Time Maze

Time Talks

The moment they were back in the tunnel, they slid noiselessly down the opening once Sybil indicated it was safe or as safe as anything could be.

"What was that all about?" Marcus asked, pointing fingers at Sybil and Tyson as if they were somehow to blame for everything.

Although Sybil seemed unsure of what he was referring to, their short trip, strange people, or being sucked in by a portal, she knew her answer would be the same.

"I have no idea," Sybil said. "Nothing like that has ever happened before, or, at least, I didn't see it happening."

"Maybe we somehow made the trips shorter by stalling when entering the portal?" Tyson said, trying to rationalize a situation that was anything but rational.

"What, like we were late but just in the nick of time for the grand finale?" Marcus asked, intrigued.

"Something like that. Maybe we somehow messed with the amount of time we had by not entering, and then it HAD to pick us up for the main event," Tyson said.

"That would make sense, but the question remains. Why? And who were those people Marcus saw?" Sybil asked, taking the energy bar Marcus offered to her reflexively.

"Why seems to be the most difficult question to answer," Tyson said, attempting to recall all the conclusions they had made before they were so violently interrupted.

"Well, those people were probably other Mazers," Marcus said carelessly, not really paying attention to the conversation. "I mean, it's like those odd pictures you find on the internet of strange people appearing in old pictures. You know, those so old that they couldn't even do photoshop on them."

"What are you talking about?" Tyson asked, wondering if Marcus had another pearl of an idea or if it was just a regular pebble.

"There are like old pictures where everyone is wearing the clothes from that time, but that one person or two stand out by being dressed in more modern clothes than normal. They always joke those are the time travelers," Marcus said, shrugging his shoulders disinterestedly.

"But we always get the clothing that matches the time we are in. That's one of the facts we agreed on," Sybil said, ready to argue with Marcus but his complete disinterest prevented that.

"Hm, yes, we do, but I wonder if that was always the case," Tyson said slowly as the idea started growing from a tiny seed to a full-grown plant that he hoped would produce fruit.

"What do you mean?" Sybil asked, squinting her eyes at him as if she could read the answer from his facial expressions.

"We work under the assumption that whatever the purpose of all this, it's probably manmade?" Tyson asked rhetorically.

"Or alien made, don't forget the aliens," Marcus mumbled as he stretched himself on the bed-like piece of furniture nearby.

"I am assuming that aliens would have never allowed it to malfunction. And we saw that it is definitely not working the way it should," Tyson said, trying to be diplomatic about finding Marcus's 'alien' idea ridiculous. "Only humans would make something as impressive as that and then suddenly abandon it without making sure it was safely decommissioned."

"I guess that's a good point. Aliens are way smarter than that," Marcus said with such certainty that Tyson worried that he could see a tin hat in his future.

"Now that we've agreed on that," Tyson said, looking pointedly at Marcus, who raised his hands in surrender. "I can go back to my point."

Sybil nodded at him in encouragement, but Tyson felt as if every theory was ridiculous in its own way. That even Marcus's idea about the aliens wasn't as far-fetched as Tyson believed.

"Every time we make something, we tend to make it like a first draft and then gradually improve on it, right?" Tyson asked, looking for support because even he wasn't sure where he was going with the idea, at least not entirely.

"Yes, I guess so," Sybil said, furrowing her eyebrows as her brain tried to pick up the threads of Tyson's logic.

"What if they first found a way to make the travel possible and decided to try it out? What if they only realized later on that they stood out? That they needed to find a way to fit in? Wouldn't that make sense?" Tyson asked, wishing it sounded reasonable enough because he was running out of ideas.

"Maybe, but if that was the case, I don't think we would have seen them," Sybil said, rubbing her forehead with a grimace of pain.

"Why not?" Marcus asked, jumping into the conversation once again.

"Because, the way I see it, there is always someone who makes history happen the way it already happened. Whether it's a Mazer or people from the past themselves, it happens the way we remember it," Sybil said, as her eyes wandered left and right. Her mind was clearly working hard to transfer words into somewhat understandable ideas. "But if we cause an event, someone else can't cause it. The past that we are in is only ours until it's theirs. Do you get it?"

"Not in the slightest," Marcus said, confusion written on every part of his face.

"I think I do. It's like every new trip is completely new. Like drawing a picture on the blackboard and then erasing it and drawing a completely new one," Tyson said, thinking it through.

"Something like that but with the end result always being the same image the teacher asked us to draw," Sybil said, continuing his analogy.

"I have no idea what the two of you are jabbering about, but who are those two I saw then?" Marcus asked.

"There were only two of them?" Tyson asked, latching on to the change in Marcus's story.

"Yes, a man and a woman," Marcus said as if he was just repeating what he had already said, which was not the case.

"Maybe those two could have been Sunshine and her husband. We know that they didn't wear the clothing of the period. Besides, they said it themselves that they aren't regular Mazers. Maybe they are the original Mazers who made the Time Maze," Tyson said, his eyes lighting up at the possibility of asking the questions of the creators of it all.

That would have helped them better understand how the place worked and how to get out. However, if they were still trapped in the Maze, maybe that meant there was no way out. Or that they didn't know it, which would have been disappointing either way.

"I hate to burst your bubble, but doesn't your friend Beor have their portal thingy now? How would they be going around the past? And why?" Marcus asked.

The bubble had indeed burst as Marcus's words made sense and completely destroyed what Tyson thought was a rather clever theory. Still, there were many more threads to follow, and Tyson wasn't ready to admit defeat. Not yet. He was hoping not until they were safely back home drinking beer and thinking of the Maze as nothing more than a distant memory.

"You're right," Tyson said, lowering his head in defeat. "But, who knows, maybe there are more people like them scattered throughout the timeline."

On that positive thought, they had to stop their discussion because they heard sounds of people sliding down the shaft coming their way. All three of them jumped to their feet, startled into action.

"I thought that you said we were safe here?" Marcus asked Sybil sternly.

"Safe from my group. I don't know when or where the other Mazers are. There are far too many of those for me to keep track of everyone," Sybil said, sounding far calmer than Marcus.

"Maybe they are friendly," Tyson said, standing guardedly before Marcus.

"I wouldn't count on that," Marcus said, peeking around Tyson's shoulder, curious to see what new adventure awaited them.