Chapter 18: Amending Mistakes (Part 2) [Final Chapter]

3 miles from Jackson, Wyoming. Near the Grand Teton Mountain range...

Media stations from around the world had set up cameras for the event, though no one really knew what was to come forward next. News reporters were speakign away, telling the world of what was unfolding before them, they had set up around a large rocket; larger than a space shuttle, and could hold about 100 people on-board, the so called "Interplanetary Transport Unit" was a new type of rocket that would take one to Mars with far superior efficiency. However in this case, it had seemed like Peter bought one of them to use as an upgraded shuttle, making it the first "Interuniversal Transport Unit".

"Okay what the hell is this all about Peter?" Dave spoke infuriatingly, "You have your media, now what!?"

"Relax Dave, this is just to prove to everyone that everything I've said is true. And I mean everything." Peter reassured, though Dave was more worried now.

"But how can you prove something without showing us what the other side is like?"

"Oh that's alreayd been covered, I've already got three-hundred-and-sixty-degree cameras on the sides. They should be enough. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get going. Can't age too much or my friends will notice." Peter said, sounding anxious at the last sentence. As he walked nearer and nearer to the I.T.U, he soon became aware of the missing earthquake monitor, "12x" he muttered to himself, perhaps Andrew knew something of it at the time and he didn't tell. He brushed the thought off for the meanwhile, and walked faster to the rocket. Unlike the shuttle, the I.T.U had a much more home-like inside, each room that could suppor a person was well equiped with luxury and comfortability. It was more open, allowing his friends to no longer feel too cramped.

The cockpit was almost completely gone, or at least, there were far fewer buttons and controls to mess around with. A book only 5 pages was needed as a guide for using the rocket. However a 6th page had to be added for this rocket, as it had the bridge control designs (albeit modified to be almost entirely automated) from the shuttle. All he had to do was sit down, launch, and open a bridge between this world and his- well, he had to get the universse co-ords for his friends first. "Okay so go to that other universe THEN go to his friends, that should only take what? Ten minutes? Easy as pie!" Peter thought to himself. looking down at the controls, he placed his hand on the engine control lever, small and rigid-feeling, as the countdown went from 10... 9... 8... 7... 6... At this point, he started to push the lever forward. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Peter pushed the lever at full strength, moving it as far as it could go.

Surprisingly, it felt smooth, the shaking had become so minimal that it was only just noticable. Compared to that however, the accellaration of the I.T.U was so powerful it felt like having another person pushing you back all the time. Letting go of the engine control, he then switched the bridge contol on, allowing the bridge to open. With the co-ords already in place, he didn't need to do anything else, leaving him with time to look at the final recording Andrew gave him. Playing it, a holographic screen came up, as usual, and displayed some kind of graph; the top of the display showed, in big capitals "MARS EARTHQUAKE MONITOR #12X". No audio came from the recorder, and this was the only thing that came from the recorder, on the graph, there were parts where the recordings jumped up or down a slight bit.

Swithcing off the output audio from the I.T.U so that no one could hear what he was going to say, he soon had a sigh of relief "I should've known, Andrew was using it to monitor the different universes that his prototype went to. If he got rid of the 12x, then that must mean that there was something he didn't want anyone t- oh my god!" Peter said, as he looked at the right-side of the graph, the readings on said graph were beyond the usual limits, where the results went to the top of the graph before starting at the bottom again. "Hmm, Computer! Transform this part of the graph to the top, and mark down the extra numbers for the graph." Peter said aloud, watching as the graphed was expanded.

The end result was nothing like Peter had seen, with the red line going up to "M13" and the blue line moving up to "1500C", they indicated the magnitudes of a quake and the temperature of the environment respectively. Either the monitor had gone into a volcano, or something worse happened. Peter took the co-ordinates at the bottom of the screen and copied it for future use. Deciding to disable the side cameras for concentration, he was ready to get the co-ords to his friends.

Homestead, about 800 meters (2625 feet) from Clawtooth Mountain...

"Hey Alma, whatch'a doin' there?" Libby hoped to Alma, who had been staring at the top of the mountains for over an hour. "Just looking, you know it's been exactly three months since me and Peter first came here, right... up... there... was where we first entered. And now look, a month since Peter left and all that's left is a stupid ball of light that won't stop shining. Is this what true annoyance feels like? I mean I should probably know the feeling by now, but still."

"Geez, I'd thought you'd say something more like 'I really miss Peter' or something, ya know, like all the other days when you'd just say that?" Libby said with mild sarcasm.

"Sorry for that, I just... don't know what to do now, I feel like I've done everything and now... I don't feel like I have a purpose..." Sounding quieter near the end, Libby stepped in to reassure. "Oh that's not true, you keep us somewhat entertained, you've taught us a lot more about the other world, and heck, you've helped us out with the farming so much you could place your own mark!"

"What do you mean by mark? You mean those footprints you guys placed on the silo? I don't know about that, with my strength I could accidentally bring the entire thing down." Alma spoke worringly.

"Ah you worry too much, I mean Henry did it and he was the biggest of us all!"

"Uuh, who's Henry?" Alma questioned.

"Wait, we've never told you?" Libby asked, confused and almost worried as to how long they've not brought the topic up.

"No, who is he?" Alma started to raise its voice, barely noticable, but still noticable.

"Well he's mine, Buck's and Arlo's papa, I have no idea why we haven't mentioned him to you guys for all the time we've been with yo-"

"You know how Peter will feel about that when he comes back? Last time I saw him he felt troubled for something, and he finds out you've forgotten to bring a very imporant subject up he's gonna feel betra- wait a second, what happened to this Henry of yours? Did he go somewhere?"

"No... He's uhhh, he's... h-he's..." Alma could see that Libby was starting to tear up, and quickly came to a conclusion of what had happened in the past. "Oh... there there now Libby, you don't have to say. We all loose someone every now and then, but we shouldn't be acting like this now. Now come on, you wanna have another stone-skimming contest. I'll let 'ya win this time lass." Alma said, sounding much bolder, and compasionate, toward the end.

Their fun had stopped before it began however, as a large storm had seemingly come out of nowhere. Everyone else along with them hurried over to the homestead, sheltered from the now heavy rain. "You think this is it?" Arlo whispered to Buck, "You kidding right? We've had so much rain since he left, chances are this isn't it."

"Hmm, I'll give ya ten of my corn that this is the one." Arlo started to bet, every now-and-then they would each bet on if Peter would come back, though every time was always the same. "Make it twenty, same on my end.", "Deal." The bet was drawn, the rain grew even heavier at this point, almost monsoon-like. A large crackling sound signalled lightning had also come with the rain, but another sound slowly grew louder. Like the usual thunder, only deeper and more mechanical-sounding, it grew louder to the point where it was obviously not a natural sound. All of them went out of the house, no longer bothered by the rain, to see what was happening. All of them were shocked to see a large rocket touch down on the ground with piles of smoke surorunding the lower half.

They didn't move for the rest of the time that the engines had shut down, though Alma did move when a click-sound came from it. "Hang on a second, Peter you son-of-a-"

"I wouldn't say that if I was you." The smoke had travelled far enough to almost cover the homestead, at least it wasn't toxic smoke, just water vapor, however it was enough to block out their view. The voice sounded familiar, but... strangely aged... The figure walked closer until it's outline was much more defined, only a few feet from them. As the water vapor condenced, the range of vision grew until the figure was revealed.

"Peter?" Arlo asked in disbelief. "The very same who left you guys some time ago."

"But you look... different, that can't be possible, it's only been a month since we saw you." Ida spoke, Peter had seemingly become more aged himself, though not enough to be considered elderly. Peter chuckled slowly as he got closer, "Aw, nah it's has been a month... for you guys at least, you see, with a time machine, the amount of time passed between various subjects changes, for you it's been a month, but for me however, that has changed to... about 5 years. I guess that makes me 39 years old huh?"

"5 YEARS?!" They all said, including Alma, flabbaghasted. "Yeah, so sorry it had to be like this. But I managed to get some things out of it. Mainly the rest of the data for the 12x Monitor."

"Peter, may I have a word with you?" Alma said angrily. "Alma, I know, I shouldn't of done that to ya but I didn't want you telling them." "Um, we're right here? What are you two on about?"

"Alma can tell you about it, however, I need a word with you... Arlo." Peter muttered, he didn't sound annoyed or angry like Alma, in fact he felt quite the opposite, compasionate and worried. "U-uh, okay sure thing. Where would you like us to talk?" Arlo questioned. Peter pointed to the I.T.U and said "There."

Seeing the inside of the I.T.U was a real shock for Arlo, "So uh, looks liek you spent some time on this huh?"

"Nah, I beought this thing, all I had to do was modify it a tad bit. C'mon, I'd like to show 'ya the cockpit." Peter replied, everywhere they went Arlo kept looking around, seeing all the new things. "What are all these rooms for?"

"This rocket is normally used to get people from Earth to Mars, so the rooms were there for them to live in for the trip. However they won't be needed much, might modify them to suit your needs. But-" Peter had suddenly stopped, surprising Arlo. "I brought you here for several reasons, most importantly to say sorry for leaving you guys waiting for a month. There was some problem with the shuttle on my way back and it ended up getting destroyed. Add in the month of finding the co-ords to you guys and it has been a pretty hard time."

"A month? A month doesn't explain five years Peter. Explain that!" Arlo raised both his voice and tone, Peter ignored the change and answered, "Had to retrieve the recordings of the missing earthquake monitor 12x. Unfortunately I didn't get the final recordings but I'm fairly certain that the readings are accurate. Anyways, I know that wouldn't take so long, but there was this family with a few uh... problems... that I had to fix, I didn't know how much time had passed and was quite unsettled when I was aware. It doesn't matter any more."

Though Peter had explained everything, he could tell Arlo had more questions needed to answer, "So uh, what was this family like?"

"Oh you know, just your average family; mother, father, two sons and two daughters, just a nice happy family huh? It was surprising to see what it took to get them apart, I can litterally say that mountains had to move for them to be pulled apart- Don't ask why, I'll explain it with the others when we get back." Peter had already started the engines up when Arlo was pondering that last sentence. "Uuh, what are you doing?"

Peter cackled, almost coughing, in responce. "Just a gift I wanted to give you, like an apology gift..."

"For what? Leaving us for a month? You really don't need to." Arlo reassured, anxious when they got through, the bridge was a little different, it felt bigger and open, but there was also flashes of lightning around the sides, as if they were going through an unstable region. Arlo of course had started to worry more "Peter, where exactly are you taking us?", "Oh just Clawtooth Mountain, the real question is when in time am I taking you... In that case, it's only a few months."

"From now? Or... wait a second, you're not taking us to-" Arlo had been interruped when the other side of the bridge opened up. They had travelled to the same place, but at an unfamiliar time. Peter flicked a switch, but nothing had happened afterwards. "What was that for?", "So that they don't see us, don't want your family seeing something like this." At first, that statement would be confusing to anyone, especially Arlo; his fmaily's already seen the I.T.U, why would this be any different. "I-I don't understand, what are you doing?"

Peter got up from the seat he had been residing in, "On the topic of explaining things, I've explained why I've had to spend five years, I think it's time you explain to me something." He was clearly serious on the topic, he had changed his tone so much in the short amount of time it was off putting. "I'm not sure what you're on about Peter, we've explained everything about us to you, what left is there to explain?" Peter had hammered his fist on the control panel, just barely missing the controls. "How about your father Henry? I'm sure he's not important enough for you lot to explain, given the fact that for the past three months of us being with you, you guys have not once mentioned him to me or Alma!" Peter said explosively, there was no way to deny that he was livid.

At this point, Arlo had started to resort back to the way he was before, starting to cower and move back whenever Peter got close to him. It took a while for Peter to realise, but he immediately stopped when he did. "A-Arlo... I'm... I'm so sorry for acting like that. It's just that, I don't knwo whether you guys had just forgotten or something, but it took a recording that Andrew gave to me to figure it all out. If you guys had just told me about him then... I wouldn't of acted up like that. You don't need to explain everything, I already know what happened to him. I just uh, hope you can forgive me for lashing out like that."

"What are you talking about Peter, of course I forgive you, it was our fault for not telling you, to be honest I don't even know why we didn't have the thought of telling you. But you still haven't answered my question as to why you have bought me here.", Arlo's companion sighed, before explaining, "Well, I just thought that, if you wanted... you could uh... well you can have a look for yourself." Peter motioned to the large windowed front. Arlo stepped forward to the window to see where they were. They had travelled to the steep, V-shaped valley between the main Clawtooth mountains. Arlo looked down to find what looked to be two Apatosaurs, both looking at each other, with a wave about 10 meters (33 feet) from them.

Looking back at Peter, it became clear what he was looking at. "You took us back to the point where my papa died? Why?", Peter didn't look at Arlo throughout the time Arlo spoke, however he slowly moved his hand toward one of the controls. Pressing it, the floor they were on opened up to the outside, the water was only a few meters below, and strangely still. Not as in calm, there were still quite large waves from the storm, but the water itself was not moving. Confused, Arlo turned to the two Apatosaurs. It seemed wird for Arlo to see his younger self. "Why aren't they moving Peter? Why isn't... anything, moving at all?"

A moment of laughter came from behind "With the I.T.U, it's possible to stop time completely while having seperate locations have some level of time. It takes far more energy to do it, but in this case it's worth it. Now, you wanted to know why I have taken you to this moment, well..." Rasing his left arm, he revealed a weird device on his wrist, which had been on there for an unknown amount of time. He didn't press any buttons, nor did he say anything to activate anything. He just pointed it at Henry and, out of nowhere, Henry had started to move again. It seems as though Peter had allowed the space Henry was in to have freedom of time.

His fist move was that of pure confusion, looking at the Arlo that was in front of him at different angles. "Arlo..." He whispered, before looking at the wave that was near to him. Taken aback by the sudden lack of time, Peter looked at his friend. "I wanted you to have one last moment with him." Peter muttered quietly, however with no other sound in the nearby area, it was heard by all three. Henry looked back at them, and then looked at the I.T.U, and had taken two steps back. "What the, but- how?" He looked back to the Arlo nearby, and realised that there were now two Arlos, one still and one moving.

"It's more complicated than it looks." Peter stated. Henry rotated his head to him and became dumbfounded. "And you're just a 'lil critter, how can 'ya speak!?" Peter looked at Arlo and said, "Should I tell him or should you tell him?"

"I think we should both tell him Peter."

"Tell me what?"

"He's not a critter", "I'm not a critter" Arlo and Peter said at the same time, respectively. "Again, it's very complicated, and we don't have much time here, but I wanted Arlo to talk to you for the last time."

"Last time? What do you mean?" Henry asked, muddled.

"Papa, that Arlo there won't see you again for another three months, and that's when I see you now." Arlo explained, Henry looked to the other Arlo, who was still there motionless, reaching out. "But, that would mean you're from... let me guess, it's complicated right?" He sighed, before continuing, "I guess that means this wave kills me right? In that case, I guess it's the righ ttime for me to apologise for what I did near the end, I was afraid that if you continued to be afraid of anythign that moves, then you wouldn't survive should you get lost to the outside world."

"Don't worry papa! That happened just a couple of days after this day. Before you say anything, it was very scary for me at first but, lets just say a peculiar friend helped me along the way."

"Lemme guess, Peter here?"

"Actualy... it was the critter you wanted me to kill- again I know, complicated but, I took care of him without needing to kill him, we learned a lot about each other on the way back and, we met a couple o' friends and foes. All in all, it was the greatest adventure of my life. You don't need to worry anymore." Arlo reassured.

"Wow... I, I can't belive it, you did all that after I was gone? Hah, I guess you accepted my apology-" A rumbling sound eminated from everywhere, out of no where Peter shouded "Henry quick, look back at Arlo for a second!" Although confused, Henry did so, and looked at the- the wave had gotten closer, noticably closer. "Okay, Arlo, any apologies you wanna make?" Peter requested, Arlo thought for a few seconds, and eventually found something. "Ah yes actually... Papa, I'm sorry for acting so, childish? I guess, I guess I caught up so much in the moments of being scared that I never thought twice, I hope you can forgive me for that..."

They both sighed, before Henry responded, "I do. It was never your fault, you didn't know better- back then? But now you're older and wiser, and I can just by looking at you, see that you have become so much more." Another rumble sounded from everywhere, and once again Peter shouted for Henry to look back, he did so again until it stopped, and saw the wave had gotten closer.

"So Henry has apologised, Arlo has apologised, everything is sorted... Almost. It's time for my apology."

Confused, Arlo and Henry both turned to each other in confusion. "You weren't here when this happened." Arlo questioned. Peter pointed straight up and said "You sure?" They all looked up, seeing the shuttle way up near the clouds. "When me and Alma first came to this world, we hit the side of the mountain, and the debris from it fell and smashed into the river. If we had just missed them, then this wouldn't be the current situation. I was just so stubborn about landing that I didn't know the consequenses at the time... I'm sorry for my actions."

Before they could respond, the rumbling started to develop, albeit much slower. In responce, Henry looked back at Arlo, while Peter told Arlo go get back on the I.T.U. Looking back at the two for a moment, Henry asked while Arlo was going back into the I.T.U "One more thing Arlo, did you ever get your mark?" Arlo stopped for a second, and grinned, "Yes." Was all he could say before the floor-doors closed up. Henry once more looked at the Arlo infront of him and said, "You deserved it, son."

In the cockpit, Peter pressed the button needed to start time again, the sounds from outside were muffled, but it was enough to allow Peter to do what he wanted. By pressing abother button, a massive claw-like hand fell from the ceiling, how Arlo didn't see it at the time was baffling to Peter. Before it could hit the floor, Peter allowed just that partion of the floor to open up, allowing it to go into the river. Pressing the button previously, time had stopped once more, just 8 seconds after. Confused, Arlo looked at Peter in a puzzling matter, "What are you doing now?"

Peter didn't sigh or laugh or anything responce, and his tone became flat when he spoke, "It's not what I'm gonna do, this is your desision, look down." Arlo stepped near the hole that the claw went through previously, and had found that the claw was already underwater and opened up wide, however he couldn't see anything below it due to how massive it was. "If you had the power to save your father, would you use it to do so?" Peter queried. Arlo expressed a face of shock for a moment, realising what Peter intended for him to do.

"All this time..."

"Yeah, now come here. Press that blue button there if you want your father back. But if by chance you don't... you can hit that red one right there." Peter clarified. Arlo glanced at the two buttons, both were right next to each other, so pressing them with his feet or nose, or even his tounge wasn't an option. "You know you have a tail right?" Peter reminded, in responce Arlo truened around and then rotated his head as much as he could to see where his tail was at. "Are you sure you want me to do this?"

"I'm sure, he is your father." Peter said as Arlo pressed a button, Peter not looking in time to see which one. "Uh, which one did you press?", "You'll see..." The floor opened up, and the claw came back up closed, closed with the Apatosaur inside. As it opened up, Henry fell onto the floor, which had closed just a fraction of a second before. With time for him starting back up again, he looked around before realising where he was in. "But, I thought-"

"It seems Peter surprised me by giving the option to save you."

"Before any of you two worry though, the Arlo outside still thinks you're gone. I made sure that we were out of his sight before going any further with my plan. Now, what would you two like to do?" The answer seems obvious, rhetorical almost, but they kept it quiet from Peter until he looked annoyed, "Home." They both said, he beamed, before turning the engine controls on and putting them to full power.

"You know, your family's gonna have quite the shock to see you alive."

In responce, Henry laughed, or chuckled, whichever of the two, and said "Maybe so, but I still need to catch up on those three moths you guys were talking about."

Arlo and Peter looked at each other, with Arlo asking "Should you tell him or should I tell him?"

"I think it's obvious you should tell him, I need to make sure of something at the back here." Peter expressed, before moving out of the cockpit while Arlo started explaining everything. By now they had already entered the bridge, and it was only a matter of time before Henry would see his family again. "So, what did you guys think of that?" Peter asked, looking at a screen, revealing that all this time he had the cameras and audio on. No responce came back, and he felt somewhat satisfied by that. Turning off the cameras, audio, and the screen in front for good, he layed back on the nearest flat wall, pondering whether he should tell his friends of the places he had been to throughout those 5 years.

"In time Peter, in time. They need not to worry or to know about it." Peter thought, relaxing while the I.T.U carried on moving, to the future.

A/N: So, here it is. My final chapter to this story. All in all, I can say that this is not my best story, with many loose ends and a mundane plot. However there are, certain plot points, especially in this chapter, that'll be explained in time. I too would like to apologise, for leaving it this long on making this chapter. I had hit so many road blocks and procrastinated so much that I didn't know if I would ever come back to it at all. That all ended when a friend of mine showed me one of their chapters, it gave me enough motivation to come this far, and I feel that, in time, I can motivate myself to finish off the next story, I'll probably do that next week (promise this time!).

Anyways, as I said this is the last chapter, though you may find that the story of Peter is not quite so over just yet. Yeah this main story is over, but I feel like other stories can explain certain parts of this story, more so this chapter. The responce to this story wasn't so much compared to the previosu one I did. just over 1,000 views compaed to the 4,000 that my last one got, however I don't really define the responce to a story by its views.

Thank you to those who have made it this far, and this time, I'll make sure that the next story will be more exciting, and... in a way, more open to the concept of dinosaurs with human-like technology (and no, not sci-fi again, it seems that that is a bit too much around here).

Notable Facts: I'm back in the writing bussniness!

Next chapter: What do you mean? This is that last one for this story!