I AM A TIME BOMB

LR =>TO

by Mr. David R. Dorrycott

Snowaters rechecked her scans, still nothing. "'Lith they were here" she reported. "But they never left and I detect some kind of temporal rift" she tapped a few keys bringing a different set of sensors on-line. "About two days ago, plus or minus about an hour". She stood up, stretching slightly to relax tense muscles. "We need that cargo" she almost growled. "So we have to find them".

<I've completed crunching your data input> the alien answered. <It appears a large temporal detonation occurred here. I'm not yet certain if the results were positive. Negative. Or simply chaos. Are you sure its the cargo. Or Mimi your worried about>.

Dropping into her command chair Snowaters tapped the chairs arm, bringing a new view onto the screen. "Mind your own business 'Lith. Two days. If it was a random or positive burst fragments of the bomb would be spread forward. We've detected no such fragments. It has to be negative." She paused, thinking about what could have happened. "Warm up the jump drive, as soon as we know how far we're going after them".

At that moment Mimi was picking herself off the ships deck. Smoke lay thick throughout the ship and breathing brought in acrid fumes, causing her to cough uncontrollable for a few minutes. Her lungs burned strangely as she fought for breath. Finally regaining some control over her breathing she crawled over Terry's unconscious body. Reaching the wall she dragged herself up to a small unit, pressing a button. "Computer Reset" she screamed, drawing more of the deadly fumes deep into her lungs. "Scub Atmosphere Program AS1". Finished, she slid back to the deck, her eyes closed as she slid back into her own private nightmare.

<I have a lock> Kalith finally reported. <Temporal point Minus 2,431,873,905 years. Plus or minus a year.>

Looking up from her meal Snowaters made her decision. "Takes us to them 'Lith, I just hope they're still alive."

The Star Diamond folded into itself, appearing to implode as it slipped from the Brawl reality to another, even less friendly environment.

Terry slowly settled back in his chair as he pressed a wet compress against his forehead. "Are you trying to tell me that time bomb was a real TIME BOMB" he asked, wincing at the sound of his own voice.

Casey started to nod in agreement, suddenly thinking better about the idea. "Navigation is back on-line" she reported. "Unless something happened to the universe we were thrown back almost two and a half billion years in time." She glanced over at the sleeping Mimi. "She reset the computers or we would have slowly suffocated from the electrical fire. I just hope she wakes up soon."

Terry groaned in pain, standing slowly. "I'm going to the bridge, maybe we can figure a way out of this."

Casey almost laughed. "Oh? So you have a time drive hidden on this ship" she asked, a little of the bubbling laughter returning to her voice.

"Nope" the man replied, looking back at the two women. "But maybe we can set up a beacon and someone from the future can come back for us."

The woman smiled. "Nice idea Terry, but we don't have anything that would survive that long."

Terry groaned again. "Well, there are..."

His speech was abruptly interrupted by a page from the computer. <Incoming communication from Star Diamond, shall I reply?>

The two looked at each other, then raced for the bridge.

Snowaters studied the crippled ship on her screen. Her own ship wasn't in much better shape, reverse time realities played hob on ship systems. A lot had been repaired in the two years they had been waiting but it would be months before everything was back on-line and she shuddered to think about what a fast forward flow was going to do. She tapped her comm-key again. "Star Diamond to Atlas Aerospace, this is Snowaters" she called. "I will be docking at your port airlock in twelve minutes, please reply". She looked at the battered ship again. "Kalith" she whispered, "Even if they are alive how in the name of anyone are we going to transport that bulk into another reality".

There was a significant pause, <This ship does not currently have the power required to piggyback that great a mass. The probability of field collapse resulting in structural failure is 100%>

The woman groaned. "What if we tap into their power systems as well" she asked.

<Atlas Aerospace no longer has faster than light power systems, they were sheared off during transit. Most likely due to the temporal field being too small for the ship size>

The woman stood, approaching the huge screen before her. "That's it" she exclaimed. "I knew something looked wrong about their ship" She stared at the crippled ship before her. "They aren't going to be happy about this since they just bought her."

"Atlas Aerospace to Star Diamond" came Terry's voice over her communications system. "Is that really you Snowy?"

A sudden smile lit Snowaters face. "Yes" she answered, almost dancing from relief. "I couldn't just leave that cargo lost in time now could I" she answered, stepping to her command chair. "How are you? I'll be docking in three minutes".

"Casey and I are fine" Terry answered, there was a few moments pause. "Um, Snowy? We need medical help. Mimi doesn't look too good."

Long range scanners suddenly chirped, three dark deadly ships appeared at extreme range and the women's face hardened. "Bring her aboard and yourselves. Blow off the cargo, we have company" she ordered.

Moments later the two ships docked, racing against time as the trio of deadly ships approached.