A baby guys! I finally have a baby! He’s the cutest little thing.

(Author Note* I am retconning the end of the previous chapter. Please re-read the last few paragraphs for the new version. I am terribly sorry. It simply doesn’t fit the story I wanted to tell.) For those of you that have already seen the change, it hasn’t changed a second time.

Loop 86 Year 1 Day 365

Today the bombs drop. Now some of you may be wondering why I haven’t elaborated on the first other me I consumed while in the Abyss last time. The answer is simple. His Era is prematurely ended by the Original. After he has a kid, the Original kills him.

Although it might be biased for me to say it. My son is so cute! I was a bit sidetracked by his whole ‘weirdness’ thing before, but he truly is adorable. He has cute little puffy cheeks. His hair is light brown. A mixture of mine and his mom’s.

His eyes are a resounding blue. His skin is light, he got a double dose of lighter than usual skin from his parents.

He latches on to his mother just as much as he does to me.

I hold him close as the bombs come close to dropping. I have had my bots attacking more vigorously lately, so no one wants to leave the vault. Some people even try to get in, but no one inside knows that.

But that’s just it. The bombs don’t drop on time. Of course there are variables that must be considered, but they almost invariably fall on this date, at this exact time.

A few more minutes pass. Nothing. I wait an hour. Still nothing. I have been holding Eric for who knows how long. His mother smiles at me, and beckons for me to let her hold him. Confused, I do just that.

I go off alone. I have a secret chat with AI. She tells me the bombs show no signs of appearing. It’s like they are just a bygone dream.

Loop 86 Year 2 Day 9

Over these nine days, the bombs never come. Despite that, no one tries to leave the vault, they know the carnage that has happened. I make sure to drill in the atrocities that those outside commit, repeatedly.

Although I am glad for it, there is no reason the bombs shouldn’t drop. According to the only satellite I have, LE isn’t doing anything unusual. There is nothing concrete to determine why the bombs aren’t dropping.

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Loop 86 Year 2 Day 60

As with most days, Eric’s sporadic hand grasping has me wondering about whether or not my son’s physical well-being is as sound as the doctors stated. Somehow, somehow it seems more deliberate though.

Loop 86 Year 2 Day 63

Every time Eric comes into my arms, he is quiet. It is always like this. Even since the beginning. However, now it is slightly different. It seems my son is intentionally grasping my hand in sequence. Could that be true?

I have AI begin to run programs to determine if the hand grabbing is intentional. She is constantly watching his hands through the numerous cameras around the vault. She then tries matching the grasping to a pattern.

Loop 86 Year 2 Day 66

Ah. AI finally figures it out today. It’s Morse Code! My son is squeezing my hand in Morse Code! Although babies typically only learn to use large muscles freely after several months, it looks like my son is a bit quicker.

That does all but guarantee the fact that he is a Looper though. There is zero chance a baby could be able to think as cognitively as to create a pattern to squeeze.

The code isn’t just Morse either. As if assuming someone else would see us, Eric is using Morse Code to relate information in Latin!

A quick review of my memories show me the exact time and date the codes started. I think back to the first pattern. ‘Hello Dad.’

My mind begins rapidly going through every time he grabbed my hand. Each snippet of information takes several hours for him to produce. If I talk to him in person it might make me go crazy from the delay of response. But what can I expect from a four-and-a-half-month baby?

‘Oh, you can’t understand me right now, can you?’

‘Well you are new to this.’

‘That’s too bad. I hoped you would remember this part.’

That was all of the monologue from the first day.

‘I guess you got memories from an incomplete version.’

‘I’ll just tell you some information.’

‘That way you can understand it all when you review this in the future.’

He seems sure that I’d review it. I guess I can’t fault him. I am literally reviewing it right now.

‘I am not the same kind of Looper as you.’

‘I have a very unique power because of Chelsea being my biological mother.’

He starts discussing his powers the next day.

‘I have what you first referred to as “Save/Load”. ‘

‘I can save any moment in my life, and load it later.’

‘I usually can’t go before my 12th birthday.’

‘That’s when you first brought out this power in me.’

‘The only exception is when you have me with Chelsea.’

Then he lets a bomb drop.

‘You can have two other kids.’

He waits for another day before continuing.

To summarize the information, he gave me:

He says I can have two other children in specific circumstances. However, he’s only met one of them. I can have one other child, his twin, under a set of circumstances. Although he explains the general circumstances to me, he isn’t very clear on them. He mentions during this time that he doesn’t have my memory ability. Only the ability to rewind time.

His twin is created in much the same way, but there is a small difference on day 12 of the pregnancy. According to Eric, I can try it next Loop without any negative repercussions. There is never a time when Chelsea manages to get pregnant with him that she doesn’t come to term with at least Eric, unless she has a miscarriage or dies.

That takes a load off of my mind. Although Eric has been born with imperfections in his body, like a limp or having seizures, he is always mentally sound. Next Loop I’m making money really early.

His twin is another thing though. Unless I live it almost identically to this Loop, the twin cannot appear. But it matters very little to me. Without the memory of the actual change in the Loop, I don’t have confidence in repeating that.

He also tells me one thing I never expected.

‘You are the Progenitor. The one before all others.’

‘Yours is the only lineage that has the ability to manipulate the fabric of time.’

‘All of your descendants have one thing in common.’

‘Besides the ability to manipulate time.’

‘We all wish for it to stop. We want to die.’

‘We have been working on a plan for millions and millions of years. It all depends on you.’

‘We can only be a newborn if the one before lives the point of our birth. This is the furthest I can come back.’

‘Please help us kill ourselves Progenitor.’