Time Flies

by Larry Buenafe

  “Yeah, man, you’re like David Blaine or something. So there’s no doubt about these Time Flies being out of the time stream? What if all that’s not true, what if they are having some kind of alien mass hallucination or something?”

  Marsh-dog’s expression conveyed his assumption that I had lost my mind. “What possible reason could they have for making any of this up? Isn’t modifying my brain with light beams or whatever evidence that their technology is advanced enough to do anything?”

  “Yeah, of course you’re right, that was a dumb thought. You know what would be cool, though? What if you ask them if they can take you out of the time stream so you can see what it’s like? I bet that would be quite an experience... and I wonder if we might learn something that will help us stop The Others. I don’t know; it seems like we could get some insight or benefit out of it somehow.”

  “Dude, do you think they’re just waiting around for me to ask them things? They’ve got stuff to do, you know. Important stuff, like popping in and out of the time stream, creating new universes; you know, everyday stuff like that.”

  “Would you please knock it off and just ask them? There’s one right next to your head.”

  “Ok, hang on, let’s see what Flashy here has to say.” He did his concentration-mumbling thing again, nodded as if receiving information, and listened intently. “So here’s the deal, they say I can’t go out of the time stream. It wouldn’t kill me, because I’m already dead, at least my normal body is, but it would destroy my mind, and then there would be no one to keep you in check. We can’t have that. But guess what? As usual, they say that The Great ‘Nando can survive it, because you have some special way to protect your mind. They know you can do it, but they don’t know how you do it. Do you know what they’re talking about?”

  I wonder… the mind-protection thing I did with Pasquale… can I do that on myself? Is that what they mean? It would be a real bummer to go through whatever is needed to get them to take me out of the time stream, and then find out there was something else that I should have done, and end up with a brain made out of hard cheese… still, my curiosity is out of control… what would it be like to be out of the time stream? I scratched my head to manage a strong urge to tap it. “Ok, dude, can you ask Ol’ Flashy one other question? I’m going to try something, and when I’m ready I’ll tell you. Then ask him, or her, or it if this is what they mean by a special way to protect my mind?”

  “Yeah, I’ll ask Ol’ Flashy; I don’t think they have a gender, so I think the correct thing to call them is Your Flashiness. I just made that up, what do you think?”

  “Very nice. I think I am going to call them either “it” or “they” if you don’t mind.”

  “Ok, dude, whatever. Just trying to be a little creative, but if you want to go boring, I guess that’s your business.”

  I fought to keep a straight face. “Ok, I’ll signal you when I’m ready.” I did something I had never tried before: I walked down the hall full of doors in my mind, and I found one with my own name on it. I wonder if looking into your own mind will make you go mental or something… people are in their own heads all the time, though, right? But this is different… can you read your own thoughts? Seems like it would kind of be like one of those pictures where you’re looking in a mirror, but there’s a mirror on the other side too, so you keep seeing the image being repeated, getting smaller and smaller, going on forever… maybe if I just peek in real quick, I can make sure nothing crazy happens… I took a deep breath to quell my nerves, opened the door the tiniest crack, and peeked in. Huh… I don’t see anything! Is my mind really that empty? This can’t be right… there’s something else I need to do… what is it… what is it… wait, I bet I need to… yeah, I need to do my divided attention trick, treat my mind as if it were someone else’s mind… I need to step out of myself, otherwise I’m not going to see anything… ok, close the door, get it together, and open it up again once you have your attention divided… ok, here we go… there it is! Seems more… what is it? I guess it’s more colorful than other minds I’ve looked in… maybe that has to do with The Seven energy… probably so… lots of colors, greens and especially lots of orange for some reason… ok, so what I did with Pasquale was place a restricted amount of energy everywhere in his brain to block things from the outside, to keep them from affecting the brain… here goes… oh, that feels weird… my brain is… it feels like it’s fizzing or something… like it’s filled with those pop-rocks candies… let’s see if I can keep it going while talking to Marsh…

  “O… k… this… is… diffi… diffi… hard… Marsh… tell… Ol’… Flashy… to… check… me… see… if… this… will… work…”

  Marsh-dog could tell I was struggling, so thought better of any attempts at humor this time. “Hang on, ‘Nando, I got Ol’Flashy on the line… Hey, guess what? They say that whatever you’re doing is what they were talking about. Way to go, ugly!”

  I quickly closed the door to my mind and slumped exhausted in my chair. “Whoa, that was difficult. It would have been easier if I hadn’t tried to talk while doing it, but it still was tough. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to do that, but since I can, are they willing to take me out of the time stream and let me see how they get around?”

  “Yeah, man, everything’s cool on their end. They actually almost seem kind of excited; no one’s ever gone there with them before.”

  “Well it’s one first after another with you and me, right?”

  “Yeah, man, like you winning first place in the ugly contest.”

  “If you ever turn back into a real person, I am totally going to sock you.”

  “Alright, alright, settle down. Are you sure you want to do this? You might see things you can’t unsee, you know.”

  “Oh, dude, you’re right. I don’t really want to see everyone die in two years. Hmm… these Time Flies move around in both space and time, right? You know what would be totally cool? What if they took me back to the beginning of the universe, back to the big bang? Do you think that’s possible?”

  “Dude, that would be awesome. Let me check with Ol’ Flashy and see what, uh, it, they, whatever, think.”

  He finished his concentration-mumbling, nodded, and said, “Ok, he, it, they say that they can’t go all the way back that far, because before the big bang, time didn’t really exist in the same way. Ok, if you don’t mind I’m gonna call it him, I just can’t get used to calling him it, ok? Anyway, he says there’s not that much to see, because it took quite a long time for things to cool down enough for any elements to form. For three hundred thousand years or so after the big bang, it just looked like fog. Super hot fog.”

  “Huh. Maybe the big bang is not such a good idea after all. What else would be cool to see? Hey, how about this: let’s go back to when the Time Flies weren’t Time Flies; you know, back when they were flesh and blood, or whatever they were before. What about that?”

  “I don’t know; let me check with The Flash Man.”

  Marsh-dog did his thing yet again. “Well, they could do that, but he suggests that it would be more meaningful to you if you went back to some time in your own life.”

  “Yeah, ok, that makes sense. You know what? I would love to get to see my parents one more time.” Then, at just the thought of it, I couldn’t help it, the water fell from my eyes, and I shook with emotion.

  Marsh-dog seemed concerned and melancholy as he said, “Hey, man, I get it. It’s ok, I feel the same way. I know I like to give you a bunch of crap ‘cause, well, it’s fun most of the time, but we’re in this together, remember?”

  I managed to regain some composure, and muttered, “I’m sorry Marsh. I’ll get it under control. It’s just… well, you know what I mean.”

  “Yeah, I know. And I also know if you keep tapping the side of your head you’re gonna put a permanent hole there.”

  Wiping my face with my sleeve, I said, “Alright, I’m ready. Why don’t we shoot for six weeks before they died?”<
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  Marsh spoke again to the Time Fly. “You can go to whatever time you like. Basically being out of the time stream is kind of like being next to a life size film strip. Each, what do they call them? Oh yeah, cell, each cell in the life size film strip represents a moment in time, and you can jump in wherever you want, once you get to about the right moment.”

  “Hey, I just thought of something: what happens to my body when I’m out of the time stream? Won’t I get, like, ripped apart?”

  “Good question. Let me check with The Flashmeister and see what he says… Ok, don’t worry, they’ll give you protection; you won’t feel anything, but you’ll be able to see and hear everything. You’ll be in a bubble of space from our time stream, but you’ll see and hear through it. It’s kind of like the energy you project to protect your brain, only bigger and more powerful.”

  “Huh. So we’re kind of alike… it’s just that I don’t know why I am able to do it.”

  “Yeah, man, that’s why they’re so fascinated by you dudes. They went through millions of years of development to get to this point, and here you are, and can do the same stuff, and you don’t even know how, you just can. Hang on a second, let me see if I can find a needle around here anywhere so I can pop your head, it’s getting too big.”

  Thank you Marsh… I can always count on you to bring me back to Earth…

  “Hey, by the way, do you think this immortal creature, who basically has the ability to do anything, appreciates us calling it Ol’ Flashy, and Flashmeister, and stuff?”

  “Nah, they’re way beyond caring about stuff like that. They can’t even relate to names; as far as they’re concerned they are all one, and the one doesn’t have a name.”

  “Ok, Ol’Flashy it is. So what do we do now?”

  Over the next few minutes, we went through their protocols for preparing me to go out of the time stream with them. This was new for all of us, as they had never taken anyone with them out of the time stream before, but they knew exactly what to do to make it happen. On my end, it mostly involved doing my divided attention-mind protection routine, which remained pretty difficult, and seeing how long I could maintain it, which at this beginning stage ended up being about five minutes before I wore out. I could feel, though, that with some practice I would be able to improve, and maybe even do it with more than one person at a time. That’s a little secret that I’ll need to keep in my back pocket… may come in handy, and I don’t want to tip people off that I can do it, in case I need it as a surprise advantage…

  “Hey, Marsh. What should we tell our crew about the Time Flies?”

  Adopting his thinking pose again, he said, “I don’t know, dude, I don’t think we should tell them anything. Suppose one of them gets captured or possessed or something? The Others could get the information out of them, and then we would lose whatever advantage we might have by knowing something they don’t. I mean, this little flash of light right here next to us is the most powerful creature in the universe, as far as we know, and he already likes us. Well, maybe like is not the right word, but they’re totally interested in you, because of the stuff you can do, and they’re fascinated by me because I figured out how to talk to them. I think the more people that know about this stuff, the more likely it is that we lose whatever advantage we might have.”

  “Yeah, I agree, but I hate feeling like we’re keeping things from the rest of our group. I just remember back when the angels had Ling spying on me, and how that made me feel; I don’t like the thought of doing the same thing to them.”

  “Yeah, ok, but they had a reason for doing that; you seemed like you were going mental. And, we have a reason for doing this; the information we have might help us save the world, and we don’t want it getting into the wrong hands. Ok, that sounds a little dramatic, but you know what I mean.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right, as usual. Ok, so what’s next?”

  “Next, they’re going to inspect you, make sure your mind trick will, uh, do the trick, I guess.”

  “What do I do?”

  “Just sit down and hold still. I’ll tell you when to do your mind protection thing.”

  I sat, and Ol’ Flashy moved directly in front of my face, a foot away from my nose. Suddenly four more Time Flies appeared, all surrounding Ol’Flashy, and I knew that if they rotated positions, it would not be long before I wouldn’t be able to tell which one Ol’ Flashy was, which I found curiously amusing. It was also a little frightening because I was fairly used to the Time Flies by now, but I didn’t know what was going to happen next. Even though I had no reason to suspect it, I imagined the Time Flies deciding to blast me to pieces with laser beams or something, and I had a quick jolt of anxiety. That’s just hypervigilance, right? Or maybe paranoia… could be both…

  “Ok, are you doing your mind thing? Good… now these guys are gonna go in your head, check things out, make sure everything is copacetic. I asked them if they could give you some anti-ugly treatments while they were at it, but they said even their technology didn’t go that far. Ok, ready?”

  I nodded, chuckling. Immediately, the Time Flies came closer, all at different points around my head; Ol’ Flashy was still in front of my nose, but very close, and a couple of the other Time Flies were near but just above my temples; I couldn’t see the other two, but assumed they were behind my head. Soon they disappeared, and I felt a peculiar buzzing at five different points around my head. A moment later the Time Flies reappeared, gathered tightly together, and seemed to be flashing rapidly, almost as if they were agitated. Marsh-dog’s eyes went wide, and his mouth dropped open; he was listening to them and nodding occasionally. After about a minute of this he said, “Ok, these guys are really surprised and confused, which is a new experience for them, since they pretty much know everything. They were trying to get into your mind to check things out, make sure you were properly protected, and they weren’t able to get through. What did you do?”

  What did I do? I didn’t do anything except what they asked me to… wait, was my energy barrier too strong for them to get through? Or maybe it’s a different kind of energy, a kind they don’t know how to relate to… is that possible? I think that’s it…

  I passed my theory on to Marsh-dog. “Yeah, that’s what these guys said too. They want to get in there, take a closer look, and see if they can analyze what you’re doing.”

  Hmm… if I have some advantage over these dudes I probably ought to keep it… on the other hand, do I want to risk antagonizing creatures who are smart enough to create heaven and hell, and who don’t have to age, or even comply with time? No, better to help them anyway I can…

  “Well, how about this: let’s have them go in my head, I’ll do my mind protection thing while they’re in there, and they can check it out from the inside. Maybe that will help them figure it out.”

  Marsh-dog communicated with the Time Flies. “Ok, they are good with that. Here we go.”

  Once again, the Time Flies surrounded my head, and this time they entered with no apparent problem; I didn’t feel them enter and couldn’t feel them in my head at all. “Ok, let them know I’m going to do my mind protection thing now,” I grunted, and then I divided my attention, walked down that familiar hall in my mind, found my door, and peeked in. The Time Flies were floating around inside; for some reason I could see them much more clearly in my mind. Their light was more distinct and defined; still, I could not detect anything there other than the light. There didn’t seem to be any mechanism aside from that, or if there was, it was either too small for me to perceive or was hidden from view somehow. I worked up the right amount of energy, and projected it out to all points in my mind. The Time Flies recoiled just a bit, as if they could feel it. They moved about, and I got the sense that they were testing the boundaries and strength of the energy. It was an odd sensation, and I felt vibrations in certain spots, as if they were trying to see what it would take to break through. Suddenly one of them disappeared and reappeared at virtually the same insta
nt. Immediately after, I felt a certain oscillation, a sort of tuning in to the energy that I was applying, and then the Time Flies exited and were floating outside of my head, next to Marsh-dog.

  Once again, his eyes were wide as he listened. “Dude, you really had them stumped. Did you see one of them disappear?”

  “Yeah, then when he came back they were able to break out. What happened?”

  “Well, check this out, this is going to be a little confusing. The one who left, he dropped out of the time stream, that’s how he was able to get out. He consulted with all of the rest of the Time Flies, basically an infinite number of them, and he described the type of energy you were projecting. They analyzed it while they were in there, and then they conducted a comprehensive, yeah, I said comprehensive, search of the universe but didn’t find an answer. They searched other universes, and it took over a million years, but finally they found the right frequency, or actually combination of frequencies, to get through. They are very impressed.”

  “Wait, over a million years? He wasn’t even gone for a second.”

  “They’re out of the time stream, remember? A million years is the same as an instant to them. The cool thing is they never encountered anything like it before, so it’s another first. Maybe they’ll give you a trophy or something.”

  “Yeah, that would also be a first. I never got a trophy for anything before.”

  “Yeah, but how about that grand prize in the ugly contest? Alright, I’ll stop.”

  “So do they think we’re ok to go do our time trip?”

  “Oh, yeah, they say nothing is getting through your thick skull. Are you ready?”

  “Yeah, but just remind them, I can only keep this going for about five minutes.”