Stopping Time

Samloyal23 · Dec 14, 2017

A recent addition to my story featuring the idea of damage to space/time...

Part XVIV, Mrs. Blaustein
A fastidious housekeeper, Mrs. Blaustein normally kept strict kosher, but she had one weakness, a cinnamon bun she could only get at the mall. It was a guilty pleasure, especially since it did not fulfill the standards of kashrut she had grown up with as an Orthodox Jew. The aroma though, was too powerful for her to resist. Her rabbi would be terse with her if he knew where she was buying it, even though technically it was not treyf, merely not from a properly certified kosher restaurant. She had succumbed once to the sweet smell and now was addicted. Carefully looking around to make sure no one she knew saw her do it, she purchased the delectable dessert along with a cup of coffee and started to look for a place to sit in the food court.
Then a curious thing happened. Everything around her went dead silent. As she looked around, everyone was frozen in place, silent, immobile. Disturbed, frightened, Mrs. Blaustein checked herself for anything out of place, but she was dressed modestly and there was no reason for her appearance to startle anyone. She took a gingerly step forward. Everything returned to normal, time flowed as usual. The noise and activity of the mall returned to normal. Curious, she stepped back. Everything froze. She looked around and realized she had discovered something that should be impossible. “Oy gevalt!” she squealed and quickly took a seat. No one seemed to have noticed what had happened, everything looked normal. She gingerly took a few small bites of her cinnamon bun but thought about what had just happened to her and threw her cinnamon bun away, pledging to be better than ever at keeping kosher...

Olgar Shiverstone · Dec 17, 2017

Samloyal23 said:
I remember The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Everything. That was a great movie, and I think there was a sequel...

The prequel was The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Dynamite; the sequel was The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Everything.

Good in a Steven J Cannell '70s-style way.

Scott DeWar · Dec 17, 2017

I realize there has been a lot said here and I may be repeating shat someone else had posted, here are my thoughts:

1. time does not truly stop, but rather he slips through a fracture in space time and into the future where he has a bubble of protection until he shut off the device where time catches up to him and wherever/whenever he is.

1a. this fracture idea may have negative repercussions if his device is not used with extreme caution.

2. The bubble is pretty close and that is why he can only bring small things, but not a car.

3. when he is, well for the lack of any other term, raping a young woman, he might be injecting her with ketamine or something to immobilize her.

Samloyal23 · Dec 20, 2017

Scott DeWar said:
I realize there has been a lot said here and I may be repeating shat someone else had posted, here are my thoughts:

1. time does not truly stop, but rather he slips through a fracture in space time and into the future where he has a bubble of protection until he shut off the device where time catches up to him and wherever/whenever he is.

1a. this fracture idea may have negative repercussions if his device is not used with extreme caution.

2. The bubble is pretty close and that is why he can only bring small things, but not a car.

3. when he is, well for the lack of any other term, raping a young woman, he might be injecting her with ketamine or something to immobilize her.

Not a mechanical device, more like a modified neural pathway in his brain that generates a field around him that shifts the rate at which he moves through time. I see his limitations being related to the amount of power he can generate, if he could find a compatible source of power it would allow him to expand his bubble. People may think he is drugging the girls, one character I have is a reporter who is investigating a string of pregnancies among teenage girls and she is convinced he is drugging the girls, but he is just doing his deeds so quickly, in mere nanoseconds, that it is impossible for human perception to be aware that anything has happened.

Scott DeWar · Dec 20, 2017

Samloyal23 said:
Not a mechanical device, more like a modified neural pathway in his brain that generates a field around him that shifts the rate at which he moves through time. I see his limitations being related to the amount of power he can generate, if he could find a compatible source of power it would allow him to expand his bubble. People may think he is drugging the girls, one character I have is a reporter who is investigating a string of pregnancies among teenage girls and she is convinced he is drugging the girls, but he is just doing his deeds so quickly, in mere nanoseconds, that it is impossible for human perception to be aware that anything has happened.

hmm, this is slightly different then what I was thinking. I will return with more thought, I am sure.

thinking: if it runs off of his neural energy, it must run on millivolts and micro amps. Maybe a special sterile, non toxic and expensive battery with limited duration/ available power that requires an invasive procedure to install and change by a (traceable) small set of doctors.

Samloyal23 · Jan 3, 2018

Well, it is essentially like a psychic power, not neural electricity, psionic force. It is a mutant power, like that used by Hiro Nakamura.

Samloyal23 · Aug 31, 2018

So a little update, the villain has impregnated too many young girls, his DNA has been found. He will soon be identified as the molester he is and have the police after him. Of course his power lets him evade the law, but that is where the superheroes come in...

Maxperson · Aug 31, 2018

Samloyal23 said:
So I am writing a story in which the villain has somehow gained the power of stopping time, a la Hiro Nakamura. He is power mad, he takes whatever he wants, even if it is a young girl in the middle of the mall. What are some sneaky applications of his power? How do the good guys stop someone who can stop time? All suggestions welcome. Also, what are the ethics of using a power like this? Discuss freely...

Have this be the true cause for all of the missing socks! Muahahahahaha!

Imaculata · Aug 31, 2018

It seems to me that the way to stop a villain like this, is to predict where he'll strike next. Or better yet, to bait him into a trap. A villain with this sort of power is likely to become overconfident and sloppy over time. Plus he might be caught on camera before using his power. It should be easy for the heroes to check the cameras of places where he has struck, and find the same person over and over again mere moments before the crime.

Janx · Aug 31, 2018

Just found this and refreshed my memory.

Side tip, writer to writer: editors don't want rape stories these days and will trashcan a sub that has it.

You might be writing this for yourself, to self pub or something where that doesn't matter.

But, it's something to keep in mind.

it's clever that all that DNA spreading is what gets him detected. However, the nature of that particular crime is a red-flag topic for editors and probably readers