Time Lapse

Chapter 4: Meeting Matt

I woke up the next morning to the smell of bacon. Did I mention I love bacon?  I love bacon. I walk in to the kitchen and see Cleo walking around cooking breakfast.

"Hey," I say drowsily, "What's this?"

"It's breakfast, genius," Cleo says with a smile, "How'd ya sleep?"

"Slept fine," I said as Cleo sets the bacon down on the makeshift table. We finish off the bacon rather quickly and stroll outside to head into the city. I was half-expecting something exciting to happen, but to my surprise, nothing interesting happened that day. Or the next day. Or the day after that. After about 3 weeks we had gotten into a little routine. Cleo would go shopping for anything we needed or wanted, or she go on to the ship and work on any tech that she could get her hands on, and I would go into the palace to advise the Queen. We then would meet at the fountain and head home. But last, but most certainly not least, we would continue to build and renovate the cabin. In those three weeks, we managed to build to the size of an average home. It wasn't until Cleo and I were supposed to meet up at the fountain one day that I realized something was wrong. I saw Cleo running through the wall. When I caught up to her, she was panting. 

"Hey, what's going on?" I say with a worried tone.

"Tran-Transmission from ship- come- come now." Cleo says between breaths.

"Okay, okay. Just calm down and catch your breath. Transmissions save into the ship's log so we can see it later." After a few minutes, Cleo and I head back to the cabin. But as soon as I enter the ship, I notice something's wrong.

"Did you mess with the ships display system?" I ask her as we enter.

"No, I just heard this voice saying some guy named Gus is after you."

"Gus? How... whatever. Let's go see what Gus has to say." We quietly walk into the ships cortex and see the hologram projection of Gus hovering over the central terminal.

"Hey bud, how ya been?" I say in a sarcastic tone.

"Oh hiya there Ricky! Thanks for SHUTTING ME DOWN! Oh, by the way you have a not so friendly sounding message from your peeps," He says, frightening Cleo.

"Well get at it then," I say, rolling my eyes. While Gus prepares to play the message, I explain to Cleo that Gus is my annoying AI that I created to help on the ship. 

*static*--- "I don't know if you will get this Rick, but I hope you do. My name is Matt Jackson, and I want to help you to get all the people out of Limbo, except for those bloody terrorists. Back home, we have decided to use Limbo as an intergalactic prison. Please try to contact me immediately after seeing this. And please, hurry."

"Well we might as well as well call him back," Cleo says, obviously shaken up.

"Well sure, but how did he reach us?" I say but Cleo waves her hand dismissively at me, "Fine. I'll call this guy back." I call Matt back and he answers after about 5 seconds. 

"Hello? Rick? Is that you?" He says squinting at his screen.(Rick and Matt were video chatting.)

"Yeah, yeah, it's me. How about ya tell me a little about yourself mister Matt."

"Sure. Of course. Well I was born in America, got a degree in physics at the best school in the world, and discovered a interdimensional breach that allowed communication to be sent through it, but oddly nothing else could go through. So yeah, we need you outta there, bud."

"Hold up, who's we, and why am I supposed to leave. I can't exactly do that right now. There's over a thousand civilians here."

"We meaning the government and I am well aware of your predicament. We are sending 50 battle cruisers over your way."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You can't just send battle cruisers over here!" I've worked in the government, and they won't come peacefully!"

"Are you sure? I trust you more than them, so I'll see what I can find out." About a minute later he calls us back.

"Hello? Rick? You there? Oh, hi," he says as we answer, "Sorry about the wait guys," Cleo and I exchange confused looks, "Okay, so here's what I found out. You were right. The government wants to destroy all civilization in Limbo, but they are still in the planning phase, but I guess it'll be about a year before you guys see them. I got an offer for you though. Do you want to come here and see what we can do about this? Afterwards I'll send you back, or  you and your lady friend can stay here if you want."

"Well, what do you say, Cleo. Wanna go back home for a while and have a little fun?"

"You know I do," She says with a smile, "Let's get a-packin' Ricky!"