The Last Time Traveler

by Aaron J. Ethridge

“Like I told you from the start,” Robert replied, “we're not even sure why this happened, Morgan. Time travel has scrambled the time-lines until they can't self-repair. We don't know how much we'll have to undo before we fix it, but this is a real start. We just helped give the universe seven more seconds. That's a lot of time, bro! Think of how many children have been almost born for centuries. Now, all across the universe women are holding their newborns because of seven little seconds.”

  “Wow...” Morgan replied. “That's deep...”

  “It is,” the traveler said with a broad smile. “And this is just the beginning, man! We still have a lot to do.”

  “And we're not the only ones,” Cleo laughed. “Think of all the work we just dumped on the history department. They're going to have to find out exactly what happened throughout the universe during those seven seconds.”

  “Wow...” Morgan said again. “That is a lot...”

  “True,” the traveler replied. “But we've all got our jobs to do. And I'm ready to put the finishing touches on this one and get it over with, so let's do it!”

  With their end-goal in sight, they pointed the ship to the point in space-time where Delmont first acquired his time drive. Although they had already undone Delmont's damage, thereby removing the need to destroy the drive, as Robert pointed out: it was simply a matter of class. As they flew along through non-space Morgan found himself thinking once again.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Morgan confessed

  “You surprise me,” Robert lied.

  “Yeah,” the young man chuckled. “Anyways, chicks dig guitars.”

  “Some of them do.”

  “Well, couldn’t you and me jump back in time so I could learn to play the guitar and then bring me back here so I could impress Azure even more?”

  “Maybe,” the traveler replied. “But it’d be a lot easier to have Sister program you to play the guitar. I mean you can afford to put a little more in that brain now. We don't need all that room anymore.”

  “You’re right!”

  “Of course,” Robert said thoughtfully, “you’d still need a lot of practice.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you have ten thumbs.”

  “Man…” Morgan mused. “I could be like some kind of super monkey.”

  “Morgan, my man, you already are.”

  “You’re probably right. Either way, you could do it with me.”

  “Do what?” the traveler asked.

  “Learn to play the guitar.”

  “What makes you think I don’t know how to play the guitar?”

  “Do you?” the young man asked.

  “No.”

  “Well then…”

  “Morgan is this going somewhere?”

  “Well,” the young man continued, “I just figured we could go back in time, learn to play, and start a band. Then you could impress Cleo and I could impress Azure.”

  “Everything about me impresses Cleo.”

  “Is that a good reason not to make the extra effort?”

  “No…” the traveler said thoughtfully. “Wow! You actually made another good point. You really are forming a habit...”

  “Cool! And while we’re back in the past I’m gonna grow a ZZ Top beard.”

  “No… You grow a goatee. I want the ZZ Top beard.”

  “It’s going to look funny on you,” Morgan pointed-out, “‘cause you’re so short.”

  “I’ll take my chances. What do you want to call the band?”

  “Wyld Stallyns,” the young man suggested.

  “And you didn’t get why we should call it The Phone Booth?”

  “Oh yeah!”

  “Either way, Morgan,” Robert replied, “we don’t have time right now.”

  “You have all the time.”

  “Maybe,” the traveler admitted. “But I don’t want to take the time right now. But do remind me about it later... I have to admit you’ve got me intrigued with the ZZ Top beard thing, and I'd really like to do something for Cleo just to have done something for her.”

  Just hours after this conversation the entire party was making its way toward a derelict spacecraft on an unfamiliar world.

  “Delmont,” the traveler began, stepping around a large piece of junk in his path, “got the time drive just like he got basically everything he ever owned. He salvaged it. This craft crashed back before time travel was made illegal and it was believed destroyed before Delmont found it. So, we're going to blow the time drive up before he can get it. Of course, he'll still make a fortune off the rest of the ship, but that's no concern of ours.”

  “How are we going to destroy it?” Morgan asked.

  “Vox and I made a bomb using technology comparable to the ship's,” Robert explained. “We're going to put it in place, along with a few other things, and then head back to Never Never Land for the finish.”

  After the bomb had been put in place the traveler spent about an hour strategically placing some odd silver cylinders around a section of ground that didn't seem to have any significance to the rest of the team. Once this was done the entire party made their way back to the ship.

  “Launch four time probes, please, Vox,” Robert said the moment they reached the bridge. “I want the area covered from every angle.”

  “Time probes?” the young man asked.

  “They're specialized recording devices,” Vox explained. “We send them back in time to collect data. They have their own stealth field generators and shields so they can keep themselves out of harm's way. Once they've done whatever they were sent to do delivery pods pick them up.”

  “Or we pick them up ourselves,” the traveler smiled. “Didn't you ever wonder how we knew exactly what was going to happen minute by minute from thousands of years in the past?”

  “I did wonder,” Morgan confessed.

  “Well,” Vox replied. “It's because we record everything using time probes before we go in.”

  “That's brilliant!” the young man exclaimed.

  “We think so,” Robert nodded.

  Just seconds after the probes were deployed Robert moved the ship just over two days into the future. With a few button presses he then collected the probes and downloaded the data on them.

  “Play it, Vox,” he said, staring at one of the screens on the bridge.

  “What's going on?” Morgan asked.

  “Wait for it...” the traveler replied quietly.

  The image of Marcus Delmont appeared on the monitor. He quickly came up over a hill before stepping onto the patch of ground Robert had so carefully placed his devices around. Instantly gray liquid began spraying from each of the cylinders, completely coating the man in fractions of a second.

  “Bingo!” Robert cried with delight.

  “What is that?” Cleo asked.

  “Just paint,” the traveler laughed. “It won't hurt him at all and I made the cylinders out of parts of the derelict ship using time-appropriate technology, so it shouldn't hurt the time-lines. That's also a custom color I had mixed up! I call it Jackass Gray. I actually took like a hundred pictures of donkeys and averaged their grays together to make it just right.”

  “Rob, you know you don't come across as the leader of the saviors of the universe,” Morgan mused. “You actually seem a lot more like a time-clown.”

  “I’m like a time-ringmaster, Morgan,” the traveler corrected. “If anyone’s the time-clown it’s you, man.”

  “Well what does that make Cleo and Azure, then?”

  “Oooo,” the traveler replied turning his gaze to the green maiden. “They're like a couple of time-tigresses. I feel like I need a whip and chair just looking at 'em. Cleo, come over here and let me scratch you behind the ears.”

  “I’ve said it before, Rob,” she replied rolling her eyes. “You dream big.”

  “Yeah,” he said with a devious smile, “I do. Why don't you girls go get dressed again?”

  “What do you mean?” Cleo asked.

  “The dre
sses and all that,” he replied. “Would you put that stuff back on for us?”

  “Why, Rob?” she asked suspiciously.

  “Okay...” he sighed, punching a series of buttons on the control panel. “But I got the feeling you might regret it if you don't do it...”

  “Cleo,” Morgan said, turning his gaze to the young lady. “I know Rob lies basically non-stop, but from my own, personal experience I can tell you it's a good idea to take his advice when he says that.”

  Both the girls sighed and left the room feigning annoyance and pretending not to be excited.

  “And we need showers and suits!” Robert said, as soon as the girls were out of earshot. “Oh, and by the way, you got to cut back on that cologne soon. You're going to desensitize Azure to it. And believe me, you do not want to do that!”

  “So, should I go without now?”

  “No!” the traveler assured him. “And if I was you, I'd chew some serious gum, brother.”

  “Done!”

  Twenty minutes later the young man stood, freshly showered, well suited, cologne coated, and vigorously gum chewing, in the traveler's room waiting for him to put the finishing touches on his own attire.

  “Rob,” Morgan said thoughtfully.

  “Yeah, bro,” Robert replied, stepping over to his space dresser and putting something in his vest pocket.

  “Exactly what memories did you and Sister erase?”

  “Morgan,” the traveler replied, before taking a deep breath and turning around to face his friend. “To be honest with you, man, it was just a bunch of garbage you don't need.”

  “Yea, but...”

  “Morgan,” Robert interrupted, “some memories can act like a disease, bro. They can hold you back, hold you down. They can keep you trapped in the past, imprisoned in who you were, never giving you the chance to let you become who you could be.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean,” the traveler continued, “didn't it strike you as odd that before you met me you couldn't even talk to a girl and then, just hours later, you were pouring your heart out to the most beautiful woman you'd ever met? It didn't seem weird that just all of the sudden you could say whatever you were thinking almost without restraint? That you could take rejection as just another bump in the road, man?”

  “Well... now that you mention it...”

  “Look,” Robert smiled, “you are big, bad Morgan Harker, one of the saviors of the universe, and Azure's not-exactly-a-boyfriend. That's who you are! Who you were doesn't matter. Whatever happened to poor old loser Morgan Harker simply does not matter! You ain't that guy anymore, and you haven't been for thousands of years.”

  “I guess I see what you're saying.

  “It's up to you man,” the traveler said. “But if I was in your place I'd contact Sister and ask her to completely destroy that stuff and consider myself lucky. You know how many people from your time would have given anything to have their memories wiped like you have? Of course, people can do it themselves, but stuff's not always easy to let go of and put behind you... Either way, Morgan, you've been given the chance to forget without all the effort. Take my advice and let those memories go.”

  “You know, Rob,” Morgan said, taking a deep breath, “I've learned a lot about you this trip. And I know you're basically the lyingest thing I've ever even heard of. But I also know that you always tell your friends what you think they need to hear. And I've noticed that you're usually right.”

  “Yes,” Robert agreed, “I am.”

  “So,” the young man continued, “let's contact Sister and let her know to dump that trash.”

  “Gladly!” the traveler said, stepping over to the young man and slapping him on the shoulder.

  The young men made their way to the bridge and contacted Sister. A few minutes after that had been taken care of, the girls strutted.... Yeah, they were feeling pretty strutty at the moment, what with helping save the universe and the guys probably taking them somewhere and what have you... into the chamber.

  “So,” Cleo sighed, “How's this?”

  “You two,” Morgan jumped in before Robert could speak, “are quite literally the loveliest creatures I have ever seen or imagined. It's a genuine pleasure to just stand here looking at you. And I find it almost impossible to believe that I've actually eaten dinner with the two of you and spent the night dancing with one of you in my arms. If I died right now, I could die happy.”

  “Ditto,” Robert replied, glancing at them over his shoulder.

  “Ditto?” Cleo laughed, tilting her head to the side.

  “Well yeah,” the traveler nodded. “Morgan pretty much summed it up.”

  As he said this the ship appeared in real-space above the planet of Escargot... It's not really called Escargot... I'm sure you've figured that out by now... I mean, I could tell you the planet's real name, but Cleo's afraid of her home address ending up on the Internet, so I changed the name to protect the innocent...

  “What are you doing, Rob,” Cleo asked. “These dresses aren't exactly beachwear.”

  “I don't know that you two own anything that qualifies as beachwear,” Morgan observed.

  Both young ladies scowled at him.

  “Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “Old habits...”

  “Don't worry,” Robert replied with a grin, “I don't plan to keep us here long.”

  The traveler landed his ship on the same island he had on their two previous trips to Escargot before taking Cleo by the hand and leading her down the gangway and toward the beach. Morgan and Azure followed a short distance behind, also hand in hand.

  “If you're curious, Morgan,” Robert yelled over his shoulder, “we just picked Cleo up here about half-an-hour ago. I love time travel!”

  Having said this he walked to the section of beach were Cleo had been sitting when they had first arrived and surveyed the area carefully.

  “There!” he said pointing at two shallow depressions in the sand. “I was right there, Morgan.”

  “Okay...” the young man replied.

  Robert then moved Cleo over near the spot and got her to stand just where he wanted before taking her chin in his hand and angling her head where she was staring down at the sand.

  “What are you doing?” she giggled.

  “What I'm doing is,” he replied, “it right.”

  “What does that even...” she began.

  Her speech was arrested, however, by Robert dropping to his knees on the sand, just where he had when they had come to pick her up. He took both of her hands in his, stared up into her face, the sunlight sparkling in his bright green eyes, the warm tropical breeze blowing around them, and spoke.

  “Cleo,” he said, pausing dramatically for a moment before continuing, “would you make me the happiest man that ever lived by consenting to be my wife?”

  “Yes!” she almost screamed. “Yes, Rob! With everything I have, with everything I am, with every moment since the moment we first met, and with every moment that's left in time! I will happily become your wife!”

  “Thank you,” he replied softly, tears beginning to form in his eyes. “I've loved you since... I don't even know, to be honest... It seems like from the beginning of time... I'm sorry it took me so long...”

  “That doesn't matter now,” she said tears streaming down her face. “Nothing matters now, except the fact that I'm yours and you're mine.”

  “You're right,” he smiled, pulling something from his vest pocket. “And I want everyone to know it. So, I got you this.”

  In his hand was a delicate silver ring that held a small brownish stone flecked with gold.

  “That's a rather interesting engagement ring,” Morgan observed, silently thinking to himself that if a girl like Cleo had agreed to marry him he would have given her a diamond the size of her head.

  “It's more than that,” Robert replied, slipping the ring on her finger. “It's just like Cleo, completely unique.”

  Having put a ring on it, the traveler le
apt to his feet and pulled the fair green maiden nearer, wiping her tears away with his jacket.

  “Okay, Morgan,” he said with a heavy sigh. “Give me fifteen seconds, then a loud five second warning countdown. If I don't stop by the time you're done you know what to do.”

  “Absolutely,” the young man said with a wide grin.

  “Just so we're clear,” Robert said, gazing into his friends eyes, “that was twenty seconds total.”

  “I know!” Morgan said, confidently. “Go ahead, bro! I got your back!”

  Robert didn't wait for a second invitation. He pulled Cleo back a short distance lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her. I mean like, really kissed her, like picking her up, spinning her around in the air, panting for breath when they were done kissed her.

  Morgan faithfully counted off the fifteen seconds in his head. Well... they were probably really more like seconds-and-a-half, but he was a generous young man and figured they had earned a little extra.

  “One!” he said loudly, cracking his knuckles and almost shaking with anticipated delight.

  “Two!” he continued, even more excitedly.

  “Three!” he said, cracking his neck this time.

  “Four!” he counted, laying his hand on Robert's shoulder, joy filled fire in his eyes.

  “Bingo!” he said, jerking the traveler back and punching him as hard as he could right in the eye.

  Robert laid sprawled out on the sand, as Cleo collapsed from the overwhelming passion that was at that moment coursing through her veins.

  “Three things, Morgan,” the traveler said, sitting up and gazing at the young man through one eye. “First, thank you! Second, I had no idea you could hit that hard. The working out is paying off big time. Third, help me up, I don't want to get this suit any dirtier than it already is.”

  The young man immediately jumped to his friend's aid, helped him to his feet, and vigorously brushed him off.

  “I have to admit,” Robert said, helping Cleo to her feet with one hand and gingerly touching his eye with the other. “I didn't expect you to enjoy that quite so much.”

  “Yeah,” Morgan nodded. “I've just wanted to do that since that whole unrequited love thing... Well that and the time you made me eat the snails...”

  “Escargot is good, Morgan.”