Chapter 1

I had finally finished my helicopter pilot certification course. I was now a qualified private pilot, and was actively looking at helicopters to purchase. I was once again in my alternate identify of 'Benjamin Porter'. I had trained in that name, and was now licensed in that name.

I wanted a Bell, but new ones cost a hell of a lot more than used ones. Since I didn't really have a justifiable income of my own, in the 'new' range, I would have to make do. I was perusing the internet, searching for used helicopters, when there was a knock on my door. I saved the page, and shut down the computer. After all, I was out in the middle of nowhere. So this might take some time, whoever it was.

I was almost at the door when the knock repeated, this time a bit more insistent.

"Hang on! I'm almost there," I yelled towards the door.

Whoever it was, was irritating me already. I opened the door, and looked at an elderly gentleman who seemed vaguely familiar. He was my height or close to it, had silvery white hair, and a familiar look. I did a double take when I saw a scar at the corner of his right eye, a scar that matched mine!

"Hello, Tom," said a voice that was familiar, yet different.

I was shocked, at first. Someone was calling me by my right name, when everyone here knew me only as Benjamin Porter. Also, this guy looked familiar to me. I knew I had never met him before, yet he seemed familiar.

"May I come in? It is getting chilly out here this evening," the guy said.

I stepped aside and let him in. I looked at his car, some sort of town car, very fancy. While it seemed familiar, I could not place the make or model. I closed the door behind him, and turned around.

He was looking the main room over, the overhead beams, the walls, taking everything in. He strode to the fireplace and held his hands out to the warmth radiating from the fire that was burning within it.

I was about to ask him who he was, when he spoke again.

"Still haven't figured out who I am? I am you, a little over fifty years from now," he turned away from the fire, and I stared at him.

If this was true, no wonder he seemed familiar! But how could I be sure? That was the question.

"You're me?" I asked in an incredulous voice.

"Oh, yes. Want to test me? Want me to run you to a few of the places we have visited in the past? Not to difficult really," he said in a musing tone of voice.

If he was really me, then he would be able to deliver. If he was just someone who KNEW who I was, then he was fishing for information. Still, he looked damned familiar to me!

"I know," he said, "How about this?"

He concentrated, then seemed to peer into nothing. He held out his hands, and the field med kit I had put together and placed into storage in the "between", appeared out of thin air in front of me, firmly in his hands!

That sort of decided me. This had to be me, myself, I was facing! An older me. Wow! I stared at him. He set the first aid kit down, and walked over to one of the chairs, and sat down. He was sweating a bit. I frowned. It was not that hot in here, even by the fire.

"Where to start," he began after a moment of silence.

"How about the beginning?" I replied a bit nervously.

"Ah, thats the key. The beginning. Which beginning? We made a lot of mistakes along the way, Tom. You and I. Mistakes that have cost us dearly," he said, sighing.

"I have chosen this time in the past as one of the key times in my/our life. Tom, I have taken the action to free you from your notoriety. Also, from your soon to be 'slave status' to the state.

"Oh, I realize you have a court case you won; but shortly, you were going to do something that would reveal another aspect of your talent. That was 'the straw that broke the camels back', so to speak.

"With that revelation, the government moved in on you, drugged you, and placed a poison in your system that was tailored made. They held the antidote. It took you, us, years to find the permanent solution to that little problem.

"Instead of curing us, they just kept us alive, and working for them. Before you ask, no, we were unable to move back in time enough to counter this. As soon as you demonstrated this ability, all future timelines led to this result," he said with finality.

Uh oh. Not good. If what he was saying was true, then I was in for a hell of a problem. And it would happen soon, apparently.

"I thought long and hard on this," he said. "This is a key turning point in our life. Right now, we are not to closely watched or guarded. You were more clever than you knew when you set up this secondary ID.

"However, when the government made us into a state slave, this became useless, as they had a tracking module surgically placed into us. They kindly removed our appendix, and placed a device in our body to insure compliance with their mandates. The result was, that it took several years for me to get all that crap solved," he paused here, looking at me intently.

"Ok, but why now?" I asked.

"I have run a comprehensive program analysis, and the program identified this and a few other points in time as crucial. After some serious thought, I have settled on using this particular point in time to repair/avoid the damage.

"For two reason. First, this is a critical juncture in your/our time. Second, I am dying. I am losing my ability to time dive. This was as far back as I could go with any hope of arriving with my mind intact, and my abilities not burned out.

"As I was able to reach this time, so it is here, where I have concentrated my remaining resources to fixing your/our problem. I have already begun. I have dropped a clone off at our home in the Boston area, and a gas explosion has already taken it out.

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