Temporal Incursion

by Neil A. Hogan

  “Yes,” said Zhou, joining them. “I distinctly remember that you had a date planned, and that I had to contact them to advise that you had been called away on urgent business. And, now, you’ve never actually met.”

  Heartness coughed in her drink. “Ahem, well, that bit, I don’t really remember that clearly.”

  “So, will you be pressing charges?” asked Hogart, coming to the bar. “You know, forced detainment? Even though it is just a memory?”

  Heartness frowned. “Vilanna has a clear memory of everything, too, and was able to get clearance on a sizable donation for my charity. She said that she had better, just in case that parallel version of myself turned up one day! I’m happy to leave it at that.”

  “About your charity. I’m still dismayed that, even after frequency shift, and it being a priority of the world government, homelessness still exists.”

  Heartness sighed. “I know. People believe it is gone, but it is still there, as humans will always put themselves in situations where a home is the least of their worries. But my charity covers all bases. Not just those who suffer from debt or life mistakes, but natural disasters too.”

  Just then a hairy, green, spider-like alien wobbled ungainly into the bar. “Yo!” he said.

  Hogart grinned, moving quickly over to him. “Puppy! So, sorry to hear that that part of the timeline stayed the same for you. Good to see you’re back on your pins.” He went over and looked up at Puppy’s long tongue and mandibles. “Just don’t lick me!”

  Puppy clacked a couple of legs together in laughter. “Don’t make me laugh. Actually, I’ve got some sad news.”

  Guessing what Puppy was about to say, the room fell silent and the Stellar Flash crew came over, surrounding him and making him the center of attention.

  “It’s been fun, but the damage from the toxin is going to take a while to recover from. I’m afraid I can’t join the crew again as a regular.” Puppy’s twelve eyes all looked forlorn.

  Hogart looked sad. “Oh, Puppy. I’m so sorry. But, maybe you could drop in and help us on a future mission sometime?”

  Puppy waggled his tongue. “I’d like that. And I’m still your robot uprising advisor, so I’ll definitely flash back to the Solar System if you need help with that.”

  Zhou held up a clear glass of baijiu. “And so, to our great security guard, who, according to our records, has been on hundreds of missions with Victoria Heartness, and before that other captains. I seem to remember when you served on one of my ships too.”

  Puppy nodded.

  “To Puppy!” said Heartness, a slight tear in her eye.

  Everyone cheered.

  “I guess you’re not drinking,” said Hogart.

  “What?” said Puppy, slightly miffed. “Of course I am. It’s not going to kill me!”

  Hogart laughed and walked with him back to the bar. Watanabe reached over and attempted to drag one of the barrels of beer, but couldn’t budge it. With a deft movement belying his weaker body, Puppy reached over a leg and pulled the barrel of beer out.

  Just as he hefted it from the bar, there was a crash, and a previously concealed sign fell from behind some empty bottles.

  Watanabe picked it up, then looked surprised, and showed it to Hogart. “You said in your memory that the robot said one word before shorting out.”

  Hogart looked at the sign. “Oh!”

  Under the inscription ‘Dev’s Bar’, in a fine scrawl, was the investor’s name. Bermuda Robotics.

  Patel saw it, and slapped his forehead. “I don’t believe it.”

  “Believe it!” said Hogart. “Sometime in the future, Bermuda Robotics will be instrumental in a robot uprising. And this time, they might succeed.”

  Patel shook his head. “It’s not that. There was an explosion in Bimini four years ago, similar to that Tunguska event that happened in 1908. The whole business was practically vaporized. They had been under investigation before that, and we couldn’t find anything untoward. Everything checked out. No power fluctuations, no robots operating outside of basic programming, no attempted hackings, no Atlant…ahem… Nothing. They were completely above board.”

  “Yet, you felt the need to investigate them,” added Zhou.

  Patel called the records up on his tablet and scowled. “The explosion never happened.” Then he sighed. “That confirms it was a micro time particle. Now, with everyone having shifted to a reality with a new past, they’re back, and probably more advanced with their plans. It could even be why robots were receiving signals from the future. A new future that we’re now in.”

  “If that was their only office, then this bar wouldn’t have existed in the previous timeline,” said Watanabe. “The obvious thing is that the Bemuda place was a front, and they must have had another office somewhere else.”

  Heartness pointed at the sign. “So, they sponsored a bar in Ring Three, not far from where the array is going to be. And they hired Dev and Ange, and instructed them to harm Puppy, hack the Stellar Flash upgrades, and run a builderbot uprising test, leaving no evidence.”

  Patel grimaced. “We’re going to have to get someone to go undercover. Someone with technology experience, but also some experience with the Solar System. Someone young, with no connection with my department. I need really fresh eyes on this one.”

  As one, the team at the bar turned to look at Kumar, as he began chatting to a well-dressed man from the experimental section.

  “Raj,” called Heartness. “I think we need to have a meeting.”

  Raj spun about, surprised, indicating the guy next to him. “I was just asking Shraki about his job. Honest.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “Nothing serious. Come to my office on Monday and we’ll discuss a new assignment.”

  Raj nodded.

  Just then Hogart jumped as a soft but slippery leaf brushed his hand. He turned and almost dropped his drink. Next to him was a metal box with cables and wheels, and on top of it sat Planty, reaching her purple and green tentacle-like leaves out to him.

  “Well,” said Heartness, “Are you going to introduce me to your new girlfriend?” She winked.

  Hogart blanched, quickly moving back from Planty. “No, we’re not, I mean. Just friends.”

  Planty’s voice reverberated from a unit just above chest level. “When I found I could use the bot’s vocal system to speak, I asked Raj to create a similar system for me.”

  “I didn’t know you could move, though,” said Hogart. “I thought, maybe, my clone self had carried you around.”

  Planty gave a sound like a chuckle. “I’m quite happy to not move. I am a plant, after all. Staying in one place is what we do. However, this will be the first real party that I’ve been to. After today, I’ll be staying with Doctor John Patel.”

  “I understand why Hogart-C left her for me,” said Patel, grinning broadly. “We’re both quite long-lived, and highly intelligent, if I do say so myself. We have lots to discuss!”

  Hogart nodded at this, a slight look of relief on his face. Then he checked his flash band, then turned to the window and pointed at the rings of Saturn. “Alright, gang. It’s about to happen. The edge of the D ring is about to disappear.”

  They all raised a glass as the ring closest to Saturn’s atmosphere finally faded away to nothing. “Here’s to the new D ring edge.”

  “Cheers,” everyone chorused.

  Torus flickered over to Spiney, Cuddly and Geo who were watching the darkening rings. “I remember you are not ones for small talk or drinking.”

  Spiney twisted his spikes, and Geo opened a flap and closed it again. Cuddly waved a proleg. “Observing,” said Geo. “I’m a geophysicist. Not a conversationalist.”

  “What is your understanding of recent events?” asked Spiney of Torus.

  “Our pasts change all the time. We live for the present. However, a temporal incursion, simply crossing the barriers between Frequency Zero and another is difficult from both sides, the flickering in and out of reality
of billions of universes every Planck Second, notwithstanding. It is possible there has been interference from Frequency Seven for this to happen.”

  “They only ever do something that benefits the entire multiverse,” said Geo. “What possible reason could there be for allowing an incursion that disrupts the arrow of time limitations of Frequency Zero?”

  “Unless,” said Spiney. “Extrapolating the reverse time effects of the expanding sphere to its logical conclusion, the explosion went back to the beginning of all versions of this universe, shifted outside of this reality, then became the underlying external dimensional force that inflated it.”

  “That is quite an incredible idea,” Cuddly said. “You might be right.”

  Torus flickered in confirmation. “Anything is possible with Frequency Seven beings.”

  Puppy had been briefly chatting with Tonderai and Amy when he saw that Patel was about to leave the gathering. He excused himself and quickly clacked after him. “Just before you go, Doctor,” said Puppy, his red tongue lolling out in a friendly fashion. “The people of my world are very appreciative of your intervention on the ban of insecticides fifty of your years ago. Without you, we would never have been able to visit your planet or work on your ships. I just wanted to say, from my hearts, thanks.”

  Patel gave a little bow. “The honor is all mine, Great Arachnos representative. Your culture is fascinating, and your world has helped the human race so much in the past. If there is anything I can do, let me know.”

  Puppy lowered the lids of his eyes, seriously. “Well, I’m not one for revenge, but if you could make sure the entities who gave me this toxin are punished accordingly, I, and my planet, would be very grateful.”

  Patel bowed again. “Let’s just say, not only is that in hand, but anyone connected to producing that banned substance will suffer the full force of my wrath.” Then he gave a tight smile. “To the extent I am able within the law, of course.”

  “Thank you, Doctor.” Puppy gave his own bent leg bow, then headed over to Spiney, Geo and Torus, saying good-naturedly. “Ah, the aliens have gathered in a corner at a party again!”

  Patel nodded goodbye, his mind kilometers away, staring into space. Then he muttered to himself. “I will make sure of it. I will pull this universe apart to find all those responsible for this travesty. You mark my words.” Patel clenched and unclenched his fingers, and an almost fanatic look appeared on his face as he strode out of the room. “You mark my words,” he muttered again.

  The Stellar Flash Crew and the Space Station X-1a team will return in

  The Robots of Atlantis

  Hi Friends

  Thank you for reading Temporal Incursion. I hope you enjoyed it. If you have a moment, it would be great if you could consider leaving a review of it on your favorite platform. Many thanks in advance.

  You can find out more about the series at www.StellarFlash.com where you’ll find some images of some of the characters along with some blog posts from me. I’ll also discuss some of the technology behind the Stellar Flash

  You may also be interested in my other series, exploring different metaphysical and alien concepts.

  www.ScienceFictionWeekly.com A series of weekly short stories exploring random ideas. Stories have included ancient A.I. from Atlantis, a multiverse story involving body and mind swapping, a remote robot story where consciousnesses can be uploaded to robots around the solar system, a story set within a lifetime of someone living on the moon, and much more.

  www.AlienDimensions.com An irregular anthology series featuring stories from various indie and professional authors around the world. Explore short stories from a wide variety of writers in many different styles. Time travel, alien invasion, human destruction, and stories set long before the human race existed or long after extinction.

  www.FantasyShortStories.com An irregular anthology series featuring stories from various indie and professional authors around the world. Explore short stories from a wide variety of writers in many different styles.

  www.AlienCharacters.com A series of illustrated books for kids introducing friendly aliens.

  Thanks again for reading.

  Neil A. Hogan

  www.NeilAHogan.com

  You might also be interested in:

  Alien Frequency:

  Stellar Flash Book One

  By Neil A. Hogan

  Captain Jonathan Hogart’s first mission to Frequency One seems to be going well. New crew, new flash ship, and a new race of aliens to make first contact with.

  But the binary suns start affecting his team in strange ways, the friendly aliens turn out to be not so friendly, and now he finds himself glued to the ground awaiting possible separation if he doesn’t hand over flash relocation technology.

  As the sticky situation gets more and more complicated, and the mushroom-bugs reveal further surprises, the alien crew discover that it’s not only planet brown and purple that they have to worry about. There is a much greater threat towards the center of the star system.

  One that none of them would ever have suspected.

  Alien Frequency is the first book in the Stellar Flash series.

  Available from various online retailers in digital and in print.

  Find out more at:

  www.StellarFlash.com

  You might also be interested in:

  The Andromeda Effect:

  Stellar Flash Book Two

  By Neil A. Hogan

  Sent back 2.5 million years in time to the Andromeda Galaxy to investigate why there’s a record of them having been there, the Stellar Flash crew encounter a creature so powerful that it has taken control of the entire galaxy by thought alone.

  With most of the crew unconscious, Captain Jonathan Hogart is in a race against time to defeat the plant-planet, save the galaxy, and find a way to return to 2133.

  But another force is attempting to take control, to use the power of the creature from the past to take over the Milky Way Galaxy in the present. And, for this, Hogart has no defense.

  How is the creature controlling an entire galaxy?

  Who has the technology to transmit the creature’s power from the past to the present?

  And will the Stellar Flash crew and the Space Station team be able to save both galaxies?

  Available from various online retailers in digital and in print.

  Find out more at:

  www.StellarFlash.com

  Short Stories from the Stellar Flash Universe

  as part of the Science Fiction Weekly Series

  Find out more at

  www.ScienceFictionWeekly.com