Breaking Time

by Luke Derricks

  Instantly the portal opened to the icy vacuum of the abandoned starship again.

  Luke immediately dodged around the corner, into the tunnel, where his uncle waited unconscious. Wind gusted down the corridor against them, rushing down into the portal. He heard the high-pitch squealing shrieks as the snakes were sucked into their doom. The air got a little thin and kept blowing hard against them, but Luke dragged his uncle, and with all his adrenaline and strength, pushed forward through the tunnel.

  They went around the bend. The farther from the portal they got, the easier it became to walk. But the air quickly got thinner and thinner. It became hard to breathe. Luke felt light-headed. He sure hoped all those snaked had been pulled in. But he couldn’t wait any longer.

  Falling to his knees from the physical exhaustion and lack of oxygen, he started to draw another small circle on the floor. He drew the triangle symbol. The other portal down the tunnel instantly closed; the new one here opened up. He saw blinding bright sunlight and sand. Intense sizzling heat poured through. He quickly X-ed out the portal, closing it. They could breathe again.

  He wanted to collapse. He caught his breath and checked his uncle. Still alive. Barely.

  “Hold on, Uncle.”

  He took a few more deep breaths. He didn’t want to go through that again anytime soon.

  Or like, ever.

  Then he heard a faint humming ahead. Was it just his ears? No, it was real. It sounded almost… mechanical. What was that?

  His uncle coughed. And then some more. He regained consciousness, but barely. He took several deep breaths himself. He still shivered. “Where am I?”

  “You’re awake!”

  “Luke!” His tired eyes seemed to smile. “Thank God you’re safe.”

  Luke laughed. “Me? Thank God you’re alive! You had me really worried there. We need to get you to a hospital. Do they have one near Stonehenge?”

  He began drawing a new portal.

  “Wait,” said Charlie. “There’s another way.”

  “What?”

  “The healing ch-chamber.”

  “What are you talking about?” Maybe he was delirious from the loss of blood.

  “Trust me,” weakly said the old man. “I’ve got a b-better chance of survival with the chamber…”

  “What chamber?”

  “Inside the pyramid. It… It can do miracles.”

  “The pyramid? On the surface?”

  His uncle nodded.

  “I thought you said you never saw a pyramid here before.”

  “I didn’t,” said his uncle, wincing in pain. “I saw one just like it on another p-planet.”

  Luke shook his head. “I dunno.”

  “Trust me, Luke.”

  “Uncle, I…”

  “We must be close to the surface,” his uncle said, using his power of super vision. “There’s a lot of heat up ahead.”

  “You sure? Socialist healthcare is just a portal away…”

  “Luke, no,” said his uncle, very solemnly. “I could be infected with something. Can’t risk bringing something back to Earth. The chamber here will heal me, I promise. I used one once before…” He struggled, with some significant pain, to get up from the ground.

  Luke sighed. “Here, let me help you walk.”

  He lifted his uncle up and let the old man lean on him. Together, slowly, they walked up the tunnel toward the red light and growing audible hum.

  Meanwhile, in the mirror room, Dawn anxiously circled around the pedestal.

  “Ray! Ray!” she called out. She looked really worried. “Ray, where are you?”

  She sighed in frustration, stamping her foot and crossing her arms. The mysterious sphere that floated above the pedestal was gone. And nothing she said or did seemed to make it come back. Ray was gone. Just like that. Pulled into a wormhole or something to God only knew where. And there was nothing she could do about it.

  She looked down at her arms. When she tried pulling him back, her muscles grew again. Just like before, when she was fighting Tiffany-turned-cat-mutant.

  Her arms looked normal now. What caused her muscles to grow like that? Did she have “super strength” now or something? She didn’t feel any stronger.

  Or was it something else?

  She could think of only one explanation for any of it. It had to be that green chemical that man injected into her. It was designed to mutate her into a human-animal hybrid, like Tiffany. But she never received the animal DNA. Just the raw chemical. Did it alter her genetics somehow? Make her… genetically unstable?

  Her body seemed fine. Looked and felt normal. Except for moments of extreme stress and emotional need. Then her body shifted. Gave her super strength. Or morphed her feet into claws that could dig into the ground for better footing.

  She thought, at first, that it was a temporary side-effect to the chemical, but had worn off shortly after.

  But now… it happened again. Was it still in her system?

  She wondered…

  Could she do it again, on her own, by choice?

  She held her arms out. She wanted to grow those big muscles again. She concentrated.

  But nothing happened.

  She sighed, frustrated.

  What a day.

  It all started with that terrible audition. But then she met Ray. He seemed like a nice guy. Cute, too. She went home, told her roommate about her date that night, got showered and changed. All in all, a pretty average and ordinary day. But then, that night, everything got weird.

  The mysterious man sat down at their table. His power of persuasion was irresistible. She’d follow him to the end of the Earth if he asked her to. It wasn’t until later she realized he had some kind of mind control power. Incredible. Hard to believe – but yet, now, somehow the easiest part to believe after everything else that’s happened.

  Seeing her waitress mutated into a cat-girl. Feeling her own body re-shape itself according to the needs of the moment. Going back to Ray’s apartment and finding that portal there. Setting foot on another world. Almost dying of dehydration. Entering this giant pyramid. Losing her new boyfriend into some kind of supernatural energy sphere. And now… And now… She was tired, hungry, thirsty, and exhausted. And all she could think about was Ray – and the questions arising about the changes in her own body.

  This was too much. But, here she was. Inside this magical room. Inside a massive metal pyramid that clearly was some kind of high-tech alien ship or something.

  She’d hardly call herself a comic book geek, but she did enjoy watching the X-Men cartoons and movies. Having super powers would be cool. Who wouldn’t want powers if they could? But she wondered, did she have powers now too?

  She held her hand in front of her face and wiggled her fingers. If only she could make them do something. Catch on fire. Create an energy ball. Shape-shift into an animal paw. Something.

  Where was Ray? She was afraid to leave this room, just in case he came back the same way he disappeared. This was clearly no accidental or fluke thing. This whole room was designed to focus around this pedestal, where the sphere appeared.

  Call it women’s intuition, but she just knew he’d be back. This place wasn’t a prison and it wasn’t a trap. Clearly, it was something special, something sacred, something magical. She had no idea where he was or what he was doing right now, but she doubted he’d be there forever. He’d be coming back.

  He had to be coming back.

  “Please, Ray,” she said, “come back.”

  She sat down at the foot of the pedestal and buried her face in her hands. She started crying.

  Maybe it was the exhaustion, the stress, the feeling lost and alone inside an alien spaceship on another world… All the events of the day. Everything.

  Sometimes she wished she could just crawl up in a corner and hide like a turtle in its shell. She felt so vulnerable, so alone, so scared. What was she going to do?

  It all caught up with her.

  The trauma of watchin
g that kid die, and then seeing Tiffany get mutated, and almost experiencing the same fate herself. Being humiliated standing naked in front of that mind-controlling freak. Losing Ray now, and feeling abandoned, all alone on this strange world.

  She cried.

  She curled up and wrapped her arms around her sides. She really wished she could hide inside a shell right now.

  And just then, she felt her back changing, growing harder and larger. Her arms and legs simultaneously began mutating.

  Was this some kind of delayed effect from the mutation chemical she was injected with?

  Her body transformed, growing larger in some areas, shrinking smaller in others. But overall, as a whole, her body got smaller, thicker, and harder.

  And smaller… and smaller…

  She shrank inside her clothes. They collapsed around her and covered her ever-shrinking body. And she kept transforming, getting smaller still. Her back became bone hard. Her skin became rough and scaly. Her face morphed and began changing form.

  Suddenly, she saw the world from a whole new perspective. She felt different. Saw different. Heard different. Smelled different. Tasted different.

  She had a tail, short arms and legs, a long extending neck, and a large turtle shell on her back.

  She had somehow become a turtle.

  She still had all her human thoughts and awareness. But physically, she now felt and experienced the world as a small turtle. How did she do that?

  She crawled forward, out from under her pile of clothes. This was so weird. Walking slowly, crawling on all fours. Steady, deliberate movements. One foot, then the next, and the next. Feeling her bone-plated belly brush against the floor. And the strong, sturdy protection of her shell on her back the whole time.

  Wait. She wanted this. This was how she felt. She wished she could hide inside a shell.

  She pulled her head, arms, and legs inside. Curled her tail in too. So this was what it felt like. Snug, contained, protected. She couldn’t move. Didn’t want to; didn’t need to. She felt content, safe, and secure. She was a turtle.

  How cool!

  But she didn’t really want to be a turtle. Not permanently, anyway. It was just a feeling, an emotional need of the moment. She wanted to return to her human form.

  And just like that, her body began shifting, changing, transforming again. Her hands and feet morphed back to normal. Her arms and legs extended and became human-like again. Her neck returned to its normal size. Her face regained its familiar human appearance. Her hair grew back on her head. Soon she was standing erect and upright again. Completely human, completely normal… and completely naked.

  That’s twice in one day. Sheesh.

  She grabbed her clothes and quickly put them back on.

  “Wow,” was all she could say.

  This was so cool!

  She was a shape-shifter!

  She had to try something else. A dog perhaps. She focused on being a dog. Nothing happened. Darn it! Why wasn’t this working?

  Okay, think. What was the difference? Why did her arms and feet change the first two times? What was she thinking and feeling right before she became a turtle?

  Emotion. A clear and focused emotion.

  Needing strength. Needing a better footing. Needing to hide and felt sheltered like a turtle. Maybe her power was triggered by her emotions.

  Okay. So now she had to try it. She thought about getting out of here – flying free, like a bird. She focused on it, pictured it clearly in her mind, and really felt what it would be like. And suddenly, her body began shape-shifting again.

  She smiled with excitement and said, “I did it!” as feathers grew across her skin and her mouth began forming into a beak. Her arms quickly morphed into wings. Long tail feathers extended out from her lower back as she shrank and shrank into a tiny bird.

  Seconds later, she was on the ground, buried under her clothes again, experiencing life as a bird.

  Wow, this was incredible. Her heart beat faster than normal. She felt so light and free. She hopped out from under her clothes and looked around. Her vision was so sharp and clear. And she could see details from far away. She opened and stretched her new finely-feathered wings.

  Could she do this? Was she really about to fly?

  She flapped gently.

  She was about to fly.

  Oh God. Oh God. Oh God… Here goes…

  She gave herself a little running start, held her wings out flat, began flapping as hard and as fast as her little birdy wings could, and suddenly… her feet left the ground, air supported her, and she felt herself going higher and higher.

  She flew circles around the room. Saw her own reflection – a green parakeet – along the mirrored walls. Flying felt so incredible. So amazing. So freeing and – well, just totally awesome! She chirped with joy. That was a weird sound to come out of her mouth. Well, not weird for a parakeet. Just weird for a parakeet that’s used to being a human.

  She landed on top of the pedestal – the only raised surface in the room. Poor Ray. Here she was, flying around, having the time of her life with her newly discovered super power – and he was… she had no idea where he was.

  Ray sat curled up, crying, trapped in his own unending nightmare.

  It had probably played a thousand times by now. Maybe more. He lost count. It was unending.

  Nothing he said, nothing he did, ever changed anything.

  He was an observer, nothing more.

  He couldn’t stop his father from leaving.

  He couldn’t make him mom take back those words.

  He wanted nothing more than to keep his family together. Poverty was tough – but feeling unloved and unwanted was worse. If only they stayed together. Things would’ve gotten better. They would’ve been better, simply because they were together.

  Why’d they have to break up? Why’d he have to leave? Why didn’t she go after him?

  Ray watched his younger self ignorantly ride his new red bike out in the cul-de-sac. Ignorance was bliss. But that didn’t stop the pain he’d feel for the rest of his life.

  The scene restarted. Again. His mom was in the kitchen, making a sandwich. Alf was on the TV. His father came home, excited about the bike. They started arguing.

  “DAMMIT!” he screamed at them. “WOULD YOU JUST STOP ALREADY!!!”

  The scene continued playing around him.

  He finally threw his hands up into the air and sighed. He stopped crying. There were no more tears.

  Whether he liked it or not, this was his past.

  This was the defining moment when everything fell apart.

  And he couldn’t change any of it.

  But if he could… if he could change one thing… it’d be that his parents stuck together.

  Money was a problem. But together they could’ve worked through it. Life will always have problems. Life is full of challenges. What makes it worthwhile, what makes it possible, is the relationships we have in our lives.

  But his family didn’t have that.

  His mom had to pick up extra shifts and jobs to make ends meet. His dad was never around. Ray grew up feeling alone most of the time. Unwanted.

  He shook his head, watching his parents argue with each other. Saying things they probably didn’t mean. If only he could force them to stay together. Push them closer, instead of let them push each other away.

  He wished.

  But there was nothing he could do.

  He could only watch as it happened again and again.

  Would he ever escape this hell?

  But strangely, he felt a little odd. Tingly, almost. All over. Like an electrical charge ran across his skin, softly tickling him, absorbing deep into his organs and bones.

  This was new.

  Maybe he was just finally losing his mind. He didn’t know how long he had been here, watching this scene play over and over again. Maybe he had been here for days. And was finally going insane from the hunger, sleep deprivation, and dehydration.

 
; But, strangely, he didn’t feel that hungry, or sleep deprived, or thirsty right now.

  He felt tingly. All over. And charged up, empowered, gifted somehow. He couldn’t explain it. He couldn’t explain how he knew. But somehow, he felt like he had received some kind of blessing or gift. He was still the same man, the same Ray. But he felt different. Reborn, almost.

  He felt a certain power in his hands.

  The scene started over, again. He sighed. Everything replayed up to the part where they were fighting again. His dad was about to quit and leave.

  “That’s it. I’m outta here,” said Ray’s dad. “I don’t need this bullshit anymore.”

  “No,” exclaimed Ray, “I don’t want to see this anymore! YOU’RE STAYING HERE!”

  Ray intuitively held his hands out, and with a single motion, actually moved his dad closer to his mom.

  Ray froze. “Whoa.” What just happened?

  This was different.

  The scene stopped playing. His mom and dad weren’t frozen in time or anything. They still breathed. Still blinked. Still stood there, alive. But the scene had been interrupted. His dad didn’t walk out the door. His mom didn’t say another word.

  “What the—” This was new.

  Ray looked at his hands. Did he do that?

  He walked closer to them. “Mom? Dad? Can either of you hear or see me?”

  No response.

  Ray looked down at his hands again. He started to put two and two together. He tried something. With his right hand, he swiped away – and his dad flew across the room. With his left hand, he motioned towards the couch. And his mom suddenly landed there.

  “What?” He couldn’t believe it. Were his hands doing this?

  He tried something else. The lamp. He focused on the lamp, raised his hand, and the lamp lifted into the air.

  He tried something bigger. The couch. With his mom still sitting on it. With both his hands – from across the room – he raised the couch into the air. His mom crawled to the edge and hung on for dear life.

  “Help Tom! Get me down from here!” she cried.

  Ray let the couch gently back down.

  “Mom, Dad…”

  They still seemed unaware of his presence.