Now that he's decided to leave 'Heaven', Squint is bound and determined to find a way out, but is there a way out?

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Chapter 28 - Leaping Faith

  There, it was finally decided.  I was going to leave the quantum computer version of Heaven.  I would go back in time again and again in order to defeat the break-away civilization and save the Earth.  I just had to do one thing first. 

  I quickly pulled out my wallet and transferred everything I owned, including the watch business, to Ali’s account.  She had been a good friend, and I wouldn’t be able to take any of it with me back to the past.   Immediately, Ali started yelling at me through my head-up display, “Squint!  What are you doing?”  I didn’t respond, I just didn’t know how to explain everything that I was thinking. 

  Almost immediately Ali was there in front of me, she had teleported directly to me and was already crying.  She must have read my thoughts again.  She gave me a big hug and said she understood everything. 

  She told me not to be scared, one way or the other, because I couldn't possibly screw up any more than I already had.  "Wait, what?" I asked her.  And she went on to explain how she found me in the first place.  She told me that she asked her computer why none of the other Earths were inhabited when the computers started opening other dimensions.  A lot of them showed signs of having had human life at some point, but they had never found living people anywhere in any of the other Earths.  That's why Homeworld Earth was able to take over all the other Earths when the computers made it possible to travel between the universes.

  "Wait... WHAT?!?!" I stammered.  And she went on, "DJ, you're the reason why none of the other Earths had any human life on them.  As far as I can tell the Breakaway Shadow Government, or whatever you call them, must have created a virus that killed all human life on all of the other Earths except for Homeworld Earth because of that grass roots time traveling faction you created in the war."  I must have had a confused look on my face because she went on and kept explaining about how teaching my grandfather how to time travel was the thing that started it all.  He taught others and they taught more people, and eventually the Shadow Government had completely lost control over the people.

  Ali said that she had been talking to some other people about it to figure all of this out.  They said there's no possible way to control anyone who can time travel at will.  So the Shadow Government had a choice, either give up everything it stood for, or kill everybody in all but one of the Earths.  She went on to say that the Shadow Government probably used the grass roots time travelers as their way of infecting the other worlds, like Typhoid Mary.  They had looked up the historical records and found out that about five thousand years ago there was a plague around my time that decimated the human population in Homeworld Earth, but a vaccine had come out of nowhere at the last minute and saved the remaining population.  That was probably how the Shadow Government kept one Earth safe while killing everyone on all the other Earths, they just didn't give the vaccine to any of the other Earths.

  My mind was totally blown.  I stuttered a little and said something dumb.  But then I thought for a moment.  The Shadow Government had been doing that exact same thing with me, using me to spread a virus to other timelines.  But which came first, me or the germs?  If I had forced the Shadow Government to create the germs, and the Shadow Government's germs had forced me to teach my grandpa how to time travel so he could bring back a weakened sample, and then my grandpa's time traveling friends had forced the Shadow Government to create the germs to wipe out all other Earths... then what came first?  I was so confused.  All I knew was that they had used me as a small part in part of a much larger plan.  I started to wonder which virus the vampires had been talking about that made them dependent on blood to survive.

  Just then I realized something else, that if it was an artificial intelligence who had programmed the Spaghetti Theater virus, then maybe that computer virus was just a small part of a larger plan.  And then it hit me.  That feeling I had the other day when I thought that I was being watched.  Maybe, someone had been dolphin punching me the whole time while I was infected.  “It wasn’t just a virus, it was a backdoor!” I exclaimed.  Now Ali looked confused at me.  “Sorry, different virus." I said, "The AI’s must have been dolphin punching the newbie community to harness our collective brainpower for their research!”

  Just then the video conferencing screen lit up again.  “Well done, Squint!” said Dr. David Ender, his face beaming a big smile on the video screen.  “What?!” I stuttered.  Ali saw his face on the screen and muttered, “Prime Minister Ender!”  I gasped and asked, “Prime Minister?!” 

  “That’s right, Squint, I’ve been re-elected over a hundred times.  Now, get over here!”  The Prime Minister pushed a simple button on his desk.  And then suddenly, Ali and I were both standing there in front of him, in the office of the leader of the known universes.  Right there, in front of the God, the Devil, The Man himself. 

  “Look, Squint, I’m not a bad guy.” said Prime Minister Ender as he glanced back and forth between me and a series of wavy holograms floating above of his desk.  “Those are your thoughts, Squint.” Ali said to me, pointing out the wavy holograms.  “Hush you!” said Ender, and Ali could no longer speak.  “Don’t worry, I only muted her.” said Ender as Ali gave him an exacerbated look of distrust and disappointment. 

  “Not a bad guy, huh?” I asked.  And he responded with, “What, you think that just because I muted your friend, that makes me evil?  I’m just trying to have a one-on-one conversation with you, Squint.”  He laughed and added, “You’ve got a lot to learn about the future, kiddo.”  Even Ali nodded in agreement with that, and then she shrugged and began playing a video game on her phone. 

  “Look,” he said, “don’t be so quick to judge.  You’ve got all the time in the universe here in Heaven.  And apparently the AI’s might be getting close to really solving time travel with that Spaghetti virus.  So chill, man, just be patient and maybe we’ll be able to send you back home soon.  I guarantee we’ve got the brightest minds in Heaven working on it right now.” 

  I was dumbfounded.  I couldn’t tell if he was just saying what I wanted to hear, or if he genuinely wanted to help.  “Just give it some time, Squint.  Meditate or something, I don’t know.  Just be patient, and have a little faith in us.”  Ender said.  I looked at Ali and she was nodding in agreement with him.  And then Ender added, “Just don’t do anything crazy.” 

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