Alone

Chapter One

Time on Earth is a relatively simple concept. Days begin with the Sun rising, and it ends with it setting. Everything is linear. There are no fluctuations. Time is mathematical and absolute.

Or rather, it used to be, according to the eggheads now bombarding me with emails. Christ, I haven't even gotten to the office, and I've already received 18 emails from the team, not a single one telling me what is so important that I need to rush in an hour early and miss my regular morning coffee.

I made my way down the road with long strides. In my mind, I began to jot down potential reasons as to why the boffins in the lab wanted me so urgently, and why they CC'd the big bosses into all of the emails. Whatever it was, it must be important, but none of the emails gave away any clues as to what 'it' might be. But then, I couldn't expect many details to be present in an email, especially not about this operation.

I was Frank Smith, an Operational Officer for the Secret Intelligence Service, for the UK. For ten years now, I was the lead agent on a critical operation given to the Science and Technology department. It was my job to conduct reconnaissance regarding potential spies, moles and leaks, as well as collect reports and hand deliver them to the big bosses. In ten years, with no leaks, I reckon I had done an excellent job. The operation was known as Operation Clockwork and had a Top Secret and a Clearance classification. There were only a total of fifteen people in the world that knew this operation was being undertaken.

The further into the building I went, the lower down into the Earth I went, the closer I got to the answer to my question. And as I strode down the hallways, the possibilities were becoming less and less. By the time I reached the door to the laboratory, there was only one explanation.

They had done it.

The doors slid open with a wave of my keycard. Inside was a group of fourteen people. The team of science longhairs and the four big bosses. The four horsemen of the apocalypse. Whenever they were together, things were either very good or very, very bad.

I approached the group, becoming increasingly aware of the bright light and loud whirring noises that were coming from the other side of the people. When the head science officer showed his gleeful face, I almost couldn't believe it. The only way I could convince myself that this was happening was the fact that the scientists wouldn't have dared to drag the bosses down to the sublevels before they even had a chance for their breakfast lobster or whatever people with their kind of money had for breakfast.

"Good! Good! We're all here!" The head scientist was an eccentric man, a real cartoon character. His hair was silver and stuck up in all angles. Large eyes and frazzled hair gave the man a kind of unhinged look. Coupled with his intense gaze of gleefulness, I started to wonder if he was insane.

"Professor Keening, can you fill us in now?" One of the bosses asked, exasperated and tired, "What exactly are we looking at here?"

The small man rushed to stand between the group and the machine, his lab coat flying out behind him. He paused to admire the device before he shook his head as if to compose himself, though it did nothing to make it look as though he was any less uncaged.

"Gentlemen, what you are looking at here is the fruit of Operation Clockwork! You have the pleasure of gazing upon a fully functional Temporal Rift Manipulator!" The mad professor could hardly contain his laughter as he spoke, "You are standing in front of the world's first time machine!"

There were murmurs among the bosses, and all of the science officers stood there with faces beaming with pride. I slipped around the group to get a better look at this time machine.

It looked like something out of a TV show or a low budget movie. It was a small chamber with a sliding door that had a single circular window set into it. Three prongs protruded from the top of the capsule, connected to a coil of wire extending directly from the centre of the top of the chamber. Electricity could be seen travelling down the coil, little balls of light spiralling around the copper coloured metal with high speed. Light strips around the base and the door pulsed a bright cyan. The whole thing was very science-fiction.

"Fully functional suggests you've finished all the tests," I piped up, sceptical of the success, but happy that it seemed to be at least nearing the end of the road.

The professor looked around from the bosses to where I was stood, "Why yes! We have even tested on a human subject!"

Silence fell among the people in the room, leaving only the machine to whir in the background. One of the bosses cleared his throat,

"Human testing?" The man's voice was gruff and deep, what one might expect from an ageing, upper-class government official, "I don't recall authorising any such testing, Professor."

"Aha, well no... you didn't," The professor chuckled, sheepishly, knowing his excitement had gotten the better of him, "We sent one of our own through the Temporal Rift Manipulator. We, heh, we only sent her forward by five minutes and rest assured that it was the tensest five minutes of my life!"

"Tense because you know what would have happened if they hadn't of come back?"
The way the boss had phrased that question and the tone in which they said it with put across a very ominous message. None of the Science and Technology department knew what the consequences of such an action were. I, on the other hand, was told as a part of my initial brief. The details were so harrowing, I remember it clearly, even ten years on...

"If word gets out, or if any of the science team act up, you have permission to silence them," They had said, "Silence them any way you can. Utilise anything at your disposal."

The truth was, I had everything at my disposal. My contract would have allowed me to deploy a cruise missile to dispose of a leak, had the need arisen. A bit overkill if you ask me, but at least I was able to go a decade without using anything like that.

That being said, there was an enormous amount of trust being placed on my shoulders, so I really shouldn't have been surprised by the big bosses turning around and asking me what they were asking me.

"Smith, as the leading agent for this operation,we want you to be the next person to be sent through this machine."

"We're confident you'll be able to complete the operation."

"You will be able to guarantee an early retirement for you by taking this,"

"You'll become a hero,"

I suppose they weren't really asking me. It wasn't as if they gave me much choice in the matter. An extremely risky operation, possibly resulting in my disintegration or vaporisation or something else you'd find in any other Star Trek-esque occasion? That sort of thing wasn't exactly listed in my job description, but I'd be a liar if the idea of being one of the first time travellers didn't intrigue me just a little bit.

"How far are you going to send me?" The question slipped out of my mouth before I had time to process it, the words tumbling from my lips like an overexcited child,

The professor opened his mouth to answer, but closed it again and consoled his team. The lab coats murmured to each other until they all made noises of agreement.

"Smith, how does ten years sound?"

The next thing I know, I'm in the capsule and the door is shutting with a ear-splitting hissing. Inside, the air feels charged. A metallic taste filled my mouth and my neatly cut hair bristled. The whirring was so loud on the inside of the chamber, I couldn't hear a thing that was happening outside in the lab. All I had to go on was the faces of the fourteen people stood behind the control terminals. It was relieving to see that the doctor appeared to have reeled himself in.

Ten years. He tried to figure out what kind of world he might find himself in. Would he land in some paradise? A heavenly utopia? Would he find himself in the midst of a war? Would a totalitarian government be ready to arrest him as soon as he rematerialised?

The air inside the capsule began to feel prickly against my skin and the hissing was joined by an electrical buzzing. The year is 2017. I closed my eyes.

When I open them again, it'll be 2027.

2027...