-Chapter 7

 

            Pedro the police Yoshi slowly trudged through the water, now moving towards the stolen police car.  He and four other officers had just searched through the blue SkyCar, but they were all surprised to find it empty.  As the group approached the smashed black-and-white SkyCar, he hoped that they would find Olivia unconscious.  But as he opened up the side door, he made another surprising and extremely frustrating discovery—Olivia wasn’t there at all.  He and the other officers nervously searched the entire car, but still found nothing.  “Not good,” said Pedro as everyone came back out into the water.  “We have an armed and dangerous Yoshi out there, and I think we all know what she’s after now.  Now let’s move!  Someone make a detour around this bridge, and the rest of us’ll try to find Olivia and the other three!  Come on!”

 

            The sky was changing to a dark purple hue, and Yoshata, Joey, and Tiffany had only reached the arcade building’s parking lot.  Shortly after they began their long trip, Joey started walking by himself, Yoshata had to slow down so Tiffany could catch up, and Tiffany’s bad mood had only begun.

            It was such a pity that something like this had to happen; it seemed like Tiffany had almost begun to really like them.  There weren’t many other reasons for why she would have taken them out to tour Orange Cataract City…but now she was worse than they had seen her before; she accepted no help from neither Joey nor Yoshata, no matter how much Yoshata tried to help her (Joey simply gave up after a while).  And although he was exhausted by this time, Joey didn’t dare to ask Tiffany if they could stop. 

            Tiffany’s bleeding had only just recently stopped, and she had become rather weak and slow in her walking.  But still, she remained as stubborn as ever, as well as resolved to get to their destination, no matter what.  It’s not that far, She continued to tell herself. 

            But it was.  The Orange Springs Hotel was still quite a while away from them; in fact, they had just reached the point at which they could see the entire building in the distance.  This sight gave them a bit more hope; perhaps the walk back wouldn’t take so long!  But then again, at the rate they were going, they had only just passed the arcade building. 

            After another thirty minutes of walking, the three had finished walking past a small grocery store.  Joey’s stomach rumbled.  “Tiffany, can we—”

            “Shut up!  You had food an hour and a half ago, and I don’t want to hear your whining!”

            “But—I just—”

            “No!”

            Joey hung his head a bit lower.  Yoshata looked at him and whispered, “Don’t worry, we’ll be back to the hotel sooner than you think!”

            This encouragement helped Joey a little, but he was still hungry and sad.  He sighed and wondered whether depression like this was contagious.  His stomach rumbled again.  As he continued to long for food, he remembered going to the three donut shops at the Orange Sunset Mall.  That led him to remembering the old donut-and-ice cream shop that was at the Yoshi City Mall back in his time…the donuts and ice cream there were so good…. His mind then wandered back to his old home, with Mom and Dad and his sister.  I must be pretty homesick to miss her, He thought.  But still, he would do anything to go back home, to get out of this place…It may have been fun while it lasted, but this is too much…I wanna go home!  Joey wiped a tear off of his face and rubbed his eyes.  He wished he knew how he and Yoshata would go back to their own time, if they would ever be able to.  The only time machine he knew of was back on the beach in Yoshi City, which was probably disposed of by now, anyway.  And even if it wasn’t, they no longer had a car to drive back there.  There seemed to be no hope of ever going back…but then Joey thought of something else.  A while back, Tiffany had told him about himself—that is, the future Joey—and some other Yoshies starting the Time Travel Project, making more new and improved time machine models.  Surely they would have a building by this time…but where would it be?  If Tiffany weren’t so angry, he would have definitely asked. 

            Joey told Yoshata about this, and she agreed: the only easy way to get back home was to find another time machine.  But she too was puzzled as to where the building where these machines were stored would be.  She told Joey that it was probably in a populated city, because that was usually where most important companies are located.  That meant that there was possibility of the building being somewhere around this city…and if it were, then maybe this would end sooner than Joey thought!

            As Joey thought about this, the familiar sound of sirens began to sound.  He and Yoshata looked back at Tiffany, waiting for her response.  She quickly motioned for them to follow her.  They ran after her until they ended up hiding at the side of a gas station.  Tiffany carefully moved her head until she could see the road from where she hid.  Once the few police cars drove by, Tiffany turned back to Joey and Yoshata.  “They’re looking for us,” she whispered.  “We’ve gotta move faster…”

            “That’s no problem for us,” replied Joey, “but aren’t they there to help us?  Why are we running?”

            “Don’t be an idiot. Those guys aren’t there to help us; they’re there to waste our time.  And believe me, time is something we really need.”

 

            Olivia ran down the sidewalk as fast as she could.  She rushed across the road, not bothering to look for cars.  A bus quickly screeched to a stop as she ran ahead of it.  She reached the sidewalk on the other side of the road and looked to her right.  It’s not that far, She thought as she looked over at the distant Orange Springs Hotel.  It was getting closer and closer…but she still couldn’t get there by simply walking.  I can’t do this by foot!  I need something faster—a vehicle of some sort…but I can’t take another car, there are too many people here to do that…a taxi?…No, that would cost too much…but maybe a bus would work…yes….

            She continued walking towards the distant building; she was sure she would run into a bus stop sooner or later.  And, fortunately, she did.  She quickly threw any weapons she still had over the bench behind her and sat down on it.  While she sat there, she spent her time thinking about how she would get rid of Tiffany and that sky blue Yoshi with the funny hair.  Once I put them out of the picture, she thought, I’ll finally have Joey to deal with…I won’t fail this time!  But I still need a new way to do this…the violent approach only came close to really working once, and I still have the headache from it.  But as for a new way to get them…a trap of some kind…I need something that I can control at my will…something that won’t backfire on me for once.  Olivia reached through her mind for an idea.  She couldn’t find much good in her present blunders, so she began thinking back as far as she could.  Wait, she thought.  I’ve got it!  Yes! 

            Her glee rose even higher when she saw that her bus had arrived.  She smiled and walked to its opened door.  The only trouble she could imagine facing now was someone recognizing her on the bus.  But she doubted that that would happen; the police had known of her official presence in the city for only a day or so…and even if someone did remember seeing her, her plan would still be perfect…

 

            “Run!” “Hide!” “Run!” “Hide!”  It seemed that most of their trip involved Tiffany shouting these words, and Joey and Yoshata were getting tired of it.  It seemed like the police cars wouldn’t stop driving down the same road they were running on.  It seemed like they knew what was happening, and they wouldn’t stop until Joey, Yoshata, and Tiffany gave in.  But on the bright side, this constant moving around took Tiffany’s mind of her own pain, and she became a bit less aggressive.  At the moment, they were running from behind a car to a fence in front of house not too far away.  They managed to jump behind the fence just as another police car drove by.  Tiffany waited for a minute, then looked around the fence to see if it was gone.  She looked back at Joey and Yoshata and nodded.  Wasting no time, they got back up and began running forward, this time in the direction of a building on the edge of a turning road.  When they reached it, Tiffany told them to keep running in the direction of the road, as the cars hadn’t drove by yet. 

            They ran longer, moving only on the grass behind each building.  It seemed that the police must have lost them, because no more cars were coming.  Soon, they reached a fork in the road.  Tiffany looked in the direction of the Orange Springs Hotel and told Joey and Yoshata to go that way.  They did, and after more running, they reached a more urban area of the city; they had to be getting closer to the hotel.  The buildings were taller than the ones the three had seen earlier, and the traffic was considerably greater.

            “We should probably take advantage of the traffic here,” said Tiffany. 

            “But how are we supposed to do that?” asked Joey.

            “Well, buses are too full of people who might recognize us—which isn’t good—and taxis are pretty expensive…but we’ll never get there by foot…so we should probably go with the taxi.

            “I dunno…I still think using a bus would be easier.  Besides, what are the odds of someone actually recognizing us?”

            “Too high to risk it.  Now come on, a taxi should be around here somewhere, and I want to get to one before I’m too tired.”

            The three of them continued running for about five more minutes, turning past many corners and changing their direction often.  However, an unoccupied taxi finally appeared for them by the end of those five minutes.  Thankful that she no longer needed to walk, Tiffany entered the taxi, followed by Joey and Yoshata.  Tiffany told the driver where they needed to go, and they were driven off in the direction of the Orange Springs Hotel. 

 

            Olivia was once again deep in thought as she sat in a chair at the back of the bus.  It won’t take long, she told herself as she looked through the nearest window.  The buildings are getting larger, the traffic’s becoming greater, and the streets are looking more and more littered…yes…it’s almost time.  She looked as far ahead as she could.  Through the windshield window she saw a tall building, not far away.  She tried to make out the large letters painted on the side of the building: T.T.P. was what it looked like; and it was just what Olivia was looking for.  She looked back out of her window.  I can’t wait for this to end, she continued.  It’s almost over… I know it is!

            The bus stopped and the driver announced their current location.  Olivia looked forward at the entrance to the bus.  She gasped; two black Yoshies in uniforms were entering the bus.  No! she thought.  Not now!  WHY NOW?  This can’t be happening!

            Obviously, this didn’t change the fact that what she feared was happening.  The police Yoshies stepped into the bus and paid the fee, then looked around for a seat.  Olivia was caught between two choices: The first choice was for her to sprint out of the bus as soon as possible and avoid getting caught again.  The second choice was for her to remain in the bus and wait till it had come as close as it could to the T.T.P. building…but I can’t risk that!  Why does this always happen to me?  But she knew she couldn’t waste time thinking.  She took the first choice and jumped out of her seat, running towards the door.  She thought of looking back, but since she heard no one coming after her or saying anything, she decided it would be best not to.  And fortunately, she got out just in time.

            So now, Olivia had escaped yet again…but now she faced the problem of getting to the building.  Without a bus, it would take her a while longer to get there.  Maybe I should’ve just taken a taxi…Argh, will I ever win?  At this rate, it’ll take me all night to get to that stupid hotel!  I have to find some means of transportation…maybe once I get into a less…watched area, I could grab a car or something….  She continued walking in the direction of the skyscraper.  She continued doing so, looking around for any more police Yoshies or a less crowded area with a car.  Just as she turned another corner, she turned her head left and right to see if anyone was following her or saw her.  When she made sure that no one was, she looked down the road a bit.  Several yards ahead of her lay a building with a paved space full of cars for sale.  Obviously, Olivia was not planning to buy one.  If I’ve been able to steal cars off the road, then I should be able to do the same in front of a lone building, she thought, and I doubt that very many people are in that building anyway.  But perhaps I should make sure…I don’t want to suffer another defeat….  She walked up towards the building and prepared to pull out one of her weapons.  When she found nothing, she was reminded that she had thrown her remaining weapons behind the bench at the bus stop earlier.  Curse that bus!  It’s caused me more problems than it’s taken away!  She stopped walking through the yard of cars and tried to think of a new plan.  The Yoshi at the desk inside the small building looked at her curiously.

 

            About thirty minutes had passed since the three Yoshies had entered the taxi.  The distant hotel was no longer so distant, signs of greater city life were appearing, and Tiffany was counting her money nervously.  She leaned toward Joey and Yoshata, who were the occupants of the other two back seats, and whispered, “Quick!  How much money do you guys have?”  The other two began checking themselves for money.

            “I, um…I don’t have any,” Joey whispered back.

            “Here, I have seven dollars,” said Yoshata, and she handed her remaining money to Tiffany. 

            “Okay.”  Tiffany added this money together, thought for a moment, then leaned back toward Joey and Yoshata.  “We have about twelve minutes.  After then, we’ll have to continue on foot.”  Yoshata and Joey sighed upon hearing this.

            “Well…how much time have we taken from the entire trip?” asked Joey.

            “By the end of this taxi ride, we’ll have taken about two and a-half hours off of what we would’ve made on foot.”

            “And how much time will we have left?”

            “I’m not quite sure…perhaps four or five hours by walking.” 

            Joey felt both encouraged and shocked at the same time about this.  Four to five hours seemed like a long time, but it was still better than if the three of them had walked the whole way.  The sky at this time was at its last point of evening, and the darkness of the night sky could already be seen in another direction.  It could be midnight by the time they reached the Orange Springs Hotel.

            After thirty more minutes had passed, Tiffany reluctantly handed their money to the taxi driver, and the three of them walked out of the car.  Then they began the long walk to the hotel. 

 

            Olivia smiled at her reflection in her new car’s windshield.  It may have not been exactly to her liking, but this car was rather fast and would get her where she needed to go.  I got lucky, she thought.  Only thirty minutes ago those roads were nearly completely empty; now they’re getting crowded again.  She looked into her rear-view mirror to see the road behind her.  It was getting filled with cars again, so she indeed had made it out just in time.  The only thing I’m confused about is why the guy working at that car sales building didn’t have a car as good as the others…I would’ve expected it to be better than this. 

            Her car made a turn, and she entered the highway again.  Fortunately, the T.T.P. building was only about half an hour’s drive away, and there were no police cars in sight.  Olivia grinned again.  If they weren’t around here, the police were probably searching for Joey, his daughter, and their protector. 

            She was able to drive for ten peaceful minutes.  After that, the music playing on her radio was interrupted by a police Yoshi’s voice.  “Pull your vehicle off the road!”  Annoyed, Olivia looked back into her rear-view mirror to see a black-and-white car, flashing and sounding, trying to catch up to her.  Not this again…I need to end this before it starts again.  But if I try dealing with them like I’ve done before, every one will replaced by two…but I can’t just let them catch me either…wait, I know!

            Olivia looked back and forth, switching her view from the police car behind her and the skyscraper with the letters T.T.P. written at its top.  She stopped, then turned her head toward a sign coming up.  Just behind it was a road leaving the highway, but apparently still going to the skyscraper.  She looked back once more, then turned into the exit road.  As she expected, the police car followed her.  She hoped that what would happen next would go according to her plan.  And it did—from the corner of her eye, Olivia saw a second police car continue driving down the highway; they were trying to ambush her. 

            “Pull your vehicle off the road!” the voice repeated.  With an annoyed sigh, Olivia ignored it.  She turned off the car’s radio, although she knew it wouldn’t stop the voices.  All the noise was giving her a headache.  Maybe I should just snap the radio antenna in half, she thought; but she quickly dismissed it.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I’d half to get out of this stupid car to do it, and I don’t have the time.  I just hope I can pull this one off…maybe if I lose them quickly enough, I can stop to eat or something…I haven’t eaten much actual food since I left for his house.  Wow…How long has it been since I started that?  Hm…two or three days.  I’ve only had one or two meals a day… it’s no wonder I’m hungry!  So yeah—I guess I will eat before I go into the building!  Now I’d better take a turn here…. 

            Her car turned as fast as could while it could still maintain its speed.  She was off the highway again.  If all went well, she could continue zigzagging between the highway and the smaller roads.  This, she expected, would buy her a little extra time before she would have to go back to old way of escaping.  While thinking about this, Olivia took no time to look behind the car, and as a result…BANG!  Her new car was bumped forward by the force of the police car behind her.  “All right, get off the road, or we’re going to force you!  This is your last warning!”

            Olivia took her regular course of action and accelerated ahead of the police car.  Fortunately, the road she was on had two lanes, so she was able to move around and go ahead of other cars while making the police car’s path more difficult.  The only problem she found with this was that the police car would continue to come back up behind her no matter what she did, and her car would get bumped at least once every time it did.  What’s happening?  This hasn’t happened to me every other time, so why does he—BUMP—suddenly get this “special power” that he didn’t have before?  What if they get me this time?  What if I never get to the building?  If they catch me, I might die trying to —BUMP—fight back; I’m outnumbered…but I doubt I’ll get out of jail—or especially court, for that matter—in time.  Whichever way I choose, I’m still going to lose everything I’ve tried—BUMP—so hard for.  But giving up right now would be better than losing the results of my effort, as well as my life….

            Okay, what the heck am I talking about?

            Olivia looked back to see where the police car currently was.  It appeared to be driving up behind her to bump her again.  There didn’t seem to be many options that Olivia had that could deal with this.  So, she decided to go with the first thing she thought of. 

            SCREECH!

            CRASH!

            BANG!

            BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!

            The outcome of her decision was in her favor; the bumper of Olivia’s new car was stronger than the front of the police car when a great enough force was applied.  In her case, it was slamming the brakes.  Better yet, her car still had the ability to drive as well as ever, while the police car was nearly completely wrecked.  Another grin spread across Olivia’s face as she turned around to see what she had done.  She turned back around and drove back onto the highway…the T.T.P. building was getting closer yet….

 

            “How much longer, Tiff?”

            “Look, I’ve already told you at least six times: I don’t know!  And the more you ask, the more I’ll think about not telling you when I know!”

            “Okay, fine!”

            “…How much longer till we get there, Tiff?”

            “You know, you’d better shut up before I make your blue head purple after tying your tail around it….”

            “Oh, come on, that’s not even possible!  Everyone knows that our tails are too short for that!”

            “You want me to show you how it can be possible?  Now shut your mouth and keep walking!  My guess is that we still have four to four and a-half hours or so.”

            Joey sighed upon hearing this news.  Yoshata took advantage of the short silence and asked Tiffany a question.  “Tiff, it seems like the buildings are getting taller and the streets are more crowded…where are we?”

            “We’re clearly moving closer to the center of the city,” Tiffany replied.  “If I’m right, we should be directly south of the Hotel.  By the time we get there…hm…it just might be eleven o’ clock at best.”

            “…And at worst?” Joey asked.

            “If everything that can go wrong does go wrong—and knowing what’s happened lately, you should know our case—then we’ll arrive at midnight to one…maybe even 2:00 A.M.”

            “What?”  Joey frowned.  “How will we manage to stay awake that long?”

            “We?  The real question is whether you will be able to last through the night or not!  As for me, I’m an expert on staying awake, and—”

            “You like coffee?”

            “Look, did I ever say I drank coffee to stay awake?  Because I don’t; I usually just stick with reading, writing, and drinking cappuccino.  Like I was saying, I use my own methods to stay awake, and I’m very sure that if she’s been able to handle heat rays out of her eyes, Yoshata can take care of herself with keeping her eyes open until we get to where we’re going.”

            “Okay.”

            The three Yoshies continued walking down a sidewalk that seemed endless.  The Orange Springs Hotel was a bit closer…they would get there sooner or later…and in the area they were in, only a few buildings grand enough to be called “skyscrapers” could be walked to with ease.  A rather tall one stood in the distance…on its side the letters T, T, and P were painted.  Yoshata, Joey, and Tiffany may have glanced at it once or more, but none of the three noticed anything important.  The three of them were mostly busy looking onward at the distant building near the center of the city.  Although it stood amongst several other buildings with sizes similar to its, it became easier and easier for them to distinguish it; for whatever angle they were viewing it from, they could always make out the words written on the sides: Orange Springs Hotel. 

            “Tiffany, can I ask you one more question?”

            “Sure, Yoshata.  What?”

            “What will we do about Olivia and getting Joey and I back home?”

            Tiffany took a moment to think about the question.  She took a short breath and replied, “I…I don’t yet.”  She followed with a sigh.  “As far as I know, Olivia shouldn’t be worried about until tomorrow, but as for you guys….”

            “We will be able to go back…right, Tiffany?” asked Joey nervously.

            “Of course you’ll be able to!  But I might have to arrange things, and judging by our situation with other people right now, that won’t be very easy.  I know I can’t ask my dad for a time machine—as far as I know, the only ones he personally owns are kept somewhere I don’t know about, and he only uses them for display—so we’d probably have to find a way to steal one from the building they’re manufactured at.”

            “But where are they manufactured?”

            “My dad hasn’t told me, probably because I’ve never asked.  But it’s likely that it’s around here, somewhere in this city.  Besides taking Mom out for some fancy dinner, the only reason my dad goes on trips to this city are because he has meetings.  And although I haven’t asked about where he has these meetings, it seems obvious that he would have them at a place of his business: ‘Further Study of Time and Its Relation and Use to the Universe,’ as he says.

            “Now, from every time he’s told me, I know that he owns a company for that purpose.  Of course, it’s not very popular with people, because I’ve also been told that time machines have and most likely never will be sold to people for any amount of money; the company mostly gets its money from government funding or something…I’m not quite sure.  The company’s probably paid a lot, though, because as Joey should know, our family is pretty rich.  But as for where the building for this company is, we should be able to find out tomorrow.”

            “Wait a second,” said Joey.  “If…if the future me kept his personal time machines hidden, where did you get one to come back in time and find us?”    

            “Well, it’s a pretty long story.  It all started when Dad got a phone call.  When Mom asked who it was, he told her that it was from the Time Travel Project building—he usually just abbreviates it with the T.T.P.  Anyway, when he hung up, he seemed very nervous about something.  When Mom and I asked what, he told us that some Olivia Norton person was found using a time machine to travel to an area of the year 2003.  He continued with saying that the only relation these people could find between her and your younger self was that Olivia was a member of a group of anti-time-manipulation radicals; she may have wanted to damage the past to change the future of time travel.

            “Because of the advanced technology of the T.T.P., some workers were able to lock the gate to a certain amount of universe orbs.  This would hold back Olivia until she found an alternative, giving them, as well as my father and I, extra time to make a decision.  They suggested going back to stop her—they would be able to unlock the universe gates once he reached the best one to stop Olivia with—but Dad, for some stupid reason, refused.  ‘If this is the way it must be, the way it is meant to go,’ he said, ‘so be it.’

            “Of course, that was the wimpiest statement I believe I’d ever heard from him.  So, there was only one thing to do: I would have to take matters into my own hands.  Personally, I wouldn’t say that my choice would be wrong, because I technically wouldn’t be messing around with time to meet my will; I made my choice to make sure time remained as it was really meant to be.  So, as soon as Dad had gone to tell Mom the bad news, I ran to the phone and called back to the T.T.P. building’s number.  They answered, and I asked them if they knew where my dad had hidden his best personal time machine.  When they asked why, I lied and said that my dad needed me to get it for him.  Fortunately, they knew, and they told me where my father’s most advanced time machine was.  It turned out that it was hidden in a locked closet of our garage, and the key was kept with the rest of my dad’s car keys. 

            “There was one last thing to do.  Because the machine could travel through time and not space, I couldn’t use it in my garage or where people on the other side of the universe orb could find me.  I chose the first place that came to mind: a secluded area on a nearby beach.  I quickly stuffed the time machine into the car’s trunk as well as it would fit, and drove away towards the beach. 

            “When I reached it, I used my dad’s car cell phone to call the T.T.P. building again.  I told them that my dad needed to know which universe number Olivia was headed to.  They gave me a huge number, then gave me a reminder of how to use the machine, in case my dad needed to know.  I thanked them, hid the car, and jumped into the time machine.

            As for what happened next, you should know pretty well.  The T.T.P. workers found what they believed to be my dad approaching the universe orb.  They unlocked it, and both Olivia and I went through it at the same time, coming out of the orb in separate areas—I came out where I began my travel, so she probably came out where she began.  After that, I began my search for my future father Joey, and his super-powered friend, Yoshata, whom I knew quite well in my own time.”

            Joey and Yoshata didn’t speak for a minute, but only continued walking.  “So then,” began Yoshata, “when you found Olivia approaching Joey’s house, you stopped her?”

            “Yes,” replied Tiffany.

            “Where did you get the weapons you attacked her with?” asked Joey.

            “I took most of them from my dad’s closet—he keeps security weapons like stun guns and de-neuron guns there—and I took the knives and most of the other things from the garage.”

            “Hey, how did you know which universe to go to when we were about to leave?” asked Yoshata.

            “What, you mean the one we’re in right now where Olivia didn’t go back in time to kill Joey?”

            “Yeah!”

            “Well, from hearing my dad’s annoying lectures on universal portals and everything like that, I learned only a few things—and fortunately, one of the things I learned was this: like universes are connected.  Because of Olivia’s action, every major universe involving her going back in time left a small, temporary imprint—a cross-universal ripple.  These are—how should I say it?—sort of bubbles left behind after a universe orb is broken through; they’re caused by the instability of an orb being manipulated and, if I’m right, can cause black holes in space and time if overused in one place.  When the Olivia from every universe came to a single universe, they inverted their position in that stack of universes—to be more clear, each one of them except one switched to another entire universe containing universes, and continued doing so until each one reached her own universe in which they continued on their mission.  But as I was saying, these cross-universal ripples showed up on the machine’s orb map—in every orb she used, I could see the ripples protruding from them.  There was only one group of major universes without ripples on them—and I chose the one that looked most silvery…it doesn’t really matter which I picked, they all basically went to the same universe.”

            Joey and Yoshata continued walking for a minute or two, just thinking about this. 

            “…I think I get it,” declared Yoshata.

            “Well, she got me confused,” said Joey.  “She has from Day One.”

            The three continued walking with little speech after that, save a few other non-important questions about Tiffany’s journey.  And soon enough, they realized that thirty minutes had passed.

 

            The same thirty minutes had just passed for Olivia, and the last fifteen weren’t as pleasant as she had hoped.  During that period of time, she had entered the highway, and shortly after, she had been spotted by two police Yoshies in their own cars.  That began another great chase, which, needless to say, really annoyed Olivia at the time.  By the end of the thirty minutes, the police were still in pursuit of her—just as close as they were when they had first begun—and Olivia’s car was nearly out of gas. 

            “This really isn’t my day, is it?” she asked herself angrily.  Seriously, she thought, it’s as if more police grow back out of the ones I get rid of, magically equipped with cars that get annoyingly faster and faster!  I’m never going to be able to eat with them on my tail…

            Her stomach began to growl.

            “Shut up, you!” Olivia shouted, and continued thinking.  And without time to even do that, how will I be able to sneak into that building?  Simple: I can’t.  And I obviously won’t be able to attempt walking in; first of all, they won’t let me in, and second—well, I don’t think I can get out of this car no matter what I do!  This is not as I planned!  But at least I haven’t run into traffic…

            The T.T.P. building was no longer a distant sight from a long highway; it was now a structure towering above the city streets Olivia was on.  Its name, Time Travel Project Research Building could be seen on signs around the area.  With the motive of getting rid of the three police cars behind her, Olivia made sharp turns around several corners and buildings, ignoring stoplights and other drivers.  As far as she could hear, neither she nor the police had caused any accidents on the road—the police Yoshies because of careful driving, and herself because of luck or very good situations at the time.  She looked ahead and saw the T.T.P. building.  Surrounding the building was a square perimeter of tall fence.  The building was far from being guarded like some important military building, but it the fence seemed rather strong; could Olivia’s car break through?

            It seemed to Olivia that there was only one real way to find out.  She hoped that there would be no one armed and waiting for her by the time she got past the fence, and she was sure that by now, the police were putting all of the pieces of this big chase together.  The fence was coming closer…it would only be a few seconds until the collision…and Olivia closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the outcome. 

            CLANG! 

            SCREECH! 

            SNAP!

            The iron links of the fence snapped and were scattered all over the hood and windshield of Olivia’s new car.  Although she had made it through, the impact had slowed her car’s movement down, and had also begun an alarm in the building.  She continued driving over the grass until she found herself on the pavement of the building’s parking lot section. 

            As her vehicle regained its speed, Olivia noticed that only a small amount of the parking lots were unreserved, a sign that this was in all likelihood a company meant only for a small amount of the public; and that meant that something special was bound to be here.  Obviously, she was in no mind of parking—she had police cars behind her and angry guards coming toward her—but she knew which way she was going to use to enter the building. 

            About five Yoshies in black uniforms—the building’s guards—ran in front of Olivia’s car and began waving angrily at her, motioning for her to stop.  It only took about two seconds for them to realize that she wasn’t.  They quickly jumped out of the way and began chasing her from behind with the police Yoshies.  Olivia grinned.  It was over for them now; she couldn’t turn back now, and they couldn’t make her.  Her plan was only a few yards away from reaching Phase Two. The car speedily approached the storage room gate….

            Pedro the police Yoshi was in the police car directly behind Olivia’s already-damaged vehicle.  “This really isn’t good,” he said to himself nervously.  It was nearly all clear to him now.  This must be involving some serious stuff if Olivia’s victim is who he appears to be now…how many laws have they broken altogether?  What I still don’t know is who the other two Yoshies with him are…perhaps the radio is correct.  Wait—what the?—”

            The police Yoshies and security guards watched as Olivia’s car crashed directly into—and through—the gate leading into the building’s storage room, located on the left half of the two towers making the building.  Her car took on even more damage to its front side, with the devices contained within the hood exploding and shards of glass being blown in and out of the car.  It wouldn’t have been best for them if this had killed her, but if she lived and got what she wanted, her three victims and the police force would be targeted for more chaos.  The police Yoshies’ cars screeched to a stop behind her car, and the police Yoshies and guards ran towards the metal gate and the burning car.

            Olivia struggled with the airbag that had blown up in her face.  She kicked open her door and jumped out.  The force the airbag used to save her from the impact caused her nose to start moderately bleeding.  She quickly began applying pressure to it as she looked around.  Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the inside of the storage floor, she looked down the way opposite her car.  Hopefully, the thing she was looking for was kept somewhere down here, because her time was limited; her car was stuck between the gate and the outside, preventing access, but it wouldn’t help her for long. 

            She ran as fast as her aching legs could take her.  She glanced back frequently to make sure that the gate hadn’t yet been opened; however, she eventually reached the point where it became too hard to check.  At this point, she gradually grew slower and slower in her walking.  She felt like she’d never find the right room, for nothing significant had shown up yet.  She was about to lie against the wall and take a quick rest when loud noises and flashing lights made her jumped up from where she stood.  She looked around frantically to see what was going on.  Then she realized what was happening.  She angrily stomped her foot into the ground.  The police and guards must have set an alarm off.  “Great,” she said to herself over the alarm.  “Now this is going to be twice as hard. 

            From somewhere behind Olivia—it was hard to really hear where above the noise—the sound of feet running down stairs and voices shouting could be heard.  Olivia tried to regain most of the strength she lost and ran forward.  The good part about the alarm was that the flashing lights gave her a more clear view of the long passage she was in.  The bad part, needless to say, was that the guards and the police also had that clear view and could easily spot her.  Another problem Olivia faced was the tiredness of her legs.  It was very likely that those pursuing her had much more running strength than she did—they had not gone through the countless torments that she had to go through from the very first few minutes of her journey.

            Olivia looked back at the police Yoshies and the security Yoshies.  She knew they had already spotted her, but they weren’t shouting for her to stop.  It was probably because they already knew she wouldn’t.  She looked back forward and saw something new: a ladder, going downward, just before a dead end in the passage.  Knowing that she had no other choice, she climbed down.

            As soon as she reached the bottom of the ladder, she stopped to take a few deep breaths.  She looked up.  There was no one there yet.  She looked behind her.  There was nothing there but a door with a sign on it.  She approached the sign and read it.  Power System Floor—Warning: Authorized Personnel Only!  Olivia finished reading and ran back to the bottom of the ladder.  She listened for what was happening above her.  The voices of the police and guards seemed to be just above her.  She ran back to the door, opened it, ran through, and closed it behind her. 

            The Power System room was massive and peculiar.  The room itself seemed to take up the entire underground floor, and in it were several mechanisms that she had never seen before.  Most of these must be based upon principles of time, she thought.  Otherwise, I’m sure I would have seen them before….  The most prominent style of the machines, which, in fact, made up all the ones she could see, was a nearly circular portal through which a long and thick pipe traveled.  She could see a grassy plain, empty of civilization, on the other side of just about every portal, and every pipe was held slightly above the ground by angled metal supports; however, she had no idea as to where the pipes stopped.  At the moment she was about to investigate this further, she heard the sound of shoes touching metal rungs on the other side of the door behind her.  She turned around to react to her enemies, but realized that the only reason she was able to get into the room was because someone had forgotten to lock the door—it was a code-lock door, and it would only lock or unlock if the correct code was entered.  And Olivia, of course, did not know the code. 

            She sprinted off and jumped behind a large, cylindrical generator just as the police opened the door.  She peeked around a side and saw the three black Yoshies, followed by other Yoshies in diverse colors, wearing similar uniforms.  She turned her head back behind the generator and listened to what was happening while at the same time observing more of the power devices in the room. 

            On the wall to her left were many small gates.  Under these gates were conveyor belts, each moving small, dark metal boxes through a gate.  The boxes were carried from another area of the room by a long crane hanging from the ceiling.  Olivia leaned a tiny bit to see what was past the gates.  From what she saw through one gate, there appeared to be a mechanism that enclosed four of these boxes inside one large glass-like orb lined with dark material; once four boxes were inside an orb, they floated inside as the orb rolled down a path into darkness.

            The wall to her right was like a giant cylindrical column; it took up half the room and stood in the center of the building, connecting its two towers.  On this cylindrical wall there were small windows, and behind the windows Olivia could see a small bit of the building at the ground.  Between the half of the building she was on and the other half of the building was a large version of the portal machine she had seen a minute or so ago.  A large pipe moving upwards extended from the giant portal, and was supported by metal extensions on both halves of the building.  As far as she knew, the large pipe may have extended to the top of the building.

            Olivia next looked in front of her, ready to run if the police and guards found her.  Up ahead was what she was looking for: a door, leading into another room, right next to a wall-mounted power-box.  The door was a high-security steel door and she was sure that the power-box was locked. 

            “Hurry, look around here!” came a guard’s cry.  That was the signal; in three seconds she would make a run for the wall across from her.  If—and when—she made it there, she would have to think of what to do quickly. 

            Three.

            Two.

            One.

            Olivia quickly jumped into action just a short moment before those pursuing her came to where she was hiding.  She made a quick dive towards the wall opposite where she was hiding.  As she landed and made a quick somersault, the guards’ de-neuron guns began firing, each missing.  When she began running again, she held her arms around her head and kept her head low.  Behind her, another shot was fired, this one hitting her left arm.  She tried to keep it over her head, but as she continued running, it slid off the back of her neck and dangled, motionless.  She was soon three-quarters of the way there.  There was another quick flash behind her, and Olivia then found that her left leg had gone numb and motionless.

            With nearly the entire distance covered, Olivia dragged herself to the power box.  She lifted up her one movable hand and tried to yank open the door to the box.  Unfortunately, the door was locked as she expected, and she had wasted what little time she had before the guards and police Yoshies would pull her back outside.  And if that were to happen, this entire chase would start all over again…ten times harder than before.

            Gathering her determination, she quickly used her active limbs to push her out of the guards’ aim.  Bright flashes of light from de-neuron guns followed, but nothing hit Olivia this time.  Olivia struggled to push herself as far from the police Yoshies as she could.  It seemed that in her current state, her capture would be eventual and soon; however, just around another metal cylinder was exactly the thing she was looking for.

            “Come on!  She crawled to the right of this door!”  The police Yoshies and guards made a quick turn at the steel security door and ran to where they were sure their target was.  They were puzzled when they came near the corner of the room and saw no one.

            “Where is she?” asked a police Yoshi.

            There was a short pause before a security guard in front spoke.  “I think I know where she is,” he said, and readied his de-neuron gun.  He slowly edged along the side of the cylindrical pillar Olivia had crawled around.  When he reached the other side, he was surprised to find nothing but a bruised periwinkle hand from another hiding spot, which was holding a rather large wrench.

            The others stood quietly for a moment, their own de-neuron guns ready, waiting for a sign for them to follow the first guard.  After a long time of silence, one police Yoshi stepped forward, about to look around the corner to see what happened.  The moment he did this, there was a bright flash of light, and his now-limp body fell to the ground.  The group of police Yoshies and security guards watched him, silently and wide-eyed.  Sadly for them, their reaction of looking back up and preparing their guns was late.  Olivia, who was holding a newly acquired de-neuron gun in her able hand, began to fire at each one of them before many of them could run or get their guns ready.  As for the few who were able to retaliate (or jump out of the way) in time, Olivia would simply hide for a short while and come back around the corner of her hiding spot to fire when they didn’t expect it.

            With that matter aside, Olivia made a few extra shots of her de-neuron gun to make sure no one would move while she was finishing the job she came here to do.  After that was done, she walked back around the metal cylindrical pillar to find the knocked-out police Yoshi and the wrench she used to knock him out with.  Only being able to use one hand at the moment, she threw the gun over to the steel door and picked up the wrench. 

            I’ve gotta make time, she thought as she limped over to the power box near the door.  It seemed apparent that more guards and police Yoshies would be back in a matter of time, and that made it too risky to go back out of the Power System room.  She seemed sure that what she was looking for was behind the steel security door anyway.  And if it weren’t, she would have to go back out into the long hallway and start looking again.  I know I couldn’t have passed by a door leading to it, she said to herself in her mind, and nothing but a dead end followed the ladder down to this room.

            Now she was at the steel door.  She lifted up her movable hand, which was holding the wrench, and slammed it down on the locked power box door.  After a few more tries, it finally came open.  Olivia dropped the wrench, picked up the de-neuron gun on the floor, and looked inside the power box.  There were quite a few labeled switches, and it took her some time to find the one she was looking for. 

            “There you are,” Olivia said silently as she spotted the switch labeled “Power System Floor / Storage Floor Security Alarms”.  Using one of her fingers not holding the de-neuron gun, she flipped it off.  This should help for a while, she thought as she began looking for the next important switch.  She next found the “Universe-Mapping System—Floor 16” switch and flipped it off.  After some thought, she shrugged and pulled the switch out of place, breaking it.  Not much time passed before she found the next switch, which was labeled “Power System Floor / Storage Floor Security Locks”.  Taking a moment to look around to see if anyone had come yet, she found that the security alarms switch might have helped her more than she thought; the other guards must have thought that she had just been caught.  After her short time of thinking about this, she flipped off the switch and walked to the steel door. 

            Luckily for Olivia, the door seemed to rely solely on the electronic number code-and verification card system in order to be opened.  And now that the electronic device had lost its power, Olivia had easy access to whatever was behind the steel door.  She pushed the door open, turned the security locks switch back on as the door was opened, and entered.  She closed the door behind her and began to walk forward into a lighted room with several large shelves, much like a library.  The difference between this room and a library, however, was that the shelves of this room did not contain books, and this room was specially labeled the “Dated and Upcoming Projects” room.

 

             However long it had taken Olivia to reach the projects room at the T.T.P building, the same time had passed for Joey, Yoshata, and Tiffany.  For thirty minutes at most, they had been walking in the direction of the Orange Springs Hotel.  The time was approaching eight at night, and, needless to say, they were getting tired.

            “If you don’t mind my asking, Tiff,” Joey said tiredly, “how much longer?”

            Tiffany glanced back at him.  “Uh…maybe four hours…I’m not sure….”

            “I’m kinda tired,” Yoshata said in nearly the same tone as Joey.  “It seems like we’ve walked way longer than we would for us to still have four hours.”

            “Yeah,” agreed Joey.  “Couldn’t we just stop for a little while?”

            “No!” replied Tiffany.  Her voice had become sharp and silent, probably due to their long period of walking through the city.  “Just think of what it’ll be like when we get back to the Orange Springs Hotel!  When I get there, I’m going to take the longest shower….”

            “…And I’ll stuff my face with free breakfast…” said Joey dreamily, continuing Tiffany’s happy thoughts.

            “And we’ll all be able to sleep till twelve in the morning!” finished Yoshata happily.

            “Yeah, and tonight, I get the other bed!” exclaimed Joey.

            “Oh, whatever,” said Tiffany, “just leave me the shower.”

            It didn’t take long for Tiffany to forget her words of encouragement to Joey and Yoshata and to sit on an unoccupied bench near the sidewalk they were on.  Not wanting to keep walking much more themselves, Joey and Yoshata said nothing and sat down next to Tiffany.  After all, 8:00 had probably only passed a while ago, and the Orange Springs Hotel was starting to become very close compared to its distance earlier.

 

            After much difficulty, Olivia was finally able to reach a medium-sized box on a high shelf.  Its label suggested that it was a rather new model.  Olivia had heard about this: this model of time machine was able to transport its user from one time and space to another.  The model was a bit more portable (And who in their everyday life would need something as dumb as a portable time machine? she thought) and required to be plugged into an outlet, unlike most of the older, stationary models (which ran on batteries similar to car batteries).

            Olivia jumped down from the shelf with the box in her working hand, trying to be as quiet as possible.  When she was back on the floor, she ran to the far end of the Projects room.  If the newest models were at the front end of the room, she thought, then the older ones must have been in the back.  It seemed a safe assumption, although assumptions in general weren’t very safe themselves in this place.  Any minute now, the guards could come back into the Power System room and find the stunned bodies, the wrench, and the broken opening to the power box.  They would be able to put the pieces together and realize what happened to the alarms, the security door, and the universe-mapping system.  Finally, they would have everything figured out when they remembered what room was behind that door, and they would simply switch the security locks switch back off and enter the Projects room.  But, Olivia continued in her mind, they would just come to find that I was gone—gone with this model!  

            Olivia found the next model she was looking for on the bottom of a shelf.  This one was an newer model, designed to change related universes with the change of an individual one.  It was exactly what she needed.  She placed down the box she was holding to free her functioning hand, which she then used to drag the time machine of the shelf.  After she had accomplished that, she picked up the box again and pushed it in the second seat of the machine.  Then she entered.

            Upon turning the machine on, a universe number for the universe she was in was displayed on a small rectangular screen.  Olivia wrote this long value down, then pushed a few buttons to change the universe number.  If she was correct, the new universe she would be traveling to would be one in which the recent-past form of herself did not enter the T.T.P. building.  And because she had turned off the universe-mapping system, she could not be locked out of this universe.

            And so without wasting any more time, Olivia pushed the “magic button” and began to re-enter the place where universes were made.

 

            Some great amount of time had passed for Joey and friends, and the three of them were overjoyed to find that, at 11:42 P.M., they had reached the Orange Springs Hotel.  They entered through the main doors into the lobby.  At this time, Rian was at the desk, but he looked just as they did: extremely tired.  He gave Tiffany the keys to Room 243 and seemed to fall asleep at the desk just afterwards.  Tiffany slowly led Joey and Yoshata to an elevator, which brought them up to the floor where their room was located.  They walked out and looked for the door to Room 243.

 

            Inside Room 243, Olivia had appeared by way of the time machine she had used in the Projects room of the T.T.P. building.  She appeared tired, probably due to her long trip to get to this point.  She had to bring the old and new time machine models all the way to the Orange Springs Hotel.  Of course, her work was not all done without help; on the contrary, Olivia was able to “borrow” a truck to store the machines in while she was in the other universe.  When she had driven to the parking lot of the Hotel, she got out of the car and began dragging the old model (which contained the new model inside of it) into the Lobby. 

            By that time, she had regained control of her previously paralyzed arm and leg.  When she saw that she and the orange Yoshi and the Lobby desk were the only ones in the room, she pulled out her de-neuron gun and shot him with it again.  While he was disabled, she took the keys to the room she was headed for and dragged the machine onto the nearest elevator and set it to go to one of the highest floors in the building.  Save for a few interesting encounters with other amazed Yoshies on the elevator, the trip to the high floor was not very unusual or long. 

            The elevator door opened, and she stepped into the hallway, dragging the moderately heavy old time machine behind her.  Room 243—where Joey, his nosy daughter, and their “bodyguard” had stayed—was not too hard to find, although dragging the time machine over to it took a few strenuous minutes.  When she had reached the room, she put down the machine and took out the key to the room.  Once she had unlocked the door and entered the room, she got back inside the time machine.  This time she pushed a different button, which displayed the last universe the machine was in.  Olivia selected this universe, adjusted the time of her arrival, and pushed the activation button again.

            Because of the settings she had chosen for the time machine, Olivia appeared in Room 243 at exactly 11:00—forty-two minutes before her enemies had reached the Hotel.  She could have chosen to appear only five minutes after she had left, but she believed that it might be too dangerous to do that so early (mainly because of the police).  Another reason she decided against returning to this universe so early was because she did not expect her three targets to arrive at the Orange Springs Hotel even this late; she needed some time to set up the new time machine, but if she had completed it long before Joey and his friends even arrived at their destination, she would have to wait all that time out.  And, of course, she was still hungry, so she didn’t want to waste any more time.

            This almost seems ironic, thought Olivia as she opened the box containing the new time machine model.  I’ve long been against the idea of time manipulation, and here I am relying on it to finish my job!…Of course, once I’ve finished what I came here to do, what irony will there be?—Time machines will no longer exist!

            As for Joey and his daughter, I suppose I do feel some remorse in having to get rid of them—but—it’s not really wrong that I should kill him and erase her from existence…it’s just what should be done.  And besides, it’s not like I’ll remember killing him after I’ve done it, right?…I know I’m doing the right thing for everyone when I do this.

            Olivia soon opened the box and saw the new model.  She pulled it out, set it down on the floor, and continued looking in the box for more.  But, to her frustration, there was nothing.  “Stupid model machines,” she grumbled.  “They don’t even come with an instruction booklet….”

            She continued by doing the first thing that seemed logical: plugging the machine in.  She quickly found an outlet and inserted the plug.  Then she took a look at the machine to see what should be done next. 

            The new time machine model had a circular frame—large enough for a regular-sized Yoshi to fit through—and three short, pointed rods from sections outside of the frame.  The points of these three rods were located at the edge of the frame and were directed at the center.  Some cords (one of which was plugged into the outlet in the room) extended from the frame.  One of the cords connected the circular frame and the rods to a small, thin device resembling a computer screen.  Just below the screen was a basic keyboard, much like a folding laptop keyboard, with a full set of number keys from zero to nine and some extra keys for functioning the machine.  A few small cords connected the screen, the keyboard, and the circular frame.

            Noticing a green button on the keyboard labeled “On”, Olivia had a pretty good idea of what was supposed to be done next. 

            Click!

            As soon as she turned on the new time machine, white text appeared on the screen.  She began skimming over the words but quit after reading half of a section; it was just the version and producer information.  She waited until the screen switched to the main control panel.  The following was displayed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Select dimensions:

 

1 L

2 H

3 D

4 T

 

0 Close Portal

? Help

< Back

Exit

 

            Olivia thought about this for a moment.  It didn’t take more than a minute for her to figure out that each option was for a universal dimension; L stood for length, H for height, D for depth, and, naturally, T for time.  Now the question was what the instructions meant by “dimensions”.  Olivia searched the keyboard for a button labeled with a question mark.  She quickly spotted a yellow button with that symbol and pressed it.  Then the selection screen disappeared and was replaced by more text:

 

This version of the Time Travel Project time manipulator utilizes a Universal Linkage System and a Dimensional Plane Manipulation System to relocate the user to a given time and space (originated at the usage points) in another universe chosen by the user.

 

At the first selection screen, the user will be prompted to select three dimensions.  The four dimensions are length (abbreviated by L), height (abbreviated by H), depth (abbreviated by D), and time (abbreviated by T), and are labeled with numbers that correspond to the numbers on the keyboard.  By default, the first three selected dimensions are length, height, and depth.  With these dimensions selected, the user may pass through the circular portal to the other side of the portal. (The portal will appear empty in this case.) 

(Note that the portal must be connected to the computer by the red, green, blue, and gray cords to function properly.)

If the button corresponding to time is pressed, the depth dimension will automatically be replaced with time, and a small two-dimensional silver orb should appear in the center of the portal.

WARNING: Do not activate the dimensional replacement with someone partially inside the portal!  Do not touch the portal while the silver orb is still inside it!

Only three dimensions can be selected at one time.

 

After the dimensional replacement, the screen should become another selection screen.  At this selection screen, the user will be prompted to choose a universe number.

 

            At this point, Olivia pressed the button with a “down” arrow on it and scrolled down on the screen to continue reading.  Before she continued, she looked at the electronic alarm clock on the table between the two beds; it read “11:07”.  Then she returned to her reading:

 

The first number displayed on the screen will be whatever the universe number is when the screen is opened.  This number will be kept with other universe numbers in the computer’s memory (the most recent universe traveled to will have its number displayed on the screen, along with a copy of the current universe number).  Once a universe number is entered, the user must enter a starting time for that universe.  Once the user has entered this, he may push the enter button on the screen to proceed.

 

The next screen should appear.  This screen will display the portal’s exact location in space in the previously chosen universe and time. (At this point the silver orb should still be in the portal.)

(Note that no image will appear on the screen if the chosen universe is the current universe, a universe derived from the current universe, or a universe that the current universe is derived from.)

The arrow keys move the current position in space up, down, clockwise, and counterclockwise, on axes that are judged by the original position of the machine being used.  The two diagonal arrow keys move the current position in space forward and backward on an axis judged by the original position of the machine being used.  To move forward or backward in time, the user may push the forward (>) and back (<) keys.

(Note that because of the movement of the planet with time, some areas in space may be affected by the selection of time.)

To view the options of movement in space and time, as well as other things, the user may push the options button.  To change previous settings, the user may push the exit button.  If all settings for space and time are correct, the user may push the enter button.  After this, a final screen will make sure that the user has made his final decision.  If the user pushes the enter button at this time, the screen will close and return to the first selection screen.

 

After setting up the portal’s exit location, the silver orb will be replaced by a circular image of the other side of the portal after a short moment.

WARNING: Do not enter the portal until the image has fully appeared inside it!

The user may now go between two universes, spaces, and times.

(There should always be someone at the controls when the user is inside the other universe, in case any errors should occur.)

 

To close a portal, the user must simply push the button indicated on the first selection screen.  The portal should go blank again, and the dimension selections should switch back to their default setting.

WARNING: Do not close the portal while someone is partially or fully inside it!

 

            Olivia now knew all she needed to know.  “Well, I guess that makes up for the lack of an instruction booklet!” she exclaimed, smiling.  “Now, to set this up!” 

            She pushed the 4 key, and a small, silvery orb appeared in the center of the portal.  The screen quickly changed to the universe number selection screen; so far everything was going as planned.  The number selection screen asked for a universe number, and Olivia knew exactly which one.  She entered in a large number and a time, then pushed the “enter” button.  The screen changed again, this time to the location-and-time screen.  In the universe and time she had chosen, the Orange Springs Hotel had not yet been built, so the other portal was currently positioned high above a less tall building.  Olivia pushed the “down” arrow key and watched the screen’s image move lower and lower in elevation.  When she saw the ground, she released the arrow key and pushed the “right” arrow key.  The screen showed that the portal seemed to turn right when she did this.  Once the portal had rotated about ninety degrees to the right, she pushed the “forward” diagonal arrow key.  At about a jogging pace, the view on the screen moved forward.  Olivia held down the arrow key for a minute, then got frustrated.  “This is taking way too long!”

            She pushed the “options” button, and a new screen popped up.  After pressing the “down” arrow key to look down all the options, she got the one she wanted: “Space Movement Speed”.  She edited the value to be as close as it could to her liking, then went back to the location-and-time screen.  When she pushed the “forward” key again, the screen’s image moved so fast that it was where Olivia wanted the portal to be in roughly thirty seconds.  Olivia, feeling happier and happier by the second, pushed the “enter” button joyously and watched an image take the place of the silver orb in the portal’s circular frame. 

            The main selection screen was back on the computer, and Olivia was almost all ready.  She made sure the door was locked, then sat against the wall near the door, ready to jump into action when they came.  She looked at the clock again; it was now almost 11:15.  Yes, she thought.  They’ll be here at any moment…and all I have to do is wait the time out….

 

            Back at 11:42, Joey, Tiffany, and Yoshata had just reached the door to their room.  Tiffany, her eyes almost half-closed by now, pulled out the key to their room and unlocked the door.  She opened the door and saw a peculiar circular frame—with an image of the road near Joey’s house and Joey’s house inside it.  The image seemed to appear just as she remembered it when she was there herself.  This seemed to be some kind of miracle—now Joey and Yoshata had a way home—but even in her extreme sleepiness she could tell that something was definitely wrong.

            And before she could start putting the pieces together, it happened.  When she and her two friends saw Olivia jump from behind the door, everything seemed to move too fast for them to react.  Olivia kicked Joey across the room and towards a wall, then grabbed Yoshata and Tiffany, who were now beginning to lose their desire to sleep very quickly.

            “I could’ve killed you both,” said Olivia with both joy in her success so far and anger towards the two she had in her grip.  “But you know why I didn’t?  Because I’m not after you—I’m after him—and I have a merciful side!  So here’s what I’ll do….”

            Yoshata tried hard to concentrate.  A faint red began to glow in her eyes.

            “…I’ll send both of you back!  You will get to go back home and live out the rest of your life because of your innocence.  And as for you, Miss Tiffany, I’m going to give you twenty years to think about your interference with my plan—and I can only hope that it will be enough.” 

            Yoshata’s eyes were becoming a distinct red.  If Olivia were not speaking to Tiffany, she would have noticed it by now.

            “You’re insane!” shouted Tiffany, sounding almost completely awake now.  “Joey hasn’t done anything wrong, and now you’re trying to kill him!”

            “His inventions are far too unstable!  Because of him, someday, nearly everyone will have access to some other world, and people will end up ripping the universe apart!  I can’t let that happen!”

            “But he hasn’t done that yet!  You don’t have reason to kill him yet, whether or not you are right!”

            “No one else cares!  I have to do this!”

            Yoshata finally was able to use her heat beams.  Red light shot out of her eyes and burned Olivia’s arm.  Olivia reacted by screaming and throwing Yoshata and Tiffany through the portal.  Once she had done that, she applied pressure to a steaming section of her arm and ran to the computer keyboard and quickly pushed her finger against the 0 key.  And before either Yoshata or Tiffany could reach the portal, it closed. 

            Olivia was so amazed by her success that the burn in her arm felt like it had gone away.  She had done it; she had done it for real this time.  All she had to do now is find a suitable way to dispose of Joey.  She would do that soon, of course…but first she had to make sure nothing would let Yoshata and Tiffany come back to save Joey.  She turned off the computer, unplugged the plug for the portal, and then disconnected the cords from the computer to the portal.  “That should keep them out,” she said happily.

            The next order of business was for her to get Joey.  She turned from the computer to find him lying in the corner of the room; he had apparently fainted.  Maybe this will work to my advantage in more ways than one, she thought.  I could grab some food while he’s still unconscious, as long as I kept an eye on him…and I’d have to watch out for the police…but I think I’m about to achieve my goal even if the police try to get me…so my next stop is the nearest food store!

            Planning the path she should take in her mind, Olivia walked over to Joey and picked him up.  She flung him over her shoulder and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

 

            Tiffany and Yoshata stood at the steps of Joey’s old house silently.  At the moment, neither showed signs of sadness; the majority of their feelings was centered around confusion and disappointment.  Olivia had somehow beaten them this time.  She was somehow able to escape the police and get to the Orange Springs Hotel before they did.  And she had somehow acquired a new time machine to send them back to where they started.  All the work that Tiffany and Yoshata had done to protect Joey was for nothing.

            Apparently, Olivia had thrown them into a portal that was set to the time somewhat after she and they had left.  Everything was just as it had been before they traveled to the year 2023—the door to Joey’s house was blown to pieces, and the road next to his house was covered in the ash that came from Tiffany’s attack on Olivia.  To Tiffany and Yoshata, that seemed to be days ago, but in truth, it had only been about ten minutes ago.

            To Yoshata, being back home seemed very empty now; she wanted to come back, but she hadn’t come back with everything made right.  Her friend was finally in Olivia’s clutches, and (according to Olivia,) in twenty years, he and Tiffany would both be dead.  There had to be some way to stop Olivia…it couldn’t just end this way.  But right now, she and Tiffany were tired; they had to get some rest if they were to think of some way to save Joey.  “Tiffany,” she said.  “Come over to my house…I have a room you can sleep in.”

            “Okay,” replied Tiffany, without looking back at Yoshata.  “One second.”

            Tiffany walked into Joey’s house and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen.  Although she didn’t know how it would explain the broken door, she wrote a note saying that Joey had gone to Yoshata’s house to spend the night.  She signed it with Joey’s name, then taped it to the door to Joey’s room and walked back outside.

            Yoshata took Tiffany down Strawberry Road until they reached her house.  They both went inside, and Yoshata showed Tiffany to a guest room where she could sleep.  After that, she left and went to her room, where she went to bed.  Both had trouble sleeping (one minor reason being that at this point, it was still the middle of the day); it took them a few hours before they both drifted off to sleep.

 

-End of Chapter 7