Time Bombs, Pt. 8 of 11.

         Two uniformed men entered the laboratory first with their weapons ready for use, followed by their leader and others.  There was an increasing hum in the room, in addition to the continuous buzzing of the alarm, and Xavier put his open right hand forward at them and held up the briefcase with the left.  They appeared surprised to see him, but he smiled arrogantly and said, "You are too late, Commander.  I have what I need to fulfill my ultimate dream."

         "Xavier!  Minerva!  You are both insane.  You can't -- "

         "Oh, no, sir!  It's Jack and Miranda Bradford from now on where we're going.  In addition to discarding my worthless 'honors,' and identity here, I will leave you with a choice to save lives now or face the full power of these rings instantly, like the guards outside did," he proposed.

         The hum matched the loudness of the ongoing alarm, and the liquid in the tank glowed a soft blue, to indicate that the system was ready for use.  The security officer stepped closer and said, "What do you mean?  What are you talking about?"

         "See for yourselves.  Victor will surely tell you his version later, but we already have won.  There is nothing further for you to do."

         Xavier held his fist down and moved it quickly to one side, and by telekinetic means magnified by the ring on his hand, he revealed the three women.  An opaque tarp was "magically" pulled away from an adjacent wall, and they were awestruck and surprised.  Sheena and the two female technicians were covered with thick, clear greenish bio-gel, a substance used to transform solid foods into a nutrient colloid for much longer storage and easier consumption during long space voyages, and sealed inside large transparent storage bags filled completely with warm water accordingly.  They were suspended from a sturdy false ceiling; the nudity of the helpless women in their perilous situation further drew the attention of the uniformed people.

         "Go ahead.  Save them while you can.  We'll never be as lenient in any way to this world when we get the opportunity to reshape it in the past," he said.

         Their hostages could not be heard even close-up from within the clear plastic bags, as their lungs were filled with the temporarily life-preserving bio-gel, but they did struggle to stand and beat against the inside of their spacious synthetic prisons without buoyancy.  Their faces, framed by twisted suspended hair, showed an urgent pleading, and the best efforts of their moving limbs made the turgid confinements twitch and tremble meagerly.  The thick bag pretty Sheena was in even bulged forward when she stretched and slid against the front of it.  Each of the women kept their mouths open wide to allow maximum exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide, but after the petite technician shook her glossy head and appeared to lose consciousness from fear shortly, they rushed to their rescue.

         The triple distraction and Xavier's threat worked as effective decoys.  He nodded at Minerva, put an arm around her, and both of them jumped into the activated immersion tank, holding their breath and closing their eyes for whatever reaction to come.  The outside of the tank glittered with increasing frequency, and a rainbow of colors shone onto the ceiling above it.  The other trapped technician even shielded her eyes with an arm while still in the strong bag, and the security personnel grew almost as afraid as her.  

         "What's happening?  Shut that thing down -- fast," the commander ordered.

         "How?  Everything looks pre-programmed," another man replied.

         A flash emanated out of the top of the tank, to stop the progress of another officer on a stairs, and others pulled back toward the massive door when smoke began coming out of many computers.  The polymer of the storage bags was like flexible steel, and freeing the desperate women, still fighting to resist transformation in the bio-gel by constant "slow-motion" struggling, was not near as easy as assumed.  They would even be better-protected by an explosion, but none occurred.  Instead, the glittering sparks expanded outward around the tank, as the surge of power from the taken rings pulsed against the inside of it.  Another of the security men used his rifle to shoot out a couple monitors next, but by then, the whole system appeared to burn itself out.  

         The commander coughed.  "Smoke everywhere.  The bastard set this thing to self-destruct.  Get them out of the tank -- now!"

         The person on the stairs went up to the top of it and onto the platform where Xavier and Minerva were standing.  Peering down, he saw blue-glowing concentric rings fading fast WITHIN the fluid medium but no trace of the sinister duet.  He just threw his arm up, shook his head, and coughed amidst the thicker smoke.  Automatic fire prevention measures in the place had also shut down, and greater, more immediate concerns had to be addressed, though not as important.  The commander was not happy and intended to find out exactly what had transpired with others.

         A few hours later, the probing media was officially informed what happened in the incident.  Victor was resting on a triage bed with the most other relevant people of the regional complex nearby giving him an assessment of the situation.  Very serious conclusions were summarized.  "We have a big problem, ladies and gentlemen," he voiced.  "We've got to work to the best of our ability as fast as we can to correct it.  The ambulite rings have been taken by a deadly menace to our civilization, and the effects of their threat can manifest at any time here."

         A tall short-haired woman stepped forward and suddenly said, "Not so soon, Sir."

         "Wha?  What to you mean, Darcee?"

         "Xavier and Minerva went back in time much further than we expected.  They took a lot of . . . baggage with them at much cost."  

         "Oh?  That means, we don't know right away how far back they went until such physical anomalies occur to our world.  Can we make more rings and pursue them?"

         Another woman, a lead technician and blond-haired replied, "Even with our best technology, it will take us close to fifty years to isolate and purify as much ambulite as they took.  Consider the distance and difficulty involved to just get it too."  

         "In that time, we also would have the time travel system restored and perfected," a supervisor commented.  

         Victor raised a finger.  "But it takes purified ambulite to largely make it work.  I wouldn't trust the synthetically made stuff.  So, when the time comes that we even have a few rings assembled, send elite agents into the new matrix after them and hope those . . . human bombs can be diffused."  

         "If they don't get diffused where they went first," the first woman added.

         "So?"

         A robed mastermind spoke confidently. "Based on how long the chronotron accelerator was operating before it burned out, I deduce those two went back no further than the late twentieth century, Victor"

         "I won't doubt your assessment, but that's not far back enough to insure the perpetuity of our existence."  

         "Amazing.  Over eight hundred years," a science director voiced.  "They could still change history in some way there, like make new weapons, and alter how we do things today."

         "Indeed, to turn us all into simple gardeners under rule of a genetically engineered animal, for example."  

         The second woman smirked and looked more positive.  "There are a lot of distractions in the time he went to.  Organized religions were even at conflict then, just before a swift climate disruption took out a chunk of the human population.  Rest assured, Xavier will require considerable care to do all he pleases wherever he and Minerva reside."

         A younger man addressed the group next.  "Very true, but he did take a couple of our power stabilizers, two or maybe three high-rated android cyborgs, and other small equipment that could do what would be called magic or supernatural back then.  My people are sure too that Minerva was largely responsible for the smuggling."

         "There certainly needs to be stronger, air-tight security and better ethical procedures enabled at Ganymede and Callisto," Victor remarked.

         The short-haired woman spoke another time.  "Minerva is responsible for the deaths of Arlaina Klexton and her daughter.  They were found deceased at their residence this morning, and one of their maintenance persons chased a woman that matched her description from the place.  Security in the base level even had her in custody a bit, until her impressive credentials . . . spoke for themselves."

         Victor clenched his fist and shook it.  "Blast it!  Killing them was her stab to our authority.  I wonder how she got to Xavier of all people."  

         "From what I've gathered, Arlaina believed she was having a clandestine affair with her husband, Jack, some eight years ago.  So, she bent the rules of assignment and 'promoted' her on to the Jupiter system.  Being young and impressionable, Minerva thought at first that long distance meant prestige.  Did she ever get a surprise -- education the hard way, plus a traumatic experience on the way back," a detective explained.  

         "She paid dearly for being out of order anyway.  Trainees her age then are normally sent to orbiting stations or to the Moon, never to Mars or Jupiter," he said and sat backward to relax.  

         The detective held up his electronic and duplicated notes in a hand-held device and looked stern.  "Well, she WAS there, and it's too damned late to reverse what happened on that regard.  Lots of unlawful rigors to put up with out there, and even a 'mysterious' sterilization yet.  I did investigating on how often Xavier was regarded here too and who took credit for a lot of his work over the years.  You top-brass people sure have many clunky ways of doing things and should have noticed a time bomb in the making.  So, with their motives being hate and revenge, they are extremely volatile and dangerous to all of us and everything here."  

         "Oh, good deduction, Sir," the blond-haired woman sneered.  "We already know that, and it's why we're meeting informally -- here."  

         An excited messenger quietly entered the room and handed Victor a note with the supreme seal on it.  He sat up erect again, opened the envelope, and read it.  Everyone but the detective showed anxiety, as it seemed that something bad was expected by him, certainly more than a mere disciplining.  He looked up at them slowly afterward and showed dismay himself.  "This, my friends, is a communication from the Grand Monarch.  It says affiliates of the United Science Network has embarrassed the originator by this event and will warrant military supervision of our methods . . . until further notice."

         "That won't allow us to get this problem solved fast by any means!"  

         The young man put his hands to his sides and nodded.  "See?  Just what Xavier would have expected to buy him time to become powerful wherever he went."  

         "All the more reason to get started as fast as possible to stop his threat," Victor sighed.  "At my age now, I doubt it will be my problem much longer.  He timed his action like a top-notch sports clock."

         "They will ascend to wealth and power steadily, not necessarily in geopolitics, and will attain some climax of it about the same time we regain ability to go after them, IF they're in that period.  Our technology and very wit could also enable us to tap into or affect the energy to some extent in the rings he took right through the time continuum also.  All they will need to begin their escalation of power for revenge against us is a secure residence with a pool."  

         "A pool?"  one of the women said, her curiosity tweaked.

         "Yes.  A swimming pool quite analogous to the immersion tank they jumped into and escaped from here in.  The ambulite works only in a fluid medium, as liquids are exotic across the universe.  Such a pool would permit him or her to sample different times while wearing a ring or two in order to gain knowledge unknown to the masses and predict -- "  

         "Enough!" Victor interrupted, to startle the young genius.  "Now that we are aware of the consequences of this unfortunate event and know what is needed to prevent them, go and act as you must to stop those traitors.  There is no time to lose, let alone ours."

         Victor waved his arms up repeatedly, and the group departed his room.  Xavier and Minerva emerged in the late twentieth century, as predicted by the United Science mastermind, and they evolved into successful socialites.  They knew well how much people then assigned intelligence to wealth and power just by observation and advantageous foresight only they knew.  Thus, as more time passed, they believed that their niche would never be found by the future and merged well with the privileged contemporary oligarchs.  The ambulite rings allowed them to make any of their desired needs possible but with disciplined ambition, as not to become too outstanding.  They even slowed the aging processes of time on them when worn with regularity.  They could not afford any mistakes in their plans of revenge, but mortal problems were inevitable amidst the more chaotic and primitive complexity both worked together in.  One of those problems yet unknown to them was a gorgeous woman by the name of Paige Everhart.  


Continued to Pt. 9.