Disclaimer: JQ characters belong to HB & Turner Productions. Charles Wallace
& Meg Murry and the idea of the tesseract belongs to Madeleine L'Engle.
Characters used without permission. No $$ made for this venture. Enjoy! ^_^.
Category: Adventure, Episodal, X-over, a touch of Fantasy
Rating: Some language and concepts for mature audiences
Summary: Uhmm... it kinda gets a little complicated to explain... 

Note: I just realized that I have been giving the wrong physical description
on Charles Wallace. I re-read "A Wrinkle and Time" recently and realized
that Charles really had sandy brown hair, not blonde "blonde". Sorry for the
inconsistency.

The Ripple Effect (3/?)
by: Ina-chan

        The young boy bit his lip as he struggled to keep a whimper of
dispair from escaping his mouth. He stopped and studied his surroundings
one more time. But the buildings' dim, quiet halls simply rewarded his
observations with a cloud of unfamiliarity. He gasped and gripped the
skateboard in his arms tensely as he noticed a movement from the corner of
his eye. Then let out a sigh of relief as the intruder only revealed
itself to be a slow dancing shadow behind him. 
        "Stop acting like a baby Dee," The boy scolded himself out loud.
He cleared his throat bravely before he continued his trek, his sneakers
squeaking against the polished floors, "And so the quest continues... As
fearless intrepid explorer, Dee Mahler, made his way through the dangerous
maze of darkness..." 
         At that moment, however, Dee Mahler did not feel like a fearless
intrepid explorer. He was a terrified ten-year-old boy, who suddenly finds
himself lost in a scary old building while pretending to play spy. Though
he had been through the halls of this building a great number of times in
the past on his own, he never wandered through them when it was dark and
empty. It was quite interesting how the lack of light and people can
disorient the most familiar surroundings into an obscure landscape. 
	He thought of the University's great main auditorium, where his
father and everyone else was gathered at the moment for the school's
annual weekend open house. Then wished for the thousandth time that he
didn't allow his imagination to convince him to go out to follow a
beautiful secret agen --a student in order to fight his boredom. The room
might have been stuffy and filled with students and student hopefuls
listening to his father's lecture, but at least it was a familiar
ground... 
        "And bright," he mumbled out loud as he looked around his
caliginous surroundings again. A small frown of puzzlement etched across
his face. The shadow was still dancing slowly behind him... Following
him... A twinge of fear tore through his heart. 
        "That's impossible..." He stammered as he took a step backward,
then scolded himself again, imitating his Dad's no-nonsense tone for
comfort, "Stop it Dee! This is no time for that runaway imagination of
yours." 
        But the shadow didn't stop dancing. It didn't stop following. 
        A hard painful lump formed in his throat. 
        That's when he heard it. 
        A strange sound... buzzing... like the fluttering of a million
wings... wings belonging to a large insect... like a cockroach... a herd
of cockroaches...
        The boy shuddered at the thought. He spun around to run. Only to
lose his balance and trip. The skateboard in his arm clattering on the
floor before rolling away. He looked up in time to gape in silent horror
as the shadow "lifted" itself from the floor... the walls... surrounding
him. 
        The buzzing sound grew louder. 
        "Don't let the spy get away," A voice whispered breathlessly in
his ear
        The skateboard rolled to a stop as it hit the far end of the wall
with a soft tap.  ***

        Meg Murray peered cautiously from both sides of the abandoned
corridor before ducking into the empty laboratory. She swept a fast glance
at the three fresh faces before her before giving the youngest figure a
nasty glare. 
         "You're lucky that everyone pretty much ignores this part of the
physics department... otherwise, I'm going to have a hell of a time
explaining you four," Meg hissed, "Geez! How the heck did you suddenly pop
out of nowhere like that?" 
        "We tessered," Charles replied a-matter-of-factly, hopping on a
nearby stool
        Meg stared at him, "YOU? Wait a minute... this is new... when did
you learn..." 
        "Twenty four years from now," Charles replied while swinging his
legs over the floor
        The brown-haired girl stared at the little boy for a moment,
before giving his companions equal treatment, "These kids are from..." 
        Jessie smirked, "Kinda strange huh." 
        "Yes..." Meg mumbled to herself with a glazed expression in her
eyes, "Very strange indeed... I never imagined that its possible to use
the tesseract through a linear time continuum..."
        The three teen-agers looked at her strangely. 
        "She's taking this very calmly," Jessie commented under her breath
        "Your family is not unique in encountering events that are
rather...  unusual. My sister and I have had our share of 'weirdness',"
Charles said quietly with a secret smile
        "Sister?" Jessie exclaimed as she eyed the older girl who was
muttering numbers and formulas under her breath with a glazed expression
on her face, " 'Splains a lot..." She bent down to the younger boy's ear,
"What is she doing?" 
        Charles Wallace shrugged, "Probably calculating." 
        "Calculating what?" Hadji couldn't help asking
        "Who knows," Charles replied casually, "Meg can get a bit hard
headed when it comes to trying get her to understand a lot of things. But
she can do numbers as naturally as breathing..." 
        "Weird," Jessie remarked under her breath
        "We can see that..." Hadji agreed and turned to his best friends,
only to see that he is one blonde friend missing, "Jonny?" 
        They found him staring dumbly in front of a large piece of
equipment across the room. As if honouring the machine with a form of
reverence. 
        "Eunice," Jonny mumbled absently
        Jessie swept a questioning glance at Hadji for an explanation only
to be met by a look of disbelief in her friend's usually calm facade, "Are
you sure?"
        "I... it's bulkier... but... yes..." Jonny replied breathlessly,
"I... don't know how... how I know... But I'm certain... It's Eunice." 
        Jessie stood beside Jonny and studied the machine, "Who's Eunice?" 
        "It's not a who, Jessie," Hadji explained within private earshot,
"UNIC... Unitized Neutronic Information Center. Dr. Quest's first
successful independent thinking information processor*..."
        The red head's eyes widened, "Questworld?" 
        "Questworld's PREDECESSOR," Hadji nodded solemnly. 
        Jonny placed his hands on the bulky mainframe, closed his eyes,
rested his forehead gently on the machine's cool surface, and whispered
under his breath with a sense of relief "...Dad."
        "Then there's hope yet," Jessie said cheerfully, "Maybe we could
even jump-start UNIC---" 
        Jessie covered her mouth as the two boys looked at the other
occupants of the room in horror. Unfortunately, Meg had already snapped
out of her mathematical mantra and was staring at the three in surprise.
        "How did you know UNIC..." Meg began uncertainly, but raised her
hand before any of the four could reply, "On second thought... don't
bother.  This is going to turn out as some kind of H.G. Wells thing that's
going to fry whatever logical perception I may have left..." 
        "Meg!" Charles Wallace cried out in surprise with a smile, "This
is so unlike you! You always demand an explanation for everything." 
        Meg sat down and gave him a condescending look, "I'm already
helping you, okay? What else do you want from me?" 
        "Is there any way for m-- the man working on this system to help
us?" Jonny asked hopefully
        Meg crossed her arms and snorted, "Sure, just walk up to Mr. 
Gigantor and ask him if he can help three time displaced kids who came to
the past to save the future... Good luck. O'l Stingy won't even help me
brainstorm for the barricade contest..."
        "O'l Stingy?" Hadji echoed in disbelief
        Jessie made a face, "GIGANTOR?" 
        "Let's just say... enjoy your childhood while you're still a child
'cause its going to catch up with you when you're almost thirty," Meg
replied with a smirk, "But seriously, what would you want with that pile
of junk? It barely even works..." 
        "So it doesn't work..." Jonny murmured absently as he gave Hadji
and Jessie a significant look
        Meg sighed, "Okay... what's the mission?" 
        Charles Wallace swung his legs playfully, "We prevent a person
from getting killed." 
        Meg raised an eyebrow, "If you don't mind me asking... How you are
going to accomplish that?" 
        "We don't know yet," Jessie replied truthfully
        "Okay... so when is the 'event' happening?" 
        "We don't know..." 
        "Do you know how this person is going to die?" 
        "Not at the moment..." 
        Meg gave them a scrutinizing look, "Doesn't coming from the future
give you... I don't know... maybe an 'EDGE' regarding stuff like this?" 
        "Not if the Ecthroi are involved," Charles replied seriously
        "Then at least tell me that you know who this person you're
supposed to protect is!" Meg exclaimed exasperatedly
        A wave of silence descended into the room as three pairs of eyes
looked expectantly at the unusually silent blonde boy. 
        "My mother," Jonny voice echoed dramatically in the room
        The university student softened before letting out another sigh,
"Alright, we better get started on a game plan if we want this over with." 
        Before anyone can move, however, a sound emitted from the lab
door.  Disturbingly similar to a person entering a passcode in the door's
lock combination and succeeding. 
        Without another word, Jessie grabbed the closest person to her and
dove behind the nearest hiding place. Unfortunately, whoever was left
behind was not as lucky as the door opened to reveal a slender young man
with a shock of wild red hair tied hastily in a short pony tail**. A pair
of confused bright blue** eyes peered from his fellow lab assistant to the
underage stranger staring back at him dumbly through the longish locks of
his unruly bangs. 
        Meg gulped as she looked down on her hands and drummed her fingers
rhythmically. 
        "Margaret?" The man finally asked, "What are you doing here?" 
   
(To be continued) 
 
Comments, criticisms, bricks to [email protected]
---	
*Since UNIC appeared and was used only once in "Mystery of the Lizard Men",
and was shown only in passing at the Questworld origin clips  in the JQTRA,
can anybody correct me if I'm wrong with my interpretation of UNIC true
function?