Chapter 19:
"And now that you know, I can stop speaking in this ridiculous accent." Michael's double said.
"What do you mean?" Michael asked.
"You don't really think I was a filthy American, did you?" he replied in a British accent. "On my world, my formative years were spent in England."
"What's going on here?" Michael asked. "You're probably gonna kill me, might as well let me die knowing what's happening."
"We weren't, but you are leaving us no choice." he said. "Shall I explain my background, or the background of why you are here?"
"You first, then this place." Michael said.
"Fine, you've heard of the Kromaggs, I assume?"
"Yeah."
"Well, they came to my world, but these aren't your normal war mongering Mags, they are intelligent, much like the monster in Frankenstein. And, they gave me the solution to the equation. At a price."
"What price?"
"They knew I was willing to give anything for it, since Quinn Mallory didn't exist on my world, I was working off of notes from Professor Maximillion Arturo, who hadn't gotten very far, before his death. So, they gave it to me, but wanted one thing in return, my servitude."
"Servitude?"
"I was to travel to parallel worlds that had just invented sliding, and greet the creator, much like I did with you. Then, they'd have a way to track your movements, and when you got far enough, take the timer. These Kromaggs don't want to conquer, they want to stop the senseless use of sliding to alter other worlds, and you my friend, altered many worlds."
"It was for the better."
"For your better maybe, but it causes irreparable damage to the universe. Anyway, we did lose you for a while, because your timer was hit by that shockwave, and so we lost your location. But we found you, and sucked you right into our facility. This is one of our stasis worlds. Where we keep our subjects, so that they just end up back where they started, and don't remember a thing."
"Why did I?"
"You are resilient. Your brain wouldn't take the erasure. And we just now realized that the girl doesn't even belong on your world. We messed up, we admit it."
"Give me my timer back, and we'll be fine." Michael said, holding his hand out.
"You'll have to take that up with my supervisors."
"One other thing, get them proper medical care. The brainwashing wore off when I kept mentioning sliding."
"Of course." he tapped a few buttons on his timer and the portal expanded and enveloped the room.
Michael was dropped into a small room with a desk with two chairs. He sat in the chair in front of the desk. A creature walked into the room and sat behind the desk.
"Hello, you requested to speak with a supervisor?" the creature asked.
"Yes, I'd like my timer back." Michael said.
"I'm afraid we can't do that." the creature said.
"You're a Kromagg, right? I've heard about you guys, you hate humans, have breeding camps, leave worlds for dead, right?" Michael asked.
"That is another version of our race. We do not do those things. We are attempting to undo the damage done by our doubles on countless worlds. And to do so, we must take sliding away from everyone." the Kromagg said.
"Do you guys have names, or do I just call you Kromagg?" Michael asked.
"You may call me Tiberius."
"Okay, Tiberius, tell me why should I believe you?"
"Because you are in no position not to. We have not harmed you."
"Why didn't you send us home then?"
"We were unsure if the brainwashing would hold on you three. It obviously did not."
"So, just send us home now. If you take me to my dorm room on my Earth, I will give you the notes, provided you bring Rebecca back to her homeworld. I promised her I'd get her home."
"If we had the coordinates, we'd gladly comply. Unfortunately, neither of us have the coordinates as you lost them."
"Yeah. I did. But don't you have it if you were tracking me?"
"Because, we worked off your timer, when it was erased we lost our files."
"I can find our Earth again. Just give me back the timer and I can go looking for it alone, keep Sam and Rebecca here, safe. I find my Earth and Rebecca's Earth, you send Sam to me, send Rebecca to her's and we call it a day."
"That sounds fair. We will send you on your way. But, your friends go with you."
"Wait, are you giving them to me?"
"Yes, because as we have been watching you, you have gotten into sticky situations that you needed them to get you out of. They are vital to your success."
"And, how do you know that I'll be good on my word?"
"Oh, we have a way to ensure that you don't go running off."
"And what is that?"
"You'll see..."
"That's ominous."
"It is. Now, here's your timer. Your friends are in the next room, we will return you to the world you were on when we took you with your timer set back to how it was when you arrived." Tiberius said handing Michael the timer.
"Thank you." Michael said.
"You are welcome. We are just seeking to better the multiverse."
"Noble cause. I'll be off now."
Michael walked out of the room and into a room where Sam and Rebecca sat on a couch.
"What is this place?" Sam asked.
"No idea, but they're Kromaggs that claim to be nice." Michael replied. "I said that in return for the timer, I'd find out worlds then give the timer up."
"Are you really going to do that?" Rebecca asked.
"Hell no." Michael said. "I'm taking this thing apart and removing their tracker as soon as we land on a world with suitable tools."
Meanwhile, in an enclosed room, Tiberius walks into the room and walks up to Michael's double.
"Activate the Wiper." Tiberius said.
"As you wish, sir." Michael's double said, and pressed a button. They looked at a screen that showed Michael, Sam and Rebecca clutching their heads and passing out on the floor.
"Activate the vortex and send them back. They will have no memory of anything after the last world they visited." Tiberius said. "To ensure that he doesn't go back on his word."
"Brilliant plan, sir. Soon, we'll be able to stop their destruction of the multiverse." he said.
"Indeed." Tiberius said, pressing a button. The screen showed the room glow blue and when the light faded, Michael and Rebecca were gone. "Stop their destruction..."
To Be Continued...