1:4:6 Johned (Part 1)

Silence. After the brief briefing, Emm didn’t say another word. They just walked sightly ahead of them as they led Lore and Char back through the desert of New Quatarr and into the atrium. Lore took a moment to pour the sand from their shoes before doing an awkward half jog to catch up with Char and Emm. As they walked, they adjusted their shoes to ensure they were actually on properly, lifting their heel up and down to try and sort the fabric out before resorting to simply using their finger to rectify the error. They headed down the corridor, past the clone quarters before stopping at the door to the War Room. Emm put themselves in between Lore and the door.
“Give them hel.” They turned and opened the door before stepping out of the way. “Go on in.”
They weren’t on trial but it certainly felt as though they had done something wrong. All of the other Lores and Chars had already assembled and were waiting for them and Emm to take their places. Lore and Char took their seats. The room’s main lights dimmed as a projector rose from the centre of the table. Once the room was almost completely black, the projector illuminated.
“For the sake of our new members, let’s start from the beginning.” There was an audible groan from many of the council’s members. “UPC-052 or the Johned Nebula as we know it, is an artificially created nebula of dense and highly charged gases and micro-solids designed to protect our base on the third planet in the Gja’Faradin system: Johned.” The First pointed at the system then zoomed in on Johned.
“This whole nebula was to hide one planet?” Char whispered to Lore.
“Housed on Johned, is one of our most important installations: The Slingshot.” Several of the other Lores were lip syncing The First’s speech with contempt. “We will be arriving there within the next few hours. Our mission.”
“Again.” Four of the older Lores groaned.
“Our mission is to reclaim the installation and ensure that it is fully operational and ready for us to use to complete the final mission.” The First paused. “As most of you already know what needs to be done, you will be free to go but are there any questions before you leave?” Almost everyone shook their heads. “Right then, you will find your work assignments on your tablets with any additional preparations highlighted. Once we’re settled, there will be another briefing regarding changes to the Tether Project led by our newest members. Okay, go get it done.” The First nodded and most of the room cleared leaving just The First, Charrlene, Emm and Clayton with Lore and Char. “Okay then, sorry about the others. You’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it twenty six times.” They shrugged.
“Is this the bit where you finally tell us what the hel we’re doing here?” Char shouted down to The First.
“Hold on a moment.” The First pressed and held a button under the table. Motors whirred as it collapsed into itself and contracted, dragging everyone around it closer to them. It went from being able to comfortably seat fifty-two to being just big enough to fit the six of them. “Where were we?” They gasped. “Ah yes, what the hel are we all doing here? Well, as you know, we created the cycle in an attempt to save Quatarr and prevent the destruction of everything as shown in The Omega Outcome. However, getting to Quatarr has gotten harder and harder as time has gone by as, after the first cycle, The Temporal Sciences Guild significantly increased the security surrounding what is left of the planet. That’s where The Slingshot comes in.” They took a sip of water from a cup with a rainbow frog on it. “The Gja’Faradin system is the nearest neighbouring system to the Quatarrian system that isn’t under Guild control.”
“Okay…” Char shook her head slowly. “And… Our ship has a KADS, we could literally start from anywhere and just appear in orbit.”
“That’s true but if we wanted to get our entire group there, we couldn’t use your ship and, while The Razor is powerful, there is no way we can produce enough power to charge a KADS to transport The Razor without the power source being so heavy that it becomes impossible to transport itself. Therefore we built an external device.”
“It’s easier to accurately fire a stone from a slingshot than to attach rockets and throw it.” Lore nodded as though what they had said was a completely normal thing to say.
“Exactly, and it allows us to keep our ships safer all together. We found that when we used the independent KADS, we got picked off one at a time due to the lack of shielding required for jumping but The Razor’s hull is more than strong enough to withstand The Guild’s weaponry, especially now that you’ve decommissioned Simplicity.” The First started flicking through the holographic images, looking for one that displayed Quatarr and The Guild’s defences surrounding it. There was one image that was unlike the others, a photograph of the various Lores and Chars outside, at the base of The Slingshot.
“Hold on.” Lore held out their hand to stop The First from scrolling further along. “Is this The Slingshot?” Lore pointed to the two massive arms that extended high above the group.
“It is indeed. Two towers linked by a high energy plasma which can be channelled to create a massive gravitational anomaly to fling anything that passes between them faster than faster than light at a given target.” The First sounded extremely proud of their creation.
Lore heard what they were saying but was more focussed on the people in the picture than the technology. They counted them, shook their head subtly then counted again. Each time they would count twenty six which they knew couldn’t be possible so they would count again. And again they would reach twenty six until their last count when they managed twenty eight. Their eyes widened as they confirmed the four anomalies. Four familiar faces stared back at them. Two of them in the main group, the other two, smiling in the background. “Must have been quite the project.” Was all that Lore could manage.
“It was. Even though we finished it and had it ready to go three decades ago, we needed to wait to the end of our first cycle to use it. If we brought Quatarr back too early, it would cause major paradoxes.” The First continued scrolling. “When we arrive, we will perform any necessary maintenance and repairs then we’ll be off to Quatarr.”
“So where do we come in?” Char looked around the room.
“Emm and Clayton, you’ve got your tasks. You two, I want you to make sure the clones are ready for the mission ahead. Unlike your group, most of the clones haven’t actually participated in much actual combat, they’ve mainly been used for construction and transportation in and around our installations.” The First started.
“We would like you and your clones to serve as an example of how to work as a wider team and how to operate in actual combat settings.” Charrlene’s delivery was much softer and almost proud sounding rather than The First’s more matter of fact tone. “We’d also like to know if you’ve made any progress on the Tether Project?”
Lore looked to Char who gave a near imperceptible shrug. “We’ll be ready when you need us.” Lore nodded. “We have made some alterations to the tower schematics you’ve given us so once they’ve been modified, we’ll be ready to go.” Lore paused. Thoughts of the future rushed through their head as they thought about the power they would be using to activate the Tether Project. They needed to talk to Char. “If that’s all then we’ll get started.” Everyone present looked at Lore as if they were expecting more. “What?”
“Nothing…” Charrlene put her hands on the table and pushed herself up. “We all better get to work then.