Episode 9 : 'Cronus, Father of Time'

The Odyssey is drifting through another part of unknown space when they are suddenly attacked by a fleet of Trident craft (the craft of the Gods). The battle goes on for a while until the Odyssey finds it is completely outnumbered by the enemy. The ship comes close to destruction when something strange happens. The explosions within and outside the ship start to 'de-explode' and everything appears to be going backwards.

After this bizarre event, a strange, humanoid life-form appears on the flight deck. He talks to Ulysses and informs him that a man called 'Cronus' caused the retreat of time and awaits Ulysses' and the children's arrival at his palace. They agree to this and are then teleported through a strange dimension until re-appearing in an extravagantly decorated throne room.

The room has hundreds of clocks and timepieces hanging from the ceiling and walls. There are more humanoids in this room and look the same as the one that appeared on the Odyssey. They each have clock mechanisms fixed into their chests and it becomes clear that they all serve as guards for this man 'Cronus'. This man then appears and introduces himself to Ulysses.

After the explanation of events and the area around them, Ulysses thanks Cronus for saving their lives. But, he only laughs at this and it shows that the man has a second face on the back of his head. This is the face that is now speaking and says that he believed the humans were men of worth, and not so naive. Ulysses is puzzled by this and he is then separated from the children and escorted to another room in the palace. The children are taken to a room by the guards who lock them in.

Back with Ulysses, Chronos explains the true nature of 'rescuing' him from the Trident's attack. He fixes Ulysses to a metal stand and then summons the Gods to make an offer. Ulysses is offered to the Gods in exchange for Chronos being granted a greater power. The Gods do not accept this offer immediately and tell Chronos that they will consider it.

Meanwhile, the children are trying to escape from the cell room. They come up with an idea (with the help of Nono), of sending an electric charge into the locking mechanism, hoping it will cause the door to open. It works and they all flee down a corridor in search of Ulysses. They are lost as to where to go, so they try each door they find. But they are soon being chased by guards and are forced to hide in one of the rooms.

The room they hide in is announced by Chronos, who seems to be watching them, as 'The Chamber of Seasons' and are stuck on an endlessly floating group of islands. Each of these islands infinitely passes through the 4 seasons; Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Unfortunately, besides the problem of the events around them, they discover that the time here is at an accelerated speed. Before they know it, Telemachus and Yumi have grown into older children and eventually young adults, all within a matter of hours. This doesn't just affect the palace. The Odyssey itself is within this faster time zone, and soon the crew under the curse of the Gods will grow old and eventually die of extreme old-age.

Back with Ulysses, he eventually manages to break free of his chains and heads off to find the children. After a while, Ulysses comes across an astonishing find. He stands before an enormous, towering clock. This clock turns out to be the device that controls time for the entire universe. Ulysses then has a plan for escaping Chronos' Kingdom of Time. He makes contact with Sherka back on the Odyssey and asks for the precise time the ship was attacked by the Trident fleet. Upon receiving the required information, he proceeds to climb and when he reaches the clock face, he pushes the heavy hands back to the point of time as informed by Sherka just as the guards reach him and carry out their orders to kill.

Ulysses and the children return to the Odyssey after a series of backwards time events and they then alter their course so not to become prisoners once again.

Written by Mike Grove