CHAPTER TWELVE
Travelling through the time/space vortex wasn't an eye-opening experience as Donatello was discovering. The senses-shattering effect of temporal ripples and topsy-turvy passages through currents of tunnels in this fifth dimensional landscape were enough to keep his eyes firmly shut throughout the whole ride
He let himself be open, however, to the echoes all around him, echoes of history, of passionate, though bile-ridden speeches by deluded dictators and architects of great wars, then, as he composed himself, the echoes became gentler, settling on one speech of a King with a dream
He liked that one a lot.
Finally, he could feel things begin to simmer, the echoes faded, the flux he could feel around his body subsided and stabilized.
"We're here Don" said Carter as they materialized around a lush green patch in a clearing overlooking a vast mountain
"What a peculiar way to travel, or as Mikey would say, very tubular" Donatello said aloud, "I've been thrown in time before but that was a little different"
"The vortex is always going through changes of its own, it's part of its temporal grafting , it alternates whenever there is an intent to change the future or the past..."
"Or to fix it" added Donatello.
Carter nodded.
As they made their way over to a large rock pool, Donatello decided to probe further into Carter's love life.
"So you and Merrick? How'd that come about?" Donatello asked
"It just clicked for us, I stayed with them while I was training to be an enforcer of the peace corps at the academy. We would go on long treks through the crimson mountain forests, artificially crafted illuminated trees all sparking with bright emerald energy"
"Sounds breathtaking" Donatello replied.
"Oh it does take away your breath, it's somewhere in the highest altitudes, but you're left with this heartfelt glow, perfect to snuggle up to...and it kept us cosy on those long winter nights"
"Yeah, I wasnt prepared to inquire about that much" Donatello said
"Ha, you're one to talk, aren't you shacked up with that woman who resembles a chipmunk?" joked Carter.
"We've tried to keep that a secret, how'd you find out?" Donatello asked
"Can't tell, I know a plucky stubborn lady once said the temporal prime directive is much easier when you just ignore it, but there's some things that are public in my time that need to remain private in yours"
"Well we got together on a cold winter night, there's definitely heat, but there's been little fire...easy to see why, interspecies relationships are something most people confine to their literary fantasies"
"You should talk it out with your brother, he's got some advance knowledge, or at least will"
"Great, I strike it rich with my science buddies and Mikey strikes it lucky" Donatello remarked
Carter stopped Donatello in his tracks
"We're here, this is it...but, these readings can't be right..."
"Fascinating" Donatello said, looking at the primitively murky slop in the rock pool, "These must be the building blocks of what will ultimately become human life on this planet, I'm looking at the early faces of humanity...no wonder they're so addictive to cosmetic mud-packs"
"These readings should be ripe with activity from an intrusive substance...unless...we've arrived too early..." Carter added
"Or just in time" Donatello said, as the pair were confronted by a ravenous and wild tyrannosaurus emerging from the forest entranceway.
"This is impossible, dinosaurs and the early primordial human soup can't exist in the same period, the dinosaurs died out long before then " Donatello spoke.
"The past is quite easy to preserve when you think as far ahead as I do" came a voice from a figure riding atop the tyrannosaurus. Donatello looked up and focused his gaze, his jaw dropped.
"And there right therec is that detail you left beind" Carter said. Donatello nodded, finally understanding what Carter meant earlier.
They had met this creature before, in a time where havoc reigned.
Or rather H.A.V.O.C
"Titanus" Donatello replied
"I swore I'd get even with you Turtles, now my efforts to finish you will be executed to a precise T..courtesy of a T-Rex that is" the reptilian replied
