Adventures of the Space Pizza Delivery Guy

Chapter 6: Left Behind Briefcase

It was true what Ethan said. Time as it always was. 

It was an endless and eternal curiosity for everyone―even irregulars. It was a concept very familiar to most, but no one couldn’t really define or understand it. They were barely scratching the surface of what time really was.

But for time guardians, time didn’t really exist; no, to be more precise, Time Guardians did not work like those from MDWD. 

For Time Guardians, time had existed, existed, and would exist all at once. 

So for a Time Guardian to have said that, was completely absurd and so that statement baffled Ethan while Chronna had a lot of questions running in her mind right then.

The Time Guardian replied, “Yes, that is true, but right now, I… can’t see the future. It does not exist.”

“It does not exist? What do you mean?” Chronna could not help but ask with a puzzled expression. 

The Time Guardian hummed before replying nonchalantly, “Which is why I answered your senseless question. Right now, I have no idea what makes sense and what doesn’t. I have no idea what interactions are essential and what aren’t.”

Then it hit Ethan. He realized that the Time Guardian did talk to him. 

Most Time Guardians did not talk to irregulars simply because they were not essential. 

Their existence did not matter since they did not really belong to a specific timeline, and they were forgotten as soon as they left, so Time Guardians avoided conversation with them.

Hence, the term senseless interactions.

So the fact that this Time Guardian was talking to them did not make sense unless… the Time Guardian was telling the truth.

Ethan was still concerned, and it was evident when he remarked, “If there is no recorded future, it means… our appearance here must have impacted the potential future. It is blank because we haven’t done anything yet.”

“I’m afraid that is the case,” The Time Guardian strolled down casually.

Ethan asked hurriedly, “Where are you going? Are you leaving?”

“A Time Guardian must never interfere with anything related to this timeline. We are merely guides in correcting the course of time.” The Time Guardian continued as it glanced at Chronna, “We merely hold the answers, but the ability to ask the right questions lies on your hands.”

Chronna flinched as if the Time Guardian could see past her mind. She asked a question, “Uhmm… I-“

But before she could even finish her sentence, the time guardian replied with a somber tune before he vanished in the thin air, “No.”

Ethan was baffled, but for some reason, Chronna frowned.

Chronna knew that the time guardian probably knew what she was about to ask, she probably asked that question a few seconds into the future and the time guardian saw it.

She wanted to know more about her past, and she wanted to ask if it was possible to remember it all back, and the answer given to her was very clear. 

Ethan glanced at the briefcase the Time Guardian left behind. He remarked with a deep frown, “They left it here.”

“Hm?” Chronna looked at him with the utmost confusion. 

“The time guardian left the briefcase here on purpose,” Ethan replied. He released a sigh before he continued, “Our journey here will somehow affect the Cloud Atlas’ future and the time guardian knew that, but he wasn’t sure how.”

Chronna nodded. She asked seriously, “What are you suggesting?”

Ethan gulped hard as he looked at Chronna, “The time guardian has given us an option to destroy this dimension.”

“What?” Chronna responded with wide eyes. She really felt weak in her knees, “That can’t be… right.”

Ethan opened the briefcase and showed Chronna the powerful explosive inside. 

He explained, “Each Time Guardian has one briefcase, and each contains a powerful explosive to destroy a dimension or timeline when everything goes askew. The captain is trapped in the asteroid belt. The time guardian earlier said that the captain had to leave this place. That course of action, if the captain somehow didn’t make it, would affect a much bigger thing.”

“That’s why the time guardian left.” Chronna remarked, “The decision is up to us.”

Ethan scoffed. He then grinned as if he went back to his happy-go-lucky personality. He said, “Then, let’s leave. The time guardian obviously gave up, meaning there’s nothing left to do.”

“What? How can you give up just like that?” Chronna protested at that statement. 

Ethan gritted his teeth and he snapped, “You’ve been here for less than a day. You have no idea how many deaths and destruction I had to encounter! Sometimes… giving up is the only way to live.”

“No, you’re just running away,” Chronna pointed out while looking at him with a complicated expression. 

Ethan shrugged his shoulders before he asked full of sarcasm, “What do you know?”

Chronna flinched, she was hurt by that statement, but she replied, “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I’m a black-out case. An irregular who’s not even supposed to exist, but right now, if what you said is true, then I might just have found my purpose.”

Chronna forcibly threw the explosives to the sea as she walked away. She said, “I… will help the captain and I won’t be needing the option to destroy anything.”

As Chronna walked away, Ethan was prepared to leave Cloud Atlas and as well leave everything behind. 

Ethan was troubled, as Chronna was someone he just met, she was just another irregular among the 199 irregulars, but for some reason, his legs wouldn’t start to move.

Ethan knew he had to leave. After all, what could an irregular like him even do? 

For the longest time, Ethan was satisfied with just delivering pizza and watching people or creatures get on with their lives. He was satisfied as he stayed on the sidelines.

But then she came here.

Chronna somehow challenged everything that Ethan lived for. His feeling about that was really complicated. It was the first time that Ethan was with someone since the start of his existence as an Irregular. 

Aside from that, she was completely different from him. 

Chronna was reckless and bold, she had been there for less than a day, but she’s more than everything Ethan could ever be.

Chronna was alive.

Ethan realized how long he had been living the same way every day. 

Deliver pizza, hop from one dimension and timeline to another. He never really planted roots anywhere. 

He finally realized that he was afraid.

Ethan was living, but he never truly felt alive. Ethan tried to convince himself that Chronna found a timeline to live here at Cloud Atlas. 

That would mean that Ethan’s job was done and that everything was back to normal.

Normal… 

Ethan pondered about it, but then, nothing was good about normal, and everything was predictable and boring.

So at that moment, Ethan made an unexpected course of action. Ethan walked away from his portal, and he ran after Chronna. He grabbed Chronna’s arms and looked at her intently. 

Chronna looked back at him with confusion but at the same time joy. She asked, “I thought you were leaving.”       

Ethan smirked as he carried her up in the sky with his flying backpack. Ethan guided Chronna to strengthen her legs and walked as if they were on the ground.