Coming to a halt the taxi’s bright yellow doors thundered open. A fresh breeze of air struck Jack who was sitting at one of the window seats and was chronically in the looking out the window phase of travel. Two men stood in front of him in shining white and blue uniforms, blue capes billowing behind them. The two guards were standing at the foot of a long white staircase leading up to the bright palace of the Emperor of humankind, Kevin.

  The three of them left the Taxi and watched as the guards handed something over to Tim for bringing them here, presumably money but Jack had long given up trying to guess what was going on in the wider universe. The guards gave a salute to Lyra and led them up the stairs towards the gates of the palace. The gates were made from black steel and stood wide open giving way to the throne room. Massive marble columns adorned the sides of the hall, enough columns that even ten people however determined could not count them all up with their fingers.

At the end of the lines of pillars was a throne, not a small throne like the ones Jack knew from his time but a proper throne, a throne that clearly stated that whoever was sitting on it was in charge of, well everything. Which of course, was the case. Their footsteps resounded with a large clacking sound on the marble tiles as they approached the throne.

  Sitting on the throne was a young man, black hair flowing down the sides of his head nearly covering his ears, the emperor wore an outfit entirely of blue and gold. He wore an azure cape ornamented with the golden sigil of Earth. The emperor was staring at the newcomers, particularly Jack. His eyes were a deep blue and Jack could only think that this man knew everything about him with a single glance.

“Welcome back to the Empire, miss Varyan. I trust everything worked out as expected.” the emperor said, his voice echoing through the vast hall.

“Imperator Maximus, I have found the information you desired, our guesses were correct but I was chased off the planet before I could do much more. These two helped me get in a taxi to escape in time,” Lyra said pointing at Jack and Ted. One of them gave a bow while the other waved at the emperor on his throne, it is rather clear which of the two did what.

  “I thank you for that,” the emperor said slightly bowing his head, “There is another task that you could assist us with master Jack, another service as you have done us in the past.” Jack was confused at hearing this, he had never seen the Emperor and he had only known of his existence for about a day. “Reveal yourself already, I am sure the young man’s perplexion will only deepen when you do,” from behind the throne an old man appeared. He had medium long greying hair and a short beard, he wore a uniform similar to the other Imperial officials Jack had seen only that the outlines of the white suit were done in red, not blue. The man was so familiar yet so strange, it was as if Jack knew him deeply but had never quite seen his face in the same way.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  The Great Kevin, Emperor of Earth stood up from his throne, “I believe you have met before,” he said, his voice as regal as ever, “but considering the situation, I believe introductions are in order,” he pointed at the old man that appeared at his side, “this is Jack Evans, the supreme chancellor, my greatest advisor, my second in command, my right hand and so on and so forth,” he now pointed at our Jack, “this I believe is also Jack Evans, from what I can see I’d say 2015 Jack? No? 2014 then,” Kevin said with a smile, “You learn how to tell a person's year after meeting them again and again so often. As I am sure you are confused I shall let my Jack explain to your Jack.

  With that, the emperor stopped speaking and the older Jack led them to a separate room on the right side of the palace hall. “Hello, I am sure you are confused at this moment,” the younger Jack nodded energetically, “but there isn’t much to worry about, it just so happens that we are doomed or blessed, depending on who you ask. The universe has decided that our fate be interconnected with most of its major events and the Imperatus Maximus is simply one of the largest players in maintaining the universe nice and safe, for the most part.”

  “That’s all well and good, but who are you? I know I’m Jack so who are you?” Jack asked before leaning in closer and whispering, “did they clone me?”

  “Oh no, clones have been outlawed in most places for one reason or another, I believe a lot of identity fraud used to occur. If you are here you have already met Tim, who is probably the worst taxi driver ever to grace the universe, and you might think that the fact he doesn’t know how to drive would be the end of it. However, his lack of skill is a question for another time but the way he uses the whirlwind lanes is a much more interesting matter, he fails to use them to such an extent that new time versions of us have been created and are spread out around time and space, most working for the Empire, others taking up what could only be described as freelance work here and there to keep balance and order in this dimension.

  “The whirlwind lanes can do that?” Ted asked incredulously, “never taking a taxi again, I think we have enough me around already and there is only one. I think…”

  “I think I can put your worries at ease by saying we have only found other Jack’s so far, and trust me when I say our search has been quite thorough in this matter. Regardless, any more questions or shall I proceed to tell you about your mission, I assume at this rate you will accept anything because you’ll get a spaceship and cool uniforms.”

  “I don’t think I’d understand anything even if you explained it, and cool uniforms do sound very appealing.”