"You're looking more energized too!" Fiore cheerfully said to Marcia. Both of them were seated at the same table, across from each other in the cafeteria of Chariots of Colors' headquarters.
Fiore was wearing a white aviator jacket over a black tank top, black knee-length skirt with a metallic silver belt and silver boots. Her jacket had patches on it, including ones from The Orchard's space program.
"Yeah. My stamina ran out shortly after I returned this afternoon." Marcia said, taking another bite of her barbecue sandwich.
"Oh no, did something keep you from recharging then?" Fiore asked.
"The trip I came back from gave me a *lot* to write and think about, and I was already very low when I came back." Marcia said. She nervously chuckled. "I should've rushed for a snack to give me just a little more as soon as I got here."
"That must've been exhausting, but was it fun?"
"It wasn't as fun as I hoped, but it wasn't uneventful either." Marcia said, thinking about the moments she overheard new information about POMME during the stretches of time she spent hiding in the supply closets. "So, how did your photoshoot turn out?"
"I got back from it yesterday, and most of the photos turned out great!" Fiore cheered. "The weather was mostly cooperative for aerial photography."
They continued their conversation, but Marcia checked for messages and looked worried. "Sorry, but I needed to check something." She said.
"Alright, is it an update on something?" Fiore asked.
"Yeah. I messaged Antares and asked for us to meet here since I found something that I'm sure would interest her but she still hasn't gotten here yet."
"Did she say she's still busy?"
"No."
"I reckon I know what can help!" Kiah boasted.
"Whoa! When did you get here?!" Marcia hissed.
"It's like you snuck up on us!" Fiore said.
"Hmmph! My footsteps aren't as loud as my voice!" Kiah huffed.
"Clearly not." Marcia said.
"I was just moseying around the cafe while I was waiting for anyone else to show up when I heard you." She cheerfully said. She then materialized a chat window and holographic keyboard and started typing:
"Howdy! Marcia is still at the cafe and she reckons my new recipe is boss!* I don't know if you're still busy but there isn't much left and she might eat it all!" *("Boss" as a Wild West slang for something being top-notch) Kiah read her message out loud.
"Hey!" Marcia said in annoyance over the wording of the message, but it was too late. It was already sent.
"Did you want results?" Kiah asked. Marcia said and sighed in resignation.
About a minute later, the double doors to the front of the cafeteria opened.
"Howdy! There's still some left!" Kiah said and waved when she saw Antares enter the cafeteria.
"Hi, Kiah!" Antares said and waved to her. Antares had mid-back length blue-purple hair in a layered, 80's-inspired style, was wearing a platinum beige minidress with a white collar and neckline, red trim along the hem, and along the neckline. Her dress had darker beige vertical stripes down the middle. She was wearing a black scarf with a blue grid and yellow polka dot pattern on it, and her scarf was pinned together with a silver Chariots of Colors insignia brooch.
She also wore Bauhaus-style black boots with blue and yellow trim at the bottom, and beige along the middle. Over her dress, she wore a black jacket with sleeves that reaches just past elbow length with large cuffs. On her right arm she wore a platinum gray gauntlet that matched the style of her dress, and it had a black and silver CC insignia on the top of her hand and a black fingerless glove underneath. Oftentimes she wore sunglasses, which she was wearing even indoors.
"See, it worked!" Kiah boasted to Marcia and Fiore.
"What worked?" Antares asked.
"Summoning you here!" Kiah boasted.
"Contrary to what she said, I didn't eat it all." Marcia said, pointing to the pot of barbecue on the serving table.
"I'm not all that tired, but sure, I'll have one." Antares said.
"I'll serve one right up!" Pearl said. She was staffing the station along with Kiah. She had mid-back length platinum blonde hair in a ponytail, gold eyes, gray metal thick-rimmed glasses and was wearing a dusty pink cardigan with a white shirt, dark purple skirt, gray leggings and dark purple dress shoes. Her skirt had a top section that had lighter purple polka dotted pattern, and she wore a bowtie the same pattern. A green Chariots of Colors insignia brooch was pinned to the bowtie.
Antares sat at the table with Marcia and Fiore, but looked towards Kiah. "I was already on my way here when you sent that message." She nonchalantly said. "Were you trying to get Regina to scold me by running through the halls?" She added half-jokingly.
"Awwww shoot!" Kiah lamented.
"But I'm glad I didn't miss out." Antares said, and took another bite of her sandwich.
"I'm glad to hear that!" Kiah immediately cheered up, but this didn't last long when the door to the cafeteria opened again.
"Oh. I reckon there may be some left for you too." She flatly said at Clarkia, the new arrival. Clarkia had long wavy white hair with a sky blue gradient at the ends and had gold eyes. She wore a purple minidress that had orange buttons along the front, and an orange clarkia flower motif on the skirt. She wore a sky blue and white jacket over her dress with a silver scarf that had a dark blue Chariots of Colors insignia pin keeping it in place, and wore dark blue leggings with gray and white hiking boots. She also had a headset in her left ear; it looked like a singular headphone that was silver, but the side was dark blue with a silver CC insignia on it. Sometimes, the side panel on her headset glowed in different colors.
"There's some left!" Pearl immediately and cheerfully said afterwards, trying to be more welcoming.
"No thanks, I'm fine." Clarkia said, politely declining though this didn't ease Kiah's annoyance.
"It's your loss..." She snarked.
"Do you want me to have some or not?!" Clarkia shouted.
"Eeeeek-- I want to go back to space..." Fiore said, huddled at the table.
"Sorry you had to come here just to witness this." Pearl sighed and said towards Antares, Marcia and Fiore. "Please enjoy your food. I'll handle this."
Pearl's hands started to be surrounded by trails of energy. "If you don't back down, I'll take you to the corner to think about your choices." She said to the arguing Charioteers, in a calm but disappointed tone.
"Sure, I'll stop picking a fight with you." Kiah quickly but calmly said to Clarkia.
"I didn't want a fight either." Clarkia agreed.
The trails of energy around Pearl's hands dissipated. "I'm glad we could quickly talk this out!" She chimed in and smiled, pleased with the two rivals realizing that this wasn't the time and place to enact their rivalry. Antares, Marcia and Fiore also thanked her.
Yet Kiah's eyes still glimmered with excitement. "I want to challenge you and your super strength!" She said to Pearl.
"We could in the next combat training class, or if we scheduled a duel." Pearl said and chuckled.
"I'd want to join it too. I'll keep showing that I'm not slacking off!" Clarkia added, sounding confident and determined.
"Would you want to join too?" She asked Antares. "With four of us, we could host a tournament showing off our strength!"
She thought about it for a moment. "I'll be busy this evening, but we could schedule it for another time." She said.
"Sounds good!" Kiah cheerfully said.
"I thought they'd ask more questions if I brought up that I found a cassette tape." Marcia said to Antares after they left the cafeteria. They were in the hall and heading towards the front doors of the headquarters. No one else was in earshot.
"It might not have been that much of a big deal. Wouldn't they assume you bought it from a thrift store or from an event at COSMOS, and not you know-- from another universe?" Antares said this nonchalantly, but emphasized "another universe" at the end. She intended to highlight this was an unlikely guess, but Marcia nervously chuckled.
"I guessed it, but they might not have just for a cassette tape." Antares said.
Marcia was already wary of Antares' remarks about another universe and her unfazed tone, but that she guessed it stunned Marcia. She turned a pale gray, stood completely stiff, stunned.
"Oh no, Marcia--did you kernel panic?" Antares asked. "I'm sorry I caused that." She panicked and said with remorse.
It took several seconds for a response. "I'll be fine. I just didn't tell you about that." Marcia said. The color returned to her, she regained her composure.
"So I was right?"
Marcia looked towards Antares while both of them started to walk towards the front door. "Regina was already in on this, but I should let you in on it too as a new member of TIMES because you guessed correctly. Welcome to the club. I went to another universe." She began to explain. They carefully looked around to be sure no one else was close enough to hear them.
"How did you do that?" Antares asked, with a noticeable hint of astonishment.
"I'll show you later, but for now, let's take a look at this." Marcia brought out a small clear bag from a pocket in her jacket. A cassette tape was in it. The label on the bag read "Cassette tape. Untested. Contamination risk: low".
"I didn't suffer any ill effects when I picked it up and held it." She put it back in her pocket.
"The risks of suffering that you take for knowledge, for Techlandia..." Antares remarked with concern and a hint of snark.
"Oh, I suffered alright. Mostly from boredom. Most of my recon was from hiding out and not being able to see much."
"Did you get to test the theory about time being relative?"
"I certainly did." Marcia said in an almost agonized tone. "I overheard conversations and took a lot of notes about them. Time felt so quick then, and in the opportunities I had to actually see the people talking. It felt too quick."
"But the time you spent hiding out?"
"It was slooooooow!" Marcia groaned. "I had a device with me to disable security cameras from recording in its range to look around, but I spotted someone-- someone loud patrolling the area since there was someone who noticed that the camera was disabled so I kept hiding most of the time."
They continued exchanging deadpan remarks as they walked through the hall and approached the front door.
"Could you come over outside to the courtyard?" Marcia sent a message to Regina.
"How long would it be?" The reply read.
"Just a few minutes."
"Sure. I'll head there now." The reply read.
A few minutes later, Regina arrived. There was a little daylight left outside, but it was just dark enough for the lights in the courtyard to activate. She saw Marcia and Antares walking towards her.
"What is it?" She asked.
Marcia brought out the bag with the cassette, removed the cassette and held it up. "We're about to test this out." She was nervous holding it up, but this moment assured her that items from that universe could safely be brought over to Techlandia.
Antares materialized her tape recorder in her hands. "We need you to use your damage-negating abilities in case it makes the recorder explode."
They were sincere with their request.
"What?" Regina flatly asked.
"I found it in that other universe!" Marcia said in amazement. "We don't know how it'd interfere with devices here, but it didn't spontaneously combust, nor does it seem to interfere with Techlandian code. We'd all be painfully suffering now and it would've interfered with our surroundings if it did." She said in a concerned tone.
"Alright-- That's a morbid explanation, but fair enough." Regina sighed but agreed until she got furious for a moment. "Wait-- You didn't test that out beforehand?!" She loudly asked, but immediately covered her mouth with both hands, realizing she was being too loud about a subject that could cause alarm.
The three Charioteers were completely silent for about a minute though to them it felt closer to an hour.
"Marcia is exaggerating--" Regina said, trying to cover for her being in on Marcia's real ventures.
"No, I'm in on it now." Antares told Regina.
"And a new member of TIMES." Marcia added.
Regina was taken aback. "When did that happen?" She asked.
"This evening. I guessed correctly that she got it from another universe." Antares confidently said. "Are you ready to test this out?" She asked. Marcia and Regina nodded.
