Cli-Fi
John J. Falco
Thanks for everyone's pointers last night. I got the backstory tightened up and moved things around. The chapter total length is seven pages but this is only four pages. Total chapter word count is 2513 words, but if you have been following my writings you have most likely already read the next part. If anyone wants to read the whole thing please let me know and I'll PM you. @tinkerdan, you might notice that I used some of your lines. Thanks.
Also I wasn't sure if I should create a new post or link it to the one I did Friday.
Chapter One: The Constant
Sharon’s heart nearly stopped as a single name written on a piece of paper appeared in front of her. She instantly recognized the name floating just above her desk. Her startled reaction to the news almost caused her to spill the glass of pills on the right. All the years of research had led to this moment and while the general public eagerly awaited an answer. Was it so wrong for her to know before everyone else? Perhaps it wasn’t, in this case. Everyone knew the legend: one bloodline influenced all of time. Yet the family name of what the Temporal Consortium called The Constant was unknown. It had remained a convenient mystery. Baffling both scientists and religious scholars alike. Up until five minutes ago, she believed that it was ridiculous and that people were wasting their time with the search. She read the name again and her neurons fired up. Free from bias which allowed her to think objectively about it. They began to make the connections, drawing different pictures and trying to fit the pieces together. Due to the name that floated just inches from her face, she was beginning to realize that the theory now made perfect sense. For years she refused to believe that it was possible, and she was only just beginning to think otherwise. As she questioned her own judgement, she still refused to believe it. She knew it must be some type of mistake. There was no Constant! There just couldn’t be.
In order to calm her system and to focus, she reached into the glass and took one blue and one red pill. The instant effects of the stabilizers usually did the trick. She let out the breath that she held on to. She knew there was nothing to this; nothing to worry about. So why was her heart beating its way out of her chest? Perhaps because this came from her own team and despite the fact she was an avowed Atheist, not everyone on her team shared her lack of belief. The Consortium which helped to spread rumors of a lifetime supply of customizable and desirable prizes to whoever can solve the mystery, practically turned everyone into religious fanatics. Over the past couple of decades she met only one other person who had doubts about the so-called science. The Temporal Scientists she oversaw were almost worse than the government agents. They bought the theory hook line and sinker. Therefore, the line between religion and science was blurring and she was getting tired of the politics. Proof of the existence of The Constant or even rumors of proof would only make matters worse. All she needed was one fanatic on her team to leak this and from there everything would get out of control. It wouldn't matter if they got it wrong or right. How much money they made or how much exposure the company itself would get. The news of finding The Constant would have always uncovered the world’s greatest traitor, but with the name that was in front of her. All regular protocol went out the window.
Deep in thought, the Time Code managed to catch her eye. It was a large black leather bound book of encyclopedic length resting in the middle of her and every single Desk at Temporal Entertainment Services. The dos and don’ts of Time Travel were listed in a pretty simplistic format. The recently updated version being Volume 16-A had nestled somewhere between the working acknowledgements and table of contents, the greatest myth of the thirtieth century. The official and government approved story, developed by temporal scientists on their down time, went a little something like this: A Constant is a family’s bloodline that exists at any moment in history for at least five centuries. As one moves up the timeline and gets closer to the point when mankind could travel through time, those bloodlines that survived the longest chose to alter the past and use it for their own ancestor’s advantage. Which is why they are remembered, or preserved. Preservation is highly illegal, but incredibly difficult to prove. Sharon knew of not one case that was successful in proving that it even existed.
The myths and legends that followed and seeped into pop culture are even more ridiculous. The notion that anything interesting that has ever happened in history; has some direct correlation to The Constant, just doesn’t make logical sense. Any historian could tell you that wars and inventions happen in order to fill a particular need or purpose. Not due to outside influence of some invisible hand. Even if what the trackers say are true, that they have noticed small variations in the timeline that cannot be explained away. The fact that they occur when these “interesting” events happen is just coincidence. None of that even seems to affect the timeline anyway. Sharon told herself, even if she could prove that this piece of paper held the true identity of The Constant. The timeline remained intact. All the damage that The Constant has reportedly done, is basically meaningless. The rules of time travel are clear. So why bother with the hunt? What’s the end game? To eliminate The Constant could drastically change everything, if such a thing existed in the first place.
The elected leaders of the Temporal Consortium, an unparalleled authority on time travel are themselves obsessive fanatics. In her long-winded career she had physically met them all at the same time, only three times. The finding of The Constant was all they seemed to care about, despite her other concerns. Thanks to more than sixty years of Time Travelling, she knew the rules of the Time Code like the back of her hand. As an executive she frequently worked with the government and scientists to make sure everything runs smoothly. Which meant meeting The Consortium’s almost impossible deadlines. Anyone with any proof about The Constant’s existence, was to send over all research and information to The Consortium, the instant they had it. So just by delaying and thinking about the possible consequences. This illegal tangent, already put her in a bad light with the government. Revealing this name to the Consortium would shake it to its core, if they ended up believing her. Indeed just by sending their boss this name before they sent it to The Consortium, her team was acting in an illegal sense. The Consortium should have also been made aware of their recent developments as soon as she was. So she had to give her team credit. They were probably more confused than she was, and had serious issues with the name that they seemed to have pulled out of a hat. At least they were loyal to a fault, she thought.
If the information she had acquired was accurate and she could prove its conclusion beyond reasonable doubt. One of the most beloved, powerful, and most popular bloodlines in all of existence would be tainted forever. Oh and not to mention tried for crimes against humanity. Indeed, for some reason this particular bloodline wasn’t even on the radar. Only rising her suspicions. She once again forced herself to examine that in which she did believe. Putting aside the possible consequences of delaying and the impact it could have on the world if this all turned out to be true. What other angles were there to this? She started to think about the possibilities that this could be something else entirely. If not a mistake. It all smacked of a setup of misguided desperation. If someone wanted to bring down one of the more prominent families in the world it would be in this manner. If someone wanted to put her company out of business, this certainly would be a way to do so. Did someone want to make this family look bad? Was there a coup brewing under her watch that she didn’t know about? Could it be the start of humanity’s first temporal war? There was always these possibilities. She thought of the Creative types and the Computer nerds. Both would love to get their hands on this information. So that they could use it against the government to spark worldwide revolutions.
She pressed her fingers against her temples to relieve the pressure of foreshadowing so far into the future. Stopping herself she didn’t want to be completely accurate about events to come. Especially since they made her feel so uncomfortable. She knew just the person she had to call to straighten all of this out, and get to the bottom of the mystery. A red button materialized on her desk, near her left hand and she pressed it. “Get me the location of Dorian Black.” A female voice, not unlike her own replied back, “Dorian Black has just arrived back from 1875 with his niece. He’s in the Department of Mistakes.” Perfect she thought. That was just down the hall. As she got up to leave, she took one more foreboding glance at the Time Code, as if expecting it to leap off of her desk and swallow her whole, before heading out the hall.
Also I wasn't sure if I should create a new post or link it to the one I did Friday.
Chapter One: The Constant
Sharon’s heart nearly stopped as a single name written on a piece of paper appeared in front of her. She instantly recognized the name floating just above her desk. Her startled reaction to the news almost caused her to spill the glass of pills on the right. All the years of research had led to this moment and while the general public eagerly awaited an answer. Was it so wrong for her to know before everyone else? Perhaps it wasn’t, in this case. Everyone knew the legend: one bloodline influenced all of time. Yet the family name of what the Temporal Consortium called The Constant was unknown. It had remained a convenient mystery. Baffling both scientists and religious scholars alike. Up until five minutes ago, she believed that it was ridiculous and that people were wasting their time with the search. She read the name again and her neurons fired up. Free from bias which allowed her to think objectively about it. They began to make the connections, drawing different pictures and trying to fit the pieces together. Due to the name that floated just inches from her face, she was beginning to realize that the theory now made perfect sense. For years she refused to believe that it was possible, and she was only just beginning to think otherwise. As she questioned her own judgement, she still refused to believe it. She knew it must be some type of mistake. There was no Constant! There just couldn’t be.
In order to calm her system and to focus, she reached into the glass and took one blue and one red pill. The instant effects of the stabilizers usually did the trick. She let out the breath that she held on to. She knew there was nothing to this; nothing to worry about. So why was her heart beating its way out of her chest? Perhaps because this came from her own team and despite the fact she was an avowed Atheist, not everyone on her team shared her lack of belief. The Consortium which helped to spread rumors of a lifetime supply of customizable and desirable prizes to whoever can solve the mystery, practically turned everyone into religious fanatics. Over the past couple of decades she met only one other person who had doubts about the so-called science. The Temporal Scientists she oversaw were almost worse than the government agents. They bought the theory hook line and sinker. Therefore, the line between religion and science was blurring and she was getting tired of the politics. Proof of the existence of The Constant or even rumors of proof would only make matters worse. All she needed was one fanatic on her team to leak this and from there everything would get out of control. It wouldn't matter if they got it wrong or right. How much money they made or how much exposure the company itself would get. The news of finding The Constant would have always uncovered the world’s greatest traitor, but with the name that was in front of her. All regular protocol went out the window.
Deep in thought, the Time Code managed to catch her eye. It was a large black leather bound book of encyclopedic length resting in the middle of her and every single Desk at Temporal Entertainment Services. The dos and don’ts of Time Travel were listed in a pretty simplistic format. The recently updated version being Volume 16-A had nestled somewhere between the working acknowledgements and table of contents, the greatest myth of the thirtieth century. The official and government approved story, developed by temporal scientists on their down time, went a little something like this: A Constant is a family’s bloodline that exists at any moment in history for at least five centuries. As one moves up the timeline and gets closer to the point when mankind could travel through time, those bloodlines that survived the longest chose to alter the past and use it for their own ancestor’s advantage. Which is why they are remembered, or preserved. Preservation is highly illegal, but incredibly difficult to prove. Sharon knew of not one case that was successful in proving that it even existed.
The myths and legends that followed and seeped into pop culture are even more ridiculous. The notion that anything interesting that has ever happened in history; has some direct correlation to The Constant, just doesn’t make logical sense. Any historian could tell you that wars and inventions happen in order to fill a particular need or purpose. Not due to outside influence of some invisible hand. Even if what the trackers say are true, that they have noticed small variations in the timeline that cannot be explained away. The fact that they occur when these “interesting” events happen is just coincidence. None of that even seems to affect the timeline anyway. Sharon told herself, even if she could prove that this piece of paper held the true identity of The Constant. The timeline remained intact. All the damage that The Constant has reportedly done, is basically meaningless. The rules of time travel are clear. So why bother with the hunt? What’s the end game? To eliminate The Constant could drastically change everything, if such a thing existed in the first place.
The elected leaders of the Temporal Consortium, an unparalleled authority on time travel are themselves obsessive fanatics. In her long-winded career she had physically met them all at the same time, only three times. The finding of The Constant was all they seemed to care about, despite her other concerns. Thanks to more than sixty years of Time Travelling, she knew the rules of the Time Code like the back of her hand. As an executive she frequently worked with the government and scientists to make sure everything runs smoothly. Which meant meeting The Consortium’s almost impossible deadlines. Anyone with any proof about The Constant’s existence, was to send over all research and information to The Consortium, the instant they had it. So just by delaying and thinking about the possible consequences. This illegal tangent, already put her in a bad light with the government. Revealing this name to the Consortium would shake it to its core, if they ended up believing her. Indeed just by sending their boss this name before they sent it to The Consortium, her team was acting in an illegal sense. The Consortium should have also been made aware of their recent developments as soon as she was. So she had to give her team credit. They were probably more confused than she was, and had serious issues with the name that they seemed to have pulled out of a hat. At least they were loyal to a fault, she thought.
If the information she had acquired was accurate and she could prove its conclusion beyond reasonable doubt. One of the most beloved, powerful, and most popular bloodlines in all of existence would be tainted forever. Oh and not to mention tried for crimes against humanity. Indeed, for some reason this particular bloodline wasn’t even on the radar. Only rising her suspicions. She once again forced herself to examine that in which she did believe. Putting aside the possible consequences of delaying and the impact it could have on the world if this all turned out to be true. What other angles were there to this? She started to think about the possibilities that this could be something else entirely. If not a mistake. It all smacked of a setup of misguided desperation. If someone wanted to bring down one of the more prominent families in the world it would be in this manner. If someone wanted to put her company out of business, this certainly would be a way to do so. Did someone want to make this family look bad? Was there a coup brewing under her watch that she didn’t know about? Could it be the start of humanity’s first temporal war? There was always these possibilities. She thought of the Creative types and the Computer nerds. Both would love to get their hands on this information. So that they could use it against the government to spark worldwide revolutions.
She pressed her fingers against her temples to relieve the pressure of foreshadowing so far into the future. Stopping herself she didn’t want to be completely accurate about events to come. Especially since they made her feel so uncomfortable. She knew just the person she had to call to straighten all of this out, and get to the bottom of the mystery. A red button materialized on her desk, near her left hand and she pressed it. “Get me the location of Dorian Black.” A female voice, not unlike her own replied back, “Dorian Black has just arrived back from 1875 with his niece. He’s in the Department of Mistakes.” Perfect she thought. That was just down the hall. As she got up to leave, she took one more foreboding glance at the Time Code, as if expecting it to leap off of her desk and swallow her whole, before heading out the hall.
