You step into a large bedroom with a terrific view of the beach! The furniture is fancy, and the room looks like it is part of a big, expensive house. You go to the windows and stare at the beach below. No one else is on it – a private beach? What is this new life? You run over to a mirror and stare at your reflection – the young man staring back at you is handsome, well-muscled, and very black, as in African-American. He also looks very familiar. Then you get the answer from two different sets of memories. Your old memories remember him as a famous athlete who got caught in some big scandal and had his career ruined back when you were a little kid. But the other set of memories belong to the athlete – the memories of your new life. You blink, trying to sort things out. The new memories don’t include anything bad happening. You look around the room again, and realize that there is an old tube-type TV on a table, not the flat-screen kind you’d have expected.
A TV Guide magazine is on the table, and you pick it up – it’s 8 years old! That matches the rest of your new memories – you have been sent back in time as a famous athlete just before he screwed up his life. But you know what got him into trouble, and can avoid the scandal. Or can you?
The woman said you couldn’t use knowledge from the future to change the past. You snort and look around. Like you are gonna give all this up when you can prevent the trouble? No way! Besides, she’s 8 years in the future. How can she stop you?