"Sergeants, this way."
The Sergeants stared at the massive and towering spacecraft that was twice the size of the eighty foot starship that had managed to fit neatly in neatly shoving aside the towering support legs that had been shoved aside so the ship could make the landing. They quietly followed after the general up the wide staircase into the ship that was dark with their hands grasping along their long white batons. They entered as a group into the pitch black ship that had all the windows closed.
"Someone, turn on the lights."
"Yes, sir."
The lights flicked on revealing a lone elderly man standing in the middle of the room.
"Hello, my dear General." Came the voice that belonged to the aged Smith.
"Smith! Smith?"
Squires was surprised, no less.
"It is so good to see you." Smith approached the general with a smile. "It has been what, three years? Three years since I last saw you."
"How-" Squires stopped then glared and pointed his finger at the shorter man who was still smiling back at him. "You have a lot of explaining to do."
"I am here to confess a crime that will be committed tonight and threats that I have made toward the program in general."
"You are from the future." Squires said.
Smith nodded.
"That is the case."
Squires watched the man walk aside and pause at the auxiliary deck chair.
"Why are you confessing?" Squires asked.
Smith tapped on the back rest of the chair.
"To make sure that Colonel Smith stays on Earth where he belongs." Smith replied, swiftly. "We have spent six years in space."
"We need evidence of your crimes." Squires reminded as Smith lifted a brow then smiled in return to the general. "A confession wouldn't just do."
"You had thirty minutes to find it and you found it last time." Smith said. "Now, by looking for it . . . you will find it sooner than later."
"Last time?" His brows furrowed together.
"Time loop matter." Smith elaborated. "Made by my own doing."
"That is a hefty and very dangerous matter if it were possible." Squires said.
"It is possible, my dear general." Smith's voice became grave and sincere. "Remember the Tic Toc program? Those two young promising men? You can rescue them if you make a deal with Professor Chronos. I'll tell you all about that." Smith then pointed toward the exit of the ship. "You see that young man you left behind at my office?"
"I have seen him." Squires said.
Smith looked so old and sagged by age while in contrast to his mortality his counterpart was youthful, kept together, and age had hardly done a dent into his manner of being. He looked finely aged asides to the tiny differences that amounted to hundreds of differences that made someone else entirely from atom to atom to the DNA. He stood in the Jupiter 2 colonist uniform instead of a space suit or the United States Space Corps uniform.
"You find - or had found him - him quite terrified in thirty minutes as a machine loomed over him. It will (or may not) have amnesia."
"But we just moved him to the ready room a minute ago, sir." the sergeant said. "He can't move."
"He will explain that later." Squires said.
Smith nodded with a small smile.
"Which is where he will remain if this time loop has been destroyed." Smith lifted his brow then lowered it. "I shall provide you with the necessary information, the name of my employers, the date in which I became tangled in their scheme. I . . ."
"What is it?" Squires asked.
"Do you recall the then-navigator Clarissa?" Smith asked.
"Yes." Squires said.
"We were involved." Smith said. "You didn't listen to my concerns of her fight and she died."
The memory of the Jupiter 2 exploding on the platform echoed in his memory. He could still remember the screen displaying the hull with flames erupting out of it and holes that weren't there before standing out of the ruined shape of what had been a saucer.
"It was a tragedy." Squires said.
"She is why I defected." Smith replied. "It was to display the injustice of Alpha Control. I hate this institution with every FIBER of MY BEEEEIIIIIINNNGGG."
"Why are you telling me this when your younger self can?" Squires lifted a brow.
"Because six years isn't enough to grieve for the loss of the most significant woman in my life." he waved his hand. "Counting the years after the destruction of the Jupiter 1." he cupped his hands together in his lap. "My youngerself can provide you all the information that is needed."
"You just said that you would hand over the information." The sergeant said.
"I was referring to the youthful version. General, there are so many things I want to tell you that happened."
"Well, you can start here." Squires said. "From where you were on the launch day of the Jupiter 2."
The aged blue eyes drifted toward the sergeants.
"Can you spare thirty minutes?" Smith asked.
The general nodded.
"I can." Squires said.
Smith gestured toward the galley table.
"Please, sit over here."
Smith filled three ceramic cups as the men went toward the table.
"Don't make any sudden moves, Smith." Squires said.
Smith came to the doorway of the Jupiter 2 looking toward a familiar place of employment and advancement just waiting to be marked by his presence in a few short moments.
"Oh, believe me, my dear general." Smith turned toward the general still wearing the grin. "I won't be so reckless as the original version."
Smith went toward the table.
"Give us the short version." Squires said.
Smith sat down at the back of the table.
"So, I shall. So I shall. . ." Smith said. "You will need to send the order to perform the investigation and jail my counterpart. It will only take thirty minutes."
"Sergeant, inform Alpha Control to investigate Smith." Squires ordered.
"Yes, sir." and the MP departed the ship.
"Now, the short hand version of how you got stuck in a time loop." The general shook his finger at the colonel. "Explain it in five to ten minutes then work your way through what happened after you fulfilled the time loop."
And Smith sang like a canary of his sabotage.