Chapter Eight
Decisions
“Why Jacob? And when? How are you aware of the alternate reality if I reset it wrong? Only I should be affected by this.”
“It wasn’t the game reset. Remember, when you set up the last game you had time to kill. You called me and we went to see Einstein’s lecture at University of Chicago. I reset things when we got back. Well, you were resetting them and I changed things to gets us… away from there.”
“Ok, so why? Why would you do that? And more importantly, why both of us?”
“It’s my sister. You know she was having problems. Nothing serious but we couldn’t get proper medical assistance. The global health administration (GHA) declared her condition nonexistent centuries ago so according to them she doesn’t have a problem. But she did, she does, she was really sick. Her condition is completely manageable and, in many cases, curable but without proper authorization we can’t do anything. I treated her. Off the books. But… but, they found out. It’s a serious offense.”
“Shit. But can’t you just pay the fines for the treatments? That’s all they want right? Money, pay for the treatment, drugs, whatever.”
“You’re right, that is all they want. But you know my family is wealthy. So, they can get more if they… if they kill me. They declared my actions a crime against humanity and issued a death warrant.”
“How is that a crime against… ?!”
“You’re right. But you know their logic as well as anyone. Since I am a doctor I am bound by my oath and the laws of the WGO. By using unauthorized resources for a nonexistent health problem, I deprived other patents resources. Right now, or then as the case seems to be, they are attributing any patient death that could have been prevented by said resources to my actions. I am a mass murderer.”
“Fuck them, fuck! But why this? I mean, do you have a sister in this reality?”
“I don’t know it’s all I could think of at the time.”
“And me? Why am I here with you?”
“I don’t know how this stuff works. I need you. Look, I can fake out the genetics and other things so we fit in here. They’ll never prove we don’t belong. But I don’t understand hyperspace. I need you to survive here. Or maybe figure out a way to get back and set things right so they’re not after me.”
“It doesn’t work that way. We can’t change the past. There is no time travel.”
“I know. But there has to be a way to get back and maybe change a state of… something. Anything that will keep them from killing me. It’s not just me. My family will be slaves for eternity.”
“Jacob, I can’t believe you did all this. For one, I think our cover is blown. I was just chased out of the genetics lab, or the birth lab or whatever using your ID. And by the way these people are baby killers! I mean they breed people and let them live until age 2 and exterminate them. How is this a better place than where we come from?”
“I didn’t plan it that way. I know it’s fucked up but I didn’t plan it that way. I can take care of the ID thing. They won’t bother you or me.”
“But what about the way things are here?”
“I know. I don’t know how to deal with that. And to answer your other question, yes. My sister is here. And she’s fine. Maybe we could all move to another planet, where things are more like our old reality.”
“But it’s wrong. You know, to play with… time, causality, reality, this way. I don’t know if I can handle that.”
“Well… you can reset it now that you know what needs to be done. You’ll handle it however you need to handle it. Look, I gotta get to the facility and explain away your unexpected presence. Just hang out here and I’ll come by after. We’ll continue this conversation and figure out our next move.”
“Fine, yeah. I’ll stay here.”
Jacob leaves to settle things at the birth lab. Devan just sits. He sits for what seems to be the longest time. He can’t figure out what to do. It seemed like an easy decision. It’s wrong to change time, everyone is affected. Everything about this place is wrong. Everything is wrong so reset it and make it “right”, for lack of a better term. But Jacob is Devan’s only friend, the only person who he really trusts until now. This closest thing to family. What would he do if he were in Jacob’s situation? Then there is what the Oloraf said. This makes Devan wonder if his old reality really is reality or if he’s just been deluded this entire time. He doesn’t know what to do and needs to clear his head. Thinking he has some time he decides to go on a trip. To Einstein’s lecture, his favorite place. At least for some time he’ll be happy. Devan prepares the game, and himself, for the trip.
It’s 1915 in Chicago, University of Chicago campus. Devan loves this place, this time. The weather, the air, this city in 1915. He feels at home. It’s the only place he really feels at home. He walks up to the door, ticket in hand. As he goes to enter a man at the front door turns to him and with an acknowledging look says “Ah, welcome back, alone tonight?” This strikes Devan as very strange. The people in the copy shouldn’t be aware of him. They shouldn’t remember the multiple pasts that have occurred. They’re not real, they’re copies. For Devan this isn’t the strangest thing that’s happened today so he blows it off. He goes in, finds the same seat he always takes and waits quietly. Albert Einstein comes out, the audience applauds. Devan smiles as he listens to Professor Einstein begin to speak. After a short time, Einstein’s voice fades into the distance, overpowered by Devan’s thoughts.
He is confronted with a dilemma. If he resets the initial conditions of the game to correct this imbalance and return reality to what it should be, he places Jacob’s life at risk. If he stays, he knows he’s done something immoral. He questions what morality really is. Is it upholding absolute truth regardless of the consequences or is it ignoring truth and fact for the purpose of protecting one person you care about? As he wrestles with this in his mind, back and forth, a third option emerges. Devan convinces himself that after untangling the different realities and returning everything to its original state he will have some memory of what things were like here. Using what he’s learned about this place, the good parts, he can change his old reality and make it better. He can have the best of both worlds, maintaining his principles and still save Jacob, and perhaps in time stop corruption in the WGO. Devan feels filled with hope and confidence. This is a path that can give him everything he wants. He starts to hear Einstein again, his voice coming through the volume of his thoughts. He sits and enjoys the last few minutes of the lecture comforted by his revelation.
After the lecture Devan returns to the alternate reality that has been his home for two weeks. He begins the process of resetting the initial conditions that have been incorrectly set, to restore his reality to what it was before this little adventure began. Carefully Devan goes through all the histories and resets those events that went off course. He begins to wonder if he should wait for Jacob to return. He’s not sure if Jacob will appreciate his plan or understand that it will work. Jacob might try to stop him. As Devan goes through the options in his head he decides not to wait, to initiate this reset without meeting Jacob. This is what he has been planning to do for two weeks now, but still feels like he’s betraying Jacob in some way. Even though he wants to go back now he feels nostalgic for this new place, for Allyson and his students, even for Frank. That bastard. He will never forget seeing a man pee into a black hole. But this is the right thing to do. In silence, with no one there to witness it, he initiates the reset.
After a short time Devan looks around. Everything is where it should be, but then again it always was. He looks down at his coffee mug, picks it up and takes a sip. Coffee. But wait, couldn’t he have brought coffee in from Stubb’s? He walks to the door and opens it. As he walks outside into the cold autumn breeze, the smell of burning oil and Sulphur in the air, he looks out to see garbage strolling down the street. Ah, this feels good, feels like home. Devan closes the door behind him and locks up. He walks home and sleeps. The longest, deepest sleep he’s had in weeks.