III
A large asteroid drifting through space sliced clean over a wing of the Great Fox, ripping off tiles with it. Showers of varying rocks swam by the battle scarred ship, a few more breaking over the hull. The ship floated onward, passing into a field of larger wandering asteroids. The remains of Corneria, a hazy brown cloud of gaseous debris, spread and thinned throughout their corner of Lylat.
Dim blue lights flickered on the bridge. In his seat, Fox accessed systems on his console. After a few pokes he rubbed burn marks and soot off the controls with the cuff of his jacket. ROB helped Rayet up on the other side of his console, and others pulled themselves up from the floor. Sparks hissed from torn cables dangling from the ceiling. Fox had no luck with his console and trudged across the dark debris filled bridge to Krystal who was pulling herself up by her seat. "Krystal." He helped her up. "Is everyone okay?"
"I'm alright," she said shaky. "Just a little bruised up. She straightened her frilly dirty skirt which was torn at the bottom.
Fox held her. "We're here, but I don't know how."
The prince pushed himself up from the debris under his hands and sat on his knees, slapping his paws together, brushing his fur off. He looked down and found a sparkling gem under pieces of metal, wire and glass, the bell necklace with its broken chain. He held it up and studied it in the flickering light. It was still opulent, clean, perfect. He looked back at Krystal and held it up to her. "I'm sorry about your necklace. It was necessary."
Krystal pulled herself out of Fox's arms and took it carefully in her hand, letting the chain run over her fingers. It felt hot. "No, it's alright. It was this…" She thumbed it, turning it over, studying how the gems on the tiny bell sparkled and refracted what little light there was. "It was this that saved us. Just a tiny necklace. A tiny bell."
"A Titanian bell," the prince said proudly.
"I guess we should be thankful." Falco brushed his seat off and sat down, checking his only console that wasn't burnt out.
Rayet rubbed his neck, sitting in the seat next to ROB. "Corneria," he said, cold. He strained his eyes at the bridge window, another swarm of rocks floating by. "It's gone isn't it. This really happened."
Fox held Krystal as tightly as she held the bell in her hand. "It is," he said. "But we're alive. We have to focus on that."
The prince stood, watching the window and the rocks, "Corneria is still there."
"I wish I could believe you," Croy said back in his seat. "But the lovely view says otherwise."
The prince held his hands up ready to explain, "It's complicated but, time is… not what you think it is. At least not to me."
"We're listening," Krystal said.
"Alright." The prince carefully stepped over a bulkhead. "You see time as a line. Hence the word timeline. In your view, things go from point A to point B. Corneria is in point A. We're in point B. Corneria isn't in point B. But that's only half correct. Time is really a sphere, shaped like the universe, expanding outward infinitely. We can travel in any direction in time, backwards, forwards, upwards, downwards."
Falco wasn't buying it. "I get forward and backwards, but how can you travel through time up and down. That makes no sense."
"It's simple," the prince said. "Right now the time is 11:35 p.m. according to your clock system. The day is 15 AAC4 according to your calendar system. Well if I travel up in time, the day would still be 15 AAC4 and the time still 11:35 p.m. but events, persons, objects, quantum states would be different." He pointed at Croy. "Croy might not be here in an upward or downward point in time because in one of those points he got in a car accident on his way to the band's rock show, causing him never to be apart of our string of events."
Croy blinked. "So you're saying, in some other universe, I died?"
"Yes, but you yourself are largely irrelevant."
"Thanks."
The prince took a breath. "What I mean to say is, judging from the circumstances there are likely several billion, trillion universes, time strings, where we all died. It was quite a small window we squeezed through. To tell you what I'm feeling, it's a strong sense of isolation but freshness. I believe this might be the only time string where we survived. It's very unnerving for me to feel. But I can already feel new strings branching off from us, from this point forward."
Rayet scratched his head. "This is some of the craziest crap I've ever heard. I'm still not getting any of this."
Krystal said, "But what about causality and paradox? With time travel, you have those problems. If I go back in time and kill my father, I wouldn't exist here now. So how would I go back in time to-"
Rayet stared, "Why would you want to kill your father?"
She rolled her eyes. "It's just an example ferret boy."
The prince corrected, "No, paradox doesn't exist. You would still exist if you went back in time and killed your father, because if you went back in time, you would be moving across universes and killing your father in a separate universe. You wouldn't just be going backwards in time, but up and down as well."
Fox looked elsewhere with understanding. "In that case, there must be states, time strings, where right now at 11:35 p.m., 15 AAC4, Corneria still exists."
"Precisely," the prince picked up. "Unfortunately, very few. To tell you the truth, I can barely sense them at all, but there are some there. We can still be apart of one of those universes."
"Alright," Krystal said. "How? How do we do it?"
The prince looked at her gravely, "We stop Arc Ycrio. Restore every time string he's affected."
Fox took that and walked with it to his captain's chair. "Alright, that's what we'll do if that's what we need to do to save Corneria. ROB give me a full systems status. Krystal can you get armor tolerance up?"
She checked, "No, I've got power drains. It's at the best it'll get. I can't even get particle diffusers online."
ROB's eyes flickered, "Main engine core is offline. Main engines are offline. Power levels are at 26 percent. Particle diffusers are offline. Armor stabilizers are at 35 percent. Hull damage at rear aft, third port, fifth juncture starboard, C deck, D deck, and E deck. Breech shields are containing the ruptures."
ROB paused and Fox threw his hands up in dismay.
ROB continued, "Long range scanners are offline-"
"Oh there's more," Croy said.
"-Short range scanners are at 40 efficiency. Auxiliary engines are online. Maneuvering thrusters are operational." ROB pulled his jack out of the burned console.
Krystal sighed, "At least it had a happy ending."
Fox pointed, "Falco use the auxiliary engines and thrusters to get us out of this debris field. You're gonna have to get creative." He looked at Prince Orbion, "You're in charge here buddy, lead the way." He gestured toward the window.
The prince froze up, unsure with sudden added responsibility. "We need to get to the planet of Aquas."
"At this time of year, Aquas is on the other side of the system," Falco said. "With just auxiliary engines, it would take days to get there."
"Time of year is unimportant," the prince said.
"You keep saying stuff like that!" Falco complained.
"I'm sorry," the prince said. He looked at Fox. "I wasn't finished. We need to get to Aquas, but Aquas one billion, two million four-hundred eighteen thousand six hundred and thirty-five years ago."
Fox nodded and smirked and rested his elbow on his console, then his chin on his palm. He opened his muzzle halfway, thinking of something to say, tapping his fingers on his nose, but all that came out was "Okay."
-.-.-.-.-.-
Six decks below, in the engine room, the prince stood with Fox, ROB, and Krystal in front of the main core, a metal sphere taking up half the room. It was inert, offline. They all stared at the core. The prince reached toward Krystal. "I'm afraid I'll need your necklace again."
She had tied the clasp around her wrist, looping it twice like a loose bracelet. When she felt for it, she was surprised it was still warm. "Alright, here." She undid it and handed it to him.
ROB looked upward. "We're ready down here Falco," came his monotone voice through the bridge communicator. "Keep our trajectory straight."
"Yes," the prince echoed. "As straight as possible."
Falco was at the helm, tapping controls. "Gotcha. Heading 108 mark 5. Current speed, 3,000 k.p.h."
Croy was lounged sideways in the captain's chair with his back against one armrest and his legs over the other. "And we're ready up here guys. What do you say we do some time traveling." Rayet looked at Croy and laughed. Then slinked over and hopped into his lap making him 'oof.'
Falco looked back, "Guys c'mon. Rayet I need you at operations."
Back at the engine core, Fox looked at the prince and shrugged, "Sounds like we're good to go. I guess do your thing."
The prince took a breath, holding the bell, and started toward the engine core. "This would be much easier if I had my glapherim," he mumbled.
He held the bell up toward the core and closed his eyes, but stopped and looked back. "You might want to step back some. This could get very bright and noisy, and possibly dangerous."
Krystal stepped back first and they all followed her, stepping backwards until they were at the lift doors.
The prince made sure they were as far as possible, then closed his eyes again, holding the bell up higher.
Fox looked up, "Falco, get ready to target space 10 kilometers ahead with a polarized particle beam."
"Got it," the bird said, tapping through controls. "Targeting scanners locked. Beam is charged and ready."
Rayet studied his console, "Power levels still pretty low."
Croy checked the captain's console, "I don't know what any of this means, but it's green so that must mean good."
The prince still held the bell up, but nothing happened. Fox was about to say something when his ears perked up, picking up a low deep hum from all around.
Krystal turned, "Fox maybe-"
He held his hand up, stopping her. "Something's happening." He felt a tingling sensation, starting at his hands, then up his arms. He looked down at them and saw the fur sticking up.
"I feel it too," she said, looking at her arms, turning them over. "It's energy."
A small light flickered from the bell in the prince's hand, a small pulse connected between the core and the bell, twisted and faded away, then rebounded, pulsing back, connecting thicker, brighter with a loud zap.
Fox grabbed Krystal, pulling her behind him, but she pushed around his shoulder trying to watch.
"Oh, this is weird," Rayet said to his console, seeing energy readings fluctuate.
The prince cringed and clenched the bell and pulses of clear light rushed up his body, up his cloak and fur flapping in the energy, up through his arms, out the bell into the engine core. Dozens of beams zapped off his body like lightning, flickering, connecting, discharging in various shapes and strengths. "Aquas," he mumbled. "Take us back. Undo what's been done. Save what's not been won."
The core warmed up, power bars indicating it was coming online. ROB went to an engineering console, checking levels.
"Take us back. Undo what's been done. Save what's not been won."
"What's he saying?" Krystal asked. Their fur stood on end, prickling toward the core.
"I don't know," Fox said squinting as the discharges grew brighter.
"To the king of Aquas, who can save what we've lost. To the king of Aquas, to the past at any cost."
Rings of energy warped off the prince in a kaleidoscope of patterns, into blues, greens, reds, running along the beams of energy connecting to the core. Krystal shielded her eyes. A bubble of colors swelled off the prince and focused to a beam, striking the core. A flood of colored energy rushed through pipes, bulkheads, cables. Consoles blew out in the engine room, sparks showering out. Then a second bubble into a second beam, a larger blast. Then another. Until a final one boomed off the prince, up into the bell, shooting into the core, continuous and blinding, energy roaring throughout the ship.
Rayet's eyes went wide at the readings. "Everyone get down!"
The prince shouted into the colors, "Now Falco!"
Fox and Krystal were unable to look away from the beauty. The prince became a pure colored spectrum of light and energy, and the core was meshed and bathed in it like oils dancing on a bubble.
Consoles and panels on the bridge blew off and sparks of every color zoomed through the air. Rayet held his hands by his ears and couldn't hear himself screaming. Croy relaxed in the captain's chair and laughed. Falco ignored it all and activated the beam and kept their heading straight.
Multicolored energy shot from the turrets of the ship, converging at one point ahead. Space ripped open in an explosion of light. An irregular portal wobbled into existence and the Great Fox lumbered toward it.
The bell floated on its own, out of the prince's hands. "To Aquas," he whispered to it. Colors warping over each other carried it up. Energy rushed off the prince, the bell, the core, flooded the engine room, filled the ship, wrapping over the hull.
"Falco!" Fox bellowed, but he couldn't hear anything but the roar, couldn't see anything but the colors. He couldn't feel himself, nothing but tingling. Krystal looked at him, two blue eyes, calmly. She touched his arm, but her hand passed right through him.
The Great Fox went lucid, clear energy, light and colors, stretching, pulling into the portal. On the bridge they saw nothing but white light. Falco's eyes adjusted, pupils shrinking to a point, beak half open, and he saw a planet on the other side of the bright-ringed portal, another Solar twinkling in the new space ahead. It looked different, whiter. The planet was foreign, smaller than Corneria, but with continents, oceans, and clouds just like it, two large ice caps at the poles, no lights twinkling on the dark night side. Suddenly he could see through his console. He let go and could see through his hands and feathers too, the bulkheads above, the floor below, seeing the stars and the full wobbling ring of the portal ahead, the lush blue world of Aquas through it.
They passed into the portal, a wall of energy shooting through the bridge, through Falco's feathers, over Rayet's fur and Croy's skin. Fox could only look at Krystal, trying to feel her until the beams of energy came through the walls and took them away. The entire ship dipped into the portal and the ring collapsed, pinching down into a single point in space before flickering out in every color, then disappearing completely.
The asteroids flying from Corneria's remains floated by calmly undisturbed.
-.-.-.-.-.-
The sand on the beach was pristine white. Fox felt it, warm against the side of his face. He lay on his stomach with his arms and hands stretched out above his head, his muzzle turned toward the crystal blue surf washing on shore.
He sniffed and caught the salty air and clawed sand between his fingers. "Krystal," he mumbled, tasting crunchiness on his lips. Suddenly he jolted upward, looking at the beach wide-eyed. It was real. He sat on his knees and grabbed sand with both hands and held it up, letting it run through his fingers. He looked up at the waves washing ashore and listened to their rumbling. The beach continued for as far as he could see, curving slightly. A cool breeze ran over his fur. Foothills rose from the jungle bordering the beach, rising up to faded blue mountains in the distance.
Puffy white clouds drifted slowly, close to the ocean. Larger towering clouds on the ocean's horizon had dark curtains of rain underneath. High in the sky were clouds like fish scales, and then far above those, wispy feathered clouds unmoving.
Fox twisted around and saw the rest of the group. Krystal, Rayet, and Falco lay in the sand close to each other, picking themselves up, brushing themselves off. Croy was half buried in the distance, in front of the Great Fox which towered over the beach, half in the sand, half in the ocean, waves lapping over its wings on one side.
Fox saw a towering figure walking toward him from the ship. He shielded his eyes from the sun to get a better look. ROB's silhouette cleared up and he could see his face. "Hey," he called, unsure of what to say.
ROB walked up and held out his hand out to Fox, who took it.
"How did we land here?" Fox was pulled up. He brushed himself off and spat sand off his tongue. "How are we outside the ship?"
ROB looked around and studied their environment, calculating a response. "For eight minutes and thirty-five seconds, the Great Fox, and its occupants were in a pure energy state after passing through the spatial rift. My cognitive awareness went offline, but my backup sensors were able to record bits and pieces of what happened. I'm unsure how that was possible, given the altered state I underwent."
Krystal approached, "Fox. What happened? How are we here?" She hugged him.
"ROB was just getting to that," he said. Falco, Rayet, and Croy walked up, burned out and tired. They formed a circle. Rayet latched onto Falco and pushed his face against his body, closing his eyes wanting to sleep.
ROB continued, "There isn't much more to tell. The only thing I can recall from my backup sensors is the Great Fox, in this pure energy state, underwent a gentle descent into this planet's atmosphere and landed there." He pointed back at the ship. "I don't know why we're outside the ship, but I theorize that we, being in this pure energy state as well, descended separately from the ship."
Croy felt his hands and arms, "I know some of you guys are gonna disagree with me, but that was probably the coolest experience ever. Kinda like flying. Kinda like dying."
"Wait." Fox blinked, looking at each of them. "Where's Prince Orbion?"
The rest all looked around. Except for the Great Fox, the beach was clear, clean and pure. A small shelled creature in the distance waddled down wet sand, toward the water.
Krystal sensed the prince. His tired ragged voice called to her.
'Krystal,' his gentle lilt echoed in her mind.
She strained her eyes and hunted the beach for any sign of him.
'Did everyone make it?' he thought weakly.
'Yes,' she thought. 'We're all okay. You did it. But where are you?'
'I'm too weak,' his voice faded away, but she could still sense him. Her eyes followed her feelings, moving up the beach, reaching the point where the jungle met the sand, finding the prince lying against a tree.
"There," she pointed far in the distance.
Fox pushed through the circle, dashing to him, and they all followed quickly. They reached him, relieved to see him. The shade under the edge of the jungle was cool and inviting. They formed a circle around him. The prince glowed, white energy fading off of him.
Fox reached for the prince's neck to check his vital signs but jerked his hand away. They all jumped and Fox grabbed his hand in pain.
"What is it?" Falco asked.
"It burned!" Fox growled, studying his hand, seeing the spots on his digits where the fur was singed.
Krystal closed her eyes and tried to feel, cringing. She opened them. "He's alive, but very weak. He's overexerted himself. Everything he's done in the last three hours, shielding us, transporting us, it's been too much on his body."
Fox nursed his hand. "Will he be alright? What can we do?"
The prince blinked, slowly wakening. Everyone except Fox and Krystal took a step back.
The prince smiled up at them, seeing they were all alive and well. He groaned and shifted slightly in the sand with his head rubbing against the base of the tree. "We made it?" he asked weakly. He flexed his smoking fingers and yawned, blinking.
Fox knelt down with Krystal, and came closer. "Yeah, we're here. We made it."
"Good good," the prince mumbled. "I'm sorry about your ship." He tried to look over at it in the surf, straining. "I'm not good at landings."
"You did what you could," Fox said, glancing at the ship. "Are you going to be okay?"
"Yes. Yes, I'll be okay." He carefully touched one of his gold earrings, unhooking it. It was scalding hot, and he dropped it in the sand. "We need to find Alcushire. It is the capitol of the kingdom here."
"We're not going anywhere," Fox said. "Not until you rest, cool off, and we all get our bearings."
Rayet was still clutched to Falco, "I need to rest too," he said against the bird who rubbed his back. "I did a show tonight. I've been in a planetary explosion. I've been turned into energy and back into whatever I am now. I'm tired."
"I have to agree," Falco said.
Fox looked around at their group. "I guess we could all use a break." He looked at the ship. Waves lapped up halfway against the hangar doors. Fox studied the rest of the beach paradise. "ROB see if you can get the bay doors of the ship open. We'll worry about flooding the cargo area later. For now, I guess we'll all just relax out here."
Croy looked at the surf, taking off his jacket, "Hey can we go swimming?"
Fox shrugged and felt warm in his jacket as well. He started pulling it off, "Yeah, do whatever you want."
Krystal stepped away, "Falco, Rayet, and I will try to find wood to build a fire with."
"Wait," the prince said to Krystal. He dug within his cloak and pulled out a sizzling necklace, the bell on the chain swirled with colors of energy. "Well... I supposed I should let it cool off before giving it back to you."
Krystal nodded in wonder at it, "Hang onto it for me," she said winking. Her and Falco wandered off down the beach and Rayet followed and grumbled.
"Fox," the prince mumbled.
Fox looked down at him and the prince struggled to sit up. "All I know of this place is from the stories and poems my mother used to tell me. We should be cautious about everything. I'm not sure what we're getting into, but I do know a bell is here and that the King of Aquas can help us find it."
Fox nodded, "I understand. We'll worry about all this tomorrow. Right now, just rest."
The prince smiled, "Welcome to Aquas I guess. One billion years ago."
-.-.-.-.-.-
Evening fell by the time ROB was able to get the cargo doors open. The waves lapped into the hangar bay of the Great Fox, flooding up against Arwings, the band van, stopping just short of the lift. ROB braved the water and retrieved supplies, but everyone else was comfortable around the campfire on the beach and opted not to go on the ship.
"This place is beautiful," Krystal said looking up at the pink and orange clouds and the deep blue surf in the dusking light. "I can't say if there are any beaches on Corneria quite like this." The wind rustled her bangs and she pulled blue hair out of her face with her pinky. Firelight traced shadows across her features.
Croy sat in the sand with his legs stretched out, sopping wet. "I hope ROB is able to find those towels."
Fox sat with Krystal and poked the fire with a stick. Rayet reclined against Falco and wrote in a journal.
Falco ran his talons through the fur on the ferret's head. "Too bad in our time, all of this is under kilometers of ocean."
The prince sat across the fire from him and held his cloak together in the cooling evening breeze. "I didn't know that. When did that happen? What caused it?"
Falco pondered, scratching his beak. "Hm, I think it had something to do with some war in the ocean. About 50,000 years ago… well 50,000 years ago from present day Corneria, I can't remember what they were called, but some ocean creatures melted the ice caps."
"The Bacoon," Fox picked up. He put the stick down and rested his forearms on his knees. "Giant clams. We encountered one during the war, about 10 years ago. Pretty much an evil scientist named Andross created bio-weapons on different planets in Lylat. On Aquas, he transformed a Bacoon into a bio-weapon, pretty nasty. We had to take care of it."
"How awful," the prince said, looking elsewhere, sensing the future of the planet and understanding. "I wish there were a way we could stop that too, but I guess we should focus on our present priorities."
"And what are our present priorities?" Croy asked, wiggling his toes.
The prince held his hands toward the fire, warming them. "We're here because another Titanian bell is here. Tomorrow we should try to figure out where we are on the planet. Hopefully the Great Fox can do that. And from there, we'll head for the city of Alcushire, the largest city on Aquas and the capitol of the kingdom of the Maloos. The King of Aquas will be able to help us find the bell."
"The Maloos?" Krystal asked.
"From what I know," the prince continued, "The Maloos are the indigenous race here on Aquas at this time. I don't really know much more about them I'm afraid."
"Sounds like fun," Croy said. "I love meeting new people, especially ancient civilizations." He looked toward the ship and saw ROB approaching with bins and supplies draped over his shoulders, on his back, and in his hands. "Alright ROB!" he cheered.
Everyone whistled and cheered. "What'd you bring?" Rayet asked as the robot approached.
ROB dumped everything down into the sand behind their circle, forming a large pile of supplies. "See for yourself." The robot found an opening in the circle and plopped down in the sand, sitting, towering over everyone else.
Falco and Rayet were already digging. Croy searched for a towel, but he was mostly dry already anyway. "Alright," Falco said opening up a bin with a big smile. He pulled out a bottle. "Beer."
Rayet pulled one out too and they clinked their bottles together.
"Oh brother." Krystal smirked.
Fox went for one, "Hey, we just traveled over a billion years. I think that's cause for celebration, wouldn't you say?" Falco handed him two, and he popped the cap off one and handed it to Krystal. She took it and inspected the bottle before sipping from it.
"Beer?" the prince asked. "Is that the same horrid drink the robot at the bar sold me?"
They all laughed and Rayet passed him one. "Yes, now enjoy."
They shared beers, stories, and cooked food over the fire until the pinks and oranges in the sky faded to purples and millions of stars above. Falco convinced ROB to go back to the cargo bay and retrieve their instruments. The group sat in their circle and played songs acoustically. They reminisced over their short journey so far and lamented the loss of Corneria, but Prince Orbion, falling into a drunken stupor, eating from his bowl of noodles and swaying with the music, reassured them valiantly in the firelight they would reclaim what was lost. They cheered to that and clinked bottles together, eventually growing tired and retiring by the fire under the stars, the sound of the surf washing ashore soothing them to sleep.
1,002,418,635 years ago. Paradise discovered. History recovered. Adventure pressing forward.
