THE MOMENT
"I'll just go again," Kent decided with no hesitation. After all, he'd already killed once and felt no remorse. Another time wouldn't matter as long as his parents were alive. He stood from his computer and wandered into the garage where he kept the time machine. But, he was surprised to find a teenage girl standing next to the time-chair he built.
The tips of her chestnut hair were dyed with a fiery orange. She wore a black and orange baseball jersey with baggy blue jeans and sneakers. Kent had thorough security systems in place and he knew she didn't break in. His own experience with time travel was enough to spark his curiosity about her. And luckily, she spoke first.
"Hey, there he is," she smiled once she saw him. "Mr. Kent Lawrence? My name is Quinn. Sharp Development asked me to stop by and talk to you about your time travel shenanigans. Cut it out," she giggled.
"I don't know who or what Sharp Development is," he shrugged. It wasn't the main point, but he hoped to stall. If he invented time travel, he couldn't have been the only one; he didn't think he was that special. Kent imagined there might be some sort of authority watching over the timeline and this was an opportunity to learn more.
"It's one of the most prominent corporations in the multiverse. I don't work for them by the way, this is just a favor for a friend. Anyway, your time traveling is kind of annoying and they'd like you to not do it again. Ever. They're willing to reward your cooperation, what are you trying to accomplish?" She asked.
"Corporation?" That was not as much of a surprise as it should have been. When he first considered the existence of a watchdog organization his default assumption was that it would be a government entity. But, a corporation did make more sense. Sometimes he felt like corporations ran the government and it was one of the things he planned to change eventually. However, his parents came first. He also picked up on the word 'multiverse' but he needed to tackle one issue at a time. "What gives them the monopoly over time travel?"
"Nothing," Quinn shrugged. "It's not a problem of time travel itself. But it's you doing it here on this Earth. Sharp Development serves this Earth's governments and your last trip back threw off some of their logistics processes." she said. "They're happy to put you on another Earth and let you go wild with it, every Earth has its own time stream."
"That's not how time works, it's universal," Kent shook his head. "Multiversal!"
"Says the guy who only time-traveled once," Quinn smirked. "But, hey. I don't have a lot of time right now, I have somewhere else to be. So, help me help you. What were you trying to do?"
"Save my parents," he said. He was willing to trust her enough with that information. But, he left it as vague as he could.
"Oh. Yeah, no. You can't," she shook her head. "THAT is not how time works," her smile grew as she stressed the word.
"Of course it is! If I go back to prevent something from happening, it can't happen."
"You're close...," Quinn nodded. "...it just means it won't happen the way it did before you changed it. But, if you're going back after the thing already happened, it just finds another way. The universe is always moving forward and you can't change the past like that," she said.
"I'll find a way," Kent said. Quinn rolled her orange eyes without any attempt at discretion. "Okay, I stretched the truth a little bit; but, I think you need me to be honest. I'm not here from Sharp Development exactly; a friend sent me to get you to stop before Sharp Development gets involved. If they do, that's gonna be a bad time for you. But I can prove you can't change anything," she said. "Do you know the lottery numbers that won last night?" she asked.
"No, why would I know that?" Kent shook his head. If she'd lied to him, he could sneak in his own little white lie. He did know the numbers and that was going to be his next trip after rescuing his parents.
"Uhhh, okay, hold on," Kent blinked. He was about to ask why she wanted him to wait, and for how long; but, after he blinked she was holding a newspaper out to him. It was folded over with the winning lottery numbers on the front.
"What happened?" Kent asked.
"Time travel," Quinn smirked. "Keep up," she added as she nodded at the numbers. "You got those memorized?" she asked. He made an effort to pretend to memorize them, then nodded.
"Okay, now, watch," she said. Kent blinked again. This time, he opened his eyes to Quinn offering him a lottery ticket. A glance at the numbers told him he was a millionaire now and he happily took it.
"Thanks!" he grinned. "But, I never agreed to anything; you gave me this yourself," he said.
"Just make sure you check the numbers before you try and cash it in," Quinn answered.
"What do you...," he looked down at the newspaper in his hand again; but, the winning numbers were different.
"It's the winner that wins, not the numbers," Quinn said. "Do you get it now? The time stream is kind of like a really popular song. If you try to change things, that's like you singing a Cover of that song. It still needs to keep enough things the same to be recognizable as that particular song. Your parents dying is part of a multiversal soundtrack. It happened when it happened and so it has to happen then, or the music starts getting ruined for everyone. There are versions of them in other universes that can't exist unless they die here first." It was a lot to take in; but, at the very least, she had confirmed something else for him.
"So, there are other versions of them? Can I meet them?"
"Yeah, that's super easy," Quinn nodded. "My friend that sent me, Turbo, can help you find a version of them as close to your real parents as you want, or you can go around to different universes and see what they would be like if they hadn't met. But, you gotta agree not to time travel on this Earth anymore, Turbo will let you know which ones you can play around with."
"Okay, I agree," Kent nodded. He was willing to play along in the hopes that she was being honest. If they weren't, he didn't have to stick to his part of the agreement either.
"Oh, one more thing," Quinn made a gesture at the empty air and a black portal opened in front of them. "This isn't a requirement, just some advice. When you do meet other versions of your parents, you might want to keep your attempt here to yourself," she said. "In case it's not obvious, 'I killed your killer so you wouldn't die', isn't a great way to earn their trust. Especially if they ask for details," she added. "You didn't even give him a sporting chance. The little guy couldn't even run yet."