Time is On Her Side Pt. 08

Radiance. Pure, crystalline, everlasting. A blanket of nothingness stretching from the corners of the universe to the center of everything that was inconceivable. It was both hot and cold, thick and thin, a living contradiction where no things should live at all. Horatia saw the white, touched the white, inhaled the white, her eyes, hands, and lungs unsure of what she was supposed to be feeling. Everything was gone except the unending openness, a void beyond dimensions.

Horatia looked down but no impression of vertigo became real. Although it was like floating over an abyss, she could still imagine something solid beneath her feet, a narrow path tethering her to the life she knew. She inched forward, one step at a time, looking for anything that stood out against the indistinct dreamscape. There was nothing, no points of reference, not a single droplet of another color in sight.

"Okay, what is going on? I touched that thing and ended up here, whatever 'here' is."

Though she only thought this, the words whirled right out of her mouth, stopping in front of her confounded face. The hazy letters flashed, rearranged themselves like the runes she had come across in the lab, except on a much larger scale. If they had eyes, they would stare at her like a ravenous predator.

"Am I inside the artifact? No, that's impossible, right?"

The words offered no response, just a fleeting repetition of her distraught emotions. She reached for one, recognized the sequence of symbols it transformed into. She had seen it right before reality shifted, almost like a password into the unknown.

"This is pretty and all but I want out," she said. "Where's the exit?"

Silence. Total and unbroken. No new sequence dared to shine, nothing else came into existence. She swiped the imaginary words with a raging hand. They vanished like an illusion of smoke.

"Shit!"

If there was anything good about it at least, is that it was quiet. No Super Patriarchy, no imminent doom. Nothing but calmness, almost like a slow and deliberate induction before the soft descent into the pleasures of trance. Still, too much silence was also an invitation to laziness, and she had a job to do. Her mission to tear down the structure of the dying regime from inside out was far from over.

"That's true," an echo stirred from parts unknown. The constancy of the environment made it impossible to determine where those words had sprung from, yet they carried within them an all too familiar resolve. Horatia tried to hold on to them, intrigued and afraid.

"Now it's not the time to talk to yourself, R," she trembled. "You've done that too much already, don't you think?"

The new sentence flew past her lips, exploded into another projection of symbols. This time, the order in which they presented themselves was brand new despite some familiar trappings. As long as she remained stationary so did they, a stand-off of impossible odds where the rules made no sense.

"Seriously, what does this mean?"

Horatia perked her ears waiting for some kind of response, perhaps a cheap Zen adagio about finding meaning within her, the key to inner strength and other nonsense. Okay, not entirely nonsense but fortune cookie philosophy was the last thing she needed to solve her new conundrum.

"It's not a conundrum. You're the conundrum."

The voice again, now closer this time. So close that if it were tangible, she could hold it in her hand and caress it.

"I don't have time for riddles."

"At the moment, you have all the time you need. For once, Time is on your side."

"Who are you?"

"Another conundrum."

"Where are you?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No, nothing is."

"You're not paying enough attention then."

"Attention to what?"

"Take a closer look."

The voice receded into the spiraling maze of words that had appeared all around her; letters fading in and out; symbols fading out and in. Within the intersection of the two, alternating between truth and falsehood, reality was clear as day.

"It's a code," Horatia muttered as she followed the patterns with her right index finger. "That's an A, and that's an S... a message?"

"We both are."

"I don't understand what that means."

"Neither did I the first time. It gets easier, Horatia. Trust me."

"I will need more than that to go on," the young hypnotist replied.

"How about this then?"

A single black dot blinked to her left, followed by another one on the opposite side. A gentle hum reverberated in the negative distance between the two. She blinked too, and the dots grew, first to the size of glass marbles and then old tennis balls.

The hum became a buzz, three dissonant notes stuck in a loop, the black expanding to contain a cluster of dust, stars, and galaxies. The invisible floor deliquesced under Horatia's feet.

"One day, all of this will vanish but Space has never been the final frontier," the disembodied echo continued. "That thing you've been missing all your life, that thing you want more than anything else... that thing has found you again."

"Again?"

"It's all a circle, it's all a spiral. Time isn't a mystery, it never was. Seeing through it though, navigating its corridors, knowing which road leads where and how... now that's the greatest aspiration of them all, isn't it?"

As if acknowledging the words and bowing before them, the holographic stars exploded in a cornucopia of images of bygone days, realities she had only dared to imagine when no one inside the Campus Library was watching. She saw...

... the majestic outlines of the Great Pyramids and their overarching shadows stretching across the desert...

... Julius Caesar laying in a pool of his own blood, his famous last words muzzled by the roaring sounds of the surrounding crowd...

... a tea party gone wrong in what was once known as Boston Harbor...

... the maiden voyage of a ship that would sink faster than a rock...

... mushroom clouds lighting up the night sky as thousands of men and women at ground level wept their life away...

... and more, so many more... parallel ramblings, impossible juxtapositions, deviations from the standard begging for another chance. Literature was wrong, dejected, sanitized. What had been was still in the process of being, millions of years of evolution falling like rain.

"There's no way! Are you saying that...?"

"I'm not saying anything. You do it."

"... the artifact isn't a weird explosive device but a fucking time machine?!!"

"How else would Time be on your side? Knowing the code is the first step to changing the code. You've always wanted a tool to do that. I hope you still do otherwise all of this will have been for nothing."

"I... you still haven't told me who you are. And don't say 'another conundrum.' again because that doesn't say shit!"

"I think you already know the answer but I'll tell you, anyway. I am... a ghost, a phantom, a remnant of the code rewritten many times in the past. You've always suspected this but History was fractured, exposed, the gaps between eras filled with seeds of riveting lies. As generations passed, those seeds have grown, branched out, twisted the natural flow of events. You of all people know brainwashing is a slow burn but if you brainwash Time itself from the start then..."

Horatia bit her lower lip as the truth made itself known. "That means that The Super Patriarchy..."

"... I think you mean The Super Sham, the mega-hoax. The collective dreams of madmen who first accessed the code and tampered with it. God knows how many times I've tried to stop it. The more I tried, the less of me remained for Time has a way to punish those that dwell inside its core for too long so here I am. I linger in-between the holes created by my failures, a conundrum that will not clear unless the cycle begins anew. I used what little power I had left to bring you this gift. This is your chance to do what I couldn't. Do you want to change the status quo, Horatia? Do you want to be the message instead of just a herald?"

"I want them all to burn and rot in Hell, starting with that son of a bitch D for killing Lana and trying to do the same thing to my mother and Alex!" Horatia declared, and there's no greater strength than that of a determined woman. "You said you brought me this gift but how did you kno... oh, of course!"

"You're finally getting it, good. Yes, I peered into the fabric of Time, examined as many variations as I could. In most, your resolve and your naivete would bring you here. I didn't know when but I had an estimate to work with so I took a chance. I've been trying to get your attention ever since you entered the Center."

"The pulse?"

"Dramatic, I know, but it served its purpose. This sequence of events could have gone wrong in so many different ways and yet here we are and they do not understand what they've just unleashed."

"So what do you want me to do then?"

"Accept the code, crack it, and you can make sure D is never born to commit the atrocity he did. Hell, you can make all of this go away for good. There's no greater punishment than oblivion. The world must forget them, Horatia, otherwise it will never be cleansed. Are you willing to do whatever it takes?"

"When have I not?"

"Then it's time. It's time to reclaim the natural flow of Time. It's time for me to die so you can live. The bracelet will be your guide once you unlock it. Don't let them harness its power again for there are far worse futures where they exist and none of them must happen. You must leave the Center with it, do you understand? You must and I will help you do that."

"Help me how?"

"I have a plan, one last hurrah. It will be risky but it's all we've got. Forgive me, my dear, but this will hurt..."

A storm of runes erupted from what was left of the fantastical landscape, its open cracks pouring like molten lava. One by one, they were shot against Horatia's left wrist, symbolic missiles containing myriads of possibilities and paradoxes waiting to be broken. The young hypnotist writhed for even though the images were metaphorical, the pain of the forced branding was very much real. The dream collapsed into nothingness and she fell with it.

* * *

"Horatia?" Lazendorf shook her rigid body, a hint of concern in his sunken eyes that felt genuine for the first time in many years. "Horatia! Wake up!"

"Huh?" she blurted, her tongue caught in a knot, every muscle numb as if she had been at the far end of an electrical explosion.

"What happened? The moment you touched that thing, you went blank. You're looking rather pale, too."

"Not sure," she lied for the truth was too hard to believe let alone reveal. The most desperate of plans was already in motion. "How long have I been out?"

"A little under two minutes but the energy levels continue to spike," the unnamed technician said. "It seems your interaction with the artifact didn't prevent the build-up but rather made it worse. I think... I think it drained you, somehow. This is not good. Not good at all."

"Did you see something? Feel something? Anything that can help?" Lazendorf queried.

"No, I'm so... Wait..." she glanced at her wrist and saw the strange object latched on to it. The bracelet was glued to her flesh, almost as if had become an extension of it, and not the strangest fashion statement of all. All the runes were lit, ominous glow bathing the room.

"What the fuck?" Lazendorf noted, his surprise hard to contain. "When did that...?"

"I don't know but it's stuck," Horatia replied, her other hand trying to force the mechanism free. "I can't get it out!"

"Now that's a surprise," the technician hurried to examine it. "It's hot, too."

"No, it's cold," Lazendorf said as he touched the underside.

"It's neither," Horatia said, her own perception of what going on too strange for words. "It's just... there."

"I don't know what to make of this."

"That makes two of us," she kept pushing the lie. "What do you think will become of me if this generates another pulse now?"

"I can't tell for sure but that much power coursing through your body? You'll probably die the moment the surge takes place."

"We can't let that happen!" Lazendorf exclaimed.

"And why not?" a disgruntled voice echoed behind them. Mr. D was at the lab's threshold, his monstrous visage in plain view. Karla stood next to him, her own battered face in perfect harmony with his unwanted deformities. She had no reason to be there, yet the burning desire for retribution was stronger than the searing agony of her injuries. A dozen elite guards surrounded the area, their weapons locked and loaded.

"Talk about not knowing when to quit..." Horatia rolled her eyes.

"We're not done yet, little bitch," Karla spat.

"Please... Do I need to bust the other leg, too?"

"What did you think you were doing going against me, Lazendorf?" D rolled inside, his new chair whirring. "You forget you have no real authority no matter how much you think otherwise. You never have and you never will."

"My actions were justified in face of your own. The safety of this facility is far more important than your petty revenge."

"And how does letting the enemy get hold of a piece of technology we can't grasp helps the safety of this facility?" he insisted, yellowish saliva dripping from his cracked gums.

"It was the best course of action, Sir..." the technician mumbled, unconsciously trying to protect his Goddess.

"I'm not talking to you, Dr. You've done nothing useful either so shut the fuck up or Karla will do it for you..."

She made the sign of throat slitting with the handle of a knife and the man cowered behind Lazendorf.

"Do I need to remind you that not so long ago you wanted this 'enemy' to work for you?" Horatia laughed. Was it wise to continue pushing her luck after seeing what he could do? No, it wasn't, but the more she talked, the less time they would have to decide. If she were to believe the disembodied voice inside the artifact - and, for some unexplainable reason, she did! - after everything else had failed, panic was her only ticket out of there. It was worth the risk.

"A mistake I'll be sure to never repeat."

"Can I kill her now?" Karla asked, eager to have her invisible leash cut loose.

"Do it and then sever that thing out of her lifeless body."

"Okay, hold it right there," Horatia jumped forward, fingers instinctively touching four random symbols on the bracelet's right side. The handles of the pocket watch replica spun twice.

"What did you do?" Lazendorf asked.

"Oh, nothing special..." she replied, nonchalantly. "Just made the doom timer skip ahead a minute or so..."

"She's lying," Karla growled.

"Am I? You're underestimating me again and we all know what happened the last time you did that."

"What are you not telling us?" the technician peeked at the top side of the artifact. It was more active than ever.

"More than there's time for me to explain but let's say the artifact spoke to me. It's still speaking and it's telling me I'm your only hope of you getting out of here alive."

"It's a ruse," Karla continued. "I can see it in her eyes. Don't listen to her."

"See this then," Horatia mimicked her previous movement. The moment she finished punching the sequence, the handles flew out of control again. "Be a dear and tell me if the energy levels aren't going haywire again," she said to the technician.

"It's true," he declared, eyes glued to the tablet, mind still suggestible to her previous tampering. He would have seen anything she wanted him to see, even a pink elephant flying in the room if needed be. "By my calculations, the energy blast will now take place... hmmm... one hundred and twenty-seven seconds ahead of schedule."

"If you need any more evidence, I'm glad to comply..." she mocked, ready for one more round.

"Why, you treacherous bi..." Mr. D vociferated.

"Enough with the insults, dickface!" Horatia interrupted him. "Tell your brainwashed puppet to back off or I'll set this thing off right now."

"You will not kill yourself, Horatia."

"I don't want to die any more than you do but I'll do what I must. You killed Lana! You threatened the persons I love the most in this world! You're the embodiment of the ugliness of your false regime and I fucking hate you! I know blowing up this place won't stop you for good but it will put a dent on your efforts at least. I'll take whatever victory I can get from all of this unless..."

"... we agree with your every demand, is that it?"

"I'm glad you're finally realizing how the game is to be played from now on. Yes, do as I say and I'll stop this. We all get to live another day."

D stared at her, blazing eyes. "What do you want?"

"Sir, you can't be considering..."

"Be quiet, Karla. I want to hear the mad woman one last time."

"They told me there's a network of deeper underground tunnels, correct?" Horatia asked.

"Yes, though most of them were decommissioned a long time ago."

"I bet there's one still active that goes all the way to the edges of the Skylight Dome or am I mistaken?"

"You're not..." the technician replied.

"So that's your plan? You want to leave the city? Where will you go?" D continued, hand resting on Karla's good leg to keep her from losing her temper.

"As long as the Center stays intact, why do you care?"

"We can find you anywhere, you know? And your family will not be safe for long."

"Think of how much fun it will be to hunt me down then... I'm sure that's more exciting for your lap dog over there than to kill me right now."

"You're playing a very dangerous game."

"I was about to say the same thing given that the clock keeps on ticking. How stupid you all are for not realizing you were sitting on a time bomb all this time! Do we have an understanding or not?"

"Sir?" Karla looked at her Master, desperately.

"I already told you to shut up! I need to think."

"Do it fast because I just fast forwarded another minute," Horatia remarked. "I'm the only one that can stop this now, remember that."

No one dared to speak while D rummaged his thoughts and contradictory emotions. The first wave had been a reality so the second one should be, too. It was impossible to determine if Horatia was being honest or not despite Karla's feelings but even those were clouded by the fact she had been beaten in a fair fight not so long ago. Conceding was an offense to everything he believed in, but not so doing so, putting in risk the thousands of men under his command. The technician fidgeted his thumbs, Lazendorf bit his nails, at least one guard peed himself as the anxiety of the moment grew to critical levels. Even Horatia held her breath, hoping her performance had been convincing enough.

"What's the closest tunnel that connects to the Dome?" He asked.

"The B-2 segment. There's a passageway that leads to it less than half a mile from where we are," the technician replied.

"I'll have a vehicle ready for you there in no time," he said to Horatia. "Lazendorf, accompany her to the entrance."

"Sir..." Karla tried one last time, only to be shut down once more.

"You'll get your chance, I promise, but right now I have no other choice."

"You got that right," Horatia sniggered. "Things will be different the next time we meet, I promise."

"Oh, I'm sure they will. I'll look forward to seeing your brains splattered on the floor just like your friend's... Now get a move on!"

Horatia sighed, the bluff coming to fruition. She could feel the distinctive energy of the bracelet entwined with hers. While she wasn't sure what that meant, she had a suspicion at least, one the remnants of the uncanny entity she had come in contact with did nothing to prove or disprove before its final breath. More than expelling power, the intricate piece of machinery was now absorbing it and converting it into something else, perhaps fuel for a temporal jump. The runes were the key, and a correct combination of symbols would open a gate to either the past or the future, though she knew deep inside where to go first. The trigger-happy guards lowered their weapons as she darted out of the lab, Lazendorf holding her arm as if escorting her to prom. No one followed them as they made a hard turn right towards the passageway that connected to the tunnel entrance.