IN-BETWEEN

Still, in awe, Katy tried her best to store every single sight in detail. She was straining her brain to do the work before realizing she had a phone in her car. She hurried to the car, the door still open, she searched the driver's seat for her backpack, only to find it in the backseat, on the floor just behind the passenger's seat. She unzipped the backpack in a hurry as if this moment was going to pass her by. She was disappointed when she couldn't find her phone.

The only thing she found were old photos of her mum and other members of the community, also pictures of Eric's dad who looked exactly like the guy at the wormhole. In an attempt to trivialize the significance of the reality facing her, she put the photos back into the bag, haphazardly zipped them, and slumped into the driver's seat. Katy started crying.

***********************************************************************************************

"That day in 2043. Best day of my life."

She said, sarcastically.

"C'mon, cheer up. That was the day the universe gave me a gift."

"You mean, the day I was kidnapped? Yay!! Lucky me."

"Well, at least you came around."

"Yeah, but It wasn't easy."

"But, you turned out fine."

"Yeah. She did."

"It's strange,"

"What's strange, Norton?"

"You, referring to yourself in the third person, Katy."

"I know. She's me, but at the same time, she isn't me. It's like a dream... like my memories are playing themselves out."

"Remember my love, this is another cycle. It will be over soon."

"What if, what if....."

Katy stopped for a few seconds, Norton stared at her without saying anything.

"Perhaps, this is how it's meant to be. A never-ending cycle, always making plans, none of them coming to fruition. This is nothing but a big joke, an entertainment to the universe, a fruitless attempt based on false hope."

"There you go again, thinking that the universe gives a rat's ass about our predicament. There's nothing special about us, we're nothing but another assemblage of particles, drifting about the cosmos. The only difference is that this assemblage of particles possesses self-awareness, so far as we can tell."

"I'm in no mood for your nihilistic lectures, Norton."

"Then quit complaining and do what you can, there are a lot of things outside your control. As we speak, thousands of stars are exploding as new ones are being created, new life forms are evolving as others are blowing themselves out of existence, causing their action."

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. The universe doesn't give a shit about us."

"Remember, everything that has happened, that is happening and will happen, is already happening, will happen and has happened. It's a closed book, a set schedule, not a sequence of unfolding events. We're just here to play our parts while looking for a way to leave the stage and escape our roles."

"For fuck sake Norton, I get it already."

"Uhuh... I haven't heard that before."

"What about Eric? Is he on track?"

"Yeah. So far, so good. He's the key to getting us out of this mess. That kid might be an arrogant, annoying prick, but, he's fucking smart, too smart for his own good. We're counting on him to solve this loop. He just needs a little push as everyone plays their part in the scheme of things."

"Why the strong conviction though?"

"Because he's the other side of the coin and he's a resilient bastard."

"But, you're also a resilient bastard."

"Yeah, but I have my limits. Eric is resilient for the sake of curiosity. He does things on his s. Hell, he can detonate a nuclear bomb just to get live readings of the mushroom cloud and the resulting shock waves. He's crazy, too crazy. Even for me."

"You sound like you know him."

"We have a history together."

"Past, present or future."

"Past and present, future, if he solves the loop."

"But, technically, he has already solved it."

"Well, not exactly. He has solved it and he hasn't."

"You just said, "all things that have happened ...blah blah blah blah".

"Funny. Yeah, I know what I said. But this is different."

"How?"

"Think of it like localized amnesia in the universe. A blind spot, a probability with a resolved and unresolved certainty. It is until it isn't, because it has always been or it never was."

"Yeah. I get it. But the fact that this cycle has been repeated infinitely shows that the certainty hasn't been resolved, meaning we haven't pushed through that blind spot. It's just like launching a satellite, it doesn't have sufficient velocity to escape earth's gravity, so it keeps falling back to earth. But if it achieves that escape velocity, it will keep going into outer space. Hence, we just need Eric to solve this loop, he's the escape velocity we need to escape the loop."

"Sometimes, I don't understand why you let me explain these things. Is it some sort of entertainment to you?"

"Well, given you love explaining the obvious, I've learned to let you indulge. You explain things like you expect everybody to be dumb."

"Trust me, honey, at this point it's not an expectation but a fact of reality. People are indeed dumb."

"You should stop sucking on your dick too hard, Norton"

"Uhm, you know I don't have to do that."

Dr. Norton said, giving Dr. Smith a seductive stare.

"Hahaha, you pervert."

She giggled sheepishly as she went in for a warm, passionate kiss. This was followed by a build-up in aggression from both parties, right before the undressing commenced.

***********************************************************************************************

"What the hell am I doing?"

She whispered to herself.

I'm in an unfamiliar place and time. Instead of figuring a way out or at least attempting to understand what was happening, my first brilliant idea was to take pictures....... Eric wouldn't approve.

Katy would do anything to have Eric by her side right now. She desperately needed the presence of the cold calculating emotionless robot in human skin. She needed his deductive skills, his assertiveness, and clearness of mind. She needed his help in getting out of this mess. Even If he wouldn't do anything, his nonchalant aura would suffice. Katy missed Eric.

I'm pretty sure that even Eric would be fascinated by this beautiful scene. He might even forget his predicament and chase after this beauty right here.

Katy thought to herself as she failed to come up with a plan, something solid in understanding her situation. It wasn't her fault. She was terrified, she was just teleported from her home to an unfamiliar place and time which, as far as she can tell, is the future.

She worried about her parents, and how they must be feeling right now. Her neighbors, friends. Would they think she's dead? How are they all handling this?

Katy willfully tried to distract her thoughts from conjuring up instances of Eric. She wondered how Eric would be feeling. Perhaps he's unbothered, nonchalantly investigating her disappearance like a detective. This might just be a game to him, another puzzle, another project he has to indulge in.

A warm smile came upon her face as she tried to picture Eric in his detective mode, going around investigating her disappearance. She needed this, this assurance, this confidence. At least, someone competent is searching for her.

"Get your shit together, Katy. This is not the time to be a crybaby. Think."

Katy was becoming more confident in her ability to handle the situation as she began a mental iteration.

She remembered being on her way to Eric's place, bearing the idea that she could be Eric's niece, according to Eric. She paused for a moment, contemplating the amount of mental energy that should be allocated to that thought. She decided to allocate none and went ahead with her iteration.

Finally, she recalled seeing the wormhole guy right before she arrived at this paradise, she thinks it was the future.

With her memory up to date and her motivation for survival intact, she decided to take the next step in understanding the situation.

She tried starting the car but it wouldn't come on. Perhaps the car's circuitry got fried during her trip. She decided to pack her stuff and head to the nearest building in sight. That was the moment she became aware of her location. She was in an industrial complex. And, from the look of things, they specialized in advanced tech.

She wondered why no one had approached her. Given her dramatic entrance and the type of place she was in, she believed that alone was sufficient to trigger an alarm or at least a power surge that would've interacted, if not disrupted their system.

There, she had a crippling realization. She felt stupid that it took so long for her to conclude.

This is a kidnap. I've been kidnapped. The wormhole guy must have triggered the wormhole. He brought me here to their facility, their lab. But I don't understand why he would take me. I don't know anything. Eric should be the one in this situation, not me.

She didn't let the panic consume her.

She went back in her car and closed the door. With shaky fingers, she gulped the plastic water bottle. She wiped the sweat beads off her forehead as she steadied her hands on the steering wheel.

What the hell am I going to do now? Asking them for help would be offering myself on a platter. But still, I don't understand why they're not making any moves. Of course, they've been expecting me, but why's no one here to claim their prize, what the actual fuck is going on?

"come out of the vehicle with your hands in the air."

The voice came from a levitating craft.

"Talk about impeccable timing."

"I repeat, step out of the vehicle with your hands in the air."

"Yeah, yeah... I get it..jeez! I'm stepping out"

The craft, no bigger than a kitten, floated a few feet from Katy's car. It was a drone.

As Katy stepped out of the car, she felt a sharp sting all over her body before losing all sensations.

"What the fuck did you......"

She slumped to the floor.

Not too far from her location, stood a uniformed man behind a glass enclosure. In front of him were monitor screens with visual information on Katy. He had been watching Katy the whole time. As soon as she saw Katy slumped, he picked up his communication device,

"We have her sir."

On the other end of the call, was a bald man, he was handsome and clean-shaven.

"Good. Wait for my arrival."

He responded, curtly.

***********************************************************************************************

With Dr. Norton fast asleep, Dr. Smith quietly slid off the bed and she shed the sheets from her body like a second skin. Still, in stealth mode, she put on some light clothes and headed to the Teleway. This was convenient for what she planned to do. A thing that has been ruminating in her mind for years. This was the perfect moment for execution.

It so happens that her sex partner, Dr. Norton had a Teleway in his quarters, a personal instant transportation to anywhere in the solar system that has a receiving Teleway, a feature that was not available to commercial Teleways. Not only that, Dr. Norton already had an extra feature. The ability to open wormholes to the other universe. He found a way to sync the coordinates of the crack at the lab with his Teleway.

With a few upgrades, he could practically appear anywhere in the other universe as long as it isn't too far from the wormhole in the woods.

His colleagues weren't aware of this feature, Dr. Smith being the exception. But, Dr. Smith was more than just a colleague.

As she got to her prize, her fingers quickly got to work. She configured the Teleway to take her to her desired destination. The Teleway took its time to process the inputted directive, and as it did, Katy heard a voice behind her,

"What are you doing Katy?"

"What does it look like? I am trying to end this nightmare before it begins. If I can't change anything, at least I can change my fate and prevent myself from ever coming here."

"And how exactly do you plan on doing that, Katy?"

"Go back in time to my universe, convince myself not to leave the house that day."

"For someone so smart, that is dumb."

"My presence and the information I'll give to her would be sufficient to stop her from ever going to Eric's house. The information I'll give her will make the whole thing easier for Eric to solve If he hasn't already."

"After all these years, you still haven't stopped thinking about him."

"This is not the time to be jealous, Norton."

"Your plan is useless."

Dr. Norton said, pointing a gun at Dr. Smith.

"What are you doing Eric?"

Dr. Smith asked, her face pale. Gripped with fear, she slowly walked backward until there was no space to move. Her back was against the control terminal of the Teleway.

"If you travel back in time to your universe, stopping yourself from coming here, then you'd cease to exist, at least, the way you know yourself. This would cause a paradox. You see, If you never came here, then you wouldn't have the information to reveal to your past self in your universe to stop her from coming here."

"This whole nonsense is a giant tangle of paradoxes."

"The fact that we're still having this conversation means it never happened. Step away from the terminal, Katy."

He said, waving his gun at her.

"Target locked in, authorization required."

A voice came from the terminal.

Katy looked at the screen, she was a tap away from ending this whole drama, she thought.

"Damn it, Katy. Step away, don't make me do this."

"You have no idea, do you? What it's been like for me. All these years, stuck in an unfamiliar world, a world far away from home. The agony I had to endure. My family, friends, my entire life was stolen away from me. All for some cosmic bullshit."

She yelled, tears slowly streaming down her eyes.

"Katy....."

"I'm sorry Norton, I have to do this. The very fact that you had to use a gun to prevent me from doing this means there's a chance. If it wasn't going to work, you wouldn't go through the trouble."

In a heartbeat, she quickly turned around to tap the screen, a fatal mistake. The gun went off, and the first bullet missed her and hit the terminal making the screen display an error message. The second bullet got her through the back. At this moment, her life flashed before her eyes. She never got the chance to live the life she wanted.

In her last breath, the wormhole opened, but the coordinates were off. The wormhole appeared in the middle of a street, right in front of a car. The space around the car became so warped that the individual in the car could see Dr. Norton as he was standing in his room. Dr. Norton saw the person in the car and grinned.

It was all a cosmic joke. Katy's attempt to stop her past self from entering this universe ended up enabling her entrance. She made possible what she was trying to stop. It was all a cosmic joke.

The wormhole closed, and Dr. Norton was still holding the gun, her body, lifeless on the floor in the pool of her own. It was the hardest decision he'd ever taken in his life. He loved her.

Dr. Norton went over to the terminal, he got the location and time of the transport. It was 2043. He planned to welcome her upon her arrival, that was the least he could do. He checked his digital calendar, the year was 2110.

***************************************************************************************

Upon his arrival, Mr. Richards went straight to see where Katy was being held.

"You have to forgive my men, they lack manners."

"Where is he?"

"Sorry, who is it you're talking about?"

"Who are you?"

"I am Richardson, CEO of Gaia corp, I own this facility and everything in it. But you can call me Richards."

"What do you guys do here?"

"We explore space-time. The limits of reality itself."

"Well, your exploration is causing havoc in my universe. It's the reason I'm here."

"Universe? That's interesting. It should fascinate you to know that we don't have a device capable of such feats. We're still struggling with the theoretical foundations of connecting two distinct spaces in our universe."

"Wait, but you guys opened...."

Katy was confused.

"It seems you have a great story to tell ...."

"Katy, the name is Katy."

"You have a great story to tell, Miss Katy. But first, let's get you cleaned up."