The Search

Posted on 03 Jul 2026 @ 2:52pm by Lieutenant Commander Aev Flammia

1,233 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Time After Time
Location: Sherman Oaks
Timeline: Coincides with Jailbreak

[Sherman Oaks]

The world felt strange as it pulsed against his psyche. Aev could sense the Commander and the Doctor, but there were other presences too. Foreign ones that felt distinctly abnormal.

After discussing the situation with Commander Batenburg, Aev left with Ignis to search for the unusual presence he could feel, while the others focused on reestablishing contact with the Arawyn. Though he had spent much of his childhood on Earth, he was still unfamiliar with many periods of its history, especially those tied to North America.

He released a quiet breath and glanced toward Ignis. “What do you make of this environmental setting?”

Ignis, now in his humanoid form, stood beside Aev with his hands loosely clasped behind his back. His molten-gold eyes moved over the street, the buildings, the sky, taking in the details with that unnervingly precise stillness he sometimes adopted when processing too much at once.

“Artificially cohesive,” Ignis said at last, his voice quieter than usual. “The architecture, the lighting, the ambient noise… it all appears consistent at first glance, but there are seams.”

He turned slightly, looking toward a row of houses that seemed ordinary enough.

“The environment is modeled after Earth. North America, late twentieth century, judging by the vehicles, signage, and residential construction. But it is not a perfect reconstruction.” His brow furrowed faintly. “Some of the details are too generalized. As if the designer understood the concept of the period but not the lived experience of it.”

Ignis glanced back at Aev, his expression softening.

“And then there is the matter of what you are sensing. I can detect no conventional life signs beyond the expected parameters, but the local energy field is… responsive. Not merely active. Responsive.” He paused. “That suggests the presence may not simply be inside this environment. It may be influencing it.” A small, humorless smile touched his mouth. “Which, I admit, is rarely the beginning of a pleasant afternoon.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Aev said, his eyes scanning the rows of manicured lawns ahead of them and the vehicles lining the streets and driveways.

The entire situation felt deeply strange. What would motivate anyone to recreate this particular time period? What was so significant about twentieth-century California?

A heavy presence washed over him, something not quite wild, but not fully conscious in any way he understood. Aev lifted his gaze toward the sky and caught sight of something strange in the distance, though the sun’s glare was too brilliant for him to make out clearly. “There’s something in the sky,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “Are you reading anything?”

Ignis followed Aev’s gaze upward, his molten-gold eyes narrowing against the brilliance of the sun. For a moment, he said nothing. The usual flicker of quick calculation passed across his expression, but this time it settled into something more deliberate.

“I am reading something,” he said carefully. “But not enough to call it useful.” He lifted one hand slightly, as if adjusting an interface only he could see. “At this distance, my sensors are encountering significant distortion. Atmospheric interference, light scatter, and something else I cannot isolate. The return is fragmented.”

Ignis kept his eyes on the sky, his expression sharpening. “There may be movement. There may be mass. There may be an energy pattern.” A faint note of irritation entered his voice. “Unfortunately, the data is degrading before I can confirm any of it.”

He glanced toward Aev. “So, to answer your question: yes, I detect an anomaly, but no, I cannot identify it from here.” His tone softened slightly. “Whatever it is, it is far enough away, or shielded well enough, that my readings are unreliable.”

After a pause, Ignis looked back toward the blinding sky. “Which means your senses may be the better instrument at the moment, spark. A fact I find both impressive and deeply inconvenient.”

Aev had a feeling it was the latter. This place was strange for too many reasons, and none of them sat comfortably in his mind. He wondered whether Collingway and Remington were still out there somewhere, adrift in the ether of this strange universe or if they had been erased from reality altogether. His frown deepened. “What do you think the chances are that the two officers survived the… reset?”

Ignis did not answer immediately.

For once, the hesitation was not theatrical. His gaze lowered from the distorted brightness of the sky to Aev, and the faint humor that usually softened his expression was gone. “I do not have enough information to give you an answer I would trust,” he said carefully. “But if this environment underwent a structural reset while they were still inside it, their survival would depend on whether they were recognized as part of the simulation… or treated as foreign elements.”

He turned slightly, looking down the too-perfect street. “If they were incorporated into the pattern, they may have been displaced. Rewritten into another location. Possibly even another role.” His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. “If they were rejected by the reset, then their physical forms may have been pushed outside the construct or destroyed by the transition.”

Ignis glanced back at Aev, his tone gentler but no less serious. “I would prefer not to assume the worst. There is no evidence yet that they were erased.” A pause. “But there is also no evidence that they survived intact.” He let that settle for only a moment before adding, quieter, “The safest assumption is that they may still be recoverable, but the longer this place continues changing around us, the less certain that becomes.”

“Hopefully,” Aev said. He stopped suddenly and looked toward Ignis as a wave of lightheadedness passed through him. Drawing in a slow, steadying breath, he forced himself to remain grounded. “I just felt another presence,” he said. “Only for a moment, but it was intense, much stronger than the other.”

His brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of it. “The emotions are familiar. I recognize them. But the source is different. Not human. Not alien either, at least not in any way I would recognize as, let’s say, an Andorian, Tellarite, or anything similar.” He lifted a hand and pointed toward a side street, where the asphalt stretched down into the rounded bulb of a cul-de-sac. “I feel them coming from that direction.”

Ignis turned toward the cul-de-sac, his expression sharpening at once. The humor that so often lived at the edges of his voice vanished, replaced by something quieter and far more focused. “Then we follow your senses,” he said.

He took a step forward, positioning himself slightly ahead of Aev without making it obvious that he was doing so. His gaze moved over the street, the houses, the parked vehicles, the too-perfect lawns, cataloging every detail. “My scans are still unreliable at range, but at this distance I may be able to isolate inconsistencies once we get closer.” His eyes flicked briefly back to Aev. “If you feel that presence again, tell me immediately. Intensity, direction, emotional signature...anything.” Ignis paused, studying him more closely. “And if it affects you physically again, you tell me that as well.” His tone softened, but only slightly. “Lightheadedness is not an acceptable price for reconnaissance, spark.” Ignis started toward the cul-de-sac, measured and alert. “Let us hope it is feeling talkative.”

[To be continued]

 

RSS Feed