"285 South Plus One"
Chapter 11
XI
When Michael stepped through the portal, he asked it to take him to his younger self in a slightly earlier time. He did not specify under what conditions he wished to speak with or be seen by his alter ego… nor did he specify that his younger self needed to be alone when they met. That was his mistake. The sphere cannot be expected to know these things. Even so, Shaqor, the sphere's original owner, had long suspected that the sphere of the portal had a certain "warped sense of humor." Now Michael found himself in the back seat of Maria's mother's car headed south on highway 285 with his younger self driving –at 90 plus miles an hour- and Maria protesting vigorously that he was abducting her. It's not exactly what Michael had had in mind.
Spotting her cell phone on the seat, Maria pressed Liz's number secretly but continued to talk to Michael, trying to give Liz clues about which way they were headed and what was happening to her, but Michael noticed and threw the phone out the window. Maria turned to try to grab the phone as it sailed out the window, and, at that moment, she noticed the other Michael in the back seat… still wearing the alien-eyes sunglasses and UFO hat. The scream that followed was loud enough and long enough to leave both Michaels partially deaf for at least the next few minutes.
"Who the hell are you," the younger Michael yelled as he brought the car to a screeching stop off the side of the highway. "Get out!"
Michael took off the UFO hat and the alien-eyes sunglasses. "About time that I dumped these… and good riddance! Sorry, guys, but the T-shirt's stayin'," he said. "I'm not doing a striptease here."
Maria gasped, and the younger Michael stood with his mouth open for almost a minute.
"Who [b]are[/b] you," he asked again.
"And why do you look like Michael," Maria added. "What's going on here?"
"Long story," Michael said from the back seat. "Let's just say I'm from… well… the future sort of…"
"Sort of?" Maria said. "Sort of? What does that mean? You're from the future? So… what you're telling me is that you [b]are[/b] Michael?" Maria had put the clues together quickly. She was fairly shouting now, and her tone had risen more than a few decibels in pitch as well. "Omigod! I'm being abducted by two of you? I knew I shouldn't have got out of bed today. Mom's going to kill me! Ohhhh… maybe she'll never see me again."
"Maria!" the younger Michael exclaimed.
"What?"
"Shut up!"
"I can't help it. I talk a lot when I'm nervous." Maria fumbled in her purse for her cedar oil.
Michael in the back seat was watching the scene in the front seat play out with a distressed look on his face. As the younger Michael pulled the car back onto the highway, a police car appeared, and the policeman stared at Michael and his companions as he drove by.
"Well, it's a good thing for you, I guess, that you pulled off when you did," Maria said. "You would have just got a ticket for speeding. Besides, I told you you can't drive this car over 80… the engine won't take it."
"You had your chance to get out, Maria. You didn't, so stow it."
Michael in the back had heard enough. "You… in the driver's seat…"
"It's Michael," the driver exclaimed, exasperated.
"Yeah, that's what I said… You!"
The driver grimaced and glanced back at his future counterpart.
"What?"
"Why are you yelling at her? You're the one who stole her car?"
"Borrowed it!" Michael exclaimed from the front. "You should know that! Didn't you say you were me?"
Michael in the back seat started to speak but thought about his younger self's words. He was right, after all. He knew it was himself speaking to Maria. But somehow he didn't like it all the same.
"Treat her with a little respect," Michael said from the back.
"Thank you," Maria muttered, almost too shocked to believe she had heard it.
The younger Michael looked at his future self. "Man, what is it with you? Did I get brain damage or something in the future that I should know about?"
"Stop being a frikkin' horse's ass!" Michael said from the back.
"Alright, that's it!" the younger Michael exclaimed, pulling off again and opening the doors, "Get out!"
"Get me out!" Michael said from the back seat.
The younger Michael glared at his future self, unsure what he should do. Finally, he closed the door back, apparently realizing that in any fight with himself the loser had to be him… on one end or the other. He started the car up and drove back onto highway 285, quickly pushing the speed back to 92 miles per hour.
For a while, no one spoke. Then there was a "clunk," and the engine began to smoke.
"Oh, great," Maria said. "I told you you couldn't drive over 80. Now you've blown the engine!"
"Maria!" the younger Michael started… then he glanced at his future self in the back seat.
"What?" Maria asked.
"Never mind… I'll fix the stupid engine." He got out of the car, slamming the door behind him.
"You may need my help," Michael said from the back seat.
"I doubt it, Grandpa. I can handle it myself."
"I seem to remember that you blew the engine up the last time you tried to fix it, junior."
The younger Michael bit his lip and turned around. "Alright, so what would you do?"
Michael got out of the back seat and opened the hood. Both Michael's bent over to take a look at the engine.
"Well, the last time, you touched this thing over here and fried it. What you should have done is this…" the future Michael reached into the engine and laid his hand on the carburetor. Instantly, the engine erupted in flames. The younger Michael grinned then started to laugh.
"Great, Grandpa! You fried it again! I'm impressed!"
"Shut up and help me put out the flames," Michael said.
Together, the two managed to put out the fire before much damage was done.
"I can fix a space ship, and I still don't understand a damned prehistoric internal combustion engine," Michael grimaced.
The younger Michael was still grinning. "Well, don't look at me. I'm more of an artist than a mechanic. You need Kyle or somebody to fix these things."
"Doesn't look like we're going anywhere tonight," future Michael said.
The younger Michael nodded. "Nope! I'd say not. I'll take…"
He started to say, "the back seat," but future Michael was sitting in it again… and Maria would need the front seat. He sighed and turned to walk toward a small motel across the road.
"Where are you going," Maria yelled.
"I need some sleep," Michael answered, "and I'm not going to get it out here."
"Well, you're not leaving me out here by myself," Maria said. "I'm coming with you.
"You're not by yourself, the younger Michael yelled back. "Grandpa's there."
Michael got out of the car and opened the door for Maria. "Come on! We'll go inside, too. It'll be alright."
Maria looked at Michael appreciatively. "Are you sure you're really him? You're so… different."
"You mean old?"
"Nooo… of course not… Anyway, you're only… what? …ten years older than Michael… our Michael… that Michael… you know what I mean. It's not that. It's just that you're just more, I don't know, gentle… kinder."
Michael smiled. "Well, don't let it get around. I've got my reputation you know."
"Okay, you are him," Maria laughed. "But you're still nicer."
Michael smiled. "The time I come from is actually eighteen years in your future, Maria."
"Oh. So that'd make you what… about thirty… four? I thought you were maybe twenty-five. You look a lot younger… Oh God! I don't mean that you're like, you know, old or anything. That's not what I meant. You're still young. I'm talking too much again, aren't I?"
Michael laughed. "No. I find it kind of endearing, actually."
Maria smiled. "Do you think you could do, you know, like, some kind of alien mind-meld thing like Spock does and make my Michael more like you?"
Michael grinned. Maria had called the younger Michael "her" Michael. Perhaps it was a Freudian slip. They hadn't known each other for very long yet. But something seemed to be there already.
"Are you married… you know, in the future," Maria asked.
"Yeah," Michael answered.
"Oh. Is she… nice?"
Michael smiled. "Very. And she's beautiful, and she's the most wonderful girl on all of Antar."
"Oh," Maria said softly, her smile fading without her realizing it. "You went back to your planet? Is that the planet you came from?" She swallowed hard but then managed a smile again. "That's nice. I'm… happy for you. Any kids?"
"Three. Zorel… He's nine. Kryys is seven, and Jayyd is six.
"Are they, like, aliens, too? Oh! Of course they are! I don't know why I asked that. Never mind me. I babble when I'm nervous."
"Don't be nervous," Michael said taking her hands in his. Maria felt a tingle go through her body, and her legs felt weak. She closed her eyes momentarily then opened them again.
The younger Michael, watching from the window of his motel room, frowned.
tbc
Coming next: "Aladdin's Palace"