“We have to get to the holy vault as quickly as we can,” Robert pointed out just as they reached the foot of the stairs, entering another chamber filled with nano-nightmares. “We're going to have to have time for Cleo to unlock it.”
The entire band opened up some serious auto-fire laser action on the zombies that were making their way very quickly toward the party. A dense pack edged ever closer through the fire, however, making steady headway against the constant stream of not-blaster not-bolts. Doc pulled the gun from his back, took careful aim, and blasted a massive hole in the not-really-undead pack.
“What is that?” Morgan asked.
“It's basically a shotgun,” Doc answered. “But for super-elephants.”
As most of the party's attention was focused on the swarm of electro-zombies in front of them, particularly on the one that had its legs blown off and was crawling toward them on its hands hoping for some revenge, something attracted Morgan's attention. It was the terrified scream of a woman.
Morgan jerked his head to the left. In the corner of a not-so-distant adjacent chamber stood a truly voluptuous blue female who was about to be accosted by a single automated-corpse. The path between them was clear and Morgan's inner hero filled his mind with a single primitive thought: must save woman!
“Crom!” he screamed at the top his lungs, lifting the bat above his head and boldly charging his nano-fied foe.
In moments he reached the enemy, who had evaluated him as just slightly more threatening than an unarmed woman using its powerful computerized e-brain. And so, as Morgan swung his bat with all his might, it was prepared. The nano-zombie grabbed the steel improv-weapon in its vice-like grip and began crushing it before the amazed eyes of the young man.
“Wow...” he said. “That didn't go at all...”
That was as far as he got before the thing grabbed him by the throat, lifting him from the ground, his well-sneakered feet kicking wildly in the air. Before the life was completely choked out of him, a massive volley of laser fire cut his enemy to pieces. Immediately Doc was at his side, scanning the area where the zombie had touched him with a device emitting a bright blue beam.
“That will deactivate the nanobots,” Doc explained, before turning his eyes to the woman. “Ma'am, you may want to follow us.”
The chamber had been cleared of most of its less-than-living occupants and the band quickly finished off the last stragglers before moving on. Two minutes later the party was standing just outside the holy vault with Cleo pushing buttons as fast as she could think to. More and more zombies appeared each moment and the surrounding floor was slowly covered by the dust of broken down nanobots.
“Shoot!” Robert yelled, handing the rifle he was holding to the blue woman before pulling a pistol.
“She gets a gun, but I don't!” Morgan screamed.
“Yes!” the traveler replied. “She knows what she’s doing! She's been in the middle of a war for just over a decade!”
Robert seemed to be right about that. At least, the blue woman certainly had no trouble ending the e-lives of their enemies.
“Cleo, honey,” Robert said. “I don't want to rush you, but we ain't got a lot of extra time.”
“Well, Rob,” she replied, “had I known I was going to have to do this I could have studied up. However, you didn't tell me!”
“I didn't want to make you nervous.”
“Well I'm nervous now!”
“That's a fair point,” the traveler admitted. “I'm going to have to make the briefings more informative in future.”
“Got it,” she cried triumphantly as the vault opened.
“Morgan, grab the orb!” Robert yelled.
Immediately the young man obeyed.
“And whatever you do, don't drop it! It's filled with explosives!”
“What?!?!” Morgan screamed.
“Just kidding! Let's go!”
“Rob!” everyone but the blue woman screamed.
As the party was making it's way up the stairs Vox made a rather important observation.
“I don't want to upset anyone,” he yelled, “but we're into minute twenty-two of our twenty minutes!”
“That's no problem,” the traveler replied. “I lied! We had twenty-five minutes, I just wanted you guys to hurry.”
“Rob!” everyone but the blue woman screamed.
In not-quite-three-minutes the party had reached the top of the stairs. They blasted their way through another group of e-zombies and piled into the car on exactly the twenty-fifth minute mark. Fortunately for them, Rob had lied again. They actually had twenty-seven minutes. That was just enough time to get to the bridge and fire up the engines before the planet exploded. As the ship flew from the world, wrapped in flames, and the flying debris of a dying world, Vox made yet another observation.
“This ain't no good for the shields, Rob!” he yelled as the ship was slammed one direction, then the other.
“Eh,” he said, gazing down at the console and wildly pushing buttons, “they'll hold.”
Seconds later they were safely in non-space with the orb in their possession.
“See,” the traveler said, spinning his chair around to face his crew. “What did I tell ya? Piece of cake.”
“Doc,” Vox said. “Head down to the medi-bay with me. This time I need to check my blood pressure....”
As soon as they stepped from the room both Robert and Morgan turned their attention to the blue woman, who was clearly in a state of shock. The young man now agreed with Robert wholeheartedly; everyone did have different tastes. As beautiful as Cleo was he found this girl even more attractive. Of course, part of that was probably the fact the Cleo had already so completely, totally, and unequivocally rejected him. And besides, she was really Rob's girl...
Morgan felt that voluptuous truly was the only word that could describe her. Well, that or stacked depending on where you grew up. She was just under six feet tall and had dark purple hair that hung down to the center of her back. And her eyes, which were staring blindly ahead, were a breathtaking shade of aquamarine. She was a well-developed woman in every sense of the word and the young man had to work very hard to stare at her without getting caught.
“I'm sorry, miss,” Robert said, his voice filled with sincere sympathy. “You've just witnessed something no one should ever have to see: the death of your home world. But I promise you, it's not as bad as it seems.”
“I'm not sure how it could be worse,” she replied softly, her breathing quick and shallow.
“What's your name?” he asked.
“Azure,” she replied.
“Well, Azure, I'm Robert,” he said with a smile, “the last time traveler. Your world was never meant to be destroyed. And before I'm finished it won't have been.”
“What do you mean?” Azure asked, turning her eyes toward him. “That's impossible.”
“I'm certain it seems that way,” the traveler replied. “However, I assure you it's more than merely possible. In fact, it was a time traveler that destroyed your world. I've come to undo the damage he did. And very shortly I will have.”
“Am I dead?” she asked, slowly gazing around her.
Morgan turned his eyes to the floor. He couldn't help but find the woman attractive, but something about that struck him as very wrong at the moment.
“No,” the traveler replied. “You're certainly not dead. You are, however, in a severe state of shock.”
“Where am I?”
Robert reached down and pushed a button on the console. “Doc, we're actually going to need you back up here pretty quick. She's not in great shape.”
“I know. I'm just grabbing some things,” Doc replied. “I'll be back up there in minute.”
“Where you are is here,” Robert said, kneeling down by the young woman and taking her hands in his. “You're with friends. And you're safe. Very soon this is all going to be nothing more than a bad dream.”
“I'm not sure I'll ever wake up...” she whispered.
>
“You will,” he nodded. “And once you have you won't even remember this nightmare. Now, this young lady is Cleo, and she'll take care of you. Just let her know if you need anything at all. Me and Morgan here have to have a quick chat, but we'll be right back.”
Robert and Morgan immediately rose and made their way silently toward the young man's room.
“What's up?” the young man asked.
“Sit down,” Robert commanded, opening Morgan's door and pointing toward his bed. “I have a question.”
“Alright, bro,” the young man replied, quickly obeying the command. “What is it?”
“I want to know what you were thinking when you saved Azure,” the traveler replied. “Walk me through your thought process.”
“Well,” he said, taking a deep breath. “It was clear she was about to get killed. So... I tried to save her. I know I didn't exactly...”
“Morgan,” Robert interrupted, “do you remember that conversation we had when I first picked you up?”
“I think so.”
“Good! We're not here to save men, women, and children, Morgan. We're here to save the universe!”
“We couldn't just let her...”
“Yes!” the traveler interrupted again. “Yes, we could have let her die. That's exactly what we could have done. And it's exactly what you should have done!”
“What?!?!” Morgan asked, rising to his feet. “Are you nuts?”
“Everybody dies Morgan,” Robert replied. “We're over a thousand years in the past. Azure's been dead for a long time, man.”
“But still we couldn't...”
“You're not listening, Morgan!” the traveler replied rather loudly. “Yes we could! That's exactly what we could have done! We can't mess this up, man! We can't afford to! There ain't no cavalry coming to our rescue. No time traveler from the future is going to go back and fix our mistakes. We just can't make any! What if saving her had caused a paradox that kept us from fixing the future? We can't take chances, Morgan. You think I like that? I believe all life is sacred! You think I want to stand there and do nothing while I watch a young woman get killed?!?! No! I don't! I hate it! But we don't have a choice, Morgan! We do not have a choice! Do you understand me?!?!”
“I'm trying to...” Morgan, sighed. “It's just not...”
“No! It's not easy! But you need to wrap your head around it right now! We can't make any more mistakes! And Morgan, you also need to think about that fact that because you saved her she's up on it the bridge in a state of shock right now, instead of peacefully dead with the rest of her people. Just think how's she going to feel for the next few hours.”
“You're right,” the young man sighed again. “I messed up.”
“Thank you, Morgan,” the traveler said, stepping over to sit down on the bed. “And it wasn't all your fault. I should have warned you guys that there might be survivors. I was just hoping they'd all be dead before we reached them.”
“Yeah...”
“Either way, there's no harm done this time. Well, not to the time-lines. But you might have done a little to yourself.”
“How do you mean?” Morgan asked.
“Well,” the traveler began, “When we un-steal the orb Azure will vanish and we'll have never rescued her. So, your big heroic moment saving a beautiful woman will be undone.”
“That doesn't matter,” Morgan replied, a slight smile on his face. “We'll have saved her whether or not she ever knows it.”
“You're right about that, man” the traveler replied, with a nod. “And don't worry, we may run into other opportunities where you actually can rescue the damsel in distress. Either way, from now on no more mistakes, right?”
“Right!” Morgan agreed.
Chapter 7: Azure
“Well Azure,” the traveler said, stepping back onto the bridge, “how are they taking care of you?”
“Very well,” she replied. “But I'm really nauseated.”
“That'll pass in a moment, dear,” Doc said with a smile. “I've already given you something for it.”
“And in just a few hours,” Robert added, with a smile, “none of this will have ever happened.”
“Days,” Vox replied, gazing down at one of the consoles.
“Days?” the traveler asked.
“Two or three, yeah,” Vox nodded. “The ship took a bit of a beating, Rob. It wasn't exactly made to fly through the exploding remains of dying planets.”
“I can't believe this is happening,” Azure whispered.
“Just try to pretend it isn't,” Cleo said, rubbing the young woman's back. “It'll be over soon.”
“Are you sure, Vox?” Robert asked, stepping over to the console himself.
“Well,” he replied, waving toward the screen. “You tell me what you think.”
“You're right,” the traveler sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Still, it's not too bad.”
“No,” Vox agreed. “But I don't want it getting that way. It's all minor stuff and should be easy to fix. At least, it will be if we don't let it get any worse.”
“True. Drop back into real space I guess and we'll get to work,” Robert replied, before turning his attention back to the young woman. “Well, Azure, it looks like it's going to be a few days. After that, however, you're going to wake up safe and sound on your home world. I know it's hard to understand, but you need to accept it. It'll make the next couple of days a lot easier on you. Just forget what you've seen and try to keep in mind that none of it ever happened.”
“Thank you,” she replied, tears welling up in her eyes. “Thank you all. You saved my life, even if you couldn't...”
Here the young woman was overcome by grief. She began sobbing into her hands as tears of sympathy began to flow down Cleo's cheeks. Slowly the scent of honeysuckle filled the cabin.
“Doc,” Robert said, “you got any more of that nausea medicine on ya? I ain't feeling a hundred percent myself.”
The next twenty-four hours were rather difficult for Morgan. Robert and Vox were both working on repairs, only stopping for food or sleep, while Cleo and Doc were doing their best to make Azure as comfortable as possible. The young man would have been willing to help with either task, had he been able. However, he didn't know enough about the ship to reliably use the intercom, much less make repairs and he had a hard time being in the same room with Azure without caressing her with his eyes, which even Morgan knew was inappropriate at the time...
As a result he spent the rest of the day and a good portion of the following morning reflecting on what he had done. The suffering Azure was going through really was all his fault. If he had just let the electro-zombie kill her it would have all been over in minutes, if not seconds. Now she was going to have to go through several days of mental anguish all because of him. He had wronged her. And there's only one thing a man can do when he's wronged a woman. He has to apologize.
Around ten the next morning... I guess... It's hard to do the time-math... either way, it was late for breakfast, early for lunch... Morgan found Cleo and Azure having a couple of MREs on the bridge. Neither of them were crying, so he figured their spirits had picked up at least a little bit. He knew he had to leap on the opportunity.
“Look,” he said with a deep sigh, gazing down at Azure. “I'm really sorry. I hope you can forgive me.”
“Sorry for what, Morgan?” she asked, her aquamarine eyes staring up at him.
“Oh,” he said, with a touch of embarrassment. “I mean for saving your life...”
“What?” both women replied at once.
“Well,” he sighed again. “I know you'd probably rather be dead right now. I just...”
“No actually,” she interrupted, one eyebrow raised slightly. “No, I wouldn't. What would make you think that?”
“Well,” he explained. “If I hadn't saved you, that thing would have killed you in like seconds, and so you wouldn't be so upset right now.”
“No...” she replied. “I suppose I wouldn
't be, but on the other hand, I would be dead, Morgan.”
“Right...” he nodded slowly. “So... You're saying you'd rather not be dead?”
“Is he crazy?” Azure asked, turning her gaze to Cleo.
“No... Well... maybe actually, it's kind of hard to tell,” she replied. “Morgan, sit down.”
Immediately he obeyed.
“Alright,” Cleo said. “Try again. And maybe start at the beginning.”
“Okay,” he said, pausing a moment to collect his thoughts. “What I'm saying is that after we un-steal the orb, Azure's home world is never going to be destroyed, right?”
“Right,” Cleo nodded.
“So,” he continued, “that being the case, all the people on her home world that were killed by e-zombies won't be killed by them, right?”
“Right,” Cleo again agreed.
“So,” he explained, “by saving Azure I didn't actually save her, because we're really going to save her by un-stealing the orb, right?”
“I see what you're saying.”
“And, since I didn't save her by saving her because we're actually going to save her later, all I've done by saving her when I did is put her through days of pointless suffering and Rob's crappy MREs, right?”
“I guess you could make that argument.”
“Right,” he nodded. “So, it would have been a lot easier on her if I had just minded my own business and let the zombie do its work.”
“Well,” Azure said shaking her head, “I'm glad you didn't...”
“Oh,” he said with a smile. “In that case you're welcome!”
“So you guys are really serious then?” Azure asked.
“About what?” Cleo asked.
“The whole time travel, saving the universe thing,” Azure replied.
“Yes,” Cleo nodded. “Of course. What would make you think we weren't?”
“Mainly the fact that it's impossible, I guess,” Azure explained. “I mean, it certainly doesn't seem possible...”
“Well it is,” Cleo smiled.
“I'm beginning to believe it,” Azure replied. “Well... I believe Morgan believes it anyway...”
“Oh I do,” he nodded. “I didn't at first, I thought I was having a flashback, but I finally came around.”
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