Chapter 16

Posted: September 19, 2006 - 08:24:07 am

For several weeks I had been living back in my apartment, but I no longer had a job. So I decided to do something drastic. I had money in the bank, and Tom said he would bankroll me with a loan. I wanted to buy a house. I would have to pay for it outright, since I had no job, and couldn't foresee getting as good a one as I'd had with the government.

Yes, the government had paid me well, and for the most part I did not mind working for them. I just didn't like being FORCED to work for them. That was my biggest gripe. I was now 21, and had been making six figures a year! Not many 21-year-olds could say that.

So I started looking for a house that was out of the way that had a bit of land to it, and would afford me some privacy. The problem was cost, or it was; until Tom said he would basically give me as much money as I needed, up to a point. Or, I could buy some land, and he would have a home built for me by builders and technology used from the alternate world he was so powerful in.

I liked that second idea better. A home built to my specifications, using the materials and construction techniques of that other world. I would be in the safest strongest house in my area... hell, in my world! I started looking forward to that. The real test would be if the government would leave me alone since I had surfaced. Despite assurances, I was not at all confident of the government, or elements within it, allowing someone with my talent to walk free.

Tom said he would definitely keep an eye on me, and if I turned up missing, hurt, or dead, he would move to intercede on my behalf. He guaranteed that he would not let me stay dead! Now that's power! His only regret would be another fracture in reality. He said it would be unavoidable. Once he took an action that changed an outcome, it created an alternate reality. We would go on from that point, but so would an alternate reality, split off and doing its own thing. Just thinking about it gave me a headache!

"The best way I can explain it," Tom said, "is by what happened to me once. I got a phone call from my future self, explaining that two people had broken into my home in the Boston area at the time, and had stolen the computer and code disks I was using back then.

"Apparently, my future self had gone home, discovered this, and took action. When I got home, I discovered two people trussed up in my house, waiting for me to dispose of. I sent them back to Spain in about the 1500's. Not a good time to be different from others.

"So when my future self did all this, then called me and told me what he had done, It caused a fracture in reality, a split. While I found these guys, he had stopped something that had happened. I really don't like changing reality. However, I have just found you, and I plan on keeping you around for years to come, and if this means changing reality to keep you, or us, safe; then I will chance it," he said with a grin.

I was touched. I felt a greater loyalty to Tom, and maybe even a sort of love, after he told me this. I was actually uncomfortable thinking about emotions and declarations of love. People, these days, use that world casually. I could not do that. I loved my mom and dad, and I think I was beginning to love Brenda. Saying those words out loud was something I was very uncomfortable doing.

It was a few months later when Tom dropped in unannounced as had become his routine.

"Hey, Scott, found any place that you like yet?"

"Hell no. I never knew house or land hunting could be so difficult. I figured I would find something by now, but no luck. I don't know, maybe I am just being too picky," I replied with a sigh.

"Hmm, tell you what. I took the liberty of having my computer do a search with the requirements you had. There are several places, if you're not objecting to moving further away from your parents," Tom said casually.

I looked at him. Uh huh. I looked at him and had a feeling I was being set up. He was trying to look innocent.

"Ok, what's going on? You have that cat swallowed the canary look," I told him after looking at him.

"Well, I did sort of take the opportunity to locate a few properties already. As a matter of fact, if you choose one, I can get a team over here to build a home for you," Tom responded seriously.

Well, I haven't had any luck. Might as well see what you have found," I grumped at him.

He grinned and the next thing I knew I was god knows where, in the middle of a lightly forested area. It was chilly, and a light rain was falling.

"We are in Oregon. Thought I'd tell you before you asked. This area is well inland and away from heavily populated towns. Your closest neighbor from here, if you choose this spot, is about five miles away. The closest town of any size is six miles in that direction," he said, pointing off to the west.

So we tramped around the wet undergrowth and looked the place over. He did say there was a high rainfall average for the area, which turned me off. I told him that while I liked the place, it was not what I was looking for.

He nodded his understanding.

"Ok. Just be warned that you have to take precautions against possible government interference. This is why you want something out of the way, if I recall your own words,"

he said.

I opened my mouth, but we were already at a different place. Over all we checked out four places that day. One had definite possibilities. For some reason he was pushing me for an answer, and that made me drag my feet on this decision. We spent several more days, in all, looking.

"Don't you have a life to get on with? You're spending a lot of time with me over this you know," I told him.

"I'm in a position to help. You're my brother, and I can help you, so by god I will help!" Tom replied a bit forcefully.

Hmm, I had not realized he was so into this relationship thing. I hated to say it, but I did not feel as close to him as he obviously felt to me. That made me feel bad in several ways. The biggest, was I had the feeling I was letting him down a bit with my feeling of distance from him.

A property was chosen, and Tom said he would get a crew out there to start building right away. He had driven me to distraction with what type of house I wanted, and style. I had answered to the best of my ability, then he was gone. Off to get started on my new home, among other things.

I took this free time to practice my new found ability to look into the probable future. The problem, as I saw it, was that the future had not been experienced yet, from my point of view. The future was not something that was immutable. The future was a fluid thing.

For example, actions taken now influenced the future, and I was finding this to be more and more the case. What I saw for tomorrow would change from hour to hour, depending on my actions, and other events. The future was a world of possibilities, and I seemed to see the strongest possibilities.

I never knew for sure what it would be, but I was getting good at picking the most probable course that would become reality. It was a complicated thing, this looking into the future.

It also gave me severe headaches. I was going through aspirin, then alternating to Tylenol. Didn't want to get my stomach upset with straight aspirin, and I didn't want to damage my organs with constant Tylenol usage, either. So I sort of switched, from one to the other.

I got very good at predicting the short range future, though. After a couple months of practice and observing, I sort of started keying in on some things. I wasn't really sure what it was that I did, but I could pretty much tell you exactly what would happen in the next five days with such certainty, that I was willing to bet on it, if you had asked me too. As a matter of fact, I placed a few bets here and there over time, and made some money at it!

I made sure it was small stuff though, as I knew if I started winning big things, I would be looked at closely and hard by everyone. Vegas would blackball me, and the government would probably accuse me of some sort of manipulation. An accusation of anything by the government in this day and age, was almost as good as a conviction.

Only three months after Tom had told me he was going to get a crew to build my home, he appeared in my home.

"Damn it! Will you stop doing that? It's like you're a ghost or something," I said, trying to calm my heart.

"Sorry," he grinned, obviously not sorry. "I wanted you to come and look at what we have done so far," he finished.

So it was off on another trip through that place that was and wasn't. The more I went through that damned thing to teleport with Tom, the more I became disconnected to the future. It was a strange feeling. It was also faintly nauseating. I mentioned this side effect to Tom, and he frowned.

"Are you sure? I have never heard of anyone being affected like that before," he said slowly.

"Well, I doubt they had the connection to the futures that I do," I replied sourly.

"Futures?" Tom latched onto that.

"Yes, Tom. The future is not all written out in stone. It's fluid, and things during our today, will affect what I am seeing in the tomorrows and the days after that," I responded tiredly.

I looked around. He had brought us from the place I was living, to a road leading through woods.

"I wish I had known this before we'd teleported. We are going to have to walk then. I don't want to put you through this more often than I have to. Are you sure you're just not suffering a flu symptom?" he asked with concern.

"No, I am sure of it. Every time I travel through this 'between' or whatever you do to get us from place to place, I feel a disconnect from the future. When we arrive, I reestablish the connection, but it is a nauseating experience, for some reason," I firmly stated.

"Damn. I wish I had known this. I'm sorry," he said softly

I smiled tightly at him.

"Not your fault. We haven't really talked much lately. We both do have our own lives, and I didn't get a chance to fill you in yet," I replied glibly.

"Well, consider me informed. I promise to warn you before I move you, if at all possible, going through the 'between'. Also, I will try to limit the number of teleports. So, we are now in for a walk," he said smiling.

It took us about five minutes to get up the slight uphill grade of the road. It was a blacktop road that winded its way through the trees.

"You will be interested to know that this road is a surface that while similar to blacktop, will last much longer, and you will find that driving through snow and rain will be easier. Ice will never form on the surface of this road, due to a slow acting reaction of a chemical that is impregnated into the surface itself. It is not harmful to the environment, and a few other surprises have been built into this road as well," he said with a smile.

I stopped and looked more closely at my driveway.

"Looks like normal blacktop to me," I said after studying it.

"That's the beauty of it. Unless someone takes a sample of this road, they will never tumble to what it is. As for the defense, well, the least said the better. Your new home comes equipped with a very sophisticated computer. Not the same as mine, but still a powerful unit.

"One of its functions is 'area security'. You have better security here than would be allowed if it was known this level if protection existed. Your home is built of materials that are in advance of anything produced in today's market. The insulation acts not only to keep the heat and cold out, but it will stop those pesky intrusive thermal vision scopes the government uses all the time," he said.

We rounded a bend and I stopped. Wow. It was beautiful from where I stood. It was two stories, and it had a European look to it. The exterior was made of stone, or so it appeared. The roof slanted sharply, in the typical European manner.

The overall impression I got, was that it was magnificent!