Up loaded on September 27th 2022

 

Note - this is very much a first draft and I suspect that were I to do a 2nd draft I would make this story funnier, and maybe see

as a comedy. I'd also include a lot more detail about the heli-drone and the workings of time travel and other elements of the plot.


 

Behold: A Pale Horse

 

 

Pilot Hilel swung the TT 33 Time Drone in an arc around the desert river bank low enough to blow up a whirlwind of dust, sand and soil. The TT33 was excellent at soft landings in this sort of terrain, primarily because it had been designed specifically for use in these kinds of mountainous, desert landscapes.

“That's a good landing spot.”

Pilot Hilel's co pilot, Lieutenant Anani, was pointing to a clear area just by the Chebar River with a small rocky mountain ridge about two hundred yards from the edge of the river. Up a small sandy hill leading to the small outcrop of rocky cliff edge the mouth of cave was only slightly hidden by bushes and small trees. The lone inhabitant of the cave had already seen the TT Drone circling. He was standing next to the small fire pit outside the mouth of his cave dwelling, the embers of which were still smoking a little and he was staring up, open mouthed, at the flying machine, astounded and unable to fully comprehend what he were seeing. It was twilight, deliberately chosen as the best time to invoke awe, and the coloured, blinking lights of the drone, coupled with it's twin blades whirring almost silently above him held the hermit spellbound and fearful, although he had been visited before. In fact this was the third visit to Asset D by the TT in a decade.

Hilel gave the lieutenant a thumbs up and headed for the landing area. Pulling back on the TT33 into a smooth banking manoeuvre it swept through the air and circled back, coming in low and then hovering for a few seconds before lowering the landing gear and, amidst the seeming storm of desert dust and wind, brining down the drone to a gentle soft and almost imperceptible landing. Hilel turned the engines off.

“Good landing Pilot,” said Anani, reaching behind him for the pouch containing the mission tech. He pulled the pouch to him and looked at Hilel.

“You're clear about the mission and our parameters?”

“Yes sir,” replied Hilel. “We are to locate Asset D, display the presentation and leave.”

“In addition...?”

'In addition we are answer no questions and give no information as to where we are from. Sir”

 

“Very good Pilot Hilel.” the lieutenant took a a quick visual scan of the outside, pressed the hatch release button and jumped out of the craft. Hilel did the same from his side of the forward pod. His face was stern and focussed. Although they were armed they were in no immediate or presumed danger but Hilel had to take a second to fix in his mind the absolute importance of what they were about to do to the future of his people and the history of the world to come.

When the nature of Time had been discovered in 2361 the whole world realised what the priority should be so nations teamed with nations and Time Teams were established with clear cut goals – keep all timelines on the course they were set. Any deviations could be disastrous, Hasslein had been incredibly clear and emphatic about that, and of course he was backed up by the findings of his research which was actually looking at how light could be bent but, in a stroke of fortune, finally was able to crack the code that allowed time travel in all dimensions and directions to finally be possible.

 

As long as the time loops kept looping.

Which meant that everything in each loop had to occur in exactly the same sequence, at exactly the same time, with exactly the same people, each time the loop reached Null Point and began again. No one knew how many times any one loop had completed a full rotation, but Hasslein and his team calculated that it was in the millions. Neither did anyone know why the loops existed, or who had established them. All Hasslein could tell the world and it's leaders was that events, people, happenings, absolutely everything had to happen exactly the same way in each loop as even a tiny deviation in one loop would cause The Hasslein Effect – a cascading sequence of minor changes in one loop would trigger changes in other loops with unpredictable results except that the final outcomes had been established.

Null. A void. No one knew why.But they had been working on it ever since.

Until a solution had been found in 2369 when Time Teams were established so that operatives from each Earth region could plant the seeds of future events and get the balls rolling in their geographical areas, with the United Earth Time Council taking care of the administration and planning. Hilel's region was the United Federation of Middle Eastern States and Israel. He'd been in the UFMEI since he left school at 18, joined the Time Team age 28, passed his pilot training aged 32 and was proud to be serving both his people and the people of the world. He took his job incredibly seriously. Time, he'd often say to his kids, is a serious business.

 

Asset A was staring down at them from the ridge in front of his cave as they made their way from the vehicle to the small trail that led up from the riverbank to the cave mouth. They could see he was trembling slightly, catching Hilel off guard for a second. The noise, the wind, the desert blowing a whirlwind as the drone landed, two men in bright white inter-dimensional safety suits and helmets that people from his time were used to seeing but that the people of Ancient Israel in 555 BCE would perceive as some kind of supernatural magic.

Which was the whole point.

They reached the top of the ridge and as they did so the asset fell to his knees, face to the ground. Hilel looked at the lieutenant. This was his assignment, and this was his lead.

“Stand up, don't be scared.”

 

Slowly the prostrate man lifted his head. The Time Omnitronic Neural Geolocational Universal Expressionator had translated the lieutenants words into perfect ancient Hebrew. Thousands of man hours had been spent, and were still being spent, collating and translating languages not just from all part of the world but from all parts of Time. The asset looked up at them, his face a perfect expression of awe and fear.

“It's ok,” said the lieutenant, “stand up and come with us.”

The hermit stood up slowly, shaking slightly. Anani reached into a pocket on his protective suit and pulled out a small package. Tearing open the strip he took the long, tube like wafer, about the size of a cigarette and gave it to the hermit.

“Eat. It's medicine.”

The hermit took the wafer and slowly placed it in his mouth and began to chew. Both Hilel, Ananai and their craft were carrying remnants of the Time Dilation Morphic Resonance Field, and any organic material, such as a human being, would be affected by the field unless they had taken the wafer which carried an almost imperceptible charge of Chronatrons that would render any effects of the morphic resonance field ineffective. They'd established this protocol early on after one of the first missions led to the asset visibly glowing when his own morphic field started resonating with the Time Teams. This glow, most easily seen in the face, scared the heck out of the assets encampment and although the awe induced was useful to the mission in the long term (as it always had been, and always would be) it was decided by the Council that morphic fields of people from the past should remain untainted as the ensuing potential chaos as a result of an asset themselves being by a different resonant time field time for even a split second, was too much of a risk.

 

Once he'd taken the wafer they led him into his cave. About ten feet into the narrow mouth of the cave it opened out into flat, even-ish ground which had been cleared of rocks and pebbles. By the back wall of the cave various fabrics and animal skins were heaped to make a sort of bed covered in simple blankets and two candles illuminated the dwelling with a dim light. Some scrolls were in a tidy pile against one wall, and a cup and a plate of half eaten food were resting on a log that had been fashioned in to a kind of table, and another into a kind of chair. Anani motioned to the asset to sit down. The hermit sat slowly, looking from Hilel to Anani and back again. Anani reached into his pouch and took out the tablet. Placing it horizontally on the table it came to life with a flicker, showing a screen saver of spiral lights moving in a random fashion. Anani spoke to the hermit.

 

“Watch closely. These are things that must come to pass, and you must prophecy to all of Israel about Adonai's plans”

 

The hermit began to shake and tremble in fear.

Why...why,' his voice was hoarse and almost a whisper, his eyes wide as he implored the lieutenant 'why has Adonai chosen me to speak to Israel?” He was almost in tears.

“Ask not for reason beyond your comprehensions. Just know that these things must come to pass.”

Anani touched the screen with his fingertip and immediately an image appeared. It was a sea, by a sprawling metropolis, at night, the windows of it's skyscrapers lit with amber light, and a full moon in the sky. Anani touched the screen again and suddenly the sea tied was moving and clouds were crossing the disc of the moon. Suddenly the sea began t churn, huge plumes of water shooting up in the air, and out of the churning mass rose a gigantic monster, green and scaly, maw filled with teeth, the water dripping off it in huge waterfalls as it strode out of the sea and onto the land. It tilted it's head and emitted a scream that filled the cave. The hermit was horrified, terrified by this sight, this dragon rising from the deep, this Leviathan with teeth like a shark and tail that whipped from side to side. He tried to bolt but Hilel held him down.

“Please,' begged the hermit. “Please, no more. Oh save me Adonai.”

“Watch, watch and prophecies!' Anani's voice was intense and cold.

The monster was now attacking the city, it's tail whipping back and forth and demolishing buildings with each whip like movement, it's mouth reaching down into the cities roads and grabbing cars in it's teeth, crunching them into bit before chasing after the terrified citizens who were running and screaming. The hermit began t whimper, and cry.
Anani touched the screen and the image froze. Touching it again the tablet went dark and blank.

“Listen to me, Son of Israel,' he said to the hermit, who was crying in fear. 'remember what you have seen, write it down and prophecy to your people.”

He picked up the tablet and he and Hilel walked out of the cave and back to their drone in silence, leaving the hermit with his head in his hands, crying silently. What they were doing wasn't torture. It was necessary. Things had to play out in the same way as always, in each loop. Now, as a result of this mission, for the next four thousand years humanity would read, debate, argue and fight over the meaning of the visions shown to the prophets of the Bible. They would take what they'd been shown, add some interpretation according to their own times, knowledge and cultures, thread in some imagination and it would be upon this that religions would be founded or would continue, for thousands of years. What they had done was ensure that everything in the loop would always be what it would always be. Hilel had no idea how many times he'd done this, or how many more times he would do it. But it had to be done.

As they climbed into the forward pod of the drone he turned to Anani.

“Godzilla always does the trick' he quipped.

Anani gave a rueful grin and both men took their seats.

At the mouth of the cave the hermit watched, cowering, as the drone took off, swung an arc in the night sky, shot out across the horizon and suddenly disappeared in a bright flash of light.