Time Bubble Express to Future Imperfect.

       I dreamed that I was at an indoor beach with Sara Prim and several others who I don't know. The waves were about three feet and well formed. While we were body surfing, I discovered that I could stop time for everyone but myself and SP. I wanted to play a couple of pranks. Swap some bikini tops, untie some shoe laces, swap soda from one person to another, that sort of thing.
       SP told me I had to be responsible with my powers, use them to save people from danger, rebuild society.
       I asked her, "what society needs rebuilding?"
       "Pretty much, this one," she said as the ground bucked and the water drained out of the cave. I froze us all in time. Somehow I managed to wake up every few years, decades, or maybe centuries. I really was so new at this that I couldn't tell how long had passed between each cycle.
       One of the times I woke we were in a time bubble surrounded by the dark ocean depths, another in ice and finally knee deep water surrounded the bubble and I could see birds wheeling through the sky. Humongously large birds, with fingers on the leading edge of their wings, wings that were brightly colored reds and yellows, like parrots.
       I let the time bubble collapse and felt the power level drop to the point that I didn't think I could even put a bubble around one person. The water rushed in around us, warmer than the ocean water we'd been playing in, and fresh rather than salty.
       "What happened?"
       "Where are we?"
       "What the hell happened?"
       "Where's my car?"
       "Where's my towel?"
       My time bubble had really been pretty much around the people. I could tell from where we were that someone at some point had found us and dug us out of the cave and set us up on some sort of base. We weren't under water because of that elevated base. Fortunately the day was warm. I scouted around, trying to figure out which shore was closest. There were almost no waves, so I figured the water was pretty deep in some places. A couple of the stronger swimmers agreed to swim to what we agreed looked like a shore with trees or buildings along it. It was very far away.
       We swam for almost two hours. When we reached the shore we'd been taking turns floating while the other two swimmers towed. Although the water was warm, we were not sure how late in the day it was. The sun wasn't visible in the blanket of overcast. The light level had increased, so we assumed that it was morning. The trees were around rectangular areas of lower brush and smaller trees. I thought about the pattern a bit and realized we were looking at an old condo complex gone to ruin. The landscaping trees, being the oldest had grown large, and the condos had disintegrated much later, only allowing for shallower growth. Even the shallow growth was well over twenty feet high. We spread out and searched for something that we could make some sort of raft out of. There was nothing near the surface that was manmade. Finally we managed to find a bunch of fallen branches and small trees. It looked like something large had been rolling around on them. I managed to break apart some vines and we used them to tie everything together. It was starting to get darker, so we hurried out onto the lake, hoping we hadn't waited too long.
       Back ashore we investigated for quite some time, finding that there was a sort of crater centered on our former pedestal. The crater was about four miles across. We finally reached a place that hadn't been fully overgrown yet. It was a Home Depot style warehouse store.
       I soon found out why it was still somewhat preserved. SP was there with another small group of people. Again, no one I recognized. I managed to turn off her time field, then she released her charges. SP apologized, she'd tried to find some of my friends, but hadn't been able to. These people were from several decades after we'd been frozen.
       "I couldn't get through your time bubble, I didn't know you were that strong. I would have stayed with you."
       "We're back together now, and with twice as many hands we might have a better chance of surviving." I hadn't told the rest of my group, mostly young adults, but I'd seen lots of large tracks, and some of them had pretty big claws on them. There had been lots of deer and large rodents spotted on our trip and some huge insects, even a couple of cats had followed us for awhile, until we moved out of their territory or became too boring. I thought I'd heard dogs barking in the distance, coyote howls of some sort. I know I saw giraffes at one point.
       We started digging through the rubble of the Home depot, pulling out hand tools like hammers and sledges, saws, though most of them would need some sharpening. While we were doing this I realized that I must look like the Geico cave man compared to the rest of these clean shaven short haired youngsters. I hoped we could find some sharpening tools. I wasn't sure how to make them. It was a little bit disturbing how quickly the small group had pulled together and decided that SP and I were their leaders, just because we were older.
       Disturbing, because none of them had anything to suggest about what we should do next. None of them had taken the lead in trying to salvage materials to build shelter, make clothing, or even find food until someone mentioned that they were hungry.
       Thankfully, our ancestors had landscaped with a large number of fruit and nut trees. There was plenty of food available. I enjoyed watching the bikini clad women picking fruit for a bit before going back to scrounging for items we could use. I hoped we could find some sealed coveralls, I suspected that the night time might get a little bit colder than the day time.
       I found the nail aisle and we set about pulling some large buckets around and filling them with all sorts of galvanized nails and other connectors. The lumber stocks had rotted long ago, and the metal framing stock had been twisted and bent all out of shape by the collapse of the buildings at some point. I knew there was still plenty of raw materials for steel working if we could figure out how to make a fire hot enough.
       The ground was a little bit marshy, and when a group found the entrance to the cellar they were only able to move a few steps down before finding the place flooded. We decided that we had to head for higher ground and find a place that was already somewhat sheltered from the weather. I wanted to be close to someplace where we could see around us for a distance, in case there were other people to find, or dangers to be avoided.
       I found some rolls of plastic tarps. The rolls on top were pretty rotted, but as we dug deeper we found several that had been in sealed plastic wrappings that hadn't been breached. The tarps, though old were still flexible and water proof. I thought this was going to be important, because I's started to get the sense of rain in the air. SP agreed and we began to pull out enough of the bent metal beams to make a warped but servicable tent frame.
       SP wanted to know if she should bubble everyone up until daylight and let me wake her. I didn't think that was needed but that we should take turns staying awake, just in case.
       During the night a couple of large hoofed animals wandered into our makeshift camp. They were oxen of some sort, or buffalo. I could hear more of them out in the forest. The two young bulls sniffed at us and mooed then went back to their herd. A small pack of coyotes followed the herd. I bubbled us up until they passed. It was like they didn't recognize people any more. (Not that coyotes are afraid of us now.)
       In the early morning I heard a lion's roar. It was answered from across the distance by a higher pitched roar, then another. That could be a problem. The group agreed, wanting to try to find civilization, now! I agreed in principal. It had rained during the night, but the ground was so spongy it wasn't significantly wetter than the day before. We headed for the hills.
       "Keep an eye out for streams or rivers, people usually build where there is good flat land and water."
       We cut up one of the larger tarps to make poncho for everyone who was still in beachwear. We rolled up the other tarps around the makeshift tent frame and four of the men took turns carrying the huge mass in pairs as we headed for higher ground. We cached the nails and heavier hand tools with a steel beam with a tarp on top so we could find them later. "If it turns out we need them."
       "Somebody's got to be out there."
       The group was still having trouble believing they'd been hijacked through time. (Accidentally on my part, not so much on SP's part.) They had trouble believing, until we demonstrated for them. The first group were the only survivors of the first catastrophe, and the second group had heard stories of the time bubble frozen ones, but had never actually seen them. That was nearly 100 years different in time. None of that second groups network toys were connecting to anything but one another, there was no information they could find to indicate what had happened to their rebuilt world. I read the "Old American" language version of the legend of how the local lake had been formed when an enemy had dropped a tunneling hydrogen bomb on the time bubble in the center of the city. I didn't realize it, but to folks who can't see time, a time bubble is just a prismatic sheen in the shape of the items it encloses, a huge pearlesscent crystal ball.
       I couldn't really read the new American English very easily, there were a great many borrowed words and even some spelling differences that made it difficult. To our modern friends we were understandable, mostly, frequently we couldn't get what they were saying, there'd been many new words and phrases added to the language. We just sounded quaint, like a renaissance fair visit. They sounded like some sort of science fiction jive talk.
       I could tell the group had to be kept moving and working or would fall apart into massive depression. With lions and coyote packs wandering about, I didn't think we really had time for that. We came across a road, nearly perpendicular to our line of travel. We sent runners, SP with one group and I with the other, out a mile or so in each direction. We came back. SP's group had seen what they thought was a tower in the hills further along their route. My group had seen the road turn back into the forest and ruins we had just come through, though to be honest, the only traffic I could see on the road looked animal. Hoof prints and paw prints, there were a couple of potholes that had filled in deep enough to have fish living in them and animals using them as watering holes. I didn't think this was a maintained route, at least not by people. SP was of the same opinion about her route, but at least there was the promise of the tower, and whatever information or communication it might hole.
       "Did you have above ground wiring to deliver power?" I asked the modern group.
       "Yes, there were power towers everywhere, that's how these phones used to be powered and get their information. She showed me the declining power indicator. "I don't know how to charge it up if the tower isn't on." She shut the little display phone off. I noticed that her wallpaper was a high resolution photo of SP and I hugging.
       "We'll try static electricity when we put the tarp up tonight." I didn't think that would generate enough to charge the batteries, but it might keep it working a little while longer, and it would give them something to keep them occupied.