Instants Instance Wattys2016

Chapter 10

The Pod, Ukraine 4/5/2168 7:00 am.

Alex appeared in the centre of the main room of the Pod, the white woven walls glowing in their familiar way. But everything seemed different now, almost worn out, though Alex had returned only a day after he had departed, and for him that day had been seven hours.

A cough sounded behind him, and Alex turned to see Nestor sitting in a chair, grinning.

"Good trip?" he asked innocently.

"Well, you'd know all about it, since you were there the entire time," replied Alex. "Maybe you should have told me who you were in the first place."

Nestor's expression grew slightly more serious, but there was still definitely a hint of a smirk playing around his mouth. "So you worked it out, then. I guess I won't need these darn things anymore." He reached up to his eyes as he spoke, and removed a pair of black contact lenses. Amber eyes, crinkled with amusement at the edges, now looked back at Alex. His hair had gone grey, he'd grown a beard, and wrinkles had carved his face somewhat, but it was pretty obvious now that Nestor was in fact Max Lucas.

"Really, I'm surprised you didn't work it out when you saw me and myself in the same room together in 2103. You must be awful at faces!"

"In my defence, you didn't realise it either," returned Alex. "But why didn't you just help yourself? Why did you go to all the trouble of training me up?"

"Alex, surely you know enough about time travel after all this time to work it out? I knew I needed to find you and train you precisely because I remembered you helping me."

"Actually, that's a point. How did you know how to find me in the first place?"

The door hissed open, and the man from 2103, Argus, walked in. "Um, yeah, that was me. I had to take some precautions when I met you, of course. I couldn't be sure that your memory for faces was as bad as it is for other faces with your own face." So saying, he took a small remote from his pocket and clicked a few buttons. His features melted away as a holographic display faded to reveal a rather more familiar face...

Oh dear God, really?

The older Alex laughed at the expression on his younger face.

"Great, anything else I need to know?" Younger Alex mumbled in exasperation.

"Well, you know that woman at your trial-," Max began, but was cut off by Older Alex speaking over him. "Not really, no. Maybe it's best if we go now."

"But what am I supposed to do now?" Younger Alex was still somewhat stunned by the turn of events.

"Well, that's your choice, isn't it?" replied Max with the tone that made it very clear that he knew what Alex would do, and found it hilarious.

"I suppose I'll see you around sometime," older Alex grinned. Then he and Max turned to each other, and with a flash of blue light, they were gone.

Alex looked around the suddenly silent room. "Typical. Now what?"

Then a flashing light on one of the screens caught his eye. Walking over, he took a look at the image on the screen. It was a picture of some roughly oval imprints in solid rock, all in a line. Then Alex realised what they were: heavy footprints with rugged soles, obviously imprinted when the rock was still mud. A brief caption merely said "29/6/-66105072 13:53. Good luck!"

Shaking his head and grinning, Alex set hisWarper to go. There was a blinding blue flash, and he was off. What he would do when he got there, he had no idea, but what would be the point in an adventureif you knew everything that was going to happen?