I'm Nine Again 13 Epilogue: Divergence

"Sean and Alice," A male voice said from in front of us as a flashlight was clicked on and s.h.i.+ning in our direction. We both reached for our guns that were slung around our back.

"Don't bother," he said, "You won't be needing your weapons, I come as a friend."

"Who are you?" I asked.

The man started moving forward towards us and Alice quietly pulled her pistol out as she was standing behind me and then aimed it over my shoulder.

"If you are calling us Alice and Sean, then you should know exactly why we aren't exactly in a trusting situation!" she said.

"Relax," he said, "I'm on your side. You can call me," he paused for a moment, "Grey, you can call me Grey."

"Again Grey," Alice said, "How do we know we can trust you!?"

"Because I've got pizza!" Grey said enthusiastically, "C'mon you guys have got to be hungry, you probably haven't eaten since breakfast!"

As he stepped closer, we could both smell the alluring scent of pizza wafting through the air. We were both incredibly hungry.

"Just having pizza isn't going to make us trust you," I said.

"Barbeque chicken with mushrooms for the young lady," Grey stated, "And meat lovers with extra cheese for the young mister."

"Do you like meat lovers?" Alice whispered into my ear.

"Yeah," I whispered back, "Exactly what he said is why I love, what about you, BBQ chicken with mushrooms?"

"That's my exact order," she whispered.

"Look, I know this might be a bit much for you guys right now but I know you okay," Grey said, "I can tell you that I'm from the future but not much more than that yeah."

"From the future," I said, "A future where you know us?" I asked.

"Look," he started, "I can't speak much, just follow me and we can talk back at base."

"Back at the base?" I asked.
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He turned around and started taking a short road off the main road. I turned to Alice and she grabbed my arm with one hand and still holding her pistol with the other hand.

"I still don't trust him," she whispered.

"Neither, but what choice do we have. He knows us, he might have some answers," I said.

"Are you two coming?" Grey asked.

"Yeah, sure," I said.

We followed Grey for another 10 minutes before coming across a dilapidated farmhouse. A few bats flew off from under the veranda roof as we walked past. Even in the darkness of the night, I could see that the house was about to fall over.

"The base is this shack?" I asked.

Grey laughed, "No, it's what is behind the shack," he said, "This old piece of junk won't be here in a week."

"Because of the fires?" I asked deflated.

"Don't feel too bad," he said, "You guys might not have stopped the fires today, but you did manage to stop them from being exacerbated by the NWO."

"So, in the future, you're from?" I started to ask.

"The fires happened like normal," he said, "Canberra will be safe, the preservationists will manage to get the situation under control and being preservationists, they will let the fire burn as it was normally intended to."

"When are you from?" I asked.

We came up to a large mound in the ground with a door on the side of it. It was a huge metal door that led to what looked like a s.h.i.+pping container. Grey unlocked the door and swung it wide open. After the dust settled, before us was a long metal grate staircase leading down into the earth.

"Let's get inside," Grey said, "The pizza is going to get cold.

Grey went in first. I took a step forward and felt a tug on my arm. Alice still had her gun drawn and was clutching tightly still to my s.h.i.+rt.

"It's okay Alice," I said, "We have guns, if he turns on us, I can trust you to shoot him."

Reluctantly, Alice took a step forward with me and we both continued into the interior of the s.h.i.+pping crate bunker. Once we were inside, Grey pulled the door shut and flicked on a light switch on the side of the crate. Fluorescent lights flashed on, illuminating the staircase down into the earth and Grey stepped in front of us and started making his way down the stairs. We cautiously followed him down the stairs as we a.n.a.lyzed our surroundings.

As we got to the bottom of the stairs, Grey opened another metal door and what lay beyond was struck awe into both Alice and me. The room in front of us looked like it had come straight out of a spy movie. On the east wall was a gla.s.s room which was 2x4 meters and housed a huge server. To the left, as we walked into the room was an expansive kitchen with a large island bench in the middle. Next to the kitchen was a large square dining room table. It looked like it would be able to seat 8 or more people. Directly in front of us was a small set of stairs that led down into square floor which had couches, a large TV screen, and a pool table. The latest gaming devices were plugged into the TV.

Grey stepped down into the lounge area and placed three boxes of pizza onto the coffee table between the couches and sat down on one of the couches looking around the room and then to Alice and me.

"What do you think?" he asked, "I might have gone a bit overboard with the pool table, but I think this place has shaped up pretty well. It's only been six months after all."

"What is all of this?" I asked.

"I'll tell you," he said, "But let's eat, I mean it this pizza is going to get cold!"

Alice and I both walked over to the couches and sat opposite Grey, who now in the fluorescent light we could see was a man in his 30's with dark brown hair and a few wrinkles on his face. Alice still had the gun in her hand, not aimed at Grey but still at the ready. Grey poured a few gla.s.ses of cola and then opened the pizza boxes. Not having eaten for an entire day, both Alice and I cautiously reached our hands out and accepted the food and drink.

"You never answered my question," I said, "What is all of this, but firstly when are you from?"

"2010," he said bluntly, "And all of this," he said with a pause looking around at the surroundings, "All of this is your second chance, Sean."

"What do you mean, a second chance?" Alice asked.

"Well, how would I put this?" he said pondering to himself, "I am from a future where you two muddled things up. You muddled things up really badly because you didn't have enough time to properly prepare you for the fight ahead."

"So, you've met us, but in the future?" I asked.

"Sort of," he replied.

"What do you mean sort of?" Alice asked.

"Right to the point as always Alice," he said. He finished a large mouthful of pizza before continuing, "Time, or should I say, s.p.a.ce-time is a really strange, complex system. To me, you are kind of like, Sean 2.0."

"I don't understand," I said.

"Stop speaking in puzzles and just tell us!" Alice said.

"Okay, so, when you travel through time, you don't necessarily go back to the past within your own timeline, instead the moment in time that you are transported back to, the universe splits into two timelines. The original timeline, and now the new timeline where you exist in the past. Think of it as a fork in the road."

"This is, really confusing," I said.

"What I'm trying to say is that you were transported here from 2019, but the 2019 you come from still exists, if you get to 2019 in this timeline, both parallel universes still exist at the same time, really you've traveled to another dimension of sorts."

"So even if we change things here," Alice said, "The future is still the same?"

"In the original timeline yes," Grey said, "You will change the future of this timeline."

"Are we even really changing the future then?" I asked, "If we are in a fake timeline?"

"You're not in a fake timeline," he said, "More like, a divergent timeline. It's still just as real as any other timeline. Look this is really hard to explain."

"It's really hard to understand," Alice said.

"What is it that you're here for then?" I asked, "What is this place?"

"Okay!" Grey said, "Now something that I can actually answer. Let me just start by saying that this right here is a gift to you from you in the future."

"A gift from my future self?" I asked.

"Yeah, the biggest reason you failed in the last timeline was you just didn't have enough time to prepare. In the other timeline, you weren't stopped by me walking along that road and bought here to base. Instead, you two made your way to Canberra, managed to scrounge some money for bus tickets and then made your way back to Melbourne where you lived on the streets for two years just barely sc.r.a.ping by. Then, you were put into foster homes for a few years, always running away to try and find each other and then at the age of 14 you both managed to start trying to change the world. You wasted pretty much four years of your lives trying to find a steady footing in the world. This here, this base. It's a time skip. Instead of wasting four years trying to find your place, here it is. Now you can use those four years to prepare and train instead."

"If you've been here this whole time then why did you let us go into the mountains?" I asked, "Why did you let that happen knowing what the result was going to be, let alone why didn't you help us?"

"You asked me not to," Grey said, "Future Sean said that it was important for Alice and yourself to live out the events of the mountain."

"Why would I say that!?" I snapped at him, "We failed, we achieved nothing. All we did was put ourselves and Alice's family at risk."

"I knew the outcome, I knew you would all be safe," he said.

"But why did you let us live through that!?" I yelled.

"Because future Sean told me that you needed to live through that experience. To get stronger."

"WE KILLED PEOPLE!" I yelled.

"That's the point," Grey said so bluntly, "You killed people, out of necessity but you killed people and came to terms with the fact that you were fighting against enemies."

"You didn't help because we were supposed to kill people to make us stronger?" Alice asked in disgust.

"I'm going to tell you something that you probably already figured out but those aren't the only people you are going to kill. Future Sean has probably lost count of how many he's killed."

"I HAVEN'T!" I yelled, "EIGHT! I'VE KILLED EIGHT PEOPLE!"

"I need you to calm down Sean, the reason I'm telling you this is because future Sean needed you to experience that because he knows how hard it was for your mental health after this first experience, but it was necessary to build resolve in your goal."

"My goal?" I asked, "My goal or his goal!?"

"He is you," Grey said, "Now if we can move past this, we have more pressing things to discuss. Like your task for the next five years."

"Okay then," I said with a bite, "What is it that I'm supposed to be doing for the next five years?" I asked.

"You have two things that you need to do, Firstly, get as much money as you can before the GFC in 2008," he said, "In 2008 you will use your money to short the markets and make an insurmountable return of those investments. More money than anyone could ever need in their lifetime."

"Get rich?" Alice asked, "Our plan over the next five years is to get rich?"

"That's one of the plans," Grey said.

His voice dropped into a cold and serious tone as he continued to speak. The words that came out of his mouth would change the course of history. It would change the past, the future, and the present.

"The next plan is to train," Grey said.

"Train what?" I asked.

"Train your powers of time manipulation."

----End Volume 1----