The Time Stone

by Jeffrey Estrella

  "Well I sure am tired after the hike from the west side of the kingdom. The fruit will be here soon."

  "It better be because it will not be tolerated if late but to be honest that is the least of the worries. Have you heard of the bloodless ones, they are without mercy slaughtered?"

  "There have been rude awakenings indeed in the farthest reaches of the kingdom. Some say the end of time is afoot, innocents killed without purpose and those that saw the victims were as pale as ashen soot and lifeless without hope. It is said that there is hand in the demons or under earth themselves." He nodded in acquiescent horror. "Come now we must prepare for the festivities." He rose to his feet helped by his staunch comrade as they made their way to the court as the sun began to set. The festivities that night were everything he could have hoped for he thought that night seated outside of his bed chamber in the side district looking up at the stars. He wondered often of other places beyond that which he called home, more specifically a vision of the perfect place and time beyond all truth.

  "You have always had a vivid imagination." A tall young woman came out of the darkness. “I missed you.”

  “You should not speak of such ill-conceived things.” He turned to her. “Come sit and wait with me.”

  “I think we need to be honest with ourselves, Saragin, and confront the Superior Chief about our needs.” She said.

  “I have always valued your opinions my dearest one but I cannot make such a request coming from a mere woman, it is simply not done.” He replied.

  “You don’t have to tell him it was my idea.” She raised her eyebrows pointing out the obvious. “I mean who would know”

  “I would know” he looked at her with a high degree of sincere recognition and yet admonition.

  “Whatever it may be, it is not for us to decide but the will of Ra as does the dawn that brings us life and sustenance every day. You are the highest priest for the Pharaoh’s court, acolyte and all. Nothing is completely without possibility or…”

  “We will speak no more of it, Hashilda…” He started when suddenly a loud noise from outside disturbed their silent conversation.

  The sound of a thousand camel hooves stampeding simultaneously echoed in the distance. They veered outside and began to step out of their tent in the small circle of tents when they were confronted by large scale winds and torrential sands being picked up heading in their direction, a glowing yellowish hot white light circling in the distance appeared to move in all directions at once shining like a fire from the bowels of Hell. They ran inside and avoided the sands coming toward them but remained frightened in still prayer as it passed. Moments later, the sounds of winds and turbulence stopped and they veered outside in utter horror as they saw the calm desert as it was once again and in the twilight of the dawning sun stood what was not there before, a young woman with a slightly tan complexion wearing a khaki colored pair of shorts, shirt with her sleeves rolled up her elbows, a sun hat, and small round glasses, her dark brown hair knotted in a ponytail behind her, and holding a brush with her right hand standing in shock herself as to what just transpired. Saragin and his wife Hashilda were in complete disarray in paralysis at the horror of seeing what was to them the impossible under the dawning day.

  The next hour in the central city, small but growing with the regular nomadic commutes of the peasant class protruding together and individually throughout the markets set up in the local villas under one large square encampment over five thousand meters wide, a skeletal pyramidal structure rested in the center of the entire compound and appeared incomplete but looming over the compound in the distance like a leviathan. The smell of dry bread and oily meats permeated the air and sounds of loud voices in early Egyptian dialects and the carting of livestock in small cages were heard throughout the square.

  “What do you mean? I want two dozen for this.” Spoke one man in Egyptian but was refuted with a courtesy of the world’s common universal sign of failure to seal a deal, absolute ignorance. The people wore long gowns of different varieties, colors, and trends adorned with gilded and silver decor were some but others plain and simple, clean were some and others were dirty from neglect and abuse as a result of extreme poverty, representatives of the various classes of status apparent in the combined social circles. Members of the Pharaoh’s court wore a silver pin with a half crescent moon and five stars encrusted representing the dynamic reign of Pharaoh Riana. The rustle continued throughout the morning. Nearby in a small enclosure, Drax sticks his head out into the market arena and whiffs the gentle but still dry heat air.

  “I love hummus” he uttered, “too bad we have to keep a low profile.” He went back inside the tent and sat at a small unstable wooden bench with one on either side of the table before it. Tina, James, and Mercedes sat on the other ends and looked perplexed over everything that happened. They were wearing dirty brown long gowns similar to those worn by the local people but even more dirty and more fowl smelling than most having picked them up from a discarded pile of clothes ready to be washed. They held cups made of wood with a hot liquid. A waitress and other persons wandered around the small enclosure keeping a wary eye on the sudden strangers. The quartet converse in quiet trying to avoid too much attention.

  “We couldn’t have stolen cleaner clothes? These reek,” commented Tina.

  “Next time well comparison shop” joked Drax. “We need to figure things out little by little” he clasped his hands on the table before him. “What do we have so far?” Drax said.

  “Not much” said James shrugging.

  “I’m sorry; I’m treating you guys like you’re trained agents. It’s just what I am used to. We value productivity above all else in my line of work. Time is our most valuable asset. I guess I got to stop thinking like I’m leading a staff meeting for a group of operatives.” He sighed.

  “We are grateful for everything you did for us.” Said Mercedes and James and Tina nodded in acknowledgement. “It just takes time to adapt to new things.”

  “Yeah” James replied.

  “Where are we anyway?” Asked Tina.

  “I believe the correct question is when we are?” Replied Drax.

  “We actually did it, again. The device made us travel through space and time. The Time Stone did it.” Said James.

  “Again?” Drax asked.

  “Everything that happened back in the citadel was so strange. I still don’t get it all.” Said Mercedes.

  “Me neither” added James smiling.

  “It’s complicated but yeah, we went from the outskirts of Chronix Bay in 2012 to Egypt approximately 5020 BC.” Drax said.

  “Ancient Egypt?!? How can you tell the exact time?” Asked Tina.

  “The scenery and position of the sun are dead giveaways but also the symbol on the pyramid structure up there is the same as the pins on many of the socialites in town. It is one of the early dynasties. It’s the dynasty of Pharaoh Riana to be exact. This is where the first people settled along the Nile Delta.” Drax said.

  “We went back in time?” Asked Tina shaking her head. “Just like when we were in Brazil and wound up in Chronix Bay” she added.

  “Yes, I suppose” said Drax. “We were move by virtue of the theory of time displacement, allowing for instantaneous fixation into the alien time stream no different than moving in an airplane to a new time zone, well maybe a little different.”

  “You sure know a lot” said James.

  “I am trained to be prepared for everything.” Drax said confidently.

  “Then why didn’t you anticipate what happened at the citadel?” Said Tina sarcastically.

  “Well, almost everything.” Drax smiled in response as he sipped his tea. “We should get going. We got a lot of recon to do… That’s intelligence talk for getting our homework done. We need to find out more specifics about what happened and where Broad is, and most importantly where the Time Stone is!”

  “Yeah that’s true. They left the time stone on that balcony. I guess it is sti
ll there. I guess it will be. These damn past and present tenses.” Tina added.

  “It definitely exists here. Our research found out that little gem has been a part of our world’s history for over thirteen thousand years.” Drax said.

  “Wow that is pretty old.” Said Tina.

  “Yeah.” Said Drax raising his eyebrows emphatically.

  CHAPTER 69

  James walks along the road near the town square and suddenly stops in a frantic malaise. He grabs his head and moans in an agonizing pain. His mind felt like a million sharp daggers penetrating him and causing him to drop to his knees. He felt the harsh sensation of a vice on his head and his vision became suddenly blurred as his sight became merged with his mind’s eye and then a flash of blue and black lines vibrated intensely before him, a tunnel of energy fast forwarding him to another place and time, a city dark and mysterious, tall skyscrapers not unlike any major urban metropolis and lights of various colors of the rainbow spectrum on the front and pinnacle of each building, a large dome-shaped citadel structure in the center. He recognized it as Chronix Bay but it seemed more advanced, each building having cable wires protruding up and down the structures with shining shimmering vanguards sprinkled throughout the city with heights as large as the great wall of China and a series of roads that extended upward and around the buildings leading up to a launching pad. He stood in admiration as a ground passenger vehicle drove up the road structure and then left the road on the launching pad where it spouted a pair of retractable fixed wings and flew up off the platform, a pair of flames jet boosting the vehicle up into the night sky. Then in the midst of this miraculous phenomenon, a large explosion eviscerated the entire city leaving a fiery mushroom cloud of immense proportions in its wake. The blue-black tunnel raced back and he snapped out of this vision staring again into the dirt road he lay on. “What the heck was that?” He screamed gasping for air and thinking that his abilities had taken a turn for the more horrific as he looked up into the piercing hot sun.

  The smells and sounds of the marketplace were robust and delightful as Tina and Mercedes walked down the make cobble path that led to the great arena as they were told. Luckily, Drax was a master of virtually all languages, old and new, by virtue of his extensive military and agency trainings. He acted as a subtle liaison and told the locals they were traveling merchants from the east and have lost all of their wares in a sudden sandstorm and were now seeking temporary refuge.

  “We sure are lucky to have found these clothes to fit in.” Said Mercedes.

  “You call this luck” said Tina making a sour face at the odor.

  “We ought to be getting close to the great arena. Drax said there are tons of great deals we should be able to get with the little bit of money we could obtain in this time stream.”

  “Just what I always wanted to do is go on a spendthrift shopping spree.” Replied Tina. “What do you suppose the boys are doing?” Tina inquired.

  “Drax is negotiating for supplies we might need to scale the mountains in the far distance.” Replied Mercedes.

  “Mountains? What mountains? This is a desert.” Said Tina.

  “He said they are many miles away and many days, possibly weeks in travel.”

  “What? That’s crazy.” Tina uttered.

  “But he seems to think it’s the best place to hide from Broad because of the advanced mineral deposits in the regional rock face, something triluthicate or something like that. I don’t remember. Mineralogy was not my field.”

  “What was your field?” Asked Tina seriously.

  “Biology and Technology.” Mercedes smiled. “Anyway, he also thinks the deposits indicate it might be the perfect place for the time stone to be. Without that relic, we can’t get back home.” Said Mercedes.

  “Let’s hope we are able to prevail.” Said Tina.

  They arrived at a large tent with several small wooden pillars out front and a series of merchandise that had been placed out on a table before it, gold jewelry and adornments, frankincense, myrrh, and silk. They approached in astonishment at the array of goods. An old man sat tending the small table and smiled at them, his front row teeth missing, to the gasp of the two women. They saw people walking in and out of the tent larger than many others seen in the entire village. The sunlight briefly wiggled inside the tent and there were an astonishing apparent several rows of items from food to homemade trade, glass ware products on the other tables inside the tent, and several other items of local interest. The two women entered as if in a daze. Then suddenly, something brushed by in between them and they quickly noticed it was a woman dressed in a long brown gown with a white scarf around her face and head. “I’m sorry” she uttered as she made her way away from the tent. Seconds later, a large muscular man with a somewhat thorough beard and long hair underneath a white turban, bear chest surrounded by a loose fitting vest, and bag in his hands ran out screaming in early ancient Egyptian dialect as he chased after the young woman clenching his fists.

  “What the heck?” Said Mercedes.

  “Let’s go” said Tina chasing after them.

  “Where are you going?” Asked Mercedes rhetorically throwing her hands up.

  “Opportunity knocks” Tina yelled from the distance while running. Mercedes ran after her. “We’re gonna get in so much trouble with her.”

  Tina and Mercedes chased after the man and woman into another tent on the far end of the grand arena square. They entered announcing themselves.

  “Hello,” said Tina as she walked closely but the neither the woman nor the big man was not in sight in the small quarters. The living room was plain and clean kept, notwithstanding the hot sands underneath their sandaled feet.

  They turned towards a separate tent isolated yet connected and a woman came out and looked at them, “what are you doing here?” It did not take them long to realize that it was the same woman who nearly knocked them down.

  “You speak English?” Asked Tina rhetorically.

  “Yeah, so do you.” Said the woman.

  “We’re not from around here” said Mercedes “and we wager neither are you.”

  “No,” said the woman removing the white scarf from her head and face revealing her fine dark hair, tannish complexion, and deep brown eyes. She looked to be about thirty years of age. She had some bruising on her left cheek. Both Tina and Mercedes stood in awe as she was an exceedingly beautiful woman.

  “Is your husband home, Ma’am, the big guy who left after you in the market?” Asked Mercedes.

  “He is not my husband.”

  “Sorry.” Mercedes said.

  “He is more like my master. I was not aware… women have no rights here, we are considered property belonging to the first man who wants you and claims you, and you have no say in the matter. I was taken by this man and forced to live in his home subject to being beaten, raped, or starved at a whim.” She shook her head wildly and shedding tears while walking over to the window. “I am like a prisoner here. But this is the law of the land. If I were you, I would watch out. It is too late for me.” She shook her head.

  “No, maybe we can help.” Said Tina.

  “We have a way out of here.” “Really?” She veered her head back. “I’m Tina and this is Mercedes, what is your name?”

  “Jenny…” she turned around and looked at them directly, “Jenny Marte.”

  “Nice to meet you” nodded Tina with a smile and Jenny reciprocated.

  “How did you get here anyway?” Asked Mercedes curiously.

  “I still don’t know.” She turned around and looked at them with an unexplained fear in her eyes. I was on a dig in Egypt excavating a tomb of a long since dead king and then there was a loud noise and a bright flashing and swirling light. Something grabbed me and I felt like I was being torn into pieces and surrounded by light everywhere, conscious of nothing but light, then it lasted for only a few moments before I was finding myself standing in the middle of a sandstorm and when it faded, I was still in the desert but the en
vironment was completely different. An elderly couple nearby saw me collapse to the ground and took me in and nourished me. I was with them for a few days and couldn’t get a straight answer because of the high position of the old man in the nearby government. I didn’t understand their culture but I speak their language. Eventually, I left on my own and found this place. I wasn’t here for more than a few hours before Habarsh took me as his ‘wife’ if you can call it that. He spoke in the same language. I understood it and I gathered from my interactions with him that he didn’t have anyone else and I was his first and would start his harem for him. I have been here for three weeks from what I can tell. There aren’t any calendars here so I have been using the sun. I studied Egyptian history in college, including ancient and modern languages. I always find a reason to do things to benefit my education. Boy, this culture is different from what I remember studying in school. Archeology and Egyptology are my fields. It’s weird that the language and culture have been dead for over seven thousand years and yet they speak it here like its modern. I don’t get it” she wept and Tina and Mercedes looked at one another with a degree of intrepidity as they bit their tongues. “Anyway, I tried to run away but every time he found me and hit me more and more. I’m so scared I can’t….”

  “It’s ok Jenny, come here” said Tina offering her arms in a hug and embraced Jenny as she wept uncontrollably.

  “I graduated with a PHD from Yale and was the youngest person ever inducted into the International Archaeologist Association. I mastered fluency in forty-seven languages, both current and dead. I never dreamed I would end up like this, a battered… I don’t know what. Every day I wake up thinking it’s going to be my last day before he kills me.”

  “Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you again. I promise.” Said Tina as her heart melted and eyes widened with tears in the moment feeling she never thought she would meet another human being who suffered as much as she and James did or worse, in this case, and she was able to make that vow confidently that she would not let anyone hurt this young woman again.