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her locks hung limp.
    "I think we should just do this and get the hell out of here," said Dale, face red and sweaty.
    "Me too. God, can you imagine us being in here for days at a time? How did we cope?"
    "I think that's the problem, honey, we didn't cope very well and you heard what Tellan said about all the madness. Let's just do this and get the other part over with. I'm freaking out big time."
    "Okay, so what do we do?" Amanda thought about it; how were they supposed to get the book that the other them read to appear in mid-air.
    "Not sure. What did Tellan say? That the other me said the book just thumped to the ground?"
    "Ah, yes. But he didn't say they, we, saw it in the air, just that we heard it land. Come on, I have an idea." Amanda grabbed Dale and pulled him to the tree they were now a few paces away from. She began to climb, then said, "Oops," and dropped back down and picked up the Hexad, knowing her face was redder than Dale's. "Best not to forget this."
    "What you up to?"
    "You'll see." Amanda smiled, then winked at Dale. Ignoring the inside-out world they were in she began to climb once more. "Come on, we have to get up."
    With a shrug of the shoulders Dale followed Amanda into the canopy.
    Halfway up, Amanda crawled out onto a thick branch and waited for Dale to clamber along beside her. "Okay, we just have to drop the book. It will land below on the floor and the other us will see it."
    "Haha, good idea. But, erm, don't we have to wait until we are here then? I mean them."
    "Look," whispered Amanda, pointing down.
    "Oh my god, it's us!"
    "Ssh. Don't let them hear." This is the craziest thing ever. It's us, a future us. Amanda watched as she and Dale talked, then she made some careful adjustments to the Hexad, the 5 flashing, giving her comfort. She whispered, "Ready?" to Dale, who nodded then lowered his arm, clutching the book tightly, holding onto Amanda with his other hand.
    "Ready?"
    Amanda nodded and Dale dropped the book. She pushed the dome against Dale's shoulder. They jumped.
     
    ~~~
     
    2900 Years Future
     
    "I think this is weirder than seeing us in The Chamber," said Dale, as they waved at themselves high on a gantry in a space so large it defied the senses.
    "I know. That's us up there and they'll be jumping down any moment. Wow, that was so strange in that place, I feel weird."
    "Me too. Kind of makes you all dizzy, like nothing makes sense. Oh, here we go."
    The Dale and Amanda that they just saw take the book, sometime after this very meeting, appeared a little over fifty meters away. Amanda looked at Dale nervously then straightened her back. She tried to look confident but almost freaked out as she couldn't remember her lines. And come to think of it, how did The Caretaker know exactly what had been said? No time to think about it now, they had to get this right.
    "Don't come any closer," warned Amanda, finally remembering the words. This is ridiculous.
    Two minutes later and the conversation was almost over. The other Dale was holding the other Amanda, who was struggling to get away, fear almost making Amanda not do what she knew they had to. Was there a choice? Could she decide not to send herself and the Dale to that awful place? No, as who knew what the consequences were? If they did this then it would all be over, right? Life would go back to normal.
    Dale and Amanda rushed toward a future/alternate version of themselves. They got closer and closer. The other them blinked out of existence.
    "We did it," said Dale, with a nervous smile, clearly feeling as unsure of what they'd just done as Amanda.
    "We sure did. Poor us, we have to go through so much now, in there."
    Silence descended. Amanda and Dale shuffled about, expecting the world to change, to find themselves back home, maybe waking up in the morning like none of it had happened.
    Nothing.
    "What do we do now? I thought this was it? We filled in the gaps we missed when we did this before and then everything makes sense. Haha,