Pangaea

The next thing I knew, I was in Galilei’s headquarters again with Amberly dragging me along. But not literally dragging, before you start to assume that. I was somehow walking alongside her already, even though I was just now coming into consciousness.

“How-” I started to say, but Amberly beat me to the punch like she already knew what I was going to say.

“The trip momentarily fogged your memory, sorry,” she said, and I believe that was the first time she had ever apologized to me. Ever, even considering when we were friends. Amberly wasn’t exactly the apologizing type. I always ended up having to do so when we were on friendly terms. “I suppose it would’ve been easier if we just used your world, but this way... I suppose it’s best you don’t know exactly where Galilei is at the North Pole.”

“In the center,” I said blankly. Amberly slowed her pace for a moment to show that this took her off-guard before starting to speed walk again. “I remember what happened with Darwin, you know.”

“Right,” she said. “Well, don’t let her know that I told you anything, even with just being in the North Pole and all. I’ll mess with your side of the plan if you do.”

“Fine,” I said. “It was pretty obvious anyway, so I’ll just go with that argument.”

There were a few security-type perimeters we had to go through in order to get to Galilei. In fact, the last one we faced was very guarded in the fact that we had to clarify that this was a pretty important circumstance in order to have her meet with us. Each one of the security huts asked to see my world, so it was a good thing I had it with me when I transported here with Amberly.

When we finally were face to face with Galilei, she didn’t look too happy. Amberly turned to me as we walked over to her.

“Maybe I should’ve told you that it’s not too good when one of the people who have the world approach one of the world’s leaders... more than once in their lifetime,” she whispered to me. “Much less within just a year from the last meeting. Or well... I’m not sure how to judge this since time was rewound. But within a short amount of time.”

“Thanks for telling me that now,” I nearly seethed, annoyed with her. Great. Another thing to get me on her bad side.

“Aw, Marley. This is... a surprise,” she said to me, raising an eyebrow. I wasn’t sure whether to take that statement seriously or not. Though I figured it probably wasn’t. “And Amberly. Hm... did Darwin send you two here?”

“No,” I say automatically, not wanting to be associated with any plans of his.

“Well, that saves an argument. Because I would’ve probably had one with him seeing as he didn’t notify me of your visitation,” she said, sounding less angry, but still a bit aggravated nonetheless. “To what do I owe this humble approach?”

“We actually wanted to discuss something,” Amberly said bravely. Galilei just looked at her. She then turned to me.

“Tell me, Marley, does this discussion deal with the earth?” she asked, deadpan. I was surprised with the sudden confrontation, so it took me a moment to answer.

“Yes,” I finally got out, and Galilei nodded. She then turned back to Amberly.

“So then tell me, Amberly, why are you here?” Galilei asked. I looked at Amberly and could tell she was taken aback with this question.

“Well, I... I brought her here,” Amberly began, doing her best to supply a logical answer. “And the discussion is something that I thought of, so...”

“So, what?” Galilei cut in. “Just because your Darwin’s daughter, and because you want the recognition, you deserve to be here? Because ultimately, as I see it, Marley has the world back in her possession, and if this is something involving the world it involves her, me, and possibly your father. Not you.”

Amberly was now in shock, desperately trying to form words. “But, I-”

“Mhmm,” Galilei again interrupted. “Well, I’ll make sure to tell your father that this was all your idea if it goes smoothly. Or well, even if it doesn’t, I’ll still tell him. We’re supposed to tell each other everything new we come across or are confronted with. So I’ll continually remind myself that this was your idea so I don’t forget. Now, if you would please go wait outside of the room without protest; that will make this less harder then it needs to be.” Galilei then made a shooing motion with her hand, and Amberly looked offended. But after another moment, she complied without further protest. “Oh, and Amberly...” Amberly stopped to listen to what Galilei still had yet to say. “It’s not a secret that you told Marley where I was. I strictly assigned another person to guard her for a reason, you know. Considering what happened last time. And this one is definitely more efficient than you ever were and will ever be, considering they were the person to tell me the truth about this. But, yes, now you may leave.” This seemed to anger Amberly, because after that she left the room, notably slamming the door on the way out.

“I never did fully put my trust in her. Now, Marley, what is it that you wanted to discuss?” Galilei asked, pointing to the chair in front of her desk, which was what she was sitting behind. I sat down, and waited until she stopped typing on her hologram keyboard to start speaking. She must be noting everything that was happening.

“Um...” I started, hesitant. “Let me just start by asking that you remain impartial until I have stated the full idea, even though you probably already know about it considering you have the other person thoroughly patrolling me.”

“It’s already in my obligations to do so, but alright. I officially agree,” she said. “And yes, I already know somewhat about it, but... what is your full idea?”

“I think we should stop the world again,” I stated, point blank, and looked at her to make sure she didn’t object. Her expression was still neutral, so I continued. “But this time, instead of just like, me and one other person being unfrozen, we should do it and unfreeze every living thing, just keeping the world itself frozen.”

“Go on,” she stated.

“Amberly told me about Pangaea,” I confessed. “And that’s really the key to all of this. I thought about it more after learning about it, and it’s true. If we did that... that could be a step to improving our world. Society is horrible these days, all of these wars and arguments, but if we recreated Pangaea, we’d have to reunite, right?”

“Is that all?” she asked me, not giving me any hope with the idea. “Other than also considering your side of the bargain. I believe I already know enough about that.”

“Well... yeah,” I said. “If you already know that it relates to Nick... yeah.”

Galilei sighed. And then sighed again. She seemed to be heavily contemplating the idea, or was thinking of what to say next.

“I don’t think you’ve heavily thought this through,” she finally said. “Firstly, do you really think the world is ready for this? Or it’s in the capacity to handle it?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“The wars, Marley. They’re always going to be there,” Galilei said. “And the world’s news bases... have you thought about how they would react to this? The scientists of today would have no explanation for it. We can’t... do that without them thinking something else is going on. Or without them believing that some... higher power did it, whether it be with people thinking it was God or figuring us out. Too much chaos would be ensued.”

“So what you’re saying is, it can’t be done,” I cut in, dejected. She sighed yet again, tapping her fingers rhythmically against her desk, before speaking again.

“I wasn’t finished,” she said. “While this could cause some haywire to ensue, that doesn’t mean that it can’t be controlled.”

“Go on,” I said hesitantly. She looked up at me.

“Before I give you the hope, Marley, that this could work, I must note something...” she started. “If we do go through with this and too much goes wrong, beyond control, you know that we have to reverse it. Just like we did before. But instead, this time, it has more dire consequences.”

I stayed silent to let her know she had my full attention.

“Firstly, this isn’t just a few people we’re talking about like last time. This is the whole world. So, you must understand that if we have to reverse it again, it will take a lot of power to not only wipe the memories clean of two people like last time, but essentially the memories of the seven billion people here on Earth. Which, may not seem like much now, but it will be if we ever have to do so.” I believe she was stating that last sentence more to herself than to me. “So, you must understand that if that were to happen, the world would have be taken from you, permanently. We let what you did happen once, but we won’t let it go if it goes wrong again. It’d be hard to convince everyone with this establishment, let alone me, for you to keep your hands on it.”

“I figured as much,” I said. “And I thought that through before I agreed to coming here today. And I think it’s worth it.”

“Secondly,” she continued. “This would also mean wiping your memory of anything ever dealing with the world. It’s never been done before, but a world can be taken from a family and placed within another. One seemed better fit. It would also mean wiping the memories of your other family members that know about the world and those that you told the world about, such as your friend Rachel. Anything dealing with the world any of them have ever thought... gone. This being because I can’t risk them refreshing your memory, even if they promise not to. You never know what a person will do in the smallest dire circumstance.”

“I didn’t know that,” I said, slumping my posture. So this could not only affect me, but my family as well. The world being erased from our memories would mean... “So if I went back, my life would be changed?”

“Most likely, yes,” she answers. “It depends on how much the world was involved with your life decisions. But essentially, if you know that many things earlier would be changed, a lot of things later will be too.”

“Will you tell my parents?” I asked.

“No,” she answers. “You’re an adult now, so you’re entitled to make your own decisions without parent notification. And even if I did, they would forget anyway if everything was reversed again. So it’d be pointless, really. And you’d only have a temporary punishment from them. And if this is only temporary, you may as well enjoy it while it lasts, right?”

“Anything else?” I ask, getting back to the consequences. She shrugged.

“This last point isn’t really a consequence, but it’s something you must do before we take your idea into action, if it can be,” she stated. “As I said, if everything had to be reversed again, it would take a lot of power. And believe it or not, more than even a person in my position can handle. So we’re going to need some help if we’re going to see this through, if only for the reversal. But we also need to get other sources of approval, before we can go through with it. The last thing we need is other higher powers rebelling against this before it can even begin.”

“Don’t tell me,” I said, groaning because I could only guess what she was going to say. “We need to get Darwin’s permission.” When she nodded, I rolled my head back. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to confront him.

“Sadly, yes,” she said, sensing my disdain. But I wanted to laugh because it looked like she didn’t want to deal with him either. “But someone else too. Or well, some others’ permission as well.”

“Who? Other leaders in the government?” I asked, not knowing who else she could be talking about. She shook her head.

“No. More like people on your level,” she answered. I raised an eyebrow.

“Who?” I asked again, completely puzzled now. She sighed, and pretty much spelled it out for me.

“You have to get their permission, Marley. Their, meaning the owners of the other worlds. It’s earth, wind, fire, and water, remember? You have to go tell them, the other people who own their own versions of the world, your plan. And they have to agree with it before it can take place. Only after that will we finally consider the full plan."