Part 6 (2/2)

The woman looked around her at me before starting the car. aYour mother is very sad about this, Timmy. Weall wait if you want to run and kiss her good-bye.a The old man wanted to do it, but the little boyas squeamishness won out. aIall see her in a couple of days,a I responded.

Clara put the car in motion without another word.

As we proceeded down the tree-lined streets, foliage now in beautiful reds and yellows after the first frost, Alice leaned her head on my shoulder and whispered, aClara feels guilty for stealing you.a aFor what?a I whispered back in astonishment, adding, aMamma agreed to it.a aEven so. Claraas in love with you, Timmy.a I had to chuckle aloud. aYouare crazy, you know! She likes me, yeah, and I like her. Weave been meeting aAunta Clara ever since I can remember. Where did you get such an idea?a aWhen a woman loves a man, as I love one, she notices how other women feel towards him. She loves you, Timmy, and has for a long time. If you think about it youall know it too.a Indeed Clara had most readily and deliberately exposed her b.r.e.a.s.t.s when I asked. Sure, she was fond of me. Might not a woman do such a thing to satisfy a boyas natural curiosity, if she looked upon him fondly?

aIave studied her Mandelbrot paintings again,a Alice continued, her lips hardly an inch from my ear. She paused as the car swerved perhaps for a squirrel. aI tell you, theyare accurate. I recall the one from the b.u.t.t crack that hung in my office. Hers is identical with my memory. This woman is a creature of mystery, Timmy, a creature of contradiction. I wonder if we are in danger.a aFrom Clara? Donat be any more ridiculous than you must,a I scoffed.

The blow-off was not long delayed. Clara showed me to her second guest room and helped me unpack. She seemed rather cold, speaking very little. At last she asked Alice and myself to attend her in the living room.

We filed in and took seats side-by-side on the couch. She stood with her back to us in front of the ab.u.t.t-cracka scene, which actually resembles a fairy-tale slipper with a curled up toe. She turned around and looked directly at Alice. Her voice betrayed a certain tension. aI keep asking myself, where could you have heard the word Mandelbrot? But Benoit Mandelbrot is alive now, pursuing his M. S. at Cal Tech, as a matter of fact. The far more important question is, how could you possibly know that Aladdinas Foot is located near the major cycloid vertex of the Mandelbrot Set?a I felt turned to stone.

Aliceas eyes widened only slightly. The little girlas face smiled incongruously, clearly one mature woman sparring with another, and said confidently, aThat statement raises a host of corollary questions. But first Iad like to ask you where you heard me mention that word.a aIn the car, of course, along with your characterization of this sceneas location in the ab.u.t.t crack.aa Now Aliceas eyes glinted. aThen you must have the keenest hearing of anyone alive.a Clara smiled slightly. aI do have preternatural hearing when I care to exercise it. I overheard you whisper about guilt and wondered if you meant Timmyas mother, so I exercised it.a She took a deep breath. aAnd nearly wrecked the car.a Alice looked at me searchingly. I knew what was on her mind. This woman had obviously reverted, whether by my technique or some other, yet she must have done so before I had. How was that possible? I could only shrug. My theory didnat prevent someone from reverting earlier than I, if they started from an older body. Clara must have truly been elderly, I thought a” if she used my technique. How had an octogenarian learned of the procedure?

Alice approached it cautiously. aTim claims that you painted that scene. Perhaps you would care to tell us, Miss Edgeworth, how you were able to do that almost 30 years before Mandelbrot himself could have seen it.a Clara shrugged more gracefully than I. aYou know how, Miss Colsen.a Her face became thoughtful. aColsen?a aDoes Alice Farnsworth ring a bell?a asked the girl sweetly.

Claraas eyes widened. aThe masteras a.s.sistant!a Alice giggled, looking at me. aThe master!a Clara also looked at me. Her expression of cold enmity softened to a smile. aTimmy, perhaps youad do me a favor. Would you go into the study and let Alice and me talk privately?a I shook my head and sighed. aTo what point, Clara?a Her face blanked. aDo you mean to say you have understood this conversation?a aJust a moment!a Alice interjected sharply before I could answer. aWe need to check a bit further before admitting anything. Do you want us to believe you made that painting only from your own memory?a But Clara was staring at me. aTimmy a Professor Kimball a when did youa a” she gulped a” awin the n.o.bel in Physics?a aIn 1988.a aYou a you have revera”a She gaped at me, eyes and mouth open wide. aOf course! That explains everything.a She shook her head. aWhat I donat understand is why I didnat realize it! Excuse me, Timmy a” professor a” but I find that my legs are weak.a She sat down abruptly in the chair that matched the couch. She stared at me and laughed ironically. aI suppose you have been wondering about my paintings. I did them a few years ago, while life was suspended for the war, partly to catch reverters.a She glanced at Alice. aAnd they worked, didnat they?a The girl tossed her head. aWhich raises the question, how did you paint them? The one you call Aladdinas Foot is one that I named Aladdinas Slipper. I stared at a printout of it on my office wall for ten years or more. How could you have painted one so accurately?a The woman shrugged. aIt is indeed accurate! Only one explanation is possible: I have what you would call an eidetic memory for certain things.a aPermit me to ask a better question,a I said in the voice of a young boy but with the commanding tone of an adult. aWho are you really, Aunt Clara?a aTimmy a” professor aa Her voice wavered.

aIall always be Timmy to you, Clara. But your arrival well in advance of me stretches my understanding of the theory. I ask again, who are you?a Her eyes fell. When she looked up, again she laughed ironically. aI didnat expect this. Itas a itas so wildly improbable. I thought I would just watch you grow up. B-but youare already here.a Her eyes were suddenly brighter.

I extended my hand to her. She rose and came to me, taking her seat at my side opposite Alice.

aWho are you?a I asked more softly.

aOriginally I was Ellen Lundquist,a she said softly with head bowed.

aFrom how far in the future? You must have been of advanced age to revert so soon before me.a aWeave made improvements on your procedure, Professor Kimball, since your time. You required a full DNA match. Because of better sensitivity in the scan a person can now arrive in anotheras mind well before her own birth, usually the mind of an ancestor, someone with at least a 30 per-cent correspondence in DNA sequences.a She managed to get that out, but she then began to s.h.i.+ver as though it were chill.

This was incredible, only a 30 per-cent match! But yes, I saw that scanners with adequate sensitivity might a” aHow did you overcome the noise problem?a aI donat have all the technical details in mind,a she murmured, abut I believe success was obtained with artificial DNA and a statistical sampling technique.a Artificial DNA! I stood and paced slowly back and forth in front of the couch. Her eyes followed me, hands twisting, one within the other. She seemed too affected by a merely technical explanation. Another implication of her reversion occurred to me. I demanded, aYou came to be with me, didnat you?a She s.h.i.+vered again. aI wanted to be a your contemporary, but I overshot by eighteen years. I wanted to grow up with you. I wanted aa She blushed deeply and didnat finish.

Alice jumped to her feet, livid with sudden anger. She shouted, aHeas mine!a Clara turned her face away, but not before I saw a tear roll down her cheek.

aAlice, sit down!a I barked and the girl obeyed but continued to scowl.

I sat next to Clara again. She grasped my shoulder and thrust a wet face into my neck. Alice seemed about to erupt once more but I glared her to inaction.

aClara,a I asked gently, stroking her raven hair. aWhen did you depart?a She sniffled. aBy your reckoning it was the twenty-fourth century.a aBy our reckoning?a aYes. After the Calamity what was left of the human race began a new calendar.a aWhat calamity?a Alice shrieked.

I waved her quiet.

aWhy did you want to be with me, Clara?a She sat upright and took a deep breath. aAs a teenager in the twenty-third century I came across a scan of you as a young man, taken well before your fame was a.s.sured.a She laughed self-consciously. aI fell in love with that picture. For the rest of my life I compared every man with that one a” with you a” and your accomplishments. When it came time to revert, I chose your era, profa” Timmy. I was pleasantly surprised to find a compatible ancestor so close in time and s.p.a.ce, even though a bit too early.a aYouare the Master, Timmy, the discoverer of Reversion. Many people depart in search of you. They hope to share your life from the periphery, to understand the forces that focused you on your wonderful discoveries. Iall confess I wanted more than that.

aBut I can hardly believe Iave actually found you: not merely the lad destined to become you, but the reverted Master himself. There are uncounted possible universes. Itas just so improbable.a aSo you won the lottery,a Alice commented snidely. aWhatas this business about the Master?a aYou have a.s.sumed G.o.d-like stature in the minds of many, although no one presumed you were anything but mortal.a She gazed into my face with love. aAt least educated people didnat. Youare the emotional, spiritual focus of the human race. You freed us from lingering, painful death, from death itself except for accidents.a aThere is a logical flaw here,a I mused aloud.

aEvery religion has one, Timmy,a Alice giggled and came to sit next to me.

Clara stood and looked down at me with a weak smile. Her cheeks were wet with tears.

aI feel blessed to be in your presence,a she managed to say, abut Iam overwhelmed. I need to lie down for awhile.

She turned to leave but then stopped abruptly.

aYou wonat go away?a she asked anxiously.

aNo, Aunt Clara. Weall be here when you awake from your nap.a * * *

aThe Calamity began in 2138 by your reckoning, two hundred years before I was born, and within a month life on Earth was gone. Human civilization still continued on the Moon, Mars and the OaNeills, but there werenat even ten million people out there.a aWhat was it, the Calamity?a I demanded to know.

aRunaway nanotech. Drexler warned of it as early as 1988. You do know about nanotechnology, donat you?a aYes: molecular engineering, heavy on promise, light on delivery.a aWell, in 2138 it delivered. A genius named George Harvey Stringer finally made the first nanoa.s.sembler. Like many geniuses he was careless of the details. As a result ten billion people were destroyed along with most life on earth. Stringer lost control of his machines and Drexleras agray gooa resulted a” except that it was actually green, because it depended on photosynthesis for its driving energy.a aaGray goo?aa Alice repeated in wonder.

aAlmost everything organic on earth was converted to green goo. The process was very fast, needing only days to spread across a continent. Still the South Island of New Zealand had time to get many of its people into caves prepared much earlier in expectation of World War Three. In a month, when the nanomachines had exhausted the readily available carbon and thus lost their vigor, they and a few other protected survivors emerged to an unrecognizable land.

aNew Zealand became the center from which the human race rebuilt itself. It was a tremendous effort that lasted generations. Every healthy woman was expected to have at least ten children. Science and culture were largely saved, but the first century of the new era was a dark age.a I had been an enthusiastic advocate of Drexleras proposals, as I revealed by observing, aBut you still had nanotech to help you recover!a Her face took on an expression of sick disgust. aWe did not! Certain of Stringeras inventions, particularly his electrostatic method of observation on the nanoscale, were retained, but the death penalty was prescribed by law in all human jurisdictions for anyone attempting thereafter to build any machine capable of molecular a.s.sembly from elemental materials.a The three of us sat around the dining room table that afternoon drinking coffee after Clara got up from her nap, perhaps awakened by the frolicking noise of two naked children.

aYouare very human, Timmy,a she had said with a smile after she came into the living room and found Alice and me f.u.c.king on the floor. aYou seem to be more a young boy than the Master.a She still exhibited a nervousness regarding me. I could sense that she wanted to touch me, wanted me to touch her in a intimate ways. I could not understand how a mature woman could l.u.s.t for a p.u.b.escent boy. She avoided looking at my face, but her desire was unambiguous.

When I kissed Clara before she went off to bed, she quivered at my touch.

I asked, aWhat is it?a aA kiss from a the Master makes my knees weak.a She smiled tremulously. aTo have a truly impossible yearning satisfied is aa She took a breath. aPerhaps unprecedented.a Her eyes narrowed on mine. aI can deny you nothing, as perhaps you have already noticed.a The boy had not yet thought of her personal favors but the old man had. I asked with a leer, aWhat if I should need comforting in the night?a aThen you must come to my bed.a She said it matter-of-factly but my hand, lingering on her shoulder, felt her quiver again.

aIad hate to wake you unnecessarily,a I demurred.

She stared into my eyes. aIall lie awake until you come.a aIf not Iall kiss you awake. If I can get away.a Alice, whom I truly loved, did not inspire me s.e.xually that evening. She was too obviously only a little girl. I could not get it up as we lay naked together in bed. I was embarra.s.sed to discover such variability in a twelve year-oldas gallant reflex.

She grasped my flaccid organ and asked in undisguised exasperation, aDo you need me to suck on you?a Her tone was suddenly acid. aPerhaps you should go to Clara for inspiration.a aDo you really need me to f.u.c.k you, Alice? You donat enjoy it yet.a aYouare an ignorant old man, Professor Kimball. I want your little c.o.c.k inside of me just to know that itas mine.a She leaned down and sucked me to tumescence.

aCome now, do it,a she urged me, pulling on my body.

She had lovely, young thighs, I noticed not for the first time as I climbed atop her. I pushed into her and she gasped loudly. I began to f.u.c.k the girl, relis.h.i.+ng her warm tightness, but I was soon put off by her false responses.

aYouare faking it,a I said angrily, ready to pull out of her.

aTake your pleasure, Timmy,a she exclaimed crossly. aIall be your receptacle.a There was no way to stop. The o.r.g.a.s.m was already half way up my shaft. I kissed the little girl and squeaked into her mouth as I concluded. She held to me tightly, cooing into my ear and petting my back. Afterwards, we snuggled together in great contentment.

Alice yawned and sighed in resignation. aDonat go to Clara until I fall asleep.a I awoke in the middle of the night, slipped quietly from the bed where Alice lay on her side with a thumb in her mouth and went to Claraas room. The woman was awake, waiting for me. I turned on a lamp which glowed dimly.

aI want to see you,a I explained in a low voice and pulled the sheet from her naked body.

She also studied me. aYou still donat have any hair, Timmy, but I can see youave been growing.a She uttered a nervous laugh. aI feel so guilty.a aDo you feel guilty about before,a I replied, guessing, awhen I was a younger boy and you wanted to lick on me?a aIave always wanted you. I was tempted to suck on you when you were only five. If I had, would you remember it as a perversion?a aWhy did you want it? Surely a five year-old is not stimulating to a woman!a aOf course thatas true for most women. But the psychologists of my time have proven that a manas creative powers are driven by the same neural circuitry that erects his p.e.n.i.s. By sucking you I would have wors.h.i.+pped the symbol of your greatness.a She seemed to blush. aI still desire you, Timmy, but itas not s.e.x, not really. I want to serve you and bask in your greatness. Youare a male, and a proven progenitor. Is it not reasonable for me to adore you physically despite your present young age? You obviously have s.e.xual urges, and I want to a.s.suage them.a I laid beside the lovely woman, took a soft t.i.t in one hand and pressed my lips on her cheek. I nuzzled my face to her neck. aYou smell faintly of flowers,a I murmured. aI very much desire you s.e.xually, but please donat be slavish about it. I want you as a lover. You may be the most s.e.xually desirable woman I have touched in all my 67 years.a She held my half-erect p.e.n.i.s lightly in her hand and kissed the top of my head as I snuggled to her. There was no hurry, we both knew.

aAt what age did you arrive?a I asked.

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