Okay, now they really are back. Mateo and Danica were finally sent to the
right version of the Constant in the right reality, though not at the right
time. They’re 70,000 years late, for no apparent reason. A lot changed in
that time, but not that much if you only look at the full duration, and
don’t include time in stasis. The daughter of a different verion of
Tamerlane Pryce, Abigail is here, having appeared in the time machine when
they were expecting Mateo and Danica instead. Possession of the Omega
Gyroscope automatically passed down to Bhulan, which probably doesn’t really
affect Mateo, because he doesn’t know where it is, or how to use it, and
everyone else seems to agree that he can’t be trusted anyway. No one on the
dream team knows what they’re going to do about all this, so the four of
them move off to have a private meeting. Meanwhile, Mateo is left with
Cheyenne and Abigail.
“So...” he begins awkwardly. “How have you been?”
“Her, or me?” Cheyenne questions.
“Both.”
“We’ve never met,” she replies.
“Neither have we,” Abigail says for herself.
“Well...best not to say anything, I guess. We’ll just sit here quietly.”
“Sit where?” Cheyenne asks.
“Right here. I don’t think the bigwigs want us to wander off alone.”
“No,” Cheyenne laughs. “I mean, where are we? What is this place? Who are
you? How do I get home?”
“We’re in the Constant, on a pre-Earth planet called Theia. This facility
was built to one day provide respite to time travelers. It was created so
far back in the past, because that would make it harder for someone to
prevent it from ever existing. I’m Mateo Matic. That is Abigail Siskin.
Those people are my cousin, Danica Matic, her father, Asier Mendoza, Bhulan
Cargill, and her father, Tamerlane Pryce.”
“He’s not my father,” Abigail contends.
“Right, he’s the father of someone who looks exactly like her, and Danica
isn’t really my cousin, but she looks exactly like her too. How you get home
is hopefully something they’re all discussing.”
“I understand Time Travel 101,” Cheyenne insists. You don’t have to baby
me.”
“You misunderstand,” Mateo begins. “My explanation is not meant to
condescend to you. It’s because I did not spend much time in your world, and
I am not familiar with what you and your people know, and do not know.”
“I see.”
They return to the uncomfortable silence, Mateo musing at how comically
common it is for random people to just show up. Yeah, they’re time
travelers, but this is so ridiculous. Cheyenne’s origins were always
mysterious, so it’s not totally surprising that she has something to do with
this. Abigail is way out of left field, though. Or maybe not, since her
father is here. Well, he’s her once-father, so still. Who else is coming?
While Mateo is listing the most likelies in his head, the braintrust returns
to announce that Danica was reminded of how things were when Bhulan and
Tamerlane first showed up, and how she had to treat them like normal guests.
“You can all stay.”
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