So Many Commands 1
11. Looking For Something I Knew Had To Be There
It was a nice quiet two-story house in a quiet neighborhood. The houses were so close together that a work truck could barely squeeze between the houses. The yards weren’t large in front, but there was plenty of room in the back for family activities. Edwardo didn’t have a family. He lived alone in his quiet house and enjoyed reading his books. For a man in his late twenties that was an accomplishment, even if he was lonely at times.
This night, with windows glowing orange in the darkness, Edwardo was not alone. He didn’t seem to know this. The young man with the square head and prominent ears stood up. He wasn’t tall, and he wasn’t thin, but compact with muscle would be the best way to describe him. He marked his book and went into the kitchen. In the small kitchen he picked up a nine-inch cast iron frying pan and swung.
Many minutes later the woman that had been hit with the frying pan was waking up tied to a solidly built wooden chair sitting in the kitchen. Edwardo was at the kitchen table poking at a blue box that was mostly a display, attached to a nylon belt.
“Shut up,” Edwardo said not even looking up at the woman.
“Hey that’s my insulin pump,” the woman said realizing the situation. “I need that back.”
“I said shut up,” Edwardo said with little emotion as he continued to fiddle and poke at the box.
“If I don’t have that back I’ll die,” the woman said.
Edwardo finally looked at the woman. She was painfully thin, shorter than Edwardo, with a long neck and a very round head. She couldn’t have been much out of her teens and sounded like it with a high-pitched voice. She had dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes. She was not ugly, and not attractive, but neutral in many ways. Even her chest was not prominent. Edwardo looked at her with tired and sad eyes. This was Edwardo’s natural face, but it looked worse when there was someone tied to a chair in his kitchen.
“I saw you when I got my first library card,” Edwardo said in his monotone voice. “I saw you when I graduated high school and college. I saw you when I interviewed for a job at Electron Enterprises, which is how I knew I got the job. At every one of those times the fourth button on your exact same shirt has been unbuttoned.”
“Look, you’re right, I’m sorry,” the woman said.
“I said shut-up,” Edwardo said as he started tapping away at the screen on the box.
“I’m serious,” the woman pleaded. “If I don’t get my belt back, I will dematerialize. I only have a few minutes left before my hour is up and I cease to exist.”
Edwardo snorted and looked up at the woman. “What part of shut-up is unclear,” Edwardo said. “Let me tell you what I know. This belt lets you travel through time and space on different timelines. That part is obvious from you popping up in my life at so many times. I know that something important is supposed to happen in this house on this day at this time. I also know this isn’t your belt.”
“How?” The woman asked amazed.
Edwardo narrowed his eyes. “Are you kidding?” He asked. “Are you that much of a child you don’t know. Fine, here’s how I know it. If you can travel through time, and I know you can because I’ve seen you, then that means time can be changed. If time can be changed then that means different timelines. This belt isn’t yours because the nylon is permanently bent from someone larger than you has used it for a very long time. You stole this belt, you’ve dogged me throughout my life, and you’re here now. The only important thing that could happen here and now is I caught you, and probably gave you a concussion.”
“Shit,” the woman said realizing that Edwardo had figured nearly everything out.
“The only thing I don’t know, is your name and why me?” Edwardo asked making his narrow eyes even narrower. “How am I special?”
The woman closed her mouth and didn’t say anything. Edwardo looked at her for a long minute and then went back to the box on the belt. He pushed a few buttons on the touch screen, and then some more. The woman was testing the ropes, hoping that there was some give to them, but Edwardo made sure they were secure.
Edwardo stood up and looked at the woman. “One last chance, tell me why I’m special,” Edwardo asked.
The woman said nothing.
“Fine,” Edwardo said putting the belt on.
“No, you can’t, you’ll die,” the woman said, but not very convincingly.
Edwardo gave her a disappointed look. Then he looked down at the belt, flipped the screen up so he could see, and pressed a few virtual buttons. Edwardo was gone and back in a flash, but when he came back things were different about him. His hair had grown an inch. He had a very deep tan. His clothes were slightly dirty and looked like they were made of a red silvery silk. He also had a bag on his shoulder.
“That took longer than expected,” Edwardo said putting his bag down. He took off the time belt and put it into a cloth looking bag pulled from the bag that was on his shoulder.
“What did you do?” The woman asked with a shocked look on her face.
Edwardo didn’t say anything for a long minute. “I went looking for something I knew had to be there,” Edwardo answered. “I just didn’t think that I’d have to go four hundred years for me to find it.”
“What?” The woman asked in shock.
Edwardo pulled out something that looked like a coin. “If you don’t want to tell me what you know,” he said, “I’ll make you tell me what you know. I got a handful of mind control devices.”
“No,” she said scared. “No, you shouldn’t have! This is wrong! This is horribly, horribly wrong!”
Edwardo looked unconcerned. “Last chance,” Edwardo said holding the small coin. If one looked closely there was a silver outside and green inside. There were small threads of silver all over the green portion of the coin.
“No,” the woman said whipping her head back and forth, her brown hair flowing around her.
Edwardo saw her moving so fast and looked mildly annoyed. He fished around in his bag and pulled out something that looked like a small flashlight. She stopped quickly turning her head, and looked at Edwardo, blowing her hair out of her face. Edwardo pressed the small button on the side of the flashlight. The light was an off white with a hint of green, and it bathed the woman’s face for a second. She froze in place.
“Okay so that extra piglet was worth it,” Edwardo said walking up to the now frozen woman. She sat there, eyes open, frozen, but breathing. Edwardo brushed the hair from her forehead and pressed the coin to it. A slight buzz could just barely be heard in the kitchen, and then a small white light on the coin started to slowly blink. Then after a minute the light stayed on. Edwardo pulled the coin from the woman’s forehead and dropped the small disk into his back. The woman didn’t react or move as Edwardo went around and untied her wrists and ankles.
After freeing the frozen woman Edwardo fished out the flashlight again and pointed it at the woman. This time the light was white with the hint of red to it. Instantly the woman was able to move. She saw Edwardo standing there and her eyes went wide.
“Master!” The woman screamed as she dropped to the floor and on her knees before Edwardo.
She started to bow, but Edwardo was not having it. “Stand up,” he barked, “stand at attention.”
Immediately the woman popped up to her feet and with her hands at her sides and her less than impressive chest stuck out she gazed straight ahead. From her mouth like she was a soldier in the military she all but yelled, “Yes, Master!”
“Let me tell you what I know, and you can fill in the gaps,” Edwardo said walking around the woman. “You are part of an organization known as Time Travelers, a much uninspired name.”
“Correct Master,” the woman yelled.
“You watch different timelines and observe what happens from a base known as Center Time,” Edwardo said.
“Correct Master,” the woman yelled again.
“With the belts you can go directly to the time and place on a timeline that you want to directly observe,” Edwardo said stopping before the woman.
“Correct Master,” the woman said forcefully.
“These belts make sure you don’t screw up the timeline while you’re there,” Edwardo continued.
“Correct Master,” the woman said as if she were a repeat of an audio file.
“Alright slave, listen closely,” Edwardo said, “I want you to tell me the full and honest truth. Why were you spying on me?”
“You are an anomaly Master,” the woman said. “There are no branches off your timeline. I found you by accident. I’ve been researching your life for over a year. On this night your timeline ends, but there is no record of you passing away. I stole a time belt, since I have yet to qualify for one, and followed you through your life.”
“Well, that answers everything, but what your name is,” Edwardo said. “What is your name?”
“Sparrow,” the woman answered monotone.
“Well Sparrow,” Edwardo said sitting down. “Activate program 1F.”
Sparrow blinked a few times and looked over at Edwardo. “Shit,” she said realizing what was happening.
Edwardo went over to his refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of cola. “This is something I haven’t had in a long time,” Edwardo said using a bottle opener and snapping off the cap. Sparrow stared at him as he took a long pull on the bottle of cola.
“What are you going to do to me?” Sparrow asked a touch scared.
“Well, I can’t let you go back to the Time Travelers,” Edwardo said finishing off his cola. “So, you’ll have to stay here with me.”
Sparrow’s jaw clenched in anger. “I’ll find a way to break free of your control,” she said angerly. “They’ll notice the time belt is gone. They’ll look for me and find you.”
“No, they won’t,” Edwardo said. “The time belt is almost out of power, and while it is in that bag there won’t be a signal going in or out of it and it is only a matter of days until its battery dies. You said yourself you’re not qualified to use the time belt, so I’m sure everyone will think you had an accident. As for looking for me, I’ve taken care of that.” Edwardo showed a small scar on the inside of his left arm. “I have a subdermal time deflector,” Edwardo said, “no one was able to find me while I was hopping around time, and they won’t find me here.”
Edwardo opened one of his cupboards and pulled out a candy bar and started eating it. “As for you,” he said between bites, “you’ll become my obedient and loving girlfriend/slave, and possibly future wife.”
“Fuck you,” Sparrow yelled. “I don’t care what level of control you think you have over me, I’ll never love you.”
“Activate program 1C,” Edwardo said finishing off his candy bar.
Sparrow blinked and a huge smile filled her face. “Oh Master,” she cooed as she came up to Edwardo and tentatively started touching his chest, “I don’t know what I was thinking. Of course, I’ll be your obedient, and loving sex slave, or girlfriend, or whatever you want me to be.”
“Glad to hear it,” Edwardo said and then pulled a short tube from his bag. “Suck this into your lungs,” he said.
“Of course, Master,” Sparrow said with a happy and loving smile. She took the tube, put it between her lips and inhaled deeply. When she pulled as much air through the tube as possible, Edwardo took the tube back and tossed it into his bag.
“In a few hours this will remake your body to how I want you,” Edwardo said sounding tired. “I have a thing for the look of big breasted fitness models, so that’s what you’ll become. You’ll love showing off your sexy new body by wearing as little clothing as possible.”
Sparrow had a wide smile on her face, happy and focused on Edwardo. “I will do anything you want, Master,” Sparrow said.
“Then come with me to my bedroom,” Edwardo said. “I want to sleep in my bed, and you with me.”
“Anything for you, Master,” Sparrow said with a happy smile.
Edwardo and Sparrow were in Edwardo’s bedroom in seconds. When Edwardo told his slave to strip, he was not impressed with what he saw, but knew that it would change soon. At his command Sparrow disrobed him, and the two got into bed. Sparrow started to fondle Edwardo’s ten-inch cock, but he could not stay awake. He commanded Sparrow to wake him up in six hours with a deep throated blowjob, and he was asleep before she even agreed.