The Unexpected. [Secuel To The Unknown] {Eric FF}

Alternate Reality [1].

Eric ran his hand from one side of Morgan's taut stomach to the other one, slowly trying to feel his daughter move inside.

"How long does this last?" He heard Aleks whisper from the other side, he was sitting next to Morgan in one of the large blue cushioned chairs in the auditorium in Erudite. Eric looked at his side and watched Aleks be sushed by Morgan, he looked down and leaned his head to her stomach.

Morgan placed a hand on his hair and pulled it out of his face, placing the other hand on top of Eric's and moving it to her side, he felt a tap on his palm, his daughter saying hi.

"It should be finishing soon" she whispered back, then gave Aleks a kiss on the temple.

Eric looked ahead, finding Myra give the analytics and the results of a research they had launched for this new device, it was supposed to be an upgrade from the simulation chairs. This new equipment was meant for the person to be standing still, slightly leaned back on a gurney type set up, to the side there was a computer, and a suspended tray to the other one.

"While the research in how the instrument would affect the human mind, we came across a revolutionary discovery. The machine, besides working perfectly in simulation, can also allow the participant to enter into a reality in which a decisive choice in their life wasn't made, creating a split on the reality they now know. Of course, this machine has only worked with Erudite workers to perfect it to the last detail in its programing, but now, the Head Leader of Dauntless, Eric Coulter, has offered himself as a volunteer to testify to you the wonder of this new piece of technology, and how it works in the mind of a member from a different faction"

She motioned at him while the room applauded. Eric stood up slowly, and before walking to the middle of the room he gave Morgan one small kiss. He gave him a smile in return and clapped along the rest of the attendees, mostly Erudite researchers along with a few members of each faction in representation.

He walked to the middle of the room with decisive steps, being surrounded by Erudite helpers who made him stand on the lower step of the gurney, then tilted it back slightly while pressing electrodes to his chest and neck, his heart beat sounded from the computer next to him, surprisingly steady.

"The experience can be a little disturbing, we've programed a watch with the amount of time you will have inside the machine, for us it will be five minutes, but to you, I've programed an hour, would you like me to lower down the time?" Myra asked, taking a syringe with a magenta liquid in it.

Eric shook his head no, and slowly Myra lowered down the needle to his arm, he relaxed as the liquid entered his bloodstream and instantly began to feel the effect.

"If your heart rate increases, we will also take you out of the sim-"

Eyes close.

Eyes open.

Eric slowly leans on his forearms, lifting his chest from the bed. He's in dauntless, but not in his house, not the house he had with Morgan, it's his old apartment. Next to him, there's a blonde woman, sleeping.

In the distance, he hears a baby cry, making the woman stir and turn around, giving him her back.

"Shut that kid up would you?" She mumbled.

Eric frowns and stands up, he's wearing sleeping pants and a shirt, something he would never use to sleep, not if he had a woman still sleeping next to him.

He walked out of his bedroom, finding his old office still with an office desk in the side, but now it has a crib, the baby is still howling and crying, trashing around.

Eric leans into the crib and looks down, his heart squeezes, finding out the baby is a little girl, given by the pearls on her earings. He scoops her out of the crib and pressed her to his chest, slowly shushing her and moving himself around, making her calm down.