Left at the Altar

<Snip>

Plisken's wounds were being treated by Artemis-2 while Artemis-1 scanned him to see where he had been. "That's weird" Artemis-1 commented. "What?" "Mr. Plisken has no readable temporal particles on his person" "Not even any from your reality?" "No, it's almost as if he had been cleansed. The only reason I would do that is to hide where he had been" "Wait, look! There's faint traces of various medecines in his system. Somebody already treated him" "What the hell happened to you Mr Plisken?" Just as Artemis-1 finished his commented Plisken came too.

"Artemis? Why is there two of you?" Plisken asked groggily.

</Snip>

"Oh yeah that's right, parallel universes," muttered Plisken, "Or whatever you crazy kids are calling them these days."

"So you know about the other 'Dwarfers' then?" asked one of the Artemises.

"Yeah, I meet mine-"

"Is he the one who cleansed your temporal particles?" asked the other Artemis. It seemed this was his reality Artemis- he looked slightly more bedraggled than the other.

"What? No, that's a long story. No, I shot the other me."

Artemis-1 and 2 stopped checking their instruments and looked in suprise at the old man - their mouths wide open.

"What, like shot dead?" said Artemis-1, still recovering from his shock.

"No, I only shot him in the leg," replied Plisken, eerily calm about the whole thing.

"Well that makes it okay then!" murmered Artemis-2 as he returned to his instruments.

"Yeah it does, actually," smiled Plisken as he reached into his coat pocket to find his pipe. It was perhaps a bit rude to smoke in the presence of two non-smokers, or they seeemd like non-smokers, but it was needed.

Artemis finished wrapping the bandage around the wound above his metal arm, the light sting of cotton on the open wound a familiar pain to Plisken.

"So, where's everyone else?" asked Plisken, his grandfatherly instincts kicking in.

"I have no idea, Mr. Plisken. It is a suprise that we stumbled across you in the desert. Quite the coincidence."

"Hmm..." said Plisken as he stepped outside, scanning the horizon. Something didn't feel right. "You didn't see anyone following us did you?" Plisken shouted back inside.

"Trust me Mr. Plisken, we where not followed," came Artemis-2's reply as he and his counterpart put away the medical tools.

"Yeah, I doubt that," muttered Plisken quietly as he threw on his coat, dusting off the sand. He pushed his hat up, so as to see the land a bit better. The memory of before he met Artemis was a bit muddied. It was clear that he had met his other self but beyond their brief encounter, in which a few bullets were exchanged, nothing else was clear. Maybe something about dimensions? Hmm, whatever it was it was unlikely to be good. That seemed to be the way recently. But then Plisken noticed something - a tiny glint in the distance.

<Tag Artemis>

<OOC - Not as long as I'd like but I'm pressed for time (as usual). Thanks Artemis/mrxanadu by the way>