"How did it go, meeting the team and all?" asked Malaika. She was in the back yard of Derrick and Michaela's place, playing some sort of game with her children.

  "Hi, Auntie Danielle!" replied Angelica and Haruto in unison, and they both interrupted their game to run over to Danielle, and give her a hug.

  "Oh, I missed you two, so much!" responded Danielle, hugging them back.

  "Michaela has a meal prepared inside, and we both want to hear what you think of what you saw!" suggested Malaika, and then turned towards Angelica and Haruto and said, "I want you to wash your hands before dinner!"

  "Sounds good," replied Danielle. "I'm starving."

  ___________________________________________________________________________

  "So what do you think of the plan?" asked Michaela, as she passed the bowl of mashed potatoes to Danielle.

  "You have all put so much work into everything. It is difficult to believe. My first thought is that I have often seen causes that people believed were very important, but usually nobody was ever willing to extend themselves to further those causes. You people are putting your money where your mouth is! I am still not sure that I can step into that machine, though," explained Danielle.

  "I'm not surprised, Danielle," replied Malaika, while she helped Haruto cut a piece of chicken from his drumstick. "It is a very big step. If it was me, there is no way that I would leave my family. Whether or not you want to go is a really complicated prospect. This has to be your decision. One thing for sure is that there doesn't seem to be any way for you to come back to this time line. If you are successful in the mission, you are just going to have to pick up your life in the year 2057."

  "Yes," said Danielle, as she served herself some peas, "That is the hardest part. Harder even than worrying about the outcome of the mission. I will be the same person that I am now, but the whole world, and everyone I know in it will have had 30 years to change."

  "The team members are probably the best people to talk to about the mission itself, but maybe we can help you with the part of your decision that involves changing your address to the future. And it will be a permanent change of address, especially if you can convince this Max Rudolf guy to reverse his experiment." Michaela thought for a moment, then continued, "My first thought would be to ask you if you think that you would want to live in the future?"

  "Yes," replied Danielle, "I suppose that is as good a place to start as any. My trip with Malaika and her family has convinced me that I want to move to the Pacific Northwest. Living somewhere around Seattle, I suppose. Maybe in one of the smaller cities. They are really nice, now. I wonder if it will all be so pleasant in 30 years time?"

  "Hard to say," replied Malaika. "My guess is that the mountains and ocean will be as lovely as ever, but the way people live might change. Robots taking over jobs, populations aging and levelling off in their growth. Places like China and Japan will have fewer people than they have today."

  "The technology might be off the charts by then, "added Michaela. "We might have some robots serving us this dinner by 2057."

  "You'll have to find a husband in the future, too. Have you thought of that? I wonder what dating will be like in 2057?" asked Malaika. All three women laughed.

  Danielle thought for a while about that comment, then thought of something to say, "You know, Malaika, that was the strongest feeling that I had while we made our way up here in the motor home. You and Kenji have a really good thing going, and I have really fallen in love with your two kids."

  Haruto made a funny grimace when he heard the word 'love'.

  She continued, "My major motivation in all this is that I want to do my part to ensure that as many people as possible get to have a loving family like you all. The future AIs just don't seem motivated by those kinds of goals. Manipulating history to produce a world of AI robots fighting each other is just unacceptable to me. Eliminating time travel from the timeline at least gives human beings an opportunity to steer history in a positive direction. I don't feel that this mission guarantees anything good, but if nothing is done then I know that a bleak future guaranteed."

  "So you are going ahead with the mission?" asked Malaika.

  "Maybe," replied Danielle. "Honestly, I just wish that it didn't have to be me. I would be happy to help someone else get into that machine, but imagining myself doing it, is difficult."

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  "Hmmm," answered Malaika. "I sympathise with your dilemma. I've thought about your decision a lot. We all have. You know that we won't just send you off to the future and go home. The plan is to prepare the way, as best we can, for you to succeed in this mission. Thirty years is a long time, and I promise to have someone standing here who will be ready to be your right hand man, and resources that can get you all the way to Europe. We don't know exactly what we are going to do, but rest assured that many of us have made a lifetime commitment to making this mission work."

  "What do you two think about the mission?" asked Danielle.

  "The day I heard about what happened to John's wife was the deal breaker for me," replied Michaela. "I had heard lots of stories, and I even worried every time Derrick left on a mission. When he got back, I would grill him about if he noticed anything was different. One time he came back and was surprised to find that a friend of his no longer had their family dog. This was when we were living back in Australia. I told him that I never remembered them owning a dog, but he insisted. I heard other accounts, second or third hand, most of the changes weren't that serious. So we both knew that it could be an issue. We convinced ourselves that we needed the AI income, though. On a holiday to Las Vegas we met John and he told us his story, and it flipped a switch. All three of us made our way up to Ocean Falls, together, two months ago. He talked about you."

  "How about you Malaika? When did you and Kenji decide to support this mission?" asked Danielle.

  "Both of us had been dispatched to keep an eye on Temple City during the early days of Bitcoin. I spotted Kenji as a likely Dragon agent, and he noticed me watching him and put two and two together. He asked me out, and we both used the date to confirm our suspicions that the other was an agent. At first, we just worked together to exchange information to send back to our faction leaders. But the more we learned the more we became concerned. There was so much deceit and manipulation, done by every faction, especially Arachnid. We figured out, soon after you left, that both Satoshi and Hal Finney were also Arachnid agents," explained Malaika.

  "What!" exclaimed Danielle. "Those guys were just playing me and torturing me, and they knew I was a fellow Arachnid all along?"

  "No, I don't think so. They probably didn't know that you were Arachnid any more than you knew they were Arachnid agents," responded Malaika. "The AI only reveals information when it suits its own agenda. That is ultimately the biggest problem with the Time War. Endless manipulations! Reality is changed over and over again. Adjustments are made to adjustments. The faction AIs try to be subtle and careful but the cumulative effect is significant. After you left, Kenji and I started to realise that our relationship was becoming personal, and that is when we really started to get serious about helping out here in Ocean Falls. Once we decided to make life plans about where we wanted to live, marriage and children, we knew that we had to contribute to the mission that could end time travel entirely."

  The meal was almost over and Michaela started clearing away the dishes, to take them to the kitchen sink.

  "Angelica, can you please help Michaela with the dishes," requested Malaika.

  "Yes, mom," replied the five year old girl.

  "Once we clean up the dishes, I have some dessert for everyone!" said Michaela, with a gleam in her eye. It didn't take long and the table was cleared. "Here, take this one to your brother," instructed Michaela, as she cut pieces of fresh baked cake and set them onto small plates.

  "I see your point," said Danielle after thinking about Malaika's ideas for a minute. "The only reasonable option is to prevent the possibility of time travel from ever happening. I wonder if Professor Rudolf will see it that way."

  "Most of the team don't believe that he has any idea of the time travel implications of his experiment. I think that he is just another academic trying to produce an original concept for his PhD dissertation. If you ever do confront him about his role in the Time War you had better have some convincing evidence," speculated Malaika.

  "Here is your piece of cake, Miss Danielle," offered Angelica, as she handed Danielle her dessert plate with the apple spice cake.

  "Thank you, Angelica!" said Danielle. "It looks lovely."

  "Yes, I am going to have to do as much research on his personality as is possible. Find out how he thinks, and learn what makes him tick. I guess that I am starting to understand why I might be a good choice to attempt this mission. That, and my small fit body, I suppose," she joked.

  "Yes!" added Malaika, "And a sexy one to boot! That won't hurt when you try to convince that Rudolf guy to change his mind!"

  "I suppose," responded Danielle.

  "Miss Danielle," interrupted Angelica. "I don't want you to leave us. It sounds like you are planning to take a trip away from here. I want you to stay, please."

  The pleading face of the delicate little five year girl put a whole new spin on the conversation. Malaika, started to apologise for Angelica's interruption, but Danielle calmed her and responded, "Yes Angelica, I might have to leave you all, since I have something quite important to attend to. I might be gone for quite a while, but eventually I will be back."

  "I will be very sad if you go, Miss Danielle," reiterated Angelica. Even Haruto seemed to be noticing that something important was being discussed.

  "I will also be sad, Angelica," replied Danielle, adding, "You and Haruto have become very dear to me." She gave Angelica a big hug and then walked over and did the same with Haruto. "You two are just going to have to help your parents the way I tried to help them. I know that you are both capable of that."

  Everyone at the table had tears in their eyes, each saddened, in their own way, by the thought of Danielle's departure.

  "I guess that I have made my decision!" stated Danielle with at least a small dose of conviction in her voice. "I'm going to travel to 2057."