Chapter 5: Alternate Realities

The emperor was disturbed; four assassination attempts on the royal family were unprecedented! He knew his daughter knew who their savior was, but getting her to talk was the most impossible thing he could think of. Remembering what she’d said—the fact that the man wanted no reward, no fame, just to be made a royal, damn it! Alatem knew he couldn’t do that; there were the old laws in place with good reason. The fact that she knew this didn’t make matters any easier. Sighing, he sat to try and come up with a plan to finally discover who this man was, possibly the greatest hero of the empire.

Alatem had awoken alone. Getting dressed, she had just walked into the command center of the Time Raider. Charles turned to tell her what was going on when he suddenly doubled over in pain. “Ally, what’s going on? Has he been hit?” Alatem asked.

“No,” Ally said after a few minutes, “It appears that we have to travel forward again. Though he is removed from time, as I stated before, he is important to the past and the future. It appears that at times he must travel back to his time; all the effects that he has set in motion require his presence in his time, almost a correlation of his body in his time. The readings I am receiving indicate that he is an anchor for both times. At certain times, he must appear there a short time to stabilize time in both periods.”

Alatem’s mouth gaped open. Though she was still having a little difficulty with all the time theories, this one she remembered. “Ally, are you telling me that Charles is one of the living focal points of time and space?”

Ally giggled a bit. “Yes, and who knew that he’d be as brilliant as he is? He has the hands of a surgeon,” Ally said with a longing sigh.

“Will he have to travel all the time?” Alatem asked, a little concerned.

“From what I detect, no. Only when he affects time in slightly major or major events. This saving of the family the fourth time has extended the empire by 25 years now before it falls. Though I have noticed something strange about the readings he took of the assassins.” Ally quipped back.

“Strange? In what way?” Alatem asked, a look of concern crossing her face.

“I’m not sure. We will have to test further, but the assassins don’t appear to be real,” Ally replied, a slight sound of shock in its voice.

Alatem was taken aback. Not real? Okay, now she really was confused. It sounded a lot like something that Charles would dream up. Charles groaned as he rolled into a ball on the floor, croaking out, he said, “Ally set cour..., “ the pain overtaking him again.

“Ally, set course for Charles’s time. We need to get there as soon as possible. I’m afraid if we don’t, this might kill him,” Alatem ordered.

“Compliance,” Ally quipped back. “Engaging time dilator. Please secure your hunk.” Ally said with a soft giggle. They were almost there; the ship began to shake, alarms started to go off all over the ship.

“Ally, report!” Alatem yelled above the noise.

“It appears something is wrong with the dilator!” Ally said in an almost panicked voice.

“WHAT!? Can you compensate?” Alatem said as she looked at the readings that were flashing on the console.

“Attempting to now, we’re about to fall out of the time slip!” Ally replied as the ship suddenly lurched, then the speed slowed.

“Assessing all systems,” Ally said as they came to a stop.

“Any damage to the ship or systems?” Alatem questioned.

“No apparent damage to the ship, all systems operating within tolerable limits, power is at full. Uh-oh,” Ally said suddenly.

Alatem’s head snapped up from the readings, “What do you mean uh-oh?”

“From the readings I am getting, the dilator isn’t functioning; we can’t go home!” Ally almost yelled.

“Can you ascertain what the problem is?” Alatem said, a look of worry spreading across her face.

“That’s the problem. I never had any schematics on it; everything was done mainly by Cici and Charles,” Ally said, sounding almost a little jealous.

Nodding, Alatem looked at the com on Charles’s wrist, “Cici, can you ascertain what the problem with the dilator is? Also, is there any way to repair what is wrong?”

An almost monotone voice with a touch of human emotion came back from the com, “Yes, Miss Alie. It is just a power-conducting circuit in the dilator, actually simple to repair, for Charles,” at the mention of his name, Charles sat up.

“Not right now it isn’t. I couldn’t lift a sonic welder if I wanted to. We have to determine what it is in my time that I have to do. Like always, though, it’s not going to be easy,” sighing, Charles slumped into a nearby chair. “Damn it! Looks like I’m not going to be worth a shit for a while, barely able to sit, let alone stand and walk.”

A look of worry on her face, Alatem rushed to his side, “We have to do something. We don’t know what allies and enemies are in this time now.” Charles nodded, still not able to clear his head.

“I have your station in sight, Charles. Should we go there?” Ally asked, a little too sexy for Charles’ taste. Sighing, there wasn’t much he could do; the emotions and mannerisms were the same as Allie’s after all.

“Yes, Ally, we’ll be safer there for the time being,” Charles replied, another bout of pain ripping through his stomach. Damn it! It was like getting punched with a giant fist. He’d felt some pain before, but this was ridiculous.

Moments later, Cici took control of the ship; after they docked, Charles made his way to his med lab. Not much was different, though the systems were the same; some of the tools were slightly off. Shit, he felt bad, not even recognizing some of the things he’d built (well, his slightly alternate self). Getting on the bio bed, he had Cici do a complete workup on his body.

“Beginning bio-scan, initiating thermal imaging,” Cici quipped. After about 20 minutes, Cici finished and rendered its report. “Analysis complete, initial readings indicate the overabundance of Chroniton particles in your body resulting in you being pulled in both directions toward the past and present.”

Charles nodded. “Possible suggestions to counteract?”

“I postulate 2 scenarios,” Cici replied, “the first is to remain here in this time for approximately 5 days, 10 hours, 25 minutes, and 30 seconds.”

“And the second?” Charles asked, though he felt he wasn’t going to like the answer.

“The second,” Cici replied, “is to undergo the time removal treatment again, though speculation and data supplied by Ally suggests that your chances of surviving the amount of time you would have to be exposed are projected at 12.975%. I, therefore, don’t suggest taking option 2.”

Charles smirked, just like his own humor, Cici was starting to be a damn wise-ass. “I think we need to work on your bedside manner, Cici. It’s not that good right now.”

“Charles, you yourself programmed me to always give the facts,” Cici replied matter-of-factly.

Charles was about to reply when his proximity alert went off. Running as fast as his weak legs could go, he clicked on the main screen. Not far off from the station, a strange but slightly familiar ship was slowing to just outside the shield.

“Charles, I am receiving a message from Julie, the supply pilot,” Cici said. “Put her on,” Charles replied.

“Charles! Thank God! I thought you were dead! When you pulled that stunt last time with that band of thugs, the Kronos clan elite, I thought they had hunted you down. I’ve got your supplies but I can’t stay too long; I don’t have the firepower your station does. Also, I got a response from central about your message. Permission to come aboard?” Julie asked suddenly, all sweet. Charles was beginning to wonder what she had up her sleeve.

Alatem left for her ship, not wanting to affect this time any more than she had to. Charles stood near the hatch when Julie came aboard. Walking right up to him, she grabbed his crotch through his pants, rubbing it to affect a reaction.

“Damn it, Charles, I’m going to get a rise out of you. I’ve heard about that monster you’ve got in your pants; I want it! The boys at central are so small, I need a magnifier to see them properly. I want some real meat, not artificially grown dick!”

“I told you before, Julie, I’m not interested,” Charles snapped back. It didn’t matter what parallel time, world, or universe they were in, Julie always seemed to be after him, to the point that it was finally starting to piss him off.

“I don’t care what you say, I’m gonna have you one day,” Julie smirked back at him, tugging on his crotch one last time before sighing and releasing him. Charles watched as Julie’s men unloaded all the supplies, keeping a close eye to make sure no one went anywhere near Alatem’s ship.

“I was supposed to give you this in private,” Julie said when her men were through unloading, “but seeing as how you aren’t that afraid of anyone, I’ll read it here.”

(Attention Charles Ricksome, Technical advisor to Empire central. You need to cease your constant bickering and private war with the Kronos clan. Though they are not actually in power, they may be at some point. Therefore, we at central have reached a decision, either stop or we will have to take action against you.) Administrative body, Empire Central Supply and War Tech Support

The memories already flooding his mind, Rick felt they were always that way. If central wasn’t too sure about the outcome, they always backed off to a position of neutrality. Damn those ass wipes!

“I was told to tell you,” Julie started, “many are glad that you have been harassing them; they feel that you are the main reason they haven’t tried a coup yet. They want you to continue; they just can’t say it out in the open. You do realize that this is strictly off the record, right?”

Charles just nodded, sifting through the endless stream of mostly useless crap that were the memories for this time. Thanking Julie (and enduring another grope at his crotch), Charles watched them leave. He had to admit he was starting to feel better somewhat, but not what he was used to. At least his head was starting to clear.

Contacting Alatem, he waited for her to reappear. Walking in, she could see the intense struggle Charles was having internally.