“I’m sure I’ve been here before.”
Rex tried to get a feel for the world around him. Beyond local features and the brief glimpse he’d had from passing through earlier, he felt like this planet was significant to him for some reason.
“There were more buildings,” he hesitated.
“I was running, chasing, something.”
“Did I…?”
He paused, puzzled.
“This is where I died!”
Rex waited for the universe to collapse.
When it didn’t, he wondered why.
They had cornered Mondex on an industrial planet three billion years in the past. The natives were towering giants that barely noticed the struggle for survival far below them. The Rexes had split up, thinking they could get the drop on their old foe, but Rex had mistaken a crack in the immense architecture to be an alley. By the time he had backtracked, the younger Rex had confronted Mondex alone.
Mondex was desperate and cornered and unleashed his deadly energy beam on Rex’s earlier self. Rounding a corner, older Rex saw the situation and ended the threat permanently, but it was too late. Young Rex took a shot to the chest that burned and corroded and eventually consumes his former self before his eyes.
Staggering, the remaining Rex tried to keep upright, but fell to his knees. The impact of seeing himself killed hit him like a punch to the stomach, and for a moment he wondered if it might be the beginning of the end that must inevitably come. His mind was numb at the loss, but a small part of him was not silent. It was pointing out that he wasn’t yet erased from time. Isn’t that what was supposed to happen?
He certainly hadn’t remembered being shot the first time around. Then again, his memory of the time was getting hazy. He thought he remembered meeting his future self, confronting Mondex, but then he couldn’t remember how it ended. Was this how it started, forgetting the original timeline? He figured he had six months, maybe less before past Rex would become future Rex. Would his memories of the first timeline be erased as he failed to have them, until he too was gone? Would returning to the future accelerate things?
Rex thought about his friends. The Professor, Jones - brilliant but aloof, and the Princess.
The sweet Anrianna. He wished he’d spent more time with her before she’d gone.
Maybe this was his chance! Perhaps he could spend some time with her now, perhaps even prevent whatever happened to her. Obviously the past could be changed. He could spend his last six months making sure she was safe, and meet his end knowing that at least she was back where she was meant to be.
Rex plunged through the vortex, falling like a paraglider into an unknown destination. Rex was right behind him.
When Rex and his younger self had confronted Mondex outside the casino, they had expected a fight. Instead, Mondex had tapped his belt and plunged into the time vortex that opened up behind him.
Past and future Rex had jumped in after him and were headed who-knows-where without a plan.
They grinned at each other.
“Nothing like a night of improvisation,” they both said together, and barked a laugh in unison.
“Get ready,” said future Rex, who’d taken point on their fall through time.
The shiny, inky walls of the vortex sworled away into nothing in front of them and both Rexes barrel rolled into ready crouches, guns drawn, sweeping the area for threats.
It was dark.
A glowing blue pane of glass barely illuminated two dark figures against the opposite wall. The heroes swung their guns on their surprise assailants.
A dolphin swam through the aquarium water behind them and their eyes adjusted to the dim light. A frightened elderly couple clutched each other and waited for the identical madmen to move.
“Evening folks,” they both said as they holstered their guns.
“You see another chap come through a blinding flash of light?” asked future Rex.
The couple pointed down a corridor.
“Thank you both,” said past Rex as they headed for the exit.