Time Surge 1986 - "The Emerald Lights"

                Octavia didn’t say a word, but Tempest noticed she wasn’t flying upward toward the platform but rather back to the elevator shaft where they entered this realm from the Tripskip Annex.  The other time warriors were already far behind in the fog for being trained as a warrior was nowhere near the same as being born as one.  The air was blasting through Tempests thin layered armor and her helmet was tight against her chin, rubbing it a bit raw right on the tip.  She was astonished at how easily Octavia was able to fly while holding her, then she noticed that she must’ve initiated her skirmishers while catching her because she had two thick black bands clinched on her wrists and two more on her ankles.  The skirmishers were attached to the apparatus that held Octavia in the air.  The wings were magnificently designed with prongs and spinning dials that made no sound but were in sync and creating a flight pattern that was mesmerizing.  The material that was in between the bone structure of the upper wing looked like thin animal skin but she wasn’t sure.  The cogwheel pumped up and down as she flapped each time stretching the skin cells thinner.  It was hard to tell how she was making them pump because she didn’t have them on the platform and Tempest had not noticed her using them before now.

            They approached the doorway that she and Octavia had left from and so they glided upward slightly to land smoothly.  Octavia put Tempest on her feet and instantly the skirmishes fell off and disappeared.

            “Get back to the Tripskip and find a gentleman by the name of Everett Palmer Fogg, he can be found in the Ironbark car.  He is a friend and is the best detective mind that I know.  If there is a mystery to solve on Celeruan Isle, we will need him!  You will be safe in the Ironbark car until I retrieve you.  I must appear loyal to Zebulon in the meantime, now make haste! I can tell you no more.” Octavia said briskly.

            The elevator shaft opened with no elevator inside. With a stare from Octavia’s crystal eyes, the opposite side of the shaft opened and Tempest could clearly view Waterman Annex just on the other side.  It was the hallway where they had entered the door.  First Octavia ran and jumped out and turned her head to see if Tempest was coming.  She didn’t notice how petrified and novice Tempest was, and possibly even forgetting that Tempest wasn’t raised a Lingermancer and had no concept of her speed.  Tempest took a deep breath and ran toward the open door and jumped through to where Octavia was standing.  She let Tempest pass and then shut the door behind leaving her alone in the Tripskip hallway with all the random doors.  She needed to find a gentleman named, oh she had already forgotten, and like that was super easy on a seven story vessel that’s about a thousand miles long, that you have also only been on once, she thought to herself.  She looked up and down the corridors and with so many passengers going hither and fro, she didn’t know who to ask.  Then she saw a map on one of the fluorescent walls.  She did remember the name Ironbark car and hoped she could find it on the map.

            “Your destination please?” said a voice from inside the life-sized map.

            Tempest squinted carefully and could see a digital face formed out of letters and shapes speaking to her.  Once it started speaking nothing was legible anymore so she decided to answer.

            “Iron….bark….car?” she muttered like a robot.

            “Right this way.” Said the voice.

            A door opened in the screen and at the top it read ‘Ironbark Car All Aboard’.  Tempest took a step and her leg entered the screen and as she continued to move she slowly vanished into the map.  On the other side she reappeared in what she knew to be the 1920’s.  She looked down at herself and her armor was gone and instead she was wearing a black tasseled dress and funny looking black heels with a buckle across the top of her foot.  She even had a small black coin purse clutched in her hands.  It wasn’t long before she noticed that everyone in the car had stopped for a moment to look at the new arrival and she so wished she could remember the gentlemen’s name at that moment.  Fortunately the passengers all went back to their normal activities of smoking, everyone seemed to be smoking.  Some people were reading in big leather chairs, others had tea and dessert sitting in front of them on tables with white table clothes and shiny silver spoons.  The waiters all had tuxedo’s on and many of the men had this tiny little pencil shaped mustaches just under each of their nostrils.  The ladies were tall and thin and very pale, until Tempest looked down at her own arm and saw that she too had fair skin, in fact she fit in almost too well.  After taking a few steps into the room a man appeared from her right, like he was part of the furniture.

            “What brings a young doe like you into these parts of the cosmos?  Felt you wanted to dabble in the arts of debauchery?  You see, I can be a guide for you as I tend to know most of the important people who board this vessel, no matter the likeness, they have to pass through me.”  He said as he walked her by the arm.

            In his right hand he had a cigar, and he swaggered a bit while he took each step, making is oversized suit buckle at the knees and giving the jacket the appearance it was about to fall off.

            “That’s very kind of you sir.  I actually am looking for a certain fella, maybe you can help?”  She spoke with a squeaky girlish voice.  Hoping to appear naive and vulnerable, she seductively adjusted his tie while she waited for his answer.  He swallowed a little and his mustache and lip curled up on one side.

            “And who would this lucky fella be?”  He replied.

            “A Mr. Everett Palmer Fogg.” She said and sat quietly staring him in the eye.

            The room went quiet again.  His curled up face went flat.  Tempest thought for a moment that she had said the most vulgar word in their world’s history.  Internally she regretted even trying to find this man because there were many walls and passengers and corridors between her and her blood circle echo.  She stood still and let her eyes scan the room.  Every black and white clothed person held their position looking in her direction, almost like they were from a silent movie that had been stuck on the film projector.  The only thing moving was the smoke.  As she continued to count heads she spied one head, a hat covered head looking in the other direction.  Curiosity got the best of her and she removed her hand from curly lipped man and walked straight to the bar where the hat man was standing.

            “Excuse me, I am looking for Everett Palmer Fogg?” she said as she tapped him on the shoulder.

            “Who sent you?” she heard a deep reserved voice reply.

            “Lady Octavia Featherstone.” Tempest answerer.

            He turned his head slowly and Tempest was surprised that he was a normal looking dude, pleasant face and sharp looking features.  He removed his hat to reveal slight greying just above his ears and a head full of swayed back hair.

            “Radical Fantastico!” he finally replied.

            Tempest laughed out of the relief and he chortled back and then the black and white mannequin people all went back to their socializing, smoking, dancing and tea or whiskey drinking.