Anachronite X
Coldness descended on the office while Morley waited in a corner. The Seer goggles
were strapped firmly back in place and a nervous hand dialed the renderer backward
through time.
Hunting chrono walkers was never an easy task, but it was rarely this dangerous,
either. The only other time he had been in this situation, it had ended in tragedy.
He had lost the element of surprise and, as consequence, had lost his daughter
as well.
Bryan’s goggled face appeared cautiously around the corner and nodded
to Morley. The area was clear. His composure was an obvious sign of inexperience
and Morley envied it.
“What are we doing?” Bryan asked.
Morley squinted into his goggles. “This one knows we’re here,”
he said. “If you’d like a chance to work tomorrow, I say we get
out of here.”
Bryan covered the hall while Morley moved out of the corner. Their boots tapped
lightly on the tiled floor to the exit. The doors were sealed. Impatiently,
Morley keyed in a Hunter override code. An alert tone sounded, followed by a
flashing red message: INVALID ENTRY — LEVEL QUARANTINE IN EFFECT
Bryan shuffled backward uneasily and Morley shot a glance over his shoulder.
“The ventilation shaft,” Morley said.
Minutes later he and Bryan slid through a narrow exhaust vent onto a metal
walkway. The mechanical pulsing of air compressors echoed ominously within a
dark, rust-colored chamber. As they headed for the stairs, Morley’s goggle
cable swung lifelessly at his side. Seer goggles were no good now. Once a walker
knew he was in danger, he could easily step around the technology. Seer could
only reconstruct the past. It couldn’t predict the future.
The pulse deepened on the other side of the door. A tangled array of hoses
and cables continued down a long catwalk between towering machines. Through
the dim light, the opposite end of the room was barely visible. Bryan stepped
onto the platform and started across with his firing tube held steadily in front.
Morley moved to follow but stopped short and stared. Bryan saw it too.
A blur of color shot toward them from the other end of the catwalk. Bryan let
out a stifled yell of surprise as the form sped around him. Morley heard the
sickening snap of Bryan’s neck and stood helpless as the body dropped
heavily to the depths below. A human form materialized briefly in his place
and vanished again into wisps of color. It was too fast.
Morley had barely recovered when a hammer blow slammed into his shoulder. The
attacker appeared again behind him, darted backward, and stood unsteadily with
a hand on one knee.
“Getting tired?” Morley leered as he regained his footing.
“You try resisting the flow of time,” said the man with a wry smile.
“It isn’t as easy as it looks, Mr. Griffith.”
Morley hesitated. A small metal capsule flashed in the man’s fist.
“That’s right. A detonator.” he said, watching Morley’s
face. “You pursue us like fugitives. For too long I was content to hide
in fear but it seems that we don’t even have to be active to be marked
criminals.
“Do you know why you’re standing here?” the man spat. “Because
two months from now, I’m reading bedtime stories to my children. A squad
of Hunters breaks down the door and, one act of defiance later, my entire family
is dead. Can you guess who leads that squad?”
Morley was at a loss. How could anyone know that far into the future? Even
the strongest chrono walkers could only venture a few minutes through time.
A sudden movement drew Morley back to the walker. A pistol was aimed squarely
between his eyes. “Without Seer, the Hunters will be blind,” the
man said. “One little catastrophe and we will be faceless citizens once
more. And you?” The hammer clicked back. “You’re going down
with the ship.”
The shriek of the gunshot pounded Morley’s ears as he watched the bullet
spiraling slowly through the air toward his face. A shock like electricity shot
through every inch of his body and the world pulled violently away from his
eyes.
.......
The sunlit trees cast dazzling patterns against the kitchen wall. A tea kettle
brewed on the speckled cream countertop as the wind outside whispered through
spring leaves. A halo of light wreathed Morley’s vision as he sat straight
up with a scream on his lips.
Where am I? The room was a blur. He shook his head weakly and put a hand over
his eyes. His face was drenched in sweat. A moment later he realized he was
being watched from the door. Looking up, he saw a little girl with a towel clenched
in both hands. Unbelieving, he blinked and looked again.
“Mommy?” she called in a frightened voice.
Morley reeled. It wasn’t possible!
“Mommy?” she repeated. “Daddy’s hurt.”
For previous episodes of “The Anachronite” visit:
http://homepage.mac.om/soupy/anachronite.html
Illustration by C.T. Zappe