Lost in Time ~ Five Hargreeves

Chapter 9

1955 // The Commission

"I must admit, Number Five, Riley, in all the time that I've been here, I've never met anyone quite like you," said the Handler.

She, Riley, and Five stepped away from one building (what looked like an observatory) and toward another (what looked like an old mansion).

"Hazel and Cha-Cha, for example, are talented, certainly, but they can't see the big picture. Your spunk, your enterprising spirit, and your revolutionary ideas, well, it reminds me a great deal of myself, if I may be so vainglorious–"

Riley and Five followed the woman up the stairs to the building.

"– If things work out for you here, you could potentially make two fine successors."

As soon as they entered the building, someone took the Handler's coat to hang it up somewhere.

"I'd like to discuss the logistics of our family's safety at your earliest convenience," said Riley.

They knew they wouldn't stay here long– there was an apocalypse coming up.

And the sooner Riley and Five could get away from here, the better.

"– As well as this body replacement," Five added

"Such chutzpah. It's refreshing, I'll admit," commented the Handler and led the two up a large staircase.

"Slow down, you two. All in good time. In fact, now that you've finally agreed to work with us, we've got all the time in the world."

"The Commission works in support of a delicate balance between the time line of events and mankind's free will," explained the Handler as they passed the 'Briefcase Room'.

It was, as the name said, the room where the Commission kept the timetravell Briefcases.

Five walked a bit slower.

"The briefcase is no longer part of your kit, Five. Free your mind. You're both in management now."

She placed her hands on Riley and Five's backs and pushed them both past the room.

"All the people on this floor are case managers, each one responsible for one major event at a time."

The three stopped at a door to a room.

Hundreds of people sat at small desks, which made the room seem to go on forever, and went about their daily work.

"So many of them," Riley said in amazement.

Back when they were still working for the Commission, Riley had a small office for them alone.

"Impressive, isn't it? Being part of something… so grand. Come along."

The Handler led Riley and Five through more hallways.

Neither of them ever been in this part of the building, which was smaller on the inside than on the outside.

So, Riley wondered why the Handler showed them all this.

"Whenever someone chooses the wrong path and the time line is changed, the Commission gets a report from field agents on the ground. These field reports are sorted and assigned to a case manager. They determine if anyone needs to be… removed from the equation to assure that their event happens as it should."

Riley and the others stopped at a second room.

"Based on that determination, the case manager sends instructions via pneumatic tube to… temporal assassins like you formerly were, Number Five," the woman explained what a secound woman in the room was doing.