Inter-Galactic Action Squad wasn't my future. It was only a step on my ten year plan to make Time Detective. Having I-GAS on my CV wasn't a requirement for attending the Academy, but it was certainly going to increase my chances of getting in dramatically. There was only one problem; I was more brains than action, and I was a human from Earth. We had lived on our planet, peacefully ignorant that our sister planet, the Nature, was actually Earth thousands of years in the future, and we had been populating both times by traveling back and forth through a gigantic temporal rift.

Our discovery of the rift had occurred hundreds of years before, and we had come a long way since in technological advancement and involvement in the intergalactic community. Earthians still wore the stigma of being stupid. I was no exception even though I was, surely, smarter than %99.9 of all new I-GAS recruits. That was the thing about I-GAS; you didn't have to be smart. You had to be fit, you had to think fast on your feet, and above all, you had to follow orders. We were the first on call for inter-temporal crime. While the detectives handled the big cases, we were in called in for emergencies and crimes in progress.

I was on desk duty. Having only been accepted into I-GAS a few short weeks previously, I had yet to pay my dues. I spent my time taking calls and studying for the Time Academy's entrance exam. It was one dark day, as I was retrieving a cup of coffee and a plear sandwich, that I stumbled upon a conversation that I was sure I wasn't meant to hear.

I had returned to my desk where my commanding officer, Robin Grey, sat using my inter-temporal communication device. He saw me and shifted his eyes around nervously.

"I'll be done in a minute," he said.

I sat down in the visitor's chair and waited patiently across from him. He frowned at me, and began speaking in an long dead Utopian dialect that I was sure he thought I didn't know. I shouldn't have known it, because I was Earthian. I was supposed to be dumb. My degree in Ancient languages said otherwise.

"Don't do this," he murmured in a hushed whisper. "You know that place is in my jurisdiction. You don't need to be taking chances like that."

His scowl deepened as the person on the other end of the ICD spoke. When he spoke again his voice was angered and strained.

"I'm done with you," he said. "You're nothing more than a common thief. It's over!" He punched the off button on the device and stood up and scowled angrily down at it as if the machinery itself had somehow offended him. It was as if there was nobody in the room when he let out an enraged roar and threw it against the nearest wall where it shattered into millions of pieces.

I was startled and so was everybody else. We were all staring at him.

"What?" He growled. He stalked around the desk so he would have a better vantage point at staring down the rest of our small squadron.

"Sir," I spoke up, timidly raising my hand as I did so.

He turned to glare down at me. "What is it, Recruit?"

"Uh, I uh...my d-d-device," I stammered.

"Fill out a requisition form for a new one," he muttered and moved to walk back to his office.

"I wasn't the one who broke it."

The entire office gasped as I had said it out loud. Maybe there was truth in the rumors of Earthian intellect after all.

He turned and the full force of his fiery glare once again landed on me.

"What did you say?"

I stood up to face him then.

"I said I wasn't the one who broke it. Sir."

He marched towards me, stopping inches away. He was at least a foot taller than me and I was dwarfed in comparison. He was strong, and I was thin. He was blond and bearded and I was smooth and brunette. We were like mirror images in opposite land, and he was furious. I knew I had no place to question him. He could send me packing at a moment's notice and my dreams of detectivehood would be over.

"The requisition form is a lot of paperwork," I said. "I don't think it's fair."

I smirked as I noticed the red rise to his unusually pale face. It wasn't fair. I wasn't going to take it just because I was a new recruit and my device just happened to be the one closest to his angry hands.

"Also," I said, before he had a chance to kill me. "I know Utopian Standard One."

His jaw tightened when I replied in the language he had been using to hide his private conversation. The entire room was silent and I couldn't hear anything aside from the pounding of my own heart.

"You're right, recruit," He finally said; his posture suddenly relaxed and he clapped me on the back. It was as if the entire squadron heaved a sigh of relief in that moment. "Back to work..."

"It's Ehrenfried."

"Ehren," he said and chuckled nervously. Then he marched back into the office.

I returned to work with everybody's eyes on me

***

Robin ordered me to his office later that day. I was still in fear for my unmarred service record, and I felt the dread curling itself in the pit of my stomach as I dragged myself from my desk and across the floor to the boss's door. I knocked on it and he bid me enter.

"I wanted to apologize for earlier, Ehren," he said as I sat down in the visitor's chair across from his once again.

"It's Ehrenfried," I murmured.

"That's an Earthian name isn't it?" He said.

"Yes, sir," I replied.

"We don't get many recruits from Earth."

"Yes sir," I said.

"You can relax, Ehren," he said. "I just wanted to give you this."

He pulled open the top drawer of his desk handed me a new ICD.

"Thank you, sir," I said as I received the device. "May I be excused now?"

He nodded consent and I stumbled from my chair only to be met by the High Commander of I-GAS bursting into the room.

"Get your boots on and your squad ready, Robin," he said as he thrust a printout in Robin's face. "There has been an alarm raised in Quadrant Four."

"Q4?" He repeated. He sounded numb, as if he couldn't believe it.

I stood nervous and seemingly invisible between them. With the High Commander standing in the doorway, I had nowhere to go. I heard Robin curse softly in Utopian and mutter, "I told him not to do it," under his breath.

He glanced up at me for the first time, realizing that I hadn't made it past the High Commander and out of the room. He cursed again and frowned a warning at me.

"I can handle this on my own, Sir," he said. "It's only a possible disturbance. Those alarms in Q4 are temperamental."

"You know I trust you, Robin, but..."

"I'll go!" I burst out, catching the attention of both my superiors. Robin looked irritated and the High Commander looked confused.

"I can go," I said. "You were about to state that according to Inter-Temporal Law 342 section 3 amendment 3: an agent must never go out into the field alone."

I swaggered as best I could over to Robin and pushed him out of the way as I snatched the printout from his hand.

"Yep, yep," I nodded at the gibberish that was before me on that paper. I had taken a short course on how to read an Action Report, but it was something entirely different in practice. I wasn't yet good enough to decipher the codes in front of me.

"It looks like a routine job. I can handle it, boss."

The High Commander dubiously arched an eyebrow at me then shrugged and addressed Robin.

"I trust your judgment," he once again said. "If you feel this recruit is up to it..."

I turned towards Robin and begged him as best I could without words.

He sighed.

"Ehren is one of our top recruits," he said. "Very promising."

"Very well," the High Commander said. "I want a full report on my desk when you return."

High Commander was gone then, and I was left alone with Robin once more.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Recruit?" He said.

"Saving your ass," I replied. "I already know something fishy is going on. Why bring other people into it? You may as well just tell me what you're trying to hide."

"Shut-Up," he said. "Come here."

He moved to a locked cabinet across the room and I followed him. He retrieved a small rectangular velvet box and handed it to me.

"I'm not marrying you," I muttered.

"I told you to shut-up," he said. "How many hours have you had in the VR booth?"

"Twelve," I said.

"Just great." He sighed at me again. "You're about a hundred hours short of the requisite training time to use one of these without supervision."

I opened the box. It was a time travel device.

"Why are you issuing one?" I murmured as I ran my finger over the shiny new device.

"We might get separated," he said. "Take that down to Assignment. I'll send them the linking order right now. We leave in twenty minutes."

"Quadrant four...Diamond sector?" I said. My eyes remained fastened to my new bit of technology. I was so many weeks from being advanced enough for the privileged of being assigned one and going on missions. I couldn't believe my luck. I tucked the TTD away in my pocket and made a mental note to thank my parents for sending me to university for linguistics.

"Twenty minutes!" He barked at me as I stood there in a dream state.

"Yes, Sir!" I came to attention and saluted him before dashing away to the Assignment office where my ID tag was to be linked to my TTD and my TTD was to be linked to his: the squadron commander, my new partner, Robin Grey.

****

"You know, Ehrenfried, you should be fired." My friend, Axel, stood beside me in the locker room as I suited up in my mission gear. "Why is it that people who should get fired end up always getting promoted? I mean, I done everything right, and I'm mopping up toilets. You mouth off to our superior officer and he takes you on a mission! I've got twice as much time in the VR suite..."

"Shhh," I hushed him.

"You're lucky," he mumbled.

"I'm smart," I replied.

"A smart Earthian?" he mused. "Isn't that an oxymoron?"

We laughed at the joke, but were interrupted by my name over the loudspeaker. I was being paged to the portal room.

"Wish me luck, Axel." I held out my hand and he shook it.

"Good luck, lucky Ehrenfried," he said. "You're going to need it!"

I marched my way to the portal room then. Robin was waiting for me, impatiently tapping his foot and glancing at his watch. He waved me forward once he caught sight of me.

The High Commander was there. He was standing in the corner speaking into a communication device. We were waiting for him to finish. Once he did, he approached Robin and pulled him to the side. I strained to hear their conversation, even though I knew I shouldn't be eavesdropping. Eavesdropping had gotten me promoted though, so maybe it wasn't such a bad idea.

"I think you might want to excuse yourself from this case," High Commander said.

"Why?"

"Word just came in; this is a break-in, Robin, and it bears all the signatures of Feliu Viernes," he replied.

A weary look crossed Robin's eyes for only a moment before he addressed the High Commander.

"Viernes won't be a problem, sir."

"Are you sure?" High Commander asked. "We need to bring him in..."

"I know," Robin snapped loudly with no heed to whoever might be within hearing range. "It won't be a problem!"

High Commander bowed his head in deference to Robin's outburst.

"It better not be," he said; his usually serene visage interrupted by a hard scowl. "There will be consequences."

"Yes, Sir," he mumbled; his eyes cast downward.

The High Commander departed then, leaving me alone with Robin. He was silent and frowning, as he had been since I had caught his clandestine conversation.

"So," I said. "Feliu? That's a Utopian name isn't it?"

"Stop talking," he growled. "Do you know how to use one of these?" He indicated the TTD in his hand.

"In theory," I said.

He frowned at me then rolled his eyes.

"Okay, just...put yours back in your pocket," he said. "Hold on to my arm."

No sooner had I done as instructed then I was gone. I felt nothingness for a short moment, then with a bang and a flash of white light I was standing on the chalky ground of a planet in the Diamond Sector of Quadrant Four. My knees felt weak and I clung onto Robin in order to keep myself standing.

"Are you okay?" He glanced down at me, and I shook my head.

"Let go," he said.

I did as I was told. I was an officer of the law. I was required to follow orders, but I was still queasy from the jump. I stepped forward and crumpled into a heap on the ground.

"Get up," he muttered. "He's going to get away."

"I think I'm going to be sick." I ignored his instruction. He pulled me to my feet and handed me a red pill.

"What's this?" I took the pill and stared at it.

"You're a little bit time sick," he said. "That's not unusual for a first time jumper. The pill will help. We've got to get you moving."

I swallowed the tablet down and followed him. As we trudged along the ground of the planet, the dizziness began to subside, and I was able to take in my surroundings. The earth was white. Hills rose up around us and seemed to sparkle everywhere the sunlight hit them.

"What's that?" I said. "Why is it sparkling?"

"You're the scholar, Earthian," he muttered back at me. "Why do you think?"

"Diamonds?" I said, my voice soft and breathless with wonder. I had never seen anything like it in my life. We had diamonds on Earth, but they were all underground and few and far in between.

"I've never..."

"We're here," he interrupted me as we came to a halt at the crest of a hill.

There in the valley was a large white building. The curves of it mirrored the surrounding hillsides and it sparkled in the sun just as everything else did.

"Not very many people get to see this place," Robin told me. "Most of the fine jewels you see around the galaxies are produced here in conjunction with the Gold, Silver and Platinum Sectors. The security is fantastic. I don't even know how the fuck he landed here."

A proud smile tugged at the corner of his lips, but he frowned just as soon as he noticed me looking.

"Bastard," he muttered. "We've been chasing Feliu all over for years."

He started towards the building down the hill and I followed him.

"And you've never caught him?"

"Once or twice," he replied. "The High Commander had him in custody last time. I wasn't... He escaped."

"He's that good?"

We approached the entrance of the building.

"He's that good." Robin confirmed. "He's the fucking bane of my existence."

"Why so flattering, Grey?" A voice from above chirped.

We simultaneously looked up to spot Feliu Viernes sitting in a tree by the entrance to the factory.

"Oh, my, you caught me." He rolled his eyes and yawned. "Oh, no!"

"I'm taking you in this time, Viernes," Robin said. His voice was harsh and strained. I glanced at him. His eyes were narrowed at Feliu and his lips a pale, thin line. "You're not going to get away with it."

He laughed then. His face creased in a wide smile that sparkled as brightly as the diamonds in the hills. He hopped down from his perch and landed deftly on his feet. I had never seen a Utopian in the flesh before, though I had studied the language of their race. He came from the Golden Utopia, a rich planet known for its four suns. He was fair, as were most Utopians, due to the natural infrared reflective pigmentation of their skin; a necessity on a planet where the suns rose and set one after the other, dousing the population in perpetual light and heat. His hair was a dark ginger, and his pupils were a pin-point of black in the middle of his eyes, accentuating their light blue colouring. He was as tall as Robin, but where Robin was all muscle, Feliu was lean and thin.

"Who's this?" He addressed Robin in the archaic language of his planet. Robin tried valiantly to warn him with an urgent shake of his head, but Feliu ignored him and kept speaking. "He's cute. I wasn't really planning on a three way, but if you insist."

"He speaks Standard One," Robin burst out.

"Oh, really? That's interesting..."

"All twelve standards actually," I interrupted him as he tried on a different variation of the Utopian language.

"He's smart," Robin admitted sheepishly.

I'm quite sure I couldn't have stopped myself from beaming at his praise.

"But he's Earthian!" Feliu gasped in mock surprise.

I turned to Robin. "Can we arrest him now?"

"I..." Robin glanced toward Feliu who looked upon him expectantly.

"What are you doing here Feliu?" He said.

"Stealing diamonds," he said.

"I can see that," Robin replied. He glanced over at me and growled in frustration. "Well..."

"Well?" Feliu leaned back on his heels; his grin never wavering.

"I have to take you in," Robin said.

"Take me in?" He smirked. "That will be a first."

"I told you not to do this, Feliu. I'm tired of it. This is all a fucking game to you isn't it?"

"Yes," he replied. He lifted his chin defiantly. "I'm winning too, aren't I?'

"Well it's not a game to me," Robin bristled. "This is my life and you've been fucking it up left and right ever since I met you. It isn't worth it!"

"Isn't it?" Feliu lifted his eyebrows.

They had forgotten I was there it seemed. I watched them scream at each other in Utopian for what seemed like hours, faster than I could keep up with a language that wasn't my own. I danced around them, trying to get one of them to relax. They ignored me and stalked circles around each other, speaking of a past history that I knew nothing about and couldn't make sense of. If Feliu was the bad guy, I didn't understand why we were even wasting time letting him speak. I wished I was stronger. I wished that I could step between them and put an end to their impassioned bickering, but I wasn't. I was the runt of the squadron, and at that moment I didn't even have my wits to fall back on. If there was a protocol for the situation, I didn't remember it.

Finally Robin had had enough. He grabbed Feliu by the shoulders and pushed him backwards until he slammed into the front of the building. The glass of the structure shook with the impact but it didn't shatter. The thief gasped, trying to regain his breath as Robin hovered menacingly over him.

"That hurt," Feliu squeaked when he once again could breath. The fight was completely gone from him and he didn't even struggle against the grip that pinned him to the wall.

I looked on nervously. I shouldn't have been there. I didn't belong in the middle of whatever was happening.

"You shouldn't have come here," Robin growled, his pitch almost inaudible.

"Robin?" I reached my hand out and touched his shoulder. He shrugged me off, his attention barely flickered in my direction.

"Please, Sir," I said. "Let's just bind him and get him back, okay?"

"Why did you come here?" Robin completely ignored me and addressed Feliu.

"I think he's right," said the thief as he nodded towards me. "I can't feel my arms."

Robin released him like he had suddenly become molten lava. I stepped up quickly to apply the restraints. He placidly crossed his wrists behind his back.

"Happy now?" He addressed Robin. I couldn't see his face but I could tell he was shaking, and there was a tremor in his voice. "Is this what you wanted?"

"You chose this, Feliu. This is how it has to be," Robin muttered. He turned away and began to walk away from the building, back towards the hills.

He didn't hear it when Feliu whispered in Modern Utopian...

"I only did it, so I could see you."

****

We returned heroes with one dejected Utopian thief trudging along between us.

Robin sneered and growled his way angrily through all the congratulations thrown our way. I just kept my head down and only acknowledged a thumbs up from Axel as we made our way down to processing. The High Commander stopped us as we were on our way down to the transport bay to transfer Feliu to the imprisonment facility.

"I underestimated you," he said. "I thought this was going to be a hard job."

"It was a hard job," Robin muttered.

Feliu, the man who had practically let himself be caught, stood beside me and sighed.

We were left on our own then to wait for the lift. Feliu stood in front and Robin stood slightly behind him. I watched them from a couple of feet away. Robin had removed one side of the restraints and had cuffed himself to the thief while processing had collected new digital thumbprints for the database. Feliu would brush his fingertips across the back of Robin's hand then Robin would reciprocate the gesture until they were practically holding hands. I once again felt like I was intruding on some kind of secret world as we entered the lift and headed towards the transport. I was going to keep my mouth shut as long as nobody else was talking.

Nobody else did talk until Feliu was safe in the back of our transport, and I was left alone to guard him while my boss filled out paperwork.

"Nice pockets," he said.

"Whatever," I replied.

He didn't say another word as we waited for Robin to return with orders for the imprisonment facility.

That was the last time I saw Feliu Viernes that day. When we arrived at the facility he was gone; vanished into thin air as if he had never been there at all.

Robin was beside himself for a moment, then turned his anger on me.

"What happened? I leave you alone for five minutes..."

"Nothing happened!" I replied. He was standing over me again, making me feel like the intimidated recruit that I was. "He barely said two words."

"What did he say?"

"Nice pockets," I replied. "I don't even know what that means."

"What's in your pockets?" Robin backed off a couple of steps and frowned at me.

"Nothing," I said. "Nothing's in my pockets."

"Isn't there supposed to be something in your pockets?"

My face must have fallen a thousand storeys in that moment as I realized what had happened. I could have been smarter. I should have known. All those times he had stumbled into me as we paraded him down the hallways of I-GAS headquarters were no accidents.

"My Time Travel Device," I whispered.

"It's not your fault kid," he murmured.

"You're not mad?"

"You don't have any experience handling Utopian scum like that," he muttered. "The High Commander's going to come down hard on us for this, but I'll take the hit. I've done it before, and it is my fault. I never should have trusted an Earthian recruit."

I tumbled down from the high I was on for the praise I had received earlier and the congratulations for catching such an apparently skilled thief. He may have been willing to take the hit for me, but I could tell that Robin was furious all the same. He had trusted me with a simple task, and I had failed. Miserably.

"But I...I'm sorry," I said.

I reached into that pocket, just to make sure we weren't jumping to conclusions. We weren't. There was something there in its place though. I pulled out a man's diamond ring with a small scrap of paper rolled up inside of it. I pulled out the paper, read the note, and immediately felt terrible for it.

I handed it over to Robin. He perked up in surprise and the seething anger he had been hiding seemed to drain out of him as he scanned the words that hadn't been meant for my eyes. He looked sad, and I didn't blame him.

"Aren't you going to turn this in to the High Commander?" He said. "It's stolen property."

"It's for you," I replied. "As far as I'm concerned, I never even saw it."

I turned around and marched towards the facility. Somebody had to report Feliu's escape.

"Hey," he shouted after me.

I turned around to face him.

"Thanks," he said. "You're not going to...tell anyone?"

"Nah," I replied. "I think I understand. Just do me one favor, Robin?"

"Okay," he said.

"Next time he robs the most heavily secured sector in Q4 for you...don't let me tag along."