What's in a Name?

 "I have a few questions."

Rick said this while sitting down, having coffee with the man identifying as Jim. Rick senior was nearby, exploring aspects of the Beatles Statue.

"Shoot," replied Jim.

"You're not the James Cameron."

"No. I'm not James Cameron."

"But you go by Jim. You're using his name and somehow taking credit for his movies?"

"Oh no, I didn't take credit for anything. I did make the movie Titanic."

Rick was perplexed. "How? Wouldn't the real James Cameron have some issue with that?"

"He would if he existed."

Rick looked back wide-eyed at Jim.

"James Cameron doesn't exist in this reality," Jim said. "There are a number of things different here from the reality you and I know. He is just one of them."

Rick couldn't believe it, "James Cameron doesn't exist."

"That's right. So, no Terminator. No Aliens. No Abyss. Definitely no Avatar or Titanic. They never existed."

Rick sat there looking down, shaking his head.

"This is the strangest thing I have ever seen. I went to bed with the world around me last night as it has always been. Then this morning, I woke up..."

Jim interrupts Rick, "To unusual pain and a completely different reality."

Rick pondered that last statement by Jim. He looked around the harbor, glancing at the Titanic and looking back around the city. Although places seemed the same, there was something different beyond the ship. He could feel it in the air. He could taste it in the coffee. This wasn't the United Kingdom he had been living in before today. He looked back to Jim and had to ask the next pertinent question.

"So, how did you get here?"

Jim leaned back in his chair and took in a deep breath. After he cleared his breath, he looked away from Rick and began to speak, "I woke up to an alternate reality in 2023. I remember everything about the day before, like you. The smells. The air. What everything looked like. I was in New York City. When I woke up the next day, my back was absolutely killing me. It felt like someone had stabbed me multiple times in my lower back. My head hurt. I just felt horrible. Then, when I started my day, the pain began to subside, and I was fine. So, I went about my day like I normally would. Everything seemed exactly the same as I made my rounds through town. Making my deliveries. That's when I saw it."

"Saw what?"

"The Twin Towers."

"The World Trade Center Twin Towers?"

"Those are the ones."

"They were still standing?"

"Yes. Apparently, the attack on September 11 never happened. It was the only change I saw otherwise, but a pretty significant one, to say the least. I had grown up with those towers gone. The Freedom Tower stood as the lone World Trade Center tower.  So, that was the first clue that something very odd had happened to me. I went back home and looked up as much as possible on the internet. Nothing, not one trace of the attacks, was found. I don't know how or why. I was too scared to leave my home because I was afraid I would find something else bizarre, and I decided to sleep it off. But that is when it happened again."

Rick was practically drooling listening to this story. He gazed across at Jim, who leaned closer to the table before them. Jim looked Rick dead in the eyes.

"The next morning, I woke up in a state of pure paralysis. It was like something was holding me down in place for whatever reason. I could not get out of bed. All I could do was lay there. Then, after what seemed like hours, I could finally move. I shot out of bed and went back outside. This time the change was very noticeable."

"Like seeing a ship that has been on the bottom of the ocean for over one hundred years," Rick added.

"Exactly. The world I was in was noticeably different this time, right from exiting my home. Typically I could see the Empire State Building in the distance from where I lived. It wasn't there."

"The Empire State Building doesn't exist?"

"Nope. It was never built because John Jacob Astor never died onboard the Titanic. Instead, The Astor Empire Complex was built after his death, much later on. It houses a building 170 stories tall."

"170? That's taller than the Burj Khalifa, right?"

"Right. That doesn't exist, either. There were just so many noticeable changes. It was hard to take it all in. For instance, take out your phone and look up something for me."

Rick looked at Jim for split second and then started reaching into his pocket for his phone. Once he had it, Jim started talking again.

"Now, ask Siri to look up the Gettysburg Address."

Rick looked down at his phone and held the screen down to pull up Siri. "Siri, bring up the Gettysburg Address."

Siri searched the internet briefly and responded, "I'm sorry, I could not find anything about the Gettysburg Address. I found something about Gettysburg, which was a town in..."

"Wait? Gettysburg never happened? The Civil War in the United States never happened?"

Jim chuckled a bit and then sipped his coffee, "That's not the half of it. Abraham Lincoln never existed."

Rick was wide-eyed again, "Lincoln never existed? So, what did that mean then?"

"A lot, Rick. Robert E. Lee was the President in what should have been Lincoln's term. So, as you can imagine, things went a little differently in the United States from then on."

"President Lee? So, I take it slavery was never abolished, then?"

"Not even close. The Confederate States of America took over everything. There's actually still slavery there today, in 2028. No one ever wanted to do away with it. The world in the last 160 years has been quite different."

"Unbelievable. This goes way beyond movies and ships."

Jim sipped his coffee again, "Oh yeah."

Rick tapped his finger on the side of his cup. He had to ask the next question because that was the one really burning inside him.

"What did you mean I could our ticket out of here?"

Jim smiled, "I'm glad you finally asked. I wasn't sure if you ever would. In all the time I have been here, I've never met someone who remembers the world I was from until you. It was such a lonely time, for way too many years."

"Too many years? I thought you said you've only been here since 2023? That's only 5 years."

"That's the year I'm from, Rick. But 5 years is not the amount of time I have been here. You remember that the film Titanic came out in 1997, right? And that it still did here too."

Rick nodded and started realizing that Jim had been there since the 1990s.

"I've been here, in this reality, since 1992."

"1992? 36 years?!"

"That's right."

"But, you don't look old enough to be here 36 years. That's what grabbed my attention about the James Cameron stuff. He's like in his 70s in our world."

"I know, I'm 56 years old. I was only 20 years old when I arrived here in 1992."

"Wow! This is just a lot to take in."

"Believe me, I understand. Sometimes I hardly believe it. But it is true."

"So, have you tried to get back to our world? I know you said you never have seen anyone else before me, but has anything ever provided a way?"

"Nothing has given me any way home, Rick. Not once. Just you showing up now is the only change I've ever seen that connects me back to my original home."

"My gosh. In our world, I would be 20 years older than you by now. Well, older than your 20-year-old self."

"It'll start hurting your head when you think about it like that."

Rick grabbed his head, "My head already hurts. I think I've drunk too much coffee."

"Be glad you can have coffee. This is a hot commodity in the Federation."

"Federation? The Confederate States, you mean?"

"That's what they call themselves now. They've become quite interesting since I left in the 90s to pursue a film career here."

"I would say you've done very well for yourself."

Jim chuckled, "Yeah, I'll say. When I got here, I wanted to unwind once when I found a place to live and watch some old movies. But there was no Terminator. I started looking up things, as best I could before the internet, and saw none of his movies existed, so I tried to recall what I knew from memory to write the stories myself. Someone here picked them up, and I got to start making the films I once loved."

"Kind of like Yesterday."

"Yes! Exactly like Yesterday. I got all sorts of acclaim and money, treated like royalty. I definitely felt like the King of the World."

Rick laughed, "Even though it was kind of a rip-off, right?"

"Well, better to rip off and have a life than have nothing. At least, that is how I felt when I realized I couldn't figure out how to get back to my own world. I would have given anything to return home to my family and friends. I just couldn't figure out how."

"But you think I might can help you, right?"

Jim looked up at Rick, "I'm hoping so."

Rick leaned back and looked around again. He looked at the ship. He looked at his dad. He looked at the table and the ground. Finally, he looked back to Jim.

"If I'm going to help you, what is your real name?"

"Do you believe you can help me, Rick?"

"I would like to hope I can, so I can get home too. If there is a way."

"Where there's a will, there's a way. My will to thrive and survive helped me become rich here. Maybe that can help us get back home. All we have to do is believe it."

"You haven't answered my question, though?"

Jim took the final sip of his coffee, peering over the cup back at Rick. When he was done swallowing, he finally answered him.

"What's in a name, Rick? Except for what's right in front of you sometimes. My name is Richard Martin Smith. I'll be glad to show you some documents that prove it. We're not the same person, but sharing the same name is quite a coincidence. Maybe that's how the mystery can start being solved for us. Do you believe my name is the same as yours, Rick?"

Rick was speechless again. Part of Rick's mind wanted to believe there was no way this was true. But Rick couldn't shake the feeling that Jim was telling him the truth. He would need to see that proof, though.

"Why don't you show me those documents? Do you go by Rick or Richard?" Rick said.

"Actually, I prefer Marty. I can give you a ride over to my place."

"Marty. Don't tell me you have a Delorean that you drive?" Rick chuckled.

Marty replied, "Actually, I do, but not today. I just called an Uber to take us and your dad to my home."