"How did that new job training go in Vegas?" asked Danielle's father. Adam Wilson was a long time salesman, and had worked for many companies. His latest job was as a sales consultant for Unlimited Gaming Machines Ltd. Dad sold slot machines.

  "Not bad. I am still in training, and I think that I might like it. It looks as if I will be on call, but only actually work 2 or 3 times a year. I went to a training session with an experienced agent on Saturday, and it seemed like a pretty good deal. John Teator was his name and he said that he would be available for advice in the future, if I needed any help. He and his wife have a nice place up by Sunset Park."

  "Wow!" replied Adam, "They must be doing all right. What exactly is this job?"

  "I will be doing temporary work as an agent of sorts. Piece work. A different assignment each time. Basically, the company needs someone to represent them from time to time in the Vegas region. Promotional work mostly," explained Danielle. One of the training lessons had suggested ways of explaining her time agent work to friends and family members, and Danielle was remembering some of the module's suggestions.

  "What's the name of the company? I will check it out," inquired her father.

  "Virtual Universe Corporation," explained Danielle. "They work out of New York City. AI employee replacement is their speciality."

  "So you will be in sales?" asked her dad, a hopeful tone in his voice.

  "Oh, no no, nothing like that. I don't even know what they are selling really. They just get me to check out jobs that are being done in our area. I am supposed to interview people and write reports about what their jobs are like, so they can find ones that might be replaced by AI." It was all straight from training module 3, but seemed to satisfy her dad.

  "Sounds all right, I guess," responded Adam with a bit of hesitation in his voice. "When do you start getting paid?'

  "Already got my first check. $2000!" said Danielle with some pride.

  "Really?' Adam Wilson was quite surprised by that information, thought for a moment and replied, "Guess I'm gonna have to start charging you rent, you're doing so well. But that can wait a few months so you can see if you like the job. What about chambermading at the Skylite? Are you going to keep doing that?"

  "Yes, the Virtual guys suggested that I stay in school and keep working my motel job. No problem there. The manager at the Skylite said that I could get a couple of days off once in a while, if I needed them." The whole explanation actually sounded fairly believable to Danielle, as she told the story to her dad. It skirted around a few facts, (Like the Global Time War!), but all in all it was mostly true."

  "I'm really proud of you Danielle! You're really growing up fast. Well done!"

  Dad was on board with the new job!

  ________________________________________________________________________________

  On Wednesday afternoon, Danielle returned home to her dad's house. He was still out, with no note or anything left to explain when he might return, which was pretty much the normal state around this place. Danielle went downstairs to her room and put on her glasses in order to begin Training Module 8.

  Modules 6 - 8 dealt with what was expected from the Time Technicians. Time Missions were often rather abstract concepts. Detailed, moment to moment decisions and behaviours were all left up to the agent. The glasses recorded everything and the Arachnid AI would review, and grade the performance of the operative upon return to their home timeline. About a week of preparation time was given to the agent, during which they were personally responsible for researching and preparing themselves for whichever historical environment they were being sent to. As a Time Technician Trainee, Danielle would only ever be sent into her local area. Apparently that meant just Las Vegas, since the only transit station in the entire state of Nevada was in Las Vegas. The module didn't mention exactly where in Las Vegas. That location would be revealed only when Danielle was required to know it. In fact everything seemed to work like that within the Arachnid Federation. Agents and operatives learned information and met each other only if it was required to accomplish the goals of the organisation. A "need to know" system, reminiscent of how CIA cells or organised crime syndicates worked, if Danielle was understanding things correctly.

  'Oh well,' thought Danielle. 'I guess that is just how the adult world works'.

  At the completion of the module a message popped up at the bottom of her field of vision: CONGRATULATIONS ON ACHIEVING TRAINING LEVEL 3 - TEN DAYS FROM NOW YOU WILL BE DISPATCHED ON YOUR FIRST TIME MISSION -THIS MISSION WILL BE FOLLOWED CLOSELY TO PROVIDE INFORMATION FOR YOUR EVALUATION - ON SATURDAY AT 1:00PM YOU WILL BE DISPATCHED TO 1994 FROM THE LAS VEGAS TIME TRANSPORTER STATION. SUITABLE CURRENCY AND IDENTIFICATION CARDS WILL BE PROVIDED ALONG WITH A JOURNALISTS RECORDING DEVICE AND PERIOD CLOTHING. YOU WILL PRESENT YOURSELF AS A JOURNALIST COVERING THE MISS NEVADA USA PAGEANT. THE FOLLOWING DAY YOU WILL ATTEMPT TO TRAVEL TO PAHRUMP WITH THE WINNER OF THE PAGEANT AND INTERVIEW THE RADIO BROADCASTER KNOWN AS ART BELL. LATER THAT SAME DAY YOU WILL RETURN TO LAS VEGAS AND BE RETRIEVED TO THE 2026 TIMELINE. USE THE NEXT TEN DAYS TO PREPARE FOR YOUR JOURNEY. YOUR PERFORMANCE WILL BE GRADED

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  "What!" screamed Danielle. "What are you talking about! I'm not ready to travel back in time!"

  WE DEEM YOU READY TO EXPERIENCE YOUR FIRST FIELD DEPLOYMENT.

  "Alone?" asked Danielle.

  AFFIRMATIVE.

  "And if I say no?" asked Danielle.

  THEN YOUR CONTRACT WILL BE TERMINATED.

  Danielle knew that it would probably come down to this. But she never imagined that she would be expected to travel back in time so soon! The proposed mission was to take part in places that she was familiar with, which made the idea somewhat more believable. Despite this, she struggled with providing the AI a decision.

  "How about I do some research and get back to you with my answer?" suggested Danielle.

  YOUR PROPOSAL IS ACCEPTED.

  __________________________________________________________________________________

  Danielle spent what free time she had the next two days doing research on her potential mission. The hardest part, was the difficulty in stretching her mind around the concept of being transported more than three decades into the past. She knew a few things about journalism because she had already considered the profession for herself. She even thought about studying to be a journalist at college before choosing to be a paraprofessional instead.

  Danielle knew nothing about Miss Nevada 1994, but she did know the name, Art Bell. Art Bell was Pahrump's most famous former resident, although he had passed away in 2018. Art had produced and hosted a famous late night radio program in the nineties and 2000s, featuring endless fantastical stories of UFOs, mythical beings and conspiracy theories. She had even heard some of the broadcasts as a young girl but did not remember much about them. Danielle's Uncle Lou was a huge fan of the Art Bell programs and had spoken with the man on several occasions. Danielle would definitely have to pay a visit to her uncle before next Saturday.

  As for Miss Nevada USA 1994, that would have to be Linda Moulton Howe. Linda Howe would later go on to be a major contributor to the Art Bell radio programs but historically, the two did not meet until 1997. If Danielle was successful in her mission, the two would meet at least 24 months earlier than happened in the current Earth timeline. Or at least that is what she could glean from available sources on her Google searches.

  _______________________________________________________________________________

  No return visit to Reno was on the agenda for Danielle's dad for the weekend. Perhaps the new romance had cooled off for a bit. Danielle didn't usually ask those sorts of questions. He was there, in the kitchen, Saturday morning and preparing his breakfast when Danielle woke up.

  "Are you training for your new job again today Danny?" asked her dad.

  "No, not really, just doing a bit of research on my own. I do have to go to Las Vegas next weekend though," responded Danielle.

  "I can probably give you a lift, if you need one. I have some things I could do in town that day," offered Mr. Wilson.

  "Sure, dad. That's really nice of you and would be a big help. What's Uncle Lou up to these days? I haven't seen him in months, and I was thinking that I wanted to talk to him about a few things. Is he around?" asked Danielle.

  "Oh ya, you know Uncle Lou. Goin to the odd chem trails event, but other than that he keeps close to home. We could go visit him this morning if you want. He is always glad to see you. Not a lot of young women in his life these days."

  "Let's do it!"responded Danielle.

  "I'll give him a call."

  Plans were made and Danielle and her father arrived at her Uncle Lou's place at 1:00. His place was a trailer up on a ten acre lot of desert. It looked about the same as always, kind of dishevelled. He really could use a woman around to organise things a bit. Despite being a confirmed bachelor, Uncle Lou always seemed engaged with life and today was no exception.

  "Danielle! Lovely as always, come in, come in. You're welcome too, Adam," added Uncle Lou with a grin.

  After some small talk Danielle got to the heart of the reason for her visit. "Uncle Lou, what can you tell me about Art Bell in the nineties?"

  "Oh how I miss that guy! Art Bell was the best, the very best, and the nineties was when he made his name. Six nights a week was Coast to Coast, and six hours every night! 10:00pm until 4:00am. Live radio! He never even had a call screener, and he produced the whole show himself! Slept during the day, so we could listen to him at night! When the show got really hot, maybe there was a UFO flap or something like that, he kept things going for an extra hour! Right into the seventh dimension!" Uncle Lou was clearly in his element on the subject of Art Bell.

  "I understand that he broadcast the show right from here, in Pahrump. Where was his studio?" asked Danielle.

  "Right up the hill there, on Red Rock road. He started broadcasting from the bus, but they built him a cinder block studio once the show really took off! We could head up there and take a look, if you like. Heather doesn't mind if I cruise by once in a while," suggested Uncle Lou.

  "Why not?" replied Adam Wilson. "What do you think, Danny? Sounds like a good idea to me. I've never seen the place for myself, either. I'll drive."

  Along the way Danielle thought to ask him about what the area looked like in the 1990s. Apparently the road access had stayed the same since 1985 or so, which was probably a good thing. When they arrived at the gate outside the place, Uncle Lou cautioned, "We shouldn't stay long. The family gets enough looky lous. There's the ham radio antenna! One of the best in the valley. There's the studio. The Wanderlodge bus was taken away years ago, of course. Back in the nineties the bus sat right below where they built the studio, and that's where he did the show."

  ____________________________________________________________________________________

  On the drive back to Uncle Lou's house Danielle tried to map out in her mind how to get around the neighbourhood. It seemed likely that this was going to have to be the location where she introduced Linda to Art.

  Danielle and her father headed home after the visit, and she spent all of her free time surfing the internet, and stocking her mind with the detailed differences between present day Pahrump and Las Vegas, and what they looked like in 1994. Her training modules stressed the independent nature of a time agent and encouraged trainees to develop their own strategies and tactics to complete the mission goals.

  As the following Saturday neared, she began to get really nervous. 'Am I actually going to go through with this?' she wondered to herself. On Friday morning, Danielle woke up and donned her glasses.

  "I don't suppose that there will be a bonus payment if I go through with this mission," asked Danielle out loud.

  OF COURSE! TIME MISSIONS ALWAYS GENERATE A BONUS PAYMENT DEPENDING ON THE LEVEL OF SUCCESS ACHIEVED.

  "What sort of bonus are we talking about here, Mr. AI Glasses?" asked Danielle.

  AT LEAST $2000. MORE IS POSSIBLE DEPENDING ON YOUR PERFORMANCE

  It didn't take long for Danielle to decide.

  "Sign me up!" My dad will give me a ride to Vegas on Saturday.