((Crystal the Ferret is the property of Tanman. Used with permission.))

Chapter 17: Absolution's End (Part Two)

The weaponry capabilities of the Gizoid that professor Gerald had discovered had only included data on primitive weapons like spears, swords, daggers, javelins, big pointy rocks, and so on. The Gizoids that captured Silver and Pia were far more advanced. You'd have to go as far as the twenty-second century at least to find a ranged stun gun powerful and sophisticated enough to send its targets into deep sleep instantly and with no nerve damage.

Pia wasn't even aware that one of the robots had converted its hand into something resembling a wide-barrelled pistol, before she awoke on the floor of the cell. On the other side of the cell, seperated by a semi-transparent forcefield, lay Silver.

The Temporal Protectorate agent rubbed her eyes. The shock hadn't entered her mind just yet. First she spent half a minute staring at her hand, wondering what was out of place.

Silver awoke to the sound of swearing. His first sight was the gilded walls of the cells. It was so excessively lavish that his sleepy self wondered for a second if he'd wound up in heaven. Oh, wait, there wouldn't be an audible string of nasty swearwords then, would there?

"-ammit! Those dastards took it! No, it must've been Pretorious - they wouldn't know how to find the opening. God, that creep touching me while I'm out. Argh, I'm gonna kill him!" Pia finished.

"What?" said Silver.

"My Jumpsuit! They! Took! My! JUMPSUIT!!" Pia screamed. Her orange fur was flaming red now. Whether she noticed the fire dancing around her or not was hard to tell.

"What!? You mean we're stuck here?"

"I'm such an idiot! I should've jumped to a different time the instant all those Gizoids appeared, instead of just standing around. GRAH!!"

With that last outburst, Pia threw a roaring ball of fire into the gold-tinted rock wall of the cell. Instead of detonating, the fireball rebounded like it was made of rubber. Pia watched the flames bounce around for a bit, until she caught it and dispersed the flame.

There was more to this prison than met the eye.

"Calm down, Pia," said Silver. "I'm sure you've been in tighter spots than this before. I know I have."

The cat sat down on the floor, breathing out a frustrated sigh.

They waited for a while. The corridor outside the cells was empty. No one seemed in any hurry to check up on them. Silver spent a couple of minutes testing the walls and the forcefields with his power, trying to find some weakness, but it was no use. Whoever these Gi people were, they obviously were used to dealing with above-average prisoners.

"Pia?" Silver said suddenly, breaking the silence.

"What is it, Silver?" Pia responded, looking up slightly from where she sat hugging her knees.

"Who is your mother?"

Pia gave a humourless laugh. "You already know the answer to that question," she said.

"Are we..." Silver was clearly having trouble getting the words out, and Pia, who could tell what he was about to ask, wasn't going to help him. "Are Blaze and I good parents?" he finally managed to get out.

Pia stared at he father for a little too long before finally answering "No."

"Oh..."

The cat looked away. "Some things are more important than going off to save the world all the time, Dad. Being there for your kid when she needs you would be one. I know you applied for the post as leader of the Temporal Protectorate only because you knew I would join. Being there as my boss doesn't really make up for being abscent nearly my entire childhood."

"I'm...sorry," was all Silver could think to say.

"You remember that. It'll actually count for something if you can manage that amount of sincerity in about twenty years." Pia sighed. "Assuming we both survive this mess."

Silver wasn't satisfied, even though he was afraid to learn more. "What about Blaze? Is she doing alright?"

"I guess. Haven't spoken to her in a month. She isn't as obsessive about making up for lost time as you are, will be. Hmmm. I guess... You know, as annoying as your stupid attempts to make things right are, it would be nice if she did the same, once in a while."

"So...you mean Blaze and me aren't together anymore?"

"You're comrades in arms, I guess you could say. If you two were more than that even while you were married, I can't tell. Honestly, it's a miracle you two even got around to concieving me. Aunt Connie spent more time raising me than she did, or you. Heh. I'm sure I'm the only kid in history who can claim to have had their lullaby sung by Shadow the Hedgehog."

Silver had never imagined a guilt trip like this before. He felt like hunting down his future self across time and yelling at him until he was hoarse. It was selfish, but right now he wished he'd never asked at all. The hilarious thought of Shadow trying to sing couldn't budge that kind of depressing foreshadowing.

The white hedgehog stood up, wearing an expression of anger reserved for himself. He had more of a reason to reach the end of this adventure now than before. Saving himself from being killed, stopping Pretorious from permanently rewriting history, and getting them all home was just the first step. The real challenge was going to be traversing his own life and stopping himself from making those horrible mistakes. No time travel would be involved in the real work of changing history for the better.

"Pia," said Silver.

"What is it now, Ghost of Christmas Past?" she answered, smiling weakly.

"I'm gonna get it right this time. I promise."

"Wow, NOW you sound like the Silver I know. The mustache look doesn't work for you, by the way."

"Mustache?"

-

I had first thought to give Silver my nemesis's time travel suit, so he might return to his own time and complete the time loop. That would of course have been a terrible error of judgement. The Jumpsuit is impervious to the weapon I used to kill Silver B. The hedgehog would only need to carry a pellet of synthetic blood with him to cause the illusion of death while at the same time escaping the loop alive. No, this needs careful planning. I am certain that Silver A will be trying to figure out a way to cheat death himself. Should he succeed, then I lose the certainty of success.

No, I will instead use my own time travel device to send him directly to his own time moments before the predestination occurs. With no means to traverse time, he should accept the futility of it all and sacrifice himself to save his past self, as I witnessed myself at the beginning of this delightful adventure. If Silver B fails to save Silver A, then I win regardless, though the change of history wherein I traverse time without anyone in pursuit may cause some unpredictable effects. It is a risk worth taking. The anti-displacement field generator is functioning perfectly, rendering me completely immune to the effects of temporal distortion waves. The same cannot be said for my enemies, aheeheehee!

Doctor Trevor K. Pretorious

-

Finally someone arrived. It was a female ferret animaloid dressed in a short skirt and a tube top, both made from the same kind of golden material that Pretorious and those foxes had been wearing. Two crystalline blue buttons and extra decoration suggested that this was a very high ranking official indeed. The warthog and the wolf following her had "grunt" written all over them, and no blue buttons at all on their golden uniforms.

The Gi, apparently, were really obsessed with gold. Silver wondered if this place was the fabled lost city of gold mentioned in so many legends. It seemed highly plausible. El Dorado of the Gi, huh?

The ferret said something in a commanding tone, and gestured with a shoo'ing motion. Silver got the hint and stepped away from the forcefield. Smiling coyly, the ferret passed a piece of paper through the field, as easily as anything. Maybe the barrier could only be traversed in one direction. Clever. The ferret girl said something else as Silver bent over to pick up the paper.

"I think she just complimented your behind," said Pia.

"Nah."

The note was written in fancy curly writing, probably Pretorious's, and read: "I hope you're not becoming too impatient. Arranging for two outsiders to be allowed access to this grand metropolis is quite tricky, and may take me another day of negotiations with the Zera-Gi, whom I suppose you might call the emperor of this civilisation. In the meantime, you may ask warden Crizal for anything you desire, within reason. I've written out a few useful phrases, phonetically of course, in case you get hungry or thirsty or in need of companionship."

"Companionship?" Silver said aloud.

The ferret winked. Silver blushed.

"Guess it's true what they say about ancient civilisations being a lot more free-spirited," said Pia, who could read well between lines, and had been looking over Silver's shoulder through the forcefield between hers and Silver's cell while he read.

"Oh yeah? What would you prefer, wolf or warthog?" Silver countered, trying and failing to play cool in the face of overwhelming embarrasment.

"Why, something wrong with the ferret?" Pia answered back.

Silver couldn't tell if she was teasing or not, and decided not to press the point. He'd had more than enough surprises for one day.

-

In the next chapter:
- More exposition.
- More character development.
- Some kind of plot twist.
- (There, now that should be a promise easy to keep no matter what I think of between this chapter and the next.)