Traveling at an accelerated speed through time is quite a strange sensation, as Jessie and Norman would readily support if you asked them. Somewhere in between the year 1991 (Dot years) and 2939, the three travelers sped along in their inter-dimensional machine to meet what adventures awaited them once time was allowed to resume its natural rate. In the in-between, however, there was time enough still for conversation.
“Why didn’t Captain Myghxz come along?” asked Norman Bufort, bracing himself as Time itself whizzed by. “Well, you see,” replied Dr. Pea, “the reason I asked you two to come along in the first place was because the confounded alien was disinterested in time-travel from the start. Strangely enough, he found a study of dung beetles to be more appealing.” Dr. Pea adjusted the machine’s controls as he prepared to enter the year 2393. “As you know, this machine travels across dimensions. Therefore, I must warn you that, while I am certain at what time we shall emerge, I am uncertain as to exactly where in space we will emerge. It will not be far from our position in The Present, but I doubt it will be exactly the same. Oh, and prepare for a bit of a surprise—a lot has changed in 948 years.”
As he finished these words, time began to slow down to its natural flow. They emerged from the time portal in an ice-covered land. Without warning, however, the time-machine suddenly dropped, the hot energy of time-travel having melted a hole in the icy surface of a frozen pond on which they had landed. Dr. Pea and Jessie quickly 
hopped out into a nearby bank of snow, but Norman was stuck inside. The time-machine began to sink in the icy waters. Norman fell into the freezing pond and began flailing his arms, trying to grab hold of the broken ice, but there was nothing to grasp. Dr. Pea looked around frantically and saw a frozen stick. He pulled at it and with a lurch it came free of ice and into his hands. Quickly, he extended the stick to Norman and pulled him out, just as the time-machine sank beneath the surface of the frigid waters. Norman shivered terribly, but the worst was over.
Just then, the stick began to talk. “Hey! Did I just save that guy?”
“Well, you were notably instrumental in his rescue,” replied Dr. Pea.
“Okay, neat. Hey, has anyone seen my friend? He’s a leaf, and—oh! There he is, frozen in that block of ice! Well, whaddya know!?”
As Jessie tended to Norman, Dr. Pea helped the stick (who’s name was Xylem, naturally) unfreeze his little leaf friend. “Yes,” said the stick, “it is quite odd how we ended up frozen. All I remember is floating along the bank of this pond, and then suddenly feeling very cold—and it wasn’t even winter! The last thing I saw was a very large worm and then…ice.”
“Hmm…” mused Dr. Pea, “It seems you were cryogenically frozen some many years before now—but the worm?” He thought to himself, “It couldn’t be…”
“Did you hear that, Phloem?” said the stick to the recently freed leaf, “we were genetically frozen!”
Dr. Pea shook his head and turned to Norman and Jessie.
“We’re stuck here, aren’t we?” asked Jessie.
“Only until I figure out how to build another time-machine,” replied Dr. Pea, “in the meantime, I’m going to build a fire.”
Jessie and Norman decided to walk around some so that Norman could warm up (as much as possible). They began to recognize certain familiar features of the landscape, which struck them as odd since almost 1,000 years had passed. T
hen a sight met their eyes that stopped them in their tracks. There, in a large block of crystal clear ice, was Norman’s house just as he had left it, with Marcus standing by Martin’s tower of Xenon canisters…completely frozen.
Norman and Jessie ran back to Dr. Pea and told them what they had seen. Dr. Pea sat by his glowing fire and began to think aloud.
“Yes…hm…the worm…yes…A-HA!! It seems that the space-worm which Mr. Burton sent to the year 2009 has taken over our planet! Dot is frozen because the worm has manipulated the temperature to fit its natural habitat—the icy-cold of space!” “But what about Marcus!?” Norman yelled, “He’s frozen! And that was in The Present, 
not 2009!”
“Unless the worm somehow made it back to 1991…” said Jessie.
“I do not know about that,” replied Dr. Pea, “all I know is that the only way this can be undone rests in the year 2009 at the exact moment when that worm followed Mr. Burton on the time-machine. We must go back to that point and destroy the worm before it can unleash its horrible winter.”
“But we don’t have a time-machine! And how do we even know it was that worm—”
“RUUUUUUN!” Norman’s unfinished question was immediately answered by the mysterious, four-armed man with a bug-like face running towards them. Right on his heels were the snarling jaws of a gigantic space-worm much more vicious-looking than the one Norman had encountered before. Without pausing to think, the three time-travelers joined the frantic pace of the bug-man. He led them straight to a gaping hole of energy and yelled, “Quick, jump in!”
“But that’s a worm-hole, my man!” screamed Dr. Pea, “That’s where those things live!!” “You have to trust 
me!!!” he replied. Norman took Jessie by the hand and they both leapt into the center of the worm-hole. Dr. Pea, though hesitant, dove in after them. The bug-man turned to the worm, put up his four arms as if to stop the horrible creature, and quickly dove into the hole himself just before it closed and left the gaping jaws behind.
And Time unfroze.For the longest time, Norman Bufort, Jessie, Marcus, and the others had been waiting to dispense from their positions underneath the moon and the floating orange letters that said "The End" (Mr. and Mrs. Furbus had not minded at all being stuck in their position, but that is beside the point). However, as soon as these words you are now reading took form, they all began to disperse. Dr. Pea excitedly urged Captain Myghxz toward his laboratory, saying something about re-creating the four-dimensional vortex (Myghxz seemed somehow disinterested in such things); Mr. and Mrs. Furbus made their way back to their house together. Thus, Jessie, Marcus, and Norman remained on the scene (Mr. Burton and Ezz had mysteriously vanished sometime earlier). "What was it you wanted to tell me, Marcus? Something about Martin?""Oh!" Marcus said, his brain slowly rebooting, "Yes. Um...you'd better come with me.The three returned to Norman's yard, and Norman could not believe his eyes. His entire yard was now a gaping hole in the ground.
"MARTIN!" he said, looking up at the lawn gnome who danced happily on a tower of Xenon canisters, "What have you DONE!?""You guys gave me a shovel, did you not? Well, I got busy digging! And I found all the Xenon in the area! Now there's plenty of Xenon for everyone! Who knows when you might need it? (Oh, and I think you have a rabbit-infestation, as well.)""My house is...inaccessible!""Hmm..." pondered Martin, "I would take your meaning, methinks, but I know not the definition of 'in-EX-S-able.'"Norman was about to say more, when suddenly a portal opened up before them. Out of the gleaming gateway,
Dr. Pea emerged in a time-machine none of them had seen before. Dr. Pea quickly hopped out and began speaking rapidly,"Okay, I know you guys just turned me down, but you have to come with me, now!""Just turned you down?" asked Marcus. "We haven't seen you since beneath the random 'The End' letters!""You haven't...oh. So I haven't come to see you yet?" The three shook their heads. "Okay, in a few minutes, I'm about to come up and ask you all if you would like to help me build a second time-machine (since the first was left in 2009 with that confounded worm creature!). Um...but you guys are going to turn me down. So, uh...just tell me no and I'll go away, and then I'll come back in a moment or two." And Dr. Pea hopped back onto the time-machine and shot into the future.
Immediately following, Dr. Pea came up to the three and excitedly said, "Do any of you want to help me build a second time-machine that we may have more adventures in time-travel!?" The three looked at each other, still bewildered by the previous Dr. Pea that they had just talked with, and said, "Um...no?" (Marcus was a little more 
definite with his answer--I don't think he ever really enjoyed time-travel)."Oh..." said Dr. Pea, "really? Okay...well, I guess I'll just build it by myself." And with that, the saddened Dr. Pea sulked off to explore time on his own.No sooner had Dr. Pea left than the future Dr. Pea returned in the time-machine. "Okay, now that that's out of the way (I was really quite disappointed at being turned down, but I guess I have myself to blame), we shall proceed with these matters. Come, you three, let us away on yet another adventure!""What is it now?" Norman asked."You remember how I suspected the time formula was telling us to go 948 years into the future? Well, while there may not have been a reason before, there is now!"Marcus declined, but Dr. Pea insisted that Norman and Jessie go. Thus, after Dr. Pea grabbed a few spare canisters of Xenon ("I told you you'd need it!" said Martin), the three hopped into the second time-machine and they disappeared into the future as Dr. Pea yelled, "Come! We have business in the year 2939!"
Before I begin with the story everyone has been highly anticipating, I must first clarify what happened to our wandering 
friends Mr. Burton and Ezz, and our equally lost stick and leaf, Xylem and Phloem. It turns out that the latter two have been floating down that same stream for sometime, and have come to rest in the calm waters of a local pond.As for Mr. Burton and Ezz, they have been page-surfing for the past several days. After running across that T-rex, they had to make a break for it. Naturally, the meat-eater pursued them as they made their way onto another page, this one being the home of not just a few "Sims," as they are called, who were in the process of having a pool party. I include no pictures of this for two reasons: 1) I cannot draw Sims (partially because of their 3-D format, and partially because they are not mine to draw), and 2) It almost goes without saying that the T-rex terrorized the scene, and I prefer to keep things rather G-rated. (But don't worry. No one was injured...severly, at least.). So upon realizing they were free of the T-rex (since it was, for the moment, occupied by the running and screaming of simulated humans), Mr. Burton and Ezz wandered onto yet another page which held a large pile of free grapefruits (a few of the fruits were smushed from the 
weight of the up-turned page). Mr. Burton and Ezz were highly thrilled at the sight of grapefruits, the former having a severe love for the sour delicacy, the latter deriving excitement from his stick-companion's enthusiasm (having no idea at all what a "grapefruit" was). And so, I will end this prologue with what it was Mr. Burton said upon entering the Grapefruit Page,"We have discovered a paradise, Zoloportico Falagon, and it is ours to enjoy and share! We dare not keep the fruits of joy to ourselves!"
Traveling at an accelerated speed through time is quite a strange sensation, as Jessie and Norman would readily support if you asked them. Somewhere in between the year 1991 (Dot years) and 2939, the three travelers sped along in their inter-dimensional machine to meet what adventures awaited them once time was allowed to resume its natural rate. In the in-between, however, there was time enough still for conversation.
hopped out into a nearby bank of snow, but Norman was stuck inside. The time-machine began to sink in the icy waters. Norman fell into the freezing pond and began flailing his arms, trying to grab hold of the broken ice, but there was nothing to grasp. Dr. Pea looked around frantically and saw a frozen stick. He pulled at it and with a lurch it came free of ice and into his hands. Quickly, he extended the stick to Norman and pulled him out, just as the time-machine sank beneath the surface of the frigid waters. Norman shivered terribly, but the worst was over.
hen a sight met their eyes that stopped them in their tracks. There, in a large block of crystal clear ice, was Norman’s house just as he had left it, with Marcus standing by Martin’s tower of Xenon canisters…completely frozen.
not 2009!”
me!!!” he replied. Norman took Jessie by the hand and they both leapt into the center of the worm-hole. Dr. Pea, though hesitant, dove in after them. The bug-man turned to the worm, put up his four arms as if to stop the horrible creature, and quickly dove into the hole himself just before it closed and left the gaping jaws behind.
