Geneva Switzerland Hotel D'Angleterre - 1:06pm April 10, 2141AD

John Sheppard paced nervously around the presidential suite like a caged animal his gray eyes darting around the room in agitation. He was still boyishly handsome at forty seven. As usual his wiry blonde hair was in desperate need of a cut and his square jaw was a mass of stubble. His blue t-shirt and ripped jeans would not impress his guest but that was the least of his worries. He didn't feel safe.

John heard the doors to the suite open and stood to greet his oldest friend. William Tate shambled into the room carrying his old brown briefcase looking lost. The butler, an actual human being there were no synthetics at the D'Angleterr, followed close behind but a quick look from John turned him around and he exited silently closing the doors with the tiniest of clicks as the tumblers locked.

"William, it's so good to see you!" John beamed as he took the old mans' hand in both of his and clasped it warmly.

"Oh... yes... Johnny... it's good to see you too...you're a mess," William replied not looking at John but instead intently examining the floor.

William Tate was one of the strangest men John had ever known. He was forgetful, messy, picky, and unintentionally rude. He was also brilliant. William's IQ was well beyond the genius level and combined with an eidetic memory and childlike imagination he was a force to be reckoned with. His suit was brown and terribly wrinkled and his small Vandyke beard was in need of a trim. His dark intelligent eyes glanced around the room behind smudged wireframe glasses which sat askew on his long nose.

William took off his old trilby hat and ran his fingers through the wiry gray mop of hair on his head. "...Do you have any hardboiled eggs?" Such a request would have seemed odd coming from anyone else. John simply pointed to the dining table by the window.

"Right this way William"

They sat in silence for a moment as William ate hardboiled eggs from a china bowl and John stared out of the window. One of the perks of the Presidential suite was bulletproof glass so he could admire the beauty of Lake Geneva. Still not safe, not really, he thought.

After five minutes of listening to William chew wetly, John cleared his throat.

"So Will, what's so important that I had to come all the way to Geneva? I assume it's not something we could have discussed on the phone?

"Oh no, John, it's much too sensitive for that," said the little man, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his rumpled tweed suit. "I've got something to show you."

John waited expectantly but William was staring at the floor once again.

"Okay... so what is it?"

"Oh yes, here..." William reached down and retrieved his briefcase. He fumbled with the combination lock, which did not open, and smiled at John sheepishly.

"... of course..." He entered a new combination and the clasps finally released. He reached in and, with a flourish, produced an old pair of what looked like welders' goggles and a book. He handed the goggles to John. 

"... Goggles, William?"

"Correct."

"So what now?" said John impatiently.

"Put them on."

John looked at the goggles dubiously. They were obviously quite old and made from hard brown plastic. The lens' were clear but had a slightly green hue. The strap holding them together had been white at some point in the past but was now sweat-stained and filthy. 

"I'd rather not..."

"Put them on, Johnny!" William ordered wiping at a bit of egg on the arm of his jacket.

"Put them on... okay," said John, "I'm putting on the goggles..." 

With a smile belying his growing annoyance with his eccentric old friend, John placed the goggles on his face stretching the dirty yellowed elastic band around the back of his head with an inward grimace. 

"...now what?"

"Give it a moment... patience is a virtue after all," William said, dipping his linen napkin in his water glass and rubbing at the egg yolk stain.

John sat silently feeling like a goggle-wearing idiot. He watched the gray-haired man with the miss-buttoned shirt rub at the dried egg stain and was about to tell him it was probably not going to come off like that when the world changed.

Everything seemed to double and spin for a moment and John felt a sickening wave of vertigo, then he wasn't in the hotel room anymore. William was gone and in his place was a tree. John was sitting near the edge of Lake Geneva. He turned his head and saw the D'Angleterre Hotel behind him some 200 yards. He stood abruptly and felt his thighs catch the table that wasn't there.

"What the..." John yanked the goggles off in terror and everything was back to normal. William sat looking at him with a crooked smile on his face, the egg stain forgotten.