Gardens of Time

Chapter 4

        I walked up to the P shaped building, stopping in front of the ten feet granite statue of Roman Stafford. He was the original founder of P.E.E.S.S. Community Keepers.

          He used his travelling abilities to foresee any crime that was about to take place, then shifted his entire universe to make himself create this foundation. The guy was a freaking genius! But like all geniuses he has flown the coop.

          Notice how I said he was the original founder. Apparently, there were other guys who wanted to take his idea and shift it into something else; something a little more... What- what's the word? Theirs.

          So they killed him, but in his honor they placed this huge ass statue in front of the building. And in front of the water fountain to, so it kinda seemed like he was pissing on all of us.

          With a shake of my head, I headed inside of the building, being greeted by the oddly realistic holograph. Pru was the receptionist, and since she was a holograph, she didn't really leave the building. This job was her life!

          Despite this fact, she didn't look like there was a guy in the next room controlling and programming her every thought. She looked normal. Like me even. Men have come a long way from floating digital beams since the year 2014. She stands on her own two feet, and has a face that even I was attracted to at some point.

          Con of this is you still cannot touch her. I mean, you can try, but your hand'll just go right through. Trust me, I know.

          Much like Pru, these things are almost owned by every major corporation. Especially the fat cats who thought it would be cheaper for them to buy these instead of hiring and paying actual people to do these jobs. Pru and her graphic buddies put a lot of people out of work in the year 2022. So, good for employers - bad for employees.

          "Hello, Mr. Clemon!" She beams, flashing her pearly whites.

          "Morning, Pru," I smile, stopping at her desk.

          "I made your coffee how you like it!" She grinned, passing me a hot, steaming mug.

          "Thank you, very much." She bites down on her bottom lip, then starts to twirl the end of her dark brown hair.

          "No problem!" She says too quickly, and I flash her a quick smile before going to associate with some real people. 

          "Hey Isaac," I say, sitting down at my desk. He looks up from his computer, his work reflecting from his glasses.

          "Yeah?"

          "Do you think it's possible for holographs to develop crushes?" I asked him in all seriousness, and he laughs at me.

          "Are you in love with Pru again?" He asks teasingly, and I shake my head slowly.

          "I think it's the other way around."

          "Bro, that b***h hates me! If she can feel hate, she can feel anything." I give him a hearty laugh, and then don't even get to enjoy my coffee before I'm called into Chief Jarno's office.

          I groan dramatically, standing up from my seat and making my way to his office. I knocked once, opening up the door. "You want?" I asked, stepping into his office.

          "No. But I need." Closing the door behind me, I realized for the   first time I was not the only one in the room.

          I took a seat at the huge P shaped meeting table, beside Season. "You all know," Jarno started, standing at the very edge of the table to look at all of us.

          "P.E.E.S.S. is all about keeping said "peace", in this dimension, and the next. For those of you who are new here today, we have a program that we like to follow. While there are other Community Keepers just like us in other dimensions, there are jobs that some of them cannot do alone. As a result, I am forced to send my best men out to contain a new possible threat to all of our worlds." Jarno stopped his opening speech, he pressed a few buttons on the computer that was built into the table, then squeezed his fist and threw it up in the air so that everyone in the room could see.

          The computer view spread over the table, pulling up a photo taken from a surveillance camera. The guy in the said photo was wearing all black everything, and from the way his hoodie was you could only see his butterscotch colored nose peeking from the inside. "Our research has revealed that he goes by the name 'Dwade'. No one knows his real name, no one knows where he came from, he just is."

          My thick brows furrowed together as soon as he said the name Dwade; He sounded vaguely familiar, and the mention of him made something inside of me stir. Maybe it's his name, or maybe I have heard of him in one dimension or the other. Whatever it was, the feeling I got wasn't a particularly bad one.

          "Why can't you just use the 3D hologram to identify him and be done with this?" Game asked bluntly, as if he had better things to do with his time.

          "Wow, Game," Jarno starts sarcastically, "why didn't I think of that five months ago?" Game closed his eyes slowly, his expression changing from bored to fed up.

          "We've tried to match his identity with ones we have in the database but it seems he's either cut the chip from his hand, or he never had one at all. So we don't know who he is, or where he came from."

          When Jarno said that, my eyes immediately made their way to my left hand. I could still see the micro sized scar on the back of my hand. When you're born, you're supposed to get these injected. They're like the new age birth certificate. Once you have them, you're automatically added to the system, and anyone can identify you or find you.

          The chips were introduced in 2021. They started as a way to find missing dogs, then people started to get them for their children in case they were ever kidnapped, and then people started to get them for their jobs. Over time, they passed the law that you had to have these in order to buy or sell. Then I guess, in the process of time they became the norm.

          I stifled my laughter as Maggie began to speak. "So you want us to go scurrying the earth to find him?" She asked, fiddling with her thick, black hair nervously.

          "No, Maggie!" Jarno yells, getting irritated. "I am going to pair you up, and send you each to your own dimension. I've got approval to extend your time in your assigned dimension to three days."

          "This is so great!" Zeus exclaims, getting a little too excited. "Do we get to pick?" Jarno battered his tiny fist, then lowered his eyes into a glare.

          "No one else speak," he says in a low, eerie tone. "This is not a social visit. We've tracked his patterns, and we know what his next move is, we just don't know which dimension he'll be in. That's where you all come in. We need you at the exact spot, at the exact time. If either of you see him, you can catch him in the act, and stop him.

          "Now, your guardians will send you your place and all the details in the morning. Now get out of here."