Chapter 21

                Without realizing it Lock had fallen asleep in the Probe’s command chair.  When his stomach twisted and was followed by slight weightlessness he was dreaming peacefully.  He awoke abruptly, not able to remember what his dream was about but he felt fully rested.  As he tried to lean forward automatically to view what the various viewing screens had to offer, he realized that his body was restrained.  A restraint mechanism had deployed while he was asleep to keep him safe in the chair. 

                “Thanks for looking out for me, I must have dozed off.  I didn’t realize how tired this whole business was making me.” Lock said while manually unfastening his safety restraint.

Now that you and I are a team your safety is tied to my own.  I have a programming imperative to see that you are not harmed and you will find that this mandate functions with or without your direct request.

                “Have we arrived at the time and place I requested?  Our discussions during my training neglected the actual nuts and bolts of how a transition occurs.  As rested as I feel, we must have taken a few hours of travel time. Is this common?” Lock asked anxiously.

Remember when we escaped discovery by the hunters while you were looking for my crystal?  I explained to you that I shifted just out of the current time line, effectively causing our disappearance in relation to anyone present in the ordinary time where we were stranded.  The same principle is applied during a transition.  Once a destination and time is chosen, my technology allows for movement from any ordinary time stream that we find ourselves to any other in mere minutes.  As you know already, I monitor your biological status automatically through your key.  With this knowledge I knew you required sleep to continue effectively with our test mission.  The transition symptoms you felt just before you entered into your sleep cycle represented our initial movement out of your home time stream and into the flux between time streams.  The hours you spent sleeping were ship time that continues evenly as we discussed before.  When your biological data indicated you had experienced adequate rest, the final shift was initiated to the time and place set for the active test mission.  This second set of symptoms was what awakened you.

To rephrase simply, had you not required sleep, our transition would have taken only the time to set a destination and the time to directly shift to that location.  In actual ship time, it would have only taken a few minutes.

                “I understand.” Lock said impatiently, “Now that we are here, how does this work?”

We have arrived at the time and date you decided on.  It is protocol to enter any new time stream at altitude, where we presently are at this moment.  This is required for our safety.  We can now scan the ground for objects that could have caused damage had we materialized near ground level.  We then settle down just above the ground in a safe location for our confirmation scans and views of the area.  Adjustments are then made to our location based on whatever information is available.  If on a historical mission we use historical records both written and photographic or video to refine our location.  In this case we have your personal memories to steer our course.  Scans for obstacles are automatically done.  We are settling down toward the ground now.  Look to your observation screens and I will adjust our location in time and space based on your feedback.  Remember we are camouflaged to prevent being seen or heard.

                Lock now realized what the Probe meant by needing a meaningful experience to bring home the power of what was sure to become an important partnership.  Lock’s choice for this test exercise was based on a simple regret he had as a teenager and he had provided the Probe an address and date.  What he now saw on the screen left him speechless.  The Probes view screens wrapped around the front of the command chair and gave the effect of a panoramic view, with an additional pair both above and below his line of sight for a full perspective.  Lock was looking at the very corner store near his childhood home when he was 14 years old and he took in the view with silent awe. 

My systems require information to make the adjustments necessary for your mission.

                “I provided a date and month but can you determine what day of the week it is?

The day is Thursday and it is approximately 1PM in the afternoon.

                “We need to go forward to the next Saturday afternoon at approximately 4PM.” Lock was whispering without realizing it and staring intently at the screens.  The scene moved forward as you’d fast forward a movie.  Cars came and went sporadically, delivering the many customers that frequented the store with an occasional walk in too.  The fast forwarding stopped on Saturday in real time with live action occurring as it actually had so many years ago.  Lock asked for the action to be advanced at a medium speed.  After about five minutes ship time, equaling about two hours event time, he watched as a young man hurried up the road next to the store.

                “Stop the action and zoom in on the boys face.” Lock yelled.  The face that grew and became clear was unmistakably his own, as a mere youth.  “Can we see into the store, specifically in the North West corner, against the wall?”

Yes, the top two screens can make use of a penetrating viewer.  Observe this beginning view and then use the joystick type controller on your right chair arm to move in, out, left and right. The view will remain in focus at all times.

                As the two screens offered a view of the inside of the store, Lock took control.  Moving deeper into the store and back to the corner magazine racks was easy with the joystick controller.  They were just as he remembered them all those years ago.  On the top shelf, displayed prominently in the front of all other titles was his goal, the only comic book title destined to become a rare collector’s item and the one his younger self never purchased.  A first issue sold in almost every comic shop but later to become incredibly scarce.  Throughout the years Lock had often remembered picking up the book, thumbing through it but having to select another because his limited allowance at the time, forced him to choose only a couple comics every Saturday and he didn’t want to miss an issue of the comics he already collected.  He had no money for a new title.

                “How do I go out and talk to that boy?  I want to be in the store near the magazine racks when he enters.  One more thing, can your systems duplicate paper money appropriate to the time?” Lock was now excited.

Travel to the transit nexus stopping at the Transmutter booth.  Simply ask for what you want, the booth can create any authentic item you wish, then concentrate on our destination and walk through the barrier.  You will appear where you wish, slightly out of phase with this time stream but able to see your surroundings.  As soon as you see that no one will notice you appear, concentrate and you will solidify seamlessly in this time stream.  Be aware that you may not let your younger self know who you are.  Keep interaction to an absolute minimum.

                “Understood,” Lock said, “I only want to provide my younger self with the funds to purchase a comic book I always regretted not buying.”

                As Lock passed through the barrier he fingered the two ten dollar bills he had made with the transmutter booth.  He landed in a back isle of the store and finished his transfer unnoticed.  The smell of the store brought many memories flooding back but he wanted to accomplish his task.  Quickly he moved to the magazine rack briefly looking over the book he wanted so badly.  He watched himself enter and head for the only part of the store he cared about.  Turning back toward the isle where he had transferred he let the two ten dollar bills fall to the floor in front of the comics.  As Lock rounded the corner his younger self arrived at the comics rack.  As young Lock scanned the many titles, he noticed the money on the floor and picked it up with a huge smile.  Immediately young Lock started picking out comics.  To Lock’s great satisfaction, young Lock also picked up two of the first edition comic he still dreamed about. 

                Lock watched as his younger self headed to the cash register with his treasure and smiled as he willed himself back through the nexus transfer barrier on the Probe……