Year 2047, AlterLab
A scientist is working diligently on a technological experiment.
“Just one slight push. Just one.....” his hands trembled slightly. One of the paper on his desk contained a formulated technology, which can help a person to traverse in different realities of time. It was named as Ether Leap.
He carefully stored an unknown red gem inside the technology and once attached, it generated a stable pure energy of radiant light.
“Haha! Eureka!”, he jumped excitedly. “A perfect model!”
He walked back and watched the machine generate a portal with complete stability.
“Now onto the second stage”, he increased the energy of the machine. Ether energy started to swirl rapidly and the portal inched bigger than before.
“Quick tell me about the Ether stats”
The A.I. Quick responded to his command,
“Ether is stable. 76% link has been established to the designated place. Uniform flow is detected. No irregularities”
“Then we proceed to the third and final stage. Initiate traversing link and a safety pod”, he commanded.
“Initiating jump... Ether has completed the link and is 100% stable”, Quick responded.
The scientist attached an armour of an unknown metal. The armour was slim and looked edgy and sharp.
“Sir what are you wearing?”, Quick asked.
“It's Roshentine, the most durable, light and strong metal. It also has some mystical properties to store energy charge. And I'm going to use it upon the one, who took away something precious from me” , he grimaced.
“This time it shall work”, Quick replied.
“It WILL work!”, he confidently expressed.
“Sir the jump is ready. You can now travel safely”
The man looks up at his sister's photo emotionally before diving inside the Ether Leap.
“No matter how far you are John or which timeline you are in. Now I'll always find you”
He jumped inside and a green lightning filled his lab. The clocks hanging on the walls starts malfunctioning.
All the objects in the room, levitated in the air as the wormhole starts shifting him into another timeline. However, the G-force during the shift was so high that even the most prominent pilot would find it hard to go through.
But thanks to the Roshentine metal, he managed to go through the process harmlessly with a minimal G-force of 0.6 only.
[*G-force is the force you feel under acceleration.]
The shifting ends and he finds himself standing in the Central Park of NYC. He checked his environment and deduced that the experiment was a success. He got out of the Park and headed straight to where John's energy flow was last detected.
“Time to meet you John”, he walked out of the park.
***
At the same time, John let the steady flow of time continue. Everybody inside the office don't remember anything except the fact that they got only one week to complete their project.
“Everything is now back to its original state. You can now talk to everyone”, John took a sigh of relief.
“I hope so”, Kevin said.
Suddenly, Natalie enters the room and found John inside.
“Who is he Kevin?” She walked up to him.
“Ohh. This is John”
“John?” She looked at him suspiciously.
“Uhh. He is here to...to...to apply for the se..security guard position!” Kevin stuttered.
“What is your full name? And may I see your bio data?” She asked John straight-forward.
John then introduces himself.
“Let me introduce myself. My name is John Olson West. I came here from a distant place to get a job in New York. Till now I have found it hard to find any job whatsoever. But Kevin, my best friend told me that a post is available for security guard. So I came here to ask for further information” John calmly stated his intention.
Kevin was surprised to hear John speaking so easily. Natalie looked at Kevin to confirm what John is saying is true or not.
“Yeah. Yeah. That's why he came here”, Kevin aided.
“Fine. Bring your bio data tomorrow. I also need to take permission from my boss. Only then you might have a chance to get this job. Now I want you to leave. We have a very important task to handle”
“Yeah sure. I'll see you later Kevin”, John left the factory.
(“Where is he going now?”) Kevin thought.
“Okay Kevin I came here to ask you for your help to stable the synchronous mode”, she hands him a file regarding the problem.
“What? But I just fixed it moments ago”
“Yes. But it's not syncing anymore with the video recording and the technology”
“It'll be done. Don't take much stress. Just give me a few minutes”, he assured her and immediately begins working on the device.
***
John was walking outside the building thinking of a way to go back to his year to stop Max. But just then he sensed something wrong.
His senses were ringing and without noticing it, an energy wave was released by him. His power was misfiring again. And he has no control over it.
Just then he saw some police cars chasing a van. He immediately followed it. The energy wave flowing from his body caused time to freeze. Everyone is frozen in time as well.
John ran towards the van and saw a young boy crossing the road. The van is on it's way to hit him!
He quickly shifted the boy to a safe area and other civilians from being hit by the van.
Once he managed to do it, the energy flow stopped emanating from his body. He fell on the ground as he got pretty tired from rescuing them. The people started moving again. However the people whom John rescued realised that they were not on the place they were supposed to be. But they dismissed it.
The van goes out of his sight and the police chases after it.
“Guess, I need to seriously work on my powers”, John sighed.
***
Meanwhile, Kevin typed in the algorithm rapidly and inputted the data to clear out the glitch.
“All done!”, Kevin exclaimed in joy.
“I need to inform her now”, he got up from his desk to inform Natalie.
But suddenly he realised that the whole factory is dead silent again. He called out to his co-worker but no one was present.
He called out to Natalie but no reply came back. Kevin headed straight towards her cabin only to find her frozen in time.
He then saw behind her that all of his co-workers are also frozen.
“Okay. It's very creepy!”
“Why everything today is sooo unordinary!?”, he starts searching for John.
“Is John behind all this? But I thought he was a good guy?”
Suddenly, a whizzing sound was heard inside the building and Kevin saw a silhouette of a man approaching. He freaks out.
“Is it you John?”
“How do you know him?”, the man said and it turns out to be the scientist who came from 2047!
“Who are you?”, Kevin asked him.
“I said...HOW DO YOU KNOW HIM?!” The man shouted.
***
Later, John was walking on the footpath when he came across a public T.V. where a news reporter informs the general civilians of the criminals who escaped on the van.
He learns that the group inside the van are robbers and they stole a rare gem. The police chasing them were critically injured and were now taken to the hospital.
The cops lost them but the Chief of Police assures the public and the central museum department that they will soon find them and bring the culprits to justice.
John felt helpless watching the news.
“Had I been able to control my powers completely, I would have stopped them from getting away.”
He thought about it and continued to walk towards the building, where Kevin works.
He waits for Kevin to appear but then he noticed something strange. A fly was stuck in the air, the paper was also hovering in the air. But no movement was detected in them. John recognised it and ran inside the building only to find everyone frozen in time.
He finds Kevin tied on a chair and goes to free him only to be thrown aback by an energy force.
“I'm back Johnny”, the man said and John gets up from the floor.
“Who are you?”
The man removes his mask and comes in the light to reveal his face. John after recognising him is shocked.
******