"Oh geez, oh geez, Rick," Morty Smith said his voice clear despite the exertion of running for his life. While he would never be a champion athlete he was a far cry from unfit. He couldn't be with all the adventures that he went on with his grandfather or he would be long dead. He was beyond counting all the many times that a bit of exertion had saved him from bullets, laser, bullet lasers or even worse.
"I-I-I told you not to shake his hand," his grandfather Rick Sanchez said keeping pace with him despite his age. He probably had some form of organic or technological implants in his body in order to be able to move like that, but Morty had never really been interested. "I-I-I gave you one instruction. Don't shake his hand and you did it. And look where it got us now." He gestured towards the wall-length windows and the massive black hole behind them that was sucking in the whole space station. Behind them a group of a dozen robots were chasing them providing the backdrop on this utter shit show of an adventure.
A closed hangar door loomed up ahead and without even slowing down Rick pulled out a circular object which he threw at the access panel to the side. As soon as it impacted the panel sparks of electricity shot out and the door lifted allowing the two of them to slide under before the door slammed down hard once more. A moment later the sound of laser bullets impacting against the door told them that the robots were just on the other side of the door.
"Yeah, we did it," Rick yelled out at the lack of lasers. "Suck that Glorkans. Make a better class of robot next time."
"Yes we're alive," Morty replied equally elated. "Let's get out of here. See you later Glorkans."
"Except we're not going to see you later because you're going to be sucked into a black hole," Rick stated.
"Yeah," Morty stated powering through the stab of guilt. "Next time don't build your space station around a black hole."
"It's a space station specifically built for the purpose of studying the effects of black holes," a third voice spoke out. "Where else are they going to build it? Around a dwarf star?" The third person who they hadn't noticed yet was just standing at the massive window watching the slowly approaching black hole. He barely seemed to be paying attention to them as he stood at the encroaching catastrophe; a human figure dressed in a white lab coat. As he turned around, both men paused in surprise when seeing the face of the new arrival.
"Jerry what the hell are you doing here?" Rick said looking in disbelief at his hated son-in-law before he started looking around the room. "Is this some type of trap? Did the Citadel of Ricks put you up to this? Well whoever it is better come out."
"I haven't been called that yet," Morty's father said before he looked at his watch. "Long time no see Rick. I'm starting to remember this part."
"Which Jerry are you then," Rick said pulling out one of his devices. You're obviously not the Jerry from this dimension I see too much of him. Are you some kind of creature reflecting my worst nightmares? Trapped in a room with Jerry; yeah I can see that."
"Cute," Morty's possible father sardonically replied. "But you're actually standing at the very event horizon of a black hole. Under the tremendous pressure time space tends to converge and beings from different points in time or space may appear at the same place."
"What Jerry, did you take a vocational school or something," Rick heckled him. "Of course a black hole can compress space-time. That's literally what a black hole is: compressed space-time. That doesn't tell me what the hell you're doing here."
"No it doesn't," Jerry stated reaching a device on his wrist before tapping down on it. "Come let's have a conversation Morty." He stepped forward pulling out a rod from his pocket that he spun around before letting it drop to the ground transforming into a table that shone a light creating a pair of holographic chairs, one of which his supposed father took.
"Why do you want to talk to me?" Morty asked turning towards Rick waiting for the response before he paused at the sight of his grandfather frozen, not even a twitch out of him. The sight of Rick frozen completely sent a chill up his back and he nervously complied, sitting down at the table while keeping an eye on the two grown men.
"Relax," 'Jerry' said calmly. "I've just frozen time for a bit." He lifted his left arm revealing a watch before with a deft movement he unclipped the face revealing a pink crystal. "Crystallized Xanthenite," he said smiling. "Handle with care." He closed his watch.
"You should be careful with that," Morty blurted out. "When Rick used that a giant testicle creature showed up. He might try to arrest you."
"I am well aware of Time Cops," the person who looked like Jerry stated. "I expect one to show up in the next subjective twenty seconds. There is no need to worry." The more that Morty looked at the man in front of him the less he noticed he looked like his father. Sure the broad strokes were the same but he was thinner, his posture straighter and his eyes sharper than his dad, as mean as that sounded in his head.
"Who the ass is messing around with time," right on schedule a time cop showed up breaking him from his contemplations and he immediately turned towards the hairy flesh creature.
"Hey Pants, I filed the documentation eight months ago," the not-Jerry stated smiling at the arriving. "It's number 84541341000A-F. Enjoy the next two subjective hours of the call-out."
"Oh why the ass didn't you tell me it was you," the alien responded a bit more friendly. "You son of an ass I'm going out to get HyperPizza in those two subjective hours. Want to come along."
"I'd love to but I'm doing a whole stable time-loop thing," the man said drawing a gasp. "You can find that filed under 84541341000A-G right next to the first one."
"Man you always give the easiest paperwork," the one named Pants yelled. "I'll get an extra helping of Time Cheese on your behalf."
"You've got me salivating now," the man said chuckling as the Time Cop disappeared before he shook his head. "Crystallized Xanthenite; needs a licence to own that's almost impossible for 3-D creatures to acquire but there are ways if you have friends."
"Who are you?" Morty asked. Despite the partial resemblance this wasn't his dad. Never in a million years would his dad act like that.
"My apologies," the man said with a shit-eating grin. "Let me introduce myself then. I'm Morty Smith and I am pleased to meet you." Noise seemed to stop at that moment as the silence of stopped time gave way to an even deeper silence before Morty unceremoniously broke it.
"What?" Morty said accidentally letting loose two more exclamation marks then normally used by the sane mind. "You're-you're m-m-me. Wait, are you an alternate or a future version of me?" he stated thinking about the Time Cop he just saw.
"The latter," Future Morty said calmly. "I specifically remember this conversation and being on the opposite side of it. That's what makes this here a stable time loop; the proverbial way of giving Mother Universe a way out without cracking time-space like an egg."
"You said you and Rick have not seen each other for a long time," Morty brought up after a moment.
"Really that's your first question," Future Morty said chuckling. "Relax, I asked the same thing back when I was exactly your age." His smile turned sombre. "Rick and I had a falling out," he continued. "I love that old man and I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual but I couldn't deal with his bullshit anymore."
"That doesn't seem really fair," Morty said hesitatingly thinking of his own failings for a moment. There were so many instances where he messed up. 'Of course unlike Rick he tried,' a dark part of his mind said thinking back to the many disasters Rick had caused and laughed off. Even this space station that they were leaving was doomed to destruction leaving a sinking pit of guilt in his stomach.
"We get better," Future Morty said. "Relax I'm not reading your mind. I was you remember." He chuckled. "I've gotten a lot better over the years. It's probably the one thing that I can truly pride myself on. On the other hand no matter how much it looks like Rick can change in the moment, any improvement he makes is only temporary. Soon enough he will fall back on his own ways. Eventually you'll realise the best thing you can do is to cut him out of your life."
"Ah, okay," Morty said nervously trying to change the subject. Seeing his nervousness his alternate-self reached once more into his pocket s and pulled out what looked like a salt-shaker before shaking it twice in front of him. The small specks hit the table before they swelled up transforming into a pair of pies.
"Try one," Older Morty said picking up a pie before biting into it. "You must be hungry," he said covering his mouth while still talking. "I promise you they're very good."
"Gee thanks," Morty- Younger Morty said taking a bit of the pie and breaking it off before popping it in his mouth. In an instant flavour exploded in his mouth and he found himself moaning subconsciously at just how good the pie was.
"Specifically customised food," Older Morty said. "We should have the same tastes right now. Glad to see it works out. I saved a Manovorin baker from a bounty hunter a few years ago and he now gives me free food whenever I stop over at Manovor."
"That's very nice of him," Morty responded. Now that the original shock had worn off the whole situation felt surprisingly normal, almost comfortable. Maybe it was due to speaking with a person who was effectively him but he didn't feel a pressing need to fill the silence.
"Well I did save his life," Older Morty said. "People are genuinely grateful for that normally in my experience and trust me I've got a lot of experience."
"We-we don't normally do much of that," Younger Morty admitted. The pair of them tended to leave behind destruction in their path.
"Don't worry you'll get better at it," Older Morty rebutted instantly. "Trust me you'll get better at it." He tilted his head in thought. "Although if you sincerely want my advice try to go beneath Rick's garage and retrieve the vials beneath. The contents are painful poison but they will help you learn from your mistakes."
"I will," Younger Morty said. "Will that make me like you?" A sudden realisation gripped him. He wanted this. He wanted to be this confident heroic version of him. He didn't think he wanted anything more in his whole life.
"No, your determination to become somebody like me will make you into somebody like me," Older Morty stated leaning back letting his eyes drift towards the ceiling. "Your memories are merely the steps by which you build your ideal self. Just imagine it Morty," he said smiling in fondness. "Don't you dream of striding across the universe helping the helpless or merely seeing the beauty of the infinite worlds that wait? Don't you want to be beholden to nobody but your ideals and your desires? Isn't that a beautiful dream? Isn't that worth building towards?"
"That sounds incredible," Younger Morty said barely able to believe it. "But you said you hadn't seen Rick for ages. Then who created your other gadgets?"
"Why I did of course," Older Morty said instantly. "What do you think I'm dumb?"
"Ah-no-geez," the younger man stated before he paused. Did he think he was dumb? Rick had called him that multiple times and so had his mother and father and even Summer had implied that. Was he? The evidence in front of his eyes seemed to contradict it. "Can I do that?"
"Maybe," his older self said. "Here catch." Once again from his lab coat a strange device came and flew towards him which he nearly dropped, fumbling before he caught it with his fingers. The device looked like a games console but it had dozens of buttons and more than a few screens that popped up from the plastic body.
"What is this," he asked looking at the screens that seemed to show multiple perspectives of the very space station that they were aboard. Boy they were a lot closer to the black hole than he thought; it was nerve-wracking actually.
"They're just the controls to a bunch of drones that I deployed when I arrived," Older Morty stated. "Try and use them to drag the space station out from the event horizon."
"Shouldn't you be doing this?" Morty stated trying to hand the device back only for his older self to step back.
"I already have," his future self said with quiet confidence that he wanted. Oh how he wanted that certainty so badly. "You already have my confidence. Now earn your own."
Morty didn't reply as he started pressing buttons and the perspectives started lurching. Soon enough he managed to angle the drones so that he could observe them and watched how they reacted to the buttons. He had a passing familiarity with Rick's inventions and this shared similar features while being different, easier to use in some ways, more natural. In his first attempt at manoeuvring the space station he crippled two of the drones and was forced to pull back.
Pressing a few more buttons he started attempting it slower, gentler observing each individual moment. Certain parts of the space station had better structural integrity and allowed him to exert more gripping strength. In addition he was forced to adjust to the lack of friction in space and some other stranger constant. 'It's due to the stopped time,' he vaguely heard but brushed off as he redoubled his efforts. Finally after an eternity he brought the space station out of the event horizon and into relative safety. Taking a deep breath and wiping the sweat from his brow he placed the controller down again."
"Good job," Older Morty said handing him a soft drink which he promptly opened up and gulped down tasting a refreshing grape flavour.
"It still wasn't—," he replied.
"Hey, don't downplay your victories," Older Morty said. "There will be plenty of those." He got up from his chair. "It's about time for me to go now. I must say this is a pleasant interlude but the space station is also crashing into the black hole in my time as well and I have to get that sorted out." In a second the table, controller and food were all sucked into his pockets and it was as if none of it had ever existed. "I'll see you around the next time I look in a mirror Morty Smith.
"Wait," Younger Morty said. He didn't want him to leave yet. He had so many questions. When does he learn to build those things? When does he stop failing? Is the rest of his family okay? Does he ever get rich? He paused as Older Morty turned towards him and he felt the questions catch on his tongue. "Do I ever get with Jessica?" he asked picking a question out of the hundreds of them before cringing at the question.
"It's your future, Morty Smith," his future-self stated chuckling. "That's up to you to decide, but personally I think if you choose to play your cards right you have a shot." He didn't disappear gradually but as soon as the full stop on that sentence was placed he simply snapped out of existence like he had never existed in the first place.
"Wait where the hell did Jerry go," Rick said as if nothing had happened and Morty belatedly realised that he had ended up in the exact same spot before time froze. "Oh well I can't be bothered to look for one more Jerry, especially one that isn't mine. He reached into his pocket pulling out a portal gun. "Huh, it seems space is more stable here. Let's go," he yelled firing the gun and creating a green portal. "I've had enough of this space station with their crap food and killer robots."
"Yeah Rick, let's just leave," Morty said still feeling the taste of that divine pie in his mouth. With his future-self gone that brilliant goal that had looked so certain now looked so far away.
"Geez what pissed in your cereal this morning," Rick stated apparently picking up something from the tone of his voice. "Whatever, are you alright Morty?"
"Yeah, Rick," he responded after a bit of thought. "Yeah, I think I will be."
AN: I'm practicing oneshots. I read somewhere that in terms of ability Morty grows up to be just as capable as Rick. This was just a hypothetical meeting I wrote out for fun.