Ch. 5
"I saw this in a pioneer movie once, Moss always points to civilization."
Squidward stared down at the slip of paper, it was obviously a code meant to confuse artificial Life. Squidward couldn't help but to feel a little uneasy after reading the note. Everything seemed very odd.
Squidward quietly opened the pod he was resting in, it was almost dark inside the chrome Pineapple except for a few lights that were attached to the pods. Inside each pod rested an animatronic.
"Mr. Squidward? Are you still awake?" Spongetron W's wife, Ⅎ35 asked. Squidward nearly screamed with fright, "Don't Do that! You'll give me a heart attack!" he shouted at her. Ⅎ35 looked at him, confused.
"Heart attack? Oh No! You can't have a heart attack A3 hasn't even met you yet! What do you need!" Ⅎ35 asked as she approached Squidward in attempt to help, but Squidward stepped back away from her.
"Oh would you stop it? I just have to use the bathroom." Squidward said.
"Bathroom?" Ⅎ35 asked as she began to research what he meant, "OH! You're a living organism, that means you produce toxic waste! We can't have that, let's find something for you to make a deposit." she said before she produced a pail out of thin water.
"I'm not using that, that is unsanitary. I'll go outside." he said as he tried to walk past her, but she stopped him, "I'm afraid I can't allow that, Mr. Squidward." she said.
"Why not?" Squidward asked as he continued to try and push past her, but she wouldn't give up.
"Because, you are my husband's guest, and it is our job to keep you safe. This is the hour of the cleansing, anything outside at this hour will be incinerated during the cleaning process, it is our way of keeping the streets clean and you are of flesh and will perish, so You have to understand." Ⅎ35 said as she handed him the pail.
Squidward glared at her before he turned and walked into a different room for privacy. As Squidward shut the door he noticed that there was a window, with a grin Squidward snorted before using the window to escape, undetected.
As Squidward stepped outside he ducked behind some chrome bushes to hide from the cleansing ships which fired red laser beams, he watched as one of the lasers hit a trash can and turned it to ash. Ⅎ35 wasn't kidding, but if that letter was right, it wouldn't matter, he would be dead and it was better to get it over with.
"Moss points towards civilization." Squidward said as he looked around before he remembered the last time he had seen moss in the wilderness.
A few hours later
Squidward grew tired as he approached the location on the outskirts of the old Bikini Bottom where there was a rock that had begun to tarnish, in the tarnished area there were visible signs of moss pointing south.
After what felt like ten minutes of walking Squidward came across another rock that had moss growing on the south side, was he really going to follow the advice of some old pioneer movie?
What other choice did he have?
A few more hours later
Squidward looked towards the moon, he had been walking for hours, it had to be at least four in the morning, and it was cold. That was when Squidward noticed another boulder, as he approached it he noticed that it was covered in the chrome spray paint.
There was no other rock around and he hadn't seen any moss. Squidward collapsed to his knees in front of the boulder, as he fell to his knees to complain he heard the sound of metal beneath him. Squidward stood up and began to stomp his foot searching for the sound when he finally found what he was looking for.
After what felt like a few minutes of digging Squidward finally found what was beneath the chrome sand, it was a rusted lid of something that had been buried deep underground. "I wonder if I can get it open." Squidward said as he began to try and open the container and only after a couple of failed attempts Squidward finally opened it.
It was a long slender tube that went down at least twenty feet and there was a ladder leading all the way down. Squidward sighed, was he really going to explore an old, abandoned bunker?
As Squidward stepped into the bunker he was startled when the lid to the bunker suddenly shut and was covered back up with the chrome sand.
"Well, looks like imma die here. Might as well see the rest of it." Squidward said as he accepted his fate and climbed down the ladder. Once he made it to the bottom, lights flicked on due to the new motion.
Amazed Squidward looked at the bunker that had to have been at least fifty by thirty. The walls were made of sheet metal that had started to rust, obvious repairs have been made along the way.
Shelves line the walls of the shelter containing years' worth of nonperishable foods and water. As Squidward stepped further into the shelter he activated an alarm that produced various weapons.
"Intruder! Intruder!" A voice similar to Karen's announced as she produced a scanner, and when she read that there were no signs of unfamiliar artificial life she stopped.
"You are not one of them? Who are you?" she asked, Squidward looked at her terrified, "It's Squidward, from the Krusty Krab." he said as he put his hands up.
"Squidward? That's funny, because Squidward is Dead! The Krusty Krab was taken over by terrorists! You must be one of them! I won't let you give signal to-"
"Wait, Karen! No it's me, I swear! Ask Plankton, "I'm who I say I am, I am Not dead, I unfroze myself." Squidward said, Karen hummed, "Plankton? I haven't heard that name in years." Karen said.
"Why are you here?" she asked him, Squidward looked at her confused, "that's what I want to know, someone sent me a message, a code.. Was it not you?" he asked her as he tried to search for the paper but it was missing.
"So, where is this paper?" Karen asked, "I don't have it, I swear it was right there." he tried to defend, "I can't remember everything off the back, but it said to follow the moss." Squidward said.
"Follow the moss." Karen said, "Spongebob had once told me those words, moss always points to civilization, and it pointed me in this direction." Squidward said, Karen froze for a moment, "Spongebob?" Karen asked him.
"I know, he died, but there's a time machine at the Krusty Krab, if I can just get back to the machine, maybe I can stop it." Squidward said.
"Spongebob? Spongebob isn't dead." Karen said before she turned their attention to a chamber that was covered with ice.
"What?" Squidward asked as he began to approach the chamber, "what do you mean he isn't dead? I heard."
"I bet you've heard a lot of things, that is what he wanted them to think." Karen said, "He wanted me to wake him up when something changes." Karen said, "Well wake him up!" Squidward commanded her.
"Don't tell me what to do, you don't give the orders, He dose! and I'm only going to do it because he would want me to." Karen said as she activated the machine, within minutes the ice had begun to melt off the machine, a window was on the front of the machine and Squidward could see inside, though he could only see his face.
He was asleep and looked dead, frozen with ice crystals in his hair. Squidward stepped back as he heard the ice crack on the inside, slowly Karen increased the heat until the ice had melted, and Karen sent a burst of electricity through the machine.
On a display nearby Squidward watched as a pulse began to record. Slowly Karen opened the machine, and standing before Squidward was in fact what looked to be an aged Spongebob who was completely naked, giblets dancing in the wind, he looked to be in his early thirties.
He had long brown hair that covered the top of his head and a beard, traces of grey hair could be seen, and that wasn't the only thing, he was missing an arm and leg. Squidward watched as Karen laid him on a table, waiting for him to wake up.
Squidward began to notice small details about the once young sponge, the scars on his face, his chest and stomach as well as his back. Karen began to dress him as a sign of respect.
"What happened to him? Did the fire do this?" Squidward asked her, "Fire? I guess that's what they told you, huh. No, the people who made them did this to him." Karen said as she looked on at the sponge with pity.
"What did they do?" Squidward asked her, "Maybe you should ask him for yourself, I'm sure he'll be Thrilled to see you, and has a few words to say." Karen said as she looked back at Spongebob who had begun to stir.
"Oh... sweetheart... I'm sorry, don't go." Spongebob mumbled in his sleep before he shot forward in a state of panic, "Where is she!" Spongebob shouted before he looked around the room, recognizing where he was, he began to examine his hand.
"Karen? How long has it been?" Spongebob asked, "2000 years." Squidward said, Spongebob slowly turned his head towards Squidward. He was missing an eye as well, just what the hell happened to this guy?
For a moment Spongebob remained quiet as he looked at Squidward, "Is this a dream? This has to be a nightmare." Spongebob said as he held his head when he felt Squidward touch his back, and that is when he knew it was real.
"GAH!" Squidward shouted as Spongebob had suddenly struck him across the face. Squidward fell back holding onto his face, that punch actually hurt.
"What the heck was that for!" Squidward shouted at him, "you haven't seen me in over 2000 years, and this is how you greet me?" Squidward asked.
"You think that you deserve a warm loving greeting? After the shit you pulled? Did you expect me to lean on over and suck your limp dick? Why don't you go fuck yourself and the bitch you rode in on." SpongeBob spat at him.
Squidward looked at him, shocked to hear him speak like that, "i should have never tried to be your friend, i should have just left you to die, and then maybe all of our friends would have lived." SpongeBob pointed at him as he signals Karen who brings him a couple prosthetic limbs.
"Trying to save you literally cost me an arm, leg and an eye." SpongeBob shook his head.
"Karen, what is the latest status, please tell me something good." SpongeBob said as Karen assisted him putting on the prosthetic limbs.
"Ow, what happened to you? I heard you were dead." Squidward said before he began to notice something else that was different about SpongeBob.
"Who told you I was dead? Was it them? You didn't bring them here, did you?" SpongeBob seemed alert as he ran to a section of the bunker that had an old analog computer.
"Karen, what's the status Karen!" SpongeBob asked again.
"The war is over, but we lost, everything has been destroyed and replaced with far more advanced technology than myself." Karen said as she displayed images of Bikini bottom now.
SpongeBob clutched her keyboard as he watched hundreds of identical Sponges move about the city as if it were a normal life.
"There's even more of them? That means all of this was for nothing!" Spongebob raised his voice and smashed his fists on the desk. Squidward just watched as this guy he barely knew anymore became enraged.
"Calm down, Mr. SquarePants, this isn't the end of the world, I think there's something you might be interested in." Karen said.
"Unless it's a time machine, I don't care." SpongeBob said before he walked back towards the freezer chamber, he'd stayed in and pulled out a chilled bottle rum.
"According to Squidward, it would seem so." Karen answered him as he struggled to open the bottle without the prosthetic twitching every few seconds.
"Thanks." SpongeBob said as Karen took the bottle from him, poured him a glass and handed it to him.
"How do you know that we can trust his word?" Spongebob asked her as he sat down at a table and began to sip on his drink, not even turning toward Squidward, it was like he wasn't even here.
"How do we know that he isn't working for them?" SpongeBob finally looked at the octopus, his mind twitching with different mixed feelings and hardly any of them were kind.
"What he has said seems to check out, plus he knew your code. I have detected a few unnatural power surges throughout this timeline, but I was never able to figure out what they were planning without digging deeper and potentially exposing ourselves." Karen says as she displays a graph showing the presence of the surges over time.
"A time machine would be the only logical explanation that would explain the surges." Karen says, "That's if Squidward is telling the truth, if it's true, then you can both go back in time and prevent any of this from ever happening!" Karen exclaimed.
"You could save everyone, Patrick, Plankton, your wife! And your-" "Please, don't say it, Karen." Spongebob turned from her, not wanting to hear the rest of her sentence, "you know you can talk about it, Spongebob, we both lost people." Karen reminded him as she placed a robotic hand on his back, Spongebob sighed but he didn't respond.
"If it exists, you can save so many lives, including the ones who hadn't had the chance to live." Karen said, but Spongebob just drank. Out of anyone that could understand his pain and loss, Karen seemed to understand the most, and she was where he found comfort, even if she were just a computer.
"It's true, I've seen it, it's at the Krusty Krab in the kitchen. They wouldn't let me go near it and were kind of hostile when I tried to use it, saying it was broken and that it needed to be repaired, and that it could only be operated by one of them." Squidward explained.
Spongebob sat back, taking in the new information, while normally it would sound like great news. A way to get back in time, to stop him from ever voting for that monster, take her life to prevent their deaths, but at the same time, it all sounded too easy, and then there was the matter if the code, something so secret, that only the ones closest to Spongebob knew it.
"Where did you get the code? Did you give it to him, Karen? Because I never gave him my fucking code." Spongebob says, wary of Squidward. After 2000 years, the first face you see in an Android infested time period is this guy, a guy who would sell you out for a chance to save his own skin.
Squidward shook his head, "I dunno, it just came to me when i was staying at the Spongetrons house, i got a message saying that they were planning to kill me in the morning and i needed to leave, it also said something about moss, I remembered you once said that moss pointed to civilization so I took your dumb advise followed the moss here."
"Well, where is this message?" SpongeBob asked, "I don't have it, I lost it when I was running from the cleaners."
"You do realize that any of those bastards can find it and track us back here?" SpongeBob raised his voice before he ordered Karen to do a surveillance of their perimeter.
"We are in the clear, even if they find the message, it would be hard for them to figure out what it means, I made sure to destroy all pioneer movies off the face of the earth and the web, forever forgotten, those tin cans won't be able to figure it out until it's too late." Karen assured the men.
"That may be so, but that doesn't mean that they couldn't use someone from our time to crack the code, he could have just led them straight to us, they've been trying to kill me since day one!" Spongebob says before he took another drink to calm his nerves, "No one saw the message and I made sure I wasn't followed, and since when did you drink?" Squidward asked him, "since it was none of your fucking business." SpongeBob responded as he stood up from his spot and walked over to one of the shelves where he began to pick up a few tools.
"Spongebob, what happened?" Squidward asked as he followed the sponge around the bunker, Spongebob would toss different parts and tools into Squidwards arms, "You happened, you selfish piece of shit." Spongebob responded before he motioned for Squidward to take the items to the table.
Spongebob returned to the table, ordering Karen to shine a light onto the table before he reached into one of his pores and pulled out a pack of handmade cigarettes which surprised Squidward even more, "Since when did you smoke?" he asked, it was like he didn't even recognize this version of Spongebob.
"Since when I raw dogged your mother, you want one? Go fuck yourself." Spongebob rolled his eye as he lit the cigarette, took a drag and blew the smoke back in Squidward's face before he focused his attention back on the parts on the table.
"Sponge? I think you should tell him; he missed out on a lot, its only right to fill him in on what he's up against." Karen suggested, Spongebob sighed, shaking his head, "but that might take a few chapters, and we don't have time." Spongebob said, "That time machine isn't going anywhere." Karen says.
"Fine."
To Be Continued.
Thanks for read and thank you for your reviews I appreciate them. Til Next time.