It was almost time.

Lori knew she must look quite the fright. Her fur was disheveled, and she had heavy bags under her eyes. Ever since that breakthrough two days ago, she hadn't left the lab. When she happened to see herself in a reflective surface, she barely recognized the fox looking back at her.

None of it mattered. The only important thing was the experiment. It was almost ready. In minutes, minutes, Lori would shake loose the shackles of time itself and become a goddess.

Well, not really a goddess. She was only unlocking the potential that had always been there. And there would be limits: if her calculations were all correct, then she would age forwards and backwards as she moved through the time stream, and would thus be limited to visiting times within her own, short lifespan.

But still, what an amazing breakthrough! Who would have thought that time itself was so subjective? With just a small bit of genetic manipulation, just a small tweak to her perception of the universe, she would be able to slide through time with ease, no additional apparatus necessary.

Her heart pounded as she imagined it. This was going to change everything, shake the very foundations of modern science. The fame and accolades that would come her way would be astounding. It would all be regulated, of course, to prevent people from messing with the time stream, but she would have already undergone the process herself, so it couldn't be taken away from her. She would get all the benefits -- the fame, the power -- and none of the restrictions. As long as she was careful how she used her newfound power, the world would be hers for the taking.

Her heart pounded in her chest. Just a few more calculations, a few more tests to make sure everything was right, and she would be able to initiate the process. It would work. She could feel it.

She heard a popping noise behind her, and felt a slight pressure.

Lori furrowed her brow. No one could have entered the lab; the doors were locked from the inside. She turned around to see what had made the noise.

And she saw herself.

The other Lori looked almost exactly like her: a tall, slender vixen, with russet-red fur and a white underbelly. She didn't have the same bags under her eyes that Lori did, nor was she wearing the same lab coat -- in fact, she wasn't wearing anything at all -- but the similarities were too exact for her to be anyone else.

Lori's mind reeled at the implication. There was only one explanation for who this could be, and how she could be here.

"It... it works!" Lori said.

The other Lori nodded. "It certainly does."

"I mean..." Lori's vision blurred and refocused, and she had to grip the edge of the table where she had been working to keep from falling over. She started stammering. "I... I did it! Or I mean, I will do it; you did it. This is... this is incredible! Is this real!?"

The other Lori gave her a knowing smile, an "I've been here before" look. "Yes it is. It's not a dream, it's not a hallucination. I am who you think I am."

Unable to contain herself, Lori leaped forward and gave the other her a hug.

Future Lori seemed ready for it -- of course she did -- and she happily met the embrace. The two vixens held each other for several seconds before Future Lori separated them, putting her hands on Lori's shoulders and pushing her gently away. "Now now, there will be time for celebration later. First, we have some business to take care of."

"Oh, right... right!" Lori's heart pounded in her chest. "I still have to undergo the process myself! Then I have to call my colleagues, and..."

"That's not what I meant," Future Lori said.

Something about her future self's tone chilled Lori. She forced herself to stop stammering and she looked at the other Lori. "Why... why are you here?"

"Like I said: to take care of some business."

Future Lori reached forward, and for the first time, Lori noticed a small metal cylinder clutched in her hand. Before Lori could reach, Future Lori pressed the metal against Lori's abdomen. Lori felt a shock run through her, and she collapsed to the floor.

Lori tried to move, but couldn't. It hadn't been an electrical shock: her mind felt lucid, but her legs and arms weren't responding to her commands. Had Future Lori administered some kind of paralytic?

Something was wrong: very wrong. Why would her future self need to paralyze her?

With practiced ease, Future Lori knelt down next to Lori's prone form and began unbuttoning her lab coat.

"W-what are you doing?" Lori asked, discovering at the same time that she could still speak.

"Oh, I just don't want to get any cloth stuck in my teeth."

Lori's heart skipped a beat. Her mind raced. She could only come up with one possible meaning to that statement.

"You're going to eat me!?"

Future Lori smiled. "That's right."

"But... you can't!"

"You know very well I can," Future Lori said. "You've always been a predator, even before this. You know that we can handle prey our own size if we get the drop of them or subdue them first. It might take you a few days to digest -- about three days and four hours, to be precise -- but trust me, you will."

"Yes, I know that," Lori said, still trying, without success, to move her arms or legs. "I mean you can't because I'm you. You'll create a paradox! When you go back to your time, I'll have never lived to get you there!"

"There's an easy solution to that paradox," Future Lori said, as she slid the lab coat off Lori's body. "If you think for a moment, I know you can come up with it."

Lori considered, and the realization settled on her like a shroud. "You're not going back. You're staying."

Future Lori slipped off Lori's underwear. "That's right."

"You'll just stay in this time as if you were me."

"Yep."

"But... why?"

Future Lori grinned as she finished undressing Lori. "Because these next few years are some of the best we'll have. Our invention brings us everything -- fame, glory, money, men, women..."

Lori furrowed her brow. "I'm not into..."

"Hush. We get more experimental as time goes on. Anyway, after a few years, people start to forget our achievements -- damn short memories. They start to wonder when our next big invention is going to come around, as if time travel wasn't enough. But these years, we have all the freedom we could ever want, and the money and resources to spend it however we want. So, I decided, why not use the power I've given myself? I can relive these years as many times as I want -- forever, in fact -- as long as I get you out of the way first."

Lori watched as the other her stood up, walking around toward her feet. She knelt down again. "But..." Lori grasped for an argument. "But... you'll get bored!"

"You always say that. It's been a thousand years, and I haven't yet."

Lori's blood grew chill.

"It's not like I spend these years doing the same thing every time," Future Lori continued. "I can create as many divergent time streams as I want, as long as I don't interfere with the actual discovery itself. Sometimes I immerse myself in debauchery -- sometimes in food. Sometimes I travel -- there's a lot of world to see. Sometimes I let myself become someone else's prey -- it's a surprisingly fun experience when you know you can just time slip yourself back to safety. Hells, one time I locked myself in my apartment and spent the whole cycle playing MMOs. Trust me, I am not anywhere near running out of things to do."

"But... but..." Tears were starting to form in Lori's eyes. "But... I thought I would be the one to enjoy all the fame."

"Oh, hush," Future Lori said. She took Lori's ankles in her hands and lifted them up. "There's nothing you can do to stop it -- it's already happened. Now I need to hurry this up; that paralytic will be wearing off soon. Make sure you squirm for me. I do like it when you squirm."

And with that, Future Lori opened her mouth wide and slid Lori's feet inside.

---

Lori leaned back in the chair, her feet kicked up on the lab table. She didn't need the equation-covered papers anymore; she knew them all by heart.

She ran her fingers over her bulging gut and released a small belch. Inside, her meal was kicking up a storm. Lori knew she would. She always did.

Soon, Lori would need to start making phone calls -- send her work to her colleagues, call the press and arrange for a demonstration. She had to get the ball rolling before the fame and fortune could come her way. But right now, she just wanted to bask in the fullness of her current meal. The phone calls and press conferences could wait a few hours.

After all, she had all the time in the world.