“Are we sure this is it?” Wes asked at a building on the other side of the park.

           Colin replied, “I think it is, dude. It says ‘Desert Tree Elementary’ over the door.”

           “I see that, but it’s five stories tall and huge. Is the playground inside? Do schools still have playgrounds? Is… Ah. It looks like it’s fenced in, on the roof. I even see trees up there. Huh… I wonder if Celly’s old Sherman Miller is still around, too.”

           School must have gotten out recently, and a few of the straggler or after-school activity kids were still heading off. Their clothes were colorful and expressive, and some of the jackets had LEDs in the collar. As it was drizzling, several students opened up see-through umbrellas with more lights in their handles. Some of the better-dressed kids even had anti-grav-drone-operated umbrellas that hovered over and followed them.

           “Think those are fifth-graders?” Arthur wondered. He ran some numbers in his head, adding, “Heh, wow, they’d be 888 generations past us. I dunno, Wes, you were always talking about exploits being passed down, but I don’t think even Zach’s name is whispered in those hallways anymore by this point. I’m glad physical schools still exist, instead of going all virtual or something. Nothing beats in-person… Hey, what’s that?”

           Security seemed either unseen or no longer needed in this era, so the group had no problem going up to a plinth in the middle of the front walkway. Encased in the glass atop it was a historical piece of worn stone, engraved with the words, “To Love To Learn,” and “Established 1976.” This hit all seven of the alumni in the feels.

           “Is that… the original?” Warren murmured, next to his excited dad.

           “It’s… over nine centuries old,” Laurie added. “Our history teacher did say that stone is the ultimate material for preservation. Think of all the students that have walked under it. Or around it, now.” She turned to the older Millie. “Had you seen this already?”

           “Yeah… I, uh… visited on my third day here,” she admitted. “It’s crazy to think about, but… Nyra told me she actually attended, too. Third to fifth, after she moved to Royal Valley from her space station. This is the fourth version of the building.”

           “Heh, that makes her one of us, then,” Little Millie remarked. “Hey. You still like her, don’t you? I’d know when we’re trying to be angry, but feel guilty about it.”

           “Before she dropped that bombshell, I almost…” She shook the thoughts out of her head. “Mill, don’t act like you have any idea yet what it’s like being an adult.”

           “Why do I have to be ‘Mill’? If Wes was Wessy, you should be… Eh, who cares.”

           Everyone next used some of their free time for a little needed stress relief at the park, close to the school. The adults were taking a casual stroll on one of the shorter paths—and observing the locals without making it weird—despite the ongoing sprinkles coming from an increasingly darkening sky. Meanwhile, Warren was off being a broody older teenager by skipping rocks into a pond. Jace, Mill, and Laurie watched them all from a bench that had its own shelter… also lit up with copious light strips.

           “The tall future buildings, I can handle,” Mill said to end the quietness. “What’s weird is seeing Royal Valley this green and humid.” She leaned forward and looked at Laurie. “So… you’re Lex’s kid, and Jace’s best friend, huh? We… didn’t really get to know each other over pizza back at game night. I’m slow to introductions.”

           “Yeah,” Laurie sighed, her eyes stuck on one person in particular. “We’ve had each other’s backs since preschool… And Warren was there a lot, too.”

           “Lor, I know you’ve been trying to tell me something,” Jace mentioned. “Now seems to be a good time, while it’s just us. Millie will go away if you tell her to.”

           “N-no… it’s fine.” She squirmed a bit. “It’s just… Ever since sixth grade—on the very first day, when Warren came to school with that new haircut…”

           Jace smirked a little. “You like him, don’t ya? But you haven’t told him yet.”

           With Millie now mildly invested, Laurie blushed furiously, buried her face in her hands in embarrassment, and replied, “Agh, Jace! I wanted to say it! It’s so stupid… But seeing what he’ll be like in another three years, I realized… it makes me like him even more. I can’t help how I feel! It’s not that I’m overly nervous about telling the guy this stuff—maybe just the usual amount of nervous—it’s more… not wanting to hurt you.”

           “You think I’d be mad because you ‘chose him over me?’ Laurie, I know what it’s like to have feelings for someone, across two groups of friends from as many decades. And it’s a lot more complicated and scarier than the way you see a good buddy. We’ll always have what we got. Crushes are tough. If you wanna go for it… good luck.”

           “But… how do I say it? He’s the kind that would laugh it off as a joke.”

           “You’ve been given an opportunity here,” Millie said with a shrug. “This will all be like some forgotten dream once we go home. Sounds like you get a free test run.”

           “Hm. I guess there really isn’t any harm in just seeing how he’d react…” Laurie looked at Jace and Millie anxiously. “But not right away! I still have to work up to it.”

           Downtown Royal Valley in the late afternoon was a dense, unfamiliar metropolis. The city the group once knew only had a few skyscrapers; here, there were dozens, made out of ultra-strong and strange modern materials that let them easily reach great heights. Some had large footprints, others were narrow, and several were a kilometer tall with tops that vanished into the clouds, their neo-neon lights glowing in the gray canopy.

           Still, there remained plenty of smaller venues between the monoliths, and among the restaurants and stores was a marble building that Millie had led everyone to—partly because she knew it’d be interesting, and partly because Wes had scheduled a meeting with someone he had longed to talk to, and this was the place they had chosen.

           “A technology and engineering museum?” Warren said in the lobby after they stepped inside. “This… could be cool. The history of… things. Maybe this is where the toy museum used to be? Millie, does this place have anything we would’ve used?”

           “Sure does,” she replied. “Our things were made of stuff that lasts a long time. CDs and DVDs, video games and consoles, smart phones and computers… Along with a bunch of weird junk between then and now that I still can’t really comprehend.”

           “Oh, man. Arty, Wes… we’re in heaven,” Colin gushed. “Centuries of tech!” He looked at the holographic map display, the lobby centerpiece. “Three floors of it!”

           “I wouldn’t be surprised if some of Wes’ old ‘sacred icons’ made it this far and are on display,” Arthur chuckled. “Will Nyra’s, uh, ‘creds’ cover our tickets?”

           “With enough left over for the gift store,” Millie assured everyone.

           Wes studied the interactive map, and as Millie got a batch of holofoil tickets, he explained to the group, “Hey. I have a little meeting here, but they only agreed if I went alone. I’m not sure how long our chat will last, but I’ll catch up as soon as I can.”

           Jace and Warren glanced at one another, and Jace asked, “Can you tell us who?”

           “Malcolm Corathine. I know things in ’96 ended without us really needing to find him, but he still feels like a dangling thread, ya know? I mean… since I’m already here.”

           “Oh… All right. Tell us how it goes—maybe he’ll offer ‘wisdom’ or something.”

           Wes smiled, though nervously since he was anxious about the meeting, and then Laurie asked once he had walked off, “Corathine? Is he that André guy’s dad, or…?”

           “Grandpa,” Warren explained. “He was a university professor, until Old Wes got him involved in his plans. We looked for him… but it turned out he was here all along.”

           The building’s basement was basic and spartan, and the sign above the entrance labeled it as a “Calm Room.” Its walls were covered in stone carvings and a curtain of falling water, and a walkway led to a concrete island with a single bench, in the middle of a sandy Zen garden. There was no music or sound, other than the moving water.

           “A calm room, huh…” Wes murmured to himself as he approached a lone figure hunched over on the bench. “For destressing? Wonder if a lot of buildings have one…”

           “They’re common, yes,” said the hoarse voice of the person with a big overcoat and light-lined cane. “Moments of mindfulness aren’t merely a ‘practice’ in this era. They have become as ubiquitous as sleep and eating. So, Mr. Colton… we meet again.”

           Wes joined him on the bench and studied the wrinkled, bearded face of an old man who had a public access show and taught at the university centuries ago. Who also had theories about time travel, and ended up helping another Wes with his plans.

           “I was looking for you,” Wes said. “Was. Can I ask about what you remember?”

           “Your visits in the late 80s. One of which must’ve been from you. A few years after that, the other Mr. Colton brought me to this period after being sent here via the project he worked on with my grandson. Yes, yes… My memory is still quite intact.”

           “I’m just wondering how you’d remember all of that, if my older self now never time travels to begin with. I was told about reconciled deviation, but… It’s a lot.”

           Malcolm shifted in his seat to look at Wes, wearing a senior’s smirk. “I’ve been here since I arrived, and changes in history take time to propagate through… time. So, yes, the memories I possess of you bringing me here have yet to leave me. Whether or not I simply poof back to 1992 or beyond when that wave arrives… I’m not sure yet.”

           “I think… I just want to take this chance to apologize for everything. I was going down a path of poisonous nostalgia and ego. He got his son involved; I did the same thing with my nephew. But the trip, both when I’m aware of it and not, was worth it.”

           “Time travel is infinitely fascinating. It’s too bad it’s also equally as dangerous. Learned your lesson, then? Do you think it reached your core, to change you forever?”

           “Hope so. I got over my self-doubts, regrets… My past. Now I’m trying to make my future, looking for new inspiration. I’m in the right year for it, but the wrong place.”

           “Oh, I don’t know. Museums and history are rich with fresh perspectives.”

           “Maybe you could show me your favorite displays. And then join us for dinner?”

           Malcolm took him up on the offer, and a couple hours later, one of the city’s oldest and wisest, if not eccentric, local historians and science-lovers was telling tales at a rooftop restaurant on the top of a tall mega-building. It was enclosed in glass given the altitude, and every few minutes, another shuttle would blast off from the launch tower in the distance, its fusion rockets briefly lighting up the twilight sky.

           “Oh, I did indeed know Hadron McMare,” Malcolm said to everyone at the large table as soft, jazzy music played from the packed room’s holographic piano. “He visited my class several times, and when I was young, I frequented the city’s only ever casino that he helped manage. Not to gamble, mind you. But its bar had the best Scotch. He kept in touch with everyone from the valley’s ‘golden age,’ hundreds of people.”

           “I keep forgetting that you’re from an entirely different generation than Millie and her friends,” Nyra said as the food arrived. “You saw Royal Valley in the fifties…”

           “Heck,” he laughed, “I was fifty in the fifties. Oh, this dish is just delightful.”

           “It all looks surprisingly… familiar,” Colin noted, studying the plates full of meats or pasta. “Guess I was expecting, I dunno, noodles suspended in blue gelatin, or food cubes. Or live worms. Anyway. Thanks for dinner, Nyra. Shame Jared isn’t here.”

           She replied, “You can get stuff like that at other restaurants; this place has the classics. As for Jared—I was about to tell you, he was released an hour ago, but he wasn’t in a hurry to come down just yet. He was all like, ‘are you kidding? I’m on a space station!”

           “Wait, wait—a space station?” Arthur exclaimed just before he took a bite.

           “I didn’t mention that? Yeah, the TMB headquarters is on a large orbital. That’s where the three remaining daemons operate, and where dangerous time-criminals are held. See, Malcolm, they thought he was in league with ‘Bad Millie.’ She’s been causing trouble for a while, jumping across time with a stolen quartz.”

           “Nyra…” Jace spoke up between bites. “I gotta say, as someone who didn’t grow up in the 90s, but definitely noticed how people talk and dress back then, it’s almost like you grew up right alongside Wes. And then time-traveled here like he did.”

           “Thank you.” She grinned. “A lot of travelers do try to emulate the scenes from their favorite eras. Before I joined the force, I grew up watching ancient movies, and playing all those simple games from the time. Again, every last decade of a century interests me, but among all those 90-somethings between the time horizons… Whew.”

           Malcolm wondered, “What is it about the 1990s? I don’t think I ever asked you. Granted, I only saw its first couple of years, but I’ve caught up on history while here.”

           “Themes and attitudes of pop culture comes in cycles and waves, like nations and beliefs at large have over the centuries. What’s truly unique about the 1990s is the rise of the net and its stone age days. You had the last generation—Wes and his friends—that knew of a time before it and then lived through its implementation into everyday life. They’d grow up with a nostalgia for the simpler times of the old world’s last breaths, but also looked to the future in both fear and excitement. And partly since now everything is networked, I find their time period… endlessly fascinating.”

           Wes replied after a moment, “As I was walking the museum today, I was thinking more and more that you might see me like some relic myself. A quaint antique.”

           “Not at all! Relics are dead and dusty; time travel turns history into a living thing, like everyone who has lived in the past eight centuries continues to do so and is there to visit and talk to. Before wiping their memories, in most cases, sure, but you said it yourself—your generation had dreamed up the future and saw what was possible, even if you didn’t have the science yet. So, ya know, you’re not some medieval peasant who confuses our tech for magic. Actually, on the subject… I whipped something up today while I was on hold with headquarters.”