ARTHUR: two
Arthur sat on his bunk trying desperately to get himself under control. Not just yet. “I can’t lose it now. They’ll be needing me. I remember what my Squad Leader told me: ‘You can’t cry now. If you cry now, people will die. As shitty as you feel right now, trust me, you’ll absolutely hate yourself if some innocent person dies because you were too busy feeling sorry for yourself. We all hate it here, and every one of us cries ourselves to sleep three nights out of five, but NOW is not the time.’ I hate it when he’s right. They may think me cold and heartless for cutting down my own daughter with no hesitation, but I spent almost tem minutes searching her face for anything I could recognize as my little girl. All I saw was a weapon. I spent the next hour crying, ranting, cursing to God, and contemplating suicide before I struck. Last time I wasn’t ready, and Mandy paid the price. This is my future, I should have known better. I should have warned them more. I had the time, I could have done it. I knew this time that if I hesitated for even a moment that more people would die. Maggie was too strong; they didn’t stand a chance against her. The knife was the only chance we had. Plus, if anyone of them laid a hand on her, I think I would have killed them. As he brooded, Arthur absentmindedly pulled out the Promethium knife and started polishing it with a handkerchief. Flinching a little at the realization of just who’s blood it was, he paused when his hands felt what seemed like grooves on the back side. He turned the blade over and saw an elegant inscription along the flat…And time froze. With almost glacial speed the knife tumbled from Arthur’s now lax grip. A blinding flash of light seemed to burst from behind his eyes as a memory rushed through long neglected neural pathways. Arthur stood in the mission room of Contingency, dressed in a light black armor, various small weapons strapped to his body, checking his ever present mini-comp. In front of him stood Julie Young, dressed in snug dark blue body suit, similar hardware adorning her. She held a light armored helmet in her hands, turning it over and over nervously. “Arthur? Are you sure this will work? Maybe we should wait. Maybe Brian will come back. We could really use his help.” Arthur reached out and gently took the helmet from her hands. H softly kissed her once before securing it to his head. “I’m sure Hon. We need to do this now. Besides…Brian’s not coming back. Not after Mandy’s death. He still blames himself for that. Brian is tough. But he never was a warrior. There is only so much pain, death, and failure that anyone can take. He needs to find his own way. I don’t begrudge him for leaving. He would have gotten killed if he was still here, and he knows it. I think that he would have welcomed it, but that he knew that we’d try to save him, and he doesn’t want to endanger us anymore…But you’re right, we could really use his help.” “What?! You act like you’ll be alone out there! Geeze, I swear that you guys take me for granted sometimes. I mean, if it weren’t for me, how else would you have found the kids?” piped the speaker on Arthur’s mini-comp. Smiling slightly, Julie bent and kissed the case of the computer, and said, “I know Jack, we do appreciate your helping out on this. We would have never found Alex and Maggie without you. Thank you for helping, we can never repay you for this.” Sounding almost embarrassed and slightly hurt, Jack responded, “They’re my friends too you know, not just your kids, of course I’m going to help. All the way. Now are you two ready to get your kids back? NTAC won’t know what hit them.” Putting his arms on her shoulders, Arthur looked into his wife’s eyes and asked, “Are you sure you want to be a part of this? It’s not too late to change your mind.” Eyes flashing with momentary anger she pulls one of the 9mm. pistols, gives it a quick check, chambers a round, and re-holsters it. “They took my kids! Don’t forget your knife, you’ll probably need it. By the way, I did something with it I wanted you to see. Take a look.” Arthur reached out and picked up a sheathed long bladed knife from the round conference table and smoothly draws it. The gleam on the blade is almost otherworldly. It is at the same time, a thing of savage beauty, and at the same time, terrifyingly dangerous. Holding the blade in front of him, Arthur lets out a grunt of surprise and looks over to Julie, with a raised eyebrow. She just smiles and says, “I know, but it seemed appropriate. It fits you. It really does. That thing is the only chance we have against some of the Others. It is the WMD of equality. It can kill anybody with the skill to wield it. And so, nobody wants you to use it. It has brought us some level of peace. The Others know that with that in your hands, you have First Strike capacity. Tonight, I have the feeling that you’ll need to use it.”
- Flashback to Arthur’s room* Ever so slowly, the knife tumbles a few more inches towards the floor.
- New scene* Arthur is hiding in a supply closet. Alarms are sounding and in the distance the sound of running feet is audible.
Jack’s voice cuts in over the comp, “Arthur, this isn’t right! They were ready for us. I can’t sense Maggie, just Alex. You need to get out of here, this is a trap!!”
“I know. But we’re not leaving without my son! So this trap of theirs had better be a damn good one. Now tell me where my son is.” Sighing heavily Jack responds, “He’s three doors down, on the left. There are five armed guards with him. With what they have, he’s in no danger. They’ve got nothing that can hurt him. There is a laser grid across the hallway in between you and him. It’s at sensor level now, but the moment you cut any of the beams the joules jumps to over 600. More than enough to cut clean through you. Fortunately, its reaction rate is about .0014 seconds, more than enough time for you to slip through. Julie is keeping the escape route open. Jesus you married a vicious woman you know that?” Smiling slightly, Arthur muttered back, “You know what they say about messing with a mother’s children. Let’s go.” Bursting out of the closet, Arthur ran down the hallway, his speed far past the human eyes capacity to even perceive. He slipped through the laser grid and was opening the door that held his son long before the sensors ever registered his presence. Once inside, Arthur pulled out several carefully wrapped cotton swabs almost dripping with chloroform. Swabbing a generous dose under and even in the guards noses, Arthur assured little pursuit. Dropping the swabs, Arthur grabbed his son, who was sitting shackled to the chair, and without ever stopping, ran back out the door. The laser grid was now active, so Arthur had to switch to escape route Theta. Alex, now moving in time with Arthur, hugging him gleefully, yelled “DADDY!!!” Grinning openly now, Arthur hugged his son back. “You didn’t think we forgot about you did you? We’ll find your sister, and we’ll be a family again.” Running around the corner, Arthur noticed a strange shadow that pooled unnaturally in the middle of the hallway. Braking hard, Arthur managed to come to a stop several feet before stumbling into the shadow. “Shit…Shade! “ Shade was another Survivor. One that decided to join the government early on, and was one of their more trusted Lieutenants. He was almost as fast as Arthur, and when is his shadow form almost invulnerable. The only things that he feared then was fire and sunlight. Both were in scarce supply here. If he was here, than this was definitely a trap. But this didn’t make sense. Shade wasn’t really a threat to Arthur, he wasn’t fast enough to hit him, and Arthur’s knife would cut even a shadow…Unless his purpose was to slow and distract him. “Julie!!! Get out of here now!! It’s an Ambush, you’re the target!!” Arthur screamed into the com-link. “Arthur? What’s going on? Do you have Alex?” Julie’s voice came over the earpiece, followed by a sharp gasp then the crack of a rifle report. Part of Arthur’s mind recognized the sound of a PSG2 sniper rifle. “A-a-arthur? Is Alex safe?”
- back in Arthur’s room* The knife spins and falls closer to the floor
Bellowing in rage, Arthur virtually exploded into motion. Unsheathing the knife, he rushed Shade, who had just enough time to slide aside into real shadows. Heedless of alarms, and sentries, Arthur blew through the NTAC complex with a speed that collapsed walls, and sucked the air out of rooms in his wake. Hitting the outside doors with an explosion of sonic force exceeding 500 Mach, they literally detonated outwards, Arthur running through the cloud of splintered glass, oblivious to the lacerations appearing on his face. He appeared at Julie’s side in time to see the steel jacketed bullet exit her back, after piercing her heart. And in that moment, time stopped. Sometimes, time can be finessed. Sometimes, you can cheat death. And sometimes, just sometimes, you can cheat both. Arthur had a powerful gift. It was his greatest secret. If NTAC ever found out about this, their hunt for hum would exceed any in the history of man. Arthur could actually step backwards in time. It was painful and difficult, for time doesn’t easily relinquish its prizes, and the more you want to change, the harder it is. A human death is one of the most difficult, and the greater your attachment, the harder the change. For to save Julie now would alter every future event in Arthur’s life. Dropping his son, Arthur Grabbed his wife in a desperate hug, and exerted every ounce of his formidable will. Mentally reaching out and forcing the entire cosmos to stop, and slowly, ever so slowly move backwards. He watched the bullet move backwards through her back. Watched as her sundered flesh re-knitted as the offensive bit of metal reinvaded her body in reverse. He stepped aside just enough to allow the reversed bullet to pass by him, and move inexorably back towards the rifle that fired it. Just before it reached the barrel, Arthur moved himself and his now rejuvenated wife around a corner into an alcove, stopping momentarily to grab his son. Exhausted, Arthur let his grip on the fabric of time lax, and as he staggered and fell to his knees, he heard a horrified gasp from Julie. For she still knew. Her memories of the whole event were intact. Looking down to her husband, she opened her mouth to say something. Arthur will never know what she intended to say. In a spray of crimson, a blade of pure shadow erupted from her chest, spraying Arthur with her hot blood. Sometimes, time can be cheated. Sometimes death can be finessed. But you only EVER get one chance to do so. A person can only be saved once.
- back in Arthur’s room* The knife falls and sticks point down into the floor. The camera starts to rotate around the blade.
Arthur was never sure afterwards whose scream he heard. His, Julie’s, or Alex’s. Or perhaps it was all three. The only memory left was rending Shade to pieces with hand and blade then kneeling over his wife sobbing his soul out. He came to his senses to see himself surrounded by NTAC guards, all pointing assault rifles at him. In that moment all emotion drained out of him, a near tactile chill sweeping through him. Rising to his feet, he surveyed the troops with a disdainful glare. With a slow fluid motion he reached down and drew the blade from the earth where he had buried it after killing Shade. The words that came from him seemed remote and cold. “I understand that you are just doing your jobs…don’t force me to make your family weep over your graves.” With that he sheathed the knife, picked up Julie’s body, and walked towards the front gate with his son at his side. And the guards parted to let him go.
- Back in Arthur’s room* As the Camera comes around to the other side of the knife, the ceiling light glares harshly off the surface. When the camera stops, clear along the flat of the blade is an elegant inscription, obviously in a feminine hand.
“EXCALIBUR”
