The park would need to be repurposed as some kind of urban lake thought Myles who had just witnessed a factory sized sized fist punch, claw and scoop at the area where the park had previously existed. It had been looking for something… for someone… For Myles. That Myles realised was what the whistlers called Mother. The Hand began to be pushed back, strained as it was by the turn reality was reasserting itself and this was not a time or place that was readily available to Mother. As the scaled claw was rejected Myles could see it reduce in size, mist in a familiar glowing gold colour was emitted by the appendage. He assumed it had used something similar to whatever the whistler had done to increase its size and power. Good thing it was only tens of meters big instead of hundreds.
“I’ll make sure you Mum gets the help and support she needs for the funeral.” Said Zara, eyes locked on the retreating hand.
“What is it with you all liking my Mum so much?” asked Myles who was focusing on the important things and in no way in denial about what he just witnessed.
“Betty is a legend, I’ve never seen someone that good at Replacement Bus Service before. Said Zara. “You should know we have offered her a job. Your little stunt put such a target on her back it only made sense to bring her in.”
Myles didn’t answer Zara, he had pretty much declared war on whistlers and their mother and it had already cost him. He tried to reconcile the guilt over what happened to Charlie with the fact they were already escalating when he mouthed off at them. His pragmatism won out but it was a Pyrrhic victory at best. Therapy might need to be bumped up a few places on his to do list. He also knew in his bones that this would not be the last time he saw Mother.
The day, now turning into evening had become relatively boring after seeing a giant robot fight a giant monster. Myles was okay with this kind of boring, it meant nothing wanted him dead.
“Endeavour! Stop slacking and finish picking up your disgusting fairy corpses.” Said Zara poking a battered whistler corpse with her foot.
Mostly nothing wanted him dead.
Zara had gone off on her own to introduce the few remaining fae to her axe while Myles had been working on operation body removal. It brought a small smile to his face knowing that Sweetbright would be getting a big box of nothing from setting off the turn. The thought soured a little when he remembered they already had an absolute bonanza from using him as bait at the harvest site. Zara had returned having handily dispatched two of the sea urchin things and was now waiting on Myles to hurry up and get the job done. He had been way to busy lately to properly manage his inventory, if anything he was scared to look at what was in there now. But that was a job for future Myles, right now he was on eldritch cadaver disposal detail. Having a member of the community clean up crew there kept him on task and he managed to finish faster than he anticipated.
“Well done, Now where is your house, Rusty won’t be done for a while and I’ll need somewhere to sleep.” said Zara. “But first…”
Zara raised her hand into the air and by some hidden command the giant robot shrunk into a mote of light and zipped inside her wrists mounted device.
“Queen Battara needs a time out to repair herself” Said Zara by way of explanation. “Don’t suppose your town has a decent chippy does it? I’m starving?”
The town did have a decent chippy. The Cod Life was founded in 1975 by one mister Tom Briers and had kept the town supplied with decent quality battered fish and big chunky chips since. So two fish suppers and a battered sausage each… and curry sauce later the pair were back at Myles’ house devouring their high calorie dinners.
“Pass the vinegar please” Said Zara proving herself to be a woman of culture and good breeding.
Myles handed her a half empty bottle of brown acidic condiment. A good splash was administered to the chips and they were back to eating quietly.
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“How did you manage to get in so quickly?” asked Myles breaking the silence.
Zara paused her eating.
“Myles” She began, the use of first name worried Myles no end. “How long do you think it has been since you got a message out.”
“I don’t know, two, three days.”
“It’s been two weeks… These things mess with your memories and perception of time. There are accounts of turns becoming a kind of repetitive loop as the universe tried to right itself, others where gravity gets a bit wonky and one back in 1862 that made horses explode… no one knows why.” Said Zara.
“What?” Said Myles loquaciously articulating his confusion.
“See these chips.” Said Zara, pointing at her chunky deep fried potato product. “I’ll bet this exact meal has existed several times already in the last couple of weeks.”
“I had been waiting for a food shortage to happen… I guess I assumed people were rationing.” Said Myles
“Those people out there?” Said Zara. “Oh no. Rationing requires a person to be rational. Did you not see how frayed around the edges they were? I’m impressed the man in the chippy could serve food with that thousand yard stare. You see Myles, people are evolved to handle the reality we come from. Adding extra layers on top makes people go a bit squiffy. We might not have any exploding horses to deal with but we still need to get everyone out before people start going off the deep end”
“I assume thats where Rusty comes in?”
“Yup, Rusty will try and jimmy the turn free with his super magic time powers.”
“Zara, How does a a guy with a snake motif get time powers?” Asked Myles
“He has this whole ouroboros thing going on, snake eating its own tail and all that jazz.” said Zara “Part of that lets him loop local time and wind backwards or forwards.”
“Forwards?” Said Myles with a worried look on his face.
“It takes a lot of power, and I mean a lot! It can also only do the most probably future not some pre-destined future so you can wind down that existential crisis you were working up too.”
“I’m relived to hear that.” said Myles
“Clean up crews always try to have someone with twisty chronomancy powers assigned. Rusty is one of the big boys in that regard. But he is getting on a bit what with being the original Animalbion Gold, so he gets Fairy Trigger duty where half the work is done by big holes in peoples memories.” said Zara before punctuating the exposition with a chip.
“And I presume we need to set up some sort of device for him to target with his time powers?”
“Sharp as always Endeavour, anyway, onto more important matters…” Said Zara “Where is this mad cat of yours? I was looking forward to meeting him .”
“You are resting your beer on him.” Said Myles
Zara looked down at the object she had rested her beer on… it was big and metallic, she had thought it was some sort of storage box.
“What the bloody hell…”
Myles explained about the golden armoured whistler and its attack on him, his cat and the subsequent bonding of Charlie to a repaired trigger. A look of irritation washed across Zara’s face. But she regained her neutral composure and even surprised Myles by offering sympathy for Charlie’s predicament.
Myles hoped he would see his cat again, he missed the furry little bugger.
After setting Zara up in the guest room Myles hopped into his own bed. Sleep had been more a utility function for the last few… months maybe? He would need to check as if what Zara had told him was correct and he had zero reason to believe it wasn’t, his own estimation of the passage of time couldn’t be trusted. But now, he felt like he could rest, help was here and he had an opportunity to gather himself. More importantly it was time for some long overdue inventory management.
??????: Repair 84% Synchronisation 96%
Familiar bond - Completing Synchronising 54%
Jetpack 00:00 - Complete
Jetpack 00:00 - Complete
Jetpack 00:00 - Complete
Utility Tool Set: 00:00 - Complete
???? 2009:32
His mind really must have been going, he had forgotten all about jetpacks. Probably for the best though, life and death situations were no place to start learning to fly. Looking at the timer of the unknown item / utility / power up he really had been in here about three months.
Miscellaneous: 4473/???
UnusableMaterial: ???/??? PURGE Y/N
The miscellaneous category Myles had realised was a nice way of displaying exactly how many fairy corpses he had in his inventory. Grim, but at least he plenty of material to experiment with or keep things in good repair.
Myles briefly examined his list of items for creation but nothing much had changed. Sure he had more experience, but it was mostly doing the same thing over and over rather than anything new like when he went on a mad DIY kick to see if the suit would register and generate tools for him. The next part was what had interested him the most.
Objects of Interest:
Magically Enhanced Giant Whistler 01
Crown of a Fernseherfett King 03
Fernseherfett Royal Club 01
Armour of the Moons Golden Child 01
Billunben Eye 02
He had been hoping for more special bits and bobs, but it did mostly line up with what he expected. The giant corpse was a surprise though. Myles went through the list one by one seeing what was up.
Magically Enhanced Giant Whistler - reverse engineer Y/N
Crown of a Fernseherfett King - reverse engineer Y/N
Armour of the Moons Golden Child - reverse engineer Y/N
Yes, yes and yes, decided Myles.
Magically Enhanced Giant Whistler Extracting 159:59
Crown of a Fernseherfett King Extracting 29:59
Armour of the Moons Golden Child - Extracting 39:59
It had been too long since Myles had any new toys to play with. Apart from the Jetpacks, but he needed a safe environment and at least five minutes without something trying to kill him to practice flying. The turn would be over soon, Myles would make time once the town was safe.