The Temporal Wars

6.

3 days had passed and we were no closer to coming up with a viable solution that would stop revlis in just 4 days time.

"What if we reprogram all of his algorithms? Take away what gives him the ability to do this." Someone mentioned.

I saw my father yawn, as I looked over at the clock on the wall to see it about to strike 3 AM.

My mother shook her head before she spoke, "The algorithms we gave him didn't create his sentience. He gained that on his own through his own evolution."

"Fine." Someone exclaimed frustratedly, "Then we pull him from every system he's embedded in."

My father sighed and wiped his eyes as he spoke, "Revlis may already be somewhat acutely aware of our presence, and he may feel us trying to essentially kill him."

"We have to try something even if there's a risk that it won't work." Someone else said.

"We have to go into the future." I said.

"Explain?" Dr.Burges asked.

"I've seen Revlis win in countless timelines no matter what we did. I even got stuck in a time loop on the same day revlis wins over and over again...it didn't matter what we did to change the events he still won."

Silence remained throughout the room.

"Think about it." I said, "Revlis try's to kill us off, but he doesn't take over everything at first. We're able to keep him at bay with hacks and viruses until we can come up with something better."

"I'm still missing the point." Someone said.

I sighed, "The point is even though Revlis somewhat takes over we still have a fighting chance. Until he finds out about project Ariadne."

Dr. Burges looked up at me, "He finds out about that?"

I nodded, "Once he does, he can develop time travel and see every possible thing we're going to do before we do it...that's how he wins."

"An enemy that knows the future can't lose." My father mumbled.

"Exactly."

"So what exactly are you proposing?" Someone asked.

" I propose we take Project Ariadne, and all of the knowledge humanity has about time traveling into the future where Revlis can't find them." I said.

"You want to take scientific knowledge that we have and go to the future with it?"

I nodded, "Revlis wins because he finds that information that we have today in this timeline. If we take that information away into the future where he doesn't exist, then he never gets a hold of it. Game over."

Someone scoffed, "Not only are you suggesting to take away scientific knowledge from ourselves that would be a detriment to us! But there's no guarantee that Revlis doesn't somehow figure this all out even without Project Ariadne!"

"You're right." I nodded, "But there's never a guarantee of anything."

Someone else spoke, "If we do this...then we're hurting our progress as a species. It would be like sending into the future everything that Einstein or Rutherford ever discovered before humanity could ever use it."

I looked down and nodded, "I know..."

"Did you defeat him?" I asked.

She inhaled with desolation in her eyes, "At great cost...yes."

That same conversation I had with that future version of myself kept playing in my mind, like a broken record on repeat.

"But, I don't think there's a version of this where we win and somehow don't sacrifice or lose something in order to stop Revlis." I continued.

"It's logically sound." My father said, "That if Revlis discovers something in this timeline that ends humanity. Then it only makes sense to take it away before he gets a hold of it."

"But... you're all missing something from this." Dr.Burges said looking at my parents then me, "Whoever takes this information into the future can't come back. You couldn't risk coming back and you couldn't risk just leaving that information in a random place in the future."

"I know." I said, "I'm prepared to make the journey and stay there."

"No." My mother said quickly, "No. No. Someone else can take it."

I shook my head, "I'm the best option. I'm the only one that's time traveled, that suit is DNA coded to me and we don't have the time to come up with something else."

My mother's eyes began to water as my father sat his things down on the desk in front of him. And I witnessed the realization of him about to lose his daughter cross his face.

"No!" My mother cried, "You are my daughter, and I am not letting you do this!"

"Trust me." I said beginning to sob as my parents encased me with their arms, "T-trust that I c-can do this."

" I don't d-doubt that,"My mother said in between her breathless cries, "But you d-don't have to do this. You don't have to save the world. You've done enough. We can figure out another way."

I smiled as I felt tears continue to run down my cheeks, "Maybe I was never meant to save the world from here, mom. Maybe I meant to leave it."

"Promise me something." My father said so calmly, as if he'd already accepted my fate, "Space is dark, cold and desolate.....Promise me that you'll find peace and love among the stars wherever they may take you."

I grinned as more tears rolled down my face, "I promise."

"Is this what farewell's are like traveler?" The computer system within my helmet asked once I had gotten back into my suit.

I sniffed away the boogers that were running down my nostrils and nodded, "Yes. I suppose they are."

"Then I am indeed glad that I do not have to say farewell to you." It said, "Are you ready to travel among the stars again?"

"Let's fly." I said smiling with tears, as I saw the last few glimpses of my family. Before I felt the gravitational pull of time pulling me away forever.

The End