Chapter Eight:
“I can’t even
escape from you in time!” Dr. Black said exasperated. “I knew I should
have pushed you out of the time stream earlier! Oh the futility of the
phrase ‘if only’ and how it applies here. Perhaps even as little as half
a second would have made the difference from our encounter now and me looking
at you inside a concentration camp as we slowly worked you or even better,
tortured you to death along with all the other miscreants of this world!”
Claire worked hard to keep
her temper in check. She knew he was trying to upset and unsettle her so
she would make a mistake and switch the advantage to him.
“You seem to have added a
little weight and if I’m not mistaken a little premature grey. But I
guess that’s to be expected given how long you’ve been here! Hardly the
Ubermensch poster boy anymore are you?” she shot back.
“Strength Miss Baxter comes from
the mind, when ones brain is strong ones body must obey and follow its master,”
he said as if it was a lecture. “You Miss Baxter have a weak mind!
You fight to maintain a balance thinking that’s what nature wants! You’re
a slave to the Stone Age concept of harmony and balance in life. I came
to the conclusion long ago that man is the master and the creator and that some
men are better than others and as such are superior. We seek to purify
and create a race of beings that step miles while others merely stand
still. It is our right and destiny to do this and all others who stand in
our way or seek to infect us with their impurities and weaknesses must be
destroyed so that man can advance and achieve!” Dr. Black ranted as Claire
listened.
“That’s a great argument and
if I had time and the..” Claire began before spinning quickly around and
putting a bullet in the forehead of a man who was trying to sneak up on
her. “I’m sorry where was I? Oh yes, if I had the intelligence, but then
I’m just a sub-human miscreant in your eyes. Tell you what Doctor, focus
your eyes on me because I’m about to kick your racist, prejudiced, bigoted sick
minded Nazi ass and then I’m going to kill you and know what I’m going to enjoy
doing it!” Claire said her voice growing hard and icy.
“That
will be extremely hard to accomplish with a bullet lodged between your ears!”
he said raising a gun to shoulder level and pulling the trigger! Several
frantic actions and empty clicks later the spy smiled evilly.
“By a strange coincidence
I’m spent my last bullet as well!” she said tossing her gun aside as she
advanced.
Panicked he tossed the gun
desperately at her which she easily sidestepped before connecting with a right
cross to his follow through of the throw. She spun him around like a top
with the force of the blow allowing him to connect with a spinning back fist
from his momentum. Claire staggered back and tasted the acrid liquid of
her own blood from her split lip! Dr. Black advanced his right fist
coming down like a hammer and the slightly bent over spy who at the last
seconds raised her hands, caught his arm and tossed him over her back before adding
a little Capoetta flare to her next move! Claire launched herself into
the air landing in a hand stand, before spinning her body around quickly,
falling onto one shoulder to increase her speed as she spun and tagging her
opponent with not one but two kicks from her extended legs! She spun once
back up onto her shoulder, then her head then back to a handstand before
flipping backward to her feet!
The doctor crashed backward
before dragging himself up from the floor only to be met by foot from Claire’s
forward flying cartwheel! Dr. Black flung his arms widely in a desperate
attempt to defend himself from the oncoming female cyclone. Claire caught
one of his arms with hers, turned in place and planted and sharp elbow to his
stomach before up swinging her fist into his face! Reversing her turn and
rotating his arm she applied a combination arm bar and wristlock and deftly
raised one leg up and over the arm! Claire leaned forward, swept her leg
up from behind and smashed the flat of her shoe into his face before returning
it to the floor and pulling his barred arm forward with a sudden thrust!
A
cacophony and splintering bones mixed with screams reverberated about the
hanger not once but twice in short succession as Claire spun round the back of
the doctor and repeated the process to the other arm before releasing him and
stepping in front to admire her handiwork!
Dr. Trumaine Black’s head
swivelled from side to side hoping impossibly that visual contact with his
damaged limbs would somehow force them to obey his brains frantic
commands! Instead they just hung there, torn from their joints at the
elbow and shoulders and bend back ninety degrees upon themselves dangling and
useless like a marionette whose strings had been cut! Claire smiled at him
before ramming her foot into his crotch to another scream as he collapsed to
his knees. Coolly Claire stepped forward, placed her hands on either side
of this head and spun them 180 degrees so the doctor’s head now matched his
arms! He fell away to the floor as she released, turned and walked toward
the craft.
“Rotate on that you piece of
shit!” she sneered.
The firefight was just ending, a
few shots sounded its demise as the doors of the hanger started to open to
clear in an attempt to clear the smoke. The COIL agent calmly walked
underneath the spacecraft for several meters before raising her hands above her
head and touching them to the hull. The smooth cool hard surface seemed
to close around her in seconds like a drawing 360 degree shower curtain until
the visual of the hanger was replaced once again by the smooth black walls that
enclosed her and then in a blink of an eye she was inside the craft in a
passageway that led forward! Claire walked forward toward the command
centre calling out orders.
“Holographic display
up. Begin prelaunch check and notify when ready to leave.”
“Acknowledged,”
the ship's computer answered in a monotone voice. The spy took her seat in one of the two chairs and pushed a button to recline the seat. She felt a sucking sensation against her body as the seat activated the restraint mechanism to hold her in place during takeoff.
“Compensate body restraint
coefficient.”
Coefficient adjusted and
calibrated for atmospheric escape,” the computer voice answered.
Claire raised her hands
above her as she lay on her back and began touching the myriad of coloured and
shaped buttons on the holographic display panel above her! Faster and
faster her hands flew over the buttons as she prepared the ship for flight
until finally they were a blur to her eyes to which she seemingly felt was
normal but somehow knew it was not!
“Prelaunch complete.
Ship functioning normally.”
“Plot
escape velocity vector to 30 miles above outer atmosphere and initiate when
ready. Clear all obstacles from taxiway with Graviton Pulsar if necessary
and avoid human causalities at all costs. Adjust taxiway if needed!”
Claire said almost mincing the computers sterile voice. “Understood. Beginning to taxi. Please cede controls to the autopilot.”
Claire stabbed a button on
the display and lowered her hands to her sides as the ship began to move.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Clark and David watched the ship
hover forward about five feet off the ground. Several times it adjusted
its height to avoid objects.
“The doors aren’t open wide
enough it can’t get through!” David said.
“Just watch,” Clark answered.
As if on command of his
voice the ship tilted up on one side about 30 degrees rolled silently past them
and out the hanger doors. The two watched the craft rising slowly off the
ground and then it was gone from their sight as if it had never been there in
the first place.
“Goodbye Claire,” Clark said
sombrely before turning his attention back to the mission at hand.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Claire felt nothing during
the brief flight, as she knew she wouldn’t somehow.
“Destination
arrived at. Please state new orders.”
“Establish orbit at this
altitude. Activate artificial gravity and transfer holographic control
panel to the sample stasis chamber,” Claire ordered.
“Request completed.”
The
spy slipped from her seat and moved down the walkway, bending over considerable
to compensate for the height differential between the two species. A push
of a button later and she entered the stasis chamber. The room looked
like it was entirely constructed from surgical steel, cold and unwelcoming,
everything having and edge to it. In the centre of the room was a steel
pole from floor to ceiling about three feet in diameter with two crossed beams
placed, one near the floor and the other about above her head. Claire
removed all her clothes and walked over to the holographic control panel and
touched a button that immediately opened a door about midway up one of the
walls. She placed her clothes in the drawer then hit the button closing
it back into the wall.
“Activate sterilisation
procedure for clothes and room,” Claire voiced as she held her arms out from
her body
“Process
beginning estimated time to completion 2 minutes.”
Claire felt small whispers
of air and a gentle mist permeate her body as she waited the allotted time
frame.
“Sterilisation complete.”
The naked spy placed her
back to the steel pole and slipped her hands and feet into place. “Raise
poll one metre and tilt 90 degrees forward. Place holographic display
next to my right hand.” Claire requested.
All
was done as she asked. The COIL agent fingered the display quickly
several times and then waited as a low hum searched up from the floor.
The steel sheet of panel split open and rolled apart before her eyes allowing a
pan about 4 feet in length and two feet wide to slide up from below and lock in
place. Claire touched a few more buttons before settling herself. “Deactivate holographic display and lock subject into position,” Claire requested.
The display panel vanished
before her eyes; she took a couple of deep breaths, closed her eyes and
waited. The convulsive shocks started seconds later, her body contorting
and undulating wildly from the waist, hips and shoulders! She was
lathered in sweat in seconds from the first shock! Her mouth opened to
scream but all that came out was a gulping sound for air as if she was being
strangled until finally sound broke through and her scream filled the chamber
only to be drowned out seconds later as her mouth filled with an pussy orange
fluid that slowly began to drip from her lips into the pan below!
Claire’s eyes widened in terror as she saw the few drips turn into a torrent
that streamed forth in an uncontrollable unremitting deluge! Sheer terror
griped her as her body spasmed and jerked in unstoppable fury as the orange
liquid now began to seep from her eyes, nose and vagina in long thick
streams! It lapped into the pan, pooling and layering into a thick
gelatinous mass as she laboured above it barely able to breathe!
Her body unable to control
itself now smashed up and down like a jackhammer against the steel pole!
She felt her heart pounding in her chest racing at over two hundred beats a
minute, her pulse out of control and her body so hot she was turning red with
fever! Then it was over, her eyes cleared of the ooze and she focused her
labours below as her chest heaved frantically.
“Lower pod and begin
procedure,” she stammered out in long drawn out breaths.
The
computer did as it was told and when she heard the acknowledgement she issued
her final command. “Lower pole to floor release specimen and return to
ready position,” Claire felt her body being released then she went numb, cold
and stiff. * * * * * * * * * * * *
She awoke to the gentle warm
touch of four hands as they ran across her naked body. Not in a sexual
way but in an imparting caring concerned caress for her well being. She
opened her eyes and smiled at the two who starred down at her.
“We are whole again thanks
to you Claire Baxter,” they voiced to her.
Claire could think of
nothing better to say than. “You’re welcome.”
“You’re
body made an excellent host for us. We hope the extraction procedure was
not too painful. We mean you no harm as we said when we first proposed
our joining and using you as our vessel. Human DNA is highly complex and
has almost infinite room for expansion that we were able to attach to it and
not disturb your own,” she felt them say.
“A little, but leaving you
there to have God knows what happen to you wasn’t an option! I’m just
glad the shell husks of your bodies lasted as long as they did so my plan could
be put into action! Are you sure nothing can be found of them?”
“As we told you the body husk
was devoid of any of our actual DNA. It is like a very skin that we shed
and without our essence to moisturise it over a short period of time it will
dry up and turn to untraceable dust. Once the DNA you carried was placed back
in the stasis chamber we were able to regenerate, thanks to you! We now
need to address your issue,” they voiced.
* * * * * * * * * * * * “You are sure of these earth co-ordinates and of the exact time you want to be sent back to?” they asked with a touch of their hands.
“Yes, this will give me enough time to..” she let the sentence trail off.
“To kill the person you call Dr. Black,” they finished for her. “We do not understand this but when joined with you we experienced your intense hatred for this man and his philosophy. We also understand that in order to prevent a repeat of your just past war with a different resolution the time line needs to be severed at both ends and that can only be accomplished with his death. Killing is unknown to us and the mark we have found of an ignorant species” they offered. “But we do not interfere nor past judgement on your species we merely state the truth as we perceive it.”
“I know and you’re right of
course but he leaves me no choice and as a great man in our planet’s history once
said. Those you live by the sword shall die by the sword!” she said
“Does that statement include
you Claire Baxter?”
“Mostly likely some day it
does and I’ve accepted that. Are you ready to send me on my journey home
and then begin yours?” she asked trying to move things along.
“Yes, come with us all is
prepared,” they said then broke physical contact as all three made their way
down the walkway to the rear cargo hold.
“We use this to send
specimens back to one of our planets,” they said as they touched her once
more. “You will have more than enough air for the journey inside this
cylinder. It is made from the same material as the hull of this
ship. Please step inside and lay down.”
“What about my clothes?”
Claire asked suddenly strangely realising she was still naked.
“Once
synchronised into the time stream and sent back to the co-ordinates you
provided it will seem as if you never left at that exact moment. The
clothes you had on then will be the clothes you have on in the new then if you
follow. Everything will have been as it was except that you retain the
memories of the previous then and change now change them,” the said.
“Then won’t Dr. Black share
the same memories?” she questioned.
“No, because he died in this
time frame and therefore did not complete the time loop as you are about to
do. His actions will be as of those when you first met in the past,” they
answered. “One final note, the pod we have programmed the pod to
disintegrate a millionth of a second after your time frame begins so once again
there will be no trace of us,” they said closing the pod and sealing her in
darkness.
Claire felt a sudden pull
forward and then nothing as if she wasn’t moving at all and then:
Now
if I were a twisted psychotic, hell bent on controlling the planet mad
scientist what would I choose as a password?” she said in a sarcastic tone as
she slipped a hand down her leg and pulled out the eight inch serrated edged
knife from its sheath wiped it up and back in rapier fashion and speed before
twisting around in the swivel chair a smile pasted on her face as she listened
to the screams of pain from Dr. Black!
“Well look what I’ve found!”
she said smartly as she twisted the knife shoot clean through his wrist and
pulled the gun from his hand before tossing it away. “This time there’s
no magic carpet ride for either of us! But today has really been my lucky
day! I get to kill you twice and this time we sever the time line for
good! Speaking of which,” Claire said with an evil smile.
The spy turned his wrist and
little more drawing it over across his body at the shoulders while she smiled
and him, held his gaze then pulled the knife from its place flashed it in front
of him and slipped it back into its leg sheath all in once motion! She
smiled as she watched the blood at first trickle then pour from his slit throat
as his brain finally made the connect to what had happened. He slowly
fell from her sight to the floor they blood streaming onto and staining the
concrete at her feet!
She moved to the door,
pushed the button and it slowly started to open. Major Sheridan and his
team pushed inside the minute there was space. Claire wasted no time
barking out orders to which the Major nodded his approval. In short order
the explosives were in place and the master timer set and activated. They
retreated, closed the large reinforced doors and headed for the surface
reaching it just as they ground beneath them rumbled and shook while smoke and
dust poured forth from the cave entrance like the mouth of a dragon before it
too collapsed.
“You
mind telling me what we just did?” he asked.
“I’d love to Major but you
know.”
“It’s classified!” they both
said together and then said nothing more.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
“That’s fine I’ll be there
tomorrow at 2 p.m.,” Claire said hanging up the phone with one hand as she
moved and clicked her mouse about her laptop with the other.
She’d been silent all the way back
to the base in the chopper her mind preoccupied with all the what if scenario’s
that could have happened to the present because of what she’d done in the
past. It was only after she’d checked several things out that the spy
allowed herself to relax and admit that she’d just had the adventure of her
life and for Claire that was truly saying something!
“Who says nice girls finish
last!” Claire spoke as she picked up her suitcase, shouldered her computer and
left her barracks room.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
“He’s expecting you Miss
Baxter. Please go on in,” the friendly executive assistant said.
Claire thanked her and moved to
the large double doors, opened it and walked inside.
“Welcome, or is it welcome back?”
came the friendly greeting accompanied by the same twinkle of the eyes.
“I’m a little surprised that you
don’t seem more surprised to see me!”
“Well I’ve had fifty-six years to
prepare for this moment but to tell you the truth,” he said as he let go of her
hand and touched a pile of books on his desk. “I came to the conclusion
that you had to be some sort of time traveller after the revelations contained
within these books started to come true. You know as impossible as that
last sentence is from a purely scientific angle it no longer holds any surprise
for me. I suppose it’s as Sherlock Holmes said ‘When you eliminate the
impossible the only conclusion you can draw no matter how improbable has to be
the answer.’ Please have a seat. I must say you’re still as pretty
as that April 15 day I met you!” he said as Claire took a seat not at the desk
but on the large leather sofa against one wall off his oak panelled office.
“What else can you discern about
me Mr. Holmes?” Claire said in a teasing playful tone.
“Well,” he said as he inserted a
key into one of the drawers of his massive antique mahogany desk. “It’s all
very much James Bond or should I say Jane Bond, but I imagine your some sort of
secret agent who was sent on a mission either on purpose or by accident.
I regret my imagination does not allow me to speculate on the details of which,
which I’m sure are classified.”
Claire put her hand to her mouth
and giggled a little at hearing that oft repeated phrase.
“Oh well, that is the past, but
before we leave it for the present I have something from it for you,” he said
coming around the desk with a thick dossier and something on top that he handed
to her. “It arrived about a week after you left.”
“To Claire. Thanks for the
encouragement and thoughtful words they will always be held close to my heart.
Best wishes on your journey! Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers, Opening
Day, Ebbets Field, April 15, 1947,” she read as she looked at the picture of
her and Jackie Robinson together on that historic day.
“You were right about that day you
know it did change my life! I got involved in the civil rights movement
that in my opinion started that day and on my way home I met my wife.
Both of which never would have happened if I hadn’t let some crazy woman drag
me to Brooklyn that day!” he laughed as he slipped into the seat beside her
then pointed to across the room to a glass display case. “I also became
something of a baseball fan, or more specifically a Dodgers fan and as you can
she the centrepiece of my collection are two baseballs some young woman from my
past, who I only knew for 5 hours or so gave me!”
Claire got up and walked across to
the case among several pendants, a base, home plate, a glove, cap and numerous
cards were two old baseballs, both signed and dated, one by Jackie Robinson and
the other by the entire Dodgers team on that opening day.
“Fans and magazines can say what
they want! To me that day will always be baseballs greatest moment!” he
said.
Claire turned around and smiled
broadly at him. “And to think I practically had to drag you there
Benjamin Steinmetz!” she laughed before rejoining him on the sofa.
“It’s a good thing you’re sitting
down for this!” he said as he opened the very thick dossier. “Because it’s
going to take some time to go through all your holdings, explain to you how
your empire is structured and the various partnerships and consortiums you’re
involved in world wide! The bottom line as you can see.” Benjamin said
running his finger down to the bottom of the summary page. “Is that you
are an extremely wealthy young woman thanks to those books you left with
my. The detailed accounts of what to buy, what was coming, when to get in
and out as well as all the other plethora of data was extraordinary to say the
least!”
“I hope you took advantage to the
fullest as well Ben,” Claire said as she tried to swallow the number she was
looking at! She had, many times, mentally calculated what the final
amount would be but this was way beyond what she had anticipated which he
seemed to sense.
“You saw the name on the lobby
directory, Steinmetz and Sons, floors 5 to 25. What do you think!” he
said with his trademark little smile and dancing eyes. “And I’m happy to
report that we have an excellent working relationship with our landlord, S
& B Holdings,” he added his finger pointing at Claire and then back at
him. “What we own together is spelled out a little later on, but I think
we better get going on this or both of us will be old people before we’re
through it all! Tell you what I’ll order in lunch in for us, I know just
the place.”
Claire laughed and then through
her arms around him hugging him like he was her grandfather! They spent
all day together until Ben was satisfied Claire understood it all and the
magnitude of her wealth and power and influence. She departed with the
promise of dinner with him and his wife in a couple of days an invitation she
was only too happy to accept.
She got off the elevator on the
main concourse occupied by very up scale firms and started to walk toward the
exit. All the stores were festively decorated, as Christmas was just 10
days away. She stopped and looked in the windows of several of her
tenants as she passed before pausing in front of one to admire the clothes in
the display window.
Beverley
Hills, New York, London, Paris, Rome
Read the locations under the gold
sign that simply read ‘Millicent’ Claire smiled outward a little but knew sadly
that even if she and Sam were alive she could never seen them again. Ben
had promised to keep her secret, trusting one person was one more than she was
used to and that’s where it had to stop. She contented herself on the
fact that in some small way she’d made a dream come true.
The chill early evening air hit
her hard as she turned through the revolving door and out into courtyard of the
building. She headed down the steps across the courtyard and toward the
street to catch cab. People bustled and jostled each other, nobody
seemingly any Christmas spirit at all. Ahead of her, but blocked by the
crush of people Claire hear the distinctive ringing of a bell and then and now
the dropping of coins in a kettle.
She pushed ahead until the Salvation Army
kettle and the person ringing the bell came into view and another person
scurried along the sidewalk encouraging people to donate. Claire opened
her purse, removed her chequebook and pen and began to write as the person
sensing a donation came up to her.
“I’m terribly sorry but I don’t
have this much cash on me so I hope a cheque is alright?” Claire said without
looking up as she wrote.
“So that’s were my pen went
to! It’s good to see you again Claire!”
“Alice Hamilton!” Claire said in
astonishment as she looked upon the young women before her as the pen slide
from her hand!
The End
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