Chapter 2: Lucca's Gift
"Hey guys, come on in!" Lucca said as she saw Crono and Nadia approach from behind her screen door. Then she noticed Janus. "What's he doing here?" She asked, surprise, then a friendly warmth registering on her features.
"You delivered my life size doll to the Middle Ages. I bespelled it to leave the Epoch when you stopped then." Janus answered, some of the normal coldness leaving his voice. Most likely satisfaction.
"Oh. No wonder I got such a cold shoulder for that ride. Well, come on in." She chattered pleasently, opening the door and ushering them in. "Watchj your step. Dad's been on me to clean up, but I havn't gotten around to it yet. Come on over and have a seat." She led them excitedly to the kitchen, rambling about her newest invention.
"You guys just hear to chat, or do you need something?" Lucca queried, still surprised at seeing Janus, and took a seat in one of the less cluttered places at her kitchen table.
Crono looked at his best friend since he first moved to the suburbs outside of Gaurdia. "We'd love to stay and chat Lucca, but," He began.
"We need the Epoch." Janus finished.
"Oh why, what's up?" She asked, her voice taking a serious tone.
"I'm sure you've seen on that radar you invented. Something floating at Zeal's coordinates. We're going to investigate it." Janus answered.
"Oh. Okay. Can I come along?"
"No, I'm afraid not. We have to do some time travel, and you know the rules. Besides, this thing has an evil feel to it, and 3 is a sacred number. I'm sure it's turned up on many of your formulas."
"Oh. Well, this way." Lucca said, a little downcast. She got up and led them to her basement door, which she opened and held for the trio. "Don't touch anything untill I get down there, okay." The group headed down the stairs, Lucca taking up the rear.
The basement was eery. It was lit solely by a glow from various monitors and readouts. A lab table stood in the center of it all, some small device visible on the table, a few peices of paper catching the ethereal glow.
"Neat, huh?" Lucca said, and flipped a switch. A light came to life over the lab table, revealing its contents. The device appeared to be a picture frame. The papers looked like detailed schematics. In the backwash of the light, various things and half completed experiments could be seen littering the floor. Crono wondered how such a genius couldn't invent a way to stay neat and organized.
Lucca walked over to the table and picked up the picture frame. She tossed it to Crono, who caught it easily."Here. It's a communication device. I have one, and so does Robo. It can communicate through the space time continuim, so no matter where, or when, you are, we can talk. Just push the little button on the side, there, and a menu comes up. Touch the screen to tell it what do to." She explained.
"Thanks." Crono said, and pocketed the gift.
" I figured I'd find a way to help out, even if I couldn't go. I'm eventually going to make one of these for everyone we traveled with, just to keep in touch." She said, a smile on her face hid her regret that she couldn't go along. She walked over to a wall and pressed her hand on a panel. A section of the wall lifted up to reveal a corridor. "Come on." he said, and the three followed her.
The corridor was well lit and about 100 yards long. "Hey Crono, remember that old baseball field we used to play in?" Lucca asked, growing excited, as she always did when talking about her inventions.
"Yeah. It became overgrown and no one has done anything with it." Crono replied, a touch nostalgicly.
"Well, I buit a launching facility for the Epoch underneath it. Hydraulic lifts bring it up to ground level, and I built a runway in case I ever build any other forms of air transportation." She said, as they came to the end of the corridor. They met face to face with a wall, blank except for a small panel off to one side. Lucca pressed her hand against it and part of the wall lifted up, revealing a fairly llarge hangar.
"Neat, huh?" She said, while turning to grin at her companions. The all nodded and followed her into the hangar.
The Epoch was there, on a platform. A set of stairs led up to the platform, and a small console at the top appeared to operate the lift Lucca had told them about. The large room was surprisingly neat and organized, very little cluttered the walls or the floors. Off to one corner of the room, a tarp covered what was most likely Lucca's most recent large venture.
"Okay guys, I havn't changed anything on it. I have added something, however. A small cannon made from components Robo left me schematics for. They are imbued with shadow energy, similar to his weaponry. It's fairly powerful, able to punch a hole through a few feet of steel. I guess it won't be much use with the nature of what you're going up against, but it's there if you need it. A slide gauge controls the power level and a red button fires it. It's well marked, you should have no trouble." Lucca explained brightly while leading them up the stairs.
"Alright, hop in, I'll operate the lift. Take off at the all clear buzzer." Crono, Janus, and Nadia climbed into the cockpit, and with a wave goodbye, Nadia closed the glass. The world seemed to drop as the three situated themselves, the hydraulic lift doing its job. In a moment they were on a black strip, marked with white paint and a few lights. As Janus grabbed the controls, a buzzer sounded.
With the push of a button, they lifted off into the sky, and left Lucca behind, waving goodbye.