Like a virus mining its way into the nucleus of a cell, the substance D came to the sprawling small town. The statistical uptick in robberies and theft was the visible noise of dying brain cells and the creeping death of dreams. The teenager stood outside the small over-priced grocery store and felt the heft of the shotgun under his long coat. A crazed chuckle slipped from the boy’s throat, safety off…
“Stupid fuck,” interjected the words from behind the disaster about to enter the store. As his crazed chuckle died in his throat, the boy felt the weight of the universe come crashing across the back of his head. At the end of the darkness in a closing tunnel stared the face of a mirror…
The ocean of pain rippled through an opened mind as consciousness stirred. Stu Arrhenius tried to move and slowly realized through semi-wakefulness that he was restrained. Peeling his eyes open just in time to the approach of a tall figure and feeling the shock of a sliver of a needle shoved into the flesh of his arm, he jerked awake. “What the hell,…”
“This medication is to initiate the cleansing of your body’s systems and to insulate you from temporal shock,” interrupted a voice. Before his eyes could focus on the individual speaking, the drug began to take effect. Suddenly speechless, Stu melted into the recliner and he no longer felt the restraints keeping him into the chair. “Don’t worry, you won’t pass out this time, I want you to watch the television in the corner. I just saved you from a life of misery—take a look…”
Stu’s eyes focused on a television screen and his thoughts began to clear. That voice sounded so familiar. On the screen rolled scenes from someone’s life. “Look, what the hell do you want with me?” Stu whispered.
“Just look at the screen, this is what your life was about to become”—on the screen showed a prison, years of dangerous living, and bad choice after bad choice. It suddenly occurred to Stu that he was the person on the video. “I had to intervene; you pissed away so much potential.”
“In about twenty minutes, you will become drowsy, fall asleep, and when you awake, you are going to follow the instructions in the brief-case that I am leaving you.”
When Stu awoke, he was alone, unrestrained and resting on a bed in a hotel room. On a recliner facing the bed, sat a brief-case. Stu, jumped up, popped open the brief-case and came to a complete stop. His jaw slackened as he saw stack after stack of hundred dollar bills. On the top of the stacks of money was a manila folder with twenty or thirty pages of type written instructions, documents, and receipts.
Briefing by Infinity Patrol on Temporal Crimes Suspect
StuWiFoo Al’Arrhenius grew up in dysfunctional family in a miserable backwoods town in the United States of America on Homeline variant Earth 0. At the age of sixteen at the moment of a fateful decision, he was kidnapped and released and given money and information that led him to move to a large coastal city in North America. Unknown to him, the intervention was performed by his future self in violation of at least fourteen laws and regulations concerning temporal interference with the timeline. The subject disappeared until records show an enlistment in the US Army in Signal Intelligence. After twenty years service, he retired from the military and went to work for a number of Security Companies before disappearing. Last known whereabouts are San Francisco Bay Area, but records indicate some flights to Hong Kong and Melbourne before his disappearance. The disappearance is somewhat unremarkable as it occurred on December 21st 2012 at the time of the disappearance of several thousand people worldwide. We have no reason to suspect Centrum involvement, but we can’t be sure until he is apprehended for questioning. All agents are reminded to consider the subject and the others on the Dec. 21st top 100 list as persons of interest. Report all sightings to control if apprehension is not possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment