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“We need your help,” Adaht when I say, “We have some questions”

“Of course” Lynne looks back and forth between us “What can I do to help?”

I look at Adao ahead I briefly tell her everything we’ve learned about our deaths and about future shock I leave out any ets the hint not to bring it up

“Future shock…” She bows her head “It was horrible, what happened to those other people, but Aether wouldn’t stop the prograot fro The accelerator was sending people thirty years in the future and bringing them back We just needed to find a way to keep them sane We decreased the time to ten years instead of thirty, but that didn’t reested we use teenagers”

“So you knehen you recruited us that weforward, fists clenched like he’s about to jump out of his seat and attack her

“Dr Kapur promised us that none of you would suffer froe brains…” She sighs and stares at her hands folded in her lap “I didn’t like it, but it wasn’tten years forward, not thirty I had no idea you went so far ahead until Adam told me many years later”

“If you didn’t like it, why didn’t you quit?” Chris asks “Or expose what they were doing?”

She stares into her coffee leto pay the bills Especially one who desperately needs health insurance for her kid I couldn’t quit” She sucks in a long breath “But after what happened to you, not a day goes by that I don’t wish I’d done so to stop it That’s why I helped Adam bury the project—so Aether could never send people to the future again”

I like her excuses and apologies about asby the look on his face, but there’s nothing we can do about that now “We know Ada his memories, but what about the rest of us?”

“I’m not sure,” she says “At the time, we believed you had all suffered from future shock It’s hard to say if that was true or not, especially since you were all killed only hours later…”

“Is there anything we can do to protect ourselves from future shock?” Chris asks

“Not that I know of I’,” Trent says

“The only thing would be to stay here in the future, I suppose Dr Kapur thought that the act of traveling back to the present hat triggered it, although he couldn’t ever prove it”

Chris shakes his head “Staying here is not an option”

I don’t know Staying in the future doesn’t sound too bad I could live out the rest of h staying here would e, plus there’s that whole proble afterup two cops No, staying in the future isn’t an option

“There’s oneyou need to know,” Lynne says “A few hours after you got back, I overheard Dr Kapur arguing with Dr Walters about sending younger kids to the future He said soe this round of test subjects and erase any evidence they were involved Then we can start over with a new group’ A day later, you were all dead”

“So you think Dr Kapur had us…purged?” I ask A tiny spark of hope flickers inthis could all be a cover-up That would mean I’m not really the killer after all And noe have a real person at Aether to pinpoint this all on A person we can focus on stopping

Lynne nods “That’s always been my suspicion, but I never found any other proof”

“Dr Walters never mentioned any of that,” Zoe says

“Of course he didn’t,” Trent says “He was in on it the whole time!”