Adventures of the Space Pizza Delivery Guy

Chapter 5: Cloud Atlas

With that, Ethan and Chronna set on a journey to a distant timeline, in the year 3042, to deliver pizza. As Ethan entered the coordinates to Cloud Atlas on their teleporter machine, Chronna asked, “By the way, Watt said that we’re irregulars, so isn’t it dangerous to mingle with other timeline characters like you, do?”

Ethan scoffed, “Not really. You can pretty much build a family with someone else at some timeline, but the moment you leave that timeline, they will forget about you and everything you said or did to them. That’s how it is for irregulars.”

“That’s kind of sad. Not being able to leave a mark.”

“Well, you do leave a mark.” Ethan said, “To the people who love you, you will always leave a mark. Lost love will always still be love.”

Ethan made final arrangements. He grabbed a pair of space specs and gave Chronna one. He explained, “Wear it, and it allows us to enter a specific timeline and not be seen as a threat. Also, it comes with a lot of cool features.”

“What about the pizza? What did they order?”

“Ah.” Ethan installed a similar program on Chronna’s wrist, he tapped her wrist twice, and a screen popped out. Ethan smiled, “I linked it to mine, so you’ll be able to see the orders as well.”

Chronna read the order out loud in confusion, “Clock pizza…? What the hell is a clock pizza?”

Ethan tapped on his trusty 6D printer inside his backpack. He explained, “Don’t worry much about it. This machine can exactly print what they want, but it’s basically a clock pizza sprinkled with a lot of arrows and sand, with a little extra number on the side.”

“That does not make sense at all.”

“You will get used to it,” Ethan replied nonchalantly.

Ethan and Chronna headed to the portal now, and the next moment, they were at Cloud Atlas located near an asteroid belt- it was a place that remains invisible to the naked eye.

Chronna panicked as she saw that she was floating on air, that there was nothing to stop at, “What? Where are we?”

At this point, Chronna was on her knees, and she was confused because she could definitely feel the ground they were standing on, but she could not see it. Chronna continued to feel the ground with her palms.

Ethan tapped Chronna’s shoulder and calmly placed the space specs on Chronna’s eyes as he assured her, “Don’t worry, you’re safe. There are dimensions and timelines like this where our eyes are not futuristically advanced enough to see, so we use the space specs.”

As Chronna and Ethan wore their space specs, the Cloud Atlas revealed itself to them. The place had grass like the ones on Earth, but it was color red-violet, and it was moving on its own- there wasn’t wind or anything, but the grass was dancing on its own.

There was no air to breathe in at Cloud Atlas, so soon, Chronna and Ethan developed gills around their cheeks, and their eyes adjusted to the darkness around them. Both their eyes started to look like reptiles.

With those eyes, they saw the glowing luminescent lights of the sea they were heading towards.

Ethan remarked, lost in its wonder, “Wow, what a spectacular view this is!” It took the two of them aback.

Chronna nodded in agreement, “Yeah, it really is beautiful.”

Chronna was taken aback by Ethan’s new appearance now, with the gills and reptile-like eyes.

She was shocked, so Ethan explained, “Calm down, it’s still me, Ethan.”

“Ethan? What happened to you?” Chronna asked, but then she also saw her reflection at the water; she had the same changes, “What happened to us? My eyes… and my- I have gills?”

“Yeah, as Irregulars, we are able to adapt to any dimension or timeline. Our bodies are able to mutate since we have no timeline to belong to originally.” Ethan explained as he projected his screen on the air with all the information about Cloud Atlas was written, “The air here is dense, and it does not allow us to breathe in our human bodies, so it mutated itself to survive.”

“How are you doing that?” Chronna asked as she hastily tried to grab the screen, but her hands just fell through. Ethan answered, “It’s one of the features of space specs. It is able to determine the conditions and everything we need to know about something or somewhere.”

With a deep sigh, Ethan looked at the neon-like lights floating on the sea. He asked, “But this is something new to me. I have never seen anything quite like it.”

“It’s called bioluminescence. It’s the light produced by the chemical reaction by living organisms meant as their defensive mechanism. It usually happens in water due to algae bloom of planktons.” A voice from behind scoffed, “Wonderful, isn’t it?”

Ethan looked behind him and saw a time guardian with its blank mask and long flowing black hair as it wore an elegant suit and tie. It also carried a briefcase.

All the Timekeepers or Time Guardians looked the same to protect their identity and timeline. Ethan learned on the job that each carries a briefcase, which contained portals and powerful explosives just in case the timelines became a wreck and needed to be destroyed.

Ethan was taught they were emotionless and calculating creatures. He cleared his throat and said to the time guardian, “I had no idea Timekeepers made senseless interactions.”

“Senseless.” The time Guardian muttered and continued, “You must be the space pizza delivery guy and the new irregular―”

“Chronna.” Ethan said, “And I’m Ethan.”

“Right. Well, Ethan and Chronna, the captain ordered it, but he’s currently trapped inside that ship.” The time guardian pointed at the enormous shipwreck at the asteroid belt and explained, “He has to leave now, but he is somehow… still there, and I don’t know why.”

Ethan was taken aback by this. He asked, “What do you mean you don’t know? All timekeepers know when something is supposed to happen, right? They know all the answers.”