CHAPTER 57

CHAPTER 57

BRIAN J. HERINGER

BRIAN PICKED UP THE HOLOGRAPHIC DISK his grandfather gave him, there was only one caveat, it could only be opened on that date, his 20th birthday.

Brian pressed the button which made a strange noise, but then the image of his grandfather appeared and said:

— I'm glad to see you, Brian, I hope you're very happy to live with your parents.

— Yes, I am, but I miss you so much, grandpa.

— I miss you too, son.

— So what would you like to tell me?

— For many years it was impossible for man to travel in time, however, with many years of research, we managed, through which I managed to make a plan that could change the entire course of history as we know it.

— What's wrong with the story we know? — I was very happy by your side, I wouldn't change that for anything.

— At the cost of billions of lives, Brian, a madman's dream has cost billions of lives that could have found another, more peaceful solution.

— Yes, but society was already on the edge, it was a high price, of course, which I don't agree with, but seeing today, it was necessary for our survival.

— I understand, son...

The image looked disappointed with what it saw.

— I have one last request for you.

— Of course, grandpa, whatever.

— Your mother will soon have a son.

— How do you know? Nobody knows this but my dad and me.

— Let's just say I know... that's all... I want you to save this record for when he's twenty he can do the same thing you do.

— What's the point of it, grandpa?

— You failed the most important mission humanity has ever had, my hopes are with your brother now.

— Wait a minute, grandpa... was this all a test?

The hologram nodded.

— What the fuck? Why did you never say anything to me?

— Because there are things that are bigger than we are, Brian, I fought my whole life to build a perfect society, I created a vaccine that eliminated all existing diseases, my research shaped a genetically evolved man, but all this came at a price that it shouldn't have. get paid the way it was, but if you can't see that, then I can't trust you to do that.

— I love you son.

And the hologram turned off.

Brian tried to turn it back on, but a date appeared twenty— one years in the future.

NORMAN BRADY ENTERED the room.

— Is everything okay, Brian?

Brian looked at his uncle and nodded a little awkwardly.

— I know something's happened, Brian, you know you can count on me.

— Yes, I know... it's just that I expected another result from something I've waited so many years for.

— It's about my father.

He nodded.

— My father had his way of seeing the world, so apparently you were rejected too.

— As you know?

— Because I was also rejected, but forget that, your grandfather also had some dreams that will never come true, not everything is as we want.

— Do you know what he was talking about?

— I know it's called Operation New — Dawn, but what it is, I just don't know.

— He talked about time travel.

— My father really believed that.

— But he said it was really possible to travel back in time… he said it was the most important mission in all of human history, he wanted to make amends for the death of billions of people.

Norman thought for a moment.

— By the way you agree with me, that billions would die anyway, humanity no longer supported humanity itself.

— By logic, yes, unless they did like in Dan Brown's Inferno, that they found a partial way of decreasing people by preventing them from procreating in the future.

— But at that time people could already create life in vitro, not everyone dreams of being parents nowadays, but the vast majority in the 21st century did, so the population issue would still be a big risk, so his theory didn't work. makes a lot of sense, obviously it's an interesting and relevant theory, but it has a loophole.

Brian went to the balcony railing of his apartment and for the first time he felt the frigid air bother him.