jaggedwolf (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jaggedwolf) wrote2018-10-17 06:11 pm
jaggedwolf) wrote2018-10-17 06:11 pm
Entry tags:
Ficlet | Friends From The Future | The Strange Case of Starship Iris
Arkady keeps her gun trained on him. His ankles and wrists are bound, but a man with a claim like his? She’s not in the mood to take chances.
The evidence is in his favor, though. It’s the same damn face. The extra decade on it makes the crew cut fit him perfectly, the same way the mop of messy hair in the present does. Blue hoodie is replaced with a sleek black jacket, an empty holster peeking out under it.
He rubs his jaw ruefully. “I should have known better than to try and get past security you built, huh Kady?”
Arkady keeps expecting his voice to sound tougher, but it’s as soft as ever.
“Brian Jeeter,” she says, trying to sound like she still doesn’t believe him, “and you’ll keep insisting you’re from the future?”
“Dude, I literally have the same voice and face. You scanned me for holographic disguises.” Future-Brian chuckles, like it’s all a joke to him. “Plus, Sana and Violet are out there getting a DNA kit to satisfy your paranoia.”
Arkady sighs and puts down her gun, wondering again why she had volunteered for first watch. Right. Because time travel’s impossible, making this a scam, and Brian and Krejjh were thankfully on a little planet-side vacation. Not that she’d trust Brian with watch duty over a regular prisoner.
Might as well humor this guy.
“So,” she says, “Krejjh is dead, then?”
“What?” He blurts out, panic crossing his face before he seems to realise she’s talking about the future. He glances down at his bound hands. “Nah. We get married. All of you are at the wedding.”
Arkady raises her eyebrows. He shrugs. “You would have predicted that one yourself.”
She scoffs. “If you’re really Brian, you know we both know all the cliches that brings someone to their past. Is it the end of the world? The rest of the crew’s all dead? Your family? One of us is a mole?”
Future-Brian shakes his head at each suggestion, looking more sheepish with every one. “It’s not any of those. I… don’t even know if I can change anything - they explained this idea of multiverses to me and Violet? That I might be creating an entirely new branch of the timeline, and return to mine, completely unchanged.”
Violet’s alive in his time. Leaves a few more options.
“It’s pretty wild stuff,” he grins, “Mostly, I just kind of wanted to see you guys.”
Same damn smile too. He fidgets a little in his bindings and his jacket sleeve slides down to reveal a burn scar, an ugly pink wrapped around his wrist.
“How’d you get that?” She nods her head towards the scar.
His smile drops. “Long story.”
“Is you learning how to shoot the gun I took from you an even longer one?”
“Something like that.” He shrugs. “It became about time I learned to look out for myself, y'know?”
He lets out a short, bitter laugh, sounding both like and unlike present-day Brian to the point it unnerves the hell out of Arkady. He continues, “Would’ve been more useful than linguistics, when it all went down.”
“Sana or me?” Arkady finally asks, taking a chance. “If it was your family or something else you would stop dancing around it. Which of us did you lose?”
“Sana,” he says without a beat.
But Future-Brian hasn’t lost any of his old tells. The lie is immediately obvious.
The evidence is in his favor, though. It’s the same damn face. The extra decade on it makes the crew cut fit him perfectly, the same way the mop of messy hair in the present does. Blue hoodie is replaced with a sleek black jacket, an empty holster peeking out under it.
He rubs his jaw ruefully. “I should have known better than to try and get past security you built, huh Kady?”
Arkady keeps expecting his voice to sound tougher, but it’s as soft as ever.
“Brian Jeeter,” she says, trying to sound like she still doesn’t believe him, “and you’ll keep insisting you’re from the future?”
“Dude, I literally have the same voice and face. You scanned me for holographic disguises.” Future-Brian chuckles, like it’s all a joke to him. “Plus, Sana and Violet are out there getting a DNA kit to satisfy your paranoia.”
Arkady sighs and puts down her gun, wondering again why she had volunteered for first watch. Right. Because time travel’s impossible, making this a scam, and Brian and Krejjh were thankfully on a little planet-side vacation. Not that she’d trust Brian with watch duty over a regular prisoner.
Might as well humor this guy.
“So,” she says, “Krejjh is dead, then?”
“What?” He blurts out, panic crossing his face before he seems to realise she’s talking about the future. He glances down at his bound hands. “Nah. We get married. All of you are at the wedding.”
Arkady raises her eyebrows. He shrugs. “You would have predicted that one yourself.”
She scoffs. “If you’re really Brian, you know we both know all the cliches that brings someone to their past. Is it the end of the world? The rest of the crew’s all dead? Your family? One of us is a mole?”
Future-Brian shakes his head at each suggestion, looking more sheepish with every one. “It’s not any of those. I… don’t even know if I can change anything - they explained this idea of multiverses to me and Violet? That I might be creating an entirely new branch of the timeline, and return to mine, completely unchanged.”
Violet’s alive in his time. Leaves a few more options.
“It’s pretty wild stuff,” he grins, “Mostly, I just kind of wanted to see you guys.”
Same damn smile too. He fidgets a little in his bindings and his jacket sleeve slides down to reveal a burn scar, an ugly pink wrapped around his wrist.
“How’d you get that?” She nods her head towards the scar.
His smile drops. “Long story.”
“Is you learning how to shoot the gun I took from you an even longer one?”
“Something like that.” He shrugs. “It became about time I learned to look out for myself, y'know?”
He lets out a short, bitter laugh, sounding both like and unlike present-day Brian to the point it unnerves the hell out of Arkady. He continues, “Would’ve been more useful than linguistics, when it all went down.”
“Sana or me?” Arkady finally asks, taking a chance. “If it was your family or something else you would stop dancing around it. Which of us did you lose?”
“Sana,” he says without a beat.
But Future-Brian hasn’t lost any of his old tells. The lie is immediately obvious.