“How will I travel?” Geogyn asked, trying to hide his nervousness.
“I have the power to open a reversing lapse portal. It’s a dimensional gate to… before. I can only hold it open for eight seconds. Whatever isn‘t through the doorway by that time will be cut out from travel, actually. The time stream is a relentless flow in one direction, so you’ll have to fight to get in the doorway.”
“Let‘s do it, before I chicken out,” Geogyn said, letting his nervousness emerge the victor. Then he thought of the particulars of what he was about to do, and said, “Wait a minute. I have a lot of equipment, and gear on my person. I thought only living tissue can travel.”
Val-Koorin had no mouth, but you could see the smile from behind his eyes. “You’ve been watching too many movies. It‘s exciting enough lore that has become a mainstay, but this is real. Just get through the portal in time, and you‘ll be fine.”
Val-Koorin moved Geogyn to a position with no obstructions. “I am about to open the portal. Remember, you have eight seconds to enter the stream. You must ignore the initial pain upon entrance. You will just have to endure it for the duration. The transition will only take two minutes, but because of the trauma you are about to experience, it will feel like a lifetime. You will feel the exit pull you to it. Once you are in, the experience will be automatic, as long as you remain cognizant. Get ready to enter.”
Val-Koorin placed his hands horizontal to the floor, about three feet from the ground, with his knuckles touching. “Three… two… one!” He closed both hands in two fists. Blue sparks exploded from his hands. He began to open a rip in the air. That was where the sparks truly came from. As he spread his hands farther apart, the spark-filled hole became larger. The sound of wind started to whip across the staging area. Oswalt and his troops stopped their exercises, and gazed at the marvel happening. It took three seconds for the portal to be large enough for Geogyn to enter.
“Go!” Val-Koorin yelled over the violently whipping wind to Geogyn.
Geogyn wasted no time hurling himself towards the doorway. The force of the stream hit him like a raging acalanche. It resisted his entry into the portal with a violent almost prejudiced hatred. He had to force his way in.
The pain Val-Koorin described was enormous. It felt like fighting the current, while pushing yourself through raging rapids that consisted of boiling acid.
Three… he was almost through. Just his right arm, leg, and back weren‘t through the portal
Two… he kept forcing himself through. He didn‘t want to lose an arm or leg through a temporal amputation. Although, it had to feel better than time travel’s wrathful ire.
One… as the portal began to close, he entered entirely. The opening closed as if it were never there.
Oswalt and his team saw this, but it wasn’t the primary surprise for them. The amazing screams that ricocheted across the area was the entity which stung their souls. They had never heard Geogyn scream in that manner. They knew whatever he endured would kill a normal person. They were thankful Val-Koorin didn’t ask them to complete it.
“It is over,” Val-Koorin announced to everyone. “Duality is inert.”
Geogyn was through the portal opening. It closed as if it were never there. Like it had never existed. But, being safely on the other side was a gargantuan matter of opinion.
He felt as if he were getting blasted full bore by a high pressure fire hose. It wasn‘t directed on a spot on his body. It was like fighting your way into a tsunami. But instead of a wall of water, it was a wall of boiling acid.
The stream scalded his flesh, as it began to eat it away. It destroyed the thinner membranes first. Obliterating his lips, testicles, earlobes, and eyelids. He opened his mouth to scream in pain, but the stream rapidly filled his lungs, and quickly cut off breathing, as well as any emanations of pain. He was drowning in the ferocious stream.
Although he was being cleaved physically, his mind stayed rational.
Why am I not dead yet? he asked himself, as he was being choked, and burned away to his cyber-synthetic skeleton at the limbs.
He kept pushing himself through the harsh unforgiving vortex of agony. His determination was automatic, no matter how afflicting his situation was.
Geogyn was the only one from this planet to be able to withstand the unnatural task of fighting time’s current. No human could attempt, let alone complete it. Geogyn was made by God, but he was far from being human.
He thought he was created for any adverse situation. He had to be ready for anything. That was why Val-Koorin created him with an involuntary will to complete any task.
It felt as if everything on his person was being eaten away. Teeth, eyes, nose, and lips were painfully dissolving in the torrent of acid. As it rushed past and enveloped him, he forged on.
He kept pushing against the current. Although he felt his body being torn from him to be reduced to a tattered nothing, he didn’t stop. His will was stronger.
There was no peak to his torment. His travels were just as intense since he entered this… destruction.
He couldn't see or hear it, but he felt the exit. It overtook the pain. His relentless determination usurped vexatious agony.
Geogyn pushed himself through, despite the adamant cascading channel of time. Regardless of his body’s degradation, he wouldn’t stop. The exit was very proximal.
Val-Koorin must have had knowledge of this ordeal prior to Geogyn’s journey. It couldn’t have been theory or speculation. He must have experienced it firsthand. He had to be told of the precise placement of the exit for the traveler to survive, by the entity that sent him through his first time. Estimation was not an option in order for this quest to be accomplished. Literal mathematical accuracy was.
As Geogyn's limbs were being ripped apart, senses being violently assaulted and drowning by acid, he stepped back into the correct flow of time.
It was over. The torment had stopped. He looked over his frame. He expected his body to be destroyed, then he realized he could see! His eyes weren't burned away!
As he gazed at his body, it was strangely intact as well. That was when he thought no human had the mindset powerful enough to withstand the travel. All the devastation was in his mind. His synapses were definitely molested.
If that was a deterrent to traveling backwards in time, it works without a hitch, Geogyn thought. I will never attempt that again. I don’t care if Val-Koorin requests it again, he would just have to kill me. Death would be a vacation compared to that.
With phase one of the mission complete, he transitioned to a tactical pursuer. Chi-Li-Fan's physical excise agent.
He was near the chemical plant‘s entrance. It was eleven pm. The plant‘s employees were long gone for the day. All who were there were security. Just the guards with the job of observing, reporting, and informing the authorities. All Geogyn had to do was give them nothing to observe. He wasn‘t going to let a college student with a part time job become the catalyst of destruction by seeing him and calling the police.
Realizing how asinine a careless discovery would be, Geogyn turned on his N.O.S.E. gear, and became transparent.
I‘ll just walk past the front gate, Geogyn thought. As long as I‘m silent, I will alert no one.
He began his stealthy approach. He crossed to the front gate. He saw the guard reading a book in the booth. It was a text book, Irrigation Dynamics for Hyperbolic Growth in Agriculture.
Ironic that a student studying the natural cultivation of food has a job at a chemical plant too. Most likely to pay off his student loans, Geogyn thought as he crept past the booth. That was when arrogance reared its ugly head.
Geogyn was invisible to anyone looking for an intruder. It didn‘t make a difference whether the surveyor used the naked eye, or thermal goggles. Even if the security detail were an elite force, with thermal technology equipped, he wouldn‘t have existed. Geogyn was thinking ahead about his next tactical step to infiltrate the plant. That w
as when he was abruptly shaken from his intentions by an ear piercing alarm.
As Geogyn froze, the security guard dropped his book, shocked by the motion detection alarm blaring. Flood lights drowned the gate entrance where Geogyn stood, statuesque. Yes, he was invisible to the naked eye, but when he looked down, he realized his shadow wasn’t!
As the security bent down in the booth to pick up his text book, Geogyn quickly ran towards the booth. He slid quickly and silently under the booth‘s window as the guard stood. When the guard looked around for anything out of the ordinary, he saw nothing.
Six more guards were rapidly approaching the booth. Geogyn saw his shadow casting across the booth‘s base as they were coming into view.
Shit! he thought, as he moved to the darkened side of the booth, masking his telltale shadow. Eldridge could bend the laws of physics with this technology, but he couldn‘t break them. I have to remember, this suit is built to aid in stealth, not make it absolute. Reality has a harsh way of showing itself with narcissism at times, he thought, as the six reinforcement guards assembled at the window of the booth.
They spoke in an obscure Mandarin dialect. Not what Geogyn was taught, but it was still Mandarin. It was like understanding urban slang. You understood the words, just not the meaning. Geogyn made educated guesses to what they were saying, to get the gist of the exchange.
“
“
Geogyn figured out why he was seen! Well, not actually seen, but detected.
The owners of this company know they can‘t trust part time college students to stay alert for their entire shift, he thought. They installed motion detectors for back up!
The guards began to look around the area. They lined up, shoulder to shoulder, gazing across the entrance parameter. They began to walk across the street to the field on the other side. They wanted to be sure it was a false alarm.
After perusing the area with their night piercing flashlights, they relaxed slightly. They walked back to the booth.
“
Good, Geogyn thought. They think the detectors are too sensitive. I'm safe from detection now, and since I know about every security measure, I can thwart them.
As the guards retreated to their respective stations, Geogyn advanced, painfully slowly, to the entrance.
He had been an infiltration master for years. He knew every countermeasure for every detecting device ever made. He knew motion detectors well.
Geogyn inched his way painstakingly to the center of the entrance gate, while security returned to their respective posts. The gear was activated, and the visual recognition was defeated. Now, it was the motion detection that had to be outmaneuvered. The only way to beat it was to master the art of moving without actually moving.
He faced the arduous task of moving a fraction of an inch, and stopping in position for at least twice as long between the moving intervals, confused the detectors enough. They didn’t trip because the motion wasn’t constant.
He scanned the area and saw one of the detectors. It was a Revelation M19 from C.B.I. Security Industries. He knew it from its shape and color.
He knew the rate of speed he would have to avoid in order to trip it. He also knew the radius of its scan area, and the strategic placements of the other detectors arranged to make sure the area would be blanketed with security. Being an access specialist wasn’t just a title given to him by Ron Pinnet. It was a title that had to be earned if you were in covert black ops. If you weren’t a master of infiltration in the CBO, you wouldn‘t survive as a member or a life form for that matter. The vocation showed no leniency.
He executed an erratic stuttering motion with a bevy of pauses incorporated in his advancement. It took him eighty-four minutes to move fifteen feet. If he would have been seen, he would have looked like a slow motion, broken video surveillance tape on a monitor. Since the N.O.S.E. gear was activated, no one had to witness later reviews of the security breach. With Geogyn‘s relentless accomplishment of his mission, he was going to make sure no one had a reason to witness any anomalous activity, real-time or otherwise.
He was well out of motion detection range before he began to quickly and silently advance towards the facility. He mentally mapped the area, and also the rounds security made. He saw an entry point to the building. It was a locked door; a side entrance to the building.
Every fifteen minutes, one of the guards entered the door and emerged two minutes later from that same door. Geogyn speculated it as a spot check for entry into the building. Not as important as the main entrance. It still was a very secure area. The guards used an apparatus called a Vetri-Scann. It was a special digi-key that scans a security strip to allow a non-alarmed entry of the building. You couldn’t pick the lock either. The V-scann system was foolproof. If you didn’t have the digi-key, the alarm would sound.
Geogyn knew this was his best position for opportunity of accomplishment. He moved to the side of the door and waited for one of the guards to approach. He knew he couldn’t incapacitate the guard, for if he did, the facility would be locked down tightly after his discovery, destroying any advantage Geogyn possessed. He had to be stealthy in order to breach parameter with little resistance.
The one thing he counted on was punctuality. A security guard approached within fifteen minutes, scanned the strip, and went inside. Geogyn saw him place the digi-key in its holster as he entered. All Geogyn had to do was wait for the guard to exit, and hope his pilfering skills were top notch.
Two minutes later, the guard exited the area. Geogyn had positioned himself on the right side of the guard. As the guard began to walk to his next station, Geogyn stood inches away from him. He held his breath as he lifted the digi-key from its holster. It was an incredibly smooth pick. No contact from Geogyn at all. The consequences would have been dire if there was any contact. A floating digi-key would have been hard to dismiss. Luckily, the guard wasn’t alerted.
Geogyn watched the guard disappear around the corner, towards his next station. Once he was out of sight, Geogyn scanned the entry strip. The door locks released without any alarms. He opened the door and slid in. He flicked the digi-key about six feet in front of the outside of the door before he entered. He knew the guard would discover it missing as he tried to enter his next station, so he placed it where he would find it. He hoped the guard would think he carelessly dropped it, since he’d just used it, pick it up, and keep the mishap to himself. Since he would find it momentarily, Geogyn conjectured his ignoring of any breach. Geogyn also knew his entry would be recorded, and found out the next day. By that time, he had hoped to encounter Chu-Li-Fan.
He scanned his new area of infiltration. He mapped out his route to get to his target. He believed Chu-Li-Fan would be there early. Knowing of the devastation she would create stamped her as a tenacious scientist. He knew punctuality wouldn’t be one of her flaws. He had to find the optimal point of executing his mission before she entered the facility the next morning.
Just as he began to walk towards the elevator to access the research level, he heard the swipe of the digi-key at his entrance. He froze in place, as the door opened. The guard had found his digi-key in the front of the doorway, and wanted to check for any discrepancy of his tour. He didn‘t believe he had just dropped his key. He felt more conscionable than his assumption of carelessness. If someone breached his parameter on his watch, he would find out. He believed his entire job was to keep the facility secure, and if it wasn‘t, he wasn't doing his job. He opened the door and quickly scanned the area for any signs of intrusion.
Great, Geogyn thought. A security guard that cares about his job. He must be paid well, or more likely, have pride and honor in what he does. Either way, I must deal with the immediate.
Geogyn slid himself fluidly towards the wall o
f the entrance corridor. He stayed statuesque, as the guard’s flashlight bathed the area. He made his shadows negligible with his accomplishment of inactivity. The guard saw what Geogyn wanted him to see, nothing.
I must remember, N.O.S.E. gear is an aid to subterfuge, not the absolute answer, he thought. The arrogantly careless that take situations for granted are the ones that get shot by a part-time security guard, trying to make his way through college.
After an intense few seconds, the guard finally believed he was the careless one. There was no evidence to augment further assumptions at that time, so carelessness was the logical culprit.
With that assessment finally winning his mental argument, the guard closed the door and resumed his rounds. He dismissed the incident as inconsequential and would keep it that way unless there were any other odd occurrences. Geogyn had to keep things normal for the guards. He wondered if all the guards were as astute as that one. Since he had witnessed one of the guard’s ability of meticulousness, he assumed they were equal in their skills. Being overly cautious in an infiltration situation did not exist.
After a few minutes of inactivity outside, Geogyn began to move silently through the area. He got to the elevator to access the sub-levels of the plant. Val-Koorin planted a detailed mental map of the chemical plant in his mind, so he knew where she would be when she began work. Since the area was secure from intruders via the motion detectors and alert guards, the only mode of detection was the CCTV surveillance cameras placed sporadically around the facility.
Actually, one of those CCTV cameras was placed more strategically than sporadically. It surveyed the area Geogyn had to navigate, without incident. Showing up on camera would probably cause a huge incident, so Geogyn opted to thwart the camera’s visual abilities.
The Final Option Page 10
