“That’s some choice. First I’ll need some time to think about whether I want to witness my own death,” exclaimed Ed, pensively.
“It certainly is. In your own time, young man,” replied Jahani, leaving a moment for some quiet reflection. Ed sat down by the side of the tunnel, head in hands doing an accurate impersonation of Socrates. Jahani stood motionless and quiet, looking the other way, with Ed in his peripheral vision.
“You mentioned that something can go wrong. What could that be?” enquired Ed, looking up at the gent.
“In this case, with all your information, I think we’re pretty safe. Normally I can’t be sure of an exact time because I don’t have enough information. Worst case scenario you can land months or years out and it’s then really hard to come back round and do this all again because the whole personal time continuum gets really messed up. Also, I’ve no idea how you will manifest. You could become a snail. It all gets much harder to predict and therefore harder to be accurate,” replied Jahani.
“You have to hope you don’t become a fish.”
“Yeah, I might very well get eaten though.”
“That’s true. I just wanted you to be clear of the risks anyway.”
Ed sat thoughtfully.
“I can see the risks. I’m prepared to take them though. I’ve come this far, so why shouldn’t I push the boat out further?” stated Ed confidently, as he got to his feet.
“Right, in that case let’s go then. We need to walk along to the fifty-seventh tunnel going against the time flow. I’m pretty sure this will set you up a day or so before your first death.”
The two of them began walking along the tunnel.
“Don’t we need my things?” enquired Ed, stopping in his tracks looking back at the articles.
“No. They stay on the dividing line until you’ve gone, then they just disappear into thin air. I have no idea why,” replied Jahani.
“How come you know about all this stuff anyway, like a wise sage, or wizard or something?” enquired Ed.
“It’s just that I’ve been here for a long time and have been interested enough to experiment. Maybe there are other places like this in other tunnels. I don’t know. Anyway, I would send people off who were interested and when and if they came back, I would remember the data and in that way I built up a library of information in my head.”
“How could you remember all that? It must be an astounding number of equations?”
“I don’t know. I must have an elephant’s memory or something. That’s what one girl called it. Anyway, I started to get more and more accurate with it all.”
Soon they had arrived at tunnel fifty-seven and stood staring into the sloping chute.
“I can’t believe it, it looks so long.”
“Yes, indeed. It won’t be any different for you from before though. There’ll be a similar white light and deafening wind noise. I think you’re used to it by now.”
“Thanks, Jahani. I know the drill. I’ve become quite fond of tornadoes,” replied Ed ironically, still gazing into the daunting-looking opening, a terrifying and infinite well of darkness. He could feel his heart pounding faster and faster, throbbing at his chest as if there was an angry boxer inside. His stomach churned as his legs felt drained of strength, although still able to shake nervously at both knees. He was aware of what a big moment this was for him. All his endeavours and pursuits as a Transient had led him to this point. It wasn’t long before he came to his senses and slapped the fear around its face with a determined fist of rational awareness.
The two men stood in silence for a while, Ed staring down chute fifty-seven and Jahani staring at Ed, giving him time to come to terms with the task at hand.
The silence didn’t last long.
“The time has come. You should go now. I wish you all the luck possible. Maybe I’ll see you again.”
“Maybe. We’ll see,” replied Ed, as he sat down on the edge of the selected portal before slipping himself in and disappearing like a rocket-propelled skier down a steep slope. He remained fully conscious when he sped out of the entrance and slammed into the powerful contrary flow, thumping to what felt like a 100mph emergency stop against a brick wall. Everything froze; time and space stood completely still.
***
Soon he became aware of people floating slowly past him, looking like they’d been filmed with super slow motion cameras as they drifted eerily along. He started to spin, arms and legs outstretched like a big star. Faster and faster he span as the noise of the wind became overwhelming. Soon it engaged all its might and the familiar rapid flow of movement started to overcome his senses.