The Long Chron

by Adam Oster

  I try to make it look as though I’m tying my shoelaces as I bend over to pick up the locket, hoping against hope that Griff doesn’t remember that I lost my shoes hundreds of years from now, if not thousands. I’ve really lost track of where we are now. Grabbing the locket, I stand and run to Griff’s side, entering the train without another word. The door closes quickly behind me.

  Chapter 52

  The interior of the train is as immaculate as the exterior. The walls are white with that same single red line of trim stretching down the length of them. Chrome lines the windows. The windows themselves cover the walls, creating a bright open view of whatever lies outside of them. The entire cabin itself is filled with comfy looking blue chairs, with an aisle down between them, breaking up the seating with two chairs on one side of the aisle, one chair on the other.

  The train is empty, outside of the four of us and the man sitting at the helm of the vehicle. That man turns his chair to look at us.

  “Howdy¸ folks,” he says. “You’ve got the train all to yourselves. Where would you like to be off to next?”

  Griff steps forward, taking charge of the situation. “Spokane Washington, 2014, or thereabouts.”

  “Alright then,” the engineer says, “any place in particular or—“

  “No, wait,” I say, cutting him off. “We can’t go back yet.”

  “Why not, kid?” Griff says, looking back at me. “We’ve already done more than enough. Why don’t we just stop while we’re ahead?”

  “How are we ahead?” I ask.

  “Well, we found a way to get you back home. In my mind, that’s a helluva lot better than we were just a few minutes ago.”

  “But what if my home isn’t even there anymore? I mean, you heard what Robo-Griff said, right? He said that The Wizard was going back through time to make himself into a god. If he did that, then—“

  “Let me stop you right there, kid,” Griff interrupts me. “That robot was a liar, which is pretty much exactly what you should expect from, well, from anything that looks like me.”

  “Yeah, but-“

  “No buts, Chelle,” Griff says sternly. “I told you that you were done thinking. Let’s get you home.”

  “I’m sorry, Griff,” Noll cuts in, “but I fink we should listen to Chelle.”

  “Yeah,” Tenney offers. “When I was traveling around on this thing, I definitely saw some sights that caused me to worry what that Wizard fella’ of yours might have done to everything. I’m not so sure we can ignore it.”

  “But, I said I was going to take charge now,” Griff whines. “I promised the kid that she wouldn’t have to make these decisions anymore.”

  “Fine then,” I say. “You make the decision, Griff. I won’t fight it.”

  Griff looks deep into my eyes, a sense of uncertainty surrounding him. He looks at Noll and Tenney, the look of indecision still plagues him. Finally, the engineer stops the silence by asking:

  “Well?”

  “Gah,” Griff groans, shaking his head in desperation. “Fine, you win, kid. Where do we need to go to stop this thing once and for all?”

  Phase 7: The Corroboration

  When all else fails, make everyone else look guilty, so you don’t.

  –Scammer’s Bible

  Chapter 53

  “Well,” I answer, “the first thing we’ve got to deal with is paradoxes. We went back in time to stop The Wizard before he started and somehow ended up actually creating The Wizard ourselves. Seems to me that we can’t actually stop anything we’ve already seen.”

  “Okay,” Griff replies, rubbing his temples, “headache-inducing conversation aside, what does that mean for where we should go?”

  “Not sure, but I’m thinking we have to stop things from getting worse, not actually stop them from ever happening. For instance, I’m starting to fear that if we were to go back and try to stop him from being born, we would probably somehow play into his actual birth, and I definitely don’t want to end up being his mother.”

  Griff grimaces deeply and tugs on his nose in aggravation.

  “Okay, sorry,” I say, “I’ll make it easy. We just need to stop him sometime after the time we first saw him, and sometime before he actually causes too much trouble.”

  “Okay,” Griff answers, straining to work everything out. “So, if we went back to Avalon to right after he had tried to kill us?”

  “Well, that’s the problem, isn’t it?” I ask.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, we killed him. Don’t you remember? That’s why we got locked up when we went back to before The Wizard got into power.”

  “Right,” Griff thinks back. “You’d think I’d have a better memory of killing someone.”

  “Wait, you killed him?” Noll asks with a confused look on his face. “Den how is it dat he’s done all dis other mess?”

  “Yeah, Chelle,” Griff asks, “how could he still be causing trouble if we killed him back when he was still just completely insane and—“ Griff stops himself midsentence. “He was a robot, wasn’t he?”

  “That would explain a lot,” I answer. “But that means that we still don’t really have a lead on where to find him, right?”

  “Except for one thing.”

  “What’s that?” I ask.

  “The sphere he’s got, that’s the one I stole from the monks, right?”

  “Yeah, it should be,” I answer. “Why?”

  “Just thinking out loud. We know that he was found for the first time in Avalon just a year before that, you know, when it was still York.”

  “Right, but that’s the version of him we took back to Noll and Tenney’s time, who ran off right when we got there. At least that’s what I’m guessing.”

  “Okay,” Griff answers. “And we know about that from Geoffrey, who said that The Wizard was around when they were building the cathedral. So, that just leaves the question of where he got to next, right?”

  “Maybe,” I answer. “Although, I’m beginning to feel my own head hurt now.”

  “Actually,” Noll offers, “if Da Wizard dat you killed was a robot, wouldn’t you be looking for Da Wizard after he gets dose robots created?”

  “Damn,” Griff responds. “That’s a good point. And that could be any time, couldn’t it?”

  “Pretty much,” I answer.

  “So, we’re still back at the beginning.”

  “Unless,” I begin, a devious grin emerging on my face

  “Unless what?” Griff continues.

  “Well, look, The Wizard obviously wanted something out of York, otherwise he wouldn’t have had a need to bring a robot and leave it there to lead.”

  “Yeah, but what?”

  “What do you think?” I smile. “The one thing that gives him the power he needs to make all his prophecies come true.”

  “The spheres!” Griff exclaims. “That’s right. That’s why he let us in to the cathedral in the first place, what he’s been looking for all along. He had at least three of them when we were there, right? So, that means that they would have still been there after we knocked off Robo-Wiz, meaning that real Wiz would be looking to snag them, meaning all we need to do is get there and catch him in the act, right?”

  “Right,” I cheer.

  “Dare’s just one problem wif dat scenario,” Noll provides. “He don’t have to go back in time to grabs ‘em. He could just have his robotic-self leave dem somewheres t’ find in da future.”

  “The oubliette!” Griff shouts. “Remember when I talked to Geoffrey about how weird it was for a cathedral to have a dungeon and he talked about how The Wizard was involved in the design? He designed the oubliette as a place for Robo-Wiz to dump the spheres until some point in the future. It makes perfect sense, since no one would think to look for a dungeon under a cathedral anyways.”

  “Okay,” I reply. “There’s still just one more issue. We have absolutely no clue when The Wizard is going to be picking them up.”

  “I may
have a fix for that,” Tenney answers. “Mr. Engineer, take us to the, um—“

  “Oubliette,” Griff assists.

  “The oubliette in Avalon under the York Minster. Keep us in, um, temporal flux.”

  “Sure thing, sir. Next stop, Avalon!”

  Chapter 54

  The train squeaks as it begins moving forward. I can’t help but think that a device designed to travel through time should have at least figured out a way to make brakes work without sounding like they’re about to fall apart. The squeaking gives way and within seconds we are speeding forward along the meadow.

  Then the lights go out, like we’ve entered a tunnel. I run to the nearest window and look out to find nothing but darkness and the occasional flash of light.

  “Are we in a tunnel?” I ask no one in particular.

  “Yes, ma’am,” says the engineer.

  “A time tunnel, I bet,” Griff smiles.

  “Of course,” the engineer replies. “The only type of tunnel you’re going to find when traveling by temporal locomotive.”

  “Who the hell comes up with these names?” Griff frowns.

  “According to Robo-Griff, it’s you,” I smile.

  “We already know he’s a liar, but that pretty well clinches it. I’d at least be able to come up with something cool like, um, Past Passage?”

  “Dat hardly serves,” Noll argues. “Seeing as dis could take us to da future or da past.”

  “Even the future is the past for someone,” Griff defends himself.

  The brakes squeak again. I return my attention to the window and see that we’re still being held somewhere in darkness.

  The squeaking reaches an apex and we finally stop, just as the train enters the space I remember from early on in our adventure. The dungeon under the cathedral seems to be blinking awkwardly, short glimpses of people, things, dirt, and sometimes just a simple bright light.

  “What’s going on out there?” Griff asks from my side.

  “We’re in temporal flux,” the engineer answers. “Per your request.”

  Griff looks at me for answers. I simply shrug. Tenney comes up and stands between us.

  “You didn’t get the full tour, huh? Temporal flux means that we’re taken to a single spot in space, but without setting down to a set time. What you’re seeing out there is the spot you want to go to, but the time is still changing. Think of it like—“

  “Nope,” Griff says, waving Tenney away, “I don’t want to think about it anymore, just tell me how this is going to help us.”

  “Simple,” Tenney smiles. “We just sit here and watch to see if we can find out when that Wizard fella comes in and takes what you’re looking for, then we can settle in place just a few minutes before or whatever.”

  “Sounds pretty easy,” I say. “It’d be a lot easier if we knew where the spheres were.”

  “I think I can help with that,” Griff says, turning his head away from the window and making a concerted effort to stare at the ground. He’s starting to look a little green. “You see, what was really weird about the whole oubliette thing was that The Wizard didn’t seem to know about it, even though Geoffrey made it sound like he’d been the one who had modified the blueprints to have it installed.”

  “Okay,” I question.

  “It makes sense now that we know that the version we met back then was a robot. It also actually might answer something else. You see, I couldn’t help but notice that Robo-Wizard was under the impression that he was supposed to be collecting a great deal of sculptures and whatever. I mean, he had piles upon piles of the stuff.”

  “Yeah,” I smile. “I had forgotten about that.”

  “I remember thinking it seemed to be an awful lot of trouble to take just to get some stone heads. But now, it makes perfect sense. The Wizard was having his Robo-Self cover up the entrance to the oubliette so he could come back in ages later without anyone else having ever known that there was something under there.”

  “But there was the entrance to the dungeon that we used,” I argue.

  “Right, that had to be there so The Robo-Wizard could go down there and place the spheres within the oubliette. I’d guess that at some point, Robo-Wiz was programmed to destroy that part of the dungeon so it would cave in on itself.”

  “Yeah,” Tenney says from the other side of the train car. “You can see it happening over here, if you keep an eye out. Look, see, the dungeon came back now, give it another five minutes and you’ll see it disappear again.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” Griff frowns.

  “I believe your friend is a mite time-sick,” the engineer states. “We do have some patches in back that should help.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Griff growls. “Let’s just get this over with already.”

  “Okay,” I say, turning my attention toward the oubliette, “so, I guess we have to find the spheres and then note when they disappear and then rewind things or whatever?”

  “Dat looks a lot like you two,” Noll says cheerily.

  “Hey, look, it is us!” I smile. “Griff, look—nevermind. Anyways, can we slow things down?”

  “Unfortunately, that’s not quite an option, miss,” the engineer answers.

  “Wait,” I shout. “Stop the train! I have an idea!”

  The brakes sound again and time slows outside until it finally seems to come to a stop, although it’s difficult to tell in such a dark room.

  “Is it safe to go out there?” I ask.

  “Yes, miss. Although, I would request you make it quick. The apparatus that allows us to stay still within space and time while also allowing portions of the train to be outside of—“

  “Simple English, please,” Griff shouts.

  “Sorry, just make it quick.”

  “Okay, that’s all we need to hear,” Griff says as he rushes for the door, falling out onto the damp ground. He releases the contents of his stomach to make it even more damp.

  I step out behind him, making sure not to catch myself on the pile Griff left. Tenney and Noll join us.

  “Alright, kid,” Griff begins as he returns to his feet. “So, what’s the plan here?”

  “First, we’ve gotta find the spheres.”

  “I fink I found ‘em!” Noll shouts at us as he runs to the far corner of the dark hole we’re standing within.

  I skip the few steps to his location and against the wall I see a great big pile of spheres lying on the floor. At best guess, I’d say there are at least twenty of them. Griff ambles up behind us.

  “Holy hell,” he gasps.

  “Yeah,” I say breathlessly.

  “That’s a lot of them there spheres,” Tenney joins in.

  “Yeah,” I repeat, still breathless.

  “What do ya fink he was planning on doing wif all dem spheres?” Noll asks.

  We all turn to look at the train.

  “How do you think those things are powered?” Griff asks.

  “You don’t really think?” I ask, starting to find my words.

  “Do we know of any other method in which to travel through time?” Griff looks at me in earnest.

  “But, really? I mean, would that even make sense? Wouldn’t he know if we were trying to use his trains to stop him?”

  “Probably,” Griff replies. “Of course, if I were going to trap us somewhere we couldn’t possibly get out of, it would probably be a deep hole in the ground, long forgotten by time.”

  “Yeah,” I agree, “except we have a ton of spheres and already know the secret exit.”

  “Good point,” Griff smiles. “So, we’re probably safe. What’s your plan?”

  “Well, first,” I say, picking up five of the grounded spheres, “we need to get all of these out of here.”

  Tenney, Noll, and Griff each take a handful and we place them within the train. Before exiting, I stop them, “You all stay in here. That way, in case this really is a trap to get us stuck in the ground, you can come back and save me.”

 
“But—“

  “No buts,” I reply. “Just keep our butts covered. All I need now is a sack or something.”

  “We have some timesickness bags located within the seat backs,” the engineer offers. “If that helps.”

  “Actually,” I smile, “I think that will work perfectly.”

  I reach into the pocket in the back of the nearest seat, find a bag that looks just like any other barf bag I’ve ever seen and step out of the train.

  “Aren’t you going to tell me the plan?” Griff asks.

  “Oh, you’ll know soon enough.”

  I return seconds later, unable to remove the smile from my face.

  “Got a good one?” Griff asks.

  “I’m pretty happy with it,” I giggle.

  “Alright,” Noll cuts in. “What do we do now? Just wait for him to arrive?”

  “Oh, no,” I smirk. “Now we head back to the beginning.”

  Chapter 55

  “What the hell are we doing back here?” Griff yells as he rushes out of the train onto the grassy meadow to allow himself to yet again release the small amount of leftover gruel from his stomach.

  I exit slowly behind him. “Noll, be ready. The second he appears, tackle him. Make sure he doesn’t get the chance to set any of the other spheres.”

  “A’ course, Chelle,” Noll replies, his eyes darting in every direction.

  “I’m sorry, miss,” Tenney says at my side, “but I don’t think I quite understand why you’d want to come back here. Isn’t this the very place where you wanted to be saved from just minutes ago?”

  “Precisely my question,” Griff says, regaining his composure.

  “Shhh,” I whisper. “Everyone get ready. Noll might need some help.”

  Just then, a great wind builds up around us, whipping in every direction. In the center of the dark cloud that appears, I make out the figure I expected to find.

  “Now, Noll!” I scream.

  Without a second’s pause, Noll leaps at the man, bringing him to the ground and just as quickly picking him up, holding The Wizard’s arms behind his back with one hand.