Time Trap
Alexis carefully slid the package into her leather purse, slung its strap over her shoulder, and casually walked around the corner into the heart of the spaceport and up to the customs desk. The fat albino behind the desk looked up from his monitor to stare at her, his right hand sliding slowly out of sight and down by his side, not unnoticed by her.
"Ah, Miss Stereo, back so soon?"
From behind her, a familiar voice shouted, "Alexis! Don't!"
Turning she saw Dr. Stanford out of breath from running to catch her. “What do you mean, don’t?”
“Just don’t!” Dr. Stanford stammered through gasping breaths as he almost stumbled up to her side.
“You said it yourself, I have to go back 24 hours to stop the release of that RESO Virus or the whole planet will be dead, and ... and as soon as possible.”
“They were . . . wrong! The RESO virus is . . . harmless and didn’t cause the deaths . . . another experimental virus the two women . . . had in their bodies was triggered by the RESO . . . The medical team found it and destroyed it . . . easily before there were any more deaths. . . . But the TCD is not harmless . . . There are some unusual side effects if it is used on a large scale.” Dr. Stanford blurted out between gasps for air.
Alexis paled. “What’s wrong with the time collapse driver anyway? I already triggered it before slipping the package into my purse. It’s set to cycle 24 hours back at precisely eleven o’clock, just a few moments from now and we both know it can’t be stopped.”.
The albino pulled up what he had been reaching for and leveled a Galbo blaster at Alexis. “I’ve been waiting for you to return with that gadget. I saw it in the security scan and knew I wanted it. It will be my ticket out of this Hell-hole.”
“You jerk!” Alexis snarled. “The damned thing will be useless to you. The start mechanism requires my hand print before it will fire.”
“Hand over the purse and we’ll see about that. Those scabs in the Telurian black market think they can reverse engineer anything. They pay highly for any new or unusual device.”
“You don’t know what you’re getting into.” Alexis stalled and held her purse tightly.
“And I don’t give a crap! Give it to me or I might pop the trigger on this Galbo and you know what it can do.”
“Let him have it, Alexis, it doesn’t work right anyway.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t work right?”
“Miss Stereo, Give me the damned purse, NOW! Otherwise, you and the Doctor here will be splattered all over the customs office and I’ll take your purse out of your dead hand.”
Reluctantly Alexis handed over the purse. The albino took it and disappeared through a door into the bowels of the spaceport.
“OK Doctor. What’s wrong with that expensive little gadget?”
Dr. Stanford finally caught his breath and explained, “We have only tested it on small bursts of power - ten or twenty seconds worth. We didn’t notice any problems and it only warped a small section of space. Gravity waves from that small disturbance quickly leveled out and no harm was done. We decided upping the power to warp enough space for a person would work the same”
Alexis looked puzzled. “So what’s the big deal? We’ll have a little blip and everything will be OK.”
“That’s not exactly correct.”
“So, what does happen?”
“We have theorized that a large enough gravitational disturbance could cause a cascading G-Wave effect that would create a major rift in the space-time continuum. The entire universe could be pulled through that rift in an instant and revert back to whatever time it was set to.”
“That little box could do the whole universe?” Alexis shuddered as she said it.
“Yes . . . Theoretically.”
Just then there was an instantaneous change, completely absent of sensory information.
Alexis looked at the clock on her desk. It was precisely11:00am and she needed to hurry to get to the meeting on time. The meeting at the Stanford Gravitation Field Experimental Station was to discuss results of the testing of the new, portable TCD unit.
At about the same, time in the University hospital research facility nearby, the RESO virus was about to be tested on human volunteers. The Replicating Exchanging Self Organizing virus would search out all nonstandard DNA cells in a person’s body and replace the faulty DNA with the correctly sequenced DNA. It was not only a cure for cancer, but many other diseases caused by aberrations in cell DNA. The promise and possibilities were staggering in their depth and breadth. Two women with advanced cancers were selected from thousands of volunteers. It’s creator, Dr Chan Ling estimated it would take thirteen hours for the virus to convert all nonstandard DNA. Once that was done, it would disappear when all non-standard DNA, its food in effect, disappeared. No trace of the virus would survive. One volunteer was injected with one type of RESO virus. The other with a slightly different strain.
“Now all we have to do is wait.” Dr. Chan murmured as the two women got up to return to their rooms in the hospital section.
Three hours later both women were dead, their bodies riddled with a very rapidly developing cancer. Seemingly, the RESO virus had not destroyed itself, but had invaded every living cell in or touching the women. Near panic gripped the staff when they realized the gravity of the situation. The entire wing of the hospital was sealed off, but it was too late.
Searching frantically for a viable solution, Dr. Chan remembered that his friend, Dr James Stanford, had been working on a time warping device using gravity waves. “Get me Dr Stanford at the Stanford Gravitation Field Experimental station.” He shouted at one of his assistants as they rushed toward the office.
In less than half an hour he had explained the situation to Dr. Stanford who promised to see if his equipment might be useful in providing a solution. Soon he was explaining how the new and very powerful TCD could send someone back twenty four hours. This might enable them to stop the release of the RESO virus.
Dr. Stanford was coaching one of his assistants, Alexis. “Set this digital readout to 24.00, indicate hours and then press your hand against the actuator. The nuclear distorter will start building up G-pressure and in about ten minutes it will fire a monstrous G-wave that should bang you back 24 hours instantaneously.”
Alexis thought for a moment. As Dr, Stanford’s assistant she knew there were some very special location and time constraints. “When and where do I do this?”
Dr. Stanford took out a map. “The best place is inside the spaceport . . . here, in this open area.” He pointed as he spoke.
“I’ll have to go through security. What do you suppose they’ll do when they see this device?”
“Tell them it’s a new medical device using nuclear power. Dr. Chan would confirm that should they get testy.”
“I suppose I’d better get going.”
“The sooner the better.”
Half an hour later she stood by the security scanner and waited as the TCD unit was put through without incident. “That was easy.” she muttered to herself as she picked up the TCD.
Alexis carefully slid the package into her leather purse, slung its strap over her shoulder, and casually walked around the corner into the heart of the spaceport and up to the customs desk. The fat albino behind the desk looked up from his monitor to stare at her, his right hand sliding slowly out of sight and down by his side, not unnoticed by her.
"Ah, Miss Stereo, back so soon?"
From behind her, a familiar voice shouted, "Alexis! Don't!"
"Ah, Miss Stereo, back so soon?"
From behind her, a familiar voice shouted, "Alexis! Don't!"
Turning she saw Dr. Stanford out of breath from running to catch her. “What do you mean, don’t?”
“Just don’t!” Dr. Stanford stammered through gasping breaths as he almost stumbled up to her side.
“You said it yourself, I have to go back 24 hours to stop the release of that RESO Virus or the whole planet will be dead, and ... and as soon as possible.”
“They were . . . wrong! The RESO virus is . . . harmless and didn’t cause the deaths . . . another experimental virus the two women . . . had in their bodies was triggered by the RESO . . . The medical team found it and destroyed it . . . easily before there were any more deaths. . . . But the TCD is not harmless . . . There are some unusual side effects if it is used on a large scale.” Dr. Stanford blurted out between gasps for air.
Alexis paled. “What’s wrong with the time collapse driver anyway? I already triggered it before slipping the package into my purse. It’s set to cycle 24 hours back at precisely eleven o’clock, just a few moments from now and we both know it can’t be stopped.”.
The albino pulled up what he had been reaching for and leveled a Galbo blaster at Alexis. “I’ve been waiting for you to return with that gadget. I saw it in the security scan and knew I wanted it. It will be my ticket out of this Hell-hole.”
“You jerk!” Alexis snarled. “The damned thing will be useless to you. The start mechanism requires my hand print before it will fire.”
“Hand over the purse and we’ll see about that. Those scabs in the Telurian black market think they can reverse engineer anything. They pay highly for any new or unusual device.”
“You don’t know what you’re getting into.” Alexis stalled and held her purse tightly.
“And I don’t give a crap! Give it to me or I might pop the trigger on this Galbo and you know what it can do.”
“Let him have it, Alexis, it doesn’t work right anyway.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t work right?”
“Miss Stereo, Give me the damned purse, NOW! Otherwise, you and the Doctor here will be splattered all over the customs office and I’ll take your purse out of your dead hand.”
Reluctantly Alexis handed over the purse. The albino took it and disappeared through a door into the bowels of the spaceport.
“OK Doctor. What’s wrong with that expensive little gadget?”
Dr. Stanford finally caught his breath and explained, “We have only tested it on small bursts of power - ten or twenty seconds worth. We didn’t notice any problems and it only warped a small section of space. Gravity waves from that small disturbance quickly leveled out and no harm was done. We decided upping the power to warp enough space for a person would work the same”
Alexis looked puzzled. “So what’s the big deal? We’ll have a little blip and everything will be OK.”
“That’s not exactly correct.”
“So, what does happen?”
“We have theorized that a large enough gravitational disturbance could cause a cascading G-Wave effect that would create a major rift in the space-time continuum. The entire universe could be pulled through that rift in an instant and revert back to whatever time it was set to.”
“That little box could do the whole universe?” Alexis shuddered as she said it.
“Yes . . . Theoretically.”
Just then there was an instantaneous change, completely absent of sensory information.
Alexis looked at the clock on her desk. It was precisely11:00am and she needed to hurry to get to the meeting on time. The meeting at the Stanford Gravitation Field Experimental Station was to discuss results of the testing of the new, portable TCD unit.
At about the same, time in the University hospital research facility nearby, the RESO virus was about to be tested on human volunteers. The Replicating Exchanging Self Organizing virus would search out all nonstandard DNA cells in a person’s body and replace the faulty DNA with the correctly sequenced DNA. It was not only a cure for cancer, but many other diseases caused by aberrations in cell DNA. The promise and possibilities were staggering in their depth and breadth. Two women with advanced cancers were selected from thousands of volunteers. It’s creator, Dr Chan Ling estimated it would take thirteen hours for the virus to convert all nonstandard DNA. Once that was done, it would disappear when all non-standard DNA, its food in effect, disappeared. No trace of the virus would survive. One volunteer was injected with one type of RESO virus. The other with a slightly different strain.
“Now all we have to do is wait.” Dr. Chan murmured as the two women got up to return to their rooms in the hospital section.
Three hours later both women were dead, their bodies riddled with a very rapidly developing cancer. Seemingly, the RESO virus had not destroyed itself, but had invaded every living cell in or touching the women. Near panic gripped the staff when they realized the gravity of the situation. The entire wing of the hospital was sealed off, but it was too late.
Searching frantically for a viable solution, Dr. Chan remembered that his friend, Dr James Stanford, had been working on a time warping device using gravity waves. “Get me Dr Stanford at the Stanford Gravitation Field Experimental station.” He shouted at one of his assistants as they rushed toward the office.
In less than half an hour he had explained the situation to Dr. Stanford who promised to see if his equipment might be useful in providing a solution. Soon he was explaining how the new and very powerful TCD could send someone back twenty four hours. This might enable them to stop the release of the RESO virus.
Dr. Stanford was coaching one of his assistants, Alexis. “Set this digital readout to 24.00, indicate hours and then press your hand against the actuator. The nuclear distorter will start building up G-pressure and in about ten minutes it will fire a monstrous G-wave that should bang you back 24 hours instantaneously.”
Alexis thought for a moment. As Dr, Stanford’s assistant she knew there were some very special location and time constraints. “When and where do I do this?”
Dr. Stanford took out a map. “The best place is inside the spaceport . . . here, in this open area.” He pointed as he spoke.
“I’ll have to go through security. What do you suppose they’ll do when they see this device?”
“Tell them it’s a new medical device using nuclear power. Dr. Chan would confirm that should they get testy.”
“I suppose I’d better get going.”
“The sooner the better.”
Half an hour later she stood by the security scanner and waited as the TCD unit was put through without incident. “That was easy.” she muttered to herself as she picked up the TCD.
Alexis carefully slid the package into her leather purse, slung its strap over her shoulder, and casually walked around the corner into the heart of the spaceport and up to the customs desk. The fat albino behind the desk looked up from his monitor to stare at her, his right hand sliding slowly out of sight and down by his side, not unnoticed by her.
"Ah, Miss Stereo, back so soon?"
From behind her, a familiar voice shouted, "Alexis! Don't!"
____________________________________
Labels: Written: 11/05/06
posted by HoJo | 12:30 PM
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