38 Operation Time Leap

"Again!" Major General Hughes shouted from the protective booth he and the three main scientists were watching Thomas from. Thomas who was breathing heavily with sweat covering his body had tumbled to the floor for the fifteenth time as he tried different ways to activate his time passing ability with his cerebellum. He was in a giant, open lab that was reinforced from floor to ceiling in a newer compound metal that was stronger than the medical room he had been in. It gave the room a glossy purple sheen, it was actually kind of pretty. He had no time to think about the metal compound though, he needed to master this power before the end of the week and the clock was ticking.

Thomas got to his feet, a little sad he had to leave the cold floor, it felt nice on his hot body, and assumed the awkward position they had him in before. He had his right extended forward and he was in a lunge position with both arms out past his back, palms open and facing the ceiling. He thought he looked utterly ridiculous, but that was the point, he needed to elicit strong emotions in order to jumpstart the process. Or at least that's what the scientists conjectured, they learned through scanning his brain with the weird types of machines they keep making that he was restless and almost nightmarish in his sleep. He usually peaks out when he enters his phase with Kincaid at the helm, the fear and distress practically jumps on the charts. Thomas didn't feel that was right, but what did he know, he wasn't a scientist. He was a soldier and his gut was telling him that this was not the way to go.

"Go!"

At the Major General's command, Thomas began running around the room with his arms flailing behind him, his body bent forward. It really was embarrassing. It was so embarrassing that if he even thought they had one of those new video cameras to record him he would definitely try to just end it all, damn the whole war. After doing this for about fifteen minutes he could feel super hot and then came a most mysterious feeling.He felt air running across his hand, brought his right arm around and looked at his hand, there was a small glowing ball of green air currents in it. It suddenly yanked him forward and he yelled out in surprise as it promptly threw him five feet in the air before dissipating. He landed on his ass and it hurt a lot, but he didn't break anything so that's a good sign. Up in the booth, Elaine, Bernard, and Alan were discussing why nothing they've tried so far works.

"As funny as it was to see him do that, it really didn't work. We're scratching the bottom of the barrel here." Elaine said, her husky voice was very alluring, especially when given that her face was a perfect match for it. She had full lips which were currently pulled into a frown, combine that with her naturally thin eyebrows and deep-set sapphire eyes, she was a beautiful woman. Of course, the men present, with the exception of Thomas, were not the target of her interest.

"She's right, it seems as if we are missing some sort of catalyst. Something that jump-starts the process and gets the right gears in motion." Doctor Katz had a thoughtful look upon his face. He was normally clean shaven, but after two weeks of non-stop testing and excitement, he had a small beard upon his face, it accentuated his green eyes and black hair."Maybe we need to inflict a more extreme sort of stress upon him, how we would do this is unknown. Perhaps we should try putting him through combat stress, it might actually be the key," Katz suggested.

"No, no that won't work." Alan was skeptical, his nose wrinkled in a slight frown.

"Why not?" Doctor Katz demanded to know.

"The reason being, he's probably numb to the whole idea and process and combat now. In just a short time, he's been pulled into two episodes while he's been here. Not to mention, it seems there is more information than he has told us, I suspect he still has memories of his previous existence." Alan's argument was clear-cut and left Bernard no room to counter it. Elaine watched this squabble with feigned interest, she too was trying to think of a way to activate the time phasing power that Thomas has, without first being activated by Kincaide. Kincaide as far as they know is the reason why Thomas keeps getting pulled into these time shifts, but Elaine suspects, it's not the real reason. Or at the very least, only part of the equation.

"Thomas, you can take a beak, we've got to go back to the drawing board on this one, come back in a few hours." The voice on the intercom came out loud and clear to Thomas's ears. Normally there would be protocol indicating that they should call him by his rank followed by his last name, but most everyone here was intimately familiar with each other by now. They have all been working together now for a little over two months, in fact, next week will be the first week of December. Thomas knew that the seventh of December would be the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, however, thanks to all of the new technology that's been trading hands of late, would Pearl Harbor still even occur? He didn't have the answers to that right now, nor did he have the inclination to tell his superior about an event that has most likely changed. Right now all that mattered was getting this phase-shift problem out of the way. Even if he somehow prevented Pearl Harbor, he needed Pearl Harbor to exist so that the United States would have a reason to enter the war.

Thomas walked out of the testing lab, over the past couple weeks he had gotten familiar with the entire complex, and his rank, as well as his unique identity, afforded him clearance access to all but the most sensitive parts of the facility. He was in the experimental labs and medical facilities part of the complex. This was the part of the facilities that housed most of the armored test rooms and research and development labs, as Thomas came to understand it, this was all black box funding. As Major General Hughes had explained it to him, only a few members of the Senate and the President knew of all of this. Black box funding was off the official expenditures listing that they publicly release, mostly because of the sensitive nature of what is being funded.

Thomas reached a corner and after he turned he found where he wanted to be. The complex Gymnasium, he always liked to come here after those sessions with the doctors. After all, he needed to gain more muscle and stay fit, how else was he supposed to maintain his advantage on the field if he didn't do this and a few other daily things. Normally he'd have paperwork to do if this was a normal unit or division with reports to file. but not here. Hughes filed all the paperwork because of how sensitive the information was. So he had plenty of free time to develop his skills and his body, after all, this body wasn't used to the same rigors as his old one from his previous life. Upon reaching the Gymnasium he found a group of soldiers exiting it, sweat covered their bodies as they were comparing how many repetitions each man did. Upon seeing him they stood still and saluted.

"Sir!" They said in unison, standing stock still in the white hallway with its bright lights.

"Carry on troops, you're doing good work," Thomas replied as he lazily returned the salute. He really meant what he said, if only he could encourage more soldiers to work out, everyone would be stronger and tougher. That's what it was all about, becoming strong to survive the upcoming war. Thomas entered the Gym, he had plenty of time today, perhaps he could get some practice in the shooting range as well. Anyone passing by the Gym could hear the Captain giving his all, everyone knew the grunts coming from the Gym were him using the maximum amount of weight he could handle, he liked to push himself. Inside the gym, Thomas was working with free weights. He had changed into a close form-fitting outfit designed by the eggheads at the lab to be more suitable for working out in. Something about releasing the moisture that usually gets trapped by your clothes when you sweat, he didn't really understand the principle, but whatever makes them happy.

He was sweating profusely, his arms were shaking. He was engaged in pull-ups on the bar they had bolted to the floor, it was usable for anyone who was under six feet, two inches in height. Thomas himself was five-nine, a perfect height where he wasn't too tall, neither was he too short. He also wasn't as scrawny as he had been when he woke up in that camp, his arms were corded with muscle and he filled out the suit in a rather muscular way. This was barely perceptible unless you were really looking at him. The enhanced musculature subtly added to his already handsome face were he to go out into society, he would no doubt be branded as a keep, assuming he had no lady of his own that is.

With a grunt, Thomas slowly lowered himself to the ground. He'd probably been in here for about an hour or so already. He tidied up the area before changing back into his uniform. He made sure to splash his face with water from the sinks in the back before drying off, he assumed his pre-workout look before walking out of the gym. Time to head to the shooting range, this was pretty much all he had been doing for the past couple of weeks since they started testing. Speaking of weeks, next week should be the day of Pearl Harbor, he wasn't really looking forward to all the deaths about to occur, but as he felt earlier, it needs to happen. America must enter the war. Thomas cast all thoughts out of his head as he entered the gun range. He closed the door behind him, the soft click as the door closed a pronounced judgment of the coming days, affirming and echoing Thomas's thoughts.