Life is Strange - Stranger Storms Part 1

by Mahros

Continuing from Beyond the Storm, and Far from Arcadia Bay, Max, Chloe, their adopted daughter and a software engineer from beyond the vortex are reunited after 20 years apart but hunted. A sprinkling of drug references, swearing and violence but mostly Max and Chloe together again.

PROLOGUE

Osira stood watching the storm with fear-laced awe. It really did look like something that could destroy the world and made the concerns of humans seem insignificant. Here was something beyond nature with its whirlwinds and refracted colours but the time pauses were the most disorientating. They made her want to also stop, as though she should not be moving when lightning was immobile in the sky. Even the sound was distorted, echoing weirdly with the howl of winds seeming distant one moment and close the next, thunder rumbling, then stopping as though drawing breath before continuing at a different volume.

The centre was difficult to see but lower than they were as the force of the storm had excavated a hole at least forty meters deep. It looked darker than it should, like a maw consuming everything around. Yet, where they stood was calmer, like a second eye to the storm. The dust storms that spun around the central vortex never came close to where they were stood, instead whipping around them, which was probably for the best as shards of metal and glass were caught up in them.

Hovering at Osira's shoulder was Obix, her mech, bewildered by the storm and looking everywhere in trying to get some understanding of it. They had already viewed it at a distance when Osira had cobbled together a device that detected brief loss of the negative charge on electrons. Told by a gaggle of scientists working for the Troy Central Government to not get in their way, Osira had strode away from them and detected a trail leading away from the anomaly.

Following it had been long and arduous. On her return, the anomaly had definitely increased in size and effect. She had, however, returned with two others on whom the readings had indicated a normality lacking elsewhere. Osira had been certain they were key to stopping the anomaly and Chloe Price and Emma Caulfield-Price had returned with her. Although they had driven back to Troy, the journey had made her walk to them through the Blood Desert and Glass Bead Beach seem pleasant in comparison.

They were all in rad-suits, formless overalls that just about protected them, enhanced with a paste that Chloe had invented. From behind, Emma and Chloe were about the same height but the former's clothing was tighter at the waist while the latter had a bird mask on. Osira could not hear them over the cacophony from the storm but watched as they held hands and stepped forward. Deliberately walking into that maelstrom was not something she could have done.

The two women did not belong in this time and place but that did not guarantee the storm would end. Osira was moved by their sacrifice: it seemed unlikely anyone could survive that howling, time-warping cyclone. Then she was wrenched from her feet.

The bubble of relative calm moved with Emma and Chloe. Hundred mile an hour winds slammed into Osira and then she was flying.

It was terrifying, to have no control. She felt as though a giant was toying with her. Osira almost immediately lost her sense of up and down, tumbling through the air and struggling just to breathe. There was no sign of anyone else; Emma, Chloe nor Obix. Her vision darkened and she fought to have some sense of where she was.

Then it was pitch black. A complete absence of light to the point where having her eyes closed or open made no difference. The only noise was of the blood rushing in her ears. She felt suspended, utterly alone and afraid.

Osira hit the ground.

ONE

Osira Greystream had been through a lot in the last couple of years but nothing had disorientated her as much as the trip through the storm. She could not even stand and felt like being sick at the same time as her head hurt like someone had hammered it from the inside. Obix steadied her and Osira wanted to hug the machine, even if it was essentially embracing a walking computer.

"I don't think we should be here, mistress," Obix stated.

Osira's sight was blurred and she was struggling to focus. They appeared to be in a large, rundown warehouse. Mostly it was deserted aside from boxes stacked in one corner and, in the middle, the most confusing mass of technology with thick power cables feeding it. It had a seat, pretty much a regular, black leather one, with a slight woman of Chloe's age in it.

Osira felt awkward, or at least as awkward as the migraine and dizziness would allow her, observing the reunion but there was nowhere for her to go. By the standards of the 403rd year of the Grand Fault Order, they were an unremarkable family. Chloe Price, blue haired and full of energy, half out of the rad-suit with the bird mask tossed aside to better gaze at the brunette. Max Caulfield, who Chloe had said was dead, svelte, sad and caked in blood yet trying look simultaneously at Chloe and the red haired girl. Emma Caulfield-Price, red-haired, slim (there was never enough food to be otherwise) and staring at Max, knowing her more by instinct than memory.

Max, facing her, looked at Osira. Chloe, almost comically, turned to see what she was looking at, swung back to Max, not wanting to stop drinking in the look of her, then whipped back.

"Osira?" Chloe gasped, opened her mouth to speak further, decided anything else was equally facile and said nothing.

Unplugging Max proved awkward as the contraption she was attached to had her blood pumping around parts of it. Osira stood awkwardly at the side, uncertain whether to try to help as she was as likely to get in the way.

"Did we miss much?" Chloe asked at one point causing Max to laugh but she then coughed up blood.

"You need medical attention," Obix noted. "Please allow me to assist."

Chloe waved him back, disconnecting Max from the machine carefully but efficiently, even though she could not have seen it before. The brown-haired woman looked pale and wan, with Emma and Chloe helping her out of the seat. The former went to fetch something for Max to sit on while the latter just gazed at the frail woman and then embraced her.

Osira was at a loss. Max appeared gaunt, almost spectral with dried blood on her face, and clinging to Chloe as though intending never to let go. To say their reunion after twenty years was personal was an utter understatement but Osira had her own problems. There was dirt on the ground from her time but nothing else beyond what she had been carrying. Whatever this newer world contained, she did not belong in it any more than Emma and Chloe had belonged in hers.

"Mistress, I do not know how to proceed," Obix told her. Its default was to protect her and wait for commands but was obviously disturbed by what had happened. Osira sympathized.

"Neither do I," she admitted and walked to the doors of the warehouse. Using a side exit rather than the main shutter, Osira peered outside and gaped.

For a minute, she thought they were on a different world. The sky was blue, the air clear and even the smell was somehow fresher. It was like abruptly being younger or surfacing from dirty water.

She sneezed.

Her head hurt even more in the brightness as she squinted at the strange world. The buildings were less strange: dilapidated concrete and steel warehouses with signs showing familiar letters but unfamiliar words. There was a large pastel blue car just outside but only a distant rumble hinted at more traffic. Osira returned to the warehouse with its faint light struggling through dirty, high windows. It had clearly been cleared of everything, ending up as a large, empty space, which Max had only made a dent on with the piece of jury-rigged machinery.

There were still screens lit up but the displays meant nothing to Osira but she peered at the contraption from professional curiosity and to distract from the headache.

"We're getting out of here," Chloe announced, her voice raw and cheeks damp. She and Emma helped Max to the car, which was cramped with all five of them in it. Chloe drove with Max in the passenger seat, head turned to look at the blue-haired woman. The back was cramped with Obix in the middle, ill-at-ease, and both Osira and Emma starting out of the windows at the houses with lawns and people strolling in short sleeves.

Troy City was large and bustling but it had nothing on this ancient metropolis. In the distance were the skyscrapers that would one day become city shield-walls but still in their gleaming splendor. Vehicles were larger and so numerous that it seemed impossible that so many were needed. Automated, unlike the one they were in, but they came in a bewildering array of colours. Trees grew in the sidewalks but tended rather than wild, where humans were in control rather than struggling to hold back nature.

And the humans! There were several people who were overweight and, judging by their clothing, they did not seem to be the wealthiest ones. Although often dressed differently, they also seemed bland compared with her time. There was no radiation shield overhead, just clear blue skies spotted with puffs of cloud, and their freedom to walk in dresses and T-shirts was the most difficult thing for her to accept.

There was a strange mix of technology, with the cars on par and certainly larger than she was used to but there was the occasional mech on the street that seemed hilariously crude.

Chloe was driving at a low speed, in marked contrast to how she had driven the RV, which was just as well as she spent half the journey looking at Max but it did give Osira longer to study the city. The most remarkable aspect was the size, driving past rows and rows of houses and restaurants. They turned into a more sub-urban area, guided by Max's rasping directions and came to a halt outside a house very similar to others around it.

A small, neat lawn with low fence ahead of a brick fascia, windows without storm shutters and a white plastic door which Max unlocked. There seemed to be no personal recognition devices, just an LED light over the door as they trooped inside.

It was tidy but impersonal, looking more like a hotel than a home. The pictures were of scenery, although fascinatingly verdant land, and the shelves had hardly any ornaments. There were, however, scores of books of quantum mechanics, advanced electronics and macro-physics. Max's search for a way to open a portal to her time had been almost obsessive.

Osira decided not to mention that unknown numbers of people had died in her time because of it. Although Osira was more than competent at soft-int programing for mechs, a quick thumb through one of the books made her suspect what Max had researched was far beyond her, even if she could read it.

"We're ordering food," Chloe called from the kitchen. "I'll just get what… crunchy cricket chow mien? The beef is guaranteed vat grown? Are we in the right world?"

"It's all good, Chloe," Max assured her. "Real meat is… well, like smoking when you… left. It happens but not quite acceptable."

"And I thought Osira's world was bad," Chloe grumbled but used Max's phone to call the takeaway service, after querying seaweed pizzas.

"If there's Soylent Green, I'm going to eat the grass instead," Chloe declared after.

"I'll make the introductions," Emma said. "Osira is a soft-int specialist, Obix her mech. Max is… my other mom."

"I'm sorry, Em," Max told her. "For not being there. For… everything."

"Hey, you got us home, mom," Emma responded, hugging her. "Chloe-mom looked after me."

Chloe looked uncomfortable but Osira was beginning to think Emma was right. The woman with blue hair had protected her daughter better than she thought and prepared her for the world of Telkia. The trouble was, they were now in a world - or at a time - where different skills were needed.

What to do in the future was put aside as conversation picked up and Chloe notably let Emma do much of the talking, explaining about the world and their lives there. A small drone brought the food and Osira realized how hungry she was. Max's house was designed for only one or two people but Chloe solved the seat shortage by having them sat cross-legged in the living room in a circle and, for a while, they were quiet as they ate.

"What does Obix run off?" Max asked.

"Solar-supplanted fusion cells," Osira replied.

"Does he not want to join us?" she queried as Obix was stood in one corner, coming out of stand-by at his name being mentioned.

"Its programming does give what you would think of as satisfaction from human interaction but mostly from doing what we want," Osira explained. Even though mechs had certain traits to make them seem human, Osira had seen too much of their coding to anthropomorphise them, regardless of their façade. Obix's personality matrix could have been inserted into any mech. Indeed, it was possible to take his soft-int core and transfer it to a body with a different shape, features or even gender.

Emma continued with her tale of growing up in encampments, watched by Chloe and Max. Even though Osira had only a rudimentary knowledge of where they had lived, it was obvious Emma was making it sound an adventure rather than a struggle for survival. There were enough tales that it really did sound exciting and fun at times, dancing to long forgotten songs, a juvenile Grawl-lion loose in their encampment, Chloe sabotaging the trucks of a rival group, Emma being carried on the shoulders of an obsolete mech, the simple pleasures of successfully growing their own crops and Chloe increasing the yields. Chatting with the Apocalypse Two Cult, who terrified Troy and the surrounding urban areas but had sat laughing and gossiping with Chloe and a ten year old Emma as though the group had not slaughtered the Lavender Hill community.

As night fell outside, Osira mostly listened, occasionally filling in details of the civilized areas or technology when Chloe and Emma did not know. Max and Chloe sat together, an arm around the other, but it was so bittersweet for the former that Osira wanted to comfort her even though she was rarely tactile.

Eventually, Chloe declared: "Come on, Max, you're half-passed out. We'll be here in the morning, I promise," and led her upstairs.

"There are no spare beds, so it's the couch and chair," Max apologized as they went. "I can't tell you what it means to have you home, Em."

Only once they had gone upstairs did Emma start crying and Osira silently held her. There were no words that could mitigate twenty years spent apart from one of her mothers and the life she should have had.

TWO

Max hated feeling so exhausted. She wanted to spend all night listening to Emma and Chloe, as though to blink would cause them to disappear. If she stopped looking at them for a moment, Max could believe they were an illusion and she was still strapped into the machine. The joy of having them return was almost painful.

Easing into bed, Max felt more alive than in longer than she could recall, despite the weariness. Chloe softly kissed her forehead.

"Sleep well," she smiled.

"Where are you going?" Max asked, her voice rasping. "I didn't tear time for you to sleep downstairs." Only once Chloe was beside her, arms encompassing her, did Max fall asleep.

Back when she was eighteen, on returning to Arcadia Bay, Max had manifested the ability to rewind time. It allowed her to correct mistakes but it came with two costs; the greater was a storm that had wreaked havoc on the town, the lesser was nose bleeds and headaches. How and why she had gained the power remained a mystery that all her research only reinforced the sense of it being impossible.

On leaving Arcadia Bay, she had sworn never to use it again, only instinctively doing so when Emma was falling down the stairs.

Using the machine, partly powered by whatever was in her blood that enabled the ability, had taken all she had.

Yet sleep and success reinvigorated her. Sunlight slipped through the thin curtains and Max woke to Chloe beside her. For a while, Max studied her, grateful that the opportunity to do so. The last time she had seen Chloe was in the full bloom of youth. Blue hair covered her strong cheekbones as she lay facing Max Chloe had only grown more beautiful in the intervening period, the first lines on her face showing laughter but worry in her life. Max wanted to know every detail.

Breakfast was more sat around eating Cheerios Extra! wherever they could find space to sit or stand. The building was sufficient for one but even two was taxing. Even if one just waited in a corner, having five was not going to work for long: they had almost formed a queue for the shower. Yet, for now, all Max wanted to do was enjoy having her family home.

Osira had her small vac-bot apart, seeing how it operated while absent-mindedly eating the cereal.

"Hey, mom," Emma greeted her and Max felt her heart skip. It was not like Max had been her mother but it meant so very much that she called her that.

"Hey, Em," she responded, grinning.

"How are you?" Emma queried.

"Much better, thanks. How about you? This must all seem strange."

"Sort of. Like… returning to a dream," Emma said, frowning, and Max nodded understanding.

Chloe came downstairs wearing one of Max's T-shirts and scrubbing her head and everything was normal when normal was strange.

"Hey, Chloe-mom, tell Max-mom about the Plank Gang raid," Emma said.

"How did we raise a snitch?" Chloe asked Max, shaking her head and pouring cereal. She waved a spoon to indicate Emma should recount it.

"This just… this has no programming?" Osira queried. "There's no soft at all?"

"Nope," Max told her. "I hope you can put that back together."

Osira nodded confidently although Max was not entirely convinced but, then, her opinion was perhaps coloured by the woman just being there when she ached to just be with Chloe and Emma.

"The Plank Gang aren't bad but…" Emma began.

"Tossers," Chloe interjected around a mouth full of Cheerios.

"…but supplies are always short. There's not enough of anything out in the wastes so say a community has their crops blighted or blown away in a particularly strong storm or someone gets injured and their out of medicines, they try to trade but, sometimes they steal instead, when they haven't got enough of anything."

"I frigging told them to cross-fertilize their wheat," Chloe said, sitting on the kitchen counter.

"Mom… Chloe-mom, had been growing hardier crops," Emma explained.

"I did listen to Professor Grant, sometimes," Chloe shrugged.

"It made ours more survivable with higher yields," Emma continued.

"I wanted to boost my Mary-J," Chloe interrupted and Emma looked at her in exasperation. Chloe rolled her eyes and indicated Emma should go on.

"I was probably thirteen…"

"Twelve."

"…and they came at night, a group of a dozen armed men and women and it was the first time I can remember being scared. We had gone to sleep for the night when the next thing I know there's a stranger, stinking of oil and seeming massive in a grey rad-suit, carrying a shotgun. He starts shouting but then Chloe-mom is there and soothing him, leading him away. Mom turns and tells me to stay and… I want to help but I can't. I just can't move. Maybe part of me thinks it's a nightmare or I'm just too scared."

"Emma, you did right," Chloe said. "There's a time to fight and that wasn't it. Did you see me tackling him? Or grabbing his gun and shoving it in his… mouth?"

"There's shouting and, at one point a gunshot, and I do get up, then Chloe-mom is back in the trailer, takes her hood off, and explains that she has to go and will be back. I want to scream at her not to but I don't because I know it's important and she wouldn't go otherwise," Emma said and Max studied her as though trying to force memories into her mind. So pale - the rad suits would restrict sunlight - but with curling red hair to her shoulders and the green eyes she had been named for bright even without make-up. Chloe, restless even now, head down at the memory but then looking up and grinning at Max.

"I peer out the window of the RV - even with shutters they are scratched cloudy from storms…" Emma paused to look at the kitchen window, completely transparent through two layers of glass, "…and I can see Chloe-mom among the rest of Cowl's people. They all had their heads down and shoulders slumped in their suits. Chloe-mom stirs them up and half a dozen people go with her to get our food and belongings back.

"She looks at me or at least the RV, holds her hand spread over her heart then drives off.

"And I'm alone and scared…"

"I had to, Em," Chloe said quietly.

"I know," Emma smiled. "But it feels like I'm holding my breath all the time you're gone. Holly comes and gets me helping tidy the camp and having it ready for us moving, even though it means leaving the few crops the Plank gang didn't take. The night turns to dawn and to day and I'm not the only one scared. They talk softly but one or two are already discussing leaving and letting the others catch up if you and the others return.

"Then you come back - there's alarm at first because the trailer isn't one of ours but a long blast on the horn - let us know it's you. All the food, supplies and even a stuffed toy of mine."

Emma shrugged.

"I've felt scared again but there was always this sense that everything would work out. What happened, Chloe-mom? How did you manage it?"

"The bad men were smoking mommy's pot," Chloe said with a straight face. "If anyone ever tells you it's wrong, there's the proof it's not because they were so stoned that they barely resisted."

Chloe sighed.

"I think they were so relieved at getting enough food to see them through the winter that they celebrated when they should have been watching. Plank's gang weren't really bad - not like Rox or Krav's lot of crazies - and I think they were feeling guilty. Not enough to return anything but enough to get wasted. They had Gillie's moonshine too - she died when you were… fourteen, I think, as a rad-hound scratch went sceptic - and she really knew how to brew good stuff. Between that and my weed, they weren't as alert as they could have been.

"We left them alive but it probably would have been more merciful to kill them. We took our stuff back and some of theirs. Angry and scared and righteous, we stripped them of most weapons, a turbine and some other bits and pieces."

"They struck first," Max said quietly. Even Osira was paying attention, although Max found it hard to tell what she thinking. Certainly nothing Chloe said indicated any surprise or horror and Max wondered at that other world that seemed to be the destiny of the current one.

"You got our things back," Emma nodded, rubbing Chloe's back as she sat hunched over.

"There were kids in their encampment. Some younger than you were then. I saw at least one pregnant woman. Maybe it all worked out for them; perhaps got to a township that wanted them or found somewhere clean."

"You never said," Emma whispered.

"It was us or them," Chloe stated and reached over to rub Emma's arm. "They took to avoid starving. We took it back to avoid starving. Besides, I couldn't let them keep my weed. That was just going too far.

"We're home," Chloe declared, tapping the kitchen work surface. "Let's decide what that means."

Max smiled at her not wanting to dwell on the difficulties of the other world, especially as Emma had wanted to tell a more upbeat tale. Yet it all felt normal, as though everything had clicked back into place. The familiarity and ease between them felt so comfortable as to still seem somewhat unreal, as though there should be more awkwardness.

"I can't stay here," Osira piped up from the living room, peering at the computer processor from the vac-bot. Her nose sounded blocked. "Obviously, Obix can't either." The android took the small, half-full box from the smaller machine and emptied it into the trash can in the kitchen. Max watched him with fascination, looking for quirks that gave away that he was not human.

"Why not?" Chloe countered, swung her legs, caught the cupboard with her heels and smiled an apology to Max. "You can walk outside without a space suit. You can eat without checking a Geiger counter. There's showers! Sure, there's hassles but it's not bad."

"Chloe Price! You never stopped complaining about Arcadia Bay and you were getting fed up with the restrictions here," Max smiled.

"A radiation-blasted wasteland puts some things in perspective," Chloe grinned back at her.

"It doesn't matter how much better it is," Osira sniffled and then sneezed. Max handed her a box of tissues. "Even if my being from a different time doesn't cause storms or vortices, I will alter the future. As long as I am interacting with people, I am changing how things will be."

"You don't know that," Chloe said. "You being here could be exactly as it should be. Besides, that future kind of sucked."

"If we change things, people like Cowl and Moshie might not exist," Emma commented.

"It's possible, yes, but it could be that they

"The tech here is completely different to what I know," Osira added. "What if Obix gets taken? If it's reverse-engineered, that's completely rewriting history."

"So you want me to poke another hole in time?" Max checked.

Osira blew her nose and then nodded.

"And that's a good thing?" Chloe asked. "The vortex we swan-dived into wasn't exactly quietly waiting in a corner to swallow the right person. It made the Arcadia Bay storm seem like a breeze."

"Just how much damage did I cause?" Max queried, without adding 'this time' but it hung in the air. How many had died to bring Chloe and Emma back to her?

"Some buildings fell down," Chloe told her. "Mostly old ones that were…"

"Chloe," Max sighed.

"Some," Chloe said. "We don't know they died. We all tumbled through it without a scratch."

"Chloe-mom's right," Emma said, coming to stand before her. "You brought us home and what's done is done." Emma rubbed Max's arm, a little comforting gesture similar to what Chloe had done for her. Looking into her jade eyes, Max had such affection for Emma, regardless of missing all those years of her growing up. She was an adult now and Max wanted to make the most of whatever time they had before Emma went off to find her own way in life.

"There isn't a direct correlation," Osira said, after blowing into a tissue and giving it to Obix to put in the trash can. "You can't have been in the machine more than 5 minutes…"

"Ten," Max corrected. It had felt much longer.

"…but in our time it was open for over 2 months," Osira continued. "However damaging it would be to reopen a portal to return Obix and me to where we should be, it would be less than if we stayed."

"That future could be because you stayed here," Chloe countered. "There's no guarantee you will just pop back to Troy and carry on as though this was just a strange vacation."

"Why don't you want me to go back?" Osira asked Chloe.

"Because she doesn't want to put me through that again," Max explained, looking at Chloe, who looked back at and shrugged to imply that was reasonable. "I can do this, Chloe. It won't be as long, either."

"Not today," Chloe insisted. "You need to recover."

"There's another consideration," Max stated. "I'm broke. In debt. I've had to take another pay cut because the company wants to replace me with a robot. And who knew advanced technology cost so much? Bottom line: I need to sell what I can."

"There are three of us," Chloe pointed out. "We can do something to turn a buck."

"That's another thing," Max said. "Neither you nor Em have identity chips. We have to explain you cropping up again."

"Mistress, several people and a mech are approaching," Obix declared as he approached the trash can again.

Max began moving towards the door to open it when it was battered off its hinges. It flew across the kitchen and was immediately followed by a robot carrying a large shield. Encased in dark armour, it stood over six and a half feet tall, with a blank mask for a face and dominated the room. 'POLICE' was emblazoned across its chest.

Several officers also entered, shouting at them to get down on the ground, pointing weapons around the robot. There was barely room for the four women and one mech and the small house filling with more people caused them to get pressed against the walls.

"Get out, you fascist thugs!" Chloe screamed into the face plate of the nearest as she dropped off the counter.

Osira was being pushed to the ground, Emma was looking to Max and Chloe before one of the men struck the back of her knees with a baton to force her down, Obix had moved to protect his mistress and was pushing back officers who then beat him.

A police officer raised his baton, screaming at Max to get down.

Max decided in that instant to use her power again. It had gone terribly wrong before then needed a machine to make it work again. This time, however, that impossible ability performed as it first had, many years ago in Blackwell Academy, Arcadia Bay.

Like using rewind on an invisible spool of tape, everything except her moved backward. Chloe back onto the work surface, Emma up off the floor, the police back out through the entrance, then their robot, then the door back onto its hinges. Obix walking away from Osira, then back to her.

Max staggered. There was a limit to how far back she could go, although there were ways around it.

"There isn't a direct correlation," Osira said. "You can't have been in the machine more than 5 minutes…"

"Your nose is bleeding again," Chloe stated.

"There's no time, we have to go, now," Max said. She almost lost a moment in surprise that they all obeyed without question.

There was a back yard with a tiny garden but clambering over fences would probably just slow them further. She grabbed her purse and car keys, tossed then hurried to the front door. It was a scramble into her small, old car, which seated five better in the sales pitch than practice. Max had time to realize the other world had trained them not to delay when there were threats.

That was not to say Chloe was not grumbling about not getting even one day before being hassled by the five-oh as she slid into the passenger seat.

As usual, the car strained and fought to start, only now there was urgency and it seemed to take longer. Finally, the electric motor kicked over and Max accelerated off the small driveway only to have black and white police cars, sirens off, pull up right in front of her. A black van pulled to a stop just behind it and the lumbering robot clambered out the back.

Max rewound time.

"There isn't a direct correlation," Osira said.

"We have to go, now," Max declared. Fortunately, objects she moved stayed changed. Against that, the pain was greater and her vision blurred.

"There are anomalous readings in the kitchen," Obix stated. Whatever her ability was doing beyond sending her back to a previous point in time was less pressing than the need to go. Out the door, closed by Obix as they left the last time but wasting precious seconds to re-open. Max told Chloe to drive, who was the least surprised among the others to see the car moved and already running. Obix seemed particularly concerned, his head flicking from where it had been left to where it now was.

Chloe drove the car away from the house watching the mirrors as much as the road, while everyone else turned in their seats to look behind. With Emma, Osira and Obix in the rear seats, it was hard to see but the police vehicles arrived outside her house and began piling out, a battering ram ready to smash the door off. Chloe turned and anything further was lost to view.

"There's Emma and me telling you about our adventures and it seems like you've riled some people up too," Chloe said. "Where too, hun?"

"The warehouse," Max told her.

"What did you do back there?" Osira asked, thickly.

"Rewind time," Max replied. "I'll fill you in when we're somewhere safe."

"That's impossible," Osira stated.

"I know," Max sighed, using an internal mirror to wipe the blood from under her nose. An MRI scan years ago had not revealed any abnormalities but using her power was not doing her any good.

"Will they have gone to the warehouse as well?" Emma queried.

"I don't know who they are," Max told her while considering. "The police sometimes get contracted out to support private firms. I can't imagine why the city would send them. So, yes, they could well be at the warehouse. They'll be able to track us; I think we need to dump the car soon."

"Oz, you can hack, right?" Chloe asked, checking mirrors for pursuers.

"No," Osira replied. "Maybe given time but I can barely understand your language. The way you use words. Trying to understand your soft will take a while."

"I can assist," Obix stated.

"We're going to need you to try," Max said. "At the moment, we have nothing."

"Could you not go back to Arcadia Bay?" Emma suggested.

"No," Chloe said, then looked at her in the rear view mirror. "Maybe as a last resort."

Max directed Chloe through side streets to an industrial park near the warehouse, where they climbed out. She wondered how much more the 15 year old car would take as keeping it going was becoming more expensive and it was now having to carry five. The advantages were its age and being manually driven made it slightly harder to track than automated vehicles.

"Just four girls and a mech going for a stroll. Nothing to see here," Chloe commented as they walked the last hundred meters. There were many small companies making specialized products in the area but more buildings stood empty with 'closed' notices. Three dimensional printing was increasingly hitting production jobs as the quality improved and the price dropped. It had made getting a warehouse for setting up the machinery for the portal cheaper than she had feared.

"What are the radiation levels?" Osira asked Obix.

"Just over two millisieverts," the mech responded.

"This is…" began Osira and failed to find the words.

"I know," Chloe said and Emma nodded, all of them clearly getting pleasure simply from sunlight. Max could not imagine living in a world requiring constant cover.

She reached a corner, glanced round and saw several vans parked outside her warehouse, together with a couple of guards with automatic pistols. A flatbed truck pulled up as she watched with the others peering over her shoulder.

THREE

Chloe took Max's hand, just for the contact. Whatever problems they now had, they were together, all three of them.

"Warden Security Services," she read. "They look like piss-versions of the goons outside Troy city."

"You can't take them on, mom," Emma said and Chloe grinned at her.

"I bet there's not more than a score of them," she responded. "I guess we can't. Not now, anyway, but they're taking our stuff."

"We can't let them take the device," Osira commented.

"How?" Chloe demanded.

"I don't know!" Osira responded with more emotion than Chloe had previously seen from her.

"Can you use your rewind ability, Max-mom?" Emma asked. Chloe hated the way the rewind ability hurt Max and fought against answering for her.

"Not in any way that would be useful, Em," Max replied.

"We need to find somewhere to lay low for a while," Chloe stated. "Find out who these clowns are, how they found us and what they want."

"Except we don't have any money," Max reminded her. "Cash has almost disappeared; everything is e-transactions."

"We could squat in one of these other warehouses," Emma suggested. "It wouldn't solve all our problems but would get a roof over our heads. Although, I guess that's less important here."

"I know of somewhere that would suffice," Max said. "It won't get round the money problem but we do need a place to hide out."

"I'm sorry, Max," Chloe muttered as they backed up to circle round. "If not for…"

"Don't," Max cut her off. "I would rather have all this to spend 5 minutes with you and Emma than a lifetime of quiet with anyone else."

Unworthy of the sentiment, Chloe stared down at the ground as they walked. Max kissed the back of Chloe's hand and they looked at each other. Unable to resist grinning back as Max smiled, Chloe still felt guilty at assuming she had died when actually spending 20 years trying to get them back.

"This is "Jarrow's Printing Services' and now closed down," Max explained. It was a single storey rectangular building with sloping roof and the name emblazoned on its façade. "Jarrow gave me the key to the place while it's in administration."

"Is he likely to turn up?" Osira queried and Max shook her head. It was only three doors down from Max's warehouse and the guards outside it could potentially see them. Fortunately, they did not appear alert and Max led the others across the street without any alarm being sounded.

Within the printer's building was a reception area with a small table and counter. It was cool and dark inside, especially after being outside. Most of the windows beyond the reception had heavy blinds to stop sunlight causing discoloration to anything printed. There was a computer pad lying on the counter and Chloe picked it up but it was password protected. She passed it to Osira.

"Can you get in?" Chloe asked.

"The password is 'inkblot8'," Max said, opening the door to the actual printers. "I worked here for a while until Jake couldn't afford even the under-the-counter, minimal amount he was paying me."

Osira handed the pad to Obix, instructing him to learn its capabilities. As far as it was possible to determine what a mech felt, Obix appeared pleased at the task. Chloe had the sense that rewinding time and going on the run disturbed him, which she could understand.

"We're looking for whatever you can find on Warden Security Services," Chloe told him.

"Not the superficial information," Osira qualified. "They are hostile to us and are likely to detain us at the very minimum."

"Are we outlaws, again, mistress?" Obix queried.

"That's complicated, Obix," she replied and Chloe snorted at the pithy response.

Large printing machines looking like they had been built in the last century dominated the room, with boxes and draws of paper completing the furnishings.

"There's a small break area and restroom," Max explained. "It's not perfect but the water is still on, there's space and nothing tying me to the business. Make yourselves as comfortable as you can but try not to damage anything. Jake's a decent guy and I hope he finds a buyer for even some of this."

"This reminds me of breaking into Blackwell Academy," Chloe commented.

"I haven't thought of that in years," Max smiled. "That was fun. Scary when security turned up but fun."

"Hey, Emma, I told you about Blackwell Academy and breaking into it?" Chloe asked. Their daughter was exploring the building.

"Yes, Chloe-mom," she called back. "Every time there was a severe dust storm that threatened to scour away the crops, there would be a tale about it being better than the horrors of Blackwell and their cruel attempts to educate you."

"She must get that snark from you," Chloe said and Max laughed.

"Obix, can you take a picture of us?" Max asked, waving for Emma and Osira to join them.

"I can store an image but would be unable to display it as nothing so far has been compatible," the mech responded.

"Use the pad," Max clarified.

Osira shook her head.

"It should not include me," she stated, so Obix took a picture of Chloe, Emma and Max with the latter in the middle, arms around the other two.

"You don't just snap it," Chloe said, bewildering Obix. "You go 'everybody say cheese' or something like that."

"That does not make sense," Obix declared and looked to Osira, who shook her head by way of agreeing with him.

"Everybody say 'cheese'," Obix intoned and caught them all laughing.

Max tried again to get Osira into a picture but was determined that there needed to be no record of her presence.

"I get it, Oz," Chloe said, coming to stand before her, "I hope that future doesn't happen but I also don't want to cause Moshie and Moira or Cowl's crowd to no longer exist. But the portal happened: all those Warden goons are doing something different because of it."

"How much data does the picture capture?" Osira checked, frowning.

"It's just an image," Chloe told her. She would not have tried to persuade her but both Max and Emma seemed keen to have a memento.

"You have to say something other than 'cheese', this time," Chloe told Obix, who gave an inclination of his head at apparently accepting the notion.

Osira stood somewhat rigidly next to Emma, Obix prepared them with 'everybody say bread' and they had another picture.

"We need to have a house meeting," Max said as they separated and she led them to the small break room. There were four low seats, two of which had barely been used, an equally low table with another computer pad lying on it.

"Jarrow just left these?" Chloe queried, picking it up as they all sat.

"It's almost as old as my car," Max explained. "It would literally cost more to post than to buy.

"Which nicely segues into money. I know you don't like to believe this but it's needed to live and, right now, I have enough credit to get a couple of meals but don't know if it would be tracked. Given those private security people could utilize the cops and knew where the warehouse and my home were, it's likely they could trace me if I used my credit chip."

"Hands up for blowing off this world and returning to the other one," Chloe said and Osira put hers up, followed, hesitantly, by Obix.

"She was not being serious," Emma explained to Osira, who blushed at thinking Chloe had been.

Chloe sat back and put her feet on the low table.

"Max, you're the only one who knows this time. It's confusing to me what's changed, let alone Em 'n' Oz," she admitted. Everything was so similar to when she had gone but that threw off her assumptions about the world.

"Automation is killing jobs at an exponential rate," Max explained. "That makes those that remain difficult to get and the idea for a national stipend is stalled in the Senate. In short, getting paid is not going to be straight-forward, so even if we can somehow explain your absence and tax-avoidance for twenty years, we are sunk for meals, clothing and even bedding."

"There are no cash-in-hand jobs?" Emma checked.

"Cash is barely used," Max said. "Transactions are automatically monitored for anything suspicious but there is some bartering. There's a jobless allowance but it would barely cover one."

"We're down to thieving?" Chloe asked. It had taken less than 24 hours for reality to arrive, not that she would rather be anywhere else.

"Or begging," Max shrugged. "We could try homeless shelters as many have been set up, some corporation sponsored, but I would hope for a better life. There's little point going south – or north – things are no better there."

"I leave the world for a couple of decades and it all goes to pieces," Chloe said but she wondered what they would do and, for a while, they were all quiet. Could they return to Arcadia Bay? Would they be welcome? Would their presence just bring more calamity to the town?

"I'm just going to peek outside and see what the Stormtroopers are up to," she declared.

"I'll come with you," Emma said and Chloe nodded but had wanted her to stay to get to know Max better. That they both seemed to be at ease was more than she could have hoped but it would take time to really get used to each other. Always assuming they were able to get that time.

"How are you holding up?" Chloe asked as they left by the back door into the bright, warm day. Chloe had not realized how much she missed being able to stand in sunshine. The instinct was to cover up, to throw a tarpaulin or blanket over her head and bare arms. She stood for a moment with her eyes closed.

"Good," Emma replied. "It's not quite as I expected and there's the same problem of survival but with different rules yet this world has so much we lacked. It's also hella good to have Max-mom back."

Chloe laughed: "Yeah, it is hella good." She put her arm around Emma and gave her an affectionate squeeze.

"I know it must be awkward," Chloe said.

"Not so far," Emma responded. "Whether it's some memory of her or all your stories of Max-mom, I… I can't say I love her like you, mom, but I really like her. It's not even been a day and a strange one."

"That it has," Chloe grinned. "Come on, let's see what those thugs are breaking." She considered her own mother, Joyce, and boyfriend - at least when Chloe and Max had left Arcadia Bay - David. She had given them both such a hard time. He had deserved it but Chloe wished she had gone easier on her mother.

Despite being home, her instincts kicked in. There had been several scouting missions Chloe had gone on, with Emma as soon as she was old enough. The Plank Gang raid had been the decider that her daughter had to start learning skills beyond the encampment. She could hunt and trap wild animals - many of them dangerous - as well as find water where there seemed to be none, identify which plants were safe to eat and how to shelter from a rad-storm. Emma had never had to kill a human but Chloe had done her best to prepare for that possibility. Few of those skills were useful now but they kept to shadows and used hand signals approaching Max's warehouse.

Creeping around wooden pallets and crates that would have been taken for construction or burning in Telkia, Chloe reached the next building, trusting Emma to watch their sides and rear. There was a pair of guards at the back, as bored as those at the front, leaning against a wall. Chloe reckoned she could get past them, one way or another, but it would achieve little: she could hear Max's machine being dismantled.

Emma tapped her shoulder and indicated a pair of pedestrians, strolling and talking about a meeting with a client. They were just two people going about their daily job but Chloe eased back into the shadows, turning her head to hide as faces, especially as pale as hers now was, could catch attention. It was a caution taken to extreme but there was no point in taking even the slight chance of being reported to the security goons.

Once the pedestrians were past, Chloe indicated she was going for a closer look and Emma nodded. Both guards at the rear of the warehouse had shaded glasses and it took a minute of observing them to realise the spectacles had smart technology. Both, one male and one female, were using them, probably in the way cell phones were but Chloe guessed they would still be able to see beyond, like having a heads-up display. Unfortunately, both of the goons were facing her direction.

The front of the warehouse was worse, with several workers in dark Warden Coveralls moving boxes onto the flatbed truck they had seen arrive earlier. An overseer was directing work and a car pulled up even as Chloe watched, with three people in casual clothing getting out and talking animatedly. She returned to the rear of the buildings. Emma indicated she would distract the guards.

Chloe considered whether it was worth the risk of them splitting up and shook her head. She gestured that the smart glasses might check who Emma was or even register her on a database. Chloe considered the old trick of throwing a stone to distract them but then they moved anyway, the man stretching his legs to look at the street and the woman turning away from the sun to better see the display.

Hurrying from the corner of the adjacent building, Chloe reached the side of Max's warehouse and glanced at Emma as she joined her against the wall. A check on the guards revealed they remained oblivious to their presence and Chloe stacked a box to climb on and peer in but Emma patted her shoulder. Her daughter indicated one of the guards was coming and they both huddled down among the refuse between the two buildings.

Finding a piece of wood from a crate, Chloe gesticulated that she would club the guard and Emma should run. She got a look that said that was not going to happen as clearly as if her daughter had written an essay. They crouched in the debris, waiting.

The guard, the male, strolled into the gap between the buildings and urinated against Max's warehouse. Chloe repressed an urge to clobber him and remained crouched behind the crates. Of course, the man was only relieving himself but it felt as though he was marking his territory. Once he was done and back to guarding the rear of the warehouse, Chloe climbed up and peered through a dirty window while tottering on the crates.

Lots of people, not all of them thugs in uniforms. Some clearly there just for laboring but a couple of suits, those the car had brought even more excited given their wild gesticulations. She watched for a minute and got the sense that there were two companies. Whether they were linked was impossible to say but the Warden goons looking like they wanted an excuse to use their weapons and batons to prove how tough they were seemed separate to the normally dressed people. Certainly one of the suits was arguing with one of the Warden clowns, who looked at him contemptuously but said nothing.

Mostly, however, people were disassembling the machinery, albeit with as many people watching and directing as doing. Chloe hopped down off her perch and joined Emma at the warehouse's corner, indicating she should have a look. It had not been easy to accept that other people could catch what she missed but it was now almost second nature and had complete faith in Emma's abilities. They waited impatiently for the guards to get distracted before sauntering off down the street back to Jarrow's building doing their best to look unsuspicious.

"I was about to come looking," Max told them as they entered. "Obix is into Warden's network."

They grinned at each other like teenagers. Unfortunately, catching up would have to wait.

"Watcha got, Obe?" Chloe asked as they returned to the break room and Max clicked the kettle on. Osira was connected to Obix by a cable attached to her neck.

"Once I understood the syntax, avoiding the systems firewalls was not difficult," Obix told them as they sat. "There are systems that are not networked but I am able to access most files and accounts. Their e-security is tight but with several vulnerabilities."

"Think of it as a thick wall with an open door," Osira added. She had her eyes closed and Chloe wondered what she was seeing, plugged into the mech. She sounded thick with a heavy cold.

"I saw a tag that said 'Bright Horizons'," Emma said, accepting a cup of coffee from Max, frowning as she first tasted it but apparently found it acceptable. Chloe suspected it was nothing like they had become accustomed to and grinned at her. It still seemed miraculous that Emma had grown up so normal, although she could certainly do with loosening up sometimes.

"I shall attempt to access that corporation as well. Warden Security Services are a client of theirs," Obix declared. Other than having the end of a finger in the digital pad's USB port, there was nothing to indicate he was on the internet.

"How are you compatible?" Max queried. Chloe just accepted that the mech was capable of anything it could be persuaded to do.

"The nanobots that repair my systems can be directed to make minor modifications. As long as it is a small change, I can tell them what I should look like," Obix explained. "In this case, I have modified a digit to connect to this port and convert electronic data to positronic data."

"That's neat," Emma commented and Chloe nodded.

"This will take several minutes," Obix told them. "Do you want any information regarding the Warden Security Services?"

"Sounds like they are just hired muscle," Max said and handed Chloe a chipped mug of coffee. Chloe smiled at her. Max was as gamine as ever but Chloe worried that she had not been taking care of herself.

The coffee tasted synthetic but was another piece of normality, of returning to this world. The mug was dark blue with a logo and evidently handed out free by a company as a promotion. It was hard to take her eyes off Max for even long enough to glance at it. Her friend and then girlfriend and then - although never official - spouse, was looking back at Chloe with the same joy.

"Warden Security Services work for several companies as well as mutual support with many police departments," Obix stated. "They competed for and gained the Bright Horizons contract eight years ago, mostly for guarding premises.

"The raid on Ms. Maxine Caulfield's residence was requested as a matter of urgency yesterday at 15:45. Bright Horizons paid premium rate for the short notice and Warden Security Services requested police assistance. It was then arranged for 0600 this morning. Various delays, mix-ups and difficulties meant it did not happen until later."

Chloe forced her fist to unclench and took a swig of coffee, hardly likely to calm her down but better than running back down the street to yell at the private security personnel.

"What were they after?" Emma enquired.

"The Warden files just say the residents were to be detained and any technology and or technical documents removed. The reason was given as copyright infringement and theft," Obix explained.

"Can we steal from them?" Emma asked. "They have taken Max-mom's equipment so is there any way you can make them pay for it?"

"Can you transfer money from their accounts?" Max nodded.

"Or cause their files to delete?" Chloe grumbled. "Perhaps overload a power generator."

"All those things are illegal," Obix stated but looked to Osira.

"So is taking our stuff!" Chloe exclaimed, standing and finding the room too small to pace.

"They have law enforcement supporting their actions," Obix said as though it made a difference.

Osira held up her hand towards Chloe, who found it patronizing but kept the thought to herself.

"Obix, there are three considerations. First, we have nowhere to stay and nothing to eat. Second, those people wish us harm. Third, however much they have co-opted local law enforcement, there is no moral or legal ground for their actions," Osira explained but glanced at Max as though there could be doubt, and she nodded.

"Detention by legally appointed officers is not illegal," Obix said. "There is no proof they would actually harm anyone."

"I can rewind time," Max explained. "There's more, sometimes, like creating the portals to where you come from. I have researched the heck out of it and I barely understand half of it. I saw the raid. I saw them forcing Osira to the ground and you moving to stop them and one raising their baton to strike Chloe."

"That is impossible," Obix stated. "It defies the law of causality."

"I know," Max sighed. "Yet, here you are, in the past."

"That is not definite. There are other possibilities," Obix said but Chloe could tell his resolve was weakening, which was a curiously human trait. Everyone was quiet while the mech considered the situation. Chloe suppressed the urge to persuade it further as she might have with a human.

"What do you suggest we do?" Emma asked Obix, who looked at her nonplussed. Osira frowned at Emma, presumably for interrupting its processing.

"I am prepared to transfer funds from either or both corporations," Obix told Osira.

"Yes!" Chloe said. "Good man. Mech. Man-mech."

"However, I am unable to do so without it being detected," Obix said a moment later. Chloe swore and sat down heavily on the chair, nearly spilling her coffee.

"The system is automated and protects against unauthorized transfers of funds," Obix explained. "To take money from them without it being noticed would require re-writing several programs, each increasing the likelihood of being discovered."

"So, what? Should we apply for a job working for them?" Chloe demanded.

"That I can arrange," Obix said, forestalling Chloe's frustration.

"What?" she asked.

"To protect against bias or the appearance of bias, all recruitment and redundancy is automated," Obix replied. "The designers of the system have few safeguards against someone being added to the list of employees."

"For real?" Chloe checked.

"Yes," Obix confirmed. "The morality of doing so remains dubious but I can add you, Ms Maxine Caulfield and Ms. Emma Price-Caulfield to the payroll of either corporation. As Mistress Osira is not registered in this place and lacks filed information, it is not possible to do the same for her."

"Oh, man, you have to do that," Chloe laughed until tears rolled down her cheeks.

The details took longer. To stay off the radar for searches, there was some need to disguise who they were and their abode had to be registered as the address for Jarrow's printing service. Chloe wanted to be part of the Warden Company, just because they had been the spearhead that had ruined her and Emma's return, even if they were not the driving force. Putting her as an anonymous middle manager was the safest and the business seemed to have several positions with vague job descriptions. Max and Emma were listed as researchers for Bright Horizons, new bank accounts created and, within an hour, all three were employed.

"So, when's pay day?" Chloe asked and they had a week to survive before being paid at the end of the month.

"Can we get an advance or something?" Max queried.

"Ms. Price has access to a supplementary fund," Obix said. "Expenses have to justified, however."

Chloe paused for a moment.

"So, we could book into a hotel? Make some excuse up and then bill the company?" she suggested.

"Until the business account is approved overnight by the software and the chip delivered, you cannot pay for any of them," Obix explained.

"I have enough to tide us over," Max said. "I'll just have to be careful to spend away from here. I'll pick up some blankets while I'm out. It won't be very comfortable but should tide us over. Once I'm back, we'll need to plan what we are going to do."

"Why don't you go with Max-mom?" Chloe suggested to Emma as Max left the break room with a small list of essential items. She did not want to force them together but they were the two most important people in her life and Chloe wanted them to

"Sure," Emma smiled and hurried after Max.

"Right, what trouble can we get up to?" she asked the remaining two. Obix looked at Osira with alarm and the young woman at Chloe with hardly less concern.

FOUR

For Max, the drive to the store was a strange mix of routine and abnormality. For one thing, there was having to stick to side roads so the journey took twice as long, constantly checking whether any of the scores of drones flying around were following them. Another difference was Emma being in the passenger seat.

In that last moment, seared forever in her memories, Emma had been a toddler; walking, expanding her vocabulary beyond one syllable words and bursting with energy. Pudgy with a shock of red hair, happy and inquisitive, Emma had completed their family more comprehensively than they could have imagined. Of course, there was still the occasional sleepless night and crying for what seemed like no reason but even that was fading. They had even talked about either her or Chloe being artificially inseminated but there was plenty of time and no urgency.

Emma Price-Caulfield was now twenty, with the red hair as bright as ever curling down to her shoulders and an open, round face but there was a reserve to her. Max could not help wondering who Emma would have been had that portal not opened.

The walk to the car was quiet, in part over concern about being noticed by the guards at the warehouse, but Max also found that gap in years awkward to broach. It was easier in her decrepit car, putting on muted music off a memory stick.

"Was it truly bad, there? It sounds like everything outside the compound was trying to kill you?" Max asked, peering up through the windscreen. It was almost futile trying to determine if one drone among dozens was watching them.

"Grief, no," Emma responded. "I know it sounds like it was running from one mob to another but there was singing and dancing and little victories, like getting crop yields higher."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there," Max said, sadly.

"It's not your fault. Mom, Chloe-mom, did a good job. She talked about you every day but she thought you were dead and gave up on coming back. I think she liked it there more than she lets on, too. Not that she isn't happy to be back but there was a freedom there that seems lacking here. I've only been here a day but I don't think I will ever get over being able to walk outside without a rad suit."

"I hope she put some limits on what you could do," Max smiled.

Emma was quiet for a moment but it was comfortable between them and Max let her think.

"Chloe-mom told me a lot about here - again, less as the years went by - and Telkia is an unforgiving place. Cooped up in a trailer, sometimes for days, neither of us could easily just leave and walk off any disagreements. A while back, perhaps five years ago, we had an argument - I think it was about crops and not diverting some for tobacco and marijuana - and didn't speak for a week.

"There was a boy who was interested in me, Jonah, and I… I was in two minds. There's always so much to do. Chloe-mom was encouraging me and - please don't tell her - but I did not want to do what she said. I don't know why. Like, if Chloe-mom thought it was a good idea, then it couldn't be. It was stupid. I was stupid. Anyway, Jonah went off to kill a razorback and died.

"I know, another depressing story, but it reinforced the sense that we had to look after each other," Emma explained and was quiet again as the car hummed and rattled down the road with innocuous music playing.

"Would you rather be there?" Max asked.

"No! Not even with you and Chloe-mom. This world is strange and I have no idea what to do in it. Oz… Osira says that the rad levels on Telkia are slowly dropping and I do think of it as home but this… this is like heaven. It even smells fresh."

Yet Max had, however inadvertently, sent Emma and Chloe to that irradiated world where a child dare not have a tantrum.

"Do you think it will work?" Emma asked as they pulled into the parking lot with Max again scanning the skies. "What Obix did for us having jobs? Or, at least, being paid."

"I don't know," Max admitted. "Telkia sounds like it's been blasted back nearly to the Stone Age yet Obix is far in advance of what we have so if he says we're good then let's trust to it." In truth, she wondered how long they could keep drawing wages for jobs they were not doing. That was a problem for another day, however.

The car park had few cars and most of those older models, although none matched hers for age.

"Chloe-mom said you were a photographer?" Emma asked as they went in. With home delivery normal, the number of people who actually went to the store had dropped each year. Many of those who did seemed to go there more to socialize than shop.

"There is so much!" Emma exclaimed, staring at the shelves.

"Less than there used to be," Max commented. "The physical stores have reduced their stock over the last years."

She picked a trolley and walked round, gaining simple pleasure from both the normalcy of shopping with her daughter and Emma's awe at the variety on display. Unfortunately, they were restricted in what they could buy, sticking to the value products and deals.

"I was and my pictures were being bought for magazines and the like," Max answered the earlier questions. "I needed a regular paycheck and a lot of media has become amateur. It just wasn't making quite enough for what I needed. So, a regular job and a regular paycheck."

"Now a regular paycheck with no job," Emma smiled. Even wry amusement lit her daughter's face up, making her green eyes sparkle.

"I will have to resign from my current one, which won't displease the boss, otherwise something will flag up me having two," Max commented as Emma stood by a line of make-up.

"Looking pretty wasn't a priority, I'm guessing," Max said in response to her bewildered expression.

"Some was available and, perhaps because Chloe-mom rarely bothered, I would. So, she cultivated a plant that you could get an extract from for lipstick," Emma said. "It sometimes got frustrating that she would just let me do what I wanted and even helped." Again there was that wry smile, lifting her features and Max felt that bittersweet pang that she had not been there yet Chloe had been amazing in not just raising Emma by herself but in an alien world. Max dropped into the trolley lipstick and eyeliner. It was a luxury and if Obix had not set the payments up correctly or covered them from being caught then they truly would be destitute. Yet it was a token towards seventeen missed birthdays and holidays.

Like a little devil on her shoulder, the temptation to use her power was constant. She could take the blankets and food outside, rewind time and leave without paying. There would be the inevitable stab of pain in her head but it was one thing stealing from a company that had smashed into her home and another from a store just looking to make a profit. That was aside from the risk of another portal opening.

It was still tempting as she just about paid the last money in her bank account to an automated machine. There were even robots helping with packing, taking the goods and neatly arranging them in paper bags before offering to take them to the car. Unlike Obix, they were four-feet high, ran on wheels and were covered in a white plastic casing, aside from the electronic face with big, child-like 'eyes'. A couple of people still worked but they seemed to be largely ensuring the robots did not get stuck or to help customers who preferred human interaction.

Even to Max, who had grown up with automation, sometimes this world seemed as strange as the one Chloe and Emma described.

Tt was another indirect drive back to Jarrow's business, avoiding both major roads and the route they had taken. It was now dusk, with lights coming on over the city.

"Chloe-mom once took me to Delphia, a city in the opposite direction to Troy," Emma said as she watched the darkening streets pass. "We sat on a hill and watched the lights come on. There were so many colours. Some were adverts but it was beautiful. We went there for the Survival Day celebrations, us and about half of the Cowl group, dancing and drinking until we could barely stand. Other times the cities think of us as backward but it was just everyone enjoying themselves."

Max could see Emma's face reflected in the side window, smiling at the recollection.

"Does this world seem boring in comparison?" Max asked, flicking her attention between Emma and the road.

Her daughter turned and laughed.

"Not so far, Max-mom," Emma said, smiling with affection that Max wanted to hold forever.

"What interests you? What would you want to do?" Max queried. Sections of the industrial park were in near complete darkness, the car headlights catching vacant buildings as they passed. Where businesses still operated, the streetlights were maintained, as though life was clustering around the illumination.

"I don't know," Emma replied. "I can hunt, track, kill, skin, gut and cook anything from a rodent to a razorback but that won't do me much good here. If there's land, I could farm."

"That's what you can do," Max said as they pulled up at Jarrow's. It was a risk, especially as the brightness around her warehouse indicated Warden and Bright Horizon were still dismantling her machine, but easier to offload. Chloe came out, grinning as though finding Santa Claus.

"Everything was about having enough to eat and protecting it," Emma explained and then both were distracted by returning to the building.

Superficially, it was a simple affair, sat in the dark with sandwiches and coffee in the break room. Most of the money had gone on blankets and even they were low quality. Yet Max could not have been happier, Chloe had pushed their seats together, Emma was opposite telling a story of them celebrating the winter solstice, while Osira and Obix were still connected to the computer pad, learning about the world. The past was hurried meals alone while obsessing about getting Chloe and Emma back, all their concerns were for the future and only that moment mattered. Max wanted to capture the moment, with Chloe interrupting Emma's narrative at the same time as doodling on a notepad she had found, despite the limited lighting.

It was not late but Chloe stood up abruptly.

"Chloe-mom and Max-mom are going to have some mom-time over in the lobby," she announced, although she was blushing and looked at Max as though she might object. "You kids don't stay up too late."

Osira nodded distractedly and went back to studying whatever data on the world she was seeing, Obix looked uncertain but also returned to scanning without comment while Emma grinned and gave two thumbs up, looking like Chloe in the mannerism.

Like the meal, it was hardly the most romantic place in the world but they settled down in the main office with a half dozen thin blankets. Max felt at ease, that all those intervening years were sliding away and everything was returning to as it should be. Chloe, her beloved Chloe, moved over her with the darkness taking much of the definition from her features, the blue lost as it framed her pale face.

"I'm sorry, Max," Chloe said, looking down at her. "I gave up. I thought you were dead."

"I sent you there," Max responded. Colour was shrouded but she was acutely aware of the warmth where Chloe's smooth skin pressed against hers and the smell of soap. "It's me who should be sorry."

"But you lost so much," Chloe objected. "Time with Emma, your career as a photographer… all sacrificed."

"Chloe. Stop talking and kiss me," Max told her and Chloe eased down, kissing her gently at first, as though afraid she would vanish. Quickly that soft tenderness became eager with passion, desire and love.

FIVE

Emma was up early, stretching after an uncomfortable night on the floor. The blankets softened lying on the ground a little but still uncomfortable and she had slept badly, waking a couple of times during the night. Obix stood sentinel throughout in a low power mode. She had asked him whether he needed sleep only for Osira to explain that while Obix could keep functioning, going into a standby allowed the processors to sift through and collate data. Emma followed for the first few minutes but Osira then went into the details of the programming with uncharacteristic enthusiasm, leaning forward and gesticulating as though imagining the lines of code.

That aside, Osira had been quiet. Short, with almond eyes and black hair, she rarely gave away what she was thinking and Emma had the impression Osira was just waiting to go back to Telkia.

Emma had asked Osira about her past and had an abridged version that intrigued her, with mention of a Grand Vizier and an amusement park that she could barely conceive of. Yet Osira skipped through much of it, spending longer on detailing repairing Obix than being sent into an abandoned hospital with some strange being hooked up as a power source.

"So, the mech was sentient? The damage was done by him?" Emma had checked.

"Mechs aren't sentient. It gave me and Obix gifts then left to apparently have revenge on those that had it plugged in as a power generator," Osira had replied. With her attention often on the data pad, Osira had only glanced at Emma a couple of times.

Therefore, it was slightly surprising when Osira asked if Emma had slept well as she got up. The soft-int specialist had evidently been up for a while.

"Not bad considering," Emma answered. "How about you?" she asked when it seemed like Osira was going to bury herself in the data pad.

"This is a very strange world," Osira said by way of a reply. "There is so much but so many people wanting it. The technology is primitive in many ways but I am learning things that could be of use when I return."

"If it's wrong to mess with the time-line now, how is it not when back in Telkia?" Emma wondered, although she had nearly said 'our time' and largely tried not to think of the two worlds being the same.

"Because…" Osira began and fell silent for long enough that Emma poured a bowl of cereal. Osira did the same, eating leant against the same counter as Emma but frowning with thought as though presented with a paradox. It was as companionable as they had been, even if Osira's mind was lost considering the matter.

"I need to leave here!" Osira stated, almond eyes staring at Emma as though it was her fault before looking away.

The pair of pots cleaned, Emma tried using the other data pad but found it confusing. The terminology was odd but she persisted with it until Chloe-mom and Max-mom joined them, both smirking and whispering. Chloe bumped Max with her hip in response to something she had said and then Max did the same back after nearly losing her balance, then giggling.

Emma smiled, watching them. Chloe had told Emma so much about Max that, occasionally, she had resented that desire, tempered only by her mom's evident love for her. Max had been set up so much that it seemed impossible that she could live up to the expectation but Emma found that she liked her and there was that below-the-surface familiarity where some part remembered her other mom. Seeing Chloe so happy made Emma realise how much had been missing from her mother's life in the other world.

Chloe-mom winked at her and grinned, causing Emma to shake her head yet not manage to keep the smile from her face. It should have been embarrassing but Chloe's joy overwhelmed everything. If more restrained, Max-mom was just as ecstatic, looking as though each day with Chloe was taking a weight off her. It really felt as though Emma had her whole family again, as if a three-piece jigsaw had been missing a part.

Even when Chloe-mom put music on, it was notably lighter than what she usually played.

Washed, breakfasted and sat on the counter with Chloe, it was Max who broached what do next. Emma had the impression Chloe-mom would happily have spent weeks as things were, while Osira was back to searching the internet, occasionally asking Emma for clarification on something, although she hardly knew more than the int-soft specialist.

"There's a company looking for us," Max stated. "It has to be because of the temporal portal that I made and they have enough power to track us down. We could try living somewhere remote but I don't want to spend my life on the run from some shady corporation."

During their shopping trip, they had picked up cheap jeans and T-shirts, giving them a change of clothes but making them look like they belonged to an organization, all in pale jeans and undecorated tops. Chloe-mom's tattoos and blue hair stood out as bright spots of colour.

"We have access to their systems," Chloe said, studying Max, who looked back at her.

Osira peered up from the data pad: "we can do much but there are limits."

"We could sell all their shares or transfer them to us or sack all their people," Chloe suggested.

Osira shook her head with annoyance, like a teacher with a pupil who had suggested an answer just to get a laugh.

"Yes, we could do much of that but it would only achieve temporary disruption," Osira explained. "Their board of directors are hardly going to ignore any of that."

"Can we just stop them looking for us?" Emma suggested. "If they have us on their files, just deleting us would be easy."

"First, we don't have access to the Bright Horizons intranet," Osira explained and it was Emma's turn to be on the receiving end of being treated like a student. "Secondly, people know: they are not going to all look at that machine and forget where it came from. Thirdly, the more we do to their systems, the more chance of being discovered."

"So cause enough damage that they can't recover," Chloe said, taking Max's hand, sliding off the counter and sitting in a chair with Emma's other mom on her lap.

Osira looked at Chloe with exasperation, any awkwardness at meeting people's gaze apparently lost in her irritation.

"That is not going to help," Osira stated.

"What do you suggest, Osira?" Max asked, placatingly.

Osira blinked and raised her eyebrows, then took a while to answer.

"We need to send Obix and me back to Telkia and stop Bright Horizons looking for you," Osira eventually stated. "Both tasks require us to enter their facilities as they have the machine and the isolated network. Obix and I will hack into their intranet, change the details of who they want then we go to the machine and Maxine returns the two of us to Telkia. We should be able to disable the alarms long enough for you to leave once we are gone and back where we belong."

"Nice plan, Oz," Chloe grinned. "We'll go tonight."

"No, the machine will not be reassembled in that short time," Osira objected. "We need to properly prepare. Obix is accessing their systems to have passes sent to this location according to the jobs you were given."

"That's hella cleva," Chloe laughed. "We won't need to forge anything, just go in all 'hey, we work here, jerk-wads'."

"Obix will take pictures of you," Osira added. "The ident cards store your images."

"It sounds almost too easy," Emma commented. "Will we need uniforms? I can't imagine no-one will question five people who have never been seen before traipsing around the place?"

"We'll need a cover story but going at night should avoid the need for suits," Max considered. "We will need something better than what we are wearing though. Perhaps Osira and Obix can be IT experts coming to sort some files out that are urgently needed."

"Alright," Chloe smiled. "We have a plan. She held her hand flat forward into the centre of the group, Max put hers on top of it and Emma did the same in turn. Chloe indicated Osira should do the same, which she did, shaking her head but Emma was surprised to see her smiling. Another gesture from Chloe had Obix doing the same after getting a shrug from Osira when he looked at her.

"Obe, you're supposed to release upward after a moment," Chloe grinned at the mech, who was easily preventing them doing so. Far from smooth, Obix did so and the rest did the same.

"Right," Chloe said. "Now we just need a name for our band of adventurers."

"The Arcadia Bay Pirates, of course," Max told her, smiling.

SIX

Osira found the following days frustrating. Chloe and Max were almost as annoying as they were heartwarming, clearly in love and overjoyed to be reunited but both seemed to dismiss the danger of what they were going to attempt. The former had made pirate hats out of paper while the both had given Osira far more minutiae than she wanted of them playing as such as children. She could not begrudge them after twenty years apart but Osira did not like the world she was in. She agreed with Obix that wherever the portal linked, it could not be allowing passage through time, but Osira had the concern that her presence in this world could change that other one. There was an almost paranoia that she would return to Telkia and find it altered. Telkia might not have much for her but it was home and one she understood.

Of course, some of her need to return might be down to two days spent almost entirely wrapped in blankets as her immune system failed to cope with the pollen and germs of this world. The idea of going outside without a rad-suit or under a shield-dome had been a dream, an impossible utopia, yet Osira found herself in just such a situation. Being ill did not help but she could not overcome an instinctive desire to cover herself outside and was more at ease in doors. It was another frustration, wanting to be out in the sun and truly fresh air only to want to feel like she was being irradiated when doing so.

If Osira preferred to be indoors, researching this technologically twisted world then Chloe certainly did not. Max encouraged her to draw and there was now a drawing of Osira huddled in blankets over the data pad stuck to a wall. The quality was very good; the subject matter… well, she had no intention of taking it with her. There was also a beautiful one of Emma and Maxine sat opposite each other, talking, that Chloe had drawn with enviable ease, catching them both leaning forward with open expressions.

Yet it was almost as though Max was giving a child paper to draw on to keep them occupied or to avoid drawing on the walls. Three times a day Chloe checked on the warehouse despite the risk until the security company and all of Max's machine had gone. Then she worked on Max's car, bringing it to Jarrow's to work on regardless of the chance of being spotted. It was practical to service the vehicle but also a gamble given the ability of the company to surveil the area. Emma had explained the nicotine withdrawal was not helping and while being happy was mitigating it, Chloe was more restless than usual.

When Chloe had said for the tenth time that they should grow some marijuana, Osira had snapped that she should get on with it. Then blushed and apologized, followed by feeling resentment that she had been the one apologizing. Rather than taking offense, Chloe had squatted before her and said everything would be okay, albeit with some ironic word choices.

"Hey, Oz, I know it's not easy here but we'll get you back to that radiation-blasted land. You have a good plan and we'll follow it. You see," she had grinned and Osira had found herself smiling back without meaning to, "you'll be fighting off rad-hounds and scavenging for clean water before you know it.

"If you end up in the wastes, look up Cowl and tell him I said it was okay for you to take my weed stash."

Osira had nodded, smiling despite the soreness in her nose, eyes and head.

Emma had played chess with her on the data pad but it was a game existing in Telkia and Osira was good enough to win with little effort. The one time Emma got close to beating her was when her mind was distracted by the fact that the game existed in both worlds. Emma was good natured in defeat and also learned from her mistakes, including asking for advice, so by their fifth and final game Osira had to concentrate. With few friends in Telkia, preferring mechs that were more predictable, Osira found that she would miss Emma.

Another of Chloe's drawing's appeared of Osira and Emma playing chess, this time taking her by surprise as she had not noticed it being done.

Then the day was on them, three later than planned for and when they were completely out of food, soap and money. Chloe and Emma had scouted where they were going, taking public transport, two days prior, not just getting an idea of the building but the employees as well. There were a few people wearing suits but jeans and T-shits were the norm.

Staying back while the other two were on reconnaissance was taxing in its own way, wondering whether they had been caught. Osira had Obix monitoring the internet for reports of their arrest but still found herself fretting. She had confidence in Chloe and Emma's skills but there was always the possibility of something unexpected happening. Max used the other data pad for browsing but would often look towards the door as though wishing for her lover and daughter to return.

It was dark when they did and, aside from a long hug and kiss from Max, Chloe was business-like in her report. Emma pointed out anything her mother had missed. They had not gone in but scouted the perimeter then watched people leave at the end of the day, staying long enough to see that several people were arriving for a night shift.

"Less chance of us standing out but more chance of someone querying our presence," Max stated.

"How are you for using your ability?" Chloe asked. Although it was her way home, Osira found the idea that Max could do something with time extremely disconcerting. Given what they were going to do, however, every advantage possible was needed.

"I'll rewind time as needed," Max shrugged but Osira knew it took a lot out of her. Knowing it was selfish, she did not want Maxine so weary as to be unable to send her home. Osira could not stop thinking that she was going to do something that would result in everyone in Telkia not being born. There were other, perhaps more likely, possibilities but even the vague chance that she could wipe an entire reality from existence, even if replaced by a better one, was terrifying.

"Just be careful, mom," Emma told Max.

"We just walk in, swipe our badges and Obix has the blueprints for the place so we can get to the server rooms or a terminal easily," Chloe said. "More difficult will be the machine. According to Obix, there was enough information generated on the internet for us to be fairly certain it's there but the building has several rooms capable of holding it, most underground. I suspect it will be in the highest security areas but it is where guess work and luck comes into it."

"It sounds like a lot will be that," Osira sighed and blew her nose.

"Yes, we'll be winging it but, between us, we can handle anything," Chloe said and Osira considered that maybe they could at that.

That confidence was less sure as they drove towards the Bright Horizons facility. It was rush hour, although that seemed a misnomer as few managed speed and it lasted more than 60 minutes, but they stuck to back roads. As the signals had to be transmitted to and from the drones, Obix was able to track their movements and kept their route well away from any. There was still traffic cameras but they avoided those as well. Still, it was a tense journey, with Chloe again driving - the car did sound smoother after her tinkering - and Max in the passenger seat leaving the other three compressed into the back seat. Obix was slid down slightly as his head would otherwise press against the roof.

Seeing the skyscrapers, Osira wondered if they would become the shield-wall of Troy City but determined they were in the same position. Time travel was impossible anyway.

There was no choice but to go back to her world but Osira wanted the opportunity to explore this one a little longer. To stand on fields of grass or see lakes of clear water, to examine the crude robots that were barely beyond simple electrical devices or to see structures thousands of years old. Beside her, Obix was processing the vast amounts of data, too much even for his memory, and discarding what was of limited interest and the incredible volumes of personal information. It was by far the most advanced machine on this world and now had much of their information, some of which, such as the formation of the universe, was far ahead of what was known in Telkia.

What Emma had said about rewriting the future of Telkia disturbed her still but the two worlds had to be different. But, then, did it matter if she changed anything in this time? It was a quandary that she had no answer to yet could not leave alone. Emma was the other side of Obix, staring out the window at a world that had to be as strange to her as it was to Osira.

"We're nearing it," Chloe announced. "Everyone look bored."

There was little to distinguish the building from those surrounding it. 'Bright Horizons' with a yellow dawn logo was at the entrance to the car park and over the glass doors with no indication of what the company did. Obix had data mined enough to know they were ostensibly a research company, often hiring people for short terms to assist other corporations. There were stringent confidentiality clauses but, essentially, they allowed medium-sized businesses to do research which would otherwise be beyond their reach. A 3D printing company might want to improve their service but lack the resources so would hire Bright Horizons to suggest several modifications to what they were doing. Hopefully, it meant they were used to many new people wandering about.

The building had a low wall around it, making it easy to get in, although there were CCTV cameras and the main gate had a robot present. Chloe handed over their identity cards, the robot scanned them - a rudimentary one that had to insert the cards into a reader - matched their faces to them and raised the barrier. Given she had Obix send their pictures to the company and had them send the ID cards, there was little chance of them being rejected but Osira still let out a breath she had not known she was holding. Max especially was a risk given the corporation was looking for her. Yet they were passed the first obstacle without a hitch.

Chloe pulled the car into a vacant slot and they climbed out, following the blue-haired woman as she sauntered to towards the main entrance. It was hardly the most dangerous situation Osira had approached but she still felt tense.

The doors slid open and they stood aside for a chatting couple to leave, too immersed in their own conversation to even acknowledge them let alone consider who they were. Within was a large lobby with grey walls and silver lettering, making the yellow half-sphere of the Bright Horizons' logo stand out all the more. There was a curved reception counter with two women of about her age, one of whom was talking to a man the other side of it and small, black CCTV balls in the ceiling but no other signs of security. One woman in a business suit was sat at a waiting area but most people were heading for the doors to leave.

"You're up, Obe," Chloe declared.

"Excuse me!" called one of the receptionists. "You need to book in."

"Sorry," Chloe told her with remarkable calm, handing over her card showing her as a consultant for Warden Security. "It's late and have my mind on dinner."

"No problem, ma'am," the receptionist said.

"Oh, please: Chloe," Chloe said. They had wanted pseudonyms but that would have made creating entirely new personas with social security numbers to be employed. It was simpler and safer to use their existing ones, as long as no-one connected the dots. For Osira and Obix, even without jobs, it had still been difficult to create false profiles.

They handed over their identification cards.

"I like your hair," the receptionist commented with a smile, while verifying and logging them in.

"Thanks, I guess the big cheeses wouldn't let you?" Chloe responded and Osira wondered how she sounded so at ease.

"Not if I ever want off the front desk," the woman responded, handing the cards back and smiling. The 'correct' cards seemed to trump seeing five faces that had never been there before.

Obix led them to an elevator.

"Not that one," Max said quietly and they moved to another. Osira noticed she appeared pale and positioned herself with her back to the first elevator. A pair of men talking about search patterns exited it while Osira and the others waited for the one they were at. She felt like hiding her own face but forced herself to appear as relaxed as Chloe did.

The elevator they got in was empty, although it did have a small camera bubble. Obix assured her it was video only.

"I take it that went differently for you," Chloe checked, rubbing Max's arm as the elevator descended.

"They recognized me," Max confirmed. "They actually told you all to grab me before one of them tried to himself. It was bad luck and hopefully that's all. It might even work out if they're out of the way."

Osira found the idea there was a segment of time that Max had experienced but she had not disturbing. Obix appeared to ignore the notion and she wanted to do the same.

"Now it gets tricky: we have to march about looking like we know where we are going when we have no clue. Remember rule one, Pirates," Chloe said and got a mumbled chorus from Osira and the others, including Obix:

"We stick together."

SEVEN

For all her bravado, Chloe felt a nervous buzz of energy as the elevator descended. Looking at Max and Emma, she abruptly wanted to settle down. Not exactly get a nine to five job but have a home and maybe grandkids and not have to battle nefarious corporations or rad-runners or even just trust that everything would work out.

"How did they get that machine down here?" Emma wondered. No-one joined them in the life, presumably as most were leaving. There were four sub-basement levels and Obix had chosen the penultimate one.

"There is a service elevator at the back, Mistress Emma," Obix explained. "However, there is a higher chance that our presence there would require explanation."

"Do you know if they have reassembled it?" Chloe checked as the doors slid open.

"There is no indication either way, Mistress Chloe," Obix responded.

"Drop the 'mistress' part," Osira instructed. "Names only, Obix."

There was a security guard outside the elevator, sat on a chair looking at a data pad and shaking his head. A small desk had a pot plant, computer terminal and a picture holder facing him. Behind his head was an unhelpful sign to numbered rooms and the bright yellow rising sun logo, this time against a pastel blue wall not dissimilar in shade to Max's car.

"ID," he directed, took their cards to run through a reader. Portly but not completely out of shape, his evident boredom was leavened by looking at Emma and smiling, even though he was probably closer to her and Max's age.

"We're here for the machine that was brought in a few days back," Chloe said. He glanced to her instead, looking up to her blue hair for moment but not commenting on it. "Can you direct us?"

"Sure," the guard and switched his smile to Chloe, almost visibly deciding his chances were better with her to the point of standing, sticking his chest out and his slight paunch in. "Down there… Chloe, room S303."

"Thanks," Chloe said, wryly as he handed their cards back. She considered telling him not to watch their backsides as they walked down the corridor but her mind was immediately onto how they were going to brazenly access a terminal and fix the machine while in the middle of a corporation intent on capturing them. It was going well, however, with the real employees of Bright Horizons accepting they belonged there because their identification cards and internet details said they should be.

Illuminated by LEDs, there were several side doors, including one for small cleaning robots, and restrooms with a drinking fountain just outside. Chloe stopped for a swig of water. However familiar the tension of being where she should not be was her mouth still felt dry. She caught Osira looking at her with a disbelieving expression and Chloe shrugged.

"Bathroom break anyone?" she joked.

"Let's just get this done, my love," Max said but was smiling and then took a swig of water too. Emma did the same before they moved on.

They reached a large door marked with S303 with the floor scuffed and blackened with rubber marks from where heavy objects had been wheeled in. There were even fresh chips in the walls where they had been caught as items had been maneuvered through the doorway.

"Pirates: prepare for boarding," Chloe declared but was actually worried about what could happen. It was not like facing down the Rox gang or engaging in a gun battle with Krav's psychopaths but Emma and Max were at risk with her. She looked at each in turn, took a breath then pushed open the doors as though they should not have been in her way.

Within was the machine in a dozen parts surrounded by twenty people, about half of who were in white lab coats. There were computers with monitors but many had on smart glasses, occasionally pointing at something only they could see.

"Well, not quite as bad as it could have been but not ideal," Chloe commented, surveying the area. "Obix, try a console and see if you can get into the intranet." The room had bland beige paint and little else, giving the impression it had been a storeroom or empty before Max's machine had been dragged in.

"Hey, who's in charge?" she asked a young man, perhaps Emma's age or a bit beyond with the smart glasses on the top of pale brown hair.

"Professor Calderwell," he said, pointing to an older man, perhaps sixty, balding but what was left gelled up over a thin face and frame that exaggerated his wrinkles. Most seemed to have been gained from frowning.

"That can't go there!" he was saying but registered his name being mentioned.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"The Boston office sent us. I'm security, these are the smarts," Chloe told him. Had Boston been one of the places Obix had said they had offices? She had barely been paying attention, at the time wanting to check on Emma, make out with Max, find some hash and have a cigarette pretty much in that order. Listening to Obix describe the infrastructure of the organizations had been far down her list of desires.

Chloe held out her hand and Calderwell stared at it as though she had held out a dead snake. To her slight surprise, he did take it, even if the handshake was just a quick jerk up and down. His flesh felt oddly cold, although the room was warm enough.

"More bodies to get in the way. I've told Millington I need smarter people, not more people," Calderwell dismissed her, turning back to the other people.

"Doctor Caulfield is an expert on this machinery," Chloe said, firmly enough to get his attention. She disliked helping them rebuild it but Osira wanted to return to her time and perhaps was right in needing to. Cowl, Moshie, Moira and the others were real but now in the distant future.

"There are no experts," Calderwell sniffed.

"That connects to the mains, that to the chair, that should be programmed to incrementally increase the energy levels. You'll need at least 5000 volts at 200 amps," Max stated and Calderwell stared at her for a long time before pushing the smart glasses onto his head, revealing grey eyes.

"Do it. You three, help them," he ordered. "You can go," he told Chloe.

"I'm here while they are," Chloe responded and shrugged. "I was told to stick with them." Without waiting for anything more from him, Chloe found a wheeled chair to sit on.

She lounged in the seat, arms behind her head and legs out but felt ill-at-ease. At best, they were doing exactly what Bright Horizons wanted, reassembling Max's machine. If Max was not the only person in a world of eight billion to have the strange power to rip apart the fundamental laws of reality, they would have given a commercial company that capability. That was assuming they could access their files, use the machine to send Osira and Obix back without killing Max and then just wander out of the building. Let alone having their daughter present.

Grief this was a bad plan.

She watched Max and Osira work on putting the machine back together, Emma talking with the young man Chloe had spoken to – or at least she was being talked at – while Obix typed at a keyboard. He would be plugged directly into Bright Horizons' intranet but typed to look like he was working. Max knowing how to put the machine together had the other scientists talking excitedly. One or two glanced at Calderwell, perhaps expecting him to tell them what to do, but he was stood with his arms folded, smart glasses down, observing the construction of the machine.

Only when Max held up components to declare them broken did Calderwell speak, directing someone to get a replacement.

"Sir, this part is… I would not know…" one young woman began.

"Get me that item," Calderwell told her and she did not object further, hurrying away to a computer terminal.

He resumed his silent, grim observation but evidently had second thoughts.

"Make sure that girl gets that piece here tonight," Calderwell instructed another scientist. He never issued a threat but those under him raced to action as though he had.

Hours passed but Chloe's unease did not. They were all working towards the same goal but she had the uncomfortable sensation that once it was met the real trouble would start. The only positive thing was Obix subtly nodded to her that his task was complete: he had altered the Bright Horizons files to show that the machine was nothing to do with Max Caulfield.

People entered, bringing more computers, parts and even refreshments. Chloe ate a sandwich and had a strong cup of coffee but barely tasted either. Calderwell was too compliant. Why let them work through the night? There was no reason to unless he did not want them leaving, which meant he knew they should not be there.

Chloe wanted to get out and again considered telling Emma to leave as she might be able to escape but then what? Alone in not just a city but a world she barely understood unless Chloe and Max could get out. Yet there was no going back. Even if Osira would accept staying, at least until they could build another version of the machine or if Max could manage without it, she was far from certain even with Obix they could get out.

They were trapped and working towards their own capture.

Somehow, even the Bright Horizons scientists felt the tension, unless it was only exhaustion. Conversation and enthusiasm dried up, barely reviving when the sandwiches came before evaporating again. They worked in silence, some catching an hour's uncomfortable sleep on the floor. Chloe found keeping a façade of indifference increasingly difficult.

The machine got closer to looking like when she had first seen it.

She went to the bathroom when managing to catch Obix's attention and hurriedly spoke with him in the corridor.

"Job done Obe?" she checked.

"Yes… Chloe. I have also downloaded some of the most relevant files should things not go well. I am concerned that they are somehow bypassing their own internal network, possibly via personal peer-to-peer communications. I am worried by what is happening."

"I know," Chloe told him. "We will do our best to get you and Osira out."

"She would not want you to sacrifice yourselves for her," he stated. Chloe had her doubts about that. Perhaps not for her individually but doing so for everyone alive in Telkia was another case.

"So, once we're done here back to the hotel," Chloe said as Calderwell came out of the room and looked at them, although smart glasses hid his eyes. There was no mistaking his disapproval from his pressed lips.

"Just going to the bathroom, if that's good with you?" Chloe told him facetiously. "I'll make sure to wash my hands and let you know when I'm done but could you wait out here for me, just in case?"

Calderwell's shook his head and Chloe grinned at how often she had seen that disapproval on people. Once he had returned to the room, however, the expression quickly left her face.

"Look, Obe, I don't know if I'll get the chance later but it was great knowing you," Chloe said. "Don't let Osira boss you about too much." She held his arm for a moment, causing him to look at her hand.

"Thank you. Your comments are meaningful to me," Obix responded. "However, I enjoy being told what to do by Osira. I shall miss you, too, Chloe."

She hugged him, briefly. Chloe had no idea if Osira was correct that he was no more alive than a refrigerator and certainly she should know but felt there was more to the mech than that.

"Come on, we don't want to give that repressed rodent cause to call the goons," Chloe stated. For a moment, she thought of getting a pen and sprucing the walls up with graffiti but the seriousness of the situation made that minor rebellion seem puerile when her family was in such peril.

Returning to the room with Max's machine made her realise how oppressive it was. Windowless and with only air piped down through ventilation shafts, it had an unpleasant, stale smell that was all too reminiscent of Telkia. There seemed little point in continuing with the pretense of only being their as security from Warden Services so she helped Max assemble the machine. Better to get it done, one way or the other.

First Chloe checked with Emma, who was mostly talking to the scientists. Her first thought was that her daughter was only passing the time but a glance from her told Chloe it was more and was working on getting some of them on their side. She wondered whether it was best to leave her to it but decided the more the employees could think of them as other than intruders.

"Hey, a late one tonight," she grinned at a cluster of them, while feeling like just going home – or at least Jarrow's – with Max and their daughter. "I hope BH appreciates the hard work."

"Shit… sorry, I mean, I don't know what we're doing here," a woman of about her age responded. "Still, that Caulfield woman knows what she's doing like she designed it. If she can get it working and get Calderwell off our backs, I'll frigging buy her a lifetime supply of coffee."

Although only forty, the woman's dark hair had signs of grey and looked as sleepy as Chloe. Thin lipped but whose good bone structure was unheightened by make-up, the woman looked like she was someone who put work ahead of most things. Despite that, Chloe like the first impression. Perhaps it was just being too tired to be guarded.

"Any idea what it does?" Chloe asked.

"Ha. You think having a team of my own, 15 years in the company and a PhD in physics warrants being told what the hell is going on? Shit, I miss smoking. Jackie." The woman offered her hand and Chloe shook it.

"I'm going to see what I can do to help. I'm better at the practical stuff anyway. You should get some rest; I reckon its at least an hour from completion," Chloe told Jackie, although spoke with Emma.

"How's it going?" Chloe checked having nearly been too familiar with her. It would not be giving much away but did not want to upset Emma's attempts at bonding with the younger scientists.

"They're a bright bunch," Emma smiled but there was the same weariness from watching what she said in addition to it being two in the morning.

"Once Max… Doctor Caulfield has got it up and running, we'll get some sleep," Chloe told her.

Grief, I nearly said 'Max-mom', she thought to herself. For once, give us a break and let us get out of here. Screw it: We'll make our own luck.

They held the other's gaze for a moment, knowing that once it was running would not be the end. Chloe put her hand over her heart. To hell with what these soulless sad sacks think. Emma did the same back. Of course, the majority, like Jackie, were just working for the man but none would object if Calderwell prevented her and the others leaving.

Max smiled at her but she looked weary and her eyes were bloodshot. Chloe doubted her own looked much better. They looked at each other for a moment without speaking then continued with working on the machine.

Obix was back on the terminal, Osira with another gaggle of scientists going over equations. Judging by their excitement and Oz's horrified expression, she had just told them some bit of tech or formula they should not know.

The next hour passed in a blur. It was better than just watching and working with Max was sweet. Even after nearly two decades, they could almost read each other's mind: putting the pieces back together.

"Just the one piece to go," Max told Calderwell. He had been an ever-present spectre, often standing but the time took their toll on him as well. After pacing, he sat and nodded off, jerking awake furiously as though someone had lulled him to sleep. The smart glasses were almost omnipresent on his nose and no-one would have known he was asleep but, of course, he had been scared of finding they had gone.

Now, he did remove them to peer at the machine. His lips were compressed and downturned but Chloe could tell he was excited. Calderwell circled the machine. Chloe considered just walking out and punching him if he tried to stop them. It would mean stranding Osira and Obix in their time for possibly years until they could get another machine built with Bright Horizons looking for them. Even if they were far more benevolent than they seemed, the ability to pop into the future was a power no-one should have.

Chloe looked at Max. Tired, thin and no longer with the glow of youth but oh, so beautiful. Had the roles been reversed, she could never have let her die, no matter the cost.

"Good," Calderwell stated.

The door opened and, for a moment, Chloe thought Warden thugs would burst in but it was just more refreshments. Sandwiches and coffee from the building's cafeteria. Three a.m. The two men, fairly muscular and tanned, at least on their faces and hands, passed them the food and drink. Chloe sat against the wall and Max and Emma joined her. She wanted to put her arms around them but did not, some vain hope that there would be enough doubt that they could fool Calderwell.

It was Jackie who approached them and squatted before them, grimacing as her joints creaked. Chloe sympathized.

"What is going on?" Jackie asked, just short of a demand.

Max looked at Chloe and gave a small nod. Yet the truth was long and complicated and interspersed with the impossible.

"We want to go home without your friends smashing our door down," Chloe explained. "That machine should get Osira – Professor Greystream – and once that is done we need perky old Bright Horizons not to send their hired thugs after us."

"I don't understand," Jackie admitted. "What does it do?"

"Un-sciencey things," Chloe sighed. "I know I sound like I'm avoiding the answer but that's because you won't accept it." Jackie said nothing but then, evidently uncomfortable, moved to sit against the wall, at least giving the impression she was on their side.

"It pokes a hole in time and space," Max said then took a bit of the limp sandwich in her hand. Perhaps it had just been a vending machine, Chloe considered, sipping the coffee.

"That's impossible," Jackie stated and Chloe threw up her hands and laughed, despite sitting and the warmth of the drink causing her to feel more tired than ever.

"Yes," Max agreed. "It made research difficult."

"How does it operate?" Jackie asked, setting smart glasses on her nose then discarding them. "Blair, get me some paper, please."

"I can't give you equations or diagrams," Max yawned. "There's some weak spot in the curvature of space-time that the machine and I can exploit. Perhaps a left over from the formation of the universe. Perhaps something the Earth passed through."

"Mmm," Chloe said. "Better not to think about it and just accept. I know you work for them but you seem decent. I like you. They're going to try to stop us but…" she petered out.

"But all we want is to be together and home," Max continued for her. "Somehow, I don't think your bosses want the same thing."

Chloe nodded but at the second decline of her head, she was asleep.

SEVEN

As she regained consciousness, Chloe's mind put together what had happened in reverse. The throbbing stinging that heated her cheek was an ungentle slap to wake her. Despite being tired, not helped by having little idea how they could escape, even sat she would not have fallen asleep, which meant the coffee – or sandwiches or both – had been spiked. The men who had brought the refreshments had not looked like the type to be running errands but she had dismissed it at the time.

Another slap, stinging the other cheek.

"Piss off," she mumbled. Her head felt like it was stuffed with wool and glass shards. Her hands being tied added to the discomfort.

"Good, you're awake."

Calderwell but distant enough not to be the one who had slapped her. Her eyelids felt glued shut and opening them an effort.

Calderwell and three goons, one man about Chloe's age with a rust-coloured beard and hair, two younger people, one male and one female but both looked like they had come from the same thug boot camp. A smaller room with filling cabinets, cardboard boxes and discarded computer bits. The same bland wall paint. Oh, for a marker pen.

"I'm going back to sleep. Wake me when there's someone interesting present," Chloe responded, although her tongue felt twice normal size, taking any force from the retort.

"We have questions and we have time," the older good said, squatting in front of her. Unlike Calderwell, his face showed signs of laughter throughout his life but there was something in his pale brown eyes that made her not want to know what amused him.

"I have a headache and a vision of a fascist. Trade?" she offered. He smiled, amused by the antics of a lesser creature in his power. Calderwell, behind with his arms crossed, just looked disapproving. He must have practiced the expression from an early age. Chloe was scared, terrified even, of what was happening to Emma and Max but they would be in more danger of harm if the man in front of her knew how important they were to her.

"My friend here wants to know how to make the machine work. He's convinced he can get it to function given enough time but why spend days working if we can just ask you?" the man said.

"What makes you think I know? I'm just a Warden employee like you," she tried. That he would buy the statement was about as likely as her finding a winning lottery ticket in the room. The man in front of her laughed, genuinely amused.

"Personally, I think we could use someone like you but I doubt that will happen. We'll get onto how you are in our records later. The machine. You helped assemble it."

"Well, Calderwell and his band of dozy dorks couldn't figure it out so I took pity on him," Chloe said. "Need a hand with anything else?" she asked the scientist. "Crosswords? Jigsaws? Join-the-dot puzzles?"

Calderwell glowered at her and she grinned at him. It seemed to take all her energy. The lead thug grabbed her jaw and forced her attention back to him.

"Let's start with threats," he said. "Be assured, before you laugh at them too, that they are not empty ones. I think you would rather be stubborn than smart but let's see. Illegal entry, falsification of records, attempt at stealing copyrighted company data and so on. Let's say 5 years, more as you don't seem the type to get out on good behavior. That goes for your friend Maxine Caulfield and your daughter Emma Price-Caulfield, missing for 17 years. So maybe more. I wonder how they will cope? Then there's our other friends, Osira Greystream and Obix, illegal immigrants who will be sent to whatever rat-infested place they came from.

"Or, you co-operate and life takes a far sunnier path."

"You know, even though I really don't like you, I might actually be tempted," Chloe sighed. "There's a major problem in that I don't know how it works. I have never seen it in action, even before your clowns started throwing bits of it about. Also, I have some worries about how it might get used."

He looked at her for a long time. Chloe glowered back at him. At least, she hoped it was a glower and not just looking sleepy.

"Get on with it, Scarrow," Calderwell snapped, removing his smart glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. With dark patches, he looked as tired as Chloe felt.

"Very well," the man stated. "Bring her."

The man and woman moved from the door to lift Chloe up by her arms. With the effect of the drug - probably just a commercially available sleeping pill - she needed them to stay upright. They all left, Calderwell in the lead, followed by the lead Warden man then her being dragged by the guards. It was a short journey back down the corridor and into room S303.

Her attention was immediately drawn to Emma and Max, stood side-by-side and hands tied by the same plastic restrainers as on her wrists. They both looked relieved to see her, tension visibly draining from them. She grinned at them and the smile was effortless, a moment where everything else faded.

Circumstances kicked back in as she was dragged further into the room. Most people were still there and Chloe wondered how long she had been unconscious. No sign of Osira and Obix but the goons seemed to consider them as unimportant, perhaps because they lacked records. Jackie was there and Chloe nodded by way of greeting, as though seeing an associate across a party. The woman looked concerned and frowned further at seeing Chloe.

Probably a dozen younger researchers remained, now joined by half that many guards. Dominating the room was the machine. It was an ugly thing, with aesthetics being of no concern, there was bits of metal and cabling sticking out everywhere. However, despite it looking like a torture device, Chloe saw they were going to use something far more innocuous looking.

The Warden guards had a table and with a large tub of water at one end.

"Miss Caulfield, I do not want to do this," Calderwell declared and Chloe twisted in the arms of the guards to look at Max. He sounded utterly indifferent to whether it was done or not. "However, I will know how this weapon works. As one scientist to another, tell me how it works."

"It's not a weapon and only I can use it," Max pleaded.

"Something happened at Arcadia Bay 22 years ago and something else at your home 5 years after that," Calderwell stated. "Those 'somethings' created a storm and demolished your house."

"They were just storms," Max responded.

"Do not take me for an idiot," Calderwell snapped. "We have readings from both occurrences that are off the scale. There is the purchasing of parts for this device: it's hardly a piece of art. But let's play your game, then. If it is not a weapon, then what does it do?"

"If you let me sit in it, I can demonstrate," Max told him with the weariness of having offered before.

"This is on you," Calderwell snapped and nodded at Scarrow.

"Please don't," Max begged. Emma, not understanding, just looked frightened.

The guards strapped Chloe to the table. She struggled but they held her easily.

"No-one else can use it!" Max shouted.

"Don't be stupid," Calderwell said, not even turning to look at her. He looked determined, as though having to punish a recalcitrant child. Scarrow had all the appearance of someone having a good day at work.

Held immobile by more plastic straps and her head at the end of the table near the tub, Chloe had another reprieve.

"This is wrong," Jackie objected, finally confronting Calderwell.

"There are no dials, switched or programs. Three people have sat in and there's no indication it does anything yet we know it does. This is years of research and frustration solved. Would you rather it remain with a college dope-head dropout and a failed photographer?" he responded.

"This is all legal," Scarrow added. "No permanent harm will come to her. At least, we don't intend any to and they could all be classified as terrorists, building a destructive device that may well have killed people in Arcadia Bay. We are not the villains here, Professor Fitzpatrick.

"However, you and the others may leave, if you conscience concerns you."

Calderwell nodded impatiently.

"We will stay," Jackie declared and stared at the younger researchers as though defying them to run away.

"Now, this is going to be efficient," Scarrow said.

"Just get on with it," Chloe interrupted him. "I need a wash."

"From you, Ms Price, I want to know how you got yourselves into our secure network and created jobs and records. Meanwhile, Ms Caulfield, there, will tell the professor what he wants to know," Scarrow continued. "Fortunately, we have a spare too. Should you two remain recalcitrant, Miss Price-Caulfield will be next."

Chloe swore at him but then her face was underwater and it was all she could do not to drown. For half a minute, there was little unpleasant about it, although stopping water going down her throat through her nose was a struggle. Then her chest felt tight and the need to breathe grew. The blood pounded in her ears. She struggled helplessly. Her lungs on fire.

Then there was air. Emma and Max were screaming but Chloe could not think. Every ounce of her body was on getting oxygen. She managed another breath and was under again.

The same muted sounds and sensations. Almost like putting her head down in a bath. Then the slow building of pressure again. The growing discomfort in her chest, turning to hurt, pain and then agony. Thrashing hopelessly. Finally releasing the air from her lungs and desperate for more. Struggling against breathing. Needing to yet having to fight that very need.

And up. Water streaming from her face. Air sucked in. A distant sensation of Emma and Max screaming at them to stop. One or two other voices raised in protest. Maybe Calderwell demanding something. Jackie Fitzpatrick objecting again but her world was about getting air.

Then submerged again.

The few seconds of coherent thought again. No chance for defiance or even giving them what they wanted. Of course, she could tell them that Obix had broken into their systems but the machine would only work with Max and they would not believe that.

Then the tightness began again. The need to exhale stale air and replace it. The long fight against instinct. Desperation to breathe. The buildup of pain and her vision darkening. Awareness of the pounding of blood in her ears. Releasing the precious air in her lungs, fighting not to draw more.

Blessed relief. The cacophony of voices nothing to drawing in air. Then down again. Short clarity. Time to think the longer she could hold on the longer it would be until they started on Emma. Contemptuously dismissing the idea of drawing water in early and just drowning. Then everything was on not drawing air. Time stretching out as she fought not to release the air she had as her body screamed at her to do so. Then finally letting it out and the new frantic struggle not to breathe water. Her sight darkened. Her head throbbed and her lungs burned.

Up and a moment of air.

Down and an eternity of water.

Each time seemed to take longer. Even as her body burned for air and her vision faded, part of her thought of Emma and Max and her love for them. This time the darkness became complete and she fell.

EIGHT

Max had been slapped awake by Scarrow and her thoughts sluggish. After working almost obsessively on the machine as their hope of escape, she had repeatedly considered using her power to rewind time. Unlike opening the portal, it did not need the machine. Yet Max needed to conserve her strength and skipping back a minute or did not seem to gain her anything. Worse, the Bright Horizons scientists would notice if bits of the machine seemed to suddenly join it without anyone moving them.

So, she had worked and tried to think of a way out. It all came down to the machine. Get it working, send Osira and Obix to their time then hope to get away in the confusion. Chloe had joined her and it felt wonderful, working together and picking up her flagging spirits. They would glance at each other and smile, worried yet it seemed fine as long as they were not apart. Emma talking to the other people, hoping to get them friendly enough not to interfere if the Arcadia Bay Pirates had to run.

Then waiting for the last component, drinking and eating and falling asleep.

Calderwell had demanded answers as soon as she woke. The scientists were around the machine with smart glasses and data pads. The lead scientist could not accept the truth because the truth was illogical.

"So, you have a mutation that allows only you to access it?" he had sneered. "If you are going to lie, at least make it plausible. Do not think for a moment that I am going to let you near that machine."

"Why not if you don't believe me?" Max had responded while wondering where the others were. Emma and Max, Osira and Obix.

"You know how to operate it," Calderwell had said. "Therefore you can tell me how it works. I have studied what happened to your house and that took me back to Arcadia Bay. This device has some power that will leap our knowledge ahead by years."

Max did not know whether to cry or laugh. The ability was in her. The machine amplified an aspect of it but, by itself, the device was useless. She watched another young scientist ordered to sit in it, less than enthusiastically, and blood fill some of the tubes. They had evidently received the missing component or, perhaps, had it all along and wanted to make sure she and the others took the spiked refreshments first.

Power thrummed into the machine. The young man sat in it - one who had been speaking with Emma earlier - watched his blood pump around the tubes with concerned fascination.

"Do something," Calderwell ordered and the man shrugged.

"We will ask the other one," Calderwell said. "You, fetch the red-haired one."

"Don't order my people about," a hirsute man with rust-red hair told him, some sort of leader of the security detail.

They left and a woman with greying hair tied up in a bun came up to Max. She had seen Chloe talking to her earlier. Jackie, if she recalled.

"Please, just tell him what he wants to know," the woman said.

"I can't," Max responded. "He won't accept it." If he did, Max did not like the thought of what they would do to her to find out why she had the power to travel through time.

Then Emma was brought in and she felt some of the tightness in her ease. The bindings prevented her from embracing her daughter and they settled for resting foreheads together.

"I'm sorry," Max whispered. "For all this."

"It's not your fault, mom," Emma told her. Yet how much more trouble would her power cause?

The younger scientist stepped off the machine and implored them to tell Calderwell what he wanted, just as Jackie had but directed mostly at Emma.

"We can sort something out," the man said. "You've not harmed anyone and the machine was yours. There's got to be some sort of agreement that can be reached." He was clean shaven, dark-haired and skin the colour of milky coffee, with the vibrancy of youth and a bright, intelligent face that showed little sign of working all day and night.

Then Chloe was brought in, grinning at her, and Max had a sense that everything would be alright just before it became awful.

Twice she tried to use her rewind power but the loop just took her back to the same position, forced against the wall by the guards, watching Chloe's head go into the water, on the verge of drowning and then being momentarily brought back up. Max could not get past that point.

Her throat was hoarse with incoherent screaming when the cavalry arrived in the form of Obix, followed by Osira.

Obix moved quickly to Chloe, pushing aside the humans with ease but without harming them. The Warden guards came at him, then resorted to batons as he tilted the table back with Chloe on it. Confusion and anger as they swung their sticks full arm at him without effect. The man holding Max weakened his grip and she shouldered past him but he dragged her back and she lost her footing.

The gun shot thundered in the room. Everyone went still apart from Obix, with a hole in the side of his head. Max had not realized the Warden people were armed but the man with the red beard had pulled out an automatic and fired it point blank at the mech. Obix collapsed. Horror at the act followed by whispered curiosity as cream coloured fluid spilled from the damage instead of red blood.

Max rewound time again, feeling blood leaking from her nose as vessels ruptured. If her head hurt before, it was pounding now.

Chloe was back under water and Max forced herself to look away, ready for Obix to enter. The guard holding her was caught off guard by her sudden cessation. Beside them Emma was fighting against the woman holding her without effect. Obix entered again.

"Untie me first," Max ordered turning away and, without hesitation, the mech snapped the plastic cord binding her wrists and pulled the guard off just as easily. Obix then strode towards Chloe to save her.

"Watch for the one with a beard," Max shouted. "He has a gun."

The scientists hesitated despite Calderwell yelling at them to stop her and she hopped onto the machine. Osira moved to stop anyone interfering with her as the machine drew blood from her arm and pumped it around a meter of tubing. The piping had not been replaced since the previous occupant had used the machine but there was no time to worry about if that would have an affect or whether the needle had been cleaned.

There was pandemonium. People yelling, including Calderwell for someone to pull the power when it would have been quicker for him to do it, Obix taking the gun from the bearded Warden while ignoring others beating on him and pushing towards Chloe. Jackie seemed to be directing others to monitor what the machine would do and several were looking to her for guidance.

Calderwell finally made a move to pull the power cable from the machine but the guard with Emma had left her to ineffectively take a running blow to Obix's head with a baton. Emma dashed across and kicked him squarely in the back of the knee. He cried out as much in outrage as pain and went down.

Max put everything she had into forming a vortex, trying to concentrate her will and need for the passage to the other time and place to form. Shutting out every noise around her and worry for Chloe, recalling every story Emma and Chloe had told of Telkia and imagined being there. Of forcing open a portal.

Max felt a lurch, as though dropping through the floor. Some debris fell from the tiled ceiling. No vortex formed. The power went out and there was utter darkness.

If it was not for the continued sound of scuffling and higher pitched panic from the scientists, Max could almost imagine she had vanished or was in limbo.

Lights from computer pads flicked on and gave an eerie glow to everything. People were ill defined shapes in the limited illumination. Max looked to where Chloe was but she felt utterly drained, incapable of even standing. Emma glanced at Max, who nodded and her daughter went to help Chloe but with another concerned glance at her.

"What have you done?" Jackie demanded. Some were complaining about the wifi connections that ran through the building were not working.

"Everyone stay calm," Calderwell ordered. "The backup generator will kick in momentarily. You two, go and check on the rest of the building. Scarrow, get your people under control. Fitzpatrick, stop panicking and find out what that woman did.

"You! Obix. Stop that immediately."

Osira had reached Max's side but turned to see what the mech was doing. Even in the near dark, Max could sense Osira's shock. Peering beyond the woman from Telkia, it took a while for her to understand what was happening and thought that Chloe was still being held under water. Then the image clarified enough that Max could see it was Obix holding the Scarrow man down, head submerged.

The other guards were hitting Obix but he used his other hand to push them away, this time firmly enough that they fell backwards onto the ground. It was Chloe, as familiar in silhouette as if she was stood under a noon sun, who stopped Obix by speaking to him. Scarrow was let up, gasping for air.

"I'll have you killed for this," he managed.

Max watched Chloe bring her fist down onto Scarrow's nose and heard the crack.

"Enough of this!" Calderwell shouted. "Silence, all of you."

Chloe advanced on him, head lowered and he took a step back.

"Stay back! You're in enough trouble, Price," Calderwell snapped. Perhaps Max imagined the fear in his voice.

"We are leaving," Chloe rasped.

"I'm sorry, Osira," Max said. "I tried but I… just can't."

"What? Oh. For now, we had best leave while we can. Obix, lead the way," Osira said, sounding troubled and the instruction to the mech less than certain.

The mech opened the door and left the room, walking just like a human and Max had come to think of him as a person. More than the pale fluid that had poured out of him before she rewound time, the way Obix had snatched the gun from Scarrow too fast to see then effortlessly held him down while being pounded by batons brought home to her how much he was inhuman. In the corridor, Obix's eyes turned to lights, showing the corridor and a startled researcher – maybe only an intern – who stared at them. Max was supported by Emma and would have fallen without her support. The young man flattened himself against the wall to let them pass.

"Are you… alright, Chloe?" Max asked. Chloe was keeping pace with them but the tightness in her body indicated she physically wanted to stride off and through anything that got in her way. It was an inane question under the circumstances but she was worried.

Chloe looked at her and the burning anger eased from her expression.

"I won't be recommending this place on vacations-dot-com," Chloe stated without mirth, water still dripping from her face and hair. "How about you two?"

"Well, a good night's sleep wouldn't go amiss," Max admitted.

"I couldn't stop them, mom," Emma said, hanging her head down and Chloe moved in front of them, forcing them to stop.

"Neither could I," Chloe said. "I love you both so much." Chloe softly lifted Emma's head and kissed them each on their foreheads.

"They will be after us," Osira said gently.

Chloe nodded and they continued in line abreast after Osira and Obix. The soft-int specialist in that they had to keep moving. The sound of people arguing came from the room S303 behind them.

Approaching a stairwell near the elevators, Max shielded her eyes as a beam of light shone straight at them.

"Oh, thank goodness," a man said, hidden by the glare. "All the power is out. I think it was an earthquake. I barely remembered this torch."

"Shine it less in our faces," Chloe ordered.

"Sorry," the man said. "Larry Aber. I checked your IDs on the way down, Chloe. What happened? Was there a leak?"

"Your employers…" Chloe shouted and took two steps forward past Osira and Obix. She started over quietly. "Your employers waterboarded me and were going to start on our daughter." Her voice rose again, trembling with anger.

The man was left open mouthed and unable to find words as Chloe moved to the stairs. Obix took the lead.

"Wait," Aber called, opening the fire door. "Let me show you out. The day shift is about to start and… I might be able to help."

Chloe stopped on the stairs and turned. Max looked at her and saw the hurt behind the anger.

"Thank you, Larry," Chloe accepted and Max could see how she wanted to rage against some representative of Bright Horizons or Warden Security yet knew Aber had nothing to do with it.

They made a grim procession as they climbed the stairs, Larry the guard leading with his flashlight picking up bits of rubble, then Osira, lost in her own thoughts, Obix with his eyes back to normal following his mistress, Max, shaking and clinging to Emma, then Chloe at the rear. Past sub-basement level 2 without speaking even Aber apparently picking up the mood and remaining quiet despite the host of questions he had to have.

Noise came from elsewhere. People talking with relief at whatever having happened apparently over but concern at the lights still being out. The door to sub-basement 1 opened and a bald-headed man peered at them.

"Should we evacuate?" he asked.

"Yes, to be safe," Max answered hoarsely when the others looked to Chloe, who apparently had no intention of answering.

"I'll wait in the lobby?" the man queried as they continued up.

"Sure," Max responded. Her legs felt like rubber

"Stop! I can see you up there!"

Scarrow at the sub-level 3 entrance. His voice sounded thick. Boots on the steps, running up.

"Hurry!" Aber said, although he sounded winded. Max could not blame him for preferring to help without getting caught.

"How far do you think you can get?" Scarrow taunted, then swore. The boots pounded ever closer but the distance was too great even with the slow pace Max could manage.

The lobby had thirty people present staring at the door to outside. Sunlight bathed the entrance, slightly muted by the shaded glass. Chloe shook Larry's hand as he stopped to return to work or at least distance himself from them as Scarrow's guards arrived.

"Now, we have some unfinished business. What… what…" he stammered to a stop with his voice thick.

Outside, the sky was covered with dirty brown clouds and the car park stopped just past Max's car. Beyond was a scrub desert of dark sand and pale plants. Max saw Chloe turn and look behind her at Scarrow, head lowered and glowering through her eyebrows.

"You're in my world now, fucker."