A Dream From The Past

Where do you hide a Time Port, so that no one really knows where it might be? You hide it in plain view, of course. From the outside, it looks like a Tele Port. However, it had its own architectural design and artistic style to set it apart and give it the poise, grace and beauty that would endear it to the citizens of Oklahoma City. This Port actually resembled the shape of a candy kiss, minus the “plume”, from the ancient chocolate factory—Oh yeah, it’s still around. Food may not be important any more, but candy can still make a great and thoughtful gift. It’s mighty expensive, though, but let’s not digress. The whole outer shell of the Port is made of polymorphic glass, so if you actually did manage to break it, it would simply grow right back. In fact, this stuff is so tough that a baby nuke could be detonated inside the building and the outside world would not feel the blast, except perhaps from the doorways. This type of glass also tracks the sun, so that no matter where the sun was in the sky as you looked up, the sky would always look equally bright. There were no bright spots to shield your eyes from and no dark shadows to contend with either. At night, the electricity piped into the glass would be increased to provide lighting throughout the entire building. The same glass was used throughout the building—as it was used all over the solar system—for advertising and instructional signs. There were twenty-five entranceways that used a security scanner—working similar to a telepod—that would detect any destructive device and immediately remove it and teleport it to security. Anyone with an outstanding warrant for his or her arrest could also be detained this way. For obvious reasons, wanted criminals avoided using Tele Ports as a means of travel. This extra security helped discourage some acts of terrorism—at least at the Tele Ports anyway.

Inside the building it would vaguely remind someone of an old-fashioned airport except for all the teleport pods (also known as telepods or pods) lining the wall all the way around the center of the building. There were three stories above ground and one underground to the building. The underground floor was for the machinery and maintenance robots to keep the place running. Virtually everything on the floors above ground including the walls, the floors, the chairs. The elevators and escalators were made of various types of crystalline polymorphic glass. This gave onlookers standing outside the building the incredible illusion that people inside were simply walking on air or floating from one floor to the next as they were using the crystal clear elevators and escalators. To those inside the building it also seemed open and expansive too, but only on the floor they were on, because as you would look directly down at the floor you were walking on or directly above your head all you could see was a very blurred and subdued version of your own reflection. The main floor had the most telepods at fifty-six, the second floor had twenty-eight and the third and exclusive floor had only five. Executives and celebrities, as well as anyone well off enough to pay the extra travel fees, could use these pods on the top floor to avoid the heavy foot traffic below. While the top floor had a single technician’s console stationed about three paces away from the telepods with one technician to direct the outbound destinations—as per each traveler’s request—as well as monitor the inbound travelers, the main floor and second floor, had several technician’s consoles stationed out about five paces from about every seventh telepod with two technicians per console. Each telepod was numbered and had an inbound/outbound destination indicator. The north side of the building on both the main floor and the second floor was dedicated to outbound travelers, while the south side was dedicated to inbound travelers. Even though the telepods could go either way, this arrangement kept things flowing easier. In the aisle between the telepods and the outer wall there were the chairs and tables, the elevators and escalators, as well as artwork and advertisements to fill the void. Along the outer wall there were various shops where patrons could buy gifts or novelty items. There were restaurants where the thirsty could choose a drink from a multitude of liquid refreshments—and yes, the wealthy patrons could actually eat if they chose to. Those patrons that could afford to would then go to the third floor, where the expensive shops and restaurants were, and there they could dine on gourmet foods from every different culture in the solar system.

In the center of the building starting from the point at the top and coming down past the main floor and continuing down underground, shaped in what could best be described as a Christmas tree ornament or a perfectly shaped tuber that has a point on both ends and bulbous in the middle. It too was made out of polymorphic glass like the outside, but with a grayish silver lining in the middle that made it impossible to see through. Only the top half of this complete structure was visible above ground, with the largest diameter of the bulbous part meeting with the main floor. It made sense that all the telepods line this wall, and no one ever bothered to think what might be behind it. Some simply assumed that the Tele Port’s machinery was behind there, others figured it to be a time capsule. They would have been half right, for inside this impenetrable wall was a perfectly placed Time Port.

This room was almost completely sealed from the outside world so that nothing living or otherwise could pass through. The only way in or out was by using a telepod. Pumps, deep underground from the bottom point of the center structure, supplied the air, while thousands of carbon micro tubes ran the entire length of the structure to pull the air from various points at the top of the Tele Port. Even the electronics and machinery were kept separate from the rest of the building, so that no one on the outside could tamper with them. It had its own generators and drew power from a separate source, which was always changing daily so no one could track its power draw. Great lengths—as one could tell—were taken to secure the secret location of the Time Port, and for good reason. The Time Port motto was inscribed on the wall inside the room; “The Timeline Shall Not Be Fractured.”

As Josh’s eyes began to come into focus, he glanced around the room to see all the familiar faces and surroundings of home. The room was filled with the soft glowing white light from the walls. He could just make out the seven telepods lining the wall opposite him and then the technician consoles in the middle of the room. Now seeing more clearly, he began to scan the faces of those in the room; the three cheery faces staring back at him from the consoles were the technicians. They all wore the standard tech jump suits–gray with a blue stripe running down each side. Jackie was a beautiful blonde haired, blue eyed Russian girl just less than two meters tall (or 6’3” in the old American standard) with a slender body and hugged very tightly by her jump suit. Randy was a handsome Brazilian with dark brown eyes and dark brown hair, but chose to have light Caucasian skin; he also chose to be two meters tall today (or about 6’8”), but normally he would be about Jackie’s height. Sheyla was of Japanese decent; she had a lovely round face with jet-black hair and greenish brown almond eyes. Sheyla didn’t like to be so tall, so she chose to be 1 ¾ meters (or 5’10”) tall, and this also saved her money when traveling, as it is cheaper to teleport smaller masses. These three were inseparable, never ever did one go anywhere without the other two; they even had a one bedroom apartment. They gained the nicknames Huey Dewey and Louie like the ancient animated duck characters—nephews of Scrooge McDuck. Like those characters, Jackie, Randy and Sheyla were brilliant, crafty and mischievous. Unlike the characters the three were actually neurally linked and very nearly thought as one. Because of this, most of the time they preferred to be addressed all at once. So, at first everyone called them Huey Dewey and Louie, then it got shortened to HDL pronounced ‘hi del’.

“Ho HDL!” Josh exclaimed.

“Ho Josh!” they replied simultaneously.

Josh continued to pan the room and then rounded on a smiling dark skinned Indian face with short-cropped hair and dark brown eyes. It was his best friend and personal assistant Shivunand, who was wearing his favorite blue and gold Kurta (a semi-traditional Indian shirt), blue jeans and black cowboy boots trimmed in gold.

“How long?” Joshed asked, as he stepped out of the pod.

“Two minutes, nineteen seconds,” answered Shivu, using that tone similar to a coach reporting a run time to his athlete.

Although Shivu was a native born Indian from India—not of the American Indian breed—his accent was unnoticeable. He spoke perfect American English.

“Wow! Really? I would have thought it was much shorter.”

“Nope, two minutes, nineteen seconds. That’s not your record, but it’s still better than average.”

So, although Josh spent more than a month in 1955, he was only gone just over two minutes from 2082—as he just learned. However, those two quantities of time had no real bearing on each other. The time it takes to jump is only in the time required to find a suitable host. Josh held the record for the fastest jump. He also held the record for the most subjects returned (scientists brought back—or more accurately forward—from their time to his time), and the highest percentage of subjects returned per mission. However, Josh was too modest to be cocky about this, and because he maintained a confident, positive, attitude towards everyone, no one was ever jealous of him either. All the other Steppers admired him, but occasionally would poke fun in a semi competitive sort of way.

“I’m gonna beat your record today!” One would say.

Josh would just smile and say, “Go for it! You can do it! I believe in you!”

Still, Josh was very competitive, and didn’t mind having a little friendly competition. When he played a game he played to win, but if the competition was not up to the task, he would simply compete with himself.

“I will do better next time. Wow! Albert was a challenge, though. I would have thought it would be easier to bring back a relation. Instead well…” Josh stopped abruptly realizing the company he was with, and decided to discuss the rest with his friend later in private.

The “company” consisted of the rest of the seven member team for the time jump, and indeed the only number allowed in the Time Port at any time—discounting the unconscious subject left in the second of the three time pods at the end of a successful mission. The guidelines were laid out years ago in an attempt to keep from corrupting the timeline. Only seven members allowed; all team members are required to enter the Time Port at precisely the same time. If any member arrives before the others, the telepods in the Time Port are set to hold them in stasis until all the rest arrive. The team is to consist of one Stepper and one backup Stepper, their personal assistants to keep them safe, and three technicians to keep an eye on each other to insure no one tampers with any of the equipment. This is why there are seven telepods for entering and exiting the Time Port. There are three time pods, the middle one is for the primary Stepper; the one to the left is for the backup Stepper for emergencies or in some cases additional help for a Stepper in training and the one on the right is for the subject. Although the time pods don’t look any different from their telepod cousins, there is a big difference in their programming and operation. First, it takes about a week in between each jump, for it takes that long to charge up the amount of power needed to use the pods. Second, the Stepper’s time pods don’t de-materialize their bodies only their essence—or memories—go back in time so the two stepper pods only scan the Stepper’s brains for the information content, and nothing more. This is all the information that is needed, to be sent back in time. Finally, the third pod is given DNA of the subject to scan and then create a replica of the body to await the subject’s information (the memories, the soul or the essence of his being) to give it the rest of the data to give the body life.

“How’s he doin’…” asked Josh, his voice trailing off, as he spun around to the right pod to find a young man in his early thirty’s with dark brown slightly wild hair, wearing a faded collared shirt, slightly worn dress slacks and an old pair of brown dress shoes—no socks. “…and why did you pick those clothes?”

“We thought he would feel more comfortable,” the technicians recited in unison, and they looked at each other and chuckled.

“Well he can’t be seen in public like that; be sure to send some new clothes to Haven. I’ll be over there shortly to pick him up.” Josh stated matter-of-factly.

“You’re going to do what?” asked a very puzzled and excited Shivu.

“Aren’t you going to wait for his liaison to arrive? She shouldn’t be more than a day,” chimed in Aden the backup Stepper, who was a new recruit fresh out of training. He had been silent up until now.

“… And isn’t that against protocol?” finished Henry, Aden’s personal assistant—also new and very up to date on the rules.

“Protocol, shmotocol! He knows me, and I want to take him out to dinner.” Josh defended, slightly irritated with all the rejection.

“Don’t you mean lunch? It’s only 12:30. You’re buying, right?” Shivu chimed in, wearing his big toothy grin.

Shivu loved eating, especially hot spicy Indian food. Since the Stepper’s personal assistant went with him almost everywhere, Shivu knew that meant he was going to get to eat.

Josh instantly lost all his irritation, softened up and smiled back at Shivu then satirically said, “Shivu you cheapskate, when are you ever going to buy me dinner?”

“Hey! You make more than I do!” said Shivu, trying to sound hurt, but not succeeding.

“Ok, let’s pack it up,” Josh ordered as he glanced over at the HDL team, and with that the technicians punched a few buttons and Albert’s unconscious body de-materialized.

Then the whole team put their thumbs on the console to sign off, and they all ceremoniously filed into an open telepod. Just before they all de-materialized, Josh turned to Shivu and quickly added, “That’s because I work harder than you do.”

“Oh! Thaa…” Shivu started to say, but was stopped in mid-sentence, only to be picked up again as Josh and he re-materialized in the telepods on the third floor of the Tele Port the inbound indicator reading Heidelberg, Germany. “…aat’s rich! Josh! That’s rich! You work 3 minutes a day, once every four to seven weeks. I work a sixty to eighty hour work week…”

“Ahhhh, here we go again…” grunted Josh as the two of them stepped out of the pods and headed around to the stairs.

They were still griping at each other as they passed the last of the main floor inbound side where the other five team members had just stepped out of their pods; two from the second floor and three from the main floor (the indicators for their pods giving false inbound readings from various other cities) and had met up near the exit. Josh looked up at them with a grin and a wink, and headed up the stairs to the third floor with Shivu in tow.

The five exchanged looks and then Aden spoke up, “Do they always fight like that?”

To which Jackie answered, “Oh they’re not fighting. Did you see the look Josh gave us? It’s just a verbal game they play. One of them is always trying to get in the last word.”

“Is it ok that he goes to Haven, before the liaison gets there?” asked Henry

Sheyla answered, “You know the rule book, you tell us.”

“Well it’s not really a rule it’s just a protocol, to give the subject a chance to adjust to the…” but Henry stopped short as he could tell the techs were just humoring him. There were smirks and rolling eyes all around. “Oh never mind!” Henry turned back to Aden, “Where’re we heading, Aden?”

“Let’s…go get a drink!” Aden replied

“I’m with ya!” said Henry, and they headed off back up the stairs.

Randy just looked at the girls and thought, “shall we go home?”

“Let’s,” thought the girls.