Chapter 63: Paradox Seeking Help Again
The morning sun filtered through the dense canopy of the forest, casting dappled shadows over the gleaming metallic hull of the Rustbucket. Parked right beside a gently babbling river, the campsite was a picture of absolute tranquility. Grandpa Max stood by a portable camping stove, humming a cheerful tune as he stirred a pot of something that smelled suspiciously like boiled tentacles and heavy paprika.
Gwen lay stretched out on a folding sun lounger, a pair of oversized sunglasses resting on her nose as she soaked in the warm rays. Right beside her, Klein occupied an identical lounger, his eyes closed in a state of lazy bliss. A few feet away, the rapid-fire clicking of plastic buttons broke the peace—Ben was hunched over his handheld console, furiously mashing the controls of his Sumo Slammers game.
Without warning, Klein opened his eyes, pushed himself off the lounger, and stretched his arms over his head. "I am going for a walk," he announced, his tone flat and leaving no room for argument. "You don't need to follow."
Gwen, who had already half-risen to join him, paused. Hearing the finality in his voice, she obediently sank back into the canvas of her chair, adjusting her sunglasses and returning to her sunbath.
The crunch of dry leaves underfoot was the only sound as Klein ventured deeper into the woods. After walking a fair distance, he abruptly stopped in a small clearing. He didn't bother turning around.
"Paradox," Klein said to the empty air. "Is there something you need me for?"
"Discovered, as expected."
A swirling vortex of crackling blue energy tore through the fabric of space just a few yards away. Professor Paradox stepped out of the portal, adjusting his lab coat with a polite, unbothered smile.
Klein offered a lazy shrug. Paradox's voyeuristic tendencies across the space-time continuum were certainly impressive, but slipping past his senses was an entirely different matter.
"I don't think I have arrived at a bad time, have I?" Paradox asked, glancing at his pocket watch. "You appear to have plenty of free time at the moment."
"Skip the useless small talk, Paradox," Klein replied, crossing his arms. "Has something major happened again?"
Taking the hint, Paradox dropped the pleasantries. "In a parallel universe located within the fifty-fourth quadrant, a parallel temporal counterpart of your cousin has encountered a rather... tricky situation. I imagine you wouldn't just stand idly by, would you?"
"Ben?" Klein raised an eyebrow, his voice dripping with casual indifference. "No matter the universe, he always runs into trouble. He needs to overcome those difficulties on his own. These are things I won't overly interfere with."
Klein shook his head. He firmly believed in Ben's chaotic, yet highly effective, ability to scrape through any disaster.
"Your cousin is about to kill your other cousin," Paradox blurted out, his tone entirely too casual for the words he had just spoken.
Klein froze. The lazy indifference vanished from his posture in an instant. "Huh?!...Let's go."
He stepped toward the portal without a second thought.
Paradox offered a knowing, slightly smug smile. He knew exactly which buttons to press. It was all part of the plan.
"However, let me make this perfectly clear beforehand," Paradox warned, holding up a finger. "You cannot kill him. He is being forced into this."
The time traveler was genuinely worried that Klein might accidentally obliterate the attacker in a fit of protective rage, choosing to destroy his own relative for the sake of righteousness—even if they weren't technically his exact relatives in this timeline.
Klein's eyes narrowed. He stared at the swirling blue energy. "...Mm."
If Ben were there to hear that slight pause, he would have undoubtedly screamed: 'Why are you hesitating?! Say something!'
Back at the campsite, Grandpa Max turned off the portable stove and wiped his hands on his apron. "You two, who is going to call Klein? Lunch is just about ready."
"I'll go!" Ben and Gwen shouted in perfect, accidental unison.
They scrambled up from their respective spots, kicking up dirt as they sprinted in the direction Klein had disappeared.
"Dweeb! Why didn't you just wait there?!" Gwen snapped, trying to shove her cousin out of the way.
"Dork! I can call him myself! You go back and eat your weird lunch first!" Ben shoved her right back.
Trading elbows and insults, the two of them crashed through the underbrush. They burst into the clearing just in time to see the tail end of Klein's jacket disappearing into a swirling blue portal, with Professor Paradox stepping in right behind him.
"Cousin!" they yelled together.
Without a single thought for their own safety, Ben and Gwen lunged forward, diving headfirst into the closing rift.
A few minutes later, Grandpa Max wandered into the clearing, holding a ladle. He blinked at the empty space, scratching his head. "Hmm? Not here? Where on earth did they go?"
Because Ben and Gwen had tried to squeeze through the portal side-by-side, the spatial transit was incredibly cramped. The moment they materialized on the other side, gravity took over, and they tumbled out in a tangled heap of limbs.
"It seems your cousins have decided to tag along," an adult male voice noted from above.
"Ugh... That hurts," Ben groaned, rubbing his bruised elbow against the dusty concrete floor.
Gwen shook her head, pushing herself up and dragging Ben to his feet.
"What are you two doing here?" Klein asked, staring at them with a mixture of confusion and deep exhaustion.
"Uh... we wanted to call you for lunch," Gwen stammered, offering a sheepish, awkward smile. She nervously fiddled with the hem of her shirt, terrified Klein was going to scold her for following him.
Ben shot her a betrayed glare. 'Aren't you worried he'll blame me too? We are in this together!' he thought.
Klein let out a long, helpless sigh. He reached out and gently patted Gwen's head, ruffling her hair. What else could he really say to his own family?
Ben, entirely unbothered by the awkward tension, turned his curious gaze toward the man in the lab coat. Cousin's friend? He definitely didn't remember seeing this guy around the Rustbucket.
Catching the boy's stare, Paradox smiled warmly. "Ben? It has been a long time. Well, from your perspective, you do not know me yet. But I must say, you are much more like yourself than your future self is. There is a fascinating reason for this, but alas, I cannot tell you."
Ben blinked, his face scrunching up in total bewilderment. He turned to Klein, pointing a thumb at the strange man. "Cousin, who is this guy?"
"A peeping tom," Klein replied flatly.
Hearing that, Ben and Gwen instantly took two large steps backward, putting a very safe distance between themselves and Paradox.
"How can you say that about me?!" Paradox gasped, clutching his chest in mock offense. "Klein, I am a time traveler, not a peeping tom!" He looked ready to sue for defamation on the spot.
Clearing his throat, Paradox turned back to the kids, offering a polite bow. "Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Professor Paradox. You may simply call me Paradox."
"Paradox?" Ben repeated, looking around at the crumbling brick walls and shattered windows. "Where exactly are we?"
"Hmm... how should I put this?" Paradox tapped his chin thoughtfully. "This is a rather desolate corner of California. But it is not your original California. We are currently in the California of the fifty-fourth parallel universe."
"The fifty-fourth parallel universe?!" Ben and Gwen exchanged wide-eyed, shocked glances.
"Alright, Paradox, where to now?" Klein asked, ignoring the kids' existential crisis as he surveyed their surroundings. They were standing inside a decaying, abandoned building, dust motes dancing in the shafts of light that pierced through the broken roof.
"Follow me. I was just missing you... ah, no, missing all of you!" Paradox corrected himself with a chuckle, turning toward a rusted metal staircase.
He led the group up to the higher floors of the ruined structure, his footsteps echoing in the empty halls.
"Are there other people here?" Gwen asked, her curiosity overriding her caution as she hurried up the steps.
"Of course," Paradox replied, tossing a mysterious smile over his shoulder. "In fact, I believe you should be very familiar with them."
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