It's been a long while! It's kind of hard to still publish, and then work 40 hours a week. But I'm still managing to crank these out on occasion. So, stay tuned! I'm certainly not done with this story yet.
Ch. 16- "Tangents"
"Hey!" shouted Aelita.
No one listened. There was more shouting, as everyone spewed questions at Jeremy.
"Hey!"
Still no response. Aelita was getting a little red in the face.
"HEY!" bellowed the pinkette.
Everyone fell silent.
"Thank you," said the princess, tersely, "We will be fielding questions, in a calm and orderly manner." She straightened her hoodie. While it didn't seem all that necessary, Ulrich thought it was something she did when she got flustered.
"Odd, I believe to help you answer your question, Jeremy was about to say something." She gestured to the blonde nerd who was sitting there quietly.
Jeremy took a second to straighten his glasses, Ulrich noted out of the corner of his eye that Yumi looked a little frustrated. He felt the same, there was so much that he wanted answered about what was going on. Sean and Seth were looking around in awe, he could see the gears turning in their heads about what was going on. Odd was looking kind of confused. But then again, that was almost always how he looked.
Jeremy began quietly, and solemnly, "I knew that you would all arrive here sooner or later. I was just hoping that you'd get here all just a little later. I still don't have a whole lot of answers."
He continued, looking up at the group assembled in front of him, "Yes, Odd, the supercomputer drew you and everyone else here. It seems like the amnesiac effects of the "return" program don't last long for those that have been scanned in at one point or another. You were bound to all show up here at some point or another looking for answers. I just thought that I'd have another couple of days before anyone else showed up."
"Why is that?" asked Seth.
"Well, I began to think that the return program had a bit of a ripple effect on those that it affected. The ones closest to the epicenter when the program executed would be the first ones to remember things sooner than those who were further away," said Jeremy pulling up a crude wire frame animation of the lab and the surrounding factory on the screen.
On a push of a button from Jeremy, the animation began. It showed the supercomputer hub with the holographic display, and the computer monitor that hung from the ceiling. A pillar of light emanated from the hub and began to slowly engulf the room, and the people in it as well. First, in the chair, sat a blue colored figure with glasses, which Ulrich figured represented Jeremy. Seconds later, a pink figure next to Jeremy appeared, that had to be Aelita, it was also swallowed. Then, curled up in weird-looking tubes were a green, black, and purple figure. That had to be Yumi, Odd, and himself, lying in sleeping bags. They were also swallowed up. Near the figures of him, Odd, and Yumi was a light red figure in another one of those weird sleeping bag tubes as well. Ulrich had no idea who that was supposed to be. Everyone else looked confused as well when he looked around for reactions. Then, the animation panned out to the surrounding factory as the light progressed. There was a gray figure and a red figure. Seth and Sean. And then another random other figure that also with those two that was kind of a midnight blue. No one seemed to know who that was either.
"Wait, did you make that?" asked Ulrich, he remembered that the bespectacled nerd, in this life, was an animator, "It looks really…good!" He lied.
"Actually, no," said Jeremy. That was a relief, because compared to what Jeremy showed him earlier, this was more akin to a finger-painting.
"I had the computer compile up a rendering of what happened to get us here," said Jeremy.
"Wait, it can do that?" asked Seth kind of impressed, "What else can it do?" the blonde twin asked rather excitedly.
It was almost like Seth wanted a whole read-out on the specs of this machine. It also made Ulrich a little curious as well.
"So, yeah, what does a…mega computer…like this do, anyway?" he asked.
"The supercomputer? I never really thought about it," said Jeremy, a little taken aback, "Probably a lot. But I always just used this to send you all to Lyoko."
That was a name that Ulrich hadn't heard in a long time. Hearing it triggered a whole host of memories to surface once again.
"It's actually a supercomputer. It's ultra-powerful! And while I was examining it, I found out that it runs a virtual universe called Lyoko!" That was Jeremy's
Suddenly a whole other slew of memories came back to Ulrich's mind. Ones of a digital world, and all the feelings and emotions he felt each time he was sent there by Jeremy.
"Transfer, Ulrich. Scanner, Ulrich. Virtualization!"
And then all the other thoughts, feelings, and emotions of being there came rushing back to him, just like how it felt to be like a superhero, running around super-fast and all the other things that came with that.
"What happened to this place?" asked Yumi, bringing Ulrich back to the present.
She seemed a little unnerved being here. Ulrich wanted to comfort her, but he was sure that she wouldn't be keen on that. The room was a lot darker than Ulrich ever remembered. And it was also true about what Yumi said, this place looked like a mess. The room looked like a bomb had been released into it. There were several wires that were dangling from the ceiling, even more than Ulrich remembered from before. The walls looked like someone took a sledgehammer to them, and the floor was broken up in several places. Sparks flew indiscriminately in certain corners of the room from time to time, and it caused the group to jump in fright on occasion as well.
"Did we do this?" asked Ulrich.
"This had to be us," said Odd, matter-of-factly, "Who else knows about our secret?"
"This had to have happened a while ago," said Yumi looking around the room, "There's a layer of dust like an inch thick everywhere." She seemed a little disgusted by that fact.
"Well," said Jeremy, "This system does pack quite a punch if you add up all the power that it has under the hood. Err…had…" he corrected himself as several more jets of sparks flew out of some wires in the corner, causing the screen to flicker.
"So, hold up, hold up, hold up…" said Sean quickly, "Isn't this a quantum computer? Or was…a quantum computer," he said as a couple more sparks shot out from the wiring above.
"Yeah, and your point being?" asked Jeremy.
"Well okay…quantum, like quantum theory, quantum mechanics?" Jeremy nodded, so Sean went on, "Well I don't know much about the two, but isn't a part of quantum theory the possibility of time travel and parallel universes?"
"Well, partly," said Jeremy, Ulrich could tell that he wanted to say more, but Aelita placed a hand on his arm to keep him from launching into everything right then and there, "Of course it is still just a theory." Aelita seemed relieved.
"No, I know," said Sean, "But if it were true, if we could fix it, couldn't you use this computer to send us back to where we came from? You know, to whatever time and place the supercomputer blasted us from?"
"I'm afraid that's not possible," said Jeremy flatly.
"Why not?" asked Yumi.
"Well Sean does raise an excellent point, this was a quantum computer, and it worked very closely with the governing theories behind quantum mechanics. I mean, why else would we have been able to go back in time so often when the world was in danger? That was just one possible outcome in a vast multitude of all possible outcomes," said Jeremy.
"English?" asked Odd.
"I'm afraid I can't just dumb this down quite yet," said Jeremy, "I would need to explain everything in quantum theory for you to understand it."
"How about I continue to ask questions, and you give me your answer to the best of your ability? I feel like I understand what's going on here…kind of." said Sean, his face scrunching up, "Then if there isn't anything that you still don't understand, I'll try to rephrase what Jeremy said, okay?" he asked Odd.
"Sounds good to me! It's all geek speak to me anyway!" said Odd, taking up a seat on the floor of the lab.
"So, let's just establish the basics here. Quantum computer…works with quantum mechanics?" asked Sean, pointing to the hanging monitor.
"Correct," said Jeremy with a nod.
"So, I think the question I have is then, when we travelled back in time, were we actually traveling back in time? Or are we going into an alternate universe?"
"That is an excellent question," said Jeremy, impressed, "From a lay person's perspective, it may look like we just go back in time, but there is also that possibility that we jump from our universe to an alternate universe. One where the threat posed by XANA was wrapped up nicely, or never happened. But because of that, we still know exactly what happened on the exact day in the universe in which we go to."
"So, is that what happens?" asked Sean.
"Well yes…and no," said Jeremy with an unsure shrug, "There are so many variables, and of course there's no way to say for certain, but I think the easiest way to explain it is that there's a high probability that is what happens."
"Okay, which would explain what is going on here," said Sean, "We are in one of those alternate universes right now? Aren't we?"
"Well that is the best explanation I have," said Jeremy.
"So that brings me back to my original question, why can't you just send us back to where we came from?"
"Who would I send?" asked Jeremy, "The older, physical version of you? Or the younger, mental version of you? And if I sent the mental version of you, where would I send him to? There's a reason we are here as older versions of ourselves, and not the younger ones we were so used to back when we were Lyoko Warriors."
"And that is…?"
"Because even if I could separate which part of you that is your consciousness and what part of you is your body, or in other words the 'younger' or 'older' version of you. I would have nowhere to send the younger part. That universe no longer exists."
There was some outcry among the rest of the group.
"So, does that mean that universe is…?" asked Yumi.
"Destroyed?" said Jeremy verging on cold, "Most likely…"
Yumi gasped, "So does that mean that everyone we knew, everyone on the planet…?! Died!?"
"I can't say for certain," said Jeremy, holding up his hands to calm everyone, "This is why quantum mechanics is so tricky. Who's to say that at that moment that we cease to exist? Maybe our consciousness just picks up where it left off in another universe? Or perhaps that universe does end, and we just perceive it as going back in time? In short, we just jump into the alternatives. But since there are infinitely many alternatives, and infinitely many possible universes, it could just be that every time we save the world, we actually kill it."
"That's terrible!" remarked Ulrich.
"Well would you prefer the alternative?" asked Jeremy, "If we don't go back in time, there's a high likelihood that whatever XANA was planning would have caused so many 'possibilities' to never happen."
"What do you mean?" asked Seth.
"Think about the time that the nuclear power plant almost blew up when XANA overcharged that electrical pylon," explained Jeremy, "What would have happened if XANA succeeded do you think?"
"We wouldn't be here," said Yumi sourly.
"Exactly," said Jeremy, "And not even our dear 'return to the past' could fix that."
"Yeah, you were always telling us that if anyone died that there was no undoing that," said Ulrich.
"I think that's because the supercomputer just takes us to a universe that closely matches the one we leave behind," said Jeremy, "So in order to maintain perfect balance, the computer runs all possibilities and goes with the one that matches up with where it is currently. If for instance you no longer exist, the supercomputer cannot go to a place where you suddenly do exist. That breaks all sorts of natural laws. So, it does the only thing it can do and goes to a place that only makes sense to its programming. And unfortunately, that means that if you die, you die for good. That's all this thing is, a machine that follows a set course of directions."
"How does it do that?" asked Seth.
"Your guess is as good as mine," said Jeremy, "There is still so much we don't understand about quantum mechanics and theory. The creator of this system, Franz Hopper, was ahead of his time, a real mad genius." Aelita looked lost in thought. They had never met this "Franz" guy, as Ulrich starting to remember, they had found his digital diary just a little bit before Sean and Seth joined the group, and before they were all blasted into the future where they were now.
"And I have a feeling we could learn so much from the computer or the man who created it if only we understood what they were trying to tell us," continued Jeremy.
"So, to get this straight, we don't time travel, we travel through alternative universes?" asked Sean.
"Exactly, each decision we make in our lives can spark or destroy a multitude of these universes," said Jeremy, "And deciding to mix quantum mechanics up in all of that opens up all sorts of possibilities and destroys many others."
"You make it sound so cold," said Yumi, sourly.
"Well…it kind of is," said Jeremy, "Think about where we would be if we had never found the supercomputer."
"Well we wouldn't be standing here," said Ulrich.
"That's one possibility," agreed Jeremy, "Sure, we might not be standing here, or we could be standing here, but under different circumstances. Time is all relevant as Einstein theorized. So, if you think about it, in the vast multiverse of possibilities, there is a universe that exists that has this moment playing out several moments ahead of ours, or behind ours. If we were to 'return to the past' now, we would just be jumping into that universe that is relative to ours."
"But what if we changed something?" asked Sean.
"Well that would mean that we would just jump into another universe where that decision played into the fabric of that universe. Think about a multiverse like a Cartesian plane that you see in school."
"You mean the one that looks like a weird grid?" asked Odd.
"Yes! Exactly, Odd!" Ulrich could tell that he was almost proud of Odd for knowing that. He pulled up an example on the computer screen, "You have an "X" and "Y" and sometimes a "Z" if you look at it three-dimensionally, in which you can measure the change of all sorts of equations and inequalities."
Jeremy tapped a few buttons, and a green line appeared on the graph, snaking its way across the screen in undulating shapes and lines.
"So, if you change just one thing in the equation, you change the whole look of the resulting graph." He tapped more buttons, and the graph changed again, this time they were looking at a three-dimensional version of the same shapes that were just flat a moment ago.
"Think about the collection of multiverses like that, only on a fourth-dimensional scale," said Jeremy.
"Four-dimensional?" asked Yumi, "I thought there were only three!"
"The fourth dimension is time," explained Sean.
"Because think about this, you have height," he held up a hand to the top of his head, "Width…" He held up his hands to his hips, "And depth." He held up his hands from his stomach to his back.
"But if there were only three dimensions, I would only exist in one space for my entire life. I would never be able to move. I could only literally exist like a single point in space, like on that graph," Sean said as he pointed to the flickering screen.
"But because we technically live in a world with four dimensions, I can move. And because I can move, you'd be able to chart my movement on a graph like a series of equations and inequalities," said Sean, moving about the room in circles, curves, and lines.
"Why?" asked Ulrich, struggling to keep up with all the nerd speak, "How is this helping the point?"
"Well just think of the choices we make or the things that happen around us as variations on sort of what we could call 'the grand equation of life'," said Jeremy.
"Grand equation of life? You couldn't come up with a better name?" mocked Odd.
"Well regardless of the name, just think that all we're talking about is math. Math is the language of the universe, and with it we can start to calculate almost everything around us. But of course, to accomplish such a feat of total calculation, you would need something like..."
"A supercalculator…!" interrupted Ulrich, "Really? That's all this is?" he asked.
"Well that depends on what you want to use it for," clarified Jeremy, "You could use the supercomputer to calculate everything around it, or you can use it for other things. The whole point of a supercomputer is that it is used for complex processing tasks. It's a really resource rich thing from which you can then turn those resources into tangible results, for example, the whole world of Lyoko, and sending all of you there."
"So, we did go into the computer then!" said Seth, flabbergasted, "I always just thought that it sent like a digital copy of us or something."
"Well then where did you go after the scanner tubes opened?" asked Jeremy, "I could continue to send more of you to Lyoko just after I had sent the last group. Those tubes were empty, no doubt about it."
"Oh yeah, I didn't think about that…" said Seth sheepishly.
"But that's my point! To turn a human being into digital computer code, and have it manifested inside a virtual world took a lot of processing power and always was a big toll on the systems. But on top of that it took a lot of storage, because while you were there, everything that makes up you went into the computer, and according to today's science, a human being's conscious is theorized to be anywhere from several terabytes to a couple petabytes of data, and that's just the mind! That's not even calculating all the bits of matter that makes 'you' up, that are recognized by the computer, and then is shown in Lyoko in your Warrior form."
"So, what you're saying is that if the supercomputer wasn't busy trying to send us back and forth to Lyoko, that you could have used the same power to calculate almost anything in life, the universe, and everything?" asked Sean.
"Well I still think the answer is 42…" said the blond nerd. There were a lot of blank stares, Sean smiled to see his joke go noticed, Jeremy awkwardly moved on.
"Almost everything," said Jeremy, "Of course there are many things in life that are already pre-calculated."
"Pre-calculated?" asked Seth.
"Like the equation of gravity, the speed of light in a vacuum, and other mathematic constants. The computer doesn't need to calculate those things all the time because that's what it is using to calculate everything else. And most of those things are also found in many of the subroutines and directories that make up Lyoko. Gravity there is still the same as gravity here on Earth, so it makes it easy because those are already written into the computer's code."
"So, what are you trying to say Jeremy?" asked Yumi.
"What I'm trying to say is that for the supercomputer to so accurately get us to 'return to the past' just to keep it simple, there are a lot of calculations that need to take place. It needs to calculate what has changed, and what needs to change to keep things in balance so to speak. Because when we tell it 'return to the past' we are telling it that there is a problem in the programming of the world, and that it needs to 'debug' it."
Everyone at this point was starting to get lost. However, they continued to listen politely.
"Immediately the supercomputer is calculating big things: the damages created in an average XANA attack, what will take for us to keep our secret if it gets blown, all sorts of things. And of course, all of that can be compiled and calculated in terms of probability, inequalities, and equations. Once it does that, it is theoretical that the computer reaches out to the multiverse to find one that matches up to those numbers. It charts all the graphs and find where the points all correlate. Then it shifts us to that multiverse on the 'return'. It calculates everything, right down to the miniscule detail."
"But the way you go on about this," said Sean, at least he was getting most of Jeremy's words, "Makes it sound like we live inside some sort of…butterfly effect or something, and the computer is just keeping up with the changes."
"Well that is a really good way of explaining it," said Jeremy, "It is a really good analogy for everything we've been talking about."
"Wait…I thought we were talking about computers!" said Odd, everyone thought that he had dozed off, "Now there's butterflies?! This reminds me too much of our back to back math and science classes with Ms. Hertz. I would start the class with Pythagorean theory, then zone out and suddenly we would be talking about photosynthesis or something!"
Everyone laughed, Sean helped to explain, "The butterfly effect goes a little bit like this, and it says that even small actions have a big impact down the road. I remember reading about it in a book, and it's a big thing in those 'choose your own adventure' books and games. But the original premise was to the effect that 'a butterfly flapping in Africa could cause a thunderstorm in Montpellier'."
"Really? That makes no sense…" said Odd, "How can that have anything to do with each other?"
"Well that's the point," said Sean, "It seems so ridiculous, but it's just the thought that even small things have a big impact on our lives, and the lives around us. Another word for it is the 'ripple effect'. Like if you were to decide to throw a stone into a pond, the ripples of that come of that action can be felt far away from the impact."
"Just like how I mentioned if I had never found the supercomputer, think about all the things that would be different if something like that were to happen before this moment here," said Jeremy.
"I wouldn't be here…" said Aelita coldly, everyone started to realize the kinds of implications that Jeremy was talking about.
"H-how about we think about a different situation?" stuttered Jeremy. Everyone could tell that Jeremy didn't even want to think about a world without Aelita.
"I think I'm starting to wrap my head around this," said Sean, "But this doesn't explain how we ended up here. How did the computer 'debug' us this far forward into the future?"
"Well I might have an explanation," said Aelita.
"Really?" asked Sean.
"After Jeremy started working on the return program that night back in the time we came from, I pushed him to almost re-haul the entire thing that night we were in the factory," said Aelita, "To do so meant removing the safeties that were naturally written into the code."
"Safeties?" asked Sean, "Like what?"
"Well, the return was only ever designed to reverse the world a day, or as we now seem to believe, to take us to another universe that was behind ours by a day," explained Aelita, "But without the safeties, the computer could theoretically go back more than one day, or even allow us to jump forward in time as well."
Everyone, including Odd seemed to understand now what the pinkette was implying. Jeremy hopped down out of the chair and put a hand on Aelita's shoulder, "No one is blaming you," he said calmly.
"But I feel like this is all my fault!" broke Aelita, and she collapsed into Jeremy's arms and started to cry, "I was blaming you, thinking that it was something you had done! But now I realize that we wouldn't even be here if it weren't for me!"
"Aelita," soothed Jeremy, "Maybe this isn't where we wanted to be, but maybe this is where we needed to be."
Aelita stopped crying, sniffed and looked up at the blond nerd, "Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well I just feel there is a reason that we are here over anywhere else," said Jeremy, "There's no way this universe was the supercomputer's first choice. This is nothing like the universe we came from."
"Exactly!" exclaimed Ulrich, "In this universe, Yumi is called Evonne!"
Everyone blankly stared at Ulrich. Yumi stepped forward, "No I'm not…"
Jeremy chuckled, "Ulrich, I think you're remembering one of the universes that I tried to jump us to see if I could fix this. I wanted to see what would happen when I threw the safeties off again, and I think that's where we ended up."
Odd busted up laughing, "You seriously think that Yumi would go as 'Evonne?' Like, ever?!
Ulrich scowled, "I'm telling you, it happened."
"And it probably did, I tried to see if I could get us back to our time, but I just can't. No matter how many times I go over the equations and the variables, I think we're stuck here," said Jeremy.
"Stuck? Like forever?" asked Yumi, "Why here? Why this time?"
"I don't know," replied Jeremy, "For some reason the computer sent us here. But I don't believe it was just the computer, I think there's another reason we are here."
"Well what is it?" asked Odd.
Jeremy sighed, "Well I may come off as this know-it-all guy who only believes in science and what my senses can tell me, but my family is very religious, as am I. My family has been Catholic for as long as I can remember, and I was raised in the Catholic Church my entire life. There is just too much coincidence for us to be here, and not anywhere else. And it's even perhaps like the computer wants to keep us here. There's probably a reason…something that required our knowledge of the past, and the experiences and age of the future. So, I don't know the entire reason we are here, I just have faith that there's a reason we are here."
"I would agree," said Sean suddenly.
"Really?" asked Yumi, "Are you Catholic too?"
"No, my family and I are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," said Sean, there were a bunch of blank stares, "LDS?"
"Your family does drugs?" asked Odd.
"LDS…" groaned Sean, "Not LSD!"
"Oh…" said Odd, "Sorry…"
"Maybe you've heard of 'Mormons'?" asked Sean, "Most people know that name better."
"You mean that religion with the multiple wives?" asked Yumi.
Sean sighed, "I can tell I'm going to have to teach you guys about this…"
"Wait, so does that mean you've served, what it is they call it…a mission?" asked Jeremy.
"Yes," said Sean, glad that someone understood, "I spent two years in Eastern Canada. And Seth spent the same amount of time in Japan."
"Really?" asked Yumi to Sean, "You speak Japanese?"
Sean nodded, "I didn't know that!" she exclaimed.
"Hai!" said Seth, it was suddenly like his voice was so much deeper, but Ulrich was sure he was putting on an act, "Konnichiwa, hajimemashite. Watashi wa Kādifu chōrō desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!"
"Wow!" said Yumi in French, "Oh uh- Sugoi!"
Seth laughed, "You don't have to speak Japanese with me if you don't want to. French is just fine with me," he said, reverting back.
"How many languages do you two know?" asked Ulrich.
"Well we both know French and English. Our dad is a dual citizen, he's originally from England, but he served his own mission here when he was our age and loved the country so much that he moved here soon after," said Sean.
"No, you left out the real reason," said Seth, "He loved mom so much he moved here to marry her."
"Right," chuckled Sean, "And I know Quebecois, which I learned in Canada, which is like French, but that's like comparing a grapefruit to an orange."
"I can also speak some passable German, and a decent amount of Russian, and some Japanese that Seth taught me. As well, I am fluent in Greek," concluded Sean.
"And I know some Korean. As well as Spanish and Italian, but they are so close to each other sometimes that they feel like the same language," said Seth.
"You know Italian?!" asked Odd, getting excited.
"Certamente!" said Seth, "Parlo italiano probabilmente meglio di tua nonna."
"So, between the two of you, that's almost ten whole languages!" exclaimed Jeremy, counting it all up on his fingers.
"Why do you guys know so many languages?" asked Odd.
"Curiosity mostly," said Seth, "And that's actually one thing I liked learning about in school."
"Plus, our dad thinks it would be good for the business. He knows French and English of course, as well as Portuguese, Hindi, and some Swahili," said Sean.
"Does everyone in your family know another language?!" asked Jeremy.
"Of course, for family vacations when we were younger, we would travel to other countries, and in order to fit in, one of us would learn the language for everyone else. They would be the translator for the rest of the family for the duration of the trip," said Sean nonchalantly, "Our mom learned Polish, Dutch, and Vietnamese for our trips. And our little sister, Sophia, has learned Danish, Ukrainian, and Turkish."
"Holy cow!" shouted Odd, "Your family knows like…all of the languages in the world!"
"Well not entirely," said Sean, "We still don't know Swedish, that's our next vacation destination and we still haven't decided who's learning that one. It's a toss-up between Sophia again, and our dad. Right now, they are battling it out to see who can learn the most first. The first person to pass the basic skills test will be the one to go on and learn the whole language for our trip."
"Basic skills test?" asked Aelita.
"We learn all of our languages through the same online resource. It's a course that offers all sorts of languages. And once you get to a certain point, it tests you to see if you remember everything you've learned. So, we say the first person to pass that test gets to go on and learn it all," said Sean.
"How do you all have time for this?" asked Ulrich.
"Well it may seem a little hypocritical, but we don't have television in our house," admitted Sean.
"But your family runs an entertainment company! How can you get away with that?" asked Odd.
"We just use our time for other things, learning languages, improving talents, creating stuff," said Seth, "That kind of stuff…"
"I don't know if I could ever survive in your house…" remarked Odd, "I got into development because of how much TV I watch."
Everyone laughed, "I think we could tell, good buddy," said Ulrich.
"So, I really think there really is a reason we are here," said Jeremy, bringing everyone back from their tangential conversation, "And maybe we just need to figure out what it is."
"Like if we do, we get to go home?" asked Odd, "And is that something personal? Or as a group?"
"Haven't you been listening to what I have been saying…oh right," said Jeremy looking at Odd, "No I really think that we're just here to stay. There's no way to fix the computer, and even if I could, there's no going back. Our universe that we came from is either destroyed, or so far distant from where we are now that there's no way to return. We could spend the rest of our lives, and probably get nowhere near where we came from."
"So…we're just going to have to make the most of our time here," said Yumi, and as she said that, she looked over at Ulrich. Was that a hint?