This story takes place during "Jak II", towards the end, and so may contain some spoilers. This game actually contains some very confusing matters, I think, related to time travel. Many questions have confounded me (as I obviously have too much free time, enabling me to think over such things), and I can't think up answers to any of them. One of these questions is particularly baffling, and I have devised a silly solution to it. This little story sees Daxter thinking over these very same questions, and he may have revealed something Keira doesn't want him knowing….
Samos Sure Has a Green Thumb
It was another ordinary day in Haven City. The sky was choked with smog. The Krimzon Guards continued to patrol the streets, beating or arresting anyone that they imagined to have done something wrong, including looking at them incorrectly or thinking or appearing to be thinking negative thoughts about the Baron. And a certain ottsel was still pestering anyone unlucky enough to be within earshot. Yep, another ordinary day. But, on this particular, ordinary day, this ottsel had some most unusual questions on his mind.
Daxter was currently sitting on a table in the race garage, short legs hanging over the edge, watching Keira work on the Rift Rider (though, to be perfectly honest, it seemed the ottsel's gaze was aimed more at the woman's backside than at the machine before her), a device that was meant to transport the younger version of her father and the younger version of the ottsel's best buddy to the past. A most unusual purpose on an otherwise usual day.
And this time travel, complicated matter that it is, was really starting to get to Daxter. Some things were just not adding up. It bothered him so much, in fact, that he chose to stay here with Keira instead of with his friend (who was busy doing more of the usual, dangerous things involving guns and Metal Heads and Krimzon Guards, and all that excitement was really interfering with Daxter's thinking, especially since it was an action he didn't practice very often). And so now, Daxter was pondering and contemplating the inconsistencies with this matter of time travel.
"You know what I don't get?" he said.
"From what I'm understanding, you don't seem to get any of it," Keira said, not even bothering to look back at the curious ottsel.
He jumped to his feet, the magnitude of his thoughts making sitting no longer possible. He would get to the bottom of this. "But, Jak went to the past, and once he grew up, he stopped Gol and Maia. But, Jak was born after all that happened. So who stopped them before he was sent back to the past? Huh? Who?" Daxter waved his arms around, while Keira finally took a break to look back at the flailing ottsel.
"Well, I…I just don't know."
The ottsel put his fists on his furry hips, a big grin on his face. "I thought up a hard one, didn't I?" He started to pace back and forth on the tabletop, stepping over wrenches and pens and partly-rolled blueprints. "Well, how 'bout this one? You are fixing up the Rift Rider here in the future, and we're gonna send it to the past. But, that same Rift Rider is what we all used to go to the future in the first place. Who sent it to the past to begin with, so you could come to the future and send it back to the past?"
This, too, got Keira thinking, both due to the complexity of the question and the fact that the ottsel had managed to conjure up not one, but two, baffling conundrums.
"Nothing to say?" Daxter said.
"Just…let me concentrate on my work, okay? Or there won't be any Rift Rider to get sent to the past…and then…to the future."
After some time, Daxter's pacing ceased, and he stared at the young woman again, but his eyes were focused on a more respectful height. He crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side and squinched his eyes. Now there was another question that really confounded him.
"Hey, Keira, you're only a year younger than Jak, right?"
She grew stiff, stopping with a wrench in mid-turn. "Um…yeah…"
"But, when Jak's sent to the past, he's probably three or four." Daxter's fists returned to his hips, then, he crossed his arms again. "But, you're not sent back to the past with Jak as a kid, are ya? I mean, greeney made no mention of you."
"I don't…I don't know what you're talking about, Daxter. Just let me…"
"So how was Jak sent to the past at age three or somethin', but then you're born in time to only be a year younger than him?" The ottsel shook his head. "I just don't get it."
"Well, time travel's confusing," Keira said, "We'll probably never completely understand any of it."
Daxter grew silent for some time, and Keira continued her wok, though without the smoothness of before. Finally, she half-turned back to him for a moment to say, "Daxter, can you go think outside? I can't concentrate with you back there."
"Hey, I'm not even doin' nothin' right now! And you did your work just fine earlier."
She turned back to the Rift Rider. "Just…never mind."
Again, Daxter stared at her, the cogs of his mind turning, though not without some effort, as they had become rusted with disuse. Then, he broke out with laughter, causing Keira to jump in surprise. "I got it! I bet old Samos sprouted you, like a tree!" He continued his raucous laughter, wrapping his arms around his stomach and nearly falling off the table, so lost was he in his own mirth. All the while, Keira stood still, staring straight ahead.
Finally, the ottsel's glee subsided, and he jumped off the tabletop, heading towards the exit. "You're right, some mysteries will never be solved."
Do these questions confound you like they do Daxter and I? And did Daxter uncover some well-hidden secret?... Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Please read and review. (And I'm not good at guessing ages, so I'm not sure how accurate I am on young Jak's age.)