[ WP ] Just like in manga , when somebody out of hearing says a person 's name they sneeze . You 've been sneezing on the hour , every hour , for two days now . People on the subway stare at you but look away quickly when you look back .

I watched the clock in irritated anticipation. *Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two*, `` achooo!'' 
 
 This was getting a little ridiculous. I knew I was n't sick after Larry at the firm sent me up to the company doctor for a checkup. We did n't work with diseases anymore after the outbreak of 2063. Diseases were passé in the industry, micro-tanks were the thing of the day. 
 
 `` Gordon, the boss wants to see you about the Shimwell Project,'' said Larry as he passed, shaking his head. 
 
 I was getting pretty tired of Shimwell too. Thirty billion kroner and we still did n't have a prototype able to stand up to Markham Industry's Silent Waspe. Brits were at it again, sticking it to us Norwegians and then... I stopped myself from descending into depression. 
 
 I made my way to Doctor Losnedahl's office passed the glittering laboratories, the pleasantly scented vats, and the dormant mecha on its massive charging stand in the atrium. The Doctor was a patient woman, but she was n't going to give my project much more rope. I had to show results, and soon. My professional life depended upon it. 
 
 `` Good Morning, Gordon,'' said the petite woman behind her mutable desk. Right now the desk was pretending to be ancient oak, but it could be anything the doctor desired, given the proper command. I know, because I designed it. `` Last night's run was disappointing, do n't you think?'' 
 
 `` It did get further, doctor,'' I said in defense of my pet. `` but it ca n't seem to get passed the last obstacle, no matter what we do to the configuration settings.'' 
 
 She tapped the desk and a holoscreen transmitter rose out of the smooth oak surface to project Prototype 16 for both of us to see. It blinked back as if we were watching the real thing on camera, which I knew could n't be possible since Prototype 16 was now in tiny little pieces out on the test range. 
 
 `` There just does n't seem to be enough time to deploy the nano missiles before the enemy cycles their EM repulsion shields,'' I said, knowing it sounded like I was trying too hard to make excuses for my failure to perform. However, instead of scolding me, or worse, showing sympathy, she just gave me a curious look. 
 
 `` Hovmester, lock down the room and show us the schematics for the Tid Båre Mark III,'' she said to the computer. Protosteel blinds rolled down over the windows that separated her office from the atrium. Another plate sealed the door I came in on. A slight buzzing told me the hallway outside was now locked down by a security drone. 
 
 `` You said Prototype 16 did n't have enough time,'' she said, reverting to her heavy northland accent, something she only did when under stress. `` This device should help you get more time. We must get the contract or both of our heads will be on the block. The board is already growing impatient. I'll move your project to laboratory 7 in the third basement. Do n't disappoint me.'' 
 
 I looked at the glowing machine before me, and read the specifications with alarm. But I saw immediately that it would give me more than enough time to puncture the inner defensive shields of the test device with ease. But the dangers were clear too. I could see now why the doctor was so anxious. 
 
 `` You have another year,'' she said with a sigh as she dismissed the holoprojector and released the security lockdown. `` That's all I can give you.'' 
 
 *one more year* 
 
 -- - 
 
 We were out on the range waiting for the fog to lift that fall morning, Doctor Losnedahl and I. The Prototype 17 sat in its armoured cradle waiting for the signal. Its titansteel plates hummed with sonic shielding and the resonant vibrations made my tablet fall off the console and clatter to the floor. I did n't bend down to retrieve it. 
 
 The clock chimed and then... 
 
 `` Go!'' said the evaluator over the range loudspeaker. 
 
 Like a metal feline, the shimmering titansteel ball unrolled it's legs and stretched. Then it pounced. 
 
 We both jumped back from the windows as Prototype 17 landed right in front of our bunker and braced its rear claws against the concrete. All four turbines were spinning up as the machine looked to the left and right in anticipation of incoming preemptive attacks. Then the first nano missiles swarmed toward us like angry hornets from the test target a mile from our bunker. The target showed dim and hazy under its cloak of shields and active particle meshes. I almost did n't want to watch as Prototype 17 released its grip and began its attack. 
 
 It was fast. It crossed the gap in a flash, but instead of aiming straight for the target like it had done every other time. It climbed into the sky on a plume of superheated exhaust, upwards and outwards. 
 
 `` It's not running away is it?'' asked the doctor with her hand on the emergency destruct button. 
 
 `` No, I think it's going for a kinetic attack. In all of our simulations a direct assault failed because we never had enough time to engage weapons, as well as active camouflage. There's nothing in the rules that says we ca n't go to maximum altitude before delivering an attack. Prototype 17 knows what it needs to do, and since it is fully autonomous, It'll do what it has to do to neutralize the target.'' 
 
 She took her hand off the button, and waited for the telltale shimmer of the machine under full active camouflage. They did n't have to wait long. A silver arrow, plummeting from the stratosphere, punched downwards and then a writhing sphere of wrongness burst outward from a point just above the inner shields. It hurt tremendously, and before I blacked out, I felt Doctor Candice Losnedahl's hand crush mine as she cried out my name. 
 
 -- - 
 
 I woke up first, after a staccato nightmare where we waited for the test and then the chime of the clock, the ascent, the descent, the attack, and pain with my name being screamed, over and over and over... I struggled to my feet and looked outside the bunker. 
 
 The target was gone, and Prototype 17 had already returned to its charging station, armor scarred but intact. Molten titansteel dripped from its shielding but all of my telemetry showed green across the board. Then I saw the doctor. She lay against the wall and looked wrong. One half of her body was delicate and smooth as I remembered, for we had grown close in our need for success, as well as our other needs. I knew every curve of her, and knew her to be tender and gentle despite her position in the world's largest military research company. Her other half was shrivelled as if she'd aged a hundred years. She was dead. 
 
 `` *Tid Båre Mark III*'' I said to myself. The potent Time Stretcher had indeed stretched time, but had stretched it too far, and for poor Candice, not far enough.
