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In the Beginning

Darden walked through the almost empty streets of the shopping mall. He enjoyed these early morning visits, not too many shoppers, and the store keepers opening up, setting out their goods for display and sale throughout the day. It was a good way for him to walk and think. As he passed a holovid shop he noted with passing curiosity a news broadcast about the forthcoming Magnoball championship game. It was the Braal V Earth game, and Darden recollected that Earth was playing for the first time ever in a championship decider. After watching for a few moments he turned and continued his walk along the promenade and listening to the sound of the surf crashing on the beach, he was enjoying the sunshine on his face and the sounds of kids playing on the beach in the distance. He liked the seaside.

Darden was worried, although if he had known what was about to happen to him in the next few minutes then his worries would very quickly have faded into insignificance in an instant.

He stopped for an ice cream and took it over to a nearby bench. As neared the bench a small flock of birds flew up into the air disturbed by a small child running through the grass of the park. Sitting down next to a sweet smelling flowerbed and underneath the shade of tall trees he started to absent mindedly lick at the ice. As he did so he thought over his options once more. He knew that he was no longer happy working so closely with Department S of MI3. Yes, he recognized that his work in that department had led to rapid promotions in the Diplomatic Corps, giving him access to the powerful in over a dozen star empires but he was starting to worry about some of the missions and orders that he was now getting from the various Comptrollers. Some of these missions were starting to cross over into the realm of dirty tricks and illegal actions, and whilst he could, as ever, rationalise things and could, logically, see and even justify the need to do these things in an ever darkening galaxy to be honest his conscience was bothering him. It had already driven a wedge between Mirenna and him, and he regretted that loss more than anything. She had made her choice and was already being tipped as the next Department Head. They had argued about it and her actions and eventually he felt he could not follow that path. So he had left her as he needed to get out, to feel clean again. And Mirenna, well Mirenna bless her, had offered him a nice safe get out clause.

Yes it was a safe job, it was a hell of a promotion and, as long as he kept the secrets, he was guaranteed a very comfortable life. And you know, that was the problem. Whilst a career in the United Planets War Graves Commission would be simple, safe and respectable, it would also be very very boring. But what else could he do. If he stayed in the Diplomatic Corps then he knew that Mirenna’s boss would simply shunt him into the sidings. He would stagnate, undertaking minor Ambassadorial roles in small unimportant and very out of the way postings until he was retired on half pay and a thank you letter from whoever was President at the time. That was almost as bad.

Darden finished his ice cream then crossed his legs at the ankles and leant back on the bench with his eyes closed, enjoying this simple peaceful moment. Time enough to worry about the future later; he felt he needed this bit of peace to help gather his thoughts.

However his peace was shattered by loud shouting and laughing, looking up he saw two teenagers messing about on the path. They were standing on either side of the path. One was leaning against a small lamp post and both were carrying cartons of fizzy drinks and as people walked past he saw them shaking the drinks then spraying the backs of passers-by, who, intimidated by the teenagers said nothing and hurried past. As he watched he saw an older woman approach. The taller of the two teenagers made a crude remark under his breath and shook the carton ready to spray the woman.

“Can’t allow that” said Darden and made small surreptitious gestures with his fingers. As he did so the two cartons went faraway. Darden could not help but laugh at the look on the kids’ faces as they looked around in confusion. The woman completely unaware of what was happening walked on and away round the corner.

“Good” thought Darden “now let’s get rid of those two as well”

It was at times like this that he was grateful that he had spent so many years since Charleton’s Reach practising and honing his powers. Now as Darden concentrated the first teenager suddenly found his trousers sent, well not really faraway, but about three foot away on the grass. Suddenly the people around him were the ones laughing. His friend was standing looking shocked, as he well might.

“What happen there brother” he said.

“Never mind that” said the now trouser less kid, “pass them to me”

As he reached forward to pick up his trousers the kid was surprised to find them just out of reach and once more too faraway to pick up. He reached again and once more the trousers moved just faraway enough to be unobtainable. By now the teenagers had attracted quite a crowd who were laughing at them as the chased a pair of trousers across a wide grassy field.

Darden let them chase the trousers for a few minutes more, then feeling the strain of such minute and detailed control he had to stop. But it had worked and the teenagers were now running from the park to the echoing catcalls of the other walkers.

After a few moments peace and quiet had returned and Darden relaxed again enjoying the feeling of the soft summer breeze on his face and the gentle fragrance of the flowers in the beds next to him. In the distance he heard the sounds of someone listening to the game on a portable Holovid, and was pleased to see that Winath were beating Braal in the Magnoball championships. Something else else nagged at the back of Dardens brain, he felt that the report he was hearing was wrong, for some reason he felt that it should have been Earth on that report, but he knew that Winath were playing, he could remember all the games, the scores the teams they had beaten to get there. Yet he still could not shake the idea that it had been Earth and not Winath who had played those games.

And now what was that?

Sniffing Darden thought “ozone? But we are nowhere near the sea?” Sitting forward and opening his eyes once again he just caught an after image of a faint violet glow. At first he saw nothing different, there was the park, the people strolling along the paths and walking their dogs, all the normality of a day in a park.

Yet there was something different, something wrong with this picture, what was it?

“Steady on old chap, now let’s think” And he sat back, and started a series of breathing exercises designed to calm his mind. In a few short moments he had reached the point where he could start to recall. Closing his eyes He visualised the walk to the ice cream seller, past the flower bed. Then the walk to the bench and the birds sitting on the grass flying up in the air as a child chased a ball over the grass, the two yobs………Wait there is it is.

Sitting up straight and opening his eyes Darden looked at the spot where the yobs had stood and saw two lamp posts.

“well well well” he said under his breath, “that’s new”

Cautiously he stood up and walked over to the second and new lamp post, as he got close to it he noticed the faint smell of ozone got stronger.

Slowly Darden walked all the way around the new, but apparently extremely normal lamp post. Seeing nothing untoward, he placed his hand on the post and very quickly jerked it back. “It’s vibrating” he thought, “that feels like some form of engine”

Reaching forward once more Darden felt again the faint vibration in the metal of the post, “well so far it’s not too dangerous” he thought “otherwise this stupid power of mine would kick in”

Slowly stepping back Darden regarded this new arrival; he ignored the strange looks he was getting from others in the park as they saw him staring in rapt concentration at a very ordinary lamp post as, fingers stroking his chin, he considered what to do next. He was thinking about reporting it to the police but to be honest what could he say, “Hey send out a patrol car there is an extra lamp post in the park” he could just imagine what the answered to that would be.

As he stood looking at the post he saw the air around it shimmer and then, stepping out as if from behind a curtain the figure of a man, he was dressed in a strange yet smart way, he was tall, dark-haired, and handsome, dressed as he was in a deep blue suit, overcoat and top hat. In his hand was a cane made totally out of metal. Beyond his deep blue eyes and sharp facial features, a noticeable scar shaped like an “X” was over his left eye. He looked to be in his mid-fifties.

He turned and moved quickly towards Darden, “No, No …” he started to say, his hand outstretched towards Darden, the metal cane held like a weapon.

Without thinking Darden reacted and waving his hands against this sudden attack he sent this stranger faraway. Satisfied that he was no longer in any danger he turned

“Now” he thought “let’s see just where he came from. I mean people cannot just appear out of nothing” and he moved towards the post.

Walking around it again he saw and felt nothing out of the ordinary. Once again he stepped back to think. As he did so he felt wind pressure behind him and turning quickly he saw flying through the air towards him and at speed the same strange figure.

“Persistent little bugger aint he” thought Darden and once again waved his hands, and once again the stranger vanished someplace faraway.

“Now this is very strange” he thought “I wonder if I should call in MI3. It may be some sort of alien threat”


“Not yet, let me talk to you Darden” said the stranger from behind him.

Spinning around Darden raised his hands ready to send this person away again, but this time it seemed as if the stranger was ready for him. He shot up into the air and looped over and above him, behind him. Darden spun around again, and once more he was just slightly out of time, seeing the stranger’s feet as they again leapt over his head. Darden tried firing off a blast of what he was starting to call his faraway power, but this time only managed to send the strangers boots faraway. As he did so, he felt a blow to his shoulders which made him stagger forward. Looking down he was surprised to see the metal of one of the waste bins wrapping itself around his shoulders. He shrugged and sent the bin metal faraway, but this had allowed time for the stranger to land in front of him.

“Look Darden” he said gripping his shoulders “I’m not an enemy, we need to talk”

Forgetting to use his powers this time, Darden thrust his arms up and broke the surprisingly strong grip. Spinning away from his attacker he fainted left then swung his right arm, attempting to take a hold on his attacker. The arm was blocked by the metal cane and Darden dropped and swung his feet, catching the stranger’s legs and scooping them away he dropped him heavily to the ground, the cane clattering noisily to the ground.

However almost instantly the figure was back on his feet, he gestured and a stream of tin cans leapt out from another nearby bin and flew at Darden, spinning like a series of small moons around Darden’s head, but before any of them could make contact they were being sent faraway. However, this gave the stranger a moment’s advantage, he gestured with his hand and the metal cane flew up into the air, and banged heavily against Darden’s head stunning him. As Darden stumbled, and fell onto one knee the stranger flew quickly forward and grasping him in his arms flew straight towards the Lamp Post. There was a moment’s distortion and then they were in a control room, A large centre console was full of strange instruments dials and levers. Dropping Darden to the floor the stranger quickly operated a few of the controls and a low level hum started. “There” said the stranger “I have taken us slightly out of phase with contiguous time we are safe from prying eyes. You know all you ever said was that we fought, I wondered how it happened”

Darden had now regained his wits and was staring around at the large room he found himself in. He wasn’t sure but he thought he had somehow entered the Lamp post.

Looking over at the figure standing at the controls he raised his hand to send this attacker faraway.

“Well go on then” said the figure quietly, “say it, they always do”

Puzzled by this, Darden hesitated, still with his hand raised, “say what?” he asked.

“Oh come on Darden, just say it, I remember you telling me all about it how you said it, so just say it about the room then we can get on” said the stranger.

“So this must be Imskian technology is it” asked Darden, gesturing around the room.

What!!, What did you say” said the stranger spinning around and looking very worried, “No. No that’s not how it happened, that not what you said”.. The figure turned back to the control panels and started pulling levers and tapping readouts. “Not at all how it happened”

Darden made a show of very obviously relaxing a little, he was in a strange room with what might just be a madman, best not to over excite him.

“What do you mean, that’s not what I said” he asked slowly and calmly,

The stranger stopped what he was doing and turned around. Because…..well because….its” he waved his hands around “because you’re supposed to say ‘it’s bigger on the inside’ aren’t you”

“I don’t know” smiled Darden, “am I?”

“Yes” he replied in an exasperated tone, “and if you don’t, then that means trouble, very big trouble”

“Does it?” asked Darden interested despite himself. “Just how much trouble are we talking about?”

“A lot” came the concerned response “if the time quakes are breaking through the screens and affecting causality in here then they are becoming so much stronger and therefore by definition more dangerous”

“Look” said Darden, “before we get into any more details about that I do have one question? Why is this machine shaped like a park lamp post?”

As Darden had intended the unexpected question unsettled the figure and he replied without thinking.

“What?. A lamp post, its not its….its…..well if you must know, this machine as you call it has had a few additions over the years. Once of the best is the chameleon field generator. It helps…”

“It helps you and this machine blend in with whatever surroundings it needs to” finished Darden “that’s a cute trick”

“Well” he continued “it looks as if you are not the threat I first took you for, in fact given your strange powers and finely honed fighting skill together with the way you hung back and didn’t use your full power, leads me to assume that you actually want me for some very special reason. And from the hints you have been dropping I also assume that you believe that this will somehow involve time travel.

“Impressive” said the stranger, and indeed he was impressed. The man he knew as Faraway had just fought a exhausting battle against a foe that had appeared out of nowhere and then dragged him into what was to most people was an impossible space. Yet here he had cut through all the extraneous information and had already identified the great and central need that had driven him to seek this meeting.

“Well this is going to be a very interesting conversation Far old friend, shall we get more comfortable” and the stranger gestured with his cane theatrically. Two chairs and a table moved smoothly into place, on the table some cheeses, crackers and a bottle of very fine port.

“Darden shall we sit” said the stranger with a smile and a bow.

Darden had spent this time controlling his breathing and relaxing memorising the actions this man was taking, noting which levers were pulled. He had decided that fighting was getting him nowhere so let’s see if talking was any better. He was after all a diplomat and he often lectured the new intakes on how talking was a better option than fighting, so it was about time he practiced what he preached.

Sitting down and pulling the port towards him Darden poured two glasses and invited the Stranger to sit down.

“OK let’s start with the first questions” said Darden with a smile, “who are you and how do you know my name”

Taking the offered glass the stranger drank deeply and started to explain.

“My name is Desmonius Primus Julianu but perhaps I am better known as Cobalt Kid and you are going to be my teacher and friend as I have been yours now for many many years”

Darden sipped his port, and refilled Cobalts glass. “Cobalt Kid?” he left the question hanging. “You look a bit old to be a Kid” he probed gently.

Now it was Cobalt’s time to smile. “It’s a long story, but we took those names when we were younger, a lot younger” he continued ruefully “It’s all part of my past and your future and now, well now a few of us keep the old names as a symbol”

“You said we?” prompted Darden.

“Yes” replied Cobalt, “in your future you join me and my friends and you take the name Faraway Lad”

Darden spluttered into his drink, put the glass down then seeing just how earnest Cobalt was, burst out laughing. “I’m sorry” he said “I just had an image of Hruns face if he heard me called that”

“But tell me, you keep saying things like, ‘your future’ and ‘will be’ and ‘has been’ so you seem to talking about the impossible, are you trying to tell me this is a time machine”

“It is” said Doctor Cobalt “one of the finest in all time, and one which you will see a few times over your life” And he smiled at the horrible pun.

“But there is a serious thing I must do and it is dangerous because it involves crossing time lines and could create huge paradoxes”

“But surely the Novikov self-consistency principle would prevent any Paradox” said Darden who was starting to fear that somehow this strange man was telling the truth. “Or are you telling me that the timeline corruption hypothesis is correct?”

Yes and yes” replied Doctor Cobalt and of course all the other theories are true as well. Its all time travel stuff and by its very nature its confusing and I am impressed by how much you seem to know about time travel I don’t remember you ever saying anything about this part to me you know”

“Ok” interrupted Darden hurriedly changing the subject from his own knowledge of time travel, “so, you have a time machine, in the future that you claim to be from you know me. Now, let’s ask the big question, what do you want with me now?”

“Well I have travelled back in time to 3000 to …..”

“2990” said Darden

“What? What?” said Cobalt puzzled and irritated by the interruption

It’s the year 2990” said Darden “for someone with a time machine your trying to tell me you can’t tell what year it is”

“No, no” said Cobalt shaking his head and looking very worried “I remember our first meeting, I remember it so well, you joined the LMBP in……”

“Who or what is an LMBP” asked Darden.

“You’ll find out, but if time is in this much flux I don’t want to say too much” said Cobalt. “I’ll tell you what I can” he continued “in the year 3000 you join the LMBP and meet a very young and cocky Cobalt Kid. You need to befriend him, train him, mentor him and…..”

Before he could finish his sentence the time machine shook violently from side to side, and a loud unearthly scream echoed around the walls causing both of them to cover their ears. A series of loud bangs thudded against the wall of the Time Machine and more screams echoed out, it was a sound that drained the hope out of your very soul. It sounded like a hideous monster was trying to claw its way into the machine and wanted to bathe in warm, sticky, viscous blood.

“What in all the Gods names is that” asked Darden nervously he could feel the power he had tingling trying to send him faraway to safety; he tried to fight it down.

Doctor Cobalt had turned to the control panel and was frantically pulling at levers

“A creature from outside of time” he shouted “and it has been chasing me for aeons trying to get in here”

“So what do we do” asked Darden gulping and hoping he was managing to hide the fear he was feeling.

Doctor Cobalt stopped for a second and looked at Darden for a moment. “we” he asked quizzically.

“hey” smiled Darden despite himself, “you’re the one who has been telling me what a bunch of hero’s we all become, might as well get some practise in now”

“Far” said Cobalt “I have known you for so long and now here we stand you have so much to learn and you still surprise me. But no, this creature is too powerful, and you have a task to do in the here and now”

The Time Machine shook again as the creature from the outside hammered trying to get in.

“Look” said Cobalt “this is all wrong, things I should be telling you, things we should do together to prepare you for the things that are going to happen, it won’t happen now, it means that time is changing, the fixed points are not fixed anymore”

“I have no idea what you are talking about” shouted Darden over the noise of the attack. “but we had better do something soon I think your guest is getting in via the back door”

Turning his head Cobalts face blanched. There, ripping through the very fabric of reality was a hideous purple leprous claw followed by a long tentacle like arm, it was huge, and pus and poison dripped from open wounds along one side, it groped blindly towards the centre console.

Darden concentrated and released a full blast of his power,

There was a huge explosion, Darden was thrown backwards the table with the bottles and glasses fell over, glass smashing everywhere. Sparks and flames flashed out from the console. There was a horrendous screech and a smell of death, rotting fish and decay washed over them. Darden raised himself to his knees but could get no further, he was so weakened by the blast of power he had just released and then the stench overwhelmed him and he threw up all over the floor.

Getting back to his feet, Cobalt turned to look at Darden “what did you just do” he asked, dusting himself down and pressing a button to summon the cleaning robots.

“Not too sure to tell you the truth” said Darden “just told it to go somewhere faraway and it seemed to go”

“Nice trick” said Cobalt under his voice.

“Look” said Cobalt “I have a working time machine and yet now in what has to be one of nature’s greatest irony’s my time is obviously short, I need to firstly convince you that this a time machine before I can ask you for your help. So…….Where do you want to go, where and when would convince you

Darden thought for a while, “well he said “there’s always…………”

10.30 Sunday,
18 June 1815.
Waterloo
Belgium
Earth

“So” said Cobalt “is this what you expected?”

Darden looked around and nodded; the two were sitting in a small room on the top floor of the Château d'Hougoumont overlooking the movements of the 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards under the command of Lt-Colonel Henry Wyndham, as they took up defensive positions in the farm buildings. He stood and walked over to a window on the other side of the room, this one overlooked the small orchard which was garrisoned by the two light companies of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, First Guards. Nervously he looked at his watch, 10.30, if the histories’ were correct the first attack by Maréchal de Camp Bauduin's 1st Brigade of the 6th Division should begin soon. It could get dangerous in this farm building yet he had always wanted to see this, the great battle and the great defeat of Napoleon.

Cobalt was stood next to a large wooden chest of draws. The Chameleon circuit deciding this was the best disguise for this moment.

A large explosion heralded the start of the battle as the artillery started to gather in the harvest of death.

From below, Darden heard the shouted orders, the rattle of the men’s accoutrements as they ran to form up in lines on the walls. From the orchard he heard dull tharum tharum of the French drummers as they beat the advance. Then looking out of the window he saw them, lines of French tirailleur’s swarming like ants up the slight hill followed by the line troops, thousands of them, cheering and shouting, the officers in front waving their hats encouraging their men forwards. It was a majestic sight.

“Steady lads” called the officers from below, “wait for it”.

The redcoats waited quietly and stoically for the order to fire.

“steady…..steady”

Now French ball was striking the walls of the Château, throwing up dust, yet still the redcoat’s waited in silence.

Darden was fascinated, he could see the faces of the leading French soldiers now, could see the wildness and the fear in their eyes as they moved closer and closer to the waiting British. This was madness, they were too close surely.

“Right sub section will give Volley Fire, Make Ready” came the command, “Present”

“FIRE”

The whole world exploded as every British musket below his window fired.

“Reload” came the cry.

Almost without pause the sub section to the left gave volley fire then the next sub section, the carnage was terrible to behold. Huge jagged gaps were blasted in the advancing French lines, trees were shredded, the splinters adding to the blood and terror. Wounded lying screaming in agony where they fell, the living, closing ranks, marching over them, impervious to the piteous calls from their comrades

Sickened by the sight, Darden turned away from the window and looked at Cobalt.

“Let’s go Cobalt” he said and the two turned and walked, somehow, into the cabinet which after a second vanished in a purple haze leaving behind slight smell of ozone,

Once inside the time machine Cobalt poured a visibly shaken Darden a strong Gin and Tonic.

“War is never pretty Darden” he said, “believe me, I know”

“I’ve seen the aftermath of a few wars, read reports on some horrible war crimes, even but never that personal, never that close up” Darden took a large swallow of the Gin and continued “I’m glad I saw it though, I think it is important to know what your orders might lead to, what the cost might be, to remember that they are not just numbers, not just counters in some great game, but husbands fathers sons and that they are bleeding and dying for you, because you sent the orders.

Cobalt said nothing, lost for a moment in his own equally traumatic memories.

“So” he said coming out of his reverie “in the last 8 hours subjective we have visited the Battles of Actium, the Signing of the Magna Carta, first footfall on Proxima Centauri, the great descent into the galactic dark age, we have gone forward almost 7.5 billion years to see the sun grown old and huge as a red dwarf and watched it swallow the earth.. Now you have seen Waterloo. Do you believe me now that this is a working time machine”

“OK” said Darden “I have to accept the evidence of my eyes and either I am completely mad or this is a real working time machine”

“So” said Darden, “I’m convinced. Now why do you need me”

“It’s a long and complicated story” said Cobalt, “I guess the only way to get you to help me is to tell you as much as I know” For, to be honest, although Doctor Cobalt could travel through all of time and space, there were still blanks in his knowledge, things he had not been able to find out.

“Time is under attack” said Cobalt “and I have been told to recruit you for a very special mission. I was told to seek you out at the point of your joining the LMBP, that you would have what was needed to help save time the universe and everything” He paused.

“Who told you and why do you trust them” asked Darden.

“That’s the funny thing old friend” smiled Cobalt, “I was told by the only person I would trust with something like this” He paused again “It was my older self that told me to do this. A much more battle hardened version of me. He asked me to trust him, and of course I had to, when he told me to find you and take you to see, to see.” There was another pause.

Suddenly the cloud on Cobalts face lifted he flashed Darden a dazzling smile that lit up the room, and twirled his cane through his fingers

“well, shall we take a little tour”

Where shall we go now” asked Doctor Cobalt.

Darden smiled it had been 5 roller coaster days, full of fun, fascination and, on occasion, fear. They had visited so many different times, so many different planets his head was slightly giddy from it all. The historian in him had loved it, the chance to observe and live the lives of the peoples he had studied was overwhelming.

But throughout all of it, Darden had noticed, they had avoided anything which crossed or connected to his or Cobalts own personal time line/life. He had raised the issue once, and Cobalt had said that the laws of time didn’t like that sort of thing and that often time would fight back and do things to prevent people meeting when they were not supposed to. Cobalt had also said that this little ‘road trip’ as he called it was something that Darden had instructed him to do (sometime in Darden’s future and Cobalts past was all he would say) but Darden had managed to read some of the signs and hear the things unsaid and had formed a picture in his mind of what was really going on here.

“So, Des” he asked “It’s been 5 days and that thing has not attacked again, do you think its dead?”

Cobalt looked up from the console and looked thoughtful for a moment.

“Nooo” he said slowly “I don’t think it’s even alive as we know and understand life. As far as I can tell it is a creature that lives outside of time, it hunts by waiting near one of the weak spots in the walls of time, and when a sufficiently large source of chronal energy passes by it punches a hole in reality and attacks. It’s like a trap door spider or something. ”

“So a Time Machine like this must be like a feast to a staving man” mused Darden, “go on”

It’s almost impossible to study it” continued Cobalt, “It only exists, if at all, for a few seconds as it breaks through into reality. Even then all the instruments say its not there, and if you do actually manage to physically see it, then your mind interprets it differently to the way everyone else sees it, usually it takes the form of your worst nightmare” and he shuddered at whatever memory was replaying its self in his mind. “I don’t know how it first learnt to smash through the walls of reality, but about 15 years ago subjective, a friend of mine who used this machine before me reported sighting the creature. More recently the A…..” he caught himself and then continued. “Let’s just say an enemy of mine, discovered the creature and somehow managed to fixate it on this machine. Now it hunts the machine and its attacks can only ever be outrun not fought off, also it usually attacks more than once, when ever it can. At first the shields held it off easily but the shields are composed of chronal energy as well, so every time it attacks, it feeds and every time it feeds it gets stronger, and eventually the shields will fail and ……well you saw the last attack”

“So why hasn’t it attacked again like it always does, what’s different this time” asked Darden

Cobalt smiled, “you are Far, you are”

“How do you mean?” asked Darden although he thought he knew the answer.

“Well two things really” said Cobalt “when it attacked, you managed to send it far away. In order to do that you first, I think, have had to have pulled it from outside to inside time and now, now that the creature lives within time; it is subject to the laws of time. So sending it far away, in distance or in time will mean that it will take subjective time to return to the hunt. Do you follow?” he asked

“Not really” thought Darden, but he kept his counsel and his face gave nothing away as he simply nodded agreement. “You said two things” he prompted.

“Well I hope you don’t mind old friend but I have been running some scans and it appears that all this time you have been projecting a field of…..of….what would you actually call it Darden? A Faraway Force?” he asked

Darden shrugged and nodded. Although he didn’t show it he had a sinking feeling that if he did end up joining this LMBP that Cobalt kept on deliberately not mentioning, his code name was already chosen for him.

“Well” continued Cobalt, “I think that this Faraway Force is working somehow almost on a default setting to protect you from harm and the way it is doing so at the moment is by sending the chronaton emissions of the Time Machine engines faraway before the creature can sense them, effectively we are running in silent and safe mode”

As they talked Darden became aware that a small red light was flashing on the centre console. He nodded towards it, “is that anything we need to worry about” he asked hoping it wasn’t a warning that the creature was back.

“Yes and no” said Cobalt looking at the readout, “the good news is that it’s not the Chronavore. The bad news is that it’s a Time Quake, a big one, and it’s heading straight for us”

“And a Time Quake is?” asked Darden walking across to where Cobalt was standing

“A nightmare” came the reply “think earth quake, tsunami, and hurricane all at once. They are getting more frequent and more powerful, we have to land and soon. If it catches us out here and in the open in the time stream we could be pulled apart and destroyed”

“Well OK, land then, we can always take off again once it passes”

“I can’t just push a button you know, it not like a elevator, I need to calculate co ordinates in 6 dimensions, find the appropriate off ramp, check both ways for other traffic, research the landing point in both time and space and find an unoccupied spot to land in, two objects that start off separate in time trying to end up occupying the same physical space gets quite messy”

The Time Machine was starting to pitch and toss as the leading edge of the Time Quake caught up with them. The engines rose quickly to a high pitched wine as the inertial dampers kicked in trying to compensate for the swirling storm front as it buffeted the Time Machine.

Struggling to keep his feet, Darden watched Cobalt punching in information, reading off numbers on displays and pulling levers. Just as he felt the floor buckle beneath him and the Time Machine start to spin, Cobalt punched a button.

“There” he shouted over the noise of the protesting engines, “that should get us down safely if a little roughly”

No sooner had he spoken than the Machine gave another and much more violent lurch, throwing the two Chrononauts to the floor. The engines screamed in protest and the Time Machine spun furiously like a leaf being tossed in a strong autumnal wind.

“It’s the Chronavore, it’s found us” shouted Cobalt over the noise of the protesting engines

Darden sprang back to his feet and tensed, ready to face his own personal nightmare again, but before he could speak his world exploded and he felt his power kick in sending himself faraway enough to be safe, but he also felt himself falling in darkness, his last thought before he passed out being, to him, a perfectly normal “Bugger”

Struggling back to consciousness, all that Darden could see was darkness, “I’m blind” he thought in panic. Then the sensible part of his brain woke up as well and told him to get his face out of the mud, sit up and look around. Gingerly he rolled over onto his back; if there was a part of his body that did not ache he was yet to find it. Sitting up with a groan he started to look around. He had no idea where or more scarily When he was.

“OK old bean” he said to himself as he slowly stood up “let’s take this one step at a time”

It was dark; he looked up as a heavy rain started to fall. “Great” he thought. “So its night and I’m going to get cold and wet as well as bruised”, he looked around, he appeared to be in an alley way behind a large building, “and looking at the architecture, it looks like I am on planet Earth circa my own time frame.”

Stepping out from behind a large pile of cardboard boxes, (“why do these alleys always have random piles of boxes” he thought) he moved towards the brighter lights of a main street some 30 yards away.

“I’ll just try to get my bearings, find out where I am and then I need to find Cobalt and the……” his thoughts suddenly smashed up against a solid brick wall of realisation.

He had woken up outside the Time Machine, even if Cobalt had not deliberately dumped him here for some as yet unknown reason, he had no idea where the Time Machine might be, he knew his power had activated to save him and had obviously sent him faraway from immediate danger but how far? Even worse he had no idea what form or shape the Chameleon circuit would have chosen for the Time Machine, he could walk past it a thousand times and never know it.

“Houston” he said “we most definitely have a problem”

Darden walked forward and soon reached the main road. Then he stopped open mouthed. In front of him was Metropolis, he recognized the city centre buildings. But that wasn’t what had shocked him, no the shock came from the fact that over to his right hand side for as far as he could see the city was covered in a dense, slowly moving carpet of green. As the carpet methodically advanced Darden saw it reach up the sides of tall sky scrapers, buildings he had known for years. For a couple of seconds the building stood covered in green vegetation then it fell, collapsing in on itself, falling to the ground in a tidal wave of verdant rich plant life,

Fascinated yet horrified Darden watched as slowly, inexorably the plant moved forward to the next building. It was only then that he noticed the people. Frightened men women and children were running away from the plant frontage, they were screaming, terrified. As he watched he saw tendril’s snapping out at speed wrapping themselves around individuals. As the tendril touched the person, that individual froze instantly. Then after a few seconds their skin turned grey, a few seconds more and their entire body crumbled to dust and fell to the ground. The tendrils were them absorbed back into the main body of the plant. But more sprang out, more people were caught, and turned to dust. Behind them the building collapsed obviously suffering the same fate.

A loud cheer from his left distracted him. Turning he saw a small group of teenagers dressed in garish brightly coloured uniforms.

OK guys” shouted one of them “let’s show this overgrown piece of spinach it can’t come and destroy our world”

“Sweet Ass Sweet” they all shouted. Some of them flew up and the rest charged forward, Darden saw energy beams flash out from their hands; one he noted with a smile whose uniform hardly covered his large stomach was firing blobs of what looked like lard at the plant form. Each attack caused it to recoil slightly but it was nearly always temporary. After each attack it came back and continued its attack.

Darden watched but soon it was obvious that these young heroes were losing the battle

“I remember this” said a voice from behind Darden making him jump.

Turning around Darden saw Cobalt, he was white and swaying slightly, blood was running freely down his face from a deep cut on his forehead.

“Des” said Darden “are you alright. Where is the Time Machine?”

“I’m fine” said Cobalt “Just banged my head on the control panel that’s all” He turned and pointed at the boxes in the Alley “and the Machine is there”

“Of course” thought Darden

“What did you mean, you remember” Darden asked.

“These are the early days of the LMBP”

Cobalt held himself upright and placed a hand on Darden’s shoulder. “Watch” he said “this was us in the early days, back then we were so full of life, so crude, so unfocused. We drank way too much, never trained, yet somehow, somehow we made it through and somehow, when we needed to be, we were heroes and saved the day”

Darden looked back toward the young heroes; they were not having a lot of success. For every part of the plant that they destroyed and drove back, three or four new growths sprouted up. Worryingly, even though the LMBP cleared land and made the creature retreat, After a few seconds from out of the dead grey ash covered earth behind them, new shoots grew with dizzying speed, and often the heroes found themselves attacked from behind.

Suddenly Cobalt shrank back into against the wall, pulling Darden back into the shadows. “Careful, don’t make a sound” he whispered. “We must not interfere here, this is a crux point, time must be allowed to flow unaltered”

As they looked on, three people fleeing the oncoming tendrils ran straight towards the alley way but before they could reach the entrance two of the young heroes appeared in front of them.

“Shady” yelled the young Cobalt Kid “that’s a dead end, get them to safety over there” and he pointed away to the left. “I’ll cover you” As he shouted he rose into the air and pointed his hands towards the plant. Darden felt waves of force rhythmically drumming against his skin and looked over to Doctor Cobalt, “magnetism?” he asked “against a plant”

“Hey, don’t knock it, it worked” replied Doctor Cobalt. “And at least Shady got those people away. Now comes the good part, look” and he pointed at a figure who was carrying a strangely shaped machine and running towards a small group of LMBP’ers standing catching their breath.

“Hey Tsarin, what’s that” asked Loser Lad.

“Its something that’s going to help us defeat the monster, and as a side effect provide enough drinks for the after battle party” grinned Tsarin Kid, “here take these” and he handed out three small back packs connected to a lance via a small scale hose. “Loser go right, Lash go left and Greybird, up there” and he pointed upwards, “make sure you cross the streams and remember to work together”.

He placed his machine on the ground and rolled out a larger hose. “Rhino” he called “connect this to the water mains.” He then unpacked a series of leads and wires. “Cru, Seahorse help me connect these wires then run them out to connect to the dispenser packs”. From a small pouch hung on his belt Tsarin took three vials and poured them into a large mixing chamber on top of the machine.

“Dev, Lardy, Cobalt” called Tsarin, “we need time for the chemicals to transmute the water from the mains”

“On it” shouted Dev Em leaping into the air. Flying at super fast speed along the front of the advancing plant wave, he used his heat vision, burning huge swathes of plant to cinders. Cobalt Kid and Lard Lad also attacked with renewed gusto and the plant started to actually recoil and retreat. Others continued to assist with evacuating the fleeing civilians.

Darden watched with increasing admiration and respect, these were a bunch of kids, that Cobalt Kid for instance looked 14 if he was a day, Yet here they were risking life and limb to save people. And yet they looked like they were having fun, broad smiles filled their faces as they fought against the encroachment of world destroying entropy.

“Power on” shouted Tsarin Kid “Loser, Lash, Greybird, go!”

Three jets of liquid shot out of the lances the three held, as instructed they crossed the streams and the water made an impossible 90 degree turn and flew off in a crazy direction. It struck the plant near to where Doctor Cobalt and Darden were standing. As it hit, the plant recoiled and curled in on itself, the green colour of the frond faded away to a creamy white then with a gentle pop it exploded, showering Doctor Cobalt and Darden with clear liquid. Hurriedly wiping the liquid from his face in case it was toxic, Darden suddenly stopped as he tasted it. He looked at his sleeve damp from the explosion and lifted it suspiciously to his nose.

Doctor Cobalt laughed at the expression on Darden’s face. “Yup, it is” he said “pure, top quality, ice filtered, Russian Vodka, one of the benefits of having a Tromian scientist on the team”

They turned back to look out at the battlefield. The liquid spray was doing it job well and the Green was in full retreat, with the whole of the LMBP pursuing it, most of them stopping to fill containers with the Vodka along the way.

Tsarin Kid stood by his machine, watching the retreating plant with obvious glee. Unfortunately whilst his attention was diverted like this, he failed to notice the green shoots springing up in the untreated ground behind him. The first he knew of the danger he was in was when he heard Rhino scream behind him, spinning around he saw the plant covering Rhino, crumbling him to dust, and also entwining itself around the water mains and hose, crumbling them to dust and cutting off the supply for the three back packs. “No” he shouted and ran forward, but he had failed to notice the vines lying slithering across the ground in front of him, they wrapped themselves across his feet, they tightened and he fell, instantly the creepers slithered up and around body, Desperately he tried to transmute the plant, but for every frond he turned to gas another wound its way around him, in a panic he attempted to transmute his own body into a gaseous form, but the forces of entropy are such that even gas must decay and fade. Tsarin was caught and died, as he did so his machine was engulfed in a sea of green and also turned to dust. Dev Em saw what was happening and looking backwards lost his bearing and he flew too close to the Green, vines shot out grasping him and he also froze, turned grey and crumbled into dust.

“That’s impossible” whimpered doctor Cobalt, “I remember this day so clearly, Tsarin saved us, he saved us all, that damnable entropy spinach turned into so much Vodka even Lardy couldn’t drink it all, I remember the hangover lasted 3 days”.

Darden turned to look at his companion, he was visibly shaken, his eyes betraying the confusion deep in his mind as the events he was seeing conflicted with his own vivid memories.

“Come on” said Darden “lets get you back to the time machine and we’ll see to that cut and then we can figure out what’s happening” Gently he took hold of Doctor Cobalt’s arm and led him back down the alley way to the pile of boxes.

Because they were moving away they failed to see the tendrils reach out from the Green and ensnare Lard Lad and then a second later the young Cobalt Kid who had flown down to try to help his friend.

As young Cobalt died, Doctor Cobalt suddenly collapsed, like a puppet whose strings had been cut; he rolled on the floor and lay on his back, his eyes open but not seeing. He was breathing but only just and as Darden knelt by his side he was dismayed to see his left arm had become transparent, the muddy ground clearly visible through it. His faraway sense tingled warning him of danger and he looked over his shoulder to see vines of the plant moving slowly towards him.

Rolling the comatose Doctor over and getting his shoulders underneath him Darden lifted him up and started to move as fast as he could towards the Time Machine.

“Your going on a diet after this old bean” he grunted as he struggled under the weight.

They made the Time Machine with a few moments to spare, quickly dumping the still comatose Cobalt on a sofa, Darden quickly ran over to the control consol and pulling a lever locked the doors shut. Then he returned to Doctor Cobalt and was relived to see his arm retuning to normal.

“No time to worry about that fading at the moment” he said, as he reached forward “Forgive me Des but I need to borrow this” he said as he took a key shaped object which hung on a chain around his neck. Moving back to the control panel Darden used the key to unlock the controls and quickly turned various knobs, pulled levers and punched buttons in sequence. The Time Machine engines flared and hummed as it left reality and entered the time stream. They were safe, well for as long as the Chronavore left them alone.

Back in Metropolis the remaining members of the LMBP fought on in two’s and threes, but it was now useless, and many realising that, had decided to head for the evacuation ships themselves protecting those survivors heading the same way as best they could.

But, at the site of Cobalt Kids death a small violet bubble had formed on the surface of the silent green mat that now covered this part of the City. If there had been an observer to see, he would have noted that inside the bubble were two figures. One was tall thin and aristocratic looking. Today, for this special day he was dressed in a full dress scarlet Hussar Uniform, a heavily gold braided pelisse slung rakishly over one shoulder, a monocle finished the ensemble off to perfection. The other figure was smaller and much more rotund. George Howarth, had been a manager of the Rochdale Savings Bank, until he had been plucked out of obscurity to serve the Archduke George was dressed in a shabby black frock coat and striped trousers. He sat crouched over a small table on which was a computer terminal and next to that a top hat George was the very image of middle class respectability, except he wasn’t, as, in his normal life he was slowly embezzling funds from his poor working class customers.

The first figure looked around in silent satisfaction, a smile across his face. Slowly, triumphantly, he reached up removed the monocle from his right eye and started to polish it on an exquisitely embroidered pure white cotton handkerchief. Replacing the monocle and returning the handkerchief to the pocket in his immaculately pressed trousers, he played absentmindedly with a key hanging on a chain around his neck.

“So George” he said, “it is finally done. Those fools thought that by hiding the key, they could avoid his ultimate fate, well...” he laughed humourlessly “all they did was allow me to obtain the key and the machine. Once I had it, it was simplicity itself to manipulate time so we could get to this point, this crux point and with a slight nudge from me, Lo, history is changed, the great Cobalt Kid dies 40 or so years before he should do and the LMBP is destroyed. It is a great day, a truly great day. Although now I have succeeded I admit I do feel a little sad George, after all I have no one to match wits with now”

George looked from the computer screen to the empty flat green sea that covered the world outside the time bubble from horizon to horizon and then back to his screen.

“Sir” he started hesitantly “According to my sensors there is a small fly in the ointment, so to speak”

Sighing the Archduke of Time turned to look as his companion. “Are you going to ruin my special day George” he asked quietly but the words full of unspoken meanace.

“Well no sir” came the worried reply “or I mean not really I hope sir. Sir it looks like, for here, in this ‘now’, you have won”

“What do you mean, ‘in this now’” asked the Archduke acidly.

“Sir” answered George “do you remember when we first started this crusade we had a discussion on the nature of time, time travel and changing the past”

“yes yes” replied the Archduke dismissively “you were blathering on about Grandfather Paradoxes, Temporal Modification Negation Theory and a few others I can’t remember. Well what about it, come on man spit it out”

“Well” continued George hurriedly, “our actions here seem to have created a Branching Universe or perhaps we have moved across boundaries into one of a Multiplicity of Universes. In other words, although in this universe you have won, in the main or if you prefer ‘real’ universe nothing has changed, and in the other multiverses nothing has yet changed”

The Archduke of Time considered the news for a moment.

“You mean that there may be other Universes out there with other Cobalt Kids, others that we shall have to fight and kill and destroy before I can truly be at peace” he asked slowly.

“If the Multiple Universe theory is correct then there may indeed be thousands nay millions of them” said George slowly, not sure how his master would take the news,

“This is excellent news George, you have made very happy”, smiled the Archduke, “come my trusty servant the game remains afoot. Let’s go and kill us another Cobalt”

As the purple bubble disappeared George Howarth wondered if he should mention the fact that his sensors had recorded the existence of another time machine in the same area? No he decided; let’s not spoil his good mood just at the moment.

Back in the Time Machine.

Darden stood at the controls of the Time Machine. He had decided enough was enough; he was going home and leaving time travel to the experts. Pulling at levers he quickly set the spatial, chronal and physical coordinates.

“You seem to have picked that up very quickly” said a waspish voice from behind him. Doctor Cobalt was sitting up, although he still seemed pale, it seemed to Darden that he was stronger.

“I am good at observing and remembering” replied Darden. “And to be honest I thought it might come in handy at some point to have two drivers on this road trip”

“Well don’t, she doesn’t like anyone else to touch her” said Cobalt grumpily. “Anyway I’m fine I’ll take over now” and he pushed past Darden to the controls. Holding his hand out, he snapped “key”

Darden passed the Key back and Cobalt quickly put it back over his neck, tucking it under his shirt. Then he sighed heavily relaxed and leant forward supporting his weight on the edge of the console. Darden reached forward and put his hand on Cobalt’s shoulder.

“Well” he asked “what was all that about”

Shrugging Darden’s hand off his shoulder Cobalt answered “I’m not sure to be honest”

Cobalt started to read from a row of dials as he slowly continued “I know what I remember and that was not how it happened, in fact Dev died many years later. I think somehow, something or more likely someone has succeeded in changing History. I need to find out and then I need to put it right.” Cobalt’s face was an unreadable mask, “if I am right then when I find him he will be sorry”

“That’s not what I meant” started Darden , “I mean…..”

The fading?” continued Cobalt “It meant I, well I mean the past me had died in that battle that night. Therefore the me in the now had become an anomaly, a thing that was not meant to be. If you hadn’t got me out of time as quickly as you had, I would have faded from reality for all eternity. Thank you Darden, you saved my life, and the lives of millions of others, for that I am, once again in your debt. As long as I stay protected by the machines shields I am safe, and I will find a way to put things right.” He smiled the old Cobalt smile, “we always find a way to put things right old friend”

Darden could see the strain of seeing his own death had put Cobalt under, he silently wished him well in his quest.

A green light flashed on the consol.

“Well we are here” said Cobalt with a false joviality, I’ll open the doors, but I’m sure you will understand if I don’t come out into reality with you, given the circumstances”

Darden nodded “perfectly” he said.

“and just so I don’t get any surprises where and, more importantly, when are you dropping me off”

“Oh don’t worry” said Cobalt lightly “you will be back in the park and just 6 minutes will have passed since you joined the Time Machine. Just remember, you must find and join this LMBP. You have to train and mentor the young Cobalt Kid. It is important, you must do this and then in your future you will tell me and we will find out the reason why all this must be done and done in just this way”

“Mysterious to the last eh” said Darden. “Well if it has to be let it be” and with that he walked out of the doors and

Back into the Park.

He stopped blinking in the sunlight. Then he turned but already The Time Machine had gone leaving in its wake a faint smell of ozone.

“Well that really is strange” he said to himself.

“Perhaps, but I think you will find it gets stranger” said a voice from over behind him.

Turning Darden was almost not surprised to see an older, much older version of himself stood there supporting himself with a cane,

“I don’t have much time” said the old Darden, a horse dry laugh like the rustling of autumn leaves in the wind showing he appreciated the irony of what he was saying.

Taking from his pocket the key to the Time Machine he handed it to Darden

“You must take this he said, keep it safe keep it secret, until the year 3112. Then in a place you will come to love, a place called Legion World you must give it to Doctor Cobalt, the circle must be closed” he said, “I can give you his as well, but no more” and he handed Darden a single sheet of thin Gold, on which were inscribed words, instructions.

Suddenly he looked up. “My time here is almost done, he is here”

“Who, who is here” asked Darden that familiar tingling sensation warning him of danger.

“Him” said old Faraway, pointing at a tall thin man wearing a monocle standing next to a cannon from the ancient history text books.

As he watched the canon fired at the spot where the Time Machine had stood. The explosion threw both the Faraways backwards. In the centre of the park for a few seconds there was a dark black nothingness in the park, emptiness devoid of anything real. Then with a roaring like an incoming tide, the surrounding world rushed in to fill the void.

As they both stood Darden asked the older version of himself “what was that”

“A Chronal howitzer” old Faraway answered, “firing anti chronotron shells, very nasty. Basically that blackness was anti time. And I am sorry child but my time with you is over. I am sorry for what is about to happen to you”

And with that he faded from view, a wraith from the future, or a vision of a possible future? At this moment Darden did not know. He looked down at the Key to the time machine as he looked up he say the cannon fire once more, before he could move the anti time shell exploded next to him, his faraway force kicked in automatically but the world went black. As he passed out of existence for a while.

Legion World 3112.

In space a small craft is spiraling down to a final meeting.

In a small room Faraway Lad appeared and walked slowly to the waiting chair. Two nurses waited for him, helping him as the full frailty of his 150 years started to affect him. The Chronotron particles that had diffused themselves through his body, keeping him alive beyond his years and that he had jealously horded so he could make this one journey had now been exhausted. Time, real time, was rushing back into his body at great speed. He sat down in the chair exhausted. But ready to fulfill the final chapter of this great long story.

Earth
England The Industrial City of Newcastle upon Tyne
1890

Darden awoke in a soft bed with a hangover to end all hangovers. Damask curtains hung at the windows muting the sounds of the City outside.

“What a dream” he said stretching. As he did so he felt a chain move around his neck, looking down he saw the Key.

“Oh s**t” he said and he lay back down on the soft pillow. “That was no dream”



FIN.

EPILOG

Deep space the year 3060.

Faraway Lad piloted the space craft expertly, using a mixture of technology and his own powers to avoid all the defences littering the approaches. He ran over his plan in his mind again and laughed, plan was far too grandiose a word for the madness he was about to try.

Ever since the end of the Time War, ever since his friends death one thought had nagged at him, slowly gaining a hold in his mind no matter how much he tried to put it away.

“The Key” he smiled “the Key is the key”

So far he knew that the Key to the time machine had been entrusted to him as a young man, he had held on to it, hidden it, protected it above all else. In his far future as he waited to die he gave the Key to a time travelling Cobalt to take back to the past so that the LMBP could find the key and start the Time Machine. Yet the Key was lost many years ago (subjective) along with the Time Machine at the end of the Time War, so how did he get it back to hang on to for some many more years in order to deliver it to Cobalt? Time travel is more complex than an Escher drawing of a corkscrew hiding inside a helix, and if you tried to think about it, it made even less sense.


It had taken him a while but he finally thought of a way to do it. Not necessarily THE way but at least a way.

The landing computers took over and the craft began to descend. “Well” thought Faraway “in a few hours I will either be right or be very very dead”






A few hours later he was walking, with no attempt to hide, through the torch lit corridors of a palace. He knew she was watching him, knew that there was no way to sneak up on her, so he thought let’s just walk up to the front door and knock. He walked on through the empty corridors. Well no not empty, he became aware that on both sides of the corridor just seen out of the corner of his eyes there were swirling shadowy shapes. These physical manifestations of eldritch energies stalked along, like majestic felines, matching him step for step,

He approached the throne room and threw open the double doors. She was there, as he knew she would be, sitting majestic, cold and aloof on the Kings throne. She was as extraordinarily beautiful as he remembered. A stunning dark haired woman wearing the traditional garb of a Pre-Egyptian Pharaoh, in her hands were the crook and flail, the traditional weapons of the pharaohs. The folds of her dress somehow simultaneously covered and extenuated the contours of her fabulous body. She slowly stood and a glimpse of thigh tantalisingly showed itself. Faraway had prepared himself for this, did not want to be distracted by her loveliness, did not want to be ‘ployed’ again.

“Careful now” thought Faraway “don’t give anything away” Walking forward projecting an air of confidence he did not feel he stopped close to the throne and bowed.

“My Lady” he said and waited.

“Hello Human” said a voice from around his feet.

Faraway looked down. “Stoopid Cat, I thought you might be here”

“I came to see the fun” said the cat, its tail swished and it moved over to the side of the throne chamber and made a great show of not being interested at all.

“My Lord Faraway” smiled Bast coldly “Please explain why you have come here unbidden?”

My lady” said Faraway “At this juncture I thought that a joint meeting may enable us to undertake discussions which, in the fullness of time and taking all aspects into consideration, could lead to possible compromises in which actions taken and potential actions could, inter alia, help your current interlocutor achieve his goals at limited cost to My Lady’s own interests” his face was a mask, a friendly half smile played across his lips, he controlled every aspect of his body language, everything about him suggested that this was nothing more than a meeting between friends, a discussion of serious things but that there was no threat, no pressure. Everything was to be extremely civilised. “As you recall we entered into an arrangement many years ago. The consenting signatories to that arrangement were each given rights and responsibilities relating to the advantages concomitant to the successful completion of the final aspects of the treaty”

Faraway paused, and thought here goes. “I now seek to invoke the final part of our agreement Bast”

“And if I said no” said Bast also smiling

“And why would the Goddess Bast refuse to honour her word freely given?” asked Faraway

“Because I AM a God you foolish human” snapped Bast “do you think I can be bound to some sort of agreement with a human?” she laughed coldly. “Would you honour an agreement with a worm, Lord Faraway” sarcasm dripped like poison from her as she laid slight emphasis on the words Lord Faraway.

“I would indeed honour even such an agreement as that Lady Bast” replied Darden, his voice betraying no emotion. “If it was honestly entered into, and if the other side fulfilled its obligations of course I would”

“My Lady” continued Faraway “many years have passed since I undertook, ‘that’ work for you. I have asked for nothing…..”

“Until now” interrupted Bast, “Lord Faraway what if I told you, that you were wrong and that I owe you nothing”

“Then I would have to point out certain errors in your reasoning and ask you to reconsider”

“Oh I don’t think I will” smiled Bast “and there is nothing you can do to make me”

“Faraway also smiled “My Lady” even though you are a God, yet you have fewer and fewer followers, and without the power of belief…..” he left the sentence unfinished.

“What…” said Bast,

“In view of the somewhat nebulous and inexplicit nature of your Godhood, and the arguably marginal and peripheral nature of your influence within the central deliberations and decisions within the galactic political religious and magical process, there could be a case for restructuring priorities in such a way as to ascertain the potential for your liquidation from the immediate agenda."

Stoopid Cat’s head snapped up in amazement, had the human just challenged Bast?

This was getting interesting. He started to move around the room getting into the best attack position. He looked at Faraway who had not moved and was still standing there smiling.

Bast however was angry.

“Let us leave these pathetic diplomatic phrases behind Lord Faraway” she hissed, “you come here, here to my temple and tell me what I will and will not do?”

“No My Lady I would of course never deign to tell you what to do, no all I ask is for your help” responded Faraway. “In fact I ask for no more than that you keep your word.

“I will have Dakshin Ray kill you first” snarled Bast.

Stoopid Cat will not attack me” responded Darden calmly. Inside however he was worried. This was not going well. It took every last inch of self-control to maintain the façade of calmness.

“Human” growled a deep voice behind him as Dakshin Ray transformed into a huge snarling tiger. “For my Goddess I would rip the throats out of my own cubs and serve up their still beating hearts on a silver platter. What is you your life worth to me if my Goddess commands your death?”

Faraway did his best to ignore that voice behind him. Instead he concentrated all his energy, all his thoughts and willpower on the Goddess sitting before him.

“My Lady” said Faraway “you know why I ask this of you, you know of the oath I took, would you have me be an oath breaker?”

There was silence for a few minutes, then Bast spoke.

“Leave now Lord Faraway, “your audience is over”

“No” replied Darden

“You dare” said Bast her temper rising. “You dare say no to a goddess”

“I dare” replied Faraway, looking her straight in the eyes. “For the love of one who has fallen I dare”


Now in the room the atmosphere changed, it became charged with a dark energy. Faraway continued speaking although it was more habit than necessity as the battle was now being fought between wills and with thoughts not words.

Bast had grown in size, the room itself had darkened and around her swirled and twirled shadow shapes, she was power incarnate, beautiful terrifying, Stoopid cat was transfixed he had never seen such a manifestation of her power. Yet still Faraway stood. The room was dark now, and a howling wind had sprung up from nowhere. Now Stoopid Cat could see Faraway standing alone in a small pool of light as around him stalked vaguely cat like shapes, prowling, hunting, seeking a way to get to him to rip him to shreds.

Faraway spoke up, his faraway power sending the shapes away if they got too close.

“I have served you well in the past My Lady, I have asked for nothing, yet without me there are things that you would not have been able to do. I have risked my life for you, I have lost loved ones, yes even a daughter for you and in all this” his eyes hardened as he looked deep into her own soul “in all this I have never asked you for anything. And at the end, you promised, yea even a Goddess promised to a human that if ever I wanted something I had to seek you out and ask. Well now I do ask. Now is the time to honour your oath.”

Behind Faraway, Dashkin Ray, whimpered in fear and shrank down becoming a small cat again. In fear Stoopid ran under a nearby table and arched his back and hissed.

As he looked he could see Faraway Lad continuing to stare deep into the eyes of Bast. The eldritch power in the throne room was so powerful the hairs on his body stood up and swayed in an invisible wind. He could see that Faraway was weakening, his body trembling, beads of sweat formed on his brow. It was a shame thought Dashkin, he rather liked this human, he would miss him once Bast had eviscerated him.

Faraway fell to one knee, yet he refused to break eye contact

“You……you took so much from me” he said through gritted teeth, “yet still I ask for nothing for myself just a chance to save one person from his fate”

“I will not alter time just to save one insignificant human” said Bast

That was it, thought Faraway, that might just be it. Pushing himself up Faraway stood once more, “I don’t ask you to save him, just give me the tools to try to save him”

Then to Dashkin’s surprise his Goddess broke eye contact and looked away. As she did so the dark energies fled from the room, light flooded back into the throne room and she shrank down to her normal size and collapsed down on her chair. She turned her head from them so they could not see the tears in her eyes.

Faraway stood still. It was talking all his strength and self-control just to stand up. He did not yet trust himself to speak.



Bast had recovered her composure. With a gesture of her hands she changed her look. Now she was dressed in skin tight leather with high boots and a mask, in fact dressed as Catwoman from the ancient comic books. She beckoned with her hand and Stoopid Cat jumped up on her lap, seeking comfort and safety after his fright.

“Lord Faraway” she said sadly “Never before has anyone looked so deep into my soul and lived. Your will has impressed me. You have seen deeper into the truth of me than anyone else. But you have also opened up yourself to my gaze. I have seen all of you now Darden, the pure, unfiltered, truth about you, and you have seen it also through my eye, you now know. All the minor deceptions you humans weave about yourselves to make your humdrum boring little lives have meaning have been stripped away from you leaving your soul bare and unprotected. I pity you, having to live with that memory and I pity you the years of useless struggle to come”

Bast continued

“Yet your honesty, your love for your fiends your desire to do what you think is right have convinced me. So yes Human I will honour our agreement. Tell me exactly what you want”




Faraway considered for a moment

“At the end of the Time War, when he died, the Time Machine was destroyed and with it the Key”

Bast nodded “as is known to all who travel the corridors of time”

“But” continued Faraway “it appears that this has created a time paradox. I know that I am fated to hold on to the Key until 3113 when I give it to Doctor Cobalt who will return it to Matlock to unlock the Machine. But how? How can I do that if the Key is destroyed and I don’t have it? I thought about that long and hard Bast and then came up with this idea. It’s simple really, we’ll get a spare key cut and……”

“Enough” said Bast, “I read the details of how you see this happening in your mind. I shall return to the space between seconds, I shall copy this Key for you, but this Human is it, your favour is returned” A smile played across her lips, “and who knows Human perhaps the next time our paths cross I will kiss you, or perhaps I will kill you. Who knows”

“Return to your vessel and wait” she commanded.



An hour later an exhausted Faraway was sitting on the control deck of his space craft. Every part of his body ached and his brain felt like mush.

Eventually he heard a gentle noise in the cock pit behind him. He turned his chair and there was Bast, it was the gentle click of her stiletto heeled boots that he had heard. Her smile was vivid and warm and alluring. “Lord Faraway, here it is” she handed him a key, no, he thought, The Key

“Thank you Bast” said Faraway simply.

“It won’t work you know” said Bast softly and she stroked his head and beard gently with her leather gloved hand. “You must know that, all the things you did, all the things the two of you did and nothing worked.

“I must try” said Faraway.

Yes I suppose you must” she said and she kissed him playfuly, teasingly on the lips.

Now you have what you want” said Bast “you may go”

And as simply as that Faraway found himself back in his room in Legion World.

So now he had the Key again, he could now, at the worst, give it to Cobalt when needed to in order to start the whole process again. In silence he walked over to a unit opened a drawer and took out a gold sheet. Now he thought, reading it, those ideas didn’t work; let’s think of some other options.