Vindication, Pt. 1 of 11.

         Paige Everhart was lying across the bed of the basement guest room and feeling depressed.  She had just finished crying and was alone staring at the ceiling, contemplating the dangerous circumstances that had recently surrounded her, and now, her close friends.  Since meeting Mr. Bradford and his wife, and largely by accident discovering something very unusual and sinister about them, her life had turned into a perilous nightmare.

         Thinking of why life had to be so unfair and dangerous for her and her sister, Blanche, she wiped tears from her cheeks and slowly sat up.  Even that act seemed like a daring resistance to a crushing burden -- one that struck her down just when she was embarking on a successful career.  Confusion and frustration set in as to how to escape the new reality, or solve the problem; the resulting anger also brought more strength.  Looking at the shiny dark ring on her left hand, she felt a greater determination to drive forward.  "No, Jack," she whispered.  "You will not get me.  With this, I am as good as you.  It has worked FOR me before and will work to my favor again."  

         She inhaled deep, gathered her emotions, and rubbed the glossy rare stone-like substance of the ring.  It suddenly sparkled to life, but instead of bolting backward, she was drawn closer in concentration and curiosity.  The ambulite turned clear, and she saw more detailed images, as if transfixed in a vivid dream.  Memories merged with reality, and she studied the very guestroom of the Bradford mansion she had stayed in.  Things in it were projected different -- furniture, curtains, etc., and she realized an ability to extend her presence there in an enhanced way, like he did with Jolene in the pool yesterday, to explore, wander, and possibly do more.  With the blink of an eye and a little shift in thought, she discovered an ability to "move" through walls and see from different perspectives.  She thus passed through the guestroom door and into the adjacent hall of the pace at will.  

         Paige felt her pulse quicken through the ring finger and in her chest as her projection became more clear.  She felt like she was floating through the place, sometimes close to the floor, and at other times nearer to a ceiling.  As before, the place appeared much bigger inside than out, with many rooms and passages to look through, and it resembled Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory, though without any sweets.  Jack Bradford and his wife, Miranda, could not be found anywhere.  With each turn, she was familiarizing herself with the place more but hoped not to be confused as to which sure direction she was going, north or south; east or west.  She also considered finding her sister or the other rings a bonus.

         The reason Paige could not find Mr. Bradford was because he was outside at the edge of his spacious pool.  He was dressed professionally and gazing into the turquoise-blue water.  After he checked the time on his digital watch, he abruptly saw the water in the middle of the pool become a dark-blue, as if the bottom of it disappeared.  Then, glowing concentric circles appeared.  After a breeze puffed against him, he finally saw a human figure appear and grow larger below.  

         Miranda was laboriously swimming up to the surface and toward him.  She was wearing a skintight lycra dive suit and had a large plastic bag over her buxom chest that contained more riches from another time and place.  She forcefully exhaled on her ascent, following her gleaming bubbles, and delivered a squinting smile at him above.  He waved in acknowledgement, and the blurry shimmering surface brightened rapidly as she approached it.  She uttered a final grunt into the water with one last strong kick up and broke the surface noisily, before swimming with some extra effort to the side of the pool.  

         Jack helped her out of the water and put a large towel around her.  Smiling agreeably, he said, "Well, my love.  What nice merchandise have you acquired today?"

         "Mmm, valuable gemstones this time, from a lovestruck and simple-minded sea captain's chest.  The task was quite easy after I teased him and spiked his drink.  His sailors couldn't resist rescuing a 'lost' mermaid in distress, and he practically took ownership of me in his cabin, given how I am dressed.  Must have been on the waves a long time."

         "Wonderful!" Jack replied as he took a hold of the line around her neck.  "I'll take the burden off your chest, as you are carrying an impressive 'cache' there already.  Didn't I tell you before how exciting and enjoyable this period of time can be on occasions?"

         "The excitement and adventure has been of our mutual accord here, darling.  You have established and continue to maintain our various adaptations, and I protect your status and our own important possessions and power.  A shame our excellent ideas and works were not accepted in our indigenous time.  I promise you, our enemy's days are numbered."  

         "I wholeheartedly concur.  As in this time, excellence is envied and criticized instead of properly rewarded, but nobody can stop us with our knowledge, power, and experience, not even that other persistent meddler or any of her ignorant friends."  

         Miranda put an arm around him and replied, "I was caught off guard though.  We will punish her just as we did her pretty sister.  Even with that important ring, we will make her a harbinger of bad luck such that she will want to die.  Each of us has done that to her once already, and she is no match alone for both of us."  

         He took the plastic bag most of the way filled with the precious stones and nodded.  "Indeed, but we must expect the worst from her, and when the rings are not in use from now on, keep them stored in the power stabilizer inside.  Then, our habitat's integrity can be that much more easy to keep intact.  The rings will no longer be just showpieces in a vulnerable place for any other snooping fool to try on that we cordially invite here, to look friendly to this city."  

         "So, you won't hold me responsible for its . . . loss?"  

         "No, dear.  You had enough to to in preparing that house party for the elites of this state.  Nobody could be absolutely perfect with security all the time then.  It was also my mistake for letting the regional director of the United Science Network know of my suggested modifications of the rings' functions just after they were made.  That narrow-minded dolt!"  

         "True, but it was your idea that we escape through the time matrix using their power.  The authorities banished us from their society shortly afterward, no doubt.  The council is very strict even now at knowing what all we smuggled with us."  

         He patted her smooth wet buttock, rubbed her upper arm, and sneered, "They were just a flock of backward fundamentalist fools afraid of superpower and progress.  What I am concerned about is that they will figure out the sequence of time dilation channels we took to get here and further carry out their sentence on us.  It's just a matter of . . . time.  I'm not completely ready for them yet, and that blasted Everhart witch doesn't help my cause to be so either."  

         "Don't worry.  Our power is strong already.  Keep confident."

         "I am trying my best, my love, but our circumstances are compromised with the set of rings not complete.  We should be on at least some kind of yellow alert."  

         "Agreed!  So, let's get back inside before it starts to rain again.  I'm anxious to sort and appraise all this stuff anyway."  

         They walked casually together inside the mansion, passing through the elegant dining room and into a wide hall.  Upon moving through it and into the ballroom, Miranda promptly felt tense and proceeded ahead of him.  She went near the bottom of a stairway and looked about overhead fast in various directions, to draw a comment from him.

         "Is something wrong, dear?"  

         She went up three steps, looked at her flickering power ring quickly, and replied, "I . . . I feel a presence in here.  I am convinced of it.  Look."  

         He saw her ring too -- actively sparkling, and clenched his ring-bearing fist.  He next held it out and focused his concentration on it in the direction scanned.  He detected nothing at first around him or near her, but Paige's invisible presence was finally found at the top of the stairway within the next half minute.  "There!  Up there!" he shouted.  

         Both of them darted as fast as they could up the stairs, but by the time they reached the location at the top of them, Paige's mind probe had shifted down the second-story hall into another room through a wall and swiftly out of the mansion.  Miranda moved on even further and even found the exact spot in the hall that she retreated through, and Jack soon joined her.  

         "I just about had her.  If she would have been closer, I could have followed right with her and took control.  Damn!" Miranda voiced.  

         "That interfering bitch!  She's using our own capabilities against us.  Who knows how long she was here!  Do you have any idea what she was really doing?"  

         "Yes," she replied, while turning to face him again.  "I know.  She was looking for her pathetic sister.  If it was not for her sneaking that ring, we would be enjoying the sweet revenge of eliminating our now-future opponents one-by-one and securing our lives and place in history permanently here."

         "Very true, but she was also looking this place over and possibly planning another return with surprises and intentions that I definitely would not enjoy.  She's already beginning to consciously flex that ring's powers."  

         "No matter.  We have at least as much surprises as she has, if not, more," she confidently remarked.  "She'd even be surprised, I'd bet, to see the android cyborgs again that we employed to dump her in the river nearly a week ago."    

         Jack grinned.  "I'm sure.  They look and act very human and could impress anyone.  A pity that I could not get all of the materials needed to perfect all of their capabilities in time, or even further improve them better than they already are."  

         Miranda brushed off his concern and held up her ring.  "Look.  We are still more superior than her and will remain invincible here.  Once we have the ring she still has again, we will be ready to disrupt the time continuum and ultimately change history for the better, our way.  I can't wait any longer."

         "Neither can I, my love.  Neither can I," he replied, and brought his hands together, "and I won't throw in the towel."  


Continued to Pt. 2.