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| Generated by Google Gemini Advanced text-to-image AI software, powered by Imagen 2, and by Pixlr AI image editor |
Mateo and Angela suddenly appeared in the Third Rail version of Russia on
August 16, 2398, standing next to a younger version of Mateo. He wouldn’t
recognize his future self, even if he managed to look behind him in time.
They were both in full IMS, their faces obscured by their helmet visors. He
had just activated a big teleportation machine, hoping to transport him and
a piece of timonite to Lebanon, Kansas without having to actually look for
the mineral first. He needed this to save their friend, Trina McIver from
being lost in time. The plan didn’t really work, though they did end up
finding her anyway. The machine reached critical mass a second later, and
took them away, along with two Russian soldiers who were trying to stop
Past!Mateo. But they didn’t end up in Lebanon, and this fact was apparent
immediately upon their arrival. The ground around them was gray, the sky was
black, and the air didn’t exist. They were on a moon, or an asteroid, or
something. A pinch of atmosphere managed to come with them to this place,
but it did not last. The three men not wearing any special suits quickly
begin to die. Future!Mateo couldn’t save them all, but he could save one.
Spacesuits in the past were traditionally slow and difficult to assemble.
For many years, it was actually impossible for a wearer to accomplish the
feat on their own. For emergencies, it was vital for an Integrated
Multipurpose Suit to be designed to be put on quickly, without any snags,
and without any help. For the most part, when the armor module was needed,
the two inner modules were also needed. But it was technically possible for
the armor module to function on its own when there was no other option. It
was also the easiest to remove, and the fastest. Future!Mateo swiftly
disconnected it, and opened it like a lid. He stepped out, and pushed his
past self into it, letting it close up automatically. He then gave him the
helmet for a complete seal. Past!Mateo could still be dying, though, because
he had been exposed to the vacuum of outer space for too long, so
Future!Mateo tapped on the arm interface to release a cocktail of exposure
treatment drugs. This solved one problem, but created another, because of
course, Future!Mateo was now the one at risk of dying. He could survive out
here for a little bit, but not indefinitely. They needed to find shelter.
As Future!Mateo was looking around for somewhere to survive, Past!Mateo and
Angela appeared to be talking to one other via radio. He had no idea what
they were saying, though, so he just kept searching the horizon. Angela
started to tap on her own arm interface. She pointed in one direction.
Past!Mateo nodded. The both of them walked over to Future!Mateo, and took
him by the arms. They teleported away, into a pressurized environment.
Future!Mateo blinked, trying to recover. He would eventually, but he
wouldn’t say no to his own shot of the treatment drugs. Angela knew this, so
she removed her gauntlet, and placed it on his hand to administer the dermal
flash. His health began to return to him, and he was able to speak. But
before he could, Past!Mateo had something to say. “Did you think that you
could survive better out there than I could?” he asked accusatorily.
“Indeed,” Future!Mateo responded. “My body has been upgraded again.”
Past!Mateo looked over at Angela, who nodded back, confirming that to be the
truth. “Well...thank you, then. I appreciate your support. Now...report.”
Future!Mateo took a deep breath. “You need to return my suit, so I can go
back out there, and hunt for the timonite in all that rubble.”
“No, I can look for it,” Past!Mateo insisted. “It’s
my mission.”
“It’s mine too,” Future!Mateo explained.
“So we fail in the first timeline?” Past!Mateo guessed.
“Well, no. I’m closing my loop. I always wondered how we succeeded, though.
Your memory will be erased before you go back with it.”
“You must not have had all of your memories erased, because you’re
wearing these suits,” Past!Mateo reasoned. “You knew that we would end up
here.”
“No, we just kind of wear them all the time now.”
“We would have brought an extra one if we had known that you would need it
as well,” Angela clarified. “Buddy breathing doesn’t work in space.” She
turned to Future!Mateo. “I’ll go look for the timonite. You stay here with
your self to find out what this place is, where we are, and how to get back
home.”
“Homes,” Past!Mateo corrected. “You two and I aren’t going to the
same place.”
“No, we’re not.” Angela dropped her visor, and disappeared.
“Where are the others?” Past!Mateo questioned his future self.
“They’re fine. They have their own concerns to worry about. There’s no need
to give you any details, but we move past this story arc, and into new ones.
The parallel realities are just the beginning of our troubles. The way I see
it, your life has barely started.”
“I see.” Past!Mateo examined the architecture of this airlock, as if he were
knowledgeable enough to glean any information from it. He started walking
towards the interior hatch, which was fully open. Lights turned on in
reaction to his presence, though there appeared to be no people here. This
facility, whatever it was, may have been abandoned. Or they were just out to
lunch. He stopped while he was still on the threshold. “Have you noticed,
the doorways are pretty high, as are the ceilings? This was made for tall
people.”
“Or they just like extra space,” Future!Mateo countered.
“I dunno. This doesn’t feel quite human to me.”
“No, you’re right about that.”
“Yes, you are,” came another voice. A being was walking down the corridor,
and she was definitely not human. She was a Maramon. She wasn’t, however,
alone. Four human women were walking with her. “Aclima, Balbira, tie them
up.”
“Oh, no thank you,” Future!Mateo said, like she was just offering him a
second glass of water at a restaurant.
The Maramon looked like she was smirking, but it was hard to tell with her
anatomy. “Kalmana,” she said simply.
One of the humans quickdrew a gun, and stunned them in the face. The suits
could dissipate—and even channel—most energy blasts, but they couldn’t
protect exposed areas. Still, they resisted the surge, and tried to stay
awake. She had to fire once more. The lights went out.
The two Mateos woke up in a cell at around the same time. One of the women
was sitting guard on the other side of the bars. She seemed nice, but
honestly, so did the others. Hopefully they weren’t slaves to the Maramon.
Mateo didn’t know enough about their culture to have any clue why they might
be working together. “Hi. I’m Lusia.” She wasn’t bubbly, but professionally
courteous.
“Hi, Lusia. This is Mateo. I’m Mateo.”
“I know.”
“Can I ask, why are you working with them?” Past!Mateo questioned.
“She is of my people,” she answered plainly.
“Is she? Do they treat you well?”
Lusia smiled. “We are hybrids. Half-human, half-Mar, but loyal to the
latter.”
“To what end?” Future!Mateo asked. He had encountered her kind before, on a
few occasions. He had gotten the feeling that those others were the only
ones, so this was a new development.
“Our purpose has not yet been revealed to us. We are still training. Mother
will explain all when we are ready to hear it. Until then, I’m here to watch
you.”
“She’s not your mother, she’s just your creator,” Past!Mateo tried to argue.
“What’s the difference?”
“Lusia!” the Maramon’s voice shouted from another room. “Do not speak to
them! Remain silent and steadfast!”
“Oh, no thank you!” Lusia yelled back. Now she was really smiling.
“Lusia!” the Maramon complained, holding the final vowel for several
seconds.
“The young do not always do what they are told,” Lusia said to the Mateos.
“She really is our mother, and not actually our creator. That was someone
else. She’s the one who raised us, and cares for us. We do not call the man
who engineered us our father. I just want to show you that I can defy
her orders, and not be abused, or anything. I can’t imagine what horrors you
imagine we experience in this world. But we’re doing okay.”
Future!Mateo stood up from his bunk, and approached the bars. He leaned back
a few centimeters when he noticed her trying to hide her mild fear of him.
“I do not have a problem with the Maramon. It seems only that they have a
problem with us.”
Lusia widened her eyes to process the information. Then she shut them and
nodded slightly.
“So we are in Ansutah,” Past!Mateo assumed.
“No,” Lusia replied, shaking her head. “This is Fort Underhill. June 7,
2459.”
“Really?” Future!Mateo asked, very surprised. “How did we wind up here?”
“No idea,” Lusia said. “Ukodenva ‘Underkeeper’ Unedisalk came here
accidentally as well, with the rest of her cadet squad. Our genetic engineer
was the son of the man who made the other hybrids. Yes, I noticed your sense
of familiarity when I said that. I guess he wanted to follow in daddy’s
footsteps.”
“Is Hogarth aware that you are here?”
“She found herself the unwilling commanding officer of the cadets, due to
some odd laws that they were clinging onto from the Crossover,” Lusia began
to explain. “Things reportedly went well for a time, but they fell apart
eventually, and became hostile. A truce was later formed, which basically
lets us do whatever we want, as long as we do not leave this moon. Hogarth
could not stop us from being created.”
“Are there more than the four of you? Does he intend to make more?”
Past!Mateo was more curious than he ought to be.
“Hopefully not.”
“What will become of us?” Future!Mateo asked her.
Underkeeper walked into the hock section. “That has yet to be decided. I’m
advocating for you to keep your hands firmly attached to your necks, but
I’ll be honest, your prospects are not looking good. The others are not as
fond of humans as I am.” She looked upon Lusia lovingly. Perhaps she really
was her mother.
