Chapter 3: When Times Collide
Rommie opens a com. channel to the Andromeda from the future and says, "you'll never believe who I just saw!" Andromeda is actually in a different star system from Rommie but her radio uses tesseract fields to allow real-time communication across interstellar distances. Tesseracts are areas where space has been warped over multiple dimensions allowing instantaneous travel through space and time.
We then clip to the bridge of the Andromeda, we can only see the three view screens at the front of the bridge. Data and schematics are being displayed on the side screens but Rommie's face is seen on the middle one. "Let me guess…" says a voice from off screen, we then wrap around and see Harper standing at one of the stations. He is 13 years older then his past self, but other than that he looks the same. "Is it Gerentex?" guesses Harper.
"No way!" says a different voice, we scroll to the right and see Beka. She is 10 years older then her past self (due to a time-travel incident, Harper lived in a place called the Seefra System 3 years longer then Beka to be explained later), has long blond hair and is wearing fancy and expensive-looking clothes (to be explained later). "I think it's Rafe," continues Beka, "how 'bout you Trance?"
We scroll right again and see Trance. She isn't purple but gold, she also has long red hair, warrior clothes and no tail (Purple Trance switched places with her golden future self a year and a half after the Maru Crew pulled Andromeda out of the black hole in order to save this universe from the horrible fate that befell her reality). "She saw us," says Gold Trance.
"That's right!" says Rommie.
"But I never brought the Maru to the Sydney System," says Beka.
"Well actually you did, you just can't remember," says Trance. She then explains that the purpose of their little expedition into the past is to stop a dangerous Magog Weapon from being given to the Magog. Trance tells Harper, Beka and Rommie that Dr. Mastiff's cargo is the weapon and that he and the Old Judge are both agents of the Abyss. Trance also says there is a reason the Abyss specifically wants the Maru Crew to deliver his experiments, but she doesn't know why. The others ask Trance how she knows all this; she tells them that she has already lived the events that are about to take place.
Harper is momentarily reassured by this fact, he says that since Trance has already gone through what's about to happen, it's going to happen that way because it's already happened. Trance points out that they are in the past and it hasn't happened yet, but Harper says that for them it has happened (even though they can't remember, courtesy of Trance) and the fact that they are now affecting the past forces history to play out the way it has for them. Beka is mildly confused by all this, she wonders if their presence in the past is changing the past. Harper reminds her that in all their other experiences with time travel, their actions in the past were actually part of history all along (the Battle of Witchhead etc.). "Except when it involved alternate universes," Trance reminds them.
"Yeah, but we're not in another universe, are we?" says Harper. Trance tells him that they may or may not be, but either way they still have to stop the Abyss.
Harper isn't too worried and instructs Rommie to sneak aboard the Maru. That way she can keep an eye out for trouble and make it easier for the Andromeda to take the weapon when the time comes. When Rommie asks when that time will be Trance tells her that they will know when it arrives. After this cryptic hint, Rommie disconnects the com. link and her face vanishes from the screen. Like Harper, Beka is optimistic about the plan (for once), she agrees with him that the past is immutable and that they will come out of the ordeal victorious.
"Even if that is the case and your past selves do make it out okay," says Trance mysteriously, "what will it cost you?"
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Back in the Sydney System, Rommie sneaks through some undeveloped caves towards one of the docking areas where the Maru is parked. She then walks into the large cavernous area. To her left, the Maru sits unguarded, behind it the cave narrows slightly and angles upwards towards the moon's surface. Adjoining tunnels leading to other docking 'bays' can barely be seen farther down the tunnel, all of which are sealed from the vacuum of space by weak force fields that allow ships through, but not air.
Rommie knows that Beka has the airlocks rigged so only she, Rev or Harper could open them. But since Rommie is an android, she can hack into the security system and get onboard. The only problem is that even with her android abilities, it would take Rommie time to 'cover her tracks' if she broke into the Maru and Beka and the others could return any minute. Rommie then decides to use one of the airlocks on the Maru's roof. They are out of the way so Beka probably wouldn't check them immediately, and even if she did, she wouldn't be looking for evidence of a hacker (like she would with the main airlocks). That would give Rommie enough time to undo her tampering and erase any records of them from the Maru's database.
The roof of the Maru's main hull is about 8 meters off the ground; the only way Rommie can get onto it is by climbing the scaffolding. Rommie walks up to the Maru and jumps about 3 meters in the air. She grabs the scaffolding and begins to climb. She is about halfway up when two large thugs walk in to the cave. They immediately see Rommie and open fire. Their first shots do almost no damage to the android; she then grabs her Force-Lance and returns fire. The men keep shooting as they run over to a clump of rocks across the cave from the Maru.
They are busy shooting at each other when Harper walks in carrying a large box of supplies. He stops in his tracks at the sight and shouts in alarm. Rommie looks over at him and seeing her distraction, one of the thugs fires an extra-strength shot at Rommie. It hits her in the leg she winces and looses her footing, but she is still holding onto the scaffolding with one hand. The second thug takes advantage of Rommie's momentary weakness and blasts the metal beam she is holding onto. It breaks off and Rommie falls to the ground.
Harper doesn't know she is an android and prepares to rush over to help her. First, he quickly constructs a makeshift grenade out of some of the spare parts and throws it at the thugs. It explodes in their faces and they fall down dead. Harper runs over to Rommie and sees the wiring in her leg. Beka, Rev and Trance run in carrying more supplies (Trance is carrying a plant). As they come over to Harper and Rommie, Beka notices the fresh scorch marks on the Maru's hull. "What the Hell did you do to my ship!" shouts Beka, glaring at Harper, "and who the Hell are you?" she says, looking at Rommie.
As Harper hurriedly explains about the thugs to Beka, Rommie closes her eyes and activates her tesseract-radio and sends a silent message to the Andromeda. On the bridge, a face that looks like Rommie's appears on the center screen, it is one of the 3 entities of Andromeda: the screen embodiment (Andromeda), the holographic embodiment (Holo-Rommie) and the android avatar (Rommie).
Andromeda reports that the Maru Crew has discovered Rommie. Trance tells Harper that Rommie has to remain with the Maru Crew, even if they know that she's from the future. Beka says that she wouldn't trust an android without a good reason, especially if the Maru was damaged because of her. Harper has Andromeda tell her avatar to reveal any information that will assist her in convincing Past Beka to let her accompany them on the Maru.
We clip back to Rommie and the others. Harper has just finished telling Beka what happened. She then turns to Rommie, demanding to know who she was and why she was climbing about the Maru. Rommie explains that she is from 9 years in the future (more time-travel involving the Seefra System to be explained later) and the cargo the Maru Crew has agreed to deliver is the Magog Weapon. She then tells the crew that the thugs were agents of the Abyss and that they were attempting to board the Maru and insure that the cargo is brought to the Magog. Beka is cynical at first, but believes Rommie when they discover that the thugs had turned to puddles of seething black goo (a characteristic of all deceased Abyss Agents).
Now that she has realized the risk, Beka decides to dump the cargo and leave. However Rommie cautions her not to, the Abyss has gone to a lot of trouble getting the Maru Crew to deliver its cargo, it will hunt them down and find them if they leave without the cargo. Rommie also says that she and her friends came back in time to take the weapon and destroy its creators (they didn't know this themselves until Gold Trance told them a few minutes ago). Although they could easily seize the weapon they needed the scientists to come out of hiding in order to eliminate them (thus preventing more weapons from being made). Rommie says the only reason the scientists will come out of hiding is to collect their weapon (and the Maru along with it).
Beka is appalled at the thought of being used as live bait. Rommie tells her that her ship will come to help the Maru at the first sign of trouble, she explains that she has technology allowing real-time communication between different solar systems (the tesseract radio). Beka is perplexed by Rommie's unorthodox information but agrees to let her come along with them on the Maru.
They quickly pack up and leave, deciding that it is too risky to stay and conduct repairs in the Sydney System where more Abyss Agents could attack them at any moment. However as they prep for launch, Rommie tells Beka that the Abyss can get to them wherever they go.
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As the Maru lifts off, spins around and flies away up the caves we see Dr. Mastiff and a bunch of guards walk in. Mastiff is calm at first, but when he finds the remains of the thugs (the goo) he becomes angry. Mastiff's muscle-bound Nietzschean Captain tells the doctor that they could easily go and get the weapon, but Mastiff is still upset. He recognizes the blast patterns on the rocks as being from a Force Lance, he also knows that the only Force Lances around are either in museums, private collections or old High Guard Ships. Dr. Mastiff walks over to where the Maru had been parked and picks up a small piece of metal (that had fallen off Rommie's leg when she got shot). He scans it and determines that it is from the future.
Dr. Mastiff then tells the Nietzschean Captain to take his ship and retrieve the Maru, its crew and its cargo. The Captain asks Mastiff why the Abyss wants the Maru Crew so badly. He explains that the only person that can stop the Abyss is Captain Dylan Hunt of the Andromeda Ascendant. He says that the Abyss knows that the Andromeda is currently frozen in time beside a black hole and that she will eventually drift away from the black hole on her own. He says that the sooner the Andromeda is eliminated, the sooner the Abyss can destroy the Known Worlds. Mastiff claims that the members of the Maru Crew are the only people skilled enough to get to the Andromeda and that they will soon pull her out of the black hole. According to Mastiff, the Abyss wants to control the Maru Crew in order to use their talents to push the Andromeda into the black hole, and destroy her forever.
The Captain then asks Dr. Mastiff why he didn't just capture the Maru Crew when they met a couple hours ago, and why he didn't just deliver the weapon himself. The doctor explains that the Maru Crew would be clever enough to escape their trap, and since they are being assisted by an android from the future they will be even harder to capture. Mastiff also explains that the Maru Crew's skills at smuggling are essential for getting the various components of the weapon across the Tri-Galaxies to the Septentrional System. The Captain points out that his ship has the Prototype Weapon onboard and that he hasn't had any trouble moving around with it. Mastiff dismisses this comment saying that the real weapon is much more dangerous than the prototype, and easier to detect. Dr. Mastiff then sends the Nietzschean Captain and his guards away before walking off to board his own ship and inform his superiors about the Maru.