Time Maze

Make It or Break It

"Minotaur 2.0, incapacitate our attackers but don't cause them permanent harm," Beor said quickly.

The enormous robot turned around much quicker than it should have been possible, ready to follow the instructions immediately.

"Affirmative, blinding light initiated," Minotaur 2.0 said.

Beor and the others quickly closed their eyes, understanding what would happen without an explanation. However, Marcus wasn't so quick on the uptake.

"What does that mean?" he asked with wide-open eyes.

"It means that we should close our eyes," Tyson said, peeking quickly at Marcus, just long enough to cover his eyes with his hand.

Moments later, they could hear the confused screams of the other Mazers as the light hit them. It sounded like they were in pain, but Tyson didn't have the time to feel guilty about it. Especially since they would survive while they wouldn't have allowed Tyson and Marcus the same luxury.

"Let's hurry up. The effects won't last long," Beor said as Minotaur 2.0 started leading the way.

"Why do you even have that option?" Marcus asked the moment Tyson uncovered his eyes.

"Corporate espionage," Beor said seriously. "We were worried that someone would try to steal our invention, the only time travel system in existence at any point in time."

"Dude, I liked you so much better when you were just another clueless Mazer," Marcus said, although he never actually liked Beor.

"Me too, me too," Beor mumbled as the weight of every mistake he had ever made settled firmly on his shoulders.

He didn't even have Loralei to share the burden with, and he hoped that it wouldn't crush him before they had the chance to escape. It seemed to him like he was the only hope any of them had, and it terrified him.

After walking for quite a long time, at a brisk pace, the Minotaur was finally starting to slow down, to Marcus's utter relief. He was both tired of following the robot's large half-metallic, half-biological legs and of his curiosity conjuring up the most incredible and impossible scenarios.

When the Minotaur stopped, it lowered its head. Light started emanating from what seemed to be a firm wall, a burst of it scanning the Minotaur's eyes. After a few seconds of flashing lights going up and down its eyes, the wall started sliding away, finally revealing the hub.

Inside was technology that most had never seen before and could barely recognize. It was clear to everyone that it was buzzing with activity, but Marcus expected more. He thought there would be some kind of android-type thing warning them that they have entered a restricted area or something and then that the AI would be like an enormous brain-type of thing. In comparison, what they saw seemed dull until Beor pressed a button near the entrance.

The whole room came alive when many different holographic programs and features offered him assistance. It felt like they had suddenly stepped inside of a computer. They could even see what Tyson considered as impulses; the AI's thinking processes.

"Wow, dude! You made this?" Marcus asked, staring at the holograms, virtual keyboards, and all other manners of things that he couldn't fully understand. "I am impressed."

For a change, Marcus didn't sound like his regular sarcastic self, and Beor couldn't help a burst of pride that surged through him. After all, someone was praising his baby, his life's work. Still, he also felt guilty that his invention would be so horribly misused that it would destroy, even completely delete, so many lives.

"Thanks, but the future tech is quite advanced. I only built up on what people greater than me invented," Beor said, looking around the hub for just the right keyboard. "It was supposed to be the most advanced AI ever. At first, it didn't have anything to do with time travel. All that came later, and I wish it hadn't."

"How come this thing isn't talking or something like the AIs as advanced as it is should?" Marcus asked, not really catching on to Beor's regretful tone.

"It's in a way dormant, it seems. A lot has changed while I was away. She seems so confused," Beor said as he typed on one of the virtual keyboards leading him deeper into the AI's brain.

"She?" Sybil asked, confused.

"Ariadne, the AI," Beor said distractedly as he finally found the subroutine he was looking for.

"You were so obsessed with Greek mythology," Sybil said, exasperated.

"Well, again, it seemed fitting," Beor said, rummaging through the different programs, trying to find the backdoor he had built into the system.

"Why is it taking so long?" Loralei asked, looking around as fascinated as others but more than ready to go home.

"It seems that when they tried to shut her down, Ariadne rewrote herself, changed her programming," Beor said, astounded.

"Should she be able to do that?" Tyson asked, trying to understand why it was taking so long to get home.

It felt like he was at his doorstep, and someone was about to pull the rug underneath him and smash all his hopes. Hope was a dangerous thing after all.

"No, definitely not," Beor said with awe. "However, she was built as a self-learning AI, and it seems she has learned quite a bit since I last saw her."

Tyson found it strange that Beor sounded like he was talking about his child growing up too fast, when all he could see was the force that kept them away from home, that held them against their will. A monster.

Beor waved away a few of the keyboards that led nowhere and came across the schematics of the Time Maze. As suspected, they were all jumbled up, but he could clearly see the one marked 'exit'. It was a multi-time layered door that led to the time from which the person came, even though, physically, it was just one set of doors.

"Okay, this should be what we are looking for," Beor said, tapping the door to enlarge it.

A large 'password required' sign appeared in red all around them, the letter keyboard floating around Beor's head. He had gone through the process million times before, yet something felt off this time.

It was too easy.

For an AI that was that evolved to just let him back in after all the time that had passed seemed illogical to him. It wasn't what he predicted when he first created the AI. It felt like meeting a child you gave up for adoption many years ago and no longer knowing it because of the years that shaped who it was, the years you missed.

"What is it? Why don't you just type in your secret little password, and we can be on our way?" Marcus asked, wondering how much time passed in the present, if that chick he met, Melinda, would still be waiting for him.

"Something is wrong. No matter how much Ariadne has evolved, there should have been at least some pushback when I tried to take over. Strangely, she is just allowing me to do this. I wonder what she is planning," Beor whispered even though he knew she could hear him if she wanted to.

"You are talking about it as if it were a living being. It's not. Maybe you are just a good hacker or something?" Marcus said dismissively, ready for it all to be over.

Beor shook his head, lost in thought. There wasn't much else he could do except type in his password, but he wished he could still tell how she ticked. That he could predict her next move like he used to.

"What do you think we should do?" Sybil asked cautiously.

She didn't want to rush into anything, and Beor seemed to be the only expert on the topic. It was, at the end of the day, his choice.

"I guess we have to do it and hope for the best," Beor said, breathing in deeply.

"But you aren't sure it will get us back home, get my memories back?" Loralei asked pleadingly.

"No, I am afraid not," Beor said.

Her crestfallen expression pulled at his heartstrings. However, there was a limit to what he could do after so many changes his baby had gone through. Some were done by the other Founders; others were part of AI's natural evolution.

"Here goes nothing," Beor said, typing in his old password.

The next thing they knew, a wave swept over them, carrying them away from the control hub and deep into the unknown where and when didn't seem like home. Furthermore, they were all together. Lost.