Characteristic

Cost

END

Cost

10

3

3

3

3

0

2

4

3

3

14

-14

21

3

3

2

5

25

25

15

15

10

20

1

1

1

1

1

5

15

The Future (Or at least A future)

"He went." It was a simple statement, but everyone on the team knew what it meant. Further explanation followed, but Keith’s already noisy signal was drowned out once again by background electromagnetic scatter.

For over five minutes, only the low hum of the ventilation system could be heard along with the cackle/spatter of the radio noise. No one dared say anything in case he tried to transmit again. But, finally, a sound broke through the low din. Dr. Tamara Lee reported, "Burst trans-miss, encrypted. It’s from Keith. A set of temp co-ords, space co-ords, divergence factors, and his sign off sig-nat. That’s it."

She unplugged the linkwire from the receiver mini-comp and let it retract into the spool implanted in the base of her skull. Walking briskly over to Toby’s console, she realized that she smelled of at least two days of low-level sweat—but then again, so did everyone else. It had been that long that Keith was gone, on the risky surveillance mission to determine what the enemy was up to. A day ago, Keith determined the gist of it, so they recruited Toby. Now everything was coming to a total spratz.

"Here it is," Tamara muttered as she pulled the linkwire and jacked in. The data from Keith’s trans-miss downloaded to Toby’s console. Tamara wasn’t an expert in temporal engineering, but she wasn’t exactly clueless either. "I’d guess by the low tolerance of temporal divergence that we don’t have much time."
Toby keyed in some functions with a few quick strokes and confirmed, "Yeah, with my gear, accuracy goes to TDLN after 1 hour—best in, say, within 15 minutes."

"Not much time." Jenai said. "And you know, Tama, that device is untested. Can’t tell if it’ll spratz."

"Of course I know that," she said. She’d done the reverse engineering on the parts that they could replicate, and she’d helped them make educated guesses on the parts that they had only partial knowledge of. Tamara sighed as she jacked out. "And, yes. I know that what that means." Everyone knew it was likely to be a one-way trip, even if it worked correctly.

Silence resounded in the room. There was no other way. Keith was still in the field. Since he was primarily a field agent, he was actually the best choice. He knew the most about history. Toby—well, he was the only one who could operate the device. And somebody had to do that. Besides, Toby was zilko on field knowledge. Jenai could go, but Tamara was still more qualified. Besides, Jenai had the twins to take care of. Tamara had no one, at least not anymore. "It’ll have to be me." Tamara announced, stepping to the empty space next to the console. "It’ll have to be me."

She clapped her hands quickly twice and the lights went out. Why wasn’t anybody moving? They stood, or sat, like stone. "C’mon guys. There isn’t much time. Toby, grid up. Jenai, get me the field pack and the sig-dec."

The short, stout man with the pink mohawk hairstyle seemed to snap out of his daze. He flipped a handful of toggles while watching the play of laser lines going across Tamara’s worksuit. He quickly worked his stylus over the hu-dis in front of him until the lines matched that shown. He again readjusted it after Jenai helped Tamara into the field pack and put the sig-dec in the holster.

"Tama, do be careful," Jenai waved, then sobbed in her hands as if Tamara had died. Even Toby’s eyes watered.

Tamara took it all in, trying to remember everything that had happened in her life: her teammates, her friends, even her ex-friends, even Lon. She’d never see them again; it was a one-way trip. As the hum of the device crescendoed, she’d never felt lonelier.

The Present

Tamara left Kennedy Space Center willing her memory to return, but to no avail. At least these men and women didn’t laugh outright at her. They tried to maintain something of professional composure, but she could tell by the way they held their smirks that they thought her fit for a SycHouse. Surely someone must realize that time travel was theoretically possible even in physics as understood in the 21st century.

Perhaps they would believe her if she fixed their control systems and increased their data transfer efficiency by three orders of magnitude. But that would be too large a step in collective technology gain for a civilization and that would surely skew events to cause harm to the timeline. No one here would think anything of it, but it would affect the people in her own past—possibly killing them or rendering them inexistent.

Perhaps they would believe her if her memory was whole and she could provide them evidence. But then she wouldn’t need them in the first place. As she stepped into the fossil fuel–driven ground vehicle, Tamara noticed that one of the group of NASA engineers was running toward her rather than walking away from her.

"Dr. Lee," he said, "I’m Harry. Harry Kruger. Here’s my card."

Tamara took the proffered card and examined it curiously. Information on who he was and, presumably, contact information. "Thanks Harry. Please, I’m Tamara."

"I believe you," he said. "You have to keep your mind open, after all, and such. Stranger things have happened." Harry smiled as if he said something witty, then continued, "In any case, I think that I know someone—a college buddy of mine—who might be able to help you. And, at the same time, maybe you can help him."

An Hour Later

The tower standing amidst all the scattered construction debris and equipment seemed as out of place as Tamara felt in the 21st century. The large structure that was surely more than the concrete, glass, and steel that it appeared to be was definitely unfinished. Yet it seemed that at least the first few floors of the building were already functioning even while contractors continued to build the top floors and finish the rough-looking exterior.

Well, an amusement park seemed an unlikely place for a superhero to maintain a base. But, who else would Tamara look up for help on this matter? All the others she’d contacted were either "too busy to help her" or thought she was nuts for claiming to be from the future. Well, it might be her best and last chance and Harry Kruger seemed to think that this was the right place. After all, how could this man, using a superhero name like that one, not believe her?

The door opened and a smallish woman stood there with a smile. Tamara took her hand and shook it in the 21st century fashion, "Hi!" she said. "I’m looking for Doctor Tomorrow."

Synopsis

Tamara Lee was born in San Francisco in the early-mid-22nd century. Intrigued early on with electronics of various sorts, she eventually received a doctorate of the philosophy of electrical engineering at American Lunar University. She joined the TempScex team soon after her graduation, specializing in system analysis and reverse engineering. On one mission, she was transported through time from the 22nd century to the present.

Dr. Tamara Lee is an elite scientist from the future. An expert in computers, robotics, and technology, she was transported to the present with her plain laboratory jumpsuit, her implanted data jacks, and her electronic signature detector.

Realizing that being part of a superhero team would help in her quest to regain her memories and carry out whatever mission it was, Tamara accepted the role of the new Doctor Tomorrow. Along with the name came the suit and blaster taht make up the bulk of her powers. She has a pool of high-tech equipment: some re-engineered from parts of the Doctor Tomorrow suit to make them smaller, others she designed herself.

Tamara is of very mixed ethnic origin, at least by the standards of today. She likes to change her hairstyle and color often, as well as her temporary tattoos, which were a fashion trend in the future. Her attire ranges from modern conservative dresses and suits to far-future avant garde belt unis and hide-o slicks. As Doctor Tomorrow, her suit is a re-tailored version of the original Doctor Tomorrow suit. Basically, it is decorated with a “futuristic” art deco look, resembling the company’s popular spaceman toy character, especially because of the transparent, retractable helmet. Although to her it looks a bit quirky and nothing like anything that she’s seen in her future past, Tamara’s gotten accustomed to it.