Andrea, Morgan, and any others you don't recognize are mine.
Rated R : Strong and descriptive but not explicit sexual content, including m/m contact; language; violence.
This story includes slash, which involves sexual situations between two men. If you're uncomfortable with the idea, don't read this.
Reviews are always appreciated.
Wes woke disoriented, confused for the moments it took him to remember where he was, for a few foggy blinks wondering why he wasn't in his familiar room at home, or in Eric's bedroom. Then the memory came back. The angry words, the denial and rejection. He and his father had parted ways before, but that had been different; then it had been a fight over something he had done, now it was over something he was, and would always continue to be.
The rest of the night had been difficult for both him and Eric. They had arrived at the timeship -- a larger model than the ones they had seen before, built with living quarters for a long trip -- exchanged a few words with Alex and Jen, been given a quick tour of the ship's facilities and a meal that was almost as quick and that neither of them had appetite for. Then Trip had taken them to the cabin Alex had put both of them in and given them an uncomfortable moment when, for no apparent reason, he had casually demonstrated how the two narrow beds could be moved together. But, when the door was locked, they had taken advantage of it.
Wes had lain awake for what felt like hours, rerunning the day in his mind, wondering what the new day would bring; aware of Eric beside him and knowing he was awake too. At some point he had drifted into exhausted sleep.
A faint light in the sky outside the small room's single porthole announced that dawn was not far away. Wes turned his head and put out a hand. He was alone in the bed. Another glance at the window showed Eric standing there, looking out, almost invisible in the shadows.
"Is it time to get up?" Wes asked, hearing the scratchiness in his own voice.
"I don't hear anyone else. Go back to sleep, you need it."
"So do you. Come back to bed."
For a moment, Eric didn't move. Then he turned his face to Wes, and finally moved the few feet between them and slid under the covers to lie on his back. Wes moved closer and touched him, running a hand over a shoulder tight with tension.
"Eric..."
"I'm okay." Eric's eyes moved to him. "What are you going to do about Jen?" he asked.
"I don't know," Wes sighed, pulling his hand back. "You saw she's wearing an engagement ring, didn't you? She must be back with Alex. Maybe I don't need to do anything."
"I dunno. I also saw how she looked at you." Eric stared up, his face set in hard lines. "I have a feeling that's going to go all to hell, too. Shit." He stirred restlessly. "As if we didn't have enough complications."
"Yeah. But--" Wes gave a quick, humorless laugh. "At least this gets us away for a while. Right now I don't want to face Dad, or Bio-Lab."
"Good excuse to get out of town, huh?"
"Yeah." Wes propped himself on an elbow and ran a hand over Eric's chest. He hesitated, unsure of the question, and even more of the reaction he might get. "Are you sorry?" he asked finally. "All I've done is cause you trouble. Are you sorry we got together?"
"No, of course I'm not sorry. I don't care what your father does. He's not going to get rid of me that easily."
Eric looked up at him, his face determined for a moment, almost angry, before it softened. He raised a hand, brushing fingers through Wes's hair and then pulling him down. They kissed, Eric gently pulling Wes's lower lip between his teeth; then his tongue skimming lightly. Wes responded, gladly letting the sensations drown out his regrets and apprehension as they pressed closer together, then as they simply hugged, holding each other tight; finding a few minutes of comfort in the warmth of their embrace.
"Hang on, we'll be right out."
Alex waited outside Wes and Eric's cabin door, hands behind his back, trying to calm his own nerves. Last evening there had been no time for anything but their mission, no time to talk or even think about more personal matters. But plenty of time last night, to lie awake in their bed in the cabin he was sharing with Jen. She had been so quiet. So had he. Somehow there seemed to be nothing to say, at a time when they should be closer than ever, facing danger together again. He thought he had heard her cry in the night, just a few muffled sounds; but he hadn't reached out, not knowing if she wanted comfort. And, to be honest, he wasn't sure what he could say to her, or whether he could get past his own jealousy. He hadn't missed the fact that she had avoided letting Wes see them go into their cabin together.
The door opened, and he was looking into Wes's face, that disturbing mirror image of his own; Eric standing just behind him. "Hope we're not holding you up," Wes said.
"No. But we need to leave quickly."
"Let's get moving, then," Eric said.
"Wes, I think we should have a word." Alex frowned. "Eric, if you'd go on ahead to the main cabin..."
He saw Wes and Eric exchange a glance. Wes nodded slightly, Eric shot Alex a look he couldn't quite interpret, shrugged, and moved past. Wes faced him, his expression guarded.
"I know we have a personal situation here," Alex started. "I hope you understand that we can't let it interfere with this mission."
"I have no problem with that," Wes said, the cautious look on his face deepening.
"Good. I don't want anyone bringing up things that could be -- disruptive."
"Hey, I'm not bringing up anything, and I'm not going to. I'm not..." He hesitated, cutting short whatever he had been about to say. "Just don't worry about me, okay?"
Alex sighed slightly, feeling somehow defeated. What else could he say, after all? Stay away from my girl? Then he'd be the one starting an argument. "All right," he said. "For as long as this mission lasts, we're Rangers. Teammates. No more, no less, no room for conflict. Remember that. Let's go."
Wes leaned his head on a hand and stared out at sand and waves of surf under early morning sunlight. The ship didn't seem designed for passengers; six seats were arranged at various control panels in a semi-circle at the front, but there were also two seats on each side towards the back, next to the porthole-like windows. He and Eric were sitting there together. Lucas and Alex were already in the pilot's and co-pilot's seats, conferring in quiet voices. Jen, Katie, and Trip were checking out instruments.
"What did he say?" Eric asked, softly enough that no one else would hear.
"Not much. Basically a pep talk, about how we can't let personal stuff interfere."
"He's right." Eric smiled slightly. "But easier said than done."
"Everybody strapped in?" Lucas's voice called from the front. "Okay, here we go."
Wes felt his heart speed up as the engine hummed to life and the ship stirred and rose smoothly into the air. A quick glance showed Eric also looking out, his face calm but his fingers gripping the armrests harder than strictly necessary. They hung over the beach for a moment, a mechanical voice murmuring from the pilot's panel, turning slowly. Silver Hills came into view in the distance, sunlight glinting from the glass and steel of its taller buildings. Wes found himself trying to pick Bio-Lab headquarters out from the others, and then to find where his house would be -- his father's house.
A soft exclamation from Eric made him look up. A narrow, dark beam was lancing upwards from the back of the ship. As he watched, a hole seemed to open in the fabric of the sky, black edged with purple, swirling slowly as lightning seemed to crawl within it. It lengthened away from them, forming a funnel whose end vanished into nothingness.
"A timehole..." They'd both seen them before, of course, during the final battle he had shared with the other Rangers against Ransik and Frax, when the energies of their robot and Eric's Q-Rex had disrupted space-time. And when Jen, Lucas, Trip, and Katie had left to go home. He and Eric had even gone through one themselves, when they had pursued one of Ransik's mutants millions of years into the past. It was still an awe-inspiring sight.
The ship lifted quickly, gaining speed, and darted towards the timehole. Wes inhaled sharply as they plunged in, bracing himself, for what he didn't even know. He had the impression of speed, of incomprehensible energies seething around him, as they flew down a long dark tunnel lit with flashes of multicolored light. For a moment he wondered what would happen if they lost their way, if they somehow broke though the walls around them, and drifted forever in some limbo outside of any normal existence...
But then they were flying towards a light, almost blinding as it rapidly surrounded them, then fading just as fast into a sunlit blue sky dotted with white clouds. He glanced back in time to see the timehole shrink, collapse shut, and disappear. Then down, at what looked exactly like the familiar beach they had just taken off from. The same hills, the same road, leading into the distance... buildings reaching into the air. Silver Hills.
For a moment, he thought there had been some mistake, that it hadn't worked, they hadn't actually gone anywhere, or anywhen. Then he saw it. The city was subtly different, a few more skyscrapers, towers higher than any he remembered. Different... but only a little...
"Seems like things would look a lot more different five thousand years in the future," Eric murmured.
"Just what I was thinking." They both turned to watch the Time Force officers as they exchanged a few words.
"The transit was successful," Lucas said. "All ship's systems read normal."
"Temporal reading?" Alex asked, his voice absolutely calm.
"May, 7000. Right on target," Trip answered.
"Good. Any sign we've been spotted? Scanners, anything?"
"No, nothing. Of course we can't be sure we could detect whatever they might be using."
"Alex, I'm not picking up anything," Jen said, her voice puzzled. "No indications of industrial activity. No pollutants, no radiation."
"I'm not getting any radio transmissions. No television. Nothing in conventional wavelengths," Katie said. "Nothing in subspace either."
"Strange..." Alex paused. "Any sign of Andrea and her people?"
"Picking up signs of the other Quantum morphers," Trip said briskly. "They're in the direction of the city."
"Figures. Lucas, land us wherever you see cover that can hide the ship. Then we'll go after them."
In only a few minutes they were on the ground again, marching out of the ship in a line, blinking in the sun. Wes looked around in curiosity. On the ground, he could see a few differences; the beach was a little narrower, the trees weren't in the same places he remembered. The highway that ran along the coast had been paved in something that had a rougher texture than asphalt, and the divider stripes were missing. Other than that -- the air smelled fresh and clean, the sky was clear, a few seagulls were wheeling overhead. Hard to believe five thousand years could make so little difference.
"Jesus, looks almost exactly the same," Eric muttered, echoing his thoughts again.
"In terms of geology and evolution, five thousand years is almost nothing," Trip answered, not looking up from his portable scanner. "Makes sense the beach would look the same."
"But -- I thought the city would be bigger by now. Or gone, maybe. And -- I dunno, thought there'd be flying cars all over the place, or something."
"The lack of more signs of advanced technology is a little odd -- but maybe the population has decreased. We had stabilized population growth by our time-"
"Trip!" Alex's voice was sharp.
Trip winced, and mumbled, "Sorry," before hunching over his instrument again.
"All right," Alex called, still sounding annoyed. "We'll go in by vectorcycle. I'd rather stay on the ground until we know more about conditions here. We brought one for each of us. We also have flyers stored in the ship; they're automated and we can call for them if necessary. This will be an initial scouting trip, we'll look around, see if we can locate Andrea and her group." He pulled out a tiny cylinder, unfolded it into a rectangle about the size of an empty picture frame, and held it up. "These are our targets. This is Andrea."
A picture formed in the frame, vivid and three-dimensional. It was a woman, smiling brightly and sweetly, her hair a golden cloud, her large eyes blue, lips full, nose short and straight. Beautiful enough to make Wes blink in surprise.
"Her team of Rangers. Morgan is blue." A man this time, dark brown skin, curly black hair, handsome, a cold and arrogant look in his eyes. "Travis is green." Another man, sandy hair and a slightly anxious expression, a dusting of freckles over his round face. "Those two are also Time Force officers. These two aren't, they're a married couple who work for Time Force as civilians. Rex is yellow." Another man, short brown hair, an angular face, frowning slightly at them. "And Rina is pink." Not as beautiful as Andrea, but pretty, dark olive skin, melting brown eyes, long, straight black hair, peering almost shyly.
"Got it?" Wes and Eric nodded. "Let's go."
It began to hit him as they got closer to the city. The strangeness. The emptiness. No cars on the highway, no telephone or power cables alongside, no sign of humanity except the road itself. The highway, the surface feeling springy, almost rubbery under their feet, yet easy to ride the 'cycles on. The beauty of the woods they rode through, hardly a bare spot, no dead or fallen trees, almost like some giant, well-tended garden.
The feeling grew as they passed the first houses, then turned onto what should be a busy street. Nothing. No one driving, no one walking, no dogs or cats, not even a pigeon or an insect. They were quiet as they drove further into town, slowing down now, every sense on the alert. Nothing, and more nothing, just an eerie silence that was broken only by the sound of their engines. Wes could feel his skin starting to prickle, and saw the same tension on his companions' faces.
Finally, Alex raised his hand, waving them all to a stop. Wes parked his 'cycle and looked around without dismounting. They were almost in the center of town. They should be surrounded by crowds of people, should be dodging traffic. A shiver ran down his spine. It was like a ghost town, and yet something was wrong with that image, too.
"Trip?" Alex asked.
The green-haired officer shrugged. "There's no one here," he said.
"We can all see that. Are you picking anything up?"
"No... a few heat signatures. Might indicate machinery. Hard to locate."
"All right." Alex tilted his head back, looking up. He pointed. "That building. And that one. I recognize them."
"So do I," Jen said. "They look just the same as in Silver City, in our time."
"But over there," Wes said. "See that restaurant? Looks exactly the same as in Silver Hills, in our time."
"Yes. I'm sure it was gone..." Jen said thoughtfully. "And that one looks completely unfamiliar. That tall tower with the spire."
"Strange..." Wes looked around them again with another tingle of unease. "Why no people? Did something happen to them?"
"It's five thousand years in the future," Eric said dryly. "Maybe no one goes out on Tuesdays."
"Guys..." Katie's voice called them. She had gotten off her 'cycle and wandered to the corner, where she was standing, staring down the cross street, whatever she was looking at blocked from their view. They all moved quickly to join her. She pointed mutely.
"Time Force?" Lucas said with a note of blank surprise.
There was a group of buildings in the hills just outside of the city, white among the trees, a large round structure in their midst. Wes had never seen them before.
"Yes. Time Force. Looking exactly the way we last saw it," Alex said, staring intently.
"Alex, I'm getting signatures from the Quantum morphers," Trip said suddenly, his voice tense. He nodded towards the center of town. "They're here in the city. That way."
"Bio-Lab's in that direction," Wes said. "Was in that direction."
He saw Alex frown, and the others exchange glances. "That's right," Alex said. "And it's the direction of the building where we fought Razor. Andrea's gone back to the same place." Face closed, he led the way back to the vectorcycles. "Let's go. Stick together. Morph at the first sign of trouble, but not before. The morphers can't be detected at long range when they're not being used, either for morphing or communication, so they probably won't know we're coming. But remember, we're up against very dangerous people."
"Thanks for the reminder," Eric said softly. Wes smiled at him, and was rewarded with a smile in return.
Moments later they were on the move again, riding though those disturbingly empty streets, Wes sinking back into his mood of strained nerves, wondering... what could have happened here? There were no signs of destruction. No indications of anything decaying, nothing even looking old. He fell back a little, pulling alongside Eric.
"What the hell do you think is going on?" his partner abruptly called.
"Wish I knew. This is starting to really freak me."
"Yeah, me too." Eric paused, face becoming even grimmer. "There's no dirt on the street. No trash. No dust. No cars parked. Like everyone just decided to move out yesterday, and cleaned the place up before they left."
"Yeah, and the buildings don't match." Wes nodded at the side of the street. "That church was a hundred years old in our time. The -- whatever it is -- next to it looks like nothing I've ever seen before. Doesn't make-"
"Holy fucking shit."
The quiet exclamation brought him to a stop, even as Eric pulled up. Wes looked at him inquiringly, then turned to see what he was staring at open-mouthed. The others had stopped also, and were also staring and pointing. Wes gaped, feeling his heart jump and his mind freeze in astonishment.
It rose above them, graceful and beautiful against the sky, gray stone carved by some forgotten architect. That old building he remembered so well, from the door with the sign saying 'Nick of Time Odd Jobs' to the huge clock face overhead. The clock face he so vividly remembered shattering around him when he and Eric had destroyed this place.
"The clock tower," he whispered.
TBC...
