Crossover Earth '98

by Paul Cocker & Jay Shaffstall

Arthur padded into the kitchen of the old family house and gave his wife a peck on the cheek as she stood stirring a pot on the stove. "Morning, love." He looked down into the pot and made a face. "Oatmeal again?"

"I thought you liked oatmeal," Lynn replied.

"I do, but I also like a little variety. Seems like forever since I last had bacon and eggs...with blueberry pancakes and maple syrup."

"Now, you know what the doctor said. You’ve got to watch your cholesterol. And it does us both good to eat better and cut down on our fatty foods."

"Oatmeal it is then. We got brown sugar and cinnamon?"

"Yes, they’re on the table"

"The Morning Star come yet?"

"I haven’t checked."

Arthur opened the front door, and morning paper toppled to the floor. "Ah, there we are. Say, love, where’s Jessica?"

"She’s watching television. She’s trying to find that toothpaste commercial she’s in."

Arthur headed for the den. He heard the television, its channels changing to the rhythm of a restless surfer. The girl scowling indignantly as she pointed the converter at the television had the impudent cuteness of a prime-time sweetheart. Her cropped shirt and shorts revealed an athletic tone to her muscularity, suggesting that she played professional tennis. Her green eyes narrowed as she blipped from channel to channel almost too fast for the eye to follow -- assessing, the control box becoming an extension of her will, as if she pointed a weapon.

"My word, Jessie. How can you find your commercial at that rate."

She sighed. "Oh, it’s no use. I’ve checked and checked all week. It’s not on."

"Give it time. It’ll be on soon."

"What’s for breakfast?"

"Oatmeal."

"Again?"

Arthur laughed. He walked to his favorite chair and sat down with his paper.

"Well, call me when it’s ready. I’ll be in my room."

Jessica padded down the hall to her bedroom. It was decorated like most sixteen year-old girls’ rooms. Posters hung on the walls, a computer rested on a desk, and CDs littered the floor. She tip-toed around the mess and fell on her bed.

Suddenly, a shadow moved.

Jessica jumped up. "You!" she whispered harshly. "You’ve got some nerve. And in my house!"

It was Captain Infinity. His face was forever shadowed by the cowl of his hooded cape, but she could feel his eyes on her. He hovered ominously in place, his cloak billowing about.

"I apologize for leaving you so abruptly on the plane, Blur," he said. "My powers failed me, and I didn't dare risk bringing you along with me."

Jessica folded her arms in front of her and furrowed her brow. "Look, I've seen you do some wild tricks in our encounters -- your most common one is making a quick exit. I know you’re a man of mystery, and perhaps you like it that way, but you have to trust someone. And if you're going to continually come to me at whim and drag me off to God knows where you better start coughing up."

The teenager's eyes narrowed on the hovering Captain Infinity. They pressed past the opaque shadows within the cowl of his cloak and glared at where she thought his eyes were. "What do you mean your powers failed you?

"Just that." Infinity paused for a moment. "I am a man out of time, Blur, trying to change a disaster that has already happened. As such, I fight against the forces of temporal inertia...the timeline does not want to change, and even my powers are subject to universal laws."

Jessica scratched her head in bafflement, then pondered, and finally stood in silence. She couldn’t find the words to verbalize the questions that swam in hear head.

Infinity nodded. The gesture was barely perceptible, but it was there. "Know that the man who lost his wife and child on the airplane is named Donald Martin. He is a physicist who will, in his grief, unleash a temporal explosion. That explosion will knock down the underpinnings of the cosmos. Even I cannot tell what will transpire past the explosion."

"Wait a minute," the teenager demanded. "You mean to tell me you know what this man will do? If you know the course he's going to take, can't you somehow veer him in another direction? You know, change the outcome of his future?"

"I attempted to divert Dr. Martin from his destiny by small measures...saving his daughter, who should have been killed by the Carver in New York, by projecting the Carver forward in time past the point where Martin's daughter was killed. Stopping the hijackers would have saved his wife as well...but temporal inertia swept us along, and now both wife and child are dead."

Captain Infinity’s cloak played about his body like a thing alive yet it was never inhibiting. Blur saw the sternness in his eyes. "I fear more direct action may be necessary," he added.

Jessica’s arms fell to her sides as despair etched across her face. "Just great. Now what do we do?"

Infinity sighed. "I must try to force the issue, by being on hand when Dr. Martin is going to throw the switch, and attempt to prevent him from doing so. I will almost certainly be powerless by this point, so opposed will the timeline be to a change. But I must try."

She nodded. "I'm no master of time, but I can probably run a four second mile. I'll help you however I can, Infinity."

But then the teenager paused for a moment, considering the concept of contending with linear time. "Hmm, perhaps I could ask Zephyr to help. I mean, he could definitely do laps around me -- and that's when he runs backwards with his knees tied together. He's not exactly into full-fledged heroics anymore, but I'm sure he'd help with something as dire as this. Whatcha say, Infinity? You can't carry the weight of the world by yourself."

Agreement flickered in Infinity’s eyes. "I've worked with Zephyr in the past. If he's willing, that might tilt the odds in our favor. I know the timeline well enough to know that there will be opposition to what we intend. Certainly normal security guards at the government facility where Dr. Martin works, but most likely others as well."

Jessica was about to speak but she knew Infinity had more to say. So she just stared.

"Dr. Martin's experiment is due to happen in January or February. I think our best bet is to strike as close to the moment of the experiment as possible. You check with Zephyr, and I'll be in touch."

That said, Infinity pulled his fading trick and disappeared.

Jessica rushed and finished getting dressed. She put on some sports socks and a pair of runners. She then went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. She raced down the hall to the front door.

"Where you going, Jessica?" her grandmother asked. "Your oatmeal is almost ready."

"Uh, for a quick jog," she stammered. "I’ll be back real soon."

With that, the youngster raced to see Zephyr.

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