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Athena Investigation pt. 1
by Lorekeep
Contact the author at lorekeep@phuze.com
Other Stories by Lorekeep
In the near future, a secret organization within the Richter Corporation is formed to protect against business deals going awry and to defend the corporation against other company attacks against gaining the technology researched within the Corporation. These special "police" of the business, known only as the Honor Guard, have gained respect among the good conglomerates within the day's industrial world. Contained herein is but one tale of many within the short history of the Honor Guard.
Case File, "The Athena Investigation" Section 1 "Excuse me, Mr. Daniels?"
The waiter waited patiently as the man whose presence he was requesting turned around from a conversation. Tim Daniels was a man of average height, with not too long brown hair and brown eyes. He was currently dressed in a rich-looking tuxedo, and for good reason, as he was at a corporate "get together". Hundreds of men and women were gathered in the large hall, dressed in fine dresses and suits, discussing the business of the day or rumors that might be going around at the time.
Tim smiled at the waiter. "Yes?"
"We have a call waiting for you in the main lobby. A Mr. Richter, I believe?"
Tim's smile seemed to lessen as he turned back to the group he was talking to. "If you'll excuse me, some important business just came up."
Everyone bid a farewell or gave him a nod as he followed the waiter out of the hall. Tim knew that any call from Mr. Richter meant that something was up. Richter himself was an aged man, probably sitting in his main office in a wheel chair, doing all sorts of business deals and arranging all sorts of meetings for him to go to. How he managed to do all this, Tim didn't know. All that mattered was that he was calling him for some reason. As a member of the Honor Guard, he had to respond, else face hazardous consequences.
Tim proceeded to the front desk as the waiter handed him the telephone. "Daniels here."
"Mr. Daniels, I'm hoping you're well equipped for any hazard that might happen at this party?"
The heavy weight of the gun hidden in Tim's jacket reminded him of his duty. "Yes sir. I really hope I don't have to use this tonight, but if anyone does, I won't have any regrets."
"That's good. After our recent security breach, I hope that nothing else will happen wrong. After the ball, could you please report to my main office for a special assignment?"
Tim was a little taken aback by this. It was extremely rare for any member of the Honor Guard to be invited to see Richter himself in his own office unless it was something really important. Tim regained his composure as the waiter was looking right at him. "Yes sir. I'll see you in a couple hours."
"Good. 'Til then, good-bye, Mr. Daniels."
Tim set the phone down and thanked the waiter, then made his way back to the hall. When he got there, he proceeded to mingle with the crowd once again. The other members of the Honor Guard were on other assignments, so he was the only one covering this assignment of protecting the people within.
Tim made his way over to a rather discreet group, made up of 3 women and 2 men. The women were bedecked in elegant gowns, while the men were wearing a white and black suit. Of interest amongst the group was the semi-wild haircut of one of the men, making him look like he was a mad scientist of sorts. Two of the women and men were talking, while the other woman was listening along as though she weren't part of this group but just a passerby.
"Having a nice evening I assume?" Tim said, stepping up to the crowd and listening.
"Why yes, Mr...?" responded the blond-haired woman on the right. She was wearing a blue dress that was low-cut, revealing an ample amount of cleavage. The skirt of her dress went to the ground, revealing the 3" heeled pumps she wore. Not bad, thought Tim.
"Daniels. Tim Daniels."
"How cliche," said the other lady that was part of the group, as she took a drag from her cigarette and blew it into the air. She was shorter than the other lady, due to the fact that she was wearing flats. She had on a robe that was held up by a loose string belt. This outfit didn't show off as much skin as the other lady's did.
The third woman smiled at Tim and nodded. "A pleasure to make your aquantence Mr. Daniels." She probably looked the nicest of them all, due to the fact that she wasn't as aged as the others were. She had on a dress similar to the blond except for its color and the amount of skin it showed. Still, the red dress looked very nice on the brunette.
"As I was saying, the theories involved with time travel are just a bunch of crap," said the wild-haired man, who Tim had obviously interrupted in his talk.
"Time Travel? Why would anyone want to go back in time?" asked Tim. He knew that this sort of thing had been researched before at Richter, but the project had been discontinued at the request of Richter.
"It's not going back in time that I'm interested in. I'm more interested in researching how to revert the body to a previous state for my age clinic."
"Ah, then you must be Dr. Davis? I've heard about a lot of what you've done." This comment came from the other man, who was rather tall and handsome. He had on a regular black suit and tie, unadorned by anything else. "Perhaps you and I could talk in private? I've been meaning to share a few things with you."
Tim was about to follow but got caught up in the conversation. Despite Tim's keen eye, Dr. Davis and the other man disappeared into the crowd. He sighed, going back to the conversation as nothing else happened for a couple of minutes.
Tim made mention of Richter in the conversation when the woman in red asked to be excused. As she walked off, Tim noticed that she had left behind the shoe she wore, as if it had fallen off. Bending down to reach it, he also noticed that the backs of the foots of the other ladies were not reaching the back of their shoes. In fact, the hems of the dresses seemed to be lower. This was odd to Tim, as he stood back up, shoe in hand. The lady was still close, so he walked after her and tapped her on the shoulder.
When the woman turned around, he was quite surprised at what he saw. The mature woman that he saw earlier had seemed to change. Her features seemed to have taken a softer tone. This confused Tim slightly, as the woman also seemed to be a tad shorter than before.
"Yes?" she responded, which caused her to put her finger to her mouth. Her voice had taken a pitch higher. It wasn't until the shoulder of her dress started to slip and the fact that she seemed even shorter than before did it hit Tim that she was getting younger before his eyes. Her hair shortened ever so slightly, as the fingernails on her hands went from manicured and long to finger length and flat. She gasped, her voice getting higher, as she seemed to reduce before Tim's eyes.
Tim's attention suddenly shifted to his surroundings, as he noticed others with baggy clothes and shorter heights. Everyone was getting younger! He turned to one man as his beard literally grew back into his face. Looking back at the group he was talking to, he saw that the two women had regressed to their teenage years, the woman in blue's once proud breasts reduced to tiny lumps. Tim turned back to the woman in front of him, who now looked like she was playing dress up in her mother's clothes with the oversized dress and shoes. She tried to step towards Tim but tripped, her foot falling out of the other pump. She landed face first on the floor. Tears started to well up in her eyes as she got even younger, her hair shortening to below ear length.
Tim started stepping back, then tripped himself. He started to get the dread feeling that he was about to suffer the same fate as everyone here, but to his surprise, his clothes still fit him. It was another child, a boy, that he had tripped over. The wail of many young children echoed through the chamber as Tim got back up.
The entire chamber had been reduced to two-year olds!
"Mr. Richter, I can't explain what happened. Everyone just regressed!"
Mr. Richter was seated behind his desk, deep in contemplation. The man was more aged then Tim had thought, as he was but a small frail figure in the wheelchair he was seated. His skin was all wrinkled and aged, as if he had seen centuries of life instead of just one. Standing by his side was a rather voluptuous woman in a crisp business suit. She was most likely the reason he made half his meetings. She was red-haired, slightly shorter than Tim (She looked taller though, probably due to her 4 inch heels), and had a body a supermodel would die for. Could this be Richter's wife?
"Daniels I know you think this is your fault in some way, but it isn't. If you'll allow me to explain..."
Tim stayed quiet as Richter pressed a button. The room darkened as a TV screen popped up on the far wall. "This is from today's news broadcast."
A male reporter appeared onscreen in mid-broadcast. "...and while the parents of the missing children have been informed, no one knows what happened to them. An entire nursery of children just disappearing has baffled police and has caused everyone within this..."
Richter muted the broadcast. "The total count of children within the nursery was 423. The total attendance count, including employees and you, Mr. Daniels, at the party was 422. Consider yourself lucky."
"Excuse me?"
"Mr. Daniels, have you ever heard about time being an actual state?"
Tim frowned, realizing what Richter was getting at. "That project wasn't cancelled, was it?"
Richter nodded. "Private funding had somehow reached our scientists hands, as they continued the project unbeknownst to me. The project had actually finished completion on a prototype device when last night's security breach occurred. The only thing stolen was the prototype."
"You mean to tell me that we actually made a device that reduces people's age? But how does the nursery fit in?"
"It's simple Mr. Daniels. The device doesn't reduce the age of the adult. It merely transfers it."
It all fell into place. The nursery of kids had been stolen by one of the corporations. They transferred the ages of most of the powerful people on the planet from themselves to the kids. That meant that...
"Mr. Daniels, would you please turn your attention to the screen?"
Tim looked up from his thinking as a tape played. It showed a two-year old child wearing a little dress. "This was received by mail before you arrived."
Tim watched, as suddenly the child seemed to grow. The baby fat disappeared as the body started to grow in height. Her sex was immediately identifiable as the features of the baby turned feminine. Her hair lengthened as her pajamas started to rip. The feet of the pajamas ripped open, as the tears started to proceed up the leg. A small counter appeared at the bottom of the screen, going up by one every so slowly.
"That number right there is the age of the child," interjected Richter, as the process continued. Her face went from child-like to a teenager face, as the counter reached 13. It read 14 as the pajamas were torn completely and left the child naked. This left the development of the breasts easily seen by the camera, as they seemed to blow up like balloons. Her nails could be seen to lengthen every so slightly with each year. The counter hit 17, as her features got tighter and firmer with a young healthy female's body. The "baby" had become an adult woman, with shoulder-length hair and quite a lovely body, thought Tim. Fewer and fewer changes could be seen as the counter slowed and finally stopped at the number 25. Tim stood amazed as the room's lights brightened and the screen disappeared. "Mr. Daniels, I'm assigning you to take care of this matter since you are the only one available and are already partly involved. You'll have full access to our labs and research areas regarding this matter. You'll also have further access to the database that isn't already given to you as part of the Honor Guard. I want this technology back in our hands Daniels, and I want to see those children returned back to their families, as well as my partners returned to their proper ages."
Tim let out a small whistle. "This is going to be a big one, sir."
"That's why I'm putting you on it Daniels. If you don't take care of this matter, we might be looking at the greatest threat to the world. Good luck Daniels, and good day."
With that, the doors to Richter's office opened, as his female assistant, or wife, Tim couldn't tell, escorted him to outside. As Tim stepped into the elevator, the female assistant held the door. "By the way, Mr. Daniels, what will be the name for this project? For the records, of course."
Tim thought for a second. This investigation was going to be hard, but the end result could be beautiful. Richter always liked interesting names for his projects too. "Label it as the Athena Investigation."
Richter's assistant nodded, as the doors closed on Tim. This was going to be a helluva day.
continued in Athena Investigation pt. 2
Contact the author at lorekeep@phuze.com
Other Stories by Lorekeep
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