Window

Through the Window, Jack saw jagged teeth in a gaping jaw beneath two red eyes with cat-slit pupils.

"That's a carnosaur, I think," said Tasha. "It's definitely something extinct. That looks like a dangerous time period. I'll set it for something more recent." She took the Window from Jack and tapped the buttons on its control panel. The time display changed to read "NOV12, 1492AD, 12:00" and the view became an image of three ships in the ocean. Salty air blew into the room.

Jack had never seen such a device. "How is that poss. . .?"

A car's backfire interrupted him. His dad had pulled into the driveway. Jack turned white and thought of the belt marks across his back. "He's been out late drinking again. Tasha, he'll beat me for having visitors over. You have to hide or I'm dead."

Tasha shook her head. "No. I came to get you away from here." She handed him the Window. "You choose our destination. Set it for any place in the past or the future that you want to go to, and we'll step through it."
--Argus Skyhawk

Jack's fingers shook so bad they were miss-hitting buttons left and right. The window began to change, but was it to late? Jack could hear his father's heavy tread upon the stairs.

Hurrying they stepped through the window just as he heard his door crash open slamming against the wall. He didn't know where they would end up but any where was better then where he'd been.

Tasha's fingers flew on the controls and by the grim set of her mouth he knew there was a problem.

She glanced up and saw him watching, "We're headed for Shatera, There's a Venibian range war going on there and unless I can change our destination we are going to end up right in the middle of it.

Suddenly a large rock was headed toward Jacks face. He breathed a sigh when he missed it, but suddenly he was falling over four legged geese with hair and the more they ran, the more he lost his footing. Just when he was sure he was going to fall off a cliff a very huge hand hoisted him out from among the hairy geese.

Tasha was grinning as he looked up and up at a very tall human. "This is Bokahagus, he is Venbian and these," she pointed to the hairy geese," are Bilantrian Fleenwaks."

Jack thought, "My boy your definily not in Kansas any more."
--Whisper

"When and where are we??"
--Wraith1982@aol.com

“Shatera,” answered Bokahagus. He motioned to two guards near a large carriage, “Put them inside... chained. They know my name, which means they already know too much, and be quick about it!” he said glaring into the two travelers eyes.

They both scrambled to their feet, Tasha shoved the Window, into an inside pocket in her leather jacket. “Just play along, we’ll stay alive longer that way.” The two guards thrusted into the dark carriage. The massive guard chained both of them to each end of the cart. A few moments later the carriage lurched as it began to move.

“Please explain to me how this is better than being home? I would really like to know!” He said trying to yank himself away from the chains.

“I don’t know! I was hoping that we would end up somewhere else! And don’t yell at me, it’s your fault we’re in this situation, you fumbled with the controls to fast and overshot the perfect destination!”

“You should’ve never brought that thing over.” Both, were silent for a long while before Jack spoke again, “How did you know his name?”

“What?” her mind had been drifting, trying to block out the jostling of the carriage, “oh, the Window, gives me detailed information about the moment we appear in a different time.”

“For some reason, I don’t remember anything about a Venibian War, or some country called Shatera, in History class,” stated Jack.

She stared at her friend, “Like you were even in History class half the time,” she sighed and decided to tell him the truth, “When you were fumbling with the controls, you activated the random search option, which was fine, until a random element was introduce directly after we climbed through the Window.”

“What was it?” jack asked.

“I think it was your father.” she said matter of factly.

Then why didn’t he appear here after us?”

“The random search, remember, where ever it was when he climbed through is where he’ll end up.”

“So he’s lost somewhere in the past.”

“On Earth, of course,” finished Tasha.

“What do you mean, by that?” inquired Jack.

Tasha sighed, “We aren’t on Earth, we’re on Shatera, nearly ten lightyears from our own solar system.”

“Fabulous! How do we get back?”

“I think we recreate the accident, using someone from this world.”

“Using Bokahagus?”

The carriage lurched to a halt, “Exactly, when we are unchained get to Bokahagus, and I’ll adjust the device to simulate the accident again.” The door to the carriage was ripped open and Bokahagus stood there with the keys. His two guards stood outside next to the door.

“I am going to release you under one condition, you tell me who sent you to Sasnak.” demanded Bokahagus.

Tasha smiled and answered him, ”A man, in a village offered us this very, lucrative mission, just to gather information.”

The two captives watched the tall alien man consider the lie, “Kreatarus!, damn him!,” he reached over and released Tasha, “This isn’t your fault, Kreatarus is very devious and a man who enjoys sending others to their death. I should tell you, we three had decided to execute you two, but, I thought an interrogation would be useful before then. And I have decided not to based on the information you gave me.” He turned away from Tasha and moved to unlock Jack. Tasha quickly pulled out the Window and began to make the adjustments.

The alien unlocked Jack and turned back to Tasha. He gasped at the sight of the open Window. Jack jumped up and grabbed Bokahagus’ arms and pulled behind the alien’s back. Tasha finished the adjustments and moved to the other side of the Window, "I'm sorry, but we lied,” she pointed to the window, “That is a time portal, an accident brought us to your world, and the only way to get back is by recreating the accident. You are the only way for us to get home.” Before he could respond she thrusted him through the window.

“Tasha, I’ve been thinking, we need to find my father.” said Jack

“What, find that slime bag, why?” she shook her head, “this is neither the time nor the place to discuss this.” she took her friends hand and pulled him through the window. “I’m making the adjustments to-” suddenly, they found themselves laying on a slab of concrete, Bokahagus, unconscious, next to them.

“Where are we?” asked Jack. Tasha got up and brushed herself off and glanced on the information on the device, “Earth, but the more correct question is when are we...”
--Kimura1@aol.com

"So what do we do now??" asked Jack.
--Wraith1982@aol.com

"That's a good question," said Tasha. She stood and tapped the Window's control panel several times in frustration. "The Window banged the concrete too hard. The readout is broken. It shows that we're on Earth, but nothing else. I hope we can find a place to fix it."

They had landed in an alley between two brick buildings, only a few meters from a sidewalk. Several cars drove past. No one was likely to have seen them appear. Tasha stepped out and glanced both ways down the street. "We're in a big city somewhere. Judging by the styles of the cars it looks like the early or mid-21st Century."

Jack had never realized his friend had traveled so much through time and space.

Tasha said, "There's a newspaper vending machine down there. If you wait here with Bokahagus, I'll go see what the date is. I hope it takes 20th century American quarters."

Jack looked at Bokahagus, who groaned but did not wake up.

Tasha returned with a newspaper, her face white. "We're in San Diego, and the date is April 12th, 2045. Jack, you really need to look at this article."

The headline read "World President Abolishes Constitution of USA and Other Nations." Beside the article was a photo of the President of the World Government. The man was Jack's father, only several decades older.
--Argus Skyhawk

He was wearing a military uniform of some kind, one that neither Tasha nor Jack recognized, and his arm was around an unfamiliar woman of obviously alien heritage.
--Ruv Roo

Jack turned slowly to Tasha. "This can't be. My dad's……. president?"

"President," Tasha repeated. "And not just of the USA, Jack, your dad's president of the whole world! And that woman…." Tasha peered more closely…. "Do you have any idea who she is?"

"No idea" Jack leaned back against the wall. This was too much. Just too much for one day!
--Bianca Morsink

"That woman is the only other being I know of that has a similar device to the one I have. More importantly she's a vicious bitch and her favourite hobby is seeing worlds destroyed by their own native peoples. Do you understand this? She goes to a world, creates social unrest, gets a mad native to power, provides the technology to him and after she has cooked everybody enough, leaves to watch the scene from safety"

"So... What do we do now?" said Jack frantically.

Tasha gave him a very eloquent look, "You're starting to annoy me with your whining my friend! I managed to stop her a couple of times, you know! You have to help me, after all the mad being is your father and you know him more than anybody else. We have to find him and get him away from her before she gets to him. That means we have to go back in this time space continuum to the time when your father enters."

"Do we really have too!"

"You may be do not realize this yet, but we are traveling through possibilities more than a linear time and space. So this place could just be a possibility for your Earth but it could be more than that too. Sometimes a possibility is more strong than the others and so when it goes wrong several others go wrong too. Another reason is that having this device means that if I mess something I have to try to right it or else the Dreamers will take the device back"

Jack was more confused then ever, he had met Tasha by a chance that very morning at a bar. He had ran away from school and went to the bar alone as it was his usual to do after having a bad beating from his father. He as usually ordered his orange juice as the barman would not give him anything else and sat there looking at the ice melting in the glass. When he had stood like that for an hour someone had touched him and had suggested some very disgusting things in his ears and he had just shrieked "Go away from me you perverted dog" when Tasha appeared as if from nowhere and told the man that if he would leave on the minute she was going to call the police and that if she every saw him anywhere again she would make him eat his balls. That seemed to convince the man and to make Jack very grateful. She had walked him home and talked with him about unimportant things like the last football match and how nice the shops were in that street and so on. But when they had got to his home he had invited her in, he wanted, no, he needed desperately to have a friend. They had talked like that for about an hour when suddenly Tasha goes "Would you like to get away from here? I could take you to a couple of interesting places, are you interested?" And for no logical reason he had said yes and she got the device out and started to explain certain things that had seemed total bull at the time until she started demonstrating what the device could do. At that point he just got so confused and he was still very confused at that and he didn't like being confused more than what he generally was. So he did what he usually did when he got very confused, he ignored his confusion and concentrated on his actions instead.

It worked and he could think clearly again, he looked at Tasha and said "Tell me what we have to do."

"That's what I liked in you the moment I saw you, you can get decided after some time!" She ruffled his hair like he was a little boy and started running out of the alley and he followed her.
--J. Bonnici

"Hurry up!" Tasha called over her shoulder as she ran thorough the crowd of people.

"Were are we going?" Jack called out right behind her.

"I have to fix it before we can stop her." Suddenly the device beeped in her hand. "Oh no!" Tasha exclaimed as she stopped dead in her tracks.

"What is it?" Jack asked over her shoulder as she looked at the device.

"I don't know. It's a warning but the screen is broken so I can't see what about." Jack looked over her shoulder at the device. The word warning was displayed at the top, but nothing else showed up.

In the alleyway a cloaked figure approached the unconscious Bokahagus. He stopped for a moment with out looking down at Bokahagus. A small beep sounded from no where. The figure held out his hand and small flat device appeared. He read the message confirming what he already knew.

"Very good." He said in a pleased voice. "Now let's see if you can defeat her again." The device vanished as he knelt beside Bokahagus who began to groggily look around. "You're a bit far from home."

"Uh?" Bokahagus mumbled as he tried to get up. The cloaked figure swiftly punched him in the face, knocking Bokahagus out cold.

"You should stick to wreaking havoc in your own world." The cloaked figure stood at passed his hand over him, then walked away. In a moment a bright disk appeared under Bokahagus and he fell through the window back to Shatera. In an instant the cloaked figures clothes changed to match the people on the street. He vanished into the growing crowd.

On a nightstand a small device beeped twice. With a soft moan and smooth, silky green hand reached out and took hold of it. The woman turned under the sheets to see what it was. A frown slowly became a wicked smile as she put it back down. Beside her, a heavy middle aged man stirred. "Is something wrong my dear?" He asked.

"No" her silver voice cooed him. You're too late this time you little bitch. She thought to her self. His rough callused hands drifted over her light frame. She trembled with disgust inside but took his hand and kissed it. Another drifted lower, she caught it with her other hand. "Not right now please. I'm still asleep." Just then the device began to chirp incisively at a higher pitch. She sat up immediately, the sheets falling from her soft green body. She snatched up the device again and looked at the message.

"Now what is it my sweet candy?" The man asked as he sat up. He took hold of her body and drew her closer to his slightly obese one.

"Oh nothing, just an old boy friend." She lied, as she put down the device so he would not see it. His hands reached around to her chest and pulled her next to him.

"You look upset about him." His hands began moving more and more. Her disgust began to rise in her throat but she made sure he could not see it. "Shall I have him killed?" He asked. At his words a smile curved her thin lips. She turned to him and put her arms around his neck. His busy hands never seamed to lose their grip.

"Yes." She said as she kissed him lewdly on the mouth. "That would make me very happy." He laid back and pulled her over is flabby body. Her disgust faded away as she thought of not only destroying this world but also having him see it burn before he died. Her old 'boy friend' would burn with it as well. The sweetness of her impending success made her burn with desire for a man, any man.

"There I got it!" Tasha said as the device clicked and let out a whine as it powered up. She put down the tools that Jack had never seen before. They had used the device to walk through the wall of an old antique shop. She said it belonged to some guy called Mickren but she figured that the other woman, who was called Klidrel, had already killed him in this time line. That didn't make Jack feel any better.

"How do you know how to fix it?" He asked.

"I was taught by the Dreamer that gave it to me."

"Who are these Dreamers?" Jack asked getting confused again. Tasha opened her mouth to answer but stopped.

"I don't think now is the time." She finally said.

"Then when is?" Jack was beginning to wish he had just let his dad whip him. The device let out a soft tone. They both looked at it. The words 'She knows' were displayed. "What does that mean?" Jack asked.

"I don't know, it's never done this before." She looked at the device confused. "I think it means that bitch in the picture with your dad knows I'm going to try to stop her. But how would it know?" Tahsa's eyes grew wide. "Someone had to have sent the message."

"Who?" Jack asked, thoroughly confused again.

"I don't know." She ruffled his hair again and smiled. "Just clear your head again and we'll get going."

On top of the old building that housed the antique shop the cloaked figure stood facing toward the capital that was hidden from view by heavy smog. A small chime sounded and the figure smiled. All my pieces are in place, Jackal. No more unknown advantages. "Your move vile betrayer." He said softly. "Your move."
--Realm Scribe Shadren

Robert Cates and Shadren both submitted sections for this story at about the same time. I've posted Shadren's because it arrived first, but you are welcome to read Robert's alternate addition

   Jack followed along lamely behind Tasha, she was all talk and action, and ruffling his hair. She was nice, sure enough, but he was still playing second fiddle, like always, and she was treating him like a child. He kicked at a beer can lying on the sidewalk and sent it flying into the street to ricochet off the front wing of a parked aircar. The noise made Tasha stop and turn, and the next noise made Jack freeze in his tracks.

“Jack lad, its great to see you, I thought you must surely be dead.” The voice was well known to Jack, but its sentiments were not. He looked up from the sidewalk towards the parked car, and saw the owner of the voice, arms thrown wide, broad smile on his face, stepping from the now open door. Incredibly it was his father...

Jack’s habitual confusion overwhelmed him now as his brain tried to process this added piece of outrageous information. His mind and vision were shrouded in encroaching darkness. Could this all be a dream, he ventured hopefully. Maybe he’d be awoken by the drunken sounds of his father coming home to beat him.

Tasha however hadn’t missed a beat. Pocketing the window and leaping towards the man in a single motion, she caught him unawares from behind and drove the side of her foot into the back of his knee. The leg buckled and Tasha followed up with a karate chop to the neck.

“Ow!” she screamed as her hand crumpled against solid flesh that clearly was not flesh and was not human.

The still smiling man rose and turned, grabbing her arm and forcing her into the back of the aircar.

A moment later the still catatonic Jack was thrown in beside her. Then the man joined his companion in the front and the car started to move forward swiftly and to rise above the street and the buildings.

“Snap out of it, will you!” hissed Tasha, angry with pain, sure the bones in her right hand and fingers were broken. She’d taken pity on this kid on his homeworld, only because she’d suffered the same sorts of beatings at the hands of her own parents as a child, although in her own culture and timeline it was considered an act of true affection and parental responsibility. Jack did not respond. He was gazing vaguely at the back of his father’s doppleganger, probably not even conscious that they were now airborne. Tasha surreptitiously drew the window from her pocket, wondering if there might be another message, a warning perhaps, or even something to help get them out of this situation. She didn’t even know if they were in danger, or if this was something good.

The window’s display read: DANGER - SHE’S HAULING YOU IN

Great, she thought. But who are you? And are you here to help or to complicate matters?

She looked around her. The two people up front were both male in appearance. From the back, the man sitting with Jack’s fake father was of roughly similar build, and had a similar voice when he spoke. His posture and movements were similar also. As realisation dawned on Tasha that she was in fact looking at two identical fathers, it sent a shiver of horror and dread up her spine which she had not even experienced on seeing the first one on the sidewalk. This was truly unnatural.

She listened as the two men carried on a broken conversation. They seemed to be clued into each other’s mindset, and their words were therefore not a continuous intelligible flow to the eavesdropper. Tasha however gathered that they were now heading for the Capital, but a capital that was not where or what it should be.

The aircar had quickly left the city far behind and was now heading towards a vast estate set in open country. As they flew over its outer limits she could see that its grounds were dotted with clusters of buildings and ant-like groups of people involved in regulated activities of some kind. And all the while visible at its heart, a complex crystalline spire which reached towards the sky.

As the car drew closer and the ground came up at them, Tasha was able to make out what the groups of people on the ground were doing. To her mind they were unmistakably in training... And for war.

When she glanced at Jack he was dribbling from both sides of his mouth and still staring into space. With her own undamaged hand she took hold of his hand and drew it closer to the window. She then manipulated his index finger into a socket in the window’s control panel.

“Sorry about this Jack,” she said, and let go of him a moment before a surge of energy pulsed up through his arm and into his whole body. He screamed, eyes wide, hair on end, his flailing free arm cracking Tasha in the face.

The two men in the front started and turned to look, but Tasha had already slipped the window back into her pocket, and Jack was smiling benignly, the only alteration to his appearance being that his previously black curly hair was now white and spiked.

Both fathers’ eyed the boy and herself warily, then the first, the driver spoke: “We’ll be there in a minute. You two behave and no harm will come. Understand?” His voice was not entirely cruel, but neither was he still smiling, and Tasha nodded obediently, and watched to see Jack nod also. Apparently the energy surge had some beneficial effect on him, and the hair was quite cute in a wild sort of way.

Moments later the car touched earth and came to a halt under the huge canopy of the entrance to an ornate building which connected at some distance to the base of the spire. Everything here was on a grand scale. Not a military academy, despite the trainees, very definitely palatial. She expected that they would shortly be meeting the de facto king and queen, and she had little doubt about who they would turn out to be...

Jack’s two fake fathers shepherded them inside.

At about the same time a troop transport arrived at the palace ground carrying one more passenger than it had started off with, but in the general melee of bodies no one noticed the extra soldier disembarking and making his way towards barracks. And no one noticed the subtle change as he walked, from the uniform of a soldier to that of Consort’s Emissary. And no one, but no one, questioned the actions or whereabouts of an Emissary of the Consort of the President of the World, excepting, of course, the Consort herself. Sometime later, safely concealed where he could wait and watch for developments, the Emissary transmuted once again to a dark, cloaked figure, who smiled to himself and nodded in approval. Everything was still going to plan.
--John Hicks

What happens next? You decide. Write a sentence, write a paragraph then send it to me and I will add it to the story.