Time Agency by Aaron Frale Read Free Book Online

slip. I was talking to a man. There was an apple in my hand. I wanted to bite it. I felt the world fall out of focus. It was like I was falling through an empty void.
    I woke up to a woman looking into my eyes. I was on the floor of the bar. The woman, bartender, and a couple of other patrons hovered around me. My thoughts and vision blurred back into reality. I was buying her a drink. I wanted fresh breath. I pressed on my pocket. The mints were still there. I apologized, insisted I was fine and went to my room.

Event 5 - N
     
    Nanette appeared on the street in front of the bookstore for the second time that day. She checked the data stream and knew that he was close by. Jerry's disappearing act from the interrogation chamber was impressive but expected. She was his mentor after all. She began to scan the people on the street because she didn’t want any unexpected events at such a critical time in the mission.
    Her scan wasn’t noticeable to anyone but herself. Her technology wasn't detectable by anyone from this time period. Her scanners were her eyes, and the computers processing the scan were the nanomachines in her body. She simply needed to glance around, and she could see every face. There were hundreds of people on the street, and she cataloged everyone. If her protégé or 07760 were on this street, she would see them. Technology often looked magical to people of early history. Her nanomachines could control devices. A person from this time period would probably think she was a psychic and a genius when technology merely enhanced her. One thumbtouch from this period with an entire library of books and music would amaze those one hundred years ago before the invention of the computer.
    Her scanner alerted her to the presence of 07760 before she was able to verify him visually. The alert said 07760 was across the street. She pinpointed his location and saw a homeless man with long hair and a long beard where 07760 should have been. At first, she thought he bought a disguise and was wearing a fake beard. But the scan was accurate. His hair was genetically his hair. She was about to cross the street when she saw her protégé leave the grocery store. He ran down the street, and she chased after him. He ducked into the café.
    She followed him into the café. By the time she entered the main lobby, Jerry was nowhere to be seen. She counted two unisex bathrooms in the back and only one bathroom key on the counter. She snatched the bathroom key, and the irritated barista barked at her, “Bathrooms are for customers only! Can’t you read?”
    She ignored the barista and pushed her way to the back bathroom. One said occupied, and the other was vacant. She didn’t need the key, but she stuck it in the lock of the occupied bathroom for show. Her nanomachines flowed into the lock. They quickly disabled the dead bolt, and the door was easy to push open. Jerry was inside. He wasn’t trying to escape her. Her protégé was standing like he wanted to be captured. She rendered him neutral and forced his nanomachines to disable his muscles. She marked him for retrieval, and two other agents appeared in the bathroom. They forced him down on the ground.
    The agents burrowed into his short-term memory. It did not cause him pain. Anyone watching them would probably think they were involved in a strange performance art piece. He was frozen, and the agents were staring intently at him. No matter how thoroughly they scanned, the short-term memory was empty.
    “He wiped his short-term memory,” one of the agents said.
    “Put him in my grayspace. No one sees him except me,” she told the agents.
    “Are you…” the agent questioned her.
    “Collar him if you have to,” she commanded. The two agents obeyed without further delay. Jerry disappeared with his captors. She picked up the other restroom key and exited the bathroom. She plopped both keys back on the counter. The barista gave her an irritated look and commented about the