Retroactive Control
Chapter 2
That night, Jeremy found himself unable to sleep. Making sure to not wake Lisa, he left the bedroom and wandered down to the kitchen. He couldn’t resist the urge to experiment with it just a little bit more. He picked up the device from the table, and walked quietly back to the bedroom. He opened the door a crack, and pointed the remote at Lisa’s sleeping form. As expected, the display changed to LISA. He pressed the minus Temp button, and...
After the flash, his eyes were treated to Lisa, still sleeping in her bedroom. A glance at the wall calender beside the bed confirmed that this was indeed about a year ago. Lisa seemed to be alone in the bed, further corroborating the time period. He had only officially moved in with her in the last few months.
Just like before, he couldn’t interact with anything. He decided to tried pressing Undo/Redo, but the display changed to “Err.” Okay, that wasn’t it. He pressed Command, and was surprised when a blue beam of light came from the front of the remote and began to hover over Lisa. Could this mean...
“Lisa, wake up.”
Slowly, sleepily Lisa woke up, and the blue light faded. She looked around groggily. Jeremy could barely believe it, had that really worked? He had to test it further. He pressed the Command button again.
“Lisa, get out of bed and write ‘Jeremy’ on your calendar.”
Lisa got out of bed, grabbed a pen from her desk and walked to the calendar. She blocked the calendar while she was writing, but when she walked away Jeremy could read it. ‘Jeremy.’ This thing worked. He could use this device to change the past, by controlling people in it. What kinds of limits did the commands he could give have? He needed to try a small experiment. He pressed the Command button.
“Lisa, whenever you sleep from now on, sleep in the nude.”
Jeremy watched as she started to get ready to get back to sleep after her rude awakening. Rather than staying in her bra and panties, she took off her remaining garments and went back to sleep. Now to check what effect that had in the present. He pressed the Exit button.
When Jeremy arrived, an almost unbearable pain stormed through his head. The pain was like being stabbed over and over again. It only lasted for a few seconds, and when it subsided Jeremy could tell that it had worked. When he tried to remember how Lisa slept, he had two sets of memories. A strong memory that she always slept in the nude (something that he had always enjoyed), and a faint memory that she would typically sleep in a bra and panties. He looked around the room, and it was pretty much how he remembered. He could swear that a few things were in slightly different locations than before, but none of them were of too much concern. A hairbrush a few inches from where it had been, the towel in the bathroom was a different color—that sort of thing.
Now that Jeremy knew he had this power, he didn’t want other people knowing about it. Unfortunately, he had already told Lisa about the device. Maybe he could fix that, though. He didn’t know if him remembering the other timeline was because that’s just how time travel works, or because he had the remote on him when he altered the timeline. Only one way to find out. He pointed the device at himself, the display changed to JERE. Here goes nothing. Click.
He saw himself sleeping at his old, crappy apartment. It was him from a year ago. He pressed Command.
“Jeremy, if you ever get a remote from an old man, do not tell Lisa about it.”
If this worked he’d be the only person to know about his remote. If it didn’t, Lisa might be pissed that he used the time machine while she was asleep despite their agreement. He pressed Exit.
The next morning was pleasant. They enjoyed a quick breakfast before they both had to take off for work and classes. Throughout breakfast, Jeremy’s heart was pounding like crazy. He was waiting for Lisa to bring up the remote. But she never did. Had it really worked?
“Hey, Lisa?” Jeremy said slowly.
“What’s up, Jeremy?” Lisa said.
“Did anything... weird happen last night?”
“Weird, like how?” Lisa asked curiously.
“Never mind, forget I brought it up,” Jeremy said.
Lisa seemed a little confused by this line of questioning, but she let it drop. When breakfast finished, they kissed each other goodbye and Jeremy was left alone in the house for a bit. He pumped his fist in the air. It had worked. Only the user of the remote kept their memory. Now that he knew this, he could tell that work today was going to be great.
Jeremy kept the remote control on him all day. He was eager to see what he could do with the device. His first opportunity quickly presented itself.
He was delivering to a house on the south side of town. A woman in her mid-40’s answered the door. She was holding a baby, and her hair was a bit disheveled. Jeremy could hear two young boys (about 9 and 7 if he had to guess), fighting in the background.
“Timmy, would you please stop fighting with your brother? The pizza is here!” the woman looked like she hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in weeks. “I’m really sorry, about all this. Here’s $20, keep the change,” she said.
Jeremy was moved to help the woman in his own small way, so he pulled out the remote, pointed it at the elder of the two boys and pressed the button. He was treated to a scene of the boy (younger now) chasing a cat around the house. Jeremy pressed Command.
“Timmy, listen to your mother from now on. Set a good example for your brother.”
He pressed Exit. There was a slight pain in his head, but it was lighter and shorter than the first time. He was back at the house handing the mother her pizza. She looked much less stressed than before, and he could see the two young boys playing quietly and politely behind her. Something was a bit off, though.
“Didn’t you have a baby?” Jeremy asked.
“What? No. It’s just Timmy and Jason here. Maybe you’re thinking of somebody else you deliver to?” the woman said.
“That must be it...” Jeremy said, a sinking feeling starting in his stomach. He took the $20, and handed her the pizza. “Have a nice day, ma’am.” His heart was not in the words. He walked numbly back to the car. He had just erased someone from existence, without even meaning to. The woman seemed much happier, but an entire person had been deleted from history. He had wanted the power to rewrite history, but he hadn’t fully considered what that entailed. Maybe he could fix this though! He pulled out the remote, and looked at it. He hadn’t really tried the Undo/Redo buttons. Maybe, if he was very lucky...
With trembling fingers he pushed the Undo button. He saw a familiar blinding flash, and found himself sitting in his car in the same neighborhood. After a slight pain in his head he knew it had worked. He had two memories like before, and the most clear memories were of the woman having a baby. He quickly realized what this meant. Not only could he change time, but he could explore different possibilities without consequence. It seemed the old man (or whoever had invented this remote) had thought of everything.
His second delivery of the day was a straitlaced young couple. The guy answered the door. They both appeared to be in their mid 20s and if their house was any indication, their finances were fairly healthy. Jeremy pulled out the remote, and (click) was soon looking at a younger version of the guy, sitting alone watching TV. Jeremy pressed Command.
“Write your name on a piece of paper.”
The guy got up and was looking around struggling to find a pen. After few minutes, he found a pen in the couch cushions and pulled out a piece of scratch paper. He wrote: ‘Jonathan Wilson.’ Click.
“Jonathan, write your biggest regret on that paper.”
Jonathan wrote for a few seconds, then put the pen down: ‘Starting to smoke.’ That was easy enough to fix. Jeremy hit minus until he was looking a Jonathan at seven or eight. Click.
“Jonathan, never start smoking.”
He hit Exit, and saw Jonathan standing before him. Aside from the light pain in Jeremy’s head confirming that time had changed slightly, he couldn’t see much difference. Maybe Jonathan looked a bit taller? Well that was no fun.
“Here’s your pizza, sir,” Jeremy said. Jonathan handed over the money (with a very generous tip). Jeremy decided to try the girl this time. Click.
Flash. Jeremy was looking at the girl talking to a bunch of people in a restaurant. Click.
“Excuse yourself to the restroom, and take a paper and pen with you.”
The girls said something to the people she was eating with, and walked off to the restroom. Click.
“Pull out your driver’s license, and hold in front for you for a few seconds.”
The girl rummaged through her purse and pulled it out. Her name was apparently Jennifer Miller. Click.
“Jennifer, put away your driver license, and write down your biggest regret.”
‘Not having more fun in college.’
Jeremy knew what to do. Based on her age from the license, he guessed how many years he needed to go back. Click. The girl was eating lunch and pouring over a textbook, and he could see Jonathan apparently studying and eating with her. They had apparently been a couple for a while. Click.
“Jennifer, stop taking college so seriously. Cut loose; have some fun. Go to parties; live a little!”
He clicked Exit. There was a little more pain this time. Jeremy was still handing Jonathan a pizza, but he appeared to be at a smaller house. He looked behind Jonathan, and was surprised that Jennifer wasn’t nearby.
“Where’s Jennifer?” Jeremy accidentally wondered aloud.
“Do you know Jennifer? Jennifer Miller?” Jonathan asked.
“Uh, you could say that. Yeah,” said Jeremy.
“How has she been? It’s been a while.”
“Oh, does she not live here?”
“Of course not! I haven’t seen her in, like, two years. Me and her went our separate ways a while back.”
Click. Jeremy was again looking at Jennifer and Jonathan studying together. Click.
“Johnathan, don’t break up with Jennifer or let Jennifer break up with you. Do whatever you need to, to stay with her and keep the both of you happy.”
Exit. Another headache. The house was different from either time, but Jennifer and Jonathan were both in the house. Jeremy was surprised to see that it was Jennifer answering the door this time. She was dressed rather provocatively in a black corset and miniskirt that emphasized her cleavage and showed off her gorgeous legs.
“H-here’s your pizza, miss.” Jeremy said.
“Thanks for coming so fast.” She purred. She snapped her fingers, and Jonathan walked over to her. “Give him the money, dear.” Jonathan handed Jeremy the money. “Good boy, now it’s time for your treat,” she said, patting her boyfriend on the head, and closing the door on Jeremy.
He walked back to his car with a few new ideas on how he and Lisa could have fun tonight with the remote.