Time Wars - Story 2

""So, what if we're doing a time jump, and we jump back to Ancient Greece, how old am I— really?"  Rick asked Omega, who was skipping rocks across the small pond.  "Am  I minus 2500 years old, and  fifteen years to the good?"

"Time could turn cartwheels all the way around you, and you still would be you.  Time could blend ever so carefully with space, spread out over a hundred million millennia, and you would still be you.  Time could stop entirely, not unheard of, and start off in another direction entirely, sort of a surprise,  and you still would be you,"  Omega said.

"So," Tim said.  "I wanna be a kid forever.  Will I get to be 80 years old and still be a goofy kid?"

"Actually, Alpha made your brain elastic and expansive, which means that as you learn new, interesting stuff, your brain cells grow and expand."  Omega explained.  "There are even little bitty parts, incredibly powerful parts, that can sense the sacred.  You know when something wonderful is happening. You are wired for Alpha.

 "Outside of that, your brain just learns naturally.  It can't help itself.  And unless something happens to your brain like Alzheimers, it will learn effectively until you die. And, I'm guessing here, because I haven't died yet, I think you continue to learn and continue to work, play, and feel, continue to be you.  You'll still be you, only smarter.  Way smarter actually.  Alpha is like that.  You won't believe how unbelievable smart he is and what odd stuff he knows."

"How do you know that stuff?" Larry was dubious.

"A lot of it is just plain old learning," Omega said.  "I read a lot of science.  Some of it is putting two and two together, and getting four."

"Or eight and a half?" Larry joked.

"I just know you are always just gonna be you,"  Omega said.  "There's a lot of stuff I don't know, might not ever know.  And some stuff I'm just figuring out.  And a few things I'm very, very sure of."

"So, are you sure of me?"  Larry asked.

"And me?"  John-John said.

"Me?"  Petey said.

"You're still  the mystery, Larry; of course, John-John; and  maybe, Petey is still work in progress."  Omega smiled.  "We're find out a lot just living here on earth, in this time and in this place."

"What about being in another time and another place?"  Larry asked, the teentiest bit impudent.

"We could do that. Wanna go?"  Omega had a sly grin, and it looked as if he had the confidence and the where-with-all to pull it off."