Future Threat

13

Chris puts his head in his hands and swears loudly. I don’t blame him. It’s hard to believe we’re back, hard to imagine facing another five hours in an unknown future. The more I think about it, the more I might throw up. I focus on our mission instead.

“We’re here to bring the other time travelers back,” I tell Dr. Campbell.

“We know. They’re supposed to return here in about an hour, but we lost track of them some time ago.”

“You have no idea where they are?” Adam asks. “Unfortunately, no. They disabled their trackers and went off-mission without any explanation. We’ll share everything we know so far and provide you with whatever you need to bring them back.”

“I need to scan each of you quickly,” Dr. Chow says. “It will only take a second and won’t hurt, I promise.” He raises a small white object that looks like a TV remote control and points it at Adam from head to toe. Dr. Chow studies the device for a moment and then turns it on me. I scowl at him, but he scans me anyway, before doing the same to Chris. He nods at Dr. Campbell when he’s done. “Vitals and brain activity are optimal. They’re good to go.”

“Perfect,” she says, and smiles at us. “Our files say you haven’t eaten and might be hungry—is this correct?”

My stomach growls at the mention of food, and I press my hand against it. Adam and I were on our way to breakfast when we were taken by Aether, and they didn’t bother feeding us. They just drugged us and tossed us into the future. “I could eat.”

“We have food waiting for you. Follow me, please.”

Dr. Campbell leads us to a conference table set up near the large screens. A tray of sandwiches from Subway sits in the middle of it, along with some cans of soda. It’s a strange contrast—all this tech from the future, next to something I’d see in the present—but it’s somehow comforting too.

We spend a few minutes loading our plates and take a seat at the table, while Dr. Chow and Dr. Campbell discuss something quietly. He hands her a smooth black box, about the size of a book, and walks away. While we dig into our sandwiches, Dr. Campbell sits beside us and opens the box, revealing a padded interior and three tiny plastic objects that look like see-through band-aids.

“Are you familiar with flexis?” Dr. Campbell asks.

“Yeah, we used them in the other future we visited,” Adam says.

Flexis were computers that worked through brain waves, which beamed the interface directly into your head and allowed you to control it with your thoughts. They were nearly invisible when worn on your temple, but people in the other timeline liked to have their flexis display different images, almost like temporary tattoos.

“Good, then I don’t need to explain how they work.” She hands the box to Adam. “You can use these flexis while you’re here. They’re connected to Aether Corporation’s accounts, so you won’t have to worry about money or anything like that.”

Adam takes a flexi from inside the box. It’s much smaller than the ones we saw in the other future and thinner than a sheet of paper. He presses it to his temple, and it disappears completely from view, as if melting into his skin. He blinks once, and his gaze goes glossy as he becomes wrapped up in whatever he sees behind his eyes.

Dr. Campbell takes the box from him and passes it to Chris. “Flexis are old technology now, of course, but we keep them around since we know you don’t have imbeds.”

“Imbeds?” I ask.

She taps her temple. “They’re similar to flexis but instead of attaching to your face, a microchip is implanted in the body through a quick, easy injection. They work similar to flexis in that you control them with your thoughts, but they’ve gone far beyond flexis in terms of capabilities. Imbeds can record memories and monitor a person’s health, and we’re starting to develop ways to use them for physical and mental enhancement, such as heightened reflexes, preventing insomnia, and shutting off pain.”

Adam’s eyes focus again on the real world. “Wow. Computer implants? I never imagined those would be common in only thirty years.”

“It’s only possible thanks to Team Echo—that’s what we call the other time travelers. They recovered flexis during their first mission, and Aether analyzed and replicated them over the next few years. This allowed flexis to be created much sooner than they otherwise would have been and eventually led to the development of imbeds. Of course, many people still use flexis—just like people who refused to get smartphones in your time.” She shakes her head with a smile. “Funny to think that back then people carried phones around all the time. I had a bad habit of dropping mine and cracking the screen. Now we don’t have to worry about any of that.”

Chris hands the box to me, and I reluctantly take the flexi from inside it. I wasn’t a huge fan of flexis in the other future. Now people are injecting computers directly into their bodies? Terrifying.

I’m not thrilled about using a flexi again, but I don’t seem to have much choice. I press the small, thin membrane to my temple, and words immediately pop up in my head. Welcome, Aether Corporation employee. They fade away, and an interface lays over my vision, displaying the time, local weather, and some icons. It’s like playing a video game where stats like your health and a map are displayed in the corner—except this is real life and it’s in my head.

Dr. Campbell takes the box and snaps it shut. “All of Team Echo’s profiles are loaded in your flexis already, along with everything we learned thirty years ago, from when you rescued the team. Unfortunately, it isn’t much.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Both teams gave us a report after all of you returned from this mission. We know that Team Echo went off-mission for some unknown reason, and that your team found them and brought them back. But when pressed for details, all of you clammed up. Neither team would tell us any specifics, which is why we need the three of you to track them down.”