Second Visit to Kaleidoscope City
Part I
The time craft materialized above a far-future city. Trainees were strapped into seats on the flight deck and sat with mouths agape at the spectacle of it all. The planet’s atmosphere, encapsulated by the fuselage, was all they had to breathe. Fortunately, the air closely matched that of Earth, and held plenty of precious moisture. Then came the shouting from the bridge, where the Officer of the Deck called general quarters.
“Commodore, we have objects on radar approaching at high speed from several directions,” said the quartermaster.
“Aye,” came the reply. “Cloaks to full power. Let’s have a closer look at their technology.” The lights dimmed momentarily as the stealth apparatus drained energy from the craft’s main console. In rushed the objects, their physical makeup a glowing red metal of some alien sort with strange markings throughout. “Run an image of that writing through the analytical digester- see if we can make some sense out of it.”
“Aye Commodore,” came the reply.
The objects numbered around a half-dozen, their outward appearance that of red rubber balls with a raised lip around the equator. The glowing seemed to indicate heat of a radioactive sort, and small port holes were clearly visible around the diameter. The objects set up a perimeter all around the time craft, moving slowly and in unison, first clockwise then counter clockwise. After a moment, the objects turned a bright blue and vanished. Alarms were triggered throughout the craft, and after a few minutes, the Commodore shouted for them to be shut off. They peered outside through the full-length observation window, and there, spread below them as far as the eye could see, was this beautiful city of the future called ‘Kaleidoscope City.’
Part II
With the thrust of a single grey lever, probes were released from the time ship’s underbelly, cascading down through a cloudy layer and eventually back out into the clear air. Spinning wildly as they fell, these probes left a trail of red smoke spiraling like the contrail of a spinning airplane. Some splashed off the nearby sea coast, the rest crashing into what wooded areas remained. The Commodore had purposefully avoided dropping probes on the city itself for obvious reasons.
On a large observation board, the now fully seated probes made themselves present and accounted for as each lit the board with its’ own electronic tracer signal. These were quickly analyzed by crew members for chemicals, gases, organics and leftover poisons from a now long-ago industrial age. The planet had apparently made a powerful recovery from the age of avarice and entitlement. The crew buzzed with optimism.
A loudspeaker signaled to the crew it was time to visit the mess decks and all science activity stopped for lunch. It occurred to them this was their first meal in sixty thousand years! An electronic implant on the Commodore’s forearm began vibrating, alerting him of an incoming communication from Space Base 5000. He retired to his quarters for privacy and with a slap on the wrist, projected the caller’s image onto the large wall video screen. “Commodore Thyme, how good to see you’re all in one piece,” said a pleasant voice attached to a beautiful yet stern face.
“So far, so good, Madame President,” he replied. “The probes are down, the findings are being processed, and the language being run through the digester.”
“Very well,” answered the president. “Let me know as soon as you have a translation. And Commodore- great job.”
“Thank you Madame. I’ll share that with the crew. Commodore Thyme, out.” The transmission fell silent and the Commodore left his quarters to join the crew for lunch.
Upon his arrival on the mess decks, he was greeted by a rousing round of applause. He waved it down and when all fell silent, he relayed the accolades from the President.
Meanwhile back at the board, analytics clerks were now growing concerned with the language they had been translating. What they were coming up with didn’t exactly strike them as friendly, or even benign. The hieroglyphics around the diameter of the red glowing orbs read to the analysis digester something like this:
TIMELOCK INTERCEPTORS
Joseph John Racano
Part I
The time craft materialized above a far-future city. Trainees were strapped into seats on the flight deck and sat with mouths agape at the spectacle of it all. The planet’s atmosphere, encapsulated by the fuselage, was all they had to breathe. Fortunately, the air closely matched that of Earth, and held plenty of precious moisture. Then came the shouting from the bridge, where the Officer of the Deck called general quarters.
“Commodore, we have objects on radar approaching at high speed from several directions,” said the quartermaster.
“Aye,” came the reply. “Cloaks to full power. Let’s have a closer look at their technology.” The lights dimmed momentarily as the stealth apparatus drained energy from the craft’s main console. In rushed the objects, their physical makeup a glowing red metal of some alien sort with strange markings throughout. “Run an image of that writing through the analytical digester- see if we can make some sense out of it.”
“Aye Commodore,” came the reply.
The objects numbered around a half-dozen, their outward appearance that of red rubber balls with a raised lip around the equator. The glowing seemed to indicate heat of a radioactive sort, and small port holes were clearly visible around the diameter. The objects set up a perimeter all around the time craft, moving slowly and in unison, first clockwise then counter clockwise. After a moment, the objects turned a bright blue and vanished. Alarms were triggered throughout the craft, and after a few minutes, the Commodore shouted for them to be shut off. They peered outside through the full-length observation window, and there, spread below them as far as the eye could see, was this beautiful city of the future called ‘Kaleidoscope City.’
Part II
With the thrust of a single grey lever, probes were released from the time ship’s underbelly, cascading down through a cloudy layer and eventually back out into the clear air. Spinning wildly as they fell, these probes left a trail of red smoke spiraling like the contrail of a spinning airplane. Some splashed off the nearby sea coast, the rest crashing into what wooded areas remained. The Commodore had purposefully avoided dropping probes on the city itself for obvious reasons.
On a large observation board, the now fully seated probes made themselves present and accounted for as each lit the board with its’ own electronic tracer signal. These were quickly analyzed by crew members for chemicals, gases, organics and leftover poisons from a now long-ago industrial age. The planet had apparently made a powerful recovery from the age of avarice and entitlement. The crew buzzed with optimism.
A loudspeaker signaled to the crew it was time to visit the mess decks and all science activity stopped for lunch. It occurred to them this was their first meal in sixty thousand years! An electronic implant on the Commodore’s forearm began vibrating, alerting him of an incoming communication from Space Base 5000. He retired to his quarters for privacy and with a slap on the wrist, projected the caller’s image onto the large wall video screen. “Commodore Thyme, how good to see you’re all in one piece,” said a pleasant voice attached to a beautiful yet stern face.
“So far, so good, Madame President,” he replied. “The probes are down, the findings are being processed, and the language being run through the digester.”
“Very well,” answered the president. “Let me know as soon as you have a translation. And Commodore- great job.”
“Thank you Madame. I’ll share that with the crew. Commodore Thyme, out.” The transmission fell silent and the Commodore left his quarters to join the crew for lunch.
Upon his arrival on the mess decks, he was greeted by a rousing round of applause. He waved it down and when all fell silent, he relayed the accolades from the President.
Meanwhile back at the board, analytics clerks were now growing concerned with the language they had been translating. What they were coming up with didn’t exactly strike them as friendly, or even benign. The hieroglyphics around the diameter of the red glowing orbs read to the analysis digester something like this:
TIMELOCK INTERCEPTORS
Joseph John Racano
Part III
Fifty-five thousand years earlier and on a different continent, Time Agent Nikki Night Bird was putting her Harpy through the paces high in the sky above a dusty and barren Planet Earth. Far below, the host agency watched in awe as they tracked her across the ether. Nikki took her craft through linear miles as well as time loops, worm holes and other phenomenae yet to be explained. The ground crew still argued in their desert laboratory whether or not such anomalistic behavior was being caused in real time by the Harpy, which had the unique ability to move through space as well as through time.
In any case, this woman pilot was the very best they had, and only Justin Thyme and Infinity Staires -both fellow agents- had ever piloted the Harpy. Nikki Night Bird was descended from a first people’s tribe of long ago North America, the ill-fated nation that nearly took out civilization entirely, saved from doing so only by those very tribes themselves. Here and now, it was 2600 years later, and the planet had yet to recover.
“Nikki, bring that sky dragon back to base, over,” came the terse communication from somewhere far below. The day was drawing to a close and there were still tests to run on the salt flats.
“Roger that five thousand,” she replied. “Shifting to linear.”
The Harpy leapt all at once out of the time stream and into a jet stream caused by a permanent temperature inversion. Such was the desert in the year 5000.
“Report in as soon as you land. We have a mission for you and your fire bird.” Nikki’s ears perked up at the mention of a mission. She knew it must be important or they would be sending someone else.
Fifty-five thousand years earlier and on a different continent, Time Agent Nikki Night Bird was putting her Harpy through the paces high in the sky above a dusty and barren Planet Earth. Far below, the host agency watched in awe as they tracked her across the ether. Nikki took her craft through linear miles as well as time loops, worm holes and other phenomenae yet to be explained. The ground crew still argued in their desert laboratory whether or not such anomalistic behavior was being caused in real time by the Harpy, which had the unique ability to move through space as well as through time.
In any case, this woman pilot was the very best they had, and only Justin Thyme and Infinity Staires -both fellow agents- had ever piloted the Harpy. Nikki Night Bird was descended from a first people’s tribe of long ago North America, the ill-fated nation that nearly took out civilization entirely, saved from doing so only by those very tribes themselves. Here and now, it was 2600 years later, and the planet had yet to recover.
“Nikki, bring that sky dragon back to base, over,” came the terse communication from somewhere far below. The day was drawing to a close and there were still tests to run on the salt flats.
“Roger that five thousand,” she replied. “Shifting to linear.”
The Harpy leapt all at once out of the time stream and into a jet stream caused by a permanent temperature inversion. Such was the desert in the year 5000.
“Report in as soon as you land. We have a mission for you and your fire bird.” Nikki’s ears perked up at the mention of a mission. She knew it must be important or they would be sending someone else.
Second Visit to Kaleidoscope City
Part IV
Sheltered at Sea
No sooner had the analytical digester returned a translation for the hieroglyphics on the red orbs, than another alarm sounded general quarters. The red orbs had returned and were circling at distance. Personnel scattered off the mess decks to all corners of the time craft and took positions for conflict. Some manned the radio-lasers, others strapped in for a turbulent encounter with the unknowns. Well, not exactly unknown, as Commodore Thyme was aware these red orbs were, in fact, in the business of ‘intercepting.’
Although nothing was known of the capabilities of these red spherical craft, it didn’t take long to find out. The moment the Commodore ordered the ships weapons systems armed, two red orbs fired what appeared to be a fork of lightning, knocking out much of the ship’s nervous system. Thyme had seen enough. He ordered the navigator to maneuver over the nearby ocean water and told him to “Drop the bottom out!”
“Aye sir,” came the reply.
Bolt after bolt of forked lightning struck the weakened exoskeleton shields until all power was lost. By now, the time ship was in a free fall gravity drop, and splashed hard on the water below. Several orbs made the mistake of firing electric bolts into the water and were themselves destroyed in the process.
“Continue as she goes!” said Commodore Thyme. The craft plummeted into the shadowy depths until coming to rest on sandy ocean bottom near seamount and craggy underwater cliffs. The orbs were not built for submarine operation, and so, for a while at least, time ship and crew were safe.
“Operators, place a transmission to Base 5000 at once. Tell them to get somebody here to help us.”
“Aye Commodore,” came the reply. “Research Room is calculating our present time period and it’s coming over the board right now, sir.”
“Very well,” said the Commodore. Justin couldn’t believe his eyes when the info flashed across the big board. It said AD 11068! “Ladies and gents, we are now further into the future than any mission before us. We’ve been to Kaleidoscope City, but this is its evolution, replete with a higher, more dangerous technology. OK, send the communication back to 5000 and let them know we are year AD 11068 at a depth of 9,000 fathoms at these coordinates. NEED HELP FAST.”
“Aye sir- it’s done.”
“Very well,” said the Commodore. “Very well.”
Part IV
Sheltered at Sea
No sooner had the analytical digester returned a translation for the hieroglyphics on the red orbs, than another alarm sounded general quarters. The red orbs had returned and were circling at distance. Personnel scattered off the mess decks to all corners of the time craft and took positions for conflict. Some manned the radio-lasers, others strapped in for a turbulent encounter with the unknowns. Well, not exactly unknown, as Commodore Thyme was aware these red orbs were, in fact, in the business of ‘intercepting.’
Although nothing was known of the capabilities of these red spherical craft, it didn’t take long to find out. The moment the Commodore ordered the ships weapons systems armed, two red orbs fired what appeared to be a fork of lightning, knocking out much of the ship’s nervous system. Thyme had seen enough. He ordered the navigator to maneuver over the nearby ocean water and told him to “Drop the bottom out!”
“Aye sir,” came the reply.
Bolt after bolt of forked lightning struck the weakened exoskeleton shields until all power was lost. By now, the time ship was in a free fall gravity drop, and splashed hard on the water below. Several orbs made the mistake of firing electric bolts into the water and were themselves destroyed in the process.
“Continue as she goes!” said Commodore Thyme. The craft plummeted into the shadowy depths until coming to rest on sandy ocean bottom near seamount and craggy underwater cliffs. The orbs were not built for submarine operation, and so, for a while at least, time ship and crew were safe.
“Operators, place a transmission to Base 5000 at once. Tell them to get somebody here to help us.”
“Aye Commodore,” came the reply. “Research Room is calculating our present time period and it’s coming over the board right now, sir.”
“Very well,” said the Commodore. Justin couldn’t believe his eyes when the info flashed across the big board. It said AD 11068! “Ladies and gents, we are now further into the future than any mission before us. We’ve been to Kaleidoscope City, but this is its evolution, replete with a higher, more dangerous technology. OK, send the communication back to 5000 and let them know we are year AD 11068 at a depth of 9,000 fathoms at these coordinates. NEED HELP FAST.”
“Aye sir- it’s done.”
“Very well,” said the Commodore. “Very well.”
Part V
Rooftop Reconnaissance
Having maintained complete radio silence for several hours, Commodore Thyme ordered a reconnaissance mission and personally chose Harmony Staires for the job. Harmony was the younger sibling of famed time agent Infinity Staires and carried a storied pedigree as such. Infinity, the wildly famous and decorated time agent from Chronopolis, was now President of the United Nations. Her younger sister would in no way benefit from such a connection and neither she nor her sister would have it any other way. The mission was dangerous and Harmony -at the tail end of her trainee stage- was up to the task.
A bubble jet escape pod was readied for launch and Harmony strapped in tight. For the occasion, Commodore Thyme opened an ornate box carved by her mother, the famed Queen of a medieval nation and now wife of Dr. Benjamin Binder. Inside the box was an amazing pearl-handle polaser, the most powerful laser of this or any time. Harmony reached for the box and held it to her breast. She looked at the Commodore with moon eyes and mouthed the words, “Thank you.”
In a second, the cap was closed and the pod was off in a cascade of a million fine bubbles.
Several miles away, a small group of very wealthy priests and priestesses sat sunbathing on a remote beach, small giggling children, running around them in circles. A gasp went up from the group as an object suddenly surfaced and rocketed off into the distance. Harmony held the pod close to ground level and under the radar for the whole trip inland, eventually leaving the ground level after reaching the chosen vantage point. She confirmed the location and tilted the pod straight up 90 degrees, climbing the wall of the skyscraper building and hugging it like a pelican hugs the ocean surface. Back on the beach a crowd had now gathered around the chattering families, who were calling the pod a UFO. This story later wound up in the very sophisticated tabloids of the day.
Upon cresting the 150th story, Harmony set the pod on a small ledge and stepped outside for a look out over Kaleidoscope City. She began commenting and recording, and with a tap on her shoulder-worn apparatus, created a holograph for future research and examination.
Back in the time ship, the power came back on all at once, but electronic silence was maintained due to the Commodore having ordered all systems be shut down as soon as they settled on the bottom. For now, they would all wait in silence.
Rooftop Reconnaissance
Having maintained complete radio silence for several hours, Commodore Thyme ordered a reconnaissance mission and personally chose Harmony Staires for the job. Harmony was the younger sibling of famed time agent Infinity Staires and carried a storied pedigree as such. Infinity, the wildly famous and decorated time agent from Chronopolis, was now President of the United Nations. Her younger sister would in no way benefit from such a connection and neither she nor her sister would have it any other way. The mission was dangerous and Harmony -at the tail end of her trainee stage- was up to the task.
A bubble jet escape pod was readied for launch and Harmony strapped in tight. For the occasion, Commodore Thyme opened an ornate box carved by her mother, the famed Queen of a medieval nation and now wife of Dr. Benjamin Binder. Inside the box was an amazing pearl-handle polaser, the most powerful laser of this or any time. Harmony reached for the box and held it to her breast. She looked at the Commodore with moon eyes and mouthed the words, “Thank you.”
In a second, the cap was closed and the pod was off in a cascade of a million fine bubbles.
Several miles away, a small group of very wealthy priests and priestesses sat sunbathing on a remote beach, small giggling children, running around them in circles. A gasp went up from the group as an object suddenly surfaced and rocketed off into the distance. Harmony held the pod close to ground level and under the radar for the whole trip inland, eventually leaving the ground level after reaching the chosen vantage point. She confirmed the location and tilted the pod straight up 90 degrees, climbing the wall of the skyscraper building and hugging it like a pelican hugs the ocean surface. Back on the beach a crowd had now gathered around the chattering families, who were calling the pod a UFO. This story later wound up in the very sophisticated tabloids of the day.
Upon cresting the 150th story, Harmony set the pod on a small ledge and stepped outside for a look out over Kaleidoscope City. She began commenting and recording, and with a tap on her shoulder-worn apparatus, created a holograph for future research and examination.
Back in the time ship, the power came back on all at once, but electronic silence was maintained due to the Commodore having ordered all systems be shut down as soon as they settled on the bottom. For now, they would all wait in silence.
Second Visit to Kaleidoscope City
Part VI
Orbiting Orbs
Commodore Thyme ordered the release of auto-cameras which were flushed out the ballast tanks. They weathered incredible pressure and rose to the surface, where sensors had them snapping photographs as soon as they hit the air. The red orbs destroyed the cameras immediately, but too late to stop the photos, which were relayed instantly back to the time craft far below. Commodore Thyme sent them back across time to Space Base 5000, where the Harpy was waiting for the final green light on the mission. Footage of the orbs flashed on the dashboard of the Harpy, allowing Nikki to study them long enough to formulate a method of dealing with them. They had lightning forks? Well, she had lasers.
The order came through from Base and Nikki hit the throttle splitter, causing a space-time distortion all around the Harpy, which spun rapidly out of existence. Now she could watch the show, as the walls of a time tornado spun ‘round her, showing images of the whole of eternity, people, places, events, Mount Vesuvius, the first Hydrogen Bomb test, the comet that wiped out the dinosaurs. Such was the anomalous nature of space time distortion. In short order, the Harpy emerged through the misty clouds above that certain stretch of ocean, Planet Earth, AD11068. And there, far below she saw the orbs!
Nikki Night Bird switched the Harpy to linear mode, and swooped down on the glowing spheres like the mighty Eagle for which Harpy was named. Dealing death and despair with pulses of her Polaser, she wielded the most powerful weapon in existence, even in this far-flung timeline. After all, they were constructed by Alternity Group* in a dimension not related to time or space.
“Intercept this!” Nikki hissed.
(*Alternity Group, who built Chronopolis)
Part VI
Orbiting Orbs
Commodore Thyme ordered the release of auto-cameras which were flushed out the ballast tanks. They weathered incredible pressure and rose to the surface, where sensors had them snapping photographs as soon as they hit the air. The red orbs destroyed the cameras immediately, but too late to stop the photos, which were relayed instantly back to the time craft far below. Commodore Thyme sent them back across time to Space Base 5000, where the Harpy was waiting for the final green light on the mission. Footage of the orbs flashed on the dashboard of the Harpy, allowing Nikki to study them long enough to formulate a method of dealing with them. They had lightning forks? Well, she had lasers.
The order came through from Base and Nikki hit the throttle splitter, causing a space-time distortion all around the Harpy, which spun rapidly out of existence. Now she could watch the show, as the walls of a time tornado spun ‘round her, showing images of the whole of eternity, people, places, events, Mount Vesuvius, the first Hydrogen Bomb test, the comet that wiped out the dinosaurs. Such was the anomalous nature of space time distortion. In short order, the Harpy emerged through the misty clouds above that certain stretch of ocean, Planet Earth, AD11068. And there, far below she saw the orbs!
Nikki Night Bird switched the Harpy to linear mode, and swooped down on the glowing spheres like the mighty Eagle for which Harpy was named. Dealing death and despair with pulses of her Polaser, she wielded the most powerful weapon in existence, even in this far-flung timeline. After all, they were constructed by Alternity Group* in a dimension not related to time or space.
“Intercept this!” Nikki hissed.
(*Alternity Group, who built Chronopolis)
Second Visit to Kaleidoscope City
Part VII
Drowning the Droids
Back on the ledge, Harmony worked to document the city from above as fast as she could, scanning the horizon in all directions. It occurred to her that civilization had taken urban density to the absolute limit. Advertisements lit every nook and cranny, and huge holograms painted the faces of impossibly tall skyscrapers. Being of the younger generation (she was only 18), she struggled to make some kind of sense to the direction and ultimate destination of such a society. Advanced technologically, and yet somehow missing the boat spiritually, she thought.
Her arm guard flashed to life and alerted her of the nearby presence of the Harpy, though she had no idea it was currently locked in mortal conflict with the red orb interceptors. She activated her communicator by briefly closing her fist, and it sprang awake. “Nikki are you there? Harpy, this is Harmony Staires, over.”
Nikki Night Bird was about to dive deep when the call startled her. She pulled up abruptly and answered, “This is Harpy, over.” Remaining orbs buzzed the Harpy like a swarm of angry hornets as Nikki held the helm tightly in one hand, the laser control in the other.
At that very moment, the buildings bulkhead opened behind Harmony, releasing a contingent of small metallic droids, not unlike insects. Harmony’s instincts told her they were a security detail of some kind, probably wondering what she was doing on this lofty ledge. They released some kind of heat ray that scorched her from behind, and she had no choice but to perform history’s highest and most extreme base jump.
“Nikki, this is Harmony! I’m in a spot, need immediate assist at coordinates 222.3 West, 190.5 East. South face of the tallest building, I’m that fly on the wall heading down in the vertical express lane, please hurry!”
Nikki modulated to time distortion mode just long enough to give herself a few extra seconds to cross the city. “Harmony, I’m right below you, do not try to avoid the craft. I’m gonna swallow you up, over.”
“Roger that Harpy, there you are now!”
The Harpy rocketed straight up the face of the skyscraper, opened up the cargo bay and gulped the free-falling agent as harmlessly as possible, closed the bay doors and shot straight back to the sea. Harmony strapped herself into an auxiliary chair and began slapping at the droids that stuck to the arms of her suit. They were soon disposed of, and she joined Nikki in the Harpy cockpit. Nikki smiled at the younger girl. “Well, you certainly are Infinity’s sister,” she marveled. The Harpy turned downward 180 degrees, broke the ocean surface, and dove into the murky deep.
Part VII
Drowning the Droids
Back on the ledge, Harmony worked to document the city from above as fast as she could, scanning the horizon in all directions. It occurred to her that civilization had taken urban density to the absolute limit. Advertisements lit every nook and cranny, and huge holograms painted the faces of impossibly tall skyscrapers. Being of the younger generation (she was only 18), she struggled to make some kind of sense to the direction and ultimate destination of such a society. Advanced technologically, and yet somehow missing the boat spiritually, she thought.
Her arm guard flashed to life and alerted her of the nearby presence of the Harpy, though she had no idea it was currently locked in mortal conflict with the red orb interceptors. She activated her communicator by briefly closing her fist, and it sprang awake. “Nikki are you there? Harpy, this is Harmony Staires, over.”
Nikki Night Bird was about to dive deep when the call startled her. She pulled up abruptly and answered, “This is Harpy, over.” Remaining orbs buzzed the Harpy like a swarm of angry hornets as Nikki held the helm tightly in one hand, the laser control in the other.
At that very moment, the buildings bulkhead opened behind Harmony, releasing a contingent of small metallic droids, not unlike insects. Harmony’s instincts told her they were a security detail of some kind, probably wondering what she was doing on this lofty ledge. They released some kind of heat ray that scorched her from behind, and she had no choice but to perform history’s highest and most extreme base jump.
“Nikki, this is Harmony! I’m in a spot, need immediate assist at coordinates 222.3 West, 190.5 East. South face of the tallest building, I’m that fly on the wall heading down in the vertical express lane, please hurry!”
Nikki modulated to time distortion mode just long enough to give herself a few extra seconds to cross the city. “Harmony, I’m right below you, do not try to avoid the craft. I’m gonna swallow you up, over.”
“Roger that Harpy, there you are now!”
The Harpy rocketed straight up the face of the skyscraper, opened up the cargo bay and gulped the free-falling agent as harmlessly as possible, closed the bay doors and shot straight back to the sea. Harmony strapped herself into an auxiliary chair and began slapping at the droids that stuck to the arms of her suit. They were soon disposed of, and she joined Nikki in the Harpy cockpit. Nikki smiled at the younger girl. “Well, you certainly are Infinity’s sister,” she marveled. The Harpy turned downward 180 degrees, broke the ocean surface, and dove into the murky deep.
Part VIII
Attack of the Ullu
The Harpy stood dancing on its’ nose in an ethereal ocean ballet. In Nikki’s quest to gain the midnight zone, she overestimated the Harpy’s ability to withstand such deep-water pressure on the hull and superstructure. The problem was exacerbated by marine species who had evolved over all these millennia. The most fearsome of these new mega mariners was what used to be a Giant Pacific Red Octopus, but was now something more closely akin to the Kraken of old fables. At 60 thousand fathoms, strange cracking was heard outside the Harpy, and Nikki stopped descent. Before she could suit up for a submarine space-walk, Harmony jettisoned herself outside to inspect hull integrity.
No sooner had the bubbles cleared, than the ship was attacked by what was later identified by the mother ship’s computers as an Ullu! The giant marine organism was not taking kindly to such invaders on her ‘turf’ and she made it obvious by whipping the ship with sharp and poisonous tentacled arms. Nikki grabbed a sea-laser and jetted herself out of the craft to save Harmony, who was now wrapped in sucker discs. The Ullu’s parrot beak snapped menacingly inches from Harmony’s face, and Nikki could see she would not last much longer without help. One shot from the sea-laser stunned the huge animal, serving to further enrage it. Now she heard the hull cracking again, and that, too, wouldn’t last much longer. But Nikki had a plan. The two divers re-entered the Harpy, and Nikki shifted to space-time mode. With the craft crackling and popping, Nikki set the Harpy on a spacetime distortion rate that would keep it continually drawing backward in time, to a stasis just before implosion.
During a space between the time clicks (‘Chronons*’), Nikki set the navigation sighting mechanism to the coordinates atop the skyscraper Harmony had recently abandoned. The Harpy made an imperceptible appearance there, and Harmony was able to once again take command of the Escape Pod she had landed and left sitting on the lofty ledge. The Harpy instantaneously re-appeared back at the site of the giant octopus, but Ullu was no longer there to be found. So Nikki took the Harpy down to the dark depths and joined the Mother Ship.
“Agent Night Bird to Commodore Thyme, I’m bringing the Harpy in, over.”
After some crackling on the line, came the answer from the Mother Ship. “Read that loud and clear Harpy.” In the background was much hooting and celebration. “We’ll have to go get Harmony before any return to 5000 is possible.”
“No need, Commodore, she’s right behind me.”
Attack of the Ullu
The Harpy stood dancing on its’ nose in an ethereal ocean ballet. In Nikki’s quest to gain the midnight zone, she overestimated the Harpy’s ability to withstand such deep-water pressure on the hull and superstructure. The problem was exacerbated by marine species who had evolved over all these millennia. The most fearsome of these new mega mariners was what used to be a Giant Pacific Red Octopus, but was now something more closely akin to the Kraken of old fables. At 60 thousand fathoms, strange cracking was heard outside the Harpy, and Nikki stopped descent. Before she could suit up for a submarine space-walk, Harmony jettisoned herself outside to inspect hull integrity.
No sooner had the bubbles cleared, than the ship was attacked by what was later identified by the mother ship’s computers as an Ullu! The giant marine organism was not taking kindly to such invaders on her ‘turf’ and she made it obvious by whipping the ship with sharp and poisonous tentacled arms. Nikki grabbed a sea-laser and jetted herself out of the craft to save Harmony, who was now wrapped in sucker discs. The Ullu’s parrot beak snapped menacingly inches from Harmony’s face, and Nikki could see she would not last much longer without help. One shot from the sea-laser stunned the huge animal, serving to further enrage it. Now she heard the hull cracking again, and that, too, wouldn’t last much longer. But Nikki had a plan. The two divers re-entered the Harpy, and Nikki shifted to space-time mode. With the craft crackling and popping, Nikki set the Harpy on a spacetime distortion rate that would keep it continually drawing backward in time, to a stasis just before implosion.
During a space between the time clicks (‘Chronons*’), Nikki set the navigation sighting mechanism to the coordinates atop the skyscraper Harmony had recently abandoned. The Harpy made an imperceptible appearance there, and Harmony was able to once again take command of the Escape Pod she had landed and left sitting on the lofty ledge. The Harpy instantaneously re-appeared back at the site of the giant octopus, but Ullu was no longer there to be found. So Nikki took the Harpy down to the dark depths and joined the Mother Ship.
“Agent Night Bird to Commodore Thyme, I’m bringing the Harpy in, over.”
After some crackling on the line, came the answer from the Mother Ship. “Read that loud and clear Harpy.” In the background was much hooting and celebration. “We’ll have to go get Harmony before any return to 5000 is possible.”
“No need, Commodore, she’s right behind me.”
Part IX
Return to Mother
Harmony managed to gain command of the pod and wasted little time launching her return to the Mother Ship. She wanted to execute a circumnavigation of the planet, but dared not. The tech of AD11068 was formidable, dangerous and seemed to have a decidedly foul attitude toward strangers poking around their envelope. That said, she also had a straight shot toward the water, and would record everything in between. The pod lifted off and fired like an arrow, perpendicular to the landscape. Dodging buildings of every shape and size, the pod homed in on the Mother like a magnet, no steering needed by Harmony. She took air samples and even collected spiders floating in the upper atmosphere. She ran them through the analytic digester and it acted as a catalyst for them to molt. So Harmony was able to keep the exoskeletons and release the live spiders back to their place in the future. Captivity was not permitted by Alternity Group, Space Base 3000 or Space Base 5000. Harmony smiled to herself. ‘We’re learning,’ she thought with pride.
She brought the pod down to the surface with a ‘falling leaf’ motion, confusing those who would -and did- follow in pursuit. On the surface, she left floating a sonar beacon pinging too loudly for any pursuer to hear themselves think. It was great cover as she blew ballast and sank beneath the whitecaps.
At the bottom, several hours away, Nikki hooked the Harpy’s space time distortion splitter direct into the Mother, making the entire ship a defacto Harpy. At the surface, the leadership of Kaleidoscope City, county and state had now been drawn into the anomalous conflict and called in their military agencies. They were determined not to allow the intruders to hide in the depths with impunity. They sent in a killbuster, a warship that, though primitive by their standards, had the firepower to get the job done. The KCMA (Kaleidoscope City Military Agency) had no such reverence for living things, especially those species perceived as an existential threat, like the spies in question, and they intended to depth-charge the area with killbuster bomblets. That would discourage other visitors. The bomblets were released, and began sinking rapidly, set to detonate every thousand fathoms in a vertical row.
Commodore Thyme sat patiently at the helm, while Agent Night Bird held the splitter. The smell of perspiration filled the bridge and conning tower. When the bomblets began exploding, the space time distortion mechanism was engaged and held on standby. As the bombs got closer, Harmony brought the pod into view through the murky fathoms, and requested permission to couple with the Mother Ship.
“Permission granted,” said Thyme, “and hurry the hell up!”
“Aye sir, thank you sir.”
The pod melded into the womb of the Mother and Nikki engaged the splitter. The entire ensemble began to rotate together as one unit, and soon blinked out of existence. In literally no time flat, the Mother Ship materialized on the runway at Space Base 5000 and ground crews began the process of hosing the fuselage with powerful hoses. Upon disembarkation, the base commander handed a red phone to Harmony. “Hello?” she said.
A voice asked her, “Harmony Staires?”
“This is she.”
“Please hold for the President.”
It was her sister!
©@JosephJohnRacano/7/12/22
Return to Mother
Harmony managed to gain command of the pod and wasted little time launching her return to the Mother Ship. She wanted to execute a circumnavigation of the planet, but dared not. The tech of AD11068 was formidable, dangerous and seemed to have a decidedly foul attitude toward strangers poking around their envelope. That said, she also had a straight shot toward the water, and would record everything in between. The pod lifted off and fired like an arrow, perpendicular to the landscape. Dodging buildings of every shape and size, the pod homed in on the Mother like a magnet, no steering needed by Harmony. She took air samples and even collected spiders floating in the upper atmosphere. She ran them through the analytic digester and it acted as a catalyst for them to molt. So Harmony was able to keep the exoskeletons and release the live spiders back to their place in the future. Captivity was not permitted by Alternity Group, Space Base 3000 or Space Base 5000. Harmony smiled to herself. ‘We’re learning,’ she thought with pride.
She brought the pod down to the surface with a ‘falling leaf’ motion, confusing those who would -and did- follow in pursuit. On the surface, she left floating a sonar beacon pinging too loudly for any pursuer to hear themselves think. It was great cover as she blew ballast and sank beneath the whitecaps.
At the bottom, several hours away, Nikki hooked the Harpy’s space time distortion splitter direct into the Mother, making the entire ship a defacto Harpy. At the surface, the leadership of Kaleidoscope City, county and state had now been drawn into the anomalous conflict and called in their military agencies. They were determined not to allow the intruders to hide in the depths with impunity. They sent in a killbuster, a warship that, though primitive by their standards, had the firepower to get the job done. The KCMA (Kaleidoscope City Military Agency) had no such reverence for living things, especially those species perceived as an existential threat, like the spies in question, and they intended to depth-charge the area with killbuster bomblets. That would discourage other visitors. The bomblets were released, and began sinking rapidly, set to detonate every thousand fathoms in a vertical row.
Commodore Thyme sat patiently at the helm, while Agent Night Bird held the splitter. The smell of perspiration filled the bridge and conning tower. When the bomblets began exploding, the space time distortion mechanism was engaged and held on standby. As the bombs got closer, Harmony brought the pod into view through the murky fathoms, and requested permission to couple with the Mother Ship.
“Permission granted,” said Thyme, “and hurry the hell up!”
“Aye sir, thank you sir.”
The pod melded into the womb of the Mother and Nikki engaged the splitter. The entire ensemble began to rotate together as one unit, and soon blinked out of existence. In literally no time flat, the Mother Ship materialized on the runway at Space Base 5000 and ground crews began the process of hosing the fuselage with powerful hoses. Upon disembarkation, the base commander handed a red phone to Harmony. “Hello?” she said.
A voice asked her, “Harmony Staires?”
“This is she.”
“Please hold for the President.”
It was her sister!
©@JosephJohnRacano/7/12/22
City at the Edge of Time- Finale
Part X
The Underground Meeting
“I’m proud of you little sis,” came the familiar voice on the red phone. “How does it feel to be a hero?”
“Infinity, where are you right now? Are you still in Washington? Are you coming to the meeting? I miss you!” cried Harmony. The line went dead. Harmony handed the phone back to the communications technician, who saluted, whirled an about face, and walked briskly off. Calls on the red phone were strictly limited in duration, lest they be compromised.
The returning royalty had barely time to shower, change and snack when the meeting was called to order. Around the table sat all members of the G-7 as well as a few agents from Alternity Group, led by Justin Nicholas Thyme, a high-ranking Commodore. The room around the agents and heads of state or their representatives, was cavernous, to say the least. The ceiling was 100 feet high above them, and the walls were sheer. Although the table itself was large, it sat as a speck like the central dot on the middle of a clock. Strangely, the room did not echo, nor was the air too hot or cold. The room fell silent as Justin stood to speak.
“Dear friends and fellows,” he began. “It is with great concern that you have all been summoned here today. In our travels, we have made many new discoveries in our thirst for self-knowledge. But that is not the end of our quest.”
At that moment, a certain General Studemier, flown in specially from Chronopolis for the meeting, interrupted the commodore with laughter, saying, “You’re ‘quest’ as you call it, has indeed come to an end. It ended when your funding ran out.” His statement drew subdued laughter around the table, especially from those afraid to see their own funds cut off.
Commodore Thyme looked the General squarely in the eye and continued.
“It seems we have made a discovery that demands our full attention, as well as the full weight of our pocketbook,” he said. The room became a net of widened eyes and perked-up ears at Justin’s words.
“What is your ‘amazing new discovery,” asked the General, “and what proof do you intend to present to back up your claim.” Justin leaned in on his elbows and explained.
“During the late stages of our recent mission to Kaleidoscope City, we were approached by one of the shadowy figures of the ruling party, the keepers of sacred information and technology. This entity confided in us knowledge of a race -ancient even by our own standards- who took a different path. This ancient race was known as the Jadians.”
“The Jadians, you say,” asked the General, mocking the Commodore.
“Yes, General, the Jadians,” answered Justin, who pointed a long wooden stick at one of the walls, where a large screen appeared. “This map is a record of Earth’s timeline, from when the first microbes coalesced from the primordial soup, to the middle-ages of Kaleidoscope City itself.”
There was much murmuring among the G-7 guests. “Tell us, dear commodore, what is it that we are looking for in this map?” asked the General. Justin ran his wooden pointer stick along the length of the timeline, and stopped to tap on a green symbol showing a tarnished gem of some sort.
“Here, friends, is where you will find the archeological record of the Aztec civilization. Montezuma was their Emperor, and he shepherded the Aztec society through an age of Jade.”
“Jade,” asked Harmony? “Like the pretty stones?”
“Precisely, Agent Staires,” he answered. “Montezuma once sent Jade to King Carlos V of Spain as a gift, instructing the jade to be delivered by Prince Hernan Cortes the conqueror personally, and that the jade was for the King and no one else. “Each stone is worth two wagon loads of gold,” said Montezuma. Now the question is, why did the Azrecs hold jade in such high regard?”
“And did you find the answer, “asked General Studemier?
“We did indeed. As our shadowy host informed us, jade was carved into a variety of useful tools, as well as sacred art and sculpture. As the days went on, the artisans were able to form more and more tools hooks and baubles from the jade, until finally discovering ways to carve jade to such high precision they created a transcendent technology.”
Justin looked at each member of the meeting, eye to eye. Predictably, it was the General who asked, “So, what happened to the technology? What happened to the people?”
“Oh, the technology has only become greater,” said Justin. “Those people flourished. The jade offered huge advantages over more modern forms of energy and technology. It allowed the Inca to develop a super-society and super technology without the corresponding environmental degradation.”
“What was their secret,” asked Harmony.
“Jade didn’t pollute. And there doesn’t seem to be a limit on how finely it can be carved, buffed, honed and worked.”
“And where are these so-called super-citizens now, Mr. Thyme,” asked the General?
“All around you!”
Moments ticked by and the silence was made quite loud, by the blood pounding in everybody’s temples. The General simply scoffed at the notions put forth by this famous agent, whom the General considered an overblown and over-rated loudmouth with a penchant for grand standing.
“Friends and fellow time travelers,” said Justin, “I give you- the Jadians!”
Nothing happened. The laughter grew louder now, metamorphosizing into a table full of guffawing and back slapping. They were always so happy to see the mighty fall.
At that moment, a thousand jade carved ports opened simultaneously ¾ the way up the bulkeads of the cavernous room, and at each port, a face, steeped in colorful paints and jade baubles. Jewels on their earlobes, jade necklaces bouncing on their chests. These were the Jadians! “This entire room is carved from jade. You are standing in a hollowed out jade monolith, impervious to outside attack, surveillance, or detection,” said Justin. At his last words, the window ports slapped closed once again, leaving no seam to reveal they had ever been there at all. The place was awash in drop-jaw amazement. The G-7 turned to the Commodore and applauded.
Joseph John Racano
The End
Next: The World of the Jadians!
Part X
The Underground Meeting
“I’m proud of you little sis,” came the familiar voice on the red phone. “How does it feel to be a hero?”
“Infinity, where are you right now? Are you still in Washington? Are you coming to the meeting? I miss you!” cried Harmony. The line went dead. Harmony handed the phone back to the communications technician, who saluted, whirled an about face, and walked briskly off. Calls on the red phone were strictly limited in duration, lest they be compromised.
The returning royalty had barely time to shower, change and snack when the meeting was called to order. Around the table sat all members of the G-7 as well as a few agents from Alternity Group, led by Justin Nicholas Thyme, a high-ranking Commodore. The room around the agents and heads of state or their representatives, was cavernous, to say the least. The ceiling was 100 feet high above them, and the walls were sheer. Although the table itself was large, it sat as a speck like the central dot on the middle of a clock. Strangely, the room did not echo, nor was the air too hot or cold. The room fell silent as Justin stood to speak.
“Dear friends and fellows,” he began. “It is with great concern that you have all been summoned here today. In our travels, we have made many new discoveries in our thirst for self-knowledge. But that is not the end of our quest.”
At that moment, a certain General Studemier, flown in specially from Chronopolis for the meeting, interrupted the commodore with laughter, saying, “You’re ‘quest’ as you call it, has indeed come to an end. It ended when your funding ran out.” His statement drew subdued laughter around the table, especially from those afraid to see their own funds cut off.
Commodore Thyme looked the General squarely in the eye and continued.
“It seems we have made a discovery that demands our full attention, as well as the full weight of our pocketbook,” he said. The room became a net of widened eyes and perked-up ears at Justin’s words.
“What is your ‘amazing new discovery,” asked the General, “and what proof do you intend to present to back up your claim.” Justin leaned in on his elbows and explained.
“During the late stages of our recent mission to Kaleidoscope City, we were approached by one of the shadowy figures of the ruling party, the keepers of sacred information and technology. This entity confided in us knowledge of a race -ancient even by our own standards- who took a different path. This ancient race was known as the Jadians.”
“The Jadians, you say,” asked the General, mocking the Commodore.
“Yes, General, the Jadians,” answered Justin, who pointed a long wooden stick at one of the walls, where a large screen appeared. “This map is a record of Earth’s timeline, from when the first microbes coalesced from the primordial soup, to the middle-ages of Kaleidoscope City itself.”
There was much murmuring among the G-7 guests. “Tell us, dear commodore, what is it that we are looking for in this map?” asked the General. Justin ran his wooden pointer stick along the length of the timeline, and stopped to tap on a green symbol showing a tarnished gem of some sort.
“Here, friends, is where you will find the archeological record of the Aztec civilization. Montezuma was their Emperor, and he shepherded the Aztec society through an age of Jade.”
“Jade,” asked Harmony? “Like the pretty stones?”
“Precisely, Agent Staires,” he answered. “Montezuma once sent Jade to King Carlos V of Spain as a gift, instructing the jade to be delivered by Prince Hernan Cortes the conqueror personally, and that the jade was for the King and no one else. “Each stone is worth two wagon loads of gold,” said Montezuma. Now the question is, why did the Azrecs hold jade in such high regard?”
“And did you find the answer, “asked General Studemier?
“We did indeed. As our shadowy host informed us, jade was carved into a variety of useful tools, as well as sacred art and sculpture. As the days went on, the artisans were able to form more and more tools hooks and baubles from the jade, until finally discovering ways to carve jade to such high precision they created a transcendent technology.”
Justin looked at each member of the meeting, eye to eye. Predictably, it was the General who asked, “So, what happened to the technology? What happened to the people?”
“Oh, the technology has only become greater,” said Justin. “Those people flourished. The jade offered huge advantages over more modern forms of energy and technology. It allowed the Inca to develop a super-society and super technology without the corresponding environmental degradation.”
“What was their secret,” asked Harmony.
“Jade didn’t pollute. And there doesn’t seem to be a limit on how finely it can be carved, buffed, honed and worked.”
“And where are these so-called super-citizens now, Mr. Thyme,” asked the General?
“All around you!”
Moments ticked by and the silence was made quite loud, by the blood pounding in everybody’s temples. The General simply scoffed at the notions put forth by this famous agent, whom the General considered an overblown and over-rated loudmouth with a penchant for grand standing.
“Friends and fellow time travelers,” said Justin, “I give you- the Jadians!”
Nothing happened. The laughter grew louder now, metamorphosizing into a table full of guffawing and back slapping. They were always so happy to see the mighty fall.
At that moment, a thousand jade carved ports opened simultaneously ¾ the way up the bulkeads of the cavernous room, and at each port, a face, steeped in colorful paints and jade baubles. Jewels on their earlobes, jade necklaces bouncing on their chests. These were the Jadians! “This entire room is carved from jade. You are standing in a hollowed out jade monolith, impervious to outside attack, surveillance, or detection,” said Justin. At his last words, the window ports slapped closed once again, leaving no seam to reveal they had ever been there at all. The place was awash in drop-jaw amazement. The G-7 turned to the Commodore and applauded.
Joseph John Racano
The End
Next: The World of the Jadians!
The Jadians
(Third installment in the Code Name-Time Chariot series)
Of Kings and Chatoyancy
People looked like ants to the great King Shanduq’, sitting high above the valley on a throne flawlessly carved from green chert stone. It is said a man becomes embued with great powers when standing atop a mountain summit. If that be the case, then King Shanduq’ was indeed powerful. The masses below were gathering for a mid-day ceremony conducted each day of their lives. The ceremony was called ‘Ganha-set,’ paying homage to the Queen of the fiery green stones.
These stones, of purest jade, oft spewed forth from the belly of a great green mountain called ‘La Mujerzuela’ who would awaken periodically, wiping out civilization in a hard rain of fiery death. Now, the throngs got down on their hands and knees, close enough to be heard by those ancestors long ago buried by the mountain. From many cliffs, the mournful call of conch shell horns carried on the warm wind. The Jadians gathered for Ganha-set.
The scent of sweetgrass and sage wafted, too, upon these tropical winds, affording comfort and delight to every nostril. Sacrificial lambs -of the human kind- were led up ornate steps carved from the steep jaden slopes. Having been chosen to honor the gods, these lovely young men and women were sent off cheerfully, families celebrating loudly in the valley below. Rain clouds drifted slowly over, delighting the chosen and royal alike with prized summer rain drops. The low moo of huge oxen reverberated off the jaden wall of the mountain passes, carried far and wide by their low tone.
Then, through the dark anvil clouds came a bright light, pinkish in hue, accompanied by the hum of a futuristic time-drive. Animals scattered willy nilly, and all dropped to the sand who weren’t already on hands and knees. Even King Shanduq’ rose to stand, raising his un-callused hands in a greeting. There through the cloud cover descended what could only be described as something akin to Yankee stadium, a thick disc lit from inside with the aquamarine of a shallow subtropical sea.
With a hiss and a release of orange mist, the mysterious and gargantuan craft came to a stand still some ten meters above ground level. By now, the king was dancing and shaking his magic staff wildly above his feathered head dress. Every citizen prayed to, and sang the song of the ancestors. The creators of the Jade Mountain had finally returned!
to be cont’d...
Joseph John Racano
©@JosephJohnRacano/7/19/22
(Third installment in the Code Name-Time Chariot series)
Of Kings and Chatoyancy
People looked like ants to the great King Shanduq’, sitting high above the valley on a throne flawlessly carved from green chert stone. It is said a man becomes embued with great powers when standing atop a mountain summit. If that be the case, then King Shanduq’ was indeed powerful. The masses below were gathering for a mid-day ceremony conducted each day of their lives. The ceremony was called ‘Ganha-set,’ paying homage to the Queen of the fiery green stones.
These stones, of purest jade, oft spewed forth from the belly of a great green mountain called ‘La Mujerzuela’ who would awaken periodically, wiping out civilization in a hard rain of fiery death. Now, the throngs got down on their hands and knees, close enough to be heard by those ancestors long ago buried by the mountain. From many cliffs, the mournful call of conch shell horns carried on the warm wind. The Jadians gathered for Ganha-set.
The scent of sweetgrass and sage wafted, too, upon these tropical winds, affording comfort and delight to every nostril. Sacrificial lambs -of the human kind- were led up ornate steps carved from the steep jaden slopes. Having been chosen to honor the gods, these lovely young men and women were sent off cheerfully, families celebrating loudly in the valley below. Rain clouds drifted slowly over, delighting the chosen and royal alike with prized summer rain drops. The low moo of huge oxen reverberated off the jaden wall of the mountain passes, carried far and wide by their low tone.
Then, through the dark anvil clouds came a bright light, pinkish in hue, accompanied by the hum of a futuristic time-drive. Animals scattered willy nilly, and all dropped to the sand who weren’t already on hands and knees. Even King Shanduq’ rose to stand, raising his un-callused hands in a greeting. There through the cloud cover descended what could only be described as something akin to Yankee stadium, a thick disc lit from inside with the aquamarine of a shallow subtropical sea.
With a hiss and a release of orange mist, the mysterious and gargantuan craft came to a stand still some ten meters above ground level. By now, the king was dancing and shaking his magic staff wildly above his feathered head dress. Every citizen prayed to, and sang the song of the ancestors. The creators of the Jade Mountain had finally returned!
to be cont’d...
Joseph John Racano
©@JosephJohnRacano/7/19/22
Author