Time Again

Note: Because of a comment that Cornelius didn't talk very much in the first chapter, and that I found a few inconsistencies of my own within it, here is a second chapter.

(Cornelius is 37, to be 38 in a few months, 2032)

The Lab was dark, like it was every morning. The machines had changed over the years, either finished and moved to a new home, or dismantled, their old places taken up by new projects. Papers were spread across the floor, the parchment yellow, green, orange, faded-white, scribbled on, doodled-over, glowing letters covering every inch of it. Among the mess was a man, golden hair defying gravity with no effort. He didn't need the lights, his sky-eyes adjusted to read the blue-glow of the letters, the symbols. Rarely would a project consume him to the point of for-going sleep. In the dark morning light, sunrise still some time away, he was working, reading, copying, learning, researching, soaking in information that had been given to him. It was a drug; he had to know, needed to know, wanted to know. It was in his veins, sustenance, every word, every curve of a picture, lending him strength. He wasn't even though most of the book, hell, he wasn't even past the first 100 pages, and already he had ideas, thoughts, plans, inventions that would benefit from Time. Everything he drew changed the more he read, the more he learned.

"Ya know, you should learn to get some sleep, kiddo."

Sky eyes shot up, pulled away from the blue-glow, blind in the darkness. A switch clicked, lights above beginning their warm-up glow, and sitting on a counter was a man he thought he had seen a few months ago, but had truly met two decades past. His source was here, reclining against the wall, ankles crossed. The staff was there, a sentinel, watching him. "D-darkfire."

"Seriously… I was almost tempted to sleep with her, seeing how lonely she looked."

It took a few moments for his mind to wrap around and focus on the facts that he had people outside his lab, a family that was probably wondering what the heck happened to him. Rubbing 2-day fuzz, the man on the floor shrugged. "She would have killed you if you had tried." He replied carefully, hiding a yawn. His attention was broken; the lights affecting his vision and making the words blur, then disappear from the pages. One of the reasons he read in the dark.

"Probably." Darkfire replied, sliding from the counter to walk over to him and scoop up a handful of papers. Numbers had been written in the corners of each page that came free. "Hmm…"

"I'm glad you're here, actually. I need to comment that this book is full of contradictions, incomplete thoughts, and has lead me to questions that no matter how many times I go through it, I can't find the answers to." Cornelius said, organizing the papers into order, and sticking them back into the notebook, which had been specially tapped to hold together. "I didn't know how to contact you to ask you, either."

Darkfire handed the pages over, smirking. "I expect you to find the answers yourself, and not rely on me for this. Look outside the box, if you will."

The scientist paused, taking a deep breath. "One question, then."

"Hit me." Darkfire replied, leaning against an invention.

"If Time is an instant, a sphere of thread, then you know the future, correct?" Cornelius asked, smiling as if he had caught the winning catch, that this would end this little game, this puzzle he had to figure out.

Darkfire smirked, crossing his arms. "If Time is an instant, then Past, Current, and Future have no bearing. There is just:" He snapped his fingers. "That."

The smile deflated, and the scientist dropped the papers into a fire-proof box, locking it up. "That is what you had been saying the whole time in this, but I just can't understand that. Time is an Instant. Is, then is not. Yet to exist, it must be measured, it must pass. I have compared it to everything, but I just can't…" Cornelius had gotten to his feet, taking his research box to the desk. The box hit the desk with a heavy thunk. Taking a breath, he re-gathered suddenly scattered thoughts. "Ok, when the past changes, such as when Wilbur goes back in time to when I'm twelve, that changes things, I changed things. I woke Goob up, which I'm going to assume that prevents him from becoming Bowler Hat Guy. I know to never invent Helping Hats, so that stops Doris from being created. And those two are needed to steal the Time Machine, to make Wilbur go into the past to meet me when I was younger."

Darkfire sighed. "Remember when I showed you the first model, and told you it was rhetorical? Well, that is only half true." He lifted his hands, and all three models from 20 years ago appeared. "Now, the single line, when stretched, can be twisted into the sphere, same with the million lines. But let's focus on the single line." The other two models disappeared. "This is general. You know that everyone has their own line, but a single line will represent general events. You are the key for this line." He wiggled his fingers, and a mini-Cornelius appeared in the air over the line. It danced a little jig before settling into a scholar-pose. "Now, when you woke your friend, and claimed you would never invent Doris, you changed the line, it went off in another direction. You have been following this new line… the Wilbur you met remained on the original line. If he were to go back into the past again, he would not come here, to you. He would be going back into the past of his life, where Doris had been created, where Bowler Hat Guy does come to be, where you never wake up Goob, and all you cared about was your invention working. That you would never know who Wilbur is." He let it sink in for a second. "Now, this new line is very close to the original one, and maybe a slip or two might make it shift back into the original line. Perhaps you do create Helping Hats, and Doris does exist, and she finds a new patsy, steals a time machine, and poof, that does come to pass. Puts you right back to the original line, or makes this the original line."

Cornelius tilted his head to one side, face blank. "Wait… This is a deviated line?"

Darkfire blinked, as though catching himself. "Yes, in a sense. Let me explain, but not using you as an example." He waved his hands, the line and mini-Cornelius fading out. "Ok, back on Garan there is a half-dragon, named Turin. He was once human. I knew him as an enemy before I became a Time Mage. When I knew him, we were both mortals, human. We fought, constantly. Typical bad guy verse good guy. Now, Turin was a young kid, very smart, very independent. He was asked by my arch nemesis to join him. Now, Turin had a choice, where his line split. He told the evil guy no, thus remaining independent, and eventually creating a third faction. The other line was that he said yes, joined the man, and kicked my ass from here to the moon. But when he said no, he changed not just his line, but the entire line for the world.

"There are key events, key people, who can do that; deviate the entire line for everyone. You are one such person. Everyone has a life-changing opportunity, where if they say yes or no, turn one way or another, they can affect everyone on the planet, throwing everyone down a different path." He took a breath, thinking for a moment. "I guess using the term Original Line was inaccurate. The moment you are, right now, is, as far as you should be concerned, the original line. Some of the exacts you learned about your future might be a bit… off, but only a few details will change."

Cornelius dropped into a chair, its gears and wheels protesting to the sudden weight. "To think, I was told the future is not set in stone, but here I am, worrying about it, worried that I might change something."

"The only thing set in stone is your past. The future is a blank canvas… and it looks like the sun is about to paint the city into the million bright colors that you made it." Darkfire replied, looking up at the windows. "Kiddo, if you ever need to talk to me again, don't hesitate to call." He drew something on a sheet of blueprint paper, and left a purple and green, perfectly cut gem on top of it.

When Cornelius blinked, Darkfire was gone, and the lights were reflecting inside the stone. "You know, that really didn't answer my question, and are you ever going to stay around long enough to have a decent, normal conversation?" He knew he was talking to thin air. "I wouldn't mind learning about your world as well, since you already seem to know so much about mine!" He dropped his shoulders, shaking his head.

"Honey? Is everything all right?"

He turned to see Franny, dressed in her pajamas and a light robe, looking up at him with tired eyes, her hair hanging free and slightly messy. He must look a fright himself, and talking to the machines probably didn't help his sanity quotient. "Yeah, everything is just fine."