Ryou glanced down at the clearly exhausted storyteller. "Okay, I'll stop hitting you; but only if you make an effort to tone down the swearing in the rest of your story, alright?" The polite youth helpfully offered his tired look-alike.
"Fine; whatever." The seated scoundrel was about to say more, when a strange beeping noise loudly interrupted the group.
"What's that sound?" Malik glanced around as the cyclic sound continued.
Ryou looked just as baffled by the electronic tones. "It sounds like it's coming from... your pocket?" He pointed at the still-seated Bakura, who snorted.
"Tch- guess again. It's my SID."
Malik looked bewildered. "Your what?"
"A Sub-dermal Implant Device- it's a high-tech communication and information sharing device. Capable of storing tons of information, and displaying it through a thin-yet-flexible quantum-dot OLED touch screen."
"It can play music or videos, send messages, monitor vitals..." Marik added unconcernedly.
The paler trespasser smirked. "You said you wanted proof that we're from the future? Fine. Then check out my left wrist." Bakura tilted his arm and held it out towards his look-alike. Ryou obliged and shifted the limb until the underside of the bandit's wrist was facing him.
The curious teen nearly fainted when he saw what was there.
It was a digital screen. An actual, visible computer screen, blinking and glowing just beneath the guy's skin tissue.
"WHA-?!" Ryou could only stare, unable to comprehend the tiny surface that was now scrolling through several different messages.
'Current date: 11/28/2208- Date of Arrival- 5/10/2018- Date of Exit- 5/13/2018'
'Heart rate: 115 bpm- Status: Elevated- BP: 145/90- Status: Elevated-'
'Current Location: 35.4 N 139.45 L- Target Location: 35.4 N 139.45 L'
'Harvest Status: UNFUFILLED. Organ Status: INAPPLICABLE.'
-WARNING: *Dehydration Imminent!* Recommend Sodium and Potassium Additions-
"Whoa..." Malik felt his own jaw drop open as he watched the glistening pixels traveling just below the pale skin. "What the hell..." The blonde student broke out of his stupor sooner than Ryou did, but he turned as the second burglar stepped forward.
"Mine is a bit brighter, due to the pigmentation..." Marik grinned as he held out his own darkened limb for inspection. Despite the tanned skin, Malik and Ryou could still easily make out a similar screen beneath the tinted flesh:
'Current date: 11/28/2208- Date of Arrival- 5/10/2018- Date of Exit- 5/13/2018'
'Heart rate: 105 bpm- Status: Elevated- BP: 125/90- Status: Elevated-'
'Current Location: 35.4 N 139.45 L- Target Location: 35.4 N 139.45 L'
'Harvest Status: UNFUFILLED. Organ Status: INAPPLICABLE.'
"Holy..." Malik gaped blankly at the second device. "Er, Ryou? I know this sounds crazy, but... I'm staring to think these guys might be telling the truth." Malik slowly spoke as he turned his attention back to the first intruder's arm.
"You think?!" Bakura hissed caustically. "Now let go of my wrist; you're twisting it too far!"
"Oops, sorry."
Ryou continued standing still, apparently lost in his own thoughts. After a moment's hesitation, he turned around and quickly grabbed a salt shaker, a banana, and a tall glass of water. He then set them down on the table just behind the seated intruder. "Um, you needed these, right?"
Bakura seemed surprised by the generous gesture. "Er, yeah... thanks."
Apparently Ryou's best friend wasn't quite as astute, and the blonde loudly complained. "Wait, why're you giving him a bunch of random stuff? What, are you trying to help him McGuyver his way outta here?!"
The calmer teen only pointed to the still-beeping wrist-computer. "Malik, that device was flashing a warning that he's low on Sodium, Potassium, and water."
Malik only blinked.
Ryou let out a sigh as he ticked off each item on one hand. "Sodium means salt, Potassium can be found in bananas, and if I really have to explain what 'dehydration' suggests..."
Meanwhile, Bakura quickly poured a bit of salt into the water glass before downing the mixture. He then moved on to the banana, gulping it down like a ravenous stray.
The beeping began to slowly lessen in intensity, until it was no longer audible.
Ryou gestured towards the stainless steel refrigerator. "I also have milk, if you need more Potassium..."
"No need." Bakura wiped off his mouth with his right wrist. "That was more than enough- thanks."
The gracious homeowner sighed. "That's good, but I'm afraid we still have more questions." Malik nodded in agreement while Ryou raised one eyebrow expectantly at the recovering intruder. "Earlier, you and Marik called us your 'targets'- I'm assuming we're not being roped into a spontaneous paintball tournament?"
"Not exactly... you're supposed to be 'harvested'." Bakura admitted darkly. "As in, slaughtered and disemboweled."
"...but that's just like the serial killer in the news...papers..." Malik trailed off, while Ryou's eyes widened in horror.
"Wait... you mean, YOU'RE THE VICEROY?!" Ryou screeched as he involuntarily jumped backwards from the strangers.
"Again, not quite- there's no real 'Viceroy'- that's just a myth perpetuated by our organization to spread disjuncture amongst this time period's investigative forces. It's not just one man, but a whole group of people sent back to retrieve viable specimens."
"Wait, so if you're time travelers, then why have you been trying to kill us?" Ryou sounded baffled as he tried to sort out the reason behind the violent visitors. "I doubt either of us is ever going to try and assassinate anyone important..."
"Does Justin Beiber count?" Malik muttered quietly under his breath.
"It's not by choice, or anything that you two end up doing." The other pale teen admitted darkly. "But the future... well, let's just say things really went to sh*t along the way." Bakura nearly flinched as Ryou grabbed the rolled-up magazine again. "Alright, alright; sorry! I curse a lot! But the place we come from is a real sh*thole! It's not exactly a 'high-society' type place! There's no laws, let alone 'manners!'"
"No laws?" Ryou asked curiously, still keeping the 'Popular Science' issue wrapped in his hand.
"Well, technically there's some police around," Bakura admitted, "but they're too busy trying to stop the Organers from outright slaughtering everyone."
"Organers?"
Marik finally chimed in. "Yeah, those nut-bags who get paid to harvest from random people who match whatever rich d****bag decides to hire their services. But the joke's on them- it's futile!"
"..." Ryou and Malik exchanged blank glances.
Bakura nearly facepalmed before speaking. "Right, I forgot about the time difference- see, in the future, people are dropping like flies. It's happening all over the world, and it's being treated almost like a pandemic."
"A pandemic?" The hickory-eyed student frowned. "You mean, a lot of people are dying of disease?"
"Again, it's far more complicated than that- but yes, nearly everyone's dying really young. Some people make it past 50; most don't." Bakura's scarlet eyes narrowed harshly. "The average life expectancy is around 40 right now; but it's projected that it'll be down to 30 in just a few years."
"That's almost Paleolithic..." Ryou whispered in horrified realization.
"But, then why hasn't everyone been isolated and stuff? Like they do in the movies when the zombie outbreak happens?" Malik pointed out more mildly.
"Isolation doesn't matter- it's not contagious, but congenital." Before Marik could make a crude wisecrack Bakura hastily added, "MEANING it's something you're born with." The brawnier blonde pouted as his ally kept elaborating. "Only about 7% of the worldwide population is immune to the inevitable organ failure, and the doctors of our era have no idea why. But it's such a small number, that your chances of killing someone with healthy organs is less than 7 in a hundred. Yet the richer class are so desperate, they'll hire any number of hit-men to kill anyone suspected to be 'better off'."
"That's a lot of dead bodies..." Ryou muttered sadly.
"Right- and it's still pointless because the problem isn't the organs themselves. It's the person's own system. You can change the car's tires as many times as you like, but it's not gonna fix a dead car battery."
"Wait, so people are hiring these 'Organers' to kill others even with almost no chance of success?!" Ryou felt his stomach churn as he felt the underlying insinuation hit home.
Marik nodded grimly, his expression finally souring. "Yep. It's like a pointless genocide; everyone distrusting each other as they struggle to avoid an untimely 'end.'" His dark violet eyes closed for a moment as his voice lowered. "And it's not going to get better. There's rumors of a massive famine being inevitable, because so few workers are able-bodied enough to farm and harvest the crops. They had to drastically lower the enrollment requirements for most medical degrees, because the applicants weren't living long enough to even start practicing afterwards. And a lot of the kids are force to grow up without their parents; whether they've both already succumbed to the disorder, or were slaughtered for spare 'parts.'"
Even Malik's face looked a little green as he listened. "That's awful."
Ryou frowned, clearly not accepting the harshness of the supposed future. "But wait- if you have time travel, why can't you just use that to fix things? Stop the disorder from developing?"
But Bakura shook his head. "Time travel doesn't work like that. You'd eventually run into a contingent fallacy and essentially destroy your own existence."
Even Ryou seemed confused by this statement, so the taller youth sighed as he explained. "Lemme put it this way: you go back in time to the night before Atsuo Ishii's assassination, and-"
Malik promptly interrupted. "Wait, who?"
"'Atsuo Ishii'? The famous humanitarian activist?" Bakura glared skeptically at the shorter blonde.
"I... don't think that's someone from our lifetime." Ryou suggested doubtfully.
The still-seated youth snorted. "Whatever- he was a really radical activist who fought for people's rights all over the world. He was eventually taken out by a lone hand-grenade right before he was supposed to reveal stolen documents proving the Chinese government knew they were poisoning people in the Hunan province."
Marik nodded, as though he'd heard this story before. Bakura didn't pause to allow any questions from their hosts. "Anyway, let's say you were sent back in time the day before he was going to be killed- what would you do? Would you contact his personal security guards? They'd never believe you. Would you write to the press? By the time anyone important would take notice, he would've already have been blown up. It's a fool's errand. There's really nothing you can do to change the past on your own, and sending more people is too expensive and risky. You'd have a better chance of winning the lottery."
"Oh." Ryou looked despondent as he felt the likelihood of the intruder's statements wash over him. "I guess that makes sense, but still... you really can't go back even further and warn people about the impending disorder?"
The red-eyed narrator scowled. "Tch- of course the company's thought of that. But it's pointless. Think about it: if we tried to stop the disorder from developing, and actually succeeded, then we'd be erasing ourselves from existence. Which means we could never go back in the first place."
"A real catch-22." Marik chimed in.
"Right- everyone knows it's impossible." Bakura sighed, starting to show some signs of exhaustion.
"Besides, it took years for them to develop the test to even identify the disorder- how the hell would they manage a cure with older technology in a time where it hasn't even developed yet?"
Ryou fell thoughtfully silent as he mulled over the conundrum in his head.
"But, right now there's an even bigger problem looming on the horizon." The pale trespasser added. "Truth is, we're both being closely monitored," he pointed to Marik as well as himself, "-and we have a dangerous choice to make." He glanced at his hefty comrade, and they exchanged grim looks. "And we're running out of time."