"What do I want to do?" Jon repeated, bringing out the stone again.
"Do you really need to make another wish? Come on, let's just let this one play out. Don't you remember saying how afraid you were of the stone's power, and how we needed to be careful?" Karyn pleaded.
"You're right. Which is exactly the reason I want to make this wish. How to word it?" Jon paused. "I wish that I knew a good way to make sure that the stone cannot be used again until I come up with another really good idea for a wish."
The stone glowed softly for a moment.
"Well, get any sudden ideas?" Karyn asked, walking into a chair from behind. Her legs straddled the seat while her torso just flowed between the slats in the back. Jon could tell she was beginning to have fun being a goo girl.
"Yes, I got something, but it's hard to explain. I need to show you outside," Jon began, gesturing toward the back door.
Out in the back yard, Karyn reformed her skin and clothes in case someone was looking. "What is it?" she wondered.
"Any second now," Jon said, staring at a vacant area on the lawn. There was a buzzing sound and a small glowing blue spark several feet off the ground. Soon it grew into a large scintillating sphere that faded, revealing an oblong metal pod. There was a cockpit window at the front and an array of mechanical doodads along the rest of the pod's surface. The one thing that moved looked like a small round door, flipping open in three parts. A short pipe extended outwards.
There didn't seem to be any larger hatches by which one could get into the pod, Karyn noted. "Either it's an alien emissary the size of a hamster, or..." Just then, a familiar shade of pale gray goo began pouring out the pipe.
The goo kept pouring out until there was enough to take the shape of a man. As the stranger's features became defined, it was almost like looking into a mirror for Jon. He looked a bit older, maybe thirty, though it was hard to be sure since he was obviously immortal, as he was obviously a recipient of the procedure that came about from Jon's earlier wish.
"Hello Jon, Karyn. I'm from the future. You can probably guess who I am: I'm Jon."
"You mean you're me," Jon said.
"More precisely, I was you, and you will eventually be me. But yes. Anyway, I'm here to collect that stone. I finally thought of a good wish to make," Future-Jon declared.
"Wait a minute, how do I know you're really Jon?" Karyn accused. "I mean, you are a shapeshifter, after all."
"I suppose you're right, there is good reason to be suspicious especially when there are as many of us as there are in my time. But consider the way Jon phrased the wish. He wished for the knowledge of how to make sure he could protect the stone from being used until he thought of a worthwhile wish," explained Future-Jon.
"He's right, you know. And there's something I'll explain after he leaves," Jon said, handing his future self the stone.
"What, that's it? Don't want to hear anything about the future?" Future-Jon asked, annoyed. "I'm stuck here for another five minutes until the temporal flux capacitor finishes recharging, might as well talk about something."
"Isn't that dangerous, telling your past self things that could cause a paradox?" Karyn wondered.
"I know what not to tell you; don't worry about that," Future-Jon replied.
"Why is the only way into the machine that tiny door?" Jon asked.
"So ordinary humans can't get in, obviously. The only ones left are with the Preservation League, they're our enemies, so we don't want them stealing any time machines," Future-Jon explained.
"What's the Preservation League?" Jon asked.
"People who oppose the N-Cell treatment. Their individual rationales vary widely, don't be surprised if you see some coming out of the left as well as the right," Future-Jon hinted.
"I thought the wish was that everyone would be able to get this in 10 years," Karyn protested.
"Well, let's just say I am from more than 10 years in the future. And let me remind you that the wish was for the treatment to be available to everyone in 10 years. Just because it's available doesn't mean it will be accepted by all."
"How far in the future is your time?" Jon asked.
"Like I said, more than ten years," Future-Jon smirked. "Bye now."
"So, is it fifteen years? Fifty? A hundred? Six hundred? A thousand?" Jon pressed. "Can you not tell me because of some paradox thing?"
"It's best that you not be aware of the specific time frame. I'll just say that one of the numbers you gave is nearly correct. For real now, I'm off." Future-Jon dissolved into gray goo again, slipping back through the pipe into the time machine. A minute later, he was back inside, the hatch closing. The machine buzzed back to life, a radiant globe of energy surrounding it, that gradually shrank to nothing. All that remained was a crater.
"So the stone was sent directly to the future, so it can't be misused at least from now until then. That turned out nicely, I think," Jon said, heading back inside with Karyn.
"What exactly was it that popped into your head when you made that wish?"
"The first thing that came into my head was a set of equations. I'm a little rusty with the science but I'm pretty sure that if I study up, I'll be able to invent time travel and build, or supervise the building of, a time machine. For a moment I didn't see how that would help keep the stone safe until I realized I could come back and take it from myself."
"Got it. Now that it's over with, let's focus on seeing what I can do. I guess you won't be able to join me for another week or so, but I think I can keep you occupied." Karyn turned back into a blob of goo.
Jon found several tentacles forming and wrapping around his arms and legs, gently pulling him to the couch.
