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Counter Earth Chronicles

Chapter 84: A Grim Present And A Darker Future (Conclusion)

Day 271 continued (During YOE 265)

"OH MY GOSH!" I said as I stared at the devastation.

"This is what has become of my city?!" The evil beastial next to me said looking around.

"World One two hundred years into the future. What happened?"

"I don't know boy." Sir Ram said as he placed his paw on my shoulder. "I do not recognize this place at all."

I looked to my left and right. I could not even tell where in the city we even were.

"We better find the castle." I said to him. "But given what I see here, I doubt that it is in one piece."

"Wait. Look at your PDA."

I pulled out my own and opened it up to the atmospheric measurements section.

"Wow, I see why this place is off limits, it is abnormally warm and the air is barely breathable- just barely. I would not recommend an extended stay here." I said to the ram.

"That explains why this place has been vacated." Sir Ram said to me as we tried to gain our bearings. "Over there on that hill in the distance."

I looked at where the beastial scientist was pointing.

"It has been two hundred years boy."

So we started walking through the remains of World One toward Castle Wundagore. Street by street, block by block. It was amazing the level of devastation.

As we were walking I stopped to look at some organic remains. It appeared to be a family who wasn't fortunate to escape when whatever happened- happened.

"It is aright boy, they were humans." The ram said to me.

(There is that prejudice again.)

"They look more like statues."

"Looks like they were incased in volcanic ash which hardened turning them into what you see now. That is the mother there, the father there and a..."

"A baby! So it looks like humans were procreating again after the departure of the High Evolutionary." I said.

"If you can call it that. I don't see any beastial remains." Sir Ram said glumly.

"Most likely because your kind was extinct before the catastrophes took place."

"I now have a sense boy of how you felt when you learned that all from your world had died." The ram warrior said to me as we continued walking.

"Was that a tinge of compassion Sir Ram?! I remember you were smiling wickedly that day when you gave me the news."

"Ahem, whatever happened here. Must have happened rather quickly." The evil beastial said side stepping my question.

"You mean those that could leave did and those that couldn't died." I said turning to him as we walked by more 'petrified' remains.

It took a good fifty minutes to reach Castle Wundagore. As we arrived at the hill over looking the city, Sir Ram and I noticed many craters on the outskirts and quite a few as inside the city as well.

"I think you have your answer Sir Ram. I think that was one of the cataclysms that befell World One."

"And that." He said pointing to a conical mountain in the distance spewing smoke plums. "I wonder what were the others?"

Finally we arrived at the foundation of what once was our home.

"There is just about nothing left but a couple of doorways and the foundation! The science wing and the labs were on the upper floors of the castle and not at ground level or below ground level." I said dejected.

"We should look around anyway boy. Perhaps something was added to the prisons in the during our time away."

We descended into the basement of the castle which was the prison where the knights held wrong doers and enemies of the empire. When we did, we found nothing but cages- rusted by time.

"Nothing here." I said dejected. "Sir Ram what if we can't get back?"

"We will boy. We have to. Remember we now know what Neo looks like, what he is capable of and we have to stop him to prevent what we saw in YOE 65 from happening and possibly this as well."

"Are you telling me if beastials still existed they could have prevented this from happening?" I asked looking around again at the devastated city.

"What do you think?" He said as we finished our 'tour' of the castle.

"I see your point. With beastials around I don't think humanity would have regressed back to bronze age."

"Instead of the castle let's start looking around, the city there has to be something left here, some technology we can use."

So while making our way back to the door to World Nineteen, Sir Ram and I combed through the rubble looking for any type of technology from our century something that we could use as a power source. We found nothing but rubble amid the death and destruction.

I was hoping we could at least run across the remains of the World One Museum or the Remembrance Museum, but were they in the same location after 200 years? It was impossible to say because the city was unrecognizable even to those of us who had lived in it. It was at that point the beastial warrior and I started coughing and gasping for air.

"We better leave." I said to him. "We have been here for too long."

We found the door to the underworld again and started to make our decent back to the underground city. I noticed that Sir Ram was quite quiet- probably contemplating our predicament.

"I have a solution boy." He said after a a prolonged period of silence. We will have to use what we readily have at hand."

"What do you mean?"

"The power source for your PDA and my weapon. I think I can fuse them together to power the black PDA for the trip back. We will only have enough for one shot though."

"Sounds like a plan. Just make sure we arrive at the moment we left." I said as we emerged from the abandoned stairwell back into the compound. "Wait a minute."

"What is it boy?"

"The room we found the map in. We need to go back there."

"What for?"

"I want to take back some of the scrolls and books I found. They could be quite invaluable."

After collecting some souvenirs, carefully, we made our way out of the structure. Well, tried.

!!!

"What's wrong?" Sir Ram asked.

I opened the door to the hallway in time to see a bunch of soldiers rush by spears in hand.

"To arms! World Twelve is attacking!" One of them yelled.

"And that is our cue to leave!" I said to the ram. "But how?"

Sir Ram took a look at the compound's map. "This way."

The he beast found a drainage tunnel which we followed out into the street several blocks away. A nasty drainage tunnel. I don't want to even begin to think what it was used for.

As we exited we saw the fight- humans advancing on humans with spear, shield and sword. It was quite primitive in a fascinating sort of way.

Very carefully we made our way back to Mr. Shy's apartment. We arrived just as the paralysis ray was wearing off.

"What's all the commotion?" He asked as Sir Ram pulled out his service weapon.

"It looks like your city is under attack." I said giving Sir Ram my PDA.

"Again? We better hide."

"You can human, my charge and I are going home, back to our own time." Sir Ram said coldly as he sat down at Mr. Shy's table and began tinkering.

I glanced out the doorway and down the alley to see people running about and soldiers advancing weapons drawn.

"It is only a matter of time before some of them decide to head down here." I shrieked.

"Almost done." Sir Ram said.

"Uh will you be taking what is on my couch?!" Mr. Shy asked.

"Yes, that is Mr. Samus a friend of ours we encountered after the fall of the empire, when beastials were being hunted to extinction."

"Oh!" Orville said looking at the caprine's remains.

"FINISHED." Sir Ram said getting up from the table and walking over to the couch.

"Mr. Shy thank you for the hospitality and the history lesson, we will be leaving now." I said as I shook the man's hand. "Don't you have anything to say Sir Ram?"

"The evil beastial was silent."

"Sir Ram? Mr. Shy did offer us shelter and brought us up to speed on the events of the last two hundred years."

"Very well! Human, I wish you a average life and a peaceful, gentle death, that is if you survive this siege." Sir Ram said picking up Samus' remains.

"You will have to forgive him. He despises humans and after what happened in YOE 65, he hates them even more."

"So then why are you with him?" The man asked me.

"That is a long, long story." I said as I collected the books and scrolls I took from the compound. "I would tell you, but we don't have the time."

Sir Ram pressed a few buttons on the black PDA. I hoped beyond hope that they were the right buttons.

**POMF**

**ZAP**

Just like that the apartment, Orville Shy and World Nineteen disappeared in a blink of an eye. Sir Ram and I dropped out of the event horizon the Black PDA had created- landing on our butts outside professor Way's house where his lab located.

Day 292 (three weeks later).

"I appreciate that you got us back to the right time- just not exactly

the moment we left." I said standing up rubbing my behind.

"Given the situation we were in we were lucky that we got back at all."

(I know that feeling.)

"I guess we better check in, our loved ones will be worried sick about us."

(Lady Ursa is probably a mess by now too. I has been three weeks after all.)

"Agreed." The evil beastial said.

"So what are you going to do with the black PDA?"

"I plan to study it some more, perhaps I can find a power source to operate it. I would like to get it working again you never know when a time machine will come in handy."

"You mean for wiping out the enemies of the empire?! Please be careful Sir Ram playing with time is very very very dangerous. Especially if that device gets into the wrong hands."

"I know boy, don't forget who you are speaking to." The he beast said in a condescending tone.

"What about Mr. Samus?"

"I plan to take him back to my lab."

"What do you plan to do?"

"I want to see if there is anyway I can pull him back from the other side. Like I did with you. I also want those books and scrolls you brought back as well."

I looked at the evil beastial.

The trip back to the castle seemed to take too long for me. Sir Ram contacted the knights and arranged for transport. On the way home we both fielded question as to where we had been for three weeks.

"Alex! Sir Ram!" My lady bear exclaimed as we shuffled into the knights' private meeting room.

"Where have you two been?!" LordTiger asked standing up from the round table.

"Mistress!" I said hugging her. In front of the commander and Lady Vermin.

"Traveling." The evil beastial said to his fellow warriors.

"For three weeks?!" Lady Vermin asked.

"Time traveling." I said from within my bear's embrace.

(Damn, I have missed her warmth.)

"I am sorry but this was the closest I could get given what we had to work with. We are lucky we made it back at all." Sir Ram said approaching the table and sitting down.

Some how my she beast despite my absence was still healthy; her cold had not come back. I would find out later that she had stock piled my 'Essence of Winter' for a upcoming mission that saved her- probably what they were discussing now.

"Sir Ram, what happened?" She said breaking my embrace and turning toward the beastial scientist.

"After I had picked up Alex from his post, we were sent on a few missions before heading back to Castle Wundagore."

"One of them was to find a missing person- Henry Way a kooky professor who resembled the professor on my world that had given me my PDA." I said to my lady bear, Lord Tiger and Lady Vermin.

"Alex and I found him at the north end of the city trapped in his lab. We freed him. To thank us he showed us some of his inventions he had been working on including this." Sir Ram said placing the PDA on the table.

"A black PDA?" Lady Ursa said examining it.

"A time machine actually mistress. Professor Way has been experimenting with them. This was his second attempt. His first was that elevator that stranded me, Primrose and Cody in the past."

"He was the one who invented that?" She said with her jaw opened.

"He was the one." Sir Ram acknowledged.

"So a certain scientist became fascinated by this device started examining it and *poof* we found ourselves thrown into the future and have been trying to get back ever since."

"How far?" Lord Tiger asked.

"First about thirty four years and then two hundred." Sir Ram said quietly.

"So that is what happened. Both of you look like a building fell on you." Lord Tiger commented.

"We miss anything?" I asked while the other knights continued to examine the black PDA.

"While you have been gone Neo has attacked again and again." Lady Vermin said.

"Counter Earth Cosmetics?" I asked.

"No a hi-rise hotel in World Five, then a bank in World Four and a sport arena in World Three."

(Oh No!)

"Any demands?" Sir Ram asked.

"Nothing just more beastials walking off high structures and falling to their deaths and just this week castle Warwick in World Two was attacked. The knight core has been desperately trying to determine who Neo is and where Neo is." Lord Tiger said. "But there are no leads, absolutely none it is like Neo is a ghost."

"Actually we know. Neo is a he." I said.

"We met him or will meet him 34 years from now." Sir Ram added.

"In that time period he weakened the empire enough to allow the rebellion to win and the High Evolutionary to be overthrown. When Sir Ram and I arrived he was the new ruler of Counter Earth and was exterminating unwanted populace."

"What he is doing presently is testing his abilities. If he isn't stopped now the end of the empire is assured." Sir Ram said to everyone present.

So despite our arrival home the senior knights convened an emergency meeting that evening. Sir Ram and I briefed Lord Tiger, Lady Vermin and my mistress on what we had seen from our 'time away.' We worked late into the night trying to identify who the Neo was and where he was hiding based on my memory.

"So civilization declined after the master was defeated and exiled?" The tiger warrior asked.

"Yes sir. The human city we were in- World Nineteen had the technological sophistication of something from the bronze age, swords, spears and shields and the city was all underground." I said to Lord Tiger.

"One of the locals we interrogated...." Sir Ram started to say.

"Befriended." I said correcting Sir Ram.

"Said that the five cities experienced some sort of cataclysm and had been destroyed." The big horned sheep said to his commander.

"Is there any indication as to what it was?" The tiger warrior asked.

"Asteroid impact and volcanic eruptions at the very least." I responded.

"World Nineteen was built almost entirely underneath World One. Despite it being off limits, we had to take a look." The beastial scientist said to the tiger.

"The level of devastation was unimaginable; we saw the remains of inhabitants that had been incased in ash and perished where they stood." I said to the commander of the knights.

"While above ground we combed through the remains of the castle looking for technology to help us power the black PDA for the return trip back- the technology of the era was very limited." Sir Ram said.

"Did you find anything?" Lady Ursa asked.

"Nothing above ground survived except for a few doorways."

"Lady Vermin?" The tiger warrior said turning to his left. "I think I have him." The rat lady said projecting a picture of a blond haired man on the view screen. "Seth Slice."

"That is him!" Sir Ram and I said in unison.

"He looks very young." My she beast said.

"I also have a location as well." Lady Vermin said. "He is working as a apprentice for Walter Singer."

"I have a plan commander." Sir Ram said to everyone there. "We will use a little project Mara and I have been working on...."

"Very well. You will attack at dawn." The tiger warrior said.

Day 293 (dawn)

"Of all the places on Counter Earth to hide out in he right chose here in World One." I said staring at a inauspicious yacht on Lake Singer from within the carefully disguised prototype.

The casual observer wouldn't have given it a second thought. It looked old and abandoned; a relic from another time or so we thought.

"Are you sure this is our target pet?" My warrior bear asked me.

"Affirmative." I won't forget that bastard's face. "He manipulated Sir Ram into killing a fellow beastial and came close to killing Sir Ram as well."

My she beast contacted our fellow knights who had taken positions around our objective.

"Point one to points two, three and four."

"Sanda here, Chemar here, I am here." A caracal, cheetah and big horned sheep appeared on the view screen. Virtually everyone who knew about Sir Ram's and Mara's prototype.

"This is our target as identified by Alex and Sir Ram- Seth Slice a technological genius, 22 years old, blond hair, green eyes. Very knowledgeable in electronics. Hostile toward the empire, the High Evolutionary and beastials. It is suspected that he is developing or has developed weaponry that will destroy the empire."

"Anything boy?" Sir Ram said asking me.

I transferred the footage from the probe from my screen to the main view screen.

"It looks like there is nothing in the interior of the boat save for that one room at the stern." I said moving the probe closer. The door was closed, but there was a light coming from within. I think he is in there."

"Switch to infrared." Sir Ram ordered."

"Well someone is in there. Actually two some ones."

"That would be Walter Singer. According to Lady Vermin, Seth was employed by him as some sort of apprentice- that was around the time his master disappeared." Chemar said.

(So that is how the knights found him.)

"His tracking chip has been deactivated." My warrior bear said looking at her communicator.

"Then that is where we are going." Sanda said.

"Let's go." I said.

"Not you Alex." Chemar said to me. "You are the back up in case this goes south."

"Remember boy what that human has done and is capable of doing." Sir Ram said to me. "We still haven't found a way to counter act it."

"Stay here Alex and keep watch." Lady Ursa said stepping out of the prototype to join Sir Ram, Chemar and Sanda rushing the yacht.

"Mistress please be careful!"

Sanda, Chemar and Sir Ram landed their hover bikes on its deck.

Chemar left his communicator on so that I would hear the audio of the knights' raid.

I watched as the knights one by one made entry to the ship which was around the time I lost communication with the probe. It just went dead.

(Damn it was trap.)

"Seth Slice! You are our prisoner!" I heard Lady Ursa shout as she approached what I thought was the door to his room."

"Under whose authority?" I heard a voice from within the room say.

"The High Evolutionary." Sanda said.

"You are wanted for crimes against the empire human!" Sir Ram yelled.

"Whom you speak of I do not recognize! He is a tyrant!"

*ZAP* *ZAP* *ZAP*

There was no further dialog over Chemar's communicator from the knights.

!!!

"You four will leave this place. Why not go drown yourselves in the lake?" I heard the human say.

It had happened again. Neo was in control and was going to kill the knights that had just tried to take him in.

(Not on my watch.)

I quickly pressed the third button on the weapons console.

**Side Pods Engaged**

I then scanned the weapons menu trying to figure out how to prevent my lover, my friends and Sir Ram from killing themselves.

(Got it!)

I used the copilot monitor and keyboard to line up the target and fired.

**Static Pulse Engaged**

Two balls of electricity fired at the ship disabling all electronic devices on it. The bigger question was whether it freed Chemar, Sanda, Lady Ursa and Sir Ram from the Neo's hold.

"Point one to points two, three and four. Anybody out there?"

(Wake up Alex, no one is going to respond you just killed all electronics on that ship!)

As I was trying to contact them I noticed a blond haired man walk onto the deck of the ship and look around checking to see if there were additional forces converging on his location. He then jumped into the water and swam to shore.

Of course he failed to see the prototype that was cleverly disguised as a rock on the beach.

(So you think that you are going to get away eh?)

I scanned the weapons menu again so tempted to waste this piece of excrement who had ended so many lives in my time and thirty four years from now.

"Laser system, machine guns, grenade launcher, flame thrower, tunnel missile, tractor missile all would be too good for you. I could use the tractor hook. Nah that would be messy. I should probably use the non-lethal stuff."

**Bola Engaged**

**Weapon Failure**

I looked at the upper right monitor in the center column to discover that the bola weapon had failed.

"Ok let's use the net."

**Net Engaged**

**Weapon Failure**

**Halo Projection Failure**

**Systems Failure**

(What?)

Then it dawned on me- Mr. Slice was a technological genius and probably had activated some type of device to ensure his escape from the knights. I surmise whatever he was using caused the system failures on the prototype.

So I decided on a low tech solution to stop the knight's fleeing prisoner. As Seth Slice passed a peculiar rock on the shoreline he failed to see another human (me) step out of it and follow him as it turned back into a blue coupe.

"Mr. Slice?"

He turned around to see who was addressing him just in time to receive a right cross to the face and my elbow on the return and then a knee to the groin.

"That is for Tammy, Tech and the rest of the twenty seven lives you ended at Counter Earth Cosmetics!" I yelled at him.

As Mr. Slice recoiled from my attack he was surrounded by the Knights of Castle Wundagore.

Sir Ram kicked him in the gut hard- dropping him.

"You are alive? How?" He wheezed.

"This is for trying to end us and for what you will do thirty four years from now." The ram said as he fired his service weapon's paralysis ray. It failed.

"Ah sorry about that. I had to use the static pulse to disable his hold on you."

"Quick thinking pet." My she beast said.

"It isn't over yet. He still has some type of device he activated. It caused the weapons on the prototype to fail."

Lady Ursa checked the blue coupe. "More than that pet. Everything is down."

"Weird. His ship was disabled." I said.

"He must have some type of jamming device on the shore here." Sanda said. "It could have been activated by him after he swam ashore."

"Well until we find it and deactivate it." We are dead in the water. "The static pulse saved our lives but disabled our weapons and communicators." Chemar said.

"It is settled then. We will be stranded here until we can find Mr. Slice's device and deactivate it." Sir Ram said taking command. "Chemar, Sanda comb the shore and try to find what ever he is using to inhibit our devices."

"Affirmative." The Caracal said.

"Right." The cheetah said.

"Alex you and I will comb the yacht, I want to know what secrets he has." Sir Ram said.

"Lady Ursa will you interrogate our prisoner? Try to convince him to talk."

"I would be delighted." My warrior bear cackled cracking her knuckles.

I heard her prisoner make a very large 'ULP' as I followed Sir Ram back into the lake. We swam toward the ship again and climbed on board.

"This is going to be very difficult boy and dangerous."

"How so?" I asked the evil beastial scientist.

"This is his hideout, he could have it lined with many traps waiting to be sprung."

"So you are going to rely on me to detect anything before it happens. We do have one thing going for us."

Sir Ram looked at me.

"If any traps are electronic in nature they should have been disabled by the static pulse from the prototype."

"If they are electronic he said to me."

Once we boarded the ship, we returned to the room the knights had found Mr. Slice in. It was like some sort of nerve center! He had a wall of monitors and virtual keyboard.

"It looks like from here he was able to monitor his targets remotely." The beastial scientist said.

"How remotely?" I asked.

Sir Ram looked at the chair in front of the monitors then, at then at the shelves on the side of the room where he found electronic pads.

"He must of liked taking a lot of notes." I said as the evil beastial examined them.

"No, these are relays." Sir Ram said to me. "It is how he was able to in trance his targets. He some how smuggled these electronic pads into the businesses he targeted."

"Once inside, he was able to relay his signal to his victims causing them to do his bidding- ingenious!" I said. "Since the pads are all different brands they didn't stand out."

"He could have used this weapon for wealth and financial gain, but instead he used it kill." The ram warrior said.

"I see like he did thirty four years from now if not for our intervention." I said following Sir Ram from the nerve center. In an adjacent room we found the remains of Walter Singer. the yacht's owner. The yak was lying on his side, eyes still open, a dazed look on his face.

The beastial scientist decided to also check out the rest of the yacht which was a moderate size, three floors of rooms- a virtual bunker disguised as an abandoned ship near the shore of a lake.

We found a kitchen, a storage room full of rations, entertainment room, wash room with shower, bedroom and a power room as well. It was obvious Mr. Slice had everything he needed to hide from prying eyes while he covertly killed without getting his hands dirty.

"Sir Ram, what is going to happen to Mr. Slice?"

"He will be judged and punished boy."

"I mean what will be his punishment?" I asked picking up the probe and following the big horned sheep back to the upper deck.

"More than likely he will receive the living death for the misery that he has caused. Although, it is more than obvious that he has a very gifted mind. One I wouldn't mind studying. But that of course would be too dangerous." The evil beastial said as we reached the top deck.

I looked at Sir Ram's, Chemar and Sanda's hover bikes they were just lying on their sides disabled by the static pulse from earlier.

"It is going to take some time tracking down to whom and where he sent those electronic pads to." Sir Ram said redirecting my attention.

"Did they cause interference with CAT at Counter Earth Cosmetics? The day of the attack their systems went down and returned to service just before the killings. Afterwards their technician only found a notation embedded in CAT stating that the Neo was here."

"Interesting questions boy. I hope that we will find out the answers in time."

We swam back ashore to join Sanda and Chemar who were still trying to find whatever Mr. Slice had used to disable the prototype and block its communicators.

"Any progress?" Sir Ram asked the watch supervisor and junior knight.

"No." Sanda replied.

"We can't even tell how far the thing's radius is." Chemar said frustrated. "Is it five hundred feet, a quarter mile, mile or more?"

"It would also help if we had something we could use to determine when we left the thing's radius." The caracal added.

Sir Ram thought for a minute. "I have an idea. Everyone come with me."

And so we returned to the prototype.

"Any luck mistress?" I asked as I walked upon an interesting scene.

Mr. Slice was sitting stark naked on the sand!

"Mr. Slice is a stubborn idealist." My she beast began. "I have interrogated him throughly and have only been able to determine that he hates beastials and the High Evolutionary."

"That's when she stripped searched me!" Mr. Slice huffed. "What gives you the right?!"

"We do what we must in order to protect the empire!" Sanda said to the naked human.

"He also does not have the device he is using to hinder our efforts on him." My lady bear said.

I followed Sir Ram, Chemar and Sanda to the rear of the prototype. Once there, the beastial scientist opened the trunk and pulled out three more service weapons. He handed one to the cheetah, the other to the caracal and kept the last for himself.

"Sir Ram?" Chemar asked. "These won't work do to the whatever he is using remember?"

"That is right Chemar." The evil beastial said. "But they will work once we are out of range of whatever it is; these weapons weren't effected by the static pulse from the prototype."

"I got you mate." Sanda said. "We each pick a direction and keep trying to use the weapons and when they finally work we will be outside the radius of the jammer."

The big horned sheep nodded.

"And me?" I asked the three.

"See if you can aid Lady Ursa." Chemar said.

So the three knights started walking in three opposite directions on the shore trying to figure out the extent of the jamming field Mr. Slice had set off when he left his hideout.

I returned to my lady bear's side as she continued to try to interrogate our prisoner.

"You freaks believe you have the right to manipulate and control us, to tell us what we can do, where we can go! You are wrong! I will see to my last breath that the High Evolutionary is brought down, his forces extirpated and Counter Earth freed from his tyranny!"

"You mean so you can set up your own rule and become something worse than what you despise?" I said to Mr. Slice.

"Alex..." My she beast warned.

"How do you know that?" He asked me.

"Because, I am a clairvoyant. I saw the future that you created and you know what?" I said looking the knight's naked prisoner in the eyes. "It sucks."

"You are the worst of them, a trader to your own kind!" Seth retorted.

"No I side with them because I have seen the dark side of humanity, the imperfections, the hatred, greed and destruction. You are too young but I saw what this world was like before the High Evolutionary and it sucked as well. He and the beastials are a counterbalance to all of this- humanity's darkness, so what befell this planet before his reign will never ever happen again."

"Humpf! Try as you may you will not stop me. Especially that fuzzy over there! What are you the muscle of this band of freaks?!" Mr. Slice asked my she beast indignantly.

"That's right fool keep goading her." I warned. "Unless you talk it will not end well for you."

He looked at me.

"That knight you are taunting is one of the strongest of the knights in the core."

"Top three." Lady Ursa said crossing her arms and looking down on our naked prisoner.

"You may have noticed that she is also a brown bear."

"So what of it?" He asked me.

"Wow, you may be technologically smart but your knowledge of nature- flora and fauna is pathetic." I said chiding the man. "If you are about to be mauled by a black bear you can stand your ground, scare, frighten and intimidate it into backing off." I said as Lady Ursa approached him looking even more threatening before. "Not so with brown bears."

"Why is that?!" He asked as my beloved she beast picked him up by the scruff of his neck and showed him her teeth.

"They don't give a fuck."

I explained to the man that he was going to get the living death for what he had done after he was judged and punished. However, Lady Ursa was not adversed to a little pre-punishment (mauling). As my lady bear started growling at him.

Mr. Slice remained resolute as he was mauled by my ursine warrior. He didn't divulge any information at all- but he did pee himself.

"I found it!" Chemar said running up to us. "A half mile to the east is the limit of the jammer's range!"

"Sir Ram! Sanda!" I said waving two them.

"Good work Chemar!" Lady Ursa said to the junior knight.

"So what now? We know the extent of the jamming field." I said.

"Simple boy." The ram said to me, we move the prototype out of the range of the field and call for help.

The knights bound Mr. Slice and dropped him at the spot Chemar claimed he got the extra service weapons to work.

They then placed me in the prototype, and each picked up a corner of the blue coupe- Sir Ram took the left front tire, Lady Ursa the right front tire, Chemar the left rear and Sanda the right rear and moved it outside the range of the jamming field.

Instantly the Sir Ram and Mara's creation came back to life. I checked the system's status screen in the upper right monitor. Everything checked out.

The knight's were able to call for back up to take Mr. Slice away. Sanda and Chemar left with the transport vehicle. Another arrived to take the deactivated hover bikes and damaged probe leaving replacements with Sir Ram.

"There, the new probe should be active and online." Sir Ram said to Lady Ursa and I as the second transport was departing.

I went to the co-pilot monitor and keyboard and launched it as Sir Ram and my mistress looked on.

"Anything pet?"

"Nothing."

"Don't move the probe too close, the field will get it." The he beast warned.

"How can we even detect it?" I asked.

"look for a localized signal."

I did as he ordered. "There was the field. It extended about a half mile in each direction from a specific point on the shoreline.

"Look there." My she beast said. "That is the point of origin."

Sir Ram walked over to where the probe had indicated the source of the jamming field. He dug into the sand. That is it- he found another pad and trigger. The device was able to be activated or deactivated just by stepping on the trigger when Seth Slice walked on to the beach.

"It is an interesting device. I am going to have Mara study it." The he beast said walking back to his hover bike.

"We also found out another flaw with the prototype too." I said to the beastial scientist.

Sir Ram nodded. "Mara and I will have to address that too." He said taking off.

The trip back to the castle was quite interesting. My mistress kept making faces and spitting.

"Everything alright?"

"I should have never bit Seth Slice - Neo." My lady bear admitted.

"Why?"

"He left a bad taste in my mouth one, I can't get rid of."

I was very quiet.

"Something on your mind pet?" My lady bear asked.

"Yeah. I know that this has been a monumental day for the empire, we eliminated a grave threat to the High Evolutionary and the future of Counter Earth, but I have a hard time believing that Mr. Slice was the Neo that the alien couple warned Lee, Milo and myself about."

"What to do you mean Alex?" Lady Ursa said turning to me.

"The Manassas said that the Neo destroyed their world, that was why they fled to Counter Earth. Seth Slice is a technological genius but, I don't think he has the know how to travel to other worlds or destroy them."

"Which means there is another Neo out there on its way. I don't like that at all pet." My warrior bear said to me.

After the knight's victory, I remember that I took the rest of that day off. As for my mistress, Sanda, Chemar and Sir Ram- I think they returned to work. Just another day for the knight core.

That afternoon I was watching the hub in the lair when I received a call from a certain big horned sheep.

"Sir Ram?!"

"Afternoon boy. I wanted to let you know of something that happened."

"You got the black PDA working again?"

"No."

"You got my PDA working?"

"No. But it does involve the timeline." The beastial scientist said to me.

"What happened?"

"Our friend Samus. His remains have disappeared. I put them in storage when we got back. I was planning a proper burial after I failed to pull him back from the other side."

"Ok?"

"After we took down Seth Slice, he disappeared as did those books and scrolls you brought back."

"Which means we changed the timeline and Mr. Slice didn't overthrow the High Evolutionary 34 years from now." I said realizing the impact of our actions.

"Which means Samus didn't die by his hands and that horrible future didn't happen."

"That is great news Sir Ram but what about that OTHER horrible future the one we jumped to after the Neo came to power and beastials no longer existed?"

"There is no way to know if that has been adverted." The beastial scientist said. We can only hope that it has."

It turns out that our little trip to the future three years ago did alter that time line too; the cataclysms that ended Worlds One through Five did not take place in YOE 95 leading to the backward future Oliver Shy lived in. They took place today.

To Be Continued....