1:5:4 Rewind (Part 4)

“To see the end, we have to go back to the beginning.” The room flew off into the distance or they flew away from it and into the void. Things were moving so fast yet, not at all. On the dead planet, there stood a hill. The sands of a shattered planet crunched underfoot as they suddenly landed. Debris floated around them, gravity tried to draw it in to reform the world; arcs of energy caused by the remaining Tempora pushed them apart. Char clutched Lore’s hand, digging her nails into their palm. Up ahead, two figures. Crait moved the group to meet them. Stood on the hill, hand in hand, a Lore and a Char. Frozen in the moment, Crait gave a nod and the memory began. A flash of white saw another Crait join them.
“So… I guess this is is then… End of the road.” The memory of Crait shrugged. “To be honest, I’m not sure why you even bothered coming. You are so far from ready for this.”
“To talk.” The Lore let go of their Char’s hand. “We came to talk. Look, we both want the same thing. We both want humanity to survive whatever it was we saw in The Omega Outcome.”
“Then why are we on this rock?” Crait kicked up the orange sand.
The Char looked almost ready to hit them. “We’re here on Quatarr because this is where it all began. This is where you started us down the path to The Omega Outcome in the first place!”
“Feisty.” Crait turned and started pacing. “If I’m understanding correctly then, you think that my harvesting of Quatarr was the cause for The Outcome but, in actuality, it was merely an effect.”
“We both know it’s possible for an event to be both.” The Lore shook their head. “You don’t know what damage you caused destroying Quatarr.”
“Don’t start with that bloody religion of theirs. If humanity is going to survive The Outcome, we needed the Tempora.” Crait started. “A stronger humanity will mean we’re more likely to survive in the end and that’s what harvesting Quatarr gave us. A chance.”
“Or maybe, just maybe, it lost us a valuable ally. Even if you don’t think The Outcome is your fault, you can’t deny we would have a greater chance standing with Quatarr and the other planets rather than destroying them.” The Lore turned to Char. “Look at what just us two were able to achieve.”
“Yeah…” Crait looked at the optimistic couple before them with confusion. “You managed to visit three outer rim worlds and build a small refinery on an empty moon... Not what I’d call stellar progress.”
“Maybe not. But next time, we’ll do more.” The Lore smiled.
“And the next time too.” The Char joined in.
The Lore and Char both started tapping at their wrists. The Lore slid their Breacher over their hand and into The Char’s. “Because next time, there’ll be more of us. Next time, we won’t be working alone.”
“Will it though? Four people versus The entirety of the Inquisitoriam...” Crait’s forehead creases deepened proportionally to their confusion.
“See you on the other side.” The Char turned to face The Lore, placed a kiss on their lips then pushed. As she did, a Breach formed behind them and they vanished. She then pressed her wrist again; falling backwards, she too vanished.
On the dead planet, there stood a hill and on that hill, stood a single figure. Lore, Char, The First and Crait watched as the memory Crait took a pen like device from their belt and pressed it to their temple. They winced in pain as it started to glow. They scanned the spot from which The Lore and Char vanished before returning to their ship.
“I then placed that MemDex in a box and became the first version of me to ship one off to the past.” Crait created a version of the box. “Twenty-five slots for twenty-five MemDexes. Entirely coincidental but… happy accidents.”
“I’ve always wondered how it worked for you.” The First scratched their head. “You always seemed to be three steps ahead and now we know why…”
“At least I’m not tearing holes in the fabric of reality. Who’s to say it’s not your fault?” Crait retorted.
The First wasn’t sure how to respond.
“If it is then we deal with the consequences together.” Lore stepped forward.
“Fair enough.” Crait clicked. They were suddenly on the bridge of Simplicity. “Now let’s fast forward to three months ago.”

Crait’s past lounged on their command seat. The ship was approaching a highly developed planet. Jellyfish like structures floated around the world below in a beautifully choreographed ballet; synchronised chaos. The orbital stations woke and attended their battle stations, like ants to honey, as Simplicity drew near. Crait turned to Lore, their eyes narrowed. “Hold on…” They placed a hand in their jacket pocket and withdrew a small, dull marble. “This was the day after the cycle restarted.”
“Deal’s a deal.” Char smiled.
“We let you say your piece, now it’s time for us to get down to business.” Lore perched themselves on one of the consoles. “Right then, where are we going?”
Crait sighed. They took a deep breath then closed their eyes; on the inhale, they opened them, hoping the times had changed. When they found out they hadn’t, they sighed again. “Fine… We’re on our way to Paraultis. The first of the outer rim worlds the Temporal Sciences Guild colonised for humanity.”
“You mean the first species you wiped out?” Char looked disgusted. “The Toiswuar were an exceptional race… Arseholes at times but otherwise brilliant and you wiped them out.”
“As I was saying. The Temporal Sciences Guild was looking for opportunities to prove its worth so we set our sights on a handful of planets that seemed almost perfect for human colonisation.” Crait pointed to the display. “Breathable atmosphere, plenty of space, good location too. We were uniquely suited to complete the checklist and make the planet a hundred percent ready for us.”
The orbital stations weaponry powered on. A call notification filled the viewscreen. The memory Crait nodded. A Toiswuar officer’s face filled the screen. Its slick skin appeared to be in a constant state of flux, writhing and waving as it spoke; it didn’t appear to have a mouth, rather the noise came from two vent like orifices either side of its head. “Ollowwo’Owollo.” Crait assumed it to be a greeting but the tone was that of an order. Crait decided it would be best if they just waved their hand. The officer mirrored their action. They were transfixed by the creature before them, struggling to think of exactly what it reminded them of.
“Translator active sir.” A voice came from the back of the bridge.
“Greetings unidentified craft. You are in Paraulti space. State your intent or face destruction.” The Toiswuar officer shouted in a flat drone.
The memory Crait put on a false smile; they sat up in their chair before speaking. “Greetings. I am High Inquisitor Crait of the Fifty-Second Inquisitoriam. I’m here to discuss a potential opportunity between our two species.”
There was a pause. The officer tapped at its screen. “There are no records of your ship or your organisation in our database. For our records, please state your species and planet of origin.”
“We are humans. We come from the planet Earth… Sometimes referred to as Sol three… Umm… We’re a relatively young planet…” Crait looked to their officers for support. Their first officer shrugged.
“Human?” It stressed the two syllables, slowly pronouncing them. It shook its head. “We will need a copy of your star charts with our planet and your home-world to verify your existence.”
Memory Crait gave a nod. “We’ll send them over right away.”
“This seems odd.” Char looked to the scene before her. “I really wasn’t expecting this much talking.”
“We’re not evil.” Crait wasn’t sure what to say.
“Says they who holds in their hand the key to a genocide.” Char pointed at the marble Crait was rolling between their fingers.
“The Toiswuar were the most powerful of the group. With them out of the way we could do what we needed to without the need for the pretext. We already knew exactly what we needed before we left Earth… We just needed to get to it without dying.” Crait looked to their crew.
“Because you still don’t have the technology to launch ships back in time.” The First concluded.
Crait bowed their head in defeat. “Who’d have thought all we needed to do was build a Slingshot?” There was a moment’s silence before the memory resumed. “That’s it!” Crait exclaimed.
“What?” Lore tried to focus on the memory but found themselves unable to understand what was being said.
“The Toiswuar, I’ve just realised what they remind me of.” Crait chuckled. “There’s a fish native to Earth that looks just like them when exposed to standard atmospheric pressure… Except on Earth, its a pinky colour.”
“The blob fish?” The First looked at the Toiswuar officer with a furrowed brow before chuckling themselves. “I see it actually.”
“A blob fish!” Crait sighed.
“Shush!” Lore held their finger to their mouth as they tried to salvage what they could from the memory.
“You will have to wait here while we verify these maps.” The officer cut its feed, leaving Simplicity and the station disconnected.
“Okay.” The Memory Crait turned their chair to face their crew. “All we need is for them to let us into Breacher range then its mission go.” The crew nodded. “Keep Simplicity safe and I’ll do the rest.”
“Sir, won’t you need access to their historical databases?” One brave officer spoke up.
Both Crait and their memory stared at him. “I hate it but you’re right. Next time they connect to us, initiate a subtle cyber strike. Target a non-essential system and try get in that way or something?”
“Yes sir.” The officers returned.
The call notification once again filled the viewscreen and, before accepting it, Crait made sure their crew were ready. “Officer.” Crait smiled a smarmy smile.
“You are a long way from home human.” Again, it stressed the syllables. “Before allowing your ship to advance any further into Paraulti space, we must meet. Face to face.” It nodded. “You are invited to visit station thirty-two, boarding by shuttle. If you do not have a shuttle, one will be sent to collect you. Do not resist.”
“We’ll be over in a moment. Please could you supply the co-ordinates to… Where exactly do you want us?” Memory Crait shrugged.
Just watching as the Toiswuar’s face rippled and rolled into a confused expression was enough to make Crait seasick twice; past and present both swallowed down a feeling of intense queasiness. “My apologies… Why do you need my co-ordinates?”
“I’m afraid we don’t have a shuttle however, we do have a short range teleporter. It’s our only way to get to you so we need the co-ordinates of whatever room you want us in so we can get there.” Memory Crait tapped at their Breacher. “You know what? Why don’t I just come to you now? It should be safe enough for me where you are…” They vanished; Simplicity vanished with them. In an instant, the orbital station formed around them. “Hello…” The Officer’s face looked as though it was going to tear itself apart. “Sorry.” Memory Crait tapped again at their Breacher. “There we go! Translator should be working now!” They smiled. “Hello! Sorry to just drop in but hopefully this won’t effect our negotiations.”
“Not at all.” The officer settled down. “Proper introductions are yet to be made. I am Lwor’Owol’Wic. Keeper of the Grand Shell, Protector of Paraultis and Chieftain of the Orbital Bloom.” It paused. “You said you were Crait of the Fifty-Second. Tell me of your people.”
“Humanity is… I suppose we’re what you’d call a fledgling race. We’ve only just started our venture into the stars but we’re eager to learn and make friends.” Memory Crait’s smile was painfully false.
“An admirable goal. We too enjoyed a similar mission when we first joined the celestial forum. Now we are members of the Great Quatarrian Empire.” The Officer stood a little taller. “Now, onto your application for an entry visa.” Crait looked a little confused but assumed it was due to the translator. “We are concerned about the firepower your ship possesses; if you were an ally of ours then it would not be an issue, however, as a newcomer it is almost grounds to deny you instantly.” It paused, taking a laboured breath. “But, as you appear to be a respectable individual and the information you’ve provided about your planet matches what our allies have gathered, we are happy to invite you to our world. You and your ship are now free to enter orbit before taking a shuttle or teleporter to visit.” The concept of teleportation seemed alien to it but it seemed ready to embrace their differing technology.
“That is the best news I’ve heard all day!” Memory Crait beamed. For the first time since entering the system, the smile was genuine.