Author's note: Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to review and give me constructive criticism. Read, review and enjoy.
(*) Decisions Pt. One (*)Trip had been in the lab most of the evening, going over calculations and running tests on the portal. Although their first mission had been a success, he wanted to be absolutely sure things would continue to go smoothly.
He was surrounded by papers, most of them crumpled up and tossed aside, the rest with complex calculations and equations.
"What'cha workin' on?" he heard a voice ask.
He turned around to see Camille standing behind him. It was the first time he'd seen her wearing her hair was down, hanging just passed her shoulders….. and it liked it.
"Oh, hey Camille. I was just going over some research," he mentioned.
She reached down, picking up some of the papers. "Looks like some heavy duty stuff here," she flipped through the papers. "You're testing the portal to see what happens in pre-mature activation," she noticed.
"I've sent three probes in, programming each of them to return at different times. The first was set to come back in fifteen minutes, and it made it back successfully. The second was sent in programmed to come back in twenty minutes, and it came back. The third was programmed to come back in thirty minutes, but I pulled it back ten minutes early," he said.
"What happened?"
"I lost the signal. Whatever it is, I can't track it," he told her.
"I guess we better not try to come back sooner than we're scheduled to. We could get lost in another dimension and have no way to get back," she said.
"Let's hope it never comes to that," Trip sighed.
Jen and Tommy walked into the lab next, heading over to Trip. "What's our resident genius working on this time?" she asked him.
"Just going over some readings," he said.
"Have you been in here all night?" Tommy inquired.
"What time is it?" he glanced up at the clock. "Oh wow, I have been in here all night," he realized.
"It's 0900 hours Trip, time for our next assignment," Camille said.
"I think I'll sit this one out guys, I really need to get some sleep," Trip said as he stood up, wiping his eyes.
"Go ahead, I'm sure we'll be able to handle this one," she said.
Without another word, Trip headed for the door, walking past Katie as she walked into the lab. "Where is he going?" she asked.
"Sleep."
"So what's on the 'to do' list for today?" she asked.
"Don't know. We'll get this thing started and see where it takes us," Camille mentioned, heading over to the controls.
"Where is Captain Logan?" Katie asked.
"Right here. You didn't think I'd let you start without me, did you?" he replied.
"Wouldn't dream of it sir,"
"An hour wasn't very long the last time, but it was enough for you to get the job done. Still, I'd prefer that you stay for two hours this time. It'll give you time to observe as much as you can," he suggested.
"We can handle it," Jen said, speaking for the group.
Captain Logan walked over to the controls, sitting down in front of the control panel. "I'm ready whenever you are," he said, activating the portal.
One by one, Tommy, Jen, Katie and Camille walked through the portal……
(*)
They found themselves in what appeared to be the science lab, but there were major differences. For one, the Slipsteam portal was gone, along with most of the equipment. The lights were off, or maybe on backup power, because the entire room was dim.
"What's going on?" Camille asked.
"This is Time Force, but the auxiliary power has been activated. We should get to the conference room, see what's happening here," Jen suggested.
The two of them walked over to the door, but it wouldn't open.
"Open," Katie said, but with no luck. Finally, Katie got a firm grip on both sides of the door and pulled them open herself, then stood aside to allow the others through.
"It pays to have someone with superhuman strength on your team," Tommy said.
They headed down the hallway, making a right and stopped in front of the elevator. "It's safe to say that if the doors won't open, the elevator won't work either. We'll have to use the service ladders. We'll split up, try to cover more ground. Camille, you come with me. Tommy, you and Katie see if you can get main power restored," she instructed.
Each of them nodded, then went their separate ways.
(*)
Katie and Tommy crawled through the service corridors, which couldn't have been any higher than three feet, making their way to the main generator. It amazed Tommy that Jen didn't pick him to go with her, but then again, understood why. 'The last thing we need right now are distractions,' he thought to himself.
The two of them came to the end of the corridors, and Katie punched through the metal grate covering the hole, then climbed out. She helped Tommy out the corridor, finding themselves in front of the main control room.
"This is it; this is where all the power for the entire building is generated," she said, but noticed that the door needed a hand imprint to open. Instead of trying, she grabbed hold of the door, snatching it off the hinges, throwing it aside. "What? The thing wouldn't have worked anyway," she mentioned.
They headed inside, only to find several dead bodies spread through out the room. Tommy hurried over to them, checking them for a pulse, but came up empty handed. "What could have killed them?" he asked.
"Looks like there was an explosion in here, an explosion large enough to knock out the main power in the building and kill them at the same time," she leaned down, checking on one of the bodies, only to discover it was – her. "Seems like I didn't have much luck the first time I came down here," she sighed.
"Come on, there's nothing we can do here. Lets just go," he said, walking out the room.
(*)
Camille and Jen made it to the conference room, where there was a sea of lifeless bodies laid out around the room. They quickly hurried in, checking on each of them.
"They're all dead," Camille sighed.
"What the hell happened here?" she inquired.
'I may be able to shed some light on that for you Jennifer,' a voice said.
Jen quickly reached for her morpher. "What do you have for me Captain?" she asked.
'The logs indicate that immediately after your original mission to the 21st century to capture Ransik, you decided to go back to the 21st century, presumably to be with Wesley Collins. It went against the judgment of the counsel, and Alex was sent to the 21st century to bring you back. Details are fussy on how or why, but Alex was killed in the year 2001, starting a paradox type effect that disrupted the flow of the future. Time Force was crippled, and emergency power came on line. Unfortunately, there was a malfunction in the containment modules. All the mutants that Time Force had captured over the years were set free, and they went on a massive killing spree, eliminating almost every member of Time Force. Mutants then set their sights on the rest of city. According to the records, they have control of New Silver Hills, Mariner Bay, Turtle Cove, Angel Grove and Sunnydale. At present time, most of the world is under their control,' he explained.
"All this is my fault," Jen sighed.
'This is just one of the possibilities Jennifer. When the time came in our world, you made the right decision. There isn't anything you can do to save this world, the damage has been done. The four of you should stay out of harm's way until the portal opens,' he said.
"We have to put a stop to this," she said.
'No, you don't. With no one left to run Time Force, the Slipstream portal will never be built on that world. There is no risk of them ever coming to our world. When the portal reopens, just come home,' he ordered.
Jen turned off her communicator. "We're going to stop the mutants from taking over this city," Jen told her.
"But Jen, the captain said……"
"I don't care what he said, this is my fault and I'm going to go what I can to help the humans left on this world," she said.
"But theres nothing we can do. They're all dead now, and mutants have taken over most of the world. We're only four people Jen, we can't help them this way. If we stay here, we'll end up dead too," Camille said.
Ignoring Camille, Jen reached for her morpher. "Tommy, this is Jen. You and Katie meet me in hanger six," she said.
'Acknowledged Jen. We'll be there,' a voice said.
(*)
The four of them met up in hanger six, and Jen explained to the others what had happened to the world.
"What do you expect to do to save these people? I'm hurt that something like this happened, but what's done is done," Katie said.
"Not necessarily," Jen said, directing their attention to the time ship.
"You want to go back in time in another reality. Do you have any idea what you're doing?" Camille asked.
"I know exactly what I'm doing,"
"If we do this, we won't be able to get back to the portal in time. We'll all be stuck here, in this world," Tommy reminded her.
"If the rest of you don't want to come, fine. This is something I have to do," Jen told them, making her way towards the time ship.
"What do you guys think?" Camille asked.
"We're a team. If she's going to do this, she's going to need help," Katie said, hurrying to catch Jen.
"She's right, lets go," Tommy said.
TBC…….
