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Chapter 5

"Bullshit," Ulises replied to Oberon.

Oberon suddenly appeared in front of Ulises, face to face. It was as if he had teleported in the blink of an eye.

Ulises jumped back and raised his rifle.

"Easy, soldier," Micah said.

Oberon "teleported" back to where he stood before, as if he never left the spot. He tapped at the plate atop his device.

"I would be careful, Doctor," Micah told him, "our reflexes our still quite swift."

"Not as instantaneous as mine," Oberon replied with a wink. "And please, call me Oberon."

Micah almost questioned this Oberon Fleishman, but he had seen the proof with his own eyes. He was very curious about this newfangled technology.

"Stop time, you say?" Micah remarked.

* * *

"Sir," Ulises started.

Micah interrupted him. "I know what you're going to say. Yadda yadda we don't know this person, could be a trap, and you may be right. But look. He may have something that gives an advantage, and he seems forth-willing."

Ulises sighed. "Whatever you say, sir. But this time, you're taking point."

Micah wouldn't have it any other way. He clipped on the device around his left wrist. He then looked at Oberon.

"Juuuust tap the plate, it's all rigged," Oberon said.

Micah did as he was told.

Everything stopped.

Silence. Pure silence. It startled Micah. The only sound he heard was his own breathing.

He looked at Oberon and Ulises.

Oberon stood there smiling, completely still, like a cut-out poster. Ulises stood there as well, in the same fashion, his face in a fixed state of shock.

Micah began to move.

His steps felt different. The floor felt harder to him, somehow. He was also breathing. Was the oxygen in the room limited to what had been there before he activated the device?

He felt no climate difference in the room; air felt and flowed normally into his contracting lungs.

He walked and stood in front of Oberon, as Oberon instructed him after he was finished with this little experiment. He hit the plate.

Pop! Sound rushed back in.

"Christ! I'll never get used to that," Ulises said.

"Ah! So? How was it?" Oberon asked, still smiling, hands now clapped together.

"... Creepy," Micah responded.

"Oh yes, I've written a whole text on still-time dynamics. Mind you, it's not for the layman..." Oberon trailed off as he went into another room, head hunched over his shoulders.

"Sir. What happened?" Ulises asked.

"Time... stopped," Micah said. "You had a silly look on your face."

Ulises' face remained still as ice. "I recommend caution, sir. You appeared right in front of us, just as he did. I don't detect any external anomalies..." He looked Micah down, studying his person.

"I was only there for a minute or so," Micah replied. He pondered his use of the word "there". He had really gone nowhere. "And he never mentioned any adverse or longterm effects."

"You also did not ask," Ulises told him.

Oberon returned. "Much more to show you, yes, look here please." He opened a thick notebook with its loose seam held together with white strings.

Micah looked over Oberon's notes.