10 Minute Tales, Part 2

Aug 12 - Time

It came to a stop. He could see everything slow to barely a crawl. The monitor recording the status was updating the lines one at a time, almost taking its time. The tennis ball he had triggered to drop now hung in the air, still, silent. He looked around in disbelief, grinning broadly.

"It's stopped... we've stopped time. It's a success!" he grinned, looking around some more. "Okay, need to remember... if I touch anything, the energy might break it..."

"What are you doing here?" a voice suddenly asked, catching him off guard. He flinched and turned around, stunned. There was a woman there, arms folded and an impatient frown on her lips. She was wearing a large dress, with long sleeves and a material that glimmered as though it was a window into the other world. "First I have to reawaken my master, now we have someone messing with the fabric of time..."

"I'm sorry, but, uh, who the hell are you?" he asked, all the more confused. How was this happening?

"You may call me the Keeper." she curtsied briefly, before resuming her irate stare. "Now, allow me to ask again. What are you doing here?"

"I-I could ask you the same!" he objected, indignant. "My company's been trying to research this technology for some fifty years, and you're just... here?"

"I am in all places, as is my master. You, humans, are the ones that insist on being in one place at one time."

"But... how are you here? I mean... how?!"

"It is my job." she repeated, sighing. "Now, you are aware of how damaging this technology would be if it was used repeatedly?"

"Huh? Repeatedly?" he blinked, looking at the machine. "I mean, it took a lot of energy just to get this one..."

"Look at your hand."

"Huh? My... gah!" He recoiled, shocked. His hand had wrinkled, looking about thirty years older than he was. "What's happening to me?!"

"Your time is disrupted. You are ageing and rejuvenating at uncontrollable rates."

"H-how do I stop this?"

"Go back to the normal timeframe. You may get lucky and emerge relatively close to your proper age."

"And if I'm unlucky?" he watched his hand grow even more wrinkled, before regaining strength and shrinking some.

"Would you rather be dead, or have never existed?" the Keeper asked. She was still stern, but now it was mixed with pity. "Pray to my master that you get your timing right. Even if you do not, you are to never return here again." she turned to the machine and walked closer. A wand appeared in her hand, a slim rod with a five-pointed star on one end. It glimmered with a rainbow of energy...

"What are you doing...?"

"Making certain that you do not return." she slammed it into the machine, tearing through it with disturbing ease. He could see the electricity snake its lazy way through the air. He gulped nervously as a shockwave rippled through the air, towards him. He was thrown against the wall and collapsed, panting desperately as the machine whirred down to silence. His assistant ran over, scared now.

"Hey! Hey, are you okay? Are you with us still?" she nudged him once, twice. He looked up, panting desperately.

"Do not use that thing again."