Raymond Reyes falls for the wife of the man he traveled back in time to replace. He's planned his mission to the minute, yet he finds himself unprepared to meet the woman all his files are wrong about. History wants to repeat itself -- Raymond is ju...
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Raymond
Another wall got blocked entirely, opposite the greyed out one. Something was happening, so he asked Claire, "Can you see what's here?"
She shook her head, "I see some monitors but I don't know what's on them."
Messages. But who was sending them, if not Claire? Whatever they meant, it annoyed the Superior, who turned the wall grey again, and since Claire wasn't trying to read it anymore, clearly she'd stopped seeing it, too.
"We don't accept," Raymond repeated.
The Superior took it better than expected.
"I must remind you," he kept his professional calm, "That we've already had this conversation and I know where it goes."
Raymond was all-in, so he bluffed, "There's something on these walls you don't want me to see."
"Indeed, I found that it distracted you both," The Superior unblocked Raymond's access. By now, the floor was also covered, but since it was not blurred out, the unthinkable spread everywhere. A second more, the roof, too, all four walls.
Thousands of messages, chats, forum posts, scrolled infinitely. People of all shapes and sizes, from all times, waving at him like at a camera. Holding signs, enthusiasm on their faces.
Send Raymond!
Why not Raymond?
Hold on, Raymond!
Claire is coming!
Free Claire The Leaf!
Kitchens from all over the globe, from all times, of all different technologies: from the open fire to the electric oven, living rooms with big families, some so unlike each other, others with practically the same face. Smiling, showing victory signs. The guy in sweatpants, someone in a Napoleon suit. A couple dressed like the pornstars from the video he'd watched with Claire, waving enthusiastically.
"What is happening?" Claire saw his shock. He'd forgotten she couldn't see it.
"Remember how I told you about how people in my time get really involved? They look for causes to dedicate their time? That it's all public information, and we all participate, sort of like in a reality show?"
Claire beamed, "We're on a reality show?"
"You are," Raymond was happy to see. "I think you're winning."
Her smile closed, reminded people were watching.
"Yes," The Superior said, completely bored. Raymond was ignoring his notifications and he had to explain it verbally. "Do you know how people who have all eternity guaranteed alongside whoever they want, go wherever they want -- how they react to learning a woman is crying because she doesn't have a picture of the man she loves?"
Raymond didn't have time to react, The Superior already had his speech going, "Even at a smaller scale, the support was fanatic. And then she commits Time Terrorism?!"
He explained, "I was reading batches of ten million messages every ten seconds, all arguing the same damn thing. Free Claire The Leaf!" his voice almost sounded sarcastic. "And I had no one to scream the simple basic facts at."
"You sound angry," Raymond assessed, not without being impressed with himself. "Why would you be angry?
"Because it was impossible to simply give them what they wanted, because of your stupid rebellion! Because of you, Claire Wesley is no longer a Leaf!"
Raymond tried to not show it, he and Claire kept overly serious faces, almost mocking the most advanced human they'd ever meet, but there was no hiding on the drive, so The Superior asked, "And I detect you feel proud about this?!"
"More like -- accomplished, sir," Raymond was happy to disclose, and he could swear the Superior eye-rolled him. A few days spent in 2019 and Raymond was imagining human reactions on what was probably a pre-written appearance, all their possible interactions scripted. It was on Raymond to find the most advantageous one.
"Because I know now there's a lot of public pressure on you. They want us to accept our fates. So I hope you can read ten billion messages every ten seconds because we won't go down easy."
Claire looked impressed by his nerve, despite nothing intimidating her less than a Superior. She wasn't curious about human evolution, she was there to get him, Raymond smiled. She winked, then stared at D36CFB2C, who started talking as if on pause until they'd stopped being unreasonable:
"And you, Raymond? They worked to find ways to exploit the system, to let you know they were supporting you. We got everyone blocked eventually, even the ones who found ways to randomly leave messages, hoping you'd find them. They didn't know your area, and you kept being reassigned, but the more they gathered, the odds you'd see one increased."
Free will was protected, there wasn't a reason not to let people express themselves in any way, and because of their filtering system, no one could see what they didn't want to see, or -- like Raymond -- weren't allowed to see. You could write anything anywhere, but it could only be read by someone wanting to read it, after being allowed to.
"None of them got to you, yet somehow you kept filing those petitions, making them all spam me and too many others with pointless chatter. And on the other side, the woman who wanted to send the world into chaos because she didn't get what she wanted."
At that judgment of her character, Claire felt compelled to address it.
"I don't think I would've killed the president."
"No," The Superior replied. "Our simulations show you tell him about time travel instead. As only he and the other presidents know -- having preemptively agreed to have the memory of it erased when they step down -- you can see how her knowing specifics can cause an intercontinental incident."
Raymond put his arm around Claire, she kept staring at the walls as if they told her something. Probably someone wrote something in her language or posted a 2D video that she could interpret.
"It's a gif! I'm walking on the hallways of The Forum! I didn't even go in!"
"It's from a simulation," Raymond guessed.
"Here is our offer," the Superior made them aware of his presence again. "You," he told Claire, "Get your own afterlife chip, and the option to be in his. And we send you two back in 2019 to do whatever it is that you can't instantiate in the afterlife... You both officially get what you want."
The messages dimmed until they all disappeared. Humans didn't intrude after their purpose was achieved. There would be celebrating, but Raymond had to want to see it, it was no longer urgent enough to warrant spam. They were happy to wait, their mission was completed.
The Superior was ending his presence as well, just in time for the conclusion.
"As part of your repayment to society, you'll be on call in case field agents need you. The first ten missions are on your drive, Raymond. We'll drop data about the next ones in predefined locations after you complete them. Just try not to influence anyone's life except for those missions, and we'll ignore you on the history logs."
They'd be history's NPCs.
"I already know you won't break the timeline, because we never meet again," The Superior turned transparent, scaring Claire.
"I thought you were a person!"
"I am," The Superior didn't understand. "Now, go back to 2019 and let me enjoy my afterlives!"
"Can I show her something, before we leave?" Raymond asked.
