The Tale of Amaretto

Twenty-Second Grain

In which Tempus Responds and Johanna Explained...

When nothing happened, Amaretto looked at her aunt with a panicked look for a moment. Katherine opened her mouth to say something else but then a small chime was heard. Amaretto looked towards the other two women whom they were with, but realized that they had not heard it. There was a small crackle of static and then out of the ring itself, a small tinny voice could be heard.

"Hello? Yes? This is Tempus speaking; did you need something?"

Amaretto blinked at the ring and Katherine smiled slightly while raising an eyebrow. "So some of the things he makes do work," was all Katherine said in a small voice.

"Katherine? Is that you? I heard that!" Tempus' small voice sounded outraged.

Amaretto bit her lower lip. "He sounds a little like a chipmunk."

There was an exasperated sigh from the ring and then Tempus said, "Well, I can't help that the speaker for the ring is so small. If you actually tap the button on the base of the ring, I can talk directly into your head."

Amaretto's eyes widened in surprise as she looked at the ring. "Are you serious? The ring is only a single pearl though! How did you hide the button?"

"Didn't I tell you that I am one of the masters of time and space? I may not be as good as La Sorcière, but I do get some awesome toys to play with because of who I am."

Amaretto rolled her eyes at the bravado in Tempus' voice. Katherine responded in a quiet tone. "So we have reason to believe that the first coordinate stone that you have us looking for is actually in the hands of someone less than notorious. On top of that, the people who you have showing us around were the original owners."

Amaretto rolled her eyes. "She forgot to tell you that they are both totally crazy. One dresses like a girl half her age, and the other is a damn robot."

Katherine looked at the girl in shock. "Amaretto; be careful of what you say about people!"

Amaretto looked at her aunt with a slight bit of disdain. "She totally is a robot! She has to be!"

Tempus' voice came from the ring sounding a little worried. "A robot? In this dimension and current time period, there aren't supposed to be any real large automatons. Those aren't required for another two years. The professor who invents them is still in college."

Katherine's face blanched. "Excuse me?"

More exasperation came from the ring. "I mean that the professor who is supposed to invent the usages of automatons is not due to graduate for another year. He then is supposed to throw himself into his work and build the first working prototype eight months after he graduates. Two weeks later he gets an investor from a dirigible company and they start making them to fly the airships across the world."

Amaretto looked at her aunt and then very quietly said, "Tempus, do you know anything about IronMen?"

"Iron Man? Isn't that a comic book from your dimension on Earth Secundus?"

At this Amaretto was impressed. "You read comics?"

Tempus' reply was cut off however as Katherine's eyes widened and the color of her face blanced.. "So there are not supposed to big mechanical men who police the streets?"

"What in the Eighty-one hells are you talking about woman?" Tempus sounded almost as confused as Amaretto felt at that moment.

Amaretto brought the ring up to her mouth and then began to talk: "TherearethesebigmechanicalmenthatarecalledIronMenandtheyareeverywhereandtheyarecurrentlyhuntingusdownalongwiththepeoplethatyouhaveshowingusaroundbecausetheyaretraitors..."