The year is 2022.
In a dusty motel in the middle of Alameda county, Cliff Matheson doses himself with a life-extending smart virus, gifted to him by an old Angelcorp coworker. Somewhere in a nearby radio station, the comedic hand of fate pushes the DJ - the only man in the building - to play one of his favorite songs: Every Breath You Take, by The Police.
Made paranoid by years on the run, Cliff stares at the ancient machine, and contemplates suicide.
The year is 1992.
An eccentric billionaire from the city of Dubai stumbles upon a heavily augmented, still breathing deer carcass while out for a weekend of dune-riding with his friends. He brings her home, nurses her back to health, and is promptly massacred by the reactivated Angelcorp drone for his passing resemblance to 019.
016 begins planning her return to Canada.
The year is 2021.
Warner Brothers Studios quietly replaces Ellen DeGenerous with a look alike after what they call an ‘unplanned hiatus’. The show’s ratings tank, and it is taken off the air after several years on life support.
Netflix produces a cheap documentary the same year, talking to everyone who was in the audience when she was beheaded. Poor journalism work creates a few holes in the story, and the truth about paranormals is largely regarded as an off colour joke.
The year is 2021.
John - after what amounts to a particularly eventful afternoon on his timescale - goes back to ruling Hell’s largest population center. He becomes nihilistic, and phones it in for several trillion years before being voted out.
You’re surprised to read that Hell is a democracy, but that surprise fades a little when you realize they only hold mayoral elections every several trillion years.
The year is 2022.
The new Elder God of Decay: Alfonzo Redic, is spotted leaving the home of the police officer who first killed him. The officer’s body is in a highly advanced - almost mummified - state of decay. Similar sightings are made in Ferguson, Missouri, Miami Gardens, Florida, and Cleveland, Ohio.
The pantheon of the gods decides not to intervene.
The year is 2021.
Director Eden Ross has worked themselves up into a panic following the forced closure of the New York customs office. They blame Handler Smith for firing Cliff Matheson, and believe that - without the drone program to fall back on - Angelcorp is going to go under.
Handler Smith assures Eden that - while Angelcorp may go under in this universe - the company is no longer limited to one universe. By way of explanation, Smith shows Eden a pet project that has recently come to fruition.
The year is 2021
Pokey - in the midst of applying to study astrophysics in British Columbia - hears her younger sister scream from her bedroom. Lil runs out, jamming the screen of her phone into Pokey’s face. On it are five text messages from Ducky Smooth. Despite her nickname, the texts read as follows:
✉️ 8:08pm: New Message - 🦆: “do you want to start a band”
✉️ 8:08pm: New Message - 🦆: “like you and me”
✉️ 8:12pm: New Message - 🦆: “also maybe go out some time as like a thing”
✉️ 8:12pm: New Message - 🦆: “like I know ur technically 40 or whatever but like,,”
✉️ 8:13pm: New Message - 🦆: “w/e”
The year is 2022
Pokey switches majors into something more focused on community development. She will be the first person at T35 who actually knows what the fuck she’s doing.
The year is 2022
Rey… I mean Rey just keeps running their bookstore? Their story didn’t change much. There’s a lot of people for whom life just kinda goes on, actually… Becca, Crozi, Charlie and Lovette, the bartender from way earlier, the guy from the convenience store.
The year is 2022
Emily’s family misses her dearly, but not dearly enough to invite her home for Passover.
The year is 2022
Ratty Vermington buys a junker Yamaha YZF 750 Streetfighter from Kijiji, and asks Emily to help her fix it. She rides it to her first cognitive behavioral therapy appointment two months later. At the behest of her therapist, she admits to Sapphomet that she hasn’t been taking her Lexapro.
With the advent of better mental health, she begins to track down Cliff Matheson.
In an effort to avoid death-defying wherever possible, she goes back to museum work: the intersection of doing fun crimes and not putting yourself in too much danger.
She also keeps an eye on Angelcorp, but - at least from the outside - they seem content to make consumer electronics for a while after getting kicked out of Hell.
The year is 2022
Sapper passes ownership of the community centre down to Miss Nelly and focuses on building their library.
After several months of sitting mostly empty, a young cat with dyed green fur wanders in on a perfect day looking for a job. Sapper, now manning the counter more out of obligation than joy, passes the store on to them. They continue to do the book-keeping and save the upstairs apartment for themselves, but otherwise take their hands off and let the cat rake in the profits.
They’re not a landlord, just so we’re clear.
The year is 2021
Emily also starts going to therapy. She talks about her family, her depression, her history and how out of place she feels. Her therapist suggests she starts writing again, so she does.
In about a month, she performs at a small poetry slam at the university around the corner from T35. Her poem gets a 7.3 out of 10, and she’s absolutely ecstatic. She keeps performing, moving away from tiny school shows to Toronto’s actual slam scene. Sapper’s reputation as a poet gives her a bit of a leg up, but she quickly surpasses her mentor.
She makes some friends. All is good.
Her and Ratty stay partners too, and that shit gets a lot healthier in the process.
The year is 2024
Angel takes a bad fall, badly damaging her central processor.
Rey sets up the 2020s equivalent to a stick of RAM from the distant future: an entire room of high powered servers, designed in part based on repair schematics found on Angel’s hard-drive. Angel’s mind effectively takes over Ratty’s office and the surrounding bullpen. Ratty - despite the occasional spat with Angel - doesn’t mind, so long as the android has a window to look out of.
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