The Time Warp Chapter 11
Bright Ideas
By Master Odin

We camped at the summit that night and made the return trek the next day. After that we flew back to the laboratory complex where Robo currently worked as an engineer. When we arrived I noticed that the other employees there treated Robo as a colleague instead of some tool. When I asked about that, one of them simply answered with, "Robo is practically human and a good friend."

"Ain't it the truth," I responded.

We followed Robo to one of the labs, where we were met by two men wearing white lab coats.

"Hello, Robo," one of the men greeted as we walked in. "We didn't expect you today after you asked for some time off on such short notice."

"I know, Dr. Ramses," Robo responded, "but my friend here needs some help. Can our project be put on hold for a few days?"

Dr. Ramses thought for a moment. "We are in between stages right now. I don't see why not."

"Thank you," Robo said as he walked over to the computer built into one of the walls. He took his handless arm and plugged the end of it into a jack on the computer. "My friend needs a scanner that will locate these energy signatures."

Dr. Ramses looked over the data Robo had downloaded onto the computer. "These energy signatures are very rare. As a matter of fact, I believe that the only place where they are found are on Death Peak. It shouldn't be too much of a problem to make, probably only take two or three days," he looked to me, "but it won't be cheap to make, either."

I knew what he was implying. I took out my wallet. I still had about thirteen pounds left. "How much?"

"Something like this is probably gonna cost close to fifty pounds."

I took all the money out of my wallet and handed it to him. "Here's thirteen as a down payment. I'll return with more." I turned to Glenn and Lucca. "Come with me. We need to return to Glenn's house to get the rest."

I began out the door, with Glenn and Lucca right behind me, when I thought of something. I turned back to Dr. Ramses. "Doctor, if I bring back enough money, can I work on a project of my own?"

Dr. Ramses thought for a moment. "As long as you can cover the expenses, I don't see a problem with it."

"Cool!" I yelled and flew out of the room. It wasn't long before I heard Glenn and Lucca running to catch up with me.

After I had led them out of the compound and to the Epoch, Lucca decided to ask, "What do you want to work on?"

"Your Wondershot gun facinates me. I want to see if I can duplicate it."

* * * * *

Dr. Ramses was quite surprised to see Glenn, Lucca, and I return with a chest full of gold pieces the next day. The chest was so heavy that it took both Glenn and myself to carry it. Lucca followed us in carrying a small box, big enough to hold a basketball, and a leather-bound journal.

"Well," Dr. Ramses said as he eyed the gold, "this ought to more than cover what ever we should need for our projects."

"That's good to hear," I responded with a nod.

"Um, I set you up in one of the older labs in the lower complex." He motioned to a tall, lanky man in a white lab coat. "Dr. Scriter will show you the way."

Dr. Scriter led Lucca, Glenn, and myself down three levels to a lab. The room looked a little worse for wear, but after Lucca and I inspected the equipment we found it to be in working order. I thanked the doctor, dismissing him to his work.

"Shall we?" I said to Lucca, motioning to the box and journal she had set on the table earlier. She nodded and walked over to the table and began studying the journal.

"If the two of you will excuse me," Glenn said as he walked over to the nearest chair, "Me thinks I shall catch up on my reading." He sat down and took his reading glasses out of his pocket and put them on his face. He then took his pipe out of his vest pocket and lit it with a match. He then took a small book out of another pocket, reclined the best he could in the desk chair, and began reading.

I smiled as I watched him. He hadn't changed a bit.

* * * * *

Later that night I was adjusting some of the dials on a machine that I had borrowed from another lab. Earlier I had solved the problem as to why Lucca's Wondershot would fire weak shots. One has to make certain that the sights are adjusted correctly. Oh well, I thought to myself after I had made the corrections. She did create in a period where guns were still in their primitive states.

At the present moment both the assault rifle and the energy assault rifle I had bought earlier laid dismantled on the table. Fifteen rounds for the assault rifle also laid on the table, with the butts cut off and the insides drill out. Those were for another bright idea I had earlier.

After making the final adjustments I walked back over to the table. There I found Lucca snoring with her head resting on her arms on the table. She looked so beautiful sleeping like that. It made me wish I could stay. I couldn't, though. I knew that. I just did not belong this world.

Wiping a tear from my eye, I quietly took the journal from under her arms and flipped the page. I read on to find the next step in the process. After learning what I needed to know I walked over to where the box sat on the table and slowly opened it, as Lucca had warned me. I had to shield my eyes from the bright light that escaped the box. After my eyes adjusted to the new light I looked down at the contents of the box. It was perfectly round stone, just slightly smaller than a basketball, than glow white with energy.

"The sun stone," I said under my breath. Lucca told me that this stone held the power of the sun itself. I at first thought of it simply as a solar battery, but when she told me that she not only used it to power her Wondershot, but also used its energy to power a sword and a special pair of glasses, and that it still had a great deal of energy left in it, I began to think it to be more of it.

I slowly took it out of the box as more light flooded the room. I was surprised that the light did not wake Lucca or Glenn. Especially Glenn, who was a relatively light sleeper. Lucca, from my observation, would continue to saw logs as clap of thunder went off next to her head.

I smiled at the thought as I looked up to the clock. 3:30! I needed to get some sleep. I put the sun stone back into the box, then sat down in the nearest chair to get some sleep.

* * * * *

I wiped my brow after I finished making a few final adjustments to my new weapon three days later. Lucca and I had our work cut out for us with the type of weapon I wanted to make.

"How in the world did a project that took me no more than a half hour to complete end up taking us three days?" Lucca asked with an exasperated look on her face.

"It probably wouldn't have if I didn't want it to shoot bullets as well."

"Yeah," she granted me, "but still...."

"Of course, if you could stop flirting with me for five minutes...."

"What!?" she yelled as she stood up and started for me. I scrambled out of my chair and tried to back away. "Why you pompous, egotistical...!" She tripped on a wire on the floor and fell into my arms.

I could feel the blush burning in my cheeks. "Uh, are you alright?"

She quickly tore herself from my hold. Her cheeks were red as well. "Um, yeah. You?"

"I'm, uh, I'm fine."

Glenn walked in at that moment. He looked at our nervous faces. "Did I miss something?"

I hesitated a moment, looking at Lucca, before answering, "Nope. Nothing at all." I didn't have to look at Glenn to know that he was giving me that look, the one I've seen a hundred times when he knew I was hiding something from him.

"It's nothing, Glenn," Lucca reiterated. "We were just goofing around and I tripped. Nothing major."

Glenn nodded. "I see."

I quickly walked back over to the table and grabbed the rifle. "Well, let's go test this bad boy out."

* * * * *

The tests for my new sun stone powered energy rifle were successful. I decided to call it the Hot Shot. Lucca and Glenn groaned at the sound of the name, with Lucca saying that it sounded corny. I like it and it's my gun, so it stuck.

Four days later, and four days behind schedule, the scanner was completed and the tests ran for it to locate the power on Death Peak were successful.


Chapter 12

Crossover Fanfics