October 30, 1988

2 and a half hours remain

The party had left after casing the joint. Sticky puddles underfoot. A landmine of upturned popcorn bowls, some of which had not yet been puked in. Aluminium cans scattered like grenades across the floor. Here and there, figures stirred. He didn't look at them. Ghosts from the past.

Carefully, Donnie reached into the jar in the kitchen, which by some minor miracle had not been pillaged. Withdrew the car keys. Elizabeth was slumped in a window seat, snoring. Her delicate nose brushed with Doritos dust. He stepped over. Kissed her forehead. She stirred, but the touch of the Receiver could not wake the living.

Gretchen was waiting for him in the Taurus. He started the ignition, backed out of the driveway. The early morning light paled everything it touched. Gretchen's head lolled against the passenger seat window as he cut the corner of the Fishers' lawn. She reminded him of the night in the movie theatre, sleeping in the dark. She looked much the same now. They could have been taking a little trip to the Ridge. Just a little...

Sirens and flashing lights filled the rearview mirror. Police officers got out of their cars, first upset at the carnage from the party. Then fingers pointed upwards. Mouths opened in astonishment at the funnel of clouds collecting ominously over the Darko house.

TWENTY-EIGHT DAYS...

THERE'S A STORM COMING.

The Carpathian Ridge overlooked the final hours of the world. Donnie sat on the hood of the Taurus, watching the darkness form over his house in the distance. A shadow covered Middlesex. At first, he didn't know where it was coming from. Then he smiled. Shifted position on the hood.

My shadow. Of course.

"Six hours... Forty-two minutes... Twelve seconds." He wished he'd taken Sean's watch with him. It didn't matter. He could feel the seconds in his body, he was an hourglass of flesh. The pain in his head increased.

I'M GOING HOME.

Donnie laughed.

Samantha slept with her head on Rose's shoulder for most of the flight. Her arm was going numb, but she welcomed the pain. Gazed out the tiny windows. Wondering what the rest of her family would do while she was gone.

So in order to travel back in time, you have to have a big spaceship or something that can travel faster than the speed of light?

Theoretically.

And be able to find one of these wormholes?

The basic principles of time travel are there. You've got your vessel and your portal, and your vessel could be just about anything; most likely a spacecraft... A metal craft of any kind.

Rose smiled, put away her thoughts. Raised her hand to smooth back Sam's hair. As she did so, there was a loud BANG followed by a hideous shuddering down the length of the plane. The cabin depressurising. The flight attendants toppling over one another in the narrow aisle, intercom babbling incoherently. Sam jerked awake and mother and daughter held each other, luggage spilling onto their backs from above, as flight 2806 went screaming through the empty atmosphere. A machine from the heavens. Machina ex deus.

The detached jet engine tumbles through the portal, metal through water. Cloud formations flash by. Entries into other possible worlds. Frank shakes his head, once, twice. The engine crashes through.

Donnie slipped back into his seat. Looked at Gretchen's still corpse. Remembered how she was. How she might still be.

Make her like that again, okay?

Her voice, still warm in his memory. Her lips, collarbone, ribcage, eyes. Cooling.

What if you could go back in time and take all those hours of pain and darkness and replace them with something better?

Donnie touched her cheek one last time. Took her cold, dead hand. The sky convulsed above him, but he kept his eyes on Gretchen's face. Knowing they'd be together soon.

The universe dilates, heaves. Twins in a single womb. Fracturing as time pulls itself inside-out, screaming, serial numbers tattooed indelible on the backs of Donnie's eyelids. Everything slows as the continuum struggles to reverse itself, regurgitating seconds, than minutes, then places, than people. Black becomes white. Death becomes life. Gravity remains the only constant as the Tangent Universe rushes to match the falling rate of the jet engine, the math equation to end all math equations. Donnie's head opens up to catch the light...

As the Artifact plunges into the stratosphere of the Primary Universe, entropy is reversed. We can see it happening.

Samantha jumps on a trampoline.

Sproing. Sproing.

gniorpS.