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Time loops aren’t much fun for anybody on either side of them. But it does give the Security personnel around time to talk.
This is a submission to the Thursday Prompt writing group. This week's prompt was the phrase ‘Hare Today Gone Tomorrow.’ Check out the group's user page here: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/thursdayprompt/
And the other stories generated from this prompt here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27584240/ .
--SERIES INDEX--
Two Seconds Every So Often
By: DankeDonuts
https://www.furaffinity.net/user/dankedonuts/
Science Lab V was in a state of organized emergency. A half dozen tech and officers -- Engineering and Sciences of all kinds with an emphasis on the theoretical branches -- milled about the circular chamber. Their faces grim and determined. Pulling this and prodding that. Depowering and rerouting and repowering one system after another. Most of these systems being part of a circular colony of consoles and dedicated equipment, all surrounding an alien probe of jagged, asymmetrical shape. On the floor near
of red electrical tape.
Lieutenant Commander Viberly, the Radiant Moon’s Chief Science Officer, was the Amphibian on point. To either side of his head, the Axolotl’s gill-stalks stood high and tense. Then shook raggedly at the sound of an alarm, after which he announced in his resonant voice, “Back away, people. Next re-emergence in Five… Four… Three… Two… One…”
A flash of white, centered above the ring, obscured half the room in sheer brightness. As it dissipated, a Hare lunged forth from within it, arm outstretched as though to push someone away from the power console. “-OUT!” he cried, in a voice not accustomed to shouting. He stumbled forward, shocked to see that something in front of him wasn’t there. “Aw, crap-” A second flash of white, and he was gone. Having barely taken two steps. The last of which landed just shy of the red ring’s edge.
“No change in the readings,” noted O’Halloran. The roan mare was staring into a scientific scanner.
“Understood,” the pale-skinned leader said. “Let’s try realigning the tachyon egress sequencers. We’ve got to pin down what happened. The closer we come, the closer we get to reversing it. Or at least slowing Curtis down long enough to pull him free.”
“Aye, sir.” she nodded, sending her strawberry-blonde mane staggering about. “We’ll crack it,” she said to herself, more than anyone else. “It’s just a matter of time.”
Back away from the scene, on opposite sides of the double-doorway leading into the room, stood two Furs in armored Security jumpsuits. Engaged in their own breakdown of the situation.
“See, this is why I like being in Security,” Reynolds mused quietly, facing the wide office and the closed door that lead to Deck Seven’s corridors. “Simple, straightforward work.”
“A’yup.” the Goanna next to him agreed. “Whenever you’re sent to solve a problem, there’s generally one of three solutions. You shoot it up. You talk it down. Or you stand there, like we’re doing now, and make folk think differently about what they’re up to. No wrapping your head in knots untangling ‘inverse phase mechanics’ or whatever it is they’re on about in there.”
The Iguana blinked his large yellow eyes. “Did you just make up that phrase?”
Rowe shrugged. “Maybe I did, maybe I heard it somewhere. Did it sound good?”
Reynolds hitched a grey-green thumb backwards. “Sounded like everything else being bandied about back there.” He shook his wattled head. “I’ve been listening to this technobabble off and one for hours now and I still don’t have a clue what’s happened to Ensign Curtis.”
“Besides the obvious.”
“Well, yeah. Time loop, but I’m no clearer on how he ended up in it as when we got here.”
“Shoved a tech out of the way, is what I picked up. Got hit in whatever blast was building up.”
“Besides the obvious,” Reynolds frowned.
White light kissed the soldiers’ arms. “-OUT! … Aw, crap-” Another kiss.
“I like obvious,” Rowe admitted. “I like things that make sense.” He put out his clawed hands, black and speckled in pale yellow. “Time loops don’t make sense. The longer I think about them, the less sense they make. I man, I’m no fool--”
“Me neither,” The grey-green one interjected. “We both graduated from the Academy after all. Can’t say the same for some that started out in my Freshman class.”
“Or mine. But you and me, we studied Tangible things. Martial arts. Pressure points. Joint locks.”
“Rules of combat. Body language. Lockdown procedures.”
“Criminal law. Investigatory procedure.
The Iguana puffed his chest. “Things that don’t change. Or at least not without very good reason.”
“Right back there, the stuff they told us in Astro-Lab 101 has been tossed out the airlock again.” The Goanna brought his fingers to hips lips and puffed them away, miming a spacing.
Reynolds rolled his bulbous eyes. “I’d hate to be one of those lot, having to rewrite my textbooks every week. The things we focused on may take a lifetime to master, but they’ll still have meaning tomorrow.”
There was a moment’s silence before Rowe spoke again. “But it’s not all bad being out here in unknown space cooped up with no reliable physical or temporal laws.”
“No, no. I get to go to entirely new places, see strange and beautiful and new things.”
“I get to help folk. Keep them safe. So they can do what gives them meaning. All while not having my concepts of what’s real and true yanked away and torn to bits and thrown back in my face.”
Reynolds allowed himself a slight chuckle. “True that, I wonder, can that poor Hare ever say the same again?” He did not receive the chance for an answer.
“You two!” Viberly’s stern arose directly between them. “From here on, you’ll keep your opinions to yourselves and focus on keeping unauthorized personnel out of this chamber. Or the next door you’ll be guarding will be the one in front of the ships’ heat sink!”
“SIR, YES SIR!” the guards clicked their heels together in unison.
Without further word, Viberly marched back into the fray. The alarm chimed once more, closer this time as it was coming from the superior officer’s wrist. For the umpteenth time, he called out the five-second warning.
White light filled the space left by the retreating Fur. “-OUT! … Aw, crap-” White again.
“See, this is why I like being in Security,” Reynolds sighed. “Simple, straightforward work.”
Rowe stood tall and proper. “Let’s not have that conversation again.”
--SERIES INDEX--
This is a submission to the Thursday Prompt writing group. This week's prompt was the phrase ‘Hare Today Gone Tomorrow.’ Check out the group's user page here: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/thursdayprompt/
And the other stories generated from this prompt here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27584240/ .
--SERIES INDEX--
Two Seconds Every So Often
By: DankeDonuts
https://www.furaffinity.net/user/dankedonuts/
Science Lab V was in a state of organized emergency. A half dozen tech and officers -- Engineering and Sciences of all kinds with an emphasis on the theoretical branches -- milled about the circular chamber. Their faces grim and determined. Pulling this and prodding that. Depowering and rerouting and repowering one system after another. Most of these systems being part of a circular colony of consoles and dedicated equipment, all surrounding an alien probe of jagged, asymmetrical shape. On the floor near
of red electrical tape.
Lieutenant Commander Viberly, the Radiant Moon’s Chief Science Officer, was the Amphibian on point. To either side of his head, the Axolotl’s gill-stalks stood high and tense. Then shook raggedly at the sound of an alarm, after which he announced in his resonant voice, “Back away, people. Next re-emergence in Five… Four… Three… Two… One…”
A flash of white, centered above the ring, obscured half the room in sheer brightness. As it dissipated, a Hare lunged forth from within it, arm outstretched as though to push someone away from the power console. “-OUT!” he cried, in a voice not accustomed to shouting. He stumbled forward, shocked to see that something in front of him wasn’t there. “Aw, crap-” A second flash of white, and he was gone. Having barely taken two steps. The last of which landed just shy of the red ring’s edge.
“No change in the readings,” noted O’Halloran. The roan mare was staring into a scientific scanner.
“Understood,” the pale-skinned leader said. “Let’s try realigning the tachyon egress sequencers. We’ve got to pin down what happened. The closer we come, the closer we get to reversing it. Or at least slowing Curtis down long enough to pull him free.”
“Aye, sir.” she nodded, sending her strawberry-blonde mane staggering about. “We’ll crack it,” she said to herself, more than anyone else. “It’s just a matter of time.”
Back away from the scene, on opposite sides of the double-doorway leading into the room, stood two Furs in armored Security jumpsuits. Engaged in their own breakdown of the situation.
“See, this is why I like being in Security,” Reynolds mused quietly, facing the wide office and the closed door that lead to Deck Seven’s corridors. “Simple, straightforward work.”
“A’yup.” the Goanna next to him agreed. “Whenever you’re sent to solve a problem, there’s generally one of three solutions. You shoot it up. You talk it down. Or you stand there, like we’re doing now, and make folk think differently about what they’re up to. No wrapping your head in knots untangling ‘inverse phase mechanics’ or whatever it is they’re on about in there.”
The Iguana blinked his large yellow eyes. “Did you just make up that phrase?”
Rowe shrugged. “Maybe I did, maybe I heard it somewhere. Did it sound good?”
Reynolds hitched a grey-green thumb backwards. “Sounded like everything else being bandied about back there.” He shook his wattled head. “I’ve been listening to this technobabble off and one for hours now and I still don’t have a clue what’s happened to Ensign Curtis.”
“Besides the obvious.”
“Well, yeah. Time loop, but I’m no clearer on how he ended up in it as when we got here.”
“Shoved a tech out of the way, is what I picked up. Got hit in whatever blast was building up.”
“Besides the obvious,” Reynolds frowned.
White light kissed the soldiers’ arms. “-OUT! … Aw, crap-” Another kiss.
“I like obvious,” Rowe admitted. “I like things that make sense.” He put out his clawed hands, black and speckled in pale yellow. “Time loops don’t make sense. The longer I think about them, the less sense they make. I man, I’m no fool--”
“Me neither,” The grey-green one interjected. “We both graduated from the Academy after all. Can’t say the same for some that started out in my Freshman class.”
“Or mine. But you and me, we studied Tangible things. Martial arts. Pressure points. Joint locks.”
“Rules of combat. Body language. Lockdown procedures.”
“Criminal law. Investigatory procedure.
The Iguana puffed his chest. “Things that don’t change. Or at least not without very good reason.”
“Right back there, the stuff they told us in Astro-Lab 101 has been tossed out the airlock again.” The Goanna brought his fingers to hips lips and puffed them away, miming a spacing.
Reynolds rolled his bulbous eyes. “I’d hate to be one of those lot, having to rewrite my textbooks every week. The things we focused on may take a lifetime to master, but they’ll still have meaning tomorrow.”
There was a moment’s silence before Rowe spoke again. “But it’s not all bad being out here in unknown space cooped up with no reliable physical or temporal laws.”
“No, no. I get to go to entirely new places, see strange and beautiful and new things.”
“I get to help folk. Keep them safe. So they can do what gives them meaning. All while not having my concepts of what’s real and true yanked away and torn to bits and thrown back in my face.”
Reynolds allowed himself a slight chuckle. “True that, I wonder, can that poor Hare ever say the same again?” He did not receive the chance for an answer.
“You two!” Viberly’s stern arose directly between them. “From here on, you’ll keep your opinions to yourselves and focus on keeping unauthorized personnel out of this chamber. Or the next door you’ll be guarding will be the one in front of the ships’ heat sink!”
“SIR, YES SIR!” the guards clicked their heels together in unison.
Without further word, Viberly marched back into the fray. The alarm chimed once more, closer this time as it was coming from the superior officer’s wrist. For the umpteenth time, he called out the five-second warning.
White light filled the space left by the retreating Fur. “-OUT! … Aw, crap-” White again.
“See, this is why I like being in Security,” Reynolds sighed. “Simple, straightforward work.”
Rowe stood tall and proper. “Let’s not have that conversation again.”
--SERIES INDEX--
Category Story / All
Species Reptilian (Other)
Size 120 x 120px
File Size 66.8 kB
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