The small space ship was flying at maximum speed when a synthetic voice started speaking to Valentia: “Hello number three! You activated your emergency device so… there you are, safe from any danger! I did tell you to trust me, didn’t I? Hold on tight, this kind of ship wasn’t built to support hypernavigation travel!” Valentia barely had the time to realize what was happening that the vehicle had already left the original solar system to arrive in sight of a planet that looked like a perfect copy of the original Earth – the one from the years 2000s. The ship entered the atmosphere and went straight to what was once known as North America, but that was a long time ago. It landed on the roof of a skyscraper in New York City. As soon as Valentia set foot on the ground, the ship that had brought her there went rapidly back into space.

Valentia could not believe what she had under her eyes. From outer space, the continents and the oceans looked exactly the same as she remembered. But it was not the only similarity this planet shared with the old Earth. The city seemed to be a perfect copy too, down to the smallest detail. The young girl got closer to the edge of the roof to have a better look at the streets. There was the fifth avenue, a thousand years later. Loads of memories started flowing back into her mind, one calling for another, all linked and intertwined. Life in those days was easier and more naïve for her.

But a voice pulled her out of her thoughts and dreams: “Pleasant view, don’t you think?” Valentia turned over to find her facing a very handsome boy, roughly twenty years old, as tall as she was, blond hair and blue eyes. Maybe it was his meticulously mastered designer stubble which gave him ravishing appeal, Valentia thought. He was wearing a white shirt along with a grey suit. But the purity of the grey seemed nearly unreal. It had nothing to see with all these clothes everyone was used to wearing at that time, either lower-end or haute couture. This color and the fabric itself seemed different, of a far better quality.

What this boy had just said was echoing on Valentia’s head. She knew she had already heard it before with the same tone and with the equal level of irony in the voice. She finally remembered where she had heard it before: it was in an afternoon during the autumn in 2056. She had withdrawn herself from the world, in the highest chains of the Nepalese mountains to be at peace after a traffic accident that cost the life of a best friend of hers. She had sit on the highest rock there to contemplate the few glaciers that were still subsisting in those days. The singing of waterfalls and water streams running among the rocks. The ice cracking. The snow crunching on the path of wild animals. Valentia remembered all those sounds along with the feelings she had at that moment. She also remembered how much she had missed those. Valentia had always loved to find shelter, perched up there, as it reminded her how peaceful and beautiful nature had been before the profusion of the human kind. It was during that precise time in 2056 she had been pulled out of her contemplation by Stan who had teleported behind her without a noise and got close to her to take her in his arms peacefully saying: “Pleasant view, don’t you think?” with the perfect touch of irony these words had faced to the beautiful landscape in front of them.

• “Stan! Is that you?
  
• You seem surprised, the young boy answered.
• Well, I mean… you look… different.
• Oh! That? Sorry, I forgot to change back! Just a sec.”

Stan looked deeply embarrassed as he turned around for a few seconds before presenting himself again to Valentia.

• “What the hell? she shouted surprised at what she was seeing.
  
• Changing looks is so useful to escape the government and the FuturaTech. That way I can change identity as much as I want.
• Now I understand how you managed to never get caught, and how I could not find you during all that time.