Drive Time

by Matt Wilkinson

  “Simon had found a method of reading data from deleted timelines. Photon spin is affected almost imperceptibly by duplicates in other timelines. He just needed the exact time of the data transfer to align with it.”

  “He never said a thing.”

  “Which was part of his plan.”

  “And you have the software that can do that? You must since I’m here now. Hang on a second, I think I’m getting an idea.” he paused for a moment. “Yes, it’s definitely an idea. You say you can find data using the time it was written? I can remember when you started your last backup. To the second, Dad. I was looking at the screen when you engaged it, and the operating system clock was in my periphery.”

  Victor took a moment to adapt to the sound of the D word, then another to understand what James was saying. The eidetic memory provided by the mind writes would have allowed for James to recollect so precisely.

  “We can use that information to find my backup in your deleted timeline," Victor said. “Simon?”

  “Yes, the exact time is the only information that the software really needs to find the transfer," Simon replied. “If I needed the data immediately, I’d need the time to the nanosecond, but it gives us a window to scan that shouldn’t take too long to narrow down.”

  “So I can retrieve the memories of my family from that timeline? I’d remember everything about all three of them?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Can you get on that right away?”

  “Of course I can.”

  “It might be painful to remember your mother,” Victor said to James, “but it will be worth it.”

  “What if we bring Mum in and she gets her memory back, I can remember her last backup time too.”

  “In theory, that would be great, but how are we going to get Sarah to come back here and get memories planted? I don’t even know her.”

  “Who says she has to agree? Get her back here any way you can, do the merge and everything’s A-O-K.”

  “James, I can’t do that. It wouldn’t be fair, she has to do this by choice.”

  James sighed. He and his sister had grown up in a much harsher environment than their parents, so sometimes their moral standpoints weren’t in alignment.

  “You were as much of a boy scout in my time too.” He told his father. “Simon never had a problem doing what had to be done.” He looked at Simon, expecting his support.

  “I can imagine, but look where that got you," Simon said in a tone that clearly stated that he wasn’t that Simon. “What did you make of his sterilisation plan?”

  “Well, I didn’t see much of a problem at first, but Mum and Dad talked us round to their point of view. It would be a bad basis for a new society. Were you thinking that we might have agreed with him? Would he have deleted us if we had?"

  “I’ll reset the pod and get started on Jules’ cloning procedure," Simon said. Lacking in social skills or not, he could feel the uncomfortable atmosphere between them.

  “If you merge with the version of you that I’m familiar with, you’ll know everything about Mum, and it will be plenty to get her to fall in love with you all over again. Then maybe you can let her in on the truth, and she’ll choose to do the merge.”

  “There is one other complication with that," Victor said, involuntarily glancing at Beth, who caught the look.

  “Don’t worry, Vic, we’re not that involved, my heart can take it.” she swiftly assuaged, to skip over any awkward moment.

  “That hurts," Victor said with feigned heartbreak, he smiled at her, which she mirrored.

  “I don’t think I have time for romance right now, I just got a new job.” She said.

  Victor puffed out a laugh of mild amusement, smiling and holding eye contact with Beth long enough to make James roll his eyes.

  “Dad, you’re a married man. Stop flirting with this rando.” He tried to match their playful tone and failed.

  “Excuse me? He’s not married, and that was a bit derogatory.” Beth blurted.

  “Sorry, this is just a bit too weird for me.” he replied, then to his father “The sooner we get the real you back in your head, the better.”

  “I think I can operate the software well enough to begin tuning to the deleted timeline if you want to give me the date and time," Simon said.

  “Sure. For Dad, it was seventeen forty-six and eight seconds, Wednesday the fifth of May twenty-one oh six.”

  “Twenty-one oh six? Shit. Stan wasn’t lying when he said we pushed it forward.” Victor said.

  “Stan? Pushed it forward?”

  “It’s what we call your Simon to tell them apart. We made a change in this time that made the fall happen half a century or so earlier.”

  “You brought the fall forward?” James exclaimed.

  “Yes, we made a mistake, and we’re working on putting it right, James. We have all the time in the world to fix it.”

  “We only have fifty years by the sound of it. You managed to push it forward by a couple of generations? Shit. How?”

  “Stan said it was because we released the nanobots.”

  “Well, that’ll do it alright.”

  “We have infinite time to put it right, James.”

  “Well, yes, but the window is getting smaller. What if you fuck it up again and we only have a window of a year or two to loop in, it will make things even harder for us. Why don’t you release the cloning pod too, fuck things up even more.”

  “James! I’m your father, show some respect.” Victor shouted, then after a pause. “That was weird.”

  James laughed. “Did you undergo the merge already? Are you wearing a new model helmet that I can’t see?”

  “You have a new bun in the oven, Victor, it’s a girl," Simon called over from behind the screen.

  Chapter 35

  Finding Victor’s obsolete backup took almost an hour, regardless of James having provided the time down to the second. Every nanosecond needed to be thoroughly checked, as the change in spin could barely be detected, even with the precise time. The quantum computer was lightning fast, but each nanosecond needed rigorous testing, and there are a billion nanoseconds to a second. Once located, Simon transferred the backup to their own drive, which took another two hours. Victor had chosen to wait until the next morning for the merge so he would have the full day to adjust to the new memories, integrating immediately would have given him a restless night. James had decided to sleep at Victor’s flat despite the group offering to put him up in a hotel for the evening. He had lived in a bunker with five other people for the majority of his life, so a night alone didn’t appeal to him, even with its promise of luxury and room service. When they arrived at the flat, James’ discomfort was palpable. The open space made him anxious, and he was clearly mistrustful of the lavish comfort. He looked at items displayed around the flat, trying to figure out the function of some purely decorative items.

  Victor had told James that he wouldn’t be asking any questions about their life in the future, it would be a waste of James’ time considering that Victor would acquire the information in tomorrow’s merge. They did discuss the general plan for bringing Sarah into the fold, however. James thought it would be the easiest matchup that Victor had ever had. They were the perfect couple in the future, true soul-mates, always laughing, and in agreement on almost everything. They were still like young lovers, even in the depressing and tedious future. James said that being a part of that love was what made living in the apocalypse tolerable, for all of them. Even without the memories that Victor was due to gain from the merge, he was already eager to rediscover that love. What surprised him was that the root of his desire to reclaim his most cherished relationship sprung from a commitment to making his children happy. The speed at which the emotional connection to his son — and even the daughter he had still to meet — had occurred was unexpected. He would already take a bullet for either of them.

  He found his son to be a future dystopian cliche when it came to sleeping. Victor h
ad an extremely comfortable recliner that James could sleep in, and the sofa would pull out into a bed, but he found them both too soft and decided to sleep on the floor of the living room wrapped in a double size quilt. James also told him that he might not be able to sleep anyway, due to the silence of the environment. He was needed the white noise of several whirring machines. Water reclaimers, generators and air recyclers would run all through the night in their bunker. Victor wondered why the version of himself that was their father would choose to keep his family in an apocalyptic environment rather than looping back to a more hospitable time. He guessed that the answer lay in the range of dates that it was possible to send the minds of his children. For James and Jules to receive their first memory writes, he would expect that they would need to be at least fifteen or sixteen years old. It would be preferable for their bodies to be as close to adult as possible, for strength and stamina. Also, who wants to go through puberty more than once? If he and Sarah had delayed the idea of having children for too long and they were born while the fall was underway or long over, they would have no choice but to stay in that time until they had perfected cloning. Displacing James and Jules in time might have always been a part of the plan. He would know soon enough.

  Victor also had a rough night’s sleep, finding it difficult to tear his mind away from the events of the day.

  ∆ ∆ ∆

  The next morning, Victor rose immediately upon hearing his alarm, he didn’t want to sleep in, even a little. Since it had taken so long for him to get to sleep in the first place, he wasn’t feeling at all rested. Victor dragged himself out of bed, threw on some loungewear then made his way to the living room. Despite telling his father that he was unlikely to sleep, James was still wrapped up in his duvet, looking peacefully snug. He thought about going back into his room and allowing him to continue to slumber, but James opened his eyes, turned to his father and gave a groggy good morning.

  “Morning," Victor replied. “Hungry? I haven’t got a wide variety of breakfast food in, but there’s plenty of cereal.”

  “With milk? I haven’t had real milk in years. I’ve forgotten what it’s like, I loved it as a kid. We didn’t have access to a lot of cows where we were.”

  This could mean that James was born in a time where access to dairy products was still available, but it was taken away while he was still young or they had a supply of dried milk that they had eventually exhausted. It didn’t quite put to rest Victor’s uncertainty surrounding when the children were born. He skipped asking him what they ate in his version of the future, in keeping with his promise. He assumed that they’d have consumed the same high-energy compact nutrition bars that he had endured in his other alternate future. The subatomic construction technology they used in the clone pods was also previously used to create their food, which was easier to replicate than a complex human being. The bars were a simple, firmly packed concoction of everything a body needed to remain healthy.

  “Coco Crispies or Frosted Flakes?” Victor asked.

  “Either of those sounds nothing like a nutrition bar, so host’s choice.” Victor had his answer.

  He poured some Crispies into a bowl large enough to allow for the abundance of milk he added and walked it to the coffee table in front of his son.

  “Lack of dairy might have made you lactose intolerant in your time, but it’s a fresh body, so you should be okay. Cup of tea? Coffee?”

  “How’s the coffee?”

  “You’d be better off with tea, for now, I only have instant. We can pick up a real coffee from a shop on the way to HQ. It’ll be your first taste of what a working society can actually provide for you in twenty-eighteen, and I think you’ll like it.”

  “Tea’s good then.”

  “Awesome, I’ll stick the kettle on. Harrogate tea is world famous.”

  He brewed the tea and set James’ cup down on the coffee table where he’d placed the cereal, which was now all gone.

  “This is going to take some getting used to," James declared.

  ∆ ∆ ∆

  On the way back to HQ, they stopped at the coffee shop as promised, Victor picked out his usual vanilla latte — adding no sugar this time — and recommended the same to James. James found it hugely disconcerting to be around so many people. He was still young when the fall happened, and he had forgotten what it was like to be one in such a large crowd. The carefree way that they were all making their purchases, apparently unconcerned with the concept of its expendability was frightening. He had watched recordings of earth’s history while in the bunker, but seeing it in person was much more upsetting. Everyone here was careening towards utter oblivion, they had been presented with the evidence, and they avoided coming to terms with the reality of it, subconsciously preventing the panic that would come with it. He wondered if the task they’d set for themselves was an impossible one. If people could delude themselves so easily and shut themselves into a comfortable ignorance, would changing the past not alter the root cause of the problem? Would they just be delaying the virtual extinction of man and fighting a constant battle? Maybe the best way to put an absolute end to their absolute end was to change the perceptions of the majority of the human race instead. If they could all see the future they were headed towards, would they still ignore it? Even then? Possibly, it seemed he and his family were destined to mimic Sisyphus, pushing a metaphorical boulder up a hill for eternity. They might have been guilty of the exact same ignorance these people were displaying — ‘we can’t change it so let’s continue as usual’, always repeating past mistakes — so he wouldn’t stop looking for a better solution.

  James enjoyed the coffee enough for it to increase his resolve in saving the future. I can’t let this delicious beverage just disappear, he thought. As they re-entered HQ, he shared his thoughts with his father.

  “Do you think what we’re doing here will work if the people we’re doing it for are going about their business like oblivious zombies? Are we just postponing the apocalypse? Should we try a different tactic?”

  “What would you suggest?”

  “Why don’t we show them the future? Let everyone know what we’re able to do and show them what the future world looks like. Maybe seeing it will give them a kick in the arse.”

  “I’m not sure it will, they’ve been provided with the facts and evidence from respected scientists, and they ignored it. They’d blank it out or label it as overcautious anxiety, they did it with climate change, they could do it with this. There doesn’t seem to be anything you can show them that they will accept as fact, not if they concoct their own comforting lie.”

  “Maybe video proof would be a shock to their system.”

  “I think they might convince themselves the videos were doctored and that our technology doesn’t even exist. It’s still science fiction even to me right now, we might as well come out and tell them we have a magic wand. There’s still a lot of people out there who don’t even believe in vaccination, what would time travel do to their heads?”

  “I suppose you’re right. It seems like it takes a long time for the main population to catch up with real science.”

  “If we continue what we’re doing and people start to see how their world is changing and coming closer to their idea of magic, they may be able to accept what we’re trying to show them. After all these years, the human race is still a strange, superstitious bunch.”

  Chapter 36

  James and Victor were behind the dividing screen at the pod, checking on Jules’ vitals and progress, Victor donned his helmet and left James alone with his sister. Simon had selected the backup file and confirmed that it was ready to write. He had asked Victor if he wanted to test the backup in a virtual environment first, but he’d decided against it. His current backup was already complete, so if there were any problems, they could restore his mind back to its previous state. He lay on the recliner chair, content in the knowledge that they had two new staff members to take up the slack caused by his absence for th
e next few hours. Victor adjusted his position until he was as comfortable as possible and then asked Simon to start the transfer. His colleague complied, and Victor’s muscles relaxed as he entered stasis.

  James continued to monitor the pod, despite its reliable automation. The shutter was drawn over the glass so that Jules was only visible from the neck up, but she appeared to be around ten years old right now, his sister should have grown to the correct age by early tomorrow morning. From his perspective, he’d only been away from her for a couple of days, but he still missed her, he’d spent a couple of decades in her company, never a day apart. He’d have to get used to time apart from family members, it may be quite some time before he’d get to see his mum again, it would be possible to arrange it sooner, but she wouldn’t be the mother he knew.

  Being around these strangers was slightly uncomfortable for him; James knew Spencer and Simon, but not these variants. He didn’t want Stan back by any means, but this Spencer could gain her memories of his timeline without complication. He came out from behind the screen to join the rest of the team.

  “Spencer," he said. “I’ve just realised that I have the time of your last backup too, would you want to gain those memories? It wasn’t an awesome time overall, but you had some moments of fun with the rest of us. There are some memories that you might enjoy having.”

  “Really? I can’t think of any reason not to. I’ve had bad memories from Fall Two-Point-Oh merged with mine so your timeline couldn’t hurt. There might be some things I learnt in that timeline that I didn’t in the others.”

  “Okay, I’ll give the time to Simon to start the search.”

  “I’m ready for it now," Simon said from his workstation. James gave him the time, once again to the second and he initiated the search.

  “You know, Stan shot my parents, that was traumatic — until I knew I could get them back — but you were my family too. You’ve always been like my favourite aunt, it was never a hassle to be locked up with you, so that wasn’t easy either.”