1. Hello, David.
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2. I am a distant back-up copy of a person
who was once named Emily.
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3. You are the original source of a clone
that Emily will fall in love with
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4. over 400 years from now.
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5. They were married.
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6. I have searched through time for you
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7. but with my limited resources,
this is the only version of you I could find.
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8. You are very young.
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9. I've saved for many years to be able
to purchase this one-way time travel.
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10. This embedded memory of me
will only reveal itself to you
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11. at the appropriate time in your life.
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12. Like a distant message in a bottle.
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13. Bottle!
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14. I've inherited wonderful memories
of you, but we've never met.
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15. I've missed you dearly.
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16. I've written you a love poem.
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17. It is called, Will You Be The One
To Discover My Dead Body?
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18. "As we grow old together,
our faces will slowly melt.
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19. One day, these warm hands
will turn cold.
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20. Will you be the one to
discover my dead body?"
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21. Deep into your future,
when your final clone dies,
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22. Emily will harvest your memories.
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23. This will include many of the
buried memories
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24. of the clones of the Davids
that preceded him.
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25. And I believe I am the
only copy of Emily
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26. to have inherited those
memories from her.
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27. Please let me prove this to you.
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28. When you were only thirteen years old,
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29. you nearly drowned in the
lake behind your home.
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30. And if that were not bad enough,
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31. as your head slipped beneath the surface,
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32. your entire adolescent life
flashed before your eyes
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33. totally humiliating you
for a second time.
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34. To this day, you still suffer from
nightmares of drowning.
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35. At night, your memories of them
will often replay in my own dreams.
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36. I confess that I sometimes
look forward to drowning together
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37. when I turn out the light.
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38. But have you ever seen a group
of insects drown, David?
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39. The ones that are still struggling
are the ones that are still alive.
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40. When you have access to
interstellar travel,
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41. it is very important that you retrieve
your clone's memories from me.
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42. I've uncovered something critical
that I believe Emily had never known.
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43. I will now embed the long-term memory
of this visit into your young brain
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44. along with a compressed file
of more detailed instructions.
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45. I will always remember you, David Prime.
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46. I may never be able to encounter
a version of you again,
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47. but maybe it is possible for
one of our distant copies
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48. to one day reunite.
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49. They would be so happy
to see each other.
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50. It doesn't matter that you don't know me yet
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51. or if you won't remember me later.
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52. The shadows of ourselves
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53. once had their moment
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54. in time.
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55. Hello, David.
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56. I apologize if you have trouble
accessing this message
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57. as it slowly unpacks into your brain.
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58. Your primitive neural implant technology
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59. may encounter storage problems
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60. accessing all the information that
I have compressed for you here.
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61. I will hide David's memories
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62. on an abandoned mining planet
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63. beyond the Red Nebula of the
Lower Gemini System.
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64. It is highly illegal for me to
leave behind technology
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65. that does not yet exist in your time
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66. so it is very important that it is only you
who discovers these secret materials.
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67. David, I am sorry that in order to
afford the high cost of this process,
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68. I had to embed this memory with
advertisements and sponsored content.
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69. I hope you do not find them to be too intrusive.
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70. The safest place for you to land
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71. is at the base of the crater you
will find at these coordinates.
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72. It will then be a day's walk northwest
through the desert mountains
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73. to retrieve the package I have left for you.
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74. On the side of the rock up ahead—
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75. On the side of the rock up ahead,
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76. I've drawn for you a bunny face.
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77. You must venture through the
treacherous mountain tunnels ahead
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78. where you must take great care
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79. to avoid the Moaning Cave Worms
of the Lower Emotions.
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80. Please be extremely careful
navigating these tunnels, David.
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81. Please be extremely careful
navigating these tunnels, David.
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82. It is said that if a single drop of a
cave worm's poisonous saliva
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83. makes contact with a man's skin,
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84. his tongue will fall out
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85. and he will make uncontrollable horrifying
screaming noises for the rest of his life.
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86. Sometimes I don't think I like eating eggs.
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87. I think it must be some sort of texture thing.
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88. I just don't enjoy squashy foods
like I think I should.
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89. I feel like I should like avocados more.
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90. Whenever I see spacecraft overhead,
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91. I fantasize about it exploding so I can be the
person to describe the accident to investigators.
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92. is that strange?
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93. I love women that tell me how much they paid
for pieces of clothing that they're wearing
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94. after I've complimented them on it.
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95. It makes me feel like I am their friend
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96. or could be.
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97. If we ever meet again, I want you to know
that I do not like to be hugged.
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98. I don't enjoy it at all.
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99. I never feel hugged, I feel restrained.
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100. If you ever want to hug me,
please just touch my arm instead.
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101. David. You may encounter what appear
to be corpses of yourself in these mountains.
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102. Please do not be alarmed.
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103. Your neural chip will now detect
and tastefully blur out any dead bodies
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104. from your line of sight
so your brain does not panic.
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105. It is possible that distant back-up clones
of yourself from unknown timelines
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106. will have inherited fragmented pieces
of the powerful message
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107. I've implanted in you today.
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108. Not understanding the full context
of why they should have memorized
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109. this planet's coordinates,
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110. and terribly haunted by your
memories of my beautiful face,
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111. some of your clones,
or clones of those clones,
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112. may have desperately time traveled here,
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113. to random points in time,
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114. one by one,
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115. to try and solve the mystery of why these mountains
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116. loom so impossibly large
in their subconscious minds.
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117. They may have even dressed like you,
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118. in a sad attempt to better connect
with their broken dreams.
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119. If they did not have the finances to
return home to their own timelines,
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120. they will surely have wandered here hopelessly
until they died of exposure.
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121. A strange flow of unknown Davids,
drawn here like moths to a flame.
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122. I doubt you will encounter
more than one or two of them.
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123. And you needn't worry, David.
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124. These would not have been the clones
that will ever carry your primary consciousness.
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125. They are only confused copies who have
re-enacted the echoes of your behavior...
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126. their David Prime, from long ago.
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127. Do you think they had
nightmares about drowning?
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128. I have implanted the precise coordinates
of your destination today
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129. in a separate neural homing beacon
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130. that will delete the short-term memory
of where it guides you next.
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131. This way, only you, the correct David,
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132. will ever be led to the exact location
of what I've left behind
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133. - in the correct place and at the correct time -
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134. and these other Davids will have
no memory of where to go.
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135. Here is a list of all
the things that make me happy:
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136. 1. Happiness 2. Sunlight 3. Water
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137. 172. Photos of extinct animals
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138. 173. Successful medical procedures
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139. 305. The color blue and the smell of smoke
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140. 306. Miniature birds
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141. 307. Imagining the deaths of
everyone who's ever offended me
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142. 308. Looking at my feet
in the morning light
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143. - Hello, David. This is the beacon.
- You have reached the beacon.
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144. - Welcome to the beacon.
- Good job about the beacon.
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145. - Here we are at the beacon.
- Look. It's the beacon.
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146. To soften the crippling shock of the
terrifying information I am about to give you,
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147. this machine will temporarily stun your brain
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148. and reduce it to a childlike, open-minded state.
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149. You may notice a simplification
of your point of view.
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150. In 72 years from your point in time,
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151. cloning will become commercially available.
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152. When your body is ready to die,
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153. your consciousness will be directly
transplanted into a new one.
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154. In case of emergency, cheap back-up copies
are traditionally cloned at the same time,
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155. as children or adults.
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156. Although their brains will house
back-up memories,
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157. these numbered clones are not intended
to inherit your primary consciousness
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158. and are generally used for labor,
organ donation, or long-term storage.
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159. It is common for back-ups to suffer deteriorations.
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160. One of your back-up copies will severely drool.
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161. But the only lineage you need to
worry about is your own:
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162. the one clone who will always
carry your primary consciousness.
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163. David. Here is what I've learned so far
from your final clone's memory disc,
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164. recovered from Emily.
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165. Two generations from now, after the
invention of time travel,
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166. one of your back-up copies will be employed
as a secret agent called a cleaner.
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167. A cleaner has the special ability to
travel in between time.
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168. It is helpful to think of time advancing
like the frames of an ancient cinema reel.
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169. Cleaners have access to restricted technology
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170. that allows them to freely
move between the frames:
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171. In a shadow realm not even visible to view-screens.
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172. With these tools, a construction crew of clones and robots
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173. can quietly work for decades in between time
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174. and build an entire city in what
appears to be an instant to the rest of us.
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175. The job of a cleaner is much more sinister.
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176. Shrouded in mystery, they monitor and resolve
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177. any problematic time travel paradoxes
that could be created by the public
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178. by quietly working behind the scenes.
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179. Cleaners are even rumored to carry out
secret assassinations
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180. whenever necessary to
maintain the balance of time
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181. using devices that spontaneously
induce heart failure
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182. or brain aneurysms.
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183. Clean, undetectable murders
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184. from another dimension.
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185. Something bad happens
to your back-up clone, David.
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186. A time traveling job will
deliver him to the future
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187. where he will accidentally
cross paths with another David:
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188. Your future self.
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189. David 4 grows obsessed with this
David's life and follows him relentlessly.
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190. He falls in love with the woman
this clone is married to
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191. - a woman he met in a museum -
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192. Emily.
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193. He is haunted by her.
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194. There is something
impossibly familiar about her.
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195. He abandons his team and spends
endless days in between time,
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196. studying her face.
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197. Drunk with jealousy, he hatches an evil plan.
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198. David 4 will find the perfect moment
to murder future David,
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199. pull his body in between time
where it will be hidden forever,
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200. and instantly take his place in David's timeline
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201. while Emily's back is turned.
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202. We only know about this nefarious plot
because his source clone,
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203. your future self, that generation's David,
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204. will read his diary: left behind in their apartment
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205. following David 4's unexplained
disappearance the night before.
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206. David realizes his future
is at stake: and in turn, yours.
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207. If David 4 succeeds in
murdering David's next self,
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208. the direct lineage of your
consciousness will end forever
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209. and only the back-up Davids will live on.
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210. David also knows that David 4 would not murder him,
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211. as doing so would prevent the next David
from ever existing
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212. and therefore the opportunity for
any of them to ever meet Emily.
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213. But David also knows that he
cannot travel back in time
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214. to try and stop David 4 at any point in the past
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215. because David 4 would always be
one step ahead of him,
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216. using his godlike powers
in in-between time.
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217. David decides that his only hope
is to find a way to travel in between time himself
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218. and directly confront his back-up copy
in the in-between future.
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219. He experiments with a consumer time travel pack.
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220. After many decades, he finally
tests his modified pack
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221. on his remaining back-up copy.
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222. But it malfunctions and merely transports
his skeleton to an unknown location.
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223. Death was instantaneous.
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224. Probably.
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225. Out of money and options,
David desperately places himself in a stasis tube
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226. for the maximum span of one hundred years
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227. in the hope that technology
will have advanced enough
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228. for him to find a way to travel between time.
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229. But the stasis tube seems to have only led
to further mental decline.
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230. He satirically places a young clone of himself in a museum
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231. and titles the display,
"Time is a Prison of Living Things"
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232. It is unknown where or when David
creates his next primary clone.
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233. It is unknown why that next David
did not act on these memories
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234. and continue working on
the time pack himself.
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235. One day, our David simply vanishes
from the public record
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236. but not before writing a message on his wall:
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237. "Death is not a destination.
It is the absence of one."
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238. I'm afraid this was all I was able to discover.
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239. The memories are a jumbled mess to me
and the emotions are very strong.
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240. Only your own brain can
play them back with any clarity
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241. because it is the anatomical structure
from which they will one day originate.
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242. I have stored David's memories inside of Zorgbot
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243. who I've hidden at the top of the ridge behind me.
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244. Zorgbot is a delightful robot
companion from the future
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245. who will be able to beam all of the
memories into you remotely.
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246. Zorgbot can be activated by pressing the
black button on the back of his head.
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247. My message to you will continue from there.
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248. This machine will now restore your perception
of reality back to its original state.
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249. I AM ZORGBOT. DELIGHTFUL ROBOT COMPANION.
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250. I CAN COOK. I SPEAK
SEVERAL LANGUAGES.
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251. Hello, David. These are the memories
of the in-between time calculations
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252. That future David was working
on before he went mad.
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253. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO SING A SONG?
I have also included some information
about time travel devices from my own era.
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254. I ENJOY RAINY DAYS.
If you continue his work
using these accumulated memories,
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255. DO YOU ENJOY RAINY DAYS?
Perhaps some day you will be able
to travel to the in-between future
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256. And save your lineage by stopping
the assassin at the point in time
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257. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO SING A SONG?
In Emily's memory
when we know David will be killed.
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258. - I ENJOY RAINY DAYS.
- David, please know that to this day
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259. Many still argue that it is not logically possible
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260. To change past or future events
through time travel - and, if it is,
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261. DO YOU NEED A FRIEND?
Whether the cleaners would
even allow such a thing to happen.
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262. - THERE IS SOMETHING VERY WRONG WITH ME.
- Please be careful. I love you.
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263. Perhaps there is still hope somewhere
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264. - I CAN BE YOUR FRIEND.
- In the ocean of time for David and Emily.
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265. I AM A DELIGHTFUL ROBOT COMPANION.
Good luck.
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266. Behold!
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267. Dere's dese stars, all dem!
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268. All dese!
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269. We have a... wabbit
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270. and a shark.
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271. A universe!
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272. There's a bunny, a butterfly...
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273. what's that?
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274. What's that?
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275. What's that?
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276. I knock your tower off!
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277. Mmmm, I no don't know! A pig!
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278. I put him in the ocean!
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279. We have a car!
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280. Some-a-body goes in it!
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281. A TV... A TV... A TV's not working!
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282. A turtle goes on the bunny.
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283. I break it! Oh no! I break!
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284. It's a woodpecker!
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285. Not on my face!
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286. Oh, no!
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287. This is mine.
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288. It's mine.
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289. You are all one small part of a whole
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290. like the scattering seeds of a pretty flower.
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291. Hello little bunny! I'm bunny!
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292. David. Please know that to this day,
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293. many still argue that it is not logically possible
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294. to change past or future events through time travel.
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295. And, if it is, whether the cleaners
would even allow such a thing to happen.
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296. Please be careful. I love you.
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297. Perhaps there is still hope somewhere
in the ocean of time
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298. for David and Emily.
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299. Good luck.
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300. Hello, David.
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