Three compact tracked electrically powered vehicles smoothly moved across the barren, sun scorched California formerly known as Los Angeles. The vehicles are seeking one exact access connection point to a particular set of coordinates from December 26, 2008. The set up point is to be located and arranged with precision. A temporary temporal connection is to be established to support a dispatched time agent. This is one of fourteen such connections to be installed.

  The weather is clear, windless and the temperature is more than 50C, despite the fact it is not yet noon. No human is visible, but the region is heavily developed with warehouses, fabrication plants and data centres all linked by a carefully efficient network of well maintained roads. The year is 2428. The year is always 2428.

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  YOUR SECOND TIME MISSION WILL TAKE PLACE SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2027. YOUR DISPATCH TIME WILL BE 7:00PM, FROM THE CENTRAL CITY EAST TIME FACILITY. AN ADDRESS WILL BE PROVIDED THE DAY OF THE MISSION AS YOU APPROACH LOS ANGELES. YOUR MISSION WILL BE TO ANSWER A HELP WANTED AD PLACED BY SATOSHI NAKAMOTO ON FEBRUARY 1 OF 2008. IF MR. NAKAMOTO AGREES TO EMPLOY YOU YOUR WORK WILL ENTAIL SUPPORTING HIM DURING THE TIME HE PRODUCES THE CODE FOR THE BITCOIN MINING PROGRAM. YOU WILL DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO HELP HIM COMPLETE HIS PROJECT. YOUR ID AND NECESSARY EQUIPMENT WILL BE PROVIDED BY THE CENTRAL CITY EAST MISSION SUPPORT STAFF. YOUR IDENTITY WILL BE: SHARON BLYDE, A FIRST YEAR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION STUDENT AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY MR. NAKAMOTO IS A DIFFICULT MAN TO WORK FOR.

  "Well, that is one hell of a way to wake me up!" responded Danielle. She had just put her glasses on as she was getting up for her day. Danielle was starting to realise that every time mission dispatch was going to stress her out. "Is this a dangerous mission?"

  NEGATIVE

  "How long will Mr. Nakamoto require to complete his work?

  YOU WILL BE EMPLOYED FOR APPROXIMATELY SEVEN DAYS. A HOTEL WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE OF MR. SATOSHI'S HOME HAS BEEN ARRANGED TO PROVIDE YOU A ROOM.

  "And he's a jerk."

  AFFIRMATIVE.

  Sign me up!

  ____________________________________________________________________________

  Danielle left her dad's house at noon. She was by now entirely used to driving herself everywhere, and the CRV was full of fuel and ready for the 4+ hour drive to Los Angeles. It was a pretty uneventful trip on the I-15, and about 4 hours into the drive, her AI glasses asked her to take the I-10 off ramp to Los Angeles. From there the directions to the Central City East office building were relatively simple. The last few blocks of her journey were pretty disturbing, though. The streets were lined with the nylon tents of homeless people living on the streets of Central City. It was the worst street life circumstances Danielle had ever seen, although she had heard of some pretty gruesome tales of the people living in the tunnels under the Las Vegas strip. She was directed into the entrance of a parkade, grabbed a time ticket, and drove down into a set of underground stalls. Lots of spots to choose from, and no street people down here. Good, she wouldn't have to worry about her CRV. She even felt comfortable leaving her overnight bag, as there were plenty of security cameras mounted throughout the facility.

  Doors locked securely, she was off to the elevator entrance, and up to the second floor. The set up was similar to the Las Vegas facility, with three successive secured doors taking her through rather underwhelming office rooms and hallways, ending in a final entrance to a large room full of substantial machinery.

  After introductions to the time mission support staff, Danielle was taken to a large desk where an agent named Angela Stanford fitted her with clothing, toiletries, luggage, a handbag, and a wallet complete with period cash and two functioning Mastercards with her new name, Sharon Blyde. Also included in her kit was a Dell Inspiron 1420 laptop, and an IPhone 3G cell phone. "At least I am not going back to the dark ages," observed Danielle.

  Angela had a long list of instructions. "You will find the laptop unbearably slow, but the battery life is good. Here is the charge cord. You will need this computer to answer Satoshi's Craigslist ad. Just check yourself into the hotel, and keep refreshing until his ad uploads. We believe that will be at 8:03pm, Friday, December 26, but it could vary by a minute or two. Put yourself in the mindset of the day after Christmas. When you exit the machine, you will be inside an empty office. You will be able to exit the room without a key, but you will need this physical key to get back in. You will need a second key to re-enter the building itself. Here are both of them. Your glasses will function in 2008, but they will be even more abrupt and stilted in the way they talk to you, often with some time delays in the conversations. However, the Arachnid AI will be able to observe your actions and your environment, so it will be capable of providing some assistance. Just be patient with it."

  "We will be waiting for you here at the completion of your mission. I know that you have already been told that Satoshi is a difficult guy to deal with, but whatever you are expecting, you should lower those expectations. My guess is that the reason Arachnid chose you for this mission, is they think that you can handle seriously disturbed older men. I don't envy you. Do your best, and that will be good enough. Plenty of agents return with a task half completed or having made no progress at all. No biggie. Arachnid will just figure out another way to do the deal. You are registered for the week at the Garden Inn on Rosemead Boulevard. Any questions?"

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  "I think that I can handle it from here," replied Danielle.

  Just as it was in Las Vegas, the transition between the two time lines was seamless. Danielle found herself standing in an empty office on the second floor of a local neighbourhood shopping mall. This time she had a large suitcase with wheels, since she had 5 changes of clothes to get through what was expected to be a 7 day mission. A quick trip down the elevator to the main floor, and she was walking out on to the main street of Central City East.

  'Wow! Thought Danielle. This is just as bad as 2027!" and it was just as terrible. The tents on the sidewalk were everywhere, for as far as she could see. Two police cars seemed to be involved in some sort of incident, and an ambulance siren could be heard in the distance. In a weird contrast, Christmas decorations were hanging from some of the light standards, and they looked seriously worse for wear. Almost all of them were torn or damaged in some way. 'How am I going to call a cab in all of this,' wondered Danielle. It was not easy dragging the case along behind her, but fortunately there was a small taxi station in front of the Minute Mart, at the far end of the strip mall.

  "Can you take me to Temple City, sir?" asked Danielle. As soon as he noticed Danielle he leaped out his driver's side door and ran around the car to load it into the trunk of the Ford Crown Victoria.

  "Geez, lady, I am glad you found me. You really shouldn't be walking around like that in this neighbourhood! I'll be glad to take you to Temple City. That's a lot more suitable neigbourhood for someone like you. I just saw a lady in a tent get arrested! It was like the fiftieth time she was hauled off by the cops this year, according to the people back there.

  Along the way to the Garden Inn the taxi driver vented to Danielle just how difficult it was these days in the Los Angeles region. The recession had hit hard and wasn't letting up. Foreclosures, so many homeless people, job losses, family breakups and Phil, the taxi driver, thought that Governor Schwarzenegger was doing nothing to help the situation. The only salvation was that gas prices had finally fallen enough for Phil to make a bit of money driving a cab. When the passengers paid their fares, that was.

  Check in at the Garden Inn went smoothly, and an internet account was included in the price of the room. Not much seemed to be going on at the 2 star hotel, it being the day after Christmas and all. Danielle made sure that she would be able to have a phone call patched through to her room, and double checked that she had the correct number to receive a call.

  When Danielle was settled in her room she logged on. 'Gee this thing is slow.' She called up Craigslist and looked underneath the Gigs section of ads. Clicking on 'Domestic', a series of classic Craigslist ads were revealed: MIGRANE sufferers needed to participate in a new drug trial. $545 for one week. Another one read: HOUSE cleaners to start this week, $13.00 per hour. But no Satoshi ad, not yet.

  Danielle clicked reload every five minutes or so, but as the predicted time approached she clicked more and more often. As the time clicked closer and closer to 8:03pm she was hitting the refresh every minute or so. It was getting nerve wracking. The first click after the clock struck 8:03 yielded nothing but the next one struck gold:

  Temple City / Personal Assistant / Need reliable, discreet, person 8 hours per day for errands, house cleaning, cooking, and home office work. Paid cash at the end of each day. Reply with a short note and phone #.

  Bingo!

  Extremely discreet and amiable. I would like to be considered for your position. I will be diligent and helpful. I am available immediately and reside in Temple City.

  Danielle pushed the send button on her Yahoo! account, and reloaded the Craigslist ad page. The ad was gone. Now, all she could do was wait. It didn't take long. The hotel phone rang.

  "Hello, this is the man who placed the ad for a personal assistant. Have you applied for this job?"

  "I have sir," replied Danielle.

  "Would you be available for interview this evening?" inquired Satoshi Nakamoto.

  "Yes sir, I would," replied Danielle.

  So far so good', thought Danielle as she walked on the street towards Mr. Nakamoto's house, wearing her AI glasses. It was really quite a modest neighbourhood for the man to be living in, who would rewrite the rules of the world's financial system. Just a few more houses and she would be there. Every home had some sort of lights or other Christmas decorations up, and many had Christmas trees visible through front windows. Just a pleasant walking distance from her hotel. Danielle ran through her mind, once more, all the details she had to have memorised. Name, Cal State University program, etc. Arachnid AI had somehow loaded a basic Google search assortment of a few articles and social media links onto the 2008 internet. Danielle had searched her own name, Sharon Blyde and knew what Mr. Nakamoto would see if he did the same thing.

  An Asian man in his late 50s answered the door and invited her inside. Danielle could already tell by the state of clutter in this part of the house, that there was no woman living here. No Christmas decorations or trees in this house! Danielle was led into a room with a dining room table and four wooden chairs. In the adjoining room Danielle could see a significant home office assemblage.

  "I am Satoshi Nakamoto. I prefer that you refer to me as Mr. Nakamoto. And you are,"

  "Sharon Blyde, Mr. Nakamoto," answered Danielle.

  "I find myself in the position of requiring a personal assistant in order to complete a significant personal project by January 1. Once I have completed the project I will have no more need of your services. My own work involves managing the operations of the Cal Trans public transit system, but I am currently beginning a week of annual vacation holidays. It is of utmost importance that I am not disturbed and that you reveal nothing of what you might learn in my employment. I will require that meals be cooked and my laundry done etc. My home could also do with some cleaning and organisation, but under no circumstances would you be permitted to disturb anything within my office space!"

  "Yes sir, Mr. Nakamoto," replied Danielle.

  "You will be available to report to me tomorrow morning at 8:00am?" asked Satoshi. He really did look overworked and short on sleep.

  "Of course, Mr. Nakamoto. It would be my pleasure!"

  "Then I will escort you to the door and I will expect to see you in the morning."

  Apparently, the deed was done, or at least the first deed. "I'm hired,' thought Danielle, as she walked back to the hotel. She hadn't even had to remember any of her personal details. The guy hadn't even asked a single question about herself! He really was as wrapped up in his own world as the personality profiles had predicted he would be.