Mission: Maravilha 

1. Alberto Zingg displayed his 2025-era ‘smartphone’ and old-style driver’s licence for inspection. The historian approved them, along with Alberto’s vintage T-shirt, jeans and trainers. ‘Cleared for travel,’ she pronounced. 
2. Alberto grinned. ‘2025, here I come!’ Soon he’d land three years before his own birth. His mission: retrieve seeds from the now-extinct Amazonian Maravilha. Those seeds were the key to ending the epidemic of the F-13 virus now spreading across Earth.
3. As the time displacement module fired up, Alberto closed his eyes and recalled the facts of his mission: a fire at Global Med back in 2037 had destroyed the entire supply of the serum used to treat F-13. Then, in the last decade, deforestation had obliterated Maravilha, the source of the lifesaving medicine. Scientists were confident they could start manufacturing the serum again, if only they had Maravilha seeds.
4.  The module spun faster, its quantum dilator engine reverberating through Alberto like non-stop thunder. 
5.  When the roar receded and finally ceased, Alberto opened his eyes. As planned, he’d landed in the laboratory of Dr Willa Quavious—his mother. But the woman in the lab coat, absorbed in her work, was a much younger version. In 2025, she was studying medicinal plants in the Amazon. Alberto’s orders were to shadow her to find the Maravilha. 
6. He had just two hours. The tight time-window meant he needed to get moving. He crept towards the door. His rubber-soled trainers squeaked, and Dr Quavious looked up. Alberto’s heart stopped.
7.  ‘Dr Zingg? I recognised you from your profile,’ she said. ‘Welcome to Brazil. Let’s meet in the briefing room in an hour.
8. She’d mistaken Alberto for his father, Dr Amos Zingg. ‘Ah . . . thank you. I’ll see you then,’ Alberto sputtered, then fled. He had already violated Rule One: Don’t Be Seen. 
9. Outside, Alberto collected himself. Time for Plan B: utilise his field training to find Maravilha plants on his own. But his search of the tangled jungle surrounding the station revealed no Maravilha, only three soon-to-be-extinct species of tree frog. He’d wasted half an hour. 
10.  Alberto walked back towards the lab, pondering his plight. He’d apparently arrived here shortly before his parents first met. According to family lore, Amos Zingg had visited Willa Quavious’s Amazon lab on her birthday, 18 April. Alberto’s presence now, on 18 April, raised two problems: first, disrupting his parents’ first meeting could be disastrous; worst case, he’d cease to exist. 
11. Second, he was months too early. He had aimed for 13 November 2025, the date Dr Quavious announced her discovery of Maravilha and its curative properties. But now, seven months earlier, she might not even have found the seeds.
12. Rapid footsteps approached. Alberto scrambled for cover as Dr Zingg hurried past on his way to the briefing, rushing as usual. Funny how people don’t change, Alberto mused. 
13. That thought pestered him. People don’t change. His mission had targeted November, when Dr Quavious announced her findings. The mission planners assumed that’s when she’d found the Maravilha, because standard practice was to announce discoveries immediately. But people don’t change. Alberto knew that his mother never announced anything until she had tested, retested and triple-tested her findings. She would have studied Maravilha in her laboratory for months before her announcement. That meant—
14.  Alberto raced back to his mum’s lab. His father didn’t look up as Alberto dashed past the briefing room towards the door labelled Dr Quavious: Private. He knocked, entering before she answered. ‘Excuse me,’ she snapped.
15.  ‘Sorry, Mum!’ Alberto blurted. ‘Ma’am,’ he corrected. Heart pounding, he focused on the magenta blossom on her desk. ‘Maravilha?’
16.  His mother tilted her head. ‘The flowers exhibit certain medicinal properties.’
17.  ‘I’m interested in the seeds,’ he answered.
18.  ‘Really, Dr Zingg?’
19.  ‘Well,’ Alberto said, sucking in his breath, ‘you’re aware of disease-fighting compounds in certain related seedpods?’ 
20. ‘Indeed,’ she responded, ‘but I haven’t completed my analysis.’ She pulled out two vials of round, purple seeds.
21. ‘Ah,’ Alberto said, light-headed at the sight of them. How could he take them without her noticing? He’d get her to leave the lab. Alberto cleared his throat. ‘The, uh, security manager was looking for you. He needs to reset the access code on your key card. For, uh, security.’ Without looking up, his mother replied that if the security manager needed her, he knew where to find her. 
22. That’s my mum, Alberto thought. He coughed. From years of arguing with his mother, he’d learned that the direct approach worked best. He asked politely, ‘May I borrow this vial? You’ll collect more seeds, yes?’ 
23. Alberto’s mother stared. Then, generous as always, she nodded. ‘Fine. I’ll collect more,’ she said, glancing at the door. ‘Meanwhile, if you don’t mind? I’ve got work to do.’
24.  Pocketing the precious vial, Alberto bowed, the way his father would. ‘I thank you,’ he said. His subdermal chip vibrated, signalling five minutes to mission completion. And the future thanks you, he added silently.