Page 10 of Reversal of Fate

6 – The Time Traveler Identity

Los Angeles, Friday, September 26, 2025

Carter had spent the night he arrived in 2025 in a small motel near the university campus, pissed at himself for having somehow screwed up his time jump. His night was restless. The thought of failing in his mission, and disappointing the people who counted on him, kept him awake, until he finally fell asleep well after midnight. When he woke, it was already midday.

He showered, using the motel’s tiny shampoo and soap samples. He’d never seen anything like it. Why were there no built-in dispensers in the bathroom? Didn’t these people know how wasteful the packaging was, or that one day the plastic would cause a major environmental crisis leading to the extinction of countless species of fish? It had taken scientists the better part of two decades to nurse the oceans back to health. Well, apparently climate change was still not being taken seriously in 2025.

The clothes Carter wore were vintage 2025—rather skinny pants made of a thick blue cloth. Jeans, the instructor who’d taught the recruits about fashion, had called them. No man in 2085 wore them. When birthrates had started to drop in the 2050s, medical researchers first thought that clothing that was too tight around a man’s crotch caused low sperm count. As a result, tight pants, particularly jeans, had gone out of style. By the time the researchers had discovered that the low birthrate was, in fact, attributable to a mutated gene in the DNA of females, men had already gotten used to other pants, and manufacturers had switched to different materials.

From the small backpack that he’d brought from 2085, similar to the ones often used by university students to carry their books in 2025, he pulled a fresh shirt and slipped it over his head. He actually liked the cool cotton on his skin, and the casualness of his clothes. In the future where he came from, people dressed differently. Clothes were more formal and streamlined. Fashion wasn’t on the forefront of everybody’s mind anymore. The population of 2085 had other things to worry about: the continuation of their species.

And now it was Carter’s duty to fix what he’d messed up during the time jump, because failure wasn’t an option. He could never face his father again if he failed in this mission. He needed to make this right.

Without the luxury of time to get to know Julie and make her fall in love with him, he had to go on the charm offensive and sweep her off her feet in a day or two. But first, he had to find her. The information downloaded to his holocom showed the address where she had lived in March 2025. He would start there, knock at her door, and come up with some pretense to make her acquaintance. Then he would wing it and hope for the best. He did his best work on the fly. Improvisation had always been his strength.

It took Carter a while to find his bearings and locate the student dorms at the edge of the UCLA campus. The problem was that he couldn’t simply walk in without a student ID. Unfortunately, the security guard seemed to be glued to the entrance. For a good half hour, Carter watched from a distance, but the guard didn’t take a break. However, whenever a student entered the building, he only casually glanced at the person’s ID.

This fact gave Carter an idea. When the next male student exited the building, Carter walked into the direction the guy was heading to cut him off. He fell into a quick sprint, and crossed the student’s path, colliding with him. They both stumbled, though Carter had been prepared and was only faking his fall.

“Man, sorry,” Carter apologized quickly and offered a hand to help the guy up.

“What the fuck, dude!” the other griped. “Can’t you look?”

Carter used both hands to help him up. “Honestly, so sorry. I was just trying to catch up with my friend. I totally didn’t see you. Sorry.”

Finally, the student was on his feet and adjusted the backpack he’d slung over one shoulder. “Yeah, yeah, alright. Next time, just look.” Then he stomped off.

Carter turned back in the direction of the student housing complex and opened his palm. In it, he held a student ID in the name of Thomas Stone.

“Thanks for your help, Thomas Stone,” he said to himself and walked to the entrance.

Carter was right about the guard. He glanced at the ID, recognized it as a valid student ID, but didn’t look too closely to recognize that the picture didn’t resemble Carter, and motioned him to enter.

Carter had memorized the floor and number of Julie’s dorm room, which she shared with another girl, Kathleen. Nobody took any notice of him when he made his way up to Julie’s floor and looked for her room. Having found it, he stood there for a moment. What would he say to her?

He took a few breaths and lifted his hand to knock, but the door opened inward before he could.

The girl opening the door wasn’t Julie. She looked at him, startled. “Uh, can I help you?”

“Uh, hi, I’m Carter. I, uh, I was looking for Julie…” He tossed her a disarming smile, and the girl returned it. Still got it, he thought to himself.

He wasn’t a fool. He knew that he was good looking and appealed to a wide range of women. And he wasn’t too proud to use what he’d been given in the looks and charm department.

“Oh, hi, I’m Kathleen, her roommate.” She giggled. “Actually, she’s not here. She doesn’t actually live in the dorms anymore. Maybe there’s something I can help you with, since Julie isn’t here?”

Oh, yeah, he knew that look. It would take him all but a half hour to get this beauty between the sheets. Unfortunately, he didn’t have that kind of time.

Carter forced himself to smile charmingly. “Oh, that’s a shame. I wish you could help me, but I really need to see Julie. I’m from her home town in Minnesota. My mom, a friend of Julie’s mom, asked me to look her up.” He leaned in and lowered his voice. “My mom can be very insistent.”

“Oh,” Kathleen said, smiling. “Mine too.”

Carter grinned. “Yeah, right? So do you know where I can find her?”

“She gave me her new address in case I got any mail for her. Why don’t I text it to you? What’s your cell phone number?” She was already pulling her cell phone out.

Carter had no intention of giving Kathleen his number. It would only complicate things. He grimaced. “Unfortunately, somebody stole my phone at the airport. Can you write it down for me?”

“Oh God, no cell phone in Los Angeles? You’re really stranded.”

She didn’t know the half of it.

“Let me grab a pen and paper.”

A few moments later, she was back and pressed a slip of paper with the address into his hand.

“She now lives in a house with a bunch of other girls. I might do that for my senior year. I’m kind of done sharing a bedroom, you know. Sometimes I just want my privacy.” She tossed him a suggestive look. “So, uh, if you run into any trouble”—she pointed to the phone number at the bottom of the paper—“that is my number. Call me anytime.”

Carter pocketed the piece of paper and smiled. “Thank you, Kathleen. You’re a lifesaver.”

He turned and marched down the hallway to where he’d come from.