Dr

                                                          DR. GANTZ�TIME DOC

                                                                          By Mitchell Moss

My name is Dr. Gantz, and I am from the year 3123. The Emperor�s Temporal Council sent me to the year 1998, in order to stop a time traveling assassin named Volstra. I�m not sure why they sent me, since I am a doctor, and a time cop should be more able to do this type of job. Maybe they sent me because Volstra would recognize the time cops, and I would have a better chance of surprise.
The temporal computer says that he has the greatest probability of committing his crime in Houston, which is where I was sent. Unfortunately, Houston is a big city, and finding him may be difficult. The council gave me a good briefing about Houston in this time period, so that will help. In 1998, we don�t have info computers everywhere, so I found the closest equivalent; a newspaper. I began looking through it, hoping to find a hint, and to my surprise, I found his picture. It was an ad for a magic show that he was performing tonight.
I arrived at the theater, and now had to figure out how to get in. I wandered around, and found a man smoking by one of the theater�s back doors.
I asked the man, �Busy day?�
He replied, �Definitely. We�ve been busting our butts all day, trying to get the show ready for tonight. I was barely able to get a five minute cigarette break.�
I told him, �I also do some magic. I�ll show you a good trick.� I pulled out my medication dispenser, and loaded it with a strong dose of sedative. I told him to examine it, and held it up to his face. Then I quickly touched it to his face, and released the dose. He immediately went unconscious. I used my medscanner to bioscan his body, and it was ok, so I hid it until later, when he would wake up.
I waited an hour, then entered and asked for a job. I was immediately hired, since one of the male assistants went for a cigarette break, and never came back.
I was immediately placed in intense rehearsal. This was no problem, since the humans from planet Newton, my planet, were bred and trained for high intelligence and eidetic memory. I learned quickly.
One of the assistants was a woman named Kathy Campbell. Campbell was also the emperor�s family name. She must be one of his ancestors, and Volstra must be planning to kill her in order to alter history. The Volstra family once was one of the most powerful political families in our arm of the galaxy. Later, the Campbell family caused them to have a big downfall in political power. If Volstra could end the Campbell family before it started, he might become emperor.
Volstra remained in his dressing room during the rehearsals. Most of my job was moving equipment backstage, and I was trained by the chief assistant. A long box with a huge buzz saw was there, and I was pretty sure that it would be the instrument of the assassination.
Finally, the show began. Volstra quickly came out of his dressing room, and went onstage. He never left the stage, and performed many tricks. I was very busy backstage, but he did not appear to do anything suspicious.
After a while, we wheeled the box and saw onstage, as the magician announced, �Now, for the moment you�ve all been waiting for. I will now saw my assistant, Kathy, in half.�    I watched from the wings, as Kathy entered the box. He then put the stocks on her feet and head. I saw her feet begin to struggle. She was not able to pull them inside the box.    The saw was turned on, and began to approach the box. I did not need my medscanner to know that she was in a state of full panic, as her feet struggled to get out of the stocks. The saw was getting closer, and I had to act fast. Removing the foot stocks was not a good idea, since I might not be successful, and Volstra would probably escape. I had only seconds to act, and had only time for one chance.
I quickly grabbed a towel, and held my portosurg behind it, where no one could see. I walked onstage and said, �The janitor asked not to get any blood on the floor. This towel is to soak up the blood.�
The audience laughed, and thought it was part of the act. The saw had already begun entering the box, as I began working with my portosurg. In my time period, it was medically possible to temporarily detach a limb painlessly, and allow it to function while disconnected. I knew that I could do this with a top and bottom half, given time, but I only had seconds to do it, and the pressure was on. Her panicked state did not make it any easier, since this procedure is usually only done with a sedate patient. The blade came closer as I frantically worked the controls on the portosurg. Her frantic state was not making this easy, since this was already a difficult procedure with a sedate patient. Fortunately, I�m the best. With so little time, I could not be sure if the procedure was successful, or even if it was complete.
The seconds seemed like hours, as I frantically attempted to save her life. The blade finally began cutting into her body, and blood came out the bottom of the box. Animal blood was used to enhance the effect, and it did not seem to be hers, but I did not have time to be sure, as I had to continue performing emergency surgery. The saw continued cutting through her body, and halfway through, she went unconscious. I was not sure if she was going to live or not, since doing this procedure required too much concentration to be sure. The magician then inserted the blades into her body, and moved her halves apart. As he did this, I pulled out my medication dispenser, and gave the magician a strong dose of time delayed sedative, while his attention was on her. He then put her halves back together, and removed her blades, as I attempted my surgical re-attachment of her body. Her eyes opened, and she smiled. The audience was relieved to see that she was alive.   I looked at my medscanner, and her vital signs appeared to be mostly normal, except for some variations due to mental stress. I began to open the box, and noticed that the magician was gone.
I left the stage to look for him. I could not find him backstage, and tried using my medscanner to locate him, using his information that was in the databank, but he must have been out of range. I left the theater, and began searching outside, and found him, lying asleep in the alley. I was excited that I was able to stop him, since he was one of the best. Only the best cops have been able to stop him previously, and I did it. Now I knew why the council chose me, instead of a time cop.
I pulled out my medscanner, to see what effect my sedative had on his body. I bioscanned him, and discovered something. His bio info did not match the databank�s bio info. This was not Volstra. I had stopped a decoy.

                                                 TO BE CONTINUED . . .