NIGHTMANAGER
NOT KANSAS…
Night stepped out onto open air and dropped more than ten feet into the open dumpster.
“AHH! Son of a…” He looked up to see the last faint blue/white light of the temporal fold closing and winking out of sight. “What the hell?”
He pulled himself up, careful not to twist an ankle on the random contents of the trash container. Looking up he saw that the dumpster was sitting in the back end of an alley. A filthy, trash strewn alley, the red brick walls were covered in graffiti.
This is not where he was supposed to be.
“This aint where I’m supposed to be…”
With a grunt, Night, pulled himself up and out of the dumpster. He looked up and saw the night sky peering down at him in-between the outcroppings of the buildings framing the alley. He checked his own watch; it read “4:15pm”
“…or WHEN I’m supposed to be here.”
He HAD noticed that the temporal portal had seemed to be a bit of a “rougher” ride on the way back. Maybe he had done something wrong, missed following a step in the process…
“HeY bUdDy?” Night looked down to see a disheveled homeless man sitting and leaning against the dumpster looking up at him.
“dID yOu JuSt SeE a rEaL BRiGht LigHT??”
Shaking off clumps of refuse, Night stepped past the man and started down the alley toward the open street. On the way he pulled a small leather bound book from his inside jacket pocket. On the cover in faint, worn gold letters it read;
MANAGERS HANDBOOK
OVERNIGHT EDITION
It was a small book but the pages were thin and the writing small. At first glance it might have looked like a small bible. Night flipped through the pages quickly and found what he was looking for.
“Did that…did that…that was right…” While reading off the temporal conversion checklist, Night failed to notice that he had arrived at the end of the alley.
“Hey, boy?”
Night looked up and saw that he had nearly walked into the street. He stopped and looked about. It was a city street, brightly lit but nearly empty. There were a few people out, some standing at the entrances to the pretty shops that lined both streets. But they looked to be closing up for the night for the most part.
“I said; HEY, BOY?”
Night turned and saw an odd looking man standing not five feet away. The older man wore what looked like a turn of the century “Copper’s” uniform. He spoke with an odd accent that seemed more British than not.
“What did you just call me?” Night spat almost before he thought the better of it. But the policeman seemed far more interested in what was in his hand than what came out of his mouth.
“That a book, boy?” The Copper stepped forward and reached to take the handbook. Night jerked it away and quickly slipped inside his jacket.
“Who are you callin’, BOY?”
The Copper reached quickly with both hands. One went to his chest and snatched up the gold whistle dangling from around his neck. The other went just around his hip where Night could not see.
Just a bit faster, Night reached into his jacket for the only weapons he had on him; two silver stakes, each about a foot long. He drew one out and as the Copper pulled his hand back around Night swung the blunt end of the stake right onto the man’s wrist. A bit surprised, Night, watched as the Billy Club clattered to the ground.
The scream of the whistle sounded harshly through the night air. Night advanced on the man, expecting the Cop to pull his gun but the man backed away with fear in his eyes. The few people on the street all were looking now. Night leapt forward and snatched the whistle out of the Coppers mouth, popping the thin black cord. But this did not silence the officer.
“MAROON!” he screamed. “MAROON ON BYBERRY ROAD!”
The Copper’s screams of warning were picked up by several of the onlookers. In no time Night could hear the screams repeated by people blocks away.
“What the hell?” he looked back to the Copper and saw for the first time the badge reading; P.C.P.D.. Where the hell was he?
More whistles sounded followed by the click clack of running boots. Night guest someone had called more police. Without giving the 1st cop another look Night took off up the street.
Siren screams joined the whistles and cries from the police. Night ran hard but the sounds of pursuit seemed to be gaining on him. He turned hard at the end of one block, intent on escaping but as rounded the corner he slammed headlong into a group of Coppers. They all crashed to the ground in heap.
“IT’S HIM!”
“GRAB HIM!”
“DON’T YOU MOVE, BOY!”
Night scrambled to his feet before they did and ran blindly off down another alley. He was halfway down the narrow corridor when he saw that it was a dead end.
“Nowhere to run, boy!”
“Lay down and put your hands behind your back.”
“Don’t gives us no more trouble, boy, or we’ll go harder on you.”
Night watched as the police filled the alley. There were at least four of them and though none of them drew a gun they were all carrying Billy clubs. This was going to hurt.
“Ok!” He said, dropping the silver stake. “Alright I give up!”
“LAY DOWN, BOY! NOW…”
There was flash of light and two of the police dropped to the ground senseless. The other two spun around and saw, at the same time as Night, the cloaked form of the Administrator standing just behind them.
“FREEZE!” the remaining two cops shouted in unison. They reacted quickly and swung their Billy Clubs hard and fast.
Night watched as the Administrator fell in a flutter of his swirling cloak.
“Damn!” he scooped up his stake and rushed into the fray, again using the blunt end of the stake. The Coppers were so startled by the appearance of the Administrator that Night was able to take them by surprise. The 1st dropped as easily as his comrades when Night brought the silver rod down on the back of his head. The 2nd recovered quickly and went for his whistle. Night leapt and tackled him before he could call for help. The two struggled on the ground for a bit then as Night gained the upper hand, a thousand voices spoke.
“Step back, Night Manager.” Night looked up and saw the Administrator standing…or hovering less than a foot away. He jumped back off of the officer and there came that flash of light again. When his eyes cleared he saw that the Copper lay limp, breathing evenly.
“What the hell? Why didn’t you zap all of them to begin with?” Night shouted.
“I’ve been ZAPPIN these fools all night! I’m TIRED!”
The alleyway was suddenly quiet, but the whistles and screams out on the street grew louder.
“…ahh…it would be prudent to move these Constables to the rear of this alcove.”
The two began pulling the Coppers unconscious forms away from the mouth of the alleyway. Night kept sneaking looks over to the Administrator, trying to see what the mysterious cloaked figure was pulling the men with but it was too dark to see his hands…if he had any.
Finally at the back of the alley and hunkered down behind an air-conditioning vent, Night addressed the Administrator.
“What the hell happened?”
“Obviously, something has gone awry with the temporal passage.”
“Obviously. So what is this?” Night peeked around the air-conditioner and watched as several more policemen ran past, on pausing for a brief glance down the alley.
“…did we come out too early?”
“No. We have returned to the appropriate time and place.”
“No way. Those cops aren’t armed. And they’re using whistles instead of radios. AND the first one I met called me BOY!”
“Observe.” The Administrator pointed the end of one robed hand at one of the nearby sleeping policemen. The whistle around the man’s neck was cracked open and the electrical components inside where clearly visible.
“The whistles are equipped with radios and GPS monitors. Both are definitive examples of modern technology.”
“Right time then” Night nodded. “But the wrong place. I should have come out of the time thing at my SITE access point in Philly.”
“This IS Philadelphia.”
Night looked at the rotating orbs that made up the head of the Administrator with doubt. “This ain’t Philly. There’s no Byberry road in Philly, at least not a big street like that. Look at this guys badge; P.C.P.D.? That’s not Philly.
“P.C.P.D. stands for Penn Colony Police Department.”
“Penn COLONY?” Night let the words sink in. “William Penn founded Philadelphia.”
“Yes.”
“Oh no…”
“You understand what has happened?”
“NO! We couldn’t have changed anything! I checked before we left!” Night pulled the Overnight Handbook from his jacket and began flipping through the pages.
“I checked! This was supposed to be… ah… the bet I placed on Douglas…”
“Yes. I, too, made certain. Our venture was what is referred to as a PREDESTINATION TIME PARADOX. What we…”
“…it’s right here…somewhere…I checked… it was OK to make that bet! Here…somewhere…”
“…what WE did in the past had in fact ALREADY happened. It should have had no…”
“Right here! Got it! A ‘Predestination Time Paradox’! See?” He flashed the page into the Administrators face…er…orbs. “We had always made those bets so we didn’t change anything.”
“…correct.” The Administrator leaned back and took an inpatient breath. At least he hunched his shoulders as if breathing because Night could see no mouth.
“Our use of the Temporal passage had no effect on the timeline.”
“Then what is this? SOMETHING changed everything.”
“You remember, of course, that we were not the only ones who had access to the Temporal Portal Ronald Jones opened up?”
“That ZULU battle? But there were safeguards up right? The changes made to the outcome of that battle shouldn’t have affected the timeline. Those changes weren’t real!”
“Yes. But as you and I both know. The Temporal shift could be manipulated toward other ends.”
Night thought for a moment. “No…no one at BSFS would risk changing the timeline like this. Ron wouldn’t have allowed…”
“I don’t believe it was someone from the site. At least not a welcome guest.”
“A hacker?”
“Or something, or someone far worse.” The Administrator turned toward Night and the strangely shifting orbs or rings coalesced into an image. Night looked deeply and saw himself, standing before the Temporal aperture just after having collected his Tyson/Douglas winnings.
“As you and I entered the Temporal Fold to shift back to our own time I noticed a…presence. A shadow…malevolent and…intelligent.” Night watched as there was the faintest flicker of darkness that seemed to appear in the light of the Fold just after Night stepped through.
“After you passed into the Fold I witnessed it move after. I believe it thought you would be traveling alone or it would have waited for me to enter as well.”
“What did it do? What did you do?”
“I cannot be certain. I can only hypothesize from what I have learned of this new world these past few days.”
“Days?” then Night remembered. “You said you had been stunning guys all night. But I JUST came through. How long have you been here?”
“For lack of a better term, I ENGAGED the shadow as it attempted to capture you in the FOLD. I believe that it was attempting to redirect your exit point. To where I do not know although it is reasonable to assume that the new destination would not have been a desired one.”
“And is that why you came out early? It redirected your path?”
“No. When I engaged it, the shadow fled. It stepped out of the Fold early. I realized that it would still know our exit point and be ready for us when we eventually came out. So I exited early as well in order to gain some advantage over this foe.”
Night stood up suddenly. “It knew when I was coming out? So it could be here right now or on the way!”
“As you noticed, the ‘roughness’ of your passage through the fold was due to the battle between the shadow and I. Enough I believe to change your exit point as well.”
“How did you find me?”
“I have been here in this new timeline for almost a week. I knew that your exit point would be somewhere in what was once Philadelphia. It was mere luck that I happened upon you so soon after you arrived. Although the police whistles helped.”
“Ok. How do we change everything back? You’re right; this is too much change to be from something we did back in ’90. It must have been the Zulu battle.”
“Unlikely. As you said; Ronald had safeguards built into the scenario. Still the Temporal Fold was open. The ‘Shadow’ could have gone anywhere within the power of the fold to change things. And change things it has.”
“How bad is it?”
“Over the past week I have discovered some horrifying things. First, this IS still America, however, Slavery…has not ended.”
Night looked back towards the mouth of the alley. “That cop called me a runway. A runaway…Maroon.”
“A term once used in our own timeline to describe runaway slaves that had established hidden colonies.”
“Wait! The rest of the BSFS members who were in the forum, the ones who went out of time. They’re still in there!”
“No. The shadow would have captured them all as he tried to capture you.”
“So they’re…prisoners? I doubt that. Each of them was armed. Sister Moon had a hoard of fur, claws and lipstick wearing hotties with her. Ron’s a walking arsenal…”
“You may be right. The Shadow still would have altered their destination points to places and times that would have worked against them…against their strengths.”
“Altered their destinations to anywhere in space time? No…the Fold wasn’t that strong. Anywhere here on Earth within the range of the Fold.”
“And not too far in the past I believe, lest they alter this timeline that the Shadow so obviously wants to exist.”
“We’ve got to find them.”
“Without Ronald’s forum we have no access to the Fold.”
Night grimaced. Then his eyes popped open and he began flipping through the Overnight Handbook. “Wait! It says here that Fold exits ALWAYS exist. We may be able to pop open the Fold from the points in SPACE where the Shadow dropped them off.”
“You mean that we must find the places in the here and now, where the members would have been pushed out of the Fold to be ambushed, then open the Fold to follow them into that ambush?”
“Got a better idea?”
“We must search for evidence of their passage. They could have been dropped out anywhere on the planet.”
“Then we’d better get looking. Come on, man! Me and You; the Night Manager and the Administrator. Just like Batman and Robin!”
“I’m Batman.” “I’m Batman.” They both said simultaneously.
“Traversing THIS world will not be without peril. I have discovered that many of the people places and things from our own timeline also exist here but in severely twisted ways.”
“What do you mean?” Then it dawned on Night. “You mean like, SLAVE versions of ourselves?”
“Far worse I’m afraid. Many Slaves of considerable talent are used by the government here…as OVERSEERS.”
“I’m not fighting slaves!”
“We may not have a choice. I myself have already fought and killed my own counterpart in this timeline.”
“Jeez. I’m sorry, man. That must have been tough.” Night placed his hand on the Administrators shoulder.
“Uh…did…did HE have a face?”
To be continued in…THE LIBRARY!
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