A.L.T.A.R.

"Subject fifteen is believed to come from the same reality as Artemis-1 sir" "Really? What have his biometric scans revealed?" "Male human, 50 years of age. He's aging faster than an average human. He's an employee of the Jupiter Mining Company, security division. He was last tagged in the Roo outpost when an atemporal crewmember of Blue Dwarf-1 teleported all present to dimension 66-8A. He was the only one we were able to snag coming out of the Roo outpost. ALTAR-5 was damaged bringing him to our facility sir, is he really worth it?" "Yes, subject fifteen will lead us to Artemis' 1 and 2. The recording equipment will give us the information we need on dimension 66-8A, and hopefully more data on dimension 00-0a" "Why are you so worried about that dimension sir? It's a lost cause, the only cadres of surviving humans are stranded in deep space aboard decrepit mining ships!" "I know! We have to protect them and ensure their survival or we'll lose dimension zero! Red Dwarf is a lost cause, there's only one human and he's not worth saving. Blue Dwarf has dozens!" "Okay sir, so what do we do with fifteen?" "Tag him and send him somewhere where Artemis' 1 and 2 can find him. Monitor the feeds 24/7 for any leads, and have an agent tail the subject" "Yes sir...."

Meanwhile....

Artemis-1 and Artemis-2 traversed the rolling dunes. Artemis-1 was having difficulty keeping his sand dragon mount in line. The beast snorted and bucked, trying to throw the clueless super-scientist from it's back. "For science sake you disobedient bastard knock it off!" Artemis-1 shouted. Artemis was finally tossed clear of the beast. He scrambled to his feet as the beast approached, rearing it's sharp black teeth. "You have to exert your dominance Artemis!" Artemis-2 shouted. Artemis-1 socked the beast in the face, giving it a black eye. The sand dragon stared at Artemis in awe, sat on it's hind legs and started crying. "I meant you had to stand your ground! What the hell is wrong with you man!?" Artemis-2 reared his sand dragon behind Artemis-1 and the weeping dragon. "What? This mental defective tarragon started it" The sand dragon pointed at Artemis-1 and whined. "Oh smeg off you big baby! I've been frozen, beaten, poisoned, shot at, and zapped through three different dimensions in the past twelve hours alone! What's your excuse!" The sand dragon continued to whine at Artemis-1, Artemis-2 dismounted and hugged the weepy beast. Artemis-1 started teasing the dragon, who promptly flipped him off. "Hey did you see that? The little prick has an attitude!" Artemis-2 lead the sand dragon back to Artemis-1 and handed him the reigns. "Knock it off and get back on, we've still got to find the source of the atemporal emissions"

Plisken lay in the sand, ragged, half buried, and unconscious. Artemis-1's sand dragon sniffed at him. "Knock it off you git, we have to find the source of the emissions!" Artemis-1 yelled at the beast. The dragon growled at Artemis, who looked down and prepared to scold it when he saw Plisken. The two Artemis' dismounted and rushed to him. "It's Mr. Plisken!" Artemis-1 commented as the pair dragged him out of the sand. "He must have gotten stuck inbetween dimensions on the way here. He's out cold and in bad condition, he's got burns and bruises across his body, likely from the Roo facility exploding. He must been halfway through when the blasts occured" Artemis-2 said. "Let's get him back home and patch him up, he might be of use in my upcoming plans" Artemis-2 hoisted the unconscious Plisken up and dragged him to his sand dragon. Artemis-1 walked back to his own. "Well....done" he said, the dragon smiling smugly at him in reply. The two started back towards the village. "You still haven't told me about this plan" "in due time Artemis"

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