“It’s true, it was an amazing day,” said Kent. “Even thoughit didn’t make any difference in the long run, it did feel great at the time.”
The angel had presented a very solid case. What othersatisfaction could he derive from playing around in the past, especially now heknew how this all worked? Perhaps it was time to look at this a different way.
“So, if you really are going to open up a Universe 2.0 forme every time I go back, does this mean I can do whatever I want back there withno consequences?”
“That is what it means, yes,” replied the angel.
“Anything at all? What about if I killed someone?”
“You don’t really want to do that, do you?” asked the angel.
Kent thought back. There was no shortage of people he wouldn’thave wished dead at some point in his life. Did that make him a bad person, ordid everyone have similar dark thoughts in their private moments?
What about that horrible, career-driven bitch who had gothim trounced out of the Met on a trumped-up sexual harassment charge? Whatabout his so-called best mate, Glen, the snake who had ruined at least two pastrelationships and those were just the ones that he knew about? And worst of all,what about Gideon bloody Summerfield, the man who had just kicked him out ofhis job? He could certainly do with being taken down a peg or two.
Shamefully, he even had to admit that he had fantasisedabout doing away with Debs on the odd occasion when she had really been makinghis life a misery. Of course he would never do such a thing in the real world; theywere fleeting flights of fancy, nothing more.
Universe 2.0 was not the real world but even carrying thatget-out-of-jail-free card, could he in all seriousness bring himself to killany of them? It would make a mockery of his entire career for a start. Despite Kent’sjaded middle-aged perspective, he had originally joined the police for theright reasons. He had believed in law and order and had genuinely wanted tofight crime.
Deep down, he still held those principles and believed inright and wrong, even if life had dealt him some bad hands. Even if he did havea licence to kill in Universe 2.0 it wasn’t as if any of these people had doneany devastating harm to him. They had made his life a misery, true, but it wasn’tas if they had committed some foul atrocity upon him or a member of his family.
Under those circumstances, he might have taken up the opportunityfor revenge, but then would it really be worth it? They would still be alive inhis own world when he came back. The only scenario he could imagine where it mightbe useful would be if the perpetrator had never been unmasked. Then he couldtravel back to discover their identity in order to return to the present todeal with them. But thankfully, Kent’s past was free of any such trauma.
No, there was no one he truly wanted to kill. But some of thehumiliations of the past still rankled with him. Perhaps he should use this opportunityto take a less severe form of revenge on those who had slighted him. With the benefitof hindsight, he could go back and play some days out differently, purely forhis own satisfaction.
He had already made plans to visit Kay in the past, whichwould also give him the chance to reacquaint himself with the errant Glen. Therewas, however, a much more recent travesty Kent wanted to deal with first. Hesmiled as the seeds of an audacious plan began to form in his head.
“Well?” asked the angel, impatiently, interrupting Kent’s trainof thought.
“Yes, don’t worry,” said Kent. “I’m not going to killanyone. There are a few old scores I’d like to settle, though. One inparticular springs to mind.”
The angel was clearly reaching into his mind again, responding,“So I see. Are you sure that’s how you want to spend your time in the past? Wouldn’tyou derive more satisfaction from living some happy moments over again?”
“Look, there’s plenty of time for that,” replied Kent. “Justlet me go back and do this one thing, and then I’ll do something nice next timeto keep you happy.”
“As you wish,” replied the angel.
“Just one thing, before I go,” said Kent. “You’re absolutelysure there won’t be any consequences to this? I’m not going to get back hereand you’re going to tell me that you accidentally deleted Universe 1.0 insteadand kept the copy?”
“Of course not,” replied the angel. “I know what I’m doing. It’seasy enough to put it right if anything goes wrong anyway. If anything likethat happens, we’ll just get Universe 1.0 back out of the recycle bin.”
“I hope so,” replied Kent, not entirely filled withconfidence. What he was planning to do would certainly get him kicked out ofthe police force at the bare minimum. Since he was going to get made redundantanyway, that didn’t matter, but in Universe 2.0 he could find himself inserious trouble. There was a fair chance he would end the day in a prison cell,but as long as there were no consequences it wouldn’t matter. It would only befor one night and it would be worth it just to wipe the smirk off that smugbastard’s face.
He was sick of the man and his stupid policies. He couldshove them up his arse.
“Take me back to July 2018, the second day of training in theNew Forest,” said Kent.
Gideon Summerfield was in for a surprise.
Avenging Angels
July 2018
When Kent awoke on the morning of Friday 13th July2018, his surroundings no longer came as a shock to him. He was getting used tothe business of waking up in his own past and this time he knew what to expect.
He was in a single bed in a timber-framed log cabin. It wasone of several that constituted the on-site accommodation of the Greenland’sTraining Centre
