Foston Slacks - Time's Flies

34

Foston returned to browsing the files upon the computer, trying desperately to find out just how, in the multi-verse, his watch had turned up in this universe ten years earlier. Clara could hear him clicking his tongue, tutting and generally harrumphing at almost everything he read, with the occasional 'Wrong!' shouted out at no-one in general.

She found herself returning to the main containment unit and the sad sight of the captured Breach. She didn't know how, but she got the feeling that the Breach was screaming. She also found another big red button, which she absolutely was not going to press, despite how well the last time turned out.

"If that watch is yours ..."

"It is." Foston didn't even look up from his reading.

"IF that watch is yours, how come you're able to hold it?" She found her hand slipping towards the button and slapped it with her other hand. "You told me I couldn't touch any of my, her, things on that alternate Earth or I'd explode horribly. Why aren't you the new decoration on these walls?"

"Two reasons. First, this isn't an alternate version of my watch, it is my watch." He flicked his hand upwards, scrolling through the holographic text, reading it in three-and-a-half dimensions. "And 'B', things like that don't work the same with me. I don't know why, so don't ask me why. They just do."

"Why?" She'd heard him say not to ask why, but no-one ever meant it when they said that.

"I said, don't ask and I meant it! I do not know." He pronounced the last words very precisely and slowly, to accentuate every single word. She still wanted to ask why.

A ping sounded from somewhere and then Clara heard a sucking, slurping sound come from a tube near the door. The tube appeared to come from above, through the ceiling of the room and ended with a glass hatch. She looked inside and saw a toy that looked like a tiny fizzy drink can, with lines and rows of what looked like windows. Near the top, there appeared to be a set of French windows.

"Foston. We appear to have had a can sent to us." She opened the hatch, taking the toy can from inside and tossing it in her hand, examining it. It felt heavier than she thought it should.

"Really? Oh, good." He raced over, took the tiny can from her hands and held it up to the light, smiling. "That's our ride."

"Our what?" She tried to take it back from him but retracted her hand as Foston tried to slap it away.

"Our ride. The S.S. Lauren Bacall." He saw her questioning look and rolled his eyes as if she should already know what he was talking about. She didn't. She was almost certain that half the time, possibly three quarters, Foston had no idea what he was talking about, either. "The escape pod? As well as having a set of engines fitted, I thought I'd get a Shrink-o-matic fitted at the same time. Well, when I realised there was a Breach on the station, I didn't want to leave the escape pod behind. It's useful."

"So, somehow, you shrank it and then named it after an ancient movie star?" He nodded, filled with enthusiasm. It wasn't the most bizarre thing she'd encountered since meeting Foston, so she let it go, reluctantly. "Fine. Whatever. Have you found anything out? Because I'm itching to leave this place. I'm growing bored and that is never, ever, a good thing."

"Yes. I found out loads of things. Not a lot to do with me, the old me, but still, loads of stuff downloaded onto the old watch. My watch, not the other one." He trotted back to the computer and pointed at something that Clara had no intention of reading. "It says here that I, the old me, came through that Breach, right there, and immediately started insulting Time before realising he, I, was in the middle of a group of scientists that found a six foot, humanoid gecko (I was in a phase) suddenly appearing from nowhere. Of course, they captured me, dissected me and were thoroughly unpleasant to him. Me. There are photographs. It's both terrifying and fascinating."