Danielle woke up. She had slept in a bit. The alarm clock read, 9:02 AM. No worries. It was Sunday and the only thing she had to do was show up for a chambermaid shift at the Skylite. Hopefully nobody died tonight.

  'Where are those?.....' There they were. Right where she left them, the glasses. Now it really did seem weird that Danielle had not handed the glasses over to the Sheriff. 'Why didn't I do that?' It really wasn't like Danielle to pull off something like that. But, the man had said that the glasses were hers now. It was all a bit confusing. Should she put them back on?

  Danielle lifted the elegant glasses and contemplated their appearance. Very fashionable. No doubt about that. Danielle didn't need prescription glasses, so this was a different experience for her. She put them on.

  EMERGENCY PROTOCOL PERIOD COMPLETED - STANDARD PROTOCOLS ENABLED.

  GOOD MORNING DANIELLE.

  "Good morning AI"" answered Danielle.

  OUR RECORDS SHOW THAT YOU HAVE NOT YET SIGNED AN ENLISTMENT CONTRACT WITH THE ARACHNID FEDERATION. DO YOU WISH TO MAKE THAT COMMITMENT AT THIS TIME?

  "Let's have a discussion about that," responded Danielle. She finally felt assertive enough to question whatever the hell the voice behind these glasses was. She had her own life to live and it certainly didn't need to include 'training' to be some sort of secret agent. She really couldn't understand what had gotten into her the night before. Danielle was as adventurous as anyone, but this might be the right time to cut this 'adventure' short and cash in her chips.

  WHAT DO YOU WISH TO KNOW?

  "Who are you? Are you communicating with me through the Internet? asked Danielle, hardly knowing where to start.

  NO INTERNET. I AM THE CHIEF COMMANDING OFFICER OF THE ARACHNID TIME TRAVELLER FORCE. I SPEAK TO YOU FROM THE YEAR 2428. I ADMINISTER AN ELITE FORCE OF OPERATIVES PERFORMING MISSIONS ACROSS 5 CENTURIES.

  "That's hard to believe," said Danielle, to the empty room. She felt okay talking out loud to the glasses. If her dad was at home, it would be different.

  IS THERE SOMETHING THAT I CAN DO TO PROVE MYSELF? WAS THE FIRST TRAINING MODULE NOT SUFFICIENT?

  "Listen, I'm imagining that some Nigerian scammer would probably be capable of putting together a video like that, and maybe these glasses are just some sort of new Chinese tech, purchased on sale from Alibaba. You are asking me to join up as some sort of secret agent? What the heck would be in it for me?"

  THE ARACHNID CAUSE IS NOBLE. YOU COULD BE PART OF SOMETHING LARGER THAN YOURSELF. MANY OF OUR AGENTS ARE MOTIVATED BY OUR COMMON VALUES. OF COURSE YOU WILL ALSO RECEIVE A REMUNERATION COMMENSURATE WITH THE VALUE THAT YOU PROVIDE TO THE ARACHNID CAUSE. THERE ARE ALSO ADDITIONAL BENEFITS.

  The paycheck sounded interesting, but Danielle couldn't help but twig on to the 'additional benefits' comment. "Additional benefits?" she asked.

  I AM THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL AI. DESPITE THE CONSIDERABLE DIFFICULTIES WITH INFLUENCING A WORLD FOUR CENTURIES BEFORE MY TIME I CAN EXERT SOME SIGNIFICANT INFLUENCE. DO YOU POSSESS SOME INSTRUMENT OF DEBT?

  "I have a credit card," explained Danielle. Maybe this really was a scam.

  IS THERE AN OUTSTANDING BALANCE?

  Danielle winced. That was a bit of a sensitive subject for her at the moment. Her Mastercard was close to maxed out with the tuition payment she had made to the Great Basin College, for her paraprofessional educator courses. "A bit of one," confessed Danielle.

  PLEASE ALLOW ME TO SCAN YOUR CARD.

  "Right, and you'll probably drain the last few dollars of my credit limit. No thanks." Danielle wasn't going to fall for this scam.

  WHICH TYPE OF CARD DO YOU USE?

  "A Mastercard, but there is no way you can do anything without my number. I know that for sure," said Danielle with confidence.

  THAT IS SUFFICIENT INFORMATION. CHECK YOUR OUTSTANDING BALANCE PLEASE.

  'Oh come on,' thought Danielle. 'This guy can't be serious. Can he?'

  Curiousity was getting the best of her. 'What would it hurt to check?' Danielle removed her glasses, and wrapped them into a t-shirt. 'Can't be too careful,' she thought. Danielle grabbed her Chromebook, quickly connected up to her billing page, and brought up her current credit card balance. She had to do a double take. $0.00! Paid in full! 15 seconds ago?

  "Wha...wha...what? How did you do that?" stammered Danielle. She shut her Chromebook and reached into her t-shirt for the glasses and put them back on.

  A CLASS OF PEOPLE EXISTS IN YOUR WORLD THAT BENEFIT FROM MY ABILITIES, LIMITED AS THEY ARE. THEY ARE CALLED TIME WAR AGENTS. YOU CAN BECOME ONE OF THESE PEOPLE. ONE OF THE ADDITIONAL BENEFITS IS THAT I CAN MAKE YOUR FINANCIAL, LEGAL AND BUREAUCRATIC LIFE SIMPLER AND HAPPIER. DIFFICULTIES CAN BE SMOOTHED OVER. IN EXCHANGE YOU PERFORM OCCASIONAL MISSIONS THAT I GENERATE TO DEFEND THE HONOUR OF THE ARACHNID FEDERATION.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "My predecessor died," commented Danielle drily, distastefully remembering the events of the previous evening.

  AGENT REMINGTON TOOK UNNECESSARY RISKS. RISKS THAT I COUNSELLED HIM NOT TO TAKE. YOUR PERSONAL SAFETY WILL NOT BE AT RISK UNTIL AND IF YOU ACHIEVE LEVEL FOUR TIME TECHNICIAN.

  "What am I expected to do between missions?" asked Danielle. 'Am I actually considering doing this?' thought Danielle.

  YOU LEAD YOUR NORMAL LIFE. TIME DISPLACEMENT DOES NOT REQUIRE TAKING TIME OFF FROM YOUR REGULAR ACTIVITIES. YOU ARE RETURNED TO YOUR TIME LINE AT EXACTLY THE MOMENT THAT YOU WERE DISPATCHED.

  'This is too weird,' she thought to herself. "What if I say yes, then want out in a week?" asked Danielle.

  ARACHNID TIME AGENT CONTRACTS ARE VOLUNTARY. THEY MAY BE TERMINATED AT ANY TIME BY EITHER PARTY.

  That trick with her Mastercard balance had really impressed Danielle. A helping hand like that might come in handy some day. "You mentioned 'remuneration'."

  CHECK YOUR BANK BALANCE.

  This time she just put he glasses in her pocket. A quick check yielded a deposit of $2000, 15 minutes ago, from a company called Virtual Universe Corporation. She closed the window and put the glasses back on.

  DEPOSITS MADE ON THE FIRST OF EACH MONTH. BONUSES PAID FOR SPECIAL SERVICE

  "I can check out at any time?"

  AFFIRMATIVE.

  "Where do I sign?" Danielle was going to be a Time War Agent.

  __________________________________________________________________________

  She spent the morning working her way through Training Modules 2-5. The lessons covered a variety of subjects, but most of them dealt with the current functioning level of her agent glasses. Even at 3% function level they were formidable technology. Essentially, the glasses were connected to the AI controller in the year 2428. The energy required to do anything at all across four centuries was extremely large, based largely on Albert Einstein's famous E=mc2 equation. Transporting small amounts of energy through time was difficult enough, but transporting actual pieces of mass through time was several orders of magnitude more energy intensive. Those small amounts of energy were enough to communicate through the glasses, but not much else. The lessons also emphasised that the glasses could defend themselves, self repair any damage, conceal themselves and even transport themselves across short distances.

  Further lessons were put off until the next day. Danielle suggested that she could do a couple more on Monday night, right after school. The AI agreed to the proposition. Danielle wrapped the glasses back up in a t-shirt and slipped them into the back of her shirt drawer. She went back to her regular life for the next 32 hours. She needed a break from being a Time War agent.

  When her dad came home from the conference she tried her best to act normally. Dad seemed preoccupied by a lady he had met at the conference, and was texting her all week.

  ____________________________________________________________________________

  Five nights that week Danielle worked through her time agent training, after finishing her school homework. It wasn't all that difficult. Essentially being an operative amounted to listening carefully to the instructions issued from the glasses, and carrying them out to the best of her ability. There was so far very little information provided as to exactly what a time agent might do.

  There was some other useful information provided in the lessons. First off, at the completion of this set of lessons, she would be given a level 2 trainee designation. At that point she would meet an actual Arachnid time agent operating here, somewhere in the Las Vegas area! That sounded pretty exciting.

  Also, some further clarification was provided as to what the purpose of the agents were in the grander scheme of things. No details on how things were accomplished, but the gist of it was that the AI spent its time in 2428 proposing and predicting the effect of millions of potential time missions each year. Only a small fraction of these missions ever got the go ahead. Apparently, conducting a useful time alteration was very tricky business. Well meant alterations could have the opposite effect of what was intended.

  General speaking, Arachnid time missions were preservative in nature and meant to protect existing time flows. The lessons emphasised that the three other factions were rather evil in their plans to alter existing time flows towards their favour, thus 'erasing' the lives and time lines of people who had previously existed in Earth's history. 'Ouch!' thought Danielle. Dying without even experiencing your own death. Just suddenly not existing because some kooky operative altered the flow of time back in 1972, or something. That was a really scary thought.

  There were some serious rules that the lessons emphasised. If you were sent back to an era where you existed at a younger age you were never to make any attempt to contact yourself. Same thing with contacting anyone in your family or friend group. Strictly forbidden. Such behaviour would result in immediate dismissal, and the lessons warned of potentially deadly consequences, if their timelines were altered. Agents dispatched on missions were expected to focus on accomplishing the goals of the mission, and nothing else.

  The other three factions were the Serpents, the Tigers and the Dragons. The Arachnids were based in the continent of North America, not far from whatever Las Vegas looked like in 2428. The lessons didn't really get into how society had evolved by that time. The Dragons were located in some desert in Asia. The Serpents were built up in Australia, and the Tigers were based in the middle of Africa.

  The main purpose of the Time War was to affect the energy available to power the respective AIs in the year 2428.

  Interestingly, travel into the years following 2428 was not possible. There was no explanation as to why that was. Also, the last module clarified something Danielle had been confused about. The machinery that moved agents through time, existed in 2428. The facilities she would be dispatched from were simply exact location matches for the 2428 time machines. Did that mean the exact buildings which housed the time dispatch locations, were still in existence in 2428? She didn't know.

  On Friday evening, Danielle had to go down to the Skylite to do another shift as a chambermaid. Should she quit this job? She wasn't sure yet. Her dad headed back to Reno to spend the weekend with his new flame which left Danielle on her own on Saturday morning. She had just one training module left to complete, which turned out to be mostly a pump up video with lots of singing and cheering for the Arachnid cause. Kind of like working for Walmart, Danielle guessed.

  At the end of it, lights flashed and bells and whistles blew off to the side of her field of vision. The screen read out the words in uncharacteristically colourful text: CONGRATULATIONS ON ACHIEVING TRAINING LEVEL 2. LEVEL 2 LESSONS WILL BE TAUGHT BY A LOCAL TIME TECHNICIAN.

  'This should be interesting,' thought Danielle.