#possible catastrophe

And so days passed. Days became weeks. Weeks became months. Jamal and I would go out hunting, though most of the time it was ALAN how caught our food. Jennifer would disect it before we would eat.

Each day I would take a shot from the stabilizer. The pain would be excrutiating, but it would have to be done. Slowly, but surely my body started to get into shape. It was the 1st time I had been in 1 body for so long in years. It was kind of strange. But the good times couldn't last.

"The buildup of instability in the stabilizer is getting too big. I don't know how much more it can take. We have to figure out something to do with it," Jennifer continued. "If we don't the whole thing could explode. We don't know the damage it could do. The quantum energy could be catastrophic! It could destroy the future!"

"I don't think we have to worry about that." We all turned to the sound of the new voice. "Trust me. I just came from there. It's fine."

The woman that entered the cave looked to be in her thirties. She had light brown skin and shortly cropped black hair. She appeared to be wearing tight leather pants, a blue t-shirt, and a brown coat that was much too heavy for the prehistorical summer heat. I say 'appeared' because I noticed her swirling multicolored eye mod that made me think that her clothes were likely some futuristic material.

"'Oo t' 'ell arrre yoo?" Jamal growled.

The woman laughed. "I'm going to assume it's because of your strange new eyes you don't recognize me. "That and I'm something like 20 years older than the last time you saw me, but seriously, Dad, come on."

Jamal's reptilean jaw dropped. "'Ahtilda?"

The woman curtsied. "In the flesh."

"I don't underrrstan'," Jamal said as this older, stranger Mathilda walked toward him. "'Ow? Ry?"

"Hold that thought," Mathilda interrupted. She took from her pocket something that looked very much like a pen, then slammed it hard into Jamal's skin. Jamal flinched. I raised my gun. And the woman, she giggled. "Don't worry. I've only just injected him with nanites."

"You what?" I screamed as Jamal roared out in pain.

to be continued next week