"Rehearsal was fine," Rick said absently as she moved towards the kitchen counter. "Same old same old."
"Right," Jim said. "I know how it is."
Right, sure you do... Rick thought. Her hand closed around a large knife. Jim went back to talking with the Professor. Once again, they were discussing time travel. The Professor seemed pleased that Jessie was taking such a keen interest in the subject. I can't let either of them survive, Rick thought. Brandishing the knife, Rick lunged at Jim.
"Colleen!?" Jim screamed as the other woman tried to stab her. The Professor looked on, astonished, as the two women struggled. "Why are you doing this?" Jim asked in astonishment.
"You know why... Jim," Rick sneered. She shoved Jim against the kitchen wall. Jim was stunned by Colleen's knowledge of her real name.
"Who are you?" she gasped. Rick didn't answer; she just attacked again.
"No!" yelled Professor Steinwick. With surprising speed for such an old man, he leapt at Rick. The two struggled, and Rick managed to deeply cut the Proffesor on the neck. Blood rushing from the wound, he collapsed.
Jim took this opportunity to ambush Rick. Wrapping her arms around the other woman from behind, Jim tried to get the knife away. In the ensuing chaos, knife met flesh. The two stumbled apart.
Rick stared down in horror at the knife embedded in her chest. She grabbed a chair for balance, but slid to the floor. "Damn you," she gurgled through the blood. "Damn you, Jim." Colleen's body slumped, dead on the floor. Jim stood there for a moment, shaking in fear. Then she heard a feeble groan.
"Professor!" she exlaimed. She kneeled by his side. The wound was bad. Jim could see that it would soon be fatal.
"Jessie..." Professor Steinwick gasped.
"I'm here Professor," Jim said. She held on tightly to the old man's hand.
"I haven't much time," the Professor whispered. "My research... You have to protect my research. It's in my home office." He coughed. "We can't risk letting time travel fall into the hands of the Nazis -- or worse."
"Of course, Professor," Jim said. Despite herself, she found tears streaming down her cheeks. She barely knew the man, but for some reason his dying affected her greatly. "I'll makes sure it stay safe."
"Thank you, my dear," the Professor said quietly. Then he died.
Jim unsteadily got to her feet. She surveyed the carnage around her. Tears continued to stream down her face. Jim wiped them off with her sleeve and composed herself. She wouldn't let it end like this. Whoever was toying with her -- whoever was toying with the lives of innocent people -- was going to pay.
Fri Sep 16 23:01:48 2005
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