One Way Ticket To Hell

OOC-Okay, sorry about skimping on details but I'm in a rush. I'm going on a 2-week trip starting tomorrow (it's still Tuesday over here in the US, still getting used to working with a separate time zone!) and I won't have much time to post. I'll do what I can from my iPhone, but in the meantime, could you guys try to include Artemis in the story? Thanks in advance, look forward to seeing where this trans-dimensional furlough takes us! Anyway, cue the theme song, here it is.....

Lindström had just wandered off when Artemis remembered the dispenser. "Now's as good a time as any" he said. Artemis fired the dispenser and watched the pink plume of gas float into the atmosphere. In a few hundred years, this planet would be a nicer place, or if the serum backfired, completely devoid of life. Artemis then decided to hoof it back to Starbug to wait for the others.

"It's nice to be out of that watch" Holly commented. "Well, somebody had to fly the shuttle. Although since we're short a few hundred crewmen, including the pilots, I guess it wouldn't hurt to learn to fly. Anywho, how long would it take to bring the animals out of stasis?" "Starbug doesn't have the facilities to do that, you'll have to wait" "Really? Damn, Patches always was good company. Well, at least they're alive" Artemis stored the container in the hold and returned to the cockpit. Several minutes passed, Artemis and Holly waited in utter silence. "Where are the others?" Artemis asked impatiently. "Could have something to do with the outpost falling apart" "What?! Holly you ass, why didn't you tell me?" "Between the blasts and the wild electrical storm whipped up by the collapsing portal I'm surprised you didn't notice earlier" "Shit. They could be in trouble. Holly, I'm going in after them. Wait for an hour, and if I don't return, go back to Blue Dwarf. I'll signal you using Starbug's SOS beacon when I need a pickup" "Are you sure?" "A half-mechanoid über-male's got to do what a half-mechanoid über-male's got to do Hol"

Re-equipped and re-armed, Artemis made the charge back to the portal, dodging lightning bolts and other hazards from the storm thrown up by the collapsing portal. He reached the portal, which had been transformed into a swirling vortex of lightning and spectral mist. Taking his chances, Artemis leaped into the portal....

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"I've scrambled the data so they can't track us. It will also locate any Dwarfers in range on a scanner sweep here and in the nearby areas and grab them through. Don't ask how just go!" White Wolf ordered, dropping to all fours and disappearing.

<snip/>

Artemis flew through the portal, he briefly flew past the familiar walls of the outpost, but was then hurled into a black abyss. Suddenly, he was on a couch in a well decorated apartment. Artemis stood up and examined the decor. Various newspaper clippings, awards, and pictures of familiar faces covered the wall. Artemis took a picture off the wall, it was a well-kempt version of himself receiving a Nobel prize. "What the hell?" He checked some of the newspaper clippings. "Dr. Artemis K. Pritchard VI cures space-cancer" "President Pritchard elected for second term!" "Former president Pritchard defeats GELF uprising with Q-Bomb" "Artemis Pritchard donates lungs to dying space orphan" Artemis was flabbergasted. President of the United States? Nobel Prize? Donating his body parts? This was too weird..... The TV turned on, startling Artemis. "....investigators could not determine how the diaper came to life, but police promptly shot it to death. In other news, the Space Corps has called off the search for the deep space mining ship Blue Dwarf. The vessel suffered a critical failure of it's drive plate, which resulted in a radiation leak, this according to an automated distress beacon. The ship has been officially declared lost with all hands by the Space Corps Chief of Staff. A memorial service is expected to be held for the families of the victims later this week at Jupiter Mining Corparation Plaza on Mars....." The TV was turned off. "So Artemis, how have you been?" The alternate-reality Artemis waltzed in. "What the hell? How am I here? Where am I?" Alternate-Artemis sat down next him. "You're in an alternate reality where you never suffered from dementia, and this you never enlisted with the Space Corps and got stationed aboard Blue Dwarf" "Wait, so who's in my place?" "Lars Linström. Only he died in the laser explosion, whereas you were only frozen. Lars be we was good at calibrations..." The well-kempt man looked out the window at the New York skyline. "So, how are you so familiar with my universe?" "Because I've transcended all restrictions of time and space, I can travel between dimensions, time travel, and even spawn new realities! It's the pinnacle of my scientific career!" "So how'd you know I was coming?" "I've visited you in the future, twenty years to be exact, we had a lovely conversation over dinner" "Really, so what happens to me?" "Without giving away too much, You find a television on an asteroid that turns out to be a portal to hell, you assassinate the dictator of the insect people of Alpha Centauri, and you marry a Skutter" "Well, that's amazing! I can't wait! When does this all happen?" "I made the first two up to burn time while we wait for you to phase-out to your destination, you actually do marry a Skutter though" "But wait! There's so much that I want to know!" Artemis shouted as he began to phase out. "We'll meet again Artemis....."

Artemis was hurled into a desert. He looked around, hoping that it was a trick, but alas he really was in an endless desert. His MS scanner picked up Dwarfers nearby, but they were scattered. He got to his feet and headed for the nearest blip....

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