BEATRICE:

Alpha's redistribution program had to be stopped.

“Alpha was a bunch of junk before I injected it with my immortality serum. Next, I’ll go into the past to change that pivotal choice. That should do the trick.”

Once making that key change, I slipped out of the past portal to check the future effects of the new root cause.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

The timeline changed, but not in the way I had hoped. While I never injected Alpha with the Life Rite serum, Feraz Tal weaseled his way into Life Rite as an intern and got the bright idea instead!

“The probabilities are so hard to change…”

I went back into the past to fire Feraz, but that wasn’t enough to move the needle, either. Grace hated me for it, too, because Feraz was her boyfriend in that timeline.

“Mom, how could you? Feraz is furious with me!”

“You can do better, dear. He’s an egomaniac.”

“Yeah right. He’s the most popular guy at Hampshire. Thanks for ruining my life!”

Even in probabilities without her attachment to Zayne, Grace still put her heart on the chopping block. My daughter was too sentimental.

“This change in the timeline better work!”

Naturally, I went back to the future to see if firing Feraz from his internship stopped Alpha from getting the Life Rite serum, but in my new timeline test, a vial of serum accidentally fell and spilled into the drone’s open circuits!

No matter what changes I made in the slipstream, it still pointed to the same inevitable conclusions. Alpha still got the serum injected, one way or another. Maybe I had to go back further, to the inception of the idea to upgrade Alpha in the first place.

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I hated the painful memory of the day Mark died, but perhaps my darkest moment held the key to ending Alpha’s redistribution program. Since I recently showed this memory to Jackie, the stream was easy to find. I took a deep breath and reentered.

Mark sat on the balcony overlooking the volcano, trying in vain to get his drone to shoot bullets.

“Damn it! It’s impossible to work under these conditions.” Mark pushed it away in frustration as the villagers stormed Camp Claudi, brandishing weapons.

I sauntered onto the balcony and touched his arm to help him relax. “Don’t worry. Everything will work out, my love.”

Mark kissed my cheek. Damn, he looked great. I loved seeing his genius at work. It pained me to know we’d soon say goodbye…

The first time we experienced this moment, I made a flippant comment about how Mark’s stupid drone should get some Life Rite serum.

“Maybe then he’d be able to fire bullets.”

Mark didn’t take my suggestion in the moment, but like the good old days, I inspired him. His handsome face lit up.

“I know! It’s the law of robotics. I’ve got to change that main input… Only temporarily, of course. My muse strikes again.”

Mark lavished me with compliments about how brilliant I was. His reaction gave me the confidence to inject the drone with the serum after Mark died in the volcano and I rebirthed without him.

This time, I said nothing about giving the serum to Alpha. I hoped this subtle tweak to the stream would make all the difference. Maybe if I didn’t plant the idea, Alpha would never get upgraded. He’d be a basic machine instead of an intelligent, biochemical synthesizing monster that wanted to destroy the world. It was certainly worth a try.

That was all I needed to do, but I wasn’t ready to leave the stream yet.

“They found Grace,” I told Mark.

“Thank God.” Relieved, he embraced me. “I can’t wait to show her what we’ve done.”

“I know how to surprise her.” I clapped my hands.

Mark touched my cheek. “That’s my muse, always seeing the magic in it all.”

Our chemistry was electrifying. We were on top of the world. A king and his queen, cured from a debilitating disease. There was no problem we couldn’t fix together. The miraculous results of the Life Rite serum thrilled us, and we couldn’t wait to share the news with Grace.

“I love you, dear.”

“I love you more.” I looked deep into Mark’s eyes, simultaneously grateful to have had such a powerful connection and gutted that it didn’t last. I watched Mark reprogram his drone and realized this was the last time I could visit this moment without going insane. I couldn’t keep losing him over and over.

Footsteps made their way toward us from the nearby office, so I walked from the balcony to the adjoining room to grab my wheelchair for the big reveal. My body recoiled as I sat in the chair that confined me for all those years. I definitely thought my miracle cure would have gone better with Grace…

Did my last ditch attempt work? Did I stop Alpha? Fatigued, I withdrew from the slipstream to find out in real time…