"Careful, yes, I know. Now please fix it. Thanks, bye." Mark ended the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket. He turned to his now-uncle Danny and attempted a reassuring smile of his own.
"It's alright," Mark said. "Simon's taking care of it." Mark sighed to himself. "He said we'd have to have a talk when we get home. I don't like the sound of that."
Danny shrugged. It was difficult for Mark to make out his expression with half his face obscured by the thick, grey and white beard.
"For what it's worth," said Danny, putting a hairy, meaty hand on Mark's shoulder. "I appreciate it. Will this mean I'll stop getting older?"
Mark nodded. "When Simon gets to the machine, yeah. I don't know how long that will take, though."
HONK!
The two were suddenly startled by the loud honking of the car behind them. The jam was moving again. And rather quickly at that.
"Are you kidding me?" Mark muttered. "The minute I call Simon and get myself in trouble, we start moving? I could have just waited a couple more minutes?"
Mark put his hand to his face and sighed. Danny put the car into drive and the vehicle moved forward. Not long later, Danny felt a shiver run down his spine and felt a tingling sensation in his extremities. His mind felt more at ease as the flood of new memories ceased. His progression had been halted.
"Mark," said Danny. "I think he fixed it."
"Good to hear."
The jam had cleared and the pair were soon pulling into the driveway of their home. Mark sat in his seat for a minute, not moving. He was not eager to go inside. Granted, he was stronger and more youthful than Simon was, but Simon was genetically his father now, and he had the Chronivac. Well, there was no sense putting it off.
Mark looked over at Danny. The pair nodded to one another and exited the car.
"Maybe," said Danny as he lumbered out of his seat. "I can convince him to go easy on you. I am his brother now. Man, I am fat..."
"No, it's fine," said Mark. "I kind of deserve it."
Mark made his way into the house followed by Danny. There, he saw Jay sitting on the couch watching television, an open bag of chips sitting on his stomach.
"Hey, guys," Jay said, waving to Mark and Danny. "Back so soon? Dad's waiting for you in his room, Mark. How was the gym, Uncle Dan?"
Danny looked a little uneasy do to the fact his father now saw him as an uncle. "Well, you know... weights and stuff."
Jay nodded. "Right. Never did care for them myself. Mark would try and drag me and Dad there, sometimes. Never really saw the point. I did a lot of that in high school. I think I've paid my dues."
Mark left the two to chat in the living room and made his way to Simon's room. He would have to ingratiate himself to him. Simon had access to the Chronivac. Therefore, he also had access to Mark's physique and memories. There was probably an infinite amount of awful things Simon could do to him. He would just have to try and convince him not to. That included not running away.
Mark took a deep breath and entered Simon's room. There, at Simon's computer desk, he saw the old man himself clicking away at the Chronivac program. Simon turned around in his computer chair when Mark entered and looked at him sternly.
"Uh, hi, Dad," Mark said meekly. "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes," said Simon, his expression inscrutable. He gestured at the bed. "Take a seat."
Mark did so. There was a moment of silence between them. Mark briefly thought about overpowering Simon and using the Chronivac to wipe his mind. He quickly tossed the thought aside. Simon was old, but not stupid. He probably had some sort of program hot-keyed so he could stop Mark at the press of a button. The Chronivac was intuitive that way.
"Mark," said Simon, breaking the silence. "I know that you weren't originally part of our family. I know you used this device to add yourself to our genetic line. And I know that you've been using this device since. To tell you the truth, that makes me feel very uncomfortable."
Mark didn't like where this was going.
"However, one way or another, I am your father. I know you. I know what kind of man you are. I know what you're capable of. I know that, though misguided, your toying with the device was not malicious."
"Right," Mark agreed.
"But," Simon interjected. "You have to realize dangerous this device can be. Because of that, I want you to have a feel for what it was like for Danny to have to endure this."
"Dad," said Mark. "I'm 40 years old. I'm a grown-ass man." As if to prove his point, Mark ran his fingers through his lengthy black and grey beard.
Simon scowled. "You're never too old to be punished by your parents. However, I will allow you to choose the punishment."
"You will?"
"I've keyed in several scenarios into the Chronivac. You can choose one as your punishment. However, I'm not going to tell you what the punishment fully entails, just that they're all... well, let's just say they're punishments for a reason. Here's a list I've written up."
Simon handed Mark a note listing off several vague descriptions.
Mark lifted an eyebrow and looked at his father incredulously. "Are you serious?"
Simon nodded. "Of course I am. What will it be?"
Mark sighed as he looked over the list. None of them looked appealing. "Well, if I had to choose one..."
"And you do," said Simon.
"Right. Since I have to choose one, it's going to have to be..."