Fry soon found himself alone on the Planet Express ship bridge with Tura. Tura was piloting the ship, something that Fry knew should not make him feel weird. There was just something odd about the idea that someone other than his Leela was captaining the ship. The fact that Tura was identical in almost every conceivable way was just somehow not enough to keep him from sneaking a glance in her direction every once in awhile, as though she might steer the ship into a star at any moment. And it didn't help that she kept messing with her hair, which just distracted Fry from his navigation screen even further.
Time passed slowly, as it often does in the big empty reaches between galaxy clusters. The other Bender was somewhere in the aft portion of the ship- doing who knew what- and Amy was resting up for her shift. Tura was staring straight out the front viewport, clearly bored out of her mind. Eventually the cyclops stirred and looked around her. Fry waited patiently for her eye to scan the bridge and then finally come to rest on him. It was a familiar pattern. Leela- or Tura, as it happened to be- would realize that she was in danger of falling asleep at the wheel and would look for someone- anyone- to help her stay awake. That someone almost inevitably ended up being Fry- even when other crewmembers were present- but Leela's eye always scanned the entire compartment, as if she kept expecting there to be someone new to talk to.
As he'd expected, Tura shifted around in her chair to face him and started to fumble for something to talk about. "So uhh… How 'bout them-? Hey, hold on a sec, didn't you have something you were supposed to tell me?"
Fry's eyes widened as he remembered the message that Leela had asked him to ferry across the timeline barrier to her double. You idiot! He chided himself. How could you have forgotten that already?! "Oh, crap! That's right, I had something really important that Leela wanted me to tell you."
"What is it?" Tura asked, more curious than worried.
"It's about your parents."
Suddenly the expression on Tura's face was dead serious. She sat up straighter in the Captain's chair. "What about my parents?"
Fry sat back in his chair and frowned, not quite sure how he should break the news. "Umm, do you know anything about exploding manhole covers?"
Tura cocked her head to one side, her sudden worry momentarily forgotten by the sheer unexpectedness of the question. "Exploding what now?"
"Manhole covers." Fry repeated. "They keep popping off of manholes and flying into the air. At least, that's what they're doing in your timeline. I don't think that's happening here."
"Oh right, I remember that. There was a story in the news a couple weeks ago. Some poor schmo got hit in the head. The paramedics got there in five minutes, but he'd already died of a completely unrelated heart attack." Tura paused. "But what's that got to do with my parents?"
"Well, the Mayor thinks the only way to fix the problem is to completely rebuild the sewer system. He's going to kick all of the mutants out of the sewers when they install the new system."
When Tura didn't say anything, but just stared fixedly at his face, Fry began to grow more and more nervous. He noticed that Tura's hands had balled themselves into fists and that her face was beginning to turn a shade of red that- on Leela- was usually indicative that someone's spine was about to be severed. "Uhh, Tura…?" He tried tentatively.
"How could they do that?!" Tura demanded, her voice a dangerous growl. "How could they do that to my parents?"
Not sure how to respond, Fry was only able to shrug and pray inwardly that Tura didn't decide to kill the messenger.
Tura got up from her seat and began to pace the length of the bridge, her long hair jerking back and forth as she walked, and serving to highlight her fury. After a few seconds of silence in which Fry tried to make himself as unattractive a target as possible, Tura whirled on him. "I have to get back home. Right now."
"But Tura, the Professor hasn't figured out how to send you back yet. You're gonna have to wait until the next time that you and Leela switch places. And anyway, Leela's in the other timeline. She'll take care of everything while you're gone. Leela is-"
"Not me!" Tura interrupted. "I know she's really, really close to being me, but she's not me! I should be over there in my reality taking care of this, not her!"
There wasn't anything that Fry could say to that but, even though he knew words of comfort he could offer would be meaningless, he felt like he had to say something. While he was fumbling for something that didn't sound completely stupid and inadequate, Tura continued to pace. While she was facing away from Fry, she muttered something that he couldn't quite hear. "What?"
"I'll kill somebody if they force my parents from their home." She repeated, turning to face him again. She wasn't quite able to keep her voice from wavering. Fry saw the tear in the corner of her eye before Tura could wipe it away. "I mean it." She said, and suddenly she was no longer the terrifying, take-no-prisoners starship captain. Instead, Fry found himself face to face with the vulnerable and insecure part of Leela that usually hid deep beneath her protective shell. Then Tura started to cry.
The abrupt change in Tura was frightening. Instinctively Fry stood and moved to her side. She wasn't technically his Leela, but he still knew enough about her to know that nothing could shake her up like a threat to her parents. Tentatively the delivery boy put an arm around Tura's shoulders and steered her toward the couch at the front of the compartment. Tura allowed herself to be guided, and miserably sank into the couch cushions. "I- I'm sorry, Fry." She said between sobs. "I shouldn't be making you see me like this."
Shaking his head, Fry sat down next to her. "No, no. Don't apologize."
Tura looked at him out of the corner of her eye and gave him just the tiniest hint of an appreciative smile before turning away to self-consciously wipe her eye free of tears. After a few moments of noticeable effort she managed to get control over herself. As Fry watched, the armored mental shell that surrounded her began to slowly snap back into place. He wasn't sure whether to be relieved or saddened.
A long while passed. Fry and Tura just sat together on the couch, allowing themselves to be hypnotized by the passing stars. It was only when Tura heard the muffled thump and scream that signaled that Amy was awake that she stirred from her position. Fry turned to her as she stood, and Tura smiled down at him. Then, to Fry's utter surprise, she bent down and lightly squeezed his hand. "Thank you." She said, and then left the bridge.
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"That was an awful delivery." Fry was saying as the crew debarked from the ship and headed for the conference room. Aimee, who had switched places with Amy just as the PE ship had been approaching Gradstudious VI, looked curiously at the delivery boy.
"Gwuh? It wasn't any worse than they usually are- well, at least, where I come from."
Fry did a double take when he turned to look in the intern's direction. The method that Aimee had settled upon to distinguish herself from her double was… distracting to say the least. Apparently it was possible in the future to change your hair color by fiddling with a knob on a little remote control. It was going to take awhile for Fry to get used to having a blonde version of Amy around. "Are you kidding?" He replied before turning away for a moment to hit the button for the elevator that would take them to the second floor. "It was much worse than usual. First, we got there and had to haul the packages a mile by hoverdolly to drop them off. Plus, you and I had to wear shielded spacesuits to protect us from the dangerous levels of MSG in each package."
"What are you talking about Fry?" Bender interrupted. "I didn't wear any crappy meatbag spacesuit." Bender, who'd stashed the Slurm magnet in his chest cabinet once its purpose had been explained to him, had swapped places with his double at the same time as Amy. It was beginning to seem like a pattern; only two of the four of them that were switching between timelines were ever in the same reality at the same time.
Fry scowled at the robot as the three of them tried to squeeze into the small elevator. Fry started to hit the 'door close' button, but noticed Tura hurrying down the ship's ramp at the last moment and decided to wait. Turning back to the robot, Fry said "I was talking to Aimee. All you did was sit on your ass and complain."
Tura squeezed her way into the elevator with the others and hit the button for the second floor. "Yeah, that and shred about 200 dissertation papers. We almost didn't make it out alive… again…"
"I sure learned one thing." Fry remarked, shaking his head. "Never mess with graduate students. They don't have anything left to lose and they all pack heat."
"I know I do." Aimee replied.
Before anyone could respond to that little revelation, the doors slid open, and Zoidberg waved to them from the nearby conference table.
Seeing the Decapodian, Bender reached for the 'door close button'. "Oops, wrong floor" he announced. Sighing, Tura hauled the robot from the elevator, and the others followed.
As Fry approached the conference table he started to hear the sound of snoring coming from the Professor's leather chair. Sure enough, when Fry rounded the conference table and could see who was sitting in the chair, he discovered the sleeping form of Professor Farnsworth.
The crew sat around the table and looked at each other. "Uhh, Professor?" Fry tried. He got no response.
A few seconds passed. "Yo, old guy! Wake the hell up!" Bender yelled, but the snoring continued. Bender sat back in his chair. "Well, I'm out of ideas."
Tura made an irritated noise. "Ugh. I don't have time for this." She cleared her throat. "Wernstrom." She said flatly.
Farnsworth reacted as if he'd been shocked. Bolting upright, the senile old scientist looked wildly in all directions- including, to Fry's confusion, toward the ceiling. "Wernstrom? Who said Wernstrom?" Farnsworth demanded.
"No one, Professor. You must have been dreaming." Tura said.
"Huh, wha? Are you sure?" When Tura nodded, the scientist reluctantly sank back into his chair, giving the room one last sweep with his rheumy old eyes. "Well alright, if you're certain." He hesitated, seemingly noticing for the first time that his entire crew was assembled around him. "Now, what are we doing again?"
"We just got back from the mission." Fry explained patiently. "So it's time for the debrief-" Someone kicked him in the shin. "Ow!"
"What Fry meant to say was that we just finished the exceedingly long, pointless debriefing, and you were about to tell us whether or not you've made any progress on finding a way to stop the reality-jumps." Tura said.
"Uhh, yeah. That's exactly what I meant." Fry added as he gingerly massaged his left leg.
"Oh yes, the reality jumps." Farnsworth nodded to himself. "Yes, I believe I have come up with a vaccine that will stabilize the cosmic strings in all of your bodies. Of course, it's just a prototype, but-"
"Where is it?" Tura was out of her seat. "Is it ready to be used?"
"Well, I suppose… But again, it's just a prototype."
"Will it kill me?"
"Wha?" Farnsworth thought for a second. "No, I don't think so."
"Then give it to me! I need to get back to my own reality as soon as possible. It's an emergency."
"Hmm… Well, I suppose it can't do any harm." Farnsworth stood. "Everyone follow me to my laboratory."
______________________________________________________________________________
"You're sure this won't hurt her?" Fry asked nervously. The delivery boy harbored a deep dislike of needles, and the one that the Professor was carrying around with him was the largest he'd ever seen. And, as if that wasn't bad enough, Farnsworth was busily filling the syringe with a glowing blue liquid. No combination of that could be a good thing.
"Oh, don't worry. Tura will be just fine." Farnsworth assured.
"Then why is she strapped to that table?" Aimee asked, pointing to a white medical table upon which Tura lay on her back, her arms and legs secured by leather straps.
"Oh fuff. That's just a standard precaution. Nothing to be alarmed about." Having finished loading his syringe, Farnsworth shuffled over to the bed and swabbed the space above one of Tura's arm veins. "I don't want Tura to get loose and smash up the lab equipment if she seizes like all those lab mice did."
"Hey, hold on. You never said…" Tura winced as the needle entered her arm. Farnsworth emptied the contents of the syringe, and Tura's arm momentarily glowed blue before the liquid spread through her bloodstream.
"Well, that hurt." Tura muttered as the needle was withdrawn. Nothing else happened. "Uhh, so how long should it take before we know whether it's working?"
"Hmm… I'm not quite sure." Farnsworth said. "Not long, I would think."
"Well, I don't feel anything-"
Pop. "-yet." Whoah. Neither Tura nor Leela had ever experienced double vision, but this was close. The Professor's lab was right there in front of her, but so was the conference room. "What's going on?" Who said that? "Am I in the conference room now? That must mean it worked!" What worked? "Who's talking?" Wait, is that my voice? "Leela?" Who is this?! Pop. Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop.
"Quick, somebody call a doctor!" Fry hollered over his shoulder. He was kneeling on the table over the heaving form of the purple haired cyclops. He was trying to keep her from hurting herself, but so far all he was managing to do was get kneed in the crotch.
"I'm a doctor." Zoidberg replied excitedly, holding up the medical kit that he'd brought with him from his nearby office.
"No, I mean a real doctor!" Fry yelled back. Abruptly the table stopped its wild heaving and was still. Fry froze, and the cyclops' eye fluttered open.
"Leela?"
"Fry, what are you doing?" She managed weakly. Fry, realizing that he was straddling her, turned a deep shade of scarlet and slid to the floor.
"Uhh, nothing. Are you okay, Leela?"
The cyclops sighed. "No. I'm not okay at all. It didn't work, Fry. I'm Tura."