Chapter 4: Time Index 00:01
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The gigantic Y yawned in beauty, paralyzing its onlookers with its majestic gaseous
structure, so natural, yet so perfect in its form.
"It sure is gorgeous," commented Peppy softly.
Fox, gazing at the view in unison with Peppy, glanced to look at him, "Yea, it looks
gorgeous, but it's going to be a rough ride through...Slippy, prepare the engines for the
magnetic flux distortions. Uplink the scanner array with Rob's internal matrix, that way
he can compensate for the magnetic changes faster." Fox paused a moment glancing at
the greenish yellow Y on the screen. "Hopefully that will make this ride smoother."
"We're entering the outer radiation field."
"I'm detecting thousands of magnetic flux distortions within the region," commented
Slippy as he read his scanners
"It's like a road filled with rocks we can't see," added Peppy with an overwhelmed tone.
"Speaking of invisible rocks, here comes one now. Hang on!" cried Slippy.
AUGH!! Everyone groaned as the ship jutted hard to the left as though it was knocked by
a wave.
Fox glared at him harshly.
"What! I didn't see it coming!"
Fox turned around in his seat facing Rob, "How about we TRY and compensate for those
distortions next time?"
Rob turned his head up from his console. "I apologize…I was not ready."
"Well pay attention there is another one, a big one, and we're gonna go right through it!"
yelled Peppy.
"Compensating for the distortion, stand by...."
"Flux entering visual spectrum..."
Suddenly a bright flash appeared in front of the ship, multitudes of colors filled the space
outside, it was a spectacular sight to behold.
"Inertial compensator failure..."
The ship jolted softly, then felt as though it were gliding through space, on a cosmic rift
of fantastic colors and light. The sensation made Fox feel sick to his stomach.
"I don't think I like this..." he moaned.
Suddenly the ship jolted hard, the colors disappeared, and anything that was not securely
held down was thrown about the bridge.
"ACK!" cried everyone.
Rob looked up from his console at Fox, "I apologize again...I could not maintain a
matching frequency with that flux."
"It's fine, don't worry about it Rob, just try your best to rough it."
The doors to the hyperlift opened and Wolf stumbled out. "Why can't anyone tell me
when we're about to enter rough terrain? I nearly knocked myself unconscious in that lift
a moment ago.
"We've entered Sector Y, there are many more magnetic flux distortions then we
anticipated."
"Wait....I have something strange on senso...
*BOOM*
AHHH!!
Everyone shrilly cried as the bridge was thrown into chaos, Great Fox was coming under
fire from other ships in all directions, and the resulting blows threw everyone around the
bridge like rag dolls.
"Oh the Fox caught in the fog, how unfortunate!" a smooth, haughty voice came over the
comm channel.
"Leon..." whispered Wolf.
Instantly an image of the chameleon appeared on screen.
He looked directly at Wolf while he stood on the bridge, recuperating after being
thrown across the floor, "I see you have a new friend with you. Isn't that nice!"
Fox looked over at Wolf who grimly looked into his eyes.
The doors to the hyperlift opened and Falco stepped in instantly catching Leon's eye.
"Ah, the bird. So glad you could join our party!"
Falco's face went stern cold as he stared at Wolf. "HE led us into a TRAP! DID I NOT
tell you FOX?! I knew all along that he would send us into nothing but DANGER!"
Leon let out a heavy laugh and then calmed himself with a quiet sigh. "Poor Wolf, it
looks like your new friends simply don't trust you!" He belted out more laughs as Wolf
looked down, shaking his head.
"If we had killed him, we would have never been here..." added Falco sternly.
"That is ENOUGH Falco, I will handle this...Wolf you better not have known anything
about this."
He looked up, clearly shaken by what was occurring around him "No! I didn't! You
have to believe me I..."
"LIAR!" screeched Falco.
"NO!"
Wolf leapt through the air tackling Falco before punching him clear across his beak.
He grabbed Wolf's tail and swung him over the consoles smashing him into the floor
with a large crash. He curtly flipped himself over, tripping Falco in the process with
a low swooping kick.
"AUGH!"
"Alright that is ENOUGH. BOTH OF YOU!" howled Fox.
Falco paused as he held Wolf by one of his ears, and Wolf held Falco's tail feathers
gripped tightly in his hand. Silence filled the room until the only sound was Leon's
sniveling laugh.
"I don't even need to fight your pathetic ship; you will all destroy yourselves anyway.
Come on, Pigma, Andrew, let's go..."
"Hey Leon let me say somethin, please!" Pigma's whiny voice could be heard over the
comm channel crying out shrilly in an immature fashion.
"Silence, I do all the talking foolish swine."
"Wolf used to let us talk..." muttered Andrew quietly.
"Ah, before I forget, I've left a nice present for all of you. Think of it as a small parting
gift." Leon cackled another laugh before terminating the comm window.
"All three ships have gone to light speed," examined Peppy while studying his tactical
display.
Slippy looked around quickly confused, "What the hell did he mean by parting gift?"
Fox suddenly felt panicked, he did not like the sound of what he had just heard, "Rob...
give me a full internal scan of the ship."
"Understood, one moment please."
"......Bomb detected."
"What?" Fox's stomach fell. His legs felt weak, dizziness overwhelmed him as he
contemplated what could happen any second.
Slippy frantically scanned around the room with his darting eyes, "We...We have to get it off!"
"Where...Where is it Rob?" questioned Fox swallowing the lump in his throat with much trouble.
"...E Deck, main engine core room."
Wolf quickly got up from the floor, "Rob give me an enhanced scan of the explosive
device."
"One moment please."
Soon a holographic image appeared above Rob's console showing the bomb's model and
structure. It was a small spherical device with triangle shaped grooves on all sides topped
by three colored triangles that were red, blue and yellow respectively.
"I've seen this before. It's a type of fusion bomb Andross used to use on large fleet
vessels...I think I can shut it off."
"WHAT?! NO! HE'LL SET IT OFF TO KILL US ALL!" cawed Falco raucously.
Slippy stood up abruptly, "He would be killing himself with us Falco, now explain to me
why the hell he would want to do that?"
"He's right" added Fox.
The enraged falcon glared around at everyone and then began to grumble under his beak. Why isn't
anyone listening to me?, he thought. Wolf is a danger, a threat. He used to work for such
a threacherous enemy. How can anyone even trust him with their lives like this.
"Fine...FINE! Let us all die and rot in hell."
"Wolf come with me," uttered Fox as he walked quickly towards the hyperlift, determination in
his eyes. "We're going to need your expertise now more than ever."
"What about me?" cried Falco.
"What about you? You're going to stay on the bridge and monitor our progress with
Rob."
Falco grinded his beak together as he stomped over next to Rob and slapped his hand on the console
next to him, before giving him a forced grin.
"There that's much better, your attitude is improving."
Falco felt the skin under his feathers grow hot with anger, even more as he clenched his fists and
twitched in his shoes, ready to lash out with all his anger at anything.
Wolf and Fox stepped onto the lift frantically. The doors felt as though they took an
eternity to close. Soon they were off, shooting downward in the elevator towards the
engineering room.
"How long do you think it's going to take to neutralize this bomb?" said Fox nervously
wringing his hands.
Wolf was taken back by how Fox showed such control and stability on the bridge yet
appeared to be completely shattered by the whole situation in the lift. When he saw that
Fox was scared, it made Wolf even more frightened.
"I'm not sure," he answered with uncertaintiy in his voice.
"Does this bomb run on a timer?"
"I can't remember, it's been too long since I've seen one of these!"
"What is the explosive yield of this device?"
"Well, I...
"How do you deactivate it?
"You just...
"Does it have a proximity detector?
"It cou...I...
"Do you know anything about what you're doing Wolf?!"
"S...Stop it Fox God damn you're not helping!"
Wolf began trembling uncontrollably, "This bomb if we don't stop it, it will destroy the whole
ship."
Fox placed his hands on Wolf's shoulders and looked into his good eye sharply. "Wolf, listen to
me. We're not going to die...not today...not like this...Ok?"
He traveled through his thoughts; he was swimming in an ocean of fear right now. It
gripped his heart, his mind, his soul; he had to focus if he was going to save his own life,
and the lives of others.
"...Ok"
The doors to the lift opened to a large roaring room with a vastly huge sphere in the
center. There were many pipes coming out of the sphere which reached up towards the
vaulted ceiling forming a twisted maze.
"This is the engine room Wolf.....Rob?
"Rob here"
"We're in the engine room can you tell us where the bomb is located."
"The device is located 11.5 meters ahead of you. It is resting between coolant pipe J-23
and coolant pipe J-24."
Fox frantically rushed towards the engine core, he scanned the markings on each pipe
until he found two pipes marked J-23 and J-24. He scanned up and down the pipes and
then looked between the.....
"Oh God."
There it was, a small spherical device, with colored triangular grooves on the casing...
"Wolf.....WOLF!"
Fox swerved around finding Wolf petrified against the wall.
"Wolf...please....we need your help now...please..."
Stuttering with fear the words could barely escape Wolf as he talked. "N...no, I don't think
I can do it Fox!"
His face tensed under his eyepatch. He clenched at his chest as though trying to rip the fear
that intoxicated him right out of his body.
"Hey...what did I tell you...don't worry. We're not going to die Wolf......don't
you see? Everything's going to be fine, come here."
Fox took his hand and slowly began walking him towards the coolant pipes.
He clenched his one good eye tightly shut and shook his head from side to side. "No
Fox...please..."
"Open your eye Wolf"
A resisting shake of his head was the only thing he could continue to do.
"...Open it..."
Wolf slowly lifted his eye to see the device staring right back at him, piercing his soul
like a sharp dagger.
"Hey, we were all confident on the bridge, but we don't have to let a bomb scare us like this
Wolf. It's just a bomb. Bomb's can be deactivated, it's simple right?"
Was it simple? Wolf looked around the room as though searching for thoughts of comfort. He
felt like he was being tested, all his life he had killed people. Flown ships, travelled planets,
but now such a simple device of destruction brought him down to such fear. It would all be simple if
he could remember how to shut it off, but it was as though there were a mental block in his head. He
remembered dealing with these pieces of shit when he worked for Andross. He had been taught their
codes, how to turn them on, how to turn them off...now if only memory were on his side.
"I'm not so sure Fox..."
He clenched his eyes shut before opening them again and looking straight at Wolf.
"You have to deactivate this bomb Wolf."
He stared into Fox's eyes for a moment, the words sounded strong, they had foundation.
They built Wolf's strength, confidence surged, hope filled....
"Ok."
He reached out his arms trembling, he placed one hand on top of the spherical device,
the roaring sound of the engine core and the pipes were overwhelming now and only
added to the tension. Fox watched intently as he pressed three colored triangles, red
blue and yellow, on the side of the palm sized device, soon he heard a click which made
his heart stop.
"Err...oh...no..."
"W...what, what is it?"
Wolf stared intently at the device, his body frozen. "There's 40 seconds left on the
timer."
Fox leaned over and saw the numbers.
00:40.
"Fox...I can't do this..."
00:36
"Yes...Wolf...yes you can."
00:32
"No, I can't...remember how."
00:28
"Wolf, try...you have to try..."
00:25
"No...Fox it's, it's too late..."
00:21
"Wolf please...just DO IT"
00:17
"It's funny, but I don't want to die Fox..."
00:14
"You aren't going to die, just shut the God damn thing off...WOLF PLEASE!!"
00:11
"I can't...remember..."
00:09
"DO IT NOW WOLF!"
00:07
Wolf frantically began pressing a sequence of colored triangles
00:05 The bomb chimed brightly.
Blue, Red, Red
00:04 Another chime, louder.
Yellow, Yellow, Blue
00:03 The bomb blared at him.
Blue, Blue, Yellow
00:02 It roared a simple ping.
Yellow, Red, Blue, Lock
00:01 A series of rapid dings fluttered from the bomb.
Fox, whose eyes were clenched shut, opened them to find the numbers frozen. Frozen as
though this was the moment that death met life. The moment where the ocean's parted,
the moment where the soul left the body to the eternal everlasting existence of
death.
"Fox."
"Yes?"
"I, think we're ok."
His legs went weak as he collapsed over to the floor, rolling onto his back.
Wolf fell to his knees, a small laugh creeping out of him.
"How can anything possibly be funny at this moment?" gasped Fox without moving.
"I...I don't know." Giggles which mixed with chuckles broke into Wolf's sentences
almost deliriously.
"Fox, this is Slippy, the internal scanners up here say the bomb was de-activated! You
did it!"
"No Slippy...Wolf did it."
"Great work Wolf, I was wrong about you!" he exclaimed gleefully over the static filled
audio channel.
He lay sprawled on the floor next to Fox gazing upward with a pained look, "Is he
always so uppity?"
Getting up, he paused for a moment to laugh, "C'mon Wolf lets get to the bridge, and
bring that device with you, we're gonna want to dispose of that as soon as possible."
"God, yes," exclaimed Wolf clenching the bomb in his hand, the numbers still frozen on
00:01.
*********
Fox and Wolf stepped onto the bridge after getting off the hyperlift; they had the
appearance of worn tired warriors that had just fought a vigorous battle against an
insatiable monster.
"We have cleared Sector Y. Communications and advanced sensors are back online."
Peppy turned around to look at Wolf, "Great job Wolf, you saved all of our lives!"
"Yes, I don't know what we would have done without you!" squealed Slippy.
"Heh, hey guys, no need to go overboard on the thanks here, I was just doing my part."
"Well you've certainly done a hefty part at that!" replied Peppy.
Falco approached Wolf and extended his hand. "Wolf, I'm sorry I didn't trust you
before...you really did save our lives, and we have you to thank for
it."
Wolf shut his good eye and smiled, taking his hand. "Hey Falco, no hard feelings,
It feels nice to have you warm up to me though." Everyone chuckled as the tension
subsided.
Fox walked over to his chair, plopping down and relaxing into the seat, "Where does
our projected course take us now?"
"We will be traveling through the Solar/Katina corridor within the hour," responded
Rob. He too held a sense of adventure in his voice. Although hard to find, the glint of
excitement could still be discovered, buried under the tone of his words.
Fox paused to look at main viewer showing thousands of stars stretched out ahead of
Great Fox. His voice lowered to a whisper only audible to Fox himself.
"Don't worry Bill, We're coming."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hope you enjoyed that chapter. Chapter 5 is coming soon.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The gigantic Y yawned in beauty, paralyzing its onlookers with its majestic gaseous
structure, so natural, yet so perfect in its form.
"It sure is gorgeous," commented Peppy softly.
Fox, gazing at the view in unison with Peppy, glanced to look at him, "Yea, it looks
gorgeous, but it's going to be a rough ride through...Slippy, prepare the engines for the
magnetic flux distortions. Uplink the scanner array with Rob's internal matrix, that way
he can compensate for the magnetic changes faster." Fox paused a moment glancing at
the greenish yellow Y on the screen. "Hopefully that will make this ride smoother."
"We're entering the outer radiation field."
"I'm detecting thousands of magnetic flux distortions within the region," commented
Slippy as he read his scanners
"It's like a road filled with rocks we can't see," added Peppy with an overwhelmed tone.
"Speaking of invisible rocks, here comes one now. Hang on!" cried Slippy.
AUGH!! Everyone groaned as the ship jutted hard to the left as though it was knocked by
a wave.
Fox glared at him harshly.
"What! I didn't see it coming!"
Fox turned around in his seat facing Rob, "How about we TRY and compensate for those
distortions next time?"
Rob turned his head up from his console. "I apologize…I was not ready."
"Well pay attention there is another one, a big one, and we're gonna go right through it!"
yelled Peppy.
"Compensating for the distortion, stand by...."
"Flux entering visual spectrum..."
Suddenly a bright flash appeared in front of the ship, multitudes of colors filled the space
outside, it was a spectacular sight to behold.
"Inertial compensator failure..."
The ship jolted softly, then felt as though it were gliding through space, on a cosmic rift
of fantastic colors and light. The sensation made Fox feel sick to his stomach.
"I don't think I like this..." he moaned.
Suddenly the ship jolted hard, the colors disappeared, and anything that was not securely
held down was thrown about the bridge.
"ACK!" cried everyone.
Rob looked up from his console at Fox, "I apologize again...I could not maintain a
matching frequency with that flux."
"It's fine, don't worry about it Rob, just try your best to rough it."
The doors to the hyperlift opened and Wolf stumbled out. "Why can't anyone tell me
when we're about to enter rough terrain? I nearly knocked myself unconscious in that lift
a moment ago.
"We've entered Sector Y, there are many more magnetic flux distortions then we
anticipated."
"Wait....I have something strange on senso...
*BOOM*
AHHH!!
Everyone shrilly cried as the bridge was thrown into chaos, Great Fox was coming under
fire from other ships in all directions, and the resulting blows threw everyone around the
bridge like rag dolls.
"Oh the Fox caught in the fog, how unfortunate!" a smooth, haughty voice came over the
comm channel.
"Leon..." whispered Wolf.
Instantly an image of the chameleon appeared on screen.
He looked directly at Wolf while he stood on the bridge, recuperating after being
thrown across the floor, "I see you have a new friend with you. Isn't that nice!"
Fox looked over at Wolf who grimly looked into his eyes.
The doors to the hyperlift opened and Falco stepped in instantly catching Leon's eye.
"Ah, the bird. So glad you could join our party!"
Falco's face went stern cold as he stared at Wolf. "HE led us into a TRAP! DID I NOT
tell you FOX?! I knew all along that he would send us into nothing but DANGER!"
Leon let out a heavy laugh and then calmed himself with a quiet sigh. "Poor Wolf, it
looks like your new friends simply don't trust you!" He belted out more laughs as Wolf
looked down, shaking his head.
"If we had killed him, we would have never been here..." added Falco sternly.
"That is ENOUGH Falco, I will handle this...Wolf you better not have known anything
about this."
He looked up, clearly shaken by what was occurring around him "No! I didn't! You
have to believe me I..."
"LIAR!" screeched Falco.
"NO!"
Wolf leapt through the air tackling Falco before punching him clear across his beak.
He grabbed Wolf's tail and swung him over the consoles smashing him into the floor
with a large crash. He curtly flipped himself over, tripping Falco in the process with
a low swooping kick.
"AUGH!"
"Alright that is ENOUGH. BOTH OF YOU!" howled Fox.
Falco paused as he held Wolf by one of his ears, and Wolf held Falco's tail feathers
gripped tightly in his hand. Silence filled the room until the only sound was Leon's
sniveling laugh.
"I don't even need to fight your pathetic ship; you will all destroy yourselves anyway.
Come on, Pigma, Andrew, let's go..."
"Hey Leon let me say somethin, please!" Pigma's whiny voice could be heard over the
comm channel crying out shrilly in an immature fashion.
"Silence, I do all the talking foolish swine."
"Wolf used to let us talk..." muttered Andrew quietly.
"Ah, before I forget, I've left a nice present for all of you. Think of it as a small parting
gift." Leon cackled another laugh before terminating the comm window.
"All three ships have gone to light speed," examined Peppy while studying his tactical
display.
Slippy looked around quickly confused, "What the hell did he mean by parting gift?"
Fox suddenly felt panicked, he did not like the sound of what he had just heard, "Rob...
give me a full internal scan of the ship."
"Understood, one moment please."
"......Bomb detected."
"What?" Fox's stomach fell. His legs felt weak, dizziness overwhelmed him as he
contemplated what could happen any second.
Slippy frantically scanned around the room with his darting eyes, "We...We have to get it off!"
"Where...Where is it Rob?" questioned Fox swallowing the lump in his throat with much trouble.
"...E Deck, main engine core room."
Wolf quickly got up from the floor, "Rob give me an enhanced scan of the explosive
device."
"One moment please."
Soon a holographic image appeared above Rob's console showing the bomb's model and
structure. It was a small spherical device with triangle shaped grooves on all sides topped
by three colored triangles that were red, blue and yellow respectively.
"I've seen this before. It's a type of fusion bomb Andross used to use on large fleet
vessels...I think I can shut it off."
"WHAT?! NO! HE'LL SET IT OFF TO KILL US ALL!" cawed Falco raucously.
Slippy stood up abruptly, "He would be killing himself with us Falco, now explain to me
why the hell he would want to do that?"
"He's right" added Fox.
The enraged falcon glared around at everyone and then began to grumble under his beak. Why isn't
anyone listening to me?, he thought. Wolf is a danger, a threat. He used to work for such
a threacherous enemy. How can anyone even trust him with their lives like this.
"Fine...FINE! Let us all die and rot in hell."
"Wolf come with me," uttered Fox as he walked quickly towards the hyperlift, determination in
his eyes. "We're going to need your expertise now more than ever."
"What about me?" cried Falco.
"What about you? You're going to stay on the bridge and monitor our progress with
Rob."
Falco grinded his beak together as he stomped over next to Rob and slapped his hand on the console
next to him, before giving him a forced grin.
"There that's much better, your attitude is improving."
Falco felt the skin under his feathers grow hot with anger, even more as he clenched his fists and
twitched in his shoes, ready to lash out with all his anger at anything.
Wolf and Fox stepped onto the lift frantically. The doors felt as though they took an
eternity to close. Soon they were off, shooting downward in the elevator towards the
engineering room.
"How long do you think it's going to take to neutralize this bomb?" said Fox nervously
wringing his hands.
Wolf was taken back by how Fox showed such control and stability on the bridge yet
appeared to be completely shattered by the whole situation in the lift. When he saw that
Fox was scared, it made Wolf even more frightened.
"I'm not sure," he answered with uncertaintiy in his voice.
"Does this bomb run on a timer?"
"I can't remember, it's been too long since I've seen one of these!"
"What is the explosive yield of this device?"
"Well, I...
"How do you deactivate it?
"You just...
"Does it have a proximity detector?
"It cou...I...
"Do you know anything about what you're doing Wolf?!"
"S...Stop it Fox God damn you're not helping!"
Wolf began trembling uncontrollably, "This bomb if we don't stop it, it will destroy the whole
ship."
Fox placed his hands on Wolf's shoulders and looked into his good eye sharply. "Wolf, listen to
me. We're not going to die...not today...not like this...Ok?"
He traveled through his thoughts; he was swimming in an ocean of fear right now. It
gripped his heart, his mind, his soul; he had to focus if he was going to save his own life,
and the lives of others.
"...Ok"
The doors to the lift opened to a large roaring room with a vastly huge sphere in the
center. There were many pipes coming out of the sphere which reached up towards the
vaulted ceiling forming a twisted maze.
"This is the engine room Wolf.....Rob?
"Rob here"
"We're in the engine room can you tell us where the bomb is located."
"The device is located 11.5 meters ahead of you. It is resting between coolant pipe J-23
and coolant pipe J-24."
Fox frantically rushed towards the engine core, he scanned the markings on each pipe
until he found two pipes marked J-23 and J-24. He scanned up and down the pipes and
then looked between the.....
"Oh God."
There it was, a small spherical device, with colored triangular grooves on the casing...
"Wolf.....WOLF!"
Fox swerved around finding Wolf petrified against the wall.
"Wolf...please....we need your help now...please..."
Stuttering with fear the words could barely escape Wolf as he talked. "N...no, I don't think
I can do it Fox!"
His face tensed under his eyepatch. He clenched at his chest as though trying to rip the fear
that intoxicated him right out of his body.
"Hey...what did I tell you...don't worry. We're not going to die Wolf......don't
you see? Everything's going to be fine, come here."
Fox took his hand and slowly began walking him towards the coolant pipes.
He clenched his one good eye tightly shut and shook his head from side to side. "No
Fox...please..."
"Open your eye Wolf"
A resisting shake of his head was the only thing he could continue to do.
"...Open it..."
Wolf slowly lifted his eye to see the device staring right back at him, piercing his soul
like a sharp dagger.
"Hey, we were all confident on the bridge, but we don't have to let a bomb scare us like this
Wolf. It's just a bomb. Bomb's can be deactivated, it's simple right?"
Was it simple? Wolf looked around the room as though searching for thoughts of comfort. He
felt like he was being tested, all his life he had killed people. Flown ships, travelled planets,
but now such a simple device of destruction brought him down to such fear. It would all be simple if
he could remember how to shut it off, but it was as though there were a mental block in his head. He
remembered dealing with these pieces of shit when he worked for Andross. He had been taught their
codes, how to turn them on, how to turn them off...now if only memory were on his side.
"I'm not so sure Fox..."
He clenched his eyes shut before opening them again and looking straight at Wolf.
"You have to deactivate this bomb Wolf."
He stared into Fox's eyes for a moment, the words sounded strong, they had foundation.
They built Wolf's strength, confidence surged, hope filled....
"Ok."
He reached out his arms trembling, he placed one hand on top of the spherical device,
the roaring sound of the engine core and the pipes were overwhelming now and only
added to the tension. Fox watched intently as he pressed three colored triangles, red
blue and yellow, on the side of the palm sized device, soon he heard a click which made
his heart stop.
"Err...oh...no..."
"W...what, what is it?"
Wolf stared intently at the device, his body frozen. "There's 40 seconds left on the
timer."
Fox leaned over and saw the numbers.
00:40.
"Fox...I can't do this..."
00:36
"Yes...Wolf...yes you can."
00:32
"No, I can't...remember how."
00:28
"Wolf, try...you have to try..."
00:25
"No...Fox it's, it's too late..."
00:21
"Wolf please...just DO IT"
00:17
"It's funny, but I don't want to die Fox..."
00:14
"You aren't going to die, just shut the God damn thing off...WOLF PLEASE!!"
00:11
"I can't...remember..."
00:09
"DO IT NOW WOLF!"
00:07
Wolf frantically began pressing a sequence of colored triangles
00:05 The bomb chimed brightly.
Blue, Red, Red
00:04 Another chime, louder.
Yellow, Yellow, Blue
00:03 The bomb blared at him.
Blue, Blue, Yellow
00:02 It roared a simple ping.
Yellow, Red, Blue, Lock
00:01 A series of rapid dings fluttered from the bomb.
Fox, whose eyes were clenched shut, opened them to find the numbers frozen. Frozen as
though this was the moment that death met life. The moment where the ocean's parted,
the moment where the soul left the body to the eternal everlasting existence of
death.
"Fox."
"Yes?"
"I, think we're ok."
His legs went weak as he collapsed over to the floor, rolling onto his back.
Wolf fell to his knees, a small laugh creeping out of him.
"How can anything possibly be funny at this moment?" gasped Fox without moving.
"I...I don't know." Giggles which mixed with chuckles broke into Wolf's sentences
almost deliriously.
"Fox, this is Slippy, the internal scanners up here say the bomb was de-activated! You
did it!"
"No Slippy...Wolf did it."
"Great work Wolf, I was wrong about you!" he exclaimed gleefully over the static filled
audio channel.
He lay sprawled on the floor next to Fox gazing upward with a pained look, "Is he
always so uppity?"
Getting up, he paused for a moment to laugh, "C'mon Wolf lets get to the bridge, and
bring that device with you, we're gonna want to dispose of that as soon as possible."
"God, yes," exclaimed Wolf clenching the bomb in his hand, the numbers still frozen on
00:01.
*********
Fox and Wolf stepped onto the bridge after getting off the hyperlift; they had the
appearance of worn tired warriors that had just fought a vigorous battle against an
insatiable monster.
"We have cleared Sector Y. Communications and advanced sensors are back online."
Peppy turned around to look at Wolf, "Great job Wolf, you saved all of our lives!"
"Yes, I don't know what we would have done without you!" squealed Slippy.
"Heh, hey guys, no need to go overboard on the thanks here, I was just doing my part."
"Well you've certainly done a hefty part at that!" replied Peppy.
Falco approached Wolf and extended his hand. "Wolf, I'm sorry I didn't trust you
before...you really did save our lives, and we have you to thank for
it."
Wolf shut his good eye and smiled, taking his hand. "Hey Falco, no hard feelings,
It feels nice to have you warm up to me though." Everyone chuckled as the tension
subsided.
Fox walked over to his chair, plopping down and relaxing into the seat, "Where does
our projected course take us now?"
"We will be traveling through the Solar/Katina corridor within the hour," responded
Rob. He too held a sense of adventure in his voice. Although hard to find, the glint of
excitement could still be discovered, buried under the tone of his words.
Fox paused to look at main viewer showing thousands of stars stretched out ahead of
Great Fox. His voice lowered to a whisper only audible to Fox himself.
"Don't worry Bill, We're coming."
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Hope you enjoyed that chapter. Chapter 5 is coming soon.