Lost in Time ~ Five Hargreeves

Chapter 40

"Well… this is nice, isn't it?", Luther broke the silence.

He, the two Rileys, and the two Fives were sitting together at a table.

"No," both Fives said simultaneously.

Young Riley rolled his eyes, and Old Riley shook his head.

"Somebody explain to me how it is Riley and I having a pint of Guinness with our younger selves."

"Older, actually," explained Young Five. "We're you, just 14 days older."

"I have pubic hair smarter than you," replied Old Five. "How's that possible?"

"I can explain. You see, one hour from now, on the grassy knoll, before the president is killed, you break your contract with the Commission. I already know you're thinking about it. All those years in the apocalypse, we never stopped worrying about our family–"

"Do you have any idea how risky that was?", old Riley wanted to know.

"It's not like we had a choice," said young Riley. "Be honest, you would've done the same."

"Easy for you to say, you're from the future."

"Anway, today, you are going to do something about it," young Five steered the conversation back to the actual topic. "Today, you two are going to attempt to time travel forward to 2019. However, you are going to screw up the jump and end up in our thirteen year old bodies."

"Okay. Even if we were to believe you, what are we supposed to do about it, not jump?"

"No, no. Five, we need you two to jump," Riley explained. "If you don't jump, we cease to exist. What we need from you is to jump correctly."

Old Five and old Riley took a moment to process the information.

"We're listening."

"The first time through, I got the calculation wrong. That's how we ended up in these bodies. But now, I know the correct calculation."

"What is it?", old Five asked.

"I'll be glad to tell you...", replied young Five. "– in exchange for that briefcase you're holding under the table."

"Yeah, yeah, so you go back to 2019, as planned, but this time with the right math, so you remain a full-grown man. In exchange, we get that briefcase that you no longer need," summarized Luther.

"Timeline restored, paradox resolved."

"And everyone goes on existing happily ever after."

"That's quite a bit to take in," said Old Five.

"What do you think?"

"I think... I need to pee."

Old Five grabbed his briefcase and satchel and stood up.

"Well, besides the floppy sweat–", said Luther, reaching for a napkin and dabbing the sweat from Five's face. "– I think that went pretty well, am I right?"

"No, no, there's something... Something doesn't feel right about this."

"What... What do you mean?", Luther inquired.

"I don't trust him."

"But he's you," Luther said.

He was puzzled that Young Five didn't trust his other self but had no problem with the other version of Riley.

"Exactly."

Young Riley leaned a little closer to Old Riley and murmured, "This could be a problem."

Old Riley nodded, and they both took a sip of water.