The Advancement of Mateo Matic: May 31, 1608

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“This was not a win for you,” The Cleanser argued. “My girl was the one who actually rescued all the people from the boat.”

“My team provided the cuff necessary to complete the task,” The Warrior volleyed. “Your girl would have failed without us.”

“Uh, without us,” Mateo jumped in.

The Cleanser and the Warrior looked at him like he was even more of an idiot than he was.

Mateo held firm. “More specifically, without Leona.”

“Just so I can understand this,” Leona began, “are you two fighting over who manages to save the most people?”

Zeferino laughed. “Yeah, let’s go with that.”

“Ha, yeah,” Anatol agreed.

“Anyway, we agreed no mixing,” Zeferino said. “We’re supposed to be operating within different timelines.”

Anatol shrugged. “I’m still getting a handle on my new powers. I honestly didn’t realize this wasn’t a different reality. You normally do that for us.”

Zeferino seemed content with this response. “Then we’ll call it a draw, and move on to the next one.”

“Okay, but I don’t like your chances with this one,” Anatol said. “She seems...green.”

“I am green,” the young woman agreed.

“Well...” Zeferino began.

“You wanna split the teams again,” Anatol figured.

“I’ve already worked with some of these people,” Zeferino said. “It could be fun.”

“So, what? Three against three?”

“There are seven of them.”

Anatol shrugged again. “I don’t really know why this Olimpia person is here, or what she contributes.”

Olimpia didn’t seem bothered by this remark, and no one wanted to come to her defense, because all it would do was lead her to being just as much of a pawn in their chess game as the rest of them.

Leona cleared her throat pointedly. “There aren’t seven of us, there are six.” There had been this unspoken agreement that everyone would pretty much stay quiet while the gods fought with each other, but Leona hated bad math, and she couldn’t let it go.

Anatol looked around. “Wait, where is Dalton?”

“I didn’t use him for this one,” Zeferino explained. “These two haven’t met yet.”

“What are we doing with the numbers?” Anatol questioned. “Are you bringing him on, or what?”

“Let’s do boy versus girls,” Zeferino suggested. “I have a fourth man to bring on who could be on your team, and that will make them even.”

“Hold on,” Anatol said. “I have to take the guys? They’re all morons.”

“D.B. isn’t that dumb, Anatol.”

“You have Leona and Angela. That’s crazy.”

“You have the primary cuff,” Zeferino returned.

“Well, it doesn’t work without it, does it?”

“You do have two to spare, according to my maths.” Zeferino looked directly at Leona.

“I do. But you still have the dream team,” Anatol reasoned.

“I’ll tell you what, your team can have any powers you want them to have. My team can have none.”

They both thought over the proposal, to make sure there weren’t any issues on either side.

“Deal,” Anatol said.

“Deal,” Zeferino echoed.

They both looked over at the group. No one was preparing to argue or complain. Mateo was smiling.

“What are you thinking?” Anatol asked. “You believe this will give you some kind of advantage?”

Mateo’s smile widened. “Not as of yet, but it will present itself. That’s a major lesson that I don’t think I realized I learned until now. You see, you are so powerful that you can think ten steps ahead. But you always miss one thing.” He used hand gestures for emphasis.

“What’s that?” Zeferino asked.

“You always miss at least one forking path. We’ll play your game. We’ll let you break us up, and compete against each other across two timelines. While we’re doing that...we’ll wait. Despite your immortality, you both possess an obscene amount of impatience, and regularly demonstrate a high capacity for boredom. I give this...nine missions before it all falls apart.”

Zeferino and Anatol smirked, and simultaneously said, “deal.”

Leona, Angela, Olimpia, and newcomer Siria went their own way with the Cleanser. Mateo and Jeremy, meanwhile, went off with the Warrior to meet back up with Dalton, as well as meet some guy named D.B. Mateo was surprised to find out that they were talking about the D.B. Cooper; famed plane hijacker and folk hero. He reportedly made off with $200,000 in 1971, though according to Anatol’s introduction, this was just a ploy to get himself to altitude. His time traveling ability only worked when he was falling from a great height, and he was actually just trying to get home. The Cleanser apparently screwed with his attempt, and forced him so far in the past that this goal would be impossible. He recently spent some time working with Mateo’s once-mother, Laura Gardner, and her partner, Samwise Bellamy. Even though he was still centuries in the past, being in 1608 was sort of a break from that harsh life. There was a reason that most travelers didn’t spend too much time before the 20th century. Toilet paper was a pretty big factor.

“All right,” Anatol began. They were in some kind of salon, or meeting room for rich people, who didn’t want to spend too much time with the less fortunate. Everything was made of leather, or wood. “Now that everyone knows each other, it’s time to begin. Today is May 31, 1608. You are in Timeline One. The ladies are in Timeline Alpha. Most of the time, these timelines won’t be running concurrently, but access to The Parallel has given me the ability to keep one from collapsing under the weight of the other. For now. You’re in a competition. Not only do you have to complete the missions we set before you, but you have to do them better than the other team. Whichever team ends up with the best timeline will get to live on in their timeline. The losing team, on the other hand, will remain in the defunct timeline until such time that it finally does collapse.”

“Wait, what?” Jeremy questioned. “You didn’t say anything about that before.

“Oh, it didn’t need to be said,” Anatol joked. “Zef and I knew that was part of the deal all along. Don’t worry, we’ll be all right. Only the four regular people on the team will die. He and I will get out and survive no matter what.”

“Yeah, we were worried about that,” Mateo said sarcastically. “I guess it’s okay now that we know you two will live.”

“Quite.” Anatol was just going to pretend they were all being genuine. He handed Jeremy a slip of paper. “This first one is pretty straight-forward, just to dip your toes in. They’ll get more complicated as you level up. That is the address of a young boy. Rescue him from his abusive uncle, who ultimately accidentally kills him today. I’m not even gonna give you access to my time power library, because I don’t think you’ll need it. In fact, I’ll be suppressing both Dalton and D.B.’s powers, in case you get any ideas about escape.”

“Thank you,” Mateo said. “You can go now.”

“Very well.” Anatol disappeared.

The four of them looked around at each other. Then they all sat down. “Obviously we can’t do this,” Jeremy decided.

“No, we can’t let them die,” Mateo concurred.

“I don’t understand how this works,” Dalton noted. “When it kills us, will we go to the afterlife simulation?”

“I don’t think so,” Mateo guessed. “The simulation is in whatever timeline wins out over the others. That is, it’s not like it exists outside of time. Every version of it that exists in a collapsing timeline should collapse along with it. Otherwise, everyone would have infinite alternate versions of themselves in there, and I don’t think that’s how it works. We won’t even really die, it will be more like we never existed.”

D.B. nodded understandingly. “What is the afterlife simulation?”

They explained it to him.

“So, if we don’t save the boy,” D.B. said afterwards, “we just have to hope your friends on the other team do? Our version of the boy will be erased from history regardless, but one of them will live on?”

“That’s the way I understand it,” Mateo said.

“I feel a little weird letting him die even though it won’t matter,” D.B. lamented with airquotes.

Mateo nodded. “He said you’re a time traveler. You’re not a time looper, though, right? You create an alternate reality every time.”

“Yes, I see where you’re going with this. I’ve killed an infinite number of people already. I suppose it’s just that I’ve never been asked to save a particular person. My God...” He reached over, and took the paper from Jeremy. “We know his name.”

“The answer is..don’t think about it,” Mateo instructed. “He will be saved. There’s no way Leona doesn’t figure out how to do it in the best way possible.”

Meanwhile, in Timeline Alpha, the girls were sitting around in their own salon, but it looked more island tropical than stuffy cigar club. They were getting to know their new member. Siria was like Angela in that she didn’t have powers, but she knew about it all. She worked at a special place that was simply called The Time Clinic. People with time illnesses were sent there to be treated, or just made comfortable. Her job was primarily that second part, as she didn’t have any medical training, but she also seemed to have a knack for coming up with permanent solutions that helped the patients lead semi-normal lives. Many of the illnesses were the result of the Cleanser’s petty retaliations, which was how she ended up on his shitlist.

They too had decided that they couldn’t let their friends die in the other timeline just to save themselves. Unlike them, though, they realized that the guys would come to the same conclusion, and that the boy would not be saved in any timeline. They sat there for about an hour before someone knocked on the door. When Leona opened it, she didn’t find a person, but there was a movie theatre on the other side. That was about three hundred years too early, so they all walked through, and took their seats. The guys came in from the other entrance shortly thereafter, and found their own seats.

“Did you win?” Mateo asked his wife.

“I didn’t play.”

“Me neither. I was hoping you would. Were you hoping we would?”

Leona shook her head. “No.” She didn’t elaborate.

The house lights dimmed, and the curtains moved. An image came on screen. It turned out to be a trailer for a movie that featured most of the people that were in the auditorium right now. It was about a team of time travelers who very specifically found themselves on a planet a hundred and eight light years from Earth. They had a ship that could only take them a light year at a time, so they had to have adventures with crazy alien cultures in the meantime. It sounded more like a TV show, but either way, the audience couldn’t tell if this was prescience, or a joke. Once it was over, the feature presentation began, but it was shorter than the trailer they just watched. A drunk man was beating a young boy in his room, and ended up taking it too far with a lamp. This was the boy they were meant to save, but didn’t. These were the consequences.

The house lights came back up, and Anatol and Zeferino climbed on stage. “As part of this sneak preview,” the former began, “my co-director and I are hosting a Q and A session. Ask us any questions about...oh, I dunno, why the hell you should agree to participate, and what’s going to happen if you don’t, and...how many innocent people are gonna die?”

They waited. “No?” Zeferino asked. “No one wants to know those things?”

Leona stood up. “I don’t know what you thought you would accomplish by forcing us to become complicit in each other’s deaths, but good people don’t do that. We don’t choose to save ourselves. And if you can’t understand that, you shouldn’t be in charge of an outhouse, let alone all of reality. We’ve all asked you to help us save lives, and in exchange for that, you’re asking for us to kill each other. That’s not a thing, that’s not a thing! You can play it straight, or you can watch us sit here and do nothing. You have the power here, so either do the right thing, or perpetuate this macho psycho-killer bullshit reputation that you’re apparently so afraid to lose, you can’t see that all of your sadistic games are completely goddamn pointless!”

The two of them stood on stage for a moment. Then Anatol reached over, and placed his hand on Zeferino’s shoulder. They disappeared for a second, then returned in different positions. “All right, no games,” Anatol agreed. “One team, one timeline. Save the people we tell you, don’t ask questions, and we’ll let you know what the point of it all is in the end. This is our final offer. Either take it, or we’ll make you wish only half of you had been erased from existence.”

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Extremus: Year 3

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The original idea was to have the captain of the Extremus make the evening announcements every day, as a way for the crew to stay connected to the passengers. After months of this, Halan decided to change this by having a different crew member do it every day. They created a randomized schedule, which wasn’t periodic, but was still designed to be even, so that no one member was doing it too often. The young tech who was first assigned this responsibility was nervous about the prospect. It wasn’t what he signed up for, and it wasn’t in his wheelhouse, so to speak. He didn’t feel the same way forever, though. The more that Eckhart Mercer did the announcements, the more he fell in love with it, and the more the people fell in love with him. He was charismatic, funny, and entertaining. They became a larger affair, about more than just reporting the general status of the ship. People started thinking about what they could do to end up on the speakers, by inventing a new game, or coming up with a fabulous recipe. Eckhart Mercer became a celebrity, and in the end, the general consensus was that they would be better off with him as their permanent announcer. It was more than that, though. He was responsible for keeping up to date on the goingson of the ship, and knowing what news was important. The Captain was happy to adapt the schedule to accommodate this shift in popularity. The rest of the crew seemed fine with it too.

True to his word, Halan left Omega in hock for an entire year. He approved all necessary organic longevity treatments, however, because he kind of had to. Omega is a different subspecies of human; one that was originally designed to last for tens of thousands of years. Ethical conventions are pretty clear that, when in doubt, the standard procedure when dealing with a socially disruptive entity, is to maintain life expectancy. In other words, he deserves to live indefinitely, because anywhere else, he would. And anything short of that is tantamount to capital punishment, which is illegal. There was a debate amongst the executive crew, as well as the security team, whether they ought to place him in stasis. That was, after all, part of the intentions of Omega’s genetic engineer, Saxon. In the end, they determined that this too would be unethical, as Omega deliberately broke free from his nature to lead a different life. The feelings of the individual in question can’t dictate their fate, but they have to be taken into account no matter what. They cannot just be ignored. So he has remained in there with all the luxury of a normal cabin, but none of the luxuries of public spaces. He can’t even hear the announcements from down there.

Airlock Karen continues to be a headache for everyone. They manage to avoid tearing down a wall for her sake, and eventually get her out of there completely. She was more than willing to relocate back to her cabin once Halan gave up, and threatened to throw her in the hock too. Now that she’s in the general population, it’s become clear just how delusional she is. She is completely convinced that the crew is out to get her, and the passengers are generally on her side. The reality is that no one likes her, and they always try to stay away from her. She’ll latch onto a large group when it forms, and outwardly fantasize about being the center of it. People ignore her as best they can, but she is obviously getting on their nerves, and Halan knows he has to be rid of her soon.

“It’s ready,” Old Man says, “but like I’ve been saying, “there is no way to test this. Even if we give it to your two...victims...?”

“Let’s just call them Gatewood-bounders,” Halan corrects.

“Very well.” Old Man goes on, “even if we give it to your two Gatewood-bounders, and they press the button, we’ll have no way of knowing whether it worked.”

“We’re operating at maximum reframe, which means it’s near-equivalent to realtime. I can send a message back to Gatewood to see if it worked,” Halan points out.

“True. In fact, you could send that message right now, because if it will work, they’ve already been there for three years.”

“Let’s not screw with causality just yet. You’re sure you’ve done everything you can to adapt it, right? Pushing that button will send them, and only them, back to 2170?”

“Again, not sure, but there’s no point in me trying to improve it. It either works, or it doesn’t.”

“Give it to me. I need to discuss it with them.”

“You’re going to ask them for permission?”

“No, but I don’t want to just spring it on them last minute, or worse, not tell them anything at all. They have a right to prepare themselves emotionally. Karen has been begging us to send her back this whole time, but she doesn’t know about the button. It’s entirely possible she just wants to be difficult. When I show her that there’s hope for her actually getting what she wants, she may realize she doesn’t really want that. The more I pass by that service airlock, the harder it is for me to believe she went in there for any reason but to draw attention to herself.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying.” It’s Rita, having come into the lab at some point.

“Good, you’re here. Please have security escort her to the lower deck. Quietly,” Halan requests.

“She’ll be suspicious,” Rita volleys. “We don’t want her causing a scene.”

“Good point. I’ll...invite her to dinner,” Halan decides. “You can take the device down to the interrogation room. Have Omega sent there too, of course.”

“Uh, I think I would feel more comfortable if the Captain handled this by himself.” Old Man lifts the device with two hands, and tries to hand it to Halan.

“Why are you wearing gloves?” he questions.

“Scientists wear gloves,” Old Man replies with a casual shrug.

“So Rita doesn’t need to wear gloves herself?” Halan tries to confirm.

“I really would rather you take it instead. It’s very delicate, and we only have one.” Old Man is insistent.

“Take off your gloves, Old Man,” Halan orders.

“Sir, it’s just...”

“Take off your goddamn gloves,” Halan repeats.

Old Man sighs. He sets the device down, removes his gloves, then picks it back up. He again tries to hand it to Halan.

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Halan says to Rita.

“My pleasure, sir,” Rita replies. She’s confused too, but everything has worked out. She takes the device, and heads down to the lower deck.

Halan, meanwhile, goes up to the passenger section, where Airlock Karen is trying to yet again regale her tale of woe to the random people who have accidentally found themselves within her blast radius. He’s going to need to be as charming as possible. “Would you please join me for dinner tonight, Madam.”

The crowd is noticeably uncomfortable, but Airlock Karen is ecstatic. She tries to hide it. “How can I deny my Captain? I will be there in two hours.”

Halan clears his throat suggestively, and makes his eyes wander, almost like he’s looking for someone else to invite instead.

“I suppose I could eat a tad bit early,” she says. “Give me ten minutes to freshen up?”

“Certainly,” Halan says. He points to the nearest security officer. “She’ll escort you when you’re ready.” He turns to leave.

“Thank you,” Airlock Karen says. “I have some great ideas about how to run this place that I think you’ll really respond to.”

He doesn’t turn back, but he retches a little in his mouth. “I’m always happy to listen to my passengers.” He walks away, and heads for the interrogation room. The security guard knows what they’re doing, and what to do with Airlock Karen, even though he didn’t specifically assign her this task.

It was always bound to take longer than ten minutes for her to show up, so the three of them sit in awkward silence while they wait.

“So, how about that local sports team, eh?” Omega asks, evidently trying to break the ice.

“The what?” Halan doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

“It’s an Earthan thing that people say.”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“You finally figured it out, didn’t you?” Omega guesses.

“Pardon?”

“You figured out how to send me back.”

How does he know about that? “Who’s been feeding you information?”

“No one,” Omega replies, seemingly honestly. “You run a tight ship. I figured out what you were doing, because I’m a genius.”

“I never wanted you here, and neither do you,” Halan reminds him.

“I dunno,” Omega says, looking around. “It’s nice being outside the hock. Maybe I could be useful. I’m not the same man who went in there a year ago. I promise to be better. You have to understand that I grew up in a sea of other versions of me. We were expendable. Many of us died, I don’t think you wanna hear the statistics. I had no control over my life until I took it. I suppose it’s just been hard for me to take orders since then...it’s never done me any good before.”

Halan leans over the table. “If you can follow orders now, then follow this one. Go back to Gatewood. If I only send the one person back, it will look personal. It will look like I attacked her. If you go with her, I think it will smooth over any disagreements that might arise when this gets out.”

Omega smiles. “Yes, sir.” If he’s trying to find an angle, Halan can’t tell what it is.

Rita shows up with Airlock Karen, who doesn’t understand what’s happening, but she’s become suspicious. Dinner should not be all the way down here by the hock, she presumes. This doesn’t make any sense. “Why don’t you have a seat?” Rita offers.

“I’m not sitting next to him,” Airlock Karen declares. “What is this?”

“I’ll explain, but if you don’t sit down right now,” Halan begins to warn, “you’re going into the cell with him.”

She sits down right quick.

“Now,” Halan starts his speech. “Neither of you want to be here.”

“I’ve changed my mind,” Omega interrupts.

“I’ve not,” Halan says. “I still don’t want you here...either of you.” He nods to Rita, who removes the device from her bag, and sets in on the table in front of him. “This will send you back to Gatewood at the exact moment that we left. You will watch from the observation deck with all the others who chose to leave. You don’t have to push it right now. I’ll give you a day to prepare yourselves.”

“Why didn’t you give me this before?” Airlock Karen scolds.

“It hadn’t been invented yet,” Halan answers. She doesn’t need to know the whole history about it being adapted from the undo button. “I don’t need Omega off my ship as much as I need you gone. With him, we would have figured something out, he’s at least useful. I had my best engineer working on the problem...for you. So instead of being nasty, for once in your life, could you just be grateful that anyone worked as hard as we have to get you what you asked for. Keep in mind that, in this case, just shutting the hell up is a good way to show that you’re grateful.”

She clears her throat submissively.

Halan goes on, “all you have to do is pull the string, and press the button. You’ll be doing it together, though, as we only get one shot at this. Like I said, you’ll have a day. We’ll retrieve you tomorrow for departure. Omega, you’ll be released until then.”

Just then, they hear banging on the door behind them. They look back to see Old Man through the window, desperately trying to get into the locked room. “I couldn’t wash my hands! It’s not good enough! Don’t push the button!” it sounds like he shouts through the door, but it’s a little muffled.

“What is he talking about?” Halan questions.

“I have no idea,” Rita notes.

“Don’t push the button!” Old Man repeats.

“Screw that,” Airlock Karen decides. She stands up, grabs the device from the table, and takes several steps back.

“Wait,” Halan tries to reason with her. “I think something’s wrong.”

“I don’t care!” Airlock Karen screams. She pulls on the string. “I’m getting the hell out of here!” She presses the button, and promptly disappears.

So does Old Man.

So does Rita.

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Microstory 1680: Those Who Stayed Awake

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While the majority of the population was uploading themselves into virtual reality constructs—powered by the abundant solar energy on the day side of their tidally-locked planet, and cooled by the night side—a few were choosing to go a different route. They had no problem with transferring their consciousnesses to other substrates, but they didn’t want to live in fantasy worlds where the laws of physics could be manipulated. They wanted to remain in base reality, and enjoy life here. Many moved themselves over to android bodies, while others stayed more or less organic. They built gargantuan cylinder ships, each with its own unique design. These were massive pieces of art that could orbit a celestial body, or propel themselves through interstellar space. The proper physics in this universe did not allow for any form of faster-than-light travel, so the ships traveled at sublight speeds. They went to worlds that their probes indicated were interesting, but since most of them were just as immortal as the brethren they left behind in the virtual constructs, they weren’t in too much of a hurry. This was just how they lived, and they were able to continue on like this for a very long time before changing their minds. Even though they were the people who wanted to explore the universe, they still didn’t feel any desire to consume more than was necessary to live safely and happily. They didn’t settle on any new worlds, because they wouldn’t get anything out of that. They just visited them, and enjoyed them, and lamented that they were apparently the only evolved species for at least the next several million light years. Once they confirmed that they were well and truly alone, they just let the probes continue to support the evidence, and then they followed their ancestors into VR.

Throughout all of this, it wasn’t like the base reality people had completely broken off from the VR people. They were still a single united civilization. Not only did they stay in contact with each other, but the people on the ships regularly entered the constructs remotely, and interacted with their friends and neighbors. Some even did land on lifeless celestials, and set up their own servers. Thanks to quantum communication, the virtual universe was as connected as the real one. Or rather, more so, because faster-than-light travel was possible within the bounds of the simulations. Over time, more and more people who had either originally chosen to board the exploration ships, or were descended from those, ended up living in the simulation permanently. Tens of millions of years later, they realized that no one was left in the real world anymore, except for the robots they needed to maintain the system’s hardware. They were spread out, but back together. As it turned out, without any alien species to develop diplomatic relations with—or, hell, even not-so-diplomatic relationships—the universe just wasn’t all that fun. They kept the real cosmic structure as the foundation, however. When someone jumped from one world to the next, it would either look exactly as it did for real, or was modified in a semi-realistic way. That is, they didn’t build new planets to their specifications. They found something close to what they were looking for, and altered it in the same way they would if they were still out there. They didn’t have to stick to the limitations of the physical laws completely, but they didn’t go too crazy most of the time. They reserved such things for the primary servers that were still operating on their homeworld. This lasted for trillions upon trillions of years, and then beyond.

Microstory 1679: The Data

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Long after Legend Oberti was dead, the world itself was dying. The remnants of humanity tried to eke out a living amongst the ruins, but life was harsh, and people were sad. They were only likely going to survive in the long-term thanks to the sustainable inventions of a historical figure named Axel Quincy. Axel died while Legend was still alive, but the specifications for his designs lived on beyond his death. Unfortunately, this was not good enough. The people of the future could not live like this forever. It was just too late. Perhaps if they had all this before, things would be different. There was no way to stop the world from having ended, but if they went back in time to save this one person, he could ultimately make their lives easier. A gamma-ray burst destroyed nearly all life on Earth, leaving only the survivors who were lucky enough to be on the other side of the planet alive. This consisted predominantly of people in New Zealand, Australia, southern Argentina, and many islands in Oceania, as well as people on sea vessels. A few researchers in Antarctica were fine too, which is where the time travel technology originated. They were already working on manipulating time there, free from the oversight of their countries of origin. When the world ended, they decided something had to be done to protect the people who managed to be out of the danger zone, for surviving the initial event was not good enough on its own. Their hope was to just send everyone back to prehistoric times, but things changed when they caught wind of something called The Data. Before this data was discovered, life was pretty hellish. The supply chain was broken, the network of artificial satellites in orbit were completely destroyed. Governments were gone, and chaos reigned.

While searching for entertainment files to keep their people from going insane, a small group of people stumbled upon Axel Quincy’s designs on a server in Papua New Guinea. He had kept his data in the cloud, and even after all this time, it was still there, just waiting for someone to find it. They didn’t know exactly what they had, but the data started getting bounced around the hemisphere until the right people learned about it. They knew how to build his designs, and reunite what was left of the world. When the time travel researchers found out about The Data, they decided there was a better way. Instead of just trying to make life easier, what if they went back and made sure these creations were made before the gamma-ray burst? The whole population of the planet could be relocated to the safe zone, and sustained by the Quincy structures. Many would probably not believe them, but at least they could try, and for those few from the past who were willing to take a leap of faith, there would be a place for them in Australia. Now all they needed was to find someone to actually go back in time, save Axel, and set everything in motion. It was not an easy search. Only one person would fit in the machine, and once they were gone, no one else would be able to follow. Even if the traveler succeeded in the mission, it would have to be a one-way trip, which people were all right with. The main draw was that they didn’t know what would happen to the original timeline. That was what really made so many people volunteer. They didn’t want to die in the collapse. Antarctica set up a lottery to choose a handful of candidates, and then formulate a training program to make sure they could handle the job. Siri Cobb ended up fitting the bill, but as we already know, things did not go as planned.

Microstory 1678: Scorched

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Most of the time, the Ochivari don’t have to worry about engaging in some kind of physical conflict with the civilizations that they choose to destroy with their sterility virus. If the people find out what has happened to them, it’s not like they can really do anything about it. They still don’t have the ability to travel the bulkverse, so all the Ochivari agents have to do is leave the universe, and be fine. Of course, they still have to fight in the Darning Wars against people who actually do have the ability to travel between universes, but the allies don’t generally recruit from worlds that have been attacked, because they’re still contagious, so it’s too dangerous to interact with them on any level. There are rare cases, however, when the Ochivari feel compelled to stay on a world they’ve sterilized, because they have no other choice. One such instance is probably the worst offender in their eyes. The people of this particular planet were somehow actively anti-environment. They somehow managed to develop highly advanced technology while simultaneously destroying the ecosystem. For the most part, a civilization is unsustainable if it relies too heavily on non-renewable energy sources. It’s not really that they’ll run out of fossil fuels, or whatever, but they’ll damage the atmosphere too much before they even have a chance to move on to something better. Chemical rockets are fine for getting off the surface, entering orbit, and exploring the solar system across decades. They’re not good for anything beyond that. You pretty much have to have fusion if you want to reach the stars on reasonable timescales. Furthermore, because civilizations don’t usually hyperfocus on one technology, if you don’t eventually come up with fusion, there are probably many other key developments that you’ll never figure out either, and that is liable to spell your doom.

The people of this world weren’t trying to do things more efficiently, and not only did they not care about the environment, they seemed to despise it. They didn’t want to live in harmony with the world; they wanted to consume it. They didn’t even see it as waste. They would manufacture an aluminum can, drink something out of it, and throw it away. If it was used once, that was good enough, and they could move onto something else. Being able to throw things away, and never use them again, gave them joy. So it was no surprise when the Ochivari came to end them. This didn’t work out so well. The people didn’t figure out fusion, but they did invent ion drives, so they used rockets to free themselves from the planet’s gravity well, and from there, they could go anywhere. They also figured out how to upload their consciousness into android substrates, so no, they wouldn’t be able to birth new generations, but they would live on. And they could keep destroying; their homeworld, and all others they find. To them, there was an endless supply of planets that were specifically created for their use. The Ochivari knew they had to stay, and devise a computer virus that could wipe the new species out. This didn’t work out either, as any virus would only be able to destroy one of the many, many different android models out there. With that no longer a decent option, the Ochivari just had to resort to straight up war. They could no longer save the original planet, but they could protect all future colonies. They sent a whole fleet of warships to take down their most annoying of foes, but of course, the former humans had been preparing for that this entire time, and they were a force to be reckoned with.

Microstory 1677: Structural Integrity

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The Whrwehs discovered pretty easily that time travel was impossible. It wasn’t something they wanted to do, but they needed to research it, in case there was anything they needed to do to prepare for someone else using it against them. They were pleased to know that the timeline would remain intact, and that they did not have anything to worry about. Unfortunately, this rule only applied to their universe’s proper physics. Anything that can interfere with them from the outside can do so at any point in time, which is a sort of loophole to any time travel limitation. It’s kind of why bulk travel wasn’t ever part of nature’s plan. People were never meant to crossover, for any reason. Anyway, one of the ways to travel the bulkverse once came upon this universe to ask the Whrwehs for help. The Transit lacked sufficient power sources, and needed to purchase some from a world they knew was advanced enough to spare some extras. Luckily for them, the Whrwehs agreed to help. All they needed in return was a quick little trip to the past to retrieve a historical figure. He predicted the way that they would one day live, but it was more like he made it happen by showing people how much more efficient and peaceful it would be. They didn’t want to change anything about their history, but they felt that this man deserved to see the fruits of his labor. He deserved to live forever, in a healthier world, which he was instrumental in creating. The mission did not go well, and it appeared that the only way to fix the issue was to return him to his rightful place in the past. He apparently would not be able to live in the future. It’s a perfect example of how bulk travel can cause more problems than it solves...by avoiding paradoxes.

Let’s use Salmonverse as an example. When a time traveler goes back to the past, and makes some change to the timeline, it alters the course of future history. The universe compensates for this by adding a new layer on top of the old one. If it’s a parallel reality, then they will coexist, but if the universe can’t support them both simultaneously, then the old reality will collapse, and it only have to worry about the new one moving forward. The universe we’re talking about today does not work like that. It can’t support new realities at all, not even by collapsing the old timeline. Any alteration that someone makes using bulk travel technology will have an impact on the entire universe: future, present, and past. The physical structure of the brane actually transforms to account for the change. So while other forms of time travel only begin to take effect at the point of divergence, bulk-based time travel can have an effect in both directions of time. But if the past has been changed, then the future that caused the change doesn’t exist, and technically never did. So when the crew of The Transit went back to remove Mizakh Bordalajner from his deathbed, they weren’t just removing them from his future, but all of time. This disrupted everything. It made it so that Bordalajner never existed at all, and since he was such an important figure in history, this ended up having massive repercussions for all of reality. You might call this a hole in the fabric of spacetime, but it was more like pulling a thread, and never letting go. A domino effect took hold, and humanity essentially fell apart under the constant threat of a paradox. The only way to undo this was for the crew to return Bordalajner to his deathbed, and let him die. Then the question remained, if they were unable to fulfill their promise to the natives, how would they pay for the power systems that were already on board their vessel?

Microstory 1676: Life Returned

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The lone survivor of a universe that was attacked by the Ochivari with their sterility virus left to start a new life. He was destined to die on his world with everyone else. While the virus wasn’t strong enough to work on him, there was no one else to procreate with, so it was no place for him. He wanted to fall in love, and start a family, and since he was capable of doing that, I decided to help him. I ended up dropping him off in Salmonverse, in a particularly advanced reality. He could live on any number of the billions of populated worlds there, and in fact, ultimately become immortal. The wonders there were limitless, so I figured it was a good place for him to settle down. He did meet someone there, and that woman bore him a child. They named him Amulet, and while he went through his own medical struggles, they eventually figured it out, and moved on. Lochan would come to spend over two decades here, which was longer than he had ever lived on his homeworld, so really, this was home now. Still, he wished to return to where he was from, and Amulet wanted to see where his father had grown up. Unfortunately, the sterility virus was too dangerous. When a universe is exposed to it, travel to and from becomes utterly irresponsible. I could not allow him to go see his family and friends. I could, however, allow him to see the world as it would become later. Once every host of the virus is dead, the virus dies as well, leaving the planet to move on from the dark period of history. It was perfectly safe for a visit after that. It wasn’t a great option, but it was all they were going to get. There was no other way.

When Lochan and his family made the journey, the world was in ruins. War had spread over the lands, and destroyed everything. There was nothing to see here. I told them as much before they left, but they insisted on seeing it for themselves. They had to know what the Ochivari did, and what the allies were fighting for. They stood there in silence as the Strongbox flew over the fallen cities. Not everything was destroyed, though. They never went to nuclear war, so the atmosphere was perfectly breathable, and there was still plenty of land teeming with life. The family touched down on a little patch of paradise, and stayed there alone for several months, because this planet was just as good as any when all the ruins were out of sight anyway. They didn’t want to be alone forever, but they felt connected to this world now, and they didn’t want to leave either. So they returned to Salmonverse temporarily, and put out a message that anyone could read. Hundreds of thousands of people responded to it, but it wouldn’t be that easy. Theoretically, the Ochivari would never return to a universe they already thought they had cleared out. If too many people were alerted that it was repopulated at some point, the whole disaster could just happen again. They had to keep it a secret. So we started transporting people via the Strongbox, which can’t hold too many passengers at once, but time is irrelevant when you have a time machine, and most of the immigrants were immortal. In what was essentially an instant, humans were back in this universe. The Ochivari successfully killed off its original inhabitants, but they couldn’t end all of humanity. It will always survive. I’m only telling you this, because a permanent military contingency has been installed in this universe, which will hold back any attack from any outside threat. They will continue to survive.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: Tuesday, December 10, 2278

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Tonya Keyes, a.k.a. The Stitcher didn’t stick around for much longer after the rest of the team disbanded. There didn’t seem to be much point now that the Erlendr problem was easier to solve. Only this alternate reality version of Ramses was still around. He slapped on a Cassidy cuff so he could be on the same pattern as his best friend. He spent the rest of the day getting to know the other team members, and then at midnight, they all jumped three years into the future. Besides a few exceptions, this was pretty much the furthest down the timeline they had ever been. They spent literally about five minutes in 2279 before traveling back to 1992 to look for the home stone, and that was when everything started to change about their patterns; about their lives. If they maintained the Bearimy-Matic pattern now, they would completely skip over 2280. But why do that? The jumps were always arbitrary, as the cuffs gave them the ability to suppress powers and patterns. They couldn’t even explain why it was they stayed on it when Nerakali took over as primary. It was time to speak with Anatol Klugman, and get this all straightened out.

Grave chamber four had always been a little different. It was once the link to another universe, and ever since then, it was unreliable. The electronics would go haywire, and the stasis feature probably wouldn’t work at all, should they ever need it. For the most part, they left the thing alone, but it was a nice makeshift prison box, because it also had an unusual effect on time powers. Right now the Warrior was sitting against the wall, looking up at his captors, who were regarding him with sadness. “I’ve been through worse, you know. Anyone else would go crazy in here, but for me, it’s Tuesday. Ha, it literally is Tuesday, isn’t it? Just as it always is for you.”

“Let’s talk this out,” Mateo said. “Let’s try to figure out how we can all get a little bit of what we want.”

“What I want, and what you want,” Anatol began, “are contradictory. I want to send you through time and space to prune people as I see fit, and you want to...not do that. I don’t see the room for compromise there.”

“Why aren’t you just doing this yourself?” Leona asked. “Why do you need us? We are inexperienced, and unwilling.”

“I am tired,” Anatol explained. “I have so much work to do, but I’ve been doing it for so long. Plus, since I have all these powers, people keep asking me to do other things. I just want a break. Everytime I kill someone, something changes, L-O-L. I just end up with someone new to kill. I need help.”

“Well, I have a response to that,” Mateo said.

“I would sure think so,” Anatol replied.

Mateo took a deep breath. “In the year 2081, Zeferino Preston forced me to remember memories from an alternate timeline. It was four thousand years of temporal torture, where I couldn’t hold a thought for longer than fifteen seconds. I was pretty messed up by it, and I probably would have died of starvation if I was alone, because I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t move. Fortunately, I wasn’t alone. An alternate version of my future wife was there, and she placed me inside of a bubble, where I experienced five years in the span of a single day. Less than a day, actually. This is where I recovered, but I didn’t just sit there doing nothing that whole time. Once I was aware enough of my surroundings, she started giving me entertainment. I watched a lot of time travel stuff, for obvious reasons. I watched one show twice. It was called 12 Monkeys, ever heard of it?”

“I’ve heard of the movie,” Anatol said. He was surprisingly patient with the long-winded speech.

“There’s a quote from that show that, despite my not amazing memory, I can recall perfectly. It stuck with me, because I think it’s important. The story is about a traveler who was sent back in time to murder the man supposedly responsible for releasing the virus that destroyed humanity. He succeeds in killing that man, but of course, the conspiracy turns out to be far more complicated, and the series lasts for four seasons because of it. The quote is about how complicated that gets, and how the mission has to transform in order to account for new information. It goes, I was sent back in time to kill a man. That was supposed to fix everything. It didn’t. So I killed more people. Nothing changed. And then I saved someone; someone who should’ve died. And that...that is what changed things. It’s the only thing that’s ever made any difference.”

“I’m not asking you to kill one man, Mateo. I’ll be asking you to kill many, to make real impactful changes to the timeline. And unlike the characters on that show, my intel is good. I know who to kill, and when.”

“You just said that the timeline keeps changing,” Leona argued. “Don’t you see, that’s the point? You’re fighting Hydra. Cut off one head, and two more grow in its place. Stop trying to stop the bad guys, and start trying to save the good guys. Haven’t you noticed that the Saviors don’t kill people? They don’t need to, and they’ve made a greater positive difference for the timeline than anyone.”

Anatol sighed. “I don’t do that. I don’t save lives. I just end them.”

Mateo reached down, and helped him out of the grave chamber. “We save lives. Let us do that. You still pick the targets, but no one gets hurt.”

“What’s the worst that could happen if you try this?” Leona posed.

He waited to answer. Was he considering it? “I’ll think about it, and get back to you.” With that, Anatol was gone.

They expected him to return immediately, because there was no reason for him not to, but perhaps he wanted them to have time to think about their situation as well. They didn’t stand there and wait for him for too long. They stopped thinking about it, and went back to their lives, playing RPS-101 Plus, and catching up. They told Ramses about the wonders of Flindekeldan, but chose to say nothing about his alternate self, who was by all accounts, a god of his reality.

Hours later, Anatol finally did come back. His shoes, and the bottom of his pants, were soaking wet, but the rest of him was dry. “Very well,” he said. “I have a job for you.”

“Is it as we discussed?” Mateo questioned.

“It is, yes, but there’s a twist. I’m curious to see how you handle it.”

“What’s the twist?” Ramses asked.

“Careful,” Anatol warned, “spoilers.”

They stared at him quietly.

“You have a little bit of competition,” Anatol explains vaguely. “I will say no more. Are you ready to go?”

The team looked around at each other. “Go ahead,” Leona said on their behalf.

“Just give me a minute to figure this out,” Anatol said. He turned around like a dog trying to protect her food.

Leona pursed her lips, and waited too long to seem like a nice person. “It’s not the cuff?”

“What?” Anatol asked.

“The cuff doesn’t let you transition across realities. It’s just like when you’ve absorbed other people’s powers before. The cuffs just allow people to suppress or share abilities.” She never wanted to be a teacher.

“Oh, so there’s nothing for me to do with this thing?” Anatol asked, holding up his arm.

“No—well, there is one thing. You need to...it’s better if I just do it for you.” She approached him, and reached for his arm with both of her own.

“No funny business,” he said tentatively.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” She continued to wait.

“I’m serious.”

“Anatol, we all wanna be here,” Leona contended. “I just need to recalibrate the share pool to account for the introduction of Ramses. He doesn’t have powers, no, but it still leaves the whole team vulnerable, having him not fully linked. Vulnerable, including you.”

“Fine. Just be careful.” He finally let Leona tap on the cuffs. He tried to keep a watchful eye, but the man was from the nineteenth century. Travelers from too far in the past always had a harder time with computers. Tertius, Juan Ponce de León, even Téa Stendahl, who technically grew up in the modern age following her resurrection; they were all just a little bit lost when it came to electronics. Angela had to make a very deliberate choice to keep up with technological advancements.

Leona was able to use his ignorance to her advantage. She considered making Mateo primary again, but that would have required Mateo accepting the responsibility on his end, which could threaten the ruse. She figured their best bet was to just loosen the leash a bit. It was the easiest, and least obvious, thing to change. Perhaps they could shift the balance of power later, when it was less dangerous. Powers or no, Anatol Klugman was still a highly experienced killer. He still wasn’t the kind of person they ought to be pissing off. “There. Now we’re ready to stick together.”

“Okay,” Anatol said. “I’m gonna go practice my ability.” He checked his watch. “I’ll be back in—I’m back.” He moved so quickly that the human eye wasn’t even able to detect that he had left at all. He must have stolen this power from someone very specific. Almost no one was this good. Hopefully it wasn’t The Porter, but honestly, no one deserved to be killed just to steal their power. “Have fun, and I hope you figure it out, I really do.” He disappeared again, but this time, did not return.

Once he was gone, the entire ship tipped over. They all fell over to one side, and began bouncing around. It almost felt like...water. They were in water.

“Whew,” Ramses said with relief. “I didn’t have time to test whether this thing could actually float. I’m glad to see it does.”

“It doesn’t float upright,” Olimpia pointed out.

“Beggars and choosers,” he retorted.

Normally they would have to climb up to the top level of the ship, but now it was more of a crawl. They made their way to the airlock, which was thankfully not facing the deep. “There’s a ship,” Leona announced for those in the back. “It is sinking. Wait.”

“Wait, what?”

Leona reached her hand out, and used apportation to summon a spyglass into it. She looked through it for a moment. “There’s someone standing on top of the water.”

“It’s a miracle,” Angela said.

“She just fell down,” Leona continued the play-by-play, “like whatever was holding her up was suddenly taken away.

“We have to help them,” Jeremy decided. “Computer, can you access the satellites, and find the nearest land?”

“There are no satellites,” the computer responded.

“The ship is too old-fashioned,” Leona said. “My instinct was that we’re in a time period before space exploration. My watch just confirmed it.” She looked up to the ceiling. “Computer, you still have lateral sensors. Find some land, any land.”

“Check your maps,” the computer offered.

“I think I know who our competition is,” Leona revealed. “I’m gonna handle this one alone. It’s just easier, and I already know how to use these powers. Stay here.” She teleported out of the ship, and into the distant water, right behind the woman she saw standing on top of the water. She took her by the shoulders, and teleported them both to the land mass. The woman still hadn’t noticed that she wasn’t alone, so Leona took this opportunity to slap the Cassidy cuff onto her wrist. She didn’t know why she didn’t feel the need to reveal herself. This was just what made sense to her right now. Leona teleported herself just past the treeline, and watched from there. The woman realized she was wearing the cuff, intuited its purpose, and started using it to rescue all the others from the ship. She kept jumping back and forth, retrieving people two at a time, and dropping them off on the beach.

Once the woman was done with the job, Leona transported them both to the ship, so the former wouldn’t have to deal with all the questions about miracles, and such. “Hey, computer. Teleport us to Lagrange one, please, and restore dimensional gravity.” They jumped.

Before they could introduce themselves to the woman, The Cleanser appeared before them. “You,” he said, disgusted. “Why are you interfering with my operation?”

“She needed our help,” Leona explained.

“She needed your help,” Mateo acknowledged.

“You set me up to fail!” the woman argued. “I asked you to send me somewhere with enough time to help them.”

“I gave you plenty of time,” the Cleanser said with a shrug. “They weren’t gonna drown for hours. They’re all very good swimmers.”

“You didn’t give me the tools I needed!” she cried. “Time alone wasn’t gonna help!”

It was then that the Warrior showed up. He showed the Cleanser his best evil grin. “I win.”

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