Chapter 5

Okay, so here is an interesting exercise... Meet three women, have sex with two of them at the same time, save one from rape and one from a hostage type situation that she basically ended up in just because of you... and then tell them that there is no need to fight it - they will end up as part of your family.

I'll tell you the reaction would be much the same as trying to pick up chicks at the bar with the line "come with me and nobody get's hurt."

I was mostly just shocked, stuttered something about really not wanting to force them into anything. Liz just stormed out, Sonya paced around the apartment, Tina sat there and stared at me... I looked over at Janine with a frown, and she grinned and shrugged.

"Sorry, I guess I could have put that better. They will choose to be a part of the family. Just have some patience."

I was a bit upset. She could definitely have put that better. Although I hadn't exactly counted on getting laid that day, I really didn't want her to blurt out announcements that severely limited my future possibilities. Not to mention it made me uncomfortable to think that their actions where controlled.

"Or what? What if they die, or just don't want to? What if they change their minds? Are they forced by an unseen future to do their actions once again?"

Janine shook her head slowly and looked around, finally digging a fistful of change out of a pocket and placing it on the table with a ring that called for attention.

"See this crack in the table is the timeline..." she arranged the coins along the line. "The big coins are so called Solid Events. The small coins are Fluid Events. When we go back we can nudge fluid events, but some events will always happen one way or another. These are the Solid Events."

I frowned. Solid and Fluid Events... sounded like science fiction, but on the other hand it was my time travelling daughter that mentioned it, so science fiction just might not be so fictitious any more. I tried to wrap my head around it, looked at the coins for a moment, pulled them off the line, then rearranged them and placed them back in order.

"Small coin, briefcase, fluid event. The timeline was changed. Small coin, attack at the apartment, if they knew it wouldn't work they wouldn't have sent them. Large coin, death of Shannon's parents, Since I saved her I would have rather stopped their death if I could."

Janine nodded excitedly.

"Yes, that's right... you tried to change it but it didn't work, so we did plan B instead. You saved Shannon from the kidnapping and sent me in to replace her when she recognized you."

She picked up more of the coins and added to the timeline as she spoke.

"Large coin, solid event... Tina is attacked. Small coin, you save her. Small coin, she alone or she and Sonya thanks you intimately. Large coin, Shannon falls for you and you for her... "

I looked at it for a while. Okay, so I had supposedly fallen for Shannon at the restaurant, and she for me... no, not really. It didn't happen at once, it was something that grew to be, and still it was there on the timeline. I asked the question.

"Janine, what about the difference between events that happen at once and events that come from long pondering... like me falling for Shannon? If a lot of small other things on the way was changed, I might not get the time to think about her, and I might not... well... have the same reaction."

Janine nodded again and thought about it for a while, Sonya just muttered under her breath. Sounded like she spoke of crazy boy who was told he had a family with three women but still thought of other girls. I blushed... it was natural. I didn't see them all as family yet, not to mention that it is rather common for people who have much to want more. Janine frowned a bit.

"Well, that's a good question... We don't really know all the answers... But we know it will still happen, just that it might come along in other ways. Maybe it would be a more abrupt realization, maybe you'd just be distracted throughout everything else."

I looked at the timeline again and considered it. Then I picked up another big coin and held it up for all of us to see.

"So you are saying that the girls here becoming family is a big coin, Solid Event... Yet it is dependant on small coins earlier in the timeline. If we change the finding of briefcase and all that, I will not even know the girls by now. Will we just find some other way to meet? I mean the way we found each other was a bit... odd. Tina got attacked, Sonya pulled a gun, Liz was a hostage. What if that didn't happen?"

Janine looked tired all of a sudden.

"That's the advanced class. We simply call them Semi-Solid Events. They are indeed dependant on past things, but you can not change them in themselves without changing key points in the past. If we look on a small enough scale we'll see that each and every event is dependant on smaller events before it. For instance, Tina being in danger that night was because of many small things leading up to it."

I nodded and found some toothpicks in a bowl neatly on the table. I placed one last on the timeline.

"Semi Solid Event, girls become family. But... How does that differ from a Fluid Event? Both are easily changed by doing small key changes in the past."

"Yeah, basically... but saving Tina was possible because it was a Fluid Event. Had it been a Semi Solid Event then one of the goons had knocked you out or something, and the attack had been completed. You'd have to step in before the attack was a fact in order to change it, during the attack itself it would be virtually unstoppable."

The timeline sure was sounding stranger and stranger. So the girls would become family, based on the things that had already happened. It was an entertaining thought, but still hard to grasp.

Sonya had stopped pacing and stared at the timeline. She picked up a small coin and added it to the timeline way before the first coin.

"Small coin, Nemo meets Sonya, convinces her to be a lawyer."

There was a complete silence, and we all stared at her. She met my eyes with calm confidence. I stuttered some form of question and she just shook her head. Janine interrupted.

"That doesn't surprise me. Nemo often goes back to make small changes like that, facilitating for larger ones. Tina convinced Nemo to go to your place based on the fact that you were a lawyer. If you were not, you might never have met him."

My head was just nothingness right now. I could swear I heard the wind blowing as it passed through my empty mind. Janine glanced over at me and sighed deeply. She picked up a large coin and held it visible for both of us.

"Nemo... this is a bad one. We've done all we could, but... Solid Event. Can not be changed... No matter how hard we try. "

I felt a cold chill down my back. This had to be bad, she seemed to be able to blurt anything out, but now she gave warning. I gulped and nodded for her to go ahead, and she slammed the coin down on the timeline.

"Nemo's parents die."

I don't know why, but it seemed like Sonya almost took this worse than I did. My ears were ringing, I didn't really hear anyone, but I breathed, and the air was as thick as water... Sonya screamed at Janine, Tina argued, there was a car outside the window that was slowing down before turning the corner. I could feel the air move as I breathed in and out, trying to find some sort of balance again.

"Please..."

There was no reaction.

"Ladies, calm..."

Still no reaction. I was almost boiling now. I stood up.

"ENOUGH!"

Silence. Ah, sweet silence. There was no reason for these ladies to scream over something that didn't really affect them, not to mention could not be changed. I was shell shocked, but maybe I had been all along. Everyone died, my parents had that talk with me when I was five and an aunt I liked passed away. All you need is a smile and good friends. I looked down on the timeline and added a small coin in the middle.

"Meddling daughter appears to break horrible news. Annoyingly small coin. When I'm older, remind me to spank her for her future actions in the past."

There was a slight laugh, and it seemed like Tina was almost crying. Janine was silent for a while and then raised her voice again.

"Well, that's another thing. It doesn't work like that. Nemo is my father, but you might not be him."

I stared at her, confused, and she piled up the money that she had built the timeline from, and then placed a small coin on the line again.

"This is Nemo, today. Nemo today moves into tomorrow..." She moved the coin along the line. "Nemo tomorrow decides to go back in time one day, and meets himself."