15 January 2033, 0943 GMT / University of Sydney, Australia
Jonathan stood in his office turning a block of amber over and over in his hands. Intellectually, he knew that he once lived a life without this object in his possession, but he was having more and more trouble remembering that time.
Craig had been talking to him, “Jonathan, he talks about this whole thing as though it already happened. For him, our actions are the distant past.”
“How can the timeline change my memories?” he asked, not paying attention to what Craig was saying, “It doesn’t make sense. I know that I did not have this piece of amber before my trip, because I remember giving it to myself, and I wouldn’t have done that with something I already have… We also Quantum dated it to prove that it’s older than all the rest of the matter around us… Yet, I have actually had it since I was a child, and I do remember getting it from a stranger whom I now know was myself… If the timeline can correct a paradox by altering my memories, doesn’t that imply some conscious control?”
“I don’t think so, Jonathan.” Craig sighed at the digression. They had already had this discussion several times, “your memory changed because the timeline changed. To me, that amber has been on your bookshelf since I hired you. You showed it to me as you were unpacking books onto your shelves, and told me the story of getting it from a stranger as a child. You didn’t tell any of us what you were taking back, and if you had, we wouldn’t remember because the Jonathan we sent back would have brought something different.”
“So am I not the same Jonathan that you know?” Jonathan looked concerned. “Am I some-kind-of parallel Jonathan from a separate timeline?”
“If that were true, you wouldn’t remember the amber at all because the timeline you started in didn’t have the amber block on your bookshelf.” Craig smiled disarmingly, “Jonathan, you have to get a hold of yourself. I know it’s confusing and stressful, but I don’t think that we will ever truly understand how a paradox resolves. We need to do more experiments and construct more theories, but you are becoming obsessive about this one result. If you can’t let this go… if you can’t document your findings and move on to the next stage, then you’ll be useless as a scientist.”
“I’m sorry, you’re right,” Jonathan shook his head and slapped his neck, as if to wake himself. “What were you telling me before I interrupted you?”
“This man, Walton, is from the very far future. We’re like cavemen to him, he even looks different from us. He says that he needs our help because his people can’t police the timeline in this era.”
“Police the timeline?” Jonathan asked, incredulous, “Police it for what?”
“Unauthorized changes; they have a technology that allows them to see points where the timeline has been altered by outside influences. He tried to explain it to me but -“
“Outside influences?” Jonathan looked back down to the amber block in his hand.
Craig realized what he must have been thinking, “That’s what I thought first too, but Walton said that that change didn’t even register on his devices. He’s talking about big changes… or at least, changes with big impacts.”
“Like what?”
Craig shrugged, “He wouldn’t say. He told me it’s best if we learn about them one at a time.”
“I see.” Jonathan seemed lost in thought for a moment, then asked, “What does Walton propose?”
“He wants to help us set up a secret office of agents devoted to correcting the changes made by these others.”
“Secret?” Jonathan looked confused, “Secret from whom?”
“Everyone except the people directly involved in the project.”
“Even from the Prime Minister?”
“Especially from the Prime Minister. Walton says that this cannot become a government organization.”
“I suppose that makes sense. Why did he contact you?”
It was Craig’s turn to look confused for a moment. “I see, you mean, why didn’t he go directly to you?”
“Yes, I’m in charge of the project.”
“That’s true, but he claims that I am the eventual leader of the agency.”
“What will I be doing?”
“You’re apparently going to be the top agent.” Craig smiled.
“This is very strange; hearing about our future from someone who sees it as the past”
“You’re not going to try to start a discussion about free-will versus pre-determination, are you?”
“I was already forming my arguments,” Both men laughed nervously. Jonathan sighed, “This is going to be dangerous, isn’t it.”
“Walton has a plan for that, too.”
“He seems to have a plan for everything,” Jonathan turned and stared out of the small window behind his desk, “How do we know he hasn’t got an ulterior motive? How do we know he’s not just making all this up to suit himself? How do we know we can trust him?”
“Frankly, Jonathan, I don’t know.” Craig reached into his satchel, which had been sitting in the chair by the door. He pulled out a letter-size green folder, and set it on Jonathan’s desk. “Look over the proposal, and let me know what you think. If we’re going to do this, we should get started with the preparations.”
“What’s the rush,” Jonathan picked up the folder, and opened to the first page, “We have all the time we could ever need.”
End of Part 2: Leap
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