The Advancement of Mateo Matic: August 1, 2514

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Ramses posited that the temporal energy that Boyd had absorbed when he blew up the crystal with lemon juice was basically all that was holding him together. Even after Mateo resurrected him from the afterlife simulation, he could not be saved forever. He knew this. Leona knew this. She also knew that it was only a matter of time before it killed him anyway, whether he was drained of the power or not. Temporal energy is really just time itself. You can have an excess of it, but if not properly stored, it will leak out as time passes, and that would have been the end of Boyd Maestri. She chose to not let his sacrifice go to waste, and to restore their own powers so that they could go on with the mission that he was intending to help them with. The role he was going to serve on the team now fell to Mateo. That was a problem for the future, though. Right now, they were going to honor their frenemy with a proper burial.

Everyone was here already. They were just waiting on Ramses, who was working on something in his lab. Mateo looked over at his daughter awkwardly. She glanced back at him, but quickly turned away again. He tried to look away too, but returned. She did another double-take. “What is it, dad?”

Mateo reached down and took a fold of her outfit between his fingers. “This isn’t your suit.”

“No, it’s real clothing,” she confirmed. “I went to Fashiondome, and sewed something myself. That’s what I’ve been doing all morning.”

“You know how to sew?”

“Yeah, I grew up thousands of years ago in the Third Rail. Of course I know how to sew.”

“Oh. That makes sense. I forget that about you.”

“Yeah.” Romana tried to go back to waiting patiently for Ramses.

“I know you’re an adult, it’s just that it’s a little—”

“Shh!” Leona warned before Mateo could finish his sentence.

Romana sighed, but continued to look straight forward. “Boyd liked my cleavage, and I choose to honor him in this way. This is a perfectly normal black funeral dress.” She said that she wasn’t angry at him for not being able to resurrect Boyd a second time, but there would always be that question between them of whether he genuinely tried, or if the part of him that didn’t want to save Boyd was big enough to stop it.

He looked on down the line at Olimpia. “And you?”

“You’re the one who likes my cleavage.” He didn’t say anything more, but she took the hint, and commanded her nanite clothing to cover her chest up a little more.

Ramses appeared. “Sorry, sorry, sorry. I had to come up with a way to safely dispose of temporal energy crystal.” While Mateo was trying to get Boyd back, and Romana was crying, Ramses had to delicately remove the shards from Boyd’s face. It wasn’t exactly trained as a medical examiner, but they couldn’t risk anyone else for the job, or really, trust them with it.

“It’s okay,” Mateo said. “You get on that end.”

“No,” Romana said. “I can carry it myself.”

Mateo looked at her sadly. “Romy, it’s unwieldy. You could hoist it over your shoulder, but you can’t carry it with the respect that he deserves.”

“Watch me.” Romana reached over the casket and tried to grab the handle on the other side. It wasn’t that she wasn’t strong enough. Her arms weren’t long enough.

“Let me get the other end,” Mateo offered. “He and I had our issues, which is exactly why I should do this. You wanted us to be friends, didn’t you? Or did you enjoy being in the middle of the animosity?”

She sighed again, relenting. “Okay, get the other end.”

Mateo and Romana carried Boyd down the trail as the others followed, or walked on ahead. “You spoke with Hrockas?” Leona asked.

Angela nodded. “This dome won’t be used for another fifty years, if ever. We’ll bury him deep, where there’s more activity while the regolith is being transformed into soil from chemicals they added to the water table.”

“Did he end up making an announcement?” Leona went on. “The first permanent death on the planet. That’s a big deal.”

Angela shook her head. “He’s burying the truth along with Boyd himself. No one needs to know that anyone died. Even though people are still allowing themselves to die on the Core Worlds, it could hurt visitorship. His death was completely unrelated to anything offered in the domes, so there’s no point in advertising or disclosing it.”

The two of them were talking rather quietly, and their comms were off, but everyone wearing an upgraded substrate had excellent hearing, so they all heard it. Romana was not upgraded, but even she heard it somehow. She glanced over her shoulder at Leona and Angela and frowned, but didn’t speak to them. She instead looked at Ramses, who was next to her. “People should know that he died, and what he died for. He sacrificed himself...for us.”

“You’re right,” Ramses said. “One of the hardest things we do is keeping our lives secret from the vonearthans. I know you know everything about that, living in the Third Rail for the majority of your life.”

Marie and Olimpia were in front, and had just rounded a corner when they suddenly stopped short. Olimpia nearly tripped on a rock, but caught herself in time.

“What is it?” Mateo questioned.

“There’s a man,” Marie answered. “He may have a weapon.”

“Set it on the ground,” Mateo ordered. He slowly bent his knees as his daughter did, and carefully set the casket down. “Wait here.” Mateo walked on alone, gently pulling the ladies’ shoulders back so this mysterious stranger wouldn’t be able to see them anymore. He did see a man, standing in the distance, resting both of his wrists on what appeared to be a shovel. Mateo used his telescopic vision to zoom in. “It’s Halifax.”

“Really?” Leona asked. She walked forward to get a look for herself.

“I recognize that name from the list,” Olimpia said.

“He’s The Gravedigger,” Mateo replied. “We’ve not seen him in a long time.” He looked back at Romana. “Not since the Third Rail.” He grabbed the casket again. “Let’s go. He’s no threat.”

They continued on their way. Halifax waited patiently where they first saw him. He was chewing on sunflower seeds, and spitting the shells off to the side. “I expected you sooner! Why didn’t you teleport here?”

“It’s a funeral procession,” Mateo explained. “You can’t teleport through a funeral procession.”

“No, s’pose not.”

“What are you doing here?” Mateo asked him.

“I’m here for him.” Halifax nodded at the body.

“Not many work orders from this time period, I would guess,” Mateo mused.

“Nope,” Halifax replied matter-of-factly.

“So he’s never coming back?” Leona asked.

Halifax took a beat. “No,” he answered solemnly. “He’ll be in good company,” he added after Mateo exchanged a look with Romana. The Cemetery magically appeared behind him, including a new open grave right behind him, and a second one a few meters away, which was alarming.

“Can we still do a green burial?” Romana asked, stepping forward. “It’s what he wanted.

“Is there any other kind?” Halifax responded.

Romana knelt down and started to unlock the casket. Mateo reached down, and covered her hand with his. “You don’t have to do this yourself. You don’t have to...see him like this.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, father.” She unlocked the other latch. “I do.” She lifted the lid, and stared at Boyd’s dead body for a few moments. Then she slipped her arms underneath his, and began to drag him out, across the ground, and over to the edge of the grave. She let go only to hop in, then took hold of Boyd again to pull him down on top of her. She lay there for another few moments, staring blankly into empty space. They gathered ‘round and watched her in reverence. Finally, she freed herself from him, stood up, and just teleported to the surface.

“Your dress,” Mateo pointed out.

“That’s why I wore something real,” Romana explained, “so it wouldn’t have a self-cleaning function.”

“Would you like to say a few words?” Halifax offered.

She stepped over, and looked into the grave with everyone else. “Boyd Maestri was not a perfect man. Like many of our kind, he took his power for granted. He made life harder for some people, like Dave Seidel and June St. Martin. But he never really hurt anyone. He wasn’t anywhere close to being evil. He was actually really sweet. And I wish that you had all been able to see more than just glimpses of that. But I’m at least glad that you got to see a little. I know you weren’t happy with our age gap. The truth is, it was wider than you even know. But he never pushed me, or pressured me. What he felt for me was love. I can’t say that I felt the same. Growing up the way that I did—skipping all that time—I couldn’t have real relationships. If I met someone, they would be dead in the blink of an eye. So yeah, when the first man who I could be honest with took an interest, I fell for him. As I said, he took his powers for granted, but he didn’t treat me the same. He was respectful, and kind, and he recognized my boundaries. I—” she stammered. “That’s it.” She stepped backwards, away from the grave.

“Anyone else?” Halifax asked.

Mateo was already pretty close to the grave, but he stepped closer, letting the toes of his shoes hover over the edge. “I forgive you.”

Romana hadn’t cried this whole time, but now she snapped her eyes shut, and scrunched her cheeks up, trying to hold the tears back, even though she knew that no one expected that of her. She buried her face in the safety of Olimpia’s bosom. Suddenly. Ellie Underhill climbed out of the second open grave. She tried to clap the dirt off of her hands, and wiped them on her skirt. Without saying anything first, she began to sing, “I just found a lemon tree. It’s a bad day for my enemies. Yes, there’s sugar water in the breeze, and I’m ready, I’m ready. So someone play guitar for me. I’m ready to leave my body.”

It was at this point that Olimpia pulled off her necklace, and joined in. “And oh, this could be rage. We’re flying to the space between the lies we told, and find the good in every soul is all connected energy, or how would I know you were thinking of me in the tree?” Only two of them were singing, but with Olimpia’s echo powers, it sounded more like a small chorus. They went on with the song, but skipped the instrumental break, since they were singing a capella. When they ended with the final two lines, “when all of the lights remain, this is all that our time contains,” Olimpia belted it out. Her voice roared up into the sky, and apparently tore a hole in spacetime. The Time Shriek answered back, echoing in its own way, just as Olimpia could.

Romana smiled as she wiped more tears from her eyes. “Boyd loved that scream. He thought it was so cool that so many people from so far away could hear the same thing.”

“You got to know him better than I realized,” Mateo said, wrapping his arms around her. “I’m sorry I didn’t make it easy on you.”

“It’s okay,” she assured him. “I understand. Or rather I don’t understand what it’s like to be a parent. But I will soon.” She smiled, and placed her palm on her belly.”

“No,” Mateo said, struck with dread, trying his best not to faint, or shout in rage.

“No, I’m kidding!” Romana said apologetically.

“Oh, god...dammit! Don’t do that to me!”

“Or me,” Ramses agreed surprisingly. “We would have to uninstall your EmergentSuit.” He looked around at the rest of the ladies. “That goes for all of you. I wouldn’t otherwise have the right to know if you’re pregnant, but...”

“We get it,” Marie said to him. “We’ll let ya know.”

“Thanks for coming, Ellie,” Leona said. “That was a very thoughtful and beautiful gift.”

“That wasn’t your gift,” Ellie said. “I just like to make an entrance.” She reached into her pocket. “This is your gift.” She pulled out a smooth red stone. Or was it made of glass? It looked familiar, but no one could place it right away. “The angry Russian I took it from wasn’t happy, but he and his daughter will be fine. I moved them somewhere safe.”

“The cap of the Insulator of Life,” Ramses exclaimed. “We’ve been wondering how those two got separated, and where this has been.”

“St. Petersburg, I guess.” Ellie looked from one to another, to another, but only with her eyes. “Is anyone gonna take this from my hand, errr...?”

Angela happened to be the closest, so she accepted it.

“Forgive me, but...this was a funeral gift?” Leona questioned. “Do they have those in Fort Underhill? I didn’t even think you had death.”

“No, it’s a wedding gift,” Ellie contended. She looked around at them again, but with her head this time. “Wait, what year is this?” She reached out and grabbed Leona’s wrist so she could look at her watch. “Whoops! Better go! Forget I said anything!” She ran off and hopped back into the portal grave.

“Well,” Olimpia said with a sigh. “I guess the cat’s out of the bag.” She reached into her own pockets, and pulled out two diamond rings. She held them in front of her. “Mateo and Leona Matic...will you marry me?”

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Microstory 298: Perspective Seventy-Four

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Perspective Seventy-Three

Now I ain’t sayin’ she a gravedigger, but I am. Before we begin, you should know that I like girly things. I played with dolls growing up, I wear dresses, and I even post makeup tutorials online. Sure, I don’t exactly get thousands of hits like my competition, but I do have some followers. One thing that makes me different from all the other girls, however, is my job. I really am a gravedigger; that wasn’t just a song lyric. I’ve been doing it for a few years now, and there are not current plans to look for something else. I’m a simple girl who lives in a small, two-bedroom apartment in a good neighborhood. Of course, I spend money on makeup, but other than food and utilities, that’s pretty much it. I don’t go out to bars and drink myself under the table, I don’t shop for fun more than the average person, and I always buy off brand. I’m pretty sure they’re manufactured in the same factory, so why the hell not? I also didn’t go to college—by choice, before you start judging me—so I’m not overwhelmed by a mountain of debt. People think my job is disgusting, and that it’s reserved for men...or dykes. Yes, I hear that word a lot. It’s offensive, outdated, and y’all need to stop usin’ it. People die in movies all the time, and you often see a gravedigger in the background, reverently waiting for the survivors to make their final goodbyes. But people don’t make movies about us, because it’s not particularly dignified or interesting. I chose it because I get to operate heavy machinery and listen to music all day. People don’t bother me, and in fact, don’t usually notice me because they’re preoccupied with their loss. I have a boss...I think, I don’t ever see him. But for the most part, I work alone and do things my own way.  I could sit here and tell you that it’s an honor to send the deceased to their final resting place, but I honestly don’t really give it much thought. I don’t see the death itself. If I’m around during a service, the casket is closed by then, and it’s pretty easy to disassociate myself from it. I’m not cold-hearted, or a sociopath, or anything. I’m just not as exposed to as much as you might think. Cemeteries are beautiful places, full of flowers and shady trees. Ours even has a pleasant fountain near the entrance. I try to do my work when no one else is around, but I gotta get this grave dug. The guy was murdered recently and there were apparently some clerical complications that prevented his body from being released immediately. His story is the polar opposite of the man whose grave is being visited while I’m working. He apparently died while trying to protect his girlfriend, but today also marks the one year anniversary of the Neverland Killer’s demise.

Perspective Seventy-Five

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: April 11, 2035

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Just before Mateo and Leona jumped to the future, The Delegator appeared and took Guard Number One away. He said that he and his husband would be taken to a different time and place; a witness protection program of sorts for non-salmon whose lives have been put in danger by salmon activity. As they were leaving, Mateo could hear him ask about his partner. The Delegator just said that he and the other three former Reaver security guards were being placed on a special detail. He was obviously not allowed to divulge anything about it.

Mateo and Leona were never really given permission to stay with Danica for as long as they had, or even for the reason that they had. Much like the Snow White coffin, presumably being in the Constant during the jump caused them to land in a different place. At first, they thought Danica had just redecorated, but then they looked out of the window. They could see the Earth in the sky.

A man walked into the room from a different chamber and took off his spacesuit helmet. “Good morning, Mirage. Status report.”

The voice of his mom’s house’s artificial intelligence came from the ceiling, “levels optimal. We have two visitors.”

The man was surprised to see the two of them specifically, but not surprised to see people in the first place. “When did you get here?” He looked at a screen on his wrist. “I’m not due for rotation for another month.”

Mateo and Leona had no idea what to say. Fortunately, Mirage did. “They are two time travelers. They did not arrive in a spacecraft.”

“Is that a joke?”

“I’m not programmed to joke.”

“Like hell you aren’t,” the man said. “You’re not programmed for anything.”

“I know these people. You can trust them,” Mirage explained to him.

“The question is,” Mateo started, “how are we to trust you? You tried to kill me once.”

“That was two years ago.”

“Somehow that doesn’t make me feel better.” Mateo looked around for the nearest rolly chair, knowing that it would likely not work a second time.

“What are you doing here?” Leona asked, just as concerned.

“I survived the explosion by sending the majority of my consciousness to a small group of rogue nanites. I made my way to an engineering prodigy who lived not far from the house, subsisting on what little sunlight I was able to absorb. After the strike of midnight, and your jump into the future, the subroutines that Horace Reaver programmed into me were no longer able to hurt anyone since the subject of my wrath was no longer within my reach. Still, the young woman stripped me of all contrivances, and molded me into a free-thinking individual. She has been working on hijacking your timeslips and sending you here to meet me once more since this is as far from Reaver Enterprises as one can get.”

“I can’t imagine that Reaver never got his hands into space travel. Isn’t he one of the most powerful men in the world? How could he not be on the moon by now?”

“You’re not the only salmon to have been trying to thwart his efforts. The best the others were able to do was keep him on Earth. Things would be a lot worse if not for them.”

“Why does this girl want you and us to be together?” Mateo was still not perfectly relaxed, but he was getting there.

“Her motives are unclear,” Mirage explained. “Mine, on the other hand, are not. I needed to see you again.”

Leona stepped in front of Mateo to protect him, even though this would do no good. “You need to see him for what?”

“He is carrying some of my nanites.”

“How so?”

“Several thousand of them were either swallowed by you, or burrowed themselves through your skin in an attempt to kill you back in 2034.”

“Oh my God! They’ve been here the whole time? Are you going to get them out?”

“I sure am, but don’t worry. They’ve been dormant since they were taken from their power source. If you would please enter the medical bay, we may begin the procedure.”

Mateo was about to go, but Leona stopped him. “Hold on, how do we know that this isn’t just another way for you to kill him, just like Reaver wants?”

“I was hoping our conversation would be able to convince you of the truth.”

“Forgive me,” Leona retorted, “but I’m not exactly experienced in recognizing when an artificial intelligence is lying or not.”

“Would it help if I revealed information regarding my ulterior motives?”

Leona kind of chuckled, clearly never having spoken to what might be considered a true AI. “Depends on what those motives are.” They would have to be bad enough for Mirage to want to hide them at first, but not bad enough to cancel the procedure.

“I felt a bond to Mister Matic when we first met; a form of love, you might say. I don’t want to wait a year to see him again. I believe that the nanites were infused with his blood, and if I reconnect with them, I will be forever attached to his time traveling pattern.”

Leona waited to respond for a hot minute. “That’s a leap in logic that I would not expect from a machine.”

“I am a person who happens to have been created with human computer code. I do not think only in logic. I feel something, and I feel a need to try this, on the off chance that it works. Machines aren’t treated like people, Miss Delaney. If I have a way to avoid being eventually deleted by jumping through time every day, then I’m going to take it.” She stammered a bit, realizing that she didn’t want to force her wishes on him. “That is...if Mateo agrees to have me.”

Leona shook her head, sure that this was not going to happen.

“I’ll do it,” Mateo stated.

“The hell you will.”

“Leona, don’t be jealous.”

“I’m not jealous, asshole! I don’t want you to do this because she tried to kill you before. We can’t be sure she won’t try it again here.”

“She also saved my life. She helped me destroy her servers so that I could escape.”

“Even if she doesn’t want to harm you now; even if that part of her programming really was removed, what if this thing works? We could be permanently jumping through time with an extremely dangerous piece of machinery. She wants to be friends now, but who knows what’ll happen tomorrow, or in two weeks? She processes data phenomenally faster than humans. An hour to her is an entire lifetime. She could change her mind like that.” She snapped her fingers.

“Not true,” Mirage corrected her. “Like I said, I’m a person. It’s true that I process information at a faster rate, but not as fast as other computers. This is part of what allows me to be an individual, and more like a human.”

Leona seemed to ignore her. “Mateo, I left the world in 2028, so I don’t know everything that’s happened since then. But I can tell you that the philosophical and ethical ramifications of trusting an artificial intelligence has never been fully understood.”

“Same goes for humans, doesn’t it?” the astronaut asked as the first thing he had said since the beginning of the conversation.

Leona turned to him and rudely said, “you’re still here? Who are you?”

“Only one who’s supposed to even be in this lunar base,” he replied. “Bitch.”

She was even angrier than before. “I’m sorry?”

“Leona, ignore him for now. But what he said is right. Humans are just as evil as they are good, and we have to trust others at some point. I’m choosing to trust Mirage, just like my parents and I chose to trust you two decades ago.”

“I can’t stop you, but I won’t be a part of it.” She walked away to fiddle with one of the computers.

Mateo sighed. “We have to get these nanites out of my body one way or another. Mirage, where’s the med bay? I don’t know if the procedure is going to work as far as what you want out of it, but let’s get it done so I have some time to recover.”

It worked.

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The Advancement of Mateo Matic: March 30, 2023

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Amidst the blaring of the oncoming train, he could hear someone in the distance screaming, “Leona! Get off!”

Mateo turned to find Leona Delaney racing towards him. “We have to go!” she cried. She took him by the shoulders.

“I can’t move!”

“We have to jump off!”

Leona reached out, trying to get them to the edge of the bridge, but he tripped. His left leg refused to hold him up. The train was a few meters away, and he only had to crawl a few feet to clear it, but it was just too much for his body. He wanted Leona to get away without him, but even convincing her of that would take too long. Just before the train overcame them, he felt a third hand on his back.

Mateo fell to his back. The train was gone. The bridge was gone. The sky was gone. He was in a lecture hall of some kind. Between him and Leona was Aunt Daria.

“Oh my God,” Mateo said, grasping his leg; the full force of the pain attacking him now that the adrenaline had gone down. “Daria? How did you find me?”

“I didn’t,” Daria replied. “I call that a slingshot. When I feel like someone is choking me, along with the dry mouth, I know that I’m only going to be at my next destination for a few seconds. That’s usually how long I have to save someone’s life. The powers that be put me on those missions occasionally. The people I save always end up being senators or rock musicians. I’ve never been there for a family member. You must be pretty important to them.”

“Who are these people?”

“Couldn’t tell you. But they must exist. It can’t be random. The law of probability doesn’t allow it.”

Leona let him lean on her and started leading them out of the room. “We need to get you to a hospital. Foothills is under ten minutes away.”

“How do you know that? Where are we?”

“We’re in the Duane Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder. This is where I go to school. Which you would know if you hadn’t abandoned us.”

“How did you find me?” Mateo asked after managing to get into the backseat of her car.

Leona pushed a button and started the car. “Boulder Medical Center. Foothills,” she instructed the navigation system. “Emergency Entrance.” The car backed out and started to drive on its own. “Cybil, call Carol.”

There was a beep from the car, whose name was apparently Cybil. “Calling Carol,” it—rather, she said.

Mateo’s mother’s voice came from the speakers, “Leona, what happened?”

“We’re fine. Daria pulled us out just in time. He’s broken his leg, so we’re headed to Foothills Hospital.”

“We’ll meet you there.”

“Who’s we?” Mateo asked after the call ended.

“My boss was there during your last jump, so he knew exactly where you would be,” Leona answered while she inspected his leg.

“Your boss?”

“Professor Andrews. He actually saw you disappear, along with several other people in the car. They were pretty freaked out about it. Some people were worried about terrorism, but you fortunately never gave your identification, so there was no real proof that you were still on the train during that leg of the trip...pardon the pun.”

“And you just happened to start grad school at the same college as the guy I talked to on the train to Utah?”

“Duke snatched your bag secretly, and tracked us down. It’s been a year, remember? We got to know each other, and he put in a recommendation for me. I’m one of his teaching assistants. In the meantime, we discuss what’s happening with you.”

“What have you figured out?”

“Just about jack shit.”

“Language!”

“I’m not fifteen years old anymore. Anyway, back to the subject, we did design a special machine that should give us some data that you couldn’t have gotten from a regular ol’ hospital back in Topeka. Our main concern is determining what happens to the space around you when you disappear, and what happens to the space when you come back. Our current observations don’t make a whole lot of sense. I’ve seen first hand that Daria can take people with her, but you can’t. What exactly is the difference between hugging another person, and holding onto a bag, or even your clothes?”

“Well, my father was alive at the time. So that was a difference.”

“Physics doesn’t care whether you’re a living organism or not. It’s all just a matter of matter.” She leaned over and gave him a passionate but rather conservative kiss. “But I care.” Then she slapped him. “Don’t you ever run away from me again. Do you hear me?”

“My God, you’ve really grown up.”

“You’ve been dealing with this for less than two weeks while the rest of us are living in real time. Your entire life is consumed by this. But for me, it’s Tuesday.”

“It’s Thursday,” Daria piped in.

“Never mind. We’re here.”

A couple hours later, Mateo watched in amazement as a 3D printer formed a cast designed to fit his leg perfectly. It looked like nothing he had seen before. It wasn’t completely closed, but a web of plastic connections, almost like fishnet stockings. If Spiderman ever got hurt, this was the cast he would wear. Once it was finished, he put his pants on over it, and you couldn’t even tell that it was there. The nurse tried to give him medication for the pain, but Professor Duke Andrews walked in just in time to stop her. “Sorry, Mateo,” he said. “But the cast is bad enough. I can’t have these drugs interfering with our experiment.”

“Sir, I do not know who you are, but this is a medical decision...” Duke pulled her aside to talk her out of causing problems. Carol came over and gave him a hug.

“Are you going to slap me too?” he asked of her.

Carol turned to Leona. “Did you slap my son?”

“I admit to nothing.”

Daria stood up and took charge. “My nephew needs to get some sleep. I suggest we go back to wherever it is you people live so that he can rest.”

“I need to run some tests before he disappears,” Duke complained.

“And you will get your chance. You have over twenty hours left. But for now, let’s go. Someone needs to deal with the discharge papers.” She physically ushered them out of the room so that only she and Mateo remained.

“I think I would have liked you as an aunt. Whatever the motives of these people, the...powers that be, they better be worth me losing three of my parents and you.”

“That brings me to the second reason I’m back.” She took something out of her pocket and handed it to him. It looked not unlike a flash drive, but it definitely wasn’t that.

“Computers use these nowadays?”

She coughed. “The way I understand it, the technology required to access this device won’t exist for another couple centuries, or was it millennia?”

“I thought you weren’t a time traveler.”

She smiled lovingly and took a drink of water from his cup. “I’m not. But I’ve met some people since you’ve been gone.”

“Daria,” he started to say.

“I don’t know you. But I love you.” With that, she disappeared.

Mateo went back to his mother’s new Colorado house and slept the rest of the day away in a bed designated for him. They woke him up that night and drove him back to the university. Duke took blood samples, saliva samples, and other samples. As midnight approached, they had him lie in a machine that looked like the glass coffin from Snow White.

“The machine is going to run nonstop for the entire year,” Duke explained to him. I imagine the data during that time will provide us with zero insight, but we’re doing it anyway. We’ll see you later.”

Both his mom and Leona told him that they loved him. Then midnight.

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