Time Enough

Chapter II

"Get on your feet!" Theodore poured water on Zack's face.

Theodore was in his 60s. His hair was black with a slight trace of white hairs above his ears. He was shorter than Zack, but still relatively tall. He looked young, thanks to gene editing techniques people in the 29th century age slower and life expectancy is as high as 130.

"Mmmggghhhh..." Zack got up slowly as he grabbed the amulet Theodore tossed him. "What did you do to it? It's all scratched?" Zack asked him.

"I found it on the ground. Didn't do anything, it was like that." Theodore was scanning the apartment "Wow you really scorched this place." he had an amused look on his face.

"I was trying to learn to cook." Zack sighed as he was putting on the amulet when he noticed he was already wearing his. Zack got confused, he thought Theodore accidentally gave him his amulet, "Theodore-" Zack stopped. He saw II (the number 2 in Roman numerals) engraved on the front side. It was his amulet. What was he wearing then?

"Yes?" Theodore asked without making eye contact.

"Nothing," Zack's voice was faint. If he was currently holding his amulet, what was he wearing? "I need to go to the bathroom." He rushed towards the WC and locked the door behind him. He leaned on the wall and looked at what he was holding. "This is definitely mine" he thought. Zack took off the necklace. They were identical. Zack's chest was about to pop. He didn't know what to do or what to think. Both amulets had the "II" engraved on them. They were both his. Only difference was, the one Theodore gave him was more worn out. "What does this mean!?" Zack panicked "Did I time travel yesterday and somehow got a hold of this? I'm a dead man! We were given specific orders not to use our amulets before the 8 month period had passed!" Zack's eyes were opened wide, "What if Theodore has something to do with this! Nah, can't be. He looked normal. Did he? Couldn't he have taken this from my future self and take it back here? Why?" Zack's thoughts were interrupted by a knocking on the door, Theodore was calling him.

"Come on, we have to check up on Aaron. I literally can't do this without you. You know how this works, no going back twice." Theodore was inpatient.

"Coming.." Zack put the second amulet in his pocket, he got out and looked straight at Theodore.

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Nothing. My head hurts." Zack noticed a notebook on the ground. He never saw it before. He pushed it in the corner with his foot.

"Well, ready when you are."

"Hold tight." Zack put his arm around Theodore.

"Just, don't puke this time. Or at least don't do it on my shoes."

"Yeah..." Zack took his amulet out of his shirt. It opened up with a gentle squeeze on the side to reveal a small holographic screen. "two-thousand-and-five, right?"

Theodore kept quiet.

Zack closed his amulet. "O-okay then."

The amulet began to vibrate in Zack's hand. Both of them could feel their bodies being 'spaghettified', elongating slowly from head to toes. Zack closed his eyes and clenched his teeth while Theodore kept a straight face. Zack's intestines were all messed up, he felt it.

After a few seconds they were back to normal. They were still in the apartment, just 12 years back. Zack puked over the couch and Theodore almost broke his nose with a facepalm. The previous residents of Zack's apartment still lived there.

"You couldn't take it outside?" Theodore sighed.

"You know how I am! Not the strongest stomach." Zack replied. "Let's get out before we get caught and raise questions."