The van jerked and Two woke up. "I see it. Down, more." She heard Jarid in a distance. Where were they? Were they already there?

The van jerked again and pulled Two out of her sleep completely. Outside there were dark gray clouds rolling about and rain splattered against the window.

"Dr. Lorkhead, you need more speed!" Jarid started shouting. The van jerked again and Jarid was thrown back from his position of leaning forward to instruct the Doctor.

"What's going on?" Two said, panic rushing through as she feared worst scenario after worst scenario.

"The Time Murderer has affected the weather somehow and the clouds above have gone wild, so we had to descend." Jarid explained.

"We're going to land?"

"Yeah, we're almost at the port. Just a few more miles."

Two leaned forward to look through the front window of the van. Somewhere below she could make out land, but it seemed too far away. Suddenly the van jerked wildly and Two was thrown back and bumped her head against the overhead air conditioner. As her vision blurred, water rushed at her too quickly. She knew then they had dived into the sea.

"Two! Two! Oh, thank god, you're okay," Jarid was saying as she struggled to wake up.

"Imagine, I manage to 'pass out' twice today." She grinned up at him, managing a joke even though her brain was on fire. Then she took a good look at Jarid and realized he was soaking wet.

"What happened? Did we fall?" Two said, sitting up despite Jarid's pleas to take it easy. Her head still swam but she felt alive. Alive and well. That was good enough.

"Yeah. Dr. Lorkhead made for a slow sloppy dive into the ocean. Luckily, we were close enough to land and used the raft to hull you over. Want some mush? It looks so gross but it's so good. Dr. Lorkhead made some on the fire. We have ice cream, too. Melted and squished but good to eat." Jarid smiled. There was a scratch on his forehead and Two had to stop herself from reaching up and touching it, to make sure it wasn't serious. Ashtoe's words still had an effect on her.

Sitting by the fire, she stared at her watch which was doing some crazy fast and slow ticks. No one here would know the time, but she did. Trained to have a mental clock that matched with the satellite, Two knew it was morning in the U.S. and supposed to be around 9 p.m. in Japan.

Jarid was right, the mush was gross. It was green, grey, blue, and pink but tasted like a gourmet meal or something from an expensive hotel.

"How you feeling?" Dr. Lorkhead asked. Two noticed a limp in his left leg as he walked around to sit beside her.

"Good, I guess, alive." She smiled.

"Well, I think we have time. Get some rest. I'm gonna go check the Port-Able Mobile." He got up with a slight groan and limped over to the crash site. Seemed as though with the two men they managed to hull not only Two but the Port-Able Mobile to land as well.

Two sat by the fire and quietly ate her mush. This wasn't the first time they had an accident on a mission but this time, they were dealing with time which was a fickle thing without someone tampering with it. The last accident, at least she knew what she was dealing with. It was the same. Another dive into the ocean because the Sub-Land-and-Marine-Sub decided three people was too many. Still, she smiled, they managed to save the merpeople from the sharkpeople.

"Simply awful beginning for a mission though," she whispered to herself in her British accent. Sometimes it felt good to hear her own roots once in a while.

Her eyelids felt heavy. Was this jetlag? But she should be wide awake U.S. time! "Why do I feel so sleepy?" She wailed to Jarid who had somehow retrieved both their backpacks. Anything made of material, like the backpacks, were made of a special kind of waterproof material that never let the insides get wet. Of course, they were Dr. Lorkhead's invention. One of the long-lasting ones.

Jarid handed her backpack to her. "Maybe you're turning into a cat," he said, dismissing her.

Two sighed. There were stars overhead and a shooting star went by. She frowned. It reminded her so much of home. The Starcast was always Nebula with a chance of Shooting Stars and constellations could be found on vehicles left outside. Sleepdown time was two in the morning, Wakeup time was four in the afternoon.

"What am I doing?" she whispered to herself in her native tongue. "How the bloody hell can I keep this up?" She thought in her British accent. Two sighed and sat up, watching the two men jabber away as they tried to fix the van or get something good out of it.

The Port-Able Mobile spluttered and fumed but soon it was able to at least skim across the waters like jet-skiing. Two put her hands to her hips and looked on. Suddenly, the Port-Able Mobile spluttered to a sudden stop and began to sink with Jarid riding the top of it.

"Hey! Can someone give me a hand?" he called toward shore. Dr. Lorkhead had gone off to explore the land they came to and wasn't available.

"Rubbish," Two almost shouted out loud only to stop herself to turn it into a muffled sound.

"What was that?" Jarid called from the teetering tops of the car.

Two sighed. "Nothing, nothing. I'm coming." Once she got the remote that was lying on the shore, she brought the car back on land and Jarid hopped down.

"Well, where is that darn Doc?" he sighed and rolled his eyes. His eyes were red, and his hair was messy. Two headed back to the remnants of the fire with Jarid in tow.

"So," she sat on the soft sand cross-legged, "what do we do now?"

Jarid shrugged. "I don't know. You're the Leader."

"Right..." Two felt slightly disappointed that he didn't have a plan for her to build on. Certainly, she was the Leader even at times unexpected. That's how it worked here. "First thing's first. You rest."

"But—"

"No buts. Rest. Then you help me plan, okay?" She patted his shoulder, pushing him off balance so he landed on the sand on his side.

"Oh, okay fine," Jarid pouted.

Ten minutes later Dr. Lorkhead was back at camp with some food and some information. But the two decided to sit together quietly to let Jarid sleep. After all, he was snoring like a motor. He was snoring out all his exhaustion.

"Didn't you have spare Waterproof Jet Power Packs in the van?" Two's mind was working now, gathering puzzle pieces together, trying to fit them in.

"I did but..."

"But?" Two raised an eyebrow.

"I took them out for our last mission, and I forgot to put them back in." He hunched his shoulders and looked sheepish. "Oh! Great idea!" he said, his eyes brightening up. "I do have Rocket Skis. They're intact and ready to use!"

Two gave her best unimpressed face and Dr. Lorkhead shrugged. "Give it a try?"

"I don't want to get wet."

"Just wear the suit."

"As if you packed that!"

Dr. Lorkhead shrugged again, grinning. "Didn't."

Rolling her eyes, she sighed. "Thought so. You're 'Oh! Great idea!' ideas always have a missing part."

Suddenly, he patted her back. "You're great, you know. I knew someone who panicked on the inside so much they started to panic on the outside, too. He always ended up blaming every single detail on himself. But there was no use crying over spilt milk. He just needed to learn how to cope with it and to come up with solutions to get around it and clean it up."

"Wow, that was philosophical. Is he a doctor, too?" Two did often wonder if Dr. Lorkhead had any friends outside their little group. He never seemed to go anywhere besides mechanical stores and special stores that sold chemically stuff.

"Oh, I still know him now. He can make greatly gross gourmet food." He winked.

Before Two could even say it, Dr. Lorkhead got up and returned to the fire where Jarid was waking up.

I never knew he could be so philosophical or talk about himself in third person, she thought.

Just then Dr. Lorkhead hurled out of the forest where he'd gone to check on something.

"You won't believe this!" He did his famous shouting.

"What? You found another palm tree?" Two arched her eyebrows and rolled her eyes.

Dr. Lorkhead shook his head frantically and took a deep breath. "No, it's a giant clock with two men inside! They were pressing buttons and stuff. I hadn't seen it before, so I think they just arrived not so long ago!"

"That's something. Let's go see it."

"Roger that mate." Dr. Lorkhead saluted her clumsily and lumbered off. She and sleepy Jarid followed him over to the forest-jungle like place.

"I think you make a better cat," she remarked, remembering his joke and trying to wake him up.

"Huh oh, right," he answered sleepily. Two wondered if she could find caffeine anywhere. How was she supposed to count on him when he was only half awake?

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Note: Do YOU ever talk about yourself in the third person? ;)