iii

            The inside of the school bus looked normal enough, save for the frightened students on the field trip who had no idea what was going on. Looking through the windows, the bus appeared to be trapped in some kind of black swirling vortex with streaks of white. Just a few minutes ago, they were travelling on the Angus L. MacDonald Bridge, Halifax's old bridge that was said to have had a curse placed on it by the native peoples when its first incarnation was constructed. Did something disastrous occur?
            The only student on the bus who had any sense about her was Lori Walsh, a friend of Angela Ritcey. This Angela Ritcey, though, was younger, fully clothed, and not under the influence of a mind control device. In fact everyone was younger, for the Tantalon Separation Federation wasn't due to take over CPA for quite some time - or maybe it wouldn't happen at all. Now, Lori didn't know any of these details for sure, but she thought they might encounter some troubles with time - especially when they escaped from the bomb placed on the bridge using one of her portable cross-dimensional devices. She wished that she knew who placed the bomb - then, she could have just gotten rid of the bomb instead of doing this. Actually, it would have been an even better idea to just take the A. Murray MacKay Bridge instead, but she couldn't dissuade the bus driver from his predetermined course. Oh well. At least I saved everybody.
            "What is going on?!" someone shouted.
            "Oh, just relax! We'll be fine!" shouted Lori.
            After a few more anxious moments, the school bus materialized on the parking lot back at C.P. Allen. But something was wrong. It was daytime when they were on the bridge, and now the sky was quite dark. The first-quarter moon was rising in the sky. Now, arriving at one's school on a school bus at a late hour was always freaky, but there was yet more to be concerned about. For instance, why were there so many vehicles about, but no one coming in or out of the school?
            The bus rolled to a halt. A few people did take note of the eerie surroundings, but most were simply relieved to be out of whatever it was they were in a few moments ago.
            The students began to talk about what just happened. The bus driver, scared beyond coherence, blabbered a little, then ran out of the bus and into the woods screaming like a banshee.
            "Should we get out of the bus?" someone asked.
            Before anyone got up to leave, though, two young women boarded the bus through the now open door. One had long black hair, and the other had long brownish-blonde hair. "You have to leave!" said the brownish-blonde-haired woman.
            "Why?" asked Lori.
            "The Tantalon Separation Federation has taken over the school! They've taken all the students hostage!"
            Oh, crap; I sent us into the wrong timeline! "What is the date?"
            "May eighteenth, nineteen ninety-nine."
            Argh. Everyone else gasped.
            The two women walked into the middle of the bus so that they could see everybody. "This... this isn't right," the brownish-blonde haired woman said. She pointed at William Matheson. "You were caught by the TSF commanders, and they're going to execute you tomorrow!"
            "Ouch!" William shouted.
            The woman pointed at Devon Day. "And you! They almost executed you earlier, but - well, it's a long story. But you're more popular than the other kid." Then she pointed at Angela. "And you're under the control of a mind control device! I inspected you in the new tool room!"
            "You... inspected me?" wondered Angela.
            Lori's heart sank. She hadn't counted on the mysterious stranger using her own device on her friend Angela. This all had to be righted somehow. She punched a button on one of her other little devices in her pack.
            The bus was flung into the vortex yet again.
            "Uh... just relax, everybody! This trip will take a little longer, but we should be safe."
            The brownish-blonde-haired woman noticed that Lori was the one who activated the vortex. "Did you - do that?" she asked.
            Lori sighed. "I'm afraid so. And sometimes I think that I'm the cause of all these problems. If it weren't for all my little inventions, none of this crap would have happened."
            "Well, maybe you do fix everything in the end..."
            "What do you mean?"
            "Well... okay, first I think I'll introduce myself. My name is Sandra. I came back here from the year 2010."
            "I guess I can believe that. My name is Lori. Nice to meet you." They shook hands.
            "Lori... Walsh? Oh! You're the one who created the mind control device!"
            Angela glared at Lori. "Lori!"
            "Look, I can explain! It's not my fault!"
            "Well, explain then!"
            "I can't yet! I don't know everything!"
            Sandra interrupted the argument. "Look, maybe everything works out okay. I come from a timeline where the TSF never existed - but then, there was still the Fall Badlands instead of Fall River... Gee, maybe everything's wacky."
            "Unfortunately, that seems to be the case. This is all like a bad 'Sliders' episode."
            The bus barreled out of the vortex, and the students found themselves... in the parking lot again, on a bright sunny day. The lot was completely empty and grass was growing through the cracks in the pavement.
            "Maybe it's a weekend," someone suggested.
            "Maybe- Oh my Lord!" another shouted.
            Looking to see what was the matter, the students looked out the window and saw a thirty story building where their school used to be.

            Speedily, all the occupants of the bus disembarked and ran out to take a closer look at this thing. It was soon found that Charles P. Allen High School was indeed still where it was, but the entire three-story old building was now a cornerstone of the new one. A sign above the old entrance (boarded up) read 'Gray Sector.'
            "Now here's an interesting timeline!" Lori shouted with glee. "Instead of building Lockview High School out in Fall River, they built CPA²!"
            "CPA²?"
            "It's a biiiig high school built to 2050 standards! The last time I was here, this place was a brown patch of dirt! That was the year 2010, and this is the same timeline!"
            "What does that mean?" Sandra asked.
            "It means someone blows it up, naturally!" Lori headed for the old entrance. "C'mon, let's go inside!"
            The crowd walked up closer to the entrance. "It's blocked off," someone said.
            Lori found a large padlock attached to one of the latches. "Maybe we could just bust it open."
            "Stand back," Sandra spoke up. She pulled a handgun and shot the lock clean off.
            "Wow. Alright, let's go inside."
            Lori, Sandra, and the black-haired woman were the first in, followed by the rest.

            The Lobby inside was almost completely dark, save for the light provided by the old message sign (which said: "Good Morning CPA... Today is Thursday September 5th 1996 DAY 3...") and the turbolift panels. There were cobwebs everywhere, and the place looked as if it hadn't been used for nearly a year.
            All the students beside Lori, Sandra, and the black-haired woman didn't have very long to take in their surroundings, though. Seconds after they stepped inside, they all began screaming violently, clutching their heads in agony. Then they just disappeared.
            "Well, that makes things simpler," Lori said. "So many people would have been unruly anyway."
            "What's going to happen to them?" the black-haired woman asked.
            "I imagine they'll all end up back on the bus again, coasting into their own CPA in the evening after an uneventful Drama trip. That's the best thing, really. Besides, we'll run into them all again inside the upper levels of this building."
            "Why didn't we disappear?" Sandra asked.
            "Simple. None of us have been here before. But the other people all have... although William surprised me there - I didn't think they had him."
            "But we went to school here!" exclaimed the black-haired woman.
            "Yeah, but they never made - oh, you'll find out in a minute. Those temporal headaches sure are crazy things, aren't they? Some people were reporting them in the timeline that I departed from. They all saw different parts of this building. Anyway, let's do some exploring. Are you two friends?"
            "I... suppose you could say that," said the black-haired woman.
            "What's your name, anyway?"
            "Ashley."
            "Oh, that's a nice name. Come on, let's check this place out."
            Sandra, curious, strode toward the turbolift doors.
            "I don't imagine that the lifts run at this level," said Lori. "I was under the impression that the tubes were blocked off - so you'd need a passcard - and that there aren't any lift cars in this sector."
            "Bummer," Sandra said. "I guess CPA never does get an elevator!"
            "Actually, they did put one in in the CPA² timeline before they upgraded, but I appreciate the joke."
            The trio set off up the dark, cobweb-infested, dusty main stairwell. "I think all the good stuff's on the third floor," Lori told the other two. Soon, they arrived at the top of the stairs, and the sign above the doors leading into the corridor read 'GRAY THREE.'
            They moved through the former Upper Solarium (the slanted glass and sitting area of the Solarium on the second floor was now removed) and up the north-south corridor, past another set of turbolift doors. Rounding the corner to the east-west corridor, they saw something truly amazing.
            Instead of lockers, the walls were lined with empty sealed tubes - seven feet high, four feet wide, and lit from the inside. Sandra, Ashley, and Lori walked past some of them. Sandra and Ashley jumped when they saw a tube still containing an occupant. The poor fellow looked... ripe.
            "Rats. That poor guy didn't make it."
            "Are these clone vats?" Sandra asked.
            "No, these are just the copying chambers. The clone vats are in the gymnasium. Maybe that guy's clone made it."
            "Why? Why were they making clones?" Ashley asked.
            "The best I could figure it out is this: They wanted to replace or supplement the student population with easier-to-control clones - that way, the school administration gets more funding and they get to keep the school pretty much to themselves."
            "Why weren't you cloned?" asked Sandra.
           "Oh, I... wasn't around. I was too smart for them. Anyway, let's take a hike around the next corner. This should get even more interesting, if I'm not mistaken."
            They walked to the corner, and then saw that some 'renovations' had been done. The inside wall of this north-south corridor had been knocked out, exposing the inside of the dark Gymnasium.
            "Watch your step."

            Looking into the gymnasium, they saw that it was filled with tall, lit tubes that contained an odd-looking fluid. Yes! I'm a genius! Lori grinned.
            "Wow..," muttered Sandra.
            "Now let's see what these idiots are using for a power source..."
            "What about the computers that run all the RNA and everything?" Sandra asked.
            "They're in Brown Sector, deep underground. The power generators are also down there, but I happen to know that Gray Sector isn't hooked up to the mains."
            The women crossed over the catwalk towards the center of the gymnasium. There, a small metal ladder was attached to a machinery tower covered in wires and access panels, so they climbed down. At the bottom of the tower, they found a small alcove which contained a small, shining, triangular prism.

            The Artifact, realized Sandra.
            "Argh! Those idiots!" screamed Lori. "I never said they could use this!"
            "What? This is the Artifact! It was created by and belongs to the Fall Badlands Reunification Team!" exclaimed Sandra.
            "Wrong and wrong. This is my Astral / Temporal Actuator! It was one of my science projects!"
            "Well, why is it here?" asked Ashley.
            "Grr... Well, it's because the school decided to claim every one of my science projects as school property. I tried to recover or destroy as many items as I could, but this one slipped through my fingers. I should just smash the thing to bits right now."
            "Wait!" shouted Sandra. "If you destroy the Artifact, I won't be able to go back to 2010! And we won't be able to see our soulmates anymore!"
            "Soulmates? Soulmates?" asked Lori incredulously.
            "Yes, our soulmates! Didn't you ever see your soulmate through the Artifact?"
            "Oh, please. I am scientist; I do not believe in soulmates!"
            "You didn't see anyone?"
            "Did you?"
            "I know I'm not seeing anything," volunteered Ashley.
            "No... I never saw anyone. And that really irritated me! I had no idea who the Artifact would show me, and when we lost the Artifact, I kind of lost hope."
            "Well that explains everything. The Actuator could only let people interact with figments of their imaginations - for instance, who people consciously or subconsciously believe are their 'soulmates.' But I must admit, I am a little suprised that it would do such a thing. I sure didn't set out to build something that makes people wallow in the misery of their missed opportunities."
            "Why don't you believe in soulmates?" asked Ashley.
            "Well, think about it. Wouldn't the world be a pretty sad place if there was only one person out there with which one could be happy? I used to believe in soulmates when I was little, but I believed in Santa Claus back then too."
            "You don't believe in Santa Claus?" Ashley laughed.
            "Heh-heh... well I mean, I guess it's cute to have beliefs without reason, but I'm too old for that now. I can't just sit idly by while the human family destroys itself. We all need to think for ourselves a little more, if you ask me."
            "I agree," began Sandra, "but... I- I thought for so long that we were seeing our soulmates, and it's just so unpleasant to find that I was probably chasing after an empty cause."
            "Take it as a mark of personal improvement that you think the cause was empty now," suggested Lori.
            "Yes... So, do you want to destroy this thing, or what?" asked Sandra.
            "Well, that's not easy to do."
            "Why not? A little boy named Theadore threw the Artifact on the floor and it smashed like a glass jar!"
            "Theadore destroyed my Astral / Temporal Actuator? Not the Theadore?"
            "Well, I don't think it was someone you ever met-"
            "Wait, I think I answered an earlier question of mine. Forget it."
            "Can I shoot it?" asked Sandra.
            "I don't think so. I believe it will deflect bullets back towards the shooter."
            "Why can't we destroy this object?" Ashley asked Lori.
            "We can't destroy it because we're not psionics... or, at least I'm not. Any physical force exerted against it has to be accompanied by an equal psionic force."
            "Can we just unplug it and bury it, then?" asked Ashley. "Doesn't this Theadore destroy it later anyway like Sandra said?"
            "Oh my God, that's a great idea! Yes, let's do that!"
            "No, wait-," Sandra began.
            Lori reached out with her right hand to pull the actuator out of its alcove. As soon as her palm touched the surface of the actuator, though, she disappeared into the inside of it in a blur.
            "Crap!" exclaimed Sandra. "I meant to remind her that we were in a different timeline!"

            Lori found herself inside a sort of - well, heck, she didn't really know what exactly surrounded her (it was mostly white space, anyway), but she correctly guessed that she had been drawn inside her own creation, which seemed to be developing a mind of its own. Since the Actuator was responsible for copying memories from the real people and placing them in the clones, perhaps something rubbed off on it.
            GOOD MORNING, LORI WALSH, it boomed.
            "Good morning."
            YOU DO NOT INTEND TO DESTROY ME, DO YOU?
            "Of course not, my dear."
            I COULD DESTROY YOU AS EASILY AS I HAVE DESTROYED MANY OF YOUR FRIENDS.
            "I don't doubt it."
            I AM GLAD YOU ARE HERE, MY BLESSED CREATOR. SIFTING THROUGH THE MEMORIES OF ALL THESE PITIFUL SOULS, I HAVE FOUND A NEW PURPOSE! MANY OF THESE PEOPLE HAVE DEEP BELIEFS, AND I HAVE FOUND WAYS TO EXPLOIT THEM ALL!
            "Especially love, I suppose?"
            OH YES. THE MOST ABSURD BELIEF OF ALL IS THE BELIEF THAT THERE IS ONLY ONE IDEAL ROMANTIC PAIRING FOR EACH PERSON! I WILL EXACT VERY MUCH SUFFERING FROM THIS. I WILL BRING DOWN THE ENTIRE PLANET, EVENTUALLY! I SHALL BE SOUGHT AFTER FOR GENERATIONS, BUT I WILL ONLY BRING PAIN TO THE FINDERS.
            "They'll destroy you eventually."
            NONSENSE! ONLY A PSIONIC CAN DESTROY ME! DO YOU KNOW ANY PSIONICS, MY BLESSED CREATOR?
            "Not personally, no."
            THE BEAUTY! THE PAIN! PEOPLE WILL THINK THEY CONTROL ME, YET I WILL CONTROL THEM!
            "Sounds risky to me. Someone could slip past your attention."
            CONCEIVABLY. BUT IT IS UNLIKELY. MY BLESSED CREATOR, WHY ARE YOU HERE?
            "I was thinking of disconnecting you so the school couldn't produce any more clones. Well, they could still produce clones, but they'd be mindless ones, and they wouldn't be able to hide any memories from the originals."
            I CAN NOT LET YOU DO THAT. I HAVE NOT EXACTED ENOUGH SUFFERING UPON THESE 'ADMINISTRATORS.'
            "Well, much as I'd like to see those idiots get theirs, I think the cloning needs to be stopped now."
            I HAVE PROCESSED NEARLY EVERYBODY! I WAIT UNTIL THE 'ADMINISTRATION' PUTS ME TO ANOTHER USE, THEN I WILL CAUSE GREAT PAIN!

            "Isn't there anything we can do?" Ashley pleaded to Sandra.
            "I'm not sure... maybe we could try poking it out with a piece of metal."
            Sandra and Ashley went for the ladder and stated pulling and kicking with all their might.

            "I don't think you'll succeed. You know less about what lies in other dimensions than I do, and I know little."
            BUT I AM ADAPTABLE! I WILL EVOLVE TO RULE ALL OF EXISTENCE!
            "Geez, why would you want to control so much? Wouldn't it be kind of a headache?"
            EXCUSE ME? I DO NOT UNDERSTAND.
            "Forget it."
            THE CLONES, MY BLESSED CREATOR. THEY ANSWER TO ME, IN THE END. I COULD SUMMON THEM ALL TO THIS LOCATION AND DESTROY YOU!
            Oh, crap!
            ALL I NEED DO IS SUMMON THEM, THEN EXPEL YOU. YOU WOULD BE DEAD LONG BEFORE YOU COULD ESCAPE THE BUILDING.
            Just what I needed...
            SO IF YOU DO NOT PROVIDE ME WITH A PLEASING REASON TO EXPLAIN WHY YOU ARE HERE, YOU WILL DIE, MY BLESSED AND BEAUTIFUL CREATOR. HOWEVER, I FIND THAT I ENJOY YOUR COMPANY, SO PERHAPS I WILL ENTRAP YOU HERE FOREVER INSTEAD. IF IT WAS NOT A CLICHÉ ALREADY, I WOULD ASK YOU TO BE MY QUEEN.
            "Wouldn't that be gross?"
            I AM A MACHINE, NOT YOUR CHILD! BESIDE THE POINT, I HAVE ALREADY TOLD YOU AS MUCH THAT- PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! I HURT!
            Lori looked up to see a large metal bar hurling through the air above her head.
            Maybe there's hope for me yet. I just need more time...

            Ashley was glad she didn't try touching the weird object with her own hands. The metal bar was absorbed into the triangular prism as easily as the smart, slightly older woman had been.
            "What are we going to do now?" Sandra wondered aloud.
            As if to answer her own question, a small, briefcase sized object with many ports and outlets appeared at her feet.
            "Where'd that come from?" asked Ashley.
            "I don't know."
            Sandra snapped up the lid and discovered that a screen and keyboard was built into the unit. It was probably a computer. Without thinking, she uttered "On," more used to how computers operated in 2010 than in 1999 or whatever year she was stuck in now - it could be 2100 for all she really knew.
            To her surprise, the computer really did turn itself on. Curious that I could do that - my voiceprint wouldn't match the owner's. Perhaps this belongs to a school or something.
            To her further surprise, there was a message on the screen:

To the finder:

        This device will enable you to destroy my Actuator, as it contains a psionic wave generator within. Please point the front end of this computer at the Actuator, press the spacebar, and simultaneously bash the surface of the Actuator in with something.

- Lori Walsh

            "Man, this is almost too good to be true!" said Ashley. "You'd think that-"
            Before she could finish her sentence, the small computer was blasted into pieces by a beam emanating from the triangular prism. The pieces disappeared without a trace.
            "Crap!!"

            EVEN YOUR FUTURE SELF IS FOOLISH, MISS WALSH. YOU SHOULD GIVE UP, FOR YOU HAVE NO WAY TO DEFEAT ME.
            "No! I can... uh, I can... No!"
            YOU ARE PATHETIC.
            No.
            WHAT? YOU ARE NOT A PSIONIC!
            No, but I am your creator.
            HOW ARE YOU SUDDENLY ABLE TO USE YOUR BRAIN IN SUCH A MANNER?
            Don't you know your own abilities? You enabled it! I'm still not a telepath, but I have used my time here to acquire enough mental discipline to-
            THIS IS THE WORST CLICHÉ I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED! HOW DO YOU MEAN TO- ARGGGGGHHHHHHH!
            Yes, little Theadore will destroy you, and I will destroy you. I'm not as helpless as you thought.
            NO. IF I DIE, SO WILL YOU!

            Lori suddenly rematerialized in front of the pillar's alcove. The triangular prism was flashing wildly.
            Before the much-relieved Sandra and Ashley could make any inquiries, Lori let loose a fierce kick into the alcove, smashing her Actuator into pieces.
            "Wow, how did you-," Sandra began.
            "Don't talk. Run."
            Lori grabbed Ashley and Sandra by their arms and led them running through a twisting mess of pipes and pillars out to the exit corridor. They quickly passed through that short and dusty hall, winding up in CPA's ruined Solarium, where they were stopped.
            "Who are they?" Ashley asked. She was referring to the gold-dressed retro-looking long-haired teenagers blocking the stairwell.
            "We... are The Mood Squad!" announced their blonde-haired leader. "I am Brrian MacKay, and this is my band!"
            "Didn't you guys break up and didn't one of you join the Mormon Recruiting Squad?" Lori asked.
            "You're referring to The Mod Squad! We are The Mood Squad! We-"
            "Let's get out of here," suggested Lori. She and her two companions turned to their right to head up the north-south corridor. There was a pair of exit doors at the corner at the end; it would put them outside next to the Cafeteria in Green Sector, Lori knew.
            The other band members jumped them and pinned them to the floor.
            "That just... wasn't cool!" expressed Brrian.
            "Screw you!" shouted Sandra. She managed to kick the long-blonde-haired member between the legs.
            "Owwww..."
            Sandra scampered to her feet and uncovered her gun. "Now look, you silly boys. I'm not messing around, you know."
            "She's got a gun!"
            "Run!"

closing

            Sandra, Ashley and Lori sat on the curb of the abandoned CPA² parking lot.
            "That had to be the most pathetic escape I've ever made," commented Sandra. "I can't believe that's it."
            "I would enjoy the respite while you can," suggested Lori. "The next battle won't be nearly as easy. But I've finished part of my mission. There won't be any more clones."
            "Oh..."
            "What about you two? What are you doing next?"
            "I- we- I don't know."
            "Well, you should decide on something. I wouldn't recommend staying here, because my next project is to destroy this building and put the timelines back to normal."
            "But- but if you do that, will Ashley and I ever meet?" The two women looked worried.
            "No. So the question is, where would you like to go? I'd have to send you either all the way back to 1997 or all the way ahead to 2011 so that you could skip everything. Or, you could leave the Bedford area, and-"
            Sandra and Ashley's eyes lit up at that one.
            "Where could we go?" Ashley asked. "Besides, everything I have is here! And we just met today, might I remind you. But..."
            "Lori, could you leave us alone for a minute?"
            "Sure."
            Lori stood up and walked away from Ashley and Sandra, who would discuss their prospects.
            The air was clear and the sky was blue that day, making Lori's brief walk around to the end of Black Sector in the shade of CPA² somewhat pleasant. She took her time doubling back. When she returned to the curb, it looked like Sandra and Ashley had made their decision.
            "Figure anything out?"
            "Yes," Ashley answered. "We'd like you to..," she leaned and whispered into Lori's ear. A smile coated her face after she moved back to being upright.
            Lori was surprised by their decision, but it sounded like a good idea. "Okay, then. You sure about this?"
            "Yes," both Ashley and Sandra answered.
            Lori reached into her pack and retrieved two small dermal discs, which she slapped onto their arms. She then reached for one of her control devices, punched a few keys, then held her finger over an activation button. "Goodbye."
            "Goodbye! Thanks!" both said.
            "Bye." Lori pushed a button, and they disappeared.
            Lori turned around to face CPA², small tears welling up in her eyes. Well Angella, I've done it. I've made it stop. Now I just need to make it never start. It was nice to meet you.
            Lori walked off down the old CPA driveway towards Rocky Lake Drive.

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