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Track 1 - Memories

The blimps drifted lazily overhead, steam and smoke swirled around the cobbled streets like ghosts, the only spectators to what was happening. The stones of the buildings around us were slick with moisture, the odd errant drip running down the walls like forgotten tears.

With a swift fluid movement I struck my cane once against the ground, the crack echoed off the nearby buildings, the gem on top of my cane flared to life and with a roar and rush of wind, a tear in the fabric of the universe opened behind me.

I stood facing Jarak, my once oldest friend, his smooth black battle armor reflected the lightning from the tear, the brown mottling on his tan skin darkened as it always did when he was angry, his tail swaying sharply from side to side, his teeth showing in a slight snarl, he could never hide his deeper emotions, his eyes were locked on me.

I held my ground as my coat whipped around my legs with the winds coming from the tear, errant hairs from the black and orange strands on my head were flung around like feathers, lightning and stars swirled around behind me. "Give it back" He yelled across the space between us, "You're not going to get away with it". I clutched the cane in my hand tighter, "You know I won't give it to you and your men, If I did, countless lives would be endangered with what you had planned for it, you've changed old friend, and I have to keep this away from you at all cost"

As I looked at him with a sorrowed look, my mind drifted back to the days when we were still friends, we had been so close that we acted like we had been born to the same clutch. He was an Allosaurus, from a small family, they never had much, but they were happy. As for myself, I came from a more entitled family. Tyrannosaurs were always chosen for management roles, my parents were officials in some government department, so they were well off and had high ranking associates.

We met, as most friends do, in school. We met on the playground, we were not supposed to interact with each other, as my family was a different class to his but I was often teased about the color of my scales, dark purple and bright green, a most unusual color for a T-Rex, but whenever someone tried to bully me about it, Jarak was there to stand by my side. Soon the bullying stopped and our friendship grew stronger.

When we reached high school, we had all but decided what we wished to do with the rest of our lives. I was supposed to take on a management role, just like the rest of my family, but i dedicated my time to the sciences. Back then it was looked down on as a dead end field and was not looked on favorably by my parents.

Jarak however, had decided to head for something more physical, he excelled at sports and his physical prowess grew, he was normally found training hard after school always improving his strength, speed and agility, I would always be sitting nearby with my head buried in another book, but still showing my support to my closest friend.

Eventually as we graduated from school, I moved into physics, graduating with honors and easily securing a position with a respectable research facility. Jarak however joined the military, our respective roles meant that we started to see less of each other, that's when our friendship started to become a secondary concern.

We still met up for coffee from time to time, Jarak would regale me with his latest achievements, he was swiftly moving up the ranks, he was slowly heading for a post overseeing the latest developments in weapons, the military took care of his training to make sure he was qualified for the post.

As for myself, I had settled into a lead role in the particle physics labs, I wasn't too high up, which means it left me with time to follow my own research between major projects, again another step on the path that leads to where we stand now.

I turned from watching the sights outside the window, the avians drifting between the blimps on their way to deliver a message or watching the streets below for signs of trouble. I stirred some sugar into my tea and looked at Jarak, "So what rank are you now?", He toyed with his mug of coffee for a moment, "Major" he replied, in the soft voice he had developed over the years, the kind of tone that suggested hidden secrets.

"I had to be so that I could oversee this new project." he continued, "New project? Another means to wipe out more innocent people?" I replied, Jarak was quite aware of my thoughts on the military and war, instead of fighting with me over it he just accepted that I'd never agree with him on this point and moved on.

"Actually no, this one is about energy, we've found a way to extract energy from somewhere else and use it to power things here", "Like weapons" I offered the comment with sarcasm. "That's only one application, but it's vast, this could help the whole planet", "or crack it apart, come on Jarak, you know this is just another thing to destroy ourselves with"

Jarak looked at me with exasperation, "Why don't you come and see it, let me at least convince you that what we're doing is safe, I know you're the top in your field, come and see I'm trying to help."

I put my cup down, and looked in Jarak's eyes, I could still see some of my old friend there, buried deep inside under all the military training, just for a moment I saw the old glimmer of mischief that saw us get into trouble so many times in school.

"Do I have time to consider my reply?", "Of course", "Fine, I'll let you know in a week, and we'll take it from there." Jarak stood up, his chair scraping the floor slightly as he stood, "Talk to you then", he turned and walked off, I watched his back as he vanished into the fog outside.

I sat for a time, looking into my cooling cup of tea, wondering where the time had gone and how we could have changed so much. I finished my tea and got up to leave, I left a scattering of coins on the table and walked out into the cold and headed home to think some more, mostly trying to decide if i could still trust my old friend, or whether to turn down his offer and get on with my life.

I returned to work, walking briskly through the cool morning, the cold never sat well with me, I swiped my card at the door and walked into the building, greeting the raptor at the security desk, on entering the lab I took off my coat and hat and put on my white lab coat.

I walked past shelves and worktables, piled high with half soldered boards and partly assembled boxes lay scattered about the lab all partly completed tasks. Sitting down at my station I watched the robotic arms in the lab going about their business of constructing the micro-circuits for yet another piece of equipment I was developing, The world outside was a stark contrast to the research we were doing inside the building.

I barely noticed the hum of the machines as they worked, my mind was occupied with Jarak's offer. What would I find if I went, what is he involved in. Jamina interrupted my train of thought as she handed me some figures concerning what we were working on.

She was a young Triceratops, they made up most of the staff in the facility, except for the odd dinosaur like myself, they were exceptional scientists, her skin was green, lightening slightly around her horns, her bony frill around her head was a pleasant blue, just like her eyes, she had an athletic background, but soon became buried in science, luckily for me, she was the best associate I had come across in a long time.

"The Beta Three figures seem a little low" She told me, I responded with a grunt, "Well that's charming" She chided, "Whats got your tail in knots?" I turned to her and went over what I discussed with Jarak. "What do you think I should do, should I leave it alone, and possibly miss out on a world shaking discovery or go and probably get mixed up in some government cover up?"

"I think" She began "That you should do what your gut instincts tell you to do, if it's too hot, you can always step away from the fire, but as always, the choice is up to you, and I know you're smart enough to always tread your own path"

I looked at Jamina with a smile, for a young dinosaur she was wiser than most of the people running our world, "You're right, I'll make my decision later, but for now, my gut is telling me it's hungry, join me for lunch?", "Sure, just let me put these reports away and I'll join you"

After a long lunch, we returned to the lab, the machines had finished with the micro-circuitry and I withdrew it from the construction cradle and plugged it into the testing rig and with a few taps of keys initiated the test run on it, while the computers tested and logged results I turned my mind to what Jarak had told me, for the following few days it distracted me in every quiet moment.

Just as I had promised I contacted Jarak after a week went by, informing my old friend that I would have a look at his project, but warned him I couldn't guarantee my participation.

-

The next morning was cold and windy as I stood before the gate waiting for Jarak to meet me and usher me through the security checkpoints. "You're late" I complained as he walked out of a discreet door beside the checkpoint, "Sorry, Just some last minute paperwork for your visit". He pinned a tag to the lapel of my coat and motioned me to follow him.

We slipped in through a side door, we seemed to be bypassing all the normal security, every saurian we passed by snapped a salute to him, he returned them in a casual manner. "So whats the surprise" I asked as we passed by door after door marked with 'Authorized Personnel Only', all he did was turned and smiled and kept on walking, the smile held no warmth, it sent a shiver down my back to the tip of my tail.

"Here we are" he said as he pushed open a nondescript door, behind it was the most advanced lab I had ever seen, it was a circular room, various computers and screens lined the curved walls, every panel was manned, I glanced at a screen as I passed by, it seemed to show energy graphs, I gasped slightly, the levels were immense, higher than I had seen in any research I had ever read about.

Jarak lead me to a large glass column at the center of the room, inside it, seemingly hovering in the center was a fist sized gemstone, at least it looked like a gemstone. Gloves in the side of the column were obviously used to access the gem. Jarak turned a nearby screen to where I could see it clearly, "This is the little project that I've been overseeing" He tapped controls on the screen, the view zoomed in and I could see tiny threadlike circuits spread throughout the gem, sparkling and pulsing with a life of their own.

"What is it?" I asked, almost hypnotized by the pulses. "We found this mineral by accident when we were on a deep sea excavation, looking for materials to help with constructing new defenses.", "You mean weapons", Jarak ignored the remark and continued.

"This was radiating energy from the bottom of a trench, we lost two underwater teams retrieving it, when we got it back here we discovered it had unique properties, the energy wasn't coming from the gem directly, but from elsewhere, we just don't exactly know where, I was hoping that you'd be able to help with that"

"What exactly do you want me to do with it? You seem to have every angle covered" I gestured at the monitors "Quite literally" I added somewhat sharply. "Watch" Jarak replied as he nodded to a nearby technician. Fingers skimmed over keys, buttons were pressed and levers were pulled, a rumble shook the room and as I watched the gem, the space above it seemed to crack and split open, revealing a dark space filled with swirling lights and streaks of lightning.

"All we know is that's where this thing is drawing power from, but what 'that' is, we don't know." I snapped him a horrified look, "You don't know what it is so you thought it was a good idea to poke it with a stick" I pointed at one set of readings, "The containment is stretched to it's absolute limit, anything more and gods only know what would happen, and you don't seem to be the slightest bit concerned."

I began pointing out several readings to Jarak but was distracted by a sudden flash from the breach, I checked the closest instruments but they hadn't registered anything. Looking at Jarak and the technicians, it was obvious they had seen the same thing. "For the sake of sanity, shut it down, at least until I have a proper look at all this." Jarak looked sideways at me, "So you'll help", with resigned sigh I nodded, "Can you transfer the files to my lab, so I can look at them there" Jarak nodded, I just looked at him then with a shake of my head I murmured, "Let me out of here, I need a drink"

The walk back to the main gate was in virtual silence and I tried to make sense of what I had seen in there, I would need to go over the research in detail to figure out what my next move would be, but I was sure Jarak wouldn't like it. We reached the gate and I said my farewell to him, and walked out towards the cafe. He stood at the gate and was soon swallowed by the ever present smoke as I walked out of sight.

I sat in the cafe, my mind swimming with what he had shown me, I idly traced the patterns of the wood grain on the tabletop, the motion helped order my thoughts, my cup of tea was forgotten, cooling beside me. I knew deep down what was planned for the gemstone, and the millions of lives that were going to be lost swam before my eyes.

-

I slipped into my lab earlier than usual, I didn't want an audience when I was going through the files that Jarak had sent me. I sat down at my station and opened the files, resting my chin on my hands I began to read, the feeling of dread that I had at the other facility only deepened as I scanned each document.

As I reached the final document and poured over the readings contained therein I started to plan and trace out circuits and make a list of what I would need to build a control and containment device for this troubling discovery. I was so fixated on what I was doing I didn't hear Jamina walk up behind me.

"Whats that" She said, startling me, I blanked the screen and turned to her, "Better if you don't know", "Ah" she said, "The thing you were talking about the other day", I nodded. "I wish i could tell you about it, but it's just too dangerous", she looked me in the eyes and recoiled just a little. "If it has you that scared then it must be dangerous", "It is, I can't destroy it, or the military would have my head, my only hope is to contain it and possibly run, it's my only choice to save lives"

Jamina took a step back and stood there looking off into space, her tail swaying as it always did when she was thinking, she then shrugged her shoulders and smiled "Well, I'll just have to help", I went to speak but she silenced me with one raised finger. "I don't need to know the details, just pass me designs so i can get the machines working on them, if it's as bad as you haven't said it is, we're going to have our work cut out for us". She flashed her cheeky smile and with a flick of her tail she turned and walked over to her workstation.

I watched her as she returned to some of the other work she was involved in before she spoke to me, and thought how different things would be if I were younger and we weren't facing the annihilation of the whole world. Maybe time would tell, if we survived.

-

We had worked hard into the night, it was early morning before we put the plans away for the night and headed home to rest before working again. We had designed two pieces, an object that looked like a cane without a handle that would act as a containment device, and another device that looked like a pocket watch. We had designed the watch to contain, monitor and be a control device, to help the cane and direct the energies that the gemstone emitted.

I laid in my bed, still going over schematics and designs in my mind, wondering what I would do with the gemstone once I had it contained. I had a vague hint of an idea of what the tear was, even after studying all the readings and documents that Jarak had passed onto me, and I was wasn't sure I could control it completely.

Jamina and I met up the next morning in the cafeteria, me with my ever present cup of tea, she preferred coffee, I always teased her about that, and she would respond, calling me an old fashioned dinosaur. We quietly discussed the final pieces of the design work and smoothed out any foreseeable problems, but a lot of the design was guesswork, still working with what I had been sent.

We returned to our lab and powered on the construction machines, they whirred and clicked as they went about constructing the devices from the specifications we punched into the computers. We returned to some other projects that we had been neglecting while we worked on the designs, just so that there would be no suspicions raised due to work not being done. The machines continued their critical work behind us.

After several hours the hum of the machines subsided and the machine chimed to indicate completion of the project, Jamina and I turned and entered the room with the worktable where the two items lay. Just as we had programmed, one looked like a brass pocket watch, in it's inactive state a face with a normal dial was visible, but when active, the face changed to a screen that showed constant readings of the environment and information coming from the cane.

The cane looked like a simple wooden walking stick, the faux wood looked just like dark stained oak capped on one end with what looked like a brass top, the top designed to surround and contain the gemstone when placed in contact with the surface of the gem.

Jamina looked at me, "Whatever it is must be powerful, You know I saw the specs for all this" I just nodded as I picked up the watch and staff and ushered her out of the room, closing the door behind me I went to my workstation and started entering two new sets of designs, she leaned close and looked, "What are those", "A distraction" I replied as I set the machines in motion to build the new designs I had just fed into them, two more pieces towards the plans I was making to try to protect this world.

-

The next day I contacted Jarak to arrange my return to his department. I got dressed in my normal clothes, My blue vest, black and gold coat, and my top hat with my goggles. I hung the control watch in my vest pocket so it wouldn't look out of place, and picked up the cane, now topped with a blue gemstone, almost identical to the one at Jarak's lab. I also pocketed a small box, this would create the distraction I needed when I got there. I also sent a message to Jamina to meet me on the other side of the city after I did what I had to do.

On approaching the gate, Jarak was standing there waiting for me this time. "Glad you returned, it's been giving us some trouble", "Poked it with a bigger stick did you?" I asked a little more sarcastically than I had intended. "We were just running some experiments, and it got away from us, we'll discuss it more inside." After that he was quiet, which worried me more.

We walked down the corridor towards the lab, I could feel vibrations through the floor, I started to worry, but hid it from Jarak, I also started to wonder if my cane would be enough to contain it now. "Oh, here is your pass, I had the paperwork for it rushed through, since I knew you wouldn't be able to stay away". I took the pass from him and slipped it into my vest pocket, my claw tips brushing the box.

Just as we reached the door to the lab a loud crack came from behind the door, and a loud rumble, Jarak looked at me with shock and thrust the door open, the scene inside was one of chaos and terror, the containment unit had breached and the shockwave flung the technicians around like ragdolls, casting an eye over the remaining functional instruments I saw that I wouldn't need to cause a distraction, if I didn't move quickly the lives in the lab and surrounding houses would be lost.

"JARAK" I bellowed, "Get them out while I try to fix this". Still shocked he just nodded dumbly and started to get helpless techs to their feet and guide them out, while his back was to me I slipped over to what remained of the containment unit and spotted the stone.

I gave the stone on my cane a sharp twist and it came free. I touched the cane to the other gem and it clamped onto it and flared, then the light in the gemstone died down and I slipped the dummy gemstone into the containment unit and stepped back. Just as a final precaution I pushed the box into one of the broken panels and switched it on, it started to feed false readings directly into the computer core, making it seem that the gemstone was under control, it would do until I got away.

The gemstone on top of the cane now was silent and dull, just like a regular gemstone, no indication that it was the most powerful thing on the planet, I checked the watch, the screen showed me that the readings were still unstable, but good enough for now. I shoved the door open and headed for the outside, I pushed the gate open to see Jarak in the street with the technicians, medics had arrived and were taking care of them, some had haunted looks, some were sobbing like children, other were just shaking their heads.

I sighed deeply and walked up to Jarak, "I've got it settled down again, at least until the next time you poke it", He just looked at me, I saw he hadn't learned any lessons and was fully intending on picking up where he left off, "Can we stop that happening again", I shook my head in resignation and handed him a sheet of calculations and circuit designs.

"These should decrease the severity of any future eruptions from it, but I beg of you to just lock it away and forget it's existence". I suspected he wouldn't heed my advice, but I knew what I had given him would keep his remaining techs busy for a short time, hopefully enough time for me to decide my next move. "I have to go try to come up with something else to try to deal with this, you have this under control?", Jarak just nodded, I nodded in return and slipped away, heading for my meeting with Jamina.

-

As I hurried to my destination on the other side of town I sent a message to Jamina to go to the lab and bring equipment before she came to meet me, I needed to adjust the cane, I hoped that I could adjust it on the run, the latest readings left me very uneasy.

After walking briskly for a time I rounded a corner and spied my destination, an out of the way bar in the less favorable part of town, I pushed the door open and strode inside, a quick scan of the occupants found Jamina in the back at one of the less obvious tables, dressed in darker colors, she almost seemed to melt into the shadows.

I took a seat across from her and put the watch and cane on the table, flipping open the watch the face changed to the readings screen, it was worsening, a looping energy buildup in the gemstone, the containment cane was compensating as best it could, I motioned to Jamina for the tools from the lab and started adjusting the circuits in the cane while watching the readings.

She turned the watch so she could read the screen, she just shook her head. "We're not going to be able to contain it for long, are we?". "I don't think so" I replied grimly "I can adjust the cane to strengthen the containment field but I don't know what to do after that".

Jamina narrowed her eyes and started thinking, flipping over a napkin she started to scribble equations and diagrams, frowning from time to time but never stopping. When she had finished, she slid the napkin over to me. I finished adjusting the cane and looked at the watch, it was still building power but it had slowed.

I put the cane aside and picked up the napkin, looking over what she had written down. I went over her figures in my head and looked up with surprise. "You just came up with this?", "Not really, I had been thinking about it since the first time I saw the readings", she sat back in her chair and crossed her arms, "If we can't contain it, maybe we'll be able to focus it and direct the energy."

I leaned back in my chair and eyed Jamina with a sly smile. "You sneaky hatchling, you've been hiding your intelligence haven't you". Jamina managed to look embarrassed without changing the look on her face. "You had this all worked out from that brief glimpse of my computer when I started all this, haven't you." Mentally I added photographic memory to the growing list of things I didn't know about Jamina.

She shifted uncomfortably in her chair, "Females aren't supposed to be that smart" she said quietly, "I was worried that you'd see me as a threat if I showed my true intelligence". I shook my head, "You've been working with me all this time and you think that would worry me? I thought you knew me better than that."

I lent forward and looked her directly in the eyes, I could see small tears forming at the corners. "Don't hide yourself from me, and conceal your mind from me either, I respect you as a colleague and a friend, and right now, I need intelligence more than just someone who makes me feel smart and hands me tools, if you have ideas, tell me and we'll make it work." She smiled and wiped her eyes, "You should have been a councilor, okay, lets get to work."

We sat in that bar for an indeterminable amount of time, fiddling with the watch and cane, it turned out that Jamina had better suspicions about what the tear was than I did, and now between the two of us we had re-tuned the cane and watch to project the tear into a specific space. Jamina reasoned that the tear was a hole to another time and place, and with the adjustments to the cane and watch, we could direct the tear to anywhere and anywhen. I was still scared of the power of this, but it was the more harmless of two possibilities.

We gathered up the tools and I pocketed the watch and grabbed the cane and headed out of the bar. Outside we could hear a commotion further down the street, fearing the worst we headed the other direction, moving towards the edge of the city and towards the roads that would take us out into the wildlands that separated the cities.

Rounding a corner in the industrial district, buildings full of machines were still and silent, the air was thick with the smell of oil and coal, from the quiet we knew something was wrong. We heard movement ahead of us, turning sharply down a side street we heard the sound of running heading towards us. We ran out of the side street and directly into Jarak and his troopers. Which brings us back to where the story began. Jamina and I near the tear, Jarak snarling at us.

I tightened my grip on the cane and hissed quietly to Jamina, "Get ready", she nodded and moved closer to me. "Jarak, I'll return this to you if you give me your word it will be put away forever", "You know I can't, it's too important, we need it to defend ourselves" he yelled back, hardly hiding the snarl in his voice. I sighed and took Jamina's hand, clutching it tightly.

"You leave me no choice then", and with that Jamina and I turned and jumped towards the tear. With a primal roar Jarak jumped after us and the tear snapped shut behind him with a rush of air. The troopers just milled around, unsure what to do, while the three of us tumbled through the darkness and lightning, heading for a destination unknown.