It was the day before Christmas, 2033. As Jason, toting his brown pack on his back, and Alan floated down from the sky on the time tricycle, Alan breathed in the cold, crisp air. "Well, one thing hasn't changed in the past thirty years," he remarked. "Elwood City's air quality."

"There's my house," said Jason, pointing downward. "I wonder who lives there now."

"We'll soon find out," said Alan.

The faded, chipped tricycle descended slowly, passing transparently through the roof of the house and landing on the floor of the garage.

A man watched as the tricycle and the two boys appeared out of nowhere and came to a stop.

Jason gasped with surprise when he saw the man's face. Alan himself recognized something oddly familiar about his appearance.

"Dad!" cried Jason. "But...you're not supposed to be here!"

"I'm happy to see you too," quipped Jason's father. "Hi, Alan."

"Hi, Alan," replied Alan, waving.

Jason's father quickly stepped forward and opened the small plastic gate leading into the time tricycle's power chamber. Pulling out the lump of radioactive Play-Doh that energized the device, he dropped it on the floor and stepped on it, grinding it until it was flat.

"No!" exclaimed Jason in horror. "Now it won't work!"

"Your days of messing with the time-space continuum are over, Jason," his father informed him.

Jason leaped from the time tricycle and glared angrily at Alan. "You tricked me! You went back in time to stop me from killing The Wraith! There were two of you all along!"

"Brilliant deduction, Jason," said Alan proudly. "That's my boy."

"You fool!" Jason ranted. "You've killed us all!"

"He's killed nobody," said Jason's father. "I was going to tell you just before you went back in time...the bomb is a dud."

Jason couldn't believe his ears. "A...a dud?"

"The Wraith's betrayal was all part of our plan," his father revealed. "The technology she delivered to the terrorists wasn't for the Gigadeath bomb...it was for the Mintybreath bomb."

"The what?" said Alan, confused.

"It's a bomb that makes the air smell minty fresh for thousands of miles. It's based on the same technology, so the terrorists couldn't tell the difference. Now that they've detonated it, we know right where their secret base is located."

"You mean...nobody's gonna die?" asked the deflated Jason.

"Only people who have a fatal allergic reaction to minty fresh air," his father replied.

Jason looked at Alan, then at his father.

"I almost did a terrible thing," he confessed sadly.

"I should have told you sooner," said his father, "but I had no idea you would go and do something so...independent."

Jason pointed at Alan. "Dad, this is my friend, Alan."

"We've met before," said Jason's father.

At that moment Jason's mother, the grown-up D.W., stepped into the garage and stood by her husband's side. "Francine just called," she announced. "She made it out of the terrorist base safe and sound."

"Was there ever any doubt, Winnie?" said Jason's father. Then he kissed her passionately.

Alan grimaced. "Oh, man..."

Mr. Powers pulled his lips away from his wife's face and looked at Alan with a bemused expression. "You'll soon wish I had gone in your place, Alan. Now, let me show you around your new home."

Alan followed Jason and his parents into the kitchen. Many of the appliances were similar in form to their counterparts from thirty years ago, but there were several strangely-shaped devices whose function he couldn't even guess at.

As he gaped at his nearly incomprehensible surroundings, he felt a soft object brush against his leg. Looking down, he saw something that very much resembled a long-haired white cat, but moved in a slightly more mechanical way than a normal feline.

"That's Sue Ellen, our robocat," Jason told him.

Alan looked at him for several moments as if wanting to ask a question, but dreading the answer.

Then he reached down and started to pet the mechanical cat. "She's very pretty," he remarked.

"Thank you," said the cat in a little girl's voice.

"Come on, Alan," said Jason. "You'll flip when you see our holographic TV."

Alan followed Jason to the living room while the agile robocat bounded along next to his feet, purring affectionately.

"Hey, Alan," said Jason as he looked under the cushions of the couch for the remote control, "did you know when you came to the future with me that the bomb was a dud?"

"No," Alan replied.

"Then you knew that millions of people might die because of your actions."

Alan shrugged. "I guess so. But after I saw what could go wrong if I tried to save one life..."

----

"When I wake up in the morning," Marina lamented, "there'll be fifty reporters at our doorstep. I'll never get any peace again."

"Let me handle it," said her mother as she tucked in her blind daughter.

"That stupid Muffy," Marina grumbled. "I should read her mind, find out all her secrets, and sell them to the National Exploiter."

Mrs. Messersmith kissed her on the cheek. "Good night, dear."

Marina turned on her side while her mother shut off the light. It may be the last good night I ever have, she thought drearily.

An hour later, Marina was still tossing restlessly, unable to forget about the newscast she had watched earlier.

Suddenly she heard what seemed like a man's voice. "Marina..."

Her eyelids shot open. Scanning the room with her enhanced senses, she found nobody else present.

The voice returned, louder, yet soothing. "You're not alone, Marina."

"Who's there?" called the frightened girl.

"There are others like you," came the voice again.

Marina lay as still as she could, hoping that the voice would reveal something about its source and identity. But it did not speak again.

"I'm dreaming," she mumbled. "There's no one else like me."

THE END...?