Upon receiving the text from Alison asking for his help, Steve had jumped to the Orphanage in Thailand. Steve materialised behind the orphanage in a little used area. Alison knew his secret as apparently did a lot of the children, but he didn't want to make it too obvious to adults. Stories by children could be dismissed as fantasies, but if too many of Alison's staff began to talk about him, then it might bring danger to the Orphanage. He strode into the building looking for Alison, and found her in the main assembly hall counting her children. They were standing in neat lines, and she was calling off their names from a register.
So as not to disturb her, he took a seat at the side of the hall and just observed. Eventually she finished the Roll call, and dismissed the children back to their classes. She motioned Steve to follow her into her private rooms. When he had closed the door, she dropped the papers and her pretence of calm, and flew into his arms sobbing. When she had calmed down enough to talk, she told him that a small group of the children were missing. As part of teaching them about life, the orphanage sent groups of children on walks. Some were in the nearby country, and some were in the town. It was to give them a broader viewpoint; she didn't want them to become institutionalised.
It was during one of these trips, that a group of ten children and their teacher disappeared. 'Don't worry darling, this is almost routine for me, I will have them back with you soon,' he promised hugging her tightly. He took the details of the last time the children were seen, and after a lingering kiss vanished in front of her eyes. A few hours after her lover disappeared, she heard the sound of excited children. She ran out to see what was going on, and found herself surrounded by confused children. They were the missing ten with their teacher. They were gabbling to her about being in a museum where a scary robot had pushed them out the back door and locked them out. It had taken them all this time to walk back to the Orphanage.
As usual Steve jumped back to the last time the children were seen. Using his new- found technique of phase shifting which made him nearly invisible, he followed behind the small group as it wandered around the town. The teacher led the kids into a large museum. Steve had to wait until another group of children exiting the museum cleared the steps, before he could follow. Although he was nearly invisible, trying to walk up steps against the flow of excited kids was not recommended. By the time Steve entered the museum, he just caught a glimpse of the group walking through a door into a room dedicated to Science. He walked to the door and peeked inside, the room was empty. He quietly walked into the room and looked about carefully. It was a small museum, and didn't have the funding to exhibit much in the way of modern scientific marvels.
Steve was therefore puzzled; by the exhibit standing in the corner of the room. It looked like a robot but something about it was familiar. He stood perfectly still, becoming virtually invisible as he studied the strange exhibit. Suddenly it moved; bringing its hand up to the blank visor that served it as a face. Steve's heart almost stopped in fear, as his mind registered the chilling fact that he was in the presence of a British Storm Trooper. If Steve had been standing still before, he now froze solid, not moving not even breathing. What the fuck is going on here, he thought these things are of the 26th Century they shouldn't be here.
The Storm Trooper checked its device again, and seemed as puzzled as a blank visor can be. 'Target has not arrived at given co-ordinates,' the machine-man said apparently to itself. 'The trap should have worked, he was recorded as following the children to the museum at that precise time and co-ordinate,' replied a disembodied voice. 'Stand down and RTB.' Steve stood very still as the Storm Trooper activated a device on its wrist and vanished.
It had been a trap for him, the children were just bait. Steve sat down on a nearby chair; his legs had gone weak with fear at the sight of the Storm Trooper. One of those things had handed Angel her arse on a plate, with little or no effort on its part. He realised that had he not been Phase shifted the Trooper's detection systems would have located him, and he would have stood no chance of fighting it. They had known he would be here at this time and place, but couldn't detect him while he was out of sync with this timeline. He switched off the phase shifting aspect, of his modified QT device.
After careful thought, he jumped back to the orphanage. He was just in time to see the missing children being shepherded into the building by a happy Alison. The children had been returned unharmed, when the plan to trap him had gone pear shaped. He decided to keep clear of Alison, until he figured out what the fuck was going on. He was about to jump back to his house, when he realised that it would probably be monitored. He needed to speak to his old friend Merlin, but somewhere where they wouldn't think of looking. Whatever he did from now on, he must not leave a trail that the future enemy could follow.
Taking a chance he jumped back to the Jurassic, he appeared on Angel's sunning ledge high above a blue lake. He instantly triggered his phase shifting device and effectively vanished from the radar, or whatever the 26th Century version of it was called. He hoped that if anyone were tracking him, it would appear that he had jumped away again. The only way to test this theory; was to sit here and wait a while. If he had been tracked, someone would be here soon. After ten minutes he decided that he was safe, and turned off the device. He sat on the ledge, dangling his feet over the fifty foot drop to the water below. He had to ask Merlin's advice, but knew that as soon as he contacted the AI his enemy would be able to locate him. He would just have to be quick and to the point.
'Old Friend, this is your Friend, who is trying to trap me and why?' Steve knew the World Brain would know who was calling it as he was the only friend it had. He jumped to the top of the Sphinx at Giza in the 20th Century. Steve instantly activated the phase shifter, and vanished from sight. 'I received your message old friend,' replied Merlin via his implant. 'I have modified this signal, to be out of phase by the same degree as you are. No one else can hear us now. You have a big problem, you are being hunted by a rogue Storm Trooper, we know it is rogue because all of the British Storm Troopers are accounted for.'
'I thought that there were only Ten Storm Troopers at any one time?' 'Yes Steve, but they are not immortal; they can still die and often do. They are sent into great danger on a regular basis, and although they had almost superhuman abilities they sometimes run out of luck. The most common cause of death of a Storm Trooper is a bomb. No matter how well trained they are, an unexpected bomb can kill them. It is believed that one was very badly injured but not killed. It has been repaired and reprogrammed to suit an enemy of Britain.'
'Reprogrammed? I thought these were humans that had been enhanced similar to Angel.' 'Nothing like Angel Steve, the only human flesh on a Storm Trooper is their brains. The rest is bio-mechanical synthetic material that is almost indestructible. Even their brains are modified by pychotropic drugs and intense conditioning. They become humaniod robots for the State and will follow orders given to them by a recognised authority. It is believed that one had been repaired and convinced that it is still working for Britain, but has in fact been turned and is now working for an enemy.'
'Is it after my QT Device again?' 'I cannot conceive of any other reason you would be targeted,'replied Merlin. 'Why can't we all get along? I have nothing against anyone except child abusers. Still if they want a fight I will certainly do my best to accommodate them. Is there any way I can jump while still phase shifted?' asked Steve changing the subject.
