Shadows of the Future

"Will you stop rubbing your breasts?" I grumble at Alley while leading her towards the underground monorail platform, "Its really gross."

Alley scowls accusingly at me as she kneads her boobs, wincing in pain, "My chest is sore. Did you do anything to me while I was unconscious?"

"I most certainly did not." I deny, telling the truth, if not the whole truth. A mutual friend had provided a number of enhancements to Alley while she was sleeping. The soreness she's complaining about must be a residual effect from the surgery. As to why enhancing Alley had become necessary, it all boiled down to the possibility of Celeste having taken over the topside of The City. Even assuming that Celeste's attention would be fully on me the moment I emerge on the surface, Alley's chances of completing her part of the mission were low. She needed the upgrades The Voice had installed to stand even a fighting chance.

Of course I could not just say all this to Alley. First of all, she had lived her entire life in ignorance regarding the conflict between The Voice and Fate. Alley would most probably just dismiss my account of events as a pack of fanciful lies. More dangerous would be Alley actually believing me. If she got herself captured and began to squeal, Fate would know about The Voice's control over the Sarcophagus and certainly contest it. There would be no safe place for me to retreat to, if things went pear shaped. All in all, keeping Alley in the dark was the better choice overall.

The monorail glides smoothly to a stop at the platform in front of us and the doors open with a hiss. I hand over the small cardboard box and the bag of cash in my hands to Alley.

"You have the address?" I ask for confirmation, "Clear on what you need to do?"

Alley nods, her face a mask of concentration, "Take the shuttle to Six Trees platform. Leave the Sarcophagus using the Inclinator. Then go to the Hills building."

I give a thumbs up, "Full marks. You know which building I'm talking about right? The one with the offices and shopping center? What comes after that?"

Alley frowns slightly as she answers my little pop quiz, "Go to the basement car park. There's an office lot inside. Plug in whatever is inside this box into the data port there. That's all right?"

I give a thumbs up, "Bravo. The key to the office is inside the box. Alright, get going. And drop that look on your face. Its not as if I'm asking you to do something illegal."

Alley narrows her eyes in annoyance as she quibbles, "Then why don't you do it yourself then?"

"Because I'll be busy with something else." I roll my eyes, "Once you are done with the job, you can head home or back to the Academy or whatever. Unless you want to join me later?"

"No! Anything but that." Alley dismisses with an awkward movement of her hand carrying the box, "I'll be leaving then." She quickly steps into the shuttle and the doors shut with finality, before the shuttle itself charges down the line, disappearing into the darkness. Godspeed you saggy, jiggly old woman. Not that anyone would know now that you have cast your illusions. May your adventure last longer than your husband's who got himself eaten by lions at the glorified safari park.

"Why were Alley's tits so sore anyway?" I ask The Voice as I begin heading back to the control station.

The Voice rasps, "I had replaced Mrs Alley's breast implants with a set made out of the same composite material used in your new armor. She is probably still getting used to the change in weight and balance of her breasts."

"Uh, why did you do that?" I mutter dumbfounded, "What do breast implants have to do with anything?"

"If the servant has indeed taken over The City, Mrs Alley will immediately be subject to psychic attack the moment she leaves the Inclinator." The Voice explains, "The upgraded breast implants serve the same function as your armor, shielding Mrs Alley from the servant's malign influence."

"Makes sense I suppose." I grunt in the affirmative, "I'm surprised that Alley went along with so little complaints though. I thought that another stern talking to would be needed."

"Again, you can thank the breast implants for Mrs Alley's amenable behavior." The Voice rumbles, "The implants are a divine mark of sorts, fortifying Mrs Alley's willpower and determination."

"And her loyalty to you as well?" I ask, raising an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Actually no." The Voice denies, "Mrs Alley already knows on a subconscious level that her well being completely hinges on our victory. As one of our collaborators, she would not survive for long in a world ruled by Fate."

I open the door to the control room while considering what The Voice just said. It sounds true on the basic level, but there's also something off about the explanation, as if The Voice is omitting something important.

"How would Alley know all that sub-consciously, when she is obviously ignorant?" I probe, "You telling me that her mind can draw conclusions from connections that don't exist?"

"How do I put this?" The Voice muses, "It sounds strange to you because you are an outsider to this reality. You are aware that destiny is a force in this dimension, correct?"

"Well, duh." I agree, "That has been fairly obvious."

"Then this explanation will be simple." The Voice sighs in relief at the realization that giving me the skinny won't take too much effort on its part.

"Think back to when you first met the Hero." The Voice picks up the thread once more, "You correctly guessed his identity as the Hero, despite never meeting him before and with no hints from me. You were manifestly ignorant at that point in time, yet you figured out one of the world's secrets. How?"

"Because he looked like the Hero." I point out, "Tensei is so obviously a hero character. The signs were all there."

"What signs?" The Voice presses.

"His distinctive looks for one." I say, "Then the really unusual spirit core. It all screams 'main character' or 'hero'. You know what I mean?"

"There are mundane explanations for those observations." The Voice rasps, "The Hero could merely be a handsome young man. An unusual spirit core also is not proof of his identity as the world's hero. It could merely be what it is, an unusual spirit core."

I walk into the control room and pull out a chair, assuming the pose of the famous Thinker.

"Your counterpoint has a problem." I shoot back, "You can't look at the signs in isolation. It all has to be taken in as a whole."

"Indeed." The Voice agrees, "Odd pieces of information considered as a whole can lead to unexpected revelations. It is the same with Mrs Alley. Destiny is not a clean process Transmigrator. It is possible to alter its course, and with every twist, destiny leaves traces of itself in the world, minute glimpses of a future that might be."

"No way." I snort, "What I am talking about is regular deduction, not some mystical crap."

"Can you deny it Transmigrator?" The Voice laughs, "Your battle with Master Chance had the mark of destiny on it. The distant past finally catching up to the present, and with that birthing a new future. A future where Master Chance is dead. The signs, as you put it, were all there. You just did not notice them."

I sink into the chair, contemplating The Voice's words. Damn, all this suddenly getting way too complicated.

"Back to the topic at hand." The Voice continues, "I had examined Mrs Alley's brain activity and can confirm that despite her waspish behavior, she is not hostile or fearful towards you, unlike before. Such a huge change in attitude can only come from an equally large switch in perspective."

"Future sight? Really?" I query, not quite accepting this explanation. It sounds a bit too far fetched for my taste.

"Not exactly." The Voice clarifies, "The future cast shadows on us all. This shadow does not allow true clairvoyance, after all you cannot truly know something that does not yet exist. However it can form the basis of an educated guess."

"A glimpse of what may be?" I mutter, recalling what The Voice said earlier.

"A moment of insight." The Voice elaborates, "Frequently misunderstood, mostly incomplete and always distorted. The subconscious mind is not a particularly able interlocutor. Nevertheless, a nugget of truth can be extracted from its wanderings."

I purse my lips. I had seen this world as a VN world, or something that played very close to the same rules. Babbling about magical realism aside, The Voice was talking about something really not all that outlandish. The shadow of the future, cast on the past.

Foreshadowing in other words.

Then a memory hits me as sweat beads my brow. The memory of the dream I had while unconscious. And what The Voice had said to me in that dream.

We will never be through Transmigrator.

Never.

Ever.

My mouth goes dry. Is this my destiny? To choose between slavery or death? A news broadcast plays on the control terminal, running a repeat of the report showing the Hero's grand reappearance before the public. There's a still shot being displayed on the screen, of the Hero on his knees, cradling a bloodstained corpse swaddled in a wedding gown.

"I remember Big Tits being alive." I say cautiously.

"Something must have happened." The Voice answers indifferently, "It is of no concern though. Master Chance is dead. There is no longer any reason for us to tolerate a complicating factor such as Irene Scott."

No longer.

Tolerate.

Complicating factor.

Its the same reasoning The Voice used in my dream to justify having me killed. So, is that my glimpse of insight?

But where do I go from here?