The Beginning: When Harv Met Vera

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

:biting fingernails:

[GeoffC]

:no more fingernails to bite:

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

:re-growing mine specially:

[pshrynk]

Hilda was concerned. She had explicitly told the Canadian to be back at the Casino in time to go through the process of blowing the whole place to smithereens and here he was, not. She nervously paced up and down behind the building. Miyatake had muttered something about looking in the local bars and run off in a hurry.

If the Casino did not blow up with the American Industrialist in it at the proper time, there would not be an Incident and there would not be a Misunderstanding, and there would not be a Withdrawal of Ambassadors. That woudl lead directly to there not being an opportunity for she and Miyatake to finance that Castro boy with the diamonds they were carrying around in the Ice Plant truck.

She was also worried about that, since it seemed to have not made it to the rendezvous point at teh appointed time. This offended her Teutonic sensibilities to no end. What good was revolution if it did not happen on the schedule she set out for it?

And she had her doubts about that Terrible chracter, as well. There seemed to be an inordinate amount of Socialist activity here since he came off the boat. She could not pin it directly on him, but she thought she had seen a pamphlet in his rear pocket the other day.

She checked her watch again. Dmaned tropical sensibilities! When the new Fascist government was installed there were going to be some major changes. Working clocks were first on her schedule.

[badgoodDeb]

Oooo -- I didn't notice the diamonds in the ice truck! Lemme go give it a closer search. Diamonds are my friends!

[pshrynk]

Inside the Casino, the Chief of the Tables came to the opening of the tournament room and coughed discretely. The noisy babel continued. He then slammed the door open and shut several times until everyone was looking at him. Oh, to be a Chief of Tables in a civilized country like Swaziland!

"Mesdames et Messieurs! The tournament is ready to proceed. Please check at the board inside the door for your first seating arrangements." He then bowed formally and backed into the room. The scene of suavity was marred only by his catching his heel on the door jamb and falling over backward into the room.

"Why did that Spanish fellow just talk in outrageously accented French?" asked Harv.

"The author doesn't have a keyboard with the little squiggles over the n's and he feels bad about that," said Vivaldi.

"How did you find that out?"

"I looked at the Llounge postings in Mobileread."

"Oh."

Harv managed to take his eyes off the beauty at the door long enough to step over the body of the still swearing Chief of the Tables. Table five. He took the little tag with his ame on it off the board and looked around for a table with a five on it.

[yvanleterrible]

The image at the foot of Leterrible’s cot seemed to flicker on and off like those fancy new talking movies. On, off, on, off, then it flickered faster and faster and started changing position from one side of the cot to the other. On at right, off, on at left, off, and faster still it went, click, click, click, until it became a blur then stopped. On. At the foot of the cot...there was a man there with a cape, cane and top hat. Real as can be. He said:

“Adrian, I am not... pleased. We almost missed... the landing.
Good evening Mr... Leterrible!”

Leterrible was cowering back up the wall his legs pedaling under him, eyes wide and jaw gaping.

“... !?! ... Err! ‘evenin’? “

“My name... is Montsnmags. Doctor... Montsnmags. I am not a... shrink. I am here for the... welfare of my associates.”

“Err... and?”

“You have willingly... dissimulated an exploding device system in a place that is filling up with... innocent people at this instant. We wish... you to stop it now.”

Drat’s! He plumb forgot about Hilda, she must be seething with rage at this moment. There is no way he could make it in time to tell her how the system worked. There goes another pay! He thought.
“But... I ...”

“We can get you there in... time to stop it.”

Stop it? It wasn’t even on, he thought. But this guy says he can get me out of here? Hmmm, time to stall.

“You say you can get us out of here? Can we go undetected?”

“Yes, we travel backwards in... time to any physical place in the moment of a blink.”

Interesting. By now ideas began to shape in Leterrible’s mind.

“Can we go to the future?”

“It... is impossible. The temporal... laws are strict. We can move backwards and... come back to our precise time of departure at will... Not... now Adrian... We cannot influence what has happened only study... it. The future is still unknown and must... remain so.”

By now Leterrible saw a window of opportunity.
“If I accompany you, what will you give me in exchange?”

“The safety... of Vera Wayne’s life.”

Leterrible almost lost his poker face. Vera Wayne, his second daughter, how was she?

“She will be... participating in the poker game you have rigged for destruction. You... must keep her from harm.”

Playing the game Leterrible continued: “Why should I care, I don’t know her?”

“She is my protégée... and is of considerable value to her... people... Not now... Adrian... They want to see her... back safely. And we know you were with her right before you... were brought here...”

“Who are they?”

“I am... not at liberty to say.”

“You say you can travel back in time, could you bring me too?”

“Yes, it is the way we plan to... get you out of here undetected.”

“If I agree to help you can you grant me a special demand?”

“We... wish not.”

“It would be simple for you.” He pleaded.

“What would... it be?”

“I wish to go back in time and find my wife. We could find where she’s been and come back to the club in Cuba in time to stop the bomb from blowing up... Vera is her daughter...”

The man seemed to reflect a while and said:

“Adrian, we have... a change of plans.”

Leterrible jumped out and moved to the end of the cot. Montsnmags reached out to touch him and said: “Now... Adrian”
A crack of light and they were gone...

[GeoffC]

" A crack of light and then they were gone ..."


where, what , how, why !!!!!



we need MORE

[badgoodDeb]

Yeah, but what did Adrian keep trying to say? I'll bet it was important!! The important facts always get "shut upped" and ignored. Uh-oh!

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Yeah, but what did Adrian keep trying to say? I'll bet it was important!! The important facts always get "shut upped" and ignored. Uh-oh!

Probably "You said we were going to get icecream!", but at this stage I have no prior awareness of any actual events that occurred, if I ever did, or will, or do...wait, Adrian can't talk, can he?

Cheers,
Marc (no resemblance)

[yvanleterrible]

Leterrible found himself enclosed in a flexible bubble with Dr. Montsnmags. He could distinctly hear breathing from behind him. With a natural reflex he turned to find the source of the noise. There was nothing... but all of a sudden there was... he yelped in fear and tumbled backwards and fell in the bubble’s wall, but the bubble being spherical he slid downward, coming nearer to the thing. Then it jumped on him...

“Stop, Adrian, stop!” said Dr, Montsnmags.

It growled its disapproval and backed off of him. Leterrible remembered seeing one of those creatures in a National Geographic magazine recently while looking at pictures of...err... well he was a lonely widower ... They called it a Gibbon; some kind of primate the caption said. Now he had one in front of him and would not let it out of his sight, those teeth were terribly long and pointed. But there was something peculiar about it. Its image kept fainting and reappearing, sometimes in a totally different posture. Other times it seemed to slow down and at others became too quick to even see because it became a blur.
What a fantastic creature! He thought.
Dr. Montsnmags interrupted his observations and pointed towards the room outside the bubble. Nable/Moose? Elke, whatever his name was walking backwards in the room and he, himself, Leterrible was still sitting on that cot! My, did he look old... and pale. Suddenly he made the connection. Outside the bubble time was going backwards...
Dr. Montsnmags gestured towards the primate and said:

“Now, Adrian.”

The bubble started to lift really slowly. As it met the ceiling an electric arc formed at the top that slid down along the wall of the bubble following the edges of whatever the time machine pushed through. Eventually it was out through the roof into the receding darkness of the evening. The sun was going up from the west! And it accelerated! All moving objects outside were a blur becoming fainter and then indiscernible. It was going up faster now and it was night again for five minutes, and day for three, and night for thirty seconds and on and on until day and night became a rapid flashing.
The time bubble was now two miles up and started on a north-eastern trajectory, leaving Cuba towards... Leterrible’s breath stopped in horror...the Bermuda Triangle...

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

...
“Now, Adrian.”

The bubble started to lift really slowly. As it met the ceiling an electric arc formed at the top that slid down along the wall of the bubble following the edges of whatever the time machine pushed through. Eventually it was out through the roof into the receding darkness of the evening. The sun was going up from the west! And it accelerated! All moving objects outside were a blur becoming fainter and then indiscernible. It was going up faster now and it was night again for five minutes, and day for three, and night for thirty seconds and on and on until day and night became a rapid flashing.
The time bubble was now two miles up and started on a north-eastern trajectory, leaving Cuba towards... Leterrible’s breath stopped in horror...the Bermuda Triangle...

Hovercar, schmovercar, pshrynk. I WANT MY BUBBLEMOBILE!

[yvanleterrible]

This?

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

This?

No, no, no (though, 'tis cute). I want the one with the time-wizzy stuff and the energy-crackling and the speed and the room for an "invisible" gibbon. It's like someone turned my perfect iTablet into my perfect iMode-oF-tRansport.

[yvanleterrible]

I feel your hunger...
I get something similar with anticipation for that fabulous tAblet.
20 odd hours till truth!