Chapter Nine:
Well, here we are, chapter nine. I'm annoyed right now after just watching the football, netherlands v italy... I have never seen such bad penalties in my life!!! (and now i'm posting it two months later at least...)
Anyway, I owe an apology, and thanks, to Zach, who proofed my last chapter, and has been a good friend to me over the past few weeks. In a slip up, I accidentally removed his name from the intro of the last chapter - an error which i wished to rectify. Also, thanks must go out to Jim - author of a great story, 'Jamie's Romance', for proofing this chapter for me.
Again, thanks to Chris, Tom, Zach, and everyone who's emailed me. As always, feel free to contact me at trekster2@hotmail.com. Legal: don't read unless your supposed to.... this implies nothing about the sexuality of any of the characters involved, and the storyline is fictional.
"Er... where am I going?" Owen asked as he was driving along, awaiting directions on where to go. "Just keep going straight on for a while, I'll tell ya when to turn." Justin said, relaxing back into the leather chair, scrolling through the radio stations. He finally settled down on some pop radio station or other, which funnily enough, was playing the Backstreet Boys 'Show me the meaning....'. "That left!" Justin shouted, his attention returning to the road, pointing to a street which was sailing past the car on the left. "Ooops..." Owen just laughed at Justin's comical reply, turning down the next street, hoping it would go through. "Just park wherever you find a spot, we'll walk down to the lake." Justin said, turning down the radio. Owen pulled, or more precisely, squeezed, the car into a small gap, before Justin and he struggled to get out the car, the doors only just opening enough for them to squeeze out. The only hope, of both of them, was that no one would notice Justin. Fortunately, the area was free of young girls, mainly older people. They wondered down to the lake front, looking out over the water, the odd boat speeding across the lake. "What do you think of that?" Owen said, pointing to a chalked in sign on the door of the rental office. "You must be joking?" "Nope, you'd love it!" Owen said, grinning from ear to ear, as he looked again at the sign: 'Parasailing - 450ft - $45 per person - max 3. "Well, you up for it?" Owen said, as he dragged Justin into the office. "Hi, we'd like to go parasailing." "Ok sir, just the two of you?" "Yep." "Ok, basically, as it says, $45, you get about 25-30 minutes air time. We'll need a credit card number, or cash. You'll also have to sign these insurance documents in case of injury." "Justin?" Owen said questioningly to Justin, wanting his final approval. "Sure, go ahead with it!" Justin said, sounding a little more enthusiastic. Owen went through all the paper work, and Justin and he scribbled down a signature where applicable. Owen handed over his (company) credit card, before they went out and got kitted up. The guy gave them a long safety lecture. They both listened, before they were finally taken over to the boat. They were hooked up, the parasail connected to their tandem harness. The boat took off, and after a few seconds, they slowly moved up in the air. Adrenaline rushed through their veins as they soared through the air, the wind rushing by them. Owen easily spotted the black Ford Crown Victoria, parked in between a group of trees further down the road, the two agents standing nearby, again hidden in the trees. "Enjoying it?" Owen shouted as best he could for Justin to hear with the wind rushing by. "Yes!" Was the similarly received reply. The next few minutes were spent in silence as the two glided thru the air behind the speedboat, across the open waters of the lake. The odd alligator, tens of birds, fish, turtles, even the odd duck could be seen as they soared through the skies. Owen's mind sprung back to the first time he ever went into space on a small two person fighter - which until a few months ago were in extremely common usage by the fleet. . And now, the exhilaration of being here, next to Justin. Flying through the solar system in a small ship with a confined cabin, at up to a quarter the speed of light was virtually the only experience that had ever equalled this. Only a few minutes later, it seemed, the boat was slowing down, and they were touching back down on the ground. "Well?" Owen asked as they landed down into the water. "That was fantastic!!" Justin shouted, letting out a little 'whoop' while he detatched himself from the tow cord. They got out onto the side, climbing up the ramp. "Have a good time guys?" The boat driver said as he started reeling in the cord and parachute. "Great thanks. It was fantastic." Owen replied, shaking hands. He and Justin were shown back to the changing rooms to get back into there own clothes, and to shower and dry off. About 25 minutes later they were both in the Aston Martin, Owen driving this time, heading back to Justin's house. They debated going elsewhere, but time was rapidly passing, and wherever they went, in all likelihood, Justin would be caught by fans. Owen pulled the car into the driveway, only to find that Lynn had actually arrived back. Owen quickly stopped the car as they debated how to proceed. "Well, we went in my car, you can't say you went for a drive, what do you want to do? Have me drive you up, and then explain me as someone?" "But who would you be then?" "Bloody hell - this would have been a lot easier if your mum wasn't back yet." Owen said, as Justin's cell phone suddenly started ringing. A quick glance at the number revealed it was his mom. Justin quickly thought of an excuse, before answering. "Oh hi, mom. You're back? That's great, yeah. Oh I just popped out for a few minutes, for some fresh air. Yeah, I know I didn't take the car, I've just been for a walk. I'll be back in a few minutes, just walking back to the house. See ya soon mom, love ya. Bye." Justin hung up the phone, before turning back to Owen. "I'm sorry, but it looks like we'll have to part now. We can meet up tomorrow though, or tonight maybe?" "Yeah, that'd be great. You have my number don't you?" "Yeah, you gave it to me earlier." "Bye Owen." "Bye Justin," Owen said, forming a small smile on my face, as the two hesitantly approached each other for a hug. Justin then left the car and walked up the driveway. Owen stayed for a second, as he watched the person who used to be his boyfriend walk along the wooded path, before he shifted the car into reverse and drove off. The day hadn't gone bad, that was for certain, and hopefully in time Justin would decide to come back to him. Right now, time is one of the few commodities that wasn't in excess however.
Time - an interesting concept. How does one go about defining time, what is time? It's something that is probably the most crucial thing to our existence, the passage of time, leading from one point to the next. What is the time - a question everyone has asked, such a fundamental concept crucial to our very existence, yet when it comes to putting down what time is in words, it no longer seems such an easy concept that is used everyday. Leading from one point to another, much like a road really. To species like the First Born, time is nothing more than a 4th dimension to add to length, width and depth. While we have theories to show 'time' as a 4th dimension, to them, it is no different than the physical distance between two points in space. To us, however, any theories that define us as living in four space-time dimensions really do not help to give any conceptual idea of what time actually is. At our level of existence, time is an unsurpassable barrier, that right now is counting down the hours, minutes and seconds to our own demise. To coin a pun, in time, time will be less of a barrier, it will be no different than a distance, something that can be easily traversed, since at its true nature, that is all it is. Another dimension to our universe, the miracle that it is. A shame that time right now proves to be the one thing that is marking the end of our civilization, our existence. Fortunately, sometimes fate just happens to be on one's side, and this was looking to be one of those times.
"Sir, we're receiving telemetry from jump relay 12F. Long range sensors have detected a high speed, sublight vessel approaching its coordinates at .94 L." "Very good - can we identify it?" "Negative, unknown design, very primitive offensive capabilities, ballistic missiles by the looks, and no defensive shielding of any worth. There's a primitive magnetic deflector shield around the ship." "Looks like it could be a first flight by a primitive race." "A Kulmari medium class battle ship has just dropped out of slipstream - it will intercept the other ship in about 16 minutes." "Very good. Mr Thomas, have us jump immediately to 12F, and sound general quarters."
"We're out of slipstream, scanning. We've got a fix on the two ships, bearing 112-173, distance 12000km. The Kulmari ship will be in weapons range in one minute." "Set an intercept course, full sublight, engage time dilation correction." The captain replied. "Sir, a message from command, Director Edwards is on his way. He should be with us in about 3 minutes." "Very good - eta?" "2 minutes." "Raise shields, power up all weapons systems. Hail the Kulmari vessel, open channel." "Kulmari vessel, this is the ESF Nautilus, you are in neutral space, we will not permit you to take any aggressive action against the alien ship. Lower your weapons and retreat immediately, or face aggressive action. End comm." "There is no response sir, the communication was received however." The helmsman replied from his station. "We will be in weapons range in 10 seconds sir, shall I fire on the Kulmari vessel?" The weapons officer asked, a silence following his question as the captain debated the consequences. "Fire at will, destroy the ship." The captain said a few seconds later. "Aye sir. Charging primary weapons - ready to fire in five, four, three, two, one - quantum charges away." The viewscreen showed the progress of the invisible charges, imbedded deep in quantum slipstream left the ship, and a few seconds later, plowed into the bow of the Kulmari vessel. "They have major hull breaches, life support failure on two decks, main power, weapons and engines still online." Suddenly, a small flash appeared towards the back of the bridge, as the director appeared. "At ease, proceed." Edwards spoke as he stood on the bridge next to the captain's chair. "SIR! The Kulmari ship is firing anti matter torpedoes at the unidentified vessel!" "Increase speed, extend shields round the other vessel as soon as possible. Lock on main weapons directly onto the power systems of the Kulmari vessel." "Aye sir - locking on. We have incoming torpedoes, eight high yield charges." "All hands, brace for impact!" The captain shouted as the ship violently rocked. "Shields down to 74% efficiency, all systems online." "Return fire, target the main power systems." "Firing. Direct hit, there main power system has been taken off line, anti matter containment system is still operational. Second charge away - they have just jettisoned the main power core. Incoming weapons fire, directed energy weapons." The ship vibrated gently as the streak of energy hit the shields, lasting for a few seconds. "Shields down to 64%, minor damage to the outer hull armor, all systems operational. They're firing again." "Weapons officer, fire at will." "Aye sir! Charging cannons 2-5, firing available weapons." The ship rocked again as the weapons fire hit. The viewscreen showed as an array of weapons were launched from Nautilus, as well as the quantum charges, the shields of the Kulmari vessel flaring up. "Firing cannons 2-5." A short pause followed, lasting only a few seconds, but it seemed like an eternity. "Sensors show heavy damage to power, weapons and drive systems. They've lost anti matter containment on the secondary reactors, massive hull breaches, shields are down, weapons are down, they have thrusters." "Weapons officer, finish them off." "Aye sir." As he finished a slow moving torpedo accelerated out the ship to just below 0.75C, plowing into the side of the Kulmari vessel. A large explosion followed, and after a few seconds, the whole ship blew in a massive fireball as the oxygen in the ship was used up. "Hail the unidentified vessel, lower our shields and weapons." Edwards said. "Very good sir, opening RF hailing frequencies." "Unidentified vessel, this is Director Adam Edwards of the Earth Security Council." "They have received, we are getting a reply. Please hold - running through universal translator." The helmsman replied as the foreign words came through on the bridge speaker. "Sounds like a derivative on ancient Fhatj, basic structure, noun and verb roots. Something like 'we thank you for your assistance, who are you, may we meet.' " "Translation complete sir - it appears to be as you said." "I still have some tricks left for an old guy. See if you can interface with their computer system for a full language analysis." "Already on it. We'll be able to have you reply in about one minute." "Very good." "Sir, what's all this about?" The ship captain, Robert Williams asked. "This is about ending the war, Robert. We've come upon some information that leads us to believe that the race we just saved from destruction, although primitive in their space fearing technology, have spent the time we've been developing war ships, developing scanning and medical technology. We hope that they will have sufficiently high resolution scanning technology, and medical technology for that matter, to be able to help us extract the information which has been stored on the quantum level in the five young men that you are aware of." "I see. You will be taking the first contact personally?" "Yes - this is probably the most important first contact we'll ever have. Depending on the information we recover, it's quite possible we could easily turn the tide of the war." "Translation routine complete. You should be able to hail them now sir." "Very good, open a channel. Unidentified vessel, I am Director Adam Edwards of the Earth Security Council. We are on a mission of peace. Please respond." "Director Edwards, I am Captain Tegh of the Iisac Alliance. We are also on a mission of peace, our first near light speed experimental flight." "Has your ship suffered any major damage from the Kulmari attack?" "No, they only caused slight damage to some minor systems thanks to your assistance." "Perhaps you would like to come aboard our ship. We are always interested in making new friends and allies." "We would be honoured. Will you be sending a shuttle?" "No, we possess a transportation technology, similar to what our own ships use to move through space. If it is ok with you, we will use this to transport you to our vessel." "That is fine. My senior staff are assembled now." "Very well. We will just get a fix on your location." Edwards said, glancing to the operations officer. He nodded after a few seconds. "Prepare for transport."
Owen made the short drive back to his hotel from Justin's house, quickly making his way to his room. As soon as he walked in, he sat on the bed, curling himself up, as a few sole tears slid down the side of his face. He had never anticipated the pain of seeing his loved one, the only person whom Owen had ever opened his heart to, viewing him as a total stranger. Would the same thing that sparked between them before happen again, would Justin like him even. He was the same person, but the circumstances were different, perhaps what attracted Justin to him, perhaps the mystique. All this flooded through Owen's mind, as he lay on the bed, the tears running down his face. He wanted to blame his father, he really did - but he was just doing his job, he never wanted Owen to hurt. He must have sat like that for half an hour, before the ringing of the telephone on the desk brought him back to reality. He stood up, quickly wiping the tears from his face, before answering the phone. "Hello, Owen Coombs." "Hi Owen, it's Justin." "Oh hey Justin!" Owen said, chirping up a little. "I just wanted to see if you'd like to meet again tomorrow?" "Sure, that'd be great." "Well, I'm going out with the guys in a few minutes to a club. I don't know when I'll be back. You could come along if you like, I don't think I could introduce you to the guys yet, but I could just bump into you or something?" "That'd be great. Where are you going?" Owen proceeded to scribble down some directions onto a piece of paper, before he quickly left for the club, so as to arrive before the guys, and deal with the line. He'd never been to a club before the other week, he'd never saw the point. At this rate it might become a more regular occurrence. He just hoped there wouldn't be another annoying woman at this one.
Owen had just got through and was walking inside when he saw the stretch limousine pull up and the five NSync guys get out. He started walking over to the bar to order a drink, but quickly darted into the toilet first. He was just finishing washing his hands when the door opened again. He turned around to see Justin walking through the door, and a smile graced his face. Justin saw Owen standing at the wash basin, and smiled back. "You know what, this reminds me of the time we were at that club in London..." Justin started, before stopping mid-sentence. "Wait a minute, I didn't meet you to the other day?" "Yes, you did, and we ran into each other in the restrooms in a London nightclub. You're remembering some stuff that they erased." "I can't think about what I was saying now, I can't remember, it just started rolling off my tongue before I even thought about it." Justin said, a little confused, but seeming happy nonetheless that he was starting to remember what was taken away from him. Owen on the other hand was purely ecstatic, Justin might actually remember what had happened, how they got together. He had to restrain himself for kissing Justin right there and then. "I'll be at the bar if you want to talk to anyone, or I'll go play some pool or something." "Ok, Owen. I'll call you tonight if that's ok?" "Sure. Talk to ya later." Owen said, walking out the restroom. He walked over to the bar and ordered a beer. He took a few sips, glancing round the club. Picking up his drink he crossed the room, glancing over to the dance floor region, before sitting next to the 3 pool tables. Much to his surprise he saw Justin leading the five guys of NSync over to the tables just a few seconds after they arrived. Unusually, no one was playing at the time, and the 5 of them paired off, leaving Justin without a partner. Justin walked over to were Owen was sitting, behaving as if he didn't know him. "Hi, would you mind playing pool, I appear to be without a partner?" "Sure, no problem." Owen said, giving a slight smile, depositing a couple of quarters into the machine to release the balls. Owen quickly racked them up, before offering over to Justin to break. Walking round the table once, Owen potted a yellow, and started to quickly clear the table, taking shot after shot and getting them in. By the time he missed, he had one yellow left on the table, while Justin hadn't even had a shot yet. "Wow, you're good at this aren't you." Justin said, Owen giving him a quick flash of a smile. "You missed that last one on purpose didn't you?" "No comment, your turn anyway, mate." Owen said, and by now JC and Joey were watching the table. "You're English?" JC asked. "Yes, although I live over here now, moved about 2 years ago or so. I'm staying in Orlando right now for a month or so." "Cool." JC replied as Justin missed his next shot. Owen quickly finished off with the final yellow and black, before then going round the table and potting each one of Justin's reds. "Been playing long?" "One way to put it. I've been playing pool since I was 4 or 5. I've finally got pretty decent at it." "Damn right." Justin replied smiling. "What's your name anyway?" "I'm Owen, Owen Coombs." He said, offering his hand first to Justin, then JC and Joey. The other two walked over at this point, and were introduced. "Well I'm Justin, this is JC, Chris, Joey and Lance." Justin said, pointing around the group. "Do you know who we are?" "Er... should I?" "I don't know. Some people do." "You seem familiar, I can't quite place you though." "Oh, ok." JC replied, seeming content with Owen's answer. "Do you guys want anything to drink? I'm just going to the bar." "Sure, but you're not paying for them!" JC spoke up again. Owen smiled as he remember the first time he had met JC - this was definitely going a lot better. "Look - what do you want, I can pay for them." "No you're not! We'll buy you a drink if anything." Lance said, speaking for the first time, while Justin sat back, enjoying the show. "I give in, I give in!" Owen said laughing. "I'll just have a beer, Budweiser or something." Owen said, as JC and Lance walked over to the bar. Owen secretly, and unnoticed by JC, slipped a $20 bill in JC's pocket. Justin suppressed a laugh as he noticed. Joey and Chris went back to another round of pool, while Owen took a seat next to Justin. "First meeting with JC went better than last time it happened." Owen said quietly to Justin, chuckling slightly. "Oh yeah, when he pulled that gun..." Justin said before stopping mid-sentence again, the memories of what happened swiftly disappearing as quickly as they came to him. "That's the one." Owen replied, a wide smile on his face. He looked up to see JC and Lance returning with the drinks, distributing them around. Owen took his, and set it on the table besides his old empty glass. The guys returned and sat down on the chairs around the table. The conversation over the next few minutes was about Owen, and them learning a little bit about him, or shall we say his assumed character. About fifteen minutes later the guys headed out to the dance floor, attempting to drag Owen along with them, without much success. The guys just gave up in the end, Owen staying. He may have loosened up, had a few drinks, but dancing was a big no no as far as Owen was concerned. He was not partial to making a fool of himself. While the guys were gone, Owen racked up quite a tally of wins on the pool table, as numerous opponents attempted to challenge him, without any success. At about 1am the guys headed back to the table where Owen was sitting, all looking tired. "Lose any?" JC asked, motioning towards the pool table. "Not yet, came close once or twice though. Shame you guys haven't been properly introduced to snooker, more challenging than pool." "You like snooker? I've got a snooker table in my basement, I love snooker!" Chris spoke up, after previously remaining silent towards Owen. "What's your highest break?" "128 last year, working on a 147 right now." "Wow, my highest break is 19." "What's a break?" Justin asked innocently. "The highest score one can build up in one go. The different colour balls are worth different points, and the object is to win the frame by scoring the higher score." Owen replied. "Anyway guys, it was a pleasure meeting you, but I'm heading back home now." "Yeah, we're off as well, Lance keeps reminding us we've got work to do tomorrow." "Pleasure meeting you anyway." Owen said, offering his hand to all of them. "Yeah, same here. Why don't you give us your number?" "Er... sure." Owen said, taking a pen from his pocket and scribbling his hotel number on the back of a beer mat on the table. They all walked out together, the bodyguards following them from the door as they made their way to the parked limo round the back, just up from Owen's car. Owen heard a little whistle from one of them as he climbed into the seat of his DB7, and pulled out the space, and drove off.
"What did you think of him?" Justin asked as they all sat down in the car. "Seemed decent enough, didn't really seem to know exactly who we are, just that we were probably famous." "We might give him a call sometime I guess." Lance replied, "If we ever want to loose at pool." He finished, with a little chuckle.
"Well Captain, you've now seen the Natilus. This is one of our newest ships, a heavy class battle cruiser as I've already said. Perhaps if it were not for the war with the Kulmari we would have been able to devote more resources into other areas, such as medical research. It is a shame that our medical technology hasn't advanced as our shipbuilding has." "I'm sure that we may be able to negotiate some form of trade agreement which could allow an exchange of technology. I, of course, cannot comment on this, I am only a ship captain, but our leaders would be more than open to the idea I suspect." "Would you like assistance in returning to your homeworld? I must admit I am rather keen to learn of some of your technology, as we currently have a problem, that if solved, may allow us to bring to an end this war." "You are more than welcome to return to our homeworld, although it is a 2 hour journey with our vessel." "Our vessel is equipped with technology to allow us to travel at high sublight speeds without incurring any time dilation. It would be more benificial if we were to bring your ship with us in tow. That way it will only take approximately 3 hours to reach your home world real time. Under your own power, it would be several days for us or your homeworld before your retur" "You can successfully dock our ship??" "Yes, your ship can fit into our docking bay. Shortly we hope it will be possible for us to do point to point quantum jumping, but until then, journeys such as this will still have to rely on sublight travel." "Your assistance is greatly appreciated, I will return to my ship to make the arrangements." "Please follow me, we'll just transfer you back to your ship, and will guide you to our docking bay."
Owen pulled his car into the hotel lot, quickly making his way up to his room. He'd enjoyed the evening, and it looked as if the guys liked him, if none of them recalled him at all, except for Justin. He did have to congratulate Justin for the idea. It would have never occurred to him to meet the rest of the guys like that. Standing in the doorway for a moment, Owen stared out the window. The moon sat in the clear night sky, the light of the sun, reflecting off its surface, cast into his room. Giving his eyes a quick rub, he collapsed down on the bed, suppressing a slight yawn. After a couple of minutes of just lying there, he got up and stripped down, before stepping into the shower. He stepped out after a few minutes, quickly drying himself off, brushing teeth, combing hair into some sort of order, before he slipped on a pair of boxer shorts and climbed into the bed, pulling the sheet over himself.
Dreams, weird things dreams, so often completely illogical and unbelievable, incoherent, complete nonsense even - yet they always seem to make perfect sense at the time, and seem the most natural thing in the world to be in a situation that if not implausible, is impossible. If remembered the following morning however, the vague details one can recall are so illogical and incoherent, you can't even begin to figure out what on earth was going on in your head to think of something like that. Owen was having one of those very dreams. Sitting on a train station platform, was a large noisy train, a steam train perhaps, maybe a big diesel, whatever it was, it was long, and very noisy. A small table was set on the edge of the platform, and he went and sat down, pouring himself a cup of tea from the silver tea set, into an expensive looking china cup. He took a biscuit from the biscuit tin, dipping it into his tea, taking a bite. After a few minutes, someone wondered over and took a seat in a chair, decorated in the same expensive silver plate as the tea set, that wasn't there a minute ago. The conversation was vague, Owen couldn't remember much about it, but the person who it was with was clear in his head, a certain Joshua Chasez. If only he could remember the conversation. One thing was clear, it was a good conversation, like two friends talking about old times, that sort of feeling. Another thing about dreams, you always seem to wake up at the most inconvenient moments, like when the secrets of the universe will be revealed to you. Owen woke up just as the conversation seemed to be reaching an interesting point, whatever that may have been. Unfortunately, the Land of Nod so to speak had left Owen, and he was awake now, and like always, when he woke up, he was up for good. Glancing at the alarm clock, it revealed the time at 8:12am, not bad, later than usual for Owen. Suddenly his attention diverted to the cause of his awakening, the beep from his computer, his screen having flicked on for some reason. He sat up in bed, stretching his arms above his head as he yawned, before walking over to the desk.
Well, here's the end of yet another chapter. Sorry to leave it here, but I won't have much time for writing in the next week or two, so I thought I better get this already drastically late chapter out. Thanks to all my readers and friends, you all know who you are - and your support is always greatly appreciated. Special thanks to Clive, for letting me stay in one piece due to the lateness of this chapter, to Tom, for proofing it on a better schedule than I proofed him, to both Jeff's for being great friends to me, and finally to Tiny, for also being a great friend. Oh yes, almost forgot someone, to Chris, can't forget Chris.