Seventh 2 Survive (WAYHAUGHT)

3-2195

Waverly stared at Professor Wheeler's temporary replacement, wanting to say everyone dies eventually, it's kind of how life works. One word was all she could manage. "Okay."

"In five of your days," Haught added.

Waverly's eyebrows rose. "What?"

"Records indicate your life terminates on that day. The continuation of your existence is the difference between our extinction and survival."

Waverly was now completely lost for words.

"A series of events," Haught continued, "will lead to the termination of billions on Earth in exactly one hundred and seventy five years."

"But...but...but...wait, how many years?"

"One hundred and seventy five."

"You...you can't know that. You can't...this is a joke right?"

"I wish it was a joke. My mission here is to keep you alive."

Waverly glanced at the door. "I..I have to go. Err...I need to go somewhere...be somewhere."

"I have been paired with you. Where you go I go. It's the rules of contact."

Waverly could feel her heart thumping, her head whirling at Haught's revelation. "Stop, just stop, this isn't funny anymore. I'm not falling for it."

Haught pulled back the sleeve on her hoodie revealing a longer tattoo, touching it once. "This might convince you. It's my communicator to guide the process of adjusting the past in such a way we don't end up with total annihilation in the world I've come from."

The tattoo lifted from Haught's wrist, floating upwards like a feather caught in the breeze. It expanded to the size of a large television screen, a woman dressed in a muddy-brown uniform appearing before Waverly, speaking a jumble of words unrecognisable to her ear. "What the...how...who..."

Haught moved her hand towards the shimmering screen, the words being uttered instantly becoming understandable. "There, that should be easier for you."

"Weaver 81217820 you are assigned to the protection of Waverly Earp in the year 2020. Your mission is to get her to the designated waypoint before her thread breaks. Good fortune and plenty beans."

Waverly's mouth hung open, continuing to stare at the space where the message had played, her mind alternating between utter disbelief and the scary possibility this person sitting opposite might actually be a time traveller. The bizarre tattoo which had lifted from Haught's wrist, the unusual clothes worn by the woman in the floating screen, the curious language she spoke, all too convincing for her to dismiss as some elaborate hoax, or prank by fellow students. But then, this was England, with its bizarre sense of humour, and strange university customs.

Haught reached across, as though about to place a hand on Waverly's knee. "Do you have any questions?"

Waverly sprung from the chair, backing towards the door. She had plenty of questions. Like, who the hell was this Haught? How could she be from the future? Why was her life about to end? She fumbled for the doorknob. "I've...I've got to go."

"That's no longer possible," Haught replied. "I must stay with you until the mission is complete."

Waverly's body began shaking. The joke, if this ever was a joke now beyond a joke, too serious to ignore, her hand turning the knob behind her back. "This is not happening. You're not from the future. How can you be from the future? It's not possible, it's not.

"I am from the future."

"And...and...and..." Her brain struggled to work out what to say next. "And...and, you can't alter history. No one can."