Breaking Time

by Luke Derricks

  “Interesting,” was all he said.

  But then, the blob began to shift and move. It moved to the left a little, and then to the right, and suddenly, it began to rise up again. It re-formed into a humanoid shape. She took form again. She stood up again.

  She was completely made of slime – and other gooey, mushy, sticky, slime-like material too, no doubt. But she was humanoid. Two arms. Two legs. A face.

  “Very interesting,” he said.

  And she could talk. “What have you done to me?”

  “An unexpected result.” He looked her up and down. “But promising, nonetheless.” He looked her in her eyes – her yellow, slime-coated eyes – and commanded her, “From now on, you will only and always obey me. I am your master, you are my slave. You will always do as I wish and command. You are my faithful servant for life. You are my creation. I am your god. You belong to me. Now call me master.”

  “Yes, master,” she said. It just erupted out of her, uncontrollably. She agreed. She accepted. She obeyed. Her mind, her will, her body belonged to him now.

  “Good. My second mutant. I shall call you…” He examined her shifting, dripping, slime-filled form. “Slimer.”

  Not the most creative name, but it was late and he was tired. It would do.

  “Now join Shadow and wait over there.”

  “Yes, master.” She slid – moving her legs back and forth, sliding on her feet – over to Shadow and stood by her side. The two mutants stared at and examined each other.

  “Who’s next?” Mastermind asked. He looked at the remaining four. Fear filled their eyes. “You,” he said, pointing to the big black guy. “Take off all your clothes.”

  One by one, he changed them all.

  The big guy found himself in a new body – part human, part rhinoceros. A large spiked horn on the front of his deformed face, tough thick gray skin, powerful muscles in his arms and legs, and even a little tail that didn’t seem to do much.

  The gang member was transformed into a humanoid spider. He grew extra arms and legs – eight in total – and they were more spider-like than human-like. He also benefited from extra eyes across his face and forehead. A benefit, he found, because it allowed him to see and notice a lot more things at once without needing to move his head much. He also developed small fangs, that mostly hid inside his mouth. His body bloated into a rounder shape with a red diamond marking on his back. He had yet to test this – but he felt lethally venomous.

  The white trash guy got a cocktail mix of squid, octopus, and jellyfish specimens. The resulting transformation was hideous. He still stood on two legs, but had six long tentacles for arms, each with powerful gripping suction cups and stinging tips. His head had sunk into body. He looked headless from a distance, but up close, his eyes and inhuman mouth sat center in his chest.

  And lastly, the ugly woman became even uglier – turning into a humanoid snake. Dark green scaly skin, extended razor sharp fangs in her mouth, piercing eyes, a flattened face, and a long narrow snake-like body that could twist, turn, and bend in any direction she so desired. Her bite, too, was no doubt highly toxic.

  And there they all stood – Shadow, Slimer, Rhino-Man, Arachnus, Kraken, and Venom, as he named them – his six first mutants. The first of many.

  Mastermind eyed Doctor Troyd. For a moment, he considered transforming the scientist too. But no. He still needed the doctor in human form for a while yet.

  “Mutants,” he said to all of them. “Your transformation is not yet complete.”

  They were all his loyal servants. And all fully mutated. He was very satisfied with the results. But one last critical detail remained: he had yet to give them their powers.

  Mastermind walked over to the building. He faced the wall and glass window. And then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small glowing pink crystal.

  “Your destiny awaits.” He drew a large circle. The pink lines sparkled and glowed on the building’s surface. And then he marked a triangle shape in the middle.

  Instantly, a portal opened to a vast, hot, dry desert world. A strange world with two blaring suns – and, of course, a mysterious pyramid waiting in the distance beyond the sand dunes.

  The mutants – and Doctor Troyd – all marveled at this man’s incredible power. What magic was this? Where did he come from? What other powers did he have? Who was this man – and was he even human?

  He stepped through the portal, one foot on each side.

  “Come, follow me,” he said.

  Chapter Three

  Unchangeable

  “Is anyone injured? Everyone alright?” asked Charlie.

  “Yeah, we’re fine,” said Ray. “Why?”

  “Just making sure. There’s a medical lab here.”

  “Yeah!” interrupted Luke. “It was AMAZING! It totally healed him, and there was this hologram, and—!”

  Luke was clearly excited.

  And why wouldn’t he be? He was living his ultimate fantasy. Super powers, alien planets, portals, future technology… All the sci-fi and fantasy goodness that any comic book geek like him would love. An adventure beyond anything he watched in a movie or read in a book – because it was real. He was really here, standing on an alien world, inside a mysterious alien high-tech pyramid, surrounded by friends with super powers!

  The only think that would make it better was if he, too, had his own super power.

  He looked to his uncle. “Do you think, I mean, is it possible I can get a super power too?”

  His uncle smiled. “Why do you think I gave you that crystal?”

  “Because…” Luke paused. “Wait, why did you give me this? You knew what it could do all along. And you said some Buddhist monk in Singapore was holding it for safe keeping… Was that a lie?”

  “Skardu. And no, I wasn’t lying. He really did hold onto it for a while. James didn’t want it falling into the wrong hands again.”

  “Wait, what?” asked Luke. “What’s my dad have to do with any of this?” Suddenly Luke had a realization. The magic crystal had been in their family, passed on father to son, for several generations. If Charlie knew about it, if Charlie got the crystal, maybe Charlie’s brother – Luke’s dad – did too.

  Charlie peeked his head down the long hallway. “Come on, I want to show you something.” Charlie placed his hand flat on the nearby wall.

  Instantly part of the wall came to life, illuminating with symbols, icons, and menus, just like before. None of the writing was in English.

  “Temple chamber,” Charlie said.

  The interactive wall displayed a map of their current location, and displayed directions with a red dotted line. Charlie then placed his hand flat against the wall again, and everything disappeared. It looked like a completely normal and blank wall again.

  “Whoa!!!” said Ray.

  “Awesome!” exclaimed Dawn.

  “This way,” led Charlie.

  It wasn’t far from their current location. They returned to the very same room Dawn and Ray had just left.

  “We were just here,” said Ray.

  “This is where you got your powers, isn’t it?” said Charlie.

  “Yeah, how’d you know?”

  “There’s a lot he apparently knows,” said Luke.

  Charlie pressed the blue button and the circular door rolled open, allowing them inside.

  “A lot,” Luke reiterated.

  They walked into the massive inner chamber – the very center of the enormous pyramid. High vaulted ceiling, mirrored walls all around, and strange alien writing faintly glowing along the floor. Everything circled and centered around the pedestal.

  “This,” said Charlie, “is the Temple of the Gods.” He pointed at the pedestal in the middle, illuminated from a shining spotlight above. “And that,” he said, “is the Altar of Destiny.”

  “How do you know all this?” asked Ray.

  “This isn’t my first time here.”

  “No kidding!” exclaimed Luke. “I think we�
�re in deep enough. It’s time you told us everything.”

  The old man nodded. “You’re right. It is.”

  Luke, Dawn, and Ray gathered around him.

  Finally, some answers…

  “I came here – well, not here, I didn’t know there was a temple on this planet. I really don’t remember ever seeing one.”

  “Hard to miss, don’t ya think?” asked Ray.

  “Agreed. The pyramid we’re in has to be new. Within the last couple decades. Anyway, that’s beside the point. When I was seventeen, my father showed me a crystal.”

  Luke held the glowing pink crystal in his hand. It had a magical, almost mystical presence to it. But any glowing crystal probably would.

  Charlie picked it out of Luke’s hand. “Mind if I borrow this?” He knelt down to get closer to the floor. “He showed me how to use it.” He drew a circle. “First, define the boundaries. It can be any shape or size. Then, inside the boundary, you have to mark the appropriate symbol. We know of five… well, technically, six… symbols.”

  “Six?” remarked Luke.

  “I’ll get to that.” Charlie continued. He marked a pair of horizontal wavy lines. Instantly a new portal opened. Everyone leaned in to look. Through the portal, on the other side, they saw a beach – crystal-clear sparkling water, dense lush green jungle, a clear blue sky, scattered white clouds… They could hear the gentle, relaxing sounds of the ocean waves. A symphony of tropical birds chirped, squawked, and sang endlessly. Some kind of fish jumped out of the water in the distance. It was amazing. An absolutely gorgeous, tropical paradise.

  Hawaii. Fiji. Costa Rica. That kind of place.

  Why didn’t they come here first?

  “Each symbol opens a portal to a different location. This is the planet Aquaria. As far as we’ve explored, it pretty much looks like this all over. A lot of diverse vegetation and animal life – but no sign of humans or other intelligent life. No technology. No pollution. No remains of any civilizations, as far as we know. Just pure, untouched natural beauty as far as you can go.”

  “Wow,” said Dawn. “I know where I’m taking my next vacation!”

  Charlie smiled. “To close the portal, mark a big ‘X’ over it.” He did. The portal instantly closed. “Opening a new portal will close the previous one, too.”

  “And you said you know of six symbols?”

  “Yes,” said Charlie. “Five were found on the Tablet of Ningishzida. We dated the tablet to around 3,500 to 4,000 years ago. Possibly older, but archeological clues place it in the Babylonian dynasty. These are the five symbols engraved on the tablet.”

  He drew a circle divided horizontally and vertically into four equal sections. “This takes us to Earth. Stonehenge, specifically. The portal appears on the ground, in the center of Stonehenge. So keep that in mind when drawing your portal on this end. It can get a little disorienting sometimes. If you draw a portal vertically on the wall and step through, you’d suddenly find yourself horizontal on Earth with your feet in the air. It’s best to jump through at an angle, or just place the portal on the floor or ceiling and climb through.”

  Next he drew the triangle symbol. “This takes us here. To this desert planet. Like I said, it used to be empty. I went a long time ago. Never came back. This pyramid is new.”

  Then he drew the third symbol. The upside-down “U” shape with a tiny circle on each end. “This,” he said, “leads to an empty spaceship drifting somewhere in deep space. Do not open a portal here. There’s no air on the other side. My grandfather told me a story of how his friend got sucked in and died one time. So be very, very careful with this one. I’m showing it to you so you don’t draw it on accident or go in blindly.”

  He drew another symbol. It looked kind of like a pair of “P” symbols, but the left one was reversed and faced the opposite direction. “And this last symbol,” he said, “is one I think Luke will be especially interested in.”

  “Yeah? Why’s that?” he said, getting excited.

  “It leads to the future.”

  Luke’s mouth hung open.

  Ray looked to him. He knew Luke’s favorite movie was Back to the Future – or anything with time travel in it, for that matter. He had always wanted to travel through time. Especially to the future. He wanted his own hover board, flying car, and other cool yet-to-be-thought-of future technology.

  Luke asked, “Is this… this pyramid we’re in… Is it from the future?” He looked around the mysterious mirrored room. “I mean. This whole facility, is it extraterrestrial or human? I didn’t recognize any of the writing or symbols, but that doctor hologram looked human, and the interactive wall consoles seem to respond to English words…”

  “That’s true,” said Uncle Charlie. “Well, I’ve only once ever seen another pyramid like this. At this last symbol location, in the future. Earth looks really nice. They finally cleaned up all the pollution, people seemed to live in peace, no medical problems… Your father and I went there once and were greeted with a warm welcome.”

  “How far in the future is it?” Ray asked. “Any stock tips, any companies I should be investing in now?”

  Charlie chuckled. “Anyway, they asked if we came for the temple. Not knowing what it was, we said yes. They took us to a pyramid just like this one. Once inside, we learned its purpose.”

  Luke, Dawn, and Ray listened closely.

  “This chamber, this sacred room, is what they call the Temple of the Gods. It’s designed, in so many words, to turn ordinary humans into, well, gods.”

  “What?” remarked Dawn.

  “Not in the immortal, all-powerful sense. More in the ancient Greek and Roman sense. It gives people super powers. Makes them more than human.”

  “Yeah, but weren’t those gods immortal?” asked Luke.

  “You saw their medical lab here. To an ancient civilization, something like that would certainly make you seem immortal.”

  “So wait,” said Luke, “you saying people from our future gave themselves powers and then visited our distant past, pretended to be gods, and that’s where all our myths and legends came from?”

  “Seems that way.”

  “But why?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “And why would they give you and Dad powers too? I mean, you’re not even from their time!”

  “Again, I don’t know. But right now,” said Uncle Charlie, “there’s a more pressing issue.”

  “What’s that?” asked Luke.

  Uncle Charlie sighed. Something troubled him. He handed the crystal back, placing it in Luke’s hand. “It’s the reason why your father never wanted you to have this.”

  Never? Why would his dad intentionally withhold this from him? His own son. After this crystal had been passed down for generations. And it was Luke – he only ever dreamed of having super powers, traveling to alien worlds… How could his dad just keep this from him?

  Luke felt hurt, almost heartbroken.

  Meanwhile, a portal opened on the ancient, sand-covered ruins on the surface of this desert planet.

  Mastermind, his six mutants, and Doctor Troyd all stepped through. One by one.

  Slimer, the slimy, gooey humanoid blob of a girl, stepped out into the burning sand and immediately began to sizzle. “Ow, ow, ow!” she screamed, doing a little dance. “It’s burning my feet!”

  “Rhino-Man,” Mastermind said to the big, bulky, muscular part-rhinoceros, part-human mutant. “Carry her. And Kraken too.”

  Rhino-Man scooped up Slimer with one arm, throwing her oozing body over his right shoulder. Then he grabbed and tossed the multi-tentacled, headless sea-monster over the other.

  “The rest of you can walk,” said Mastermind. The sand was scorching hot. But Shadow the cat-girl, Venom the lizard-woman, and Rhino-Man the, um, rhino-man could tolerate it for now. A beneficial side effect of being mutants. High tolerance for pain. Arachnus, the spider-guy, felt no pain at all.

  The air was still blazing hot and bone dry. Two glaring sun
s cooked them from overhead. They’d all suffer a little sunburn and heat exhaustion. Maybe even some burn blisters on the bottoms of their feet. But Mastermind knew of the healing chamber here. He’d restore everyone to good as new – and hopefully lock in their genetic changes, just in case the mutations were still unstable. And then… he’d give them all their powers, one by one.

  The first of many monstrous humans, built to serve him, to usher in a new beginning, a new age for humankind.

  They traveled across the hot desert sand. Some of the sand dunes shifted and slid beneath their feet. Arachnus, the spider-guy, found it extremely easy to walk up and down the sliding dunes. Of course, having extra spider-like arms and legs were well-suited for an environment like this. Venom, the snake-woman, wasn’t so lucky.

  At one point – the same spot where Luke and his uncle fell down and slid into the pit – Venom also lost her footing. She nearly fell to the same fate. But Shadow’s quick cat-like reflexes grabbed her – digging her claws into Venom’s scaly skin to hold her – and pulled her back onto more solid ground.

  “Ow!” screamed Venom. “That hurtsss.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Your father and I got powers,” said Charlie. “Your mother too.”

  “What?” Luke was nearly in tears. How could they hide this from him? Why did they hide this from him? Didn’t they trust him? And why – why wouldn’t they let Luke get a power too?

  “But James made me promise to keep you out of this.”

  “Why?” begged Luke.

  “They loved you too much. They didn’t want to see you get hurt. It’s dangerous, Luke, but that wasn’t the real reason.”

  “Then what?”

  “They were going to give it to you, when you were older. But then… then…” Charlie lowered his head. “It was my fault, really. I was careless. This crystal was just too amazing. You see, I thought it’d be safe to share with my colleagues. A few fellow archeologists. And maybe some of the other professors. I was still pretty new at the university at the time. I had to show it to give credibility to my story.” He sighed. “Or maybe I just wanted to show off. Anyway, I guess word got around, and someone else found out who shouldn’t have – and next thing I know, someone had broken into my office and stole it.”