The Time Goggles Part II - Presented By: Jason Argon - Solar System News! 11.7.2374 (Part I & Part III)
My faithful readers will likely recall my adventures with Nick Arrow, the missing private detective from earth. Before he left, for somewhen, he entrusted his memoirs to me, with specific release dates for different sections. Today is one of those days. So, in keeping with my promise, I present to you the unexpurgated adventures of the Time Traveling Detective - Part II
* * *
“How do you know about my future?” I asked.
“I have goggles too. Plus, well, never mind.”
“Okay. If I hadn’t seen something that I can’t explain with my own eyes, and since you seem to be trying to help, I will comply. The potential of this and any other devices that I might acquire for the detective business makes the risk worth taking. Otherwise…”
“Good thinking, Nick. And thanks for spelling that out for me, but now is not the time for explaining, now is the time to get moving. We are on a schedule.”
The line went silent.
I put my feet up on the desk, leaned back, and stared at the ceiling. I was thinking.
I decided that I didn’t like being a pawn, but that feeling didn’t over-ride the necessity of going forward.
I grabbed the goggles and drove the beater car over to the campus. It was beginning to get dark. There were not many people around. A few stray students short cutting across the quad.
I had to refer to the Assistant Directors little map that he had provided in his kit for me, in order to locate the lab. It was guarded by a lone security guard. I would’ve been disappointed if I hadn’t got a chance to show my letter of recommendation in this caper, and I wasn’t. After the dial-a-cop inspected the letter, he asked me about the goggles.
“Detecting device. This gadget is going to help me find the professor.”
He grunted so I did too. He led the way up a flight of stairs, down a long hallway, into a freight elevator, and down three flights. I had a habit of always memorizing any twists and turns that confront me as I go down the line.
We were in the basement. After ducking under ducts and pipes, we came to a large door.
“This is the old coal storage room.” My uniformed guide informed me as he unlocked and opened the large door.
“That’s very interesting.” I said to be polite. “Did the professor come here often?” I asked, as he turned on the lights.
“You mean Mr. Wizard? He was always here. Come and go at strange hours. I didn’t always stand out front, there, ya know. We were told to guard this building a couple days ago. Not much to guard if you ask me.”
I didn’t ask him about that, but I did ask to be excused. He didn’t like the idea of leaving me alone, but I tapped the letter from the assistant director, so he mumbled off, shutting the door on his way. I couldn’t very well have him tag along as I did my detecting.
“Come out come out where ever you are.” I said half jokingly.
To my surprise, a man stepped from behind a partition. He was the heroic type. Strong chin, broad shoulders, and something else. An attitude of some kind.
“Hi Nick.” He said. Everything is right on schedule.” He said from the shadows.
“Glad to hear it.”
“You’ve really got an attitude problem. I’ve noticed that about you.”
“The feeling is mutual.” I said.
“It would have to be.” He said dramatically as he stepped into the light.
I was taken aback. That was the first time that I had ever seen myself, when it wasn’t on vidi or in a mirror.
“I was right. You should see the look on your face.” He laughed.
“But…how….” I stammered, looking around for a safe place to go to sleep for a while.
“Take a few deep breaths. I just found out that we don’t have much time. Like I said we are on a schedule. It’s a new kind of schedule. the kind where it doesn’t matter when you leave, only when you get there.”
I didn’t need to ask him for identification. It was me alright. Something like that you are more sure of than anything else in the universe. When you meet yourself for the first time relish the moment.
“I’m relishing this moment.” I said.
“I know. So did I. But step over here while you are relishing.”
I followed. Who am I to argue with him, I thought.
The partition had blocked my view of what I now call the Monster, but was in reality, a state-of-the-art time machine.
It was turned on. Little lights on control panels winked knowingly at me as my eyes swept over the apparatus. It was very large. It looked like a miniature refinery, only very clean, and there was no exhaust. The seven fuels cells were along the back wall with colored streams of wires connecting to the back of the control panel. The panel looked like a mixing board in a sound studio, and beside it was a doorway. It must have been someone’s idea of a joke.
“So the idea is to just walk through the doorway?” I asked sarcastically.
“That’s right me. Let’s get you some details.”
“I would appreciate that.”
“I am not much down the line from where you are now. You are at the beginning of a time loop and the only way out the other side is to trust yourself and don’t second guess any decision. It will be the correct one. If you test this out you will merely be wasting time, I know I’ve tried, but no matter what you do, in a time loop you always do what you must.”
“Well, thanks for the info. I’ll just be leaving now.” I stood. If what he said was true, then I wouldn’t get out that door.
I didn’t get out the door, because a metallic man that looked just like another version of me, blocked my way. I stopped and turned.
“I told you.” He said. “Trust me, me.”
“Okay…Why does this thing…what is it…who is it?”
“It’s a Time-Droid created by professor Ronin, manufactured by others like it, based on the prototype who’s likeness was me, or you if you prefer. One of us down the line. Or so I’ve been told.”
I looked back at the Time-Droid. It didn’t really have eyes. Its face was like that of an unpainted mannequin, the “skin” was cobalt blue, non reflective, almost like a metallic wet-suit.
My counter-part gave me more without my asking. “These Droids are complete time machines, based on the same design as the one here in this lab, except that it has been refined using technology from the future. They follow their leader who is the renegade prototype. You’ll get more of the story from the professor himself soon enough. But first, I have some more items for you.”
He walked to the counter and unzipped a back pack that I hadn’t noticed. I excused myself under the circumstances. The first item was a small flashlight. He held it up. “This little baby is your new best friend.” He said and flicked the switch.
The beam shot up to the ceiling, and right through it, illuminating the ceiling of the floor above. As he focused the beam the field of vision moved as the special light revealed varying depths from the light source.
He swept the light around the room. It was as if you were in a dark room and where ever the beam lit, that is what you see. Only in this case what you saw was where the light landed regardless of any intervening material.
Except for the Time-Droid. The beam would not penetrate the eerie skin.
My counter-part extracted the next item. It was shaped like a disc that fit into his hand. It had a tube coming out of the side, a red button on top. He pointed it like a gun at a chair, and pushed the button.
“You have to press hard,” He was saying, but I barely heard. The chair dissolved into a heap of dust. “It’s a disintegrater gun” He said. “Might come in handy, but it’s hard on chairs.”
“That seems very dangerous. What if it goes off in my pocket?
For an answer he pointed the thing at me and pressed the button. Nothing happened. “The device scans the area first, and if it is creature larger than a cat, it will not function. It was designed for breaking and entering, cracking safes, finding things. All I know is that if I am going to need it, you will need it too.”
He reached into the back pack a third time and I couldn’t imagine what was coming next.
He pulled out what looked like another flashlight, but this one had a sphere at one end. “I call this one the magic wand.” He said, and activated it while pointing directly at me. I was suddenly four feet above the ground. I was weightless! I did not feel as though I was hanging in midair, I felt totally safe and supported. I was orbiting the earth four feet above the floor.
“Wow.” I said. “I could sell these.”
“That is not allowed.” The Time-Droid said quietly.
I faced him. “What are you, the time police?”
“Some force must maintain the continuum.” It said.
I laughed. Normally, I wouldn’t laugh like I did at that moment. I guess that it was a way to release all the stress from all the shots that I’ve had recently. Tears were running down my cheeks as I said, “You’re not doing a very good job, officer, if you’ve got two of us in the same room at the same time.”
The Time-Droid was not amused. “The situation is contained.” Was all it said.
“Get a load of him?” I said aside to my counter-part.
“Forget about it for now.” He had returned all of the items to the back pack, but the goggles he held in his hand. “There are a few things that you haven’t discovered yet about these. First, notice these dials on the side of each lens.
“If you adjust them up or down, the timescape will become more or less opaque. They can be adjusted so that you can see the past, or future, scene as well as your current location. That way you won’t bump into furniture or get hit by cars in your own time.”
“That will come in handy for trailing someone through the past into their future.”
“Correct. Also, they never need charging, they run off of the quantum energy of your brain, and are limited only by proximity. When used in conjunction with the Trans-light you can see through most any material at any point in time.”
“It’s a detectives dream come true.” I said.
“Okay.” He said. He seemed a little nervous all of a sudden. “Put this pack on to see how it fits.”
I put on the pack. He was working the dials on the mixing board. He looked at me just as the Time-Droid grabbed my arms from behind and pinned them to my sides.
“What the…” I managed to get out, as my counter-part opened the door that I thought had been a joke revealing a shimmering black void.
The last word that I heard from my counter-part was “Relax”, as the Time-Droid tossed me into oblivion.
It felt as though I was squeezed together like an accordion, and then un-squeezed. I landed in the dust of a vast desert plain.
There was no doorway. No black shimmering surfaces anywhere. About two hundred miles away I thought I could see some mountain peaks. The heat of the desert was all around me as I stood up. I couldn’t believe that I had done that to myself.
Clearly, I was in the same place but at a different time. Before I could get out the goggles to have a look around, my counter-part walked out of thin air.
“Sorry I’m late, Nick. What time do you have?” This version of me was wearing some strange clothes. He had gizmos strapped all over his body. Some I recognized as the ones given to me, but others were unknown to me at that time.
It also looked as though I, he, had been through a few battles.
“I’m glad to see that I make it as far as you did.” I said. “Why did you send me here?”
“Sorry. I was not sure how to use the professors original monster back then, and I set it to 20,000 years into the future, from that time period by mistake. So, I am here too to help you out. After the Time-Droid threw you down the line, I noticed my mistake. There is a lot to keep track of.”
“So I’ve noticed.” I looked around. “How do we get out of here without a time machine?”
“No problem” He said. He was wearing two oversized belts. He took one off and handed it to me. “Put this Time-Belt on.”
I put. I noticed that it had a numerical keypad and L.E.D. lights for date and time.
“With this belt,” He was saying, “You will be free to travel through time at will. Here is what happens next. You will take the backpack with the items, go back to the day when all of this started, get yourself to the lab and let the Time-Droid toss you here.”
“But I just got all this stuff.” I complained.
“You will get it all back, don’t worry. You will need it believe me.”
“So now I become my counter-part and lure the innocent me up to this point? What for?”
“I’ll tell you. Professor Ronin invented the time machine. Since then he has been running around in time wreaking havoc. He must be stopped. It is our fate to stop him.”
“Do we?” I asked.
“In some ways yes, in others no.”
“That’s comforting. You look like you’ve been through some action. How much time before I become you?”
“I think that I am getting near the end of the loop. I just stopped by to reassure you, give you the belt, and wish you well.”
“What am I supposed to do?” I asked. “I didn’t ask for any of this.”
“Sure you did. You put up a shingle that said detective for hire. You have been hired to find a man. The professor. In order to accomplish your task, you must travel through time and space. Keep focused on the goal and you will know what to do. What fun would it be if I told you everything?”
“More. It would be more fun.”
“Okay. You are going to help to ensure the continued existence of the universe.”
“Oh. Well. Why didn’t someone say so earlier?”
“Forget the past. Keep going forward.”
“Right forward. I go back in time and send myself here.”
“That’s right. Here is a key to the Professor’s laboratory.” He handed me another key, which I put into my pocket.
“Where did you get that?” I asked.
“From the professor.”
“I thought that I was supposed to kill the professor.”
“Not kill. Stop. Don’t kill the professor. He is too important and has an important role to play.”
“I didn’t want to kill him, but to save the universe, I was ready.”
“I know, but don’t kill him. Once you talk to him you will get a better image of him.”
“I can’t wait. It’s hot, and I can’t stay here talking to myself all day.”
“Me either. Set your time dial to 9-7-2025 and push center. That’s it.”
“Well if I do that now, won’t I end up back in the lab?”
“Good point. You are starting to think like a time traveler. Use the goggles to walk to the professors house. It’s only a couple of miles that way.” He pointed across the vast expanse to the east.
I retrieved the goggles from the backpack, set the dials, and put them on. My eyes told me that I was back in the lab, but my body told me that I was in a desert. I adjusted the small dials on either side and could see both the present and the past. My counter-part held out his hand and I shook it.
For a moment I thought that we would be mutually annihilated, but we weren’t.
Then he was gone. I found that as I walked I seemed to walk through walls on my way to the professors house. I must have looked strange walking around in the desert with goggles zigzagging about.
I made a be line for the professors house, made sure that no one was around, and pushed the button at the center of the belt buckle. I materialized in the professors backyard.
How the level of the ground and the location of the earth in space was handled by the goggles and time belt was beyond me, but I made a mental note to ask someone about it someday.
I looked at my watch. It said 7:15 PM. It had been 4 hrs and 15 minutes since I had received that fateful visit from assistant director Smith. I decided to not change my watch until I was out of the loop.
I walked around to the front of the house, took out the key, and entered. Yes, I left the door open.
I went upstairs and on into the second bedroom. I put the goggles on the desk as I made the phone call to the number I know best and got myself on the line.
I used my hand to muffle my voice.
“Hello?” my counter-part said innocently.
“Mr. Arrow?” I asked.
“Who is this?” He asked me back.
“I have information about the professor.” I told him, hoping that I was using the same words and somehow knowing that I was. It came naturally.
“What professor?” He thought he was being sly. I would have to watch letting people on to my ploys.
“Cut the crap Nick.” I said suddenly impatient. I had to get all this stuff to him and get on with it so that I can find out what happened after I was sent 20,000 years in the future. “This is for your own good. Get off your butt and go to the professors house on 8th street. The door is open.”
“Do you work for the university?” He asked conversationally. Stalling.
“Quit stalling.” I scolded, and hung up.
Now this was more like it, I thought. I felt a little more knowledgeable about my place in the situation.
Unlike my… what do you call an earlier version of yourself, but just that? I decided to call my past self Nick, and my future self, Nickplus.
Unlike the complete ignorance that Nick constantly experienced.
I moved into the first bedroom, got out the Trans-light and focused it on the front door. I could see perfectly right through the walls and floor. What an amazing device. I didn’t have to wait long for Nick to arrive. He came in, glanced around, and bounded up the stairs. I kept the trans-light on him the whole way. It took him a second to find the goggles, but I knew he would.
He began to search the entire room and I knew he was gonna do the whole house. I waited until he entered the third bedroom and left the house. I decided to walk back to the lab. Now that I had my own key I would just let myself in, and call Nick from there. I was getting more impatient to find out what happens after Nick gets sent into the future. I guess I wanted to get back to a time where I didn’t know what was going to happen next.
NOTE: (I did not know about the timebelt flicker mode that allows you to move one second a head of a local time, thus being invisible to anyone around.)
I am treating this narrative in such a way as to give my experience as I transform into different me’s throughout the time loop. It was very interesting to me to find out what Nickplus was thinking when I encountered him, by eventually becoming Nickplus and knowing precisely what he was thinking.
Those were my thoughts as I approached the lab. The guard was right out front. I wasn’t sure how to approach the situation. Nickplus didn’t say anything about this moment. I could show my letter, but then it would be strange to him when Nick arrived.
I could have used the goggles to watch for a moment where the guard left his post, but Nick had the goggles. I knew that I would solve the problem soon, because I made the call to Nick very shortly.
It was assistant director Smith who solved the puzzle. He arrived and asked the guard to go with him somewhere, and they both left.
I strode across the lawn and entered the building, looking for all the world like it was the most natural thing to do.
I knew the way to the lab, so it was no problem to get there before I first went there, because I knew where to go after the fact, because I was led there, before hand.
I was beginning to like what time travel did for the English language. I had always heard people say that new words were needed, and some are, and some have been invented, but the only trick is to just say it, and if the reader knows that the situation involves time travel, and multiple versions of people, than the point will be clear. It just takes longer and uses more words, and requires more concentration.
I came upon the large basement door to the old coal storage room. I used the key, went in, closed the door and locked it from inside.
There was some light but not much. I made my way over to the Monster, sat in the chair and waited. I had only been there a few moments when the Monster self-activated. I stood up just as the professor, or who I thought was the professor, stepped through the door.
He didn’t seem surprised to see me standing there.
“Hello Nick. Good to see you again.” He said.
“We just met.” I said.
He tossed the old backpack onto the table, and went directly over to the control panel of the Time Machine and set some dials.
“Of course we did,” He said. “and we always will. Listen, I don’t have much time here. I have just set the controls so that you can send yourself into the future when he gets here.”
“Come on Professor, let’s go back and tell everyone that you are all right. What do you say?”
“Forget about all that. Now, I must tell you about me.”
“I wish you would.”
“You will have encounters with me. I was a little unhinged there for a while. I did some things and made some stuff that got out of hand. I know that now. That’s why I’m going back to Zero-Time.”
“Zero-Time?” I interrupted, he ignored me.
“I invented this time machine that you see here. With the aid of my counterpart from the future. I didn’t realize that he was suffering from Time-sickness. He disappeared, I began traveling in time. I went to the future and refined my invention. There have been many unforeseen ramifications, and I am responsible. I should have considered consequences before embarking. The only way to stop is to go to Zero-Time and talk some sense into myself.”
“Do you mean figurative or literally?” I asked innocently.
“Both.” He was quick witted.
“Listen, just tell me what happens next?”
“We are not certain how you ended up in this time loop…”
“We?”
“Forget about that, there isn’t much time. You become a central figure in the chain of events that are still before you, but are in my past. There is no need to explain in detail what you will say and do, because you’ve already done it, and you will do it for that matter. I invented that machine, and a Time-Droid. The Time-Droid has created a lot of trouble.”
“How did you invent a TimeDroid?” I asked.
“I went to the future and stole the technology. They have robots in the future, and I just minimized the size of the time machine and allowed the robot to control its function. Little did I know that I stole the plans for a prototype level 3 Android that had some software problems.”
“The TD made clones of itself and went back and forth through time giving individuals various time machines. Those people are wreaking havoc across time. You are the one who can stop them.”
“Me? How do I do that?”
“Don’t worry about it. Also, if you meet me and I don’t immediately say ‘Hello Nick. Good to see you again’ run like hell.”
“What are you telling me?”
“There are three of my prototype time machines lost in time. They were stolen by some of my associates and are being used without regard to the consequences. It is up to you to find them and destroy the Core with the disintegrator. This is a detector that can locate a Core within a five year period.” He handed me another device that looked like a compass.
“It is self activating and will display the time and place coordinates as you get closer to the Core.”
“What is the Core?” I asked.
“It is a piece of Zero Time. It is the size of a golf ball and it glows with photimes.”
“Photimes? What is that?”
“They are sub-atomic particles that produce a form of light generated by the conversion of a graviton into a timion, or time point particle.”
“Oh.”
“You will know it when you see it. When it is destroyed, its power will return to Zero Time.”
“What is Zero Time?” I asked.
“It is the eye of the Storm that is the Cosmos. I stumbled across it. I met some inhabitants who are Alien in appearance. They have convinced me to return the parts of Zero-Time that I took, and I need your help to do it.
Find those three Cores and destroy them. Once that is accomplished set your time belt so that the golden circles align and meet me in Zero Time.”
Suddenly the professor was surrounded by four Time-Droids.
He looked directly at me and said calmly. “After you send yourself into the future, set the controls to your Time-Belt to 1835. Find the first machine and destroy it.”
The Time-Droids encircled the professor. He was adjusting his time-belt as he vanished with the TD’s.
I heard a commotion at the door. It was Nick and the Security guard. I stepped back into the shadows.