Time Enough

Chapter III

2029

Theodore was in the town's public library. He was in the newspaper area, reading local newspapers from 2005 when he finally found the article he was searching for. The big bold “Unidentified deceased man uncovered in Oxwold” title in Times New Roman touched his heart after a three hour long search. He was scanning row to row with a thirst in his eyes. Traces of two or more people were found near the deceased and Myocardial infarction is the official cause of death. The “Ended up buried in a pauper's grave in the local cemetery” at the end of the article was all he really wanted to know.

Theodore left the library and rushed to the town centre. He entered a hardware store, took a small shovel and left $100 on the cashier counter before leaving as quickly as arriving. The cashier was confused and looked through the glass door as Theodore was crossing the street with the shovel in his hand.

He went back to his flat, stood in front of his door and pressed the key hole with his thumb. The door unlocked, he opened it and went inside. It was noticeably larger and tidier than Zack's apartment. His living room had a relaxing view of the mountains just next to town, a large LG OLED TV mounted on the east wall and comfortable white synthetic leather couch. He entered his bedroom, it had a large bed and a few scented candles scattered around. He took his backpack from the corner and put the shovel in it. On his way out of the flat, he touched the key hole with his thumb again and it locked.

He was headed to the cemetery.
When he finally arrived he stopped just outside the gates, he sighed as his head was scanning the place. It is gonna take some time to find the grave, he thought. He was walking on the edge of the cemetery where the graves seemed to stop. A pauper's grave wouldn't be spectacular, heck, he'd be lucky if it was even marked by something. He noticed a marble plate under a tree in the middle of the grassy area. There was something engraved on it. ”In memory of the one resting here“.

"Aha, who's the boss!", he smirked, putting his left hand on the grass above the plate "There's circuitry. Definitely him."

He took his shovel out of his backpack and just when he was about to start digging he looked around himself. It was the middle of the day. He couldn't do it in broad daylight! Not wanting to wait for nighttime he sat down next to the tree, opened up his amulet and went forward in time by a few hours. Pitch black, perfect. Nothing was illuminating the pauper's grave. He grabbed his shovel firmly and started digging until he reached the rotting coffin. He cleared the rest of the dirt above it and opened it up revealing a dirty skeleton.

"Oh man," he said faintly, turning the skull to the side, the bronze colored communicator embedded into the backside of his skull was visible "sorry, mate."

He took his shovel and put it between the joints on his dead partner's neck, he pushed down with the help of his leg and cracked the neck. He opened his backpack and put the skull inside. He threw some dirt over the grave to slightly cover the remaining skeleton. It was futile to make it look like nothing happened there, it was just too obvious and he'd waste time. He just opened up his amulet again and went back. Everything was normal, the dirt and grass was still on the grave. Putting his shovel in his backpack he left the cemetery.

As he was walking up the stairs to his flat someone called him, "Howdy!"

Theodore turned around and saw his neighbour, "Evening."

His neighbour's name was Endrit. Apparently an Albanian immigrant. Slightly overweight and wore rectangular glasses.

"You had a busy day, huh?" Endrit looked at his dirty shoes.

"Helped family with some gardening." Theodore calmly replied.

"Never thought of you as a helping guy!" Endrit giggled "Well, carry on."