"To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe."

~Marilyn Vos Savant

Nathair woke many sounds, multiple voices, and footsteps. One belonged to the woman from before. When he heard her voice, he realized that his situation hadn’t changed.

Welcome Nathair. Can SENA help you? A cold mechanical voice sounded in his head. He bolted upright. A need to vomit and dizziness overtook him. Taking a deep breath, he lowered himself back onto the bed.

Fucking SENA. Would he be in this state if not for this stupid system?

The woman he had a sinking suspicion of was his mother from another world, ran to hug him. Tears rolled down her face.

“Nathair,” she said, her voice cracking.

He didn’t respond but hugged her back. SENA?

Yes, Nathair. Do you have a question?

His body shuddered. The woman held him tighter, and he clutched onto her. He used the weight of her arms to ground himself.

His mind drifted as he tried to figure out his situation. How was his personalized multi-purpose robotic expert system with him?

After being born, he remembered the system tried to load but failed. The memory was blurry.

SENA, where is this? He asked slowly, phrasing out each word in his mind. He wanted the answer but dreaded it at the same time.

The village Nathair is residing in has no official name but is called Cur and exists in the dukedom of Cruithneachd. The dukedom is located in Reota. A small country on the tip of the Fearann Faur continent.

That information meant nothing to him. He was hearing the words but had no frame of reference for them. SENA, who am I?

You are Nathair Degas. Born on stardate...

He cut it off before clarifying his question. SENA, who am I now?

You are Nathair. No surname. Birth Date unknown. Born to Sophia and Argus. Brother of Oran and Aneira. Birth town colloquially called Cur.

His parents had the same name in both worlds.

He couldn’t hold it in. Bending to the side, he vomited on the floor.

This was why you shouldn’t fuck with time.

His whole life, he wanted to prove that infinite timelines existed. That the possibilities that existed in these worlds were endless. There was even a possibility that multiple versions of a person existed.

Wasn’t this his proof?

He proved it mathematically. He even did a localized experiment. What he didn’t want to do was experience it.

Nathair was overwhelmed with questions he needed answers to but didn’t know where to start.

Darkness crept back upon him. He couldn’t help but wonder what he should do next.

When he came to, he was being rocked slowly.

The woman holding him stopped crying. A man he was assuming was his father sat behind him.

A boy and a girl sat in front of him, their eyes red. His chest tightened. He couldn't explain the emotions he was feeling right now.

SENA, are they Aneira and Oran?

Yes, Nathair.

He closed his eyes. He had siblings in his original world. A brother and sister. The same but different. In his last world, he was the last of the three. There had been an age gap between them.

“You...Yo...You,” Sophia stuttered out before bursting into tears again.

“You almost died,” Argus said. His tone was dry, but there was a burning look in his eyes.

Half turning, he looked up into a familiar face. This man was this body’s father. He looked just like his father from his original world.

Just like with his mother. There were similarities. The faces looked the same, but the minor details were different.

Argus was equally as captivating as Sophia. While his mother’s hair was deep red, His father’s hair resembled a ripe pumpkin, orange. He couldn’t help but wish he hadn’t inherited it. He hoped it was closer to Sophia's.

In this world, Argus had a strong body. His muscles could be seen clearly defined beneath his clothes. There was a scar on the side of his neck.

In his original world, Argus was a CEO. The only hard work he did was to help his mother in her backyard garden.

“What happened?” He kept his sentence short, hoping his hoarse voice would act as a cover. The best thing was to avoid suspicion.

Argus’s hand on his shoulder tightened. “You had a fever. It broke two days ago, but you just wouldn’t wake up. Your mom and I didn’t know what to do,” Argus’s voice was frustrated. There was a pained edge to it.

“Sorry,” he replied lamely. Not sure what to do or say. What Argus described sounded similar to what he had experienced after SENA was implanted and the fusion process happened.

SENA, was my fever due to the optimization and fusion process?

Yes, Nathair. Optimization 10%. Fusion 100%. Knowledge base 25%. The automatic backup drive contains information. Import remaining information?

He frowned. Remaining information? SENA, is there a synopsis of the information?

Memories obtained as Nathair. 7 years of memories stored on 0.01% of the automatic backup drive.

Nathair sagged against Sophia, all the strength leaving his body. This shouldn't be possible.

SENA, how long have you been active?

7 years. The fusion process began 1 year and 29 ago. Fusion complete. 2 days and 6 hours ago since Optimization began.

Nathair, he was Nathair. He reincarnated. Shouldn’t he have his memories since birth?

SENA, what happened?

Unable to understand the question. Please clarify.

That was understandable, SENA only had as much information as he gave her. He doubted any of the data packets he’d downloaded would have much information on what he was experiencing. Plus, his question was vague.

SENA, why did you seal my memories?

Infant’s brains are unable to support complex processes. 60% chance of permanent brain damage. As a result of the functioning of SENA.

What kind of bullshit was this? Wasn’t his thinking clear in the womb? The only thing he noticed was that his thought process was slower than usual. Wasn’t his brain as a fetus even less developed?

SENA, why was my brain functioning as a fetus?

Insufficient information. External energy supplied.

What kind of energy? The system would have told him if it knew. These dead ends were becoming frustrating.

SENA, why did fusion take so long? When he had SENA implanted. The fusion had started after roughly one year. It took only six months before it was completely functional.

Unable to answer the question. Insufficient information. Options are. One, add additional information. Two, wait for optimization. Three, wait for the knowledge database to be fully loaded. Should SENA set a task and reminder to find out why fusion took so long?

Should he set this task aside for later? He didn't know if he would need that processing power for something else. SENA, what is the required energy and processing power needed to run this operation? Without interfering with the standard operation?

5% processing power at low priority. 15% power at medium priority and 45% priority at high priority. Unable to give time for compilation.

Set to low priority, and set a reminder for an update after the task reaches 50% completion. It wasn't crucial information for him to have, but it was best to know. SENA, import remaining memories.

Task set to low priority. Reminder set for an update after task completion reaches 50%. Retrieval of memories, importing information. Nathair, would you like to view memories?

A shudder passed through him. Watching all those memories would take seven years. How interesting or informative would the memories of a newborn baby be?

No. SENA, compile and organize memories into files for review. Separate into folders by year. Priorities years 5, 6, and 7. Add year 1 through 4 to the knowledge folder to be added later. SENA, how long till optimization is complete? SENA, how long till information for years 5 to 7 is ready for review with priority set at high?

Those would be the most crucial for him to interact with this family.

Task set. Compile and organize backup information into folders by year. Task set information for years 5 to 7 assigned high priority. Task set information for years 1 to 4 assimilated into the knowledge folder to be separated into information packets and assimilated later. Optimization 15% completion 2 hours and 30 minutes. Information is being compiled and processed. Priority high. Completion in 30 minutes.

That wasn’t too bad. Those three years should give him a good basis to work off while interacting with the world and the people around him.

At the moment, Nathair could only pretend to be weak and sleepy. That was not a good long-term strategy.

It was possible they would still notice some changes. Knowing and experiencing information were very different things.

SENA, is it possible to play the memories when I am sleeping? It wouldn’t be perfect, and there was a chance he wouldn’t remember what he dreamed about, but it was worth a shot.

Yes, Nathair, this is possible. Set task: play memories during sleep.

No. Some of those memories were of no use to him, plus, it would be strange if he remembered everything from when he was a baby.

SENA, set a task to play memories that contain new information. Set a task to play memories from year 7 that focus on family interactions.

Task set, play memories containing new information. Task set, play memories from year 7 that focus on family interactions. Priority medium. Auto-completion during the REM cycle of sleep. Unable to give time for completion. Approximately 30 days to complete. 42 hours of REM sleep needed to complete the task. Average of 90 minutes of REM sleep per night.

This was the best he could do for now. Nathair drifted off to sleep, exhaustion pulling him under.