They made their way to Skip's cottage after navigating their way through some twisting streets, lined with street side gypsies, fortune tellers, and crazy people standing on boxes screaming prophecies. Sarah's sneezing and hiccupping had begun to lighten up considerably along the way, although the occasional tickle still bothered her.  

"Here we are," Max announced. It was barely more than a small hovel and was dwarfed by the bright blue city wall behind it. "This is the very eastern most edge of the city. Beyond that lies nothing but miles and miles of dangerous jungle. Lots of barbarians and nasty monsters lurk there. That's why they built the wall." 

"I see," Zeke said. "Well, shall we knock?" 

"No reason to really," Max replied. "Skip already knows we're here. In fact, from his perspective, we just left. Just remember what I told you about asking him questions after he gives you the answer and you'll be fine." He opened the door and stepped boldly in. Sarah and Zeke exchanged glances and followed after him. 

The interior was small and somewhat cluttered, although sparsely furnished. An unmade bed situated in the corner and a desk propped against the wall seemed to be the major items of note. There were a couple of small wooden chairs as well. Skip turned out to look somewhat like a pink muskrat with a long gray beard and flowing red robes decorated with a palm tree imprint. He was standing in the entrance of the room as they walked in and immediately shook hands with each of them. 

"See you later, Skip," Max said. 

"It was nice to see you again Max," Skip announced. "Zeke, Sarah, I must be meeting you for the first time. It's a pity. I guess that means I won't be seeing you again. But it was nice to make your acquaintance. Good luck." 

"These are my friends Zeke and Sarah," Max said. "I know you've already met them, but they haven't met you yet." 

"Nice to meet you," Sarah and Zeke said as they shook his hand. 

Skip walked backwards to his desk and took a seat nearby. Max prompted Sarah and Zeke to sit in the remaining chairs and he sat on the edge of the bed. 

"Ah, you must have just gotten here," Skip smiled. "Very well, I'll walk you to the door. Anyway yes, I have heard some news of your uncle. I understand he gave quite the stirring speech at the toenail convention. Trevor Mastodon was quite angry. I guess he caused some trouble. I wish I could have been there but I was busy attending to other matters." 

Sarah felt a little weird, but kept Max's advice in mind about following up answers with questions. "We're here because we're looking for my uncle, Dr. Octavius. Have you heard anything about his whereabouts?" 

"I know this is strange for you," Skip said kindly. "For you the speech has not occurred yet. I am referring of course to my past, and your future." 

"I'm a little confused," Sarah admitted. "Has my uncle already given this speech?" 

Skip picked up an empty teacup and put it to his lips. He appeared to spit out a dark brown liquid and then set it back down. "I'm not aware of his location right at this moment, but I did hear his room at the Galloping Centipede was just a smokescreen to throw Trevor Mastodon off the tracks." 

"Let's just cut to the chase," Max said. "Do you know Octavius' current whereabouts?" 

Zeke had been watching the proceedings quietly up to this point and was admittedly having a difficult time following exactly what was going on. He was also confused by how Max and Sarah knew the answers were directed at them when they hadn't even asked the questions yet. He thought maybe he should test the waters out for himself. 

Skip turned towards him. "Yes, I really am. Or at least in an opposite direction as you." 

"Are you really moving backwards through time?" Zeke asked, somewhat astonished by the results. 

"My theory on the matter is that I am speaking backwards. Relatively speaking, of course. I think if you were moving in the same direction through time as me, my speech would sound backwards to you, but since you're moving the other way it sounds normal. In other words, my forwards speech is your backwards speech and vice versa, but since we're approaching it from opposite ends we can both understand each other." 

Zeke's head was spinning a bit. "I'm confused as to why we can understand each other. If you're moving backwards through time shouldn't your speech be backwards too? I mean, you seem to perform every other activity backwards." 

"It's okay Max, I don't mind," Skip said as he lifted the teacup back to his mouth and spit more liquid into it. 

"Why don't you leave the man alone, Zeke?" Max shook his head. "Besides we've got more important questions to ask."  

"Yes it is," Skip said amiably. "And just in case you're wondering, yes your questions do seem to become more generalized as the conversation proceeds. I have you at a disadvantage at the moment, but that'll change. The closer we are to the beginning of the conversation from your perspective, the closer we are to the end from mine. So I have more information about the overall conversation at the moment. As you proceed down your timeline I will appear to know less and less. Before you leave you'll have to explain to me why you're here." 

"This is really weird," Zeke rubbed his temples. 

"It's okay, you'll understand in time. But honestly, I wasn't paying much attention at the time because I didn't know it was going to be important," Skip said. "But I believe you probably will. Between his speech and when he joined forces with the odd beast that arrived from another world he became pretty famous around these parts. You should be able to track him down." 

"I don't know what you're talking about right now," Sarah frowned. "But anyway, do you know if we'll ever locate my uncle?" 

"Word has it he was hanging out at the cloud factory on the Northern outskirts of the city. He definitely gave the speech at the Galloping Centipede a couple of days ago, that is to say a couple days in your future, although Trevor Mastodon seems to have broken it up. He also showed up at town hall and caused some havoc. I didn't hear if you guys were there or not." 

"Have you heard of his whereabouts at any time recently?" Max asked. "Where did he give his speech at? And do you know where he went before or after the convention?"  

Skip lifted the teacup again and spit more liquid into it. It was full to the brim now and hot and steaming. He stood up and walked backwards to the desk where he set it down next to a teakettle. "Would any of you like some tea?" 

Realizing that it had come out of Skip's body, Zeke crinkled up his nose. "Uh, no thanks." 

Skip lifted the teakettle over the cup, which emptied itself upwards into the kettle. Skip set the kettle down on a makeshift stove and it began whistling. He walked backwards to his chair and took a seat. "I'd better get that. Excuse me a moment." Skip gave a little jump of surprise. A second later the whistling stopped. 

"Let's see, I'm not sure how much help I'll be but I'll give it a shot. The news I heard about it was somewhat interesting but not being directly involved myself, I didn't pay the strictest of attention. I did hear some word here and there of your exploits. Zeke, I heard you made quite a showing at the Gravity ball game. Sounds like you're also quite the survivalist." 

"Are there any other details you can tell us about Dr. Octavius?" Max asked. 

"So what brings you here today, besides gambling advice Max?" Skip asked. 

"We're searching for Dr. Octavius and we were hoping you might know something of his whereabouts," Max said.  

"He's my uncle," Sarah chimed in helpfully. 

"Number six for sure," Skip laughed. 

"So who should I bet on at the donkey race tomorrow?" Max asked. "Looks like our conversation is drawing to a close with him since he just asked why we're here," Max explained to Zeke and Sarah. "If you have anything else you want to ask him, now's the time." 

Zeke glanced around in a conspiratorial fashion. Skip leaned forward and whispered in his ear "Not a chance in hell." 

Zeke whispered in Skip's ear "Is there any possibility Sarah and I might get together?" 

Max stood up, "Well we've definitely got something to go on now. Thanks for everything, Skip. I suppose we should be on our way." 

Skip stood up and gestured to the empty chairs, "Please sit down. Make yourself at home. I've got some tea brewing on the stove." 

"Take care, Skip," Max slapped him on the shoulder. 

"Well, I haven't really done anything yet, but you're welcome nonetheless. I guess that means this will be a satisfactory conversation. Don't worry, this one's on the house." 

"Thank you so much for all your help," Sarah said and gave him a little kiss on the cheek. "We can pay you some floss if you'd like." 

"So this is the Zeke and Sarah I've heard about," Skip said. "It's nice to make your acquaintances." He shook hands with them again. 

"Uh yeah, that would be us," Zeke nodded. "We're Zeke and Sarah." 

"Well, hello Maximillian," Skip said. "This is a pleasant surprise. What brings you here? And who are your friends?" 

"Hey Skip. We just came by to ask you a few questions," Max said. "This is Zeke and this is Sarah."

They walked out of the door and it closed behind them. "That was really fucking bizarre," Zeke said. 

"Yeah, I know," Max agreed. "Hold on, there's one more thing we gotta do." He turned towards the closed door. "It's me, Max!" he shouted through it. 

"Who is it?" they heard Skip's voice from the other side. Max proceeded to knock three times on the door. 

"Just had to let him know we were here," he explained. 

"So what should we do now?" Sarah asked. 

"Well, shoot, you heard the man. Your uncle's going to be giving a speech at the Galloping Centipede in a couple of days. We can just wait around and relax until he turns up." 

"I don't know if I like that idea," Sarah frowned. "I'm not going to feel comfortable until I see he's okay with my own eyes. Besides, I'm not convinced yet that this Skip guy is genuine. And even if he is, he said he only heard about the speech. He wasn't there himself so maybe his information is incorrect. I think we should keep searching. Didn't he say something about a cloud factory? If we still can't find him by the time he's supposed to give his speech we'll look for him at the hotel, but in the meantime I don't want to sit still and do nothing." 

"Well, all right," Max said. "But it's getting pretty late now. Maybe we should call it a night and start fresh in the morning?" 

"I agree," Zeke said. "I could use a good night's sleep. Preferably in a bed." 

Sarah was about to reply but was interrupted by a loud explosive sound. She whirled around in surprise and saw large chunks of rock land in the street a few feet away from them accompanied by a cloud of dust. A large gaping hole now existed in the middle of where the city wall had stood a few seconds earlier. A band of about forty badger-like creatures dressed in loincloths and necklaces made out of teeth came charging through the hole. They wailed in a high-pitched tone and wielded sharp spears crafted out of wood and rock. 

"Aw, crap!" Max shouted. "It's a barbarian raid!" 

"What?" Sarah asked. 

"It's barbarians. They live in the Black Jungle. They raid the city from time to time, mostly to steal food and goods, but also to capture slaves. It would probably be a good idea to get out of their way."  

"Let's get out of here!" Zeke shouted and turned to run. He felt something sharp hit him in the neck and he immediately began to feel woozy. Within minutes a couple of the badgers ran up and whacked him in the knees with the stick ends of their spears. He collapsed into a heap and the creatures grabbed him by the arms and dragged him towards the jungle.