Chapter 47: 47: Looping

I was looping. 

Looping through time, and looping through space. 

Every time I walked out of the room on one side, I ended up walking right back into it on the opposite side. I'd never encountered a problem like this before, and I couldn't even end my synchro mode with BB to ask if he had any tips, because I was sure that the moment I did whoever was orchestrating this looping time would come at me with the full force of their reality-warping powers. 

"I'm fine," I said in response to Yr'Arl's question, "But I'm telling you, I'm trapped in a time loop. From my perspective, we've walked through this exact room about 15 times over, and neither of you seem to have any recollection of those other times." 

"That's because it didn't happen, we only just left the cargo bay, are you sure you're feeling alright Jacob?" Fal asked, her eyes a light cool blue, which must have meant concern. 

"I'm telling you, we're in a time loop, or… I am… I don't know how it works yet, I haven't figured it all out," I retorted. 

I was trying not to be too annoyed with them, it was a pretty unbelievable thing to be told all of a sudden. 

"There have been reports of manna being used in strange and esoteric ways, such as the manipulation of space-time, but none have been observed to create a looping effect as you are describing," Yr'Arl said. "If you are correct about this, then whoever is using their manna on you is very powerful indeed. Have you done any experiments to chart the effects?"

I shook my head. "I've only just realised that the effects are happening, this is the first loop I've spoken to either of you about it," I replied. 

"In that case, Jacob Lyre, it may be difficult but I advise that you restart the loop again and take great care in keeping track of any clues that might serve to be a way out for you," Yr'Arl said. "All manna can be defeated, you just have to devise a way to get around it." 

"Okay…" I said, "Thank you for your advice, both of you. I don't know why I'm thanking you it's not like you're going to remember this in a few moments. 

I walked out of the room on one side and walked back into it on the other. 

This time in the loop I wasn't going to do anything different. I was just going to walk through the sequence as it originally happened, eyes wide and watching for anything that might give me a clue as to what was going on. 

The room was weird, to begin with. We were walking along the outskirts of a strange design that I couldn't even begin to understand. There were four large struts pointing upward in the shape of a diamond, in the center of which was an ominously glowing light. In between each of the struts was a smaller block, all four of which were producing a very low hum. 

We walked through the door on one side of the room. 

And I walked back in through the opposite side. 

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"Hey, Fal, you said you worked on old colony ships like this, right?" I asked. 

She looked back at me as she walked, "Yeah, why'd you ask?"

I stopped, just before she could make it out of the room and out of the loop. 

"This thing here, what exactly is it?" I jabbed my thumb toward the pillar. "It seems to be transmitting a whole lot of power at the moment. Should we be concerned about it?"

"You know, I'm not actually sure," she replied. "Whatever that is, I don't remember it from the original schematics. Maybe it's something that Clan Pren modified and brought on board." 

She and Yr'Arl left the room, leaving me alone inside it for the very first time. The loop didn't reset. That meant it only reset whenever I left the boundary of this room for some reason. 

Either way, all energy that got transmitted in this universe had some basing or another in manna, which meant my trusty Null Space sword should be just enough to disrupt the flow. If that pillar was causing my current predicament, then hopefully disrupting the flow would disrupt the time field that was holding me captive at the moment. 

I swung my sword into the path of the beam. The energy flickered and died the moment my sword touched it, so my theory that it was based on manna energy was entirely correct. However, my assumption that it was controlling the time field was proven wrong just as quickly. 

The hull of the ship creaked under the sudden strain of an entire ocean's worth of pressure crushing it down from above. That power conduit had clearly been what was linking this ship's shielding to the greater manna protection system that was being powered by the manna cores up in the megabuildings of the city. Without that protection, this ship was just a tin can waiting to be crumpled by a fist. 

A high powered leak struck me from behind, strong enough not to break my corona shield but to make me stumble all the same. If I stayed in here I was going to die. The time loop that had previously been my captive was now going to be my saviour. 

I activated my anti-gravity fields and sprung forward with propulsion, soaring through the door… and back through the other door that led back into the room. 

I crashed down on the floor hard and tumbled into Yr'Arl and Fal's legs, knocking them down with me. 

"Jacob Lyre, are you well?" Yr'Arl asked as we disentangled ourselves from the pile on the ground. 

I wasn't feeling well. I wasn't feeling well at all, Because I was still trapped in a time loop. 

And so far nothing I had tried had allowed me to escape.

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