**Author's Email** DragonShadow83@aol.com

AUTHORS NOTES: This fic used to have lots of misinformation... or in lamens
terms... mistakes. Thanks to "Lord Necrodain" for pointing these mistakes out
for my correction, they are simply the fault of not playing the game for so
long. I had 2000 pegged as Robo's home year for some reason, though I now
don't
know HOW I thought that :-\ aw well, thanks anyway for pointing out the
mistakes, and not thrashing me for them. The next chapter will come, maybe not
today, maybe not tomorrow, but it will come.


A New Future


Everything was quiet in the steel-coated hallways of Truce Dome as the guards
just outside one certain door kept a lonely vigil. Their job was to protect the
single most important artifact in the history of the planet and keep it from
harm or being abused. If it fell into the wrong hands, the planet would likely
pay the price in one way or another.

The guards looked down at the ground curiously as a small object rolled up to
them along the floor, coming to a complete stop almost right under their feet.
Luckily one of the guard recognized the flash grenade instantly and kicked it
down the hall again before it could detonate. It exploded only a few yards away
from them in a flash of blinding light. Instantly both guards drew their
weapons into a defensive position as the heat finally died down.

"Come out with your hands in the air!" One of them shouted in an authoritative
tone as him and his partner surveyed the situation. There was nobody else
visible anywhere in the hallway, only an empty stillness prevailed. Slowly the
guard that had spoken began to move down the hallway cautiously, making sure
everything really was clear.

Without warning several figures leapt into the hallway and opened fire with
energy weapons that had only been newly developed in this time. The guards
barely had time to scream before the violent energy bursts literally tore them
into pieces against the cold steel walls.

One figure in particular approached the door calmly and reached down to tap a
certain combination in the control panel. The door slid open with a soft hum as
he waited, staring into the dimly lit room that lay beyond. "There she is boys,
the wings of time." He told his comrades as he stepped inside and reached over
to turn on the lights. They flared to brilliant life instantly, illuminating
the solid steel aircraft that sat in the center of the room. It'd been dormant
for nearly a thousand years, but it had obviously been well maintained by
someone.

"Just think of what we can do with the ability to traverse the ages. Nobody can
catch us now." One of his comrades said in a decidedly feminine voice.

"Well then come on and let's test this thing out." The leader replied with a
grin as he approached the Epoch. His comrade was right, nobody would be able to
stop them if they could go through time... nobody.
________________________________________________________________________________
Lucca worked hard in the workshop she shared with her father to re-create the
things she'd seen in the future. She knew someone else was destined to make
them even if she didn't, but she wanted to be the first. Unfortunately it
seemed like the materials just didn't exist in the present time to support the
kind of weight and power that they held thirteen hundred years from now.

Still she worked happily trying to puzzle over problems and jump hurdles until
a soft beeping sound alerted her to an incoming message on the radio she'd set
up. She'd built it specifically for the purpose of keeping up with Robo, and
thus had used a temporal flux device to speed messages through time itself.
Though it only worked only from this time to Robo's, and only from this place
to his. The calculations were very specific, if the radio were even moved from
this house it would not work.

Immediately she leapt to her feet and ran over to the radio to press the
button. "Reading you loud and clear." She said eagerly, waiting to hear her
dear friends' voice again. They rarely spoke since they'd all decided it was
best not to pollute time anymore than it already had been. It was actually kind
of odd that Robo would even call her, something had to be up.

"Greetings Lucca." The robot's familiarly droll voice came back through the
radio with perfect clarity. "We have an emergency. Epoch has been taken from
its storage facility." Lucca's eyes widened in surprise at that.

"Do you have any idea who it was?" She asked with a somewhat worried tone. She
didn't like the idea of someone skipping around time screwing things up when
they'd worked so hard to fix it all in the first place.

"Negative." Robo replied. "I believe the most expedient action is to bring the
Epoch from your time forward to examine the temporal wake and track the thieves
across time." The robot told her with calmness only a machine could show.

"Alright, I'm on my way." Lucca told him before she reached down to deactivate
the radio. She knew she didn't have any time to waste as she quickly gathered
up he things she would need for the trip and left her house, heading as quickly
as she could for Guardia castle. These thieves could be anywhere in time
already, they had to be stopped before they could change anything.
________________________________________________________________________________
Sparks flew into the air around the two combatants as their blades clashed in a
magnificent spark of light. The red haired boy smirked knowingly as he thrust
himself to the side, putting his sword over his opponents parallel to the
ground and trapping it there with a heavy downward thrust. Before his opponent
even had time to think he leapt over both blades, planting a heavy kick against
the soldiers face and sending him to the ground.

Crono yanked the blade of his saber out of the ground as he landed and turned
to face his opponent with a smirk on his face. "Not bad, but you need to work
on not leaving yourself open to anything." He told the cadet as he reached one
hand down to help the less experienced kid up. Crono, along with becoming the
Princess' fiancé, had become the castle trainer in charge of making sure
soldiers knew the ins and outs of combat.

"Yes sir." The soldier gave him a respectful salute once he was on his feet
again.

"Alright, go take a break with the others then get back to your family." Crono
told the soldier in dismissal. The armored knight gave another salute before he
turned to head back to the barracks to clean himself up before he returned
home. As he watched the soldier go the red haired boy reached into one pocket
to grab a small rag and dab at his sweat soaked forehead with it.

"You know you should go a bit easier on them." A delightful sounding voice said
from behind him. He turned around to see his blond haired fiancé grinning at
him knowingly. "You're gonna make them think they're totally bad at this or
something." She told him.

"The worse they think they are now the better they'll become in order to beat
me." Crono replied with a sky wink as he stuffed the rag back in his pocket. It
was a warm day and he'd been at this for hours. He was definitely in shape, but
such exertions even wore him down eventually.

"Ah I get it." Marle giggled as she took one small step toward him. Her real
name was Nadia, but Marle had become his little pet name for her since that was
the name she'd taken when they first met. "Well I'd hug you but you smell like
a horse." She joked with a grin.

"Deal with it." He told her as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her
into a brief embrace. Despite her claims she didn't complain, and was smiling
when he released her.

"What is it about strong sweaty men?" She asked him with a mischievous glint in
her eye.

"I don't know, I've never seen the appeal personally." Crono replied with a
disgusted look on his face. Marle couldn't help an incredulous laugh that
escaped her throat at that thought.

"Oh you." She told him with a grin. They both stopped short when they heard
some commotion from near the front gate of the palace. They both looked over
curiously to see Lucca engaged in a heated discussion with the castle security.

"Wonder what this is all about..." Crono mused to himself as he turned to head
over and investigate. Marle followed close behind him, looking just as curious
as he felt at the moment.

"Oh Marle!" Lucca shouted when she saw him approaching. "Come tell this little
brat that I have clearance to get into the castle!" She told him firmly. The
guard shot the two oncoming figures a wry glance before he realized the
princess was one of them.

"Of course you do." Marle nodded at the guard firmly. He promptly opened the
gates to admit the three figures inside. Once they were in the blond princess
turned toward the inventor curiously. "What are you doing here anyway? Is it
important?"

"Yeah kinda." Lucca replied as she headed for the basement where the Epoch had
been stored since it was no longer in use. "I just received a message from
Robo, someone in the future stole the epoch and is using it to go through time.
It doesn't seem like they've changed anything yet, but I thought it was best to
cut them off before they had a chance." She told her two comrades.

"So you're going to the future! Oh let us go!" Marle said instantly. "I haven't
been travelling in so long!"

"No you stay here Marle, I'll go and help apprehend whoever did it." Crono said
firmly.

"Well I can go too!" The fiery tempered princess shot back.

"The Epoch's only a three seater, and we still have to pick up Robo in the
future." Lucca pointed out logically before any further arguments could be
made. "Besides, I think your dad would have kittens if you left through time
again." She finished.

"Ugh... fine go ahead and go skipping through time without your future wife."
Marle frowned darkly and turned away from them. "See if I care." She grumbled.
Crono just smiled and put a hand on her shoulder, yanking her into a fierce
kiss.

He released it in a few moments, smirking at her. "Relax, think of it as just
another mission I have to go on. I'll make the wait worth your while when I get
back." He told her with a wink. Marle just stared at him with a wide-eyed
expression, blushing in a few moments from the implications.

"Well, this is new. Marle's speechless." Lucca teased her mercilessly with a
huge grin on her face.

"Well j... just go already..." Marle told them as she crossed her arms over her
shoulders. She was blushing bright red by now.

Crono grinned at his fiancé mischievously one more time before he turned toward
his childhood friend. "Come on, I'm not too comfortable knowing someone's
playing around with our toy."

"Agreed. Let's go." Lucca replied as she opened the door to the chamber where
the Epoch was being stored. She walked up to jump in the front drivers' seat
while Crono climbed in one of the back seats. Marle just glared at them angrily
from the ground, never taking her eyes off of her fiancé.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise!" Crono called down to her above the
hum of the Epoch's engine as it slowly lifted off from the ground. The dome
overhead that had been constructed just to keep the vehicle safe slowly opened
itself to allow for their exit.

"Beginning timeline encapsulation." Lucca said as the winged vehicle floated
above Guardia castle. She stared at the small screen in front of her as she
tapped at the controls. A slight bluish haze covered the birdlike vehicle as
they floated in place. "Time procession desynchronized, starting temporal
jump." Crono grabbed onto his seat as the Epoch began to shudder and gain speed
more rapidly than anything else on the planet could. "Destination, 2302."

In a few moments the air around the Epoch began to fizzle with energy as the
landscape around them faded into the blackness of time. The sheer power being
expended rushed through both of the passengers as the time machine streaked
through time, emerging into the desired time with a brilliant flash of light in
only a few moments.

"Time synchronization... initialized." Lucca said as the shimmering blue field
around the ship vanished, leaving them exposed to the bright sun as it glinted
off of the domes far below. She took a few moments to study the small screen on
her console while Crono stood up to take a look around. Everything was calm and
still, more so than it had been the last time they'd come to return Robo.

"Something doesn't feel right." Crono commented as he stared down at the lush
grass far below.

Lucca gave a small gasp as she stared at her monitor. "Crono... there's not one
human life down there." She said in awe as she pushed a few more buttons on the
console. The red haired boy gasped and ran up to look over her shoulder at the
screen. "Only mystic and some robot life signs are present anywhere..."

"Well I think we know for sure that someone took the Epoch from this era at
least." Crono mused to himself as he stared at the screen. They both stopped
when a huge shadow fell over them both, and likely covering the entire vehicle
they were riding in.

Crono slowly turned around to see what almost looked like a huge lizard
hovering on a pair of gargantuan wings right behind them. "Fly... now!" He
ordered Lucca quickly as he drew his sword with a metallic scraping sound. He
struggled to keep his footing as the Epoch darted forward beneath him, but the
dragon-thing paced them easily, opening its huge mouth to take them into it.

"What on Earth is it DOING here in this age!? There shouldn't be any monsters
OR mystics in this time since we set things straight!" Lucca shouted above the
roar of the wind.

"However it got here I won't let it eat us!" Crono shouted back as he raised
one hand up next to his chest. The air around his fingers began to spark with
electrical energy as he summoned the force that only a few had the ability to
use anymore. In a moment he thrust his hand forward, sending forth a surging
bolt of energy that struck the creature cleanly in one shoulder.

The dragon howled back angrily just before it thrust its own head forward,
shooting a ball of pulsing fire at them. "DUCK!" Crono threw himself down into
the back seats as the flames engulfed the ship for a brief moment. When they
died down he sat up to find Lucca huddled over the controls unconscious. Her
cheeks were blackened and burns and her helmet had been burned to a crisp,
revealing her purple hair underneath. "No!" He screamed as the nose of the ship
began to tilt downward.

Quickly he leapt in the front seat beside his friend to take the controls and
level their descent, but the dragon was still right behind them. He quickly
shook Lucca's shoulder to try to wake her. "Lucca wake up, I can't pilot this
thing like you can, come on!" He begged, shooting a quick glance back at the
creature.

It opened its mouth to reveal another fire blast working its way out of the
monsters throat. Crono jerked the ship tot he side as hard as he could, barely
avoiding the blast. The creature stayed on their tail perfectly however, there
was no way to shake it.

"Okay, you wanna keep an eye on something, keep an eye on this!" Crono yelled
as he raised one hand above his head. The energy instantly began to pulse
around his hand, growing brighter and brighter until it grew to the point of
being painful to look at. Finally when he'd gathered sufficient power he let it
release, sending electrical pulses flying every which way from the Epoch in
brilliant streaks of pearl white light.

Several bolts slammed into the pursuing dragon, shoving it back away from the
Epoch and tearing viciously through its wing. Before the creature could regain
its composure Crono sent the ship into a dive towards the ground, pulling up at
the last second and leaving the dragon far behind in a matter of moments.

Crono allowed himself a small sigh of relief before he heard Lucca groaning
painfully beside him. "You alright?" He asked her worriedly.

"My head hurts... but otherwise yeah..." Lucca replied as she straightened her
back out and looked around. The wind whipped through her hair as they flew at
top speeds toward Truce Dome where she knew the Epoch of this time had been
stored.

Crono nodded at his friend solemnly as they finally approached their
destination. Lucca took the controls again for the duration of the landing,
inside the docking area where the Epoch should have been. "I'll run the
temporal scan, see just when these guys went with our ship... might take awhile
though." Lucca said as she tapped at the controls.

"That's fine." Crono replied as he hopped to the ground beside the Epoch and
looked around. "I'm going to see just what's going on around here, I'll be back
in a few minutes."

"Be careful, I'm still reading mystics nearby though I don't know if they're
friendly or not." Lucca told him.

"I'll be careful." Crono told her as he turned to head for the entrance of the
hangar. The steel doors slid open automatically as he approached. Several
shapes scurried just out of sight when he walked through, but he didn't get a
good glimpse of them. Quickly he unsheathed his sword, carrying it in one hand
as he proceeded into the next room cautiously.

"Is anybody in here?" He called softly as he gripped the pommel of his katana
in both hands. "I need to ask you some things." He said a moment later as he
scanned the area around him. This all seemed far too familiar to him, much like
when they'd first stumbled across the gate that led here...

A soft scraping sound caused him to whirl around, dropping instinctively into a
fighting stance as he scanned the room for any enemies. "Come out where I can
see you." He said warningly as he tightened his grip on his blade.

Suddenly a shape flung itself at him from behind. The scraping of a steel pipe
against the floor was the only indication of the surprise attack. Quickly Crono
whirled around, striking the pipe with his blade and knocking it away for a
moment. The figure didn't give up however, whirling the pipe and bringing it
back another time.

Crono ducked under this blow and thrust his katana upward at his assailants'
chest. His opponent leaned backward quickly, letting the blade pass right in
front of him before he batted it away with one hand and brought the pipe around
in an upward swing with the other.

Crono lifted one foot up and did a backflip in the air by jumping off of the
pipe. His sword began to glow brightly as he whirled and when he landed he
brought his own blade in an upward swing. The swing sent a surge of energy
through the ground to slam into his opponent, throwing him to the far wall with
a grunt of pain.

"Who are you, why did you attack me?" Crono demanded as he again resumed a
fighting position with his blade at the ready. His assailant grunted and pushed
himself up slightly, giving the red haired boy a better look at him. He was an
older mystic with frail blue skin, but obviously he wasn't defenseless
considering the fight he'd put up.

"A human... I thought your kind had been exterminated." The old mystic said
with a sneer. "Leaving us this world in a ruins of unusable junk." He said
angrily.

"What are you talking about?" Crono asked confusedly. "What happened to the
humans, what do you mean unusable junk?"

"You created all of this, wiped out all sources of nature, then you vanished
into the darkness, leaving us with nothing but useless metal." The mystic said
as he pushed himself to his feet. "We're hunted by the robots because we're
mystic trespassers, and there's not one scrap of food anywhere." He said.

"Vanished?" Crono said in surprise. "Why would someone want the human race to
have never made it this far...?" he mused curiously to himself.

"What are you..." The mystic began, but he was cut off by a loud screeching
sound from the speakers overhead.

"Greetings citizens of this planet, I have come back to save you from this
desolation. Come to Arris Dome if you wish to learn how to attain food and
weapons from the desolation around you." The voice said inspiringly. "I want to
help you, so come to me." The voice cut off a moment later as suddenly as it'd
come.

"Can it truly be..." The old mystic said in awe as he stared around in search
of the voice.

"Strange..." Crono muttered to himself as he turned to head back to the Epoch's
landing bay. "We've got to get to Arris Dome."

"Wait." The old mystic hurried after him. "You are quite a skilled swordsman,
and there are many creatures roaming the plains these days. Would you mind
terribly if I accompanied you as far as Arris Dome?" He asked hopefully.

"Why not? Won't matter much since we're hopefully restoring our future
anyway..." He muttered under his breath before speaking more loudly. "Sure...
I'm Crono." He extended one hand.
"Paleantholas." The old mystic replied as he took the proffered hand in a firm
shake. "But please, call me Palle." He said with a smirk.

"No problem." Crono replied as he walked. Whoever did this to the world was
definitely going to pay somehow...

When they reached the docking bay they found Lucca hunched weakly over the
Epoch's control panel. She was holding her head wearily and nursing the burn
wounds on her face.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Crono asked her worriedly as he climbed into the
cockpit with her, leaning over her worriedly.

"Yeah I'll function for awhile..." She replied as she sat up to look up at him.
She looked tired, but otherwise well enough. "Who's that?" She asked when she
saw the old mystic just staring at the time machine in awe.

"That's Palle, he's coming with us to Arris Dome." Crono replied as he motioned
for Palle to climb on board.

"Do you know how to work this beast?" The mystic said softly as he took Crono's
hand and hefted himself aboard.

"Of course, this is how we got here... Arris Dome?" Lucca asked when that
little fact finally registered. "I thought we were going to when the thieves
went." She said a bit confusedly.

"I have a hunch our thieves have already come back, we should see what they're
up to before we go back after them... speaking of which, any luck tracking
them?" Crono asked. Lucca looked down at the monitor and hit a few keys, but
nothing came up.

"The temporal wake must have shifted out with the change in timeline, though if
they have come back we should be able to locate when they went through their re-
entry point." Lucca said as she tried to make herself look more ready to move
around or just do anything.

"Alright then, we can go to Arris dome to see what's going on, and while we're
there we can use Epoch to determine when they come from." Crono said as he sat
down in one of the back seats.

"This contraption can move?" Palle asked incredulously.

"Extremely fast." Crono told him with a wry smirk.

"Okay... we're going..." Lucca muttered as she took the controls again. The
ship listed vertically off the ground a bit unsteadily, but it made it through
the open dome without scaring the poor confused mystic TOO much. Crono himself
couldn't help but feel a bit queasy from the ride, but he didn't want to offend
Lucca by asking to drive.

However bumpy the ride they managed to reach Arris Dome in good time and land a
good distance away so that the Epoch wouldn't be spotted. Lucca had a small
handheld device she could use to access the ships systems from anywhere within
a certain proximity, so they figured that would be enough to scan for the
temporal wake they needed to set things right.

They stopped in the inhabited portion of the dome to pick up some robes to
conceal themselves with before the three all followed the crowds towards the
Arris Dome docking bay. The throng of mystics was staring up at some man
standing above all the rest on something or other that they couldn't see.

"Citizens of this world. I am Fortania." The figure raised his hands
triumphantly above his head to hush the soft murmur that had been spreading
through the crowd. "I have come to show you how to live a better life with the
things that have been left to you by the destructive humans." He told them
firmly. "Just follow me and I'll return this world to its glory days with YOU
and I as its rulers." He said as he slowly began to rise up in the air
magnificently. The mystics various exclamations, but Crono and Lucca both
narrowed their eyes when they saw what was making him rise. He was standing on
Epoch.

"I'll start the temporal scan, maybe they entered this time around here." Lucca
whispered as she reached under her makeshift robe to take out a device that was
connected to the Epoch. From their time.

"Wait... I've got a better idea." Crono whispered to her quickly. "I doubt
these people are scientists if they're willing to mess around with time like
this, so I doubt they disabled your remotes signal." He said with a grin. Lucca
stared at him a moment, then looked down at her controller with an evil grin.

"I can agree with that, and while I'm at it I can get the necessary information
directly from their internal system." She quickly started working on the small
pad, trying to keep it concealed from view as much as possible.

"Together we can rebuild this world from the ground up, turning the technology
the humans used for war into what we can use for glory." Fortania said
loudly. "We will take their devices and... aaaanyyyyoooo!" He gave a startled
yelp as the ship below him suddenly lost power, slamming into the ground a few
feet below with a tremendous clanging sound.

"I've got it, 1899 AD." Lucca said triumphantly.

"You!" Fortania shouted as he saw them from the ship. "You did this didn't you?
Where did you come from? Well no matter..." Quickly he climbed to his feet and
pulled out a pulse rifle that looked brand new as opposed to the rather aged
equipment that sat around him.

"I think we've worn out our welcome!" Crono shouted as he tore the robe off of
his shoulders and unsheathed his sword. Lucca revealed herself as well, drawing
her own pulse pistol she'd acquired on one of their many stops in the old
timeline. They were prepared to stand their ground until half a dozen other
soldiers came up behind Fortania, each with a pulse rifle aimed right at them.

"I think that's an understatement..." Lucca muttered as they slowly started to
back away toward the entrance of the dome.

"You think you can undo what I've built here? I won't let you!" Fortania
shouted angrily as he fired one shot straight at them. They started to leap to
the side, but Palle jumped in front of them first before they could react. At
first Crono was afraid he was killing himself, but instead the old mystic held
up the hollow steel pipe and let the shot plunge into it lengthwise. In the
blink of an eye he'd twisted it around smoothly enough to where the shot itself
was turned around. It slammed into the Epoch with enough force to send the
leader who was standing on it flying to the ground.

Crono and Lucca stared at the old mystic in stunned silence for a few moments
before he turned to speak to them. "I believe we should make our exit." He told
them firmly.

"Right." Crono agreed as he whirled to run toward the entrance with the others.

"Fire! Kill them!" Fortania shouted in a rage, prompting his lackeys to turn
and open fire. The laser pulses tore into the ground around the trio as they
ran as quickly as they could. The mystics around them ran for any cover they
could find, but the blasts killed many of them.

"They don't care WHO they kill as long as they get what they want." Lucca
exclaimed as she turned around in mid-run to return fire with her own pulse
pistol.

"My brothers!" Palle exclaimed in a panic as he saw several other mystics being
shot down by stray fire.

"Don't worry about it, we're going to fix all of this!" Crono told him quickly
as he grabbed the old mystics arm and dragged him along behind him. "Lucca we
need a distraction!" He shouted as several shots came dangerously close.

"Got us covered." Lucca replied as she reached into her belt to pull out a
small canister. She stopped for a moment to hurl it back at the Epoch as hard
as she could. It flew in a wide arc until it slammed into the front of the
ship... and detonated, taking several of the mercenaries and half of the time
machine with it.

"Works for me, they can't follow us back and help themselves!" Crono said as
they finally emerged from the dome into what sunlight remained. They ran up the
grassy hill to the Epoch and quickly jumped in. Palle wasn't as fast as the
others of course, but Crono had dragged him along anyway.

"Time to get back to the past and fix this." Lucca said seriously as she worked
at the control panel. The ship took off from the ground vertically only a few
moments later. In a minute a few laser pulses flew from the ground, but the
Epoch was already too high in the sky to get a good bead on and they streaked
away from the dome as quickly as possible.

"I'll bet those guys caused this shift just so they could take over." Crono
said firmly.

"The only thing I can't figure out is how do you wipe out the most prominent
species on the planet and leave everything else untouched?" Lucca asked
rhetorically. "It doesn't make sense."

"This machine will take us to the past... so we can make everything better for
us here?" Palle asked, trying to piece everything together.

"Yeah pretty much, you're catching on." Crono told him with a smile.

"I say we don't waste any more... time..." Lucca put one hand to her head
wearily and closed her eyes for a moment.

"Are you okay?" Crono asked her worriedly, putting one hand on her shoulder
from behind.

"Yeah... yeah I'll be fine." She shook her head as she went back to tapping at
the controls. "Initializing time jump procedures..." She muttered weakly. She
didn't look too good to Crono, but she was right about one thing, they
shouldn't waste any more time in bringing those mercenaries down in the past.
Whatever they did it was big and they had to stop it.

In a few moments the Epoch reached enough speed to plunge into the darkness of
time once again, flying through the ages as easily as it flew through the sky.
Palle gasped in astonishment, but Crono looked around only a moment before he
looked up at Lucca again. She was hunched weakly over the control panel,
shivering uncontrollably.

"Lucca!" Crono shouted in a panic with concern for his friend. More than that
though without her to pilot it the Epoch would plunge out of control. "Wake
up!" He shouted worriedly. His scream echoed in the darkness around them like
siren. However, his cries went unheard as the Epoch began to plummet aimlessly
in the blackness of time, completely out of control.

TO BE CONTINUED