The Perfect Run

• Spring 2018, farm near Firenze, Italy.

An eighteen-years old Ryan Romano kicked the laboratory’s door open, naked as the day he was born. “Braindead!” he shouted, raising a rabbit plushie above his head. “I did it! I did it!”

His ‘roommate’ Alchemo, who had been busy operating on an extracted dog’s brain, raised his head at Ryan. This lanky cyborg had bones made of brass, steel pumps for organs, and glass for veins; his hands ended with syringes. A brain and two green eyes floated in its glass dome of a skull, glaring at the time-traveler.

“Why are you naked, you shameless exhibitionist?” The voice that came out of the cyborg’s speaker was annoyed, but not surprised. “Have you let your base, biological urges run wild yet again?”

“Yes, but no!” Ryan replied happily, waving his new invention at the cybernetic Genius. “I just couldn’t wait to show you the truth!”

The cyborg looked at the beautiful toy without a word. For a moment, the only sound that echoed in the workshop was that of computers. The Genius’s laboratory was a true den of mad science, a chaotic gallery of brains in jars, tubes full of multicolored, chemical substances, and experimental weed strains. The Chronoradio awaited on a table nearby, hooked to an artificial brain and a miniature particle accelerator.

“What is this?” Alchemo finally asked. “A scavenged children’s toy?”

“The test probe!” Ryan replied proudly. “It’s way more imaginative than another rover!”

“And why a lagomorph plushie, exactly?”

“Well, it’s cute. If the dimension is inhabited, it will lull the locals into complacency.”

To prove it, Ryan flipped the back switch, waking up the plushie. Its blue eyes shone with artificial light, and it immediately played a pre-recorded message, “I love you!”

“See?” Ryan asked. “It comes with lasers and is programmed to protect children under the age of thirteen. It’s completely safe.”

“Sometimes I wonder if your neural connections are damaged beyond repair,” Alchemo said, absentmindedly finishing his current surgery. “But it is as you wish.”

Alchemo, or Braindead as Ryan liked to call him, was a Genius with a special focus on neural technology. Brain-machine interfaces, brains in a jar, sensory drugs, if it involved neurons, he could do it. Ryan had known him for over two years, at least from his point of view. They even started a drug cartel together in a previous loop, though that venture ended with Ryan shot by one of his maddened customers.

But it was fun! Maybe Ryan will dedicate this new loop to make their Rampage start-up work this time?

In any case, the time-traveler had dedicated the last decade or so to mastering Genius tech, learning from the best. With enough knowledge, the time-traveler hoped he could find a way to travel further back in time; before he drank his Elixir.

Progress was slow but worthwhile. Alchemo in particular might finally find a way to make the Chronoradio work.

“Romano.”

“Yes?”

“Put something on before the Doll sees you,” the Genius all but ordered his roommate. “You already corrupted her mind enough with your ‘body enhancements.’”

“You’re just jealous of my android design talent.”

“I fail to see the use in mammaries in an asexual gynoid construct,” Alchemo replied icily, completely missing the point. “Anyway, toss that thing into the accelerator. You still will not tell me the purpose of these experiments?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Ryan replied, moving towards the device. The mini particle accelerator took the shape of a small metal tube with a hatch, hooked to the Chronoradio. Ryan quickly opened it and put the plushie inside, like a child in an escape pod.

“We won’t know unless you try,” Alchemo grumbled.

Well, maybe Ryan could? Most of the people he confided in during the early loops didn’t believe him, but Braindead had grown more and more open-minded in the Violet Genome’s company. “How about I tell you if the experiment is a success?” the courier asked, before remembering something important. “Also, you should stop abusing that metaboost drug you designed. The side effects will catch up to you.”

“How do you kno—were you looking into my stash? You thief, I should have you expelled from my property!”

“Sure, sure,” Ryan replied, knowing the cranky genius’s bark was worse than his bite. “Alright, so the particle accelerator should send the plushie to that alternate dimension I told you about. It is equipped with a camera and the best artificial intelligence hardware I could find.”

“Knowing you, that’s not saying much.”

Ryan eventually put on a red shawl around his waist, though only because Braindead refused to activate the machine unless he covered his most powerful weapon. Once they were ready, Alchemo transformed his fingers from syringes to USB keys and hooked himself to a computer. The particle accelerator made a terrible sound as it activated, like the roar of a living engine.

“So far so good,” Braindead said, processing data directly into his brain. “Energy readings are stable.”

“Did it teleport?” Ryan asked, hands clenched in excitement.

“I wouldn’t say it teleports, but it coexists in two dimensions so long as the accelerator is active,” Braindead replied with what could pass for a shrug. “Are you sure you want that device hooked to a car’s engine? Seems like a waste of promising technology.”

to do the same. Ryan could settle for an alternate Earth where his family and Len were both still alive. “Have you watched Back to the

watch movies, I

hooked his brain to artificial ones to experience false memories. Ryan himself wondered if he should enter the market considering his wealth of experience, though two-thirds of his past would be rated

the noise from the particle accelerator lessened and finally subsided completely. Ryan expected to find the plushie missing, but instead, a brief, violet flash suddenly

its big,

the plushie raising its ears as if it was a living

play together!” said the plushie, raising its tiny hands on its own. The time-traveler started hearing

that dirty thing, except with a stick?” Alchemo replied, disengaging from the computer to observe this furry wonder of engineering. “Perhaps the energy blast

glared at the Genius, its

it could even make

ZAP!

laser went through it, vaporizing the brain inside. Ryan barely had the time to cover his head with his arms, shards cutting his skin while the cyborg’s body collapsed to

hidden lasers within having activated

looking

did anything wrong. “Let’s go to

a failure. “Now I have to reload

the courier casually headbutted the nearest jar

a few minutes earlier, gazing into

plushie looked back at the time-traveler, orienting its ears at him instead of

created a new save point since yesterday night! Did… did the experiment force

accelerator to look at death once more. “Is the

turned red yet

on its back and save the Genius, but the plushie hopped out of the particle accelerator and onto a nearby table. Alien voices echoed through the

it with a switchblade?” Alchemo asked. “Also, you have a weird choice in sound

was for self-defense only!” Ryan replied, wondering if he should just use a time-stop and be done

The time-traveler didn’t program the plushie to react like this! Had the accelerator damaged the hardware inside? It was as if

and he realized it didn’t belong to a rabbit anymore. The shape didn’t fit any creature of

The good news, the particle accelerator

bringing

is all this

she looked normal at first glance, with a lovely heart-shaped face, one only had to give a cursory glance at her arms to realize her true nature: that

the Turing test. Though he pretended to have created her to assist

featureless body, and called it quits.

even gave her

the plushie hiding its switchblade arm behind its back and changing its eyes from red to blue. Even the alien voices had suddenly fallen

mayhaps,” Alchemo mused, none the wiser. “Methinks you

her hands together. “It is so adorable… what are you hiding behind

slowly revealed his

instead of a switchblade, it held a

it said

she took the flower. Wait, Ryan thought, where did it find a rose in this lifeless dump? “Thank you,” Doll said, petting the plushie behind the ears. “It is

Ryan pleaded. “You don’t know where it has

a child, and the tiny monster didn’t resist. She looked at Alchemo, who had observed the scene with some

a grunt, uncaring. “Do as

of my stuff like

my medicine

plushie looked at Ryan over Doll’s shoulders, its eyes turning from blue

what was bound to happen,

A containment breach.

He didn’t record anything though; he just wanted to monologue. “My hunt for the plushie continues. The beast has eluded capture so far, but I do

sense of safety, and then immediately ran away when she wasn’t looking. Ryan had followed its trail for over

had to follow the corpses,

weight of their owner. The newest ones were

crossed paths with animals like

most dangerous game of all, or something about homo sapiens infuriated

to a farm closest to Alchemo’s. He didn’t have to look

plushie had shoved an apple down her throat, like a pig ready for roasting. The responsible party stood next to her, eyes crimson

seemed to struggle with lighting a match with its associated box, while its captive

Ryan shouted, raising his rifle at the monster he had created. “Drop the

the time-traveler and finally lit a

plushie dangled the match over the woodpile, seemingly

“Mom?”