SOMEWHERE ELSE
A tall red headed woman with glasses stood up in front of him, as if to address a crowd. In reality, as he looked around, there was only him and his friends sat there, so it was hardly a conference.
“We are at cross-roads in humanity” The woman said, “and only people like us can make a difference. I have used all my resources possible to bring you together, every last cent I had has been poured into this. It is a legacy I want our children to thank us for, a better future for all, but it's going to be difficult”
Danny looked around the room again and his friends were all there listening intently, whatever this woman was saying seemed important to them all. It was all so strange to him; it felt like he must be glimpsing the future. How could he be seeing this? It was another level of confusion that Danny struggled with. The main thing that comforted him though was that his friends were all there, still alive. None of them had succumbed to an untimely reality wrenching death. This still added more confusion though. Had everything he had witnessed the last few days never happened? Could he believe the 'future' he was seeing? He wrestled with this internally, it distracted him so much he was no longer listening to the woman speaking, as his mind worked overtime to try and establish some link between the events. This eventually made the whole of the image he was watching fade back away, and with a sudden jolt he opened his eyes.
AUTON'S ROOM
“What the hell was that?” Danny shouted angrily.
He wasn't sure why he was angry, but guessed it was the continual confusion he was having at his whole life turning into a topsy-turvy roller-coaster of strange moments he couldn't understand.
“Please relax Danny, and let things be, it will make things much easier” Auton instructed.
“Why am I seeing the future?” He asked wild-eyed, “Everyone was okay there, so the creatures didn't get us. I don't know if any of this is real, this is too much. Who was that woman?”
“You need to see everything yourself Danny, but take your time. The woman you saw is called Sheryl, but you need to see the rest yourself, please relax”
Danny sat there for a minute, still riddled with doubts about absolutely everything that had ever happened to him, and also it seems, everything that ever will.
“If I continue, will you release these restraints?” He asked Auton.
“When you are no longer in a heightened state of confusion I will”
He had no reason to believe or trust this person, but what choice did he have? He sat for a minute or two, trying to calm himself down again. Sheryl. He couldn't remember anyone called Sheryl, but if he was being shown the future then they may not have met yet. This was weird to him again, but he took this weirdness over any dimension-jumping brute any day. He eventually closed his eyes and the same shift occurred, transporting him back to the room he had been in before.
SOMEWHERE
“Danny” said Sheryl, looking towards him, “Do you think you'll be able to calculate the margins of error and the best angles for maximum sun exposure? Obviously, you'll need all the data from Dave and Emma, but do you think you can find the best possible trajectories?”
Danny had no idea what she was talking about.
“Err, yeah, sure” He replied, not wanting to look stupid.
His future self probably knew what all this meant, so thought it was best to go along with it. As he replied to her, he seemed to have a flash of other very brief memories. It seemed to be quick flashes of something earlier than this moment, but it was so fleeting he couldn't catch them properly. He did have a sudden recollection of who this Sheryl was though. He had no idea how he knew, but suddenly realised that she was an influential and successful billionaire. How did he know this? Pieces of the future were dropping into his mind, which was already confusing enough, without them being shown to him out of order. The visions he was seeing continued jumping in and out, forward and backwards. He was only seeing fleeting moments and missing others, so that the whole narrative wasn't making sense to him. His concentration kept lapsing and his visions faded, only to be jolted back to him suddenly. He heard something about them being underground and then Sheryl mentioned attacks. Underground? Attacks? Damn thought Danny, were the reality-eaters back? He really needed to know more. This didn't sound good. He lost concentration again and more of the meeting whizzed by, his brain unable to process much. He was suddenly fully aware and focused once more, realising he had missed most of the conversation. Sheryl called a close to the meeting and they all took off in different directions. Danny waited a moment, still disorientated. He then grabbed Mateo's shoulder and wanted to ask what was happening, but changed his mind at the last second.
“What is it Dan?” He asked.
“Just glad you're okay” He said, trying not to sound too weird.
“Yeah thanks man, you too” He replied with a grin.
Danny stood there, looking around at his surroundings. The room was dimly lit. It had white walls and there were strange contraptions dotted around the worktops. There were a couple of different entrances to this room and Danny made sure he investigated each one. They appeared to be long tunnels, and he got the impression they were actually underground, so it wasn't just a figure of speech. He took a deep breath and the scene changed around him. He was no longer in the tunnels, he was above ground. He
