Rough edit, because headed back down to Port Charlotte on family business. Thank you so much for reviewing, Bow Echo, Tikatu, Whirl Girl, Creative Girl, and High King Peter the Magnificent! Promise to reply, just as soon as I'm back in town. =)

32

Elsewhere-

A powerful mind, torn from its broken and shredded body, animated by vicious hatred, found itself drawn to a conveniently emptied shell; a man whose own conscious mind had been extinguished by Nikorr Kyrano.

The fit was not good, at first. Terrible damage had been done to that primitive brain and nervous system. Also, the emptied shell of weak, grubbing Typical was far from worthy.

Yet, he had to have shelter, had to continue, and very much needed revenge. He was not at all certain how long he might remain in control of the body of General Robert Steele, but, as the Hood opened those pale blue eyes and stared around at his hospital room, he knew that his time there would be long enough.

Less than ten minutes later, the GDF Tower hospital was missing its star patient, and the world had regained a very serious problem.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tracy Island, at about the same time-

Power was out, and the heat made it too stuffy and awful to sleep. For him, at least. Gordon awoke feeling cramped and sore. Having not bothered with taking a shower the night before, he felt sticky with salt, and still bleary from sleep. Also needed to pee, like, right the h*ll now.

Their one open bathroom was far away through a crowd of tossing and muttering people. Any other time, he could have just found a convenient balcony and let nature reclaim vital nutrients. Circle of life, y'know? But there were storm shutters up, and pissing into the wind… especially that wind… was likely to do more than just soak him down.

So, Gordon Tracy got up from an awkward sit/ lie on those hard, wooden stairs, rubbing at his aching shoulders and back. Nothing a good, long swim couldn't cure, once things calmed down, outside. In the meantime, though, his bladder was threatening to just unzip and let go right here on its own. Reason enough to start wandering.

Had to pick a careful route upward; not, like, stepping on anyone's face, or anything. Luckily, their refugees were mostly military and government types… plus the new kids… so they weren't much actual trouble. Just d*mn inconvenient.

Not much could have come between Gordon Tracy and blissful, tinkling white-porcelain relief… but he had to pause and look twice, there in the upstairs hallway. Was that…? With…?

A sudden, savage grin crossing his face, Gordon took a few quick wrist-comm pics, then pretended to trip over Virgil, who just grunted, snuggled deeper into his tablecloth, and cozied right back up to Sergeant Hard-ass, over there. Heh! Blackmail was a truly beautiful thing, and he hadn't forgotten the shower incident, back when he'd wanted so badly to look good for Penny.

It was a very pleased Gordon who strolled into the bathroom, that afternoon. Meanwhile, Brains, too, awoke from a brief and uncomfortable nap. He, Max and Chips had found refuge in a service bot access hall, between the house walls. Dark, and a bit stuffy, but better than joining the throng out there.

As a scrapee, Brains didn't have any real childhood memories left; no nursery rhymes, or fear of the darkness. What he did have was a feeling of emptiness. Of abandonment. The Tracys had become his family, because he remembered no other… but that didn't completely alleviate his sense of loss.

On a whim, then, the engineer sat up, tugged the wrinkles out of his garment and smoothed his dark hair. Caught a look at himself in his wrist comm imager, thinking: 'Glasses on, or glasses off?'

On, he decided, if only because he couldn't see her, without them. Then, putting on a carefully nonchalant, man-of-the-world expression, he rang Professor Moffat. She picked up on the first beep, her sweet, intelligent face lighting up his comm screen and heart.

"Hiram!" she cried out, laughing and speaking at the same time, in that hurried way she had. "Thank you so much for calling me! I've been so worried! The news feeds showed you out there on the drill platform, risking your life, and satellite scans have that storm right over the Island! Are you all right? Shall I come help? I have some personal time accrued, and the research facility can get along without me for a week, if…"

She ran out of breath and words, then blushed, as if considering that she might have been a bit forward. There was a worried look in Moffy's big brown eyes that went straight to Brains'… to Yudisthir's… heart. Smiling, he said,

"I am q- quite well, Moffy, and the s- situation here is very c- crowded, but not especially hazardous. I… I c- could say that I s- seek collaboration upon a m- matter of great importance to ph- physics… but the t- truth is… I w- would just like to see you. If y- you would come to th- the Island to b- be with me, th- that would be delightful."

Vanessa Moffat's eyes widened behind her glasses, and then she smiled, shy as any young girl, receiving a text from her crush.

"My paperwork will hit Obel's desk in the next five minutes, Hiram. If I had the technology, I'd teleport."

Then, very daringly, she pressed her fingertips to her mouth, and touched the screen, as though kissing his cheek from afar. Brains smiled and said, very clearly,

"I shall be expecting you, Moffy. Safe journey."

It was a warmed, happy man who next turned his brilliant mind to the business of crafting a message through time; one that would keep its integrity for seven hundred long years.

First, he input temporal and spatial coordinates, allowing for the fact that Earth, the solar system and the galaxy itself, would be in a different spot, after most of another millennium.

Second, he provided a brief tutorial on spoken and written Basic, because seven hundred years could do very strange things to a language. Someone would need to speak with the unwitting voyagers, after all.

Thirdly, he introduced himself and the problem; warning all those in receipt of his message that an uncontrolled time crystal… carrying freight… was likely to appear in their vicinity.

He'd been tinkering with the thing now for nearly two years, ever since a rescue in China… half a city block, just gone… had led him to discover the staggeringly powerful gem. It was a traveler. A blue-white shard of incredibly dense, very beautiful crystalline matter; some of the first stuff formed in the aftermath of the Big Bang. (Or when Vishnu first closed his eyes to dream of existence… a belief that Brains had lost everything to defend.)

Existing both in and out of their reality, their time stream, the crystal could jump. At first, its cycle had been a month in place, a week in transit, which wasn't terribly useful. Brains had subjected the crystal to various incense and energy fields, trying to mimic the instant of creation, so that he could reset its cycle. He'd succeeded, somewhat.

Now, the time crystal would remain still for a week…. But oscillated from past to future, in near millennial leaps. This meant it had gone forward seven hundred years, but would return in a week, bringing back all of its freight and passengers… provided that they hadn't wandered away. He'd lost several probes in this manner, for reasons as yet poorly understood (to quote any scientist, anywhere). People were better than probes, though; they could bring back reams of valuable data, if only he could retrieve them.

That's why the most important part of his message was: You may spend seven days exploring your surroundings, but you MUST return within reach of the crystal, or you shall miss your ride back to our time. Apologies and good luck, my friends. PS- Take pictures, please.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Down in the hangar level, inside Thunderbird 3-

Alan just sat up and stared, still not believing his luck. Like, he was gonna wake up any minute, and she wouldn't be right there asleep in the seat beside his; so amazing, so pretty, his heart almost broke.

Piper breathed softly in sleep, purple hair draping her face, arms loosely folded across her chest. (Which he was NOT staring at, for reals!) They'd gone into the house, of course… washed up, had a quick snack… but there wasn't anyplace to just hang out and talk. No way was he gonna make her bed down with the rest of that crowd, either. So, wishing he had Gordon's smoothness, John's looks, or Scott's confidence around females, he'd stammered an invitation.

"Um… you… you wanna go back to my Bird, Pip? No weirdness, I promise. Just… it'll be quieter there, and I get great TV reception. Plus, Brains installed a game system for me, and, uh… the food's better." He'd whispered that last part, because Grandma was around somewhere, and she had eagle ears.

There in the kitchen, over a bag of ketchup and chili-powdered microwave popcorn, Piper gave him a sleepy grin.

"Sounds like a plan, A-T, only I might zonk out on you, after, like, two minutes. I'm sorta tired," she confessed.

The house was noisy with people and storm winds, but Al didn't care one dang little bit. Even Uncle Lee, right there beside them, shoveling his supper like a frickin' machine, didn't grab his attention. Only her. Only Piper.

"You can sleep," he offered. "I'll stay up and keep watch. Then, if you want, we'll trade off."

Their hands touched when she passed him the popcorn bag. Touched and, for one awesome second, stayed. If he'd been as… as cuddly-romantic as Virgil... he would have taken her hand. Could have done it, but blushed instead, got popcorn stuck in his throat, and then had to have his skinny back pounded by Lee and Piper, both. For thirty whole seconds.

Red-faced, gasping and humiliated, Alan finally stopped spasming long enough to accept the glass of iced water that Grandma thrust at his face.

"You okay, Sprout?" his grandmother asked, doing that fuss-with-the-hair thing he frickin' hated.

Captain Taylor started to say something, only Pip cut him off, looking really brave and very nervous. She was a guest among heroes, after all, and not much for talking with strangers.

"Um… it's okay, Mrs. Tracy. I was telling Alan about when I mistimed a jump, and wiped out on my skateboard. It was really embarrassing, 'cause I landed in the mall fountain, right there with everyone watching. They got video, and everything. I was a meme. So, yeah… Alan thought it was funny, and choked on the popcorn. My bad, Ma'am. We'll clean everything up, I promise."

Because there was ketchup-y popcorn all over the counters and floor, where he'd spilled and spat it, while coughing his lungs out. Grandma gave him this really stern look from over her glasses, and shook her head.

"Ain't polite ta poke fun at a lady's misfortune, Sprout. You was brought up better'n that."

"Yes, Ma'am. I'm sorry, Ma'am," Alan had said, pretending not to notice his Uncle's sly wink. Now, here he was. Here they both were.

She… she'd made herself look dumb, to save him. She'd lied for him. And, sitting in Thunderbird 3, watching Piper shift in her sleep, Al wondered… was that what love felt like?