Chris glares back and forth between the two Adams. “Or maybe he’s been working for Aether this entire time, and all of this is bullshit.”

Adam throws up his hands. “I’m not working for them!”

“My younger self is telling the truth. I started working for Aether to find some explanation of why you were all killed. With Lynne’s help, I made sure Project Chronos was shut down and buried forever. That’s why the research facility was empty when you arrived. I couldn’t risk anyone finding out about it.”

“Do you know why we ended up thirty years in the future instead of ten?” I ask.

“I believe the accelerator malfunctioned. It’s possible someone tampered with it, but I could never find any evidence of that, and I don’t know why they would want to send us thirty years forward instead of ten.”

My mind races, processing his words. Everything Future-Adam’s told us makes a lot more sense than me killing the others and then myself. Aether must have set me up to protect their secrets. There’s just one question that his story doesn’t answer.

“Why did Aether let you live?” I ask.

“I’ve asked myself that question a thousand times over the past thirty years. I wish I had an answer for you.”

His voice sounds sincere, but it’s hard to believe he’s telling the truth. How could he not know why he’s still alive? He must have learned something in the last thirty years while working with Aether. Or there must be something that set Adam apart from us, other than the foster care thing.

“So if you’ve lived through everything we’ve been through now…” Adam says. “What can we do differently?”

His future self gives him a sad smile. “We did have a plan to stop Aether and to protect ourselves, but it didn’t go the way we wanted. Maybe all of you can succeed where we failed.”

“What kind of plan?” Chris asks, his voice skeptical.

“Blackmail. We tried to get evidence about what Aether’s been doing to make sure we had leverage against them when we got back to the present. But things went wrong, and the evidence was lost.”

Trent and Chris exchange looks like they’re not buying this. “But how do we get evidence?” Trent asks.

“Talk to Dr. Walters. He lives in a retirement home in the Valley.” Future-Adam checks his watch. “We don’t have much time, and I need to talk to my younger self alone for a moment.” He opens the door and gestures toward it. “Adam?”

Adam stands up slowly. As he follows his older self into the hallway he looks like he’s about to face a firing squad.

“I don’t trust either of them,” Chris says as the door shuts. “Do you believe any of this shit?”