Apprentice Lost in Parallel. Kevin Colbran
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the car, #457 climbed out and handed me a set of clothes identical to what he was wearing. I dressed in these clothes and then swapped places. On the passenger seat was a map to show me where I was, I quickly recognised where I was, near Kurnell. With about a 30 minutes’ drive to my home around Botany Bay to Arncliffe, I waved goodbye to the other car and started off.
Oh yeah, couldn’t wait till I had the ‘new’ car going, god, this one is rough and slow.
It was certainly strange when I walked into the house and barely got a nod to acknowledge my return. Of course to my family, I had only been gone for a couple of hours as I often did, and as #457 had been updating his physical appearance to match my fitness level and the changes to my appearance. Still, it was great to see my family in the flesh. Of course, I received strange looks for the big smile that I was wearing. The dogs noticed, making a great fuss about me. Apparently, they could tell the difference between 457 and me.
I had just settled into my room when a knock sounded at the front door, followed by the familiar stampede of the kids to find out who it was. Mum, as usual, had to weave her way to the front so that she could greet the visitor. I heard Senior introduce himself as a friend from work and could he speak to me. As I joined the mob at the door, I noted Senior had changed his appearance somewhat and going by the weight change had the gel suit on to facilitate this. Outside was a blue car obviously not to attract attention if two identical cars were here.
“Come out to the car I have something to give you,” Senior said.
I followed him out with only Neil tagging on; I could see that this caused a little trouble with Senior as his Brother Neil had died in a car accident when he was 27. As we approached the car, Senior showed me a couple of books, one being my copy of the almanack listing the share prices for next 40 years and the other a list of directions to follow to make the most of the rise and fall of those prices.
“I don’t need to tell you not to let these books out of your sight, do I?” Senior asked.
'Yep,' I said. I had been given that lecture several times; Senior had engraved that permanently into my memory by now.
“I will pick you up tomorrow to start the process at the broker’s office, as you are under age to do it by yourself,” Senior said. 'Of course once set up you will have no problem continuing the process.”
Neil had been listening and by his look was baffled as to why a ‘work friend’ would discuss these things with me. As we headed inside, I told Neil that I would explain later if he kept quiet. How I wasn’t sure, though I am sure he would be enthusiastic once I let a few facts out. Of course to him, apart from being a little more odd than normal, I had been here all the time.
Back to the routine, for now, I was in the middle of holidays which is why everyone was at home; instead of school and work. I surprised Mum by having a shower after tea and going early to bed. The former because usually I only had a bath twice a week whether I needed it or not and the latter because I often sat up reading. The other reason, which I couldn’t explain, is that I was about 4 hours out of sync and had formed the habit of daily showers since I had been with Senior.
Awake before the dawn I reviewed the briefing that 457 had given over the last few days, consulting with me whenever something new came up; he had no problem simulating my normal behaviour, as I usually seem to be a bit slow on the uptake when hit with something new. Normally I was either described as shy, with little ambition or initiative. By the time I was able to handle anything new everyone else had moved on to something else; hence my tendency to read ahead to at least keep pace with my peers.
Today was about two days into annual leave, so technical college and work were in abeyance. Neil noticed that I was awake so asked. “So who was that character, I haven’t heard you talk about him before?”
“Now if you promise not to tell anyone I will tell you,” I said.
“Of course I wouldn’t,” Neil promised.
“Actually if you did I would deny it, and you would look pretty silly; as would I if the story was told to anyone older such as Mum or Dad.” I warned then added, “Not saying that you are gullible or anything.”
I first I explained that the person, who had been here for the last couple of months, hadn’t been me. He admitted that I had been acting strangely; the dogs weren’t happy and had been keeping well clear; at least that was the case until yesterday afternoon.
Then I began the story stopping at each stage to check if he was keeping up and not freaking out; but apart from a few wows and gees, seemed to be quite happy to be told of my adventures. When I eventually caught up to the present time, he was still listening.
“Wow,” Neil said at last, “When can I go? Sounds like fun.”
“I will have to clear it with Senior, because there is a lot of preparation, such as getting Silvertoe to lend us an Android,” I said; then went on. “There is another problem; your counterpart is not with Kev Senior as your counterpart had a car accident which he doesn’t like to talk about.”
That revelation sobered up his excitement. So I added, “Expect to hear lots of lectures about the dangers of drinking and driving from Senior if he does let you visit.”
I relented and handed him the hairnet to allow him to see what 457 was doing; on the principle that a bit of sight reinforces the story. By his face, I could see that it removed any last doubts as to the truth of my adventure.
We went out to breakfast, after an injunction about letting the cat out of the bag. Having finished and cleaned our teeth, we both waited as patiently as possible for Senior to turn up. While to us young people it seemed to take forever, he turned up about 8.30 am. Before we could go with him of course, I had to convince Mum that he was harmless, mind you that took some doing.
Eventually, Mum allowed us to go with him, with the proviso that we weren’t away long. So off we went but not far, as there was a solicitor just over the other side of Arncliffe railway station.
Entering the office at the appointed time, Senior introduced himself as our uncle and that he wished to set a trust account for us. The solicitor was happy to help us especially when he found out the scope of the project. Though he was somewhat puzzled that the duration would be so long.
Having commenced the paperwork, and promising to return in two days’ time, we left and headed for the next appointment at the stockbroker. On the way Neil surprised Senior by broaching the subject of visiting his world, after giving me a stern look for leaking the secret, he promised to think about it. Neil accepted this without a worry, confident that I would just keep reminding him.
At the Stockbroker, it also went well after Senior proved that an account of substantial funds was available. That he would be receiving instructions from outside, rather than us listening to his advice left him somewhat puzzled. But since the portfolio was going to be large and therefore be a good return for his company; he received the instructions with no further objections.
Completing the setup of these accounts, he drove us home while explaining on the way that the funds in the bank were native money, as in the previous few months he had paid visits. First to earn some money, then investing in horses, hardly gambling as he already knew the winner, then a couple of short-term investments to redirect the source of the money and finally to open the account in the trusts’ name.
After finishing the arrangements, He drove us back home and dropped us off. Informing me that 457 would soon be ready for employment again and that I would then return to training.
In the meantime, I could enjoy my holidays with the family and of course, get familiarised with my life so that I could fit into it again.
Settled into the routine, visiting Keith and otherwise driving around keeping myself busy, several days passed without any drama. One night when I was using the hairnet to keep in touch with 457, the android gave me the message that in two days’ time, the switch back would be made in reverse to the initial method and that Neil could also accompany me for a few weeks if he still wanted to. Another Android being lined up to substitute for him if