Killing Time is a series of short vignettes involving two characters from another work, a time-travel novel told from the 1st person perspective of an enigmatic time-traveler. About half way through that story the characters make it to The Nexus (I’m thinking of a better name) a vast space station located at the exact center in space and time of what is called “navigable space-time,” which covers almost 7 million years and more than half of the Milky Way galaxy. Cobbled together by a conglomerate of time-faring civilizations, The Nexus will only actually exist for three days, and serves as a stopover and trading center for travelers moving up and down the time stream. Returning to ‘civilized space’ after an impossibly long time jump, our heroes arrive at The Nexus in search of spare parts and repairs for their time displacement device. The 1st person protagonist of that novel separates from these two characters in order to complete those repairs. Killing Time fills in the gap of these two novice time-travelers (our protagonist having temporary adopted another more famous time-travelers habit of picking up companions from less advanced cultures) as they explore The Nexus and discover how much more dangerous then time travel other time-travelers are.
The main characters in Killing Time are:
David – Early 21st century human male, spent more of the former days of his life as a slacker and video store clerk in Seattle, Washington. The time traveler was hiding out under an assumed alias as one of his co-workers when the pair was accosted by a Knight from the Tempus Order, who was attempting to apprehend the time-traveler. David was unfortunate enough to be dragged along for the ride, as the time traveler sought to escape his pursuers.
Gin – A 16th century human female who was part of a population carried into deeptime (far beyond navigable space-time) by an unknown time-faring civilization. Discovered by the time-traveler and David after an unexpected jaunt into deeptime, Gin becomes another tag-a-long. Her smart-suit, an oily black, form fitting outfit discovered on an Earth-orbiting Mars of the future, has allowed her to exceed her 16th century limitations by increasing her intelligence and improving strength, speed and physical coordination.
The main characters in Killing Time are:
David – Early 21st century human male, spent more of the former days of his life as a slacker and video store clerk in Seattle, Washington. The time traveler was hiding out under an assumed alias as one of his co-workers when the pair was accosted by a Knight from the Tempus Order, who was attempting to apprehend the time-traveler. David was unfortunate enough to be dragged along for the ride, as the time traveler sought to escape his pursuers.
Gin – A 16th century human female who was part of a population carried into deeptime (far beyond navigable space-time) by an unknown time-faring civilization. Discovered by the time-traveler and David after an unexpected jaunt into deeptime, Gin becomes another tag-a-long. Her smart-suit, an oily black, form fitting outfit discovered on an Earth-orbiting Mars of the future, has allowed her to exceed her 16th century limitations by increasing her intelligence and improving strength, speed and physical coordination.
1.0
“So what’s
this thing you’re looking for again?” David squints up at the large screen, an
incredibly complex directory/map of The Nexus.
“A Flux Capacitor,” the traveler replies, keeping his eyes on the directory.
“Dude, you know that was something from…”
“Yeah,” the traveler nods, “some pre-civ popular culture reference. A lot of the early time displacement research was inspired by the fictions of pre-civilization. The Orianis developed a whole series of TDDs shaped like a blue box for the same reason. And the Flux Capacitor does store energy so the name is apt.”
“Think you’ll find one?”
“There are hundreds of places to find one, the key is to not set off any alerts by purchasing from the wrong colabs, mercs or narcs.”
“Isn’t The Nexus a free zone?” Gin asked. “They can’t apprehend you here.”
“No, but they put a temporal tracer on the Flux Capacitor and the next space-time we emerge into will be crawling with Belrovian Battleships. I’m not going to find what I’m looking for on this map.” He turned away. “But based on the configuration I can make a pretty good guess as to where I can find the underground. That’s were I’ll find a capacitor without any entanglements.”
“Let’s go then,” David said.
“No. I’ll get the capacitor myself. It’ll be difficult enough to get these people to trust me. I don’t need a couple of pre-civs complicating things with stupid questions. You and Virginia can spend a couple of days exploring The Nexus. Have a drink. See a show. Stop by the Time Travelers Ball. Just don’t talk to anyone. Don’t say anything, about you, her or me. I’ll find you after I’ve finished the repairs.”
“Okay,” David seemed disappointed.
“David,” the traveler said. “You’ve got 19 sections of the biggest party in 7 million years. No Roman Orgy, Carnival, Mardi Gras, Woodstock or any rave you may have attended in middle school have anything on The Nexus. The only rules are keep out of the red zoned sections where a previous or later version of yourself may be, and don’t kill anyone permanently. And 99 percent of the people here can be revived after a simple death. Just stay away from the Neuroshock. It has a 70 percent mortality rate and doesn’t qualify as a simple death.”
“A Flux Capacitor,” the traveler replies, keeping his eyes on the directory.
“Dude, you know that was something from…”
“Yeah,” the traveler nods, “some pre-civ popular culture reference. A lot of the early time displacement research was inspired by the fictions of pre-civilization. The Orianis developed a whole series of TDDs shaped like a blue box for the same reason. And the Flux Capacitor does store energy so the name is apt.”
“Think you’ll find one?”
“There are hundreds of places to find one, the key is to not set off any alerts by purchasing from the wrong colabs, mercs or narcs.”
“Isn’t The Nexus a free zone?” Gin asked. “They can’t apprehend you here.”
“No, but they put a temporal tracer on the Flux Capacitor and the next space-time we emerge into will be crawling with Belrovian Battleships. I’m not going to find what I’m looking for on this map.” He turned away. “But based on the configuration I can make a pretty good guess as to where I can find the underground. That’s were I’ll find a capacitor without any entanglements.”
“Let’s go then,” David said.
“No. I’ll get the capacitor myself. It’ll be difficult enough to get these people to trust me. I don’t need a couple of pre-civs complicating things with stupid questions. You and Virginia can spend a couple of days exploring The Nexus. Have a drink. See a show. Stop by the Time Travelers Ball. Just don’t talk to anyone. Don’t say anything, about you, her or me. I’ll find you after I’ve finished the repairs.”
“Okay,” David seemed disappointed.
“David,” the traveler said. “You’ve got 19 sections of the biggest party in 7 million years. No Roman Orgy, Carnival, Mardi Gras, Woodstock or any rave you may have attended in middle school have anything on The Nexus. The only rules are keep out of the red zoned sections where a previous or later version of yourself may be, and don’t kill anyone permanently. And 99 percent of the people here can be revived after a simple death. Just stay away from the Neuroshock. It has a 70 percent mortality rate and doesn’t qualify as a simple death.”
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