Dallas:Sessions:20071020
October 20, 2007 - Kef dreams of three men in front of an archway. She feels as if she should know them, but she doesn't recognize them. The man who appears oldest is tinkering with the archway when one of the younger men stumbles into the other, knocking the latter against the arch. The archway begins to glow brightly... and Kef awakens.
The day begins normally. Axle, at his home in Terrell, gets up at 4:30am as usual. His trucking company leases space to a detective agency, and he has various listening posts around the country. He thinks briefly of his old friend Butch, who was killed a few years ago.
Jeremy prepares his helocopter for a flight to Austin. He's taking some VIPs there for a University of Texas football game.
Kef awakens in an apartment in Oak Cliff. She readies her .45 and her shock rod. As she told John Kines yesterday, she is going Hillcrest High School to head off a crime she has foreseen -- the rape of a 14-year-old girl by a 17-year-old boy.
Kines goes into his office at Kines Paranormal Investigators. He finds an email from Paula Baker asking him to attend a small ceremony that afternoon. There's something strange about Paula, Kines muses. Ever since she picked up that sword after slaying Kevin McGuire, her personality has shifted towards the dark side. She's become quite skilled at necromantic magic. Dogs and small children shy away from her.
Paula picks up her long black runesword, which greets her: "Hi." She feels the rush of power as she straps it on. She can wear it in public with no problem, since the only ones who can see the sword are herself and Kef. Kef hates the sword and has warned Paula many times to get rid of it, but Kef just doesn't understand -- Paula controls the sword, not vice-versa.
At 3:00pm in Laurelland Cemetery, Paula, Axle, Kef, and Kines come together for what has become an annual ritual -- they gather at the grave of Steve McAllen and remember absent friends. (Jeremy sends his regrets; he won't be back from Austin until later.) Kef edges away from Paula; she can hear the sword muttering in its endless hunger.
Around 6:00pm, Axle, Kines, and Kef meet at Campisi's and discuss how to take the sword away from Paula. Kef admits she has stolen the sword twice, but both times the sword returned to Paula, who never noticed it missing. Eventually Kef notices a slim young man gazing at her from a nearby table. She recognizes him as Philip Deveraux, a stage magician who used to work the renfair circuit. She goes to his table and greets him, then brings him back over to her table to meet her friends. Philip walks with a limp resulting from an automobile accident several years ago. He has come up from his home in Waco to meet with some big-time magicians to discuss building effects for them. He gives Kef his card and the name of the hotel at which he's staying; he should be in town for the next week or so.
Paula, meanwhile, had gone home. After experiencing a series of visions and then blacking out, she awakens at 8:00pm. She phones Kines and asks him to find a man named Blake Drummond, who has family in St Louis; it's important to find out what happened to him. Next she calls Axle and tells him a similar story. Then she gets in her car and drives to Kef's apartment.
Noticing she was being watched by someone in a car with government plates, Paula teleports to Kef's front door. Paula explains to a cynical Kef that for the first time in a long while she had put on her white amulet, and her mind had been flooded with memories of "another reality" where Steve didn't die and someone named Blake Drummond is important. Kef allows that "I can tell that you believe what you're saying," but while she would really like for Steve to be alive, what's done is done.
On her way to Jeremy's hangar, someone shoots Paula in the back. She teleports away to the roof of a nearby restaurant, and her sword appears beside her. She straps on the sword, then watches as several men search for her and set up to watch her car. After healing herself, she teleports to Jeremy's and tells him about her visions. Jeremy points out, "Kef doesn't dream about the past."
That night, Kef again dreams of the three men. This time she recognizes that one of them is Steve. The archway reminds her of the portal she had experienced in Atlanta. The older man works on the portal while Steve and the other man, standing near a work table, are having an animated discussion. The fancy Rolex on the other man's wrist indicates that it is 4:30am on October 20th. Steve is saying, "This thing can be useful. We can eliminate people completely." The other man replies, "That's not right." He makes a sweeping gesture, brushing against a bottle containing whitish liquid. He grabs the the bottle, losing his balance; Steve tries to catch him, but the man bounces off the archway and the portal begins to glow. The older man cries out a triumphant "Yes!" then an alarmed "No!" The man raises the bottle defensively as light from the portal washes over him and Steve.
Paula Baker’s Thoughts Sunday October 21, 2007- Mid-Morning (@10:00 AM CDT)
I wish I’d woken up this morning with everything back to normal – but that’s the problem – which normal. Is Kef right? Are my returned memories just my wishes that I had not taken up the Sword? No, I can’t believe that, especially given that they returned after I put the amulet back on. But even that is not convincing enough, Kef’s dream is the proof – and really all that is needed. Not that I would be believing if my true self had not awoken. The sword and my lust of it is all too consuming. Even with my true self restored it’s difficult not to succumb to it. And I remember my failures here. Two sets of memories – one I’d rather forget.
What is the best way to neutralize myself AND the Sword? And survive - - if possible. That seems to be putting this reality back on it’s original track. I need to think up a back up plan if that won’t work.
And talk about long shots. I don’t even know what the history change point was. It’s Blake missing from history. But Why and When was it sidetracked? Timelines and Dimensions intertwine and relate to each other in such weird ways. Get Darvich and convince him to build a time Machine. That’s well and good but I still need a target moment.
Could try for a side step but that doesn’t feel right.
And the hit men.
Someone wants me dead. Now. And they are good. Or at least knowledgeable. And they adapt quickly – unless they already knew I could teleport. From what Kef saw it seems like just a distraction. But it’s one that can kill me too soon if I don’t pay attention. So I’ll pay attention.
The Temptation is to use them as fuel. But people no matter what, are not fuel – no matter how bad they are. Kill if I must – but only if I must. And don’t use the Sword to do it. Which part of me is really in control. Well First things first. Work the list.
- GET Darvich.
- Convince him to build a time machine – and maybe he can use what Kef saw as a template,
- Get Coordinates.
- Short circuit the disruption of the timeline.
But for now rest. It took a lot out of me to follow this second set of men who just tried to kill me. Will John catch the hit men? Probably not. Too much time and distance, but he’s gotta try and I’m in no shape to follow further. Fortune could smile on us. Or I could use the Sword. No, that way disaster definitely lies – even if we win.
Rest -
Need to think about how we’re going to free Darvich. Gonna have to ask John to swing by and pick me up. – Don’t need to be using too much energy. The trip to London will give more than enough time to plan out that rescue.
Yeh, and we need to swing by and send off a message to Enigma. He needs to know just in case we can’t clean up the mess we’ve got. And that can be the back up plan to get rid of me and the Sword if this doesn’t work.
Paula’s Transmission to Enigma
October 21, 2007 - 12:01 PM CDT
Enigma,
It is my observation/Opinion that we have experienced a reality shift in this dimension. Yesterday at around 5:00 PM local time, I put on the Amulet and passed out. I awoke three hours later with a complete alternate set of memories for the last six and a half years. Memories that appear to me to indicate that the previous version that I now recall was a better one.
One of Kef’s visions seems to indicate that Blake and Steve had an accident with a Time Portal which Darvich had built. Not sure why he built it. They seem to have gone through the portal and now Blake Drummond has never existed as far as we can tell.
I’m not sure what you know – but then I’m never sure of what you know. So you may or may not be aware of this already. We’re about to start on a sequence of actions through which I hope the time line is restored.
I plan on checking in each day at this time to keep you up to date on what is going on. I will also provide more detail as I can. Right now I have a flight to London which leaves in a couple of hours.
If I miss a check in, then things probably will have gone to crap. And I might become the worst part of the problem – I have the Sword which was involved in the McGuire Clone Affair and before I regained my alternate memory, I was very deeply caught up in it’s illicit power.
If I lose my battle with the Sword and give in to my worse side, then this world could be in bad shape even if my team mates manage to kill me.
So if I miss a check in I recommend sending a team (protected as much a possible for time and reality quakes) to appraise the situation and either help my team or to clean up in whatever way they have to.
Paula Baker.
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