Fluorescent tubing buzzed in an aggressive manner as the harsh blue-ish white light slowly flickered on. The newly illuminated room was not very large, around two dozen feet long and eight feet wide. The room was further cramped by a series of eight lockers along one of the walls, standing without any gaps between the edges and the doors at either end. Entering the locker room; Blinx, Skye, and Skitch. Carrying their sweepers on their backs, each would find their own locker, Skitch being closer to the door opposite the one they walked through. Blinx would leave a locker's gap and open one of the middle lockers instead; and Skye, without any visible amount of choosing, simply opened the locker closest to the door the three entered.
Skitch pulled various items out of his pockets to put into the locker. With all, but one of his miscellaneous items in his locker, he reached into his right trouser pocket and pulled out a small metal tin. Skitch bit the fingertips of his left glove, and tugged out his hand. his hand was coloured like his head and body, dark tan on the back with a white palm. He opened the tin to reveal a white cream, and using his index and middle fingers, he dipped into the cream and pulled a dollop out, casually smearing it on the scars on the left of his face. He deftly used the other hand to close the tin again, putting it on the shelf where his small collection of items were also being stored. The cream quickly rubbed in, allowing Skitch to start putting his glove back on. With his mouth free, he simply said in an anxious tone, 'This does not feel right'. He closed his locker and shuffled his hand in his glove.
Blinx huffed in a mild annoyance, replying 'Well, for now at least, we have to keep going. If anyone else figures out what we're planning, it's the factory floors we'll be stuck sweeping'. Blinx delicately reached into his pocket, taking out a small bell on a ribbon collar.
Skitch adjusted his clothing, pulling his jumper down and straightening his trousers. With his eyes focused on himself, Skitch continued to voice his concern, 'But don't you think we're going back in a little too quick?' Skitch lifted his head back up to look at Blinx, who was jostling the bell over his jumper's large collar. Skitch abandoned his question. 'You found it, then.', He said with a smirk. Blinx met Skitch's dig with a smile.
'Yeah, left it in an old set of gloves I threw out, lucky save, hmm?' Blinx readjusted his collar back into his normal shape, with the bell sitting snuggly and neatly in the centre, just below the bottom of his collar. Blinx shut his locker door, too. Leaving him and Skitch in a gaze toward Skye.
Skye's locker was already closed, with her staring at a locket wrapped around her neck instead. Her brows were raised at the middle, her posture was slumped. The aura of warmth around her had gone cold. Blinx called over and asked Skye if she was okay. She took in a deep breath, and exhaled sharply. She nodded, before tilting her head back and plunging the locket down inside her jumper. Leaving both it, and the gold chain fixed to it unnoticeable.
The three sweepers exited out the door opposite to their entrance, taking them through to the gate room. The room sat eerily silent. the central staircase stood erect at a great height. The portal gate, however, was not lit yet. Blinx led his team along the promenade and up the stairs, before stopping and calling out, 'We're ready!'. His voice echoed in the room for a small while before an operator responded over a tannoy radio, confirming Blinx's call out, and announcing the opening of the portal gate. The gate's light shined, and it's normal warbles of noise began to fill the background. Blinx looked either side of him and calmly said to his team mates, 'Normal sweep, yeah?'. Skitch nodded in response. Skye took another deep breath, this time with her eyes shut. She opened them again and gave a weak smile. Blinx nodded at her, before sprinting at full pace toward the ledge, jumping and splaying his limbs out as he fell into the gate. Skitch psyched himself up before doing the same. Skye slowly walked to the ledge. She gazed over the edge for a second before lifting her head back up, pulling both of her arms over her head, meeting her hands in the middle. She bent her knees, and dived straight down into the portal gate.
The portal gate in the world the three were traveling to opened with a bright, vertical flood of light, the gate itself materialised inside, and expanded out to a roughly twelve foot diameter. Soon after reaching its full size, Blinx leapt through, jumping an impressive height before landing gracefully on the hard floor. As he landed, Skitch would come out of the gate in the same way; and after Skitch, Skye would follow behind the both of them. Skye's dive through the portal sent her further in the air than the other two, yet her landing wasn't any harsher. With Skitch and Skye both through the gate safely, Blinx could focus on his surroundings.
The gate had taken the three sweepers to a city reminiscent of being European, with the architecture being from the early industrial era. The buildings were straight edged, but still had an apparent curved flow that made the cobbled streets feel as if they were carved into the buildings. Blinx and his team stood in one of the wider streets, near the top of the hillside. Along the street they were standing in, the odd motor vehicle could be seen parked on the side of the cobbled road. Their design being closer to horseless carriages than a modern day automobile. Skitch took note of the street lamps, humming and shining a dim yellow light which allowed the sweepers to see, at least within the immediate area of the lamps. The streets with street lamps were easily accessible, however the small, unlit side roads were closed off by metal fencing. Skitch had the urge to look into the night sky, and opun doing so, he quickly told Blinx and Skye to have a look themselves.
The night sky appeared to have a large moon, with a large chunk taken out of it, making it look closer to a crescent moon. In the smaller arc of the crescent, the innermost point glowed a vibrant, angry reddish-orange. Following along the crescent, both white and red coloured rocks made a trail along the moon's path. In the far distance behind the moon, an accretion disc, coloured orange and yellow, spun at a high speed. The planet was in a stable orbit around a black hole. Blinx's face changed from curious to fearful, pupils dilating into narrow slits. He quickly pulled out his wrist communicator and spoke to the operator. 'Check the world's stability. Please.' Blinx said in a hurried manner.
'Stability is within acceptable range.' The operator responded, in a fairly swift amount of time. Blinx hummed to himself anxiously.
'Okay, we do this fast and get out of here. I don't trust that thing up there.' Blinx asserted, pointing his finger up at the orange and yellow disc. Skitch locked eyes with Blinx and nodded. Blinx looked in both directions of the street and found one side was blocked by a large gate in the distance, whilst the other led to a sharp left turn down into the city. He motioned to his team to follow, and the set on their way.
At the left turn, the sweepers found the long, narrowing street had lead them to a town square. Skitch pre-emptively drew his sweeper. As the three closed the distance to the square, Blinx began to notice three mechanical components, all distorted in their make-up. Blinx drew his own sweeper and whispered out 'It's a golem, I'll take the far side. Skye, take the right.' Skye nodded, finally drawing her sweeper. Blinx stopped, pulled in a deep breath, and sprinted across the middle of the three components, Skye flanked the right side, and Skitch flanked the left. All three reached their pieces and activated their sweepers, Blinx pulled his piece in without issue; Skitch struggled as his piece kept pulling hard on him, eventually giving way and being taken into his sweeper. Skye faced away from where the piece was moving, letting its own momentum add to the suction of her own sweeper, sending it straight into the nozzle. The epicentre that the three pieces tried moving towards fizzed a dull white light, and poured out four crystals, two were green rhomboids, one a yellow star, and the last a purple structure resembling a three dimensional addition symbol. The four crystals hit the floor in quiet echoes, bouncing before coming to rest. Finally, with the threat taken care of, the three sweepers could have a proper look at their surroundings.
The roofs of the buildings around them all continued to stay at the same distance as the streets, leading to a clear direction up or down. The team entered the square on the far corner of the upside side of the square, which, with exception to a locked gate along the other side of the wall, was the only way to the square. Whilst the floor of the square the team stood on was flat and level, the roofing continued to slope around them. The downhill side of the square had a small set of stairs on both corners leading down to a small patch of grass. Dotted along the corners of the square layed a selection of time crystals. Skitch eyed the menagerie, before calling out: 'dibs'. Skitch quickly used his sweeper to pick up the two green crystals from the golem, as well as finding a third amongst the others strewn on the floor. Skitch's sweeper played a jingle as he scored himself a Record power. He grinned before turning to a set of stairs down to the grass, meanwhile Blinx and Skye headed towards the other set.
Both stairs led down to the grassy and dimly lit area, the grassy patch had an open gate at the far side. Blinx and Skye walked through the gate and back into the alleyways. Skitch followed behind, before getting distracted by a slight shimmer of light. His gaze met a bomb, one the Time Factory would resell to sweepers. Skitch didn't flinch, and immediately swept the bomb up, too. passing through the gate, Skitch saw an immediate fork in the paths. One being a lower, wider path, already being traversed by Blinx. And the other being a narrower, higher path with Skye a little further down the path. Skitch decided on the lower, wider path, jogging at a brisk pace to catch up with Blinx.
The wider alley was flushed with a bright white light, emanating from the direction Blinx and Skitch were walking towards. The two walked side by side in near perfect silence. Noticing a large and intricate gate in the distance, spanning the width of the whole alley, Blinx began to look along the walls for a switch or lever. He couldn't see any that he could reach. Soon enough, the two reached the gate. Skitch gently shook it, to see if the gate could jostle open. The gate remained steadfast. The pair looked at each other in a mild annoyance.
Without warning, the gate made a loud clunking noise. It started to move. Opening a gap growing from the left side all the way across to the right. Blinx and Skitch turned to the right side wall of the gate to see Skye on an exposed piece of her path, about eight feet above them. The two sweepers on the lower path smiled and nodded at her. She bowed her head for a second before casting her eyes to a small gate blocking her path. Skitch rotated his head, keeping his eyes on Skye, scrunching his eyebrows together in a confused look. Blinx stared vacantly for a second before snapping into action, he looked just beyond the gate's rails and found a wall mounted lever, just out of arm's reach. He briskly walked to the lever and pulled it down, in one continuous motion. Skye's gate opened rather unceremoniously. She proceeded to walk through, the exposed part of her path continuing through alongside Blinx and Skitch's path, just being a little too high for them to reach. Skitch walked past Blinx, just close enough to pull his attention off of Skye, and to where Skitch was heading to.
The trio had once again found themselves in another square of some sorts. Skye's route followed around the outside, snaking round to the back of the square. Blinx and Skitch, being on the floor, had to walk through the middle. The floor transitioned from cobbles to paving slabs, the whole square was around a hundred foot long by thrity feet wide. About forty feet ahead of Blinx and Skitch stood an ornate bridge of a small stream, bisecting the square. Blinx and Skitch proceeded onto the bridge. Blinx looked down at the stream to see the water had been displaced, with time crystals in its place. The amount of time crystals proved to worry Blinx, who looked to his side to try and corroborate with Skitch. But he noticed Skitch being still. Motionless.
Skitch found that whilst Skye was on one side of the square, tucked up on a ledge they couldn't reach, the ledge actually looped the whole way round the square. And that sitting upon the opposite ledge was a Dust Herder.
The Dust Herder conjured up a piece of junk to throw at Skye from its staff. Motioning it behind its head, the Herder charged an attack, which it unleashed in the form of a warped wooden bench. Skitch called out to Skye, begging her to drop on her stomach. Her ear twitched, hearing Skitch's command. She turned to see behind her, staring right at the bench hurtling towards her. She froze in fear. The bench clipped a small piece of brick jutting out from the wall Skye walked alongside. This caused the bench to tumble in front of her, the collisions from the wall and the ledge caused the wood to splinter, fray, and ultimately shatter, engulfing Skye in pieces of bench that thankfully were too small to harm her with. Skitch looked behind him, directly at Blinx, to see him just watching, waiting to see Skye move. Skitch focused his gaze back to Skye, she didn't show any sign of moving. Skitch's focus skirted across to the Herder once again, and he saw the herder's staff slowly start to glow, signaling the beginnings of another piece of junk being materialised. Skye's whole body flashed red, which immediately snapped Skitch into action.
Skitch turned around, pushing Blinx off of the bridge. Skitch pulled his sweeper off of his back, pointed it to the floor, and fired it. The blue, circular sweeper spat out the very bomb Skitch sweeped not too long ago. This spitting out caused the bomb to begin its countdown. As soon as Skitch landed the bomb on the bridge, he activated a time control. Creating a second, pure green Skitch, a copy that he affectionately referred to on the off-occasion as Rec.Skitch.
Rec.Skitch, immediately after its summoning, stood on top of the bomb, taking a second to properly balance. He shifted his weight forward, and aimed himself for the wall a few feet away from Skye. The Dust Herder pulled its staff behind its head once more, and simultaneous with the bomb's explosion, the Dust Herder flung its staff forward, conjuring a metal oil drum and flinging it towards Skye. The bomb exploded with enough force to propel Rec.Skitch the distance across the square, and crash right into the wall in front of Skye. Unhurt, and determined, Rec.Skitch twisted his body around to face the Herder, and the drum hurtling toward Skye. The drum smashed into Rec.Skitch, sheering itself open, and tumbling down from the ledge to the paved floor below. Rec.Skitch turned about to check on Skye. Skye still stood steadfast, frozen into place. Rec.Skitch smiled, before becoming distorted, his figure looking like it was stood in an image caught on a VHS tape, slowly losing its tracking; the distortion grew worse until Rec.Skitch dissipated completely.
When he activated the Record time control, the normal Skitch jumped off of the bridge. Onto the same side Blinx was on, the side furthest from the herder. Skitch then proceeded to run a safe distance from the bridge, aim his sweeper at the Herder, and, just as the bomb on the bridge exploded, fired his sweeper once again. The piece of debris from the golem expelled itself from the sweeper at a great speed, hurtling across the gap in a matter of seconds. The projectile crashed into the Herder, knocking it clean off of its balance ball, and eliminating it outright. Four crystals bounced from the herder's body. Three blue crescents, and a single orange tetrahedron.
'Hey! Brain-fog!' Skitch yelled to Skye, making her head jolt to look at him, 'You can come down now!' His yelling lacked both anger or jest. His emotion remained silent. Blinx looked over into the stream again, down at the flowing time crystals. His worry beginning to grow. Skye continued around the ledge, carefully dropping down on Blinx's side of the stream.
'Operator, open the portal, changing circumstances have made this world too dangerous for standard sweepers to navigate.' Blinx barked into his wrist communicator. The operator responded with an agreement, opening a portal near the far wall of the square. 'Come on, you two, let's go before we have a bigger mess to deal with.' Blinx followed his order with a full paced sprint to the portal. Skitch and Skye followed behind, walking instead of running.
Back inside the gate room, Blinx lept from the portal into the air, landing gracefully on the floor. He paused for a second or two waiting for Skitch and Skye behind him. Sure enough, the two leapt through as well. Blinx sighed in relief before turning to Skye.
'Skye...' Blinx softly spoke.
'I know! I'm sorry! I don't know what happened, I just... just...' Skye's composure was breaking, tears slowly built in her eyes. She quickly turned away, desperate to hold everything together.
'Skye, look.' Blinx calmly said, trying to get her attention 'It's hard right now, I know it's hard, but all I want is for you to look after yourself. I don't want us to be two sweepers down. Especially when we're going to find one of them soon. Just hang in there, it's going to work out.' Skye sniffled before turning back to look at Blinx. She shyly nodded with a meek smile. Blinx motioned for her to go with him and Skitch out of the gate room.
As the three walked along the floor, towards the promenade, two operators briskly walked over to them, both operators had serious looks on their faces. Finally, the sweepers and the operators met, barely twenty paces from the promenade. 'What's happened in there, Blinx?' One operator asked in a sharp voice.
'Well, aside from putting us on a world orbiting a black hole, one of the open areas in the town has a literal river of time crystals.' Blinx replied in an overtly serious voice.
'We knew about the black hole, believe us, you were in a heliosynchronous orbit, you were safe.' Hearing the operator respond with this made Blinx roll his eyes. 'But the river of time crystals is definitely something alarming. We never picked that up. If anything, time energy seemed a bit low for this world.' The first operator turned to the second and motioned his head away from the group. The second operator gave a wide eyed stare and sprinted out of the gate room. Blinx asked the first operator where the second was going, the operator responded by saying: 'this world is having its time suspended for the time being, until we have the manpower to tackle a river of time crystals, we cannot allow any further entry. We will keep you updated.'
Blinx huffed, looking to the ground. 'If you reckon that's the best idea.' He replied. The operator closed his eyes, gently nodded, turned and walked away, towards the large entrance between the main corridor and the gate. Blinx and his team climbed the stairs and walked into the locker room. Discontent, but ultimately, still alive.