A Forgotten Power
A BonePunk + Time Travel story by GlennKoerner
Chapter 01: Things of Old
As the atomic bonds were nullified, the stone wall simply ceased to exist, vanishing from sight as it lost all substance. Alexis stepped through the newly created opening, slapping the round disk of an atmospheric field emitter on what was left of the rock wall in passing. The field emitter beeped once before projecting a transparent barrier across the opening. Composed of green energy, the field was covered in a hexagonal pattern of more intensely colored light, blocking the toxins in the air from following Alexis into the cave.
Even with the outside air blocked, Alexis kept the breathing mask over her nose and mouth. Since the air outside wasn't corrosive, her platinum blonde hair had been left uncovered, sticking off the back of her scalp in a spiky ponytail. Her brown eyes, safe behind her goggles, looked over the cave and read the sensor report printing itself on the interior of her lenses.
In a depression on the far wall, a pedestal of stone held a strange item. As Alexis examined the square object, she remembered historical records from previous centuries. Before neural access circuitry had been invented, humanity kept information in what they'd called books. Although it looked similar to the images she was able to access through her cranial implant, numerous objects had been affixed to the cover. The sensors in her goggles identified them as bones, and as she tightened the focus, she was able to see diminutive symbols etched into the bone in intricate detail.
The cave and the book it held were ancient, and Alexis couldn't make sense of why the bones hadn't turned to dust after so many centuries. She carefully reached out and opened the book. The pages were yellowish and warped, crackling slightly as she turned them. The script scratched into the book was of an old language, but records of it existed in the data archives, instantly being accessed by her cranial implant in order for the translation to overlay on her goggles' lenses. It was a bizarre read as the author spoke of bones as if they held a power unknown by anyone else. Deciding it was worth investigating further, even if the book held no value beyond being a well-preserved relic from a past era, Alexis placed the book in the sealed environment of her backpack before leaving the now empty cave, retrieving her field emitter on the way out.
As she drew closer to the surface, the toxins in the atmosphere increased in concentration, tinting the air with a dense fog of pale brown. Alexis had her hands on the laser pistols strapped to either side of her hip as she emerged from the caves. Mutants, tech thieves, bio-raiders, and scum too lawless to live within the city prowled the polluted realm beyond the wall. There weren't many who could exist outside the wall for long, but those who managed to survive were always hostile when encountered.
Fortunately, Alexis found her flight pod sitting alone nearby. Bullet shaped with a pure black canopy covering the upper half of the craft, only a faint outline showed where the door was located on the gray hull of glossy smooth metal. As she approached, the internal scanner of the pod recognized her as the owner, sliding open the side door and drawing back the canopy to allow her to climb into the single seat surrounded by controls and display projectors.
The instant the door closed and canopy resealed around her, the air purifiers went to work, clearing the toxins from the atmosphere and venting them to the outside. She brought the engines to life, a deep hum vibrating around her as the pod lifted from the ground. The projectors activated on her console, creating transparent display screens for the different ship systems. The canopy created an exterior image on its curved surface, but because the picture was from the sensors and not a visual system, the obscuring fog was removed, allowing her to see the cracked and desolate landscape for miles in all directions.
Instead of going directly back to the city, Alexis decided to make a quick stop elsewhere on her way. Flicking a hand across one of the motion sensitive controls, she changed the original course and directed her pod toward a new location. The vehicle turned smoothly in mid-air to adjust to her alterations. Moving her hand forward when over the throttle, she accelerated her ship to tremendous speed.
Still within view of the fortified wall of the city, and the glowing dome of the atmospheric field, Alexis set her flight pod down in the ruins of a much older city, abandoned years ago due to war, poisonous gas, or spreading mutations. Alexis didn't know or care about the reasons. It didn't really matter anymore. The city's end had been violent and abrupt, leaving the towering skyscrapers to decay with age and neglect. Windows not broken into jagged shards had been caked with years of dust and grime, turning them opaque.
Alexis made sure her facemask was secure before opening the pod to the outside world. The street where she'd landed was cracked and brittle. Had the atmosphere allowed plant growth, it would've been sticking up through the fissures. Heading to the rear of the pod, she accessed a small storage compartment. Essentially an environmentally controlled drawer, the storage unit slit out with the faintest hiss of its mechanics before the lid opened, allowing in the toxic air.
Searching the nearby buildings and wrecked vehicles yielded results almost instantly. Bones of the former citizens had been left where the bodies had fallen during the collapse of the city. If she was going to put the book she'd found to any kind of real test, she'd need bones, and since everything within the dome was recycled, outside was the only available source. The bones and skulls clattered hollowly together as she loaded them into the storage container.
A sensor beeped twice at her as an overhead map switched on in the upper corner of her lens' projected data screen. Overlaid on the map were a dozen red indicators, each of them moving toward her location. Alexis had been noticed by the locals, and they were coming for her.
Chapter 02: Natives of Decay
Alexis quickened her pace, rushing to finish. The bones were dusty and old, but the exterior surfaces of her gloves were composed of an adaptive nanoweave. Based upon the pressure her fingers exerted on the inside of the glove, the weave adjusted in order to maximize grip strength and prevent anything from slipping out of her hands. Similarly, when pressure on the interior of the glove lessened, the fibers released so as to prevent objects needing to be released from sticking permanently to her hand.
Having kept an eye on the movements of the locals, Alexis had thought she'd enough time to collect a few more specimens, but new blips began to appear, and they were far closer. She realized some of the denizens of the destroyed city must've been stationary inside the ruined buildings and only now were their movements allowing them to be detected by her sensors.
Abandoning the intent of taking anything else, she raced back toward the pod, dumping the last of her collection in the storage chamber and closing it. A burst of brown tinted air erupted from the flight pod as the interior atmosphere of the storage chamber was purified and the toxins vented.
A metal lid in the street moved aside, years of accumulated dirt spilling off in a billowing cloud of lifeless grey. Knowing she wouldn't have time to power up her craft before whatever was emerging in the street reached her, Alexis drew out the laser pistols holstered on either side of her waist. The old sewer lid landed on the broken street with a resounding clang. The shape that emerged had been human once but no longer.
Ribbons of muscle tissue covered the misshapen skeleton in uneven patterns, making the left arm and shoulder much larger and bulkier than those on the right. Spurs of bone jutted forward from its exposed ribcage. The fingers on its right hand were nearly as long as its forearm, giving the mutant an extended reach. Only a few wisps of long hair remained on its lumpy scalp, hanging limply like seaweed on an ancient shipwreck. The eyes of the creature were pale yellow and glowed slightly in the toxic fog.
Alexis clenched her jaw as she opened fire with both pistols. Bolts of bright blue light filled the air and impacted in bursts of white hot sparks. It took more than ten shots to put the brute down, each one staggering it back but refusing to be enough to finish it off. Finally, the mutant collapsed, and Alexis added several more shots to be certain it was dead.
Efforts had been made during the earlier years to cure the mutants, but all of them had ended in failure. No hope existed for those warped by the outside world. Even the criminals exiled from the city would eventually suffer the same fate, their bodies twisted beyond recognition as their minds descended into madness. A quick death was the only mercy she could offer them.
Despite her initial success, the delay it caused had been enough for the other residents to close into range. They charged her position with stealthy steps and silent determination. Unlike the mutant she'd dispatched, these swift attackers were not transformed yet. Bio-raiders attacked anyone and everyone, carving up any available biological tissue they could use to enhance or repair their own failing bodies and prevent the mutation from taking them for as long as possible. They worked with a collective purpose during attacks, but would quickly turn against each other once a kill had been secured as all of them were in a race against the inevitable.
As they emerged from the fog, Alexis got a view of them. Many of the bio-raiders were attired differently, leftovers from the people they'd once been, but a common theme was shared by all. Hooded robes cloaked them in darkness while enhanced optical goggles over their eyes glinted slightly red in the shadow of their hoods, making their sudden appearance from the fog the stuff of nightmares. Gleaming blades were carried in both hands as more sophisticated weaponry and equipment didn't last long in the hostile environment and technologically deficient realm outside the dome.
Alexis fired repeatedly, moving around her flight pod to keep some kind of barrier between her and the incoming raiders. She knew of some people in the city who'd had artificial muscle implants linked with their optical relays, allowing instant coordination between where they looked and where they aimed their weapons, but she'd spent enough time outside the atmospheric field to not need it. Every shot she fired found its mark, kicking over backwards a raider in an explosion of sparks, the toxic clouds closing over their remains and vanishing them from sight.
The charge on her lasers went empty, and she put the expended guns away. Reaching behind her back for a pair of crossed holsters, Alexis drew out two plasma pistols. Firing spherical charges of superheated plasma, the pistols lit the surrounding area with bright red light. Bio-raiders hit by the plasma were set on fire around the point of impact, but none of them could feel it as they were instantly killed.
As the numbers of raiders began to diminish, the intensity of their attack waned. Many of them simply halted their charge and drifted back into the fog. The blips on Alexis' map display showed they hadn't departed, waiting silent and still beyond her visual range. New marker blips began to appear on her goggles' optical lenses, and Alexis knew why the attacks had stopped. The raiders were waiting for reinforcements before continuing.
Alexis climbed into the flight pod, resting her plasma pistols on the control console where she could reach them if necessary. Powering up the ship, she kept a nervous eye on the approaching blips, nearly twice the number of the first group, hoping she would be gone before they arrived.
Chapter 03: Home City
The flight pod surged into the air as Alexis applied full thrust. She was slammed back into her seat and the plasma pistols she'd rested on the control console clattered to the floor. On the shipboard sensor screen, a hologram of the barren city below showed the bio-raiders closing in on those who'd been killed. She knew they were going to salvage the dead for usable organics, fighting like mindless savages over scraps.
She switched off the holographic screen so as to not think too much about what was about to happen down there. Focusing her attention on the flight home, she wondered if her venture into the ruins would prove to be a fool's errand or not. She shook her head when she thought about how she'd risked her life over a pile of bones just because some old book had made the claim they had some kind of hidden power no science had ever discovered before.
Alexis decided not to tell her partner about the bones and dispose of them quietly when no one was looking. Once the book was logged in as an artifact, he would be too busy to notice her clearing out the storage compartment in the pod.
Jaz had been working with her over the past year, cataloging various artifacts found in the ruins of civilization. During the time when the atmospheric fields were first being established, mass panic had led to much information being lost or forgotten in the scramble to find shelter from the toxins spreading out across the globe. Sifting through the remnants of a fallen society to find pieces and put them back into use had been the job of Alexis and Jaz, but relevant finds had been diminishing as either time or environment took their toll on what remained.
Her thought process returned to the bone covered book she'd retrieved. She knew it was possible the book had survived for so long because of its isolation in the cave. The rock walls could've kept out the toxins and prevented the book's decay, but she wondered about the power mentioned in the book, the power within bones. Many ancient societies had covered themselves with bones or skulls for one reason or another. They'd always been seen as primitive or superstitious. She'd never considered the possibly they'd known something more than modern science.
Alexis shook her head as the train of thought had once more led her to consider the ridiculous idea as credible. Two parts of her mind were at opposing ends of the concept. One side considered the suggestion of bone as a power source to be utterly absurd, and anyone who thought otherwise was probably insane in some manner. The other side of her mind viewed the book from a purely scientific perspective, and until it was proven false with actual research, she must allow for the possibility of the book being correct. She decided the only way she was going to have peace of mind was to do the research and find out.
A hatch, mounted below where the wall and atmospheric field connected, held overlapping metal panels, and they changed position to iris open at her approach, allowing her to fly into the airlock beyond. The panels moved back again to close the hatch behind her. A pair of curved plates raised out of the floor on twin support arms to perfectly capture the flight pod in a cylindrical embrace. Orange light illuminated on the exterior of the plates and support arms as the electronic connections were made between the airlock chamber and flight pod.
Once the atmosphere within the airlock was cleansed, Alexis waved the index and middle finger of her right hand over the control switch to detach the airlock module from the wall of the city. With her flight pod sending its piloting signals to the engines mounted underneath the module, Alexis was able to fly the square building section away from the city's edge and toward the research center where she worked.
Everything in modern construction was of similar, modular design. Rooms and floors were detachable and flight capable in order to restructure and reshape buildings and the entire city on an as needed basis. Renovating or replacing buildings within the limited space of the dome could be accomplished swiftly with nothing more than a removal of obsolete modules and the flying in of new ones. As a result, many of the buildings had only a central core with docking latches and elevators while all relevant spaces were contained in the modules latching onto the structure and to each other.
Alexis flew past several towers belonging to the more influential and wealthy citizens. Each tower was capped by a saucer shaped platform. Under the glass dome of each saucer were remnants of the old world, gardens with trees and flowers existing nowhere else in the world. She wondered idly what it must be like to rest under the shade of a tree while watching the tranquil ripples of the artificial pond. Alexis smiled humorlessly as she knew such things wouldn't be available to her or anyone else at her income level.
The research building was in the eastern half of the downtown district. It was near the industrial zone, but anything noxious produced by the factories was pumped outside through a series of reinforced pipes so as to not pollute the environment within the atmospheric field.
A number of square modules were already locked in placed around the central spire, but she found a space and initiated an auto-docking program to secure the airlock she piloted into the building. A slight thump registered as the airlock linked with the building. Leaving the flight pod, Alexis glanced at the cargo compartment, considering again if she was being rational in bringing the bones back with her.
Ignoring the nagging doubts, Alexis departed for the examination lab two floors down. It was time to put the claims of the book to the test and end the debate in her head.
Chapter 04: Discovery
The examination room was filled with sensors and testing equipment of nearly every variety. Powerful microscopes, connected to holographic display screens hanging from the ceiling, were situated on nearly every one of the five work tables in the room. Smooth plastic of flawless white, the work tables were crowded with energy resonance scanners, three dimensional atomic structure analyzers, and molecular dispersion tubes capable of breaking down any substance into its component elements. Composed of synthetic neural tissue, glowing blue synaptic cabling stretched between the computers and equipment for high speed interface and control.
Alexis walked through the collection of scientific technology toward the one man in the room. Even hunched over a computer readout, Jaz was still nearly a foot taller than her. Most people who worked at the research facility didn't even measure as high as his shoulder. The tan hair on his scalp had been shaved down to the skin on the left side to clear the area around the disk shaped interface built into his skull near the temple. His white lab coat was sleeveless, showing off synthetic arms of glossy black from the shoulders down.
Jaz didn't seem to notice her entrance, working with rapt attention on his latest project. The fingers of his synthetic hands worked faster than humanly possible, becoming a blur of motion as he typed on the control pad in front of him. His work speed was too quick for his organic vision to keep up, so the computer interface plugged into his skull buffered the information and distributed it to his mind at a rate of speed he could comprehend.
Finishing the input on the computer, Jaz looked up and noticed Alexis standing nearby.
"Progress?" she asked.
"Nearly," he answered. "I'm certain there's a way to modulate the energy output to increase focusing capacity. The computer is running simulations based on my latest equations. It should be done soon."
"Good," Alexis praised. She removed her pack and extracted the bone covered book from it, handing it over to Jaz. "While we wait, have a look at this."
"Interesting," Jaz mused. He spent a few moments examining the etched bones on the cover before opening the book and flipping through a number of pages at random. "I'm surprised something so clearly ancient has survived to modern times."
"You're not the only one," Alexis agreed. "Any idea as to how?"
"We'll find out," he promised. He took the book over to one of the far worktables and placed it under the glowing green arch of a high resolution scanner. The machine hummed softly as it worked, passing a beam of intense emerald color over the book several times before it finished.
Jaz frowned while looking at the information manifesting on the scanner's built-in display screen.
"What's wrong?" Alexis questioned.
"See for yourself," Jaz answered. He pressed a button on the scanner, transferring the sensor report to one of the hologram projectors in the ceiling. The information appeared as hovering words of transparent light.
"Low level energy readings," Alexis read aloud. She looked toward Jaz. "Where's the energy coming from?"
"How should I know?" Jaz asked in return. "You hand me a book, and this is what I find."
"What about those bones on the cover?" Alexis suggested. "Are they concealing a hidden power cell?"
Jaz typed a few instructions into the scanner's control pad and waited while the sensors examined the book a second time in closer detail.
"There it is," Jaz announced. "The energy readings are coming from the bones."
"So, the bones are hiding a power cell," Alexis concluded. She wondered what kind of a person would waste perfectly usable energy cells by hiding them in a book buried underground.
"No," Jaz denied. "They're reading as entirely organic. They're just bone, all the way through."
"Where's the power coming from then?" Alexis insisted.
"You tell me," Jaz replied. He pressed a control on the scanner, and the light emitting from the primary sensors shifted from green to silver. The bones on the cover of the book also changed color, becoming illuminated in shifting waves of violet light. "There's your energy. As you can clearly see, it isn't coming from the book or anywhere else. The bones themselves are powered in some way. Don't ask me to explain it because it's the strangest thing I've ever seen."
"When I found the book, I opened it and read some of the information inside," Alexis told him. "The book explains about a natural power contained in bones."
"Seriously?" Jaz questioned.
"You can clearly see it for yourself," Alexis reminded, gesturing toward the glowing bones under the scanner. Taking a deep breath, she plunged ahead before she could think better of it. "I collected some bones from the ruins. Why don't we test them and find out if the book is accurate."
"We might as well," Jaz agreed to the relief of Alexis who hadn't been looking forward to arguing the point.
The bones she'd retrieved were quickly brought in to the examination room and put under the scanner first to be certain no energy fields were present beforehand; none were detected.
Alexis turned a few pages in the book and found a reference to controlled lightning. She had the computer scan the page before a robotic arm descended from the ceiling to laser etch the appropriate symbols on one of the smaller bones. She and Jaz took the completed bone into the next room.
Filled with absorbent padding and enhanced energy shielding to lessen noise, explosive blasts, and other hazards to the surrounding facility, the testing chamber was otherwise entirely empty. Jaz stood near the door while Alexis was a few paces further in. Remembering the instructions from the book, she held the bone in both hands and pushed with her thumbs in the middle to snap the bone away from her.
A flash green of light emanated from the carved symbols on the bone an instant before a bolt of lightning erupted from the broken ends of the bone, striking the far wall hard enough to shake the room.
Alexis was so startled, she dropped the bone fragments and stumbled backwards. Jaz was in an equally stunned state, his jaw hanging open. When the initial surprise wore off, Alexis only had one question on her mind.
"I wonder what else is in that book."
Chapter 05: Ancient Author
"Considering the power we've already unleashed, and the potential still stored within the information of the book, I would advise caution with the next tests," Jaz warned as he and Alexis returned to the examination room.
"Why?" Alexis questioned. "We've discovered something that's been lost to the world for centuries."
"It was lost on purpose," Jaz replied. "Someone who knew all about the power contained therein buried the book in a cave rather than continue using it. Maybe they thought it too dangerous or powerful to be safe. Maybe there are side effects. We have no idea what we're dealing with, but the last person to own that book buried it. Perhaps we should defer to their greater knowledge."
"Do you want to put the book back?" Alexis asked
"No," Jaz denied with a shake of his head. "I don't think the book is dangerous by itself because it sat in that empty cave for all these years without causing trouble in the surrounding area. I just don't think we should proceed with further experiments until we have a better idea what the full impact will be. We need to analyze the energy of the bones and sensor readings from the test chamber to find out if there are any negatives to unleashing this unique form of power."
"Alright," Alexis agreed. "You study all collected data so far, and I'll page through the book and see if there are any notes."
Jaz nodded his acceptance and turned toward one of the lab table computers to begin his research. When Alexis spoke up, he swiveled around to face her.
"One thing," Alexis mentioned. "I think we should keep the existence of the book a secret."
"What for?" Jaz inquired. "I would've thought you'd want credit for its discovery."
"Normally, I would," she admitted. "However, I'm sure there are many in this city and this world who would see the book and its contained knowledge as a one way ticket to power. If we want to prevent the possible negatives you suggested, we'll have to make sure they don't learn about it in some manner, or they're sure to come and claim it."
"I see," Jaz responded. "Good idea."
As Jaz returned to his computer, Alexis sat down at a different work table to begin her own inspection of the book. She turned the pages carefully as the material crackled with the movement and Alexis was concerned she might accidentally destroy the information before being able to use it. Deciding to take precautions, she used a portable scanner to record each page into computerized format. She kept the files in a computer not connected to the network either directly or by transmitter, so the only people who would have access to the stored data would be either her or Jaz.
The information contained in the book was staggering in its variety and use. Putting on her goggles to translate the ancient script, she read entries on how to utilize the energy in powdered bone. Each page had a series of symbols along the top, followed by a detailed description of what they accomplished when carved onto bone. Alexis discovered the use of different bones for the same set of symbols altered the resulting effect to various degrees.
Alexis found an entry regarding preservation abilities, and a quick check of the bones on the cover showed it to be the same, telling her how the book had remained intact for so long. She wondered what else they could be used to preserve and for what duration. Putting the question to the back of her mind, she continued her search.
She read many items of interest, most notable were a few relating to the control of time. Alexis was fascinated and read every word. According to the book, the bone power could pause time around her, letting Alexis continue to behave normally while everything else was frozen in the span of a single nanosecond. Another recorded the information necessary to either accelerate or reverse time. Small variations were added for adjusting the range and speed of the area effected.
Excitement filled her as Alexis felt compelled to try a few experiments relating to time manipulation. Jaz's earlier words of caution came back to her mind, quelling most of her enthusiasm with the chilling uncertainty of why the previous owner had hidden such knowledge instead of using it.
Ignoring the remaining listings of powers and abilities, Alexis began flipping through the book at an even faster rate, looking for answers. Three quarters of the way through the thick tome, the instructional section ended, leaving page after page completely blank. She was beginning to wonder if the author had simply died between writing sessions and had been unable to return to the book, but the following page ended her speculation with a journal entry. It was written in the same ancient script as the rest of the text, so her goggles were able to translate it with equal ease.
The author had left a recording of his life after discovering the hidden power within bones. Alexis was transfixed, reading every word with unwavering attention. Each successful experiment and learned ability, sparking her own imagination as to how they could be used in her day.
"Jaz," Alexis called out. "Take a look at this."
Her research partner left his desk at her request and joined Alexis at hers. "What is it?"
"Apparently, an ancient shaman was the author," Alexis explained. "He tried to use the newly discovered abilities to help his tribe, but it only worked for a time."
"What happened?" Jaz prompted.
"Rebellion," Alexis answered, tapping the appropriate line of text when she found it. Reading along, she related the information to him. "Others wanted the power for themselves and tried to take it. The resulting war destroyed the entire tribe."
"Well, at least we know why the book was sealed away," Jaz stated.
"I don't think so," Alexis countered. She flipped through half a dozen more pages covered in writing at the back of the book. "A lot more happened before the end."
"The question is what," Jaz commented and Alexis found herself in total agreement.
Chapter 06: Resolve
Alexis quickly scanned the written text, trying to skim as much as possible without missing anything important. She read aloud anything she found of significance.
"It says here the shaman tried to guide another village," she told Jaz. Turning the page, she continued. "He failed. He tried again and again."
Alexis began flipping through the book, and a familiar and horrid pattern began repeating.
"Nothing he does ever changes anything," Alexis said in frustration, pushing her chair back from the book. "Sooner or later, he was always challenged by those who either doubted his power was real or knew it was real and wanted it for themselves. No matter what, he couldn't get them to follow his guidance and use the power wisely. Death and destruction were always the result of the ensuing confrontation."
She turned to the end of the book and examined the final entry. Her heart sank and a tightness in her throat made it difficult to tell Jaz what she'd found.
"It would seem the final time he tried," she managed to say, "the fight with the locals resulted in the death of his son. Afterwards, he vowed to lock the book away in the hopes the knowledge might one day be rediscovered and used for the benefit of all. He gave up."
Her final words had been only a whisper. She took off her goggles, and they clattered against the desk as she dropped them.
"I doubt we'd have any better success," Jaz lamented. "We're already having to hide the book from those we know will abuse its power for their own ends."
She thought about the people in her time. Corrupt politicians and mega-corporation CEO's bypassed the law and got away with anything. They preyed upon the weak and the defenseless for profit, not caring about the lives being ruined as long as it was not their own. Her mind turned toward the polluted skies and toxic clouds smothering the city, another byproduct of shortsighted people doing as they pleased without regard to the consequences. Victims of bio-raiders outside the walls continued to add to the final death toll caused by the poisoned air. Those who'd become mutated, exiled beyond the wall to a horrid existence and an unpleasant death, were in the hundreds of thousands.
The sympathy she'd been feeling over the shaman losing his son turned to rage, white hot and boiling. The world had suffered for centuries at the hands of those who thought they were beyond the reach of anyone. The shaman's son was simply one of them. It had to stop, and she knew how.
Alexis rested her elbows on the arms of her chair, folding her hands and staring across the mountainous landscape of her knuckles at the book beyond. The shaman had been holding back, trying to guide rather than command. She considered a more direct approach might be required.
"Maybe it's for the best if the knowledge stays forgotten," Jaz suggested.
"Ridiculous," Alexis denied. Her gaze was fixed upon the book and the power it held. "It just needs to be in the right hands."
"Whose hands are those?" Jaz prompted. His brow furrowed with concern when he saw the intensity of her stare and the direction where it was aimed.
"Someone with the knowledge of what is to come," Alexis answered. "And someone with the resolve to do whatever is necessary to prevent it from happening."
"Are you suggesting yourself?" Jaz queried.
"Why not?" Alexis questioned. She looked toward Jaz. "You object?"
"You've read for yourself what happens when this power is used," he reminded. "Uprisings, war, and death are the results over and over again. You can't expect different results; the foolsih humans you deal with will be the same kind the shaman faced, and he failed. Humanity isn't ready for this power."
"How many years do you think humanity has left?" Alexis snapped. She pointed to the nearest wall. "Look outside! Our world is dead. Those with power and wealth still live good lives, but those shouldering the burdens of maintaining everything die every day and no one even seems to notice or care. How many murderers have escaped this years alone simply because the victims couldn't afford investigative insurance? How many have died from disease or toxins because they never had access to a private hospital?"
"I know the system isn't perfect," Jaz deflected, holding up his hands defensively.
"The system is broken," Alexis cut in. "The whole world is broken. We have a chance to do something about it."
"No matter how much power that book holds, you couldn't collect enough bones to do anything with it," Jaz denied. "The mega-corporations have military androids, surveillance bots, laser guns, and plasma tanks capable of fending off an army. Even the ability to throw lightning wouldn't be enough to even make a dent."
"True," Alexis admitted. "I couldn't fight them directly. They've had too long to dig in and establish themselves. Whatever I threw at them, they could match it easily with strength to spare."
"Now you're being sensible," Jaz said with a sigh.
"The book tells how to manipulate time," she informed him. Jaz's eyes widened. "Since I can't fight them here, I'll just have to go to a different time when I can."
The corner of her mouth curled up ever so slightly in a smile.
"This is crazy," Jaz denied. "You need to put that book back where you found it."
"No," Alexis countered. "I'm going to use the book to the fullest extent. There's no point in fighting over this world as it's already done for. I need to go back before those poisonous seeds took root and stop them there. This dying world won't be the fate of mankind because I'm going to use the bones' power to control time in order to rewrite all of history."
Chapter 07: A Look Forward
"You can't be serious," Jaz said with a horrified expression on his face. "If you start messing with the timeline, you could make things worse."
"How much worse can they get?" Alexis demanded.
"I'd say extinction is worse," Jaz pointed out. "Things may not be good here, but at least we're alive."
"A temporary condition at best," Alexis countered. "Those in power don't know how things work. They couldn't repair the city systems if their lives depended on it. Workers get sick and die all the time. What happens when there are none to replace them? The upper class will survive only until the lower classes die off or become too sick to do the work. The whole system is going to collapse. If you don't agree, why don't we put it to the test?"
"What do you have in mind?" Jaz asked.
"Let's use one of the bones I brought back and open a window into the future," Alexis suggested. "We can have a look at what is to come, and we'll both see for ourselves if it's worth changing."
"Alright," Jaz relented after a silent moment of consideration. "We'll need a security field established to keep anything from the other timeline from coming into ours."
"Good idea," Alexis agreed. "You can set that up while I find the right inscription to put on the bone."
Jaz returned to his work station, but he kept the occasional, wary eye on Alexis as she scanned the ancient text. Accessing the internal systems for the room, he created a spherical force field around the empty exam table at the back of the room. He transferred the controls to a handheld unit he retrieved from the bottom drawer of his desk and switched off the energy barrier until needed.
Leaving the computer for the moment, he opened an access panel on the wall and removed a trio of crystalline disks with golden wires suspended within them. The disks glowed bright white until disconnected, turning dark almost instantly.
Alexis found the information she required and input all the relevant information into the computer for it to begin the automated laser etching of the femur she placed under the emitter array. The red beam quickly burned the appropriate markings on the ancient piece of organic material. When the process was complete, she placed the bone on the rear table.
"How do you activate it?" Jaz asked her.
"The inscription isn't complete," Alexis informed him. "I left off one line in order to have it not automatically open the time window before we're ready. Do we have sensors ready to take detailed scans?"
"Yes," Jaz confirmed. "I've taken the precaution of disconnecting all network access in and out of the room. No one will see this but us."
"Excellent," she praised. "Let's have a look into the future."
Retrieving a laser scalpel from her desk, Alexis took careful aim and applied the last line to the marks already in place upon the bone. The symbols transformed from black burn marks to glowing blue glyphs. The femur cracked in the center of its upper most surface, golden light shooting straight upward in a two foot tall column.
Jaz was so surprised by the occurrence, he almost forgot to turn on the shield. He pressed the activation switch in his hand, and the field encompassed the table and bone in a transparent bubble of iridescent energy.
"What are the scanners picking up?" Alexis queried.
"Not much," Jaz replied after activating a readout hologram, the projected information hovering in the air nearby. "I can tell where the city used to be, but sensor readings would seem to indicate it's been exposed to the atmosphere for at least twenty or thirty years."
"Any life form readings?" Alexis asked.
"None," Jaz reported. He adjusted the motion sensitive, virtual controls under the sensor readout. "Expanding search radius. Still nothing. Extending sensor range to maximum. No life signs detected."
"It seems the bio-raiders lost their fight against time," Alexis mused.
"It looks like everyone did," Jaz observed. "How far in the future is this?"
"Approximately two hundred years," Alexis answered. "So, sometime in the next hundred seventy or hundred eighty years, the city is going to be destroyed. I suppose it might've happened sooner, but we know the barrier dome fails somewhere around that time and lets in the outside air."
Jaz tor his gaze from the holographic displays, nausea churning his stomach. When he looked away, he noticed something else.
"Alexis," Jaz said suddenly. "Look at the bone."
She focused her attention on the laser etched femur and noticed a change. The ends had turned a dull black as if burnt, and the darkness was slowly spreading inwards toward the middle of the bone. As the burned section passed each glowing symbol, they went dark, and the intensity of the golden light of the time window dimmed slightly.
"I think the power is being used up," Alexis theorized.
The darkness swallowed up the last of the glowing symbols, turning the entire bone black. The window into the desolate future collapsed, shrinking away to nothing.
"Now that you've seen the future that awaits us," Alexis told Jaz, "do you have any problem with us adjusting the timeline for a chance at a better outcome?"
"Not anymore," he relented. "Practically anything is better than what we saw."
"I agree," she confirmed.
"Where, or rather when, do we start?" he asked.
"I think it'd be better near the beginning, before civilization has a chance to establish itself," Alexis responded. "We want to lay the groundwork for a new society, not spend all our time and effort tearing up what's already there."
Jaz nodded.
"I'll examine the book for the specifics," she went on. "As soon as I'm certain we have what we need, we'll make the jump through time into the past."
Chapter 08: Starting Over
Alexis and Jaz were forced to make three trips outside the city to collect enough bones for the time jump as the distance in years required an immense amount of power. Using the detailed information in the book, they learned how to chain the power of one bone into another. It allowed the room next door, filled with a pile of skeletal remains marked with the appropriate symbols, to connect with those in the exam room, spread out upon the floor in a spiral pattern resembling a galaxy.
In the center of the main formation was a set of skulls. Arranged in a ring, the skulls faced outward and another skull had been placed on top of the first group. Each of the staring, grinning pieces had been carefully inscribed with the necessary symbols and geometric patterns essential for the process to work.
"Is everything ready?" Jaz asked as he hurried into the examination room and sealed the door behind him. He quickly typed on his computer, raising the building's primary defenses.
"Why?" Alexis questioned. "Is something wrong?"
"I think our repeated venturing outside the wall drew some unwanted attention," Jaz answered. "It would appear someone either knows what we're doing or is rather insistent on finding out."
The entire research station shook as an explosion went off against the energy shielding protecting the facility. Another followed almost immediately afterwards, and alerts began flashing as the stress being put on the protective energy field was proving to be too much; the field integrity was beginning to weaken and would collapse at any moment.
"Come with me," she told him. "We're leaving now."
The two of them stepped to the center of the spiral pattern, careful not to disturb the arrangement of the surrounding bones. Alexis took hold of the top skull of the central stack and turned it clockwise ninety degrees without lifting it from the others.
All of the etchings on the bones, both in the examination room and the piles in the storage room next door, began to illuminate in phosphorescent blue. The same light shone forth from the empty eye sockets of the skulls. A blinding flash occurred, the glowing energy fading immediately afterwards. The bones had turned black as their power was consumed in full.
The exam room tilted sharply sideways, forcing Alexis and Jaz to grab onto the work tables bolted to the floor to keep from being thrown against the wall. Almost as quickly as it had occurred, the room shifted back to level.
"What was that?" Jaz asked.
"Sorry about that," Alexis answered. "The time distortion encompassed the entire examination room, so when the jump occurred, the research facility where we were docked didn't come with us. We changed timeframes but not locations, so we were still up in the air but without the support of the tower. The lurch you felt was the room entering freefall before the automatic stabilizers engaged."
"Why didn't you warn me beforehand?" Jaz demanded.
"I would have if we hadn't been forced to jump early," Alexis countered. "We probably had sufficient energy to take the entire facility with us, but I didn't have time to make the adjustments to the temporal field before the attackers showed up. It's something we're going to have to prepare for."
"What do you mean?" Jaz prompted. "Do you think any of them came with us?"
"I doubt it," she denied. "The facility defense shields had yet to collapse, so they were outside when the time jump triggered. What I mean about preparing is we need to have a few bones set up in advance to pause or accelerate time. If we can move about while everyone else is frozen within the span of a single second, we'd be able to analyze the situation and formulate responses before the problem escalated."
"The power to never be forced to make a rushed decision," Jaz mused. "Interesting."
"It's more than that," Alexis continued. "It also gives the power to build and work on things at a speed undreamed of. Imagine if an enemy army were invading. We set off one of the time distortions, and before the enemy can attack, we have trained, equipped, and deployed an army of our own. Every move they make would be countered before the orders were even finished going out. If any sneak attacks happen, we simply reverse time and have them walk into our waiting hands."
"This level of power is dangerous," Jaz commented. "With such control over the world and its people, it would be very easy to abuse that power and become a tyrant."
"We'll be too busy for that to happen," Alexis assured him. "We have an entire world to build. It is no small task. To begin with, we're going to need food for ourselves. We have shelter in the examination room, but it'd be nice if we had someplace more comfortable to sleep. Eventually, we're going to have to contact the locals and establish some form of society. They'll need to be educated to follow rules and morality. Food production and distribution will need to be put in place along with writing laws, assigning territory, and exploring the world to see if there are any other beginning forms of civilization out there. We can't have any competitors."
"What are you going to do, go to war to eliminate any who don't wish to follow our guidance?" Jaz questioned. When she only stared at him, his jaw dropped slightly. "You can't be serious?"
"You saw what our world was like and how it ended," Alexis reminded. "How many have died throughout history in wars between nations? If the extermination of a few tribal villages can prevent all the death to come, I'll consider it a bargain."
Chapter 09: Contingency
"How much is it going to cost to save the world?" Jaz questioned softly. "How high is the death toll going to get?"
"I don't know," Alexis admitted. "I am certain of one thing, extinction is the other option, so anything less has to be better."
"We didn't cause the end of humanity," Jaz insisted. "In reshaping history, you'll actually have to kill people. How many can you have on your conscience? I'm not sure I want any on mine. Somewhere there has to be a middle ground between our time and conquest of this one."
"If there is such a way, I don't see it," Alexis replied. "I was hoping you would be with me on this, but I took a precaution in case you weren't."
Jaz took a step back as Alexis removed a piece of carved bone from her pocket.
"What are you doing?" Jaz asked quickly, holding up a hand defensively.
"I'm doing what I must," Alexis answered, a tear in her eye. She snapped the bone in half, and a green field of temporal energy wrapped around Jaz, suspending him in a single moment. Alexis placed a hand against the cylinder of energy encasing her friend, feeling a buzzing, electrical sensation in her fingertips. "I can't let anyone or anything stand in the way. I'm sorry Jaz. I hope you'll be able to forgive me. Even if you don't, I hope you realize it was necessary."
Alexis stepped over to the computer and accessed the flight controls for the examination room, setting down in a clearing close to a number of human life signs. She etched a few bones with the proper symbols in case the locals proved hostile. With a final look toward Jaz, and a deep breath, Alexis opened the door and stepped outside.
***
The energy field encompassing Jaz dropped, and he looked around in confusion as everything had changed since he'd seen it last. The examination room was powered down and dark. Bones etched with symbols hung from the walls or were spread on the floor in complex patterns.
"Welcome back," Alexis said from the nearby doorway.
Jaz looked in the direction of her voice, but his eyes narrowed when he saw her for although her face was the same, she was very different than he remembered. Her platinum blonde hair seemed paler, almost stark white. A flexible suit of black, highlighted with a circuit pattern of silver threads, covered her from the neck down. Bones, cut to fit and etched with symbols and ornate patterns, adorned the outfit in a skeletal arrangement. Finger bones resided on the tops of her gloves and ribs hung across her torso. Arm and leg bones had been sliced in half in order to put one half on either side of the appropriate limb.
"What's with the ghoulish outfit?" Jaz questioned.
"Many years have passed," Alexis answered. Her manner was cold and formal. No smile marked her face or disturbed her glacial expression. "Due to certain problems during those years, it was necessary to accumulate a few bones for contingency purposes. Each one fulfills a function. Some regenerate my cells to accelerate healing and make me immune to aging, others are a form of arsenal with fire and lightning powers at the ready, and a few hold time controlling abilities. No matter what happens, I'm prepared to face it instantly."
"Immune to aging?" Jaz repeated. "How long has it been?"
"Ten thousand years," she replied.
"You sent me forward ten millennia?" Jaz demanded.
"No," Alexis denied, her voice soft and measured. "I held you in stasis for that long. You wouldn't listen to me, and I couldn't allow you to interfere. It seemed a better option than killing you, but, I promise you, that option is still on the table."
Jaz swallowed hard.
"What have you been up to?" he asked, desperately wanting to change the subject.
"Much," she answered simply. As she turned to leave, she said over her shoulder, "Follow me."
Jaz hurried to keep up with her long stride. When he left the room, the first thing he noticed were the two massive robots that detached themselves from alcoves in the walls and followed a step behind Alexis, flanking her on either side. Their positions put them ominously close to Jaz, making him feel very small and vulnerable. The robots were smooth, glossy black, and their slender forms looked built for high speed pursuit. Sharp, claw-like fingers and what appeared to be laser ports on their forearms showed their combat abilities. Their faces were metal skulls with glowing white optics in their eye sockets.
"Before you ask, the robots were built to protect me," Alexis said without looking back. "Even with my powerful abilities, the number of people on the planet soon became too much for even me to control, so I built them. They guard me and the palace."
The hallways were well-lit but still dark as every surface was made of black metal. Carvings of skulls were everywhere, grinning at some private joke while their hollow eye sockets watched any passersby. Pillars held up arched ceilings, but the massive columns were shaped like giant bones as if the entire structure had been built from the remains of everything that had ever lived upon the Earth.
The décor, along with the cool and still air, was making Jaz feel like he was exploring a hunted crypt, and he desperately wanted to leave.
Chapter 10: A Different World
Alexis and Jaz turned a corner and entered a wide courtyard lined with trees. Blue skies overhead were marked with fluffy white clouds. Jaz paused to stare in wonder as he'd never been outside when the skies were clean. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, letting the air fill his lungs.
"Amazing," he whispered. When his eyes opened, he noticed a guard robot at each of the four corners of the courtyard. They were much bigger than those escorting Alexis. Wide shouldered with multi-barreled guns replacing their hands, the massive robots squatted low on tank treads instead of feet. Square boxes of missile pods resided on each shoulder.
"What are they?" Jaz inquired.
"Level 2 guard robots," she replied. "I also have different robots for police within the city. They're all powered by energy cells of crushed bone. The recharging facility is secured here within the palace. Any time the power is used up, I simply reverse time around the cells to a point before they were drained, allowing the energy to be used again and again."
"Limitless power without the need to harvest new bones," Jaz concluded. "Efficient. Why is the recharging facility here? Don't they have them in the city?"
"No," Alexis denied. "Everyone in the world makes use of the containers of crushed bone for power sources, but only I know how to recharge them. Whenever there is a sufficient number in need of regeneration, I accelerate time around me so I can work in the span of a nanosecond. It's the only way one person can keep up with the energy demands for an entire planet."
"Why not have your robots do it?" Jaz inquired.
"I couldn't risk them falling into the wrong hands, even with the extensive defenses around the palace," Alexis told him. "I alone know the necessary glyphs for controlling time. Over the centuries, I memorized the book and destroyed it. No one else shall learn its secrets and jeopardize what's been built."
She led him outside, passing though energy shield checkpoints and hallways lined with enough robotic soldiers to hold off a sizable army during a protracted siege. Beyond the robots was the final set of doors leading outside. The doors were massive, and the interior was recessed in order for a giant skull in the center to jut out from the surface while not interfering with the door's ability to slide into the rectangular slots in the nearby walls when opening. Half of the skull resided on either door, and a spiral of long bones fanned outward from it on all sides. Alexis stopped by the palace doors and collected a small suitcase sitting on the floor.
"I had this put together for you," she told him, handing over the glossy white container. "It contains credit chips, the location of a house I got for you, the access card for your hover transport, and a few other things to help you settle in, including a listing of available job openings. In your residence, you'll find a copy of the current laws. Enjoy your new life, Jaz."
She waved a hand, bones lighting up down the length of her arm, and the doors parted for her, sliding away to either side. Jaz looked out into the city. Gleaming towers of glass and steel rose from the ground or floated in the skies. Birds sang or flitted between the trees carefully inserted into the cityscape. Hover transports glided smoothly across the sky with only a slight hum of their engines. He was in such awe, he took three steps before he noticed Alexis wasn't following him out. He turned back to her.
"What about you?" Jaz questioned.
"I live here," she told him.
"Alone?" he asked.
"It's necessary," Alexis confirmed. "No matter how advanced a civilization becomes, there's always someone who would like to see it burn."
"There must be someone you could trust," Jaz insisted.
"I still have the scars from where my husband tried to knife me," Alexis explained. "He was a deep cover agent for a revolutionary faction. My knowledge and abilities are too important to risk. You once asked me what it would cost to save the world. Now, you know. I stand alone, guardian of this world, now and forevermore. Goodbye, Jaz."
A wave of her hand, and the heavy doors slid shut, the metal coming together with an echoing crash.
Alexis walked the lifeless halls of the palace, carefully inspecting the metallic ranks of her guards. The corridors were silent and still, only the clicking of her heels on the floor and the whisper soft steps of her trailing guard sounding through the passages.
Returning to the throne room where she spent most of her time, Alexis entered the cavernous chamber and climbed the steps to the top. Her trailing guards took flanking positions on either side of the doorway. The throne was made of black steel fitted with silken cushions of matching color. All exterior surfaces of the throne had been fashioned to resemble skulls staring outward.
Taking her seat upon the skull throne, Alexis held up her right hand, the glyphs on the bones arrayed on the back of her fingers glowing softly. A semi-transparent image appeared in front of her in the air, a one way window into the world beyond the palace walls.
Being imprisoned within the palace had been an unexpected and high price to pay for the future of humanity, but over many centuries, she'd become accustomed to it, looking out into the realm she would never be able to enjoy herself. Alexis always remembered the world she'd come from, wrapped in poisoned clouds and mired in corruption. The corner of her mouth turned up ever so slightly in a smile for every time she saw her people step into the light of the sun and breathe deep the clean air, Alexis knew the price required for this different world had been worth it.