The sands of time- a war story by Remirol Nacnud
Written by Remirol

The sands of time- first draft.

Field Report: Operation: Surveillance

Chrono-commando squadron 75J

By Captain Green

18:04/12/03/1954

Aim: Use chrono transporters to gather information about the area in order to acces importance for positioning a GPS satellite.

Report: All but one of the five agents, including myself returned from this routine mission.

Agent Archer seems to have encountered an error with his chrono suit, which caused a tesla cloud to be created.

It is impossible to determine whether Archer was sucked in, warped or shocked, or whether he created the cloud to cover up his movements so that he could transfer to the side of the soviets.

Tracking device was engaged, information received was nonsense. The tracker reported that he was transported to the year 2005.

Agent Sampson travelled forward to 2005 along the correct pathway and there was no sign of Archer.

Archer is therefore missing, presumed dead and his equipment must have been transported through the dimensional pathway. No matter except the tracking device can survive this. Therefore there is no danger of the technology falling into the wrong hands.

The area that we covered in the day was largely unpopulated. One small town and some farms were uncovered. No interest for our forces or the enemy..

Report concluded.

Captain Green- Chrono-commando squadron 75J

..........................................................................................

Archer looked down at himself. He seemed to have escaped unscathed. "How is that possible? No one ever has..." he said to himself in a hushed voice. He had heard of Tesla storms before. He had been taught about them whilst in training to become a chrono commando. But no one had seen one for years. Supposedly they were caused by extreme stress on the timelines caused by a legionnaire's chrono equipment. When too much chrono technology is used in the same space at the same time, not only time is effected but the barriers of reality also. Many had been seen in the first soviet war when they were reported to have swirled the fabric of time, destroying anything in their path and also creating huge electric currents due to the same particles causing friction on themselves through a thousand realities.

A mad General, 'The Insane Nacnud' as he was known to his unfortunate troops was obsessed by them. He had used chrono technology in unproductive ways near an enemy base in the hope of creating a storm. He swore that it would be the new super weapon that would give the allies almighty power. He even sent whole squadrons to fire into existing storms, just to see what would happen. None of the soldiers returned. Nacnud was finally decommissioned after a major allied base was destroyed by a storm that he had created within it. He claimed that he was stress testing the buildings. He was never seen again. It is rumoured that he drove into the storm screaming "We'll be back to get you!" over the communications system.

Archer found himself in a dark room. A trickle of sunlight was coming through a window. He became worried when it appeared to be barred. He was hot, extremely hot. "I feel like I'm on the sun. Or maybe just Lebanon, I can't decide." He felt the sand between his toes. His boots were gone and his feet looked as if they'd been dragged across the ground. They were bleeding lightly.

He heard a loud banging on the large metal door. Then there was much shouting in what sounded like Arabic. "I can't understand you. I only speak English. Can you speak English?" He was feeling surprisingly calm, considering that he was the only known man to have survived a tesla storm. There was more talk in Arabic, and then the voices hushed. "Where the smeg am I? I could be anytime, anywhere and in any reality. And so far it doesn't seem to be such a friendly one either." He searched himself. His chrono suit and devices had been ripped from him. Only his RAF uniform remained. He could feel his watch. He lifted his wrist to the light, and could just make out that his watched had stopped. It had stopped at the exact moment that he had engaged his chrono device and caused the storm. '12:36'

"You are English?" Came an Arabian voice on the other side of the door.

"I am obliged to inform you only of my name, rank and number. John Archer, Lieutenant, 30-75J."

"You will come with me." There was a loud clunking as the door was unlocked and opened. "Come."

Archer heaved himself towards the door. He felt like all of his blood had set up camp for the night on one side of his body. Well, that will happen when you travel at near to the speed of light. His head thumped as though a rabbit was beating his head and his mouth felt like it had a Frenchman living in it. He could barely see the man. It was still very dark. He could just make out some ragged robes and a thick beard. Behind Archer appeared two large men who poked him in the back with knives. Not wanting to draw blood, Archer obediently moved on after the first man. He was led into another room. This room was still quite dark, but now he could clearly see his capturers.

"I am Hojan. I see that you are a British pilot. They have denied your existence. You are alone now. Your mission has failed. You have been abandoned. You are now no longer an official person. We can do what we like with you. And no worries about any 'conventions' either. We shall torture you until you tell us what we want to know." Although the man's English was choppy, he was quite easy to understand. And the message was coming across loud and clear. Archer was in deep trouble. What could he have already done unconscious that was of international importance? Maybe this world was such a turbid world that just being a British pilot in Arabia was enough.

"What is it that I am accused of doing?" Archer said before being struck by one of the two large men.

"You will speak when spoken to. Here have a handkerchief." The man passed him a handkerchief for his now bleeding nose. "You mysteriously appeared in the United Arabia counsel room. You were armed with a machine gun of some new design and you carried with you some very strange equipment indeed."

"My chrono suit? I can see why you'd be interested in that."

"You just don't learn do you?" The man nodded to the other large man who gave Archer a swift kick to the groin. He fell to the floor and tried to silence his groans of pain. "Why did you come here? Which of our leaders did you come to assassinate?"

"I came to assassinate no-one. It was all an accident. What have you done with my suit?"

"I will ask the questions. What is it for?"

"I must have it back. It's my only way to get home." He said under his breath.

"What? We tried to activate it but it asked us for some activation codes. You will tell me these codes. It may prove useful."

"No, it will only cause harm. It has malfunctioned." Archer was hit again, only in the face this time. The pain was quite relieving since it took his mind off of the pain in his groin.

"How did it malfunction? What is so dangerous about it? You just want to stop us taking your technology." Hojan's voice was beginning to sound sinister. As though the more he heard about the chrono suit, the more evil plans began to arise in his mind. His voice was a light croak, more of an animal than a man.

"I don't know exactly. I mustn't and cannot tell you about it. It is classified. No torture in the world could force me to."

"I have a British agent appear from nowhere and arrive in the council room. He is wearing some sort of strange technology suit. Obviously it was pivotal to what you were doing there. If you could get so close, why not just shoot our ministers?"

"I wasn't there to kill anyone." Hojan switched on a bright light and shone it into Archer's face.

"Why are the British working with the GLA? What would they gain from the Alliance being destroyed and the GLA taking over?"

"The who? Who are the GLA? I really have no idea what you're talking about!"

"SILENCE!" Hojan spit into Archer's face. "Silence scum. Enough of your lies!" Archer wiped his face and looked to the window. They were below ground apart from the very top of the room where the window was. He saw a guard, but not much else. "Do not even bother looking out there. Even if you could escape, you are surrounded by desert. You could go for weeks without finding water. We would hunt you down like a dog. But co-operate, and we shall be merciful." Archer thought it through. Hojan continued to talk and ask questions, but Archer wasn't really listening. He simply said enough to keep Hojan happy. There was a sudden flash of light and a whirring sound. Where Archer had sat was just a strange light that stuck to the air for a few seconds. "Sound the alarm! Sound the alarm!" Hojan said in Arabic.

A war story by Remirol Nacnud




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