Welcome to the Galaxy

Changing Gears

Helion rushed to dismantle the temporal shifter. The rods weren’t to hard to remove and hide. They barely finished before their small ship was inside the landing bay of the larger vessel. Helga and Emma dressed up in their emergency suits. Then opened the external ramp. There was little else to do.

It had crossed Helion’s mind to try another shift. He didn’t know how he was being tracked. The tractor beam was an unknown stressor and might rip the ship apart too. There was also a chance the next shift attempt would have them locked inside anyway. Talking was the safest option now.

The pair walked down the ramp into a huge ship’s bay. It was miles long and a mile wide. Helion did not recognize the materials. They seemed to have grown perfectly into shape. It was almost like being inside of a beast rather than a ship. They were alone in the bay. No one had come to meet them. Helga was wearing a blaster and was carrying Emma on her other hip.

She saw a door out of the bay and walked towards it. Time was limited with the oxygen in the suit. Finding out what was going on fast was necessary. When she reached the door it opened. They were hit with purified air to kill and germs on their suits. The door behind them closed and another opened in front of them. They moved forward once more. 

“Please remove your suits. We have to decontaminate you before you can proceed again.” A voice directed them from some sort of speakers they couldn’t see.

Helga took off her suit first. The air here was breathable. She undressed Emma after she was sure it was safe. They were blasted with another dose of air. Emma didn’t like that and started crying. Helga did her best to quiet her down. They where left in this room for eight hours. The air blasted them once an hour.

The next door opened after the time had passed. “Please proceed with your belongings. Your clothing and suits will be cleaned while you wash up. Medical personnel will come check you for communicable diseases, if any are found you will be taken to the medical bay. If not our meeting with commence.” The voice informed them once again.

They striped down and entered a warm liquid bath. It wasn’t water, it was thicker almost a gel texture. The gel tingled when it contacted the skin. It tickled a little but felt warm at the same time. Helga saw it looked like it was actively cleaning the dead skin and dirt off Emma. Emma kept giggling the whole time she was in the pool. Emma’s reaction, put Helga at ease and she washed her face and hair. The liquid seemed to revitalize her skin and hair. It was easily the cleanest she had remembered being in her entire life. She wanted one of these tubs for the ship. 

Helion had not seen this before either. Whoever had them was more advanced than his own people. To them he was probably as smart as Helga’s human counterparts. If they wanted the, dead then here was little he could do to stop it. 

The bath lasted as long as the two wanted. They relaxed for almost an hour. When they exited they dried instantly. Their clothing was every bit as clean as when it was brand new. Their suits were the same. Even her blaster was returned and cleaned. It was hard to decide if that was good or bad. 

The medical personnel entered and scanned them with hand held instruments. “Please follow us to the medical bay. You are carriers of a number of bacteria that are harmful to life. We will have you free of them by the end of the day.” One of the medical people stated, then turned and both walked away. So far no one had acted hostile. Helga was feeling very good after the bath and decided just to go with it.

They medical bay was a simple white room with a small bed. The room had a window on the side. One of the medics stopped to talk. The other walked to the other side of the glass window. “We will inject you with some solutions to free you of the germs. They will make you sleep. You have nothing to worry about. Do you have any questions?”

“No.” Helga replied. Helion had not voiced any concerns to her either. 

“Please sit down on the bed. You will feel a few pinches and picks then it will all be over. We will monitor you for any reactions. You will be fine.” The medic finished.

Instruments descended from the ceiling and poked and prodded the pair. It lasted less than thirty seconds. Emma’s eyes got heavy and she yawned. She was asleep less than a minute later. Helga yawned a few times before she got comfortable and held Emma tight to her. Then she too fell asleep.

They woke up at the same time. It wasn’t clear how much time had passed. Helga checked the galactic timepiece, it had been about six hours since the last time she checked it. The same medic was waiting for them to wake up again. “If you will follow me I’ll take you to meet with the chancellor.”

“Lead on.” Helga responded as she picked up Emma.

They exited the other side of the room. Then entered an elevator. The door closed and a few seconds passed. The door opened up again on a different floor. There was a table and a humanoid creature was eating. What he was eating was highly questionable. It looked to be some sort of worms and hey were still squirming on the plate. He asked “Are you hungry?”

“Yes, but not for that.” Helga replied quickly.

“The chief can make anything in the universe with the replicator. Then she can cook it to your preferences. These are Salarien space worms a delicacy of my people. My name is Jalawal. Please have a seat.” Jalawal motioned with one of his arms. He had two on each side of his body.

This was odd the medics were covered. She had not been able to tell what they looked like at all really. They looked like humans in shape and size. This guy was clearly not human. He was larger and his chest was reptilian. He wore a sash with metals on it but his chest was bare. His face was flat and somewhat square.

“Nice to meet you. I’m called Helga and this is my daughter Emma. Can I ask why you stopped us?” Helga inquired.

“It is a simple routine stop. You have been causing ripples in time. We patrol space time and make sure anything to drastic doesn’t happen. You needed to be tested for harmful prehistoric germs. Those could kill entire planets. I also need to ask, how much more time travel you mean to do and what your intentions are?” Jalawal stated frankly.

“We had just reached our destination. Calinar on the time is our destination. We already dismantled he core of the device. It is to powerful and risky to use any more than necessary.” Helga replied.

“What made it necessary to travel seven thousand years out of your time?” Jalawal pressed.

“It’s a bit crazy. Most people would say I’m just mental. I’m not sure you would believe me.” Helga beat around the bush trying to avoid answering.

“Go on, I’ve heard a few tall tales in my time.” Jalawal urged.

“I have another person trapped in my body. He belongs here. His time traveling device malfunctioned when he was trying to prevent it falling into enemy hands. He got trapped in my body. We want to get him a new body.” Helga replied hesitantly.

“That’s a pretty big one. We did detect a disturbance that matches the story though. I will have to check the timeline for you and your daughter. I may have to return you to where you should be. We can get the other person out of your body and get him a new one. If you are not important to your world’s history you can remain. Know that we have to track down every descendant of your lines. If either of you has a connection both may have to be returned.” Jalawal explained matter of factly.

“It doesn’t seem like what I want matters much in this.” Helga was irritated with his manner.

“You don’t if you matter. If you didn’t matter you have another chance to matter. These are laws of time. I only enforce them.” Jalawal replied flatly.

“I think I may as well eat a grand meal. How long will it take you to find out if we mattered?” Helga replied as she started thinking what kind of elaborate meal she would choose.

“It depends on how big your family line is. It could be minutes, hours, days or weeks. We do not have much data on your backwards world. It is very rare your people mess with time. To my knowledge this is a first.” Jalawal offered.

Helga started off her meal with strawberry cover crapes. Then proceeded through every type of pastry she could think of. Emma and her gorged themselves on the rich foods. They kept the chef busy the whole time they were waiting to learn their fate.