"They did. I've lived around ten thousand lives in ten thousand times."
My mouth dropped open.
"Technology has advanced a great deal in that amount of time. Used to, there was no way to bring someone from the past forward. It was a one-way trip, until the secret to moving forward in time was stumbled upon by someone at the agency I worked for. Once they figured it out, the old way of doing business was no longer in fashion," he explained.
"Wow," I breathed. "I don't have any idea what you're talking about, by the way. Carter didn't tell me anything before sending me back. I had no idea time travel existed before him."
"Want me to start from the beginning?" he offered.
"Yeah."
"Time agents are sent back in time to a particular point where there's a disruption or sudden, dangerous change to history as we know it. We go native, as they call it, and are either raised in the era where we land as part of the culture and society or sent back at least five years before to give us time to adjust. The goal is to make us the ultimate sleeper agent who knows the ins and outs of his world. When we're ten, we're granted the memories of our past lives and where we came from. When we grow tired of the travel and relative immortality, we can opt to retire. This is my retirement cycle."
Unable to voice any of the questions pummeling my thoughts, I was silent. Why his story seemed fantastical after knowing what I did already, I wasn't sure.
"Our focus is to prevent men like Carter from modifying history for selfish reasons. There is a time and place where time travel is a way of life. But even if so, there should be no one permitted to change history for personal gain or revenge or any other of those human motivations."
This sank in deeper than the rest. I didn't know Carter's motivation; I assumed he wanted what he said he did, to help people who needed it. "But … how do you live ten thousand lives?" I asked.
"We technically don't. We live one life. I reached the age of thirty-three in my own time. Let's just say … they sent me back in time on a Friday. I cease to exist in my own time from that Friday onward. But the day before, on Thursday, I'm still there. So the next life, they pick me up on Thursday and take me back in time. For the next one, they pick me up on Wednesday. Three hundred sixty four lives a year. When I arrived here, I was four. It's roughly ten thousand days between the age of four and thirty three, which means ten thousand lives."