Rachel, Gaby, and Rick are mine.
Rated PG : some language and violence.
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10:02 AM, February 14, 2004
"Alex!" Rachel shouted. "Alex! Alex, please..."
"I'm sorry, Rachel," Nadira said softly. She stepped up behind Rachel's chair and rested a hand on her shoulder.
"This is all my fault! If I hadn't convinced him to let you do this... Alex and Lucas would still be..."
"It's okay. It'll be okay. There must be a way to find them. You and Trip can do it."
"We have to." Rachel's voice was steady and determined now. She reached up to touch Nadira's fingers. "I'll be okay. Thanks."
"I'm going to Bio-Lab." Katie got up, and stepped to the back of the ship's cabin.
"Katie, wait. We still don't know what's going on!" Trip's voice was shaking. She couldn't blame him. First hearing that Wes was dead -- Eric maybe dying -- then losing Lucas, now Alex, not even knowing what had happened to them...
The surge of temporal disruption had hit again, just like before. And disappeared, just like before. And the low-level reading Trip had gotten after they arrived was back, and slowly getting stronger. Just like before. It was all happening all over again, just as Alex had said.
"Look," she said, turning back to see Trip's and Rachel's backs as they worked frantically, and Nadira staring at her, tears marking her face. "If this is really a time loop of some kind, the way to break it may be to change the events that happened. If I can prevent Wes and Eric from dying, maybe that would do it."
"Trip's right, we have to have a plan," Rachel said, casting a glance at her. "I think it's time to contact Time Force. Maybe they can advise us."
They all looked at her silently. Katie bit her lip and nodded. They'd have to explain why there were so many of them on a routine observation mission, and why two of them had left the ship. They would all get in trouble for breaking the rules. But that seemed pretty unimportant right now. The thought came to her that this was exactly why there were so many rules limiting time travel. Had they caused all of this, somehow? If only they hadn't come... The only sound was Rachel's voice, hailing Time Force with their ship's communicator. And trying again, and again.
"Nothing," Trip said hollowly, checking the instruments. "Can't get through. We're being blocked."
"Trip -- I think we're in a time bubble!" Rachel said, sounding startled.
"A time bubble? But that's never happened..."
"It's possible, according to theory. Stress on subspace... That would explain all of this, the repeating loop of time, and the fact that we can't communicate with Time Force. It would also explain what happened to Lucas and Alex."
"What? What's a time bubble? And what's happened to Lucas?" Nadira asked.
"A time bubble can happen when stress is put on subspace by an incorrectly configured timehole. Temporal energy builds up, and turns in on itself -- I can't explain the whole theory. But when the energy builds to the point that subspace can't tolerate it any longer, the timestream resets to a point before the buildup started. Everything repeats, unless something changes. That segment of time becomes a closed loop, with nothing able to come in or go out, which is why we can't communicate."
"Why isn't time resetting for us, too?" Katie asked.
"We're protected by the ship's shields, just as it protects us from the forces inside a timehole."
Nadira asked again, "So -- where are Lucas and Alex?"
The two scientists exchanged a glance. "They were caught outside the ship, unprotected. If the ship was resetting in time too, they would have reappeared here. But it isn't. And they're not part of the world, the timeline, outside the ship, at the time it's resetting to. There's no place for them to reappear."
"You mean they're -- gone?"
"Right now, yes. I can only guess they're in some kind of temporal limbo. But they won't stay there, their matter and energy will have to be restored to the universe. If we can break the loop, hopefully they'll reappear, alive, at the same moment that they disappeared. The endpoint of each repetition should synchronize with the main sequence then, with any anomolies resolving spontaneously--"
"Never mind that, I don't understand and I have to get going," Katie said. "If changing something may break the loop, I might as well try saving Wes and Eric." She lifted the ship's medical emergency kit and turned for the door. "From what Lucas and Alex said, whatever's causing this is likely to be something at Bio-Lab. I'll report regularly. Try to give you an accurate description of everything that's happening. If this doesn't work, maybe that'll help you for the next time."
"Katie..." Trip's face was pale and pinched. "Be careful. Remember, you have to get back to the ship before the bubble bursts."
She smiled. "Don't worry about me. Keep working. We'll beat this." But she knew, even as she ran through the door and expanded her car. There wouldn't be time. Without a flyer, it would take at least forty minutes to get to Bio-Lab. And it was already a quarter after ten.
11:05 AM, February 14, 2004
Katie slowed to take in the situation as the Silver Guardian leading her turned into a hallway ending with windowed double doors into what appeared to be a half-wrecked laboratory. She had been lucky, made fairly good time and then quickly been spotted by a Guardian who remembered her from their time here in 2001. She took a quick look though the lab doors, seeing the same dark blue ball of energy Lucas and Alex had described, complete with sizzling bolts of what seemed like lightning, and the two bodies lying near it.
Nothing she could do there, at least not now. She turned her attention to the man lying on the floor nearby, a few Guardians and a medic bending over him. Eric, as she had known it would be, injured and breathing with difficulty, his face marked with burns, his suit scorched.
"You... you're one of the other Rangers..." It was a short, dark-haired man, also in a formal suit that showed burn marks. Steve Miller, she remembered vaguely; he had been Eric's second-in-command of the Silver Guardians, and now worked with both him and Wes.
"Yes. I'm here to help." As Steve pulled the doctor away, she knelt by Eric's side and began to set up the medical unit. "Eric?" she asked. "Eric, can you hear me?"
"What..." His eyes opened, he looked up at her, squinting painfully. "Who...?"
"It's Katie. I'm going to help you. But I need you to tell me what happened to you."
"It was like lightning... Hit me hard, drained my morpher, barely got out... What are you doing here?"
"We're here for the wedding, remember? Then this happened. Did you see anything in there? Anything else strange?"
"Just that electrical ball..."
Miller spoke up from behind her. "He went in after Dr. Zaskin and Rick Quinn, one of our junior scientists. Tried to save them, but that -- thing -- hit him. You can see how it burned him."
"Yeah." She turned on the machine, made a few adjustments and watched the controls long enough to make sure it was working, then stood up. A few steps took her to the lab door again, where she used the medical scanner she had also brought from the ship. "I remember Dr. Zaskin..." She sighed. "They're both dead."
"I -- I figured."
"I'm sorry. He seemed like a nice man."
"He was. Don't know how we're going to tell his wife and kid." Steve leaned his head against the door, staring. Katie left him to his thoughts and returned to Eric, adjusting the med unit and watching her patient, waiting for signs of improvement.
Running footsteps announced another arrival. Katie looked up to see Wes slide to a stop, staring at her, then at Steve. Right on time. Steve started for him, stopping for a brief coughing fit.
"Steve!" Wes exclaimed. "What happened?"
"Explosion, don't know what caused it..." Steve waved at the lab. "There's something in there..."
"Something? What do you mean?"
"I don't know! We saw lights -- it's like a lightning storm or something... Eric went in..."
"Eric -- where is he?"
"He's right here, Wes," Katie called.
The blond man crossed the room to them and sank to his knees. "Eric?" he asked. "Eric, what happened?"
"Lightning..."
"What? What do you mean?"
"It's like -- like lightning -- knocked me right out of morph -- barely got out of there..."
"Why did you go in? Is there anyone still inside?"
"Wes, Dr. Zaskin and another scientist are in there," Katie said. "But you can't do anything. They're already dead."
Eric reached for Wes's arm. "She's right. Don't try... Too late..."
"You can't reach them, Wes," Steve said softly. "That's how Eric got hurt."
"I have to try!" Wes stood up, raised his arm, reaching for his morpher.
"No!" Katie was on her feet, too, grabbing him and forcing his arm down, not letting him touch his morpher. "Listen to me, Wes. If you go in there, you'll die. I know. I scanned for life signs. There aren't any. They're both gone, you can't help them."
"But..." Wes's face twisted. He looked at Steve again. "Mike Zaskin... Who else is in there?"
"Rick Quinn."
"Oh, God..." The slump of his shoulders told Katie he was convinced. She let go, and watched him kneel again, putting out a hand to Eric's shoulder. He looked up at her. "How is he?"
"He took a heavy jolt, but I think he'll be all right."
"It's okay, Wes," Eric said. "Don't worry about me. The wedding... you should get back to the house..."
"I can't get married now." Wes glanced at the lab door, sorrow in his face.
"What about Jen -- she's waiting... what about the guests, your honeymoon..."
"I'll call her. The wedding will have to wait. After all --" He smiled shakily. "I can't get married without my best man, can I?"
Eric's blunt, sweat-streaked face contracted as if in pain. "I tried to save them, Wes, I tried..."
"I know. No one could have done better. Just relax, everything's going to be okay."
Eric closed his eyes again, but he seemed to be breathing a little more easily. Katie frowned over the scanner's readings. A lot of internal damage. He really needed more than an emergency med unit, but she could patch up the worst of it, enough to ensure he'd recover. Eventually. With more than a twinge of guilt, she hoped talking wouldn't make his condition worse.
"Eric, Wes, Steve. We've still got a major problem here. I need to know exactly what happened this morning, and when. The more you can tell me, the better."
11:43 AM, February 14, 2004
"What do the readings say? Is anything different?" Katie was in a corner of the hallway outside the laboratory containing the ball of energy she and her teammates were now calling the time bubble. She leaned against the wall, morpher held to her face, watching the clump of people near the opposite wall.
Eric was better; he was sitting up, with help. More people had arrived; Jen, Mr. Collins; Eric's girlfriend, Gaby Butler. Gaby was at Eric's side, an arm around his shoulders, her hand in his; Collins was talking quietly to Steve Miller. Jen and Wes were at the laboratory door, staring through it at the bubble, their hands clasped.
"Well -- the reading I'm getting is slightly weaker than it was at this time in the last cycle, assuming I've got the times matched up correctly -- can't be sure, but I think it's not building up as fast."
"I guess that's something."
"Katie, you have to come back to the ship."
"Too late, unless I manage to break the loop. I'll never make it back. Might as well see what else I can find out here."
"Katie..." There was anguish in Trip's voice.
Katie grimaced and forced herself to answer calmly. "I'll tell you the exact sequence of events, everything I know so far. Next time..." She stopped, then continued. "Something happened in this laboratory sometime this morning, maybe around 10:00. No one knows what. Dr. Zaskin came in, dressed in a suit for the wedding, so someone must have called him. Probably Rick Quinn, since nobody else seems to have done it.
"Zaskin signed in at 10:20. He came to the lab. At right around 10:30 there was an explosion. No one saw it, but witnesses who arrived a few minutes later say they saw the bubble then."
"So -- the bubble was created in the explosion -- or maybe it caused the explosion."
"Right. The Guardians on duty called Steve Miller. He was in the area, on his way to the wedding. Came in, took a look, and called Eric at about 10:40. Eric must have flown here on his Eagle; he arrived at about 10:45. A few minutes later he was injured trying to save Dr. Zaskin and another scientist. He says the bubble hit him with an energy bolt and drained his morpher instantly."
"How is he now?"
"Better. He'll live."
"And Wes?"
"He got here, to the hallway where I am, at 11:22. I stopped him from going in; he's fine."
"Well, thank God for that. You saved both of them."
"But if I can't prevent the time bubble from bursting, it'll all happen again."
The response sounded reluctant. "Right. How's the energy ball look now?"
She joined Wes and Jen at the door, and stared at it. It was bigger. Just as Lucas and Alex had said. With a sinking sense of inevitability, she knew. It was all happening again. Saving Wes and Eric wasn't the answer. But -- what was? There had to be some way... She glanced at the wall clock. 11:50, now. Only ten minutes...
"Trip, it's growing. How do the readings look?
"They're definitely a little lower this time. But it's still building." There was a pause. "You have maybe a couple of minutes longer than before."
"But why? Why is it slower this time?" She leaned her forehead against the glass. "What was the last thing Alex said happened? Right before -- before the end?"
"Umm..."
Rachel's voice came with the answer. "He said the lights went out."
"The lights..." She stared. Energy... lightning... the crackle of electricity... "Of course!" she said softly.
"What?"
"Energy! It needs power! Must have overloaded the building's electrical power, that's why the lights went out!"
"Then... if you can shut down the power..."
"Right." She looked around. "Wes. Where's the circuit breaker for this lab? How do I shut down the electricity?"
"I..." He blinked at her blankly for a moment, then called, "Steve! Where's the circuit breakers?"
"For the lab? Down the hall to the left..."
"Come on!" Wes started down the hallway, Katie at his heels. They ran to the corner, she followed him around it, seeing him stop and look around. "Here! This is it!" He pointed to a metal panel set on the wall, and yanked it open to reveal a column of breaker switches. Looking uncertain, he said, "I don't know which ones are for what--"
"Doesn't matter. Just throw all of them." Katie pushed next to him and began throwing switches. For the first several there was no apparent effect, until she pulled one towards the bottom and they were abruptly thrown into darkness.
"That's the last one," Wes said breathlessly, stepping back.
Katie raised her morpher, afraid to ask the question. "Trip. We've shut down power. What are you getting?"
"Something's draining our power too, Katie! Definitely some kind of feedback loop. Must be the bubble!"
"How bad is it?"
"Not enough to be a problem... but that thing is still active... We're trying to stop it..."
"Let's check back at the lab," Wes said. They started back.
It happened when they had taken only a few steps. A flash, a sudden, almost deafening crack. The crackling sound of electricity. They wheeled around, ducking back and shielding their faces, seeing what should be impossible -- a blaze of light as arcs of energy crawled across the circuit breaker panel. The lights flared back to life, flickered dizzyingly, and dimmed.
"It's -- it's bypassing the breakers!" Wes cried.
"Trip! Rachel! It's getting past the breakers somehow!" Katie shouted into her morpher. "Must have sent some kind of surge through the wiring!"
Rachel's voice came. "The readings are peaking again, Katie. It's too late. I'm -- I'm sorry."
"You'll beat this, guys. Save us... I'm counting on you." She looked in the direction of the lab. The bubble was a sphere; it would expand through the walls, too fast to escape, and come after her. Any moment now.
Wes, at her side, stared at her face and asked shakily, "What's going to happen?"
She tried to smile. "For you, all of this will start over again. For me..."
"What?"
"Nothing. Until the loop is broken." And there it was, blue so deep and dark in the dull lighting that it was only visible by the tiny points of brightness that sparkled in it like stars. Only half a moment to see it coming, to feel fear, then cold, and darkness as empty as space.
TBC...
