Metastasis

in #fiction6 years ago

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Victor Meta sat down at the dinner table as his wife, Janet, brought over the roast he had been craving all day. “It looks amazing, Janet… you’ve really outdone yourself this time.”

Janet gave Victor a warm smile. “I hope it’s as good as you seem to think it is. I swear, that oven has been acting up again.”

Victor began carving the roast and distributing slices to himself, his wife, and his daughter, Mira. Mira pouted. “I don’t want this! I want ice cream!”

Victor leaned over, pretending to whisper into Mira’s ear. “I tell you what… eat all of your dinner, and you can have ice cream for desert.”

Mira’s eyes lit up as she began to attack her plate, while Janet gave Victor a disapproving look. “You spoil her too much… she’s going to develop a bad attitude if you keep letting her get her way.”

Victor leaned back. “It’s good for a Meta to be stubborn. It means they will be determined, and fight to get what they want. Don’t you remember how we met?”

Janet groaned. “Please, don’t remind me. But are you sure about that? Mira, I mean. I’m not sure she’s someone who can be trusted with…”

Janet leaned close to actually whisper while Mira was completely oblivious, busy eating something she now realized she liked the taste of. “… time travel.”

Victor grimaced. “Well, she’s still young. When I think she’s ready, I’ll give her the handbook so she can start learning the ins and outs of it. It’s not like we are short on… ”

Janet cringed. “Please, don’t say it…”

“Time.”

Janet facepalmed. “I would have married you years earlier if you didn’t make such awful jokes, you know.”

Victor chuckled. “But then I wouldn’t really be me. After all, I can put up with your sub-par cooking , so...”

“You said it looked amazing!”

“It is, calling it sub-par was the joke. Come on, Janet… lighten up a bit.”

Janet poked her own plate with a fork, grimly musing. “It’s just that… this talk of… travel. It worries me. What happens when you run into something too dangerous?”

Victor was about to explain all the reasons why she was being too paranoid. The other Metas always stuck together, and made sure to stop major incidents before they began. The very existence of time travel meant they could avoid dangerous periods of history entirely. Even the fact he was a Meta meant most, if not all, of his enemies would never dream of trying to harm him. He was about to say all of this, when the door was kicked open and armed men rushed in.

Victor dropped out of the timeline as fast as he could, breathing heavily as he scrambled to stand up on the polished marble floor. He ran through the halls of the Meta stronghold simply called the Pause, and found his way to the quarantine section. “Hello, Victor. How can I help you to-”

In his panic, Victor cut off the woman. “I need a quarantine, immediately! My last time position outside of Pause!”

The woman filled out some forms, put them into a pneumatic tube, and within seconds got a response via another tube. “Done. Am I to presume you also want a light copy?”

“Correct.”

The woman filled out another form, sent it through the tube, and then spun around to flip through a cabinet. She turned back to Victor holding a thick folder. “I already reserved a time slot, chamber B-7. Let me know if you need anything else.”

Victor grabbed the folder and less urgently walked to the chamber. He still couldn’t slow his heart down, as he feared what he might see when he arrived.

He entered the chamber, and grabbed the paper thin glowing sheet out of the folder, placing it into the light sheet receptacle. The room became an exact replica of his home, Janet and Mira still at the dinner table. Their expressions were still ones of surprise rather than fear, as it was still only milliseconds after the men had broke in.

There were four men, all blank masks to obscure their identities. Their clothes were a plain white, also unidentifiable. They each carried iconic ceremonial swords, though, that Victor did recognize. They were always carried by a group that called themselves the Legion, a group of anti Meta warriors.

Victor slowly collapsed against a wall, slipping into a sitting position in the silent chamber, looking at a hologram of his family moments before their slaughter. These intruders were definitely hitmen, while he wasn’t even trained for combat. Everything of value he had was in that now time quarantined house, but even that wasn’t much. He would need money, and lots of it, to pay for some quick thinking warriors to deal with his unexpected adversaries.

Victor rummaged through his pockets, and pulled out his communicator. Flipping it open, he pressed the first auto contact, and waited to connect.

The voice was grainy, but still clear enough to be understood. “Ugh… Victor? What is it? I’m still working through that latest case file, I can’t drop everything just to chat.”

“Gerald… I’m in deep. I need some help.”

Gerald’s voice transitioned from dismissive to concerned. “What happened?”

“My family is in danger. I need some jobs, the highest paying ones you can find. After that… I’ll need some contacts for the best combat casters money can buy.”

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I hope able to travel through time as well. Hope this round he able to safe his family. I just wondering, how he able get to the tube so fast when the intruder break in? Aren't he had meal with his family? Unless the he can activate the tube anytime he needed.
I like to read this kind of story @rhethypo. Is this your first chapter, if not i would like to read previous chapters.

This is indeed the first chapter of a potential series I'm considering continuing.

I plan on exploring a whole system of time travel rules for this story, but as for the time travelers themselves, they all have something known as a Piece of Infinity, which looks just like a normal pocketwatch. These have multiple special attributes, but the most notable one is that a holder of this specific Piece of Infinity can travel through time at a whim. They don't actually change position, rather time period, and that is what he did.

He was still technically in the same exact spot where he had been eating dinner with his family moments ago, only now he is in an entirely different era.

You really have a creative and imaginative mind @rhethypo. You have an interesting storyline. Time traveler... this is what i want to be during my young day. I wish I could travel through time to change my history (because i don't like study) hehehehe.. Well have to admit, Now i also wish I have the pocket watch so that I able to travel. It must be very interesting.
Do you plan to continue the story? I love to read it if you plan to, I would like to know how victor rescued his family and who is Gerald in your story, why victor ask for his help.

After the response I've gotten, yeah I do plan on continuing this series. I might not have a new installment next week, as I've only written this first part so far and I like to stay a couple chapters ahead to give my time for proper editing and proofreading, but I will probably have the next part out the week after next at the latest.

Thank you @rhethypo, this was a good news knowing that you plan to continue the story. You have started an interesting story with time traveller. It atteacted a lot of readers, thats why we all like to read the part 2 of it.

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Hello @rhethypo, thank you for sharing this creative work! We just stopped by to say that you've been upvoted by the @creativecrypto magazine. The Creative Crypto is all about art on the blockchain and learning from creatives like you. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon. Steem on!

Hi rhethypo,

This post has been upvoted by the Curie community curation project and associated vote trail as exceptional content (human curated and reviewed). Have a great day :)

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Well, now. This is a surprise. This was just a pilot for a new potential series, I didn't expect to get much traction on it.

How ironic.. at the moment when he was reassuring her that it is safe, the intruders get into their home. I'm not sure how I feel about his acting as he left his family there and they are probably death. Unless the time goes differently where he is and it really all takes just milliseconds.

Are you going to continue the story? I would love to know what happened to his family and if he'll get the contacts that he needs :)

There is a great twist in your story! I liked reading it :)

Thank you for sharing!

I'm glad you liked it! It's a pilot for a potential series, so I might be continuing it.

I didn't really go into too much detail in this chapter, as the story just started, but the reason he ran through time as soon as the intruders arrived is because he panicked, given he isn't exactly a warrior. This is hinted at near the end of this chapter, as he talks about hiring some mercenaries to eventually deal with the intruders and hopefully save his family.

Maybe I'm over-explaining some things I was going to talk about in later chapters anyways, but I will also say his family is okay, at least for now. He requested a quarantine of the time period, meaning no other time travelers can go to that area at that moment. So, he can make whatever preparations he needs to while remaining assured that no one else is going to interfere with the situation.

Thank you for the explanation! I'm glad to hear that his family is ok :) and I also didn't really get before that he panicked. And I didn't know what was quarantine neither.. Oh boy, it looks like didn't understand a lot! But luckily you came back to me :)

Brilliant start feels kind alike this

stupid steemit and their useless proxy

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