Ben 10: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

Lesser of Two Evils

Damocles Base

High above Earth

Year 2010

Following his ship's emergency temporal displacement into the past, Kang ordered his crew to spend the next few days taking note of their current resources and performing reconnaissance.

Small probes were sent to the surface below to document and analyze. The denizens of the 41st century were amazed by their time's stark differences. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and a sense of calmness was in the air. They quickly got to work, setting up their research stations and equipment.

As they worked, they couldn't help but be struck by the stark differences between their time and the Earth of 2010. The technology was primitive, the buildings were outdated, and the people seemed livelier.

One of the scientists, Dr. Maya Patel, was fascinated by the various plant life that had long gone extinct. "This is incredible," she said, "It's like being in a completely different world." Others agreed regarding the land and sea. In some ways, the megacities of the 41st century felt colder and more distant than the suburban land here.

For some that didn't have any real ties to their old reality, settling down here wasn't a bad option. In any case, they continued the work for their lord, hoping that they would be rewarded handsomely for their efforts.

Meanwhile

Kang spent time contemplating his plans moving forward. Time travel was a fickle thing. Only beings outside of time's domain understood its true rules and limitations.

He, a man from the 30th century, accidentally traveled to the 40th Century. He found a war-torn Earth where barbarians battled with technology from past eras of which they did not know how they worked. This was the dawn of Kang's legacy. First, Kang conquered the Earth, then began conquering the galaxy, taking over entire empires. Humanity was at the apex of power in the universe.

From his experiences, the slightest push, the smallest touch, echoes throughout time. Even an act of kindness may have more severe repercussions than one can know or can see. An older era coined the term, Many-worlds interpretation. All decisions lead to a new branch of reality. To rewrite an existing history was unheard of to him.

Regarding time travelers like himself, the timeline resists change in some capacity. Going back in time to make your past self wear a different shirt would cause the start of a new branch. Still, if changes are insignificant in the long run, the branch's history will eventually merge back with its source branch, correcting any possible paradoxes.

Kang's initial travel to the 1940s caused a new branch, but those changes were recombined with his current history. The 41st century still suffered the same fate. At some point, humanity was extinguished, retroactively erasing his Empire. It was only thanks to Damocles Base that he and the remains of his people escaped the erasure of their timeline. The Emperor sighed. He needed more information. "Computer, display our current chronal coordinates?"

A nearby crystal display outputted a long string of numbers and symbols. Kang's brow furrowed. "That can't be right..." However, even after a manual check, the result was the same. According to the Fourth Dimensional coordinates, his timeline was approximately three deviations from his original target. If the numbers were accurate, then history was changed by a third party between 1940 and the present 2010. "I've gone through the historical records numerous times. There shouldn't have been any instances of previous time travel not already accounted for before my first trip."

A knock at the door brought him out of his thoughts. His wife, Princess Ravonna Renslayer, had opened the door.

Kang got up from his chair and walked to her. "Love, you should be resting."