SFSTORY: HMS Golden Lance #07 - Details from Time Central

Lieutenant Floyd Cobalt of the Time Police looked out from the viewing screen. He was not, as many people were not, happy. He was also in a great deal of pain, but was hiding it because that was what his idea of a hero did in these circumstances. Floyd did not know that in real life, most heroes cry like babies when in pain. I know I do.

"357, am I glad to hear from you!" said Floyd Cobalt's image. "Greez Hyperiok has escaped!"

"You already said that," snapped 357. "I need details!"

"Greez Hyperiok, as you know, is a renegade Time Agent. He has tried to take over Time Central several times, gone on multidimensional killing sprees more than once, and tried to sell my mother a defective hovercraft. He's the most violent person in the universe this side of Zark Flyby, though at least Zark tries to be a good guy sometimes."

"As you said, Lieutenant Cobalt, we already know," 357 butted in.

"Oh, okay, sorry," muttered Floyd. "I'm not very good at this."

"S'okay," said 357. "By the way, are those FIRST lieutenant bars you're sporting? Congratulations on your promotion."

"Thanks," said Floyd, blushing an attractive shade of chartruse. "Anyway, I checked our records and found that Greez Hyperiok was being held prisoner in the SuperMaxi Security wing. However, he's escaped before wihtout us being aware, so I went to check on him personally."

"He makes a habit of escaping from you?" Omegas asked, more than slightly amused by the thought.

"Oh, you can't keep a Time Agent locked up for long, even a renegade one," Floyd explained. "Luckily, Hyperiok's schemes for taking over Time Central or whatever alterverse (alternate universe) he lands up in usually aren't very smart. We've been breaking in new Time Agents by sending them out to capture him. Time Agents 173, 90210, and 667 have brought him in multiple times. 357's nephew, Time Agent 386, brought him in this most recent time."

"My, that's an awful lot of numbers," gasped Ralph. He was once again confused by hominid customs, as he was certain before hearing this that 357 and 386 were the only humanoids with numbers instead of names that he'd ever encountered.

"Hey, that's an awful lot of numbers," exclaimed 357. "I thought that my nephew and I were the only members of my race associated with the Time Police. We don't generally leave our home alterverse, you know."

Floyd answered smoothly, though a tad embarrassingly. "Well, 357, you're known as arguably the greatest Time Agent the Time Police have ever had. Some new recruits, when they graduate from being regular Time Officers like myself to being Time Agents, have been taking numbers for that very reason. I might do so myself someday."

357 did not feel honored. "Floyd, I'm honored." Well, maybe he did. "But we're getting away from the point. Hyperiok escaped?"

"Yes, he did. I and a few other officers went to check on him, expecting to find the cell empty and the life sensors jimmied, or maybe finding that he was still in his cell disguised as a table or something (he's a master of disguise, you know). Instead, we found him standing in the middle of his cell talking to himself. It wasn't until I started trying to interrogate him that we realized that he wasn't Hyperiok at all."

"Who was he, then?" asked Spleen, getting in his first dialog of the chapter.

"Not a who," corrected Floyd. "It was a what. It was a very lifelike android duplicate of Greez Hyperiok. A well-armed one, at that. It broke loose and ran amuck at Time Central. It's taken us nearly two weeks to corner it. We think it's out of ammo."

"Why not simply destroy it?" asked Omegas, who was not averse to a little senseless violence now and again.

"We're short on staff due to the holidays," said Floyd. "And we want to try to capture it intact if at all possible. Time Agent 357, can you and your crew assist us? You're our only hope!"

"Of course, Lieutenant Floyd. We'll start heading in your direction right away. Val, how long until we can get to Time Central?"

=About two minutes.=

"We're that close?"

=We weren't, but I didn't have any dialog, so I killed time by piloting the ship closer to Time Central.=

In less time than it takes to tell, the HMS Golden Lance had arrived at Time Central. The crew disembarked and was met by Floyd and a smattering of other low-ranking Time Officers. The higher-ranking officers had apparently decided to take all their vacations at the same time. Upon learning this, Time Agent 357 took command.

"I'm taking command," he said.

Deciding that there was no time like the present, 357 immediately set out to find the android. He was armed with his trusty telechronal displacement pistol, which worked by sending individual molecules of its target forward or backwards in time a few random microseconds, effectively shredding it. Omegas was carrying his massive DIESCUM (Diffusion Internal Energy SuperChronal Unilateral Matrixor) pistol. Ralph and Spleen, being respectively a pacifist and a coward, carried no weapons other than their wits, leaving them essentially unarmed. An even dozen Time Officers followed behind, armed with everything from portable field artillery to airguns shooting small pellets which just might lodge under the skin and lead to a nasty infection.

357 picked out two Time Officers in red shirts and sent them ahead to scout. He was quite surprised when they returned, unharmed, a few minutes later to report that the Hyperiok android was still cornered.

"Things have changed a little since you were last here," mentioned Floyd. "Yellow is now the color you want to avoid."

"I see," said 357, turning on his wrist comm. "Val, remind me to get some new pajamas before we ship out."

=Yes, sir.=

"I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE, 357!" came a voice from beyond. Beyond the next bend in the corridor, anyway.

"Give it up, Greez, or whatever you are!" answered 357. "You're cornered, outgunned, and can't possibly escape."

"WHO SAID I WANTED TO ESCAPE? I'VE JUST BEEN WAITING FOR YOU."

"Well, I'm here! What about it?"

"I HAVE A MESSAGE TO GIVE TO YOU. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT. OH, CAN I STEP OUT INTO THE HALLWAY SO I DON'T HAVE TO YELL?"

357 glanced around, making sure that everyone had a weapon pointed in the general direction of the voice. "Sure. In fact, I guarantee you safe passage." 357 didn't notice when Omegas, followed by pretty much everyone else, took his weapon off safety and prepared to fire. He very carefully did not notice.

Greez Hyperiok, or at least a reasonable facsimile of the same, stepped out into the corridor. While no longer yelling, his voice still carried in an unnatural way, as if he were speaking in a large airplane hanger. "It is good to see you, 357. The part of me which is Greez has been expecting you."

"The part which is..." prompted 357, hoping for the usual villianous monologue that would explain everything that had happened to him up to this point.

"You're probably hoping for the usual villianous monologue that will explain everything that's happened to you." The Hyperiok android chuckled. "All I'm going to tell you is that I have full access to Greez's memories, meaning that I could have carried on this charade indefinitely, had I chosen to. Unfortunately, I was instructed to reveal myself and give you a message."

The Hyperiok android cleared its throat, a quite possibly completely unnecessary action. "357, you and everyone you hold dear, including the Time Police, will be destroyed. You will be helpless to prevent it. And it will ALL BE YOUR FAULT!"

The Hyperiok android stood there looking smug.

"That's it?" asked 357. "That's all?"

The Hyperiok android looked a little less smug.

"I mean, come on now!" 357 continued. "That was a big buildup for a generic, pretty much meaningless boast. Where did you learn to be a villian? Reading 'Evil Geniuses for Dummies?'"

"Hey! I just do as I'm programmed," countered the android defensively. "You try doing better with Greez Hyperiok's brain as a template. I'm lucky I can construct complete sentences."

"So, I'm going to die," stated 357, as if he were trying on the words for size. "Any clues as to how?"

"It will ALL BE YOUR FAULT!"

"Yes, you said that. Exactly how will it be my fault? Will it be something I do, or something that I fail to do?"

"QUIT TRYING TO CONFUSE ME! I WILL NOT REVEAL ANYTHING MORE!"

357, Spleen, Floyd, and random Time Officers took turns badgering the android with questions and snide comments about dramatic revelations.

357's comm chimed. =357, I'm reading an energy buildup.=

"Not now, Val," hissed 357. "I think we're onto something."

The android staggered slightly, then shook his head as if you clear it, which was odd because its central processing unit was located in its posterior. "Very good, 357. You almost tricked me into spilling all of my Master's plans. Time to say goodbye."

=357, that energy buildup is getting worse!= came the VAL 9000's unnecessary warning. The Hyperiok android began glowing with barely contained power, and it was obvious that said power could not be contained by said android much longer.

357 snatched an object off his equipment harness and threw it at the android. "Hey, Greez! Catch!"

The android, suspecting a trap, didn't try to catch the device, but rather attempted to swat it away. Unfortunately for him, the device activated the instant his synthetic fingers touched it. Before he could knock it back towards 357, a golden glow surrounded him.

The android's power cells, intentionally overloaded beyond their design specifications, exploded. The golden glow of the shield emitter, however, contained most of the force of the explosion. Channelled back in on itself, the explosion turned into an implosion, crushing the android into a point singularity that then winked out of existance. So complete was the process that only a tiny fraction of one percent of the explosive force actually acted on anything outside of the shield's coverage.

This was enough to destroy the entire SuperMaxi Security wing and enough to kill everyone in it.

Was the SuperMaxi wing really destroyed?
Was everyone killed?
How will the story continue if all the characters are dead?
Isn't this just a cheap cliffhanger trick?
What of donuts, Marge? What of donuts?

Find out soon in the next exciting chapter of SFSTORY! It's not just a job, it's the fault of a family tree that doesn't fork.

Copyright 2006 by Troy H. Cheek. Free to read, but please reprint only with permission.