Calibrations

California 2010

"Hey Figment, who were you talking to?" Youngblood asked.

Figment paused to think for a moment. "I was on the phone with a friend of mine who's in the Watch," he said.

"The Watch?" Youngblood said. "I thought we were trying to stay away from them." He found it hard to believe that Figment was friends with anyone in the Watch, especially after Billie had just chased him through time, but there was a lot that he didn't know about his future self.

"They're the only ones who can help us find my time machine," Figment said. "Anyways, my friend's on the case, and he should be here with my time machine any minute now."

"That's good," Youngblood said. He didn't want to be stuck in the desert any longer than he had to be. He circled around the Trans Am until he found Poison posing with his ray gun. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm being a fabulous killjoy, obviously," Poison said as he pretended to shoot Revenge, who seemed more annoyed than anything.

"Why did I leave my bulletproof vest in 2004?" Revenge complained. "If I had prepared better, then I wouldn't have to deal with this."

"Maybe if you weren't drunk when you left 2004, you would have remembered," Pepper said.

"Shut the fuck up," Revenge said.

All of a sudden, Figment walked up to them. "What's going on over here?" he asked.

"Poison tried to shoot me, and then Pepper insulted me!" Revenge complained.

Poison rolled his eyes dramatically and then said, "It's not even a real gun! He's overreacting!"

"Be nice to each other, okay?" Figment said.

"Fine," Poison said as he lowered his ray gun and wistfully looked toward the Trans Am. "It's a shame the car broke down. I'd give it a spin, but it won't fucking start."

"It's okay," Pepper said. "Bad things like this happen to me all the time. I've learned to expect it." He sadly glanced at the bits of sand on the ground, and then he looked toward Figment. "So while we're waiting for your friend from the Watch, can you tell me why I don't remember 2007? It's really bothering me now."

"No, no, no, I've got a way more important question," Poison said. "Tell me what happens in 2019."

"That's not important!" Pepper insisted.

"Yes, it is!" Poison exclaimed. "Wouldn't it be so cool if I predicted the future?"

"My question is more important!"

"No, mine is!"

Figment sighed and then said, "I'm answering Pepper's question first, but only because he asked first." He took a cigarette from the front seat of the car, and then he sat on the side of the road, his back leaning up against the Trans Am. As he lit the cigarette, he said, "We don't have much time though. The Watch will be here any minute."

"Just answer the question already," Pepper said angrily.

"It's not as complicated as you think, Pepper," Figment said. "You can't remember something that hasn't happened yet."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Youngblood asked.

"Yeah, that makes no sense," Poison said. "You remember all sorts of things that haven't happened yet, Figment."

"When you travel into the future and then return to your own time, your brain erases all of its memories of the future," Figment explained. "That doesn't apply to me because I traveled backwards, not forwards, although if I stay in the past long enough, I'll start to forget what happens in the future."