Beginnings (Book 1): Future Apocalypse

by Gilbert, Barbara J.

  Sighing, she decided that her brain hurt from all the thinking and that she was tired and exhausted from it and hiking all day. She doused the fire with some water and scraped dirt over the fire with her boot. Once the fire was out, she went to the time pod and snuggled in for another restless and uncomfortable night of sleep. In some ways she hoped that this was all a dream and that she’d wake up in her comfortable bed in her high-rise apartment in the morning. She quickly fell asleep, not knowing what tomorrow would bring.

  Chapter17

  Present, Day 1

  Susan came crashing into the room. “You called and said there was a problem. What happened? What is with all the flashing red lights?”

  Greg stood there looking at the lights and pondering how it all happened. Did he do it, or was it that Paulette was wrong and she couldn’t come back? Which meant the scientist would be right about it being easy to go to the future, but it may be impossible to come back, or did he cause this mishap by fiddling with her code.”

  Susan rushed over to him and pulled on his arm. “Hey, I’m talking to you! What happened here?”

  “I … um … well … ” He paused wondering what he should say and if any of it would matter since he didn’t know himself what really went wrong.

  “Hey, um, and well don’t tell me anything. Spit it out! What happened?”

  “Well, I’m not sure exactly. She got in the pod and initialized the wormhole, the engines fired, and she went through the wormhole. Everything was fine, until what appeared to be her trying to come back. When she did, that’s when all these lights and alarms went off. I’m as shocked as you are, but more so that she’d want to return right after getting there.”

  “Okay, I guess the first puzzle is, why did she try to come back? The second puzzle is, why did all the alarms go off, especially when she was certain she found the right formula and answers to getting back?”

  “Well, I don’t think we’ll ever know why she wanted to come back so soon, but figuring out the other problem could take forever, especially if we don’t know what went wrong,” Greg replied.

  “You know you still look pretty shaken, and there is also something else. What aren’t you telling me?” she inquired.

  “I … um … ah … ” Greg again went into deep thought. He felt guilty because he was thinking it very well could have been his fault. He had changed something at the last minute, but he couldn’t remember what he changed.

  Susan pulled on his arm again to jog him out of his trance. “Ah what?”

  “Oh yeah, you wanted to know if there was anything else that could be the cause.”

  “Yes, that is what I’m asking. So is there?”

  “I … ah … may have done something to the code, but I’m not certain it has anything to do with what happened?”

  “What the heck? What do you mean you messed with the code?”

  “I’ve been trying to get her attention for so long, wanting to be more than friends, but she always ignored me and was so obsessed with this project. I just thought that I’d make it so she’d have to stay there for about three months. I had no intentions of causing her any harm and had no idea this would happen. And again, I’m not sure it was my fault!”

  “I can’t believe this. You’re telling me you were jealous of her lifelong dream of traveling in time so you sabotaged it, even if it was only for a short period.”

  “Yes, I mean no. I didn’t sabotage it. I figured if she was so desperate to see the future then she could stay there and enjoy if for a bit, and maybe, just maybe, she’d miss me during that time.”

  “That’s just great! What are you, twelve? How very immature, even though you never thought it would work. What now? How do we fix this?”

  “Slow down with the questions, please. First, I’m not sure how to fix it. I can’t exactly remember, at least at the moment, what I changed. Second, we need to look to see if she has any backups made that we can look through to compare with the current program. If we can find the thing I changed, or something else in her notes that might help, then there’s a chance we can fix this thing. It’s not like we can ask her, you know.”

  “Okay, I’ll look to see if there are any notes and backups. You can go home, take a break, reflect on what you did, and see if you can remember what you changed.”

  “Sure, I guess, but you make it sound like it's all my fault.”

  “Indeed I am, and until I can prove otherwise that’s the way it’s going to be. I’m disgusted at how stupid you were. It took her years to figure this out, and she was very careful to make sure everything was correct; and in one swift stroke of the keyboard, you screwed it up. So, yes, it’s your fault. Now get out of here before I call the police on you.”

  “Really! The police. They’d never believe you.”

  “Don’t test me, Greg. Leave!”

  Susan’s anger overflowed and she accidentally spoke aloud. “I can’t believe he could do something like this. Oh, well, I need to get busy and figure out if it can be fixed.” She looked around the room, not even knowing where to start. Her eyes fell upon where the time machine had been, and she couldn’t help but wonder how Paulette was doing, wherever she was, and most of all, why had she tried to come back so soon.

  Paulette had asked Susan to take care of Danni while she was gone for a week. Now, Susan had to continue taking care of Danni until Paulette got back, whenever that might be. This was going to be a big challenge no matter how she looked at it. Exasperated, she turned and left the project room.

  Chapter 18

  Present Day 1 & 2

  Susan returned to her office after her confrontation with Greg and laid her head down on her desk. She couldn’t believe he would do something so stupid. She also had a major task ahead of her — figuring out how to fix the problem, or if it were even possible. Later, she went to the Research and Development Lab and called Richard Arbuckle over to talk to him. Richard, wearing his white coat with his scientific calculator in his pocket, looked over to where Susan was, swept back his blond hair, and turned and walked over to her. He looked at her with his bright blue eyes, and said, “Hey, Susan. What’s up?”

  “I need you to take charge of R&D for a while. I have a major project to work on in the other room. Can you handle this for a while?”

  “Sure, anything for you, Susan. We are working on the latest improvements to the nerve and muscle integration, so I think I can handle running the place for a while. What happened over there anyway? No one gets to see what Paulette was working on, and it’s odd that no one has seen her recently.”

  “Well, unfortunately, I can’t discuss that with you. It’s top secret and must stay that way for the time being. As far as Paulette goes, she had to make a sudden trip out of town and may be gone for some time — something to do with some new technology.”

  “Whatever. I don’t think that’s the truth, but, hey, it’s your story.”

  “Thanks for helping me with this. I’ll see that you get a bonus for running the department and keeping silent on your theories of what’s really going on. Will that suffice?”

  “That works for me. I can use the extra money, and, yes, I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

  “Thanks, Richard.”

  Susan walked over to the project room and entered the code on the keypad next to the door. A second later, the door swung open, and she and Danni entered the room. Pausing, she looked around the room trying to get a grip on what happened and how to solve the problem. She knew she certainly wasn’t a genius, so it would be extra hard for her to figure out the line of code Greg changed and how to fix it. The math required to send Paulette into the future was well beyond her understanding. She feared she and Greg would never figure it out and Paulette would be stuck in the future forever. Again, she wondered why Paulette would have wanted to return immediately and hoped she was okay. There wasn’t much else she could do right now but hope that her best friend was safe.

  She walked over to the computer consoles and sat
down, while Danni lay down and curled up under the desk. She stared at the screen for a long time just trying to figure out how to even look for a backup somewhere in the system. She was afraid that one wrong keystroke would indefinitely seal Paulette’s fate. She glanced around to see if there were any written notes to guide her through the process. While looking, she noticed a safe under the desk just to the right of where Danni was lying. She didn’t know the combination, but she hoped that there would be a USB drive backup of the program in the safe. She also hoped that it wouldn’t contain a password. She’d have to get a cart and move it to her office, then she could get a locksmith in to break it open. That would prevent anyone without authorization from being in the room. Her first order of business was to go retrieve a handcart. Sill frustrated about the whole situation, she slowly got up out of the chair, causing Danni to lift her head to see what she was doing, and headed to the small storage room to get the handcart so she could move the safe.

  She made an initial scan of the room and didn’t see the cart, so she wandered in and went, row by row, looking for it, causing her frustration to build even higher. It wasn’t until she was in the back row of the storage cabinets that she spotted the handcart. Someone had left it in a dark corner. She retrieved the cart and headed back to the project room. Once again, she quickly entered the code, went into the room, and shut the door. She rolled the cart over to the desk, trying to find a way to get the safe onto it. She could see that it wasn’t going to be easy, since the safe was at the back of the desk unit. She went to the back of the desk, which, luckily, had a nice-sized opening in it. She sat down on the floor, then got as close as she could to the back of the safe. It didn’t help that Danni was standing next to her licking her in the face. “Danni, no licks,” Susan commanded. Once she got Danni to quit licking her, she proceeded to bend her knees up and with her hands supporting her, she moved the safe forward by extending her legs and pushing on it. She grunted, moaned, and cursed as the darn thing inched along. The safe had moved only about an inch, and she was totally exhausted. She rested for a few minutes and re-hydrated before attempting to move the safe again. Plopping on the floor once again, she pushed against the safe. Eventually, she got it moved out enough that she thought she could get the cart underneath it. She rose off the floor, circled back around to the front, and took the handcart and leveraged it under the safe. Once she got it fully under the safe, she pulled back with all her strength and finally got it pushed down enough to maneuver and move it. She carefully backed up to the door, opened it wide, called Danni over, and proceeded through the door, allowing it to shut and lock behind her. It took only a few minutes to cross over to her office and place the safe in the corner, where she had made space earlier. Phew, that was a lot of work. I sure hope it pays off, she thought.

  At his apartment, Greg was banging and throwing things around. He was very upset and taking it out on anything that got in his way. He didn’t have a clue where to start on fixing the problem he thought he had probably caused. He continued to beat himself up, but tried to blame it on the fact that other scientists had said coming back to the present was probably impossible. He knew how smart Paulette was, though, and she had thoroughly tested the time pod, and it had returned each time with no problems. He wished she had paid more attention to him than the blasted time travel crap. He shook his head, just mumbled to himself for about an hour, and continued to stomp around his apartment and throw and break things. He was so in love with her, and now he might never see her again. All that he could think was, What have I done? Why couldn’t she pay more attention to me? Before he knew it, he had collapsed on his bed in a fetal position, sobbing and mumbling. He was useless to everybody. He spent the rest of the night sobbing, then sleeping, then waking up, and then sobbing again.

  He was a total mess the next morning. He groaned and rolled over in his bed facing the wall, so he didn’t have to have the beautiful morning sun shining in his face. He didn’t want to be reminded that he had screwed up. Staring at the wall, he kept mumbling about all the reasons he had done what he did, and then all the regrets. He had a sick feeling he wouldn’t ever see Paulette again, and it would all be his fault. He didn’t want to live alone for the rest of his life, and he didn’t want to be the only one in charge of the company and its employees. He wanted to have a good life, an exciting life, one filled with companionship and family. But at that moment, he couldn’t see that happening. He didn’t think he could ever love again, partially because there would always be hope that they would determine what went wrong and bring Paulette back. He didn’t want to be the person who gave up and moved on, only to have her finally come home and find out her best friend had moved on without her, proclaiming her lost to this world. He couldn’t do that to her. Yet, he was willing to leave her in the future for a few months to teach her a lesson. How ironic of him. Only it backfired on him and left him a sobbing, blubbering man who couldn’t get his act together.

  It didn’t help that Susan had literally kicked him out of the building. She instructed him to think about what he had changed so they could fix it. The problem was that he wasn’t in any shape to think about it and wouldn’t be for a while. He went in the kitchen and made breakfast. He hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast the day before. He didn’t feel like eating, and today wasn’t any different; but he would have to force himself to eat so he could keep up his strength. This whole thing was such a mess — his mess that he created because he was jealous of a time machine. Who would have ever thought a person could be jealous over an object, but that object had taken away the one person he wanted to be with. So, yes, he was jealous. However, now that jealousy had culminated into a heavy veil of guilt and regret, and he knew he needed to get moving on figuring out what he did as soon as he could function.

  The next day found Susan making several phone calls to different locksmiths trying to find someone trustworthy who could attempt to unlock the safe. To her dismay, it didn’t seem she’d ever find the right company or person to do the job. Frustrated, she gave up for a while and went to eat lunch and take Danni out for her mid-afternoon outing. Her lunch consisted of the usual salad with plenty of vegetables and croutons sprinkled on it. She was health conscious; and, despite all the stress lately, she reminded herself she needed to stay on track. She scarfed her salad down and finished her drink, then took everything over and deposited it all into the trash. “Danni, here, time to go for your walk and go potty,” she called. Danni sat up and came out from under Susan’s desk, wagging her tail. Susan clipped her leash on, took her outside, and walked her around the building. Danni squatted and peed, then looked up to let Susan know she was done. She took Danni back in, and Danni lay back down under Susan’s desk.

  Susan flipped through the yellow pages, scanned for locksmiths, and began making phone calls again. She needed someone she could trust and who had the skills to do the job. She finally stumbled across a company that she thought might be the right one — Excelsior, owned and operated by a man named Stan Lee. She thought the company name was a strange name for a locksmith company. Shaking her head about the name, she dialed the number. It was her last call of the day, and she had almost lost hope on reaching anyone who could help her. According to the ad, he had been in the locksmith business for fifty years and specialized in being able to crack safes. He had trained at a special locksmith school to learn how to work on different locks for different makes and models of safes. He was bonded and had an excellent reputation. Just as she finished reading the ad, the ringing stopped, and he picked up.

  “Stan Lee here, where picking locks is my specialty. How may I help you today?”

  “Mr. Lee, my name is Susan Ross, from P&G Bionics, and I’m calling you today to see if you can help me open a safe I’ve got here in my office. Do you think you can do it?”

  “Yes ma’am, I can open just about any safe made. You said it was at your company. What happened to the combination?”

  “Well, sir, it’s a classifie
d matter, so I can’t explain that to you right now. I must stress to you how important it is that we get this safe open, though. It very well may be a matter of life and death, and the answers may be in the safe.”

  “Oh, I see. It’s some big conspiracy thing, and you want me to help you solve it.”

  “Well, not exactly. It’s not a conspiracy. It’s just a very secretive technology project, and we don’t want other people or companies to know about it. Can we trust you to keep this matter confidential?”

  “Yes ma’am, you can. I’ve been running this business for over fifty years and am known for keeping my nose out of other people’s business. When would you like me to come over and work on the safe?”

  “As soon as possible would be great. Like I said. ...”

  He interrupted with, “It’s a matter of life and death. In situations like this, I can pack up and leave and be there within the hour. Will that be quick enough?”

  Susan smiled as she answered, “Yes, absolutely!”

  Within the hour, Mr. Lee arrived with his tool bag ready to get to work. He was a spry, elderly gentleman, slim build, with thinly combed white hair, and he wore an old-style pair of glasses. He walked up to the reception desk and asked for directions to Susan’s office and headed that way with an air of confidence. When he arrived at her office, he gently rapped on the door. “Who is it?” Susan asked.