Nemesis

by John Schettler

  “Forget that,” he said to Troyak. “You can paddle his ass all you want after I’m done here. I came down to get access to the weapons lockers. The Captain wants a full inventory.”

  “The Marine lockers?”

  “What else, Troyak, I don’t want to go through your underwear cabinet.” He grinned, looking over his shoulder at the three security men.

  Troyak put his hands on his hips, and Zykov’s eyes widened. He had seen the Sergeant do that many times before, and he knew what it meant. Nobody got into Troyak’s business down here, nobody…. It was an unspoken rule of the ship, and Orlov’s very presence in the Marine section of the helo bay was a transgression, an offense, and the Corporal knew Troyak was not going to tolerate it.

  “Sir,” said Troyak again, his voice hard and steady. “The Marines conduct all muster of arms in these lockers, and account for any inventory on hand.”

  “Yes? Well I conduct the inventory today, Sergeant. I assume you have the keys?”

  Silence…. A silence so thick and impenetrable that no one dared speak or even move. Troyak was looking right at Orlov, ignoring every other man on the scene, and Zykov finally rubbed his cheek, scratching a way an itch from the blow he had taken.

  “Well?” Orlov gave Troyak a disparaging look, but the Sergeant just bored into him with those dark eyes. Then he spoke, his voice carrying a tone that meant real business now, and every one of the Marines heard it, for they had heard it so many times before.

  “Did the Chief of Operations hear what the Sergeant Major just said?” It was a stark challenge, and only something that could have come out of Troyak’s mouth. Zykov had told the Chief to fuck off in a fit of anger, though he knew he would likely hear about that soon enough. But with that one cold, unflinching statement, Troyak had just told Orlov to fuck off yet again, only he did so formally, in language every man there understood, and the statement was an escalation that took the tension in the room to a whole new level.

  Now Grilikov turned, squaring off to Troyak, looming over him, a full head taller. His thick arms hung heavily at his side, and the light from the open hangar door above gleamed balefully on his forehead. His presence radiated sheer menace, and now the three security men behind Orlov also stepped up, one man slowly moving a hand inside his trench coat.

  Troyak had been ignoring the man, for he knew the only person with any authority there was Orlov, but he did not take lightly to any other man standing to in his presence, and he knew a clear threat of violence when he saw one, his eye unfailingly picking up the movement of the security man’s hand inside his coat. The other Marines instinctively moved forward, slowly approaching the scene, their unfriendly eyes on the men in those coats.

  The Sergeant Major heard them, and he simply moved one arm, his hand extending two fingers, a gesture he might have made in the silence of a combat scenario. The Marines froze in place, stopping where they were. Then Troyak slowly turned, finally acknowledging the looming closeness of Grilikov, a nemesis the like of which he had never seen. But this was his turf. In this bay, and with these Marines, he was the final arbiter of truth or falsity, and no man would overshadow him, overrule him, or ever violate that. He looked up at Grilikov, Black Death in his eyes, in the stony cut of his shoulders, in the granite rock of his chin. The two men stared at one another, one an immovable object, the other an irresistible force, and no good was ever going to come from their meeting.

  “Chief of the Boat,” said Troyak darkly. “Who is this man? He is standing too close to the Sergeant Major, and he will now take one step back.”

  Zykov took a deep breath, and swallowed hard.

  The Saga Continues…

  Kirov Saga: Winter Storm

  Harried by the Captain’s suspicion, Fedorov desperately tries to find allies on the ship, and gets a most unusual visit from Doctor Zolkin that gives him a faint glimmer of hope. Kirov is bound for the Pacific, with tensions slowly rising on the ship itself as the crew is briefed to gird themselves for war. But the fighting may already be starting, simmering in the helo bay when two immutable opposing forces stolidly stand their ground, refusing to back down.

  The action soon moves east, and bigger battles loom when the ship and crew find themselves on the eve of a most fateful day as Japan prepares to enter the war. But Karpov has plans for the Japanese Navy, and he soon sets the ship on a collision course that threatens to ignite the fires of the Pacific war in a massive conflagration.

  On the Russian Front, Sergei Kirov struggles to hold the line at the gates to Moscow when the Big Cats arrive on the scene of Guderian’s bold thrust at Tula. The action soon brings two storied tank killers face to face in the desperate fighting, where the battlefield becomes the scene of a very personal duel.

  Meanwhile, Admiral Volsky has secretly made contact with the Commander of a British submarine, hoping to convince the man that he must leave his arctic patrol and sail for a rendezvous with Admiral Tovey. But the waters off the North Cape are dangerous, and the journey will be far more perilous than he realizes. As he labors to deliver his charge in the key Fedorov has entrusted to him, Professor Dorland returns to his Meridian Team in 2021 to try and plan the recovery of the key lost on HMS Rodney, but he soon makes a most alarming discovery.

  The action continues on both land and sea, as 1941 draws to a close and the most fateful year of the war begins in the storms of the cold winter.

  DORLAND’s TIME GLOSSARY – Terminology

  ABSOLUTE CERTIANTY – A condition brought about by willful determination that serves to limit variation in the continuum, creating a kind of tunnel in the time Meridian that restricts outcomes to an absolute resolution.

  ALTERED STATE – A new prime meridian that has been recreated or radically altered to incorporate consequences and changes due to variations in the original meridian. See also: Prime Meridian

  ATTENUATION – A property of an incomplete Time shift, where the traveler manifests across a range of several milliseconds, slightly out of synch or phase with his correct manifestation point.

  BACKWASH – The reflection of Heisenberg Waves that propagate backward in time after encountering Paradox. Backwash can create Backward Causality, and literally alter past events.

  BACKWARD CAUSALITY – A quantum event where entangled particles in the present or future serve to alter the quantum state of particles in the past, leading to the alteration of events in the past because of something that happens in the present and future, usually a Paradox event. See Also: Quantum Entanglement

  CHAOS ZONE – A kind of time moiré when dual Heisenberg Wave sets overlap on the other side of Paradox Time. Chaos Zones can be very unstable and create unexpected or odd effects. See also: Dual Heisenberg Wave.

  CLARITY – Clear or good understanding of a temporal locus, pattern, event, Outcome or Consequence.

  CO-LOCATION – The presence of an object or person transported back through time to any point or Meridian on the continuum where that object existed. This is expressly forbidden by Time, and therefore generally thought to be impossible. In like manner, no person can ever shift in Time to a point where they co-locate with themselves, which will create a Paradox if attempted. EXCEPTION: See Dual Heisenberg Wave and Doppelganger

  CONSEQUENCE – An undesired result achieved by a temporal Transformation – Usually referring to the negative. (i.e.) Sometimes certain Consequences must be accepted in order to achieve a desired Outcome.

  CONVOLUTION – The relative difficulty or complexity of a given temporal event or condition.

  DEEP NEXUS – Sometimes called a “Void” – A crucial, significant Nexus Point where radical alteration of the time line is possible. A Deep Nexus has a universal effect on all moments in Time until resolved, and can therefore be a portal into any potential Meridian passing through the Nexus.

  DENSITY – A relative term describing factor counts in temporal events. The more density, the more difficult it is to discern possible outcomes on a meridian, and plan intervention
.

  DOPPELGANGER – “Double Walker.” A duplicate of a person or object arising as a result of a Dual Heisenberg Wave during Paradox Time. Doppelgangers are rare and unique duplications of information in the time continuum. They can only arise when one information set, object, or person, is protected in a Nexus Point, or protected by some other force, during Paradox Time, particularly if the second duplicate information set, object or person is associated with an Imperative or First Cause event that must occur.

  DUAL HEISENBERG WAVE – A Heisenberg Wave that has separated into two wave sets after encountering Paradox Time on the continuum. Such conditions give rise to a Chaos Zone in the hours and days immediately following Paradox Time, and can also lead to many strange effects, like Déjà vu, Jamais vu, Presque vu, alterations in physical matter, memory loss, and the creation of a Doppelganger.

  ELASTICITY – The tendency of Time to resist alteration and reassume its original shape.

  FACTOR – An element contributing to convolution in temporal events.

  FINALITY – A catastrophic Grand Imperative (like the Cuthulu asteroid strike that led to the eradication of the dinosaurs and other life.) See Also: Grand Finality and Imperative.

  FIRST CAUSE – A crucial event in a chain of causality that initiates all following events. A first cause is often associated with a Time Loop, and it becomes more and more imperative the longer the looping occurs without proper resolution.

  FREE RADICAL – A dangerous, erratic variable in the course of temporal events – usually only existing within a Deep Nexus.

  GOLEM – A special search program written by Kelly Ramer and distributed to hundreds of thousands of computer users via the Internet. Golems are able to search and report on information on the net, and can perceive data on every Meridian during a time of Deep Nexus through the phenomenon known as “Resonance.” Golems are arranged in to modules, and one notable module responsible for fetching crucial variations was designated “Golem 7.”

  GORDIAN KNOT – A series of time loops that cannot be untangled, even by using the annihilating power associated with Paradox. Such a knot can occur when objects or persons are protected from the effects of Paradox by one means or another. The presence or existence of a Doppelganger is a warning that a Gordian Knot is starting to form from a Time Loop influenced by Paradox.

  GRAND FINALITY – The inevitable end or result of a Radical Transformation to the time continuum. Such an occurrence can permanently rupture the meridians of time, creating infinite Time Loops that can never resolve. In effect, time becomes hopelessly tangled into a Gordian Knot, and this can lead to the annihilation of the future, as events cannot progress beyond the point of the knotted or looped time. Grand Finalities differ from natural finalities in that they are the result of willful action, and not acts of nature.

  GREAT VOID – An interminable shadow or Penumbra cast by a Grand Imperative. It can also refer to the void in time created by a Grand Finality.

  HAZE – Obscurity in the understanding of a temporal situation.

  HEISENBERG WAVE – The transforming effect of an intervention in time, which propagates forward along the continuum to radically alter all subsequent events. All major variations in time, including Paradox, result in the creation of a Heisenberg Wave, like a stone thrown into a still pool. See also: Time Tsunami.

  IMPERATIVE – An event in Time which must happen – Usually a natural event, but not always, as in the case of a First Cause. A Grand Imperative is a natural event of special significance. Some Grand Imperatives can become a Finality.

  INEVITABILITY – A progression of events that is inexorable and unalterable.

  INITIATOR – A person directly responsible for a new Time Meridian (Like Mohammed, or Christ). A Prime Mover of great significance.

  LEVER – A secondary contributor to movement in a series of events.

  MERIDIAN – An established line of temporal events on the continuum. A possible line of causality. See also: Prime Meridian

  NEXUS POINT – A point of connection, intersection or branching of one or more possible Meridians in the Time continuum.

  NODE – A specific point on a Time Meridian.

  OUTCOME – A desired result achieved by a temporal Transformation – Usually referring to the positive.

  P-WAVE – A “predictive” or “precursor” Heisenberg Wave that acts as a harbinger of changes to come, but does not introduce major changes to any meridian. P-Waves resonate across all possible meridians, and can therefore be detected as possible variations in the Resonance around a series of events. Minor effects may accompany P-Waves, which are often perceived as a sense of emotional dread.

  PARADOX – Time’s way of correcting errors in the Time continuum. Paradox arises when an insoluble conflict occurs in the continuum, and time attempts to avoid or correct that problem. It is therefore a real force, and quite dangerous. It kills or erases people and objects from the Time Meridian when unaccountable complications arise from their actions. A Paradox is NOT simply a thorny problem; it is a real effect and the force of annihilation—a kind of “Anti-Time.” See also: Heisenberg Wave, and Time Loop.

  PARADOX HOUR – The moment when an object or person in the past reaches the moment of their first arrival at a point on the continuum, their birth, or moment of first cause. The annihilating force of Paradox attempts to resolve potential conflicts by removing them from the continuum or any contact with Paradox Hour.

  PARADOX TIME – The time prior to, and during, a Paradox event. Odd effects of Paradox Time can begin occurring, hours, days, weeks or even months before the actual Paradox event, as a result of the subtle generation of P-Waves in the Heisenberg field.

  PENUMBRA – The shadow of influence on future events cast by an Imperative, often impenetrable or a great obstacle, to time travelers.

  POINT OF DIVERGENCE – The point of initial vitiation in any previously established time meridian.

  POINT OF ORIGIN – The temporal locus where a person or object becomes a Prime Mover.

  PRIME MERIDIAN – The initial or first meridian of time, and the one that all other potential meridians must return to after a variation. Heisenberg Waves created by variations serve to rejoin potential altered meridians back into one new prime, which could then be a Altered State.

  PRIME MOVER – A primary causative lever or agent for an event – usually a person but sometimes an object.

  PUSH POINT – A moment of insignificance that gives rise to a key event on a Time Meridian. Often associated with a Prime Mover.

  QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT – A relationship between two quantum particles where the state or condition of one causes the other related particle to also alter its state, location, spin or other condition—instantaneously. Quantum Entanglement can lead to Backward Causality and other strange time effects, as the two entangled particles need not be in the same spacetime.

  QUANTUM KARMA – The influence of causality on a Time Meridian. Each moment on the Meridian affects the next with a kind of momentum, and certain Prime Movers accumulate an aura of Quantum Karma around them that also has profound effects on the configuration of future moments in Time.

  RADICAL TRANSFORMATION – A catastrophic alteration of the Temporal Condition that can lead to a Grand Finality.

  RESONANCE – Information available in the intersection of a Nexus Point, where many alternate Meridians “resonate” data concerning the possible outcome of events. This data can be picked up by the Meridian Team Golem software, registering as potential variations in the history in conflict with data stored in the Touchstone Database.

  TEMPORAL CONDITION – The matrix, pattern or state of affairs in a given time period.

  TIME LOOP – A replay of events that occurs as a result of a Paradox event. Movement to any point on the continuum prior to one’s first appearance in the past is dangerous, as the arrow of time slowly brings that person or object forward on the continuum to approach the point of its first entry. The prohibition against Co-Location
creates a Paradox, and associated Paradox Time when the object or person arriving from the past encounters the moment of their first arrival, or moment of First Cause. Time loops can result in a Gordian Knot if not properly resolved, which can lead to Grand Finality.

  TIME TSUNAMI – A series of Heisenberg Waves generated by a Grand Paradox and initiating changes and transformations so profound that they create a Finality.

  TOUCHSTONE DATABASE – The history of all known recorded events as established in a protected RAM bank by the Meridian Project Team at the outset of their project. This data is thought to define events native to the Prime Meridian, prior to the first opening of the continuum on the team’s initial time mission. This data is often used as a reference to indicate a variation in time has occurred when the Golem search modules fetch resonance information that conflicts with that in the database.