Life on Mars

Chapter Fourteen

"Manhattan Chase! Are you serious?" The doctor had mentally committed to helping the professor with his plan to eliminate the humanists. He knew he would do whatever needed to be done, but to go up there? He hadn't thought it would involve going up to the far end of the Chase.

"I'm with you, I support what you need to do but do we really have to go up there? It's too dangerous."

"I haven't told you my plan."

"I'm not stupid, it's obvious you found a way of getting rid of them," said the doctor staring into the cold store and grabbing a cooled soda. His shoulders were hunched and tense as he ripped at the lid, taking a long guzzle. 

The professor's jaw dropped as he looked away, squeezing his temples. He hadn't considered this for one moment but of course. What else would the doctor think? Not the truth, he'd never have guessed the real reason for him being here.

"We have to talk. It's time for me to explain what happened to me in my future," he said. The professor beckoned him to sit down at the table. The doctor obliged, noticing the concern in the professor's expression. Indicating to one of the chairs at the feed area, the doctor swung into the seat.

The professor slid down at right angles to him.

"There's something you have to understand before I begin. I'm sorry if I appear deliberately vague or withhold information, but I have to consider what might happen if something goes wrong, if something happens to me. I can't put you or anyone else in a position where you know too much about future events, ok?"

The doc nodded. "That kind of knowledge could be dangerous if events continue on their original path as they appear to be doing."

The professor waited until the doctor had looked up, nodding defiantly.

"Everything that is happening to you now happened in exactly the same way to me. Aside from my involvement, your life now matches my memory of events perfectly and so do the events of Heathen." The professor spun in the chair and placed his elbows on the table, hands clenched.

"I was offered the opportunity to work with the caveman just as you were. I don't need to tell you how incredible that was for me because you are experiencing it now."

The doctor nodded in agreement.

"I can assume that everything else I am about to tell you will happen in the future we are now in." He stared downwards as if seeing what he was describing.

"Nova had started to tour Heathen, meeting people physically. I spent a lot of time with him and Bluu and was around when that happened. You're currently witnessing his popularity grow, bigger than we imagined. As for me, I'd never been happier; it was a dream project." The doctor looked up now and met his eyes.

"Was?"

The professor continued. "Is he working on his music at the moment?"

The doctor shook his head. "No?"

"He soon will be, shortly after that, he will announce that he is to tour with his show. The V-world tour will finish with a physical performance with people physically attending his shows as they did in the twenty-first century. This show will be the biggest physical live event in living memory. During the early shows, a few of us were given some information about the Salvation Project. How it was ready to go to the next level. In a few months, the backlog will have been taken up and the Migration Project can begin."

"Migration Project?"

"Yes, it's the same as the Salvation Project, human personalities uploading into V-world forever. The difference is that anyone can do this at any time, young and old. Any living human can euthanise whenever they want. If you can't see it now, then you soon will, but the caveman is becoming very influential. He will not only launch the Migration Project but be the first to take it up."