Way back in 2021, an alien entity with time powers named Effigy trapped
early Durus refugee, Escher Bradley in something called the Time Crevice.
Time moves slower inside than it does on the outside, so while Escher only
experienced a little over eighteen hours, by the time he got out, a hundred
and eighty years had passed for everyone else. As far as anyone could tell,
this was a random and natural temporal phenomenon, rather than a deliberate
creation of someone’s. No one knew Escher had been there the entire time,
because Effigy had the ability to change her form to mimic others, so they
all thought he had returned to Earth through Hogarth Pudeyonavic’s machine.
They didn’t even know the crevice existed, because Escher and his friends,
Rothko and Savitri agreed that it was best to keep it a secret, or people
would use it against each other. He had just used up all his energy trying
to get out of there, knowing that as each second passed, he was missing one
day of his life. When he finally managed to make his way to an outpost
called Hildera, he was relieved to find that people were willing and able to
help him. A lot had changed while he was gone, and though he had never
learned anything about the terrible phallocratic republic, or the monster
war before it, he was worried no one would help. A part of him kind of
figured that Springfield would either destroy itself and die out, or find
their own way back to Earth. He was surprised to find that Durus was now a
thriving civilization, with advanced technologies, and yes, even a potential
way home. Of course, he probably didn’t want or need to return to Earth.
Even if he managed to go back in time, his family literally forgot he
existed after he first disappeared. There was just nothing left for him
there.
Someone else may have wanted him on Earth, however. After spending a few
days resting, recovering, and getting to know the new world, Escher let his
escorts lead him to the Nexus replica building, just to see it. As if his
mere presence were the key, the machine suddenly booted up on its own, and
waited for someone to input a set of coordinates. The scientists didn’t know
exactly why it activated itself for him. It had been sitting there at least
since its discovery in 2195. It could have been a coincidence, but probably
not, since not one day had gone by that no one stepped foot in that
building, if only to make sure it was still off. Still, Escher didn’t want
to leave, and no one else did either. This was everyone’s home now. Anyone
who had wished to be let on The Elizabeth Warren was either dead, or had
since changed their minds. So, what was this Nexus replica good for?
Exploration was the best answer, but there was a bit of a problem with that.
The calculations were proving to be tricky, as Durus was still hurtling
through interstellar space at incredibly high speeds. For anyone without
intimate knowledge of how these machines worked, they appeared to work
better from one star system that sat at a predictable location to another.
Besides, they were coming up on their destination, and it was best if the
experts focused on making sure that went smoothly, rather than taking on a
new project right now. The exploration missions would have to wait, for the
right time, and for the people to decide how that was going to go. For now,
Escher needed a new life, and to find his place in the new world. He was a
child when he was unwillingly dispatched to this rogue planet, and had never
received a real education, even though he was forty years old. It was time
to change that.
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