Of Lore And Time...!!!

'Tis TIME to unveil a project that I have had under wraps (also - aye, another one - as I have a lot of those, all under wraps just like this one used to be - until now, that is!) and I have had it under wraps for a long, long TIME indeed - and TIME being of the essence and all... It is time to allow it to take off and let it fly!

This project is all about the fourth dimension too, as it turns out, being an epic of time traveling adventure and a saga with greater-than-great scope in the time-honored tradition of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne! The ramifications of this tale are immense - and I want it that way, evidently, since I've authored it all! I certainly would not have dared immerse myself into Wells' territory, or imbue myself with some of Verne's flair, if I had not a tale of proper magnitude to tell! In fact, I've injected into this all that I could find of significance pertaining to the eternal triad in conflict in each and every one of our lives: the past, the present and the future. Each one of these carry their share of weight upon our shoulders, until our time has come... The conflict, here, soon takes another dimension, and another and another - until the most thrilling time travel epic of all TIME, truly, emerges at the other end! If I dare say so myself...! Obviously, I am extremely proud of this project and it is one that I have wanted to see be properly developed for the longest... ah, TIME, you guessed it, indeed! Verily, it is right up there with my two or three top pet projects. Alas, one needs to convince the incredulous and the clueless to make it happen - the first category are the preditors, pub-leesh-ers and other assorted critters of the kind, whether they are electronic or the paper-tiger variety... The second category are the slush pile creatures - and their cyber equivalents, whether they are found on a plebiscite forum on sites such as Gather.com or more fanboy-inclined thingies, such as Quantum Musings.com...! In any case, even for the mere casual reader who might dismiss the following as "yet another sci-fi tale" - this is but a teaser. A mere sampler. Only a taste of things to come; as it is but a drop from the ocean that engulfs this awesome saga that I have had in store for you all since... Time Immemorial? Well, almost...! (It only seems like it to the creative mind, I suppose! But I am digressing once more...)
I have kept this under wraps, biding my TIME, indeed, as the potential of this project came more and more apparent to me and all who have been privy to it. Not dwelling too much on the ultimate direction that this will take, I kept ironing out details, polishing here and there, working on the motivations of the ensemble cast, but most specifically on the three key components of said cast. Not focusing too overtly or intensely on the main protagonist who is such a key figure in all this, I kept most of my attention on the era which is at the core of the entire thing. Not unveiling major aspects of it, such as that main protagonist's mere name, abilities, history and so on, I tried to whet potential investors' appetite with the mere plot of it or a simple synopsis, a typical Hollywoodian pitch even - well, NO MORE!
It was briefly seen online, elsewhere, on one or another of the sites mentioned or alluded to above; they wanted self-contained tales though, hence they primed other tales over this one. I make it as self-contained as I can here, in this admitted TEASER - dropping hints of what is to come without giving away too much, I dare hope... However, it is obvious to all who will read this that this is not meant to be a mere one-shot deal: it is but the first instalment of an epic that can very nearly transcend time itself indeed! I exaggerate - but you know what I mean! There is much, much more where all that follows herein came from: and for those in the publishing industry who may drop by this place, remember that you do not have to like ME in order to like the saga TIMELY delivered here, at long last...! For the time has arrived for this tale, indeed - one simply has to look around the globe to see that much: all the indicators are there. Time is short - and my Time Travellers drive that point across in astounding fashion!
Hence, without further ado - here it is: the Time Retrieval Project Saga!
Alternatively known as the Time Trench Saga, on Z2H... "Timestream"... "A Timestream To Negociate" on QM.com, in the case of the first installment anyhow... Another evocative title that I flirted with was "Pimpernels of Time"... "3794 A.D." sounded nice, too... "Lore" (read on for further explanation...) or quite simply "The Time Travelers".
(Admittedly, I am never satisfied all that long with any titles and/or labels as it is...! Must be all that time travelling, back and forth, that's causing this? But that is another story...!)
Nota Bene: the main protagonist, the redheaded woman with an attitude and talent to match, goes by her business quite anonymously throughout the inaugural story here. That is for a very good reason: I wanted to keep the name a mystery for greater effect (and selling punch) until later - until, in fact, the TIME was more appropriate to unveil it! Here, today, it stands revealed, quite obviously: as you've seen above and will see again, below. It is all good, for the more people know it and see it here, the better; for I'll have all of those as witnesses that the idea -and snazzy slogan that comes with it- is all mine! The name is LORE - pronounced "Law-ree" in Futuristic English and "Lau-rit" in Futuristic French! Why bother with the second? Because we want to acknowledge Barbarella as a forebear, we suppose! (In the future, names like these will be common place, I'm sure - the way things are now, y'know...! But we digress here once more!)
Thus, the name comes with an amusing slogan that is a catchy play on the definition of the original word - verily, NO ONE in Hollywood would be able to resist such a sales pitch (I picture in my own mind's eye: Roger Corman salivating upon being presented with such a concept! If we could time travel and present it to him back in the day when he was looking for cool ideas to produce... Never mind that he would then not do them justice by being cheap and all - that is, again, another story!)
The visualizations of the concept and main character that I present here are mere suggestions - with apologies to the owners of the Joan of Ark painting above, and also to Dina Meyer and the producers of the film from which the picture below is excerpted from! Lore is a warrior-woman by temperament. One tempting way to describe her might be indeed "Valkyrie of the Timestream" - for she is one with as much in common with Joan of Ark as with the Norse myth indeed. An actress with a lot of character herself, such as a Dina Meyer, an Uma Thurman or a Tricia "Howlin For You" Helfer, would theoretically be great casting here - but it is, once again, merely suggestive at this stage...
Onwards with the "teaser" now...! ;-)

Original art that inspired and fully developed the character -
as well as the luminous promo material found here today...!

A Timestream To Negociate...
By Luciano A. Pimentel

Out of the swirling mires of the timestream, she emerges; looking as ominous and fierce as an angel of death and yet as graceful and radiantly beautiful as Botticelli's Birth of Venus. Although Aphrodite never carried with her the hi-tech apparel this sulfurous, self-assured lady was packing! Oddly-shaped bracelets and the like, a glimmering headband seemingly made of pure gold, so many scintillating accoutrements that seemed to cling onto her every limb; and she needed it all, of course, if only to disperse the eternal mists of time as she went about her quite peculiar routine. She exuded all of this torrid sexuality with every one of her simplest gestures - and yet there was no cleavage whatsoever. She was fully garbed, from head to toe, up to her neck in protective gear even; it was the sort of suit that seemed fit for a menial worker of the 20th Century but, on her, it looked like a royal garment. Truly, it was a tremendous feat that she exuded such feminity even though so poorly clothed! It was a testament to the woman that she was. Truth be told though, she was all business as she stormed out of nowhere -or so it appeared- and stopped only to inspect the surroundings that she had materialized into. She quickly assessed the situation and pressed a few vital digits on her wristband's miniaturized console. And time itself froze over all around her.

In fact, as much for her benighted partner as for herself, time had truly frozen. It had stood still for the both of them the moment they had left their homebase in the 36th Century, their actual time period. And, now, they had reached their destination - and not a nano-second had passed. The retrieval operation assigned to them both could begin, finally - at long last, as paradoxical as it sounds.

"Spacio-temporal status...?" she inquires rudely, apparently lost in thought and unaware of her lack of gentleness.

"Annus mirabilis, of course...! Yet another truly wonderful year they've sent us to... WHAT ELSE?" chuckled her curlish dark-haired juvenile companion, otherwise extremely qualified.

"Spare me your sarcasm, boy... You're not Curly and I'm neither Larry nor Moe! Just give me the damn facts!" she hissed back through clenched teeth.

"Actually... The fact is, Curly was not..." he began in the exact same tone, stopping cold on his tracks when she gave him the most intense, ice-cold stare he'd seen from her - in hours, lest it spanned ages. Needless to say that he changed his tune right away. "All right now - no more sarcasm! Happy? Just the COLD hard facts... This is Anno Domini 3003-01-03... " he started reciting mechanically, staring at his own wristband mini-console, strongly resisting the urge to marvel at the apparent numerological value of this assignment. "Greenwich Mean Time precisely 22 HRS. 34 MIN. 13 SEC.... LONGITUDE 50°... LATITUDE 25°... And, most importantly for us... Subject is to succumb to internal injuries - which are to be suffered in exactly... 4.7 seconds - in about... 9.2 minutes, and..."

"ALL RIGHT - ENOUGH DETAILS! It's always one of two extremes with you..." she grumbled with discontent, turning towards the street where all the action was to take place. "Tell York that I'm ready to move in... Have him send in the replacement PRONTO! Capisce?" she snapped at him without any reticence whatsoever.

"Whatever you say... ma'am... uh... I mean, commander!" added the youngster, slyly and ever-so-defiantly.

She barely glanced back at him -stern-faced, as she always was, it seemed - before taking off. She would stop dead in her tracks herself however, as a familiar discomfort quickly grew to sharp pain all over her cranium. The feisty femme fatale lost most if not all of her aplomb and feistiness on the spot. She raised her left hand to her tight headband, for the pain was, as ever, focalized on her left temporal lobe. Her third sight worked that way; left lobe for the past, right lobe for the future. As if her future could be made right, she thought often, bemused, if not amused one iota. She briefly shuddered uncontrollably, but quickly regained her composure. Too late though, for her often-annoying assistant, Obadiah, had noticed her predicament already...

"Are you all right?" he asked, genuinely worried.

"Of course I am - I am fine! You just worry about your part of the job - getting that replacement here... Understood?" she barked at him in a most bitter manner, as the visions started assailing her - as she well knew they would now...

She began to see, in her mind's eye, her assigned retrieval subject's entire life unfolding as if it were a projected film, out of an old-time projector that is; complete with flickering images at various speeds alternatively. Freeze-frames for adult life. Fast-forward to adolescence. Slow-motion for childhood.

Freeze-framed moments of joy were few and far in-between. Evidently, happiness was scarce in this man's life, and the ordeals, for their part, had been many from what she could get a glimpse at or a firm focus upon. His dreams had gone, for the most part, unfulfilled. Tears filled up her eyes as her natural empathy kicked in and she began to irreversibly sympathize with ''the subject''. No names were ever used at this stage of the retrieval process by virtue of a decree issued by the Establishment. It was all to avoid any complications deemed totally ''unnecessary and obsolete'' by The Establishment's protocol. Of course. Her employers knew her very well, also. They knew she needed to be reminded of these orders, ad nauseam. It was not surprising that human feelings had to be checked at the door of this ''Time Retrieval Project'' - due to the nature of the project itself, and what it aimed to accomplish. Retrieving was of the essence. What a hoot, she had always thought, when thinking of the project's given name; for lost time, on such a scale, could never be recuperated - ever.

She managed to shrug off the visions -as the tears- and ran her fingers through her thick red hair in a bogus effort to make herself look vain and dispel any doubt in her partner's mind regarding her well-being. Or mental state.

''I am going to make contact - hold the replacement until further notice now...!'' she utters to her own surprise, this procedure not being at all what was allowed by the ostentatious Establishment's rigid set of regulations - and she knew it all too well.

''Contact? You know it's against the rules...!'' he whimpered disapprovingly

''I do not care. I am field-commander here and this is my call to make... I won't tell them if you don't... Okay? Just stay silent and stay put - and out of my way!''

''Impulsive, stubborn, strong-willed and unpredictable to boot; they were right about you...'' he muttered to himself, or so he thought...

She'd "heard'' everything, of course - in her mind. Her empathy made her also a telepath; the latter was in fact the least of her abilities though. Her usual reaction to ''what they said about her'' was only to grin a semi-grimace of contentment each time she'd get wind of it, either verbally or telepathically. And then she moved forward, pretending not to have heard at all - not to have read their minds at all... It was the best reaction to have, as it was. One had to walk a fine line with The Establishment in place.

She walked out of the timestream and into ''real time'' - or terra firma as she liked to refer to it! The ''subject'' stood there, as all other passers-by on the busy metropolitan street before her -including the drowsy driver that was about to send him into the nearby purlieu- were all literally frozen in time. The only living statue of interest here was him - this mission's subject-case of note. She dialed up the necessary codes on her wristband once more, only to thaw her subject out of -and also insert herself into- the timeframe at this juncture. He immediately came to life when she was done, and was startled as much by the stunning red-haired, oddly-garbed strong woman in front of him as by the fact that everyone else about them was indeed standing there ''frozen'' in place. And there was this Amazon, towering over him and smiling the strangest smile, some awkward grin meant to prevent him from freaking out on her right there and then. She reassured him with an open hand, too; alas, public relations or diplomacy had never been her forté. She did not really care either way usually, so it would not factor in now either, she thought.

''Stay calm - I am a friend. As incredibly, ah, corny as this may sound... I am a friend from the future...!'' she heard herself say.

Upon hearing that, he didn't say a word; he just stood there, staring at her with obvious incredulity. Thus, she continued, on one limb really.

''I assure you that I am not a figment of your imagination or some sort of lunatic... I am for real! Could I do this if I were not?''

She pressed a couple of keys on the old wristband -that is all it took to turn the trick- and the timeframe ''progressed'' as her boss York would have described it were he there. Everyone started moving again, on cue, for exactly as long as she wanted them to in order to make her demonstration. And, all this while, the two of them remained stationary! Then she immediately rewinded the action all about the both of them, thinking it would be even more impressive but most of all convincing. She rewinded it all back to the point where it stood when she had barged into the timeframe and effectively "prickled him out of time'' as they say in the 35th Century onwards.

Seeing as his skepticism had changed into outright bewilderment, she pressed that advantage immediately.

''Before you ask; NO, I am not an angel and NO, you are not dead... not yet anyway...'' Those last three words had just escaped her lips and though she had barely muttered them, he had heard and she regretted having been so careless on the spot.

''Yet?! What d-do you mean by that...?'' he blurted out with everything but skepticism now...

''I... I am here to retrieve you, mere seconds before your fatal accident... I am from a time displacement organization trying to repopulate a depleted Earth in a time period further down the time stream, as I said before... And you were chosen as one element worth salvaging towards that goal... Your untimely demise being such a senseless waste and all...'' she explained, all in one breath. Seeing as he said nothing and would only gape at her dumb-foundedly, she chose to continue further with her explanation; At best, he might buy into the remote possibility of this really being happening to him. At worst, he would think he was dreaming it all up. ''Listen... You were to die at some time tonight... And I came to change that - to make sure that you'd make it; make sure you'd survive and live on... Only not necessarily in this timeframe... My organization dispatches many like me, to act as, ah, Scarlet Pimpernels of sorts, shall we say... Saving the lives of many such as you, throughout space and time itself...''

"You... are saving my life...?'', he finally said, upon snapping out of his stupor. ''But I don't even know you... Why would you do this for me? And if all that you say is true... Why me? Why would you go through all this trouble for me...?'' he blurted out, all in one breath too, before pausing, figuring it out for himself and declaring vicariously ''What do you want in exchange for this huge favor...? This organization that sent you that is...? They must want something for this huge favor - they must want something in exchange!''

Clearly seeing that this was going to be a difficult sale and that Obadiah and York -damn them both- were absolutely right in their great apprehension of ''any contact with the subject of retrieval,'' she decided to try a different approach right away.

''Does the year 3797 mean anything to you?'' she digressed all out of the blue.

''W-What? N-no... Can't say that it does... Why?'' he said, even more dumb-founded than before.

''Nostradamus wrote that the world would end in 3797 - or so they say. So far though, the 'prediction' or 'prophecy' or whatever it is... well, it looks to be pretty accurate indeed... For I come from the year 3794 A.D. - and things are certainly already looking as bleak as they get to be, down there... On virtually every level of existence too...''

''What does all this have to do with me?'' he interjected

''I'd like to say that we -that is, The Establishment and the organization that I represent- require your intellect... Or your know-how... Or even your business acumen... That you can be a part of the "rebuilding of the future" - and you can be, but just not quite that way... Not only or even most importantly in any of those ways. The sad truth is that agents such as myself are dispatched to retrieve one-by-one or in bulk viable subjects for... Well, reproductive purposes and nothing more really... Anything else is a bonus really... But the main and greatest outcry for of the times that I come from is a solution to the drastically dwindling number of births. It still remains a chance at a new life, for you - a second chance. Take it. Please.'' she recited, with great sadness in her voice. "Take it willingly and consciously. Please?"

''What? Am I a man or mere cattle to you people? Reproductive purposes, you say...?!? And who with...? With you?''

''No... NO!'' she emphatically denied upon hearing the notion. ''As a matter of fact, we will never see each other again, if the process runs its regular course... Once retrieved, all individuals are to be re-educated, so that you can fully become 36th Century citizens... Fully functional citizens... In more than that way, too... I can assure you of that.'' she further enthused, somewhat embarrassed now. "But I am not a... "Procreator"... No. I... cannot be."

''This Establishment of yours brainwashes us then? And then we get to multiply like rabbits!'' he snapped, out of the blue, so unrepentantly that she was completely taken aback by the sharpness of the perceptive foresight that he displayed... 'THAT'S IT - ISN'T IT?'' he shouted, visibly upset.

''I am not allowed to say...'' she blurts out in utter and complete disarray now; for here was practically her male equivalent standing before her. She had never met someone as virulent as she could be. She wasn't expecting this sad subject to turn out to be this way. ''All right - YES! That is exactly what they do... I have come this far with you, I might as well tell you the whole sordid truth about it!'' She enthused again, with a sudden burst of righteousness; one that his reaction had triggered entirely. This was not a mere side-effect of over-indulging in time traveling, not at all; she was doing what was right -finally- ignoring the Directives for once in her now extremely long career. And so she continued: ''They block out of your memory any and all personal recollections of your past, of your own time, of your real life... It is supposed to be so that you can all start over completely anew, like a blank slate... But what it is, really, is them effectively treating you all as nothing more than breeding stock indeed, in a ''mass population'' manipulation program that is meant to be all for the ''greater good'' of the planet... And this was decided upon by the same kind of people that once a time decided to actually cull world population, in fear of overpopulation; they created the opposite problem for my generation...''

''Some Pimpernels you've turned out to be... This Establishment of yours seems more and more like some Orwellian set-up to me...!''

''You do have wits to spare, don't you? Not that it will impress the Establishment much...'' she chimes in almost involuntarily, in her trademark low raspy voice... ''It will be a waste...''

''Maybe - but not as you imagine!'' it was his turn to enthuse, and he added in the same breath, ''I take it that you will let me choose if I want to be a part of all this or not... RIGHT? Otherwise you wouldn't have told me all that you've told me...''

''Your only other option is that I leave you to die here...'' she replied, with sadness ''And your potential worthy lineage would be forever lost to the cause of humanity. That we let time follow its course without interfering equals death not only for you but for the planet too... Surely you do not want that...?''

''It was to be my fate, was it not?'' he assessed sternly, in a roar... ''WHAT'S A GUY TO DO...? I messed up every other opportunity I ever got... WHY CHANGE NOW? It's a habit of a lifetime...! Have you got a single good reason for me to change that now...?'' he ended, in a whimper though, his voice reverberating meekly to her by then, as he suppressed the emotions he felt. Emotions that she could feel too, as though her own. But he knew nothing about that, of course.

''Surely you do not mean this... It doesn't have to be like this... I know how hard your life has been... I saw how it went... And that is really why I came to you... To offer you an alternative... You can turn it all around now... And make a huge difference.'' she further pleaded with some distinguishable genuine concern in her voice, one that he could certainly not miss. It would still fall on deaf ears though.

''You KNOW? You SAW? What do you know about me? You DON'T KNOW ME! I sure as hell don't know YOU! All that you offer me is a chance to live like a slave - in the most degrading manner! I would rather die right now - as the fates seem to have seen fit - and die a free man, with the little bit of dignity that I have got LEFT! A down-on-his-luck slacker, maybe - but a FREE MAN! You offer me the FUTURE? Then I shall choose the PAST - and OBLIVION! I will have none of your bleak future... Your damned Establishment... your... Chinese box offering! Anyway, I have long adopted an old adage from ages ago as my own in regard to the future; THERE IS NONE! Your Establishment made sure of that: and it needs to learn a thing or two about dignity as well!'' he blurted out nervously, calming down at last only to conclude in the meekest way: ''I... I've missed out on every other opportunity I've ever had... I relinquish this one - outright! Save the next guy, if he likes it... He'll do just as well as I would have, I am absolutely certain of it.''

At the end of this long diatribe, she could only agree with the arguments he had presented her. Though she knew that went completely against the expense and effort put into sending her where she stood right there and then, she had given a "retrieval subject" the choice to willfully embark on the journey -which was hardly a joyride- and come save the bleakest of futures. And bleak did not begin to describe it, in truth. Now faced with a refusal, she took her time, so to speak, in order to respond in the most appropriate and tactful way - for, at this point, she could at least afford that.

''Very well... As you wish... You won't be missing much, mind you; 36th Century Earth is as dead as dead can get. It really is. It's bleaker than any post-nuclear-warfare-futuristic movie you or anybody else has ever seen... I would even venture to say that it is much worse than that. You will most probably find a sweeter life in this oblivion you wish for now...'' she lets slip out in one staccato, trying to sound as if she couldn't care less - and feeling as though she failed pathetically at it - reverse psychology was the last ditch effort of choice. ''But I want you to know that they've retrieved your mother and grandmother already: our schedule being neither linear nor chronological in either way, you see... Both of them are doing just fine as new citizens of the future... In fact, you've now several siblings and uncles and aunts you'd never have even known about if not for me telling you about them on this most unusual of occasions here...''

''Why tell me this then...?'' he interrupted, ''You think it's gonna change my mind?''

''Likely not - it is irrelevant if it did or not anyhow, seeing how it would have been impossible for you to find out about any of them had you ''gone with this''... Contact, between related retrieved subjects? The Establishment forbids all that. Still... The thought that your close kins are alive and well and have made something out of their second chance at life should give you some comfort now, if it doesn't encourage you to perhaps rethink things through and give this ''thing'' a chance...?''

''I don't think so... either way...'' he grumbles in discontent.

''Your mother was retrieved at the age of 33... Right after her major miscarriage complications... You were only 3 at the time...'' she continues, undeterred. ''They fix this sort of problem as so many others easily, in 3794! Your grandmother - retrieved at age 39, after her car accident... Or rather, just before! They are like sisters now... And they will never know their true kinship because their memories have been erased... As yours would have been... Had you accepted... ''

Those last few words she utters them looking down, as if shameful of something done - or to be done shortly. Before he shouts his disapproval of what has been done to his family, she presses one lone button on her wristband - and time freezes over once again for him. She hopes that the knowledge she has given him will stick somehow through the rigorous ''reconditioning'' treatment his mind will be getting shortly, that which will make him, as countless others now, into a ''model 36th Century citizen'' of choice. She wipes a tear, knowing full well that the chances of him remembering any of what she said are second to nil, in truth. At least she had tried to bend the rules a little - or a lot. Somehow it still wasn't enough and the old adage that had it that ''what one did not know could not hurt him'' was indeed of very little consolation here - if any at all.

''Oh... I never got to tell you my name... Never got to ask yours, though I have some idea what it is... It is surely better that way though... No names. They erase them all, anyway... Even that, they erase... Even that.'' she whispers to herself mostly, in a daze, before snapping out of that momentary state and barking some more orders to her colleague, whom she remembered suddenly. ''Obadiah? I'll have that replacement synthetic corpse now, please... And I do mean NOW!''

In the following few minutes -though time continued to stand still- she carried out her duties without emotion, if only in appearance. She entrusted her partner the nameless retrieved-against-his-will ''subject'' while leaving in his place a lookalike, bio-degradable organic exact copy of him, especially put together for that precise moment in time. The exactitude of the similarities is almost infinite - even down to the minutest internal details, much less the exterior ones: nothing had been left to chance. Such elaborate work for a copy only destined to ''take the hit'' for him, she thought; only the Establishment could go to such lengths, indeed. Just making sure there was a corpse where there was supposed to be one, historically speaking that is: nothing more, nothing less. Never ''sentient'' in any way, shape or form, this ''copy'' was not literally a clone, they were told. Or was it? They had been told the same about the numerous replacements used and never any verifications would have been done, by anyone. Who would dare perform a check on what the Establishment had performed or ordered to be done? The Establishment had never given its recipe about the fabrication of these replacements and never would divulge any of its secrets overall: no one seemed to truly want to know, at any rate. Clones had been found to be unable to reproduce themselves the traditional way as early as the 30th Century: thus they would be deemed expendable and this was a fair trade in the dilemma humanity was caught in now. They could only have been perceived as ''expendable'' and nothing more in the big brotherly eyes of the Establishment...

A replacement was needed anyhow, for no one wanted another Hoffa on their hands. And much less one of those ever-pervading time paradoxes. The ramifications of such things could have undone any and all the efforts set in motion now to repair the damage that had been done to humankind - by the previous Establishments.

Her work done, she stuck around to see the actual accident take place; just making sure everything transpired as it was meant to, nothing else. For that was only standard procedure and did not stem from any emotional attachment to her poor wretches of retrieval subjects at all, or usually it wasn't. She was a professional, and she knew what was required of her. It was what her implacable bosses demanded out of all of their retrieval agents, in fact. And she was the best that they had. Her own barren state only qualified her more for this. The Establishment certainly knew of her other particularities, there was no doubt; but it made abstraction of them, somehow. They wanted her and she wanted to help.

Obadiah was long gone with the ''subject'' by then - and she stood there, unmoving, as if affected by her own time freezing gizmos, and this when her immediate surroundings no longer were.

''He was right... I do not feel like a ''Scarlet Pimpernel of Time'' at all... Something else entirely, actually; something dirty, something considerably less-than-reputable...'' she lamented sardonically to herself, turning away in disgust as she prepared to hop back into the timestream. ''I feel like the lowest form of scavenger there ever was in the history of mankind... Even though, technically, I am saving lives here... Transplanting them out of their element... I am scavenging human beings. What differenciates me from slave rings of the old world...?'' she muttered, certain no one could hear her, certainly not any emissary of The Establishment at this time. Big Brother could not eavesdrop through time; not yet...! She could talk to herself as much as she wanted.

Just then, a vermilion flycatcher flew by and came to perch itself upon a branch of a nearby elm tree. She noticed the bird right away, as it was quite rare for one born in her era to see such birds in any other way than as a part of a historical hologram.
"You are fortunate, little creature, that you are left to die in your own time and are not targeted for 'retrieval' and 'rescue' by the Establishment, too. Not yet anyway... Not until the fools realize nature died as well, through their forebears' shenanigans..." she said to the tiny thing, which seemed to chirp in response.

And with that, she activated her time travel program in order to return to the dreary dead world that she was trying to salvage through this unsatisfactory work. She served a world-wide governing body almost against her will - and it was starting to weigh down on her very heavily. The vermilion flycatcher would be a silent witness to her departure back to the doomed timeline she was trying to spare, as she was desperately trying to spare her own and others' sanity as well. Their sanity and, perhaps, their soul, too. She feared for her own: so much was evident now.

As she finally vanished back into her own time, the timestream started to agitate itself, as though alive. And three shadows began to take shape on the exact spot where she had hovered. The flycatcher flew away immediately, as the three shadows began to materialize themselves, as she had done. There was one noticeable difference about them, though: there were many, in fact. They thrashed about in sheer anger and frustration, or so it appeared to be the case, and so they were until finally they settled down and took on more solid shapes. Their wrath was justified, for they were sentries assigned to guard time itself; and they had seen enough. They had been appointed as such by a far Higher Power than the Establishment, too. They were totally in their right to have taken offense at the sort of activity that had once more taken place there - when man was found guilty of having breached the sanctity that separated past, present and future, making himself lord upon the fourth dimension with , so far, complete impunity. This was not admissible. And so it would not remain eternally.
For they had seen enough of it.

''THEY HAVE DARED TOO MUCH; THEY CONTINUE TO MEDDLE IN THE COURSE OF EVENTS PRE-DECIDED AND PRE-ORDAINED... ALTERING DESTINIES... REAPING SOULS THEY HAVE NO RIGHT TO COLLECT... AND REDIRECTING THEM TO PLACES THEY WERE NOT TO HAVE BEEN, EVER...'' said one of the ominous three, in a most guttural voice that would be qualified to be as deafening as a thousand wails were it to be heard by human ears.

''AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM - NE PLUS ULTRA - CORPUS DELICTI - CORRIGENDA!'' commended his acolyte in conclusion, with a thunderous voice all his own.

A time of reckoning would be arriving soon.

*****************************************

To be continued - Tempus Fugit!
Copyright ©2006-2007 LUCIANO A. PIMENTEL
First Serial Rights (if applicable on the net!)