Marie has been staking out this apartment for the last two days. This is the
kind of work that she used to do for SD6. She was taken off of all such
assignments when her team showed up, and that became her only priority, both
on a personal level, and for the government. This still has to do with time
travel, but her team isn’t involved. They’re looking for people who have
experienced an inordinate amount of time for a normal living human, or just
have unusual brain chemistry. The orbital scanner that Ramses built, and
which Mateo installed on a Snowglobe satellite, only mapped where these
targets were at the time of the last scan. This information is now over a
week old, so if any of them were just on vacation, or something, they’ll
probably never find them. This may all be a waste of time. She hates this
now. She hates everything she used to love or like. She’s just bitter and
angry, and nothing seems right anymore. She shouldn’t take it out on the
team, though, and she knows it. Hopefully they understand, and won’t hold it
against her. Maybe getting herself a win will raise her spirits.
She has the extra mobile scanner that Ramses left in his hotel room. He
didn’t have time to write up a manual, and the data burst he was able to send
from the time bubble he and Mateo are presently trapped in didn’t say much
about it. Even so, it seems pretty self-explanatory. Marie was able to adapt
it to a tripod, and place it next to her other surveillance equipment. She
doesn’t know which unit in the apartment complex is housing the target, but
they’ll have to go through the front door at some point, and when they do,
this thing should beep to let her know. It starts to beep. The scanner
doesn’t communicate with the digital scope, of course, so she has to
cross-reference the time codes to find who she’s looking for. Three people
entered the building at about the same time, but two of them appeared to be
together, and the scanner only caught one unusual brain. That’s not a
guarantee, but it’s a safer bet. She pulls up the photo, runs downstairs
from her surveillance nest, crosses the street, and enters the building.
“English?” she asks the lobby supervisor.
“Yes,” he replies. “But my shift is over. Divina will be out soon.”
Just as he’s saying that, the woman she was looking for steps out of the
back office in her uniform. The scanner beeps. The two of them exchange a
few words in Filipino, and then the man leaves. “Yes, can I help you?”
Marie isn’t prepared for this either. She doesn’t know what to say, so she
just goes with the tried and true code words. “Yeah, thank you. Listen, I’m
in the mood for some fish. Do you know of a good restaurant that serves
salmon?”
The lobby supervisor starts to consult her computer. “There is a really
great seafood restaurant down the street, but I can pull up a
comprehensive list for you.”
Hmm. That didn’t work. Marie holds up her scanner, which thankfully, doesn’t
look like a weapon. Yeah, her brain is definitely unusual.
“I’m sorry, do you live here? We’re really only meant to help residents.”
“I’m a time traveler from the 19th century, trapped in your reality, hoping
to find others like me. We have been looking for a way back home, but we
don’t want to leave without first checking to see if anyone else would like
to join. I believe you’re one of us.”
“Of course, ma’am. One moment, please.” She calls the authorities.
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