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Post by johnreiter902 on Jul 2, 2020 22:37:31 GMT
Chapter 1
“. . . and so, when we create intersecting temporal waveforms, a varying frequencies, the resulting convergence creates a. . .”
Dave Clinton stopped, and examined himself in the mirror. “Joan, I don’t know. Am I being too technical?”
Smiling indulgently, Joan Loring sauntered across the unused classroom where her fiancé was preparing to present his discovery, and squeezed his arm supporting. “Dave, you’ll do fine” She pecked his cheek with a kiss. “I don’t think it would be possible even for you to talk over the heads of this audience. Half the academics on the east coast, and a few even I’ve barely heard about, are here today to see the time sphere. To see you.” She emphasized at the end.
“And Professor Hyatt.” Dave felt obliged to mention his colleague. “Without Alpheus, I would have taken years longer to perfect the sphere.”
Joan flicked her hand in a dismissive gesture. “Phooey, that’s false modesty and you know it!” She gave him a playful slap. “And you also know how I feel about you putting yourself down. You need to have more confidence Dave. You are a scientific genius! Everyone knows it. Even Professor Hyatt admits that he was only following your lead on the time sphere. His original idea was a time pool, or some-such.”
“That is true.” Dave admitted, as he continued fussing with his suit. “His original theories called for a simple temporal disruption, with no targeting method, but it was still vital in completing my own research.”
Outside the classroom, down the hall, he could here the introduction by Dean Beddows beginning to wind down. David was glad that he didn’t have to sit there and listen to it, or he would have been much too embarrassed to show his face.
It had been Joan’s idea to have time sphere behind a curtain, which would be raised at the end of the introduction when he and Hyatt presented the product of four years of intense research. Joan had the best sense of theatrics, as he had found out during their engagement, both to his horror and delight, depending on the occasion.
“Come on,” she took his hand. “let’s get into place. You don’t want to be back here fiddling with your tie when the curtain goes up.”
With a bemused smile, the inventor followed his love down the hallway to the back door of the Ivy University auditorium. Joan herself look stupendous, in a ankle-length black dress, with her long dark hair drawn back in a high bun.
How did I get so lucky? David Clinton had no illusions. He knew he was fairly good looking, and a world-renowned physicist. Even at this moment, the Dead was preening over his cleverness at recruiting for Ivy University one of the world’s most brilliant experts at the study of quantum theory and temporal mechanics. At the same time, he was also socially awkward, quiet, and all his life he had been a bookworm. Until he met Joan, he had no idea how to communicate with a beautiful girl, except as a student.
And then he met Joan. She was a dominant woman, a prominent and highly accomplished attorney with a reputation for always winning her cases, and never sending an innocent man to jail. They met by accident, when she was visiting Ivy U to give a lecture to pre-law students on legal ethics. Almost before he knew it, they were talking like friends, and then he managed to ask her out to lunch. It had been clumsy, but she had been pleased. And after less than a year of dating, they became engaged.
He’d never know why she was attracted to him, when she had no shortage of charming and adventures men after her. When ever he asked Joan, she just chuckled, kissed him, and told him to stop being so hard on himself.
For all his academic accomplishments, there were times that David wished that he could be a bit more daring, more adventurous. It wasn’t that he was insecure, but the longer he spent with Joan, the more he envied her strength and sense of purpose. He wished he could be more like her, maybe be an adventurer.
When they reached the backstage, Joan gave a hum a quick, parting kiss, and then went to seek her seat in the audience. With a small sigh and a big smile, Dave mounded the steps to the stage.
The middle of the stage was dominated by the gleaming, spherical hull of their time machine. About the total volume of a small truck, it rested upon a tripod of struts, with the hatch on the side standing open so that the audience would be able to see all the controls.
Professor Hyatt was making a few last-minute adjustments. Still smiling, Dave tapped him on the shoulder and quietly urged him to take his place on the left side of the sphere. “Don’t worry professor,” he soothed. “I’ve checked everything over twice, it’ll be fine.”
The slightly befuddled man smiled sheepishly “You’re right of course David.” He responded in the same low voice. “Don’t mind me, I’m just an old worry wort.”
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Post by johnreiter902 on Jul 2, 2020 22:39:18 GMT
I am starting a new story, which may be part of a series of interconnected stories
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Post by DocQuantum on Jul 3, 2020 18:06:48 GMT
What a perfect introduction to the characters! I like this twist on Chronos, and loved seeing what you did with Jean -- I mean Joan Loring, and it was a treat to see Prof. Hyatt, too. With time travel, there's no end of things you can do! Since Earth-3's history is so different, I'm especially interested in seeing how those differences affected other events and characters of the past, even if you don't get to it in this story.
Also, will Microbe make an appearance?
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Post by johnreiter902 on Jul 6, 2020 12:37:00 GMT
O Yea! Microbe should show up in the next post.
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Post by lawrenceliberty on Jul 6, 2020 19:05:24 GMT
Good. I'm looking forward to seeing your use of Microbe, Clock Queen (Jean) and the other E3 versions of the Atom's cast of characters.
I'm not sure if you like this idea or not but I'd considered giving Microbe growth powers too to make him a true reversal of the Atom.
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Post by johnreiter902 on Aug 31, 2020 0:27:19 GMT
Beddows was just winding up his opening address. “. . . and now, as I’m sure you’re all exited to begin, I will turn over the stage to two of the most brilliant, most pioneering geniuses in the study of subatomic physics ever to grace the faculty at Ivy University. Esteemed academics, I give you, Professor Alpheus Hyatt and Professor David Clinton!” The velvet curtain parted, and David smiled broadly as he looked over the crowd of leading physicists and their guests. When he saw Joan in the front row, his smile became a good deal more confident, and he ventured a polite wave. Professor Hyatt just grinned, and occasionally bobbed his head. “Good evening gentlemen, and thank you very much for joining us today.” He began. ‘I am highly exited by the fact that so many of you expressed a desire to attend today. It tells me that, having read my papers on the principles of applied temporal mechanics, you are convinced that the principles are sound.” “For over eight years, Prof. Hyatt and I have been working together to study the subatomic forces which govern the passage of time. After countless tests, we determined a specific frequency of curved electro-magnetic fields, which can transform matter into a form of “non-Einsteinian” matter, which exists in a steady state out of phase with our understanding of time and space.” He paused, to allow the ramification to sink in. Alpheus joined in. “In other words, gentlemen, the object exposed to the field would disappear, into what a laymen would call another dimension, where all matter exists at trans-light velocities. From that dimension, it could return to our space time at any point in history.” David picked up from the professor. “After that, it took years of testing to determine how to safely bring matter to and from this dimension, which we have dubbed the Timestream, and how to determine when in history it would appear. Now, at last, we have created a manned craft that can reliably enter and leave the time stream under the direction of a pilot, and appear at any point in the history of the world.” “That’s good to know, Professor Clinton,” and odd, sneering voice rang out. Dave looked around to find the source of the voice, but it took him a second or two before he spotted it. Perched on the edge of the podium was a six-inch-tall man in black and red. He seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. It was a figure that all of Ivy Town had grown to fear over the last few years. “Everyone! Remain where you are!” Microbe called out. Grim looking men with machine guns emerged from the back of the auditorium and aimed automatic weapons at the crowd of panicking scholars. “No-one may leave. It is only fitting that my moment of triumph should be witnessed by my so-called peers, the finest academic minds on Earth.” As the witnesses huddled into their seats, Microbe turned to address the two speakers. “As I was saying Doctor, I am pleased that your research has been so successful, in producing a weapon I can adapt easily to my purposes.” “Palmer!” Clinton yelled. “How dare you show you face around here? You were expelled from the faculty after you started using your miniaturization technology for crime.” Catapulting himself into the air, the diminutive villain kicked Clinton in the chest, with the full weight of a 250 pound man, sending him careening back, until he managed to catch himself against the door of the Sphere. Professor Hyatt rushed over the help him up. “Silence!, You and the rest of these entrenched old fools expelled me because you feared me, and might innate superiority over you all. You are content to serve humanity, but I refuse to use my abilities for anyone except myself.” “You imbeciles thought only of how to use your “time sphere” for exploration, but once I take it for myself, I will roam through time at will, amassing the wealth and power that I rightfully deserve.” “A time machine really will help you where you’re going, Microbe.” Every head turned toward the authoritative, female voice. “Maybe you can skip ten or twenty years of your sentence.” Posed dramatically near the side-stage, stood the Clock Queen, the recently debuted superheroine who had been making headlines in Ivy Town for the last two years. Before the half-dozen henchmen had a chance to react, she hurled a sundial-shaped discus into the air. All the automatic weapons were suddenly ripped from the thugs’ hands, and drawn into the air by some kind of magnetic force. “Get her you fools.” Microbe snapped. “What do I pay you for?” While their leader secured the time machine, the thugs charged down the steps of the auditorium and tried to tackle Clock Queen from multiple sides at once. They didn’t make it more than halfway, however, before she deployed another weapon, this time a large, stylized alarm clock. “I’d call this your wake-up call,” she quipped. “But that might be misleading.” The clock started to ring, and everyone in the audience including the thugs grabbed their ears and started to collapse into unconsciousness. Microbe sprang into action again, smashing the clock with a well-aimed high-density jump. “You too underestimate me, Clock Queen. My mask is shielded against ultrasonic attacks.” He raced toward her, growing to about three feet high in the process. “Let’s see how your pathetic trick clocks fair against my mastery of size and density.” Dave Clinton was still conscious, having been protected by the bulk of the Time Sphere from the main force of the knock-out clock. Frantically, his eyes scanned the audience for any sign of his fiancé, but, although she should have stood out as one of the few women present, he couldn’t catch sight of her. Then he looked at Clock Queen, at her dark hair which poured down from the back of her all-concealing white face mask. He’d heard about her in the news of course, but never before met her in person. But now that he had, and had heard her speak. . . “Joan?” he whispered.
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Post by lawrenceliberty on Aug 31, 2020 14:23:53 GMT
Glad to see thos continue. You're doing a good job with Microbe and his cast of characters.
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Post by johnreiter902 on Sept 10, 2020 21:21:19 GMT
Microbe barreled into Clock Queen, sending her crashing through the first row of seats. Grunting in pain, the heroine rolled with the punch as best she could, and deliver a sharp kick that sent her diminutive opponent flying over her head. Her triumph was shot lived, however. In mid-flight Microbe adjusted his body weight to nearly zero, slowing to a gentle glide. Like some acrobatic astronaut, he performed a complex twisted somersault and changed direction. “A clever move Clock Queen, but it won’t save you. . .“ Microbe kicked off the back wall, preparing to raise his weight in mid-flight and hit his enemy like a cannonball. He never had a chance. In mid-flip, Joan brandished one of her wristwatches in the miniature marauder’s direction. The hand on the watch spun at blinding speed, creating a micro-tornado, that sent the nearly weightless villain careening helplessly across the room, to crash into a wall on the other side. “That should give me some space,” Joan gasped, feeling her bruised ribs. She hoped Palmer had been knocked out, but he vanished just before he reached the wall, so she was less than optimistic. “Clock Queen, come here!” She looked up, and saw that David was standing in the door of the Time Sphere, motioning toward her to join him. “It’s the Time Sphere he’s after. We can take it a few ours into the future, and meet the police there. It should keep the technology out of his reach.” Joan nodded. “Good thinking, Dr. Clinton,” She said, pretending not to know him. Keeping the secret of time travel away from an egomaniac like Ray Palmer was the number one priority. And David was right, the unconscious scientists should be safe. With his prize gone, Microbe would have to flee empty handed. Clock Queen helped Dave drag professor Hyatt into the machine, just in case Palmer tried to kidnap him, and then he shut the door behind them. Thank goodness. David breathed a sigh of relief. Now I know that Joan is safe. Inside the sphere, bracketed be a near-circle of control panels, Clock Queen took the second of the two seats. Dave was already starting to calibrate the dials, even as the door swung shut. “I’ll take us a few hours into the future. That should be far enough” The Sphere began to vibrate, then to hum. Delicately, with a gentle yet confident touch, David Clinton regulated the flow to the energy field, until the hum faded into a steady background noise. Joan suddenly became aware that the sphere was wrapped in an unearthly silence. Huh, she though. I was expecting something more dramatic. She started to voice this when, almost in answer to her thoughts, the Sphere was suddenly surrounded with a roar, like rushing waves. She could feel the sensation of swift, sudden motion in seemingly random direction. The feeling was so similar to the sensation of being tossed on the waves, that she found herself getting slightly nauseous. Dr. Clinton was in heaven. “Incredible!” he exclaimed, never taking his eyes from the controls. “Alpheus and I though it might be possible to feel the energy currents of the dimension inside the Time Sphere, but that was all theory.” This was hardly the circumstance under which he wanted to test his machine for the first time, but it was proving to be a successful test all the same. “Are we in any danger?” she asked. Before Dave could speak to asway her fears, a terrifyingly familiar voice spoke out. “It’s not the danger without that should concern you, my old enemy, but the danger within!” In the blink of an eye, Microbe appeared, perched on Joan’s shoulder, grasping her head in his tiny hands. “Don’t be deceived by my size Dr. Clinton, in an instant, I can increase my density and break this hero’s neck.” “Do exactly as I say, or she will die.”
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Post by lawrenceliberty on Sept 11, 2020 13:39:25 GMT
Microbe is pretty menacing! Nice job.
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Post by dans on Sept 11, 2020 20:26:38 GMT
guess the good guys overlooked a small detail...
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Post by lawrenceliberty on Sept 12, 2020 13:29:46 GMT
Tiny but terrible.
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Post by johnreiter902 on Sept 13, 2020 1:03:27 GMT
It was hard to make a shrinking villain seem scary, I will admit. I had to go back and re-read my Atom vol. 1 Showcase in order to get a feel for how he would fight.
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Post by dans on Sept 13, 2020 12:53:32 GMT
Given that he can shrink to virtually any size, and then act with normal strength, he IS scary. He could pop up in your lung cavity and punch holes in your heart, for example.
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Post by DocQuantum on Sept 16, 2020 21:02:48 GMT
I can't wait to see what happens with time travel in this story!
By the way, if some enterprising soul is interested, I'd really like to see a detailed bio written up for the Character Histories forum about the Earth-1 Chronos/David Clinton, specifically charting the point at which he turned from a fairly ordinary thief who stole clocks and time-related things to a guy with a time machine. I know he's not a genius on Earth-1, but I can't recall how he got involved in actual time travel. I think it's probably a later development. I recall one of the last issues of the original World's Finest Comics series in 1985 featured Chronos in more than one issue, and he had dealings with one Dr. Fox as I recall, an ongoing storyline that was never completed. Was that where Chronos first got time travel, or did it happen much earlier?
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Post by johnreiter902 on Sept 16, 2020 23:54:36 GMT
I can't wait to see what happens with time travel in this story! By the way, if some enterprising soul is interested, I'd really like to see a detailed bio written up for the Character Histories forum about the Earth-1 Chronos/David Clinton, specifically charting the point at which he turned from a fairly ordinary thief who stole clocks and time-related things to a guy with a time machine. I know he's not a genius on Earth-1, but I can't recall how he got involved in actual time travel. I think it's probably a later development. I recall one of the last issues of the original World's Finest Comics series in 1985 featured Chronos in more than one issue, and he had dealings with one Dr. Fox as I recall, an ongoing storyline that was never completed. Was that where Chronos first got time travel, or did it happen much earlier? By the Atom #28, Chronos had already created a device that could freeze time, so it must have been very early on.
As for this story, this will be a fairly basic time travel story, like the one which introduced Rip Hunter and his Time Masters. Just a way for Dr. Clinton to get his feet wet.
I have plans for much more complicated shenanigans, some of which will be hinted at in this story. You could consider this the beginning of a very complicated story arc, actually. It will include several stories involving time travel, focusing on different characters, and resolve some mysteries about the history of Earth-3.
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