The bugle has sounded...

The Traveller gets Retconned

by Tony DeCarvalho

The Traveller woke up at 9:30 AM. He was startled by the sound of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" emanating from his cell phone.

"Hello?" the Traveller answered groggily.

"Where are you?"

"What ... Overmind?"

"When are you getting to work?"

"What? Work? What?"

"We have a meeting with the investors at 10:30, remember? We need to go over our proposal!"

The Traveller's mind was a cloud. He hadn't worked at Tashman for ten years. At least, that's what he remembered.

"You're pulling my leg," said the Traveller. "Haha. Very funny."

"I'm not! Hurry up!"

"Alright. I'm gonna fly over, but if this a joke...."

The Traveller arrived at the Tashman space station at 10:05. Overmind was waiting at the docking station.

"Here's the final draft of the proposal. I figured we'd look over the video presentation...."

Wait a minute -- you mean this is not a joke?"

"No!" yelled an exasperated Overmind. "What's gotten into you?"

The Traveller looked around expecting to see ... "Where are the partners?"

"What!? We are the partners! Have you been drinking?"

"No, I ... what? WE'RE the partners?"

"Don't you remember? We got a loan from the bank to buy our teleportation devices ... we spent the first six months of the business living on Raman noodles and working the machines by ourselves ... hello? Get a clue?"

"No. I don't remember. What the hell are you talking about? Where's ..."

"Don't even say it!"

Overmind pulled the Traveller into his office. "Look, I don't care what you remember or don't remember, Loyalist. I need you to snap out of it right now -- this presentation could make or break the company!"

"What did you just called me?"

"The Loyalist! That's you!"

The Traveller had not been called the Loyalist since before his son was born. His son....

The Traveller reached for his cellphone [the same one he'd had since leaving the Tashman Universe] and called his wife ... only to find out that the number was disconnected.

Sweating, he called information ... and found out that his wife did not live on Space Station Alpha.

He ran over to a workstation (against the protests of Overmind), and did a search under "Traveller". Nothing.

Then, his trembling hands typed in the words "Loyalist", and depressed the Enter key.

And there it was. Ten years of history that he did not remember.

He was still single. He had co-founded Tashman Technologies with Overmind, and together they had built the fastest growing Teleportation company in the world.

Somehow, the life he had known had ceased to be, and this new continuity had taken over.