“You could say that.” We all turned around to see the surprising and frighteningly familiar visage of Freyja Reina del Tiempo. “Time Police? Extrauniversal parasites? A tear in space/time? And you’re all in MY territory? Yes, I’d say you’re pretty screwed.”

I opened my mouth, ready to voice my complete and utter shock, but the Origin acted first, attacking her with every bit of his gooey body. At first, Freyja raised her hand and blocked his attacks with an energy shield, but then she began firing back. “You witch! I’ll kill you for what you did to me!” The Origin screamed.

Freyja scoffed. “Should I know who you are?”

“You neutered me!” The Origin roared, as his putty-like body attacked Frejya in ways impossible for a human or any species with bones. “I was a king! A god! I ruled star systems! Empires! And you took it all away from me! I was worshipped! All did as I commanded! And you took that all away from me!”

Freyja sniffed. “I am Freyja, little goo-man. There is only one queen.”

Freyja’s energy shield began to bend inwards toward Origin, but as much as he struggled he couldn’t seem to get around it. He fought as it continued to bend inwards. Soon he was trapped within and no matter as much as he fought he couldn’t get out. Freyja now turned her anger on me. “What are you doing here? Where is Jamal? Where is my daughter? What did you do to them?”

“Get away from him!” Kink yelled, leaping at Freyja. Freyja batted her aside. Kink rolled and fired with her wristlets. The lasers deflected off of Freyja’s shield as if they were nothing. “He is mine!” Kink yelled. “I will not let you hurt him!”

“Silence.” Freyja raised her hand and let loose a massive energy burst. “As if a gutter rat like you could stop me.”

“Kink!” I screamed, then ran at Freyja. “Get off of her!”

Freyja batted me away with the back of her hand. “Idiot!” she growled. I glared at her and when I did targets appeared in my sight. This body was targeting her. I went with it and launched tiny missiles. I scrolled through the menu options and found a laser blast. I fired it at Frejya, but even that couldn’t effect her. I charged her. My hand turned into an energy blade, but when I stabbed at her she was somewhere else. I swung my tail at her, but she caught it easily. Freyja pulled my tail out and I fell to the ground. She stood over me and grabbed me by the neck. “Where is she? Where is my daughter?”

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

“No!” Gra yelled. “I will not let you kill my people!” Gra gestured and the ground rose around The Origin. The Origin tried to get away, but everywhere he went there was rock. The rock closed around him like a fist.

The Origin slipped out like slime through fingers. The Brane Cutter, however, was not so malleable. “Who cares? I don’t need it anymore. I just need Kink to get me where I need to go.” He turned toward her, but the Time Police were blocking his path.

“I don’t think we’re going anywhere,” Kink said. “Sorry, but I think the Time Police have shut down any avenues of escape. “Basically, we’re screwed.”

The Origin’s eyes turned upwards. “I don’t think we’re the only ones.”

We turned around and looked up at the tear. In the background of pure blackness, I could make out something moving. Many somethings. “What…?” My eyes, on their own, suddenly zoomed in. I could see the objects clear as day. I did not like what I saw. “Invaders!”

The Interdimensional Invaders were streaming out of the tear. Suddenly, it was no longer us against the Time Police, or the Time Police against the stone men. It was all of us against the Invaders. It was no longer can we save the stone men, but can we save ourselves?The Time Police all hit their emergency beacons as they flew off to do battle with the Invaders.

“Brothers!” Gra yelled. “We have to keep back those aliens! They’ll killed us all! Wipe us from existence!” The stone men used their planet to fight the Invaders, but they weren’t enough! None of it was enough! We were being overrun!

Suddenly, more Time Police began to pop up out of nowhere! They had answered their brothers’ call to arms! They flew off into the sky to do battle with the Invaders, but the Invaders kept coming kept, streaming in from the tear!In the chaos, I lost track of Gra, but I could still see The Origin. He was headed straight for us. “We need to get out of here!” He yelled. “We need to get out of here now!”

Kink laughed. “Oh yeah? How are we going to do that? We’ve got interdimensional invaders, time police, and…oh, yeah, the sun just imploded. Face it. We’re screwed.”

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

Three of them stood before us. The Time Police were easy to identify in their dark blue uniforms and silver temporal gauntlets. One of them raised their hand and said, “Stop this immediately! If you do not stop immediately, you will force us to detain you!”

“Don’t look at me,” Kink said. “I’m not the one with the giant gun that breaks open time and space.”

The Time Police were unconvinced. “Tylea Hidrogen, we know who you are. You are never innocent of anything.” The officer then turned to me. “Frank Clay. We would’ve hoped you would have known better than to do this at this period in your timeline.”

“I don’t think I had much choice,” I told him.

The officer nodded. “Don’t move, Sir, while we take care of this matter.”

“They’re trying to stop us!” Gra yelled to his people. “They want us to die! They wanted us to be eaten up by our imploded sun! We can’t allow them to stop us! We can’t let us die again! This is our only chance! We must kill them and any others who try to stop us!” The nearest stone men all turned toward the Time Police with malice in their eyes and desperation in their hearts.

As the stone men marched toward the Time Police, I turned to Kink, “We have to do something. We have to help them.”

Kink shook her head. “They’re Time Police, Frank. I think they can handle themselves. What we should be doing is getting out of here.”

“What? We can’t just run!” I yelled at her.

Kink smiled, “Just watch me.” She stepped forward and grabbed my arm, then took to the sky.

The Time Police took out grenade-like objects and lobbed them into the on-rushing stone men and threw one toward Kink for good measure. Kink stopped flying and retreated from the grenade back toward the ground. She fired a wideburst ray at the grenade as it exploded. The explosion threw us back to the ground. “What the hell was that?” I asked.

“A time grenade,” Kink said. “A burst of frozen time.”

I saw that the stone men had all frozen. The nearest cop turned to Kink, “Don’t try that again because I promise we won’t miss again.” The other 2 cops were making their way through the frozen stone men toward Gra and The Origin.

The Origin turned the Brane Cutter on the Time Police. “Don’t come any closer or I will fire! Your tricks won’t stop a rip in space/time!”

“If you fire on us,” the Time Police said, “you’ll destroy the whole planet.”

The Origin replied, “Do you think I care?”

“Don’t!” Gra yelled. “We’re here to save my people! If you kill them…”

The Origin replied, “Then they will die as they are supposed to. Then the Time Police can go away and I can go on and regain my powers! That is all that I care about! Let this planet die, as long as I go on!”

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

“Move the planet? Is that even possible?” I asked.

Kink shrugged. “Who knows? I’ve never heard of it succeeding. Not this way at least.”

“Which way have you heard of it succeeding?”

“Really big engines.”

“Big engines?”

“REALLY big engines.”

“And that’s actually happened?” I asked.

Kink replied, “I’ve heard stories.”

“Real stories?”

“Stories.”

“And just where are they supposed to moving this planet?” I asked.

“Away from their sun before it implodes into a black hole.”

“Black hole! The sun is going to turn into a black hole? And we’re all going to be sucked into it? And how long is that supposed to be?”

“About fifteen minutes,” Kink said. “But don’t worry it’ll take at least another ten minutes until we notice the change.”

“I don’t think that’s enough time to build engines, so then what’s the plan? We do have a plan, right?” I asked, horrified.

“Of course, we have a plan, Franky. We’re going to use the Brane Cutter.”

I blinked at her. “The Brane Cutter? You’re going to use the Cutter to…” I began and Kink finished, “…to cut a hole in space and slide the planet into it. That’s right!”

“That’s…that’s not possible,” I stuttered.

Kink shrugged. “We’ll see. But we don’t have much time to waste.”

“The Sun?” I gasped.

“That’s not all.”

“What else?”

“We’re not supposed to be here, Frank. People don’t want us here.”

“Who? Who doesn’t want us here? Who’s coming for us?” I asked to which Kink replied, “So many people, but let’s not be here when they come.”

“There,” Gra said, having finished his calculations, pointed to a spot in the sky.

“Are you sure?” The Origin asked. “You have to be sure.”

“I am absolutely certain,” Gra replied.

The Origin said, “We will not get a second shot at this.”

“I know the stakes! Do it already!”

The Origin turned on the Brane Cutter and fired. For the first minute, it seemed as if nothing happened and then they saw the hole, growing. A darkness opened up in the sky. It began as a little dot, but soon it was larger than the sun and continued to grow. In no time, it was covering half the sky. It was terrifying, like a giant abyss we could all fall into and never come out again. Gra pointed at the hole in the universe. “In there!” he told his people. “You have to put the world in there! It’s our only chance!”

The other men of stone, of crimson and green and lavender, looked at him for a second and then returned to their work moving the planet. Had they listened? How I could I tell? We appeared to be moving closer to the hole and then the Time Police appeared.

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

The Origin flipped the Brane Cutter on and a darkness formed in front of us. Then the barrier was gone, utterly destroyed. The stream of time pushed us on. There was no longer anything blocking us, nothing holding us. There was no turning back now.

And then we were out. We were in a dark cavern, but I could see just fine. As I looked about I could see the full size of the cavern. It was massive. There were statues made of black marble, huge, reaching from the floor to the ceiling. And they looked ancient.

“Come on!” Gra yelled. “We need to hurry! We don’t have time! We waste anymore, they’ll find us!” Gra began to run through the cavern and the Origin slithered after him.

“What are we even doing here?” I asked as we ran.

“We’re here to save Gra’s species,” she replied. “They were killed. Only a handful survived. Gra wants to bring them back.”

“Bring them back?” I yelled. “But that would change history!”

Kink laughed. “No duh. That’s why we’ve got to hurry.”

“But we can’t do that! The time stream…!” I tried, but Kink wasn’t having any of it.

“Look who you’re talking to.”

“So that’s why the caves are all empty?” I asked, trying a different tact. “They’re all dead?”

Kink replied, “No, they’re still alive.”

“Then where are they?” I asked.

Kink looked around. “Outside, I guess. This is supposed to be when their world ends.”

“You mean that figuratively right?” I asked.

“Nope,” Kink replied. “This world is about to literally be destroyed.”

“This world? That we’re on right now?” When Kink nodded, I then added, “Then why did we come here?”

“We’re here to save it, Franky,” Kink replied with a laugh. “You’re the hero. I thought you would like that.”

“Save a whole world? How is that even possible?” I asked as we finally reached the surface.

Kink pointed. “Not the way they’re trying to.”

I looked out on the surface and there were thousands, tens of thousands, maybe even hundred of thousands of rock men kneeling everywhere. “What are they doing?” I asked. To which Kink replied, “What does it look like? They’re trying to move the planet.”

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

“We’ve wasted enough time with your mate!” Gra grumbled. “We need to move and we need to move now!”

“Agreed,” Kink said. “But where to begin? We all want to start.”

The Origin replied, “You go last. You’re the one who can escape.”

“Fine,” Kink agreed with surprising ease. “In that case, we’ll let Frank decide.”

They looked at me. “Decide what?” I asked.

“Decide where we should go first. Should we go where the Origin wants to go or where Gra wants to go?”

I looked at the stone man then I looked at the creature who had a short time ago, my time, had been trying to kill me. This was an easy choice. “Gra,” I said. “We’ll go where Gra wants to go.”

“All right. I guess that decides that,” Kink said. “So does that mean you’re all ready to do this? This will be dangerous.”

“We know the dangers,” the Origin said, still hefting the Brane Cutter. “Let’s just do this before we’re found out.”

“Fair enough.” Kink turned and opened up a temporal portal. “Right behind you.”

“Gra can go first,” The Origin said. The stone man glared at him. “If you want to hand me the Brane cutter…?”

“The Cutter will remain with me,” The Origin replied, wrapping its tentacles around it tighter. “Just try to keep up.” The Origin walked through the portal followed immediately by Gra.

Kink looked at me. “Ready?”

“Is this even a good idea?” I asked her. “What kind of trouble are you getting me into now?”

She smiled at me. “Only the best kind!” Kink grabbed me and pulled me into the portal and there was a flash. It was as if we had had our time travel interrupted in the middle. And we were standing, the four of us, in a tunnel of purple lightning. But not standing, but not floating either. And there was a force pushing us forward, almost like we were in the middle of a river, but we were blocked…by what I couldn’t tell. “You know,” Kink said, “if we go through this, we’ll bring Freyja and her empire down upon us.”

“Yes,” Gra said. “Does that frighten you?”

Kink smiled. “No. It excites me! Break the barrier down! Let’s cause some chaos!”

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

Soon it covered my whole abdomen! I tried to tear it off, but it wouldn’t come off! It was spreading to my legs and arms! It was crawling up my neck and soon began to cover my face! I gasped for air as it covered my mouth! Then I was completely covered!

I tried to fight it, but then I felt an incredible pain. I could see red lightning strikes before my eyes and smell wet dog. There was a sensation of pain as if someone had stomped on my hand. Then the pain began to spread and grow and the lightning vanished. Then I recognized the sensation. I was changing! Kink had shot me with some kind of portable quantum chamber!

When I stopped screaming, I found myself on the ground breathing hard. The metal covering was gone, but my eyesight wasn’t right. The colors were all off. If I didn’t know any better I’d say I was seeing everything in infrared. I tried to get to my feet, but my balance was off. I looked at Kink and she was smiling at me. “Well that’s interesting…”

I looked down at myself. The first thing I noticed was that I had four hands, each one with only four fingers. I had inverted knees and I had hooves instead of feet. I also now had the tail of a scorpion. “What did you do to me?” I demanded. “How did you do this to me?”

“Apparently when you change bodies you switch with someone from the same time that you’re in,” Kink said.

“You made me switch bodies?” I asked. No, more like I demanded. “How could you do that? How?”

“I thought that might be the case,” she said, “which is why you turned into an Invader when we were outside the universe.”

The implications were fascinating. I couldn’t imagine what I would’ve turned into back in prehistory had I had a full chamber. But I couldn’t let it go. “Where did you get this?”

She smiled at me. “Franky, I’m from your future. You don’t think your tech is a secret? We know everything about you, your tech, your accident, your adventures! Though we do have a little problem sorting myth from reality…”

“So everyone knows?” I asked. “They know what happened to me? They know the schematics to the quantum chamber? They know everything? Do they…Do…Do they know why…? Do they know why it happened?”

Kink just smiled at my question. “You want me to give away the ending?”

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

Kink followed him immediately. I was about to go through the tear when I noticed Gra lying on the ground, spent. I picked him up and walked to the tear, looked into the blackest, emptiest darkness, took a deep breath, and stepped through.

And I found myself in the middle of a warzone. It was the Chaotic Zone. Just as we had left it. Chaos and Disorder. Death and Mayhem. Kink retracted her suit. “That went well enough!”

“Well enough?” I growled back at her. “We lost 2 members of our crew! We almost died!” But she couldn’t understand me. I was still an Invader and she still looked like a paper cutout.

Kink grabbed The Origin and began to flap away. I, holding Gra, followed as best I could. As we moved away, I felt a presence in my mind, a lot of presences. I turned around to see a horde of Invaders streaming out of the tear. “It looks like they’re coming after us,” Gra said, coming to. He turned his attention to Kink. “I believe this is why you’re here.”

Kink gave him an angry look, but she no time to retort. The invaders were getting closer. They were coming for what we had stole. As they swarmed near, Kink grabbed ahold of me and hit her emergency evacuation wristlet. Everything went purple static.

We arrived on a world of flashing lights, twisting pillars, and absolute silence. It was a surprising change from the war zone. Gra pushed himself away from me. “Let’s quit standing around and get on with it! Take me to my homeland!”

“No,” The Origin replied in his gelatinous state. “I will go first. Without my suit, my body will continue to degrade.”

“No one’s going anywhere!” I said, but they all looked at me blankly.

“Hmmm,” Kink said, “Maybe we should change you back?” Kink took out some kind of handheld device and pointed it at me. I raised my hands to ward her off, but she shot me. I felt something hit me. I looked down, but instead of a wound there was a metal patch on my stomach…and it was growing!

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

I jumped in its path. Last time I had fought an Invader had no gone so well. I hoped that its time under Grow’s control had weakened it. It bit its teeth into me and I let out a roar of pain. With two of my arms I smashed its head. With another two I pushed it away.The Invader retaliated by assaulting my mind. I had no defense against it!

Gra placed his hands on the ground and began to struggle against the metal. Kink was left to defend the rest of us. She put her suit in attack mode. She fired lasers from her left wristlet, then shot fire from her right. The Invader was unfazed. Kink ejected one of her arms. It flew at the Invader and grabbed the creature where its neck should have been. Then it exploded! When the smoke cleared, the Invader was still standing.

But the one thing the explosion did do was get the creature out of my head. I attacked again. This time I caught the Invader unprepared. I searched its back to find some residual scar from Grow’s attachment. But there was no scar. Either he had not created a hole, the Invader had healed, or any trace of the fungus had been erased along with him. While I was looking for a weakness, the Invader grabbed me and threw me off.

Kink ran forward, her right arm now a laser knife. She buried the knife into the Invader’s chest. It let out an angry scream and sunk its claws into Kink’s shoulders. In retaliation, she sliced off one of its arms. It tossed her away as if she were nothing. And then the walls began to shake an quiver. The ceiling began to tremble, as did the ceiling. Then suddenly it all collapsed. The Invader was caught between it. The hull continued to push against it and it screamed. I could hear it in my head.

Then the wall behind me opened and The Origin slipped out holding a strangely shaped box that kind of resembled an asterix. It lifted the box and the world ripped apart on top of the Invader. It was shredded apart at the molecular level. The whole ship began to shake! The tear was ripping it apart and pulling it in at the same time! It was going to obliterate the ship and anyone in it! “What do you say we get out of here?” Kink suggested.

“Yes,” The Origin agreed. “We have what we came for.” Then he walked through the tear carrying the Brane Cutter with him.

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

Kink, Gra, and the Origin carried the Invader body forward while I did my best to keep them all standing straight. Unfortunately, our luck didn’t hold. Assuming that we had had any luck at all. I wasn’t sure if I did. I felt a presence in my head, like before. An Invader in my head, asking for understanding. My head told me it was right behind us.I turned and there it was. I could feel its anger in my mind. It was going to attack. I tried to change it’s mind, but I failed. It charged! And I jumped in the way. We fought. Arms and wings and other appendages flying. I was no match for it. This was not my body.

As I was pushed aside, Gra grabbed the floor to manipulate it. Kink fired a laser from 1 of her wristlets but didn’t hit anything important. Grow pushed away from the Origin and attacked. He did about as poorly as I had, but bought enough time for me to recover. We were able to hold him long enough for the Origin to extend his fist through the Invader’s skull. The Origin pulled his hand back. It was bubbling strangely. The Origin disconnected his hand and it fell to the ground, liquefying. “Let’s move,” it said. “We’re running out of time.”

We continued down the hall until Kink’s wristlet beeped. “This is it,” she said. We stared at what appeared to be a very thin hole. “This would have been Pahf’s job. If he hadn’t been erased from time. Origin, you think you can handle this?” she asked.

The creature raised its helmet. “What choice is there? It must be done. It will be done.” The Origin bent its face up to the hole. I watched as its face began to push forward until it busted up against the wall. Then it began to squeeze into the hole, pushing onward. Within minutes the Origin had smooshed itself inside. Its containment suit smacked against the ground empty. “So we just stand here?” I said to no one.

Grow let out a low growl. But, no, I realized, it was not Grow, but the Invader. Grow, as I watched, disappeared. The Invader, unpossessed, turned on us. It’s mind in mine, attacking. I tried to fight back, but then it pounced!

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable