Time Maze

A Real Head-scratcher

"What are you mumbling about?" Marcus asked Sybil rudely, trying to hide his curiosity behind bad manners.

Sybil gave him a death stare before choosing to completely ignore him and focus on Tyson, whom she considered the voice of reason among the two. Tyson, on his part, was deeply in thought, going through all the possible answers and theories.

"What do we know so far?" Sybil asked Tyson before Marcus could say anything else.

"Well, it seems like people from different times and places end up in this Time Maze," Tyson said, starting from what felt like the beginning. "Many have ended up here after being submerged in a body of water. Was there some kind of one-way water portal?"

He didn't like the way his theory sounded when he said it out loud, but Tyson couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that how they were transported into the Time Maze mattered. It didn't stop his theory from sounding odd there even to him.

"Okay, what does that tell us?" Sybil asked calmly, neither accepting nor rejecting Tyson's idea.

"That the thing is wacko!" Marcus said, aggravated.

It felt like they were wasting their time trying to make sense of something utterly senseless. He was sure there were better things they could have been doing.

"For once, I think you might be on to something," Sybil said, looking at Marcus with slightly less venom than usual. "It does sound like the system has gone crazy, that it is picking up anyone who gets inside its perimeter."

"Is its perimeter water?" Tyson asked, confused. "Because if that was the case, there would have been many more Mazers roaming around."

"My guess would be no. I think we are only talking about specific places and times," Sybil said.

"How can you know that for sure?" Marcus asked bitingly as he couldn't follow their conversation as well as he hoped he would be able to.

"I don't. But the Mazers I've met so far tend to come from a few random years with a few exceptions sprinkled here and there," Sybil said, slowly brushing her hair aside. "The way I see it, there must be cracks in the space-time continuum through which we have managed to slip."

"What are you even talking about? How can there be cracks?" Marcus asked impatiently.

Tyson hurried to give him a nutrient bar sitting on the shelf nearby, effectively shutting Marcus down as he started munching vigorously on it.

"I imagine this is like a cracked aquarium where the water keeps dripping out through small holes and cracks, going out of the bowl, the same way we are spilling into the Time Maze," Sybil said.

"But what would cause such cracks in time and space?" Tyson asked, being able to partially understand what she was talking about.

"I have no idea. I'm winging it here! Some help would be appreciated," Sybil said as she rose her hands in exasperation.

"Okay, okay," Tyson said, reconciliatory. "Why don't we leave that aside and see what else we know?"

Sybil nodded her head, worrying at her lower lip forcefully. She brushed away the imaginary lint as if she couldn't stop herself from fidgeting.

"So, once here, we encounter the strange Minotaur thing," Tyson said, ordering his experiences chronologically in the hopes of finding some sense or reason to it.

"Wait a second," Sybil interrupted in a rush, her eyes swiveling to pierce through Tyson as if she could read his mind if she tried hard enough. "Why do you call it Minotaur?"

"Well, you know that creature from Greek mythology," Tyson said, stumbling over words.

"Yes, I know what the Minotaur is, but why do you refer to that enormous robot as Minotaur?" Sybil asked impatiently.