“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 crashed through the past.
Following the thread of time, he ricocheted around divergent moments trying to find one that would not alert Jones to his changes.
He found the threads increasingly intertwined about the presence of the Ortrix.
{{% voiceinthedark %}}Where are you headed Rex? {{% /voiceinthedark %}}
The voice of the other startled Rex enough that he misjudged a quantum event and plunged through the fusion-heat of a star seventy thousand years in the past.
“Shoot, man! Don’t do that,” he complained.
“Do we dare?”
The Princess Anrianna looked at Rex with shock at his suggestion.
Rex had an impertinent smile on his lips and his eyes sparkled.
“Of course we dare! I know how it ends.”
The pair had escaped the Sultan’s planet in the fastest ship they could steal from his extensive collection. They rocket back to base with all the power they could draw from the engines. Rex had been uneasy. They were fast approaching the time of his most recent memory and they didn’t know what might happen to Rex when his time came full circle.
On approaching the base, Rex had sent his security code ahead to initiate landing protocols and was baffled when they were rejected. He wondered for a second if this was what it felt like to not exist.
Before he could worry further, his comm-board lit up and he heard his own voice through the ship.
“Unidentified ship, this is a private communications channel. Please identify yourself.”
Rex was gob-smacked, and a glance at the Princess told him she was gob-smacked too.
“I thought you were dead,” she said, shock overcoming tact.
“I mustn’t be,” he replied, shock overcoming eloquence.
They conferred, ignoring the insistent summons of the comm. It was decided that The Professor must have discovered the secret behind the anomaly and reversed the paradox. It helped that as the comm chimed and bleeped and past Rex left increasingly desperate pleas for a response, Rex remembered being on the other end.
“I thought it might be you,” he said to Anrianna, “When I returned from… wherever I was… The Professor and I couldn’t piece together where you were. Our hail to me today became the seed of my worry for you.”
“But it turns out I’m safe with you after all.”
The memories of the next three months started to make sense and he realised they had some time to kill between now and the next anomaly. He remembered he had missed the Princess terribly, but also remembered how much more he’d loved her when he’d found her safe in the past.
He loved her.
“Let’s blow this joint and see the universe. Just you and me. Neither of us are due back for three months.”
Anrianna looked at Rex. Her look said she thought he was mad.
It also said she loved him back.
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}Rex awoke to a stunning headache.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}Rex awoke to brilliant darkness.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}It was as if he had woken up after a night at a tavern with The Professor. The world still spun an lurched around him, although the cold steel floor underneath him was perfectly still.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}It was as if he were floating in the depths of space yet in the centre of a sun. Coldness, warmth, life and death covered him, wrapped him like a cloak and he gasped for breath and found he had no use for it.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}He remembered nothing, felt as though he might recall something and tried to understand it.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}He remembered death, felt as though it might be familiar and tried to understand it.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}He remembered meeting himself, excitement welling up within as they prepared to go after Mondex. His future self had said Mondex was after him, but that was all he could remember.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}He remembered running with himself, fighting for his life with Mondex. He and his future self had split up, but when he found Mondex he had been alone.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}What had happened?{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}He’d been shot!{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}Why couldn’t he remember?{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}That son of a bitch!{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}And where in space was he?{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}Now where was he?{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}A voice spoke to him, comfortingly familiar.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}A voice spoke to him, oddly familiar.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}“Rex!” exclaimed The Professor, “where in blazes have you been? And why in space are you naked?”{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}{{% voiceinthedark %}}You have cheated death. This is where your soul resides when you are not visiting the mortal plain.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}“Stop shouting man!” pleaded Rex, holding his head in his hands as he sat up. “I haven’t the faintest idea.”{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}“I have to go back I need me! I mean, future me needs me! And the Princess!”{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}“I see you’ve been hit too,” said his old friend, “I’ve just come from what’s left of my lab, and I can’t remember much beyond the night you left for the Shebat game three months ago.”{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}{{% voiceinthedark %}}You are quite correct, although not for the reasons you think. This is not the last time we will meet, but you are not to know of this. It is not your time.{{% /voiceinthedark %}}{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}“Three months!” Rex felt himself go cold and warm and felt his mind on the edge of madness.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}Before he could respond, Rex felt himself dragged from within the cold/warm cloak and felt his mind give way to madness and terror.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}“Who did this to us?”{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}Rex awoke to a stunning headache.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
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.
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}The Professor was concerned.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}The Professor was concerned.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}When he’d first spied the spacetime anomaly, he knew it was the same one he’d seen six months ago from the other side. Reluctantly, he’d let Rex go, knowing he’d been waiting for this day and itching to get going.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}When he first noticed the spacetime anomaly, he had no way of knowing what danger it could bring from the other side. Happily, he let Rex go, knowing Rex had been waiting for this day and itching to get going.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}He was also curious himself. His memories got hazy after their first encounter with the anomaly, probably something to do with the effect of the tachions or some-such, and there were a lot of questions he couldn’t answer when Rex had come back.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}He was curious about the anomaly, but any threat it posed was yet to be seen. But when Rex failed to check in after the Sheebat game, it raised a lot of questions.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}Questions like, where had the Princess gone? Who had brought Rex back? Why had his lab exploded?{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}Questions like, where had Rex gone? How would he find him again? What was causing the spacetime anomaly to move?{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}So he’d let Rex go, knowing that if he didn’t, Rex’s past would be at the mercy of Mondex.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}He wished he hadn’t let Rex go, but knew he would have gone anyway. The Ortrix was too grand a prize to pass up.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}Sitting in his back-up lab, he was analysing data taken from the anomaly when Rex strode in with Anrianna by his side. He didn’t look like he’d been battling one of his greatest foes. In fact he looked… rested.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}Maybe the anomaly would provide the answers. He’d just begun to analyse the latest data when Rex strode in with Anrianna by his side. He looked worn out, like he often did after battling a challenging foe.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}And the Princess! How wonderful it was to see she was safe!{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}And the Princess, she looked puzzled, like something was bothering her, but she want sure what.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}“Where have you been my girl?!” he cried as he embraced her.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}“Where have you been my boy!?” he exclaimed as he took Rex’s hand.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}She giggled and squeezed him back, “I’ve… been around.”{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}Rex smiled lazily, “I’ve been around.”{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}The glance she and Rex exchanged, and the unsubtle cheeky smiles they both failed to hide told The Professor it would be better not to ask too many questions.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}The Princess turned her puzzled gaze on Rex, then back The Professor, who gave her a wry smile. They both knew it would be better not to ask too many questions.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}But here they both were, happy and healthy and all was right with the world.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}But Rex was back, tired but alive, and all was right with the world.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}Obviously Mondex had posed no problem.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}Obviously Grubner had posed no problem.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
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.
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}I’m tracking a spacetime anomaly.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}I’m tracking a spacetime anomaly.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}“I’ve never seen anything like it!”{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}“I’ve seen something like this before…”{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}The Professor was excited, lit up like he usually was when exploring something unknown.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}The Professor was agitated, like he usually got when he knew something was about to end badly.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}Rex laughed at his old friend’s enthusiasm, “sounds like both of us have plans for the evening!”{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}Rex scowled at the view on his old friend’s screen, “Sounds like I need to cancel my plans for the evening.”{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}He turned and winked at the Princess, who rolled her eyes and turned her head. Rex could still make out the hint of a smile crinkle the corners of her eyes though and he smiled back, even though she wasn’t looking.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}He turned to say something to the Princess and remembered again that she was gone. He still had no idea what had become of her, and The Professor hadn’t seen her either since that fateful night six months ago.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}Rex switched off the holo-emersion field and gathered his Corral Specials and his credit chip. Heading out of the hotel, he hailed a hovercab. He handed the driver an address on a card and swiped his credit chip.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}Rex gathered his Corral Specials and the special device The Professor had pushed into his palm. He listened while the Professor explained how it worked and what he would need to do.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}
{{% timeswap %}} {{% timeline 1 %}}“I need to go here,” he said.{{% /timeline %}} {{% timeline 2 %}}“Where do I need to go?” he asked.{{% /timeline %}} {{% /timeswap %}}