Ttb Libby Turner [better] -

“I’m here for the Unspeakable Stock,” Libby said, showing her TTB badge. “You’ll relinquish it. Now.”

“Yes, ma’am. And they’re calling for delivery. Today. At 3:14 PM Eastern Reconstructed Time.” She jumped.

Juniper’s tail wagged nervously. “That’s the strange part. It’s not a where . It’s a when . The purchase order was signed from the Library of Alexandria, the night it burned. 48 BCE.” ttb libby turner

Today’s problem was the Unspeakable Stock.

On the other side was a library.

“I’m the one who buys back the future. One share at a time.”

Libby’s console, a beautiful crescent of smoked crystal and forbidden math, painted the scenario in blood-red light. The purchase had originated from Timeline 734-Gamma, a quiet branch where Rome never fell and humanity got to steam engines by 200 BCE. Normally, a lovely place. But now, a ghost buyer had used a shell corporation registered in the Cretaceous Period to acquire one share of “Aethelred’s Despair.” “I’m here for the Unspeakable Stock,” Libby said,

Libby stood up. Her coat was long, grey, and lined with Faraday mesh. She strapped on her TTB-issue regulator—a bulky wristwatch that could freeze a local timeline for 4.7 seconds, which in her line of work was an eternity.