Nkosi was pulling himself together after a giggling fit. After he cleared his throat and gathered his focus, he got to business.

“For the new folk in the room, I’ll explain very briefly what they are now a part of.” Nkosi pulled up a presentation that appeared on the back wall. “Ludo, Dorian, Scarlet, Robert, pay close attention, I will only explain this once.”

A black, generic-looking data slate spun on the display. “This is the Timelet. It is a novel take on the Dead Man’s Switch. It is tied to a sensory chip in the user’s brain and records everything they think, feel, etc. In the event of the user’s death,” A stick figure appeared only to have its head explode, causing the Timelet to glow. “It will transmit that data back through time, hopefully, to allow the recipient to avert their death.”

Dorian felt like his head exploded alongside the crude stick figure.

“As of right now, the bandwidth is limited. We have chosen to restrict the data to numerical, textual, and extremely limited visual recordings.”

Robert and Scarlet already knew this. Ludo and Dorian, and, oddly Davies, were dumbfounded.

“Hey, when did the video thing happen?”

Nkosi sighed. “Do you not even boot up the Timelet at all, Mr. Davies.”

“Well, I do when I die, but I haven’t really done that lately.”

“Good for you. I thought we had a sound chime.”

“Oh.” Davies pulled out his Timelet to reveal it was absolutely caked in mud. He brushed off the sides leaving flecks of stuff on the table. “Ey, there are the speakers!”

Samuel nodded and wrote something down. Nkosi looked over at what he wrote and nodded sagely.

“We are expanding our program. Listen up. This is new. You four members are the beta testers. We expect a roll-out of consumer devices in the next ten years. Since Bec brought some friends, Sammy and I have decided to expand the beta test. Each member of Project Mix-up gets to add five other members to their family plan at their discretion.”

Scarlet didn’t really want to out Bec for already doing something like this already with her and Purple, so she just stayed quiet.

“Give us the names via a subsidized message by AmiGo, and we’ll install a new user base! Fantastic, isn’t it?”

“What about the interference between Timelet users?” Bec was deadly serious at this moment. Nkosi was opening up the biggest can of worms that Bec could possibly have imagined. Everyone gets do-overs? Could a world like that work?

“Explain what you mean?”

“Well, when Tamara and I came near each other, the Timelet stopped working.”

“Oh, well, that’s by design. Well not by design, but it’s a complication we don’t mind. You see, Bec, we aren’t promising immortality for anyone who buys our product,” Nkosi looked hungry. “We’re promising mortality for anyone who doesn’t.”

Robert balked as he pieced together a picture in an instant. He slapped the table, angrily. “Dad, you approve of this? It’s downright monstrous what you’re doing. Are you actually considering letting people who don’t buy your product die to temporally empowered Lauds fanatics? This goes way beyond the SensoLink stuff.”

Samuel puffed out his chest in a huff. “Robert, this is not the time for this.”

“This absolutely is. Where do you guys even get the licensure for such a wildly inappropriate use of Time?”

“There have never been any laws restricting the transmittal of data to the past. Only people. There quite literally is no harm, every use only brings more info to the world. We wouldn’t be here without it.”

“You can’t possibly think the other families are going to allow this?”

Samuel, not even acting slightly like the meek man Bec new on earth, responded flatly, “The Fortunate 50 are all in chaos, and Nkosi and I don’t care what they think right now. When we go live with the Timelet for real, I’m certain they won’t complain. They will simply want to buy in.”

Nkosi chimed in, “While I fully intend to make Timelets a live service with upkeep charges, I would like to remind everyone of you that as beta testers, we promise that you will be immediately admitted to the Platinum membership and have free unlimited access to a Timelet for all of your foreseeable lives. You will also have a family plan for all those ethereals that you grow attached to.”

Ludo couldn’t help but ask, “Ethereals?”

“Mmm, yes. People who get no redoes. I’m hoping we get it to catch on. Nothing motivates people to buy-in more than having an unpleasant name to remind them that they’re inferior on a cosmological scale. I considered calling them Morties, but I don’t know, I feel like that’s been done before.”

Bec stood, angrily, and said “You’re bribing us. You are hoping that offering us a firm place in this future of yours will make us not want to stop you from this…” Bec couldn’t find the words. “It’s evil, that’s for sure.”

“Evil is such a copout, Bec. If you can’t explain why it’s wrong, you have no place to criticize.”

Bec rolled her eyes, “I can tell you why it’s evil, Nkosi. You are commodifying the evolution of the paradigm of the human race. This could be a new step forward for humankind, and you’re charging by the month for it.”

“We’ll be offering flexible plans.”

“That was not my concern.”

“I know. I just don’t really care what you think.” Nkosi yawned. “Feel free to be indignant and turn me down.”

Bec stood there. She wanted to say ‘no’ so badly. That was a lie. She wanted to want to say ‘no’ to Nkosi, but she couldn’t. She felt like she was trapped in a real-life Pascal’s wager, guaranteeing her existence for all time on one side and being morally sound on the other. She wanted to chuck her chair at Nkosi and storm out of there. She wanted to scream. All she did was sit back down.

“Well, I’m glad we got that out of the way.” Nkosi clapped his hands. “Now! I’m sure you all want to know about the vacation days, health benefits, wages. Ludo—you’re definitely going to want to hear this since you won’t be getting any more mo—”

Bec’s ears were ringing. She couldn’t hear a single word Nkosi was saying anymore. This pit in her stomach made her feel like she was being dragged into the depths of the ocean. Her heart raced. She felt like she was dying. The worst part was she wasn’t.

~~~

Nkosi gave everyone a quick orientation on the various benefits that Lauds would be offering, but Bec couldn’t really focus. The meeting wrapped up and Nkosi guided the other members of Project Mix-up out of the room. Suddenly, Bec realized that everyone had gone except her, her friends, and Ludo. Samuel gave a friendly smile and said, “Well, Bec, do you want to add Scarlet, Ludo, or Dorian to your family plan?”

“Woah, woah, woah, I just met these guys. Scarlet is cool, but she’s, erm, not interested. Dorian can be on my plan for now… but… uuuh…” A beaming smile came from Dorian. Bec turned and looked at Ludo. His face was colored with misery. “Ludo, you can’t be on my plan...”

Ludo moaned dramatically. “I knew that. I knew it. My cruelty caught up to me all at once. To think that I would lose everything in one night.”

“I hadn’t finished. Ludo, you can’t be on my plan unless you work for me. Ludo, you are talented. You can be useful. You are a huge ass. Temper that fact, and I would gladly bring you on.”

Ludo collapsed to the floor. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” He angled to kiss Bec’s feet, and she kicked him in the face.

Samuel frowned. “So, no Scarlet?”

Bec smiled. “Nope.”

“You already brought her in… somehow.” He surmised as he rubbed his chin.

It was Bec’s turn to frown. “How did—”

“I don’t know how you did it. What you did. What way you are trying to daisy chain the Timelet, but that is highly risky. Explain now.” Samuel loomed over Bec.

“I—I have Scarlet and one other person sending data to my Timelet. If they die, it triggers something in my head that kills me.”

Samuel hummed in thought. “That is a novel idea. It means you feel the loops of all the users. That is quite the burden. And you… agreed to this? No blackmail?”

“Not… really?” Bec wasn’t really interested in explaining her motives to Samuel.

“I approve of this little test… off the books. I just want to know where this third user is. I need to talk to them.”

“It’s Purple of the Border.”

“Ah, one of Robert’s people, eh? I’m assuming you’re using the FAB network to communicate. And yet Robert wasn’t interested in this? He has a SensoLink already, you know.”

“I’m right here.” Robert grumbled.

Bec responded, quickly, “Yeah, he knew. He wasn’t interested.”

“Well, that’s fine. He’s already on my plan.”

Robert didn’t say anything. He already knew, the moment the family plan came to light, that Samuel would key him in whether he wanted it or not.

“He’s on my plan… along with your mother… Bec.”

Bec knew this was going to happen eventually, “Yeah. So, how is she?”

It was a lame question. Surely, she could have come up with a better one after thinking about this for months and months. Alas, it was the one question she could remember in this moment.

“She’s doing well. She’s currently doing a survey of the Southern Ocean.”

“She’s doing what? And you didn’t bother sending her to the Border? We could have tethered dozens of new locales with an expedition like that!” Black said.

“I thought you wanted us out of your life, Robert.” Samuel put extra emphasis on the last words. “Or is it Black now?”

Robert stayed silent for a few moments. “If you are going to bring me into this Timelet insanity… please just give me a terminal device. I assume if I don’t have one, you would have to save me every time I faced my death.”

“Very sharp of you. Yes. I would have had to.”

“I don’t intend on dying.”

“People rarely do.”

~~~

Everyone other than Bec and Samuel left the room now. The others were getting installs and whatnot. That was just the pretense, but Samuel wanted to talk to Bec.

“So…” Bec dragged that word out for almost three seconds. “You’re my new dad.”

“No, Bec. I’m your stepfather. I would not expect you to accept me as your dad without a lot more time. I believe I need to clear the air with you.” He put down his ever-present data slate to look her in the eyes. “I did not want to fall in love with your mother. I knew it was wrong. I didn’t expect it to happen the way it did.”

Bec reclined a bit in her chair. “I don’t believe it. It almost sounds like you didn’t tell her what happened to me…”

Samuel cleared his throat. “No. I didn’t. I couldn’t.”

"Disgusting. Why my mom? Why of all the hundreds of thousands of people in this Dust damned city did you choose my mom?”

“All of you… Project Mix-up. All of your families, they are here. Some of them were useful for other reasons. Your mom, for example…” Samuel’s eyes moistened. “Your mom was one of the brightest people left on Earth. She was a biologist on a planet that didn’t deserve her. When she came here? She…” Bec watched Samuel rotate through a number of indecipherable emotions. “She is too good for me.”

Bec harumphed. Bec hated to say it, but she was softening on Mr. Sterling almost immediately. He obviously had good tastes. Bec knew what he said was sincere. Dahlia was too good for him. Bec knew this because, well, she felt the same sometimes. Dahlia was the best of humanity.

Bec couldn’t help herself as she found herself giving a hug to the watery-eyed muscular man. She gave him a squeeze and took in a deep inhale. He smelled of pine resin and oil. It was weird, for sure, but all Bec felt was that she hoped that she’d one day get used to Samuel Sterling. He wasn’t the worst. And that was good enough for her. She’d let him hug her until he was done.

It was a long hug. Samuel hugged her back and regretted that he had to be the one to break it apart. He looked her in the eyes and saw youth. He saw a lot of things in the eyes of Bec. The thing he saw most of all was a new project.

“Bec, you killed Tamara, right?”

Bec almost whispered her affirmation.

“We, here at Lauds, want the details of Tamara’s death, badly. We are willing to do nearly anything to get you to deliver that information.”

"You want all my SensoLink data regarding Tamara?”

“Please.”

“Nearly anything?”

“For you, I would blow all the dust off of this planet.”

“That’s a bit much. Instead, maybe how about you wipe away this brutal debt AmiGo slapped on me?”

“How much?” Samuel was not happy to hear that somehow, Bec was already in the negative with AmiGo. A debt is something a Sterling would never stoop to.”

“Mmm, something in the ballpark of… erm… 5 trillion LC.”

Samuel wished he had coffee to spit out, but instead, he just choked on his spit. “How? Bec, please! How the fuck did you get that much debt?”

“I may have asked AmiGo to forget me.”

“And he just let you? You’re so new!” Samuel muttered angrily about unfair business practices or something.

“Bec, that’s just an absurd amount of money. I can’t help you with that.” Samuel paused for a moment. “Or, well, actually I lost perspective for a moment. Bec, do you trust me?”

“No.”

“Bad question. I am about to suggest something to you. You can turn it down, but, as family, I highly encourage you to think about it. Bec. I want you to go to school again.”

“But… I just graduated…” Bec moaned. She was, despite her affection for research, not a fan of school. It was lonely, tedious, and altogether stressful. Well, now that Bec thought about it, the stress of school seemed a bit silly compared to the stress of her daily life on Dust. “Maybe…”

“Bec, this isn’t a school like on Earth. It’s… more vocational than the one you went to.”

“Please, Samuel. Please, just tell me the truth.”

“Okay, you don’t deserve the ring around. Bec, it’s a highly dangerous program with a lot of… extra-curriculars.”

Bec punched him in the shoulder for slipping into vagueness again.

“OW. You’ll be fighting and competing with people. They’ll mostly be your age or older, but you will be constantly trying to outwit each other… maybe. I honestly don’t know. It’s basically a five-year tournament with classes. They call it the Hassilude. I’m going to be honest, Bec. It’s rough going, but the people who make it through,” Samuel paused. “People who triumph can and will make money. You may be able to pay off your debt that way. You can ask Robert, Scarlet, or Dorian about it.”

Sounds cartoonish as fuck, Bec thought. She also thought Dorian was broke as fuck, so hearing that he may be loaded was a bit of a surprise. “You want me to sign up?”

“We will have to pull some strings to get you in. You are unproven. People don’t usually get into the Hass with anything less than a stellar reputation.”

“I’ll give you what you want.” Bec thought about her options. “I will do it. On one condition… well that and some fatherly advice.”

~~~

“I don’t understand. Who is this Ms. Gray?” Qiang Li Lang was genuinely confused. He straightened his tie, hoping to relax. “What do you mean when you say you don’t know.”

“I’m saying that there is absolutely no information on this new student.”

“I don’t understand.”

The assistant looked genuinely distressed at that remark. “Please sir, she is under a pseudonym, that much is clear. Not only that but, from what we know, she’s only even existed for a week.”

“So how did she get into the Hass? Lauds hasn’t had a student join in decades and now they decide to put up a last-minute bid to prop up some nobody.”

“It would seem so. Unless Lauds discovered a way to forge credentials.”

“When that happens, we’ll all be doomed.” Qiang Li Lang paused and thought about his business rivals. “Do look into that possibility, just in case.”

“Yessir!” The man took that excuse to flee the room.

Qiang Li Lang pondered for a moment. “Ms. Gray, hmm. It will be a pleasure to watch my son use your head as a steppingstone.”

Similar conversations were happening all over the city. This was a new era and with it a new Hass. Everyone was curious about this competition, but now, a new contestant had joined. It wasn’t just an average late admission. She was an unknown quantity, and it shared a striking resemblance to the Girl in Gray that rumors have been all about lately. This Hass, many of the more observant minds across the city all concluded simultaneously, would make legends.