Baptism of Time

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 55153

Even though their lives and the multiverse itself were at risk, they could not help but be struck by the beauty of the River around them. It was much as it had been in the now-destroyed fortress, ruined pieces of which rushed past them, but now the water completely surrounded them. It did not seem to them as if they were on a river, but as if they were underwater. But the Doctor still navigated through it with ease.

The passengers in the boat now saw scenes from their lives flash all around them. The two Astras each saw their different versions of their first quest (for one, to recover the stone of Aspasia, for another, to help banish a demon), their first love (for one, the noble Willian, who had nonetheless married another, for the other, the evil Sir John), the death of one of their parents (Demifox Astra's mother had died when she as young, whereas for Human Astra it had been her father). Human Astra saw flashes of the terrible Tetrilonian war that had once almost destroyed her kingdom, and her role in the desparate battle of Alythar, winning which had been one of the greatest accomplishments of her life. Meanwhile, Demifox Fred saw his own first battle, against the demi-lich Varl, and his own first love, the fallen Diana. The things the Doctor saw would have been incomprehensible to the others. They also each caught flashes of their future, which seemed to vanish quickly. Human Astra briefly saw her wedding to Human Fred and the birth of their firsth child, which made her burst into tears. Human Fred, however, did not look. The Doctor shook off his mood of melancholy, and said, "The time has come now. Hurry, drink from the water, before anything happens!"

But then the water began to change. Eddies and whirlpools twisted through it, in which the Champions saw scenes of incomprehensible chaos and destruction. Something was driving the whirlpools, something alive and twisted and constantly changing. It also came from behind them, in the heart of the destroyed fortress around the thinie machine. As Fred slowly bent over, trying to ignore anything he saw, a tentacle of chaos hit him and sent him back into the boat. Human Astra tried to shoot at it with her laser, but the beam was simply dispersed. The Doctor picked up a row and hit the tentacle, driving it away, and Human Astra and the two demifoxes followed suit. But more came in. One of them had grabbed the middle of the boat and was about to crush it...

Fred, dizzied and disoriented by the waters of Time and the tentacle of Ishbosheth, still would not let his will die down. He pulled hismself up and, to the surprise of everyone, leaped out of the boat. He felt the waters of Time pressing all around him, and drank it in...

For a moment, both he and Ishbosheth hesitated, not sure to make of what had just happened. The fundamental nature of his being had changed. The flowing currents of time were a part of him now. A scream of rage rang through the river, but it was too late. Human Fred, now feeling oddly peaceful, calmed the whirling currents, and sent them in a new direction.

As the currents of Time took a new shape, the boat was split in two. The Doctor felt his history pulled in different directions, almost ripping him apart. But he concentrated with all his might on Susan, his granddaughter, and the course of Time changed, shooting him off toward his own world.

Human Fred tried to send the other three to that world too. But it was too late. He was exhausted, from the terribe effort of resetting the multiverse, and the currents of Time turned against him, like a man brushing away a gnat. The other three were pulled along with him. "I'm sorry," Human Fred tried to say to Human Astra. "I did the best I could." She could not hear him, but she understood. They looked into each other's eyes, and as they faced their certain death, they were happy. Demifox Fred and Demifox Astra were not happy, but they were brave. They knew that their end was at hand and they would be called to account for their lives, and hoped they had lived well enough...

The four were pulled by the currents outside of the River itself. Now the River seemed a glorious band of stars, like the Milky Way, with several similar bands beside it. They watched as the stars changed their paths into a new course. It was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen in their lives. They fell outside of the multiverse, into a black void...

And the multiverse was reset....

  1. Things were now much as they had been a moment ago, with some changes...
  2. Things were now much as they had been at the beginning of the mission...
  3. At the last moment, Agent Strange breaks free of the chains of his mind, and the Psychoverse comes about after all...
  4. The Psychoverse does not come about, but nothing is the same...

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12/23/2005 1:08:18 PM

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