Max' Journey - End times (Part 2)
Although both men didn't get too much sleep last night, Max felt way more fit and energetic than Antorn. His new cyborg body gave him a near limitless supply of energy. It was a bit hard for him to concentrate on the discussion, since his cock was still half-stiff and leaking precum into his metal "underwear" armor, but the worst waves of hornyness had passed. Now, that he was in fighting shape, the three scientists and him discussed their strategy.
Luckily, the complete lack of fighting spirit that led to the alien's problem free conquest of the earth also meant they wouldn't be expecting any resistance. However, from the moment on that Max attacked, he would need to move fast, to reach the alien leader before they could assemble a force capable of stopping him. If that happened, not only would the only hope of humanity have failed, but also the small cell of free humans Max was currently hidden with would be detected before long.
So, the plan they came up with was that Max moved quickly and ruthlessly through the aliens he encountered before he met their leader. He would kill him while recording the whole scene with his internal cameras and Edan and the other two scientists would use that recording to create the myth of Max being an absolutely unstoppable force, capable of wiping out every living alien on the planet. That way, hopefully, the aliens would release humanity and flee.
It was a bluff, but it was their only chance. Even though Max felt like he could take on the world, objectively he knew he couldn't fight every alien on the planet. So, they had to make them think he could, painting Max even bigger than he already was.
The central command complex was nearby. It was one of the spherical ships that one day just appeared out of thin air on the planet’s surface. Pitifully little was known about the aliens themselves. They hid their faces and bodies in exosuits with a singular headlight on their foreheads. From what information they had gathered, the suits were suitable for protection against harsh environments, leading to speculations about the aliens home world having a different atmosphere.
That however did nothing to explain why there were so many aliens here or where they came from in the first place. The spherical ships they appeared in did not appear to be capable of space travel at all, which meant that the aliens used some kind of teleportation technology.
It was a risky endeavor, even more so as they knew so little about the enemy. But being the only choice, they had, it was easy to make.
So, with the first light of the next day, they travelled to the central command ship in a sleek floating vehicle. Max could see some enslaved humans with alien overseers on their way, but nobody paid too much attention to their vehicle. They landed only a few hundred meters away from the big sphere of the central command ship. It was made out of a similar material as the buildings and the vehicle Max was sitting in. The entrance, however, was open and a ramp was leading up into the ship. Left and right of the ramp, there were guarding aliens, equipped with some kind of rifle each.
This was it. When he stepped out of their vehicle, Max would immediately need to start running and fighting, only stopping when he had killed their leader. Even though his cyborg body was big and impressive, Max felt his knees get weak.
"Are you ready?" asked Sirah.
"As I'll ever be", said Max.
"Good luck", said Edan. "And don't forget to start the recording."
Max nodded and did so immediately. Then, without losing any more time, he opened the door and began to sprint towards the ramp. He saw both guards turn around to face him, but none of them fired at him yet. Instead, they aimed their weapons straight at his chest, probably too surprised by his sudden appearance to act immediately.
He reached the ramp and started to run up it. Now, one of the aliens hit the trigger and a bolt of energy hit Max' energy shield with a fizzing sound. He didn't even stop but instead jumped a gigantic leap powered by his leg servos, tackling away the first alien and grabbing his weapon in the process. In the same movement, he turned around and shot an energy bolt at the other one, who had not been so lucky to have an energy shield.
The alien screamed and fell down the ramp, hurt or killed. Max didn't care and sprinted towards the entrance of the ship now, astonished by his own speed and agility. He was moving faster than anything he had seen before. The ramp itself was wide enough for three people side-by-side to walk up comfortably, but he easily cleared it in a single jump.
Now inside the ship, he found himself in a maze of corridors and rooms. Most of the ones he encountered first were empty and only a few aliens stood guard here and there. Max had no trouble overwhelming them, but he knew well that time was working against him. By now, there would surely be an alarm already, and a larger force would be forming to stop the intruder. It was crucial that he reached the alien leader before they found him, but he had no idea where to go. The ship was huge! He needed some means of orientation.
He noticed several doors leading into small rooms and decided to check if there was something interesting behind them. One room contained only a computer terminal with a strange symbol on it, another was completely empty. In the third room, however, he found what he was looking for: A large map showing the whole ship. He only took a quick look at it and trusted in his remnant cave man instincts to find the best path to the command bridge.
As he came nearer, the number of aliens on his way increased and they became more organized. He still was able to take out the small groups of them without getting hurt, but it cost him more time. Finally, he found himself against a whole dozen of the exosuit-clad people in front of a large reinforced door. This must be where he needed to go.
He charged through them, firing energy bolts left and right. Two of them went down quickly, but two others blocked his way. The next moment, Max realized he wouldn't be able to reach the door without going past them. Like in Waterloo, he threw his rifle at one of them with full force and switched to hand-to-hand combat. His shield emitters burnt hot on his chest, as the energy shield absorbed more and more shots directed at him. He needed more! His insides came alive with blasting heat again, as the nanobots inside his body mobilized every bit of energy available to him, possibly even burning parts of his own body for it. With a fizzing sound, his shield emitter broke down, a thin bit of smoke coming from it. The next energy bolt would hit him instead!
Max ducked under the arm of one of his opponents, grabbed him by the neck and headbutted him with all his might. The alien's helmet dented he fell to the ground, but Max was already in front of the next opponent. As he broke his neck, Max felt a hot bit of pain on his left arm, as an energy bolt had melted a piece of his body armor. The molten metal burnt into his flesh, but Max couldn't stop now. He took the body of the alien he just killed and threw it towards the one that just shot at him. It smashed into the enemy's chest plate, breaking it and sending the alien flying back. Max followed him up and landed a knee strike on his groin. The alien flew backwards and crashed into a wall, leaving a dent in it.
A few more brutal seconds later, there were no more aliens around him that posed any danger. Some were still alive and groaning, crawling away, but Max didn't have time to deal with them. Instead, he gathered all his strength and, by overloading his leg augmentations, launched himself against the reinforced door.
It didn't break open and hurt like hell, but its hinges gave out and the door swung half-open. Max kicked it fully open and rushed inside, ready to face whatever awaited him.
He expected a whole lot of aliens inside this room but was surprised to find it almost completely empty. In the middle of the large room, there was a desk and behind that desk, there was one single alien in his exosuit looking at Max. Since he couldn't see the alien's face, Max wasn't sure if the alien was surprised or even fearful. It didn't matter. This whole thing would soon be over.
As Max stepped closer, unstoppable like a freight train, the alien raised a hand. He was not armed, Max noticed.
"Wait!" said the alien. "Don't kill me."
The voice sounded afraid and spoke the language perfectly.
"I will remove my helmet, I just want to talk." said the voice. Was this some kind of trick to stall him? But there were no sounds of more forces from behind, so Max stopped in front of the desk, carefully watching for any weapons. However, the alien just continued as announced and removed the helmet with a hissing sound. Max was surprised to see the entirely human face of a tired looking woman beneath it. She looked older than Max' mother and her eyes looked sad and tired.
"You are very fast", she said. "I never saw anyone move that quickly before."
"Who are you?", asked Max.
"My name is Galya Fell. I am the leader of the exodus expedition."
"Exodus?"
"Yes. We are here to save humanity from extinction. If you let me, I will explain everything to you. You have any right to kill me afterwards, I guess. You have nothing to fear. I told my men to stand down already."
Max nodded. He didn't know what else to do. He was confused by this turn of events but his experiences navigating the 1920s society told him, that there was a whole new layer of complexity to unfold. "Make it quick!" commanded Max and kept vigilant.
Galya gulped and started speaking.
"We are humans, just as you, and we come from earth as well, just a... another earth. From a parallel reality where things went a bit differently. You see, humanity is on the brink of extinction there. Our continuous exploitation of natural resources and unstopped natural disasters caused by uncontrollable atmospheric heating made most of the planet uninhabitable over the last centuries. Wars broke out over the last resources and inhabitable lands, and now, all that is left are a few hundred thousand people. Luckily, our scientists came up with a solution. They discovered a technology that would allow us to travel to other realities. We were hoping of finding an uninhabited version of earth to settle down there. But every single version we scouted had humans on them and our time was running out. So, in order to survive, we found that we had no other choice but to invade one of our neighbor worlds. Naturally, we chose the most peaceful one. That was this world. "
Galya looked defeated. "I had my doubts in the beginning, but when the continued existence of our human civilization is at stake, a lot of difficult decisions begin to become really easy. At the end, we could live on by coming here, but we had no right to do the things we did. I see that now. So, today is the day that I knew was coming since four years ago, the day the consequences of our actions are catching up to us. I... we are at your mercy here. You cannot escape fate, so much is clear to me now."
Max felt sickened by what he heard. The actions of those other humans were despicable to the bone, that was clear. But they saw no other way to survive than to take away someone else's home and life. And yet, he still felt guilty about killing these people who had done nothing wrong themselves. He wanted to ask Galya how she could have allowed herself to commit such atrocities, but he also understood why she did it on the same time. It must have been hard for her to make that decision and knowing that she would probably die anyway made it easier to give up on her own morals.
"I'm sorry", said Max simply.
He was stunned silent for a good minute before asking: "Is everyone thinking like you do? Will they stand down and let themselves be brought to justice like you?"
"No." answered Galya sadly. "Most of them are desperate for survival and will do everything. If you kill me now, there might be a chance they flee to another world, but I don't think there is anything to gain by reasoning with them."
This wasn't fair! Why did Max have to decide for a whole world of people here and now? This wasn't even his time! Perhaps he could reach the scientists that brought him here, but they, too didn't appear to be the right people for making such a decision. They weren't big on morals, they were only good at problem solving.
Or perhaps...
Suddenly, Max got an idea.
"I think, there might be another way of resolving that. We need to bring in some friends of me."
***
"I suppose it *is* possible" said Sirah, skeptically. "But why do we need to involve ourselves in this mess?"
"Because if we don't," explained Max, "There will be more bloodshed. The invaders from the other world won't step down as easily as Galya did and you guys don't fight."
"Well, even if we do, it is dangerous for the fabric of reality itself. Or perhaps it isn't. We could not find out and there is literally no practical research." Edan stated.
"But only for *their* reality", said Antorn, who was already convinced. "I think that is a fair punishment for what they did to us. Besides, I'm fairly confident it won't be so bad. Max here has left his footsteps in history, and it didn't change much as far as we know. Perhaps it won't even work, but I don't think there is harm in trying."
"So, you are suggesting that we use your time travel technology to prevent us from ruining our planet centuries ago? Won't that lead to paradoxes?"
Sirah shook her head violently and rolled her eyes. "No, since you're not in the same frame of reference. It's a clever combination of our technologies, really. You go back to your reality, travel back in time and make stuff right. Of course, you are locked to your original timeline by the matrices, so if you were to return to your relative present, it would not have changed anything. That doesn't hold true for the rest of your people, though, since they are not in the same reality that you are altering. If they switch back after you have departed, they should arrive in the new version created by your actions."
Max' head was swimming, but apparently Sirah had already seen through the concept. She was really exceptionally bright.
"That... might work" said Galya slowly. "If we can promise them the return to a healed home world, everyone would be glad to leave you alone. Let's do this."
***
It took some months to create another time travel device and calibrate it to key events in the other realities history. As Galya promised, the solution appeared like the best option to all exodus people, and they stood down after a touching speech from Galya.
Max was celebrated as a hero during all that time and experienced the wonders of the future and all the comforts and amenities an advanced society could give him. During all that time he still had his hyper-masculine cyborg body and put it to good use.
However, the day after Galya, and shortly after, her people left this world, the three scientists who welcomed him to this time spoke to Max again.
"Well, the time to say goodbye comes closer." Said Edan in his usual complicated pattern of speech.
"You may of course stay here with us, but I think after all these adventures, you want to return to your own time and body once and for all." Said Sirah, smilingly. "I have built another time travel device, with just a single use. No more time travel after that - it makes things way too complicated."
"And we have come to the conclusion that this course of history is next to ideal", Edan added. "Changing something in our history could have unwanted results. "
"So, are you ready to go home", asked Antorn warmly.
Max was silent for a moment. Of course, he had thought a lot about going home in the previous months. But...
"Can I... go somewhere else instead?", Max asked, slowly.
"Ohh, I so knew it!" cheered Antorn.
"In short, yes." stated Sirah. "However, this will be a one-way-trip. Wherever you decide to go, you are going to be stuck there. If you want to return to your Viking lover, you can do so, but that's it. No more wonders of technology for you, no more Sweden or Canada or whatever."
"Actually, that's not entirely true.", Antorn said, now with a serious face again. "Do you remember, what I said about administering body-enhancing nanobots to someone and the difficult ethical situation around it?"
Max nodded.
"Well, part of it, the important part really, is, that the bots won't let you age properly. They always restore the cells back to a youthful state. Of course, at some point, the bots cease to function and can't keep up anymore, but... that takes some time."
"How long?"
"Well, that's a bit difficult to predict, since it hasn't happened yet since the invention of that stuff. But I guess... One, maximum two thousand years?"
Max looked at him stunned. "I'm not going to die for two thousand years?"
"Not from old age at least. I mean, you probably can you know, but you won't age for that time."
"Oh okay." Max said. He didn't expect that.
"My point being: With a bit of patience, you can go to Thjodolf’s time and still live to see your own time again. It might be a rather long stay, though." Antorn ended.
All three of them looked at Max expectantly. He took a moment and then made a decision.
"Alright. I need two favors of you.", he said.
It only took Sirah another day to reconfigure her matrices to Max' new destination and to tell the algorithm his request.
"You know guys", Max said, as he stood in front of the sleek device, "I'm going to miss you. I mean, you completely changed my life, but, in the end, I'm very happy about it. Perhaps it was fate that we met", he said with a wink.
"Oooh, that's a good name for the time travel algorithm. Fate. I like it.", mumbled Sirah absentmindedly.
"Now, remember. No big changes." Edan had a stern face. "I trust in your judgement here!".
Max nodded and grabbed the small metal vial from the table. "I promise. Well. I guess, this is farewell."
He pressed the single green button on the device and another portal appeared in the room, stable and swirling slowly. Max turned around again and waved goodbye, which was mirrored by the three scientists. Then, he took a deep breath and stepped into the portal.
Max arrived in the Viking age exactly one second after his previous self had stepped through the portal. He didn't use any time. His first request had been to keep his cyborg for a few minutes after he arrived. These minutes were more than enough to drive away the 'evil ones', the raiders attacking Thjodolf's village, for good. He made such an entrance that nobody ever dared to lay hand on these lands ever again.
His body was already changing back into that of the Viking warrior he left as, as he ran towards his lover. He couldn't believe his eyes, as Max had already returned, merely a second after he had gone. Still, it felt like so much time has passed between those two moments that Thjodolf was just happy to see him again.
Max stayed in the Viking village and with his lover forever. Well, forever is an awfully big word, but here, it might be nearer to the truth than at other times. Max had brought one more dose of the body-enhancing nanobots and, after explaining everything to Thjodolf, they decided to stay together for a really long, long time. Max was just so happy. After all his journey, he had finally found his fate.
I'm so happy for Thjodolf and Max! If you're with someone you love, every moment can feel like a thousand years of bliss.
If you want to read the whole story from the beginning, go here. The first part of the finale can be found here.
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