TIME & TIED: ESCALATION

ARC 2.1 - From the Past

PART 30b: SEARCH AND RESCUE 2

"Okay, let me see if I've got this straight," Frank said. "Both you and Luci were kidnapped by this Linquist guy, but you managed to escape?"

"Not quite," Luci admitted. "That was Carrie's story for the benefit of Chartreuse."

Frank grinned. “It had the flavour of one of her stories. Is this why you wanted me to wait here with you?"

"Yes. You see... Frank..." She took a deep breath. "I am Luci."

Frank nodded. “A future Luci.”

"No. There was an accident with the time machine yesterday," Luci explained. "When I touched those wires it did something to me, something that's caused me to age rapidly a total of three times now." Frank frowned and took a step closer, looking Luci up and down more carefully. She blushed mildly at the scrutiny. "Frank, I wouldn't lie to you about this, honest."

Frank coughed, stepping back again. "Sorry. But that’s kind of crazy - what do you think could have caused this?"

"It might have something to do with a genetics trigger in the machine,” Luci said tentatively, holding up the pages she'd retrieved. “That Professor Linquist, he’d picked up on the fact that there was a temporal signature fluctuating inside me."

"Really?" Frank took the pages from Luci and scanned the top sheet. "Then do you think there might be a way we can use this information to change you back?"

Luci stared. "Change me... back?"

Frank looked back up. "Well, sure. You don't want to stay in the body you have now, do you?"

Luci licked her lips. "I... I don't know. Why... what's wrong with the body I have now?" she murmured.

"Well... nothing I guess," Frank admitted. "It's just not you, right?"

“On the contrary, there's every possibility that this is how I'm going to look in six or seven years."

"In six years, sure," Frank agreed. "But inside you're still fourteen. Er, aren't you?"

Luci looked down at herself. "Inside... I'm not sure how old I am," she said softly. She turned away. “Frank, I've always been an outcast. Too smart for people my age, and too young for people of comparable intellect."

She brushed some of her long, black hair back off her shoulder. “So this, it could be a blessing. My chance to fit in. The tingling inside me has stopped, so I don't think I'll get any older. So... so why can't I continue my life from here as if I'm twenty?"

"Luci..."

She spun back towards him. "I mean, the time machine could have just matched my physical age to my mental age, right Frank? RIGHT? Maybe that’s what it did. Because look at me. LOOK at me! In this body, I can be taken seriously. No more condescending remarks from older people, no more students whispering about me behind my back. I can start living life anew.”

Frank stared at her for a long moment. "And what of fourteen year old Luci?” he said quietly. “The one who's gone missing, the one who has a lot of people worried? If you stay at your current age, you can't reveal who you really are, you must realize that. Think of all the questions it will bring up."

Luci looked down at her feet. "So I’d have to move away. It’s fine, I’ll leave a note for my parents, and there aren't that many people who will miss the old Luci."

“I’d miss her."

Luci smiled. "Frank, don't be silly... I can visit. You'll know it’s me."

"No, I mean I'll miss the Luci I used to know. The one I could study with. The one I could chat with over a juice.”

"But I'm still that Luci, only better. Older," Luci asserted. She reached out to pull Frank closer to her. "In fact, I... I can be even more to you... like this..."

Frank’s gaze slipped down. He quickly jerked his head back up to look her in the eyes. "It's all right," Luci murmured. "I don't mind if you look there. In fact, I... I've wanted to be close to you like this for so long."

Frank’s eyes widened. “Oh, Luci..."

"In fact, I think I can finally say it. Frank... I love you." With that, she leaned in and kissed him.

He didn't react.

Then he pulled away.

***

A single tear splashed down onto the page of Luci's diary. She pushed herself away from the desk. “This writing is NOT helping,” Luci realized. “It STILL doesn’t make sense."

Slamming the book closed, she stood and hurled herself back onto her bed, grabbing one of her pillows and hugging it to her chest. Her now too large chest. "Why?" she whispered. "Why did I do that? I suppose I thought I could live out my fondest dream... Except..."

***

"Luci, this isn't right."

She stared at him. Trying to understand. “You think I'm too old for you now?"

"Yes. I mean no. I mean you're... you're not my Luci."

"Frank, I really am her. And my feelings are real."

“Luci... I can’t. This is too weird. Y-You’ve just experienced something traumatic, w-we have to analyze that first..." He took a step backwards.

“Frank, wait!”

"I... I'm just going to have a look at these notes, okay? I’ll see if there's anything I can do about what happened and I'll... I’ll let you know if I come up with anything. Okay?"

"No... no, don't be like this. Please don't..."

"Luci, to me you’re still fourteen."

"But Frank, I do love you!"

"I can't handle that right now. Not like this. I... I'm sorry, Luci." He turned and ran.

***

Luci threw her pillow across the room. "WHY?" she screamed, seized by an uncontrollable rage, her tears starting to flow freely once more. "I'd just escaped from a lunatic, everything was getting better, we'd kissed... MY DREAM WASN'T SUPPOSED TO END THAT WAY!”

Taimu, who had just peered around the door of her room once more, let out a yowl and backed away as he was almost hit by her second pillow. Luci didn't even notice. Curling herself up into a ball, she simply cried. And cried. And cried.

"It's not fair," she choked out. "It's not fair. I’m the right age now, it wasn't supposed to end like that...."

It eventually occurred to her that she must present quite a sight, a twenty year old girl sobbing uncontrollably in the basement bedroom of her parents' house. With them out looking for her. Worried about her. Yet she couldn’t stay here. Not now. She swallowed hard, wiping at her cheeks, as another thought occurred.

"Physically, I'm twenty,” she whispered. "Mentally, I'm at least that old. But emotionally... emotionally am I still fourteen? Is that the problem here? And what about socially? I mean, what’s the point of being a brilliant scientist, if you have no friends to share your accomplishments with?"

She rolled her gaze up to the ceiling. “Gods, becoming this age... somehow, it’s lost me everything. Even Frank. I’m going to have to run away... and I don’t want to. I want to stay here! To be myself again! Oh God, whatever am I going to do?!"

Before her tears could flow again, her phone rang.

It was Frank.

***

''Dear Diary. Well, I look fourteen again. Go figure.

''It’s only ballpark fourteen, of course, as randomness dictates that I may be months off either way. It wasn’t calculated so much as it was an apparent correlation between some readings off of Professor Linquist's scans, and power readings we'd recorded the other day off of the time machine. Which led to, you guessed it, going through that whole tingly physical ordeal again, merely in reverse. JOY.

‘’I skipped school on Monday so that no one would notice my age regressing, stuck it all out in Frank's basement - after giving my parents a call to tell them I’d gotten away from the Professor and would see them once I’d worked through some issues. Adding to the confusion, when the police went out to Linquist's cabin, the guy had vanished. They didn't find any evidence of his bizarre activities either. Hopefully he left town, and we won’t run into him again.’’

Luci spun her pencil.

''Now. On to the important stuff. The relationship gates are open between me and Frank - and neither of us quite know what to do about it. Frank said he thinks of me as, "a close friend, it'll take time to sort the rest out". I admitted that I went a bit overboard, and can wait on him for an answer. Particularly now that I've realized making myself older won't solve anything. In fact, I think he asked Carrie about me today... she gave me a funny look when I left his place. Good! Let her wonder about me for a change.''

Luci smiled at the thought, but it faded quickly.

‘’Actually, about Carrie... I remember writing once that no good would ever come of her hanging out with Frank. That my separating them would be for the best. In that, I may have been... mistaken. I'm starting to realize what a positive influence he's been on her, while she, in her own way, has been pushing him towards becoming more decisive. It sounds weird, but we might both have Frank's best interests at heart. Ugh. Could be trouble for me, long term... but hey, I got in the first kiss!''

Her smile was back. ‘’To reiterate, what they say is true. Be careful what you wish for, lest you get it.'' Luci set her pencil aside and closed her diary. But then she stopped, re-opened the book and riffled through to her last entry, taking up her pencil one last time.

''P.S. : Since Linquist was apparently correct in his temporal analysis of me, where did he get the rest of his so-called data concerning "aliens"? Not that I believe I'm an alien, but the guy WAS once a legit scientist. Stands to reason that there was some truth to his ravings. Right? Meaning... the origin of the machine is extra terrestrial...?''

Luci stared down at the page silently for a moment, before shaking her head, closing the book once again, and reaching up to switch off her desk lamp.

They had a fully working time machine less than three days later.