Mirai 097

A rustling sound begins to break the silence. It stops, then the sound of a zipper slowly being undone. The rustling begins again as if clothes were moving, as if someone is changing. Crimzon begins to open his eyes, with his vision blurred he can see someone moving in the corner. Realizing that someone is in his room jumps up stunning a young woman half dressed in a t-shirt. Using her fingers she fixes her hair and smiles.

“Sorry to wake you Crimzon. Just came by to get a few things and I’ll be on my way.”

The woman looks sounds familiar and as his vision begins to focus, he realizes, “Wait! Aren’t you Mirai? The one I put into my car? What are you doing here?”

“Oh, so it is you!” Mirai jumps at Crimzon hugging him tightly, “I thought you died, but your conscious came here.”

Crimzon pulls back, “What happened? I did die! What exactly is going on?”

Eager and excited Mirai pulls out her Radial, pushes a button to prompt a display.

“Okay I can explain briefly, but I have to meet my future self and report what happened.”

“What did happen? And are you related to the Mirai in the other room? Wha…What is going on?”

Mirai sits next to Crimzon and leans her head on his shoulder, then makes eye contact searching his eyes. Mirai’s eyes focus intently and flickers a purple tint and then back to normal. Crimzon’s eyes flickers a light red in his left eye and his left eye a purple tint.

“I can’t believe it actually is you. We found ‘you’. I can’t stay though I must tell the others about Ken!”

Crimzon grabs her arm as Mirai gets up, “Hey! I need to know what is going on. Does the Mirai in the other room know who I really am?”

Mirai looks at the display and sends a message. She ponders her next step anxiously until a message displays. Mirai reads the message and replies quickly, then prompts open the image of Ken up to display.

“Okay, I’ll explain what I can I’m allotted some time to fill you in as this has been a rare occurrence. The Mirai in the other room knows who you are but doesn’t know there are ‘others’ of herself. We have not revealed ourselves to her yet, so you cannot say anything to her until we do, promise?!”

“Okay, I promise…Wait how many of you are there?”

“As many as there are infinite timelines?” Mirai gives a sarcastic smile. “The rest of me, we, have been looking for versions of you that did not die. And with as many of us there are someone who keeps killing you, and it’s ‘Ken’.”

“Why is he hunting me?”

“He comes from a timeline in which a version of ‘you’, killed ‘me’, and in that timeline, that ‘Mirai’ had a brother, ‘Ken’. Hell bent on revenge he’s been trying to go in-between timelines to kill every version of you.”

“Great. But why would I kill a version of you? I don’t know you. I don’t know you in my world and I don’t know you in this world.”

Mirai is a little taken back and becomes a little somber. “I’ve known you for all of my life. Everywhere I ‘jumped’ as you call it, you always helped me no matter what age I am. It all started a very long time ago when I first met you in the ‘garden’, you died for me there. I didn’t know what this power was until you helped me. Every chance I get to find you, most times you die.”

“Do I die because of this man called ‘Ken’?” Crimzon tries to recall any memory of Mirai and Ken, “Why does Ken have a mechanical arm?”

“Well, first, yes you die because of Ken. Second a version of you cut his arm off. The mechanical arm was one that someone made for him. We haven’t tracked down any connections to the arm of where he got it or how.”

“Does Ken have the same powers as you? Can he ‘jump’ and how are you able to know who I am in thisbody?”

“Ken does not have the same powers as I do. We still don’t know why you killed that version of me, and how he’s able to find you other than following one of me. I can ‘jump’ to another timeline, but I would end up randomly anywhere at any timeline. Until a version of you helped make this.”

Mirai pulls out another device from her bag, a wrist device that looks very similar to the Radial. It has a circular component that she can dial. Mirai puts it on, and the display pops up an image and she uses the dial to scroll through different timelines with a summarized information brief.

Mirai smiles at Crimzon, “You know this version of you got really smart and well, he became an engineer. A couple of us helped too and we named the device, Echo. With Echo we can plot points and map throughout the timelines where we are and where other versions of you are. We can also take a blood sample of you and insert it into Echo which will diagnose you and also help pinpoint your spiritual reflections throughout the timelines.”

“Earlier with the eyes, yours seemed like they ‘flickered’, and a purple tint showed on your eyes before it went back to normal. Is that some kind of device like lenses over your eyes?”

“No. That happens when I see a version of you. When we met in the garden, you saved my life and kind of died. I can’t go into detail about that right now, but since then I had some of our blood get into mine, now it’s how we can recognize if we’re really who we are. My eyes have a purple tint because I ‘Phase Jump’ between the timelines. Your eyes also ‘flicker’ one red and one purple; purple because you can Phase Jump and red because of your innate power, which we don’t know what that is yet.”

“Wait, I can Phase Jump? Can you explain how I got here? And why here?”

Mirai checks her time and begins suiting up, “Okay, I got a few minutes then I must go. Yes, you can Phase Jump, but it’s been minimal from what we’ve experienced. One of our hypotheses is that throughout the timelines your consciousness can ‘Jump’ to another body to exist, so when I last saw you at the beach your consciousness pulled you to this world. Why?! Probably to prevent you from dying. We’re not certain what caused it.”

“Okay that makes sense, theoretically.”

“Oh, has anyone told you about Atlas in this world?”

“Not really. All I know is that it appears to be like a global federation or organization.”

“Yes. When you meet with Lori, ask her about Atlas. There is a material that her kingdom has full access to, Luminous, and they are trying to steward the output. They’re in the right for being cautious with Atlas. It could be weaponized, but not till a couple of years from now.”

“Do you know what happened to Irin in this world? And will I see you again?”

“We do, but I can’t tell you. Those events must happen on its own, if not you could lose Irin. ‘Will you see me again’, Yes and no. I’m always around because we’re always searching for you. You may see different variations of me, and if you do meet different Me’s , we gave ourselves numbers to differentiate where we originated from. I am Mirai-097, hence the number on my suit.”

Mirai points to the part of her leg that show the 097 number marked vertical down her leg, and the lapel of her coat. She grabs a lightweight helmet that flattens as she attached it to her back and snaps on the rest of her equipment including the Echo. As she puts on her jacket, a liquid-like substance liquifies up to her neck materializing a transparent eye visor.

Crimzon races through all the information that was told to him by Mirai. He takes a deep breath and attempts to piece everything together. “How many of me are left?”

Mirai finalizes her equipment checks and begins to calculate her next Jump.

“There is enough of you left to exist. That’s all we know. Once it gets to a certain threshold then there may be radical consequences that even we may not know. Remember don’t tell the Mirai in this world what you know, you’ll freak her out especially about us. Let us do it in the time we do.”

Crimzon can only accept the insight Mirai-097 has given to him. “Okay. Be careful out there, Mirai.”

Mirai was about to hit the button to initiate her Jump and hearing that she pauses and turns to embrace Crimzon. “I was able to get away from Ken on the beach as he was driving. I came looking for you to make sure you’re safe. Try to stay alive. In this world, you’ll see soon enough at the Rite, you’re going to love your abilities. You always do.”

Puzzled Crimzon begins to think what she could be talking about. Just as Mirai is ready, *pzzzzt*, *fzzzt* static can be heard through her equipment. Mirai adjusts her equipment, then “Mirai-097 come in, this is Chaotic. Need assistance.”

Communication is becoming choppy. Mirai nods to Crimzon she must go, “I have to go. Chaotic is a version of me by the way. We always gamed with you to be close to you. Stick with Lori and the others, they could use your help! I’ll see you soon.”

Mirai locks in on her display and scrolls the destination on the Echo and pushes the center. A low hum begins as a portal in front of her opens. A liquid rises from her neck to cover her throat, mouth, and nose materializing into a mask that connects with the visor. She makes eye contact one more time, with her eyes watering up she waves and walks through the portal. As Mirai walks through, Crimzon can see other figures approaching Mirai greeting her as though they know her. They must be some of the other versions of her. The portal is a spectrum of colors hinging close to a blue, nothing can be made out as long streaks of light are streaking by. As Mirai meets her other variants, they all turn back to the portal and casually wave as the portal blinks closed.

Crimzon sits in his room as the wind from the portal comes to a halt. Intaking all the information Mirai-097 told him. Aiko and Crimzon’s hypothesis of the consciousness drawing into the body a consciousness from another world appears to be more probable with everything Mirai was able to tell him.

“Chaotic? From Freedom, from Sanctum of Nine? That was Mirai?”