by Eric Black
During those years, Phillips traveled throughout the future and past. He saw Jack many times but was never able to get close to him. He knew that Jack had continued to murder at will; but during that time, Phillips had never been able to stop Jack. He had always gotten there too late.
As the years passed, Phillips noticed that Jack’s appetite for killing public figures increased also. It was Jack who started World War I when he murdered the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. It was true that there had been a bombing attempt on the Archduke and it was also true that he had been shot. But the Archduke didn’t die from the gun wound. As he was recovering in his bed in the Governor’s residence, Jack showed up and slaughtered the injured man. When the Archduke’s body was discovered, because of the insistence of the privacy of the Archduke by his remaining family, the death was pronounced murder by gun wound due to being shot by Gavrilo Princip.
Phillips knew this but that knowledge alone couldn’t change history.
Later, Phillips, sickened that he couldn’t stop Jack from killing Ferdinand (he did try by going back in time and giving several warnings to the men who protected the Archduke but the warnings fell on deaf ears), decided that he wouldn’t let something like that happen again. Not long after, Phillips learned Jack was planning another assassination and Phillips decided that he had seen enough death.
During his years of traveling through time, he had done quite a bit of research on the actual subject of time travel. In the far future, where time travel had become legal again due to fail-safe mechanisms in the devices that would not allow anyone to change the past, he met some rogue scientists who were looking for a way to override the fail-safe mechanism. Their plan was to create a separate device that when used in coordination with the time travel device, would generate a time slip or a temporary blending of the last location in time of the time-traveler and the new location in time. Thus, the time-traveler would effectively be in two places at the same time. Their theory was that this would confuse the device allowing the user to do whatever he wished to affect history without the device triggering a return to the user’s original time.
Phillips purchased the technology from one of the rogue scientists for a hefty sum and then went back in time to stop Jack for good.
His original plan was to use the device to confuse Jack long enough for Phillips to shoot him. With the discovery that Jack was also planning to kill American President Elizabeth Williams, Phillips saw this as an opportunity.
Jack’s plan was to incite indirect death on an extremely large scale through one direct murder. He had already started World War I and now he was looking to accelerate World War III. Jack would pose as a Belgian citizen and kill Libby Williams at the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, Belgium. The United States had already declared war and this would hasten their military involvement. Plus, this would draw in other nations who still remained neutral.
Phillips knew Jack’s plan would work. Phillips also knew this was his chance to make his stand against Jack. The lives of billions depended on it.
He reviewed his own plan and it was solid. He would finally kill Jack the Ripper. Then, he could go back to his quiet life in Cardiff full time. To many men, the ability to move through time would be too great an authority to give up. Other weaker men would crumble under the pressure of this moment. But not Phillips. What was driving him was the desire to enjoy a true retirement with his wife. He lacked the greed and apathy to back down.
Everything was planned and would work.
Phillips saw Jack fifty feet away at the Menin Gate Memorial. He moved towards him and was only feet away when a man in the crowd backed into him. By chance and complete accident, the man bumped Phillips’ head and the device triggered the time slip. The man that bumped into Phillips was Vincent Shakespeare.
As Vincent was sucked into the time slip, he found himself living in two times. His body and mind couldn’t handle what was happening, so as a safety mechanism to protect itself, Vincent’s mind put his body into a coma.
Then, shots went off and Phillips knew the careful planning had gone wrong. Jack had started one war and now another had just gone full-scale.
But Libby was not killed. It was only slight but because of Phillips near proximity to Jack, the time slip momentarily affected Jack’s device as well. His shots went wild (with the exception of one). Libby was shot but would survive for a short period of time. In the hospital, the doctors would fix her wound but they would miss a very small sliver of the bullet and she would develop blood poisoning. She would die soon after being released from the hospital. Phillips knew all of this from his time spent in the future.
At the hospital, in order to save her life, Phillips slipped into the hospital and used the time slip device on Libby. He knew it would put her in a coma. That would give the doctors a reason to examine her further. They would find the bullet sliver and save her life.
What Phillips didn’t know was that due to the untested nature of the device, the time slip device would place both Vincent and Libby in the lives of others temporarily. Phillips had no explanation as to why it happened.
That state of being in two places at once would come to a close as Vincent created a new timeline by shooting Adolf Hitler.
All the while, the man in the background smiled.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Chepstow, Wales – in the Near Future
Phillips knocked on the door. He was apprehensive as he stood back, waiting for the knock to be answered. The man who lived here may or may not be a friend.
The knock went unanswered and he knocked again. He went for a third knock when the door opened.
Standing before him was a girl about the age of ten. “Hullo. Can I help you, sir?” She had dark hair and big, matching eyes that looked up at him in curiosity.
“Hello to you, young lady. I was wondering if your father was about?”
She nodded. “I’ll fetch him for you, if you’ll please wait outside.”
“Of course, I…”
Her shout interrupted him. “Tad!” she called out as loud as she could.
Phillips was startled but he smiled and chuckled to himself as he waited patiently. He heard footsteps approaching across the hardwood floors of the home and a familiar face appeared in the doorway. Phillips had never met the man but he had seen his face in many scientific journals.
“Yes, sir. Can I help you?” the man asked.
“Are you Jasper?” Phillips asked.
“I am. What can I do for you?”
Phillips extended his hand. “I am Dr. Phillips. I work for Scotland Yard.”
“Oh? And what is Scotland Yard doing on my doorstep in Chepstow?”
Phillips looked down at Jasper’s daughter. “Perhaps we can talk somewhere private?”
Jasper looked curiously at Phillips. “Of course, we can speak in my office. Darling, would you please take Dr. Phillips’ coat and close the door?”
“Yes, Tad.” She smiled at Phillips and he could have sworn she stuck out her tongue at him as he was turning to follow Jasper.
Both inside of Jasper’s office, Jasper closed the door. “Can I offer you some tea? It’s no trouble to put some on.”
“Tea sounds lovely but perhaps some other time,” Phillips answered.
“Very well. Now what can I help Scotland Yard with today?”
Phillips looked at Jasper seriously. “I’m looking for an old friend of yours. I have been on his trail for quite some time. In fact, it has taken me many years to land here in your office.”
“And this friend is?” Jasper asked, already knowing the answer.
“Jack.”
Jasper swallowed and nodded. “I haven’t seen Jack in years.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“You are? How much do you know about Jack?”
“I know he’s a brilliant scientist who disappeared years ago and hasn’t been heard from since. How does a man so used to the spotlight just disappear without so much as a comm
ent to a local newspaper?”
“I’m unsure how you think I could answer that,” Jasper replied, not sure where the conversation was heading.
Phillips reached behind his ear and removed the device. He held it out for Jasper to take which he did. Jasper examined the device for a few moments.
“Do you know what that does?” Phillips asked.
“I do not.”
“You do not?” Phillips asked suspiciously. “How is that so when you created this device?”
Jasper looked sharply at Phillips. “Of what are you accusing me, sir?”
“I’m accusing you of working with Jack to create a device that allows one to travel through time by mere thought.”
Jasper looked at Phillips shocked. He wasn’t sure he could answer. He had a difficult time believing he was actually having this conversation and more than that, he didn’t know where he would begin in answering that question.
Phillips watched Jasper closely, waiting patiently for Jasper’s words. Jasper recognized that Phillips expected an answer and did his best to find a starting point. “I have not seen that device before.”
“So how is it that I possess this item and it allows me to travel through time?” Phillips interjected, not wanting to give Jasper time to control the conversation through denial.
Jasper’s mouth fell open. “You have traveled through time?”
“I have, with this device.”
“And you got the device where?”
“I took it off a man in France in 1897.”
Jasper was completely unprepared for this discussion. He considered how open he should be. Years ago, he had moved on past Jack. He decided if he was not going to be imbedded again, he should be frank. He didn’t get the impression from Phillips that he was attempting to trap him or even accuse him of a crime. He decided to follow his instincts. “How much do you know?”
“I know nearly everything. But I have not yet heard your side.”
Jasper put his head down. “It’s true that we used science to create a method of traveling through time. But that method did not consist of that device. The item that Jack and I created was implanted into Jack’s brain.”
Phillips nodded. “Go on.”
“You said you recovered this device in 1897? It that your original time frame?” Jasper thought on this for a moment and a realization came to him. “Your name is Phillips. Dr. Bagster Phillips? You were working the Ripper case.”
“I was. And I still am. I’m looking for your friend Jack. Jack the Ripper. Have you seen him?”
Phillips may not be accusing Jasper of a crime in the present day but that did not mean he wasn’t investigating his involvement in the crimes of Jack the Ripper. Jasper didn’t want Phillips thinking he had something to do with it.
Phillips guessed Jasper’s thoughts and smiled. “You don’t have to worry. I’m not here for you. Everything I know about you indicates that you were not part of Jack’s plan to become the Ripper.” He looked very sharply at Jasper. “I am correct in saying that?”
Jasper looked at Phillips, allowing his eyes to be read. “You are correct in saying that. I tried to stop him. I tried to shoot him. But he vanished just before the bullet struck and I have not seen him since.”
Phillips looked at Jasper a moment longer. He knew that Jasper was telling the truth. “I’ve been chasing Jack for many years. Too many.”
“So Jack is still alive?”
“He’s still alive. And he is still killing. I would like to stop him. But before I can, I need to know where he is before he gets there. Every time, I have been too late. There has only been one time that I was close enough to kill him but I bungled it. And…”
“And what?” Jasper asked when Phillips didn’t finish.
“I’m afraid I have involved two innocent individuals in the process. But that can’t be helped now. What one can affect is what one does going forward. I need to get ahead of Jack so I can stop him. Is there something you can tell me about him that would help with this?”
Jasper wasn’t sure what Phillips meant by the two innocent individuals but he let it go. “There is something,” Jasper offered. “After Jack disappeared, for many years I would find newspaper articles or handwritten notes inside of my postbox. They were always about some murder that had occurred throughout history. I had no doubt they had been left there for me by Jack.”
“I see,” Phillips replied, nodding for Jasper to continue.
“At first they were about miscellaneous murders. But the most recent items – they stopped about two years ago – were about American Presidents. The most current of those focused on Woodrow Wilson. I think Jack was planning on killing him.”
“Why did he leave those for you? Do you have any idea?”
A very sober expression came across Jasper’s face. “You’ve only known Jack as a man who slaughters the innocent. I know a different Jack. He and I have been friends for many years. He was my best mate. There was much to like about him before our experiment. I loved him as a brother. But then he changed.
“I believe that somewhere inside of him, the person that he was is still there. The new arrogant side of him wanted to brag to me about what he was doing but I also believe the true him was reaching out to me hoping that I could stop what he had become and help him.”
Phillips wrote all of this down in his journal. When he had finished, he rose and offered his hand to Jasper. “I want to thank you. This has been very helpful. I’m sorry about your friend and what I must do.”
Jasper took his hand and nodded. “Both Jack and I understand to what it must eventually come. Good luck to you.”
After he left Jasper’ house, Phillips traveled to 1921 London. He knew that from February 21 to March 12 of that year, the city would host the London Conference to discuss the problems that had resulted from the peace treaties that ended World War I. Phillips knew that as President of the United States, Wilson would be a part of those meetings. As would many other world leaders. Phillips deduced that if there was a better opportunity for Jack to kill history’s leadership during that time, he did not know of a better opportunity.
Phillips stayed for the entire conference and found no hint of Jack. He did not pay much attention to the conference itself. If he had, he would have noticed that Libby Williams, not Woodrow Wilson was involved.
Unsure of what to do next, he spent the next several months in his home in Cardiff. The months slipped by quicker than he anticipated. He had almost made up his mind to go to Washington, D.C. to just wait for Jack to show up when he received the news that the President of the United States had been killed.
He was too late.
Two days later, he traveled to the United States. He had no basis of knowing that he had retained his ability to travel through time while others had lost that capability.
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
Chattanooga, Tennessee – Present Day
Through the haze, he could see people shuffling about. He could barely discern voices and those voices seemed to be talking to no one in particular. Their lips moved but their words were garbled, like speaking through a sewage drain and hoping that someone across town could ascertain what was being said.
He looked at a stunning woman with red hair and was drawn to her blue eyes. She was seductive and moved with the intent of portraying sexuality. He found himself wishing she would come closer just so he could smell her. He imagined the curves of her body pressed naked against him. As if reading his thoughts, she turned and stared at him. That was when the scene changed.
She blinked and the pupils of her eyes were altered. Instead of being round, her pupils became slits and the color of her eyes transformed from clear blue to a hideous, almost pus-like yellow. Her face became scaly.
Despite the alteration, she continued to walk seductively and using one finger, motioned for him to come forward. He was afraid but at the same time was irresistibly drawn towards her and he felt his feet move. She opened her mouth slightl
y and slid her tongue across her bottom lip. He could feel himself becoming aroused.
Her dress slid from her shoulders onto the floor and he could see that her body was also scaly. He wanted to be horrified but he was mesmerized. The flesh colored scales that made up her breasts and stomach yearned for his mouth.
His eyes continued to flow down her unclothed body but instead of lusting over her slender legs, he saw that the lower half of her body had become a long tail that coiled around. She was a serpent. She opened her mouth and he could see her venomous fangs.
She wrapped her arms around him and her tail followed. Only a moment before he had craved her naked body against his but now that fantasy had been altered. She began to squeeze. He tried to inhale but as he did, her coils squeezed tighter. He couldn’t inhale. He was suffocating. He had just enough breathe left for one final scream…
“Noooo!” Jack screamed and sat up where he lay. Jasper looked over at him alarmed and ran to his side.
“You shouldn’t be sitting. You need to lie down! Your vitals are not stable,” Jasper said firmly.
Jack allowed himself to be laid down and Jasper looked at the monitors beside Jack’s bed. Jack’s heartbeat was elevated, which was a concern.
“Just try to breathe in and calm down,” Jasper said placing the oxygen mask over Jack’s mouth and nose.
Jack breathed deeply and felt himself relax. He looked around the room. The woman was gone. He looked up at Jasper who was monitoring his breathing.
“Much better,” Jasper said, comforted by the reducing heartrate. “How do you feel?”
Jack considered the question for a moment. In truth, he felt very little and everything seemed fuzzy. “I don’t feel much of anything.”
“How’s your head?”
Jack started to reach up and Jasper stopped him. “Don’t touch your head! I have you closed up but haven’t bandaged you yet.”
Jack put his hand down. “Stop snapping at me. You sound like my ex-wife. And since you asked, my head feels fuzzy.”