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“Cabrera, quit dawdling! We have less than 24 hours.”
Gyro’s tone was sharp as he walked back into the lab, steaming cup of coffee in hand and glaring pointedly at the duck resting momentarily on the floor.
“Y-You were just out at Hawkbucks!” Fenton pointed out, exasperated at the hypocrisy.
“Mr. McDuck requires me to clock out for a lunch break after 12 consecutive hours. Your circumstances are different.” The inventor glared at him. “Now, were you able to make any adjustments to the Gearfridge 5000?”
“I oiled up the joints of the arms and made some tests to make sure the circuits are all in order!” Fenton gave a thumbs up as he pocketed the grease rag he’d been using.
They had been working for the last two days on a project to pitch to investors in the morning. Both of them had sort of run dry in the well of new ideas, and they were really scraping at the bottom of the inventor barrel to go through with the creation of a voice-controlled refrigerator.
“And did you do any function tests?”
“Ahhh, no,” the duck admitted. “I wanted to wait for you to get back. I didn’t want something to happen where I was stuck alone, and the machine went haywire.”
“And what makes you think this will go haywire?” Gyro asked, glaring with accusation.
“W-Well, better safe than sorry, right?” Fenton laughed awkwardly, grabbing for the remote control. “Do you want to run the tests for that?”
“I suppose,” Gyro sighed and cleared his throat as he pressed the power button. “Fridge, I request an orange.”
The two held their breath in anticipation as the arms on the fridge opened the doors and reached inside for the fruit.
Gyro grinned in delight. “Excellent! Now we-OOF!”
The chicken was knocked to the floor by an orange flying at high speeds into his face, thrown by the robot.
“Hey! I didn’t tell you to do that!” Gyro snapped at the robot, only to watch it use the legs on its bottom to run up the stairwell and out of sight.
A small laugh burst from Fenton, and the other glared at him in question.
“...Gyro, I’m really really sorry, but a joke just popped into my head from this.”
“The refrigerator running? Yayayaya, I’ve heard that one.” Gyro waved off, boiling in irritation and rubbed his face in exhaustion. “And unlike the joke, I don’t think we can catch it. There goes two days of work down the drain!”
He sighed and walked over towards the couch in the corner, slumping on it.
“Gyro?”
“You can go home, Cabrera. I’ll just tell the board we couldn’t think of anything. We may get a cut in salary, but if I grovel enough, we may not get fired. It usually works.”
“We can’t give up!” Fenton urged. “We can think of something else! We can make-”
“We don’t have enough time,” Gyro cut him off, looking annoyed, “and we don’t have the collective energy to maintain brainpower.”
“Isn’t there anything we’ve made that we haven’t already pitched yet? Like this metal box on your desk?”
“My lunch?”
Fenton looked around for more examples. “Or this glowing hay?”
“I can’t pitch that! I was already discouraged from it.”
“Hmm...” Fenton furrowed his brow and began to wander all around the labspace, soon coming across a corner of the wall cut off in yellow authoritative tape. “What about whatever’s behind here?”
Gyro looked over and gave a tired sigh. “Oh, the time tub. That old thing. Unfortunately, as amazing as it is, it gained sentience and it’s effectively...” he waved his hands, “banned from future patents.”
“What does it do?”
“Time travel of course.” Gyro sniffed, trying not to look too smug. “And I did try to make some adjustments to it to alleviate my boredom on weekends a while back.”
“So does it work?”
“Of course it works!” Gyro scoffed. “I mean, if we really wanted to, we could go back in time and steal invention ideas from the greats.”
“Hey, I’ve got an idea!” Fenton piped up in sudden excitement.
“I know what you’re going to say, and no. Time travel is very dangerous. Anything we do or say to anyone or anything there can drastically affect time.”
“I was just going to say we could go back and see what scrapped projects never got made and try to use them?” Fenton shrugged. “That way it doesn’t affect the past!”
Gyro rubbed his chin in thought, then smiled. “Well...I do actually know of one we could try to improve upon. Mr. McDuck had commissioned my father, Fulton Gearloose, to invent a dimensional portal ray capable of allowing for portable space-time travel.”
“Woah, that sounds amazing!” Fenton’s face brightened in excitement. “How come I never heard about it?”
“It never got made.”
“How come?”
Gyro shrugged. “My father was murdered.”
The casual tone Gyro spoke with made the words out of his mouth even more of a shock to Fenton, and he covered his open mouth in surprise. “Oh my god, Gyro, I’m so sorry-”
The inventor cut him off with a dismissive wave. “Don’t be. I never knew the man. Before I hatched, some adversaries of McDuck wanted to steal the blueprints, and my father wouldn’t let them. Mr. McDuck and my grandfather arrived in enough time to save the blueprints, but not enough to save him. After his death, Mr. McDuck had the blueprints burned so nobody could ever use them, and I was put in the care of my grandfather to live abroad.”
“Oh.”
“But with the time tub, we could travel back to before they were burned, make copies of the blueprints and bring them to the future!” Gyro suggested. “We can make enough modifications that Mr. McDuck won’t recognize it. We woo the investor board, we get raises, and I can maybe afford to buy an actual shower for my apartment so I can stop using the emergency wash station!”
“What was that last part?”
“Nothing.”
After removing the yellow tape and cleaning the machine of cobwebs, Gyro couldn’t help but grin in delight as the lights on the tub glowed to life when he turned it on.
“So...can you use this as an actual bath tub?” Fenton looked at the old rusty faucets on the lip as they both stepped in.
“You could, but there’s no hot water. It’s always something.” He punched in some numbers. “I want the blueprints to be as finished as possible, so I picked the closest known date to before they were burned, two weeks before I hatched and...why are you smiling like that? All doofy and half-witted?”
“I’ve just never been time traveling before! It’s so exciting!”
“Well, whatever you do, take nothing but pictures, and leave nothing. Especially not footprints!”
“Alright!”
“And don’t touch anything but the blueprints.”
“Got it!”
“And-”
“Gyro, I’m an inventor, not a kid in a museum!” Fenton laughed. “You can trust me, okay?”
“I sincerely hope I can. And whatever you do, don’t get sick in here. It’s a pain to get vomit out of porcelain,” Gyro muttered as he pressed the button that sent the tub into a flash of light and right out of the lab.
Thirty something years of time had evidently changed the lab as Fenton and Gyro would both discover when the time tub came to a standstill. Much of the metalwork and piping system was reduced, and aside from the long hallway that the machine had settled in, the lab was half its size from the present.
“Woah!” Fenton began, amazed with the difference. “This is…”
“Hideously primitive,” Gyro said with a click of his tongue. “The phones here probably run on dial-up.”
As they crept out of the hallway and into the main room, Gyro began to look around cautiously for the sought blueprints.
“Most likely than not, my father was in the middle of working on the portal ray at this time. He’d have had those blueprints out, following them to the T,” Gyro thought aloud under his breath. “It’s in one of these desks somewhere.”
Fenton immediately pointed to a cluttered desk with multiple models and sheets stacked on top of it. “Maybe that one?”
Gyro tutted. “Hmmm. Grandfather did say that my father was the worst at organization. That’s a good place to start.”
With utmost care and awareness to their surroundings, they began to look through the papers, lifting up stacks to sift through them then put them back as they were. They had to be methodical but quick. Someone could come back downstairs at any minute.
Fenton thought it wise to sit down in the swivel chair parked up to the desk, but before he could seat himself, he noticed it was already occupied by an egg and laughed awkwardly. “Uh-oh! Seat’s taken.”
Gyro scolded him immediately. “Don’t move the chair! Whoever comes back will notice.”
“Okay, but there’s an-”
“Ahbupbupbup! Less talking, more finding blueprints,” Gyro dismissed Fenton immediately.
Fenton wanted to blurt his discovery in exasperation, only to once again be interrupted by Gyro triumphantly holding up blueprints hidden under a placemat. “Bingo! Do you have your phone on you?”
“Right here!” Fenton handed the phone over, watching Gyro snap multiple pictures of the prints while grinning like a madman. Before he could use his own phone to take backup photos, both birds heard the ancient hum of the unrenovated elevator descending to their floor.
Gyro stuffed the blueprints back under the placemat and hissed. “Get back to the time tub!”
Scrambling back into the hallway, the two made it around the corner just as the elevator doors open.
Fenton lingered a moment to look and whispered, “Hey, Gyro? Is that your father?”
Gyro was already setting up the coordinates to return to their present and got up to look and see who Fenton was referring to. A lanky chicken with a mop of red hair, round spectacles and a yellow cap, much like Gyro’s own headwear, walked over to the desk they’d just secretly ransacked, humming cheerfully to himself.
Gyro hardly reacted. “Yeah. That’s him. He had that same goofy look in the photos Grandfather owned of him.”
Fulton, entirely unaware he was being watched, whistled as he pulled out his desk chair and lifted up the swaddled egg that had been occupying it. “Sorry I took so long, kiddo! The line to get lunch was a real bottleneck. Hopefully you didn’t get too impatient with me.”
“There was an egg in that chair?” Gyro whispered, confused.
“I was trying to tell you earlier,” Fenton whispered back, and his eyes widened in realization as Fulton set the egg on top of the desk. “Hey wait...Gyro...is that egg you? ”
He fully expected Gyro to answer with a matter-of-fact ‘yes,’ but he was met with complete silence, then noticing that his companion was watching with a sudden interest in his late father’s actions. Fulton had grabbed a dry erase marker, and suddenly drew a face on the egg. Fenton could hear Gyro scoff under his breath as they noticed the goofy smiley face he left on it.
“Time for your lunch, okay?” Fulton gave a giddy little smile as he pulled out a tiny jar of baby food and a spoon and offered a bite to the smiling egg. “Here comes the aeroplane!”
Fenton waited for Gyro to make some jaded comment at the elder chicken’s cheerfully erratic behavior but was both surprised and pleased to be met with silence once again.
The spoon tapped against the egg, and Fulton merely smiled. “Not hungry? That’s okay. I didn’t take to solid foods until after I hatched either!”
He laughed at his own joke. A tiny laugh almost came out of Fenton’s throat, but a severe glare from Gyro shut him up quick. Fulton gave the egg a small pat, only for it to roll onto its side.
“Oops. Sorry little guy. Or girl. Or whatever you want to be.”
A small flush grew on Gyro’s face. Fenton obviously noticed, nudging him. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. Just keep your voice down,” Gyro hissed.
Fulton had erased and redrawn the egg’s face into a frown. “Aww, you’re not happy watching me work long hours all the time are you?”
There was a long pause, and Fulton made the egg nod in response.
“Well, don’t you worry! Once I get this portal ray finished, I’ll have a nice, long break to take care of you!”
Fenton watched Gyro go slightly slack as he craned his head forward in interest. Fulton erased and redrew the smiley face on the egg.
“Inventing machines is a lot of fun...but I think I’m going to have just as much fun being your dad and watching you grow up.”
The chicken lifted up the egg, playfully tossing it in place before giving it a smooch. “And you know, I have a feeling you’re gonna be just as smart as me, if not more. But you can do whatever you want with your brains. You don’t have to make machines like me or your grandpa.”
Fenton glanced down at Gyro’s hands on his folded knees, watching them clench tightly for a second.
“And no matter what,” Fulton cooed to the egg cheerfully as he cradled it, “I’ll be there for you.”
A hitched noise came from Gyro’s throat.
“Gyro?”
Gyro couldn’t answer, as suddenly the noise of shattering glass caught them both off guard.
Fulton’s happy demeanor immediately changed into panic as he placed the egg on the desk, and he looked around at the sudden intrusion. “What’s going on here!?”
Four large hulking figures clad in black ominously walked in the direction of the desk. Before any of them reached it, Fulton reached for the silent emergency alarm he kept under the table, pressing it discreetly.
“G-Gyro we should go,” Fenton whimpered nervously, tugging the chicken’s sleeve. But there was no effort made to move. Gyro was stiff as a board, staring ahead in a trance.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Fulton glared at the intruders. “There’s nothing for you to-”
The elder chicken was cut off by a rough hand grabbing his arm and yanking him away from the desk, throwing him to the floor hard.
Gyro jolted in place, and Fenton whispered, “Gyro?”
“Shut up!” Gyro snapped at him, glaring intensely at the chaos that was now in the lab.
Fulton struggled to get up. “What do you want? The stupid blueprints? You can take them! They’re under the placemat!” Fulton coughed. “I don’t want any trouble alright? Just take it and go.”
“Wait…” Gyro whispered to himself. “He let them have the blueprints…then why did they...?”
“Gyro, we should go back before-”
“What are you doing?” Fulton asked one of the intruding agents as he saw him lifting up the egg on the desk. “You put that down!”
The agent holding the egg glanced to his cohorts with a smirk that suggested anything but good intentions. A knot twisted in Fenton’s stomach as he saw the criminal give a menacing look down at the egg. Gyro’s face turned white as a sheet as he realized there was a very high chance that his self, both past and present, were in danger.
Before Fenton or Gyro could suggest anything, a furious shriek from Fulton shocked them both into silence, and they watched as Gyro’s father swung a fist into the face of the criminal threatening the wellbeing of his unhatched child. The egg fell out of the agent’s clutches, landing safely and miraculously into Fulton’s chair, forgotten in the events that followed.
The instant Gyro saw the agents pull out sharp, deadly weapons, advancing on Fulton, he gave Fenton a terrified look for a split second, and Fenton immediately realized what was about to happen.
It took every bit of strength in Fenton to pull Gyro backwards and toward the time tub. “Gyro, we have to go!”
“But he needs our help! Let go of me!” Gyro screamed, completely forgetting the caution they needed.
The screaming made no difference as Fulton, terrified, disappeared in the surrounding pack of assassins to meet his fate. Gyro screamed once more at Fenton before the duck slammed on the ignition, and the time tub disappeared once again.
Fenton didn’t expect Gyro to grab him by the shoulders and slam him against the interior of the tub, seething in rage. “Why did you do that?! We could have stopped them! Why did you stop me?”
“Gyro, you know we couldn’t! We can’t change time like that!”
“YES, WE CAN!” Gyro roared, glaring as tears glistened in his eyes for a split second before they fell, dripping onto the surface of the tub.
“G-Gyro...you told me we couldn’t. You know we couldn’t….”
“I-I…” Gyro tried to find words, sitting back into a slouch. “I just…”
He pulled at the tuft of bangs on his forehead. “That didn’t have to happen! He went and got himself killed for a stupid reason !” He gave a hysterical laugh in spite of his upset. “It wasn’t even for the reason I was told! All this time, I thought he was trying to protect some blueprints! Blueprints for god’s sake!”
“Gyro...he saved you .”
“Well, he shouldn’t have!” Gyro spat, rubbing furiously at his eyes. “I probably would have been fine! It’s not like anything of utter importance would have been lost!”
“Don’t say that!”
“It’s true! I invent failure after failure, and I’m miserable half the time, and he could have gone on to do more amazing things in a day than I have in a year. I mean, if he didn’t go off and waste his time trying to take care of me!”
“Gyro...”
“Regardless of if he lived or died, he was going to throw away everything just for me! What an idiot…” Gyro snarled into his fists, screwing his eyes shut to hold back the oncoming tears.
Fenton watched Gyro try to recollect himself, shaky breaths making his body wobble terribly. The duck’s heart twisted as the chicken removed his glasses and he scrubbed at his eyes.
“This is so stupid,” Gyro mumbled. “I didn’t even know him, and I’m getting upset over nothing.”
The other wrung his hands nervously as he tried to choose his words carefully. “Gyro...i-it’s okay to be upset over this.”
“I don’t want to be though.”
Climbing out of the time tub, Gyro went over to his desk, and sat in a tired slump. Fenton awkwardly followed him over. He didn’t know exactly which aspect upset the inventor the most about this. Up until less than an hour ago, Gyro only knew his father’s name and face, and that he was dead, and now he knew enough that it could only leave him with several ‘what ifs’ to think over.
Perhaps, Fenton wondered, it could have been the idea that in a world where Fulton wasn’t killed in cold blood, Gyro was raised by a father who encouraged him to do things other than what family tradition expected of him, and who would allow him to be as cheerful and eccentric as he wanted. To grow up like any other kid would, instead of the high pressured world of a corporate-funded scientist.
Gyro always spoke highly of his grandfather, but Fenton didn’t get the sense of it in a familial way, rather an untouchable, highly revered mentor that remained aloof and austere and promoted an obsessively strong work ethic. Fenton didn’t know what Gyro preferred...and maybe Gyro didn’t know either.
“Gyro, I don’t know if this is the thing that you want to hear or if it’s going to help you or anything but...I think your dad would be proud of you if he could see everything you’ve done.”
There was no immediate response, so Fenton swallowed and continued. “I mean...you’re the smartest man in Duckburg, if not the whole world if I could argue it. You invent a lot of awesome stuff. Sure, some of it goes haywire, but I’ve seen your successes, and you don’t ever give up. And you made the Gizmoduck armor! Without it, I couldn’t be who I am!”
Fenton decided to keep going while Gyro was quiet and sat on the desk. “And you know? You kind of take after him! I mean, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen you talk to more inanimate objects than people, and you would try to feed an egg baby food if you thought you could make a breakthrough with it!” He almost laughed. “And you laugh at your own jokes a lot!”
Gyro looked up for only a second, and Fenton couldn’t read his gaze, so he adjusted his tie awkwardly. “I’m really sorry we couldn’t stop what happened to him. It’s awful and unfair, but we can’t change the past like that, no matter how much we want to. I’m just really sorry you had to lose him because he would have been an amazing dad...and he really loved you so much.”
As soon as he saw Gyro’s eyes mist over, Fenton began to regret what he said and was trying to come up with an apology as his tongue frantically fumbled. “G-Gyro, I’m sorry. I-”
“Save it,” Gyro sighed, rubbing at his eyes and sitting upright. “That sort of helped. I think.”
“O-Oh.”
“I mean, I’ll probably sob over it later like an absolute moron when I’m alone and in my newly funded shower, but your blabber will help me cope for now.”
“Um...you’re welcome?” Fenton smiled awkwardly, “So what about the board meeting? We still have to pitch something. Do we still want to make the portal gun?”
Gyro furrowed his brow in thought and sighed. “No. Let’s save that one for another day. I’m sure we can think of something different. Keep the photos of the blueprints though. If at all possible.”
“Alright.” Fenton pat his phone with a reassuring smile. “So...any new ideas?”
“Well, based on our misadventure from earlier, we could actually invent something to catch a running refrigerator?”
“...Is that a joke or a serious idea?”
“Bit of column A, bit of column B.” Gyro shrugged, heading over to his workbench to start the plans. “We have at least twelve hours of quality building time if we get a start on it now.”
“Alright!” Fenton grinned, glad to see Gyro was back to his science-driven self.
Later that evening, he uploaded the photos from his phone onto a drive. Within all the photos of the prints, one image caught something on the desk that Fenton hadn’t noticed before: a framed photo of Fulton Gearloose holding the egg of his future son. A dry erase marker smile was scribbled on the front.
Fenton made sure to keep that photo extra safe.