Billies Seasonal Weather Anomalies

|| Seven ||

The orange door whips open, slamming into the wall next to me, a thunderous boom accompanying it. "Hey Elliott, I'm meant to be meeting–" the man who'd just bustled into the room kills his broad grin when he sees me, "myself." He finishes off in a quiet voice.

              I too am right on my way to speechlessness. The man in front of me looks to be my age. He's got the same hair as me. Same style of clothes as me. Same face as me. And apart from a few freckles that've fallen out of alignment, he is me. He's my parallel twin.

               "Phillip, you're just in time. I was just about to explain to Phillip here why we brought him in. Perhaps you'd like to join us. You'll be the best person to make it seem less like we're the bad guys if you explain it to . . . yourself." The man with shaggy hair who the other Phillip called Elliott strolls over to Phillip and claps him on the shoulder while gently pushing him in my direction.

               Phillip looks me up and down before he opens his mouth, "gotta hand it to you, earthling, you sure know how to pick the pyjamas."

               "What, like you don't have these?" I fire back.

               "No actually, mine are grey."

               Oh that smug little–

                Elliott clears his throat loudly. He waits until he has both of our attention before speaking. "Phillips, behave."

               Phillip reluctantly nods at him, then turns back to face me. "Right, I'm gonna get straight to the point. We took you here because you're still wrapping your head around everything. Which means you're loyal to Billy, but not too loyal. We need you to be not-so-loyal because he's lying. Both of the Billies are lying. If you go ahead with your plan and take our sun, then we're going to be facing something awfully similar to an apocalypse."

               "An apocalypse? As in, goodbye Arth?" I don't bother waiting for his nod. I know what he means by the word because, he kinda is me. "That can't be right. Earth Bill clearly stressed to me how he doesn't want to end any lives. How he wouldn't do this if anyone was in any danger. As for Arth Bill, he's an actual scientist who knows what's he's researching. And besides, this is his world."

               "I know. It doesn't make any sense. But we've got scientists too. And they all agree that if even one of our suns disappear, we'll be facing major problems. Earth and Arth have different species living on their planet. That means they rely on different amounts of sunlight. Goodbye sun, goodbye five thousand species, goodbye carefully structured food chain, hello chaos. Same goes for the plants. Arth's also got thicker ice in places such as Antarctica. If one of our suns go, then we all better be ready for sea levels to drop dramatically. There's a couple more examples of course, but nobody should be bored at a time as crucial as this. Least of all you."

               I nod my head, forehead crinkled with thinking wrinkles. Both the Bill's know everything's not going to be just peachy after the sun goes. They know catastrophe's on the menu. So why are they going ahead? Why are they wiping out an entire world, just so one of them can keep his beloved company? Bit harsh, isn't it? And who else knows what's really at stake? Bill lied to me, is he lying to everyone else too? Even Bradley? Too many questions bubble up inside me like the gases of a foul concoction. Unfortunately, none of them are popping anytime soon either.

               "So you want me to help you make sure the sun doesn't get smuggled out of the universe?" I guess on a whim.

               "Yeah. You gonna help? Or take the front row's comfiest couch to watching a mass murder?" Phillip's voice holds an edge to it. I don't know why as he already knows which road I plan to be travelling down, comfy or not.

               "What's the plan?"

~~~~

Phillip leads me out of his office and down another ridiculously long corridor. Before long he's swinging the door open to reveal a slightly tidier laboratory of sorts. Unlike Phillip's one, this place has shelves full of small inventions which appear to be close, if not finished.

               "Our plan is simple," Phillip explains, "we'll give you a bunch of M.C.a.Ts, which you'll stick all around the place. That company Earth Bill is running, his office, his favourite cafe, even his home if you can manage it. That sort of thing. We'll then do some serious eavesdropping and whip up a plan to stop his little stealing escapade."

               "M.C.a.T?" I ask. I've certainly never heard of them before.

               "Yes. M.C.a.T, short for: Microphone, Camera and Tracker. They're small, practically impossible to detect unless you're looking for it, and perfectly immune to any scans. Very handy."

                "Okay," I agree, nodding my head, "you want me to stick some gadgets on Bill and surrounding objects. I can do that. Anything else?"

               "As a matter of fact, yes. Bill's smart. Both of them are. And while they might spill some secretive beans when they think no one's around, there are just beans they won't spill. Unfortunately for you, we need those beans. So, you'll just have to break into bean can. Also known as the company vault, located far, far below floor level." Phillip says this all while studying a rather boring looking computer monitor. As if he thinks it's all child's play!

               "I can't do that! No way. That's way too close to impossible for my liking. Like, way, way, too close. Sorry, but no can do. You'll have to find someone else."

               "I know you can't do it." Phillip continues to peer down at the screen. Is he actually reading it of just pretending to? I can't tell. "But that's why we got someone to help you. Someone who works hard at Billies Seasonal Weather Anomalies, yet is entirely on our side. Plus he's assured us all he's done this sort of thing before. You might know him."

               I sigh. "Why? What's his name?"

               "Clay. Clay Watson."