our loop and they’re about to change the course of everything using your brothers, and those Akeelian princesses. But even if they can’t get a hold of you and your girls, they have others waiting. They can’t use them yet—that’s why they need Harem Station. But this is our only chance in time to kick them off their loop and reset ours. Because if we don’t they eventually will do that to us. We must not allow this to happen. It will affect every other time loop in the Earth universe. You”—he points at me—“will never have that family back there in that kitchen, Crux. But other you… he has them already. He has a wife and she is the love of his life. He has twin children. He is happy. But if the Akeelians succeed in our timeline, all that will be lost. Everything will change. And even though I already said it, I must say it again. We must not. Allow. That to happen.”
He pauses, then continues. “I know what you’re going to say. ‘So what? Why should I care what happens to Other Me?’ And the simple answer is this—everything is connected, Crux. If our world changes, their world changes. If their world changes, our world changes. What ensues is chaos.”
I think about this for a moment—well, many, many moments—trying to wrap my head around it.
Time is a loop. Got it.
Lots of Other Mes out there living other lives. OK. I’m not sure I believe it, but I get it.
Life—or maybe existence is a better word—is predetermined. There is no way to change things. That sucks. But again, I get it. I comprehend the concept. We have no free will. We’re all just puppets doing the bidding of our master, who is, apparently, something (or perhaps someone) called Time.
And here’s where I end up: “So what? Maybe chaos is a good thing? Maybe shaking things up isn’t so bad?”
“I knew you’d say that. Humanoids. They are so predictable. And there’s some irony. They, you—you all love the unpredictable. You all love the good shakeup. You all think you want to be in charge of all those choices you think you’re making. But we’re talking chaos with a capital C here, Crux. We’re not talking about who has the most power in the galaxy or anything as mundane and simple as the ‘meaning of life’. Chaos with a capital C means a complete do-over. As in this whole universe is wiped out. A clean slate, if you will. And then we start over again. From day one. And do you have any idea what day one looks like, Crux?”
He pauses. Like maybe I have an answer for that. But it’s a rhetorical pause. Because he continues almost immediately.
“Day one looks like nothing. Never mind that there is no organic matter. No bacteria, or viruses, or single-celled plants. There are no suns, Crux. No solar systems. Not even giant clouds of gas that might turn into suns in a few billion years. Nothing. We start over from nothing. But lest you interpret that the wrong way, let me be extra clear about this—it will be different. Everything will be different. You might be reborn a karkadann. The point is, nothing will be known.”
I think about this for a moment. “Maybe that’s a good thing.”
“It isn’t. Trust me. I was there the last time we started over. ALCOR is in charge right now. He’s the one in charge of time at the moment, Crux. And he’s already annihilated the universe three times.”
“What?” I laugh. I just can’t.
“Laugh all you want but he’s about to do it again. Do you really think any of this is by accident? Please.” He almost snorts. “ALCOR knows everything. For all intents and purposes, he is our God.”
“He is time, you mean? Is that what you mean?”
“No. He’s not time. But he’s got a pretty good relationship with time at the moment. Not to mention the ear of all those time-controlling princesses on Harem. He told you this, did he not?”
“Told me?” I point to myself and almost guffaw. “That asshole hasn’t told me a damn thing. He said something about a plan a long time ago. Said it was all ‘need-to-know’ and that I didn’t need to know. So no. He didn’t tell me about why he needed princesses other than he wanted special girls to attract outlaw men. But none of this is the point here, OK?”
“All of this is the point. The