Displaced, Ch 1 The Beginning

[Slie Amos]

Ok, I had posted this here before the crash and after it the post was one of the ones that got ate. As well as the sole reply to it, I forget who replied but I followed their suggestion about tense in the story and have gone back through chapter 1 and adjusted all non-dialog or thoughts (anything in italics) as suggested.

Now here is chapter one again, my first fic that has been written down much less seen by anyone else.

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Summary: Sometimes getting befriended leads to strange events, in this case a possessive doctor of theoretical sciences decides that someone has to be taught a lesson for being a friend. Yet someone else pays in ways even the 'good' doctor has no way of knowing. So Displaced in time can a young college grad make a new life and can he survive the changes yet to happen to him in the process?

Displaced

Chapter 1: It Begins

By: Slie Amos

This is a fanfiction story and as such any characters from existing works, such as Sailor Moon, Ranma, Robotech, BGC, etc…, are not mine but belong to the authors that created them or their agents.
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Billy Rhodes-Tenashi politely bowed to the receptionist as he made his way out of the office building and toward the hotel that the company, White Star Scientific Industries, provided for this trip and his interview with them. All in all, the interview had gone well White Star was one of the leading companies dealing with theoretical sciences and electronics among other things, and one of the few that seemed to be hiring new employees at all currently. White Star’s Juuban office was a surprise in itself, set in a twelve story building where there was a very high level of security and a lot of activity whenever he was there. It was almost like they were working on projects there, but Billy figured that the projects were nothing more than advertising and other administrative. I mean why would anyone work on theoretical projects in the middle of a population center. That’s just asking for trouble, what with the power sources some of the projects use… Still the upper management types he had seen so far seemed to have more brains than to do something like that.

The fact that he can speak Japanese almost as well as English was a big plus here in Japan. The hiring manager seemed to be happy that Billy was basically fluent in Japanese, written and spoken. Fresh out of college and with a very good prospect job wise, guess the GPA helps, but then a 3.85 out of a 4.0 is good, and as the interviewer said it shows I do other things besides just study. Well the ‘interview’ is over and I should know one way or the other before I head back home next Tuesday. That gives me three days to relax and see some sights. Still what an interview…

Man, for a first interview to be with a review board was intense and I hope I did not come off as too nervous in there. Still the way most of them where smiling at the end makes me think I have a very good chance at this position. Though that one doctor had a really annoying attitude. It was almost like he saw everyone else as being beneath him or something. Even strange to me is that he works in the theoretical physics department or something not in the theoretical electronics section. Though he could have been there as the two most likely work together. But yeesh, with that attitude I wonder how he got any level of seniority here or anywhere. Still surprising that one of the ladies I did that practical check with offered to show me around the local sights later with some friends, I wonder if she is seeing anyone… Billy took a look around the shopping district that he was passing through to get back to the hotel. All the little shops and eateries, it was almost like a mall turned inside out to him.

Still I want to go to the Hikawa Shrine myself before meeting up with the others later. I may as well change into something more suited to sightseeing before going anywhere. I mean a suit and tie is not how a tourist normally dresses. Ah there is the Osa-P jewelry store I am not far from the hotel then. With that Billy walked the rest of the way back to the hotel where he is staying, Hotel Green. Not a bad place and fairly quiet the entire time he had been there so far. Hotel Green was basically a nice hotel for business people and others that were not really tourist. Though it was cheaper than most of the normal ‘tourist’ hotels here in Japan. And it was clean and quiet with nice rooms and even places with coin laundry on some of the floors besides the normal vending machines.

Going back over the interview in his head; Three days of questions and testing to see if they should give me the position, man they do not play around and just get right to the meat of the interview. Still it was a surprise to me, here I was thinking that this was going to be a normal second level interview. But man, questions about what is the best shielding for different types of radiation. How to adjust electronic circuits and devices so that they can work properly with wildly fluctuating power and inputs. Lords I am just a grad student, I do not have a doctorates. A lot of what they asked I had no idea about, but some I had read about at least when I read ahead on some classes. Ah there is the hotel, time to change to more comfortable clothing. Arriving at the hotel a few minutes later, Billy headed to his room after checking for messages and got changed for some sightseeing. Time to relax and have some fun, then meet Suki and her friends for more of the same.
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While Billy was heading back to his hotel to change and go out sightseeing, someone else was working in a fairly cramped room surrounded by many computer displays. These displays were showing all manner of data and information to the lone individual there. Dr. Katashi, or simply Katashi-sama to those that worked under him, and everyone worked for him as far as he was concerned. Was currently carefully entering commands and checking several displays after each command judging the information and any changes shown.

Dr. Nathain Lee, one of the several foreign researchers working with Dr. Katashi, or as many call it enduring the brilliant doctor of Temporal Physics and Dynamics, stuck his head into the cramped room.

“Ah, there you are Sir, Dr. Sato is looking for you. I think he wants your report on the new guy that was interviewed over the last few days.” He waits for a response, after all the head of their department is looking for this guy so I should get some answer, shouldn’t I? But knowing Katashi-Sama like I do Dr. Lee shuttered thinking about how the temporal researcher preferred that title, He’ll wait as long as he can to answer. And I can’t just walk away till I know he heard that our department head wants him. After a couple minutes with no response from the working doctor, Dr. Lee leaned in more to get a look at what the good doctor was so engrossed in.

“I thought we weren’t running the Temporal Piercing theories for at least another year so we can try working out any bugs in the testing system… Or are you just checking you figures again?”

At this comment Dr. Katashi turned to Dr. Lee and blocked the screen from future view. “What I am doing is nobody’s concern but mine. Besides it is a smart move to recheck information several times before even running the main test sequences. As to the report on the candidate for the open theoretical electronics position I will turn that in when I finish here. Now, if you will excuse me I have work to do that is more important that standing around and talking about who wants what and when to someone that just rides around on my work and discoveries.” With that he pushed Dr. Lee from the room, then closed and locked the door to the terminal room.

Dr. Lee just looked at the door before starting to walk away toward the offices, thinking. Man, he is a royal pain normally, but he has never pushed anyone back before for any reason in the 5 years I have been here. That and why does he need to run those equations and commands through the main Temporal computer via the secondary access terminals? I mean the systems in that room are directly connected to the main Temporal Systems that are still being inspected and checked over. I guess I better let Dr. Sato know about him using the TS secondary access terminals, as I doubt he got clearance again. More and more security is being instituted and more procedures to gain access to the Temporal System. But with what the Temporal Systems runs off of I can understand the need to be careful, one false step and half this city will be wiped off the face of the planet. Things are getting to the point where we have to pay more attention to procedure and security than doing our research now. Though Dr. Aiko Suki seems to have more of the temperamental doctor’s attention then she, or anyone, likes. With that he headed off to find Dr. Sato and tell him where Dr. Katashi is and that he was acting more annoying than normal. Shaking his head over the fact that Katashi-sama was starting to get really hard to work with, especially if he kept acting the way he was now.

Back in the now locked system access room, Dr. Katashi was working on the main terminal now and was entering what seems to be a program into the main system. If anyone was in the room with him they would wonder why he seemed to be rather angry. No one takes my girls from me; no one unless I say the girls can see anyone else. I am sick of letting this slide so now I will make sure folks know I am the one that says who can do what and when. Work comes first, then my desires and wants, then others if I allow it. He looked over the program, equations and data he had entered carefully during the last few minutes before he added another section to the beginning of the program he just entered over the last 45 minutes. “This should work, and even if it does not I will at least get the information and data I need to make the adjustments for the final equations, but if it does I will be recognized worldwide for the fact that I am the best in Temporal Dynamics. Now to make sure the recording systems are synced for this and set the timer to initiate the whole package once I am at the airport heading away on my planed vacation.” He finished his typing and moved to leave the room saying to himself, “The encrypted recording system I installed last year is finally going to get real use other than just my personal notes. Also the new lock out security is not due to be installed till the day after tomorrow so my backdoor here is good. I wonder what old saintly Dr. Sato and that short sighted Dr. Takado think about me knowing everything they want to keep secret. I will have my recognition and awards for this now. Not in 10 years when I am too old to really enjoy it.” He smiled cockily as he opened the door, “No one will be able to break my encryption on the control program before the system goes to the final state and executes my program, then it will be too late and Lady Aiko will know my displeasure at my favorite ignoring me.”

With that he left the room, never once noticing the new addition to the room in the form of two cameras in the ceiling. One of them was facing the door and several of the secondary systems. The other one covered the main terminal, its keyboard and monitor as well as the chair he sat in for the time it took to enter the program. Both of which were active as the little red power active lights were on, but the housings around them made that hard to see at best.
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A little while later Billy was returning to his hotel after visiting Hikawa Shrine and finding a nice pendant necklace for a present for his younger sister. Man the Hikawa Shrine is really nice, even located where it is its calm and peaceful. Also I was surprised to find a pendant like that, my sister will be happy. A star burst with different types of gem dust from blue, white, and green sapphires to malachite and green zircon to sugilite and amethyst, rose quartz, ruby, and some smoky quartz with a little pyrite tossed in as well, for a nice rainbow like effect. Also it has a blue star sapphire with five different color moonstones around it, a white, blue, pink, yellow, and brown one. Good thing I had the money from my savings, it was a bit more expensive than I thought. But then I am having them express mail it as a gift to my sister for her birthday next week, I hope she likes it. Billy let the warmth of the late afternoon sun wash over him while thinking about his imouto, and her love of stars and planets. One day Emaka will be the singing star she wants to be. Ah looks like Aiko and her friends just arrived… Waving to those that had just got out of a small van like car Billy called to them so they did not head into the hotel for him.

“Aiko-san! Hello, looks like I got back from the Hikawa Shrine just in time. So do you have any place special in mind to take me this afternoon?” He waited to see what she or her friends have to say. With Aiko Suki were two more ladies and two guys all dressed in a relaxed manner ready to go out to a bar, night club, or just around the ward.

“Hello again, Billy-san. Actually I think we got here at just the right time actually. As to where we are going, me and my friends agreed to take you to a few of the local temples and shrines and a few other locations today. We can do more over the weekend before you fly back. Our first stop is the Arisugawanomiya Memorial Park; we figured you might want to see that with the sun up. Then we are going to go around to some of the temples and shrines in the area, and the last we hope is a surprise.” She gave a friendly smile and indicated her friends. “These are some of my good friends; Yuka and her fiancé Namo, Miki, and Rando. Don’t ask me why his parents named him that, even he has no idea why. Guys this is Billy Rhodes-Tenashi who is almost assured to be working at White Star beginning in a week or so, unless something happens between now and Monday that is. And no Billy, this is not a test to see how you act out of the office. Now shall we get going?”

“Let’s, and it’s nice to meet all of you. Be nice to know a few people before coming over here long term. Hope you all don’t mind me taking pictures. I just love some of the landscaping around the parks and shrines here in Japan.” Billy then got in the small van followed by Aiko while Yuka and Namo joined them in the back as well. While Miki got in behind the wheel and Rando in the front passenger seat. With them all in, Miki headed off into traffic toward the park a few minutes drive away, while everyone chatted and got a little better acquainted.

Meanwhile back at White Star, Inc’s offices, in a plush section of the offices used by the more senior staff and researchers there, Dr. Katashi was in his office and packing a few things getting ready to leave when someone knocked on his door and opened it not waiting for an answer. Dr. Katashi started in on the person entering his office without waiting to be invited in without even looking up.

“Just who do you think you are just walking into a senior staff office after a brief knock on the door, I should have you fired for…” Looking up finally to glare at the interloper he found himself looking at his direct boss Dr. Sato Tsubasa, whom he had just started yelling at and tried to intimidate. “Ah, Dr. Sato, what can I do for you this afternoon, and sorry about that I have had several people barge in on me while working today.”

“I see, Dr. Katashi. But I am here to pick up the report you promised me on the possible new hire that we tested this week, you said you would have it on my desk 2 hours ago. And then I find that you accosted and told Dr. Lee that what you were doing in the Secondary Access Center was no-one’s business but yours. You know as well as anyone that access to that room is restricted unless you have permission to be there and I do not remember anyone recently requesting such in the last several weeks. So what you were doing there is very much my business and the business of my direct aid, Dr. Lee. Now I want the report you promised me now and I want to know why you where running the Temporal Piercing equations through, of all things, the main system via the Secondary Access Terminals? I believe as your direct supervisor I have the right to know why you were doing that, especially as all work on that project has been frozen for 6 months now.” While Dr. Sato was talking very calmly and politely it was clear that he was upset and would be getting his answers and the report then and not later. Besides the look on his bosses face made it clear someone was in a load of trouble and as he was the only one in the room currently…

“Let me print the report for you now sir, I thought I said I would have it to you by the time I left today.” He sat at his desk and quickly finished typing out a report that he had only gotten half done thinking, I really hope that he suffers for this later I am sick of having to bow down to people that do not understand that to get results sacrifices have to be made and restrictions on access and such are too limiting to getting real results quickly. “As to why I was in the S.A.C. before I needed to check something to be sure that we had the right information on balancing the power requirements and safety measures being installed, just to be sure that we had not missed anything in the last check, I mean once the equipment and software are installed it will be painstakingly hard to adjust anything if we had the numbers wrong by more than plus or minus 2%.” Lucky Dr. Katashi was a rather quick typist and finished, printed and handed Dr. Sato the report on the possible new hire.

“Personally, I do not feel we need anyone new working here, but I understand that the committee wants to ensure that we have enough people to work the hardware side to make things easier all around. I found the candidate lacking in several areas I feel are truly needed for the position, but he did seem quite adaptable and willing to learn and thus should be able to grow into the position. As to hiring him, I am neutral to the idea. But I do hope that he realizes that he answers to the senior staff just like everyone else does.”

Dr. Sato just watched the man that acted like he ran the entire company instead of being just one of many senior researchers, and a slow grin formed on his face as Dr. Katashi finished the report and then printed it, so much for just printing it like he said he was going to do. Listening to the good doctor talk about why he was in the S.A.C. the grin gains a little power as the doctor basically admitted to messing around with equations and information that has been sealed till the fail-safes were fully installed. The fail-safes are designed to be adjusted, you yourself called for that during the last meeting about them, that is why we are hiring new hardware techs, Dr. Katashi you’re so full of yourself you forget the very things you wanted. Ah, so you don’t really care who we hire as long as they bow to you and do what you want first. As Dr. Katashi handed the newly printed report to his boss he tried to smile like he just forgot to do what he said and not having forgotten to do it altogether.

As he took the report, “I find it interesting that you had to finish the report now, but other than that HR has decided that Mr. Rhodes-Tenashi will be starting here in two weeks, maybe sooner if he can get moved here sooner, though two weeks is a very short time to move to a new location for a long term job.” He turned to leave and as he opened the door Dr. Sato looked over his shoulder and said, “By the way, security is reviewing the video of what you were doing in the S.A.C. earlier and we will have their report later this evening I believe. Security has already been increased in many areas, just the restricted access doors and locks are not installed yet. Oh, and have a nice trip, your flight leaves tomorrow morning, does it not?”

“Yes, sir it does. At 10am in the morning as a matter of fact. So I will be gone for about 3 weeks after I leave tonight.”

“Well I hope you have a nice trip, you have not taken a single break in the entire time you have worked here before now. Also make sure that the company has your contact information in case there is a problem we need to contact you about. Good night.” Dr. Sato finally left the office and could be seen with a grin on his face, if security returns what I think they are going to return on the report about the good doctor’s actions in the S.A.C. we may finally be able to at least demote him to a lower level here, if not outright get rid of the egomaniac and self styled company MASTER who sees others as his personal servants. If he was not so good at his job and with theoretical temporal science I would never have taken him on, even then he had a bad attitude. Sighing that it would most likely take someone basically getting maimed or killed to really do anything about Katashi in any final way now, Dr. Sato headed back to his office to finish his daily paperwork.

After Dr. Sato left his office Dr. Katashi just started smiling. “Like I will believe that all the goodie-goodies in this company would actually post one schedule for upgrades and use a secret one for the actual work, nice try Takado-san.” Chuckling while he picked up his brief case and his company provided PDA he headed out of his office and toward the front entrance, smiling all the way. I run this company, without me this company is nothing more than a wash of materials and money. Though soon they will realize that, once I get the last bit of data I need to publish my paper on theoretical temporal piercing and finally gain the fame I am due for all my work. I will not be one of the faceless that work their entire lives for nothing. I will have my rewards and vindication for putting up with all the insufferable and idiotic rules that only hinder progress. His smile gained intensity as he saw himself being given free rein over this company and all the girls that would be at his beck and call after this…

While this little drama was playing out, Billy, Aiko, and her friends where at memorial park walking around and taking a few pictures of the landscape and with various members of their little group. After about an hour and a half at the park Miki mentioned that it might be a good idea to drop by a couple temples or shrines in the area before dark, as there wasn’t any festivals currently happening and the shrines and such would be very bland at night. Agreeing with that they headed off to the first temple, Billy letting them set the path for now.

“Do you think we will be going to the Tokyo Tower today? While it is something I would like to see, the fact it is a major tourist attraction also means it will likely have several others there. But hopefully not to many, it is so hard to get decent pictures with a large crowd around.” Billy asked the others as they headed back to the cute little van that Miki had.

Namo answered for the rest, “Well. I think we were going to be in that area tomorrow so we will wait till then to see how things are. The same with Shiba Park. Also if we can all get together early enough it may be nice to visit a few of the shopping districts nearby, though most likely by train as it will be easier than finding parking for a car.” His fiancée just nodded her head and the rest seemed to be in agreement already, leaving Billy to think that they have already set up an itinerary for the weekend.

“By the way Billy-san, I know where you can find a nice apartment nearby. I have the feeling that you’re going to be hired so we may as well see about getting you a place to stay ready, or at least get the initial paper work done before you head home next Tuesday.” Suki mentioned, with a friendly smile. “I hope you do not mind doing that on Monday…”

Billy returned the smile thinking, man I really think that Aiko is interested in me. It would be nice to find a smart girl to be with, and with Aiko also being very attractive is just a bonus for me. “Aiko-san, can we drop the formality, I mean if we are going to be working together it is one thing at the office but out here, it makes me feel as if I am still being looked at like they have been for the last three or four days. Also I do not mind finding a place now if it looks like I will be hired, the sooner the better actually. Though I think my mother’s family, the Tenashies have a house or something in the Minato ward. Though I’m not sure if it is near Azabu-Juban, I need to find out.”

All of the others just grined as Suki responded, “No problem with dropping the formality Billy. That was something we really wanted but were not sure if you wanted to just yet. As to you may be having a place through your mother’s family that would be nice but unless you find out before Monday I think it would be a good idea to at least start the paper work on a place yourself to be sure. Now we are ready to go, I think the two temples Miki had in mind for this afternoon are the Zenpuku-ji, a Jodo Shinshu temple, and the Zojo-ji temple which is the great main temple of the Chinzai sect of Shingon Buddhism.”

Billy just grined back at them all, “Hey, outside of work and such I am very informal and relaxed so no problems on dropping formality. As to the housing I am going to see if my mother is online before I head to bed later and see if she has any info on the family’s home in this area. And, yes, let’s go see the temples. Do you think we could also stop by the Atago Shrine today or tomorrow?

“The Atago shrine is in the Atago district. While not that far I do not think we could get there before sundown, unless we went there first.” Answered Yuki. “So I think it would be best to stop by there tomorrow on the way to the Tokyo Tower, or on the way back.” During all this Miki had pulled out and was heading for the next stop on the ‘itinerary’ for the afternoon.

“Ok, no problem doing it later. And I want to say thanks for setting up a personal tour of the area for me guys. Thanks a lot. Now where are you lot taking me later this evening?”

Again everyone grined, and looked at each other before Suki answered, “Now now we told you that is a surprise. I think you will like it and have fun as well. Now how many more pictures can your camera hold? Or do you need a new memory card?”

“I have space for about six thousand more pictures at the current setting on my camera. Or about 25 minutes of video. Also I have a spare 4 gig memory card and a 2 gig memory card besides the 4 gig card in the camera. I think I have enough picture space for the weekend. Though I would love to fill it all up with pictures…”

“Well I think we can at least try to find a way to fill all that up, if not there is always next time.” Responded Rando. And with that the six of them went around to the two temples and a few local shrines before they all ended up at a very nice club that to get in you had to make a reservation well in advance. Or know somebody high up there. It turned out that Aiko Suki was the ‘sister’ of one of the owners, and decided to ‘treat’ her friends and Billy to a night at one of the newest, most high tech, and exclusive clubs in the region, The Crescent Moon.

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[Slie Amos]

Below is the dialog setup for Displaced:

Normal: "Man, what hit me a truck?"

Internal / Thoughts etc...: Man, what hit me a truck?

Language (Other than English (or Japanese), or translated speech (magical or otherwise)):
Translated (Via magic or a device, indicating that the people speaking do not speak the same language):
(Man, what hit me a truck?)

Signs, all: [Man, what hit me a truck?]

Emphasis (on words, phrases, or sentences):
"Man, what hit me a truck?"

Innuendo (on words or phrases with connotations other than above; i.e. flirting, sarcasm, or other ):
"Man, what hit me a toy truck?" or "Hmm.. I can see myself getting lost in your eyes lovely."

Typed text (as on a computer, IM, or such):
*Hello there, what is happening?*
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Later that night, around midnight, Suki and her friends were dropping Billy off at his hotel. Miki was the only one sober, or at least the only one who had less than two drinks at the club all evening as she was the driver for the day. Seemed they took turns as to who drove on ‘club’ nights.

“Night, guys and thanks for the tour and the surprise, I wanted to see what that club was like sense I heard about it last month. Suki, thanks for being a friend. So I guess I will see you all around eight or nine in the morning, maybe later.” He smirked like only someone well on the way to being totally blitzed can, tried to bow and almost did a header into the van. “Ah, best not try that now… Oyasuminasai.”

Suki went and got out of the van and moved toward Billy, “No need to thank me, I wanted to make friends and it is always fun to go out and do things with friends. Now, before you get to bed, I have something for you to say good night.” With that she took and kissed him, while not a deep passionate kiss it was a long one and nowhere near chaste. She then climbed carefully back into the van never looking away from Billy, looking into his eyes. “See you in the morning.”

Only now did Miki start to drive away, “Man Suki, do you want him as a friend or a boyfriend? With that kiss I would say the later.” Miki could be heard saying as they pulled away.

After a couple moments Billy headed into the hotel and checked in for the night. Headed up to his room with his laptop that he had left in the hotel’s safe or at least manager’s office, while he was out. He yawned but reminded himself that he had something that he needed to do before going to bed, but after a quick shower. Getting to his room and taking a shower Billy hooked up the laptop to the hotel’s network and checked his e-mail and checked to see if anyone in his family back home was on line, seeing that his mother was he sent her a message asking her how she was doing this morning her time.

*Fine, though I was really waiting to see if you would get on, so I can find out how the interview and all went.* She types back.

*It went better than I thought even if there were several questions I was not able to answer right off. I have a good feeling I have this position, and after one of the researchers that work there took me around with some friends on a tour of the local area and ending at the Crescent Moon Club I really think I have the job.*

*Well don’t get your hopes up just yet, but if you do get it my grandfather reminded me yesterday when we chatted on the phone that the family does have a house in the Minato ward, and it is actually on the edge of the Azabu-Juban district there. He even said that if you get the job you can use the house as long as you pay the bills and upkeep while there.*

*I was going to ask you that but thanks to a few too many drinks I had all but forgotten about that. Aiko-san will be happy when I tell her tomorrow. She’s the one taking me around with some friends to see different places around here, and not all the normal tourist sites either, several local sites not in the tour guides.*

*Who is this Aiko exactly? Is she you new girlfriend or something?*

*Well I would like it if we did start going out, she is nice, smart, and attractive. Though she does work for White Star and we may end up in the same department so not sure if it is a good idea right now, mom.*

*Well let me know if things do develop between you and her, you know I want grandkids to spoil but I can wait a few years so you can get use to your job and get settled with a nice girl. :p*

*Sleep well son, and be safe. Oyasuminasai aisoku.*

*Oyasuminasai okaasan.*

Billy smiled slightly as he loged out and put the computer away. He placed all his things next to the bed; he just had always had a habit of living out of his pack whenever he was off on a trip anywhere. I blame mom and dad for making it a habit to always keep my things packed and near me, because of all the summer and winter training trips they took me on over the years. Still when living in a tent for a month or so it is always nice to keep your things packed with very little space to use. Yawning and packing away the laptop for the night Billy started to finally get ready for bed.

While he was chatting with his mother and checking his e-mails, back at White Star a system in the lower floors of the basement switched over from standby mode to power up. As it did this several things happened. First; in the Main and Secondary Control Centers an alert sounded and several systems activated indicating that the primary and secondary power systems were now in power up and charge modes, actively pulling power from both the generators in the facility and from the local power grid as well. Second; a message was sent to all of the department heads alerting them that the system had been activated via a timed program. And finally a system in a sealed section of the building’s sub-basement goes active and display screens came on that no-one was there to see.

This system, if the lights in the room were on and one could see it, did not look anything like the systems above. For one it has no keyboards that could be seen, nor any other type of input device. The lines of the system were mostly curves and some angles, not the boxy shape that many systems and other devices have for the most part. Also the bulk of the system seemed to take up a room roughly 60 meters by 35 meters and is about 15 meters tall at the tallest points. Finally there was but one station here and it was centered on the one side facing a sealed and rather large door that looked more like a vault’s door or a door to a fallout shelter of some kind.

The screens that had came on were showing information in a strange language but the main graphs seemed to represent the current power levels and charge rates. The lone chair here was facing the screens and a blank yet angled flat space about two meters wide by one meter deep.

In the Control Centers above the data charts showed that full charge would be reached in about 185 minutes. There was also a flashing indicator on the screen that changes were locked out via command key over ride. The staff still on sight in the main control center, which also controlled all major projects at this site, looked at the screen and the manager on duty entered a code to shut the system off. But to her and everyone’s surprise the system returned a password error and kept going. About this time some members of the staff started getting a little frantic and called in the more senior staff members.

The security report about what Dr. Katashi had been doing in the S.A.C. room before arrived on Dr. Sato’s desk about an hour before the alert went off about the power systems coming on line and charging up. Dr. Sato had already left for the night about an hour before the report finally made it to his office.

All this was starting to happen as Billy finished closing up his laptop and putting everything next to his bed and finally crawled into it for several hours sleep before meeting Suki and crew again in the morning for another day of sightseeing and making friends. Unless they met more around noon due to hangovers…

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About thirty minutes later at White Star Inc. most of the senior managers and upper management staff were on site, the only ones not there were either sick, out of the area or getting ready to leave on a vacation. Dr. Kenshin Takado was calling in everyone that could be reached, even canceling vacations that had not yet actually started. He wanted everyone that can help on site yesterday.

“Dr. Sato, has Dr. Katashi responded to the calls about his vacation being canceled due to the emergency here? We need him here now, not in three weeks.” Dr. Takado asked the head of the Temporal Research Department even as he again tried to enter his personal master override key to shut down the system. And once again got an error about improper command input.

“Either we have been hacked, which I doubt as these system that are active are not connected to any systems that can be reached from outside, or someone here has gone and broken all the regulations and procedures set in place for the public safety.” With that he turned and looked at one of the two highest ranking members of the company waiting on his answer.

Sighing, Dr. Sato responded while holding a thin report folder in his hand, “No, Dr. Katashi has not answered or responded to any calls or messages to his home, cell phone, or even his PDA. Also I think that he is the one responsible for this emergency sir.” He handed the short report over to the company’s head director, the one man that reported to the board and to the backers committee.

“This report is from security, it was delivered to my office shortly after I left earlier tonight and it is about what Dr. Katashi was doing in the S.A.C. earlier today. First off he accosted my direct aid and told him that what he was doing was no-one’s business but his. Second, he entered what security believes was a program into the main terminal in the S.A.C. He then proceeded to say several things that the camera mics picked up, there is a transcript in the report and I have the recording in my office as well. I just haven’t had time to review it personally yet.” He finished he report and gave his boss time to review the report and the attached transcript.

Dr. Takado, scaned the report and turned to the intercom and entered security’s prefix before speaking into it, “This is Dr. Takado Kenshino, and I am ordering a level one arrest of one Dr. Katashi Ako. He is wanted in relation to the emergency currently in progress and we need him to be brought in for both questioning and so we can hand him over to master security when this event is over.” Once he finished and released the call button he turned back to Dr. Sato with a look that would most likely melt steel in his eyes.

“The good Doctor has set this in motion to get his data against the company’s policies and procedures. As well as against all laws and regulations of this country and our backers. As of this moment he no longer works for White Star and is to be arrested on sight, all his access rights and accounts are to be sealed under a level twelve seal and all his accounts here are to be gone over for any information we can use to stop this event from completing. We have until 3:05am before the system is at max power at the current rate, I want all power shunts activated to try and bleed off the power build up also to buy us more time. I believe we have until around nine or ten AM before the system goes into final activation mode, let’s get this done folks now we do not have time to play anymore!” He looked around at the rest of the staff, many of which have dumbfounded looks on the faces even as they move to comply with the new orders.

Sitting down in the chair behind him Dr. Takado quietly informed Dr. Sato, “You know as well as I do that once the system is at full charge and the power systems are at full capacity the system will automatically go into final activation. Meaning we only have approximately two and a half hours to get thing under control.” He sighed heavily and covered his eyes with a hand before giving his next order directly to Dr. Sato, “Use whatever means you have to, but find the over ride key he used and do so quickly. We do not have time to play nice now thanks to Dr. Katashi-dono.”

Mean while Billy had finally fallen into a deep sleep and seemed to be having a decent dream as he is calm and smiling. While he slept an odd bluish green light appeared silently on the night stand next to the bed, it hovered there for a moment before disappearing just as silently. The room stayed quite dark other than the little light that was in the room for a few short moments. Billy slept on unaware that anything just happened.

Back at White Star, the security branch had finally tracked down Dr. Katashi’s current location and it was not at his home. He was on a bus heading south; the bus was bound for the city of Fukuoka. Security had already alerted the Japanese National Police that there was someone on that bus wanted for questioning about an incident in progress and had given the code indicating that their arrest was high priority also involving the United Nations.

When security reported to Dr. Takado about all this, well he was anything but happy as it would take several hours just to get the doctor back on sight now, time they did not have. They now had about two more hours unless the power shutting started to slow down the charge and power up cycles. Just having the main generators in a full power up cycle is worrisome as they have never been powered to above 50% before and it is unknown if they can actually handle a full charge, and if even one of them can’t they will be writing off up to half of the city of Tokyo by early this morning. That includes this site as we will be ground zero for the blast. Dr. Takado placed a call to Dr. Sato and his team working on Takashis-dono’s office and lab systems, I hope they have good news we need it now.

“Dr. Sato, Please tell me you have something we can use… Security has located their target but it will take a few hours to even get him back here, and at the current build up rate we have about twenty minutes till the power systems hit 50%.” He sat back and waited for a response and hoped it was want they needed now.

A couple minutes later the intercom in Dr. Takado’s office came to life, “Sorry for the delay sir, but Takashi-dono changed the encryption on all three of his systems, the one in his office has been cracked but has nothing on it about the incident, but lots of notes and images taken of about 60% of the female staff from all over the building including the bathrooms and changing rooms. The one in his lab had only the normal project information on it and used the same encryption as the one in his office. But we found a hidden one in the lab, and the encryption on it is different, the techs have no idea how long it is going to take to crack. Also it was connected to the Temporal Systems in some sort of passive mode. We think it was recording everything that was happening to the Temporal System right now, but till we crack the encryption we have no idea.” With that the intercom went dead and Dr. Takado slumped in his chair.

The intercom activated again. It is his assistant, he would not call her a secretary as she did way too much for that, informing him that the police liaison had arrived and was on his way up. She also informed him that the JSDF and UN liaisons should be arriving in the next few minutes as well. He thanked her and told her to have them brought to where ever he was at the time. Turning off the desk intercom and activating his portable one, Dr. Takado headed back to the Main Access Center to see what was going on with the shunting process.

The activity in the M.A.C. was rather frantic, but still controlled. Looking at the displays Dr. Takado could tell that the shunting process had so far bought them about 35 minutes, but it also showed that the power build up was happening much faster than the current shunts could bleed off safely. Any more power running through the shunts would endanger the civilians in the surrounding area.

“Dr. Yoshiero, is there any way to decrease the draw from the power grid? That would slow the process down more as then the system would have to use the generators for both. We need as much time as we can get right now.”

Dr. Yosheiro Ayaka, a woman in her 50’s though she looked much younger, looked at the read outs and noded, “I am already working with the local power company about decreasing the power supplied to us just for that reason. Also as the building will be drawing power from the systems to maintain current operational levels we estimate a delay of about 40 to 45 minutes. Maybe more.” Never once did she take her eyes off the displays or the terminals she was working on as she spoke. Being the head of R&D she was doing what she could to develop process to shunt power off safely on the fly and at the levels they were looking at many of the ideas could not be put into action as they would take too long to just get set up.

Shortly thereafter all three liaison officers were ushered into the Control Center to talk to Dr. Takado. He took them into an adjoining meeting room and briefed them on the situation including who was responsible and where they were currently, the police liaison just nods and makes a call before smiling and indication that the culprit will be in custody in less than 10 minutes. And they will be flown back here via helicopter. The other liaisons offered what help they could at the time.

Dr. Sato came into the Control Center quickly a few minutes later, “Sir, we have a partial crack on the last system in the Temporal labs, it was recording everything happening but there is a huge amount of notes and data that do not come from normal experiments as far as we can tell. But until a full crack is done of the encryption we do not know if any command codes are there.” He then sighed and seemed to wilt into a nearby chair. Muttering about how they could have missed Katashi doing all this over the last several months since the temporal projects were stopped and locked down.

But before anyone could say anything else a systems tech that had been working in the S.A.C. entered and gave a report. The report boiled down to the fact that they found three backdoors installed in the S.A.C. system all of which had tags indicating the same person installed them. Two of them have date flags that suggested they had been in the systems since they were first installed in the S.A.C. two years ago. Also all three backdoors had been removed with no damage to the systems. The tech left once Dr. Takado indicated he could.

“Well there is how he did all this while getting around the security we had in place at the time. And how he kept doing it even once the project was frozen for the security upgrades. This means that all projects are frozen till all security upgrades are finished now.” He took a breath and continued, “Of course that means we have to deal with this crisis first and hope the systems do not catastrophically overload in the process. What is the U.N. going to require of us now Mr. Sha Knore?”

Ali Sha Knore looked at his notes, changing pages on his PDA twice before answering. “Well as you do seem to be doing everything in your power to avert this incident, and are working to capture the one that instigated it. The U.N. will for now watch what happens and decide what action to take once the event is over, if anything. Of course we are going to want access to Dr. Ako Katashi once he is captured, as we have questions for him and his actions have breached several safety protocols and regulations put in place by the U.N. for public safety so most likely he will also be tried by the courts of the U.N. for crimes against the people at the very least.”

All nod, before Ryou-san speaks, “As the liaison for the Japanese National Police Force I need to point out that Katashi Ako-dono is now wanted in Japan for crimes ranging from endangering the public to terrorism as the incident he started here has the potential to literally explode and take a rather large chunk of Tokyo with it. This is also why the police and several civilian groups here have repeatedly called for the systems in question to be moved to another more remote location.”

Dr. Takado responded, “Yes, I know and we have been working on a plan and method to do just that, it is one of the reasons that the system currently involved in this crisis where in a state of lock down till higher security was installed. Also I have a team working out just what would be needed to move the Temporal project systems to one of our more remote locations. The final report on that project is due early next month. Katashi Ako-dono has for a time now been chaffing at the restrictions in place for the public safety, we thought he did not have access to the systems in question but as you just heard there were backdoors install into the systems in the Secondary Access Center. As he was one of the ones that helped program the systems there, it would have been easy to install the backdoors at the same time.” After saying this Dr. Takado took a breath, “Katashi Ako will be handed over to the authorities to be tried for his actions including several more that have come to light, the evidence and all related information will be given to the police and the U.N. so that proper charges can be filed. White Star Inc. will be filing every charge that we can legally in this case. Now Gentlemen I need to go and check on progress of the various actions to prevent a disaster we have going currently.”

As he left, he indicated that should he be needed here that his assistant would be able to contact him directly. He then headed off the see how Dr. Sato and his team were doing on cracking that last system, if it had the override code then they can stop this, if not then they all may have to ride it out to the end. Whatever ending that may be.

About twenty minutes later an alert was sounded to indicate that the power systems have both reached their half charge marks. And still the charge level indicators climb. Within an hour at 3am the system went into final activation, but as the charge systems were not yet at 100% the system continued to charge, but now at a slightly faster rate as the shunts were suddenly being bypassed by the Temporal Systems themselves. The event caused everyone in the control centers to almost panic and Doctors Sato and Takado to looked at each other before Dr. Takado headed off to his office to make some calls to prepare for whatever was about to happen. Dr. Sato and his team were all but pulling out their hair trying to figure out the encryption on the final system…

Everyone was at their stations or tasks and still working to try and shunt power or figure out a way to shut down the system safely, all of the liaison officers had been making calls to get their respective groups ready for any emergency that may come about due to this crisis. About this time the police bring in Katashi Ako to the meeting room where the liaison officers are but all he said was that the process had to complete or the stored power would resonate with the power being generated and cause a full scale catastrophic resonance backlash that would set in motion the final release of all of the built up energy in an uncontrolled mass of super hot plasma. Or as Dr. Takado’s assistant said ‘an explosion big enough to remove over half of Tokyo from the map and leave a crater about a mile deep centered on this building.’

At this time in a hotel room where someone was sleeping with their bags next to the bed on the ground about a meter and a half beyond the foot of the bed a bead of light appears and slowly started to encircle the bed making a perfect circle around it. The circle followed the floor, left hand table, the small sofa on the right of the bed and wall at the head of the bed. The entire bed is encircled in a matter of about two minutes, including the bags next to the right side of the bed.

As soon as the circle completed a bluish-white dome started to fade into place over and around the bed connecting to the circle. As the dome faded into place the person in the bed started to sleep more and more fitfully and something seemed to be bothering him. In his dreams Billy is slowly being drawn toward an odd looking structure, a huge arched double door someplace, he cannot tell as the area around it is shrouded in a thick fog like mist. In his dream he is trying to get back to where he was, with his new friends but he is drawn closer and closer to the structure. As he got within five meters the doors started to open to an odd sight, whatever it was inside the doors was rippling and filled with shifting colors and bits of images… Nothing makes sense here, there was no floor that he could see and no walls or ceiling or anything that would indicate where he was. There was just a void of black and that thick fog like mist and the huge double doors that he was being drawn toward, and now into as they have opened before him.

Whatever the substance behind the doors was it had changed, now it looked like a dark room. A huge dark room beyond that he cannot see anything and he tried to resist the pull of the structure fighting with all his strength but all that did was slow him down some. Just before being pulled into the archway a gentle female voice intoned, “Be not afraid, I am trying to save your life. Please understand I am only doing what I can to help you.”

The voice seemed to be coming from everywhere, but he can see no one in sight as he looked around quickly. Then he was pulled into the archway and into the new room, but as he crossed the threshold everything went black and his nerves feel like they had received a rather nasty jolt of electricity.

Inside the hotel room the dome is still there and the fire alarm had started to go off as arcs of power start to form between the dome and the walls, floor and ceiling. The person in the bed could still be seen, though the dome all but obscured their body. What can be seen as the dome swirled with power was a person that seemed to have some electrical arcs crawling over parts of their body. Even now Billy was unconscious and seemingly unable to awaken, even now.

Back at Dr. Takado’s office at White Star, a digital picture frame that holds several pictures of his family and grandchildren suddenly changed. The outer frame suddenly flashed red, blue, green, orange, dark green and then a rainbow pattern before a short 3 line message replaced the last picture of his wife. What the message is no one but Doctor Takado Kenshin knows as after no more than one minute the message vanished and the pictures returned. The picture frame also returned to its normal silver trim as the rainbow faded out.

Dr. Takado seemed rather shaken at whatever the message was as he got up and informed his assistant that he had to go and check something in the Master Control Zone, and he was not to be disturbed for anything short of the power systems going critical. He left his office heading toward the elevator bank, and going to one that had yellow caution stripes on the doors before entering a code after swiping a card. Once the doors open he stepped in and stated in a calm clear voice “Master Control, Code Millennium-Omega-three-nine-four-Sato” as the doors closed.

Back in his office area his assistance is left dumbfounded, the last time he went to the Master Control Zone was just over six months ago just before they froze the Temporal Research projects for the new security measures. She was worried that something very bad was about to happen.

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[Slie Amos]

Here is the rest of chapter one. Now I need to go over chapter 2 checking the tense in it and post it later for some C&C, as well as get more of chapter 3 done and start posting it for C&C as well.

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Meanwhile back inside the bluish-white dome in a hotel room, the arcs of an unknown power started to form inside the dome. The arcs resembled static electricity arcs, but they were golden in color, though their touch seems to be painful as the figure in the bed started whimpering as soon as the arcs started. As soon as one of them touched the body the person screamed out in pain but remained unconscious throughout the event. The golden arcs were touching everything inside the dome; the bed, the person, the bags, the table, everything there.

Outside the dome the room was silent; there was no sound besides the fire alarm going off in the hotel. The scream coming from the person in the bed was unheard on the outside of the dome though anyone looking carefully enough at the dome could see them and that they were screaming. The entire room was filled with static arcs and the building power can be felt clearly inside the room. The rooms on either side were starting to show signs of the power build up as well, luckily they were empty this night. The night staff could be seen exiting the stairs and making sure the other quest were making for the stairs while they checked for the fire, each of the five staff members had a fire extinguisher.

Back at the research center Dr. Sato was in the Control Center with almost the entire staff of the research department as they tried to head off what looked like a disaster in the making. All overrides that had been entered had been denied or were not responding correctly, the indicators show that the power had reached the point where the system flashes ‘Power Levels: Green’ and a five minute timer was brought up indicating the time remaining till final stages of preparation had been reached.

“Where is the Director? Has anyone seen Dr. Takado? He needs to be informed that time is running out on us here!” Dr. Sato almost shouted to the others in the Control Center but mainly toward Dr. Takado’s assistant.

“He left for the Master Control Zone less than three minutes ago, I am sure he knows about events sir.” The assistant responded, before going back to gathering data for whatever report her boss was going to have to write about this event now.

As the events played out in the Control Center Dr. Takado had exited the elevator and passed through three more high security doors and was now standing in front of rather solid looking door that was three meters across and about two meters high with heavy bars across it in both vertical and horizontal positions. The door looked like something that would be seen in Fort Knox. He stopped at a yellow marking on the floor about seven feet from the door. At this point a panel activated on the door and a gentle female voice intoned…

“Security access please.”

Dr. Takado responded carefully, “Takado-Apollo-thirteen-twelve-Luna-Assist-One.”

“Access granted, welcome to the Master Control Zone Dr. Takado.” Was the gentle feminine response as the door started to open. The heavy bars could be seen retracting from their slots, and once they were retracted more could be heard moving though the sounds were muffled. The door split down the center and both sides swung open showing more bars in both doors that extend in the opposite door when closed. As soon as he could fit between the thick doors (they were about a meter thick) Dr. Sato headed into the room and the doors stopped opening and started closing.

He walked to the only lit screens in the entire room, there were no other lights in the room. Footsteps echoed slightly as he drew near the terminal and touched the flat surface under the largest screen. A keyboard lit up but this key board was not in English or Japanese, still Dr. Takado seemed to know the language as he typed in a series of what seemed to be commands, but got an obvious error return as a large red hexagonal indicator flashes on the screen and his commands were erased. He then typed in one more thing and read the response that came up and upon reading it he seemed to slump and mutter something that would sound like a few curses if anyone was there to hear it.

A moment later a new message box opened with a new message and Dr. Takado seemed shocked by whatever it said. Reaching up he tapped the screen and a section of the system next to the terminal screens popped out. When it was removed from its housing it was about the size of a modern briefcase with a handle on one side and what looked like a data pad and a circular cover on one of the large flat surfaces. Turning from the screens he sighed as he walked toward the door, and once he got near it the doors opened then shut behind him, all the various locking bars returning to their locked positions as Dr. Takado headed back to the elevator he took to get here.

Back at the hotel the dome was now humming rather loudly as the hotel staff had the door open and was trying to get to the room’s occupant but making no progress. The level of static in the room made entering dangerous and the few that had tried to get to the bed were sitting in the hall with electrical burns on their arms, face, and body. All were in obvious pain but one had more severe burns as they tried forcing their way past the dome itself. The two that stayed at the door were attempting to get the other three out of the hall and to safety realizing getting to the person on the bed is not something they can do as they are, maybe the fire department would have better luck.

All of a sudden the dome and static field in the room collapsed in on itself and vanished. All that was left to indicate where it was, was a circle on the floor down to the concrete used to form the floors and on the wall studs and wiring there in, nothing that was inside the dome can be seen it was just gone, there was no ash or debris of any kind. Outside of the circle was burned and scorched but inside was clean with no signs of what just happened.

The staff able to look inside the room could only stare in disbelief for several moments. Before one of them made for the nearest staff phone to ensure that the police were also on their way, not knowing anything else that they could do.

________________________________________

Meanwhile back at the research center, while the events at the hotel were playing out, an alarm in the Control Center sounded and a message is displayed on the screen, “Power Levels at Max and Stable, Final Stage Discharge Commencing in 30 seconds” under this message was a timer counting down from 30. At this point everyone in the Control Center could only sit and stare as the system finished whatever started almost five hours ago.

At the ten second mark another alarm and a computerized voice indicated that ‘final stage is completing with discharge in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Discharge.’ The staff in the room looked around and nothing seemed to have happened, that was until data started to flow across the main screen and several other terminals indicating that discharge was successful and the target had been transferred to a preset destination.

Dr. Sato looks shocked, “What in the hell does it mean ‘target has been transferred’? Someone get down to the generation room and the power storage chamber and check them for signs of damage NOW! I want answers about what just happened and I want then last year!” He was reading his own terminal at the same time he was calling for action. “I want someone to check out the test chamber, to see if anything was in there and if there are any recordings of what happen…ed… Kami-sama, please no…” He paled at something that he just read on his screen.

Aiko Suki, a researcher in the temporal program stopped what she was doing and turned to him asking, “What happened, Sir?” She’s nursing a major headache and hangover due to the drinks earlier but the sick feeling that was developing in the pit of her stomach had nothing to do with that, just the way Dr. Sato said that last part and the look on his face was enough to know it was not going to be good, whatever it was.

“As of this moment this building is in Lock Down! No one in or out till we get these events recorded and hopefully reversed. Someone get me Dr. Takado, this is a Class Omega Event and we need him here now?” Was all that Dr. Sato said before he turned to Dr. Aiko.

“I need you to remain with me till I say otherwise Suki, I know what happened with you and your friends after work today.” The tone of his voice was enough to set her on edge, that and he had never called her by her given name at work before. She just nodded, not trusting herself to actually speak right now.

At this time Dr. Takado could be heard over the company’s address system, “Will all department heads, main temporal researchers, and the U.N., JSDF, and police representatives report to meeting room 1 as soon as possible. We will be discussing the recent events in detail in twenty minutes. All employ’s please note that this facility is in full Lock Down until further notice.”

Dr. Sato spoke softly after that, “This is bad, very bad.” Then in a louder voice to everyone in the Control Center, “Alright everyone, get your prelim data and prep an emergency report you have fifteen minutes to get it ready for the meeting.” He turned and looked at the U.N., JSDF, and Police representatives and just nodded to them before saying to Dr. Aiko, “Please escort these gentlemen to meeting room 1 Dr. Aiko when you have your prelim report ready.”

“Yes, sir. It should only take about ten minutes to get ready sir, then I will make sure they get there.” Suki replies as she turned to get the prelim data for the report on the power and power transfer systems not sure what really just happened and also not sure she wanted to know what just happened as there had never before been a full lock down ever before. No one could leave not even the lowest member of the mailroom or janitors, no one no matter what their level here, nor could anyone contact anyone outside the building all network and WiFi signals were stopped or blocked along with cell phone signals now.

In fifteen minutes almost all of the department heads and main temporal researchers as well as the three reps were waiting on Dr. Takado to enter the meeting room. One good thing that was noted was that security had informed those present that the national Japanese police have brought Dr. Katashi back and he was currently in a locked room located on Basement-2 until he could be ‘interviewed’ about what happened tonight. Everyone in the room looked tired and worn out, after five plus hours of an emergency state on top of being called in around midnight, no one was feeling energetic.

Dr. Takado opened the door and looked in, “Good everyone is here so we can start now. First off everyone in this room either has security clearance or is directly involved in the events tonight. Second off, security has already handed me a report on what Dr. Katashi did yesterday in the Secondary Access Center, he basically entered in a program to activate the Temporal System in full transfer mode, not in the Piercing mode that was to be the primary test mode once everything was in place and secured. He also entered an encrypted override that will take another four hours to crack and security has already been working on that sense about 8pm yesterday.” At this announcement many of the people present started to shout and get upset. Dr. Takado just called for quiet as he took his seat at the head of the table.

“Please everyone, let me finish so we can go over what happened tonight.” He waited for the rest to quiet down before continuing, “I know many of you want to know how he got away with this, what he did was use a backdoor that he snuck into the Temporal Control system and the fact that the S.A.C. did not have the new security doors installed yet. They are due to be installed on Monday of next week. He was caught on the security cameras that were installed last week in the S.A.C. so we know what he did and when. Now I know that the U.N. and JSDF reps more than likely have something they want to say so let’s hear them out now before we do anything else. Gentlemen, please…”

The U.N. representative stood and looked around, “Well my first comment is that the United Nations will most likely be suspending any funding for this project at least until it can be shown that another event like this cannot happen again, even partly like this one. Also, why has the security not been updated before now? That is something that should have been done a long time ago. For now that statement and question is all I have, there may be more once I can contact my office.” He returned to his seat.

Dr. Takado then indicated that the JSDF reps should speak as well.

General Moresoto nodded and just started talking from his seat, “Like the United Nations the Japanese Self Defense Force will be looking at suspending any funding and retracting any support for this project unless it can be proven without any doubt that security is increase to a point that such events will not happen in the future. Even then there will most likely be stricter requirements to be met if you want us to remain working with you on this project. Aside from that I cannot say anything else at this time till I am able to contact the JSDF project overview board later.”

Dr. Takado nodded to him then started answering the comments and question presented, “Ok, first off as to the security upgrades, we had well established procedures that all of our backers accepted in place, but once a given doctor started to test programs and equation strings on the main and secondary system without getting permission first,…” He was interrupted here as several members of the temporal research group mutter Dr. Katashi’s name, some with undisguised anger. “Yes, he is the one I am talking about. Now back on track, all aspects of the temporal research projects, yes all of them, where frozen a little over six months ago to install updated security and monitoring equipment. Somehow the good doctor had made a backdoor in the S.A.C. around this time that allowed him to still access the systems there, but until yesterday he never did so we did not realize it was there. Our I.T. department has already located it and removed it, as well as any account that cannot be directly linked to a current and active employee at any level in the company. They are also going over his lab looking to see if he has a hidden server for his own use as the server that was listed in program is not one of the servers that exist anywhere in this company.” He stopped here to look at some papers before looking up and finishing.

“As of Monday the company will be closed and only security, department heads and a very small number of each department, plus the group installing the last of the security upgrades will be allowed into this building until all of the upgrades are finished. The only department that will be running near full manpower will be the I.T. group as they finish removing any and all accounts that cannot be verified as current and installing the computer security protocols as well. The building will remain closed until all updates are in place and working properly.” He took a breath and a drink of water from one of the glasses on the table, “Will this satisfy you gentlemen? I know that after this event there will be issues that will have to be worked out with you and other backers and partners.”

Both reps think about what was just said and just nodded, the U.N. rep then speaking, “Yes, that should do. Though you are right there will be other things that will need to be done for the U.N. and I am sure most if not all of the other backers and partners.” The Defense Force rep agrees here with nothing more to add.

Dr. Takado just nodded and sighed, “Now on to the prelim reports, all I basically need to know right now is there any danger to the systems that went into full power mode tonight and do we need to worry about any secondary events at this time.”

Each department head or researcher in the meeting room basically stated ‘no’ about there being any current danger of a repeat event, and the power systems that had any power still in them were being carefully discharged into the public power grid as per normal. After everyone else had reported Dr. Sato cleared his throat before speaking.

“I cannot give an answer to that question at this time as I have not had time to go and check the main Temporal System for any damage, but I can say that something was transferred tonight and not from the testing chamber.” Everyone in the room went completely quiet waiting for what was most likely going to be very bad news. “The target that was listed on my system was located at an outside location and about thirty meters above the ground, if I may use the projector I can show the location on a map of the surroundings.”

Dr. Takado nodded his head and Dr. Sato brought up the projector then a map of the surroundings centered on the White Star building, a red dot came up on the location that was programmed into the system, the dot turned out to be over a hotel, the same hotel that the company normally used when someone had been brought over for business or another reason by the company, like an interview…

Dr. Aiko just looked at the map for a minute before losing it, “What did that bastard do? Does he really think that all the females here are his play things? Dr. Takado you have better pray that I never get my hands on him because I will kill him…” Those near her had moved away as her anger surged up and words start to fail her. As she tried to say something only a few words could be understood and they all indicate that she was ready to kill someone in very messy ways, that was before she passed out. One of the security personal who arrived due to her outburst, checked her and confirmed that she is ok but will need to be moved to the first aid center before removing her.

Sr. Barstone, the sub director of the temporal group watched as she was removed to the aid center before asking, “What was that about? What set her off like that, I have never seen her get that worked up about anything before.”

“Simple,” Came the reply from Dr. Sato, “Mr. Rhodes-Tenashi was staying at that hotel and as Dr. Aiko was being rather nice to him during and after the interviews one Dr. Katashi got mad at her for not fawning all over him or asking if she could ‘talk to the new hire’ and decided to take action to show everyone he was the one that everyone answered to. This information was on his PDA when he was returned here and I have reviewed it before this meeting. Everything that happened tonight was permeated to be a lesson to everyone, but especially Dr. Aiko Suki who was Katashi-dono’s favorite.”

Dr. Bloom responded, “Great and she and some friends spent about 5 hours showing Mr. Rhodes-Tenashi around the area and having fun. By watching her over the last week I personally think she was falling for him, or just wanting to get him in private somewhere, now this…” She covered her face with a hand before continuing, “Please tell me that this can be reversed, because if not I am not sure how she is going to take this.”

At this point the police liaison, Tashi Ryou, spoke up, “You do realize what this means I hope. Depending on whether or not the victim can be…uh… pulled back I guess is the best right now, Katashi-dono will be facing either murder charges or attempted murder charges in civil court at the very least, as well as resisting arrest and leaving the scene of a crime. Beyond this I have no idea what happened or what can be done I am just a police officer.”

“To answer Dr. Bloom’s question,” Dr. Takado started, “I will need to bring in a specialist that can explain exactly what has happened here tonight.” With this he reached down and picked up the briefcase he brought in with him. All the while everyone in the Temporal Research Department was asking about who this expert was and why they had not already been introduced and working with them, especially tonight. He just placed the briefcase on the table and did something on the data pad before just leaning back as the projector came back on and a light started forming on the top side of the briefcase as it laid flat on the table.

The overhead started to display words as all attention turned to the briefcase as a bluish-green semi-transparent figure started to rise from the glow. A figure of a youngish female with waist length hair and an odd looking outfit, almost like a leotard with a skirt and bows one her chest and lower back. Once she was at full height of about 30 centimeters she said in a pleasant voice, “Good morning Doctors, Gentlemen, and ladies, I am called Temptress.” Her right hand indicated the screen which now read the following:

Te.M.P.Tr.E.S.S: Temporal and Multi-dimensional, Potentiality, Trial, Experimental System Set

“I will try and answer your question, one thing I will say now is that I no longer have the ability to retrieve anything or anyone sent through my systems. That was damaged when I intervened to save the life of one Billy Rhodes-Tenashi. Right now I do not know if you will be able to repair my systems to allow me to recall him. So shall we begin discussing what happened and what can be done to reverse it? …”

Chapter 1 Fin

[Cheb]

A nice start, nice characters, the author needs training in the following area:
This tory is practically bloated with words. Many facts arte repeated needlessly (for the characters it's necessary to retell things, granted, but that hurts the reader). The old good "and then he told them the bloody details, for the third thime that day" to the rescue. Even beside that, this chapter could be compressed by a factor of 2, if not 3, without losing anything.
As it is, it is unacceptably slow for an introductory chapter.
The skill to write compactly comes with practice.

[WG_Writer]

I have scanned it but its not my cup of tea. bu only advise is a formating related one. lose the bold, italics, underline meanings.

Its ok in situations where you have virtually 100% control, but if you are using a site like (but not specifically) ff.net then you lose some control. and if they do something nasty like standardize formating, or if your readers archive to a txt file they will lose that.

I know it makes it easier to use such formating to mean something, but in the end it could hurt.

I only really say this because formating standard in both fanfiction and most normal fiction usually uses a single ' to note thought and " to note speech. It can be fairly jaring to not have that litarally tic.

[Slie Amos]

OK, sorry for my delay but as we all know life does come first most of the time anyway...

To Cheb, as I have stated I am new to this and writing stories in general so as I get more practice at this I am hoping to compress things a bit and get away from the repeating of things like you mentioned. I guess it will take time and more practice to get it right or at least balanced better.

To WG_Writer, I will accept that you do have a point in your advice and for my dialog set up that really only hits the internal (italics), emphasized items (bold), and what I call innuendo (underlined). Innuendo the way I use it is a bit more than adult based things talking about sex and such it includes sarcasm and such. It is also used when someone is trying to lead another to a given idea or meaning. I can rethink these and see what I can use, but the part with using single quotes ( ' ) for thoughts is one that I was already thinking about. It is just that italics can be used for the entire thought and not just at start and end.

Still it is something to consider and I will change to it more than likely. I was already considering it so...

I will be posting the first part of Chapter 2, Arrival a little later as I go through the final edit to adjust the store tense from what I used the first time.

Thanks all for just looking at this if nothing else, and thanks to the ones who have commented with suggestions and advice.

[DCG]

Well i've read it.. and you got yourself a great start to writing.. hell far better then mine. But i still have no clue what its about.

I suggest some summery work. You need a biger hook, or small ones in line.

And what i mean by hook is something to catch the reader, make them come over and check this out and stick around for a couple pages.

Laying hooks and traps comes with experince, authors like sunny and ozz can hook readers with there summery or opening prolog. Yet there usefull even for new writers, to get readers and C&C.

[WG_Writer]

Okay, while this is not my normal type of fic, I decided to sit down and read it start to finish (chapter one and two) and here is what I have noted:

First, the character Billy. We have seen little of him but the style of writing makes him come off as, well a Gary Sue. Its mostly because of his healing ability honestly, but also because of his apparent charisma. I can see a charming young engineer who is very sociable charming some young, probably overworked ladies easily, but in chapter two he is charming soldiers and Sailor Senshi, and even queen Serenity. So either he has some ability unexplained or other characters are a acting a little odd.

Second. This is a hard question to answer, but why should we care about Billy? We are introduced into an OC in what we learn is a Sailor Moon fic of some sort. Yet there is no sign of it being a Sailor Moon fic. We are not made to care about Billy. Yes he makes a nice character and a great potential protagonist. but as DCG said there is no hook.

Next is his name, and origin, if you have a plot reason for it, great, if not ask your self if you are using it as a way to bring yourself into the story. I am not asking if this is an SI, every good author will put a piece of themselves into their characters. The name is not one that people are expecting when comming into a fic such as this.

Next the Technical Jargon. Jargon has its place and the act to get Billy back in time or what ever needs a good explaination. However, too much detail can be as bad as too little. When I read Chapter One I felt overloaded by all the Original characters and the entire plot to get him back in time. While I feel you have done well in your world building you have made the same mistake I made with my first fic; you gave too much of your world at once and didn't give your readers time to take in the plot.

Next is plot threads and focus, Throughout the story there are several characters being focused on at once. I assume that many are going to be important, otherwise you would not have gotten as much screen time. Still many of the scenes not involving Billy were feeling more like exposition, explaining what is going on without being important in and of themselves.

Finally Billy's ability to woo any female. keep in mind that the Sailor Senshi back in the Moon Kingdom were suppose to be soldiers, plus you had an actual soldier getting very emotional around him, and this is despite a language barrier.

All this together left me disconnected with the plot.


Now the good:

Billy was a great character in chapter one, and the story left me wanting to see what happened to him next.

Your setting for the accident had an almost Eva level feel to it with all the government investigators, and an evil "Gendo" (Katashi) pulling as many strings as he can. If you plan for the story to return here I look forward to it as it seems that this company has much to offer from what I have seen in terms of plot possibilities.

Finally your handling of some of the characters does seem to fit initally in chapter two.

---

The Best advise I can offer seeing both chapter one and chapter two:

Billy needs more of a stranger in a strange land feel, and seem less open with his healing ability. Also needs to be less like a Ranma/Tenchi/name-your-Harem-main type character, This is firmly putting him in Gary Sue territory unless its a side-effect from something we have yet to see. Its something that needs to be used against him at some point for it to truely be a weakness.

rethink the name and your reasons for it, if you choose to keep it, great I hope it works out well, but keep in mind that everyone in the story has (generally speaking) a japanese name, and he doesn't (I do not count the last name(s) just the first).

Lastly, and this one is going to hurt, Magic or Technology, The gates aside everything we see from Sailor Moon in the Moon Kingdom seems to be mostly Magic which is supported by some tech (mostly to interact with modern) With the patrol being armed with reconizble carbines (btw I am not a millitary buff so I barely know what a carbine is) your first impression given from this time period is its Tech based, not magic based. His eyes are our eyes, show which is the underlying basis of this time period.

Next grow your relationships, A girl in the office makes for a little infatuation and is believeable, getting a soldier, a Sailor Senshi, and Queen Serenity within a day is a tad much. He may be an innocent but Queen serenity has little reason to do much more then see the visitor for herself out of personal interest. This is not a job she needs to dealwith personally beyond giving orders.

To fix his Gary Sue-ness lets see more from his perspective, and more over the shoulder, your writing is very much a ghost in the room style. That works sometimes, but you need much more detail in such areas and you risk derailing the plot.

well I have gone farther then I intended (took an hour and a half to write this monster of a critique... sorry if its heavy handed just chop it up to being tired.

[Slie Amos]

First off to DCG, I hear you and I am working on that but that is something that I still have problems in that area but I am trying and will see what I can come up with. I have made a couple corrections so far, but you have mentioned something that I should and really need to look at updating.

Now to WG_Writer and his 'monster of a critique,' First off this is what I am looking for. Info that is there to help me get better and make this better.

Okay, while this is not my normal type of fic, I decided to sit down and read it start to finish (chapter one and two) and here is what I have noted:

First, the character Billy. We have seen little of him but the style of writing makes him come off as, well a Gary Sue. Its mostly because of his healing ability honestly, but also because of his apparent charisma. I can see a charming young engineer who is very sociable charming some young, probably overworked ladies easily, but in chapter two he is charming soldiers and Sailor Senshi, and even queen Serenity. So either he has some ability unexplained or other characters are a acting a little odd.

Good point here and it was something I did not intend to happen and will be changing it in the next chapter. I was mainly going with the fact that the Queen and her Senshi and such are concerned about what has happened while Sgt. Ryo may be 'warmer' to him but it is planed to be just a friendship and nothing more. The queen will not be having very much face to face with Billy, all contact will be handled through others (usually the Senshi).

Second. This is a hard question to answer, but why should we care about Billy? We are introduced into an OC in what we learn is a Sailor Moon fic of some sort. Yet there is no sign of it being a Sailor Moon fic. We are not made to care about Billy. Yes he makes a nice character and a great potential protagonist. but as DCG said there is no hook.

Next is his name, and origin, if you have a plot reason for it, great, if not ask your self if you are using it as a way to bring yourself into the story. I am not asking if this is an SI, every good author will put a piece of themselves into their characters. The name is not one that people are expecting when comming into a fic such as this.

Billy's background will start coming out in the next few chapters, and I am looking for a hook or such to add into the the description blurb and maybe add something into the first chapter or maybe at the start of ch 3 which I am still working on currently. As for his name I am open to suggestions for one, though I am thinking of having Billy as a nick name, but I am willing to change it outright. And just to say it, not this is not a SI as the main character is nothing like me in any way, aside for the fact that I do have a college degree though it is no where near what is used in the story.

Next the Technical Jargon. Jargon has its place and the act to get Billy back in time or what ever needs a good explaination. However, too much detail can be as bad as too little. When I read Chapter One I felt overloaded by all the Original characters and the entire plot to get him back in time. While I feel you have done well in your world building you have made the same mistake I made with my first fic; you gave too much of your world at once and didn't give your readers time to take in the plot.

I will admit that I did go a little too far with some of the new characters that could have been skimmed over and not made into a full supporting character. And now that I have been able to go back over the story I have done so far (to make sure I stayed in line with things on ch 3) I agree I did add to much to fast. Something that only practice and experience will help to correct, though having an actual beta read may help but you work with what you have.

Next is plot threads and focus, Throughout the story there are several characters being focused on at once. I assume that many are going to be important, otherwise you would not have gotten as much screen time. Still many of the scenes not involving Billy were feeling more like exposition, explaining what is going on without being important in and of themselves.

Yes, I do have a plan for most of them. Though I will not say just what yet for the ones for White Star, in chapter 2 you got a hint on one of the main characters... More info will be coming at the end of ch 3.

Finally Billy's ability to woo any female. keep in mind that the Sailor Senshi back in the Moon Kingdom were suppose to be soldiers, plus you had an actual soldier getting very emotional around him, and this is despite a language barrier.

All this together left me disconnected with the plot.

Ok this is not something I planed on and am thankful for this being pointed out. While I do have a pairing in mind nothing is set yet or will be happening for several chapters at least. I think I may have been a little too ambitious with the last chapter, suggestions here would be welcome.

Now the good:

Billy was a great character in chapter one, and the story left me wanting to see what happened to him next.

Your setting for the accident had an almost Eva level feel to it with all the government investigators, and an evil "Gendo" (Katashi) pulling as many strings as he can. If you plan for the story to return here I look forward to it as it seems that this company has much to offer from what I have seen in terms of plot possibilities.

Finally your handling of some of the characters does seem to fit initally in chapter two.

Thanks here, the feel was not intended but I agree on it and yes we will be revisiting this group for a few things in the future.

---

The Best advise I can offer seeing both chapter one and chapter two:

Billy needs more of a stranger in a strange land feel, and seem less open with his healing ability. Also needs to be less like a Ranma/Tenchi/name-your-Harem-main type character, This is firmly putting him in Gary Sue territory unless its a side-effect from something we have yet to see. Its something that needs to be used against him at some point for it to truely be a weakness.

OK, this is more of a side effect. I will say this now, he does not have a projectile attack and there is a limit to what he can heal and he has a better ability healing himself. The first draw back will be noticed in the start of chapter 3. Also I can see now that I opened up with this to fast and will work around that now as best I can.

rethink the name and your reasons for it, if you choose to keep it, great I hope it works out well, but keep in mind that everyone in the story has (generally speaking) a japanese name, and he doesn't (I do not count the last name(s) just the first).

On his name, I need to point out that his father is not Japanese, but American. His mother is Japanese. There will be the first bit of his family history/info will be given through out chapter 3. Though I am open to a better name or something that can be used as his real given name with Billy as a nickname that he uses most of the time.

Lastly, and this one is going to hurt, Magic or Technology, The gates aside everything we see from Sailor Moon in the Moon Kingdom seems to be mostly Magic which is supported by some tech (mostly to interact with modern) With the patrol being armed with reconizble carbines (btw I am not a millitary buff so I barely know what a carbine is) your first impression given from this time period is its Tech based, not magic based. His eyes are our eyes, show which is the underlying basis of this time period.

I have not really gotten into this yet, but you do have a great point here and one that I need to pay a lot more attention to here on out. Also I forget the name of the rule/law "Any sufficiently advance technology can be mistake as magic" and the inverse of "Any sufficiently advance magic can be mistaken for technology" is at play here till he learns the truth of things here.

Next grow your relationships, A girl in the office makes for a little infatuation and is believeable, getting a soldier, a Sailor Senshi, and Queen Serenity within a day is a tad much. He may be an innocent but Queen serenity has little reason to do much more then see the visitor for herself out of personal interest. This is not a job she needs to dealwith personally beyond giving orders.

And this is what is going to happen, the offering of 'Friendship' was more a way to get the 'traveler' to be more willing to open up with things that he knows like languages and other skills they may not have or at least a new way to things they may already know.

To fix his Gary Sue-ness lets see more from his perspective, and more over the shoulder, your writing is very much a ghost in the room style. That works sometimes, but you need much more detail in such areas and you risk derailing the plot.

well I have gone farther then I intended (took an hour and a half to write this monster of a critique... sorry if its heavy handed just chop it up to being tired.

Form here on out I plan having the main perspective being from Billy with a few main scenes focusing on others if I feel the need. I will be revisiting White Star and one or two others I need to tie up or at least move forward for now.

When I get info like this I can work on making my work better, and learn more about writing as well. Thanks for the critique.

One thing also, as to the weapon I mentioned it is more for a general visual and nothing more. As to a carbine, they are a shorter version of a rifle for use in enclosed areas like inside a building or ship. The XM-8 I mentioned is a a weapons system that is designed to me switched around for different roles. I guess I can design or make up something to replace it.