I can't believe I wrote this.

I'm quite serious.  This was physically painful to write.  It's *worse* 
than killing the Knight Sabers.  I had to kill their entire universe.

Don't get me wrong, the story does go on.  So do the Sabers.  But, maybe 
it would be best if I shut up and let you read the thing.  C&C would be 
much appreciated.  If there's any part of the story I want just right, 
it's this one.

				----------


Damon Casale, damoo@universal-net.com
Spam, spam!  WONDERFUL spam!  ^_^


-------------- Enclosure number 1 ----------------
BGC/WHO:  Slipt, part 10.

	Before the sounds of the TARDIS' passing had died away, the Doctor 
turned and quickly marched from the room, beconing Mackie, and a suited 
Priss and Nene, to follow.  Then, without warning, an ominous, howling 
rumble shook the building.
	"What the hell was that?" muttered Priss.  "It means we'd better 
hurry," replied the Doctor.  "Unless you want the end of the universe to 
catch up with you."
	The four of them returned to the underground garage.  Sylia was
bending gingerly over Linna, whispering softly.  Linna was conscious, but 
only just.
	"Hurry," the Doctor said.  "We don't have much time.  Bring her,
Sylia, we can take care of her once we're there."
	Sylia snorted derisively.  "Where?  And how?"  "Genom's research
facility," he answered.  "And I'll explain on the way."
	She refused to meet his gaze.  "We've lost already.  There's
nothing we can do."
	Priss walked over, shoving Sylia aside, and picked Linna up.  Linna 
gritted her teeth against the pain, as the blackened metal scraped against 
her scorched shoulder.  "Dammit, Sylia," Priss growled, "Linna wouldn't 
give up.  I won't, not now.  What the hell is the matter with you??"
	Priss and the others headed for the van, leaving the Doctor alone
with Sylia.
	"Sylia, we're not dead yet," he murmured, but she ignored him.  
The ground rumbled again. "Hear that?  Time itself is grinding to a halt in 
this reality.  Can't you feel it?"

	Sylia could feel something, something dark and hungry beginning to 
pull at her.  She knew the Doctor was right, but she couldn't bring herself 
to trust him.  Broken, she couldn't trust herself.  Her ordered universe 
was literally tearing itself apart, and she no longer had the strength nor 
the will to go on.
	"It'll only get worse," the Doctor warned, "until it destroys this 
reality.  There's still a chance to stop Largo, and heal Linna.  Aren't you 
willing to try?"
	She sighed heavily, but knew there was no arguing with his logic.  
With nothing else to trust in, she would trust in hope itself.
	Sylia stood, still without answering, and made the few careful, 
measured steps between her and the van.

				*	*	*

	A cold wind tore at the shuttered shop, and the sign rattled 
against the window.  The Silky Doll was dark and silent, and the harried 
passerby paid it no heed.
	Within the back room, the viewscreen flickered cautiously to life.  
The picture glittered with static, though the voice which issued from it 
remained undistorted.  "This is Jessica Genjiro, reporting from the AD 
Police tower."  The woman in red beckoned at the building behind her, 
slightly askew on its foundation.  "Ten minutes ago, several top level 
Genom executives were taken into custody, as the pending investigation 
revealed a complex web of financial mismanagement and corruption at the 
highest levels.  The new boomer prototypes have been pulled from production 
after the recent incidents of control malfunction, resulting in millions of 
yen in damage to the city."  Just then, the woman stumbled as another 
tremor shook the earth.  "The chairman of Genom is wanted for questioning 
concerning these projects, which were apparently under his direct 
authority."
	She shifted her unfocused gaze slightly to the left, gazing at an 
unseen audience with professional disdain.  "The top story this afternoon 
has hit MegaTokyo with a trillion yen punch, as the damage continues to 
mount under wave after wave of tremors.  The mysterious quakes are not 
fault-related, and have no epicenter.  They seem to be striking all parts 
of the city equally, and in fact there have been reports of similar tremors 
worldwide."  She coughed slightly, and tried to mask an expression of 
distaste.  "Several thousand Catholics have taken to the streets, 
proclaiming the end of the world.  Shinto and Buddhist shrines citywide are 
packed with the faithful, and the streets are echoing with fervent prayer.  
Whatever the cause, it's apparent that--"
	Another tremor rocked the ground, and suddenly the AD Police tower 
twisted crazily and began to topple.  Huge chunks of concrete fell from
the leaning high rise, and then the picture vanished in a flurry of 
static.
	Megatokyo was crumbling under the weight of time.

				*	*	*

	Linna was in agony.  She clung to consciousness tenaciously, 
unwilling to let what she knew might be her last moments slip away from
her.  Even so, she felt every grit in the pavement, as the van rushed
towards Genom's laboratory and research facility.
	The Doctor was muttering something about the mutability of the 
dying timestream, but comprehension remained beyond her weakened grasp.  
Nevertheless, she couldn't help but notice Sylia's shocked gasp, as she 
turned to gaze tearfully at her.
	"It can't possibly be that easy," she heard Sylia say.  "But it
is," said the Doctor.  "We can try once we reach the lab."
	Linna gazed questioningly up at them, struggling to remain awake.
"Sleep, Linna," murmured the Doctor encouragingly.  "Rest.  You'll feel
better for it, I promise."  Something about his voice was strangely
compelling, and she found her eyelids growing heavy.  "Sleep..." she heard
him say once more, and she drifted off into an unbroken slumber.

	Another tremor rumbled through the city, but Linna was already 
snoring softly.  "I don't know whether to thank you or kill you," 
Sylia whispered.  "But, how can we possibly affect what must have already 
happened years ago?"  "The same way Largo did, Sylia," the Doctor answered.  
"We need to follow them back through time.  That's why we absolutely must 
reach that lab.  The equipment Largo was working on there is invaluable." 
	"Them?"  asked Sylia.  "Ace stayed in the TARDIS," he replied. 
"When we find her, we'll find Largo."
	She nodded, feeling a grudging respect for him.  Putting Ace in 
that kind of danger must weigh terribly on the Doctor's mind, she thought 
bitterly.  Without knowing when or how, she had forgotten that weight of 
responsibility for the Sabers, shunting it off unconsciously to do what 
needed to be done.  It was the only way she could possibly cope with the 
day to day business of being the leader of the Knight Sabers.
	And a leader she must be, if there truly was still some chance.  It 
was time to push aside her tremulous emotions, against the Doctor and 
against Largo, and become the pillar she once was.

	Suddenly, the van swerved as the ground wavered precariously ahead
of them.  As they rolled past the disturbance, the viewscreen picked out a
slight rippling in the ground and air.  The screen dimmed slightly, as the
area seemed to fade, leached of color and vitality.
	"Geez," Priss grumbled, but held her peace.  It was Nene who
finally spoke.  "S-Sylia...um..."  She was staring at the back of the van,
terrified by some inner horror.
	Sylia beckoned her to continue.  "Uh...for a second, there was...
er, I couldn't scan anything outside.  I mean, there was nothing, 
absolutely nothing!"  Her voice trembled with raw fear.
	"It's getting worse," the Doctor said, then spoke into the
intercom to Mackie, who was driving.  "Just be as careful as you can."

	The van roared up the onramp of the highway, leaping onto the road
and ever closer to what lay ahead.

				*	*	*

	Twenty minutes and countless near accidents later, they pulled
into a side street near Genom's research facility.  It wouldn't be 
difficult getting past security this time -- they would be much too busy 
dealing with containing the damage from the tremors.
	Not that it would matter for much longer.
	They emptied out of the van; Sylia, with Linna's sleeping form.  
Priss blasted a hole in the side of the building, and they hurried for the 
stairs.

	Elsewhere, the silent alarm tripped by the explosion screamed 
voicelessly, alerting only the already overloaded and virtually 
powerless automatic defenses to the presence of the six intruders.

	The lab itself was a shambles.
	Parts of the ceiling had collapsed inward, damaging some of the 
equipment scattered around the vaulted chamber.  In one corner, there was a 
small, enclosed capsule, big enough for three.  Huge power conduits snaked 
across the room into the capsule, burying themselves deep in the 
electronics of the machine.  Faintly flickering lights blinked on and off 
inside, indicating a standby status.
	"What a mess," Nene said in disgust.  "We'll never fix it in time!"  
"Nonsense," snapped the Doctor.  "I can fix anything I want to!"
	He marched across the room and into the chamber, reaching into his 
pocket for his sonic screwdriver.  "Good thing I remembered to bring this," 
he mumbled to himself.
	Sylia and the others gathered by the door to wait.  Did they have 
minutes?  Hours?
	According to the Doctor, there was no way of telling.  No one had 
ever been caught in a dying timestream before, and lived to tell of it.
	She settled down to gaze sadly at Linna's sleeping form.  Her 
shoulder, badly burned and scarred by the boomer's laser, would take weeks 
to heal on its own.  Could mere thought truly shape the course of events?  
Sylia would soon know.
	"Priss, Nene, Mackie," she said.  "I know it sounds foolish, but 
think about Linna's shoulder and concentrate."
	She could hardly believe what the Doctor had told her.  Outside the 
flow of time, reality was entirely fictional, and entirely controlled by 
the thoughts of sentients.  As her timestream ground to a painful halt, it 
would grow easier and easier to shape its events.
	Linna could be made whole with a single thought, he had said.
	It was a very slow process.  Random eddies in the timestream were 
focused and brought to bear on the fallen Saber's wound.  In a matter of 
minutes, months of healing renewed Linna's shoulder.  The scars faded.  
Blackened and cracked scabs fell away to reveal whitened flesh.
	As they concentrated, the metal skin of her hardsuit began to flow 
together, reknitting and reforming into a gleaming shell.  Moments later, 
the fourth Saber was whole once again.
	"What about you, Sylia?"  Priss asked.  Sylia slowly shook her 
head, and held up her arm of metal and ceramic.  "This prevents.  If I am 
to choose one or the other, I will remain as I am now."
	"You've made up your mind?" murmured Nene.  "Yes," she said.  "Yes.  
I have."
	There were some losses that she could learn to bear.  This was one.
	Linna blinked.
	"Linna?" said Sylia, looking down at her.  "How do you feel?"
	Linna sat up, stretched, and took the proffered helmet from Mackie.  
"Like I've been laying on a metal floor in a hardsuit.  Next question?"  
She cracked a smile.  "Thanks.  Whatever you did...um...thanks."
	They stood, waiting.  The lab was silent, save for the Doctor's 
occasional muttering.  "Blast...no dimensional stabilizer, what was he 
thinking?  Have to use the tower as a waveguide..."  And on and on.  
"Doctor?"  Mackie ventured.  "Another hour, maybe two," he replied without 
looking up.
	Outside, they could hear the masses screaming, even through the 
foot thick, reinforced walls.  Suddenly, the building structure suddenly 
wrenched sideways, and more cracks appeared in the ceiling.
	"Uh oh," Nene gulped.  "I hope we have that long..."

	The universe was disintegrating.  The sun had exploded, then fallen 
back in on itself.  A sudden wave of heat had given way to freezing cold.  
Worldwide, a set of earthquakes rocked the continents, setting up a massive 
chain of tsunami-size waves which rocketed toward the coastlines.
	Bits of reality continued to wink in and out.  People caught in the 
winking out phenomenon disappeared, never to be seen again.  It was as if 
they had not existed.
	They in fact hadn't.  Reality was ceasing to be.  Time was coming 
to a halt.
	Long before reality faded entirely, the world would have been swept 
clean of life by the massive, unnatural catastrophes.  The Doctor would 
have his hour, but little more.

	There was a final choice to be made.  There was space for three 
comfortably in the time capsule.  Five could fit, with great difficulty.
	Six was impossible.  There would be someone left behind.
	Sylia looked at each of them in turn.  "I cannot ask any one of you 
to stay," she said.  "I cannot, and will not.  If we succeed, whoever 
remains will live in the reality that we recreate, and will remember none 
of this.  If we fail..."
	"Don't, Sylia," warned Priss hotly.  "Largo is toast.  Count on 
it."
	Mackie spoke up cautiously.  "Sis, I...uh..."  He squeezed his eyes 
shut, and his voice shook with emotion.  "I'll stay."
	Tears ran down her cheek.
	"I know I won't be much help if I come.  I don't h-have a hardsuit 
like...like...  Just come back for me, okay?  Don't let me die here alone, 
for nothing..."
	"Oh, Mackie," she whispered, hugging him close.  Little brother, 
she thought sadly.  How much stronger than I you are.  It's not fair, is 
it?
	The building trembled, shaken to its core.  Water -- salt water -- 
began to flow into the lab from the open doorway, covering the floor.  "We 
must go now!" said the Doctor.  "We haven't any more time!"
	They jammed themselves into the tiny capsule.  Sylia entered last 
of all, unable to take her eyes from Mackie.  He stood, unmoving, at the 
door.
	He waved once.  "Go on.  I believe in you."
	Then the seawater poured into the room in full force, burying him 
instantly.  "NO!!!"  She screamed.
	The room swam before her eyes, as a horrible grinding sound echoed 
painfully throughout the small room...and they slipt...
	...whirling...tumbling...
			...caught in a vortex of light...
		...and...