RE: Odyssey

There is no big bang.

"Now what?" A faint error message pops up on one of the screens but with so many dead pixels, I can only guess what it says. "Bomb doors closed? Yeah, and it's two feet underground."

Arguing with the software doesn't do much, so I use the Russian method. Smash it with my hand. Athena laughs, but wouldn't give me any more hints on how to blow this thing up.

Soon, the only sounds I hear are my speeding heart and the gunfire outside. Another slap brings the screen back online, and I finally notice a bypass button.

"Ignore, retry, full send." The contraption spools up and a beam fires at the bomb bay door. It's invisible, but its effects are not. The robust door rusts away in mere seconds and turns into dust.

The branches, leaves, and dirt below the bomber get the same treatment.

"Wow." It's crazy, what our scientists can build, a beam that speeds up aging, but the machine is still in one piece. "Okay, which lever will cause it to overload?"

The rust spreads across the control panel, and the first to disappear are the labels. I'm going in the right direction, but not fast enough.

Someone is yelling outside and the loudest words are Russian. Did Jason get out? My two minutes are up already.

"Screw it, pull all the levers." It cranks the thing up to eleven. The humming gets louder and the soil below us turns dead in a wider area. "It's still not enough."

I glance at the girl, but she only shrugs, giving me no more cryptic hints or encouragement. I have two more breaching slugs left.

"Fuck it." I fire them both into the controls, before using the carbine as a wedge to block the door. The spooling continues as someone tries to break in.

Now I should have until they bring some explosives to blow that door open if they dare. The controls are already dead, and the labels are gone, so good luck using this machine after this.

"Even if it's in one piece once I run out of ideas, they won't be able to do shit." But this isn't enough. "Think, Odysseus. What does this layout tell you?"

The pipes that leak coolant should be there for a reason. The whole thing will melt down if they can't support the rest of the machine. Right?

And thanks to the rapid aging, all these pipes look old and rusted.

"Okay, It can't hurt to try." After a few kicks with the heavy military boots, they break. Another alarm goes off. It's a loud siren this time, which is a good sign.

It drowns out the Russian yelling from the other side of the door, but now they don't hesitate to fire at the hinges. I have only seconds left.

Athena kicks a pebble, strolling up and down like a bored child. She seems unbothered by the seriousness of the situation. What else can I do to wreck this thing?

"How far can I move that nozzle? What if I aim the weapon on itself?" I climb down into the heart of this strange contraption, careful, not to turn myself into a grandpa too.

They breach the door and swarm the controls. That thing is dead, and it will take them a moment to find me down here, but I better hurry up and stop talking to myself.

The nozzle is heavy and rigid and only swivels up and down but that should be enough. Aiming it up and straining it as much as I can, it hits the labyrinth of pipes above.

The alarm siren goes into overdrive, but the soldiers above also notice me. They shout something, but I can't hear shit or speak their language anyway, so I keep going.

They fire whatever they have, but I'm finally lucky, and no bullets touch me. They put a few more holes into the Tachyon Lance though, and a sharp white flash blinds everyone.

It's like a flashbang going off, without the loud part. It doesn't last long either. Right when I'm about to make peace with my death, the contraption falls apart around me.

"What the fuck?" The rest of the plane's fuselage is back in its former glory. No, only a small piece that fits inside a five-foot bubble with me. Everything outside disappears after the flash.

This includes the Spetznaz soldiers too. No, this isn't accurate either. Everything looks as it should as if the bomber never fell out of the sky, at least until the trees start to shrink.

No, it's wrong again. They are aging backward. It's like looking at a high-speed timelapse but starting it at the end. The entire forest disappears, and then a farm field takes its place.

Snow and warm summer colors change back and forth in split seconds. Then the field disappears and workers cut down a dense and old forest.

No, it's backward again, and the trees grow from small saplings. This cycle repeats a few more times, and my head is spinning.

"Don't worry, we're almost there." Athena encourages me with a smile. She's not speaking English. Not even the Greek I got used to by now. Well, it's Greek but a different dialect.

One, that no living person has used since the Mycenaean era, three thousand years ago. I understand it, Jason called me a Nerd for a reason, but what brought this on?

And since when did the girl join me in this weird bubble? Her owl-printed t-shirt is gone, and she wears a convincing replica of an ancient Greek outfit. Or is that the real thing?

She walks to the edge of the bubble and bursts it without another warning. The part of the fuselage that held out for so long around us rusts away even faster than the rest of the plane.

The Tachyon Particles, — if those cause this strange phenomenon — expand in a wave. They age everything in their way, including the little girl in her goddess cosplay.

Before I blink, she's a mature woman, standing tall and proud. Her grey eyes gleam with wisdom. It confused me when she was in her eight-year-old shape, but it all makes sense now.

She ties her black hair back, revealing her olive complexion. Her clothes are too detailed and rich for cosplay. It's full armor with a golden helmet and a breastplate.

She has a shield with an olive tree painted on it, and she reaches out with her other arm. An owl screeches before landing on it, and the picture is complete.

Looking around, the place is the same, but still unrecognizable.

The only thing I can think of is that we traveled back in time. And she knew this would happen?

All those cryptic words, her appearance and disappearance.

"What on Earth is going on?" Without realizing it, I ask in ancient Greek too.

She remains silent, giving me time to comprehend the situation as if that would be possible. My uniform is still the same, tattered and dirty, but my wounds are gone.

I left everything behind in the future, including the soldiers that tried to shoot me.

On the positive side, I'm still alive, and not in pain. But where? Or when?

"You are where you belong, Odysseus. Welcome Home."