The Geekorium

The time-belt was the Ortrix again.

And now the time-belt.

It wouldn’t stay each way for long. While tracing it backward and forward through time, he’d seen it forged into time-belts and reverted back to something like the Ortrix so many times he wasn’t sure which was the original any more.

Occasionally it had been sent back in time to collect itself with varying levels of success. He held his out-of-body breath as he followed it through the short time Jones had it.

He also wondered about the sneaky joy-ride The Professor had taken it on once.

Please not this.

The Professor is coming around. He realises the predicament and punches a button at his console.

“Why don’t I have that button?” wonders Rex as The Professor’s impact foam surrounds him.

The gelatinous goo encases him and the roaring sound of the ship decomposing in the atmosphere becomes a wash of quiet white noise.

Rex hopes Anrianna was at her station.

Not this. Not this.

The Hundred-Tonne-Husky slammed into the atmosphere, igniting a trail across the sky.

On the ground below, the Nolix heard the thunder and saw the fire and prayed to their deity to spare them.

Aboard the ship, Rex grit his teeth and tried not to black out. Through blurring eyes he could see The Professor passed out at the navigation console.

He could not see Anrianna.

Vworp

The Professor popped out of the time vortex with an ignominious crash. Dusting himself off, he lamented his lack of finesse compared to his colleague and vowed - not for the first time - to start working out when he got back.

As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he tried to get his bearings. He could make out the faint outlines of the retorts and stands of his chemistry bench, and the flashing green glow in the corner that told him his terminal was ready to log on.

Making his way there, he checked the date on the terminal screen and chuckled to himself. He was only four minutes out from the time he’d been aiming for. Not bad with only the data he’d gathered from the anomaly to work with.

Now to get to work.

{{% 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 %}}

The Professor awoke to a hole where his lab should have been.

And no eyebrows.

For a few moments he sat dazed against the corridor wall where, if the pain in his head was anything to go by, he’d been tossed when his lab had been destroyed.

While he waited for the ringing in his ears to subside, he tried to figure out what had happened. Could it be sabotage? What else might explode?

He wondered if it had been something he’d been working on, but try as he might, he could not recall the last thing he’d been doing. In fact, he found he was having trouble recalling anything at all.

The last thing he could remember was… witnessing a spacetime anomaly with Rex, just before Rex’s big Sheebat game.

That was it. That was the last thing he could remember. Looking up his records of the anomaly he was shocked to discover three months had passed since then.

Had the anomaly done this then?

What in space was going on?

“You’re from the future!”

The Professor was amused and amazed.

“So where is our Rex?” he asked.

“Well, you can’t tell the Princess or Jones, but he’s dead. Blasted away by Mondex.”

The news struck The Professor like a bullet to the chest. He stumbled and grasped for the stool behind him. Sitting down he tried a few times to speak, and finally said, “but that’s impossible! You would cease to be! The paradox here could destabilize the universe.”

Rex rested a hand on his old friend’s shoulder.

“That’s why I’m here. I’ve already started forgetting what happened the first time ‘round, and I’m afraid if I return to the future, my death might catch up to me. If I stay here, maybe I can make myself useful, and at least save the Princess.”

“What happens to Anrianna?” The Professor could see the future unraveling before his eyes.

“I don’t know. Maybe my memory of that has been erased too, but now I can prevent it. Before I left for my Sheebat game you spotted an anomaly. That was Mondex, travelling back from the future to kill me in the past. In the future we were waiting for it because I left a message for myself about what Mondex was planning. I came through the vortex after him, but I don’t know what happened differently this time and he succeeded.”

“Rex I… don’t know what to say. I’m glad you’re alive for now. Maybe it will give me time to find a way to change what happened. At least I might figure out how to keep you alive. I’ll begin studying the anomaly at once.”

Rex dropped Mondex’s time-belt on The Professor’s work bench.

“Maybe this will help.”

{{% 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 %}}

The Professor was dead.

He’d overturned the smoking ruins of his base to find his friend, the quickly cooling body faint on his bio-scans. Obviously he had not been complicit in Jones’ treachery.

The base and his friendship with The Professor were his final bastion of normalcy after his disastrous last mission, but even that was denied him, another certainty cruelly ripped away by Jones. He wished he could return to put another clip of bullets into his corpse.

Lying in the dirt and rubble, he held The Professor’s body to him.

“When did the world go mad, old friend?” he whispered as the sun set behind them.

He’d have to thank The Professor.

Every mission, it was usually The Professor’s neat inventions that got him out of his predicaments. At least the minor predicaments anyway - he usually still had to disarm the bomb or kill the leader or steal the jewels.

Not this time though. They had come on a mission set up by Jones. When Jones had turned on him, the mission no longer mattered. Now he needed to return to base and fill The Professor in.

A thought struck him, “What if The Professor has turned as well?”

He brushed the thought aside. The Professor had helped him, just then to escape. Besides, he had more immediate things to worry about, such as the fresh hoard of guards bearing down on him.

“Yearrgh!” he yelled as he lept towards them, guns blazing.