Disclaimer: Jonny Quest belongs to Hanna Barbera and Turner Productions. Charles Wallace Murry & Meg Murry belongs to Madeleine L’Engle. I am not affliated with the mentioned companies in any way. The JQ and "Wrinkle in Time" Trilogy characters here are used without permission of the owners. No cash is made from this.

February 24, 1998

The Ripple Effect
Prologue
by Ina-chan

       Jonathan Quest always assumed, with all the situations he had gone through, that he haddeveloped a very high tolerance to pain. Never in his imagination that he would come torealize that the intensity of the pain he was feeling at this moment was ever possible.

      The day started extraordinarily actually. It was... quiet... peaceful...

      No terrorist threats, no Questworld crashes, no calls for assistance, no unexpected extra terrestrial visitors...

      It was pleasantly quiet in fact, that with the inspiration of some spring cleaning, old videotapes was discovered hidden away in some boxes. After gathering everyone in the family room, Dr. Quest started the show.

       Jessie and Hadji snickered, while Jonny’s face turned into a bright shade of red as the film rolled following a naked blonde toddler running away from the prospect of a bath.

       “DAD! I THOUGHT THESE TAPES WERE INCINERATED!” Jonny yelled in outrage

       Dr. Quest chuckled, “And destroy all these fond memories?”

       “TURN IT OFF!”

       Race reached out and pulled the boy back to his seat, “Calm down Jonny. There isn’t anything in there that none of us in this room hasn’t seen...”

       “Speak for yourself,” Jessie doubled over laughing.

       Jonny glared at her and crossed his arms sulkily, “Hyuk it up why doncha. This is NOT funny.”

       “It is not,” Hadji teased with a smile as he pinched his bestfriend’s cheek, “It is adowable.”

       Jonny glared at him in turn and slapped his hand away.

       “Yeah Jonny. You were sooo cute,” Jessie drawled between breaths, “What happened to you?”

       “AAAAAGH! STOP IT!” Jonny yelled in exasperation

       “Come on you two,” Race intervened with a chuckle, “That will be enough.”

       A solemn silence fell into the room as another blonde figure entered the scene. She looked down at the stubborn child sternly. The toddler pouted, but nevertheless raised his chubby little arms up to the woman to be picked up. The lady bent down and gathered her son in her arms, before turning to face camera to give the person behind it a smug familiar lopsided grin.

       “Is that your Mom?” Jessie whispered the obvious

       Jonny nodded silently as he watched the video with an unreadable expression on his face.

       “She is very beautiful,” Hadji commented absently

       Dr. Quest rested his hand on his son’s shoulder as they both watched the rest of the scene in reticence. The woman played with her son in the water, occasionally looking at the camera mischievously to send a playful splash to the cameraman, who was filming in a safe distance. She was in the middle of enticing... more like challenging the cameraman to prove his manliness by coming closer when the unexpected happened.

       She disappeared.

       Not the film burned and the tape was “unwatchable” disappeared, but the single figure in the shot slowly shimmered and disappeared to nothingness.

       “What in the--” Race called out articulately as Dr. Quest stood up and...

       ...disappeared.

       “DAD!”

       “Dr. Quest!”

       Then Race disappeared.

       Before Jonny could utter another word, that was when it happened.

       The pain.

       Like a thousand tiny needles of ice poking through every nerve in this body. It hit suddenly and with such intensity that he didn’t even have time or presence of mind to cry out in pain.

       “JONNY!” His two best friends called out in horror. Both frozen in place. All they could do was watch their best friend’s body collapse and convulse on the floor. His figure, however, unlike the two adult members of the family, remained... in a manner of speaking. His image shifting between transparency and solidity like a flickering light bulb.

       Their surroundings was suddenly illuminated in a bright sheet of pure light, before fading to dimness. Jonny returned to his solidified state and relaxed into blissful catalepsy.

       “JONNY!” Both his friends yelled again as they were finally was able to bend down to check on their friend

       “He’s just unconscious,” Hadji sighed with relief

       “You would be too if you were pulled into the time stream and started to get ripped apart in the subatomic level,” A young voice answered

       Hadji and Jessie looked up and saw a boy, probably no older than six or seven looking down at them with a solemn expression.

       “Who---?” Jessie stammered

       The boy gave her an angelic smile as his ancient blue eyes twinkled mischievously, “Hullo! I’m known as Charles Wallace Murry. You may call me Charles Wallace, or simply Charles.” He casually walked over and bent down on the unconscious teen-ager, “It looks like I tessered just in time.”

       “Tessered? In time?” Hadji repeated numbly, “In time for what?”

       “What exactly happened here?” Jessie demanded

       Charles Wallace looked at them sadly, “An anomaly in the time stream has caused a ripple effect.”

       The two conscious looked at the child blankly.

       “What exactly does that mean?” Jessie asked

       “It means,” Charles Wallace replied as he looked back on their fallen comrade, “That your friend doesn’t exist anymore.”

(To be Continued)

© Ina-chan, 1998