{"sf1_id":744680,"sf2_id":null,"title":"One Down, So Many to Go","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":2054,"posted_at":"2014-08-15T19:21:00.000Z","tags":["Anthropomorphic","Clean","Dual personality","Future","Human","Magic","Panther","Science","Time travel"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/744680-one-down-so-many-to-go","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/744680","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=744680\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#2 of The Mage of Terra Danor","content":"                The\nnext morning inquiries were made. There was one person, one human that was\nlisted as being from this time period.  He was one of many spanning the centuries. The\nplan was to cross these people off of the list until the list was gone. Only\nthen might the future be offered a chance at continuing with life. Removing\nthese people from the present offered hope for a healthier future. Over\nbreakfast, two minds argued about how best to find this person.\n                \"Do you\nknow how many humans infest this planet right now?\" That was Morlei.\n                \"Billions\nof them. But the name on the list helps to narrow that down.\"\n                \"To\nwhat? One billion? Seven hundred and fifty thousand? We need one single human.\nWhat's that ancient saying? It's like looking for a noodle in a jet pack.\"\n                Keverne\nsighed. \"The saying, which you so boldly mangled, is looking for a needle in a hay stack. That would be easy compared to\nwhat we are attempting. The needle would respond to electromagnetism. This man\nwill not come to us under any guise.But I think I narrowed his location to somewhere in this vicinity.\"\n                \"I still say this task is impossible. Even if we're here at the correct time, finding him\nwill be difficult.\"\n                \"Difficult yes; but not impossible. We know he's not from the Asian continent. A name\nlike Newbury hardly sounds Chinese, Japanese, or an of the other \"ese\" people\nof that region.\"\n                Morlei\nfretted until his host shut him up. \"Look. We're lucky enough to have arrived\nhere at a time when the widespread distribution of data hasn't been restricted\nyet. I believe if I can find a computer terminal, I might be able to narrow his\nlocation down to a specific place.\"\n                The\ndilemma of finding a place to search was no dilemma at all. The manager of the\ninn pointed to a sign on the wall. Free\nWi-Fi it declared. \"Of course, it would help if you had a laptop or\nBlackberry or something\", he said with a grin.\n                Keverne\nreturned to his room and shut the door. He sat in a chair and tuned into his surroundings.\nHe found the signal flowing through the air and latched onto it. Computer\nindeed! His entire system was able to handle all sorts of electrical devices. \n                He took\na few minutes to circumnavigate the system, then sent of inquiries by the\ndozens. Not only was he looking for the man he wanted, he was also downloading everything\nhe could off of the world wide system. Morlei got bored, then remembered he\ncould tap into his host's information and amused himself with all sorts of trivia\nand idle information. He was particularly intrigued by the concept of pornography.\n                It was\nan hour into this, and millions of terabytes later that the mage stopped. \"I\nthink I found him.\" Morlei saw a few pages come up, being graced with the name of the\nwanted man. \n                \"Yes, I\nsee. This is our man. But where is he? We need to find him and move on.\"\n                \"Yes, I\nknow. I think I worked it out. I have a likely address for him. We'll leave\ntoday.\"\n                Keverne\nhad reverted to his normal, handsome self. It was pointless in devoting energy\nto a transformation and equally to the acquisition of information. It just wasn't an efficient use f power. He correlated the data he had downloaded, specifically pertaining to\nthis man, and arrived at a conclusion. \n                \"Morlei,\nI think I have it figured out. I believe I know where he's at, within two\nlocations. I believe that I now know what happened.\" He smiled tiredly. \"I don't\nthink his world will miss him at all. In fact I know it didn't. Their loss.\"\n                The trek\nacross the countryside was pleasant enough. He had opted to use the existing transportation\nsystem for the romantic experience. The humans riding with him might have viewed\nthe commute with less idyllic ideas, but for him, it was something new. Morlei\nkept quiet, enjoying the view through his host's eyes.\n                It was\nrolling hills, stone walls and greenery everywhere one looked. In their time,\ngreen was found only under the immense greenhouses that dotted the landscape. The\nair was too toxic to breathe without a respirator. While this wasn't the\ncomplete fault of humanity, they had done little to prevent it from happening.  The planet had suffered worse sixty five\nmillions years ago, but that was then and this was now.\n                His\narrival in another town was hardly remarked upon. He found what constituted a\npeace officer and asked him for directions to the Shady Oaks Home. The man in\nthe stiff uniform pointed up the road. \"Aye! Ya need to go about a mile that\nway. It's on the left. There's a sign, so ya can't miss it!\"\n                Keverne\nnodded politely, as the records said you should do, and headed up the road. It\nwas lined with a stone wall and beautiful trees. Morlei spoke up inside his\nhead. \"All this wonderful greenery and clean air and they were too stupid to\nsee what they had.\"\n                \"Not\neveryone. But the few who spoke up got shouted down. Sometimes you need to silence\nthe loudmouths...\"\n                \"And\nsometimes you need to amplify the voices of the quiet ones!\" said Morlei.\n                Shady\nOaks was a two story building nestled back among the trees. As buildings\nwent, it was modern. To his eyes, it was old and quaint. Inside, he found a\ndesk with a lady dressed in white, with her hair twisted up in a tight bun. He\nread her name tag and addressed her appropriately. \n                \"Excuse\nMrs. Smith. Can you tell me if I might find a Roger Newbury here?\"\n                She\nglanced up. \"Roger Newbury? No, he's not a patient here.\"\n                \"I\nknow that. I believe his wife is.\"\n                Another\nnurse walked by. \"That would be Sarah Newbury. She's in Room 243. Roger is her\nhusband. He's here now, if you wish to talk to him.\"\n                The\nmage didn't wait for any other invitation. He had noticed the placards on the\nwall denoting which way the rooms were and followed them to the correct number.\nThe door was open, showing a brightly lit room filled with flowers, a few\nchairs and a bed. In the bed was a lady, a female human. In one of the chairs was\na man.\n                \"Mr. Newbury?\"\n                He\nlooked up from his book. Keverne smiled when he saw it was a scientific text.\nSo many books were lost over the centuries, that this might be one that wasn't\nin the system. At this present time, such things were often made available only to the\nhighly educated or the rich.\n                \"Yes?\nCan I help you?\" He was rubbing his eyes, getting them to focus on the newcomer.\n\n                \"No. I'm\nafraid not.  You see, I need to remove\nyou from the present equation.\"\n                \"Equation?\nAre you a math instructor from the university? I told them that I wasn't returning.\nMy wife needs me more that they do. My research can wait.\"\n                \"I see.\nSo you'll never finish your work as long as she's here in the home?\"\n                The\nhuman nodded. \n                \"It was\na bad accident?\" The mage already knew, having accessed everything online, from newspaper\narticles to the police and medical reports. It was amazing how many back doors\nthere were in the present internet systems.\n                \"Not\nreally. But she didn't have her seat belt on and her head crashed through the\nwindscreen.\" He lapsed back into silence.\n                The\nmage stood on the other side of the bed. He placed a hand on the motionless\nwoman's arm. Her mind was there, balled up in a dark corner. \"Mr. Newbury, if\nyour wife was able to return to a normal life, what would you do to achieve\nthat?\"\n                The\nhuman's eyes narrowed. \"Who the hell are you?\"\n                \"A\nfriend. I need you, and you need her. So if I can save her, will you leave your time forever?\"\n                \"Leave\nmy time... What the hell does that mean?\"\n                The\nmage transformed back to his normal self. The human grabbed the chair he had\nbeen sitting in and held it threateningly. \"What the hell are you?\"\n                The\nmage made a move and the human felt his muscles freeze up, right down to his\nvocal cords.  \"I am your future, and I am\nmy future. Humans ended their reign, and while this is yet to happen by your perspective,\nby mine it has. My world is dying.\" He stared the human in the eyes before\ncontinuing.\n                \"So you\nsee, Mr. Newbury, I have need for your intellect. I am afraid that as things\nstand, your wife will perish here, as you see her here on the bed. I can help.\nBut you must trust me.\"\n                The man\nfelt control come back to his body. \"How do I know that this isn't some sick, elaborate\nhoax?\"\n                \"I\nsuppose you don't. It is all a little fantastic. But I am for real. So is my\noffer. Do you love her enough to trust me?\"\n                \"Prove\nit. Prove to me you can make her well again!\"\n                Morlei\nsnickered. \"You didn't think of that, did you? This guy's a scientist. And you can't\nrestore her mind here. Only back at Terra Denor do they have the facilities for\nthat.\"\n                Keverne\nsnapped back. \"Shut up! All I need to do is to animate her body and he'll\ncomply.\"\n                \"Oh right,\nturn her into a dancing zombie! That'll make him happy for sure!\"\n                The\nmage was stumped, but just for a moment. \"Morlei, you're right. It would be\nwrong to use her simply for the benefit of the planet. Her body should get up\nunder it's own power, not manipulated by me.\"\n                \"I'm\nglad you agree!\"\n                In the\nnext instant, Morlei screamed. No one but the mage could hear it, since it was\nall on a mental level. However, the scream transferred from one mind to another,\nand just as fast, came out the mouth of the woman laying on the bed. \n                Mr.\nNewbury screamed as well, for the shock of hearing such a sound coming from his\nwife, in such an abrupt manner, was hard on the nerves.\n                The\nwoman screamed until she recognized the sound as coming from her, and she clamped\na hand over her mouth. When she pulled it away again, she looked at the mage, \"You\nson of a bitch!\"\n                He had\npulled his friend from one mind, his own, and placed it in the mind of the\ncomatose lady. Now the body could walk and talk. He only hoped that Morlei\nwould recognize the necessity in this and say the right things.\n                \"Sarah?\"\nIt was the stunned husband. \n                \"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....\"\nThe lady looked around and gulped. \"I think so?\"\n                By now\na few nurses came running down the hall and into the room. The place erupted\ninto a confused chaos in now time. The mage pulled the human aside. \"I kept my\npart of the bargain. We need to go now!'\n                \"Where? Sarah had to come with me!  I won't leave\nher behind!\"\n                \"I know\nyou won't. Come on!\" \n                They\nwalked to the bedside, and the husband cradled his wife's body in his arms. Her eyes\nlooked mortified, and the glance the occupant of that body gave the mage was\nalmost priceless. \n                Keverne\nshooed the staff out of the room and slammed the door shut. \"We need to go now!\"\nHe opened a rift, and as cool dank air poured into the room, he pulled himself and\nthe two humans through. The far future suddenly got two humans, the first of\nmany to help fix where they went wrong in the past. As they entered the void, the human woman looked at the mage and stuck her tongue out. \"You owe me big time for this!\""}