> “Everywhere I turn, I hurt someone
> But there's nothing I can say to change
> the things I've done
> Of all the things I hid from you
> I cannot hide the shame
> And I pray someone, something will come
> to take away the pain”
>
> -“No Way Out,” Brother Bear
She had failed.
No, it was worse than that. She had made everything a hundred times worse.
Slider had hoped that she could go back in time, to stop the alien AI from taking over the alternate dimension where she had first encountered it. In the end, she had been the catalyst that had caused the AI, named Fortune, from taking root. What was worse, when she and her team, the Outsiders, had returned to their world to regroup, they had discovered that there was no way to go back - that Fortune had locked off her dimension from outside access. There were people inside, people that Slider knew.
People that Slider had promised to help.
She had failed them. Worse, she had been the one to doom them.
Three days after their return, Slider sat on the front steps of the Outsider’s compound. Normally, she liked to sit there, staring out at the city below, but on this day, not even her favorite view could cheer her up. She stared blankly at the glittering lights, and she brooded.
Slider sensed Wraith rather than heard him as he sat down next to her. When he placed a hand on Slider’s shoulder she tensed, then dropped her head, forcing her shoulders to relax. It had been decades since she had been able to feel someone’s physical touch, ever since the experiment that she had participated in had gone horribly wrong. She had been thrown out of phase with reality, allowing her to easily travel through time and dimensions, but making her insubstantial, so that she could not touch or be touched. The experiment had also ejected her from her own timeline, making it impossible for her to get back. Now, thanks to the experiments of Slider’s friend, Dr. Alto Thurman, Slider could at least regain her physical form. She could touch.
A few feet away, the air in front of Slider and Wraith glitched out, opening a portal, from which stepped an unfamiliar figure. The man wore a full suit of metallic armor and a helmet with a closed visor, concealing his face. The man approached, then pulled out a small tablet.
“I am Oculus, agent 9338 of the Chrono Knights. Seraphine Rowe, codename: Slider. You are under arrest for crimes against the timeline, according to section 519.2b of TCI.”
Slider frowned and Wraith stood, while the rest of the Outsiders filed out to stand between the man and their ally. They would defend her, fight this Oculus, Slider knew. If she let them.
But her actions had already caused enough pain and suffering. She stood and pushed past. “If I go quietly, do you swear that none of my allies will be punished for my actions?” When the Oculus agreed, Slider motioned for the others to stand down. And she went quietly.
Thus began Slider’s life in prison, under the authority of the Chrono Knights. She didn’t resist, at least at first, because her guilt led her to believe that the sentence was just. But time can heal as easily as it can hurt, and Slider came to terms with her own loss. And then she began to question. And, questioning, she began to plot.
It was 127 years, 5 months and 2 days after her arrival in Time Prison that Slider staged the breakout, along with three new friends: Cleo, the fortune telling cat; Tesseract, a time traveler whose only crime was that she had accidentally teleported into the Time Prison; and the paradox witch, whose very existence supposedly disrupted the natural timeline. Everything was going smoothly and would have succeeded, but fate doesn’t often allow for perfectly hatched plans.
***
Slider didn’t struggle as she was shackled and manhandled through the corridors before being shoved into an interrogation chair. She had managed to stall long enough for her friends to get free, but now the Chrono Knights knew that she had been the ringleader of the breakout. There would be consequences.
Slider didn’t care. Her friends were free. That was all that mattered.
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Oculus stood before her, studying the tablet in his hands. He’d been her handler for the entire 127 years that she’d been in prison. The 127 years that he’d been trying to convince her to throw in her lot with the Chrono Knights, to become one of them in return for her freedom. It was a pyramid scheme if she’d ever seen one. Now, Oculus sighed. “Slider. 127 years of good behavior.. And now this?”
Slider didn’t answer.
“If you would just-” he broke off as the light on the side of his helmet lit up and he turned his head, as if listening to something. “Yes, sir. Understood.” Then he turned back to Slider. “Word from the top. You’re no longer my responsibility.” Slider could have sworn he almost looked regretful. “I could have helped you, Slider. I hope it was worth it.” Tapping on his tablet, Oculus vanished and then…
Slider was in another room. She sat in a simple guest chair in front of a wide desk. On the other side of the desk, sitting in a wide office chair was…
Slider gaped. “What the… Dr. Thurman?”
It was like staring at a ghost. The man who had trained her, then sent her on that last mission, the one that had glitched out, throwing her out of phase with reality and giving her the ability to slide through space and time… the man who she hadn’t heard from in decades, even before her time in Time Prison, even as she had fought to return home… he was here.
Aiden Thurman, Alto’s grandson but from Slider’s timeline, gave her a sad smile. “Seraphina. I’m sorry. This… I’m sorry.”
“What… what are you doing here? I don’t understand, what-” Slider broke off as Thurman raised a hand.
“It’s a long story. I’ll explain what I can. First… I’m sorry. Everything that happened to you, it was my fault. Please forgive me.”
Slider shook her head, slowly. She was silent for a long moment, not sure what to say. Finally, she sighed. “Why are you here? Why are you… with them?”
Thurman grimaced. “That’s… a complicated question. Let’s just say that after we lost you, I began to understand the dangers of messing with time.”
“So you… you joined the Chrono Knights?” Slider’s distaste was obvious. When Thurman winced again, Slider leaned forward. “Why am I here?” She asked in a low town. “I was too overwhelmed with my own guilt and grief when I was arrested. I wasn’t in my right mind, so I didn’t ask, but… what exactly is my crime? I have the right to know.”
“You do,” Thurman agreed, and he reached for his tablet. “And, the truth is… your charges aren’t clear. I think we can work with that. The true problem isn’t with you, but Fortune. The AI needs to be dealt with. If you are willing to help us, I think I can get you sprung.”
When Slider didn’t respond immediately, her eyes narrowing, Thurman continued. “Think it through. You want to fix things. Work with us. Help us fix it.”
“That’s it?” Slider asked, defensive. “Not to become a Chrono Knight? Not to help you arrest other people who don’t deserve it?”
Thurman pursed his lips. He studied Slider for a long moment and she recognized the struggle in his gaze. Finally, he sighed. “Being a Chrono Knight is a constant battle between the protection of an entire timeline and the rights of a single person-”
“Cleo was arrested for something she hadn’t even done yet. You couldn’t have gone to her and said, ‘Hey, please don’t give this prophecy’?”
With another wince, Thurman raised his hand. “I’m not saying your wrong. And I’m not saying the Chrono Knights are perfect. I am saying they are necessary. But-” he added when Slider opened her mouth to protest again, “I’m not asking you to join us. Only help us deal with Fortune.” He reached out and tapped a button on his tablet and a holographic image appeared, hovering above his desk. It was of a bubble the size of a city, as if the entire territory was covered in an enormous shield that blocked any attempt to see inside. As Slider watched, the shield was lowered, revealing a futuristic city of towering skyscrapers and flying cars.
“When Fortune blocked off her dimension, upon your leaving, she also sealed up their city. Then she did something with the timestream. While only a few days have passed across the rest of the world, the time inside Fortune’s city was sped up.” He paused dramatically, then added, “Hundreds of years have passed.”
Slider frowned, studying the scene. “Why? What does she want?”
“We aren’t sure. But we need to find out.”
And that was how Slider became a contracted agent with the Chrono Knights, to stop the AI Fortune from taking over the multiverse… maybe.
----------------------------------------
Huli sat with her mistress, two souls granting comfort to one another. “Raylan made that difficult for you.”
Yes. A sigh. But we both learned a lot, I think. And she’ll live. Her story won’t end here.
“Still…” Huli reached out with her mind, a sympathetic hug. “You are wrung out.”
A nod. Slider needs time to heal. We’ll let her travel, to settle. And in the meantime… I have a mission for you. A story that is ready to be reborn. The minstrel.
Huli straightened, surprised. “The minstrel? But that story is finished… isn’t it?”
That story was ended, yes. But ideas are like matter, always conserved. She’s out there, our minstrel. You must find her.
Huli felt a shiver of excitement run through her. “I will,” she promised. “We will.”
And so the goddess split her soul into a multitude of slivers and sent them out in search of an old story ready to be retold. In search of a minstrel whose musical talent could change the very laws of nature.