Chapter 29:
The trio exited the portal and landed back in the room they departed from. Michael stood up and checked the door to see if Kromaggs were coming.
"Door's clear. We need to figure out how to stop that invasion." Michael said.
"I have an idea..." Sam said.
"I'm all ears." Rebecca said.
"Hijack one of their manta ships." Sam said.
"But we can't do that! The controls are probably in Kromagg and none of us can read Kromagg!" Michael said.
"We can't, but you can." Sam said.
"No, I can't." Michael said.
"The other you, who worked for them can probably read and speak it." Sam said.
"That's genius, Sam!" Rebecca said.
"I have my moments." Sam said.
"Let's break him out." Michael said.
They walked down the hallway back to his James' cell, Michael put the key card into the force-field, lowering it.
"Ah, so you had a quick change of heart, I see?" James asked.
"We need to hijack a Manta Ship, you can read Kromagg, that's the only reason you're coming along." Michael said.
"Fair enough. I know where they keep one of the prototype models." James said.
The group ran down the hallway and into a hangar bay. James tapped a console on the wall and a darkened corner of the room lit up, revealing a Manta Ship with it's airstair open. They ran into the ship and walked up to the cockpit area.
"How do we fly this thing?" Michael asked.
"Easy, place the timer in that compartment." James said, pointing to a slot on the console.
"Now what?" Michael asked, placing the timer into the slot. The console hummed to life and the lights flickered on.
"Now, you can fly it. But first activate the cloak, it's the third button on the left console." James said.
"Got it!" Sam said, tapping the button.
"Now input the coordinates for your world, and the time coordinates." James said.
"You know about the time machine?" Michael asked.
"I was heading the R&D on it." James replied. "I assume you want to land as close to today as possible."
"Yep." Rebecca said
"Just input the correct coordinates, then I'll boot the ship up." James said.
"Why should we trust you?" Rebecca asked.
"Because, I want to kick Tiberius' ass." James replied.
"Wait, you told me that your knowledge of sliding was taken away!" Michael said.
"Yes, they took away the solution to the equation, I still know how to operate the timer. It's like using a calculator. You can take away my knowledge of math but I can still press the buttons to make numbers show up." James said. "And the console says we're entering the vortex. Brace yourselves."
The ship shook as they entered the vortex and the group fell to the ground. They stood up and looked out the viewscreen, seeing the inside of the vortex fly by.
"Wow." Rebecca said. "Looks more beautiful when we're not tumbling through it."
"Yeah..." Michael said.
The manta ship exited the vortex, and James tapped a button on the console. The ship began to descend out of the sky, and landed in the middle of Golden Gate Park.
"You know, this is a little Star Trek." Michael said as they walked down the airstair.
"What do you mean?" James asked.
"You know, Star Trek IV, stolen Klingon ship. The only thing missing is you saying..." Michael started.
"Everyone remember where we parked!" Sam exclaimed, stepping out of the ship.
"That." Michael laughed.
"Now that we're here, how do you suppose we stop the invasion?" Rebecca asked.
"Can't fight them off, that's for sure." Sam said.
"Whatever you do, you don't have much time." James said. "I overheard them talking saying that they took the coordinates to your home world out of my timer. The invasion is being planned as we speak."
"We know. We saw the results of the invasion. That's why we're stopping it." Michael said.
"Well then. How can we stop it? They have an army!" James said.
"I don't know how. But I made a promise to stop it." Michael said.
"First, we should find this world's Rebecca and warn her." Sam said.
"Good idea. Let's split up, James, you and Rebecca figure out a plan and check for Kromaggs, Sam and I will head to the university and warn Rebecca." Michael said.
"Got it." James said. "Let's move out."
Michael and Sam walked into the college and ran into the residence hall. They walked to Rebecca's dorm and knocked on the door.
"Just a minute!" a voice shouted from behind the door. The door opened, revealing another girl, unfamiliar to the duo.
"Is Rebecca here?" Michael asked.
"No, she's out right now. Can I take a message?" the girl asked.
"No, it's fine. I'll catch up with her later. Thanks anyway." Michael replied.
"Okay, have a good day." the girl said, closing the door.
"That was a bust." Sam said.
"Let's go to my dorm." Michael said. "We can lock up all the sliding tech."
"Like a lock is gonna keep Kromaggs out?" Sam asked.
"It's something to do. Hopefully Rebecca and James are having better luck than we are." Michael replied.
James and Rebecca sat in a cafe, drinking from their respective cups. Rebecca sighed.
"How are we going to stop the invasion?" she asked.
"Honestly, I have no idea. Tiberius' forces are strong, we can't take them on alone." James replied.
"So, where do we start?"
"Well, we could try to use the manta ship to allow this earth to gain a significant jump in technology to take on the Kromaggs. Plus whatever else is in the ship, weapons and such."
"But would the government believe us?"
"Most likely not. We may need to employ other means to figure this out. But I know someone who might just believe our story."
Michael and Sam started putting all the sliding technology in boxes and tossed them into the closet. Suddenly the phone rang.
"Hello?" Michael asked, picking it up.
"Michael, you and Sam have to call the FBI right now." Rebecca said on the other line.
"Why?" Michael asked.
"Tell them about sliding, and the Kromaggs." Rebecca replied. "Trust me."
"Fine..." Michael said.
"Woah!" the man on the other line said. "You're serious? You crossed the bridge?"
"Yeah." Michael said. "You believe me?"
"Why wouldn't I? I was part of the first investigation!" the man said.
"Right, I never caught your name." Michael said.
"I'm Agent Bennish." the man said. "But most people just call me Conrad Bennish Jr."
"Oh! I thought your voice sounded familiar, I met a few of your doubles! And Quinn talks very highly of you."
"You met Quinn? Oh this is great! I'll send a team out to Golden Gate Park immediately." Bennish said.
"Great." Michael said. "I look forward to it."
Michael and Sam walked into Golden Gate Park, and saw Rebecca and James sitting on a bench.
"Well guys, do we ease them into it, or do we open with the giant manta ship?" Sam asked.
"I'll do the talking." Rebecca said. "We've planned this out."
"Good thing Bennish is on our side." Michael said.
"Indeed." James said.
Bennish and a team of uniformed men and women walked up to them and Bennish stepped forward.
"Nice to finally meet in the flesh." Bennish said.
"It's nice to meet you too, I'm Rebecca Collins, not of this Earth." Rebecca said. "However, I am going to unveil the reason we called you here."
"And what would that be?" Bennish asked.
"There is an extradimensional species called, the Kromaggs, which Michael warned you about. We have encountered them, and we saw what they will do to this world if you can't hold them back. So we have for you, one of their ships. Hopefully you can reverse engineer weapons from it in time for the invasion." Rebecca said.
"Where's the ship?" Bennish asked.
"Right here!" Sam said, tapping a button on the timer. The ship decloaked and Bennish and the agents stared at the ship, mouth agape.
"Woah!" Bennish shouted, reverting back to his stoner persona. "This is a real life space ship!"
"Not exactly, it was built on Earth, just not this one." Michael said.
"Whatever it is, we can use it to stop the Kromagg invasion, if it happens like you said it will." Bennish said.
"It's yours." Michael said. "You just can't operate it, since the thing that controls it, is also our mode of transport."
"That's fine. We just need to know how to repel it." Bennish said. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it." Michael said as the group walked away from the park.
"Here goes." Michael said, walking up to the dorm room. The door opened as soon as he put his hand out to knock.
"There you are." Rebecca's double said. "You found your friends?"
"I did. How's the weather?" Michael asked.
"Torrential downpour?" she replied.
"Good. Anyway, I want to say I'm sorry. For everything that I put you through, and will put you through." Michael said.
"Apology accepted in advance." Rebecca's double smiled.
"Anyway, I'm going to disappear for a bit again, but I'll be back reasonably sooner than I was last time."
"I'll make sure your stuff stays locked up." Rebecca's double said.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it." Rebecca's double said. "Goodbye."
"Bye."
The group walked back to Michael's dorm room and walked inside. James sat on the bed and the group sat silently.
"So, what do we do now?" Sam asked.
"Well, to preserve the timeline, you can't be here during the invasion. Since the Kromaggs haven't invaded yet." James said.
"We know that, but where do we go? Keep roaming the multiverse?" Rebecca asked.
"We still have to locate your world. That'll keep us busy until February." Michael said.
"And what about you, James?" Rebecca asked.
"I'm going back to my world. And I'm going to defend it." James said.
"Well, let's get moving on that." Michael said, aiming the timer at the wall. The portal opened and they jumped through.
The group landed in the room that held all the timers. Michael stood up first and grabbed their old timer out of the pile.
"Michael, that's busted, remember?" Sam asked.
"No, the circuit was missing. The one that opens the portal. I thought the Mags stole it. They didn't, I did." Michael said, taking the circuit out of the old timer, and placing it in his timer. He threw the part of the timer that was able to travel in time to the floor and crushed it beneath his foot. "This is 20 minutes before I broke out of the cell."
"So, did we lose all the coordinates?" Sam asked.
"Nope. New casing, same timer. And it even looks the same too, just newer and has less wear and tear." Michael said.
"And I'll be going as well." James said, picking up a timer and inputting coordinates. "See you on the other slide."
"Good luck," Michael said as James pointed his timer at the wall and he jumped through the portal.
"Let's get out of here. To the next world!" Sam said, as their portal opened and they jumped through.
To Be Continued...