Quick to Err(IC, closed)

[Ari]

GM

The next day...

The amphitheater was much whiter than the ones Martin and Jay had seen in their present. The ones that had survived the eons didn't reflect the searing light of the Mediterranean sun with a power that seemed to bleach the very faces of those seated in the myriad of seats that ringed the half-circle. The place was packed nearly to capacity, with many more seated on rooftops and on the branches of surrounding trees. All of them were eager to see the show, as they cracked the heavy bread and tore at the meats and other food they had brought to see the show. Several younger men in short tunics were busy plying the crowd with jars of wine, evidently a hit among the thirsty Sicilian Greeks. All of them watched the now somewhat more at-ease figure of Martin as he stood on the stage, Jay on his right hand and the strapping gent who had happily agreed to lend his dog to the race deftly managing the animal in question(a thing thing that looked as if it was a few baguettes short of a grocery bag), looking cheerfully about the gathered onlookers on his left.

Spreading his arms wide Martin took a breath, recalled Jay's lessons and declared, in as booming a voice as he could manage "WELCOME, SEGESTANS!" he took a moment to let the ringing in his ears stop, the acoustics of the theater being top-notch. Resuming in a more subdued fashion, he said "You have come..to witness..the fastest being on this world! JUBATUS! Before your very EYES, he shall perform FEATS of speed and dexterity that shall not, I assure you, be matched for HUNDREDS of years to come!" he turned to the man beside him "The citizen Pericles has volunteered his noble hound Gram, who shall be set against JUBATUS in a race around this stage, the first of many challenges" he pulled on a string attached to a cloth covering a piece of meat(which Gram had stared at for the entire time he had been in the theater) on the edge of the stage, declaring "The first to reach the meat..WINS!"

The stage was around twenty or so feet long, so to the uninitiated it looked fairly close. To those who knew.....

Martin 'led' Jay to the end of the stage, with Pericles serenely directing Gram to a spot next to him, placing the dog in a position staring directly at the hunk of meat(a cow's leg, quite fresh), and the crowd waited eagerly for the signal. Martin gave it, a thunderous "ONWARD, RACERS!" swinging his arm down(standing several feet away from Gram) from its previously upright position. The lean hound surged forward like a bolt of skin, hair and bone for the mighty portion of food, but it was not to be.

[Cubist]

This 'Pericles' person—Xavier didn't believe he was either the famous one or any relation—had shown up rather early in the morning, demanding to talk with Brandtford and see, in the flesh, the 'miracle cat' he'd been hearing so much about. One look at the man persuaded both travelers that Pericles was a wealthy man. Not only had the innkeeper, Hermes, let him in with no evident reluctance, but his raiment was a great deal more clean than that of most other Segestans.

Pericles raised one eyebrow when he saw Xavier. "So your beast is a cheetah. I suspected as much, but wasn't sure. Some of the stories being told of him are just…" He shook his head. Xavier wondered if the man owned a cheetah himself, or knew of the breed from friends who owned them; that sort of thing was hardly unheard-of in the Greek Empire.

Brandtford said, "Ah, yes, he is. Um, do you have an horse or dog you want to race against him..?"

"Against a cheetah?" Pericles asked incredulously. "Heh-heh! I assure you, boy, I'm not as big a fool as all that. In truth, I've a different proposition, if you're of a mind to entertain such. Now, your beast: Does he do more than run?"

"Oh, yes!"

"Well-trained?"

"I've got better training than a lot of humans," Xavier said before the kid managed to reply. Both humans in the room were shocked speechless, albeit for different reasons. Hmph. Typical.

"He does talk!" Pericles exclaimed.

"Not at all, Mister Pericles," Xavier replied, again beating Brandtford to the punch. "I just thought I'd demonstrate how well-trained my cat was, by favoring you with a display of ventriloquism." And he gave the kid a meaningful look.

Fortunately, Brandtford caught his cue: "Ah… yes. I've been working with him for quite some time now. You have just seen, and heard, just one example of the many things we can do together!"

Pericles looked at Brandtford, then Xavier, then Brandtford again, before he spoke. "Alright… Here's my proposal: Not just a single race, but, rather, a series of events, for the prize of a hundred talents. And if your cat beats my Gram in every one of those events, you get the hundred talents!"

Hearing those words, Xavier wondered whether Pericles' 'animal' might be another transformed human who'd retained their human intellect. Like it'll make a difference? No matter what sort of 'dog' this guy's got, and no matter what 'events' he's thinking of, I still got my Timeshift. So…

Brandtford was making talking noises with his mouth, just not the only noise that mattered at the moment.

Oh, come on, kid, say "yes"! What the hell are you waiting for? Fine— The kid shut up when Xavier draped his forepaws over the kid's shoulders and leaned his head up next to the kid's head. "I accept," Xavier said. "Now, what sort of 'events' do you have in mind?"

---

Looking over the crowd in the amphitheatre, Xavier wondered how many people were there because of Philothestes' efforts, and how many because of natural word-of-mouth? It hardly mattered either way; the crowd was there, and that was the important thing.

The kid's MCing was about what you'd expect of a complete and utter novice, but he did seem to have taken the 'look confident no matter what' advice to heart, so that was alright. Brandtford announced the first event, a race for a hunk of meat. Xavier and the dog, Gram, were moved into position, side by side with Xavier a tiny bit farther away than the dog…

…and Xavier upshifted when Brandtford gave him and the doggie their cue to start. Gotta make it look good. Match Gram's pace to start with… pick it up as we go… burst of speed towards the end, and it's MINE!

The feline let himself return to a tempo of 1 and started munching on the raw beef… Not bad. Have to remember this when we get back home.

[Ari]

GM

There was a roar of applause as the fastest living creature on the planet soared past the unfortunate hound Gram, his tongue lolling in dismay as it watched the cat tear into the meat it had been promising itself from the instant it could smell the tantalizing odor. That done, Pericles serenely led away his dog to a less appetizing but more available dish of dried goat meat. After the meal and a quick drink for both of the animals, games continued, with such highlights as Jay and Gram walking backwards along a narrow beam without looking backwards, the two attempting to move a set of wooden blocks into alphabetical order at the commands of their master(luckily for Jay, Martin at least knew the Greek alphabet, even if he couldn't speak a word of the language), which Gram proved surprisingly adept at, and finally a match where the dog and cheetah had to switch the ornate peploses of some of the city's less reputable citizens between them at the audience's voted command. In this case, democracy moved quickly. It took only a few hours for Jay and Gram to run their courses, and for the pseudo-feline to demonstrate a speed and grace that would be called "monumental" at least for years to come. At the conclusion of the event, Martin was quite surprised(Jay less so) at the sudden crowd that had gathered around the 'theater and burst into hoots, hollers and general rambunctiousness at the conclusion of the matches. Pericles proved a good sport, blithely declared himself beaten, and payed the sum bet without a murmur. The two were feted for this shocking arrival of talent for several days, during which Jay outran numerous other opponents, outmaneuvered and outthought opponents and ill-conceived assassination attempts, and was treated with a deference and respect that could easily be described as 'royal'. Their departure saw them leading a wagon of their spoils pulled by a sullen ox that Martin's taming was considered a minor miracle.

Martin was only a little unhappy to leave, mostly because despite their phenomenal success, Hermes had remained as short with him as before. Possibly a reminder of the difference between the 21st century American and the pre-industrial Greek.

At any rate, they were soon on their way to the east and south, stopping by the towns, cities and villages along the way and getting a rousing welcome almost each and every time.

"... and you shall see JUBATUS place these necklaces on the hand of the right lady before you can Blink your EYES!"

"...so, in the mere SECONDS that these balls will be in the air, JUBATUS shall catch them and place them on the letters marked on the ground that correspond to those on the balls!"

"Greetings! Do you all wish to see wonders the likes of which few of your generation shall ever witness?"

and suchlike were most of the things Martin said on their plod along the road. There were few times he had to talk with Jay alone when they weren't making their leisurely way down the rutted track leading to the next stop, and often he needed to take care of the ornery and often downright mulish ox. As an unfortunate result, there was increasingly less reason for the two to interact at all, and so it gradually diminished, and would have probably led to a near-schism if they hadn't stopped at the city of Aetna, well within view of the volcano Mt. Etna...

Martin nodded rapidly at the man's suggestion "Yes yes, that will do. This field will work fine" he wandered back over to the laden wagon and Jay, saying simply in a low voice "20 yards of wire and a twelve pounds of copper says you can't beat his dogs" the man had already gathered his animals to the muddy field beside the orchard, where the crowd had assembled to see the event, huddled in a multi-hued mass half a mile from the city, the road running past in its seemingly endless parade of mud, stones and fallen trees.

Leading(holding the leash and making it look convincing) Jay to the assigned place at the top of the graceful slope, he raised his hand to the cloudy sky and let it drop, crying aloud "ONWARD!"

[Cubist]

As Jay Xavier had hoped, the mutt didn't win one single event. Xavier hadn't been 100% certain of everything; before the show, he'd worried about the alphabet blocks in particular. True, there seemed to be some sort of 'Magic Translator' in play which allowed him and Brandtford to converse normally in a patois that neither of them actually knew, but did the Magic Translator work with written language as well as spoken?

Fortunately… it did.

And while the fastest cat alive had definitely expected his opponent to be a sore loser, in reality Pericles demonstrated himself a model of sportsmanship. Go figure, Xavier thought to himself. Still be on guard just in case Perry decides, later, to recover his losses by force.

For the time being, there was no danger, only red-carpet-style pampering from zealous fans. Finally, the right kind of attitude, the feline thought. I could get used to this…

The first assassination attempt occurred two nights after Pericles' monolithic loss. Whether by dint of training, or observation, or just blind luck, the intruder had somehow contrived to approach Brandtford's sleeping form during the short span of one of Xavier's catnaps.

It didn't help. The feline awoke well before the intruder's spatha got within striking distance of his target. Suddenly the intruder was in free-fall—

Xavier threw the would-be attacker up into the air; he wouldn't hit the ground for a good many clock-seconds. Plenty of time for the fastest cat alive to confirm (via exhaustive search of the immediate vicinity) that the idiot had come alone, before he had to catch said idiot.

—and then the intruder's world turned into a very bumpy blur that rattled his every bone.

The feline reviewed his options as he dragged his cargo across rocks and loose branches. What to do, what to do… Jerkwad, here, doesn't matter worth a damn. Want to send a message to jerkwad's employer, discourage them from sending anybody else. Kill the bozo? No, that way he just disappears, can't convey any message in person… It didn't take long for Xavier to make up his mind. At that point, he was 5 miles outside Segesta; good enough for privacy.

Xavier gave the hapless, bloodied attacker a few seconds to recover his senses, then smiled an disquieting smile. "Let's play cat-and-mouse," he said. "I'm the cat. Guess what that makes you, hrrmmm?"

---

More races, none of which were even vaguely as close as Xavier engineered them to appear. More 'feats of dexterity' to wow the rubes. More being fêted as conquering heroes by the unwashed masses.

"Um. Mr. Xavier? Last night I thought I heard something…"

"You did. Don't worry, Brandtford; there was a little disturbance—"

"You tried to chain me up in a cage," Xavier stated. "And who knows what you planned for the kid? I don't like that kind of crap, or the jerkwads who think that kind of crap is okay."

"You…" The would-be trapper and assassin swallowed. "Demon! I do not fear death!"

Inhuman eyes glittered in the darkness.

"Relax: I don't kill," the feline breathed into the attacker's ear. "I get creative."

Sweat broke out on the prey's face. The feline could smell its fear.

Life is good.

"—but I took care of it. With any luck, it shouldn't happen again."

The kid looked at his companion, an expression of concern on his face… and said nothing.

---

Xavier liked the oxcart. He'd been wondering if he'd have to schlep all his winnings back to the cave they'd started out in; with the cart, they could transport everything with them as they moved along the coast. With each new town came more predefined-outcome 'races', more 'feats of dexterity' that wouldn't tax the abilities of a 6-year-old human, let alone a 60-plus-year-old man… Strictly speaking, what he and Marty were doing was the moral equivalent of taking candy from babies. Xavier knew this, and had he or the kid been able to think of any better way to get what they wanted, any better way at all, he'd have jumped at the chance to try it. But this was the best tactic they'd thought of, and they were committed to it. And even if they weren't committed, what the hell were they supposed to do? It wasn't like they were interfering with history; this was another timeline entirely, filled with people who'd lived and died thousands of years before either Xavier or Brandtford had even been born…

Still and all, it was robbery, of a sort. And it bothered him.

A little, anyway.

---

Mount Etna: One of the most famous—and active—volcanos on Earth. Well, on Earth-Prime, at least; they'd seen too little of this version of Earth to know how closely its geography matched Prime's. But given 'identical geology' as a tentative premise, it was a pretty good bet that local-Etna was going to erupt while they were in the area, most likely a minor eruption. The feline hoped for nothing worse than that; molten lava was bad enough for living flesh, but when you added fur, it was even worse.

Well, it wasn't erupting now. Which was good, because the kid had set up another series of 'events' for him to run roughshod over. The first one was a standard not-a-race against an utterly outmatched opponent (a dog, in this case), first one to reach the finish line (a decent-sized boulder with some flowers on it) wins.

The kid signaled the start of this ultra-light workout… done. Yet another flawless victory for the fastest feline on the face of the planet. Xavier tallied up a mental inventory of all his winnings; just how much more wire and such did they need, in order to complete the generator they had to build?

[Ari]

GM

This easy(they were all easy, but this one especially so)victory obtained should have been the end of it, but unlike most of the previous competitors Isokratos of Aetna was curious(and wealthy) enough to want to see more of this, calling over Martin he asked, raising his voice a touch to account for the strengthening wind from the south "I wish to see more of your pet in action, specifically I wish to test his footwork. The slopes of Etna will suffice for such a test, what with the scattered boulders and treacherous rocks underfoot and all. If you don't wish to do so, no loss to you, but if you DO consider it, know that I will give up another pound of copper to see Jubatus navigate such terrain, if he can go faster than a arrow fired by me" bowing at the conclusion of that speech, Isokratos signaled for his hounds to be shepherded back to his kennels a little northwest of the city, under the eve of his sprawling home.

Staring after him in befuddlement for a good three seconds at his retreating back, Martin gave a casual shrug and walked quickly over to Jay, meeting him halfway out of habit(he had gotten quite used to walking a few steps and suddenly having the cheetah appear beside him). "He wants a..rematch? Or something? Says he wants you to race against an arrow on the slope of Mt. Etna, near the base " he nodded over at the ominous igneous rock dispenser miles to the east "I don't see much need for it, we've got a lot already and the next town isn't too far, but it'd be nice to get a little leeway with the construction. No way I want to end up short after getting all this stuff together"

[Cubist]

"He wants a..rematch? Or something? Says he wants you to race against an arrow on the slope of Mt. Etna, near the base " he nodded over at the ominous igneous rock dispenser miles to the east "I don't see much need for it, we've got a lot already and the next town isn't too far, but it'd be nice to get a little leeway with the construction. No way I want to end up short after getting all this stuff together"

Xavier nodded. "I heard him, and I'll be glad to take his trade goods. Since there's no way I can lose, see if he's willing to bet two pounds of copper."

The feline didn't particularly care about specific details, such as where this 'race' would begin, so he didn't bother to ask the kid about those details. The plain fact of the matter was, he could outrun any arrow, no matter what terrain might be under his paws, and he damn well knew it, so why should he care? He let the kid go off to negotiate for higher stakes… and yep, there was an archer. The feline padded over towards the guy with the bow, ending up standing besides him on all four paws. Then the archer nocked an arrow… brought his bow up into firing position… and when he released his missile, the feline blurred on ahead!

The ground was distinctly warm under the feline's paws. Gosh, it's almost as if there's a subterranean heat source fairly close to the surface here, Xavier thought. Another data-point to support the hypothesis that this timeline's Earth has the same geography as Earth-Prime. That it won't erupt at all while we're here is probably too much to ask for, sigh. At least the odds are in favor of the next eruption here being relatively minor, if memory serves re: Etna-Prime's pattern of activity…

[Ari]

GM

Isokratos was an excellent shot, a former mercenary archer in the armies of Carthage, and the arrow went straight for the laboriously-erected black monolith that symbolized the end of the racetrack, which was handy because there was otherwise little way to know if this patch of rock-strewn terrain was the right place, or that. As Jubatus downshifted to the world's default tempo a couple of clock-seconds before the astonished eyes of the Sicilian, several things happened at once.

A roar sounded from the earth, followed by a shaking like the world having a case of the shivers and the goal stone collapsing to earth. A sudden, pregnant hush cut through the quivering ground, and Isokratos looked up, beginning a cry of "Lord Hephaestus, hav-"

*WHAAAAAAKOOOOOOOOM!*

A billowing cloud of smoke and dust roiled up from the top of Mt. Etna, followed by a rain of crashing black, smoking rock. This might have been the end of them all(except Jay) if Martin hadn't activated the Channeler in time, tossing several tons of increasingly molten rock into the sea of a latter-day Tethys several universes over, and braining a sluggish sea monster several hundred feet in length.

The Greeks and the two time tourists stared up at the smoking pillar of fire and cloud above them, and at the lava spilling out from the blasted top of the imposing mountain. Isokratos turned to Martin, screaming "Let us get out of here! We have to evacuate the city, this is a catastrophe!" with that he turned and ran to catch his rearing, wailing horse, who he quickly(if rather cruelly) tamed and sent racing for Aetna. Martin stared at the erupting mountain, then at Jay, then at Aetna, then at the sky, then at Jay again.

Shouting to be heard over the volcano he yelled "Mister Xavier! We have to help these people! I'll try and send most of the lava somewhere else, how about you go round up these people's livestock and we give them some time to escape?"

[Cubist]

And… right, he's shooting for the obvious target. Not a problem, the feline mused. The arrow wasn't moving all that quickly, by his standards; he decided to give it a clock-second or so of lead time before—

*WHAAAAAAKOOOOOOOOM!*

Of course. Of bleeding course. The feline took personal offense at this eruption. How the hell am I supposed to collect my winnings, when Isosceles here is running for his life? He noted Brandtford's use of the Channeler with mixed emotions; while the kid's action meant he didn't have to waste any effort, at the same time it also drained what little charge was still in the device's battery. Then again, how much difference can that make, considering how close to 'empty' it was in the first place?

"Let us get out of here! We have to evacuate the city, this is a catastrophe!"

"Who you calling 'we', kemosabe?" the feline thought. Not our world, not our problem.

"Mister Xavier! We have to help these people! I'll try and send most of the lava somewhere else, how about you go round up these people's livestock and we give them some time to escape?"

"Hold it, kid!" the feline declared. "There's one, and only one, thing we have to do, and that's 'get the hell out of this [bg=black]xxix[/bg]hole'! Putting our lives at risk is counterproductive at best." Especially in your case. You're my ticket out of here, so no way I want you anywhere near the damn lava.

Brandtford boggled at the feline's retort. "Well, yes, but—what about all those other lives that are at risk?"

"What about 'em?" the feline asked with a shrug. "In case it's slipped your mind, every last one of these people was already dead more than 2,000 years before either of us was born! You want to save everybody's life, or just the ones who die in a volcanic eruption?" I can't let the kid risk his ass, end of discussion. But I need his voluntary cooperation, so forcible restraint… is a much worse option than talking him down.

Brandtford's eyes grew wider. "But… what if someone dies who shouldn't have? We don't want to risk changing history, do we?"

The kid's flailing blindly, the feline thought. Good; the sooner he realizes there simply isn't any reason for us to get involved, the sooner we can both move to safety. "Come on, Brandtford. It's not our timeline, okay? No matter what happens, our history is not gonna be affected!"

"Ah… the people we help will be grateful to us…"

The feline almost replied Yeah. And that, plus an obol, will buy a cup of whatever these yokels use for Coke. Almost, because—"You're right, Brandtford: They will be grateful. Which means we should be able to pretty much name our price for our services!" And with those words, the cheetah blurred off to inquire who in the area would be willing to pay the most for having their property shielded from the oncoming lava…

[Ari]

GM

It wasn't hard to find people willing to pay whatever was demanded to get their goods to safety. What was wholly unexpected was for one soft-spoken Greek with a bald head to offer double the price Jay had quoted. He was the city herbalist, and thus had some of the rarest and most expensive substances contained in the city, some rarer to the Greeks than even platinum. "If you would take this bale first" he said with simple gravity, showing the fastest cat alive a bound pile of pale green plants with pointed, step-pyramid-like leaves "I would be deeply grateful, it is an excellent number of pain" he then gave instructions for where it was to be put(a hill the lava wouldn't reach up to).

With no real difficulty, the bale was secured to Jay's back, and the fastest cat alive sped down the south road per his directions. The deposit spot was where the trouble started, a small hillock in view of Aetna with the glowering(and erupting) mountain to the east.

Due to the timeshift, the effect of the drug was slowed considerably during the travel, but as Jubatus came to a halt, the effects attacked in full force. In a matter of moments he had torn the bale from his back and was rolling, playing, and dashing around at incredible velocities, the drug nepeta cataria, or 'catnip' working its manic spell upon him. After an hour or so, he had completely worn himself out and collapsed in a heap of catnip, just conscious enough to curl himself into a sleeping position before departing for Slumberland...

By the time he woke up in a surprisingly luxurious room filled with cushions and overlooking a sparkling blue ocean, he knew immediately that something had gone wrong. Besides the bizarre hangover, the roar of a city drummed in his ears, and the unmistakable sound of Martin's voice arguing with someone else "...And I tell you I'm fully qualified to take care of him!" a dry challenge to this statement provoked a furious outburst from an apparently unhinged Martin that sent the challenger dashing down a flight of stairs. With a rustle the curtain separating the room Jay was in from another, much more spartan abode, a slightly less bearded Brandtford walked quickly in, eyes glancing over the room several times before he realized Jay was awake "Good to see you're up, Mr. Xavier!" he said gleefully, sitting by his side and thumping him heartily on the back "I was really worried when that scouting group found you on that hill, this herbalist guy was talking with some assistant of his about vivisecting you while you slept! Thankfully he proved very amenable after I punched him a whole bunch of times and headbutted his assistant" he leaned against the wall and continued merrily "Mr. Archimedes showed up a of day after the eruption with some of his students to study the properties of the lava, and I managed to convince him to take us back to Syracuse with his entourage. I'm hoping to talk with him later this week after he gets back from the volcano" he grinned at Jay "So, sir, what would you like to do while we wait? I managed to save our cart of supplies and the ox too"

[Cubist]

Such a surprise: It was an herbalist who was okay with paying an exorbitant price to preserve his goodies from the advancing lava. Of course, the cheetah thought. Doctors are always going to be wealthy, regardless of the time or society. After catching the scent of what the herbalist wanted him to transport first, the cheetah wasn't happy—he recognized catnip when he smelled it, and wasn't at all sure there was enough 'human' in his biochemistry to make him immune to the damn stuff—but a contract was a contract, and that was all there was to it. So he packaged it up as best he could to minimize his exposure to the drug, and carted it to the destination point, always striving to ignore the catnip's intoxicating effects…

---

Consciousness emerged from a sea of… something else. Where the hell am I… Then, after reviewing his recent memories, and becoming uncomfortably aware of certain holes in his recollections: And where the hell was I? Did I do anything stoopid while I was stoned out of my gourd on catnip? There was a kind of basso rumbling… Right, he was at his default tempo of 6, and some normal-speed types were conversing. Whatever. Okay, I'd better review all my memories for signs of anomalous behavior and/or thought patterns; for all I know, Sicily might have some sort of feline intoxicants growing wild in the countryside…

It didn't take long before Xavier noticed exactly the sort of 'anomalous behavior' he was worried about. The damn-fool kids—I was actually okay with them hurting themselves!? And good god, how I handled those idiot attackers—

A chill oozed down Xavier's spine and tail. What the hell happened to me? he asked himself, and for a professional troubleshooter like him, to ask such a question was to start thinking of possible answers…

Eventually, Xavier noticed that Brandtford was in the room with him, looking as if he was attempting to converse. The feline downshifted: "…really worried when that scouting group found you on that hill," the kid said. "This herbalist guy was talking with some assistant of his about vivisecting you while you slept! Thankfully he proved very amenable after I punched him a whole bunch of times and headbutted his assistant."

Wait. This is Brandtford talking about getting violent!? No [bg=black]xxxxixx[/bg] way!

Thoroughly preoccupied with his own disturbing thoughts, Xavier did not interrupt nor reply as the kid chattered about possibly talking to Archimedes. "So, sir, what would you like to do while we wait? I managed to save our cart of supplies, and the ox, too."

The feline was silent.

"Ah… sir? Are you okay?"

This question brought Xavier out of his self-absorbed funk. "No," he said. "I'm not okay, and I haven't been for… I don't know how long. I… hrrr… Brandtford. I need a second opinion from someone who knows me. When did I start acting weird?"

[Ari]

GM

At the carefully-modulated growl, Martin almost winced. "Well sir, I noticed something odd about the time we left Segesta. You seemed a little more...irritable I guess. You didn't show the same concern you usually do for others or, a couple of times I even thought you were simply going to steal what we needed" he combed his shaggy head with his immaculate fingers looking sheepishly at Jay "I know this sounds silly Mr. Xavier, what with all those times you've been telling me I shouldn't assume something's human 'just because some bipedal primates do it', but you weren't acting like yourself. Usually you're so incredibly careful about everything that these last few weeks it was like if you were eating several pounds of candy behind my back" a short silence followed this, with Martin looking awkwardly looking out the window at the distant rumble and bustle of ancient Syracusae.

At length he offered "But it seems you're at least partially back to normal, I'm sure it's just a case of the Channeler screwing with bodily chemistry because of the time-travel, I've already fixed a slew of bugs I found in the thing" he smiled hopefully at Jay.

[Cubist]

"Well sir, I noticed something odd about the time we left Segesta. You seemed a little more...irritable I guess. You didn't show the same concern you usually do for others or, a couple of times I even thought you were simply going to steal what we needed!"

Xavier nodded. When we left Segesta, that sounds about right. Would've taken a while for the psychological glitches to get bad enough that they were externally evident.

"I know this sounds silly Mr. Xavier, what with all those times you've been telling me I shouldn't assume something's human 'just because some bipedal primates do it', but you weren't acting like yourself. Usually you're so incredibly careful about everything that these last few weeks it was like if you were eating several pounds of candy behind my back."

The cheetah snorted. "That'd be more plausible if we'd ever had any candy for me to eat," he pointed out.

"But it seems you're at least partially back to normal, I'm sure it's just a case of the Channeler screwing with bodily chemistry because of the time-travel, I've already fixed a slew of bugs I found in the thing!"

Xavier emitted a rude sound that could never have come from a human throat. "You think the Channeler's radiation made me go off the rails? Not. You were carrying the damn thing when it went off, hence much closer to it than me, hence you must have sucked up a much higher dose than me. How come I was affected so much worse than you?"

Not giving Brandtford a chance to respond, Xavier went on: "Here's my best guess at what happened: When the fur and fangs were installed… it rewired my brain. And… I'm pretty sure I got some degree of cheetah instincts rolling around in here." And this is why I should've insisted on going back for more data after my last checkup got interrupted… "Left to my own devices, I'd probably start thinking more and more like a cheetah—but normally, I interact with enough humans to reinforce human-type thought patterns. And I haven't had a whole hell of a lot of human interaction recently, hrrm? So…" Xavier shrugged. "Not your fault, kid. Except maybe indirectly, what with your gizmo-ex-machina having sent us back where I could go without human interaction for an extended period. But mostly, it's nobody's fault, just… another damn thing we gotta deal with. For the present…" The cheetah shrugged, then spent a couple of upshifted minutes pondering all the things Brandtford had said after he woke up. "Hrrm. Archimedes, good, making contact with him was always on the to-do list, just doubted it was doable. In the meantime, we may as well collect more of the materials we need. I'm okay with more racing, but in view of how messed-up I got, I think we should start pushing the ventriloquist act. More human interaction for me, hrrm?"

[Ari]

GM

The quiet relief that washed over Martin's face was partially obscured by the immense growth of facial hair he had obtained, but wwas disernable nonetheless.

The cheetah snorted. "That'd be more plausible if we'd ever had any candy for me to eat," he pointed out.

That got an odd look of curiosity

"Hmmmm. I wonder if they have anything really sweet besides honey."

Xavier emitted a rude sound that could never have come from a human throat. "You think the Channeler's radiation made me go off the rails? Not. You were carrying the damn thing when it went off, hence much closer to it than me, hence you must have sucked up a much higher dose than me. How come I was affected so much worse than you?"

Martin scratched at his Methsuelahthian beard "You know, that would help explain all this. I could never grow a beard before we got here, I just thought it was because i stopped shaving every day that this thing sprang up."

He listened closely to the rest of what jay said, nodding at the conclusion to show his agreement before speaking "With you a hundred percent Mr. Xavier, I dare say we'll get more folks who want to 'pretend to' speak with a cheetah than to see a race anyway. I'll see what I can do about getting an audience with Archimedes when he gets back, one of his students has been helping me figure out a good time to meet the guy in his schedule, which is crazily-full, I don't mind telling you" he shook his head in slight amazement "So..very well, I'll start getting the word out about us" he got to his feet, smiling warmly at Jay "If you want to go for a stroll the beaches nearby are quite lovely, and the city has a lot of really neat old buildings and sculptures, stuff that we haven't found in our age!" Patting Jay on the back, Martin walked back through the door, humming cheerfully to himself.

[Cubist]

"I'll see what I can do about getting an audience with Archimedes when he gets back, one of his students has been helping me figure out a good time to meet the guy in his schedule, which is crazily-full, I don't mind telling you."

When he heard these words, Xavier's mind raced: Archie's here! Or he will be when his schedule frees up. Betcha I can help out with that… This timeline's version of Archimedes was at least as intelligent as Prime's version, so it was very likely that he was much smarter than either Xavier or Brandtford—but the temporal exiles had heads full of facts and information several centuries ahead of anything any version of Archimedes would have seen, or invented. And Xavier's power to Timeshift meant that if he could do a thing at all, he could do it in ¹/₄₀ as many clock-hours it would take anyone at a normal tempo.

Yeah… however long a list of tasks the Greek Empire might have dumped on Archimedes, the odds were pretty good that Xavier and the kid would be able to help him burn through it in record time. Basically, we'll be using Archie as a means to an end. Not sure how I should feel about that. Then again, Archie's probably got ten men's curiosity, so odds are, he'd choose to work with us regardless, simply because of what we are and what we'll be asking him to do for us. Pause. Don't think I should mention this particular concern to the kid.

"If you want to go for a stroll the beaches nearby are quite lovely, and the city has a lot of really neat old buildings and sculptures, stuff that we haven't found in our age!"

"I got a better idea," Xavier replied. "I say I drop in on Archie and help him clear up his to-do list A-S-A-P. Whatever minders the Greek Empire has assigned to him, I can get past 'em easy, and I'll bet the man will be curious enough about me that he won't let anyone take me away from him before he's had a decent chance to investigate me. And the sooner he's free, the sooner he can do what we want him to do.

"As for you, Brandtford," the cheetah mused, "I think you should hang back until it's clear that I'll be able to get close to Archie for an extended period of time. Once I've got the 'first contact' all nailed down, then we can think about bringing you in with Archimedes; before that point, you can do whatever you like."

[Ari]

GM

Martin paused mid-stride, swinging in a rather ungainly fashion around to pay closer attention to his dimensionally-displaced comrade. Frowning a little at the plan, he nonetheless nodded along with it as it was spun. "Will do Mr. Xavier, I'll keep on the down-low for now. Archimedes should be here in at least two days, you'll have plenty of time to figure out how to persuade him. More than usual, anyway" he added with a grin "Sure thing! I bet you'll want some fruit or something for a change, and I can get stuff from pretty much every coast of the Mediterranean in the markets here. I'll clear out all the bugs and niggling issues I've found in the Channeler I can. It's strange," he commented, looking over the spiraling disk that had caused so much trouble and smoothed so many over "the more I work with this, the more I realize how little I really understand about it on a non0intuitive level. It's..a little frightening to be honest" he admitted to Jay, pocketing the device and going on his way...

Four days later...

The great scholar arrived in the city with fanfare entirely appropriate for such a beloved and revered figure, and even to Jay's modern eyes the celebrations were spectacular and in many ways quite resourceful for the(comparatively) primitive culture. Martin had been quite free with information on where the man lived, and thus it was child's-play to circumvent the rigorous network of guards and protective measures placed around(and some possibly constructed by) Archimedes. Of note to the time-warping feline were the small steam-powered devices littering some of the larger workrooms the inventor's house contained.

The place was airy and well-lit with light from the sun, and Jubatus found the grey-bearded Greek poring over a large papyrus diagram of a ship on a window ledge and making small corrections of the math lines around it, a small table next to him bearing fruit, bread, meat and wine which he quietly took small bites and sips from at long intervals. The place was almost perfectly silent. A bird suddenly chirped in the garden just outside the window, and the man looked directly into Jay's eyes as he started. He stared in evident surprise.

[Cubist]

Fortunately, Brandtford was willing to go along with the feline's scheme. Xavier didn't bother to correct the kid when he suggested that Xavier, an obligate carnivore, might enjoy some fruit; the kid meant well, and it wasn't like he was actually trying to cram an apple down Xavier's gullet…

"I'll clear out all the bugs and niggling issues I've found in the Channeler I can. It's strange; the more I work with this, the more I realize how little I really understand about it on a non0intuitive level. It's..a little frightening to be honest" he admitted to Jay…

Xavier nodded solemnly. "Good. You should be frightened. Your little toy mucks with the fabric of the space-time continuum; the worst-case scenario makes a negasphere look like a soggy firecracker."

---

Archimedes was due to show up in four days. During this period, Xavier made a point of chatting with the kid more than he ordinarily would have, even if they were back home—and then there were the 'talking cat' exhibitions he and Brandtford put on after dusk. Xavier was quite serious about engaging in something like social interactions with humans, it seemed. The time-lost travelers' 'ventriloquist act' was an appropriate, even welcome, addition to the festivities that heralded Archimedes' arrival—and it also added a few more chunks of metal and such to the pile of resources they'd already accumulated.

When the savant himself actually did arrive, Xavier gave him a few hours to settle in before intruding on his personal space. The intrusion proper went smoothly; at Xavier's Timeshifted tempo of 40, it would have taken more than one act of god (or gods) to serve as anything like an effective obstruction.

Okay, let him take the lead. The more he feels in control, the less likely it is he'll call a guard or whatever. Xavier made sure he was standing on his hind legs before he downshifted; no sense compounding the shock of his sudden appearance with the further shock of it being a quadrupedal predator that (seemingly) 'poofed' into existence from nothing. And when he did…

"Ah." Just that one syllable, calm and without even ultrasonic overtones of distress. And Archimedes gazed at the feline with raised eyebrows and an interested gaze: "I believe I may owe Kaurus an apology. Between 'Jay' and 'Jubatus', have you any preference?"

"Call me Jay," the feline said… Oh crap, should I shake hands or… oh. Of course I do. Magic translator effect again, I guess. …and offered his right forepaw to Archimedes, who accepted it and performed the gesture of greeting. "The other one is a name I perform under."

"Yours is a… remarkable… voice, Jay. Does it pain you to make such… sounds?"

Xavier managed not to wince. He doesn't know, of course he's curious. "Not physically, but… I used to have a good voice."

Archimedes paused a moment, then nodded. "I see… You must excuse my poor hospitality, but I have a good deal of work to do."

"Anything I can help with?"

"Perhaps…" The human gave Xavier a calculating look. "What knowledge have you of the physical sciences?"

Shrug. "Pick a problem and try me."

"I shall. The problem at hand involves control of the flow of lava…"

[Ari]

GM

The interview proceeded quite smoothly from there("...I see. What if, to use the Socratic, we applied that same principle to constructing ships?..."), with the aging Greek increasingly impressed and encouraged by Jay's dexterous mind and expansive knowledge, particularly the field of constructing mechanisms. No slouch himself, Archimedes eagerly challenged his new acquaintance with increasingly knotted problems, though he never strayed from real world applications, and in fact seemed to be using this valuable opportunity to bounce ideas off another head for solving difficulties he had often encountered. For a little over an hour they talked, before at last Archimedes abruptly switched to a wholly different topic.

"So, it is possible to have non-square portals? Intriguing; I will inform the chief architect of this as soon as I can. And don't tell me how to work it out," he added with a warm smile at Jay "I'd prefer to work it out myself, more enjoyable to find out how things like that work than to to be merely told how. Now, Jay, enough about my construction woes, who are you? Where are you from? I have only heard vague and entirely unbelievable reports of beasts-" he frowned and bowed his head slightly in Jay's direction "I ask your pardon for the term, but again, ridiculous tales and legends of animals that walk like men. Are they true or merely formed around a kernel of fact?" he looked at Jubatus with undisguised interest, a look very different from Martin's deferential attitude.

[Cubist]

Archimedes proved to be at least as intelligent as history claimed, if not more so. Wonder if this guy's heard of Daedalus? "Heard of", hell—wonder if he is Daedalus? This timeline's version, anyway… In many cases, Xavier was utterly ignorant of some specific details of the questions the Greek asked, so he had to work from first principles to come up with even vaguely reasonable answers.

"Now, Jay, enough about my construction woes, who are you? Where are you from?"

"Well…" Xavier upshifted, making extra time to consider his reply. Don't want to contaminate this time period with information from uptime. But if I lie or dissemble, Archie's probably gonna know it; he's not familiar with me, true, but he's damn perceptive. The thought occured to Xavier that he was second-guessing himself, followed closely by the comforting realization that this probably meant he wouldn't suffer any lingering after-effects from his recent… psychological misadventure. All the time he hadn't quite been himself, he'd been utterly, completely, 1,000% confident in himself and his judgements… Feh. Truth it is. This guy wrote The Sand Reckoner; if anybody in this time period can handle the truth, it's Archimedes! Xavier returned to the common tempo of 1. "…I started out as a normal human, and am currently a cheetah, plus-or-minus a few anatomical differences. The switchover happened about a year ago. As to where I'm from, that gets complicated; the short answer is, I was born about 2,000 years from now." Unbidden, the next words of the song—"When they landed on the Moon, I showed them how"—passed through his mind.

The human absorbed this answer with surprisingly little disbelief. "I believe I comprehend your situation. You wish to return to your proper time; doing so would appear to require large quantities of metal and other resources; and rather than satisfy your needs by means of theft or exploiting your advanced knowledge in ways that we of this time would be powerless to resist, you have chosen to earn what you need by means of performing as an… apologies, but 'trained animal' is really the only term which fits. These facts speak well of you." Clearly, Archimedes was well-informed about the recent doings of the two time-lost travelers. "Whatever secrets the future may hold, I will not ask you to reveal them. However—"

"—I have only heard vague and entirely unbelievable reports of beasts-" he frowned and bowed his head slightly in Jay's direction "I ask your pardon for the term, but again, ridiculous tales and legends of animals that walk like men. Are they true or merely formed around a kernel of fact?" he looked at Jubatus with undisguised interest, a look very different from Martin's deferential attitude.

Oh, hell… "in for a penny, in for a pound". "If you're asking whether there's more like me, no. I'm one-of-a-kind, or at least I hope I am, because it'd really suck if the scuzzwad who did this to me went on to hit any other victims. As for those stories you refer to? Odds are, they're bogus. The thing is, it's a big Universe, and there's lots of sentient races out there. But almost none of them come from Earth, so while it's mathematically possible that any one story of this kind might be a reliable report of a non-human sophont, every one of 'em is so improbable that in the absence of hard data, you're justified in dismissing any such story as a fabrication."

"'Almost none."

Damn, he's sharp. "Yeah, but there's not a lot of solid information about Earth's non-human races, or at least none I have access to—all I really know for sure is the names, 'Serpent People' and 'Deep Ones'…"

The conversation was still going strong when the Sun rose.

[Ari]

GM

Throughout the conversation Archimedes had been quite calm and restrained, only slight adjustments of his facial muscles showing any surprise or emotion beyond avid curiosity. Deeply glad at the chance for such an illuminating conversation, he promised to never reveal Jay's true nature in order to preserve "...what little of the timeline can be saved" he said with a wink. The only condition he made for the two's departure was that he be allowed to see them off. He even pitched in to help build the powerful generator needed to boost the Dimensional Channeler, correcting a few slight errors with Martin and Jay's math behind their backs. The thing looked like a large grey wheel bound with copper wires, studded with small lumps of gold, and with a metal wheel connected to a large crank that supplemented the charge generated with a smaller wheel fashioned as a treadmill for Jubatus. A small group of slaves the ancient Greek trusted were in another room, waiting to dismantle the device once it had achieved its purpose.

After a short interview with Martin(during which the boy's glee and starstruckness would be difficult to exaggerate), Archimedes worked the crank, while Jay spun the wheel, the electric current sent by copper and zinc rods into the convenient socket the young physicist found on the underside. Once again sliding into the water at the baths Archimedes had commandeered, the two resumed the approximate proximity they'd been in when the Channeler accidentally activated, and with a click of the buttons, a surge of power, and a feeling like being tossed around a whirlpool upside down, the two were sent spiraling through time and dimensions...

The aging inventor glanced at the generator, stroking his beard "There can be no harm," he told himself "in merely examining a few of its properties..."

ASTRO Labs...

With a tremendous splash, the Martin and Jay landed in the tank, which had previously been emptied to prevent any leaking into the other rooms. The small gaggle of technicians talking over the event started and whirled around, shouts of amazement filling the air as they saw the heavily-bearded Martin and the rather scruffier-looking Jay. Quickly putting down ladders for them, the questions flew thick and fast about where they had been, how they had gotten back, and why they smelled like weird perfume...

[Cubist]

The first time Jay Xavier deliberately inserted a minor error into his calculations, his intent was to see if the kid, Brandtford, would catch it. That the error was caught, was merely expected; that the correction was not in the kid's handwriting, but, instead, had been inscribed by the hand of Archimedes, came as a surprise. Xavier's mind boggled, a little. We've got somewhere over two thousand years of accumulated scientific knowledge on the man, and with minimal exposure to it all, he grasps the concepts well enough to identify and correct mistakes!? Unless Archie's a temporal exile himself..? Naah. We should be so lucky.

That settled it: There was no way in Hell, Hades, the Elysian Fields, or Niflheim that Archimedes could be allowed to retain custody of the hardware he was helping them build, not for any appreciable length of time! Since the two temporal exiles should never have been here-and-now in the first place, it was clearly an ethical imperative for them to inflict the smallest amount of alteration on this timeline that they could manage. It was equally clear that, the Syracusian savant being who and what he was, leaving any futuristic technology behind would contravene that imperative. Thoth only knew how much Archie had already learned from talking to him and the kid, and working on the generator; while that was bad enough on its own, there was no sense making the problem any worse than it was going to be anyway. Fortunately, there was a simple solution to this problem: All they had to do was make sure the generator's lubrication was inadequate, and friction would do the rest. No matter how smart Archimedes was, there was no bleeding way a man of this time period would be able to learn one damned thing from a pile of ash, charred wooden beams, and heat-warped (if not just plain melted) wires.

---

With the Greek Empire's greatest polymath (and the resources he commanded by virtue of that status) assisting them, it wasn't so very long before the machinery was complete and functional. There was the generator, and the capstan—the kid insisted on calling it a 'treadmill', for whatever reason—on which Xavier would run to make that generator spin. At the feline's insistence, they'd tested every one of the components and subassemblies at every step of the way. So it was that the finished mechanism held no surprises whatsoever; so it was that the final one-tenth-speed test run yielded precisely the calculated amount of electricity (which everyone noted), not to mention the amount of waste heat that Xavier had privately calculated (which no one else, particularly not Brandtford, was aware of). Emboldened by the test results, the kid said, "Now that we know for certain it's all working, let's go home!"

Xavier snorted. "Right now, this late in the day? Not. We're all hungry and tired, and that's just asking for somebody to screw up somehow. Let's get some sleep, and light the fuse tomorrow after breakfast, when we're all properly fed and rested. Much better odds then."

Later that evening, well after a large dinner, Brandtford approached the feline. Speaking quietly, so as not to disturb anyone in earshot who might be trying to rest, he said, "Um… Mr. Xavier, I want to apologize."

Under cover of darkness, Xavier frowned. Why does anyone even say they "want to" apologize? If you want to apologize, don't talk about it, just do it! "If you've messed with someone, find the guy and apologize to them," he said with a shrug that the kid probably couldn't see. "Anyone stopping you?"

"Sir, I'm trying to apologize to the man I've wronged, but I'm not sure if you're going to let me!"

Ah: Still feeling guilty over the whole careless-temporal-kidnap thing. "Don't worry about it, Brandtford. Yes, you were an idiot, but you acknowledged your mistake, and you've been—"

"No!" the kid said with as much force as he could put into a whisper. Hm. Martin Brandtford, who's usually a quarter-inch away from worshipping the pavement I run on, just interrupted me? Bemused, Xavier allowed the kid to continue. "No, this is different. I, um, just figured out why you've been in such an all-fired hurry to get back home."

"Sure: I'm a speedster. What did you expect?"

"No, Mr. Xavier. I'm talking about the real reason, which you wouldn't ever mention on your own."

Oh, joy and rapture. Wait for it…

"Cheetahs in captivity… don't live longer than maybe 20 years, at most."

Bingo.

The kid's whisper got even softer: "And with your high-speed metabolism…"

Since Brandtford was apparently unable to complete the thought, Xavier did it for him: "I pretty much have to assume I'm gonna drop dead within 2-3 calendar years of when the fur coat arrived." Leave it alone, kid. This is a conversation we really don't need to have. Let's see if I can squelch it… "Yes, it sucks great green rocks with a Dixie straw. But if the universe gave a damn about me or my preferences, I wouldn't have the fur coat, or the deadline that came with it. What's your point?"

"My point is, I'm responsible for wasting a big fraction of whatever time you—"

"Thought so. Save it, Brandtford; talk is real cheap. You want me to know you're sorry, you make damn sure the screw-up that put us here never happens again."

The kid was silent for some time, long enough for Xavier to begin second-guessing himself: Was I too hard on the kid? No—he came to me for absolution, and I don't do absolution. Anyway, this isn't a damn movie; it's my life he messed with when he made that stupid mistake, and there's no Scriptwriter out there to make sure it all works out in the end. Brandtford's Channeler device commands an absolutely terrifying level of power, and he [bg=black]xxxxixx[/bg] well needs to start taking the bloody thing seriously…

"Yes, sir. It won't happen again, sir."

---

The night passed uneventfully. In the morning, after a fine Mediterranean breakfast, Xavier insisted on one final review of the machinery, just in case there had been any changes (no matter how minor) overnight.

There hadn't been, praise Murphy for staying the hell out of it.

When Xavier got on the capstan and started moving, something bothered him right off the bat; something he couldn't put a clawtip on immediately… Okay, what's wrong here? The big wheel's turning smoothly, Brandtford isn't displaying any signs of concern over the power flow, I'm not overheat—oh, [bg=black]xxix[/bg]! The lubrication! For the moving parts were turning smoothly. Too smoothly. And the bearings weren't getting anywhere near hot enough to even char, let alone ignite, the wooden framework. Could Archie have recognized that there wasn't, or at least hadn't been, enough oil? If so…

"Okay, we've got a full charge!" the kid called out. [bg=black]xxix[/bg], [bg=black]xxix[/bg], [bg=black]xxix[/bg]! Need a second run, without sufficient oil, but how?—don't know how I could 'accidentally' discharge the Channeler, and wouldn't dare try it even if I did know— "Time to go home now. Right, Mr. Xavier?"

Going home: The prize he'd always been telling Brandtford they should keep their eyes on. Aargh! No contest. And this was never our timeline anyway, so whatever collateral damage happens, it's not our problem. "Hrrm, right. Goodbye, Archimedes. Don't take this the wrong way, but I hope we never meet again."

The Syracusian nodded with a thoughful expression. "I perceive the intended meaning, and share the sentiment. Goodbye to you, Jay Xavier, and you, Martin Brandtford."

---

Water, check; fully charged Channeler, check; Archimedes backed off well beyond the Channeler's maximum radius of effect, check. And when Brandtford hit the 'go' button, the two time-lost travelers slipped between the cracks of Eternity…

It was impossible to say how long they spent in the atemporal 'space' between timelines. More than long enough for Xavier to review his memories of where everyone had been at which moments, and therefore who even could have meddled with the lubrication.

And then, after splashdown, after the informal debriefing, when Xavier and the kid finally had some time to themselves: "You topped off the capstan's oil reservoir, didn't you," the feline said in an overly calm tone.

"The treadmill? You bet I did!" Brandtford proudly replied. "I'm sure you were just distracted, or you would've done it yourself, right?" Then he noticed Xavier's expression; not the 'pleased acknowledgement of a job well done' he'd expected, but, rather, an unreadably neutral mask. "I… It made the process more efficient. Minimized the energy lost to friction."

Xavier nodded. "Yep. Because the waste heat could easily have been enough to ignite the wooden framework."

"Well, sure. And that, uh, would have been bad…" The kid paused, his enthusiasm drained by Xavier's continuing impassiveness. "Wait. You… wanted it to burn..?"

"Rather than let Archimedes study the mechanism at his leisure? Damn right I wanted it to burn."

Now Brandtford got it. "Oh, boy," he said in a very small voice…

Xavier sighed, a peculiar sound coming from his inhuman throat. "Well, what's done is done. Strictly speaking, all you really did was save Archie the trouble of having to reconstruct the thing from memory, however long that would've taken him in between inventing new marvels for the Greek Empire… hrrrmphht." Let it go, Jay. What's done is done. However bad a mess we left behind us, it's stupid to take the risk of making it worse with ignorant meddling.

"We… we've got to do something! Gotta go back and fix it! We…" Brandtford's voice trailed off under Xavier's force-12 glare.

"You," the irate feline declared, "are a naive. Headstrong. Optimistic." -- he snarled the word as if it were a vile curse -- "Willful. Idiot. Who should be kept on a very short leash. You are awfully damned lucky I don't believe in killing or maiming, because the logical thing to do with you would be to lobotomize you before you can tangle up every existing timeline in a snarl that makes the Gordian Knot look like a straight line." Xavier glowered at the kid for a moment… Damnit, he does need to be kept on a short leash. But who can be trusted to hold the far end of that leash? Sure, I could browbeat him into promising never to screw with dimensions again, but odds are, such a promise wouldn't last two weeks. Savitar preserve me, there's only one way forward that I can see has any hope of being a viable option…

The feline inhaled deeply, then released his breath with an overextended hissing sound. "Okay. Here's the deal, Brandtford: You never work with that Channeler by yourself—you always have some kind of adult supervision when you're playing with the damn thing. And if you ever feel the need to go timeline-hopping on purpose? You always run the idea past me, before you do anything else, and both of us have to agree on the before-hop preparations. And once we agree on the prep-work, we make the agreed-on preparations. And we make 'em before we leave the here-and-now. Got it?"

Brandtford looked like he wanted to throw up. Good; he's actually beginning to take it seriously. "Y-yes, sir, Mr. Xavier. I, I got it."

---

And in a timeline far, far away, Archimedes stroked his beard as he paced around the machinery his recent guests had left behind. "There can be no harm," he told himself, "in merely examining a few of its properties..."