“Walkit speeds set at mark twenty-two and no faster, please.” The monotone voice of the operator reverberated around the nearly empty halls. “A reminder: all applications for Time Travel Beta must be submitted through Alpha Com before third sunrise tomorrow, complete with DNA samples and cholesterol level.”

Leah, who had only been slightly paying attention to these announcements, glanced up when she heard the last bit and closed her hologram portfolio. “Cholesterol levels?” she asked aloud. “But no one cares about cholesterol. They found the solution to heart problems years ago.”

The computer in the wall, a prototype for human intelligence, answered her thoughts in a cheery, male voice. “Cholesterol levels on Earth in the year twenty zero zero eight caused problems for many. Life forms did not have the capability of keeping the body strong and free of illness. Those wishing to experience life of the fallen planet must know how they will fare should anything go wrong.”

Leah sighed and rubbed her head. Sometimes the computer’s complete lack of solemnity gave her a headache, for it spoke of things going wrong in such a happy tone that it definitely thought everything would go right. And she was pretty sure that it wouldn’t…

Leah had only applied for the Continuum Mission because life at the station was so dull that she frequently thought about applying to be a seamstress supervisor and spend the rest of her life stuck watching a machine create the latest styles. That was her only other option because she didn’t make enough money to move to the land-based center on the moon. She was stuck orbiting a dead planet. So when she’d found out that a team was being chosen to explore the old ways of Earth life, she’d eagerly volunteered. The real miracle, though, was the fact that she was chosen from thousands of early applicants to participate in such a historical mission.

However successful the mission was projected to be, Leah doubted the truth to the promotional holograms that walked the halls during the work day. They spoke of changing the world and saving the world from the destruction it had faced fifty years earlier. Leah knew that whoever built the time machine was only in it for the money and that they were only sending people there to discover the effects that time travel had on humans. Something was bound to go wrong, considering that this was the first launch, and Leah knew that most likely she and the rest of them would end up being stuck on old Earth.

“Well,” Leah sighed again, “at least it will be better than here.”

“Shall I send Alpha Communications your biological information?” the computer inquired happily.

“Go for it.” She placed her hand on the data pad and waited.

“Transmission complete.”

“Thanks.” Leah opened her hologram book again and Earth shone brightly, depicted as how it had been at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

“You’re welcome!”

“Oh, just shut up.”

“Negative. Shutting down,” the computer replied, and Leah smiled slightly and the machine’s humor.

“Good one,” she said quietly, but the computer was already powered down. “Now, Earth, tell me about yourself.”

---

The old archives of Earth had always fascinated Leah, so when she was given hours of images to watch she was thrilled. She was told that she, as well as the rest of those that had been picked for the test, needed to have a thorough knowledge of life on Earth back then. It had been nearly a century since the archives had been filmed and recorded, so Leah knew that it would be rather difficult to adjust to the lifestyles people had. Still, she enjoyed watching them and learning about those who’d brought the human race to where they were today.

Her favorite was titled ‘On the Discourse of Loyalty’ and it had followed the life of a wealthy man, one whose friends were fiercely loyal only until he happened to lose his fortune in an unforeseen accident. Leah was amazed at how his friends could have been so driven by money, wondering how anyone could desert a friend just because he was poor. Nothing like that could have ever happened at Omega Station orbiting Earth, for each person’s activities were so supervised and planned out that it was virtually impossible for anyone to even think about backstabbing a friend. She’d watched the archive a hundreds times and grown to know the man quite intimately, though he probably never knew that he would be watched by a team of lone space dwellers.

“All persons are to remember that black items of clothing are forbidden on Tuesdays,” the announcer computer droned out in the hallway.

Leah stopped the ‘Loyalty’ image with the press of a button and stretched. “What is the purpose of making black clothing illegal on Tuesdays?” she asked her computer with a yawn.

“Alpha Com believes that the use of black clothing too often will result in the loss of moral aboard the station,” he replied joyfully. “In conjunction with this law, reading Earth books is only allowed on the weekend, and all clothing worn at any time must be approved by the nearest Alpha team.”

“That’s life,” Leah replied with another huge yawn. There were so many rules on her station that, even though there were thousands of people aboard Omega, not a single person knew them all. “Remind me again about sleeping.” Sometimes she really wondered about the sanity of Alpha Communication—who happened to live on the moon station rather than Omega—because when it came to rules and regulations, most of them were just silly.

“No one may fall asleep in any position other than lying down,” responded the computer cheerfully. “Please note, all sleeping must be done between seventh and thirteenth sunrise each day.”

“That’s insane,” Leah replied, turning ‘On the Discourse of Loyalty’ back on again. “Who really counts sunrises anyway?”

“Each computer, myself included, is programmed to help you keep track of—”

“Hold up.” Leah put the computer on mute then rewound the video image. She’d just seen something that she’d never noticed before. As David, the main focus of ‘Loyalty’, walked down the streets of what was called ‘New York City’, he was being followed by… “Me.” She paused the record and zoomed in on the face of the girl following David, shocked to find that she looked exactly like Leah did. Leah pulled up a picture of herself on the screen then fixed the focus of the video to compare them. “That’s not normal…” she whispered to herself.

Leah was quite sure that she had not lived back in 2008, because that would mean she’d have to be at least 120 years old, and she was positive that she’d not been in the archive footage earlier. She’d watched this video a hundred times and never seen herself. So either the time travel was going to be a success—still unlikely, considering that they’d never tested it on humans before—or someone on Old Earth looked exactly like her.

“—and similarly, the locust knew exactly the time of day.”

“What?” Leah hadn’t even realized that she’d un-muted the computer and that it’d kept on talking to her about, well, whatever it was, without even knowing she couldn’t hear it. “Has this footage been changed at all?” She transmitted the archive into the main computer system, hoping that it was just a big mistake and that it was coincidence that this person looked exactly like her.

“Searching,” the computer replied. “I am happy to tell you that slight changes to this archive have been detected. Submit tampering complaint?”

“No.” Leah smiled a bit and watched as the video resumed play and the Old Earth ‘Leah’ caught up to David, tapping him on the shoulder. The rest of the video was completely different from what it had been before and the more she watched, the less Leah feared the time travel beta flight. Perhaps they’d be stuck in Old Earth, but it wouldn’t be so bad. She wouldn’t have to live to see the day the Earth was practically destroyed by nuclear warfare.

The announcer outside her room made another announcement, one that Leah listened to with excitement, even though it still droned on in monotony. “All Beta Time researchers are to report to Loading Sector 32. Continuum Mission will commence at fourth sunrise.”

Leah jumped to her feet in anticipation. “Computer?”

“At your service.”

“This is goodbye. I’m going to go live in a world where people can choose who their friends are and how they live their life.”

“Good luck with that! When you return I shall be waiting to fulfill your every need.”

“Oh, I won’t be coming back. Even if the others do, I won’t.” Leah smiled to herself. She was ready to live the life she saw in the archive. Or, more specifically, she was ready to live her own life.