Bannon had a headache. The two visitors displayed no emotion
and the woman in custody never raised her head. “You’re telling me that Miss
Blanck-whatever, is the granddaughter of Doestal and came back in time to give
her grandmother what she always wanted… to be a great novelist?”
“Yes,” the taller man replied. The woman nodded. “She used
to belong to our group and gone rogue for personal gain.”
“You three should be locked up.” Bannon stood up. “If you’re
‘time-cops,’ why didn’t you come back earlier and stop her?”
“Because we didn’t have a precise time until you called for
backup last night. I’m sorry for your partner.”
“But you can go back and stop it!”
“Impossible. It has to do with a divergence of world lines…”
“Now you’re getting all Steins;Gate on me? Next you’ll be
talking about John Titor and his time machine.” The two agents flinched
slightly. “Next up - Morlocks!”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” the shorter man finally spoke.
“And the cube?”
‘Tallman’ replied, “In her time, organs for transplants are
quite valuable. She found successful authors from class lists of her
grandmother, came here, then transferred the heart into the cube to return it
to her time. If she failed to send back a heart, her sponsors were, rather are, or in your case will be, quite persuasive in their means.”
Bannon's head throbbed. “Why didn’t the cube work
on me?”
“You aren’t an author. I mean you weren’t on the authors
list.” Tallman stood, “It’s time for us to go.”
“No, you’re not…” Bannon reached for his pistol but was
frozen. “Not again!”
Tallman placed Bannon’s pistol on the table. “This ability
to be aware during time-freeze is rare and to answer another question, your
hair-tingly happens when a time portal gateway is opened. This makes you… unique.”
Bannon was released.
“Ah, I like you, Bannon. We’ll be seeing you. Soon.”
“And don’t call us ‘time-cops’!” the short man called back
as the agents and prisoner stepped into a black slit in the room that
disappeared as if a zipper closed.
Bannon’s only consolation was his newfound knowledge of
annoying people in multiple centuries.
