farther off, the distant glow of the city of Los Angeles, a vast metropolis that had seen phenomenal growth over the last few centuries, growth that showed no signs of abating. It had already swallowed up many of the towns and cities to its north and south and, at the rate the growth progressed in San Diego, L.A. and San Francisco. the entire coast of California would soon be one gigantic city. Always assuming that the long-predicted “Big One didn’t strike and cause most of it to collapse into the ocean, which would open up fascinating real estate opportunities in the Mojave Desert.
Over glasses of single malt Scotch whiskey, the three of them discussed their plans.
“All right, the first question is our cover,” Lucas said. “I think we should all go in separately. Or at least in such a way that we’ll appear not to be connected in any way.”
“I second that.” said Delaney.
“I’m going to have a problem with that.” Andre said. ‘I’m not about to take a job in Tombstone as a saloon girl and have smelly cowboys breathing cheap whiskey in my face and trying to drag me off to some back room. I’ll have to go in as someone’s wife. So, who’s going to be the lucky guy?”
“Oh, gee. I don’t know,” said Delany. with mock reluctance. “What do you think, Lucas?”
Lucas sighed. “Hell, why does it always have to be me?”
“Tell you what, I’ll flip you for it. Loser gets to be her husband. Call it. Heads or tails?”
He flipped a coin Andre snatched it out of the air. “Very funny.” she said, wryly.
“I don’t know, Andre,” Finn said. “if you go in as a hooker, you’ll be able to pick up a lot of information.”
“That’s true,” said Lucas. “And you’re inoculated against all known diseases, so-”
You want to drink that Scotch, or wear it?” she asked
“Okay, okay.” said Lucas, with a grin. “Lt. Cross, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
“You heard him, Finn.” said Andre. “He just proposed.”
“That’s true, he did.” Delaney replied, nodding. “I’m a witness.”
“I accept, darling.” Andre said, smiling sweetly.
“Hey, wait a minute.” Lucas said, with a grin. “That wasn’t fair. You tricked me.”
“Did you hear me use any coercion?” Andre asked Finn.
“Nope,” Delaney said. “Far as I could tell, he proposed of his own free will. And he’s still sober. Hasn’t even finished his first drink.”
“Okay, okay, stop kidding around.” said Lucas, smiling.
“What makes you think I’m kidding?” Andre said, raising her eyebrows.
“Very cute,” said Lucas. “All right, really, let’s get serious here.”
“What makes you think I’m not serious?”
“Come on, Andre, that’s enough. We’ve got work to do.”
“Hey, you proposed. Finn heard you. He’s a witness.”
“Okay, you guys have had your joke…”
“I wasn’t joking,” Andre said, with a look of wide-eyed innocence. “Were you joking, Finn?”
Delaney shook his head. “Not me. Hell. I even offered to flip him for it, but he sat right there and asked you to marry him. I heard it.”
Lucas rolled his eyes. “I meant only for the mission. Come on. guys…”
“Did you hear him say anything about it being only for the mission?” Andre asked Delaney.
“Nope He said, and I quote. ‘Lt. Cross, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?’ Granted, he didn’t go down on one knee, but I don’t think that’s required. Not very romantic of you, Lucas. And you didn’t even give her an engagement ring. Jesus, how cheap can you get?”
“Are you through?” asked Lucas, with exasperation.
“Now if he doesn’t go through with it, I’ve got grounds for a breach of promise suit, isn’t that right?” asked Andre.
Delaney nodded. “I’d say so. I’m a witness. And if I’m called to testify, I’ll be under oath to tell the truth. I’m sorry, Lucas, but as an officer and a gentleman, what else can I do?”
“As an officer, you leave rather a great deal to be desired,” said a deep. Continental-sounding voice behind them, “and if you’re a gentleman, then I’m Queen of the bloody May.”
They turned around to see what appeared to be a ghost sitting at the table just behind them. The speaker was a tall, slim man with gaunt, aquiline features: dark, wavy hair: brown eyes and a neatly trimmed moustache, he was dressed in brown wool flannel slacks and custom-made, conservative tan shoes with toe caps a white button-down Oxford shirt that was open at the neck to display a brown and gold paisley silk ascot, and a brown tweed Norfolk jacket. He wore a brown felt fedora tilted at a rakish angle and carried a blackthorn walking stick with a sharp brass tip. He was sitting in the chair, sideways to the table, turned toward them, with his legs casually crossed and his walking stick held across his lap.
They could see right through him. His form seemed to flicker, appearing almost completely solid one instant, then transparent and insubstantial the next. It was an effect of the process that had permanently tachyonized his body, rendering him trapped forever by the immutable laws of physics which he had sought to tamper with. His name was Dr. Robert Darkness.
He was, in every respect, as flamboyant and eccentric as his name. Little was known about him. For years, he had been a mystery man, first coming to prominence as a research scientist who had stumbled upon the principles that led to the invention of the warp disc and the most devastating weapon ever known to man-the warp grenade.
It was the latter that had led to the current crisis. A portable nuclear device and time machine, the warp grenade was so named because of its resemblance to old 20th-century hand grenades, about the same size and shape as a large egg, easily capable of being held in one hand. Its built-in chronocircuitry enabled pinpoint adjustment of its nuclear explosion. It could be set to destroy an entire city, or just a block within that city, or a building on that block, or a room within that building, or even a small area within that room. It could be adjusted so that whatever surplus energy released by the explosion was not required for the task would be clocked through time and space, to explode harmlessly in the far reaches of the cosmos. At least, the ordnance experts who had constructed it, based on the work that Darkness did, had believed that it would work that way.
In practice, such massive amounts of energy clocked through Einstein-Rosen Bridges, “wormholes” in space and time, had brought about a shift in the chronophysical balance of the universe. At least, that was the theory. It was also possible that the actions of the Time Wars had brought about increased instability in the timestream and contributed to the imbalance. Whatever the cause, a parallel timeline, an alternate universe, had been brought into congruency with our own and the proximity of the two timelines had brought about the Confluence Phenomenon, wherein the timestreams rippled and, at various points in space and time. intersected. At those confluence points, it was possible to cross over from one universe into the other.
For the people in the parallel timeline, the disaster had been magnified because each time a warp grenade had been exploded in our universe; its surplus energy had been clocked into theirs. Most of those explosions had occurred in outer space, yet some of them had caused untold destruction. Several space colonies in the parallel universe had been utterly destroyed, with cataclysmic loss of life. It had brought about a war
The war was, of necessity, a limited one. Strategic weapons were not used, because the moment the Confluence Phenomenon had been discovered, it quickly became apparent to the people in both timelines that attempts to clock strategic weapons into the other universe could backfire. With the instability in both timelines, there was no telling exactly where or when a detonation could occur. As a result, the conflict had become the ultimate Time War, one timeline against the other, with each seeking to cause temporal disruptions in the opposing timestream.
In the parallel universe, commandos and agents of the strike force known as the Special Operations Group were dispatched through confluence points with missions to interfere with history. Their scientists believed a timestream split would serve to overcome the Confluence Phenomenon and separate the two timelines once and for all. The scientists of the Temporal Corps believed the opposite. They were convinced that a timestream split in either universe could set off a temporal chain reaction that would have disastrous consequences. It could bring about ultimate entropy, an end to all of time. It was therefore necessary to locate as many confluence points as possible and to patrol them for their duration. At the same time, it was imperative to preserve temporal continuity and prevent disruptions caused by infiltrations of the S.O.G. while attempting to bring about minor disruptions in their timeline, thereby tying up their manpower and their resources while they attempted to adjust them.
