Robin picked up the glass and drank the Atomic Water in a hurry, as if it was the last glass of water in the desert.
"Hey, drink slowly, okay?", Dustin warned him. Robin kept drinking as if his life depended on it.
"You must be dehydrated. The portal was on fire when I approached," Dustin continued. "Tell me what went wrong - was it a mechanical failure, or overheating?", he asked.
"None of the two. It was a sudden power cut, the portal went to a stop so I crashed" Robin replied still a bit agitated. Dustin gave him a few seconds.
"Feeling better?" Dustin asked.
"Yeah, although still somewhat dazed from the explosion."
"A moment ago you said that Oasis Landing is no longer your home. What happened there?
"Ask me better, what didn't happen."
"Any problems with the volunteer mother and your engineered baby?
"No, everything went fine, but, as it turns out, the 'volunteer' was Kaleigh Chandelace, my ex-girlfriend from high school."
"Oh? --Wait, don't tell me you and her..."
"Of course not. I'm married, remember?" Robin replied, with another big sip of water.
"But in the Future there's no such thing as exclusivity, remember?"
"True, but I have enough problems as it is, so I set my boundaries with Kaleigh."
"I understand, and I applaud your good sense, but then-- where's the baby?"
Robin set aside the now empty glass and exhaled a sigh.
"He stayed in Oasis Landing with his mother. My idea was to bring him with me later, but something happened that won't allow me to go back there," he replied.
"Something happened? What do you mean?"
"The Population Council found out that I got married here, to Ann, and that we had a daughter. They also know that I have a son with Juliette. It is illegal for a traveler to have children in another time. They took away my parental rights, issued warrants for my arrest and sent the police after me, so I escaped--with the help of Emit and Kaleigh, of course. If it hadn't been for them, I wouldn't be here now, but locked up in some cell in Oasis Landing Prison."
"Oh, my goodness."
(To be continued...)
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