Chapter 3: The 47 times Max abused her Rewind powers and the one time she didn't
Now: Annoy the hell out of medical holograms day
"How do you feel about beans?" Max asked as her attending physician studied some read outs.
"That's not a name."
"No its a food," Max said. "If you like Beans then Frank is the perfect name for you, if you don't its clearly out."
"I have no feeling about beans one way or another."
"Okay so not Frank," Max said. "Honestly I don't think you're cool enough to be an Evan, too cool to be a Warren. I know how about Pompidou?"
"That sounds like a dog's name."
"Pompidou was a very well respected resident of Arcadia Bay until he passed away in 2017."
"And how many legs did this resident have?"
"Four."
"And how many tails?"
"One."
"I highly doubt people would take me seriously if I named myself after a dog."
"Come on Pompidou was great," Max said insistently. "Reaffirmed my faith in Dog several times."
"Truly the twenty-first century became even more backwards than the twentieth."
"Hey we only had one world war thank you very much," Max complained. "Well what about last names, have you thought of any of them?"
"Actually I have one I just don't want to use it yet," the doctor said as he turned and prepared a cortical scanner.
"Why not?"
"A stubborn family matter."
"A stubborn family then?"
The Doctor seemed content to ignore the question..
"Now Max," he said. "This is going to scan your brain."
"Didn't you do that yesterday?"
"Yes but that was a standard health check up," the Doctor explained. "This is going to actively search for Chronitons and a few other things that relate to time travel."
"And Chronitons are bad?"
"Merely a particle associated with time travel," The Doctor said.
Clare Raymond came in while the Doctor was looking at the initial readings. Clare almost burst out laughing when she saw the look on Max's face who was studying the screen over the Doctor shoulder. It was as if Max's face was able to perfectly reflect the blank her mind must be drawing.
"I take it science and math aren't your strong points," Clare said startling Max slightly.
"Uh..what...uh good morning Clare," Max said. "I guess I've always been more of a student of the humanities...shit is that cultural insensitive? I mean the doc here introduced me to Doctor Xerex and he seemed like a pretty regular guy. In fact I did met stranger people in college. I hope I didn't commit some faux pas, I just don't know how to maintain eye contact with someone who has compound eyes."
"Hey its okay you'll get used to it all," Clare said. "I did, we'll discuss this at a later date though. Any way how did your discussion with the Doctor about the current state of the art scene go?"
"Quite well," Max said. "I have a few places to check out once the investigation is finished, I'm particularly looking forward to seeing some of Torah Zihyal's work up close. My first instinct is to compare it to Kate Marsh's work from her depressive periods but that would be doing both artists a disservice. Besides I knew Kate so I know that the dark works only exist to show how much better she is in what I called her story book mode."
"And did the Doctor show you any of his own work?"
"Loved the away mission selfies," Max said. "You can see how happy he is to be out in the world. Not so fond of the hyper posed group shots of his friends though."
"Not this again," the Doctor said not looking away from the screen.
"Doc the woman with the forehead deal looked like she was going to throw her kid at you," Max said. "And the kid wouldn't have complained by the looks of it."
"It took me five minutes to get that holophoto."
"That was the problem," Max said. "Let me offer you some advice, remember I may look eighteen but I have fifty plus years of experience with this medium, one work out the pose first, even for ordinary everyday mementos like that one, it will save you time and tears. Two don't get all arts-y if its not appropriate for the situation, finding the right lens, great for those microcosm in macrocosm series you showed me, not so great for a reunion. And finally know when not to take the shot. Others will say always take the shot but I can tell you that's complete bullshit."
"You use a lot of profanity," The Doctor commented.
"I've earned it kid," Max said.
"That reminds me I've had some thoughts on your age decrease," he said. "I should have some answers for that soon."
"Anything else Doctor?" Clare asked.
"No Max is free to go," the Doctor said. "This scan isn't showing anything I haven't seen already."
Clare considered for a moment.
"Max would you please do that gesture you did yesterday?" Clare asked.
"They aren't back," Max insisted.
"Nether the less it would probably be best for the doctor to get a reading of you trying to activate them," Clare said. "It could help if they do come back."
"Okay," Max said raising her right hand her focus intensely on the spiked band on her wrist. "See still gone, thank dog."
The Doctor hmm-med at an interesting spike on his display.
"Anything else doctor?" Clare asked.
"No," The Doctor said. "In fact Max will be able to stop wasting bed space tomorrow. I trust the Department of Temporal investigations can handle living arrangements."
"Of course," Clare said. "Come on Max lets go get you some real coffee."
"Coffee good, tea better."
A few short minutes later Max was sipping just a regular black coffee at a place called Velocity Coffee that seemed to be situated in between many institutions that were important in this future San Francisco. She had had every intention to have tea but it was just so confusing. So many versions from so many planets. As far as she could tell from her limited experience with the modern marvel of the replicator it did coffee okay but the real version just had, something more. She glanced at the tea menu again. She hoped that Kate had gotten a chance to try all those Vulcan blends.
"Thanks for the book recommendation," Max said to Clare. "You were right about those first few chapters though."
"So how much had been found out before the war anyway?" Clare asked. "I mean I died because of stuff most people didn't know was happening."
"We knew about the Augment Juntas in the 2030s," Max said. "About the time the Middle east sorted itself out and the rest of the world started to go to hell in a hand basket. Honestly I skipped a lot of the World War Three stuff, I was old but I still had friends around you know."
"So what bit are you up to?" Clare asked.
"The warp 5 program," Max said. "Is it wrong to say the Vulcan's were both right and wrong in their early dealings with us. Part of me thinks I've seen humanity at this best possible version we've seemed to lived up to since first contact, but the other part, she has seen humans being the very worst they can be."
Max looked down into he coffee as if it could offer her answers to deep personal troubles.
"I take it you saw both ends of the spectrum during your time travel experience?"
Max went to pick up her coffee, decided against it, then wrung her hands and then started to toy with the band around her wrist. Clare didn't need any kind of training to know it was important and related to whatever the young, well young looking anyway, woman had experienced.
"Can we talk here?" Max asked. "I mean all these people."
"Max," Clare said. "The cadets over there are currently doing their advance course in temporal mechanics, the man by the counter is one of my bosses, those tourists are actually from the Starfleet ship assigned as support to the department and this padd is currently set to dampen sound waves."
"So this conversation?"
"Is only between you and me," Clare explained. "The other patrons just hear the cadets talk about the bootstrap paradox as it related to a pair of reading glasses owned by a famous Captain or the tourists talking about their plans for the afternoon."
"Okay," Max said holding onto the band again. "Okay...so the first thing I did...when I found out I could rewind...was stop someone from getting shot. I saw it go down the first time around and as the girl with blue hair fell to the floor I held out my right hand as if I could stop it from happening. The next thing I remember was waking up back in class. But it was before. I was sitting through the same class I was in not twenty minutes before hand. Shocked I bumped my camera off the desk and it broke. I stuck out my hand like I did before and suddenly everything is going backwards. And sure enough as soon as I stop the camera is back on my desk as if it never dropped at all. Of course I decide I had to test to see if that was real. Listen to an answer from a classmate, rewind and then gave it before she did. Of course knowing what was about to go down I try to rush to the bathroom were all this started. You know what?"
"What?"
"I find a new reason to hate that teacher ever day. Anyway I get back to the bathroom at the time I originally went in. No plan or anything. The only thing I know is that I may as well get this brilliant shot of a butterfly that came in through the window that I got the first time around. So the scene starts to replay as it did before. I take cover behind the last stall when Nathan Prescott. The kid with the gun comes in. The bluenette comes in soon after..."
"Bluenette?"
"Shut up," Max grumbled. "She thought it was a hella awesome way to describe her hair colour. Anyway I panic, I can't just confront a gunman and I wasn't very confident back then. Thankfully I'm right next to the fire alarm. Bad news is its behind glass and the hammer thing was missing. I had to hear the girl get shot twice more before I found it. I pick it up as she gets shot on the third loop. I rewind again and realise the hammer has come with me. I don't hesitate, and smash that fucking glass. It distracted Prescott long enough for the girl with the blue hair to escape."
"And then?"
"I reported it to the Principal," Max continued. "Like the foolish little idiot I was. The Prescotts owned the town and the school at the time."
"Pfft," Clare said. "How destitute were they? Couldn't even afford a small moon."
Max laughed out loud "You can't own a moon."
"Well not in Federation space," Clare admitted.
"You're shitting me you can own a moon," Max said. "Hello new impossible aspirational life goal."
"Please continue your story."
"So the rest of the afternoon became the quest of random teenage bullshit," Max said. "Luckily my new powers helped a bit, especially in the side quest entitled the universe is petty and Alyssa is its chew toy. It cumulated in me meeting my best bro Warren in the parking lot to return his flash drive and observe his alleged car."
"Public transport is excellent these days," Clare said. "No more clunkers."
"Oh but it was such a classic teenage shit box," Max said with a slight smile. "And not as shit as the school was at the time. You think if the Principal was going to let Nathan Prescott off with a limp warning he could have at least kept my name out of it. Warren stepped up and got punched in the face but my true saviour of that afternoon came roaring up in a chariot of rust. Scared Prescott away after nearly running us all over. It was the girl with the blue hair, the one who should have died, the best friend I hadn't talked to in five years, Chloe Price. Between time travel and that, well that was more surprising. We went to the lighthouse, I told her everything. And despite the hurt between us she believed me."
"Really?"
"Well of course she wanted a demonstration the next day," Max said. "But she believed that I believed it, there some more stuff but I'd like expand my time travel knowledge base a bit before getting into it. I figure there is a bit more to go on then science fiction both good and bad these days."
"I will have to share," Clare racked her brain for a suitable description of Max's abilities. "Knowledge of your temporal inversion abilities with our researchers maybe we can trace some records of similar incidents."
"Temporal what?" Max asked. "Mind if I just keep calling it rewind powers? Wait do these future people know what rewind even means?"
"Yes Max they know what rewind means," Clare reassured her.
Clare noticed the young woman was once again clutching at the wrist band that seemed important to her.
"Did that belong to Chloe?" she asked.
"Shaka Brah."
Clare took that as a yes.
"So time travel to solve teenage problems?" Clare asked.
"Yeah, totally irresponsible yes?"
"I wouldn't know I've never had time travel powers."
"There was one time I most definitely did abuse them," Max admitted. "Forgive me Saint Kate, its been at least one hundred years since I admitted to my failings. I kissed Chloe Price 47 times and she only knew about one of them."
"I'm sensing a story here."
"We really reconnected," Max elaborated. "More than I ever hoped. By the morning of day three it was almost like there had never been distance between us. After some teenage shenanigans the previous night I needed fresh clothes and she felt comfortable enough to loan me some that belonged to another dear friends of hers."
Max stopped and took a sip of her cooling coffee.
"They so weren't my style," Max said. "Of course we end up joking about it, I say I'm ready for the mosh pit Shaka Brah."
"I think I see why that phrase is important to you."
"Chloe calls me on it of course," Max said with a sigh. "I was never the daring one after all, but then Chloe was daring me to kiss her. Giving me shit about maybe I had already and rewound so she didn't know. I decided I 'd show her and kissed her. She was so adorably shocked and at a loss for words. I rewound and re-did it another forty six times. Each kiss was as awkward and as prefect as the first time around. Heck I only stopped because I felt a nose bleed threatening to start."
"And she's still as stunned as the first time around?" Clare asked.
"Not for too long," Max said blushing a little. "Flirty Chloe is Best Chloe. But that was the last time I used my abilities in such a wasteful, yeah lets go with wasteful, manner. All because of what happened that afternoon and the next morning."
Clare noticed that Max had dropped her right arm to her side and was holding it with her left, a tight grip on her wrist band again.
"We can stop for today if you want," Clare said as she reached for the padd.
"Ummm," Max was as eloquent as ever. "No I think its best if I keep going, it relates to my other time travel ability. You see that afternoon we found out something about Chloe's other dear friend and well it upset her, she dropped me back at the school dorms and rushed off to be alone."
"I got in contemplative mood myself," Max continued. "I pulled out an old photograph and just stared at it trying to figure out why Chloe could be so angry with well everything, compared to the smiling girl with me in the photo. As I continued to stare the image came into sharp focus and I heard voices. Then bang I'm in my extra awkward thirteen year old body on the worst possible day."
"How exactly was it the worst possible day for you?" Clare asked in the most compassionate tone.
"It was the day Chloe's dad died," Max elaborated. "I was full of myself and decided to change it, change it so Chloe would be happy again. When I snapped back I found out how wrong I was."
"What exactly do you mean by snap back?" Clare asked.
"Only way I can really describe it."
"I'll just flag it as a science question, please continue."
"I changed reality or created an alternative timeline or something," Max said. "People I considered my enemies were friendly to me, I was a member of and organisation I disliked and to top it off Chloe, she was..."
"Its okay if you can't continue Max."
"No I have to, Chloe was confined to a wheelchair, she couldn't move anything from the neck down. The change I made led to her getting a car from her Dad for her sixteenth birthday, that led to the accident and Chloe with out a Max to support her as she slowly loses hope."
"With out a Max?"
"The Alternative me," Max said. "I was so concerned about Chloe that I didn't think to snoop inwards, that's my real super power you know my nosiness, but I'm pretty sure alternative me was a bitch. I found a letter from her to Chloe, it read like something written as an obligation rather than..."
"I understand," Clare said.
"Should have checked her, my, phone or journal or something," Max said. "Because Chloe and I reconnected for a second time that week, why would I deny myself that? why would I deny Chloe that?"
"I wouldn't know."
"You know how I said I was a snoop?"
"Yes."
"Well I spent the night of day three in that alternate world and I found out how much worse it could get," Max was openly crying. "She was dying so slowly, her respiratory system...it..."
"Max we can leave this if its too difficult."
"I killed her," Max said. "She wanted her last memory to be of us together as she went out on her own terms. She asked me to...with the morphine. I'd already seen her die six maybe seven times that week, no problem just rewind. But this, this was the hardest. I did as she asked, should have kissed her on the lips to make sure she knew how much she meant to me no matter what universe we were in. I watched her die again, no rewinding this time, I couldn't do that to her. Helping her with that, it was the right thing to do. No second guessing."
"Are we still in this alternative universe you created?" Clare asked.
"No," Max said. "I found the photo in one of Chloe's album. The one I took of her and her dad, it didn't exist in the original time line, so this could be an alternative timeline I guess, but not that one. So anyway I set wrong what I thought I had set right. When I snapped back my Angry bitter blue haired Chloe was back. I found the photo later, hidden in what I always called her treasure chest. She'd written on the back 'Thanks for the great last memory of Dad Maxaroni'. I shut down for a week after reading that, it was just too much. I couldn't talk about it after all."
"Well we can talk now," Clare said. "Everything and any thing, we'll get through this together Max."
"Can we not talk any more today?" Max asked. "I just..."
"I understand Max," Clare said with a nod. "In fact counselor's orders are to not think about time travel at all for the rest of the evening. Come I'll show you just how impressive modern public transport is."
Clare helped the emotionally exhausted Max to her feet and wonder just what happened on day five could be worse than that.
Up Time: Betrayal
"Max this, Max that, what about Rachel Amber huh? Max comes back and you forget all about her."
"You'll never forget her dumb ass."
"Max wasn't there for me Rachel was, is."
"The graffiti, some one changed it, he changed it its. Max no, not her don't take her to."
"Shush its okay. Max is safe."
"Rachel Amber that missing girl?"
"We were friends."
"I know that look."
"Yeah but nothing more than close friends."
"You don't know that she's just waiting for me to find her. Hey get off of me."
"Just be quiet and let her hug you. Amber there did find her. Imagine how badly it could go then make it infinitely worse. That is how it goes down."
"Impossible."
"How are you not all torn up by this Stormy? You are from the day Max's vision came true right?"
"Max told me what happened so I know intellectually, I didn't get the raw emotional impact Amber is still going through."
"I volunteer to go through the quantum transporter thing next."
"Which one are you again?"
"Max went to San Francisco because she entered her photo. I called her because the storm came. She saved me again didn't she?"
"That she did Phony."
"Really?"
"What?"
"Caulfield, phony, did the blue dye do something to your brain?"
"That's got to be it, you're all phonies, vortex club fakes. I would never betray Rachel Amber like this not for anyone, especially not for that bitch Max Caulfield."
"When we get back we'll be having words Chloe."
"Okay only one way to describe how both of you talking at once like that sounded, it was hella awesome."