Timeline 4
Timeline 4.
The Source is failing. Two agents cross seven thresholds to bring back the one DJ who can hold the frequency.
The story
Five years on.
Five Earth years in the future. The Source's frequency is distorting, and the one being whose music can hold it steady left the hall years ago to do his own thing.
The scout
Zarutom sends Z9 ahead to a timeline more than five years on, to check the Source. She finds the frequency distorted and matter decaying into dust. Z9 exclaims: "This shouldn't have happened!"
The order
She reports back. Zarutom, annoyed as ever, orders Z9 and Eva to bring Zarx home: his DJing can hold a frequency. The petitioners overhear and start chanting. Bring him back. They want music in the hall.
The hangar
Z9 and Eva go down to WOOW. Z9 on the left, Eva on the right, and in front of them, WOOW.
The thresholds
They take WOOW across seven universal thresholds to the edge of Zarx's universe.
The warning
At Zarx HQ, Kepr pulls up the readout: two agents of the Source have crossed the thresholds and are on their way. Zarx is already grinning.
The arrival
The pyramid at the edge. Z9 steps out first, and her hair-blades are already lit.
The fight
They find him. They fight him. Z9 goes at him with everything she has.
The loss
They lose. The helmet is gone, her armour is cracked with light, and the fight is over.
The return
He comes back anyway. Zoow meets him at the hall door with the bident lit, and keeps it lit until Zarutom tells him to stand down.
The set
Zarutom assigns Zarx to play. Beneath the Source, on a black mirror floor ringed in blue light, the set begins. The Source flares on the beat.
The crossing
Seven thresholds. Three of them, seen.
Each threshold is a different kind of space. WOOW crosses all seven.
