I'm not sure how long I lay there, thinking through everything I'd seen in that bleak, dead world of the future. I kept being drawn back to those last moments, and the last thing I saw as HG's base crumbled and burned around me, and I was being shoved backwards, into the shimmering light of Moira's timescoop.
Precog.
Strapped into a simple metal throne, a simple circlet of metal round his head, with wires flowing from it to the top of the throne. Long rolls of paper were scrolling past his hands, as he imprinted drawing after drawing, symbol after symbol, sentence after sentence of predictions for HG. But in that last second, as the world rippled away into nothingness around me, he looked up. His head jerked upwards, and Precog looked straight at me. Shining white eyes stared into mine. He saw me, recognised me. He smiled, and I heard two words inside my head:
Precog.
Strapped into a simple metal throne, a simple circlet of metal round his head, with wires flowing from it to the top of the throne. Long rolls of paper were scrolling past his hands, as he imprinted drawing after drawing, symbol after symbol, sentence after sentence of predictions for HG. But in that last second, as the world rippled away into nothingness around me, he looked up. His head jerked upwards, and Precog looked straight at me. Shining white eyes stared into mine. He saw me, recognised me. He smiled, and I heard two words inside my head:
Hand Bullets.
He's alive. I don't know how, but he's alive, and needs rescuing. I have no idea what his message means, but it must have been important. He had no time, but chose those two words to share with me, they must mean something.
I WILL find out. Find him.
There was a fit of coughing next to me. Remembering the second thud I'd heard, I turned to look. FDiffy emerged from a cloud of dust, crawling towards me, blinking madly to clear his vision.
'You ok?' he rasped, coughing again. 'This place is in quite a state, isn't it?'
I sat up, turning away from him. 'Why didn't you tell me.'
'What?'
I got to my feet, limping over to the base's computer. 'You didn't tell me. In fact, you actively tried to stop me finding out.'
'Ah, yeah, that. I'm sorry, but it would have been better for you if you hadn't found out, I was trying to make it easier for you.'
I placed a hand on the side of the computer, sending a current through it. The computer flickered into life.
'Oh yeah? Why would it be easier if I still thought one of my best friends was dead?'
'One of OUR best friends. Now that you know he's alive, you'll waste time trying to look for him. Time you don't have.'
'Of course I'm going to look for him! You may recall I was looking for him when he WAS dead, or when I thought he was. Anyway, how does that justify trying to keep it from me?!'
'Because you won't find him. None of us could, until he turned up there. You need to focus on stopping HG.'
The computer had rebooted, and Hana had shifted to it to help restore what remained of our system.
'That IS my focus, but if HG has him in the future, he may well have him now.'
'Nope, not for a few years yet. Besides, that future's already changed slightly.'
'Do you mean everything Glutton did?'
'Partly, but WE just changed something else.'
'You mean you, right? Future You never came back here originally?'
'Yep. If he, well, I...no. If HE had, I'd have had help, and known more about what would happen.'
'So how come you're here now?'
'When I got Moira to open the ripple, you were trying to push me out of the way so you could see Precog. At the moment I shoved you back into the ripple, you were holding my arm. I sort of got...pulled in, I suppose.'
Hana had finisheed her checks. 'They've all been contacted. They've seen the blog, and are expecting us to visit.'
As she transferred back to my phone, I turned to at last look at FDiffy.
'I'm still mad at you, but we have work to do. Are you coming?'
'Coming where?'
'To Doom's house of course. We have some old friends to recruit.'
'You ok?' he rasped, coughing again. 'This place is in quite a state, isn't it?'
I sat up, turning away from him. 'Why didn't you tell me.'
'What?'
I got to my feet, limping over to the base's computer. 'You didn't tell me. In fact, you actively tried to stop me finding out.'
'Ah, yeah, that. I'm sorry, but it would have been better for you if you hadn't found out, I was trying to make it easier for you.'
I placed a hand on the side of the computer, sending a current through it. The computer flickered into life.
'Oh yeah? Why would it be easier if I still thought one of my best friends was dead?'
'One of OUR best friends. Now that you know he's alive, you'll waste time trying to look for him. Time you don't have.'
'Of course I'm going to look for him! You may recall I was looking for him when he WAS dead, or when I thought he was. Anyway, how does that justify trying to keep it from me?!'
'Because you won't find him. None of us could, until he turned up there. You need to focus on stopping HG.'
The computer had rebooted, and Hana had shifted to it to help restore what remained of our system.
'That IS my focus, but if HG has him in the future, he may well have him now.'
'Nope, not for a few years yet. Besides, that future's already changed slightly.'
'Do you mean everything Glutton did?'
'Partly, but WE just changed something else.'
'You mean you, right? Future You never came back here originally?'
'Yep. If he, well, I...no. If HE had, I'd have had help, and known more about what would happen.'
'So how come you're here now?'
'When I got Moira to open the ripple, you were trying to push me out of the way so you could see Precog. At the moment I shoved you back into the ripple, you were holding my arm. I sort of got...pulled in, I suppose.'
Hana had finisheed her checks. 'They've all been contacted. They've seen the blog, and are expecting us to visit.'
As she transferred back to my phone, I turned to at last look at FDiffy.
'I'm still mad at you, but we have work to do. Are you coming?'
'Coming where?'
'To Doom's house of course. We have some old friends to recruit.'
