Chapter 8

Wednesday, July 7, 1976

I woke up, and the Guardian was looking down at me.

“How come you are here?” He asked.

“I haven’t a clue I went to sleep, and I wake up here. I didn’t do anything to make this happen,” I stated.

“Well, we’ll look into that later; I must say you are attracting much more attention than we anticipated. We were sure that our plan was going to work. But you have altered events way beyond the parameters we expected. We have identified multiple agents working for Chaos, who are dedicated to your destruction.”

“Yes, I think one of them is my uncle. Who are the rest, and do you have the identity of the assassin who nearly killed me?”

Well, we have identified a nurse at the hospital that was supposed to keep them informed of your status. That agent was Nurse Dodson, is that name familiar to you?”

“Yes, she is the racist nurse that cared for me and was not very caring. She caused me pain and wouldn’t allow me to have my guardian in the room with me. I can see her, but I am surprised about my uncle, I thought he cared about me, but apparently, he is just after the money.

“We will take a closer look into him.”

“What about the assassin, do you know what happened to me at my house. I was attacked, and my house looks like a war zone. I am going to have to move because of this.”

“Yes, we are aware of it. We are limited to what we can do,”

“I thought you said you were going to get involved personally in this situation. I thought you were going to direct the outcome for a path to the stars, you give me this big mission, but none of the tools I will need to accomplish it” I was a bit upset, and maybe I was not thinking straight.

Then I asked, “Who is this assassin?”

“He doesn’t have a name, not a proper one at least, he goes by The Ghost, but it’s worse than that. He is a highly-skilled, highly trained assassin. The highest bidder employs him, and he is not cheap. It is speculated that he is the adopted son of the Supreme Leader. The Supreme Leader is in control of the entire Agency of Chaos. This Ghost can become anyone; he is a master of disguise and can manipulate the minds. He can make you forget who he is or what he looks like. We don’t have a definitive description of him.”

“So, your saying I’m on my own, and my enemy could be anyone and everyone because you just aren’t sure of who he is. This is great, oh, and let’s not forget I have the body of a kid, so who is going to listen to me when I tell them I am in danger.” The frustration I was feeling evident in my voice.

“We told you there would be challenges, and that the mission was not an easy one, you volunteered to go back, and starting over, to being a teenager again. You have all of the young Calvin’s memories along with your own memories, knowledge, and experiences of your old life. We have lived up to our side of the deal, and now you must live up to yours. The fact that you somehow were able to reach us on this plane without our assistance, it seems you have figured out how to ‘dimension walk’ on your own. This skill will serve you well. It will enable you to see other possible options. Maybe to other alternative dimensions where your help may be needed, or where you can get guidance on your mission. Perhaps different outcomes to thoughts and ideas you are thinking of.

That is a possibility. We could put you into another parallel universe, one where Calvin dies in the attack on his home. Switch out the bodies, and you could continue unnoticed. We believe this attack was gang-related and not the Ghost.

That could be a good solution. Here your body will be dead. Your uncle gets the settlement as your only living relative. He stops giving information to the other side. The assassin would assume he completed his mission and report that, instead of reporting that he missed you.”

“Okay, but what changes would that involve for me?” Calvin asked, “I am not fond of being poked and prodded by doctors, and if this Calvin dies but is now somehow alive, they are going to take him to a hospital. I don’t want that again. Besides, how do we know that this Ghost won’t find out about the switch? I mean sure he thinks both Calvin’s are dead until one isn’t. What is to stop him from coming after me there?

“What other similarities are there? I mean, did his parents die there as well. Does he have a friend like RJ? What about Eve? See, even though I have been here for a short time, I have had positive experiences that I never had the first time through. These types of things mean a lot to me. It would be exceedingly difficult to have to introduce myself to Eve all over again. She is an extremely focused individual and is not interested in dating boys. Yet, for some reason, she seems to like me, and that gives me hope that my life has changed for the better.”

“Most of the things you have experienced have altered the timelines sufficiently that they, especially the tightly bound ones, have taken on a singular linear aspect. Your original timeline has changed to come into agreement with your current timeline. That’s why you can’t go back to your previous time now. You’d unduly alter it and others in unknowable ways. I can make a promise. If you accept the change in dimensions, I’ll make a couple of changes to it that will make it a little more pleasant.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“Maybe we can convince the girl to have a little less rigid rule on dating? Maybe she might have a little more curiosity about boys...”

He let the rest trail off.

“I’d be okay with that. As long as her desire to attend college and becoming a doctor doesn’t change. I don’t think I would be able to live with myself if her core personality was altered just for me to go on a date with her. I accept some people are driven; in fact, I want to become that driven regarding this mission.”

“I can also guarantee that your uncle in this world will be on your side and not an agent of Chaos, even if I have to look throughout the multiverse to find him.”

“Wow, now you are breaking the rules, I have to ask, why?”

“Because the other side is not playing by the rules. Altering events in one world is allowed. But to continue to alter worlds, so that they converge in on themselves, and ultimately merge into one universe is not. By looking far into the future, we have seen evidence that their plan is to bring about a single manageable timeline with them in charge. Your success is even more important now. You must succeed in getting working colonies on your moon and on Mars. By developing Faster Than Light transportation, it acts as an inspiration in all other timelines. It makes it possible to get out of the solar system and explore the unknown. Which is why Chaos is trying to get rid of Calvin in every timeline so they can change the course of time.”

“Can’t I do that in this timeline where I am now? I am grateful for the opportunity, but it just seems like I’m cheating, or worse taking an easy way out. I don’t want to live that way, and I can’t see myself being successful by doing things that way. I need to face my problems, not run from them. Your offer to change Eve’s mind about dating doesn’t sit well with me, she has a right to want to be focused on her dream, I can’t take that from her. I want her to want to like me for me not because you’ve adjusted her, so she does. By liking Eve, I have to accept even the parts I am not thrilled about because they make her special. As for Uncle Lucas, I am at a loss. I am not sure I can continue to live with him any longer. I think the only way to deal with him is for me to become an emancipated minor. He’s talking about having control of my money. It is going in trust, except for the portion I’ll get to live on. I don’t know how to go about changing that.”

“What about your grandfather.” The Guardian asked.

“As far as I know, Calvin, of this time, has no living relatives, so I must assume that includes grandparents.”

“We might be able to work around that, and we might be able to bring them here and now from another dimension, right at the time of death. Give them a tune-up to ensure that they will live a long, happy life and be able to become your guardians.”

“What about the will and my uncle?”

“Don’t worry, leave it to us. We’ll fix it. We are sorry for all of this inconvenience we have caused.”

“I’m not so sure that is the best idea. Let me deal with my uncle, now that I know what to look out for, I think I can handle him. I’ll make sure he doesn’t get to control my money. I know better now than to trust him. What am I going to do about the Ghost? I am not equipped to handle him one on one, so how do I defeat him?”

“Let us think about this; we may have to up our timetable for a few milestones, such as completion of puberty and physical development. We might have to age your body a bit faster, to begin with then slow it down later to even out. That may work, I figure by the end of next year your adult body will be complete, and your unique gifts and abilities will be enabled. That should also make up for some of the trouble you’ve experienced on this mission. We hadn’t anticipated the other side to be this organized or focused on you this early. We will have to see what went wrong.” And the Guardian faded from me.

I woke up refreshed and energized. I dressed in my running clothes and took the room key and my wallet. I went down to the gift shop and purchased a document money pocket that could be worn around your neck, I took the traveler’s checks, my little bit of cash and my room key and squeezed it into the pouch. Then I hung it around my neck and placed it under my shirt. I looked at the time it was just after 8:00 am I had enough time for a quick mile and a half run.

I walked over to the check-in desk and inquired about a gym or an exercise area, and where it might be safe to complete my morning jog. I learned that a park was about a half a mile to the north, but the young lady, also an African American, said she wouldn’t recommend that I go there alone. Is it dangerous, I asked? Not usually, but a young man like yourself, might find that he would not be left alone by the authorities, she said. I understood that to mean the police would harass me for being in a white neighborhood, and I decided I didn’t care. I was going to run there anyway.