Chapter 3: Time Will Tell

     A week had passed since the trip to the near by swamp planet. Pearl was excited to get a chance and a reason to time travel. She had always been into that kind of stuff. If only she knew why. Redd was just as eager.

"Let's do this Jack!!! I am SO ready!!" Redd was all suited up for time travel and ready to go. The uniforms they wore were all black and matching. Gloves and goggles were their main form of protection. Poor Redd was cut short though.

"Uh...Commander, we are in the holo-rooms first.You know, this door....right here... Captain Juno is first to time travel..."  Redd seemed bummed out, but agreed, he and Subrina went through the door next to the time Machine to practice in virtual worlds.  Then Pearl stepped up to the big metal monster.

 "Just give me a few minutes while I make sure the time stream is safe..." Jack was pushing buttons furiously.

 "Hurry up Jack, I am so ready to do this." She was about to start giving orders but Jack gave her the OK.

 "Finally!" She let out a laugh. She then took a step forward, pressed a few buttons in a rhythmic tune and watched the doors open. She couldn't believe her eyes. A purple vertex stood in front of her and she could feel the power of time and space throbbing and touching her skin. She gave a quick shudder then jumped in.

Jack watched the reading closely. It was his job to pull her or the others out as soon as there were signs of danger or the time stream becoming unstable. "Vitals are fine...heart is pumping...robots in future seem nice..." He was mumbling to him self when the monstrous doors slid open again.

 "AGGGGGGG!!!!" Pearl pulled on the sides of the machine as she tried to pry her self from the time stream.

 "WOW! They are feisty over there, and I can still feel the power from time jumping..."

She let out a grunt and stretched her arms out. "But not a problem. Can't wait to do that again."
"Good to hear Captain, Redd is next though."

"HAY REDD!!!" Jack shouted to the room next door, "YOUR TURN IS UP COMMANDER!!!"
"Alright, time to do this." He set the virtual goggles down and went to the time machine. 

"You ready Commander?" 

 "I was born ready Jack!" He stepped up to the beast, pushed a few buttons and felt the same power surge Pearl did. "Wow..." he gasped under his breath.

 "OK! Here...it...GOES!!" He jumped in, head first and full of fire.

 Jack watched his vitals and the time stream just as he did with Pearl. "All normal here..."

 The doors opened again and all you saw was Redd jumping out and dodging arrows.

 He stood there for a few seconds then let out a yell. "WOOOHOO!!! THAT WAS SO EPIC!!!"

"Alright, alright, will you let Subrina know its her turn?" Redd just nodded and walked through the door near by. Subrina came out a few moments later.

 Jack saw that she was nervous, and he was worried about that. "Are you... OK?" She looked back and smiled. "Yeah Jack, I'm fine. Thank you." She pushed the buttons, watched the doors open and went into the portal with clammy hands.

 Everything was normal at first, nothing seemed to different from what Jack saw with Pearl and Redd, but then something started to change.

 "OH GOD!!!" Her vitals started to go every where and the time stream seemed to be warping. Jack started pushing buttons and pulling levers as fast as he could. He finally was able to pull her out of the monster that consumed her.

She came flying out, landing with a thud. She lay there and minute as Jack rushed to her. He started yelling for help to the others. Jack had carefully dragged her to the wall to sit her up. She just sat there, like a rag doll.

 "Oh my God! Subrina!! Jack what happened!?" Pearl was freaking out. She was almost in shock as she looked at her motionless crew member.

 "I...I don't know Captain...Everything was fine, then things went hay wire. I wasn't able to get her out fast enough." He just looked down, placing a hand on hers.

"Don't worry Jack, she is still breathing," Redd was surprisingly calm, "I'll carry her up to sick bay." So he did, with Pearl following. Jack just stayed sitting for a bit.

 "I feel horrible about this Redd...If only I wasn't so eager to start this training...we could have practiced with fruit or something..." Pearl was fighting back tears. She was just laying there, no sign of life at all.

 "It's not your fault...you couldn't have know this would happen..."  Redd started to fight back tears too. Just then, Jack came in behind them and sat down in the chair next to Subrina.

 Pearl saw how upset he was and knew he was blaming himself. "Jack...you shouldn't beat your self up over this...it wasn't your fault you know...she'll get better..." He sat there silent.

 He looked at her, studying her golden hair and thin hands, completely silent.

 Pearl knew she wouldn't get anything out of him. She could tell by the way he sat there.

 So she motioned to Redd to leave him alone and then walked out the door,

Redd just nodded and followed her out. They left Jack there to watch over Subrina. Sitting alone, thinking how only time would tell...

Chapter 2: First Mission

     The crew had finally gotten their first mission. They were being sent to a marsh planet in the area. They were told to collect samples and observe the people. An easy task. The two exploration leaders went up to the teleportation platforms and waited for Jack to set things up.

     "Hurry up Jack!" Subrina said, she was anxious to go on her first world exploration. Her and Pearl where in charge of beaming down to worlds and checking things out. Although, Pearl normally did the interactions with the locals because Subrina was the shy type.
     "Oh calm down, I only have a few more things....and...THERE!" Both the girls sighed with relief. " Now just step in the teleporter and you'll be good to go."

The two ladies did as told and they where off. Redd was concerned and pulled Jack over after Jack was done checking the ladies vitals.  "Jack, are you sure they will be fine? That they don't need helmets or something?"

"I mean, how do we know they won't be killed as soon as they get there?"

     "Don't worry about it Commander, they will be fine. I did scans of the air and it's non toxic. I also did some leg work and asked the people round town about that planet. One of the store owners says he trades there sometimes and the people are not savage beast. Besides, they can handle them selves."  Redd just sighed in response. He couldn't argue with Jack, not when he was using logic and facts. Just as the boys were finishing up their conversation, the ladies where re-materializing on the surface of the swamp planet.

     "Ugh, my neck. I hope my spin is n the right order," Subrina looked around. "Uh, Captain...this place is kind of dumpy..."

     She was right. How could she be anything other than right though? They where on a swamp planet after all. There was a low fog that covered the ground, and long moss hanging from the trees. Tall grass shot up from the ground in dying clumps and a broken and rotting bridge could be seen. The two hoped the town would be better. Time would tell, all they knew they had to do was collect data. So that is what they did.

 Subrina collected insects

  and Pearl documented wild life.

 Then Subrina did some studying of the grave stones and

 the history of the planet while Pearl collected local metals for experiments, building and data.

 She was slightly annoyed the inhabitants only threw away pipes with red paint.

After trudging around the more wild parts of the area, Pearl also headed into town.

                                                             She met some locals.

                                                         They were defiantly humoniods,

                           But they seemed to have very different facial structures...ugly ones for that matter.

            Before heading to the town's "restaurant", Pearl grabbed some body scans for body structure data.

The main reason for grabbing food was for the sampling of the planets cuisine, the second reason; they where hungry.

      "This planet seem pretty normal, and the people are nice." Pearl said about half way through her meal.

 A waiter came and took Subrina's plate. "Yeah, I guess. I really liked the planets history."

 "I mean, I read like five different books on this planet. A complete time line. So amazing."

      "I bet," Pearl said, "Hay, did you see a guy with red-ish skin? I think he was the only guy that wasn't nice to me."

" Oh yeah!!! I saw him. He didn't look to happy. I tried to not talk to anyone though...not my strong point you know. Hay. I think we should be getting back to our camp. Jack says we need to be fully rested before teleporting again."

     "Good idea Subrina, You call Jack up and let him know we will be ready to be beamed back up at 06 00 tomorrow. I'm going to hail a cab. Ha, cabs. So much like earth."

 So she did just that, "Jack? you read me?"  "Read you load and clear." "Good, we will be ready to beam back at 06 00 tomorrow. OK?" "You got it Subrina, I'll make sure to have everything set up.Over and out." The line closed and Subrina walked to the cab that Pearl had hailed moments before.

     The next morning the Captain and her culture queen were ready to go, pearl giggles and let out a beam us up Scotty. Subrina laughed just as a bright light enveloped them both. Pearl was first, then her.

Back at the ship...

"Why is it taking so long Jack??? They aren't getting their bodies switched are they?"
"Oh calm down Commander, I've fine tuned this thing my self. There is nothing to worry about."
"OK, fine...but if the Captain...." Just then a buzzing noise was heard.

"See Commander, they are fine." The two ladies appeared in front of the men in complete bodies. Redd just let out a relaxed sigh.

 Redd went over to Subrina and Pearl to ask how it was. "Oh you know, normal, but the people had very different facial structures...we have pictures you can see later." As those two talked about the oddly ugly people of the swamp planet, Jack gave the Captain her messages.

"We got news from command. He wanted you to know our next goal is training and taking part in time travel."
"Time travel?" She asked, "huh, OK, they don't seem to have a set agenda. But who am I to question my bosses. Right? I say bring it on." A smug smile came across her face. She liked this idea of finally getting to try out the time machine.
"Great...they want us to continue our normal routine for a week, then start our new task." With that, the four Sim Fleet members walked down to the lower bunkers of their makeshift home and continued with their daily lives. For now that is...