Martin Lochman
What's the worst that can happen when you are a
time-traveling team on a mission? Things going
disasterously not according to plan. Add a perky female
sidekick, and you have a smart time-traveling tale.
Enjoy "Going with the Flow".
Martin Lochman is an emerging author from the Czech
Republic, currently living and working as a University
librarian in Malta. He first started writing and
publishing in Czech but as time went by and his affinity
for the English language grew, he switched to English.
Some of his flash fiction and short stories appeared (or
are forthcoming) in "Theme of Absence", "Asymmetry
Fiction", "Aphelion", "Aurora Wolf", "AntipodeanSF",
"101Words", "The Weird and Whatnot", and "365tomorrows".
You can find him on his
author website or twitter:
@MartinLochman.
Going With The Flow
by Martin Lochman
The
room was dark, illuminated only by a small table lamp.
Next to the table, a body lay
on the floor. It was sprawled on its stomach, arms wide,
head twisted to the side, and at first glance, it would
be painfully obvious to anyone that whomever it belonged to hadn’t simply decided
to take a nap in such an uncomfortable position.
Two figures stood
over
the body. They were much different from each other, not
just in that one was a man and the other a woman,
but because of their overall appearance. While the man,
whose looks were the epitome of average, was dressed in
a military uniform featuring a characteristic insignia,
the woman -- young, slender, and beautiful by any
standards -- wore a tight-fitting suit made from a
strange material and even stranger looking rectangular
glasses that made for a terrible fashion accessory.
“Well, this is new,” she said, staring down at the
unmoving body.
Her casual assessment was less than appreciated by her
companion.
“New?!” he repeated in a tone
that
was anything but calm. “You killed him!”
“Did I though? Some would argue that he killed himself.
I mean, I pushed him, that’s true -- although in
self-defense, I might add -- but he tripped and smashed
his head on that table all on his own.”
His face contorted in disbelief.
“Are you serious? Do you not realize what this means?”
“I do,” she grinned. “It means that you are being a
drama queen.”
He rolled his eyes in exasperation,
but before he could say anything in return, she continued: “I know
that he was supposed to die and now he’s dead. Case
closed.”
“Yes, but he was supposed to die tomorrow! He was
still going to say goodbye to his people, have a
meeting, lunch, and only then blow his brains out. Not
to mention that he wasn’t going to commit suicide
alone!”
“Keep it down, will you? And lose that generic
Helmut-face -- I want to be looking at you when we’re
talking.”
He shook his head but obliged, tapping briefly on his
left wrist. The air around him shimmered and revealed a
slightly older, heavyset man with receding hairline and
a goatee
that
didn’t quite match the color of his hair. He wore the
same tight suit and glasses as she did.
“Better?” he asked testily. “Why couldn’t we have just
gone to watch some dinosaurs?”
“Oh, come on,” she spat out. “Again with the dinosaurs?
It’s so childish!”
“Because taking a selfie with historical figures so that
you can put it up on your profile and pretend how
exciting your life is, is the definition of grown up,
right?”
“Hey!”
“Sorry,” he said quickly and sighed. “But you know we’re
not allowed to interact with anyone important or show
our true looks. Killing someone? That’s --”
“Yeah, but how much can this change?” she cut him off.
“It’s not like because of this someone else will win the
war or millions of more people will die.”
“That’s not the point. We changed something, in a big
way, and they’ll know it the second we get back. We’ll
be banned for life, and we’ll have to pay the fine....”
He
grabbed his head, realizing the extent of his own words:
“Oh man, we are so screwed!”
She ignored his desperate burst out, instead looking at
the body and nudging it with her shoe.
Nothing happened.
“Hmm.”
She spent the next few moments absentmindedly playing
with her hair -- then her face lit up.
“Wait! We can still fix this!”
“How?”
“We stay here that one more day and make history stay on
track.”
“What?” he shot her a perplexed look. “He is dead. How
can he do anything he’s supposed to?”
“He can’t. But you can,” she said triumphantly. “You
know exactly how things will go down. Use the suit to
look and sound like him and simply enact his last day.”
“Are you insane?! You think it’s that easy to
impersonate someone? What about his mannerism, emotions,
vocabulary? And other, I don’t know, dozens of important
details? I have no clue about any of that!”
“Didn’t you say that he has already decided to commit
suicide? I’m guessing people like that aren’t exactly
themselves -- nobody will notice that you -- he is
acting different. Just do your best, then come back
here, and we’ll arrange everything so that it appears he
actually did put a bullet in his head.”
“You’re forgetting that his...
wife is supposed to die together with him.”
“True,” she furrowed her brow. “But how? Gunshot as
well?”
“Cyanide.”
“So you’ll tell her to take it first. Problem solved.”
“That’s...,” he paused. “...
the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard.”
“Do you have a better one?!”
He didn’t reply.
“Come on. It’ll be like those role-plays you love so
much,” she pressed on.
“What are you going to do in the meantime?”
“Stay here, invisible. Make sure no one sees him.”
“Okay,” he said finally, albeit hesitantly.
He tapped the wrist controls,
and a split-second later he appeared indistinguishable
from the body on the floor. She looked him over and
smiled.
“Exactly like him! Aren’t I a genius?”
“Don’t pat yourself on the back just yet,” he said dryly
and checked the time. “I think I am supposed to make an
appearance out in the hallway right about now.”
He took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and headed
over to the door leading out of the room.
“Good luck, babe!” she called after him.
He mumbled something incomprehensible, opened the door,
and was gone.
She sat down in a chair by the body and turned
invisible, effectively hiding everything in her vicinity
from sight. Not long had passed before she started
feeling bored, so she played some music and leaned back.
If the volume on her headphone implants
had been set only a bit lower, and she
had not been
looking at the ceiling, she might have noticed the body
let out a moan and move its fingers ever so slightly.
END
|