I was almost a foot taller in the Raptor-6, making me feel like I was walking on stilts, but I wasn’t really caring as I strutted around in the dark red steel of the suit.
“Where’re the weapons on these things?” I asked, just noticing that the guards hadn’t actually been toting any guns when we attacked them.
“These haven’t been outfitted yet.” Chloe said, “Normally there are two shoulder gatlings, unless you wanted to put your grenade launcher on one shoulder, which is really more of an infantry thing. Most soldiers prefer to have the launcher in the right knee, which works like a mortar when kneeling.” Holding up her left arm, she said, “Sub-machine guns are generally installed in the forearms which work with the suits auto-lock capability, which will make your arms move for you, not a good feeling at first but people learn to deal with it.”
We turned the corner, now in sight of the cameras. “Did they just not figure on needing weapons down here?” I asked.
“Yes. My father abhors guns.”
We reached the metal door and Chloe instantly started punching in numbers on the keypad. “If anything out of the ordinary happens, the guards check on my father.” She said as the door slid open, I’m guessing she was supposed to sound like that little tidbit was to set my mind at ease, but I could so tell she was really trying to set her own mind at ease.
The room was enormous. For a laboratory, I mean, and the silence was pretty noticeable, too. Amongst all the tables that littered the room overflowing with all kinds of science stuff that I didn’t recognize, and that’s coming from a guy who lives in a lab in his basement, I got my first look at Chloe’s dad.
I don’t really know what I had been expecting about Dr. Atrium Sparks. I mean, maybe a little like a mad scientist, but nothing too much more than that. All I know is that Dr. Atrium Sparks didn’t fit my aforethought at all.
First off his hair wasn’t white, or even graying, but instead was jet black. Secondly he was a freakin’ beast, man. He looked liked a body-builder with glasses and a lab coat. Chloe had removed her helmet by then and her dad had seen her and in a split seconds they were in each other’s arms.
“Clover, I’m so glad you’re safe.” He told her, looking the same size as the suit she was wearing, which was ridiculous. “I was beginning to think you were dead.”
Since I hadn’t exactly been invited to the tearful reunion, I decided I’d check out the lab while they were having a good cry. That is, until I actually took a step and Dr. Sparks noticed me and produced a handgun.
“Who are you?” he growled, his deep lovable father voice gone.
Sadly, this wasn’t the first time I’d met a girl’s father only to have him threaten me with a gun. Her name had been Raven Collins and her daddy was an ex-marine with a severe love for his daughter and firearms.
I was fifteen at the time. Remember how I said I hated that number?
“He’s with me, father,” Chloe decided to say only after her old man had already made me feel about as unwelcome as I could. “He’s also the finder of the glove.”
Upon hearing his daughter’s words, Dr. Sparks gasped, dropping his gun like it had burned him. Removing my helmet, I crossed over to him and held out an armored hand, “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Doc. I’m-“
“Jericho Johnson.” He said suddenly. “From 2012.” He was still holding his hand like it was burned and his brows had furrowed in deep thought. And he was also staring at me in disbelief like I was… I don’t know, exactly.
“You’re butler’s name is Evonne, your maid’s name is Louise, you’re a history professor, celebrity and billionaire who met my daughter the first time in Rome in A.D. 98 on a Thursday.”
“Alright, pal,” I said, not liking this one bit for some reason, “Start talking. Have me met?”
“Only once,” he said, taking a step toward me, “When I'd first finished the glove I tried jumping forward a few years as a test. You were here in Flagstaff during a revolt.” His eyes were glassy in an almost drunk like way, and I saw him swallow as a bead of sweat rolled down his cheek.
Something was up. Either this dude wasn’t right upstairs, had a weak heart or wasn’t telling me everything. I was thinking the latter.
“What happened?” I asked.
“We met topside,” He said, each word seeming like a struggle, “I had only known you for a few minutes maybe, when…” His voice trailed off.
“When what?” I asked, my voice rising, causing me to receive a look from Chloe.
“There… was an explosion in the southern precinct.” Dr. Sparks said, “You died there, Jericho.”
I was already shaking my head. “No way-“ I started but Dr. Sparks cut in.
“I saw what was left of your body,” he said, staring intently at me. “You were dead, son.”
“Why was I there? Who was with me?” I almost shouted only this time it was Dr. Sparks that was shaking his head.
“You said you didn’t have time to explain. The things I told you about yourself were the only things you told me then to prove that you were from the past.”
I’m going to pause this tale a minute to explain a plan I had made on one of my first voyages. The plan, as elaborate as I’d like to say it was, was merely just a line or phrase that I used almost everywhere for instances just like this- when verifying someone’s credibility about me was a life or death situation.
Of course, you know, I never, like, thought about the whole life or death thing too literally…
For those of you who have been listening intently like I hope you have, you might actually remember the plan when you hear it. Maybe.
“Did I say something to you or ask you something that sounded a little crazy?” I asked the doctor.
“What? No, I don’t think--ah!” he said suddenly, snapping his fingers. “Yes, you did, as a matter of fact.” He pursed his lips in thought and screwed one eye closed as he pondered, causing me to wonder if this guy really was one of the great minds of his age like everyone thought. “I believe you asked what my thoughts were on global warming and some sort of epidemic, or something…”
“The mad cow disease,” I said, my shoulders sagging.
“Yes, that’s it,” Dr Sparks said, smiling because I’m guessing he had been trying to remember it for a while. Then he noticed my face and also the gravity of what he’d just told me.
“Yeah,” I said, nodding once and pointing. “I’m going to go clear my head on the other side of this rather depressing lab. It was a blast meeting you, dude.” I started towards the opposite side of the lab, which, might I point out, turned out to be rocking an equal dose of depression. “Let’s do this again sometime.
Chapter 20
While I was wallowing in self-pity, Chloe told her father about the glove situation. “Where is the original?” He asked her. Sighing, because clearly they couldn’t last two minutes with me, I opened up my chest piece.
“Here,” I said, holding out the glove, which, unless I was wrong and somehow turned into a vampire thus becoming immortal and therefore might actually appear in Russian-occupied America over three hundred years later looking ever the devilishly handsome rogue that I am, was going to be the harbinger of my inevitable and extremely untimely demise.
Dr. Sparks took the glove and turned it over in his hands, “When did you notice it wasn’t working?”
I was about to delve into seemingly the most sarcastic uncalled for response I’ve ever tried but Chloe, who knew me well enough to know that I wasn’t in the best of moods, cut me off. “Almost ten or fifteen minutes after the EMP grenade.”
Dr. Sparks sat at his desk and in seconds had opened the glove. All thoughts of my death and being ticked about it vanished when I saw him crack open the glove. “How’d you do that?” I asked, “I’ve tried to open that thing a zillion times.”
“I designed it to only open for me, Jericho,” he said, pointing to a spot on the glove casing that looked basically like the rest of the glove. “It reco
gnizes my impression here, thus allowing me, and only me, access. Were the gauntlet able to be opened by just anyone we would have a few more problems than we already do.”
“You mean like dying? ‘Cause that sounds like a big… Wait- did you just call it a gauntlet?”
Nodding, Dr. Sparks looked thoughtfully at his life’s work in his hands, “Yes. I’ve always thought it resembled a gauntlet more than a glove.”
“Yeah, me too,” I said, excited that I wasn’t the only loser left on the planet. “Why’d you give it sharp fingers, anyway?”
Opening the gauntlet more to expose the innards, he said, “The design to fit the required components left it with only one dangerously sharp finger. So I decided to make the others match. Tell me, did they ever come in handy?”
Shrugging, I said, “At times. Killed a man in the second crusade with them once.”
Dr. Sparks was livid, “You killed someone with them?”
“How was I supposed to know they were just for looks?” I shot at him. “They’re freakin’ sharp, man.”
I leaned over his shoulder to get a better look at gauntlet guts. “Where’s all the…” I started, frowning in confusion as my voice trailed off.
“The actual science stuff?” Dr. Sparks asked.
He was right. I had been expecting wires, smallish motherboard looking things, and, well, more wires. What I saw instead was a little odd. The only wiring and hardware located inside had to do with the touch-screen and that was it, really, except for one lone red wire that went from the touch-screen to something that resembled a palm-sized garnet that was glowing bright blue and looking expensive.
Dr. Sparks lifted the glowing garnet out of the case it was snuggly residing in and detached the wire, which was inserted into what I was guessing was a bored hole in the garnet
Holding it up for us to see--except he was looking at it in wonder like he’d never lain eyes on the thing before--he said, “It’s all about this, you know. This is what has made our conversation today possible, Jericho Johnson.”
“And my untimely death, don’t forget,” I muttered but my sarcasm wasn’t heard by the man who was staring wonderingly at the garnet. “So what is it, exactly?”
“I call it element Z-90, but who knows what it really is.” He said, almost dreamily.
“Well, since you’ve developed a way to travel through time with it, I was kind of thinking that--oh, I don’t know--you did.”
“Oh not in the least.” Dr. Sparks told me quickly, “One of the reasons being is that what you see here, with the exception of two slivers removed to power the other gauntlets, is the only element zero on the planet to date.”
“So I’m guessing since it’s still glowing away it’s not broken, or anything?” I asked, peering at it, “’Cause, you know, I was kind of thinking about some sushi tacos…”
Shaking his head, the good doctor said, “No, it’s not damaged. We’ve discerned through some of the first trial testing with Z-90 that shattering a diamond would be easier than cracking it. The touch-screens are the only things that need to be fixed.” Then, cocking his head to the side, he asked, “Sushi tacos?”
Since I didn’t feel like explaining my vices to him, I cut to the chase by turning to Chloe and saying, “Alright, Chloe, here’s your daddy, safe and sound. Now can I please go home?” Call it what you will, but I’d had enough of the future to last me the rest of my life. See why I always preferred the past over the unknown?
Not going to say I told you so--
But I did. Tell you so, I mean.
Chloe then proceeded to explain the whole tale to her father, from my offering to help her save him, to the EMP grenade incident, sparing no detail save some of the awkward moments I know she had when faced with my hotness. Anyway, after story time, which lasted almost five minutes, Dr. Sparks told us a tale of his own. One that included, but was not limited to, murder, espionage, the end of the world and, let’s not forget, my death.
And time travel, too. Yeah, that was mentioned more than once.
“Verde von Klaus is planning something,” he started, “I knew from the beginning not to get involved with him… but the finances that my research required, a severely vast sum that he was willing to provide…” his voice trailed off.
“Surely there’s more to this Klaus guy besides money,” I said, leaning against a table and folding my arms.
“He never explained his reasons for wanting to fund my work, though he implied that he had a passionate lust for knowledge in any field,” Dr. Sparks said and he looked like he was going to be sick.
“After the construction of the first gauntlet and successful jump, I went to Klaus to tell him but I stopped at his office door long enough to overhear a… delicate conversation he was having with a colleague.”
Chloe was on the edge of her seat, which confused me until I remembered her telling me she didn’t know the full extent of Klaus’ plan.
“Please understand, Jericho, that the world you knew before is gone. Russia used to have morals once, long ago and you may have seen some of them. But when worlds change, so do the occupants. Russia now controls over half the planet and Klaus is at the helm.”
“Whoa, back up, man,” I said, holding up my hands. “So he’s like a, what, president? King? Dictator for life?”
“I’m sure by now you know of the current war between the Fascists and Bears?” He asked.
Nodding, I said, “Yeah, Chloe mentioned something about it. You guys are clankers, though, and are neutral so far.”
“Clankers?” Dr. Sparks repeated, peering at me and frowning in confusion.
“Don’t get him started,” Chloe chimed in. I shot her an annoyed look that told her if she hated my geek talk so much she should’ve mentioned it before.
“Whatever. You know you love it when I talk nerdy to you,” I said, giving her a smirk. Then, to her father, I said, “Anyway, carry on.”
“Klaus hasn’t thrown his lot in with either party so far, not even us clankers, as you put it,” Dr. Sparks said and he seemed like the thought troubled him. “The conversation I overheard cleared it all up, though.”
He sighed and Chloe and I watched him. We were probably both thinking, “What the heck, man? Hurry up with the juiciness, already.” I know that’s what I was thinking right about then.
“To make a long story short, Klaus is planning on sending millions of troops back to 1900.”
Chloe frowned, not sure why this was a horrible plot of death and destruction.
But guess what the guy who had a master’s degree in history had to say to that?
“It’s for 1907,” I said plainly, causing Chloe to turn her confused frown on me.
“That’s seven years later,” She said, “Why not just send them to 1907?”
My eyes never left Dr. Sparks as Klaus’ plan, which only took the few words from Chloe’s father to spark, unrolled in my mind. “Because he’s not sending thousands of troops. He’s sending thousands of these bad boys,” I said, tapping the suit I was wearing. “He wants the past soldiers to be fully ready, thus the seven year gap.”
“Ready for what?” Chloe asked in an exasperated tone. Clearly she wasn’t digging being in the dark.
I’m a bit of a freak when it comes to history. Words can’t explain how much I adore it. Those reasons, and others, are mainly why I’m kind of a walking history book. So, without rushing too much, I spilled the Russian beans to Chloe.
“In 1879 Germany formed a Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary which later, in 1882, expanded to a Triple Alliance to include Italy with the understanding to support each other if either countries were attacked by France or Russia. Since the French don’t like things they don’t understand, they felt threatened by this and with the growth of the German Navy in 1904, so did England and the two countries made an Entente Cordiale, which means friendly understanding. Three years later, with fear of the rising numbers in the German ranks, Russia got in on the no-germans-allowed club and the
Triple Entente was established.” The words poured out of me like a pitcher of water.
“I don’t understand,” Chloe said, still aggravated. “What difference does it make?”
“Oh, my gosh, would someone get this chic a map, or something?” I said, getting too caught up in my rant. “Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy are all connected and separate Russia from Britain and France. This alliance was the best thing that ever happened to Russia, who, might I add, also added Serbia to the alliance so Austria-Hungary wouldn’t expand their borders.”
Did I mention I was leaning against a table with my arms folded? Because I had long since started pacing. “Industrial unrest in Russia started in 1907 and, as you might know, was Russia’s honey-hole, so to speak. The Lena goldfield massacre of 1912 which involved hundreds of uprising striking miners was Russia’s last attempt of stability and in the first half of 1914, almost half of the industrial workforce was on strike. But at the dawn of the First World War, Russia started doing what Russia did best.”
I stopped long enough to look at my very Russian audience and said, “No offense.”
They both shrugged and I kept going.
“Russia was, without a doubt the largest military powerhouse at the time. We’re talking almost six and a half million troops, here. The problem occurred because they spent so much time building an incredibly large army, and since half the clankers were on strike, that they didn’t have the proper roads or railways for adequate transportation. General Alexander Samsonov, leader of the Russian Second Army, squared off against Germany’s General Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff on August twenty-second and after six days of slaughter, even with their vast numbers, Russia was surrounded. Samsonov tried to escape, losing most of his men in the process. In the end, only ten thousand of the one-hundred and fifty-thousand Russians escaped and the Germans, who had lost twenty-thousand men, marched over ninety-two-thousand Russian prisoners off the field. General Samsonov committed suicide afterward.”
Jericho Johnson: The Gauntlet of Time Page 12