“So what do I do with my hat?”
“Eh, just put it on top of your hair. Carefully.”
Once again Morgan obeyed, cautiously setting the ball-cap atop his sphere-o-hair.
Moments later the entire band was standing at the back of the cave staring at a wall of growing blue crystals.
“Grab two of 'em, Vox,” Robert said, kneeling down beside the nearest crystals.
“Are you sure, Rob?” Vox asked, turning his eyes to the traveler. “That's a lot of power, man. And remember what happened last time. I don’t want to spend another year…”
“Nah, man,” Robert interrupted, shaking his head. “The crystals weren't the problem. I never should have trusted those guys. They were way out of their depth. And anyway, I spent another year reworking that box. I think it was one of those two years I wasn’t picking Cleo up with…”
“You don’t remember?”
“Eh…” the traveler replied rotating his hand back and forth. “It gets a little fuzzy. But logic dictates that I had to have improved it after the first one failed.”
“Alright, Rob,” Vox sighed. “You're the boss, man.”
Vox slipped on a heavy looking white glove and pulled a pair of pliers from his belt. Quickly he reached out and snapped off one of the crystals. As he did so a blue electric arch shot between the broken crystal and the face it had been taken from. A moment later the second crystal had been collected and the pair of them placed in a small metal box.
“That's it!” Robert said, with a wide smile. “Piece of cake! Let's go.”
“That wasn't so bad,” Morgan replied as the party started its journey back to the ship.
“I said it wouldn't be,” the traveler pointed out.
“Well honestly, I was a little bit worried,” the young man admitted. “I didn't like the phrase crawling with Kalasks I guess.”
“I understand,” Robert replied as the pair stepped back outside the cave mouth. “But it's like I said, the planet's not really crawling with them. If I had to guess I would say that the odds of us actually running into a Kalask are about one to...”
“Rob!” Cleo screamed.
“One,” the traveler continued, following the green maiden's pointing finger to the ridge above them. “Well... At least it's a small one...”
Gazing down at the party was a creature that very much matched the description Doc had given. It was pure white, with a body that appeared very much like a large snake, perhaps twenty feet in length, it had ten pairs of legs, and its mouth was huge, open, and filled with rows of razor sharp teeth.
Instantly the well trained band leapt into action. Robert unleashed roughly nine-hundred rounds a minute at the creature, hot brass flying from his P90. Vox followed suit with the thirty cal, while Doc jumped into the air, taking to the sky, while at the same time drawing his revolvers. Cleo took careful aim with her crossbow firing at the creature as it rushed down the valley toward them. Her bolt exploded when it struck the ground, knocking the creature to the side and blowing a huge, smoking hole in the earth. The monster then ran momentarily back into the woods as Cleo flew to Morgan's side.
“Cock this,” she cried, throwing the crossbow to him. “I'm not strong enough!”
“Then how did you cock it in the first place?” he screamed.
“I didn't,” she yelled. “Vox did it before we left!”
“Can't he do it now?!?!”
“He's busy!”
“Right!” he replied, grabbing the string in both hands and pulling back as hard as he could.
The creature shot out of the undergrowth heading straight for the traveler as Doc rained down sixty caliber slugs on it from above. Vox did his best to cut the monster's feet out from under it, but only managed to shatter four of its legs along one side. Robert emptied his magazine into the beast as it got nearer and nearer.
“Not like that you idiot!” Cleo screamed. “Use the winch!”
“Right!” he replied, staring down at the weapon. “The winch...”
“That handle thing you moron!”
With one hand the traveler pulled his pistol while he grabbed a nearby branch with the other. He jerked himself up into the tree as he fired shot after shot into the monster's face. The creature reared up to traveler's height preparing to strike as Robert squeezed off his last round. At that moment Doc fell from the sky like a thunderbolt. He grabbed the beast by the throat with one of his massive hands, one of his revolvers gripped in the other. The monster threw him to the ground, raking him with its terrible talons. After a little more than a second one more shot rang out. Doc sent a slug through the creature's brain. Its massive corpse instantly collapsed on top of him.
“Got it!” Morgan cried triumphantly, handing the crossbow to Cleo.
“Thanks...” she said, shaking her head. “Just in time...”
“Are you alright, Doc?” Robert cried, leaping down from the tree. “Did it get you?”
“It did get me,” Doc chuckled, crawling from under the beast. “But not badly.”
The monster had actually manage to tear its way through Doc's armor. He was bleeding profusely down one side.
“Hey, Doc McStuffins,” Robert yelled, gazing at Morgan. “Get those supplies up here.”
“Are you psychic?” the young man asked, as soon as he reached them.
“Not that I'm aware of,” the traveler said, opening the bag and handing it to Doc. “Why?”
“Why did you call me Doc McStuffins?”
“I don't know,” the traveler replied, shaking his head. “It just seemed to fit somehow.”
“Right...” Morgan said slowly. “Anyway, that crossbow is a conventional weapon?”
“Well,” Robert replied, rocking his head from side to side, “I guess I should have said semi-conventional.”
In less than five minutes they were once again on their way to the ship. Fortunately, they didn't encounter any more Kalasks along the way. As it turned out Morgan didn't need clean underwear. But it had been a close thing... One thing taken with another he was glad to have drawers full at his disposal should he need them.
“Piece of cake,” Robert smiled, dropping into his seat on the bridge.
“I'm not sure that's how I'd put it, Rob,” Doc pointed out, gazing down at his ruined and blood-stained cloth-armor.
“Well... Piece of ultra-hot barbeque chicken then. The main thing is that we're all here and mainly uninjured. I'm sure you'll have yourself fixed up in no time, Doc.”
“Yes,” he replied, settling down into seat. “And I'll take care of that in a minute. But I think I'll take a breather before I do.”
“Alright, Rob,” Vox said. “We got the crystals. Now what?”
“Well,” he replied rubbing his chin as he spoke. “I want to recalibrate the magnetic bubble.”
“That's a good idea,” Vox nodded.
“And I guess you and Cleo should go ahead and get to work,” he continued. “I've got everything you need here already. Including complete schematics of Marcus Delmont's ship.”
“Perfect,” Cleo smiled. “And while we're working on that Morgan can hit the gym.”
“You have a gym?” the young man asked.
“We do,” she nodded. “And you need to spend some time in it. If I had been able to get a second shot off Doc wouldn't have gotten injured.”
“That wasn't a matter of strength!” he pointed out. “I just didn't know how it worked.”
“Hmmm,” she said, gazing at Morgan, her head tilted to the side.
The young man bit his lip until he almost broke the skin. Cleo used the winch to carefully uncock the crossbow before handing it to Vox.
“Could you cock that please?”
Vox grabbed the crossbow in one hand and the string in the other. He then simply pulled it back and cocked it.
“I don't know if it's even possible for me to get that strong!” the young man exclaimed.
“It is, Morgan,” Doc replied. “But we don't hav
e to make that our immediate aim.”
“What should our immediate aim be then?” Morgan asked. “Buff?”
“Oh, I don't think I'd aim for that,” Cleo replied, shaking her head. “Not right at the start. Shoot for something simpler.”
“Like what?” the young man asked.
“I don't know...” she mused. “Like less pudgy maybe?”
“Oh very nice,” he nodded. “While you're at it, why don't you give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice on it?”
“What?” she asked.
“It's a quote,” he replied. “Rob ain't the only one that can do that crap you know...”
“Either way,” Robert said. “That's the plan: I'll work on the bubble, Vox and Cleo will work on the device, Doc and Morgan will work on depudgifying Morgan. Any questions?”
“What's depudgifying?” Morgan asked sarcastically.
“Don't worry,” the traveler grinned. “Doc'll show ya!”
Chapter 5: To Kill A Time Machine
“Can I come in?” Morgan asked, standing just outside the door.
“Sure,” the traveler replied, not lifting his gaze from the panel he was staring at.
“I won't pop the bubble or anything will I?”
“Nope.”
“I've got lunch with me. Can I bring it in?”
“Yep.”
“I've got a fork.”
“Is it plastic?” the traveler asked, glancing up at the young man.
“Yeah.”
“Come on in.”
Morgan instantly obeyed and stepped across the floor taking a seat at one of the tables in the magnetic bubble chamber. He opened his MRE and stared at it with a certain amount of disdain as it heated up.
“I'm getting sick of these MREs already,” he sighed.
“Really?” the traveler asked. “I like 'em. And you've only been eating them for like three days.”
“Yeah,” Morgan nodded. “But I eat all the time now.”
“Hardly surprising,” Robert observed. “Doc's got you burning billions of calories. And even with the none-stop eating you're looking less pudgy already.”
“Thanks...” the young man said, using his fork to toy with his food. “Why do we only have three different meals?”
“They're my favorites.”
“Well what about everyone else?”
“They don't care.”
“Well I do!” Morgan replied, shaking his head. “Are you sure there aren’t any replicators on board?”
“Why? You want an earl grey hot?”
“I don’t know,” the young man sighed. “I never had one. What are they like?”
“No…” the traveler said, shaking his own head, “we don’t have any replicators.”
“Do replicators even exist?”
“Not like that.”
“Then how do they exist?”
“In a way I’m not going to explain about right now,” Robert chuckled.
“Got ya...” Morgan sighed.
“What’s wrong, man?” the traveler asked, having taken note of the sullen tone in the young man's voice.
“I’m just suffering through the agonies of unrequited love…” he sighed again.
“Unrequited?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “That’s what Doc said it was anyway. I think that’s a real word. Either way, it’s supposed to be good for my soul. But I’ll tell ya, it ain’t no good for my self-confidence.”
“Yeah,” Robert relied, gazing at his companion “I know what you mean.”
“You do?”
“Nah, man,” he replied shaking his head. “No idea…”
“I figured that,” he said with yet another sigh. “I'm just a loser, man.”
“No,” Robert said, locking his eyes on those of his friend. “No, you're not. You're an essential member of perhaps the most elite team ever assembled in history. Try to remember that.”
“So, Jester is an essential role?”
“It is in this team,” the traveler laughed. “And anyways man, Cleo's not the only bird in the universe. She's just not for you. I told you that early on. I was trying to spare you some pain.”
“I know, man,” he nodded. “And I tried to resist her.”
“You did?”
“Nah... Not even a little. In fact, I think I worked at trying to fall even more in love with her just to prove you wrong.”
“I thought as much,” Robert chuckled. “So, how goes the training?”
“Good I guess,” Morgan replied. “But don't we have some kind of machine that could make me buff in like minutes?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Then why can't I just use that?”
“Because, Morgan,” the traveler explained, “we don't have a machine that can give you character.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, we can't just program you to keep pushing even when it hurts or keep at it even when you fail, man. The regenerator could give you the body of Arnold Schwarzenegger, but it couldn't give you the resolve that it took him to get that body. You follow me?”
“I guess so,” he said with another sigh, “but the future's not all I thought it might be.”
“What about the green women?”
“You're right! In fact, the future is way better than I thought it would be. Especially my own personal future! I'm just a little down about the whole Cleo thing...”
“That's understandable,” the traveler said, pulling the not-a-light-saber flashlight from his pocket.
He laid it on the table before opening the case that held one of the Dorvient power crystals. After slipping on a single heavy white glove he lifted one of the crystals from the case, opened the flashlight, and snapped it into place.”
“You’re putting a battery like that in a flashlight?” Morgan asked.
“No,” the traveler replied. “I’m hiding a battery like this in a flashlight.”
“What's the point of that?”
“Well, I don't want to lose our only spare crystal. And now, if pirates attack the ship or sneak on board and go to looting all our precious swag they're not likely to find it are they?”
“Have pirates ever looted your precious swag?”
“No,” Robert replied. “But why take chances?”
“That doesn't even make any sense.”
“And why not?”
“You know where all the pirates in time are. Can't you just avoid them?”
“Random Elements.”
“So you're worried that a wild pack of swag-obsessed pirates might just cross your path randomly?”
“Be prepared, Morgan,” the traveler said with a nod. “That's the motto of the Boy Scouts, you know?”
“I was never a scout,” the young man replied. “But I think you're over-thinking this one. I mean, why don't you keep the MREs in a space-weevil proof container?”
“Red Dwarf?”
“Yeah...”
“Anyways, Morgan, I can always go pick up more MREs. You want to go get more of these crystals?”
“Not especially. Not until I can get a gun anyway.”
“Right,” the traveler nodded. “And that won't be for a while. So, let's keep the ones we've got. Oh, and don't touch this flashlight. With that crystal in it you could blind yourself.”
“No problem man. I outgrew playing with flashlights like two or three years ago.”
“I'm glad to hear it!” the traveler nodded. “Either way, Vox and Cleo just finished a few minutes ago so we need to head to the conference room. We've got a time machine to disable.”
“Sounds good.”
The pair left the chamber the moment Morgan had finished his meal. With the push of a button Robert summoned the rest of the crew and in minutes they were all seated around the table once again.
“Alright, guys,” Robert began, “we're up to the first, and arguably the most important step. The device is ready thanks to Vox and Cleo. Well done, by the way.”
“Tha
nks!” they replied in unison.
“Now all we need to do is go back to the point in time where Marcus Delmont had completed his machine, but had yet to take it on a test flight, and install the device. This is going to be a little tricky because he was extremely wealthy even before he started his time-thief career. As a result he had the money to build a vault of solid cormax to store it in.”
“Cormax?” Morgan asked.
“One of the most durable substances ever created,” the traveler explained. “At the time it was believed indestructible.”
“So we need to break in through the front door?”
“No, Morgan,” Robert replied, shaking his head. “I actually have another plan. In any event, one thing that will make it a little easier is that fact that we'll be able to use personal shield generators and stealth field generators. We're also going to take tranquilizer guns as well as one deadly force firearm each.”
“Including me?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Range time, Morgan,” the traveler replied. “Now, let's keep in mind we don't want to have to tranq anyone and we really don't want to kill anyone.”
“Right!” Morgan agreed.
“However,” Robert continued, “we can't be stopped, no matter what. And, if we have to kill anyone, they should be un-killed when we finally manage to wrest the machine out of Delmont's hands before he ever gets it. So, we have to do whatever we have to do. Everyone got that?”
Everyone did...
“The plan is simplicity itself,” the traveler said. “We know we have hours of empty time in the bay and the device will only take twenty minutes or so to install. So, we turn on our stealth field generators, sneak in, Cleo disables the security in the bay, we go in the bay, Cleo disables the security on the ship, we go in the ship, Vox and I install the device, Cleo enables the security on the ship and in the bay, and we get out of there. Any questions?”
“How do we get in the bay?” Morgan asked.
“I'll show you when we get there,” the traveler replied.
With their plan laid out the ship was put in motion and each member appropriately equipped. Several hours later the ship touched down on a distant... depending on where you were looking at it from... it was certainly a fair distance from Earth, I can tell you that... but very Earth-like... you know, a lot of them are... planet. They had landed near what looked almost like a military base built into a mountain... Again, that's a fairly common thing if you consider all of space and time... Before exiting the ship they activated their very affective, and very stylish, stealth field generators.
The Last Time Traveler Page 8