strawberry blond with long wavy hair that she wore almost to her waist. In addition to a startlingly impressive figure and strong sexual urges, she had a quick wit and a bubbling personality that made her fun to be with. He thought that they were more than likely moving toward something more permanent. At least he knew he was thinking along those lines and was considering how to bring up the subject with her. It was more difficult than he thought it ought to be. She lived down the 395 in the Doubletree Estates, working in real estate, which had been a tough market the past couple of years. They were supposed to drive up to Lake Tahoe for dinner and a show tonight at Harrah’s, and would most likely return here afterwards to spend the night. Karin hated mornings, and could be expected to hang around until mid afternoon, something he normally relished, but which might complicate any plans he could consider making in regards to the current tragedy.
Screw it , he decided. He’d prefer to be with Karin and the memories the evening would create. He could just as well wait until the following day to act, and by then the information would be far better on which to base his decision.
Jake shuddered and shook his head. He had a headache. As usual, that was his first clue. Slowly he let his gaze shift around the room. As he expected it was Wednesday morning. The calendar showed that Tuesday was the last day he’d “X’d” off with his felt-tip pen. There was a reason that he did that each and every day. Just like there was a reason he made sure to spend the same fifteen minutes resting in the soft leather chair where he worked in his office each morning. It was Wednesday sure enough, although his mind was certain it was Sunday. Wednesday, four days ago! The fact he had memories that told him it was the coming Sunday didn’t change the fact at all. Those extra four days hadn’t happened yet.
He’d back-tracked again. Over the years he’d learned how to do so at will. Anything up to seven days was relatively easy, but always caused him headaches. Anything longer became increasingly difficult with far more severe headaches as a result. He’d never managed to do more than ten days, and he’d been nearly bed-ridden for most of the day that time. Without thinking he reached for the bottle of aspirin he kept handy by the chair against just such an event. He swallowed three of the tablets and considered the situation. Over the years he’d frequently back-tracked for personal reasons and simply to experiment and understand his ability. This wasn’t one of those cases.
Jake had no idea how or why the process worked. The first times it had occurred had been entirely accidental. When he had realized what appeared to be happening, he had experimented. Now he could easily and essentially instantaneously select how far back, within the limits of his ability, he wanted to project his memories. His skill was like that of a professional athlete, that became better and more instinctual as he used it. The trigger was now instantaneous. Where before he’d had to sit back, relax and focus hard on when he wanted to link to and whether his former self would be able to receive what he was sending, now he simply acted. He could somehow sense if his earlier self was physically close enough geographically for the transfer to happen, and by simply willing it, the process was activated. He’d learned if he tried to project back to himself in a different location, more than twenty miles or so from where he was currently, the link didn’t form and he was unable to activate the transfer. He lost the ability to sense himself over the increased distances.
After each such transfer, he found his conscious self back at the earlier time he chosen with the future set of memories. He didn’t have a clue what happened to the future version of himself. Perhaps that version