The night was sultry. Elvis sat in a plus leather chair, staring at the wall. It had been 36 hours since he was last contacted by the “creatures”. Since that time, he had been sitting in this room. For the one hundred ninety-first time, he looked around at his surroundings.
The room was well furnished. There was a Thick Persian-style rug on the floor. The walls were adorned in a floral paper. There was an air conditioning unit resting in the blacked out window. A motley assortment of furniture was scattered about; a writing table, two couches a couple chairs. He had selected what he assumed to be the most comfortable of the couches and sat. He soon found that he was wrong. The couch he chose, an elaborately decorated one, turned out to be rock hard. He tapped his knuckles on it and found that it was plastic.
He had walked from couch to couch and chair to chair and they were all plastic. He came to the last chair in the room and rapped his sore knuckles on it. It cushioned his blow. With relief, he dropped into the chair and observed his surroundings. He looked up at the blank wall.
Elvis sat there, in the sultry room and thought. Suddenly, it occurred to him that there was an air conditioner and he didn’t have to stay in such conditions. He walked over and casually switched it on. The unit rattled to life and the three pieces of ribbon tied to the grill fluttered in the wind. He sat back down. He dozed off.
A hand on his shoulder woke him. Elvis rubbed the blurriness from his eyes and looked up. A man was standing over him. It took a while for Elvis to realize who it was. He rose and met himself face to face.
“You can’t be…”
“Me? Yes, I can. In fact, I am you. I’m you one hundred and thirty years in the future.”
Elvis blankly stared at himself. All he could manage was, “Huh?”
The other Elvis politely smiled and invited himself to sit. Elvis sat and pulled up a chair and sat.
“Now,” said Elvis, “I understand that you don’t understand. You see, you die tomorrow. You take too many drugs and your heart stops. Then, One hundred and thirty years later, a scientist with too much free time and a jag for us makes me in a vat. Then, he took me down the hall and introduced me to his best friend who works with time machines. You’ve met him, by the way, he’s a big fan of us and is one of your best friends, aside from being a scientist from the future who is best friends with a bored scientist who likes us.
“Now, he talks to my creator about a plan to replace you with me. And they do. Only I, who has the knowledge of my own death, don’t die. Time ripped and only the intervention of a force beyond our universe averted disaster.
“I’m going to return you to where I got you and you are going to decline my offer.”
A flash blinded Elvis and he found himself in his bedroom.
“Huh?”
The next morning, Elvis went downstairs and asked his cook to prepare breakfast for two, and that he was expecting himself and to please deliver the visitor to his lounge. The doorbell rang and footsteps came down the hall. There was a knock at his door and it slowly opened. A shaken cook, with a haunted expression, introduced the visitor.
Elvis walked into the room. Elvis stood and shook his hand. The door closed and the cook sobbed down the hall.
“I’ve been expecting you.” Elvis told himself.
“I know. I also met him. He warned the scientists that this could cause a tear in time. The scientists ran the numbers and it’s not likely to happen.”
“But, you do know that time ripped and the universe could have been damaged?”
“Destroyed is more like it. Yes, they ran the numbers and it’s all good. No one’s going to die over this. I take your place and you go and meet the doctors and live in the future. It’ll be fun. What’s there to lose?”
“My daughter.”
“No, you won’t lose her. I’m you. Therefore, as long as I’m here, you haven’t lost anything. It’s science!”
“I don’t know…”
“I do.”
Elvis stood and picked up his chair. He brought it down on Elvis’ head. He slumped to the floor. Elvis took out a wristwatch, a Casio, and pressed a button. A glowing door opened and he threw Elvis through it.
The door closed and Elvis opened the room door just as the cook was about to knock with food. He thanked her and closed the door. He ate in peace.
That afternoon, he decided it couldn’t hurt to get a little high. He woke up the next morning and looked out the window at the sky. A black line appeared and slowly got larger and larger. The sun went out and it got over cold. Tiny flashes of red appeared in the sky and the black slowly receded.
A disk shaped craft landed in Elvis’ yard and thirteen orange creatures got out. They had a device, which they planted in the ground and fiddled with. There was a great flash of light.
Elvis sat in a plush leather chair, staring at the wall…
