You'll remember last chapter I was in the quad chilling and that cool girl , Iambic Neopenses was coming over to talk to me and instead Malburger Bombfrazz the mean teacher showed up and motioned for me to walk with him.
So I did. Darn it!
I left my board and walked up the chalky white steps to him, Nervé looked at him with the absolute hatred he definitely should feel, and he looked at me half pissed off I was going to talk to him (which what can I do!? He's a teacher and a time agent!) and half sad for me having to go through talking to him, which I totally get because it is so unpleasant.
Except this time it wasn't very unpleasant, usually he is mean and sarcastic but this time he was nice. Sometimes you forget what a kind and nice face he has because of all the meanness, but here is showed through. We walked up outside of the quad, along the side-paths that led down to the sports arena and open air gyms.
Malburger looked like he had come from the gym himself, he was wearing dark training clothes, and his silver time agent pendent hung down on his front. As we walked he talked and his voice was warm.
"I see your friend Nervé is still angry"
"I don't know, maybe I think it just hurts him a bit"
"Of course, I would expect it to hurt him. It was a horrible thing that happened" Malburger smiled warmly at me as we paused in front of the large Ayhua office building the time agents used in this sector of the Momentarium.
"But that's not what I've come to talk to you about. What I've come to talk to you about is important and concerns..." here he tapped the pendent on his chest in the center of the lightning bolt that crossed the Tower representing the knowledge of the Ayhua significantly
Uh-oh, this was serious
"..Illuminati Ganga"
Or maybe not.
"What?" I asked, because that is something you say when you are really surprised.
"What do you know about Illuminati Ganga?"
"Uhm, they were an organization of artists and writers on Earth, Human Civilization, 33.9mil - 3plus - I can look up the exact coordinates if you need? They seemed to have some size to them but not sure how big, my initial study showed some variation in the time stream. They wrote some time travel stories, and some essays attacking other time travel writers of their time, as well as poetry and made music and did performance art. The usual kind of thing. It's in my report for Time Travel Fictions in relation to my central preoccupation this segment" Big smile to show how happy I am to be helpful.
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He smiles back, he is appreciative of my helpful attitude.
"Yes, you know, Noiruzi, I am the only one who noticed anything about these artists, and then you, shortly after me, that makes you pretty smart" nod of approval from him, appreciative smile from me of receiving approval from someone that is big conceited dorkbag (is that the right phrase?)
"But you're wrong about one thing, or I should say, have an incomplete understanding - they don't just write stories about time travel"
Holy Macguffin! I could tell by the way he said "write stories" that he meant they actually had their own time travel tech, which first that would have been nearly a century before really usable time travel tech was established (capable of moving people for significant amounts of time and space - because if you are moving someone more than a few weeks you better be moving them in space too or accidents are almost certain to happen), so that was huge. Huge but scarcely believable.
"But how, their stories are that it's a bathtub they're traveling in?!"
"I don't know that part, but it is sure they really are capable of traveling in time, and obviously we need to find out how"
"You mean ... we the Momentarium, or we you and I .."
"Actually by we in this case I primarily mean you, Illuminati Ganga may have importance but it is still pretty minor importance, but should be deal with, so here's the deal"
He turned so that the sunlight was framing him dramatically as he spoke
"You're on a special project now, you get a reduced class schedule, this is a primary project, meaning that as well as scholarly credit you will be earning all sorts of bonuses - bodies and all that. You can gather a team, up to 8 people, I'm sure I already know some of whom you will pick and I of course approve. All approval for your activities will be funneled through me. Time missions for data gathering will be possible - within reason. You will have offices here in this building, plenty of room. Get you out of the dorms. "
"Our task?"
"Find out everything about Illuminati Ganga, their time travel capabilities, what their plans are, the usual drill for tracking potential enemies and divergences of The Momentarium, I'm guessing you accept this task, but I'll ask just to be sure. " This was said somewhat drily, and definitely, it would have been absurd to refuse. This was big.
"Of course! I.."
"Good! Your offices are the 4th floor, the whole floor other than hallway L which is given to building maintenance. It has already been keyed to your palm, you have admin rights and can approve others, although of course I may un-approve at some point if I deem necessary. Move in and begin work immediately, by which I mean tomorrow is somewhat late. You also have full Agentful access to libraries, although special collection requests must go through my office. Hope to hear on some amazing progress on this soon" nod of dismissal on his part.
He turned and left.
Damn.. offices, got to research a real opposing time traveling group... we could earn extra bodies. Now I just have to break it to Nervé who we'll be working for.
For now, Goodbye from your friend who is me - Noiruzi Sangsung