Time Warriors Chapter 22

An incredulous silence, thick and heavy, settled over the Briefs' apartment as Vejiita's head slowly turned in Theo's direction. Kuririn involuntarily took a step backwards; Gohan, Trunks and Gokuu simply stared at her as if they had never seen her before; and Piccolo was staring at her as if she had completely lost her mind.

People normally did not interrupt Vejiita when he was speaking – in fact, the only person who interrupted Vejiita on a regular basis was Bulma, and lately even she was careful when that happened.

"What did you say, woman?" Vejiita asked softly, his gaze intense and piercing as he rose to his feet. He silently offered his hand to Bulma; she pulled herself upright and glared at Theo, one hand resting lightly on Vejiita's forearm.

Theo did have the presence of mind to drop her gaze and try to shield her mind as best she could, hoping he wouldn't attack immediately.

Staring at the opposite end of the couch, Bulma saw a scowling woman with striking features and curly red hair held firmly in place by Piccolo. Had she looked a little closer, she would have seen perspiration dripping down the side of Theo's face; she may have also seen the desperate look in her eyes as she glanced furtively at Vejiita with eyes that continuously changed color.

"Who IS this woman? Do you know her, Vejiita? And what are you talking about - 'shattered time machine' - hmm?" Bulma looked quite unfriendly, hooking both her thumbs into the belt loops of her shorts, standing with her arms akimbo, her eyes narrowed. "How do you know there's anything here that has anything at all to DO with a time machine?"

Theo opened her mouth to reply, when another voice, strident and clear, cut her off and answered for her.

"Don't be stupid - my mama's a temporal engineer, and she knows plenty about time and time machines, much more than any human will ever know. If she says something's broken, then it's broken - and that's that!"

Now everyone turned to stare at the young woman who was barely visible between the wiry, gray haired man and the tall, grim faced, dark haired woman. She appeared to be a younger version of Theo, down to her wavy red hair and defiant, outthrust chin; but at the moment, it appeared to be only a tremendous effort of will that was keeping her upright. Elyse was visibly sweating and shaking, much like Theo, and was clutching Allyssa's arm for support.

Bulma pushed herself away from Vejiita and walked toward the girl, staring at the teen as if she had suddenly grown another head. "And who in the hell are YOU? Vejiita, who ARE these people? Where did they come from?"

"Wait, please, okaasan," Trunks said, catching her arm as she passed, a strained look about his eyes. "It's not her fault-"

"Bulma—" started Gokuu, looking upset.

At the same time, Theo leaned toward Vejiita as far as she could, given that Piccolo was still holding her upper arms, and repeated, "I SAID – someone had better tell me where the damn shattered time machine is before we all get blasted to infinity by this timeline. Ouji-sama," she added quickly, bobbing her head in obeisance, dropping her gaze as she recognized the expression on his face. Damn, damn, damn - I have to watch my tone -

The Saiyan prince covered the distance between Piccolo and himself in less time than it took to think about it; unsmiling, he motioned to the Namekian to free Theo. Piccolo released his hold on her and stepped back, folded his arms and grunted, watching Vejiita carefully.

Theo staggered slightly into Vejiita, catching herself on his arms. "Ouji-sama, please, you must believe me – I have to – erk – " The prince had pushed her hands away, and had grabbed her face in his left hand and was studying it as if it was an interesting new type of insect.

"What's wrong with you, Guardian? You look – unwell." Black obsidian eyes stared at her; his gaze raked over her face and body, assessing her physical and psychological states in a long glance. He turned her face to the side, twisting her neck to the left, watching the sweat bead along her hairline and slither down the side of her cheek.

Her hands came up automatically to clutch at his wrist as he turned her face to the right. "Ouji-sama," she gasped, "something is warping the time stream here, and I can't control …" As if to confirm her words, the world abruptly shimmered in front of her and expanded, his face and body becoming a grotesque parody of itself as another timeline tried to push through him and into her, focusing on her symbiotic link with her TARDIS, moving from a chaotic system into something more stable …

Theo's eyes bulged and her muscles heaved. She abruptly threw up, retching uncontrollably, all over Vejiita.

Watching Theo vomit over Vejiita's chest, arms, and legs immediately dispelled any lingering doubts Piccolo had about her condition; in fact, he was now completely convinced that there was something terribly wrong around them – something that only the Guardian could feel. No creature would be foolish enough to willingly throw up all over the Saiyain prince, in front of witnesses, to boot.

Most of those watching the tableau between Vejiita and Theo were completely stunned and more than a little nauseated – after all, as the strongest people in the world, they were used to seeing bodies exploding, bones being broken and limbs being rent from their owners. They were not used to watching people get sick; that was an admission of weakness that none of them would ever permit the others to know, let alone see. That, along with the stench, the incredible humiliation and disgrace, was enough to turn the stomach of the strongest warrior.

Vejiita immediately released Theo and stepped back, an expression of shocked disbelief on his face as he stared down at himself, bile dripping into small puddles at his feet. Theo staggered backwards, her arms crossed protectively across her midsection, gasping for breath, muscles still twitching spasmodically.

An expression of shame and horror ran across her face as she realized what just happened. "Ouji-sama … please, I am so sorry, I did not mean to—"

"Shut. Up. Woman." Vejiita replied absently, almost automatically as he stared at her, an unreadable expression on his face, his eyes dark and enigmatic.

Theo closed her mouth and stared at the floor, breathing shallowly. The world had gone back to its normal three dimensions – which was good – but there was still some oddness, some wavering in her peripheral vision, which was not good. And it felt as if the pain in her head was expanding, trying to push its way into every conceivable place in her psyche. Plus NOW there was this persistent itching in the back of her mind – itching that wouldn't go away no matter how she tried to dislodge it …

"Ugh … Vejiita, you'd better go change."

Dr. Briefs raised his already considerable eyebrows as Vejiita pushed by him, wrinkling his nose at the odor that clung to his son-in-law. "Well, now…"

Bulma turned her attention to Theo, eyeing her a little less suspiciously. The woman might have been ill, but that still did not explain how she knew about her time machine, and it certainly did NOT excuse her earlier rude comments.

Hmm…

"Here." In a very businesslike, not-to-be-thwarted tone, Bulma walked over to Theo, gently grabbed one of her arms and tugged her toward the kitchen. "Come on. You need to get cleaned up, too. "

Theo just stared at Bulma and allowed her to lead her off, feeling the whole situation was entirely surreal.

"And you people should take care of that girl, too," Bulma called over her shoulder as she marched Theo into the kitchen. "She looks like she's going to collapse. Don't be stupid – put her into one of those chairs, and then get out here and get her something to drink."

Theo tried to twist around to get a glimpse of Elyse, but Bulma gave her a firm push into the kitchen, and that ended that.

"I—"started Theo, turning toward Bulma.

The blue haired woman shook her head and eyed Theo critically. "No. Don't say anything yet. Rinse your mouth out first, wash your face – THEN we can talk." Bulma pointed her in the direction of the sink, showing her where all the hand towels and soaps were, then turned and sat down at the table.

Theo blinked and nodded, realizing that arguing with Bulma would be futile; it would be faster to simply do what she wanted. She walked over to the sink, carefully washed her face and hands and rinsed out her mouth. Just being able to do that small thing – simply washing the acrid, bitter taste of the bile from her tongue – helped enormously, and made her feel like herself again.

The pain in her head was constant, and she still felt nauseous, but her world was staying three dimensional. And given that she knew the time streams themselves were crossing each other, that really was quite amazing – but something that she knew was not going to last for very much longer.

Patting her face dry with a large terrycloth towel, Theo smiled wanly and sat down at the kitchen table next to Bulma, thanking all the gods she could remember that it was only Bulma at the moment. Later, she knew with a sinking heart, she knew she would have to explain her actions to Vejiita – and remembering Piccolo's tone and Gohan's expression, she certainly wasn't looking forward to that.

"Now," Bulma started, tilting her head to the side and looking right at Theo, "tell me why you believe there's a time machine here in this apartment. And, specifically, why you believe that machine is shattered."

Theo stared at Bulma, her eyes swirling a little, her expression unrevealing. "Um … well. I can feel certain things … because of who and what I am … and I knew the moment I stepped into this apartment that there was something wrong with the timelines, and that the problem was here."

Bulma looked at her, frowning. "That doesn't tell me much at all. What do you mean, who and what you are? And what kind of things can you feel?" Bulma leaned forward, her entire manner intense. "If you want me to believe you, you need to tell me the truth. What exactly are you?"

Theo looked deep into Bulma's eyes and sighed. Gods … is everyone associated with Saiyans completely crazy? "I am – not human." A small smile tugged at the sides of her mouth as she gazed at Bulma. "But I'm sure you could tell that just by looking at me."

Bulma nodded impatiently. "Of course. Your eyes. But what—"

"My race is one that is relatively rare in this part of the galaxy. We usually don't travel out here." Theo sighed, shifting her gaze from Bulma's face to her own hands. "Among other things .. we are time sensitives. We build time machines, and we move among the time streams."

"You – build – time machines?"

Theo nodded, clasping her hands lightly in front of her, focusing on keeping the stabbing pain in her head under control. "Yes, we do. We build time machines, and we are sensitive to the striations in the time streams. That's how I knew something was wrong the moment we stepped into this apartment. Specifically –" and she fixed Bulma with a mild, unblinking stare –"you've constructed a time machine with NO temporal dampers. That's rather like inviting the entire neighborhood into your machine, instead of just the one time stream you really wanted. And … it's quite obvious that's the problem, especially given the episodes I've endured since I've been here."

Bulma was flabbergasted. "You can feel all of that … just sitting there? That's incredible! But – how do you know for certain that's the problem?"

Sweat started to run down the sides of Theo's face again. "I … believe me, I know that's the problem. If you show me your machine, I can fix the problem. In fact, if … if I'm permitted to do so, I'll get my tools from my machine, and I'll fix your machine that much sooner." And gods, it couldn't be that much sooner for me …

Bulma raised one eyebrow suspiciously; it was plainly obvious that the other woman's condition was deteriorating again, but she had to ask. "What do you mean, 'if you're permitted?'"

Breathing heavily, Theo explained, "Some … some of your people may not want to allow me back into my machine … alone …"

Snorting, Bulma stood up and shook her head. "Well, that's not a problem. I can go with you—"

"Woman, you are pathetic. I'll take her to get what she needs. You make sure she can get to that machine of yours easily."

Both women looked up to see Vejiita walking into the room, wearing a new black jumpsuit and the same formidable scowl. Neither looked particularly happy to see him, but Theo knew that it was simply a facade on Bulma's part; that in fact, she was quite glad to see him.

That was made crystal clear by the tingly sensation creeping across Theo's skin and into her groin the longer Bulma stared at Vejiita.

Damn this psychic link, Theo thought, flustered and upset, trying to shut them out. There must be something I can do … some kind of barrier that will stop these feelings … I do NOT want or need to know this at all. This is what drove the ancient Gallifreans insane ... gods, no privacy at all ... and I can see why…

"Let's go, woman."

Suddenly she felt herself unceremoniously dragged to her feet and propelled, stumbling, toward the door, with Vejiita holding her upper forearm in a tight, painful grip.

That shut down the mind link rather effectively, closing it as if she had turned off a light switch. Thank the gods that neither one of them finds the sight of him dragging me around to be very stimulating...I don't know what I'd do if they did ...

"You could have asked," Theo snapped up at the prince, her temper getting the better of her.

He raised a sardonic eyebrow at her. "I did – but I only ask once. You know that. Now move." Vejiita chuckled darkly as he pushed her into the next room.

Allyssa and Dron watched Theo stumble into the room from the kitchen, trying to get her bearings, closely followed by Vejiita.

"She doesn't look any better than before," Dron muttered to Allyssa.

"Which 'she' are you talking about?"

Dron glanced over at Theo, then down at Elyse, seated to the right of Allyssa. He shrugged and shook his head, acknowledging the irony in Allyssa's tone. "You're right - they both look about the same."

"I don't understand," a young, forlorn voice murmured. "What's wrong with Elyse?"

Both Dron and Allyssa turned in surprise to see Trunks looking at Elyse, his fine features drawn with concern. The young teen was standing next to Elyse's chair, his hair brushing into his eyes, looking down at her face, worried. Incredible - she looked so pretty, so vulnerable, so soft -

Elyse's eyes were closed, her breathing was shallow, and perspiration beaded on her forehead. Allyssa smoothed her hand down the teen's cheek and looked at Trunks.

"She's a time sensitive, boy, just like her mother. There's something here that's not right, and they're both suffering because of it. We can't feel it, but they certainly can – her mother felt it as soon as we left her TARDIS." She snorted softly, her eyes narrowing in anger. "But your green friend over there refused to believe her. Now they're both ill – but at least it seems that your father is going to allow Theo to fix whatever the problem is. Look." Allyssa nodded curtly toward the TARDIS.

Now Vejiita was standing at the doorway of the TARDIS, waiting as Theo walked in front of him with a large bag in her hand.

"Those are her tools," Allyssa explained. "She's going to repair whatever the problem is with your time machine."

"But we don't have a time machine." Trunks looked over at the warrior woman, clearly puzzled.

"Maybe not one you know about, boy. But if she's bringing those things, she's going to be fixing something."

Theo looked over at Vejiita and shrugged, wincing, then slowly twisted her head around until she saw the small platform in the corner of the room. "That's it." Nodding, she walked over toward the platform, approaching it warily, almost as if it was alive. Can't be too careful around these things, especially when you're not sure what they're going to do next …

"Well?" Vejiita demanded, walking behind her, scowling. "Can you repair the machine? I actually remember Kakarotto complaining about this thing, saying that he didn't feel right around it … so perhaps what you're saying is actually true."

The pain increased the closer she came to the apparatus. "I … I don't know, ouji-sama. I'm sure I can … I just have to find the source." Blinking and breathing faster, Theo stared at the platform and realized the equipment wasn't there – the transmitter was probably embedded in the floor, but the actual temporal gear had to be somewhere else. "Is there a computer terminal used for this station?"

"Hmm? Why, yes, of course," replied Dr. Briefs. He had been sitting by the computer, idly working with several different programs while Theo had been talking with first Bulma and then Vejiita.

"Oh, good. Then … this is the terminal?" Theo was already pushing Dr. Briefs out of the chair in her eagerness to get to the computer. She didn't know it, but tears started to run down her cheeks, unchecked, from the pain and the psychic disruption the temporal phasing error caused.

"Well, it – oof!—certainly is," Dr. Briefs replied as he stumbled out of the way, bewildered at the speed in which Theo attacked the computer and distressed at her obvious pain and suffering. He frowned his displeasure at Vejiita, but only had a cool eyebrow raised in his direction.

"Excellent," Theo panted. Looking around, Theo saw exactly what she expected next to the computer's central processing unit – the complete housing assembly for the power supply. There it is - that's it - and without another thought, she opened her toolbag, took out a small crowbar and cracked open the housing along the seam of the welded joint, exposing the internal workings of the power supply, bathing the console area in a strange blue light.

Fortunately, Dr. Briefs had just turned around to pick up a pack of cigarettes and matches that had fallen from his pocket - otherwise, he surely would have protested the instant Theo brandished the crowbar at the assembly. As is was, he turned around with a jerk when he heard the *crack* of the broken metal, peeling apart as easily as the skin of a grapefruit.

"That's it, that's it – oh, kami, look, look! – you had the transducer upside down, there's a BIG part of the problem, that's just so EASY to fix –" Babbling as she worked, Theo grabbed each end of the transducer and pulled it straight from the board, not even bothering to cut the power.

Meaning, of course, that she plunged her hands into the temporal fields unshielded. And this time, both Dr. Briefs and Bulma saw what she did, as Bulma chose that moment to walk into the great room from the kitchen.

"Are you INSANE?" Bulma screeched, lunging at Theo, grabbing for her arm and trying to dislodge her from the timestream. "You'll be KILLED! Vejiita, how could you allow her to DO that? Get her AWAY from there – don't let her touch those things, you idiot – those are the timestreams –"

"She's a time sensitive, baka – she's the only one around here who COULD touch them." Vejiita easily blocked his mate's headlong dash toward Theo, holding her arms so that she could watch Theo work, but not touch her.

An audible sigh of relief came from the other side of the room. Bulma turned to see Elyse stirring in her chair, a vague smile on her face, her eyes half open, as she breathed to the people around her, "Mama's fixing the time machine, isn't she?"

"Yes, dear, she is." Allyssa stroked the side of her face, soothing her.

"What's she doing right now?"

Theo reached inside the power supply and redirected the flow, pushing the streams into small arcs with her own hands, twisting the strands of time together. Her skin had become shimmery and transluscent, almost a pale blue; her face, too, reflected that otherworldly hue, giving her an ethereal appearance, something not quite human.

Mama's trying to find the way OUT of here without making the Saiyan suspicious, Elyse...

The timestreams were made up of many different voices, all singing melodies and harmonies, point and counterpoint, consonance and dissonance – and out of these, Theo was searching for that one still, small voice, the familiar, the ancient –

Theo … Theo, is that you?

Olean, Theo responded, continuing to work on the machine in front of her, almost crying with happiness, Olean, it's me. Hope flared in her chest again, vain hope for rescue from her hellish circumstances.

Child, what are you doing? Sticking your hands into the timestreams with no protection? You're bending everything out of shape – you're going to get yourself killed if you keep doing that, and your mother won't be happy at all …

Her mind was singing in triumph as she listened to the farsensor chide her. I had to, Olean. This – thing – was wrong. It was warping everything around it. I had to fix it. And I – I'm in big trouble, Olean. I hoped you'd be watching the streams …. I left a distress beacon on the TARDIS…

Ah … The presence expanded into Theo, gently wrapping itself around recent memories, reading them, then withdrew. It was difficult to tell with Olean - she was always so methodical and calm - but Theo thought she detected an edge to her, one that verged on panic. You are not in a good situation.

Theo closed her eyes, blotting out the machinery and cold flame in front of her. No. It is … very bad.

I will tell your mother and Stranna. I do not know what we will be permitted to do, but … we will do what we can to help you. Olean's prescience, given to her as an unintentional mental gift by Freeza, touched Theo as the woman withdrew from their mental link. I must leave - your watcher will be awakened by much more of this. But know that it is not over, child. You must fight for what is yours, but you must also accept responsibility for what was. Only by doing both will you eventually become free. And she broke the connection, dissolving again into the timestreams.

Theo's soul cried, a deep, heartfelt sob …Olean … take me home … I want to go home … oh gods, don't leave me and Elyse here with him … please …