POINT OF VIEW: 1ST PERSON from perspective of Jack Kilroy.

1 HOUR PER MINUTE PART 2

"Okay, Mr. Time traveler," said Bjorn, "how do we go about not [REDACTING] up?"

Everyone was amazed at how much more agreeable Bjorn had suddenly become.

"Well, you need to complete the mission that you started when you came here; and just get out," I said. They now had all of the cryo fuel that they needed to make the trip. Navarro had been purged of the parasite, and everybody was still alive. We had managed to not crash the ship into the hangar bay of the Remus part of the station, and also send the entire space station into the planetary rings ahead of schedule.

It was a great day to be a time traveler. After three failed attempts I had managed to save everyone. I just knew someone was going to discover the one thing that could keep the crew of the Corbelan here and interacting with the perfect organism that was specifically designed to eradicate all of humanity.

"Are there any survivors in cryo on the station who need to be rescued?" asked Rain.

"Yeah, we shouldn't leave them here," encouraged Kay.

"I can't fly the ship anywhere for at least a day or so," added Navarro.

"Yeah, besides we have a time traveler with us in case we [REDACT]-up," said Bjorn; who was amazingly heroic all of a sudden. I liked him better when he was dead.

"I have to agree," said Taylor. "If Jack will help us." I just loved how Taylor had just put all of the weight of saving everyone on my shoulders.

That's when the [REDACTED] hit the fan. "I feel that I must make something known," said Andy. "I have accessed the stations records and there are survivors on the Remus part of the station."

"How many," I asked.

"Seventeen; all of them in stasis pods," said Andy. "Edward and Sarah Carradine are among them. Along with Reginald Harrison; Bjorn's father."

This wasn't going to make things less complicated. The problem with being a time traveler is this: You can fix all the things that go wrong; but then the new timeline introduces just as many things that can go just as wrong if not worse.

Andy printed out the list of the survivors.

.

1. Anthony Jeff ~ scientist

2. Anthony Leonard ~ Criminal (Death Row)

3. Baker Rickie ~ Criminal (Death Row)

4. Carradine Edward ~ Rain's father

5. Carradine Sara ~ Rain's mother

6. Daniels Billie ~ Pilot Criminal (Death Row)

7. Daugherty Lucas ~ Friend of the main characters

8. Davenport Mary ~ Friend of the main characters

9. Donovan Warner ~ Security

10. Harrison Reginald ~ Bjorn's father

11. Harrison Amy ~ Frozen solid Bjorn's mother

12. Hodges Kathrine ~ Scientist

13. Mercado Patrica ~ Friend of the main characters

14. Sanford Susie ~ Geneticist

15. Scott Dexter ~ Criminal (Death Row)

16. Scott Ezra ~ Criminal (Death Row)

17. Walker Robert ~ Administrator

/

Time was ticking away. We only had about 20 minutes left of the 1 hour delay.

"How many of those delays can you use?" asked Rain.

"Oh, come on; he's a time traveler. He doesn't have a limit. Right?" suggested Bjorn.

"I; don't have a limit, but you; and everyone and everything else you interact with do," I explained. "Once our time is up; I can only delay time once more before you will all start coming unraveled."

"What do you mean by unraveled?" asked Navarro.

"You begin to be erased from existence; or you go insane, or something else particularly bad. I don't really know because I've never used the time stop more than that. I don't intend to push my luck and find out," I said flatly.

"Okay," said Rain. She was obviously the logical and reasonable one at this point. "We need to figure out what to do next, and when and how to use the last time delay."

"Excellent advice," I agreed.

"When you got here, the station's atmospheric conditions were different. Is that right?" I asked.

"Yeah, it was about -30 degrees and the oxygen content was only about 2%," confirmed Tyler.

"We need to make that happen again. As fast as possible," I stated.

I looked at the hour glass, there was about 19 minutes left on the time delay.

"Why?" asked everybody.

"Do you believe that it was done intentionally by the original crew to slow down or stop the xenomorphs?" asked Andy.

"I do," I confirmed. "The Xeno's are cold blooded. That's one good reason that they are both stronger and faster than we are. They compensate for that with their acid blood. They can metabolize it quickly to jet their body temp to about 115 degrees. However, that takes a lot of oxygen. Which is why the scientists lowered the oxygen; and they can only do it for a few minutes."

"They are very good sprinters, but very bad long distance runners," observed Andy.

Everybody listened intently. It was good to have a captive audience; and for Bjorn to not talk.

"Why the zero gravity?" asked Rain. "Was it just to decrease power consumption?"

"I'm not sure but there was a reason that they did it," I surmised.

"If they do have acid for blood and if that blood oxidizes quickly; then zero g would give it time to go inert before it hits the floor," conjectured Andy.

"I think Andy's right," I agreed.

There was only 12 minutes left.

"Okay here's the plan," I didn't ask for suggestions. "Andy has your directive to 'do what's best for the company' now been erased?" I asked.

"It has," Andy confirmed. Rain and everyone else made note of this.

"Andy, I need you to reset the oxygen levels on the station to as low as you can make them."

"I can do that at one of the terminals in the main science lab, I can also reroute the power to the heat sinks to drop the temperature rapidly," offered Andy. "Turning the gravity off can be done there as well."

"What about those face things?" asked Bjorn.

"Andy and I will go into the main lab," I offered.

"I'm going too, you'll need me," said Rain. I didn't object.

11 minutes left.

"Kay, I need you and Bjorn to get all the 02 canisters you can get out of the storage lab on the opposite side of the air lock," I said. "We're gonna need them to move around in the low oxygen environment; especially if we're gonna rescue anybody."

"Okay, you got it," said Kay. She grabbed Bjorn, "Come on; let's get the cart." They scurried into the cargo area.

I handed Tyler a gun belt. It had twin Smith and Wesson model 27s in them. "I've observed that you know how to use these. I need you to provide cover." Tyler didn't question anything; he simply strapped on the guns and checked them over.

Navarro spoke up, "What's with all the cowboy [REDACT]?" she asked. "Why not a flamethrower or a smart gun?"

I didn't have time to go into great detail so I gave the short version. "I use very special bullets that are specifically designed to kill these aliens; they also work great on just about anything else. But they can only be fired in revolvers. I could explain why; in great detail but we don't have the time," I concluded.

9 minutes left.

"Do we have enough cold weather gear for everybody?" I asked.

"For us yes, but not for you also," said Tyler.

"I can use my body shield," I replied.

"You've got an actual personal force field with environmental controls?" asked Rain. "Jesus, that must have cost a fortune."

"Yeah, about 30 ounces of gold," I replied honestly. That was the sale price. The black market price was in the millions. Thirty ounces of gold was about $70,000 in adjusted dollars.

6 minutes left.

Everybody went over their assignments and goals. With any luck there wouldn't be any face huggers, xenomorphs, rampaging androids, or blubbering idiots to get us killed. Nobody had noticed that I pulled the ignition switch out of the socket in the Corbelan's pilot seat. I didn't want anybody taking off without us.