Chapter 1 I

Yeah, sure, sit down I said while I could hear cogs in my head turning. Since I had been teached not to stare at people I looked down to my plate and rammed some toast in my mouth, because I could also hear cogs turning in my stomach.

I started chewing when it came down on me, it was the man from the airport!, that one bastard that had all but rammed me! I brusquely looked up from my plate to look at the man across the table, not quite opposite, but towards my left.

I noticed then that he was staring at me with something like a smile.

--Yeah, at the airport, that's me.--

 I guess I looked surprised, and perhaps not at my best with a mouthful of toast to deal with, because his smile widened into a grin

--I'd like to apologize again--

-- Well, do not worry it's ok -- I was trying to get on top of things and said

-- what a coincidence that we are both in the same hotel, uh? -- I thought his accent was not so strong as I had thought at the airport.

-- My name is Roberts -- he said, extending his hand towards me and looking me in the eye. I could not decide whether he was ignoring my comment or he was following a plan, as if he had thought this conversation beforehand.
-- Nice to meet you -- and I did the nice thing meeting his hand half way across the table and telling him my name, as the polite boy I am. Then I turned my attention to my plate and bit again the toast, deliberately.

--Perhaps not as much as you would thing -- I stared back blankly
-- The coincidence, I mean -- he grinned again. Then leaned to the side and from somewhere pulled out a fat collection of paper, loosely folded in three, as in a letter. Carefully not to spill them, he let them in front of me.

 07/13/97
>>nagt9005: This weekend I am going for a Korn concert.
>>U-688: ...
>>U-688: I don't like Korn.
>>nagt9005: xD
>>nagt9005: that's all right grandpa.

Confused, I leafed through the rest

 11/30/97
>>U-688: Welcome back, I was looking for another fixer :P
>>nagt9005: I've been to NASA man!
>>U-688: Are you changing job?
>>nagt9005: Nah, no way man. We are collaborating with another agency
>>nagt9005: We got to participate on a meteo satellite.
>>nagt9005: Which is going to measure radiated energy from the clouds.
>>nagt9005: we got to see the Launch!
>>U-688: You have been to a launch? How is it?
>>nagt9005: Well, actually ... like on the TV, just louder.

-- I do not get it... this are... chat files?-- abía I had no problems recognizing my old internet nickname, but I could not pinpoint the chats themselves. Fuck, if dates were back to 1997, what the hell was I going to remember?
-- Don't you remember the nickname nagt9005?-- I was still blank. Mr. Roberts was staring at me. No grin now. -- Do you remember Napster?-- 
I could feel the pins slowly getting pushed home in my head, click after click. Finally an image popped out. The same man sitting in front of me, 12 years younger, with a Manowar t-shirt and a large beer on one hand and a bigger grin. A name was bubbling out on my throat, not unlike that cheap beer he had been holding
-- You are... ! --
-- Mr. Roberts -- Mr. Roberts cut me short, he was making a habit out of it.

-- We got to talk-- the grin came again -- I have a lot to tell you. We'll meet on the flight back-- and with these words he stood up, headed to the entrance door and then I lost sight of him. I was pinned in place, as confused as surprised. I looked down, next to my plate, to the file, now a little messed up...