THE MOMENT
"You did find the issue, didn't you?" Ruby asked. The short woman sat behind her desk with the IT tech, Turbo, across from her. Turbo worked for her mother's company; but, she called on him to work on her personal device.
"I did," Turbo nodded. Ruby narrowed her eyes at him.
"So, fix it," she said. "You have access to everything you need; I don't need an update at every step." Turbo was talented but young. He was only 14 and despite his intellect, he still acted like it sometimes. He walked into Ruby's office less than an hour after she gave him her node to work on. She assumed he was done already. Ruby was disappointed to learn he found the problem and did not know how to proceed without her input.
"Um...," Turbo fidgeted. Ruby realized he was nervous; he was usually calm and collected. "...it's a little more complicated than that...," he said.
"What? How complicated?" Ruby asked. Turbo's bronze skin seemed to lighten several shades. His eyes widened as he stared at her. He himself couldn't believe he was going to say it; but, there was no other choice.
"... complicated enough to wake Chroma....," he replied. Ruby laughed. It was genuine laughter at first; but, she seemed to realize he was serious. He did not laugh with her.
"What could you possibly have found on my node to warrant that?" she asked. The fact that he didn't laugh meant he wasn't joking. He knew how serious his request was and Ruby trusted him enough to listen to his reasons.
"I found an album of pictures that corrupted the rest of the node," he said. Ruby sat up straighter. She loved taking pictures and always enjoyed going through them in her spare time.
"What kind of pictures? she asked. "Were you able to salvage any of them?" Turbo nodded.
"I saved the whole album," he nodded. "They're wedding pictures." He gave Ruby her node back.
"Wedding pictures?" she asked. She began swiping through the pictures on her node. She recognized a handful of people but not the bride, nor the groom, despite taking several pictures of the happy couple.
"I don't remember this wedding," Ruby shook her head. Turbo nodded.
"It hasn't happened yet," he said. "The file info has an SST timestamp for June." Ruby's eyes widened. SST stood for Sharp Standard Time. It was a centralized time stream that ran throughout the entire multiverse. It was supposed to be impossible to manipulate but she had proof that someone did.
"You're right...," she nodded. "We should wake my mother." She was surprised when Turbo shook his head.
"That's not all..," he said. "there was also part of the bride's speech," he said. He took the node back from her and swiped a few times; then returned it. Ruby started the video. The bride was a tall, tan woman with olive skin and short, curly brown hair.
"... as lucky as I am to have found the love of my life, I'm even luckier to have a wonderful family ready to support me any time I need. I may be adopted; but, that just means you chose me to join your family." The bride looked directly at the camera.
"Ruby...," she said. Her voice was thick with affection. Then, she turned toward a pale, silver-haired woman; the camera followed her gaze. "...Chroma. You're the best sister and mom anyone could ask for."
"We love you, Minerva, dear," Chroma said as the camera focused on the bride again. But, Ruby dropped the node flat on the desk. She tilted her head at Turbo in confusion even as tears gathered in her eyes. She had no idea why she decided to cry at that moment, her mind was occupied with another, more important question.
"Who...is ... Minerva??"