Library Time (Open)

[bears-omnitrix.livejournal.com]

For once, Ben hadn't deemed to go to the newly restocked Mr. Smoothie, or drive around. Nor was he beating on simulated monsters. Instead, he had been buried in a pile of books in the library, almost literally at times. He had purchased a lot of books and had been reading up on various things, including something that had been nagging at him for a while - Temporal Mechanics.

A lot of it was garbage from what he could tell, having experienced time travel in many forms. Discarding another book, he set it aside before picking up one and his eyes widened at the title. "Since when was this in here?"

The front of it read "Gemstones and Chrono Particles, a Dissertation of Time by P. Paradox."

Eagerly, Ben began to read it, pushing through the slightly bland material. Finally, after several hours, he set it down, rubbing his eyes. "It makes sense," he said, leaning back in his chair. "Now I get why Professor Paradox is so intent on protecting me."

The chapter he had opened to, was entitled "Cross-Time and You", and there was a symbol of the Omnitrix on it, or rather the Plumbers symbol on it. He chuckled ironically as he leaned back in the pile of books, trying to figure out how to deal with the knowledge that there were other timelines just as real as his own, with many Ben's sharing his face.

Comments

1/2

[projectkr-e-16.livejournal.com]

Superboy actually spent a good deal of time in the Library. Not because he spent time reading, though he would read more if he hadn't had a number of books placed into his head at Cadmus. Not only did this make him have to work fairly hard to find a book he hadn't "read," it also meant that books in general reminded him of telepathy, which he didn't like.

No the real reason he spent time in the library was the fact that it was generally quiet even when there were a lot of people. People also tended to leave him alone.

Of course, sometimes something catches his mind, like a person reading a book about alternate dimensions. If what Supergirl and Superboy had said was true, then that was directly relevant to him, so he walked over to him.

2/2

[projectkr-e-16.livejournal.com]

"Is that book about alternate realities?" He asked. Superboy was always quick to get to the point.

[bears-omnitrix.livejournal.com]

"Yep," replied Ben, showing off the title of it. "The author's a good friend of mine. Professor Paradox. He's a time traveller, though I'm surprised I was able to buy one of his books in a inter-bleed market world."

"I'm Ben by the way. Ben Tennyson."

[projectkr-e-16.livejournal.com]

"Superboy." He said, and held out his hand. He had gotten tired of being alone all the time. And Ben was his age, and kind of reminded him of Robin sort of.

[bears-omnitrix.livejournal.com]

Shaking firmly, Ben nodded. "Pull up a meaty chair and sit down a spell. Easier to talk to at any rate."

"I take it you're new on the ship?"

[projectkr-e-16.livejournal.com]

Superboy took a chair and sat down, "Meaty chair?" He asked, he was apparently right in his assessment, very Robin.

[bears-omnitrix.livejournal.com]

"Yep. Meaty chair. Most of the furniture is made of Stacy anyhow," said Ben, poking the chair that gave under his finger. "But yeah, it's not bad. I got used to it quick, but then again I deal with aliens all the time."

[projectkr-e-16.livejournal.com]

"I didn't even notice." Well... it wasn't that he didn't notice, it was more that he didn't care. His experiences were a lab, Kid Flashe's house and then Mount Justice. Even Kid Flash's house wasn't normal. The rest? Chairs made of living spaceships wasn't that strange to him really.

[bears-omnitrix.livejournal.com]

Ben chuckled at that as he set the book on his lap. "You were asking about the parallel worlds book I was reading right? Like I said, it's written by one of my friends from my own world."

[drowpaladin.livejournal.com]

Maydril had thought she was alone in the library, but finding a member of her family here didn't really bother her much.

"Find something interesting, Ben?"

She was drawn up into a meat chair, knees to her chest, and out of the familiar armor, nose buried in a book whose cover was blocked by her legs.

[bears-omnitrix.livejournal.com]

"Yeah I did. Found it in the pile of books I bought." Ben held up the book with the curious title on it. "It's a book written by a friend of mine, Professor Paradox. I guess he must have put it in the merchant city, knowing I'd buy it. He's always one step ahead of me."

[drowpaladin.livejournal.com]

"Well, I'm glad one of us did," she said. "I almost feel as if no one but me knows who Sonya del Thunder is!"

Maydril gave a sigh.

"So have you found anything pithy within? Worth sharing?" Despite the semi-sibling rivalry they had, the question was a serious one.

[bears-omnitrix.livejournal.com]

"I did actually. There's some stuff hidden in the notes here, but basically the Professor said that there's multiple timelines out there, all involving me actually. He calls it Cross-Time, which pretty much makes sense."

Ben furrowed his brow as he paged through it. "I don't know if he's being vague or anything, but he seems to be hinting to more stuff beyond my own timeline."

[drowpaladin.livejournal.com]

Her eyes widened. "Well. That sounds...very important. Not to mention quite unlike anything I've ever heard before."

Sure, there had probably been time travel in the Nexus cities, but May had never dealt with any of that personally.

"It sounds confusing," she admitted.

[bears-omnitrix.livejournal.com]

"Yeah it really does. What gets me is that it doesn't say if I'm Ben Prime so to speak. The original. But then again, there takes into account that Gwen comes from a time further than my own, so there's a possibility we're BOTH from different Cross-Time points." Ben sighed a little, rubbing his forehead.

"If that's the case, then while I'm still Ben, there's also other me out there, doing what we're supposed to be doing. Not fighting a war against a Bug Race."

[drowpaladin.livejournal.com]

"Wouldn't that be a good thing though? I mean...that means that hopefully someplace there are Knights, doing what they're supposed to as well. Even if I am not there and not involved."

Maydril's mouth twitched, and she frowned. "Well. I hope, any way. I hardly feel as if I am doing what I am supposed to here, where we are supposed to be fighting this war."

[bears-omnitrix.livejournal.com]

"You and me both. Back in Bellwood, we would have solved this by now. Pulled the impossible out of the hat. Got a new alien, SOMETHING. Instead I'm sitting around doing the one thing I don't like doing: reading."

Ben shrugged, propping the book up in his hands. "If it weren't for this book I wouldn't be reading today."

[swordstabmagica.livejournal.com]

Sayaka blinked as she headed into the library. She felt like going to read something, oddly enough, so here she was.

And there was Ben. Buried in books. He didn't really seem to be the type though, but then again, it wasn't really like she knew him all that well. "What are you reading?" she asked, heading over to him.

[bears-omnitrix.livejournal.com]

"Gemstones and Chrono Particles, a Dissertation of Time." replied Ben, flipping through the page, looking up at Sayaka with a light smile. "It's written by a friend of mine."

"It's been a couple of weeks, hasn't it?"

[swordstabmagica.livejournal.com]

Sayaka blinked. "Wow... that's really... wait, what? How'd he be able to figure stuff like that out?"

She nodded. "And yeah, it has..."

[bears-omnitrix.livejournal.com]

"Professor's been a genius for as long as I knew him, and he did his best work in the 1950s. That, and he's now a timewalker, which means he exists outside of time." Ben grinned. "Grab a chair."

[swordstabmagica.livejournal.com]

Sayaka blinked. "I... people actually exist who have time travel powers?" She asked, grabbing a chair and sitting down next to Ben. "How... I'm not even going to pretend to figure out how that could work. It'd just give me a headache."

[bears-omnitrix.livejournal.com]

"I haven't figured it out myself, but that's the Professor for you." replied Ben with an easy grin, shrugging. "I'm sure it's happened somewhere, somehow and again. And again. Who knows."

Ben you have no idea how close to the 4th wall you're leaning there.

[swordstabmagica.livejournal.com]

Sayaka couldn't help but laugh a bit. "I see. I'm glad I really don't need to worry about it right now though. Any reason you were reading it?"

[bears-omnitrix.livejournal.com]

"Mostly because I stumbled onto it in the pile of stuff I bought at random, but also because I wanted to see if there was any hidden messages he left me. So far, there hasn't really been much in there right now." admitted Ben. "I mean, there's a lot of good information, and it's nice to see something left by the professor so forthcoming, but I'm always hoping the people I know are still around. Gwen's here, but it doesn't feel like it's enough, y'know?"