“I guess not,” Mathilda said. She took the stabilizer and hooked it up to a device her mother had installed in her wrist. At that moment, I wondered what else Freyja had done to her daughter. What else had she installed?

“The ship is preparing to fire,” Jennifer announced.

Mathilda frowned. “Just another second. This isn’t easy, you know. Ok, I think I’ve got it. Eveyone get in close. Ready?”

We did as Mathilda said and then the world began to quake. “They’re firing!”

“Do it!” I yelled. “Do it now!”

“Ok,” she replied, looking terrified. “Here goes nothing…”

We were suddenly falling. Slowly. The buidling was gone, the monitor, the walls, the floor. All gone. My eyes began to hurt. My throat, my lungs, began to burn. I had trouble breathing. What had Freyja done?

Suddenly a metallic hand shot toward my face. Falling, gasping for air, I couldn’t dodge it. It grew, covering my whole face. And then I could breath again. Air! My lungs still hurt, but the new air was pure, breathable. I felt the ground slowly rise to meet me. Then a window appeared. I was seated on the ground in a desert. A metallic tube connected my facemask to other tubes, other people.

It wasn’t hard to recognize Jamal even underneath the mask and with my eyes still hurting. Mathilda was holding onto him. Last was Jen. Realizing that, I was then able to deduce that it had been Alan who saved us, transforming himself into a multiperson rebreather. I took in where we were, the desolate area, the reddish tinted sky, the small moon moving quickly through the sky. We were still on Mars.

“Hello?” I was surprised to hear Jennifer’s voice in my ear.

“You ok?” I replied.

“What the hell just happened?” she asked. “Did Freyja destroy the whole planet? Is this all that’s left?”

I felt fairly certain replying, “No. This isn’t what Mars’d look like after the Surtr strike. Tilly did it. We traveled back to the past, but the question is… how far?”

“What do you mean how far?” Jennifer asked. “Do you think we went all the back to prehistory?”

“No!” Jamal insisted. “My daughter said she was going to send us back to our time, so she sent us back to our!”

“Ok,” I said calmly, “Let’s assume she did. Let’s assume we’re back in our own time…is that a good thing?”

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

They were met in the docking bay by General Little of the Martian Defense Force. He was not happy. “So this was all a complete failure?”

“Looks like it, sir. I’m sorry, but we knew our chances at stopping Freyja were small. We had to try.”

“So then death comes to Mars,” the General said. “Fine then, if death comes, we will meet it head on! All hands to battlestations!” The Martian Defense Force bursted into action.

We found a quiet place to observe it all. Just trying to not get in the way. Jamal and Mathilda sat side by side, partly eager to be together, and partly creeped out by the other’s new appearance. Suddenly, a siren went off. “That’s it,” Mathilda said, pointing to a holographic projection. “She’s here.”

A giant ship appeared hovering above Mars. “What is that?” I asked, having never seen such a massive ship.

ALAN replied, “It is a ship built to emit a beam of pure energy powerful enough to seer the surface of a planet. Classification: Surtr. World Destroyer.”

“World destroyer?” Jennifer gasped. “That’s just a name, right? That ship can’t actually destroy this planet, can it?”

“Destroy the planet like blow it up?” Mathilda replied. “No, but it can burn the entire surface of the planet.”

“So we’re screwed here?” Jennifer asked.

“No,” I replied. “There’s always a way out, always a way to win. We just have to figure it out.”

“There’s no way we can stop the Surtr,” Mathilda said, “but I may have a way to save our lives.”

“What is it?” Jamal asked.

“Time travel,” she replied.

“Time Travel?” Jennifer asked.

“Yes,” Mathilda said. “Time Travel. Freyja has been training me to be her successor. I know how to open up a time portal. I can get us out of here. There’s just one problem. I don’t have the power. I can’t do it without a major power soure. Freyja doesn’t give me access to the temporal chips.”

“That makes sense,” Jen said.

“Yes,” Tilly agreed, “but it still means we’re stuck here unless we can find something to replace it with.”

“Actually,” I said, thinking of the older Mathilda, “I think I have something that could help.”

“What? What could you possibly have on that could provide enough energy to open a temporal portal?” Mathilda said.

“This.” I took out the stabilizer. “It’s filled with unstable quantum energy drained from my body. I think itll do that job.”

“But it’s unstable,” Mathilda said. “Will that be safe?”

I looked at the monitor, at the Surtr powering up. “Do we have a choice?”

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

Instaneously, we were transported onto a Martian Saucer leaving Earth’s orbit. “We did it!” Jamal grabbed his daughter and gave her the best hug he could. Jennifer quickly joined in and then so did I. “We’re safe.”

“I don’t know about that,” Hodge said. He was staring at a monitor. “We may be out of the palace, but we’re still on the run from Freyja.”

“Is she pursuing us?” I asked. Hodge shrugged. “I don’t know, but do you really thing she’d let us just walk away?”

“Are you talking about us?” Mathilda asked. “Or the invasion?”

Hodge replied. “Does it matter?”

“We need to go the bridge,” I said. “We need to speak to whoever’s in charge.”

Hodge nodded. “Follow me.” We entered the bridge and it was a mess. “Where’s the captain?” Hodge asked.

“Dead,” said the only man still standing, pointing to a corpse.

“What happened?” Hodge asked.

“Freyja’s forces attacked us. Obviously, your mission failed. You’re just lucky you caught us in time.”

“You were going to leave me?” Hodge looked apalled.

The other man said, “You were supposed to kill Freyja. You weren’t supposed to come back. And you certainly weren’t supposed to bring guests.”

“This is the legendary Unstable Man,” Hodge said introducing me.

“Uh, Frank Clay,” I said, but no one seemed to care.

“And that,” the other man thrust a finger at Mathilda, “is Freyja’s daughter! Did you think she would let us just take her?”

“They’re following us?” I asked.

“Not yet,” the man said. “But they will be.”

I replied, “Then we need to get out of here.”“

That’s real smart thinking,” the man said sarcastically. “Why didn’t I think of that.”

I gritted my teeth. “Then why are we still here?”

The man frowned and turned back to the control. “Prepare for Hyperjump. Hyperjump in 3…2…1…Jump!”

And then we hovering above Mars. I looked at the viewscreen in wonder at the magnicient golden cities. “You need to get the rest of the fleet in order,” Jamal said.

The man laughed. “What fleet? We sent all our ships to Earth.”

“You sent all your ships?” I gasped. “Don’t tell me Mars is undefended?”

“No,” Hodge said. “We have a defense system.”

“Then we better get down there,” Mathilda said. “You better get your defense system activted. You better get everyone ready for an attack. Because my mother is coming. She’s coming and she’s going to kill everyone.”

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

I heard the girl scream and pushed my way inside. “Relax, Tilly. It’s me Frank and that’s your father.”

But the girl wasn’t buying it. Jennifer stepped forward. “Tilly, he is your father. Freyja sent us back in time. Your father was attacked. We had to replace his body.”

“Jennifer?” Mathilda asked. Jennifer nodded. Tilly turned to Jamal “Daddy?”

“It’s me, baby.” And then they hugged. Then suddenly Mathilda pulled away. “What the hell took you so long? I’ve been stuck here for four years! Four years!”

“I’m sorry we couldn’t get here earlier,” Jamal began. “I’m so sorry. I wish we could have, but you wouldn’t…”

I stopped him before he said any more. Tilly isn’t supposed to know about her older self even if she was an older version than we’d expected. “We should get out of here,” I said. “It’s only a matter of time before Freyja knows we’re here.”

“But,” Jen asked “how can we leave?”

“I…I know a way,” Hodge said. “It’s my backup plan. In case I fail in my mission. I turn on a beacon that will signal the ships.”

“What are you waiting for?” Jamal demanded. “Do it!”

Hodge frowned, then slowly nodded. “All right, everyone get in close.” Hodge pressed a button on his wrist and then…nothing happened.

“Well…?” Mathilda asked.

Hodge looked embarrassed. “Uh…”

Mathilda shook her head. “The palace is probably blocking the transmission.”

“Right,” Hodge agreed. “We need to get to a…uh…”

Mathilda sighed loudly. She ran out of the room. “Follow me!” She looked over her shoulder. “Great rescue, guys. Seriously.”

“Warning!” ALAN’s alarm went off. “Incoming hostile targets.”

I glanced back and saw a half dozen robot guards coming toward us. “ALAN! Take them down!”

ALAN stopped immediately and transformed. Guns sprouted from his body. He fired at the incoming robots. The closest exploded in a fiery mass. The second had its left side blown off. But they continued getting closer. ALAN fired again. The robots kept coming and ALAN was forced ot retreat, keeping himself between us and the robots.

“Anything?” I asked, huffing and puffing.

“Nothing,” Hodge replied.

“Hurry!” I yelled.

“I’m trying!” Hodge yelled back. ALAN destroyed another robot as explosions ripped apart his body.

“We’re running out of time!”

“In here!” Mathilda called and led us into a room that appeared to be in a glass dome. We could see the last of the saucers being destroyed.

“Is there anybody left?” Jennifer asked.

I said, “We have no choice. Hodge, do it!” ALAN ejected a small body from his form and joined us.

“Ready?” he asked. The robot guards came flying into the room.

“Now!” Jamal yelled.

Hodge pressed the button.

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

“My name is Hodge. I know a secret way to the throneroom. Follow me.” Hodge led them down the hall for another five minutes. He stopped suddenly in the middle of the hall. There was nothing to indicate this foot of wall was anything different from any other. He put on a glove and it molded around his hand. He placed the glove against the wall and suddenly the wall began to become opaque.

“It is a secret passage. We lost thirty men finding out about it. Their lives will not be in vain, Freyja will die tonight! Let’s go!” Hodge led us to a matter transporter. “A direct path to the throneroom. Be prepared. She will be not be caught unawares.”

We appeared in Freyja’s throneroom and were ready for an attack, but there was none coming. The room was empty. The room looked exactly as we had last seen it, but how long ago had that been? For us, it had been months, but how long had it been here? Had it been hours, days, months, years? Or was this earlier than our last visit? Had that not even happened yet? All I knew was that this was not the exact same time as when we had first been here. There had been no Martian invasion then… I think.

“She’s not here,” Hodge said, panicking. “Where is she?”

Jamal was also acting manic. “Where’s my daughter? I need to find her!”

“Shaz!” Hodge yelled. “Freyja must be at the tower fighting the assault by hand!”

He started to run, but Jamal grabbed him with his teeth. Jamal threw Hodge to the ground. “You’re not going anywhere until you tell me where my daughter is!”

“I don’t know where she is. How would I know?” Jamal bared his teeth and then Hodge added, “But I could probably make a guess. I’d say she was either with Freyja in the tower. Or…or I don’t know in her room.”

“Her room?” Jamal asked.

“Yes. The Princess suite is probably down that way.”

“Checking palace floorplans,” ALAN buzzed. “Affirmative. To the Princess suite.”

“What at you waiting for?” Jamal growled. “Lead the way tin can!”

ALAN took off with Jamal close behind, Jen and I following, but I stopped as I entered the corridor and turned around. “You coming?”

Hodge looked at me then toward the tower then back at me then the tower. “I…” Then sighed. “Let’s find his daughter. Hurry!”

We raced down the hall surprisingly unabated, the whole palace seemed deserted, until we reached the Princess suite. Jamal pushed past ALAN into the room. I could hear the girl scream and rushed inside. “Tilly, it’s just your father! We had to…Oh my god!”

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

We were on ground level. The magnificient white buildings were towering over us, but down here all we saw was trash and muck.”What are we doing down here?” I asked. “Why aren’t we up higher? Why aren’t we in Freyja’s throneroom?”

“Because this is where you have to be,” Mathilda said to my dissatisfactoin. “Besides, it’s not very safe up there at the moment.”

“Why what’s going on up there?” I asked.

“Oh nothing much,” she replied. “Just the martian invasion.”

“Martian…?”

Mathilda pointed up to the sky. I strained my eyes, miles up, above the towering buildings, I could see only flashing lights. A screen appeared on ALAN’s chest. It showed flying saucers fighting giant robots.

“Oh my god,” Jennifer gasped.

“You have to move,” Mathilda said. “Now. There’s no time ot waste. The Independent Martian Federation will not survive much longer.” A doorway appeared in the side of the building. “Go!” Mathilda commanded pushing us forward. “Hurry!”

Jamal stopped. “Aren’t you coming with us?”

Mathilda shook her head. “No. Sorry. I can’t. Temporal parodoxies. I can’t let younger me see older me, but you need to see her. You need to save her. Now, while the Martians have Freyja distracted.”

“Tilly…” Jamal started.

“Dad,” she interrupted. “It was nice seeing you again. I’ve missed you.” And then she was gone.

“Jamal!” I called. “We should go. If she’s right, we don’t have much time. If she’s not…”

Jamal snarled at me. “She’s right.”

He ran past me down the hall. I followed him through the tunnels of the bowels of Freyja’s palace with Jeniifer behind me and ALAN in the rear. But our running didn’t last long until we came upon a lone palace guardsman patrolling the tunnels. Startled, he turned his weapon on us. Jamal attacked. Faced with an attacking dinosaur, the man screamed and fired wildly. Jamal ripped the man’s gun away with his teeth.

“No!” the guardsman screamed. “You will not take me alive! Freyja’s mutant scum! I will not yeild to your tyranny!”

“Wait!” Jennifer yelled. “Wait! He’s not with Freyja! Jamal!”

Jamal hesitated, then backed away. “Are you sure?”

“We’re not with Freyja either,” she told the man dressed as a palace guard. “We’re not mutants. We’re here to rescue Jamal’s daughter.”

“And I am to simply believe you?” the man asked. “You who walk with a Jotun?”

I stepped forward. “Yes. My name is Frank Clay.”

The man gasped. “The legendary Unstable Man?”

“Um…that’s not really…no one calls me that,” I stammered.

“Maybe we should start,” Jennifer joked.

“We don’t have time for this,” Jamal roared impatiently. “We have to find my daughter! We have to save her from Freyja!”

“Freyja really has taken you daughter?” the man asked, ready to believe us, but still cautious. “I am with the IMF. I am going to the throneroom to kill Freyja. You can come with me.”

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

“I injected him with nanos,” the woman said matter of factly. “They’re going to restructure his skeleton. They’re going to make his jaw more pliable and his tounge more flexible. They’re also going to make his hands more dexterous. I mean, I love my dad and all, but that scooby-doo talking can get annoying pretty quickly.”

“And we’re just supposed to believe you’re Mathilda?” I asked. “We’re just supposed to trust you?”

“Tell your robot to scan me,” she said. “No mods can beat a Jotun scanner.”

“But your nanos can corrupt his scanners,” I rebutted.

“True.” She smiled. “Don’t tell me you don’t recognize me, Uncle Frank? Besides, who else would risk their neck coming to save your asses?”

“Wratch yourrr langrage young lady,” Jamal said, picking himself off from the ground.

“Jamal, she might not be…”

“She is,” he cut me off. “I know mry daughterrr. No matterrr how old she is.”

“That’s good enough for me,” Jennifer said.

“ALAN?” I asked.

“Confirmed. 100% match for Mathilda Sampson.” I nodded. “Ok. You’re Tilly. So now why don’t you tell me what the hell you’re doing here? Or more importantly how?”

“What I’m doing here? Isn’t it obvious? I’m here to rescue you,” she replied.

“What took you so long?” I demand. “Why are you here now?”

“Why now?” she echoed “Because this is when it happens. This is when I save you.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“There are rules that need to be followed,” Mathilda explained. “The universe depends on it. Time travel is serious business. We’re talking about cause and effect. Small changes can have enormous unexpected impacts. It’s the reason the Time Cops exist. Not even Freyja would dare break the rules. I’m here now because it’s the only time I could be.”

“So you can send us back?” Jennifer asked.

“Yes,” Mathilda replied. “I’m here to send you back to the future, so you can save me.”

“You can send us back to when we left?” Jamal asked eagerly, sounding amazingly like his old self. “You can send us back to Freyja’s castle?”

“I can,” Mathilda carefully chose her words. “But remember I can only do so much. Certain things must happen. Certain things I can’t change. I can only send you when I can send you. There’s a time you’re supposed to be there and I can’t do it any sooner. Time can only be bent so much.”

“But we can save you?” Jamal asked, his raptor face full of hope.

Mathilda smiled. “Not only can you, dad. You will. You have to. But,” she added, “you have to do it now. This is the time.”

Mathilda squeezed her hand and with a flash we were in the future.

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

And so days passed. Days became weeks. Weeks became months. Jamal and I would go out hunting, though most of the time it was ALAN how caught our food. Jennifer would disect it before we would eat.

Each day I would take a shot from the stabilizer. The pain would be excrutiating, but it would have to be done. Slowly, but surely my body started to get into shape. It was the 1st time I had been in 1 body for so long in years. It was kind of strange. But the good times couldn’t last.

“The buildup of instability in the stabilizer is getting too big. I don’t know how much more it can take. We have to figure out something to do with it,” Jennifer continued. “If we don’t the whole thing could explode. We don’t know the damage it could do. The quantum energy could be catastrophic! It could destroy the future!”

“I don’t think we have to worry about that.” We all turned to the sound of the new voice. “Trust me. I just came from there. It’s fine.”

The woman that entered the cave looked to be in her thirties. She had light brown skin and shortly cropped black hair. She appeared to be wearing tight leather pants, a blue t-shirt, and a brown coat that was much too heavy for the prehistorical summer heat. I say ‘appeared’ because I noticed her swirling multicolored eye mod that made me think that her clothes were likely some futuristic material.

“‘Oo t’ ‘ell arrre yoo?” Jamal growled.

The woman laughed. “I’m going to assume it’s because of your strange new eyes you don’t recognize me. “That and I’m something like 20 years older than the last time you saw me, but seriously, Dad, come on.”

Jamal’s reptilean jaw dropped. “‘Ahtilda?”

The woman curtsied. “In the flesh.”

“I don’t underrrstan’,” Jamal said as this older, stranger Mathilda walked toward him. “‘Ow? Ry?”

“Hold that thought,” Mathilda interrupted. She took from her pocket something that looked very much like a pen, then slammed it hard into Jamal’s skin. Jamal flinched. I raised my gun. And the woman, she giggled. “Don’t worry. I’ve only just injected him with nanites.”

“You what?” I screamed as Jamal roared out in pain.

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

“No problem,” I told her. “We’ll just create a quantum stability chamber, right, ALAN?”

“Negative,” ALAN replied. “There are insufficient materials.”

“Insufficient?” I repeated. “How can we not have enough materials?”

“There are several key components that are unavailable to us at this time.”

“You can’t create them with this new body?”

“Negative. I cannot”

“Now what are we going to do, Frank?” Jennifer asked.

“Don’t worry, Doc,” I told her, “We’ll think of something.”

“ALAN scan Frank for quantum instability.”

“Scanning…Quantum instability at 32%.”

“32% Frank!” Jennifer repeated. “What are we going to do? If we don’t do something you’ll be dead in a few days!”

“Don’t know, Doc, but I think we’re all getting tired. Maybe we should get some sleep.”

“Sleep?” Jennifer responded incredulously. “Sleep!”

“We’ve all been up for a day and a half, except Jamal who almost died and switched bodies. I think sleep might do us some good.”

Jennifer reluctantly agreed. I don’t know about her, but I didn’t get much sleep. I was too busy trying to figure out a solution. Fortunately, my restless night brought with it a solution. If recreating the box wasn’t a solution, we would have to go for a smaller device. Before we created the box, David and I had used what we called the Stabilizer. The stabilizer had been a lot less permanent solution. There were 2 problems with the stabilizer, 1) it needed ot be used daily, and 2) the instability remained within the stabilizer. The instability would need build up and need to be discharged somehow. Unfortunately this was a problem we never solved.

It was also the cause of David’s death.

By the time Jennifer woke up, ALAN and I had constructed a working Stabilizer out of the future metal that now made up ALAN’s body. “I think it will work,” I told Jennifer. “I just don’t know what we’ll do with the castoff unstable quantum particles. If we’re really trapped here, we’ll have to deal with them.”

“We’ll deal with them later,” she replied. “Does it work?”

I shrugged. “Only one way to find out.” I turned the stabilizer on.

I could feel every particle of my being begin to shake, my skin was like electricity, my insides were ready to explode. Existence became a blinding, searing light. There was a loud screaching sound, so shrill it grated my brain. I realized it was me screaming. When the world came back into focus, I was on the ground, huffing and puffing like I had just ran a marathon. “Did it work?”

“Scanning…” ALAN droned. “Quantum instability at 14%”

“Well,” I gasped. “I guess it works…sort of.”

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

“More organics?” the crimson figure asked. “Another like this one and one of the crude one’s from the above world. Why are they here?”

“They’ve come to save me,” I told him. “And they’ve come to kick your ass!”

It turned toward me. “‘Kick’…’ass’? What words are these?”

By this point the drill had completed transformed into a four-legged death machine, a dozen cannons mounted on swivelling arms. And as one, they all began firing on the rock creatures, vaporizing them with every blast. Jamal raced past the rock creatures, avoiding their fists, and dodging their exploding shards. His new body was much too quick for them. “Co’ ohn, Rrrrank! Rret’s go!” Jamal roared.

The Crimson figure stepped before him. “What is this? Does this thing communicate as well? I see signs of alteration,” the figure said. “You were created.” It turned to me. “Did you do this? How? I must know!”

Jamal could not hear the figure and when it turned away he took the opportunity to strike. He bit down hard on the figure’s arm. The Crimson figure casually just shook Jamal off, unfazed, unharmed. Jamal’s new teeth were no match for the figure’s metallic skin. I took advantage of the distraction and began to run. The figure grabbed my arm. I shot it in its face with my laser gun. Again. And again. The figure stumbled and I took advantage, running away as fast I could. Unfortunately, it was not so fast.

Jamal and I were quickly cut off by rock monsters. Neither his teeth or my gun would be any help for us now. Then suddenly ALAN flew in out of nowhere! He grabbed Jamal and I jumped on his back, then ALAN flew us out of there. We landed where Jennifer was waiting. She ushered us into the other half of ALAN’s body. ALAN touched it and the two halves merged into one.

From inside we watched a monitor as ALAN flew back up to the ceiling and began drilling our way to safety! We emerged from the earth and rose into the air. ALAN did a geological survey of the area and took us away from all the rock monster tunnels. He found a secure shallow cave that should be safe from the strange Crimson figure and his stony minions. He still set-up a perimeter.

“Jamal! Are you ok?” I asked.

“I ok,” he growled liplessly. “‘Ut the new ‘ody ith a thurrrithe.”

“We had to,” I apoligized. “Sorry. But you’re ok?” I asked. “You’re not in pain or anything?”

“No,” he replied. “No ‘ain.”

“He’s ok?”

“Yes,” Jennifer said. “I think he is.”

I let out a sigh of relief. We were all going to be ok. “You know,” I said, smiling, “that crimson creature, it kind of looked familiar. It kind of looked like that statue the Dinozens had in the middle of their village.”

“It did,” Jamal agreed. “Too ‘uch like it. D’ya think…?”

“That maybe it is that statue? That the dinozens were more of its experiments? That maybe the Dinozens were inspired by you?” I shrugged. “Who knows? We must admit everything is possible until we know its not. At least we’re safe for now.”

“Not yet,” Jennifer said. “We still have one more problem. What are we going to do about your instability?”

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable