Authors: T.A. Uner
Gina was still supportive of him, despite everything that had transpired, and had always encouraged him to see his children as often as he could. But working for AL was almost a 24/7 assignment, and now, with the Lycarian threat, he had no idea when he’d see his children next.
His thoughts turned back to Johnny. The boy had performed admirably on his first mission, and had demonstrated the potential he had seen in him. He wished Scott was here to see how far Johnny had come in such a short time. From a confused teenager wanting to fatally cut himself, to a young phenomenon working for AL.
Argos exhaled and dialed Studs’ number.
Patrice was glad she had talked to Johnny. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted from her conscience. Now she could work with a clear head and focus her attention on TimeBoss.
For the past hour she’d been monitoring a minor timeline discrepancy in 1969. Nothing to cause TimeBoss’ internal alarm to activate, but a possible threat nonetheless.
“Can you tell me
anything
about this 0.9% timeline deviation in 1969?” she asked TimeBoss.
“Inconclusive. Not enough data. But a possible enemy time-incursion may exist.”
“Lycarian?”
“Inconclusive. Not enough data,” TimeBoss repeated.
She checked the current AL roster database for any changes. There were none. “So whatever it is, hasn’t occurred yet.” She twirled a pen between her fingers. “But…there may still be a potential problem that can significantly alter our current timeline.”
“That is correct, Miss Waters,” TimeBoss said in its composed voice.
Her wristlink flashed and she answered it. “Waters here.”
“Patrice?” It was Director Mitchell. “Research and Development has deciphered the data found in the Lycarian buoy. I need you in the conference room in five minutes.”
“On my way.”
When Johnny arrived in the conference room Director Mitchell was busy talking to two men in white lab coats. As soon as he saw Johnny he paused his conversation. “Johnny I’d like you to meet Doctors Ahlstrom and Goldfarb.” One of the men, a tall man with piercing blue eyes and straight blonde hair shook Johnny’s hand and complimented him on his retrieval of the time buoy. Goldfarb was shorter, had thin dark hair that was balding at the top and wore thick-framed eyeglasses. He invited Johnny back to Research and Development for a full tour, apparently there was much more to see beyond the basic tour which Patrice had taken him on during his training.
Argos arrived, followed by Patrice. The former dog-breeder looked tired and worn, like an old piece of leather. He wondered if it was the aftereffects of their recent mission or something entirely different.
“Hi Johnny,” Patrice said. She looked a lot more pleasing to his eye after she’d shed her cocksure attitude towards him. He smiled at her and took his seat next to Argos who nodded cordially at him.
When everyone was seated Mitchell spoke. “I hope everyone’s enjoyed their downtime because it’s time to get back to work. You all know Doctors Ahlstrom and Goldfarb from Research and Development, they’re here to tell you more about the buoy which Agents Better and Veto recovered from their recent mission.”
The two scientists stepped up to the lectern and greeted the audience. Ahlstrom spoke first. “There was considerable data on this alien buoy, but we believe that we’ve deciphered almost 95% of its contents. We’ve discerned that sometime in the late 1960s the Lycarians will attempt to sabotage a NASA space mission to set back America’s challenge in the space race with the former Soviet Union.”
Patrice cut in. “TimeBoss just detected a 0.9% timeline deviation from 1969. I’m guessing they’re related.”
Both Ahlstrom and Goldfarb nodded their assent. Goldfarb spoke: “They could be trying to sabotage the Apollo missions.”
“Which one?” Argos asked. “If I recall correctly there were four Apollo Missions in 1969, including the first manned lunar landing, which was Apollo 11.”
“Then it has to be Apollo 11,” Johnny added, “that was the big one.”
“Not necessarily Johnny.” Patrice brought up data from her control panel and a 3D readout of all four Apollo missions appeared above the conference table for everyone to see. “Maybe that’s what the Lycarians
want
us to believe. Don’t forget the other Apollo missions leading up to Apollo 11 were equally important. They helped pave the way for the manned landings.”
Johnny shook his head. “I hate to butt heads with you Patrice but my gut tells me that they’ll go for broke and try and sabotage the Apollo 11 mission.”
Director Mitchell looked over the data then turned towards Argos. “How fast can you and Johnny be ready for a time-healing mission?”
Argos thought for a moment. “As of right now, Gina’s only got enough power for one time-incursion. She suffered minor structural damage to her forward tire nacelle during re-entry. Only one repair crew has been assigned to her since we got back, unfortunately they’re not finished yet.”
Mitchell pressed a button on his terminal interface and spoke into it. “Have all available repair crews focus their efforts on fixing TIV-1, codenamed ‘Gina.’ Agents Better and Veto will be leaving in a few hours.”
It was decided that Johnny and Argos would make the time-incursion right before the Apollo 11 launch. They had only a one in four chance of guessing correctly but the general consensus was that the Lycarians would attempt to destroy or cripple the Apollo 11 launch. And while the other three missions in 1969 were important, it was the Apollo 11 mission that defined the project, as it landed the first men on the moon’s surface.
This time, visiting the quartermaster for appropriate time-period clothing for their mission wouldn’t be a total make-over. While styles had changed over the past 50 years, it wasn’t as monumental a difference as 1860s clothing had been. Johnny and Argos took a few clothing items that would make them blend in completely. Gina was originally built in 1968, so they could utilize her more openly without having to camouflage her like they had in 1861. They would also be taking along field money with them since they’d be spending more time in 1969 than they had in 1861. Johnny was relieved at not having to eat the unpalatable field rations for this trip.
After eying the mission supply checklist on his tablet, he packed his bag and checked his wallet before heading off to the hangar bay to meet Argos and the Red Dobermans.
On the way to the hangar bay he ran into Patrice.
“Hey Johnny,” Patrice said. The ceiling lights reflected off her eyeglass lenses and made her pupils sparkle like stars. “Heading out now, huh?”
For a moment he couldn’t utter a word, so taken by her sudden appearance. But then he smiled at her and nodded. “Yep. Seems like my job’s never done.”
“You be careful now.” She leaned over and hugged him and he felt her chest press up against his. He hoped she couldn’t feel his heartbeat. It felt like a hammer striking his chest. She leaned back and her face was less than an inch from his. He could smell her hot minty breath mingling with her perfume as their lips eyed each other like nervous dance partners. He didn’t want to seem too eager to her charms, but she was becoming harder to resist.
In the end his self-control held and he slowly backed away from her. “I’ll be seeing you around Patrice, count on it.”
She smiled anxiously before he turned back towards his original path. After she was out of range he kicked the wall. “Why the hell did I wuss out like that?”
Inside one of the hangar repair bays, Johnny saw Gina elevated on a dual-post car lift, while a half dozen technicians were checking her undercarriage meticulously. Argos was arguing with a technician in front of a computer terminal. He looked agitated and he wondered what was troubling his friend. He knew something was wrong ever since they’d returned from 1861. Both Jessie and Studs were sitting on their haunches behind Argos and they both looked at him with concern in their eyes.
Johnny waited until Argos was done “talking” to the technician.
“Hello Argos.”
Argos nodded curtly. “Johnny.”
“Something wrong? You were kinda worked up back there,” Johnny said, jerking his thumb towards the technician Argos had argued with earlier.
Argos scratched his cheek. “Yeah well, that little display probably didn’t look so good, the truth is Gina needs more work. Mitchell is adamant about us leaving immediately. I really hate it when he does that, it’s not like the past is going anywhere.”
“Didn’t you mention there was another Time-Traveling device around here? What was it called…Time-Displacer? Why can’t we just use that?”
Argos nodded. “We
could
, but like the scanner I used during our last mission, AL is planning to phase that out too; it’s not as efficient as Gina’s Antimatter Drive. There have been some instances when AL agents have missed their landing points in time by a few days, sometimes, by a few weeks. Mitchell is limiting its use until AL can complete the second Time-Incursion Vehicle, to be called TIV-2.” He pointed to another vehicle sitting under a white cover in the repair bay next to Gina’s. “That’s that TIV-2. It’s supposed to begin its trial runs in a few weeks. If everything goes according to plan with it, AL will get funding for two more TIVs. The goal is to have a fleet of those things.”
Johnny wondered if that would be safe—having all those time-traveling vehicles zipping around timelines. He knew AL took great care to select the best applicants, but what if someone felt like manipulating the past to gain advantage in the future? The chances of an AL agent carrying out such a deed was far-fetched, but the threat did exist. He kept his thoughts to himself though, he was still a neophyte here, best to keep his unsolicited opinions to himself until he had gained considerable experience in the field.
Johnny turned his thoughts back to the present. “So Argos…what’s been bothering you man? You seem on edge.”
Argos stared at him solemnly.
Shit,
Johnny thought.
Looks like I crossed a line I shouldn’t of.
But Argos’ facial features relaxed and Johnny knew his friend wasn’t offended by his prying remark.
“Is it that obvious? Geez, I bet I’ve been acting like a real jerk.”
“It’s alright, man, you don’t have to tell me, probably none of my damn business anyways.”
“No, in a way, it is.” Argos took a quick look over his shoulder. Gina was being lowered to the floor, apparently her makeshift repairs had been completed. “We’re teammates now, so you have a right to know what’s been eating at me since we got back.” Argos cleared his throat before Jessie and Studs padded up towards them. Argos looked at the Red Dobermans. “You two need to hear this as well.” Argos turned back to Johnny. “It’s Studs.” Johnny looked at the Doberman. “Not
that
Studs, my
human
son, Studs. He’s been ignoring my phone calls.”
“Oh. I see, bro.”
“I just want to hear his voice, and meet up with him, but it didn’t go down. My daughter, Jessie, she’s been taking my separation with Gina a lot better, but I’m worried about Studs. Worried he might be heading down a dark path.”
Johnny thought about his ‘dark path.’ The one he was headed down before Argos had appeared with the Dobermans. He saw the blade of the box cutter flash before his eyes before he turned his attention back to Argos’ story. “Why not just go to his apartment Argos? You gotta try bro, you gotta make personal contact.”
“I know. I thought about going to see him. He’s got an apartment that he’s sharing with two friends. I just don’t wanna surprise him like that. Gina tells me he’s not on drugs or anything, but how the hell can she know? It’s not like she sees him every day.”
The technician that Argos had been arguing with earlier walked up to them and handed Argos a tablet. “Gina’s ready, Agent Better.”
Argos looked over the tablet’s data and nodded. “Thanks Vijay, sorry I spewed my anger out on you earlier.”
“No harm done, Argos,” Vijay said. “I know how much you love Gina.”
After Vijay had left they loaded their gear into Gina’s trunk and Johnny began performing the pre-flight systems check. He felt more comfortable, this being his second time around. He wished both his parents could see him now, as an AL agent.
Ten minutes later they had cleared the hangar and made the jump back to 1969.
Fifty years in the past, during July 1969, a Lycarian Saboteur named Tir Morol had arrived to alter American History. She had been assigned to Grendis’ team, and was quite proud of her new post.
Unlike most members of the Lycarian Special Forces, Tir was the daughter of a privileged family. Always self-conscious of her affluent upbringing, she had decided to leave her pampered lifestyle behind to apply for a post as an officer. Her parents had been shocked, but she had made her intentions clear that she needed some sort of challenge in her life. For Tir, always having others serve her had grown irksome, and she desired a career that could help build her own reputation.
After she had won a much-coveted spot in special forces training she had had to endure disdain from both her fellow candidates, and, her instructors. But she’d proven herself, and earned the begrudging respect of her peers.
She’d undergone holographic surgery to assume the appearance of a human female in her late 20s. Humans were quite ugly by Lycarian standards, but it was a second skin she’d gladly wear if it meant glory for her and Lycaria. Assuming the role of a human meant incorporating the training she’d undergone for months before being deployed amongst humans. Their mannerisms, knowledge, and belief systems were ingrained into her so she could pass for one of them.
As Tir strolled upon the sands of Cocoa Beach in the state called Florida, she eyed the Saturn V rocket in the distance, which was designed to carry the three human astronauts to Earth’s moon. She didn’t see what was so monumental about the rocket launch these American humans had invested so much in. It was an ancient piece of technology by Lycarian standards.
Tir smiled, thinking of all the transmissions she’d intercepted with her communications array. It made her task simpler, and her planned three-pronged attack against the Apollo 11 mission would cripple the United States’ space agency, NASA. Altering American history forever.