Looped (Book One: The Time Effect Series)

PROLOGUE

The air in the lab was stale; the lights bright; the moment tense.

People in pristine white lab coats shuffled around, clutching tablets to their chest. Some hadn't slept for days, nearly toppling over one another to get to their stations. Today was an important day for them. Today was the most important day for them. One particular doctor pushed his way through the crowd, swiping his finger across a holographic tablet screen. He checked and double checked a slew of numbers he had checked and double checked for the past few months.

Shining metal instruments littered the passage ways around him, some being carted off to specific stations. The doctor didn't need anything else. He had set everything up for his evaluation months before. His brain was seemingly a million places at once, covering every possible contingency that could occur within the next hour. He almost didn't notice the woman that shoved him, and ducked into her station, the automatic doors sliding closed, and she locked the door behind her. He turned left down a less crowded corridor, and continued until he reached his own doors. They opened and shut silently behind him.

"Good morning Doctor Stone," the AI system greeted him kindly in a woman's voice.

"Good morning, Violet," he replied absentmindedly, "dim the lights would you?"

The lighting instantly darkened a few shades, making electronic lights from various machines a more noticeable soft shade of blue. Doctor Stone walked over to a tabletop littered with various tablets and sheets of paper. He was the only person to his knowledge that still used paper in his work. It proved to be a laughing point for others in the lab, but he didn't mind. He liked the feel of it, even if it wasn't made from the trees he had read about in a book once.

A section from the wall to his right opened up and something hovered over to him.

"Your seat, Doctor," Violet said.

"Thank you," Stone said sitting down, the chair forming to the contours of his body. He wondered if anybody else had named their AI system the way he had.

"Are you nervous Doctor Stone?" Violet asked.

"Not in the least, Violet," Stone said, grabbing a few papers and scanning their contents. There was no response from the AI system for a moment.

"You're lying," Violet replied.

Stone chucked slightly and nodded, not looking up from his papers. He checked the time. Some of the other doctors in the facility had already begun evaluations. He still had another half hour. He let out a deep breath, and rubbed his temples in clockwise motions, then counterclockwise.

"They should be here by now Violet," he said.

As soon as he said this, there was a slight knock at the doors. Through the glass he could see two soldiers, their uniforms a mix of black and dark gray. Their faces were rough, and their expressions harsh. Behind them, he could make out something metallic reflecting the bright light from the hallway.

"They are here, Doctor," Violet said.

Stone rose from his seat, and walked briskly to the door. Upon his arrival, they opened, and the light from the hallway infiltrated his dim workroom.

"Doctor Stone?" the soldier on the right asked, his weapon clutched close to his chest. Stone nodded in response, his attention fixated on the long metal capsule behind the two.

"Would you scan for your subject, sir?" the other asked, although it didn't sound too much like a question. Again, the doctor nodded. The soldier pulled out a small metallic disk, which in turn Doctor Stone placed his hand upon. The disk grew warm at his touch, and after a few moments, emitted a soft green glow in the shape of his hand.

"Thank you, sir," they both said, saluted, and walked away, leaving the metal capsule hovering above the ground. He gazed at it for a second. He had been observing its contents for the past year, but only by means of computer transmissions. He stepped to the side, and it floated gently inside his lab, past his desk, past the soft blue glow of all of his equipment, and into a circular room in the center of his lab he only used once a year. This was that time.

"Good luck, Doctor Stone," Violet said, snapping him out of his trance.

He simply nodded, not sure he could speak, his throat was suddenly so dry. He walked over to the circular room, passing through an electromagnetic door. As soon as he entered, the dark room lit up, revealing the capsule. It had fixated itself in the center of the room. He walked slowly over, running his hand over the cool surface until he found the small indentation near the top. He applied pressure, and the top section of the capsule slid away, revealing its contents.

His hair was curly, and a light shade of brown, his eyes closed, an expression of peace plastered upon his face. He was clothed in all white, his arms lay gently by his side. His mind flashed back to the day hen he was assigned to his subject. He was new in the lab, so his excitement had been higher than the others who had many subjects before this one. The Assignment Crew had shown up that day to his lab, and issued him a small metallic prism. Once he had laid it on his desk, it lit up with the files regarding his subject.

He knew it was unprofessional to get emotionally invested in the subjects, but he had been so fascinated with the boy, and his circumstances-how he had been separated from his family, had his memory erased, and replaced with false ones, and was brought back into the past like his countless ancestors before him. He had grown up believing he was in the time period he was supposed to be in, when in fact, he should be millennia in the future.

He suddenly realized how close his evaluation was, and quickly averted his attention.

"Violet, how much time do we have?" he asked.

"2 minutes until transmission," Violet replied, "would you like me to bring up the transmission screen, Doctor?"

Stone nodded and cleared his throat. One section of the circular wall lit up with an image of the room. Stone stared at himself, fixing his hair, coat and tie. He made some last minute checkups on the subject, and by the time he was done, the image on the wall disappeared, replaced with the words:

TRANSMISSION REQUESTED

"Approve transmission," he said, and the words on the screen were removed, replaced with another image. There were five individuals seated around a clear table in elegant dresses and suits. Doctor Stone took a deep breath.

"Good morning, Council," he said.

"Good morning, Doctor Stone," the woman at the center of the table said, "please proceed."

He nodded, and moved to the back of the room, placing a hand on the opposite wall of the transmission. It lit up with the current vital signs of his subject, and his brain waves compared to those of the current individuals in his time period.

"As you can see, the current brain usage of Ma-"

"The subject," the woman on the transmission interrupted him before Stone could call the subject by name. He knew it was unethical to call them by name unless they were approved by The Council.

"Right. The subject's brain activity is exponentially larger than those of the people of his surroundings."

Doctor Stone continued on, revealing to The Council the actions of the subject in the past year. He knew that it was up to him to convince them that his subject was a success.

"I believe that my subject is ready for Harvest," Doctor Stone said at the end of his presentation. He had broken a nervous sweat, and wiped his forehead with the back of his palm.

The Council looked at one another, and a sense of understanding passed through them.

"Very well," the woman said.

"Max Creswell, of the Creswell lineage, is hereby activated."