Sans was quickly working through a huge compartment of wires that he had suddenly brought into the laboratory. He was hooking them up to the usual monitor, overriding the sentry cameras as he gave the two newcomers some background. This was mostly for Alphys' sake, though his younger self could use a reminder.

"before the machine was to be used, the team of scientist working on it wanted to be able to analyze timelines for safe traveling. in order to do that though they had to develop a way to gather the information. gaster split his team and, slowly but surely, they figured out how. tibia honest-" Apparently that pun was mandatory. "-i have no idea how it works but they tore out the floor of the lab and developed a system. all they had to do after it was finished is rig it up to the monitor and-" Sans' eye lit up briefly and the screen flashed on. "i figured this out after a few years; when alphys was searching every corner of her lab for me, she unearthed this, and everything in my head clicked. it need a bit of upkeep, but it was basic enough for the two of us. so now-"

"this is-" The younger Sans might as well of been gaping at the monitor, he instinctively started cycling through the menus using the buttons that were usually used to manage to cameras. "Y-You can read this?" Alphys realized she really shouldn't be surprised at this rate.

"we should be able to find our timeline like this. chemical formulas are listed with the data. Getting exactly where we need to will sorta be like following a recipe."

"I-It's that easy?"

"heh, it's never that easy." The current timeline's Sans sat atop the monitor. "the formulas should have some... emotional elements included. it might be hard to figure out what the symbols refer to." He leaped off from atop the metal. "i'll show ya how to best locate your timeline."

Both of the skeletons began to shift through the settings. Alphys sat back as she watched the monitor flash. Sans answered several survey questions from himself, some of them the doctor could swear were unrelated.

"there we go. it should be one of these… let me write down what you need to get there."

Alphys pocketed the scrap of paper, Sans was already warping around the lab and grabbing the vials of solution after solution necessary for the formula. He already knew the lab surprisingly well, though at this point Alphys was pretty sure he had knowledge of it before they'd started working together.

"i'll go rig the machine up to the core. come over when you've got everything prepared."

The dimmed lights of the CORE had since switched themselves as close to off as they could. The Sans that had went ahead had the machine in front of him, but he had even bothered to start the process of activating it. He waved the rest of the two over. "so about the 'plans'…" He nonchalantly shook his head. "no go"

"Wh-what do you mean?" Alphys' left hand was fidgeting against the iron railing.

"it looks like the core can't be drawn from. it's exporting all of its stored energy for… something or other; my guess, something going on on the surface."

"Th-the surface?" Alphys glanced over to Sans beside her.

"welp, this'll be something." Sans shifted his head towards himself. "we'll probably need some kinda authority this time around, seeing as i know little to nothing. can you call papyrus over?"

"papyrus?"Sans withdrew his phone from his front pocket and somewhat laggardly flipped it open.

"yeah, papyrus is probably already out there running his legs off, and escort mission won't hurt 'em."

Eventually there was a loud stomping of boots on the metal they all stood on. Papyrus was over-animatedly bolting straight towards the group. He slid to a halt dramatically, making a vaguely ninja-esque pose.

"SANS, LESSER-SANS, DOCTOR ALPHYS! I COME AT YOUR BECK AND CALL, LITERALLY… OR 50% LITERALLY THAT IS. NYEH HEH HEH! THE GREAT PAPYURS, THE ROYAL GUARDSMEN, IS HERE AND READY TO PERFORM ROYAL GUARDING, OR WHAT NOT!" Papyrus launched himself upright again. "WHAT EXACTLY DID YOU WANT SANS?"

"can you bring lesser-me and alphys to someone with the authority to re-light this place."

"RELIGHT?" He took a moment to actually take notice of the setting. "OH! OF COURSE! THAT WILL BE AN EASY JOB FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS! I CAN RUN THE ENTIRE UNDERGROUND AT LIGHTSPEED IF I TRY HARD ENOUGH!"

"bro, you're an escort, give those two some time to ketchup at least."

"OH RIGHT! OF COURSE!" Papyrus swung around and stuck a hand to his chest.

"LISTEN DOCTOR ALPHYS, AND LESSER-SANS OF COURSE, I THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL BE YOUR GRAND ES-"

"yeah, we've been here the whole time."

"SILENCE SANS, YOU'RE RUINING MY EVER IMPORTANT MONOLOGUE. NOW WHERE WAS I…. OH RIGHT."

"I THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL YOUR GRAND ESCORT, THROUGH THE LAND OF HUMANS. THEN THE CORE WILL BE REACTIVATED AND THEN…. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEN, BUT IT'S SURELY VERY IMPORTANT. I WILL NOW COMMENCE VERY SERIOUS ROYAL GUARD-ING IN EVERY SENSE OF THE TERM."

"T-Thank you?"

"NO NEED FOR THANKS DOCTOR! NOW, FOLLOW ME. ONE STRIDE AT A TIME. PUT SOME PEP IN IT!"