2106: Future from your dimension(s) 

(Note to reader…The translations below are as close to your language “English’ as is possible. As mentioned in previous chapters, *Name translations are specifically difficult. We trust the reader is intelligent enough to form their own pronunciations without too much distraction.)       

             TBA, (Temporal Balance Agency), Headquarters: New-New York, New York                      

    *Xx^e sat across the table from Lieutenant *HsTs himself. This was obviously bigger than he had previously thought. A simple temporal violation wouldn’t get the attention of the highest brass. This was not just big then…it was huge.

Xx^e noted the snot glands on the Lieutenants left head were producing mucus rapidly. He was in a serious state. His right head was vibrating.  

The Lieutenant closed a file he had been reading and looked across the table into Xx^e’s bulging yellow eye.  

“Xx^e, do you know why you have been called here, yes?”

Xx^e tried to appear nonchalant as he looked around the conference room. Mirrors lined all sides of the room. The effect was…unnerving. Exactly what the Lieutenant wanted no doubt. Typical TBA tactic. 

He opened his mouth to reply but was cut short.

“Drop the shy act Xx^e, huh. We are not here to play games, no.”

“Right then. The answer is nay. I have no idea why you plucked me from the comfort of my home island in dimension 23 and brought me here...to this time. You know I don’t belong here. You know I’m retired.”

He felt better now that he had spoken his mind. Because this was big and because he was the best bounty hunter in 28 dimensions, Xx^e figured he could relax a bit now. They obviously needed him. Besides, he knew old HsTs as well as he knew himself.

He propped his leg up on the chair next to him and pulled a pack of Doobie golds out of his vest pocket. He offered one to the Lieutenant who refused.

“You’re here Xx^e because see…well, because we need you, right. Someone has broken temporal law eleven and…

“Eleven…”

Huge didn’t even begin to describe how big this was.  

“…and don’t you mean ‘violated’ Lieutenant?”  

“Yes, eleven okay. And no…I mean what I say, get it. He didn’t just violate eleven. He outright broke it, right. We need this someone see, we need them hunted down and returned immediately, right. Before anymore damage is done.”

Xx^e blew out a halo of hallucinogenic smoke and contemplated the consequences of a failed mission.

Law eleven.

Who was this psycho? You had to be completely mad to do such a thing. To jeopardize the existence of your own dimension.

“There’s more to it though, see…” The Lieutenant continued.

More…how could anyone possibly do more?

“He also commit…” Lieutenant HsTs opened the file for a quick glance, found what he was looking for and closed it back up with a shake of his tiny symmetrical left head.

“He committed the act of, eh, see here…Murder.”

The word ricocheted around in Xx^e’s head.

“Merdar…you say?”

“See here, right. Murder.”

“I don’t follow Lieutenant…you mean like, killed?”

The Lieutenant nodded both heads.

Xx^e’s stomach ached. His head thumped.

A Killer.

How would he hunt a Killer?

They were like the ancient Gods. Taking lives.

It was beyond madness.

“I will require an extraordinary payment for this Lieutenant. I’m sure I don’t have to educate you on the risks involved here.”

“Of course not, right. We are scientists Xx^e. We understand the value of this bounty. Name your price and it is yours, see.’  

“You never were very good at negotiating brother.”

The Lieutenants left head smiled.

“You were never very good at losing, no. That is why we…rather, that is why ‘I’ have summoned you Xx^e. This is a very sensitive situation, yes. You must keep a low profile, at all times, right. No one can find out about this, no.”  

“Wait a minute…are you saying the UPC, (United Planetary Commission), doesn’t know about this HsTs?”

The Lieutenant nodded his right head.

“Are you insane! You’re sending me on a suicide mission. Without the support and funding of the commission, how can I be expected to succeed? How could I ever return safely?”

Xx^e waited for a reply. He didn’t get one.

“HsTs…answer me!”

“I cannot do that dear brother, see. This is…unfortunately top secret. Even I…even I do not know the roots of this issue, right. It goes beyond my rank.”   

Xx^e knew his brother. He knew he would never ask him to do such a thing if it wasn’t necessary.

“I see.”

“You must not let anyone know who you are or what you’re doing. No one, see! The Commission has already sent agents in, of course by law, to eradicate the bloodline, right, however they have been unsuccessful in that attempt or to capture the Killer. Just stay away from them, yes. Do not let them know you are there.”

“But why…”

He stopped before he could finish. He knew there was no answer. At least not for him.

“Xx^e, you are the only one who can do this, yes. For me. For you. For these dimensions. If this mission fails, we all fail, see. We are all counting on you brother.”

Xx^e snubbed his roach out on the surface of the table.

“Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking joints.’

The Lieutenant provided him with a folder detailing some key points of interest.

Two accomplices:

*T’ssA and *S^ii. (Tristianna and Simi)

He would start with them.

As he boarded the nine-ten out of New-NY, NY he thought about his brother.

He as adopted, brought from the higher dimensions. But it didn’t change the way he felt about him. He loved him as much as he loved his sister and his mum.

But could he trust him?

Once you became a member of the TBA…or any branch of the UPC for that matter…everything else was secondary. Friends, family…

He retraced their conversation, looking for inconsistencies. 

He couldn’t find any.  

He went over again the last things they said to each other before he was quickly escorted out the back door for secrecy…   

“So what’s this killer Gods name?”

“He goes by the name Johnny Boy.”

Xx^e ruffled the feathers on his back and belched.

“That’s the most ridiculous name I’ve ever heard. I can’t even say it.”

“It’s the name he has given himself in the time he has traveled to.”

“How do you know this..?”

“Because things have already begun to change, yes. His name…it is now in the History books. You must stop him, before he can do anymore damage, right.”

“Right.”  

“And one last thing brother, see. He has an accomplice in this time. A being called…Alex.”

“Al-x? Absurd!”

“Quite, right. This being…he is, how shall I say…expendable, see.”

Expendable.

Xx^e had debated it mildly. Didn’t expendable mean that he would wind up being just as bad as the one he hunted? The killer God who had not just violated law eleven, but broken it! And surely it was no coincidence that the Killer had traveled to the same time and dimension where his direct bloodline was located and scheduled for eradication. 

This was all adding up to the end for him. 

But his brother convinced him it was alright. He always did. 

So who was more of a fool, he wondered?

The Killer for doing what he had done…for whatever reason he had done it. Or the hunter, for accepting the impossible mission.  

Either way, he was ready for the challenge.