“Well, I need to keep Arthur here for observation for a couple more days, then he should be fine going back to school.” Doctor Hudson was explaining to Arthur’s father, however the mention of the word school brought his attention back into the conversation

‘Oh yeah, come to think of it.’ Arthur was still extremely confused about the strange situation he had found himself in, and was curious about the phenomenon that had caused it. But he was just following along the path of the past he had previously experienced, but had given no thought to his future. For all he knew, this could just be a hyper realistic dream experienced while his brain was dying, and it would all go black when his time had come.

‘Alright, so lets just say for now that I’ve gone back in time, or uh, my memories were somehow transferred into the body of me in the past.’ Arthur started to think of less morbid situations where, while extremely unrealistic especially for the heir of a family of scientists and researchers, was plausible enough to give him a future, or even a second chance at life.

‘The testing issue happened less than two years before launch, meaning I should be sixteen, and it should be close to the end of year eleven.’ Arthur was still trapped his his internal monologue, thankfully everyone else in the room were too busy to interact with him. His main concern right now was that he was coming really close to testing season, and all his memories of these classes were from thirty-two years ago.

And while he was well known to be extremely studious, mostly due to his father’s pressure, and had what was described as almost a photographic memory, his memories of studying and testing were essentially suppressed, he could only recall major events from this far back in time.

“Uh, I’ve got tests coming up don’t I?” Arthur blurted out, hoping someone would be knowledgeable about his school schedule to provide the right materials for it. “I need to study for them, could I get all my relevant notebooks delivered to me, please?”

Arthur had understood that his father was overprotective, and was typically regarded as a helicopter parent by teachers, but he wasn’t as strict as outsiders and the media portrayed him to be, everyone who worked in his company understood that.

Arthur understood that especially, he was given plenty of freedoms, even allowed to work full time as a ranker in a video game instead of being pressured into being a researcher or join a field of science, he had no issues as long as his children were educated and happy.

But what Arthur was especially thankful for this time, was his father’s obsession with knowing everything that goes on around him, especially if it had anything to do with his children, although he was also mindful to let his children have some level of privacy. One of the main things his father paid attention to in great detail was Arthur’s education, and because of that, within thirty or so minutes, he had brought Arthur every book required for his upcoming classes, and even explained what sections he should be studying to spend his time more efficiently.

‘Maths, English, History and… Sport’ Arthur had a dreaded memory looking at the word sport in his timetable, he never really bothered with sport. He was the type of student who spent his time studying or playing games, not leaving any room for athletics.

Several days passed by uneventfully, Arthur spent his days of free time focusing on his studies, only really taking breaks when he received a visitor.

Anna showed up the most, only for a few minutes at a time and during her breaks. Doctor Hudson was next, it seemed as though he was still fixated on the elevated brain activity, Arthur had a theory but he couldn’t tell Hudson that he had travelled back in time, so he just hoped that Doctor Hudson would write it off as a harmless aftereffect of the incident.

Arthur’s father showed up almost as much as Doctor Hudson, but he was a busy man and couldn’t take as much time away from his schedule as he’d like, he appeared to be happy when he saw the progress Arthur was making in his studies, but did make sure to tell Arthur to take breaks and not overwork himself.

Besides his family, doctor and the occasional nurse visit, mostly to deliver food or ask if Arthur needed anything, the only other visitors Arthur received were the developers of New Genesis.

The developers that came in were the most concerned about his condition, they were well aware how unkind his father could be when it came to matters concerning his family, specifically those that put his family at risk. They believed that if they had caused Arthur any serious damage, they’d have lost their heads, figuratively of course… or so they hoped.

The first set of talking points from the developers were loaded with apologies and assurances, their goal was clearly to make sure that their biggest fan, and the beloved son of their biggest sponsor, didn’t hold a grudge against them.

They made sure to pin as much blame on the surge caused by an experiment on the lower floor as possible, but they did make sure to mention that they’ve enhanced the surge protection, so not even a direct lightning strike could cause the incident that had happened previously.

The mention of the surge and that particular experiment brought a memory to his mind. Thirty-two years from now, that experiment would finally reach the completed stage, and then was scheduled to be activated. Unfortunately, it was a heavily guarded secret, not even Arthur could get his hands on the details, but people within the building did know the general purpose of it and when it was being tested on, especially due to the power issues it could cause.

Arthur knew what it was due the fact it was revealed to the public when it was near completion, roughly thirty years in the future. They even gave the media front row seats and a demonstration to spark some good publicity towards the company and project.

It was a reactor that extracted a strange otherworldly energy through something called an Einstein-Rosen bridge, and had harnessed this otherworldly power to create seemingly infinite electricity that left no carbon emissions. It used a crystal shard comprised of a yet unknown material that fell to earth after the destruction of Saturn’s seventh moon, Hyperion.

He remembered that the internet had blown up over the experiment’s reveal, of course there were the groups who tried to protest and lobby against it, stating it was even more dangerous than nuclear energy, but they were quickly buried under the endless amounts of support.

The experiment was scheduled for activation the day Arthur had planned his excavation in the eternal forest, what if something went wrong, what if another surge had occurred, potentially even on a larger scale. The puzzle pieces started to fit together in Arthur’s mind, or so he believed, two surges caused by the same source of otherworldly energy, both happening when his mind was linked to a full dive capsule, it couldn’t have been a coincidence.

Arthur couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if he was, yet again, inside a capsule in thirty-two years, on the day the reactor was scheduled to be activated, would he be sent back in time yet again?

That was something he did not want to experience again, and the only two options he had in mind were to either improve the surge protection to the point where even a surge caused by a reactor meltdown would not phase it, or to just not use the device on the day the reactor is activated.

Arthur had a conversation with the developers, mostly hinting towards the possibility of a major surge, and suggesting that further reinforcements may be required if such an event were to occur. Seemingly understanding what Arthur was trying to say, they confirmed that they’d look into it.

The rest of the conversation was just asking for further criticism of the game’s systems, any changes he’d like to see, some things he enjoyed about the system, etc. At the very end of the conversation, the developers asked him if he would still be comfortable joining the closed beta tester program next year, especially considering the incident.

“Of course, I’d be sad if you didn’t invite me.” Arthur gave the developers a lighthearted confirmation, making sure he had a place within the beta test again.

Later that day, Doctor Hudson and Arthur’s father had come in, and they began talking about Arthur’s release and being allowed to go back to school. Although Hudson still showed concern at the elevated brain activity, it didn’t seem to have any adverse effects, from what he could observe anyway.

“I’ve given you a signed note, you are not to engage in any form of moderate to strenuous activity, especially sports or exercise, for the next two weeks.” Doctor Hudson had ordered, handing Arthur a doctors note to give to his teachers. “If you’re feeling sick at all, severe headaches, nausea, trouble breathing, come see me immediately.”