https://www.patreon.com/cadencewriting
This is not related to my ongoing fantasy story. This is just a fun sci-fi short.
Corrie stepped through the portal glancing around to find his bearings. Finding his mark he headed towards the city. Following the path of optimal noninterference, he searched for the source of the ripple.
In a dingy hut on the outskirts of a village, he found the source, a 12-year-old boy out of time. The boy saw him coming and tried to flee but Corrie just took out the Renovator and cut him down. Full sanitation two minutes forty-seven seconds. Heading back to the gate he felt a small amount of regret. The ripple had been small, it would have probably dissipated before reaching the present.
That was not his decision to make, however. Stepping into the forest he tripped the signal and a portal opened before him. He took a steadying breath before stepping through.
Cold hot wet dry up down inside out, and he was through. Walking down the gray corridor he arrived at relinquishment and contrition. Pausing outside the door he thumbed the switch and stepped through.
“Did the opp go well?”
“Incursion 617, a displaced 12-year-old male, has been neutralized. His clothing indicated he was from the twenty-second century. The area had been sanitized, no witnesses.”
“Very well, the head wants you to report in at the south center. Good luck.”
Corrie exited the room quickly heading down the same gray corridor to south center. He wondered what the head wanted to see him about, the mission has been uneventful no ripples in the timeline to work through.
Pausing at the door to gather his thoughts he put his thumb to the pad and resisted wincing at the prick. A moment later the door whirred open, and he stepped through.
The head’s office was a tapestry of multi-timal media. A Japanese shamans’ headdress sat in one corner, new, fresh from feudal japan. A Carolina parakeet flew around a brightly lit enclosure squawking loudly. A wall of scrolls on the left wall drew his attention, stolen from the library of Alexandria before it was pillaged and burned.
The head cleared his throat and Corrie snapped back to the present. It was never good to keep the head waiting.
Walking over to the desk he sat down in the chair the head motioned to. Stellar sea cow leather seat he noticed.
He sat staring at the head waiting for the interview to start. The head leaned back in his chair and studied Corrie in return. A long silence followed. Corrie sat wondering what the head wanted. He refused to be intimidated, however.
“I suppose we should get this started. We need you to take a trainee. I know you have refused in the past, but we need more people like you. No one has finished as many missions and you, 312 right?”
“327 sir.”
“Your file last night said 311 and you just got back from one.”
” Emergency last night, the distortion emanated through the domain. Had to do a quick fifteen hop to get it squared away.”
” So one mission with fourteen additional points of sanitation.”
“No fifteen separate distortions requiring one-hop a piece.”
“Impressive. I’ll have the boys in reclamation and resurgence substantiate that, you might be in for a bonus. But that is why I have called you in here, I need you to train new recruits. We can’t have another incident like McCredie.”
“I thought that was a rumor.”
“It is, but between you and me it’s true, the causal wave has drifted by 33% and grown by over 200 percent. We can’t continue with the crew we have now, and one more slip up means no more anything.”
“What did you have in mind?”
For those of you interested in my new novella.
Cadence 