Stopwatch (IC)

[Supercape]

GM

Stockholm, Sweden

February 12th, 2013, 11.00am

The sun was bright but low, shining on cold snow. Stockholm did not enjoy much light at this time of year, but when it did, it had a certain beauty. The Venice of the north, with its buildings unblighted by the Blitz, the snow deep and white and its rivers still flowing, was in full swing.

And so was Lord Robert Harrow.

He stamped his feet as he paid his taxi fare and, with his rather elderly aide by his side, stomped into way into Katastrof & Sorenson Technologies.

"I'm here to see Baron Katastrof" he muttered to the reception. He was tired. The flight had been longer than anticipated, and he hadn't slept well last night. He passed his calling card to the receptionist and rubbed his tired eyes.

"I'm sorry I'm late. Flew in from Heathrow this morning...." he said in an apologetic but somewhat steely voice.

[KnightDisciple]

Despite the terribly cold temperatures and bleak sky outside, the inside of Katastrof & Sorenson Technologies, Power Division, Headquarters building was warm, well lit, and soothing, with plenty of modern art, soft angles, and earthy tones to make the decent-sized lobby a welcoming place. Considering how large the building was, that was an accomplishment!

The receptionist, in this case a young man who might well be working a (paid) internship checked his screen before nodding with a smile.

"Yes, but you're only a couple of minutes late. The Baron stays pretty busy himself, so he understands, especially with this weather going on. He's waiting in one of the mid-floor meeting rooms. Here are your guest badges; the elevators are right over there. Just walk in and speak your name, it will take you to your floor, where wall panels will help guide you."

Indeed, the warmly-colored elevator (that somehow combined futuristic and retro looks at once) slid open without a sound; there was a button panel, but if Lord Harrow spoke up, he'd quickly feel the box smoothly move up a dozen floors or so before gliding to a stop, never once feeling the typical "jerk" of an elevator from most buildings.

The wall panels were about a foot tall and ran the whole hallway, and were currently lit up with a soft blue line that ran to a set of dark wooden double doors.

The meeting room inside was fairly simple, the windows currently showing the stark weather outside. Baron Katasrof, dressed in a black suit, stood in front of them, hands crossed behind his back. The room's table (big enough for a dozen) stood behind him and empty, aside from some glasses and a carafe of ice water and the comfortable-looking leather chairs around it. He didn't turn around right away, though it was unlikely he hadn't noticed his fellow noble entering the room...

[Supercape]

GM

Nice design... thought Robert as he ascended to meet the Baron.

"Nice design, Katastrof" he said, shaking the Baron's hand. He was about the same height as the Baron, with a similar build, perhaps slightly leaner, with a mop of blond hair and a handsome face that was punctuated by two startling blue eyes. If anyone had observed the two, it would have been Robert who would have looked the more classically Nordic of the two.

"" he said in very respectable Swedish. He had a bit of an accent, but he could clearly communicate well in the language.

"But you will forgive me if I speak English I hope? My flight was long, and quite frankly, I am tired. Perhaps not just from the travelling. You see I have received a rather interesting gift..."

He carefully placed, from his waistcoat, an intricate and rather old looking watch on the table in front of the Baron.

"It seems to only work in my hand. It keeps time perfectly otherwise...a rather amusing piece. And something that is quite a mystery. To be honest, I wanted your expertise in understanding it. Because I'll be damned if I do..."

[KnightDisciple]

"<Your compliments are appreciated.>"

The Baron's own English was very lightly accented, as if he'd been speaking it his whole life (which he probably had!).

"I would say my English is passable enough for our purposes, yes."

Magnus's expression was neutral as he shook Robert's hand and sat down across the table from him. He waited patiently as the man explained his reason for being there, which was apparently....a fancy watch?

"It is...well, it looks rather nice. And I'm glad it keeps time so well. But while I'm sure I could scan it for hours, I don't see what exactly requires my specific expertise, as opposed to, say, the watchmakers in Switzerland, Mr. Harrow."

[Supercape]

GM

"You would think so, on first appearances, wouldn't you?" he answered, picking up the watch.

He showed the Baron the clock face - it was intricate, no doubt. Perhaps not a masterpiece, but it had all the hallmarks of a fine antique watch.

As soon as Lord Harrow took it into his hand, it started ticking again. And more than that, it quickly changed its time to a perfect reading.

"Look? It only works in my hand. And as soon as I pick it up...the correct time. To the nanosecond..." he explained, comparing the watch to his hand held digital wrist watch. The time was identical.

"Pretty interesting huh? Perhaps I could spike your interest further. This package was mailed to me, from London. Nothing so unusual about that. However, it had been hanging around the Royal Mail, with instructions to be delivered on a certain date. New Year, 2013, to be exact. Most people thought it was a joke. Heh, interesting Joke. It was posted in 1902...."

"Now how come a stopwatch, built over a hundred years ago, can calibrate itself perfectly to the current time, and also be coded so that it only works in my hand???"

[KnightDisciple]

A single blond eyebrow inched upwards slightly as the "interesting" properties were explained.

"That is somewhat more unusual, yes. Though considering the rather...chaotic...nature of this world we live in, it may be a time traveler who played a prank on you. I suppose I could have my people at the lab scan it for carbon dating. The function is actually comparatively easier to explain; a miniaturized gene-scanner locked to your signature, and it syncs with one of the dozens of atomic clocks across the globe, something you can get for less than a hundred dollars in a mass-market store. I appreciate the....curiosity....of the piece, but unless the carbon dating scans reveal something extremely peculiar..."

He shrugs.

"Have you annoyed anyone able to manipulate space-time recently?"

[Supercape]

GM

"I suppose recently is a somewhat meaningless term when it comes to time travel...." mused Lord Harrow, picking up the stop watch.

"Although that would make some sense. Not that I know of any offence yet. But in terms of time travel...you see, that is not all it does..."

He placed an unopened pack of cards on the table where the stopwatch had been.

"See that?" remarked Harrow "Observe it carefully..." he turned back to his top watch and made some fine adjustment to one of its many small knobs.

There was a sensation of a blur. Nothing more. And then the Pack of cards was gone and in its placed an elaborately constructed house of cards, sitting on top of each other perfectly. The change was virtually instantaneous.

Robert put down the stopwatch, carefully this time.

"For you, that took, what...one second? less? For me, I spent an hour making that. Time slowed down. Or, perhaps, sped up. Depending on your view. Relativity and all that. Quite how is another matter altogether. I mean, I could think up some theoretical ways of doing it. But to actually put it together is another thing altogether. The technology to do that doesn't exist now, as far as I am aware, let alone a century ago..."

He coughed slightly.

"Obviously, I didn't want to create a fuss with this. I wanted to approach someone with some manners. Some class, so to speak. Hence, I approached you..."

[KnightDisciple]

Baron Magnus blinked without speaking or moving for several long moments, before looking Lord Harrow right in the eye.

"Now you see, Lord Harrow, if you had opened with that, it would have explained things much better. Have you noticed any...odd sensations when you engage that particular feature? Have you notice any other "optional extras" installed?"

He tapped his chin in thought, before reaching under his suit jacket and pulling out and unfurling his custom palmtop PC. He tapped a few keys and scrolled back and forth on it for a few moments.

"How thoroughly are you willing to let us scan and examine it? Do you need to stay with it, or would you prefer to simply be housed nearby? I have a few facilities that I believe possess both the equipment and the privacy needed, and this is not one of them."

[Supercape]

GM

"I have barely scratched the surface. I don't have the kind of resources or facilities to play around with that thing safely, or at all" he explained. "At least, not to do so in a inconspicuous manner. I hope you see the importance of discretion here, Sir" he explained, a trace of stiff diplomacy entering his voice.

"If this item becomes common knowledge - or even uncommon, and it is known that somehow I have the key to its power, then both it, and, by default, I, become a target. That really is something I would rather avoid".

He fingered the stopwatch, flicking it from finger to finger.

"Your help would be much appreciated. And of course you are welcome to any findings you get from the device, provided we have anonymity. And, for now, I would prefer to be present wherever you take the watch. I have time, and I have some expertise in these matters. Forgive my paranoia in this regard - I fear I may well have use for such paranoia...."

[KnightDisciple]

Magnus swiped and typed for a few more moments, before nodding, compacting the palm computer, and tucking it away under his jacket again.

"We have a facility about three hours of travel from here, set at the base of some of the mountains further north and west. It is isolated and secure, with a hefty variety of instrumentation and comfortable if simple on-site accommodations. I won't be staying there, but I'll accompany you over there; once we get things started, I need to go to our facility in Örebro anyways."

He pulled out his phone and fired off a quick text before looking back up at Harrow.

"Will you be needing your luggage picked up or delivered?"

[Supercape]

GM

"If it's not too much trouble" answered Harrow, pocketing his watch. "I travelled light. I must say, your secluded facilities seem to be a good idea. Away from prying eyes, and all that. And, I suppose, if the damn thing explodes in our faces at least we wont be in a heavily populated area, hmm?"

"Are you sure you won't stay?" asked Harrow politely, indicating his assistant should gather the luggage again. "It must be a pressing matter, I suppose, to drag you away from this little mystery" he said, patting his waistcoat. "But so be it. Your expertise in these matters is well known, and I should hate to be bereft of your insights..."

[KnightDisciple]

"We'll get everything on the helicopter, then. And yes, the facility is isolated for more reasons than one, though by its long-term nature there's a bit of a town sprung up around it."

Magnus stood and collected his things, leading Harrow out the door.

"I'll get the ball rolling, but I have an international company to run, Lord Harrow. I cannot always drop everything for the first shiny doo-dad that finds its way onto my doorstep. Besides, I hire only the best, most competent people. Much of what they'll be doing is the boring, mundane part of science. I'll be calling in when developments have been made."

It wasn't long after that that the two men were bound for the mountains of Sweden on a helicopter.

**************************************************************************************************************************

Three Hours Later

The helicopter landed on a large concrete pad outside...well, it was actually fairly normal-looking. It was a set of reinforced concrete structures, clearly designed to withstand the nastier parts of local weather long-term. The facility itself, and the small village of homes, shops, restaurants, and so forth that had sprung up around it, was nestled at the foot of a respectable stretch of the Scandinavian Mountains. Magnus led Harrow away from the helipad before turning to speak with him.

"We have a couple of empty guest houses in town, we'll get you set up in one. I'm going to be having the boys and girls run tests all across the board, trying to figure out how old that thing is, what if any radiation it emits, what it's composed of, what's inside of it, the works."

[Supercape]

GM

"Suits me fine" answered Harrow, passing over the stopwatch to Magnus. As he did so, the timepiece promptly stopped ticking once more.

"The facilities here are very impressive. Just what I was looking for, really. I am in your debt, sir!"

"I'll send Lawson, my aide, to take the luggage to the outhouse, if that's all right" he explained. "For myself, as long as you can give me a strong coffee, then I would like to observe the analysis myself!"

A little later...

The first thing the stopwatch did, when subjected to spectral analysis, was open.

That didn't help much. All it did was reveal two pictures, the inner workings still sealed. It opened like a locket, and had pictures just like a locket too. Romantic and in black and white, a little faded. One was of Lord Harrow himself, as a young man. And the other one...

"Good lord!" exclaimed Harrow as he studied the pictures in the stopwatch. "That's...that's Megan, Megan Howell. She was a...friend...of mine at Cambridge. We studied together there. I often wondered what happened to her. I often wondered why she...if I did the right thing when I...never mind. Now what is she doing in this thing?"

[KnightDisciple]

Magnus had nearly reached the door when he heard Harrow's exclamation. Curious, he turned back around, walking over to the machine with the watch in it. He raised an eyebrow as one of the techs showed him the very limited amount of scanning they'd done to "trigger" the device. He frowned as he recognized the name.

'Somehow this British Lord just happens to have both a unique time-manipulating device, and a past relationship with the girl in the picture, who will be coming "in town" for a meeting with my company? There's coincidence, and then there's this...'

With a smile he turned to Harrow.

"Strange but fascinating, Lord Harrow. I think my earlier theory of time travel might have some basis. The boys and girls here have loads of tests for hours and hours left, though, so at this point not much more insight I can give. We'll have to carbon date the watch and photo separately. Then scan them for possible signs of temporal travel, different from that speed-up effect you seemed to generate. Which they'll also measure. Interesting stuff, but hours of work, and I have a company to run and meetings I can't skip. I'll video conference in when I can, and fly back out here when I've got a few hours."

Unless stopped again, he headed out of the lab to get back to the business of running the company...

[Thevshi]

February 13 th, 2013, 8:00 AM

About thirty minutes from Katastrof Castle, Sweden

 

 

Megan Howell looked out the window by her seat as the beautiful Swedish landscape passed beneath.  The attractive young blonde woman was on a helicopter that was taking her and several executives from Summit Transnational to their meeting at the World Headquarters for Katastrof & Sorenson Technologies, located at Katastrof Castle near Helsingborg. 

 

Megan and the other representatives from Summit had arrived late yesterday and stayed the night in Stockholm.  The noise from the helicopter made any conversations all but impossible, giving the young woman an excuse to listen to music from her iPhone during the trip.

 

The twenty one year old knew she should feel excited about the opportunity Ms. Van Cleef had given her in being part of this meeting, but right now she was having a bit of a hard time feeling that way.  Tomorrow was Valentines' Day, and Megan was not sure if she would make it back to Freedom City to spend it with Kyle Conner, the man she had been dating for about a month now.

 

She had been looking forward to this Valentines' Day, but over the last two weeks, she had not seen Kyle as much as she would have liked.  Part of that was the fact that both had been busy with work.  Ever since Megan had been transferred to working for Ms. Van Cleef at Summit, her workload had increased significantly.  While the blonde could easily have handled this with easy thanks to her superspeed, she had to be careful about using that to do things TOO quickly.  So, she trudged along at something just above a more normal speed.  And of course, the young woman did her best to get out as much as possible as Velocity.

 

As if all that were not enough, a couple of weeks ago while out patrolling as Velocity, she had run into a male superhero named Siphon.  During their first meeting, which had started with Megan tackling him to keep him from being shot by some gang members on Zoom, Siphon's powers had inadvertently triggered and he had copied Megan’s speed, which he then used to help her run down the gang members and their companions on motorcycles in a chase through parts of the West End.  It had been rather fun to have someone that could keep up with her (literally) like that, and Megan had to admit that Siphon seemed rather cute (as best as she could tell due to the mask).  She had meet up with Siphon one other time since to patrol the city, and allowed him to copy her power that time as well so he could cover ground as quickly as she did.

 

So now the young woman was feeling very conflicted.  She REALLY liked Kyle, and they had fun when they were together.  But there was a certain appeal to Siphon, someone who not only was part of the world she lived in as Velocity, but could copy her powers.  Given her history with relationships, and the tension caused by her keeping her life as Velocity a secret, Megan was starting to wonder if she might just head things off early with Kyle and save them both a lot of heartache.  But then, the couple of times she had tried dating another superhero, things had not lasted very long either.

 

Just then, Pink's Try began to play on her iPhone, the soulful lyrics causing the young woman to sigh slightly.  Yeah, that is about how I feel.  She thought as she listened to the song and continued to stare out at the window, hoping that this time and distance from Freedom City would help bring her some clarity.

 

A little over half an hour later…

 

Megan made her way into the conference room along with the three Summit executives she was accompanying for the meeting.  Dressed in a dark, charcoal grey suit with knee length skirt, the young woman was now focused on the task at hand.  As the one who had spent the better part of a week pouring through all the various spreadsheets, pro forma, projections and other financial data relating to the proposed joint ventures between KST and Summit, Megan had to be ready to have the various information on hand and ready during the meeting if anyone needed to refer to something specific.  And of course, she also was supposed to treat this as a learning experience to watch the discussion and negotiations that would take place in trying to finalize the deal. 

[KnightDisciple]

February 13th, 2013, 8:45 AM

Katastrof Castle, World Headquarters for Katastrof & Sorenson Technologies  

 

It would have been hard for Megan to miss the rather impressive http://www.freedomplaybypost.com/uploads/gallery/album_5/gallery_569_5_13419.jpg, which also (conveniently for him) served as the world HQ of his company. It was a fusion of "old" and "new" that surprisingly worked. The whole township surrounding it had traces of that same aesthetic, as the various old-style homes showed solar panels or other low-profile technology. The valley area surrounding the castle and township was beautifully dusted in snow, but not as buried as other portions of the country at this time. They were far enough inland that when she got off of the helicopter, there wasn't a trace of salt spray in the air; the air was clean, crisp, and just a bit chilly.

***********************************************************************************

The interior of the conference room was all new (which made sense, since it was in one of the gleaming towers clustered to one side of the property); the conference table itself seemed to serve as a computer screen, as well as having discrete plugs for the individual items of every seat. The chairs themselves subtly adjusted to the shape of the occupant for maximum comfort. The room had one wall dominated by floor-to-ceiling windows, while the other 3 walls seemed to be giant display screens that currently projected a view from the other 3 directions around them. Combined with the holoprojectors on the ceiling casting the image of the lazy clouds overhead, it gave the impression the meeting was happening on top of the small skyscraper, rather than a few floors from the top and enclosed on every side. Of course, the lack of wind and the comfortably warm temperatures gave away the illusion, but it was an interesting take on a "screen saver".

 

After a few minutes allowing the delegation and some of the assistant executives of KST to prepare themselves, the windows suddenly tinted over, the wall went blank, and the ceiling's holoprojectors somehow managed to both give the room plenty of ambient light and give the impression of an almost entirely flat black surface. Suddenly, the room was a stark, dark cube, other than the silhouette of light that was the door, highlighting the sudden presence of one Baron Magnus Vilhelm Katasrof, business mogul and scientific powerhouse. He strode in, hands clasped behind his back, face neutral as he surveyed the room, halting when he reached the head of the table, his gaze casting over all present. 

 

Megan might notice that, for perhaps 5 seconds extra, his gaze lingered on her, and his eyes narrowed incrementally. His body language didn't change, so it wasn't like he was angry about her presence. More like he was...checking a box on a checklist. Finally, he'd seen everyone and he settled back into his (ever so slightly fancier) chair, leaning back with his hands clasped in front of him. 

 

"While I have an utterly perfect memory, I like hearing these things in someone else's words, so. May I ask the honorable delegates from Summit Transnational to outline the reason for their presence here today? I want to make sure we're all working on the same set of notes, after all."

[Thevshi]

Megan had certainly been impressed by Castle Katastrof when it had come into view as they came in for the landing on a helipad attached to one of the new towers that had been added.  She had also been very impressed by the conference room when she and the others first arrived, but was able to focus on getting things ready for the meeting while also taking in the idyllic images projected on to the walls and ceiling of the room (one of the advantageous of having superspeed that really did not require using much of it). 

 

The young blonde was seated in the middle of the Summit delegation, and she had out a tablet that she connected to the port near her seat so she could run the presentation slides and share documents and graphs as needed during the meeting.  Once she had everything ready, Megan chatted quietly with some of the KST individuals across from her. 

 

When the room darkened and Baron Katasrof arrived, the young woman regarded him with a slight inward smile at the theatrical entrance.  When he stopped at the head of the table and took a few moments to look over all those gathered, Megan did not miss that his gaze rested on her a bit longer than the others.  Of course, she was rather accustomed to men staring at her, but the Baron’s gaze had been a little different than most.

 

As the Baron began the meeting, the head of the Summit delegation spoke up.  "Good morning Baron Katasrof, and thank you."  He began before starting to discuss the technology one of Summit’s subsidiaries had been working on for a thin, flexible screen that could be applied to any surface and the purposed joint venture between Summit and KST to further develop the technology.

 

When the meeting began in earnest, Megan, as the junior member of the Summit delegation naturally did not speak, but she was clearly engaged and understood what was going on and being discussed.  She was able to quickly pull up documents that were being discussed to display on the screen on the conference table and certainly knew her way around all the financial data in the massive pro forma spreadsheets for the proposed joint venture.  From time to time, one of the Summit executives sitting by her would lean over to get her to quietly clarify something.

[KnightDisciple]

"I would think this room would be proof enough of our concept, after all."

Magnus was...not quite "perturbed", but moving closer every moment. Several members of the Summit Transnational group seemed eager to get on board with the flexi-screen tech that KST Engineering was, even now, working on. But some were being Nervous Nellies and apparently didn't like new-fangled ideas so suddenly.

"After all, the table and walls are coated in screens that are a quarter-inch thick and need no "back end" hardware; that quarter-inch contains the entire screen mechanism. But if that's not enough, then I guess It's okay to point out I already have a prototype on my person."

With a flourish, he pulled out his palm PC, quickly pulling the two sides apart to deploy the screen, which he then flexed to about 45-degree angles.

"No, it's not a totally free-folding material, not yet, but it's an incredible step. This model's a bit expensive, but my engineers are working on ways to make the material even thinner, more flexible, stronger, and cheaper. I can promise you we will achieve all of those objectives. The question isn't "Can Katastrof & Sorenson Technologies do this", it's "Does Summit Transnational want to be on board when it's accomplished". I'm more than willing to enter a joint venture, but I need utter confidence from my investment partners before I'm willing to sign such a deal."

He folded the PDA and tucked it away with a dramatic sigh.

"Let's break for refreshments. Bathrooms are down the hall, just follow the wall panels, and any of these doors lead to break rooms with various items for your hunger and thirst."

Much of the room got up and filed out the doors, a few staying behind to chat. The Baron surveyed the scene before quietly walking over...to Megan. He gave her a smile and offered his hand.

"I don't believe I caught your name in the introduction period, Miss..."

 

Of course, he knew her name from the file he'd been sent over, but it was the easiest, most polite way to try and introduce himself and try to find out a bit more about her connection to the...oddities...of the day before. 

[Thevshi]

Megan continued with her tasks as the meeting continued, while also listening to what was going on.  From her perceptive, it was not going quite as well as it probably should be.  Baron Katastrof was certainly confident in the capabilities of his company and engineers, and given what Megan had seen thus far since arriving, likely with good reason.  The likely biggest sticking point seemed to be what the cost of development would ultimately be, and the expected return on that investment.

 

When the Baron called a break, the blonde young woman finished entering a few notes before she stood up to stretch slightly as several of the others made their way out of the conference room.

 

She was a bit surprised when the Baron made his way over towards her, but did not let it show as she gave  warm smile in return before taking his offered hand.  "Howell.  Megan Howell.  A pleasure to meet you Baron Katastrof."  She replied.

[KnightDisciple]

"I hope the meeting today isn't too boring. If nothing else you have access to enough info to keep you occupied. I think we'll get this wrapped up after the break."

 

He paused, seeming to search for his words for a moment.

 

"Tell me. Do you know one Lord Robert Harrow? An English gentleman, specifically."

 

His expression was carefully neutral when he asked, and he tried to watch for her reaction, whatever it might be. He had a feeling there was some sort of "drama" in the past, and he hoped to not be too caught up in it when all was said and done. Probably a vain hope, though. 

[Thevshi]

"Boring?  No, not at all."  Megan replied to Katastrof.  "While some of the more technical details are a bit above my head, the business and financial aspects of the deal I understand easily enough."

 

When he asked about Lord Harrow, a slight look of surprise came over the young woman's face at hearing the name.  "Robert?"  She asked, her voice changing ever so slightly.  "Yes, I know him.  We were…"  Normally Megan would not hesitate to state that they had dated, but since the death of his father, Robert was now Earl Harrow, and with Katastrof also being nobility, she knew that a bit more discretion might be appropriate, "very good friends while I was studying at Cambridge last school year." 
 

She paused a moment, then added.  "We had a bit of a falling out just before I finished my year there and went back to the states to start my last year at Yale.  I sent him an email offering my condolences after his father died last Summer, but he never responded."

"Why do you ask?"  She then asked, wondering what connection the Baron might have with Robert.

[KnightDisciple]

"I'm glad someone finds the business and financial side more interesting than the technical side."

 

The aristocratic blond man gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes, a half-smile now showing on his face.

 

"Don't get me wrong, I'm more than comfortable with the business end of things! But the Science is what I actually enjoy. Such is the curse of being me, I suppose."

 

Said one of the richest, smartest humans on the planet.

 

He kept his response neutral after Megan spoke of her connection to Harrow, and he was able to at least speculate what "very good friends" might mean, not exactly being an old fuddy-duddy himself.

 

"Because he came to me yesterday with an odd...artifact. We don't know each other, other than a few hours worth of acquaintance. Said artifact..."

 

He paused, clearly thinking on how to say this.

 

"The artifact, which he claimed was over a century old, contains a portrait of you. Which I personally find...suspect, but I felt it was something that needed mentioned. Though the "coincidence" makes me...slightly supsicious of someone or something."

[Thevshi]

Megan grinned slightly at Katastrof's comments about the business side of things.  It had been pretty evident to her during the meeting that he understood the business side of things just fine.

 

When the aristocrat explained why he had asked about her connection with Robert, the young woman's brow furrowed slightly.  "Robert has some century old artifact that contains a portrait of me?"  She stated, not really a question, as she paused in thought for a moment.  "I don't really know anything about any artifact or anything that might have been in his family for generations.  But as far as having a picture, or pictures of me…well, unless Robert decided to delete them, I would imagine he has more than a few." 

 

Not to mention enough of me in a bikini to fill an entire Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.  Or two.  Megan thought to herself.

[KnightDisciple]

"He claims the package containing it was sealed approximately a century ago. My labs are working to carbon-date the artifact, picture, and so forth, as well as to scan for various particles and energies that would indicate genuine time-travel. Have you, before today, encountered a time-traveler? Obviously it could be something from the future, but if you already have, that might explain the connection."

 

He paused, frowning.

 

"Though until I see the results, I have only his word of its age, or of him not opening it before that moment. I simply don't know him. Or you, really. I find myself caught up in...something...and unsure of where it leads. I'm truly sorry to trouble you about the whole matter, but I wanted to see what light you could attempt to shed on the situation."

[Thevshi]

Megan's mind was working overtime now, and for her, that was certainly saying something, as she could have a thousand thoughts in the time most people consider only one or two things.  Have I ever run into a time traveler before?  The blonde thought to herself, trying to recall her various adventures as Velocity over the years.  I don’t think so.  Lots of people or things form other dimensions, but I don't really recall any time travelers.

 

From Baron Katastrof's perspective, the young woman did not hesitate a moment as she shook her head to his question.  "No, I don't believe I have ever encountered any time travelers.  Least, not that I know about."

 

"Sorry I could not be or more help with this puzzle Robert seems to have presented you."

She then paused a moment, a slightly hesitant look on her face.  "So…Robert's here?"  She then asked.  Megan not being at all certain how to feel about that possibility.

Edited March 2, 2013 by Thevshi