Wordcount: 688
Rating/Warnings: PG
Summary: Tim and Wendy attempt to convince Gray that they are the Good Guys… works about as well as expected.

NOTE: This is a very rough draft with no editing at all (per National Novel Wiriting Month rules) and is presented for amusement value only. Think of it as a periscope into my writing process rather than a coherent story!

There will most likely be spelling and grammatical errors afoot as well as flat out bad writing, info dumps, plot holes, contradictions/retcons, uneven characterization and pacing. These snippits are also posted out of order, so please refer to the Outline to figure out where it’s supposed to fit.

~*~*~*~*~

A Little Chaos Theory

“I don’t belive that.” said Gray forefully. “We protect our children from harm, here you only expose them to harm. Give us the child back and give us a way home.”

“I can’t do that,” said White. “You can’t return to a timeline you’re from origonally. If I give her to you, you have no place to go.”

“We only have your word for that.” snapped Gray.

“The doors are timeline stable,” said Tim mildly. “If you go back you could go into the future or into the past. The dimensions protect themselves, the doors won’t let anything through that can cause a paradox.”

“But you go through!” obejcted Tan.

“And I can’t ever go back to where I’ve been before.” said White without any real malice, but some annoyance. “Which is why there have been children dissapearing in that world for as long as there have been children to dissapear. If you don’t believe me ask them,” she gesstured to the folks outside. “Ask them when they are from, those that remember at least, or what the world was like when they left. They might not have the best life here, but it’s better than the one they had.”

“But wait,” said Gray, “if you are taking children from various points in time, why doesn’t that affect the timeline.”

“Because they were always missing.” said White. “I only take the ones that died, I’m not stupid you know.”

“Can you verify?” Gray asked Tan, but he shook his head.

“Without the conenction to the net I can’t check much, I’ve only got the current few casefiles downloaded locally. Sorry.”

“Ask Victoria then,” said White.

“She’s five,” snapped Gray. “She’ll tell us whatever you’ve told her to.”

“She was five when she left,” said Tim. “What makes you think she’s five now?”

Gray just blinked.

“Time moves differently in the city, I said that already I think.” said Tim. “And she just mentioned the door has a tendancy to skip around in the timelines. What makes you think we took her at the same time you came in?”

“But the scent was there.” obejcted Tan.

“True,” said White. “But that was at the door, the city moves faster or slower depending on where you are standing in her. The further from the door the less coordinated the timelines are.” she sat back in her chair and gave them a tired handwave. “But go talk to her, go talk to anyone outside, we’ve got nothing to hide and nothing to prove to you. Stay or go, I don’t care, but you aren’t taking any of my children with you.”

Tan growled and she frowned at him until he stopped.

Tim sighed and stood, opening the door and motioning for them to leave. He came out behind them and closed it, leaving White to get to her work.

“You’re a bit of an oddity,” he said “no one has come in through the door without someone else letting them in before. At least no one we don’t recognize.”

“I think you’re pushing it a bit calling us odd.” Tan muttered. “You live in a city that apparently exists between dimensions, you kidnap children from worlds that you don’t agree with the social structure, and you are rude and abrasive to people who are attempting to bring those children back to safety.”

“As opposed to what?” asked Tim mildly. “Did you really expect us to hand her over to you to take home again? You really should have expected stronger resistance, to be honest. Most kidnappers aren’t as poliet or nonviolent.”

“I wouldn’t know,” snapped Gray, “we don’t have any where we come from.”

“Wait, seriously?” asked Tim.

“Seriously,” said Tan. “We are search and rescue, not police units, and those are few and far between. We’re very very careful with our children, we don’t waste them on insanity.”

“So what happens if you have a, hmm, insane person?” Tim asked curious.

“We make sure we don’t.” said Gray.

“How?”

“We don’t build them that way.”

“And you’re picking on our worldview.” said Tim with a rueful sigh. “Right.”