" How could the people of your time be so irresponsible." Leela cuts a looks at me, and Steve.
"Hell, if I know I've always been a proponent of recycling, and reducing our carbon footprint." Okay that's pretty much bullshit Fry didn't care about where his garbage went, but I did.
"Climate change in my time wasn't actually proven and a lot of scientists were saying it was made up." Steve answers with complete apathy. "Basically, unless it was enforced by green initiatives in the state, I didn't really care about it while I was chasing money."
Leela gives him the stink eye, but moves on.
"So, professor what are we going to do?" I ask moving past the blame game to get to the crux of the matter.
"The only thing we can do. We'll have to send up a team to blow the garbage ball up." The professor answers like it's a casual Tuesday for him, and to be fair it kind of is.
"I would recommend an implosion not an explosion, an explosion risks causing a Kesler cascade and locking any unshielded ship on earth." I say and the professor gives me a nod putting back his second doomsday weapon and giving us his third.
"The timer on this is set up correctly right, the face isn't upside down?" I ask double checking since I just want to get this bullshit over with. The professor pulls down his doomsday weapon that works by creating a short-range implosion that should devour the trash meteor and banish it into a pocket of subspace. That might cause problems later if someone with an older model of a warp engine tried to leave earth and ran into it, but honestly its better than the trash destroying the city, and we can put up some beacons to kick anyone out of subspace before they hit it. Anyways the professor noticed that the clock was wrong on the weapon and fixed it. Now we just need approval from the president of earth.
It took us 14 minutes before the approval was given and everyone got ready during that time doing pre-flight checks, and prepping the weapon. We know where we need to land to annihilate the meteor all at once.
Leela and bender are strapped in and I did a few last-minute checks on the weapon. People are outside waiting to watch the take off since if we don't succeed, they'll lose everything ,and depending on how well the trash sticks together, maybe even their lives. So, it's no surprise they're rooting for us, and this time we're not going to disappoint them.
Soon we start the launch sequence with the weapon firmly secured in the cargo bay. Soon we arrived to the trash meteor, we were supposed to land near a sinkhole in the meteor and and throw the weapon in after activating it. I had a better idea.
"Leela try to hover just above the sinkhole and we can drop the weapon into the sinkhole then take off without having to make a run for it or trust the professor's old equipment to work properly."
Leela was about to say something about us not having to make a run for it, but what I said about the professor's old tech working properly got her right spooked so she nodded, and I headed to the cargo bay and opened the hatch. The same hatch I jumped out of in Chapek 9. Thankfully I don't have to jump out of it today.
I took the device into my hands and started the timer. I dropped it out of the hatch into the sink hole, and ran like hell to the cockpit. "Book it!" I tried to sound as calm as possible but I just didn't trust the professor's old tech before he was rejuvenated. They heard my panic and Leela took off. None too soon either the weapon, like I thought, detonated early and ripped off half the ships engine, not bad enough to make us dead in the water but we definitely aren't traveling at light speed any time soon.
It took us 27 hours to get back to earth's atmosphere and all non-critical systems were shut down, except artificial gravity. Which means we had to put on our oxygen tanks because the systems that convert carbon dioxide to oxygen and pure carbon are dead. Luckily the ship has backup impulse thruster that I recommended to the professor. The main engines may he down but the impulse got us home and will keep us from burning up upon reentry. When we made it back, we saw hundreds of people standing around planet express dressed in black.
All but one, who was dressed in pink. Dear fuck it's a mass funeral. Amy is going to kill me. Soon the roof hatch opens up on the planet express building , and we manage to make a crash landing in our docking zone. The ships engines are wrecked it's going to be a week before they're functional again, but I don't worry about that, I grab bender and Leela, and we head outside to meet the funeral procession.
Hundreds of starstruck faces meet us as we walk out, the atmosphere is tense so I decide to make a joke. "Geez who died?" it was a tasteless joke considering everyone was here to morn us hut I saw a few people laugh, and then the crowd started roaring in applause. Even mom was here and she looked relieved; she was on the professor's arm so that was interesting. It looks like they patched up their rocky relationship. Soon we were swamped by people thanking us for saving the city, people expressing gratitude that we were actually alive, but soon people started to make way for someone we didn't expect. The mayor.
"you three have earned yourselves the highest honor we can grant civilians. The star of earth! The president couldn't be here to award you directly so it falls on me to pin them on you." He produced three awards that hand a lanyard with 23 stars and the metal itself had the earth with a 7-point star around it. He pinned it to benders chest with a magnet first, he then pinned it to my chest with the normal pin, and then Leela's tank top. Leela and bender looked unbelievably proud of themselves while I was searching for the one person, I wanted to see more than anything. Soon she ran up to me, she was wearing her normal pink track suit with a bright smile on her face. She jumped at me and I caught her she places a searing kiss on my lips.
"I knew you were alive" she says a bit teary eyed. "I just knew it." She said while she clung to me like a koala. "I didn't let them declare any of you dead legally despite all the people trying to. I even had moms help to ensure you weren't declared dead. They still managed to push through with the funeral, but all your assets are still where they should be."
"Thanks for that. The paperwork to come back from the dead is awful. I should know, I had to file it!" I had to file that paperwork the day I arrived in the future, luckily my records weren't destroyed in the first or second apocalypse's. I keep holding Amy close after she drops her feet back on the ground, and I can't help but smile. I've just gained a lot of support in the public consciousness. This should bode well for the mutant's rights act I plan on having pushed through. It will take months for me to gain the necessary political support, but the public support is already behind me. The star of earth proves it, and with metropolis slowly being built it will one day draw normal people to the sewers, and by doing so inciting interaction with mutants. One might ask why I care so much about the mutants, but it's not the mutants per se. in my old life I would always burn with vitriol and hatred at the injustices I saw, but I personally had no power so I had to just keep to myself and ignore it. In this life I have power, and because I have power, I can use it to correct all the injustices that still exist in this time.
I sigh as I look to the adoring crowd swallowing up bender and Leela, but keeping a distance from me to give Amy, and I privacy. I smile and hug her close. I missed her a lot when I was sleeping on our return trip to earth. Her familiar warmth on my side a balm to my soul.
"Want to head back to my place? I doubt anyone is going to be working today with the whole funeral and everything." I say with a smile down at Amy, and I see the look she's giving me. A mix between anxiety and a saucy smirk
"Sure, I just got a midnight lady installed."
A midnight lady is a sexual implant; I made those for fun. I also have a Mr. Studd. It looks like Amy wants to take our relationship to the next level, and surprisingly I don't feel the usual disgust I've always felt with previous girlfriends when they want the same thing. Not that surprising that my demisexuality carried over to my new life considering most of my bad habits , and my intelligence also came with me.
Without question I pull out the key fob to my motorbike that I store at planet express and press the button to let the VI I created summon it to my position. A small rumbling roar comes from the other side of the crowd and soon my motorcycle is in front of us.
"You finally finished it!" Amy asked with stars in her eyes.
"Yeah, right before we left." I knew how much Amy likes bad boys, and a fundamental part of that esthetic is the motorcycle. I quickly double tap on my chest and my blue polo instantly transforms with nano tech into a leather jacket. I pull two shrunken helmets out of my pocket and press the buttons on the sides. Soon the helmets grow to fit Amy and I perfectly. She takes one of the helmets and puts it on. Nano tech is so useful from compression of material, to complete molecular restructuring. Why the professor only used an inefficient version for water purification I'll never know and never find out. The motorbike is all black with red trim the rims are in a pentagram shape, it has dual mufflers, and a Wankel engine. The upkeep for it is terrible but the power boost is worth it. Soon I straddle the bike, and Amy climbs on after me wrapping her arms around my torso. Without wasting another minute, I accelerate the bike and were off to my apartment.
-3-hour time skip-
As we lay together, sweaty and naked as the day we were born, I couldn't help but think about how much has changed from my old life. I was a nobody, going nowhere, no one to care about me, and no prospects to change that. That all changed when I came to the future after all now, I'm a genius, billionaire, philanthropist. I've got a company I built almost completely from the ground up, I've got a beautiful intelligent girlfriend, and I'm one of the most famous men in the city. I'm on my way to real power. The ability to affect the change I want to see in the world. I feel a tap on my shoulder and I look over to Amy, she positively glowing but there's something like worry in her eyes.
"What are you thinking about?" she asks. Ahh she's worried, because I went silent.
"Just thinking about how much my life has changed since I came to the future. I used to be a nobody and no one believed in me. Not even my parents."
"But you proved them wrong" Amy offers trying to make me feel better. Silly girl.
"it was never about proving them wrong. They loved me despite not having much faith in me. No what really bothers me is that they died before they could see me make something of my life." I shake my head "it's not important. Sorry to bring the mood down like that." Amy looks at me and it looks like she's about to say something but decides against it, she presses her body next to mine and clings to me.
"I'm sure they would have been proud." She whispered. I smile at her and wrap my arms around her.
"I love you." I day with a smile and kiss her forhead.
"I love you too." She replies and for a moment there's nothing but silence. I decide the silence has gone on too long and turn on the tv, guiding it to the usb function and turn on a movie. The rest of the night passes quietly.