adrian goaded him to keep him running. "Maybe we can lose them eventually," Gen said with optimisim. "They've never been this aggressive before," Adrian said, still clutching the harddrive and listening for oncoming trains. "It's probably because we rescued her," Jim said, covering their escape with his makeshift weapon. "I'll bet that Truax figured out that it was a mistake to let her go that easy."
"They're coming for me," Gen said, startled. "Oh, great! Well, how about I go one way and you guys go the other, then they won't find you."
"No!" Adrian protested and screeched to a stop. "It was just a suggestion," Gen said but then realized he wasn't saying no to her. They had just come to a dead end. "Oh dear...trapped again," she said. Looking back, she could hear the sloshing of footsteps far down the tunnel coming their way. Jim was aiming the barrel of his weapon down the tunnel, ready to shoot the first Enforcer he laid eyes on. "what do we do now?" Gen asked. "You've got to go," Jim said. "Me go? Go where?" Where was she going to go to. "Our future is nothing unless we fix what Truax messed up. You've got to try and jump out of this time and go do that."
"What, now?!" Gen was incredulous. "I don't know how!" The tramping was getting closer. It sounded like a army of thousands as the footsteps echoed off the walls. Adrian grabbed Gen by the shoulders. "You've got his notebook and I didn't get a chance to say but if you can change phase with yourself, I believe you should be able to change phase with time." Gen shook her head, not understanding yet. "He named you quatrix. Qua-, that's a suffix meaning four. Four dimensional matrix! That's what he meant even though he never told anyone." Gen couldn't believe they wanted her to go off and leave them there. "What about you guys? I can't leave you to fight a whole army of Enforcers alone!"
"If you fix time, we'll be alive again," said Adrian. Gen finished the sentence he hadn't said. "And so will your Gen, is that it?" Adrian wavered a bit but resolved his decision. "Just try to go, go now," he pushed her towards the blank wall and picked up a thick pipe from under the water. He walked over to stand with Jim. I guess that's what courage looks like, Gen realized. In a split decision, she ran up to Adrian and grabbed his lapels. "For luck," she said and kissed him. He smiled once she released him and said, "Thank you." Gen smiled back and went to return to the wall. It was then that she saw Kit was standing with the other two men, willing to fight. She tousled his hair, "Go get 'em kiddo." He nodded, feeling like for once in his life he was on the right team. "Here they come!" Jim let loose with his ray gun, taking out two of the Enforcers that came around the corner. Gen winced at the noise that was being unleased by the battle, but tried to concentrate. She had to try and phase through the wall, but somehow do it so that it phased through time instead of space. She put her hands against the wall and tried to think about what had happened the last time she had jumped through time. Both times she had been falling from a building, but she didn't have that luxury. Could it be the adrenaline rush of falling? Sparks flew over her head and she ducked a falling beam. No, she had plenty of that, her heart was about to pound it's way out of her chest. A sparking wire fell down at her side. It triggered a memory of before she jumped from the NY tower in 1965. She'd charged up first. Gen grabbed the sparking cable with both hands. The electricity shot through her like a rocket. She looked back for a second, seeing Jim getting shot down and Adrian running to pick up the gun he'd dropped. It fueled Gen's resolve and she soaked up electricity faster than she'd ever done before. She felt like she could light up the city on her own when she let go. As she placed her hand against the wall and slid it down, her hand was opening a rift in the wall. Inside the rift was a swirling mass of blue, the same that the time vortex was made of. "I did it!" Gen yelled happily and turned to find an Enforcer leveling his weapon at her. Gen leapt for all she was worth and disappeared into the time vortex. The rift closed behind her and sealed itself shut. The Enforcer's shot bounced off the solid concrete wall.
The Enforcers stood around, as if unsure what to do. The three scientists lay at their feet, unnoticed now that they were dead. The leader had an extra attachment to his helmet, a small camera that saw what he saw. Back at the main tower, Truax was beating the daylights out of his desk with his fist. "No, no, no!!" he yelled at the screen as if it would make a difference. "You bungling, mindless, creatures! How could you let her escape?!" He grabbed a chair and threw it through a decorative pane of glass. His secretary ducked and ran for cover as far away as she could. Truax's anger was slightly appeased by the broken glass but he scowled at the picture of a blank wall on the screen. "Return to headquarters," he ordered the squadron. "I'll have to work on how this mess is going to be sorted out. That little school brat is not going to upset this world that I've made just like that." Furiously, he grabbed his computer writing pad and began sketching out his plan. It was going to take some time, but fortunately, he thought with a smile, time was on his side.
Gen was sliding back into the familiar blue plasma filled bubble that surrounded the time stream she was leaving. She almost felt like she'd never left. It wasn't as strange or shocking anymore, more like she was a part of this somehow. The thought of what had happened to her friends weighed heavily on her heart and a couple of tears threatened to spill down her cheeks. But she brushed them aside, thinking instead of how she could save them. It seemed like an impossible task, but she didn't know it wouldn't work till she tried it. Anything was better than Truax World.
There was a clacking noise getting closer. Gen tensed a bit as the noise of an underground train ran by. "That was awful close. I hope they don't come through this tunnel."
"Jim said they built some of these tunnels and hid the entrances," Kit said around a mouthful.
"We've got something." The two of them looked up to see Jim poking his head around the corner from a conjoining room off the side of the tunnel. They cleaned up their lunch quick and followed him into the makeshift lab. Adrian was working quickly on finishing up the schematic in the computer. "It's almost uploaded into the computer, then we can figure out what it is."
"The blue print of the machine that was in the notebook," Gen asked. "I saw it before the time wave changed everything." Adrian was tapping a few keys before he finished. The computer was cycling through different simulations and schematics, trying to match it to something. "We have to be quick, before anyone figures out we're tapping the intranet," Jim explained. "If we don't find out anything in five minutes, we've got to back out."
"We've got a hit," Adrian tapped the old keyboard, enlarging the results. The four heads crowded around the screen. "What are we looking at," Gen asked, hoping she didn't sound too dumb by not being able to understand what was on the screen. The two scientists were muttering back and forth to each other, testing and rejecting theories.
"Couldn't be that he actually found a way to..."
"If this piece here cancels out the positron flow..."
"But he'd have to compensate with..."
It finally hit Jim all at once. "Of course...oh, the man's a genius. Absolutely crazy, but still...genius." He pointed to the large circle of metal at one side of the picture. Gen remembered seeing it on the floor of the demolished tattoo parlor back in her own time. "This part is the cosmic charger. He'd need it for a machine this complex to power enough energy into it." His finger traced along the cables to the door shaped object at the other side of the machine. "These connect it to a doorway that is charged a certain way. With enough power, and if the computer's simulations are correct, it opens up a portal through time. I presume the calculations for how to get to a certain time are controlled from here." There was a computer console at one side of the doorway.
"So, he could just step through into any time?" Kit asked.
"But he didn't," Gen remembered. "I found him there when the machine powered down."
"He wouldn't have made it anyway," Adrian said, looking through the equations the computer was coughing up. "No person could survive that big of an influx of energy. He would have known that too."
"So, it's the Enforcers. He must have sent one of them through time," Jim leaned back in his chair. "Or more."
It was starting to add up. "Ok, I think I've got a handle on this," Gen said, starting to pace without realizing it. "According to his journal, his experiments on me were, in his words, a 'disaster' that he learned from to create a time portal of sorts. He says that he thinks he can change his own destiny. He never did like working as a teacher. So he sends his mind controlled minions, what you call Enforcers, through the portal to change...something..." Kit was starting to get it too. "And when you find your way back, if one believes that time is linear, the time wave comes through from the point of the change, rewriting history in it's wake." Gen nodded, "That all fits. And somehow, it worked for him. Now he's created this whole world from the things that he changed in the past."
"And killed off most of the human race in the process," Adrian scowled bitterly. He's right, Gen thought, getting angry too. "How could he have gone so bad, so fast?" she asked aloud.
"That's not the question," Jim stood up from his chair. "The question is, what are you going to do about it?" He was looking at Gen. It took a second to realize that he was talking right at her. "Me?" Gen was confused. "What do you mean?"
"Yes, what are you on about," Adrian asked, a confused look on his face. "You said that you have the ability to travel through time. You're the only one who could fix it." That really threw Gen for a loop. "But...no, I mean...I'm not sure how it happened..."
Jim cut her off. "Look, we're scientists to be sure, but with our rag-tag group, we can't built anything that complex," he pointed at the screen at the time portal. "At least we couldn't without being discovered. And if the Underground Scientists fall, that's the end of the resistance. With Truax controlling everything in the city, including his mind control technology, we haven't got any advantage over him." He put a hand on her shoulder. "But you do. And if we help you, so will we."
"You want me to go back in time and..." Gen was a bit overwhelmed with all of this. "We don't even know what he did. And there isn't any street signs in the time vortex for what year is where. I had to guess just to get back to my own time."
"Well, if it isn't fixed, this will be your own time. Is that what you really want?" Jim asked. Gen sighed. "No." This was bigger a situation than she ever thought she would be caught up in. But there was no way that Truax could win like that. All those people he'd killed. It was a fantastic idea, but Jim was right. If she could reverse what Truax had sabotaged, then everyone would be alive again. Including herself, she thought, looking at Adrian's hopeful eyes. She knew what he was thinking. Poor guy, if he only knew the truth... Gen resolved not to tell him. It was better for him that way. "Ok, but like I said, I still don't know how it all happens."
"We'll help you as much as we can," Jim said. "And you're pretty creative under pressure. You proved that with that escape attempt. I'm saying that you're pretty much the only person who could attempt this sort of thing. All of the other quatrixes are under Truax's control. You're the only one that still has control over her own mind." Gen nodded, understanding. "Hey," Adrian had gone back to the computer while they were talking and was motioning them over. "I found something."
Jim was concerned. "You should be getting off soon, they'll trace it back to us, even with your elaborate viruses."
"I will, but look at this. I was able to hack a confidential file in Truax's own computer. It had the word quatrix highlighted in it." Adrian brought it up on the screen. Jim scanned it quickly and found the part Adrian was looking at. "It's part of Truax's own notes about creating a quatrix and their genetic makeup. He references the fact that their DNA is made up of a plasma-like quality. Not quite liquid and not quite solid. This explains their ability to change phase back and forth."
"What's this," Kit came in from the side and pointed to a paragraph. "This part about humans. I thought quatrixes were grown." Jim looked at him sadly. "That's what they told you. I'm afraid most quatrixes were once people, like Gen. People who opposed Truax and his ideas. It's just another way for him to stay on top." Kit put a hand over his mouth, realizing the extent of the monster he had been supporting. "That's horrible," he said. "Those poor people...and I did nothing."
"You didn't know, kid," Jim reassured him and then returned to conferring with Adrian, who was logging off and working on running his own simulation. Gen sidled over to Kit. "You ok?" she asked. "No," he hung his head. "All this time I thought they...you...were nothing but a machine that looked like a human. It was really the other way around." He looked at her, "I'm really sorry, Gen."
Gen smiled and gave him a one arm hug. "No worries, you've saved my life. We'll call it even."
A red light started flashing on the side of the wall. Gen was the only one to see it at first. "What's that?" she asked. Jim and Adrian looked up and each turned a different shade of pale. "It's a raid, they've found us." Adrian quickly started pulling plugs out of everything that could be traced on the computer while Jim ran over to the side and pulled out a crude but mean looking weapon that resembled an elongated shotgun. "Raid?" Gen said, worried. "Enforcer Raid. We usually get more of an advance warning, but this must be a big one if it's already Condition Red. Adrian, we've got to go!"
"Just a sec," he was finishing as fast as he could. "We can't let them get the harddrive." He was pulling it out to take along with them. Gen grabbed the notebook from the side of the table and the four of them took off running through the tunnels. Soon after they left, the tunnel was overrun with Enforcers, hot on their trail. Gen still wasn't feeling 100% better, but she could keep up well enough with the three guys. They sloshed through the wet tunnels, going through one junction after another. "If a subway comes by, flatten out against the wall and hold your breath as long as you can," Jim said, covering them from behind. "It's the only way to survive being that close to the antigrav jets."
"We can't outrun them," Kit said, puffing along with them. He wasn't used to all this activity. "What, being an assistant in a posh lab has made you soft, Kit," Adrian goaded him to keep him running. "Maybe we can lose them eventually," Gen said with optimisim. "They've never been this aggressive before," Adrian said, still clutching the harddrive and listening for oncoming trains. "It's probably because we rescued her," Jim said, covering their escape with his makeshift weapon. "I'll bet that Truax figured out that it was a mistake to let her go that easy."
"They're coming for me," Gen said, startled. "Oh, great! Well, how about I go one way and you guys go the other, then they won't find you."
"No!" Adrian protested and screeched to a stop. "It was just a suggestion," Gen said but then realized he wasn't saying no to her. They had just come to a dead end. "Oh dear...trapped again," she said. Looking back, she could hear the sloshing of footsteps far down the tunnel coming their way. Jim was aiming the barrel of his weapon down the tunnel, ready to shoot the first Enforcer he laid eyes on. "what do we do now?" Gen asked. "You've got to go," Jim said. "Me go? Go where?" Where was she going to go to. "Our future is nothing unless we fix what Truax messed up. You've got to try and jump out of this time and go do that."
"What, now?!" Gen was incredulous. "I don't know how!" The tramping was getting closer. It sounded like a army of thousands as the footsteps echoed off the walls. Adrian grabbed Gen by the shoulders. "You've got his notebook and I didn't get a chance to say but if you can change phase with yourself, I believe you should be able to change phase with time." Gen shook her head, not understanding yet. "He named you quatrix. Qua-, that's a suffix meaning four. Four dimensional matrix! That's what he meant even though he never told anyone." Gen couldn't believe they wanted her to go off and leave them there. "What about you guys? I can't leave you to fight a whole army of Enforcers alone!"
"If you fix time, we'll be alive again," said Adrian. Gen finished the sentence he hadn't said. "And so will your Gen, is that it?" Adrian wavered a bit but resolved his decision. "Just try to go, go now," he pushed her towards the blank wall and picked up a thick pipe from under the water. He walked over to stand with Jim. I guess that's what courage looks like, Gen realized. In a split decision, she ran up to Adrian and grabbed his lapels. "For luck," she said and kissed him. He smiled once she released him and said, "Thank you." Gen smiled back and went to return to the wall. It was then that she saw Kit was standing with the other two men, willing to fight. She tousled his hair, "Go get 'em kiddo." He nodded, feeling like for once in his life he was on the right team. "Here they come!" Jim let loose with his ray gun, taking out two of the Enforcers that came around the corner. Gen winced at the noise that was being unleased by the battle, but tried to concentrate. She had to try and phase through the wall, but somehow do it so that it phased through time instead of space. She put her hands against the wall and tried to think about what had happened the last time she had jumped through time. Both times she had been falling from a building, but she didn't have that luxury. Could it be the adrenaline rush of falling? Sparks flew over her head and she ducked a falling beam. No, she had plenty of that, her heart was about to pound it's way out of her chest. A sparking wire fell down at her side. It triggered a memory of before she jumped from the NY tower in 1965. She'd charged up first. Gen grabbed the sparking cable with both hands. The electricity shot through her like a rocket. She looked back for a second, seeing Jim getting shot down and Adrian running to pick up the gun he'd dropped. It fueled Gen's resolve and she soaked up electricity faster than she'd ever done before. She felt like she could light up the city on her own when she let go. As she placed her hand against the wall and slid it down, her hand was opening a rift in the wall. Inside the rift was a swirling mass of blue, the same that the time vortex was made of. "I did it!" Gen yelled happily and turned to find an Enforcer leveling his weapon at her. Gen leapt for all she was worth and disappeared into the time vortex. The rift closed behind her and sealed itself shut. The Enforcer's shot bounced off the solid concrete wall.
The Enforcers stood around, as if unsure what to do. The three scientists lay at their feet, unnoticed now that they were dead. The leader had an extra attachment to his helmet, a small camera that saw what he saw. Back at the main tower, Truax was beating the daylights out of his desk with his fist. "No, no, no!!" he yelled at the screen as if it would make a difference. "You bungling, mindless, creatures! How could you let her escape?!" He grabbed a chair and threw it through a decorative pane of glass. His secretary ducked and ran for cover as far away as she could. Truax's anger was slightly appeased by the broken glass but he scowled at the picture of a blank wall on the screen. "Return to headquarters," he ordered the squadron. "I'll have to work on how this mess is going to be sorted out. That little school brat is not going to upset this world that I've made just like that." Furiously, he grabbed his computer writing pad and began sketching out his plan. It was going to take some time, but fortunately, he thought with a smile, time was on his side.
Gen was sliding back into the familiar blue plasma filled bubble that surrounded the time stream she was leaving. She almost felt like she'd never left. It wasn't as strange or shocking anymore, more like she was a part of this somehow. The thought of what had happened to her friends weighed heavily on her heart and a couple of tears threatened to spill down her cheeks. But she brushed them aside, thinking instead of how she could save them. It seemed like an impossible task, but she didn't know it wouldn't work till she tried it. Anything was better than Truax World.