Chapter 10
Good Old Fashioned Ingenuity

It hadn't been too long before Speed returned with breakfast. Thankfully for the two of them, they had some pocket money to stretch out for a day or two.

"I suppose we could deliver pizza or something if we can't get out of here soon enough," X had said when it was brought up. Speed had thought over it a bit at the time and had to agree that it sounded like their best option.

Speed could only hope that it wouldn't take much longer to find a way back to their own time period. He had been working on a plan, but still couldn't figure out parts of it. He was trying to remember how the engine operated with the part to use the jump feature. When Chim-Chim had zapped them, the electricity had seemed to be the thing that triggered the part and sent them to the past. When the Mach 6 jumped, he was likely being sent a few seconds into the future. But how to make the effect more accurate and predictable?

He was pondering over this again late in the afternoon. He and X had already had lunch. X wasn't in the room that moment, having gone for a "short walk" earlier. Speed didn't know what he was doing, but as long as he wasn't changing history he didn't care. Alpha seemed to be doing better as well. None of the doctors in their own time period would probably know what was wrong, let alone the ones from nearly seventeen years ago, so he wasn't being cured. Even so, the medicines and undisturbed rest he was getting was doing him some good. He was more alert and could move just fine, though he still couldn't walk very well and the doctors strongly protested anything of the sort. Still, it was progress.

A few minutes later Speed's thoughts were interrupted by X bursting into the room. Speed jumped and X started talking immediately.

"Speed, you're never going to believe this. It's the Mach 5! It's out in the parking lot! And I just saw Mom and Dad and Sparky and me when I was like, a year old outside going into a different area of the hospital! Speed, you're being born, right now!"

Speed sat there with a blank expression, still trying to absorb the information. "Oh no, I didn't think it was this hospital!" he finally said. X's mouth dropped open. "What?! You knew that it was today?" he asked angrily. Speed's eyes narrowed.

"Of course I did! I saw that it was my birthday today yesterday, but I didn't think we were actually going to be there! I figured it was a different hospital," he explained, feeling a sense of dread. This was the day he was born, and that meant that if they didn't leave soon, all hell would be breaking loose. If they altered any of it, the consequences could be devastating. "We have to get out of here, A.S.A.P."

X nodded in agreement. "What are those plans you're making? Maybe I can help," he suggested. Speed gave him a small smile for a second before showing him the cluttered papers. X took them, scanning over the writing.

"I've been trying to figure out how the jumps work in the Mach 6. At first I thought it was some sort of teleportation, but now that I think about it, it was actually time travel. Every time it jumps, it goes a few seconds into the future," Speed said.

"And that's without the hourglass part," X added. "With the part, the Mach 6 could be turned into a fully fledged time machine!"

Speed's jaw dropped. "Just think about what the committee could do with the technology! They could permanently mess up history!" X's eyes widened. "But why would they want to? And I thought they were interested in the gasless engine," he pondered out loud. Speed shrugged. "I don't know what they want anymore."

He dismissed the topic and continued, "Anyway, I've been trying to figure out how exactly the jumps work so that I can compare it with the hourglass part. When we got zapped back to now, the part got an electrical surge of around three million volts through you…"

X was bewildered. "Three million volts?!" he exclaimed, horrified. Speed rolled his eyes. "It's not volts that kill you, X. You're fine," he said, but X still looked skeptical. "How would you know that?" he asked, resisting the urge to inch away from his brother as if he had been plotting to kill him the whole time.

Speed rolled his eyes. "A friend of mine got tazed once so I looked it up online, long story. The point is, that surge sent us back approximately 16 and a half years into the past, probably a bit more. Whatever happens to the engine when the Mach 6 jumps is our ticket out of here. We just have to work out what happens and how to replicate the effect."

X nodded. "Ok. It's 3:13 now, which means we have somewhere around five hours to figure it out and do it, give or take." Speed smiled. "That should be long enough. In the meantime, don't talk to anyone related to us," he said, ready to get to work.

Alpha had been listening in and started to think it over as well. Speed appreciated his input, even if he didn't know how the Mach 6's engine worked. Knowing that he wasn't the only one thinking through their way back to the present lifted a load off of his shoulders, and he allowed himself to relax slightly. He hadn't realized before how much stress he was under because of their predicament, and he was immensely grateful to both of them for helping him figure it out.

Chim-Chim was hiding under Alpha's bed again. Speed checked on the robotic monkey occasionally; he hadn't thought it was possible for a robot to have feelings, but from what he could see, the chimp was depressed. He only made noise when Speed checked on him. The rest of the time he rested under the bed, quiet and forgotten. Speed had to admit, he felt sorry for him. "Don't worry Chim, we'll get back soon. I'll bet Connor misses you, too. Just think about how happy he'll be to get you back," he had murmured one of the times he had checked on him. Chim-Chim had beeped a few times in response, seeming to cheer up slightly.

X was gone for a lot of the time. Speed wasn't sure about what he was doing, but as long as he wasn't messing up history, he didn't really care. He did check in a few times to see if Speed or Alpha had thought of anything.

It was a very long and disappointing hour and a half before any of them had thought of something. X had just walked in to ask if they had any more information again when Alpha spoke up. "Maybe what it needs is a reverse shock. Like, using it as a power source rather than powering it," he suggested.

"I was thinking it could be something like that, but we can't know for sure until we can figure out how the Mach 6 works," Speed said, frowning slightly at his own bad news. X had looked hopeful when Alpha spoke, but now he appeared irritated at how quickly Speed shot it down. Then his face lit up. "Hey Speed, remember before you could control the jumps?"

"Yeah?"

"It would only jump after you'd been going over 250 miles an hour for a few seconds. Because of the gasless engine, maybe the car couldn't get enough energy to go that fast," X observed. Speed thought about it for a minute.

"But isn't the engine more powerful than that? It would be able to handle 250 miles an hour on its own," he said.

"Yes, but it'd have to work harder to go a higher speed. It doesn't need to borrow a lot of energy, just a little boost of power to keep it going," Alpha added, propping himself up a bit higher in his bed. Speed nodded. "But then, where did it get the energy from? It jumps without using the hourglass part, so it must get it from somewhere else."

"You know, it only started jumping after you finished the gasless engine, remember? What was changed?" X said to Speed.

Speed's smile grew slowly to a grin.

"The Chezco Chamber."

Muse X: You're a disappointment. You know that?
Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm not even giving any excuses this time. I blame life.
Muse X: Hmph. At least you have most of the next chapter written.
True. And sorry guys, but the next is gonna be the second half of chapter 9. There's something I need to clarify in there before moving on. And yes, it's pretty important.
Muse X: Aw, why? That time period is missing the one thing that makes it awesome - me.
Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey. Reviews are much appreciated, anyone who can name the reference I just used gets a virtual cookie. :D
Muse X: Nerd.