Stopwatch 3: Collapse

[Supercape]

GM

 

"You needn't worry. In my hands, without the right equipment, the worst I could do with it is tell you the time" he explained, taking the stopwatch off her and examining it. 

 

"Yes, it truly is a masterpiece. Of course, I can't tell so much from just its exterior. And no doubt it would be all but impervious to physical dissection or examination. I tried with the prototype. And if I couldn't get into the broken blueprint, I certainly won't scratch the surface of the finished masterpiece" he explained. 

 

"However, if you step into my office..."

 

A few moments later...

 

John Smiths office was underground and not an office at all. It was a laboratory hidden beneath his vast library. Whilst not state of the art, it was exceedingly well equipped, and had its own high powered generator.

 

He placed the stopwatch, carefully, under the gaze of some devices that looked very advanced, and customised.

 

"It was only in the last decade that our society developed the science for me to study the fragment in detail" explained John Smith. "Although I was able to study it, in a primitive manner, for many years before that. It still took me considerable time and energy to get the device to work, after a fashion. Controlling it was, however, much more difficult"

 

The Stopwatch stopped ticking. Time around it seemed frozen, the air fuzzy.

 

"This masterpiece, however, is much easier to control" he smiled, manipulating a few knobs on his devices. For all his charm, he had been most careful to make sure his movements and settings were not observed by either Hronos or Velocity.

 

"So, madam, where too?" he asked.

 

"Do you wish to pack a toothbrush?" 

[Thevshi]

Velocity was not exactly convinced that the Stopwatch would be harmless in Smith's hands, but still allowed for him to pick it up and examine it.  She then followed after Smith as he lead them deeper into the house, not particularly surprised by the laboratory that he had in the basement. 

 

Though she tried to watch what he was doing as he handled the Stopwatch, Smith had managed to keep the exact what he had done concealed, which was a bit troubling.  She straightened up some as the Stopwatch stopped ticking and air around it went fuzzy. 

 

"I am not planning to stay that long."  She answered in response to Smith's last comment, before answering his true question.  "But as to where, or when, wherever Robert Harrow, or the one from this timestream, has been taken."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Ah yes! Well, I cannot track your beloved, my dear, not even with this wonder and my genius" he smiled. "Not even Lab, maybe not even the magnificent Doktor Archeville himself. He is gone, poof! like magic!" he said. 

 

"But we can all make an educated guess, can we not? Your Null Zone. Where time, it seems, does not exist, at least as we know it. Well, with this device, we can go anywhere in time, and it seems, even out of it. Yes, indeed, I think I can take us to the Null Zone itself. It appears to be the default setting of the device, in fact...." he said, pondering the fact for a moment. 

 

"So, then, away!" he said, and touched the Stopwatch. 

 

In a moment...

 

In an eternity...

 

There was no way to describe what happened. Time stretched to infinity, and contracted to a pinpoint. It was mind expanding and obliterating at once. And then, they were there. In the Null Zone. A place outside of the normal flow of time. Safe from the destruction of collapse. 

 

The sky was white, that what hit them first, a dull diffuse light without distance. 

 

The ground beneath them was soft, green. It was grass. 

 

They were in countryside. But unlike earth, the horizon didnt stop with the curvature of the earth. It stretched on to an infinite horizon, becoming fainter and fainter, in a dizzying perspective. 

 

"Magnificent!" said John Smith. 

 

"It is like Earth! the smell! the feel!" he said, stroking the ground, and taking his shoes off to walk barefoot. 

 

"This is not a base of operations. This is not a military station. This is a preserve!" he smiled.

 

To emphasise his point, behind them, the low rumbled trumpeting of some enormous plant eating dinosaurs could be heard. And, with heads turned, witnessed in all their glory. 

[Vahnyu]

Hronos regarded the view with what could be described as analytical acknowledgement. There was no wonderment in his stare, but nor was there boredom. Hearing the prehistoric animals gave the Mechanodynamis a pause, before stating "Those... dinosaurs, correct? I recall investigating about them, after the incident of the rampaging Tyranosaurus Rex took place in Liberty Park. They appear to have been displaced, each one from varying time periods. That includes the plant life around us. I believe a lot of these plants have been categorized as extinct, in our timeline of origin, and it would not be unreasonable to conclude tha-..." he stoped.

 

Hronos regarded his feet, and noticed something that was out of place; the plants around his feet were being shredded to bits, and vanishing into thin air. His entire body flared a purple-coloured hue from his eyes and from various joints. The air surrounding him seemed to be moving more violently, and completely out of rythm with the rest of the area. And most concerning of all, his metal plating covering his body featured many spots that appeared dirty. Hronos could sense that the dirt had a weakening effect to his armor. He was rusting...

 

His expression darkening, he informed Velocity and John Smith "... Though I had never before traveled to Null Time, it is as I feared and suspected. We are currently existing in a space were time does not exist, and I house inside me time itself. This peculiarity could be described to cause a similar reaction to having a container with highly compressed air exist in vacuum. Appart from the hazzard to my integrity this situation poses, I would also highly suggest that for the remainder of our stay in Null Time, the two of you keep a safety distance from me at all times." He warned his time-traveling companions

[Thevshi]

Velocity had initially been concerned when Smith had stated he was not able to use the Stopwatch to track Robert to where he had been taken.  But that concern was then quickly alleviated when he stated he could use to Stopwatch to take them to the Null Time (though she hoped that it was the correct one, on the possibility there could be more than one).

 

After the brief disorientation of the trip, the speedster was then hit with another wave of the same from the white sky and the dizzying horizon of the lush countryside that stretched in all directions seemingly infinitely.  Reducing the magnification provided by her goggles, the speedster adjusted to their surroundings just as she realized the presence of things that should not be there, standing still in slight shock at the sight of the massive plant eating dinosaurs that were not too far away from where they had arrived.

 

"A preserve?"  She stated rhetorically to Smith's comment.  "Yeah, that sounds about right."  She added, thinking about what the older version of Robert had stated about Collapse during their meeting. 

 

But she was pulled from those thoughts as the grass around Hronos suddenly withered and died and the robotic hero himself appeared to start rusting in a fraction of a second.

 

She took a step back as Hronos suggested they keep a safe distance, nodding slightly.  She then turned to look around, an unnecessary motion as she could see all around her, but still one of habit.  "So, now how to find Robert, wherever he might be."  She then glanced back over to Hronos with a thoughtful look.  "Or maybe they might find us."  She stated, as she activated the function of the experimental goggles that should allow her to overcome the camouflage used by the time agents and their robots.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The spectacular sensitive senses of Hronos could pick up the trail of temporal activity in this place with ease. In the Null Zone, such energies sparkled like fireworks to him. 

 

Their source was a low dome, only 4 metres high at the top, but spanning a few dozen metres every side. It was opaque, in a kind of grey, fuzzy way. Around it, and indeed on it, grew much flora that was probably ancient in origin, although only a skilled botanist would know for sure. A faint indentation on one side seemed to indicate a door. 

 

The flora was interesting, and certainly provided a degree of camouflage for the structure. It would have been hard to spot from afar without Hronos particular senses. 

 

The flora was perhaps more pertinent, however. 

 

Two tyrannosaurs patrolled the perimeter. 

 

"Just like old times, hmmm?" smirked John Smith at Hronos. The pun was pretty awful. But John Smith seemed to enjoy it. He was hiding, with great skill, admist the foilage and motioning the others to keep quiet and still...

[Thevshi]

It had been about all Velocity could do to keep from zipping off from the others and Hronos led them along the trail of temporal activity he was detecting.  She had tended to dart from side to side as they went, checking to be sure no one was trailing or otherwise observing them as they went.

 

When they came to a stop almost a football field away from the strange dome structure nearly completely hidden by the foliage, the yellow clad speedster came to something of a standstill as she looked out towards the two massive T-Rex.  "And of course this would have to go like a scene from Jurassic Park."  She muttered.

 

Her goggles allowed her to quickly study the two meat-eating dinosaurs closely in a fraction of a second.  "Hmm, they have some sort of electronic devices attached to their necks."  She said to the others.  "I could zip over there and get them to follow me, then double back after I lead them far enough away."

 

[Vahnyu]

Hronos was thankful that he still could at least detect the chronal anomalies in the Null Zone. Even with Velocity's supernatural speed, they didn't have enough time scouring the place for clues. He too spotted the dinosaurs, who, due to their size, were rather hard to miss.

 

"Unfortunately, I am not aware of the location of the Jurassic Park, but if I am not mistaken by your tone, the implications of that statement are rather unfavorable for us." he commented. Hronos had spent a lot of time learning about places and historical events in Earth, but he had still what could be described as a facile understanding of Earth culture. However, his first-hand knowledge of the ferocious strength a Tyrannosaurus Rex alerted him to the gravity of the current situation they were facing. After considering Velocity's proposal for a momment, he said "That is a reasonable course of action. I will take flight, so that I will be able to maintain a clear field of vision. Should you require assistance, I will be certain to intervene as soon as possible."

[Thevshi]

"Alright then, be ready to move."  The yellow clad speedster replied before she was gone in a blur of motion.

 

Almost instantly, Velocity had stopped a couple hundred feet from the T-Rex, jumping up and down and moment and noting as their massive heads turned her way and they started moving towards here.  She could feel the ground shake beneath her feet from their approach, and knew she should probably be scared.  But to her, they were just going soooooo slow.

 

The speedster then began leading the two meat eating dinosaurs away from where Hronos and Smith were, easily staying ahead of them, but not so much so that they quickly gave up the chase.  She looped them around towards the opposite side of the dome, and quickly reached a point where they would no longer follow, apparently not wanting to get too far from the dome.

 

Figuring she had led them far enough so the others could approach the dome, Velocity accelerated and all but vanished from the view of the two dinosaurs.  She quickly circled back around and then followed along the path that Hronos and Smith would have taken towards the dome, her speed allowing her to catch up with those two before the T-Rex even realized she was gone.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The lumbering dinosaurs where large and a little ungainly, but moved at a considerable pace. Even if they could easily outrun a man, they could not hold a candle to the incredible speed of velocity. 

 

Whilst she could draw them out to a certain distance, at that point they seemed to stop, as if irritated or in pain. The cybernetic implant was, it seemed, a leash of sorts - stray too far from the dome and punishment kicked into their primitive brain. 

 

"That's our cue" said Smith, as he crept forward to the Dome - he was silent and fast, moving through the undergrowth as a man of his unparalleled experience would do. 

 

the dome itself was almost featureless, made of a smooth metal which could not be recognised but appeared highly tough and resilient. One could hardly scratch it's super hard surface. 

 

There was only one door, almost blending in with the rest of the dome, with what appeared to be an electronic lock by its side. 

[Vahnyu]

Hearing Smith, Hronos silently nodded his head, and flew above the human's head, making sure to keep an extra eye on him, as well as make sure that no undue harm would come to him. Upon reaching the dome, he smoothly floated downwards, towards the door, and ahead of Smith. He tried opening the door, but it appeared that the lock was engaged. He tried examining it, but it was clear to him that the lock was heavily specialized, and would require a certain amount of expertise that he did not possess. That was when the spark of an idea flashed through his mind. Examining his arm for a second, he extended it towards the lock, and made contact with it. "If my calculations are correct, by touching the lock, I should be able to transfer Time to it, causing the electrons that run through it to accelarate beyond parameters and superheat the device, which in turn should cause the lock to short out." He explained to Smith. "It should not take more than half a minute."

[Thevshi]

Having managed to lead the two tyrannosaurs on a small little chase, Velocity doubled back well out of their sight in a blink of an eye.  She was able to catch back up with Smith and Hronos just as the later destroyed the lock on the door to the dome.

 

"Hmm, I guess that works but if you had waited I could have vibrated through the walls and just tried opening it from the inside."  The speedster stated with a wide smile a she came skidding to a halt.  "Anyway, no worries, might not have been able to open it any easier anyway."

"Shall we?"

 

[Supercape]

GM

 

The door slid open, its circuits fried, but still silent in movement. Inside were the featureless white walls that gave a sense of infinity. One could not discern wall from ceiling from floor. It was all to easy to bump into a wall. 

 

It was identical in nature to the room where Velocity had conferred with the Future Robert. 

 

The only land mark, so to speak, was a man. 

 

His skin was flawless, and not a single follicle of hair was to be seen. He was dressed in what could only be described as a skin tight spandex costume, again, without a mark, over his entire body up to his neck. His eyes were purest green in colour. His features were striking, but not handsome or ugly, more chiselled and sharp. 

 

"How may I be of service?" he asked in beautiful melodic tones. All that was missing was wind chimes. 

[Thevshi]

Velocity had slipped through the door the millisecond after it was open, but then quickly came to a halt a short distance beyond as she tried to reorient after once again given unusual nature of the interiors of the room.  She was not about to test whether or not the room really continued on infinitely at high speed.

 

She considered the man who seemed to be in the center of the room (if that truly was the center) for a moment, before speaking up.  "My name is Velocity, and we are here looking for Robert Harrow, who was taken from our time stream."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Welcome to the Null Dome, Velocity. I am the Caretaker"

 

The small bow was perfectly done, and perfectly polite. 

 

"I will be happy to assist you in any way, in accordance with my programming" came the melodic voice, now clearly recognisable as artificial - no human could possess such a beautiful control. 

 

The caretaker was an android of the finest calibre, it seemed. 

 

"Time in the Null Zone occurs outside of normal space-time events" he explained, slowly and calmly. "Within the local null-time, A Mr. Harrow arrived in the Null Dome quite recently as in perfect health. No harm has become of him. If you wish, I can take you to our medical facilities were he is currently resting"

 

He paused a moment, before spotting Hronos. 

 

"I am aware of your artificial companions function. The Mechanodyname of time, a legend and a fact. His functioning in the Null Zone poses a threat to local time dilatation. It would be incautious to proceed to the medical facility in view of this" he said, not faltering from his polite tones. 

[Thevshi]

Velocity listened to the Caretaker’s greeting and brief explanation of the Null Zone and the information that Robert had just recently arrived and was resting in the hospital wing.  A feeling of relief came over her, along with an impulse to set out and search for him, though she rather wondered if that might not be difficult given the bizarre nature of the Null Dome.  She recalled when she had been spirited away to the Null Zone and that it was likely that she had been in the medical wing as well.

 

As the Caretaker mentioned the problems Hronos was having, she frowned slightly before looking back at Hronos and Smith.  "Well, perhaps we should split up for the moment?"  She suggested quietly.  "I could go on to the medical wing to check on Robert, and you two could take a look around some."

[Vahnyu]

After Hronos apologised to Velocity for his rush action in disabling the lock, he followed Velocity inside the dome. Upon learning from the Caretaker that lord Harrow was in good health, he let a sigh of relief. "That is good to hear, at the very least." It still did not answer what the people who kidnapped him wanted to do with Harrow, or at the very least, what they wanted to do with him alive.

 

"Regardless, what you say is correct, and while I have known of the existance of the Null Zone, I have made certain in the past not to venture in this realm, or at the very least, not without having a good reason." Hronos nodded in agreement. To Velocity, he responded. "That is Understood, miss Velocity. The well-being of Lord Harrow has top priority at the moment. Therefore, I will do as you say, for the time being. However,..." Hronos noted, speaking towards the Caretaker. "When you are not otherwise engaged, mister Caretaker, I would ask that you converse with me on a matter regarding the other four Mechanodynames."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Very good, Sir, Madam" bowed the Caretaker in a perfectly dance like movement, before taking off Velocity to the medical bay. 

 

In the Null Dome, everything was white. It was very hard to see the walls or know one place from the other, although the Caretaker navigated perfectly. Down one featureless corridor through a featureless door and into a featureless door. The pure whiteness, a soft light everywhere, gave the effect of endless space in all directions. 

 

In the room they were in were two men. Time Agents, as far as Velocity could tell, looking over a grey slab, where, it seemed, Robert was encased, in suspended animation, completely frozen. 

 

"What are you doing here?" gasped one, a blond handsome man, surprised at Velocities entrance. His surprise was mirrored by the other agent, a slightly smaller woman of what looked like Indian descent who kept silent but studied Velocity carefully.

 

"You were not meant to come here! We don't need you! Don't interfere!" he pleaded. 

[Thevshi]

Velocity followed after the Caretaker at normal speed, though it was about all she could do to keep from rushing off ahead or zipping around impatiently.  When she entered the room, she had quickly taken in the details, her mouth dropping open at the sight of Robert in some sort of suspended animation.

 

The shock of the scene was interrupted as one of the time agents spoke up, telling her she was not meant to be here and telling her not to interfere. 

 

A scowl came to the speedster's lovely face as she set herself in a defensive stance, scanning the area around her for any invisible agents that might by lying in wait.

 

"Did you really think you could just kidnap Robert and I wouldn't come looking for him?"  She shouted to the two time agents in front of her, keeping a close eye on them as well thanks to her superspeed.  "And you damn well better believe I am going to interfere!  Now wake him up!  Or YOU will regret it!"

[Supercape]

The blonde agent put his hands up. 

 

"It's not as easy as that, Velocity" he said. 

 

"Robert is in a state of temporal stasis. Its the only way we could extract the DNA, uncontaminated..."

 

"If you interfere now, you could kill him!" explained the woman. 

 

The Caretaker interjected politely. 

 

"Robert Harrow is in temporal Stasis, madam" he intoned, melodic voice addressing Velocity. "The slightest event could rupture the delicate cocoon he is in. The field can be constructed, but slowly, and carefully. Any rash action here and his life would be imperilled. I must explain that I am obliged to protect all life within this facility as my first and foremost obligation. If you were to interfere, I would intervene" he explained, his voice as calm as silk. 

 

"We had to place him in this state" explained the Time Agent. "Its the only way to remove the Stopwatch's contamination from his DNA. And, for that matter, yours" he said. 

 

"That kiss you gave him in Fiji? trace amounts of your saliva, and hence, your DNA too. Just what we had hoped to get"

[Thevshi]

"You could try."  Velocity replied coldly to the Caretaker, her stance still somewhat defiant although she was not making any hostile movements.  The time agents and the Caretaker had said enough to make her hesitant to actually do anything, but that did not stop her from still being livid. 

 

Focusing back on the time agents, she continued, "See, this is why we don't get along and I refused to give you all the Stopwatch when Robert had gotten ahold of it.  You don't bother asking or talking about things, you just show up and demand or kidnap people and do what you believe is the right thing.  If it was not for how Robert was acting when he had the Stopwatch, I would be pretty inclined not to believe a thing anyone from your organization says and suspect that Collapse was just some made up threat."

 

"So how about starting now.  You said you are removing the Stopwatch contamination from his DNA, why?  How will that help Robert?  Or is it only something that will benefit your organization?  And what do you need my DNA for?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Your perspective is unfortunately three dimensional" said the man, not moving. It was hard to say if this was out of fear, caution, or diplomacy. Probably all three. 

 

"You don't understand the devastation that your so...that Collapse has wrought. Entire worlds, galaxies, in some cases, even universes. And every time he manages to bring to realities crashing together, collapsing them onto each other, he grows even stronger. Even now, his power is beyond anything we can possibly hope to defeat. Our only hope lies in the past. And he knows it too..."

 

"The stopwatch was his own creation, designed to ensure his own existence in as many time streams as possible. But it also a potential weapon against him. It is coded to Robert Harrow's own DNA, which means it is also, in part, coded to his own. Which means, potentially, we can use it against him. Collapse knows this, but his hunger for maximising his own power and existence has consumed him. I am sorry...this is not easy to hear. But by any measure, your son is insane" he said, gulping at his own brutal words. 

 

"But this is only half of the equation. The other half...is to create your Son here, in the Null Zone, where he will be shielded from connection with the other Collapse"

[Thevshi]

Velocity frowned slightly as she listened to the male time agent.  "No, I do generally understand the danger he represents, but as I just stated, I only have your word that he even exists.  And as I also stated, your credibility is not particularly high with me."

 

She then put a hand on her temple in frustration as he talked about the Stopwatch.  "I know all that already about the Stopwatch, but what benefit will Robert have by you removing the taint?  And how long will that take?"

The yellow clad speedster then lowered the hand as her mouth opened slightly in surprise at the time agent's last statement.  "Wait...you're going to create him here?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Robert has...surely...been feeling the effects of the Stopwatch, yes? a...craving? perhaps? the effect is as much psychological as genetic, although we can at least remove the latter. But you must have noticed the effect it has on him. Nervousness around the stopwatch, anxiety, nightmares. An acute sense of..time..." he paused, to see if anything he was saying was registered. 

 

"The process is virtually complete. We have nearly removed the genetic contaminant of the Stopwatch. The effect if akin to a virus, in some ways, but works not only on the DNA but in quantum causation. The analogy is suitable, however. I am afraid a more detailed explanation would take some time. You may have it, with your super speed. I don't" he explained. 

 

"The next stage was...is...the creation of an uncontaminated baby, here, in the Null Zone. Your child, who would, we hope, be unconnected to the Collapse entity, and would potentially be able to utilise the stopwatch against him. A rather disturbing thought, to fight against yourself. But it is about the only plan we have..." he explained. 

 

"And it is a risky one at that. If nothing else, the Collapse entity will try to stop us..."

[Thevshi]

"Robert was able to always know what time it was, even if he did not always pay attention to that."  Velocity admitted.  "And while he did have discomfort around fragments of a prototype Stopwatch we found, the finished Stopwatch was kept well away from him.  So he was doing well at getting past the cravings for it."

 

She then looked back down at Robert as the time agent mentioned the process was almost complete.  From what it sounded like, it was likely a good thing, the way they went about it still irritated her.  "You all could have at least asked instead of just snatching him."  She stated.

 

She then turned back to regard the agent as he mentioned the other part of their plan, frowning slightly.  "You're cloning him?"  She said, in a slight bit of shock at what all their plan entailed.  The young speedster was not quite sure what to make of this plan or the implications of this group having an infant clone of her and Robert's son.