Edward Graves: Temporal Detective
Chapter 28: The Furnace

They stepped through into the room – well, it was more of a cavern than a room - and Jessica immediately felt more amazement and wonderment than she had ever felt. It was as if she were a child again, fully absorbing the beauty and wonder of the universe and all that existed in it.

The catwalk outside opened up into a wider walkway, more like a bridge that stretched out as far as the eye could see before disappearing into the horizon. And all around the bridge, above and below were streams of luminescent blue light twisting and writhing around the room like an endless ocean of cascading energy. Jessica felt a complete sense of serenity wash over her as she looked around her, her shadow dancing in the flickering blue light.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t?” said Edward as he looked skywards with an easy smile on his face.

“What is it?” she asked with wonder.

“I told you,” he said, “this is the Furnace; a Complete Temporal Observation Stand-Point. Right now, all around us every point in time and space that ever existed or ever will be, is mixing together and coalescing into one single, uniform mass. It’s a melting pot if you will, one in which all of time and space fuse together as one single moment and location. And isn’t it just breathtaking?” His voice was light and airy, full of awe.

“But how did this happen and what’s it for?”

“It was constructed by Temporal Council back when they first built The Watch as a way of monitoring the timestream. You see, from here it’s possible to see all of existence in its entirety. If you know how to look at it, of course.”

Jessica tried to imagine how anybody could see anything in all of this. It would be like trying to focus on an individual snow flake in the middle of a blizzard, which you’re watching through binoculars from a house several kilometres away.

“So how big is this place?” she asked.

“This is the main chamber, not really used for much apart for maintenance,” said Edward, “but there’s an observation and control platform directly above us, not that you can see it from here.”

“Do you think it’s possible that the Black Glove guys are already here?”

Edward twirled his cane in his hand before clasping it behind his back. “I don’t know, you’re a detective now, why don’t you tell me.”

She stopped focusing on the CTOSP itself took a look around, trying to search for clues. It was hard to see details in the shifting blue light, but she did her best to examine the floor and the space around her. A shadow shifted and she saw some specks of dirt in the vague form of a footprint.

She crouched down to examine it closer. “Dirt from a shoe,” she said. “But there’s no dirt here, it’s a space station. The dirt must have come from a somewhere else.” She walked back towards the doorway, examining the floor all the while. “There’s no dirt before that point, meaning that whoever left it there Fluxed directly to that point. They’re here already.”

“Excellent,” said Edward. “So Miss Lazarus, I just have one more question for you. Do you want to catch some bad guys?” He sang to the rythm of ‘Do You Want to Build a Snowman?’ from Frozen.

“Come on, let’s put these creeps away,” she continued in the same rhythm. They both laughed.

They made their way to the other end of the bridge, which ended with another metal hatchway, one which Edward assured her would lead to the observation deck. They then proceeded to climb a metal, spiralling staircase which led to another metal hatch.

“Okay,” said Edward in a hushed tone, “we’ve got the element of surprise so it’s important that we make the most of that.” He indicated to the wheel on the door. “They haven’t locked the door, so on the count of three I’m going to heave it open and then we’ll rush them and place them under arrest; shouldn’t be more than two or three of them. Are you ready?”

Jessica slid her satchel off and placed it softly on the ground, before doing the same to her coat. “Always,” she said with a smile.

Edward returned her smile and then leant against the door.

“One,” he said.

“Two,” she said, readying herself.

“Three,” said the smooth voice from behind them.

They both slowly turned to each other.

“Jessica,” whispered Edward, “did your voice just break?”

“No, did yours?” she asked.

“No,” said Edward.

“Then I think we have a problem,” whispered Jessica.

“I was just coming to the same conclusion. You may think that this sounds crazy, but I think that we may have just walked into a trap.”

They both turned slowly to face a tall, slender Black Glove agent with auburn hair, holding a gun.

“I think that I’ve found some evidence to support that theory,” said Jessica.

The Black Glove agent indicated the door behind them. “Don’t let me interrupt your plan folks. After all, you’re just in time for the show, and Mr. Harbinger wouldn’t want either of you to miss out. Especially you Mr. Graves, you’re going to play a vital part.”

Jessica exchanged a glance with Edward. She had a feeling that whatever his vital role was, it wouldn’t be good for him and it certainly wouldn’t be voluntary.

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