A Present.

Slamming the door behind him, Marcus went to the desk and took out two injection syringes from a drawer. The silvery liquid inside them cast tempting iridescent shades, he drew the needle and made himself one injection, and then the second one. Then he flopped into a chair and closed his eyes.

"Oh, our immortal Majesty looks obviously shitty today," a sarcastic comment was heard from the side. "Who gave you such a hard time?"

"Maybe you'll first explain where you got the courage to come to my office without an invitation?" Marcus answered with a question without opening his eyes.

"You have great whiskey in your closet, I decided to drink a little. You want some?"

Marcus opened his eyes and lazily turned his head. Rick was sitting in a chair with a pleased expression on his face, completely relaxed, sipping alcohol.

"I see the test went well, right, Richard?"

Rick smirked, devilish lights flashed in his eyes, "Oh, yes, more than that." The man threw his hand back in his chair and raised his head, "It's nice to feel unburdened by useless emotions and affections. Just to tell ya, I did not quite understand what the heck happened."

"The chip settings have been updated in such a way that after regaining consciousness, your personality chooses the type of behavior that is closest to it, erasing the other possible ones. Simply put, in the end, only the true you remain. So, welcome back, Richard Steiner." Marcus got up from his chair and pulled his arms up as if he had just woken up from a long sleep.

A sarcastic smirk pulled up the corners of Rick's lips. "Somehow you don't look surprised. Did you know that this will happen?"

Marcus stopped in front of the bookshelf and looked at the row of folders on it, "Let's just say, yes and no. By and large, there is Richard Steiner, and there is Rick Stein. So if there was a second one, I would just kill you," he turned and gave Rick a charming smile.

"Hmm, then I got lucky," the latter answered tartly.

"But I wouldn't be so sure of that," added Marcus in a low voice.

"Oh, is that a threat?"

Marcus ignored Rick's comment. He touched a protective glass covering the shelves with documents with his hand, the surface of the glass flashed and the touch screen flashed on it. The man put his hand to the built-in scanner, the glass lock clicked, opening access to documents.

Rick carefully watched the actions of Marcus. Now he understood why he could not touch any document in this office, access to them was protected. Who would have thought that an ordinary-looking bookcase would turn out to be a fancy safe with touch access?

But this was not the end of the man's surprise.

Marcus pushed one of the folders away and a second display appeared in front of his eyes. The man entered the code, the bookshelf creaked and shifted to the side. A passage formed behind it. The lights began to flash one after another, lighting the way to the secret room.

Marcus dropped a short glance at Rick, turned away, and went inside. The man was sitting on an armchair and trying to understand what that would mean. Was it a hint that he can follow or is it better to stay still?

He put the glass of whiskey on the table, got up and walked toward the door, where bright lights attracted him, located in a straight line along the ceiling.

A staircase adjoining the passage led down to a room that looked like a hidden basement. Rick knew about the layout of this building, but this room was definitely not there.

Marcus went down the stairs and went along the long rows with shelves, the light was automatically turned on at every step until the whole room was lit by about a hundred lamps.

Rick looked around at the spacious room, it was an area of at least two hundred meters, but all that was here were long cabinets with shelves, lined with obscure documents.

"Hah, I didn't know that you were such a fan of reading. Is that your secret library?" he asked Marcus with a grin.

Rick's eyes fell on the documents closest to him. The huge cupboard was lined with folders bearing the same date. And that date was today's date.

"What is this?"

"This?" Marcus stopped in front of the shelves and ran his palm over the neatly arranged documents. "This is your future," he replied in a melancholy voice as if he had guided tours here every day and was already tired of this question.

"This is what would happen if you woke up as Rick Stein," the man touched one of the folders, and it turned into dust right in front of Rick's eyes.

The palm of Marcus moved from document to document, and each of them crumbled to dust as if it were hundreds of thousands of years old, which after long storage had been pulled out into the scorching sun.

"But, as you can see, this information is no longer relevant," Marcus shook his hands, the bookcase, a minute ago filled with documents, was empty now. There was no trace of the papers.

Rick looked at the next shelves, each of them was marked with a certain date, it was duplicated several times and then moved to the next date. "That is, you want to say that these documents contain data on future events, and the date means a specific day?"

Marcus smiled, this collection of materials was his special pride and one of the most important secrets, if not the main one.

"Precisely, all that you see here is several thousand variants of events that may happen in the near future. As soon as one of them is implemented, I delete those that have not taken place and move on to the next part. What you see now is the twentieth of the original volume of this collection."

The man looked at the papers with a smile, from the side it seemed that he was absorbed in some pleasant memories connected with all this. He was relaxed, and the usual cold and hostility did not come from him. He seemed like a completely normal person.

Rick swallowed and took a deep breath, not only was this kind of openness not in the style of Marcus, but the new information was too unexpected for him. He was surrounded by the documents in which the future was recorded not only for him but also for everyone connected with him.

And what was most unusual, all documents ended on the same date. There were many options for folders with dates for other numbers, but they all boiled down to only one specific date. And until that date, three months remained.

The man raised his hand to touch this strange and mysterious folder, but the harsh voice of Marcus made him stop, "It's better not to."

"Why do you have notes until this day only? What is to happen in three months?"

"Believe me, you better not know," Marcus raised his head and narrowed his eyes, "But if you so burn with desire, go ahead. But the truth is, this will be the last thing you see in your life," he added and it was obvious that this person was not joking.

Rick once again looked at the document, after which he turned away and shrugged, "Nope, I'd rather wait. It's more interesting," he grinned and went back towards the exit.

"Hmm, this is more like Steiner I once used to know. A reasonable decision," Marcus replied and went after him.

The light in the room gradually went out and the last thing Rick could see before the door of the secret room slammed was a few scrolls neatly lying on one of the shelves. 'Wait a second, didn't they disappear in 1945 during the demolition of Wewelsburg Castle? Where did he get them from?'

Marcus noticed the slight confusion of his guest and grinned, "What? Did you see something interesting?"

"No, I just remembered that I hadn't finished my whiskey," Rick waved off and headed back to the chair, where an unfinished glass of alcoholic drink was waiting for him.

Marcus took another glass from the shelf and poured himself, after which he went to his table, sat down in a chair, and threw his legs on the table. In this position, he looked like an office clerk who had just finished his day. Relaxed and satisfied with his work.

"Why did you show me this?" Rick asked him after a brief pause. This question was in his head from the very moment he entered that room.

"Why? It's simple," Marcus took a sip and looked out the window.

The full moon was shining in the dark sky, its rays reflected on the glass, creating additional mystery. Night clouds slowly floated through the sky, driven by air currents. If they were alive, they would think that they were going their own way, and would not even notice that their entire path was initially subordinated to the power of the invisible wind.

"If it suddenly dawns on you to go against me, then, know that every move of yours, your every decision I will already know in advance. Whatever you decide to do, no matter how you all try, in the end, you will come exactly where I need you to come. You can think of anything, but a sheep-born can never become a shepherd," answered Marcus in a calm and confident voice. These words were enough to make Rick feel cornered.

And he was still wondering why this man today is in such an unusually good mood? Ha, yes, all this time they ran like laboratory rats through an artificial maze, hoping to find the right way out for salvation, and did not even realize that the invisible eye of the main experimenter from above followed their every move. And it doesn't matter which of the turns they choose to turn, in the end, they will go where he needs them to be. Because it was he who was the one who created this maze for them.

Rick closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"What about the Andersons? What are your plans for them?" he asked his last question.

Marcus was sitting with his back to the man, but Rick distinctly heard a slight laugh fall off his lips, "Are you talking about Elena and David? I prepared a very good present for them, believe me," the man answered, took a sip of whiskey and closed his eyes. His mood was just wonderful.

. . .

"I am asking again, who are you?!" David took a quick step toward Elena. For a long time, he has not felt so irritated. Not only did this kid brazenly squeezed in their house, but he also allowed himself to hang on Elena as if she were his best girlfriend.

The young man walked away from Elena and laughed out loud, "Ahaha, what a hoot! God, David, you haven't changed at all. Your possessiveness has gotten worse, tks, tsk," the guy shook his head as if he was lecturing Anderson as a little child.

He removed the cap from his head and ran a hand through his blue-black hair, in addition to his blue eyes, the appearance of a young man could be envied by models from glossy covers.

David stopped and exchanged glances with Daniel, now this stranger seemed to them not so unfamiliar.

"Um, Nick?" The brothers turned to the young man, but it was more like a question to themselves.

"At last! And a century has not passed!" the guy sighed with relief, "Seriously, I expected a warmer welcome," he defiantly pouted his lips and folded his arms over his chest.

Daniel wheeled and got up from his chair, "Goodness! Little boy Nicky, you're a hot guy! I didn't even recognize you," he hugged the young man tightly as if they had not seen each other for many years.

"Hey, hey, El, who is this?" Corey went to Elena and tugged at her sleeve. This handsome man in the middle of the room made quite a stir in the early morning.

"Hmm, as I understand it, it's Nick Anderson, the cousin of David and Daniel. He is the youngest son of their father's brother, but I have never met their family. They are famous archaeologists and are constantly at some excavations, and Nick has been traveling with them on all trips since childhood.

So Dina told me," explained Elena and Corey remembered that Daniel's mother actually somehow spoke about these relatives who are never at home.

"But what the hell are you doing here? Why aren't you with uncle Jack? Aren't your parents somewhere in Africa now?" David asked.

His irritation was practically nullified, but he did not expect to see the cousin, whom he had not crossed with for seven years, so mature. In his memory, Nick Anderson was an angular teenager with glasses, obsessed with ancient civilizations.

Nick plopped down on the sofa and lazily crossed his legs, "I ran away. This African sun adversely affects my beautiful young skin. Moreover, my girlfriend is now in America and I decided to kill two birds with one stone in one fell swoop. So in the next three months, I plan to hang out with you until my folks return from the trip."

Nick yawned and squeezed his neck, "And why didn't they have first class on the plane? Now my whole back is aching."

David glanced at his younger brother, in whom the feeling of constraint was apparently genetically absent. "Who said that I will let you live in my house for three months? Look, go live to Daniel's."

"What? Why does he have to go to my place? He came here," the latter was immediately indignant. Their relationship with Corey had just moved to a new level and an extra guest in the house was not part of his plans.

"You have a free room."

"You have one too," Daniel was not about to give up so easily.

"So, let's not argue. All right, everybody, to the table, now, then we'll deal with the rest," Elena commanded, the landlady decided to take everything into her own hands, otherwise, these fraternal skirmishes could last forever.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Nick jumped off the couch and rushed to the exit. He pulled his suitcase into the house and began poking around in his backpack, "So, where was that damn thing?"

Headphones, an inflatable pillow, a game console, the last Playboy number and some strange rubbish flew from the backpack onto the sofa, until he reached the bottom. "Oh, I found it!"

The young man pulled out a tube and threw it to David, who caught it on the fly. "What is this?" he asked his cousin, opening the tube case.

Nick tilted his head to the side and smiled mysteriously, "A present."

David pulled out the contents of the tube case and his eyes widened in surprise.

In his hands was nothing but an ancient scroll. The same as those that Elena saw in their common past.

The past, which they tried so hard to forget.