#erk-147

     Melinda Summers sat down in Harkon Smith’s office, across from where he was sitting at his desk.      “Any progress?” Harkon asked.      “Unfortunately no,” Melinda said.  “While everyone else seems to be doing fine, Jack, Sesla, and Imhotep are still in comas.  Doctor Quill is still working on trying to figure out why, but she’s not hopeful about them waking up.”      “Hmm, that’s problematic, although it’s not our biggest problem,” Harkon said.  “We still need to figure out what to do with the time door in the 1870s.”      “So far the TRD seems to be leaving it alone, but no telling how long that will last.  And with Elliot’s clone being dead, that complicates matters.”      “It does.  We need another clone of him there, in order to prevent alterations to the timeline.  But we don’t have the capability do create one.  Not with his memories anyway.  We could let the TRD keep control of the time door in that era, and they would clone him, but that would mean giving up our ability to visit that time.”      “Sir, perhaps it’s time we visited 3008,” Melinda said.  “If we can do that, we can get the equipment we need to make another clone of Elliot.”      “The problem is we might have only one shot at that visit.  And the whole reason we set this up was so Jack could use his knowledge powers to learn what the TDD is doing to alter the timeline.”      “I know, but that was before that virus hit us.”      “Yes, things have changed.  Start putting together a team.  In the meantime, we do still need a temporary solution to the 1870s situation.  Send Tesla up here.  I want to see if he’s had any progress on the time door barriers since Sesla’s been in a coma.”      Jack Masterson stepped out of the cave, and looked around as fish were swimming about.      “So, what are you learning now?” Dorothy Kingsmill asked.      “Well, you’re still here, so it’s likely still related to the Gods,” Jack said.      “Or it could be that you’ve just gotten used to me being around.  It is your dreamscape, and you’re gaining more control over it at all times.”      “Yeah, it’s annoying being trapped in a coma, but at least I’m doing something useful, assuming I ever wake up to share the information.”      “Any progress?” Harkon asked as Nikola Tesla entered his office.      “Very much so,” Nikola said.  “We can now create the same type of barriers with technology that Sesla previously created with her magic.”      “That’s good to hear.  I want you to go set up a barrier on the time door in 1876 right away.  Bring Ohm along for protection.  And bring the clone of Mary with as well.  For now, we’ll be keeping the time door in her barn, and she’ll be the one guarding it, so you’ll need to show her how to use the system.”      “Of course.  Oh, and some other good news.  I’ve improved ERK-147’s sensors further, so he can now detect various different types of magic.”      “Hmm, that’s interesting.  If you could write up a report on that when you get back, I’d be fascinated to learn the details.”      Melinda gathered Mary Bishop, Philip Wilson, Dorian Winters, and Susan Matthias in the briefing room.      “So, the plan is for the five of us to travel through the time door to 3008,” Melinda said.  “The TRD has a decent outpost in that era, which the time door is inside.  Now we do have one major advantage, probably.”      “Probably?” Susan asked.      “In 2348 I buried a device, which we remotely set a timer on.  So, before we go to 3008, we’ll be setting the time for a few minutes before the precise date and time when we are to exit the time door in 3008.”      “And what is this device going to do?” Dorian asked.      “Two things,” Melinda said.  “Firstly, it will create an effect not unlike that of a black hole, and begin sucking in matter.  Secondly it will produce an EMP effect, which will knock out their electronics.    The two will happen far enough apart that they will know about the first effect before they lose their electronics, thus they will be busy dealing with that, and be caught unaware when we come through.”      “But won’t they realize that we’re behind this?” Philip asked.      “Possibly,” Melinda said.  “Which is why we’ll likely still encounter resistance.  We’ll probably have to fight our way out of the outpost, and we may be split up in the process, which is why we will predetermine a meeting point in case that happens.  From there we will be working to gain access to the cloning technology we need.  Any other question?”      “When do we start?” Mary asked.      “Water, water, everywhere, but not a bit to drink,” Jack said as he continued his underwater walk.      “Figuring anything out yet?” Dorothy asked.      “The fish are species that are around in my own time,” Jack said.  “So that narrows down when this dream is taking place.”      “So no, you haven’t figured out much than.”      “Every clue helps,” Jack said, before noticing something in the distance.  “What is that?”      “Only one way to find out.”      Jack concentrated, and a dolphin swam over to him, which he got on to ride.      Mary readied her energy shotgun as she met up with the rest of the team in front of the time door.      “Remember everyone, stun settings,” Melinda said as she activated the time door and went through.      Mary followed immediately after.  She dove to the ground, as she activated her night-vision goggles.  The EMP had worked, and the place was completely dark.  There were three TRD agents in the room.      Mary shot one of them, as Melinda shot the other two, before the rest of the team had even finished exiting the time door.      “Okay, let’s go,” Melinda said as she began leading the way.      Jack approached what he was quickly realizing to be an underwater city.      “Atlantis?” Jack said.  “Don’t tell me Atlantis is real.”      “You’re surprised?” Dorothy asked.      “Not really, just making conversation,” Jack said.      Melinda and Philip made their way down a hallway.  They had been separated from the rest of the team, in order to avoid being spotted.      “How high up are we?” Philip asked as they approached a window.      “Low enough that jumping is an option,” Melinda said as she opened the window.  “But high enough that we can open the window easily enough, without setting off alarms.”      “I feel like those two things are somewhat contradictory.”      “It’ll be fine,” Melinda said, before jumping out the window.      “Which way?” Mary asked as she approached a split in the hallway, followed by Susan and Dorian.      “We should go left,” Susan said.  “And I should really be leading, considering I’ve been here before.”      “That’s a good idea,” Mary said.  “You should take point.”      Upon approaching Atlantis, Jack realized that there was a dome covering the city.      “To keep air in?” Jack asked.      “That would make sense,” Dorothy said.      “So, Atlanteans still need to breathe.  But why am I learning this?  Is this relevant?”      “Is it relevant to what?”      “To the current going’s on?  I…hmm.”      “Just act normal,” Melinda said as she walked down the street.      “We just jumped out a window,” Philip said.  “I’m acting about as normal as I can after that.”      “It was the quickest way,” Melinda said.  “And now we want to make sure we aren’t being followed before we make our way to the rendezvous point.”      “I’m not noticing anyone following us.”      “That’s because you’re checking for Humans,” Melinda said.  “We have a security bot that’s watching us.  It’s not TRD though, just local police.  The only question is if it saw us jumping out the window or not.  If it did, the police may contact the TRD.”      “The local police know about them?”      “No, but they’ll contact the owners of the building we made a hasty escape from, it doesn’t matter that they don’t know those owners are a time travel organization.”      “It feels like we’re going around in circles,” Mary said.      “I agree,” Dorian said.      “The layout has changed somewhat since I was last here,” Susan said.  “But I think I know where we’re going.”  She opened the door in front of her, just as the lights turned back on.      Inside the room were five TRD agents, who pointed their guns at the three intruders, as the three of them pointed their guns at the TRD agents.      “Well, this is awkward,” Mary said.      Jack stepped through the bubble dome, and entered the city.  “That’s a weird sensation,” he said.  “I’m not sure if it’s more or less weird though from this being a dream, where I was underwater without the whole drowning thing.”      “Don’t look at me,” Dorothy said.  “I may be a manifestation of your subconscious, but that doesn’t mean I know everything that you’re thinking.”      Jack looked around.  “Well, right now what I’m wondering is, where are the people.  If this is Atlantis, presumably there should be Atlanteans.”      “Maybe you just don’t know enough about them for your subconscious to create them.”      “Maybe.”      Mary, Dorian, and Susan continued to point their guns at the five TRD agents, who continued to point their guns at the three of them.      “Susan Matthias?” one of the agents, Isaac Korrelson asked.  “What are you doing here, with Mary Bishop and… whoever that guy is?”      “Trying to fix the timeline,” Susan said.      “Then why are you working against us?” Isaac asked.  “That’s our job.”      “There is more going on that you don’t know about,” Mary said.  “A conspiracy within your organization.  That’s what we are working against.”      “That’s ridiculous,” another agent, Olive Purcell said.  “Look, Agent Matthias, I assume you were captured by these people when they took the base in the Cretaceous, and you had to choose between working with them, or being locked up, but that’s no longer the case.  You can rejoin the TRD now.”      “So, this is your safe house?” Philip asked as he entered the apartment.      “Yep,” Melinda said as she followed him in.  “It’s from back in my Interpol days, but even after joining the TRD I decided to keep it around, just in case.”      “So, in theory this should be even more secure than the safe houses Jack always procures for us.”      “Yes, in theory.  I just hope the rest of the team gets here soon.”      Jack continued walking along the streets of Atlantis.      “I wish I knew exactly when this was,” Jack said.      “Why’s that?” Dorothy asked.      “I think there’s a reason this city is empty, but I don’t know what it is.  Hmm…” Jack reached into his pocket, and pulled out a phone, and looked at the date.  “Huh, so this is my hometime.”      “And what do you think that means?” Dorothy asked.      “No idea.”      Melinda was on the computer, doing some research, when she saw an alarm notification come up.  She checked the security camera feeds.      “We’ve got a problem,” she said.      “What kind of problem?” Philip asked as he came out of the kitchen with a sandwich.      “TRD agents just entered the building.”      “What are the chances it’s a coincidence?”      “Slim to none.”      Jack laid down on a bed in a random house in Atlantis, and began tossing a ball up and down.      “So, what are you up to now?” Dorothy asked as she entered the room. “Figuring out my next move,” Jack said.  “I think I need to wake up, but I still haven’t figured out how to do that.  Well, not entirely, anyway.  I know how my friends can wake me up, but I have no way of telling them that unless I can wake up.”      “That’s certainly a pickle.”      “It is indeed.”      “This seems like a bad plan,” Philip said as he climbed out the window, and tried to grab hold of the roof.  “It’s a bit high.”      “Just don’t look down,” Melinda said.      “No, I mean, the roof, I can’t reach it from here.”      “Okay, I have an idea,” Melinda said.  “Get ready to grab on.”      “Okay, what are you doing?” he asked, as he felt Melinda grab his feet, and push him up.      Philip tried to stay steady, and grabbed the edge of the roof.  He barely managed to get a grip.      “Okay, and how are you getting up here?” Philip asked as he pulled himself up.      “You can pull me up,” Melinda said.      Jack closed his eyes, then let out a laugh.      “What’s funny?” Dorothy asked.      “I was closing my eyes in order to concentrate on the problem, when I realized that the problem is that my eyes are closed.  Well, I mean, it’s more than that, but this is just a dream, so closing my eyes here doesn’t really mean much.”      “No, I don’t suppose it does.”      “Or does it?  Back when I was a kid, if I tried opening my eyes in a dream, I would wake up.”  Jack opened his eyes.  “Now clearly this is a different situation, as I’m in a coma, not merely asleep.”      “Yes.”      “But maybe I can affect my body in some manner from in here.”      “Like what?” Dorothy asked.      “In here,” Melinda said as she pointed to an empty area of the roof.      “In where?” Philip asked.      “In here,” Melinda said as she opened a door in the middle of the empty roof.  “It’s a cloaked hiding spot.”      “So, what do we do next?” Philip asked as he followed Melinda in.  “I mean, either we were followed, or the rest of the team was captured, and someone gave the TRD our location.”      “We weren’t followed.”      “Well, if that’s the case, it seems pretty obvious who gave the TRD the location of your hiding spot.”      “It would seem so,” Melinda said.      “So, what’s our next move?”      Harkon entered the med lab, where Doctor Jeri Quill was still running tests on Jack, Imhotep, and Sesla.      “Any progress?” Harkon asked.      “Not really, although I assume the reason the virus affected them differently is because of their partial divinity,” Jeri said.      “Yes, that would make sense.”      “Also, Jack has a new symptom, as of a few minutes ago.”      “What sort of symptom?”      “His eye movements seem to have gone into some sort of pattern.”      “Oh?” Harkon asked.      Jeri opened one of Jack’s eyes, and Harkon saw it quickly move three times to the left, then three times slowly to the right, then three times quickly to the left again.      “It’s morse code,” Harkon said.  “He’s figured out a way to communicate with us.”      “That seems highly unlikely.”      “With him, unlikely is par for the course.  Now, we just need to find a way to communicate back to him.”      Melinda and Philip entered the warehouse, their guns at the ready.  In the back corner there was a group of five people playing poker, who looked up at the intrusion.  One of them, a large-set woman stood up, and approached them.  The other four also stood up, and pointed their guns at Melinda and Philip.      “Melinda Summers, I haven’t seen you in years, I thought you were dead,” the woman said.      “No Izabel, not yet,” Melinda said.      “Well, there’s always tomorrow,” Izabel Monroe said.      “And even today isn’t over yet,” Melinda said.  “But today I’m not here as an enemy.”      “Then what are you here as?”      “A client.  I would like to hire you to steal some cloning tech from the Jaruvians.”      Izabel laughed.  “Do you realize how much that would cost you?  How are you going to afford that?”      “I can erase your criminal record,” Melinda said.  “All gone.”      “Like I asked, how are you going to afford it?”      “I can also erase your brother’s criminal record.”      “I’m listening.”      Dorothy entered the kitchen in the Atlantean house, where she found Jack making some sort of dish involving fish eggs and seaweed.      “This being a dream, you don’t really need to eat, you know,” Dorothy said.      “I like eating though,” Jack said.  “And it…” he trailed off as he grabbed his side.      “What?”      “I just felt a sharp sensation on my left side.  Multiple sharp sensations, in fact.  And now, there’s a dull one on my right.  Wait, they got my message.  And they’re saying ‘hello’.  Well, now for the fun part.  Explaining a complex medical procedure through morse code.”      “So, now what?” Philip asked as they left the warehouse.      “Now we return to the TRD outpost,” Melinda said.  “If we’re lucky, the rest of our team will still be there.”      “And if we’re not lucky?”      “Then we will at least be able to hold up our end of the bargain with Izabel.  The TRD computers have the kind of access we need to erase criminal records.”      “And what of the rest of our team?”      “If they aren’t there, I don’t know, we’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.”      ERK-147 typed up the medical instructions as it watched Jack’s eyes, and translated the morse code.      “I still find this difficult to believe,” Jeri said as she looked at the instructions on the screen.  “But it’s impossible to deny that this is happening.”      “You’d think, but I’ve found Humans have quite a capacity for denial,” ERK-147 said.  “I mean, not this group so much, but then, when you encounter new things on a regular basis, you become somewhat more willing to accept the improbable.”      “I hope to be here long enough that I become used to this,” Jeri said.  “Even if you still haven’t told me where here is.”      “That’s Harkon Smith’s call, as he is the boss.”      Philip followed Melinda through the sewers.      “It’s extremely clean down here for a sewer,” Philip said.      “I suppose,” Melinda said as she looked around.  “This should be the right area.”  She started placing explosives along the ceiling.      “So, where exactly will these explosives get us into?”      “The armory.”      “That’s not going to be dangerous, is it?  Explosions in the armory?”      “No, it shouldn’t be.”      Mary paced back and forth in her cell.  It had walls on three sides, and a forcefield on the fourth.  On the other side of the forcefield was a room, about the same size as the cell, which had a single door leading out.  She had already felt all over the walls, looking for anything that would help, and came up empty.  As she was pacing, she felt the ground shake, and the sound of an explosion.  She smiled.      Melinda tossed an energy assault rifle to Philip, before grabbing one for herself.      “Increased firepower, and much more energy efficient than the ones we’ve been using,” Melinda said.  “Now follow me.”  She exited the armory, and went down the corridor, with Philip following after.      As they approached the end of the corridor, the door at the end opened.  Melinda started firing her rifle, as three agents came out.  They all dropped to the ground.      “So much for the element of surprise,” Melinda said.      “I think we lost that with the explosion,” Philip said.      Melinda went through the door, with Philip going in after her.  Inside there was a short corridor with twelve doors.  Five on each side, the one they had come through, and another one on the opposite end.  The doors on each side at small windows on them, and Melinda started looking through them.  Philip did the same.      “Mary is in this one,” Philip said.      “And I’ve found Dorian,” Melinda said.  “No sign of Susan though,”      “Nor on my side,” Philip said.      “Okay, you get Mary and Dorian and get out of here, I have to go hold up our end of the deal with Izabel.”      “Well, here goes nothing,” Jeri said as she injected the concoction into Jack.  At first there seemed to be no change, but then some of his readings on the scanner started changing, and his eyes shot open.      “Woah, yeah, that was something,” Jack said.  “I feel like a just downed several liters of energy drinks.”      “And how are you feeling otherwise?” Jeri asked.      “Good, I think,” Jack said.  “Don’t give this concoction to Imhotep or Sesla though, it won’t work on them the same way.”      “No?”      “I’m a Greek Demi-God, Imhotep is an Egyptian Demi-God.  Well, Demi-Demi-God, since he’s only a quarter divine, but the differing race of Gods is the more pertinent point in this equation.”      “And Sesla?”      “She’s complicated.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go speak with Harkon about my next mission.”      “You just came out of a coma, you shouldn’t be rushing out on a mission.”      “Maybe not, but technically I’m not rushing out onto the mission, just rushing into the preparations.  I’d tell you more, but I’m not sure how much of what we’re doing you’ve been told about.”      Melinda walked down the corridor, until she got to the door she was looking for.  It was locked, and required an access code.  She knew her code would not work, and would probably alert everyone on the base to her attempt.      So, she attempted to use another code that she knew.  The one belonging to Tom Eastwood.  She was just not certain if he still had the same code.  She typed it into the keypad, and the door unlocked.      Melinda entered the computer lab, and went over to one of the computers connected to law enforcement databases.  She brought up the files she was looking for, and deleted them.  She then erased the history of what she had been doing, before making a quick exit.      “So, what happened?” Philip asked as Mary and Dorian followed him out of the outpost.  “Did Susan betray you guys?”      “We ran into some trouble on our way out,” Mary said.  “But no, I don’t think it was Susan’s fault.”      “Where is she now?”      “No idea,” Mary said.  “They initially brought all three of us to the holding area, but they must have moved her afterwards.  I’d guess they brought her to the TDD base, so they could use their mental probes to learn what she knows.”      “That’s a problem,” Philip said.      “Yeah, that’s putting it mildly,” Mary said.      “It’s good to see you up again,” Harkon said as Jack entered his office.      “It’s good to be up again, although I did learn a lot during my coma,” Jack said as he sat down.      “Like what?”      “For starters I learned some stuff about the origins of the Gods, although I’m not yet certain how that’s useful.  But I’ve also learned about an alien invasion on Earth in 2016.”      “Yes, I’m aware of it, it’s a fairly significant historical event.”      “And Atlantis played a major role in preventing it, correct?”      “Yes, why do you ask?”      “Because someone, although I don’t yet know who, is planning on altering the timeline, in order to wipe out the Atlanteans before the invasion.”      “How?”      “I don’t know yet for certain, but we need to do something about it.”      “Yes, we do.  I suppose your plan is to get there the long way from the 1940s?”      “It seems to be the most direct route.”      Melinda entered another one of her safe houses, where she found Mary, Philip, and Dorian already waiting.      “Just how many safe houses do you have in this era?” Philip asked.      “A few,” Melinda said.  “Which is good because we might be stuck here for a while.  The TRD is likely going to have a major security upgrade after our intrusions.”      “So, what’s the plan?”      “We’re still waiting on the cloning tech, so for the moment, our next move should be seeing if we can find Merlin.  He may be able to help.”      “Are we sure we can trust him, after what happened the last time?” Mary asked.      “What happened last time?” Philip asked.      “He took Jack’s soul,” Melinda said.  “The second Jack, I mean, the one who has since died.  And we can’t fully trust him, no, but we need all the help we can get.” To be continued…

     Harkon Smith looked up from his desk as Melinda Summers entered his office.      “Welcome back Agent Summers,” Harkon said.  “I was just looking over your mission report.”      “I’m sorry to say that it did not go as planned, sir,” Melinda said.      “Yes, I see that.  We have yet to here from Zeus on how he feels about the fact that Aphrodite was killed rather than captured.”      “It was one of his people that betrayed us.”      “Yes, which is somewhat odd.  I thought Asclepius was a god of medicine.  Why would a healer become a killer?”      “I’m sure Zeus will have him questioned, find out if he’s working for someone else.  Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll know where the time door is, and we’ll be able to leave this time period.”      “Yes, getting out of World War 2 would be nice, but we can’t just hope for that, we have to continue working on it.”      “Any progress on locating the time door?” Melinda asked.  “Or any progress on figuring out what happened on the ship where Jack disappeared, and all those people from other eras appeared?”      “Tesla and ERK-147 have been over the ship with a fine-toothed comb, but they have yet to figure anything out.  For the moment we still have no idea what happened on the ship, or where or when Jack is.”      Jack Masterson watched as Sandra Rodriguez searched the holding cell they had been placed in on the mercenary ship.      It was a cube shaped room, with all of the walls, the floor, and ceiling all being bare and grey.  The only way in or out was by teleporter.  The room was lit, although Jack had no idea how, as there were no visible sources.      “Anything?” Jack asked.      “Nothing,” Sandra said.  “I was hoping there would be some sort of removable panel, or something, but nada.  Which means we have nothing to do but talk.”      “Oh?”      “Like why is there a warrant out for your arrest?”      “When I hired you to take me to the space station Oracle, part of the deal was no questions.”      “That was before we were arrested.”      “Well,” Jack said.  “I’m not actually certain why there is a warrant.”      “No idea?”      “Well, I suppose I have some ideas.  I know of a few people who want to capture me.  But I’m not certain how they’re behind this.”      “But you are certain they are behind it, aren’t you?”      “Fairly certain.”      “And who are these people?”      “No one you’ve ever heard of.”      Mary Bishop walked into Harkon’s office.  “Good morning sir,” she said.      “Good morning to you too.  How are our guests acclimating to the situation?”      “Some better than others.  Imhotep has been the best behaved, while the Jukarn has been a major problem.  And then there’s Sesla.”      “Sesla’s been causing problems?”      “Not precisely, but she’s… well she’s Sesla.  She’s very… unconventional.”      “Perhaps, but she has been an ally in the past,” Harkon said.  “Or so you, Jack and Melinda have told me.”      “She can be useful at times, but first I’d need you to give me an assignment, instead of just having me help them acclimate.”      “If she could assist us in locating the time door, that would be most useful.”      “I agree, but she says that she does not know where it is.”      “Well, keep at it.  Maybe she’ll have a vision that will enlighten her.”      Jack woke up suddenly.  He looked around the cell, trying to determine what had changed.      “We dropped out of superspace,” Sandra said.  “I’m surprised you could tell.  I usually don’t even notice it, and I’ve spent most of my life in spaceships.”      “So, where are we?”      “No idea.  But unless this is just a pitstop, I assume we’ll find out soon enough.”      “Good morning Sesla,” Mary said as she entered Sesla’s room.      “Is it?  I don’t believe you much care for any morning in which you have to speak with me.”      “Have you had any visions or anything that would help us locate the time door?”      “Perhaps.  I can say that we will not get access to it without Jack.”      “Why not, and do you know where he is?”      “He was returned to his own time.  And from there he is trying to make it back here.”      “That shouldn’t be difficult, should it?”      “You have no idea.”      Jack and Sandra had been sitting around, when they felt themselves being teleported, into another holding cell.  This one was not completely enclosed though, as it had one open side.  Jack reached out his hand, and felt a solid, yet invisible, wall there.  A forcefield.      “Another cell,” Sandra said.  “i’m beginning to think I made a mistake in taking you on as a passenger.”      “Well, I think you at least got me to the right place,” Jack said as he looked out of the cell.  It was the same design, and with the same sort of battle damage as the last time he had been there.      A door opened, and a familiar person walked in.  “Hello Jack.”      “Hello Tom,” Jack said.      Melinda entered Harkon’s office.  “You wanted to see me, sir.”      “Yes, I just got off the phone with Agent Kingsmill,” Harkon said.  “She says that Zeus is not happy.”      “Just as we figured.”      “She also said that he’s decided to come pay us a visit.”      “What?  Why?”      “She said that Zeus hadn’t told her any more than that.  But this could cause problems.  Your assignment will be to keep him in line during his visit.”      “Of course, sir.”      “So, what’re you doing back home?” Jack asked.      “I’ve been heading up the search for you and your friends,” Tom said.  “So, when I got word that you had been located, I came to see for myself.”      “You’ve been leading the search?” Jack asked.  “Well, that explains how we’ve gone without capture for so long.”      “Well, you’re captured now.”      “For now.”      “Now what exactly are you up to?  We know you’ve been kidnapping people from throughout time, including Imhotep and Ohm.”      “What is he talking about?” Sandra asked.  “What is going on here?”      “Don’t tell me she doesn’t know,” Tom said.  “Well, since we’ll be mindwiping her anyway, there’s not reason not to tell her that we are in a time war.”      “A time war?” Sandra asked.  “Is that why you’re so weird?  You’re not from this time?”      “To an extent,” Jack said.  “Although even in my own time I’m not exactly normal.”      “Now, what are you planning?” Tom asked again.      “I’m not going to tell you,” Jack said.      “Maybe not yet, but eventually you will.”      “We’ve got it!”      Harkon looked up as Nikola Tesla burst into his office.  “You’ve learned what happened on the ship?”      “What?”  Tesla asked.  “No, of course not.  The ship is perfectly normal as far as I can tell.  I have no idea why Jack disappeared on it, or why the others appeared.”      “So, then what have we discovered?”      “We’ve figured out how to locate the time door.  I’ve been going through the data on the doors from ERK-147’s sensors.  At first it seemed pointless, as the doors seemed invisible to his sensors, but then I decided to check what his sensors picked up while traversing the time door.  And that data was largely meaningless, a whack of weird sensory stimulations, but buried within it, I found a unique signature that his sensors picked up within himself, which all of the people who appeared aboard the ship also had within them, although it has since dissipated.”      “And how will this allow us to locate the time door?”      “Because, this TRD of yours is trying to get through, although everyone they’ve sent has been killed by KOKON.”      “That is our understanding, yes.”      “So then, all we need to do is search for this signature, and that will lead us to people or objects who have recently traversed through time.”      After Tom left the room, Jack sat down and closed his eyes.      “So, what’s the plan here?” Sandra asked.      “Don’t worry.  I’m working on it.”      “Uh huh.”      “No, seriously.  The situation on this station is complex.  Tom’s group controls the area around the time door, but that area is shielded from teleportation.  They also control this area, but there’s a lot of ground to cover between here and there, and that is not controlled by them.”      “So, I take it you’ve been here before.”      “Yes, although some of this intel is more recent.  Last time I was here, Tom’s group didn’t have a foothold, at least not in the same way, and I was unaware of them at the time.”      “How much more recent?”      “I just got it now.”      “What?  How?”      “I’m Jack Masterson.  I know things.”      “Welcome to America,” Melinda said as Zeus stepped off of his plane.      “It’s been a while,” Zeus said.  “Last time I was here, James Madison was President.”      “That has been awhile.”      “Now, which way to your base of operations?”      “We have a car ready to take us there.  Please follow me.”      “Wait for it,” Jack said.      “Wait for what?” Sandra asked.      The lights suddenly went out.  Sandra stood up, and checked the forcefield, which was still up.      “That,” Jack said.  “The forcefield is on an independent power source, but the general power to this part of the station has been shut off.”      “What?  Why?  By who?”      “To stop the teleporter dampeners in this area, is the why,” Jack said, as he and Sandra were teleported to another part of the station.  “And she is the who.  Sandra meet Sesla.”      “It is good to see you again, my Jack,” Sesla said.      Mary was sitting at her desk when she heard someone come up behind her.  She turned around to see Sesla.      “What are you doing here?” Mary asked.      “I came to tell you of something I’ve just learned.  My past self in the future is working together with Jack.”      “How do you know that?  It’s in the future, so even though it’s your past self, you’re memories shouldn’t change.”      “Tell me, what is it like, having such a linear view of time?  It’s been so long for me that I can barely remember it.”      “Can you get us to the time door Sesla?” Jack asked.      “Yes, that will be easy, but have you thought about where you will go?” Sesla asked.      “My original plan was to go back to World War 2, before KOKON got the time door in that era, but I was in stasis for too long.”      “Yes, if you go through now, even if you could somehow survive, which you wouldn’t be able to, the rest of your team would already be dead.”      “Which is why I was bringing the stasis pod with.  My plan would’ve been to go back to the Wild West, and put myself in stasis until the 1940s.  But that’s back on Sandra’s ship, which we have no way of getting to.”      “About that,” Sandra said.  “What am I supposed to do?  You’re apparently going to be traveling in time, once you figure out the specifics, but I never signed up for that.”      “Yeah, sorry about that,” Jack said.      “Why would you need the stasis pod?” Sesla asked.  “Why don’t you just use the long way?”      “What do you mean?” Jack asked.      “You’re a Demi-God, remember,” Sesla said.  “You don’t age.”      “I… wait what.  You’re sure about that?”      “Yes, of course.”      “This changes everything!”      Melinda led Zeus into the ESS Time Division offices.  The agents all looked up from their desks in awe, except for Mary who glanced over, but was in the middle of a conversation with Sesla.      “I know you,” Zeus said, noticing Sesla.  “You are a servant of Aphrodite.  What is she doing here?”      “I haven’t been her servant for several millennia,” Sesla said.      “And you expect me to just take you at your word?” Zeus said.      “She’s not even from this era,” Melinda said.  “She’s here as part of a situation we’re investigating.”      “I thought you didn’t have time travel access without the time door,” Zeus said.      “We don’t,” Melinda said.  “Like I said, this is a situation we are investigating.”      Jack sat at the computer terminal, looking over historical data.  As he was doing so, he heard someone enter the room he was in.      “Trouble sleeping?” Sandra asked.      “No, just doing some prep work,” Jack said.  “What about you?”      “I just don’t know what I’m going to do next.”      “Well, you could always come with me into the past.”      “Yeah, that’s not exactly an ideal option.”      “You could stay here on the station, with Sesla.  Or you could join Commander Grayson’s group.”      “I’m not too fond of those ideas either.”      “I know, and I’m sorry.  I didn’t realize this would happen.”      “What time period are you from?”      “I originally left from 2014.  I recently returned home, but it was already 2015, even though I haven’t experienced enough time that it should be that year yet.  But there was some weirdness with that whole situation.”      “Wow, so you’re from quite a way’s back.  Did you guys even have space travel back then?”      “We went to the moon in the 1960s.  And there were talks about manned missions to Mars.”      “So, how’d you get involved in time travel business?”      “I was being chased, I ran through a door, and apparently it was a time machine.  Since then I’ve become embroiled in a situation which I’m still working on figuring out.  But with this revelation that I don’t age, I think I might just be able to start getting some level of control.”      Harkon looked across his desk and observed Zeus sitting there, observing him back.      “So, Zeus, you never told us what the purpose of your visit was,” Harkon eventually said.      “I’m not happy with what happened in Germany.”      “None of us are.  That still doesn’t explain why you came here.”      “Aphrodite should not have died.”      “I agree,” Harkon said.  “Her death is problematic for the timeline.”      “That is not what I mean.  She has been a problem for thousands of years.  And now she was just killed.  It’s too neat, too easy.  Something else is going on here.”      “Something else is always going on.  Life is complicated, and people make mistakes.  Unless you have something more concrete.”      In the morning, Jack readied himself.  Sesla had given him clothing and weapons that would be appropriate for his destination.  He joined her and ten of her followers at the teleporter.      “You are ready to go?” Sesla asked.      “Yes, I am,” Jack said.      “You could always stay here for longer,” Sesla said.  “It’s not like you don’t have the time.”      “Maybe, but the TDD knows I’m here.  So let’s get this done.”      Harkon read through the file Zeus had given him.      “Is this accurate?” Harkon asked.      “Yes, it is.”      “This changes things.”      “Yes, it does.”      “I don’t think you understand just how much.  This information could give us a major advantage.”      “Oh?”      “Thank you for letting us know,” Harkon said.  “We will look into this, and then get back to you.”      “You don’t want to do another combined mission?”      “I know I can trust my people.”      Jack appeared in the hall outside the room with the time door.  Sesla’s and her followers appeared simultaneously, with the followers around them in a circle.  There were other people in the area, but Sesla’s followers took them out quickly and efficiently.      Sesla walked over to the door to the room, and pressed the panel to open it.  Nothing happened, as it was locked.  She closed her eyes, and concentrated, and the door unlocked and opened.      “Until we meet again, my Jack,” Sesla said.      “Whenever that will be,” Jack said.  “From each of our perspectives.”      Jack went to the time door, chose the correct option, and went through…      “You wanted to see me, sir?” Melinda asked as she entered Harkon’s office.      “Yes.  Is Zeus on his way back to Australia?”      “He is.”      “Good.  I’d like to talk to you about what he told me.”      “Which is?”      “He believes that Aphrodite is still alive, and that it was a double of some sort who was killed.”      “Then where is the real one?”      “If Zeus’ intel is correct, she is with the time door.  And while we don’t know the exact location, we do know the general area.”      “That’s good to hear.”      “It’s even better than that.  With Tesla’s discovery, we should be able to narrow it down even further.  We might finally be able to regain access to the time door.”      … Jack stepped out of the time door, and assessed his surroundings.  He was back in the Bishop barn.  Same old wood walls.  Same tools lying around.  Same sense of a gun being pointed at him.  Jack slowly turned around, and was somewhat surprised at who he saw.      “Put your hands where I can see ‘em,” Elliot Bishop said.      “What?  You’re supposed to be dead,” Jack said.      “Is that a fact?” To be continued…

     Jack Masterson looked around the cell he had been put in.  It was small, with an even smaller bathroom attached.  The bathroom had a toilet, a sink, and a shower stall.  The main cell had just a bed, and a computer terminal.  The computer terminal was, however, a self-contained unit, and was fairly limited in function.      Three of the walls were made of some sort of hard plastic, while the fourth was a forcefield.  This was not the first time Jack had been in a cell with a forcefield, but it was the first time it had happened in his own time period.      The bed was at least comfortable, and Jack was lying on it, when he heard someone approach.  He looked up to see General Jon Teleros, the man who he had been looking for in the first place.      “It would seem I owe you an apology,” Jon said as he turned off the forcefield.  “I’ve talked with the Director, and confirmed you are who you say you are.”      “Good to hear,” Jack said.  “So, has the Director given any instructions as to what he wants me to do next?”      “We’ll be heading to London to see him in person.”      “When do we leave?”      “Right away, the teleportation room is right this way.”      In 1942, Harkon gathered his agents in the briefing room.  He looked around the table at each of them.  “Okay, where are we folks?  Have we got anywhere regarding Jack’s disappearance?”      “I have scanned the ship from which he disappeared in every way I can,” ERK-147 said.  “But there is nothing on it to indicate any technology beyond that available in this era.  I have no idea how he disappeared, or the others appeared on it.”      “Clearly the Clockmaker did something to this ship,” Mary Bishop said.      “But to what purpose?” Harkon said.      “It’s difficult to figure out,” Melinda Summers said.  “But this leads us to the next problem.  Zeus is refusing to work with us on capturing the time door from KOKON.  It was Jack that made the deal with him, and without Jack, he is unwilling to work with us on that.”      “What about capturing Aphrodite?” Harkon asked.  “Is he still willing to work with us on that?”      “Yes,” Melinda said.      “In that case, I believe that should be your primary focus moving forward.  Progress on a secondary goal is better than no progress at all.”      Jon lead Jack into an office.  At least, that is what Jon had called it, but upon entering, Jack was surprised to see that it was completely empty, with the exception of a chair.  The walls, floor, and ceiling were all white, and extremely smooth looking.      “Please sit down, Agent Masterson,” a voice said.  “Agent Teleros, could you step outside.”      “Yes, sir,” Jon said as he did so.      “So, you’re the Director,” Jack said.      “Yes, I am Mycroft Holmes.  After my body began failing me, my consciousness was uploaded into a computer, so that I could continue in my duties.”      “Uh huh.  So, what’s the plan?  How did things go back in the 1940s, and how can we get me back then?”      “They didn’t go well, I’m afraid.  There was a mission that went badly, the entire time division was killed.”      “So then, getting me back then is a priority,” Jack said.  “So that I can fix it.”      “Yes, the problem is, we don’t have any way of determining where a time door might be in this time period.  How did you get here?”      “The Clockmaker dropped me off here, although I don’t know why.  And the time door I first used is no longer where it was.”      “Which means we have two options.  The first is figuring out a way of locating a time door.”      “Which you yourself said we have no way of doing.  What’s the second?”      “When is the earliest time you know of a time door location?”      “In 2347, which is a bit too long to wait.”      “Perhaps not.  We could put you in cryo-stasis, and wake you up then.  It is not without it’s risks.  After all, we don’t know what will happen between now and then, so any number of things could go wrong.”      “I’m willing to accept the risk.  And if you happen to find another time door in the meantime, you can always wake me up early.”      “Very well.  I will give you the details we know of the fatal mission, and the events leading up to it.  Once you have reviewed the information, we will put you in stasis.”      “Sir, we’ve just got a message from Zeus,” Melinda told Harkon.  “They’ve figured out where Aphrodite is, and are preparing a team.  They want to know who we’ll be sending to assist.”      “I want you leading our team,” Harkon said.  “You should take Agents Wilson and Argus for sure.  Do you think that’ll be enough, or would you like to take another agent?”      “I’m sure we should be able to handle it.”      Jack climbed into the stasis chamber.  “You’re sure I won’t be conscious for the three and a half centuries, right?”      “The technology has been extensively tested,” the doctor said.  “Granted, never for any longer than twelve years at a time, but even at that length every single person has said that they did not experience the passage of time.”      “Okay,” Jack said.  “Then let’s get this over with.”      The doctor closed the chamber.  Jack closed his eyes as he had been instructed, and waited.  Eventually he heard the chamber open, and he opened his eyes.  It was initially dark, but then a light flickered on.      He was in the same room, and the chamber was the same, but otherwise the room had been filled with various other equipment that had not previously been in there.  There was also a thick layer of dust on everything.      “Well, I guess it worked,” Jack said to himself.  “Hopefully the timing is correct.”      After a few days of preparation, Melinda and her team were ready to leave.  They drove out to the airstrip, from which they would be taking off.      “I can’t believe how quickly our engineers were able to recreate the jet we stole,” Philip said.      “Well, it’s not quite identical,” Melinda said.  “But it’s close enough to meet our needs.  And with it we’ll be able to get into Germany too fast for them to be able to do anything about it.”      Jack walked around the ESS base.  It was empty of people, and all of the lights were off, but turned on whenever he entered a room.  He assumed they were on a motion sensor.  There was still a lot of equipment in the base, so he made sure to grab several devices which he figured would come in handy.      He then made his way to the teleporter room.  It was the only way in or out of the base, so he had been instructed on it’s use before going into stasis.  The only problem was that he did not know what things were like in this era.      He decided to go for the simplest idea, and just teleported himself to the streets of London above.      Once in Germany, Melinda and her team went to the rendezvous point.  It was a house in the middle of nowhere.  They came up to it, and Melinda knocked on the door three times, with a ten second interval between the first two, and a three second interval between the last two.  The door opened, and they walked in.      “Welcome,” Deipneus said.  “The others are in the meeting room.  Please follow me.”      They followed him, where there were met by three other Greek Gods.      “This is our leader, Palaestra,” Deipneus said.  “And these are Asclepius and Amphitrite.”      “It’s good to meet all of you,” Melinda said before introducing her team.      “Now that the introductions are out of the way, it’s time to get to work,” Palaestra said.      Jack wandered around London until he found what he was looking for, a pub.  Not just any pub though, as that would not have taken much wandering, but a specific type of pub.      As he entered, he listened to what other people were ordering, and how they were ordering it.  He went up to the bar, and ordered a drink.  “I’m also looking for a pilot,” he said.      “What kind of pilot?” the bartender asked.      “The kind with a ship, and not a lot of questions.”      “Back corner,” the bartender said.      “Thanks,” Jack said as he picked up his drink, and walked to the back.      He passed several tables with people, all of whom were talking in hushed tones.  But the back corner just had one person, a woman.      “I’m looking for a pilot and a ship,” Jack said as he sat down.  “I’m told you fit the bill.”      “Maybe, where do you need to go?”      “To the space station Oracle.”      “Never heard of it.  What sector’s it in?”      “I don’t know the name off-hand,” Jack said.      The pilot pressed a button on her jacket sleeve, and a holographic map appeared above it.  She manipulated it a bit, until it brought up the Oracle.  “Hmm, Vertal Sector.  That’s not too far, but it says here that contact was lost with the station over a year ago.”      “Over a year?” Jack asked.  “Hmm, that’s odd.”      “Why?”      “What?  Oh, nothing important, just a weird coincidence.  So, can you get me there or not?”      “Maybe, but it’s going to cost you, and no refunds if the station isn’t there anymore.  You’ll be paying me to get you to that location, regardless of whether or not there is a station still there.”      “Of course, I’m Jack Masterson, by the way.”      “Captain Sandra Rodriguez.”      “That won’t work,” Melinda said as she looked at the images of the KOKON base where Aphrodite was working.  “The base is too heavily guarded for a tactical incursion.  Our best bet is to infiltrate it.”      “And how do you recommend we do that?” Palaestra asked.  “Infiltrating military organizations isn’t that easy.”      “You’d be surprised,” Philip said.  “We’ve managed it before, and I’ve been working on my German since then.”      “I might even still have a cover identity,” Melinda said.  “It’s probably been blown, but with the size of the organization, and the secrecy involved, it might still be good.  As long as we plan for either situation, we should be good.”      “And what happens when Aphrodite recognizes one of us?” Palaestra asked.      “We just need to make sure that it doesn’t happen until after we are ready to capture her,” Melinda said.      Jack used an anti-grav unit to bring the stasis chamber onto Sandra’s ship.      “What’s that?” Sandra asked.      “Just some equipment I may end up needing,” Jack said.  “That’s not a problem, is it?”      “Not so long as whatever it is doesn’t endanger me or my ship.  Now about the matter of payment.”      Jack took out a computer pad, as did Sandra.  “I’m sending you half the payment now, and I’ll give you the rest when we get there.”      “I’m surprised you had the money for this,” Sandra said.  “Honestly you don’t look to be that wealthy.”      “I just sold some… antiques that I recently came into possession of.”      Melinda and Deipneus walked up to the KOKON base, and showed their forged papers to the guards, who let them in, without any hassle.      “Looks like your cover is still good,” Deipneus said.      “Maybe,” Melinda said.  “It’s still too early to tell for certain.”      Jack sat down in the seat, and laid back.  He could feel the hum of the engines, or at least he assumed that it was the engines.  The ship was not very big, and it reminded him of the Millennium Falcon.  Not in its shape, but in its aesthetic.  It had that very ‘used future’ look to it.  Its shape though was more like that of a penguin sliding on it’s belly.      “Well, we’re in superspace.”  Sandra came into the common room, interrupting his thoughts.  “We should be there in about a day.”      “Okay, cool,” Jack said.  “That should give me just enough time to figure out my next move.”      “Your next move in what?”      “I thought you didn’t ask much questions.”      “It’s more that I don’t require answers, but I do retain the right to be curious, and you are a very curious individual.”      “Oh?” Jack asked.      “I can’t quite place your accent.  Your clothing is several centuries out of style, as is the equipment I’ve seen you carrying.  Honestly, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were from the past.”      “Maybe I am from the past,” Jack said.  “Here to steal technology and return it to my own time to make myself rich.”      “Right, very funny.”      Melinda and Deipneus looked at the base blueprints.      “So, this is where her lab is,” Deipneus said as he pointed.  “From what I’ve been hearing, she spends all of her time in there.”      “It’s at the center of the base,” Melinda said.  “That’ll make things more difficult.”      “What about this?”  Deipneus pointed again.      “Hmm, that just might work.”      Sandra was in the midst of teaching Jack a tabletop game, when a beeping started.      “What’s that?” Jack asked.      “That means we exited superspace, which shouldn’t have happened yet.  It’s only been four hours.”  Sandra got up and went to the cockpit.      Jack followed after her.  “What does that mean?”      “Best case scenario there was a simple computer glitch.”      “And what’s the worst case scenario?”      The end of Jack’s sentence was cutoff by a blaring alarm.      “The worst case is that this is an attack,” Sandra said as she sped up.  “And that alarm means there’s a good chance that’s the case.”      Philip watched the base with his binoculars.  Amphitrite paced back and forth behind him.      “Anything yet?” she asked.      “No, still no signal to move.  I thought immortals were supposed to be patient.”      “I can be patient and calm when the time is right, but this is not the time for it, this is a time for action.”      “So you think we should have gone with Palaestra’s strategy and attacked, rather than infiltrated.”      “That was not a strategy, and your superior was right to ignore it.  What we should have done was have half our group make it seem like there was a massive attack.  And then, in the confusion the rest of us could have snuck in carried Aphrodite out of there.”      “Then why didn’t you speak up?”      “Palaestra would take that as a challenge of her authority, especially since I have much more of a right to command than she does.  But Zeus put her in charge, so I can’t directly go against her.”      “And why are you telling me all of this?”      “Because, I do not want her lack of intelligence to endanger the mission, and for that I will need help.”      Jack sat down in the copilot’s seat, and watched as Sandra starting pressing buttons and looking at screens.      “Mercs,” she said.  “I recognize the company.  I guess they have a way of pulling ships out of superspace.  And they’re opening a comm line.  Let’s see how this goes.”      “Attention,” the communication from the mercenaries started.  “You are in a restricted area.  Surrender, and prepare to be boarded, or we have authorization to destroy your ship.”      “This is Captain Sandra Rodriguez, we are sorry for the intrusion.  If you want, we can just turn around, and be on our way.”      “Not acceptable,” came the reply.  “Lower your teleportation blocks, and we will be sending a boarding party over.  If they decide this was an accident, we’ll let you go.”      “I guess we don’t have much of a choice,” Sandra said.      Melinda walked through the base towards her destination.  No one paid her much attention, it was almost as if she was invisible.  Eventually she got where she was going, and opened the door to a room.      It was a small room, with only one distinct thing, a hole, which lead to a sewage pipe.  Melinda climbed down the ladder into the pipe, and saw that it was indeed large enough for a human to travel through, though barely.  She climbed back out, and took out her comm unit.      “Agent Summers to Palaestra, do you read?”      “This is Palaestra.  What do you have to report?”      “I think we’ve found a way to get Aphrodite out of the base.  There’s a sewer pipe.  I’m sending a tracker through.  I’d like you to locate it, to determine where the pipe exits, so you can be ready to pick us up.”      “I understand.”      Jack and Sandra stood there as three aliens teleported aboard.  They had four legs, and two arms, reminding Jack of a centaur, only with orange skin.  Also their heads looked like an upside pyramid, with four eyes on each side, and a mouth on the top.      “Which of you is the Captain?” one of the aliens asked.  It was wearing a sash, and Jack assumed it was the leader.  While it spoke, another one walked over to a computer panel and started working on it.      “That would be me,” Sandra said.  “This is a passenger of mine.”      “A passenger?  Where are you bringing him?”      “To the Oskan Sector,” Sandra said.  “By way of the Vertal Sector.”      “The Vertal Sector is where the ship was programmed to leave superspace,” the alien at the computer panel said.      “Why were you planning on stopping there?” the alien with the sash asked.      “I don’t like to keep my ship in superspace for more than twenty-four hours or so at a time.”      “It does seem to be a bit of a junker.  Wait here for a moment.”      The aliens teleported back to their ship.      “So, now we wait?” Jack asked.      “Now we wait,” Sandra said.      “I just spoke with Agent Summers,” Philip said to Amphitrite.  “She likes the idea of a fake attack to create a distraction.”      “That’s good to hear,” Amphitrite said.  “Finally some action.”      “We still have to wait though, until they are ready.”      “Fine.”      Melinda was on her way back to the lab, when she turned a corner, bringing her face to face with Aphrodite.      “You again?” Aphrodite said.  “You just won’t leave me alone.”      Melinda did not even respond, at least not verbally.  She instead swung her fist at Aphrodite, who blocked it.  But while the block happened, Melinda also swept her leg over to trip Aphrodite, causing her to fall to the ground.      Melinda dropped down onto Aphrodite, putting her arms around her in a chokehold.  Aphrodite tried struggling against it, but was unable to get out of it, and eventually went limp.      “Looks like our timetable is accelerated,” Melinda said after turning on her comm.  “I just had a run-in with Aphrodite, but I managed to subdue her.  Deipneus, get over here to help me move her.  Palaestra, be ready for us at the exit point.  Everyone else, make it seem like the base is under a massive attack.  Let’s move people.”      “Okay,” Philip said.  “We’ve got the order.”      “It’s about time,” Amphitrite said.      “I’ll go at the base from the north, you come at it from the east.”      “Understood.”      Melinda heard an explosion as Deipneus showed up at her location.  Alarms started immediately.      “That’s our distraction,” Melinda said.  “Let’s go.”      Deipneus came over, and they picked up Aphrodite and started carrying her.      “Agent Summers, we have a problem,” Bartholomew Argus said over the comm.      “What kind of problem?” Melinda asked.  But the only response was the sound of a bullet.      Philip was firing explosives at the base when his comm beeped.      “Wilson here,” he said.      “Something just happened to Argus,” Melinda said.  “It sounds like he was shot.  I need you to check it out.”      “Understood,” Philip said.      He hurried over to Bartholomew’s location.  He snuck up behind the area, but did not see any threats, so he approached, and found Bartholomew’s body on the ground, dead.      “He’s dead,” Philip said.  “And I don’t think it was the Germans that did it.”      “Why not?” Melinda asked.      “The size of the bullet hole.  I think this was one of our supposed allies.”      Melinda observed Deipneus as the two of them carried Aphrodite to the room with the sewage pipe.      “What?” Deipneus asked.      “Can I trust you?” Melinda asked.      “Do you have reason not to?”      “Someone in your group has betrayed us.”      “It’s not me, I can tell you that.”      Melinda paid attention to his eyes as he talked.  “Who in your group do you think it might be?”      Deipneus considered it for a moment.  “Amphitrite is the most likely.  Her husband, Poseidon, has been increasingly critical of Zeus’ leadership as of late.”      “Understood,” Philip said after Melinda told him about Amphitrite.  “I’ll see if I can track her down.”      Philip heard the sounds of shots, and hurried off in that direction.      Melinda and Deipneus arrived at the sewage pipe room with Aphrodite.      “You go first,” Melinda said.  “Then I’ll send Aphrodite through, and follow after.”      “Right,” Deipneus said, as he entered the pipe, and let the current take him away.      Melinda put a breathing mask on Aphrodite before sending her through, and then climbed in after, letting the current take her away.  As she moved, she felt her comm device fall out of her ear.  She tried to reach for it, but failed to locate it.      Philip peaked over some bushes, and saw Amphitrite.      “Summers, I’ve found her, but we have a problem,” he said over the comm.  There was no response.  “She’s dead, so I don’t think she’s the traitor.”      Melinda surfaced, only to find that the situation was not what she had expected.  Palaestra and Deipneus were being held at gunpoint, by Asclepius.      “What’s going on?” Melinda asked.      “He has betrayed us,” Palaestra said.      “Why?” Melinda asked.      “Why would I betray Zeus?” Asclepius asked.  “Do you know he killed me once?  At least back then he was at least a semi-competent ruler, though.  Or maybe we Gods were just so powerful his ineptitude was less obvious.  But now, we hide in this shadows, from the humans who once worshipped us.”      “Oh, so this is an ego thing,” Melinda said.  “You’re working for Aphrodite then?”      Philip ran as fast as he thought he could.  Then he heard a gunshot, and found that he could run even faster, going towards it.      Melinda ran over to Aphrodite.  “She’s dead,” Melinda said.      “Yes, she is,” Asclepius said.  “And the rest of you will…”      Asclepius cut off as another gunshot rang out, only this time he was the target, instead of the shooter.  The bullet pierced his shoulder, and he dropped his gun, which Palaestra immediately went for.      Philip came jogging up.  “Sorry I’m late.”      “At least you got here in time to save us,” Melinda said.  “If not our quarry.  I just wonder how Zeus is going to react to this.”      Meanwhile, in the future, Jack and Sandra were still waiting.      “I wonder what’s taking so long,” Sandra said.  “Are they waiting for us to die of old age?”      “If that’s the case, they might end up waiting longer then planned,” Jack said.  “My family has longer than average lifespans.”      The comm panel started beeping, and Sandra opened the channel.  “Yes?”      “We have looked into you and your passenger, and have learned that there is a warrant out for his arrest,” the alien commander said.  “We have contacted the authorities, and have been told to arrest both of you, and bring you in.  If you refuse to comply, we will destroy your ship.”      “What crimes am I wanted for?” Jack asked.      “I was not told specifics,” the alien commander said.  “The true nature of your crimes is classified, as I’m sure you are aware.”      “What did I get myself into here?” Sandra asked.      “That’s a long story, but I think we should comply with their demands,” Jack said.      “Unfortunately, I don’t see that we have a choice,” Sandra said. To be continued…

     “So, this is our new base of operations?” Jack Masterson asked as he looked around.      There was an open room filled with desks.  There were three smaller rooms attached.  One was full of filling cabinets, and was for data storage.  The second was a small lab.  And the third was Harkon Smith’s office.      “Yes,” Harkon said.  “At least until we’re able to travel through time again.  I will feel much more comfortable when we are early enough in the timeline that our enemies will be unable to alter the time we are in.”      “I assume the TRD and TDD haven’t figured out when we are yet,” Melinda Summers said.      “That is my assumption as well,” Harkon agreed.  “If they had, they likely would have done something about us.”      “So, what’s our current plan?” Melinda asked.      “We have essentially confirmed that the Clockmaker is indeed the creator of the time doors,” Harkon said.  “But he is on vacation at the moment, so I have Mary and a few other agents asking around, to see if they can find out where he went.”      “Are we still calling him the clockmaker?” Jack asked.  “I mean, even if we don’t know his real name, surely we have learned what name he goes by in this time.”      Harkon shrugged.  “No one we’ve asked knows his name, they just refer to him as the Clockmaker.”      “So, do you want us to join the search for him?” Melinda asked.      “I do possibly have a few people I could reach out to,” Jack said.      “We are several decades before your birth,” Harkon said.      “Well, yes, they won’t know me, but I can still reach out to them.  The con artist community is such that you’re often working with people you don’t know.”      “Well, if you want to give me a list, I’ll have some of the other agents check into them, but I have something else I want you to do.”      “What’s that?”      “I want you to negotiate an alliance with Zeus.”      “Thank you for your time,” Mary Bishop said as the door was closed.  She walked down the steps to the sidewalk, and joined Agent Dorian Winters.      “Anything?” she asked him.      “No, and we’re getting further and further from the shop,” Dorian said.  “I very much doubt we’re going to find anything.”      “Yeah,” Mary agreed.  “Maybe we should check out his shop, see if we can find any clues in there.  I’ll check with Mr. Smith, and see what he thinks.”      “An alliance with Zeus?” Jack asked.      “We have a common enemy in Aphrodite,” Harkon said.  “And the Greek Gods are aware of time travel.  And who knows, maybe he’ll even be able to get us in contact with Chronos.”      “But I’m the one who’s supposed to talk with the Clockmaker,” Jack said.      “According to Sesla, who we don’t even know if we can trust,” Harkon said.  “And besides, you can’t talk to him if we can’t find him.”      “But why do you want me to talk with Zeus?  I mean, sure, my mother was a Greek Goddess, but we don’t even know which one.”      “It’s still the best connection we have.”      “Melinda knows some of them, isn’t that a better connection?” Jack asked.      “He does have a point, sir,” Melinda said.      “Which is why you’ll be leading the mission,” Harkon said.  “But I want Jack there as well.”      “Yes, sir,” Melinda said.      “Right, okay,” Jack said.      Harkon’s intercom beeped.  “Sir, we have a call for you from Agent Bishop.”      Mary and Dorian met a locksmith and a police officer at the Clockmaker’s shop.  Both were also ESS agents, although not a part of the Time Division.  The locksmith let them in, while the officer stood guard, to make sure no one thought they were criminals breaking in.      “You check out the store,” Mary said to Dorian.  “I’m going to go upstairs and look at his home.”      “Yes ma’am,” Dorian said, as Mary went up the stairs.      At the top of the stairs, she found an apartment, bigger than the one she had been given by the ESS, but not by much.  It was fairly plain, with very little furnishings. Mary checked his closet and dresser.  There were still clothes, but clearly a lot less than there had been.  The cupboards in the kitchen were bare of food, even nonperishables.      She went back downstairs, where she found Dorian still looking around.  “Found anything?” she asked.      “Nothing of use.  You?”      “I don’t think he’s on vacation, I think he left, and isn’t planning on coming back,” Mary said.  “Which means that we have to find him, as we can’t just wait for him to return.”      “So, how long is this flight going to take?” Jack asked as he and Melinda boarded the plane.  “It’s too bad we can’t use that jet we stole.”      “It has to be taken apart by the ESS for study, which will lead to several important technologies being developed,” Melinda said.  “But they are extensively documenting it, so hopefully we’ll be able to get one made for our use within the next few months.”      “So, we’re going to be in for a nice long flight.”      “It’ll give you time to learn about the current situation involving the Greek Gods.  The group still working under Zeus anyway.”      “Yeah, like what the heck they’re doing in Australia.”      “I more meant their current power structures, the proper etiquette in conversing with them, and that sort of thing.”      “Yeah, I know, I know.  But what are they doing in Australia?”      “So, how is the search going?” Harkon asked Mary as she stepped into his office.      “We were able to narrow down the time he left to the space of an hour,” Mary explained.  “With that in mind, and knowing he used his car to leave the city, I’ve had agents asking around at gas stations.  From that we’ve learned that he was heading south.”      “Hmm, that’s not much to go on.”      “No, but it’s a start.  I understand you’ve been having the scientists upgrading ERK-147’s sensors to increase their range, and I would like to take it along on a drive to major cities down southward, and see if it can detect any advanced technology that will give us a lead.”      “Well, it’s a long-shot, but at this point it also seems to be our best shot.  And I’ll see about getting you some fake credentials, in case you need to question anyone.”      Some time later, Jack and Melinda’s plane touched down in Australia.  They disembarked, and found a truck waiting for them.  In the driver’s seat was a young woman in a military uniform.  Melinda and Jack climbed into the truck.      “Hello, I am Agent Melinda Summers, and this is Agent Jack Masterson,” Melinda said.      “I am Lieutenant Dorothy Kingsmill,” the driver said, as she started driving.  “Welcome to Australia.”      “Thanks,” Jack said.  “So, how long of a drive is this going to be?”      “It’ll be several hours until we get as far as the truck will take us,” Dorothy said.  “Another few hours after that on foot.”      “Well, at least it’ll seem fast after the length of the flight,” Jack said.  “You know, ever since we’ve joined the ESS, I’ve been wondering, why are so many agents also military personnel?  At first I thought the ranks everyone was introducing themselves with were ESS ranks.”      “A few years ago most of the agents were civilians,” Dorothy said.  “But then two things happened.”      “The war started?” Jack asked.      “That was one of the things,” Dorothy said.  “The other was a new director, who decided to let a few governments know of the existence of the ESS.”      “Before that it was a rather small group, put together by scientists,” Melinda said.      “Yes,” Dorothy agreed.  “But those governments let in on the secret wanted to expand it, but they also wanted to keep it secret from the general population, and other governments.”      “Makes sense, I suppose,” Jack said.  “Military personnel can explain being gone for periods of time.  And they already have training, so that saves time.  But what happens when the ESS’s orders conflict with the military’s orders?”      “There is a clause in the ESS charter that prevents it from having agents go against the interests of their home nations,” Dorothy said.      “Because that’s going to solve the problem,” Jack said as he rolled his eyes.      Mary, Dorian, and ERK-147 drove into Atlantic City.  Dorian was driving, while ERK-147 was scanning for any technology that did not belong in 1942.      “So, anything?” Mary asked.      “Nothing yet,” ERK-147 said.  “Wait, I may be picking something up.  Make a left turn as soon as possible, I think I am picking something up on the edge of my range.”      “Okay,” Dorian said.  He made the left.      “Yes, I am definitely picking something up,” ERK-147 said after a few blocks.  “Continue on this road for another ten blocks, than make a right, and go another three blocks.”      Dorian followed the instructions, and they found themselves in front of a hardware store.  One of the windows was boarded up, but it seemed otherwise normal.      “It is coming from inside that building,” ERK-147 said.      “Do you know what it is?” Mary asked.      “No, but it uses the same power source as the TRD equipment.”      “Okay, you’ll come inside with me,” Mary said as she stuffed ERK-147 into her purse.  “There are some advantages to you just being a head these days.”      “I am thrilled that my problems make things more convenient to you,” ERK-147 said.      “Dorian, you stay with the car,” Mary said as she got out.      She walked into the store, which was empty except for the man behind the counter.  He was tall and thin, and looked to be in his early twenties, not even close to the description of the Clockmaker.      “Can I help you with something, miss?” the man asked.      “I’m looking for someone who may have been here a few days ago,” Mary said.  “He is a short, chubby fellow.”      “I know who you’re talking about,” the man said.  “That was two weeks ago.  He broke in through my window after closing, and tried to rob my store.  Luckily I had stayed late, and managed to scare him off with a few shots.  Why’re you looking for him?”      “He’s wanted in conjunction with an FBI investigation,” Mary said.  “I can’t go into details.  Mind if I have a look around your store.”      “Go ahead, but like I said, he didn’t get far.  He came in through the window, I shot at him, and he went back out.  I don’t even know if I hit him.”      Mary walked over to the boarded up window, and looked at the ground.  “Where’s the device?” she whispered.      “It is under that stand,” ERK-147 whispered back, as it pointed with it’s eyes.      Mary reached under and pulled out a small object, about the size of a slice of bread.  It was smooth, and black, but did not have any obvious interface.      “Do you recognize this?” Mary asked as she showed it to the shopkeeper.      “No, I’ve never seen that before.”      “He must have dropped it when you shot at him,” Mary said.  “I’ll be taking it for evidence.”      “So, why did the Greek Gods move to Australia?” Jack asked as he followed Melinda and Dorothy up the mountain trail.      “It’s a big country, with a lot of open space,” Dorothy said.  “A great place for people wanting to hide.”      “Doesn’t seem to have worked, since we know they’re here,” Jack said.      “Yes, but we’re amongst the few people that know of them,” Dorothy said.  “It is, after all, our job to keep abreast of threats of super-science.”      “Except that the Gods are threats of a mystical nature,” Jack said.      “Magic is just science we have not yet explained,” Dorothy said.      “Okay, Arthur C. Clarke,” Jack said.      “Who?” Dorothy asked.      “Never mind,” Melinda said.      “Okay, anyway, it looks like we’re here,” Dorothy said as she climbed the final bit before it leveled out.      Jack followed behind, and saw that this plateau was filled with buildings, just like the ones he had seen in Ancient Greece.      “Seriously?” Jack said.  “Thousands of years and they haven’t even changed their building styles?”      “Okay, thanks,” Mary said before closing the comm channel.  “Well, Mr. Smith isn’t entirely certain what it is,” she said to Dorian and ERK-147.  “But he believes it may be a some sort of multi-tool.”      “And how does that help us?” Dorian asked.      “Because if it is, than it is a part of a set, which are controlled by a central unit.  And we might be able to backtrace the signal.  But we’re going to need to get back to base to do that.”      “Right,” Dorian said.      Jack, Melinda, and Dorothy walked down the main street of the hidden town.  There were people all around who clearly noticed them, but did not approach them, or even stop what they were doing.  Unlike the architecture though, their clothing was much more up to date, although somewhat fancier than would be seen on the average person of this era.      “Do they get a lot of visitors?” Jack asked.      “No,” Dorothy answered.  “But they are familiar with me.”      “And a visit from those two isn’t exactly unexpected,” a familiar voice said from behind.      Jack turned around to see Hermes.  “Oh?” he asked.      “After Deipneus reported back to Zeus on the situation with Aphrodite in France, and your involvement, he’s been expecting you to come here for a while.  If it took much longer, he was going to send me out to go find you.  Now, if you’ll follow me.”      “Agent Kingsmill, can you wait out here?” Melinda asked.      “Of course,” Dorothy said.      “We’re in luck,” Harkon said to Mary and Dorian, as he looked at the readout.  “It seems the tool is still in contact with the control unit.”      “That’s great,” Mary said.  “Where is it?”      Harkon looked at the information in the readout, and then grabbed an atlas and opened it up.  He flipped through the pages, until he found what he was looking for.  “The Pacific Ocean,” he said.  “That’s a bit odd.  I’ll get a hold of a list of ships in the area, and their routes.  You’ll have to look them over, and find out which ship he’s on.”      “Yes, sir,” Mary and Dorian said in unison.      Hermes led Jack and Melinda into the throne room of Zeus.  It was large and extravagant, full of all sorts of lavish decorations.  At the end was a massive throne of solid gold.  Upon that throne was a smaller, although still large, throne, which looked to be much more comfortable.  And it was upon that throne that Zeus sat.      Zeus looked exactly as one would expect.  He appeared as an older man with white hair and a beard.  But the color of his hair was the only reason he looked old, as his face was still full of vigor and life, and he was a rather large and imposing man.      “Welcome to my abode,” he said.  “It is good to finally meet you my grandson.  And even better to meet your lovely companion.”      “Uh, yeah, it’s nice to meet you too,” Jack said.  “We’re here to propose an alliance.”      “Against your mother, I know,” Zeus said.      “My mother,” Jack said.  “No.  Against Aphrodite.  No, you’re not saying that… but she… you can’t be serious.”      “You didn’t know?” Zeus asked.      “But she tried to have sex with me,” Jack said.      “So?” Zeus asked.  “Oh right, I sometimes forget that humans have hangups about that sort of thing.”      “Okay, moving past that, as quickly as we can, we should really deal with the business at hand,” Melinda said.      Mary looked over the ship list, crossing out the ones who’s routes were not in the area they knew the control unit was in.  That narrowed it down, but there were still a lot of options.  She looked at the starting points, and started crossing of locations that did not make sense and, on a hunch, decided to ignore the military ships, and just concentrate on the civilian ships.      That narrowed it down quite a bit, and one in particular stood out.  A cargo ship that had left San Francisco.  If the Clockmaker had taken Route 40 out of Atlantic City, that would have brought him there.  And the cargo ship had left right around the time he would have arrived there, which was earlier than it was originally scheduled to leave, and it’s destination had been changed at the last moment.      Clearly something was up with this ship.  The strangest thing though, in Mary’s mind, was where it was going, Australia.  That could not be a coincidence.      “We have common enemies,” Jack said to Zeus.  “An alliance makes sense.”      “That it does,” Zeus agreed.  “I am just curious on the sort of alliance you are suggesting.”      “Mainly intelligence sharing,” Melinda said.  “As well as some combined missions.”      “I do not want vagueness,” Zeus said.  “What you want is the time door, which is under KOKON control.”      “And Aphrodite is working with them,” Jack said.  “Although both sides of that alliance distrust each other, and for good reason.  You want her under control, do you not?”      “Yes, she has been a problem for a long time now.  But I understand that they are not letting her near the time door because of their mistrust.”      “For now,” Melinda said.  “But eventually they are going to realize that they need her to unlock it’s mysteries.”      “We need to get either her or the door, before that happens.”      “Precisely,” Zeus said.  “Which is why I suggest we work together to capture her.  The door is not my concern, as long as Aphrodite does not have access to it.  I do not care about KOKON having it.”      “Even if they can’t figure out how it works, it’s still fairly easy to use it to visit other times,” Jack said.  “I just stumbled upon it, and went all over the timeline.  There’s no telling what kind of damage they could do to the timeline.”      “And that is your problem, not mine,” Zeus said.      Harkon looked at the report Mary had given him, and then looked at her, as she waited patiently for his decision.      “You’re becoming quite the tracker,” he said.  “Your father would be proud.”      “Thank you, sir.”      “I’ll get a plane to take you and Agent Winters to Australia.  You should be able to make it before the ship.  And Jack and Melinda may be able to join you, if they are done with negotiations by then.”      Jack and Melinda sat down in a room they had been given to use.  They were taking a break from the discussions with Zeus, to discuss the situation.      “We’re just going in circles,” Melinda said.  “We want to concentrate on the time door, Zeus wants to concentrate on Aphrodite.”      “The problem is that we do want to deal with Aphrodite as well, it’s just not our main concern,” Jack said.  “Which means we might have to agree to his demands.”      “She’s a nuisance, but we need to regain access to time travel.  Without it we are useless, at best.”      “Then we’re going to need something more to bring to the table,” Jack said.  “I have an idea, but you’re not going to like it.”      Harkon was filling out paperwork, when his intercom beeped.  “Yes?” he asked.      “Sir, Nikola Tesla is here.  He said he wants to talk with you.”      “Excellent, send him in.”      After a few moments, the door opened, and Nikola walked in.      “Thank you for coming Mr. Tesla,” Harkon said.  “Have you thought about the offer?”      “I have.”      “And?”      “How much autonomy do you have from the rest of the ESS?”      “I report directly to the director himself,” Harkon said.  “And so far he has allowed me free rein to do as I think best.  The only limits placed on me are of practical concerns, since resources are limited, especially with the war going on.”      “Yes, dreadful business that war.  But, as for the purpose of my visit, yes, I am willing to work with you.  On a provisional basis, mind you.  I reserve the right to leave at any time, if I decide I do not agree with your methods.”      “Of course.”      “You want to help them regain their powers?” Melinda said.  “You’re right, I don’t like that.  Not to mention that we have no idea how to do that.”      “No, but I’ve got a hunch that we’ll be able to learn about it once we can travel through time again,” Jack said.  “Although that brings up a question.  My hunches are likely an ability brought on by being a Demi-God, so how come I have my abilities?  Do the Gods get there powers back by my time?”      “No, although they did get them back shortly after your time.  However Demi-Gods weren’t affected by the depowering.  Just full Gods.”      “So, Hercules is still out there some being super-strong?”      “Yep.  If I recall correctly, he’s actually currently a member of the Pontifical Swiss Guard.”      “That’s… odd.”      “Oh, you have no idea.”      Mary and Dorian sat in the plane, on the long flight to Australia.      “Hungry?” Mary asked as she took out some food.      “No thanks,” Dorian said.  “I can’t eat while flying, it makes me nauseous.”      “Oh, is that a common thing?”      “I don’t really know.  Although I guess you’re a lot less familiar with airplanes than I am.”      “I’ve gotten used to a lot of things recently.  Does it bother you that I’m in charge of our missions, despite being from the past, and a woman?”      “The fact that you’re from the past certainly makes it strange, I won’t deny that.  But you being a woman, not so much.  I know some of the military member of the ESS aren’t too happy with women being in the organization, but I was actually brought into the ESS by a woman, Agent Chelsea Rusch.  Your age though does make me wonder a bit.  You look to be barely out of your teens.”      “I am only twenty.”      “But I suppose your experience does make up for that.  And either way, ‘Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do or die.’”      “I hardly thing we’re going to die on this mission,” Mary said.      “No, probably not, it’s just a quote, from a poem I think.  It’s about following orders, even if we don’t understand them.”      “Really,” Zeus said after Melinda and Jack had explained the proposal to him.  “You expect me to rely on this supposed hunch of yours?”      “They are a godly ability, from my Demi-God status,” Jack said.      “I know that,” Zeus said.  “My problem is that I have no idea if this is actually a hunch of yours, or if you’re just making things up.”      “But can you really pass up the chance that I could be telling the truth?” Jack asked.      Zeus stroked his beard.  “Hmm, that is an interesting point.”      “There is one caveat though,” Melinda said.  “We likely won’t be able to repower you in this time.  Based on Jack’s hunch, it’s likely that the process will take some time.”      “For us immortals, waiting is nothing major.  But I will have to consider this.”      Mary and Dorian disembarked from the plane after it had landed.  They were met by Agent Kevin Reed.      “Welcome to Australia,” he said.  “According to the schedule, the ship is still a day away, but we’ve set up some accommodations in the meantime, right by the docks.”      “Right, and how many agents will we have?” Mary asked.      “Myself and five others,” Kevin said.  “Possibly also Agent Kingsmill, and the other two from your department, if they are finished with their negotiations by then.”      Melinda and Jack were eventually lead back into Zeus’s throne room.      “Have you made your decision?” Melinda asked.      “I have considered your words, and have concluded that we most likely will regain our powers through the normal course of the timeline, or else you would not have offered this,” Zeus said.      “Except that she didn’t offer it, I did,” Jack said.      “And she agreed to it, with a caveat,” Zeus said.  “The conclusion is obvious.”      “The thing is, we’re not on the normal course of the timeline,” Jack said.  “Things are already all wibbly wobbly, and who knows if your repowering will still happen.  Putting the timeline back on it’s correct course is in your best interest, and for that, we need the time door.”      “Hmm, perhaps you are right.  Fine, we will collaborate on capturing both Aphrodite and the time door.”      Harkon watched as Nikola looked over the lab he had been given.  It was furnished with some of the most advanced ESS technology of the era, as well as a single piece from further in the future.      “Well now, what is this?” Nikola asked as he saw ERK-147.      “I am a maintenance bot,” ERK-147 replied.  “Unfortunately I am without a body, which lowers my level of utility.”      “And when might you be from?” Nikola asked.      “It’s from the year 2347,” Harkon said.      Nikola picked up ERK-147, and looked all over it.  “Fascinating, simply fascinating.  I once thought of creating a robot, but there were… complications, which prevented me from doing so.”      “Well, it’s not quite the same, but I would appreciate it if, as your first task, you were able to build a new body for it.”      “I would appreciate it quite a bit myself,” ERK-147 added.  “It is very inconvenient being unable to move.”      The following day, Mary, Dorian, and Kevin went out on the docks as they saw the ship approaching.  Kevin had his other five agents hidden in nearby locations.      “You know,” Kevin said.  “You haven’t really told me much about the target.”      “He’ll hopefully be an ally,” Mary said.  “Assuming we can convince him that we’re on the same side.”      “And how dangerous is he if we can’t convince him?” Kevin asked.      “It’s hard to say,” Melinda said as she arrived with Jack and Dorothy.  “He’s a genius inventor.  Who knows what he might have cooked up for himself.”      “It’s curious though,” Jack said.  “According to Sesla, I’m supposed to meet him in a clockmaker’s shop.  And since that was the thing that set us on his path, it’s curious that I’d meet him on a dock, or on the ship itself.”      “Who’s Sesla?” Kevin asked.      “That’s classified,” Melinda said.      “So, what’s the plan, anyway?” Jack asked.      “We’ve already radioed to the captain,” Mary said.  “He says he doesn’t have anyone on board who fits the description.  So as soon as it docks, we’ll be going aboard and inspecting it, before he’s allowed to bring anything on or off.”      “And I have men set up in case anyone tries to get off before that,” Kevin said.      “Just make sure they know not to use lethal force,” Melinda said.  “His death is worse than his escape.  If he gets away we can still find him later.”      Back in New York, Harkon was out for his regular nightly jog.  He was starting to get into better shape, and he enjoyed the relative solitude of the city at night.  It gave him a chance to think over the problems of the day in a more relaxed manner.      Problems such as the fact that he had just hired Nikola Tesla, a man he knew was supposed to die in a matter of months.  But would this change that?  And should he allow that to be changed?  He knew how to save him, and they could easily fake his death, to keep the timeline on it’s path.  After all, Nikola would be an immense help in their work.      Melinda opened the door, and saw a small empty bathroom.  “This room’s clear,” she shouted down the hallway.      “So’s this one,” she heard Jack say from nearby.      “Our deck is clear,” Melinda radioed.  “Any luck on your end?”      Mary grabbed her radio.  “We’ve completed the search of this deck as well.  No one here that shouldn’t be.”      Jack started fidgeting while he waited for Melinda to be talking on the radio.      “Everyone else has reported in that their deck is clear,” Melinda eventually said as she turned to face him.      “Well, that’s unfortunate,” Jack said as he continued fidgeting.      “Something wrong?”      “I kind of need to use the washroom.”      “Seriously?  Well, there’s one behind that door.” Melinda pointed.      “Thanks.”  Jack walked over opened the door and stepped through…      …but he did not find himself in a bathroom.  Rather he found himself in a clockmaker’s shop.  He turned around, only there was no door behind him, just a wall.  He turned back around to find a short chubby man with glasses had seemingly appeared right in front of him.      “Hello Jack,” he said.      “I take it you’re the Clockmaker?” Jack asked.      “That is a name some people know me by.”      “And what’s your real name?”      “My real name isn’t important.  Well, no, technically it’s very important, which is why it’s important that no one knows it.”      “Why?  Even if someone killed you when you were a kid, you’d still be here in this time, since this predates your birth.  That’s how time travel works, isn’t it?”      “That’s technically true, but it’s woefully incomplete.  To give an analogy you’d understand, your knowledge of time travel is like Newtonian physics, compared to my knowledge which is beyond Einstenian physics.  But that’s not why I brought you here.”      “So, why did you bring me here, and where is here?  We’ve been looking for you, because we need your help.”      “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life,” the Clockmaker said.  “Starting with inventing time travel.  I’m working on trying to fix my mistakes, fix the timeline.”      “That’s what we’re trying to do as well,” Jack said.      “What you’re trying to do is put a band-aid on a decapitation.  It’s commendable that you’re trying, but it’s not exactly going to make a difference.  Now, what I need to know is where your duplicate is.”      “He’s dead, why, what do you need him for?”      “That’s unfortunate.  What did you do with the body?”      “We burned it, to prevent it from contaminating the timeline.  Why are you asking?”      “That’s very unfortunate.  I put some… I suppose you could call it coding in his soul, as a part of my plan.”      “What kind of coding?”      “Nothing that would affect they way he acted, just something that would allow me to collect data from the timestream.  But if he’s dead, that’ll make it a lot more difficult to get.  The fact that you burned the body means he’s unlikely to still be around as a ghost, so I’ll have to figure out where his soul went.”      “Would it mean anything if I told you that Merlin took his soul before he died?”      “When?”      “In the year 3007.”      “But he died in this time, right?”      “Yeah, why?”      “A soul is… well it’s difficult to explain but it isn’t so much something as it is… well it’s kind of like a ticket that determines where you go when you die.”      “I’m not sure I understand.”      “If Merlin took his soul, that wouldn’t actually mean that anything would happen to him at that moment, but it would mean that when he died, his consciousness would become the possession of Merlin.  Which means he likely is a ghost.  At least in theory.  I’m not exactly what would happen in this case, with him dying in an earlier time period than the one in which he lost his soul.”      “Well, if you need to get to him, then you’ll need the time door, so we’ll need to work together.”      “Don’t be silly, I don’t need a time door to travel through time, how else do you think I was able to place the time doors in the first place?  Anyway, there’s a door over there.” the Clockmaker pointed to the other end of the shop.  “You can show yourself out.”      Jack looked over to the door, which he was certain had not been there before.  He then looked back to see that the Clockmaker had vanished.      Melinda knocked on the bathroom door.  “Are you almost done in there?”  There was no response, and she knocked harder.  “Jack?”      She waited a bit longer, before just opening the door, to find that the bathroom was empty.  She looked around it, but it was tiny, and there was only the one door to get in or out.      “We’ve got a problem,” she radioed.      “What’s that?” Mary asked.      “Jack’s disappeared.  He went into a bathroom, and vanished.”      “What do you mean by vanished?” Kevin asked.      “I mean that he entered the bathroom, and is no longer in it, but he did not exit from the only exit there is.”      “So, what’re we gonna do about this?” Mary asked.      “I don’t know,” Melinda said.  “If we had ERK-147 here we could see if it could scan for anything, but if this is the Clockmaker behind this, whatever he did might be beyond 147’s ability to scan.”      “And either way it’s back in New York,” Mary said.      Jack walked over to the door, opened it, and stepped through….      …and he stepped out to find himself in a very familiar alley.  It was the same one he had entered the pawn shop from, back at the start of this whole situation.  Now that he thought of it, the clockmaker’s shop had the same layout.      He turned around, and tried opening the door, but it was locked.  He walked around to the front, and looked around.  He was clearly back in his own time period, although it was a little off.  It was summer when he left, and it should still be summer, or maybe early fall, he had not been keeping perfect track.  But it was now winter.      It was night, and the street was empty of people, so he grabbed a nearby garbage can, and tossed it through the front window of the shop.  He climbed in, and saw that it was the pawn shop now, not the clockmaker’s shop he had just been in.  He went to the back where the time door had been when he had first been there.      It was not there, so he scoured the rest of the place.  But it was not anywhere in the building.  He left, not wanting to be there if the cops showed up.  As he walked away he thought about the fact that he had finally managed to get back to his own time, only now he was trapped in it. To be continued…