Geosynchron by David Louis Edelman

Adversity must be tackled, not fled from. But you must have
a plan, and Natch has one.
    Don't think.
    Silence. Gloom. Darkness.
    He is tearing through the woods with the bear in pursuit, ignoring
the branches slashing at his face. He must reach the clearing he knows.
A place he has spent many hours in quiet introspection, trying to pinpoint his future. If he can only reach that spot, he will be safe, and so
will the camp. Behind him, the savage roar. The smoke of the torch
still seeping into his eyes. Claws grappling at his back, nearly catching
on the stray threads of his shirt.
    He reaches the slight hill leading to the clearing. Footsteps in the
snow leading up in that direction. Natch catches a glimpse of a distinctive green shirt he has seen many times over the past few months.
Brone.
    The bottom of the hill. Two paths. The path up leads to the
clearing he knows so well, leads to his own safety, leads to Brone. The
other path leads farther off into the woods, leads to his plan dashed,
leads to risk and an uncertain outcome.
    Natch pauses. Looks both directions. Throws a foot towards the
lower path.
    Silence. Gloom. Darkness.
    Brone is explaining to him the power of Possibilities 2.0. The
ability to be in two places at once and to live two lives at once. No
more regretted choices!
    With infinite possibilities at your disposal-with all those realities ripe for the plucking-why stop at just outputting one? ... Our minds have more than
enough processing power to run several tracks of consciousness at the same time.
Consciousness is itself little more than a parlor trick, a low-bandwidth illusion. We've known this since ancient times. Yet we've never been able to duplicate it, until now...

    Just imagine it! Two roads diverge in a wood. Why choose between them
when you can take both? You can spawn separate multi projections to travel
than and give each one a separate consciousness to experience them. Who's to say
you can't choose two different jobs, two different companions, two different
Vault accounts? And if one of these lives leads to bad consequences-well, then
wipe it out! MultiReal can erase your memories, Natch, and the memories of
those around you!
    Brone throws two coins in the air in different directions. Natch
activates Possibilities 2.0 and leaps after both coins at once.
    Darkness.
    His foot strikes white tile and his knee twists. Where are Petrucio
and Frederic? How much time has elapsed? Why has he not left this
place?
    Natch gazes all around, sees the door on the wall of the dome that
the Patels both disappeared into. That is where he must go. He can't
say what will happen after that, or if there will be anything after that.
But he cannot sit here in the darkness any longer.
    Don't think.
    There is a high-pitched whistling sound. Startled, Natch looks up.
    A murderous metal blade like the business end of a guillotine.
Lowered lightning-quick on an extended metal rod and aimed directly
for his neck. Swinging towards him too fast for the dodging instinct.
    Silence.
    He ducks, and the bear's claws go swishing over his head. Death
forestalled by another few seconds.
    Natch vaults to his feet once again. He is pointed deeper into the
woods, towards a life where the bear disappears into the wilderness, a life where Brone carries his eye and arm intact with him back to camp,
where he puts that arm over Natch's shoulders and says Thanks, man,
you saved my ass, where Natch's quick thinking is commended and his
respect among the boys regained. Or maybe a life where the bear
catches up to Natch and mauls him instead, a life where he becomes a
martyr for the camp, his sins forgotten, nobody honoring him more
than Brone, who vows to live up to the selfless example Natch has set
for him, who turns down the apprenticeship offer of Figaro Fi and
founds a charitable institution aimed at helping those less fortunate
than himself. Or maybe a life where Natch carries the scars that were