Hey Big Chief,
It's good to have you two back. Hope you had a blast on your honeymoon in Mexico. It's, uh, been a while. Actually it's been longer than you know. Are you sitting down?
I've been chosen by Operation Brightside to be the Administrator for you and Katie's Adjustment Plan. I was chosen for my stoicism and stability to help you through what may be a difficult time for the two of you. Some things have changed since you've been away. It's probably better if I start from the beginning.
Do you remember hearing about the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva? Scientists there were going to try and duplicate conditions similar to the Big Bang, basically "just to see." There was a lot of speculation that they would, among other things, create a black hole or some other rift in the space/time continuum. They faced everything from lawsuits to death threats to get them to cancel their proposed experimentation.
The first experiment was to take place on Wednesday, September 10, 2008. I know. This Wednesday? you're thinking. Just bear with me a moment. Determined to carry out their plans with less publicity, they ran their first test on Sunday, September 7. Yesterday, right? What ended up happening, well, it wasn't the doomsday scenario that some had predicted, but it was fairly serious in it's own right.
They're calling it a Temporal Ripple. The Ripple only seemed to affect matter in a sort of sphere around the planet, a shell beginning 32,000 feet above the surface and ending at about 40,000 feet. Exactly the airspace that commercial airliners occupy. I know you, and I think you can guess where I'm going with this, right?
Well, your returning flight was one of many that was affected. For you, the flight probably seemed pretty normal. Maybe a little turbulence, but nothing out of the ordinary. For us? Well, many hundreds of aircraft disappeared on that long ago night. Only in the last month or two have they started to return. Flights that were physically closer to the Collider returning sooner than, for example, your flight.
How long were you away? Well, let's save an exact number for when we meet for drinks. Every effort was made to make your arrival back in St. Louis appear exactly as it would have if nothing unusual had happened. Right now, for example, your net is showing you information as it appeared back when you should have returned. Operation Brightside's doing, though I can't say I 100% agree with all their methods. The city around you should appear almost exactly as you left it, also OB's doing through their Preservation/Restoration program.
Hmm. Trying to bring you up to speed. Obama won the election, served two terms, and was so successful and popular that he was named President for Life at the end of his second term. No one complained much, actually. Just a few wingnuts who have since been relocated.
Remember how you had that thing about how Zoe Samways was going to lead us out of darkness? Well, you weren't far off. About a year after you left, she went through the usual round of childhood diseases. Totally normal. However, she was only showing symptoms for each ailment for about 12 hours. When her chicken pox blisters started drying up almost as soon as they appeared, Theresa and Damien were thrilled, of course, but also realized how strange it was.
Doctors didn't realize what they were witnessing at first. Seems that Zoe's body was somehow emptying out viruses of their DNA/RNA, refilling them with her own "codes," and sending them on their way, this time "infecting" her and those around her with good health, excellent eyesight, sometimes even red hair!
When scientists got their wits about them (Damien himself was a lead researcher) they were led to a new understanding of genetics, and also suddenly possessed the means of ending many of humanity's ailments. They also came away with the means to boost existing human abilities and traits. It's been a long, exciting journey for all of us!
Along with this exciting new field came the perfection of cloning, and the ability to "infect" the clone with the previous memories of the original organism. In fact, the word "clone" has fallen out of fashion, "ghola," in tribute to Frank Herbert's vision from his Dune books, is now the term of choice. Your pets have been prepared for you to be the same approximate age they were when you left. Amazing, isn't it? Give little 12-Bella a scratch behind the ears for me.
What else? The "internet" has changed quite a bit. I think you'll be excited about it. Let me just say that you two will need to be grown some stem-cell ports to access the new net.
So, let's meet up! Sometime this week? We'll go to Old Mangia in what is now Restored South City. It should look just the same, if not better, than when you left. Last time 5-Jen and I were there, there was still a Bridget working there. I think it's 14-Bridget. The Bridgets tend to get a little reckless in their 30's, and are prone to "accidents," so there's been many generations. I think it's still only 3-Jim though, and yes, it's still stormy between those two!
We've got a lot to catch up on. Hope to see you soon,
5-Jason
Adjustment Admin.
Operation Brightside
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