PD. How did he know you were coming?
WT. He's the Vice President.
PD. So what did you do when he didn't stop for you?
WT. Can I get a cup of coffee now?
PD. Coffee?
WT. Yes. A cup of coffee.
PD. Sure, Bill. Just a minute. Let me see what I can do. Cream and sugar?
WT. Two percent. I'm trying to watch my weight.
………
………
………
………
………
Okay, hang on here.
………
………
………
Testing. Test…
………
………
One… two… three. One… two…
………
………
………
………
………
………
That better, Bill?
WT. Yes.
PD. Coffee's okay?
WT. The coffee's fine.
PD. Good. So… let's see. You were telling me about what happened when the man you believed to be Kenneth Burrows wouldn't, uh, wouldn't stop for you after you left the, you know, the pizza parlor on 86th.
WT. My head felt bad.
PD. What happened after that?
WT. My fist thought of a way out.
PD. What do you mean when you say: My fist thought of a way out?
WT. My right fist.
PD. What did it do?
WT. It punched him in the jaw. Just below the left ear. Hard. He went right down. Then my feet did stuff. My mouth did stuff and my feet did stuff.
PD. How was that a way out?
WT. For him?
PD. Yes.
WT. I figured my fist would make him give me the frequency and then he would be safe.
PD. Did you say anything?
WT. I asked him for it.
PD. For the code?
WT. Only he just started lying to me. Lying and lying, the liar.
PD. What did he lie about?
WT. Everything.
PD. What would an example be of one of his lies?
WT. We already did this.
PD. I know, Bill. Please bear with me.
WT. He said I had the wrong guy.
PD. But you believed you had the right guy.
WT. He offered me stuff. A stupid watch. A stupid ring.
PD. But you believed he was Burrows. Why do you suppose he wouldn't give you the frequency? You had him on the ground. Why wouldn't he just tell you?
WT. I told him I was going back home no matter what. He couldn't stop me.
PD. What did he say?
WT. I knew the messages would start again any second. I knew I didn't have much time.
PD. The messages are different from the brainwaves?
WT. The messages are always the same. The brainwaves are tinfoil sparkling inside my head.
PD. The messages come approximately every twenty minutes? Is that correct?
WT. They come precisely every twenty minutes.
PD. And they interrupted you while you were assaulting the man you took to be Kenneth Burrows?
WT. They fucked me all up.
PD. Why aren't they coming now, Bill… the messages? While we're, you know, while we're having this conversation.
WT. They are.
PD. Doesn't that make it difficult for you to think?
WT. That is correct.
PD. And they made it difficult for you to think while you were assaulting the man on the sidewalk…
WT. That's when he made his break. I couldn't move. Sometimes they make it so you can't move.
PD. What did you do?
WT. I tried to catch him.
PD. But you couldn't.
WT. That's why I'm here.
PD. That's why you're in New York?
WT. On this planet.
PD. On this planet?
WT. That is correct.
PD. You mean you feel you're stranded.
WT. Tell me how I can leave. Go ahead. Tell me.
PD. Believing that must make you feel lonely.
WT. That is correct.
PD. Like you've lost control of things?
WT. …
PD. Well, maybe you can help me understand, Bill, and maybe I can, you know, I can help you in return.
WT. I don't think so.
PD. Why is that?
WT. How can you help me?
PD. It may take some time, but I'm optimistic. How about, uh, how about we go back to the beginning? Would you do that for me? How about we take it from the beginning?
WT. Again?
PD. Let's see… My records… they show you were born on November 9, 1947. But you say that is inaccurate.
WT. November 9, 2265.
PD. 2265?
WT. That is correct.
PD. And it shows here you were born in Charlotte, North Carolina. Do you believe that is incorrect as well?
WT. Yes.
PD. Where do you believe you were born?
WT. New York. Staten Island. We've already had this conversation.
PD. It's just, uh, I guess it's just taking some time for what you have to say to sink in. How do you account for the discrepancy in your record?
WT. Connect the dots.
PD. You believe you're from the future.
WT. Belief has zero to do with it.
PD. How would you say it, then?
WT. I would say: William Tager is from a future.
PD. From a future?
WT. That is correct.
PD. Not ours?
WT. A different Staten Island. A different earth.
PD. I'm sorry, Bill, but I'm having a hard time understanding what you're telling me. What do you mean when you say: A different earth?
WT. That's not the right question.
PD. What would the right question be?
WT. The right question would be: Where is William Tager's earth?
PD. What would the answer to that question be?
WT. Right here, all around us.
PD. Isn't that saying, uh, isn't that saying the same thing?
WT. Only in a different brane.
PD. A different brain?
WT. Brane. B-R-A-N-E. Membrane.
PD. Membrane?
WT. Your physicists already know this. They already know reality is composed of multiple vibrating membranes. You can travel between them, but when they touch it's The Catastrophe.
PD. The catastrophe?
WT. You call it The Big Bang. We call it The Catastrophe. You see it as a beginning. We see it as an ending.
PD. So let me get this straight. You believe you come from an alternate dimension and in that dimension it's the future.
WT. That is correct, minus the belief.
PD. I would think even in 2265 time travel to alternate dimensions would be a very difficult concept to put into practice.
WT. I'm no physicist. I dropped out of high school. Only I know it has to do with a warp in the space-time continuum. The World Government has been experimenting in this area for a hundred and fifty years.
PD. The World Government?
WT. I'm a test pilot, you could say. Chuck Yeager. Howard Hughes.
PD. That sounds like a real honor, Bill.
WT. It's a punishment.
PD. A punishment?
WT. That's how I met the Vice President.
PD. As a test pilot?
WT. Yes.
PD. Why don't you tell me about that.
WT. I was in prison.
PD. In the alternate future, you mean.
WT. Yes.
PD. And what were you, you know…
WT. Murder.
PD. You killed someone?
WT. They said I killed someone.
PD. Did you?
WT. My hands did.
PD. Who did your hands kill?
WT. They set fire to my girlfriend's house. In Newark, New Jersey. I didn't know that's what they were planning.