It was a small house made of brick and mortar. It stood on the side of the road, surrounded by other villas made of brick and mortar. It was warm, pretty, and quite distinct from its neighbors.

There were many trees here, lining the street. They were everywhere on Bernice—a welcome change from the grayness and bleakness of Elphine.

Some of the houses had pools, as this one did. Halden could see it in the back, in the middle of a large garden.

He sat on a wooden bench—under a canopy that shaded him from the sun—and stared at the house.

Had he a right to do this? It could change the man’s life in ways no one could predict. But what other choice did he have?

He needed answers.

With a sigh, he stood and crossed the street.

Rang at the door.

Waited.

He heard footsteps inside and the door opened.

A woman blinked at him, then smiled.

“Oh. Prof. Roche. I thought you were traveling?”

Halden grimaced. He had not expected the wife to be here. This would make things more awkward. Too late now to back away.

“Is your husband in?” he asked, already knowing the answer—he had seen his assistant’s car in the driveway.

The woman nodded. “Of course. Please, come in. I’ll go get him.”

He stepped in and waited in the living room.

A few minutes later, Groggan appeared with a startled look on his face.

“Prof. Roche? What are you doing here?”

“We need to talk.” Halden stood. “But not here. Is there somewhere private we could go?”

“Sure... Uhm, I have an office in the back, if that would do?”

Halden grunted and nodded. “It’ll have to. Lead the way.”

Groggan stepped through a door into a narrow hall, and he followed. A few seconds later, they arrived in a small comfortable-looking room with a desk, dim lighting, and bookshelves against all the walls.

“What’s going on?” asked Groggan as he motioned to an empty chair and sat at his desk.

It felt strange to Halden to be in this position. Until now, it always had been him behind the desk.

“I need to ask you a big favor, Greg. And you can’t tell anyone about it. Not even your wife.”

Groggan blinked. He opened his mouth and closed it, not knowing what to say.

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Halden waited. He knew those few words were a lot to process. It was the first time he’d called his assistant by his first name, and it was on purpose. He knew it would make the younger man understand this was important business.

“Why?” Groggan finally managed to ask.

“Why what?”

“Why the secrecy? And why me?”

“Because you still work at the IAS.” For a moment, Halden got worried. “You still do, right?”

Groggan nodded. “And so do you, last I checked.”

“Well, yes, but no one knows I’m back yet. Except for Rees and you.” He frowned, looking toward the door. “And your wife.”

“I don’t understand what you’re so worried about?”

“I’m sorry, Greg, but all I can say is that it’s about Lucy. Saying more could put your life in danger, and I don’t want to do that to you—or to your family.”

Groggan frowned. “And what would you have me do?”

“I need you to get me a wiper.”

The assistant’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding me?”

“It’s important.”

“Do you realize what you’re asking me to do?”

“Yes.”

Groggan stared at him for a long time. He shook his head and stood. “No, I’m sorry, Prof. Roche, but I can’t do it. If I got caught, I’d get fired. Where would I go if that happened? You know as well as I do that there is nowhere else a scientist can work, at least not in an official capacity. This is asking too much.”

He was right, of course. But Halden remembered his time in the Fault. His conversation with that older version of Groggan. A man who still worked at the IAS. He would not lose his job.

Unless... Unless he was doing something now he had not done before? No, that was a ridiculous thought. He couldn’t change the future. Groggan himself had told him as much.

And he had hired this man, despite his inclination. There had to be a reason for that. Maybe this was it? Maybe Groggan was supposed to help him like this?

He hated himself for what he was about to say, but he had no choice.

“You owe me, Greg.”

The younger man stared at him. “What?”

“You say you could get fired and where would you go then? Well, I ask you, where would you be now if I had not hired you?” Halden stood and gestured around him. “You have a nice house. A loving family. A good-paying job. Would you have any of that if it weren’t for me?”

Groggan shifted uncomfortably. Looked away.

“You shouldn’t say that,” he muttered.

“But it’s true, isn’t it?”

Halden could see the younger man clenching and unclenching his fists. Finally, he looked back at him.

“It is.”

“If it’s any help, I’ll say this: you won’t get caught.”

“How can you be so sure?”

Halden smiled. “Because I’ve seen the future.”

“That’s crazy talk.”

“No, Greg, I’m serious. Do you remember that new source of thilium we found in the Tin’kisti Belt? I went there. I went inside the flow. And it... it made me travel through time.”

“Are you serious?”

“Very.”

And so Halden recounted what he had seen and heard—including the message he had sent himself through Groggan. It was as good an opportunity as any to ask the younger man to deliver it when the time came.

After the story was told, they fell quiet for a moment.

“And so,” finally said Groggan, “this is why you think I won’t get kicked out?”

“I know you won’t.”

“What if you weren’t supposed to tell me all this? What if, by doing so, you changed everything?”

To so hear echoed his own doubts troubled Halden, though he did his best not to show it. Instead, he clung to the first thought that came to him—though part of him wondered who exactly he was trying to convince.

“I can’t change anything, Greg. You told me so yourself.” The other frowned. “Look, it makes sense. Think about it. Everything we do, all our actions, all our choices, they all hinge on who we are. How, then, could I act differently than how my nature prompts me to act? That future me couldn’t have acted any other way, trust me.”

Groggan’s frown deepened. “Except when you hired me. Your ‘nature’ didn’t want to do that, did it? You only did so because of what... Well, what I told you in the future.”

“But what you told me came from me.”

The younger scientist still did not look convinced. “It’s all very much messed up, Prof. Roche. I don’t know that I can believe in this future that you saw. Or that I can accept that we have no free will.” He lifted a hand when Halden made to dispute the statement. “It is what you are implying, professor, whether you like it or not. But none of that matters.” He sighed as he put his hands down on the desk. “The fact is, you are right. I do owe you, regardless of circumstances.”

“So you will get me the wiper?”

The assistant took a deep breath, then nodded.

“I will.”