Arriving home from school Nate found the unmarked package on the porch by the front door and brought it into the house. He wondered which of his dads had ordered something but didn't see any indication of an addressee. Maybe it's a mistake, he thought. But if so there was no way to rectify it without a return address. He took the package upstairs to his computer and did a web search for TransDem but only found a "coming soon" site with no contact information.
Now very curious he stared at the package. He wanted to open it but was afraid he'd get in trouble. But who could know?
He tore open the paper and found a plain cardboard box that contained a small computer peripheral, CD, and USB cord. Wondering if he was making a horrible mistake he plugged it into his computer and inserted the CD, which prompted him to run an install.
Good thing I just backed everything up, he thought as he followed the on-screen prompts. He was very curious.
As the software installed he heard one of his dads arrive home downstairs. The front door opened and there was a sound of someone preparing food in the kitchen.
When the computer was done, a strange program called "Chronivac" started to load. Was the peripheral an external hard drive? If so, why did it need a CD installer? But then a window opened on the monitor with a single flashing word: "SCANNING."
Then: "TWO LIFEFORMS WITHIN RANGE."
And then two small icons appeared on the screen. One was clearly a 3D rendering of himself. His name was underneath of it. And one was of his dad David.
"SELECT?"