It didn't take long for Mattie 3.0 to claim the response from Brother Bain, the turn-of-the-last-century fax machine hidden in the back of the refrigerator of his Old Orleans apartment, and to decipher its glyph-code.
"They want you to take him up on his offer to take you to this place -- and they'll push off the trip to the Chicago City Reserve until after you get back," he explained matter-of-factly.
(In case you had forgotten, the relevant "him" was that old man who had approached me on the corner telling me that New Orleans still existed and that he could take me there -- even though everyone in 2084 new that the New Madrid Quake of 2023 had split the United States in two and, when combined with the effects of global warming, had created the Bay of Mississippi where the River once ran, meaning that the original New Orleans [as opposed to the facsimile of it called Old Orleans in which I found myself] was clearly at the bottom of that Bay.)
"Well there you go," I replied. "I'm a guest of the IntransiGents -- so I'll do as they say. What do we have to do before tonight to get ready?" I queried.
Mattie 3.0 re-read the document in his hand before replying.
"It's more about what *you* have to do. I'm not authorized to join you. *This* is a solo mission for you."
I wasn't expecting that surprise. "Me? By myself? Even though I'm not of this place and time?"
"The IntransiGents know what you eventually became from having access to your IQ, EQ and SQ files, so they believe in your skill set -- even though you don't yet know the roles you have played in the Uprisings through the years." Mattie 3.0 explained.
"Right ... but ... shouldn't I be told that part of my history so that I can act accordingly on this mission?" I countered.
"That would be too risky at this juncture. If you travel back through time armed with *that* information, it might influence your choices in your immediate future in a way that leads to different outcomes in this time."
His response made my head hurt. And since your head might be feeling the same way, so this is probably a good spot to end this missive, seeing as how the Vitalnet update window is almost over. In other words -- take two aspirin and meet me on Troy-in-2019's social media on the last day of the month next, won't you?
