It Came From The Light

"Looks good, I think," Jamie commented as he flipped through the pages and began to tap it into the computer.
Phil arrived again, stopping just short of running Ransom down, and jumped off from his makeshift skateboard. He and Ransom lifted the device onto the skateboard and set about welding it in place.
After a few more minutes of work, the Temporal Analyser was finished.
"Well, well done gentlemen," said Ransom admiring the rickety, dangerously unsafe device they had created.
"Now all we have to do is fine one the micro-time gates and we can trace the origin."

======================

While Brett was in the kitchen with his holographic partner Penny, Evelina was in the Refractory drinking coffee and reading up on her Engineering books. Since she was not a tech or an egghead she figured she would stay out of the way while the others were dealing with the new alien. Other than a passing visit from Phil and Jamie she really hadn't heard from the others. Of course it did make her feel better when Jamie was glad to hear she was taking up the JMC Engineering Program. After they left she was determined to get a few lessons down in the first day so she could talk shop with Jamie later. She figured the more she read up on the easier it would be to understand what he was talking about.

As she sipped her delicious Hazelnut coffee that was made by Brett she felt relaxed and energetic as her day was headed in the right direction. As she read her texts and worked out some math formulas she was feeling like nothing could ruin her day. However unknown to her a nearby light was glowing behind her. Suddenly a mechanical arm slowly reached out towards her head. As Evelina was oblivious to the danger behind her she happily sipped her coffee in blissful ignorance. The mechanical arm reached closer and closer to her long black silky dreadlocks with each passing moment.

However just as the arm was close enough to reach her hair Brett and Penny came out with a skillet full of breakfast fajitas in one hand and a few plates in the other. Brett was working on his Mexican food recipes and was hoping to have a taste test with Evelina since she was available and close by. As the two cooks approached Evelina they saw the arm reaching out to her and out of instinct Brett flipped the fajitas onto the empty plate and then proceeded to crack the elbow of the arm with the side of the skillet. The shock scared both Evelina and the arm at the same time as they both screamed in unison. Evelina quickly backed away by Brett as the arm shook in pain.

Evelina quickly realized she didn't have any weapons on her as she patted herself down and said, "Holly tell the others wuts going on."

Holly answered, "Huh? Wut do ya mean love?"

Suddenly the light got brighter and began to flex and stretch as the rest of the armored humanoid struggled to get through it. Brett, Penny and Evelina slowly backed away as Brett handed the plate of fajitas to Evelina to hold while he adjusted his skillet as a weapon. The three of them tried to get Holly to listen to them as they all talked at once trying to describe what they were seeing. Of course Holly was as confused as ever and began telling them a story of a similar incident.

Suddenly the armored figure managed to get its torso through the light as he held out its pulse pistol and began shooting in the direction of Brett, Penny and Evelina. The first shot went right through Penny's face as it passed right through her. This was the moment all three of them screamed like school girls and ran off in the same direction. The armored humanoid was stuck as it struggled to get the rest of its body through the light.

TAG (Can Holly make out what is going on? Do the nerds pick up on the energy readings or the screaming? Will Brett's fajitas taste good on the run?)