THE MOMENT
"Thanks for the help," Turbo nodded at Quinn. ".. again," he added with a smile.
"As many times as you need," Quinn returned the friendly gesture with a shrug. She met Turbo in a park under a clear blue sky. The dozens of parkgoers also out were frozen in time while he and Quinn discussed their next attempt. Chronos, Turbo's A.I. assistant was also ready to do his job.
"I'm hoping the third time's the charm," Turbo chuckled. "I don't want to bother Barley asking her for another genie if I don't have to. I've already got some good data so it might be enough this time."
"Okay, Chronos, here we go," Turbo spoke to the black metal band around his wrist and nodded at Quinn. "On three," he said. "One. Two."
"Wait," Chronos spoke up before Turbo reached three. Then, a black portal opened next to them and a girl with double-plaited golden braids walked out of the portal and glanced around quickly as if searching for something. She had rainbow hair woven into the braids and the individual colors seemed to change as her hair swung around with the motion.
"Oh, hey Turbo!" she smiled at him and approached the group. "Hey, Quinn. Did he come through here?"
"No," Turbo answered as both of them shook their heads. Quinn wasn't fully caught up to Crystal's mission; but, no one had come through there, and Turbo knew who she was looking for. "Hey Chronos, any sign of him?"
"Wait. Scanning."
"What are you guys doing?" Crystal asked. Chronos' scan gave her a couple of minutes to kill.
"Studying magic," Quinn answered.
"Collecting data anyway," Turbo nodded. "I'm testing out how the universe responds to Wishes. I'm about to give everyone on this Earth the capacity to have one wish granted." Crystal glanced around the park and noticed the strangers for the first time.
"Oh, is that why time is stopped?" she asked.
"Kind of," Turbo nodded. "I'm using Chronos to take readings so Quinn is kind of the starting gun," he said. "We only have a short window once everyone has wishes."
"Gotcha," Crystal nodded.
"Possibility of Myth designated: Parker Lewis found on five nearby Earths." Five black portals opened as Chronos interrupted.
"Hey, you know we've already determined he's a Myth," Turbo said. "You don't have to keep chasing him anymore."
"Yeah I do," Crystal giggled and decided on the portal furthest from herself. She walked into it. "I'm gonna find him and get my questions answered," she said. "I'll let you know!" she waved as she disappeared and all five portals closed.
"Double check the message Mundo is going to echo please, Chronos."
"You think she changed something?" Quinn asked. Turbo shrugged.
"It's probably fine, but I don't want any mistakes that we could have prevented. Crystal's great; but, we also just had a Corazón come through. Anything could have happened while we were waiting."
"Due to the kindness of one anonymous person, you and everyone else on Earth may now have one wish granted. Please be aware that the bigger the wish, the greater the chance that it will be warped in a dangerous manner." Chronos read the pre-programmed message for them, and Turbo nodded.
"Alright, still good. Let's start again. Chronos, start scanning the Earth for changes, ready?" he asked Quinn. She nodded.
"One, two, three!" Turbo counted the seconds and time resumed. Everyone around them started to move again; but, only for a split second before they all stopped to listen to the message Mundo pushed in their mind. Confusion, fear, awe, glee, and anger all played out around them for a few seconds.
"Time," Chronos said. Quinn was ready and time stopped immediately before he finished the word. They were both able to see the time stream and they synced up to stop at the exact moment Chronos wanted.
"Dataset complete," Chronos said.
"Perfect, thanks!" It was a general thanks, but he directed it at Quinn. She smiled and nodded.
"No problem," she said.
"Alright, I guess we're done here. Oh, check the second message too, just to be sure," Turbo said.
"Due to the actions of one anonymous person, you and everyone else on Earth have lost the ability to make any wishes. Please be aware there is no appeal process for this decision; this stranger wished that no one on Earth could have a wish come true," Chronos read it.
"Great, send it to Mundo," Turbo nodded. "At least it took longer than a second before someone ruined it on this Earth," he chuckled with a sigh. "It gave us a chance to learn something."
