(Time Across Space)

Hank washed his hands in the tiny sink. It was four in the afternoon, and the day was almost done. His arthritis was acting up, and he'd just about make it home for his meds before both his hands cramped up permanently.

He dried his hands and exited the restroom into the gift shop. Evelyn was selling tickets to a young couple and issuing them wristbands. Better get back to my post, he thought, and he hustled as much as his arthritis would allow. He passed the miniature monuments and the old'76 flags and the tiny jugs of maple syrup and went out onto the deck.

The Bennington Battle Monument was there as always, a stout reminder of one of the greatest battles in the Lizardman Wars. Der Chelonian Mobile was there as well, restored to close to its glory - with only a few repaired cracks and scorch marks left to tell the tale of its role in the epic battle.

There were a few kids still left at this hour, running frantically about, avoiding their parents. There was one guy on the deck of the ship looking around wide-eyed with wonder. He'd seen that look before - the look of amazement one gets upon seeing this site for the first time. The man looked the monument up and down, watching the kids for a minute before turning to face the gift shop. He made eye contact with Hank, and for a moment Hank saw the look of a man gone mad.

He looked the man up and down quickly, noting that he looked like some sort of period beaver trapper. Buckskin breeches, coonskin hat - was there a reenactment I today I didn't know about? Hank looked back up in the man's face, but by now the look had gone. The man looked around the park one more time, then retreated back to the interior of the ship.

Huh, Hank thought. If I didn't know any better, I'd think the poor guy was cracking up...

{Bridge Across Time}

Thor stormed into the mead hall in a fury. He swept Mjölnir across a table, knocking tankards and chargers hither and yon. Two-hundred-year-old mead splattered everywhere, dripping through the planks of the table. Fungår, Thor's boozehound, hauled himself up from his place in front of the fireplace and started to lap up the mead. "My work here is never done," he sighed to himself.

"WHERE IS THAT BROTHER OF MINE???" Thor bellowed. His words echoed off the stone walls, and as they did, one of the elk heads mounted here and there across the hall woke up, and started to speak.

"How do you make a pool table laugh? 

You reach into its pockets and tickle its balls!"

Thor whirled to face the elk, his face aglow with anger. The elk turned to face him, and gulped...

"Now. Is. Not. The. TIIIIIIIME!" The elk blenched in fear, then retreated to its dormant state. There was no point in telling jokes when the master was THIS upset.

Thor turned to see a tall, leggy redhead entering the hall. His anger abated almost immediately. He turned and opened his arms wide.

"Thrud, my dear, sweet daughter. What news do you bring from Midgard? Is it as bad as we fear?"

Thrud walked up to him and hugged her father, not without warmth. She pulled back, and he could see the lines of worry crisscrossing her face.

"It ain't good..." She had been spending too much time with humans, he thought. "Reality seems to be wearing off for some reason. The universes are relapsing."

Thor scowled. This was not good. They had worked so hard to bring things together after that band of fools had messed everything up. He had trusted them. But now it seemed their plan was a failure, and everything they had worked for was coming undone.

"This is not good, my daughter. We need to convene the Table of the Elders. Go to your uncle now. Tell him he must attend. Tell him I'm NOT fucking around."

Thrud blinked in shock. He had been spending too much time with humans, she thought. She reached up and gave him a quick kiss n his beard, turned on her heels and left. As he watched her leave the hall, for the first time he was worried about the future. Not only was the fabric of reality coming apart again, but his daughter was becoming a woman. A robust, shapely woman. Thor shook his head to clear his mind of the images that popped into his head, and instead reached into the fur pouch at his belt. He closed his eyes and asked the universe a question.

He drew three runes.


 Thor
 Ulcer
 Man

He thought back to those idiots he'd asked to help with the whole "Universe unravelling" thing. One of them, a man, had made very obvious eyes at his daughter.

What in Hel was his name?