An Unassuming House

[Nailah Weaver]

"That is for you to find out. Now if you'll excuse me. I have one last recording to make and not much time left. I wish you all the best of luck."

Nailah reaches towards the camera and the image flickers and turns off. On the device a red light blinks as the message deletes itself, leaving only one other data packet on the device.

[Stan Bowen]

"Well, It appears we have a goal to obtain."

[Skeiron]

"Okay, someone care to explain? 'Cause I'm seein' dead people."

[Talos]

"My scans indicate temporal displacement."

[Stan Bowen]

"Not much yet.. It appears Nailah Weaver was able to send us a message from the past.. One I am inclined to follow, since it appeared she was dying when she made it."

[Dead End]

The comm array in the room crackled to life.

"Tir na Nog, hmm? That will be groovy fun."

[Will Stanton]

"'Groovy'?"

[Dead End]

"Ah, c'mon Will. cheer up! the future isn't all that bad."

[Will Stanton]

"Bear?!"

[Dead End]

"The one and only. Always there, always Bear!"

[Skeiron]

"Bear's always said that. But ignore her, being here sucks ass. So you guys are from, like, the past?"

[Talos]

"That's what I just said," chirped the mini-Maddie.

[Skeiron]

"You said somethin' about time displacement, not anyone bring from the past," he said, smirking at the little 'bot.

[Stan Bowen]

"Indeed. apparently, we were caught in some sort of time portal at the old lair of Doctor Tomorrow. One last present for the XU London."

[Rick Ferguson]

"And I'm you," Rick spoke up.

[Skeiron]

Skeiron blinked, looking over to Rick. Then his jaw dropped.

"No way..."

[Talos]

"Yes way. Facial structure confirms it."

[Aiden Mitchell]

Aiden had paid somewhat loose attention to the recording as it played.

Tir Na Nog?

He pulled the device he'd been looking at earlier, and plugged the name into it. He read the ensuing entry, and sighed.

[Skeiron]

"Damn, that absinthe's amazing."

[Talos]

The little robot face...legged.

[Stan Bowen]

"Well, get it out of your systems.. we'll probably be seeing lots of people we never expected to."

[Veronica Freud]

"Excuse me Dr. Bowen, but maybe we should concentrate on gettin' back home instead of helpin' out here?" Veronica said cautiously. "If they can tell us what led to all of this, maybe we can prevent it from happenin' when we get back? Then whatever troubles are goin' on won't happen at all."

[Robert West]

"And what makes you think we're going home?" Rob asks, "The technology in this base is woefully inadequate to build a stable bridge back. We could try scavenging parts from M Industries, but anything useful was probably picked clean years ago."

"Without resources, this was a one way trip."

[Veronica Freud]

"What, you can't build something out of some tin cans and a crow carcass? Some genius you are."

[Stan Bowen]

Stan nods, chuckling a little at Ronnie's sass.

"Robert is right. Getting back to our time is our first priority, but being able to do that is going to take some time. We need to find the proper equipment and expertise. We need to survive right now, and I think staying together with people familiar with the area is the best choice."

[Robert West]

"What, you can't build something out of some tin cans and a crow carcass? Some genius you are."

"I would need some string and a paper clip at the very least."

[Will Stanton]

"And half a pack of spearmint gum."

[Robert West]

"Strawberry makes for a better temporal bonding agent," Rob says.

[Will Stanton]

"In a pinch, I can do strawberry."

[Robert West]

"Can you turn into an exotic field emitter?" Rob asks, "Because that'd be really useful.

[Skeiron]

"You are Will. Joking in a situation like this." He smirked, shaking his head. "You're probably stuck. Fate fucking hates us."

[Will Stanton]

"Can you turn into an exotic field emitter?" Rob asks, "Because that'd be really useful.

"Nnnot even entirely sure what that is."

[Robert West]

"It would require you to exist in at least three of the upper dimensions at once," Rob says, "How are you with non-spatial geometry?"

[Will Stanton]

"Maybe you should be asking the other me?"

[Robert West]

"Because I don't trust him," Rob says, "All of these people have lived hard lives. They've suffered and scraped to survive."

"And right now they're wondering how they can use us to their advantage."

[Will Stanton]

"For someone who seemed to know on awful lot about what was happening in the first few moments, I'm not sure you should be preaching about trust."

[Skeiron]

"Because I don't trust him," Rob says, "All of these people have lived hard lives. They've suffered and scraped to survive."

"And right now they're wondering how they can use us to their advantage."

"I'm sure you'll all make fine freedom fighters." Skeiron sets the Maddie-bot on a table with computer equipment and walks off after taking one last glance at Rick.

[Robert West]

"Oh, you definitely can't trust me," Rob says, grinning, "I'm a dimensional exile motivated by my own entertainment. I have no reason to care about getting home, especially since I easily abandoned my own. One place might be as good as another for me."

[Rick Ferguson]

"And you tell us this why?"

[Robert West]

"Because if I come right out and say what you're already thinking, you'll be quicker to trust me," Rob says, "Except now that I admitted that. But since I admitted the fact that I know you won't trust me for admitting my motivations, you might actually trust me. And so one and so forth into infinity. Trust me. It's much easier to just trust me then to listen to the argument about why you should trust me."

"Besides, seeing as I'm the only person here who's actually built a time machine, you don't have much a choice."