Chapter 5 - An Offer

I landed on the other side.

I blinked a few times, trying to get the light out of my eyes. When my vision properly returned a few moments later, I saw two Agent Lams looking at me. One was standing, and the other was sitting in the bed.

"Er, hi," I said.

"This is James," the standing Agent Lam pointed at me and said. He continued, "And I'm you from the future."

The Agent Lam that was sitting in the bed looked a bit irritated. "So, what was so important that you had to time jump into my bedroom at 5:30 in the morning?"

"The killer of Edgar Brown, a politician from 2014 CE, will time jump into the field just off of King Street in approximately three hours and twenty two minutes, and so will this guy," Agent Lam said, pointing at me.

"And who is he?"

"Just a cop from 2014 CE who decided to jump into the time portal as well."

The Agent Lam in the bed smirked at me, "You decided to chase a killer into a time portal without knowing what it was?"

"To be fair," I said, "I thought it was just some trick at the time."

"At least you're dedicated," the Agent Lam that was in the bed said. "Anything else?"

"Nope, that's it," the Agent Lam that was standing punched a few buttons on the device on his wrist and opened up another time portal. "Remember to go back in time yourself."

"Yeah, yeah," the Agent Lam in the bed yawned as the other Agent Lam and I walked into the time portal.

We fell through time and space again, and landed back at Captain Mortimer's office. He looked up from his computer and asked, "All done?"

"Yeah," replied Agent Lam.

"Good, could you wait outside? I would to have a word with James."

"Yes, sir." Agent Lam stepped outside.

Captain Mortimer turned to me and offered me a choice, "So, James, you seem like you'd be a fit here, would you like to become a TPA agent?"

I was flabbergasted.

I stammered, "Uh, I- I'm flattered, but I haven't really thought about it. Besides, don't you need to check my background or something?"

The captain smiled, "We're time travellers, James. I already checked your background while you two were off time travelling."

I considered the offer for a second, "Well, sir, it sounds like a good opportunity, but wouldn't it be suspicious if I just disappeared from my own time?"

The captain chuckled, "See, that's the type of thinking I like to see in my agents. No need to worry, you'll be allowed to visit periodically. Of course, you have to visit the time after the period of time that you've spent away, so that you don't suddenly turn up looking older than you should. And of course, you'll have a chance to quit your current job, tie up any loose ends, things like that."

I pondered about the offer again, "May I have some time to think about it?"

"Sure, Agent Lam will take you home and he'll visit you again in two days, how's that?"

"Sounds good, sir."