Chronos/Chronos
“That’s it,” said Simon, watching Garrett gently touch the pole opposite its force lines. “Very light pressure, just enough to remove the force lines. Don’t worry if you overshoot it. You can always compensate on the other side. You have all the time in the world.”
“I have a question,” said Garrett, “why does it do that. The force lines I mean. How do we affect them so strongly?”
Simon smiled. “When we touch an object in real time the force of our touch is spread across a vast span of time compared to the rather infinitesimal amount of time that passes here in still time. The longer we touch something, the more force it accumulates. The power we can generate from simple build-up is staggering as you have seen.”
“So we can’t touch anything we don’t want to destroy in still time? That sucks! What good is it? And for that matter why aren’t we blowing big holes in the ground by walking around? And what about the air? Shouldn’t we be causing massive air currents just by moving?”
“You know Garrett; the more I talk to you the more surprised I am by your diction. I know less articulate adults.” Garrett smiled proudly as he continued to try to negate the force lines of the light pole. “Believe it or not all your questions have a single answer. You can bring things with you into still time . . . well mostly.
“I am currently holding the earth and the air about us as close as I can get it to still time. The same can be done with a person. But you can’t pull anything fully into still time.”
“What about me? You pulled me in.”
“You are a special boy, Garrett. I’ve been looking for someone like you for nearly three hundred years.”
“Why, what’s so special about me?”
Simon shook his head, smiling. “The power I have can only be given to a person with particular qualities. We can feel those qualities in people. The qualities come and go over time, so it is important that once we find the person we try to transfer the power as quickly as possible. I am very old, and very tired. It’s time for me to pass on the powers and rest.”
“Where do they come from? The powers I mean?”
“I’m not exactly certain. I asked the same question when I was given the powers. I guess I’ll give you the same answer. Long ago, at the dawn of man, the primordial entity Chronos grew tired of regulating time. He chose a mortal and gifted her with those powers. In time she gave them to another, and he to another throughout the ages. Now I have them, and may give them to you.”
“Ummm . . . I know you’re impressed with my vocabulary and all, but you need to keep in mind I am only ten. What is a primordial entity?”
Simon laughed heartily. “My apologies young master, a primordial entity is a being that existed before the creation of the gods and the world . . . perhaps even the universe itself. I’m not so certain about the story however. In all my centuries I have never experienced anything that proved the existence of the divine to me other than my own powers . . . and I am not a god.”
“Done,” said Garrett, looking proudly over his handy work. Barely any force lines showed on the pole. “Now what will we do with it?”
“Do?” asked Simon, “just the opposite actually. We are going to ‘undo’.” With a flash of light and sound and a blur of motion and activity Garret suddenly found himself back in the position he was in when time first stopped. The pole was whole and strong, with no force lines to speak of. “I call that a do-over. A bit childish, I know, but I hated the name my predecessor had for it.”
“What was so bad about it?”
“Roughly translated he called it a ‘return to right’, far too ostentatious and self-important for my tastes.”
“So why did I have to neutralize the force lines on the pole?”
“You didn’t really,” smiled Simon. “But it was good practice.”
Garrett knew he should be angry, but instead a laugh bubbled its way out of his chest. Simon joined him, and with their laughs the stress Garrett had been feeling floated away. With the stress gone it came to him. With a do-over he could go back in time to four years before. He could stop his father from getting shot!
“So, what’s next?”
“I can’t teach you any more until I transfer the power. This can be dangerous. I have to do it in still time. You have to immediately bring the earth and air as close to still time as you can. If you leave still time once I have given you the power, even by accident, the centuries will catch up with me; and I will no longer be around to answer your questions.”
Garrett tried to don a sober, thoughtful look . . . but succeeded only in looking terribly worried. “How do I draw them into still time?”
Simon rubbed his chin for a while. “How do you make your heart beat?”
“I don’t know it just does.”
“And that’s about as the best way I can explain how to bring things into still time. You just do. Are you ready?”
“Yes,” said Garrett as he unconsciously shook his head from side to side.
Simon laughed. “Relax, the calmer you are the more likely this is to go right.”
Garrett nodded, and then suddenly was filled with a feeling, painful and electric. It tore through his body setting fire to his every nerve. In an instant it was gone. Before he drew a breath he felt the ground and air slipping from still time, and reined them in.
“Ouch,” he said, “though it was easier than I thought it would be.” It was only then that he realized he was on one knee with his hands on the pavement. Slight force lines rose from the pavement. “Uh oh . . . is this a problem? Maybe you should teach me how to do a do-over.”
Simon shook his head, a bright smile across his face. “It shouldn’t be a big deal; there isn’t much power in those force lines. Beside you couldn’t do-over that. You can only go back to the first time you possessed the power.”
Garrett recoiled as if struck. “But . . . but I was going to go back and save my dad!”
Simon hung his head low, his hair masking his expression. “I know. I could see it in your eyes. I’m sorry.”
“But you could have done it,” tears poured from his eyes as his heart burned like the first time he lost his father. “Before you gave me the power you could have saved my dad!”
“If I had done that you would have certainly changed . . . and I would not have been able to give you my power . . . I would not have been able to rest.”
“Damn you!” screamed Garrett. “God damn you!”
Garrett returned to real time.