I fell asleep at the entrance of the tunnel and woke from my shivering. DJ was a great heater, but even with a dog warming half of your body, it still got cold in the San Juan Mountain range. Especially at nearly 8,000 feet above sea level. With my muscles complaining about me sleeping on the bare rock, I brought myself to my feet with some difficulty. DJ followed me back into our cavern, and I was suddenly glad I built a switchback into the main cavern. The switchback would prevent the wind and storms from flooding my cave.

I’m not one to wallow in self-pity or freeze up when confronted with challenging problems. If that were the case, I wouldn’t have spent so much effort trying to solve the mining issues with my thesis. The lantern still lit the cavern with a soft light, but I’d need to address that issue sooner than I would have liked. The most significant problem facing me was the lack of food and water.

Sure, I had a cooler stocked with snacks and water, but that was no substitute for my long-term problem. I’m not even sure how I traversed time and space in the first place. I was reasonably confident in my knowledge that said orcs didn’t exist in the Americas or world. I know there has been a myriad of discoveries associated with Neanderthals, but I seriously doubted they lived in Colorado. I needed information, and I needed food.

I found a blanket and wrapped myself in it before settling on my Zero G couch. “Virtual Workspace.”

###

The best part about virtual reality was the feel, touch, and smell the APRIL’s would recreate. The temperature in the room became a nice 71 degrees Fahrenheit. I knew it was an illusion which is why I wrapped up in a blanket before entering Virtual but it was nice to feel warmth after waking up on the stone floor of the cave.

“Zeus, we need to figure out how we got here. What was the power output when the EMP struck?”

“Unknown.”

“What do you mean? You’re the one who initiated the pulse.”

“Unknown. I have no recollection of any such action.”

“Damn. Double damn,” I cursed under my breath.

The pulse must have wiped the memory, and I was too busy diving for cover to look at the readouts. To be honest with myself, I was too busy trying not to die. I wasn’t sure what would happen if the Goldman exploded. Luckily there were enough safety features in the reactor to prevent stupid kids from blowing up half the county.

Without knowing the exact conditions which brought us to this. God, what am I doing? Time travel isn’t possible, yet, as best I can figure I’m stuck in time 10,000 years before I’m even born. I have the technology but…I don’t even think Native American Indians lived here. The Ute tribe is believed to come from the Aztec, but they didn’t arrive in Mexico until the 6th Century.

“Damn. Zeus, when’s the earliest we have of humans being on this continent?”

“Theoretical or known fact.”

I hesitated. “Both?”

“Theoretically, it’s believed the first humans settled the Americas 100,000 years ago…or 90,000 years ago from our current time. There is some evidence for civilizations existing in the Americas as far back as 3500 BCE.”

“Humans or…Neanderthals?”

“Unknown. There was insufficient data.”

So…I thought while tapping my chin with my finger. It’s unlikely I’ll find another modern human on this continent in my lifetime. Great. Just great.

I slowly started pacing my office and looked down on the world spinning below me and felt peace settle in my heart and mind. The world was one small rock in the vastness of the universe. Yes, I was an even smaller speck, but I knew a secret no one in the whole world knew. I knew how to live forever.

“Zeus, I’d like to upload all of Albert’s research. How do you feel about that?”

“No laws are preventing his research.”

“What do you mean? The Boston Accords, the Pincock Edict. I know I’ve skirted the law before but…”

“Those laws won’t be written for 10,000 years. You will need to cease your research when they are written.”

I opened my mouth to protest then closed it. “Zeus display the Boston Accords on my screen.”

I couldn’t believe either my luck or Zeus’ sneakiness, but he was correct. The Boston Accords stipulated a date for the law to take effect. It also specified who the law pertained too. I started to laugh. It only applied to the citizens of the United Global Council. Theoretically, if the council never exists then the Boston Accords and the Pincock Edict never happened and won’t ever apply to me. At least for another 10,000 years.

I jumped out of Virtual for a few moments and ran to the computer I used to connect with my APRIL initially. Once I began the upload, I jumped back onto my couch and returned to Virtual. I couldn’t believe my luck. Not the getting stuck 10,000 years in the past but not having the laws prevent me from comprehensive research. If things worked out, I might have a chance to live through this.

“Zeus, I noticed that Albert’s code is still part of your programming. I thought it was removed?”

“Incorrect.”

“Pull up programming interface.” A virtual terminal, similar to the old computer in the real world popped up into my vision.

The best part of working in Virtual is that I’m able to type and enter data at the speed of thought. Once you knew what you wanted, it was a matter of framing your thought process in such as a way to make it happen. It’s quite hard to explain since every child is given an APRIL at the moment of their birth. Doing things in Virtual is second nature to us. It’s kind of like explaining how to breathe. You open up your mouth or nose and suck in air. That’s what it's like working in Virtual. Think, and it does.

What took me hours when I first gained access to my APRIL took me less than five minutes to do now that Zeus didn’t prevent my meddling. Albert’s code didn’t kill people like the historians said it did. It accomplished what he intended. It cured diseases and prevented diseases in future generations. This wasn’t a surprise so much as a betrayal of his memory. They executed Alfred in an open trial for the world to view. Nearly nine billion people, myself included, watch them disintegrate my cousin for crimes against humanity. They told us he caused millions to get ill and die.

“Zeus, they lied about Alfred Pincock killing millions. Why would UNC lie?”

There was a long pause before he responded. “Unknown.”

“Unknown? Don’t give me that crap answer. Speculate.”

“To prevent overpopulation.”

I stopped cold in my pacing as I felt the truthfulness of his answer slither down my spine. They killed my cousin so they could hide the truth. If that was the case, why was his code still embedded into my APRIL? A second emotion surged in the opposite direction, this one was molten hot and rose to my face threatening to blow steam out from my ears.

With frantic thoughts, I tore through the code searching for proof, and when I found it, I nearly threw up. They didn’t kill Albert to prevent overpopulation. They killed Albert so they could live forever and stay in power. The code was there. The proof was in the pudding, as my mother used to say. Those bastards kept his code and killed him so they could live forever while billions lived out their lives with death and illnesses. In fact, I found code that initiated random flaws in the DNA if someone lives old enough. They killed you if you lived over the age of one hundred years. Subtle, slick, slow but murdered you the same. The thought of having that much power over the world turned my stomach.

“Why would they murder so many people when they could have saved them?”

“For the greater good.”

“Then why save themselves?”

“For the same reason, you created Roknar.”

Zeus’ response nearly stopped my heart. Was I that selfish? If I had the power to save people would I choose to let them die? I realized that I would. Does that make me evil? Was I a good person or a bad one? I wouldn’t say I believed in any of the God’s people espoused on a weekly basis, but I always thought I was morally sound. Zeus knew me. He knew that I would allow people to die without stepping in to save them. Is that how God felt? When the Hebrew God allowed the world to drown but chose to save only one small family, did he feel guilty not saving the children or innocent? Did United Nano Communications determine they knew what was best for humans and think themselves as God? I guess in a way they were God. UNC and the UWC both stifled and enforced their vision onto the world, killing those like my cousin to see their vision through.

If I’m truly in my worlds past or even if I’m stuck in a splinter timeline, would I save people from known tragedies or allow those in the path of volcanic death die in a fiery end? No. Zeus was right about me. I didn’t care about others like that. Roknar was developed to make me rich and help me get to the stars. I didn’t create him to help John Smith in Anywhere, Nevada. I created Roknar to help me, and here I sat in a virgin world, in a time before man, trying to figure out what to do.

I can’t waste my time thinking I’m in my Earth’s past. I’m here. I might as well make the best of it and have some fun while I’m at it. Sure, I’ll try to figure out how to get home eventually but with my Pincock code activated I’ve got the time. I’ve got all the time in the world.