"Timeline"

[JustThatGuy2014]

(Closed)

"That's impossible."

Barton Lee began pacing the laboratory floor again, glancing occasionally at the CEO of International Technologies with an expression of disbelief. When his feet finally stopped moving, he asked, "Time travel? You're telling me--"

"No, it's not time travel," Raul said. "It's a worm hole."

"What's the fucking difference?"

"A worm hole," the scientist-turned-billionaire explained, "is a direct link from one specific time and place -- ours, here and now -- to another time and place."

"Which, in this case is...?"

"The city of Portsmouth, southwest of London, in the year 1457."

"And Harry is there."

"Yes, Harry and his team," Raul acknowledged. "They should have returned eighteen hours ago. Their markers will have run out by now, which means that--"

"Markers?"

Raul showed Barton a small pendant hanging from a thin leather strap. "A marker. It's the device that brings the team back. You press the little button hidden in the edge, and a few seconds later, you're back here, on that."

Barton looked to where the man was pointing. The platform that accessed the worm hole looked like something between a carnival House of Mirrors and a discothèque.

"And you want me to get into that thing," Barton said, "and get sent back in time 550 years."

"Yes," Raul said simply. "I need you to act as protector."

Barton turned back to his boss with a questioning expression. "Protector? For who?"

Raul looked up to the laboratory's mezzanine level where a woman had been listening to their conversation. He smiled and said, "For her."

 

[asetikish]

Alice was skeptical at first. A wormhole in the middle of nowhere? That was purely sci-fi, but then again, her editor wanted her to go. It seemed like a fool's errand for an investigative journalist like her, but when the boss says, there really was nothing she could do about it.

She arrived at the lab and saw the man, Raul. The one supposed to be in charge of this expedition and when the other man, Barton, came, the scene became intense. Something was telling her that they were pretty serious about this whole worm hole thing.

Raul didn't exactly introduce her, so she took the liberty of introducing herself. "Alice McDoughtry. Investigative journalist for the New York Times. You are?"

Alice never considered herself short. In fact her long legs gave her a little more height than the average girl. Red-haired and green-eyed, she was the epitome of an Irish ginger with a bull-headed attitude to match. And although she never worked out, she never got fat no matter how much she ate, though she did fill up in all the right places.

 

[JustThatGuy2014]

Barton watched the woman every step of her descent down to the platform level. She was a beautiful woman, well rounded, with a head of fiery red. Despite the unbelievable situation in which he found himself, he still couldn't help but find himself becoming aroused. He'd always had a thing for redheads which meant that this tough assignment was only going to get tougher for him.

"Alice McDoughtry," she introduced herself. "Investigative journalist for the New York Times. You are?"

"Bart Lee," he said taking her hand. "IT Security."

He held her hand a bit longer than he would have had she been ugly or a man, something he didn't notice until she glanced down at their clasped hands with an amused expression. He released it suddenly, almost as if he'd realized he had been holding the wrong end of a rattlesnake, then smiled with a bit of an embarrassed expression.

Bart had often been told that he could beat out Gerard Butler in a Gerard Butler look-alike contest. He had the actor's rugged good looks and devilish smile, but he had a trim, muscular physique that the actor could only have dreamed of having.

And yet, Bart had never had much luck with the ladies. He was too reserved to begin with, and whenever he did find a woman who piqued his interest, something was invariably wrong with her, from her being already taken to her being a tweaker to her simply having no interest in him.

As he found himself staring at the incredible red head before him now, two voices in his skull were already arguing, with one saying Marry her now! and the other demanding Run! Run for your life!

"Miss McDoughtry," Raul said, knowing that if someone didn't say something, the two people before him would likely stand there forever gawking at one another, "works for a man I went to college with. He'd the only man I trust to publish our story, so ... you will take her through the--"

"What story?" Bart asked, still not truly understanding the mission at hand.

"Our story," Raul said, turning away to the platform's control panel, where he began operating controls to fire up what he'd described to Bart earlier as the Portal. "We have done something here that people have dreamed of for hundreds of years, something many said could never be done. This story needs to--"

"I thought my job was to find Harry and his team and bring them all back," Bart cut in, his tone accusatory as he added, "safe and sound!"

Raul turned back to his security chief and -- though his tone lacked sincerity -- said, "Of course it is. That is our primary concern. But ... if we can get a little positive Press at the same time..."

Bart didn't like this at all. He was beginning to feel this was a fool's errand, that his boss didn't really care about his missing employees but only cared about the story that would result in him becoming the most famous man in history. And while he would have liked to tell the billionaire to stick this all up his ass, Bart knew this had to be done if he was going to find and rescue his missing friend.

He looked at the marker hanging from the leather strap and asked, "Tell me more about this."

"They are your way home," Raul explained as the Portal behind them was coming to life with a wild array of electronic sounds and flashing lights. He reminded them about how to activate the markers, about how one marker could bring back multiple people, and about how they would remain active for 44 hours. Then, as he demonstrated how to do it, he added, "An active marker will lead you to other markers, even if they are inactive. That is how you will find Harry and his team. Find them, activate the marker, and come home."

He turned to face Alice directly, smiling as he assured her, "This is a story that will make you the most famous journalist in all of written history, Miss McDoughtry. Just stick close to this man. He is the best at what he does."

Bart had to look away from the pair. What Raul meant by that was that Bart had no limits on what he would do to get the job done. If that meant taking an innocent person's life -- which, in the past, it had -- then that was what Bart would do. He was quickly beginning to realize that he hadn't been chosen for this mission to make sure that Harry got back: he'd been chosen to make sure that the story got back.

"Let's get this over with," Bart said. "What's next?"

 

[asetikish]

Bart was certainly one of those types. The type of man who would pass as a mercenary. Someone who wouldn't care as long as he got the job done. Looking up at him though, he looked like someone who can get all the ladies he wanted. The kind of man who got what he wanted no matter what. In a way, that was very appealing to her.

Their hands shook and Alice's eyebrow rose with a smirk on her face. He was holding it for a bit too long and, as if just realizing it, he snatched his hand back. She couldn't help but grin at the man. Something told her that he didn't find her unappealing either.

The two men exchanged words. Apparently, Bart wasn't in on many of the company's intricacies, but there was one thing that IT didn't count on.

"But ... if we can get a little positive Press at the same time..."

Alice shook her head. "Mr. Raul, I am an investigative journalist. Science fiction and history just happened to be my interests. I will not assure you positive press even if I get out hale and whole, but I assure you I will write the truth. So please, spare me the niceties and the sugarcoating. You're not the first company who tried to impress me and failed."

Raul only smiled at her as he proceeded to explain the marker. Seeing as they had only one, it meant that she had to stick to Bart. Which was probably a good thing since she didn't know what was on the other side of the hole.

Readying her camera and her dictaphone, she stepped toward Raul. "I believe we've wasted enough time. I still have a few stories left on my desks. Some of them matter more than this, so please, I agree with Bart, let's get this over with."

 

[JustThatGuy2014]

A Technician who had been standing by in silence suddenly jumped into action. "We need you to strip, please. No modern clothes, no modern weapons, no tech' ... nothing."

Bart was hesitant: he liked his weapons and toys. But as the Technician and Raul both began a double team, explaining how they couldn't take anything back with them that wasn't from that era, he understood and reluctantly did as he was told.

He glanced to Alice as the Technician explained that she couldn't take any of her recording equipment, smiling a bit as he thought of her having to do her jobs without her own toys. He suddenly recalled a mission in Honduras when both his sat' phone and radio went out, leaving him feeling as if he was lost on a jungle planet out of some Predator movie.

After a second Lab Assistant helped him into some period clothing, he was relieved to be handed a short sword and a nice sized dagger. He'd trained with hand weapons as a hobby, so if it came down to a fight, Bart was semi-confident that he could protect himself and Alice. He would have preferred fourteen 9mm bullets, but a three foot long steel alloy blade would be better than nothing at all.

Bart gave Alice a second look as she emerged from a second office wearing the garb of a peasant girl. His lips parted in a smile: he'd thought her modern clothes showed off her figure nicely enough, but the simple dress she was wearing now clung to her breasts and hips in a way that once again caused a bit of arousal.

"You need to mount the Portal, please, "Raul said, watching the pair as they headed up onto the platform. Once they were in place, the project's designer said, "I hesitated to tell you this before, because I didn't want it to influence your decision as whether or not to go, but ... I've been told that this process is, how to put this ... extremely painful. Only for a moment, but..."

He stepped down away from the platform and gestured to the Technician, who began operating controls. In just seconds, the pain began ...

 

[asetikish]

"You have got to be kidding me!" Alice growled, but everyone looked so dead serious. Her stomach sank. "Alright, but when I finish changing, I want to see paper and something to write with."

She stormed into the changing room and changed into an outfit, which was, unfortunately a little tight around the chest area making her breasts pop out a little more than usual. She blushed in embarrassment but sucked it in. She had to get this story or she'd never hear the end of it from her boss.

She stepped out and saw Bart in his period garb. He didn't look bad, but she did hope he would stop staring at her. She could only handle so much attention, and right now, she couldn't help but flush at his eyes on her.

Alice let them usher her into the platform and took some paper and graphite from one of the assistants.

Extremely painful? "Wait what kind of--" she cut off in a scream. She felt like her body was being torn apart. Like someone was cutting her up and she couldn't do anything about it. Tears came to her eyes unbidden. The pain was horrible. She wanted to stop and quit. No more!

It seemed to last forever, but finally, it stopped. She lay on the ground quivering and sobbing, the remnants of the pain still stinging her body. Surrounded by grass, she didn't really care for the large trees that surrounded her and the rocky ground she lay on. It was nothing compared to her pain. Her paper and graphite lay on the ground forgotten as the pain slowly subsided.

Around her, she could hear birds chirping and the air was crisp and clean. It was humid, and a little oppressively so. There were vines crawling up the trees telling her how old they were. Above, the sun cast shadows through the trees, casting small shards of light to hte ground below.

They were through, but if going back meant another pain as horrible as the last, she was having second thoughts about going back.

 

[JustThatGuy2014]

Bart had been tortured three separate times during his years as a soldier and military contractor, and yet the pain of the Portal was something he'd never imagined. When he regained his senses, he found himself instinctually hovering over Alice's body, using the short sword to balance himself like a cane and holding the dagger before him protectively.

But there was nothing to be afraid of here. They were in the midst of a thick, old growth forest much like the Olympic Wilderness Area in Washington in which he'd spent most of his pre-military summers. As he shrugged off the remnants of the pain, he took Alice by the elbow, lifted her to her feet, and said, "Let's find cover."

They spent the next several minutes hiding in the roots of a massive tree that had likely fallen in a wind storm years earlier. Bart got his bearings, determining which way was what, and asked his traveling partner about her ability to move. She seemed to be as affected by the transport as he was, but they both seemed ready to go ahead.

Bart held the marker out before him and pressed his fingers to the side that had an image of the Virgin Mary on it. As he moved it side to side, it emitted a sound in the northeast direction. He hung the marker around his neck, telling Alice, "They're that way. Let's move."



Other than the foot path upon which they'd been traveling, they saw no sign of civilization for a full hour or more. Then, suddenly, the forest opened up and before them lay a vast field of mixed grains, beyond which was a small town surrounded by an age-worn wooden pole fence.

As they sat there watching the villagers working the fields and doing a variety of other tasks, Bart looked to Alice and asked, "So ... what was your last story about?"

 

[asetikish]

The pain had been brief and Alice tried her best to shake the pain off, but it wasn't easy. It took Bart's urging for her to forget about the pain and realize that it was long gone. She let him lead her wiping her tears with the sleeve of her top. Having touched the ground, the soil that stuck on it left a mark on her face that she didn't realize was there.

They kept moving and moving until Bart used the device. Soon, they were moving again. Alice had lost all sense of direction, unless she looked up at the sun to guide her. East...no, probably northeast if she read the sun correctly. It was still morning, probably nearing noon, so she should be correct on their direction.

Unused to the terrain, she often stumbled but never complained. She had been in rough areas before, and although this was different, it was still the same: complaining wouldn't help anyone, and worse it could only irk her companion. Concentrating on where she stepped didn't put her in a talkative mood, so when the forest turned sparse and opened up to fields, she breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Bart didn't move from his position and she waited with him. He likely knew what to do more than she did. "So ... what was your last story about?"

"The Ebola outbreak in Africa." She looked down at the ground as a wave of sadness washed over her. "You should see them, all with dejected faces waiting to die. I was so infuriated when the overseas volunteers were struck. They quickly sent them back to the U.S. to be treated after saying there was no medicine. It was so unfair, you know? Hundreds upon hundreds were dying in the span of a few months and they only said they probably have a working drug when one of their own was about to die. Well, we know it does work, and still, they never brought the cure down there."

She sighed cursing the corporations and the governments.

"So, what about you? You don't look like you're just security. What's your story?"

 

[JustThatGuy2014]

"The Ebola outbreak in Africa," Alice answered.

He listened with an equally heavy heart to her description of the lack of response from the West to the horrific outbreak that ultimately killed tens of thousands of Africans. His mind flashed to Nick Nolte's line in the movie "Hotel Rwanda". Nolte's character, a UN Peace Keeper from Europe, explained why the West cared so little about the thousands dying in the civil war: "You're not even a nigger. You're an African."

Bart who had grown up without prejudice, who had lived and died side by side when service-men and -women of a an untold number of nationalities and ethnicities, and who for the past decade had worked well on security issues with the locals in a dozen foreign lands never understood -- let alone condoned -- such racist thoughts. Deep down, as geneticists liked to point out, we are all the same. What the fuck difference did a person's skin color or learned language have to do with who or what he or she was?

"So, what about you?" Alice asked, catching him deep in thought. "You don't look like you're just security. What's your story?"

He looked off toward the village in the wide valley below them, wanting a moment to consider his response. How do you explain to someone you just met -- let alone a reporter -- that you were, essentially, a hired gun, ready and willing to do what ever was necessary to advance your employer's agenda?

He had limits, of course, but the line between acceptable and unacceptable shifted to fit the current situation. He finally turned to face Alice, a slight smirk spreading his lips as he glanced at the little pocket in which he had seen her checking her paper and graphite pencil-like tool. "My story...? You would need more than those to tell my story. Let's just say ... I do what needs to be done and leave it at that."

He looked to the village again, just as a squad of six mounted riders came into view on the road just a couple of hundred yards to the south of their position. They were impressive, with their colors wafting in the wind and their swords and armor glinting in the afternoon light. Bart reached to his own blades as if to ensure they were there and remind himself that they were not his chosen weapons.

If he got into a fight with such men -- men trained with such weapons -- he couldn't guarantee that he would come out on top. He looked to Alice, hoping that his expression wouldn't betray his concern. "I think we should remain here for the night. I can slip into the village under the cover of dark ... for food and water and, if we're lucky, to find Harry and his men."

 

[asetikish]

"My story...? You would need more than those to tell my story. Let's just say ... I do what needs to be done and leave it at that."

Alice frowned. She had been honest with him and he didn't get the same response in kind. But then again, people had skeletons in their closet and he probably had hundreds of them by the way he answered. Which also meant he was a very dangerous man and for some reason, that really didn't make her feel safe at all. What if she wrote a story putting his employer in a negative light? He'd probably kill her to shut her up about it.

She shuddered just as he looked back to the village. Just as well that he didn't see the apprehension she felt being around him. She could take a hundred guesses on what he was and all of them would probably have one thing in common. He killed when he had to. So, to survive, she had to keep her writing from him. It was the only way.

She had been in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even in the Ukraine, but this was a different ball game altogether. If she died, he could easily say that it was an accident or one of the people here killed her and no one would know the wiser. This wasn't just a different place where the media could come in and swoop on a story. It was a different time.

"I think we should remain here for the night. I can slip into the village under the cover of dark ... for food and water and, if we're lucky, to find Harry and his men."

"Well, why can't we go out there?" She asked, unaware that her normal voice was carrying through out of the woods to the open field and to the road. "We're dressed like them. We look like them. What are you so scared about.

One of those in the parade looked in their direction catching her voice. It was faint to his ears with all the clopping of the horses and the jangle of their armor and arms, but he heard it. "Sir, there's someone hiding over there," he informed his superior suddenly wary of an ambush.

 

[JustThatGuy2014]

"Have you ever heard the one about the American who couldn't understand what the Brit' was saying to him and complained, Speak English, man!"

Bart suddenly realized that one of the mounted men was looking their direction. He scrunched down a bit himself, then grasped Alice by the wrist and pulled her to him and down farther behind the log before him. As he peeked through the undergrowth toward the soldiers, he finished his thought, "If you think 21st century Americans and Brits speak English differently, imagine how differently 21st century Americas -- us! -- speak it from these 14th century folk. They'll pick us out as foreigners in a heart beat, because even though we're speaking their language, we really aren't speaking their language."

As he continued to eye the soldiers through the twigs and leaves, Bart didn't realize that his grip upon Alice was a bit more familiar than it probably should have been.

(OOC: I left it open whether the men came toward them... as well as where Bart's hands might be. )

 

[asetikish]

Alice yelped as Bart pulled her to him, leaving no doubt for the men that there were people hiding in the woods. A few of the men broke off from the main force, their swords sliding out from their scabbards.

For a moment, Alice held her breath as the men approached and then...felt...something. She looked down and saw Bart's hand on her breasts. Not just on them, but there was a firmness to his grip. She couldn't help but blush and feel flustered even as the men slowly made their way toward them. And honestly, a tad aroused. But then again, she had never had a man touch her before.

"B-bart...your--" And then an idea struck her. He was right, they couldn't speak to them and without knowing how hostile they were, they couldn't risk it.

She twisted in his grip and turned to him. "Play along." Without any warning, she kissed him on his lips wrapping his arm around him as the men approached.

"Who goes there? In the name of the king, show yourselves!"

 

[JustThatGuy2014]

"Play along."

Suddenly, Alice was all over Bart, her forward thrusting weight and his surprised off-balanced crouch causing them to fall backward to the ground. And as if that wasn't enough, she was kissing him ... passionately, if not a bit awkwardly.

"Wha' th--?" He couldn't get the words out and her lips covered his mouth. He pulled his face back, about to question her actions when his slower moving brain finally caught up with what she was doing. He whispered a simple, "Oh!"

Bart pulled the beautiful redhead hard against him, meeting her lips with his own, parted though he managed to keep his tongue to himself.

"Who goes there?" a soldier called from high atop his huge, powerful horse. "In the name of the king, show yourselves!"

Neither of them responded to the cavalrymen, but to further the ruse, Bart grasped handfuls of Alice's dress at her firm buttocks and pulled the cloth upwards. The hem didn't rise much, just enough to reveal her bare calves and the lower lacy trim of her knee length undergarment. But it was enough to cause the closest of the soldiers to begin laughing as the next to arrive began making comments Bart didn't understand but interpreted as cat calls concerning Alice's promiscuous behavior.

"Stand!" another of the soldiers ordered as the final two dismounted and moved to flank the pair making out on the ground. "Stand and be recognized!"

Bart reluctantly pulled his mouth away from Alice, waving to the soldiers as he called in feigned fear, "Please, m'lord, do not harm us."

"Stand!"

Bart helped Alice off of him and to her feet, then struck a subordinate pose as he said, ""Please, m'lord."

"Shut it!" the soldier ordered, apparently the man in charge. He came forward, the only one of the five without his weapon drawn. He studied Bart's face, then studied Alice's, as well as ogled her form. He saw the sword hanging from Bart's waist and ordered it seized. After a pair of soldiers -- weapons pointing at the IT man's waist -- came forward to disarm him, the Captain asked, "Are you from the village?"

"Yes, m'lord," Bart said, keeping his Americanized words to a minimum.

The Captain came closer, again studying Bart, before turning to give Alice a long, hungry look. "And you, m'lady. You are this man's woman?"

It was obvious that the man had a yearning for Alice. And as Bart looked about the others, he realized that they, too, had a yearning ... and the weapons that could allow them to fill that need if things went south.

 

[asetikish]

Alice has only gone for a chaste kiss, not really having her first kiss yet, but when she told him to play along, he played along too well. Too well that she was the one keeping up with him, trying to mimic his kiss. He could feel him grasp at her skirt sending an unreasonable shiver down her spine.

She heard the men laugh and cursed in her head. Why aren't they leaving? Don't these men have any sense of decency?

Soon it was obvious that the men weren't going to go away and Bart pulled out of their kiss and started begging.

She looked from him to the men and didn't like the way they were looking at the both of them. Her heart raced as they questioned Bart. She had to hand it to him, he was good.

The question was suddenly directed to her and she froze, her fear wasn't feigned and she didn't know if she could pull of the accent as well as Bart, so she nodded. Her hand reached out for his hand clasping it tightly.

"Well now, these here are the king's lands and everything in it is the king's property, you understand?" One of the soldiers took a step toward them. "Even you. Now, be a good lass and come with us. Show a bit of gratitude for your protectors." He lifted his sword up to her chin and made her look up at him. "Red hair, green eyes...A pretty lass like you does not come often."

The men around them laughed.