Being an updated account of the events of
23 November 1990 London, England
Earth 42.13/Apple.Sigma 3
Lucille stood on the front steps of the orphanage and gathered her thoughts. This was slightly more an effort than usual as temporal double exposure meant she had twice the thoughts she ought to.
She had revised her plan.
Revision one: When Ms. Grott says “Certainly. Let me just get the chain.”
Lucille ignored the old woman’s lie and simply walked forward, as there was no chain, the door was easily pushed open. Now she stood in the hallway. She looked at Ms. Grott, then back at the door. Neither party followed up on the matter of Ms. Grott’s deception.
“Fine. Fine. The children are through here” Ms. Grott grumbled as she began to lead Lucille to the common room and hoped those two didn’t ruin everything.
Around the corner those two hid and listened.
“An inspector!” Alex squealed
Colin grinned “she’ll see how terrible this place is and shut it all down!” Colin was young, and although he was very clever, he had yet to learn the basic life lesson: You can’t say that sort of thing out loud and expect the universe not to spite you.
Ms. Grot’s voice came like seething wind. “Now what could you possibly be doing hiding in the hallway like this?”
A far kinder voice: “Now, now. Let’s not jump to any conclusions, eh? “Standing in the hall is hardly a crime”
The two children spun around. Ms. Grot and Lucille were right behind them.
Ms. Grot’s eyes narrowed as though she were trying to block the other woman from her peripheral vision. “Aye, but loitering is a fineable offense….”
The old woman tilted her head as though she had heard another peculiar noise.
“I have something I must attend to. Ms…,” she snarled.
“Just Lucille.”
“Well, ‘Just Lucille,’ why don’t you escort these children back to the common room?” She looked pained by the prospect of leaving her charges alone with someone who seemed so… well-meaning, but whatever had her attention looked like it might pain her more.
Before Lucille could respond, Ms. Grot had already made a beeline for her office at the end of the hall.
Once the door had shut behind her and Lucile felt certain she was out of earshot, she kneeled down to the children and said, “dreadful woman, isn’t she?”
The two children were less certain Ms. Grot wouldn’t hear. They simply nodded vigorously.
Lucille tilted her head toward the common room. “Come on, best to keep our distance.”
In the common room, the other children played or talked with each other quietly, fearful of Ms. Grot’s return and untrusting of the new arrival.
Okay, now to get them out, get them all out before anything catches fire. Lucille thought.
She looked over the twenty or so children, she pressed her tongue to her cheek in thought, then turned to Alex and Colin “Are you two the newest here.”
“I am,” Colin said.
Alex shook her head. “Been here two years.”
“And no one’s been adopted in that time?” Lucille’s stance was confident, even stoic, but her face looked as though she was searching the floor for a missing puzzle piece.
“None.” Alex nodded.
“That must be very disheartening.” Lucille turned to face Alex “Most of these children, they seem…resigned to that. But you two…” That’s why I didn’t see them before. “Optimism. Resilience. Rebellion. Intelligence. A strong shield.”
“Shield?” Alex asked
Lucille led the two just back out of the common room where they wouldn’t be heard. She had to choose her words carefully. It was possible that in addition to preventing two children from getting locked in a wardrobe, she had secured valuable help in saving the others.
“Would you two agree if I said Ms. Grot was a monster?”
“Absolutely.” Alex barely waited for Lucille to complete the question.
“Seems like.” Colin agreed.
Not only are they here, they can help. Lucille leaned in close and whispered: “She is.”
“She is what?” Colin asked.
“A monster. Literally. Do you two know what a psychic parasite is?”
“I know the two words separately,” Alex said
“Yeah but…put them together and— “Colin continued the thought.
“I have one more question for you two. Do you want to save them, the other children?”
Despite any antagonism they might hold toward the other children, the “yes” was implicit, the “how?” was the only question that needed to be said aloud.
Lucille produced a spyglass from one of her coat pockets and handed it to the children. “Look.”
Through the spyglass it was immediately clear the other orphans were surrounded by a mess of glittering strings, wrapping them like flies in a–
“It’s a psychic web.” Lucille explained, “The threads all tie back to Ms. Grot, carrying the residue of agony back to her.”
The two kids passed the glass back and forth. Colin’s brow furrowed. “But... look at you! You haven’t got nearly as many threads as everyone.”
Alex turned the glass around. “Neither have you!”
“Like I said,” Lucille gestured for the spyglass to be handed back to her. “A psychic shield. Hope. Explains why she hates you. Explains why she locked you away.”
“What is she?” Colin asked.
“A Devrosian Mite,” Lucile said. “Native to the lowland glens of a world far from here.”
“Another planet?” Alex asked.
“Further. They hatch and drift until they find a place they can feed. They take a localized form and wait for natives to fall into their web.”
Both children nodded their heads in understanding. Such concepts weren’t going to be new to them if Alex’s book collection was any indication.
“Now” Lucille continued, I have a plan to take care of her, but everyone needs to be out of her web first. All we need to do is get everyone out of the building. Grab anything you need to take with you and tell anyone who will listen they need to get out”
“What if the others won’t listen?” Colin asked.
“I don’t know, tell them there’s ice cream outside” It was how Lucille had gotten them out the first time, but she didn’t need to mention that part. “But seriously, grab anything you need first, there’s no coming back.”
Ultimately, the building was evacuated. It turns out most only needed the flimsiest reason to run away. The might does not trust Alex or Colin or this new lady, but anything was better than here. Still, the precise means of how are less important than the matter of precisely how long.
Some may have surmised Lucille’s plan, from the beginning, was to travel back, lure the Mite away and keep it distracted for however long it took to get everyone out of the building. It was in this way she would engineer the miracle of an uninterrupted escape.
Now, outside with all the children she knew the whole ordeal took eight and a half minutes. At eight minutes and thirty-two seconds, the unearthly wailing began as future-Lucille killed the monster.
Here is an exercise for the reader: Lucille attempts to save the kids but fails. She then goes back in time to try again. During both attempts another version of Lucille needs to be dealing with the Devrosian Mite. For all this to make sense, how many Lucille’s were present that day. Be sure to write down your answer before reading any further.
Ready?
The answer is: Too many.
You are the culmination of all your past moments You exist because all those moments agree with each other that they form the coherent line that is you.
Time doesn’t care if you cross your own timeline. You haven’t crossed time, you’ve crossed yourself. In addition to its directional sense, to ‘cross’ something means to defy it. Imagine what happens when your timeline double crosses itself.
It had long ago been calculated that timeline can cross itself only once everyone hundred and thirty-two years without any major conflict.
You are even more your timeline than you are your body; We all know what happens when your body goes to war with itself.