Alternatives

Grumbling. The council chamber throbbed with a similar energy to a ship’s drive core as they muttered over one another at the audacity of two unknown and un-named members telling them how to conduct their science.
“Care to elaborate?” The First pushed their spectacles further up the bridge of their nose.
“Well, you’ve been looking at this problem all wrong.” Lore started. As soon as the words left their mouth, the council members eyes widened with contempt. “If I’ve got…” They looked around for something to assist in their demonstration. “A bowl of fruit that I need to pass to someone across the room, I don’t throw the fruit handfuls at a time.” They pointed their toe to a nearby filing box. “I put the fruit into a container then throw that. It all gets to its destination using a similar amount of energy but with less effort. You just need to build a box big enough for the ships.” Lore grabbed one of the apples from the box and took a bite. Half the room winced, the other half smiled as Lore cringed and spat the soggy chunk back into the box. “Who disguises pears as apples?” The whole room stared at a sheepish pair.
“Emm and Clayton have been at it since they worked out how to modify the fabrication codes. That’s why there’s fruit everywhere. No one wants to risk biting into a pear.” Half of the room nodded along with Quart’s analysis.
“I for one think they’re fine.” Emm bit into a nearby apple. Their face quickly dropped. “That’s actually an apple. Yuck!”
“So, we just need to build this colony ship and we’re done.” The First got the meeting back on track.
“Basically. But you might want to make sure The Slingshot works with the ship before you move on to other things.”
“Obviously.” The room resonated with the collective sarcasm of the council.
“Well then, meeting adjourned. We’ll pick up tomorrow to begin ship design and manufacture.” The First nodded, dismissing the council. “You two stay though. We need to talk.”
The room emptied in record time after that, leaving Lore and Char alone with The First and their silent partner.
“You two must have a pretty firm grasp on temporal mechanics if you’re here dishing out future knowledge.” They were glaring daggers at Lore. “Or did someone send you?”
“We came because you didn’t give us any choice. You gave us a vague and half arsed explanation then smiled and told us to get it done.” Lore was returning fire. “We came here to get a little perspective, learn a little about the project you sent us to reclaim.”
“Darling. Think about it, if their presence in any way jeopardised the plan, we wouldn’t have been there to give the orders.” The First turned to their partner. “You’ve got to consider all four dimensions.” She patted her partner’s shoulder.
“You’re right Charrlene.” They smiled.
“Your name is Charrlene?” Lore looked to Char with their mouth agape.
“No. That’s the name I used on my lease just after the war. Thought it was better than my real name but the landlord really emphasised the R’s.” Char looked disgusted at her doppelganger. “My real name is an extended form of Char sure, but you’re not finding out.” She looked at Lore teasingly. Charrlene looked ready to spill the beans until The First stopped her.
“Thank you for helping us. We can take it from here.” The First started to move towards the door. “Guess we’ll see you in a bit.”
Lore nodded as they entered the hallway. “This was nice.” They reached into their pocket to retrieve their vial. “Oh. Is this yours?” They held up the stone Brian gave them.
“I would ask you where you got that from but it’s most certainly what we need.” The First sped to Lore to take a closer look. “With a crystal this size we should have no problem making the Dimensional Projectors to finish the ship.” They went to kiss Lore’s cheek but stopped close enough to hug them. “Made that mistake before. Like kissing a brother.” They both shuddered.
“You got any spare Hydroxine? I only packed enough for one trip.” Lore rattled their empty vial.
“I can do you one better.” Charrlene lifted her robe to reveal an identical pistol to Char’s. She carefully disconnected it from her intake pipe and removed a silvery disk from the slide. “Stick that into the secondary fuel slot. As long as you two stick together, it’ll recharge itself.” Lore smiled as they inserted the capacitor, removed the capacitor and then replaced it in the correct orientation.
“Thank you.” Lore and Char smiled at their doppelgangers as they dissolved into a blinding flash.
They were back. While the air wasn’t quite as fresh, the slightly lighter gravity was like slipping into a warm bath.
Then the alarms started. “Lore, Char, you’re needed on the bridge.” Destiny sounded worried.
The two moved at brisk walking pace as they rounded the corner from Lore’s quarters to the bridge. The traditional blue lighting had been replaced with a pulsing crimson glow.
“What’s going on? Have we moved?” Lore looked out of the front viewport only to see the darkness of space. The Johned Nebula was obviously absent.
“That’s the problem. Shortly after you left, so did the nebula.” Destiny started. “Whatever you did, screwed everything up.”
Char frantically searched the rear of the bridge. She wasn’t sure if she had dreamt it until she finally saw it; shiny and mauve, she removed the small hammer chained to the wall nearby and proceeded to shatter the box.
“Time travel: Think of the future before visiting the past to learn about the present. Got us to a tee” Char chuckled nervously at the book’s cover before scanning its contents. “The Slingshot and where you screwed up…”
“It does not say that… Oh, it does.” Lore looked to Char amazed. After the introduction page, there was a short paragraph and a single picture of the council room.
Don’t panic. The Destiny has been protected against paradoxical shenanigans. The ship and everyone on board will always remember the timeline they came from so there’s a start. Now, study figure one, a picture from the council chambers when Lore bit into the Pearple. How many people are in the picture…
“Fifty four… There’s fifty four.” Lore looked to Char. “We’ve got to go back.” Changes