Older Jessica explains everything

"You've probably realised this by now," Jessica explained, "But I'm a fair bit older than you. Nine years older to be precise. I'm a Jessica from the future."

It was somewhere around this point that your jaw simply dropped. You couldn't hide your surprise at this revelation nor could you hide your skepticism. This was a far-fetched story and anyone would have trouble believing it. The whole thing smelt like a something out of a bad scifi novel.

"Have you ever heard of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics?" You shake your head. "Well simply put, it states that all possibilities and futures are real and exist in parallel with one another. Let's say I throw a dice, then there would be 6 different ways that dice could fall. The many-worlds theory states that there would be 6 different worlds, one where each possibility took place. Well, turns out that theory isn't so much a theory as it is fact. There are in fact a countless number of worlds out there with billions more being created by the second by our decisions."

You snapped out of your stupor for a moment to ask a question, "So you're saying..."

"Yes, I'm from an alternate reality. But from one where time would be 10 years in your future. In my time, the organisation who created the C-Set also found a way to traverse time and space - to bridge the gap between different worlds. I don't know how they did so, but they found aberrations in the way realities were created. I was one of the people assigned to fix these."

"What kind of aberrations?"

Jessica looks down and her face darkens. You can tell that she's steeling herself to tell you something enormous, something that was monumentally important to her. It was probably the reason why she seemed so weary and aged.

"I found that no matter what universe I went to, I... I mean, Jessica was never herself."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, in every world I visited or observed, someone had used a C-Set to wear Jessica and live her identity. I mean, the theory should mean that there would be at least some worlds where Jessica would be a free person but no matter how hard I searched, she was always a suit. I've been to over a thousand worlds trying to free those Jessica's from her fate but no matter what happens, even if I hide her after I release her, someone always ends back up in her skin. It's as if the universe intends Jessica to be nothing more than a skin to be worn..." Jessica's voice cracks and she breaks down, the enormity of her mission and her findings have obviously been weighing on her heavily for some time now. You do the only thing you can and embrace her.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" you ask, the sight of any Jessica crying uncontrollably like that triggers a desire to save her, even though you know this Jessica isn't yours.

Between her sobs, older Jessica manages to say, "There is something you can do for me..."