Book Excerpt for Between Tick & Tock

Between Tick & Tock

by John Rookwood

A tale of time stopping, sex, and other fun things.

Smashwords Edition

Chapter 1

I won a trip to Las Vegas on a game show, that's how it all started

Not that winning the trip was that big of a deal since I live in Beaumont, which is only about a four hour drive from the city of sin. I had signed up to be a contestant on a daytime game show and ended up winning several small prizes, along with the grand prize by the time the day was over. It was cool playing the game, and even cooler winning. What wasn't cool was the paperwork afterward. I must have filled out a dozen forms for the IRS and even then, the smaller prizes were awarded as the cash equivalent. Sure I got free money, but now if I wanted the tablet, TV or the armchair I'd have to go out and buy it, paying the sales taxes and delivery fees since I don't own a truck to haul the bigger stuff. Not that I was complaining. Between the money I'd won playing, the grand prize's per Diem allotment for food and entertainment and the money I got for cashing in the plane tickets, I was set for a grand vacation.

I'd been driving since before dawn and was on I-15 passing near the Mojave Preserve at about nine in the morning. I was fiddling with my stereo, trying fruitlessly to find a station that wasn't full of static, when a guy suddenly appeared in my passenger seat.

I screamed and nearly slid off the road in shock. Not just because a dude popped into existence inside my five-year-old Corolla, not because I was the only vehicle on the road for miles, but what freaked me out was the dude was purple with snow-white hair. At least his skin was purple, not a dark shade, but visibly purple in the early morning light.

He was dressed in something that looked like a cheesy 1980s sci-fi costume. It was a silvery suit that had lots of pockets and covered everything but his head and hands. As I got the car back under control and pulled off the highway, he held up his left wrist and mumbled some gobblety-gook into a dark metal bracer that looked like something out of a post apocalypse video game.

A few seconds passed and then the arm gadget spoke in perfect English, "Do not be alarmed, human. I mean you no harm, but I needed to evade those who are hunting me. We must keep moving lest they catch up."

As his device spoke to me, the purple dude pointed down the road toward Vegas before he looked out the passenger window.

I followed his gaze and saw some dust plumes above a pair of jeeps that each had a machine gun mounted in the cargo space.

My eyes went wide as I got back on the road and pushed the speedometer past seventy even as I demanded, "Who the hell are you and why is the military chasing you?"

The purple guy spoke more of that word salad of his as his toy translated, "I am Observer Second Class Ochoa. I was attempting to summon a rescue ship when the military found me."

"Rescue?" I asked as I saw the jeeps split up in my rear view mirror. One followed my car while the other turned southwest. They didn't seem to be actively pursuing me based on their speed. Not that they would lose sight of me anytime soon, the road was long, flat and empty.

"Yes," Ochoa explained, "My scouting craft was shot down by an aircraft two of your days ago and I have been on the run from your army since then. They have blanketed the airspace with jamming signals and I was trying to get clear of the clogged area in order to call out to my people."

He winced in pain and leaned forward, exposing his back, which had several injuries that looked like bullet wounds. Blue liquid oozed from the holes in his suit. Was that his blood?

"My pursuers felt that force was required and shot me as I fled under the protection of my cloaking unit." He tapped the wrist device. "When I saw your vehicle, I activated the temporal disjunction field and boarded it."

I turned that over in my head. Fuck, this was weird as hell, and I wondered why I wasn't freaking out, so I asked him.

"You are experiencing the calming effect of the infiltration field." he said. "I apologize for using it on you, but I needed your help."

The armband emitted some beeps, and a blue light flashed on it. Grimacing, Ochoa said, "It seems I will not need rescue after all. I will expire soon due to my injuries. Therefore, I must ask something of you, human. You must not allow my device to fall into the hands of the military. They would use it to destroy... everything..."

Ochoa tapped a few things on the screen and the bracer opened along the bottom via a seam that hadn't been visible. He offered it to me. "Take the infiltrator," he wheezed, "hide my body and keep the device safe." a series of wracking coughs hit him. When he recovered, he added, "When you can do so safely, tell it to summon a rescue ship and have them reclaim my corpse..."

Then he twitched several times before going still, his face growing somewhat paler as he did.

I drove on for a few minutes, glancing at the body and the tech toy in my lap.

Had I just been 'green lantern-ed'?

Chapter 2

I found a rest stop a few miles down the highway and pulled off into the mostly empty parking lot.

There was a tour bus and a pair of tractor trailers in the big lot, but the bus pulled out before I shut off my engine.

I looked over Ochoa for a minute, then checked his pockets. He had a few odd discs of metal that might be coins, along with some things that looked like pill capsules, but nothing that looked like a weapon.

"So what do I do with you?" I asked aloud as I examined the bracer. It was around six inches long, made of a dark alloy that was as light as aluminum and had a series of buttons underneath a curved screen.

To my shock, the thing spoke. "You will need to wear this item to make use of its various features, human. When that condition has been met you may avail yourself of the cloaking function, the temporal disjunction field and the energy projector."

"The what, the what and the what now?" I asked, confused.

I'd swear I heard the thing huff before it clarified, "The cloaking device will hide you from detection within the visible spectrum. On a full charge, it can hide a being of your size for one hundred and seven earth minutes and twenty seconds. The temporal disjoiner will halt your movement through time. On a full charge, it will keep you outside the normal flow of time for twenty-one earth minutes and twelve seconds. The energy projector can be used as a cutting tool or weapon as needed. On a full charge it will fire continuously for thirty-four earth minutes and forty-nine seconds."

"Sooooo, it's a blaster?" I asked the metallic object.

"Affirmative." it responded, then added. "That designation is adequate."

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the military jeep approaching on the highway, and pulling onto the exit leading to the rest stop.

"Crap." I said, "Wrist thingy, can that cloaking field cover the whole car?"

"Affirmative." it answered. "Expansion of the field to encompass the vehicle is possible. Please note that at the current level of reserve power, the field will only be active for eight earth minutes and eleven seconds."

"Do it!" I commanded as I restarted the engine and moved to put the tractor trailers between me and the army guys.

Everything went black and white as the device announced, "Cloaking field active."

"Where did the colors go?" I asked.

"While under the effects of the cloaking field, you cannot perceive the visible spectrum normally used by your species. The field effect is tuned to allow your eyes to interpret ultraviolet wavelengths to remedy this issue." it said in explanation.

"Oh. Neat." I said as I merged onto interstate fifteen again and headed toward Vegas.

Things seemed to be fine for five minutes and then I saw a high end sports car zooming down the road behind me. He must have been doing at least one hundred, probably more. His speed combined with the six-digit price tag on his ride told me this was one of those rich assholes who saw fines as the cost of doing as he pleased.

As his car got closer to mine, I wondered when he'd change lanes to pass me, then I realized he didn't know he was about to ram into me.

I swerved out of his way just before he sped through the space I had been occupying. As the new Mercedes Benz GT flew past me, I got a clear view of his license plate. It read 'UR2SLOO!'

Sighing, I muttered, "Turn off the cloak."

The world returned to a Kodachrome state as the gadget declared, "Current power reserve at 3%."

"Ummm," wondered aloud, "Can I charge you back up with an adapter or something?"

It paused before answering. "Negative. You have no source of power that suffices to draw upon. The power reserve will self recharge in approximately two hundred earth minutes."

Okay, that meant a little under three and a half hours. Then I noticed something odd about that estimate. "Why did you give an approximation? Every other time you've given me times down to the second."

I swear it hesitated before it answered me, "The approximation assumes this unit will be required to answer an unknown number of questions during the charging cycle."

Did that gadget just diss me for being inquisitive? Fuck it. "Fine, I'll shut up and let you charge, we're still about an hour from my hotel."

It didn't respond.

I spent the next hour watching for more army vehicles, but none appeared and I got to the hotel with no further problems. I mean, other than having a dead body in my passenger seat, that is.

I had covered Ochoa's corpse with a beach towel when I stopped for gas and had the seat reclined as far as it would go. Still, I chose a parking spot as far from the hotel entry as I could manage, and despite the cool late fall weather, I put the sun shades in the windshield to reduce the chance of someone spotting him until I could figure out what to do with him.

When I got up to my room on the sixth floor, I asked the bracer, "Now what?"

It replied, "This unit detects power sources nearby. If the human has a power transference device, this unit could recharge faster and send a signal to summon a craft to recover the body of my template."

"Template?" I asked.

"Affirmative. Infiltration units are imprinted with a personality template based on the owner." It said matter-of-factly.

"So, you're a copy of Ochoa?" I inquired.

It sighed out loud this time. "Negative, this unit is a simulated intelligence imprinted with the personality of Observer Second Class Ochoa. It allows the infiltration unit to anticipate the owner's requests and needs ahead of time."

"Okay," I said, sort of getting it. "So you're software that thinks like Ochoa?"

"Affirmative." the armband agreed.

"Do you mind if I call you 'Ocho' then?" I asked.

"That designation will suffice for now." Ocho answered.

"Okay, so how do I plug you into the wall outlet. I've got a phone charger but I don't see a port on you." I noted.

"Place the charging unit to this device for adaptation." Ocho said.

I pulled out the charger and plugged it into the wall and then poked the armband with the connector. To my surprise, the metal flowed like a liquid and a standard port appeared to accept the cable.

"Charging." Ocho said.

In under five seconds, my charging plug began to smoke, and I yanked it out of the wall. It was so hot it burned my hand.

"Dammit." I almost shouted, "What the fuck happened?"

"The power transfer device was insufficient to carry the needed energy flow." Ocho said, sounding annoyed, "The human will need to acquire a more robust transfer facilitator."

"Fuck." I said as I picked up the smoldering charger by its cord and dropped it into the metal wastebasket by the dresser. Then I rummaged in my suitcase until I found the short power strip I had brought with me. Holding it up, I said, "If I cut the cord off this, will it be able to carry the charge you need?"

"Unnecessary," Ocho responded, "this unit can adapt to interface with the port ports on the device."

As if to prove its point, it grew four sets of prongs along one side, spaced to fit the power strip.

Shrugging, I plugged the bracer into the power strip and the strip's cord into the wall and waited.

Twenty minutes later, Ocho announced, "Power reserves at one hundred percent."

I was glad the hotel didn't charge for power used.