Second Chances

• Lopez and Renner took the corner at a full run, and barreled into their lab, slamming and locking the door behind them. Safe at last, they thought, when someone spoke from the corner. They didn't even need to ask who it was. “Nobody move,” the voice said. Dr. Lopez gave in to his first reaction, which was to turn around and answer; as soon as he started, he heard a click, a warm hum, and then a growled, “I said, 'Nobody move.'" Then, paradoxically, “Turn around.” They turned, to see Marten Walker, as usual, holding a sleek MED pistol in his right hand. He swaggered triumphantly forward, smiling the little smile that Renner alternately hated and loved. “Nice to see you,” he said mockingly. “From the future, right?. Trying to prevent that oh-so terrible catastrophe from ever happening to the poor human race. What was it, again?"
  
• “The sun's implosion,” Renner mumbled. Walker laughed cruelly.
  
• “Oh, right. The sun's implosion. Nice story -- just plausible enough to fake,” he said. “Come from the future, get them to build you a temporal portal and a ... what was it? ... a mass augmenter for the sun. Brilliant plan, really -- once you're done, you steal the augmenter, use it to loot and rob the world for a little while ... and then you hop into your machine, wink back a few months or years, and do it again to a world where it hasn't happened yet.” Walker shook his head. “Didn't fool me. But why'd you kill Duncan? Did he figure it out? I don't think so -- he was never that bright. So why?” Silence greeted his question. Walker shrugged. “Well, doesn't matter now. Your game is fini, over, done.” He leveled the MED pistol at Lopez's head. “I don't think anyone will long remember you.” Renner laughed suddenly.
  
• And Lopez laughed.
  
• Walker stood, dumbstruck. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that, at his point of triumph, where he'd liberated humanity from these racqueteers of relativity, where he held them at gunpoint and laid bare their plans, that they would laugh at him. He seethed, gently, dangerously,. He counted to five, listening to the distant alarms and running footsteps in the corridors outside ... and an alarm bell went off in his mind. He ignored it, and then asked, softly, “Why are you laughing at me?” And Renner stood up, still clucking and chuckling. She dusted off her pants.
  
• “Are you done yet? Honestly, how long do you think we've been doing this?” she asked, smiling. “Let me tell you -- a long time. How many times do you think you've caught us at this game?” She looked down at Lopez. “A dozen? Maybe more?” Lopez shook his head, and stood. “At least two dozen,” he said, adding, “Duncan never catches on until much too late, and, by then, it's hit-or-miss whether he's told you of his fears. Sometimes he does, and you catch us. Sometimes he doesn't, and we get away with it. It doesn't much matter -- we only needed to succeed a couple dozen times, and then we were set. You see, each time we came back, what do you think we found?” Walker had taken a step back, his mind not wanting to probe where this was going. Renner continued, advancing on him with a look of dark glee.
  
• “That's right, Marten. Us. Ourselves, planning and preparing to launch this same scheme. We were as surprised as any, the first time -- but we soon warmed to the idea. Who better, after all, to collaborate with than yourselves?” He laughed lightly, beautifully. It made Walker want to shoot her. She seemed to see this on his face. “Go ahead, shoot me. Don't you think I've been shot before? I've seen it, hundreds of times.” She paused, cocked her head, smiled sweetly, and said, “Ooh, and we've kept you too long. Now it's all over. Better luck next time!” And it was then that Walker realized what his brain had been trying to tell him. Too many footsteps outside. And then the door opened. In walked Renner. And Lopez. And Lopez. And another Lopez, followed by a half-dozen Renners, a neverending cavalcade of two people. They all wore the same grin, the same damned smile, and they all carried the same MED rifle. Renner -- one of them -- smiled at him, then frowned and said, “This isn't nearly as fun as the ones where I get to seduce you.” And then she fired, a death-sweet grin plastered on her face.