[New Voices] Erotika Jones - Time Bent Beau
Original fiction - beginning a serial. About a female detective trapped in time - in another's body - while the clock runs out.
This is too long for email. Read on it’s own page or through the Substack App. Links to the characters you’ve already met are at the end,
before the Book Universe Notes.
“John, I just met a ghost who's dying.”
I raised one eyebrow, waiting for the punchline from my favorite time-bender.
“No, it's not what you think. I haven't gone off the deep end. The government made him into something they call a ghost.”
“Figure if the government's involved, then it's going to be screwed up... But a ghost - dying?”
“Running out of juice, actually. Kept alive on some sort of weird life support that he won't fix to save himself.”
“Suicidal?”
“No, he says there's another in worse shape than him. A girl detective – of sorts.”
“And you got this from one meeting?”
“No, he appears once a year for about 5 minutes – so I tracked him back. And I've been talking to him for decades now.”
“5 minutes at a time?”
Carol nodded, and bowed her head.
I raised it with a gentle touch to her chin.
And saw a tear roll down her cheek.
“Please, John. Help me help him – and her.”
I
I DIDN’T OFTEN SEE Carol like this. In fact, never.
Her eyes were hollow, her skin pasty, and she looked like she had slept in those clothes more than once. Not her ordinary tidy, perky self.
Unlike some other of my guests, Carol always knocked politely. So softly, sometimes she had to knock twice to get my attention.
This time, I rose at her first knock. Because there was some insistence in it this time. That’s when I got a good look at her.
“Carol…”
Her red-rimmed eyes met mine and I held out my arms.
She melted into them for a long hug between friends.
And I waited for her to speak.
But when she didn’t, “I’ve got some coffee I can warm up, and there’s some of Hami’s cookies left.”
Carol only looked up at me and nodded, then released me so she could drop onto the couch-bunk. I returned with the cookies after I’d poured this morning’s coffee into a pan on the hotplate and set the coffeemaker to run another batch. A second look at her face persuaded me that this might be a long story she wanted to tell.
But I hesitated to use my pendant to call anyone else. She didn’t look hurt, just – spent.
With a nibble at the edge of the raisin-oatmeal delight, she softened up. And was able to look into my eyes. “Hami’s cooking, even cold, is just what the doctor ordered.”
I had to smile. “I can get you another delivery of hot ones…”
“Not right now. I don’t think we can wait even that long.”
I sat down with the whole plate right next to her. She was in a serious mood.
So I waited as the soft cookie softened her.
“John…”
But never finished that sentence. And looked downcast again.
Her first cookie now gone, I brought the plate back over to offer her more.
Carol took another cookie, then cocked her head and scooped up the rest with her other hand. That hand slid them into a side pocket while she munched on her second.
I leaned away to slide the plate onto my writing desk.
She was still munching along with her dainty bites, even though it seemed like this was the first nourishment she’d had in days.
That cookie finished, her hand came over to hold one of mine as she swallowed. Her eyes met mine with a steady look.
“John. I’ll tell you this much – so you know I’m not just kidnapping you for my own use: I’ve met someone the government calls a ghost and he’s dying.”
“A ghost, dying?”
“More like he has only a few more appearances to live.”
“How so?”
“His battery is running out.”
She had my complete attention now.
Carol swallowed, then continued. “But worse than that, he’s there so he can protect his sister, who can’t leave.”
It didn’t’ take long to see that she needed my help. Right now.
I patted her hand, then stood to turn everything off in the cabin. Coffee could wait. On my way back to her, I leaned over and shut my laptop as well.
Holding out my hand, Carol grasped it and pulled herself up. She swung my arm over her shoulder while she slipped her other arm around my waist.
And we phased out of my small writer’s cabin.
- - - -
…TO PHASE INTO A SMALL cavern of some kind with a tall, narrow, post-and-beam supported rubble-walled hallway leading out behind us. A single line of lights ended where the tunnel met the curved walls and ceiling of the small area we were in. A flat side we were facing appeared to be some sort of glassed wall that looked into a control booth. No obvious entrance – just the wall.
The rest of the small cavern beside it, and as surrounded us, seemed to be just piled gravel and rubble. Somehow fused into a static position, but looking like just touching it would make the entire room collapse again.
“You don’t have to worry about those walls, “ Carol said. “The force field that holds them into position is the same thing that holds that door sealed shut.”
“And your ghost?”
“His name is Finn. And he’s been trapped for a few decades. Only shows up for five minutes once a year.”
“How did the government know to bring you to him?”
“They’re the ones that contacted Ben originally. It was their earlier experiment that trapped Finn and his sister when the lab’s underground facilities imploded.”
I nodded toward the control room visible on the other side of that wide glassed wall. “That lab?”
Carol nodded.
“But it looks just fine.”
“Because of that self-protecting shield. Finn’s also cleaned it up a lot. He’s had time enough to do it.”
“And this tunnel and their excavation?”
Carol shrugged.
I felt it in my arm over her shoulders, and through her arm around my waist.
“That’s all they could do for now. Those government types only recently – in our time, anyway – got enough money to reopen a shaft back down here from the surface and tunnel over this far. And they are afraid to excavate or tunnel more, since the shield isn’t holding anything else up beyond itself.”
“Where’s the battery come in?”
Carol put her head on my shoulder for some rest and comfort.
“Finn and the government both agree from his readings. When the battery runs out, the whole thing will collapse.”
“And re-charging it…”
“Can only be done if the shield is released on that side. And Finn won’t do that while his sister is still stuck beyond that observation window.”
“Because her existence is somehow connected to that shield.”
Carol raised her head to mine and looked up to nod, serious.
“She’ll cease to exist if they drop that shield even that much, as it’s also what keeps her alive, such as that life is right now.”
“And how does that affect his appearing once a year?”
“There’s a regenerative 'telluric' circuit that runs on aggregating natural electrical voltage from the Earth. And once a year, it has enough juice stored up, in addition to what the shield needs, to pulse into existence for five minutes of our time.”
“And that’s when Finn appears?”
“Right. And internally, his sister has 24 hours to live in her own time-frame.”
“So how am I supposed to help?”
“I’m too wrapped up in this to think straight any more. I need your outside view of things to help sort this out.”
I gave her a hug. “Anything I can do for you, I will.”
Carol gave a faint smile. “Of course, that’s my John.”
The dim light from inside the control room began pulsing.
“Don’t get alarmed, John. Finn is ready to make an appearance. We should step back – mostly so you can see him clearly. He’s more like a hologram than actual.”
The pulsing became more rapid on an accelerating pace. Soon it was a steady brightness.
Carol removed her arm from round my waist and shrugged my arm off her shoulder when an apparition started forming.
About then, a tall naval officer appeared in front of us, on his side of the shield. Dress whites, ramrod straight and at attention.
“Carol!” Finn was smiling at her. “And you brought a visitor.”
“Finn, this is John – John, Finn.”
I nodded to Finn and he smiled wider.
“John, it’s good to meet you.”
Carol butted into these pleasantries. “Finn, how’s Erika?”
“She’s fine. Her vitals are normal. I’ll check into her time shortly to help her with her assignment.”
“How’s the battery and shield?”
He looked off to his side. “Looks as normal as it could be. Another few minutes of your time and it will be lousy. Same scene I’ve told you about. Slowly degrading as usual.”
“How much of ‘our time’ do you have left?”
His face lost its smile, as he calculated in his head. “About 8 visits, now.”
Carol’s face lost its own cheery aspect. “Have you figured out any way we could help you – how I could help you?”
Finn looked at her with care. “Carol, you’ve already helped me in so many ways. Just showing up to talk with me, just this little each time, once of your years in between.”
Carol’s eyes misted at this. I could see now where the red-rimmed effect came from.
Finn saw this, too. “No, don’t get all weepy on me. It won’t help.”
She swallowed and straightened her shoulders. “Right. Thanks. Now, what have you researched since I was last here?”
“Mostly about the shield again. Seeing if anything can be passed through it, like notes or a small device. But I can’t get much more than a pebble to stay on that side. Or pull much more than that here.”
Finn frowned at this. “But now that you’re here, let’s try an experiment…”
He stuck his hand out and got as far as his wrist watch and appeared real enough to touch.
Carol almost instantly did, and her face lit up. “Finn, I can feel you’re pulse, your body heat!”
Finn was grinning ear to ear. “Wait – Carol, let go for a second.”
She did, and he removed his arm to take off his wrist watch, then stuck his hand and arm out to his elbow.
Carol grabbed his forearm, and Finn’s hand went along her own to then grasp her elbow.
Their faces were softened by the first human touch they’d shared in their decades of 5-minute talks.
Finn spoke and broke their quiet. “Carol, this is just so – I mean, if I could show you my side of this world you’d see so many things.”
Carol’s eyebrows went high on her forehead. “Of course!”
She turned to me, elated. “John, I know part of the solution. But we’re almost out of Finn’s time. Get back to Ben and tell him what you’ve seen. He’ll know what to do.”
Then she took a deep breath and took a leap of faith, pulling herself forward using Finn’s arm.
She wound up on Finn’s side, a hologram herself. He was holding onto her like there was going to be no tomorrow – as much as an officer and a gentleman could.
Then she waved at me – and they disappeared.
II
ONCE I WAS ON FINN‘s side, I hugged him tight. He held me with suitable respect until I let loose.
“Carol, you’re crazy! Now you’re stuck in here with me.”
“And Erika.”
“But why, you shouldn’t have…”
“Because I told you I work for some very key people out there. Not government types. People who care about people enough to risk their own lives to help them solve their problems.”
Finn shook his head and gave me a wry grin. “Well, the proof of the pudding…”
I stood on my toes and kissed him. “… is in the tasting.”
Now his grin was broad, his face a bit pink.
“Well, you do feel good, Carol. If we weren’t by ourselves, I’d say you were being a bit forward.”
I kissed his cheek, then. “OK, Finn, this ‘forward’ gal needs to meet the rest of your family.”
Arms around waists, we walked into the rest of the control room to face a panel with an observation window above it and several CRT displays that were active, monitoring her vitals. In a large observation window above them appeared a view of someone’s bedroom. It was dark inside, with some streetlights showing up outside its own street-facing windows.
“She’s still asleep, and can’t hear us. I have to enter her room before she is able to.” He gestured to a narrow door at the edge of that observation window.
“I go in through that door, which somehow she can’t see. All she sees is her own world.”
“So, Finn, if you entered now…”
“I’d probably scare her. She relies on that avatar – which is the body of a girl who she takes over for 24 hours. Her world becomes Erika’s reference points. I usually wait until she gets dressed and goes to work before I contact her.”
“Wait, Finn – is that a guy with her?”
He nodded, a dour look on his face. “The girls she winds up ‘inside’ often have lovers. But that’s not my sister’s choice, it’s whoever she’s ‘borrowed’ for that time.”
“And the reason she ‘borrows’ that gal’s body?”
“Is to solve some crime that’s about to happen or has happened.”
Finn gestured to a large green CRT centered and set flush in the control panels face. “This gives the details that the computer’s artificial intelligence has worked out about where she is and what she’s supposed to be solving.”
I read some of the long lines of text in their structured lines. “A murder?”
Finn shrugged. “We’ve had a few of those assignments. But you’ll see that Erika is a genius at solving them, too. I’m just her backup.”
“Backup?”
“As soon as we got you inside this control room, we moved onto her time-frame. Now time is moving according to this clock…” He pointed to a red digital readout about 4 inches tall in tiny red lights – and I was again reminded that all this experiment was started during the early Cold War era. Before flat-screens and smart phones. And the very fact that time was shut down for a year at a time had preserved all this ancient technology. Vacuum tubes and hardwired circuits built by hand no doubt. And probably why it needed so much power.
“So her day starts at midnight, and ends the following midnight.”
Finn nodded. “And I don’t want to wake her up without giving her the code word.”
I raised an eyebrow. He didn’t take the hint. “Such as…?”
“Erotika. It stands for ‘Evasive Re-Observant Time-shifting Kachina Administration’. And don’t get me going about the weird sense of humor the lead scientist had about things. Heck he’d still be patting her backside if she hadn’t ‘accidentally’ sprained his wrist one day. You don’t mess with Erika. Of course, she had to wait until nobody could see her do that to him. Just the times we lived in then. He never forgot it though.”
I just nodded. I’d known several cultures though history and how the relationships between male and female had changed.
Finn nodded back. “So that ‘code word’ says a lot. Our family name is Jones, which re-establishes me as family, instead of some new male in her life. So my first words to her are usually ‘Good morning, Erotika Jones’. Instant trust. Saves time.
“But the key point was to have something close to her real name. So the phrase acts as a mnemonic and triggers her training instantly.”
“So you wait and enter her world, and try to say ‘Erotika Jones’ to her as soon as possible.”
Finn shrugged. “Clumsy, but it works. If I slip and call her Erika, it won’t, since she is thinking up to that point that she’s whoever personality that she’s occupied. She gets frustrated and defensive. And then we waste precious time sorting that out.”
I looked out into the dark bedroom where sunrise was still some hours off.
“So what do you do until she wakes up?”
“Usually I get some cleaning done, or get out the manuals to do some more homework on how the system operates.”
“Isn’t it a bit embarrassing to see her, well…”
Finn shrugged. “Look – one, it’s not her body I’m seeing. Two, she’s my sister and I grew up protecting her, when she needed any. Three, I’m too professional to do anything except the mission I’m assigned. And if I allow either of us to go off the mission, it could endanger her life – or her sanity. Besides, she usually wears night clothes. Usually.
“Mostly I just look away until the view changes to a street view where she’s going to work or somewhere else. I even rigged up a light-alarm to tell me when her scene shifts. And meanwhile, just busy myself with learning all I can from the computer-screen read-outs.”
I took his hand. “Finn, it’s rare to find a true gentleman these days.”
He gave me a wry smile. “Well, it will be interesting to have you bring me up to speed on the cultural changes when we all get out of this.”
Feeling a flush on my face, I let go of his hand.
The room in front of us was still dark. We had a few of her hours left before Erika got up and he was needed.
“Alright Finn, where’s those manuals? Right now you can ‘bring me up to speed’ on the antique technology this place runs on.”
III
OF COURSE, HAVING SOMEONE like Carol enter my life was such a huge blessing. She’s who kept me sane all this time. I know that decades had passed since the explosion that trapped me and Erika here. For us, it had been a matter of maybe a month or so of days.
I still remember when it happened.
Erika is the bravest girl I’ve ever known. And I grew up with her tom-boy can-do attitudes. But while all the other girls were learning to bat their eyes to attract some boy they could flirt with, Erika was more likely to be up at bat and trying to attract the right fast ball that she could knock into the outfield.
Of course, it’s hell when you have to compete with your own sister at sports. Almost as bad as going out on a double date. Because I was a year older, I was supposed to be protecting her. I never told mom that I’d taught her the same judo holds and throws that Dad taught me.
Growing up so closely also meant we kept each other’s secrets. More than once, I’d be busy in the front seat only to hear an “OW! – why’d you do that?” come out of the backseat where some date of hers had crossed the line. And that meant our teen age activities were over for the night. Her date had bruises. She kept her virtue.
Mom was smart like that. She knew I would keep my sister safe, but having her around meant I wouldn’t try anything I’d regret later.
When I went off to boot camp, I thought I’d have a life of my own. One day a letter came from home that said she’d joined up. Good for her. Then one day, a knock on my apartment door made me open it – to find Erika standing there at attention in a WAVE outfit and saluting me. She’d wrangled the same duty station as me. So I returned her salute and then hugged her anyway. Family is family.
We both got into Naval Investigative Service. She mostly did administrative clerical work – but had smarts way above her paygrade. And would help me with my own cases. Sometimes she would bring me cold cases to work, one’s she’d found during her filing chores, where someone had missed an obvious clue.
And when we solved these, of course they gave the credit to me – and I brought her name up as well. So we’d both get commendations into our files.
It was no surprise to anyone there when I submitted a request for her to accompany me to this base to review their financial reports as part of a missing-person case. AWOL, technically. But in actual fact, the sailor had gone missing off the face of the earth. And we were sent to track him down – because of the secrets he knew that they didn’t want the USSR or Chinese Communists to find.
It was the Cold War. And both me and Erika were its foot soldiers.
That battle was one that wound us up here.
- - - -
OF COURSE, WE DIDN‘t know what we were walking into down inside their underground research base that day.
Only that the entrance building was tiny compared to what was developed way below ground. Elevators took us down several sub-levels.
Erika was shown the file room, I was given a tour of the facilities.
That was their first mistake. I wasn’t the one they needed to keep chaperoned.
Files talked to Erika. And their system of filing was just obtuse enough that she wound up going all over their filing system, keeping all her minders busy pulling this file and that, at last just leaving her alone to go anywhere she wanted in those long rows and ranks of file cabinets.
Eventually, she figured out that there was a control room where some certain logs were needed. Towing her minders with her at a fast clip, it didn’t take long before she was on the other side of that viewport window. Only that experiment wasn’t going at the time.
What she found was mostly an empty compartment. Mostly. A typical squared-off room, but with no furniture in it.
When she came out, I’d just arrived with my own “escort” of PR brass and scientists. The look on her face was one I knew from long experience to never cross. She had found out something that wasn’t good. And was holding a small piece of evidence in her hand. In short, she found out how that guy had disappeared.
I turned to the one military personnel in my little escort-parade and ordered him to lock down the facilities. No one in or out. And had to threaten his retirement with a court martial and prison time in Leavenworth before he took me seriously.
Of course, the faces of my minders turned white.
Erika came close to me at that point, and whispered in my ear. Then she returned inside the compartment beyond that view window to extract more evidence.
One of the scientists who was standing behind me made a move to the console. All I heard was a click, then a buzzing start. The scene-shift going on in the room behind the viewport window and the flashing lights on the control panel made me swing around to look.
My movement was so abrupt that that scientist lost his balance and fell against the console, pushing various levers and slapping buttons as he tried to keep his balance. One of those automatically sealed the entrance and only exit from Erika’s compartment.
The alarms went off. Most of my minders fled the room, including that clumsy scientist who somehow escaped my grasp on his arm.
By now the light on the other side of that viewport window was blinding and I couldn’t see what controls to change back.
The last thing I remembered was seeing Erika pounding on that sealed door and her scream.
- - - -
WHEN I CAME TO, I SAW that there had been some sort of implosion that had collapsed the area outside the control room. Beyond its door, rubble had filled everything that used to exist out there. Everyone else had evacuated the control room and just left me there. Whatever happened to them, I never found out.
The room lights were normal now. No dust or smoke inside the control room.
But Erika was not visible through the viewing window in that still-sealed compartment beyond. It was as empty as before.
I spent my next hours finding the manual to work out how the controls worked, at first to just get her sealed inner compartment open. After that, I wanted to figure out how to reverse whatever experiment they’d tried, if I possibly could.
I needed to find out what the “there” was where that missing man went – and probably where Erika was now.
And while I had air and life in me, I was going to figure out how to get my kid sister back. Whatever it took.
- - - -
THE CONTROL ROOM HAD some lockers with overalls in it that loosely fit me. My dress whites were a bit scuffed up in places, and didn’t need to get them into any worse shape. I was going to be climbing over and under that control panel to check fuses and wiring.
And ended up spending what seemed like infinity itself just deciphering their cryptic notes and tracing electronic circuits.
The lights stayed on, the air was clean, and for some reason I wasn’t really hungry or thirsty. Suited me. I kept studying. And slept only as long as needed to keep going.
My watch said I’d only been there a day when the viewscreen came back on. With some bedroom with a woman sleeping in it.
Screens on my side started filling with data about the scene on the other side of that viewing window.
By then, I’d figured out how that experiment was laid out. I let her sleep while I re-studied all their notes. Their code words, their control phrases.
The long and short was that is produced a form of amnesia as a side effect. And the woman who finally rose out of that bed was not my sister. But then again, she was. Not her face, not her body. But it was her inside, somewhere. I could tell that in her eyes.
With some trial and error, I found that the first thing she needed to hear was “Erotika” the code name for that project. Then I was to brief her on the job at hand, whatever crime the computer was reporting was about to occur or had just occurred in that timeline.
Erika was now only addressed as Erotika. And her natural detective skills were needed more now than ever.
The only caveat was that if she were killed in the line of duty, even though that wasn’t her real body, she’d die with that girl.
So my job was to keep her safe, to keep her on mission. And see if I could reverse the process somehow and get her extracted again as herself.
It was only later I discovered that the entire project was running out of “juice”. I was able to shut down all the non-vital operations. But its defensive shield was taking most of that juice. And kept that ground above us from collapsing.
In doing that, I found that the minimum usage required us to only be “alive” for 24 hours of our time.
I say us, because I got nearly the same radiation or whatever that light was as Erika.
While I was here to save Erika, I also was here to save myself.
IV
“FINN, COME HERE. HAVE a seat.”
He came over, a bit pensive.
“Oh, I didn’t mean to disturb you. It’s just that I thought of something that might help.”
Finn relaxed a bit, but still on edge.
“Finn, do I make you nervous?”
“Well, Carol, I guess you do, a bit.”
“Oh, I’m sorry about that. Have I been using the wrong time tenses again?”
He smiled. “No, Carol, I can understand you just fine. And I find your stories remarkable. It must be challenging and exciting to go all those place in time.”
I smiled in return. “It can get a bit lonesome on occasion.”
“Because you don’t take anyone with you?”
“I only recently learned how to do that. And it’s limited usually to just a single person. But I’ve got a friend who can bend both time and space. She’s been helping me learn to do what she can.”
“Imagine being able to go anywhere in time and space you want.”
I thought of the many places and times I’d seen. Like my first meeting with John, where I’d nearly gotten myself killed. How he had changed and expanded my view from being only a ‘time tourist’. And then the criminals who we had to root out in the government, the ones who wanted to experiment on me and my Ghost Hunter friends.
Finn looked concerned. “Did I say something that offended you?”
I looked at his kind face and put a smile on my own. “No, Finn. Absolutely not. It’s just that all the things I’ve seen haven’t been pleasant. There is some responsibility to having any ability. And anyone pursuing a goal can often find someone who is jealous and want that perceived power or control only for themselves.”
“So you’ve been attacked in your travels when they found out what you could do?”
I nodded. “But those travels also helped me meet some people who then trained me in other skills. Such as healing. So now I work with the Ghost Hunters to track down paranormal mysteries and solve them. It’s not easy, but it’s more rewarding to do the right things and to help people solve their problems.”
Finn smiled at that. “Sounds a bit like my job – the one I had when I wound up here. Though I imagine they already think me long dead now.”
I had to give a wry grin. “Funny enough, I got the assignment because they thought you were a ghost.”
He laughed at that, and then stopped. “You know, that’s the first time I’ve laughed in a long time. And that’s not just because I’ve been stuck in here for the decades that passed outside this control room. You’re something else, Carol.”
I cocked my head at that. “In a good way, I suppose?”
“Only the best way. I really became very happy when you started showing up outside the control room. And then we’d have our 5 minute talk. Once a day, in my time. It gave me something to look forward to, something to hope for.”
I had to smile. “Finn, you’re too cute. But that explains why you got dressed up for our meetings.”
His eyebrows raised. “It’s been a long time since someone talked to me like that. ‘Cute’ isn’t exactly what my sister ever called me, and no one in the service would dare.”
“Well, you are, you know. Because you are just so honest.”
He smiled. “I guess I don’t have any other reason to be.”
We both had our thoughts for a moment.
“Carol, I did want to say something else to you. You are the most courageous person I’ve probably ever met.”
I raised my eyebrows from surprise and waited for the explanation.
“Because you risked your life to come and be with me in this running disaster.”
That made me smile. “Well, thank you for that compliment. Here, let me earn that one. It’s why I wanted you to come and sit by me. Give me your hand.”
He obeyed like an order from his senior officer. That hand flashed into mine.
I held it with both of mine and started my Lazurai-trained healing. In that, I saw his memories. Dreams, fears, everything. And I wasn’t the only one here who had faced danger and put their own life on the line for someone else.
This went on for awhile, and was far more intense for me than Finn.
- - - -
AT LAST, I PUT HIS hand down on his lap. “That will do for now.”
“What did you just do?”
“Is something wrong, do you hurt somewhere?”
“No, I feel great. Like a huge load had been taken off.”
I was relieved. “Well, that’s the way it’s supposed to be. That’s the healing I was trained to do.”
“Well, thanks then. I didn’t know I was sick.”
“The problem was all that light and radiation you absorbed. So I helped you fix that. Now you’re more normal. And you can leave anytime you want. That shield won’t keep you here.”
His face was bright, and then he frowned.
“It’s your sister, isn’t it?”
Finn nodded.
“So, tell me how I can help you inside that room of hers.”
He peered into my eyes directly then, and saw that I wasn’t just trying to be nice.
“OK, it’s tricky. And I don’t know if it will work. But I’ve been able to get certain devices to her so she can communicate via the console to me. Like a walkie-talkie that takes pictures, too. I can get pictures of what she’s seen out here and into our computer so it can work with these to sort out the details she need.”
“Like a wireless camera-phone.”
“Exactly.”
“Those are pretty common today. We call them cell-phones.”
“Oh, right. That’s what the technicians called them in the manuals. ‘Communications and Emergency Logistics Phone sets’ – or ‘ C.E.L. Phones’.”
I had to smile. Nice coincidence.
Finn continued. “Anyway, as long as I touched her directly, the device stayed with her. Anything I brought with me, like a printed readout, she could touch and hold onto.”
I got his idea. “So you think that if I got to her, and held onto you, I might be able to heal her as well?”
Finn nodded. “Carol, you’re a genius.”
I smiled back. “And that earns me another chance to call you cute.”
He just took my hand and held onto it. “As many times as you want.”
A light started flashing on the control panel.
“Oh, that’s my cue. She’s dressed and is leaving her apartment. I’ve got to give her the assignment.”
He rose and went through the door into the chamber. I saw through the view port that they were walking through the street of a city. Both of their hands were busy as they talked to each other.
But this was my cue, now.
I shifted my own time into slow and reached for that operations manual.
- - - -
“JOHN, THANKS FOR COMING. Right on time.”
“Tess helped me. I’ve got a pendant for you full of the data Ben figured out. It’s set to play when you turn it on with your thoughts.”
“Great. I’ll swap it for this one. In there are the recordings of me reading that dull operations manual out-loud. And I found a camera here and took pictures of their control board circuits inside. I got their circuits to transfer them to my pendant, but I haven’t been able to verify them.”
“Well, if Ben can’t figure these out, then Hermione’s Bart and Ernst will. Our own little R&D lab.”
That made me smile. “Glad to hear those two are fitting in.”
John just smiled in return. “Anything else for the home crew?”
“Well, I’d ask for some of Hami’s cookies, but they’d have to be pebble-sized…”
John just chuckled. “That will give them a challenge.”
“Oh, John – I’ve cured Finn, and we’re going to try healing his sister next.”
“Our prayers and best wishes are with you.”
I nodded. “As always.”
The portal closed and I was alone again in the control room.
I turned around to see Finn looking at me. With a warm smile on his face.
V
“WAS THAT JOHN?”
I smiled. “Yes, Finn.”
“I didn’t want to interrupt. Did he bring you helpful news?”
“I hope so. Would you like to listen in?”
“Just wait a second.”
The big red console clock went to 23:59:59 and then to 00:00:00.
The view port was again black, and the room scene had shifted. Another bedroom, different. We couldn’t see who was in the bed, but it would be a different girl’s body – again.
“OK, now we have a few hours before she wakes up. How do we listen to a little green rock?”
- - - -
OF COURSE, I’D NEVER had to explain this to someone who wasn’t already Ghost Hunter trained. So I drew a blank.
Finn was patient, though. “Say, I haven’t told you that Erika’s world has perks – even though we never get hungry on our side of the control room, when she gets food on her side, I can bring it back here. I’d long ago run out of coffee if I hadn’t. Want some?”
“Can you get any honey with that?”
“Coming right up.” Finn was grinning as he went through the door into that compartment.
And I sat there thinking through how did I actually get data off these pendants. What’s become natural and a habit isn’t always easy to explain sometimes.
Finn was back faster than I thought. “She already had some coffee going there, so I borrowed a couple of her cups and set on another pot. She won’t mind once I explain why I was drinking so much today.”
He handed me a china cup with some flowers on it. His mug was thicker china and had a café‘s logo plastered on it. A honey bear bottle soon showed up in my other hand after that, and it took awhile to get enough in my coffee to sweeten it to taste. Finn was patient. And used to having only black coffee available as on-board ship rations, so waiting for me to pass that bottle back didn’t matter to him.
“Here.” I handed him the pendant. “See what you can pick up from just holding it.”
He held it with his fingers. Then put it in his palm, closing his hand on it. Then closed his eyes and wrinkled his forehead.
“Sorry, nothing.”
I took it back. And saw a wealth of data there, almost a mini-library of Area 51 notes, all organized by subject area and cross-indexed. And all with just touching the pendant with my mind lightly.
Then I remembered his thoughts when I was doing my healing. He’s got training on how to resist brain-washing. So he’s disciplined into following orders and closing off intuitive inspiration. And why this stuff comes easy to John and free souls like the ghosts and spirit-guides he’s met.
“Finn, I see plenty in there. The difference is that you’ve closed your mind to many things. On purpose.”
He frowned at me.
I smiled. “No, silly, it’s not a bad thing. You’ve been able to survive and help Erika because of your dogged determination along this one course. And just because you open your mind to some different ideas, that doesn’t mean you go all scatter-brained.”
Finn relaxed his face. Being called “silly” by a woman probably helped him.
“OK, now let’s look at where you aren’t closed-minded. Your sister, for instance.”
“Now Erika isn’t…”
“Isn’t what?”
“Well, she’s out of bounds.”
“Exactly.”
“No, I mean she’s not something that fits the military scene. For me to keep up with her, I have to listen closely and let her explain. Eventually, she’ll get it through my thick head about what I missed – what clue she found that everyone else ignored.”
“You’ve got it. Right there. She’s an amazing gal, right?”
He smiled.
“That’s because she keeps her mind open to all sorts of data, so she can find the different inter-relationships, regardless if they seem to ‘fit’ at first.”
His smile turned into a grin. “So I need to begin to think like her?”
“Kinda. More that you should figure out how you feel when you are listening to her and then apply it to other things.”
He looked up as he thought this over. Then back down to me.
“You know, Carol, sometimes she just tells me ‘…you’re not going to believe this’ and then tells me how two things line up together. That phrase ‘you’re not going to believe’ is probably right out of the NLP data – there is no ‘No’ or ‘Not’ and so she’s tricking me into believing her.”
“So you can have an open mind about whatever she tells you. You set aside your judgment on it, just take it on face value until she gets to her conclusion.”
“Exactly. She’s good at that.”
I put the pendant-stone in his hand, then put mine over it. “OK, Finn, you’re not going to believe this – because I’m not your sister, and I can’t do what she does. But in actual fact, you can read my mind as I pull the data off this stone. At least as long as you’re touching my hand like you are now.”
His eyes went wide open. I simply used my Ghost Hunter training to send him my thoughts. Not very much, at this first try.
Then his eyes really opened wide. “How did you…?”
I just smiled. “Some advanced training. Just sit there and get the idea that I’m telling you a story and you’re getting pictures of it – like your Mom or Grandma or babysitter would read you storybooks when you were a kid.”
He nodded and closed his eyes. Then put his other hand on top of mine.
I put my other hand on his, and closed my own eyes to concentrate.
- - - -
SOME TIME LATER, WE got through the last stack of data. Good thing Finn was a fast learner. We didn’t have to go back over things, but we could later.
He was all smiles as I took my hands away with the pendant.
“Carol, there might be some things in there I’d like to review again. When we have some time for it, anyway.”
Finn glanced at the clock. “Oh, I’d better get in there. She’s due for her assignment briefing. I’ll tell you about those later.”
I watched him leave. And felt something warm in my heart. All that “propinquity” tends to rub off on you, I guess.
Good thing I was doing all that “file-transferring” in my own time rather than his. I don’t think he’s noticed yet how slow time goes when he’s with me.
So I can get all the time I can while we’re together.
Because their clock was still ticking…
VI
“OK, CAROL, I SET UP a date for us.”
I stopped what I was doing. Finn was grinning from ear to ear. Something was up.
“Of course, it was a surprise. But you needed to meet Erika and she’s found this place with the best waffles and pancakes…”
I smiled and brushed a loose strand of hair back behind my ear.
“Oh, don’t fuss – you look great. I know we’ve been busy sorting things out, so you deserve a treat. Plus, I’m usually starving when I’m working with her – since her side is so much faster than ours time-wise, I seem to burn up more calories.
Still, I looked over my outfit to see that everything was fine.
Finn took my hand, always delightful. “Erika already has a booth, and I told her I was going to bring a guest.”
He opened the aluminum-framed glassed door. The scene outside was on the sidewalk in front of a classic railroad car diner. A few steps and he opened its chrome-and-glass door for me and let me enter first.
She was gorgeous, and her beaming smile let me know which booth she was at.
Erika slid out and stood as we approached. “You must be Carol. Finn hasn’t told me much about you, but he figured it was a good time to meet since we wrapped up early today.”
We all sat.
“Just call me Erotika – it’s not my real name (thank gawd), but it’s less confusing than to use this persona’s name. Especially since I’ll have another one tomorrow.”
I had to smile at these two. They were both happy with each other and their jobs. Even though only Finn and I knew how few more ‘days’ they had at solving these assignments.
Our coffees arrived, along with menus so we could order. Erika made it simple - house specials all around.
“Have you two been going together long?” Erika was looking in my eyes for any doubt on my part.
I had to chuckle as I peered right back. “And what has this character been telling you? I hope he told you nothing of our hotter dates.”
Erotika raised an eyebrow and looked over at Finn. He blushed, which told more than he wanted to.
“No, Carol, he’s a perfect gentleman. He’s only told me that you two had met and were getting along fine. But now I have something to tease him with, which is only fair after how he teases me.”
“Finn, tease people? I’d hardly noticed.”
Erotika and Finn both chuckled at my joke.
The coffee was great, and there was honey on the table so we all sweetened it to taste. (Neither of the Jones siblings seem to be fans of refined sugar or artificial creamer.)
Then I remembered what was in my pocket. The look on my face got both of their attention.
“Oh, Erotika, I brought something for you. I hope they survived the trip OK. Here, get a napkin and hold out your hand.”
She put her hand palm up between us with the napkin on top.
I held her hand with one and fished out Hami’s cookies with the other. That left me holding her hand long enough to get a reading from her.
She picked up a cookie and nibbled on it. “Oh these are fabulous. Finn, you should try one.”
He shook his head and politely refused to take any.
“You’ve got to tell your mystery cook that her recipe is just superb! I don’t think I’ve had any ever that have tasted this good.”
Shortly, her mouth was full of cookie. Finn and I were smiling at her delight.
Right then the order arrived and we were all soon quiet as we shoveled down some truly marvelous waffles with real whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles on top.
- - - -
AT LAST WE WERE ALL full, plates cleared of anything but crumbs, and smiles on all our faces.
“Finn told me a bit about your scene, Erotika. Once your missions are over, what are your plans for the rest of your career?”
“Carol, I hadn’t thought about it much. Not at all, really. Most times we are so pressed to get the jobs done in just 24 hours that I just crash back in my apartment and wake up to the next assignment tomorrow.”
The waitress came over and refilled our coffees. She also removed the plate-clutter and left the bill.
Erika sweetened her coffee to taste as she was thinking of an answer.
Finn was waiting for her answer, as was I.
“Oh, I don’t know, really. I’d always thought that maybe Finn and I should open up a ‘private eye’ service of some sort – once our naval duties are over. This detective stuff tends to keep me more than occupied while I’m on the job. For now, I’m as almost as happy as I can be, since each assignment is a new one.”
I glanced at Finn. He was nodding as she talked, but returned my glance.
“Carol, I hope this isn’t the only time I get to see you. We wrapped up early today, so Finn thought this was a great time. He’s let slip about you before – even called me ‘Carol’ once, which started a whole set of teasing. So I know you’re on his mind a lot, and what he does when he’s not with me is none of my business.”
I smiled and touched her hand on the table again. “I will insist that Finn bring me again whenever it’s possible. Of course, your assignment comes first.”
Finn looked at the clock on the wall and at his wrist watch. The night had fallen outside and street lamps showed their glare.
“Erotika, it looks like we’ve got to let you get back to your apartment. Don’t want your host to wake up in this diner in the early am.”
She shrugged. Finn put some cash on the table and we all scooted out of the padded benches and made our way to the diner door.
Outside, it was balmy and warm enough to not need any jacket or coat.
Erotika hugged Finn and hugged me.
“Carol, you take care of this hunk. Don’t know what I’d ever do without him.”
“You can count on it.”
Finn and I were holding each other’s waist as Erotika crossed to the other side of the street. She turned and waved to us as she went down the sidewalk. Her form faded as well as the diner scene from around us.
Still holding on to me around my waist, Finn led me to the door and opened it for me.
When we got back into the control room, Finn again put his arm around my waist. Then pulled me to him and kissed me. I held on and kept that kiss going for awhile.
Coming up for air, we were both smiles. At least one thing was on the right track, anyway.
I pushed away and kept smiling. He said nothing, didn’t have to.
The clock ticked over and another day had started. Finn turned to start getting the data read-outs lined up. The scene through the observation window had changed again.
But more important than the progress between Finn and I was that meeting with Erika. That was a delight on its own..
And I got the data I needed from her. Reading her palm, especially with Hami’s healing cookies going through her system, gave me all sorts of data about how we could heal her.
I got it all on my pendant so I could hand it off to John later this day.
His hand-off to Ben would see that it got to Rochelle, but I already knew what I needed to do next.
As long as we still had enough of her days left…
VII
I had to sit down after John left this time. We'd swapped pendants again.
But the news was something I hadn't expected. What they'd suggested I do next was a bit of a shock.
Not that Tess hadn't trained me how to do this on a small scale. Not that I hadn't done something anywhere near this big since that mess in Area 51. But that situation didn't have me under the pressure like I was here. And I knew I had backup if things went south.
Tess had even sent me a letter with detailed instructions how to pull it off.
Ben had put a schematic in there of a circuit and device that had to be built. Finn had been working with building circuit boards and jury-rigging devices for Erika this whole time. But this circuit looked a bit intricate.
All just in time, though.
We were now on their last few “days”. After this, the battery wouldn't hold enough to keep that shield circuit open any more. And when that shield went, so would the control room. Everything would collapse into rubble, the many layers of rock above it filling the room we now stood in. Solid.
This plan was going to take some precise timing.
And maybe some help from all the goddesses and gods we could pray to. Ben hadn't said anything about more help coming our way.
It was up to the three of us to pull it off.
For if we didn't, it was going to also mean more than just Finn and Erika that would leave this existence...
Character Stories:
Book Universes Notes
This series started off with a single short story and the 7 following covers. And then sat there. Until I could get a grip on what the series was really about, and how it fit into the Book Universes. The character of Carol and her mystery boyfriend (from “Enemies and Bookends” of the Hermione series) gave a clue, which then prompted this story - The Case of the Time Bent Beau - as a prequel and needed backstory to develop the series. After that, the rest of the stories rolled right out. The covers inspired the description of the body Erika “borrowed”, while the 8 naval yard cities gave specific locales. This story has it’s own predecessors, the most obvious being "Time Bent" and "Time Bent Anthology" where Carol and her powers are revealed.
John is first introduced in "Ghost Hunters".
Hami is first introduced in "Ham & Chaz", along with her restaurant.
The ending in this story refers to the ending of "The Case of the Walkaway Diner Redoux". (No, I won't give that spoiler here.) That story also runs parallel to this one.
The Naval Investigative Service later became NCIS. This and other references dates Finn and Erika finding this underground lab in the '50's.
The Lazurai healing affects were first introduced in "The Lazurai" and are most fully explained in "The Tao of Mysti". Rochelle is introduced in that first book, and her nurse training clinic is introduced in "The Case of the Forever Cure".
"Telluric" electricity currents have been long known. Look up Nathan Stubblefield and his work to get amazed at what's possible.